they were present in the Assemblies where the Sacrament was Celebrated and if they neglected Chrysost Hom. 3. in Ep. ad Ephes the Holy Fathers rebuked them with a holy zeal in their Sermons witness what S. Chrysostom saith That it is in vain the daily Sacrifice is made that 't is in vain that Ministers assist at the Altar when there is no body present to receive And he adds That it is a boldness and impudence to be present at the Action and not to participate Therefore it is that elsewhere he considers the Eucharist as a Meal which ought to be common unto Believers The Lords Supper saith he ought to be common Id. Hom. 27. in Ep. 1. ad Cor. for our Lords goods are not for one servant to the exclusion of another but for altogether in common The Apostle therefore calls this Supper of the Lord the common Supper for it is our Lords therefore you ought not to appropriate it unto your self and to exclude and hinder others but make it common unto all us being the Supper of the Lord and Master of all These were also the thoughts of the Authour of the Commentaries upon S. Paul's Epistles in S. Jerom's Works which he expresses in these words In c. 11. Ep. 1. ad Cor. The Supper of the Lord should be common unto all because he gave the Sacraments unto all his Disciples alike But the ancient Doctors were not content to censure those who did not Communicate being in the Assembly and to shew them that the nature of the Sacrament invited them all unto the Communion they moreover made Rules and Directions against this abuse It is whereunto tends this Decree of the Council of Antioch Assembled Anno 341. Those who enter into the Assembly Concil Antioch c. 2. and do heart he holy Scriptures and by a disordered liberty do not join in prayer with the people depriving themselves of the participation of the holy Sacrament must be put out of the Assembly And in the Canons commonly called the Apostles after the VIII Canon hath condemned and deprived of the Communion of Divine Mysteries those amongst the Clergy who without lawful cause abstain from the participation of the Sacrament as being a stumbling-block to the people the Ninth makes this Decree Can. 9. Apostol All the Believers who enter into the Assembly and hear the Scriptures read but stay not for the prayers nor receive the holy Sacrament let them be cast out because they are an offence to the Church Accordingly the Constitutions called Apostolical ordain Constit Apostol l. 8. c. 11. That the Deacon should stand at the Mens Door and the sub-Deacon at the Womens Door to hinder that none should go out during the time of Oblation Which conduct teacheth us that as before the Comunion the Deacon cry'd All you which are under penance you which cannot pray Chrysostâ— Hom. 3. in Ephes that is with the Believers go out So in like manner he hindred Believers who were all bound to Communicate That they should not go out until they had received the holy Sacrament It is by this Maxim that the Deceiver who forged some Decretals in S. Clement's name makes him say in the second Pseudo Clem. decret 2. Greg. I. l. Sacram p. 235. That Sacrifices should be offered according to the number of the people S. Gregory makes the same Decree when he requires That there be laid on the Altar as many Oblations as need for the people And the first Decretal which falsely bears the name of Pope Anaclet commands Anaclet decret 1. That the Consecration being ended all those should communicate that would not be thrust out of the Church it was certainly for the same reason that the Deacon Greg. I. l. 2. dâ—al as Gregory the First witnesseth said aloud Let all those which do not communicate depart out of the Church whence it may be concluded that all those which remained did communicate It is also the Instruction given unto us by the Micrologue whose Author wrote in the Eleventh Century after the death of Gregory the Seventh who died Anno 1084. and of whom this Writer speaks as a Man of a good fame an Epithete as spoken of one deceased It is to be observed saith he that according to the Ancient Fathers Micrologâ—â— 51. none were to be present at the Divine Mysteries but such as did communicate and it is what the Consecration of the Sacraments do plainly declare for the Priest doth not pray only for his own Oblation and Communion but also for that of others And although in the time of this Author that is in the Eleventh Century and before the fervour and zeal of Christians was very much abated we do not find that they ever approved to celebrate the Sacrament without Communicants on the contrary the Councils and those which have written of Divine Offices do not own any celebration to be lawful without there are some to communicate with the Priest who officiates In that sense is to be understood what is said by Walafridus Strabo Walafr Strab. de Beb. Eccles c. 22. Extr. That in a Lawful Mass there should be a Priest one that answers one that offers and one that communicates And therefore 't is that the Council of Mayence Assembled by Charles the Great Anno 813. made this Decree We conceive that no Priest can say Mass alone for how can he say The Lord be with you or how shall he warn Lift up your hearts and many other like things there being none present but himself Which is repeated in the 48th Canon of the Council of Paris under Lewis the Debonair