herein both of them correcting the Vulgar Translation in the word Pledge and one of them giving an Absitâ—l against this Sence of it The Reason of both is because he that giveth a Pledge taketh it againe when the Thing for which it was pledged is received But he that giveth an Earnest will have it continue with him to whom it was given And so God assuring his Chosen by his Spirit doth for their greater Confidence give it as an Earnest and not as a Pledge So they Thereby advancing Gods gracious love towards man and man's faith in God's love Here will be no corner of Pretence that this being an Errour of Print and not of Doctrine may be rejected by you without Prejudice to your Oath no for Errour of Print ariseth from some affinity of words as where these words This is a sound reason being delivered to the print was returned from the Presse thus This is a fond reason But betweene Pignus and Arrhabo there is no more Symphony than betweene an Horse and a Saddle Nor will it availe you to say that the Originall Greeke was corrupted for it is the same Greeke word which Hierome himselfe who as you know used the perfectest Greeke Text doth here avow to be True II. Overture of Perjury in your Disputers is in swearing to the Romish Expositions of Scripture THe Tenour of the Oath in this respect is I admit the sacred Scriptures in that Sense which the Mother Church hath held and doth hold By Mother Church understanding the Church of Rome as without which there is no salvation which is expressed in the same Oath as another Article therein and which else-where we have proved to be a GRAND IMPOSTVRE in a full Tractate from the Doctrine of the Apostles of Generall Councells of severall Catholique Churches and from such Primitive Fathers whose memories are at this day registred in the Romish Calender of Saints How then can the Oath for this point be taken without danger of Perjury But to come to the Article concerning the Expositions of Scriptures According to the sence of the Church of Rome which would thereby be thought to Hold no Sence of Scripture now which she had not Held in more Antient Times We for Triall hereof shall for this present seeke after no other Instances than such as in this Treatise have been discussed and for brevity-sake single out of many but only Three A first is in that Scripture Ioh. 6. Except you eat the flesh of the Sonne of man you cannot have life The word Except was extended unto Infants in the dayes of Pope Innocent the First continuing as hath beene confessed six hundred yeares together when the Church of Rome thereupon Held it necessary for Infants to receive the Eucharist Contrarily the now Romane Church Holdeth it Inexpedient to administer the Eucharist unto Infants as you have heard Secondly Luc. 22. Take Eat c. Your Church of Rome in the dayes of Pope Nicolas in a Councell at Rome Held that by the word Eate was meant an Eating by Tearing the Body of Christ sensually with men's teeth in a Literall sence Which your now Romane Church if we may beleeve your Iesuites doth not Hold as hath appeared Thirdly the Tenour of the Institution of Christ concerning the Cup was Held in the dayes of Pope Gelasius to be peremptory for the administration thereof to prove that the Eucharist ought to be administred in both kindes to all Communicants and judging the dismembring of them a Grand Sacrilege as you have heard whereas now your Romish Church Holdeth it not only lawfull but also religious to withhold the Cup from all but only consecrating Priests Vpon these omitting other Scriptures which you your selves may observe at your best leasure we conclude You therefore in taking that Oath swearing to admit all Interpretations of Scripture both which the Church of Rome once Held and now Holdeth the Proverbe must needs be verified upon you viz. You hold a Wolfe by the eare which howsoever you Hold you are sure to be Oath-bit either in Holding TENVIT by TENET or in Holding TENET by TENVIT III. Overture of Perjury in your Disputers is in swearing to the pretended Consent of Fathers in their Expositions of Scriptures HEare your Oath Neither will I ever interpret any Scripture but according to the unanimous consent of Fathers Here the word Fathers cannot betoken Bishops and Fathers assembled in a Councell where the major part of voices conclude the lesse for Councell never writ Commentaries upon Scriptures but from Scriptures collect their Conclusions And although the word Vnanimous doth literally signifie the universall Consent which would inferre an Impossibility because that all Fathers have not expounded any one Scripture and very few All yet that you may know we presse not too violently upon you we shall be content to take this word Morally with this Diminution For the most part and hereupon make bold to averre that your Iuror by this Oath is sworne to a flat Falsity because you cannot deny but that the Fathers in their Expositions dissent among themselves sometimes a Greater part from the lesse insomuch that you your selves are at difference among your selves which part to side with With the greater saith Valentia nay but sometime with the Lesser saith Canus Can you dreame of an Vnanimity in Disparity Sometime there is a Non-Constat what is the Iudgement of the Fathers in some points which you call matter of Faith What then Then saith your Iesuite the Authority of the Pope is to take place who being guided by other rules may propound what is the Sence Behold here the very ground of that which we call Popery which is devising and obtruding upon the Church of Christ new Articles of Faith unknowen for ought you know to Ancient Fathers And is it possible to finde an Vnanimity of Consent in an Individuall Vnity or rather a Nullity for what else is an ignorance what the Sence of the Fathers is whether so or so Next that it may appeare that this Article touching the Vnanimous Consent of Fathers is a meere Ostentation and gullery and no better than that Challenge made by the wise man of Athens of all the Ships that entred into the Road to be his owne as if you should say All the Fathers doe patronize your Romish Cause We shall give you one or two Examples among your Iesuites as patternes of the Disposition of others in neglecting sleighting and rejecting the more Generall Consent of Fathers in their Expositions of Scriptures One Instance may be given in your Cardinall who in his Commentaries upon the Psalmes dedicated to the then Pope professeth himselfe to have composed them Rather by his owne meditation than by reading of many bookes whereas he that will seeke for Vnanimous Consent of Fathers must have a perusall of them all In the second place hearken unto the Accents of your Iesuite Maldonate in his
