are reuiued from death c. For it is plaine by that which I haue cyted out of the same Chapter of Cyrillus that he meaneth to teache that the receyuing of the outwarde sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is all one with the eating of the Passouer Lambe in Egypt Lib. 11. Capit. 27. One other place you haue founde in Cyrillus But by lyke your conscience tolde you that it serueth not so well for your purpose as you would wishe and therefore you doe but teach Cyrill to speake after you in English a tongue that he neuer vnderstood but if he were nowe lyuing Watson teacheth Cyrill to speake Englishe and should vnderstande howe you haue handled him therein he would I doubt not giue you worthy thankes And that other men of iudgement and knowledge may iudge betwéene Cyrill and you I will cite his wordes in latine as Trapezontius hath translated him out of Gréeke Nexus igitur vnionis nostrae ad Deum Patrem Christus est nobis quidem vt homo Deo autem Patri vt Deus naturaliter vnitus Non erat enim possibile corruptioni subiectam hominis naturam ad immortalitatem conscendere nisi natura immortalis atque incommutabilis ad eam descendisset ac communione participationeque sui a mortalitatis nostrae terminis ad suum bonum reformatos eleuaret Christ therefore sayth Cyrill is the bonde of our vnitie with God the father Who is naturally vnited vnto vs as a man and vnto God the father as God For it was not possible for mans nature being subiect to corruption to clyme vp to immortalitie except the immortall and vnchaungable nature had descended vnto it and by the communion and participation of it selfe lifted vp from the bondes of our mortalitie such as be reformed or fashioned a newe according to the goodnesse of that nature Nowe let all men that haue eyther learning or wyt iudge how faithfully you deale with Cyrill when you say in his name Except the immortall nature of Christ doe reforme and promote it from mortalitie to lyfe eternall by participation of his mortall fleshe For who séeth not that Cyrill doth there speake of that immortall and vnchaungable nature in Christ which came downe from the throne of maiestie in heauen to take our mortall nature vpon him that he might frame and fashion vs lyke vnto himself And so exalt vs aboue the boundes of our mortall nature Which thing he did by receyuing our nature vnto himselfe and gyuing his nature vnto vs. And so is he the bond whereby we are fastened to God But this is the maner of all your sort in cyting the sayings of the auncient fathers Here perchaunce some men will stumble WATSON Diuision 23 considering that we beleeue the bodyes of yong innocentes shall rise to euerlasting lyfe which we knowe neuer receyued Christes fleshe in the sacrament But their doubt in this point may sone be resolued if they consider that scripture and the olde fathers speake after the ordinarie working of God making no preiudice to the absolute power of God who oftentimes giueth the proper grace of the sacraments before the outwarde receyuing of the same As for example Without baptisme in water and the holy Ghost no man can enter into the kingdome of heauen Iohn 3. as S. Iohn wryteth Yet we read that the theefe on the right hande of Christ was saued and neuer baptised and many conuerted sodainely to our faith were made martyrs before they could come to baptisme in water And saint Ambrose thinketh Valentinian the Emperour to be saued which dyed in his iourney before saint Ambrose which he sent for could come vnto him And therefore though baptisme be necessarie and the ordinarie dore to saluation yet the proper grace of baptisme is sometimes giuen by Gods extraordinarie and absolute power to such as without contempt of the sacrament by their wyll and earnest desire receyue the sacrament of baptisme though not in deede euen so they that be baptised and haue an earnest desire and longing to receyue Christs body and bloud in the sacrament and by some violence or impediment are letted to receyue it in deede or such children as by baptisme haue faith infused into their hartes and are preuented by death before they can prooue and trie themselues which probation saint Paule seemeth to require before the receypt of Christes body hauing no contempt nor refusal of the same 1. Cor. 11. but depart in the faith of Christ These I saye receyue the grace of the sacrament which is the immortalitie of their bodies and lyfe eternall by Gods extraordinary working without the receypt of the sacrament in deede By this little yee maye perceyue what may be further sayde to this obiection if the time and my principall matter would suffer me CROWLEY Watson is not able to aunswere his owne obiection By making and aunswering of this obiection you would haue it séeme to all men that this is all that any man can stumble at And that this one stumbling stock being remoued the way is so playne and cleare that none can stumble vnlesse it be such as wilfully will stumble in euery playne way But as you are not able to aunswere this obiection to the satisfiyng of any that knoweth and will consider what the vse of a sacrament is so may there much more be obiected whervnto you and the rest of your mind shall neuer be able to make such aunswere as may be allowed among those that haue knowledge It might be obiected that Adam and Eue with all the holy men and women that were before this sacrament was instituted and looked for the promise of God made in his sonne shall rise agayne in the last day and haue euerlasting lyfe It might also be obiected that all both good and bad shall in that day rise againe and lyue for euer eyther in euerlasting ioy or in euerlasting torments and wishing to die death shall flie from them I am sure you being a Doctor of diuinitie doe knowe this to be true wherfore I shall not néede to prooue it The wordes of Christ Iohn 5. Marc. 9. in the fift of Iohn and the ninth of Marke may suffise for the proufe of both All that be in the graues c. And their worme dyeth not neyther doth the fyre go out c. But let vs sée howe you haue aunswered this obiection You say that this doubt may sone be resolued if men will consider that the scripture and the olde fathers doe speake after the ordinarie working of God making no preiudice to the absolute power of God But how haue you proued that I graunt that the scripture and the fathers doe so speake doe make no preiudice to the absolute power of God Shall we thinke therefore that if the resurrection of our bodies and euerlasting lyfe be one of the effectes of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud he must néedes vse his absolute
bloud and body of Christ that he speake of is that whereby the substaunce of our flesh is encreased doth continue But you doe denie that For you say that it nourisheth not our flesh as other earthly meates doe to this temporal lyfe but to eternall lyfe I would gladly knowe therfore what Ireneus may meane by the encreasing of the substaunce of our fleshe by this foode Well this matter is playne ynough to as many as will sée And so it is that neyther Catholikes nor heretikes did in the dayes of Ireneus beléeue and confesse that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is the cause of the vncorruption of our bodyes and the eternall lyfe of the same And that we which doe nowe denie our resurrection and euerlasting lyfe in an immortall state to be the effect of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud doe not giue thereby any iust occasion to be suspected of the error of them that doe denie the resurrection of our fleshe And for that you charge vs with beastlynesse of lyfe for my part I referre the iudgement to them that know vs both Let other aunswere for themselues Well For further proufe of this effect you could bring in many mo Authors as the saying of Hilarius c. Hilarius hath sayde thus say you Haec vero vitae nostrae causa est c. This is the verie cause of our lyfe that we haue Christ by his flesh dwelling in our fleshe First I must tell you that you shew your selfe to impudent in translating the text that you cite out of Hilarius in this place Hilarius de Trinitate li. 8. Let the learned iudge whether Hilarius haue sayde this is the verie cause c. And againe in the ende of the sentence dwelling in our fleshe The wordes in Latine for the first are these Haec vero vitae nostrae causa est And for the other the words be these Quod in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christū habemus If I should translate the whole sentence I could not be bolde to say otherwise then thus Truely this is the cause of our life that we which be carnall or fleshly haue Christ dwelling in vs by the meanes of the fleshe But this is a common thing with men of your sort not onely to alledge Patches out of the fathers in such sort that the true meaning cannot by the wordes that you cite be perceyued but also to make them séeme to serue your purpose you will not stick to adde somewhat in the translation that can not be founde in their wordes as in this place it doth most mafestly appéere Censura Erasmi And how easie a thing it is for such as be disposed to apply the wordes of auncient wryters contrarie to their meaning to vse the wordes of this wryter so may well be séene by that which Erasmus hath writtē in his Epistle set before this Authors works where he sayth Plurimum sudoris compereram in emendando Hieronymo sed plus in Hilario cuius talis est sermonis Charecter vt etiam si res per se dilucidas tractaret tamen esset intellectu difficilis deprauatu facilis I did finde sayth Erasmus much labour in the correcting of Hierome but more in the amending of Hilarie Whose maner of spéeche is such that although he did entreat of thinges which were of themselues euident and playne yet should he bée hard to be vnderstanded and easie to be depraued No maruell therefore though you in this place fayling of the first which is harde haue happened on the latter which is easie Affirming that Hilarius is one of those auncient fathers that doe teach that the resurrection of our bodies and euerlasting lyfe is the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud Yea and in the selfe same Booke out of which you cite those wordes the same Erasmus doth iudge him to teache doctrine that is not sounde And therefore in the aforenamed Epistle he sayth thus of him Et quum alias tum libro de Trinitate 8. magna contentione defendit nos quoque cum filio patre vnum esse natura non adoptione neque consensu tantum And both in other places and chiefely in his eyght booke De Trinitate he doth with great contention defend that we also are all one with the sonne and the father by nature not by adoption and consent onely And immediatly after he sayth thus Rursus eius operis lib. 3. sed magis lib. 10. sic loquitur de Corpore Christi vt sentire videatur Mariam virginem praeter concipiendi gestandi pariendi ministerium nihil addidisse de suo cum orthodoxi credant Christum ex opificio quidem spiritus sed ex substantia virginei corporis conceptum Quin alia loca sunt quae ciuilem commodum requirant interpretem Againe in the thirde booke of the same worke but rather in the tenth booke he doth so speake of the bodie of Christ that he may séeme to thinke that besides the ministerie of conceyuing bearing in hir wombe and bringing forth into this life the virgine Marie did adde nothing of hir owne Whereas such as be of right beliefe doe beléeue that Christ was conceyued by the work of the holy ghost but of the substance of the virgins bodie Other places also there be which do require a curteous and gentle interpretour I suppose you knew all this before Watson hath a wrong opinion of vs. but by lyke you thought that all such as be not of your minde must néedes be ignorant herein Else you would haue weighed Hillaries wordes better before you had cited them for your purpose But let vs sée nowe how we can weigh them and what doctrine will ensue vpon the taking of them in such sense as you doe And if we finde that some absurde doctrine will follow vpon such a meaning as you gather of his words why shoulde we not call to memorie the wordes of Erasmus in the Epistle aboue named where he sayth thus Nemo quantumuis eruditus oculatus non labitur non caecutit alicubi videlicet vt omnes meminerint homines esse à nobis cum delectu cum iudicio simulque cum venia legantur vt homines There is no man be he neuer so well learned and circumspect that doth not slip and in some point shew himself to lacke sight that no man should forget them to be men and that we shoulde reade them with choyse wyth iudgement yea and with fauour also as men But bicause you haue as you are wont left out those words of Hilarie both immediatly before and after which might gyue more light to hys meaning I haue thought good to cyte the words that you doe with somewhat of the circumstance Thus he sayth Quod autem in nobis naturalis haec vnitas sit ipse ita testatus est qui edit carnem meam c. And that this naturall vnitie
apparell of sheepe but within they be rauenous Wolfes that in their mouths haue the worde of God the truth the Gospell and such gaye wordes but the pitte and effect of their teaching is olde rotten heresies confuted and condemned of all Christendome before and not Gods worde the name whereof they abuse to the maintenaunce of all vice errour beastly lyuing adulterie disobedience sacrilege and open conspiracie to the subuersion of themselues and of that state vnder which they liue The scripture cryeth Nolite omni spiritui credere 1. Iohn 4. beleue not euery spirite but trye and proue the spirites if they be of God or no for many false Prophets are abroad in the world One way to trie them is to marke the ende of their conuersation and the example and fruit of their liues as saint Paule sayth Quorum exitum conuersationis intuentes Hebr. 1. eorum imitamini fidem folow their fayth the ende of whose conuersation ye haue seene We haue seene what is the ende of this newe teaching carnall and detestable lyuing conspiracie and treason The other fathers of whome we learned our faith were men whome the corrupt worlde was not worthy to haue these Authors of this new opinion were men that were not worthy to haue and enioy the worlde Pet. 28. of whom saint Peter writeth Magistri mendaces and so forth Lying maisters that bring in sectes of perdicion denie that Lord that bought them as they doe in this matter of the sacrament bringing vpon them a speedie perdition and many shall folow their wayes through whome the way of truth shall be slaundered and blasphemed and in couetousnesse by feyned words they shall make marchaundise of you to whome iudgement ceaseth not and their destruction sleepeth not We be also warned by saint Iohn of this matter saying 2. Iohn 1. he that remaineth abideth in the doctrine that the Apostles taught he hath the father and the sonne If any come to you not bringing thys doctrine doe not receyue him into your houses Here he doth teache vs to auoyde them that professe any other doctrine then such as all faithfull men vniuersally thorowout the world haue receyued and professe which is not the doctrine that the Sacramentaries preach Finally considering the promises of Christ to his church that he will be with them to the worldes ende Math. 28. and that the holy ghost shall lead them into all truth Iohn 16. then may we iustly say that if this our fayth be an errour it hath preuailed vniuersally not one hundreth yeare but two three foure yea a thousand yeare and more then that euen to the ascension of Christ as appeareth by the testimonies of all holy wryters and then may we say Lorde if we be deceaued thou hast deceaued vs we haue beleeued thy worde wee haue folowed the tradition of the vniuersall Church we haue obeyed the determinations and teachings of those Bishops and Pastors whome thou hast placed in the Church to staye vs in vnitie of fayth that we be not caried awaye with euery winde of false doctrine Therefore if we be deceyued it commeth of thee O Lord our error is inuincible But good people we are sure God deceaueth no man let vs all beware we doe not deceaue oure selues as Saint Iames sayth CROWLEY As touching the scriptures that you haue alledged and the effectes that you haue affirmed to be the effects of the sacrament you are already sufficiently aunswered And for the substaunce of the sacrament also We teach not that the worthy receyuer doth receyue none other thing but bread and wine for we hold as the scriptures the auncient fathers haue taught that the worthy receiuer doth receiue after a spiritual maner sacramentally very Christ God and man that bread of lyfe that came downe from heauen But with S. Austen we teach that the vnworthy receiuer doth not receyue Panem Dominum sed panem Domini contra Dominum August in Iohn Tract 59. The bread which is the Lorde but the bread of the Lord against the Lorde And where you cite certaine scriptures that warne you and all christians to beware of false prophets c. you your selfe are one of those false Prophets And the Prelates of your Antichristian and Babilonicall Church of Rome are those rauening Woolfes that saint Paule did prophecie of Act. 21. that should not spare the flock The hauock that you made of Christes silly Lambes in Quéene Maries dayes 1. Iohn 4. doth declare what you are Saint Iohn doth very well warne vs not to beléeue euery spirite but to trie whether they be of God or not And shall we thinke that your spirite is of God which moueth you to set vp the Pope aboue al that is called God that is aboue all Princes 2. Thes 2. which in the scripture are called Gods and to maintaine him in the temple of God that is in the Church of Christ boasting himselfe as though he were God No surely we can not thinke that your spirite is of God for it is an arrogant spirite And as for the way that you haue found to trie spirites by let it be considered And if your spirite may be by that triall founde to be of Christ then will we credite you But if oures be found so by the same then why should not you credit vs. Mementote praepositorum vestrorum sayth saint Paule qui vobis locuti sunt verbum Dei quorum intuentes exitum conuersationis imitamini fidem Hebr. 13. Remember those that are your gouernors and haue spoken vnto you the worde of God and considering the ende of their conuersation yée doe imitate or folow their faith Chrysostome wryting vpon this place sayth thus In hoc loco etiam de adiutorio in fratres eum existimo dicere hoc enim est quod dicit Qui vobis locuti sunt verbum Dei Quorum contemplantes exitum conuersationis imitamini fidem Quid est contemplantes Sepius animo versantes apud vosmetipsos examinantes consyderantes subtiliter discutientes inquit exitum conuersationis Hoc est perseuerantiam vsque in finem quoniam finem bonum habuit eorum conuersatio c. In this place saith Chrysostome I suppose that he speaketh of the helpe that the brethren should haue at their handes This is it that he meaneth when he sayth which haue spoken the worde of God to you the ende of whose conuersation when ye doe behold you follow their fayth What meaneth he when he sayth when you doe beholde He sayth as much as if he had sayde When you doe tosse it and tumble it in your mindes and doe examine it with your selues considering and discussing it thorowly The ende of their conuersation that is their perseueraunce to the ende bicause their conuersation had a good ende c. It is manifest that Chrysostome doth vnderstande saint Paules purpose in this place to be chiefely to put the Hebrues in remembraunce of
