Heretickes liue as though there were no God indeede hell nor heauen what they stick not to confesse some of them that hell is only in the brest and but a darkenes of the minde and conscience or some biting of the same but they shal feele vnlesse they speedely amend another hell indeede as Christ said where that deadly worme gnawing vppoÌ„ them shall neuer dye and where that euerlasting fier that he at the last day shall coÌ„mand the wicked to depart into shal neuer be quenched where is weeping wayling and gnashing of teeth Truly I my selfe knew an vsurer now become a Maister by his honest trade that said who is able to say there is a hell and yet this maÌ„ would seeme to be wise indeede it is seldome seene that any returne from hell to bring newes back especially vsurers but if he would beleeue God to be iust or beleeue Christe he would not doubt of this matter for our iust Lord thretneth hell to the wicked as he promiseth endles reward of glory to the iust yea our meeke and mercifull Sauiour saith there is a hell and that with no small nor short paines and punishments but with vnmeasurable endles torments For what do you thinke that rich glutton which Christ speaketh of in the Gospell would giue that could not haue a droppe of cold water to quench the thirst of his tongue end being punished in flames of fire What thinke you would he do at this day to be released of his torments who would not looke at the poore beggar nor spare him a mite or giue him a peece of bread lying in misery the dogges licking his sores when the rich glutton fared deliciously euery day in silkes and veluttes what thinck you would he do to be with that poore beggar in heauen if life but for seauen yeares vvpon earth might be graunted for his saluation but that tyme is past for euer in hell is no redemption where the tree falleth there foreuer it lyeth that is whether a man dye in state of saluation or damnation after death passed it cannot be altered because his soule is hardened in malice dying without iust sorrowe and with affection euer to sinne if it might bee wishing there were no GOD to punish sinne and so dying in displeasure of his Maiestie which is infinite deserueth endles torments but those we pray for departed that dye in state of saluation as I said before and neuercome in that bottomles pitte I now speake of But touching those in hell with them the gate is shutt vp which once shutt there is neuer hope of saluation the night is come when man can worke there no more his saluation therfore would God this rich vsurer and all of his minde betime would know there is a hel as christ telleth and worke their saluation as he exhorteth which this rich glutton if he might would but being in hell he can doe no more as being in an end of that which shall neuer haue end Chap. LXIX Of heauen which worldlinges contemne how we may obtaine it and of the glorious and most happy estate of the body with the soule for euer after the generall resurrection BVT you se what opinions heretickes and vsurers haue of hell I would gladly know what they thinke of heauen I haue heard of some that haue had so good a conceipt thereof that if God would euer let them liue heere they would neuer desire him as they say to trouble him in heauen nor no more I warrant you they shall vnlesse they haue a better desire to come thither whether to arriue a maÌ„ must leaue affection to this worldly trash or els quite forsake it which worldlings cannot abide to heare of for heauen is high cannot be obtained with too great a burden on our backs nor without labour paines and earnest desires as saith Christ The Kingdome of heauen suffereth violence and men must take it as it were by force that is swinck and sweat for it as an inheretance of greatest importance let therfore a man ioyfully giue himself and all he hath for it he shal win it As the wise maÌ„ that found the treasure in the field solde all he had to enioy that field and treasure whereby is vnderstoode the Kingdome of GOD the treasure and fulnes of all good thinges wherin wee shall finde Christ the full delight and infinite treasure of mans soule Heretickes woulde some of them haue vs now in no better case since Christ hath by his bloudshed opened heauen gates and remoued that wall betwixt God vs then the Iewes were before Christ when none entered into Gods glory till Christ had deliuered them but Heretiks be-ly the truth think too basely of Christs victory ouer the deuill hell death who would haue mens soules That some gather out of Luthers works was his opinion of others or rather worse Note the perfection of man is greater by how much he approch eth neerer to angelical nature to lye I know not in what obscure places and hidden receptacles till the day of iudgment but truth it is as wee bee taught by the Scriptures our Sauiour with the rich spoyle of Saints many blessed soules entered into his fathers glory with whome Saint Paul desired to be when he said I desire to bee loosed from his body that was and be with Christ so that Christ is in heauen no doubt now and Saint Paul al his blessed friends and innumerable saued soules since his Ascention with him and he hath prepared the way for vs if we well and perfectly doe liue to be with him as soone as the soule is from the body and at the glorious resurrection with Christ then shall we be clothed with a glorious stole of our bodies also in which respect we shall be better by it in some sort then I meane not that humane nature exceedeth angeâ—icall but thus I speake chiefely for the honor of our Lord â—â—svs who in himself hath so highly exalted our nature Angels that want bodies which body as it was pertaker with the soule of the griefe and paines of Christ so it shall be for euer pertaker of the glorious resurrection with him where after with Christ shall be more ioy happines of all good things theÌ„ may be thought or imagined Chap. LXX Of the Pope that he is the Vicar of Christ and lawfull successor of Saint Peeter LAstly the heretickes raile much against the Pope for he is euer in one end of their sermons and therefore I wil end with him in this litle treatise I told you before and proued vnto you in one of the notes of the true Church which is succession how the Pope is Vicar of Christ and successor most lawfull to Saint Peter to whom and all his successors in him Christ committed chiefe charge and authority ouer the Church wherein at the first generall consell he made decree gaue first sentence he raysed the dead healed the
thee the euerlasting truth and beleeue or followe any brainsicke hereticke in the worlde what shoulde I aunswere or howe durst I appeare before thy face I confesse then it is most certaine and sure which thou hast saide of this blessed Sacrament This is my Bodie This is my Bloud And that euery heretike that saieth This is a figureof thy Body This is a figure of thy Bloud is a most blasphemous and impudent hereticke and lyar Chap. XXIII Wherin is declared that we ought as really and truely to receaue his Body with our mouthes to health saluation as Adam did eate the forbidden apple to death and damnation BVt it is a woonder what shiftes these false Prophets the heretickes haue to couer their lyes vnder some shewe of trueth as though we were to eate Christ at his Fathers right-hand and so to delude the simple for as a learned man of our time writeth of this matter in this sorte Concerning that Caluin willeth vs to goe into heauen by faith to eate Christes body know you not because our nature was not able to clime vp to the seat of God in heauen therfore the sonne of God came downe from heauen to earth to lead and lift vs vp to the fruition of his father Know you not that because our body more quickly draweth our soules downwarde then our spirite is able to drawe our body vpward therfore Christ toke not only the soule but also the body of man giuing vs in his last supper that body of his to the intent that our bodies taking holde in the Sacrament of the Alter of his bodye might be caried into heauen to haue the sight of God because faith without the Incarnation of Christ cannot lifte vp our bodies therefore Christ fulfilled faith with trueth and hauing taken of the Virgin our nature gaue his body in deede to our bodies and soules that we againe might in body and soule be lifted vp with it It is not then sufficient to eate Christ by faith only but to arise againe in Christ the second Adam we must eate him in this blessed Sacramente as reallye and verily as our first father Adam wherein we all fell did eate the forbidden fruit The fruite of the tree forbiden entred into the mouth and damned the fruit of the blessed Virgin of the tree of the Crosse must enter into our mouths and spiritually worke effect in our soules and thereby wee shal be saued For as a man that is cast into a deepe pitt calleth by the meane of his tongue for helpe but when a cord is lett down to him for the ayde and succour of him it is not then sufficient to vse his tongue still to let his hands alone Euen so our faith called for Christ to come from heauen to helpe vs to let downe the corde of his humanity and of his fleshe and bloud and shall we nowe when it is let downe to be fastened in our bodies and in the bottome of our hearts by eating it really shall we nowe refuse it and say we will goe into heauen by faith our selues and there take holde of Christ whereby we may be saued and deliuered out of the deepe vale of misery As though neede were that the corde shoulde haue beene let downe if we coulde haue fastned our bodies to any thing in heauen and yet our bodies are they which weigh downe our soules cheifly Authorities to proue the vndoubted trueth of this most blessed Sacrament bee almost inumerable For if I should reckon vp all holy Saints and blessed Fathers that haue written of the trueth of this B. Sacrament I should neuer make an ende S. Ambrose saith Lib. 4. de Sacram. This bread is bread before the words of the Sacrament but when Consecration commeth to it of bread is made the body of Christ and howe at Masse the Priest prayeth for Kings Princes and the people but when he commeth to the most venerable renowmed Sacrament then he vseth not his owne wordes saith he but the worde of our Lord Iesus God commaunded saith he and heauen was made earth was made all creatures were made thou seest then saith he of what vertue the worde of Christ is If then God made thinges before of nothing that were not how much-more able is he to make things to be that were before and to change them into another As for example to make that which before was bread wine by consecration his Body and Bloud and before the wordes of Christ saith he the Chalice is full of wine and water but when the wordes of Christ come thereunto there is then the Bloud that redeemed the people All the holy Doctours as Saint Chrysostome Saint Cyrill Saint Ciprian both the holy Gregories Saint Hierome Saint Augustine Saint Barnarde bee full of the like testimonies for this matter many of them recording woonderfull miracles that haue beene wrought by vertue of this Sacrament Saint Augustine amongst De. ciu Dei the rest recordeth howe a place beeing troubled with euill spirits One of his bretheren a. religious mā that was a frier or a moncke went and offred there the healthfull Sacrifice as much to say as he said Masse and so the euill spirites were driuen away Hard you euer anye such miracle wrought by their Communion all this time I haue probably hard how the Diuell hath appeared in some of their Churches of late and in the beginning of this Queenes time when Paules steeple was burnt the very communion table from all other thinges about it was burnt in token of Godes wrath and indignation against that venemous bread of theirs whereby they poyson the souls of the simple people In the four general Councels that S. Gregorie did honour as the fouer Gospells you shall finde the blessed Sacrament of the Altar spoken of in most reuerent sort as called An honorable Sacrament called a most pure and vnbloody sacrifice of Christs body blood a pure and vndefiled host the lambe of God and the like by vertue whereof as wee read in Saint Gregories dialogues and other holy Fathers the deaffe haue beene made to heare the dumme to speake the lame to walke many other cured of incurable diseases Being abused by Iewes Heretickes and Infidles it hath issued out of blood and sometimes bin seene with streames of glorious lighte proceeding from the same as auncient histories doe recorde and blessed Saints in their writings doe witnes To be breife then this blessed Sacrament and our pure and most blessed vnbloody Sacrifice being so plainlye declared to bee Christes blessed bodye and blood by Christes owne words the holy Apostles and Euangelistes and all good men that euer writte since Christes time by the generall practize of the Church by generall Councells that cannot erre because Christ hath promised his holy spirite to assist them and his Church in all truth and by so many and wonderfull miracles we may firmely conclude with that holy Father Saint Hillary I am de
is a great glorie in the profession of cookery to bee able to make of one kinde of stuff as for example of eggs alone sixteene or twenty diuers dishes but to doe that feate much labour many spices and sawces greate compositions and mixtures are required Christ in steede of all those shiftes vsed blessing and working words of thankesgiuing which were so sure to worke their intent that some meÌ„ haue doubed whether he gaue thankes first because he fore-saw the whole purpose out of hand should be obtained as himselfe wished or else which is more probable whether the very working of the feate were not the selfe thankes-giuing for the worke For his blessing and thankes-giuing was the saying ouer the bread This is my body ouer the wine This is my bloud By vertue of which wordes his body bloud beeing made of the creatures of bread wine as wel were a thankful sacrifice themselues to God as Christ also in his visible forme hauing wrought this did praise and thanke his Father for such an excellent effecte the which body and bloud his Apostles eating and drinking were made pertakers of the greatest most excellent banquet that euer was made on earth For the better vnderstanding whereof it may please a man to repeat in his minde howe God in the beginning adorned this world First with Angels heauenly spirits secondly with the heauens themselues thirdly with the elements of fire ayre water and earth and as the Angells occupie the highest place so doe the heauens with the lightes starres in them occupie the second place and the fower elements are beneath them When things were come after this sort froÌ„ the highest order of Seraphins to the earth which is the lowest element of al theÌ„ it pleased the wisedome of god to make as it were a reuolt of al things to return his creatures froÌ„ the bottome of the earth vpwarde again towards himselfe he therfore made the earth to bring forth greene grasse with al such kinde of things as haue animam vegetiuam in theÌ„selues to growe increase of which kind al hearbs springs trees be aboue those in a higher degre were birds fishes beasts which haue a life sensitiue being able to moue from place to place Lastly god made maÌ„ who hath not only vegetatiue power sensitiue in his soul but also reason vnderstanding in whose body are the vertues of the fower elements with the influence of the heauens in whose soul is free will and power to gouerne agreable to the nature of Angels and of heauenly spirits for this cause this creature hath beene worthelie called euen of the Christian philosophers Microcosmos a litle world for that he alone hath in him all the degrees of creatures both liuing and with out life both sensible and reasonable therefore hee is called in holy scripture Omnis creatura All creatures Nowe when the sonne of God taking pittye that this little world the worke of his great power was by the diuell seduced came downe and tooke flesh of the virgin Marye being true God true man in one person at that time were al things breifly brought againe to God whence they first were created brought forth Christ alone is all in one In his Godhead he is all that is aboue the heauens and that filleth the worlde In his manhoode which is the foote-stoole of God he is all that is in or vnder the heauens in this manhoode are al creatures most perfectly compiled without blemishe of nature of mind or of body so that seing this body of Christ wherein also all the fulnes of the Godhead dwelleth is giueÌ„ eaten at a banquett there is no doubt but the same is such a banquett as cannot bee made with all the creatures of heauen and earth gathered together In this one dishe is a composition most delicate of Angels heauens elements of herbs fishes birdes beasts of reasonable men and of God himselfe no kinde of salett meat sause fruites confection no * Vnderstand here that I mean not that any earthly thing is in the B. Sacrament after Consecration saue only the very Body and Bloud of Christ who because it pleased him after a humane sorte to conuert by eating drincking bread wine and other visible creatures into his sacred Body and Bloud therefore though the proprietie of such creatures be changed in substance yet iuxta aliquid in some manner and sort they be set on that table still but wholly conuerted into the Body and Bloud of Christ kinde of wine aqua-uitae aqua-composita liquors sirrops can be founde in nature made by art deuised by witt but it is all seâ—t vpon this table and that in a small roome where it cloyeth not with the abundance or annoyeth with the vncleane handling it filleth without lothsomenes it prouoketh the appetite without danger of surfeting to be short were it not a banquett prouided by the sonne of God no maÌ„ would think it possible to haue such a feast made in the de sart of this wicked world Thus do we catholiks teach of the supper of our lord beleue it agreable to his word worthy his worshipp this banquett feedeth the whole man There is a reasonable soul to feed our reasoÌ„ a natural substaÌ„ce of flesh to feed nourish our flesh ther is the spirit of God which quickneth both soul flesh to life euerlasting This is the true Manna which containeth the tast of all sweetnes hath in it selfe all manner of pleasaÌ„t refectioÌ„ this is the food of life the which who so eateth worthely shall liue for euer This is the feast wherof Salomon speaketh Hoc itaque visum est mihi bonum Eccles 3 5. 7. c. This therfore seemeth to me good that a man eat drinck enioy gladnes of his labour which words S. Aust expouÌ„deth thus Non est bonum homini nisi c. It is De ciuit Dei li. 17. cap. 20. not good for a man but that which hee shall eat drinck what more credibly is he vnstood to say then that which belongeth to the partaking of this table which he himselfe a preist mediator of the new testament offreth or giueth according to the order of Melchisedech of his bodye bloode If then the Prophet hath affirmed the greatest good that maÌ„ hath in this life to be eating and drincking that eating drincking be long to the supper of our lord Christ we may perceiue right well that the matter substance of Christs supper coÌ„sisteth not in bread wine for then we might not be better occupied theÌ„ in eating and drincking but in the reall flesh blood of Christ wherin al goodnes spiritual corporall is collected into one heape giueÌ„ vnto vs vnder the form of bread wine for so God hath appointed Instaurari omnia in Christo que in celis que in terra c. To renue al things