itch as hee himselfe called his owne humour which received a Salve that might have cured him of that itch to be medling with the same Doctor Yet the onely Exception which hath since come to this Doctor 's eares from your side is this now objected point concerning the Manichees whereupon you have heard them both so urgently and boastingly insist and not so onely but they have also divulged this pretended Contradiction in many Counties of this Kingdome to his reproach Will you be so kinde as but to heare an Answer and then either wonder at or hisse or applaude or him or them as you shall finde iust Cause Two things there were condemnable in the Manichees one was their Act and Practice in dismembring the Sacrament by not communicating in both kindes the other was their Opinion which they held for so doing which was as you have heard an hereticall Conceit that Wine was the Creature of the Devill Concerning this hereticall opinion no Protestant said Doctor Morton doth charge the Church of Rome but as for the Act of not Communicating in both kinds he called it Sacrilegious and concluded the Church of Rome in this respect to be as guilty of dismembring the Sacrament as were the Manichees And both these hee hath done by the Authority of Pope Gelasius who decreed in condemning the Manichees First against their Opinion saying Illinescio quâ superstitione docentur astringi c. That is They are intangled in a kind of Superstition Then for the Act of refusing the Cup Because saith he the dividing of the same Mystery cannot be done without grievous sacrilege therefore let these Manichees either receive the whole Sacrament or else let them be wholly excluded from receiving So Gelasius Seeing then Doctor Morton and all Protestants cleare the Church of Rome from the imputation of the Heresie of the Manichees in respect of their opinion and yet condemne them of the Manichean Sacrilege in respect of the Act of dismembring the Sacrament with what spectacles thinke you did your Priest and Iesuite reade that Answere of Doctor Morton to collect from thence either your Churches Iustification from a foule fault of Sacrilege or else the Doctors foule Contradiction to himselfe and that cleerely forsooth in the same respect who themselves are now found to have beene so subtilly witlesse as not to discerne Heresie from Sacrilege an opinion from a fact or a no-imputation of that whereof neither Doctor Whitaker nor any other Protestant ever accused them from a practice condemned by a Romane Pope himselfe Take unto you a Similitude A man being apprehended in the company of Traytors upon suspition of Felonie is fully and effectually prosecuted for Felonie onely if one should say of him that he was not conuicted or condemned of Treason but of Felonie were this either a Contradiction in the party speaking or a full Iustification of the party spoken of You are by this time we thinke ashamed of your Proctors and of their scornefull insultation upon the Doctor in the ridiculous tearmes of Rabbin and magnus Apollo who willingly forbeareth upon this Advantage to recompence them with like scurrility being desirous to be only Great in that which is called Magna est Veritas praevalet By which Truth also is fully discovered the vanity of the Answere both of Master Fisher and of your Cardinall saying that Gelasius condemned only the Opinion of the Manichees which is so transparant a falshood as any one that hath but a glympse of Reason may see through it by the sentence it â—elfe as hath beene proved Our second Reason is in respect of the perfect Spirituall Refection represented by this Sacrament SECT VIII ANother Object represented in this Sacrament is the food of man's soule in his faithfull receiving of the Bodie and Blood of Christ which because it is a perfect spirituall Refection Christ would have it to be expressed both in Eating and Drinking wherein consisteth the perfection of man's bodily sustenance and therefore are both necessarily to be used by law of Analogie betweene the outward signe and the thing signified thereby Two of your Iesuites from whome Master Fisher hath learned his Answere seeke to perswade their Readers that the soules refection spirituall is sufficiently signified in either kind whether in Bread or Wine But be it knowne unto you that either all these have forgotten their Catechisme authorized by the Fathers of the Councell of Trent and confirmed by Pius Quartus then Pope or else Those their Catechists forgot themselves in teaching that This Sacrament was instituted so that two severall Consecrations should be used one of Bread and the other of the Cup to the end both that the Passion of Christ might be represented wherein his Bloud was separated from his Body and because this Sacrament is ordained to nourish man's soule it was therefore to be done by Eating and Drinking in both which the perfect nourishment of man's naturall life doth consist Aquinas and your Iesuite Valentia with others are as expresse in this point as they were in the former who although they as we also hold that whole Christ is received in either kinde for Christ is not divided yet doe they mayntaine that This Sacrament as it is conformable both to Eating and Drinking so doth it by both kindes more perfectly expresse our spirituall nourishment by Christ and therefore it is more convenient that both be exhibited to the faithfull severally as for Meate and for Drinke So they For although in the Spirituall Receiving Eating and Drinking are both one even as the appetite of the Soule in hungring and thirsting is the same as where it is written Matth. 5. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse c. yet in this Sacramentall communicating with bodily instruments it is otherwise as you know The blood of Christ is not dranke in the forme of Bread nor is his Bodie eaten as meate in the forme of Wine because the Bodie cannot be said to be dranke nor the bloud to be eaten So your Durand and so afterwards your Iansenius Wherefore you in with-holding the Cup from the People doe violate the Testament of Christ who requireth in this a perfect representation visible of a compleate and a full Refection spirituall which is sufficient to condemne your Abuse whereby you also defraud God's people of their Dimensum ordained by Christ for their vse Concerning this second Master Fisher one of the society of Iesuites was taught to Answere that the Full causality as he said and working of spirituall Effects of the soule cannot be a wanting to the Sacrament under one kind because of Christ his assistance So he We should aske whether a greater Devotion and 〈◊〉 more plentifull Grace are not to be esteemed spirituall Effects for the good of the Soule which are confessed to be enjoyed by Communicating in both kinds and why not rather than by one For consider we pray you
Testament could not properly be the Testament it selfe Yea your Iesuite Salmeron pointeth out in the same words a double Figure A double figure saith hee the Cup being put for the thing contained in the Cup and Testament being taken for the Legacy that is granted and given by the Testament With whom your Iesuite Barradius doth consent Hereunto may be added that in the sixt of Iohn where Christ calling that which he giveth to be eaten his flesh in the same Chapter he calleth his flesh which is to be eaten of the Faithfull bread which none of your side durst hitherto interpret without a Figure And yet againe the Apostle speaking of the Mysticall body of Christ which is his Church assembled at the holy Communion to participate of this Sacrament saith of them Wee being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread But why Even as one bread consisteth of many cornes so doth one Church of Christ of many faithfull persons saith your Aquinas Wee may not forget what your Iansenius said of Drinking To whome Master Brereley is ready to yeild his assent saying If we should attend to the Propriety of speech neither is his blood properly drunke out of the Chalice but onely the forme of Wine seeing the blood hath the same manner of Existing as under the forme of bread to wit not divided nor seperated from the body but included in the veines and then in the body Doe you not heare Christ's Blood is not properly drunke if not properly then figuratively as figuratively as if one swallowing the body of Christ should be said to drinke his Body Wee aske Master Brereley what then is that which is properly drunke out of the Chalice and he saith onely the forme of Wine that is to say a meere Accident Hardly can it be said that a man properly drinketh the Aire which he breatheth although it be a Substance And are you brought to believe meere Formalities to be truly Potable But to the point CHALLENGE REpeat now the Premises One figure in the word Bread another in Eat a third in Given a fourth in Shed a fift in Cup a sixt in Testament so many words confessed to be so many Figures in the very words of Christ his Institution beside other-more of the same equivalencie touching the Body of Christ both naturall Ioh. 6. and also mysticall which is his Church 1. Cor. 10. It can be no lesse then a matter of great astonishment to us to see our Romish Adversaries with such pertinacie to condemne Protestants for holding the Sacramentall speeches of Christ to be figurative calling them Tropists when as they themselves are constrained to acknowledge no fewer then Six Tropes in Christ his words as you have heard Of your Cardinall his Objection from the word Shed hereafter That the figurative sence of Christ's words is agreeable to the Iudgement of the more Ancient Church of Rome SECT V. YOur old and publique Romish Glosse saith plainly This heavenly Sacrament because it doth truly represent the flesh of Christ is called the body of Christ but improperly not in the truth of the thing but in the mysticall Sence to wit it is called the body of Christ that is it signifieth his Body So your Glosse which you may not deny to be the glosse or Tongue of your whole Church because it hath beene confirmed by the same Authority of Pope Gregory the thirteenth wherewith your Extravagants and former Decrees of Popes have beene Authorised CHALLENGE IF all Protestants should meeteat once in one Synod and should conspire together as labouring to prove a figurative Sence in these words of Christ This is my body I suppose that a more exact perspicuous copious and ponderous Proofe could not be defined then hitherto hath beene evinced from your owne Confessions grounded as well upon sound and impregnable Reasons as upon direct Testimonies of holy Scriptures That the former Figurative Sence of the words of Christ is agreeable to the Iudgement of Antient Fathers of the Greeke Church SECT VI. YOu wil needs defend your litterall Exposition by the verdict of Ancient Fathers and we appeale to the Venerable Senate both of Greeke and Latine Fathers The Greeke generally calling the Elements of bread and wine in this Sacrament Some Types Antitypes and Symbols that is Figures and Signes Some calling Christ his Speeches Tropicall or Figurative and his Table Typicall Some saying that Christ would haue his Disciples hereby Represent the image of his Body And one as expressly as any Protestant can speake even Theodoret by name that Christ here gave to the Signe the name of his Body as elswhere he gave to his Body the name of the Signe You cannot deny but these Phrases of Signes and Symbols are most frequent in the writings of all the Greeke Fathers which we take to be a convincing Argument vntill you can give us some reasonable Solution hereunto To this purpose you leaving the principall Obiections fasten onely upon certaine Crotchets and thereupon you bestirre your selves THE FIRST CHALLENGE Against the first Romish Answere touching the word Type and Antitype vsed by the Greeke Fathers THree kinds of Answeres have beene applyed as Three wedges to dissolve this difficulty but a knot of wood cannot be loosed with a wedge of waxe such as every of your Answeres will appeare to be The first interpreting Types and Antitypes not to be taken for Signes but for Examples is at the first hearing reiected by your Cardinall and others The Second alleadged out of Damascen and much insisted upon by some favourers of your Romish Sence namely that the Fathers should call Bread and Wine Antitypes but not after Consecration So they And if so then indeed we should have no cause to oppose But this Answere is proved to be apparantly false by your Cardinall and others out of the expresse Testimonies of these Greeke Fathers viz. Dioâ—ysius Areopagita Clemens Iustine Macarius Basil and Nazianzene The third Answere is your Cardinals owne yet but faintly urged with a Peradventure they called them Antitypes but not Types after Consecration and he is encountred by your Suarez and Billius acknowledging that the words Types and Antitypes are used of the same Fathers in one and the same signification This our Obiection how strong it is may be seene by your much but vaine strugling Your quaintest device is yet behind A SECOND CHALLENGE Against the last and most peremptory Romish Pretence making Christ in this Sacrament to figure and to represent himselfe as a King in a Stage-play THe Solution which seemeth to your Disputers most perswasive is thus set downe by your Cardinall and your Iesuite Suarez viz. The Greeke Fathers called Bread and Wine Antitypes and Signes of the Body and Blood of Christ because the same Body and Blood of Christ as they are in this Sacrament vnder the forme of Bread and Wine are signes
having power sensibly to perceive which betokening Bread or the Accidents of bread as you see it doth confirmeth unto us the Tropicall speech of Christ in calling Bread his Body and consequently overthroweth your whole Cause Fourthly the Similitude of Epiphanius must stand thus That which is said to be after the Image of God is such which hath a substantiall being yet so that it be like but not the same in nature And so is Bread having a Sacramentall Analogie to Christ's Body the first as the substantiall meate of man's Body and the other as the supersubstantiall food of Man's Soule Which Conclusion namely that Bread as the signe of Christ's Body is not the same in nature with Christ's Body doth dash out the braines of the Monster Transubstantiation by the which Bread as your Tridentine Faith teacheth is wholly changed into the substantiall nature of Christ's Body As if you would have Epiphanius to have said The Image of God in man is God in nature Thus doe you find the Testimony of Epiphanius to be Convincent indeed but against your Romish Doctrine of Errour and against your Cardinall of a foule falsity who saith that Epiphanius will have us to believe something herein although it be repugnant to our Sences which word no man of Sence can find in Epiphanius He saith indeed that every man is bound upon his Salvation to believe the Truth of Christ his Speech which say wee none but an Infidell can deny because Christ being Truth it selfe therefore all the words of Christ whether spoken Literally or Tropically they are still the Truth of Christ That the same Greeke Fathers have expresly vnfolded their meanings touching a Figurative Sence SECT VIII THe Iudgement of a whole Councell of Greeke Fathers may well suffice for the manifestation of the Iudgement of that Church They in Constantinople at Trullo alluding to these words of Christ This is my Body saying Let nothing be offered but the Body and Blood of Christ that is say They Bread and Wine c. If we had not told you that this had been the speech of Greeke Fathers in a Councell you would have conceived they had beene uttered by some Heretique as your Charity useth to cal us Protestants Neither may the Authority of this Councell be rejected by you as unlawfull in the point of the Sacrament both because it is objected by your selves to prove it an vnbloody Sacrifice whereunto you are answered as also for that your Binius in opposing against some things in this Councell yet neuer tooke any Exception against this Canon We may not let passe another Testimony used by the Antient Father Theodoret namely That Christ called the Bread his Body as he called his Body Bread Matth. 