chastise all the members of Christs mysticall body Thirdly he subioyneth Whatsoeuer thou shalt binde vpon earth it shall be bound also in the heauens Fourthly whatsoeuer thou shalt loose on earth it shall be loosed also in the heauens that is whatsoeuer punishment thou shalt inflict either of excoÌ„munication suspension interdiction or degradation or whatsoeuer other spirituall Censure for he speaketh without restriction the same shall be ratified by Almighty God whatsoeuer of these thou shalt release the same shall be released in the heauens aboue Vpon which words Origen obserueth no small Orig. tract 6. in Math. difference betweene Peter and the rest of the Apostles because to them the Keyes of one heauen were giuen to Peter of many Whereupon he inferreth they had not authority in such perfection as Peter to bind and loose in all the heauens 5. Our Aduersaryes not doubting of the highest soueraignty M. Reyn-in his CoÌ„ference with M. Hart c. 2. diuis 1. M. Bils in his booke of Christian subiection par 1. fol. 62. 63. Reyn. ibi diuis 2. which by these singular priuiledges are betokened apply some to Christ some to all the Apostles but none peculiar to Peter alone For the first prerogatiue both M. Reynoldes and M. Bilson attribute vnto Christ affirming either him to be the Rocke vpon which the Church is built or the fayth which Peter pronounced of him and not Peter pronouncing the same The second the third and fourth Reynolds extendeth to all the Apostles because to them all the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen were giuen the power of binding and loosing and not only to Peter Silly men who see not how they crosse themselues in their owne answeres For our Sauiour speaking of one matter to one person in one and the same sentence to whomesoeuer he made the first promise to him he made the rest Therefore if he promised the Keyes to all the Apostles vpon them all he promised to build his Church and not vpon Christ Or if he promised to build his Church vpon himselfe to himselfe he promised the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen to himselfe he promised all power of binding loosing which had beene as impertinent to our Sauiours discourse as dissonant from truth For Christ had all that power before euen from the first houre he began to plante his Church he already enioyed those priuiledges not giuen by himselfe as the iurisdiction heere mentioned but imparted by his Father from whome he was sent 6. Againe as those answeres encounter one another The words of Christ import some extraordinary fauour to S Peter alone so they offer violence to the Text ech of them depriuing Peter of that soueraigne dignity which the whole passage of the place conueyeth vnto him For the wordes of Christ are purposly addressed to the person of Peter his name is only changed at this tyme and not any of the other Apostles he is called Rocke and none of the rest he only speaketh and professeth Christ to be the Sonne of the liuing God our Sauiour only nameth him and continually vseth the singular number yea he addeth the name of his Father to distinguish him not only from the Apostles in generall but also from the other Simon And shall not all these particiculer descriptions denote something in Peter more then in the rest If we appeale to the Greeke to the Hebrew especially to the Syriacke text in which Fabri in diction Syro-caldaicolero in c. 2. ad Gala â— language our Sauiour vttered this whole discourse it so euidently sheweth the very first promise to haue beene made to Peter and not to Christ as nothing can be more cleere For he speaking in Syriacke sayd vnto Peter Thou art Cephas and vpon this Cephas will I build my Church where the same word Cephas signifying as Guido Fabritius and S. Hierome testify a Rocke or Stone is vsed in both places And the Greeke wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though different in termination signify the same Wherefore as if Christ speaking in English had imposed vnto Simon the name of a Rocke therupon had sayd Thou art a Rocke and vpon this Rocke will I build my church there would haue beene no doubt but that he had builded his Church vpon Simon the Rocke so neither in this present speaking the same in Syrtacke 7. M. Reynolds not able to resist confesseth at length Rain c. 2. diuis 1. pag. 24. that Fabritius translateth Cephas a Rocke But Fabritius sayth he sheweth further that Cephas signifyeth a Stone also And in the page immediatly following he addeth Cephas in Greeke is expounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in English signifyeth a Stone Whereupon he counteth this a fit traÌ„slation of the former Syriacke wordes Thou art a Stone and vpon this Stone will I build my Church And what is this but to graunt the substance of the thing and wrangle about wordes For whether Peter were tearmed Rocke or Stone as long as he was that stone that singular stone which after Christ vpholdeth the frame of the militant Church of which the Apostles were part he was the fundamentall Cyr. l. 2. in Ioan c. 2. Cyâ— ep ad Quintum Tertul. l. de praescript Epipha in Ancorato Amb ser 47. Nazianz orat de moder ser Basil l. 2. in Eunomium Aug. in Psal conâ— partem Donati Bils part 1. pag. 62. Stone vpon which both they and all others were built And seeing the foundation is the same to a house which a head to a body he was the head of the whole body of the Church 8. The Fathers generally fortify the same S. Cyril writeth that Christ called Peter by the name of Rocke because on him as on a stedfast rocke or stone immoueable he was to build his Church S. Cyprian sayth Christ chose Peter vpon whome he builded his Church Tertullian tearmeth him Ecclesiae Petram The Rocke or foundation of the Church Reade the like in Epiphanius S. Ambrose S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Basil and S. Augustine of whome M. Bilson most wrongfully and slaunderously writeth That Peter is the Rocke on which the Church is built S. Augustine and others do plainely deny But what if S. Augustine deny it not plainely What if he deny it not at all What if he plainely auouch it and that in diuers places Will you euer giue credit againe to M. Bilsons writings Therfore he vpon the Psalmes sayth O Church that is O Peter because vpon this Rocke wâ—ll I build my Church Read the like vpon the 69. Psalme in his Sermons Our Lord named Peter the foundation of his Church therfore the Church rightly honoured this foundation vpon which the height of the Ecclesiasticall edifice is raysed Againe Only Peter August conc 2. in Psal 30. in Psal 69. Et ser 15. de Sanct. ser 29. qui est 5. de S. Petro Paulo Aug. l. 1. Retract cap. 21. Bils â—
Psalme Lord rebuke me not in thy fury nor do thou chastise me in thy wrath Where by his fury they vnderstand the furious flames of Hell by his wrath the chastising correcting fire of Purgatory S. Augustine sayth Purge me in this life and make me such a one as shall not need the amending fire S. Ambrose and Origen proue the like out of that verse of the Psalme We haue passed through fire and water thou hast translated vs into rest to wit through water of Baptisme in this life through fire of Purgatory in the next Heere sayth S. Ambrose by water there by fire By Ambr. in Psal 118. ser 3 20. Rup l. 3 comm in Gen. c. 32. 33. Gen. 3. Pererius l. 6. quaest 4. in c. 3. Gen. explicando vers 24. Field in his Appendix fol. 50. Esay 4. Aug. Ambr. locis citat Aug. l. 21. de ci Dei c. 23. 