substaunce of holynesse making all other things holy And here I thinke it worthy to be noted and to be opened somewhat vnto you with what sophistrie and vnlearned folye they deluded the sanctification and consecration of this sacrament Children at the Vniuersitie can tell that it is a deceytfull way of reasoning by a generall discription to exclude and driue away a special and singuler definition as they did in this case For they sayde that the consecration of the sacrament was no more but an appointing of bread and wine to an holy vse which vse they sayde was to signifie vnto vs Christes body that is in heauen and therefore some sayde that the bread was consecrat when the parishe Clarke did bring it to the Church and set it vpon the table and these were no small men but our greatest Bishops God forgiue it them other sayde it was not consecrate till the wordes of Christ were spoken but yet they noted that the Priest should not looke at the bread in the time of the pronouncing for this ende belike that they should not be disceyued that God should worke no more then it pleased them that their doctrine might some waye bee true And therfore they sayde euery man and woman might consecrate and speake the words as well as a Priest but they neuer read what Arnobius sayth Arniobus in Psalm 139. Quid tam magnificum quam Sacramenta deuina conficere quid tam perniciosum quam si ea is conficiat qui nullum sacerdotij gradum accepit What is so excellent then to consecrate the sacraments of God and what is so pernicious then if he doe consecrate that hath receyued no order and degree of Priesthood And as they erred in the time and person so they erred in the nature of the consecration making this of the same sort that all other consecrations be receauing the generall discription and denying the degrees and specialties of sanctification which be many for somethings be holy not for any holynesse that is in them but for that they be brought to the Church and dedicate to some holy vse as is the temple of God the vestures about the aultar and other things vsed in Gods seruice which things to steale and conuey is sacrilege and amongst those things there be degrees of holynesse as saint Augustine sayth Quod accipiunt Catechumini August de peccat merit remiss libr. 2. ca. 26. quamuis non sit corpus Christi sanctum est tamen sanctius quà m cibi quibus alimur Holy bread which those that be learners receiue although it be not the body of Christ yet it is holy and more holy then the meat with which we are fed daylie which also is sanctified by the worde and prayer There is also holynesse a qualitie a vertue gift of God making him in whome it is acceptable in the sight of God The soule of man is likewise sanctified holy bicause it is that substaunce and subiect wherein holynesse consisteth and dwelleth being a vessell created to Gods ymage and prepared to receaue Gods gift of sanctification holynesse And the body of a godly man is also sanctified holy bicause it is the member of Christ the temple of the holy Ghost and the house and tabernacle of the soule replenished with Gods grace and sanctification and for this reason we haue in reuerence and estimation the reliques bodyes of holy martyrs and confessors which being members of Christ were also pleasing sacrifices to Almightie God eyther for austeritie of life or for suffering of vndeserued death for the fayth or in the quarell of Iesus Christ oure Lorde The sacraments of Gods Church be iustly called holy bicause they be the instruments whereby God doth worke holynesse in the soule of man and be as causes of the same by Christes owne ordinaunce and institution But aboue all other thys sacrament of the aultar is holye being as Chrysostome sayde not onely a thing sanctified but the verie sanctification it selfe For in that it is the body of Christ by consecration whervnto is annexed the Godhead by vnitie of person it must needes be holynesse it selfe not in qualitie but in substaunce seing whatsoeuer thing is in God is also God who for his simplicitie receyueth no qualitie into himselfe but is the author and principall cause of all good qualities and graces giuen vnto man Wherefore this place of Chrysostome that calleth it sanctification it selfe can not be auoyded by no figuratiue speeches or such like cauillations CROWLEY Here you begin with a lowde lye by your leaue for there was neuer time yet wherein true christen men cared not who looked vpon them in the time of their mysteries Two lowde lyes one in anothers neck but they did shut out from the place where they did communicate all that were not thought méete to be partakers with them And if you beléeue not me looke in your Liturgies of Iames Basill and Chrysostome And then you clap another lye euen in the neck of the first saying that the Christians made a knocking and knéeling and adoration to the sacraments and that that was the thing that moued the Gentils to say that we worship many Gods and not one as we pretend But to proue this to be no lye you take saint Austen to wytnesse Who in the place that you cite sayth thus speaking to Faustus the Maniche Quomodo ergo comparas panem Calicem nostrum parem Religionem dicis errorem longè à veritate discretum peius desipiens quam nonnulli qui nos propter Panem Calicem Cererem liberum colere existimant How doest thou therfore compare our bread and cup and sayest that an errour which differeth verie farre from the truth is as good a religion as oures being more fondly disceyued then are certaine which by reason of the bread and cup doe suppose that we doe worship Ceres and Bacchus And in the same Chapter he sayth Sicut enim à Cerere libero Paganorum dijs longè absumus quamuis Panis Calicis sacramentum quod ita laudastis vt in eo nobis pares esse volueritis nostroritu amplectamur c For euen as we are verie farre from Ceres and Bacchus Gods of the Paganes although we doe after our maner embrace the sacrament of the bread and the cup which you haue so highly commended bicause you would therein be like vnto vs euen so our fathers were farre ynough from the chaines of Saturne although they did during the time of prophecie obserue the calling or name of the Sabboth The same Gentils which had sayde that the christians did worship Ceres and Bacchus bicause they vsed bread and wine in their communion had sayde also that the people of the Iewes were appointed to be the people of Saturne bicause they obserued the seuenth day of their wéeke for their Sabboth or rest which day the heathen did dedicate vnto Saturne Saint Austen therefore
we shall be able to fight against euen to the death Our receyuing of Christ therfore is spirituall into the soule by fayth and into the body or by the senses sacramentally that is in suche sort as by the receyuing of Sacramentes we maye receyue the things signified by the same In Baptisme therefore we doe by beléeuing the promise of God made in Christ receyue him into our soules to washe and purge the same of all sinne and the verie senses of our bodies doe vnderstand the same when we doe by them consider the nature and vse of the creature water wherin our Sauiour Christ hath instituted that holy Sacrament which is to purge and clense from all filth all those things that be washed therein In like maner in the Lords supper when we beleue the wordes of Christ written by Saint Iohn Ego sum panis ille qui de coelo descendi qui edit de hoc pane viuet in aeternum I am that bread which came downe from heauen Iohn 6. he that eateth of this bread shall liue for euer then doe we by fayth receyue Christ into our soules and the verie senses of our bodies doe perceiue and our common sense doth vnderstande that as the creatures bread and wine wherein this Sacrament is instituted doe strengthen and chéere mens hartes euen so the body and bloud of our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ doe strengthen comfort and make chéerefull the soule of man And further we doe euen sensibly perceyue in Baptisme our buriall with Christ to the worlde and worldly delightes and our resurrection with him to newnesse of lyfe And in the Lordes supper our knitting togither into one bodye whereof Christ is the head According to that which Austen teacheth in that sermon that he intitleth Of the sacraments of the faithful We teach not therfore that they be vaine emptie signes August ad Iaenuarium lib. 1. but we hold that they be most effectual in significatioÌ„ as Austen writeth to Ianuarius Nowe where as you saye that by the power of almightie God assisting the due administration of the Priest Christ is become present in the sacrament after your maner we knowe no such due administration as you meane of I am sure That is dashed full of crossings and trurnings doukyngs and starings in Maskers apparell But we know and acknowledge that order of ministration that Christ appointed the Apostles vsed to be the due order of ministration And the Gods almighty power doth assist that ministration so that the worthy receyuers that is such as be members of Christs body are spiritually sacramentally partakers of Christ and doe receyue into their soules whole Christ both God and man according as the holy scriptures and holye Fathers doe teach without any transubstantiating or chaunging of the substaunces of the creatures bread and wine WATSON Diuision 9. For seing the substaunce of our Sacrifice of the newe Testament is the very reall and naturall body of Christ as may be proued by many Authorities Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Saint Cyprian sayth In sacrificio quod Christus est non nisi Christus sequendus est In that Sacrifice that is Christ no man is to be folowed but Christ Here he saith that Christ is the Sacrifice that we offer to almightie God Also Saint Basyl writeth in his forme of Masse Basil in Missa Tues qui offers offerris qui suscipis impartis Christe deus noster O Christ our God thou art he that both doest offer and is offered that both giuest the offering and receaueth Saint Basyll by this meaneth that the Sacrifice which the Church offered to God is Christ himselfe who in that he is the head of his body the Church is one offerer with the Chuch and so is both offerer and offered as Basyll sayth Lykewise Saint Ambrose wryting of the inuention of the bodies of two glorious Martirs Geruasius and Prothasius of the burying of them vnder the aultar sayth thus Amb. lib. 10. Epist 85. Succedant victimae triumphales in locum vbi Christus hostia est sed ille super altare qui pro omnibus passus est isti sub altari qui illius redempti sunt passione Let these triumphing Sacrifices meaning the bodies of the Martirs go into the place where Christ is a Sacrifice But Christ is a Sacrifice aboue the aultar who suffred for all men these two vnder the aulter that were redeemed by his passion Of this place I note my purpose which is that the Sacrifice of the Church and newe Testament is the very reall body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ which is also testified by Chrisostome in his Homely he wryteth of the praise of God in these wordes Chrysost hom de Laude Dei Vereamini mensam quaue desuper victima illa iacet Christus scilicet qui nostri causa occisus est Feare and reuerence that table aboue the which lyeth that Sacrifice that is to say Christ which for our cause was slayne By which wordes Chrisostome declareth his fayth that the Sacrifice of the Church is Christ and also that Christ is not onely in heauen as some men damnably beareth you in hande but is placed lying aboue the Fable of the aultare as the substaunce of our Sacrifice And in an other Homely he wryteth Idem homil De Enâ—â—â—ijs Mensa mystâ—rijs instructa est agnus dei pro te immolatur The Table is furnished with misteries the Lambe of God for thee is offered teaching vs that the holy misteries wherewith the Table of our aulter is furnished be the bodye and bloud of Christ that is to say the Lambe of God which is also then offered for vs. August lib 9 Confes Ca. 12. Saint Augustine is full of such sayinges as wryting of his mothers death how that he wept nothing for hir all the time the Masse was saide for hir Soule which he expresseth by these wordes Cum offerretur pro ea sacrificium praecij nostri When the Sacrifice of our price was offered for hir I leaue out al the rest of the sentence contented to allege onely this that proueth the sacrifice which is offered by the Priest for the dead to be our price which is and can bee nothing else but the body and bloud of Christ which he gaue vpon the crosse as the price of our redemption August lib. Senten prosp But playnest of all he wryteth in a Booke intituled Liber Sententiarum prosperi Which Booke is alledged of Gratian in the decrees in these wordes Hoc est quod dicimus quod modis omnibus approbare contendimus sacrificium Ecclesiae duobus confici duobus constare visibili elementorum specie inuisibili Domini nostri Iesu Christi corpore sanguine Sacramento re SacrameÌ„ti id est corpore Christi This is that we say that we labour to prooue by all meanes that the Sacrifice of the Church is made and
out of their sight neither had he stil such a body as might be much conuersant with them after a bodily maner that thereby their desire might encrease When these wordes be well weighed and considered togither they doe rather teache vs that the power of Christs fleshe is vnspeakable in vanishing out of the Disciples sight then in opening their eyes For he sayth not that the eyes of them that did receyue his fleshe were opened that they might knowe him but the eyes of them that did receyue that bread where ouer he gaue thankes which he calleth blessed bread were opened to knowe him Howe can you then prooue by this place that in the sacrament of Christes bodye and bloud there is neyther bread nor wine Your conclusion therefore is to large when you saye To large a conclusion that thereby men may sée that the opening of our eyes to sée God is one of the effectes of the sacrament that you talke of And that in no wise the same may be eyther bread or wine Christ sayth Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt Blessed are the cleane in hart for they shal sée God It is therfore the cleanesse of the hart that worketh the effect that you speake of And without that it can not be wrought And many thousandes there be that receyue the sacrament of Christes bodye without cleane hartes and therefore doe not by the receyuing of the sacrament sée or know God But let vs sée your other effects Another effect is WATSON Diuision 22 the immortalitie of our bodies and soules the resurrection of our fleshe to euerlasting lyfe to haue lyfe eternall dwelling in vs. This effect is declared in the sixt of saint Iohn He that eateth me shall liue for me Ioan. 6. he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe and I shall rayse him vp in the last day Vpon this place Cyrillus sayth Ego enim dixit id est corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Cyrillus li. 4. Capit. 