Alexandria All that the Lord hath done is not written but rather so much as the pen-men thought to be sufficient both for maners and doctrine of faith to the end that shining through a right faith manners and the truth we may come to the kingdom of Christ Now those pen-men of whom he speaketh were they not inspired of God Is it not his holy spirit himselfe Againe Lib. 5. in Leui. whether it were he or Origen vpon Leuiticus In the two Testaments we may finde out and discusse whatsoeuer matter concerning God from the same gather whatsoeuer knowledge of things in so much as that if any thing remaine not determined by these Scriptures there is not any third which we are to receiue and admit of for the authorising of such knowledge Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem Beleeue me not Cyril Hierosolim Catec 4. if I shew it thee not by the Scriptures for the saluation of our faith is not bolted out by the meanes of any disputation but plainly demonstrated by them Thom. 1. part Sum. q. 1. art 3. Supra omne debitum creaturae Et q. 147 art 4 p. 3. in add q. 6 art 6. And what will they say more when as Thomas one of their side saith That the things that proceede of the onely will of God besides whatsoeuer is due vnto the creature cannot be made knowne vnto vs otherwise then in that they are deliuered vnto vs in the Scripture That the doctrine of faith and the Sacraments cannot bee but of Christ That the ordinances and statutes of the church are not of themselues of the necessitie of saluation When also expounding the place in controuersie at this day of the second to Timothie chapter the third he vseth these wordes That the Scriptures teach the truth In 2. ad Tim. c. 3. â— reproue falshood perswade vnto that which is good and draw backe from that which is euill Not saith he after any faint or feeble maner but to the perfecting of the worke of saluation yea saith he euen in the highest degree c. And Scotus after him That the holy scripture is sufficient for the Pilgrime that is to say for the Christian trauailing heere below to come to the end of his purposed voiage that is to say vnto saluation That this way is not doubtfull but most certaine that in the same likewise is founde sufficiently laid open whatsoeuer is to be beleeued hoped for or done And Cardinall Caietan vpon the place afore named To the making saith he of the man wise vnto eternall saluation and furnished with all those partes requisite for the making of the man of God perfect Admit will some say vnto vs that it is sufficient The scripture is cleare and plaine vnto saluation Lactan l. 5. c. 1. but yet notwithstanding obscure difficult ambiguous by consequent daungerous This is all that which can be said against a wicked maÌ„ making his will taking pleasure to set his heires togither by the eares through sutes in the law And what would they say then to the Gentiles to Celsus to Iulian to all the Philosophers who tooke occasion by reason of the facilitie and simplicitie of the same to account thereof as base and contemptible He that is the light of lights and together therewith all goodnes it selfe shall he delight himselfe in becomming obscure and darke vnto vs This light that lightneth euerie man that commeth into the world shall he be come downe here vpon earth to blind the world euen them whom he hath chosen and set apart from the world Shall not the essentiall almightie word of God haue power or knowledge or will to expresse and make plaine his meaning in his worde when as he is come from heauen vnto vs from the bosome of the father amongst men to expresse and manifest himselfe The holy Ghost sent downe from the father and the sonne to teach the Apostles the things concerning saluation and in them vs comming downe vpon them in tongues of fire to interpret himselfe in all maner of languages shall he be no better then barbarisme and darknesse shall he not be prouided of wordes cleare and plaine inough to make himselfe to be vnderstood in the Scriptures Verily we learne not this lesson in the Prophets if they be not able to auouch vnto vs in that they speake their own cause Thy word saith Dauid is a torch vnto my feete Psal 119. 19 12. that is to say a light causing our eies to see They that speake not according to this word saith Esai it is because they haue no light in them Neither yet of S. Peter Esai 8.2 Pet. 1.19 who in his iudgement hath thought it to be so far off from obscuritie as that he hath commaunded vs to hearken to the Propheticall worde as vnto a light that shineth in darknesse And what then shall be the brightnesse of the Gospel which is the light of this light the Sunne in respect of the lampe and declared vnto vs by the Sonne the brightnesse of the glorie of the father Afterward the Apostle saith that he hath spoken diuerse wayes to the Fathers and to the Prophets c. And to whom then shall he be obscure to whom shall he bee hidden except as Saint Paule saith vnto vs vnto them which perish 2. Cor. 44. to them whose vnderstaÌ„ding the God of this world hath blinded to the end that the light of the Gospel of the glorie of Christ might not shine vnto them Likewise the Fathers they speake not according to our aduersaries According to the fathers for when they aunswere the Pagans they go not about to excuse the simplicitie and clearnesse thereof by denying them but rather say they it behoued them to be such to the ende that that which was for the saluation of euerie particular partie might be vnderstoode of all Irenaeus saith Iren. cont hae res l. 2. c. 42 67. Iust in Tryph. Tertul. de resurrect All the Scripture both Propheticall and Euangelicall is manifest and without ambiguitie and may likewise be vnderstoode of all Iustine Let vs haue recourse vnto the Scripture that therein we may find where to be safe and sure Tertullian The heretikes shun the light of the Scripture So farre is it off that they should be able to shrowde themselues vnder the darknesse of the same Athanasius Athan. in Epi. ad Iouinian True faith in Christ is cleare by the Scriptures Let vs set saith he against the Arrians this candle vpon the Candlesticke and it is sufficient Saint Hillarie to the same purpose Hillar de vnit patris filâ—i The Lord hath set forth the faith of the Gospel in the greatest simplicitie that possibly can be and hath fitted his wordes for our capacitie so farre forth as our infirmitie is able to beare it Constantine the Emperour likewise in the same cause Constant in Concil Nicen. Socrat. l. 1. Chrysost in 2.
spoke in the verse going before For why shall it in that place signifie vnto Bellarmine the seuere iudgement of God examining and making triall of workes and doctrines and in this place a materiall fire of Purgatorie which burneth not workes or doctrines whereof the question is but the soules of men And in deed S. Augustine and S. Gregorie haue taken both these two fires for one that is to say tribulations Chrysostome and Theophilact for one that is the euerlasting fire and many of the late writers for one namely Purgatorie The distinction came not to be knowne vntill such time as it was espied that the former word could not bee auouched in this signification and therefore they haue restrained it to this latter Now we say that this commeth to passe in many good Doctors and Teachers who haue built and brocht many friuolous doctrines of a good intention vpon this foundation of Christian faith and cease not notwithstanding to be happie by the mercies of God because they haue retained and held it fast especially at the time of the approaching of the pangs of their death as is recorded of many in writing and which doe now ioy and reioyce in heauen to see them burnt and deuoured yea euen this pretended fire also by the effectuall power of the word of God whome they see and well perceiue to bee glorified in the destruction of their workes Now whosoeuer he is that shall reade this text without preiudice wil easily rest satisfied with this interpretation And in deed that of Bellarmines for it doth not agree with any of the old writers cannot free it selfe frō many inconueniences We are very neere at agreement with him concerning that which is to be vnderstood by the foundation builders and that which is diuersly built thereupon But we still differ cannot agree about the day of fire which trieth and proueth the doctrines nor yet vpon the fire from which the Teachers doe escape and saue themselues hee confuteth the opinion of Caietanus who vnderstandeth it to be the day of euerie particular mans iudgement that is to say his last day or deathes day And for mine owne part I agree with him therein as holding it absurd without bringing any further witnesse for the same But hee would vnderstand by the same the latter iudgement presupposing still that it is that day of the Lord. Now the Apostle saith that day simply He saith also that in that day it shall bee manifested which side hath the truth by the proofe and tryall which shal be made and that before such as it concerneth to know the same This then shall be in this present life as S. Augustine and S. Gregorie doe vnderstand it Thus far we both are agreed vppon the fire which proueth the doctrines namely that it is not any materiall fire contrarie to that which they affirme that would haue it the fire of Purgatorie but the effectuall working of the Iustice and seueritie of God in the day of iudgement whereas we vnderstand it with S. Ambrose of the word of God accompanied with his holy spirit exercising his authoritie power in the Church And this we hold to be so much the more agreable because the triall is by nature to go before the sentence of iudgement as also for that this triall is made for the instruction of the Church by manifesting and making knowne on what side the truth standeth and therefore in this life and therefore also before the iudgment But neuerthelesse Bellarmine in all this portion of Scripture hitherto hath not found out Purgatorie About the fire from which the Teachers do saue themselues we doe especially square and disagree for therein he findeth his Purgatorie but we say vnto him that there is no apparance that from one verse to an other this fire should suffer such an alteration and chaunge in his nature as of a spirituall to become materiall and of a powerfull worke of the iudgement of God to become a reall and substantiall flame That these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe note out vnto vs a meere metaphoricall fire That seeing as he himselfe saith the question here is of the day of iudgement that therefore here is no more to doe with Purgatorie that seeing the fire of iudgement hath alreadie consumed and eaten vp the wood haye and strawe that there is not left behind any manner of thing to be burned in this no not the Author himselfe seeing that hee must by this iudgement goe presently to life or to death eternall For as concerning that Bellarmine saith he shall be saued but so as it were by fire that is to say he shall be saued prouided alwaies that he must first haue passed and gone through the fire This is the begging of the matter in question and this is to set downe for graunted the thing that is in controuersie In the end he commeth to seeke his defence from the old writers who how contrarie they are one to an other wee haue alreadie seene and it will not stand him in any seruice Chrysostome vnderstandeth by this latter fire the eternall fire and to be saued to be as much as not to be consumed in the said fire Saint Augustine and Saint Gregorie the tribulations of this life Theodoret and Oecumenius they setting of the vniuersall world on fire which shall be accomplished in the day of the last iudgement And as concerning the place which Saint Thomas alleadgeth out of Theodoret vpon this Epistle it is not to bee found either in the Greeke or Latine Copie but hee affirmeth verie well that the Teacher shall bee saued from the fire of the last iudgement which shall goe before the face of the Iudge Which saith hee will not burne the iust Alcuinus de Trinit l. 3. c. 21 Orig. hom 3. in Psal 26. but make them shine more cleare and bright Alcuinus and the ordinarie Glose doe iumpe together with the former sence Origen vnderstandeth it of Purgatorie but it is a Purgatorie of his owne deuise in that he maketh it not to be till after the last iudgement and through which both Saint Peter and Saint Paul are to passe holding that none can be free from the same but Christ himselfe no not the Diuels for by it hee holdeth that they shall be purged Ambros in Psalm And Saint Ambrose holding the same from and with him speaketh after the same sort and yet notwithstanding he addeth thereunto how that the euill Teachers shall bee for a certaine time after the last iudgement in Hell and yet in the end they shall be saued To the end saith he that it may yet turne to some profit to haue belieued in Christ But what proueth all this for our Purgatorie And what will themselues say of Gregorie Gregor l. 4. Dial. c. 39. who durst not deale or meddle with the expounding of the place If any man saith hee thinke good to vnderstand it of the fire of that Purgation which
storie is That Iudas to incourage his soldiers being vppon the point of entering into a great fight acquainted them with this vision that had appeared vnto him But either it was a reall action or a likenesse and representation onely If it were reall and in deed where is then their Limbes become For they all agree that in the Limbes they can make no intercession neither be inuocated If representatiue or figuratiue then let them heare the exposition of their owne Doctors Gloss in 2. Machab. c. 15. That in Onias is represented the order of the priesthood and in Ieremias the Propheticall order and in the one and the other Iesus Christ the high priest and Prophet of whom Moyses hath said I will raise vp vnto you a Prophet like vnto mee of whom S. Iohn likewise saith If we haue sinned we haue an aduocate with God Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes Baruch Baruch 3.14 3. It is said Lord heare now the prayer of the dead of Israel and of their children which haue sinned before thee Now it is to be known whether this word dead be taken for such as were dead in deed or else for a people brought vnto such an extremity as did threaten death vnto them euery moment Now the verse going before seemeth to make for the latter For it saith we perish are destroied for euer But let vs take it according to their own sence Lyranus giueth them the repulse ouerthrow He speaketh saith he of the praiers which the Patriarkes the Prophets had made whiles they liued for the good estate of their posteritie And their opinion also of the Limbes doth debarre them of the benefit of the place in their owne sence But what agreement hath this praier and intercession of the liuing Saints with that of the dead Those being commanded with promise to be heard these not mentioned in the Scripture but subiect vnto that great Woe so oftentimes repeated Woe to them which adde therunto Saint Paul prayeth for them that were in the same Shippe he praieth also the Romaines to pray for him But did he allow them to call vpon or to pray for aide vnto him or did hee himselfe inuocate the Romaines And therefore if we from these mutuall praiers of the faithfull that are liuing rise vp to the inuocation of the Saints that are dead what shall let vs then but that from the inuocation of the dead wee shall descend by consequent to the inuocating and adoring of those that be aliue to make vowes and offer vp our oblations vnto them to erect and build Churches and Altars in honour of them to burne sacrifices and incense vnto them and finally to reuiue the whole Masse of Paganisme for them which are as yet vppon earth as wee haue alreadie done for them which are in heauen And thus much for that which they can say as well for the inuocation as for the intercession of the olde Testament CHAP. XII That the inuocation of Saints hath not any foundation in the holy Scriptures of the new Testament IN the new Testament they alleadge that S. Paul ordained 1. Tim. 2. Rom. 15. Collos 4. that intercession shuld be made in the Church for all men that he praieth the Romaines and Colossians to pray for him that he hoped to be offered in the praiers of the Saints that S. Iames saith Pray yee one for an other to the ende that yee may bee saued c. What are all these places but the praiers of the Saints liuing and not of the Saints deceased whereupon there is not any thing further to bee inferred then what concerneth the dutie of charitie amongst the liuing and from which there wil not any old writer be found to gather the inuocating of Saints which are in heauen But we see that the rich man in the other life Luk. 16. praieth Abraham that his punishment may be mitigated and why not as wel here below What maner of argument is this concluding that what is done in Hel may be done here on earth And that what the damned doe the same also may the faithfull doe And what Diuinitie is this borrowed from the damned from the damned feeling in themselues the vnappeasible wrath and anger of God as not being able to comprehend him otherwise then as an angrie iudge for vs which haue accesse vnto his throne by Christ which is both the Porter and the gate which are led vnto the throne of his grace by the hand of his Sonne And what wilfull blindnesse is it to oppose vnto the cleare light of the Scriptures outward darknesse to the intercession of our Lord full of power and efficacie a parabolicall praier of a wicked rich man repelled and cast off by Abraham for the impertinencie thereof And no lesse impertinent and farre from the purpose are those places elsewhere Math. 27.47 as that of the crie of our Lord vpon the Crosse Eli Eli my God my God c. The souldiers had thought that he had called for Elias Let vs see say they if he will come This was then say they a familiar thing to call vpon the Saints But I should bee ashamed to confute it if they had any shame to alleadge it For what is this To learne the faith of the Church of Pilats souldiers the faith of Israel at the hands of the Gentils which are in garrison in Ierusalem which haue heard speech amongst the Iewes of one Elias that should come at that time which were trained vp in Paganisme to praie vnto as many Gods as they could dreame of or deuise to hold for Gods all those from whom they expected any good or feared any euill Which by reason of the ignorance of the tongue did suppose that our Lord called for Elias S. Ierome vpon this place I thinke that they were the Romane Souldiers who vnderstood not the propertie of the Hebrew tongue and thereupon did thinke that he had inuocated or called Elias But if we vnderstand and take them to haue beene Iewes then it was nothing but their ordinarie practise to speake reprochfully of the Lord accusing him of weaknesse and infirmitie and therby driuen to pray vnto Elias And the Glose and Caietanus haue vnderstoode it of the Romaines and of the Gentiles In S. Iohn 5. Thanke not saith our Lord vnto the Pharisies that I am to accuse you vnto my father Iohn 5.45 Moyses in whom you haue your hope he it is that will accuse you Thereupon they conclude that it was a doctrine amongst the Iewes that Moyses tooke the matter vppon him before God whether it were to accuse or defend them And still they forget that this dutie could not be exercised in the Limbes Wheras the text is plaine enough to those that haue any eyes Moyses that is to say the lawe and doctrine of Moses doth accuse vs is the sentence of condemnation against vs when we infringe and breake it when
thing was said to be done And here it is not to be forgotten that Bonauenture saith that when he was dead these scarres and printes were seene and acknowledged by many in so much as that some of them put nailes into them And Mathias Paris on the contrary a Monke that liued at the time of his death of a longer standing and more auncient by fortie yeares then Bonauenture writeth in his Chronicle that there was not any manner of print to be seene after his death And yet the man was not to bee suspected for the matter Dominick for he speaketh as superstitiously as any of the rest And haue they said any lesse of Dominick Nay rather it belonged to them to incroach dayly enter deeper into blasphemy And so much the more because of the emulation raised betwixt these two orders because that Dominick who was the formost in time seemed to come last in reputation account Anton. Archicp in tit 23. c. 11. the Archb. Antonine therefore that was of this order peiseth his miracles not against those of S. Frauncis but against the miracles of our Lord giueth them the start prerogatiue both for number for greatnes Christ saith he raised but three from death at all Dominick at Rome onely raised as many and 40. neere to Tholosa which were drowned on horsebacke in the riuer Garona besides infinite others Christ after his resurrection went in to his disciples the dores being shut Dominick whilet yet he bare about this mortall bodie which is much more went into the temple the dores being fast Now by the way let vs note that this was by their owne speech either by the proprietie of a spirituall and glorified bodie or els by an Almightie power And thus he goeth through all the miracles of our Lord alwaies preferring and giuing S. Dominick the vpper hand To be short Christ said after his death All power is giuen to me in heauen and in earth and verily saith he this power was not in a small measure communicated bestowed vpon Dominicke ouer all things in heauen earth or hell and that euen in this life for he had Angels to attend vpō and serue him the elements obaied him and the deuils trembled vnder him And this he laieth downe in many examples He addeth further that at Rome there were two images the one of S. Paul and the other of S. Dominick that at the feet of the former was written Per istum itur ad Christum by this men go to Christ and at the feet of the latter Facilius itur per istum but more easily and readily by this man that is to say by Dominicke That is saith Antonine Because that the doctrine of Paul and the Apostles induced and persuaded men to belieue but Dominicks to obserue and keep the councels Which is a shorter course and cut And thus you may already see that he was more then S. Paul and all the Apostles But what shall we say now of that which followeth Quia saith he Domino nostro similis est Dominicus aptissimé denominatus est verie fitlie and rightly was he called Dominicke because he was like Domino to our Lord. And he was possessiuelie in possession that which our Lord was authoritatiuely in authoritie for the Lord said I am the light of the world and the Church singeth of Dominick you are the light of the world The Prophets beare witnesse Domino vnto the Lord and to Dominicke also Zacharie 11. I haue chosen me two roddes the one I haue called Decorem beautie that is to say the order of Saint Dominicke the other Funiculum a corde or band that is the order of the Gray friers thus they abuse the scripture Dominus that is to say our Lord was borne on the bare earth but the virgine for feare of cold laid him in a manger Dominicus from his swathing clothes abhorring the pamperinges and tender delightes of the worlde was found oftentimes by his nurse lying all naked vpon the bare earth For our Lord there appeared a starre in beauen in token that he did lighten the whole world In the forehead likewise of Dominicke as he was baptised the Godmother espied a star signifying a new light to be borne into the world c. The praier of our Lord was euer more heard when he would for in the garden that which he asked of a fleshlie desire hee would not obtaine according to reason But Dominick neuer demanded any thing of God which he did not whollie enioy according to his owne desire Dominus that is our Lord loued vs and washed vs from our sinnes in his blood Dominicke through a perfection of charitie tooke euerie daie three disciplines or corrections from his owne hand not with a corde but with an iron chaine euen to the causing of his blood to runne downe One for his faults though they were verie small another for those that were in Purgatorie and the third for them that liued here in the world c. And thus this Archbishop Antonine draweth this comparison through all the parts of the life of our Lord. In a word our Lord being to depart out of this world promiseth the Comforter vnto his disciples And Dominick saith vnto his Be not grieued for I wil do you more good in the place whither I go then I haue done here for there you haue me a better aduocate then any other that you can haue there c. And what shall now become of that which S. Iohn saith vnto vs If we haue sinned we haue an aduocate euen Iesus the righteous c. And notwithstanding these blasphemies are authorized by the Church of Rome for the good establishment that they haue procured vnto the Popes their authoritie for Gregorie the ninth canonized Dominicke in the yeare 1223. ordained a festiual day to be kept vnto him authorized also his rule and order and bestowed priuiledges vppon the same Now hee that writ these thinges was an Archbishop of Plorence high accounted of amongst our aduersaries Albert. Krant in hist Saxon. l. 9. c. 7. Abb. Trithem in Chronic. Hirsaughtiens But in the meane time they are warie enough not to tell vs any thing amongst the rest of their miracles of that which Krantzius reporteth vnto vs That one Bernard a Iacobine Confessor and Chaplen to the Emperour Henrie the 7. did poison him in the host Whereupon saith Trithemius the Abbot Pope Clement the fift inioyned them for a marke of reproch and ignominie that the Priests of their order from thence forward should neuer receiue or deliuer the communion but with the left hand An example for the Popes of these times to ordaine by the same reason that they should as yet be restrained from the vse of their right hand in detestation of the murther committed by frier Clement a Iacobine vpon the person of K. Henry the third In a word to come to our purpose Bullae fraternitatum ordinis
them from natural sense and vnderstanding to the spirit from an opinion to faith and from the earth vnto heauen c. And therfore we see not that euer the Scripture doth lead vs to obserue and marke any miracles in the signes of his Mysteries notwithstanding that it is a dutie to be most carefully discharged to publish set forth the maruailous works of the Lord in the church It teacheth vs the famous and worthie passing of the destroying Angell ouer the houses of the Israelits without touching of theÌ„ The lamb was the memoriall therof and that so cleare and euident a one as that it was called by the name of the Passouer it self In this passing ouer then ther is pointed out vnto vs a miracle namely in the difference which the Angel made betwixt the Israelits and the Egyptians and in the lambe it recoÌ„mendeth vnto vs a mysterie So likewise of Manna the rock in that the one was rained the other dissolued into water it is a miracle but in that they feed queÌ„ch the thirst of the true Israelits spiritually there lies a mystery And of the water conuerted into wine in Cana S. Iohn maketh mention vnto vs of a myracle Of Iorden turned dayly into bloud by reason of so many persons as daily confessed their sinnes and were baptised how much more famous had it beene and worthie of renowne And yet this was no myracle but a misterie Verie excellently thereforefore hath a certaine Schooleman said That wee must not looke for myracles Aegyd l. 2. examer c. 13. but where they are That where and so oft as euer we can discharge and free the holy Scriptures by the things that we naturally see that there and so oft wee ought not to haue recourse vnto the power of God nor vnto myracles Now we may free them most easily when wee vnderstand misteries mistically Sacraments Sacramentally figures figuratiuely Chrys in Ioh. c. 6. â—om 46. spiritual things spiritually c. Chrysostome saith What is it to vnderstand things carnally Simply according to the letter without conceiuing and taking any further thing to be meant and contained therein But it is requisite saith hee to consider and looke vpon all misteries with inward eyes that is to say spiritually And as we conceiue them spiritually euen so wee receiue them in like manner namely by faith For saith he Idem in c. 11. ad Hetr hom 21 Theophyl ibid. Theod. dial 1. Thoâ—â— 3. part summ q. 78. art 2. We thinke that the things that rest in hope are without substance but faith giueth them a substance and yet not as though it gaue them any thing more but because it becommeth vnto them their verie essence and being c. Theodoret The things that are misticall are spoken mistically and the things which are not knowne vnto all are openly declared Thomas likewise The word of Christ worketh effectually and Sacramentally Sacramentally that is to say saith hee according to the force of the signification CHAP. II. That the doctrine of the holy Supper must be examined by the rules aboue handled as also all that which is deliuered of all other the Sacraments as well of the old as of the new Testament NOw wee are for the most part of this mind that the rules aboue named may be practised and vsed in other Sacraments but our Aduersaries wil not agree that they are so in the explication and vnfoulding of the doctrine of the holy supper and therefore wee are consequently to see if the holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers doe tolerate and admit yea or rather necessarily presse and vrge that the doctrine of the holy supper be examined and tried by these same rules which wee reduce into a few words in these manner of tearmes That a Sacrament is a visible signe of a thing that is to say of an inuisible grace That the signe and the thing are Correlatiues and that therefore the one is not the other That the signe is giuen by the Minister or Pastour but the thing by God alone That the signe is receiued by the hand both of true belieuers and hypocrites but the thing by faith of the belieuers onely That the likenesse that is betwixt the signe and the thing hath caused the name of the one to be attributed vnto the other that is to say the name of the thing to the signe but that thereis not therfore any changing of the one into the other neither by way of myracle nor yet of any supernaturall worke c. but onely of names the more plainely to point out the mysterie That Sacraments and misteries haue one proper stile which must bee vnderstood mistically and Sacramentally c. which hath beene verified and approued in all the other Sacraments as well of the old Testament wherof the Apostle saith That our Fathers did eate the same meare and drinke the same drinke as also in Baptisme a Sacrament of the new Testament Let vs come therefore vnto the holy supper of our Lord. We belieue that in it In what sort aâ—d manner the faithfull communicate and receiue the Lordes supper the belieuer receiueth drinketh eateth not only bread and wine but also the verie flesh of Christ and the true verie bloud of Christ the flesh giuen for the life of the world the bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes That it is not more true that the bread is broken and the wine powred out or that they become nourishment vnto our bodies for the sustaining of this fraile and brittle life then it is true that the flesh of our Lord is broken and his bloud shed for vs and that they become nourishment for our soules drie and barren that they are of themselues but watered and altered by his righteousnesse to nourish them vnto eternall life Much more then whereas the bread and wine are turned into our substance by the operation of our naturall heate to bee incorporated into vs doe the flesh and bloud of our Lord by the operation of the holy Ghost incorporate vs more and more into him wee communicate his substance and in the same his life and all his benefits as members of Christ bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh to be crucified iustified sanctified and glorified in him insomuch that our heat being more strong then the bread and wine doth turne and alter them into our substance the holie Ghost being stronger and more mightier then we doth conuert and turne vs both to him and into him And by that meanes wee receiue not onely Christ really and substantially in the holy Supper celebrated according to his institution but we are wrought into one bodie more and more amongst our selues of which body he is the head and we the members the faithfull I meane that draw their spirituall life the sense motion and spirituall action of their soules from him a liuely and quickened body by his spirit one togither by him one