24. l de cura pro mort c. 1. de 8. quaest q. 2. Origen Cypr. vbi supra water that our sinnes may be washed by fire that they may be burned And the same S. Ambrose togeather with Rupertus testify this to haue beene Allegorically noted by the Prophet Moyses in the fiery sword which our Lord placed before the gates of Paradise to shew that the passage and entrance to the gates of Heauen was now by fire to such as were not wholy purifyed and refined before as Pererius notably declareth in his exquisite Commentaryes vpon Genesis 5. And least some Protestants should weaken the strength of these former testimonyes as M. Field heere doth the authorityes of S. Ambrose S. Hilary expoūding them of the fiery triall of Gods iudgment Isay expresly distinguisheth the one from the other and sayth That God shall purge vs both in the spirit of Iudgment and in the spirit of combustion S. Augustine and S. Ambrose do the like For albeit S. Ambrose as M. Field obserueth doth sometime take the fire mentioned in Scripture for the fiery triall of Gods iudgment yet he purposely also interpreteth it of the fire of Purgatory in the places before cyted and in his exposition vpon the third Chapter to the Corinthians where he teacheth that some of the Iust suffer such pains of fire as the perfidious and damned suffer not which cannot be vnderstood of the examination or triall of Gods Iudgment which the Reprobate suffer as well as the Iust The same I say of S. Augustine when he distinguisheth three sorts of men al tryed by Gods Iudgement and one only that needeth the amending fire The same of Origen S. Cyprian and the rest 6. The last place I will alleadge out of the old law omitting many for breuityes sake is that of Zachary Thou also in the bloud of thy Testamēt hast deliuered thy Prisoners out of Zach. 9. v. 12. the Lake in which there is no water And what lake was this out of which Christ after his death and Passion enfranchised his Captiues but either Limbus Patrum as some hold or rather according to others the Lake of Purgatory Aug. l. 12. de Gen. ad lit c. 33. ep 99. ad Euod In which there is indeed no water of Comfort as there is in Limbo and out of which S. Augustine affirmeth Christ deliuered many when he descended into Hell for so in the new Testament Purgatory is sometim called by the name of Hell 7. In the Acts of the Apostles S. Luke writeth of Christ Whome God hath raysed vp loosing the sorrowes of hell Of Hell Of whom in hell Not of Christ For it was impossible as M. Fulke agreeth with vs he should be Act. 2. v. 24. Fulke vpon this place Aug. l. 12. de Gen. ad lit c. 33. touched with any after death Not the dolours of the damned in the lowest Hell of whome there is no redēption Therefore not without cause I vse the wordes of S. Augustine whome M. Fulke impudently heere auoucheth to haue nothing at all to this purpose it is beleeued the soule of Christ to haue descended to the place where sinners are punished to release them of their torments who me he in his hidden Iustice thought worthy to be released Otherwise I see not how to expound that text c. For neither Abraham nor the Poore man in his hosome that is in the secret of his quiet rest was restrained in sorrowes Phil. 2. v. 10. Thus S. Augustine there where he applyeth to the same end that saying of S. Paul In the name of Iesus let euery knee bow of thinges celestiall terrestriall and infernall and le◠euery tongue confesse c. Which cannot be meant of the Psal 113. damned in Hell of whome the Psalmist sayth The dead shall not praise thee O Lord nor all those that descend into Hell 8. Neither of them can that be meant which was Apoc. 3. v. 3. reuealed to S. Iohn No man was able to open the booke sealed with seauen seales neither in heauen nor vnder the earth For it is not probable the infernall spirits were priuiledged Psal 73. Apoc. 5. v. 13. Suarez tom 4. diso 45. sect 2. in 3. part D. Thom. ◠Mat. 5. v. 26. Luc. 12. v. 58. Tertul. l. de anim c. 35. 58. Cyp l. 4. epist 2. vide Amb. in c. 12. Luc◠Hier. in c. 5. Matt. Eus Emis hom 3. de Epiph. Matt. 12. v. 32. 1. Reg. 28. Aug. l. 21. de cin Dei c. 24. Greg. l. 4. dial c. 39. Fulke in c. 12. Matt. sect 6. Field in appead par 1. pag. 40. Bern. ser 66. in Cant so much as to trye whether they could open that heauenly booke or that they whose pride doth alwayes ascend were comprehended in the number of them whome S. Iohn heard saying To him that sitteth in the throne and to the Lambe benediction and honour and glory and power for euer euer It is likely then S. Iohn spake before only of the Iust as Suarez heereupon inferreth and by them in heauen vnderstandeth the Church Triumphant by them in earth the Militant by them vnder earth the Patient or Church in Purgatory For that is a place vnder the earth a Lake or prison as S. Matthew nameth it saying Be at agreement with thy Aduersary betymes whilest thou art in the way with him least perhaps the Aduersary deliuer thee to the Iudge the Iudge deliuer thee to the Officer and thou be cast into prison Where by the prison Tertullian and S. Cyprian and Eusebius Emissenus expound the prison of Purgatory Againe it is confirmed more strongly by S. Matthew where he sayth He that shall speake against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiuen him neither in this world nor in the world to come The ancient Doctours gather from hence that some sinnes may be remitted in the next life For whereas it is written in the first of the Kinges He answered him not neither by dreames nor by the
and approaching receiue it with pure lips S. Augustine That Christ carried his owne body in his owne hands when he said This is my body and that secundum literam according to the letter and so as King Dauid could not carrie himselfe Which two points are worthilie noted because the Apostles eat with their corporall mouthes what Christ held in his corporall hands In fine S. Cyril saith We doe not deny our selues with assured faith and sincere charity to be spiritually conioyned to Christ but that we haue no manner of coniunction with him according vnto the flesh this truely we deny 15. Is it not strange M. Sparkes should vaunt of all these learned Writers within eight hundred years when all disclaime his false imputation when all confesse the Reall Presence not only to fayth but also to the mouth Bils 4. par pag. 754. 755. c. to the tongue to the lips to the hands to the flesh to the bowells of all Communicants Is it not as strange M. Bilson should goe about to defeate these and the former authotityes with his accustomed sleight of Seales Sacraments bearing the names of the things themselues For if the outward seales onely were receaued into the mouth the outward seales only were eaten by fayth bare figures and seales nourish the soule seeing the same flesh the same bloud the same body the same Mediatour of God and Man Christ Iesus which is belieued by fayth is auouched as you see to be receaued into the hands mouths harts bowels of the faythfull Deny then M. Bilson the true reall flesh to the mouth of the body deny it also to the mouth of the soule and so become a Manichee a Marcionist a denyer of Christ Or giue leaue at least to them and other Heretikes to subuert by like sophistry the chief principles of our beliefe LiceÌ„ce them to expound by sound of names without sense of wordes whatsoeuer is written of the true flesh bloud and body of our Lord of his Incarnation Passion and glorious Resurrection 16. What pretense then can any Protestant make vnlesse he open the gate to a floud of blasphemyes why he should delude such ineuitable proofes Why he should discredit so many lights Lampes and Ornaments of the Church and preferre the hard wrested construction of some new fangled teachers before such vndeniable texts of Fathers and testimonyes of Scripture Perchance he may pretend with D. Bilson and D. Sparkes the impossibilty inconueniency and contradictions our doctrine Bils 4. par pag. 790. 794. 795. 796. Sparks p. 180. sequentibus implyeth To which I might answere Philosophers Infidells obiected such stuffe against the true IncarnatioÌ„ and Passion of our Lord I might say that he yieldeth assent to diuers articles of our fayth more contrary and repugnant to the reach of our naturall reason as to the mistery of the holy Trinity to the fecundity of our B. Lady remayning a Virgin to the Resurrection of putrifyed and decaied flesh c. I might also reply that we should not measure the works of the Almighty by the weakenes of our feeble vnderstanding as S. Basil singulerly teacheth against Eunomius by the example of the Emmet Basil Epist â—68 But what if I demonstrate the Reall Presence to be possible conuenient and without any repugnance or contradiction at all 17. To begin with the possibility of our conuersion or Transubstantiation We do not as M. Bilson iniuriously fathereth vpon vs make the creature the Creatour or the dead Bils 4. par pag. 729. element of bread the Sonne of God We only teach the bread and wine to be changed into the flesh bloud of Christ And that one substance may be turned into another yea and bread into flesh experience it selfe aboundantly teacheth For the bread which we eate and wine which we drinke by the naturall heat and concoction of our stomacke is conuerted into the flesh and bloud of man the same effect had the food which Christ receaued Likewise the graine of seed sowed in the ground altereth in nature buddeth vp into a faire eare of Corne. Wax cast Niss orat cate ca. 37. Damas l. 4 defi c. 14. Irenaus l. 5. cap. 2. Chryshom de Euâ—h Centurywrit c. 4. col 4â—6 Ambro de init myst cap. 9. Cyr. Iero. cate 4. mystag into fire is melted consumed and turned into fire Which similitudes the Fathers of former ages haue vsed to illustrate this mistery S. Gregory Nissen and S. Iohn Damascen the first S. Irenaeus the second S. Chrysostome the third who annexeth thereunto that as Nothing of the substance of Wax remaineth so heere the Misteryes are consumed by the substance of the