bee helde at Constantinople Anno 870. which they call ordinarilie the eight generall Councell whose Actes and decrees wee cannot finde extant in the volumes of the Councels and but a verie fewe of them else where in histories And Bartholomeus Caranza sayeth that hee met with them so depraued and falsified as that he durst not coppie them out Onelie the Popes fauourites doe affirme that therein should bee confirmed the worshipping of Images and the curses of the second Councell of Nice repeated So that wee neede not doubt if we consider the proceeding such as it is set downe in the Pontificall booke it selfe Lib. Pontificalis that is to say that Adrian the Pope gaue vnto his Legates a little booke containing all that hee would haue to be belieued of the supremacie of the Pope and of the worshipping of Images with this charge that they should not receiue or admit any man into counsel or consultation with them before they had first signed the same but that by this meanes hee preuailed in the cause hauing no aduerse partie to stand against the same Againe that which is left remaining with vs is such stuffe as that it would make a man quake and tremble to reade it the Emperour Basill vttering these speeches therein Now are you out of the Diuelles clouches true Christians worthy of eternall life for if you had not abandoned this heresie Christ could haue profited you nothing How manie heresies yea and how many blasphemies be there in these few wordes Christ saith the Apostle doth profite vs nothing if we bring in againe the ceremonies of the law But what manner of conclusion is this If we obserue and keepe this Commaundement being one of the ten Thou shalt not make any grauen Image Thou shalt not worshippe them c. Christ doth profite vs nothing An other Canon sayth We ordaine that Images be worshipped as the holie Gospell The reason hereof is worth the noting for say they As men are saued by the sillables of these bookes euen so are both the wise and foolish mightily helped by Images And notwithstanding these their beetle headed reasons Nicaetas and Zonara do write that from that time forwarde all such were accounted Heretikes as did not adore and worshippe Images And yet so as that this kinde of superstition did neuer proceede or prosper in the Churches of Greece as it did amongst the Latines for besides the Greeke Churches had but a few and those painted pictures onelie and not any grauen or carued Images the difference betwixt them in the maner of worshipping them is so great that Emericus in the volume of his inquisitions rehearsing the errors of the Greekes setteth down these That they may not pray vnto Saintes no not vnto the holy virgin Marie That they hold that to offer vnto them is to offer sacrifice vnto the Diuell as also that to worship or kisse the Crosse is meere impietie senceles sottishnes But this must be distinguished of according to the times and countries But from hence forward let vs lanch forth into the depth of Idolatrie We make our selues offensiue to the Iewes in giuing them matter to stumble at and as loathsome as any stench vnto the Turks whome it had beene our duties rather to haue wonne and drawne to haue beene one with vs by the puritie of doctrine and the holines of our ceremonies The more contradiction we find the more care and industrie doe wee bring with vs for the propagating and spreading abroad of the same the more authoritie for to establish it and the greater rage and furie for to warrant and make good the same withall The Princes working the same sometimes in despight sometimes vpon enuie and malice which they beare one against an other but all of them to gratifie and pleasure the Bishoppe of Rome The Pope by his Decrees censures and curses by degrading and putting down of Emperours by absoluing their subiects of their oaths by rooting out and burning of all whosoeuer shall dare to say any thing to the contrarie c. In fine the pure seruice of God maintained so long a time vnder the Primitiue Church becommeth heresie and from hence forwarde no man speaketh of them which will not worship Images by any other name or trtle then heretikes the worshipping of them on the contrarie is accounted for sound and good to bee belieued yea and is reckoned vp amongst the markes and principal signes of the Church In the meane time to bring about the worshipping of Images in the French and Germaine Churches Friuolous â—â—fling distinctions the Church of Rome was forced from the beginning to bring into them some certaine distinctions and limitations carrying some more plausible construction and consideration as that of Dulia and Latria from the thing representing to the thing represented howbeit they are not of anie force or worth either in Grammer or Diuinitie but onelie as certaine vizardes seruing in the time of shamefast bashfulnes to couer the follie of the second Councel of Nice For as for the first such as are any thing acquainted with the Scripture do know that Dulia and Latria are ordinarilie vsed to signifie one and the same thing Gen. 9. Exod. 2 Esa 14. vbi Septuaginta Deuter â—8 34 Rom. 1. Ephes Coloss vbi Occumenius Matth. 6. Eustath in Homer Suidos August l. 8. c. 28 27. de ciuit Dei Idem de verb. Domini Secundum Mat. Serm. 6. Idem cont Faustum Manich. l. 15. c 9. contra Arrian Serm. 5. c. 17. IdeÌ„ ad Quod vult Deum L. 3. de Tradit 9. consider and those likewise that vnderstand the Greeke tongue doe know that Dulia is a more strict kinde of seruice then Latria because that to speake properlie Dulia is the seruice performed by a slaue who is altogether at the checke controll and commaund of his Maister and Latria the seruice which the mercenarie and hireling taketh himself bound to perform who vpoÌ„ the offer of the wages or the reward doth waigh with himselfe what it may be vnto him and accordinglie vndertaketh some such peece of seruice as his pay shall counteruaile And thus the best learned in the Greeke do interprete and take it what reason is there then that the lesse part should bee giuen to God and the greater vnto men And who can thinke that S. Augustine who first brought vp this dinstinction did vnderstand it after that manner who shutteth the deceased Saints Martyrs out of al Temples and froÌ„ hauing any Altars sacrifices or seruices done vnto them And that yet our aduersaries should giue them the same vnder the colour of this word Dulia And in verie deede S. Augustine hath no such intent or scope in that place namelie to giue vs free libertie to serue creatures but rather to detaine and draw vs backe from the same shewing vs what is the true seruice of God that so we may not giue it vnto anie creature For he that
to behold and looke vpon him as if you saw him and he you And yet more plainly in the funerals of his sister Gorgia Idem in suner Gorgon after many such flourishes hee checketh and represseth himselfe If thou hast any care or regard saith he of these honours if this honour be bestowed by God vpon holie soules in recompence if they discerne vnderstand and approue these thinges vnderstand and know also our purpose and speech c. All of them being phrases of speech that are full of doubting and by consequent a praier without faith whereas in matters as certaine as the Articles of our faith the Church is accustomed to say Fidelis sermo firmissimè tene nulla tenus dubites This is a true and trustie speech a doubtles faith And who so desireth to see further how farre they were carried with the streame of their Rhetoricke let him reade the Monodie of Nazianzene vpon the life of S. Basill for there hee maketh a comparison with Adam Henoch Noe Abraham Isaac Iacob Ioseph Moses Aaron Iosue Dauid Salomon and Elias euen to the preferring of him alone both before euery one of them in particular and all of them in generall but vnto S. Iohn Baptist and the Apostles in these wordes That he was sent an Apostle to reestablish faith in the world A charge and burthen saith he so much the more difficult and waightie by how much to settle a thing againe is ordinarily more laborious painfull then to worke it new And let this one tast of the feruencie of their speech serue as an admonition with wisdome and discretion to reade the like But let vs heare what was said at the same time The opinion of the churchmen and not of the commō people Theod. in ep ad Colos 2.18 not by any particular person but by the generall voice of the Church assembled in a Synode at Laodicea vppon this matter and that not in any Rhetoricall figure but in a well scanned Canon and that set downe in plaine tearmes Theodoret expounding these wordes of the Epistle to the Colossians Through humilitie and worshipping of Angels they saith he which defended the law perswaded them to serue Angels alleadging vnto them that the law was giuen by them And this vice continued a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia In so much as that the Synode assembled at Laodicea the chiefe cittie of Phrygia did forbidde them by an expresse law Ne colerent Angelos to worship Angels And as yet there are to be seene the Chappels of S. Michael amongst their bordering neighbours Now this their counsell was couered with the cloake of humilitie for they alleadged that the God of the vniuersal world is inuisible incomprehensible and not to be approached and therefore of necessitie man is constrained to vse them to the procuring of Gods fauour And this is it which S. Paul calleth through humilitie and worshipping of Angels And he addeth practising or intruding himselfe into matters which hee hath not seene that is to say vsing his owne conceipts And in the third Chapter S. Paul commandeth that they giue thankes to God the Father by Christ and not by his Angels But the Synode of Laodicea following this law laboured to cure this old disease and therefore ordained that they should not pray vnto Angels Niceph. l. 7. c. 50. ◠neither yet cast off Christ And of these Chappels of S. Michael Nicephorus speaketh also according to his time Now what is it that they can say to so cleare a testimonie Verily the wrangling and ouerthwart spirit giuen to crosse and gainesay Tom. 1. Concil Laodic c. 35. is neuer to seeke In the Councels which are come to our hands the Canon is laid downe in these tearmes Non oportet ecclesiam Dei relinquere abire at◠Angelos nominare alias angulos congregationes facere quae interdictae noscuntur Si quis igitur c. that it to say if you reade Angelos Angels We must not forsake leaue the Church and go away and nominate and call vpon the Angels and gather vnlawfull and forbidden asemblies And therefore if any man be found worshipping according to this hidden and secret idolatrie let him be accursed because he hath cast off our Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of GOd and giuen vp himselfe vnto idolatrie But if you reade it Angulos that is to say Corners or angles you must not withdraw your selues into corners c. And yet notwithstanding there is no man that doth but once looke vpon this Canon but he may perceiue that some haue had a delight to corrupt it But by conferring of it with Theodoret it is made cleare and plaine That is that the question is not De angulis but de Angelis not of certain angles but of Angels For how should it be to the purpose to be an idolater to be accursed for seruing God in some corner seeing also that it is said When thou art disposed to pray betake thy selfe into thy priuate closet c. Neither doth the Synode forbid to name Angels for what offence were it to name them But of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to call vpon them they haue made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to name them For why should that be accounted to cast off the Sonne of God and to giue ouer himselfe to idolatrie The Breuiarie of Fulgentius and Ferrandus saith Vt nullus ad Angelos congregationem faciat And that of Cresconius intituleth this Canon De his qui Angelos colebant that is to say Of them which doe any manner of worship vnto the Angels And this the Greeke Canon calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To doe the seruice vsed of the Church in honor of them And thus they thinke themselues to haue auoided the places which are against them Epiphanius and Chrysostome principall Bishops of the East Church do yet yeeld vs a clearer testimony how they belieued in their time concerning this article Epiphanius I say who vpon occasion of certaine women in Thracia and Scythia which offered a cake to the virgine Marie which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 found cause to reproue and conuince not onely that particular abuse but all others of the like quality which were then suffered in the church vnder the shadow of deuotion and vnder the cloake of certaine famous persons And he goeth so farre what would he haue said of these times as to condemne them of heresie Let the Saintes be honoured Epiph. cont Antidicomarionitas contr haecresp aduer Hyndianes saith he and their rest glorious but we may not honour them more then is meete and conuenient but wee must honour the Lord for them And to the end we may not doubt what he meaneth by honoring Of the saintes themselues saith he we learne what honour is due vnto God and what vnto them but we may not giue them the honors after their death which liuing they themselues did giue vnto God
Frier hath purposely written and put forth a booke The truth is that he teacheth Ioh. Ferus in Mat. l. 1. In Ioh. c. 1. v. 4.13.17.19 That all our old birth for so hee calleth the man not regenerate and all the powers of our nature are condemned in the Scriptures that wee are nothing but sinne and darknesse that our thoughts speech reason and will are accursed that our light if the same be not inlightned by the word of God worketh nothing in vs but errour and going astraie that euen the Law howsoeuer good in it selfe without grace begetteth nothing but hypocrites that without faith there is no good workes and that none but such as belieue can worke them that in the regenerate not onely after Baptisme Idem in Ioh. c. 13. v. 10. c. 14 v. 16 c. 16. v. 9. but euen after they become to an actuall faith there abideth continually a remainder of originall sinne which bringeth forth sinne in vs whereupon it must consequently bee auouched that no man is without sinne and notwithstanding that such as belieue doe not cease therefore to be cleane that is in as much as they be purified by faith and by the same ingrafted into the body of Christ participating his holinesse and possessing himselfe according to that which S. Paul saith But you are washed but you are sanctified c. And that notwithstanding that considered in themselues they are nothing but sin yet there is no condemnation for them with God who doth not impute vnto them any their sinnes vncleannesse but rather reputeth them for pure cleane because of their faith in Christ Moreouer that this faith which iustifieth vs is not any other thing then the free mercie of God forgiuing sinnes for his Christs sake which only is requisite in vs vnto saluation c. and it worketh in vs a certaintie of the same so farre foorth as that it leaueth vs not without a pledge and earnest penie of eternall life that by the only merits of Christ we are saued made partakers of the same merits by faith alone In all which points he doth verie notably agree with vs that is to say with all antiquitie and consequently is condemned by the Councell of Trent in diuers Canons in the sixth Session Now of all this discourse wee gather that this doctrine of free iustification in the bloud of Christ by faith hath beene of a long time kept maintained in the Church in his puritie howsoeuer deadly assailed by Sathan and that at diuers times in diuers depending points as the See and seate of our saluation That notwithstanding it hath beene subiect to manifold diuers great alterations and changes through the proud and presumptuous nature of man through the doctrine of Philosophers through the subtilties of the Schoolemen and the Pharisaical hmuour of the Monkes In so much as that notwithstanding the couragious defence of the same by diuers worthie and great personages holding vnto the yeare 1200. more for the grace of God against the ingratitude of man the said Pharisaicall doctrine did preuaile and get the vpper hand and yet not so absolutely but that at the same time it was still impugned and confuted almost throughout all the nations of Christendome by many good people and that euen to the suffering of death for their confession being also mightily and soundly crossed by their Maxims by whose fine conceipts and subtile deuises it had beene chiefely established that in it there is hapned vnto vs as it falleth out in the Countries farre North wherein the brightnesse of the two twilights doe happen and fall out so neere together as that the day is no sooner dead and departed on the one side but it quickneth and reuiueth againe on the other This Article hauing beene no sooner shut in and couered with the darknesse which had ouer-spread and ouershadowed the Church but that wee might see it incontinently after more splendent and glorious then euer it was before Wherein we may note the singular goodnes of God towards his Church for in as much as iustification is that point of Christian doctrine which ioyneth man Christ together which maketh the proper difference of the Church from all other sortes of assemblies and of a Christian from all other men as being that without which no man can bee a Christian with which alone well vnderstood we retaine both the name and the effect and to be short which may bee called by good right the life of a Christian the soule of the Church the bond of the mariage betwixt Christ and his Church it was surely verie necessarie seeing that God according to his promise cannot destroy his Church that this article should be conserued in the same that such Eclipse as should couer the face therof shuld be but short to the end it might returne vnto his former brightnesse and light In a word as Phisitions say that the heart is the first liuing last dying part in man That this heart also of the Church by which it began to liue notwithstanding first assailed and set vpon by the venimous poyson of Sathan was the last that was mortally wounded and striken and the first againe recouered as for certaine it is come to passe in our daies wherein God making his Gospell as it were to liue againe after so long a time of death and darknesse would of his incomparable grace that this point should bee the first restored into his former estate and perfection by them whome he had raised for the restauration of his Church Now in this third part we haue entered into the consideration of the Masse A briefe rehea 〈◊〉 of that which hath beene said before this third book in the qualitie of a Sacrifice so it remaineth for our better comming to our selues againe after so long a discourse that we briefly repeate the same which we meane to performe in manner as followeth The Masse is properly a corrupting adulterating of the holy Supper of our Lord and the Supper of our Lord was not ordained for a sacrifice taken in his proper signification but for a Sacrament Neither can it be called a sacrifice except for that it is a holy action or else because it is a commemoration of the sacrifice of our Lord once made vpon the tree of the Crosse for our sinnes or thirdly for that it is a thankesgiuing for the benefits receiued by him Wherefore the Masse cannot properly be called a sacrifice and much lesse a propitiatorie sacrifice in as much as the whole Scripture and all antiquitie do teach vs that there is not in the Church any moe sacrifices truely propitiatorie then one euen the bloud of our Lord shed for our sinnes represented and shadowed out vnder the Lawe by all the sacrifices then in vse and fulfilled in the time of grace in one onely which ought not neither can bee reiterated without sacriledge From this pretended Sacrifice of the Masse haue
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
according to the Scriptures appeareth by that which he said before That Dauid that the Euangelists that the Apostles doe teach vs c. Cyp. in Epi. 74 Saint Cyprian If it be commaunded in the Gospel if it be contained in the Epistles or acts of the Apostles let vs obserue it as diuine and holie But if it be not there then what followeth but the contrarie Saint Basil VVe must learne the Scriptures Basil regul 95 as concerning that which is to be practised in them as well to replenish our spirit with pietie as to leaue of to accustome humane constitutions Saint Ierome Hiero. in Esas It is no maruell saith he speaking of the Iewes if you follow your traditions seeing that euerie country goeth to seeke counsaile at their Idols but God verely hath giuen vs his scriptures and darknesse shall ouerwhelme you if you follow them not As also vnto Christians for euen in his time saith he it was come to the lees In. Matth. 23. VVo be vnto you wretched Christians to whom the sinnes of the Pharisies are translated and come euen that damnable tradition of theirs c. wee swallow downe against the commaundement of God the things that are great and hunt after the opinion of religion in the small and little ones c. And once for all The sworde Ad Laetam saith he of the Lord striketh at all those doctrines which are found bearing the shewe of Apostolicall traditions without the authoritie and testimonie of the Scriptures And this is the verie thing whereof Saint Augustine so greatly complained himselfe in his time that in the Church euery thing was full of presumption S. August in Epi. ad Iouin In S. Ioha tract 96.97 and preiudicate opinion that contrarie to the expresse worde of Christ the yoke of Christians was become more heauie and greeuous then that of the Iewes That men made lesse conscience of the law of God then of the least humane ordinances or rather fansies All this or the most part thereof comming from heretikes and certaine Apocripha bookes vnder the shadow saith he of this worde From the Lord I haue yet many things to say insomuch as that there is not the veriest foole that is that dareth not to abuse the same A place that some obiect against vs euen vnto this day about the same matter But saith he when the Lord hath kept any thing hidden from vs who is he that is so vaine as to goe about to gesse at it or so rash and foole-hardie as to take vpon him to reueale it And this is the cause why Saint Bernard wearie of those insupportable traditions Bern. Epist 91 ad Abba Suissioni congreg said I desire with all my hart to present my selfe as a partie in that Councel wherin traditioÌ„s are not obstinately defended nor suspersticiously obserued but rather the good and perfect will of God with all humilitie and diligence searched after and sought for And againe De precepto dispensat If there be any such as charitie hath beene the inuenter of it is iust that by the same charitie they bee ceased and giuen ouer if it bee so found expedient Againe The precepts which are of the ordinances of God are necessarie but those which are of humane constitution arbitrarie and at discretion c. And in deed the Ecclesiasticall historie doth witnesse vnto vs that the ancient fathers did leaue such things as were meere obseruations indifferent both vnto whole Churches and particular persons not inforcing any thing but what was of the pure and vndefiled commaundement of God as is to be read in Socrates Nicephorus c. Can not the Church then ordaine any thing Socrates Niceph. l. 12. c 14. Wherein or how far the authority of the Church stretcheth And wherein shall the authoritie thereof consist Nay let vs not feare that it hath ouer little to doe It is not a small thing in the blindnesse wherewith man is blinded and in the darknesse of this worlde to keepe it selfe from straying and wandring out of the way of life to keepe it selfe from loosing the heauenlie light through the sight of the eyes and to guide it selfe and others by the same And would to God it would haue contented it selfe to haue knowne this onely and to haue beene ignorant in all the rest Where as hauing toucht the forbidden tree and hauing transgressed this worde Deute 4. 12 Cursed be they which adde thereunto shee hath opened her eyes to these false and deceyuing fiers but shut them at the light and so consequentlie lost her puritie loyaltie and innocencie and leauing the truth of God is further become left vnto herselfe The ancient fathers verily The Fathers made faith the limits of the Church and the Scriptures the bounds limits of faith Colos 2.8 1. Cor. 4.6 Iohn 8.13 Not by succession Iren. l. 3. con heres c. 11. l. 4. c. 43. 44. Tertul. de prescript de pudicit Id verius quod prius Tertul. de virg â—â—land Con. Praxeam Tertul. de prescript Cypr. Ep. 55. De lapsis In tract de simplicit pontif in ep 74. Gregor Nazianz in orat habit ad laudem S. Athanas cont Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue not thought it any thing dishonoured when they tyed it to the obedience of her Spouse for they bounded it by faith and faith by the Scriptures And it would haue beene on the contrarie a verie strange doctrine vnto them that it shoulde haue spoken or heard any other language then her owne seeing it is said vnto her by the Apostle See that none spoile you through Philosophie or vaine deceitfulnesse according to the traditions of men Againe Learne of vs not to be wise aboue that which is written And in vs saith the Apostle that is to say by our example And by her Spouse himselfe If you abide in my worde you shall be truly my disciples Irenaeus saith The Gospel is the pillar and foundation of the Church It behoueth it to flie from all those which flie from and forsake the principal succession and cleaue vnto theÌ„ that keepe the doctrine of the Apostles Tertul. The Church is knowne to be apostolical not by nuber not by succession of Bishops but by the consanguinitie of doctrine And this doctrine again In this saith he in that the most ancientis most true that is most ancient which was from the beginning and that which is from the beginning is that which is froÌ„ the Apostles from the Apostles saith he who left the Scriptures for vs vpon whom are come the last ages the Scriptures by which the truth is defended and not by tradition or custome For how saith he could a man be able to speake of the things of faith but by the writings of faith Saint Cyprian Those are the Church saith he which dwell in the house of God But how Verily saith he who so is separated diuided
