say so saith he they acknowledge that it is not what it was before Ibid. and that the Bread and the Wine have been changed Now we see there is no corporal change passed they must then of necessity confess the change is passed in some other regard than in respect of the Bodies from whence he concludes That they must be constrained to deny Ibid. either that it is the Body or Blood of Jesus Christ which is not to be permitted to say nor even to think or if they confess that it is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ seeing that cannot be without there was a change for the better that this change is passed Corporally Then it follows that it is passed Spiritually that is to say Ibid. Figuratively inasmuch as the Spiritual body and the Spiritual blood of Jesus Christ is under the Vail of bodily Bread and corporal Wine And to inform us clearly of his intention he adds It is not that two several things exist in the Sacrament one whereof is Corporal and the other Spiritual no but it is one and the same thing that in one regard is the Element of Bread and Wine and in another regard is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Ibid. for in regard of what we touch Corporally they be the Elements or bodily Creatures but in regard of what they were made Spiritually they be the Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ He also affirms That what we receive outwardly in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is proper to nourish the Body And from thence passing to the Examination of the second Question to wit Ibid. whether that which Believers do receive with the mouth daily in the Church by the Mystery of the Sacraments be the same Body that was born of the Virgin Mary that suffered and was buried and which sitteth on the Right Hand of God He thus explains himself These Creatures in regard of their substance Ibid. are after Consecration the same they were before they were Bread and Wine and it is visible that they remain in the same kind although they be consecrated The Change then which passes here by the power of the Holy Ghost is internal what Faith beholds doth nourish the Soul and communicates unto it the substance of Life eternal And again Ibid. The Flesh of Jesus Christ which was crucified was made of the Flesh of the Virgin Mary composed of Bones and Sinews divided by the Lineaments of Members furnished with a reasonable Soul from which it received life and motion But as for the spiritual Flesh which spiritually feedeth the faithful people it is made according to what it is outwardly of Grains of Wheat by the hands of the Baker without Bones and Nerves without diversity of Members without a reasonable Soul or exercising any Life or Motion for all that is in it which communicates Life unto us proceeds from a spiritual Vertue from an invisible Efficacy and from a divine Benediction Therefore it is quite another thing in regard of what appears outwardly from what is believed of the Mystery whereas the Flesh of Jesus Christ which was crucified is not inwardly what it appears to be outwardly because it is the Flesh of a real Man and by consequence a true Body existing in the form of a true Body It must also be considered that the Body of Jesus Christ is not alone represented in this Bread but that the Body of the faithful people is therein figured also Therefore it is that the Bread is made of divers Grains because the Body of the people is composed of many Believers and as the Bread is the Body of Jesus Christ mystically the numbers of the people which believe in Jesus Christ are therein also represented mystically and as this Bread is the Body of Believers not corporally but spiritually it is also necessary to understand the Body of Jesus Christ not corporally but spiritually So also it is commanded to mingle Water with the Wine which is called the Blood of Jesus Christ and it is not permitted to offer the one without the other because the People cannot be without Jesus Christ nor Jesus Christ without the People as the Head cannot subsist without the Members nor the Members without the Head and the Water in this Sacrament bears the Image of the People If this Wine sanctified by the Ministry of Priests were corporally changed into the Blood of Christ it would be necessary that the Water which is therein also mingled should be corporally changed into the Blood of faithful Believers for where there is one and the same Sanctification there must be also of necessity one Operation and where this is one and the same reason there will also be one and the same Mystery Now we see there is no Change made in the Water according to the Body therefore by consequence it must follow that there is no bodily Change made in the Wine All that is signified by the Water in regard of the Body of the People is taken spiritually all then that is signified by the Wine in reference to the Blood of Jesus Christ ought necessarily to be understood spiritually Besides the things which do differ in themselves are not one and the same things The Body of Jesus Christ which suffered and is risen again was made immortal and dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him he is eternal and cannot die Now this Body which is celebrated in the Church is temporal and not eternal corruptible and not incorruptible it is in the way and not in the Country they do then differ therefore they be not the same then if they be not the same how is it that they call them the real Body of Jesus Christ and his real Blood For if it be the Body of Jesus Christ and that one may truly say so the Body of Jesus Christ being incorruptible impassible and by consequence eternal It must necessarily follow that this Body of Jesus Christ which is made in the Church should be incorruptible and eternal but it cannot be denied but that it is corruptible because being broken in pieces it is divided unto Believers which receive it and being eaten with the Teeth it is swallowed down and goeth into the Belly What we do exteriorly is then another thing from what we believe by Faith what regards the sense of the Body is corruptible but what is believed by Faith is incorruptible What appears outwardly is not the thing it self but the Image of the thing and what the heart feeleth and understandeth is the reality of the thing In fine for the whole Book must be transcribed if all should be alledged that makes directly contrary unto the Doctrine of Paschas Ibid. he thus concludes the whole Treatise Let your Wisdom consider illustrious Prince that we have very clearly proved by the Testimony of the holy Scripture and by Passages of the holy Fathers
1. c. 10. Isidore of Sevil The reading of the word of God is of no small profit unto those which hearken unto it therefore when one sings all must sing and when one prays all must pray when one reads let all hearken It is the same thing in keeping silence for although some one supply at reading let him be cuntent to worship God and having made the sign of the Cross let him hearken attentively there is a time to pray when all do pray to pray in private there is also a time do not lose the reading under pretext of prayer because one cannot always have the opportunity of reading whereas one may pray when they will therefore the Deacon with a loud voice commands silence to the end that whether we sing or read unity may be kept by all and that what is preached unto all may equally be heard by all Lib. 3. c. 9. Amalarius treating of Divine offices The prayer of the Priest is called by the one and the other name that is by the name of Blessing and by the name of Prayer the Apostle saith of blessing if thou bless in the spirit how shall the ignorant know to say Amen seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest S. Ambrose calls this Benediction a prayer saying for the ignorant hearing what he understandeth not knoweth not the scope of the prayer and saith not Amen that is so be it to the end the benediction should be confirmed for the confirmation of the prayer is compleated by those which say Amen Cassander in his Liturgies cites these words out of an antient Manuscript of the Roman order Cap. 36. of the Ordination of Readers The benediction of Readers O Lord Holy Father O eternal omnipotent God be pleased to bless these thy servants N.N. to perform the office of Readers to the end that being diligent in reading they may be fit to declare the word of Life and to instruct the people in things to be understood by the distinction of the Spirit and of the Voice And the Roman Pontifical Imprinted at Venice Anno 1582. speaking of the Ordination of Readers Pontif. Rom. p. 8. The Reader must read what he doth preach and that he sing the Lessons c. Study therefore to pronounce distinctly and clearly without Lying or any fraud the Words of God that is to say the holy Lessons for the Instruction and Edification of Believers to the end that the verity of Divine Lessons may not be corrupted through your negligence to the prejudice of those who