Cap. 7. Anno 829. An Advertisement That Theodulph Bishop of Orleans gives his Priests Anno 797. Cap. 28. And Herard Archbishop of Tours unto his Anno 858. The Canonist Gratian represents unto us this Institution of Pope Soter in his Decree Grat. de Cons Dist 1. c. Soter That no Priest dare presume to celebrate Masses unless there are two persons present and that he make a third because he saith in the plural The Lord be with you and Pray for me Now it appears that this Doctrine is grounded upon the prayers of the Liturgies being publick and having for their object not one or two Persons only but all the Faithful in general who ought to communicate also all the Liturgies Ancient and Modern and all those who have commented upon them give sufficiently to understand that they have been all composed and written in behalf of Communicants without whom they were so far from celebrating the Sacrament that Justin Martyr tells us That it was sent unto those who were absent which sheweth they looked upon the Sacrament as a Seal and Pledge of the Communion amongst Believers And therefore I suppose it is that the Council of Laodicea Concil Laodic c. 58. forbids it to be celebrated in private Houses this Divine Sacrament being appointed in nature
you cannot understand then you may now say unto me seeing you have commanded us to believe explain unto us what it is to the end we might understand for this Thought may be in every body's Mind We know of whom Jesus Christ our Lord took Flesh to wit of the Virgin Mary we know he was nursed in his Infancy that he was fed that he grew that he attained the Age of Manhood that he suffered Persecution of the Jews that he was nailed to the Cross that he there died and was buried that he rose the third Day that he ascended into Heaven when he was pleased to go thither that he lifted up his Body from whence he shall come to judg the quick and the dead and that he is now sitting on the right Hand of the Father How then is the Bread his Body and the Cup his Blood Brethren these things are called Sacraments because one thing is what we see and another is that we understand that which is seen is a bodily Species that which we understand hath a spiritual Fruit If then you would know what the Body of Jesus Christ is hearken to St. Paul the Apostle which said unto Believers You are the Body of Jesus Christ and his Members your Sacrament is laid upon the Lord's Table and you there receive your Mystery You say Amen unto what you are and you thereto subscribe by your Answer It is said unto you The Body of Jesus Christ and you answer Amen be Members then of Jesus Christ that your Amen may be true But why all this to the Bread let us not add here nothing of our own but let us farther hear the same Apostle speaking of this Sacrament We which are many are one Bread and one Body understand this and rejoice for here is nothing but Unity Piety Charity one Bread and one Body although we be many Observe that the Bread is not made of one Grain but of many When you were exorcised you passed as it were under the Mill when you were baptised you were as it were kneaded and when you received the fire of the Holy Ghost you were baked like Bread Be then what you see and receive what you are See here what the Apostle hath said of Bread whereby he sufficiently shews without repeating it what we should believe in regard of the Cup for as to make this visible Species of Bread several Grains are reduced into one Body to represent what the Scripture saith of Believers they were but one Heart and one Soul in God It is also the same of Wine consider how it is one several Grapes are in a Bunch but their Liquor is mingled all into one Body so it is Christ hath represented us so it is he hath made us his and that he hath consecrated upon the holy Table the Mystery of Unity and of our Peace So it was they instructed in the ancient Church the new Baptised they were told that what they see upon the Holy Table was Bread and their own Eyes were called to witness this Truth They were taught that this Bread was the natural Body of Jesus Christ as it was his mystical and moral Body that is to say his Church because it is the Sacrament both of the one and the other and that in the Sacrament must carefully be distinguished the Substance of the Symbols which are visible and corporeal from the Benefit which accrues unto the believing Soul and which is a Thing invisible and spiritual that faithful Believers are although for mystical Reasons the very same thing which they see upon the mystical Table that is to say Bread according to what the Apostle saith we are one Bread and that they do receive truly that which they see mystically Now let the Reader judg if these Catechisms and these Instructions are for the Use of Roman Catholicks or for the Use of Protestants as for my particular I 'le pass unto a new Consideration CHAP. VIII Proofs of the Doctrines of the Holy Fathers drawn by Protestants from some Customs of the Ancient Church THere are two sorts of Language used in the Society and Commerce of Men to communicate unto each other their Thoughts and Intentions I mean Words and Actions The Language of Actions is silent indeed yet nevertheless very intelligible because Actions I speak of those authorized by publick Use are for the most part as significant as Words It