15. ego igitur inquit qui homo factus sum per meam carnem in nouissimo die comedentes resuscitabo Christ sayth I that is to say my body which shall be eaten shall raise him vp I that am made man by my fleshe shall raise vp them that eate it in the laste daye Cyrillus in Ioan lib. 10. Capit 13. And in hys tenth booke he sayth more playnely Non potest aliter corruptibilis haec natura corporis ad incorruptibilitatem vitam traduci nisi naturalis vitae corpus ei coniungeretur This corruptible nature of our bodies can not otherwise be brought to immortalitie and life except the body of naturall lyfe be ioyned to it By these Authorities we learne that the effect of Christs body in the sacrament is the raysing vp of oure bodyes to eternall lyfe And also we learne that the eating of Christs body is not onely spiritually by fayth as the sacramentaries saye but also corporally by the seruice of our bodyes when Christes body in the sacrament is eaten and receyued of our bodyes as our spirituall foode and bicause it is of infinite power it is not conuerted into the substaunce of oure fleshe as other corruptible meates bee but it doth chaunge and conuert our fleshe into his propertie making it of mortall and dead immortall and liuely As the same Cyrillus writeth in his fourth booke Recordare quamuis naturaliter aqua frigidior sit Cyrill lib. 4. Capit. 14. aduentu tamen ignis frigiditatis suae oblita aestuat Hoc sanè modo etiam nos quamuis propter naturam carnis corruptibiles sumus participatione tamen vitae ab imbecillitate nostra reuocati ad proprietatem illius ad vitam reformamur Oportuit enim certè vt non solum anima per spiritū sanctum in beatam vitam ascenderet verum etiam vt rude atque terrestre hoc corpus cognato sibi gustu tactu cibo ad immortalitatem reduceretur The Englishe is this Remember howe water although it be colde by nature yet by reason of fyre put to it it forgetteth the colde and waxeth whot euen so doe wee although we be corruptible by reason of the nature of our fleshe yet by participation of Christs flesh which is lyfe we are brought from our weaknesse and reformed to his proprietie that is to say to lyfe for it is necessary that not onely our soule should ascend to an happy and spirituall lyfe by receyuing the holy ghost but also that this rude and earthly body should be reduced to immortalitie by tasting touching and corporall meat lyke to it selfe This place is verie playne declaring vnto vs that lyke as our selues are reuiued from the death of sinne to the lyfe of grace and glory by the receiuing of Gods spirite the holy Ghost in baptisme euen so our bodyes being corruptible by nature and dead by reason of the generall sentence of death are restored againe to lyfe eternall and celestiall by the receyuing of Christes lyuely fleshe into them after the maner of meat in this sacrament of the aultar And in his eleuenth booke he sayth Cyrill li. 11. Capit. 27. that it is not possible for the corruptible nature of man to ascende to immortality except the immortall nature of Christ doe reforme and promote it from mortalitie to lyfe eternall by participation of his mortall fleshe In the proouing of this effect of your sacrament CROWLEY you deale as faythfully as you haue done in the rest First how faythfully doe you deale in cyting the words of our sauiour Christ Watson will not leaue his olde wont in the sixt of Iohn as ment of the sacramentall eating of his fleshe whereas the circumstaunce of the text will not suffer any such sense For if he should meane there of the sacramentall eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud then could none be saued but such only as doe so eate and drinke the same And contrariewise none that doe so eate and drinke them could perishe For he sayth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe It is manifest therefore that these wordes of Christ be spoken of the spirituall eating and drinking of his flesh and bloud and not of a sacramental eating or drinking For the sacrament was not then instituted neyther did our Sauiour Christ go about to institute a sacrament of his body and bloud at that time But in cyting the wordes of Cyrill in the fiftene chapter of his fourth booke your faithfull dealing is most manifest If you had cyted Cyrillus his wordes wholy as they stande in his booke they would haue made to much against you And therfore when you had sayde Ego enim dixit id est corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Christ sayde I that is to saye my body that shall be eaten will raise him vp then you passe ouer the wordes that folowe which are
alledged the wordes of the Ephesian Councell contrarie to the true meaning of the Fathers that were gathered togither in that Counsell And that it helpeth you nothing at all that that Counsell was holden so long agoe This doctrine also was determined in the generall counsell holden at Constantinople in the time of Iustinian the Emperour the yeare of oure Lorde .552 WATSON Diuision 8. Concilium Constanti in Trul. cap. 102. where be written these wordes Omni sensibili creaturae supereminet is qui salutari passione coelestem nactus dignitatem edens bibens Christum ad vitam aeternam perpetuo coniungitur anima corpore diuinae participatione gratia sanctificatur and so forth He farre excelleth euerye sensible creature that by the passion of our sauiour obteyning heauenly dignitie eating and drinking Christ is continually ioyned to eternall lyfe and is sanctified both in soule and body by participacion of the heauenly grace This place is notable declaring the dignitie of him that eateth Christ and the effect of that eating to be euerlasting lyfe and sanctification both of bodie and soule You haue a great grace in setting the visoure of antiquitie CROWLEY vpon matter nothing auncient Watsons grace in the bragge of antiquitie This matter must nedes be bolstred oute with the bigge title of the counsell of Constantinople holden in the time of Iustinian the Emperour c. And yet in that whole counsel as the same hath bene of any antiquitie set forth in writing there is not any one worde that may be wrested to such meaning as you alledge this place for But in the mergine you note that you find it in the counsell holdē in Trullo Capi. 102. I suppose that is as much as if you had sayde that Ecchius Pighius Hosius or some of the auncient Catholiks that liued about the yeare of our Lorde .1550 Wordes cited not found in the place noted haue reported that this doctrine was agréed vpon in the fift general Counsel for the sentence that you cite is not to be found either there or in the counsell holden in Trullo But graunt that the fathers of the counsel had concluded in such words as you cite what should it help your cause you haue taken vpon you to proue that Christ is really and substancially present in the sacrament And to proue this you say that the fathers of the Counsell haue determined that who so hath by the suffering of Christ obtayned the heauenly dignitie and doth eate and drinke Christ the same being more excellent then all sensible creatures is continually ioyned to eternall lyfe and is sanctified both in soule and bodie Watson cyteth wordes that proue the contrarie of his assertion by the participation of the grace of God Doe these wordes prooue your purpose Or doe they not rather proue that no wicked man doeth eate and drinke Christ for none can truely be sayde to excell all sensible creatures and to be continually ioyned to life eternall and to be made holy both in soule and body but such onely as be by Christ aduaunced to the heauenly dignitie that is to say be made members of Christ children of God and inheritours of the kingdome of heauen But no wicked reprobate is such one wherefore none such doth eate or drinke Christ in the sacrament So well do your friendes in the councell holden in Trullo helpe you to proue your purpose WATSON Diuision 9. Concilium Lateranense Lykewise the generall counsell called Lateranense holden at Rome the yeare of our Lord. 1215. determined this matter in the same termes that we expresse it now Vna est fidelium vniuersalis Ecclesia extra quam nullus omnino saluatur in qua idem ipse sacerdos sacrificium Iesus Christus cuius corpus sanguis in Sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis vini veraciter continentur transubstantiatis pane in corpus vino in sanguinem potestate diuina There is one vniuersall church of all faithfull people without the which no man is saued at anye time in the which Iesus Christ him selfe is both the priest and the sacrifice whose bodye and bloude be truely conteyned in the sacrament of the aultar vnder the fourme of bread and wine the breade being transubstanciate into his body and the wine into his bloude by the power of God This forme of doctrine after this sort in these termes hath bene taught professed and beleued throughout the whole catholike churche euer since that time howsoeuer some Heretiks forsaking their faith proceding from Gods omnipotent worde and the vnitie of his Church and leaning to their sensuallitie and blinde reason against fayth haue repined and barked against the same But I put no doubtes but by gods grace if the time would suffer me to make this matter of transubstantiation as plaine as the other of the reall presence It semeth to me a straunge thing CROWLEY that you which bragge of vniforme consent of the Church fiftene hundred yeres before this daye doe now produce witnesse that is not yet .400 yeres olde Decrees made by Pope Innocent doe not proue things done 1200. yeres before his daies and woulde haue the world to think that bicause Pope Innocent the third hath decreed the transubstantiation of bread and wine and the reall presence of Christes bodie and bloud in the sacrament therefore it must néedes be beleued to be so nowe and to haue bene so euer since the first institution of the sacrament But in the aunsweres that I haue made to the matter of greater antiquitie produced by you in your first sermon and in the former part of this your second sermon it doth sufficiently appeare to the indifferent reader that you neyther haue made playne the matter of the reall presence nor are like to make plaine the matter of transubstantiation though you take as much time therto as you haue now to liue I wil not stick to graunt you that this counsell of Lateranense did determine this matter according as you haue saide but what is that to the purpose you haue in hande for in the dayes of the thirde Innocent the Church of Rome was as farre from the sinceritie of christen religion as it is now And what doth that determination that they made of this matter proue against vs that stande in the defence of the sinceritie that was in the primatiue Church I put no doubts therfore but I shall be able to aunswere all that you shall be able to saye for your transubstantiation As I haue bene able to aunswere all that you haue produced for the matter of the reall presence The general counsel also of Constance holdē of later daies WATSON Diuision 10. the yeare of our Lorde 1451. doth agree and testifie the same Concilium constantiense in that they condemned Iohn Wyclefe the heretike and all his errours against this blessed sacrament Thus haue I shewed you the consent of the Church by the determinations
by these his wordes This is my body which is giuen for you And although this oblation may be proued sufficiently otherwise yet to my simple iudgement there seemeth to be no light argument in this worde Datur is giuen for seing the scripture sayth it is giuen for vs and not to vs as Zwinglius and our great Archebishop his Disciple would haue it we must needes vnderstande by giuen for vs offred for vs so that in this place and many other to giue is to offer And although it be true that Christ was giuen and offered for vs to the father vpon the crosse the next day folowing yet because the worde Datur is in Greeke in all the Euangelistes where it is expressed in the present tense and also euery sentence is true for the time it is pronounced therefore me thinke I may certainely conclude because Christ sayth datur pro vobis is giuen for you that euen then in the supper time he offered his body for vs to his father Thirdly Christ did deliuer to his disciples to be eaten and dronken that he had before consecrated and offered Math. 29. and this appeareth by his words Take eate and drinke ye all of this The first and the thirde which be the consecration and receauing be out of all controuersie confessed of all men The second which is the oblation is of late brought in question which I haue partly proued by the plaine words of scripture as it seemeth to me so that I may well reason thus Christs action is our instruction I except his wonderfull workes and miracles specially when his commaundement is ioyned vnto it But Christ in his supper offred himselfe verily and really vnder the formes of bread and wine after an impossible maner and commaunded vs to doe the same till his second comming me thinke therefore that the Masse we doe and ought to doe sacrifice offer Christ vnto his father which oblation is the externall sacrifice of the Church and proper to the new testament CROWLEY The best arguments of the Popes diuinitie schoole Nowe to your purpose c. you will proue by the best arguments in your diuinitie schole that Christs body and bloud offered in the Masse is the sacrifice of the Church c. And as it appéereth the best arguments of your schoole are these thrée The institution of Christ the prophecie of Malachie and the figure of Melchisedech Well I trust the reader shall in that which foloweth sée howe well you doe performe your promise Doe this in my remembraunce sayth Christ that is offer vp this in my remembraunce say you and except you be deceyued Christ hath in these words instituted the sacrifice of the Masse Your newe men you say doe laugh at you c. And you doe pittie them c. Bilyke you haue a delight to be laughed at for you haue in the wordes folowing giuen more occasion to be laughed at as shall appéere in this aunswere Watsons pittie Luc. 23. Your pittie is much like that which was in the women of Ierusalem when they wept to sée the miserable estate of Christ which was condemned to die being an Innocent Watson will make his newe maysters laugh When Christ sayde doe this c. All that Christ did must néedes be vnderstanded by this worde this and therefore you will sée what Christ did First he consecrated his precious bodye and bloud c. Might not your new men thinke you iustly laugh at you when you alledge that for your purpose that maketh most against you doe this sayth Christ What shall we doe say you Take bread saith Christ And when you haue giuen thanks breake it and distribute it and eate it for it is my bodye Then take the cup and when ye haue giuen thankes drinke ye all of it for it is my bloud of the new testament which is shed for manye for the remission of sinnes Thus farre according as Mathewe wryteth What ground haue you in these wordes for the institution of the Masse He doth not say prepare you ministring garments of a straunge fashion Neyther doth he bid you make those garments holye He speaketh no word of your halowed aultare Superaltare Cup or Corporasse cloth He maketh no mention of your thinne stertch cake nor of myxing water with your wine He hath no worde of your manifolde crossings turnings and halfe turnings with the rest of the Apishe toyes whereof your Masse doth consist But he tooke bread and wine What Christ did at his last supper such as the present occasion did offer And he gaue thankes to his heauenly father and did presently distribute the same to those Disciples of his that were then present commaunding them all to eate and drinke thereof in the remembraunce of his death and passion as often as they should thinke it méete by a sacrament to celebrate the remembrance thereof Assuring them that in so doing they should be partakers of his body and bloud to the nourishing of their soules and bodies to euerlasting lyfe Here is a playne institution of the holye communion of the body and bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ but for your transubstantiating consecration that you vse in your Masse here is no warrant at all By your owne iudgement therefore your Antichristian Clarkes are but vsurpers hauing no warrant in the worde of God to shewe for your doings in this point The matter therfore is not so playne on your side as you would haue men thinke it to be The lyke foundation you haue founde to builde your oblation vpon Christ hath sayd Which is giuen for you And to your simple iudgement there séemeth no little argument in this word Datur is giuen c. And therfore you conclude that Christ did at his last supper euen in the supper time offer his body for vs to his father Mathew and Marke make no mention of this Datur Mat. 26. Mar. 14. that you builde vpon Bilyke therefore it is not so great a matter as you would make of it For if the church can haue no sacrifice but that which is builded vpon Datur it is to be thought that Mathew and Marke knewe nothing of the Church sacrifice But in Luke you finde Quod pro vobis datur which is giuen for you not to you as Zwynglius and Cranmer his Scholer would haue it You conclude therefore that giuen for vs must néedes signifie offred for vs. So that in this place and many other but you name not one to giue is to offer Many places but none named And because all the Euangelistes haue it in the Gréeke expressed in the present tense c. you thinke you may certainely conclude because Christ sayth Datur pro vobis is giuen for you that euen then in the supper time he offered his body for vs to his father First I must say vnto you that when you shall shewe vs those places wherein to giue is to offer then we will weigh them
