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
pledge is giuen For in that sense is Symbolum taken here And vnlesse you can proue that these be efficient causes you shal neuer prooue that our immortalitie and resurrection be the effects thereof The lyke may be sayde to the Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem aeternae vitae A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodies to the immortalitie of eternall life But bicause it is your custome to cite matter in such sort that the true meaning of the Author can not be perceyued by the wordes that you cite I will let the reader sée all the wordes that Athanasius doth in that place write of that matter Sed proptered ascensionis suae in caelum mentionem secit Athanasius De p ccato in spiritum sanctum vt eos a corporali intellectu abstraheret ac deinde carnem suam de qua locutus erat cibum è supernis caelestem spiritualem alimoniam ab ipso donandam intelligerent Quae enim locutus sum vibis inquit spiritus est vita Quod perinde est acsi deceret Corpus meum quod ostenditur dâ—tur pro mundo in cibum dabiâ—ur vt sparitualiter vnicuique tâ—â—buatur fiat singulis tutamen praeseruatioque ad Resurrectionem vitae aeternae Ita quâ—que Samaritanam abstrahens Dominus a rebus sensibilibus Deum esse spiritum pronuntiauit vt deinceps illa non corporalia sed spiritualia de Deo cogitaret But for this cause did he make mention of his ascention into heauen that he might drawe them away from the bodily vnderstanding and that they might afterwarde vnderstand his fleshe whereof he had spoken to be foode from aboue heauenly and spirituall nourishment and such as he must giue For sayth he that which I haue spoken vnto you is spirite and lyfe Which is as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be meat that it may be spiritually giuen to euerye man and that it maye be to eche man a defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall lyfe In like maner also drawing the Samaritish womaÌ„ from sensible things the Lorde affirmed that God is a spirite that from thence forth she should not think of God as of corporall things but as of things spirituall Now let the indifferent reader iudge how faithfully you haue vsed your selfe in alledging the saying of this auncient Father His grounde is the wordes of Christ in the sixt of Iohn Where speaking of the eating of his body he sayth It is the spirite that doth giue lyfe the fleshe profiteth nothing at all The words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirite and lyfe Which is sayth Athanasius as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be foode that it may spiritually be giuen to euery man and that vnto eche man it may be made a defence and preseruation to the resurrection of eternall lyfe And to make his meaning playne Athanasius sayth that Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might draw his hearers from the bodily vnderstanding And further he sayth that our sauiour talking with the Samaritish woman did draw hir from sensible things affirming that God is a spirit that so she might imagine no corporal thing to be in God but al spiritual I can not therefore but thinke that such as will ioyne with you in alledging this place to proue immortalitie and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud are by obstinate wylfulnesse blinded as you doe shewe your selfe to be For it is as manifest as the cleare sunne light that his meaning was to disproue the grosse opinion of all such as imagine The meaning of Athanasius that Christ should giue his fleshe to fill the bellies of men And to teach that such as will benefite by eating of his body must eate the same spiritually and not carnally And that when it is spiritually eaten it is Tutamen praeseruatioque ad resurrectionem vitae aeternae A defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall life But this is not to teach that it is the efficient cause of our immortalitie and resurrection as you labor by this other places to proue But nowe let vs sée what you haue founde in Ireneus that was a great deale older then Athanasius He hath sayde Quomodo dicunt carnem c. By what reason doe they saye that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lorde This place of Ireneus is sufficiently opened before in the aunswere to that which you haue sayde of the first circumstaunce of the sacrament which is who it was that spake these words This is my body c and is playnely proued not to make any thing for your purpose eyther there or here Yet we haue not sayde any thing to that other place which you cite out of the fift booke of this Ireneus where he sayth Ireneus li. 5. Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse c. How doe they denie c. I might put you in remembraunce of that which Erasmus wryteth concerning his iudgement of the authoritie of this booke for I am sure you can tell that he hath written thus Censura Eras Roterodami In hoc quinto libro quum multa scripturarum loca diligenter explicentur quaedam tamen insunt quae nisi quis comode interpretetur non satis congruere videntur cum bis dogmatibus quae hoc tempore praescribit Ecclesia Where as in this fift Booke there be many places of Scripture diligently expounded yet are there certaine things in it which vnlesse a man doe well interpret doe not séeme to agrée verie well with those doctrines that at this time the Church doth prescribe Auncient writers must be read with fauour c. And afterwarde he sayth Sed in huiusmodi multis veteres illi cum candore nonnunquam cum venia legendi sunt c. But in many such things those auncient wryters must be read with fauour and sometime with pardon also But be it that Erasmus had not giuen vs this warning is there not warning ynough giuen vs in the wordes of the place it selfe to looke well to the wryters meaning You doe according to your custome cite those wordes onely which may at the first sight make some shewe of that you would proue by them But according to my custome I will let the reader sée the whole circumstaunce that he may be able to iudge which of vs both goeth most nigh to the meaning of the writer His wordes be these Vani autem omnimòdo qui vniuersam dispositionem Dei contemnunt carnis salutem negant regenerationem eius spernunt dicentes non cam capacem esse incorruptibilitatis Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec Dominus sanguine suo redemit
he said it is the spirite that quickneth and the fleshe profiteth nothing And the words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirit and life c. How your conclusion of a reall eating of Christ in the sacrament by the seruice of our bodies c. maye folowe vpon these words of Austen I leaue to the iudgement of all that be learned and not obstinately blinde in this matter Cyprian Ser. De Caena To that which you cite out of Cyprians Sermon De Caena Domini and Origine vpon the booke of Numbers I referre you for aunswere to the wordes of the same Cyprian in the same Sermon where he sayth thus Dixerat sanc huius traditionis magister quod nisi manducaremus biberemus cius sanguinem non haberemus vitam in nobis spirituali nos instruens documento aperiens ad rem adâ—â— abditam intellecluin vt sciremus quod mansio nostra in ipso sit manducatio potus quasi quaedam incorporatio subiectis obsequijs voluntatibus iunctis affectibus vnitis The teacher of this tradition had sayde that vnlesse we would eate him and drinke his bloud we could haue no lyfe in vs instructing vs by a spirituall document and opening our vnderstanding to a thing that is so secretly hid that we might know that our eating is our dwelling in him and our drinking as it were a certaine ioyning into one body with him by gyuing ouer our selues wholy to serue him by ioyning our willes to his and vniting our affections And to the wordes of Origine also in the same Homily that you cite Origines in Num. ho. 16. and not many lynes after that which you point at where he sayth thus Bibere autem dicimur sanguinem Christi non solùm sacramentorum ritu sed cùm sermonem eius recipimus in quibus vita consistit sicut ipse dicit Verba quae locutus sum spiritus vita est It is saide that we drinke the bloud of Christ not onely in the rite of the sacrament but also when we receyue his wordes in which lyfe doth consist euen as he himselfe sayth The words that I haue spoken are spirite and lyfe Now let your friendes iudge what you haue gayned by that you haue cyted out of Cyprian and Origine And for your sentence that you haue picked out of Chrysostome to helpe out with the matter August ad Bonifacium Epist. 23. I referre you for aunswere to that which Austen hath written to Bonifacius whose wordes I haue cyted in the ninth deuision of this aunswere But to make short it appéereth by thys that I haue written that the Gospell commaundeth no externall nor reall drinking of bloud wherfore it is no necessarie consequence that in the sacrament of Christes bloud his bloud is not figuratiuely nor yet only spiritually dronken but really by the seruice of our bodies although you doe beare vs in hande that Chrysostome doth so affirme both in his .24 Homily vpon the first to the Corinths and also in his Homily to those that were lately graffed into Christ For both in those places many other Chrysostome doth giue that name to the sacrament which is proper to the thing wherof it is a Sacrament according to Saint Austens