she hath prepared this table for hir seruauntes and maides in the sight of them that she might dayly shew vs in the sacrament after the order of Melchisedech breade and wine in similitude of the bodie and bloude of Christe therefore she saith thou hast prepared a table in my sight againste them that trouble mee What Papistes holding transubstantiation would thus write that breade and wine is shewed in the Sacrament in the similitude of the bodie and bloud of Christ The seconde testimonie that M. Heskins alleageth out of Chrisostome is vpon the 1. Cor. 10. This table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the bonde of our trust our foundation hope healpe light our life if we depart hence defended with this sacrifice with most greate confidence wee shall ascende into the holy entrie as couered with certaine golden garmentes But what speake I of thinges to come For while wee be in this life this mysterie maketh earth to be heauen vnto vs Ascende vnto the gates of heauen marke diligently or rather not of heaueÌ„ but of heauen of heauens theÌ„ thou shalt behold that we say For that which is worthy of highest honor I will shew thee in earth For as in kings houses not the walles not the golden roofe but the kinges body sitting in the throne is most excellent so also in heauen the kinges body which nowe is set foorth to be seene of thee in earthe I shewe thee neither Angels nor Archangels nor the heauens nor the heauens of heauens but the Lorde himselfe of all these thinges Thou perceiuest how that which is greatest and cheifest of all things thou doest not onely see it on earth but also touche it and not onely touch it but eate also and when thou haste receiued it returnest home wherefore wipe thy soule from all filthinesse prepare thy minde to the receyuing of these mysteries For if the Kinges childe being decked with purple and diademe were deliuered to thee to bee carried wouldest thou not cast all downe to the grounde and receiue him But nowe when thou receiuest not the childe of a kinge beeing a man but the onely begotten sonne of God tell mee I praye thee doest thou not tremble and caste awaye the loue of all seculer thinges This testimonie so necessarily muste bee vnderstood of a figuratiue and spirituall receyuing of Christe by faith that nothing in the worlde can bee more plaine For euen as earth is made heauen vnto vs so is Christe made present And euen as wee see the Lorde vppon earth so we handle and eate him and that is onely with the eye hand and mouth of faith But let vs see M. Heskins collections First hee is enforced to confesse that the sentence beginneth with a figure The table for the meate therevppon Secondely hauing such honourable tearmes it can not bee a peece of breade but Christe himselfe This shall bee graunted also Thirdly that Christe is verily on the table which he calleth Altars As verilie as earth is made heauen Fourthly that it is Christ whiche is worthie of highest honour verily present in the Sacramente As verily present as hee is seene but hee is seene onely by faith therefore present onely to faith But this obiection hee taketh vppon him to aunswere If we saye the bodie of Christ can not be sene in the sacrament No more saith he can the substance of man be seene but his garmentes or outward formes accidentes This is such a boyish sophisme as I am ashamed to aunswere it By which I maye as well proue that Christes body was neuer seene and therefore not seene in the sacrament contrarie to that whiche Chrysostome saith FroÌ„ this obiection he falleth into an other that if christ in the Sacrament be worthie all honour then of sacrifice also and the sacrifice being Christ Christ shal be offered to him selfe This he calleth an ignorant obiection But there is more knowledge in it then he hath witt to answere He alledgeth the words of Augustine lib. 4. de Trin. cap. 14. Christ abideth one with him to whome he offereth and maketh him selfe one with them for whom he offereth himself and is one with them that offer one with that which is offered Here are diuerse kindes of vnitie and yet not Christ offered vnto him selfe vnlesse M. Heskins will be a Sabellian and a Patripassian to confound the persons of the Godhead and say that God the father yea the whole Trinitie is likewise transubstantiated in the Sacrament Though Christe be one with his father yet did he not offer him selfe to him selfe but himselfe to his father As for the other saying of Augustine that he bringeth it is altogether against him De ciuitate Dei. lib. 10. c. 20. He is the Priest him selfe he is the offerer he is the oblation whereof he would haue the daily sacrifice of the Church to be a sacrament seeing that of her bodie he is the head and of his head shee is the bodie as well shee by him as he by her being accustomed to be offered First Christ is the offerer and the oblation but not he to whome it is made Secondly that which he calleth the sacrifice of the Church is a sacrament that is a holie memoriall of that propitiatorie saâ—â—â—fice which he offered Thirdly this sacrifice of the Church is of the Churche her selfe offered by Christ and of Christe offered by the Church which must needes be spirituall as the coniunction of Christ and his Church is spirituall therefore it is not the natural bodie of Christ offered by the priest but his mystical bodie offered by the Church by himselfe and so a sacrifice of thanksgiuing and not of propitiation After these obiections he returneth to his collections out of the authoritie of Chrysostome There neede no such preparation nor trembling if the Sacrament were but a peece of bread He hath neuer done with this slaunder as though any Christian man did saye it was but a peece of bread which Christe vouchsafed to call his bodie Wee saye truely it is bread but wee say not it is but a peece of bread The ninteenth Chapter continueth the proofe of the same matter by S. Augustine S. Cyrill M. Heskins promiseth in his Epistle and gloryeth often in his worke that he doth not alledge the doctors wordes truncately by peece meale as heretikes do But you shal see how well he handleth him selfe He would haue S. Augustine speake for his bil and alledgeth his words out of his worke contrae literas Petiliani quoting neither what booke nor what Chapter of the same by which it seemeth that either he red not the place him self out of Augustine but receiued it of some gatherer or else hee would cloake his vnhonest dealing Hee citeth it thus Aliud est Pascha quod adhuc Iudaei celebrant de Oue Aliud auteÌ„ quod nos in corpore sanguine domini celebranus It is another Passouer that the Iewes do yet
is offred to my name a pure sacrifice Wherefore our sacrifice to the most high God is the sacrifice of praise Wee sacrifice to God a full 〈◊〉 holie sacrifice We sacrifice after a newe maner according to the new testament a pure sacrifice c. M. Heskins asketh vs if we do not see that Eusebius expoundeth the Prophet of the sacrifice of Christes bodie but wee may well bid him shore vp his eyes see if he do not in plain words expound him of the sacrifice of praise But because he calleth this sacrifice horrorem adferens bringing horror meaning not a slauish but a reuerent feare as is meant to be in all matters of religion which ought to be handled with feare and reuerence of Gods Maiestie vnto whom they apperteine he will needes haue it the body of Christ and first he alledgeth a saying of Dionysius whom he falsely calleth the disciple of Saint Paule although he be a writer of good antiquitie Eccle. Hier. part 1. cap. 3. Neither is it almost lawfull for any mysterie of the priestly office to be done except that his diuine and most noble sacrament of thankesgiuing doe fulfil is What he picketh out of this saying as he noteth not so I am not of his counsell to knowe neither why after his accustomed boldenesse he translateth Sacramentum Eucharistiae the sacrament of Christe From Dionyse he flitteth to the hyperbolicall amplifications of Chrysostom which Lib. 6. De Sacerdotio calleth the sacrament That sacrifice most full of horror and reuerence where the vniuersall Lorde of all thinges is daily felt with handes And de prod Iud. Hom. 30. The holy and terrible sacrifice where Christ that was slaine is set foorth He that will not acknowledge these and such like to be figuratiue speeches must enter action against Chrysostom for many heresies or rather Chrysostome may enter action against him of slaunder and defamation In the same treatise De Sacerdotio Lib. 3. speaking of the same sacrifice he sayeth You may see the whole multitude of people died and made redde with the precious bloud of Christ. But to shewe that all this is spirituall he demaundeth if you thinke your selfe to stand vpon the earth when you see these thinges and not rather that you are translated into heauen and casting away all cogitations of the flesh with a naked soule and pure minde you beholde those thinges that are in heauen Therefore to conclude neither Augustine nor Eusebius haue spoken any thing to the furtherance of Maister Heskins bill of the carnal presence The sixe and thirtieth Chapter endeth the exposition of Malachie by Saint Hierome and Damascen S. Hierome vpon the Prophet Malachie writeth thus Ergo propriè nuÌ„c ad sacerdotes IndeoruÌ„ sermo sit domini qui offeruÌ„t caecuÌ„ clanduÌ„ languiduÌ„ ad immolanduÌ„ vt sciant carnalibê° victimis spirituales victimas successuras Et necquaquam tantorum hircerùmque sanguinem sed thymiana hoc est sanctorum orationes Domino offerendas non in vna orbis prouincia Iudaea nec in vna iudaea vrbe Hierusalem sed in omni loco offerri oblationem nequaquam immundam vt a populo Israel sed mundum vt in ceremonijs Christianorum Now therefore the word of the Lorde is properly spoken to the Priestes of the Iewes which offer the blinde and lamue and feeble to be sacrificed that they might knowe that spirituall sacrifices should succeede those carnall sacrifices And not the bloud of bulles and goates but an incense that is to say the prayers of the Sainctes should be offered to the Lord and that not in one prouince of the world Iewry neither in Ierusalem one citie of Iewry but in euery place an oblation is offered was vncleane as of the people of Israel but cleane as in the ceremonies of the Christians Doest thou not maruell Gentle Reader that Maister Heskins alledgeth this place which in euerie point is so directly contrarie to his purpose He saith that among the ceremonies of the Christians none can be properly called the cleane sacrifice but the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ. O shamelesse begger that craueth no lesse then the whole controuersie to be giuen him And that contrarie to Hierome whose name he abuseth which expoundeth this place of spirituall sacrifices and more expressely of the prayers of the saintes whiche are not vsed in one but in all the ceremonies of the Christians But to set some colour vpon the matter he bringeth in an other saying of Hierome which is written before this in exposition of another place perteining nothing to this prophecy of the pure sacrifice but wher by analogie or like reason as the prophet rebuketh the priestes of the Iewes he doeth reprehend also the Bishops Elders and Deacons of the Church for their negligence Offertis inquit c. You offer saith he vpon mine altar bread polluted We pollute the bread that is to say the body of Christ when we come vnworthily to the altar and we beeing filthie doe drinke cleane bloud and say the Lordes table is contemptible c. Here forsooth we vnderstand that the body of Christ is the sacrifice of the Christians yea but according to the former sentence so offered that it is a spirituall sacrifice But what else Here we are taught that we doe not take one thing videlicet bread and do iniurie to another thing that is the body and bloud of Christ as the sacramentaries say but receiuing the very body and bloud of Christ we do iniury to the same But vouchsafe to heare the same teacher speaking of the same matter and in the same place in fewe wordes to satisfie the reasonable and to stoppe the mouthes of quarrellers Dum enim sacramenta violantur ipse cuius sunt sacramenta violatur For while iniurie is done to the sacramentes iniurie is done to him whose sacraments they are He sheweth a reason against them that demaunded proudly wherein they had polluted God when they had but polluted his sacraments Leauing therefore Hierome at open warre with M. Heskins I will passe to Damascen who for lacke of a Greeke auncient Baron beeing an auncient burgesse of the lower house Maister Heskins is bolde to matche with Hironyme though farre inferiour to him in antiquitie and credite whose wordes are these This is that pure and vnbloudy sacrifice which our Lord speaketh by the Prophet to be offred to him from the rising of the sunne to the going downe of the same namely the body and bloud of Christ vnto the vnconsumed and vncorrupted establishment of our body and soule not going into secesse God forbid that any such imagination should be but it is a purgation of al manner filth and a reparation of all manner of hurt vnto our sustentation and conseruation This place saith Maister Heskins is so plaine that a childe may perceiue it for it is sufficient for him if he heare once body and bloud named Howbeit if either Damascens authoritie