be confessed to receyue the bodye and bloud of Christ also euen into his bodye But that is not true Ergo. c. The Maior of this argument is your owne wordes and the Minor must be prooued by Scriptures and Doctours which is easie ynough to be done First our Sauiour Christ sayth Whatsoeuer entreth by the mouth Math. 15. goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught Which thing I thinke you will not confesse to be true of the body and bloud of Christ Ergo. c. Iohn 6. Agayne Christ sayth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloude doth dwell in mée and hath mée dwelling in hym but not euerye one that receyueth the Sacrament dwelleth in Christ and hath Christ dwelling in him Ergo. c. Actes 3. Agayne Peter sayth that heauen must holde him vntill that tyme come wherein all things that the prophets haue spoken be fulfilled The Scripture ouerthroweth Watsons foundation Wherefore I conclude that by the Scriptures it is manifest that the body and bloud of Christ are not receyued into the bodyes of men by the receyuing of the Sacrament thereof And consequently that it is not really and essentially present in the Sacrament But you are not wont to credite the Scriptures vnlesse you haue the sayings of the Doctours to confirme the same vsing their wrytings as a touchstone to trie the Scriptures by where as they themselues do desire to haue their wryting tryed by the scriptures refusing to haue credit further then they shal be found consonant to the Scriptures We might therefore say that it is more then néedeth to go about to trie the touchstone by that mettall that should be tried by it Neuerthelesse to let them whose eyes ye haue bleared sée how you haue deceyued their sight I wil not stick to cite some sayings out of such among the Doctours as be most auncient and sounde in opinion wherby it may appeare that they thought not as you haue taught Basilius Magnus although not wryting of this matter Basilius De Spiritu sanct Cap. 22. yet going about to proue the holy ghost to be God sayth thus Angelus qui astitit Cornelio non erat in eodem tempore etiam apud Philippum Neque qui ab altari Zachariam alloquebatur eodem tempore etiam in coelo propriam sedem ac stationem implebat At vero Spiritus simul in Abacuc in Daniele in Babilonia operari creditus est in Cataracta cum Hieremia esse dictus est cum Ezechele in Chobar The Aungell that stood before Cornelius was not at the same time with Philip also Neyther did he that from the Altar spake vnto Zachary at the same time occupie his owne place and order in heauen But we beleue that the holy ghost did at one time worke in Abacuc and in Daniell beyng in Babilon And it is sayde that he was with Hieremie in the Dongion and with Ezechiell in Chobar Basill thinketh this to be a sufficient reason to proue the holy ghost to be God And so will all godly men confesse For no creature can occupie moe places at one time than one onely But you affirming Christs body to be really present in the sacrament doe teache that it is present in a multitude of places at once Ergo Watsons doctrine denieth the manhood of Christ you affirme it to be God and so doe yée destroy the mans nature in Christ in that ye confounde it with the deuine contrarie to that Catholike fayth that you would séeme to defende wherein we confesse with Athanasius that God man is but one Christ not by confusion of substaunce but by the vnitie of person This Basill is no newe writer as you know M. Watson for he lyued about .320 yeres after Christes ascension Origin also somewhat more auncient Origin in Math. 25. for he lyued about 200 yeres after Christ wryting vpon the .25 Chapter of Math sayth thus Quod si semper omnibus suis est presens quomodo introducunt cum Parabolae eius peregrinantem Vide vt possumus soluere hoc modo quod quaeritur Qui enim dicit Discipulis suis ecce vobiscum sum vsque ad consummationem saeculi Et item vbi fuerint duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo ibi sum in medio eorum c. Et qui in medio etiam noscientium se consistit Vnigenitus Dei est Deus verbum sapicutia iustitia veritas qui non est corporeo ambitu circumclusus Secundum hanc diuinitatis suae naturam non peregrinatur sed peregrinatur secundum dispensationem corporis quod suscepit Secundum quod turbatus est tristis factus est dicens Nunc anima mea turbatur Et iterum Tristis est anima mea vsque ad mortem Haec autem dicentes non soluimus suscepti corporis hominem cum sit scriptum apud Iohannem Omnis spiritus qui soluit Iesum non est ex Deo sed vnicuique substantiae proprietatem reseruamus If so be that he be alwayes present with all them that be his Howe doe his Parables bring him in as one that is gone into a straunge Country Marke how we may answere the questiō that is now moued Certes he that sayth to his Disciples behold I am with you to the end of the world also where two or thrée shal be gathered togither in my name there am I in the midst of them c. And he also which standeth in the midst of them that knowe him not the same is the onely begotten sonne of God God the sonne and the wisdome that iustice and that truth that is not closed in with bodily compassing According to the nature of this his diuinitie he is not gone into a straunge Country But as touching his body which he hath receyued he is gone into a straunge Country According to the which he was troubled and made heauie when he sayde Now is my soule troubled And againe My soule is sorowfull euen vnto death When we speake thus we doe not lose in sunder the manhood of the bodye which he hath receyued bicause it is written in Iohn euery spirite that dissolueth the sauiour is not of God but we doe reserue to eche substaunce the propertie thereof In these wordes of Origin it is manifest that he thought the presence of Christ with his Origin against Maister Watson to be vnderstanded of his diuine nature his absence from them of his mans nature Whervpon I conclude that Origin was not of your minde in that you say that Christs body is really essentially present in the Sacramēt August ad Dardanū Saint Austen also who lyued about .400 yeres after Christs ascension wryteth thus vnto Dardanus Noli itaque dubitare ibi nunc esse hominem Christum Iesum vnde venturus est Memoriterque recole fideliter tene Christianam confessionem quoniam resurrexit à mortuis ascendit in coelum sedet
prodest quicquam c. But in such maner of thoughts sayth Cyprian fleshe and bloud doe not helpe any thing at all For as the maister himselfe hath declared these wordes are spirite and lyfe neyther doth the fleshly sense enter in vnto the vnderstanding of so great a déepenesse except there come faith thervnto The breade is meate the bloud is lyfe the fleshe is substaunce the body is the Church A body bicause of the agréeing of the members in one bread bicause of the congruence of the nourishment Bloud bicause of the working of lyuelynesse Flesh bicause of the propertie of the humane nature that he hath taken vpon him Christ doth sometime call this sacrament his owne bodie sometime his fleshe and bloud sometimes bread a portion of euerlasting life whereof he hath according to these visible thinges giuen part to the corporall nature This common foode being chaunged into fleshe and bloud doth procure lyfe and encreasing vnto bodies and therefore the weakenesse of oure fayth being holpen by the accustomed effect of things is by a sensible argument taught that the effect of eternall lyfe is in the visible sacramentes and that we are made one with Christ not so much by a bodily passing into him as by a spirituall And agayne in the same Sermon he sayth Esus igitur carnis huius quaedam auiditas est quoddam desiderium manendi in ipso c. The eating therefore of this fleshe is a certaine gréedinesse and desire to dwell in him whereby we doe so presse and melt in our selues the swéetenesse of loue that the taste of loue that is poured into vs may cleaue in the roofe of our mouth and bowels entering into and making moyst all the corners both of our soules and body Drinking and eating doe appertayne both to one reconing And as the bodily substaunce is nourished by them and liueth and contynueth in health so the lyfe of the spirite is nourished with thys foode that doth properly belong thereto And looke what foode is to the fleshe the same is fayth to the soule Looke what thing meat is to the bodye the same is the worde to the spirite with more excellent power performing euerlastingly the thing that fleshely nourishments doe worke temporally and finally Hitherto Cyprian If it had pleased you to haue weighed all these wordes of Cyprian I thinke you could not for shame haue wrested his former wordes to such purpose as you doe concluding that if we haue not Christes body and bloud in the sacrament for our externall sacrifice whereby we may mitigate c. then we should be no better then Turkes c. S. Cyprian himselfe doth in these words that I haue cited out of the same Sermon expound his meaning in the former wordes cyted by you to be farre other then that which you gather and conclude vpon them In déede if the Capernaits had deuoured the body of Christ and none could haue bene saued but such as had bene partakers of the same with them a very small number should haue bene saued by him And when that number had bene dead his religion must néedes haue bene at an ende for they should haue had no more sacrifice for sinne for as much as he which should be the alone sacrifice for sinne had bene by them eaten vp and consumed When saint Cyprian therfore had thus spoken of the grosse opinion of the Capernaits he doth immediatly adde these words Sed in cogitationibus c. But in such maner of cogitations fleshe and bloud doe profite nothing at all For as the maister himselfe hath taught these wordes are spirite and lyfe c. And agayne afterward he sayth Esus igitur carnis huius c. The eating of this fleshe therefore is a certaine gréedinesse and desire to abide or dwell in him c. It is manifest therfore that saint Cyprian ment not to teach Cyprians meaning that vnlesse the body of Christ be really and substantially present in the sacrament the Church can haue no sacrifice and so consequently no religion but his meaning was to teache that it was not a fleshely but a spirituall eating that he spake of And that by faith the Church hath Christ her euerlasting sacrifice for sinne not offered by the massing Priestes euerye daye but offered by himselfe once for all and yet still present with God as all things both past and to come are For with God there is neyther time past nor to come but all present Other sacrifice to mitigate or please God the Church neyther hath nor néedeth anye For Christ hath by that one sacrifice once offered made perfite as manye as be made holye that is Hebr. 10. as many as be sanctified by the holy spirite of adoption And where as you compare vs to the Turkes as hauing no peculier sacrifice to offer I must tell you that you do belye your friend Cluniacensis Watson belyeth Cluniacensis whose testimonie you vse to prooue the Turkes and vs to be one sect His wordes be these Nam cum sint his nostris diebus quatuor in mundo precipuae diuersitates sectarum hoc est chirstianorum Iudaeorum Saracenorum Paganorum si Christiani non sacrificant iam nullus in mundo sacrificat Iudaei enim more suo c. For where as at thys day sayth Cluniacensis there be in the worlde foure chiefe diuersities of sects that is Christians Iewes Saracens and Paganes if the Christians doe not sacrifice there is none in the worlde that doth sacrifice For the Iewes according to their maner beholding all thinges with Oxe eyes and lyke Asses bearing the burdens of Gods lawe without taking anye fruite thereof doe sacrifice in no place bicause they saye that Ierusalem alone is the place where God must be honoured and worshipped in sacrifices c. And afterwarde speaking of the Paganes Petrus Cluniacensis he sayth Et cum slendi homines ignominiosius alijs a Diabolo his multis modis nobis ignotis deludantur sacrificia tamen nec Creatori nec creaturae exhibent Sed quod innatus error docuit absque omnium sacrificiorum notitia custodiunt Where as these men méete to be bywayled are of the Deuill by these and many meanes that we knowe not deluded more shamefully then other yet doe they not giue any sacrifice eyther to the Creator or to the creature But beyng without the knowledge of all sacrifices they doe obserue that thing which naturall error hath taught them Here it is manifest that your Cluniacensis sayth not that the Turkes onely are without sacrifice for the Paganes Turkes are euen by his playne wordes two seuerall sectes and farre ynough a sunder Cluniacensis a corrupter of scripture But what thoughe Cluniacensis and you did agrée in all poyntes Are you of such credit that nought that you say maye be denied A more manifest wrester and corrupter of manifest scriptures then Cluniacensis was did neuer set Pen to Paper except