is not then to be thought strange if we do relate what Inferences the Protestants draw from certain Customs which were practised by the ancient Church and which we have at large established in the first Part Therefore we will look upon them in this as established and will content our selves in barely mentioning them one after another to infer from each of them what may lawfully be deduced In Africa in St. Austin's time they communicated after Meat Thursday before Easter and in several Churches in Egypt every Saturday in the Year at Evening after having made a good Meal Without speaking of the Church of Corinth in St. Paul's time where some think the same was practis'd what Belief could those People have of the Sacrament of the Eucharist It is no very easie matter to think that they believed it to be the Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ and his Flesh it self else it must be confessed that they were guilty of an horrible Profanation to lodg in a Stomach full of Meats and it may be sometimes even to excess the precious Body of the Saviour of Mankind the only Object of their Worship and Adoration Nevertheless none of the ancient Writers have condemned this Practice those which have treated of it have spoken as of an innocent Custom which had no hurt in it and which moreover was authorized by the Example of Jesus Christ himself Therefore when the third Council of Carthage commanded to celebrate the Sacrament fasting it excepted the Thursday before Easter whereon it permitted to participate every Year after the Meal An evident Proof say some that there was no Crime in this Custom whereas it would have been intolerable if they had believed then the same of the Sacrament as the Latin Church now doth belive of it Therefore no Body can justly blame the Severity of its Laws when it is so strictly prohibited to communicate otherwise than Fasting The ancient Church for a long time used Patens and Chalices of Glass and we do not find that these first Christians ever made any difficulty of putting the Sacrament in Glass-Chalices nor that they were ever blamed that did it On the contrary some of those which used this Practice were commended for it nevertheless we cannot say that these ancient Believers were less circumspect than we are in the Celebration of the Sacrament Wherefore then was it that they feared not so much spilling of it in that Occasion as the Latin Church hath done some Ages past Let this Difference be well considered for saith the Protestant I am much deceived if
their Opinions makes all the Accusations contrary thereunto to be void because we cannot judge of the Faith of a Society and of a Communion but by the Confession which it makes to the prejudice whereof nothing more can lawfully be charged upon it It seems to me to be the true means certainly to judge of the Belief of those of whom we speak and of the Accusations which have been laid to their charge Peter of Cluny writing against the Petrobrusians that is to say against the Disciples of Peter de Bruis or against the Albigensis saith That the report is Peter Cluny contra Petrobrus that they believe neither in Jesus Christ nor in the Prophets nor Apostles and that they deny the Old and New Testament that they reject the whole Canon of the Scriptures Which nevertheless I will not believe saith he nor accuse them of things so uncertain Which Proceeding so far appeared very just and reasonable for a Christian's Charity should not be suspicious And in fine see here what they declared in the Year 1120. Hist of Albing by Paul Perrin c. 1. l. 3. forty years before Waldo appeared It is evident say they both by the Old and New Testament that a Christian is obliged by the Commandment enjoyned him that he should depart from Antichrist which they prove by sundry passages of Esay Jeremiah Ezekiel of Leviticus Numbers Exodus Deuteronomy of St. Matthew St. John and the Revelations The report was also as the same Peter de Cluny saith That they denied that little Children under a reasonable age could be saved by the Baptism of Jesus Christ Nevertheless I only can find this in their Confession Ubi supra c. 4. What is not necessary in the Administration of Baptism are the Exorcisms blowing the sign of the Cross upon the breast and face of the Infant the Salt which is put into the mouth and the Spittle put into their ears and nose c. And about eighty or ninety years after Waldo began to appear Reynerus one of their greatest Enemies Cap 5. 3. gives them this Testimony They commonly have by heart the Text of the new Testament and good part of the old they have the old and new Testament translated into the vulgar Tongue and so they do teach and learn it I saw and heard one of their Peasants who repeated word by word the Book of Job and several others of them who repeated perfectly all the New Testament And elsewhere Cap. 4. all other kind of Sects saith he are monstrous by reason of the Blasphemies which they audaciously offer against God but as for the Sect of the Leonists that is to say the Waldensis they have a great appearance of piety because they live uprightly and justly in the sight of Men and have a sound Belief for all that concerns God and of all the Articles which are contained in the Creed If those people had good and sound thoughts touching God and a right Belief of all the Articles of the Apostle's Creed as their very Adversaries do confess as well as their own Confession of Faith it is impossible they should either be Arians or Manicheans It must then be said that those which charged them with both these Heresies were very ill informed of their Belief And to say the truth Reynerus their Persecutor hath spoken so much in their commendation that he sufficiently warrants them from the impiety of Manes and the Heresie of Arius Also in the same Treatise he carefully distinguisheth them from the Catharians and Manicheans Cap. 6. for he saith That there was not in the whole World above four thousand Catharians Men and Women but as for the Believers they were without number for so it is he calls the Walaensis Cap. 1. 