saying to Bonifacius As touching the expounding of the wordes of Salomon by Austen Chrysostome and Isychius Watson belieth three at once I must néedes tell you that you belye them all three For none of them doth say as you would beare vs in hande that they doe say Austen speaketh most of the matter and sayth thus Mensa potentis quae sit nostis August in Ioh. tract 47. vbi est corpus sanguis Christi qui accedit ad talem mensam praeparet talia Et quid est praeparet talia Quomodo ipse pro nobis animam suam posuit sic nos debemus ad aedificandam plebem ad asserendam fidem animam pro fratribus ponere You know what the table of the mighty man is where the body and bloud of Christ is he that commeth to such a table must prepare the lyke thing And what is it to prepare such lyke things Euen as he gaue his lyfe for vs so must we giue our lyues for our brethren to edifie the people and to defende the fayth Here is no mention made of the sitting at the table discerning of the thing set before them nor of the putting to of the hand All that Austen hath sayde here Epist 23. is fully answered by that which he hath written to Bonifacius Chrysostome sayth thus Sed veniunt ad mensam potentis Chrysost in Psalm 22. consyderantes ea quae apponuntur eis accipere cum timore tremore tribulationes efficiuntur consolationes But they come vnto the table of the mightie considering those things that be set before them to receyue with feare and trembling their tribulations are become consolations This is farre from that which you report in his name But you could not sée that which he writeth a little before Watson can pretend shortnesse of time When he will not say all that he should where he sayth thus Et quia istam mensam praeparauit seruis ancillis in conspectu eorum c. And bicause he hath in the sight of them prepared this table for his seruaunts and handmaydens c. As is afore in the answere to the .26 deuision of this sermon If shortnesse of time would haue suffered you to rehearse al those words they would haue marred altogither and therefore you did wisely to dissemble them As for the place that you cite out of Isychius it is aunswered before and néedeth not nowe to be aunswered any further But here I must tell you that this is no simple dealing to vrge the interpretation of a fewe that felowed the Gréeke as you say both against the text in Hebrue and the exposition that such as were learned in the Hebrue tongue haue made vpon this place Yea and that in so weightie a matter as thys is You knowe that Salomon was an Hebrue and wrote his Prouerbs in Hebrue and shall we leaue his wordes in Hebrue and take that which we find in the Gréeke contrarie to or differing from that which is manifest playne in the Hebrue If Austen had had the vnderstanding of the Hebrue tongue he would not haue done so I mislike not the expounding of that text by the Alegorie for the text may well beare it But to Alegorize vpon a text that differeth from the same text in the tongue that it was first written in by the Author thereof can not but be misliked And much more it is to be misliked August libr. 12. Confess Cap. 25. that any mans priuate iudgemeÌ„t vpon any part of scripture should be made a sufficient ground to build our fayth vpon as the same S. Austen hath said Saint Hierome who vnderstood the Hebrue tongue doth Alegorize farre otherwise
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
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
is in vs he himselfe doth in this sort testifie He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloude doth dwell in me and I in him For no man shall be in him but such as he himselfe shall be in hauing receyued into himself the flesh of that man only which hath taken vpon him his flesh The sacrament or mysterie of this perfect vnitie he had taught before saying euen as the liuing father hath sent me and I doe liue through the father so he that cateth my flesh shall liue through me For euery comparison is taken according to the forme of vnderstanding that by the example that is proponed we maye vnderstande the thing that is talked of Truly this is the cause of our life that we which be carnall or fleshly haue by the meanes of the fleshe Christ dwelling in vs which shall liue through him in such sort as he liueth thorow the father If we therefore doe naturally liue through him as touching the flesh that is hauing obtayned the nature of hys flesh how should it be but that sith he doth liue by the meanes of the father he must néedes haue the father in himselfe naturally as touching the spirite And he doth lyue by the meanes of the father seing that his natiuitie hath not giuen him a straunge and contrarie