Exod. 24. Heb. 9. Hic est sanguis Testamenti quod vobiscum pepigit Deus This is the bloud of the Testament that God hath couenaunt with you he sayth not This is the bloud of the newe Testament But if these wordes This is my bloud of the newe Testament the Euangelist had ment that it had beene the figure of the bloud of the newe Testament what had he sayde more then Moyses sayde before for the bloud of Calues and Goates was the figure of this bloud of Christ And then were the Iewes and the olde lawe of more dignity then we Christen men of the newe lawe bicause beside we both be but vnder figures as these men saye yet their figure was of more estimation then oures is being as they saye but bare bread and wine wherfore seing these words of Christ this is my bloud be the forme of our sacramēt the effect wherof is the confirmation of the new Testament it foloweth well that the cause must be of like or more dignity and so by no meanes can be the materiall creature of wine but must needes be the innocent and precious bloud of our immaculate and vndefiled Lambe of God Iesus Christ When you haue after your maner CROWLEY passed thorow the circumstaunces of this text Hoc est corpus meum c. You come to the effects of the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ The first effect of our sacrament say you is to confirme the new Testament c. Much adoe you make about the confirming of the two Testaments by bloud The olde by the bloud of Calues and Goates and the newe by the bloud of Christ If you had bene so expert in the wrytings of the fathers as you would séeme to be you would neuer haue spent halfe this labour about the confirmation of the two Testaments by bloud Affirming that all holy wryters doe expounde these wordes of our sauiour Christ This is my bloud of the newe Testament to signifie this bloud doth confirme the newe Testament Me thinketh you might haue done very well to haue named some one of these holy wryters But for as much as you name none I will not trouble the reader with any other expositions of those wordes then that which may iustly be gathered of the verie scriptures S. Paule wryting to the Hebrues sayth of the confirming of the olde Testament or couenaunt that God made with Habraham Hebr. 6. that it was confirmed with an othe not with the bloud of Calues and Goats Abrahae namque promittens Deus c. For saith saint Paule when God made a promise to Habraham bicause he had none greater then himselfe by whome he might sweare he swore by himselfe saying I will blesse and multiplie thée excéedingly c. As for the maner of spéeche that is vsed by Moses and the Euangelists 1. Cor. 11. in the places that you doe cite is playnely expounded by saint Paule when he sayth Hic calix nouum testamentum est in meo sanguine This Cup is the newe Testament in my bloud And these wordes doth saint Paule wryte not as his owne but as the wordes of the Lorde Iesus spoken at his last supper when he deliuered the holy Cup to his Apostles The couenaunt of God is confirmed with an othe and not with bloud By this it is manifest that the couenaunt which God made with Habraham and all the faythfull that should beléeue that couenaunt or promise was confirmed with an othe and not with the bloud of Calues or Goates But the bloud of Christ wherein that couenant was made was prefigured by the bloud of Calues and Goats and is nowe kept in memorie by the vse of the Lordes Cup as saint Paule teacheth in the same place saying Hoc facite quociescunque biberitis in meam commemorationem Doe this as oft as ye shall drinke in the remembraunce of me The difference that is betwéene the olde Testament and the newe is playnely shewed by saint Austen in his booke against Adimantus His wordes are these Duorum testamentorum differentiam sic probamus Contr. Adimant cap. 17. vt in illo sint onera seruorum in isto gloria liberorum In illo cognoscatur prefiguratio possessionis nostrae in isto teneatur ipsa possessio On this wise doe we proue the difference of the two Testamentes for that the burdens of bondmen are in the one and the glorie of frée men in the other In the olde the prefiguration of our possession is knowne and in the newe the possession it selfe is enioyed We therefore that be christen men of the new Testament be not vnder figures as were the Iewes but we are in possession of the thing signified by the figures of the olde Testament And yet we may be bolde to saye that we haue the signes or figures of the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ to put vs in remembraunce of that possession and doe not doubt to call the same by the name of the things signified as saint Austen wryteth against the same Adimantus Non enim Dominus dubitauit dicere hoc est corpus meum cum signum daret corporis sui Capit. 12. The Lord doubted not to say this is my body when he delyuered the signe of his body We holde therefore that the confirmation of the olde Testament and of the newe both is the othe that God made vnto Abraham and his faythfull séede And that the thing promised was prefigured by the figures of the olde law And that the same is playnely represented and set forth before our senses by those figures that our Sauiour hath instituted not as a thing to come but as a thing alreadie had in possession and not to be forgotten of such as haue receyued it We therefore are not vnder figures as were the Iewes before the shedding of Christs bloud but we doe vse those figures that Christ himselfe hath instituted to such purpose as he did institute them for Neyther doe we say or thinke that they be but bare bread and wine but we teach that the worthy receyuer is by them assured euen as it were sensibly that he is made one with Christ and Christ with him that he dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him that he receiueth into his soule whole Christ We teach not that the sacrament is but bare bread and wine euen as he receyueth the sacramentall bread and wine into his body And to conclude that he hath by Christ euerlasting lyfe euen as our bodies haue this temporall lyfe by the meanes of bodyly foode whereof the chiefe is bread and wine the one seruing to strengthen mans hart and the other to make it chéerefull and merie I conclude therefore thus The othe which God swore to Abraham is the confirmation of the olde and newe Testament Ergo neyther was the olde confirmed by the bloud of Calues and Goates neyther the new by the sacrament of Christes bloud And so consequently it is
enimies or the Deuils limmes the persecutours of Christes church let vs not leaue them naked and vnarmed but let vs harnesse and defend them with the protection of Christes bodye and bloud And a little after he sayth Cùm ad hoc fiat Eucharistia vt possit accipientibus esse tutela quos tutos esse contra aduersarium volumus munimento dominicae saturitatis armemus Seing this sacrament is ordeyned for this purpose that it should bee a defence to the receyuers let vs arme them with the shield and harnesse of our Lordes meat whome we would should be safe against their aduersarie This is that foode that maketh a man meete Cyprian li. 4. Epist 6. Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. and prepareth him to martirdome This bloud of Christ is dronken daylie of vs that we might in his quarel shed our bloud agayne and as he wryteth in an other place howe can we shed oure bloud for Christ that bee ashamed to drinke Christes bloud This bloud being receyued of vs as Chrysostome saith driueth the Deuils away Chrysost in Ioan hom 45. and doth allure the Aungels and the Lorde of Aungels vnto vs for after the meat of oure Lorde receyued he forsaketh vs Chrysost ad Neophytos and flyeth awaye swifter then any winde and dare not approch neare bicause all entraunce for his temptations is shut vp As saint Ambrose wryteth Ambrose in Psalm 118. Ser. 8. Cùm hospitium tuum aduersarius viderit occupatum coelestis fulgore praesentiae intelligis locum tentamentis suis interclusum esse per Christum fugiet ac recedet c. When thy aduersary shall see thy house and lodging of body and soule occupied with the brightnesse of Christs heauenly presence perceyuing euery place to be shut vp from his temptations he will flye and runne away Nazian in Iulianum orat 2. Wherefore as Gregorie Nazianzene wryteth Mensa hac praeparatur contra tribulantes me qua omnem passionum rebellionem scà ◠This table is prepared of God against them that vexe and trouble me by the which I quench and pacifie all rebellion of my naughtie affections Cyrillus li. 4. cap. 17. And as Cyrill sayth Non mortem solum sed etiam morbos omnes depellit sed at saeuientem membrorum legem pietatem coroboat perturbationes animi extinguit nec in quibus sumus peccatis considerat aegrotos curat collisos redintegrat at omninos casu erigit It dryueth away not onely death but also all sicknesse it stilleth and pacifieth the raging lawe of our members it strengthneth deuotion it quencheth the froward affections of the minde and those small sinnes we be in it regardeth not it healeth the sicke it restoreth the brused and from all falling it lyfteth vs vp O what wonderfull effectes be these which by this blessed Sacrament be wrought in the worthy receyuer against the Deuill and his temptations against the fleshe and hir illusions against the vicious affections of oure corrupt minde What conscience had these men our late teachers and pastors destroyers of Christes flocke to rob vs of this treasure which is the cause of so great benefits and in the place of that to plant amongs vs a bare ceremony of bread and wine to put vs in remembraunce of Christ in heauen as they sayde which neyther by their owne nature nor yet by any institution eyther of God or man be able to bring to passe in vs these effectes I haue spoken of What ment they that tooke awaye this armour of Christes fleshe and bloud from vs but to leaue vs naked and vnarmed against the Deuill that he should preuayle against vs in all temptations and that the kingdome of sinne should be erected and the kingdome of grace destroyed and to teach that this blessed Sacrament is nothing else but bread and wine what is it else but to take awaye this armour and harnesse of Christes fleshe and bloud from vs. For bread be it neuer so much appointed to signifie things absent is not able to defend vs from the Deuill After you haue bustled about the effectes of your sacrament CROWLEY gathered out of the newe testament you make no small adoe about one other effect mentioned in the Psalme .22 Parasti in conspectu meo c. Thou hast prepared in my sight c. This effect you say is that this armour and defence c. And when this assertion of yours shall be well weighed you shall be founde to holde that this sacrament is the efficient cause and the effect both And so must it be both before and after it selfe For euery efficient cause must néedes be before the effect that procéedeth from it and euery effect must néedes folow the efficient cause that is the worker of it But let vs sée howe handsomely you applie this péece of this Psalme Saint Hierome sayth that the Prophet meaneth by the table that he speaketh of here the scripture wherein is found meate méete for such as are past their infansie in Christ and néede not any longer to be fed with milke His wordes be these Parasti in conspectu meo mensam c. Vt iam non lacte quasi paruulus alar sed solido cibo id est vt spirituali dente ruminans scripturas sanctas possim peruersis resistere Thou hast prepared a table c. Hieronymus in Psalm 22. That I should not nowe be nourished with milke like a little childe but with sounde meate that is that cudding the holy scriptures with a spirituall tooth I might be able to resist the froward And agayne he sayth Parasti in conspectu meo mensam aduersus eos qui tribulant me Mensa id est scriptura diuina Sicut post laborem in mensa inuenitur consolatio refectio sic sancti per mensam id est per scripturam diuinam habent consolationem refectionem id est spem fidem charitatem Aduersus eos qui tribulant me Persecutores Ecclesiae qui sunt Demones Iudaei haeretici Contra istos omnes in scripturis sacris inuenimus consolationem Thou hast prepared a table in my presence against those that trouble me A table that is the holy scripture Euen as after labour there is found on the table comfort and refection so also the holy men haue by the meanes of the table that is the holy scripture consolation and refection that is to say hope fayth and charitie against those that trouble me The persecutors of the Church which are Deuils Iewes and Heretickes We doe in the holy scriptures finde consolation and comfort against al these Saint Austen sayth thus Parasti in conspectu meo mensam vt iam non lacte alar paruulus August in Psalm 22. sed maiorem cibum sumam firmatus aduersus eos qui tribulant me Thou hast in my presence prepared a table that I should not nowe be nourished with milke as a little childe but that being made strong against them that trouble
c. When thine aduersarie shal sée Ambros in Psal 118. sermone 8. c. According to your olde maner of translating into Englishe you thrust in body and soule of your owne and so doe yée euerye place and would haue men thinke that you meane well and truely But let vs sée what may be sayde to these wordes of Ambrose First I must let the Reader sée a fewe wordes that go before those that you cite so shall he be the better able to iudge whether you haue dealt vprightly in alledging them for your purpose or no. He writeth thus Suscipe ante Dominum Iesum tuae mentis hospitio Vbi Corpus eius ibi Christus est Cum hospitium tuum aduersarius viderat occupatum caelestis fulgore praesentiae intelligens locum tentamentis suis interclusum esse per Christum fugiet ac recedet Receyue before hande the Lorde Iesus into the harbour of thy minde Christ is there where his body is When the enimie shall perceyue that the brightnesse of the heauenly presence doth possesse thy lodging and vnderstand that Christ hath enclosed the place from his temptations he wyll flye and depart awaye Ambrose doth here teach vs to receyue Christ First spiritually into our mindes by faith and then sacramentally in the congregation The scripture that gaue him occasion to wryte thus is the sixt verse of the eyght part of the .118 Psalme after the accompt of the .70 The wordes of the verse are these At midnight did I arise to prayse thée c. By occasion of these wordes Ambrose doth earnestly exhort all Christians to giue themselues to meditation both night and daye but specially at suche time as publike fasting should be appointed The dayes were then troublesome and christians were well most continually persecuted Wherefore they did often at the appointment of their Pastours The right vse of fasting abstayne from all maner of bodily sustenaunce and from sléepe and gaue themselues to prayer in the congregation and did communicate So assuring euen their senses that though they should fall into the persecutors handes yet should there no harme happen vnto them For they were surely cowpled vnto Christ and one to another So that though they should séeme to the worlde to perishe yet they were in déede deliuered from miserie and receyued into endlesse felicitie And for this cause doth Ambrose call this sacrament Munimentum A defence For by it we be thorowly certified of the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and that we are reconciled and receyued into fauour with God againe This is not to teach that after the receyuing of the sacramēt of the aultar as you terme it the Deuill can finde no way to enter into the receiuer but that when we haue receyued Christ by faith and doe declare the same by communicating with the rest of Christes members then may we assure our selues that there is no way for the enimie to enter And therefore he will flie away and as saint Ambrose sayth depart from vs. For Christ is in possession and none is able to remoue him But I must still maruayle that you sée not that all these whome ye alledge doe fight against you for your priuate Massing And that this Ambrose doth giue you warning that if you will be defended against the Deuill and haue him shut out you must first receiue Christ into the harbour of your minde Christ must be in the minde before the sacrament