declareth the vse of the sacrament in the receypt of it with the seruice of our mouth Math. 19. as Christ commaunded saying Take eate which is a corporall eating not a spirituall beleeuing And last of all it sheweth the effect of the sacrament which is the resurrection of our bodies to eternall life for because Christes body being the body of very lyfe is ioyned to our bodies as our foode it bringeth our bodies that be dead by sentence of death to his propertie which is life whereof in my last sermon I spake more at large O Lorde what harde hearts haue these men to doubt themselues or to denie or to bring in question that manifest open truth in so highe and necessary a matter which in most playne wordes hath bene taught of our sauiour Christ his Apostles and Euangelistes and declared so to be vnderstand by the holy ghost out of the mouthes of all these holye fathers whome the holy ghost did assemble and inspire with the spirit of truth to the confusion of the great heretike Arius that troubled the worlde then and also did inspire their hartes to declare so plainely the misterie of thys blessed sacrament which then was without all contention beleued of al christen men onely to preuent these heretikes that arise and spring vp nowe in these latter dayes that the worlde may see how they striue agaynst the knowne truth their owne coÌ„science the determination of the hole church being enimies of God breaking his peace and deuiding themselues from the church whose end is eternal confusioÌ„ Nowe are you come to the first generall counsell CROWLEY holden at Nice in the Citie of Bithinia vnder Constantinus Magnus In the .24 deuision of your former Sermon I haue sayde some thing to the later wordes of this sentence that you cite out of the great general counsell of Nice And in the .33 deuision of the same sermon I haue graunted as much as the words that you cite there doe teach when they be vnderstanded so as the auncient fathers do vse that like maner of spéeches But here I must tell you that in the olde allowed counsell of Nice there is no part of that which you rite here found written Wherfore the authority therof must néeds be so much the lesse But graunt that the .318 Byshops had in that counsell agréed and written euen as you haue cited must we therfore beleue that Christ is in the sacrament in such sort as you teach really and substantially c. Saint Austen in his Sermon Ad Infantes which is cyted by Beda Beda in 1. Cor. ca. 10. sayth thus Vos estis in mensa vos estis in Calice You are vpon the table you are in the Cup shall we therefore saye that saint Austen ment that those persons that he spake vnto were really substantially and bodily in the cup and on the table I thinke you will not graunt it And why will you by the wordes cyted out of the Nicene counsell bind vs to beleue that Christ is after such sort present in the sacrament As touching the maruellous touching or couching of the wordes for so I suppose you spake I can not but maruell that you could not sée howe euerye one of them serueth to expresse the truth against that which you teach First they will vs to lift vp our mindes and to consider by fayth not things that are here conuersaunt amongst vs and may be conceyued by bodily senses but that are aboue and can not be conceyued otherwise then by fayth Then they tell vs that the Lambe of God is set vpon the holy table euen as saint Austen telleth his Auditorie that they are set vpon the table to teach vs that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is not a bare and naked signe but effectuall to the worthye receyuer that is to such as beyng members of Christ are placed on the table and in the cup with Christ in such sort as the Lambe of God is placed there that is spiritually and in a mysterie And after the same sort the same Lambe is sacrificed by the priestes when by their ministerie the members of Christ be made partakers of that holy mysterie and doe euen sensibly féele the effect of that sacrifice Hebr. 9.10 which that Lambe made of himselfe once for all as saint Paule wryteth Thirdly they declare that we receyuing the precious body and bloud of Christ in déede doe beléeue that it is the pledge of our resurrection Which maner of receyuing it pleaseth you to terme a reall receyuing As though the body of Christ coulde not be receyued by fayth verilye and in déede vnlesse the same be after your reall maner But I must put you in mind that you haue fowly forgotten your selfe when you say that the offering that the priest maketh in his Masse is a distinct offering from that which Christ made vpon the crosse for you shall finde manye of your friendes of a contrarie minde if ye search their bookes well But you would séeme to make bloudy and vnbloudy the difference betwéene those two sacrifices Here say you that is in your Masse he is offered of the priests not by shedding of his bloud but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is insacrificabÃliter after an vnsacrificable maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solemne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned Here the latter wordes doe confute the first For if the maner of offring in the Masse be such as can not be a sacrifice howe can the Masse be a sacrifice And if the Masse be but a solemne representatioÌ„ of the death of Christ how can it be a sacrifice offered to almightie God Not the Popishe Masse but the blessed supper of the Lorde the holy communion of his body and bloud is a lyuely representation of his death and passion And as your Emesenus sayth in the wordes that you cite for you haue taught him to speake congrue latine nowe vere vna perfecta hostia c. That sacrifice which is but one and is perfite in déede must not be estéemed by outwarde shewe nor iudged by the sight of the outwarde man but by fayth and the affection of the inwarde man But eyther not vnderstanding your Emesenus his wordes or else after your olde custome of purpose you corrupt him in the translation For you say This hoste and sacrifice is verily one and perfite as though Emesenus had poynted to your Masse sacrifice Where as it is playne that he meaneth of that sacrifice that is represented by the holy communion of the body bloud of Christ I may therefore vse the wordes of your owne exclamation against your selfe and such as be of your minde For whose harts can be imagined to be more hard then youres which in so manifest a matter as this doe not onely bring in question the open and manifest truth but also in alledging the words of fathers and counselles applie them
culpa insipientes Sed suis Discipulis dans consilium primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed vt ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint eum qui ex creatura panis est accipit gratias egit dicens Hoc est meum corpus Et calicem similiter Math. 26. qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundum nos suum sanguinem confessus est noui testamenti nouam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in vniuerso mundo offert Deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in nouo testamento de quo in .12 Prophetis Malachias sic praesignificauit Malach. 1. Non est mihi voluntas in vobis dicit Dominus omnipotens sacrificium non accipiam de manibus vestris Quoniam ab ortu solis vsque ad occasum nomen meum glorificatur inter gentes in omni loco incensum offertur nomini meo sacrificium purum Quoniam magnum est nomen meum in gentibus dicit Dominus omnipotens manifestissime significans per haec quoniam prior quidem populus cessabit offerre Deo omni autem loco sacrificium offertur ei hoc purum nomen autem eius glorificatur in gentibus These be the words sayth he that you must fulfill in déede Let euerie one of you speake truth to his neighbour and sée that ye giue quiet sentence in your gates and let no man kéepe in memorie the malice of his brother And sée that you take no false othe For the Almightie Lorde doth hate all these things And in like maner Dauid What man is it sayth he that is desirous of life and loueth to sée good dayes Restraine thy tongue from euill and thy lips that they speake no guile Decline from euill and doe good séeke after peace and follow the same By all which words it is manifest that God required of them neither sacrifice nor burnt offerings But faith and obedience and righteousnesse for their saluation Euen as in Oseas the Prophete also God teaching them his will sayd I desire rather mercye than sacrifice and acknowledging of God more than burnt offerings And our Lorde also did put them in remembraunce of the same thinges when he sayde trulye if ye had knowen what this meaneth I desire mercie rather than sacrifice ye woulde neuer condemne those that deserue it not Testifying with the Prophetes that it was the truth that they taught and reprehending those that he spake too as men that by their owne fault were without vnderstanding Also when he gaue counsell to his Disciples that they shoulde offer vnto God first fruites out of his creatures not as though he had néede thereof but that they should neyther be vnfruitfull nor vnthankfull he tooke the breade which is of the Creature and gaue thankes saying This is my bodye And in like maner he confessed that the Cup which is of that creature that is among vs is his bloude and taught a newe oblation of the newe Testament which the Church receyuing of the Apostles doth in all parts of the world offer vnto God euen vnto him that giueth the first fruites of his owne giftes in the newe Testament to be oure foode wherof in the twelue Prophetes Malachie doth foreshow in this sort I haue no pleasure in you sayth the Lorde almightie and I will receiue no sacrifice at your handes For my name is glorified among the Gentiles euen from the rising of the sunne to the going downe of the same and in euery place is Incense and pure sacrifice offred vnto my name For my name is great among the Nations sayth the Lorde almightie declaring moste manifestly by these words that the first people shall cease to offer to God but in euerie place is sacrifice offered vnto him yea and that pure sacrifice for his name is glorified among the Gentiles Now M. Watson let the Christian Reader weigh the words of Ireneus And doe you weigh them better than you did when you vsed them to proue that the Lords supper is the sacrifice of the Church of Christ and of our reconciliation For Ireneus proueth that God delighteth in no outwarde sacrifices but doth by them teach what sacrifice it is that he delighteth in That is faith Ireneus teacheth what sacrifice God delighteth in obedience and iustice which he would haue all men to offer as a sacrifice of thankesgiuing to God for their saluation And when Iesus Christ did institute his supper he did thereby teach his disciples to offer that sacrifice as ye may learne in S. Augustine his sermon De sacramentis fidelium Citatur à Beda in Collect. and of the Apostles hath the church learned to offer the same in all partes of the worlde which is Incense and pure sacrifice and the glorifying of the name of God among all Nations There is nothing so auncient so profitable WATSON Diuision 5. necessarie and so holesome as this sacrifice is that hath bene of some men and that of late so assaulted reuiled reiected blasphemed oppressed persecuted and with such reproch and indignation banished exiled without cause or any good grounde why they shoulde so haue done but that they knewe sinne should decay if that were vsed And therefore intending to establishe the Kingdome of sinne laboured with all violence to subuert this enimie and remedye against sinne Which as S. Cyprian doth say Cyprianus ser de coena domini Ad totius hominis vitam salutemque proficit simul medicamentum holocaustum ad sanandas infirmitates purgandas iniquitates existens Which doth profite to the lyfe and saluation of the whole man being both a medicine to heale infirmities and a sacrifice to purge iniquities Meaning as I am sure you doe of the sacrifice of your Masse CROWLEY there is nothing more true The contrarie of Watsons wordes most true than the contrarie of that prayse that you giue it As for the grounde and cause why we assault it reuile reiect blaspheme oppresse and persecute it c. it is such that you and all your sort are not able iustly to remoue Doth it not rob Christ of his glorie in that it is made a sacrifice propitiatorie for sinnes Doth it not rob the people of the comfort they shoulde conceyue by receyuing that thing which in your Masse they may but sée and worship Hath it not bene the ouerthrowe of many thousands which being seduced by your false teaching haue called it their maker and redéemer and haue giuen vnto it the honour due to both And where ye saye that sinne must decaye where it is vsed I pray you how decayed sinne in the Abbayes where it was most vsed The fruits of the Masse Forsooth euen as in Sodome when Lots doctrine was refused What amendment of life wrought it in this Realme in Quéene Maries dayes Forsooth euen such as the golden Calues wrought
in Israell in king Ierobohams time and Baals sacrifices in the dayes of king Ahab You saye it is an enimie and remedie against sinne and you take record of Cyprian the holy Martir and witnesse of Christ but if he were liuing he woulde giue you little thanke to take him to witnesse in so manifest an vntruth In déede Cyprian speaketh reuerentlye and trulye of the holy supper of the Lorde for it is both a remedie to heale our infirmities and a brent offering to purge our iniquities For as S. Austen sayth carnall men must by the degrées and steps of sacramentes be brought from those things that be séene with the bodily eyes August octogint quest 41. to those that be vnderstanded by the minde And so doe sacraments cure our infirmities And as the brent offerings did preach to the offerers that if they woulde haue their iniquities purged by Christ they must offer themselues wholy to God by obedience to his will Euen so doth this holy supper teach vs to offer our soules and bodies in obedience to worke his will whose members we be Thus doth it both cure our infirmities and purge our iniquities as Cyprian hath sayd in the place that you cite WATSON Diuision 6 This little time that I haue now I entende God willing to bestow in this matter to reduce into your remembrance the foundation and commoditie of thys sacrifice of the Church and to repel such bolts as the foolishnesse of some and the malice of other haue shot against it that knowing the necessitie and goodnesse of it we may follow the counsell of S. Bernarde which sayd Discamus eius humilitatem Bernardus homil 3. super missus est imitemur mansuetudinem amplectamur dilectionem communicemus passionibus tauemur in sanguine eius ipsum offeramus propitionem pro peccatis nostris quoniam ad hoc ipse natus datus est nobis Ipsum occulis patris ipsum offeramus suis quia pater proprio filio suo non pepercit sed pro nobis tradidit illum c. Let vs learne his humillitie let vs followe his meekenesse and gentlenesse let vs embrace his loue let vs communicate his passions by suffring with him let vs bee washed in his bloud let vs offer him the propitiation or a sacrifice propitiatorie for our sinnes for to this ende was he borne and giuen to vs let vs offer hym to hys fathers eyes let vs offer him to his owne eyes for the father hath not spared his owne sonne but hath giuen him for vs and so forth Your purpose is you say in this sermon to reduce into the remembrance of your Auditorie CROWLEY the foundation and commoditie of the Masse For that it is that you call the sacrifice of the Church and to repell the bolts c. As foolishe and malicious as you accompt them that haue shot boltes at your Blackbird the Masse yet haue