c. 4. l. 3 c 5. saith Saint Augustine hath beene gathered togither whatsoeuer was dispersed throughout the diuine Scriptures to the end that the memorie of the most dull and slow of conceipt might not be ouerlaboured And whereof Beda after him leaueth vs this lesson That we must beware that Secundum fidem fit Sacramenti diuini expositio That the exposition of the diuine mysteries be according to faith In such sort as that we haue two Canons but the one neuerthelesse an abridgement of the other the Canonicall Scripture and the Canon of faith that is the Creede that to stay our spirits so that they may not search for in substance any thing in faith Tertul. de praescript saith Tertullian anie where else then in the doctrines of faith This to direct them in the expounding of that that is of the Scriptures and doctrines of faith to the ende that they may not admit of any sense how plausible soeuer it might be which is gone be it neuer so little from the articles of faith For example 〈◊〉 wee haue to deale with an Arrian we shall say vnto him after the maner of Saint Augustine let vs pitch our selues without any shifting vpon the Canonicall Scriptures we haue no other titles whereby we may learne the right but them But if from these Scriptures he alledge vnto vs The father is greater then I c. we shall call to mind that it is also written I and the father are one and the Scripture cannot be contrarie To the ende then that the one and the other may proue true we shall distinguish referring the first vnto the humane nature and the other vnto his diuine that so we may not conclude against that which is said I beleeue in Iesus Christ for Cursed be hee that putteth his cōfidence in any thing but God c. And let vs further obserue here that as hath bin said there is no societie since that of the Apostles that can make that Canonicall Scripture which is not as in like maner there is not any that can make an article of the faith of that which of it selfe is not one This power saith the Cardinall Caietan himselfe did ende there and there is not any either succession or discent which can attribute it vnto it selfe or which can pretend the same What then How we are to receiue and intertaine the Fathers And shall the Fathers that haue so highly deserued of the Church that haue so much and so well trauelled in the Scriptures serue vs for no vse Yes but marke the place due vnto them and the which no other can bee attributed vnto them they could not be called any sooner It is for God in his word to giue vs his law he is our onely Lawgiuer to whom alone it appertaineth saith the Apostle to saue and to destroy Iames. 4.12 Expounders not lawgiuers The greatest honour that man can haue giuen him in the Church is to be an expounder To take vpon him to make any lawes therein of himselfe this is to coine money this is to incroch vpon the Prince he cannot doe it without committing of treason yea without the incurring of blasphemie Here therefore we admit of the Fathers as expounders of the law word and diuine Scriptures we receiue their interpretations with reuerence admiring their pietie doctrine and zeale but alwayes with this exception most reasonable That they be but expounders not law-giuers dispensers of the mysteries of godlinesse and not authours In whom we must consider what they haue said not in that they haue said it but in that they haue said it by the way of expounding of the Scripture not speaking of their owne heades but according to their capacitie of the sense and meaning thereof As for example we reason of purgatorie The question here is not to know if it be to be found in Origen Augustine or S. Gregorie this rule abideth alwayes firme That if there be one it must needes bee that God hath made it for there is not any Doctor that hath power abilitie to make it If it belong to vs to know it let God haue reuealed and disclosed it vnto vs for it is not to be learned at the gesse of any of the Fathers let vs then haue found it in the Church her treasurie the Scripture Now there will be some to shew vs some places out of it from which they would collect and gather it and accordingly they will that they should be vnderstood on this sort and we on the contrarie In this controuersie we shall reade ouer the Text verie carefully as also that which goeth before and that which followeth we shall examine it to see if it be faithfully translated we shall make comparison of the like places All this hitherto is nothing else but to call vpon the Spirit of God to be our aide so much the more to inlarge and open our spirits according to that which the Apostle saith vnto vs. 1. Cor. 14◠Let the spirits of the Prophets that is of such as haue the gift of interpretation be subiect to the Prophets We shall here consult with the olde Fathers we shall compare their expositions both with the Text and amongst themselues we shall marke if they haue vsed a good translation whether they handle the place by the way or of set purpose affirmatiuelie or doubtfully and where they differ as ordinarily it falleth out we shall weigh them both according to the age wherein they shal haue liued for it importeth infinitely and according to the testimonie that the Church shall haue giuen of their doctrine for they are not all of one weight And in the ende caeteris paribus We shall not despise the consent and agreement of many against a few But God forbid that we should receiue them for Law-giuers or yet for Authours of opinions in the Church either contrarie vnto or without the scriptures And as farre off must it be that we should make them correctors or iudges ouer that ballance which iudgeth them and wherin themselues will be weighed For this should be blasphemie against God treason against the Church and an iniurie to themselues We wholie yeeld vnto them in thus doing the honour which they haue giuen to their predecessours as whereby they haue set a law and giuen an example for their successors practised by them against those by these against themselues If they had done otherwise where had we beene long agoe Seeing there is not so much as one of them that hath not erred in some thing many of them in the points of faith and certaine of them so farre as that they haue fallen into heresie Verily wee had beene Chiliasts with Irenaeus Montanists with Tertullian Anabaptists with Saint Cyprian Arrians with Theophilus Pelagians with Faustus the originals of all errours yea euen of Arrianisme with Origen we should wound the bodie of Christ not being subiect to paine Zonar de Ori. in Constant S. Hie
thanke God sayeth hee in this Sacrament for that hee hath deliuered vs from errour Chrysost in hom 24. in 1. ad Cor. for that hee hath adopted vs for brethren so far off as we were from al hope by reason of our impieties and therfore we call it the cup of blessing and the Eucharist In the lithurgie likewise which is attributed vnto S. Basill is wholie set downe the storie of our redemption and in the verie place of the Canon of the Romish Masse Of the Canon and endeth with the institution of the holie Supper no word or mention made of anie propitiatorie Sacrifice other then of our Lord himselfe to bee short it is worth the noting that we cannot by tracing out find or meete with anie one step or footing of the Canon of this Masse in the olde Writers though otherwise diligent inough to anotomize vnto vs the partes and prices of their seruice if it were not for one onelie place in S. Ambrose in his bookes of the Sacramentes and yet those bookes not acknowledged of all men to be his howsoeuer vnder his name for the foresaide end abused most notoriously S. Ambrose sayeth S. Ambrose l. 4. 67. de Sacr. Fac nobis hanc oblationem adscriptam rationabilem acceptabilem quod est figura corporis sanguinis Domini c. that is vouchsafe O Lord to make this our oblation and offring to bee allowed vs in our account and hold it as acceptable because it is the figure of the bodie and blood of our Lord who the day before he suffered tooke bread in his holie hands c. And wee haue said inough hereof before namely in what sence they vsed this word oblation according to the imitation of the Iewish Church which is likewise plainely seene by this prayer framed according vnto that of the law Let the offring of their gifts be acceptable But whereas S. Ambrose vseth this word figure their Canon sayeth Grant that it may be vnto vs the bodie and blood of Christ Againe of this oblation that is to say of the elements of bread and wine taken from the Masse and whole lumpe of the same set before and presented vnto the belieuers for Sacraments and vnto God for a sacrifice of thankesgiuing in remembrance of the passion death and resurrection of Christ Saint Ambrose saide Vnde memores eius passionis c. precamur vt hanc oblationem suscipias c. We pray thee that in remembrance of his death and passion c. thou wouldest receiue this oblation vpon thine heauenlie altar by the hands of thine Angels as thou didst vouchsafe to receiue the gifts of Abell thy seruant and deare child and the sacrifice of the Patriarch Abraham c. Now that which he speaketh of the oblation of the Elements made Sacraments by the word the Romish Canon vpon the insuing of the first corruptions and deprauing of thinges tooke occasion to speake it of Iesus Christ himselfe so that what the one said of the figure the other spake of the thing it self so by consequent make the sacrifice of Christ inferiour to those of Abell Abraham and Melchisedech Acceptable sayth he as those which indeed we know by the vniform consent of the whole Scriptures to haue been acceptable to God by no other meanes saue onelie in Iesus Christ And let vs further note by the way that in the Lithurgie which they attribute vnto S. Ambrose they haue razed and scraped out the worde figure that so they might fit the Canon the better to that of the Romish Masse As for the consecration or blessing it was not attributed vnto certaine wordes Of the consecration or blessing and much lesse vnto a prefixt and set number of wordes but onelie to the institution of the Lord and to the effectuall power thereof And this appeareth in that the olde Doctors did neuer teach otherwise and in that diuerse men haue vsed diuerse and different wordes herein also for that in diuerse Lithurgies the wordes are diuerse and herein likewise for that the Latines doubted not but that the Greciās as they speak did consecrate and yet notwithstanding the Greeks did not make account that their consecration was accomplished till afterthe prayer which followeth the institution of the holy Supper the Latines on the contrarie defend at this day that it was accomplished in these onelie wordes Hoc est enim corpus meum c. Let it bee so In these Lithurgies wherewith they would dazell our eyes and which they attribute to S. Iames S. Clement S. Basill S. Chrysostome c. according to the translations of their interpreters In S. Clement his Lithurgie Ostendat the wordes of consecration are these in the praier which they make after the reading of the institution of the Supper We O Lord mindfull of the passion of thy deare Son do beseech thee according to thy institution that it will please thee to send thy holie spirit vpon the Sacrament here present and set before vs who may cause and manifestly declare that the bread is the bodie of Christ and the wine his blood shed and powred out for the life of the world And so likewise speaketh Cyrill in steade that in the Church of Rome the consecration is neyther attributed vnto the institution that goeth before nor vnto the prayer that followeth but vnto the onely pronuntiation or speaking of their wordes giuen and deliuered by strict accountes without interruption as though forsooth it were some precise forme of wordes for the passing of some bargaine in the ciuill law as the Schoolemen are wont to reason notwithstanding that the Cardinall Caietan doth hold that when it is said Benedixit it was Benedictione laudis non consecrationis and that hee was neuer willing to make any exposition vppon the pretended wordes of consecration because hee coulde not finde therein anie ground or foundation laide vppon antiquitie Now as for these wordes how they should bee vnderstoode wee will handle that point when we come to speake of the question of Transubstantiation so that here it shall suffice to haue spoken of it by way of historie The prayer The praier that it would please God to make the faithfull communicating to become more and more one bodie and one spirit that is to say the misticall bodie of Christ is in all the Lithurgies aboue named according to that which Saint Augustine teacheth That the Sacrifice of Christians is their being of manie one bodie in Christ That which is most worthy sayeth hee and notable in the Sacrament of the Altar August Epist 59. is for that in the oblation which the Church offreth shee is offred vppe her selfe vnto God and to bee offred sayeth hee in an other place is as much as to bee vowed and dedicated vnto him seeing that in this Sacrament we protest by a sacred and soueraigne vow to dwell in Christ and in his bond and couenant And therefore he addeth I suppose that
this day was saued at the request of one Petrus Diaconus hauing some care of the same But it was to verie good purpose that hee had in his life time left the forme of seruice to the discretion of the Pastors and that those which presentlie after succeeded him did not stirre much or trouble themselues in causing of his to bee obserued for by that meanes the Churches remained a long time inioying their libertie in such sort as wee haue alreadie acknowledged to bee contained in the Canons of the Councell of Venice and Gerond helde about the yeare 500. and 550. that is to say that all whatsoeuer was to bee got thereby was That in one and the same Prouince or vnder one and the same Metropolitane there was obserued one and the same seruice except it were in such countries as where Christianitie did settle it selfe a fresh for there the reformers sent thether from the Popes caused them strictlie and directlie to admit and follow the Romish order In France this Augustine a Monke of Rome of the Order of S. Bennet trauelling on the behalfe of Gregorie into England found himselfe offended that the Order of Rome was not obserued and thereupon did write vnto Gregorie who repressed redressed his ouer forwardnes in these wordes That hee must take that in euerie Church which is good c. Againe the authoritie of the French Church was then so great as that it helde his councels apart and within it selfe and not fearing or standing vpon whatsoeuer anie man could or would gain-say as caring but a little or else nothing at all for the Church of Rome In England The Romish Masse first receiued in England where hee thought hee should find a greene ground that neuer had beene husbanded or tilled hee proceeded further insomuch as that hee procured from the Pope to bee created Archbishoppe of Canterbury and the rather because of his good happe so seruing him to meete with an ignorant king and a superstitious Queene and there hee preached so was it called the Christian religion that is to say all the ceremonies and trumperie of Rome as their Masses Letanies Processions Copes Vestmentes Altars Candlestickes holie Waters Consecrations c. and there hee brought to passe to haue them receiued and yet vpon condition That no man should bee forced or constrained thereunto Beda lib. 1 2. But going about to purchase still further credite to himselfe and beginning of a wilie Foxe to play the fierce and furious Lyon a famous Abbot named Dinoth a great Diuine who taught vnder him more then two thousande Monkes for the Nurcerie of seauen Diocesses in England opposed himselfe verie stoutelie against him in a full Synode and boldly auouched that hee ought not to chaunge the olde and auncient formes of Christian religion refusing therewithall to acknowledge him for an Archbishoppe c. insomuch as that this good Augustine did incense Ethelfred king of Northumberland against him who caused him to bee knockt in the head with twelue hundred of those that did belong vnto him From that time forward the people being bold and farre from feare about the yeare 637. at the earnest sute of Pope Iohn the fourth and the solicitation of Laurentius Mellitus Iustus Honorius and others sent from the Sea of Rome one after an other to presse and vrge forward the kinges and Cleargie of England for the entertayning of this change and alteration beganne to celebrate the feaste of Easter after the manner of Rome And about the yeare 666. the Bishoppes receiued shauing and vnction and the Pastors which were there beganne to bee called Sacerdotes that is to say Priestes Afterward about the yeare 679. there was established the manner of celebrating in the Latine tongue Beda lib. 4. c. 18. de geshs Anglor at the great labour and diligence vsed by an Archchanter or chiefe singing man of Rome whom the Pope Agatho sent thether and as for the playing of organes it being added vnto the Romish manner of singing by Pope Vitalian Beda could not abstaine but say Heretofore in steade of these thinges the principall seruice of God consisted in the preaching of the Gospell and hearing of the word of God But as the Romains thought not themselues absolute Lordes and Conquerours of anie Countrie who did not consent to liue according to their lawes The Romish Masse first receiued in Italy speak their language euen so the Popes at this time aspiring vnto and greedilie gaping after the Monarchie of the Church did not thinke or make account of hauing the same in good earnest except they brought it to bee subiect vnto their lawe of the Latine seruice and that ioyned with the Latine tongue And as Pipin and Charles the great new vsurpers both ouer the French as also ouer the Empire in the West had great neede of their fauour for the authorising of them and making of their places to be graunted and acknowledged as rightlie descending vnto them by the people so the Popes did not spare to looke to receiue from them againe a giue for their gaue as namelie to establish their lawes seruices and ceremonies so farre as they shoulde be able that is so farre as their authority or sword might establish and settle the same Thus Adrian the first about the yeare 790. held a councell in Rome Adr. D. 63. Durand l. 5. c. 2. wherin hee caused to bee ordained that Gregories Masse should bee obserued in all Christian Churches And Charles the great liuing at the same time ordained that the decrees of the Pope should bee obeyed throughout all his Empire and Dominions and particularlie that Gregories Masse should bee receiued into all the coastes and countries of the same and for the easier accomplishing of the execution of the same which could not but be full of difficulties hee did not spare either threatninges or punishmentes The historie is set downe all at large in Nauclerus Naucler Gene. 2â— fol. 44. Iacob de Vorag in legenda Gregor B. Eugenri Iacobus de Voragine and others to the breaking out of these wordes Carolus Imperator omnes Clericos minis suppliciis coegit libros Ambrosiani Officii c. Hee compelled all the Church men by threatninges and punishmentes to burne all the bookes of S. Ambrose his Office or Lithurgie c. Yea there was no sparing of miracles whereupon the malice of a few became very pregnant and fruitfull preuailing much against the ignorance of a great sort It is reported that in this Councell of Rome the Masse-bookes or Offices of S. Ambrose and S. Gregorie were laid vpon S. Peters Altar the dores of the Temple close shut and sealed with the seales of diuers Bishoppes they all abiding in fasting and prayer vntill such time as it shoulde please God by some signe to shewe which of the two was most acceptable to him Now in the Morning when they should come to open the dore they found the Masse-booke of S. Ambrose