come in the mouth which is by faith For Ambrose knewe that if Christ were not in possession of the minde before the sacrament came into the mouth the receyuing should be to condempnation And then it doth not shut out the Deuill but make an open way for him to enter But nowe let vs sée what Nazianzen hath saide You say that his words be thus Mensa haec c. This table and so forth as is afore Bicause the reader shall not néede to séeke the wordes that you haue left out in the workes of Gregorie which are not in euery mans studie I will write so much of his saying as may make his meaning knowne And if any shall doubt of my faithfull dealing therein let the same search the place and be satisfied His wordes are these Sanè vnguentum quoddam habeo sed quo solum Reges sacerdotes vtuntur varium preciosum ac pro nobis euacuatum magni vnguentarij opificio compositum Vtinam mihi contingat vnguenti huius odorem bonum apponere Deo Habeo mensam spiritalem illam deuinam quam mihi praeparauit Dominus contra tribulantes me Vel in qua requiesco delicijs fruor nequaquam propter sacietatem iniuriam committo sed omnem passionum rebellionem sedo c. I haue a little swéete oyntment also but yet such as being of many oyntments mixed togither and costly and drawne out for vs it annoynteth onely kings and priests which was made by the workmanship of an excellent vnguentary Would God it might be my lot to poure out vnto God a swéete sauour of this oyntment I haue also this spirituall and heauenly table which the Lorde hath prepared for me ouer against them that trouble me or in which I doe rest and delight my selfe and doe nothing offend by reason of sacietie or fulnesse but I doe also suppresse all rebellion of affections Nowe let the learned reader iudge how well you deserue to be credited another time when you cite any thing out of the auncient fathers Gregorie hath sayde Or in which I doe rest and delight my selfe and doe nothing offend by reason of sacietie or fulnesse But you thought good not to trouble your hearers with any of those wordes least they should sée that Gregorie and you be of two mindes You make your tale smooth and whole as though you had not lept ouer any of Gregories words For thus you say This table is prepared of God against them that vexe and trouble me Crafty handling of the fathers sayings by which I quench and pacifie al rebellion of my naughtie affections Who would thinke that there were any worde left out So craftily can you handle the wordes of auncient fathers to make them séeme to serue your purpose But when the wordes of Gregorie are considered wholy togither and conferred with that which goeth before and foloweth after it shall appéete that Gregories meaning was to declare in what pointes the acceptable exercise of Christian religion doth consist and stande In purenesse of soule and chéerefulnesse of minde not in bodily mirth gorgious apparell eating and drinking and wantonnesse Not in furnishing of houses and dores with flowers nor burning of lights nor playing vpō Instruments c. For such was the order of the heathenish solemnitie He would haue such Lamps as might light the whole bodye of Christes Church and the whole worlde And he sayth that he meaneth the holy word of God therby In comparison of this light saith he I
perteyneth to his owne nature Of this wryteth S. Cyprian Sed quia ebrietas dominici calicis sanguinis non est talis qualis est ebrietas vini secularis Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. cùm diceret spiritus sanctus in Psalmo Calix tuus inebrians addidit perquám optimus quòd scilicet calix dominicus sic bibentes inebriat vt sobrios faciat vt mentes ad spiritalem sapientiam redigat vt à sapore isto seculari ad imtellectum Dei vnusquisque resipiscat But bicause the dronkennesse of our Lords cup and bloud is not such as the dronkennesse of worldly wine when the holy ghost in the Psalme sayde Thy cup that maketh men dronke he added is very godly and excellent bicause the cup of our Lorde doth so make the drinkers dronke that it maketh them sober that it bringeth their mindes to spirituall wisedome that euerye man may bring himselfe from this drowsinesse of the world to the vnderstanding and knowledge of God To this intent saint Ambrose wryteth in dyuers places Ambros in Psalm 1. as vpon the first Psalme At vero Dominus Iesus aquam de petra effudit omnes biberunt and so forth The place is long and for auoyding of tediousnesse I shall faythfully rehearse it in Englishe But our Lorde Iesus brought water out of the stone and all dranke of it They that dranke in figure were satiate they that dronke in truth were made dronke the dronkennesse is good which bringeth in mirth and not cōfusion that dronkennesse is good that stayeth in sobernesse the motions of the minde And he speaketh more playner in these words Ambros in Psal 118. sermone 15. Eate the meat of the Apostles preaching before that thou mayst afterward come to the meate of Christ to the meate of oure Lordes body to the deynties of the sacrament to that cup wherewithall the affection of the faythfull is made dronke that it might conceyue gladnesse for remission of sinne and put away the thoughts of this worlde the feare of death and all troublesome carefulnesse for by this dronkennesse that body doth not stumble and fall but riseth to grace and glorie the soule is not confounded but is consecrate and made holy Yet one effect more and then an ende of this matter CROWLEY The dronkennesse that the Prophet Dauid speaketh of in the .22 Psalme c. Here you séeme to haue forgotten your selfe Watson forgetteth what he hath in hande Your whole labour hitherto hath bene to prooue that the sacrament of the aultar worketh many excellent effects and so you haue made it the efficient cause of those effects But now as one that remembreth not what you haue in hande you say that it is the instrument of grace If you will abide by that then I will not striue with you for I am of the same minde that you are in that point if you haue written as you thinck when you say that it is the instrument of grace For euen as the worde of God is an instrument of grace so are the sacraments also But God whose word and sacramentes they be is the efficient cause that worketh by them as by instruments But it séemeth by that which you cite out of Cyprian and Ambrose to proue this effect that ye speake of that it was but a slip of memorie when you called it an instrument I will therfore suppose that you be the same man that you were before till I sée better lykelyhood of your sounde iudgement in this matter Cyprian hath sayde say you Sed quia ebrietas c. Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. According to your custome you leaue out those wordes that might make the writers meaning playne Cyprian had sayd before that for as much as neyther the Apostle Paule nor an Angell from heauen might declare or teache any otherwise then Christ himselfe had once taught and his Apostles had declared he maruelled that contrarie to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine there was in some places water offered in the Lordes cup which coulde not of it selfe alone expresse the bloud of the Lorde The sacrament wherof the holy ghost doth not passe ouer in the Psalmes making mention of the Lordes cup and saying Thy cup which doth make dronke is excéeding good And the cup that maketh men dronke is surely mixed with wine for water can not make any man dronken And the Lordes cup doth make a man dronke euen as Noe was made droken when he dranke wine as it is written in Genesis And then doe those wordes that you haue cyted solow All indifferent readers maye perceyue by these wordes of Cyprian what his meaning was Not to teach that the spiritual dronkennesse is the effect of the sacrament but that the sacrament might not be ministred with water alone without wine For vnlesse it haue in it a naturall strength to make the drinkers dronken it can not expresse that is to say it can not lyuely represent the bloud of Christ which being dronken of such as bée members of his body in spirite by fayth and sacramentally in the sacrament according to his institution doth make them dronken with that dronkennesse that saint Cyprian speaketh of here And to make his meaning more playne he addeth to the ende of those words that you haue cyted these playne and manifest wordes Et quemadmodum vino isto communi mens soluitur anima relaxatur tristitia omnis exponitur ita potato sanguine Domini poculo salutari exponatur memoria veteris hominis fiat obliuio conuersationis pristinae secularis moestum pectus triste quod prius peccatis angentibus praemebatur diuinae indulgentiae laetitia resoluatur Quod tunc demum potest laetificare in Ecclesia Domini bibentem si quod bibitur dominicam teneat veritatem And as by the drinking of this common wine a mans minde is loosed and his soule set at lardge from all cares and all sorowfulnesse is sent out from the same euen so when the Lords bloud and the cup of saluation is dronken the remembraunce of the olde man may be expelled and the olde worldly conuersation forgotten and the sorowful and pensiue hart which was before oppressed with sorowe for sinne may be resolued by the ioyfull gladnesse of forgiuenesse at Gods hande Which cup may chéere him that drinketh it in the Church of the Lord when the thing that is dronken doth hold the truth of the Lorde By these wordes of Cyprian it is manifest that he meaneth of such a dronkennesse as saint Austen doth August in Psalm 22. wryting vpon the same verse of the .22 Psalme Where he sayth thus Et poculum tuum obliuionem praestans priorum vanarum delectationum quam praeclarum est And thy cup which doth make men forget their former vayne pleasures is very notable and excellent And this is according to that which saint Paule wryteth to the Ephesians saying Be ye not dronken with wine wherein is
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
vpon this place And Lyranus who was a Iewe borne doth expound it after the letter And the ordinarie Glosse Hierony in Prouer. 23. foloweth saint Hierome who vnderstandeth by the mightie man the teacher of Gods worde and by the things set before them the worde of God c. Fearing to be long therefore you might well haue spared all this and the applying of your comparison of taking and gyuing the like agayne with boasting that it auoydeth all the trifling cauillations of figuratiue spéeches c. WATSON Diuision 33. I neede not stand longer in so playne a matter although I could alledge much more out of all the auncient fathers yea more plainer then these I haue touched if any can be playner If I did but tell the bare names of the sacrament which the aucthors giue it I should proue manifestly that it were the very body and bloud of Christ and not bread and wine Ignatius calleth it Medicamentum immortalitatis Ignatus ad Ephesios antidotum non moriendi a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death Dionisius Ariopagita S. Paules Scholer calleth it hostia salutaris the sacrifice of our saluation Dionisius Hier. Eccle. Capit. 3. Iustinus Apolo Origen in Luc. hom 38. in Mat. bo 5. Cyprianus de lapsis de caena Iustinus martyr saith it is caro sanguis incarnati Iesu the flesh bloud of Iesus incarnate which names be giuen to it of the scripture and all other wryters Origen calleth it Panis vitae dapes saluatoris epulum incorruptum Dominus the bread of lyfe the deynties of our sauiour the meate that is neuer corrupted yea our Lord himself Cyprian calleth it Sanctum domini the holy one of God gratia salutaris the sauing grace Cibus inconsumptibilis the meate that can neuer be consumed Alimonia immortalitatis the foode of immortalitie Portio vitae aeternae the portion of eternall life Sacrificium perpes holocaustum per manens a continuall sacrifice an offering alwaies remaining Christus yea he calleth it Christ The great generall counsell at Nice calleth it Agnus Dei qui tollit peccatum mundi Concilium Nicenum the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the worlde Optatus an olde author giueth it diuers names as in this sentence Quid tam sacrilegium quam altaria dei frangere radere Optatus li. 6. remouere in quibus vot a populi membra Christi portata sunt vnde à multis pignus salutis aeternae tutela fidei spes resurrectionis accepta est What is more sacrilege then to breake the aultars of God as the Donatistes did or to scrape them or to remoue them vpon the which aultars the vowes of the people that is to say the members of Christ are borne from which aultars also the pledge of eternall saluation the defence and buckler of faith and the hope of resurrection be receaued Hilarius calleth it cibus dominicus our Lordes meat Hilarius li. 8. Basilius in Missa verbum caro the worde made flesh Saint Basill in his Masse calleth them sancta diuina impolluta immortalia super celestia viuifica sacramenta Holy sacraments godly pure vndefiled immortall heauenly and giuing life What wittelesse and vngodly man would giue these names to bread and wine Saint Ambrose calleth it gratia dei Ambrosius de obitu fratris the grace of God not an accidentall grace receaued of God into mans soule but the verie reall sacrament he calleth the grace of God the which his brother Satirus being vpon the sea and his ship broken seeking for none other ayde but onely the remedy of fayth and the defence of that sacrament tooke this grace of God of the priestes and caused it to be bound in a stole which he tied about his neck and so trusting in that committed himselfe to the waters by vertue wherof he escaped drowning and afterward of a Catholike Bishop he receaued that same grace of God with his mouth Chrysost 1. Cor. 10. Chrysostome O with what eloquence doth he vtter this matter heare but this one place Ipsa namque mensa animae nostrae vis est nerui mentis fiduciae vinculum fundamentum spes salus lux vita nostra The verye table sayeth he meaning the meat of the table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the knot of our trust the foundation our hope our helth our light and our lyfe What names what effectes bee these and in an other Homely he calleth it Rex coeli deus Christus Ad Ephe. Ser. 3. the king of heauen God himselfe Christ which he sayth goth into vs by these gates and dores of our mouthes Cyrillus calleth it sanctificatio viuifica the very sanctification that giueth life Cirillus li. 4. Capit. 17. August Epist 163. And S. Augustine calleth it Pretium nostrum the price of our redemption which Iudas receaued What should I trouble you any longer in so plaine a matter Why should these holy fathers deceaue vs by calling this sacrament with so glorious high names if they ment not so but that it was but bread wine they lacked no grace that had so much grace as to shed their bloud for Christes fayth they lacked no wytte nor eloquence to expresse what they meant Thus did they with one consent after one maner alwayes speake and write by whose playne preaching and wryting the whole worlde of Christendome hath beene perswaded and established in this faith of the reall presence these fiftene hundred yres If they haue seduced vs meaning otherwise then they wrote then may we iustly saye that they were not martyrs and confessors in deede but verie Deuils erring themselues and bringing other also into errour But good people the truth is they erred not but taught vs as they beleued the very truth confirming and testifying that faith with their bloud that they had taught with their mouth And if there be anye errour it is in vs that for the vnlearned talking and witlesse sophisticall reasoning of a fewe men will headlings destroy our soules forsaking and not contynuing in that faythe whiche was taught by the mouth of Christ sealed with his bloud testified by the bloud of martyrs and hath preuayled from the beginning against the which Hell gates can not preuayle Nowe there remayneth something to bee saide concerning the thirde part which is the consent of the catholike Church in thys point but I am sorie the tyme is so past that I can not nowe say any thing of it in my next daye God wylling I shall touch it and also proceede in the matter of the sacrifice which I hope to God to make so plaine that it shall appere to them that will see and be not blinded forsaken of God to be a thing most euident most profitable to be vsed and frequented in Christs Church and that such slaunders and blasphemers as be shot against it shall rebound I hope vppon their owne