12. as also doth Pilichdorphius who wrote against them and observes that the Waldensis rejected several Sects of Hereticks which were then in the World Hist Albin c. 2. In Prol. chron And Peter de Vaux-Sernay and William de Puy-Lawrans Authors of that Age make a difference betwixt the Albigensis and the Waldensis and the Manicheans and Arians Thence it is that neither Pilichdorfius nor Bernard Abbot de Fon-caude nor Emery do not accuse them of Manicheism nor of Arianism in the List of the Errors which they impute unto them which consists chiefly in denying most of the Doctrines of the Latin Church which the Protestants do also reject Certainly William de Newbridge although their great Enemy cleareth them from all suspition of these two Impieties Rerum Angl. l. 2. c. 13. when speaking of the Albigensis under the name of Publicans which passed from Gascoygne into England he saith Being examined by order upon the Articles of their Faith they answered very well as to what regarded the Essence of the chief Physitian but ill as to the Remedies whereby he is pleased to heal humane Infirmities that is to say the Divine Sacraments All these considerations makes me not approve the proceedings of Mariana and of Gretzer who to make believe that these Christians were really guilty of the abominations of Manes and the Blasphemies of Arius have chang'd the title of certain Authors which they have published and which have written not only against the Albigensis and Waldensis but also against others for instance Luke 〈◊〉 Tude had given this Title unto his Book Of the life to come and of Controversies of Faith But Mariana to make the Readers believe this work only regarded the Albigensis hath given it this Title In Ep. ad Carvajalium Cauricus Episcop Against the Error of the Albigensis And in his Letter unto Carvajalius I purpose saith he to publish Luke de Tude his Dispute against the Hereticks of his time that is to say the Albigensis for this Sect was strong in the days of Luke Reynerius had thus entituled his Book A Treatise touching Hereticks And Gretzer hath given it this inscription Against the Waldensis Although the Author doth testifie that he writeth also against others which were of Opinions different from those of the Waldensis And whereas Everard de Bethuna was content with this Title Antihaeresis that is to say against Heresies In which Treatise he refutes chiefly the Mannicheans without naming them the same Gretzer hath made no scruple to intitle it Against the Waldensis Bernard de Fon-caude gave this name unto his Treatise Against the Waldensis and against the Arians so evidently distinguishing in that manner the Waldensis from the Arians but Gretzer contented himself with this only against the Waldensis In fine Ermingard had placed this Title to his Book Against the Hereticks which believe and say that this World and all visible things are not the work of God but of the Devil that is to say against the Manicheans and Gretzer hath placed over each page against the Waldensis But this kind of conduct is so far from rendring those people more odious according to the intention of those which do it
81. to intimate that she received it with respect and with veneration Whence also it is that St. Jerom in his Preface unto the Easter Epistles of Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria speaks only of receiving the holy things with veneration a veneration which he makes to be common and of the same nature with that which is given unto Chalices Vails and other things which are used at the Celebration of the Eucharist or as he speaks At the Passion of our Saviour intimating that these things should be venerated with the same Majesty as the Body and Blood that is to say the Sacrament for he did not mean to include in the same kind of veneration the true Body of Jesus Christ and the holy Vessels but the Sacrament of this divine Body unto which Sacrament he yields no Adoration but a common Veneration the same as unto the Lining and unto the Chalices of the holy Table Thus do these last argue and discourse After these two considerations we may with more ease examine the matter whereof we are to write the History I mean the Question of the Adoration of the Sacrament And because according to the Advertisement of St. Cyprian That heed must be taken unto what Jesus Christ did do and that what he did in celebrating his first Sacrament should serve as a Model and rule unto what Christians should do after him in the Celebration of theirs it is absolutely necessary to look back unto him to begin our Examination