12. saying thereof Except the grane of wheat die c. insomuch that Interchangeably in the one place He gave to the Signe the name of his Body and in the other He gave to his Body the name of the Signe So hee As Protestantly as either Calvin or Beza could speake And you cannot deny but that when Christ called his Body Bread it was an improper and figurative speech And therefore if you will believe Theodoret you are compellable to confesse that Christ in calling Bread his Body meant it not in a proper and literall sence Hitherto of the Greeke Fathers That the same Figurative sence of Christ's words is avouched by the Latine Fathers SECT IX SOme of the Latine Fathers we confesse seeme in some places to deny all Figurative sence but this they doe even by a figure called Hyperbole that is onely in the excesse of Speech thereby to abstract the minds of sensuall men from fixing their thoughts upon externall Rites and to rayse them up to a Sacramentall and Spirituall Contemplation of the Body and Blood of Christ But as for the direct and perspicuous Sentences of these Fathers they cleerely and exactly teach a figurative sence in the words of Christ to wit Tertullian This is my Body That is a figure thereof Cyprian Things signifying and signified are called by the same word Hierom. Wine the type of Christ his Blood Gelasius Bread the image of his Body Ambrose After consecration Christ his Body is signified Saint Augustine in many places may be unto Vs instar multorum To eate the flesh of Christ saith he is a figurative speech Againe In the banquet Christ gave to his Disciples the signe of his Body And yet againe Christ doubted not to say This is my Body when he gave a signe of his Body Lastly unanswerably proving other Sacraments to agree with this in this point and that herein the Eucharist hath no Prerogative above the rest Sacraments saith he for the very Similitude and likenesse which they have with the things whereof they are Sacraments doe often take the names of those things which they doe signifie as when the Sacrament of Christ's Body saith he is after a certaine manner called the Body of Christ But how Hee addeth as if hee had meant to stop the mouthes of all Opposites As it is said by the Apostle of Baptisme we are buried by Baptisme into the death of Christ He saith not wee signifie his buriall but absolutely saith Wee are buried therefore hath he called the Sacrament or Signe of so great a Thing by the name of the Thing signified thereby So he even the same He who will be found like himselfe in the following passages of this Booke especially when we shall handle the manner of Eating of Christ's body which Augustine will Challenge to be figuratively meant We shall take our farewell of the Latine Fathers in the Testimony of Bishop Isidore who will give you his owne Reason why Christ called Bread his Body Bread saith he because it strengtheneth the body is therefore called the body of Christ and Wine because it maketh Blood is therefore referred to Christ's Blood but these two being sanctified by the Holy Ghost are changed into a Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ So he and so say we Accordingly Tertullian but least any may Cavill as some doe at his sentence above-cited wee adde his other sentence wherein he sheweth that Christ called Bread his Body in saying This is my body as the Prophet Ieremy called his Body Bread in saying Let us put wood upon his Bread meaning his Body So Tertullian shewing them both to be spoken equally in a figurative Sence CHALLENGE THese Sentences of these holy Fathers are so fully Consonant to the Doctrine of Protestans as that if the names of these Fathers had beene concealed our Reader might thinke that hee heard Bucer Calvin or Beza speake Goe you now and proclaime that all Ancient Fathers teach your Litterall sence of Christ his words and perswade your selves if you can that any man of Conscience and Iudgement can be seduced to believe you They say indeed that Bread is the Body of Christ
in the Spirituall and heavenly desire thereof Secondly Vnconscionably obiected because the same Father expresseth his Hyperbolicall mannet of speech likewise saying that Christ's Body doth change our Bodies into it selfe which in the Literall Sence according to your arguing would prove a Transubstantiation of Mens Bodies into Christ Chrysostome is found admiring these mysteries and is obiected by Mr. Breerly for proofe of the wonderfull Effects of this Sacrament Why what saith he Wee our selves saith hee are converted and changed into the Flesh of Christ Which was the former saying of Greg. Nyssen Will your Disputers never learne the Hyperbolicall language of ancient Fathers especially when they speake of Sacramentall and mysticall things more especially Chrysostome who when he falleth upon this Subiect doth almost altogether Rhetoricate but chiefly when they cannot be ignorant that such words of the Fathers in the Literall straine are utterly absurd For what greater Absurdity than as is now obiected for our Bodies to be Transubstantiated into the Body of Christ Now are wee past the limits of due Antiquity you descend lower Theophylact will say hard to vs who speaking of this Sacrament saith indeed that The Bread is Trans-elementated into the Body of Christ which your Cardinall will have to be in the same Fathers sence Equivalent with your Transubstantiation Vnconscionably for doth not the same Father say likewise that A Christian is in a manner Trans-elementated into Christ Like as Isidore Pelusiota spake of Trans-elementing in a sort of the word of God into the good hearer Againe Theophylact is obiected as saying The Bread is after an ineffable manner Transformed It is true Hee saith so and so doth Hiâ—rome say that Christ in breaking Bread did Transfigure or Transforme his Body into his Church broken with afflictions and Pope Leo sticketh not to say that Wee Christians in communicating Transimus turne or are Changed into Christ his Body So these ancient Fathers Are you not yet out of breath with obiecting Testimonies of Fathers Vnconscionably and Impertinently No for Mr. Breerly for a Close desireth to be heard and to try us with an Obiection out of the Greeke Church of these latter times as followeth It appeareth by a Treatise published by the Protestant Divines at Wittenberge Anno Domini 1584. intituled Acta Theologorum Wittembergensium Hieremiae Patriarchae Constantinop c. that the Greeke Church at this day although divided from the Latine professeth to beleeve Transubstantiation So hee of the Patriarch Hieremias which Patriarch if wee were alive would very hardly conteyne himselfe from answering this your Brother with some indignation calling him both rash and praecipitant seeing that the same Patriarch expressly said that These Mysteries are not