other testimonie he cyteth out of Chrysostomes Liturgie which he calleth his Masse which though it be out of doubt none of Chrysostomes penning yet maketh it nothing for the adoration of the sacrament Thou that fittest aboue with the father and art here present with vs inuisibly vouchsafe to giue vnto vs thy vndefiled body and thy precious bloud and by vs to al the people Then the Priest adoreth and the Deacon in the place where he is thrice sayth secretly God be mercifull to me a sinner And all the people likewise with godlinesse and reuerence do adore It is said here they doe adore but not the sacrament but god For here haue passed no words of the consecration as yet by the Papistes owne rule therefore this adoration can not be referred to the sacrament And yet M. Heskins is so blockish to gather that he fitteth in heauen and yet is here present as though he were present in body before they had prayed that he would giue them his body c. But yet an other place of Chrysostome Hom. 24. in 1. Cor. 10. Christus suam c Christe hath giuen vâ— his flesh that we might be filled therewith whereby he hath allured vs very much into his loue Let vs therefore with feruencie and most vehement loue come vnto him that wee suffer not a more greeuous punishment For the greater benefite we take so much more shall wee bee punished when wee shall appeare vnwoorthie of it This body did the wisemen reuerence in the manger and being both vngodly men and barbarous after they had ended a long iourney with much feare and trembling did worship it Let vs therfore that are citizens of heauen folow those strangers For they when they did see only that manger and cottage and none of those things which thou nowe beholdest came with great reuerence and horrour But thou seest it not in the manger but in the altar not a woman which holdeth it in her armes but the Priest present and the spirite so aboundantly powred vpon the sacrifice that is set foorth Neither doest thou see a simple body as they did but thou doest acknowledge his power and all the administration And thou art not ignorant of any of the thinges that by him were made and tâ—ou art diligently instructed in all thinges Let vs be stirred vp and tremble and declare more godlinesse then those barbarous men â–ª Note here â–ª reuerence and trembling but no worshipping of the sacrament no not although he saith the wise men did worship his body in the manger yet dare hee not conclude that wee ought to adore it in the sacrament Wherefore it is intollerable that M. Heskins gathereth that in the first place he declareth that it is to be honoured in the second he declareth the practise of him selfe his ministers and all the people in worshipping it in the last that he prouoketh al men to honor it in the altar by the example of the wise men For none of these three can be concluded out of the same places Next foloweth Ambrose De spiritu sanct lib. 3. cap. 12. Per scabellum terra c. By the footstoole the earth is vnderstood and by the earth the flesh of Christ which as this day also we do adore in the mysteries which the Apostles as we haue saide before did adore in our Lorde Iesus For Christ is not diuided but one By adoring he meaneth the reuerent vse of the mysteries and not worshipping the sacraments as though Christ were present in them as he is in heauen for that he acknowledgeth not but only a sacramentall presence as hath beene shewed often already more shal be as occasion serueth And he saith we worship or reuerence the flesh of Christe in the mysteries he saith not we worship the mysteries as the flesh of christ Finally we worship Christ in the sacramentes as we do in the word and yet we imagine no carnal presence in either of them Yea we honor him his ministers both ciuil Magistrates and Ecclesiasticall teachers yet we haue none of theÌ„ as transubstantiated into Christ. The last is S. Augustine In Psal. 98. Adore ye the footestole of his feete for it is holie But see brethreÌ„ what he biddeth vs to adore In another place the scripture saith Heauen is my seate earth is the footestoole of my feete Then he commandeth vs to adore the earth because he said in an other place that it is the footestoole of god And how shall we adore the earth when the scripture saith plainely thou shalt adore the Lord thy God and here he saith adore his footestoole And expouÌ„ding to me what is his footstoole he saith the earth is my footstoole I am made doutful I am afraide to adore the earth least he condemne me which hath made heauen and earth Againe I am afraid not to adore the footstoole of my Lord because the Psalme saith to me Adore ye his footstoole Thus wauering vp and down I turne me vnto CHRISTE because I seeke him here and I finde howe without impietie the earth may bee adored without impietie his footestoole may be adored For he hath taken on him earth of the earth because flesh is of the earth of the flesh of Marie be tooke flesh And because he walked here in that flesh and gaue that flesh to be eaten of vs to saluation And no man eateth that flesh except he do first adore it it is found out how such a footestoole of the Lord may be adored and we should not onely not offend in adoring but offend in not adoring The Papists make no small accompt of this place and yet there is no place in al S. Augustines workes that maketh more against them then this if it be wel marked with that whiche followeth For first he saith not that the sacrament must be or may be worshipped as God but that the flesh of Christ may be worshipped as the earth which is Gods footstool whereunto Diuine honour is not to be giuen but reuerence as to an holie thing no man eateth his flesh but he that before hath worshipped it not as really present in the sacrament but he that hath reuerently acknowledged his incarnation passion and giuing of his flesh to be holsome vnto vs But to put al out of doubt he so maketh the sacrament Gods footestoole that he doeth expressely denie speaking in the person of Christ that his bodie which was seene and crucified should be eaten but a sacrament which being spiritually vnderstood should quicken them or giue them life The place hath beene already once or twise set downe Non hoc corpus quod videtis mandicaturi estis c. You shall not eate this bodie which you see c. The corporall presence therefore being flatly taken away by S. Augustine in that place it is easie to see what kinde of worship is left to the sacrament But he is cited againe Lib. Confess 9. Cap. 13. speaking of his mother Illa
imminente c She when the day of her departure was at hand tooke no care to haue her bodie sumptuously buriâ—d or to be spiced with sweete spices neither did she couet a chosen monument or cared for her fathers sepulchre She did not giue vs in charge any of these thinges but onely she desired that remembrance shold be made of her at thine altar which she without any dayes intermission had serued from whom she knew that holie sacrifice to be dispensed by which the hand writing that was against vs was put out by which triumph was obteined against the enimie Maister Heskins would learne of the proclaymer what seruice she did was it not the seruice of Christ her Lord God Yes and why did she it at the altar and not in heauen Haue you heard of such a blind question While she liued on earth although she worshipped him that is in heauen yet she serued him in the place appointed for publike prayer and administration of the sacramentes and she serued him with prayer and thankesgiuing not with knocking and kneeling to the sacrament which is the thing he would haue if he could tell howe to bring it about as for the carnall presence it was spoken off euen in the place next before cited out of the 48. Psalme After this he saith the same that the Christians did honour Ceres and Bacchus proueth their adoration of the sacrament A substantiall proofe I promise you It may argue they had some vse of bread wine in their religion but no adoration of it For the HeatheÌ„ men did not take bread and wine to be Ceres and Bacchus but Ceres and Bacchus to be the Gods of bread and wine S. Augustine is cited Contra Faust. Lib. 2 Cap. 13. Quomodo c. How then doest thou compare our bread and cuppe and sayest that errour which is farre differing from the trueth to be like religions beeing more madde then some which for the bread and the cuppe thinke vs to honour Ceres and Bacchus The Heathen did offer bread and wine to Ceres and Bacchus so they imagined that the Christians did not that they honored bread and wine as Maister Heskins dreameth The like is to be saide of the other place Siâ—ut a Cerere c. As we are farre from Ceres and Bacchus the Gods of the Pagans although we imbrace after our manner the sacrament of the bread and the cuppe which you haue so praysed as you would be equall with vs so our fathers were farre from the chaynes of Saturne although for the time of the prophesie they haue obserued the vacation of the Sabbaoth Because there is nothing in this place for the purpose M. Heskins after his accustomed manner hath falsified the worde by wrong translation to deceiue the vnlearned For he hath translated Quamuis amplectamur sacramentum although we honor the sacrament Yet again S. Augustine is cited In Psal. 48. Edent pauperes c. The poore shall eate and be satisfied What eate they That which the faithful know How shall they be satisfied In following the passions of their Lord and not without cause taking their price What do the riche They also do ease but how do they eate All the riche of the earth haue eaten and worshipped He saith not they haue eaten and are satisfied but they haue eaten and worshipped They do in deede adore God but they will not shewe brotherly humanitie they eate and adore these eate and are satisfied yet all do eate Augustine saith expresly the rich adore God but of adoring the sacrament he speaketh neuer a worde Last of all he citeth him Ep. 120. ad Honoratum Neque enim frustra ita distincti sunt c. Neither are they without purpose so distincted that before it was said of the poore The poore shall eate and be satisfied And here all the riche of the earth haue eaten and haue worshipped For they also are brought to the table of Christ and receiue of his bodie and his bloud but they doe adore onely they are not also satisfied because they doe not followe For eating the poore men they disdaine to be poore because Christ suffered for vs leauing vâ— an example that we should followe his steppes This place being the same in effect that the next before hath neuer a worde of adoring the sacrament but that Maister Heskins in his drowsie head dreameth that where mention is made of eating and worshipping it must needes followe that those thinges are worshipped which are eaten And thus you see how pithily he hath proued the adoration of the sacrament out of those Authours whome the proclaymer named as making no mention thereof The sixe and fortieth Chapter proueth by other Doctors that the sacrament is to be adored First he taketh this principle that if Christe verie God and man be there he is to be honored but that is the matter in question although it doeth not followe if he were there that the sacrameÌ„t is to be worshipped The doue was an vndoubted sacrament of the presence of the holie Ghost so was the fiery tongs yet none of them worshipped For God wil not be worshipped in outward shapes as he hath often testified in the lawe otherwise then he hath appointed therefore would he not appeare in any visible fourme vnto the people least they should be deceiued to worship God therein But to his Doctours The first is Erasmus who pleaseth him wel in affirming that he would still worship Christe in the Eucharistie Then he presseth his principle of the reall presence and that he will proue by Algerus that was more then 400. yeres before him then by Paschasius that was more then 200. yeres before Algerus and last of all by Leo that was more then 400. yeares before Paschasius As for Algerus and Paschasius as being farre without the compasse of the challenge I wil passe ouer and come to Leo sauing that I wil note that though Paschasius alledgeth Hilarie Ambrose Augustine Cyrill and the counsell of Ephesus he doeth but wrest their sayings as the Papists do now to vphold the errour that was not so olde in his time The wordes of Leo are Ep 22. ad Constant. Separentur huiusmodi c. Let such men be separated from the holy member of the bodie of Christ neither let the Catholique libertie suffer the yoke of the vnfaithfull to be laide vpon it For they are to be accounted without the house of Gods grace and without the sacrament of mans health which denying the nature of our flesh in Christ doe both speake against the Gospell and striue against the Symbole Neither doe they perceiue through their blindenesse that they are brought into such a steepe place that they stand neither in the truth of the Lords passion nor of his resurrection for both is made voide in our sauiour if flesh of our kinde be not beleeued to be in him In what darkenesse of ignorance in what sluggishnes of sloth haue