much saith the Apostle as That he hath not taken vpon him the Angels that is to say the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham that is to say the nature of man taking part with flesh and bloud c. to destroy the kingdom of death by his death c. For in presupposing without the word of God that this body may be in a thousand places at once they conclude against the word of God that this body hath not that which is of the very nature of a body against that which our Lord said after his resurrection reprouing the vnbeliefe of S. Thomas A spirit hath neither flesh nor bone c. and against that which all antiquitie teacheth That what he once tooke vpon him he neuer leaueth or casteth off That in putting on glorie he did not put off either nature or yet the conditions and qualities of nature c. Christ verily in taking our nature hath taken both our flesh our bloud and this bloud distributed throughout his veines c. What doth then this Transubstantiation which shutteth vp this his body by it selfe vnder the accidents of bread and his bloud by it selfe vnder the accidents of wine He hath taken likewise both our flesh and our soule and shall then a corporall substance bee turned into a spirituall The bread into the soule of our Lord c. Or if it bee not changed thereinto shall it remaine a body without a soule And if this body which was giuen to the Apostles were liuing was not then this bread changed into a soule But they denie it And if he were dead then should he not be dead and liuing both at once Dead and inuisible as he was giuen but aliue and visible as he did giue and distribute it And how many are the absurdities begotten of one absurditie And who seeth not how the auncient heretickes which called in question the truth of the humane nature of Christ did not a little ground themselues and their assertions vpon these Maxims Verily Iesus Christ our Lord after his resurrection That Christ is absent according to his humaine nature but euery where present as concerning his diuine nature According to the scriptures Iohn 7 Iohn 3. Mathew 26. Mark 6. Luke 24. Acts 1.3 ascended in his body into heauen and left this world vntill the time of his comming againe to iudge the world according as he did instruct his Apostles as hee had made them visible to behold see and as they in like maner after him did aduertise and teach vs You shall not haue me alwaies with you I am here for a while It is expedient for you that I goe I am come into the world and againe I leaue the world I goe to him that sent me from whome I am also come and if I goe not the comforter will not come You shall seeke me but as I haue said vnto the Jewes whither I goe they cannot come And now also I tell it you that is to say in one word looke not for me any more hereafter in this humane nature And in deed hee blesseth them withdraweth himselfe from them and is taken vp on high into heauen and set at the right hand of his father From whence he shall come againe say the Angels euen as he was seene to goe vp into heauen And it must needes be saith S Peter That the heauens doe containe him vnto the time of the restauration of all things And yet notwithstanding hee saith I will not leaue you orphanes I am with you vnto the end of the world I will send you the comforter which shall teach you c. Likewise whensoeuer you shal be two or three gathered together in my name I will be in the miast of you that is according to my diuine nature And thus haue al the auncient Fathers spoken Origen It is not the man that is euerie where According to the Fathers Orig in Mat. tract 33. where two or three bee gathered together in his name or yet alwaies with vs vnto the end of the world or which is in euerie place where the faithfull are assembled but it is the diuine power which is in Iesus Athanasius I goe to the Father But doth he not fill all things euen heauen earth and hell And did he neuer withdraw him selfe from the Father And to goe and come are not these properties belonging to such as are finite and limited within their lists and bounds of time and place by departing from the place where he was not to the place where he was c. But saith he This is because he speaketh of the humane nature which he tooke vpon him in which it behoueth him to goe vnto the father and come from thence againe to iudge the quicke and the dead c. S. Augustine in an infinite sort of places and that very largely You shall haue the poore alwaies with you c. Let not good men saith he be troubled In respect of his maiestie prouidence grace c. it is fulfilled which he said I am alwaies with you c. In respect of the flesh which the word tooke vpon it August in Ioh. tract â—0 as also in respect that he was borne of the Virgine apprehended of the Iewes fastned to the tree taken from off the Crosse wrapped in linnen laid in the Sepulchre manifested at the resurrection it is the same which is said You shall not haue mee alwaies c. The Church inioyed him but a few daies in respect of his bodily presence but now it possesseth him by faith seeth him no more with these bodily eyes c. Idem ad Dardan Ep. 57. What then Said one vnto him is he not euerie where Yes he is euerie where saith he but as a man is soule and flesh so Christ is the word that is to say God as also man and wee must alwaies distinguish in the Scriptures that which is spoken of the one from that which is spoken of the other By reason of the one he is the Creator and in consideration of the other a creature In the one he was here vpon earth and not in heauen when he said No man ascendeth vp into heauen c. In the other he was in heauen notwithstanding that he was not yet ascended vp into heauen notwithstanding that he was yet conuersant and abiding here vpon earth c. And therefore stand fast and irremoueable in thy Christian confession That hee is ascended vp into heauen That he sitteth at the right hand That from thence and not from elsewhere he shal come to iudge the quicke and the dead and that in the very same forme and substance of flesh whereto for certaine saith he he hath granted and freely giuen immortalitie and yet hath not bereft it of his nature And according to this nature we must not make accompt that hee is shed abroad euerie where but rather beware least we in such sort establish the Diuinitie of the
Saint Ambrose saide to the water of baptisme O water which washest the worlde by the bloude of Christ which hast merited that is to say hast beene made worthie to bee a Sacrament of Christ c. shall hee be thought to haue adored shall he be iudged to haue transubstantiated it into Christ And when their pretended Amphilochius crieth O worshipfull and reuerende conception meaning of the virgine make vs inheritors of eternall life preserue thy people and thine heritage c. shall hee haue crowned this conception with the Godhead And when themselues say to the oyle Aue sanctum oleum sanctam Chrisma I salute thee O holy oyle or holy vnction To the Crosse Aue Rex noster due spes vnica I salute and pray God blesse thee O our King our onelie hope shall they bee thought to haue really transubstantiated him Nay rather let them acknowledge that this place concludeth nothing Epiphan in Anchor let them remember that Epiphanius did heretofore name this mysterie vnto vs An insensible thing that Pachymeres compareth it to Nazianzene his Passeouer And therefore that this manner of speech is an Apostrophe a Rhetoricall figure that in other points they do not agree amongst themselues as whether the body of Christ be there dead or aliue hauing a soule or not hauing a soule sensible or insensible c. And therefore that they are first to agree themselues before they go about to fortifie themselues from this place Origen When saith hee thou eatest and drinkest the bodie and bloud of our Lorde Orig. in diuers euang loc hom 5. the Lorde entereth in and commeth vnder thy roofe and therefore humble thy selfe with the Centurion c. Hee meaneth then that the Sacrament is adored and then he meaneth also that wee adore the Saintes that is to say vertuous people when they come to see vs. For hee teacheth in the same place two waies by which Christ entreth into the faithfull the one when the Minister of the Church visiteth them the other when they receiue the incorruptible meat of the Sacrament And this is that which he saith elsewhere That God is in vs by the preaching of the Apostles and by the Sacrament of his bloud Idem Lom â— And that this visitation is wrought in vs by the word and spirit he declareth and maketh plaine there also Speake onely the word saith he come onely with thy word Thy word is a looking glasse it is a perfect worke shew forth in this thy bodily absence the power of thy spirit c. If then according to Origen wee ought to adore the Sacraments and ministers then with as good right such men as are godly and vertuous but if these then it must be onely with a ciuill worship and adoration and so must that wherewith wee worship the other And if the adoration due to God alone being giuen to good men maketh idolatrie then also if it be giuen to Sacraments or ministeres or els this place concludeth nothing Chrysostome The wise men worshipped this bodie in the manger Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. they worshipped it with feare and trembling Let vs at the least follow these barbarous and rude men wee which are citizens of heauen He speaketh of the bodie of Christ represented in the Sacrament and exhorteth the people to come thereunto with reuerence But the wise men verily did not worship him as God but as a king And therefore this is but to returne to that which Saint Clement sayeth Clem. l. 2. constit Draw neere vnto this Sacrament with the same reuerence that you would doe vnto a King that is to say vnto some honorable person He addeth Thou seest him not in the armes of a woman but thou seest the Minister present the spirite aboundantly shedde vppon this sacrifice The Priest verily with the eyes of the bodie but the spirite with the eyes of the spirite For was it not more readie otherwise if hee had had any such purpose to say as following the opposition Not in the armes of a woman but in the handes of a Priest Not the spirite shedde vppon the thinges set before them that is to say vppon the Sacraments But Christ sacrificed himselfe But the coherence and scope of the matter doth carrie vs to conceiue That Chrysostome laboured to raise the heartes of those that were present from base and lowe thinges vnto high and heauenly thinges when hee saith vnto them That there are not anie but Eagles that approach and come neere vnto this bodie Those saith hee that haue nothing to doe with the earth that haue the eyes of the vnderstanding sharpe clearely seeing and bent vpon the Sunne of righteousnesse Hee transporteth and conueigheth them as much as in him lyeth aboue the heauens when hee sayeth vnto them also Wee must with the wise men worship this bodie This bodie verilie which is no more on earth but on high at the right hand of God And then verilie after all these Hyperboles in spirite and not in bodie that is saith hee In as much as this mysterie causeth that the earth is a heauen vnto thee that the gates of heauen are open vnto thee that thou hast accesse and entrance thereinto c. And afterward how Verily In purging thy soule in preparing thy spirite to receiue these mysteries to see touch and eate this bodie After the same manner verilie that Saint Ierome saide of Paula Thou hast offered by faith the same offeringes that the wise men did offer thou hast worshipped with them God in the cribbe Chrysost in Lithurg c. But say they hee prayeth vnto him in his Liturgie I meane that which is attributed vnto him as Christ truely and not the Sacrament Heare saith hee O Lorde from the seate of the glorie of thy kingdome which art set with the father who aidest succourest and relieuest vs here below inuisiblie c. O Lord haue pittie vppon mee poore sinner c. Here I appeale to their owne consciences whether hee frame this his prayer vnto God or the Sacrament Is this to draw vs to gaze and looke vpon the Altar or to raise vs vp vnto the heauens of heauens Saint Ambrose Ambr. de spirit sanct l. 3. c. 12. Psal 95. 98. Worship his footstoole that is the flesh of Christ saith he which we worship in the mysteries which the Apostles worshipped in Iesus c. And Saint Augustine in like manner No man eateth this flesh except hee haue first worshipped it Who doubteth that wee ought to worshippe the flesh of Christ Christ inseparablie God and man Who doubteth likewise that no man can eate this flesh if hee haue not first worshipped it worshipped it by a true faith worshipped it with heart and affection c. But wee worshippe it after the same manner that wee eate it Wee eate it as wee take it and wee take it as wee touch it In truth but in spirite in spirite but in truth And God forbid that
Christians should not haue anie other meanes to touch Christ but with their handes or to eate him but with their teeth seeing that the virgine is not blessed for hauing conceiued him in her wombe nor Simeon for hauing receiued him into his armes but rather by hauing belieued in him What shall wee say then to these good Fathers Verily the same that they say vnto vs themselues Ambr. in serm 58. de Mar. Magdal in Luc. l. 10. c. 24 Augu. de cognit ver vit c. 40. Wee worshippe Christ as wee touch him And Wee touch him saith Saint Ambrose not with a bodily touching but by faith After the same manner sayeth hee That Saint Stephen on earth saw and touched Christ in heauen Yea saith Saint Augustine Hee saw him being vnder the roofe of the seate of iudgement which hee pearsed through saith hee and the heauens aboue the same and therefore with the eyes of the spirite Wee worshippe him in the mysteries but not the mysteries in the Sacrament but not the Sacrament the Creator in the creature sanctified but not the creature For Saint Ambrose which calleth it a creature Thou hast seene saith he the Sacraments vppon the Altar Chrysost in Marc. hom 14 Ep. 120. c. 21. Psal 21. Thou hast admired this creature howbeit a wonted and well knowne creature c. had neuer counselled vs to worshippe and adore the creature So likewise sayeth Saint Chrysostome That wee worshippe Christ in the Sacrament of Baptisme Saint Ierome That Paula had worshipped him in the cribbe was it euer in these mens mindes to say that they had worshipped the water or the cribbe Or would they haue said therefore that either the water or the cribbe were transubstantiated into Christ But they ought therefore to haue added that which followeth in S. Augustine Worship him for he is holy And who is this that is holy Euen he saith he for whose loue and sake thou worshippest the stoole c. that is to say the flesh of Christ the humanitie of Christ And when thou worshippest it rest not thy thoughtes vppon the flesh least then thou shouldest not bee quickened by the spirite c. And this same good and sound faith is set forth in another place of Saint Augustine which they alleadge and that somewhat more commendablie For in the place where it is saide Rich men were brought to the table of the Lord they tooke the bodie and bloud But they did but onely worship they were not filled full c. that is because they contented themselues to make profession of his name without conforming of themselues vnto Christ And this he declareth by these wordes Non saturati sunt sicut pauperes vsque ad imitationem They were not filled and fedde full as were the poore to the conforming of themselues vnto him They are not ashamed to adde Illud that so they may make him say Hardingus That they worshipped the bodie and the bloud and not simplie They worshipped And some one amongst them hath added as drawing the text to a further length They haue acknowledged that Christ was there present The same impudencie shoulde thrust him forwarde and cause him to adde Reallie corporallie and Per modum transubstantiationis c. They would faine bee beholden to Theodoret and as we haue seene there is not any one more against them for he hath told vs That the signes are not changed that they continue in their nature and substance c. And their greatest Doctors are of iudgement that there cannot be had any adoration without transubstantiation He saith therefore And yet notwithstanding these same signes of breade and wine which retaine their first substance are vnderstoood belieued and worshipped as though they were the things which they are belieued to be Worshipped therefore as they are vnderstoode and as they are belieued that is Vt Antitypa ratione prototypi as signes in respect of that which is signified As the Councell of Nice II. speaketh of images no respect being had to that which they are but to that which they represent For likewise Theodoret calleth them Images in the words next ensuing Compare saith he the patterne with the person and thou shalt see therein the similitude likenes for it is requisite that the figure should resemble the veritie Now the images of any thing whatsoeuer are not worshipped with that worship which is due to God and by consequent to adore or worship in Theodoret can not be any other thing then to honor reuerence receiue with reuerence which we most willingly yeeld vnto the Sacraments Proofes out of the fathers Clem. Constit l. 2. c. 6. August de Trinit l. 3. c. 10 De catechism rud c. 26. Idem de doct Christ l. 3. c. 9 And of a truth this is the same that the fathers teach vs. S. Clement if those be his books That all do take in order the precious body and bloud of our Lord drawing softly thereunto with feare reuerence as to the bodie of a king S. Augustine The sacraments may be honoured as religious things And in another place As visible signes of diuine things wherin the inuisible things are honoured and not as common things seeing they are sanctified by the blessing Againe He that worshippeth a profitable signe instituted of God and whereof hee vnderstandeth the power and signification doth not worship that which is seene and passeth away but rather that vnto which all such things ought to be referred Where it is to be noted that he vseth the words of adoring reuerencing indifferently that he referreth them not to the signes but to the things signified And a little after he giueth for an example the sacrament of Baptisme Idem de bono perseuer l. 2. c. 13. the celebration of the bodie bloud of our Lord and of this by name he saith That that which is said Sursum corda is to admonish vs to pray vnto God that he would lift vp our harts to ascend and taste the things that are on high where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God Not the thinges that are vppon earth God saith hee to whome wee must render thankes for so great a thing c. And when likewise it shall haue at any time escaped any of the fathers to say altogether rawlie which yet hath not at anie time J worshippe the excellencie of the Sacrament What other thing should this bee but of the same sence with that which Tertullian saith I adore the fulnes or sufficiencie of the scriptures Of the scriptures because there God speaketh vnto vs giueth the effectnall working of the spirit c. And yet they are not God neither are they adored or worshipped as God Of the Sacrament then in like manner seeing it pleaseth God therein to giue and in a neere and straite manner to communicate himselfe with vs and yet not therefore God but the instrument of the grace of God to be reuerenced
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 269 49 the law all the law 269 37 is sound there is found there 269 29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 274 26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 276 34 grudged grieued 280 1 vnbaptised before Baptisme 280 10 as he gaue it that he gaue it 280 54 for then for them 281 29 do neuer faile of their fruit do neuer faile of their fruit at what time so euer they be made 281 33 the Minister the Minister or high Priest or Bishop 283 10 prayers which are made for the good are thakesgiuings for the wicked prayers which are made for the good are thankesgiuings for the wicked 282 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 282 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 287 15 to which he reserued the number of feastes to where he goeth a bout to restraine the number of feasts to 289 24 euen against their wils to the deuotions of their order after them with emulation vnto the deuotion of their order 293 51 vnitie of the auncient Church custome of the 295 28 becoming a humble â—uter for the sence feeling of his sin and miserie suing vnto thee as often as he shal feele or finde within himselfe the sence of any euiâ— or grief whatsoeuer 296 27 towards to his people towards his people 299 37 or vs to vs 300 48 â—enio viuo 300 44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 301 33 Bishop Archbishop 301 48 found it founded it 303 41 many nations all nations 308 14 for similitie sake for Ciuilities sake or in a ciuill maner 311 30 it is meet is it meet 312 1 to haue friends in the Court to haue friendes in the Court when a ma hath any sute vnto the king 314 11 because the word dwelleth in him because the word of God dwelleth in him 315 40 Gorgia Gorgonia 316 26 at Angelos nominare atque Aâ—gelos nominare 316 44 colebant colunt 318 48 is not to be denied is not to denie 319 23 we do not adore or worship them we do not adore or worship them onely we honour them 321 23 to hot and distempered choller a man for that cause certainly vnworthy to be admitted into any disputation concerning religion to hot distempered cholleâ— which is vnworthy to haue any place in disputation of Religion 322 1 but both 325 18 praying alwayes praying also 327 18 named Madaurensis named Maximus Madaurersis 327 37 neither they neither this 329 39 supporting of the same supporting of the coÌ„trarie opinion 330 6 iudicant indicant 331 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 336 19 length greatnesse 341 11 by the light in the light 341 28 And Cassander In Cassander 341 44 no not for himselfe but for himselfe 342.47 346.49 By a man By one man 344 11 repaireth his worke he repaireth his work 348 25 in as much as it is not so much a fire which being blowen vp breedeth to such a disease as it is not able to cure vs of againe as a heape of dead ashes in as much as it is not a fire which needeth onely kindling or a disease that wanteth onely remedie but it is indeed as a heape of dead ashes 349 43 thee hereunto thereunto 350 40 But it is not it may be so bad as men report it to be But it is not it may be so bad as men report it to be 351 2 a malice malice 354 23 any righteousnesse in vs any pettie kinde of righteousnesse in vs 356 34 the the gift the gift 360 49 name the worke it giueth the denomination vnto this work 362 20 But will But well 366 4 but for the loue of himself Nay to loose but for the loue of him our selues nay to loose 367 1 of his workes To the of his workes the Greeke text readeth it plainly according to his works To the 367 52 let not a man let no man 368 2 this is that which the Councell of Orange doth hold vpon this question This is that which the Councell of Orange saith which was held about this question 369 38 sparingly circumspectly wisely 370 10 Graunt vnto vs to be GrauÌ„t vnto vs to merite to be 370 52 he retributeth them He retributeth then 372 5 Not workes Not by workes 372 21 but a word of the pride But in a word of the pride 372 31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 374 41 Essees Esseans Iewes 375 33 meanly learned reasonably well learned 376 26 I finde not my selfe greatly guiltie I finde not my selfe guiltie 376 33.34 his her 377 2 As faith As for faith in Christ 380 36 there shall not remaine any more streightnesse or anguish thorough my miserie for me It shall be neuer a whit the straicter for me 381 1 Honorius of Auston Honorius AugustiuÌ„ meÌ„tis 382 38 reprouing the wayes treading in the same steps 384 36 will be ours willeth to be ours 385 38 Thomas Sage Thomas say 385 53 is infinite and could not is infinite and therefore cannot be satisfied but by an infinit punishment which could not 386 8 sath saith 388 16 Des condigno de condigno 388 19 That in things that in things 390 6 hmuour humour 391 11 of the sonne the sonne 397 36 and was to come which was to come 397 36 and in their large wide reach rather theÌ„ in any their greatnes and in extension rather then in intentioÌ„ 400 30 That which is broght in as said by S. Gregorie may we also say together with him Which thing caused S. Gregorie to say vs with him 401 1 Minister Priest 401 34 in it in him 407 1 the brethren our brethren 409 17 transubstantiatur transubstantietur 411 17 whereas on the contrary it should proue c Notwithstanding all this is it not cleare that if their opinion take place that vnbeleeuers hypocrites do receiue the body of Christ that Christ must needes raigne in them corporally That such as are dead c 412 45 in Baptising in Baptisme 412 47 chaÌ„ging of the water changing into water 414 2 denying the truth abating somwhat froÌ„ the truth 414 18 For the sonne of God properly doth quickeÌ„ vs in that he is eternall but in that he hath made himselfe mortall For the sonne of God to speake properly doth not quicken vs in that c 415 23 did not a litle ground themselues might verie well haue grounded themselues 416 20 alwayes with vs alwayes with vs present 416 32 whereas now he is in heaueÌ„ he ceaseth not to fill the earth with his power whereas now he is in heauen in bodie he ceaseth not c. 417 4 not any more to deuide separate with Nestorius but with Eutyches to confouÌ„d and couple together the two natures not any more to deuide separate with Eutyches but with Nestorius to confouÌ„d c 417 29 if it were within the reach
FOWRE BOOKES OF THE INSTITVTION VSE AND DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EVCHARIST IN THE OLD CHVRCH AS LIKEWISE HOW WHEN And by what Degrees the Masse is brought in in place thereof By my Lord PHILIP of Mornai Lord of Plessis-Marli Councellour to the King in his Councell of Estate Captaine of fiftie men at armes at the Kings paie Gouernour of his towne and Castle of Samur Ouerseer of his house and Crowne of Nauarre The second edition reuiewed by the Author Saint Cyprian in the treatise of the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord. We ought not herein to regard what any man hath iudged meete to bee done but rather what he which was before all men euen Iesus Christ our Sauiour hath done himselfe and commaunded others to doe For we follow not the custome of man but the truth of God ALSO If some one of our predecessors haue not so obserued and kept it God may haue pardoned him in his mercie but for â—t from henceforth there will remaine no place for pardon we hauing beene instructed and admonished by him FOR THOV SHALT LABOR PEACE PLENTIE LONDON Printed by IOHN WINDEY for I. B. T. M. and W. P. 1600. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORDS AND others of her Maiesties most Hon. Priuie Councell HAuing lately right Honorable translated out of French this most learned and fruitfull Treatise of Monsieur du Plessis touching the Institution and Doctrine of the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and how and when and by what degrees the Masse hath beene brought into the Church in place thereof J haue presumed to present these my poore paines to your most fauourable acceptance and honourable patronage of the same Thus haue I thought good to do not so much in any personall respect of my owne priuate paines as in regard both of the Authour and of the matter of this Treatise For touching the Author who may bee iudged so worthy to take vpon them the protecting of the labours of a Gentleman so learned honorable as Monsieur du Plessis is being also a Councellor of State to the most Christian King as they who are likewise learned honourable and of Councell to a most religious Christian Queene As for the matter of the booke what is it els but an ample and singular Apologie of that most ancient and truly Catholike religion which her Highnes in the begining of her renowned raigne by the aduise of many most reuerend learned Diuines by the expresse warrant of the word of God by the gracious direction of his holy spirit with the free consent of all the States asseÌ„bled in Parliament did most Christianly establish euer since for the space of fortie two yeares a goodly blessed golden time the like whereunto all things well weighed no nation vnder heauen euer enioyed by the most singular prouidence of God and her princely prudence your Honors assistance hath most constantly maintained to the exceeding comfort of all her louing and loyall subiects and the great astonishment of all her enemies Embrace therefore right Honor. the excellent learning of the Author accept the trauel of the translator chiefly vouchsafe countenance and defence to the cause it selfe which is the cause of the true Catholike Church or rather of Christ from whom in most hartie humility I wish to you all the increase of all true honour here on earth and euerlasting happines hereafter in the heauens Your Honours in all humble dutie and seruice R. S. The Author his Preface to the Lords and M rs of the Church of Rome THE Apostle Saint Paul said to the Israelites his brethren according to the flesh I speake the truth in Christ Rom. 9 I lie not my conscience beareth me witnesse by the holy Ghost that I haue great heauines of hart that I could wish my self accursed to be separated from Christ for your sakes This that great Apostle notwithstanding who would not know any thing for all but Christ who desireth to be separated from all the world yea and separated in himselfe to bee with Christ and therefore verilie for some exceeding great and important cause as for to see them drawne out of the wayes of destruction into the state of saluation that is to say coupled and vnited to Christ And therefore it is most euident that hee iudged them lost in that estate wherein they were in asmuch as they coulde not bee founde in Christ and so without saluation for that they were without Christs They neuerthelesse sayth hee to whome belonged the adoption and the glorie and the couenants and the ordinances of the law and the diuine seruice and the promises of whome came the fathers and of whom according to the flesh came Christ And yet notwithstanding all this he letteth not to declare them to be of Israel and yet not Israel to be the seed of Abraham yet notwithstanding not all children because saith he the worde of God cannot fall away c. May I here my masters be so bolde as to say the like vnto you In respect of my selfe verily I may not I desire your saluation with a great affection I wish it heartilie with the hazard of this my life yea I will say in a good conscience as the saide Apostle saide vnto Agrippa That it might please God to make you all such like as I my selfe except these bondes except those afflictions whereunto this profession is subiect For what is more belongeth not to any man besides the Apostle in whome the exceeding measure of knowledge begot an exceeding measure of loue towards God and charitie towards his brethren which as we cannot imitate in effect so neither must we in worde besides that this hyperbolicall kinde of speech can hardly fit vs. But rather in respect of you I dare be bold to say more for the couenants and ordinances of the lawe and the diuine seruice and the promises were giuen vnto you long ago but not vnto you alone but not to you more then others And many fathers are sprung vp amongst you and you it may be discended of them according to the flesh but yet for all this the worde of God cannot fall away or perish no not although Christ himselfe who is God blessed aboue all things should be descended of you according to the flesh That word verily which giueth vs to vnderstande that there must fall out an apostacie in the Church that the man of sinne the sonne of perdition should sit in the Temple of God causing himselfe to be adored therein as God And seeing you cleaue vnto him vnder the shadow of this See of this pretended discent I dare bee bolde to say vnto you freely with the Apostle Deceiue not your selues with thinking your selues to be the children of Abraham for you are not children at all such as are of the faith and not of the succession Galat. 3.7 Rom. 9.8 are Abrahams children for they are the children of the promise they verily are