of saints that the doctrine of the Church was contrarie thereunto holding them as monuments rather then temples and differences of names rather then of any such intentions But the great abuse sprung vp vnder Iustinian the Emperour and in the time of Gregorie about the sixt age after that the great personages which did vnderprop the Church and beare it vp against the assaults of idolatry were dead when barbarousnes had ouerflowed all nations and consequently ignorance had besotted the Church For then it was that after the imitation of Paganisme saints crept vp into the places of Gods and challenged or was thought worthy of euerie one his temple that all the edifying and building vp of the Church seemed to consist in buildinges and not any longer to assemble and couple together according to the doctrine of S. Peter S. Paule liuely stones that successiuely and by degrees sinnes beganne to be ransomed thereby And that so greatly as that Chroniclers ordinarily after that they had set downe and deliuered all the wickednes mischiefe that they could of any king or Emperour yet they would conclude in these words and notwithstanding Erat pius deuotus he was full of pietie and deuoutly giuen towards God For say they he builded such a monasterie such a church c. Together with excesse in buildings The dedication of Temples there entred into the Church the ceremonie of dedications taken from the Iewish rites for the simplicitie of Christianitie knew no such thing and that which wee reade in the Epistle of Clement vnto Saint Iames is very friuolous for seeing there was no Temples in their time it could not possibly come to passe that there should bee any dedicating of them But as Salomon had dedicated the Temple by a solemne prayer which hee vttered and deliuered with his owne mouth in the presence of all the people Constantine consecrated the Citty of Constantinople vnto God in the presence of the Fathers of the Councell of Nice the Temple of the holy Sepulcher at Ierusalem Euseb l. 4. de vit Constant Athanas Apo. 2. before them that were assembled at the Councell of Tyre And this manner of consecration was performed by solemne prayer and in homilies and exhortations taken out of the word of God as also in the celebrating of the holie Supper then with a publike and generall ioye and reioycing in large and bountifull giftes from the Prince and such like things But as for holy water and all such odde trumperies as are vsed at this day there was not a worde but as the authoritie of Bishoppes grew so they drew vnto themselues this power and facultie of dedicating Temples And thereupon it is that Gelasius his Decree came forth a little before the yeare 500. 26. q. 5. De Conse 1. C. Nemo Socrat. l. 2. c 8. That the Basilickes or new Temples should not bee dedicated without the commaundement of the Bishoppe of Rome and that of Felix the third a little before the yeare 600. That the Bbs. should dedicate them and not the Ministers And Socrates addeth thereunto this word with the consent of the Bb. of Rome Whereupon Durand giueth an excellent reason saying Because hee carrieth the image of Christ of whome it is saide without me yee can do nothing Againe If the Lord build not the house the builders labour but in vaine For the forme who would belieue Clement in his Epistle vnto S. Iames Clem. in Epist 2. ad IacobuÌ„ Euarist in Decret Epist Diuinis precibus sacrabantur they were consecrated by prayers For it is too cleare and manifest that as then there were no Christian Temples Or who in like manner would follow Euaristus his assertion that sayeth it was with saying of a Masse when as wee haue proued that this word was not knowne of more then 300. yeares after him and yet it is from this place and assertion that Gratianus woulde haue it that the Masse is of the substance of the dedicatioÌ„ But the truth is that the first was made by Constantine Anno 350. with prayers sermons Psalmes of praise vnto God c. And Siluester the first consecrating the Temple of Lateran added vnction thereunto after the custome of the Iewes as sayeth the Bull of Clement the sixt Clemens 6. in Bulla An. 6 oc But this was with a purpose to doe some manner of extraordinarie honour thereunto the like whereof was not practised againe till the time of Gregorie the first who ordained furthermore that there should be vsed perfumes and the reliques of Saintes but this was yet no further grounded then in a simple admonition but thereupon commeth the idolatrous Councell of Nice namelie the second and maketh it a law Anno 788. Concil Nic. 2. c. 7. Synod Bracar 2. c. 5. That there should bee no more consecrating of Temples without the reliques of the Saints It was an vsual custome in the time of their ioye and reioycing willinglie and freelie to giue somewhat to the maintenance of the Church and this also was drawne into a Decree That they were not further to consecrate then when and where as they did see meanes for the maintaining of the Priestes Cleargie Lampes and all the rest of the seruice and this they tearme to bee assured of a dowrie And thereupon the historie deliuereth great and plentifull store of the deceitfull and craftie sleightes which the couetousnes of the Priestes did thereupon practise and deuise Then they made a Sacrament consecrated them to the name of the holie Trinitie and in vttering the wordes gaue the name vnto the Temple and they accounted it as a great error to consecrate the thing twise as though forsooth it had beene so deepelie imprinted as that it could neuer bee worne or blotted out and thereby they proceeded to strengthen it with the same lawes that were due to Baptisme as wee finde in the Epistle of Zacharie vnto Boniface Anno 800. about the yeare â—00 wherein hee sayeth If in the time of his Priesthood he haue consecrated Churches in the name of the Trinitie or baptized infantes let such consecration and baptisme abide firme and immoueable And in this goodlie Decree deuised by Gratianus saying The churches once consecrated must not be consecrated againe no more then a child once baptized in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Finally towardes the yeare 1000. it was grown into a full and absolute forme Anno 1000. D. 68. c. ecles stmel as namely that the Bb. after a short prayer should besprinckle the outside of the wals with holy water with a bunch of hysop and afterward strike the dore with his pastorall staffe saying Lift vp your gates O ye princes c. and that thrice which being opened then hee painteth it with some manner of letters on the inside of the wals he coniureth the salt the wine the water the ashes maketh a composition thereof wherin he dippeth his thomb
that so far as that Arnobius telleth them that they can haue no religion wheras there are Images he saith Simulachra not Idola How far was this man from being of their minds who can finde no religion if they see no Images But Lactantius his Disciple Schoolemaister to Constantine the Great doth lay open this matter at large in these generall rules That Images Imagines inquam were not taken vp for any other cause then for such as were absent that the Image of God is alwayes superfluous because he is present euery where That man is the truest Image that can be made of him as represēting him in the actions of the soule That it is a meer foolerie to paint such things as one hath and after to fal down and worship them seeing that the Images to the cōtrary if they had vnderstāding haue iust cause to fal down and worship man who hath made them It is likewise a great blockishnes for them which haue sence to worshippe senceles thinges and for those which haue reason the vnreasonable as it is for them which are heauenly borne to worship the earthlie That Images are nothing else but the shapes and similitudes of dead men or the works of mortall men In the end concluding after the maner of his Maister in these words Nō dubium est quin religio nulla sit vbi simulachrū est It is most certain that there is no maner of religion whereas Images are But with what face could he say this if in his time that is in the time of Constantine the very time wherein was held the famous Councell of Nice the Christians had Images seeing that all the reasons which he alledgeth against the Pagans are aswell to be applied to the Christians in asmuch as they may equally and as indifferentlie be spoken against their Images And indeed the Councell of Elibert held at that time Concil Elibert c. 36. deliuereth vnto vs this writ in expresse tearmes Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non deberi ne quod colitur aut adoratur in parietibus depingatur It hath seemde good vnto vs that is it is decreede that there should be no pictures in the Church for feare that what men do honour and worshippe should be painted vpon the walles Yuo in decret l. 2. Therefore not the three persons of the Trinitie for wee worship them but so do we not the Angels neither the Saintes in the same sence with our aduersaries who worship and adore them Neither is that to bee taken for an aunswere which some men alledge namely that this was in the time of persecution for the reason serueth indifferently for all times As that that which is worshipped shold not be painted c. But on the contrarie it may seem that this Decree was made for feare that the rest which then the church inioyed should minister occasiō to the Christians to follow the lewd maners of the Pagans it hauing bin freely confessed before by the Pagans that the Christians did not vse thē at all as may bee gathered as well by the reproches wherewith they were ordinarily giuen to reproach them Lampridius in Adriano as also by the testimony of the Historiographer Lampridius as That the Emperour Adrian willing to receiue Iesus Christ into the number of the Gods caused to be prepared for him many Temples without Jmages which were well remembred vnto the time of Constantine and called the Temples of Adrian c. Athanas cont Gentes Athanasius sayth The inuention of Images is not good it sprung from that euill one and that which hath an euill beginning cannot bee iudged good but altogether and wholy naught for how I pray you can God bee knowne by Images If it bee by the matter then what needeth any forme And doth not his glorie appeare in all thinges If by the forme what neede is there then of colours painting and might hee not be better known in reasonable creatures And otherwise what a pittifull and lamentable thing is it that the seeing should worship the blind the hearing pray vnto those which cannot heare for where is there any creature that can saue an other c Reasons altogether alledged against the Pagans but so as that they haue the same force against the Christians and as for that little treatise of the Image of Christ slipt in amongst the workes of this great and worthy man let it bee farre from any man to obiect it against vs there is indeed recorded therein that Nicodemus did make one and that it fell into the hands of Gamaleel Zacheus and others after that into the handes of the Bbs. of Ierusalem and that after the destruction thereof it was carried into Barutus a Citty of Syria where being pierced and thrust through by a Iew there issued out of it blood that by it likewise were miracles done c. For besides that this fable may seeme to come out of the Legends budget and for that also it is not confirmed by any Author Nannius in praef in Athanas Nannius a Doctor of Louaine who hath reduced the workes of Athanasius into tomes doth not let to put it in the number of the bookes imagined falsly to bee his and Bellarmine himselfe for shame cannot deny it whereunto you may also adde the testimonie of Sigibert who sayeth that that accident in the City of Barut happened in the yeare 765. Sigibert in Chronic. Legend 30. and the historie of Lombardie in the yeare 750. that is neare 400. yeares after the death of Athanasius as indeed this Treatise is neuer found to be alledged before the second Councell of Nice about the yeare 800. and thus you see how vpon this and other such vntruthes this doctrine of lyes is founded and built And indeed we read these words in Athanasius He that worshippeth the Image of the king worshippeth in it the king himself And this our aduersaries vse to serue their turn withall against vs but they do willingly let passe to speake what image it is that hee meaneth Serm. 4. cont Arrian for indeed he meaneth not that made by Nicodemus seeing it would haue serued his purpose for the maintaining of the worshipping of the Sonne of God against the Arrians but the substantiall Image of the Father Iesus Christ our Lord whome hee concludeth to bee worthy to bee worshipped in himselfe August Epist 119. and the Father in him as S. Augustine sayeth by the same reason That whereas it is forbidden in the law of God to honour his similitude or likenes it was not as though there were not an Image of God but because hee had but one which ought to be worshipped euen that which is himselfe namely the Sonne of God and that not for him and his sake but with him not Christ himselfe considered as a man how glorious soeuer he be seeing that the holy Fathers do call the Arrians Idolaters because they honoured Christ as
in looking vppon the image of Simeon and that an other found a Well by causing the image of Theodosius the Abbot to be brought her An image of the virgine Mary kept the candle of a certaine Abbot from going out a long way and an other helpeth to conueigh water from the cesterne to the house And how a woman was tempted of the Deuill by forsaking and leauing to vse the image of the virgin whereupon the Abbot Theodorus sheweth her that it were better to go to the stewes and brothell-house a thousand times then to leaue and forsake the worshipping and adoring thereof What baggage are these to oppose set against the holy law of God Giuen as saith the Apostle by the ministery of Angels and vttered by his owne mouth Thou shalt not worship images Now let vs heare on the contrarie the foundations of the Councell of Francford We must not saith it worship images seeing we must not worship any besides one onely God one onely Iesus Christ who with the father the holy Ghost raigneth eternally Because likewise there is neither commandement nor example either of the Apostles Patriarkes or prophetes or of the fathers of the primitiue Church for the same And on the contrary that if any man haue images for remembrances and monumentes that yet notwithstanding it ought not to be any president for the trimming decking vp of the Church that such ornamentes and courses are nothing els but the waies of the Gentils that the good fathers Antonius Hilarius and others who loued well the beautie of the house of God did yet verie well leaue off to haue any dealing with them And as little for the instruction of the people That God hath giuen them the holy scriptures to this end the law whereby to come to the knowledge of Christ and not by Images And not any more for imitation or example sake to bee followed That the vertues of the Saintes as faith hope and charitie are inuisible and that we must therefore seeke them in their workes and not in their painted pictures It further proueth that whatsoeuer the patrons of images alleadge of scripture it is eyther to no end or contrarie to the end for which they alleadge it that their tales of the image of Christ are Apocrypha their authorities out of the fathers meerely imaginarie and their pretended miracles no better then either doubtfull or notoriously false or els diuelish Yea and although saith it that they were true because that God appeared to Moyses in a bush shall we therefore worship all bushes or vnder the colour of Aarons rod shall we worship all rods And so for Sampson his iaw-bone all other iaw-bones Or from the shaddow of S. Peter all other shadowes c. That this assertion of the Nicene Councell is damnable I adore and worship the image with the same worship wherewith I worship the Trinitie it selfe and do curse those that say otherwise The word being so plaine and euident Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and that exclusiuely meant say they of all other maner of worship besides that which is due vnto God alone not excluding onely that of images but of whatsoeuer other creatures be they neuer so excellent In like manner that their other reason is as weake which they would draw from the nature of relation and reference which the image hath with the thing whereof it is the image seeing that Christ said not He that receiueth Images but he that receiueth you receiueth me Nor that which you haue done to images you haue done to me but rather what you haue done to one of these little ones And therefore that whosoeuer doth say of a picture This is Christ sinneth lyeth and committeth villanous wickednesse instead that the second Nicene Councel hath by name said and affirmed that a man may speake it in godly religious maner And all these things with such grauitie learning and religiousnesse together with such reasons drawne so to the purpose from the scriptures fathers S. Ierome S. Augustine S. Gregorie c and pressed with such good consequence and so necessarily as that all the Dagons of the Philistines bee they neuer so firmely vnderpropped shal not be able possiblie to stand before them And yet furthermore this booke is approued by Hincmarus Archbishop of Rheimes who alleadgeth a whole Chapter out of the same against Hincmarus Bishop of Laon who liued in the time of Charles the great and as for Ecchius himselfe hee doeth not once call it in question Let vs go forward with the effectes and successe insuing vppon these two Councels The effect of these Councels It appeareth that that of Franckford did stay the course of idolatrie for a time in the Churches of France and Germanie which is gathered hereby namely for that Haimo and Rabanus who followed shortly after do not speake a word of the worshipping of images and in that Walfridus Strabo liuing at the same time continueth all one phrase and manner of speech Walfrid Strabo c. 8. That it is not lawfull either to worship them or els to banish and cast them out And because likewise that Claudius a famous Priest brought vp in the Court of Charles the Great was no sooner made Bishop of Turin in the time of Lewes the Gentle then that hee pulled downe and defaced the images when as hee founde the people of his Diocesse giuen to worship them by reason of the Romish superstition which had gained and preuailed so farre amongst them Claud. Taurinens de adorat imaginum An Abbot called Theodomirus set himselfe against his proceedings wherevpon this Claudius writte a booke vnto him against the worshipping of Images which hee was not afraide to send to the Emperour Lewes who committed the same to Ionas of Orleance to examine But hee neuer vouchsafed to vtter his iudgement of it till after that both Lewes and Claudius were deade neither is it found that Claudius was disturbed or troubled by the French Church vppon this occasion Anno. 840. Ionas Aurelian aduers Claud. Taurinens a signe that the doctrine of images was gouerned by the Councell of Franckford Now of this booke of Claudius Bishoppe of Turin there is no parte to come by more then that which Ionas his booke wherein hee goeth about the confutation of the same doeth afford vs and that after his death It may iustlie bee doubted whether hee haue dealt faithfullie with it in alleadging and setting downe the whole but onely that his owne aunsweres do sufficiently witnes that Idolatrie as yet was verie young and tender in the Churches of France Claudius reproueth the worshipping of Images according to the Councell of Francford Ionas doth not maintaine the same for hee aunswereth onlie as Gregory aunswereth Serenus that they may bee had for instruction sake to the people and not for to bee worshipped proceeding euen to the cursing of them who do worshippe them Claudius maintaineth and proueth by Origen
S. Ierome Fulgentius Lactantius c. That they ought not to be honored either with inward affection or worshipped with outward gesture That wee ought not either to worshippe or serue any creature c. And that it is likewise an error to do it for the contemplating of them whose Images they are made to bee And it is so far off that Ionas should gainsaye this as that on the contrarie hee saith As for those that maintaine the worshipping of Images and saye that they giue not that worship vnto the similitude and thing representing but vnto them which are therein represented as do saith he they of the East Churches who are ouertaken with this most mischiuous error wee doe reproue and detest them euen as thy selfe And the Lord become both to the one and the other gracious and fauourable as that they may bee pulled from this vile and detestable superstition Claudius affirmed against the worshippers of Images The law Exod. 20. forbiddeth vs not onelie the Images of Gods but all whatsoeuer in generall that wee shoulde worshippe them And Ionas acknowledged that this was a wholesome sound and holie beliefe Againe If the workes of Gods hands be not to be worshipped said Claudius much lesse the workes of mens hands And Ionas thereto addeth Sobrie nobiscum sapis testifying that in that point he dealt like a wise prudent teacher What is then the oddes betwixt them Truely this saith Ionas namely that Claudius ought to haue condemned superstition and reproued ignorance and not to haue defaced the Images and that he ought to haue left them as they were not to the end that anie worship shold be done vnto them but that they might serue both for an ornament in the Temple and for a memoriall of thinges past vnto the ignorant As indeed saith hee France hath and suffereth them howsoeuer it be held and reputed for a great abhomination to worshippe them and so likewise the case standeth with Germany In briefe that it is a plaine and manifest fault ignorance error and superstition to fall down before the Images of Saintes but yet that the offenders are to bee reclaimed by reason not by curses in asmuch as that it can hardlie bee belieued that they abiding and continuing in the free and holy confession of the blessed Trinitie should haue anie purpose or resolution to turne aside to the worshipping of Idols But how far I pray you was the beliefe of the French and Germaine Churches at that time that is about the yeare 850. differing from the faith and beliefe of the times that now are yea and what great oddes is there betwixt the present and that which Ionas held and belieued notwithstanding that he was fullie armed and prouided for the defence of Images And indeed Nicetas teacheth vs that euen in the time of Fredericke Barberossa about the yeare 1160. Nicetas in vita Isaac Angel l. 2. the worshipping of Images was forbidden the Germaines For sayeth hee as hee tooke surprised Philippople the Armenians staying in the Cittie did not estrange themselues because of the Germaines inasmuch as the worshipping of Images was condemned and vtterlie detested both of the one and the other As also Anastasius the Library-keeper in his Epistle vnto pope Iohn the eight Anno. 1160. Anast Bibliot in praef in Syn. Nycen 2. witnesseth that the worshipping of Images was freelie receiued in his time in the Church of Rome but not in France and this was about the yeare 900. But the storie following will make vs to see the truth much more clearelie It is therefore to bee known that in the yeare 824. the Emperours Michaell and Theophilus the Father and the Sonne being troubled in the East about the contention raised for Images the same not being possiblie able to bee quieted by the second Councell of Nice doe send Embassadors of purpose vnto the Emperour Lewes and Lotharius in France setting before them on the one side the superstitions that were practised about Images since the breaking out of this pretended Councell on the other side the seueritie vsed for the beating downe and suppressing of them euerie where that so the very rootes of superstition might be plucked vp and dye desiring their best aduise and councell therupon Synod Paris Ann. 825. Lewes and Lotharus for the shaping of their answere caused a verie famous Nationall Synod to be holden at Paris which is yet forth comming entire and whole wherein the learned that were assembled made a collection of the iudgementes and opinions of all the auncient writers vppon this point and the same was sent with a goodlie Epistle from the whole Synod vnto the said Lewes and Lotharus by the hands of Halitgarius and Amalarius Bbs. Halitgarius The summe and brief wherof behold as followeth That with speciall care they haue read the letters of Pope Adrian the first who ordained that Images should be worshipped calling them Saintes and pretending that it was the way to great holines to serue and worship them which with the leaue of his pontificall authoritie bee it spoken is contrarie to the truth and cannot be auouched without the note of vndiscreetnes superstition and error and that all the places whereuppon hee groundeth himselfe whether they bee out of the Scriptures or out of the old Writers are drawne by the haire and that the same was likewise well aduertised the Emperour Charles the Great by Engelbert the Abbot sent for the same purpose vnto him who finding himselfe hardlie pressed did in the end declare and make known that he would containe and keepe himselfe within those limits and boundes which Saint Gregorie had drawne and set downe which were that Images might be had for memorials and remembrance sake but for to worshippe or honour them was open impietie That this superstition did afterward preuaile in some Countries partlie through ignorance and partlie through mischieuous custome and that in very deed they are not ignorant how that the Seat and Sea of S. Peter is tainted and defiled with this plague and pestilent error Pessimae consuctudinis vsu for so they call it but that as yet sustained and strengthned by Gods grace they had not giuen it place of entrance in France and by his further fauour and assistance aiding them they ment not to giue it anie more in anie time to come To this end they brought in all the places before by vs alleadged out of the Fathers that all along in their whole answer but it shall be more fit and conuenient to reade thē as they are there set down in the Synode then tomake any repetition of them here again If any should goe about to establish this action and course of worshipping Idols with custome Their originall is from the Pagans Egyptians Simon Magus Carpocrates c. That God is not to bee found out or knowne by his old age but by his eternitie That this is in summe to run as Ieremie sayth after the