all matters perteining to aeternall life but here is no prophesie spoken of neither doeth Maister Heskins gather one worde out of it for that intent The like is to be sayde of Saint Augustine vppon the 77. Psalme Quid enim c. For he which commanded the clowdes aboue and opened the gates of heauen and rayned to them Manna to eate and gaue them the bread of heauen so that man did eate the breade of Angels Hee which sent vnto them meate in aboundaunce that he might fill the vnbeleeuers is not vnable to geeue to the beleeuers the verie true breade from heauen which Manna did signifie which is in deede the meate of Angels which WORDE of God feedeth them that are corruptible incorruptibly which that man might eate was made flesh and dwelled among vs. Here is no worde of Prophesie neither can Maister Heskins himselfe finde any and the wordes which doe immediately followe do plainly shewe that Augustine spake neither of corporall presence nor corporall maner of eating Ipse enim panis per nubes Euangelicas vniuerso orbi pluitur apertis praedicatorum cordibus tanquam coelestibâ—â—â— ianuis non murmur anti tentanti synagogae sed credenti in illo spem ponenti ecclesiae praedicatur For this bread thorough the cloudes of the Gospell is rayned vnto all the worlde and the hearts of the preachers as it were the heauenly gates being opened is preached not to the murmuring and tempting synagogue but to the church beleeuing and putting her trust in him Here Augustine sayth that the VVORDE which became fleshe is rayned from heauen by the preaching of the Gospell and eaten by faith Vnto Augustine he ioyneth Cassiodorus as he sayeth and truely nothing dissenting from the former writers but altogether from M. Hesk. purpose he is cited in Psalm 77. Et pluit illis c. And he rayned to them Manna to eate he sayeth he rayned that he might shewe the great plentie of the meat which like vnto rayne came down from heauen And lest thou shouldest doubt what rayne that was it followeth To eate Manna Manna is interpreted what is this which we verie fuly applye to the holie Communion for while this meat is sought by wandring the giftes of the Lordes bodie are declared He hath added He gaue them the breade of heauen What other breade of heauen is there but Christe our Lorde of whome the heauenly things receiue spirituall foode and doe enioy inestimable delight Finally thus it followeth Man hath eaten the breade of Angels Therefore Christ is saide to be the breade of Angels because they are fedde with his eternall praise For the Angels are not to be thought to eate corporall breade but with that contemplation of our Lorde with the which that high crâ—ature is fedd they are fedd but this breade filleth the Angels in heauen and feedeth vs on earth In this exposition it is worthie to be noted that Cassiodorus affirmeth that Christe our Lorde was the breade from heauen which God gaue to the fathers in the sacrament of Manna Also that the Angels in heauen and we vppon earth are fedde with the same bread which must needes be a spirituall foode For as he saith the Angels eate no corporall bread so doe they not eate any corporall thing or after any corporall manner The last authoritie hee citeth out of fryer Titelman I will not trouble the reader withall although if he neuer had spoken worse then in this sentence he were not greatly to be reprehended But to M. Heskins all is fishe that commeth to the nett The twelfth Chapter proueth by occasion of that that is sayde with further authoritie that the sacraments of the newe lawe are more excellent then the sacraments of the olde lawe The first reason is taken out of S. Augustines rule cited in the firste booke That all good things figured are more excellent then the figures which wee graunt for Christ figured by Manna was more excellent then Manna as he is more excellent then the breade wine by which he is likewise represented The second reason he vseth is this that if the bodie of Christe were not so present in the sacrament as they imagine Manna shoulde be better then the sacrament for Manna hath twelue wonders declared by Roffens lib. 1. Chap. 12. The firste that he that gathered moste had but his measure The seconde that he that gathered least had his measure full also The thirde that which was kepte vntill the next day putrified except on the Saboth day The fourth it was kept many yeres in the Arke vnprutrified The fift it would melt in the Sonne and be harde in the fire The sixth it fell all dayes sauing vppon the Sabboth day The seuenth that on the daye before the Saboth day they had two gomers full and all other days but one The eyght that whether they gathered more or lesse they had that day two gomers full The ninth that measure sufficed all stomackes and appetites The tenth that to them that were good it tasted to euery one according to his desire The eleuenth although to the godly it was a most pleasant taste yet to the vngodly it waâ— lothsome The twelfth the children of Israel were fedd with it fortie yeres in the Wildernesse Of some of these speaketh Chrysostom in dict Apost Nolo vos which because it is long and conteineth nothing more then is collected by Fisher I will not set downe Augustine also witnesseth for one miracle that Manna tasted to euery man as hee woulde Hereuppon he concludeth that Manna farre excelleth the sacramentaries sacramentall bread which shal be graunted and so it doeth the Papists consecrated host which is subiect to putrifaction and in none of the twelue miracles comparable to Manna But Manna for all this doth not excell the bodie and bloud of Christe which is giuen vs that are faithfull with our sacramentall bread and wine He sayeth the Iewes receiuing Manna receiued Christe spiritually Nowe at the length he sayth trueth And we also receiuing the sacramentall bread and wine receiue Christ spiritually Neither are our sacraments as I haue sayde concerning the spirituall or heauenly substance more excellent then theirs as our saluation is the same with theirs but in clearnesse of signification more excellent as the doctrine of our saluation is more plainly reuealed vnto vs But M. Hesk. replyeth that if our sacrameÌ„ts excel not theirs then their sacraments and figures farre excell ours and that in three things The first In excellencie of the thing signified The second in the fulnesse liuelinesse of the signification The third in the worke of God about the same figures But I aunswer concerning the first they are aequall concerning the second ours are superior more excellent and concerning the thirde I distinguish of outward working of God inwarde Concerning the outward work of God about their sacraments figures it was meete it should be more notable because the doctrine was more obscure
no wicked men Nowe let vs heare Chrysostome whom hee citeth in foure places but the two first are one compt In 1. Cor. 11. Probet seipsum c. Let a man examine himselfe whiche thing also he sayeth in the second Epistle proue your selues whether you be in the faith examine your owne selues not as we doe nowâ— comming rather for the times sake then of any earnest desire of the minde Neither doe we come as full of compunction prepared to purge out our vices but we consider that wee may bee at the solemnities when all men are presente But Paule doeth not so commaunde but he knewe one time in whiche we should come to the purenesse of communication and conscience For if we would neuer communicate at a sensible table if wee be sicke of an ague and doe abounde with humours least we should be caste away muche more wickednesse it is to touche this table being intangled with noysome lustes which are more greeuous then feuers And when I speake of noysome lustes I speake of lustes of the bodie and of money and of anger and of wrath and plainely all lustes that be naught All which he that commeth to receiue must auoide and so touche that pure sacrifice not to be slouthfully disposed nor miserably to be compelled for the solemnities sake to come Neither againe beeing penitent and prepared to be hindered because there is no solemnitie For solemnitie is an euident declaration of good workes purenesse of soule certeintie of life whiche thinges if thou hast thou mayest alwayes celebrate a solemnitie and alwayes come therefore sayth he let a man examine him selfe and so let him eate It followeth immediately Non iubet vt alter alteri probetur sed ipse sibi non publicum faciens iudicium sine teste argutum He doth not commaunde that one should be examined of an other but eache man of him selfe making the iudgement not publike and the accusation without witnesse Maister Heskins alledged the place to proue the necessitie of preparation which no man denieth but these last words of Chrysostome doe clearly ouerthrow auricular confession which Maister Heskins compteth for a necessarie parte of repentance He noteth further that the sacrament is called of him a pure sacrifice and the bodie of christ How it is called either a sacrifice or the body of Christ we haue often shewed before yet he will presse vs with an other place out of his Hom. Oporteâ— haereses c. Deinde vbi multum c. Then when he had disputed much of those which vnworthily are partakers of the mysteries and had greâ—uously rebuked them and shewed that they should suffer the same punishment that they did which had slaine Christe if they receiue his bloud and body without examination rashly he turneth againe his communication vnto the matter in hande Of these wordes M. Heskins will needes gather both his carnall presence and the presence of Christ vnto the wicked receiuer but seeing Chrysostome expressely nameth the partaking of the mysteries it is plaine in what sense the bodie of Christ is said to be receiued vnworthily namely wheÌ„ the mysteries that is his sacrament are receiued vnworthily But our doctrine he saith is without all ground of scriptures that only faith maketh Christe present in the sacrament in deed meaning either such a presence as he fantasieth included in the sacrament or suche an only faith as he slandereth vs withal neither do we affirme it neither is it in the scriptures to be found but that Christ dwelleth in our heartes by faith both in the receiuing of the sacramentes and in receiuing of the word of God the Apostle teacheth vs Eph. 3. and our sauiour Christ testifieth Ioan. 6. that whosoeuer eateth his flesh and drinketh his bloud hath life euerlasting euen as he saide before he that beleeueth in him hath life euerlasting whervpon Augustine In Ioan. Tract 26. doeth rightly gather Credere in eum hoc est manducare panem viuum To beleeue in him that is to eate the bread of life and Tra. 25. Vt quid paras dentes ventrem crede manducasti Why doest thou prepare thy teeth and thy bellie beleeue and thou hast eaten it Yet another place of Chrysostome M. Heskins heapeth vpon vs Hom. 3. in Ep. ad Eph. Considera nunc c. Consider now what great sobrietie of life those partakers of the olde sacrifice did vse For what did they not They were purified euerie time And doest thou comming to this wholsome sacrifice which the Angels them selues doe receiue with trembling measure so great a thing with the compasse of times With what face wilt thou appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ which hast beene so bolde with vncleane handes and lippes so impudently to touch his bodie Thou wouldst not choose to kisse the King if thou hast a stinking mouth doest thou shamelesse man kisse the King of heauen with thy soule so stinking of vices Surely this maner of thing is a cruell reproche Tell me wouldest thou take vpon thee to come to so honorable a sacrifice with vnwashed handes I thinke not but as I coniecture thou haddest rather altogether to refraine from comming then to come with foule hands And whylest thou art so religious in so small a thing thou commest hauing thy soule defiled with the myre of vices and darest thou touch it thou impudent man Although a man for the vncleanenesse of his handes doe withholde himselfe for a time yet to cleanse his soule from the filthie puddle of all vices let him returne altogether Maister Heskins noteth in this figuratiue speeche three thinges first the corporal presence of Christes bodie that it may be touched with handes or lipps And he is not ashamed to cite the saying of Christ handle me and see that a spirite hath no fleshe and bones as you see we haue as though any man either by sight or feeling could discerne Christe corporally present in the sacrament But what a shamelesse man is this to vrge the kissing of Christ with a foule mouth which is a figuratiue and vnproper speech when it followeth that he is kissed of the wicked with a foule soule Like impudencie is in the second note that the bodie of Christe may be touched and receiued of him that hath a filthie soule which Chrysostome saith not but inueyeth vehemently against their presumption that hauing a filthie soule would presume to receiue the sacrament The thirde that it is an wholsome sacrifice which the Angels do honour doth no more proue the corporall presence of Christ on earth then the same Authors wordes soone after do proue the corporal presence of the receiuers in heauen Dic quaeso si rex quispiam praecepisset ac dixisset si quis istud vel istud fecerit mensa mea abstineat an non huius gratia omnia fecissetis In coelot nos vocauit Deus ad mensam magni admirandi Regis recusamus moras nectimus ad rem tantam