that the former word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was vsed and gaue it to them from hand to hand saying Drinke ye all This cuppe which the Iewes call Chos halel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cup of blessing the cup of prayse or thankesgiuing which they did blesse in these words Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of eternitie c. which hast created and made the fruit of the vine c. And in distributing it they did sing one of the Psalmes of Dauid which beginneth Halle-lu-iah Praise ye the Lord. But to the end that from thenceforth it might continue the Sacrament of the new Testament our Lord addeth thereunto these wordes For this is my blood the blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes And according to the Apostle to the end that it might be henceforth a perpetuall institution and ordinance in the Church of Christ And euermore and as oft as you shall eate of this bread and drinke of this cuppe you shall declare and shew forth the Lords death vntill his comming In the end it is said that our Lord and his Apostles did sing a Psalme and afterward went vp into the mountaine of Oliues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Munster vppon S. Marke Paulus Fagius vpon Deut. c. 8. Scaliger de Emendat temp lib. 6. Cassander in his Liturgies The Psalme I say which was wont to bee sung of the Iewes in the closing and shutting vp of this solemne feast of vnleauened bread after Supper and is recorded in their bookes of rytes to be the 114. Psalme when Israel came out of Egypt But Burgensis is of opinion that it was a Psalme composed of many Psalmes that is to say of all the Psalmes from the 113. vnto the 119. which thing is more at large to bee seene in Munster Fagius others but yet better in the Lord of Escalles his booke of the reformation of time for it goeth farre beyond all the rest in the clearing of this matter And now we haue to consider what it is that the Masse hath common and what it hath like with this holy Supper at this day this holy Supper I say wherein wee see that our Lord the Lord of the Sabbath the Lord of all the ceremonies the Lord of the law it selfe did not disdaine exactly to obserue all the circumstances of the celebrating of the same as they are ordained in the law as namely the day the houre and the manner and forme there prescribed referring the same to his true and proper vse onely and to the onely end it respected which was himselfe pointed out prefigured in the same Whereas they of the Church of Rome men sinners as all the kind of man is haue not beene ashamed to dispense with the institution of this holy Sacrament and to cut and clip it change and alter it after all after their owne best liking fashion Our Lord distributed the bread and the cup vnto his Apostles the maister of the houshold vnto his children where is there any one step or marke of this communion of this communicating in the Masse It is his will and pleasure that this holy Sacrament should be a remembrance of his death and passion vntill he come that we should comfort and strengthen our selues in this faith combine and knit our selues in mutuall loue and charity waiting for the participation of his glory that so wee might make vp perfect his body in the heauens Where is this remembrance in the Masse where euerie thing is vttered in an vnknowne language where all is done by signes whisperings mumbled vp not vnderstood the expositions whereupon are so ridiculous fantastical ful of controuersies amongst their Doctors And furthermore who euer hauing seene the celebration of the holy Supper in the first ages could once dreame of finding the same in the Masse Or who is he who giuing good and attentiue eare vnto the true institution of the Lordes Supper read as it is set downe by the Euangelists that can proue himselfe so quicke sighted as soundly from the same to gather the doctrine of the Masse But say they th'Apostles haue not set downe euerie thing there are many more ceremonies belonging thereunto Of the place Other things when I come c. 1. Cor. 11. for S. Paule himselfe saith Caetera cum venero disponam other thinges I will set in order when I come But doe they not make any conscience to comprise vnder one Et caetera the doctrine either of the sacrifice or of transubstantiation the whole force and marrow of their Masse Is it credible that S. Paul would vse such delaies in things so important and so necessary as wherein according to their owne saying resteth their saluation as without which the same cannot stand Neyther are they yet ashamed to set before vs the foundation of the Masse so huge and massie a building vpon a meere gesse supposall that hath no ground or foundation at all to rest it selfe vpon Ambros in 1. Cor. c. 11. Nay then let vs heare what the fathers say S. Ambrose He teacheth vs that we must first handle for order sake the head principall thinges concerning our saluation as wherein one cannot erre without committing of some grieuous offence Caetera but as concerning other thinges which are for the edification of the Church he passeth them ouer till his comming Chrisostome vpon this place S. Chrisost vpon the 1. Cor. c. 11. hom 28. Theod. vpon the 1. Cor. c. 11. Oecum in 1. Cor. c. 11. Gloss ordin vpon the 1. Cor. c. 11. Thomas 3. parte sum q. 64 art 2. in 1. ad Cor. where he speaketh saith he of the same thing or of some other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not verie vrgent or necessarie thereby to make them carefull to reforme their faults when they shall thinke of his comming Theodoret He could not set in order all things but hauing written of the most necessarie he reserueth the lesse necessarie till he come in person Oecumenius Either hee speaketh of the same thing as if the holy supper of our Lord had neede amongst the Corinthians to bee reformed in other pointes or else hee speaketh of some other thing which hath neede of his owne presence The ordinarie Glosse Of the same but by your selues you cannot wade any further therein Saint Thomas He speaketh vpon some slight and familiar traditions he speaketh of thinges containing no matter of waight that is to say indifferent thinges And in another place But as concerning thinges which are necessarie in the Sacrament Christ himselfe hath appointed them In like manner Caietanus Caetera inquit praenarrata that is to say the things before spoken of as that one came drunken an other hungrie that there were contentions amongst them these are the other thinges which he promiseth to redresse at his comming If then these other thinges whereof Saint Paule would speake bee not the
the Iesuite which is sung in great Greece or that part of Italie which is called Basilicata But who will belieue or giue anie credite vnto him seeing that Gregorie telleth vs and manie others after and besides him that S. Peter did celebrate the Eucharist most plainelie and simplie without adding to the words of the institution so much as the Lords prayer And who can perswade himself that the Church of Rome holding so much of S. Peter that vnder his name it exalteth it selfe aboue the whole world would offer him the iniurie as to make his Masse inferiour to that of S. Gregories yea to driue it out of Rome to restraine and keepe it within the number of a few poore priests keeping the mountaines of Basilicata And such notwithstanding altogether are the proofes which they produce for their Masses or Lithurgies which they pretend to be the Apostles Of the Masse attributed to S. Denys Acts. 17. Neither yet haue they anie firmer ground or more assured warrant for those Masses which they attribute vnto the Apostles their Disciples It is said in the Actes that Denis Areopagita was conuerted at Athens at the preaching of S. Paule a great mischief if he shall not haue left with vs the same institutiō which he receiued of Paul but yet verilie it is greater if S. Paule deliuered anie other to him then he did to the Corinthians yea such an other as he neuer receiued or was taught of Christ the Son of God In the meane time they clap vs vp together a Masse of his diuine function and seruice but farre differing as shall bee seene from that which they themselues do exercise and practise and yet notwithstanding the same hauing as little part and portion in Denys as the others had in the Apostles That wee may not alledge against them how that the stile is altogether differing from the Apostolicall manner of writing neither yet the curious speculations therein propounding and setting before vs as it were in an Inuentorie whatsoeuer is contained in the heauens howsoeuer they be expresly forbidden by that great Apostle howbeit that he had beene rapt and carried vp into the third heauen because it may bee that these thinges would not content the contentious Let vs come and see how these bookes can be thought to bee his hauing obserued the proofes to the contrarie as they follow Eusebius reckoning vp all the famous men in the Church called by the name of Denys and whatsoeuer they had written sayeth not a word of this man S. Ierome in his Catalogue of worthy men speaketh of two or three of this name but of this man or of any of his books he is not remembred Origene Chrysostome and all the first Greekes and Latines in like manner altogether as little Gregor homil 33 de decem drachmis Yea Gregorie the great citing the bookes of this Denys calleth him not Areopagite He speaketh of the consecration of Monkes who can denie but that these ceremonies were vnknowne more then three hundred yeares after Christ And that Denys speaketh also of their shauing which cannot bee proued to haue beene knowne or heard of more then 600. yeares after saue that the Fathers in generall termes did admonish those of the Clergie that they should not fashion themselues after the vaine manner of such men who gloried in their long haire Of the vse of Godfathers in Baptisme but who is hee that is able to shew out of anie old either Greek or Latine writer I say not this name but so much as any trace or smal impression of the thing for many ages after Howsoeuer they haue beene verie exact and exquisite in describing all the ceremonies obserued in Baptisme Dionisius de diuin nominib But what Denys soeuer this might bee he neuer so much as once pretendeth that it should bee the Areopagite for in his bookes of diuine names he reckoneth vp Clement the Philosopher and they will haue him to bee the Romaine but it appeareth that hee was an Alexandrian seeing it is so found and proued by a place in his viii booke hee liued about the yeare 200. And therefore further or otherwise then hee witnesseth of himselfe what haue wee to doe to expect and looke what others doe say In like manner wee see that Theodore Gaza in his preface vpon the Problemes of Alexander Aphrodiseus Theod. Gaza in praef in proble Aphrod Erasmus vpon Act. 17. Caietan vppon the Actes cap. 17. and vpon the third of the Kings Sixtus Senensis lib. 4. in dictione Athanasius dedicated vnto Pope Nicholas the fift pronounceth that these bookes of the Hierarchie were neuer made by Denys the Athenian So sayeth Erasmus also writing vpō the Acts and he addeth his reason I do not thinke sayeth he that in these first times the Christians had so manie ceremonies c. Laurentius Valla that the learned of his time did attribute them vnto one Apollinaris as also the Cardinall Caietan sheweth that they could not bee his and Sixtus Senensis dooth so faintlie and doubtfullie mantain the contradictorie part as that he reiecteth the questions concerning the old new Testament attributed to Athanasius Seeing sayth he that in the fourth question there is mention made of the misticall Diuinitie which I thinke to haue beene vnknowne at that time To bee short I doubte not but that it will befall the man whosoeuer hee bee that shall reade them through as it happened to one Gulielmus Grocinus a worthy man an English Diuine nothing suspected of our aduersaries who as Erasmus maketh mention hauing vndertaken in the time of king Henrie the eight publikelie to expound this writer in S. Paules Church in London did straine himself mightilie euen from the beginning to take away all doubt from such as should once imagine that Denys Areopagite should not be the author thereof but scarse was he proceeded to the middest before that he vnsaide it againe and was neare to haue craued pardon and foregiuenes of his auditors whereby we may note what consciences our aduersaries beare about them not letting to paye out anie manner of counterfeyted coyne whatsoeuer Nicen. Synod 2. Against all this they set the councell of Nice but let vs marke that it is the second held about the adoration and worshipping of Images about the yeare 800. and therewithall that in the same he is not called Areopagite Constantinop Syn. 3. They alledge also the Councell of Constantinople the third wherein there is a certain place though cold and blunt inough alledged about his books against the Monothelites This was helde about the yeare 680. But what is this for to proue vnto vs the antiquitie thereof For as concerning that which they take out of the first Homilie of Origen vpon S. Iohn they might blush and be ashamed seeing he nameth none but the Manichies and Arrians in that place and how long was that after him But what shal we say seeing in France where it is held that
as it is to this day vsed in the Greeke Churches But about this time the zeale of Christians waxing cold they began in the Church of Rome to deuide them into certaine peeces or pawses which were called partes to the end that seruice might be made the shorter as we reade in Optatus who citeth the 2. part of the nine and fortieth Psalme And alth ought this diuiding of Psalmes into partes may seeme to haue beene in the time of S. Hillarie yet it was not receined into the Church Epiphanius calleth them distinctions S. Ambrose in his Lithurgie Psalmulos or little Psalmes which are nothing else but verses and they were sung within a certaine time after countervoicewise one side singing one verse and an other an other Of the Institution Theodoret reporteth of Flauianus and Diodorus in Antioch Theodor lib. 2 cap. 24. that they caused them to be thus sung about the sepulchers of Martyrs but in the Latine Church Paulinus reporteth it to be by the appointment of Saint Ambrose in his Dioces which was afterward about the yeare 430. spread abroad euerie where and that by the authoritie of Pope Celestine who by name did practise it at the first beginning and entrance into ecclesiasticall or diuine seruice Of reading S. Chrysostome reporteth ordinarily When it is told thee in the church Of reading Chrysost hom 36. in 1. ad Cor. hom 3. in 2. ad Thessal Concil Laodi cap. 17. Cut diuided readings or lessons Ambr. in praefat in Psalm De Offic. lib. 1 cap. 11. 44. Seuer Sulpit. de vita S. Mart. l. 3. De Offi. l. 1. c. 8 De Virg. l. 3. ad Gratian. l. 4. c. S. Agust tract 9 in Ioann serm 236. de temp serm 7. 10. de verb. Apostol c. Beloth c. 57. Berno Radulphus The Sermon Ambr. epist 33 post tractatū S. Basil in psal 14. 114. S. August in 1. Epist S. Ioh. Amb. epist 33. S. August de ciuit l. 22. c. 8 August de doctrina Christia the Lord saith so and that the Deacon doth bid all the world to be silent and still thinke not that it is not to the ende that thou shouldest honour the reader but rather him that speaketh by his mouth Againe when thou hearest the Prophete which telleth thee the Lord saith this Remoue thy solfe O earth and rise thou higher O heauen thinke within thy selfe who it is from whom the Prophet speaketh vnto thee If these readinges had beene such as are now a daies in the Masse to what end should those exhortations of S. Chrysostome serue But the Councell of Laodicea is likewise plaine and pregnant in this point Let the Canonical scriptures be read in the church not any others S. Ambrose oftentimes What seueritie of punishment haue we established in the Church to the end that silence may bee kept whiles the scriptures are reading whereas notwithstanding the Psalmes doe keepe silence of themselues And these readinges or lessons were aswell out of the law as out of the Gospell and Apostle as appeareth in infinite places of S. Ambrose S. Augustine and others and that throughout whole books vntill such time as S. Ierome by the commandement of Pope Damascene because the lithurgy seemed as then to be too long did make an extract of certain lessons out of the Prophets Epistles Gospels wherevpon he composed the booke called Comes or the booke of lessons from which time they began to be in vse in the Church Now the Bishop or Pastor of the Church was wont to take the place whereof he wold make his sermō ordinarily out of those lessons as appeareth by those wordes of S. Ambrose S. Augustine and others so oftentimes vsed We haue heard in the lesson that hath beene read c. and vpon the same we must deliuer and speake as the Lord shall vouchsafe to enable vs c. And sometime out of the Psalme that had beene sung as may be seene in S. Basill vpon Psalme 114. Or else they tooke a whole booke as S. Augustine in his treatise vpon S. Iohn saue that vpon the daies of great feastes as the feast of the Natiuitie Easter and Pentecost they chose out picked places from thence to intreate of the historie and misterie And the sermon was called Tractatus Sermo and from thence grew these speeches Homilia tractare de superiori loco dicere siue de exedra And it was the custome of the Pastor before he began to speake to the people to pray vnto God that hee woulde shew him the fauor and mercie to teach them well and to giue them well and throughly to apprehend that which hee should teach them according to Saint Augustine his precept Before he speake let him pray vnto God for himselfe and for them to whom he is to preach and let him be saith hee Orator antequà m dictor which is let him pray before hee preach And this sermon did continue as wee learne out of Saint Basill about an houre in the ende likewise concluding the same with prayer In Saint Augustine Conuersi rursus ad Dominum c. we betake our selues againe vnto God c. And furthermore as this is the principall charge of the Ministers to preach the worde as those vnto whom our Lord deliuering his commission spake in these expresse wordes Go preach the Gospell vnto all creatures c. So haue we from these great and worthie men infinite sermons as by name from Saint Cyprian Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine S. Chrysostome S. Basill c. but not from any one of these any booke of rites or ceremonies neyther yet any patterne of any sacrifice And they let not to take great paine to prescribe and point out vnto vs the qualities of a preacher and the partes and conditions of a Bishoppe that is worthy the roome and place of teaching the people especially Saint Augustine in his bookes of Christian doctrine but for teaching of him howe many diuers wayes and with howe many ceremonies hee should say Masse or offer his pretended sacrifice they trouble not themselues at all Now after the sermon That the holy Supper was frequented at that time of al the faithful it was ordinarily the custome to beginne with the administration of the holy Supper especially during the time of their first loue and zeale when as the Christians for the most part did communicate euerie weeke yea and some euerie day the Sacramentes being neuer set vpon the Table of the Lorde but that there would bee a number of faithfull Christians to communicate thereof And furthermore S. August ad Ianuar. ep 119 Saint Augustine exhorteth the faithfull to communicate euery Lordes day Prouided saith hee that thy soule be not set vpon sinne Saint Ambrose giueth warning and admonisheth them to celebrate the memorie of the Lord euerie day rebuking certaine of the East Churches which did not communicate oftener then once a yeare And Eusebius saith that the same
it once spoken of in this signification Processions In the second place Gregorie the first had instituted a procession to bee made vppon Easter day with a supplication or Letanie Now the ordaining of these supplications or Processions did first rise vppon the occasion of publike calamities as of the plague of the earthquake c. for the taking away whereof the people ioyned together in prayers vnto God But Honorius the first appointed that euery Lordes day there should be a Procession made at Rome from the day of S. Apollinaris vnto the daye of S. Peter with Gregorie his Letanie Some attribute that ordinaunce to Agapet Sergius as a thirde Promoter of this worke of augmentation followeth aboute the yeare 690. and casteth in vnto the rest all the festiuall dayes as namelie the fowre Ladie dayes and thus more and more superstition increased as the Moone when shee is past the change vntill it had gained the place and preheminence vpon the Lords dayes and that in all places This is the thing that Charles the Great the true and trustie aduancer of all Romish inuentions speaketh of Let the Priest with the companie of singers goe aboute the Church c. This same Sergius did further appoint that whiles the bread of the Communion was in breaking there should be sung Agnus Dei c. hee gaue censers to the Churches he ordained that the Priest should make three partes of the bread which he held in the Masse according to the custome which was then established namelie that there should alwaies bee an ordinarie and set number of Communicantes and that there should not bee anie Masse without a Communion The breaking of the bread into three parts and that the casting of the bread ordained for the same into three parts should bee to the end that the Priest might haue one part the other officers of the Church an other and the people that did communicate the third But whereas then also these priuate Masses beganne in which the same order of breaking and deuiding of the bread into the said partes was continued notwithstanding that no man but the Priest alone did receiue eate of it that no absurdity might seeme to cleaue vnto this practise it was clapt into a misticall matter the meaning whereof sayeth hee is Because that one parte of Christ is risen another parte walking vppon earth and a thirde parte of him remaining in the Sepulcher c. Others there are who had rather vnderstand it to signifie and haue relation to the faithful in heauen on earth and in Purgatorie Others again vnderstand thereby the Patriarkes Abraham Isaac and Iacob and so euery man according as his inuention pleased him The Pax. and Allegories likewise of the same stampe The fourth Maister of this augmentation was Innocent the first who in steade of the custome vsed amongst the auncient faithfull to kisse in signe of peace ordained a Canon whereout leapte that law decree of Charles the great Lib. 1. c. 53. l. 5. c. 94. Vt pax detur ab omnibus confectis Christi sacramentis that is that the peace that is the kisse of peace shold be giuen of al c. And he yeeldeth a reason because that therein is signified the true concord c. Now a little before the time of Charles the great Leo the second had changed the same into superstition ordayning in stead thereof the plate of siluer or copper which is wont to bee held out to kisse after the consecration Of taking of the Eucharist with the mouth Lib. 7. cap. 367 Concil Altifiod c. 36.37 which within a while after was receiued together with the rest of the ceremonies The fift practise of augmentation was that where the Eucharist had wont to bee deliuered into the hands of the Communicantes yea and that in the time of Charles the great as appeareth by this Canon Vt qui acceperint sumant That those which haue taken it with their hand may take it with their mouth for otherwise let them bee shutte out and excluded for sacrilegious persons It was now forbidden women to touch it with their naked handes yea and to touch the linnens wherein the Sacramentes were wrapped far from the practise which was vsed by Gorgonia the sister of Nazianzene who handled it with her handes and kept it about her going aboute her busines Then they beganne to giue it them at their mouthes Alber. Krantz in Metrop l. 1. c. 19. Beda de rat temp lib. 2. Paul Diacon l. 6. de gestu Longobard Adon. aetat 6. Many Masses as wee reade of Iustinian in Nicomedia who tooke it with his mouth at the hand of the Bishoppe of Rome and of Witikind which saw as hee said a little childe who had it giuen into his mouth for euen such fables were plentifull at this time The sixt there was wont to bee celebrated but one common supper for all and so by consequent they had in euerie Temple or Church but one Table or Altar But as the people grew slower and slower in communicating so they perswaded them so much the more to bring offrings yea constrained them thereto by the Canons of their Synods and by the lawes of the Empire and to this end they made men belieue that it was sufficient for them to bee present onelie so that they forget not to offer in so much that Masses and Altars did multiplie the communion in the meane time withering and falling away and that so farre foorth as that the Priestes themselues sometimes did not receiue it Lib. 7. c. 50. though they had consecrated the same This is faithfully witnessed by Charles the great his lawes Let the people bee warned to offer Iugiter continuallie Whereas the former went no further but to communicate often and the reason is added Because that these offringes are verie profitable for those which offer and for theirs Lib. 6. c. 16â— Concil Altissi cap. 10. Againe Let the people offer daylie to the Priests or at the least euerie Lords day c. And for the multiplying of Masses these goodlie Canons It is not lawfull to say two Masses vpon one Altar in one day neyther yet for any Priest to say anie the same daye vpon the Altar whereupon the Bishoppe shall haue saide one And of the not communicating of the Priestes themselues Wee will sayeth Charles That so oft as the Priest doth offer the bodie and blood of Christ so oft hee doe receiue the same c. Because sayeth the Canon manie doe otherwise as it is reported vnto vs Concil Tolet. 12. De consecr Dict. 2. c Relatum est Lib. 6. Car. c. 118. Concil Worm c. de purgand Monach. Concil Altisiod c. 12. Carol. lib. 1. cap. 161. insomuch as that there is neede that the Emperour his authoritie shoulde prouide for the same The seauenth and by this you may see how farre the abuse was now growne namelie as that if a Monke had robde
Idols which they haue learned of their Fathers That wee must cleaue and sticke to God as hee is manifested vnto vs in his Scriptures August l. 3. de doctrin Christ Idem de locu ad Genes As for that which is obiected of the Cherubins they answere it by S. Augustine That there is a commaundement from God for the making of them and that it is the taking of the signes for the thinges To the annointing of the pillar of stone by Iacob they likewise answere from the said S. Augustine That Iacob did it to signifie a mysterte in the annointing of this stone and not for to honour the pillar of stone Comming in the end to that point as to affirme That when there had neuer been anie Images in the Church that then faith hope and charitie were no whit in worse plight and that when they are in the same for monuments and remembrances simplie that then the same vertues are not thereby embased or made worse But that they may not be forced vpon them who would not haue them nor permitted them in any wise who would haue them to worship them in any maner or sort whether it be by praying vnto them kissing them or gilding them and much lesse in offering vnto them c. Now this booke is sent vnto Pope Eugenius the second by the foresaide Emperours by the hands and mediation of the Bbs. Ieremy and Ionas that they may impart the same vnto him being therewithall inioyned to beseech him in their names that he would examine it throughlie and shew himself willing and forward to satisfie the consciences of the Emperours of the East as also that hee would vouchsafe to send his Legates together with the saide two Bishoppes vnto them with whome they shall also finde for the same purpose at the place of taking shippe Halitgarius and Amalarius in the behalfe of the Synode for the better yeelding of an answere and reason of the resolution and iudgement which they embraced and approued therein And it is to be marked that in the letters which they writ vnto Ieremie and Ionas containing their aduise how to demeane themselues they writte vnto them that they should intreate the Pope kindlie and rather to incline to yeeld and giue place then to dispute and argue the matter for feare say they of incensing the Romish obstinacre pertinaciam Romanam whereby hee might take such an opinion as from which he would neuer be remoued This was in the yeare 825. Anno 825. Of the Crosse As concerning the Crosse we haue seene what the olde Writers haue taught againe it is verie certaine that those ages were far off from that which is practised at this daye For the Synode of Francford speaketh of the Crosse after the maner of S. Paule and of the purer antiquitie vnderstanding by the same the whole mysterie of our redemption accomplished vpon the Crosse as likewise the afflictions which happen continuallie amongst the members of Christ In this sence S. Paule sayeth That he gloryeth in the crosse and woulde haue that Iesus Christ should be crucified daylie before our eyes that is that wee shoulde euerie howre remember the sham full and ignominious death which he hath suffered for vs by dying for our sinnes Chrysost ho. 1. 2 de Cruce Homil. de Cruce latrone de Cruce Dominica and so seeke for our life in him In the same sence Chrysostome sayeth The Cross is vnto vs the cause of all blessednes the hope of the Christians the resurrection of the dead and the ouer throw of the Diuell But of what Crosse doth hee speake assuredlie of the same whereof hee had spoken before To day he did hang vpon the Crosse that is of the death and passion of our Lord That Crosse saieth hee which he hath not left here vpon earth but carried vppe to heauen that is which hee hath ouercome by his resurrection which he hath garnished and cloathed with all manner of glorie that Crosse which wee must beare Not by laying sayeth hee a peece of wood vpon our shoulders but by preparing and making our selues readie to shed our blood at all occasions for his glorie c. And S. Augustine in like manner All the sacraments are perfected by the Crosse S. August For what are the sacraments both of the olde and of the new law but dumbe signes without this Crosse Likewise Honorius Bishoppe of Autun Honor August in Cemma Animae Nowise man worshippeth the Crosse but rather Christ that was crucified thereon c. notwithstanding that he liued in the midst of grosse and palpaple darkenes But what Communion or Fellowshippe is there betwixt the Crosse thus taken and vnderstood and these two crosse peeces of wood wherto Ionas doth applie the former benefits blessings or with this doctrine of Pope Adrian That when we see the Crosse we must say vnto it We worship the Crosse and we worship the Speare c. And therefore the foresaid Claudius Bishoppe of Turin and brought vp from his childhoode vnder Charles the Great Adrian in Ep. ad Constan Iren. reasoned verie well to the purpose and doubtles like vnto himselfe both for his stile and intention saying If we must worship the Crosse because that our Lord sufferd his death and passion vpon such a peece of wood then let vs worship all virgins because hee was borne of a virgin let vs also worship the maunger and swathing cloutes because hee lay therein because he was wrapped therein thornes reedes and speares for such were instruments vsed about him in his passion Asses for Jesus entred into Ierusalem sitting vpon an Asse c. But so the truth is that our Lord hath commaunded vs to beare and not to worshippe the Crosse c. And I doe not as yet see that Ionas hath deuised or found out anie thing to aunswere him withall As for the second Councell of Nice as it was in all mens sight ill begunne so it contented not the consciences of the Grecians in anie respect at all For Constantine as he grew out of his minoritie and came to age and his libertie did repeale difanull the same The Emperour Michaell did set it vppe again and persecuted the gainsayers The Emperour Leo the fourth an Armenian encouraged by the Monkes of Greece which cried out that to worshippe Images was idolatrie did pull them downe againe Michael le Begue and Theophilus his sonne Zona tom 3. did chastise and correct such as did maintaine them Theodore his wife came by his death to the Regencie and being perswaded by other Monkes did reestablish them with great seueritie Her sonne Michael Bardus being come to full age did destroy and ouerturne them againe Likewise Zonara the great patron and maintainer of Images doth tell vs that he made the Pope his Legate to consent and agree thereunto Insomuch as that pope Adrian obtained of Basill the successor of this Bardus that there shoulde a Councell