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
as they haue borrowed their Idols so haue they also their arguments for their defence saith It agreeth verie well that the same God who hath forbidden in his law to make any similitude or likenes hath likewise commaunded by an extraordinarie commaundement for to make that of the Serpent If thou worshippe and feare this same God thou hast his law for thy direction therein Make not anie similitude or likenes and if thou consider the commaundement that commeth after inioyning one to bee made in that thou art to imitate and do as Moses did Make no image or likenes contrarie to the law if this same God do not expresly commaund it And by this meanes Tertullian cutteth them off quite inferring that the law of God is generall and that no man must dare or presume to doe any thing to the contrarie without an expresse exception and the same to issue and come forth of the same mouth which thing Paulus Ricius though one of their side doth resolue them of in this manner saying The law of the Lord forbiddeth thee to kindle any fire for thy familie vpon the Lordes day and thou sinnest mortallie if thou do it and yet notwithstanding hee commaunded thee to kindle a fire in the verie same day in the Tabernacle The like is that of the Cherubins ordained by the expresse word of God howbeit to haue Images is fetcht from some other fountaine then his commaundement being such an abhomination and mischief as cannot bee answered Wherefore our aduersaries deale herein as our first Father did being taught therunto by the Diuell for when God went about to tel him of his sin he would post it ouer to another saying The woman which thou gauest me was the cause and so they became the wofull accusers of the most vpright God If wee bee Idolaters it is thy worke for wherefore didst thou euer cause that the similitude of Cherubins or Serpents should be set vp c But their condemnation waiting for them is iust hauing drawne it vpon themselues in asmuch as they will pretend vnto themselues license and priuiledge to lift and aduance themselues aboue all that is of God yea euen aboue his plaine and expresse lawes And that such a priuiledge as may seeme to belong to him alone and that in this very respect being denied vnto all others For the Greeke churches notwithstanding the curses and excommunications of the seconde Councell of Nice did cleaue vnto their pictures but honouring them rather after a ciuill then a religious sort The Abissines and Armenians in like manner howbeit there are also some as Aluarez reporteth vnto vs which haue not any at all and those which haue to shew that they bee the goodlie presents of the Bb. of Rome doe foresee that it is good that they should haue no other but Latine inscriptions so now this same which wold be but the fountain original is become the stream to ouerflow the seruice of God and as a mightie floud to couer and drowne vp the whole earth CHAP. IIII. Of vnleauened bread wine mingled with water and of the thinges which serued to the administration of the Sacraments NOw we haue intreated of Temples and of their principal ornaments as our aduersaries esteeme them that is of Images we haue likewise spoken of the holy Tables otherwise called Altars whereupon the bread and the wine ordained for the sacrament were wont to bee set the wine in certaine clean vessels either of Glasse or of mettall the breade wrapped in a linnen cloth that so nothing might fal vpon it without anie manner of superstition or curiositie and in some places these Tables were shadowed with some vaile or curtain It remaineth now that wee looke about vs to finde out how this simplicitie did change into curiositie and this puritie into superstition as likewise how the indifferencie and libertie which was in old time in these things is turned into a necessitie and slauish seruitude worse then euer was that of the Iewes Our Lord celebrating the Passeouer with his Disciples Leauened or vnleauened bread vsed vnleauened bread And there is no doubt thereof for the Passeouer according to the law must be celebrated without leuen it was by expresse ordinance so appointed and our Lorde came to fulfill the law and that in matters of farre more weight and difficulty howsoeuer Epiphanius and the Grecians after him may seeme to say that he did keep the feast sooner then it was appointed by the law and that he also gaue vnto his Disciples leauened bread 1. Cor. 5. v. 7.8 But that the institution should bind vs to this circumstance S. Paule the true Interpreter of Christ sheweth to the contrarie saying Our Passeouer hath beene sacrificed c. Let vs there keepe the feast not with the old leuen of maliciousnes bitternes but with the vnleauened bread of sinceritie and truth It might then be kept and obserued but without keeping of a leauen more daungerous namely a schisme betwixt the Greeke and latine Churches as also without binding of themselues to the circumstances of leauen being a ceremony belonging vnto the Iewes seeing that the Christian Church had taken thorough acknowledgement how that the Passeouer might be celebrated without offending of the law vpon the Saboth after the 14. day of the Moon of the moneth Nisan and not the 14. according to the institution as also that the day of rest might be kept vpon the Lords day and not vpon the Saturday after the manner of the Iewes whiles as the substance of the institution was kepte whole and inuiolate inasmuch as the feast of the spirituall deliuerance accomplished by the resurrection of Christ was celebrated in stead of the carnall and corporall deliuerance and the feast of the second birth and creation of mankind in steade of that of the first creation Now in the time of the Apostles and their first Disciples wee see not anie title of this distinction It is to be thought that they did keepe themselues to S. Paule his admonition Purge out the old leauen that so you may bee a new lumpe That is that they should purge and clense their heartes to become new creatures in Christ For as for the Decretall Epistle of Alexander the first it is not good but that it should be read that so it may bee reputed and helde for a deuised and counterfeite thing In the Councell of Laodicea about the year 400. Concil Laod. 29.36.37.38 it was forbidden that any Christians should vse any part of the ceremonies vsed in the Iewish seruice as to rest vpon their Sabath to haue Philacteries to keepe any solemne feastes vppon the dayes of their solemne feastes and by name to take of their vnleauened bread that is to tye themselues vnto the Iewish cer emonies and more particularlie vnto that This had not beene to anie purpose if thē the Church had taken herself to haue beene bound to vse vnleauened bread at the celebration of this diuine
sound and large foote least it might ouerturne But and if there do any thing of the body or of the blood fall vpon the couering or pall of the Altar let them in any case cut it away and burne it and lay the ashes in some cleane place c a great matter if so be such regard care were so necessary that the ancient church should forget this or that the ancient church whereof we stand so greatly hauing neglected it we should notwithstanding hold it so needfull and necessarie Before the holy table The vaile whereupon the elements gifts or offerings were set there was especially in the Greek church a vaile drawne which after that they which were as yet to be catechised Chrysost in hom â—d Pop. Antioch hom 36. in 1. Cor. were departed gone forth was drawne together then they went forward with the blessing of the Sacraments Chrysostome in many places When thou hearest let vs pray altogether and therewithall seest the vaile drawne together then thinke that heauen is about to open and the Angels to discend c. This custome was retained as hauing beene first borrowed from the Iewes for they had a vaile in the midst of the temple and this vaile was clouen and rent in sunder in signe of the vniting of the Iewes and Gentiles the one with the other or els from the Gentiles for they likewise had vailes spread and drawne abroad before their altars Tertul. in Apol Apuleius saith Velis candentibus reductis the white vailes being drawne together Tertullian Conspectus caeterorum velo oppanso interdicebatur There were saith he not any but priestes that came neere for euen the very sight was kept from all others by the meanes of a vaile hanging before it And in these indifferent things the ancient church did apply it selfe very wisely sometimes to the Iewes and sometimes to the Gentiles But all this great adoe and preparation came in a long time after the Church through the corruption of the time proceeding by little and little from the inward to the outward from the center to the circumference from the substance to the circumstance and from the discipline of Christ to an imperiall statelinesse and eminencie in the world Now these sacraments being there placed wee haue declared the manner of the blessing consecrating and distributing of them to the faithfull with what prayers with what holy wordes c. But there is yet behind one circumstance which is whether these prayers and words were vttered in a language knowne and vnderstood of the common people or not which is a matter in controuersie betwixt vs and our aduersaries CHAP. V. That the old and auncient seruice was said in a language vnderstood of the people and by what degrees it was altered and chaunged ASsuredly That the seruice vsed in the Church of the Iewes was vnderstood of all the care that it hath pleased God to take for the instruction of his people throughout the whole course and cariage of the Church should bee able in a word to make this question friuolous and needlesse He that would haue all his people to know all his law and all the ceremonies likewise of the same at their fingers end who so much commanded them to get knowledge and condemned ignorance so sharpely who would haue it as a frontlet betwixt their browes and as a glasse before their eyes that the father should teach it vnto his children in the fields in his house lying standing c. cannot in any wise be thought that he would haue it kept hid secret from him by the barbarousnes of a language not knowne or vnderstood that is lockt and clapt vp in ciphers that it might not be comprehended or attained He likewise that so expresly commandeth fathers to teach their children the cause of the institution of his sacraments namely that of the Passeouer into whose roome that of ours called the holy Supper is come who would that children should question their fathers therof that fathers should answer their children that in the time of the shadows of the old Testament rudiments of the law shal not be vnderstood and taken to haue meant that his people should be taught in a language not vnderstood neither yet to haue taken it for an honour and worship to bee praied vnto and serued of them without vnderstanding And in deede the Sacramentes of the old lawe are instituted in the Hebrew tonge which was the vulgar and common language amongst the people And againe when he would terrifie and make them afraid hee threatneth them with a strange and barbarous language 1. Cor. c. 14 and with lips which they do not vnderstand And S. Paule concludeth saying Tongues are signes not to the beleeuers but to the infidels and vnbeleeuers And there is no cause why it should be here alleadged that from the time of Esdras vnto Christ the people had learned the Chaldee tongue vnder the captiuitie and that yet notwithstanding the Scriptures were alwaies read in the Church in the Hebrew tongue For the question is not in what tongue it was read but whether it were vnderstood of the people or not Nehem. 8.2 And for that let Esdras himselfe be belieued saying Esdras the Priest brought the law before a multitude of men and women and all those which could vnderstand So then it may bee seene hereby that not so much as the women but they vnderstood it He read the same vnto them in the street before the water gate froÌ„ the breake of the day vntill noone and the eares of all the people were attentiue to the booke of the law Wherefore were they thus attentiue but that they had a purpose and intent to vnderstand But that is more Nehem. 8.8.3 They themselues did reade distinctly plainly for to vnderstand did vnderstand it in reading of the same What is that other properly but to reade Esdras without hauing any purpose to vnderstand him But say they It is said that Esdras and the Leuites did expound the law vnto the people True but it is as plaine and cleare Nebe 8. v. 7.9 that it was the sence and meaning of the law and not the words or phrases of speech for this selfe same Chapter hath alreadie certified and assured vs that they vnderstood them And in the same sence it is said Act. 8.35 that our Lord and Sauiour expounded Esay in the Sinagogue whereat the people were rauished and the scriptures likewise vnto his disciples in Emaus Suk 24.27 that Philip expounded the 53. of Esay to the Eunuch Who will belieue that this great noble man did not vnderstand the words seeing he did reade theÌ„ seeing also he demanded whether the Prophet did speak of himself or of some other But in deed he did not know that this prophesie was of Christ For whereas they go about to make vs belieue that the Iewes did not vnderstand Hebrew
meanes whereby they might excell and go beyond the laitie therewithall the well inclined being still oppressed kept downe by the authoritie of the Pope Euen iust after the same manner as it would haue fallen out in other cases with vs in Fraunce in as much as the case so stood in the beginning as that matters of sute and law were pleaded in Latine and all manner of writings made in Latine howbeit that the common people by reason of the change that happened did not vnderstand it but that our kings as those which did more carefully watch ouer the goodes of the people then the Romish Bishops did ouer their soules haue beene very prouident wisely to foresee and by their ordinances to prouide for the same CHAP. VI. That in the Primitiue Church and a long time after the holy scriptures were read amongst the people in all tongues THe liturgie then or diuine seruice That the scriptures were translated into all languages euen from the first times was retained in the Church in the vulgar and common tongue for a long space following the precept of Saint Paule Let euery thing be done to edification in the Church And as for the Maxime of the Church of Rome which is to hold the people in ignorance that so they may not come to the knowledge of their faluation it did not take place but of late and that for no other end but to bind their consciences and knowledge to go no further neither yet to come short of the conscience skill of their curates that so they may pray vpon their simplicitie either by leading them into vaine superstition or into seruile subiection The holy scriptures of the old Testament say they were written in Hebrew and those of the new Testament in Greeke and not in any other tongue Let it bee so and good cause why seeing the Hebrew tongue was the language of Israel to whome the law was properly and peculiarly giuen and the Greeke likewise very common knowne vnto all the East parts where Christianitie did first spring and spread abroad But what prerogatiue do they shew vs why they should so aduance and cleaue vnto the Latine Let them answere them that the Gospell was notwithstanding preached by word of mouth in all tongues and to that end was the gift of tongues sent vnto the Church which was no sooner ceased but that the scriptures both of the old and new Testament were found as a supply of the same translated into diuers tongues as Hebrew Syrian Arabicke and Scythian as the ecclesiasticall historie doth witnesse vnto vs that this diligent indeuour continued and endured by the industrie of good pastors in such measure and sort as that the knowledge of Christ gained and got ground in the world Thus we see that Saint Ierome translated the holy scriptures into the Dalmaticke tongue Hieronym in ep ad Sophron. Gregor Patriarch Alexand. in vita Chrysost Sixtus Senens in l. 4. in lit l. k. Postellus in ep ad Ambr. Theseum Chrysostome into the Armenian Vlphilas Bishop of the Gothes into Gothicke Methodius into the Sclauonian and their translations are founde as yet both extant and in vse And that the same zeale was followed and imitated in the end in all Churches so that wee haue as yet the Gospels in the Ethiopian tongue the Psalter in the Egyptian as also in the Indian tongue but imprinted in Syriacke Characters the fiue bookes of Moyses in the Persian tongue the Psalter all the new Testament in the Gothish or old Frizeland speech all the Bible from the time of Ethelstanus king of England that is nine hundred yeares in the Brittish tongue c. And therefore Chrysostome sayth The Syrians Egyptians Indians Persians Ethiopians and innumerable other nations haue the heauenly doctrine translated into their naturall tongues and by this meanes haue left off their barbarousnes to play the philosophers in good earnest Theodoret Theodor. de corrig Graecor affect The Hebrew bookes are not onely translated into Greeke but also into Latine Egiptian Persian Indian Armenian Scythian Saromatian and in a word into all tongues which the nations vse as yet vnto this day All these good Pastors zealously and feruently affecting the wholesome instruction of their flockes and all these famous Churches had not yet studied or busied their braines about the title of the Crosse to conclude from thence that the scriptures could not bee read but in three tongues because in deed they had no desire or will by any such shift so to worke their purpose as that the poore people might not learne the way wherby they might be saued that so they might hold their consciences in homage vnto them Whether it be daungerous or no for the cōmon people to reade them But whatsoeuer any man may seeme to bee able to say to the contrarie say they it is and alwaies hath beene daungerous for the people to haue and reade the holy scripture in their common and naturall tongue And to whom then was it that our Lord said Search the scriptures And wherefore had all Christian Churches so translated them But now therefore let them heare euen they which make such vauntes of the auncient writers into what daunger those auncients did bring mens consciences by the reading of the holy scripture and into what daunger if a man will belieue them herein they brought the whole Church Irenaeus without all doubt did not conceiue any such daunger to bee therein Iren. l. 4. c. 12. 31. when hee said of the heretikes the Valentinians That their not knowing of the scriptures had brought them to this heresie He found preseruatiues therein and our aduersaries are afraid to meete with poison And as little paines did he take to draw backe the faithfull from the reading of them because of obscuritie for he saith The scriptures are open and cleare without ambiguitie or doubtfulnesse Origen in Esa hom 2. in Exod hom 9. they may bee alike heard of all Origen in like manner who tooke so great paines to translate and publish them in all tongues saith Woulde God wee all belieued and did that which is written Search the scriptures they are shutte and sealed to the negligent but they are founde to bee open and vnlockt to them that seeke and knocke at the dore By them hee would haue his parishioners his people that were still to be instructed and catechised and his disciples to trie and examine his doctrine for hee saith Origen in Iosuam hom 20. Idem in Leuit. hom 9. When I teach you that which I thinke then examine and iudge you whether it bee right and true or no. For wee desire sayeth hee in another place that you shoulde not onely heare the wordes of God in the Church but therewithall that you shoulde exercise your selues in them in your houses and meditate in his law day and night Idem in Ios hom 20. Yea and to the end that they