hear and believe with the heart what you read with the mouth to the end you may teach your Hearers both by your word and example Now let us come to the Celebration of the Eucharist to see also if it was not done in a Language understood by the Communicants In the first place all the antient Liturgies are full of the Answers of the people who could not have answered if they had not understood what the Priest said in officiating and in celebrating and the thing is so evident that there is no need to produce many Proofs of it there 's no need but to look into the Liturgies which we have to see if the people do not therein often speak for instance St. Cyprian informs us and all the Liturgies after him That the people were prepared unto the Communion by this warning Lift up your hearts and the people answered We lift them up unto thee O Lord. From thence it was that Gregory of Nazianzen said of Nonna his Mother in his 13th Oration That her voice was never heard in the holy Assemblies excepting at the necessary and mystical words Secondly Tertullian Cornelius Bishop of Rome St. Cyrill of Jerusalem and several others do teach That the Communicants answered Amen in receiving the Sacrament therefore of necessity it must needs be that they spake to them in a Language which was understood by them In the third place it was antiently the custom amongst Christians that when the Pastor had made an end of the Prayer wherewith he consecrated the Eucharist all the people joyning their Vows were wont to say with a loud voice Amen that is to say So be it So be it done an evident sign that the Prayer of him who consecrated was understood by them This is what may be seen in Justin Martyr's second Apology whose Testimony shall suffice in so evident a matter to add another which not only justifies the Language to be understood of the people in the Celebration of the Eucharist but also in the Administration of Baptism It is of Denys of Alexandria in a Letter which he wrote unto Sixtus Bishop of Rome wherein he speaks of one of the Brethren who was present with others at the Assemblies of the Church and who was supposed of a long time to have been a Believer that is to say to have been Baptized Apud Euseb hist Eccles l. 7. c. 9. he saith then of him That he had assisted at the Baptism of those which had of late been Baptised and that he had heard their Questions and their Answers afterwards speaking of the Eucharist He had saith he often heard the Prayers and answered Amen with the rest And I am apt to believe that St. Paul alluded unto this custom when he saith in the fourteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians In Cap. 14.1 ad Coriâ—â—h If you bless with the Spirit how shall the Ignorant say Amen unto your Prayers for he knoweth not what you say And I find that the Deacon Hilary in St. Ambrose his Works doth judge that the Apostle doth there hint at some amongst the Jews who to make themselves the more considerable sometimes used the Syriack Tongue and oftener the Hebrew in Sermons and at the Oblations in presence of the Greeks Venerable Bede observes in his Ecclesiastical History That the unity of the Faith was kept in England in five Languages by five several Nations the English Britans Scotch that is Irish the Picts and the Latins And what he saith of the unity of the Faith ought if I mistake not to be understood also of the unity of Worship in essential things for as each of those Nations retained the unity of the Faith in their own Language which was very different from each other so they had the service and Worship in their own Language The Reader may take notice if he please That Bede departed this Life about the middle of the Eighth Century and if from the Eighth we pass to the Ninth Century we shall find the Sclavonians celebrating Divine Service in their Mother-Tongue which was allowed them by the Pope at the request of one Cyrill who had been instrumental in their Conversion Aeneas Sylvius afterwards Pope under the name of Pius the second thus relates it in his History of Bohemia Hist Bohem. c. 13. It is said that Cyrill being at Rome desired the Pope that he might be suffered to say Divine Service
this holy Religion of the Son of God for in all their Apologies they spake not one word of the external Sacrifices of Christians though they were not ignorant that it had been the fittest and most effectual way to have invited the Pagans and Jews unto the Profession of the Gospel on the contrary they explain themselves so clearly on this matter that it is not to be wondered at that their Enemies should shun a Religion wherein by the confession and owning of those very persons who defended it by the purity and innocency of their writings there were no such Sacrifices as those whom they desired to convert did look for and expect for instance St Justin Martry retorting the calumny of Atheism and Impiety wherewith the Jews and Pagans endeavoured to slander our holy Religion by reason thereof is content to say Just Marr. Apol. 2. vel 1. p. 58 60. That there are no other Sacrifices to be made but Prayers and giving Thanks which sweeten all the other Oblations which we make unto God to honour him as we are bound and according to his Merit Id. Ep. ad Diogn p. 495 496. And in another part of his Works he rejects the Sacrifices of Jews and Pagans but without assigning unto Christians any which to speak properly may be so called He also doth almost the very same in disputing against Tryphon the Jew Id. contr Tryph. p. 238 239 240. wherein he sheweth that the Service of God doth not consist in their Sacrifices and that therefore is the reason Christians do not offer any without saying they have others different from theirs he indeed confesseth in the same Dialogue That the Christians offer unto God an Oblation well pleasing in his sight according to the Prophecy of Malachy when they do celebrate their Eucharist of Bread and Wine And when his Adversary explains these Oblations and Sacrifices of Malachy of Prayers and Invocations which those of the Jewish Nation who were in Captivity addressed unto our Lord for removing their Calamity and Misery St. Justin makes this Answer Ibid. p. 344 345. I fay also That the Prayers and Thanksgivings of Saints and Believers are the only Sacrifices perfect and well pleasing unto God and that they be the only Sacrifices which Christians have learned to make even then it self when they celebrate the Sacrament It is what he designs by the wet and dry Food and it is therein he saith that they shew forth a commemoration of the Death of the Lord. Afterwards this holy Doctor observes That in the days of Malachy there were no Jews scattered abroad over the World whereas amongst all Nations and all Countries of the World at the time our glorious Martyr wrote there were offered unto God the Creator of all things Prayers and Thanksgivings in the Name of Christ Jesus whence it is that he saith of Christians in general Ibid. p. 314. C. That they are a Royal Priesthood offering unto God holy and agreeable Sacrifices God not accepting any but of his own Priests Athenagoras in his Apology for the Christians making himself the same objection that Justin Martyr did on the behalf of the Enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ answereth no otherwise than he had done he represents That God who made all things hath no need of Blood of Odors Flowers nor Perfumes That the great Sacrifice which he desires is That we should know him That we should be instructed in the greatness of his power whereby he hath stretched out the Heavens gathered the Waters together in the Sea divided betwixt Light and Darkness beautified the Sky with Stars caused the Earth to encrease created Beasts and made Man That it sufficeth to lift up pure hands to him who standeth not in need of any other Oblation or more splendid Sacrifice Athenag pro Christ p. 13. Minut. in Octav. Whereunto he adds But what need have I to be troubled for Offerings and Sacrifices seeing God careth not for them he requires an unbloody Sacrifice a reasonable Service and when the Pagan asks this Question of the Christian in Minutius Felix Wherefore the Christians have no Temples nor Altars the Christian answers Do you think that we do conceal what we worship under a shew that we have no Temples nor Altars and thereupon he makes this excellent reflection worthy of the School of Jesus Christ That the Sacrifice which ought to be offered unto God is a good Soul a pure Conscience and Faith unfeigned That to live uprightly do Justice abstain from Evil and hinder his Neighbour from hurt is to offer a fat Sacrifice These are our Sacrifices Orig. contr Cels l. 8. p. 389. ult Edit saith he this is our Service The Philosopher Celsus in Origen reproaching Christians that they have no Altars this learned Man agrees with the Pagan and confesseth that by consequence they also had no Sacrifice because there is a strict relation betwixt a a true Altar and a Sacrifice properly so called And in the same Book Ibid. p. 487. he opposeth unto the Sacrifices offered by the Pagans for the Emperours the Prayers which Christians made for the conservation of their persons the prosperity of their souls and the establishing of their Empire and saith That by them they fought like Priests of God which made Tertullian say as was before mentioned Tertul. Apol. C. 30. That the fairest and fattest Sacrifice which God requires is prayer from a pure heart an innocent soul and a holy mind and that 't is that also which they offer for the preservation of the Emperours It is of prayer also that he explains in the same work Ibid. c. 39. this excellent Oblation and that he saith elsewhere That that is done by prayer only which God hath commanded Ibid. ad Scap. c. 2. Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 7. p. 707. because the Creator of the Vniverse hath no need of Blood and of Incense And Clement of Alexandria doth not he make this Declaration That we do not sacrifice unto God who standeth in need of nothing but that we do glorifie him that was sacrificed for us in sacrificing of our own selves that we honour him by prayers Ibid. p. 717. that we do justly offer unto him this most excellent and most holy Sacrifice Ibid. that the Altar which we have upon Earth is the Assembly of those which are dedicated unto prayer as if they had but one heart and one mind Ibid. p. 719. That the Sacrifice of the Church is the Word which like sweet Incense proceeds from devout souls That the truly sound Altar is the just upright soul That not sumptuous Sacrifices should be offered unto God but such as may be acceptable unto him That the Sacrifices of Christians are prayers praises Ibid. p. 728. the reading the holy Scriptures Hymns and Psalms the instructing the ignorant and liberality to the Poor But nothing can be seen clearer and more positive than what is
it that is either to oblige the people to adore it or for some other reason The first that I can find who explained the cause and reason of this Elevation was German Patriarch of Constantinople in his Theory of Ecclesiastical things where he very curiously inquires the mystical reasons of what was practised in the Church and particularly in the celebration of Divine Mysteries a Treatise which most Authors attribute unto German who lived in the VIII Century and some unto another of the same name who was Patriarch in the XII After all the Author of this Theory being come unto the Inquiry of this Elevation crept into the Church about the VI. Century doth sufficiently give to understand that it intended not the adoration of the Sacrament but only to represent the Elevation of our Saviour upon the Cross Germ. Constantinop in Theor. t. 12. Bibl. Patr. p. 407. and that was its lawful and genuine use and end The Elevation of the pretious body saith he represents unto us the Elevation on the Cross the Death of our Lord upon the Cross and his Resurrection also As for the Latins the first that I remember who bethought himself of finding out a Mystery in the same Elevation was Ives of Chartres at the end of the XI Century but all the Mystery that he therein found was no more than had been found by this Patriarch of Constantinople near 300. years before him When the Bread and the Cup saith he are lifted up by the Ministry of the Deacon Ivo Carnens Ep. de Sacrif Miss t. 2. Bibl. Patr. p. 602. there is Commemoration made of the lifting up of the Body of Christ upon the Cross And as this is the first among the Latins who in the Elevation of the Sacrament hath discovered the Mystery of the Elevation of our Lord upon the Cross so also is he the first of the Latin Church if I mistake not who hath writ of this Elevation for there is no mention of it neither in S. Gregory nor in S. Isidore of Sevil who both flourished in the beginning of the VII Century nor in Amalarius Fortunatus nor in Rabunus Archbishop of Mayence nor in Walafridus Strabo nor in the pretended Alcuin Authors partly of the IX and partly of the X. Century although they all of them wrote of Divine Offices and indeavoured to discover the Mystical significations of all things practised in Religion in their times and especially in the Sacrament unless it were Gregrory the first who only left a Liturgy for the Celebration of the Sacrament It s true that at the end of Rabanus his first Book of the Institution of Clerks there is seen a Fragment by way of supplement wherein mention is made of the Elevation whereof we treat but against the truth of the Manuscripts wherein this Fragment is not to be found besides what the thing it self evidently declares that this Famous Prelate was not the Author of it Moreover the Author whosoever he was with German and Ives of Chartres refers the Elevation he mentions unto the Elevation of the Body of Jesus Christ upon the Cross The Elevation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the Priest Adject ad Raban l. 1. de offic Bibl. patr t. 10. p. 586. Hug. de St. Victor l. 2. c. 28. de Miss observat Bibl. Patr. t. 10. p. 1408. and by the Deacon imports saith he his Elevation on the Cross for the salvation of the World Hugh of St. Victor an Author of the XII Century discourseth no other wise of this Mystery The Priest saith he after the sign of the Cross lifts with both hands the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and a little after lays it down which signifies the Elevation of Jesus Christ on the Cross and his laying down into the Grave The Learned of the Communion of Rome agree in all this with the Protestants and James Goar of the Order of preaching Fryers in his Notes upon the Ritual of the Greek Church observes Goar in Eucholog p. 146. n. 158. That it is not certainly known when the lifting up the Host was joyned unto the Consecration in the Latin Church and rejects the Opinion of Durandus who maintained it had never been separated from it and he proves his by the silence of the Writers above mentioned unto whom he joyns the Author of the Micrologue who lived by every bodies confession in the XI Century and the Roman Order which some suppose was writ at the same time And he saith that both these speak of the Elevation of the Oblation Ord. Rom. t. 10. Bibl. patr p. 15. which is true as to the Micrologue but as for the Roman Order it indeed makes mention of the Elevation of the Cup by the Deacon for as for the Elevation of the Host that is to say the consecrated Bread by the Bishop Goar ubi supra I find no mention thereof in the whole Book howsoever Goar gives to be understood that the Elevation spoken of by these two Authors tended not unto Adoration when he observes that it was not joyned unto Consecration but that it was made at the end of the Canon very near the Lords Prayer Hugh Maynard Hug. Menard in Sacram. Greg. p. 373 374 375. a Benedictine Fryer explains himself so fully in his Notes upon Gregory the first in his Book of Sacraments that nothing more can be said than what he hath written Now saith he in the Latin Church as soon as the Bread and Wine is consecrated they are lifted up that the people there present might adore them which practice I do not judge to be antient seeing there is no mention thereof to be found in our Books of the Sacraments Printed nor Written nor in Pamelius nor in the Roman Order nor in Alcuin Amalarius Walafridus Rabanus who have fully explained the Order of the Mass nor in the Micrologue who hath also very exactly laboured in the same Subject Afterwards this learned Fryer observes that it is clearer than the Sun at Noon day if the XV. Chapter of the Author of the Micrologue be considered who would not have failed to have writ of this Ceremony had it been used in his time that is in the XI Century because he makes mention of lifting up the Bread and the Cup together before the Lords Prayer which also appears more at large in the twenty third Chapter of the same Treatise Nevertheless he excepts the Mozarabick Office wherein mention is made of two Elevations of the Host one of which is made presently after Consecration and the other after these words Let us declare with the Mouth what we believe with the Heart but at the same time he saith by Parenthesis if nothing hath been added and to say the truth there is great likelyhood that it is an addition made since the introducing into the Latin Church the custom of lifting up the Host immediately after Consecration that it might be