his soueraigne and singular workes of creation and gouernment in the creatures also there are some vertues which are communicated vnto them by God in the Image there is neither the one nor the other Polyd. Virgil. l. 6. c. 13. for it can neither see heare nor vnderstand c. Polydor Virgill doth likewise take offence against these superstitions and concludeth in these wordes Wee are fallen into such a vaine of follie and doting rage towardes our Images as that the duties and seruices of pietie Caietan in Pentatcu Exod. c. 20. which wee seem to performe in that behalfe are nothing but verie impieties themselues The Cardinall Caietanus is taken vppe and checked for comprising and lapping vppe together both the Idoll and the Image in a like defence notwithstanding that he make a distinction inter Dolatum Similitudinem in respect of the wordes and Paulus Burgensis likewise one of the most learned Hebricians which had beene amongst them and in whome notwithstanding our aduersaries do place and put their chiefest hope of defence Paulus Ricius sayeth franklie and freelie after hee had weighed all the reasons and aunsweres to the same which were brought to that ende and purpose If wee must abstaine from thinges sacrificed to Idols because of the infirme and weake in faith how much more then whatsoeuer Thomas can say from this pestilent worshipping'of Images c These are the wilde vine growing vp and ouerspreading the natural vine of Christ these are the Darnell in his field The Iewes haue brought in the works of the law the Gentiles Images c. which I would to God that they had neuer come in our Temples then we should haue learned to haue lift vp our hearts to heauen in stead of bowing and casting them down to fixe them vpon Images In a word Ludouicus Viues writing vpoÌ„ S. Augustine saith That he cannot see any difference betwixt certain Christians addicted to the honouring of Images and the Pagans worshipping their Idols And Erasmus concludeth That it is more safe and sure to take them away then to expect or waite vntill there be some rule good directions for the moderating of the same Cassand in Consult deuised and established But Cassander after that hee hath alleadged Biel saith Who shall be able to do it who shall be able to bring backe the people from this their entred course of superstition especiallie seeing that such as teach them are themselues the authors of these superstitions Michael Episc Mersburg in Cathechismo are those that nourish and cherish them in their harts to the end they may sucke out some profite from them But our Fathers of the Councell of Trent imagined that they had well looked into the curing of all the mischiefes threatned against them by all these so euident testimonies when they ordained in their Index expurgatorius that these places of Polydor Viues Erasmus Cassander and others should be raced and left out in the first impression insuing But the very defenders of these abuses coÌ„mitted in this our time haue bin in some sort ashamed of their doctrine as Martinus Peresius Ambrosius Catharinus Nicolaus Saunderus intreating of this matter holding against Thomas Scotus BonaueÌ„tura That the Images cannot be worshipped after the same maner that the persons may whom they do represent And Alphonsus of Castres their resuter of heresies proceedeth yet further That wee must not at all worship or doe any reuerence vnto Images but rather before the Images for feare of being condemned for Heretikes our selues And Bellarmine willing to set them at one commeth so farre as to saye Bellar. de Ima l. 2. First That we must honour but not adore or worship them by praying vnto theÌ„ Secondly That no man may teach especiallie in any sermons that they ought to be worshipped with Latria no not the Image of Christ himselfe but rather the contrarie Where is now the second Nicene Councell affirming That there is but one kind of Worshippe one I say for the originall and for the image framed after the same c Thirdlie That images cannot properlie and of themselues be worshipped as the patternes themselues whereby they are made and that neither Latria nor Huperdulia nor yet Dulia or any other adoration or seruice is properlie due vnto them but I know not what after the proportion of those whereof they are Images What will now become of Thomas his ordering of the controuersie betwixt Scotus and Bonauentura c And finallie That there is no other honour dew vnto them then such as is vouchsafed and giuen to the bookes and vessels of the Church as to the cups and their couerings c. And what is now become of these kneelings inuocations and cleare euident worshippings For who did euer worship the Masse books the holy linnens or cups c But how much more brief and shorter course had it bin to haue held themselues to the pure vndefiled word of God to the obseruatioÌ„s of the ancient church theÌ„ to incumber the people with so manie superstitions ignorances and impieties as that no man is able to free them againe no not with all the distinctions limitations fine deuises or shifts that can be imagined And how much better had it been to haue followed the counsell of Gratianus in his Decree and that vpon far better ground Gratian D. 63. C. Qâ—ia Sancta seeing that all Images in the Church of Rome are of mans ordinance whereas the brasen Serpent in Israel was of Gods ordinance And notwithstanding hee saith Ezechias destroyed the brasen Serpent which Moses had set vp in the desart by the expresse commaundement of God because the people moued by the miracles which they saw betooke themselues to the worshipping of it whereupon saith he we see the greatnes of the authoritie of the church as that if our fathers predecessors haue done any thing in their time blameles without falt that the same afterward do turn into superstition or error that theÌ„ in such case the succeeding persons are to destroy and vndoe the same without delay that with great authority In the ende they make God a party with them It is he say they who hath taught it vs for wherfore did he commaud Moses to erect a brasen Serpent in the desert and to make Cherubins ouer the Arke As if God had bound himself by the commandements that he hath giuen vs and left vs free As if Abraham had aunswered God I will not sacrifice my Son for thou hast said Thou shalt not kill But wee haue authority to beare vs out for the caruing and worshipping of Images let them shew vs a contrary commandement forbidding vs to make any To this blasphemous obiection by which they make God the author of their abhomination they shal be aunswered by Tertullian for me Tertullian being beaten with this argument by the Idolaters of his time Tertul. de Idolo for euen
and that is it which galleth them most S. Paul to the Romaines alleadgeth Esay I liue saith the Lord that euerie knee shall bow before me Rom. 14. Esay 45.13 and euerie tongue shall giue praise vnto God There was greater show why it should be vnderstood of worshipping and adoration and yet he expoundeth it of the iudiciall throne of Christ Tertull. ca 17 1. de Trinit Thom in Ep. ad Philip. c. 2. and of his last iudgement And indeed Tertullian vnderstandeth it of subiection and not of adoration The ordinarie Glose saith here As well the Angels as men and the Diuell Thomas likewise The Angels willingly and freely the Diuels will they nill they That is saith hee according to that which S. Iames saith that euen the Diuels themselues doe tremble Rom. 9. S. Ambrose interpreteth it by this place of the Epistle to the Romaines Which is God blessed aboue all things c. For saith he there is nothing in the world but heauenly earthly or infernall things and referreth it to the authoritie that Christ holdeth of the Father Chrysost ad Philip. c. 2. Haimo Caict in Ep. ad Philip. c. Chrysostome to the glorie of Christ vnder which both men and Angels and Diuels doe bow and stoupe euen all both iust and righteous as also the sinners and rebellious And Haimo Hugo and Caietan after the same manner And in deed Bellarmine dare not vrge this place neither yet that of the Apocalips but confesseth that they proue not the matter Neither hath it beene alleadged by any certaine Monkes onely of this time and age excepted who make vp their Purgatorie of whatsoeuer commeth to their hands euen as franticke men who sansie euerie thing that is said vnto them For how was it possible for the old writers to find it here vnder the earth when as Saint Gregorie sought it in hotte waters in bathes and in the shadowes of trees When Alcuinus seated it in the ayre betwixt heauen and earth When the certaine place where it was was vncertaine vnto them vntill the time of Beda to whome I know not what spirit did reueale it to bee vnder the earth In the first of S. Peter Christ saith he hath suffered once for sinnes 1 Pet 3.18 c. being mortified in the flesh but quickned by the spirit by the which he also went and preached to the spirits that were in prison This prison say they is Purgatorie Let them reade that which followeth and then they will vnsay it againe Hauing beene disobedient in times past when as the patience of God did once attend and waite in the daies of Noe c. The question then is about matters happening in the daies of Noe Now they are not yet resolued that there was any Purgatorie in the time of the olde Testament And in deed they haue euermore expounded this place of the limbes so that by building their Purgatory vpon this place they haue broken downe the partition wall Againe the Gospell is preached to be heard vnderstood and receiued in faith And they themselues doe affirme that faith is not begotten or to be come by in Purgatorie To what end or vse then should this preaching serue in Purgatorie Againe to the vnbelieuing disobedient for whome according to their owne doctrine purgatorie was neuer builded Now in deed the true sence and meaning is that the spirit of Christ at all times hath called men to repentance yea euen in the daies of Noe those rebellious persons who abused the patience and long suffering of God and who notwithstanding standing out disobedient vnto the same are therefore holden captiues in prison that is to say in eternall punishment And the Greeke article leadeth vs hereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prison when the question is of spirites is ordinarily taken for here In the Apocalyps Sathan shal be let loose from his prison and elsewhere Apoc. 20. 2. Pet. 2. Iude 1. The Deuils are tyed vp in chaines of darknesse in euerlasting bondes c. But seeing they will not accept of our expositions yet at the least I would haue them to stand to the fathers Clement Alexandrine saith Clem. l. 6 that Christ and the Apostles did preach the Gospell vnto the damned but this hee taketh out of certaine Apocrypha writinges attributed vnto Saint Peter and S. Paule who had corruptly vnderstood this place In ep ad Epict. Athanasius saith that during the time that the bodie was in the graue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word went to preach to the spirites that were in hell that is to say saith Damascene Damasc l. 3. de Orthod fid c 6. Not for to conuert them to the faith but to conuince them of their vnbeliefe this preaching being no other thing but a manifesting of his deitie vnto the infernall powers by the descending of Christ into hell S. Augustine ad Euodium handleth this verie place August ad Euod epist 99. and turneth it into all the waies that it may bee taken and vnderstood that so hee might come by the true sence and yet hath not remembred Purgatorie in any one small word in the end he concludeth thus That to the end that hee may auoide the inconueniences that follow other expositions it must bee vnderstood not of any going downe into hell but of the operation and powerfull working of his deitie which he exercised from the beginning of the world that is to say that he preached vnto them which liued here below imprisoned in this mortall bodie by the spirit of his diuine nature sometimes by inward and secret inspirations and sometimes by outward admonitions proceeding from the mouth of the iust And thus it is to bee seene how that for Purgatorie hee vnderstandeth this present life Thom. 3. p. ◠62. art 2. And Thomas doeth likewise approue the same handling this question of purpose To bee shorte Cardinall Hugo saith In carcere in the prison of sinne and vnbeliefe c. And their Glosse Of the darknesse of infidelitie or of carnall desires c. And Lyranus bound and chained with the common custome of sinne And as concerning the whole place they vnderstand it Of the preaching of Noe which he practised amongst the infidels of his time Heb. 13. to draw them to repentance by the spirit of Christ for saith he Christ is yesterday and to day the same and for euer and euer what maketh all this then for Purgatorie In the first of S. Iohn If any man see his brother sinne a sinne that is not to death 1. Iohn 5.16 let him aske of God and he will gine him life to all them I say which doe not sinne vnto death There is a sinne vnto death I doe not say that thou shouldest pray for it c. From hence they inferre those which sinne vnto death Are those that persist in infidelitie saith Saint Augustine euen vnto
death and for such wee ought not to pray either whiles they liue August de cor grat c. 12. or when they are dead For such then as haue shewed some repentance or which haue sinned venially wee must pray both whiles they liue and when they be dead But how can this be gathered out of this text wherein the Apostle speaketh directly of them with whom we liue Idem in Enchir ad Laurent c. 82. Idem de scrm Domini in Monte. Tertul. l. de pudicitia and whose workes we see of the dead not so much as one word They alleadge vnto vs S. Augustine who expoundeth it of perpetuall impenitencie let them not then dissemble how that in another place hee expoundeth it of certaine kindes of sinnes as also doth Tertullian Neither would I haue them to conceale it how that the most parte of the old writers doe dissent from Saint Augustine as Saint Ierome Athanasius Chrysostome Saint Basill Saint Ambrose c. all which though they vnderstand by this sinne vnto death the sinne against the holy Ghost yet therewithall they vnderstande that this is not a finall impenitencie which is not discerned but at the time of death but an obstinate sinne which is committed in the life time and in the course of the same Saint Mathew saith That this sinne is not pardoned either in this world or in the world to come In this world that is to say in this life and in this sence our aduersaries doe alledge it against vs but they doe not remember themselues of any thing els The Apostle to the Hebrewes saith It is impossible that such persons should bee renewed by repentance Hebr. 6. Then they may bee impenitent yea sinne vnto death before death But what manner of conclusion will there follow hereof in the end Wee must not pray for such as sinne vnto death therefore wee must pray for the deade which sinne not vnto death Againe wee must pray to the ende that life may bee giuen them that is to say to the ende that their sinnes may bee pardoned Now is it not a point of their doctrine that sinnes do not come in purgatorie but that there is onely the punishment of sins but and if any sinnes yet none but those that are sleight ones But in their conclusion they except not any sinne saue that which is vnto death To be short to such as well consider the text it will appeare that they are so farre off from reasoning according to it as that in deed they reason directly to the contrarie And furthermore not one of the old writers neither yet of the newe doeth alleadge it to this purpose although the greatest part do handle and expound the same and that to another end Now these are all the places of the new Testament from which they go about to proue their purgatorie places that are obscure and hard and diuersly interpreted by the Doctors but either in a farre other sence then our aduersaries take them or else mystically and metaphorically for the most part and therefore not to be alleadged in any controuersie of diuinitie no more then in anie other for controuersies cannot bee discussed by textes in controuersie And this is the reason why the good man Perion said That in all the canonical scripture he knew not any place eyther prouing purgatorie Roffensis or praier for the dead And the Bishop of Rochester That of a truth there is not any place for the prouing of the same except it bee some such as is very intricate And Petrus a Soto after him That there is not any cleare euidence and testimony in the scripture for Purgatorie but that many other thinge ought to bee belieued which are not contained therein To what end therefore serueth all this shamelesse dealing thus to tumble tosse the scripture vpside downe thus to racke and torment all the textes one after another seeing they know in their consciences that the scripture knoweth not any purgatorie But for certaine that text which knoweth not to agree any whit with their exposition doeth know well enough to admit and receiue ours It doeth not know theirs Mark 16. being alwaies for the proofe of that third pretended place for it saith Who so shall belieue and be baptised shall be saued but hee that shall not haue belieued shal be condemned Iohn 3 c. Againe God hath sent his onely Sonne into the world to the ende that hee that shall belieue in him might not perish but haue euerlasting life Hee that belieueth in him is not iudged but he that belieueth not in him is alreadie iudged c. Againe He that belieueth in him which hath sent me hath eternal life he cometh not into iudgement he is already past froÌ„ death tâ—olife And so passed the theefe into Paradice the same houre Againe Blessed are they that die in the Lord Rom. 4. for from that time saith the spirit they rest from their labours blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiuen But according to their owne sayings the sins of those which are in their Purgatory are they not remitted are they not dead in the Lord And yet what time must they indure in the burning and flaming fire of this purgatorie And thus sayeth Saint Paule That there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ And thus said our Lord to that man Let the dead burie the dead who would not haue hindred him from performing any worke of charitie And S. Paule againe Take no care for those which sleepe All these places of scripture cannot stande with Purgatorie But they haue very well knowne ours euen Christ the eternall Son of God who by himselfe hath wrought the purging away of our sinnes Apocal. 14. Heb 1. Hebr. 9. Tit. 2. Ephes 5. 1. Iohn 1. whose blood cleanseth our consciences from the workes of death who hath giuen himselfe for to purge a people peculiar to himselfe to cleanse a Church for himselfe by the washing of water in the word who purgeth and cleanseth vs by his blood from all sin In so much as that through that confidence which we haue in this our so sufficient Purgatorie we are able to say without fearing any other I desire to bee loosed and to depart from hence and to bee with Christ Because likewise that wee know that if the tabernacle of this our house of earth be dissolued Philip. 1.2 Cor. 5. we shall haue abuilding with God and that not such a building as is made with hands but eternally abiding in the heauens And that not after some intermission of time but presently and forthwith hodié inquam to day euen from the houre in which hee shall call vs out of this world because that we belieue in him And therefore also wee haue alreadie attained life yea we are alreadie passed from death to life CHAP. VIII That neither the Primitiue Church nor the fathers of the same for the space of many
are deliuered out of purgatorie by Masses But they should rather be ashamed seeing that the worde Masse is not found no not so much as once onely in all Saint Ierome Seeing also that this booke cannot be his because it citeth S. Gregorie who liued more then a hundred and fiftie yeares after And in deed this booke is found written by hand vnder the name of Beda and there is neither the time nor the stile that are repugnant to the same And the same is well allowed of by Marianus Victorius Bishop of Amerin who caused them to be imprinted amongst the works of S. Ierome vnder the name of Beda And as for Chrysostome he earst while expounded vnto vs the place of the Epistle to the Corinthians of hell and not of Purgatorie And Marke Bishop of Ephesus in his Apologie which he presented for the Greeke Churches in the Councell of Basill auoucheth that he neuer thought of purgatorie In like manner we haue seene here before that he hath razed the foundations there of partly by establishing the ful remission of sinnes in Christ and partly in acknowledging but two places or waies to be gone after this life But some obiect vnto vs After what sort maner the ancient fathers did vse â—o speake of a third place that certaine of the olde fathers haue acknowledged a third place diuers both from that of glorie and the other of eternall condemnation Neither doe I denie it but they must as freely acknowledge in what manner for it hath beene a question in ancient time whether at the time of departing out of this life the faithfull were receiued into their fullest glory and the vnfaithful cast into the extremitie of their miserie or els whether they were reserued in certaine places till after the resurrection that is the faithfull in a place of rest where they began to tast their ioyes and the vnbelieuers in a place of miserie where they also began to feele their miserie But these places were neuer imagined to put any distinction and difference betwixt faithfull and faithfull but betwixt the faithfull and vnfaithfull Againe they neuer meant that the faithfull were there in any torment but in rest not in any heat of burning fire but in a place of refreshment which likewise they called by the name of Refrigerium And this place wherein they abode waiting and expecting the day of iudgement they called Abrahams bosome the sweet rest vnder the Altar the Paradice alluding vnto the place of S. Luke 16.23 and that of S. Iohn in the Apocalips 6. And the place to be possessed by them after iudgement they called The celestiall bosome the Altar from on high the celestiall hauen c. And it is to bee taken in this sence which Ireneus saith Iren. l. 5. aduers haeres That the soules of the disciples of our Lord for which he hath fully accomplished the misteries of redemption do go into an inuisible place appointed for them of God and there shall attend the resurrection And that which Iustinus Martyr demandeth by way of question Iust Mart. l. quaest 76. q. namely what it profited the theefe to enter into Paradice seeing there is no crowning of any til after the resurrection answereth Eeuen thus much saith he in that he was vouchsafed the companie of the blessed Tertul. l. 3. c. 14 l. 4. aduer Marcion c. 34. In Apol. c. 47. de anim c. 7.9 55.56 vlt. de resur carn 17. de iudicio Dom. c. 11. Idem de Anima passim Nouat de Trinit c. 1. Orig. hom 7. in Leuit. l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 waiting for the day of reward and recompence c. That which Tertullian teacheth in infinite places That the bosome of Abraham is a place of eternitie to those that are deade in his faith if not heauenly yet at the least higher then hell which giueth rest and refreshment vnto the soules of the righteous vntill the accomplishment and perfecting of all thinges in the resurrection that heauen is not open to any so long as the earth is intire and whole Terra adbuc salua ne dixerim clausa And that together with the consummation of the world the kingdome of heauen should be opened That in these low places all the soules haue betwixt here and there the one sort their punishmentes the other their comfortable refreshmentes c. That Origene saith That Abraham Isaac and Iacob the Prophets and Apostles haue not yet receiued their ioyes that they there wait and attend vs that so they and wee may receiue them all together soiourning in the meane time saith hee as in a place of studie or instruction in a schoole of soules where they are taught in all such thinges as they had not seene here below but as in riddles and figures Ambr. l 2. c. 2. de Cain Abel Idem de bono mortis c. 10. Chrisost hom 39. n. 1. Cor. 24. Idem in hom 28 ad Heo hom 7. Idem hom ad Pop. Antioch 33. in Mat. 53. in Genes 40. Lactan. l. 7. c. 21. instit Victor in Apocal c. 6. Theod. in ep ad Hebr. c. 11. Hom 34. auth oper imperf in Mat. Areth. in Apocal c. 6. Bernar. in loc c 6 Apoc. serm 4 in sestum ommuÌ„ SanctoruÌ„ Oecum ad Heb. c. 11. Theoph. ad Heb. Euthym. in Luc. c. 23. August l. 1 c. 14. retract In Psal 36. In Genes l. 12 c. 9. In Enchirid. c. 108. Chrysost hom 69. ad Pop. Antioch Idem ad Rom. hom 33. Idem ad Philip hom 4. Occan in oper 93. dierum Adrian 6. l. 4. sent in fine q. de Sacram. confirm Saint Ambrose who treadeth in his steppes That the day of iudgement is like vnto that of wrastlers in asmuch as that in one day the vanquished are ashamed and the vanquishers receiue the garland and price and that betwixt here and there the soules are in their places of receipt waiting for the fulnes of time Saint Augustine That after this life wee are not in the place where the Saintes shall be when it shall bee said to them Come ye blessed c. But rather there where Lazarus was whom the rich man saw in rest c. Chrysostome That those which suffered for Christ before vs although they went before vs in the combat shall not any whit preuent vs in the wearing of the crowne That the crowne is set vpon all mens heades at once and not at seuerall times and that after the resurrection That betwixt here and there that is betwixt death and the iudgement soules are reserued in a place which is ordinarily called Abrahams bosome and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the porch of the Saintes wherein they are in rest expecting the fulnesse of their glorie And in reading of Lactantius Victorinus Martyr Theodoret the Authour of the imperfect worke vppon Mathew Arethas Theophilact Oecumenius Euthimius and Saint Bernard also who bare a greater stroke therein then any
ashamed thereof and so omitted in the twentieth Canon to which he reserued the number of feastes to speake any word of this feast which is at this day growen so famous and solemne a thing Here notwithstanding we haue two things to obserue The one is that these superstitions were not receiued all at one blow in so large a measure For in the third Synode of Toledo it is ordained That the dead shal be conueighed to the graue with singing of Psalmes onely in hope of the resurrection This was about the yeare 650. And euen at the same time when Boniface Archbishop of Mentz was sent by Pope Gregorie the third to reforme the Churches of Germanie after his fashion Hee found not any of these offeringes for the dead in the countrie but hee brought them in there by the commandement of this Gregorie And this was about the yeare 800. Carol. Mag. l. 1 c. 83. And Charles the great to represse these beginninges thought good to limit the same to the end that they might not runne on to the ruine and vndoing of inheritours and other children that were then but yong in like manner he ordained to what vse the oblations that were offered should serue namely two thirds to be giuen to the poore and one third to the Cleargie Innocent 3. in Extrauag de Presbyt non baptizato The decree of Innocent the third is not sleightly here to be passed ouer of a priest vnbaptised and yet dying in the faith of Christ whom hee affirmeth Caeleste gaudium incunctanter adeptum to haue obtained eternall life without delay or stay ordaining notwithstanding that praiers and sacrifices should be offered vp for him Where we will note two things The first that the way to heauen by purgatorie was not in his iudgement necessarie seeing that an vnbaptised priest had nothing to do there The second That the praiers for the dead do not presuppose a purgatorie seeing he ordained them for one whom he belieued affirmed to bee alreadie in Paradice And it is not to be stood vpon here that Panormitan saith that hee had obtained it Spe non re in hope but not in deed Bellarm. l. 1. de eccles Triumph c. 1. 2 For Bellarmine himselfe alleadgeth this place against those which denied that the faithfull departed did enioy the sight of God before the day of iudgement Let vs adde hereunto that in all the vigiles of the dead there is not a word mentioned of purgatorie nor yet of the fire or paines from which the dead are to be released by the diligence and carefulnesse of those that are aliue but rather there is speech laying out the miseries of this life the mercifulnesse of God repentance and reconciliation with him whiles wee are here by Iesus Christ the blessed life and the resurrection of the dead c. All of them lessons of consolation for such as are liuing who were accustomed after the death of their kinsfolkes to call the Ministers of the Church vnto their houses to spend the night with them in these holy meditations Playing the Philosophers saith Chrysost according to the word of God whereupon they were called vigils whereas they are so called now a daies though they fall to be kept at high noone The other is Resistances that these superstitions likewise were not receiued without contestation for after the sharpe contentions which were in the Church in the time of S. Augustine which wrought this effect that Purgatorie was left indifferent About the yeare 1200. as time grew on God who neuer leaueth himselfe without testimony vnto the face of the world that so he might make it inexcusable raised vp some to withstand the same in diuers places and at diuers times In the East the fift generall Councell which quenched and quite put out the fire of Purgatorie in the East Church that almost at the same time that Gregorie did blow it vp in the Latine and that after so sure a maner as that it was neuer able to recouer either heate or light since then in those Churches Nilus de purg And this appeareth by the Apologie put vp by the Greekes in the Councell of Basill and by a treatise of purgatorie made by Nilus Archb. of Thessalonica And in the West Churches the disputation held by Claudius Archbishop of Turin in the time of Lewes the Gentle against the superstitions of the Church of Rome and particularly against this same Anno 900. about the yeare 900. The lectures and publike sermons of Peter de Bruits and Henrie his successor at Tholosa who taught for the space of thirtie yeare throughout all Languedoc and Guienne That Christ was not sacrificed a new vppon the Altar in the Masse That this oblation was not offered for the saluation of soules That the Masses praiers other works of the liuing for the dead were vnprofitable foolish Petr Cluniacens l. 1. impious And these things we shuld not know how to come by to haue vnderstanding of the same but that Peter Abbot of Clugni reporteth the same vnto vs who no doubt forgot not to darken and ouershadow their doctrine so much as lay in him And it is to be noted that this Peter was in the end burned aliue and notwithstanding Henry continued aliue and tooke his place Anno 1100. This was about the yeare 1100. The bookes of Arnoldus Villanouanus a Spaniard by nation excellently learned in the languages Hebrew Greeke Latine Arabicke a great Philosopher and Diuine in which there is set downe amongst diuers others this generall Proposition That we must not either make satisfaction or offer any sacrifice for the dead This was about the yeare 1200. Anno 1200. At the same time the Waldenses in France taught That the true and onely purgatorie was in this life in the precious blood of Iesus Christ and not elsewhere That the Masses were sacriledges and not sacrifices which rob and steale away the honour due vnto the merit of our Sauior c. who after they had maintained their doctrine in many Synodes in Languedoc and Guyenne as appeareth by the very histories of the aduersaries were in the ende oppressed and borne downe by force of armes the Christian forces leuied against the Turkes and Sarasins being set on worke to do this feat And notwithstanding they were not so wholly extinguished but that their ashes sowen by the prouidence of God throughout all Europe did afterward stifle and choake these abuses of our age throughout the better part of Christendome Now when the field might seeme to be wholie left wast and emptie for the Deuill he contented not himself to walke the broad high way An exceeding great increase Questions of Purgatorie And thereupon taking purgatory for granted they begun to reason in the schools Whether the suffrages made for many together haue as much efficacie as when they are made for one alone Or els being made for one alone