they bestowed them so wisely and charitably in the defence of the true Turtle Doue the Church of Iesus Christ that you nor any of your sort neuer yet hath bene or euer hereafter shall be able to repell them as you bragge that you minde to doe As for your place of Bernarde it might be aunswered with this common saying Bernardus non vidit omnia Bernarde sawe not all things for his antiquitie is vnder fiue hundred yeares So that it was a wonder that he saw any thing the time wherein he liued being so ouershadowed with the cloudes of ignoraunce and superstition and he himselfe also being a Monke by profession Yet will I not so reiect him Bernard was the flower of his time bicause he was the flower of hys time and séemeth by his writings to sée more than he durst well vtter with his tongue or penne And this sentence that you cite out of his Homilie serueth not so much for your purpose as you séeme to think that it doth For what maner of spéeches are these Cōmunicemus passionibus lauemur in sanguine eius Are they not Metaphores For if we vse these words in their proper signification how is it possible for vs to doe the thing that Bernarde exhorteth vs to doe Can we by any meanes suffer any part of that passion that Christ suffered in his owne person And is it possible for vs to bathe our bodies in his bloud I thinke you be not so mad as once to thinke it And why will you then snatch the next sentence which is Ipsum offeramus c. Let vs offer him a sacrifice propitiatorie for our sinnes for to that ende he was borne and giuen vnto vs and vrge that as a proper speach where as it is manifest that to speake properly it cannot be true that any eyther can or euer coulde or euer shall be able to offer vp Christ to his father but he himselfe only We therfore can offer Christ to his father none otherwise than we can bathe our selues in his bloude That is by beléeuing the promise that God the father hath made therein and by receyuing the sacrament Baptisme Now we can offer Christ to his father the seale of that promise on Gods behalfe and of our faith on our behalfe So can not we otherwise offer Christ to his father than by beléeuing that he is that breade of life that came from heauen and that gaue himselfe for the life of the worlde and by receiuing that sacramentall breade and wine which he commaunded to be receyued in remembraunce of his death and passion Thus I trust all indifferent men doe sée how you doe wrest the wordes of Bernarde to make them serue your purpose WATSON Diuision 7. And also as the same Bernarde more plainly writeth in an other place saying thus Pauperes sumus parum dare possumus attamen reconciliari possumus pro paruo illo si volumus totum quod dare possum Bernar. Sermo 1. De Epith. miserum corpus istud est illud si dedero satis est si quo minus addo corpus ipsius nam illud de meo est meum est paruulus enim natus est nobis filius datus est nobis De te domine suppleo quod minus habeo in me O dulcissuma reconciliatio We are poore and little can we giue yet for that little we may be reconciled to God if we wil. Al that I am able to giue is this wretched body of mine If I giue that it is sufficient If it be not I adde also Christes bodie for that is mine and of mine for a little one is borne vnto vs the sonne is giuen vnto vs. O Lord that lacketh in mee I supplie of thee O most sweetest reconciliation See howe S. Bernarde ioyneth the offering of our bodies and of Christes bodie togither That if the oblation of oure bodies be imperfite and suffice not the oblation of Christs bodie maye fulfill and supplie that lacketh in vs. And to what ende That we might be
intelligi corporis membrorum suorum In Iohā tract 26. quod est sancta Ecclesia in praedestinatis vocatis iustificatis glorificatis sanctis fidelibus suis His wyll is that this meat and drinke should be vnderstanded to be the societie or felowship of his body and members which is the holye Church which consisteth of his predestinated called iustified and glorified saints and faithfull ones To these is the promise of grace made and confirmed by sacraments These beléeuing the promise doe worthily receyue the sacraments And these being preuented by death before they can come to the vse of the outward and visible sacraments shall haue lyfe euerlasting bicause they are elected in Christ before the beginning of creatures Luther and such as be of his sect WATSON Diuision 19 as taking his dreames for the ground of their fayth were much pressed with this argument deduced of the propertie of the sacrament and sawe playnely that it could not be a sacrament of the newe Testament except it had a promise annexed to the worthy vsing of it And yet for all that he would not condiscend to say as the Church sayth that Res sacramenti the thing of the sacrament signified and not conteyned which is the vnitie of the mysticall body were that grace which by Christ in S. Iohn was promised to the worthy receyuer of it but went and sought about for another promise and after much pooreyng at last he brought forth a promise as he thought meete and conuenient which is the wordes of Christ Quod pro vobis tradetur Which shall be giuen for you And in thys point 1. Cor. 11. he shewed with what violence he handled other matters of our fayth that in this great matter so much ouershot himselfe First with what face could he call that a promise which hath no apparaunce of anye promise but that the wordes in latine be spoken in the future tense which in Greeke be written in the present tense both in S Paule and in Saint Luke Quod pro vobis datur Which is giuen for you And if they were spoken in the future tense as they were not yet they be wordes not promising a thing to be done but declaring what shall be done And further if we should graunt them to be wordes of a promise yet they promise not the grace of the sacrament which is to be giuen to the worthy receyuer For the passion of Christ or the gyuing of Christs body vpon the crosse is not a grace giuen by the sacrament to the receiuer but it is that worke that hath deserued grace to bee giuen by the sacrament for all our sacraments take their vertue of the passion of Christ doe not promise the passion of Christ This may suffise for this short time to shewe vnto you the folly of these men that neyther wot nor care what they affirme in these weightie matters I could saye more in it but that I haue more necessarie matter behinde to be sayd Augst in Ioh. tract 15. In Psal 138. Saint Austen in dyuers places and other auncient Authors haue this doctrine in their bookes Elatere Christi fluxerunt duo sacramenta Two sacraments did issue forth of Christs side And in those places he teacheth vs by comparing the creation of Eue the wyfe of Adam the first man and of the Church the spouse of Christ the second man Lyke as God casting Adam into a sleepe tooke forth a bone out of hys side and thereof builded and created him a wyfe euen so when Christ did sleepe by death vpon the crosse vpon water and bloud that came forth of his side when it was opened with a speare God did forme and builde the Church the spouse of Christ in that by water we be regenerated by bloud we be redeemed and nourished Nowe concerning our purpose if two sacraments came out of Christes side we are sure there came out no wine except ye will say the wine of the true vine which Christ shal neuer drinke with vs any more but after a newe sort in the glorie and kingdome of his father Therfore it must needes be that our sacrament is Christs bloud and not wine CROWLEY If you had tolde vs when and where Luther wrote or spake that which you charge him with here something might haue béene sayde to the matter eyther in noting his fault or yours or both But for as much as you doe but saye it I wyll neyther defende Luthers doing therein nor condemne it but passe it ouer tyll ye tell where when and by whome he was so pressed But for your owne dealing I must néedes note that you are verie forgetfull sith yée doe so straightly charge him as with a great fault for that the lyke whereof is to be found euen in your owne assertion concerning this matter Watson is faultie in that which he reprehendeth in Luther The fault that you finde with Luther is for that he alledgeth a promise made in wordes of the present time or tense as you terme it And haue you forgotten what tense Christ spake in when he saide Qui manducat meam carnem bibit meum sanguinem in me manet ego in eo Men say it is a great fault for a man to be found faultie in that thing wherewith he himselfe findeth fault Well if you will promise that you will doe no more so I could be content to winke at this fault Aduertising you to looke better vpon saint Iohns Gospell where you shall finde as I haue sayde before that he which eateth Christ shall liue by the meanes of Christ Here is a promise made to him that eateth Christ not sacramentally onely but by fayth As appéereth by the wordes that Christ spake before saying he that beléeueth in me hath lyfe euerlasting This may suffise for aunswere to that great fault that you finde with Luther till you tell vs where and when he committed that fault c. As touching the doctrine that you say saint Austen and other auncient Authors haue in dyuers places I know saint Austen hath the wordes but the doctrine that you would confirme by the wordes is not saint Austens but yours You cite the fourth treatise of Austen vpon Iohn but in that treatise is not one worde that soundeth any thing that waye You therefore or else your printer haue misreported the place I suppose you would haue noted the .xv. treatise where saint Austen sayth thus Adam qui erat forma futuri praebuit nobis magnum iudicium sacramenti Imo August in Ioh. tract 15. Deus in illo praebuit Nam dormiens meruit accipere vxorem de costa eius facta est ei vxor quoniā de Christo in cruce dormiente futura erat Ecclesia de latere eius de latere silicet dormientis Quia de latere in cruce pendentis laucea percusso sacramenta Ecclesiae profluxerunt Adam which was the shadow or ymage of one to
pledge is giuen For in that sense is Symbolum taken here And vnlesse you can proue that these be efficient causes you shal neuer prooue that our immortalitie and resurrection be the effects thereof The lyke may be sayde to the Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem aeternae vitae A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodies to the immortalitie of eternall life But bicause it is your custome to cite matter in such sort that the true meaning of the Author can not be perceyued by the wordes that you cite I will let the reader sée all the wordes that Athanasius doth in that place write of that matter Sed proptered ascensionis suae in caelum mentionem secit Athanasius De p ccato in spiritum sanctum vt eos a corporali intellectu abstraheret ac deinde carnem suam de qua locutus erat cibum è supernis caelestem spiritualem alimoniam ab ipso donandam intelligerent Quae enim locutus sum vibis inquit spiritus est vita Quod perinde est acsi deceret Corpus meum quod ostenditur dâ—tur pro mundo in cibum dabiâ—ur vt sparitualiter vnicuique tâ—â—buatur fiat singulis tutamen praeseruatioque ad Resurrectionem vitae aeternae Ita quâ—que Samaritanam abstrahens Dominus a rebus sensibilibus Deum esse spiritum pronuntiauit vt deinceps illa non corporalia sed spiritualia de Deo cogitaret But for this cause did he make mention of his ascention into heauen that he might drawe them away from the bodily vnderstanding and that they might afterwarde vnderstand his fleshe whereof he had spoken to be foode from aboue heauenly and spirituall nourishment and such as he must giue For sayth he that which I haue spoken vnto you is spirite and lyfe Which is as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be meat that it may be spiritually giuen to euerye man and that it maye be to eche man a defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall lyfe In like maner also drawing the Samaritish womaÌ„ from sensible things the Lorde affirmed that God is a spirite that from thence forth she should not think of God as of corporall things but as of things spirituall Now let the indifferent reader iudge how faithfully you haue vsed your selfe in alledging the saying of this auncient Father His grounde is the wordes of Christ in the sixt of Iohn Where speaking of the eating of his body he sayth It is the spirite that doth giue lyfe the fleshe profiteth nothing at all The words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirite and lyfe Which is sayth Athanasius as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be foode that it may spiritually be giuen to euery man and that vnto eche man it may be made a defence and preseruation to the resurrection of eternall lyfe And to make his meaning playne Athanasius sayth that Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might draw his hearers from the bodily vnderstanding And further he sayth that our sauiour talking with the Samaritish woman did draw hir from sensible things affirming that God is a spirit that so she might imagine no corporal thing to be in God but al spiritual I can not therefore but thinke that such as will ioyne with you in alledging this place to proue immortalitie and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud are by obstinate wylfulnesse blinded as you doe shewe your selfe to be For it is as manifest as the cleare sunne light that his meaning was to disproue the grosse opinion of all such as imagine The meaning of Athanasius that Christ should giue his fleshe to fill the bellies of men And to teach that such as will benefite by eating of his body must eate the same spiritually and not carnally And that when it is spiritually eaten it is Tutamen praeseruatioque ad resurrectionem vitae aeternae A defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall life But this is not to teach that it is the efficient cause of our immortalitie and resurrection as you labor by this other places to proue But nowe let vs sée what you haue founde in Ireneus that was a great deale older then Athanasius He hath sayde Quomodo dicunt carnem c. By what reason doe they saye that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lorde This place of Ireneus is sufficiently opened before in the aunswere to that which you haue sayde of the first circumstaunce of the sacrament which is who it was that spake these words This is my body c and is playnely proued not to make any thing for your purpose eyther there or here Yet we haue not sayde any thing to that other place which you cite out of the fift booke of this Ireneus where he sayth Ireneus li. 5. Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse c. How doe they denie c. I might put you in remembraunce of that which Erasmus wryteth concerning his iudgement of the authoritie of this booke for I am sure you can tell that he hath written thus Censura Eras Roterodami In hoc quinto libro quum multa scripturarum loca diligenter explicentur quaedam tamen insunt quae nisi quis comode interpretetur non satis congruere videntur cum bis dogmatibus quae hoc tempore praescribit Ecclesia Where as in this fift Booke there be many places of Scripture diligently expounded yet are there certaine things in it which vnlesse a man doe well interpret doe not séeme to agrée verie well with those doctrines that at this time the Church doth prescribe Auncient writers must be read with fauour c. And afterwarde he sayth Sed in huiusmodi multis veteres illi cum candore nonnunquam cum venia legendi sunt c. But in many such things those auncient wryters must be read with fauour and sometime with pardon also But be it that Erasmus had not giuen vs this warning is there not warning ynough giuen vs in the wordes of the place it selfe to looke well to the wryters meaning You doe according to your custome cite those wordes onely which may at the first sight make some shewe of that you would proue by them But according to my custome I will let the reader sée the whole circumstaunce that he may be able to iudge which of vs both goeth most nigh to the meaning of the writer His wordes be these Vani autem omnimòdo qui vniuersam dispositionem Dei contemnunt carnis salutem negant regenerationem eius spernunt dicentes non cam capacem esse incorruptibilitatis Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec Dominus sanguine suo redemit