might not be ioyned really But M. Heskins a spirite is not contrarie to a thing except you will say it is nothing but to a body and therefore spiritually and bodily are opposite not spiritually and really For we are ioyned to Christe spiritually and yet really so that Christ dwelleth in vs by his spirite through faith but not bodily so in the sacrament we eate the body of Christ really that is in deede vnfeignedly but yet in a spirituall kinde of eating and not carnally or corporally But M. Heskins proceeding affirmeth that We are spiritually ioyned to Christ by charitie and faith and therefore incorporated into his mysticall body but really or substantially we are ioyned to him when by eating his very substantiall flesh in the sacrament THE SVBSTANCE OF OVR FLESH IS TVRNED INTO THE SVBSTAVNCE OF HIS FLESH and thereby so ioyned to him as we are made one flesh with him c. Note here good reader for thy learning that these wordes printed by M. Heskins in another letter that they might be seene as a speciall paradoxe ▪ teach thee a newe kinde of transubstantiation For he is not content to haue the breade turned into the body of Christe without all type or figure really substantially corporally c. but as really corporally and substantially he affirmeth that the substance of our flesh is turned into the substance of the flesh of Christ. O monstruous paradox as euer any was heard since the beginning of the world After this he noteth that Christes flesh is not digested in vs as other meates are which is needlesse to note if our fleshe be digested or turned into his adding this reason that As it is a celestiall meate beeing now a glorified bodie so it draweth vs vp to it conuerting and turning vs into it according to the nature of a celestiall thing Howe vayne this reason is by whiche hee would auoyde the digestion and proue his new transubstantiation and conuersion appeareth by this that the body of Christe in the Sacrament was as effectuall while hee liued in his passible bodie on earth in which he instituted this sacrament as it is nowe beeing a glorified bodie in heauen And whereas hee chargeth I knowe not what Stercoranites of our time to affirme that the fleshe of Christ passeth through the bodie as other meates I thinke verilie he lyeth most impudently For I neuer heard or read of any that so affirmed Although I woulde wishe men to speake reuerently of so high mysteries yet the importunitie of the Papistes with their matter of transubstantiation enforceth them not to affirme of them selues but to report what they reade in the fathers concerning the breade beeing the terrestriall or outwarde parte of the Sacrament that it is digested passeth through as all other naturall meates do whereof Origen writeth in Math. Chap. 15. Quod si quicquid ingreditur in os in ventrem abit in sesession eijcitur ille cibus qui sanctificatur per verbum Deipérque obsecrationem iuxta id quod habet materiale abit in sesessū eijcitur If what soeuer entereth into the mouth goeth into the bellie and is cast foorth into the draught euen that meate also which is sanctified by the worde of God and by prayer after that which it hath materiall goeth and is cast foorth into the draught This douteth not Origen to speake of the materiall parte of the Sacrament by which it is manifest that he knew no transubstantiation The cheefe thing that M. Heskins vrgeth vs to marke is that Whereas the Sacramentes woulde haue onely a spirituall receiuing this holy father teacheth that we are framed to Christ not onely spiritually by loue which may bee without receiuing of meate but re ipsa in deede by receyuing of meate But I praye you M. Heskins where saith Chrisostom that our coniunction vnto Christ is not onely spirituall In deede he saide not onely by loue but in deede but he opposeth not spiritually and really as you doe And where you vrge that this coniunction is by meate and this meate is his bodie and therevppon conclude that it is a corporall coniunction and Christ is ioyned corporally I aunswere that if Chrysostom may expound himselfe this meate and this body is a spirituall meate therefore a spirituall coniunction and Christ is eaten spiritually De prod Iud. Nemo sit Iudas in mensa hoc sacrificium cibus spiritualis est Nam sicut corporalis cibus c. Let no man be Iudas in this table this sacrifice is a spirituall meate For as corporall meat when it findeth a bellie possessed with humors contrarie to it it hurteth and offendeth more and helpeth nothing at all euen so this spirituall meate if it finde any man polluted with wickednes it destroyeth him the more not of it owne nature ▪ but through the fault of him that receiueth it Thus far Chrysostome for the meate to bee spirituall Finally the last obseruation that Christ doth giue vs in the sacrament is the same fleshe by which he was ioyned vnto vs therefore his verie substantiall body and bloude auayleth him nothing For wee contende not of the substance of the thing that is giuen but of the manner of the giuing the thing is the verie body and bloude of Christ but not after a corporall or naturall manner but after a spirituall and diuine maner or as the olde writers haue saide Modo ineffabili after an vnspeakeable manner as so many figuratiue speaches that are spoken therof do declare whiche to expound literally or grāmatically were little better then extreme madnesse The other place which you adde out of Ho. 24. in 10.1 Cor. helpe them nothing at all that Christ hath giuen vs his flesh c. That this body the wisemen did reuerence in the māger You might haue added out of the same place Quod est in calice id est quod a latere fluxit that which is in the cuppe is the same that flowed out of his side and thereof we are partakers But that all these are figuratiue speaches it is manifest by this interrogation that followeth in the same homilie Quid enim appello inquit communicationem id ipsum corpus sumus Quid significat panis corpus Christi Quid autem fiunt qui accipiunt corpus Christs non multa sed vnum corpus For what do I cal it saith he a participation We are the selfe same bodie What signifieth the bread The bodie of christ And what are they made which receiue the bodie of Christ Not many bodies but one body And in the same homilie Sed quare Addit quem frangimus hoc in Eucharistia videre licet in cruce autem minimè sed omnino contra Os enim eius non conteretur Sed quod in cruce passus nō est id in oblatione patitur propter te frangi permittit But why doth he adde speaking of the breade which wee breake that you may see in the sacrament of thankesgiuing but not on the
afterward falsely ascribed to Ambrose haue the same interpretation The other place vpon the 38. Psalme differeth not in sense That Christ is offered on earth when his bodie is offered For he speaketh but of a remembrance or commemoration of the sacrifice of Christe euen as Chrysostome and as he him selfe teacheth lib. 4. Chap. 5. de Sacram The wordes of the Priest in the celebration Fac nobis inquit haenc oblationem ascriptam rationabilem acceptabilem quod est figura corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi Make sayeth he this oblation vnto vs ascribed reasonable acceptable which thing is the figure of the bodie and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ. This was the Priest wont to say in the celebration of the supper in Saint Ambrose time And againe Chap. 6. Ergo memores gloriosissimae eius passionis ab inferis resurrectionis in Caelum ascensionis offerimus tibi hanc immaculatam hostiam rationabilem hostiam incruentam hostiam hunc panem sanctum calicem vitae aeternae c. Therefore being mindfull of his most glorious passion and resurrection from hell and ascention into heauen we offer vnto thee this vndefiled sacrifice this reasonable sacrifice this vnbloudie sacrifice this holie bread and cup of aeternall life Wee see therefore that the sacrifice was a remembrance and thanksgiuing for the onely true sacrifice of Christ once offered by him selfe for all To conclude because I will omitt Bernard a late writer not to be heard in this controuersie Chrysostome in his booke de Sacerdotio lib. 3. speaketh not contrarie to him selfe in other places saying O miracle O the goodnesse of God he that sitteth aboue with his father in the same point of time is handled with the handes of all and deliuereth himselfe to them that will receiue him and imbrace him Wherefore this hyperbolical exclamation proueth no more that Christes bodie is both in heauen on earth then these words of his proue that our bodies are both in heauen earth ad Pop. Antioch Hom. 55. Morduca me dixi bibe me te sarsum habeo deorsum tibi connector I sayde eate me drinke mee I haue thee both aboue and am knitt to thee also beneath Hitherto therefore nothing is brought to proue that Christes bodie may be in more places then one The eleuenth Chapter proueth that as two bodies may be in one place so the bodie of Christ being one may be in diuerse places M. Heskins in this Chapter like a monsterous Gyant cryeth open battel against naturall Philosophie reason and thinketh he hath a sure shield to fight vnder the omnipotencie of god But for as much as the lawe of nature is the lawe and ordinance of God he doeth nothing else but set the power of God against his will and decree in making whereof did concurre his power wisdome and goodnesse God hath decreede that one body can be but in one place at one time and that two bodies cannot occupie one proper place at once nor one body without comixtion of partes be in another bodye And therefore both Cranmer and Oecolampadius haue truely sayed that it is vnpossible those thinges should be otherwise then God hath decreed them Now riseth vp this Gargantua and will proue by scripture that one bodie may be in another and two bodies in one place alledgeth the text Ioan 20. that Iesus came the dores being shutt and stoode in the middest of them and saide peace be with you and this being testifyed for a miraculous comming in of Christ proueth that he so comming in passed through dore or wall as his pleasure was to do Although the wordes of the texte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the dores were shutt doth not inforce vs to acknowledge any miracle but that he might be let in of the porter at euen after the dores were shutt vp for feare of the Iewes soudein breaking in vppon the Disciples that were gathered together in that place yet I will willingly acknowledge a miraculous comming in of Christe but no passing through the bordes of the dore or stones of the wall but that by his diuine power he did either open the dore and shutt it immediatly after he was passed through or else at the vttermost that the substance of the dore or wall gaue place to his diuine presence and immediatly returned to his naturall state and place And whereas M. Heskins no lesse impudently then vnlearnedly doth charge Cranmer with falsifying the Scripture where he affirmeth that Christ might as well come into the house when the dore was shutt as the Apostles coulde go out of prison the dore being shutt Act. 5. he doth nothing else but bewray his great folly ioyned with no lesse malice against the trueth Cranmer was not ignorant that the Angell opened the dore to the Apostles and yet shutt it againe so close that it could not be perceiued that it had beene opened euen â—o might the Angell doe at the passage of our Sauiour Christe What absurditie or repugnance is here but in such an absurde persons eare as Heskins is that ouerthroweth all lawe order of nature to establish his brutish and monstrous errour But nowe we shall heare these monsters brought forth of the doctours which Scripture hath not and nature abhorreth And firste shal be Chrysostome Hom. de Ioan. Bapt. Sancta Maria beata Maria c. Holy Maria blessed Marie both a mother and a virgine Shee was a virgine before birth a virgine after birth I marueile at this howe of a virgine a virgine should be borne and after the birth of a virgine â–ª the mother should be a virgine Will you knowe howe he was borne of a virgine and after the birth how shee was both a mother and a virgine The dores were shutt and Iesus entred in No man doubteth but that the dores were shutt he that entred by the dores that were shutt was no phantasie he was no spirite he was verily a body For what sayd he looke and see that a spirite hath no flesh and bones as ye see mee haue He had flesh he had bones and the dores were shutt How did fleshe and bones enter when the dores were shutt The dores are shutt and hee doth enter whome wee sawe not goe in How did he go in all things are close there is no place by the which he might go in and yet he is within which entered in Thou knowest in howe it was done and doest referre it to the omnipotencie of god Giue this also to the omnipotencie of God that he was borne of a virgine In these wordes Chrysostome saith that Christe might as well bee borne of a Virgine as hee entered into the house after the doores was shut this was not without a miracle and no more was that But for two bodies in one place at one instant hee speaketh nothing as yet No more doth Hieronyme In Apol. cont Iouin Respondeant mihi c. Let them aunswere me howe