changed into humane Flesh Mr. Breerly would thinke it an iniury done unto himselfe if wee should praetermit his obiected Authority of Pope Gregory for Doctor Humphrey saith hee doth charge Gregory the Great with Transubstantiation So Mr. Breerly who obiected this in his Apologie many yeares agoe and had a full Answer in an Appeale made purposely in confutation of his whole Apologie The Summe of that Answer is this Doctor Humphrey did not speake that as grounded upon any Sentence of Gregory but onely upon the report of a Romish Legend supposing it to be true which in the iudgement of Romish Doctors themselves whose Testimonies are there cited Is unworthy to report the memory of the fact being in it selfe fond filthy and frivoloâ—s the Author whereof may seeme to have a face of Irâ—n and a heart of Leade and the Obiectour namely Mr. Breerly for grounding his Obiection on a Legendary Historie A Falsifier of his owne promise This Answer was home one would thinke and might iustly have provoked him to satisfie for himselfe if he could have found any errour therein yet notwithstanding for want of better service bringeth he in these Coleworts twise sod CHALLENGE VVHat greater Vnconscionablenesse could your Disputers bewray than by so torturing the Hyperbolicall Figurative and Sacramentall Sayings of Ancient Fathers for proofe of the Transubstantiation of Bread into the Body of Christ insomuch that they must be consequently constrained by the force of some Phrases contrary both to the meaning of the same Fathers and to the Doctrine of your owne Romish Church to admit of three other Transubstantiations viz. First of Christ his Body into what soever the Appetite of the Communicant shall desire Secondly of Christ his Body into the Body of every Christian And Thirdly of the Body of every Christian into the Body of Christ as the Testimonies obiected plainly pronounce In all which Obiections they doe but verifie the Proverbe Qui nimis emâ—ngit elicit sanguinem Fiftly the like Vnconscionablenesse of your Romish Disputers is unmasked by laying open the Emphaticall Speeches of the Fathers concerning Baptisme answerable to their Sayings obiected for proofe of Transubstantiation in the Eucharist SECT VIII COncerning Baptisme we have heard already out of the Writings of Antiquity as efficacious Termes as you could obiect for the Eucharist First of the Party Baptized Changed into a new Creature Secondly that no Sensible thing is delivered in Baptisme Thirdly that The Baptized is not the same but changed into Christ his flâ—sh Fourthly to thinke that It is not the Priest but God that Baptizeth who holdeth thy head Lastly Baptisme saith the Councell of Nice is to be considered not with the Eyes of the Body Of these already and hereafter much more in a Generall Synopsis reserved for the Eight Booke CHALLENGE ONly give us leane to spurre you a Question before we end this third Booke Seeing that Transubstantiation cannot properly be by your owne Doctrine except the Substance of Bread ceasing to be there remaine onely the Accidents thereof this Position of the continuance of Onely Accidents without a Subiect being your Positive Foundation of Transubstantiation Why is it that none of all your Romish Disputers was hitherto ever able to produce any one Testimony out of all the Volumes of Antiquity for proofe of this one point excepting only that of Cyril which hath beene as you haue heard egregiously abused and falsified Learne you to Answere this Question or else shame to obiect Antiquity any more but rather confesse your Article of Transubstantiation to be but a Bastardly Impe. Wee might enlarge our selves in this point of your Vnconscionablenesse in obiecting Testimonies of Fathers for proofe aswell of Transubstantiation as of the other Articles above-mentioned but that they are to be presented in their proper places to wit in the following Treatises concerning Corporall Presence Corporall Vnion Corporall Sacrifice of Christ's Body in the Sacrament and the Divine Adoration thereof so plainly that any man may be perswaded our Opposites meane no good Faith in arguing from the Iudgement of Ancient Fathers Hitherto of the First Romish Consequence THE FOVRTH BOOKE Treating of the second Romish Consequence arising
Praise and Thanksgiving to be a Sacrifice Eucharisticall And also to use the words of Calvin Latreuticall and Sebasticall that is a Sacrifice of Worship and Veneration which every Christian may and must professe who hath either eyes in his head or faith in his heart the Celebration of this Sacrament in Remembrance of his absolute Sacrifice of our Redemption being the Service of all Services that we can performe to God Now wherein and in what respect we may furthermore be said to offer to God a Sacrifice propitiatory improperly will after appeare when we consider Christ's Body as the Object herein That Protestants in their Commemoration offer up the same Body and Blood of Christ which was Sacrificed on the Crosse as the Object of Remembrance and most absolute Sacrifice of our Redemption SECT IV. NOw we are come to the last most true and necessary point which is the Body and Blood as the Object of our Commemoration Still still doe you urge the saying of Fathers where they affirme that we offer unto God The same Body and Blood of Christ on this Altar even the same which was sacrificed on the Crosse which therefore you interpret as being the same subject matter of our Commemoration As is a King acting himselfe upon a Stage as hath beene shewen We as instantly and more truly proclaime that we offer Commemoratively the same undoubtedly the very same Body and Blood of Christ his All sufficient Sacrifice on the Crosse although not as the subject of his proper Sacrifice but yet as the only adequate Object of our Commemoration as when the same murther of the Emperour Mauritius is represented in a Stage-play in some manner of Resemblance wherein we cannot possibly erre having