creature The creature whatsoeuer or whosoeuer it be that cannot moue him liuing here below saue onely to wrath otherwise then in that he hath beene vouchsafed grace in Iesus Christ and who likewise when he is exalted and taken vp into heauen acknowledging no glorie due to him saue in that that God is glorified cannot but take it an iniurie doue vnto him when any thing is attributed vnto him and cannot but bee readie to say as the Angell said vnto S. Iohn Apocal. 19. 22. Beware and looke well to thy selfe I am thy fellow seruant pointing also out vnto vs with Iohn Baptist the greatest that euer was borne amongst the sonnes of men and saying Behold the lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world the propitiation for our sinnes is onely in his blood turne and betake your selues to him And moreouer our God will be praied vnto in his onely begotten In that grace and fauour purchased through that sacrifice of the Crosse in the vertue and power of his one onely sacrifice made vpon the Crosse for as much as it is hee onely that may and hath power to be both the sacrifice and the sacrificer together all the sacrifices washings purifying of the law hauing relation to no other but this of his which was without spot or blemish all their blood to his blood and all their deathes to that one death and passion of his who likewise alone could as being God and man suffer and ouercome cast downe himselfe into the center of the earth and raise vp himselfe againe farre aboue the heauens be a curse and a blessing and finally laid prostrate by death and raised vp to life all at once And therefore is it said by the Prophet Esay 53. Esa 53. He hath offered his soule an oblation for sinne The good will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper preuaile in his hand He was pearced for our misdeedes Esa 63. He hath taken vppon him our iniquities c. Againe He alone hath trod vppon all our enemies in his wrath No one of the people hath helped him he was alone to treade the wine-presse Heb. 10. Hebr. 9. 2. Ioh. 1. c. And he did it saith the Apostle When in the fulnesse of time he abolished sinne by the offering vp of himselfe He was made a propitiation for our sinnes Hee hath sanctified vs by the oblation of his bodie once offered and hath consecrated for euer those whom he hath sanctified Which thing all the blood of all the Saints from righteous Abell vnto the last Martyr could neuer haue accomplished No not though it had beene but for the sinnes of one onely man no not for the least sinne of that man not although this bloode had risen to the hugenesse of a great floode seeing there is no remission but in the blood of the Sonne of God and to seeke it any where else is to shed his blood againe Act 4.12 is to hold the same shed in vaine and this is to be guilty of it For S. Peter saith There is no saluation in any other There is not any other name giuen vnto men by which they may be saued That the fathers of the old Testament neuer sought for helpe or succour by praier but at the hands of the one onely God Eckius in Enchird And therefore we see proportionablie to this doctrine that the fathers of the old Testament did neuer offer vp or direct their prayers vnto any but to one God alone And this our aduersaries subscribe vnto for so also was it held for a point of sound diuinitie amongst them that seeking of helpe at God by prayer was a part of his seruice and worship due vnto himselfe alone They say that this was for feare that the people who otherwise were readie and apt enough of themselues therevnto should turne aside vnto idolatrie but this is to gesse and not to answere But at the least they confesse that this is the way to slippe into idolatrie The rest say That the fathers prayed not vnto the Patriarkes and Prophetes because they were as yet in the Limbes But this is a thing to bee disputed and debated by vs if here were any place But at the least there were Angels and those oftentimes conuersing and keeping companie with men and hauing therewithall the charge of countries and nations Henoch and Elias also had beene rapt and caried aliue vp into heauen and the latter of them in the sight of Elizeus And yet notwithstanding we do not reade that any people or particular man in so many ages did euer pray vnto any Angel or made choise of any to make intercession to God for him No more then euer Noe or his Sonnes did to Enoch or Eliseus to Elias the sonnes to the father or the disciples to their maister albeit as we know Eliseus were zealously affected to Elias My father the chariot and horsemen of Israel In the new Testament God alone is prayed vnto In the new Testament likewise as little notwithstanding that they hold That the fathers by the descending of Christ into hell were deliuered out of the limbes and caried vppe into heauen Fit matter for the children of Abraham the father of the faithfull to flie vnto him to call vpon him for aide and succour and so of the rest Notwithstanding also that many of the Apostles and disciples suffered presently after for our Lord as Iames Steuen c. during the life time of Saint Peter Saint Paul and Saint Iohn Matter sufficient to serue that it should not bee kept close from vs that besides Iesus Christ wee haue them for our aduocates with God and for intercessors by vertue of their sufferinges and merites And the same may bee said of the holy virgine whome Saint Iohn ouerliued many yeares the aduocate at this day if wee will belieue them of the Church of Rome who at the least should haue beene excepted from these generall rules And here againe they say that the Apostles feared that this might be held for arrogancie in them And why on the behalfe of the Saintes of the old Testament and of the holy virgine Againe That they stoode in doubt least the Gentils should returne againe to their idols But that there might not so many duties of deuotion be lost and let slip could they not make some maner of dispatch or dispensation could they not deuise some way to cure and remedie the same And would they that these babish excuses should passe for currant reasons with vs and that against so expresse textes of the scripture What then say they doe you make no more accompt of the saints of those which haue suffered here on earth for the name of Christ and which now are ascended triumphantly with him vp on high c The honour that is due vnto the Saints 1. Cor. 12. Gal. 2. 2 Cor. 3. Act 9. 14. Tim. 4. Yes verily we honour them more then
dutie that is according to this sence That when God afflicteth vs it commeth well to passe for vs to haue bee it an Angell or be it a Prophet that may cause vs to vnderstand that it is for our sinnes and may exhort vs to repentance and newnesse of life to the ende that God may deale mercifully with vs. Which thing Elihu also may seeme to speake of purpose concerning himselfe and his companions to the end that Iob may take in good part their admonitions make his profit of them But in as much as they bee more freely giuen to belieue the old writers S. Ierome alleadgeth for an example of this place Esay praying vnto God for Ezechias when he was sicke For as concerning his coÌ„mentaries vpon Iob men are of opinion that they are not his And S. Gregorie expoundeth it of the Angell of the great Councel Iesus Christ the Mediator God man like vnto vs in consideration of whoÌ„ God became fauourable vnto men Where it is to be noted that in stead of Millibus both the one the other hath read it Similibus which could not be of S. Ieromes doing who vnderstood the Hebrew tong and was sufficient to trip find out the weaknes of their exposition The Glose saith This Angel it is Christ that speaketh vnto the father for vs shewing himself to him to be like vnto vs in one onely thing of a thousand that is in his humanity And his speech that is to shew himselfe a man vnto God besides whom ther is not one which is found iust Hugo in Ioh. c. 33. 2. Sam. 14. which being without sin may make intercessto for sinners c Cardinal Hugo expoundeth it after the same maner Absalom say they reconciled vnto his father Dauid might not yet come to see his face but by the meanes intercession of Ioab wherefore wee must haue a Ioab a saint of authority in heauen to draw neere vnto God for vs. And what saint wil they haue of more authoritie then the Son himselfe Eph. 5. Rom. 5. seeing by faith in him we haue accesse vnto the father to his throne of grace with all assurance boldnes Adonias also to obtain Abisaeg to wife of Salomon commendeth his sute to Bathseba Salomons mother saying with himselfe he cannot denie her any thing And so now must wee vnto the virgine Marie c. But where find they that our Lord hath diuided and giuen away any part of his royall dignitie with her And let them not run or rather rush any further forward in their Allegorie for Salomon refused to make any graunt and was also moued to wrath and indignation and that so far as that it cost his brother Adonias his life But in these things how far more sure is it for to hold our selues to Christ Heb. 7. Rom. 8. Whosaueth saith the Apostle those which come vnto God by him which maketh intercession for vs that so effectually as that none shal haue whereof to accuse much lesse to condemne vs. Ieremie Though Moyses Samuel stood before me Ieremie 15.1 yet should not my affection be moued toward this people Now in deed they might haue better a great deale drawne the contrarie consequence But the summe is that God hath forbidden Ieremie to pray for the people as hauing resolued to lay his rods vpon them their wickednesse being growne to the height And thus S. Ierome expoundeth it And to the end saith Theodoret that hee might not trke at it as though it were done by reason of him Though saith he these two were in thy roome and place yet should they not any more moue or pretaile with me Hieronym in Ietem c. 15. l. 3 in Ezech. l 5. c. 20. Theodor. in Ierem. Gregor l. 9. c. 9. Chrysost ad Thess 1. c. 1. hom 1 â—zech 14. These two saith Saint Ierome and Gregorie Who sundrie times had beene intercessors betwixt the wrath of God and the sinne of his people yea and betwixt God and his open enemies Pharao Saule c. at such times as his iudgementes were ripe and readie to fall vpon them And Hugo the Glose in like maner adding moreouer these words This is the true proper sence of this place And in deed Chrysost gathereth a cleane contrary conclusion out of this place That we are not to trust or leane vnto the praiers of Saintes but rather to finish and make sure our saluation with feare and trembling c. In Ezechieâ— there is the like place If these three men Noe Daniel and Ioab were in the midst of the Citie they should in their righteousnesse escape with their owne liues c. but as for the land it shall surely become desolate and lie wast Hee speaketh then as though they were still liuing in the world and euerie one of them in his former state and condition And so in Ieremie of Moyses and Samuel as also Saint Ierome Chrysostome and Thomas of Aquine doe expound the same vpon Ieremie and vpon Ezechiel Theodoret in these wordes Though these three persons Noe Daniel and Iob were found altogether in the midst of them c. that is that God speaketh according to the state wherein Moyses and Samuel were in this life Otherwise if they will vrge it as vnderstood of the other then I woulde haue them once againe to remember and thinke vppon their Limbe Of the same nature is that which followeth in Ezechiel Ezech. 22. I haue sought a man saith the Lord that should make vp the hedge and stand in the gappe against me for this land to the end I might not destroy it but J haue not found him that is as it is saide of Dauid a man according to mine owne heart which might stand betwixt mine anger and this people as Abraham for Sodome and Moyses for Israel Saint Ierome I haue searched for a man amongst them which could resist and withstand mine anger as Moyses Aaron and Samuel Note by the way these wordes from amongst them And yet Theodoret dealeth more plainly who expoundeth it by the place of Ieremie aboue expounded c. 5. Looke about you in your places and see if there bee any that executeth iudgement and seeketh after faith c. and I will be fauourable vnto him that is to say saith he amongst your princes your priests c. But what is there in all this that hath any thing to doe with the inuocation of Saints deceased For want of matter and proofe in the Canonicall scriptures 2. Macha c. 15. they runne in the end vnto the Apocrypha bookes Onias and Ieremie saith Iudas Machabeus appeared vnto him in a dreame praying for the estate of the people of the Iewes And seeing that they praied they may be praied vnto notwithstanding they see that in this hard distresse of theirs the Israelites did no such thing And as for the strength of this argument wee shall better examine the same elsewhere but the
Aquinas and all the rest And these are in summe all the places that I know whereby they would proue and allow the intercession of Saints If this were not that wee haue to adde thereto the blasphemie of the Archbishop Antonine Let vs drawe neere saith the Apostle vnto the Hebrewes vnto the throne of grace c. That is to say of the Virgine Marie which is the throne of Christ wherein he hath rested to the end wee may obtaine mercie and find grace for the obtaining of helpe in due time c. Which is manifestly spoken of Iesus Christ our Bishop And therefore it is no maruaile though Eckius doe freely and boldly say That the holy Ghost Eckius in Ench hath not appointed or ordained by the expresse Scriptures the inuocation of Saints either in the old or new Testament And Petrus a Soto That it is not manifestly taught there but onely insinuated and the Iesuites themselues that it is not clearely giuen vs there but as in a mysterie and by a certaine consequence And on the contrarie a great maruaile that a doctrine amongst them of such moment should not bee contained in the holy Scriptures but by the way of a lame and pretended consequence As in deed the Councell of Trent hath not found it in the Scripture but in auncient vse and custome in the consent of the Fathers and in the Decrees of the Councels Which we will examine hereafter A third point remaineth That the morite of the Saints hath no ground in the Scripture that they are as weakly and slenderly grounded in the Masse for the offering vp of the merits and passions of the Saints vnto God for the satisfying of their sinnes in stead of the infinite merite of that one onely sacrifice that the Sonne of God hath offered vpon the Crosse whether we consider the sufficiencie of that only one or the insufficiencie of all the rest how many and whatsoeuer they be The sufficiencie for it is the Sonne of God eternal and infinite the sacrificer and the sacrifice whose sacrifice hath by consequent an infinite and eternall efficacie as the Apostle doth largely handle the same in the Epistle to the Hebrewes The insufficiencie of al other because that they are the works of the creatures by consequent finite and imperfect and of men and by consequent subiect to sinne and sinners and those the most who presume not to bee at all according to that which is said vnto vs in S. Iohn Jf we say he putteth himselfe in the number that we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. That then that all the Saints haue not beene condemned it was in the mercie of God by Iesus Christ the holy Virgine her selfe whom hee hath vouchsafed to regard in her base and low estate being so much the more bound by how much the more shee hath receiued and so much the further off from meriting by how much the more it hath pleased him the Almightie and soueraigne Lord if it be lawfull so to speake to merite at her hands That they are raigning in heauen a botomlesse depth of his goodnesse an inheritance of the children and not any pledge or badge of seruants in as much as in his welbeloued sonne it hath pleased him according to the riches of his grace of vnprofitable and peruerse seruants to adopt them Sons yea coheires with his Christ according to that which is said in so many places Ephes 2. You are saued by grace by faith in Christ and not of your selues For this is the gift of God not by workes to the end that no man may boast Againe We are iustified by grace that we may bee his heires Tit. 3. in hope of eternall life And of grace For we are all conceiued in originall sinnes And all the water of humane merits cannot wash them away though they should amount vnto the measure of a mightie floud it must of necessitie bee the worke of the bloud of Christ washed likewise by that bloud yet the remnants of that naturall corruption doe continually abide and dwell with vs that so we may acknowledge his grace in our infirmitie whereas our first father lost the same by a pretended incorruption and impossibilitie for his nature to sinne And therefore wee haue to say with Dauid If thou enter into iudgement with thy seruant who may abide it With Salomon Psal 143. Ecclesiast 6. Iob. 15. There is not a righteous man vpon the earth that doth good nay which doth not sinne With Iob The heauens are not pure in his sight no not the Angels how much lesse man vnprofitable and abheminable which drinketh iniquitie like water Whereupon it followeth likewise that if God should haue giuen vnto man euen him that is the holiest of all the rest a thousand Paradises if it could bee done for an inheritance yet so gracelesse he is as that he should not be able to keepe one of them without his grace for quickly would hee loose them by reason of his sinnes and transgressions the rigour and seueritie of his iustice taking the balance once in hand And how should he purchase it then by his own power And yet further how shuld he leaue a remainder to be husbanded for others Some say if they haue lost them by their falles as Saint Peter by hauing denied Christ and S. Paul by persecuting of his Church yet they haue recouered them by the confession and Martyrdome which they haue made and suffered for his name and that so aboundantly as that they haue left an ouerplus But O horrible blasphemie 1. Cor. l. 30. S. Paul and S. Peter say not so They doe not glorie in any thing but in the Crosse of Christ but in his sufferings but in his stripes not in their owne righteousnesse not in their owne holinesse but in him which was vnto them from God wisedome righteousnesse sanctification redemption c. So farre off are they from being of that mind that in respect of them he hath suffered in vaine Likewise the bloud of the creature hath no part in making of the recompence or paimēt with or in stead of the bloud of the Sonne of God of the Creatour of the world to whom as he is the Creator we are alreadie indebted euen to the summe of our liues to whome as a iust iudge we stand bound for our sinnes in the summe of a thousand deaths And therefore as vnto our redeemer and that in the price of his bloud Our redeemer not to ransome vs but for to crowne vs not to draw vs from euill but to draw vs to all goodnesse not to deliuer vs from the tyrannie of hell but to cause vs to raigne and triumph eternally with him Here let vs enter into our owne consciences how shall our bloud and life be able to ascend vp thither And therefore the Apostle said All accompts cast the sufferings of this present world Rom. 8.18 are
Virgine Marie was for his comfort and consolation yea and that amongst the rest vnto Eue her selfe which had sinned in as much as God had chosen this vessell to beare and bring forth the comfort of mankind from the first man euen to the last They abuse in a higher degree of vnfaithfull dealing a place in Iustinus Martyr Iustin Martyr Apol 2. The Gentiles reproach the Christians saying that they were Atheists that is to say without God The Christians answere Yea without Gods whom you take to be Gods but not without the true God For as concerning him we worship him that is the father and the Son which is of him who is come and hath taught vs these things and all the host of good Angels that follow him and the propheticall spirit that is to say we worship the father the sonne and the holy Ghost Now these words which yet are not found in many copies must vpon euident and apparant necessitie be read with a Parenthesis for there he alludeth to that Ephes 3.10 which S. Paul saith to the Ephesians That the mysterie of our Redemption which was hid from all time in God was manifested vnto principalities and powers in heauenly places c. Otherwise what should this meane We worship the father the Sonne the Angels and the holy Ghost And the holy Ghost himselfe after the Angels And by this meanes to saue the Saints they make no conscience to blaspheme the holy Ghost But in the meane time this is the Monke Perion his translation and from thence this errour hath beene dispersed into many bookes in these daies Origen commeth About the yeare 260. Hieronym ad Pammach Ocean Epiphan t. 2. l. 1. haeres 63. hauing a bold spirit Whome I loue saith S. Ierome as hee is a translator but not as he is an author of straunge opinions for his spirit and ingeniousnesse but not for his faith because his writings are venemous without any warrant of Scriptures and offering violence vnto the same c. And of this iudgement is the whole Church After this then to whome may he not iustly be suspected For as heretofore he laid the foundations of Purgatorie vpon the opinions of the Platonists so from the same he gathereth the first stone wherupon afterward was laid the inuocation of Saints The Platonists said that the vpper and higher things must bee ioyned with the inferiour and lower by a middle comming betwixt both God with men by Angels that is by their mediation and comming betwixt But Christians must not lend their eares to this as those that haue a far deeper secret and mysterie reuealed vnto them hauing giuen them his Son God and man and ioyned together in one person for the saluation of mankind that which was farre remooued and set asunder by our sinnes so that the Platonists could not comprehend or conceiue the same Notwithstanding wee see that mans inuentions do commonly please vs better then the reuelations of God and flesh and bloud doth more freely and willingly imbrace them because it smelleth and findeth something of it owne therein Euseb â—e preparat Euang. l. 12. 13. August de Ciuit. Dei l 8. c. 14.18.20 22 23.25.26 Now the summe thereof was that betwixt the greatnesse of God and the infirmitie of man there were two orders of Mediators the blessed spirits or the separated intelligences and the soules of the blessed wee call them in our Christian language Angels and Saints That these Angels offer vp mens suites and petitions to God in reporting them vnto him and obtaining a graunt thereof by their intercession c. That for this cause we must praie vnto and honour them partly as Aduocates partly as more excellent in their merits then men And that such also do the same who for their merits being men whiles they were here vpon earth haue beene exalted and extolled as Gods in heauen such a one was Aesculapius who wrought the same effects in heauen by his Diuinitie which he wrought here below by his Art such a one also was Hermes which succoured and conserued generally all those who directed their praiers vnto him c. Who is hee that cannot behold and clearely perceiue the opinions of the Church of Rome in these points of Paganisme Now they did not all enter with a full sea into the Christian Church but for certaine it is that the Gentils which were receiued into the same being seasoned with this doctrine could not be so little cherished and vpheld either by being winckt at or otherwise by the sufferance of the Pastors but that they by and by tooke great footing and that in a small time What is it then that Origen saith Origen hom 3 in Cant. The Saintes saith he which are departed out of this life bearing stil their wonted loue and charitable affections to such as remaine behind in the world if any man say that they are carefull for their saluation and that they helpe them with their praiers and intercessions towards God he doth not runne into any inconuenience for it is written in the booke of the Machabees This same is Ieremie the prophet of God that prayeth daily for the people c. Marke There is no inconuenience in it And further some are of opinion those also of the learned that these Homelies vpon the Canticles were made by some latin writer and not by Origen Vpon Iosue Ego sic arbitror I am mightilie drawne to be perswaded that all the fathers which haue fallen asleepe before vs doe still in part beare some portion of the combat with vs and doe helpe vs with their praiers thus much I haue heard said of some of our old maisters Vpon the booke of Numbers he groweth more hot for saith he Quis enim dubitat who doubteth but that they helpe vs with their praiers and confirme vs by their examples c. Where it is to bee considered how that he speaketh doubtfully of this opinion that he which had the scriptures at his fingers ends if hee had had in store euer a place to haue confirmed and setled it vpon he would neuer haue had recourse to an Apocrypha place of the second booke of Machabees neither to the report of his old maisters But yet moreouer it appeareth by Origen himselfe that this was but a discourse of his and not the faith of his time If saith he the Saintes that haue left this bodie and are with Christ do any thing for vs after the manner of Angels that take charge of our safetie let it be accompted amongst the secrets that are hidden and kept close by God and are not to be intermedled withall by any writer that is to say in a word inter Apocrypha for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke doeth not signifie any other thing But of this priuate discourse of this pretended secret misterie that the Saints pray for the faithfull gathereth he this consequent it
we are onely made acquainted with so much as Saint Ierome maketh mention of It is manifest likewise that the Church of Fraunce did not allow of this superstition in as much as that French Bishoppe of whome Saint Ierome speaketh vnto Ripacius a holy and reuerent man did hold the opinion of Vigilantius according to that which Ireneus saith That the French men and Germaines held and kept so fast what they had first receiued of the Apostolike faith as that they shutte their eares vnto whatsoeuer departed and swarued from the same Vigilantius saith by the report of Saint Ierome That wee must not worship or adore the Martyrs nor the deceased Saintes And who can denie that which hee saith of worship and adoration But for the honour due and of right to bee giuen in the remembring of the Martyrs and Saintes by the acknowledging of the giftes of God in them and the imitation of their constancie who is hee that would contend or striue against it But you say that in this honour inuocation is included which thing Vigilantius denyed Let them shew vs then in all this disputation how hot soeuer S. Ierome be any one word of the inuocation of saints or of Martyrs or any one proofe or allegation that he maketh for the same either out of the scriptures or the fathers the Councels or the Liturgies Greeke or Latine Howsoeuer notwithstanding the case so standeth as that he could not bee ignorant of that goodly Masse of S. Iames at Ierusalem if so be it were at that time for to haue proued thereby the intercession of the virgine Marie and of the Saintes For as concerning that which he saith If any man come to pray ad memorias Martyrum it is well knowne that that was for no other thing but to point the place where had beene accustomed for a long time the meetinges of the Christian assemblies to stirre vp thereby those which were present to the like constancie Origen was the first that said though doubtfully and ambiguously That the blessed soules do pray in the other world for the Church Vpon this stone men haue laboured by degrees to found and settle this inuocation Vigilantius doth take occasion by this foundation and denieth it adding that here we ought to pray one for another that there is not any place for this action elswhere S. Ierome striueth for this proposition of Origens as for an article of faith Vigilant gainsaith it as contrary vnto faith but of them passing beyond their bounds seeing that this proposition if a man stay there and go no further is indifferently to be borne with of the Church But S. Ierome gathereth therevpon this conclusion The Saintes pray vnto God in heauen for the Church therefore the Church here vppon earth must not onely pray vnto God but vnto the Saints also Superstition said But wherefore shal we not pray vnto them seeing that they pray for vs For is there not appearance that they ioyne their praiers vnto ours when we pray vnto them at their graues c. Vigilantius aunswereth No for they doe not meddle any more with humane affaires So far is it off that their soules should keepe about these graues Apocal. 14. S. Ierome thereupon cryeth out Wilt thou chaine vp the Apostles wilt thon make a law for God to keepe Do they not follow the lambe wheresoeuer he goeth c. But the question is not here of the power of God but of the nature which he hath giuen for a law to all thinges Tertullian had said vnto him That it was no good diuinitie Chrysost hom 20. in Mat. Idem de Lazat Diuite August de cu ra pro mort â—erend Idem de G. Virg c. 27. Hieronym in Epitaph Nepotian To reason from the power of God to his will or to the effect And S. Chrysosostome That the soules seperated from the bodies haue not their abode in these regions That the soules of the iust are in the hand of God And S. Augustine had proued it vnto him by scripture That they are not any more dealers in the thinges of this world That in the same place To follow the Lambe is to follow the footsteps of Christ Not saith he in respect that he is the Sonne of God by whom all things were made but the sonne of man who hath shewed vs in himselfe what we ought to doe But S. Ierome doth he say the same vnto vs that they of the Church of Rome say That they know all thinges in the seeing of God Then they reade in God that which is in our hearts in our thoughtes c. No but cleane contrarie In the Epitaph of Nepotian All whatsoeuer I can say to him seemeth to mee to be no more then a dumbe shew because that he heareth not Againe Let vs not wearie our selues with speaking to him with whom we cannot speake any more But he ceaseth not to vse his Rhetoricall figures his Apostrophes as the others do in the Epitaph of Paula whom he had so entirely loued and in his speech of the death of Blessilla wherein hee speaketh vnto them and causeth them to make answere the dead and deceased daughter to comfort her mournefull and sorrowing mother c. But in his Commentaries his choller and languishing mind is laid aside Idem in Ezech. l. 4. c. 14. tom 5 If we be to put our confidence in any let vs trust in the one only God For cursed is the man that putteth his confidence in man though they were Saintes yea and though they were Prophets We must not trust in Principibus ecclesiarum in those which are the chiefe and principall of the Churches who how vpright and righteous soeuer they be shall not deliuer any but their owne soules not so much as the soules of their owne children And to the end wee may not conceiue him to haue spoken of any but such as were liuing writing vpon the Epistle to the Galathians vpon these words Euerte man shal beare his owne burthen Idem in ep ad Galat. l. 2. c. 6. see what he saith vnto vs Wee learne though somewhat darklie by this little sentence a new doctrine which is hid and secrete that so long as wee are in this present world we may be helped by the praiers and counsels one of another but when as we shall be come before the iudgement seat of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can pray for any man but euerie one shall beare his owne burthen c. Which may seeme to bee a retractation of that which he had stifly maintained against Vigilantius For out of this text are gathered two propositions together Gra. Câ—in praesenti 13. q. 2. Hieronym de Assumpt Mariae virg tom 4 that is That the prayers of the liuing serue not to any vse for the dead neither the praiers of the dead for the liuing and this place is inserted into the Decree Of the virgine Mary likewise hee sayeth Thou hast