we say of the Bbs. Bishoppes and Priestes in olde time were all one Paul in Ep. ad Philippens Acts. 20. Tit. 1. 1. Peter 5. 1. Timoth. 4. Hieronym in Ep. ad Titum in Ep. ad Euag. in the old church the same we say also of Priests and that by a much more stronger and more forcible reason first because there is no likelihoode that the Priest should haue power by his orders to sacrifice the Son of God and that it shold be denied vnto the Bb. secondlie because as we haue already said the minister or priest and the Bb. in ancient accompt were but one And indeed S. Ierome intreating of this matter proueth the same by many plain and expresse texts out of S. Paul as may be seene in the place and therupon he also inferreth that they were diuerse names of one and the same person the one hauing relation to the age of the partie the other to the dignitie of his office and that the Priestes had power in the olde time to laye their handes vppon such as were to bee ordained and that whereas the Priests did chuse one from amongst themselues to be Bb. it was not because indeede one was greater then an other but onely for the continuing of vnitie and cutting off of schisme and that by the law of God the Bb. could not assume or chalenge any more to himselfe then the Priestes and that the Priest or Elder did nothing which the Bb. did not Ambros in Ep. ad Eph. c. 4. Chrysost in 1. Timoth. Isidor D. 12. c. Clâ—ros Beda ad Philip. Sedul Scotus in Epist ad Titum Anselm Cantuar ad Titum and so on the contrarie that in his time Ordination giuing of Orders was allotted to the Bb. for the reasons abouesaid hee handleth this matter of purpose not by the way and that euen to the very bottom S. Ambrose S. Chrysostom Beda Isidore affirme the same concluding in fine that the Bb. had not any more to doe to giue Orders then the Priest wherupon it should come to passe that the controuersie would remaine alwaies vndetermined amongst the Schoolemen the Doctors of the Canon law the Schoolemen striuing to place the Bbs. in the Order of the Priests and the Doctors lobouring to make a seuerall Order for the Bbs. And of al this we conclude seeing that the office and charge of the Bb. and Priest was but one and that the Bbs. did not consist in anie thing as we haue seene but in the dispensation of the word and sacraments and in the conferring and exercising of discipline and ecclesiasticall policie that there were not besides these any Priestes sacrificing for the quick and the dead in the Primitiue Church In like manner we shall find as little of the Priestlie annointing in S. Of Vnction Dionys Hierar c. 5. Ambros de dignit Sacer. 5. Denys himselfe though he may seem to be wholie composed and compact of ceremonies for althogh he say that the Bb. did vse vnction or annointing in manie of his offices and functioÌ„s yet it is not mentioned that he euer vsed it about Ordination And from the practise of Bbs. we conclude the same of Priests S. Ambrose saith Man layeth on his hands but God giueth the grace Sacerdos the Priest laieth on Supplicem dextraÌ„ his right hand making request to God for him and God blesseth with his powerfull right hand So then this was his place for in this booke he intreateth expresly of the Priestly dignitie The very same is set down in the Councell of Africke which was helde in the time of S. Augustine Concil African c. 2.3.4 c from whence we haue heretofore brought and alleadged the Canons concerning Ordination yet all the ceremonies vsed thereabout are handled throughout the same In a word amongst so manie elections and promotions of Bbs. to be found in the ecclesiasticall historie there is not anie manner of mention made thereof except we wil belieue the Legends of one Simeon Metaphrastes who taught in the Colledge at CoÌ„stantinople about some 150. yeares agoe They obiect vnto vs S. Cyprian Cyp. de vnct Chrysin but Bellarmine himselfe is of iudgement that the booke of Chrisme is not his worke and for any place elsewhere he speaketh of the ordination of a Bb. not one word On the contrarie he maketh the true vnction or annointing coÌ„mon not onelie to all the Cleargie but vnto all Christians They themselues are ashamed of Anacletus his Epistle To be short the first that speaketh plainelie thereof is Gregorie the Great Gregor 1. Reg. 9. in the sixt age in his Commentaries vpon the Kings who asmuch as laye in him did cast vppon the Christian Church all the Iewish ceremonies for the abolishing whereof the Apostles tooke so great care and paine saying Now wee annoint them which are in Culmine that is which haue the principall charge in the Church as though the thing had but sprung vppe in his time The Greeke Church did not vse it as is confessed by Pope Innocent the 3. Innoc. 3. de vnct sacr in his time that is about the year 1200. neither in the ordination of Priests nor in the consecration of Bbs. He addeth moreouer that for this cause the Church of Rome was taxed of certain ancient Writers for hauing fashioned themselues to the Iewish Traditions Wee alleadge the text his proper wordes howsoeuer Bellarmine doe change it after his own fansie and wil that it should haue Aliqui Duran in Rational l. 2. c. 10 and not Antiqui And Lombarde saith by name that it is borrowed from the olde law Durand also saith that it was deriued from the Priesthood of Aaron commaunded by Moses Leuit. 8. Now therefore what may we iudge of the audacious boldnes of the Councel of Trent in pronouncing such accursed as should not thinke vnction to bee necessarie that is against the whole auncient Church We haue heretofore toucht the matter of garments The Priestlie garmentes but this place craueth that we shold say somewhat more thereof The simplicitie plainnes of the old Fathers made no difference thereof saue onely in respect of modestie and not of the fashion insomuch as that the habites or apparrell of a Minister when hee was to bee occupied in discharging his place did not differ from his ordinary garments Walafridus Strabo Walafr Strabo who hath written of the time of Charlemaine and since doth speake it verie plainely That in the Primitiue Church they used no other apparrell in the action of their Ministerie then their ordinarie and that likewise in his time in many places of the East they liued as then after that sort and maner The Councell of Gangres likewise held neere the time Concil Gangr when the Nicene Councell was doth excommunicate them which iudged that one garment was more holy then an other as our Monkes do at this day And Erasmus noteth vppon S. Ierome that the apparrell
estate or sole and single life a law and ordinance of the Romish church by which the Ministers and Pastors of the Church are bounde to abstaine from marriage those which doe administer their sacramentes to abstain and renounce according to their doctrine one of their sacramentes But the scripture speaketh plainelie how that our Lorde ordained and blessed marriage from the Creation he vouchsafed to honour it in the Patriarks to commaund it to his Priestes to approue it also in the Prophetes the cleare and manifest vessels of Gods spirite hauing an extraordinarie vocation in the Church approued by signes and miracles These good fellowes which otherwise are most forwarde in bringing backe againe and heaping vppon vs all the ceremonies of the olde Testament why doe they banish and driue from vs this order ordinance In the new Testament our Lord worketh his first miracle at the marriage of Cana the comparisonis often vsed in the Scripture of the mar riage of Christ and his Church If it had been a worke of the flesh as they say would he haue been present at it If it had beene a prophane coniunction and copulation was it for necessity and lacke of other comparisons that the holy Ghost should vse this 1. Cor. 7. Hebr. 13. and that in laying open and pointing out of so high and holy an vnion But furthermore the Apostles say generally Let him that cannot liue continentlie take a wife the marriage and bed vndefiled are honourable among all men and afterward particularly A Bb. and a Deacon must be the husbands each of them of one wife c. If the Bb. do not gouern his children well how shal he gouern the church of God They likewise giue caueats and prouisoes against the contrary doctrine For it wil come saith S. Paul vpon the people giuen ouer to spirits of deceipt and doctrines of Diuels teaching lies in hipocrisie seared in their conscience with a hote iron who shal forbid to be married c. But after all this I leaue to speake of diuerse other places for breuities sake what will they haue to say vnto vs against so plaine and manifest a matter what needeth either reason or interpretation against the expresse commandement of God why should we admit the inuention of man and from whence can it come but from the spirit of lies couering it selfe with the spirit of hypocrisie and from whence commeth this fained holines this making of conscieÌ„ce of that which is no sin but from a conscience which is dead and without feeling of any maner of sin and which that it might not seem past feeling of all sin sheweth it self indifferentlie and alike feeling of that which is and of that which is not If wee obiect against them the example of the Priestes of the olde lawe they tell vs that this was because it behoued that they should come of the same stocke and race Who hath told them then that the Ministers of the newe Testament ought not to haue anie They adde further and say that those Priests did one serue after an other in their seuerall courses and that then they abstained from their wiues Let them proue vnto vs therfore if for that cause they renounced and altogether forsooke marriage And how did the high Priest vse his married estate who was commaunded to sacrifice euening and morning 1. Paralipom 24. And how in a worde did they passe ouer all the other whole fowre hundred yeares For they cannot dissemble or cloake the matter how that this order of seruing by courses came not in but by Dauid a long time after the lawe And where will they find vs that it was commaunded them during the time of their seruice to forsake their wiues and yet wee see that all manner of vncleannes which might defile them was most precisely forbidden them and all manner of clensing and purifying of themselues so distinctly commaunded them If againe wee obiect vnto them the Prophetes who all of them were married Chrysost in Matth. hom 56 in fine and are acknowledged so to haue been by all the old Writers but more speciallie by S. Chrysostome then looke what they cannot vnloose they will not let to cut in sunder saying They had not the charge of sacrificing Or else they imagine that they did put away their wiues during such time And in the ende they are not ashamed to ordaine in the Councell of Trent by their Index expurgatorius that it shal be raced out of the Table of Chrysostome his workes That all the Prophetes were married Iesus Christ was founde present at the mariage in Cana of Galilie Marriage therefore say we is not accounted amongst the thinges that are vncleane and doe pollute nor amongst the workes of the flesh But say they hee was present at it because it was the marriage of S. Iohn the Euaugelist that hee might hinder the marriage and to that end they finde vs out by and by one Abdias Babilonius a late compiler of Legends who telleth vs the whole storie from point to point If thou waste not mine saith our Lord in that place vnto S. Iohn I would suffer thee to marrie Directlie against the expresse word for God the Creator did institute and ordaine it as also consecrate it both by his blessing presence And to the manifest calling in question of S. Iohn his faithfull and sincere dealing who should haue had great wrong and iniurie to bee thought to authorize and alow mariage as by the contents of this storie it may seeme hee did if Iesus Christ had condemned it in himselfe and so also it should follow that it is not possible to bee the seruant of Iesus Christ and to bee married together August serm 1 Dom. 2. post Epiphan tract 8. in Ioh. But how commeth it then to passe that the olde Fathers were not aduised of this point As S. Augustine who handling this place sayeth That the Lord hath not disdained or thought scorne of marriage that it was his will and pleasure to honour it that it was his will that thereby children should be begotten that hee hath by his presence established the lawes of vnitie and concord therein and turned the marriage songes into holie psalmes to the glorie of God Cyril in Io l. 2 c. 22. Chrysost cont Iudae Gentil Heretic Heb. 13.4 c. Saint Cyril That therein hee would declare the holines of marriage and sanctifie the principall cause of our birth c. Saint Chrysostome That he hath honoured marriage and that therefore it is not anie let or hinderance vnto pietie and indeed saith hee why should it be more hinderance to ours then vnto Moses Helias or S. Peter his pâ—etie and godlines The Apostle sayeth Marriage is honourable in all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the bedde vnde filed but God will iudge fornicators and adulterers There is no manner of exception to bee made against this generall affirmation And Paphnutius doth alledge
chastly with one onely wife Nowe I am not ignorant that Origen who gelded himselfe against the expresse Canon C Apostol cap. 21.22 which they attribute to the Apostles which declareth him to be a man-slayer hath badly expounded those words Qui potest capere capiat that he was reproued of the church for the same as hauing therin gone about to conclude from this place that it appertaineth not to any but such as are chast to offer a continual sacrifice vnto God although notwithstanding that he speake it simply It seemeth so vnto me which hee would not haue done if it had beene an ecclesiastical determination wherein he was imitated of S. Ambrose in a certain place whereas in good sooth they should both haue learned of S. Paul that the bed vndefiled is not at debate with chastity neither yet by consequent with the sacrifice And the Councell of Gangres Concil Gangrens 4. D. 28. c. Si quis discernit held about the time of that of Nice for the repressing of such superstitions doeth remedie this ill throwne exposition by an expresse Canon saying If any man make a difference of a maried Priest as though by reason of his mariage he ought not to offer do for that cause keepe away from this oblation let him be accursed But it is further said 1. Cor. 7.33 that maried folkes haue care of the thinges of this world and the vnmarried of the pleasing of the Lord c. Graunt that to be true but let them consider therewithall that which Chrysostome obserueth against the superstitious of his time that Saint Paule speaketh not there of Churchmen but generally of all Christians And what is it then that can follow thereupon but that all Christians indifferently and without exception should abstaine from mariage whereas hee that hath ordained the Bishoppe will that hee shoulde haue care of the Church the house of God and his owne together And as for his owne to the end hee might receiue comforts for the cares which this worlde might minister hee hath assisted and seconded him with a wife such a one saith Nazianzene as was his mother to his father Nazianzen de matre who helped him much yea so much as that thereby he had a great deale the more leasure time to his Ministerie And Chrysostome would haue a Bb. to be a good housekeeper before that hee come to be a good politician And our Bbs. at this day who haue no wiues do nothing slack their desire to haue the gouernment of all the world But O man who art thou which iudgest another mans seruant who wouldest teach God how by whom he must be serued who controulest the state and gouernment of his house the rule of his seruice after that he hath giuen published it in such plaine and expresse tearmes and which knowest better then he what is agreeable for his seruice when as that which thou addest of thine owne inuention what is it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seruice framed according to thine owne will and pleasure condemned by his spirit because it proceedeth from thine And againe who knoweth better then he how deepe man may plunge himselfe That the vnmaried sole life doth stand onely by the positiue law D. 23.28 c. or how high he may rise by the power which he giueth him But furthermore they haue been constrained to acknowledge after all their shifts turning wiles that there is not any place in the holy scripture which bindeth ecclesiasticall persons to a sole and vnmarried life Gratian saith absolutely The mariage of Priestes is not forbidden either by the authoritie of the law or Gospell neither yet by the Apostles but rather by an ecclesiasticall law Hereafter wee shall see what manner of one and from whence it is D. 84. vbi Gl. Thom. in 2. secundae q. 88. art 11. And the Glosse vpon the decree saith in another place That before the Pope Syricius marriage was permitted vnto priestes Thomas Aquinas That the vow of continencie is not essentially tyed to the order but onely by way of accident and by occasion of ecclesiasticall constitution And of this opinion were many of the most famous schoolemen Caietan in opusc tit 1. tract 27. Cardinall Caietan of our time It cannot bee shewed either by reason or authoritie that a priest sinneth in being maried neither can his order in that it is an order neither yet in that it is a holy order hinder or let him either before or after the taking thereof he abiding within the boundes prescribed by Christ and his Apostles c. The Cardinall Cusan writing to the Bohemians Thom. in summa quae incipit Commiserationes Domini c. 165. Posthac dicendum Durand sent 4 D. 38. q. 2. Innocent 4.1 de conuers coniug C. Placet doth likewise hold the same Thomas of Aquin also goeth as farre saying But and if an ecclesiasticall person make knowne to his Confessor that bee cannot containe himselfe the Confessor shall not commit any great sinne to counsell him to marrie secretly without the knowledge of his bishop And who cannot gather hereby what he would haue said if he had not feared the censure Durand the author of the worke called Speculum Iuris speaketh more boldly That the Councell should restore the libertie of hauing wiues to the priestes againe seeing that it is but in vain by the strictnesse of a number of Canons to go about to force them to chastitie And yet neuerthelesse he holdeth that the Councell can doe nothing contrarie to the expresse word Pope Innocent the fourth who liued about the yeare 1250. saith Mariage by the lawe of nature doth not hinder any man from being receiued into orders and he which should bee ordained may enioy and vse a married estate being alreadie contracted as it is practised in the East Church as also contract a new mariage if the ecclesiasticall constitutions did not hinder the same Now as a sole and vnmarried life hath no law in the scripture That abstinence from mariage was not obserued in the old Church Ambr. in 2. Cor. 11. ◠Cor. 9.5 Clem. l. 4. 7. strom August in quaest ex vir iest nor yet constitution from the Apostles so likewise hath it no maintenance or defence from any practise of the Apostles or from any of their disciples Saint Ambrose vpon the 2. Corinth holdeth that all the Apostles except Saint Iohn were married and all of them but that some writers doe except Saint Iohn notwithstanding Martyrs The Gospell maketh mention of S. Peter his mother in law S. Paule saith Haue not I power to leade with me a wife a sister as well as Cephas And Clemens Alexandrinus doth expound it of a woman in the state of mariage from thence reasoneth against such as were giuen to boast brag of the goodlines of an vnmaried life S. Augustine saith that S. Peter did not cease to be the
that time after there shoulde not anie bee receiued to the Orders of the Church but such as had promised in expresse tearmes their abstaining from marriage In like manner Lambertus Schafnaburgensis a learned Chronicler who writ the Chronicles of Hirtsfeld witnesseth that in his time which was after the year 1000. there were manie that had wiues in France and in Italie But Calixtus the second helde a Councell at Rome of 300. Bishoppes for the establishing and making authentike of the Decree of abstineÌ„ce from marriage about the yeare 1123 and how mightilie Sodomitrie increased thereby it was reported in two Councels held at Rome successiuelie Synon Ro. c. 11 Let the Clearkes that shal be found defiled do penance in Monasteries and those which are found to retaine and keepe their wiues let them be depriued of their offices and benefices but such of the Laitie as shal be found attainted of Sodomitrie let them be excommunicate a proper proportion of the punishments whether you consider the persons or the crimes In Bulgarie a part of the Realme of Hungarie In Bulgarie D. 28. C. Con. sulendnm vbi Nicol. 2d Consulta Bulgar the ecclesiasticall persons continued married in the yeare 800. This is manifest by the question which they make to Pope Nicholas the first which was to know whether they should retaine and maintaine or else reiect and cast off a married Priest whereunto the aunswere is that such a Priest is verie blame worthy whereas S. Paule woulde haue saide vnblameable the husbande of one onelie woman c. notwithstanding that hee may bee tolerated as Iudas was by our Lord amongst his Disciples Guntherus and Thetgaudus their Bishoppes did oppose themselues therein verie stoutlie as they in like manner did against the Legates of Adrian the second his successor Syluester Leopard and Dominicke who went about to alter and change al their seruice into Latine bringing to that effect their Latine priests with them for to establish them amongst them whereupon it followed that they ioyning themselues to the Church of Constantinople were excommunicate by the Pope as the most execrable and accursed men of all the world the verie name also of Bulgaria became so abhominable that vntill this day it is deriued of the most abhominable vice that is stirring in the world Germanie for the great seueritie and strictnes wherto it was giuen In Germany Hillar in Ep. ad Epis Germ. Ambros ad Reginam Frid gildam Hieronym ad SimoneÌ„ Fridelum being more vnfit to admit anie entrance for the practises of Rome was not assaied or assailed with this abuse and detestable mischiefe till of later time and being assailed did resist and hold out a longer time then anie other nation before they would yeelde thereunto It had receiued the faith in the time of the Apostles as wee reade in Ireneus it had stoode and continued in the same according to their first institution and trayning vp as S. Hillarie S. Ambrose and S. Ierome doe testifie vnto vs in certain of their Epistles About the yeare 730. the Bishoppe of Rome sent thether one Vinofridus otherwise called Boniface to establish his ceremonies there for which purpose hee bounde himselfe by an oath to Pope Gregorie the second in expresse wordes and this is the cause why hee was called the Apostle of Germany and not for that hee did establish the Christian faith there Now when hee came into Germany hee founde there one Geholibus otherwise called Gerbilio Bb. of Mentz married and being the sonne of Gerard one that was Bishoppe before him in the same place and afterwarde wee reade of one Paschal Auent l. 3. P. 294. Gasper Nedio in Eccles hist Nichol. 1. in Ep. ad Radul Episc Argent Auent l. 5. p. 574. Bishoppe of the Cittie of Coire the head and chiefest Cittie of the Countrie called Rhetia whose wife was called Antistita or Episcopa Curiensis And Pope Nicholas the first aboute the yeare 865. inioyning penance to a Priest that hee should not offer for the space of seauen yeares did close it vp with this conclusion And yet notwithstanding let him not bee separated from his lawfull wife least he should fall into the pit of fornication And about the yeare 1080. vnder Pope Gregorie the seauenth Auentine maketh mention that all the Priestes were married had children that their wiues were called Presbyterissae who also were founde ingrauen in the foundations which they made in their Temples and Monasteries which thing Gebioiler aboue alleadged did not dissemble or conceale But now beholde how the Pope doth gette and gaine foote after foote vpon the Germanes Greg 2. â—d Bonifac Ep. 2. Gregorie the second durst not commaund Boniface that vpon his ariual and comming thether hee should wholie take away marriage but contenteth himselfe to inioyne him that hee should not admit to the taking of any cure or charge Auent p. 290. such as had beene twise married Gregorie the thirde commaundeth likewise That they should either liue chastlie Zachar. in Ep. ad Bonifac. or else that they should take vnto them wiues a thing that cannot by any meanes be lawfullie denied them c. Pope Zacharie proceedeth further and aunswereth Boniface to the thinges wherein hee craued counsell and direction That after Orders giuen he forbid them to marrie but and if they bee married that then they should liue and keepe comparie with their wiues But in the Synod which hee caused to bee helde in the time of Charlemaine described and set forth by Auentinus there is nothing determined or enacted concerning that matter notwithstanding that there were diuerse articles drawne to bridle the dissolutenes and loosenes of Priestes a signe and token that Boniface saw not thinges as yet to fall fit and marriage amongst Priests did still continue Concil Mogunt c. 10. and was celebrated euerie daye And that which wee reade in the Councell of Mentz helde about the yeare 813. That Clearkes doe keepe for euer an inuiolable chastitie in their bodies is as it hath beene verie well noted a place drawne from the rule of Isidore his Clearkes fraudulentlie mangled by these compilers and gatherers together of thinges D. 23. C. his igitur who doe conceale and keepe backe the words that follow Aut certe vnius matrimonti vinculo faderentur that is or let them be once married and yet they are not ashamed to alledge Isidore therein And indeed it is so set downe in the lawes of Charles the Great Car. l. 7. c. 384 ex Regul Cleric and in Gratian his decree also The maine battell happened in the time of Pope Nicholas the first about the yeare 800. betwixt him and S. Vlricke Bishoppe of Ausbourg whose Epistle we haue The matter was for that Odo Bishop of Vienna hauing permitted a Subdeacon named Aluericke to be married Pope Nicholas tooke occasion to make this Decree That it should neuer be permitted that anie Clearkes should be married D. 32. C.