Christ towardes vs for loue you knowe deserueth loue againe but what greater loue could Christ shewe vs in not onlye dying for vs but still in this vnspeakable mistery remaining with vs Was there euer Pellicane that so tendred her young ones who though she fedde them with her bloud yet in the end she forsaketh them was there euer mother that so dearly looued her childreÌ„ as christ doth vs who said and persormeth it that If a mother can forget the onlye sonne of her wombe yet will he neuer forget nor forsake vs who not only feedeth vs with the sweet milk of his holy word the fruit full dewe of his grace taketh compassion vpon vs euen with shedding his bloud imbrasing vs with his stretched out armes of mercy vpon the Crosse but also still remaineth with vs euen to the end of the world fostring vs with his very body be dewing and washing vs also with his most sweet and precious bloud O hart why dost thou not relent why art thou so harde how canst thou abstain from teares for pure loue of that sweet Sauiour and Redeemer vvhy art thou not appalled with feare vvhy art thou not stricken with loue vvhy art thou not wholy inflamed with deuotion which is oft afforded to the deuout receauers hereof for by how much this mistery is aboue mans reason by somuch the ferueÌ„t loue deuotioÌ„ bestowed on vs by the fountaine of Gods grace giueÌ„ vs therin is of more vertue and aboundance If S. Peter when he had but one glimce of Gods glory wheÌ„ he but tasted as it were a droppe of his loue in Mount Thabor thought it good to stay there and neuer to depart When wee receaue heare a fountaine of his loue a pleadge of his glorie the coelestiall dewe of all grace why shoulde wee not fully content satiate and repose our selues herein O if such disposition is made for the receipt of some noble King in his subiects house howe ought wee to cleanse our hearts and mindes to purifie our bodies to sweepe our spirits vvith compunction and penitent sorrowe of harte for our sinnes which bee the only things that bee foule in Gods sight and displease him to confesse vvith mouth to satisfie vvith deede to applie all the members of our bodies and powers of our soules to entertaine him that so our soules and bodies may be an habition for Christ and tabernacle of the holie Ghost But O sweete Sauiour if my vessell were of the purest mettall farre more excellent then golde and precious sâ—ones it were too base for thy Maiestie whome those glorious Angelicall spirits or the heauens cannot comprehende and where is then thy habitation but onlie in pure mindes and soules Giue me then grace good Lorde to flie sinne to serue and loue thee so to dwell in thee that thou mâ—yst inhabite in mee For in thee I can doe all thinges but without thee nothing thou art the high Priest and true Sacrifice thou art the offerer and pure oblation it selfe CHRIST IESVS our Lorde and God the true MESSIAS and Sauiour of the vvorlde thou be blessed for euermore To bee briefe you see nowe by this little vvhich is saide the vvonderfull goodnesse of CHRIST in leauinge vs his blessed body and bloude in this holy Sacrament whereby vvee all haue life and grace and saluation in our soules for as our bodies cannot liue vvithout breade so our soules cannot liue vvithout this breade of life Christes body giuen vs herein as hee saide Vnlesse you Ioh. 6. 53. eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloude you shall not haue life in you whereby you see howe these newe lying Masters heretikes bee worse then murderers that pine and murder mens soules in that they depriue and rob you of so vnspeakable a benefitte as Christs bodye and most blessed bloude giuen at Masse giuing you poyson in stead thereof a peece of poluted bakers bread wherein is no saluation but alas quite contrary as before I haue proued No other remedy then if you will saue your soules but flie their company and Communion and so by cleansing your selues from sinne by healthfull contrite Confession that you may bee iustified make your selues apte vessells to receaue grace that is become Catholickes reconcile your selues to God to the househould of faith to CHRISTS holy Catholicke Church wherein only and no where els assure your selues as before God the euerlasting truth you shall receaue the bread of life and saluation You haue heard here howe that vvhich CHRIST left vs at his last supper is a Sacrament and Sacrifice the very body and bloud of our Redeemer vnder the forme or likenesse of bread and wine beinge perfectly and wholy transubstantiated or conuerted into CHRISTS bodye and bloud and hovve vvith diuine honour we ought to adore and vvorship the same By the vvay also I haue touched a litle summe of the vvonderfull effects and fruites of the same that vvee daily receaue and what perill of soule you bee in for vvant of the same till you come to better estate Hasten then out of Babilon that is sinne and heresy that you may offer in Ierusalem Sacrifice vvhich only may please God vvhome only vvee ought to serue and that is in the vnity of his holy Catholicke Church The lawfull Minister of this Sacrament is a lawfull Preist wherefore nâ— Protestant Minister can consecrate because wanting lavvfull vocation and authority hee is no Preist The matter to consecrate vvith all is vnleauened bread and vvine of the grape whereunto is putt some water for a mistery whereunto when Gods sonne CHRISTS owne worde spoken by a lawfull Preist with intention to consecrate commeth of bread and wine is made the bodye and bloud of Christ whoe gaue that power to a Preist hee neuer did to Angells nor his Blessed mother that is to consecrate his bodye This Sacrament as I haue said ofte before is farre aboue reason but submitting our reason to true faith it greatly increaseth our merite For as saith Saint Gregory Gods worke is not merueilous if it bee comprehended in reason neither hath faith merite where mannes reason giueth experience The chiefe thing then of this blessed Sacrament is Christes bodye and bloud vvith the vvounderfull graces and gifts of God bestowed therein commonly called the effects and fruits thereof vvhich that wee may not vvith Iudas receaue to our damnation but vvith Saint Peter to our rising againe and endlesse Saluation I beseech our LORD that wee may bee armed vvith true and firme faith pure and innocent life feruent loue and charitye that as for our sinnes for wante of these vertues it now many yeares hath by Gods Iudgment and wrath beene taken from vs to our vnspeakeable losse and the continuall griefe of all good men So by renewing these vertues againe in vs and by amending our liues it once againe by Gods speciall grace may be restored to vs to the honour and glorie of his holy name to the confusion of the
soule which is a greater worke of God then raising a dead man in body hee then biddes his disciples lawfull Preistes loose him by his authority lefte and giuen them whereby what soeuer is bound in earth or loosed shal be bounde or loosed in Heauen and so lett him goe freelye away loosed from the bandes of sinne Chap. XV That Confession of our sinnes to a lawfull Preist is necessary BEsides this ConfessioÌ„ is necessary because no maÌ„ knoweth whether he hath true Contrition or no it is a thing so hard to be known for though wheÌ„ a maÌ„ doth that which he caÌ„ he may be in good hope he is in gods grace and fauour yet none knoweth certainely whether he be worthy loue or hatred nowe though a man haue not perfect sorow and contrition yet if he be sorie he can be no more sory and fullye purpose to satisfie amend that which is past coÌ„ming theÌ„ with lowly ConfessioÌ„ to the Preist an vnperfect sorow which diuines call attrition by vertue of the holy Sacrament of Penance in Confession I speake here after the common phrase of some who say Ex attrito fit quis contritus though In rigore nun quam attritioper se fit contritio quorum principia sunt contraria cum vna ex timore alia vero ex amore â—riatur it is made and allowed before God for contrition and so the eternal punishment for the sinne is forgiuen by vertue of the keyes committed to S. Peter yet the Church with attrition or imperfect sorrow without Confession cannot saue a man but if he should die in it so without the holy Sacrament of Confession yea though he had purpose to confesse if he could without doubt he should be damned whereby you may se of what necessity Confession is if there were no other reason saue this Moreouer the grace of God so concurreth with this Sacrament that sometime in Confession a man may haue contrition though he had it not before All which and many mo important reasons shew the conueniency and necessity of Confesion Now this Contrition is nothing els but an inward and most great sorrow that a man hath that he hath offended God chiefly to bee beloued aboue all thinges whereby we maye gather that it is not true Contrition when a man is sorye for anye worldly losse hinderance or shame that commeth vnto him for that he hath offended neither when one repenteth for feare of hell only though the holy Church in her Sermons and otherwise right worthely setteth before mens eies the paines of hell that so through feare of Gods iudgement hard harted sinners may come to the perfect loue of God neither is it true contrition wheÌ„ one is sory amendeth for feare of death onely or the losse of Heauen though that feare be good and laudable yet is not so perfect but a very good disposition to perfection For if there were neither Death Iudgement Hell nor Heauen yet we ought to bee sory for that we haue by sinne lost and offended God which aboue ourselues and all things is to be beloued when we be sory for that espeacially theÌ„ haue we perfect sorrowe contrition wherby it appeareth how farre those be from true contrition and conuersion to God that liue a loose and euill life and then in perill of death for feare thereof only and that which followeth seeme to lament and be sory and not for any loue to God who crie then Lord Lord yet neuer do the will of that heaueÌ„ly Father which kind of men Christ affirmeth shal neuer enter into that heaueÌ„ly kingdome for though no man may dispaire at any howre when he hath full will to come to God yet S. Aug. right worthelie doubteth of those that defer their coÌ„uersion to the last howre the reason is because with out a rare speciall grace of God such meÌ„ theÌ„ come to God rather for fear of death theÌ„ loue of God so want true coÌ„triticÌ„ yet if they can come to the Sacrament of ConfessioÌ„ then lastly be sory they can be no more sory with purpose fullie to amend there is great hope then of Saluation in theÌ„ See then of what value Confession is wherof mention is made yea the practize thereof shewed thus in the 19. Chapter of the Actes of the Apostles Multi credentium veniebant confitentes annunciantes actus suos That as many of those that beleeued came confessing and shewing their workes And Saint Iames in the fift Chap. teacheth vs thus Confitemini c. Confesse to one another your sinnes whereof see but only Venerable Bede his expositioÌ„ Many desperate sinners deferre their amendment to God desiring but one howre to bee saued at last with the good thief but one swallow maketh not a spring the example of the thiefe was that no man should dispaire but the daÌ„nation of infinit thousaÌ„ds that defer their conuersion to God till the last howre for-warneth vs not to presume to sin For that thiefe that in the end becoÌ„ing good was saued sinned of ignorance perhaps all his life and not of malicious presumptioÌ„ as those do that wil come to god whe they list nay it is his great mercy if he receiue any liue they neuer so wel again the thiefe had so perfect coÌ„trition made such satisfactioÌ„ for his sin as I doubt whether any maÌ„ can do the like For his sorrow repeÌ„tance none doubteth of which contrite humbled hart god wil neuer despise he coÌ„fessed ther his sin to Christ the high-Priest he made therof such satisfactioÌ„ in coÌ„fessing Christ vpoÌ„ the Crosse repreheÌ„ding the blasphemer before that multitude and the whole world in so much that one act of his was of more value theÌ„ perhaps some good preacher can merite in preaching Christ forty yeares together in the pulpitte So that this theefe died a glorious Martir Let desperate sinners then that The opinion of some die in bed take heede betime they come not short of him Now what this Confession is to whome it ought to bee made who or dained it and what fruite commeth therby I will breifely declare First Confession is the opening of mans fault aswell secret as publike spiritual corporall with detestation of sinne aboue all thinges Confession in holy Scripture is diuers as aboundantlye in the olde Testament is declared as to God to lawfull iudges c. But now sacrameÌ„tal confession in this law of grace is to a lawfull Priest hauing iurisdiction siting in Christes steed and place whereof saieth Saint Iames. Confesse one to another Iames. 5. 16. your sinnes that you may bee saued Chap. XVI Of Confession more in particular and of some sinnes against the first and second commaundement None is bound by the law of god to confession to a priest that is Sacramentall Confession vnlesse hee can iustly accuse himselfe of deadly sinne that is of the breach of any of Gods commaÌ„dements or vnlesse he doubt probably that he
hath offeÌ„ded deadly yet the holy Church commaundeth once a yeare to recieue before which Confession in lay-men but much more in Preists if they finde their consciences guilty is commonly presupposed which vnlesse euery one obserue vnlesse he haue some iust impediment he grieuously sinneth and though a man cannot finde himselfe guilty of deadly sinne yet of some smal sinnes wherein we daily al offend and without which this life can hardlye be led the best maye accuse themselues may very well confesse them and ordinarely good men some euerye wâ—eke do confesse such small sinnes as light thoughts vaine wordes and the like which be commonly called veniall sinnes and whereof Christ saieth we shal make account at the daye of iudgement if wee first iudge not our selues here which though not of necessity because other-waies they maye bee forgiuen yet they may be matters of confession But a deadly sinne if one after due discussion of his conscience can remeÌ„ber it come to a lawful Priest euery one vnder paine of damnation is bound to confesse to a lawfull Preist a deadlye sinne I say that is the transgression or breach of Godes Commaundement it is called deadlye because it draweth to euerlasting death vnlesse wee confesse it in the holy Sacrament of Penance if in any sort we can come to the Priest Deadly sinnes be many but especially these following bee called capitall and principall sinnes whereof all other sinnes proceede Pride Couetousnes Leachery Gluttony Wrath Yet these sins some of them especially be not alwaies mortall but in some deepe or high degres Enuy Slouth Moreouer false beleife infidelity heresie these three be most grieuous deadly sins likewise witches or those that goe or send to witches or such you call wisemen coniurers those offend deadly Likwise those that speake euil of God our Lady or his holy Saints or against the Pope Christs vicar heer in earth or against the holy Sacraments especially the B. Sacrifice of the Masse those be all or some of them sacrilegious blasphemous sinners excoÌ„municate cannot be forgiuen without Confession at least in will when a Preist caÌ„not be had for those sinnes be most deadly against the first CoÌ„mandement of God that coÌ„maundeth no God but one to be worshiped as for Images or Pictures of Christ his holy saints they be no more forbidden vs therein than to carry the Image of our Queene in our mony or the like God forbad all Idolatry worshiping of false Gods vncleane false Idoles Images not true Images that be liuely memories of our Redemption vertuous personages therefore be called Lay-mens books as holy Fathers tearme them Nay God himselfe as you shal reade in holy Scripture commaunded Images to be made of Angels which were set vpp in Salomons Temple 3. Reg. 6. wherefore Christians right worthily set in their temples the Images of Christ his Saints For many a simple vnlearned man knoweth not how Christ died vpon the Crosse but only by seing his picture vpon the Crosse therfore heretikes that haue pulled it out of Churches doe that which lieth in them to put Christs Passion out of mans mind bragge they neuer so much in wordes of the same We then offend not against the first commaundement of God that religiouslye keepe and set vp holy pictures to imprint Christes memory in our hartes but they that breake and pull them down be impious heretikes who therefore in general Councels many hundred yeares before by the consent of all Christendome haue beene condemned Who in deed bee worse then olde Idolators as worshipers of their owne opinions an Idolatry far worse then that of the gentils Againe great swearers and forswearers offend deadlye and ought to confesse for an oathe ought not to be vsed but in Iustice and Iudgement whereby God is called to witnesse Likewise those that breake their vowes as of chastity and the like Let Schismatike Preistes that after their vowes haue taken whoores to their concubines which they tearme their wiues looke to this as for Ministers they haue no damnation for mariage which Preistes with their so tearmed wiues haue because they neuer made vow of chastity for they good men thinke it impossible to bee chast whereas * Cor. 7. 