nature for as much as that being that he hath is of his father and yet for all that he is not by any vnlikelinesse incident to his nature separated from him seing that through his natiuitie in the strength of nature he hath his father in himselfe We haue made mention of these things bicause the Heretikes which fayne that the vnitie betwéene the father and the sonne is onely the vnitie of will haue vsed the example of our vnitie with God as though when we be by seruice onely and will of religion knit vnto the sonne and by the sonne to the father there were no proprietie of naturall communion graunted vnto vs by the sacrament of his body and bloud where as the mysterie of the true and naturall vnitie is to be preached both by the honor of the sonne of God which is giuen vnto vs and also by the sonne that is carnally abyding in vs being bodily and inseparably ioyned togither in him In the latter part of these words Hilarius doth playnely shew the cause that moued him to write after such sort as he doth in the former part of the same The heretikes sayth he which fayned that the vnitie betwixt the father and the sonne is onely the vnitie of will c. By this it is manifest that his purpose was to proue that the example whereby the heretikes would proue that the vnitie that is betwixt Christ and his father is but the vnity of wyll doth serue nothing for their purpose For the vnitie that is betwixt Christ and vs and through Christ betwéene God the father and vs is not onely in wyll of religion and seruice but naturall and true And in Christ we are bodily and inseparably ioyned one to another and doe altogither liue by the meanes of Christ as Christ doth lyue by the meanes of his Father And therfore he sayth as you haue cited Haec verò vitae nostrae causa est c. Verily this is the cause of our lyfe c. Nowe M. Watson call to memorie the admonition that Erasmus gyueth in his Epistle concerning the maners of spéeches that this author vseth in his workes and touching the doctrine that he teacheth in this booke wherout you alledge those wordes that we haue nowe in hande and then it shall appéere to you I trowe that you haue not vsed Hilarius well in bearing men in hande that he is one of them that teach our resurrection and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud For if shall be playne that he meaneth to teache that as Christ and his father be one in nature so Christ and we that doe beléeue the promise that God hath made in him and therfore be by loue inseparably ioyned one to another and doe therfore oftentimes come togither and be partakers of one loafe and one cup whereby this perfite vnitie that we haue with God and one with another is playnely preached vnto vs and euen oure verie senses certefied that we are by fayth inseparably ioyned vnto Christ as members to their head and by loue one to another as members of one body amongst themselues We must therefore in this point vse both iudgement and fauour in the reading of Hilarius If you should therfore go about by many such places as this to proue this effect of the sacrament you should in déede through your ouer much curiosity séeme to much to mistrust the credite of your so faithful an auditory Wherfore you doe well to cōclude without any more to doe And as for the ascrybing of the effect that you haue spoken of to so base creatures as bread and wine God is the efficient cause of our resurrection you shall not néede to feare if ye will with vs ascribe it to him that is the efficient cause thereof which is the diuine maiestie it selfe But nowe let vs sée what other effectes this sacrament séemeth to you to bring forth WATSON Diuision 25 1. Cor. 10. The principall effect of all is to make vs one body with Christ which is declared in saint Paule in these wordes Panis quem frangimus nonne communicatio corporis Christi est The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodye that is to saye doth it not ioyne and knit vs in the vnity of one body of Christ Chrysost in Paul 1. Cor. 10. Vpon the which place of saint Paule Chrisostome noteth that he sayde not it is the participation but it is the communion of one body Declaring thereby the highest and greatest coniunction that can be sauing the vnitie of person for the bread which we breake that is to saye the naturall body of Christ vnder the forme of bread which we breake and deuide amongst vs not taking euery man a sundry part but euery man taking the whole the same And as Cyrill sayth Cyrillus li. 12. Capit. 32. Gods sonne going into euery man as it were by diuision of himselfe yet remayneth whole without any diuision in euery man this bread I say is the communion of Christes body that is to say maketh vs that be dyuers in our owne substaunce to be all one misticall body in Christ indued all with one holy spirite whereby the influence of Christes grace that is our head is deriued and deduced vnto vs that be members of his body fleshe of his fleshe and bones of his bones Chrysost in Paul 1. Cor. 10. Thus doth Chrisostome expound the words of S. Paule Quid enim appellio inquit communicationem idem ipsum corpus sumus quidnam est panis corpus Christi quid autem fiunt qui accipiunt corpus Christi non