beginning of this Chapter â–ª he saith there was neuer heretiques but had some shew of argumentes to auouche his heresie and bringeth in diuerse examples only the proclaymer made no argument in his 〈◊〉 for that he would haue the people receiue his bare proclamation What arguments he vsed let the world iudge the Papistes if they can study to answer him But Oecolampadius he saith hath heaped vp scriptures to proue the ascention of Christ which the Papistes doe graunt yet acknowledge his presence on the earth in the sacrament as though his departing out of the world and presence in the world concerning his bodily presence could stand together Then he flyeth to his diuine power by which he is able to be present in diuerse places as well as do such and such miracles as he rehearseth and wisheth that we should not be so streight and cruell to the body of Christ as to giue it no greater prerogatiue then vnto any other body Verily we do acknowledge as great prerogatiue thereof as he himselfe hath giuen it whereof we haue vnderstanding by his holy worde and otherwise it were madnesse in vs to take vpon vs to be liberall to him which giueth all thinges And if we found as good authoritie for the vbiquitie or pluralitie of placing of his body as we finde for the feeding vs thereby into eternall life we would as easily confesse the one as we doe the other But we finde not in deede as M. Heskins saith that he himselfe hath giuen or would giue his body that prerogatiue to be euery where or in more places then one at once As for the possibilitie we extend it no further then his will. We know he can do what soeuer he will. And many thinges we know he cannot do because he wil not But M. Heskins to assure vs of his will hath nothing to bring but that which is al the controuersie which most impudently he affirmeth that he hath proued both by scriptures and doctours that Christ hath caused his bodie to be in diuers places at one time which neither scripture nor any Doctour of antiquitie euer did affirme in proper manner of speaking otherwise in figuratiue speech we may truly say we eate in the sacrament the body of Christe which is in heauen when to speake properly and without figure we eate but the bread which to the faithfull receiuer is a sacrament and seale of our spirituall nourishment whiche we receiue of his flesh and bloud after a diuine and vnspeakable manner vnto eternall life saith rather lifting vs vp into heauen then bringing Christes body into the earth Maister Heskins saith the scriptures that say Christ is in heauen speake without exclusiues or exceptiues and therefore there is no denial imployed but that he may be beleeued to be also on the earth in the sacrament When Peter in the Actes 3. affirmeth that Christ must be conteined in heauen which is meant of his humanitie vntill the time of restoring of all thinges is not this an exclusion of all other places or beeings of his humanitie When Paule to the Colossians Colo. 3. willeth them to seeke those thinges that are aboue and where Christ is at the right hand of God to set their mindes on thinges aboue and not on things vpon the earth is not the reâ—son because Christ concerning his humanitie is aboue not vpon earth Is not this an exclusiue and exception When Christe sayeth not only I goe to my father but also I leaue the worlde Ioan. 16. Whiche saying the Apostles confessed to be plaine and without all parable Is not this a manifest exclusion of his bodily presence from the worlde So that it is manifest that this ascention and abiding in heauen concerning his humane nature in which he ascended is an excluding and shutting out and denying of all other places or presences of his bodie then to be in heauen only But now that he hath thus tombled vp the authorities of the scripture he wil take in hand to answer the obiections brought out of the Doctours And first shal be the saying of Augustine Ad Dardanum ep 57. Which place contrarie to his bragg in the beginning he alledgeth truncatly by halfe beginning at the middest thereof But this place is in Augustine Et sic venturus est illa angelica voce testante quemadmodum ire visus est in Coelum id est in eadem carnis forma atque substantia cui profectò immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulis Secundùm hanc formam non est putandus vbique diffusus And he shall come euen so as that voyce of the Angel doth testifie euen as he was seene to go into heauen that is in the same fourme and substance of his fleshe to which truly he hath giuen immortalitie but he hath not taken the nature from it According to this fourme he is not thought to be diffused in all places All this hath Heskins left out and beginneth thus Cauendum est enim no ita veritatem astruâ—muâ— hominis vt veritatem corporis auferamus Non est enim consequens vt quod no Deo est ita sit vbique vt Deus For we must beware that we doe not so affirme the Deitie of the man that we take away the trueth of his body For it is no consequent that that which is in God should so be euerie where as God is Note here that Saint Augustine doeth not onely flatly denie the vbiquitie of Christes body but also affirmeth that it reteineth still the nature of a bodie which is to be conteined in one onely place Againe he sayeth in the same Epistle Iesus vbique per id quod Deus est in coelo autem per id quod homo est Iesus by that he is God is euerie where by that he is man he is in heauen Nowe let vs heare howe wisely Maister Heskins will auoide this authoritie First he sayeth that Augustine in this epistle speaketh not of the sacrament and therefore these sentences make not against that matter But when Augustine speaketh generally of the bodie of Christ that it reteineth the nature of a body that it is not euerie where c. he doeth not except the sacrament Although it is false that Heskins saith for in the latter end of that Epistle he hath these wordes Huius corporis caput est Christus huius corporis vnitas nostro sacrificio commendatur The head of this bodie is Christ the vnitie of this bodie is commended in our sacrifice By sacrifice as Maister Heskins will confesse he meaneth the celebration of the sacrament Wherefore he forgate not the sacrament in that Epistle but that he might haue made exception thereof if he had thought good The seconde aunswere of Maister Heskins is a balde distinction that a thing may be at one time in many places two wayes the one is by nature the other by gifte By nature he confesseth that the body of Christe can not be in two places
but by gifte it may be euerie where or in as many places as hee will and then bringeth many examples to shewe that CHRISTES body hath many properties by gifte which it hath not by nature And in this distinction he triumpheth out of measure But the lewde sophister will not see that Saint Augustine denieth to Christes body his imagined gift and affirmeth his denied nature to remaine Cui saith he profectò immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstudit to which fleshe he hath giuen immortalitie but not taken away the nature of it Doeth not Augustine here plainely deny the gift of vbiquitie affirming the nature to remaine concerning the circum scription of place You see this very place to ouerthrow his blinde distinction Nowe followeth another place out of this Epistle to Dardanus in which he beeing such an impudent falsarie as we haue so often discouered yet blusheth not to accuse Oecolampadius for falsifying of Aug. by a subtile addition Spacia locorum tolle corporibus nusquaem erunt quia nusquam erunt nec erunt Tolle ipsa corpora qualitatibus corporum non erit vbi fint ideo non alibi quà m in caelo corpore fateâ—â—r Christum Take the spaces of places from bodies and they shall be no where and because they shal be no where they shal not be at al. Take the same bodies from the qualities of bodies and there shal no place be found where they may be therfore we confesse Christ in body to be no where else but in heaueÌ„ These last words therfore we confesse Christ in body to be no where but in heauen as he saith truly they be not in Augustine so he saith falsly thei were added by Oecolampadius otherwise then as a conclusion of his owne gathered out of Augustines wordes But he must haue some cauill to shift of the matter For his answere is so impudent that I maruell the beast was not ashamed once to rehearse this obiection which he could no more colourably auoide He saith these wordes of Augustine are not spoken of the body of Christe but of natural bodies vpon the earth whereas the only purpose of Augustine is to shewe the naturall propertie of the bodie of Christ to be conteined in one place according to the nature of al other bodies either in heauen or in earth But because this olde foole playeth the boy so kindely let me pose him in his aunswere like a childe Speaketh Augustine of all bodies or of some If of all then of the bodie of Christ If of some then of particulars followeth nothing But speaketh he of all naturall bodies of the earth Then aunswere me whether Christes body be vpon the earth Yes or else it could not be in the sacrament Well admitte it be vpon the earth is it a naturall bodie or no Take heede what you aunswere Yea it is a naturall bodie why then sir if Christes body be a naturall body vpon earth and Augustine speaketh of naturall bodies vpon earth then Augustine speaketh of Christes bodie also This childishe kinde of reasoning were good inough for such childish aunsweres as he maketh to so graue authorities But let vs see another obiection whiche is out of Augustine also In Ioan. tract 30. Sursum est Domimus sed etiam hîc veritas Dominus Corpus enim Domini in quo resurrexit vno loco esse potest Veritas eius vbique diffusa est Our Lorde is aboue hiâ— also he is here and our Lord is the trueth For the bodie of our Lorde in which he rose againe can be but in one place his truth is diffused euerie where This place is corruptly cited by Maister Heskins for he setteth it downe thus Sed etiam hîc est veritas Domini His translation I wil not deale with because it is the matter in controuersie He aunswereth that Augustine saith no more but that he may be in one onely place at one time if it please him A goodly saying as though euer any man would thinke otherwise then that it were possible for his bodie to be in one place at one time But that one place in these wordes is an exclusiue of all other places if the opposition of one place and all other places will not serue at least wise let the Canon law it selfe beare some sway with Papistes to expound it for in the decrees De contract Dist. 2. prima quidem Thiâ— place of Augustine is thus cited Corpus enim in quo resurrexit in vno loco esse oportet veritas autem eius vbique disfusa est For his body in which he rose againe must needes be in one place but his trueth is diffused in all places By this it is euident that Augustines worde Potest esse vno loco assigneth his body to one onely place Nowe as though there were no more obiections out of Augustine or any other writer against the vbiquitie of Christes bodie he endeth with this concluding after his maner that faith must ouer rule reason which is true where Gods worde hath promised any thing but we denie that Christ hath promised the presence of his bodie in moe places then one therefore there is no place for faith where the word hath not gone before But left the reader should thinke M. Heskins hath answered all obiections out of Augustine I thinke good to set downe one or two more first In Ioan. Tract 31. Christus homo secundum corpus in loco est de loco migrat 〈◊〉 ad alium locum venerit in eo loco vnde venit non est Deus autem implet omnia vbique totuâ— est non secundùm spacia tenetur locis c. Christe the man according to his bodie is in a place goeth from a place and when he is come vnto another place he is not in that place from whence he came but God filleth all thinges and is whole in euerie place he is not helde in places according to spaces or distances And Tr. 50. Respondent quem tenebo absentem Quomodo in coelum maman mittam vt ibi sedentem teneam Fidem mitte tenuisti Parentes tuitenuerunt carne no tene corde quoniam Christus absens etiam presens est Nisi praesens esset a nobis ipsit toneri non posset sed quoniam verum est quod ait Ecce ego vobiscum sum vsque ad consumnationem saeculi abijs his est redijt nos non deseruit Corpus enim suâ—n intulit caelo maiestatem non abstulis mundo They answere meaning the vnbeleeuing Iewes whom shall I holde Him that is absent How shall I send vp my hand into heauen that I may holde him which sitteth there Send vp faith and thou hast held him Thy parentes held him in flesh holde thou him in heart For Christ being absent is also present For except he were present he could not be held of ourselues but because it is true which he saith Beholde I am with you