7. Ministers I meane so that they would forsake their hereticall ministerie and become Catholikes should not sin in taking vppon them honest mariage or in being maried Saint Paul wisheth all men to be so as himselfe that was chast As for vnlawful oathes when where before whomsoeuer they be taken they ought not to be kept for they doe euill in taking them but worse in keeping them if the matter be of importance and vniust As when Herod swore his daughter should haue what she asked and she like an enuious caytiffe by her mothers suggestion asked Saint Iohns head Herode did euill in swearing rashly but he offended worse in keeping his oath deliberatly * Mar. 6. Chap. XVII Of the rest of the Commaundements and of some sins against them to be confessed to the Preist LIkewise wheÌ„ one goeth as oftas he goeth to the heretiks Church to heare or bee present with them at seruice it is a deadly sinne and Schisme and a deniall of Christ which is the truthe and much more grieuous a sinne it is in recieuing that wicked and most blasphemous communion of theirs which is haynous Idolatry for that a man taketh a peece of bread reposing therein his saluation contrary to Christes holy ordinance that left vs his body and blood in the holye Sacrament to bee receiued which they like traitors to God and his Church haue abolished and deceiue with a peece of bakers breade the simple people giuing it them in steede of that bread of life that came downe from heauen whereby we all doe liue So that this communion of theirs being quite contrarye to Christes ordinance to receiue it is most horrible and deadly sinne And as by a worthye receiueing the blessed Sacrament a man is made one body with christ so to recieue their coÌ„munion it maketh a man one body with Antechrist the diuel wherfore I cannot find or caÌ„ hardly find a greater sin than to go to the heretiks Church receaue with them For receiuing the coÌ„munion as the Diabolicall Samaritanes the ministers therof do raise vp an Altar as it were against the true Altar of God which God euer so abhorred terribly punished so the receauers of that communioÌ„ I say make a publike professioÌ„ of the deniall of the B. Body Blood of Iesus in the holy Eucharist of the catholike Faith Religion yea take a signe seale of the same incorporating theselues therby to the synagogue of Antechrist the diuell as the worthy receauers of the B. SacrameÌ„t be incoporate knit or made one body with Christ Likewise not to come to Masse euery Sonday Holy-day if a man can conueniently is deadly Sinne. So
in against them When Protestantes to couer their heresies about the Sacrament giue it honorable tearms we may say to them Lib. 8. de Trim. as Saint Hillarye saied to the Arrians who called Christ Lord Dominum licet nuncupes c. Albeit you name him Lord Yet you meane him not to bee the Lord because he is a Lord to you rather by a common kinde and familiar name then by nature Euen so pretende what honorable opinion or doctrine the Protestants list of Christs supper yet as long as by nature and substance they thinke not that externall gifte to be his body which himselfe called so they rather sooth it by a better name than meane it to be any better thing than a bare signe or figure Ebion although he denied Christs Godhead Epiphan Her 30. yet as Epiphanius telleth he affirmed him to rule Angells and all that euer was made by God and his scholers called him a Prophet and the Sonne of God which notwithstāding forsomuch as they beleeued him not to be God by nature the Catholikes neuer doubted to say that they taught him to be Nudum hominem A naked bare man Right so whatsoever holinesse bee annexed to bread and wine be it the signe of neuer so great a vertue and efficacy be it neuer so much called the body and bloud of Christ yet if it remaine still in the former substance if the trueth which it is appointed to signifie be absent it is bare bread and bare wine and a bare token of Christs Body and Bloud Some signes containe the trueth they signifie as a loaf set out that bread is there is to be solde another kind of signes signify the trueth absent as the Iuy-bushe doth wine The latter signe is a bare signe but not the first The Catholickes say the best and richest kinde of seales is in the sacrament because there is Christs body really present to signifie and as it were by seale to witnesse his owne death and Passion The bloudy sacrifices of the olde Lawe did better signifie Christs Passion than Protestants bread wine beeing but a bare signe Melchisedeche likewise had besides his bread wine the reall body of Abraham present whō he offered to God in him Iesus Christ his seede and so that also farre more excellent than bakers bread The body of Christ vnder the forme of bread is of it selfe both the thing and also a figure of the mystical vnity of the Church Res Sacramenti that is the thing of the Sacrament is the grace of God The substance of Christ vnder the forme of bread is the signe For Christ commeth in his own corporall presence to seaze and to endue vs with his grace Hence it commeth that S. Augustine so ofte calleth this Sacrament a figure because the body it selfe is heere not for it selfe but to put vs in possesion of so great a grace as the vnion with God is Moreouer those that say the bodye of Christ is eaten by faith only and no otherwise bee against the Gospell that affirmed Christ gaue his bodye with his owne handes beeing present and not at his fathers right hand But faith is Heb. 11. an argument of thinges to bee hoped for not appearing If in S. Iohn spirituall eating by faith bee only spoken of why is it said Dabo I will giue wheras sprituall eating was already giuen to all that euer beleued and therfore it was not to come but the bread which Christ will giue is his flesh and the guift therof is to come therfore it is more then a spirtuall eating by faith which was both past and present Note that the place in S. Iohn which Ioh. 6. heretiks take to make most for them in very deede maketh most against them What saith Christ If you see the Sonne of man ascending c. Whereby is declared the power of our Sauiours Godhead whereby onlye hee ascended which if the Capharnaits and heretikes woulde perfectly beleeue they woulde then neuer doubt of Christes reall presence in the Sacrament which through the omnipotencie of his godhead hee is able to performe Consider also against the heretikes these figure makers that it standeth well together the Eucharist to be a signe the truth as Christ is the Image of God and yet also God the higher euery signe or Image is the lesse it differeth from the truth and therefore the figure of Christs bodye and bloud differeth in forme but not in substance from Christ him selfe and so although the Sacrament be a figure yet the words This is my Body be not tropicall or vnproper Hoc that is the word This signifieth not bread but that is contained vnder bread Hoc facite doe this the making of the sacrificed substāce also must needes be a Sacrifice not only suffering himselfe to be seene of those that desire him as saith S. Chrysostome but also to In Iohn hom 45. be toucht eatē teeth to be fastned in his flesh al to be filled with desire of him Besides the reall presence sacrifice Christes body also hath a locall being in vs in respect that the substance of Christ occupieth the same place vnder the forme of bread which the substance of bread did occupie before when we haue that kinde of bread in vs euen so Christs beeing is locall in vs. Moreouer as Christ at his Incarnation came not from heauen by forsaking his glorie but by asumpting fleshe of the Virgin so nowe at the time of the Consecration his bodye commeth not downe from heauen but the bread is changed into his body by that meane his body is present with vs. And as after his resurrection hee ascended into heauen so after the communion the formes of bread and wine being consumed Christ ceasseth to be corporally with vs to the end wee should againe desire his presence well knowe these Note wel two cheife points of our beleife the one that the ende of the conioyning consisteth in spirit rather thā in flesh the other that the flesh of Christ really eaten is the means whereby we haue accesse to the spirite of God with trust confidence Now Christ cannot bee better present in spirite and grace then if hee bee present in his selfe therein to conuert to vs his spirite and grace for the cause of his taking flesh was to make his flesh an instrument to deliuer his spirite grace to our flesh to the end that no meane of prouiding for our saluation might be omitted by so louing a father In consideration wherof S. Ambrose saith Thou that Lib. 6. de Sacram. Cap. 1. takest his flesh art made pertaker of his diuine substance in that foode Note that the spirite and substance of God commeth to vs by taking Christes flesh Chap. XXIIII Of the excellency of the most blessed Sacrament and in what respect it is called a Sacrament signe or figure and yet is the very thing it selfe which it betokeneth IT
liue for euer In S. Mathew the 26. and S. Marke 14 Chap. His body his bloud of the new Testament In S. Luke the 22 Chap. His body which is giuen for vs and the Chalice which is the new Testament in his blood which is shed for vs. In S. Paul the first epistle to the Corinth and 11 Chap. The bread which we break is the communicating of our Lordes body the Chalice of blessing which we blesse is the communicating or pertaking of Christes bloud The newe Gospellers that saye they sticke only to Gods worde yet cannot finde one Apostle one Euangelist one Prophet or Patriarch that taught our Lordes supper to be a signe S. Paul 1. Cor. 11. threatheth damnation to him that vnworthily eateth it and he calleth vnworthy eating not only the contempt therof or lacke of faith but euen the omitting to proue or examine him himselfe before he eate our Lords body and that because hee maketh no difference betwixte it and common meates yet come the protestants with a newe doctrine affirming that we receiue not our Lordes body into our bodies but an euident signe and token thereof They admit no authority no rule no triall of matters belonging to faith but onlie the holye Scriptures immediately they breake their owne rule In so much as the holy Scriptures calling the Supper of our Lord his body and bloud they teache it to be an euident token of his body bloud if they keepe not their owne rule who can they binde to keepe the same But the Protestants will aske me perhaps whether the Lordes Supper bee not a Sacrament if a Sacranient then also a signe or token I aunswere they that prescribe rules of bleeuing to the worlde they that will haue all thinges prooued by the touch-stone of Gods worde they that for pretence of following the Gospell haue stirred vp so great strife through all Christendome must not talke with vs vvith if and and vvith conditions and peraduentures but they must bring forth the vvorde of God for that they saye So that although the Supper of our Lord were neuer so much a Sacrament surely to them it vvere none because they cannot proue out of the vvorde of God vvhere it is so named to vs it is both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice a Sacrament because vve are so taught by tradition from the Apostles a Sacrifice because Malachie the Mal. Cap. 1. Prophet in the person of God expressely saieth In omni loco sacrificatur offertur nomini meo oblatio munda quia mag num est nomen meum in gentibus In euery place a pure oblation is sacrificed offered to my name because my name is great among the Gentiles There is absolutely no cleane pure oblatioÌ„ but the sacrifice of Christs body bloud which was offered to death not in euery place but without the gate of Hierusalem alone the same is at this day vnbloudely offered in the Masse in euery place wheresoeuer amongst the gentiles the name of God is rightly called vpon Thus both they and we may proue the supper of our Lord to be a Sacrifice by Scripture but that it is a Sacrament we can proue because our forefathers deliuered such a Doctrine to vs they cannot proue the same seeing they will not be bounde to vnwritten Traditions If they flie to the Church for naming it it is a Sacrament the same Church teacheth them ther be seauen Sacraments but the Protestants say they find but two sanctified and deliuered by Christ allowed of the olde fathers Ambrose Augustine but concerning the deliuery of Sacraments by Christ they might haue founde it in the worde of God Confirmation in the 8. cap. of the Acts of the Apostles Penance Iohn 20. Extreame-Vnction Iac. 5. Preisthood Luc. 22. Matrymony Ephes 5. And not onely Baptisme and the Eucharist But what talke is this to say S. Ambrose S. Augustinâ— allowe the workes of Christ Was not the deliuery and consecration of Christ of sufficient authority except Ambrose and Augustine had proued it I thought Ambrose Augustine should haue beene allowed by Scripture and not Scripture by them I stande with them vpon the authority of the worde of God Proue me thence these two Sacraments alone yea proue that they are so named at all what Gospell called Baptisme a sacrament What holy write nameth the Supper of our Lord a sacrament Daâ—e they giue these thinges a name that which is not in the worde of God What warrant haue they for that deede They will say Ambrâ—se and Aâ—gustine call them so I replye Peter and Paul call them not so at other times and with other men I will stay vpon the authoritye of Ambrose and Augustine whom as I ought to doe I reuerence for men of excellent vertue learning but they were men as they were woont to say they might erre and be deceiued heare first the Scriptures to whom Protestantes appeale onely and afterwardes you shall heare what the Fathers say But first I say that neither the olde Testament nor the new calleth the Supper of our Lorde a Sacrament therefore the Protestantes that so call it goe from the assurance of the word of God to the good and laudable inuentions and Traditions of men which themselues condemne wheÌ„ they list And yet they so cal it a Sacrament that vpoÌ„ that only word the authors thereof ground all their doctrin thence it hath to be a signe to be a tokeÌ„ to be a badge a seale a patterne a counterpaine thence all the figuratiue doctrine riseth thence it commeth that the reall body and bloud of Christ is denied to bee vnder the formes of bread and wine Shall now so much as Christ hath plainlye spoken of his bodye and bloud so much as his Apostles and disciples haue preached and written in that behaulf shall now all this be ouerthrowne by an vnwritten veritye are these the men of God who flie from S. Mathew S. Marke S. Luke Saint Iohn Saint Paul to Augustine and Ambrose If none but Prophets and Apostles had written where had they found two Sacraments Where had they read that the supper of our Lord is a signe and token they make much a-doe about the worde of God vntill they haue gotten credite among the ignorant and then they quite leade them from al the worde of God I speake to such good Christians as haue the true loue of the worde of God lefte in their heartes to them I speake giue not ouer S. Mathew S. Iohn Saint Paul for Ambrose and Augustine giue not ouer Christ who is God and man to haue the opinion of whatsoeuer Doctor and Father in causes of beleife Some men in comparison of others be of great authoritye but in comparison of God all men be nothing at al God saieth This is my body nowe whatsoeuer man or Angell from heauen tell you this is not the bodye of Christ but onely a figure of it beleeue him not but