Truth it selfe for our Guide who said Doe this in remembrance of me namely of the same Mee meaning Christ as crucified on the Crosse as the Apostle commenteth saying Hereby you shew the Lords Death till he come even the Same Body as the Same Death whereunto beare all the Fathers witnesse thorowout this Treatise Whereby it will be easie for us to discerne the subject Sacrifice of Christ from ours his being the Reall Sacrifice on the Crosse ours only the Sacramentall Representation Commemoration and Application thereof CHAP. VIII Of the Second Principall part of this Controversie which concerneth the Romish Sacrifice is as it is called Properly Propitiatory THis part is divided into an 1. Explication of that which you call Propitiatory 2. Application thereof for Remission of Sinnes The State of the Question of Propitiatory what it is SECT I. THe whole Difference standeth upon this whether the subject matter of our Representation in the hands of the Priest be properly a Propitiatory Sacrifice or no. Now Propitiatory is either that which pacifieth the wrath of God and pleaseth him by it's owne virtue and efficacy which as all confesse is only the Sacrifice of Christ in his owne selfe or else a thing is said to be Propitiatory and pleasing to God by God's gracious acceptance and indulgence The Romish professe the Sacrifice of their Masse to be such in the proper Virtue of that which the Priest handleth For the Tridentine faith concerning your Propitiatory Sacrifice is this viz. It is that whereby God being pacified doth pardon sinnes And least that there might be any ambiguity how it doth pacifie God whether by his gracious Acceptance or the Efficacie of offering your generall Romane Catechisme authorized both by your Councell of Trent and the then Pope Pius the fourth for the direction of your whole Church instructeth you all concerning your Sacrifice of the Masse that As it is a Sacrifice it hath an Efficacy and Virtue not onely of merit but also of satisfaction So they as truly setting downe the true nature of a Propitiatory Sacrifice as they doe falsly assume and apply it unto the Sacrifice of your Masse which Protestants abhor and impugne as a Doctrine most Sacrilegious and only grant the Celebration to be Propitiatory Improperly by God's Complacency and favourable acceptance wherewith he vouchsafeth to admit of the holy Actions and Affections of his faithfull Triall of all this is to be made by Scriptures Fathers by your owne Romish Principles and by the Doctrine of Protestants In the Interim be it knowne that our Church of England in her 31. Article faith of your Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Masse as it is taught by you that it is A Blasphemous Fable and Dangerous Deceit That the Romish Propitiatory Sacrifice hath no foundation in the Institution of Christ SECT II. YOur onely Objection is that Christ in the words of his first Institution said Take this is the new Testament in my Blood shed for you and for many for the Remission of sinnes Heare your Cardinall These words doe most evidently teach that Christ now in his Supper offered up his Blood for the sinnes of his Apostles So he But if this his Exposition of Christ's words be most evident alas what a number of other blinde Guides of great estimation among you hath your Church favoured pampered privileged and authorized who could see nothing in the words of Christ but the flat contrary namely that they were spoken in the Present Tense Tropically for the future not that it was then shed but that it was to be shed on the Crosse immediatly after among whom have beene reckoned Gregory de Valentia Salmeron Barradas three prime Iesuits your Bishop Iansenius yea and the Author of your Vulgar Translation And that you may the better discerne how hard the foreheads of your Cardinall of your Rhemists of Mr. Breerley and of such others are who have made that Objection you have beene likewise advertized that in the very tenor of your owne Romish Masse it selfe the word is expresly Effundetur It shall be shed We say in the Tenor of your Romish Masse published by the Authority of Pope Pius the fifth repeated by every one of your selves you being Romish Priests and accordingly beleeved of all the Professors of your Romish Religion Which Interpretation was furthermore confirmed by Fathers and by Scripture in the places objected and by a Reason taken from your owne Confession granting that Christ his Blood was not really shed in his last Supper This is that which we had to oppose unto that your Cardinal 's Most evident Argument as Sun-shine to Moone-light That many things are said to pacifie and please God which are not properly Propitiatorie by their owne Virtue according to Scriptures and your owne Confessions SECT III. IN Scripture our Mortification of the flesh is called a Sacrifice well-pleasing to God Rom. 12. 1. Almes Workes of Charity are likewise called Sacrifices wherewith God is delighted Heb. 13. 16. Comforting and cherishing the Ministers of God is called A Sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God Phil. 4. 18. So the Scripture And that Spirituall Sacrifices are more pleasing unto God than all the Hecatombs of Corporals could be is