body By which passage if the Century-writers may be credited S. Chrysostome doth seeme to confirm TransubstaÌ„tiation S. Ambrose whome they likewise reproue for not writing well of the same matter sometime coÌ„pareth the substantiall mutatioÌ„ of bread in the Eucharist to the creation of heauen and earth of nothing Otherwhile to the conuersion of the Rod of Moyses into a serpent of bloud into water water into bloud and the like S. Cyrill of Hierusalem conuinceth it by the miraculous change our Sauiour made of water into wine disputing thus Christ confirming and saying this is my bloud who Gauden tract 2. de Exo. will euer doubt and say it is not his bloud He once conuerted water into wine in Cana of Galily and is he not worthy to be belieued that he hath changed wine into bloud S. Gaudentius hath the like who flourished within the 400 yeares after Christ He that produceth bread out of the earth of bread againe maketh Greg. Nyssen oracate cap. 37. his owne body for he is both able and promised it and he that made of water wine maketh of wine his owne bloud S. Gregory Nissen We rightly belieue the sanctifyed bread to be changed by the word of God into the body of the Sonne of God S. Ambrose Thou sayest perhaps to me I see another manner of thing How Ambro. lib. de â—js qui iniâ— myst cap. â— then tellest thou me that I receaue Christs body Then this is yet to be established by vs. And how many exampls may we vse to proue 〈…〉 is not that which nature framed but that which the blessing consecrated and that the power of blessing ouer commeth nature because by blessing euen the very nature it selfe is changed Behould that is not sayth S. Ambrose which nature made but what did nature make The substance of bread what becommeth of it It is changed quoth he how by blessing into what Into that which the blessing consecrateth What it that The body of Christ for he tooke Ciryl ep ad Colas bread blessed and sayd This is my body S. Cyrill of Alexandria who succeeded them in the next age God condescending to our frailtyes instilleth into the thinges offered the power of life Conuertens ea in veritatem propriae carnis onuerting
them into his true and proper flesh that the body of life may be in vs as a certaine quickening seed Eusebius Emissenus The inuisible Euseb Emiss ser de cor Domi. Cyp. de coens Dom. Priest Christ Iesus turneth by his word with a secret power the visible creatures into the substance of his body and bloud saying Take and eate for this is my body S. Cyprian who liued before any of these This bread which our Lord gaue to his Disciples not in outward apparence but in nature changed by the omnipotency of the word is made flesh The like he hath in other places In so much as a famous * Vrsin in commonef cuiusdam Theol. de sacra Coen Aug. ser citato à Bedain c. 10. â— Cor. Humfrey Iesu pâ— 2â— ca. 5. pag. 626. Matth. 4. v. â— ProtestaÌ„t confesseth That in Cyprian are many sayings which seeme to conforme TraÌ„substantiation S. Augustine and sundry others euidently also graunt our Reall mutation or Transubstantiation of the elements Which doctrine Gregory the Great and Augustin our Apostle brought into England as D. Humphrey teacheth and the Diuell himselfe acknowledged to be possible when he sayd vnto Christ Dic vt lapides isti panes fiant Commande that these stones be made bread 18. Secondly if we respect the conueniency it was meet we should really eate and really drinke of the reall victime truly slaine and offered for vs. It was meet that he who became our companion in the manger our teacher in the Temple our Priest at the Altar our price sacrifice and ransome on the Crosse should likewise be our food and sustenance at the table It was most meet that he who imparted his owne diuine person and all the riches of his Godhead by Hypostaticall vnion to the flesh and bloud of a pure and vnspotted man should also coÌ„municate the same flesh and bloud and all the treasures of his diuine and human nature to the soules and bodyes of As our first Parents were not infected by a Metaphoricall but by a true eating of the accursed Tree so we cannot be healed by a Metaphoricall but by a tru eating of the Tree of life NisseÌ„ orat catech ca. 37. Ignatius Ep. ad Ephes Athan. de huâ—â—atur suscep Cyril in Io. â—p ad Calosy â—re 1. 4. c. â—4 l. 5. c. 2 alibi Cyr. Alex. 1. 10. in â—o c. 13. Spaâ—kes in his answer to M. Iohn d'Albins pag. no. 257. his faithfull seruants The wisedome of God requireth that as our Forefathers and we were first impoisoned not by the desire but by the true and real eating of the forbidden apple so we should be cured by the true and substanciall feeding of this blessed fruit For S. Gregory Nissen proueth After the manner of the poyson so likewise the medicine must enter into our bowells the vertue therof be traÌ„sfused into all partes of the body 19. Againe the poyson which Adam receaued was a venemous fountaine of a double contagion ioyntly infecting both body and soule two wounds it inflicted it defiled our soule with sinne our body it enthralled to death and corruption What could be more behoofull for our Redeemer then to prepare a medicine against both these wounds A medicine to wash our soules from sin and rayse our body from dust to beautify the one with grace and cloath the other with incorruptioÌ„ And what could sooner worke this admirable cure then the glorious flesh of this holy Sacrament Which is not only the Ocean of Grace but the medicine of immortality the preseruatiue as S. Ignatius calleth it against death The first fruites of glory as Athanasius writeth The liuely and reuiuing seed of our bodyes as S. Cyrill sayth The pledge the earnest the hope or expectation of Immortall life as Irenaeus affirmeth According to that of Christ He that eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud hath life euerlasting and I will rayse him at the later day The body then must eate his flesh and drinke his bloud that it may partake the benefit of Resurrection our soule by fayth might enioy the dowryes of blisse But this terrestriall nature of our body cannot as S. Cyrill of Alexandria teacheth be aduanced to immortality except the body of naturall life be conioyned vnto it 20. Yet D. Sparkes maugre S. Cyril or whosoeuer els obstinatly persisteth that the body of Christ cannot be really conioyned with ours Because Christ is ascended into heauen sitting at the right hand of his Father and the heauens must Bils 4. par pag. 788. 789. c. Ioan. 20. Read S. Aug. ep 3. ad Volus Amb. l. 10. in cap. 24. Luc. Hila. l. 3 de Tri. Iustin q. 117. Cyril l. 12. in Io. c. 53. Bede Theoph. Euthym. Ruper boc loco whoproue Christs entrance the dores being shut containe him vntill the restitution of all thinges As though good Syr he could not be at the same tyme in diuers places to wit in heauen sitting on the right hand of his Father and heere vpon earth in euery consecrated hoast not naturally as the Fathers copiously quoted by M. Bilson constantly teach but supernaturally by the power of him vnto whome nothing is impossible For so he hath wrought many wonderfull workes aboue the course of nature He came forth of the Virgins wombe preseruing her virginity rose out of the sepulcher not remouing the stone entred into his Disciples the dore being shut ascended to his Father not deuiding the heauens when he penetrated them But as in these examples diuers bodyes were supernaturally in one place so by the same supernaturall power one body may likewise be at the same tyme in diuers places for it is a common Axiome approued by Philosophers that Contrariorum eadem est ratio Amongst contraryes the same reason holdeth on both sides Moreouer we are instructed by fayth that the single person of Christ is vnited to most distinct diuers natures to the nature of God and to the nature of man that the sole essence of God is in three persons really distinct that one and the selfe same moment of eternity is answerable correspondent to most different and contrary tymes to tyme past tyme present and tyme to come But as one person sustaineth diuers natures one nature is communicated to diuers persons one moment coexisteth to diuers Amb. orat in Auxen Aeges l. 3. de exid vrbis Hieros cap. 2. â—o Dams orat de B. Virgine tymes why cannot one body be resident in diuers places 21. Els how could our Sauiour after his Ascension haue met S. Peter flying the persecution of Rome as S. Ambrose and Aegesippus record How could he haue descended to honour the funeralls of our B. Lady as S. Iohn Damascen and Nicephorus witnesse How could he appeare to S. Paul as in the 9. Chap. of the Actes of the Apostles in the 22. and 23. For in none of these apparitions could he Calu. in c. 9. act l. 4. Instit c. 17. §.