this respect of the representation of Christs Passion and knitting togither of his members with him the very and most B. Body of our Lorde giuen vs at his last supper is called a signe or Sacrament and yet neuerthelesse the thing it selfe that is his B. Body and Bloud not figured or signified by bread and wine but giuen vnder the formes or likenes of bread and wine For that which before consecration was bread wine is now by Christs wordes transubstantiate or wholy turned into the Body and Bloud of Christ as I declared before though to our outwarde eyes and carnall sences there seemeth no other thing then before yet by our faith we be taught farre otherwise as that it is most certainly without all doubt the very Body and Bloud of Christ without which diuine Sacrament a reall coniunction betwixt his fleash the fleash of man cannot be made by faith spirit and vnderstanding only for that is the coniunction of minde but not of fleash and bones as the man and wife by consent of mariage caÌ„not be one body vnlesse they come togither neither doth Christ come from his Fathers right hand corporally to be ioyned with our flesh but bread by consecration is turned into Christs flesh to the intent it may be receiued and made one with our flesh to the end we may be Concorporei as the auncient Fathers tearme vs one fleash and body with Christ Chap. XXV Declaring how it implieth not contradiction that Christ is in heauen and in the Sacrament in many places at once but only declareth an infinite and Almighty power of God that Diuine honor is due hereunto YOu see nowe in some maner and sort by this which is said in the former Chapter the excellencie of this most diuine mystery as our infirmity is able to declare to you and in what respect this B. Sacrament is called a signe or figure and yet the very thing it selfe wherefore you se the heretikes doe most pitifully and wickedly abuse the poore people to both their damnations that contrary to Christ the receiued faith of the Church and al auncient doctors would haue the B. Sacrament but onlie a bare peece of bread in signe figure Reade the holy Fathers and Doctors and when they speake of the Sacramentall receiuing of this B. Sacrament they so plainly without all tropes signes and figures call it verely really and substantially his bodye and bloud so often so pithylie with so firme reasons and so plainly that if they had spoken against the Sacramentaries heretickes of our time they could haue spoken no more plainly For what wordes can be playner then those of that most famous Councell of Nice wherein Arrius the enemy to the sonne of God by more then three hundred holy Fathers was condemned The wordes of the Nicene Councel to our purpose are these Iterum etiam hic diuina mensa c. Againe here also in the holy table let vs not basely attend the bread and cuppe set before vs but lifting vp our minde let vs vnderstand by faith that Lamb of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Situm â—sse to be put and laid on that holy table Incruente a sacerdotibus immolatum to bee vnbloudely Sacrificed of the Preistes and that wee vere truly and in deed taking his owne pretious Bodye and Bloud doe beleeue this to be the misticall tokens of our redemption For this cause wee take not much but little that wee might knowe wee take not to fill vs but for holinesse Thus farre the Councell The blessed noble and most glorious Martyr S. Ciprian Decena Domini of the supper of our Lord is as plaine Panis iste c. That Bread saith hee which our Lorde gaue to his Disciples being changed not in outward forme but in nature through the almighty power of the word is made flesh And because mans heart is not quiet till it rest in God and because nothing can truly fil or content man saue only God therefore S. Hillary that strong pillar of Gods Church againste the Arrians teacheth vs in his 8. booke of the Trinity how Christ in this holy Sacrament naturally dwelleth in vs. St vere â— if the worde sayeth hee bee verely made flesh and wee verely take or receiue the worde flesh in our Lordes meate howe is he esteemed not to dwell naturally in vs Seeing then God is by nature the only euerlasting meate which perisheth not and seing he must be giuen to vs in his owne nature and wee are not able to receiue him as he is a spirit hee hath done for vs as good mothers and nources doe for their babes the mother eateth bread and by her eating turneth it into milke and that milke shee giueth to the infant and by that meanes the infant eateth bread and milke In the reall fleshe of Christ is the substance of God only made meate to bee eaten of man Faith is a great gift of God but yet a creature only wherein the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth not and therefore it is not able to attaine to the vnion of Gods nature and much lesse able to giue it by eating of Christ we corporally haue and carry God in our bodies corporally no otherwise in the worlde can be deuised for it As for the figure of bread it is the only true figure because it is a figure without substance of bread For whereas S. Augustine in his third booke sixteene chapter de doctrina Christiana vpon these wordes Nisi manducaâ—eritis c. Vnlesse you eate the flesh of the sonne of â—an and drinke his bloud c. saith videtur facinus c. how Christ seemeth to commande a heynous act or sinne it is a figure therefore saith he but vnderstand you of the Passion of our Lord commanding vs sweetly to rest in Christ c. These wordes are to be vnderstood of the maner of eating not as a dead carcase is torne in peeces in the shambles but Christ is to be eaten in a mistery and a Sacrament though verely and really yet after a spirituall maner Eor as the figure which was in that Paschall Lamb did not diminish the reall killing and eating thereof but only did refer it to a higher truth so the figure which is in eating Christs flesh doth not diminish the true eating thereof but only declareth the eating to be a figure because it is referred againe to a higher truth both in Christ whose flesh that once died is now eateÌ„ in vs who eate it not so much for to eate it corporally as to feede spiritually of God him selfe who maketh that flesh profitable August in Iohn tract 26. 27. that S. August though so it is euident by his owne words vpon S. Iohn Ye know not what is this maner of eating this flesh but except yee eate it Lo the maner of eating was secrete but the thing that shoulde bee eaten was naturall flesh these also be his wordes to the same
to S. Paul on earth and yet at that present sat at his fathers right hand in heauen To be briefe such a glorified deficate body to whome by power of his diuinity vnited thereunto nothing is impossible this I say if Heretickes woulde beleeue with vs then to them the flesh of Christ would profit much This is my Body this is my Bloud said Christ the pronounâ— This pointeth to body or bloud and not to bread and wine as appeareth by the genders contrary God prouided of purpose that the article This therefore shoulde neither agree with bread nor with wine but only with body bloud or with the Chalice wherin the bloud is conteyned and therefore this to be true that Christs very body and bloud is in the B. Sacrament of the Altar as being most expresse and plaine by the very words of christ we are bound to beleue though to declare the maner how excedeth mans reason because he said it to whom nothing is impossible And therefore for ignorant vnlearned meÌ„ especially when heretikes aske the reason how it is possible for Christ to be here there in many places at once it is not fit for theÌ„ to reasoÌ„ but to haue recourse to faith which is aboue reason plainly say I beleeue Christ that said This is my body to whose power nothing is impossible and let the heretike demand scof or flout neuer so much go you nofurder with him but leaue him to the more lerned that caÌ„handle him better For with his whyes how 's he deceueth the simple souls as the serpent did Eue who begaÌ„ first with the woman the weaker vessell whereby diuines vnderstand the sensual part or inferior part to reason proposed things that seemed delectable reasonable and good and so in the end drew reason and all awry making her to consent by answering first doubtfully and so made her doe the things vnlawfull but if shee neuer had stood to haue reasoned or answered the wily serpeÌ„t but had fled him at first she had neuer bin ouercome The diuel theÌ„ in like maner against the simple childreÌ„ of Gods Church taketh the bodies of heretiks his members speaketh in theÌ„ as in paradise he spake in the body of the serpent so poore simple soules listning to his wily crafts he deceiueth vnder pretence of good casteth them out of paradise Christs kingdome that is his holy Church wherefore flie you alwaies the whispering of that olde serpent in heretikes that you be not deceiued with theÌ„ For heresy creepeth as a canker and the diuels deceipts be diuers many somtimes he armeth hiÌ„ selfe against the people of God with the word of God euill vnderstood to ouerthrow the truth of Gods word in this SacrameÌ„t other misteries of our redeÌ„ption as wheÌ„ Christ saith poore men shal you Ioh. 12. 8. alwaies hauâ— c. meaning passible in forme of pouerty but not by withdrawing himself from vs by his corporal preseÌ„ce in this B. Sacram. as wheÌ„ it is said he is risen asceÌ„ded into heaueÌ„ we must vn derstand he is neuerthelesse in his sacred flesh meat indeed in this miraculous mistery and so in spirit truth with vs all daies euen to the end of the worlde For Christ ascended into heaueÌ„ there sitting at the right hand of his father and leauing vs the beliefe thereof as a chiefe article of our faith Christ made his owne supper saying This is my Bodye and commaunded his Apostles and their successors to make the same saying doe and make this thing for the rememberance of me Therfore neither the making of Christs bodye neither the beleefe thereof can be contrary to the sitting of Christ at the right hand of his father Againe sith nothing is impossible to God albeit that which implieth contradiction in it selfe be therefore impossible because it repugneth to the truth it felfe which is God is it not possible to God Christ shoulde both be in heauen after one visible sort and in the Sacrament after a misticall sort It were impossible for the body of Christ both to be in heauen and not in heauen or to be in the Sacrament and not to bee there in the same respect but to bee in heauen and in the Sacrament or to bee in many places at once that maketh no contradiction but only sheweth an allmighty infinite power in him who worketh it In somuch as Christ is allmighty to sitt at the right hand of God he is able to performe his owne word gift in the Sacrament of the Altar and therefore in the sixt of S. Iohn when hee spake of eating his flesh and drinking his bloud which he would giue he also declared that he would go vp into heauen in his man-hoode where hee was before in his god-head And that thing hee spake as S. Cirillus hath noted to declared that he was God and therfore able to worke that which hee spake of in so much as his wordes were Spirit and Chris de sacerdotiâ— lib. 3. Life For this cause S. Chrysostome crieth out O miraculum O dei benignitatem O miracle O goodnes of God hee that sitteth aboue with the Father in the same very momente of time is touched with the handes of men and deliuereth himselfe to those that will receaue and imbrace him seeme these thinges worthy to bee despised and neglected thou shalt perceaue our holye things not only to bee wonderfull but also exceed all wondring and astonying of the mind Thus saith S. Chrisostome This Blessed Sacrament then thus miraculously instituted by Christ for a perfect memorye of his death and pleadge of his infinite loue with all reuerence and honor is to bee vvorshipped and vvith gratefull memories and pure hartes to bee receaued of vs seeing hee coulde shevv vs no greater token of vnmeasurable loue then this by giuing himselfe wholy vnto vs nor deuise any more excellent way to declare the same For as a man that in fight is wounded with a scarre in his face for his friendes sake comming with that in his face putteth his frend in more perfect memorye of his loue then if hee left or sent him an hundreth other tokens so Christ for our loue taking a deepe vvounde to death coulde leaue vs no more perfect memory thereof then his ovvne bodye in an vnspeakable mistery whereby his death is shewed vntill hee come to iudgment at the end of the vvorlde For euen as the noble actes vvhich other men haue donne bee written vpon their sepulchers so in this memorie of Christ his actes are daylie shewed and rehearsed Then his Incarnation is beâ—okened most mistically vvhen breade is made fleshe as the vvorde was before made fleshe and that Incarnation is represented in outvvarde shevv also by singing of the Angells hymne Glory bee to God in the highest Then See here how in the B. Sacrament at Masse the whole life death and resurrection of Christ is represented the going before of
Saint Iohn Baptist is expressed by readinge the Epistle then Christs preaching is represented by singing of the Gospell then the faith of his Apostles and Disciples is betokened in pronouncing the Creede or Articles of the faith Then the supper of CHRIST is made with no lesse authority then himselfe instituted it then his Crosse is shewed by making the signe thereof vpon the holy misteries then his death is inuisibly wrought vnder the formes of breade wine by turning their substances into himselfe and shewing them as if the very body were deuided froÌ„ the bloud Then the fruite thereof is sowen in the hearts of the faithfull people by giuing them the grace to feare him to loue him to come peniteÌ„tly to him to be made one with him then the resurrection is outwardly shewed because the seuerall formes of bread and wine each of them conteine whole Christ vnder them then the body is eleuated and adored that suffered for vs then Christ is glorified for the redemption of all mankind then thankes bee giuen to God blessing to the people and prayer is made for al the world But the incredulous heretike still obiecteth is bread turned into Christs flesh yea by his infinite power and vnspeakeable humility whereby hee foâ— our loue disdayned not to take fleshe of our earthly substance which things considered bread seemed vnto his wisdome the most fitte matter where of hee would make this Sacrament For bread was vsually turned into Christs bodye whilst hee liued in earth for his bodye was nourished with bread the which bread was turned into his flesh Wherefore now also Wee beleeue well saith Nissenus Nissen in orat catech Luc. 24. Aug. ex-Ser deverbis Euaug apud Bed brother to S. Basill the bread which is sanctified with the worde of God to bee changed into the bodye of God the worde Nouerunt fideles the faith full know what I say they kâ—owe Christ in the breaking of bread for not euery bread but that which receaueâ—h the blessing of Christ is made the bodye of Christ Let vs once deny the flesh of Christ to bee really in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar and here is no perfect building toward the flesh of Christ and consequently no reason why wee shoulde bee called Ephes 4. 5. his misticall bodye or flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones For as if Euâ— had not been taken really out of the naturall bodye of Adam shee shoulde not haue beene in truth bone of his bones so vve are not fleshe of Christs fleshe in trueth it selfe except the fleshe of CHRIST in the naturall substance thereof bee the meane by our naturall coniunction to it that vvee are framed and vvrought into a spirituall man And our fleshe is I meanâ— not into a mere spirituall substance turned vvith out losse of his owne substance or propriety into the nature of Christs flesh because it being the fleshe that is dwelt in by the Godhead is stronger then our nature yet although the vnvvorthy receauers doe verely receaue the body of Christ we must conforme our liues to the example of christ that by receauing this Sacrament wee may not procure to our selues damnation but for euer liue in and vvith Christ For as Saint Augustine haueing spoken of Iudas whoe gaue himselfe to the Diuell right worthely said Non malum accipiendo sed male accipiendo De bap contra do na cap. 5. 8. c. Not in receauing an euill thinge but in receauing euilly For it was the body and bloud of our Lorde Yea to them to whome the Apostle said hee that eateth vnworthely eateth and drinketh Iudgement to him selfe as the Apostles and other Saints did eate the body of Christ as Saint Hierome affirmeth to their Saluation Hiero. in psal 21. The manner of eating this diuine mistery carnall men cannot attaine to all corporall natures stande of an inuisible substance and of a visible forme the forme of Christes body was that the Caphernaites sawe and coulde not eate but the substance of Christes body is that wee eate in mistery Hereof said Saint Augustine you shall not eate the body you see Viz. in visibili forma That is to saye In a visible forme Yet in another place touching the veritye of the thing in this Sacrament hee said Euerie man Aug. in psal 98. ought to adore earth or the fleash of Christ before hee did eate it Did not likewise Saint Ambrose saye To this daye Amb. de spir sanct lib. 3. cap. 12. we adore the fleash of CHRIST in the misterieâ— So you see diuine honor is due to this diuine Sacrament But Heretickes in steede of due worshippe doe worshippe theyr owne inuentions and opinyons like to GODS as Saint Hierome vpon Zacharie the thirteene Chapter well noteth Sicut Idola fiunt manu artificis c. Euen as Idolls saith hee are made with the hande of the artificer So the peruerse Doctrine of Heretickes whatsoeuer it faineth it turneth into an Idoll and maketh Antechrist to bee adored for CHRIST Saint Chrisostome exhorting to come to this Sacrament with Zeale and most vehement loue writeth Hoc corpus in presepe Chris in 1 Cor hom 24. Hoc reueriti sunt Magi c. The wise men commonly called the three kings reuerenced this body in the Manger and being men without good religion and barbarous they worshipped it with feare much trembling after a long iorney taken Let vs therefore who are the Citizens of heauen at the least wise followe those barbarous men for when they sawe the Manger and Cottage only and not any of those thinges which thou nowe seest they came with most great reuerence and quakmge but thou seest that thing not in the Manger but on the Altar not a woman which might holde it in her armes but the Preist present and the hely Ghost copiously spred vpon the Sacrifice which is sett forth neither thou lookest barely vpon the body as they did but thou knowest the power os it and all the order of dispencing things and thou art ignorant of none of those things which were done by him and thou hast beene diligenly instructed in all things Let vs be stirred vp therefore lett vs quake lett vs professe openly a greater deuotion then those barbarous men least if we come barely and coldly we â—eopard our head into a more vehement fire Hitherto S. Chrisostome hee said before Quando c. When thou seest it set before thee say with thy selfe for this body I am no more earth and ashes This body which is himself Christ then gaue his twelue disciples at his last supper vnder the forme of twelue fragments or peeces of bread bidding euery one of them take and eate in which deede hee sheweth himselfe to make the substance of his bodye present vnder the formes of bread in diuers places at one tyme althoughe not after the manner of locall scituation because his body hath not in the B.