heere were the place to speake of it if he had belieued otherwise Not the Angels themselues Idem l. 10. con fess c. 42. For saith hee in an other place How shall I find one that may reconcile me vnto thee must I goe vnto the Angels But with what praiers With what Sacraments Many indeuoring to return vnto thee and not being able of themselues haue as I vnderstand assaied this way and haue beene deceiued by vaine illusions as they deserued c. But the true mediatour hath appeared betwixt mortall men being grieuous sinners and the immortall iust one euen Iesus Christ man c. In him is my hope hee maketh intercession with thee for vs. Otherwise I should flie and hide my selfe from before thy presence but thou hast staied and kept me backe saying Therefore is Iesus Christ dead for sinners c. Behold therefore Lord I cast my whole care vpon thee and I shall liue And now after that he hath laid these Maxims behold how cunningly he indeuoreth to stop and turne the course of the presumptions of his time It was now growne to an inueterate opinion that the Church triumphant or already gathered into heauen had care of the militant or that which was warfaring here vpon earth hee standeth not obstinate and wilfull as Vigilantius against it on the contrarie Idem de praedest sanct c 14 Idem confess l. 9. A great companie saith hee doe wish vs in heauen being alreadie assured of their owne saluation but yet standing in some doubt of ours Againe Now Nebridius is in Abrahams bosome hee greedily powreth downe full draughts of wisedome and yet I cannot be perswaded that he drinketh himselfe so deepely and deadly drunke therewith as that hee forgetteth vs seeing that thou O Lord who giuest him to drinke vouchsafest to haue vs in remembrance c. In a certaine place hee cannot containe himselfe from desiring and wishing that S. Cyprian would praie for him Behold saith he S. Cyprian disburdened of this bodie Idem contr Donatist l. 5. c. 1. who seeth the truth more clearely let him helpe vs with his praiers in this our fraile and mortall flesh as in a darke and gloomie cloud to the end that by the grace of God we may follow him c. This is a wish and not a set praier or purposed inuocation on the contrarie after hauing discoursed vppon the question Whether the Martyrs doe intermeddle in humane affaires Idem de cura pro mort agend 10. 13 and if they appeare in dreames and visions c. and the same argued and disputed euerie manner of way he protesteth that The thing passeth his vnderstanding that he is not able to reach so high c. And notwithstanding setteth downe his opinion according to the Scriptures Let euerie man saith he take that which I shall say as it pleaseth him if the soules of the dead should be found dealers in the affaires of them that are liuing my good mother would not leaue me or forsake me any one night but certainly that which the holy Psalme doth sound out so shrilly is true My father and my mother forsooke me And if our parents haue no care ouer vs what other amongst the dead are there that either know what wee doe or what we suffer Esay saith Thou art our father for Abraham hath not knowne vs Jsraell is ignorant of vs. If then these great Patriarkes were ignorant of that which befell this people sprung and risen out of their loynes how shall the dead haue any dealing in the affaires of the liuing to helpe and further them And how shall wee say that it was prouided that such as are departed out of this world 2. King 22. 2. Paralip 32. before that the euils which followed their transgressions he speaketh of Iosias should fall to the end that they might not be grieued at the sight thereof And the conclusion is The spirits therefore of the deceased are in a place where they see not what is done or what accidents fall out in the life of man August de cura pro mort c. 13.14.15.16 And vpon the obiection of the wicked rich man He had as much care and consideration of the liuing as we haue of the dead we know not what the dead doe neither did hee regarde whether the liuing did sinke or swimme Now if you take away this knowledge from the dead what shall become of the praiers made vnto them by the liuing In the meane time Miracles at the Sepulchers of the Martyrs the common people say wee see miracles at the graues of the Martyrs But to the end that they might not conclude or gather therevpon any inuocation or praying vnto them as holding such a good fauour to come from them he leadeth them to the consideration of other causes Jt is God saith hee that dooth this thing by himselfe in this wonderfull manner so that although he be eternall yet it is hee that worketh these temporall things and hee bringeth them to passe either by his Ministers or else the same which he doth by his Ministers he effecteth likewise somtime by the spirits of his Martyrs as though they were done by men still dwelling in their bodies or else hee bringeth all these things to passe by his Angels the Martyrs obtaining by earnest sute that the same may be done though they bee no Actors in the same or finally by some incomprehensible manner past the reach of mortall men but yet such as may vndoubtedly confirme vs in the resurrection vnto eternall life Who seeth not in the reckoning vp of â—o diuers causes that he would pull them from one and in that hee concludeth that the cause is incomprehensible that hee would breake off both their manner of reasoning and the consequences which they gather thereon But in the Maxim which hee setteth downe in an other place that he would draw them from the Martyrs vnto God August de Ciuit Dei l. 10. c. 12. when he saith That all the miracles which are done whether it be by Angels or any other manner doe not recommend vnto vs any other Religion deuotion or worship then that of the one onely God in whome alone consisteth the blessed and eternall life But to what ende and wherefore then was it that they praied and worshipped which they cal also by the name of sacrificing Ad memorias MartyruÌ„ at the Sepulchers of the Martyrs Verily we haue said that before that Christians had Churches and during the times of the persecutions of the Church they met with one consent in their burying places for the cherishing of their zeale by the example of the Martyrs and this custome was still retained for a long time after But was that which they called sacrificing to the Martyrs the action of inuocation or praying vnto them God forbid Idem de Ciuit. Dei l. 22. c. 10. We build saith S. Augustine no Churches vnto our Martyrs as vnto Gods
repay him againe The same also which S. Paul saith What is it that thou hast which thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it 1. Cor. 4.7 why boastest thou thy selfe as if thou hadst not receiued it c. And the second Councel of Orange held about the yeare 450. doth conclude in these words Mans nature Concil Arans c. Can. 19. Man a great deale lesseable after his fall euen in his integritie could not keep his integritie without the help of God c. But after he had fallen and corrupted his waies being the second state that our first father fell into we became in farre worse and harder case Man euen in his integrity could not in respect of God merite or deserue any good thing but now in the daies of his corruption hee cannot chuse but merite yea he cannot merite any thing but the wrath of God his curse and eternall death For being become sinne and transgression it hath corrupted the most noble partes both of his humane bodie and diuine soule making the will to bee the slaue of vnbridled appetite vnderstanding of imagination vnto all euill and both of them faultie and corrupted in themselues the will estranged from the loue of God and the vnderstanding from the hauing of the knowledge of him both the one and the other carried from their naturall and one onely good state to the contrarie with all their power and abilitie euen to will and know that which is displeasing vnto him and hurtfull to themselues Man now in this estate what can he doe what can he but do amisse And notwithstanding this is the state of all men in themselues since the fall no man to be excepted God pronounceth this generall sentence in Genesis Genel 6. Iob. 14. Psal 51. All the thoughtes of the heart of man are set vpon euill continually The most holy do most freely confesse it Iob Who can draw any thing that is pure from that which is defiled Not one Dauid Behold I was begotten in iniquitie and my mother hath conceiued me in sinne and therefore he prayeth vnto God to create in him a new hart Ioh. 3.6 Christ in the Gospell That which is begotten of flesh is flesh and that which is begotten of the spirit is spirit If a man be not borne againe hee cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Rom. 7.18 2. Cor. 3.5 Ephes 1. And Saint Paule expoundeth it Because that in the flesh dwelleth no good seeing that the naturall man doth not comprehend that which is of the spirite of God And because That we are naturally deadin sinnes our workes then are both dead and deadly and to bring vs to bring out any other it cannot bee without the working of a miracle Ephes 2.5 Rom. 6.8 it is requisite that wee should bee raised againe And it is God onely that must doe this Because saith he moreouer that We are children of wrath That All the desires and all the vnderstanding also of our flesh which we make so much of is enmitie against God Prou. 10. And without exception For There is no man saith Salomon that can say Rom. 5.17 1. Cor. 15. My heart is cleane I am without sinne And the Apostle more expresly All men haue sinned and are dead in Adam By a man sinne entred into the world into all men and by sinne death c. Yea into Moyses the meekest of all other men Thou hast sette before thy face Absconditum nostrum our sinne that was hidden from vs. This naturall viciousnesse which like vnto a naturall disease is hidden from vs is lesse perceiued or felt of vs. Pâ— l. 51. Psal 116. Rom. 7. 14. reâ—â— 23. And into Dauid a man according to Gods owne hearte Create saith hee in mee a new heart Because the hearte of man is altogether peruerted Ab occultis meis mundame Cleanse mee from that which is hidden from mee And into S. Paule an elect vessell of God The law saith he is spirituall and I am carnall sold vnder sinne I see a law in my members fighting against the law of my vnderstanding and leading me captiue to the law of sinne which is in my members Wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodie of this death c. Into S. Iohn Baptist Luke 2. the greatest amongst them that are borne of women who saith vnto our Lord I haue need to be baptized of thee that is to say to be washed to be regenerate by thy spirit c. And into the holy virgin likewise for she acknowledged her low and base estate she magnified nothing but the onely mercy of God she placed her selfe amongst them that being hungrie are filled with good things she reioyceth in God which is her Sauiour so farre is she off from disclaiming her parte in the saluation promised in Iesus Christ the author of the saluation which is in her And in deed the Apostle to the Hebr. Hebr. 7. hath not seperated or excepted from sin any besides Iesus Christ alone The holy virgine likewise was subiect to the law of purification ordained in the Church a signe of the inward purification which God requireth in all our actions Rom. 11.32 to the end that this word may abide true That God hath shut vp all vnder sinne That no man also should thinke to be excluded from that which followeth That he hath notwithstanding shewed mercie vnto all That this that all the Saints haue beene saued euen the virgin Marie her selfe commeth of his free grace of the riches and bountifulnesse of his great mercies Now our aduersaries that will not be called Pelagians How the aduersaries do extenuate originall sinne doe agree in outward shew vnto this corruption of mankind but when we come to lay the sore open and naked they are as it were afraid of taking some harme they make the maladie as light and little as they can fearing to be too much bound vnto God not considering how that for a man to lay open his wounds before him is to heale them to confesse our sinnes freely and franckly to him is to haue them quit forgiuen whereas the hiding and couering of them doth make them mortall to denie conceale or smooth them ouer is to cast himselfe prisoner and captiue into hell and eternall fire vntill hee haue paid the vttermost farthing Pighius therefore letteth not shamelesly to say Albert Pigh de peccat orig that the punishment of Adam seized vpon all his posteritie as one bond man begetteth another but that his sinne was not transfused and conueighed into his children What is there more contrarie vnto the whole scripture then this Yea how is it possible that this man should haue so little profited in the knowledge of himselfe Andradius a true interpreter of the ambiguities and doubtes arising in the Councell of Trent teacheth That concupiscence is in nature corrupted altogether such as it was when nature
haue not any reward but that which is bestowed vppon vs in our free pardon Saint Barnard saith in one word Bernard in Psal 91. Serm. 9. 15. De Sepulch Idem in Cant. Serm. 22. By faith Christ dwelleth in our harts and as for works they giue testimonie vnto our faith how that it liueth Againe The fruit of the knowledge of God is the strong crie of prayer c. Death being dead life is restored into his place in like manner sinne being taken away righteousnesse succeedeth it c. And how Because saith heâ—e in an other place they that are iustified from their sinnes desire and resolue themselues â—o embrace and follow holinesse without the which no man shall see God For they heare the Lord who cryeth Be holy c. But All these workes saith he all these pretended merits Sunt viâ—â— regni non causa regnandi They are the way to raigne but not the cause thereof But as we said before these two righteousnesses are verie much differing namely that which approueth and iustifieth our faith from that which iustifieth our selues that burning and beeing consumed at the onely appearance of the shining brightâ—nesse of the face of God this beeing of proofe against the Cannon shot of Gods wrath and Hell it selfe that being the worke of the newe man which is renued but slowly in vs this of the eternall God himselfe who hath giuen himselfe wholly and intirely vnto vs. And therefore all that righteousnesse before this is held for nothingâ— by the Apostle himselfe for worse then nothing that is for corruption and filthinesse so farre off is it from meriting any thing And this also euen with the littleâ— goodnesse that it hath in it is the gift of God and the worke of God working in our hearts by his spirit which saith vnto our pride What hast thou that thou hast not receiued That which is most rife in thee is the worke of Adam more weightie ordinarily then the rest and which concludeth against him Who can draw that which is cleane out of that which is foule and filthie c. For how should a perfect worke spring from an imperfect faith A sound fruie from a diseased tree But the case so standeth as that wee dayly crie here on earth Increase our faith strengthen it purge it from all diffidencie and distrust And notwithstanding wee admire heere the goodnesse of the mercifull God in respect of that which hee hath giuen to him whome hee hath iustified by the gift of faith and by the gift of righteousnesse hee will haue it called a reward but verily such a one as groweth due vpon free promise and not by purchase And thereupon our pride hath set in foote to build the matter of merit a word not heard of throughout the whole Scripture a word condemned throughout the whole Analogie of faith which setteth before it no other thing then the merit of Christ according to the free promise of the eternall father In the meane time where so euer there is Merces The abuse of this worde Merit Ierem. 31.16 Thom. l. 2. q. 114. art 2. a hire or reward promised of God the pride of man hath caused them to find out the merit of men Ieremie saith to the Church of the Iewes assuring them of their reestablishing They shall returne from the Countrie of the enemie Thy worke shall haue his reward From thence Thomas maketh an argument to proue their merit notwithstanding that there is properly handled the estate and condition which was to befall them in this world and not in the kingdome of heauen but hee concludeth notwithstanding that reward and merite cannot be but improperly spoken betwixt God and men betwixt whome there is no maner of equal proportion that is saith he That man obtaineth of God as in the nature of a reward it is because that he hath giuen him power and vertue to labour Quasi mercedem Hieronym in Esa l 15. c. 95. Mat. 5.22 Luke 6.23 Ambr. in Luc. l. 5. c. 6. But Saint Ierome hath spoken better alleadging this place That this reward is their inheritance which serue God In the Euangelists oftentimes Reioyce yee for great is your reward in heauen c. Ambrose verily wheresoeuer there is this word Merces interpreteth it praemium he causeth it to be attributed to the mercie of God and to be receiued by a Christian faith and in like manner all the rest as we shall see And as for that which Thomas argueth That that which is giuen according to iustice may seeme to be a condigne and worthy reward But the Apostle saith 2. Timoth. 4. Ambros in 2. Tim. c 4. Amplissima praemia The crowne of righteousnesse is reserued and laid vp in store forme which the Lord the iust Iudge will render vnto me in that day c. Verily he should haue called to mind that Saint Ambrose expounding this place saith Because that God giueth exceeding great gifts to them that loue him that is worthie of his greatnesse and not of our merits And the ordinarie Glose Seeing that faith is grace and eternall life grace it cannot be but that he hath giuen grace But Saint Augustine August in hom 50. Idem hom 14. as we shall see more largely and fully hereafter Nay saith hee Paul if he had giuen thee that which was due vnto thee he should haue bestowed punishment vpon thee c. Pardon me Apostle I doe not see any thing that is properly thine except euill and this is thine owne doctrine that thou hast taught vs That when God crowneth thy merites he crowneth nothing but his owne gifts c. And Thomas himselfe likewise may seeme to come neere to the same Thom. l. 2. q. 114. art 3. when hee saith That our workes considered as proceeding from our free will cannot merite but rather as proceeding from the grace of the holy Ghost giuen vnto vs. And in deed what man shall bee so proud as to dare to say That Abraham merited God by his workes vnder colour of those words which God saith vnto him I am thy reward Abraham saith the Apostle To whome faith was imputed for righteousnesse Now it were to be desired that the old writers had vsed this word more sparingly although their intention and drift be sufficiently cleare and manifest And whence it sprang But the truth is that that which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dignitie or worthinesse the Latines haue translated Merit and consequently that which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be made or reputed worthie they haue expounded mereri for want of an other verbe to expresse it in one word And in deed the old Glosarie saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mereri to bee made worthie is expounded by this word to merit And it may be verified by many places In the disputation that fell betwixt the Orthodoxes and the Donatists in the time of Saint Augustine this word was ordinarily
bread shall liue for euer And in S. Augustines time there were that taught hereupon that if a man had communicated at the Lords supper how be it he should afterward renounce the Christian profession yet hee could not possibly perish and fall away for euer Wherefore as oft as euer wee shall reade such places we ought alwayes to remember and call to mind these rules The good and prudent Reader saith Saint Hillarius doth looke for the vnderstanding of that which is said Hilat. de Trin. l. 1. Hieronym in Mat. not by fetching it from any preiudicate opinion of his owne but from the cause of that which is said And S. Ierome The discreete Reader is verie carefull to keepe himselfe euermore from all manner of superstitious vnderstanding he frameth and squareth his sence and vnderstanding according to the Scriptures August cont aduers leg Prophet l. 2. c. 9. and not the Scriptures according to it And Saint Augustine handling this same matter One peece of Scripture must be expounded by an other and all the holy Scriptures according to the soundnesse of faith if we expound any thing done or spoken figuratiuely it standeth vs vpon to see that such expositions be drawne wisely and not negligently from other things and words which are contained in the holy writings But aboue all wee haue to consider in the matter of the Sacramentes what a Sacrament is and in the matter of the holy supper that therein is handled the most excellent of all the rest that is to say a great mysterie a profound and high secret and that so soone as wee heare the word Sacrament wee must lift vp our spirits from the beholding of these outward things to the apprehending of inward things from the skin to the marrow and from of the earth vp vnto heauen obseruing the nature of the misterie the signification of the word and what the thing doth permit suffer what the letter saith and what the meaning of the spirit is Thus These words This is my body cannot bee interpreted without a figure This is my bodie according to their sence and construction what shall it signifie Hoc this If it be meant of the bread then it must be thus taken This bread is my bodie But this is not their meaning for they confesse that it cannot bee two substances at one and the same instant And when two chiefe and primarie substances that is to say two Iudiuidua as the Logicians call them are called the one by the name of the other there must of necessitie be included a figure but this they wil not yeeld vnto Furthermore they doe not pretend that it is the body vntill the last word be vttered and wee are as yet but in the verie first And in the meane time then shall it not be the same which our Lord tooke blessed brake and gaue to his Disciples that is to say bread What shall then this hoc make The accidents of bread without the subiect namely whitenesse roundnesse c And what manner of speech were it to say The accidents of bread are my body which is giuen for you or else their Indiuiduum vagum and vage determinatum This I cannot tell what in the ayre which they can neither name nor point out so as that it may be comprehended How it may bee bread in the beginning of the vttering of the words and his body in the end What a number of obscure and straunge figures to how many contradictorie designments and deuises are they driuen and all to auoide one cleare and manifest figure and that such a one as is verie often and familiarly vsed in the Sacraments Afterward This is my bloud What shal be the meaning of this Hoc in this place It is said that taking the cup he blessed it and said Drinke ye all Bibite ex hoc omnes This Hoc then is the cup whereof he saith This is my bloud But can it possibly be that the cup should be called blood without a figure seeing that according to their owne assertions it is the wine and not the cup It followeth Est This is say they a verbe substantiue Let it bee granted but is it therefore a verbe transubstantiue This is my bodie that is to say This is made my bodie It is substantially turned it is transubstantiated into my bodie and bloud This is their meaning and they call this word in their affected tearmes and gibberidge an operatiue and practicke Est But if it be vnderstood of the bread then what figure is it And how will their fond deuised fantasie stand sith they hold that the bread is not changed or turned but becommeth nothing to the end it may giue place to the bodie And what shew of any figure will there then be here Hoc est that is to say this Vagum Indiuiduum which hath no name is transubstantiated into his bodie And if it bee wandring and vnstable it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it hath not any substance Or els This bread is become nothing to giue place to the bodie c. But this word Est may it bee expounded by the word Fit factum est conuertitur transubstantiatur it is made turned transubstantiated Yea and also by Fiat conuertatur transubstantiatur that it may be made turned transubstantiated without a figure yea and which is more without any contradiction And of the cup particularly without acknowledging that it is transubstantiated But this they do not admit Let vs proceed Take eate but what Accidents but they are no proper obiects for the teeth to be occupied about The bodie of Christ then But as they say themselues it is not as yet there And then it is not chewed there it is not there broken What shall then the meaning bee of this word eate But to endeuour to eate to make semblance of eating c. But how much better had it been to haue expounded this place by the nature of other Sacraments whereof it is said This is my couenant as here This cup is the new Testament in my blood This is the blood of the new Testament c. all comming to the same sence Againe The rocke was Christ I am the bread of life as here The bread is my bodie the cup is my blood To expound it I say by Iesus Christ in S. Iohn My flesh is meate in deede and my bloud is drinke in deede Where in plaine tearmes he referreth vs vnto his death when hee saith Which I will giue for the life of the world As also here Which is giuen which is shed for you But saith he to the Capernaites The words that J say vnto you are spirite and life And therefore some are of iudgement that this whole speech of his was nothing else but a resolued and purposed Commentarie and a preparatiue to the right vnderstanding of the holy supper And finally to haue expounded it by Saint Paule Who giueth vnto vs that which he
consider and beholde therein the diuine power which is hid in these waters full of sanctification full of diuine fire that is to say full of the holie Ghost full of his effectuall working and yet not changed into fire nor into the holie Ghost and verily euen as little the bread and wine in the holy table either into accidents or any other substances whereof the same Councell saith That we must vnderstand by faith that wee do truly and verilie receiue the bodie and bloud of our Lord and that they are tokens and pledges vnto vs of our resurrection vnto eternall life Ambros de lit qui mistie init c. 3 de spir Sanct. l. 3 Saint Ambrose also is farre of from admitting anie change or alteration of the water in Baptisme and therefore ceaseth not to say Thou seest water and doubtest thou of the mysterie Thou beleeuest the operation and wilt thou not beleeue the presence of the diuinitie and Godhead From whence should the operation effectual working of the same proceed if it were not by vertue of the diuine presence Againe Beleeue not alone the eies of the bodie that which is not seene at all is most apparant clearly seene in asmuch as that is temporall but this is eternall c. And therefore S. Augustine saith not Take away this water August tract 80. in Ioh. that the bloud of Christ may take the place and enter in steade thereof but rather Take away the worde of God from the water and then there remaineth nothing but common water adde the worde thereunto and it will become a Sacrament And in like manner Tertullian The holie Ghost commeth downe and sanctifieth the water Saint Basill The kingdome of heauen is there opened Saint Chrysostome I beleeue in baptising the purgation of the soule Answere to the obiection of omnipotenty by the working of the spirit c. And all these notwithstanding without any the least presupposing of the changing of the water In the meane time these fellowes haue nothing to obiect or cast in our way but the omnipotencie of God and that when as the question properly is not of his Almightinesse in a miracle but of his will and pleasure in a mysterie Thus said Praxeas vnto Tertullian Wherfore could not God be father and sonne also Tertul. cont Pra◠Is it not said I and the father are but one c Vnto whome hee answered The mightie power of God is no other thing then his will and the vnabilitie of God his vnwillingnesse he could haue made and framed man to flie after the maner of a Kite but hee hath not done it c. And this his will we come to vnderstand by his worde whereof it is said Heauen and earth shall passe but the word of God endureth for euer Our Lord hath said That of stones he is able to raise vp children vnto Abraham And who can doubt hereof And yet notwithstanding I wil not therefore belieue if it appeare not vnto me out of his will that such or such are raised vp or begotten of stones Neither yet if thou shouldest shew me a stone that it is any child of Abrahams whē as I see not any other thing in it then the naturall shape figure thereof neither yet by touching it feele any thing but the hardnes heauinesse and coldnesse of a stone For saith S. Augustine August in Ench. ad Laurent c. q. de ciuit Dei l. c. 10. God is properly called Almightie because he doth whatsoeuer he will and because that his wil is not crossed either by the will or power of any other whosoeuer But the will of our Lord manifested in his word is to feede the faithfull with his flesh bloud in his holy supper I will firmely and steadfastly belieue that he doth it and will not thereupon goe about to remoue or alter either the predicables or predicaments but will be readie with all humilitie to subiect applie my reason to his promise by an obedience of faith Our aduersaries cannot conceiue how he should feede their soules if he come not nie vnto their bodies if he be not in their mouthes And how doth the Sunne which is a creature bring forth quicken heat and inlighten things and that so far off And he which feedeth vs in S. Iohn without Sacraments without signes Ioh. 6. why should he come short in the signes Sacraments Seeing they afford reliefe helpe for the vnderpropping of our infirmity not diminishing or any thing impairing his power and he that dwelleth continually in the hearts of his children why should he not manifest the same on some one day more plainely and plentifully Seeing it is hee for certaine which hath ordained it seeing also that his lodging is therein the better prepared by our faith by our zeale and by our repentance It is a point of deepe incredulitie vnbeliefe in vs not to trust him any longer thē he is at hand and neere vnto vs and that he should not bee able to doe it but by being neere and at hand should argue a certaine kind of impotencie weaknesse in God And this is that which S. Augustine saith August in Ioh. tract 10. To the ende that no man should deceiue himselfe in going about to adore the Head in heauen and to trample vpon his feet here on earth he hath declared and told where his members be The Head being to ascend vp into heauen hath recommended vnto vs his members here on earth and so is departed and gone hence c. He said from on high vnto Saule Wherefore persecutest thou me I ascended vp vnto heauen notwithstanding I am yet vpō earth here I sit at the right hand of my Father there I doe as yet indure and sustaine hunger and thirst I am a stranger c. The head although it be not in the feete doth yet minister vnto them the power of mouing and the Sonne of God the Head of the Church shal he not bestow as much vpon his members Fourthly Transubstantiation taketh frō vs this consolation Transubstantiation depriueth vs of the meanes of doing that which the Lord hath done that our Lord vouchsafeth to continue vnto vs in his Church the same misterie which he celebrated with his Apostles according to that which he said in expresse and plaine tearmes Doe this in remembrance of me The efficacie of which words must be perpetuall in the Church That is that celebrating the same action and in the same sort wee communicate likewise are partakers of the same grace in the same manner But if a contrary course be taken and that to the obtaining of an other kind of grace and after an other manner in stead of comfort and consolation we fall into a doubtfull labirinth for where is there any institutiō besides And where is the word where is the promise And what maketh the Sacrament but the word Wherby are we made partakers of