fayth By which fayth we are made one misticall body in Christ and be by him indued with one holye spirite and be vnto him as dearely beloued as his owne members fleshe and bones Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. And yet once agayne Chrysostome must helpe to expounde the wordes of Paule His wordes be these say you Quid enim appello inquit communionem c. What meaneth saint Paule c. As for the fault that your printer hath made I haue amended without any more to doe as in many other places of your printed sermons I haue done but your owne subtile dealing in the translation I may not passe ouer so A man that had ment vprightly would haue translated the wordes of Chrysostome thus What doe I call communion sayth Paule We all are one and the selfe same body And what is the bread The body of Christ And what are they made that doe receyue the body of Christ Not many but one body Nowe what helpeth this to prooue your purpose That is that our knitting togither into one body is the effect of the sacrament The Communion that is to say the action of the institution of Christ in breaking of sacramentall bread doth teach that we which be partakers thereof be all one and the selfe same body and bicause we be so therefore we doe frequent and vse that action We are not therefore made one body by this doing but being so before by fayth that worketh by loue we doe by frequenting that mysterie shewe our selues so to be And the bread is the body of Christ Not as you would haue vs beléeue that it is but sacramentally The effect of sacraments And by the common rule of sacraments it hath the name of that thing whereof it is a sacrament and is called the body of Christ such as doe receyue this body of Christ are made one body and not many Not bicause they were not one body before they did receyue that sacrament but bicause they be thereby made knowne to be one body For if the receyuing of the sacrament should make them such then should it folow that as often as they receiue that sacrament they should afreshe be made one body which can be done but once And that is when being elected in Christ from the beginning they be in time moued by Gods holy spirite to beléeue in hart and confesse with mouth that Iesus Christ the sonne of God hath dyed for our sinnes and is risen agayne for our righteousnesse and receyue or doe consent to receyue or be méete to receyue the sacrament of Initiation the God hath appointed which was in the time of Moses law circumcision and is now baptisme in water Thus are we first made and shewed to be members all of one body and by the vse of the other sacrament oftentimes shewed to be the same The businesse that you make about the other wordes of saint Paule that is to say Vnus panis vnum corpus c. One bread one body c. might verie well haue bene spared For when Saint Paule sayth Omnes enim de vno pane participamus We doe all take parte of one loafe of bread he meaneth not to streatch the vniuersall signe All to all the members of the vniuersall Church of Christ A note for vniuersall signes as you would beare vs in hande that he doth but to all the members of euery particuler Church when they come togither to communicate and thereby to shew themselues mémbers of one body And the this is his meaning may well appéere by that he saith thus to the Corinthians Videte Israel secundum carnem c. Consider Israell after the fleshe Are not all they partakers of the aultar that doe eate of the sacrifices Paules purpose in these wordes is to open his meaning in the other It must néedes follow therefore that he meaneth of particuler congregations and not of the vniuersall Church as you would fayne haue him to meane you haue therefore made more a doe then néeded Let vs nowe sée what helpe you finde at the hande of saint Cyprian Cyprian De Caena Domi. He sayth Aequa omnibus portio datur c. Equall portion is giuen to al. c. According to your custome you doe here also leaue out those words the might giue light to the writers meaning I will therefore set them in wryting as they stande in the Sermon that you cite Iam nulla fit panis mutatio vnus est panis caloris continui status integri qui semel oblatus Deo in sapore dulcissimo