their duties towardes such as had preached the Gospel amongst them Whose faith they did imitate bicause they had séene their constancie in contynuall preaching of sounde doctrine Another shift that Watson vseth leading a lyfe according to the same And here I must tell you that you doe to much abuse Saint Paule when you make the Englishe reader beléeue that saint Paule speaketh in the Imparatiue Moode commaunding the Hebrues to folow the fayth of those men the ende of whose conuersation they had séene For both in the Gréeke and Latine it is the Indicatiue Moode You doe folow But graunt it be a marke whereby the soundnesse of fayth maye be knowne What haue you wonne therby Shall there not as many of the Popes Clergie be found inconstaunt in doctrine as of the teachers of the newe learning as you terme them I néede not to write any more of this matter The worlde séeth well ynough both the constauncie and conuersation of the most part of the teachers of your sort In déede as Chrysostome saith héere when men shal sée that the Preachers of any doctrine doe perseuer and continue constaunt in that doctrine and doe leade a lyfe lyke vnto the doctrine it moueth them that heare the doctrine to waighe and consider both the lyfe and the doctrine and when they finde that both be sound The fruit of constancy and good lyfe in Preachers without hypocrisie to folow the faith of such preachers as the Hebrues did folow the faith of them that had constauntly preached the worde amongst them and led a lyfe according to the same But if the doctrine when it is weighed be found dyuers and straunge and the conuersation hypocriticall full of will workes besides yea and contrarie to the commaundement of God then the godly wise will leaue those hypocrits and their faith and séeke for such as shall preach vnto them such doctrine as may be found perfite and sounde And though the preachers of that doctrine doe in some pointes shewe themselues to be men yet will they not reiect the sounde doctrine for the lack of sounde lyfe in the preacher But you bende these wordes of Paule another way and you say that you haue séene the ende of this newe learning It is say you carnall and detestable lyuing conspiracie and treason Me thinketh I could gesse where you learned to call the lyfe of those teachers that you name newe carnall and beastly For it was the maner of your olde mayster Stephane Gardiner so to terme the lyfe of maried ministers So beastly was he and so beastly doe you séeme to be for that is the carnall and beastly life that you meane I am sure as to accompt that thing beastly which is the holy ordinaunce of God Saint Paule euen in the same chapter that you doe cite hath sayde Honorabile est coniugium in omnibus Hebr. 13. thorus immaculatus Mariage is honorable amongst al men and the bed thereof vndefiled It is to much therefore to call it beastly in ministers for they be men also and therefore their wedlock is honorable As for your wyfelesse Priesthood the world hath séene and perceyued well ynough and as saint Paule wryteth to the Ephesians Quae enim in occulto fiune ab ipsis turpe est dicere Ephes 5. It is a filthye thing once to name those thinges that these men doe in secret As for your conspiracie and treason that you charge vs with I referre to the iudgement of such as haue reade the Chronicles and histories of the practises of Popish Prelates And I pray you M. Watson euen in the dayes that you haue lyued who haue bene the conspirators and Traytors Was Aske in Lyncolne shire a scholer of the new teachers did not he and his companie trayterously conspire and rebell against their prince The fruits of popishe doctrine bicause their Pilgrimages and Abbayes were suppressed And what say you to the Vicare of Loweth that sturred about the same matter And in king Edwarde the sixt dayes who were the Captaynes and leaders in euery part of England almost euen in one Sommer but popishe priestes and such as had bene taught by them And what Countries in all Englande were more quiet at that time then were those where the gospell which you call new learning had bene most diligently and faithfully taught If you can name vs one that being a teacher of the newe learning as you terme it hath rebelled against his prince we can finde you a dosen of your Clearks for that one And then are we in as good case being compared vnto you as the Apostles were being compared to the phariseis For if one in euery twelfe of vs should be founde to beare a trayterous hart towardes his prince as among the twelue Apostles there was founde one Iudas yet should we alwayes haue a .xj. honest men for one knaue where as amongst the Phariseis and you there are to be found for euery honest man a .xj. false knaues at the least And thus all men may sée the ende of that learning that you call olde Nowe those fathers whome the worlde was not worthye to haue were not the teachers that you learned your Popishe fayth of but you learned of those fathers that were not worthy to haue the worlde They were not fathers discended of the right line but intruders and vsurpers that most cruelly murdered the children of the right fathers 2. Petr. 2. And they are euen those lying maysters that saint Peter spake of in the place that you cite c. And you and your sort are euen the same that saint Iohn gyueth vs warning of in the place that you alledge For you abide not in the doctrine that Christ and his Apostles did teach 2. Iohn but contrarie to that doctrine you make to your selfe an head and mayster vpon earth and call him the most holy father teaching his decrées and ordinaunces as the doctrine that all Christs flock must vnder paine of the losse both of body soule imbrace obey And here saint Iohn doth teache vs to auoyde you and your sort which doe teach professe another doctrine then that which was by the Prophets and Apostles taught to be beléeued and receyued of all Gods elected and chosen children throughout the worlde This doctrine is not the doctrine of the Papistes Watson concludeth with a lowde lye But nowe you conclude with a lowde and shamelesse lye Affirming that your learning meaning the Pops learning hath vniuersally preuayled euer since the ascension of Christ Bishop Iewell in his aunswere to your friend maister Doctor Harding hath most manifestly proued that you stretch your lye to farre by sixe hundred yeres at the least And how haue you folowed the worde of the Lorde God to whome you turne your spéeche and say if we be disceyued thou hast disceyued vs seing he sayth drinke ye all of this and you say No. None shall drinke it but
and sanctification both of our bodies and soules And concerning the drinking of Christes bloud really saint Cyprian writeth an other argument which I thinke can not be auoyded by any figuratiue speeches Cyprian ser de caena he sayth thus Noua est huius Sacramenti doctrina scâ—olae euangelicae hoc primum magistereum protulerunt doctore christo primum haec mundo inuotuit disciplina vt biberent sanguinem Christiani cuius esum legis antiquae authoritas districtissimè imterdicit Lex quippe esum sanguinis prohibit Euangelium praecipit vt bibatur c. Origen also writeth this same thing verie plainely vpon Numeri hom 16. Origen in Numeros hom 19. The Englishe is this of Cyprian The doctrine of this sacrament is new the Euangelicall schoole taught this lesson first of all this discipline was neuer known to the world before our master Christ who was the first teacher of it that christen men should drinke bloud the eating of which bloud the authoritie of the olde law doth most straightly forbid for the law forbiddeth the eating of bloud the gospell commaundeth bloud to be droken c. Nowe this is most certayne that the law did neuer forbid the drinking of Christes bloud figuratiuely but did commaunde drinke offerings which were figures of hys bloud and the Iewes dranke of the water that came forth of the stone which was a figure of the bloud that came foorth of Christes side which bloud as Chrysostome saith is in our Chalice Id est in calice quod fluxit è latere Chrysost in 1. Cor. hora. 24. illius nos sumus participes the same thing is the Chalice that flowed out of Christs side and we are partakers of the same Nor the law did neuer forbid the drinking of Christes bloud spiritually by fayth but set foorth the fayth of Christ being a schoolemaister to Christ pointing to him in whome they should beleeue and receaue all grace But to make short the lawe forbad the externall and reall drinking of bloud which the gospell commaundeth saying except ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man drinke his bloud ye shall not haue lyfe in you Iohn 6. and drinke ye all of this This is my bloud of the newe Testament Therefore it foloweth necessarily that the drinking of this bloud is not figuratiuely nor yet onely spiritually but really by the seruice of our bodies as Chrysostome sayth Si vederit inimicus non postibus imposutum sanguinem typi sed fidelium ore lucentem sanguinem veritatis Christi templi postibus dedicatum Chrysost ad Neophytos multo magis se subtrahit If our enimie the Deuill shall see not the bloud of the figuratiue Lambe sprinckled vpon the postes but the bloud of Christ the truth shyning in the mouth of the faithful much more he will runne away There is a place of the prouerbs which as diuers authors doe expound Prouerb 23. maketh much for the reall presence of Christs body and bloud in the sacrament the place is this after the Greeke which these authors folowed Cùm sederis ad mensam potentis sapienter intellige quae apponuntur mitte manum tuam sciens quia talia te oportet praepare When thou sittest at the table of a great man vnderstand wisely what things are set before thee and put to thy hand knowing that thou must prepare such like things againe Saint Augustine vpon saint Iohn August in Ioh. tract 47.48 and Chrysostome vpon the Psalme and Hesechius and other mo whose wordes it were to long to rehearse in Latine doe expound thys place of the prouerbs thus Who is this great man but Iesus Christ our Lorde Gods sonne Chrysost in Psalm 22. Hesichius li. 6 Capit. 22. and what is the Table of this great man but where is receyued his body his bloud that hath giuen his life for vs And what is to sit at the Table but to come to it humbly and deuoutly and what is to consider and vnderstand wisely what things be set before thee but discerne the body and bloud of Christ to be set there verily in truth and to know the grace vertue dignitie of them and the daunger for the misvsing of them and what is to put to thy hand knowing that thou must prepare such like againe but to eate of them knowing that christen men in the cause of Christ and defence of the truth are bounden to shed their bloud and spend their liues for their brethren as Christ hath done the same for vs before the like as we haue receaued at Christes table his body and his bloud so ought we to giue for our brethren our bodies and bloud This comparison of taking and giuing the like againe auoydeth all the tryfling cauillations of these figuratiue speeches that the simple peoples heads be combred withal Here is no place for eating onely by fayth for the martyrs did not onely beleue in Christ but also in verie deede gaue their bodies and shed their bloud really for Christ I am wearie of telling you of your subtile dealing in cyting sentences out of the auncient fathers Saint Austen in the .xj. CROWLEY treatise vpon Iohn sayth as you haue cyted but the wordes which go before and should open saint Austens meaning August in Ioh. tract 11. you holde from your hearers and readers He sayth thus Ipsis ergo se credit Iesus qui nati sunt denuò Iesus therefore doth betake himselfe to them that be borne a newe And afterwarde he sayth Qui ergo renati sunt noctis fuerunt diei sunt tenebrae fuerunt lumen sunt Iam credit se illis Iesus non nocte veniunt ad Iesum sicut Nicodemus non in tenebris quaerunt diem c. Those therefore that be borne anewe did belong to the night and doe now belong to the day they were darkenesse and are now light Nowe Iesus doth betake himselfe to them and they come not to Iesus in the night as did Nicodemus they doe not séeke the light in darkenesse c. By these words it is playne that Austen ment nothing lesse then to teach that which you gather of his words Yea speaking of the same wordes that are written in the sixt of Iohn he sayth Dominus autem exposuit eis dixit Spiritus est qui viuificat caro autem non prodest quicquam cum dixisset Nisi quis manducauerit carnem meam biberit sanguinem meum non habebit in se vitam ne carnaliter intelligerent Spiritus est inquit qui viuificat caro autem nihil prodest Verba autem quae locutus sum vobis spiritus vita sunt And the Lord declared vnto them and sayde It is the spirite that gyueth lyfe the flesh doth profite nothing at all when he had sayde Except a man doe eate my flesh and drinke my bloud he shal not haue any lyfe in himselfe least they should vnderstand him carnally
Ergo this sacrament is the reall and naturall body and bloud of Christ and not eyther bread or wine I trow not I dare referre this to the iudgement of them that vnderstande Art But is there nothing in that Masse that maketh against you I trowe he sayth thus Confidentes appropinquamus sancto altari tuo proponentes configuralia sancti corporis sanguinis Christi tui te obsecramus te postulamus saencte sanctorum beneplacita tua benignitate venire spiritum sanctum tuum super nos super proposita munera ista benedicere ea sanctificare Presuming vpon thy mercies we drawe nigh vnto thine aultar And setting before thée apt figures of the bodie and bloud of thy Christ we doe praye and beséech thée O thou holyest of all that by thy good and mercifull pleasure thy holye spirite may come vpon vs and vpon these giftes which are set before thée and that he may blesse and sanctifie them All these wordes would your Basill haue his high Priest to speake after the wordes of consecration as you terme them wherby as much as may be done in making the body and bloud of Christ is done and yet the holy ghost must come vpon those gifts and blesse and sanctifie them yet more When you haue weighed these wordes with the other then tell me what you haue gayned towards your purpose But when he commeth to the distribution All thinges reconed more is lost then won he marreth all for he sayth that they doe all communicate And so your owne Basill ouerthroweth your priuate Masse which may so euill be spared in your holy fathers Church Ambrose calleth it Gratia Dei. The grace of God not accidentall Ambrose De obitu Fratris c. In mine aunswere to the ninth deuision of this Sermon I haue noted of what authoritie Erasmus doth thinke those works to be that are conteyned in the thirde Tome where these wordes that you cite should be He sayth that he is out of doubt that they be all counterfayted and set forth in Ambrose name for there is no whit of Ambrose vayne in them Besides this I meruaile that you are not ashamed when you haue reported a lie to dubbe it with another of your owne saying that Ambrose doth cal the sacrament by the name of the grace of God Were it not for troubling the reader with to much of your folly I would let him sée the whole fable in wryting and referre the iudgement euen to your dearest friendes that haue not lost the vse of their reason Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. But to make vp the matter withall you haue sought out one place of Chrysostome which doth enforce you to crye out and say Oh with what eloquence doth he vtter this matter Heare but this one place If a man should aske you what matter it is that Chrysostome doth with such eloquence vtter you must say the reall presence of Christ bodie and bloud in the sacrament and that the sacrament is neyther bread nor wine But what one worde hath Chrysostome in that place to proue this His words being taken wholy together are these Quemadmodum frigida accessio periculosa est ita nulla mysticae illius Caenae participatio fames est interitus Ipsa namque mensa animae nostrae vis est nerui mentis fiduciae vinculum fundamentum spes salus lux vita nostra Si hinc hoc sacrificio muniti migrabimus maxima cum fiducia sanctum ascendemus vestibulum tanquam aureis quibusdam vestibus vndique contecti Et quid futura commemoro Nam dum in haec vita sumus vt terra nobis caelum sit facit hoc mysterium Ascende igitur ad Caeli portas diligenter attende Imo non Caeli sed Caeli Caelorum tunc quod dicimus intueberis For euen as a colde comming to the Lordes table is perillous so not to be partaker of the mysticall supper at all is famishment and death For the table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the bonde of our confidence or sure trust our foundation hope health light and our lyfe It we shall depart hence being armed with this sacrifice we shall with great boldnesse ascende vnto the holy entrie as apparailed on euery side wyth certaine garmentes of Golde And why doe I speake of things to come For euen whylst we be in this lyfe this mysterie doth make the earth to be an heauen vnto vs. Go vp therefore to the gates of heauen and marke diligently Yea not to the gates of heauen but of the heauen of heauens and then thou shalt behold those things that we speake of Here you may sée what it is The ende of Chrysostomes Eloquence that Chrysostome mindeth to set forth by this elequence that he vseth He that will beholde the things that he doth so highly extoll must in spirite go vp to the gate of the heauen of heauens euen into the thirde heauen into which saint Paule was rapt in which he learned things that he could not vtter with his tongue The Lordes supper being rightly vsed of vs doth lyuely set forth vnto vs yea vnto oure senses the Lorde Iesus himselfe which is the strength of oure soule the sinewes of our mind c. This can we not liuely sée vnlesse we doe in spirit ascend to the gate of the heauen of heauens c. But when you will proue your purpose then all that the fathers haue eyther written or spoken to stirre vp their hearers or readers to heauenly contemplation must néedes be playne spéeches and applyed to prooue your grosse opinion of the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament They must néedes say that they neyther vse figure nor spirituall meaning And where Chrysostome doth in an other Homily call the sacrament by these names Rex Caeli Deus In Epist ad Ephes ho. 3. Cyril li. 4. Capit. 17. August Epist 163. Christus as you say The king of heauen God Christ you may thinke your selfe aunswered alreadie And so may you for that which you doe here cite out of Cyrill and Austen But I maruayle much that you could not sée what Chrysostome wryteth against the staryng and gaseing presence of your good people at your Popishe Masse wherein your priest doth eate and drinke vp all himselfe and giueth none any part with him Quisquis mysteriorum consors non est sayth Chrysostome impudens improbus astat Whosoeuer is not partaker of the mysteries is as a shamelesse and wicked man presente at the ministration But what should I trouble the reader any longer in so plaine a matter The fathers haue not disceyued you by calling the sacrament of Christ by so glorious and high names but you haue disceyued your selfe by drawing their figuratiue and Rhetoricall maner of spéeches to playne and grammaticall maners of speaking and their spirituall meanings to your carnall and fleshely meaning And as you haue disceyued your selues so you