For both they haue taken vppon them one administration and both are appointed forerunners wherefore he sayde not this truely it Helias but if ye will receiue it this is hee That is if with diligent studie and with a gentle not a contentious mynde you will consider the dooings of them both Thus Chrysostome And yet I am not ignorant that else where he supposeth that Helias the Thesbite shall come before the day of iudgement which sauoureth of a Iewish fable more then of a Christian trueth as is plainly proued before The fourth Chapter beginneth to declare by the holy fathers of what things Manna and the waters be figures He beginneth this Chapter with a shamelesse lye for he sayeth that wee affirme Manna to be a figure only of the worde of God which is vtterly false for wee affirme that it was a sacramentall figure of the bodye of Christe and so a figure that it was in deede the bodie of Christ after a spirituall manner to them whiche receiued it worthelie But Maister Heskins will haue it a figure not onely of the worde of God but also of the bodie of Christe in the sacrament and so a figure that is was nothing else but a bare figure and not a sacrament And this hee hopeth to prooue out of Sainct Ambrose ad Iren. Ep. 62. Quaeria◠me c. Thou askest mee why the Lorde God did rayne Manna to the people of the fathers and doeth not nowe rayne it If thou knowest he rayneth and daily rayneth from heauen Manna to them that serue him And that bodily Manna truely is founde at this day in many places But nowe it is not a thing of so greate miracle becaus◠that which is perfect is come And that perfecte is the breade from heauen the bodie of the virgine of which the Gospell doeth sufficiently teache thee Howe much better are these things then the former For they which did eate that Manna that is that breade are deade But whosoeuer shall eate this breade shall liue for euer But it is a spirituall Manna that is a rayne of spirituall wisedome which is powred into them that be wittie and searching is from heauen and deweth the myndes of the Godly sweeteneth their iawes Because there is nothing in this saying of Saint Ambrose for his purpose hee falleth into a greate rage against Oecolampadius for leauing out of this sentence Quanto praestantiora sunt haec superioribus Howe much more excellent are these then the other aboue rehearsed Which howesoeuer it was as I am sure it was not of a falsifying mynde so no man in the worlde might worse exclaime against falsifying of the doctours then Maister Heskins as I haue often shewed and doubt not but I shall shewe hereafter But to the purpose it is euident that Saint Ambrose in the former sentence speaketh of Manna as a corporall foode not as a sacrament in which respect there is no comparison between it the body of christ And he is so farre from saying that Manna as it was a sacrament was but a figure of the bodie of Christ as M. Heskins belyeth him that he saith not at all that it was a figure But hee chargeth vs with two other wicked opinions namely That the sacramentes of the newe lawe giue no grace and that they are of no more excellencie then the sacraments of the olde lawe To the first we aunswere and say that the sacramentes giue not grace of the worke wrought as they teach but that GOD giueth grace by his sacramentes in all his elect wee affirme And to the second wee aunswere that as in substaunce the sacramentes of the olde time were not inferiour to oures so in cleerenesse of reuelation and vnderstanding oures are farre more excellent then theirs and that the place of Saint Ambrose which Maister Heskins doeth next alledge doeth very well shewe Oriente autem c. The sonne of righteousnesse arising and more bright sacramentes of Christes body and bloud shining foorth those inferiour thinges or sacramentes should cease and those perfect should be receiued of the people Maister Heskins noteth that if the sacrament were but a bare signe it should not be so magnified by Saint Ambrose But so often as hee chargeth vs with a bare signe so often must we charge him againe with an impudently For wee doe as much detest a bare signe or figure as hee doth a signe or figure As for the three kindes of Manna that Maister Heskins gathereth is altogether out of Saint Ambrose his compasse For hee hath no more but the bodily Manna and the spirituall Manna as the signe and the thing signified And the rayne of spirituall wisedome is the spirite of GOD which sealeth inwardly in the heart that whiche is expressed outwardly by the externall signes I maruell Maister Heskins alledgeth not Saint Ambrose vpon this text 1. Cor. 10. whose woordes might seeme to haue more colour of his bare figure although they be flat against it in deede Manna aquaquae fluxit de Petra haec dicit spiritualia quia non mundi lege parata sunt sed Dei virtute sine elementorum commixtione ad tempus creata habentia in se figuram futuri mysterij quod nunc nos summus in commemorationem Christi Domini Manna and the water which flowed out of the rocke these he calleth spirituall bicause they were not prepared by the order of the world but by the power of God with out commixtiō of the elements created for a time hauing in them a figure of the mysterie to come which nowe we receiue in remembraunce of Christe our Lorde By these wordes it is euident that our sacraments do so differ from theirs as a figure of that which is to come and a remembrance of that which is past do differ For all sacramentes haue their strength of the death of christ Secondly we see that this father calleth our sacrament a mysterie in remembrance of Christ which speach is farre from a corporall manner of presence that M. Heskins would maintaine by his authoritie The other places cited out of Euthymius a late writer as we haue often saide affirme that Manna was the figuratiue bread and a figure but not Christe which was the trueth Howbeit he meaneth nothing else but that Christ was not in flesh present to the fathers in Manna before he was incarnate and so vseth the terme figure as a prefiguration and shadowing not of the sacrament but of Christ him selfe which is the matter of the sacrament euen as Christ him selfe in the 6. of S. Iohn opposing Manna against the true bread that came downe from heauen speaketh not of that spirituall meat which Manna was to the faithfull but of the outward creature which was onely considered of the wicked to fill their bellies and not to feede their soule But M. Heskins remitteth his reader for al matters concerning the 6. of Iohn to the second booke 36. chapter c. and so do I to the same
corporis Christi Vocaturque ipsa īmolario carnis que sacerdotis manibus fit Christi passio mors crucifixio nō rei veritate sed significāte mysterio The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ after a peculiar maner is called the body of Christe when as in very deed it is the sacramēt of the body of christ And euen the oblation of his flesh which is done by the hands of the priest is called the passion death crucifying of Christ not in truth of the thing but in a signifying mysteri Those words which are borrowed out of August into the decrees the glose doth thus vnderstand Coeleste sacraementū quod verè repraesentat Christi carnem dicitur corpus Christi sed impropriè Vnde dicitur suo modo sed non in veritate sed significante mysterio◠Vt sit sensus vocatur corpus Christi id est significat The heauenly sacrament which doth truly represent the flesh of Christ is called the body of Christ but vnproperly Therefore it is saide to be after a peculiar manner but not in truth of the thing but in a signifying mysterie So that the sense is it is called the body of Christe that is it doth signifie the body of Christe If these testimonies that are taken out of the Romish Bishops owne writings decrees and gloses that are so plaine will not satisfie the Papistes that their doctrine of transubstantiation and carnall presence is neither true ancient nor Catholike it is in vaine to spend more wordes with them as with men that are obstinate and will not be satisfied with any truth contrarie to their presumed heresie The one and sixtieth Chapter maketh a recapitulation of that that is done in this worke Seeing this Chapter containeth no argument or authoritie to defend his cause but only rehearseth what he fantasieth that he hath brought in other places throughout all his booke for the maintenance of the same I referre it to the indifferent readers iudgement what I haue done in this breefe confutation of the same And here I conclude this acte of repeale that notwithstanding this bill offered to the Parleament by Tho. Hesk. in the lower house hath many friends so that the greater part of voyces if the house were diuided might seeme to ouercome the better yet for as much as in the higher house the greatest number haue spoken directly against his bill and no one lord of that house which liued within the compasse of 600. yeres of the challenge hath giuen his voyce to allowe it not only the pretensed acte of Parleament set forth by the said Tho. Hesk. is proued to be false forged counterfet but also the bill that he hath put in to be considered is vtterly reiected condemned spurned out of the house GOD BE PRAYSED A CONFVTATION OF AN IDOLATROVS TREATISE OF NICOLAS SANDER Doctor in Diuinitie which mainteyneth the making and honouring of Images by W.F. Doctour in Diuinitie ECCLESIASTIC 45. The memoriall of the beloued of God is blessed that is to say any thing that maketh vs to remember him that is beloued of God is worthie of praise and honour A Doctour like interpretation and a pithy argument whereupon I may conclude The idols that Salomon made are things that make vs remember Salomon who was the beloued of God and so called of God him selfe therefore the idols were worthie of prayse and honour The preface conteining a breefe declaration which is the true Churche Maister Sander taking in hand so absurde and wicked an argument as is the defence of idolatrie or honouring of Images thought good to present it in the best vessel that he had which is the painted boxe of the Churche which that he might the rather commend to his countrimen he hath taken vpon him to describe it both inside and outside as he saith by certeine knowen truethes in number no lesse then 112. which after they haue been all well vewed and sufficiently considered I doubt not but to the reasonable and indifferent Reader shall appeare nothing else but a faire coloured but yet an empty vessell I will followe his diuisions and where I finde any trueth I will confesse it without wrangling where in steede of trueth he offereth falshode I will breefely confute it 1 The first I graunt that Christe hath alwayes had and alwayes shall haue a Church on earth out of which there is no saluation This Churche consisteth of men whiche beleeue in him haue their faith sealed and confirmed by outward sacramentes 2 The Church is the kindome of Christe the Citie of God and the kingdome of heauen wherein Christ shall reigne for euer 3 The kingdome is spread more largely and gouerned more prudently then any earthly kingdome euer was euen to the endes of the worlde to continue world without end 4 Notwithstanding all this to say that the Churche or this kingdome of Christe was hidden any one houre from the eyes of the worlde is not to make it more obscure then any earthly kingdome euer was as Maister Sander doeth affirme for the glorie of this Kingdome whiche is spirituall neuer did nor shall appeare to the wicked of this worlde The Churche is an article of our faith and faith is of those thinges whiche are not seene Hebru 11. but with spirituall eyes Therfore the exaltation of the Lordes hill that Esaie 2. and Micheas 4. doe speake of is of a spirituall aduauncement and a citie built vpon an hill is euerie true minister of Gods worde Matthewe 5. and not the whole Churche Finally the glorie and ioye that Esaie 60. promiseth vnto the Church and her happie enlargement among the nations Cap. 61. proue no worldly pompe or greatnesse to be seene with carnall eyes but is ment of the ioyfull and comfortable addition of the Churche of the Gentiles vnto the Churche of the Iewes For otherwise these wordes could not be verified of all wicked men All that see them shall knowe them that they are the blessed seede which the Lorde hath blessed 5 The cheefe meane whereby the Church is so clearely seene and so glorious in the sight of men is that Christ being the true light hath cōmunicated his brightnesse to his Apostles sayng you are the light of the worlde A citie built vpon an hill can not be hidden Neither do men light a candel and put it vnder a bushel but vpon a candlestick that it may giue light to al them that are in the house But this brightnesse is heauenly and spirituall not worldly and carnall to be seene of the children of light not of the blind bussards of the worlde 6 The Churche dyed not when the Apostles dyed for Bishops and Pastours succeeded in their place as lightes set vpon the candlestickes which are the seuerall Churches Apoc. 1. 7 The light and glorie of Gods Churche commeth chiefely from the Bishops and Pastours thereof I meane from their heauenly doctrine not from their persons as Maister