they were present in the Assemblies where the Sacrament was Celebrated and if they neglected Chrysost Hom. 3. in Ep. ad Ephes the Holy Fathers rebuked them with a holy zeal in their Sermons witness what S. Chrysostom saith That it is in vain the daily Sacrifice is made that 't is in vain that Ministers assist at the Altar when there is no body present to receive And he adds That it is a boldness and impudence to be present at the Action and not to participate Therefore it is that elsewhere he considers the Eucharist as a Meal which ought to be common unto Believers The Lords Supper saith he ought to be common Id. Hom. 27. in Ep. 1. ad Cor. for our Lords goods are not for one servant to the exclusion of another but for altogether in common The Apostle therefore calls this Supper of the Lord the common Supper for it is our Lords therefore you ought not to appropriate it unto your self and to exclude and hinder others but make it common unto all us being the Supper of the Lord and Master of all These were also the thoughts of the Authour of the Commentaries upon S. Paul's Epistles in S. Jerom's Works which he expresses in these words In c. 11. Ep. 1. ad Cor. The Supper of the Lord should be common unto all because he gave the Sacraments unto all his Disciples alike But the ancient Doctors were not content to censure those who did not Communicate being in the Assembly and to shew them that the nature of the Sacrament invited them all unto the Communion they moreover made Rules and Directions against this abuse It is whereunto tends this Decree of the Council of Antioch Assembled Anno 341. Those who enter into the Assembly Concil Antioch c. 2. and do heart he holy Scriptures and by a disordered liberty do not join in prayer with the people depriving themselves of the participation of the holy Sacrament must be put out of the Assembly And in the Canons commonly called the Apostles after the VIII Canon hath condemned and deprived of the Communion of Divine Mysteries those amongst the Clergy who without lawful cause abstain from the participation of the Sacrament as being a stumbling-block to the people the Ninth makes this Decree Can. 9. Apostol All the Believers who enter into the Assembly and hear the Scriptures read but stay not for the prayers nor receive the holy Sacrament let them be cast out because they are an offence to the Church Accordingly the Constitutions called Apostolical ordain Constit Apostol l. 8. c. 11. That the Deacon should stand at the Mens Door and the sub-Deacon at the Womens Door to hinder that none should go out during the time of Oblation Which conduct teacheth us that as before the Comunion the Deacon cry'd All you which are under penance you which cannot pray Chrysostâ— Hom. 3. in Ephes that is with the Believers go out So in like manner he hindred Believers who were all bound to Communicate That they should not go out until they had received the holy Sacrament It is by this Maxim that the Deceiver who forged some Decretals in S. Clement's name makes him say in the second Pseudo Clem. decret 2. Greg. I. l. Sacram p. 235. That Sacrifices should be offered according to the number of the people S. Gregory makes the same Decree when he requires That there be laid on the Altar as many Oblations as need for the people And the first Decretal which falsely bears the name of Pope Anaclet commands Anaclet decret 1. That the Consecration being ended all those should communicate that would not be thrust out of the Church it was certainly for the same reason that the Deacon Greg. I. l. 2. dâ—al as Gregory the First witnesseth said aloud Let all those which do not communicate depart out of the Church whence it may be concluded that all those which remained did communicate It is also the Instruction given unto us by the Micrologue whose Author wrote in the Eleventh Century after the death of Gregory the Seventh who died Anno 1084. and of whom this Writer speaks as a Man of a good fame an Epithete as spoken of one deceased It is to be observed saith he that according to the Ancient Fathers Micrologâ—â— 51. none were to be present at the Divine Mysteries but such as did communicate and it is what the Consecration of the Sacraments do plainly declare for the Priest doth not pray only for his own Oblation and Communion but also for that of others And although in the time of this Author that is in the Eleventh Century and before the fervour and zeal of Christians was very much abated we do not find that they ever approved to celebrate the Sacrament without Communicants on the contrary the Councils and those which have written of Divine Offices do not own any celebration to be lawful without there are some to communicate with the Priest who officiates In that sense is to be understood what is said by Walafridus Strabo Walafr Strab. de Beb. Eccles c. 22. Extr. That in a Lawful Mass there should be a Priest one that answers one that offers and one that communicates And therefore 't is that the Council of Mayence Assembled by Charles the Great Anno 813. made this Decree We conceive that no Priest can say Mass alone for how can he say The Lord be with you or how shall he warn Lift up your hearts and many other like things there being none present but himself Which is repeated in the 48th Canon of the Council of Paris under Lewis the Debonair Cap. 7. Anno 829. An Advertisement That Theodulph Bishop of Orleans gives his Priests Anno 797. Cap. 28. And Herard Archbishop of Tours unto his Anno 858. The Canonist Gratian represents unto us this Institution of Pope Soter in his Decree Grat. de Cons Dist 1. c. Soter That no Priest dare presume to celebrate Masses unless there are two persons present and that he make a third because he saith in the plural The Lord be with you and Pray for me Now it appears that this Doctrine is grounded upon the prayers of the Liturgies being publick and having for their object not one or two Persons only but all the Faithful in general who ought to communicate also all the Liturgies Ancient and Modern and all those who have commented upon them give sufficiently to understand that they have been all composed and written in behalf of Communicants without whom they were so far from celebrating the Sacrament that Justin Martyr tells us That it was sent unto those who were absent which sheweth they looked upon the Sacrament as a Seal and Pledge of the Communion amongst Believers And therefore I suppose it is that the Council of Laodicea Concil Laodic c. 58. forbids it to be celebrated in private Houses this Divine Sacrament being appointed in nature
of the Canons of the Church of Africa and it is there inserted something different but yet in such a manner as doth not alter the Sense Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 17. c. 5. St. Austin is no less positive when he declares That to eat the Bread is under the New Testament the Sacrifice of Christians Cyril in Joan. l. 4. c. 14 l. 12. Hesych in Levit. l. 6. c. 2â— And St. Cyril of Alexandria saith That in the Eucharist Jesus Christ distributed and gave Bread unto his Disciples For the same Reason Hesychius assures us that The Oblation of Jesus Christ is performed in Bread and Wine Eudox. Bibl. Patr. t. 14. p. 130. The Princess Eudoxia Wife unto the Emperour Theodosius the younger may take place amongst all these Witnesses which we have alledged her Deposition being of no less moment than the rest seeing she speaks according to the Instructions given her in the Church when she saith That our Lord having broke Bread gave it unto his Friends Apud Phot. Bibl. Cod. 115. that is to say unto his Disciples An Anonymous Author in Photius his Library assures That Jesus Christ in his Mystical Supper gave unto his Disciples Bread and Wine The sixteenth Council of Toledo Concil Tolet. 16. c. 6. held in the Year 693 saith twice That the Lord breaking a whole Loaf gave it to be taken in parcels by his Disciples And the Council in Trullo Anno 691 Council in Trul. c. 32. take and apply unto themselves the 24th Canon of the Council of Carthage where it is forbidden to offer any thing but what Jesus Christ gave to wit Bread and Wine mingled with Water Secondly The same Fathers testify that the Bread of the Sacrament is Bread which is broken I will not here make use of the Testimonies of those which positively affirm that our Lord did break Bread in his Sacrament as Clement of Alexandria Origen Juvencus St. Hilary St. Austin St. Cyril of Alexandria the Empress Eudoxia the XVI Council of Toledo c. I will restrain my self at present unto those which say that we therein break Bread as the Author of the Epistles under the Name of St. Ignatius for he speaks of breaking one Bread and saith Ignat. ep ad Ephes ad Philad Recognit l. 6. ad sin Pasch 1. there is one Bread broken unto all And the Author of Recognitions observes of St. Peter that he broke the Eucharist Theophilus of Alexandria saith that we break the Bread for our own Sanctification St. Chrysostome that was the object of his Persecution and Harred was of the same Mind when he said Wherefore did the Apostle when he spake of Bread Chrysost hom 24. in 1 ad Cor. say which we break for that is seen to be done in the Sacrament This is also what St. Austin testifies when he saith Aust ep 86. ep 59. Id. Serm. 140. de Temp. c. 2. Fulg. de Bapt. Aeâ—hiop Isid Hispal de Off. Eccl. l. 1. cap. 18. Act. 2. 