and your Popishe fathers haue laboured by the bragge of fiftene hundred yeres to disceyue all the whole christen worlde For which you shall one day drinke of the cup of Gods wrath except ye repent before ye depart hense Your if and your but will not serue you then But as you say the errour is in your selfe which woulde harken to the witlesse sophisticall reasoning of a fewe Popishe men and so runne headlong to destroy your owne soules Forsaking and not contynuing in that fayth that was taught by the mouth of Christ sealed with his bloud and testified by the bloud of Martyrs and hath preuailed from the beginning and shall continue to the ende in the dispite of Antichrist and all his members and the whole power of hell As for that which remayneth concerning the thirde point that causeth you to contynue in your Popishe fayth that is the consent of the Catholike Church as you say which to your great griefe you could not now for shortnesse of time go thorow with shall be answered in the aunswere to your other Sermon if God wyll I hope in such sort that as many as be not wilfull blinde shall sée the subtiltie of your sophistrie and for euer after defie it and your Popishe Masse also which you boast to be so profitable to be frequented in the Church of Antichrist to maintaine your multituds of ydle belyes in cloysters and else where And I doubt not but whatsoeuer you or any other hath or shall shoote against the right vse of the Lordes supper which is nowe in reformed Churches frequented shall to the glorie of almightie God rebounde into your owne bosomes to the staye of all such as God in prouidence hath appointed to be saued by the preaching of his worde That they neuer encline to your Poperie but walke warily in the truth of the christian religion leading a christian lyfe that in the ende thereof they may with Christ triumph ouer Antichrist and all his Souldiours in endlesse felicitie Which he graunt to his elect and chosen children that in hys sonne Christ knewe them before they were Amen ¶ The second Sermon Obsecro vos fratres per misericordiam Dei vt exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam sanctam c. Rom. 12. AMONGES OTHER THINGES the last time I was admitted to speake in this place WATSON Diuision 1. I brought forth this sentence of saint Bernard written in a Sermon De epithania Pauperes sumus parum dare possumus c. Bernardus Ser. de Epiphania The English is this We be poore little may we giue yet for that little we may be reconciled if we will All that euer I am able to giue is this wretched bodye of mine if I giue that it is sufficient if not then I adde his body for that is mine and of mine owne for a little one is borne vnto vs and the sonne is giuen to vs O Lorde that lacketh in mee I supply in thee O most sweetest reconciliation Here I noted a great benefite of the oblation of Christes body to consiste in supplying that lacketh in the oblation of our bodyes that where as wee beyng exhorted of saint Paule to offer vp our bodies a sacrifice to almightie God and also doe vnderstande by other scriptures that it is oure dueties so to doe which maye bee done three wayes By voluntarie suffering the death for Christes fayth if case so require by painefull and penall workes as by abstinence and other corporall exercises for the castigation and mortifying of the outwarde man or else by the seruice of righteousnesse in that we vse the members and parts of our bodye as instruments of all vertue and godlynesse considering agayne howe there is great imperfection in all our workes and that the best of vs all commeth short of that marke which is prefixed of God to serue him with all oure heart wyth all our strength and that eyther in the worke it selfe or in the intent or in the cause or tyme or in some other degree and circumstaunce for this cause and consideration saint Bernard doth himselfe and moueth vs to ioyne the oblation of Christes body with oures wherewithall we are sure God is well pleased saying This is my sonne in whom I am well pleased Marke 7. by whose merites our oblation and other workes doe please God and not otherwise CROWLEY This place of Bernard is aunswered in the seuenth diuision of the former Sermon wherevnto I referre the indifferent reader And therefore I purposed to make one sermon of the sacrifice of Christ WATSON Diuision 2. not of that which he himselfe made vpon the crosse for oure redemption but of that which the Church his spouse maketh vpon the aultar which purpose being also before promised remaineth now to be fulfilled And entring the last time to speake of it I laid this foundation that is to say the veritie of the blessed Sacrament the bodye and bloud of our sauiour Christ to be verily and really present in it by the omnipotent power of almightie God the operation of his holy spirit assisting the due administration of the Priest and so to bee there not onely as our meat which God giueth vnto vs to nourish vs in spirituall lyfe but also as our sacrifice which we giue and offer vnto God to please him and purge vs from such thinges as may destroy or hinder that spirituall lyfe seing that Christ himselfe is the substaunce of the sacrifice of the new Testament as I haue partly shewed before and beside him wee haue none that is onely proper to vs Christen men This foundation of the reall presence I presupposed to haue bene beleued of vs all and yet I did not so rawly leaue it but declared vnto you such reasons as moued me to continue still in that fayth I was borne in which were the euident playne scriptures of God opened with the circumstances of the places in suche wise as the vaine cauillations of the sacramentaries can not delude them and also the effectes of this sacrament which be so great and so wonderfull that they can be ascribed to no other cause but onely to almightie God to such creatures as Gods sonne hath ioyned vnto him in vnitie of person as be the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ I alledged also the sayings of the holy fathers not in such number as I would haue done but choosed out a fewe which not onely declared the Authors fayth but conteyned a necessarie argument to proue our common fayth in this matter For aunswere to your handling of those matters that you speake of here CROWLEY I referre the reader to the aunswere that I haue made to that Sermon Concerning the third point WATSON Diuision 3. which is the consent of the catholike Church neyther the time then suffred to speake as behoued nor yet suffereth nowe if I should performe my promise as I intende God wylllng And for that cause I shall but
they doe receyue by the inferiour ministers the leauened bread that we haue consecrated that they should not iudge themselues to be separated from our communion especially in that day There popes doings condemned by one generall counsell Thus if De Orbellis and you saye true a generall counsell hath condemned thrée Popes for heretikes Alexander Leo and Innocent but you are not able to proue this heresie nor them heretikes in this point The thirde sorte of heretikes that you speake of were called Aquarij water drinkers Against these did Cyprian and Chrysostome wryte c. But what is thys to vs we are no water drinkers But we are of that sorte that myngle no water with the Wine against whome Theophilactus wrote His wordes are these Confundantur Armenij qui non admiscent in mysterijs aquam vino Non enim credunt vt videtur quod aqua ex latere egressa sit quod admirabilius sed sanguis tantum Confounded be the Armenians which doe not in the mysteries mingle water with the wine For as it séemeth they beléeue not that water came forth of the side which is more marueilous but bloud onely It séemeth that Theophilact wysheth confusion to the Armenians because that they in refusing to mixe water with wine did séeme to denie the truth of the hystorie but we are farre ynough from that suspition We beléeue that both bloud and water did issue out of Christes side Neyther doe we denie but that water may be mixed with the wine But that the wine alone is not the due matter of the sacrament None hath or can proue the necessitie of mixing water with the wine because there is no water mixed with it neyther hath Theophilact nor any other hitherto sufficiently proued neyther are you or any of your sort able by scripture to proue We reuerence the auncient fathers and all other that of later time haue written of matters of religion in the feare of God but we haue not sworne to beléeue whatsoeuer they saye without profe by scriptures neither do they desire credite wtout such profe There were other heretiks Hist trip lib. 7. ca. 11. that denyed the effect of the Sacrament as Messaliani who as it is written by Theodoretus sayde that the heauenly foode whereof oure Lorde spake he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud shal liue euermore did neyther profite nor hurt any man Nestorius also the pernicious heretike and Archebyshop of Constantinople destroyed the vertue of the sacrament Theophilactus Capit. 10. ad hebr as Theophilactus wryteth for that hee graunting Christes verie fleshe to bee really and truely present in the sacrament denied that fleshe being receyued into oure bodies to be the proper fleshe of Gods sonne and therefore to haue no vertue to giue life to oure mortall bodies and this heresie was condemned by the generall counsell holden at Ephesus As touching the denying of the effect of the sacrament CROWLEY I haue sufficiently spoken in the aunswere to your former sermon The Messalian heresie we neuer held August De sacramentis fidelium But with saint Austen we beléeue and teache that who so is partaker of that meate that Christ spake of when he sayde he that eateth my fleshe drinketh my bloud lyueth for euer can not but haue euerlasting life thereby And that they which doe receyue the sacrament thereof vnworthily doe eate and drinke their owne condemnation Theodoretus therefore in accompting those men for heretikes hath done but as we would haue done if we had bene in his dayes and as we doe nowe in allowing that which he hath done therein But in one point me thinketh that these men were very like you and your sort The Popish Priestes like the Messalians for they disalowed the labour of the handes as euill and gaue themselues to ydlenesse and sléepe and called the phantasies of their dreames prophecies Looke in your Legenda aurea and other such bookes and you shall sée that your sort are not farre vnlyke those Messalians The heresie of Nestorius is farre ynough from vs. For we confesse and teache that Christ is both perfite God and perfite man And that both those perfite natures Theophilactus in .10 ad hebr are knit togither in one Christ vnseparably How he destroyed the vertue of the sacrament you say Theophilact doth tell vs. Speaking of the Nestorians he sayth Vteris hoc loco etiam aduersus Nestorianos Nam illi exiguum hominem estimantes Christum sanguinem eius communem id est prophanum censuerunt neque quicquam à reliquis habere discriminis Thou mayest vse this place also against the Nestorians For they estéeming Christ to be but a man of smal reputation supposed his bloud to be common that is to say prophane not hauing in it any thing at all whereby it differeth from the rest How iustly you doe of these wordes gather that Nestorius did graunt that the verie fleshe of Christ is really and truely in the sacrament c. Watson sucketh out the dregs of olde wryters I referre to the iudgement of all indifferent readers But it is your maner to suck out the dregges of euery writer that you meddle with And if you can finde none such as you would yet you wil so iumble togither some part of his cléere and wholesome lycour that at the first sight it may séeme to be as filthy dregges as is to be founde in any of the Popes vessels If you had not minded to make the world beléeue that we be stuffed with all these heresies you might haue spared a great deale of your labour in making mention of these condemned so long before and not holden nor taught of vs against whom you speake and wryte neyther directly seruing to the purpose that you séeme to haue in hande WATSON Diuision 14 Epiphanius Anacephaleosi And where as this sacrament can not be consecrated but by a Priest there was an heretike called Zacheus condemned as Epiphanius wryteth because he woulde pray with no man but alone and therefore without reuerence and authoritie did handle the holy misteries and being a laye man did impudently order and vse them Also certaine heretikes called Anthropomorphitae denied the reseruation of the sacrament saying that Christes body remayned there no longer then it was in receyuing Of whome Cyrillus wryteth thus Cyrillus ad Calosirium Dicunt mysticam benedictionem si ex ea remanserint in sequentem diem reliquiae ad sanctificationem inutilem esse sed insaniunt haec dicentes non enim mutatur Christus neque sanctum eius corpus discedit sed benedictionis virtus vinifica gratia continuo manet in illis They say that the mysticall benediction which as the sacrament is not profitable to the sanctification of the receauer if there remayne any thing of the sacrament to the next day But they be starke madde that say so for Christ is not chaunged nor yet
matter we go about to proue fully resolued both by the institution of Christ in his last supper and also by the figure of Melchisedech in the olde lawe This aucthorities although there bee manye mo yet I thinke them sufficient and I thinke thereby the matter sufficiently proued Neyther by the Gospell nor by the prophet haue ye proued CROWLEY the thing that you tooke in hande to prooue no more doth that which you would haue your Auditorie harken to here proue the figure taken out of the olde lawe in such sort as you affirme it Saint Paule writing to the Hebrues Hebr. 7. goeth about to diswade them from the vayne confidence they had in the sacrifices and ceremonies of Moses lawe and to perswade them to put their trust in that one only sacrifice that Christ had made offring himselfe once for all And least they should reiect his doctrine as hauing no ground in the holy scriptures he putteth them in minde of Melchisedech who was a figure of Christ And of his priesthood which was also a figure of Christes priesthood First he was a figure of Christ sayth saint Paule in that he was called Melchisedech which is by interpretation The minde of Paule in making mention of Melchisedech the king of righteousnesse and the king of Salem which is the king of peace And in that he was a priest of the most high God and hath neyther beginning nor ende of dayes noted in the holy hystories his priesthood séemed to be an euerlasting priesthood And therefore sayth saint Paule he is lykened to the sonne of God that is euerlasting and hath an euerlasting priesthood and is alwayes able to saue them that seeke saluation at his hande bicause he lyueth euer to make intercession for vs. This is the minde of saint Paule as may easily appéere to as many as will with indifferent mindes read that which he hath written in the seuenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrues But contrary to this meaning doe you most wylfully gather that Melchisedech was a figure of Christ and of his priesthood in that he vsed to offer to God a sacrifice of bread and wine This you suck out of your owne fingers and out of the dugs of such dreaming Doctors as you your selfe are although you would séeme to haue learned al that you speake in the schoole of Cyprian Austen Hierome and such other auncient and learned fathers Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Cyprian sayth Qui magis Sacerdos Dei summi c. Here doth Cyprian affirme that Paule hath written to the Hebrues concerning Christs priesthood and sacrifice If Melchisedech were a priest of the most high God bicause he offered sacrifice to God why should not Christ be a priest of the same high God seing he hath offered sacrifice to the same high God also And if Melchisedech did offer bread and wine Iohn 6. Christ did the same for he offred his owne body and bloud which is lyuely bread and wine the foode that féedeth into euerlasting lyfe When this place is well weighed what aduantage can you haue by it to prooue that Christ offered himselfe to his heauenly father in the bread and wine of his last supper The reader may sée more of this in that which I haue aunswered to the ninth and tenth diuisions of your former Sermon As touching the vnderstanding of the wordes a little after where Cyprian sayth Qui est plenitudo c I referre the reader to the wordes that folow a little after them Where Cyprian vseth the wordes of wisedome spoken by Salomon Prouerb 9. in this wyse Qui est insipiens declinet ad me indigentibus sensu dixit Venite edite de meis panibus bibete vinum quod miscui vobis Vinum mixtum declarat id est Calicem Domini aqua vino mixtum prophetica voce denunciat vt appareat in passione dominica id esse gestum quod fuerat praedictum Wisedome sayth Salomon sent forth hir seruauntes saying Let him that is foolishe turne in vnto me And to such as lack