shewed him by most graue authoritie which was said to be Christ if such thing had beene taught him he for his part was so obedient to beleeue so willing to adore Christ that he woulde haue done any thing which had beene commaunded him vnder the name of Christ or of his religion Is this a fault why the poore man should be condemned no surelye seeing the prophet Dauid saith Vt iumentum Psal 62. factus sum apudte I am become as it were a beast before thee It is laudable saith Enthymius that in the sight of God we take our selues as beasts which being so I can deuise no fault in this poore and simple man who if he be deceaued he is deciued by Christ by his forefathers by diuers Catholicke and vertuous preachers by the vertue of humility of obedience and of pure loue towardes God But on the other side if Christ call one of them before him who denieth his reall presence and aske him why hee did not beleeue the Sacrament of the Altar to bee the body of Christ what will he answere for himselfe will he say Sir I beleeued your body to sitt at the right hand of God the father and therefore that your body was not in the Priests hande Why then thinkest thou that I am not able to make the same which is at the right hand of my father to be also present vnder the forme of bread Sir whether you are able or no I can not say But I haue heard many preachers tell that one bodye cannot be at one time in diuers places O how dreadfully would Christ answere in this case Did not those preachers whome thou pretendest to follow say alwayes they preached to thee the sincere worde of God did they not by that colour ouerthrow Monastaries Churches Altars Images of Saints and mine owne Image and Crosse Did they not deny the sacrifice of the Masse Praying for the dead such like auncient vsages only for pretence of the word of God nowe se how inexcusable they and thou art I saide Take eate This is my Bodye I said this to twelue men I gaue each of them my body bad make that thing as it is written in the Gospell I shewed at Capharnaum that I was signed of my father and equall with him in power they them selues beleue that I made all creatures places times of nothing nowe is it doubted how I am able to make my body present vnder the forme of bread in diuers paâ—ces Yea to mainteine the better the argumeÌ„t against my almighty power they say I entred not into my Disciples the dores being shutt but either preuented the shutting of them contrary to the wordes of my Gospell or came in by the windowe as theeues do or by some hole as creepers do yea any thing is sooner beleeued theÌ„ my diuine strength and working thou Hypocrite seeing the worde of God hath it written fower times in the newe Testament This is my body how coÌ„mest thou to talke with me of my sitting in heaueÌ„ as though one of my workes were contrary to the other if in deed thou hadst bin humbly perswaded that I were god thou wouldest not measure my almighty power by thy simple witt Thou art twice condemned first for deniall of a truth and againe for denying it against my expresse worde which thou pretendest to esteeme and pronouncest it false If the poore man say he knewe not so much nor sawe not the falsehood of that argument and begin to accuse the false preachers who deceaued him Christ may well say that he was not deceaued for before these false preachers began their false doctrine he had said This is my Bodye and This is my Bloud and all the world beleeued and taught the reall presence of Christs body and bloud fiftene hundred yeares togither what cause now hadst thou to beleeue a newe Gospel and newe preachers thereof forsooth Sir they said the Bishop of Rome had deceaued vs. If in this case Christ tell him that the Bishop of Rome were the successor of Saint Peter and so his Vicar hauing promise by him not to erre in faith and yet that he alone taught not that Doctrine but that all the Bishoppes Doctors and Preachers of the whole Church taught the same from the beginning and that Christ himselfe had said the same that all the Euangelists and the Apostle Saint Paul had written the same that all faithfull men beleeued the same what excuse can hee haue who forsooke CHRIST the Apostles the Bishopps the Fathers the Preachers and the whole Church to follow an vpstart renegate Frier who began his doctrine so ambitiously and proudly who liued so euill and died so terribly that his very abhominable dealing with great princes his shamefull incest and horrible death might make any good man weary to thinke vpon him much lesse shoulde any haue followed him To be short answere the poore man for himselfe what he may yet he cannot deny but that both Christ said This is my body and the Church taught the same yet beleeued he not this to be the body of Christ and therefore is one of them who beleeue not and without faith which is but one there is no saluation no pleasing of God no part in the kingdome of heauen which thing if they that be aliue will consider they may returne againe to the Catholicke faith and Church and so be made liuely members of Christs body whereof Christ is the Sauiour O but the Hereticke still vrgeth if I eate Christ really then I feede not of him spiritually I answere it is the fondest kinde of reasoning in the worlde by one truth to deny an other seeing both stande togither Is my faith the lesse because Christ was bodely seene in earth howe is then my spirituall feeding the worse because the foode of life is in my mouth Doth not Tertullian say the flesh is fedde De resurrect cor with the body and bloud of Christ to the ende the soule may be made fat with God and yet will the Heretickes say Christ in his last supper left vs but a figure of his body Except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man is in deede a figure and the speaking thereof is figuratiue because it was not meant that a man should be visibly eaten as flesh is at common tables but yet that he shoulde be really eaten albeit the maner of eating be figuratiue as we knowe S. Augustine then as I said before calling those wordes except yee eate my flesh figuratiue referreth the figure to the manner of eating but not to the substance which is to be eaten for else if by no meane the flesh of Christ might be eaten it shoulde not be eaten by faith but if it may so be eaten it may be eaten by mouth also in that pure manner as it is giuen vs. The whole man must eate as well in body as in soule because the whole is taken and assumpted of Christ the
whole is incorporated by Baptisme the whole redeemed by death and the whole shall be crowned with glory therefore the true eating is to eate that meate which of it selfe consisteth of body soule and Godhead to eate it I say in body soule and spirite and not by faith only Chap. XXVI of the blessed Sacrament of the Altar shewing how conueniently it was ordained for our reparation and what preparation we ought to make to the same BVT it is not my purpose here to recount the shifts of our aduersaries or rather deceipts of the Diuell speaking by them his instruments to delude the simple to their damnation but rather for our instruction and comfort Let vs note here the prouidence of God sweete disposition in the ordinance of this most diuine mistery Our first parents by pride in coueting to bee as Gods and in incredulity beleeuing the serpent and mistrusting God fell from God contraâ—◠〈…〉 vs like God in deede and to recall vs 〈…〉 heauenly Paradise which our parents lost by eating the forbiddeÌ„ fruit Christ hath ordeyned a remedy quite contrary giuing vs in this B. Sacrament himselfe the fruit of the B. Virgin that bread that came downe from heauen that so with humility beleeuing Christs worde and promise far aboue our reason forsaking our selues submitting our reason to faith in Christ wee may receaue him his B. body that happy fruit of endlesse life and by vertue thereof recouer the possession Eue lost by her vnbeleeuing and tasting the forbidden fruit Leaue vaine disputes then of this blessed Sacrament and with steedfast faith imbrace the truth for this high mistery farre exceedeth mans reason For of all the workes that euer God wrought this is * So S. Thomas calleth it miraculoruÌ„ maximuÌ„ if any can finde a greter vnusquisque abuÌ„det in sensu suo Psal 100. most wonderfull and miraculous insomuch that herein God sheweth as it were the periode summe and perfection of all his workes as he spake before by his holy Prophet Memoriam secit mirabilium suorum miserator et misericors Dominus escam dedit timentibus se GOD herein hath made a memorye of his wonderfull vvorkes hee hath giuen meate to those that feare him So that this heauenly food is giuen to the saluation of those only that with reuerent loue with perfect faith come vnto this diuine banquet for what a wonderfull and mitaculous worke of Christ is this to feed man with the food of Angels for that Christ whose glory is the repast dainty and satiety of Angells in heauen is the foode of poore pilgrimes in this B. Sacrament here in earth nay herein God hath exalted man aboue Angels giuing the Preist power by his mighty word to consecrate his body so that that which before was bread nowe is no more breade but his body which power he neuer graunted to Angell Againe as God is all in all and in euery place in heauen and earth and yet not deuided but whole perfect God and as saith the Apostle In ipso viuimus mouemur sumus In him wee liue be moued and are Euen so though the Blessed body of Christ be not in all places at once where his God-head is as the Lutherane Vbiquitary Heretickes that so they might coarcte the mistery of this Blessed Sacrament in their reasons do dreame yet it is most certaine according to our beliefe and Godes truth that Christ euer sits at the right hand of his father most glorious and yet is here sacramentally and in a mistery in the B. Sacrament and as fullye Christ here perfect God and man as hee is in heauen and in many places and diuers Altars in all coastes of the worlde at once and yet not many but one and the same Christ indiuisible Yea in euery litle parte or particle of the holye Host and B. Sacrament is as whole and perfect Christ as in the vvhole host and looke where the Blessed body of Christ is there is his bloud and where his body and bloud is there is his God-head by vertue of that vnion of the diuine and humane nature in one person therefore it followeth that where the holye Sacrament is there is God the sonne And because the workes of the Trinity be indiuisible though no person but the second â—erson in Godheade was incarnate anâ— tooke vpon him our nature yet there 〈◊〉 present the Father and the holy Ghost three persons and one GOD in Trinity by vertue of the concomitance as wee tearme it and hypostaticall vnyon whome all creatures doe worshippe to whome Angells singe out perpetuall prayses and before whome heauen and earth doe tremble and quake O vnspeakable and dreadfull mistery An other miracle in this B. Sacrament is that though it be daily eaten yet is it neuer consumed nor any thing impaired though manye vncleane persons and traytors like Iudas doe ofte vnworthely receaue the same yet in it self it is euer vndefiled As you see the cleare sonne that shineth vpon the foule clay is nothing darkned but still remaineth pure in it self which as it is noysome to the watrye and euill disposed eye so is it comfort to the cleare and vvell disposed euen so Christ the sonne of righttuousnes giuen vs in this B. Sacrament is comfort health and saluation to the well disposed but euerlasting death damnation to those that come with vncleane consciences â—oaden with mortall sin without cleansing their soules before that is without contrition and lowly confession for the same not because the fault is in Christ but because the thing that receaueth him is impure and vncleane yet Christ alwayes perfect glorious in himselfe without defect and no meruaile for if he suffred himselfe to bee abused and shed his bloud with wonderfull blasphemies against him by those traiterous villaines hanging vpon the Crosse passibly no meruaile I say though in this B. Sacrament impassible he suffereth himself to be vnworthely receaued of hypocrites and wicked men whereof some will not sticke to stab their daggers in this By stab vnderstand pricke thrust or strike Blessed Sacrament and tread it vnder feet al which he suffreth wicked men to worke not with-drawing his diuine presence that the good bee not defrauded of so vnspeakeable a benefit for by this their abuse they hurte and soile themselues but not him who is immortall impassible Hereby we may answere the sond obiections of heretiks that say what if cat or rat should eatiet no doubt whatsoeuer taketh or abuseth it it is neuertheles the very body of Christ still but when the outward species or forme of the Sacrament passeth away from that vnseemly vessell then Christs B. Body and Bloud also passeth can be there no more abused An other wonderfull miracle we see and by daily experience proue in this B. Sacrament that is that whereas Christ hath ordeyned this B. Sacrament vnder the formes and liknes of those things that be most vsuall and familier to vs that is vnder the formes
of bread and wine that the sight and horror of raw flesh and bloud should not affray or appall vs so that to our outward eyes tast feeling other sences it seemeth no other but that it was before yet is it quite contrary from that it was before as farre as heauen and earth is asunder the accidents remaining without the subiect that is tast feeling and seing bread and wine but not so nor yet any part thereof bread or wine but wholy and perfectly the very body and bloud of Christ Chap. XXVII Of the Manna the paschall Lamb and other figures of the B. Sacrament BVT when as GOD hath wrought so many miracles in this B. Sacrament what sacrilegious impiety what damnable heresie or rather Apostacy is this of any mortal men to goe about to feede vs with figures pull Christ out of his kingdome remayning in this B. Sacrament in his Church militant here in earth These heretikes would make vs Christians nowe in this state of grace who haue by Christs promise the things themselues that were shadowed prefigured in the old law in worse case thē the Iewes themselues For Manna was a figure of the B. Sacrament of the Altar as apeareth by Christs owne words Your Ioh. cap. 6. fathers saith he did eate Manna in the wildernesse are dead but he that eateth this bread that I will giue him shall liue for euer For whether think you Manna that bread that was rayned downe from heauen and fedde the children of Israell forty yeares in the wildernesse was not a more excellent thing then a peece of bakers bread and yet these blasphemous heretickes vvoulde haue the blessed Sacrament to be no better and so make it worse then that which was but a figure of the Sacrament O but the thing it selfe this blessed Sacrament of ours Christs body and bloud as farre exceedeth that Manna of olde as the Sunne exceedeth the morning starre the fore-runner thereof in brightnesse Almighty Exod. 16. God when he rayned Manna downe from heauen the Iewes knowing not what it was for it did lie vpon the earth like hore dewe or the seede of the Coriander brayed with a pestle meruailing said Manhu that is quid est hoc what is this to whome Moyses answered as from God iste est panis c. this is the breade our Lorde hath giuen you to eate Nowe in this Manna there is a meruailous and strange quality which was that he that gathered more then his fellowes had but to suffice and he that gathered lesse had as much to suffice as he that gathered more and all sufficient and enough Nowe in this blessed Sacrament of the Altar Christs body though it farre exceede mans reason to knowe the manner howe it is yet we must most certainly and stedfastly beleue our true Moyses which is Christ who telleth vs it is the bread that came downe from heauen that is his very body and bloud What a goodly figure then was this Manna of our most pure and B. Sacrament of the Altar Manna came downe from heauen our Sacrament more It was to euery one that which he liked best our Sacramēt more a little suffised thereof as well as a great deale our Sacrament more the murmering Iewes repined at Manna and our murmering heretickes doe at our B. Sacrament much more the bodies of the Iewes were fedde with Manna and our bodies and soules with the body and bloud of our Lorde Iesus in this blessed Sacrament much more Thus you see howe the figure answereth and foresheweth that holy thing of our Lord and what an excellent and vnspeakable thing this B. Sacrament of the Altar is when the very shadowe of it Manna that betokened it so longe before was of such excellencie and so miraculous then howe vvorthy and miraculous I say is the thing it selfe and how base conceipts haue the heretikes of Christ and how vnworthy and vnsauory this their Comunion Caluinisticall bread is in respect of the Iewes Manna the very figure of our most B. Sacrament 3. Reg. 19. That bread which Elias did eate by vertue whereof hee arriued to the mount of God Horeb is a figure likwise that by vertue of our bread of life in the Sacrament we shall arriue to the mount of God the kingdome of heauen that bread baken vnder ashes and the bread of propositiō likwise euer kept in store That Paschal lamb that with such The Paschall lamb solemnity was eaten when the childrē of Israell passed through the redde Sea to the land of promise O what a notable figure is it of the B. Lamb of God vpon the Altar in this B. Sacrament and what preparation and disposition there ought to be to receaue the same we be taught by the figure The lamb was eaten with Exod 12 wilde lettuse signifying to vs with what sharp and bitter teares and contrition for our sinnes we ought to receaue the Lamb of God in this B. sacrament They did eate it with their raines girt betokening vnto vs the purenes and chastitie we ought to come with all to this lamb of God They had staues in their handes and did eate with hast whereby we be taught that this is the true foode of vs wayfaring-men herevpon earth They eate it rosted that we should pre pare our selues to this sweete lambe of God with hot loue that is feruent charity and whatsoeuer was left was burnt with fier giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that whatsoeuer wee cannot by reason comprehend of this diuine mistery that we are to consume burne vp in our selues by most faithfull feruent loue and charitie For perfect loue to God supplieth all our defects all this teacheth vs with what worthy preparation wee ought to come to our most blessed Sacrament the Lambe of God prefigured by this paschall Lamb of the Iewes which with such preparation was eaten but what needes all this adoe for bare bakers breade Iohn Caluins Communion Chap. XXVIII Wherein is touched how this Sacrament is also a sacrifice daily vnbloudely offered by Priests and propitiatory for the quicke and the dead and that it is the only sacrifice whereby God is chiefly honoured and worshipped NOW this B. Sacrament of ours is also our owne only most pure and vnbloudy sacrifice of the Church whereby God is chiefly worshipped his wrath appeased by meanes whereof grace and saluation is giuen to vs from that most gratious and bloudy sacrifice of the Crosse once there offered after a bloudy manner for all as the full and superabundant price of our redemption but here daily vpon the Altar after an vnbloudy sort to make vs partakers of the same sacrifice once bloudely offered but in both places on the Altar of the Crosse and here in this blessed Sacrament one and the same Christ Which sacrifice was prefigured by that of Melchisedech who offered sacrifice Gen. 14. 18. Heb. 7. 3. 4. in bread and wine and was the Priest of the most