20. That the Bread is broken in the Sacrament of the Body of Jesus Christ and that what is upon the Lord's Table is divided into little Bits to be distributed And elsewhere that the breaking of the Bread should comfort us St. Fulgentius thus reads the Words of St. Paul The Loaves which we break And St. Isidore of Sevil The Bread saith he which we break is the Body of Jesus Christ. We see also that St. Luke means the Sacrament of the Eucharist by the breaking of Bread which the Syriac Interpreter hath expressed by the breaking of the Sacrament and where St. Luke saith that the Disciples were met together to break Bread he hath render'd it We were met together to break the Eucharist Therefore 't is that the holy Fathers which speak of breaking Bread speak also of dividing it in pieces As when Clement of Alexandria observes Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 1. pag. 271. Aug. cont Don post Col. c. 6. Cypr. de laps Cyril Aleâ— in Joan. l. 4. c. 14. that the Eucharist being divided each of the People took part of it And St. Austin that Judas and Peter received each of them a Piece And St. Cyprian speaks of a Woman which had lockt in her Chest a Portion of the Eucharist There 's nothing more common in their Writings whence came the Terms of Parts Morsels Portions which were common so long time in the Church and which made them say that Jesus Christ gave Morsels of Bread unto his Disciples And that but a little is taken witness what Eusebius saith of a Priest of Alexandria that he sent by a young Boy unto Serapion a little Euseb Hist l. 6. c. 441 Aug. Serm. 35. de verb. Dom. cap. 5. or part of the Eucharist And St. Austin that we receive but a little and are fatned by it inwardly in the Heart Unto this Consideration may be added the constant Tradition of the Church whereon we have largely insisted in the VIII Chapter of the first Part where we have shewn that the holy Fathers have unanimously deposed that the Sacrifice of Christians is a Sacrifice of Bread and Wine In the third place speaking of the Eucharist they say That it is a Aug. serm 34 de divers c. 28. Corn b Eudox. in § 36. Arnob in p. 4. Wheat c Theod. dial 1 Fruit of the Vine d Sedul in op Pasch c. 14. l. 4 the Fruit of the Harvest and the Joy of the Vine e Isid Hisp l. 6. orig c. 19. the Fruits of the Earth f Tertul. cont Marc. l. 1. c. 14. the Blessings of the Creator g Iren. l. 4. c. 34 l. 5. c. 4 8. Creatures of this World h Clem. Alex. Paedag. l. z c. 2. the Blood of the Vine the Liquor of Joy i Cypr. ep 76. 63. Bread made of several Grains Wine pressed out of several Grapes k Orig. contra Cels l. 8. Breads or Loaves in the plural number l Just Mart. contra Tryph. wet ard dry Food They say moreover That it is the Bread of the Eucharist as St. Basil m Basil de Sp. S. c. 27. the Mystery of Bread and Wine as St. Gaudentius Bishop of Bresscia n Gaud. tract 2. in Exod. 14. the Sacrament of Bread and Wine St. Austin o Aug. contra Faust l. 20. c. 13 the Sacrament of Bread and of the Cup as St. Fulgentius p Fulg. ad Monum c. 11. the Sacrament of Bread as Bede q Bed Hom. 2. Fer. de pasch that it is not common Bread as Justin Martyr in his second Apology Ireneus l. 4. c. 34. Cyril of Jerusalem Mystag 3. and Gregory of Nysse in Baptism Christ pag. 802. tom 2. The Fathers rest not there they positively affirm that it is Bread and Wine Clement of Alexandria r Clem. Alex. Paedag l. 2. c. 2. What our Saviour blessed saith he was Wine
Devils by the eating of Meats consecrated unto Idols The Author of the Commentaries of St. Paul's Epistles in St. Jerom's Works interpreting these Words The Bread which we break c. makes this Observation Apud Hieron in c. 10.1 Cor. In like manner it appears that the Idolatrous Bread is the participation of Devils and upon these you cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils c. You cannot saith he be partakers of God and of Devils Theodoret said something of this kind upon these Words Theod in c. 10.1 Cor. t. 3. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table c. How saith he can it be that we should communicate of the Lord by his precious Body and Blood and that we should also communicate of Devils in eating what hath been offered unto Idols It was also the Language of Primasius an African Bishop Primas in c. 10. 1 Cor. t. 1 Bib. Patr. who makes these Reflections upon the same Words Even so the Bread of Idols is the participation of Devils you cannot have Fellowship with God and Devils Ibid. because you would participate of both Tables Sedulius speaks almost the same The second Doctrine which results from the Hypothesis of the Fathers is That considering that the Death of Christ is the cause of our Life which Life consists in the Sanctification of our Souls by means whereof we have Communion with God which is the lively Fountain of Life and therefore before Conversion we are said to be dead they have attributed unto the Sacrament the vertue of sanctifying and quickning us This is the sense of Theophilue of Alexandria Theoph. Ep. Pasch 2. saying That we break the Bread of the Lord for our Sanctification Hilary Deacon of Rome or the Author of the Commentaries upon St. Paul's Epistles under the Name of St. Ambrose be he whom it will assures us Apud Ambros in c. 11.1 Cor That altho this Mystery was celebrated at Supper yet it is not a Supper but a Spiritual Medicine which purifieth those which draw near with Devotion and which receive it with respect Gelas de duab nat Christ Pope Gelasius testifies That the Sacraments of the Body and Blood of Christ render us partakers of the Divine Nature Aug. tract 27. in Joan. In Anaceph Therefore St. Austin will have us to eat and drink of it for the participation of the Holy Ghost Therefore it is St. Epiphanius saith That there is in the Bread a vertue to vivify us which is that influence of Life mentioned by St. Cyril CHAP. IV. A Continuance of the Doctrine of the Holy Fathers ALthough the Holy Fathers have hitherto sufficiently explained themselves and that they have fully declared what was their Belief touching the Nature of the Eucharist in saying That it is true Bread and true Wine and that this Bread and Wine are the Signs the Images and the Figures of the Body and Blood of our Lord but Signs accompanied if it may be so said with the Majesty of his own Person and filled with the quickning Vertue of his Divine Body broken for us called his Body and Blood by reason of the Resemblance because they are the Symbols and Sacraments the Memorials of his Person and of his Death because they are unto us instead of his Body and Blood and pass into a Sacrament of this holy Body and precious Blood and are changed into their Efficacy and Vertue nevertheless if we can discover what were the Consequences of this Doctrine I doubt not but it will yet receive greater Illustration For as it is impossisible that they should have believed the Conversion of the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Substance of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ without admitting the three following Doctrines to wit the eating of the Flesh of Christ with the Mouth of the Body the eating of this same Flesh by the Wicked as well as the Just and the Human Presence of Christ upon Earth So it is also impossible they should deny these three Positions without rejecting this substantial Conversion Therefore I suppose it is necessary to enquire exactly what they herein believed for if they have received them as Articles of their Belief it will be a great Conjecture in Favour of the substantial Conversion notwithstanding what they have already declared But if on the other hand they have rejected them or been far from admitting of them it will be a very great Conjecture to the contrary and at the same Time a strong Confirmation of what they have deposed in the precedent Chapters To begin then our Enquiry by the first of these three Points I mean by the eating of the Flesh of Jesus Christ I say if we consult Clement of Alexandria we shall find he makes a long Discourse in the first Book of his Pedagoge and that in all that Discourse he considers Jesus Christ either as the Milk of Children that is to say those which are Children in Knowledge or as the Meat of firm grown Men that is more advanced in Knowledge but always as a Spiritual Food and mystical Nourishment which requires to be eaten after the same manner as appears by what he saith of the Birth and Regeneration of the new People of the Swadling-cloths wherein he wraps them of the Growth for which he appoints them this Food and in that he makes our Hearts to be the Palace and Temple of the Son of God Hereunto particularly relates what he saith that the Lord in these Words of the Gospel of St. John Clem. Alex. Paedag. 1. c 6. Id. ibid. Eat my Flesh and drink my Blood speaks of Faith and of the Promise by an illustrious Allegory as by Meats whereby the Church which is composed of many Members is nourished and getteth growth and what he adds afterwards the Milk fit and necessary for this Child is the Body of Jesus Christ Id. ibid. which by the Word doth feed the new People whom our Lord himself hath begotten with bodily Pangs and wrapped as young Infants in his precious Blood and in fine this pious and excellent Exclamation O wonderful Mistery Id. ibid. it commands us to put off the old and carnal Corruption as also the old Nourishment to the end that leading a new Life which is that of Jesus Christ and that receiving him into us if it were possible we should lay him up in us and lodge the Saviour in our Hearts And elsewhere he saith That 't is to drink the Blood of Christ to be Partaker of the Incorruption of our Lord which he attributes to the entring of the Holy Ghost into our Hearts Tertul. de Resurrect Tertullian also speaketh yet more clearly explaining figuratively and metaphorically all that excellent Discourse which we read in the sixth of St. John where our Saviour speaks of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood Although saith he our Saviour saith that the Flesh profiteth nothing the Meaning