vnderstanding she sayde Come and eate of my bread and drinke the wine that I haue mixed for you Shée declareth sayth Cyprian that the wine is mixed That is to say shée doth with the voyce of prophecie declare that the Lordes cup is mixed with water and wine that it might appéere that in the Lordes passion that thing was done in déede which had bene told of before By these words of Cyprian it appéereth plainely that the cause why he woulde haue water mixed with the wine in the celebration of the Lordes supper was to shewe that the prophecie which Salomon vttered in the person of wisedome was fulfilled in the passion of Christ when water and bloud did issue out of his side And also to imitate the example of Christ who as Cyprian supposeth did not drinke wine without the mixture of water His whole purpose therfore in this Epistle Cyprians purpose in his Epistle to his brother being to disproue the doing of those which vsed to minister with water without wine he sought for many figures in the olde Testament which might séeme to be prophecies of Christes ministration in his last supper And he applyeth them to proue that water alone could not serue to signifie that which Christ would haue to be signified by it And as in such case it may easily happen when he findeth a figure wherein mention is made of such mixture he imagineth that Christ mixed water with the wine and he conceyueth in his minde that the wine must signifie Christ and the water the people And so he maketh as great a matter of the omitting of the water as he did before of the leauing out of the wine Not remembring that he had at the first applied to his purpose Noes drinking of wine and Mechisedechs bringing forth of bread and wine where there is no mention at all of water mixed wyth the wine But as I haue written in mine aunswere to the .24 diuision of your former Sermon let vs not forget the wordes of Erasmus in the Epistle that he wrote before the workes of Hilarius Erasmus in Epistola ad Lectorem Hilarij which are these Nemo quantumuis eruditus oculatus c. There is no man be he neuer so well learned and circumspect that doth not slip and in some point shewe himselfe to lack sight that no man should forget them to be men and that we should read them with choise with iudgement yea and with fauour also as men Wordes worthy to be printed in memorie and practised in the reading of all mennes wrytings Nowe fearing least some man should mistake the wordes of Cyprian when he sayth Hiero. in Psal 109. Hoc idom quod Melchisedech you cite the interpretation that saint Hierome maketh vpon the psalme .109 to proue that Christ offering his owne body and bloud in his last supper did offer the same thing that
matter that you go about to proue is not resolued at all either by the institution of Christ or by the figure of Melchisedech You must therefore alledge other Scriptures and authorities before your matter can be sufficiently proued Other Scriptures there be though not so plaine WATSON Diuision 2◠yet they conteyne an argument to proue the same as this of Saint Paule Non potestis participes esse mensae domini mensae demoniorum 1. Cor. 10. Ye can not bee partakers of our Lordes table and the table of deuils The worde table here is taken for the meate of the table For men be not partakers of the materiall borde but of the meate that is ministred vpon the bord Now the table of deuils is taken for that meat that is offered to Idols in which diuels did reigne and therefore that meat was called in Greeke Idolothyton meat offered to Idols Now this is certain by al good learning that in euery cōparison there must nedes be a proportion similitude wherin the things compared must agree then whereas these two tables be compared in offering and eating it must needes folow that if the table of deuils be a verie sacrifice made to deuils in dede the table of our Lorde likewise must bee a sacrifice offered to our Lorde in deede And if our Lordes table be a very sacrifice made to him by vs then haue wee our purpose proued and confessed The like argument may be made of the worde aultare in saint Paule Habemus altare de quo edere non habent potestatem Hebr. 13. qui tabernaculo de seruiunt We haue an aultare of which they may not eate that serue the tabernacle If aultare and sacrifice be so annexed togither that the one cannot bee without the other then when saint Paule sayeth wee haue an aultare speaking also of the eating of that aultare he must nedes meane the sacrifice made vpon the aultare so that our sacrament before we eate it is also a sacrifice For so doth Theophilactus take this place Theophilact ad Heb. Capit. 13. Et nos inquit obseruationem habemus haudtamen in esculentes hisce sed in ara siue in hostia illa incruenta corpore vitam clargiente And we also haue an obseruation yet not in these common meates but in our aultare or vnbloudye sacrifice whiche giueth life to our bodyes Here we may see that he meaneth by the aultare the vnbloudie sacrifice of Christes bodie which being eaten of vs corporally in the sacrament giueth life to our bodyes Moreouer if tyme would serue me I could make an argument of Daniels prophecie of the cōming of Antichrist bicause he sayth Dani. 12. that in that tyme the continuall sacrifice shall be by Antichrist taken away per tempus tempora dimidium temporis by the space of three yeres and an halfe as many take it Whether this shall bee done all Christendome ouer at one time or in euery particular region at diuers tymes it is not certainely knowen to vs and therfore I will not certeynly determine it But this is certaine that Antichrist can not take away the sacrifice of Christ vpon the crosse which was but once made and shall neuer be iterate nor frustrate Nor he can not take away the inward spirituall sacrifice of mans heart which then shal florish most of al in the elect For why should they then flie to the mountaines as the booke saith but that for the vehemencie of the persecution they might more feruently doe spirituall sacrifice to almightie God Therefore it foloweth that the sacrifice of Christen men is such an one as may be taken away by Antichrist which in my iudgement can be nothing else but the sacrifice of the Masse or else let them tell what other sacrifice it is beside the Masse Ye se nowe what Scriptures I haue brought to proue the oblation of Christes bodie in the Masse to be the sacrifice of the Church and newe Testament which hath beene assaulted many wayes of many men But to the oppugnation of it they neuer yet to this houre alledged any one direct scripture nor doctor nor good reason They haue gone about it and by tyranny in some places they haue preuailed for a tyme but alwayes truth the daughter of tyme hath ouercommed For lack of plaine scriptures CROWLEY you alledge such as you say doe containe argumentes to prooue the popishe Masse to be a sacrifice c. And first you begin with saint Paule where he sayth Non potestis c. The Argument that you finde in this scripture 1. Cor. 10. is thus If the table of deuils be a sacrifice made to deuils in dede then must the table of the Lord be a sacrifice offered to the Lorde in déede But the table of the deuils is so Ergo the Lordes table must néedes be so And so is your purpose proued and confessed If you were in the diuinitie schoole and should in disputation be put to proue the maior proposition of this Argument Watsons maior is not currant in the scholes it woulde not slip away so smoothly as it did when you spake it in your sermon For it would be made plaine to you that you build this reason vpon a false supposition For where you suppose the table of Deuils and the table of the Lorde to be compared in offering and eating it would be proued to you by the sayings of auncient wryters that the comparison is in the societie of the eaters with them at whose tables they eate Theophilactus whose iudgement you should trust in this place for you make him you onely stay Theophi in 1. Cor. 10. in that which you cite out of saint Paule to the Hebrues vpon these wordes of Paule Nolo autem vos participes fieri Demoniorum I woulde not that you should be made partakers of the deuils sayth thus Si enim mysticam mēsam participantes Christo communicant eique vniuntur Daemonum mensam participantes Daemonibus haud dubiè communicant If they that be partakers of the mysticall table do communicate with Christ and be ioyned into one with him without doubt such as be partakers of the table of Deuils do communicate with deuils And vpon the words that you cite he sayth Ex solis nominibus probat non esse comedenda Idolis immolata He doth by the names alone proue that we should not eate those things that be offered to Idolles Here it is manifest Wherein the tables be compared that Theophilactus vnderstandeth saint Paule to make comparison betwéene the table of Deuils and the Lordes table in the societie of the partakers with them at whose tables they be partakers As they which be partakers at the Lordes table do shewe themselues thereby to be ioyned to the Lorde in societie and vnitie so they that be partakers at the Idols table doe shew themselues to be in societie and vnitie with the Idols Chrysostome wryting
not offer him really and corporally and so set you against your selfe For you haue sayd oftentimes in these your two sermons that you receiue and offer christ in your Masse really corporally and naturally But you wil vnderstand by mystically as you doe by sacramentally and saye that mystically is verily and really For you haue learned of Gracians glose to say Statuimus id est Abrogamus We decrée Distinction Mysticall can not be reall c. that is we do abrogate you may giue to wordes what signification you lust But such as be learned in the tongues doe knowe that mysticall can not signifie reall naturall and corporall A number of things you say are done in your Masse That is to say Christ is by his omnipotent power presented to you and of you to his and your father His passion is renewed and the remission that was purchased and deserued thereby humbly prayed for to God that the same may be applyed vnto you by Christ c. Because all this is but your bare assertion without proofe either by authoritie or reason It shall suffice that I aunswere as saint Hierome doth in like case Hiero. in Mat. 23. Hoc quia de scripturis c Because this thing hath none authoritie of the scripture it is as easily contemned as allowed But here I must tell you that in one point you discent from many of your sort which say that the massing priest doth by his masse apply the passion of Christ to them that he sayth Masse for And you do but ioyne it with your fayth and deuotion in making humble prayer to God that it would please him to applye to you the remission that Christ hath deserued by his passion 1. Peter 2. To proue the third way that men offer Christ which is say you by the meditation of the minde c. You alledge the saying of Peter Sacerdotium Sanctum c. How well these wordes of Peter do serue to proue your offering of Christ onely by meditation of minde shal easily appeare to such as will reade the rest of that Chapter Spirituall sacrifices They shall finde that the spirituall sacrifices that Peter speaketh of there are a godly and honest lyfe full of good workes and not such idle meditations as you ymagine Now séeing that you haue deuided the offering vp of Christ into so many members and haue proued but one shall it not be a good argument to inculcate one reiect the rest This is the peculiar maner of the Papists the professed enimies of Christ euen as they doe in teaching the reall and corporall eating of Christes bodie in the sacrament so in this matter of the sacrificeing and offering of Christ to imagine a multitude of members where in déede there is but one And by such subtile shiftes they do seduce the vnlearned But when they be espyed and detected they appeare as these of yours do euen as they be deuilish and pernicious Sophistrie WATSON Furthermore if any man as yet doth stand in doubt whether men lawfully offer Christ to the father or no Diuision 28 let him call to remembraunce what I haue sayde before out of Dionisius Areopagita Dionisius Areopa speculat cap. 3. where the Bishop as he sayth doth excuse himselfe that he offereth the host of our saluation alledging that Christ did so commaund to be done saying do this in my remembrance Let him also remember the saying of the counsell at Nece Concilium Nicenum That the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the worlde is offered of the Priestes not after a bloudy maner Saint Augustine sayth Per hoc sacrificium in sorma serui sacerdos est ipse offerens ipse oblatio cuius rei sacramentum August de ciuit libro 10. Capit. 20. quotidianum esse voluit ecclesiae sacrificium cum ipsius corporis ipse sic caput ipsius capitis ipsa sit corpus tam ipsa per ipsum quam ipse per ipsam suetus offerri By this sacrifice in the forme of a seruaunt Christ is a priest being himselfe both the offerer and the oblation of which oblation hee woulde the daylye sacrifice of the Church should be a sacrament and seeyng he is the heade of that body and the Church is the body of that head aswell the Church by Christ as Christ by the Church is accustomed to be offered A notable place resoluing diuerse doubtes declaring that the dayly sacrifice of the Church which is the Masse is a sacrament of Christes passion representing the same and further that Christ offering himselfe vpon the Crosse did also in himselfe offer his misticall bodie the Church and thirdly that the church Christs body doth not only once or twise but is accustomed to offer Christ hir head to God in hir dayly sacrifice Heare yet a place of Saint Augustine as plaine as this Heberi in victimis pecorum prophetiam celebrabant futurae victimae quam Christus obtulit vnde iam Christiani peracti eiusdem sacrificij August contra Faustum lib. 20. cap. 18. memoriam celebrant sacro sancta oblatione perticipatione corporis sanguinis Christi The Iewes in their sacrifices of beastes did celebrate the prophecie of the sacrifice to come which Christ offred The Christen men nowe doe celebrate the memorie of the same sacrifice of Christ that is past by the most holy oblation and perticipation of Christes body and bloud Marke howe that he sayeth christen men celebrate the memory of Christes passion wherewithall euen by the offeryng of the same body that suffered passion I nede saye no more for this poynt that men doe and did vse from the beginning to offer Christ to the father CROWLEY August de Ciuitate Dei Lib. 10 cap. 20. The wordes that you cite out of Dionisius and the Councell at Nice are sufficiently answered in the places where you alledged them Concerning the place that you cite out of Austen you know how much those bookes De Ciuitate Dei haue bene corrupted and what great trauaile and paynes Lodouicus Viues tooke in conferring of diuers copies that thereby he might as much as it was possible set forth the worke of Austen in such sort as he wrote it Vpon these wordes Cum ipsius corporis ipse sit caput he noteth that in the bookes that he found in Colene and Bruges it is written thus Quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sit se ipsam per ipsum dicit offerre Which Church being the bodie of that head sayth that she doth through him offer vp hir selfe And in another Copie also he found it euen so sauing that in the place of dicit it was written discit so that the sentence is thus Which Church being the body of that head Watson will folow the most vnlikely doth learne by him to offer vp hir selfe Whatsoeuer you thinke of this diuersitie of readings I thinke that all the learned and wise that be trauayled in