to the multitude of externall seales Not the same least one and the selfe same thing which you abhorre should be at the same tyme in sundry places Not seuerall vnlesse you make many seuerall and distinct Communions not all to partake as S. Paul sayth of the 1. Cor. â—oâ— Bils 4. par pag. 7â—0 711 712. c. same bread And therfore when neyther of these retraites will serue M. Bilsons last craft and subtilty is That Christ is present in the Sacrament not mixing his substance with the elements but entring the harts of the faithfull Then tell me I beseech you how doth he enter Accidentally by some supernaturall quality infused into our soules Or Substantially by the entrance of his substance it selfe What Accidentally Then the Holy Eucharist is not as S. Paul waiteth The Communion of the bloud and participation of the body of our Lord but the participation only of your 1. Cor. 10. new created accident Of which I likewise demand whether the same or distinct accidents be produced in euery soule and so entangle you in all the former briars What Substantially How then doth the substance enter Whole or deuided into parts If by parts the glorious body of Christ should be mangled disfigured and remayne imperfect If whole the whole substance should be at the same tyme in diuers places cherishing the soules of diuers persons Besides how is he who sitteth at the right hand of his Father substantially vnited with vs vpon earth Can he enter our soules as M. Bilson dreameth not departing from the heauens and can he not enter the Hoast as Catholikes teach not departing from thence 4. M. Sparkes perchance will be more dexterous and expert in auoyding these difficulties As intricate and perplexed euery whit For he not contented with Christs spirituall Sparks p. â—16 presence only by faith auoucheth him to be also truly and really present to the harts of the faithfull Yet with such a strang and hidden presence as no tearmes can expresse no wit conceaue For answere M. Sparkes in what sort is Christ really present Withall his locall dimensions or without dimension Without is to destroy * Sparkes pag. 110. Vvhitaker cent 2. q. 5. c. 7. fol. 389 Spark pag 114. 115. 116. as you vrge against vs the nature of his body With all his dimensioÌ„s is impossible without penetration of Christs body with the body of his Communicant without multiplication rarefaction condensation and many other in your Shoole condemned absurdities Also how conioyne you Christ with vs Are our harts by the communion aduanced to heauen to be really vnited to him aboue or doth he descend to be personally conioyned with vs vpon earth Without a reall coniunction no Reall Presence by fayth can be framed much lesse such a Reall Presence as you imagine of Christs body broken and bloud shed of his passible and crucified body and bloud shed long since vpon the Crosse and not of his glorified and impassible body which now existeth Especially when you affirme in the same place That the body once broken and bloud shed haâ—h not beene really at any tyme iterated nor can be Are you not heere entrapped in your owne discourse Do not these words imply most palpable contradiction Is it possible for that which neyther really is nor really can be to be really present Doth not Aristotle and all Philosophers accord that Prius est esse quà m esse praesens A thing must first be before it can be present What leuity then what ignorance is this M. Sparkes in you and your fellows who auouch Christs body broken to be really present and not to be at all 5. Poore deceaued soules I lament your misery who in no trifling matters credit such triflers as mind not what they say nor how they write so they dazell the eyes and inueigle the harts of their vnhappy followers Yet least their hideous outcries fright the simple from imbracing the truth I will make answer to the residue of their pretended Calumnies Bils 4. par p. 731. c. Exod. 7. Matth. 11. Gen. 18. Aug. epist 23. Amb. l. 4. de Sacram. c. 3. 4. Orig. in 15. Matth. Ioan. 6. Gen. 49. Psal 77. Matth. 6. The greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew Segula 6. First M. Bilson and his Sect-mates often argue That the Eucharist is called by S. Paul and the ancient Fathers bread the Chalice wine euen after Consecration I graunt that for diuers causes the elements retaine these names First because they were bread and wine before as Araons rod was sayd to deuour the rods of the Aegyptians when they were Serpents The men healed by Christ were termed Blind Lame Deafe and Dead when they Saw Walked Heard and were Reuiued because such they had byn before Secondly because they reserue the outward formes of bread and wine as the Three that appeared to Abraham in humaine shape were called men whereas they were Angels Thus S. Augustine is to be vnderstood thus S. Ambrose thus Origen in the places cited in the margent where they attribute vnto the sacrament the name of bread Thirdly it is termed Bread for that it coÌ„teyneth the Bread of life The true Bread which came downe from heauen Christ Iesus And therfore called in Scripture Fat bread Bread of Angels Supersubstantiall bread according to the Greeke Hebrew copies S. Hierome nameth it Egregious and most singuler Hier. in c. 6. Matth. Iere. 11. v. 19. Aug. l. 1. loquutio in Gen. n. 138. 178. 172. quaest 34. in Exod. bread And Ieremy the Prophet alluding hereunto calleth his true body Bread without any Epithete saying Mittamus lignum in panem eius Let vs fasten the wood on his Bread Lastly it is called Bread after the Hebrew phrase which stileth all sorts of meats by the name Lechem Bread as in the 34. of Genesis 4. Regum 6. Witnesse also S. Augustine in his speaches vpon Genesis and Exodus 7. But M. Bilson produceth some ancient writers who do not only giue vnto the Eucharist the name of bread but determinately auow the nature and substance of bread to abide after consecration Among whome Gelas coÌ„t Eutichen Gelasius leadeth the way writing thus against Eutiches The Sacraments which we receaue of the body bloud of Christ are a diuine thing and by them we are made partakers of the diuine nature and yet for all that ceaseth not the substance or nature of bread and wine to be Then Theodoret The mysticall signes do not after Theod. dialog 2. sanctification depart from their owne nature For they remaine in their former substance figure and shape I answere They are sayd to remaine because they perseuer still in vertue power and efficacy For the outward formes and qualities which continue haue the same operations and worke the same effects which the substances before performed Or because the accidents which abide haue a miraculous yet substantiall manner of being not stayed not
crucifyed his bloud shed And therefore if vve exactly scan the povverfull and effectuall vvordes of Consecration vvhich immediatly produce no more then they signify vve may truly auerre that Christ in this svveet and admirable manner is heere dayly killed and crucifyed againe For if he vvere sayd to be killed in the Apoc. 5. 9. 138. imperfect thaddovves and darke resemblances of the old Lavv and tearmed by S. Iohn The Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world because the Goates Lambes and other victimes were slaine which obscurely shadowed and resembled him how much more truely may he be said to be daily crucified in our dreadfull mystery of the Masse which is not onely a bare and naked figure but so liuely an Image so neere a Character such a perfect representation of that on the Crosse as it is the same body the same bloud the same Host Oblation which there was made And no difference at all but that that was sacrificed vpon the ignominious wood of the Crosse and this vpon the hallowed Altar of the Church That was all imbrued with bloud this cleane from the effusiō of bloud That offered by the treacherous hands of the Iewes this by the annoynted hands of the Priests That in his true proper and natiue shape this in a couert hidden and Sacramentall manner Heereupon S. Cyprian Cyp. ep 63. Pascha de cons◠dist ◠c. Iteratur Greg. do Conse dist 2. c. Quid sie hom 37. in euan Aug. de fide ad Petrum c. 19. The Sacrifice which we offer is the Passion of Christ. Paschasius Daily Christ is mystically immolated for vs and the Passion of Christ in mystery is deliuered S. Gregory Christ in himselfe immortally liuing dieth againe in this mystery S. Augustine speaking of the carnal Sacrifices of the Leuiticall Law and this Commemoratiue of the new In them he saith Christ was foreshewed as to be killed in this he is shewed as killed The reason heereof is manifest because the seuerall substances of bread and wine as I touched aboue are not directly changed and transubstantiated into the whole person of our Sauiour Christ as here he liued vpon earth or as he now raigneth in heauen but the bread into his body apart from the bloud and the wine into his bloud apart from the body In so much that if nothing else ensued but that which the words precisely signifie and effectuate the body should be there truly dead deuoid of bloud and the bloud truly shed seuered from the body 28. Notwithstanding al this we constantly beeleue that per concomitantiam as the Deuines tearme it or by sequell of all parts each to other the body of our Sauiour is in the Sacrament as it is in it selfe that is glorious immortall and fully replenished with his pretious bloud His bloud is likewise vnder the other kind as it now existeth conteyned in his veynes his veynes in his body his body conioyned to his soule his soule and body Hypostatically vnited to the Sonne of God so that Christ by this sequell or Concomitance is here wholy vnder both kinds his whole body his whole bloud his whole soule his whole Godhead his whole man-hood Yea by essentiall connexion of one with the other all the persons of the holy Trinity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost 29. O most rare and vnspeakable mysterie which M. Bell M. Reynolds and their vnhappy Consorts either blinded with ignorance or transported with malice can Heb. 5. ver 11. not conceaue O great and inexplicable speach which S. Paul thought vnfit to vnfold to the Hebrewes feeble in faith and weake in vnderstanding And indeed it is too deepe a point to explaine to the itching eares of our captious Heretikes if the calamity of our times importunity of our Aduersaries did not presse vs thereunto 30. Besides these cauils gathered out of Scripture M. Bils 4. p. pag. 692. 