the fruit and effect but by the promise If we receiue not the same thing that the Apostles receiued after the same maner to what end then shold these words of the Lord Doe this c. as also those of the Apostle I haue receiued of the Lord that which I haue giuen vnto you serue And what other places are there whence we ought to learne take knowledge of the same But if it be the very same thing performed in the same maner then let vs cal to mind that it is a spiritual thing not a carnall and to be done after a spiritual not a carnal sort by faith and not by the mouth for he speaketh to them of a body broken for theÌ„ which yet was not broken and of bloud shed for them August in Psa 33. De Consecr d. 2. C. hoc est vbi Glosa which was as yet in his veines and therfore they did eate drink as the Patriarks and Prophets had done before theÌ„ spiritualy by faith And this is it which S. August saith That â—e sus Christ giuing the Sacraments of his body bloud vnto his Disciples did carie quodammodo after a certaine maner himselfe If he had done it really the quodammodo had serued to no vse for quodammodo say the Schooles is terminus diminuens a word of restraint denying the truth of the reall presence August Ep. 23 ad Bonifac. And then if this be quodammodo it is that which he saith in another place secundum quendam modum that is saith he By the similitude that the signes haue with the things not in very deede saith the canon but in signification not verily truely saith the Glose but improperly that is to say sacramentally And indeede that which he saith in one place He caried himselfe after a certaine manner in his handes hee speaketh thus in another place Idem de verb. Dom. in Euang Mat. Serm. 33. Hug. Cardin. in Mat. c. 26. in Marc. c. 14. He caried the bread in his handes in as much as he exhihibited and offered himselfe vnder these Sacraments for a spirituall meate and drinke vnto his disciples c. And the Glose expounding the wordes of the Supper saith Accipite comedite Take eate Intelligite fide comedite vnderstand eate by faith c. Cardinal Hugo likewise Take that is to say belieue with your harts and confesse with your mouthes c. In the mean time they goe about to graunt vs a larger priuilege then euer the Apostles had as though wee should receiue the body of Christ glorified and immortall whereas they receiued it as it was subiect to the death and passion But wee verily content our selues to receiue it as the Apostles did not aspiring after any more high and excellent manner that is therein to receiue the body broken and the bloud shed for vs for the Sonne of God properly doth quicken vs in that he is eternall but in that he hath made himselfe mortall neither doth he glorifie vs in that he himselfe is glorious but in that he hath abased himselfe taking vppon him the forme of a seruant and being made subiect vnto the ignominious death of the Crosse Therein I say to receiue it after the same maner the bread for a signe and certaine pledge of his body and yet notwithstanding at the very same instant also to receiue his body the wine a signe and infallible token of his bloude and notwithstanding at the very same instant to receiue his bloud by the inward efficacie of the holy Ghost and both the one and the other for the remission of sins and vnto the resurrection to life seeing that Christ is dead for our sinnes and risen againe for our iustification c. And in verie deed the auncient Fathers haue not otherwise vnderstood the holy supper of Christ with his Apostles Tertul aduer Marc. l. 5. c. 40. l. 1. c 14. Ambr. de iis qui myster init c 9. de Sacr. l. 4 c. 5. Hieronym l. 2. aduers Iouini an in Mat. c. 26. August contr Adaman c. 12 Idem in Prolog super ps 3. Macar hom 27 Theodor. in Polymorph seu Euarist Dial. 1. Tertullian He made the bread which he tooke and gaue to his disciples his body that is to say the figure of his bodie And in another place The bread by which he represented his body S. Ambrose The Lord himselfe crieth This is my body Before the blessing of heauenly words an other kind is named after the consecration the body of Christ is signified And in an other place more clearely The same which is saith hee the figure of the body and bloud of our Lord. S. Ierome He offered not water but wine for the figure of his bloud And in another place speaking of bread and wine Representing saith he the truth of his body and of his bloud S. Augustine The Lord doubted not to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body Againe He hath recommended and giuen to his Disciples the figure of his bloud Antitypes saith S. Macaire an Aegyptian Exhibiting the flesh and bloud of Christ Theodoret He that hath called his naturall body wheat and bread and which hath named himself a vine hath honoured the markes and signes which are to be seene with the name of his body and bloud not in changing the nature it self but in adding grace vnto nature Eusebius Emissenus Seing that our Lord must carrie vp into heauen the body which he had taken vpon him it was needfull that in the day of the supper he should consecrate for vs the Sacrament of his body and bloud to the end that that which was once offered vp for a ransom might continually be honored by misterie And here we must shun the confounding of these two words Truly carnally or really the one with the other being such as the old writers accompted of as much differing Cyril l. 3. c 24. in Ioh. Orig. in Gen. hom 1. c. 1. Hieronym ad Gal. c. 4. and carefully to be distinguished For Iesus Christ calleth himselfe the true Vine And Cyrill calleth him the true Manna And Origen the Apostles The true very heauens And S. Ierome the faithfull one true bread Whome it had beene verie hard to haue made to belieue that Christ had beene really the Vine or the Manna the Apostles the heauens or the faithful one loafe c. And thus you see what manner of holy supper it was that was celebrated kept of the Apostles and I verily belieue that there is not any true Christian that wisheth or desireth any other Fiftly Transubstantiation destroy eth the humaine nature of Christ Heb. 2 it destroyeth the humane nature of Christ for the truth whereof all the old Church hath so mightily striuen against the heretickes of that time and in the truth whereof likewise resteth the consolation of mankind the onely meanes of our saluation In as
man as that we destroy and take away the veritie of the body For it is no good consequent that all that which is in God Idem in Iohn tract 78. is euerie where as God is c. And in an other place vppon these words Vado Venio ad vos He went saith he as man he staied behind in as much as he was God hee went in as much as he was but in one place he staied and abode still in as much as he was euerie where Againe Idem de verb. Dom. Serm. 60. de Tem. Serm. 40. It is expedient for you that I goe although saith he that he bee alwaies with vs by his Diainitie But and if hee had not gone away from vs corporally we should haue seene him daily with these carnall eyes and should neuer haue belieued in him spiritually c. And for this cause hee hath absented himselfe in body from all the Church to the end that faith might bee edified and builded vp Cyril Alex. in Ioh. 9. c. 21. l. 10. c. 39. S. Cyrill It is meete that all the faithfull belieue that howsoeuer our Lord bee absent in body yet he is present by his power to all them that loue him c. And reciprocally no man doubteth seeing he is ascended into heauen but that he is absent in the flesh though present in body c. What is this then I will not leaue you comfortlesse That is how that after he is ascended into heauen risen from the dead Idem l. 6. dial de Trinit he is in vs by his spirit c. And againe what is the meaning of this I am in the midst of two or three assembled in my name Verily saith he when as man he was conuersant here vpon earth he filled notwithstanding the heauens not leauing therfore the companie of the Angels And on the otherside likewise where as now he is in hraue Idem l. 11. c. 3. li. de Incarn c. 21. Fulgent ad Thrasimund l 2. he ceaseth not to fil the earth with his power c. He appeared for vs on high before the father and he ceaseth not to dwel here below in the Saints by his spirit c. being absent according to his humanitie but present according to his Diuinitie Fulgentius One and the same Christ saith he is a locall man that is to say tied to one place in as much as he was borne a man that is to say of the Virgine and notwithstanding God infinite that is to say without limitation of place measure or bounds in as much as he is of the Father according to his humane nature absent from heauen when he was vpon earth and leauing the earth when he ascended into heauen according to his diuine nature notwithstanding not leauing the heauens when hee descended nor the earth when he ascended into heauen Vigil l. 1. cont Eutych c. Vigilius B. of Trent It is expedient for you saith he that I goe c. And how will he goe saith he vnto the father who neuer is from him He which is all in all with the father and of whome all things are full c. But saith he This is because he caried out of this world his humane nature which he had taken of vs c. He is then gone from vs according to this humanitie but in respect of his Diuinitie hee saith vnto vs I am with you vnto the end of the world Idem l. 4. But againe now the daies will come that you shall desire to see the Sonne of man and shall not see him c. Verily because he is after a certaine manner both absent from vs and present with vs By the forme of a seruant which he carried from vs into heauen he is absent from vs and by the forme of God which remoueth not from vs here on earth hee is present with vs Circumscribi loco and so by this meanes he but one the same becommeth present with vs and absent from vs c. But seeing saith he that the word is euery where wherefore is not the flesh also euery where These certainly are things very diuers different to be limited bounded within one place and to be euery where The Son of God had a beginning as cōcerning the nature of his flesh but he had not any if you consider the nature of his diuinitie In regard of that he is a creature but in regard of this the Creator In respect of that he is a subiect to be contained in one place but in respect of this it is not possible for him to be contained in any place c. And this is the Catholike faith fession which the Apostles haue deliuered vnto vs which the Martyrs haue confirmed and ratified and which the faithfull haue conserued and maintained euen vnto this present c. And that in such sort that although the founders of Transubstantiation haue laide such doctrines as are contrarie to the succeeding ages Bed in hom Paschah Bernard in 1◠Serm. de Caen. Dom. serm 6.9.10 Hugo part 8. c 13. memit theol Cyril 9. in Io. c. 21. yet this foundation hath alwaies remained firme In Beda Christ ascending vp to heauen after the resurrection left his Disciples corporally how be it the presence of his diuine maiestie did neuer leaue them In S. Bernard I goe from you saith the Lord according to my humanitie but I do not goe away from you according to my Diuinitie I leaue you without my corporall presence but J arde and assist you with the presence of my spirit And thus haue all the old Schoolemen spoken so farre as that he which hath said otherwise hath beene reputed for an Eutichian or Nestorian according to the saying of S. Cyrill Ne quis in duos filios Christum diuidere auderet To the end that no man might be so bold as to diuide Christ into two Sonnes c. And of such like places a man might make vp a whole volume But followeth it that to the end it may retaine the humane nature that the bodie of Christ must needes bee bounded and made subiect to one certaine place What other thing is it that all these Doctors haue said in their making of it a locall and circumscriptible bodie and subiect to locall motions c. S. Ambrose saith Ambros Ep. 22. l. de Incarn Domini de spir sanct There was in Christ the same truth of body that is in vs. Againe Euerie creature is bounded within certaine limits of his nature and that that hath not a bounded and limited power cannot be called a creature If then thou consider the Son of man as man why doest thou not leaue him that which belongeth vnto man If as a creature for so we call him according to the phrase of antiquitie in as much as hee is man what doest thou cal in question his circumscriptiblenes if thou be not purposely minded to
confound the Creator with the creature And not any more to diuide and seperate with Nestorius but with Eutiches to confound and couple together the two natures In like maner S. Ierome Didimus l. 1 de spir sanct or rather Didimus translated by him goeth further Yea if the holy Ghost saith he were a creature euen he should haue a circumscriptible substance that is to say a substance restrained kept within certaine limits Yea saith S. Cyril The Diuinitie could not possibly auoid limitation Cyril de Trinit c. 2 if it were within the reach of any quantitie And then will the fathers exempt and except his glorified body from these rules Can you once thinke how seeing they do not exempt the Diuinity it self if it were possible for it to come vnder any presupposed quantitie Theod. Dial. 2 Verily not Theodoret who saith It is glorified with diuine glorie adored of the celestial powers but notwithstanding a body but notwithstanding subiect to that limitation which it was before c. I heard the Lord who said You shall see the Sonne of man comming in the clouds c. But I know that that which is seene of men is finite and limited August ad Dard. Idem ad q. 35. q. 65. 20. Idem de diuers quaest q. 83. Ep. 6. Idem in Ioh. tract 30. de Consecr d. 2. C. prima quidem Idem ad Dar. Ep. 57. ad Consent 46. Nazianz. ad Theod. dial 1. Concil Chalced apud Damasc l. 3. c. 3. Euagr. l. 2. c. 4 Concil Constant aecumenic 6. for neuer could any man see that nature which is infinite and vnlimited Not S. Augustine For saith hee take from bodies space of place and so you shall make thē not existant and if not existant then not to be any thing at all Againe Euerie body is locall and euerie locall thing is a body whatsoeuer is locall is in one place and not in many and it occupieth with his least part the least place with his greatest the greatest c. Againe The Lord is on high but the Lord which is veritie and truth that is to say in as much as hee is God is also here It must needs be that the body wherin he rose againe marke how he speaketh of his glorified body should continue in one place albeit that his truth bee dispersed and shed abroad euerie where Againe Let vs not be so insolent as to say that the body hath not onely put off mortalitie and corruption by the glory of the resurrection but also that it is now become spirit where it was a body For I belieue and esteeme it to be such a one in heauen as it was here on earth when he ascended into heauen c. For a spirituall body is that which is alreadie immortal with the spirit but not that it is changed into a spirit c. Not Gregorie Nazianzene We teach saith hee the same Christ consisting of a circumscriptible body and of an incircumscriptible spirit of a body which may be contained in a place of a spirit which no place is able to contain c. Not the Orthodox and purer Church in the Councels of Chalcedon Constantinople III. The two natures after the vnion haue verily their owne natures their naturall properties for either of thē doth retaine his natural property so as that it cannot possibly be changed But in the meane time we haue here to obserue that the heretickes of that time against whom the fathers disputed doe not aleadge for themselues any thing of transubstantiation but is not the bodie of Christ in diuers places at one the same time in the holy supper and then is it not either changed or cōfounded with the diuinitie or the properties of the one nature become communicable with the other which no doubt they would not haue forgotten if the Church of that time had taught either transubstantiation or any doctrine which had come neere therto They obiect yea but our Lord came forth of the virgins wombe Tertul. de car Christ c. 4. 20. 23. aduers Marcion l. 3. c. 11. l. 4. c. 21. l. 5. c. 19. Quod communi parefacti corporis lege pepetit Orig. in Luc. hom 14. Ambr. in Luc. l. 2. Hieron ad Eustoch de cast virg Luke 2. Durand l. 4. in l. 4. Sent. D. 44. q. 6 Nu. 21. Leo 1. ad Epis Palaest Hilar. de Trin l. 3. ad Constant August Hieronym ad Pammach Iustin Martyr in quaest q 120 Cyril Alex. in Ioh. l. 12. c. 53. that was closed and shut vp he rise againe the sepulcher fast he went into his discipls the dores made c. Wherfore there is a penetrating of dimensions and a concurrence of bodies in one and the very same place c. Tertullian Origen S. Ambrose and S. Ierome did answere them That Christ being borne did open the wombe of the virgine And S. Luke alleadgeth the law to this purpose Euerie male opening the matrix shal be holy vnto the Lord c. Out of which Theophilact gathereth altogether an other manner of doctrine For saith hee this law properly hath beene accomplished in Christ alone who onely opened the wombe of the virgin for as concerning other mothers their husbands and not their children doe open them And Durand likewise is farre from finding this miracle To the stone rolled vpon the sepulcher Iustinus Martyr would tell them That the diuine power caused it to make way for him or that the Angell rolled it away And Pope Leo the first likewise That Christ rise againe the stone of the sepulcher being rolled away And S. Hilarie in generall That all closed and shut thinges are open to the power of God S. Ierome That the creature giueth place to the Creator c. But yet his entrance the dores being shut is vnanswered Iustinus Martyr answering purposely this verie question This was not saith he by chaunging his bodie into a spirit but by the same reason that our Lord walked vpon the sea causing by his diuine power the sea to befit to walk vpon which of it owne nature was not so in so much as that it did not onely beare vp his bodie but that of Peters also The miracle then was in the sea not in the bodie in the dores which opened by a speciall power and not in the subtlenes as they speake of his bodie Then he addeth For this is the same with the walking of his body vpon the sea without being chaunged for euen so without any manner of change in his bodie he entred in at the dores being shut And therefore he would saith he that his disciples should touch him to the end that they might know that he entred not by changing of his bodie into a spirite but that by diuine power which bringeth thinges to passe beyond the course of nature this bodie of his consisting of grosse parts was entered and come into them Saint
Cyrill The Lord went in to his disciples the dores being shut and that by surpassing through his omnipotencie the nature of things And therefore let no man trouble himself with seeking out of the cause but let him rather consider that the question is not here of a meere man like to our selues but of the Almightie Sonne of God to whome whole nature is subiect This was therefore after the same manner that his walking vpon the sea was which naturally is not giuen to beare vp our feet and note that this was before his bodie was glorified and therefore when thou readest this beware that thou be not turned aside to forsake the true faith c. And if thou bee not able to comprehend the same blame the defects and wantes of thy spirit and say rather That whereas hee thus entred in at the dores being shut it is because he is God and yet not any other then he was at the time of his being conuersant as men amongst his disciples before his passion And in deed the better sort of their expositors of the later writers do not abuse these places to the prouing of the said pearsing through of dimensions imagined and deuised by our aduersaries which maketh that two bodies should occupie but one place The dores say they were opened Ferus in Ioh. c. 20. and why not after the same manner that God caused the earth to open and swallow vp Dathan and his confederates the sea to make way for the Israelites and to drowne the Egiptians or the gates of the prison for the deliuerance of his Apostles And if God say they were able to bring them out of a prison fast shut mortall and corruptible men at they were why should he not himselfe be as able to go in the dores close shut The miracle euermore proceeding by this meanes from the diuine power vnited vnto his humane nature and not from any change made or pretended in the same and the change also whensoeuer any is resting in the things which suffer and obey this power without any extending of it selfe by any manner of way vnto the person Durand That our Lord went in the dores being shut by some other priuie secret place but not through the dores shut c. But if any one amongst so many haue found out this denne or lurking hole wherefore of so many sundrie expositions would they haue vs to make choise of that which is most harsh and obscure And when all is done what hath this to doe with the Sacrament of the holy Supper But we answere them two thinges In the first place That in the matter of the Sacraments as also of this same as Saint Augustine hath taught vs before there is no question to be made concerning any miracle And in the second place That this Maxime abideth euer firme that in God there is not yea and no toge ther and therefore that no miracle how great soeuer can imply any contradiction For the one S. Thomas telleth vs That a miracle commeth of admiration Tho. in 1. parte Summ. q. 105. art 7. that admiration falleth out when the effects are manifest but the cause hidden secret But here we all agree that the effects are hidden secret wherupon they are called mysteries And hereupon also S. Augustine doth roundly cut off all the controuersies saying That the Sacraments are things of great note estimation amongst men August de Trinit li. 5. c. 10 that they may be reuerenced as religious things but that they ought not to worke any admiration in vs as if they were miracles And by name he speaketh there of the holy supper As in deede there was neuer any miracle read of whose effectes were not cleare and manifest to the sences And to the second S. Thomas telleth vs God is not Almightie in respect of the things wherein there is contradiction because that they cannot be accounted of as possible things Thom. 1. p. Summ q. 25. art 3. 4. aduer ger t. l. 1 c. 84. l. 2. c. 25 August de Trini l. 15. c. 14 And he layeth downe for an example That he cannot make one thing and that which is contrarie to the definition of the same as a man vnreasonable a triangle and not three angles or three lines c. Because saith he This should be to haue them and not to haue them And to speake in better tearmes with Saint Augustine Because that This shoulde bee an vnablenesse and want of power for great is the power of the word sayeth hee in that it cannot lie for that therein there cannot bee Est non est but Est est Non non c. But are wee not in Saint Thomas his tearmes when there is made and set before vs a bodie without quantitie a quantitie without dimensions and a locall thing without any place a quantitie therefore without quantitie a bodie without a bodie And thus then they destroy the humane nature of Christ wherein lyeth the principall consolation of mankind the article also of his ascention into heauen of his sitting at the right hand c. that is to say euen our Creed In the sixt place let vs see how they deale with his diuinitie Transubstantiation iniurious to the diuine nature of the Sonne of God It is a rule amongst all the ancient fathers as we haue seene that men should distribute the Sacraments that is to say the signes but that God alone is the giuer of the thing but more particularly in this wherein it pleaseth the Sonne of God to giue himselfe vnto vs his flesh and his blood for our nourishment vnto eternall life But with what reuerence can we say that another giueth it vs and that in such sort as that it dependeth not vpon the institution of the Sacrament in it selfe neither yet of the vertue of the wordes which they call sacramentall but as in the workes and feates of Magicke in which strong imagination worketh the effect of the intention of the priest which vttereth them Whereupon it followeth that God must needs haue tyed his grace to the intention of the confecrating priest and not to his owne institution accompanied with his holy spirit And the Sonne of God shall not be ours that is to say the life which is in him shall not distribute it selfe vnto the faithfull further then the discretion of this intention shall extend And it shall bee in the power or rather in the weaknes of the Priest to frustrate and send away emptie a whole assemblie and companie of Christians gathered together in the name of Christ feruently desiring in a true faith and longing after his grace which hee hath included in this precious gift which he hath vouchsafed freely to bestow vpon them of himself in stead that he hath so graciously declared his good will vnto vs saying When two or three of you shall be gathered together in my â—ame J will bee in the
take the name of the things signified the Doue of the holy Ghost the rocke of Christ c. He also giueth vs now the holy supper for an example As saith hee secundam quendam modum After a certaine manner the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ and the Sacrament of his bloud the bloud so the Sacrament of faith is saith Note After a certaine manner that is to saye Per modum Sacramenti suo modo sub mysterio in manner of a Sacrament sacramentally vnder a mysterie If it had beene reallie hee would not haue so spoken And this is according to that which he saith in another place That in the sacraments men are to regard not what they are Idem cont Maxim Ep. l. 3 c. 22. but what they demonstrate and signifie because they are one thing and do signifie another Then they are alwaies the same that they are for to signifie another thing that which they are doth not vanish neither become any other thing And hereof hee taketh for example in S. Iohn The spirit water bloud 1. Ioh. 5.8 And this is the cause why he admonisheth vs heretofore to look wel to our selues beware that we take not the signes for the things signified that in the matter of Baptisme of the Lords Supper which he toucheth expressely by name saying Wherein we must obserue what they haue relation vnto August de doctr Christ l. 3 c. 5. 9. the more to reuerence them not with a carnall seruice but with a spirituall libertie But seeing that we could alleadge bring to this purpose all S. Augustine we will content our selues to stand vpon those places that seeme most proper comming neerest to the purpose Idem cont Admi. c. 12. in Psal 3. In senten Prosper aswell for the one part as for the other The Lord saith he hath not doubted to say This is my bodie in giuing the signe of his bodie He admitteth Iudas to the feast wherein he recommēdeth to his disciples the figure of his bodie and bloud The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is called suo modo after his maner the bodie of Christ although in deed it be but the sacrament of that bodie which was nailed vpon the crosse c. Not saith he by the truth of the truth of the thing but by a signifying mysterie And to children August in ser ad infantes That which you haue seene is the bread the cup your eies declare the same but that which your faith which is to be instructed demandeth the bread is the bodie of Christ the cup is his bloud And this notwithstanding is the Proposition which our aduersaries do so deeply condemne You wil say yea but we know wel enough from whence he tooke his flesh c. He was crucified c. He sitteth now at the right hand of the father c. How thē is the bread his bodie the wine his blood These things brethrē are called sacraments because that in them one thing is seene another vnderstood that which is seen hath a corporal figure that which is vnderstood hath a spiritual fruite c. Wilt thou vnderstand what this bodie of Christ is Listen giue eare to the Apostle saying to the faithfull you are the bodie and members of Christ c. And to communicate thereat Idem de doctr Christ l. 3. c. 26. Idem in Ioh. tract 25. 26. to eate the same what shall we prepare for our selues Not the teeth saith he the bellie Prepare the hart not the mouth beleeue and thou hast eaten To beleeue in him that is to eate the bread of life that is to eate with the hart not to grinde with the teeth He that beleeueth in him eateth him he is inuisiblie fatted seeing also that he is inuisibly borne again let vs alwaies note how he compareth eating with regeneration then is the bodie and bloud of Christ life vnto euery one Idem de verb. Domini in Luc. Serm. 33. Idem de verb. Apostol Scrm. 2. Idem de Trin. l. 3. c. 10. when that which is taken visiblie in the sacrament is eaten drunk spiritually in the truth of the thing c. To eate that is to be made againe but thou art made againe by making that againe which is not wanting in thee Eate life drinke life thou shalt haue life euē that life which ceaseth not to be wholly vpright And yet he saith in another place That the bread that is ordained for this action is consumed in the receiuing of the Sacrament This bread then that is receiued in the holy Supper is not that life this bread is nothing els but the Sacrament And again This bread is eaten of many which do not eat life Life then lieth not in this bread it is from elsewhere according to that which he saith He in whom Christ dwelleth not eateth him not Idem in Iohn tract 26. notwithstanding that he do shut vp within his teeth the sacrament c. but rather he eateth his owne iudgement because of his rash presuming to approch vnto the Sacraments of Christ being vncleane Which thing we haue sufficiently handled before Thus saith he That the Christian soule heareth not in vain Sursum corda Idem Ep. 1 56. let your harts beset on high neither doth it answere in vaine That it hath it in the Lord. These were the words vsual in the seruice preparatiues to the receiuing of the Sacrament Idem Serm. 152. de Temp. contr Faust l. 33. c. 8. Idem in Ioh. tract 50. Idem de verb. Domin in Luc. Serm. 18. 33. 64. Hee toucheth Christ that beleeueth in Christ He is come neere vnto not with the flesh but with the hart not by anie bodily presence but by the power of faith send faith thou hast hold of him Thou canst not look for him any more at hand for he is in heauen look for him by faith c. It is not that which is seene that nourisheth but that which is beleeued This is not that bread which goeth into the body but the bread of eternal life that sustaineth our soule Our eies are fed with the light the eye of our hart with God neither can the multitude of eies diminish or make him lesse In like maner of Christ in the supper If ther were great prouisiō store of meat allowed thee for thy dinner thou wouldest prepare and make readie thy bellie Thou art allowed thou art esteemed of God prepare thy soule Now so many places so plaine and many more in the places from whence these are taken shall they be deluded and defeated by some pettie and friuolous distinction They obiect these words in S. Augustine Christ was caried in his owne hand when hee saith recommending his body vnto his Disciples This is my body Let them put thereto that which is said afterward