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
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
whereby God doth stirre vs vp to continuall thankesgiuing which is the same that before he hath sayde is made our Table That is the sacrament of his bodie and bloud wherein that sonne of God that was giuen for vs is liuely represented by visible signes and we moued thereby to be continually thankfull to God for the lyfe that our soules haue by his death By this it doth euidently appeare that nothing doth more exercise our fayth in the knowledge of God and our selues nothing doeth more increase our charitie and hope in the mercy of God then doth the right vse of the holy Communion And although Iob in offering sacrifice for his sonnes did shewe himselfe thereby a louing and carefull father yet can not we acknowledge that strumpet to be our mother that will make a sacrifice of hir husbands heart bloud For Gods wrath can not be mittigated with any such sacrifice But we are the children of that mother that acknowledgeth hir selfe and all hir Children to be alreadie washed and made pure and cleane by the bloud of hir husband which he in his owne person offered to make both hir and all hir children cleane thereby And there is nothing that doth more set forth the benefite of Christ then doth the right vse of the sacrament of this death and bloud shedding For in it wée protest that we haue all thinges by Christ and so forth as you haue sayde of the Masse Which is a méere mans inuention and no ordinaunce of God The other obiections I will but shortly touch for they be of no strength or authoritie one is this WATSON Diuision 31. There is no mention nor no one worde of any oblation in the supper Ergo Christ made no oblation there a goodly reason So there is no mention made neyther of Christes owne mouth nor of any the Euangelistes concerning the oblation of the Paschall lambe yet we knowe most certainely by the olde Testament that the Paschall Lambe was neuer eaten but it was offered before which we are sure Christ did obserue litterally till the truth of that figure were established And also what is more sure then that Christ offred himselfe vpon the crosse and yet neyther Christes owne wordes nor any of the foure Euangelistes wryting the story of the passion make any mention in playne and expresse termes of oblation or offering Though we know it by other scripture sufficiently But their collection is all false they should haue concluded thus Ergo if there any oblation it is reall and not vocalle and so it is in deede Luc. 22. and therefore Christ sayde Hoc facite doe this as ye see mee doe But in the forme of our Masse there be expresse wordes of offering for the rude and ignoraunt and for the euidence of the truth Vnde memores nos domini c. Wherefore we thy seruauntes and people being mindfull of thy sonne Christ our Lorde of his blessed passion resurrection and glorious ascention doe offer to thy most excellent maiestie of thy rewardes and giftes this pure sacrifice thys holy and vndefiled sacrifice the holye bread of euerlasting life the cup of perpetuall saluation There be also other wordes of oblation folowing these words saint Basill hath them Chrysostome saint Ambrose the generall counsell holden at Ephesus the latest of these was a thousand three hundred yeres ago that it might appere that it is not newly brought in as they would slaunder it but the most auncient thing in all the Masse They reason also thus It is a commemoration ergo no sacrifice as who saye the paschall Lambe being the figure of this was not both a commemoration and a sacrifice for the Lambe was instituted to be offered for a memorie of the delyueraunce of the Iewes from the sworde of the Aungell that smote the first begotten of the Egiptians and therefore the Iewes kept this worde of offering the Lambe for a statute for them and their children for euermore Euen so this Lambe of God that lyeth vpon the table of our aultar is a sacrifice offered of vs in commemoration of our delyueraunce from the Deuill by the death of Christ In the olde Testament the first Lambe offered before their deliuery the Lambe which was offered euery yeare after in memory of the same deliuery were verye reall Lambes in deede of one nature and condition euen so the Lambe of God being Christ which Christ himselfe offered in his supper there instituting before his death what we should contynually doe after his death and that Lambe of God which we offer now in memorie of our deliueraunce be very reall Lambes of God in deede and yet not dyuers in number as the other were but all one in number nature condition and dignitie As Chrysostome sayth Chrysost ad Hebreos ho. 17. we offer daylie in commemoration of his death and the sacrifice is one not many Nor we doe not offer one Lambe now to morow another but alwayes the very same or else because it is offered in many places is there many Christs No forsooth but one Christ euery where here full Christ and there full christ one body And so foorth You frame our argument after your owne fashion CROWLEY and so are you the better able to answere it We reason thus Whatsoeuer Christ would haue vs do or beleue is in some part of the scripture so mentioned that we may plainly perceyue that it is his wyll that we should doe or beleue the same But there is no such mention in any part of the holy scripture whereby we may perceyue that it is Gods will that we should beleue that Christ offered himselfe in his last supper or that he did then institute a sacrifice wherein we should dayly offer him Ergo Christ hath not instituted any such sacrifice as you speake of As for the like reasons that you would make of the Paschal Lambe and Christ offering himselfe vpon the Crosse might bée well accepted of some of your Auditorie that were of your mind and therefore blinded by affection But as many of your readers as knowe the scriptures must néedes say that you might with more honesty haue kept them still in your bosome For who knoweth not that Christ himselfe hath sayd Non veni soluere legem sed adimplere Et qui soluerit vnum ex mandatis istis minimis minimus vocabitur in Regno coelorum I came not to breake the lawe but to fulfil it Math. 5. Iohn 14. Iohn 8. Rom. 5. Hebr. 9. And he that shall breake one of the least of these cōmaundements shall be called the least in the kingdome of heauen And againe Beholde the prince of this world commeth and in me he hath nothing at all And againe Which of you can accuse me of sinne And againe As by the sinne of one condemnation came vpon all so by the righteousnesse of one came the righteousnesse of life And againe He offered himselfe vnto God without spot c.
such as then lyued in monasteries The forger of this péece of worke did not remember how early dayes it was in saint Iames his time and therfore he supposed Monasteries had bene builded then It forceth not greatly what is found in those counterfaited Masses And for my part I wyll looke for no credite of those that wyll beléeue that Iames would pray for them that dwelt in Monasteries so long before any Monasteries were builded let that great learned councell report what they lust And if I shall say that neyther the Apostles nor any in their time did offer sacrifice to God then let no man credite me except I be able to prooue the negatiue which I confesse I shall neuer be able to doe What sacrifice the Apostles did offer to God For they did continually offer to God that acceptable sacrifice that God requireth of Christians which is their hole bodies and soules in his seruice But that they offered Christ to his father as you imagine that no wise man will beleue till you be able by scripture to prooue that affirmatiue which you shall neuer be able to do WATSON Diuision 34 There be other some that will graunt the sacrifice but denie that it is propitiatory for the sinnes of the quick and the dead And therefore they disalow the last sentence of the Masse Where the priest sayth graunt good Lord that this sacrifice which I haue offered to thy diuine maiestie be propitiable or a meane to obteyne mercy to me and to all for whome I haue offered it And surely these be most foolish of all for if it be a sacrifice it must needes be a propitiatory sacrifice taking propitiatorie as it ought to be taken not confounding the meaning of it by sophistrie but vnderstanding the diuerse acception of the word but these men dally and seduce the people with Amphibologies and doubtfull sayings Distinctions they admit none nor can not abide to haue the matter opened with a confuse generall saying slaunder the Church This is their priuate sophistry and yet they call other men sophisters that detect and open their collusions that diuide the sentence that men might see how it is true and how it is false For example They cry out of this that we say the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatory By the word Masse may be vnderstanded two things the thing it selfe that is offered and the act of the priest in offering of it If ye take it for the thing offered which is the bodye of Christ who can iustly denie but that the body of Christ is a sacrifice propitiatorie seing saint Iohn sayth he is the propitiation for our sinnes euer was and euer shall be and neuer cease so to be till our sinnes be ended Oecumenius in cap. 3. ad Romanos and death the last enimie be ouercomed in vs his misticall bodye and as Oecumenius sayth Caro Christi est propiatorium nostrarum iniquitatum The flesh of Christ is the propitiation for our iniquities But if by the worde Masse be vnderstanded the act of the priest and the vse of the sacrament as they would haue it then it is not propitiatory in that degree of propitiation as Christes body is but after an other sort And therefore I must diuide the worde propitiatory which is taken two wayes also First for that that worthily deserueth mercy at Gods hande and so the act the priest in offering is not propitiatorie of it selfe deseruing mercy as Christ doth Next for that prouoketh God to giue mercye and remission already deserued by Christ And so the oblation of the priest is propitiatory moouing and prouoking God to apply his mercy vnto vs. So praier is a sacrifice for sinnes as S. Iames saith Iacob 5. Oratio fidei saluabit infirmum si in peccatis sit remittentur ei The Prayer of faith shall saue the sick and if he be in sinne they shal be remitted vnto him And christ taught vs to pray thus forgiue vs our trespases as we forgiue them that trespase against vs. Math. 6.7 And also promised to giue vs that we aske in Christs name Then ye see that prayer being a sacrifice is a prouocation of God a meane to atteyne remission of our sinnes and therefore may be well called propitiatorie So is a contrite hart a sacrifice propitiatory and almose as appeared by the storie of the Niniuites and of Daniell Psalme 50. For all good workes that we doe both fasting prayer almose forgiuing of my neighbour is done for this ende to mittigate Gods anger against our sinnes and to prouoke him to haue mercy of vs for Christes merites Euen so the Masse taking it for the act of the priest is a sacrifice propitiatory for sinne Which I shal proue vnto you by the holy fathers Origen wryteth thus Si referantur haec ad mysterij magnitudinem Origen in Le. hom 13. inuenies commemorationem istam habere ingentem repropiationis effectum Si redeas ad illum panem propitiationis quem proposuit Deus propitiationem per fidem in sanguine eius si respicias ad illam commemorationem de qua dicit dominus hoc facite in meam commemorationem inuenies quod ista est commemoratio sola quae propitium faciat Deum If these be referred to the greatnesse of our misterie thou shalt find that this commemoration hath a great effect of propitiation If ye returne to that bread of propritiation which God hath set for a propitiation by fayth in his bloud and if ye looke to that commemoration of which our Lorde sayde Doe this in commemoration of me thou shalt finde that this is the onely commemoration that maketh God mercifull Cyprian Ser. de coena Doth not saint Cyprian call the sacrament hol aucastum ad purgandas iniquitates a sacrifice to purge iniquitie in what respect is it called so but for that it is offered to that ende And so is it called a medicine to heale infirmities for thys respect that it is receaued to thys ende Augu. ser 11. de sanctis Saint Augustine sayth likewise Nemo melius praeter martyres meruit tibi requiescere vbi hostia christus est sacerdos scilicet vt propitiationem de oblatione hostiae consequantur No man hath deserued better then the Martyrs to rest and be buried there where Christ is both the host and the priest that is to say vnder the aultare for this ende that they might attayne propitiation by the oblation of the hoste Marke the purpose I bring in this for which is to atteine propitiation by the oblation of the sacrifice and as he sayth in an other booke Sacrificium illud mirabile coeleste quod tu instituisti offerri praecepisti in cōmemorationē tuae charitatis mortis scilicet passionis August in Manuale Cap. 11. pro salute nostra pro quotidiana fragilitatis nostrae reparatione That maruellous heauenly sacrifice which thou hast