693. 752. Rey. p. 536. Bilson and M. Reynolds huddle vp certaine obiections out of the Fathers writings as that S. Gregory Nazianzen calleth our daily Sacrifice An Image of that on the Crosse S Chrysostome A signe a remembrance of Christs death Others say That Christ is ossered in a Sacrament in mysterie in memory Some tearme it A spirituall Sacrifice A Sacrifice of praier S. Augustine A Sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing But how do these sayings infringe our doctrine We allow it an Image yet the truth it self A signe yet the thing signed An image in respect of the outward forms the truth in respect of the inward substance A signe in shew the thing it selfe indeed We agree with the Fathers That Christ is offered in a Sacrament in mysterie c. in regard of the visible elements and outward representation as I haue already declared we call the Masse A spirituall Sacrifice A Sacrifice A Sacrifice of Praier for that it is made with blessing and praier mysticall for that the manner of consecrating this victime is not grosse carnall and sensibly bloudy as the Iewish victimes were but cleane spirituall and vnbloudy Vnbloudy in Sacrification in substance bloudy Aug. con lit Petil. l. 2. ca. 86 ◠Tertul. ad Mar. li. 4. Iren. l. 4 ca. 33. 34. the manner spirituall the thing corporall We subscribe to S. Augustine Tertullian Irenaeus and the rest That it is a Sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing because hereby God is highly praised aboundant thankes are surrendred vnto him And whatsoeuer the old Law with many Hosts and burnt offerings nakedly resembled by our sole and singuler Sacrifice is wholy honorably fully accomplished In which respect we are the true worshippers of God Who neither in the Temple of Ierusalem nor in the mount Garizim but in euery Coast and Climate of the earth adore the Father of Heauen according of our Sauiours prophesie in spirit and truth He saith in spirit by reason of the life and spirit of God which our Host containeth Ioan. 4. 23. In truth because it is indeed the truth it selfe the true body of Christ which the figures of the old Law shadowed and resembled Or he addeth in spirit not to debar vs from all externall Sacrifices or outward ceremonies as Caluin misconstrueth the word but to exclude the grosse corporall victimes of the Iewes as S. Chrysostome Caluin in his Com. vpon this place Chrys and Euthy vpon this place Amb. de Spi. l. 3. ca. 11. Cyr. in Io. l. 2. ca. 93. and Euthymius expound this place In truth to oppose it against the false and vnlawfull worship of the Samaritans which is the interpretation of S. Ambrose S. Cyril and Theophilact 31. And this is sufficient to cleare the Fathers sufficient if not to stop the mouth of clamous Aduersaries yet to quiet the minds of indifferent Readers sufficient to acquit our Sacrifice from calumny our selues from Idolatrie our Priests from iniury and incroachment vpon Christs incommunicable right in their immaculate and daily immolation of his body
of colours but only white the most true natiue colour so our Reformers admit all manner of Doctrine and in this present all sorts of Confession but that which is most important and beneficiall for their soules 1. They allow the Confession of sinnes to God in generall 2. The Confession of some sinnes in particuler to a learned Minister to receaue comfort and direction from him 3. The Confession of certaine enormo us crimes publikely made in the sight of the congregation for their satisfaction and terrour of others 4. The Confession of priuate iniuries to the party offended to be reconciled to him But the Confession of all particuler faults to a lawfull Priest to receaue pardon and absolution they vtterly disauow Wherein to proceed more perspicuously they chiefly deny three principall points First the power in Priests to absolue from sinnes Secondly the necessity of sinners to confesse Thirdly the necessity of numbring euery particuler offence All which notwithstanding I will clearly deduce out of that soueraigne Commission Christ gaue to his Apostles when breathing vpon them he sayd 2. Receaue yee the holy Ghost whose sinnes yee forgiue they Iohn 20. v. 23. are forgiuen and whose sinnes yee retaine they are retayned For by this passage it is euident that authority is giuen to the Priests of Gods Church not only to preach the Ghospell and denounce retention to the impenitent remission to the Sparkes P. 323. Fulke in c. 20. Ioan. sect 4. 5 Math 28 Mar. 16. Ioan. 20. penitent belieuer as D. Sparkes D. Fulke with their adherents perfidiously wrest the words but absolute power is granted vnto them as the Vicars and Vicegerents of Christ truly to remit and pardon sinnes 1. Because commission to preach was giuen before in S. Matthew S. Marke 2. That was extended to all Teach all nations this is restrayned to some alone who submit their faults to the keyes and censure of the Church Whose sinnes yee remit c. 3. Forgiuenes of sinnes in heauen is not alwayes annexed to the Preachers exhortation it is to the absolution of the Priest if no obstacle hinder it in the party absolued 4. The Preachers voyce declareth on earth what God hath already persormed in heauen but heere quite contrary God ratifieth in heauen what the Priest by his mynisteriall power pronounceth vpon earth The Iudgment Hila. Can 26. in Mat. Chrâ— hom 5. de verbis Isa Vidi Dominum or sentence on earth sayth S. Hilary goeth before that which is giuen in heauen Heauen sayth S. Chrysostome borroweth principall authority of iudging from the Earth So as it cannot be the meere vocation to preach but some other extraordinary and singular Iurisdiction which our Sauiour here bequeathed to his Apostles 3. A Iurisdiction signified before by the power of keys which are chiefly giuen to magistrates and rulers of Cittyes not to betoken thinges already locked or vnlockt but to open and shut as occasion requireth A Iurisdiction for the due exercise whereof the Sacrament so a Aug. l. 2. cont Parm. c. 13. Greg. l. 4. Com. in l. ReguÌ„ c. 5. Calu. l. 4. Instit c. 19. S. Augustine and others tearme it of Ordination was instituted b Chrys hom 85. in Ioan. Greg. Niss ora de lap Isa 44. v. 12. Cyr. lib. 12. c. 56. in 10. Atha ser in illaverba Profecti in pagum Hier ep ad Hedibi Bafil quaest breuib inter 288. Leo ep 91 ad Thâ—oâ— Pacian ep 1. ad Sym. pro. Ambr. de poenic l. x. c. 2. 7. Chris l. 3. de Sacer. Spirituall grace infused the Holy Ghost purposely imparted and imparted after a speciall manner of insufflation or breathing on them to denote that the breath of his Priests pronouncing the words of absolution should disperse and dissolue the mists of sinne according to that of the Prophet Esay I haue disolued like a cloud thy sins This ceremony then was vsed to declare the effect of extinguishing sinne the Holy Ghost was giuen to manifest the cause by whom it is abolished For as S. Cyril sayth It is neyther absurd nor yet inconuenient that they forgiue sinnes who haue the Holy Ghost For when they pardon or retaine sinns the Holy Ghost pardoneth or retayneth sinnes by them and that they doe two wayes by Baptisme first afterwards by Penance 4. Lastly that this rare prerogatiue graunted to Priests was not only by the mystery of the word to declare but by the authority of the keyes to forgiue sinnes many other of the Fathers directly teach S. Athanasius tearming it Power giuen by our Sauiour to Paiests to loose sinnes S. Hierome S. Basil S. Leo Pacianus haue the like S. Ambrose expresly proueth this authority in Priests of remitting sins against the Nouatians cuen ouer them to whom they denyed the ministery of absolution albeit they graunted the benefit of preaching S. Chrysostome extolling the dignity of Priests aboue Kings and Angels amplifyeth the same after his fashion with this goulden streame of wordes They that inhabite the earth and conuerse thereon to them comission is giuen to dispense those thinges that are in heauen To them that power is giuen which Almighty God would not communicate either to Angell or Archangell For to â—hem it is not sayd whatsoeuer yee shall bind in earth shal be bound in heauen c. Earthly Princes indeed haue