Arnob. l. 8. Arnobius sayeth Where doe these Priestes more willinglie commit their whoâ—â—â—omes and fornications then in their owne Temples then in the midst of their Altars where doe they contriue their bawderie where doe they bethinke themselues of their adulteries but there Assuredly whoredom is ofter lodged in the little Chambers of the Keepers then in the very brothel-houses And the same is to bee saide of this pretended continencie Nicholas the Deacon vpon an ambitious superstition renounced and cast off his wife hee had no sooner done it but we may learne by Epiphanius into what vncleannes he fell The Heretikes called Gnostici would likewise haue their Leuites to leade this single life and the same Epiphanius reporteth that presentlie thereuppon buggerie set in foote and tooke place Iren Epiph. But Syricius his decree is no sooner made and indeede how can it be otherwise there being such a mightie multitude of men to exercise their mischieuous villanies and loosenes of life Saluian l. 5. de prouident more then ordinary but we heare Saluian Bishoppe of Marseillis crying Yee who forsake honest Marriage at the least abstaine and keepe your selues from villainous wickednes if not for altogether sayeth hee for it might bee too hard yet at the least from that which is abhominable and monstrous S. Gregorie saith S. Vlrich vpon the report of 6000. childrens heads found in his fishpond being all confounded fell a crying being driuen thereunto by the remorse of conscience striking his heart and saide I haue sinned it is better to marrie then to burne Saint Vlrich Bishoppe of Ausbourg who vexed and tormented himselfe thereat saith This people which say that the chast marriages of Clearkes are abhominable vnto them are not afraide of whoredomes adulteries incestes buggeries and other vitiouse practises yea to speake in a word of nothing of all that which the scriptures call the abhominations of the Chananites In England we haue seene how farre this cursed law preuailed and what griefe and trouble it put Anselme the Archbishoppe vnto himselfe being the brocher and procurer of the same As also in Germanie where Auentine reporteth that vnder the shadowe of sanctimonie and holines All sortes of incestes were committed without the sparing of anie degree Bernard in Serm. de conuers ad Clericos c. 29. And what can bee saide more then S. Bernarde hath saide who tormented and vexed yea who killed himselfe with crying it is shamefull to speake and yet more shamefull to coÌ„ceale That the deuill hath strewed the ashes of Sodome vpon the very body of the church for so he calleth the clergie That the number is maruellous great but which is more exceeding shameles not caring to couer and conceale themselues That they haue consented to forsake the lawfull remedie Marriage to take their swinge and libertie to the committing of all manner of villanie couering it vnder the vaile of continencie But how much better sayeth hee had it beene for them to marrie then to burne To bee briefe Mantuan sayeth notwithstanding that he was a gray Fryer Sanstus ager scurris venerabilis ara Cinaedis Seruit honorandae diuum Ganymedibus aedes And to the end that the vice as reason requireth may the more plainly appeare let vs repaire to the mother of fornications There wee shall see the Cardinals carrying the curtisans aboute with them in their Coaches and the Pope taking ordinary tribute and yearelie summes of mony of them and to keepe a stewes I loath and abhorte to speake of the worst himselfe There we shall find Aretines not in painted shapes but in their liuely persons Iohn de Casa Archb. of Beneuento Deane of the Apostolike Chamber and the Popes Nuncio Ioh. a Casa excus venet apud Tâ—â—anuÌ„ Nauum writing the praises of buggery in Italian verse and causing the same to be imprinted at Venice But I could hartily wish that this law were left indifferent or that it were not at all seeing that it hath a contremaund and that from the great and mightie God who knoweth better both our infirmities and the remedies thereof then wee our selues But if that which is said in the Decree ought euer to take place That a Positiue law giuen and ordamed for edification should be abolished and repealed when it turneth to the desiruetion of any then let vs willinglie looke down into our consciences it cannot possibly be denied but that it ought to be put in practise in this point for it cannot be excused seeing the law was no sooner published but the vice villanie did also manifest it selfe and breake out into open sight and not onely make it selfe to be seen but to be complained on of euerie man yea to be written against of euery man Let vs cease to speake of the braules and broiles of many ages about the publishing of this Decree calling onlie to mind how that in the time of Calixtus the 2. yea euen wheÌ„ he was in his full authority raigning and ruling euerie where there were many great personages which ceased not to summon the Pope by their writings and as it were to set affixes vpon his gates shewing the deedes and workes that it brought forth that so all maner of excuse might be cut off that otherwise might haue been made for him vnto the posteritie following Thomas of Aquin Thom. in suÌ„mâ— quae incipit Commiserationes Domini c. 165. Anno 1270. Durand de modo celebr conc Anno 1320. Anno 1430. Reformationis articuli Sigismundi editi Argentinae Anno 1520. Aene. Svlu in Act. Basil l. 2. Quamplurimos aduiseth the ecclesiasticall person to make his infirmitie known vnto his Confessor if he cannot containe subdue the lust of the flesh afterward to marie secretlie without the priuitie of the Bb. Durand disputeth the case by manie reasons That a generall Councell should be held for the restoring of the Priestes vnto their former liberty of marrying Marsilius of Padua in his book called Defensorpacis at the same time That it might without breach of pietie be permitted vnto them Danta and Petrarcha in like manner To the matching of marriage with virginitie but the latter of them more sharpelie as one that had beene solicited to haue prostituted his sister to Pope Benedict Against the time of the Councell of Basill Sigismunde the Emperour caused certaine articles concerning thinges to bee reformed to bee made ready of which this was one The Decree of Calixtus the second hath wrought more mischiefe in the church then good it were better therefore and more for the soules health to permit Priestes their honest marriages after the example of the Easterne church c. Aeneas Syluius which was after Pope Pius the seconde sayeth It may be it would proue ill done if many Priestes were married for so it would come to passe that many of them might saue their soules in a married Priesthoode which in an vumaried are condemned And hee reporteth that it was alleadged
making intercession to God for vs. Ambros ad Hebr. c. 8. S. Ambrose saith It is necessary that our sauior in the daies of his flesh should haue something that he might offer for vs therfore he took vpon him our flesh Theodor. ibid. Haimo ibid. that he might offer the same And Theodoret This is the cause why the only begotten Son of God hauing takē our nature did offer it to God for vs. Haimo He took of vs that which he hath offered for vs namely mans flesh euē himselfe whom he hath offered vpon the altar of the crosse Hugo ibid. Thom. ibid. c. being himselfe both the sacrifice sacrificer And thus also write Cardinal Hugo and Thomas For it behoued that Christ haberet quod offerret might haue something that he might offer hee offered himselfe c. all of them hauing relation to the thing done and not to do Caietan That is himselfe who is offered the Saints which are made such by heauenly grace But what need was there of any other expositor then the Apostle himself when he setteth downe how that he doth not offer himselfe oftentimes And againe For by one onely oblation he hath consecrated for euer those which are sanctified They go forward Hebr. 9. The Apostle saith It is necessarie that the patternes or figures of heauenly things shold be cleansed by these things but the heauenly things themselues be better oblations and sacrifices then these are He speaketh say they in the plural number wherefore it argueth that there are many oblations many sacrifices and those are our Masses But let vs alwaies carrie in minde that the Apostle hath infinite times said That there is but one sacrifice that is Christ and that there is but one oblation offered vppon the Crosse by Christ And let vs also distinguish Hostiam seu victimam from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing sacrificed from the oblation that is to say from the action of sacrificing Now the Apostle vseth in this place the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of sacrifice not of offering of the thing not of the action And what will they then inferre or conclude that the Christian Church here opposed and set against the Iewish Church ought to bee cleansed by many sacrifices will they dare to bee so bold and that seeing it is such a blasphemie or by many offerings of this verie same sacrifice And is not this to come all to one thing and directly contrarie to so many places of the Apostle And againe it is not said in this place Oblations but Sacrifices But say they it is spoken in the plurall number Sacrifices but this is because the Apostle had spoken in the plurall number of those of the law so in setting downe the opposite part doth retaine likewise the plurall number Non quia victimae plures sed quia in vna plures vel potius illae omnes because that in this onely one sacrifice all others are contained And in deed to the end they may not find any starting holes Thom. ad Heb. c. 9. we will not giue credite vnto any others in this point but vnto their owne Doctors S. Thomas Hostus in plurali he saith sacrifices in the plurall number and contrarily he saith afterward that there is but one sacrifice euen that of Christ for by one onely offering he hath accomplished for euer all those which are holy and sanctified Hebr. 10. I answere that though it were one in it selfe yet it was shadowed out by many sacrifices vnder the old law The interlineall Glosse Meliores hostiae better sacrifices namely Christ all those of the old law in as much as it was signified by them all Hugo the Cardinall that is the sacrifice of Christ Anselm ad Heb. c. 9. Caietan by which all those of the law were signified and sanctified Anselme These better sacrifices are but one that is Christ Caietan Christ crucified is here called the better sacrifices because that virtualiter that is in effect and operation it hath the power of all the rest But in the end they say the priesthood being translated it must needes follow that the law is translated also Et vicissim wherefore it must needs follow that there must be a priesthood in the new Testament And who goeth about to denie it them Hebr. 7. for otherwise it should fall out that to haue one which liueth for euer should bee to be without a priest and that to haue an euerlasting sacrifice should be to bee without one And on the other side are we not saith the Apostle all priests in as much as we haue all accesse to the father through him euen to offer vp vnto him through him our sacrifices euen for to offer vnto him himselfe in our praiers a sacrifice for vs But we deny that there is in the new Testament any order of people appointed ordained to sacrifice him a new and we on the contrarie affirme that throughout the whole scriptures there is not one word spoken of any such as likewise there is not of the reiterating of the sacrifice of Christ neither haue any of the fathers interpreted it as our aduersaries doe at this day We affirme also that in all the holy scripture speaking of the Ministers of the Church of Christ they are neuer entitled priestes in whatsoeuer language that a man shall take them And that if the same holy scriptures of the new Testament doe make any mention of sacrifices that they entitle and call them presently for the preuenting and taking away of errour sacrifices of the preaching of the Gospell sacrifices of praise and thankesgiuing spirituall sacrifices the calues of our lips the works of charitie c. offered partly by the Ministers of the holy Gospel who hold their particular place and ranke in the Church to dispense vnto vs the word of God sacraments to shew forth vnto vs our destruction in our owne nature our condemnation by the law our grace and fauour purchased in the death of our Lord the greatnes by consequent of our sinne and of the mercy of God in the greatnesse of this remedie whereupon there followeth in vs a loue towardes God a hatred towardes our selues c. Partly likewise by all the Christians in whom this loue bringeth forth spirituall sacrifices peace offeringes in as much as we haue by this meanes peace with God sacrifices of thanksgiuing for that we giue him thanks in euery kind of seruice whether of the heart the mouth or hands for so great a benefite receiued of his meere mercie and let vs also say propitiatorie in some sort by a great deale better right then in the Masse in as much as wee confesse vnto him our sinnes with a contrite and humble heart intreating him that the blood of our Lord Iesus Christ his onely Sonne may procure vs fauour and mercie by the true and onely propitiation purchased by
also a continued course of offering vnto them the consecrated bread which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if any man would say one gifte for an other the better to entertaine their contentation and this they distributed after it was consecrated by a praier whereas before it had beene giuen them for common bread In the lawes of Charles the great it is inioyned That they should make the people to vnderstand how manie waies the Masse doth profite them aswell in respect of themselues as of their friendes eyther dead or liuing and this they call Vim Missae the force and efficacie of the Masse and together therewithall to make them the better to vnderstand the efficacie of Memento wherein sayeth hee prayer is made for the Soules aswell of them which offer as of those which belong vnto them assuredly because that otherwise the Masse would bee forsaken and cast off Where it is likewise further to bee noted that it was not then saide in the Canon For whome wee offer vnto thee but which offer vnto thee the Priestes hauing afterward taken to themselues this prerogatiue of offering to the debarring and shutting out of all others for hauing anie dealing in the same whereas it was the worke of the people at the first properlie which did offer From that time forwarde also the office of the Priest in the Latine Church was brought to haue his Masse book much altered and corrected that so hee might sing the Masse And thereupon also was the bread of the Sacrament called singing bread and the exercise of a Christian restrained to the hearing onelie of the Masse or else as they say in Italie to the seeing of it things vnheard of and meere strangers in the Primitiue Church a long time after Gregorie the first although that a great parte of the abuses may bee attributed vnto him inasmuch as hee established the new seruice framed and set forth by one named Scholasticus who applied the olde seruice to a new vse the old prayers to the abuses and corruption of the time Now for the fortifying of this pretended sacrifice manie thinges doe concurre The worde Sacrifice vsed in the Church after the manner of the olde lawe to signifie the giftes which were offered to God by the people as it hath beene prooued heretofore for these offeringes were commonlie called oblations and sacrifices and this is confirmed by Pope Gelasius his ordinance That the sacrifices which shall be offered by the people at the Masse shall be distributed into foure partes that is for the Bishop for the Cleargie for the poore and for the maintaining of the Church Charles the Great calleth them Oblations These offeringes were after the Iewish manner consecrated by one or moe prayers which as yet are continued to bee read in diuerse Lithurgies and in the Romish Masse also which as we haue seen are wrested by a most pernicious paralogisme namelie from the sacrifice which was giuen for a name to those offeringes that were offered vnto God to their pretended sacrifice which the Priest consecrateth Ab oblatis inquam ad oblatam and by consequent from a sacrifice of fruites offered to God by the people to the sacrifice of the Sonne of God our Lord whome the Priest presumeth to sacrifice vnto him vppon this Altar Wee neede not anie other proofe of this matter then the prayers vsed in the Masse Wee pray thee sayeth the Canon that thou wilt accept of and blesse these giftes these oblations and holy sacrifices Againe We recommend vnto thee those who offer them vnto thee or as it is read at this day For whome wee offer vnto thee this sacrifice of praise Againe That thou wouldest vouchsafe to regarde and looke downe vpon them with a milde and mercifull countenance and accept of thē as thou vouchsafedst to accept of the offerings of iust Abell thy chosen childe c. Again Commaund thē to be laid vpon thine holie Altar by the hands of thine Angell For in their conscience can all these prayers bee conceiued by any Christian for the sacrifice of our Lord Iesus Christ which their Priestes pretend to offer For in them wee haue sacrifices alwaies in the plurall number where it is neuer qualified or intituled by anie other name then the sacrifice of praise where God should be prayed vnto to vouchsafe to looke downe vppon his welbeloued Sonne with a fauourable eye being one with him and hee in whome hee is well pleased That hee would vouchsafe to accepte of him as of the offeringes of iust Abell of him in whome alone all the Fathers haue beene accepted without whose righteousnes the righteousnes of Abell shoulde bee pollution and filthy vncleannes to commaund that hee should bee laide vpon the Altar by the handes of an Angell being the eternall sacrifice the euerlasting oblation and who found as Iob sayth vncleannes in the verie Angels And indeed this is manifestly appearing in the Lithurgie Liturg. Clem. which they attribute vnto Clement wherein there is an expresse praier Pro dono oblato for the oblation offered but in these tearms That it would please our good God to receiue it vpon his Altar by the intercession of his Christ for a smell of a sweete sauour c. In other Greeke Lithurgies also whose desert we haue heretofore examined wherin there are cleare and euident praiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for the oblations offered and brought framed like vnto those aboue where they are called a spirituall sacrifice of praise offered without blood-shedde c. The name of Sacrifice now shufled and closely conueied into the Christian Church which at the first receiued the same from the Iewes helped it not a little to passe from the action of thankesgiuing to a propitiatorie sacrifice and from an action of remembrance to a reall offering and oblation being ioyned with that ignorance which raigned after barbarisme in those ages as also with that which was ordinary amongst the people and which in stead of being dispelled and driuen away by the bright light of the Bishoppes was on the contrarie more ouercast and darkened For it is openlie acknowledged and confessed as a thing most plaine and apparant in the sight of such as know anie thing in historie that the Bishoppes of that time besides the publike and ordinarie ignorance were altogether giuen to the minding of worldlie matters which the lawes of Charlemaine by name doe confirme and proue vnto vs Let them abstaine from worldly affaires from the Court from the warres from hunting hawking playes gaming c. And hereto you may also adde the corruption of speeches which was in those times by the mixture of many nations together for of vulgar ones they became meere barbarous and of such as were familiarlie spoken such as were not vnderstoode a great aide oportunitie and aduantage for Sathan to sowe his tares for who woulde not otherwise haue reiected this realitie of the sacrifice when in euerie corner of the fielde there was
you like to him in the parable whome he deliuered to the executioners vntill such time as hee had paide the whole debt that is to say for euer for he had vtterly disabled himselfe before for paying of it Orig. hom 35. in Luc. But yet let vs heare the Doctors speake Origen saith They will exact thy debt and looke for it at thy hands by labours and works by paines and punishments c. But he speaketh after his manner properly of hell and not of Purgatorie For Origen as we shall see hereafter did not acknowledge any other paines or punishment for the Diuels themselues then Purgatorie Saint Ambrose distinguisheth betwixt S. Mathew and Saint Luke Ambros in Luc. c. 1◠in the one vnderstanding by the aduersarie the Law in the other Sinne or the conscience and in both God by the Magistrate Christ by the Iudge and the Angels by the Executioners But to cut off Purgatorie he putteth off the execution vnto the end of the world applying himselfe in this point to the opinion of Origen Then here is no Purgatorie of the Papists as yet to be found Tertullian saith Tertull l. de anima That first and chiefely we must take this text in his simple sence that is to say that if we will wee neede not make any Allegorie of it And afterward he saith The heathen man he is the aduersarie with him we walke and haue to doe in the common affaires of this life but wee should goe out of the world if it were not lawfull to conuerse and haue any dealing with them Let vs then requite them with the goodnesse of the spirit Let vs loue our enemies saith Christ Let vs pray for them that curse vs least that being prouoked by any iniuries hee draw vs before his Iudge and the Iudge deliuer vs into prison Idem de Resurroct Carn c. 42. And this Allegorie swarueth not farre from the sence of the text But elswhere hee vseth some that are further fetchte calling the way our discipline and this reconciliation the entertaining of our couenant and bargaine with the Diuell that wee should not take any thing of his but renounce his pompe and all his Angels But still hee speaketh of hell Ne inferos saith he expertatur In a word this prison is taken of some for the place wherein the Magistrate shutteth vp malefactors and thus Chrysostome of others for hell and thus S. Augustine Hieronym in Lamen Ierem. Tertullian as also S. Ierome who expoundeth it of eternall punishment Now who is hee that dare build an Article of Faith vpon such contrarietie of Allegories Who would not rather content himselfe and cleaue to the letter Assuredly their owne proper Glose saith In prison that is to say in darknesse that is to say in hell And Donec vntill that c. that is to say for euer And hee expoundeth it by an other Donec Psal 110. Hugo Card. in Luc. cap. 12. August de 8. quaest ad Lulcit Vntill I haue made thine enemies thy footstoole c. And Lyranus Cardinall Hugo and Beda in like manner As also Saint Augustine ad Dulcitium in treating of Purgatorie maketh conscience to apply this place for the prouing thereof and confesseth that this Donec is of the same nature with that in the Psalme 110. But Theophylact dealeth better who not being ignorant that this place was haled and pulled to and fro by diuers Allegories leadeth vs as it were by the hand to the simple sence thereof That wee should not goe to Law that we shouldrather suffer iniurie that so we may not be letted or hindred from holy matters And Cardinall Caietan after the same manner But Ferus a Doctor of theirs after all the rest dealeth better then all the rest Ferus in Mat. Diuers men haue written diuersly of this aduersarie but in the litterall sence they doe not agree But in a word the sence of Christ is that in outward things it is better to yeeld to vniust and vnequall conditions with his aduersarie then to goe to Law because in Sutes there is much losse of time we must bee subiect to the infirmities and faults raigning in Lawyers to labour and plie the Iudges and after all this when we are come before them yet we stand in doubt of the euent yea and we haue not any power to dispose and determine of it then though we would but the greatest point and most worthie of consideration is that wee loose the tranquilitie and peace of mind as also that loue and peace which we should haue with our neighbours c. But let vs admit of their Allegorie and vnderstand the Diuell to be the aduersarie God the iudge and the prison to be Purgatorie Is it possible saith S. Ierome that Christ should commaund vs to fall to an agreement with the Diuell And likewise to be watchfull and warie of him For hee vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea and shall not become debters to the Diuell to satisfie his demands When as the whole Scripture doth bind vs to make satisfaction to God And what shall the death of Christ haue auailed vs by this Allegorie if we stand answerable for euerie farthing either to God or to the Diuell Out of the same Chapter they alleadge an other place Matth. 5 2◠It hath beene said to them of old or by them of old Thou shalt not kill and he that shall kill shall be punished by iudgement But I say vnto you that whosoeuer is angrie with his brother without a cause shall be guiltie of iudgement And who so shall haue said vnto him Racha shall be guiltie of a Counsell And hee that shall say vnto him foole shall be punished with hell fire This last degree say they is punished in hell and therefore the two former must bee punished in Purgatorie The sence of the text is cleare that our Lord to correct the false gloses of the Scribes who bounded the breach of the Law within the compasse of outward actions doth labour throughout the whole Chapter to bring them backe to the inward motions and affections shewing vnto them that the faults which they iudged sleight as to be angrie with their brother to giue crosse and reproachfull speeches c. doe come before the soueraigne Iustice of God which he signifieth by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudgement and Consistorie tearmes that are vsual about the setting forth of humaine prerogatiues and Iurisdictions Who is he then that doth wish vs to vnderstand these words of a Purgatorie But further how can it stand and agree with their rules Seing that mortall sinnes as they call them haue no doore open to enter in there But so it is that he that hateth his brother saith our Lord is a manslayer Againe in Purgatorie there is no medling with the fault but with the punishment Now in this place the question is of the fault And againe their Purgatorie is a place