Sander perhaps would insinuate And the hystorie of the Church is described by Eusebius Socrates Theodore c. by the doctrine vttered in preaching writings and consent in councels and doings and sufferings of the Elders of the Churches and not altogether or cheefely by their knowen gouernement as Maister Sander affirmeth As for example Eusebius sheweth the doctrine of Clement out of his writing for the allowance of marriage who affirmeth that the Apostles were married begot children Lib. 3. Cap. 30. Socrates sheweth that Spiridion a Bishop of Cypres in time of his Bishopricke of great humilitie kept sheepe Lib. 4. Cap. 12. Sozomenus saith he had a wife and children and sheweth his iudgement for eating flesh on a fasting day accounting him no Christian that would refuse it Lib. 1. Cap 11. Finally although some Churches haue ben known by their Pastors and Bishops yet haue there bene infinite Churches known to be in the worlde whose Bishops Pastours are altogether vnknowen And although some heretical and Schismatical companies haue bene knowen by their heades yet not all for the Acephali were so called because they had no head the Anthropomorphites also were rustical Monkes or Eremites in Aegypt vnder no head of their owne but the Bishop of Alexandria which was a Catholike Niceph. Lib. 13. Cap 10. 8 Although the Churche of Christ ceassed not at the end of the first fiue or sixe hundreth yeares nor the glory of Christes kingdome was euer darkened yet a greate number of the Bishops and pastors of the visible Church began then to be dimme and some altogether darke because they lighted not their candels at the word of God the onely true light shyning in the darke but declined to the inuentions of men and doctrine of diuels according to the prophesie of Saint Paule 2. Thess. 2. of the apostasie and departing from the faith 1. Tim. 4. towarde the comming reuelation of Antichrist Neither is it true that M. Sander saith that after the first 600. yeares the Church was spread into mo countries then it was before but the contrarie For Mahomet soone after peruerted the greatest parte of the worlde whereas Affrica long before was ouerrunne and Christianitie spoyled by the Vandales which were either Heathens or Arrians Notwithstanding some small countries haue beene since that time turned to the Christian profession And as it is true that Pastors and Doctors must still be to the end of the worlde in the Church and Christ neuer forsaketh the same so is it false that Popish Bishops Priestes which either were ignorant or altogether negligent in feeding and teaching the Churche with the foode and doctrine of Gods worde whereof Saint Paule spake Ephesi 4. or taught the doctrine of Diuels in steede thereof be those Pastours and Doctours by whome the preaching of the Gospell is continued though they sitte in the same places where sometime the true teachers satt euen as Antichrist their head sitteth in the Temple of GOD which is the proper place of Christe Neither is the credite of such late writers as account them for successors of the Apostles and godly pastours and teachers sufficient to authorise them for such in deed when their whole life and doctrine is contrarie to the writings of the Apostles and those auncient godly Pastors Doctors 9 We say not that the Church of Christ was knowen for the first â—00 yeres after Christ only or chiefely by the Bishops Pastors therof but by their doctrine agreable to the word of god And therefore it is sufficient ground for vs to deny the later rout that professeth not the same doctrine to be the church of christ The succession of persons or places without the continuance of the same true doctrine can no more defende the Pope poperie then it could defend Caiphas Sadduceisme For Caiphas a Sadducei which denyed the resurrection coulde more certeinly declare his personall and locall successioÌ„ from Aaron then the Pope can from Peter 10 I haue proued before that it is false which Master Sander againe sayeth to be true that Eusebius and other writers point foorth the church of 500. yeres onely or chiefely by Bishops which ruled in Rome Antioche Alexandria c. The doctrine actes of those Bishops agreeable to the scriptures is their description not their personall or locall succession as it was accompted in the latter times when they had nothing else to commende their counterfet Bishops being in life and doctrine contrarie to the worde of God the testimonie of the primitiue church And where he sayeth noting in the margent August Ep. 165. that in olde time they were knowen to be heretikes which departed from the knowen companie of Bishops Pastors agreeing in one faith c. it is verie true but then this faith was proued to be true not onely by successions of Bishops but by the holye scriptures as the same Augustine sayeth in the same place Quanquam nos non tam de istis documentis praesumamus quà m de scripturis sanctis Although wee do not presume so much of those documentes as of the holie scriptures To conclude all practises and councels that are contrary to the holie Scriptures were then refused euen as they be nowe Cyprian refused the practise of ministring the communion with water because it was contrarie to the scripture Augustine refused the practise of Cyprian and the Councell of Carthage â–ª for rebaptizing them that were baptized by heretikes and for the same cause our church refuseth the Masse the Laterane and the Tridentin councels without daunger of schisme or heresie 11 The vniuersall church is a spiritual collection of many members into one bodie whereof Christe is the onely head both in heauen and earth as the Apostle sayeth Eph. 3. Cor. 15. The vnitie hereof is mainteyned by following the direction of his worde and his holye spirite The order of particuler churches is mainteined by the seuerall gouernement of them But their whole church although it be like an armie of men well sett in arraye yet can it haue no one chiefe Capteine in earth to direct it but hee that is omnipotent and fitteth in heauen not onely to ouerlooke it but to rule and order it For no mortall man can looke into all places knowe all cases prouide against all mischiefes nor giue ayde in all dangers 12 Therefore Peter was none such and although Pascere be both to feede and rule yet it is to rule like a Shepeheard and not like an Emperour Neither were the sheepe by Christe committed to Peter more then to the other because hee loued more then the other but Peter was charged as hee woulde by his forwardnesse shewe more zeale and loue then the rest so to employe the same to the feeding of Christes flocke And whereas Maister Sanders quoteth Chrysostome in Ioan Hom. 87. I knowe not wherefore except it were to shewe the prerogatiue of Peter aboue the rest You shall heare what his iudgement was
to make no diference betweene matters of substance and matters of circumstance as hee by his Popish sophistrie doth confounde SECTIO 24. From the secoÌ„d face of the 72. leafe to the second face of the 74. leafe wherin he beginneth to speak of adoration of the sacrameÌ„t Where the bishop saith that the olde doctours neuer make mention of adoration of the sacrament maister Rastell saith the argument is both naught and lying Naught because it may bee they vsed it although they neuer spake of it lying because he saith they do speake of it But to aunswere the naughtinesse of the argument I say maister Rastell is both a naughtie and lying gatherer of the bishoppes argument dismembring that which hee ioyneth together thus Christ his Apostels and the primitiue church neuer made mention of adoration of the sacrament therefore is not to bee vsed And concerning the lying supposed I answere that no auncient doctour speaketh one word of adoration of the sacrament as the verye sonne of GOD but either of adoration of Christ in heauen or of worshipping and adoring that is reuerently handling and honouring of the mysteries of Christ and no more of this sacrament then of the other namely baptisme For aunswere to the places he citeth out of Chrysostome Ambrose Augustine I will referre the reader to mine answere vnto the 45.46 47. Chapters of the second booke of Heskins parleament where this question is handled more at large Sauing that which he citeth out of Hom. 83. out of Chrysost. that we are fed with that thing which the Angels do honour which we confesse to be the body of Christ after a spirituall maner yet pertaineth it nothing to adoration of the sacrament And much lesse that he citeth ex Orat. in Philon. That as we entertaine God here so he wil receiue vs there with much glorie Where he speaketh of honouring God and not adoring the sacrament SECTIO 25. in the 74. leafe The Bishop aunswering a place of Augustine saith we must worship Christ where we eate him but we eate him in heauen by faith therefore we must worship him there M. Rastel sayth we eate him on earth also but proofe he bringeth none greater then his owne saying either of reason or authoritie SECTIO 26. From the end of the 74. leafe to the first face of the 79. leafe The Bishop proueth we must seeke Christe in heauen by these reasons Wee must lift vp our heartes wee must seeke those things which are aboue in heauen where Christ is and not the things that are vpon earth where Christ is not Câ—ll 3. And our conuersation is in heauen from whence wee looke for our Sauiour c. Phil. 3. M. Rastel saith the conclusion is inferred madly and miserably bicause these textes do no more disproue Christes body to bee on earth really then they proue our bodies to be in heauen really as in this short example our conuersation is in heauen and yet Paule was on earth in body when he saide this O wise and happie concluder but blinde and blockish interpretour which reasoneth as though the worde Conuersation in Saint Paules saying did signifie presence or being whereas it signifieth franches or libertie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our franches freedom or conuersation is in heauen Where is nowe your madd and miserable conclusion The Bishops arguments therefore on these places stand firme and vnmoueable that Christ is not on earth in body but in heauen where we must seeke him not climbing with ladders as it pleaseth Maister Rastel to scoffe in so graue matters but ascending by faith and affection set on heauenly and spirituall things As for his exposition of Sursian corda howe wholesome it is you may gather by this one note that in the very beginning â–ª he saith that the body of Christe is not onely lying on the altar and caried in mens handes but also broken and diuided The places hee citeth out of Saint Augustine for adoration be aunswered in mine aunswere to Maister Heskins before mentioned SECTIO 27. The Bishop saith that adoration of the sacrament is a newe deuise of Pope Honorius of three hundreth yeares agoe and after him Vibanus the fourth made an holiday of Corpus Christi c. Maister Rastel is angrie that three hundreth yeares should be counted a little while agoe when it is not three score yeares since Luther sprang vp But if Luther haue taught any doctrine that was not receiued in the Church a thousand and fiue hundreth yeares ago we are content it be accounted newe but whatsoeuer may be proued to haue bene taught 1500. yeares agoe must needes be old though Luther be newe and in comparison of that age Honorius and Vrbanus are but yong children But remitting the antiquitie Maister Rastell will stande for the veritie bicause the Popes lacked no counsell Neither by your doctrine needed they any 2. The Vniuersities were not without great schollers Such as those blinde and hereticall times affoorded 3. Religious houses and orders were not destroyed Yea they swarmed with Locustes to maintaine the kingdome of Absaddon 4. The holy Ghost in true Catholikes was inuincible Yea but there were fewe true Catholikes in those days 5. The wicked spirit in heretiques would haue bene venterous Yea the Pope the Archheretique of the world was venterous ynough when he set vp such idolatrie 6. A good man with the daunger of his life would haue spoken the trueth So did many good men which cost them their liues 7. An heretique for fame would not haue passed vpon death what neede an heretique feare death when heresie was so generally receiued that the true Catholikes were condemned and burned for heretiques by the name of Albigenses Waldenses Pauperes de Lugduno and such like which from time to time were persecuted imprisoned and burned for refusing and disalowing such idolatrie and false worshipping These be the worshipfull reasons he hath to proue the veritie of this bread worship which after he hath dilated more at large hee commeth at length to admiration of the seruice of Corpus Christi day made by Thomas Aquinas which hee thinkeh to be so excellent that the very sound and sense of the Anthemnes Respondes and Versicles declare whence they proceeded And I am of the same opinion for the comparing of such thinges to the sacrament as pertaine nothing vnto it declareth that such comparison came from the spirit of man not from the spirite of god As where it is saide 3. Reg 19. That Helias sawe a cake of bread at his head c. And Iob complaineth of the crueltie of his seruants that would haue eaten his flesh Iob. 31. And as for the holiday though it were instituted but of late yeares yet he taketh it sufficient to proue the adoration necessarie which could not be seene in the Church twelue hundreth yeres before or els that holiday should haue bene set vp long before SECTIO 28. The