also authority to bind but the bodyes only but that * Sacerdotum vinculum ipsam eâ—i im animam contingit atque ad caelos vsque peruadit c. binding of Priests which I treate of toucheth the very soule it selfe and reacheth euen to the Heauens In so much as whatsoeuer the Priestes performe beneath the very same Almighty God doth aboue and the sentence * SeruoruÌ„ sententiam Dominus confirmat of the seruant our Lord doth confirme And what is this truly elso but that the power of heauenly things is graunted by God vnto them Whose sinnes soeuer sayth he yee shall retaine they are retained What power I beseech you can be greater then this The Father gaue all power to the Sonne but I see the same power deliuered altogeather by the Sonne vnto them Wherefore as Christ had a speciall power of pardoning sinnes distinct from his power of preaching so had the Apostles to whome he gaue al power committed vnto him as S. Chrysostome auoucheth and our Sauiour himselfe witnesseth when before he imparted this authority he mentioneth his owne commission Ioan. 20. v. 22. saying As my Father sent me I also send you 5. The power of Priests to remit sinnes being thus established it remaineth I declare how Confession to a Priest the second point which our Aduersaryes deny is heerein implyed M. Fulke sayth Neither doth it follow of M. Fulke in c. 20. Io. sect 5. any necessity that men are bound to submit themselues to the Iudgment of Priests if they haue authority to forgiue sinnes But S. Augustine more ancient more holy more
par pag. 63. Reyn. in his conf c. 2. diuis 1. 1. Cor. 3. among the Apostles deserued to heare Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church worthy truly who to the people which were to be builded in the house of God might be a stone for their foundation a pillar for their stay a keye to open the gates of the kingdome of heauen M. Bilson may say as some Protestants are wont that S. Augustin reuersed these things in his booke of Retractations how beit he is so far from retracting that exposition as he there confirmeth it rather by the authority of S. Ambrose and at the length leaueth it to the Readers choise whether he will haue Peter or Christ the Rocke on which he builded his Church 9. But D. Bilson and D. Reynoldes with him alleadge out of S. Paul Another foundation can no man lay then that which is already layed which is Christ Iesus I answere another chiefe principall and independent foundation besides Christ no man can lay but an inferiour secondary or subordinate may be layed without danger of disgrace Basil in concione de paeniten to his vnmatchable priuiledge Because as S. Basil excellently teacheth God imparteth his dignityes not depriuing himself of them but enioying he bestoweth them He is the light and yet he sayth you are the light of the world he is a Priest Basil ibid. and he annoynteth Priests he is the Lambe and he sayth Behould I send you like lambes amongst the middest of woules he is a Rock and he maketh a Rocke and immediatly before resuting this Ephes 2. Apoc. 21. former obiection he sayth Though Peter be a Rocke yet he is not a Rocke as Christ is For Christ is the Rocke vnmoueable of himselfe Peter vnmoueable by Christ the Rocke 10. If you inferre that all the Apostles were thus tearmed Rockes and foundations of the Church I answer they were indeed in a certaine manner foundations all because they were all chosen to preach the Ghospell and plant the fayth in euery part of the world they were all immediatly instructed by Christ they had all most ample and vniuersal iurisdiction throughout the whole empyre of the Church In which respects Origen S. Ambrose S. Hilary S. Hierome and rest whome M. Bilson and Bils par 1. pag. 63. Reyn. c. 2. diuis 2. p. 37. Iohn 20. v. 23. Matth. 16. v. 19. Iohn 17. v. 9. Luc. 22. v. 3â— Iohn 16. v. â—3 Luc. 22. v. 32. Ephes 2. v. 20. Matt. 16. v. 18. Mar. vle v. 15. Ioan. 11. v. 17. Bern l. 2. de CoÌ„sider Pascere apud Haebreos idem nonnumquam est quod regere Psal 22. Dominus regit me in Hebraeo est Dominus pascit me M. Reynolds obiect confesse the keyes to be giuen to all the Apostles they acknowledge them al Rockes and Foundations of the Church yet as their authority was delegate S. Peterâ— ordinary as they had absolute power ouer others S. Peter ouer them so they had all the keyes but with dependency of Peter they were all foundations but Peter the first after Christ and maine foundation both to them to the whole Church with them Whereby he excelled the rest of his fellow Apostles in prehemineÌ„ce of power in preheminence of Fayth in preheminence of dignity And therfore whatsoeuer priuiledge in any of these kinds is attributed in holy Write to all the Apostles togeather with Peter the same is imparted againe to Peter alone in a more peculiar and speciall manner To them all power was graunted to remit sinnes Whose sins yee forgiue they are forgiuen them and whose yee retaine they are retained To Peter alone in more ample sort Whatsoeuer thou shalt bind on earth shal be bound in the heauens and whatsoeuer thou shalt loose in earth shal be loosed also in the heauens For them all Christ prayed that they might be constant in fayth Not for the world do I pray but for them whome thou hast giuen me for Peter alone I haue prayed for thee that thy fayth fayle not To them all our Sauiour sayd When the spirit of truth commeth he shall teach you all truth to Peter alone Confirme strengthen thy brethren in the truth the holy Ghost shall teach Of them all it is written That we are planted vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets of Peter alone Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church To them all it was sayd Going into the whole world preach the Ghospell to euery Creature To Peter alone Feed my sheep What sheep sayth S. Bernard the people of this or that Citty Of this or that Kingdome My sheep quoth he To whome is it not manifest that he designed not some but assigned all Nothing is excepted where nothing is distinguished 11. Feede my sheep that is feed all that are within the compasse of my fold all that may be intituled myne whether they be Apostles Bishops people or Princes vnlesse Matt. 16. v. 18. â—â— Psal 2. Mich. â— Matth. 2. Apoc. 2. perchance their Apostolicall Episcopall or Imperiall soueraignty any way exclude them from the number of my sheep By these wordes that great reward which was promised to S. Peter in the 16. of S. Matthew is heer exhibited to him and his successors by these he is installed in his Pastorall dignity by these he is created head of the Apostles and chiefe Gouernor of the militant church as the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth declare which importeth not only feed but feed by gouerning and ruling as may be seene in diuers other places of Scripture Likewise Euseb Emiss serm in Naâ—iuit S. Ioan. Euang our Blessed Redeemer gaue heere vnto S. Peter commission both to feed his Lambes to feed his sheep whereupon Eusebius Emissenus aboue a thousand yeares ago proposeth this conuincing argument He committed sayth he to S. Peter his Lambes and then his sheep because he made him not only a Pastour but the Pastour of Pastours Peter therfore feedeth the lambes and also the sheep He feedeth children and their Mothers he ruleth the people and their Prelates He is therefore Ioan. â—1 v. 15. the pastour of all because besides lambes and sheep there is nothing in the Church Hitherto Eusebius Also before this power was giuen to Peter Christ demanded of him Simon of Iohn â—ouest thou me more then these What caused the Sonne of God to exact more loue of Peter then of his fellow-Disciples Had not equall loue beene sufficient to equal care Why then doth he exact more But only because Chrys l. 2. de Sacerd. Ecclesiae praefectura he bequeathed vnto him a farre higher Dignity a more perfect charge ouer his floke the headship or primacy of the Church as S. Iohn Chrysostome by the force of this argument inuincibly proueth 12. Moreouer when our Sauiour repressed the in ordinate Luc. 22. v. 26. lust and desire of raigning in his Disciples a