instituted and commaunded to be offered in remembrance of thy charitie that is to say of thy death and passion for our health and saluation for the dayly reparation of our fraile weakenesse Doth he not here shewe the ende of the oblation to saue vs and to repayre our frayltie Saint Hierome writeth Si laicis imperatur vt propter orationem abstineant ab vxoribus Hierony in Cap. 1. ad Titum quid de episcopo sentiendū est qui quotidie pro suis populique peccatis illibatas deo oblaturus est victimas If it be commaunded to the lay men that for prayers cause they should absteyne from their wyues what should we thinke of a Byshop that must offer daylie pure sacrifices for his owne sinnes and the peoples Of this place though I might prooue you the chast lyfe of a Byshop yet I bring it in now onely to showe that the office of a Byshop is to offer daylie pure sacrifice for hys owne sinnes and the peoples sinnes as saint Basill sayth in the booke of his Masse Da domine vt pro nostris peccatis populi ignorantij acceptum sit sacrificium nostrum Graunt O Lorde that for our sinne Basilius in Missa and the ignoraunce of the people our sacrifice may be accepted of thee Thus ye perceaue that I haue shewed you and proued that the oblation of the priest in the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatorie for the sinnes of them that be aliue that is to say moouing and prouoking God to pardon the sinnes of the priest and of the people A little is to be sayde concerning them that be departed and then an ende of that matter Tertull. eorum millit Tertullian sayth Oblationes pro defunctis pro natalitijs annua die facimus We make euery yere oblations for the dead and for the birth dayes of Martyrs which be the dayes they suffered their martyrdome Athanasius sayth Intelligimus animas peccatorum participare aliqua beneficentia abexangui immolatione Athanasius ad antiochiū quest 34. We vnderstande that the soules of sinners doe receyue some benefite of the vnbloudy oblation and of almose done for them as he onely hath ordeyned and commaunded that hath power both of quick and dead Our God Ambros de obitis Valen. And saint Ambrose exhorteth the people to pray for the soule of Valentinian the Emperour for whome he did offer the sacrifice of Christes body Chrysostome sayth Non frustra sancitum est ab apostolis vt in celebratione venerandorum mysteriorum memoria fiat eorum Chrysost ho. 3. ad philippenses qui hinc discesserunt noucrunt illis multum hinc emolumenti fieri c. It was not in vaine ordeyned of the Apostles that in the celebration of the honorable misteries there should memory be made of them that were departed hence For they knewe much profite much commoditie to come to them thereby Chrysost hom 41. in 1. Cor. 15. And in an other Homily he sayth in this maner in Englishe A sinner is departed surely it becommeth vs to bee glad that his sinnes be stopped and not increased and to labour as much as we can to release him not with weping but with prayer In Act. ho. 21. supplications almose and sacrifices For that was not ordeyned in vaine nor we doe not in vayne in our holy misteries celebrate the memory of the dead and make intercession for them to the Lambe that lyeth there which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde but that some comfort may thereby come to them Is not this very playne and that it is not a thing newe inuented but a doctrine taught and vsed in the Church euer since Christ and ordeyned so to be done by the Apostles themselues August con li. 4. cap. 12. Saint Augustine sayth in his booke of confessions that the sacrifice of our price which is Christes owne naturall body was offered for his mothers soule after she was dead And he sayth also De cura pro mortuis ca. 1. In Machabeorum libris legimus oblatum pro mortuis sacraficium Sed si nunquà m in scripturis veteribus omnino legeretur non parua hac consuetudine claret authoritas vbi in praecibus Sacerdotis quae Domino Deo ad eius altare funduntur locum suum habet etiam commendatio mortuorum In the Bookes of the Machabes we read that there was sacrifice offred for the dead But although in the olde scriptures there were no such thing read yet there appereth no small authoritie in this custome that amongs the prayers of the priest which are made to our Lorde God at his aultar the commendation and prayer for the dead hath also his place Marke well that he sayth it was an olde custome in the Church for priests in their Masse to pray for the dead in his time which is aboue .1130 yere ago And that the custome of the Church in this point is of sufficient authoritie to proue this matter though there were no scripture for it at al and yet he himselfe alledgeth the booke of Machabes for it the place is knowne well ynough He teacheth vs the same thing wryting vppon saint Iohn August in Ioan. Tract 84. Ideo ad ipsam mensam non sic cos commemoramus quemadmodum alios qui in pace requiescunt vt etiam pro eis oremus sed magis vt orent ipsi pro nobis vt eorum vestigijs inhereamus c. talia enim suis fratribus exhibuerunt qualia de Domini mensa acceperunt Therefore at the very table of the aultare we doe not so remember the martyrs as we doe other other that rest in peace that we pray for them But rather that they should pray for vs that we might folow their footesteps For they haue giuē such things for their brethren as they haue receiued from our Lords table Here is both prayer to saints and for the dead in the Masse Thus ye see how Christes body is offered for the dead after what maner it auayleth them Saint Augustine also teacheth saying thus When the sacrifices eyther of the aultare or of any almose be offered for the deade that were baptised for the verye good men August Euchirid Cap. 109. they bee gyuing of thankes for not verye euill men they bee propitiations for verye euill men although they be no reliefe of the dead yet they be certaine comforts of them that be aliue And to them they profite they profite to this ende eyther that they should haue full remission or at least that they should haue more tolerable damnation In this authoritie is expressed the plaine worde of propitiatory how that the sacrifice of the aultar is a propitiation for such soules as be not very euill or very good towarde that teyning of full remission or of more tolerable damnation If I should recite as much as I coulde bring in for this point at large it is not one or two houres that would
for this poynt yet should they not all be woorth a poynt because the scripture is against them So that wée may sée that it is most vntrue that the Masse is a sacrifice propiciatorie for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead And that it is most true that there is none other propiciation for mans sinne but that onely that was once for al wrought by Christ in his owne person vpon the Crosse And that the same is still and shall be for euer effectuall to all that beleue the promise that God made therein Some thinke it a great blasphemy that we should saye the priest applyeth the effect of Christes passion WATSON Diuision 35. to whome he lysteth or for whome he maketh his oblation Good people beleue them not they slaunder vs in this for we say not so nor doe not apply the merites and effect of Christes passion to whome we list we doe but apply our prayer and our intent of oblation beseeching almightie God to apply the effect of his sonnes passion which is his grace remissiō of sinne to them for whom we pray Only God applyeth to vs remission of sinne we but pray for it and by the commemoration of his sonnes passion prouoke him to apply so that all that we doe is but by peticion and intercession not by authoritie as God doth You denie not that it is blasphemie to saye CROWLEY that the priest doth in his Masse applie the effect of Christes passion to whome he lusteth for you say you are slaundered by them that so say I will therefore let you vnderstand who they be Who they be that slaunder watson and his felowes that haue in open writing set out to be séene of all men slaundered you most of all that knowing them you may giue warning to your good people that they giue no credite to them Scotus Biel Angelus Vincentius and Holcot haue in open writing sayde that the force and effect of the sacrifice is distributed and applied not onely by God but by the priest also It shall be best for you therefore to haue them cited to appéere in the Arches or in some Consistorie to aunswere to the slaunder for I am sure you shall haue your cause heard with fauour WATSON Diuision 36 They say we make oblation for messeled swine for sick horses for murren of cattell and thus wyth these vile and odious wordes they go about to bring the Masse in hatred with the simple people that can not tell nor iudge what it is saying wee haue certaine peculiar Masses for all those things in our Masse booke The matter of this accusation is true but not the maner For there be not in our bokes peculiar Masses for these thinges but in certayne Masses there be some peculiar prayers for these and such like things and that by good reason For in the presence of Christes body when our prayers be most effectuall then wee pray for the atteyning of all goodnesse of soule and body and the outward felicitie of this worlde is as expedient for vs according to the wyll of God and also we pray for the turning away of all euils of body and soule and worldly goodes alwayes referring our selues to his wyll as he our father thinketh meete for vs. Chrisost de Sacerdotio Libro 6. Chrysostome telleth how the priest in his Masse prayeth for the whole worlde for the whole Citie for the sinnes of all men both quick and dead for the ceassing of warre for the pacyfying of sedition for peace and the prosperous estate of things for the auoyding of all euilles that hang oouer vs. For the fruites of the earth and of the sea and such other De Ciuitate dei li. 22. Capit. 8. Saint Augustine in his booke De ciuitate dei telleth a story of a Gentleman called Hesperius who hauing an house and groundes about it in the Countrey where his seruants and beastes were much vexed with euill spirites for remedy thereof came to saint Augustines house and he being absent desired his priestes that one of them woulde go to the place and pray that this calamitie might cease One of them went and offered there the sacrifice of Christes body praying as much as he could that the vexation by the euil spirites might cease and by and by through the mercie of God it ceased Is not thys as much yea and more to then we do now Let not vs therfore feare their vile and slaunderous words nor let not vs cease to doe well because they speake euill We may not cease to doe as the holy saintes haue done because the members of the Deuill rayle against vs as though we did nought You graunt the accusation to be good in matter CROWLEY whereof I conclude that you make oblation for mesaled swine c. But the maner you denie which I must eyther proue Masse for the rotte of cattell or else confesse that you be slaundered In your Masse which is intituled Pro peste animalium For the morayne or rotte of Cattell you haue two praiers the one to be said amongst the secret prayers before the consecration and the other after you haue receyued your host In the first you desire of God that the offering vp of the present sacrifice may helpe you and mightily deliuer you from all errors and rid you from the incursion of all destruction that the Cattell also which serue for your vse may by his power be deliuered And in the second you say O Lord we besech thée by these things that we haue receyued doe thou taking pitie and compassion driue away from thy faythfull ones all errours and the perniciousnesse of the violent destruction of raging diseases in cattell That such as for their owne merite thou doest scourge being out of the way thou mayste cherish by the compassion béeing corrected or amended If the leaprosie of swine the manifolde diseases of horses the morian and rot of shéepe and other cattell be of the number of those raging diseases then do you in that Masse make an oblation for measeled swine c. For what is your Masse Sūma angelica in Miss Angelus of Italie sayth that it is nothing else but the applying of the merite of Christes passion And that it is auailable to whom soeuer it pleaseth the priest to applie it by his intention Nowe let the wise iudge what the priestes intent is or should of right be when for hyre or friendship he sayth Masse to cause such diseases to cease among cattell But this me thinketh is straunge that you say that you make your prayer in the presence of Christes bodie vnderstanding the same to be the sacrament For when you make your first prayer Christes bodie is not yet come into your sacrament and when you make the latter the sacrament and all is in your belly Chrysost de Sacerdotio libr. 6. But Chrysostome telleth you how the priest in his Masse prayeth for the whole
better and more certaine foundation then the most vncertaine intent of the priest What intent we had or haue God doth knowe and shall iudge Our doings doe declare that we intend to vse the sacraments of Christ according to hys holye institution The effect of this sacrament in remembraunce of his death and passion And by them to call to memory what we are by Christ what we must continue to the end and what we shall haue in the ende And being such as by receyuing those holy mysteries together we séeme to be we are by them assured that Christ dwelleth in vs and we in him And that as the creatures bread and wine doe by the mouth enter into our bodies to be the foode thereof so doe the flesh and bloud of Christ by fayth enter into our soules to be the sustinaunce of them whereby both body and soule shall lyue for euer in ioy And in our last booke of Communion our inuocation is some thing more large then you haue reported it For we saye thus Heare vs O mercyfull father we besech thée And graunt that we receyuing these thy creatures of bread and wine according to thy sonne our sauiour Christes holye institution in remembraunce of his death and passion may be partakers of his most blessed body and bloud c. If you would haue considered this inuocation better you should not haue néeded to haue wylled your auditorie to looke throughout the scriptures to finde where Christ did institute that by eating of bread and wine men should be partakers of his bodie and bloud For the wordes of our inuocation are that we doing that which Iesus Christ did will to be done for such purpose as he did appoynt it to be do ne may bée partakers of the thing in déede that is represented by that which is done Not by the outwarde act that we do but by the inwarde fayth that mooueth vs to doe it being commaunded by him in whom we beleue The institution of this doing is declared immediately after the inuocation that you speake of 1. Cor. 11. and was written by S. Paule to the Corinthes Wherefore we do not beare men in hand that Christ did institute that which he neuer thought neither doe our déedes shewe that we be enimies to his institution And as they vsed themselues in consecration so they did in the oblation WATSON Diuision 38 which they did not corrupt as the other but vtterly tooke away denying any such thing to be as I haue proued it is in so much that in all their newe communion they could not scarcely abide the name or worde of oblation but pulled it out of the booke so much did they fauour the institution of Christ which they nowe pretende CROWLEY As in mine answere to your proufes I haue sufficiently disproued the same so shall I here in fewe wordes disproue your slaunderous report In our Communion booke we desire oure heauenly father mercifully to accept our sacrifice of prayse and thankesgiuing And we say that we doe offer and present vnto him our selues our soules and bodies to be a reasonable holy and liuely sacrifice vnto him The sacrifice of the newe testament And is this to put the name or worde of oblation out of our booke The auncient fathers say that this is the sacrifice of the newe testament as I haue briefly noted in mine aunswere to the fourth diuision of your former Sermon Nowe when they haue taken away the due matter as sweete vnleauened bread WATSON Diuision 39 the mixture of the Chalice and peruerted the forme by leauing out the principall verbe est in the words of Christ as it was in the last booke in the first printing how it came in againe I can not tell and neglected the due ordring of the minister suffring them to vsurpe the office of a priest that neuer receaued that authority neither of God nor man and in that they did which was very bad neuer intended to do as the Church doth wholy did abrogate as much as lay in them the oblation of Christs body in remembrance of his passion at length would