candore purissimo perseuerat Nec solos sacerdotes ad panis huius dignitatis leuiticae praerogatiua admittit vniuersa Ecclesia ad has epulas inuitatur aequa omnibus portio datur c. As you haue cyted Nowe sayth Cyprian there is no chaunging of the bread there is one loafe of bread which hath in it a continuall heate and is of sound state which being once offered to God doth still remayne in most pleasaunt or swéete taste and pure whytenesse Neyther doth the prerogatiue of this leuiticall dignitie admit priestes onely to eate of the loaues the vniuersall Church is inuited or bidden to this feast Equall or like portion is giuen to euery one It is delyuered whole and being distributed it is not torne in péeces It is incorporated and not iniuried It is receyued and not included Dwelling among the weake it is not made weake neyther doth it disdaine the ministerie of the poore A pure fayth a sincere minde doe delight this tenaunt Neyther doth the narrownesse of oure poore house offend or pincht in the greatnesse of the vnmeasurable and almightie God If you had cyted all these words Cyprians meaning would haue bene somewhat more playne to such hearers as had not bene altogither blinded with affection to that doctrine that you laboured to maintayne It is manifest that Cyprian doth here speake of Christ which is that bread which came from heauen and was figured by the Manna that fell from heauen in the wyldernesse and by the shewe breads that were by the law appointed to be set before the Arcke in the Tabernacle and to bée chaunged euery day whereof none might eate but onely those Priestes that were of the leuiticall lyne But this bread Iesus Christ being once offered remayneth for euer And all the whole Church of Christ is called to come féede vpon this bread Euerie man that wyth pure fayth and sincere minde commeth to féede vpon him shall receyue him whole And though he be by fayth eaten of all yet is he not neyther can he be consumed nor torne in péeces Yea a little before those wordes that I haue written Cyprian sayth Vna est domus Ecclesiae in qua Agnus editur nullus ei communicat quem Israelitici nominis generositas non commendat It is the onely house of the Church wherein the Lambe is eaten none is made partaker thereof whome the nobilitie
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
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
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
charitate in passione Resurrectione omnes in gratia nominatim congregemini in commune in vna fide Dei Patris Iesu Christi vnigeniti eius filij primogeniti totius creaturae secundum carnem ex genere Dauid praeunte deducente vos paracleto obedientes Episcopo atque presbyterorum caetui indiuulso animo vnum panem frangentes quod est medicamentum immortalitatis antidotus ne moriamini sed vinatis in Deo per Iesum Christum purgatio malorum expultrix Brethren stand fast in the fayth of Iesus Christ and in his loue his passion and resurrection Congregate your selues togither all into one place in louing fauour one towardes another in one fayth of God the father and of Iesus Christ his onely begotten sonne the first begotten of all creatures of the lynage of Dauid after the fleshe the holy ghost being your guide and leading you thether Obeying your Byshop and the whole company of elders with one consent of mind breaking one loafe of bread which is a medicine of immortalitie and a thing to preserue you that you should not dye but lyue in God thorow Iesus Christ and a purgation that doth expel euils This much hath Ignatius written in the place that you cite And can any indifferent man gather of these words that he ment here to teach that our resurrection is the effect of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud I thinke not Yea I suppose Effectes doe spring out of efficient causes that none can gather that meaning of his wordes but you and such as you are whome affection hath blinded Doe ye not know that effects must spring out of efficient causes And dare you say that the sacrament of Christes body and bloud is the efficient cause of our immortalitie If you haue any shame left you will not affirme it For Saint Paule sayth 1. Thess 4. 