speaking of the communion table there springeth a Fountayne of spirituall commodities and thou leauing this table doest forthwith runne to the water and doest beholde women swymming and the very marke of their sexe set out to the eyes of all that be present that thou mayest beholde this thing I say thou leauest Chryst sitting by the Fountayne of heauenly giftes For euen now also he doth sit vpon the Fountaine not speaking to one Samaritish woman but to the hole Citie For euen nowe also there is none that attendeth vpon him sauing that some be present with their bodies but without doubt some other not so much as with their bodyes Yet for all that he departeth not but he taryeth still and requireth drink of vs not water but sanctimonie or holynesse of lyfe For Christ doth giue holy things to them that be holy He doth not giue vs water out of this Fountayne but lyuing bloud which though it be receyued to testifie the Lordes death yet it is made vnto vs a cause of lyfe But thou doest leaue the Fountayne of this bloud and the cup that is to be had in reuerence and wyth spéede thou renuest to that deuillish Fountayne that thou mayest sée an Harlot swim and suffer shipwrack of thine owne soule c. Thus farre Chrysostome You should proue that the Masse is no derogation to the passion of Christ but you haue concluded that we receyue lyfe by receyuing of that which is offered in the Masse If this be no derogation to Christes passion then is there no derogation of it at all in any thing that can be done For what other thing is the fruite of Christes death but our euerlasting lyfe You had forgotten your selfe bylike when you alledged thys place for if Chrysostome ment so grossely as you vnderstand him he did set vp the Masse as much to the derogation of Christes passion as possibly he could Watson wold not see Chrisostomes meaning But Chrysostome had another meaning then you woulde sée when you read his wordes He teacheth the christians of Antioche that those holy things that Christ giueth to them that be holy are made vnto them instrumentall causes of euerlasting lyfe yea euen that mysticall bloud that is receyued to be a testimonie of the death of him that is Lorde of lyfe Thys meaning might you haue séene in the wordes of Chrysostome if affection had not blinded you But I marueile where you found in Chrysostomes words offered in commemoration for euen in the Latine text that you your selfe cite it is Sumitur is receyued But you might at that time say what you would to the aduauncement of that Idole of Rome and all Romishe Idolatrie To those two places of Gregory that you alledge I must aunswere as I haue learned of saint Hierome Hiero. in Math. 23. Hoc quia de scripturis c. Because this thing hath none authority of the scripture it is as easily contemned as allowed And least you should think that not being able otherwise to aunswere I doe reiect the authoritie of so auncient and godly a father I will shewe you the reasons that mooue me to thinke that these workes that are extant vnder the name of Gregorius Magnus were neuer of his writing Gregories bookes burned First Sabinianus that succéeded him next in the Papacie caused all his bookes to be burned And it is not to be thought that there were many copies in so short tyme when there was no way to encrease them but by hande wryting Another thing is the fond fables that in those workes are vsed in the probation of weightie assertions and no proufe made eyther by scriptures or authoritie of such as had before his dayes written of those matters Three reasons to proue Gregories workes coūterfaite but bare assertions contrarie to the scriptures and fathers that had bene before him And last of all the straunge maner of finding out the copie of his morral exposition of the history of Iob which is to ridiculous to haue any credite with such as haue any knowledge in christian religion and haue séene the hystories that make report of the liues and doings of those that had béene Byshops of Rome before the time of the finding out of that booke These authorities therefore doe not proue that the Masse is no derogation to the passion of Christ but rather the contrarie For if all these authorities that you haue alledged were as good as you make them and were so ment by the authors as you haue applied them what other thing should they teach but that the Masse is a derogation to the passion of Christ For what greater derogation can there be to Christs passion then to make it a matter of so small power that it could not of it selfe be effectuall to any vnlesse it be applyed by the mediation of some sacrificeing priest And that it must néedes be effectuall to such as it shall by such mediation be applyed vnto eyther in this lyfe or after Wée haue learned both by the scriptures and auncient fathers that the passion of Christ is of effect to take away the sinnes of the whole world The way to apply Christes passion and that it doth take away the sinnes of all that repent and beléeue the Gospell And that there is none other way to apply the passion of Christ to any but only the faith of those to whome it is applyed Furthermore they say we make our owne workes meaning the Masse a sauiour beside Christ WATSON Diuision 30 which is nothing so but by this sacrifice of the Masse we declare that we beleue there is no sauiour but onely Christ For what doe we in the Masse We confesse our sinnes our vnworthinesse our vnkindnes our manifold transgresions of his eternal law we graunt that we be not able to satisfie for the least offence we haue done therfore we run to his passion which after this sort as he hath ordayned we renew and represent We besech our most mercifull father to looke vpon Christes merites and to pardon our offences to loke vpon Christes passion and to releue our affection We knowledge that whatsoeuer we haue done is vnperfite and vnpure and as it is our worke doth more offend his maiestie then please him therefore we offer vnto hym his welbeloued sonne Iesus in whome we knowe he is well pleased most humbly praying him to accept him for vs in whome onely we trust accompting him all our righteousnesse by whome onely we conceiue hope of saluation And therefore in the ende of the canon of the Masse we say thus Non aestimator meriti sed veniae quaesumus largitor admitte per Christum dominum nostrum O Lord we besech thee to admit vs into the companie of thy saintes not waying our merites but graūting vs pardon by Christ our Lord. Also whatsoeuer thing we lacke all plagues all misfortunes all aduersitie both ghostly and temporall we require to be released of them not through our
suffice to the rehearsall of the places By this little I haue sayde ye may perceaue after what sort it is true that the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatorie for sinne both for the quick and the dead CROWLEY When you shall shewe the names and wordes of them that graunt the Masse to be a sacrifice and yet denie it to be propitiatorie for sinnes then will I eyther condemne their folly or your false report These men you say doe disalow the last sentence of your Masse c so do I with the rest that hath bene deuised by men The vse of Distinctions and hath no ground in Gods worde Distinctions I can well away with when they tende to the opening of thinges doubtfully spoken of in the scripture but not when they tende to the maintenaunce of mans doctrine contrarie to the worde of God This Sophistrie therefore is none of mine wherefore I may be bolde to call him a Sophister that vseth distinctions to cause things that are false to séeme true as you doe in this place vse two distinctions The Masse may be taken for the thing offered in the Masse which is the bodie of Christ say you and for the act of the priest and vse of the sacrament Both the wayes it is propiciatorie but the one way it deserueth mercie and the other way it doth but prouoke God to applie his mercie These distinctions of the Masse and propitiation tend not to the opening of any thing doubtfullye spoken of in the Scriptures but to the maintenaunce of a doctrine of your owne contrary to the scriptures wherefore I can not allowe them The scripture sayth that as Moses did lift vp the serpent in the Wildernesse Iohn 3. so the sonne of man must be lifted vp that all that beleue in him should not perishe but haue euerlasting life Here is none other thing mentioned whereby Christes merites shoulde be applied vnto men but onely fayth And saint Austen sayth thus Holocaustum dominicae passionis August in Expos incho ad Rom. eo tempore offert vnusquisque pro peccatis suis quo erusdem passionis fide dedicatur Then doth euery man offer the sacrifice of Christes passion for himselfe when he is dedicated in the fayth of Christes passion It is true therefore that Oecumenius hath sayd Caro Christi est propitiatorium nostrarum iniquitatum In caput 3. ad Rom. The fleshe of Christ is the propitiation for our iniquities And the onely way to applye this propitiation to vs is by beleuing the promise that God hath made therein As appeareth by the wordes of saint Paule in that place where Oecumenius had occasion to write those wordes Where saint Paule sayth thus Iustificantur autem gratis per gratiam ipsius per redemptionem quae est in Christo Iesu Rom. 3. quem proposuit Deus propitiatorem perfidem in sanguine ipsius And they are fréely made righteous by his frée mercie through the redemption which is in Christ Iesu whome God hath set to be a propitiatour through fayth in his bloud Your distinction therefore that tendeth to a nother mediation or propitiation then this is not to be alowed amongest them that be of Christes schoole Yea the Clarkes of the Popes schoole out of whose bookes you learned your Popery will not allowe your declaration that you make vpon the seconde partes of these your distinctions Angelus sayth that the Masse is auaileable to whome so euer it please the priest to applie it by his intention In summa Angel in Missam And that the Masse is nothing else but the applying of the merite of Christes passion yea and that Respectu operis operati In respect of the work wrought by the priest in saying Masse though you by your Sophistrie would make men beleue that Opus operatum is that work which Christ hath alreadie wrought vpon the Crosse Biel Holcot Dunse and the reast of that flock be of the same mind wherefore if they were liuing they would not suffer you to passe with such a declaration of your destinction as you make here For you will haue the Masse as it is the Act of the priest to be propitiatorie none otherwise then is the prayer of the faythfull the contrition of the penitent the almose of the merciful and the forgiuenesse of the charitable which is as you say but not truely to mittigate Gods anger against our sinnes and to prouoke him to haue mercie vpon vs for Christes merites And this you offer to proue by the holy fathers Origen in Leuit. ho. 13. Origen hath sayd thus say you Si referantur haec c. If these wordes be referred to the greatnesse of our mysterie c. Here you haue thrust in the Pronowne ours and haue sayde of our mysterie because you would haue your hearers and readers to thinke that Origen ment of your Masse which you cal the greatest mysterie of your religion Where as in déede he meaneth of the misterie of the .xij. loaues that were continually vpon the table in the tabernacle before the Arke of the couenant And he calleth our sauiour Christ which is the bread that came from heauen the greatnesse of that mystery But you leaue out that péece least the writers minde should appere Craftily you créepe away with the sentence thus Si redeas ad illum panem propitiationis c. Euen as it were poynting with the finger at your little rounde wafer But Origen hath written thus Si redeas ad illum panem qui de coelo descendit dat huic mundo vitam illum panem propositionis c. If thou returne to that breade which came downe from heauen and giueth life to this worlde that bread of proposition whom God hath set to be a propisiation through fayth in his bloud c. Cypri ser De Caena And doth not Cyprian call the Sacrament Holocaustum c Of this place of Cyprian I haue sayde ynough to satisfie the reasonable reader in the aunswere to the fift diuision of your former Sermon Concerning the two places that you alledge out of Austen I wil trouble the reader with nothing more then the iudgement of Erasmus concerning the two bookes that you alledge them out of Tomo 10. Pagina 2. Of the first he sayth thus Quae sine controuersia sunt Augustini primo posuimus loco Impudentissimum figmentum sermonum ad fratres in eremo agentes in suum angulum reiecimus de quo suo loco non nihil dicemus Insunt coeteris multa parum referentia phrasim eruditionem Augustini quorum aliquot notauimus Those works which are vndoubtedlye Austens owne we haue placed in the first place That most vnshamefast lye of the sermons to the brethren that liued in wildernesse we haue cast into a corner meate for them whereof we will in their place speake somewhat In the rest there be many things that do verie little resemble the phrase and learning of
Austen whereof we haue noted some And of the other booke he saith thus Liber qui sequitur ex superioribus libellis magna ex parte sarcinaetus est per quempiam nec eruditione Tomo 9. in fronte illius Libr. nec eloquentia preditum proinde non video cur admodum lectu dignus videatur Capite 17. ponit in potestate hominis vt promereatur Regnum coelorum quam sententiam vbique detestatur Augustinus Quanquam idem Capite 22. dicit diuersum The booke that foloweth is for the most part patched togither out of the little bookes that go before by some man that had neyther learning nor eloquence wherfore I do not sée why it should séeme verie worthie to be read In the .17 Chap. he doth put it in the power of man to deserue the kingdome of heauen Which sentence Austen doth in all places detest And yet the same wryter doth in the .22 Chapter say the contrary Such forged matter is méete for the proufe of the propiciation of your Masse for the sinnes both of the quicke and the dead You haue mistaken the place that you alledge out of Hierome For vpon the first Chapter to Titus Hiero. in Cap. 1. ad Titum he wryteth not one worde that may be wrested to such a meaning as those wordes haue that you cite But he hath wordes there to the contrary of that whereof you say you might proue the chast life of a bishop Of what authoritie the Masse of Basill is Basilius in Missa I haue noted in mine aunswere to the ninth diuision of your former sermon and néede not now to trouble the reader any more with that matter and thus we can not sée by that light that you haue hitherto giuen vs that the Masse is a sacrifice propiciatorie for the sinnes of them that be aliue Nowe a little you haue to say concerning them that be departed and then an ende of that matter Tertulian sayth say you Oblationes pro defunctis c. We make euery yeare oblations for the dead De corona Militis c. I will set downe in wryting the sentence that goeth before and that which foloweth immediatly after that the indifferent Reader may weigh altogither and iudge of the wryters meaning Eucharistiae sacramentum in tempore victus omnibus mandatum à domino etiam antilucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manibus quam praesidentium sumimus Oblationes pro defunctis pro natalitijs annua die facimus Die dominico ieiunium nefas ducimus vel geniculis adorare We do receyue the sacrament of thankesgiuing both in the time of repast or féeding and at all times that the lord hath commaunded yea and in our comming togither before day not at the hand of any other then of such as be in authoritie We do in the yerely day make oblation for the deade for theyr birth dayes We thinke it wickednesse to fast on the Lordes day or to bowe the knées This oblation might be the receyuing of the Communion togither in that yerely day wherein they vsed to solemnize a remembrance of those that had giuen their liues for Christes cause Which the fathers might well cal an oblation because they vsed at such méetinges to offer of their goods to the reliefe of the poore and themselues to suffer for Christ as they whose memoriall they celebrated had done before But how like you the custome of that time which was to refraine knéeling on the sunday as a wickednesse And howe like you that he calleth the sacrifice that you speake of the sacrament of thankesgiuing Here is no worde of propitiation for sinnes Wherefore this little that you had to say out of Tertulian is as much as neuer a whit Athanasius sayth Intelligimus animas peccatorum c. We vnderstand Athanasius ad Antioch Principem Quest 34. that the soules of sinners c. Howe farre vnlike it is that Athanasius Archbishop of Alexandria should be Authour of these questions and aunsweres may easily appere to as many as will with iudgement read them and consider the time wherein he liued and the matter conteyned in the aunsweres First it is to be considered that he liued about .330 yeares after Christ Then that he was of the Gréeke Church and therefore wrote as a Gretian these things kept in memorie and the matter conteyned in some of the aunsweres considered it will appere that some Athanasius of a later tyme was Authour of these questions and aunsweres In the second aunswere he sayth that in his tyme the feast of the Epiphanie of our Lorde was called the feast of the thrée kings where as Ambrose who liued an hundred yeares after him and being bishop of Millaine whether the bones of those thrée if hystories be true were first brought out of Persia doth make no mention of any such feast notwithstanding that in expounding of Lukes Gospell he doth speake of their comming out of the East to séeke Christ In the aunswere to the thirde question he alleageth matter out of Epiphanius who was not so auncient as he himselfe was if he were the right Athanasius and he giueth him titles of great authoritie acknowledging him to be a father of him and other of his tyme and a worker of myracles In the aunswere to the .14 question he sayth that men worthie to be beleued that were spirite coniurers had tolde him that they had séene the Deuill in his owne likenesse and that he had tolde them that there is no sentence in all the scripture that is more terrible to him then the beginning of the .67 Psalme Exurgat deus c. Let God arise and his enimies shall be scattered abroade And the reasons that in the aunswere that you alledge he sheweth whereby we doe vnderstande that sinners soules haue some benefite by thinges done for them after they be departed are not such as should mooue so wise and learned men as Athanasius was One is the vsage and custome of doing things for them which sayth he if it were no commotitie to them would not be continued The other is the nature of wine which as hée sayth being fast closed in a vessell will when it féeleth the odour or sauour of the vine that beginneth to budde in the field budde with the vine and begin to flourishe a freshe Euen so sayth he we vnderstand c. Thus the indifferent reader may sée that I do not without iust cause reiect this authoritie that you alledge in the name of Athanasius For aunswere to that which you report of saint Ambrose exhorting the people to pray for Valentinian the Emperour Ambros De obit valent In Philip. 1. Cor. 15. in Act. c. I referre you and the readers to that which I haue written in mine aunswere to the ninth diuision of your former sermon And for aunswere to that which you cyte out of Chrysostome I referre you to that which I haue for aunswered to the 30.