for Jesus Christs coming from Heaven whereas according to the Word Id. contra Arr. c. l. 2. c. 17. we believe that he is present with us on Earth And again explaining these Words of Jesus Christ unto his Apostles I go unto my Father He spake certainly saith he of the human Nature which he had taken in regard whereof he was to go to his Father from whence he was to come to judg the quick and the dead but as for his Divinity which filleth all things and which is comprehended in no space as it leaves no Place so neither goeth it to any Place Bed Hemil. 3. aestiv de temp feria 6. Pasâ—h Id. in Joan. cap. 9 Venerable Bede in the eighth Century is no less positive herein than others for he assures That Jesus Christ was received into Heaven as to his Humanity which he took from the Earth and that he remaineth with the Saints upon Earth by his Divinity which equally filleth Heaven and Earth And upon these Words Behold I am with you always until the End of the World Id. in Marc. c. 13. Hom. 4. de Confes Him saith he that was then in the World by his bodily Presence is now every where present by his Divity And elsewhere he saith That Jesus Christ ascending triumphantly unto his Father after his Resurrection Id. Homil. aestiv de temp Dem. Jubilit hath left the Church in regard of his bodily Presence the which nevertheless he never for sook as to the Protection of his Divine Presence continuing with her unto the End of the World And explaining these Words of Jesus Christ unto his Apostles You shall see me a little while because I go to my Father c. It is saith he as if he had plainly said the Reason that you see me a little while after I am risen from the dead Id. Domin cantate is because I am not to tarry always upon Earth in respect of my Body but I must go into Heaven in regard of the human Nature which I have taken And again When I am ascended into Heaven Id. Dom vocem jucunditatis you shall not see me such as you were wont to see me now invironed with mortal and corruptible Flesh but you shall see me coming with Glory to judge the World and appearing to the Saints after Judgement with greater Majesty Id. Hom. hyem de temp Dom. 3. post Epiphan Id. in Festiv Pentecostes Id. ibid. He himself again testifies That he hath left the World and is gone to the Father because he hath withdrawn from the sight of those which loved the World that which they had seen and had carried by his Ascension unto the invisible things the human Nature which he had assumed He saith farther We amongst the Gentiles which have believed cannot our selves go unto the Lord whom we cannot now see in the Flesh but those amongst us which confess the Frailties of our Servitude we should now draw near by Faith unto him which is sate down on the right Hand of the Father In St. Matth. c. 28. In fine he declares That the Lord ascending into Heaven after his Resurrection hath left the Apostles as to the Presence of his Body but that he never left them as to the Presence of his Divine Majesty that we have for a Comforter Jesus Christ our Lord whom though we cannot see bodily yet we have contained in the Evangelists all that he did and said during the Time that he was in the Flesh This same Language was used in the IXth Century as shall be seen afterwards and we shall also make one of the Prelates of the Gallican Church despose in the XIIth Century to learn from his Mouth that it waâ— not then forgotten in our France but in the mean while it will not be amiss to observe that according to the Belief which we have established the holy Fathers have only taken notice of two comings of Jesus Christ the one attended with Shame and Ignominy the other with Glory and Majesty but both visible without ever telling us that there was a third which holds the middle betwixt both whereby Christ descends daily upon the Earth On the contrary the Protestants affirm That Tertullian declares the Nature of a true Descent in a manner which sheweth as they say That neither him nor the Church in his Time believed that a Body could descend from one Place to another without being seen Phantome Tertull. contra Marc. l. 4. c. 7. For saith he writing against the Ghost of Marcion when 't is made it is seen the Eys perceive it it is done gradually and so it requires to ask in what Posture with what Retinue Is it with Violence or moderately Or also in what Hour of the Day or Night it came down Moreover who see it come down who gave an account of it who affirm'd it And again saith he Is it a thing which is not easily to be believed when it is affirmed I declare saith the Protestant that I could never adjust this Declaration of Tertullian's with the invisible Descent of the Body of Jesus Christ in an infinite number of Places and that I should be obliged unto those which would help me to the means to do it For if what the Latins teach be true that the Body of Christ descends every Day upon the Communion-Table in an invisible manner I must be obliged to accuse Tertullian not only of Negligence but also of Stupidity to have spoken so absolutely and without excepting what happens in the Eucharist although I have otherwise a singular Esteem for his great Wisdom and Learning But on the other Hand seeing Tertullian is agreed with the other Doctors of the Church and that he saith nothing contrary to their Testimonies wherein they constantly oppose the Presence of the Divine Nature of our Lord unto that of his human Nature the Presence whereof they formally deny upon Earth I cannot forbear saith he to conclude that they have owned but one sole Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ I mean one visible Presence and that the Invisible Presence of that holy Body never entred into their Thoughts In fine say they it is whereunto amounts all the Declarations which hitherto have been made and whereunto we may also add these excellent Words of St. Austin Aug. in Joan. tract 50. Iâ— in Ps 46. He is gone and he is present he is returned and he departed not from us for he carried his Body unto Heaven but he withdrew not his Majesty from the Earth and these he took away his Body from our Sight but as God he departed not from your Hearts contemplate him ascending believe in him absent expect him as to come but feel him always present by his secret Mercy From hence doth proceed sundry Doctrines that if I mistake not deserve to be considered In the first place when the holy Fathers make a Difference betwixt the corporal Presence
of our Lord with his spiritual Presence They teach that this latter is common unto him with the Father and the Holy Ghost When the Son saith St. Austin August tract 107. in Joâ—â— Id. ibid. â—act 106. removed from his Apostles his corporal Presence he with his Father kept them spiritually And elsewhere He kept his Children by a bodily Presence and he was to depart from them by a bodily Absence to keep them with his Father by a spiritual Presence Secondly although they every where establish the Absence of our Lord as to his Body yet they teach that he is present with the believing Soul but they make this Presence depend upon the Intercourse of their Faith and Devotion which lifts it self up unto Heaven where he dwells which goes and meditates on him at the right hand of his Father and that goes to take him upon the Throne of his Glory and so it is this excellent Passage of St. August tract â—0 in Joan. Austin is to be understood Let the Jews hear let them take him but they answer How shall I take him seeing he is absent How shall I reach with my Hands unto Heaven to embrace him upon his Throne Send up thither thy Faith and you have already embraced him your Fathers have embraced him in the Flesh but you receive him in your Heart for Jesus Christ is absent as he is also present Id. Serm. 74. de divers c. 4. And again We now believe in him that sitteth on the right Hand of the Father yet nevertheless whilst we are in this Body we are absent from him If any make any doubt of it or deny it and that he saith Where is your God we cannot shew him unto him In fine I believe that from this same Fountain proceeds also this other Stream I mean the sursum Corda which was famous in the ancient Church which they made to eccho out