blisse and happynes requireth it vvhich is a mayne Ocean of ioyes a full and plentifull repast of vvhatsoeuer the hart can vvish or desire For Psal â—6 King Dauid sayd I shall be satisfyed when thy glory shall appeare Novv euery Saint nature being not abolished but perfected by grace hath a naturall invvard appetite to knovv the estate of their friendes to vnderstand the suits they make vnto theÌ„ therefore to fulfill the measure of their felicity they must haue notice of them 15. Thirdly the excellency of their beatificall and happy vision of God challengeth no lesse For if many holy-men euen in this life eyther by the gift of Prophesy or by the extraordinary fauour of God haue disclosed the hidden thoughts of hart thinges to come and thinges done farre distant from them as Elizaeus knevv the bribe which Geizi tooke S. Peter the sacriledges of 4. Reg. 5. Act. 5. Ananias and Saphira Daniel Ezechiel many secrets to come depending on the free choyce and will of man Why should not the Saints vvhome the highest Soueraygne hath admitted into his heauenly consistory with vvhome he communicateth his hidden counsayles why should not they by the preheminence of glory vvhich farre surpasseth the giftes of prophesy the prerogatiues of grace more truly decipher and perspicuously see what is often reuealed by inferiour meanes Which reason Aug. l. 2â— de Ciu. Dei cap. 29. Basil l. de vera Virg Athanas quaest 32. Esa 63. Hier. vpon that place S. Augustine profoundly prosecuteth saying If the Prophet Elizaeus absent in body did see the bribe his seruant Geizi receaued of Naaman Syrus c. how much more in that Spirituall body shall Saints see all thinges c. When God shall be all in all vnto vs I might adioyne hereunto the suffrage of Saint Basil and S. Athanasius vnlesse our Aduersaryes thought to wipe them all away with one misconstrued place of the Prophet Esay 16. Abraham knoweth vs not and Israel is ignorant of vs. I answere with Saint Hierome That they knew not the Iewes with the knowledge of approbation or liking because they had abandoned before the Lavv of Aug. l. de cura pro. mort c. 13. Iob. 14. Eccles 9. Orig. l. 2. in Ep. ad Ro. Aug. l. de vera relig cap. 55. Naz. orat in Athan. Field l. 3. c. â—â— fol. 109. God Or they knew them not by their owne power and vertue by humane conuersation with them as Saint Augustine seemeth to interprete it and of vvhich Iob King Salomon Origen Saint Augustine meane when they doubt or deny the Saints to know our actions S. Gregory Nazianzen is so farre from staggering in this point as he sayth of Athanasius Rectè noui c. I truly know he vieweth our doings And therefore M. Field might easily haue perceaued had he not beene wilfull that in the sentence of S. Gregory at which he carpeth If the Blessed soules haue that priuiledge from God to know these thinges c. If the dead haue sense c. the particle if is not taken conditionally but causually by way of asseueration as learned Maldonate literally expoundeth it in his notable commentaryes Maldonat in Io. c. 15. c. 13. Ioan. 15. Ioan. 13. vpon the New Testament in S. Iohn If they haue persecuted me c. Agayne If God be glorifyed in him c. The like I affirme of S. Hierome and the rest when they vse any such conditionall speaches For although some Fathers doubted of the manner of knowledge the Saints haue of inferiour things yet none euer made question but that they vnderstand by reuelation from God not generally All our inward actions and secret thoughts vvhich Field loco citato fol. 114. M. Field whether of ignorance or malice I diuine not iniuriously tearmeth An impious counceit of Papistes but such as we of deuotion or they of piety desire to know Howbeit it could inuolue no impiety if they did see all not of themselues but by the Diuine illumination and fauour of God 17. So as our Protestants can deuise no semblance or shew of reason why mortall men may be prayed vnto and not immortall Saintes Vnlesse they imagine that being vnited to Christ they be more estranged from vs that their charity is more cold or ability Bern. in vigil Petri Pauli ser de S. Victore Aug. ser â—9 infest SS Petri Pauli lesse able to comfort vs. Of their charity S. Bernard writeth That Blessed Countrey doth not change but augment it The latitude or breadth of heauen restrayneth not but dilateth hartes Of their power and ability Saint Augustine speaking of the miracle S. Peter wrought with his shadow sayth If then the shadow of his body could affoard help how much more now the fulnes of his power And if then a certayne little wind of him passing by did perfect them that humbly asked how much more the grace of him now permanent and remayning And S. Hierome Hier. aduers Vigi If the Apostles and Martyrs dwelling in corruptible flesh could pray for others when they ought to be carefull for themselues how much more after their crownes victory and triumphes When Secure as S. Cyprian noteth of their owne felicity they remayne sollicitous only of our safety 18. Lastly the wicked fiendes and diuells of Cyp. de mortal â— hell heare the Southsayers Witches and Magitians when they eyther coniure or call vpon them they contriue and accomplish many mischiefs at their appointment by Gods permission as you may reade in the fourth Martinuâ— del Rio Magica disquisitionum l. 4. booke of Matinus Del Rio his magicall Disquisitions And shall we thinke the triumphant Saints and Angells of heauen deafe Shall we thinke their handes fettered or power restrayned when we deuoutly pray and suplicate vnto them O yee heauens be astonished and stand amazed yee immortall spirits at this cursed generation vvhich graunteth to the diuellish and damned spirits what it impiously gainsayeth and denyeth to you For â— Reg. 28. Basil ep 80. ad Eustac Amb. l. 1. in Luc. 1. Ieron Isa 7. Aug. de cura pro mort ger cap. 15. which S. Augustine wrot after that to SimpliciaÌ„ where he seemeth to doubt whether it was Samuels soule or no. Eccles 46. Tertul. l. de anima Procop. Euche in 〈◊〉 locuÌ„ what can any Protestant say to that apparition of Samuel mentioned in the first of Kinges Will he graunt with S. Basil S. Ambrose S. Hierome S. Augustine which is also most agreeable to the wordes there recorded and confirmed by Ecclesiasticus that the soule of Samuel truly appeared vnto Saul and foretold him of his death of King Dauid his successour of the slaughter of his sonnes and other Israelites which was to ensue the very next day after Then he must perforce acknowledge that soules departed do know our affayres and what good or euill doth heere betide vs as S. Augustine by this example inuincibly proueth Or will
We contrary wise teach that actual concupiscence much lesse habituall is no sin at all vnles the allowance and approbation of our will concurre thereunto which S. Iames auoucheth in his Catholike Epistle Euery one is tempted of his owne concupiscence abstracted and allured afterward concupiscence when it hath conceaued bringeth forth sinne Iac. 1. v. 14. 15. Lo heere the act of concupiscence first tempting to sinne before it be formally sinne therefore of it selfe it is no sinne neither are the suddayne motions and suggestions therof culpable except we some way yield vnto them which our thrice learned and euer worthy admired S. Augustine of set purpose inculcateth in diuers places in his Aug. l. 5. cont Iul. c. 5. fift booke against Iulian and cyting that very text of S. Iames he sayth Truly in these wordes the brood is distinguished from that which breedeth or bringeth forth for concupiscence is that which breedeth the brood is sinne but concupiscence begetteth not vnles is conceaue it conceaueth not vnles it induce that is gayneth the assent of the willer to perpetuall euill When therefore it is striuen against this commeth to passe that it may not conceaue Augu. de ciuit Dei l. 1. c. 25. Idem ep 200. ad Asel Iâ—em l 2. de Gen cont Maâ—i c. 4. Cyril l. 4. c. 5â— Chrys ho. 13. in ep ad Rom. Basil l. de virg l. const Monast c. 2. Ambr. l. de Sacram. regen Hier. ep ad Ocea or trauell with sinne In his booke of the Citty of God That rebellion of concupiscence which dwelleth in our dying members c. how much lesse is it without fault in the body of him that consenteth not if it be without fault in the body of him that sleepeth In his epistles If we consent not to those disordered motions we need not say to our Father which is in heauen forgiue vs our trespasses In his second booke of Genesis against the Manichees Sometyme reason doth stoutly resist and bridle concupiscence euen stirred vp which when it is performed we fall not into sinne but with some wrastling are crowned With S. Augustine accord S. Cyrill S. Chrysostome S. Basil S. Ambrose S. Hierome and all the ornaments both of the Greeke and Latin Church as Caluin the Proto-sectary of this our vnfortunate age fully witnesseth writing of Concupiscence in these wordes Neither is it needfull to labour much in searching what old writers haue thought heerein for as much as only Augustine may be sufficient for it who hath faythfully and with great diligence gathered all their iudgments therefore let the Readers gather out of him such certainty as they shall desire to learne of the opinion of antiquity And then immediatly setting downe what S. Augustine taught of this matter and wherein he dissented from him There may seeme sayth he to be this difference betweene him and vs that he when he graunteth that the faythfull so long as they dwell in a mortall body are so holden bound with lusts Calu. l. 3. instit c. 3. §. 