and Enquiry I say then in the institution of this Sacrament which is exactly described unto us I find that our Saviour having broke the Bread which he had taken and consecrated gave it unto his Disciples saying unto them Take eat and that he also in like manner commanded them to take the Cup and drink of it but I do not find that he commanded them to adore neither the one nor the other But if we do not find that he commanded them to adore what he gave unto them neither do we read that the Apostles did adore the Eucharist The Evangelists which have so exactly transmitted unto us the History of this Institution in so exactly marking all the Circumstances of it speak not a word of the holy Apostles adoring of it On the contrary they represent them unto us in a posture which doth not well agree with an act of Adoration for they were almost lying along upon their sides on little Beds round the Table according to the manner of that time Moreover if Jesus Christ had commanded his Disciples to adore what he gave them in the distribution of his Sacrament and if the Disciples had indeed adored it it is very likely say some that the Rulers of the Jews would have known it by Judas and knowing it they would not have failed to have urged it as a capital Crime against Jesus Christ for as they searched only some specious pretext to condemn him they would never have failed embracing this which was very plausible and would have accused our Saviour of having adored Bread and Wine and the rather because amongst them worshipping of Creatures was held for an unpardonable crime at least after their return from the Babylonian Captivity But besides what hath been said the disorder of the Church of Corinth in St. Paul's time affords us say they a convincing Argument of the same thing This divine Apostle condemns the Corinthians irreverence in the celebration of this august Sacrament he endeavours to make them ashamed of it and to shew them that their Conduct in this occasion was quite contrary both unto the working of Charity and the rules of holy Discipline such as the Discipline amongst Christians should be yet nevertheless to return them unto their duty and to persuade and inspire them with the respect due unto so great a Sacrament he doth not say a word unto them of its Adoration the consideration whereof had been of very great moment and capable of producing in the Spirits of these disorderly Christians other thoughts than those which they shewed at the time which they were to participate of this divine Mystery St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles which contains the History of the Infant Church doth observe several times that Believers assembled to break Bread that is to say to celebrate the Eucharist but he never said that the Sacrament was to be adored But it may be that the Christians which immediately followed the Age of the Apostles had upon this Subject other discoveries than those which the Scriptures inform us of and that they can inform us of things we know nothing of St. Justin Martyr which flourished about fifty years after the death of St. John doth in his second Apology exactly and amply describe the whole action of the Sacrament and all that was therein practised in his time on the behalf of him which celebrated and also on their parts which did communicate the Oblation of Bread Wine and Water which was presented unto the Pastor when Sermon and Prayers were ended the Consecration which was performed by him by Prayers and Thanksgivings unto God the Amen which was answered by Believers the distribution and communicating of the things which had been blessed and consecrated and in fine the Charities and Alms-deeds made by particular persons and which was as the Crown and Seal of all this holy Action But in all this description we do see no mark of the Worship of Latry nor of any religious Worship either commanded by the Pastors or practised by the People towards the Sacrament although that this glorious Martyr had twice treated of the Sacrament in this Apology as hath been declared in our first part And this Representation which St. Justin gives unto us of the Eucharist in his time I mean of the Celebration of this Sacrament answers not ill unto what himself observed in his Dialogue against Tryphon That Christians in all places made the Eucharist of Bread and Wine and yet never speaks of adoring it and unto the silence of other Authors of his and the following Age because in all their Writings they are silent upon this matter although it be of the greatest moment in Religion I speak of St. Ireneus of Clemens of Alexandria Tertullian St. Cyprian and of Origen who very far from enjoyning this Adoration give not the least appearance to imagine that it was practised neither in the passages where they speak of the Eucharist nor in others where they seem to be indispensably obliged to say something of it As for example Tertullian in his Apologetick where he promiseth to discover Cap. 39. and to demonstrate what doth concern Christian Religion and where he makes so excellent and rich a description of the Agapes and of the Assemblies of those primitive Christians he saith only Ep. 10 11 12 13. That they do there eat as persons which remember that they are obliged to serve God all night And St. Cyprian treating of those which had fallen