Hell by all the old writers But yet they fall to worke vpon the words contained in the same Chapter Luk. 16.9 Make you friends of the vnrighteous Mammon to the end that when you shallwant they may receiue you into euerlasting tabernacles In so much as that here Bellarmine taketh vppon him to crie victorie on their side because that Peter Martyr hath past this place without answere Our Lord warneth vs by the example of the vniust Steward to make vs friends of our riches to the end that as hee did make him friends that did receiue him when he was out of office and credite so likewise we should doe the same by our Almes that so when we shall be called from our stewardship for wee are no better then Stewards they may receiue vs into euerlasting Tabernacles And this is according to that which is said in an other place That euen a cup of cold water giuen in the name of Christ is not without his reward These friends they are the poore but together therewithall honest and vertuous These Tabernacles are eternall life These friends they themselues doe vnderstand that they are to die before vs and there is not any one of the Fathers that haue expounded it otherwise this is verie farre from staying behind to helpe vs with their suffrages Or that it resteth for them to gather vs to heauen and therefore also farre enough off from being able to draw vs out of Purgatorie But and if we must allegorize to whome shall we cleaue and sticke Tertullian saith Tertull. de fuga in persecut that our Lord exhorted the Iewes who had not plaid the good Stewards with the goods that God had committed vnto them to make them friends therewithall De Mammonae hominibus with the men of Mammon that is of the Gentiles saith he by raysing them from the debt of sinne that so grace wasting they should receiue them into the Christian faith S. Augustine and S. Ambrose doe vnderstand it Ambros in Luc. August de Ciuit Dei l. 21. cap. 27. That wee must giue vnto the Saints in this world that they maey pray for vs in the other Who doubteth of their charitie who liue with him that is charitie it selfe or that they doe desire the kingdome of God and the saluation of the elect and chosen But what is there of all this that hath bene said Hieronim ad Algas quaest 6 that agreeth with Purgatorie As for S. Ierome who handleth this question of purpose in writing vnto Algasia after that he hath examined all the words in particular he alleadgeth likewise a certaine Allegorie of Theophilus Bb. of Antiochia who of this steward maketh S. Paul begetting and winning Christians with the learning which he had got vnder the Law that they might receiue him into their houses c. that is to say into heauen And in the end he commeth to this point That wee must make vs friends of our goods and those not of all sorts of poore but such as may receiue vs into heauen that is such as are honest and godly to the end that hauing giuen them a little we may receiue much and giuing to an other may enioy the things that are ours sowing blessedly and bountifully Chrysost in Ep. ad Hebr. Bernard in de clam Ecce nos rellquimus omnia that wee may also reape blessedly and bountifully c. Chrisostome also who toucheth this place sundrie times doth likewise expound it at large vpon the Epistle to the Hebrewes but draweth no other doctrine from it And as for Purgatorie not a word of it Neither yet Saint Bernard Cardinall Hugo Cardinall Caietan nor Ferus himselfe Bellarmine saith Remember me O Lord when thou commest into thy kingdome this good man saith he had neuer spoken this Luk. 23. if he had not belieued that sinnes were forgiuen after this life But yet what maketh this to Purgatorie Seeing it cannot stand with the doctrine of the Schoolemen who affirme that Purgatorie is for such as whose sinnes are alreadie remitted But Bellarmine dooth except the small and pettie sinnes But in this place the question is of the greatest And of whome would he desire to be better assured in that respect then of the good theefe himselfe Who saith Remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome Or of our Sauiour himselfe who aunswereth him To day thou art not in Purgatorie but in Paradice with me And is hee able to name any one of the Fathers euen of the latest who hath gathered this doctrine hence In the Actes 2. Acts. 2.24 Whome God hath raysed againe hauing vnloosed the paines of hell or of death because it was impossible that he should be held of it From hence Bellarmine frameth this conclusion Christ after his death could not suffer paines therefore this place is not to bee vnderstood of his paines but of those of the Fathers and not of those which were in Hell for out of Hell there is no redemption Neither of those in the Lymbes for they suffered not it remaineth then that it must needes bee spoken of those that were in Purgatorie The truth is that this text may bee read two manner of waies in the most part of the Copies there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the paines of death not of hell Epiphan in anchorat in anacephal And if Epiphanius whome Bellarmine alleadgeth haue read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one place in an other he hath read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now this being so he will neuer bee able to find his Purgatorie in this hell Let vs graunt them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifieth both the Graue and Hell but without all doubt in this place the Graue for it is alleadged for the resurrection of our Lord together with the place of Dauid alleadged by Saint Peter Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Graue And whereas he saith that it cannot bee vnderstood of Christ for that he indured no paines after his death I answere that it cannot be vnderstood but of him because it was said that it was not possible for him to bee held either of death or of the Graue which cannot bee said of the Fathers which cannot be spoken but of our Sauiour God and man Seeing also that which followeth For Dauid saith of him I saw the Lord alwates c. But Dauid neuer said this of any of the Fathers So that to deliuer our selues from the doubt and difficultie that is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may receiue a good Exposition wee fall into such a sence and signification as cannot by any meanes be raised or drawne from it And as concerning that we say that the paines of death are vnloosed not onely in that our Sauiour is risen againe but also in as much as in his resurrection the rule and dominion of death is destroyed and laide waste And here it is not lightly to bee
ages did euer acknowledge the Purgatorie of the Church of Rome BVt say they if we should go to it but according to mans reason would not it giue sentence with vs that so many persons as die so quickly haue need of this manner of purging their soules departing impure and vncleane out of this world and so vnfit to be receiued into heauen with that their pollution Wherevnto we answere them that the barre and iudgement seat that is directed by humane reason hath no place in the Church that in that skill of the law which professeth the defence and maintenance of Christianitie it is a shame to speake without testimonie and authoritie out of the word and that a great deale more then to speake in the ciuill law without law But how much more shame is it then when a man vndertaketh to speake for Christianitie and holdeth a course contrarie to the scriptures And this we haue learned from the ancient writers Tertullian Let vs reuerence the fulnesse of the scriptures if we will not vndergoe the woe ordained for such as adde vnto them Basill This is to fall away from the faith either to cast away and cut off any parte of that which is written or to adde any thing that is not Chrysostome The thoughtes of the hearers halt when they haue a doctrine deliuered them without any scripture S. Augustine Let vs see if this be taught in the law or prophets or in the Gospell or Epistles Gerson in like manner Let vs suspect all manner of reuelations if they bee not confirmed by the law and the Prophetes But these ancient fathers here alleadged haue also belieued Purgatorie Let vs admit that it is so as it is not in deed yet we answere as we haue done before that we do not allow of the old fathers as lawgiuers in the Church For there is but one law maker saith the Apostle euen Iesus Christ and themselues tooke it as an iniurie offred vnto them to be so reputed only they accompted of themselues as expounders of the law ordained by our Lord and of the scriptures which he hath left vs. And this is the greatest honour that can be giuen them in the Church and in this respect and consideration we honour their bookes we weigh and ponder their expositions where they are found to differ one from another we endeuour our selues to make our choice of the best euen those which come neerest vnto the analogie and proportion of faith If wee doe otherwise if wee admit of them as authours of doctrines and not interpretors wee shall be in danger to bee as we said Anabaptistes with Saint Cyprian Montanistes with Tertullian Chiliastes with Ireneus c. In stead that wee are to abide and continue Christians with Christ whose voice the sheepe heare who alone hath the woraes of eternall life Now we haue heretofore cited all the Doctors to the interpreting of the places produced and alleadged by our aduersaries for purgatorie who could not see it there where they did find it who for the most part haue in the said places found the contrarie and yet we will proceed on further as namely to shew that the auncient fathers haue affirmed such Maximes as wherewith the Romish Purgatorie cannot stand As that when they haue at any time spoken of it they doe it not affirmatiuely but doubtfully and not as of an article of religion but as of a fantasie or opinion that may bee propounded and receiued for arbitrarie that for the most parte what they haue saide cannot agree with that which wee are in controuersie about at this day And finally that if they had belieued it for a necessarie article they had collected and gathered from thence as from a principle of faith such corollaries consequences as wee see at this day which neuer came to light till a long time after one long after another and that by the succession of many ages And to the end that this may more clearely be seene let vs call to mind at our entrance into the same what purgatorie it is whereof we speake as namely of a certaine third place whither the soules of the faithfull dead in the faith of Christ go at the time of their departure out of this life there to bee tormented with fire before they bee receiued into the place of blisse yea and that so long as vntill by the praiers and suffrages of those that are liuing there be satisfaction made for the temporall punishments due for the same and that all the spottes of vncleannesse bee purged and cleansed away that is for that say they vnto vs by faith in Christ wee haue remission of the fault and sinne onely and not of the eternall punishment due to the same which by the fauour and power of the keies is changed from being eternall and made temporall and for that wee must of necessitie satisfie this temporall punishment either in this life or in the life to come by our selues or by some others c. And now behold the Maxims of the ancient fathers contrarie to Purgatorie The propositions held by the old writers contrarie to purgatory Basil reg bren inter 10. 13. Ambr. in Luc. l. 10. c. 22. The first that God by Iesus Christ doth wholly and altogether deface and blot out both the sinne and the punishment S. Basill Thesoule wallowing in the mire of sinne how can it approach or come neere vnto God verily by constantly and stedfastly belieuing that the purging and cleansing of his sinnes is accomplished by the blood of Iesus Christ in the multitude of the mercies of God according to that which he himselfe hath spoken If your sinnes were as red as skarlet they shall be made as white as the wooll Saint Ambrose We embrace and take hold on Christ that so hee may say vnto vs be not afraide of the sinnes of this worlde neither of the floodes of afflictions which vexe and besiege the bodie J am the remission of sinnes c. Saint Augustine August de verb. Dom. ser 37. 31. Idem de Trini l. 4 c. 2. Christ in taking vpon him the punishment and not the fault hath blotted out and vtterly defaced both the fault and punishment due to the same Againe Wee liue not in this world without sinne but wee shall go out of this world without sinne Againe What shall wee pray for in this life verily that wee may finde remission and forgiuenesse in the worlde to come What profiteth this pardon and forgiuenesse it wipeth not away the staine He that acknowledgeth a wrinkle laboureth to smooth and make it plaine And where then are our wrinkles stretched out and smoothed c. verily vpon the crosse of Christ for vpon this crosse hee hath shed his blood and this is that whereby the Church is cleansed from all spottes and wrinkles as a thing verie cleane and bright c. Againe There is but one purging of the vniust the blood of that iust
thing to stand for pardon and forgiuenesse and an other to come to glorie one thing to bee sent to prison not to come out thence till the vitermost farthing be paid and an other thing to receiue incontinently the reward of faith and vertue one thing to be corrected and purged a long time by fire for sinnes with the induring of great torments and an other to haue all his sinnes purged by one onely passion and suffering c. Which words at the first blush might seeme to make mightily for thē but let vs reade the whole Epistle there he speaketh of such satisfactions as are made in the Church during this life but not a word of any that should be made after the same It was said vnto him If you offer the peace of the Church vnto penitents there will not be any moe confessors there will not be any moe Martyrs for this was the glorie of our fathers But saith hee there will contin ually remaine a great difference betwixt the one and the other Lapsi saith he such as are fallen stand to aske pardon they are as it were in prison vntill such time as they haue exactly satisfied the Church they are as it were refined by fire through the long griefe which they indure by their penance in a word they suffer much before they obtaine the peace of the Church and in this peace peace with God and that which followeth On the contrarie the Martyrs and confessors abiding in peace with God doe not passe through all these sorrowes and griefes they passe speedily into glorie they receiue the reward of their constancie all their sinnes are swallowed vp in their suffering of death c. He addeth likewise that they haue this aduātage in the iudgement of God that they appeare and present themselues in the same assured of the crowne wheras others are in suspence as those that expect and depend vpon the sentence of the iudge And yet they obiect Prayers for the dead you cannot say but that the Church hath belieued Purgatorie seeing it hath praied for the dead Neither doe we denie but that this custome is auncient enough but on the contrarie we say how that the Church neuer praied for the dead vnder the old Testament not Ioseph for Iacob who was notwithstanding verie carefull for the embalming and burying of him 2 Kings 18. nor Dauid for Absalom whose death so much grudged and mooued his tender and fatherly affections nor for the child which he begot of Bersabe but on the contrarie after that hee knew him dead he gaue ouer his fasting and praier And as for Machabeus if any man obiect him vnto vs we answere that hee was the first and the last in that action The Church then before and vnder the Law neere hand for the space of foure thousand yeares knew not any Purgatorie And further wee affirme that our Lord hath not left any thing any word or mention of the same vnto his Apostles but on the contrarie that he hath left the dead to burie the dead Act. 9. 9. S. Paul saith vnto vs Bee not carefull and pensiue for them which are a sleepe Amongst so many arguments to prooue the resurrection that is not once touched amongst them 1. Thes 4. which yet would haue made for the purpose Likewise we see them wash the bodies of the dead and burie them carefully and to comfort one an other in the midst of their mourning in the hope of the resurrection but as for praying for them they say nothing of it Wherefore the Church of Christ from the beginning hath not knowne Purgatorie How came they then into the Church Verily euen through the conduite that brought in Purgatorie the inuention of men and the imitation of the Gentiles who being but slenderly and superficially instructed of the state of the soule after death rent and launced themselues ouer the dead made feasts vppon their graues as though thereby they would haue recouered them and brought them againe to life and sacrificed to the infernall Gods for their shadowes and likenesses this humane affection and carnall loue haunted them so as that it wrought prayers out of them yea euen to the time of death and after also But these courses of afflicting themselues in such extreame manner were forbidden the people of God as being better instructed and taught in the holy word of God and these humane affections also bounded within the limits of his Law And this is the cause that kept them from falling away so lightly to the imitation of the Gentiles From the Gentiles this opinion was slily and smoothly conueighed into the Apocripha books of one Clement Abdias Babilonius Hermas and such like and as it was no straunge thing to those who were drawne from their Paganisme so was it nothing vnplausible to them to retaine the same the Pastors admitting it for indifferent and nothing looking to the consequence and that which might fall out in the end did let it alone by sufferance Whereas if they had seene how farre Sathan hath vndermined thereby the merite of Christ the foundation of saluation they would vndoubtedly haue resisted and gaine-saied the same according to the necessitie of the cause and kept themselues to the rule of the Apostle repeated by S. Augustine who saith Gala. 1. If any man whatsoeuer vpon any thing concerning conuersation or manners doe vtter and offer vnto vs for certaine and necessarie doctrine or for an Article of faith August contr Petil. Tertull. de Coron milit li 2. ad vxor Arnob. l. 2. the thing which goeth beyond the Scriptures of the Law and the Gospell let him be accursed In Tertullian first of all we haue Oblationes pro defunctis and in like manner Oblationem pro sponsa from the same roote this is about two hundred and fiftie yeares after our Lord. The Paganes had accustomed to offer when they were dead as also when their kinsfolkes or friends departed and left them now the Christians seeing the same and being ashamed to bee behind in humanitie and naturall affection doe in like manner offer but so as that they appoint their oblations to bee imployed to better vses as to the feeding of the poore following the counsaile mentioned in Tobiah Set thy bread vpon the Graue c. The Pagans had their yearely birth feasts the Christians celebrated the day of their true second birth or regeneration of the Martyrdome confession and death of their brethren in Christ And Beatus Rhenanus noteth verie well in this place Index expurg p. 82. From hence sprung the originall of the yearely remembrances and feasts Where the Fathers of Trent haue caused Antiquitie to be put in place of the originall Likewise Tertullian saith that this is a doctrine neither grounded in the Scriptures nor yet vpon any Apostolicall tradition but onely growne vp by custome Si legem saith he expostules Scripturarum nulla legis tibi traditio pretendetur
which are with God haue not any foundation in the Scriptures Whereby for certaine we get as much aduantage at the least Ioh. 4. against our aduersaries as the Iewes against the Samaritans That we worship that which we know euen God who hath vouchsafed to manifest himselfe vnto vs in his word They worship that which they know not namely the Saints for the inuocating of whome there is not any thing deliuered or declared vnto vs in the same But they will deriue and fetch it from certaine places The consutation of certain places wrongfully applied as consequently following vpon the same and these are now to be examined of vs. For say they those which liue here pray vnto God one for an other and doe vse the praiers one of an other vnto God wherefore should such as liue in heauen aboue lesse performe the same for such as are liuing heere below and those below make lesse vse of such as are abiding on high The oddes and difference betwixt the one and the other doe furnish vs with store of answeres And first we haue an expresse commaundement to pray one for an other here below and a promise accompanying the commaundement and so consequently a blessing when these our praiers are made in faith Which falleth out contrarie in the matters of pietie and seruice of God exercised without any foundation in his word for so it falleth out to bee an vncertaine worke and therefore without faith and therefore also sinne and by consequent displeasing vnto God Secondly we belieue that the Saints in heauen are inflamed with charitie towards the Church neither do doubt of their hartie desire of the good of the same as vnto the bodie for the glorie of God and to euerie particular as they are members of the same for their saluation And to proceed thus farre is not beyond the bonds of pietie so that a man learne to stay himself there But we denie that they either see our necessities or heare our sutes and complaints affirming that this should make them like vnto God the onely searcher of hearts and our aduersaries themselues dare not say it They answere that they see our thoughts not as they are in our spirits but in God And we answere them that this is a deuised fantasie without any foundation and that the created spirit doth not pearce or enter into the spirit not created but on the contrarie that if it were otherwise that then the Angels should know all things in God as wel the things to come as those that are present seeing that with him euerie thing is present Now there are many things vnknowne vnto them for the mysterie of our saluation was hid from them before and now at this day they are still ignorant when the day of iudgement shall bee Luk. 15. c. But they say that the Angels reioyce in heauen at the conuersion of sinners c. And therefore they are able to know it and wee doe not denie it But by meanes that it is their office and dutie to bee imployed and set on worke of God for to serue the faithfull whereupon the Apostle calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 1. Pâ—al 34. Psal 91. Act. 13. ministring spirits to whome God committeth saith the Psalmist the care of his seruants He maketh them to pitch their tents round about them c. But there is no such thing said of the Saints no not of Dauid himselfe who after he had serued in his generation by the wil of God was laid vp with his fathers And againe that praier which is of such importance vnto Christians must not bee grounded vpon the subtile deuises of mans braine but vpon the soliditie and soundnes of the word of God For certainly God can reueale what it pleaseth him either vnto the liuing or vnto the dead But wee are not to make a common rule of his miracles neither any commaundement of his reuelations vnknowne vnto vs from his power saith Tertullian the Diuine dooth neuer reason to his will but rather from his will vnto his power and that by a more forcible reason seeing the holy Scripture doth teach vs the contrarie 2. King 22.20 God saith vnto Iosias I goe about to gather thee vnto thy forefathers and thine eyes shall not see the euils which I will bring vpon this place The people of Israell saith also in Esay Thou art our father Esay 63.16 August de cura pro mortuis gerenda c. 13. notwithstanding that Abraham know vs not c. And from these two places Saint Augustine gathereth that the Saints know nothing of all the matters that happen vnto men in these words The dead and deceased doe not meddle with the affaires of those that are liuing neither to know nor yet to helpe or further them They are in rest and as for the troubles and turmoyles of them that are liuing they doe not disquiet them God promiseth to Iosias that he should die before to the end that his eyes might not see the euils the spirits then of the deceased are in aplace where they see not what is done in this life c. Adde thereunto that the greater part of the other fathers as we haue seene before haue taught that the Saints at their departure out of this life doe not inioy the sight of God but are in a place of rest expecting and waiting for the resurrection that so they may receiue the fulnesse of their glorie Now those which held this opinion could not approoue the reason which our Aduersaries alleadge for the inuocation of Saints that is that their soules and spirits doe see euerie thing in God nor by consequent this inuocation if so bee it doe depend and follow thereupon Saint Paul saith Rom. 8.26 Hee that soundeth the heart dooth know the affection of the spirit Salomon vppon the subiect and matter of prayer how in our afflictions wee must haue recourse vnto God 1. King 8. For saith hee thou alone knowest the hearts of all the Sonnes of men This reason should haue no force if these two generall propositions were not true together That man is not to praie to anie but him that knoweth all things And that God is hee alone which knoweth all things But where the word of God faileth them they forge humane reasons A confutation of their human reasons and those a great deale more vnmeete to bee admitted in Diuinitie as that which intreateth of God then those of the Ciuill Law to bee admitted in Physicke or on the contrarie because also that that in hauing an infinite subiect which is not knowne otherwise then as it pleaseth him to vouchsafe to reueale himselfe is infinitely and beyond all proportion exceeding all others In the Courts of great Princes say they there is not any man that goeth directly to the King hee hath need to make waie for the same by the fauour and mediation of some great Lord who is imployed neere