Idem in Psal 33.1 2. Ierm And how was he carried in his own hands Because that recommending his body his bloud he took into his hands that which the faithful know that is to say the bread and the cup and so he carried himselfe after a certaine maner saying This is my body c. Now let them expound vnto vs what is the meaning of this Quodammodo C. Hocest quod De Consecr D 2. Idem Ep. 118. c. 3 after a certaine sort except it be Sacramentally Or as the Canon saith Improperly not in truth but in a misterie To the end saith he that the sence may bee It is called the body of Christ that is to say it signifieth it He compareth say they the deuotion wherwith it ought to be honoured to that of the Centurion who said vnto our Lord I am not worthie that thou shouldest come vnder my roofe c. But to what purpose if we receiue but the signe Where as we take the thing by faith and the signe with the hand As the Centurion receiued the Lord corporally vnder this roofe and spiritually and by faith in his soule and corporally without faith vnto condemnation spiritually by faith vnto saluation according to that which Saint Augustine saith in an other place That the Virgine is not vnâ—happy Idem in ps 98. because shee did conceiue and beare our Lord in her wombe but by faith in her soule But he hath said say they Worship his footstoole and thereby he meaneth his flesh And of his flesh he saith That no man doth eate it that hath not first worshipped it This is not then the bread And who doubteth that wee ought not to worship the flesh of Christ vnited hypostatically to the Deitie And that no man can eate it which doth not belieue it and that no man can belieue it which doth not worship it and that no man can truely worship it except that hee belieue it And is not this same against our transubstantiators which teach that the wicked eate it Of those I speake which can neither worship nor belieue it But to worship it is to worship it in heauen and not in the bread lifting vp our spirits on high and not casting downe our eyes vpon the earth And this is it that wee dispute Not saith S. Augustine the signe that is seene Idem de doctr Christ l. 3. c. 9. and which goeth away but that whereunto it ought to bee referred But let them blush and bee ashamed that they haue not added there to that which followeth Vpon what ground so euer thou fallest downe to worship looke not down vnto the earth but vp to the holy one whose foot stoole it is Idem in Psal 98. that is to say the humanitie of Christ And when thou worshippest him let not thy thoughts rest in the flesh and without being quickned by the spirit for it is the spirite that quickneth c. And this is the cause why our Lord said to the twelue c. Vnderstand sptritually that which I haue said you shall not eate this body which you see neither shall you drinke this my bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifie me I haue inioyned you by commandement to vse a certaine Sacrament which spiritually vnderstood will giue you life c. Had it not therfore beene better for them that they had left this place vnremembred They cite an other place That which is taken from the fruits of the earth saith hee consecrated by misticall prayer let vs take for the spirituall saluation in remembrance of the passion of our Lord Idem de Trin. l. 3. c. 4. c. it is not sanctified to be so great a Sacrament but by the inuisible operation of the holy Ghost And what is there heere for any man to doubt of As though there were no other operation of the holy Ghost but Transubstantiation For is not regeneration in Baptisme a marueilous worke also of the holy Ghost Wherein notwithstanding the water in his substance receiued not any chaunge But as for that which hee saith of the fruites of the earth and that they are made a great Sacrament they should haue learned that for to continue Sacraments they also continued fruites of the earth and for to continue fruites of the earth they did also continue Sacraments that is to say sacred signes of the grace of God And such like and lesse forcible to proue any thing are these places following It is one Passeouer which the Iewes celebrate as yet with a lamb idem contr li. Pet. l. 2. c. 37. It is an other which we receiue of the body bloud of our Lord. And who denieth it euen since the true Lamb which hath caused to cease the tipical or figuratiue and which hath take froÌ„ it both the thing and also the Sacrament Againe In stead of all the old sacrifices the body of Christ Idem de ciuit Dei l. 17. c. 20 is offered and administred to them which are partakers thereof Or who doubteth of this point And how oft hath it beene told them that the question is of the manner And in the end Idem apud Yuon Carnut Serm. ad Neophyt Idem de doct Christ l. 3. c. 16 they would find it in a place cited by Yuon Bishop of Charters Take and receiuean the bread that which was hanged vpon the Crosse and in the Cup that which issued out of the body of Christ And what is this but the same that he said to the children as here hee speaketh vnto Nouices or new conuerted Christians These things are called Sacraments because that therein one thing is seene and an other vnderstood Communicate in the passion of our Lord and keepe fast in your memories that his flesh was crucified and pearced through for you And yet this place is not found in his workes but alleadged by the said Yuon of Chartres Let onely the sound Reader iudge here what swaie or force these places can afford amongst so manie others by which they are most clearely and planely expounded Cyrill Patriarke of Alexandria giueth vs these Maximes Cyril Anâ—t 12 Our Misterie is not an Anthropophagie that is to say consisteth not in eating of mans flesh we must not set the spirits of the faithfull in the scrole of these grosse conceites beeing occupied in things that are receiued by a pure exquisite and onely faith c. Christ entreth into vs by faith and dwelleth in vs by the holy Ghost for the holy Ghost is not separated from the Sonne c. Cyril 3. c. 24. l. 11. in Ioh. Idem in Leuit. l. 7. Idem in Ioh. l. 3. c. 24. If thou stand perswaded according to the letter in that which is said If you eate not the flesh c. this letter dooth slate thee but if thou be perswaded to vnderstand it spiritually there is the spirit of life to bee found therein c. The only begotten Sonne
the redemption being perpetuall went for the saluation of all that so also the oblation of that redemption should stand perpetuall that is saith the Glose Gloss ibid. the preaching of this onely sacrifice after which there is not any other to come And that this perpetuall sacrifice might liue in our remembrance and might alwaies be present with vs in the grace thereof Asacrifice saith he which must be iudged of by faith and not by the outward appearance or kind by the inward affection not by the outward sight Here now you may behold a manifest opposition of the mystery against the realitie of the remembrance against the presence of the presence of grace against the reall presence of faith against apparance and of affection against sight But notwithstanding say they there is a change And what change verily such a one as hee there describeth and setteth downe for he compareth the change that is made therein first with the creation For as saith he in the twinckling of the Lords eyes there were incontinently subsisting and extant the heauen the sea and the earth although of nothing by the same power also in the sacramentes whereas this vertue commandeth the effect doth incontinently follow Now would they say that by the consecration Christ was created anew And to bring forth nothing is this to chaunge and turne is this to transubstantiate And what can they then inferre but that the same spirite which made the heauen and the earth doth conioyne and vnite them together in the holy supper as we haue diuerse and sundrie times said And secondly with the change which is made in vs by our regeneration in Christ into which saith this Eusebius Non viuendo sed credendo transiliisti we enter not by liuing but by belieuing we are made of the children of perdition the adopted children of God by a hidden and secret purenes continuing and abiding idem atque idem one and the same in substance but otherwise much altered and chaunged by the proceeding and growth of faith Changed saith Bellarmine accidentallie and not substantiallie And therefore the bread the wine in the holy supper in like maner changed said Theodoret in a word Not in their nature but by addition of grace c. And how then shall wee there receiue the bodie of Christ verily in a manner proportionable to this change and correspondent to this obiect When saith he thou commest to the altar to be fed of these spirituall meates looke by faith vpon the bodie and blood of thy Lord touch him there with thy mind and spirit mente continge take him by the hand with thy hart drinke him haustu interioris hominis with the full and large draughtes of thy soule with all thine inward man c. And yet this is the man amongst all the rest by whom they take themselues best vnderpropped Procopius Gazaeus saith also Procop. Gazeus in Genes c. 49. Macar Egypt Anachor The Lord gaue the image figure or tipe of his bodie to his disciples not admitting any more the bloudie sacrifices of the law Macarius an Egyptian more clearely saying That there ought to be offered in the Church bread and wine the resemblances and representations exhibiting the bodie and blood of Christ the fathers of the olde Testament knew it not how that they that should receiue the inuisible bread should also spirituallie eate the flesh of Christ c. Figures then euermore and types and representations of the bodie and bloud which forbid and exclude all manner of realnesse in the kinds as likewise all change in the substances in that they alwaies call them bread and wine c. And thus wee are come to the time of Gregory the first about the yeare of our Lord 600. CHAP. VI. That of a long time also after Gregorie transubstantiation was not knowne And further that all the most famous liturgies receiued of our aduersaries are repugnant thereunto NOw Gregorie 1. Anno 600. Gregor dial 4. c. 58. Et in registro had not as yet beene infected with this errour howbeit he had inwrapped himselfe in many other Who is there saith he of all the faithfull that doubteth that at the houre of the sacrifice at the voice of the minister the heauens are opened or that the heauens are ioyned to the earth c. and we will bee readie to tell it them at all times if they will heare And heauen is not onely ioyned to the earth but God to man and righteousnesse to a sinner c. They say that this is vnder the Accidentes of bread wee in the nature of our soule Which is the more beseeming diuinitie But when S. Gregorie saith When we take the bread whether it be heaued vp or not heaued we are made one bodie with the Lord our Sauiour To what end should he say heaued or not heaued if there be nothing but accidents And is there not any great difference whether we our selues be made the bodie of our Lord or els the bread and wine the Indiuiduum vagum accidents hanging in the aire Idem hom 22. in Euang. But saith he The bloude is sprinkled vpon the two postes when it is not taken of the mouth of the body onely but also with the mouth of the heart That is to say say they when it is taken also in at the mouth of the bodie But we say that this is according to the rule aboue specified which giueth to the signe the name of the thing That is that the sacrament is taken in at the mouth of the bodie the thing by the mouth of the soule and in the faithfull the one with the other Which S. Gregorie layeth open elsewhere in these wordes speaking of the vngodly Howbeit Idem l. 2. expos in l. 1. Reg. c. 1. that they receiue the Sacrament with their mouth yet they are not replenished with the vertue of the Sacrament And therefore say wee they did not take the flesh and bloud For he that receiueth them saith the Lord hath eternall life Beda followeth S. Augustin step by step Bed 1. Cor. 10. and it may be that Bellarmine for the same cause hath left him out He teacheth them that the sacramentes of the old and new testament are the same in substance That in all sacraments the sacrament is one thing and the vertue of the sacrament another and particularly in that of the holy Supper that that which is seene hath a corporall figure but that which is vnderstood a spirituall fruit That the bread is said to be the bodie of Christ after the same manner that we are called his members c. To be short saith he The creature of bread wine Idem in Luc. l. 6. c. 2â— by the vnspeakeable sanctification of the holy Ghost is translated into the Sacrament of his flesh and bloud Into the sacrament saith he not into the thing it selfe that is to say of elements they are made Sacraments they are made
was forbidden in the Councell of Laodicea Can. 14. And therefore there was but a little kept because that in the feruent zeale of those times the holy supper was celebrated almost euerie day and that a great deale lesse then the water of the Fonts which for all that was neither transubstantiated nor worshipped And this was the custome of the Church Some of superstition carried it into their houses and some women would wrap it vp in their handkerchefs lockt it vp in their Coffers and eate it at their owne houses c. Now let men iudge if the first ages of the Church did euer take the Sacrament to be God if it would haue suffered these prophanations But these examples are worthie to be as much accompted of in the Church as theirs that vsed to put it in childrens mouthes abusing this place If any man eate my flesh c. or of others who would put it in the mouthes of those that were dead c. being practises that haue beene condemned by many Councels And they are happily vanished and worne away of themselues howsoeuer they were grounded vppon verie auncient tradition euen since the time of Tertullian and S. Cyprian as also by the ordinance of Charlemaine That the Ministers should haue the Eucharist consecrated euerte day L. 1. c. 161. for children Because they had no other staie or foundation then the Scripture misunderstood The custome likewise being not of keeping it but of giuing it to them which were in extremitie grew hereupon that many sinking and shrinking away vnder the heate of persecution they were excluded and put from the Sacraments by the seueritie of this first discipline and that euen to the hower of death whereto the famous storie of Serapio is to bee referred And then that they might be comforted by their being receiued into the peace and Communion of the Church hauing giuen tokens of repentaunce the Ministers of the Church accompanied with their friendes did communicate vnto them the holy Supper and oftentimes also did communicate with them Againe wee reade not in all those 800. yeares The questions moued in these latter ages were not heard of in the first no not of 800. yeares after Christ which fall into the time of Charlemaine in any of the bookes of those graue and holy Doctors any of the questions wherewith the Schooles were afterward filled The people which read and heard the word of God and his seruice in their owne language was wonted to the phrases and manners of speeches vsed in the Scriptures the sheepe of the Lord did heare and vnderstand his voice and rested contented and satisfied therewith Barbarisme brought into the Church did beget these barbarous Expositions and consequently these blasphemous questions not as they are barbarous If our Lord do leaue heauē to come into the place of bread If in comming thither he passe through the ayre If he doe forsake the same againe so soone as the kind is striken vpon with the tooth or else if he goe downe into the stomacke and being in the stomacke whether he rest therin altogether and how long staying in the stomack whether he waite and attend there till the forme of the bread at the least bee disgested whether he chaunge himselfe at such time into the soule or body of the Communicant or whether he vanish into nothing or else returne to heauen Whether the accidents of bread and wine doe cleaue vnto him or else abide hanging in the ayre Whether the Priest in remouing the host doe remoue the body of Christ or the accidents onely Or rather whether the Priest remouing the accidents God do fit and accommodate the bodie of Christ to this mouing Againe Whether the thing nourished or rather poysoned as it is to be seene become a new substance which God createth in the stomacke and whereunto they fasten themselues Whether the body of Christ bee whole and all in euerie part of the host or at the least in those parts which are to be seene by an indifferent and meane sight as also the bloud in any the least drop Whether he be there alwaies standing his head turned toward the Priest c. Or else after the same manner of position and placing that he is in heauen set or otherwise and whether hee be there clothed or naked Whether the Priest be able to consecrate all the bread and wine of the world or that onely which is before him And whether that which he seeth onely or that also which he seeth not prouided that hee be equally distant from the one and the other Whether the words become of sufficient power being spoken once or many times to consecrate many hosts And what the words must bee whether those that our Lord spoke when he blessed the signes which we know not or those fower Hoc est corpus meum Or whether Enim bee requisite and necessarie thereto or not Or else Quod pro vobis datur c. Whether the intent of the Priest bee requisite if not actuall yet at the least habituall or inclining or disposed Whether that Christ bee entred into the bread after this word Hoc is spoken or after Est or the whole fiue words Whether he enter into the same seeing hearing speaking doing all that which he seeth heareth c. in heauen or else blind deafe dumbe c. and a thousand such like which we shall see hereafter Questions such as we shall not find any step or trace of in all the writings of the reuerend old Fathers as neither of their doctrine Whereat these good fathers would bee afraid and ashamed if they should liue againe and which verily I should haue made conscience to haue vttered if conscience did not bind me to discouer and vnfold the absurdities whereinto one falschood once receiued hath cast and plunged vs beeing also such as Dame impudencie her selfe would blush at howsoeuer that strumpet clothed with Scarlet died in the bloud of the Martyrs of Christ doe not blush thereat at all CHAP. VIII What hath beene the originall proceeding and increase of the opinion of Transubstantiation vnto the yeare 1215. And how it was ratisied and established by a decree in the Councell of Laterane THus then we see what the opinion was not onely of the first old writers but of all almost the later concerning the holy supper and how far off it was from that which is receiued at this day And now it onely remaineth that we see how it is transubstantiated by what degrees manner of proceeding The originall of Transubstantiation which worke wee will frame and applie our sclues in these our next labours to set downe Now it is a fresh to bee set before our eyes that the first zeale of Christendome beeing decaied and dead Christians came but fewe and seldome to the receiuing of the holy Sacrament in so much as that we haue heard those good Fathers complaining of the same in their Sermons and forced to
he would and that because it was his will where he taketh for graunted the thing that is in question Although it bee the figure of bread and wine notwithstanding after the consecration we must altogether belieue that it is the body and bloud of Iesus Christ And al his arguments are drawne from the omnipotencie of God without any proofe of his will But would the masters of Transubstantiation approue and like of these words Paschas ad Prudeg The bread and wine are the flesh and bloud of Christ And yet notwithstanding he is much troubled in himselfe when hee considereth That there must be in the Lords supper the figure and notwithstanding the truth And how the one may bee without the preiudice of the other c. In so much as that he is forced to say That it is no maruaile if this mysterie be a figure and if the wordes thereof bee called figures seeing that Christ himselfe is called an ingrauen forme and figure Ideâ— de Corp. Sang. Dom. l. 4. euen hee which is the truth it selfe That we belieue that that is done spiritually and that we ought so to belieue it to be That he is offered for vs mystically That wee walke by faith and not by sight That our Lord hath left vs these visible figures ascending vp to heauen to feede our spirite and fleshe by faith in spirituall things c. Neuerthelesse notwithstanding the resistances and oppositions of the most learned the abuse ceased not to spread it selfe further into diuers countries abroad because that the ignorant people who haue alwaies the stronger side did perceiue and see that both authoritie and profit would grow vnto them therby We read by name that in England there rise a great schisme betwixt Odo Archbishop of Canterburie assisted by the meaner and inferiour sort of Priestes being the parties affecting Transubstantiation and the most learned of his Cleargie To whose arguments and places alleadged out of the Fathers hee opposeth authoritie and force And secondly to winne the Idiots and simple people he vseth illusions and false myracles whereof these ignorant ages did neuer want good store This was about the yeare nine hundred and fiftie But in Fraunce Berengarius Deane of Saint Maurice of Augiers about the yeare 1050. Anno 1050. Lauâ—ranc con Berengar displaieth againe the ensigne of truth and writeth a Treatise of the Lords Supper whereof wee haue nothing more then it pleased Lanfrancus his aduersarie to cite in his writings against him And yet notwithstanding such as that thereby he doth neither iniurie the truth nor his good name although he make it euident and apparant enough that hee hath not forgotten to weaken and detract from the force of his reasons so much as he possibly could This Berengarius therefore writ priuily to Lanfrancus a Millaner then Abbot of Bec-Heloin in Normandie what hee thought of the holy supper Lanfrancus being absent his Canons did open the letter and sent it to Rome In it he praised the booke of Iohannes Scotus written in the time of Charlemaine The letter is made knowne in a Synod holden at Rome and condemned the Author being neuer heard Lanfrancus is inioyned to refute it if so be he would cleare himselfe of all suspition of hauing any part in that pretended errour which was so much the more because of such intelligences as did in verie familiar sort passe betwixt him and Berengarius Scotus his booke was burnt two hundred and fiftie yeares after his death Berengarius continueth his vertuous course and had for his Disciples and followers diuers great personages in Fraunce amongst others Freward and Waldus Knights c. A thing verie likely seeing that the Popes otherwise more curious and carefull about worldly complaints then studious in questions of Diuinitie did so much molest and trouble them Leo the ninth therefore called a Councell at Verscillis in Piemont and came thither himselfe in person Berengarius durst not appeare but sent thither onely two of his friends to tender his reasons who were easily made afraid The Councell of Rome thereupon became the more emboldned and gaue order notwithstanding that the French Church should assemble a Councell at Towrs to cause Berengarius to stoope and become subiect This was in the time of Pope Victor the second and there was Hildebrand afterward Gregorie the seuenth on his behalfe the most violent and head-strong Prelate that euer liued There appeared Berengarius who declared vnto them That he did not teach bare and naked signes in the Eucharist but that the bread and wine there vsed were most vndoubted pledges and seales of the reall Communion in the true bodie and bloud of our Lord which all those haue and there receiue which take these signes with a true faith That the bread and wine notwithstanding doe not chaunge their substances but rather of common ones are made holy ones of elements Sacraments c. And that to conclude hee held for other matters as all the auncient Fathers haue written and according also to the sence and meaning of the Lithurgie ordinarily read in the Church c. Thus the Councell rested satisfied at his hands But Pope Nicholas II. perceiuing that this doctrine was on foote againe cited Berengarius to Rome the second time to appeare in the Consistorie of Lateran and thither hee came being drawne and allured by faire and flattering speeches The first argument that was framed against him was that if he did not retract his former opinions he should be burnt and thereupon Humbert the Burgonian afterward Cardinall drew a reuocation such as we reade in the Decree That hee doth confesse C. Ego Berengar de consec d. 2. that after the Consecration the bread and wine are the verie bodie and bloud of Christ That they are there sensibly and in truth handled with the hands of the Priests broken and brused with the teeth of the faithfull c. And that hee curseth all them which doe iudge otherwise c. that is to say the whole Romish Church at this day which holdeth these propositions for hereticall That the bread is the bodie that the bodie is brused with the teeth c. Lanfranc de Sacr. Alger Where it is also to be noted that he saith Of the faithfull not of all those that are partakers thereof a remnant and small parcell of the pure doctrine and a signe of the as yet imperfect deliuerie and teaching of the impure and corrupt And therefore the Glose of the Decree addeth thereunto Beware least thou shouldest not rightly vnderstand that which Berengarius saith here and so shouldest fall into greater and more grosse heresies then euer he did And the Glose vpon the Canon Vtrum hath these words C. Vtrum de consecr d 2. ex August vbi Glos It is not lawfull to eate Christ with the teeth Berengarius saith hee said the contrarie but hee spoke hyberbolically and went beyond the listes of the
of quantitie if it were made quantitie 418 7 the dores made the dores made fast 419 23 this should be an vnablenesse and want of power this should be an impotencie and not an omnipotencie 422 10 so began they lesse lesse to admit so would they not any longer admit 422 47 the hearing they hearing 423 41 if you eate not c if you eate not c. If thou take this according to the letter this letter will kill thee c. But 424 37. 42 counterfeits and resemblances symboles and signes 426 1 receiuing the vocation of God receiuing the vocatiō power or inuocation of God 428 23 vniting of the signe thing vniting of the signe with the thing 428 28 the heauēly with the earthly heauenly bread with the earthly 429 28 Ministers Priests 431 6 So saith he If saith he 431 8 cibum Domini cibum Dominicum 431 30 faithfull onely faithfull onely not to the Sacramentall eating which is common betwixt them infidels And this c 433 2 as meere bread as meere bread or as bare wine 433 19 power of his diuinitie power by his diuinitie 434 45 that he prayed if he had prayed 437 20 after the same maner that Christ is giuen vnto vs after the same manner that Christ giueth them vnto vs 439 50 Thou canst not looke for him any more at hād for he is in heauen looke for him by faith Thou canst not touch or reach him anie more with thy hand touch him or reach him vnto thee by the hand of faith 440 19 That the virgin is not vnhappie That the virgin is not happie 442 1 partakers of the nature of partakers of the humane nature of 443 23 for the rest will carrie the question away for the rest is of no great consequence 443 26 thou takest the bread of the Lord thou takest the bread the Lord 443 39 others Caesarius and the later writers som one some another others Caesarius a later writer then either of them both 443 42 This sacrifice must be indeede by faith This sacrifice must be esteemed and measured by faith 444 39 The fathers of the old Testamēt knew it not how that they that should receiue the inuisible bread shold also spiritually eate the flesh of Christ c the fathers of the old Testament knew it not and that those which receiued the visible bread should spiritually eate the flesh of our Lord c 446 1 With whom all this doth well agree how soeuer it doth no whit agree with the power and efficacie of the c How doth all this agree or rather not disagree with the power and efficacie c 446 27 that there is anie earthly thing that here is c 448 16 Chap. vj Chap. vij 453 39 That all do take in order Let all in order take 455 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 455 40 S. Augustin vpō Beda S. Aug. as we reade in Bede 456 51 if any man eate my flesh if any man eate not my c 457 2 Ministers should haue the Eucharist consecrated Priests c 457 20 these blasphemous questions not as they are barbares these no lesse blasphemous then barbarous questions 457 22 so soone as the kinde is stroken vpon with the tooth so soone as the kinde or peeces of bread is touched of the teeth or receiued into the mouth 458 41 in the vulgar tongue in the vulgar and knowen tongue vnderstood of the people 462 21 whether it be the thing or else the Sacrament of the thing whether it be in the the thing or else in the c 466 13 Gratian Lombard Friers Gratian Lombard brothers 470 3 in the yeare 8215 in the yeare 1215 470 20 by Dozeus by dozeins 474 19 Iohn Duns saith Scotus Iohn Duns called Scotus 474 50 that there cannot but a difficultie then there followeth but one difficultie 475 18 in the Canon of Lateran in the Coūcell of Lateran 476 37 lapis hic honorabilis lapis hic venerabilis 477 3 shroud corporall 477 23 countrey of Luke countrey of Liege 478 7 twelue lustie cutters or ruffiās walking before twelue Sergeants or Bedels or fellowes with tip staues as it were walking before 478 43 that the institution that the consecration 479 49 yea amongst themselues at the least amongst c 480 34 and that he is corporally and that he is not corporally 480 42 mutuall byace vsuall byace Marginall faults in the Preface Page Faults Corrections 3 Orig. in Ier. Orig. Hom. 1. in Ierem. 4 Chrys in 5. Mat. in S. Mat. 4 Hom. 33. 13 6 Cypr. de simpl Pontif. Cypr. de simplic Praelat 7 Amb. l. 1. de poenit c. 9 c. 6 9 In Acta Hom. 32 33 11 Es c. 1 c. 2 Marginall faults in the text of the booke Page Faults Corrections 4 Marke 24 14 6 Actes 23 13 13 Distich Dist 17 Christians Iewes 20 Ephes 18.19 Ephes 22 Walafr 22 2 25 Serm. Serm. 6 26 e. vasa c. vasa 33 De temp De temp 237 34 Amb. l. 5. ep 8 l. 5. ep 33 35 Iren. l. 34 c. 32 39 Amb l. 4. 6 l. 4. c. 5. 6 42 Catech. Catech. 5 42 Retr l. 22 l. 2. c. 2 42 Aug. ep 50 ep 59 42 Aug. l. 20 Aug. l. 20. contra Faustum 79 Polyd. c. 21 c. 11 49 c. sui c c. fui c 49 Cyrill 6 l. 6 50 art 42 4 59 Greg. 71 17 63 Gen. 22. fol. 44 21. fol. 94 67 Greg. 3 33 70 gestu gestis 70 l. 7. c. 90 l. 7. c. 94 70 161 167 74 gerer gener 77 Amb. l. 2 l. 1 79 D. Can. 2 D. 2. Can. 2 81 Ser. 5 9 82 se Epis vocal Cenom Euesque 85 l. 4. c. 51 c. 61 62 q. 12 q. 2 87 c. 23 c. 35 94 Is 58.43 58.4 95 11.12.13 11.12.23 95 Act. 2.24 Act. 2.20 98 Q. con Q. 7. con 99 Apoc. Apoc. 2 103 13 13. 18 104 c. 42 c. 2 106 c. 49 26 109 11. 1. 18 11. 8 110 1.10 T. 10 115 Ps 65 95 115 c. 1 c. 2 122 l. 20 l. 10 126 1.14 T. 14 135 8 28 145 8.8 8.3 145 suck Luke 149 Marmiculus Marm. Siculus 150 c. 10 c. 20 154 q 9 155 ep ad ep 1. ad 157 Anomantas Anomanitas 161 1. Cor. 83 11 161 8 18 161 l. 4. l. 5. 162 D. 12 D 21 163 Strabo Strab. c. 25 169 d. l l. 1 170 vir vtr 183 c. 146 c. 46 183 1.2 T. 2 184 Greg. 7 Greg. 3 185 Titanum Trianum 202 c. 146 c. 13 203 Veg. Verg. 207 c. de c. 22. de 209 Ps 109 Ps 95 213 Act. 1 2 222 At. 4 Orat. 4 225 c. 41 c. 1 225 l. 10 l. 1.10 232 Part. 13 3 233 c 4 c. 2. 4 233 l. 1. c 2 l. 2. c. 2 238 c. 49 c. 47 258 Ps 118 Pf. 118. conc 20 258 Ephes 4 Epes 5 263 3. p. q. 62 3. p. 52 263 de cor grat c. 12 266 l. 4. c. l. 4. c. ◠267 l. sent l. 4. sent 267 tract tract 1 267 resp q. 10 resp q. 60 268 c. 2 8 c 28 270 in Hierem. in Hirerem Hom. 13 272 l. c. 10.25 l. 10. c. 25 272 de fide operibus de fide operibus 273 Pag 3.8 pag. 38. 281 Hom. 22 Hom. 21 282 l. c. 9 l. 1 c. 9 284 Ps 8.10 Es 8.19 285 de anima c. 5.7 c. 57 289 Dominic Dominic à Soto in 4 Sent. d. 19. q. 3. art 2. 301 Apoc. 1.8 Apoc ◠8 305 de cura pro mortuis gerenda de cura c. c. 13 317 Haec resp haeres 318 Hom. in Mat. hom 1. in Mat. 323 Ps 95 Ps 96 326 Paralip Paralip 32 327 de vera relig De vera relig c. 55 330 c. 27. c. 28 333 Ps 91 in Psal 91 341 Ps 19 49 342 Conc. Arans Conc. Arans 2 342 Gen. 6.5 8.64 342 Rom. 6.8 Rom. 8.6 347 Serm. 7◠78 348 Col. 2.23 Col. 2.13 349 Luk. 12.24 12 48 351 In Iohn 4. tract 41 FINIS