saying The faithfull know it pretending that the like Circumspection cannot be shewed of Baptisme Sol. Even as upon the same Consideration they forbid speech of Baptisme expressely saying The faithfull know it and Inhibiting All except the Baptized to see it A second Note of Reverence is taken from the Efâ—ects Ob. Miracles were wrought by the Eucharist and at it Sol. They shew miracles wrought about Baptisme also A Third Ob. is grounded upon Reverence done by Angells because they are said to be Present and attendant at the Celebration of the Eucharist Sol. Namely as they are likewise said to be Present at Baptisme and to honour it with their Presence A fourth Ob. â—o come to the Communicants themselves ariseth from danger of Contempt even Such as to eat and drinke judgement to themselves Sol. So they who receive Baptisme unworthily receive their owne judgement A Fifth Ob. is for danger begetteth Dread from feare where with they are moved to approach to the Eucharist which therefore the Fathers call a Dreadfull Sacrament and causing horrour Sol. To wit as they call the words of Baptisime Terrible and it's Canons Dreadfull whereunto the Baptized are brought with feare Ob. 6. But none say the Fathers Communicateth of the Eucharist before he Adore And They first adore Christ say they speaking of men of yeares who are to be Baptized in his name Ob. 7. But the Fathers tell us They reverence the Eucharist Sol. True even as they say We reverence Baptisme wheresoever it is Ob. 8. Lastly they use a forme of Invocation upon the Eucharist thus Ob Divine Sacrament reveale unto us c. Sol. They doe so but in the same figurative manner of speech called Prosopapoeia wherein they as well use the same forme concerning Baptisme as thus Ob Water which hast washed our Saviour when hee was imbrâ—… blood c. CHALLENGE SO many Testimonies of Fathers so mainly insisted upon by vour Doctors for warrant of such Erroneous Superstitious Sacrilegious and Idolatrous Romish Doctrines and each one not more vehemently objected in the Question concerning the Eucharist than easily retorted and confuted by instancing in Baptisme what greater Evidence can any desire to be made of a wiâ—full Obstinacy that we say not madnes than this of your Disputers appeareth to be how much more if we should point at the other manifold Instances which we have prosecuted at large thorowout this whole Volume wherein their Vnconscionablenesse hath beene manifested in all passages to the Conscience of every indifferent Reader Yet were this their Guilt not so hainous it such their Obstinacie were not infected with some contagion of Perjury A Synopsis of manifold Overtures of Perjuries in Defence of the Romish Masse SECT IV. EVery Perjury presupposeth an Oath which you have in the Bull of Pope Pius IV. imposed upon every Ecclesiasticke subject to the Sea of Rome for the ratifying of the Beleefe of the many new Romish Articles contained therein as True Catholique and without which none can be saved The due proofe that the same Oath almost in each new Article maketh the Swearer obnoxious to Perjury is a Subject which would require a full Treatise for the which we are not altogether unprovided But we are to confine our selves to the Observations promised in our former Discourse in foure speciall points I. Overture of Perjury is in Swearing unto that which it called The Vulgar Latine Translation THis is decreed in the Councell of Trent to be Authenticall and not to be rejected upon any Pretence whatsoever Whereunto together with all other Decrees and Declarations of the same Councell you are sworne by the forme of Oath set downe in the foresaid Bull of the Pope The same Vulgar Translation professed by you to be Authenticall and that as you expound it it is Consonant unto the Originall the Hebrew and Greeke Texts hath notwithstanding beene rejected by your Cardinall and the Greek Translation urged for proofe of a Proper Sacrifice Even as it hath beene frequently excepted against by other learned Doctors in your Church after the Councell of Trent noting Errours therein not only by fault of Print but also such as happened by the Negligence or Ignorance of the Author thereof as is confessed notwithstanding that Inhibition in that Decree viz. Not to reject it upon any Pretence whatsoever Who to free themselves from Perjury make this Comment upon it that this restraint of Not rejecting it is only in matter of Faith good manners Which is also your Cardinall his Evasion but is no better than a lurking hole and so seemeth it to be to your two Iesuites Azorius and Valentia who thinke that Oath to be violated if the Vulgar Latine be rejected at all as lesse true than the Originalls And your Spanish Inquisitors finding urged in one of your Romish Doctors the Rule of Hierome and Augustine which is that no Translation Latine or other be further allowed than as it agreeth with the Originalls they faire and cleanly wipe it out saying that Although that which Hierome and Augustine taught be true yet now since the Councell of Trent it is not lawfull to reject the same Translation upon any pretence whatsoever So they And so farre unsatisfied are your Doctors in taking this Oath We are furthermore not destitute of matter for a large Consutation first of your assuming S. Hierome as the Author of your Vulgar Latine Translation to manifest that it is no more the Translation of Hierome or yet of any one Author than the divers cloathes of a mans body from head to foot can be called the worke of one singular work-man Secondly concerning the Authority thereof you professe it to be Authenticall that is as you have defined Conformable to the Originall Hebrew and Greeke although it may be as easily proved not to be that Antient Vulgar which had continued as the Decree speaketh from divers ages than the Ship of Theseus which after some ages had beene so thorowly battered and pierced that at last the keele and bottome thereof did only remaine which could be called the Same But passing by all further Dispute wee shall referre you to the judgement of the Patrones of the former Rule so insolently contemned by the Spanish Inquisitors as you have heard by one Instance which may be sufficient in it selfe for triall of the Case now in hand The Text of Scripture is Ephes 1. 14. in the Latine Translation even in that which is set forth by Pope Clement as The most accurate Edition thus You are sealed with the spirit of promise which is the Pledge of your inheritance But in the Greeke it is You are sealed with the spirit of promise which is the Earnest of your inheritance The Question is whether of these is to be preferred and Hierome and Augustine are ready to resolve you