haue nothing to remaine but a bare cōmunion what face haue they to cry vpon christs institution institution which they haue in so many pointes broken and violated as I haue shewed yet that they would haue is no part of Christs institutiō For the vse of the sacrament is that it should be receaued and eaten Concilium tolet anum prim ca. 14. Conci Cesar aug ca. 3. and therefore in dyuers councels it was decreed that whosoeuer tooke the sacrament at the priestes hande and did not eate it for the which end Christ did ordeyne it was holden accursed and excommunicate Thus farre extendeth the institution of Christ concerning this point because he sayde Accipite manducate bibite Take eate drinke and also that all should eate and drinke of it that coulde proue themselues after saint Paules admonition But such thinges as pertaine to the ceremonie of the eating as how many in one place togither what time place maner order and such like be thinges pertayning to the ordinaunce and direction of the Church and not to the institution of Christ as necessary vpon paine of damnation to be obserued of euery christen man For else if all the rites that Christ vsed at hys supper were of necessitie and pertayning to his institution then there must needes be thirtene together at the communion and neyther moe nor fewer And it must be celebrate after supper and in the night after the washing of the feete and in a Parler or Chamber and all that receaue must be priests and no women For all these things were obserued of Christ and his Apostles at his last supper But for our instruction to declare that they be not fixed by the instituted of Christ but left to the disposition of the Church the Church hath taken an other order in these things wylling that all shall communicate that be worthy and disposed So that the number whether there be many or fewe or but one in one place that receyue maketh not the ministration of the priest for that thing vnlawfull And it hath ordered that it shall be celebrate in the morning and receyued fasting before all other meates and in the Church except necessitie otherwise require And therfore saint Augustine taught Ianuarius after this sort August Epist 118. Ideo saluator non praecepit quo deinceps ordine sumeretur vt apostolis per quos dispositurus erat ecclesiam seruaret hunc locum Therefore our Sauiour did not commaund by what order it should be receyued after him but reserued that matter to the Apostles by whome he would order and dispose his Church By this wee may conceyue that the receyuing of the sacrament is Christes institution but the maner number other rytes of the receyuing be not determined by Christes institution but ordered at the Churches disposition
ad dexteram Patris nec aliunde quam inde venturus est ad viuos mortuosque iudicandos Et sic venturus est illa angelica voce testante quemadmodum visus est ire in coelum id est in eadem carnis forma atque substantia cui profecto immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit Secundum hanc formam putandus non est vbique diffusus Cauendum est enim ne ita diuinitatem astruamus hominis vt veritatem corporis auferamus Doubt not therefore but the man Christ Iesus is there now from whence he shall hereafter come And sée thou reuolue in thy minde and kéepe faythfully the Christian confession which is that he arose agayne from the dead ascended into heauen sitteth at the right hande of the father and that he shall come from none other place but frō thence to iudge both the quick and the dead And as the voyce of the Angell doth witnesse he shal come euen in such sort as he was séene go into heauen that is in the same forme and substaunce of fleshe vnto which no doubt he hath giuen immortalitie but hath not taken awaye the nature And according to this forme he is not to be thought to be spread abroad in all places For we must beware that we doe not so set vp the diuinitie of the man that we take away the truth of the body These wordes of Austen are playne ynough But to make them more playne he addeth Dominus Iesus est vbique per id quod Deus in coelo autem perid quod homo The Lorde Iesus is euerye where in that he is God but in that he is man he is in heauen Agayne the same Austen Tractatu in Iohn 30. wryting vpon saint Iohns gospell sayth thus Corpus Domini in quo resurrexit in vno loco esse opertet veritas cius vbique diffusa est The body of the Lord wherin that he arose must be in one place but his truth is spread abroad in euery place Much more might be cited out of Austen for this matter but this may suffice to satisfie all reasonable men concerning his iudgement herein Ambrose also who was lyuing in S. Austens time sayeth thus Ascendists Paulo qui non contentus solus te sequi nos quoque docuit quemadinodum te sequamur vbi te reperire possimus dicens Ambrosius in Lucam lib. 10. cap. 24. Si ergo consurrexistis cum Christo quae sursum sunt quaerite vbi Christus est ad dexteram dei sedens Et ne oculorum magis hoc quam animorum putaremus officium addidit Quae sursum sunt sapite non quae super terram Ergo non supra terram nec in terra nec secundum carnem te quarere debemus si volumus inuenire Thou didst ascende in Paules iudgement also who not contented to folow thée alone hath taught vs also how we may folow thée and where we may finde thée when he sayth If ye be risen togither with Christ séeke those things that are aboue where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God And least we should thinke this rather to be the office of the eyes then of the mindes he addeth Sauour those thinges that are aboue and not those things that are on earth If we will finde him therefore we must not séeke him vpon earth neyther in earth nor after the maner of fleshe What wordes can be more playne then these or more mightie to ouerthrowe your foundation M. Watson doth not Ambrose say Ambrose ouerthroweth Watsons foūdation that if we will finde Christ we must séeke him in heauen where he is sitting at the right hande of God Ergo not in your bread and Wine in such sort as you teache About the same time lyued Cyrill also that was Byshop of Alexandria Cyrillus in Iob. lib. 6. cap. 14. The same wryting vpon Iohn sayeth thus Et si Christus corporis sui praesentiam hinc subduxit maiestate tamen diuinitatis semper adest sicut ipse à discipulis abiturus pollicetur Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus vsque ad consummationem saeculi Althoughe Christ haue conueighed hence the presence of his bodye yet is he alwaye present by the Maiestie of his diuinitie euen as when he was departing from his Disciples he promised Beholde I am with you euery daye euen to the ende of the worlde Gregorius in homil Pasch Gregorie also sayth Christus non est hic per praesentiam carnis qui tamen nusquam deest per praesentiam maiestatis Christ sayth he is not here by the presence of his fleshe which notwithstanding is absent from no place by the presence of his maiestie Ad Transimundum Regem lib. 2. Fulgentius also wryteth thus Christus vnus idemque homo localis ex homine qui est Deus immensus ex patre Vnus idemque secundum humanam substantiam absens coelo cum esset interra derelinquens terram cum ascer disset in coelum Christ is but one and the selfe same is placible man of man which is of his father God that can not be measured One and the same as touching his humane substance was absent from heauen when he was on earth and leauing the earth when he ascended into heauen The last of these wryters hitherto cited lyued within .500 yeres after Christ And Beda who lyued about .730 yeres after Christs ascencion wryting vpon these wordes Ecce ego vobiscum sum c. Beda in Math. cap. 28. Beholde I am with you c sayth thus Ipse Deus homo est assumptus est humanitate quam de terra susceperat manet cum sanctus in terra diuinitate qua terram pariter implet coelum He that is both God and man is in his humanitie that he tooke of the earth assumpted vp but in his diuinitie wherewith he filleth both heauen and earth he doth remayne with his Saints on earth These testimonies of Scriptures and holy fathers may suffice I suppose to shake your foundation so The Scriptures Doctours haue shaken Watsons foundation that no wise man will be bolde to ioyne with you in building thereon vnlesse it be suche as you were when you made this Sermon what you be nowe I knowe not But least you should doe as commonly your sort vse to doe that is to report that we teach that the Sacraments of Christ are but bare and naked signes I let you vnderstande that we confesse and are readie to confirme with our bloud if God so will that Iesus Christ is verily and in déede present in the right and due administration and receyuing of his Sacraments And that the worthy receyuers doe verily in déede Howe Christ is present in his Sacraments receyue Iesus Christ himselfe But that this is done substantially and really that is in the maner of the receyuing of a bodily substaunce or thing into mens bodies that we denie and trust
c. In déede Chrysostome hath written all those wordes that you report and in such order as you doe write them sauing that to blinde the hearer or reader you put Dauid in the place of Illi least your hearers and readers should haue occasion to thinke that there is somewhat going before vnto which Illi hath relation Well I will let the reader sée some of those wordes that go before and some of those that folowe that euen your friendes may sée and iudge howe great a cause you haue to thinke that our best way were to yéelde After Chrysostome hath begun to paint out the toleraunce of Dauid not only in forbearing to reuenge himselfe vpon king Saul but also in séeking to doe him good he beginneth to compare him with such as liue in the time of the newe testament and doth preferre his tolleraunce before theirs bicause he did not heare and see that which they haue both heard and séene And thus he sayth Neque enim paria sunt sub vetere lege degentem nunc post illustratam Euangelij gratiam talia condonare gratis Non audierat Dauid parabolam de decem milibus talentorum neque de centum denarijs c. The doings are not alyke when one that lyued vnder the olde lawe and one that lyueth nowe after the grace of the Gospell is made manifest doe fréely forgiue such wrongs Dauid had not heard the parable of the ten thousande talents nor of the hundered pense He had not heard the prayer which sayth Forgiue men their debts euen as your Heauenly Father doth forgiue your debts He had not séene Christ crucified he had not séene that precious bloud poured out neither had he heard the innumerable sermons of the Lorde concerning the restrayning of the lustes of the minde It happened not vnto him to taste such a sacrifice neyther had he bene partaker of the Lordes bloud But being brought vp vnder lawes that were not altogither perfite neyther did require any such thing yet did he by the moderation of his minde attayne to the highest point of Euangelicall Philosophie But thou art oftentimes offended at the remembraunce of the iniuries that be past but this man although he might stande in feare of those things that were to come knowing for certaintie that if he would saue his enimie he should both be banished the Citie and lead a poore and miserable lyfe yet did he not leaue of to be carefull for him but he did all things that might nourishe this so great an enimie Who is able to tell vs of a greater toleraunce or forbearing then this If figuratiuely and spiritually may not be admitted in these wordes of Chrysostome then let vs knowe howe it can be truely saide of him that he in his time they that were before him and after Christes ascention and those that haue bene since are now and shal be to the worlds ende haue séene or shal sée Christs bloud poured out and him crucified I am sure you will not say that all these vnder the new testament haue séene or shal sée with their bodily eyes Christ crucified and his bloud poured out Well then you must giue vs leaue to thinke that Chrysostome doth vse here that same figure that saint Iohn doth vse in the beginning of his first Epistle Where he sayth thus Chrysostome vseth the figure hyperbole in extolling Dauids toleraunce We declare vnto you that thing that we haue séene with our eies c. And why may we not vnderstand Chrysostome to vse the same figure when he sayth that Dauid had not bene partaker of the Lordes bloud And that it had not happened him to taste of suche a sacrifice c. There was none of the sacrifices of the olde lawe that did paint out Christ crucified so playnely and set him out so liuely to our senses as this sacrament doth wherefore Chrysostome might well and truely say without any figure at all that it had not hapned to Dauid to taste of such a sacrifice Neyther did the lawe and prophets before Christ so plainely and fully teache that highest point of christian Philosophie which Dauid attayned vnto as doth the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Wherefore Chrysostome might well write as he doth that Dauid had not heard c. And why might not Chrysostome say then that Dauid was brought vp vnder lawes that were somewhat vnperfite in comparison of the lawe of the gospell although there be in the lawe it selfe no imperfection at all The lawe was perfite to the ende that God did appoint it for That was to bring men to the knowledge of their sinnes and to driue them to Christ that was able to take away their sinnes And why may not Chrysostome in this place according to the common custome of the fathers call the sacrament by the name of that thing wherof it is a sacrament But here once agayne I must tell you that the verie wordes that you cite are flatly against your halfe communion And that if Dauid had bene a popishe prince he should neuer haue dronken the Lordes bloud except he woulde haue bene a popishe Priest also WATSON Diuision 32. August in Ioannem tract 11. And further then this saint Augustine sayth Si dixerimus Catechumino credis in Christo respondit credo signat se cruce Christi portat in fronte non erubescit de cruce domini sui ecce credit in nomine eius Interrogemus eum manducas carnem filij hominis bibis sanguinem filij hominis nescit quid dicimus quia Iesus non se credidit ei If we shall say to one that learneth and professeth our faith being yet not baptized doest thou beleeue in Christ he aunswereth I beleue and he doth signe himselfe with the crosse of Christ he beareth it on his forehead and is not ashamed of the crosse of his Lorde Lo he beleueth in his name But let vs aske him doest thou eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke the bloud of the sonne of man he can not tell what we say for Iesus hath not beleeued committed himselfe to him Beside other things that may be fruitfully gathered of this place for our erudition I note but this one that a man beleeuing in Christ professing the fayth of Christ with his worde and worke and for that cause eateth Christes fleshe and drinketh his bloud spiritually yet he wote not what the eating of Christs flesh meaneth whereof Christ spake in the sixt of S. Iohn But we that be baptized and are admitted to our Lordes table we know by our experience what it is to eate Christes fleshe and to drinke his bloud for to vs Christ doth trust giue himselfe to the other that beleue as wel as we he doth not commit himselfe Whereby I conclude beside the spirituall eating of Christ by faith there is also a reall eating of him in the sacrament by the seruice of our bodies to the confirmation in grace