stop or amend was no cause of it Yea but say they Chrysostome sayth Non es hostia dignus nec cōmunione igitur nec oratione If a man make his excuse that he is not worthy the sacrifice nor to cōmunicate then is he not worthy to be present there at the prayer He saith so in dede But what is this to that the priest should not receiue al one nothing at al. And yet it serueth vs to declare that Chrysostome intended nothing else but to reproue the negligence of them that stoode in the place of the worthy receiuers and would not come to receaue We must consider in the Greeke Church howe there was certaine degrees of the placing of the people the priests stood at the aultar the Clarkes within the Chauncell the worthye receauers in a distinct place beside the priestes the penitents in a lower place the Catechumine which were men learning oure faith and not yet christened sate lowest of all but they were put out of the Church when the sermon and teaching was done and were not suffered to be present at the mysteries Nowe the lack that men doe not vnderstand the distinction of these seuerall places maketh them to take Chrysostome wrong For in deede he that is in the higher place of the communicants and being there thinketh himselfe for his vncleane life not worthy to communicate and so deceaueth the expectation of the priest that prepareth for him is likewise not worthy to communicate in onely prayer as being in that place yet hath most neede of all to communicate in praier because praier is an humilytie of the mind and a cause and degree to make a man worthy to communicate in the sacrament And therefore by Chrysostome he is not forbid to communicate in praier but not in that place but lower among thr penitents For so Chrysostome sayth by and by after Quotquot estis in poenitentia omnes orate All you that be penitents occupie your selues in prayer And it was a decree of the whole catholike Church that certaine men which were not suffered to communicate in the sacramēt should during their penaunce communicate onely in prayer Concilium Nicenum Cap. 12. These be the wordes of the generall counsell at Nice in Englishe Concerning them that had committed ydolatry and were in penaunce not yet reconciled and nowe be departing out of their bodies let the olde Canon be obserued that he that is departing be not defrauded of the necessary vytayle of lyfe but if any such after he haue receaued the communion doe recouer and amende let them remaine among them that communicate onely in prayer Wee may see by this that the meaning of Chrysostome is as I haue declared Other make an argument of the worde Communio that the sacrament is called a communion because many receaued it But this argument is vnlearned proceeding of ignoraunce For it is so called not for that many communicate together in one place but for the effect of the sacrament because it maketh many diuers men one mistical body of Christ So doth Chrysostome expound it Dionisius Areopa Eccleshies var. Capit. 3. writing vpō the .10 Chapter to the Corinthians And also Dionisius Areopagita sayth Vndemerito sacerdotalis sacro sancto prudentia ex rerum effectu proprium illi verumque communicationis cognomen inuenit Therfore the holy wisedome the priests hath worthely inuented to this sacrament a proper and true name of communion for the effect of it because it gathereth our lyues that be diuided a sunder many wayes into the one state whereby we are ioyned to God and among our selues in one bodye and so forth And in very deede we doe not communicate alone For considering Gods Church is but one house as Cyprian sayth Vna est domus ecclesiae in qua agnus editur Cyprian de cena There is one house of the Church wherein the Lambe is eaten whosoeuer doth eate this Lambe worthely doth communicate with all christen men in euery place and Countrie that be in this house and doe the lyke If the priest receyue one part of the sacrament in the Church and afterward cary the rest two or three miles to a sick man doth he not communicate with another yet that other is not together with him in one place standing at his elbow Euen so the priest that sayth Masse alone doth communicate with all them that celebrate in other Churches or in other realmes We alledge not the place of Chrysostome CROWLEY to rebuke the diligence of the priest in comming to doe that which is his office to doe but for that his doing in priuate Massing is one of the greatest causes of the peoples negligence in not comming to be partakers of the mysteries with him Chrysostome sayth Sacrificium frustra quotidianum Chrysost ad popul Antiochenum hom 61. Incassum assistimus altari nullus qui communicetur In vayne is the sacrifice for euery day In vayne are we ready at the aultar there is none that would be made partaker He had sayde immediatly before Multam video rerum inaequalitatem In alijs quidem temporibus cum puri frequenter sitis non acceditis in Pascha verò licet sit aliquid à vobis patratum acceditis O consuetudinem ò praesumpsionem sacrificium frustra quotidianum c. I sée great inequalitie of things At other tymes though you be often pure and cleane yet you come not to communicate but at Easter you come though you haue committed some offence Oh custome Oh presumption It is in vaine to haue the sacrifice daylie In vayne are we ready at the aultar for there is none that would be made partaker If the priestes priuate Massing were of such effect as you would beare vs in hande that it is how could the lack of communicants cause it to be in vayne at any time How could the priest be in a readynesse at the aultar in vayne Thys place of Chrysostome therefore Chrysostomes wordes rightly applied of vs. is manifestly against your priuate Massing as a thing that serueth to no purpose neyther turneth the Church to any commoditie And we doe not abuse this place in that we alledge it to blame your Massing priest therby which is so vainely occupied and yet perswadeth the people that if they be present and worship and pray as he doth in an vnknowne tongue they shall haue as much spirituall benefite as if they were partakers of the sacrament with him But all is in vayne sayth Chrysostome Your priest being holy dedicated to such seruice of God as is the Masse doth not by the seruice daylie more and more ioyne himselfe to Christ but to Antichrist For his exercise is of Antichrists deuising to the defaceing and displaceing of Christs institution The very place of Chrysostome telleth not that the priests did celebrate the sacrifice daylie but that it had bene in vaine so to doe for lacke of such as would communicate But if you will
that haue most frequented it Yea they that will but enquire of the lyfe and conuersation of them that at this day be Massemongers shall soone sée how great an enimie the Masse is to the Deuils kingdome Yea though there were none other euill in them The Masse alone is able to holde vp the Deuils kingdome then onely that they say and heare Masse which is ydolatry yet were this one euill sufficient of it selfe to holde vp the kingdome of the Deuill But admit that the Masse were no ydolatry yet it is alwaies accompanied with a multitude of grosse ydolatries As the inuocation of creatures the opinion of meryting by mens owne workes the representing of God to the bodily eye by an Image made lyke a man the bowing of the knées and burning of Wax and Incense before the Images of creatures trust confidence in the holynesse of creatures made holy by men and such lyke Thus is the Masse the greatest aduersarie that the Deuils kingdome hath But least some of your Auditorie should take paynes to read Luthers booke and so perceyue that you haue not sayde truely of him you thinke to preuent that matter by speaking a fewe wordes of that part of the booke that openeth the meaning of the hole and knitting vp your tale with this exclamation O what a cloke of mischiefe is this and all grounded vpon lyes and falsehood He sayth the Deuill lyeth not when he accuseth c. And if this saying of Luther be true then there will folow a number of as great inconueniences as vpon the wordes of Dauid when he sayth Omnis homo mendax Euery man is a lyar Psam .. 115. If Luther were in this lyfe he would not sticke to graunt all that you conclude vpon that proposition that you call his principle For which of the two may be thought better the fayth of a Turke or of a Massemonger Seing the one denieth Christ in wordes denying him to be his sauiour and the other in déedes in séeking saluation by other meanes then by Christ which is to denie him And wherein shall Hieroboams priestes be found worse then the Popes Massing priestes If you wil read the prophecie of Oseas and vnderstande it you shall finde that they had as good a colour of obseruing Moses his lawe as the Popes priestes haue of kéeping Christs institution And so of the reast that you doe name damnable heresies c. Now because the time is farre past shortly to conclude I shall most humbly beseech you to consider and regarde the saluation of your soules WATSON Diuisiō 44 for the which Christes Gods sonne hath shed his precious bloud which saluation can not bee atteyned without knowledge and confession of Gods truth reueled to his holy Church and by her to euery member of her and childe of God whose sentence and determination is sure and certaine as proceeding from the piller of truth and the spirite of God by whome we be taught and assured in Gods owne worde that in the blessed sacrament of the aultar by the power of the holy ghost working with Gods word is veryly and really present the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ vnder the formes of bread and wine which is by Christes owne commaundement and example offered to almightie God in sacrifice in commemoration of Christes passion and death whereby the members of the Church in whose fayth it is offered both they that be aliue and departed perceaue plentuous and abundaunt grace and mercy and in all their necessities and calamities reliefe and succour Our most mercifull father graunt vs to persist stedfast and constant in the true Catholike fayth and confession of this most blessed Sacrament and sacrifice with pure deuotion as he hath ordeyned to vse and frequent this holye mysterie of vnitie and reconciliation that we may thereby remaine in him and he in vs for euermore To whome be all glory and praise without ende Amen To make a short conclusion CROWLEY I will ioyne wyth you in making humble request to the readers of these your sermons and mine aunswere that they will haue an earnest regard to the saluation of their owne soules for which Iesus Christ the only begottē sonne of God hath fréely shed his most precious hart bloud Which saluation can not be attayned vnto without the knowledge and confession of Gods truth which he hath by his worde reuealed to his Church and doth daylie by the faythfull and diligent ministerie thereof reueale it to euery member thereof and child of God Which Church is and euer hath bene the pyller of truth In. 1. Timo. Capit. 3 wherein onely the truth is séene and doth playnely appéere to the worlde as saint Hierome hath sayde and hath hir foundation vpon truth which is hir onely stay and piller to leane vnto as Chrysostome hath written Which truth being the determination of God before the beginning this piller of truth doth still cleaue vnto neuer séeking to determine otherwise then God hath by his sonne Christ determined taught In whose worde we are assured that at his last supper with his holy Apostles he did institute a most comfortable sacrament of hys owne body and bloud to be frequented and vsed in his Church in the remembraunce of his death and passion till his comming agayne in our nature to iudge both the quick and the dead In which sacrament is lyuely represented vnto vs yea euen vnto our senses that vnity that he hath and doth by his almighty power make betwixt himself and vs and amongst our selues one with another which vnitie the nature of the bread and wine wherein this sacrament is instituted doth plainely expresse and signifie In vsing whereof his Church doth not onely call to memorie the benifits that she hath receyued by him but also shewe hir selfe thankfull in offring hir selfe a sacrifice of a swéete sauour vnto God by ready good wyll to glorifie him both by lyfe and by death as the holy saintes that be departed thys lyfe did whilste they lyued here assuring themselues of his contynuall presence to comfort help and succour them in all the necessities and calamities of thys lyfe and after thys lyfe of euerlasting ioye and felicitie in euerlasting lyfe through him Which they haue alreadie attayned vnto in part being delyuered from the burden of the fleshe and we shall in the ende of this lyfe attayne vnto in lyke maner if we contynue faythfull to the ende as they did And when the day of the generall resurrection shall come we with them and they with vs shall through Christ receyue our owne bodyes agayne incorruptible immortall glorious and spirituall euen such as his blessed body is nowe in the throne of maiestie to reigne wyth him in his fathers kingdome for euermore Our most mercifull and louing father graunt vs to contynue stedfast and constant in the true Catholike fayth and confession of our hope of forgiuenesse of all our sinnes by that one onely sacrifice that Christ Iesus made in offering hymselfe on the Crosse once for all as by his holy worde and sacraments he doth daylie teache vs to doe And that we may so frequent and vse this holy misterie of vnitie and reconciliation that we may daylie more and more be assured thereby of his dwelling in vs and our abyding in him To whome be all prayse honour and glory for euer Amen FINIS ¶ Imprinted at London by Henry Denham dwelling in Pater-noster Rovve at the Signe of the Starre SVBLIME DEDIT OS HOMINI Anno Domini 1569. Cum priuilegio