high God whose father and mother is vnknowne so our B. sacrifice then though not bread and wine but the very body and bloud of Christ is consecrated and offered vnder the likenesse of bread and wine Which blessed Sacrament was offered at Christs laste supper a sacrifice also hee our Redeemer in his Disciples giuinge Priestes authority to consecrate and offer the same and so hee remaineth in them being daily offered vp by their ministery A Priest for euer according to the order of Melchisedech who vvas without mother according to his Godhead and without father according to his manhood and so figured and foreshewed by Melchisedech whereof holy Dauid in spirit called our Sauiour Psal 109. Christ foreseeing our blessed Sacrifice A priest for euer according to the order of Melchisedech if he be a Priest then hee must needes offer sacrifice but he neuer offered sacrifice saue only at his last supper I meane after the order of Melchisedech Wherefore we offering or doing the same he did at his last supper that is consecrating his body and bloud it followeth that this Sacrament of ours is also a sacrifice yea and that propitiatorye both for the quicke and the dead which as prophecied Daniel the prophet is Iuge sacrificium A continuall sacrifice that neuer shall cease to the worldes end saue that the publike administration thereof by Daniels prophesie Daniell Cap. 12. Malachy cap. 13 shall cease in Antechristes time but shall as prophesied Malachie the prophet Be offered a pure oblation and sacrifice in euery place What other is that but the holye Sacrifice of the Masse Which sacrifice of it selfe though the Priest may often be vnworthy is euer acceptable Ex â—pere operato as diuines tearme it in Godes sight because this sacrifice is his only sonne in whome hee is well pleased If they saye the Prophet meant the sacrifice of a pure harte it is not so for no man can saye his hart is alltogether pure from sinne at least from a soule or light thought if they say it was the sacrifice vpon the Crosse which the prophet foretolde that cannot be because it was but in one place wherfore it must needs follow the prophet foretolde the one onlye pure and vnbloudy Sacrament and sacrafice of the Altar at Masse offered in euery place and in steed of all those blouddy sacrifices of olde From the rising Psal 112. of the sonne to the setting of the same againe Whereby you see this B. Sacrament was instituted by Christ not only as a healthfull medicine and food of our soules but also that it might be offered continually as the cheife and proper sacrifice of the new testament for a sufficient thanksgiuing to God the father and continuall memory of our L. Iesus his bitter Passion till his comming againe wherby we eschew the euills of this life obtaine remission of sins with the grace of God glory in the world to come And because Christ bad the Apostles and Priestes of the newe Testament doe or sacrifice this in memorie of him his Incarnation Life Passion Resurrection therefore as by Christs institution it is a sacrifice and liuely representation especially of his death and Passion So euerye thinge about the Altar as the ornaments ceremonies actions of the preist at Masse do chiefly represent and reduce into our memories the same And if I would stand to recite the Scriptures Councels and Fathers to this purpose that call it an host an oblation a pure and vnbloudy Sacrifice the price of our Redemption a healthfull Sacrifice and the like I might fill great volumes but I must be briefe Neither is it my purpose to answere here all hereticall obiections neither to make any long discourse of so vnspeakable a matter for to giue or set downe the full doctrine hereof would require and fill as I said many and lardge bookes which already of most learned men bee written My purpose is here but to instruct the simple and vnlearned who ought rather to ground them selues in true faith and beliefe then to looke into such high misteries to comprehend Gods mighty workes by reason For what is man to compare as it were himselfe with God to think to containe him whome heauen and earth cannot holde for what is one man in respect of so many men or what be al men in respect of God Man is as it were a mite like a vanity a puff of winde God is mighty incomprehensible yea great in the least thinges without variance or inconstancie at a becke of whose finger the very heauens and earth do tremble and quake the deapth of whose mightie workes we cannot reach vnto no not in the least thinges or creatures wee daylie see here before our eyes Who can number the starres or giue a iust accompt of their swift course without going one iote out of order from the beginning of the worlde to this day the very herbes plantes and trees wee see doe daily grow and increase Who is so wise that can discerne or say nowe at this very instant I perceaue the increase Againe vvhen they bee as it vvere deade in vvinter who can say they shal so flourish in sommer but he that hath experience Imagine some man brought vp in some caue vnder the earth neuer seeing light nor conuersing with men If one should come vnto him on a sodain and discourse with him of collours blacke and greene and the like tell him of the spring the course of the sonne moone and starres would he not wonder and think them aboue reason till he sawe and perceaued them as we doe If then these thinges so familiar to vs seeme so admirable to those that be vnaccustomed to see them or if we our selues cannot giue a reason to the depth of the least things can wee thinke to comprehend God in the greatest would we haue God so litle that he cannot exceed our reasoÌ„ And yet o blasphemy malicious blindnes such be the heretiks of our time who because they cannot attaine by humane reason to the depth of this mistery of Christs body in the Sacrament therefore they forsake faith beliefe in Christ herein against both truth and reason O hereticke shal Christ cease to be with vs according to his promise because thou art vnable of reason Nay he shall be when thou art not Chap. XXIX Of the great loue and humility of Christ in this Blessed Sacrament and of the deuotion of Christians of olde towards the same THis Blessed Lord Iesus theÌ„ perfect God man which enclosed himselfe for our sakes in the wombe of the most Blessed Virgin when as him the heaueÌ„ of heauens cannot comprehend is also with vs according to his word in the least particle of the B. Sacrament whole perfect Christ entreth into the Cottage of our homely bodies is allwaies delighted to be with the sonnes of men and yet is stil incomprehensible al glorious with his father in heauen that by his
but one externall Sacrifice of Christs body and bloud that shee offereth to God alone which is the holy Masse And neither to Peter nor Paul saith S. Aug. lib. 8. de ciuit Dei c. 27. Augustine though the Priest that sacrifiseth standeth ouer their bodies and offereth in their memories But other kindes of honours and duties inferiour without all comparisons how great soeuer they be to this we doe as the Scriptures and nature teach vs to all superiors in heauen and earth according to the degrees of grace honour and blessednesse that God hath called them vnto from our B. Lady Christs owne mother to the least seruant he hath in the world For which the heretikes would neuer accuse Christian people of Idolatry if they had either grace learning faith or natural affection As for that the Angel would Apoc. 19 10. not let S. Iohn worship him it was because as he said he was his fellow seruant especially now after Christs incarnation and to instruct vs that what good giftes vertues or holines wee receaue of God we seek not honour to our selues for it but for God Saint Iohn then beeing in an extasie knewe not so perfectlye whether the Angell was CHRIST oran Angell which if the Angell had not tolde it might haue beene Saint Iohn vvoulde then haue worshipped him as God which he forbad bidding him adore or worshippe God that was with the honour due vnto God and in other places of scripture when Angells appeared to men as for example to Iosue they knowing them Ios 5. 13 to bee but Angells then they neuer forbad men any such worshippe but Angells and holye men vvhen they had due honour done vnto them did not dissalowe it but rather commended it as by many other places of scripture may be shewed but I would bee briefe Nowe that Saintes praye for vs you shall find it in the holy Scripture of Ieremy in the fifteene Chapter of the second booke of the Machabees where is mention made howe Ieremie long after his death prayed for the people and that for the merites and prayers of Saints though they be departed God giueth many good gifts and graces to his seruantes you shall finde it in diuers places of holye Scripture as for example in the olde Testament almost in euery booke you shall finde hovve God for his seruauntes Abraham Isaac and Iacob and for Dauid his seruantes sake and the like spared and did not punishe his people vvhen they deserued it but gaue them benefites for their sakes longe before departed Neither bee our prayers to Saintes any iniurye to Christ our mediatour no more then when wee desire one another to praye for vs as Saint Paul did the Romanes and others Ro. 15. 30. desiring them to helpe him in their prayers For though Christ bee Col 4. Ephe. 6. our only mediator of redemption yet there bee manye mediators of intercession to make vs partakers of that redemption once vvroughte for all Neither is it meruaile the Saintes can heare our prayers for as appeareth by the Gospell they bee as Angells of God who reioyce at the conuersion Math. 22. 30. Luc. 15. 7. of a sinner and therefore no doubt see our needes assiste vs with their prayers and reioyce at our victories For if the Diuells by Godes permission see and knowe our actions much more then doubtlesse doe the Saintes of GOD by his gratious fauour see and perceaue our actions and necessities Neither is this contrary to that that God alone seeth mans hart for we Dan. 2. 1. Reg. 5. reade of Daniell and other men that haue knowne the secrets of mans hart by Godes reuelation much more doe the Saints in heauen that in seeing God as in a cleare glasse see them-selues our necessities and all thinges that are requisite for any creatures to know Gre. lib. 1. moral in Iob. For as saith Saint Gregory how is it but that they know all things that see him that knoweth and seeth all things Chap. LIII Declaring how God for his holy seruants sakes heareth our praiers and how the holy Fathers of olde praied to Saints NOwe all the Scriptures be ful how vvee men on earth be releeued and holpen by Angels in heauen as appeareth Tob 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. by holye Tobie guided by an Angell that deliuered him and his wife from the Diuell and helpt him to his mony made that holye mariage cured his fathers eyes and offered their prayers to God what vvill you haue more Holy Iacob the Patriarke when he blessed his grand children the sonnes of Ioseph these were the very wordes in the eight and fortie Chapter of Genesis saying GOD which feedeth mee from my youth euen to this present daye the Angell which deliuereth me from all euils blesse these children and vpon them my name be called and the names of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac As much you see said this blessed Prophet and Patriarke as we do when we say God and our Lady blesse the child GOD and Saint Iohn helpe you and the like which heretickes scoffe at and when Iacob said my name and of my fathers be called vpon did he not plainâ—ie declare that their children and posteritye shoulde beseeche GOD for their sakes to bee mercifull to them or else pray to them to pray for them as when wee praye to them and others saying Lorde for Dauid thy seruants sake haue mercy vpon vs O all Patriarkes and Prophets of GOD pray for vs Saint Peter praye for vs Saint Paul pray for vs and so forth Doe you not see here what substantiall groundes of holy Scripture wee haue for honouring and praying to Saints thoughe in a far lower degree then we honour and pray vnto God as I haue declared before for we say to God in our prayer God the father of heauen haue mercy vpon vs and not as wee doe to Saintes pray for vs signifying thereby that all honour wee giue to Saints tendeth to GOD and that all grace and goodnesse commeth principallye from God neither that the Saintes haue any goodnes or graces as of themselues without God but all from him so that we pray not to Saints for any want or insufficiency in God but in respect of our owne vnworthines that be not so worthy nor can be so speedily heard of God by our own prayers as by the prayers of his Saints of his Saints and deerest friends And this appeereth plainly by the last chapter of Iob that where Iobs friends vvere reprehended for their faults yet would not God accept their prayers for their vnworthynesse but bad them go to Iob to his seruant My seruant Iob saith God shall pray for you Now that all holy Fathers from Christs time to this day haue made their humble prayers and petitions to the Mother of God and all Saints their workes and deuout prayers declare time serueth mee not to repeate them they vvoulde fill vvhole bookes Chap. LIIII Touching by the way
asketh you what reason you haue for this or what Scripture for that or what beleeue you of this or of that Say you no more but I beleeue the holy Catholicke Church as shee belieueth in al things so do I if he aske you againe and againe how shee beleeueth answer the heretick euen as I beleeue I beleeue as the Catholick Churche beleeueth and so stay quietre your self and so first beginne to beleeue then after to vnderstand For as God saide by his holy Prophet vnlesse you beleeue you shall not vnderstand yea it is sufficient to saluation if your life be according though you cannot vnderstand the chiefe highest misteries nor bring Scripture for euerie thing so you beleeue as the Catholicke Church doth grounding your self therein who is able to direct and guide you from and out of all errors incombrances and darknes of this world into a most sure and stable light For to the holy Catholick Church Christ promised to send his spirite the holy Ghost after his departure to bee with her and guid her in all truth euen to the end of the world I haue many thinges to say to you saieth our Sauiour to his Disciples but you cannot beare them away now but when I shall goe I wil Ioan. 16. send you the holy ghost the comforter he shal teach you all truth Lo you se by Christ promise his holy Spirite shall guide his church in al truth that it neuer faile erre nor be deceiued that is as I haue proued before at large only the true Catholicke Apostolick Romaine church no other in this Church what simple man so euer containeth him-selfe and truly followeth the same hee cannot goe astray and out of this Church if hee were the greatest Philosopher or learned man in the worlde as there bee some Falsi nemmis scientiam sibi promittentes Yet most certainely hee shall erre bee deceaued To this Church then without which is no Saluation ioyne your selfe her obay her follow her beleeue in al things you cannot erre my soule for yours nor goe astray to damnation this Church if you forsake as I said before if you had all the wisdome of men or al the learning of Aristotle and the wisest Philosophers that bee or haue beene you should without al doubt erre walke in darknes and perrish for euer Chap. LXXVIII Against schisme that it is altogether vnlawfull and forbidden vnder paine of damnation to goe to the churches of hereticks or schismaticks to their prayers sermons Sacramentes spirituall exercises or in any sort directly or indirectly to communicate participate yeeld consent or assent to the sâ—me also a precaution is giuen to beware of dissembling Catholikes which indeede are schismaticks BVT when you bee thus once established in the one only truth of Christ and his â—oly Church though this be the foundatioÌ„ first to beginne to beleeue well yet you must then do according to true faith beleeue els you can not be saued for saith as I said before out of S. Iames without good workes is dead Epist Iacobi cap. 2. take heede then when you be once well grouÌ„ded in true faith religioÌ„ that you not only flee sinne and seeke to exercise good works true vertue but withal beware of dissembling Catholiks that flatter theÌ„selues to be Catholiks be none indeede they coÌ„sesse theÌ„selues to knowe Christ in words and yet deny him in deedes These men bee as daingerous as heretikes them selues in some respects worse and will vnder pretence of religion more easely deceaue the simple and those wee call Schismatiks not only lay persones but suche as bee and were preists of olde and yet for feare of loosing their liuings will teach you as thee tearme it to beare a little with the time till a better world come and in the meane time vnlooked for death cometh For thus they will come vnto you and say O Sir you keepe a good house you might badly bee spared amongst your neighbours infaith this world will not last alwalyes and then he will with Iudas whisper in your eare tell you how you shal heare newes erre it be long then will say vnto you CaÌ„not you goe to church in the meane time and keepe your conscience to your selfe by God there is neuer a knaue of them all shall take aduantage of mee and yet God knoweth my mind Lo this dissembling Schismatike with these and others foolish perswasions which come of loue of his flesh and want of loue and feare of God he deceaueth him selfe and others For the truth is whatsoeuer you beleeue yet if you doe contrary to your beliefe you damne your owne soule doing contrary to your conscience For we may not dissemle with God For he that denieth mee before men saith Christ I will denie him before my father which is in heaueÌ„ For God hath not only made mans hart and soule to beleeue in him but hath giuen him a body And mouth to confesse Rom. 10. him which wee must doe to bee saued For wee beleeue in heart to righteousnesse as saith Saint Paul and confesse in mouth to Saluation Now to goe to the heretiks church is to deny Christ for Christ is the truth Who as hee is God in all and all in all so is he wholy in euery parte of the truth and therefore hee that denieth any article of his faith denieth the trueth and so denieth Christ yea but you wil say I say nothing there but sitte downe and say my praiers yea but your very being there your very action or deede is an allowing of their euill doings or sayings for Christ and his holy Sacraments be there abused and blaspheamed so be his blessed mother and his Saints and therefore if I be present in such a company ioyning my selfe with them by my presence I alowe of them whatsoeuer I thinke to the contrary you see if one be drawne in amongst theeues perhaps partly against his will to be at a robbery as to hold the horses he shal be hanged for his paines The Church indeed was built by our forefathers for Gods seruice and good purposes and was dedicated to God consecrated or hallowed but now is defiled with vncleane birds become worse then a denne of theeues as haunted by the Diuels and ministers that daily blaspheame Christs truth holy Sacraments Wherefore if you will not be damned with them she such daÌ„nable company if you were in company where your Lord Master were euill spoken of you should giue them courage by your presence and silence do you think your Master would not plucke his coat oft from your backe thrust you out so God wil deale with dissemblers cast them out of his kingdome and seruice that see him heare him dishonoured and dissemble it besides many dangers ghostly that follow by going to heretiks prayers and Churches so that if you will be a Catholicke Christian and knowe the truth to