Eunomius the Sonne be not partaker of the substance of the Father how shall he be an intercessor c. And therefore the Saintes by the same accompt no Gods no intercessors CHAP. XIIII Of the continuance of the purenesse of doctrine concerning Inuocation and of the growth and proceeding of the corruption of the same in the Latine Church LEt vs here againe returne to the rest of this doctrine in the West Church proceeding where we left to speake of the same S. Hillarie tooke vp his standing at this point That notwithstanding that the Angels and the Saintes do continue their charitie towardes vs that yet we must call vpon one onely God by Christ it being expected that hee should be alone and onely one which knoweth and can doe all things And now let vs a little looke ouer S. Ambrose S. Augustine and Saint Ierome in the Latine Church and examine their opinions the first of them answering within a little the time of Basil Nazianzene the other two the time of Epiphanius and Chrysostome in the Greeke Church S. Ambros in sunere fratris Satyr Ambrose verily in like manner as S. Basill wanteth no store of Rhetorike such as the time afforded In the funeralles of his brother Satyrus he is vehement Well saith he go thou first into this common house that which now is more desired and wished for of me then any other thing make readie there for vs our bed chamber leaue mee not to languish and mourne any long time after thee Call vpon me if I be too slow and helpe me to make more hast Ambr. in Luc. l. 10. c. And in another place From whence shall I cause thee to come Peter that thou maiest tell me what thou didst thinke when as thine eies distilled teares shal it be from heauen where thou art in the companie of Angels or els from the graue c. Who will not acknowledge in these words the Rhetorical Apostrophes so familiarly vsed of Orators In his booke of widowes he is carried away a great deale further in a Declamation When saith hee Peter his mother in law had a feauer Andrew and Peter praied vnto the Lord for her And thou O widow hast so many neighbours that pray for thee the Apostles the Martyrs and the Angels therefore thou must pray vnto them for they can pray for our sinnes seeing that they are washed from theirs by their owne bloud seeing also that they are beholders of our actions Againe Is she lesse fit to pray because of her sinne or lesse fit for to aske and obtaine let her vse the benefite and helpe of others which doe pray c. Who is hee that may not iustly be offended with these loftie and hyperbolicall speeches with this exceeding ryot lauish laying out of such high mounted speeches directly contrarie to the doctrine of Christ his Apostles Of Christ who calleth the repentant vnto himselfe they being so much the more fit to come vnto him by how much the heauier they feele themselues laden with the burthen of their sinnes Come vnto mee saith he all you that labour are heauie laden c. Of the Apostles who teach vs that the sins of the Apostles themselues were washed away in the blood of Christ As also against the doctrine of his dearely beloued Origen That the virgin Marie hath need to be washed to be sanctified and to haue a part in the redemption purchased by this blood But now let vs heare him like some still brooke or little riuer gliding smoothly along some plaine channell all his heate of Rhetoricke laid aside and expounding the scriptures according to their bare meaning and sence that verily in a far other sence The Gentiles said to him as we haue seene before It is needfull to haue accesse vnto kings by the mediation of great personages so we must looke to approch vnto the high God by inferior and pettie Gods so say our aduersaries by the saints And what answer doth he make them vpon the Romaines Ambr. in epist ad Rom. c. 1. But saith he and that in many words With God thou needest not any other intercessor then a deuout spirit It is high treason against him to make way to come to him by his creatures whereas in deed it is good for kinges who know not whom to trust in their common wealth but not in respect of God who knoweth all things Idâ—â— de Iscac Antma who vnderstandeth the value and worth of euerie man c. But wouldest thou haue a Mediator looke vpon him whom he giueth vnto thee Iesus Christ himselfe saith he is our mouth by which we speake vnto God our eye by which we see the father our right hand by the which we offer vnto the father and if that hee make not intercession for vs neither we nor any of the saintes haue anie part or portion in God And elsewhere Idem l. 3. de Spir. Sanct. c. 12 Wee must not worship saith he any thing but God as the scripture saith Thou shalt worship one onely God The holy Ghost likewise must be worshipped seeing that wee worship him who after the flesh is borne of the holy Ghost But no man must draw or applie this to the virgine Marie she was the temple of God but not the God of the temple c. And if any man reply and say that he speaketh of adoration and not of praier he ouerthroweth the question for in vaine is it to pray where wee put not our affiance But saith hee the Almightie power of Christ was declared and manifested in that we know that it is hee alone in whom wee must haue our affiance c. Coloss 1. In so much that if any man thinke that he ought to frame his deuotion either to some one of the Angels or els to some one of the superiour powers bee it knowne vnto him that he is in an errour for he that humbleth and casteth downe himselfe before the subiectes is altogether out of the way he cleaueth not fast vnto the head he is without a head Truncus est c. And this is according to the scope of the place in the Colossians expounded heretofore by Theodoret of the Canon of the Councell of Laodicea In the time of S. Ierome this inuocation did insinuate it selfe more and more amongst the people in so much as that it was come to an open offence and controuersie And this is proued by the disputation betwixt Saint Ierome and Vigilantius Hieronym contr Vigilant whether it were that on the one side Vigilantius did not speake honorably enough of the Martyrs or that Saint Ierome doth wrongfully so charge him proceeding here as in other places from wholesome admonition and reproofe to hot and distempered choller a man for that cause certainely vnworthy to bee admitted into any disputation concerning religion But of all Vigilantius his Theses because his bookes are not to bee come by
bee that pure righteousnesse when transgression and some default cannot bee shut out from it But it seemeth to vs that the iust and righteous dealing of men may be vpright and honest when it yeeldeth not so farre vnto sinne as to suffer it to raigne in the bodie c. Againe The Lord is hee that iudgeth me Idem de verbo Originis for I cannot auoide his righteous sentence yea and if I were iust yet would I not lift vp my head because that all my righteous actions are as a stained cloth seeing that before God no man can be iustified no not one CHAP. XVIII That the Law was giuen man to conuince him of sinne and to cause him to looke for his saluation in that grace which is by faith in Christ according both to the Scriptures and the fathers FOr what vse then will some say doth the Law of God serue vs The end of the law according to the holy Scriptures if we cannot fulfill the same Verily that by it thou maist know the difference that is betwixt the righteousnesse of God and that pretended righteousnesse of thine owne and that thou maist knowe that thou art not able to doe it As certainely also that thou maiest bee conuinced in thy pride condemned in thy righteousnesse and bound and beholden to his mercies And all the Pedagogie thereof Deut. 9. all the discipline and instruction contained in the same if thou consider it is no other thing Moyses saith Say not in thine heart O Israell This is because of my righteousnesse that God hath brought me into this land it is not by reason of the vprightnesse of thy heart for thou art a stif-necked people c. And then how much lesse into the true land Into the heauenly Chanaan The whole seruice of the Lawe consisteth altogether in washings altogether in bloud and in killing which aunswere fitly to our vncleannesse sinnes crimes accidents and happes yea to our verie ignorances to our faults known and vnknowne vnto vs and they were renued Euening and Morning and were continued perpetually and therefore also both an ordinarie and continuall charge and accusation of our whole liues and of all that which is within vs Psalme or that commeth out of vs. Whereupon Dauid saith If thou markest our iniquities O Lord who shall abide it who shall indure thy stroke And whereas he speaketh of his righteous workes he saith Thou art the Lord my goodnesse reacheth not vnto thee The Prophets likewise doe neuer speake vnto vs but of a circumcised heart of a new heart of a hart of flesh in stead of our vncircumcised and stonie harts to the end that wee may know where the disease holdeth vs euen in our most noble part and that it lyeth not in vs to reforme the same that it hath need to be quite framed anew by the operation of the Creator himself by his holy spirit and in the fountaine or spring head are all the waters issuing from thence condemned in the tree all the fruites thereof In the originall of motion all our motions and in the workman all the workes which he hath wrought Whereupon S. Paul also the true interpreter of the Law leadeth vs continually from workes vnto faith and from the Law to grace The Law saith hee giueth knowledge of sinne Rom. 3. the Law maketh it to abound the Law worketh wrath the Law is the ministerie of death by the workes of the Law no man is iustified for no man can fulfill it And yet in the meane time Cursed are they that abide not in all the words of the same And what shall we doe then But saith he the iust shall liue by faith he shall be iustified by faith without the workes of the Law iustified freely by the grace of God by the redemption made in Iesus Christ Rom. 4 That grace which superaboundeth whereas sinne hath abounded That faith which applieth vnto vs this grace which is imputed vnto vs for righteousnesse in as much as we belieue in him that hath raised Christ from the dead slaine for our sinnes and raised for our iustification Rom. 11.5 c. And If it bee of grace saith the Apostle then it is no more by workes otherwise grace were no more grace otherwise workes were no more workes And yet in the meane time faith the gift of God Faith the gift of God and grace that is to say the remission of sinnes the gift also of God and the hand to receiue the bountifull kindnesse and free liberalitie of our God in Christ this free mercy also the gift of God Faith Ephes 2.8 Rom. 5. for you are saued saith the Apostle by grace through faith and that not of your selues it is of God Grace the remission of sinnes in like manner For saith hee also if by the offence of one many die much more the grace of God and the gift by grace c. hath abounded on many Rom. 6. Againe The wages of sinne is death Our aduersaries would say and the wages of good workes is eternall life Nay saith our Apostle But the the gift of God that is to say Rom. 5 the gift of righteousnesse the aboundance of grace is eternall life by Iesus Christ And this gift notwithstanding is called an inheritance the inheritance of Children and not the wages of seruants And yet an inheritance which wee although adopted for children doe loose and forfait euerie day as much as in vs lyeth by our sinnes if God euerie houre in the obedience of his Sonne did not restore it vnto vs againe and that of his free gift Ioh. 1. Rom. 8. For saith Saint Iohn He hath vouchsafed vs the honour to be made the children of God And If saith Saint Paul you bee Sonnes you are also heires yea fellow heires with Christ Such is the paines that the Apostle taketh to weede and destroy out of vs this roote of Pharisaisme of pretended merite sometimes making vs heires sometimes Donatories or rather heires Donatories in as much as it is giuen vnto vs to be children which naturally we were not But what child is hee that can be indured or thought worthie to be maintained if hee say that he deserueth and meriteth at his fathers hands and that of his father of whome hee holdeth and inioyeth but this mortall life and that rather but as the instrument then the author thereof Some in like maner asked the auncient fathers The end and scope of the law according to the olde writers wherefore serueth the law of God if we cannot performe it And behold now what was their answere Saint Ambrose The Law worketh and causeth wrath Adam fell to offend by disobedience and to commit a fault by insolencie But in as much as pride was the cause of the fall and the prerogatiue of innocencie the cause of his pride there was iust cause giuen for the making of a Law which might make him subiect vnto God
For without the Lawe sinne was not knowne whereas now there is no man that can excuse himselfe by ignorance Ambros l. 9. Ep. 71. wherefore it is made First for to take away excuse Secondly to humble euerie man before God by the sight and knowledge of his sinne Sinne did superabound through the Law and began to be offensiue vnto me for to know it as being a thing which by infirmitie I could not auoide for it causeth a man throughly to know that from which no man can keepe himselfe and which cannot but hurt him The Law then is turned vpside downe except that euen by the verie increase of sinne it become profitable vnto me by the meanes of my hauing beene humbled c. In the end transgression increased by the Law and in like manner pride was abated being the originall of transgression and this turned me to profit for as pride deuised and found out transgression euen so transgression hath wrought and brought foorth grace c. Againe Sinne hath shut out the naturall Law yea and almost quite abolished it and therefore this Law succeeded to conuince vs by written testimonies to shut our mouthes and to humble the whole world before God To humble it for as much as by the Law wee are all cast and conuict persons and for that by the workes of the Law there is no man iustified that is to say that by the Law sinne is knowne but the offence is not pardoned It might haue seemed then that the Lawe had brought dammage and hurt with it in that it hath made vs all sinners but the Lord comming hath with vs giuen sentence against the sinne which wee could not auoide and hath cancelled our bill of debt by his bloud c. Ep. 73. The Law therefore saith hee is a Schoolemaster that leadeth vs vnto our Master which master is Christ Saint Augustine The letter of the Law which teacheth that wee ought not to sinne August de spirit liter if the quickning spirit doe not accompanie the same doth kill vs For it hath done more for vs to bring vs to the knowledge of sinne then to the auoiding of the same for euerie way wee stand in need of an absolute righteousnesse when as yet the case so standeth as that there is no man without sinne him onely excepted which is not onely man but God by his nature c. Thus saith hee the righteousnesse of God is manifested but not without the Law for by the Law hee hath shewed vnto man his infirmitie to the end that returning by faith and hauing recourse vnto his mercie he might be healed c. Againe The vnrighteous haue a lawfull vse of the Law as of a Schoolemaster for it is vnto them beeing vnrighteous a iust terrour the iust doe vse it also and yet are not iustified by it but by the Law of faith The Law of workes is in Iudaisme the Lawe of faith in Christianitie c. By the Law of workes God saith Doe this that I commaund you by the Law of faith we say to God Giue and inable vs to doe that which thou commaundest For that which the Law commaundeth is to make vs vnderstand what the Law doth Idem de verb. Apost Ser. 13. What is it then saith he in an other place lawfully and rightly to vse the Law It is to learne what our sicknesse and disease is by the Law The law is a Schoolemaster a guide and gouernour of children the Tutor dooth not giue directions and instructions to the child how to come to him but to his Schoolemaster but to his Master that is to say to Christ In an other place Who is that saith he that can accomplish the Law Idem l. 9. retract so much as in one point besides him who is the author of all the commaundements of God that is to say Christ For likewise in these commaundements we are to pray thus Forgiue vs c. Which the Church is to continue vnto the end of the world But saith he all the commaundements are said to bee fulfilled when that which is not fulfilled is pardoned Thou saiest Idem de perfect Iustit Wherefore then should hee haue commaunded that which could not be fulfilled Nay rather saith he what could he doe more for the good of man then to commaund him to walke vpright to the end that when hee should be brought to confesse and acknowledge that he could not hee might haue recourse vnto the remedie And this is it which hee toucheth in briefe Idem in Iohn c. 3. by way of recapitulation in an other place Seeing that they could not fulfill the Law by their owne power and strength being become guiltie of the Law they haue craued the helpe of the deliuerer To bee conuicted of the Law Reatus legis wrought spite and maliciousnesse in the proude and this spite in the proude brought forth confession in the humble so that now the sicke and diseased doe confesse themselues sicke and diseased Let the Phisition come saie they and heale our diseased and sicke people nowe the Physition is our Lord c. The Demi-pelagians and amongst other of them the Monke Cassianus put foorth this question to Prosper that great Diuine of Fraunce And what is then the vse of the law Prosper Aquit in sentent 42. 44. In Epigram 43. in Psal 118. Verily saith hee that we might seeke for grace euen that grace by the which the Law is fulfilled The law saith he which could not bee fulfilled and that not through it owne default but through ours and our fault was necessarily discouered by the Law that so it might be cured by grace Otherwise the Law doth rather increase sinne then diminish or cut it off in as much as to concupiscence it addeth disobedience And in an other place in one word Chrysost in Ep. ad Rom. hom 5. 17. Idem in 1. Tim. hom 2. Transmittit ernard in Cantic Serm. 50. Jndex peccati lex est c. Saint Chrysostome saith The Law would iustifie man but it cannot for neuer did any man fulfill it and no man can be iustified thereby but in accomplishing of the same a thing which is not possible for any man What doth it then It straineth it selfe it doth his dutie to send vs to him that is able to doe it and the same is Iesus Christ saith he if thou belieue in him And this is the same also that Saint Barnard hath so excellently said God in commaunding vs impossible things hath not properly made men sinners but hath made them humble For in receiuing the commaundement and espying the default we will crie to heauen and God will haue pittie on vs and then also in that day we shall know that it is not by the workes that we shal haue done that we shall be saued but by his mightie power c. Now these which haue so well instructed vs in the office and ministration
that booke of the Gospell or as though that booke were God But here is to bee noted that out of all the Latine Church which is made the mother of all these goodly ceremonies they cannot bring forth any thing for their purpose and therefore are constrained to runne to the Greeke Church They doe likewise agree and consent that in the Churches of Ethiopia in which there is neuer any seruice done without a communion Aluares in the historie of Ethiopia there is not vsed any eleuation at all But the truth is that this bread did not begin to bee thus eleuated amongst themselues before such time that two foule abuses transubstantiation the alone eating of the minister did iumpe fal out together For then as we shal see hereafter they began to bend themselues to feed the eies of the people in stead of their spirites and soules Durand l. 4. in 6. parte Can. Ioh. 12. Leuit. 7. In the meane time Durand ceaseth not to bee so shamelesse as to apply those words of our Lord in S. Iohn to that end When I shall be exalted or lifted vp I will draw all men vnto me this being spoken of the lifting vp of our Lord vppon the crosse In another place with some more probabilitie he saith That this custome was taken from the eleuation and shaking of the offeringes that was made in the Iewish law as we haue touched in his place Now it is also certaine that the Sacraments were ordinarily taken of the offerings of the people That it must not be worshipped Of adoration wee say likewise That the commandement of God is most plaine and expresse Thou shalt worshippe one onely God The difference also from elsewhere is found so great being from a bread dedicated to the seruice of God to God himselfe as that there is no apparance but that if it had beene our duties to haue worshipped it the holy scriptures woulde not haue concealed the same from vs And the daunger also so great either to do it without subiect for that were idolatrie or to omit it the subiect being there seeing this might grow to a contempt of God Seeing then the Euangelistes seeing Saint Paule who is so carefull in exhorting vs to proue our selues and who reproueth the Corinthians so sharpely for that they did not tarrie one for another saith not one worde thereof vnto vs seeing further that no old writers rightly vnderstood doe speake of any worship to be giuen to the Sacraments as no more vnto the bread or wine of the holy Supper then to the water in baptisme what followeth to bee concluded vpon but that it was because transubstantiation was not knowne For who can in any Christian sort doubt that Iesus Christ is to be worshipped where he is both with that honour that is due to God and also to the vttermost of mans power by deed word and thought Who seeth not also what a strong and mightie argument this had beene for the Orthodoxes against the Arrians and Arrius himselfe when to proue the eternall diuinitie of the Sonne of God they gathered all the places where it is said that hee was worshipped if they had beene able to haue alleadged vnto them and that from the vse or tradition of the Church That this is true we proue because we worship him yea both you and we in the Sacrament vnder the Accidentes of bread and wine c. To the Arrians I meane with whom we reade not that there was any disagreement for the Sacrament And on the contrarie what a prize had it beene for Eutyches against the Orthodoxes seeing he vndertooke to maintaine that the humane nature of Christ is confusedly mixt with his diuine if he had beene able to say And that it is true wee worship the bodie and bloud c. in the Sacrament which thing ought not so to be if they bee not really there and there they cannot be if they be not in all places and to bee in all places is an incommunicable propertie of the diuine nature c. I leaue to speake how that the holy Supper was wont of old to be celebrated after the manner of a banquet wherein they vsed to sit where we see againe a barre crossing the Mandatum of the Monkes of the order of Saint Bennet According to that which Saint Augustine telleth vs That many euen in his time vpon the day that the Lord made his Supper did celebrate the same wherein they did one feast another to shew forth the death of the Lorde and to testifie their vnion Not in a temple not vppon an Altar but in a priuate house vpon a table nothing the lesse holy notwithstanding seeing this gift that is to say this action sanctified the Altar Now herein wee agree That Christ God and man must bee worshipped euerie where That at the name of Iesus euerie knee must bow That euerie tongue must confesse that hee is vnto the glorie of the father wee honour his holy worde his holy Sacraments wee heare him with all attention and wee draw neere vnto him with reuerence let our aduersaries call it honour worshipping yea and adoration if they will prouided that we be agreed vpon the thing But we say That we must put a difference betwixt the Sacrament and our God himselfe That the same honour is not due to the one that is due to the other That that same which we giue to the Sacraments is for that they bee instrumentes and vessels of his grace and not because of themselues not vpon any consideration of their being reallie and substantiallie himselfe not saith Bonauenture As though they did containe grace but for that they signifie and set it out They alleadge vnto vs againe their pretended Areopagite Answere to the places obiected out of the fathers No inuocatioÌ„ Claud. â—â—spens de ador Euchat l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Donys Hier. c. 3. vbi Pachym 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He say they doth inuocate and pray vnto this sacrament for he saith O holy and diuine ceremonie shew vnto vs openly that which is concealed and kept close from vs in these obscure and enigmaticall signes c. Replenish the eyes of our spirites with a singular light c. But let them listen a little to his expositor Pachymeres thereupon Hee speaketh vnto this ceremonie saith hee as if it had a soule and that not without apparance as Gregorie the diuine saith O holy and great Passeouer For our Passeouer and this holy ceremonie is our Lord Iesus vnto whom he directeth his speech Our Lord verily which is the substance of the holy Supper as hee was of the Passeouer as hee is of Baptisme and as hee is of all the Sacramentes And if thou wouldest further knowe where hee seketh him Verily in heauen not vpon the table for he called them signes and said vnto vs a little before Let vs passe from the effectes to the causes c. And then when