aloud in the Christian Assemblies at the very Time when they disposed themselves to receive the Communion and which still remains in all their Liturgies for by these Words they were warned not to look barely or only upon the Bread and the Cup as the great Council of Nice doth speak by the Relation of Gelatius of Cyzika but to lift up all their Thoughts into Heaven toward the only Object of their Devotion which is Jesus Christ our Saviour therefore the holy Fathers often exhort their Flocks not to seek Jesus Christ upon Earth Chrysost Hom. 24. in 1 ad Cor. but in Heaven witness St. Chrysostom who saith that to draw near him we must be like an Eagle and fly unto Heaven it self mount on high and have nothing common with the Earth not grovel nor be drawn downwards but fly continually upwards look towards the Sun of Righteousness having the Eye of the Vnderstanding opened And elsewhere Id. Hom. 11. ad Pop. Antiochen If you would see my Wing I have one swifter than the Eagles to fly not ten or twenty Degrees nor unto Heaven only but even beyond the Heavens and above the Heaven of Heavens where Jesus Christ sitteth at the right Hand of God And again the reason wherefore Christ called us Eagles Id. de Baptism Christi saying Where the Body is there will the Eagles be gathered together it is that we should ascend up into Heaven and that we should fly upwards supported by the Wings of the Spirit But on the contrary saith he we grovel on the Earth like Serpents Id. Hom. 4. de incomp Dei Nat. and eat Dust And elsewhere Let no Body have at that time Thoughts concerning the Affairs of this Life but banishing from his Mind all worldly Thoughts transport himself wholly into Heaven as it were assisting at the Throne of Glory and flying with the Seraphims offer the most holy Hymn unto the God of Majesty and Glory Id. Hom. in Seraph And again elsewhere Consider these Things O Man and representing unto your self the Greatness of the Gift raise your self up Cyril Hierosol Mystag 5. and forsaking the Earâ—â—â—ke your Flight towards Heaven St. Cyril of Jerusalem said also â—â—fore St. Chrysostom The Priest cries Lift up your Hearts on High for in truth in that terrible moment we should have our Hearts lifted up unto God and not down towards the World and earthly Thing The Priest then commands with Authority that every one forsakes the Thoughts of this Life and houshold Cares and that he should lift up his Heart unto Heaven where God the Lover of Mankind is St. Austin said the same August de bono persev c. 13. Psal 39. serm 44. de tempore de Verb. Dom. 53. in Ps 148. Serm. 4 29. 38. a Sirmund edit 82. de divers Germ. Const in contempl Job l. 6. de verb incarn c 24 25. apud Phot. Cod. 222. What is said in the Sacraments of Believers That we should lift up our Hearts on high unto the Lord is a Gift of God for which Gift the Priest warns those to whom it is said to give thanks unto the Lord and they answer That 't is just and that the Thing deserveth it well For seeing our Heart is not in our Power but that it is raised by the help of God to the end it should rise and think on Things which are above where Jesus Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God and not on the Things of the Earth unto whom should Thanks be given for so great a Benefit but unto our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Author of it German Patriarch of Constantinople saith That the Believers which are to communicate are warned to lift up their Hearts and that they answer We have unto the Lord to the end they should lift up their Thoughts from Earth unto the King of Heaven The Frier Jovius in the Library of the Patriarch Photius When the Body of the Lord saith he is shewn upon the holy Table those which attend on both sides representing the Cherubins with six Wings fan the Things which are there offered with Wings which serve for Fanns as it were to hinder the Communicants from staying on the Things which are seen but lifting them up with the Eyes of the Understanding above all there is of Shadow raising them up by means of these visible Things to the Contemplation of Things invisible And unto this ineffable Beauty in all likelihood it was that the Collect of Ascension-Eve Apud Cassand in Vigil Ascens was conceived in these Terms in some Coppie's We beseech thee O Lord that by these holy things which we have received the Effect of our Devotion may tend where is with thee our Substance Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. CHAP. V. Continuation of the Consequences of the Doctrine of the Fathers ALthough what we have examined in the foregoing Chapter doth fully justify that the Holy Fathers have been constant in their Doctrine and that the Consequences which depend upon it are absolutely
you cannot understand then you may now say unto me seeing you have commanded us to believe explain unto us what it is to the end we might understand for this Thought may be in every body's Mind We know of whom Jesus Christ our Lord took Flesh to wit of the Virgin Mary we know he was nursed in his Infancy that he was fed that he grew that he attained the Age of Manhood that he suffered Persecution of the Jews that he was nailed to the Cross that he there died and was buried that he rose the third Day that he ascended into Heaven when he was pleased to go thither that he lifted up his Body from whence he shall come to judg the quick and the dead and that he is now sitting on the right Hand of the Father How then is the Bread his Body and the Cup his Blood Brethren these things are called Sacraments because one thing is what we see and another is that we understand that which is seen is a bodily Species that which we understand hath a spiritual Fruit If then you would know what the Body of Jesus Christ is hearken to St. Paul the Apostle which said unto Believers You are the Body of Jesus Christ and his Members your Sacrament is laid upon the Lord's Table and you there receive your Mystery You say Amen unto what you are and you thereto subscribe by your Answer It is said unto you The Body of Jesus Christ and you answer Amen be Members then of Jesus Christ that your Amen may be true But why all this to the Bread let us not add here nothing of our own but let us farther hear the same Apostle speaking of this Sacrament We which are many are one Bread and one Body understand this and rejoice for here is nothing but Unity Piety Charity one Bread and one Body although we be many Observe that the Bread is not made of one Grain but of many When you were exorcised you passed as it were under the Mill when you were baptised you were as it were kneaded and when you received the fire of the Holy Ghost you were baked like Bread Be then what you see and receive what you are See here what the Apostle hath said of Bread whereby he sufficiently shews without repeating it what we should believe in regard of the Cup for as to make this visible Species of Bread several Grains are reduced into one Body to represent what the Scripture saith of Believers they were but one Heart and one Soul in God It is also the same of Wine consider how it is one several Grapes are in a Bunch but their Liquor is mingled all into one Body so it is Christ hath represented us so it is he hath made us his and that he hath consecrated upon the holy Table the Mystery of Unity and of our Peace So it was they instructed in the ancient Church the new Baptised they were told that what they see upon the Holy Table was Bread and their own Eyes were called to witness this Truth They were taught that this Bread was the natural Body of Jesus Christ as it was his mystical and moral Body that is to say his Church because it is the Sacrament both of the one and the other and that in the Sacrament must carefully be distinguished the Substance of the Symbols which are visible and corporeal from the Benefit which accrues unto the believing Soul and which is a Thing invisible and spiritual that faithful Believers are although for mystical Reasons the very same thing which they see upon the mystical Table that is to say Bread according to what the Apostle saith we are one Bread and that they do receive truly that which they see mystically Now let the Reader judg if these Catechisms and these Instructions are for the Use of Roman Catholicks or for the Use of Protestants as for my particular I 'le pass unto a new Consideration CHAP. VIII Proofs of the Doctrines of the Holy Fathers drawn by Protestants from some Customs of the Ancient Church THere are two sorts of Language used in the Society and Commerce of Men to communicate unto each other their Thoughts and Intentions I mean Words and Actions The Language of Actions is silent indeed yet nevertheless very intelligible because Actions I speak of those authorized by publick Use are for the most part as significant as Words It is not then to be thought strange if we do relate what Inferences the Protestants draw from certain Customs which were practised by the ancient Church and which we have at