consider the importance of this matter and remember your saluation Consider first what perilous times wee liue in now towards the ende of the world consider withall the shortnes instability of this life how daily of all sorts by death you see men taken awaâ—e before your eies Remember at least wheÌ„ you see as it were the heauens open with lightnings perceaue the earth sometimes chime treÌ„ble vnder your feete and when to the terror of al mortal creatures you heare the most high mighty Lord at a beck of whose finger heaueÌ„ earth quaketh thunder froÌ„ aboue theÌ„ I say learne to feare not for get him after But remember deeply consider that euerlasting punishment vnqueÌ„chable fire prepared for the wicked and those vnspeakable ioyes prepared for the iust consider the strait way to saluatioÌ„ how fewe shall bee saued in respect of those that shall be perpetually lost and damned Eight persons in the vvhole world were but saued froÌ„ dro vning in the vniuersall deluge Noes fludde But one just Lot could be found in fiue Citties Sodom and Gomorrah and the rest for sinne consumed with fire and brimstone from heauen here and burning in hell for euer but twelue Apostles CHRIST chose amongst all the Iewes and yet one was a traytor good thinges therfore you see but especially good meÌ„ indeede are hard to be founde therefore you see how true Christs words be many are called but few are chosen yet I hope and most confidently trust in God you all those that will read this litle treatise and follow it auoide the heresies and sinnes herein refelled and disproued you and euery one such I say that will this do my full confidence is in God and you may be in sted fast hope you shall be of that few nomber that Christ hath chosen consider moreouer wherefore you were created and made of God not to eat drinck sleep liue heere but to passe this life with dutiful seruice to God that you may enioy his endles kingdome The end then God hath made you for is to be pertaker of his glory in heauen and therefore all thinges you haue heere in this world on earth you ought to referre to the seruice of God for what is this life but as saith Saint Gregory a continuall death wherein euery day we dye a litle something of our life is cut of daylie account then this world and all worldly possessions and habitatioÌ„s but as it were an Inne wherein you are but to stay as it were for a night and away and therefore seeke not to make you a dwelling place on earth chiefely though to haue moderate care of our bodies also is not forbidden vs but looke for and builde you a place in heauen Alas what be al pleasures this world can afford you You see they be but vaine and can neuer content mans minde the couetous man is neuer full fraught or contented with golde and riches but euer coueteth more the dronkard and glutton euer seekerh how he may more and more delight his tast and fill his belly and panch the lecherous man more fleshly pleasure he hath like the wood set on fier he desireth burneth faster therein riches fade beauty decayeth memory saileth all the glory of the world passeth away as the shaddow nothing can truly satiate content the soule but God himself which is had by enioying of his diuine glory To obtaine this then you must bend all your might and power Nam regnum calorum vim patitur violenti rapiunt illud Saith our Sauiour we must by violence as it were obtaine his kingdome not only sighting and striuing against our selues that is this froward and corrupt nature of ours that is too much giuen to selfe loue and liking of this world and our selues in being ready to forsake this traÌ„sitory life of this body to enioy the eternall life of the soule but what lettes or impediments soeuer you haue to the coÌ„trary manfully and ioyfully remoue them and shake them off as if the Tyrant threaten thee or with flatterie or faire wordes and promises seeke to allure thee yea if thy parentes that begot and bore thee or thy children that be part of thy substance of thy flesh and bloud or thy owne wife that is as it were thy one body and sleepeth in thy bosome would hinder thee from thy saluation GOD is neerer and deerer to thee then them all Forsake comfortably thy parents with their weeping eyes respect not they children with stretched out handes passe by thy wife though on thy threshold shee lye at thy feete with spreadde and torne haire Yea be cruell to thine owne body in this case and as saieth Saint Ierome fortiter ad crucem Christi euola flie with that simple sweete Doue in cauernas petrae into the holes of that sure rock the open woundes of thy redeemer and manfully with good courage and all ioye imbrace the crosse of CHRIST thus by violence you must obtaine his kingdome thus bend all your might and power I say to winne CHRIST and please him For him I say be content to forsake wife children liuings possessions yea this life it selfe to winne a better taking vp the crosse and following him For so all haue and must do that will enter into his kingdome remembring wee must suffer with him to be glorified with him and if he our head would not enter into his kingdome but by Passion and labours then we his seruaunts members cannot looke to follow him but by the same way of paynes and sufferance the disciple is not better then his Maister neither a delicate member is comely vnder that head that weareth a Crowne of thornes If then thus you by patience follow and winne Christ you shall haue al thinges him if you forsake you loose all If you truly cleaue and stick to him and his commandements he is mighty and will desend you he is mercifull and wil pardon you he is bountifull wil bestow al gratious gifts of you he is rich will sustaine and nourish you he is pittifull and will comfort you knowing your weaknes and bearing the heauier end of the yoke or crosse with you wil lay no more of your shoulders theÌ„ you are able to beare nor will not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength as he hath said by his true messenger wherein he is faithfull will performe his promise he is louing and iust and will make vs for our labours crowning his graces gifts in vs pertakers of his glory where art we ought all to shoote comforting our selues euer in the troubles of this life with hope of that fruition of God our finall rest and perfect delight The 80. and last chap. How though euery one ought to be prepared to suffer yet none ought rashly to cast theÌ„selues into tentation but if we bee called thereunto then we ought to be most glad to suffer as being
rewarder of wel doers But our diuelish heretiks most blaspheamously affirme he is the author of euill that his commaundements are impossible to be kept and therefore it followeth he is vniust and most vnmercifull to punish men with endles tormentes for breaking those lawes that none can keepe besides that they hold that men want free will and whether he do well or ill if he be predestinate to bee saued or damned hee shall be all is one Caluine affirmed that CHRIST despaired and blaspheamed his father vppon the crosse suffring in his soule the paines of the damned Yet the Turks hold him euer to be a holy Man the Sonne of a Virgin and the most blessed man that euer was or shall be yea punish such as deny it but you will say Caluin and his followers hold him to be GOD which Turks do not I deny that Caluin and his adherents acknowledge Christ for GOD vnlesse they will haue mo GODS then one and in so affirming they be worse thē Turks For what meaneth Caluin when contrary to the Churches creede and faith he denieth the Sonne of God to be Deus de Deo God of God that is euerlastingly begotten of his fathers substance but he wil haue him Deus ex se or per se as much to say as of another substance from his father and so of the holy Ghost and so it must needes follow that either there be three Gods as of diuers substances or els that the Sonne and the holy Ghost be no Gods at al by this doctrine of Caluin his followers but the first cannot be yet if the sonne be of another substāce from his father then whether he be lesse then his father equal or greater then his father yet being of another substance frō his father as Caluin blaspheameth then must it needes follow there be two Gods at least which consequent because Caluin denyeth yet obstinatly affirmeth the precedēt therfore he affirmeth Christ or his father or both to be no god at al. And truly in my opinion it seemeth more tollerable to affirme ther is no god thē thus with Caluin other heretiks to blaspheame his infinite goodnes which indeede cānot cōsist with the very essential nature of God as to say he is vniust vnmercifull the author of euill so that Protestāts be worse thē very atheists how much more tollerabe then be Turks then they who though they deny the passion of Christ yet do they not hold that euer he dispayred or blaspheamed God as Caluinists do teaching likewise but especially the Zwinglians that not only Turkes and all heathenish children if they be predestinate be aswell saued as Christian mens childrē Christened who dying yea in their infancy they say if they be not predestinate though Christined yet can they not be saued but also that the old heathēs as Socrates Hercules Numa c. be saued as much to say as christ dyed in vaine for the world if such as neuer had respect to him coulde be saued without him as well as the B. Virgin Peter Paul and such for these and olde heathens Zwinglius ioyneth together telling the King of France in his Epistle to him exhorting him to imbrace his Gospell which if he would do he telleth yea and promiseth him he shall see these and many moe there together in one kingdome Do you thinck this doctrine of these two men Caluin Zwinglius which our english Heretiks chiefely follow and teach can ioyne the followers and beleeuers thereof in the Catholike Church suerly then as I said Turks Atheists and all heathens be of the Church doth not Caluin vtterly These bee Caluins ownewords Epist ad Polonos pag. 946. vt cognoscant te vnum Deū id est Trinitatem hoc non modo tanquam insipidum sed prophanū quoque repudiamus vtterly mislike and forbidde that any should cal vpon pray to yea or vse this word Trinitye as to say o holy Trinity one GOD haue mercy vppon vs for though he can abide in that manner as he teacheth to heare named the Father the Sōne and the holy Ghost yet can he not abide this word consubstantiality which one viz. Luther said his soule abhorred nor this word Trinity neither as a papisticall inuention For mee to recite these places of theirs written at large would be too long and tedious but their bookes bee extant in euery stationers shoppe and their doctrine heerein so manifest to the world that none can deny it howsoeuer our politik courtly parlamētary religion heere in England to dazle simple mens eyes will haue such wordes as of Trinity still vsed to content the vulgar sort though they iump with their Apostles Zwinglius Caluin in conceipt opinion in the deepest degree Thus you see how in the chiefest points of our religiō as of God Christ the Blessed Trinity heretikes quite differ from the catholike Church as also in that great matter of iustification by faith and good works in Christ Iesus which the holy Apostle S. Paul in his Epistles so diuinely teacheth whose meaning S. Iames after so perfectly explaneth yea S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles exhorting vs by good works to make our vocatiō suer stable forwarneth Christians to take heede how they vnderstād his brother Paul who according to that hye diuine wisedome of God giuen him wrote many thinges hard to be vnderstood which the vnlearned vnstable depraue as the rest of the Scriptures to their owne destruction saith he good Lord do not these wauering vnstable heretiks of our tyme as S. Peter right worthely termeth them neuer long contynuing in one opinion but full with themselues and others of sects and dissentions do they not most peruersly and corruptly interpret chiefly this holy Apostles Epistles against the true matter of iustification confounding faith good works yea affirming faith alone to iustifie which is a very diabolicall faith affirming man hath no true iustice in him with many absurdities and heresies As about the merrits not only of our good workes and the Saints in heauen which they affirme to be none but about the merrittes of IESVS Christ himselfe the like absurdities they hold about predestination free will the Sacraments inuocation of Saints prayer for the dead images pilgrimage pardons fasting prayers and euery point all most of the Catholike Churches faith And be these of the Church of God who hold not one sounde opinion almost of God Heauen Hell Purgatory nor of the Church of God it self militant heere on earth sparing neither the soules of the glorious S. in heauen nor their bodies and sacred reliques heere in earth but digge them out of their tombes cōsume them with fire and cast their ashes to be dispersed in the water and the winde to trye perhappes with the old heathens whether they shall rise againe at the last day and can wee make these men or rather monsters members with these glorious Saints in heauen as of the same Church whose
naught be admitted as Christian Catholiks and for meÌ„bers of Gods Church as they For the heretiks of this tyme rayse vp from hell al old heresies whereof Turcisine first arose for the most part that haue bene from Christs time to this day such as many hundred yeeres agone haue bene condemned by the general consent of al Christendome now knitting altogether in one fardell with a number moe of their owne and the deuils new deuising they make rather a generall apostacy denying al things in effect that good is then an heresie from the Church making the hye way to the Diuell and Antichrist learning yet this lesson of false Mahomet their grandesire to admitte al sects and religions that in outward wordes confesse GOD to be of their Church or to be saued and so by the Diuells drift endeauour to their power to send all the world packing to Hell Butlett vs suppose which would GOD it were true that Protestants differed from the Catholike Church but in some one point or the least article of our faith now in questioÌ„ at this day As for example inuocation of Saints or the vse of images yet I say am able plainlie to proue that for the obstinate denyall of the lesse of these points or any such like they should quite cut themselues off from the vnity of Christs Catholike Church which we are bound by Christs owne word by the instruction of our creede to heare beleeue because as there is but one faith Church so but one truth therein which is plaine and simple and cannot be intermedled with any lye therfore whatsoeuer this church proposeth as matter of truth faith to be beleeued I am bound to beleeue it or els I discredit her for a lying Church so not the Church of Christ which is truth so that deny the Churches truth and beliefe in one point deny her in al and the mis beliefe and obstinate gayne saying against one article of faith maketh one an heretike and so offender against the whole for God is truth and wholly in euery part of truth so that to deny any receiued truth of the Church which is matter of faith is to offend against the whole insomuch that S. Iames saith qui totam legem seruauerit offender it autem in vno factus est omnium reus he that keepeth the whole law offendeth in one point is guiltie of al now the true Church of GOD eight hundred yeeres agone condemned image breakers for exaÌ„ple quite cutting them off from the corps vnity of the Church commending to al as a matter of faith that good Christians ought reuerently to keepe and vsethe sacred Images of Christ and his Saints the same doth the Church of God stil beleeue teach confirmed it in her last general Councell holden at Trent as these image breakers for that one heresie were many hundred years agone condemned by the consent of all Christendome and cutte of quite from the whole Church so were those that denyed inuocation of Saints and their holy reliques as Ioumian and Vigilantius in S. Ieroms time against which heretikes and their heresies as new Idolls Saint Ierome him-selfe thundring with Note here that Beza in Actor Apo. cap. 23. v. 3. Is angrywith S. Ierome forwriting against Ioumian vigilaÌ„tius saying Ego coraÌ„ Deo Angelus eâ—us affirme intoller an danâ— esse multis locis in de torquè dis Scripturis Hieronimi andaciam vt in libro contra Iouinianum Vigilantium see here how Beza approoueth elde heretickes of his opinions condemning S. Hierome authority of Gods word and his church very sententiously and learnedly burst them asunder many other such like heretiks for other opinions as the Donatists in Africk in S. Augustine time agreeing many of them in all other points with the Catholik Church yea many of them differing litle or nothing at all in the outward rite and forme of the Churches seruice yea some of theÌ„ but Schismatiks in the beginning yet were they all cutte of the Church no true Christians euer Communicating with them in SacrameÌ„ts or prayers the holy fathers so vehe meÌ„tly writing against the least of those heresyes that rather then they would haue admitted the least of them into the Church of God they would haue suffered many deaths and come now heretiks that cast downe Images Saints yea Christ himselfe out of the Church and pulle downe churches and all and think to be accounted member of gods Church nay that Church hath euer taught vs another lessone who hath euer beene so carefull to keepe her faith with Saint Paul that reioycing said fidem seruaui In all pointes so pure and vndefilled remembring her chiefe pastors lessone that therein shee must resist the Deuill seeking euer his pray whome he may deuoure whome he bidds vs resist Fortes in fide strong in the Catholik faith especially That euen as the Church triumphant in heauen with God can admit no impure or vncleane soule distained with sinne so certainly the true Church of God militant heere on earth neither may nor can admit into her society any open obstinate leaporous heretike infected with the least heresie and why but because as treason is most hay nous to the Prince and common weale so is heresie most grieuous in the sight of GOD and most pernitious to his Church many other great offendors the Prince oft spareth but very seldome is treason pardoned because it tendeth to the ruine of the Kings person and dissolution of the whole state and Monarchy So the holy Church oft times vvith great compassion is forced to tollerate grieuous sinners yea vvith sighes and teares ought to sorrowe and lament them expecting donec formetur in eis Christus and as long as they bee not obstinate in sinne as in theft fornication or more grieuous faults so long oft she expects I say their amendment not quite cutting them off but releeuing them with prayers and good Counsaile that so she vpon their recouery with joy may imbrace them in visceribus misericordiae Christi but euen as the vigilant sheepheard immediatly driueth away the Wolfe or seperateth the scabbed sheepe from 〈◊〉 flocke for feare of killing his lambes or infecting his sound sheepe So the true Pastors of the Church neuer tollerate heresie nor the least heretike in Christs flocke the Church because it creepeth as the canker and destroyeth the corne of Christ Darnell Cockle and such other weede though it be permitted to grow stil with corne till the day of reaping yet venemous blacke flying vermine that consume the corne at euery bitte must diligently at all times bee driuen away For heresie opposeth her selfe by diuision against God which is one preferring her owne wit before the wisedeme and ordinance of Christ in his Church sinneth most highly in Luciferian pride which God so detesteth breaketh charity the knot of peace in his Church which he chiefly loueth and so shooteth against GOD himselfe the