10. that they cannot but lust yet dareth not call that disease sinne but being content to expresse it by the name of weaknes he teacheth that then only it becommeth sinne when either worke or consent is added to corruption or apprehension that is when will yieldeth to the first desire but we account the very same for sinne that man is tickled with any desire at all against the law of God I need no more The opinion and iudgment of all antiquity touching concupiscence by Caluins confession is to be taken out of Augustine Augustine auoucheth it no sinne without the consent of the will as himselfe also confesseth Augustine therefore and all antiquity agree with vs in this point against himselfe and his confederates by Caluins owne confession 3. But I will not only beare downe my aduersaryes by Caluins testimony and authority of Ancient Fathers Concupiscence without consent proued by reason to be no sin I will wage also reasons with them I aske what sinne the instigation of coÌ„cupiscence is if it vnwillingly inuade vs or be checked and restrained by vs Originall or Actuall Not Originall because that equally infecteth all this is more violent more exorbitaÌ„t in some theÌ„ others according to the various coÌ„plexion disposition of the persoÌ„s that is of one essence and nature in euery sinner this of diuers one of wrath another of lust the third of reueng c. that neither is nor can be any act but a defect or priuatioÌ„ only this is a personall act in him that coueteth therfore it is not Original sinne distilled from another Nor Actuall Aug. l. 3 de lib. arb c. 18. for we cannot sinne actually against our will No man as S. Augustine teacheth is sayd to sinne in that which he cannot auoyd Therfore the vnuoluntary motions which maugre our will often assault vs cannot be truly sins Our opponents reply it is sufficient they were once voluntary in their origen that is in Adam But it is false that Adam euer voluntarily consented to the personal motions of coÌ„cupiscence which arise in vs neither was our will coÌ„prehended in him as head of his posterity in any other thing then in keeping or casting of the armour of original iustice from himselfe and vs therin only his will was our assent his perseuerance our crown his reuolt our fall his transgressioÌ„ our sin in other acts or desirs of ours which are not of their owne nature faulty though free his voluntary disobedience cannot make them faulty And although I should graunt that they willingly proceed from him as the voluntary cause of all our euills yet that is not inough to make vs now guilty of the outrage committed to say we once sinned in the cause wheron it depended for you may be faulty in the cause and yet incurre no sin when the effect falleth out For example the Maister commandeth his seruant or solliciteth his friend to murder his enemy without doubt he grieuously offendeth when he giueth that charge or vseth such wicked perswasions yet if after he hartily repent before it be atchieued and do his vttermost to recall and hinder the effect although the Lesâ—â—â—â— l. 2. de iure iust c. 13. â—ub 3. Molits de Restit tract 2. disp 73â— censure of excommunication and irregularity sometyme may yet the guilt of sinne neuer can be incurred when the slaughter is committed contrary to his mind the reason is because he hauing recouered the grace and fauour of God by his sorrow and repentance cannot be depriued of it against his will If this be true in the effectes once caused by our owne counsayle or aduise how true is it in the motions caused in vs by the consent of another And if actuall coÌ„cupiscence may be without sinne much more habituall which is nothing so ill as that for the euill habits of mortall and deadly sinne may comply with grace the euill acts can neuer
English K. Iames to patronage in his answere to Cardinall Peron for although that answere be set forth vnder Casaubons name yet his Highnes vouchsafeth to adopt it for his own Royal ofspring in his reply to the foreâ—ayd Cardinalls Oration The words are His Maiesty and the Church of England do allow the necessity of Baptisme in respect of the diuine institution as well as you c. God hath appointed this as for the ordinary way to obtaine remission of sinnes in his Church Christ himselfe denieth the entrance into the kingdome of heauen to those which are not borne againe of water and the spirit Therefore it is not the seale which signeth the Charter of Iustice already made not the addition hanging at it but the instrument which by vertue communicated vnto it by God doth effect and make vs iust And so the true and intier fayth which the Apostle exacted of the Eunuch Act. 8. v. 37. before Baptisme what not sufficient to iustify in the sight of God nor to remit his sinnes nor to open the gate of heauen vnles he had byn also sprinckled with the precious and sauing water of that holy Sacrament 14. Lastly the fayth so often celebrated and commended in holy Writ is not your presumptuous confidence not your confortable trust or affiance of the will but our humble and firme beliefe the submission of captiuating of our vnderstanding to the obedience of mysteries reuealed by God Such is the Fayth defined by S. Rom. 1. v. 8. 17. Heb. 11. v. 1. 4. 5. Heb. 11. v. 7. Rom. 4. v. 21. Heb. 11. v. 11. Paul and by him so much extolled in Abel Henoch Noë Abraham Sara for Noë his fayth was not any speciall perswasion of the remission of his sinnes by the righteousnes of Christ but the assent and credit he gaue to the reuelations which God made vnto him of the vniuersall deluge which should drowne the word whereupon fearing he framed the Arke for sauing of his house Abrahams fayth was his generall acknowledgment that whatsoeuer God promised he is able also to do his assured beliefe that his seed should be as the starres in heaueÌ„ notwithstaÌ„ding his old age and the dead matrice of Sara his wife Sara her fayth the Apostle declareth saying By fayth Sara also her selfe being barren receaued vertue in conceauing of seed yea past the tyme of age because she beleeued that he was faythfull which had promised But to passe from the faythfull of the old Testament to those of the new 15. The renowned Fayth of the Centurion admired and praysed by the diuine wisedome it selfe what was Matt. 8. v. 8. Matt. 16. v. 10. Ioan. 10 v. 28. it That Christ being absent by his only word could cure his diseased seruant Only say the word and my boy shall be healed The fayth of S. Peter by which he deserued the Primacy of the Apostleship what was it Thou art Christ the son of the liuing God The fayth of S. Thomas after his incredulity what was it his faytfull exclamation My Lord and my God To be briefe the fayth in which S. Iohn in which S. Paul placeth the life and saluation of our soules what Ioan. 20. v. 31. other is it Then to beleeue that Iesus Christ is the Sonne of God and that beleeuing you may haue life in his name This is the word of fayth sayth S. Paul which we preach for if thou confesse Rom. 10. v. 8. 9. with thy mouth our Lord Iesus Christ and shalt beleeue in thy hart that God raysed him from death thou shalt be saued M. Abbot is so mightily embroyled in answering of these sentences Abbot inhis defence câ—p 4. sect â—8 strongly vrged by M. Doctour Bishop as to the first example of Noë forsaking the written word the soueraigne refuge to which they make their last appeale he recoyleth from the rule of Fayth and literall exposition of all ancient writers and laboureth to scramble out of the brakes by the help of some Allegoryes or other mysticall sentences of S. Augustine and S. Chrysoftome which if they were sincerely alleadged as they are fondly wrested by him yet they could not auaile to establish any truth in matters of fayth as all Deuines agree 16. To the second of Abraham he is forced to confesse that not the mercy of God remitting sins but the power of God in being able to performe his promise was the obiect of Abrahams fayth To the example of the Centurion he replyeth It followeth not that because the act of fayth is no further expressed heere therfore there was nothing further in his fayth Abbot in his defence c 4. sect â—â— f. 456. for his iustification towards God Yes M. Abbot it inuincibly followeth against you and your consorts who still prouoke vs to the expresse wordes of Scripture therefore if the fayth you mention be neither there nor els where expressed in Scripture you deuise a fayth of your owne heades not expressed in Scripture To the confession of S. Peter to the texts cited out of S. Iohn S. Paul he answereth Abbot ibidem by teaching vs this strange lesson That fayth is a compounded action not of the vnderstanding only but of the hart will and affections O how were you heere ouerseene to cast into writing a speach so contrary to the Apostle and repugnant 1. Cor. 1â— v. 13. to the doctrine of all Deuines The Apostle sayth Now remaine Fayth Hope and Charity these three Loe he tearmeth them three distinct and seuerall vertues he flatly sequestreth fayth from Charity which you transform into a compounded action Yet with such an vntoward composition as thereby is destroyed the very compound it selfe For if Fayth be an act of the vnderstanding it cannot be also an act of the will or if you once make it an affection of the wil you vtterly ouerthrow the nature of fayth and so are become such a solifidian Patron of only fayth as you quite abolish all kind of fayth Againe S. S. Thom 2. 2. q. 4. 23. Loâ— Banneâ— in eadem q. Arist l. 7. phis c. 17. lâ—â— Eth. c. â— Augu. l. 4. cont Iul. c. 3. Thomas all Deuines assigne to fayth her proper subiect in which it inhereth her peculiar obiect to wit the prime verity obscurely reuealing the mysteryes of our beliefe her peculiar excellency and proper act her speciall difficulty her singular prayse her particuler merit distinct from Charity therefore it hath all which either Aristotle or S. Augustine require to the integrity of a sole and single vertue 17. Notwithstanding we say that all true and perfect vertues are linked togeather with the golden chaine of mutuall society therefore we cannot perfectly beleeue in Christ vnles we loue hope delight and ioy in him In whome we looke to find as you say blessing peace immortality and euerlasting life which is the only meaning of S. Augustine Abbot c. 4. f. 456. Augu. in