large established in the first Part Therefore we will look upon them in this as established and will content our selves in barely mentioning them one after another to infer from each of them what may lawfully be deduced In Africa in St. Austin's time they communicated after Meat Thursday before Easter and in several Churches in Egypt every Saturday in the Year at Evening after having made a good Meal Without speaking of the Church of Corinth in St. Paul's time where some think the same was practis'd what Belief could those People have of the Sacrament of the Eucharist It is no very easie matter to think that they believed it to be the Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ and his Flesh it self else it must be confessed that they were guilty of an horrible Profanation to lodg in a Stomach full of Meats and it may be sometimes even to excess the precious Body of the Saviour of Mankind the only Object of their Worship and Adoration Nevertheless none of the ancient Writers have condemned this Practice those which have treated of it have spoken as of an innocent Custom which had no hurt in it and which moreover was authorized by the Example of Jesus Christ himself Therefore when the third Council of Carthage commanded to celebrate the Sacrament fasting it excepted the Thursday before Easter whereon it permitted to participate every Year after the Meal An evident Proof say some that there was no Crime in this Custom whereas it would have been intolerable if they had believed then the same of the Sacrament as the Latin Church now doth belive of it Therefore no Body can justly blame the Severity of its Laws when it is so strictly prohibited to communicate otherwise than Fasting The ancient Church for a long time used Patens and Chalices of Glass and we do not find that these first Christians ever made any difficulty of putting the Sacrament in Glass-Chalices nor that they were ever blamed that did it On the contrary some of those which used this Practice were commended for it nevertheless we cannot say that these ancient Believers were less circumspect than we are in the Celebration of the Sacrament Wherefore then was it that they feared not so much spilling of it in that Occasion as the Latin Church hath done some Ages past Let this Difference be well considered for saith the Protestant I am much deceived if
unto whom with thy Father and thy good holy and quickning Spirit appertains the Glory both now and for ever Amen As for what regards the Latin Church it is no less difficult precisely to determine the time when Perfume was first offered in the Celebration of the Sacrament It may very well be inferred from what hath been alledged of St. Austin that this practice was not received in his days in the West at least in the Church of Africa I say not in the Church of Africa for I find in the Life of Boniface the first Contemporary with St. Austin this Ordinance That no Woman or Nun In lib. Pontific t 1. Concil p. 884. should touch nor wash the sacred Corporal nor cause to be burnt any Incense in the Church saving the Deacons only I know the Pontifical Book from whence this Life is taken is a Book upon which no solid foundation can be laid those which have any knowledge of Ecclesiastical Antiquity make no esteem of it And the Impostor that forged the Decretals of the first Popes hath made Soter to make a Decrete in the II. Century like unto that of Boniface in the V. but for all that I would not so absolutely deny the truth of the Ordinance of Boniface as I would that of Soter for although the Pontifical Book is not always to be believed nevertheless it cannot be said as positively as of the Decretal of Soter that it is forged There is but one thing that sticks with me and is the reason that I cannot give credit to the Decrete which is to be seen in the Life of Boniface It is that in all the Books of Sacraments of Gregory the First nor in those of Ecclesiastical Offices of St. Isidore Arch-Bishop of Sevil there is no mention at all made to the best of my remembrance touching the Oblation of Perfume It is not so of the Book called The Roman Order wherein there is express mention made of it as also in Amalarius Fortunatus who lived in the IX Century but as for the Roman Order all are not agreed of its age most thinking it was written towards the end of the VIII Century and some in the XI After all in admitting the Decrete of Pope Boniface the First it will follow that the use of Perfume and Incense in the Worship and Service of Religion was not received by the Latins before the V. Century if it be certain that it was then it self received In a Book which treateth of Divine Offices which Melchior Historpius caused to be printed together with the Roman Order there is several Prayers for consecrating and blessing the Censer and the Incense of each it will suffice to relate one I say in the first place for the Censer in blessing whereof this Prayer is made unto God Tom. 10. Bibl. Pat. O Lord God who at the time that the Children of Israel were devoured by fire by reason of their Rebellion thou wert pleased to hear the prayers of thy High Priest Aaron standing betwixt the Dead and the Living and offering thee Incense and saving the people out of the midst of the fire bless we pray thee this Censer and grant that as often as we therein offer Incense unto thee we may become a Temple of a sweet savour acceptable unto thy Christ And for the Perfume and Incense Ibid. O Almighty Lord God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob send upon this Creature of Perfume and of Incense the strength and vertue of thy savour to the end it may serve for a protection and defence unto thy Servants to hinder the Enemy from entring into their hearts and there fix his abode and residence through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen And in the Pontifical Pontific Rom. par 2. fol. 136. 2 Venise 1582. O Lord God Almighty in whose presence doth stand with trembling the Army of holy Angels whose service is wholly spiritual and full of zeal be pleased to behold bless and sanctifie this Incense and Perfume to the end that all the failures the infirmities and all the stratagems of the Enemy smelling its savour may fly away and depart from thy Creatures which thou hast ransomed with the precious Blood of thy Son never to be wounded by the biting of the wicked Serpent through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen But because that which is called the Apostles fourth Canon joyns unto Incense the Oyl for the Lights or Lamps at the time of celebrating the Sacrament it will not be amiss to enquire into the first Original of this Custom as we have done into that of Incense To this purpose the Reader need not expect that we should treat of the primitive Christians making use of Lamps and Candles in their Assemblies because every body knows they did not use them for Ceremony but through pure necessity being forced to assemble in the night and early before day-light for fear of Persecution From thence did proceed the unjust slanders wherewith they were charged in Minucius Foelix of causing the Lights to be extinguished the more greedily to satisfie their Lusts and sensual Appetites Neither will I speak of the Wax Candles and Flambeaus which were used on Easter Eve nor stand to shew when their use began not only on this occasion but also in Feasts and Funerals as well as unto the honour of Images These things may probably be answered at some more convenient time for the present we must limit our selves within the matter which concerns the Sacrament whereof we write the History and by consequence only consider the use of the light of Lamps and Candles in that which relates unto the Worship and Service of God Tertullian accounted it as a great Superstition in the Gentiles for using Candles and Flambeaus in the day time and saith Christians do not so Apolog. c. 35. We saith he do not burn day-light with Candles and Flambeaus And he saith so upon account of what was acted by the Pagans upon Holy Days and publick Rejoycings particularly unto the honour of the Emperors But elsewhere he speaketh in a manner which giveth plainly to understand that the Christians of his time did not at all admit for Ceremony the use of Candles Flambeaus or other Lights in the Worship of their Religion so that if they made use of any it was only during their Nocturnal Assemblies their Enemies not suffering them to meet together in the day time Let them saith he every day light Flambeaus he speaks of what was done in the Temples of Idols which are absolutely in darkness De Idol c. 15. Let them which are threatned with eternal fire fasten Lawrels at their doors that they might afterwards burn them for these tokens of darkness and these fore-runners of pains and punishments become them very well Could a Christian have spoke after this manner against a Heathen Superstition if in his Religion he had practised the use of Lights and Flambeaus He would have spoke in another manner and