at once but only declareth an infinite and almighty power of God and that diuine honour is due hereunto pag. 226. chap. 26. Of the B. sacrament of the Altar shewing how conueniently it was ordayned for our reparatioÌ„ what preparatioÌ„ we ought to make to the same p. 262 chap. 27. Of the Manna the paschall Lamb and other figures of the B. sacrament pag. 269. chap. 28. Wherein is touched how this sacrament is also a sacrifice daily vnbloudely offered by Priests propitiatory for the quicke the dead that it is the only saerifice whereby God is chiefly honoured and worshipped pag. 274. chap. 29. Of the great loue and humility of Christ in this B. sacrament of the deuotion of Christians of olde towardes the same pag. 281. chap. 30. Contayning a briefe recapitulation of things touched in the treatifâ— of this sacrament declaring that lay persons be not dâ—frauded of the bloud of Christ nor healthfull fruit of the sacrameÌ„t in receiuieg vnder one kind p. 288. chap. 31. Of holy Order what it is by whomâ— it was ordayned and of howe many degrees it consisteth and that no man rashly without due consideration ought to take vpon him the same pag. 305. chap. 32. Of the higher orders and hoâ—e necessary by Gods ordinance one head is ouer the rest pag 309. chap. 33. Of Gods seuere punishment of dâ—uers for arrogating to them-selues Priestly office and howe wee are to obay our Pastors pag. 318. chap. 34. Of the goodly order of the Clergy and Monarchy of the Church and of the Anarchy and disorderly confusion of heretikes pag. 325. chap. 35 Wherein is more at large described the Babilonicall confusion of sinne and heresie how God hath blessed this Couâ—try of old for honour obedience to the Church Priesthood pag. 330. chap. 36. Of Matrimony and what it is and when it was ordayned of the chiefe good ende effect thereof how Virginity is preferred before it also of vowed chastity annexed to priesthood p. 336 chap. 37. That vowes may be lawfully meritoriously made and ought to be kept and that Matrimony is a bande inseparable during life and wherein it consisteth pag. 342. chap. 38. Of extreame Vnction that it is a Sacrament and ordeyned by Christ taught by S. Iames practised by the Apostles and Apostolike men pag. 345. chap. 39. Touching briefly by the way the matter of Iustification and by whome howe we be iustified pag. 350. chap. 40 Of Predestination and that as no man is saued without Gods grace So no man shall bee damned without his owne fault and that wee mâ—st not curiously dispute hereof pag. 357. chap. 41. That man hath free will that Gods Commandements are possible to be kept that euery one must work his saluation with feare trembling pag. 361. chap 42. Of Christs descending into Hell of the intollerable blasphemy of heretikes against Christ in this point pag. 365 chap. 4â— Of Purgatorie what sort of people be therein punished and for what mâ—nner of sinnes defects they be there detained and thâ—t Prayer Sacrifice Almes-deeds and the like bee healthfull for the departed pag. 367. chap. 44. More at large of Purgatory prayer for the dead how heretikes noâ— only corrupt but deny thâ— playne scripturs in avouching the contrary pag. 371. ch 45. Of PardoÌ„s what they are wherof they come in what sort they be auaileable both for the liuing the dead p. 376 chap. 46. By what meanes Pardons may be applyed to our soules and that we must iustly doe that which is appointed vs to be pertakers of the same pag. 380. chap. 47. Of Excommunication how dreadfull a thing it is how heretikes being excommunicated in the higbest degree their excommunication of others is ridiculous contemptible pag. 384. chap. 48 Of some abuses about Pardons and of the late reformation of the same and of the couetous humors of English Ministers pag. 385. chap. 49. Exhorting all to doe their Penance meekely heere and not to trust to much to the helpe and praiers of their friendes left behinde pag. 387. chap. 50. Of Pilgrimage proued by examples of Christ his seruants pa. 390. chap. 51. Of the reliques of Saints reuerently to be vsed and kept of miracles wrought by meanes of them pag. 392. chap. 52. Of honour inuocation of Saints and how Saints pray for vs may heare and releeue vs by their prayers as also that our prayers to Saints their intercession for vs is no iniury but glory to Christ ouâ— Mediator pag. 397. chap. 53. Declaring how God for his holy seruants sakes heareth our prayers and how the holy Fathers of olde prayed to Saints pag. 403. chap. 54. Touching by the way the blessed Virgin our Lady and the iniuries done vnto her pag. 406. chap. 55. Of Images and of the Crosse of Christ and of the reuerende laudable vses of the same pag. 409. chap. 56. Of Seruice in the Latin tongue and how meete conuenient it is that the Scriptures be reserued seruice said in the auncient sacred tongues pag. 413 chap. 57. Wherein the Apostles wordes touching praying and preaching in vnknowne tongues are expounded and of the goodlye order of the Churches seruice praâ—ing singing praising God night and day in her cannonicall houres feastes and times of the yeare pag. 421. chap. 58. Of the Beades of the fifteenâ— misteries of thâ— Râ—sary or our Ladies Psalter of the great good spiritual fruit by deuout saying the same pag. 424. chap. 59. Of the Aue Maria how it is a most deuout prayer gratefull to God ioyfull to Angelles terrible to the Diuel most healthfull and comfortable to all mankinde pag. 427. chap. 60. Of diuers holy ornaments and thinges belonging to the Church as of lightes in churches of Insence Dedication of churches and such like godly ceremonies pag. 429. chap. 61. Of Religious persons of their sanctity leaâ—ning and perfection of life and of the vo â—es of pouerty châ—stity and obedience which make a religioâ—s man and of the heauy in â—gemeâ—t of God to vowe bâ—eakers how our Lady vowed virginity pag. 433. chap. 6â— Of holy Water and how creatures being blessed by the word of God miracles sometimes by the same be wroughâ— to the expelling of Diuels and confâ—rmation of Christian religion pag. â—40 chap. 63. Of holy Bread giuen the people iâ— remembrance of that most blessed Sacrament and in sâ—me sort taught vs by Christ in those lâ—aues blessed aâ—â— multiplyed by him in the desert pag. 442. chap. 64. Of receâ—uing vnder one kinde aâ—d how the same frâ—ite is reaâ—ed by onâ— kinde as by both anâ— that peace vnity and charity is the ende of this blessed Sacrament pag. 444. chap. 65. Of fasting the fruits therof how it hath beâ—e vsed coâ—â—â—nded by Christ his Saints how it is commanded vnder paine â—f sin by the church to â—hat persons how such as disobey the Church in this precept of fasting or any other disobey Christ. pag. 447. chap. 66. Of traditions whereof they câ—me what they be of what authority that by tradition and authority of the Church we knoâ— the Scriptures tâ— bâ— the word of Gâ—â— which be eâ—er most reuereâ—tly preseâ—ued by Catholickes â—ut euill vnderstood corrupted yea sâ—me quite razed â—ut by Heretikes pag. 452. chap. 67. Of God that he is one in substance and three in persons and of the horrible blaspheamy of heretikes and Athistes against his diuine Maiestie pag. 457. chap. 68. Of Hell and of the iust punishments therein for sinne without release for euermore pag. 459. chap. 69. Of Heauen which worldlinges contemne how we may obtaine it and of the glorious and most happy estate of the body with the soule for euer after the generall resurrection pag. 462. chap. 70. Of the Pope that he is the Vicar of Christ and lawfull successor of Saint Peter pag. 465. chap. 71. What most admirable vertuous holy zealous and most worthy and charitable men many Popes haue beene of old and of late yeares also euen to this present day pag. 468. chap. 72. Wherefore he weareth his Crowne is borne of meÌ„s shoulders suffereth deuout persons to kisse his foote p. 472 chap. 73. Why heretikes haue euer slaundered the Pope and how God turneth their malice to the benefitte of his elect and how herâ—tikes be forâ—runners of Antichrist and of Christs victory ouer his enemies in his Church pag. 475. chap. 74. Of the assistantes of the Pope as first of his Cardinals and why they be so called also of religious men Priests and Godly men of this time that dyed Martirs and of the dying obstinately of heretikes pag. 479. chap. 75. Of Antechrists forerunners of his false lying signes deceits of his intollerable Luciferian pride subtility and short raigne though most violent persecution of his life birth death and ministers pag. 483. chap. 76. How the Diuell Antechrist be compared to that monstrous serpentinâ— tayled Dragon drawing numbers with them into euerlasting perdition and that one certaine man Antechrist is yet to come though hee hath many fore-runners pag. 486. chap. 77. In a fewewords touching the chiefe matters that haue beene spoken in this treatise how the vnlearned especially in matters of religion ought too leaue disputes and simply to beleeue the truth founding themselues in Christ and in the Catholike Church pag. 490 chap. 78. Against Schisme that it is altogither vnlawfull and forbidden vnder pame of daÌ„natioÌ„ to goe to the churches of heretiks or schismatiks to their prayers sermons sacramâ—ts spirituall exercises or many sort directy or indirectly to coÌ„municate participate yeeld consent or assent to the same also a precaution is giueÌ„ to beware of dissembling Catholiks which indeede are Schismatiks pag. 495. chap. 79. Admonishing to amendment of life seing the time â—s short and the houre of death vncertaine when as ignorance shall excuse no man pag. 517. chap. 80. How though euery one ought to be prepared to suffer yet none ought rashly to cast themselues into teÌ„ptation but if â—e be called thereunto then we ought to be most glad to suffer as beeing Gods caâ—se we suffer for pag. 525. A short treatise against Adiaphorists Neuters and such as say they may be saued in any sect or religion and would make of many diuers sects one Church pag. 537. FINIS
effecte Carnem sic c. They so vnderstande flesh as it is torne in a carcas or solde in the shambles and not as it is quickned with the spirite or Godhead Here is reported wherein the Iewes did â—rre they tooke the worde flesh amisse not coÌ„cerning the substance of it which must be really eaten but coÌ„cerning the maner of eating it is not modo Latin for the maner Is not quomodo as much to say as by what maner the Iewes vnderstood the name of flesh Quomodo dilaniatur non quomodo vegetatur that is by what maner it is torne a peeces and not by what maner it is quickened doe not these wordes import that the Iewes erred in the maner of eating Christes fleshe Doth not hee that findeth fault only with the maner of eating Christes fleshe sufficiently allowe the eating of the fleshe it selfe if it be donne after a good maner It is the Passion of Christ and the spirituall maner of eating in respect whereof Christs speech is called of S. Augustine figuratiue For if Christes flesh were eaten only to fill the bellie without further accompt of spirituall grace and life then were the eating of that fleshe naturall sensible accustomable and without all figure should be eaten by cutting tearing and wasting it but in that case fleshe profiteth nothing the flesh we speak of must be eaten as a figure as a misterie as a SacrameÌ„t as a holy signe of a higher truth wrought in the soule then that bodelie eating doth work So likewise in Baptisme wee are washed in a figure because the washing hath a farther and higher end theÌ„ only to clense the body That speach therefore wherein Christ commandeth his flesh to be eaten is figuratiue not that we should deny the true eating of his flesh but because that eating is referred to a greater purpose then to the feding of the body for Christs flesh is meate in deed that is to say is eatten in deede as I could proue vpon that place but it is not eaten only that it shoulde be corporally receiued but to the end wee should pertake of the spirit Godhead which is in it and so by merite of that Hill de Trinit Lib. 8. flesh really present in vs obtaine life euerlasting with it Wherevpon Saint Hillarie disputing against the Arrians that Christ is not only of one will but also of one substance with his father saieth De naturali in nobis Christi veritate c. That we say concerning the naturall truth of Christ being in vs except wee learne it of him we say it foolishly vngodly for himselfe saith my flesh is meate in deed he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud tarieth in me I in him there is no place of doubting left concerning the truth of flâ—sh and bloud for now both by the profession of our Lord and by our ownâ— faith it is truly flesh and truly bloud and these things taken and swallowed are the cause that we tarry in Christ and Christ in vs is not this thing the truth it may well chance not to bee true to them who deny Iesus Christ to bâ— true God So that Christ as truly as he is God so verely really is he in the B. SacrameÌ„t though in an inexplicable miraculous maner sort inuisible and hidden from our corporall senses For as after the resurrection the spirituall being which our bodies shall haue doth not deminish the truth of their nature but declareth a wonderfull abettering of them in that they be made in maner equal to spirituall substance euen so the body of Christ in his supper is spiritual not for any lack of his true substaÌ„ce vnder the formes of bread wine but because it is fully possessed replenished with the Godhead and is present after the maner of a spirit as being neither seene or felt nor tasted but only belâ—ued therefore this B. SacrameÌ„t is worthely called of the church at the consecratioÌ„ thereof yea of S. Paul 1. Tim. 3. misterium fidei a mistery of faith So that you see we must vnderstaÌ„d that though in the B. SacrameÌ„t we truly wheÌ„ we sacrameÌ„tally receiue doe receiue in very deed his B. body bloud yet we do not receiue eate Christs B. body after such a carnal sort as the Caphernaits Iewish Heretikes vnderstood blaspheme For the lexes when they heard Christ promise his body to be eaten of vs thought Christ would hane giueÌ„ his body to haue bin cut in peces rosted â—â—teÌ„ as I said before as the dead carcas of an oxe is wherevpon some of his disciples so vnderstaÌ„ding departed thinking it a hard saying of Christ that hee would giue his body to be so eaten but he answered theÌ„ right worthely the spirit Ioh. 6. 63. it is that quickneth but the flesh it profiteth nothing How doth the flesh of Christ profit nothing what doth that flesh profitte nothing that redeemed the whole world God forbid any christian should so imagin how theÌ„ must we vnderstand Christs wordes the flesh profiteth nothing but according to S. Augustins interpretatioÌ„ that is the carnall or fleshly vnderstaÌ„ding of Christs words profiteth nothing but hurteth much but put a spiritual diuine vnderstaÌ„ding to Christs flesh according to his promise worde giuen vs in the B. Sacrament theÌ„ the flesh profiteth much as for example the wicked Iewish heretikes of this time thus blaspheme What dost thou say they eat the very body of Christ indeed in the Sacrament how chaunceth it thou feelest not rawe flesh what can so great a substaÌ„ce be vnder the liknes of so litle a pece of bread How canst thou swallowe his bones o blasphemous heretike Lo here you see these mens vnderstanding that thus with the Iewes so grosly conceiue of Christs body in the Sacrament the flesh profiteth nothing but hurteth much But if they would vnderstand as Christ taught and the Church beleeueth that we receiue Christs Body verely in the Sacrament not after such a grosse manner but after a spirituall sort and in an vnspeakeable mistery that is though a true and naturall body yea the very flesh and bloud that was borne of the B. Virgin Mary and suffred death vpon the Crosse yet with all a supernaturall miraculous diuine glorified and impassible body Such a body as was conceiued by the holy ghost without know ledge of man and that was borne of the B. Virgin without in any sort opening or violating her sacred wombe Such a body as by his diuine power therein with his B. handes multiplyed fiue loaues of bread to the feeding of many thousands Such a body as being attempted to bee stoned of the Iews passed through them and was not seene Such a body finally that arose from death the sepulchre fast shut and such a body that after his Resurrection likwise appeared to his disciples the gates fast shut without deuiding asunder or opening the same Such a body that declared himselfe