they 〈◊〉 hitherto that they would neither learne by hearing nor acknowledge by reading that which in the Church of God in the mouth of all men is so agreeably spoken That not as much as of the tongues of infantes the veritie of the bodie and bloud of Christ is vnspoken of among the sacraments of the common faith for in that mystical distribution of that spirituall foode this thing is giuen foorth this thing is receiued that receiuing the vertue of that heauenly meate we may goe into his fleshe which was made our fleshe First M. Heskins as his fashion is to make the matter more cleare on his side falsely translateth Hoc impertitur hoc sumitur this bodie is giuen forth this bodie is receiued Where as Hoc is either taken absolutely for this thing or else at the least must haue relation to Sacramentum which is the next substantiue of the neuter gender in any reasonable construction Secondly it is manifest that Leo speaking against the heretiques Eutycheâ— and Dioscorus setteth forth the truth of Christs bodie bloud as one of the common knowen sacraments or mysteries of Christian faith saith neuer a word of his carnall presence in the mysterie of his supper but contrariwise teacheth that it is a mystical distributioÌ„ a spiritual food an heaueÌ„ly meat which words import not a carnal maner but a spiritual maner of preseÌ„ce eating Thus real presence as he termeth it being not yet proued the adoration cannot follow as he pretendeth The seuen and fortieth Chapter proceedeth in the proofe of the adoration of the Sacrament by doctors The first doctor named is Dionysius Areopagita disciple of S. Paule as he sayeth Eccles. Hierarch 3. parte Cap. 3. who maketh this prayer to the sacrament O verie godly holie mysterie opening fauourably the couerings of signifying signes wherewith thou art couered shine openly and apertly vnto vs fill our spiritual eyes with the singuler open brightnesse of thy light That this Dionyse although of some antiquitie yet is not that Dionyse that was conuerted by S. Paule nor any that liued 600. yeres after at the least it is plaine by this reason that neither Eusebius nor Hieronyme nor Gennadius which wrote the Catologs of all ecclesiasticall writers that were before them or were famous in the church in their time nor yet any other writer within the compasse of 600. yeres after Christe maketh any mention of any such Dionyse to be a writer of those bookes which are saide to be written by him Now touching his supposed prayer it is but an exclamatioÌ„ rethoricall named apostrophe not vnto the bread wine but to him that in that mysterie is represented which is Christ that he would vouchsafe to open him self shine in the hearts of the faithfull as the outward signes are seene with the outwarde eyes And that he allowed no transubstantiation it is manifest by that he saith in the same place that the Bishop doth after consecration cut in peeces the vndiuided bread speaking of the sacrament doth often affirme that by those symboles or signes wee are changed into God Christ meaning we are renewed by his spirite but neuer affirmeth the bread wine to bee turned into the bodie bloud of christ Howbeit what I iudge of his authorite antiquitie I haue declared before The next is Gregorie Nazianzen in Epitaph Gorgoniae sororis Quid igitur c. What then did the soule both great worthie of greatest things and what remedie had shee against her infirmitie For nowe the secreat is disclosed when shee had dispaired of all other shee flyeth to the Phisition of all men and taking the solitarinesse of the night when the disease had giuen her a little respite shee fell downe with faith before the altare and with a lowde voice and all her might shee called vppon him which is worshipped at is and vnto him shee rehearsed all the myracles that he had done of olde time M. Heskins immagineth that it was such an altare as they haue in the popish Churches which is vntrue for it was a table men stoode round about it as is to be proued by many testimonies of antiquitie Secondly he immagineth that the sacrament was hanged ouer the altare to be worshipped as it is among them but that is vtterly false for it was receiued at such time as it was consecrated except some remanents that were kept to be eaten Therfore though shee made her prayer at the altare shee made no prayer to any thing vppon the altare but to God whome shee did worship and reuerence and whose mysteries shee vsed to receiue at the same altare Therefore M. Heskins falsifieth Gregories words which are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but thus they are turned by him into latine ante altare cum fide procubuit illum quem super altare venerabatur c. Shee prostrated her selfe with faith before the altar and called vpon him whome shee worshipped vpon the altare But Gregorie sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it or at it meaning the altare where shee prayed And to put all out of doubt that shee worshipped not the sacrament vppon the altare it followeth afterwarde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if her hand had layde vp any where any parte of the figures of the precious bodie or of the bloud that shee mingled with teares O marueilous thing and immediatly departed feeling health By these wordes it appeareth that shee brought this remanent of the sacrament with her which Gregorie calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the signes or tokens or figures of the bodie and bloud of Christ and not the verie naturall bodie of Christe and those shee worshipped not but wett them with teares whether superstitiously let the Papistes iudge for they them selues will allowe no such fashions nor yet reseruation for such purposes but as for adoration of the sacrament which is the matter intended here is none spoken of in this place After this he toucheth the facte of Satyrus the brother of S. Ambrose which is aunswered before lib. 1. Cap. 24. whose hope was in God and not in the sacrament Although Satyrus as a young nouice not throughly instructed in Christian religion cannot simply be defended though he may be excused howsoeuer by his brother Ambrose he is highly commended Then followed Eusebius Emisserâ—us Hom. Pascal Because he woulde take away his assumpted bodie from our eyes and carrie it into heauen it was needefull that this day he should consecrate vnto vs the sacrament of his bodie and bloud vs coleretur iugiter per mysterium quod semel offerebatur in precium that it might be continually worshipped or exercised by a mysterie for colere signifieth both whiche was once offered for our price M. Heskins gathereth hereof that the same bodie should be honoured by mysterie whose visible presence not his bodie was taken away from the earth But Eusebius sayeth not onely that he would take his bodie
from our sight but also place it in heauen and in steede therof he leaueth the sacrament of his bodie and bloude which no man doubteth but it ought to be honoured as so high a mysterie deserueth but not as God or Christe The other saying of Eusebius which hee addeth doeth shewe howe it is to be honoured When thou commest to the reuerende altare to be satisfied with heauenly meates beholde with faith the holy bodie and bloud of thy God honour it wonder at is touch it with thy minde take it with the hande of thy heart and cheefely receiue it with the inwarde draught What can be layed more plainely for the spirituall receiuing and the like reuerence to be giuen to so holie a sacrament But because M. Heskins thinketh this saying to make more against him then for him therefore he sayeth to auoyde cauilling Eusebius proceedeth sone after in these words Sicut autem c. As any man comming to the faith of Christe before the wordes of baptisme is yet in the bands of the olde deis but when the words are spoken is foorthwith deliuered from all dregâ— of sinne So when the creatures are set vppon the holie altares to be blessed with heauenly words before they be consecrated by inuocation of the most highest name there is the substance of bread wine but after the wordes of Christ the bodie bloud of Christ. This is a plaine place for M. Iuell what else But if it be rightly vnderstood it is a plaine place against M. Hesk. for he sheweth the change or transubstantiation that is in the Lordes supper to be the same that it is in baptisme which is spirituall and not carnall and so doth verie fitly compare them together or else his similitude were to no purpose if it were not to shewe by that which is don in baptisme what is likewise done in the other sacrament M. Heskins still blattereth of a bare figure which is of vs always denyed Consequently he citeth Bernarde whose authoritie I leaue vnto him being a burgesse of the lower house in which he hath many voices as he hath neuer a one in the vpper house though he wrest their speaches most iniuriously To confirme some phrase of Bernard he rehearseth certein phrases of the old writers like to them in words but not in sense which haue bene aunswered alreadie as Hierom. ad Hed. qu. 2. Our Lord Iesus is the feaster the feast he that eateth and which is eaten Ambrose in praepara ad miss which is none of his but falsly intituled to him Thou art the Priest and the sacrifice wonderfully and vnspeakably appointed And Augustine in Psal. 33. He was borne in his owne hands But he leaueth out a worde which expoundeth both Augustine and all the rest that speake so quodam modo after a certeine manner Christ was borne in his owne hands is the feast that which is eaten the sacrifice I say quodam modo therefore not simpliciter Last of all he wil ioyne issue to subscribe on this point that the proclaimer can bring but one auncient doctor that saith the sacrament is not to be adored To whome I answer that forasmuch as in the primitiue church the opinion of transubstantiation was not knowen there neuer grew any question of the adoration of the sacrament as that Papistes nowe do vse it and commaund it The eyght and fortieth Chapter confuteth the rest of the proclaymers wordes before rehearsed against the honouring of Christ in the sacrament The words which he taketh vpon him to confute are these It is a newe deuise to worship the sacrament About three hundreth yere past Pope Honorius commaunded it to be lifted vp and the people reuerently to bowe vnto it How doth he confute these words First he saith it is no newe deuise but the contrarie that is the denying of the adoration is not past fourtie yeres old and yet he confesseth before that some infected with the heresie of Berengarius Wickliffe might whisper it in corners yet Berengarius and Wickliffe preached openly beâ—ore them Bertrame wrote a booke to Charles the great wherein he confuteth the reall presence which began in that time to be receiued of some as it seemeth vpward euen to Christ al the auncient fathers are against that carnall presence consequently against adoration But to proceede Admitting that Honorius was the first that commaunded it to be worshipped which was 300 yeres agoe yet is he elder then Oecolampadius not defamed of heresie as Oecolampadius was yes M. Hesk he is defamed of more then heresie and proued to bee an antichrist As for the continuance of 300. yeres in an errour can make no prescription against the trueth But he saith it is a fond argument of the proclaimer Because Honorius commaunded the adoration of the sacrament therefore it was neuer in vse before But if it were generally beleeued vsed in all ages before as M Hesk. would beare vs in hande what neede had Pope Honorius to commaund it He saith in like manner the fleshly sort of them dispute to mainteine their shamelesse abode with their women it is a newe deuise that priests should not marrie inuented by Vrban and Gregorie Whether M. Heskins were marryed or else had a shamelesse abode with a woman I leaue to be tryed by God the countrie in the countie of Cambridge But to the purpose I haue not heard any affirme these late Popes to be the first forbidders of marriage and therefore it is to no purpose that he citeth Syluester before them and Calixtus before him and the counterfet Canons of the Apostles before them all And yet by the prohibition of the latest Popes it is certeine that Priestes were married vntill their time And for as much as the scripture alloweth their marriage and condemneth the forbidders thereof and the eldest fathers in the primiâ—iue church confesse no lesse it is not to bee regarded although a whole hundreth Popes in a rowe did euery one forbid it The like example he bringeth of fasting in Lent decreede in the eight Toletane counsell neere 700. yeres after Christe but yet affirmed of Hierome to be a tradition of the Apostles For so they vsed to father such ceremonies and vsages as they knewe not the beginning of them vpon tradition of the Apostles neuerthelesse he cannot shewe any Pope or any councell before Honorius that did commaund adoration of the sacrament wherefore the wordes are vnconfuted vntill the contrarie can be shewed After this the Proclaimer sayth he falleth to mocking the Scholasticall doctours as S. Thomas Duns Durand Holcos and such like to make it seeme a dangerous thing to honour the sacrament for that the people cannot discerne the accidents from the bodie of Christ and so may committ idolatrie in honouring the outwarde formes in steede of Christ or if the priest do â—mitt consecration This M. Heskins calleth a mocking but he is not able to auoide it in good earnest