2. Cor. 4. that the efficient cause of our resurrection is the same that raysed vp Christ from death to lyfe How can the sacrament of his body and bloud be the efficient cause of our resurrection and immortalitie then as you thinke you haue proued it to be If Ignatius were nowe lyuing he would not I am sure commend you as he doth commend those Ephesians that he wrot vnto For he should finde in you the contrarie of that he found in them by the testimonie of Onesimus their Bishop Wherevpon he wryteth thus Onesimus autem ipse valde laudat vestram in Deo moderationem dispensationem quod omnes secundum veritatem viuatis quodque in vobis nulla haeresis inhabitet sed neque auditis quenquam nisi solum lesum Christum verum pastorem magistrum ac estis sicut Paulus ad vos scribebat vnum corpus vnus spiritus c. And Onesimus himselfe sayth Ignatius doth greatly commend your moderation and disposition of things in God for that you doe all lyue according to the truth and for that there is in you no heresie abyding but you refuse euen to heare any other then Iesus Christ alone which is the true Shepheard and teacher and you are euen as Paule wrote vnto you one body and one spirite c. How farre you and your sort be from the harkening to Christ alone may easily be séene of all that will consider the multitude of traditions that you haue brought into the Church of Christ and doe estéeme them aboue the ordinaunce of God Wherefore Ignatius might say vnto you as he wryteth in the same Epistle Similiter autem omnis homo quisquis indicium a Deo accepit punietur si imperitum pastorem secutus fuerit falsam opinionem vt veram exceperit And in lyke maner euery man that hath receyued at Gods hand habilitie to iudge shall be punished if he shall follow an vnskilfull shepheard and receyue a false opinion as true Thus you sée that when Ignatius is well considered he will be found none of those auncient Authors that doe commonlye teache this affect of the sacrament of Christs body but contrarywise he will tell you that you shall be punished for that you follow an vnskilfull shepheard and accept a false opinion as though the same were true And euen in that place which you cite hys wordes are flat against your doings and therefore you dissemble those wordes and begin with the next He hath written thus Vnum panem frangentes quod est c. Breaking one loafe of bread which is a medicine of immortalitie and a preseruatiue against death Now tell me how this breaking of one loafe of bread doth or can agrée with your priuate Masse that you call the sacrifice of the Church and with your Popishe Easter housell when euery one hath a mock loafe by himself Ignatius would haue the Ephesians to breake that is to be partakers of one leafe of bread and he sayth that is a medicine of immortalitie and a preseruatiue against death Watson was foule ouersene Why then It is neyther your priuate Masse nor your Easter housell that he speaketh of but our communion If I had bene of your counsell before you made this Sermon you should neuer haue cited this place for shame Well it is out now and can not be called in againe But nowe let vs sée what the fathers that were gathered togither in the generall counsell of Nice Concilium Nicenum haue sayde to this matter They haue called this sacrament Symbola Resurrectionis nostrae The pledges or causes of our resurrection say you But I would faine knowe where you haue read Symbolum in that signification I beléeue you neuer read it in any of the eloquent Gréekes or Latinistes You were sure that you had Auditorium beneuolum A straunge signification of Symbolum and therefore you might be bolde to saye that Symbolum signifieth a cause and so translate Symbolum Resurrectionis the cause of resurrection But perhaps you haue some secret Authors wherin you read Simbolum written with ī and not with y. And that Simbolum it is that you translate so for your printer hath so printed it Well I leaue this translation of yours to the iudgement of such as be skilfull in the Gréeke and Latine tongues But to our purpose You shall neuer be able to proue that Symbolum signifieth a cause but a pledge it may signifie And what haue the fathers of the Nicene counsell done for you then Euen as much as Ignatius hath done before I will not stick to graunt you both the sayings to be true The sacrament of Christes body and bloud Medicines be not the efficient causes of health is a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death a purgation to expell euils a pledge of our resurrection Are medicines preseruatiues and purgations the efficient causes of health And how can this medicine preseruatiue and purgation be the efficient cause of our resurrection immortalitie And is a pledge the efficient cause of the thing or déede that is promised when the
nos neque Calix Eucharistiae communicatio sanguinis eius est neque panis quem frangimus communicatio corporis eius est Sanguis enim non est nisi á venis carnibus á reliqua quae est secundum hominem substantia qua verè sactum verbum Dei sanguine suo redemit nos Quemadmodum Apostolus eius ait In quo habemus redemptionem per sanguinem eius remissionem peccatorum Et quoniam membraeius sumus per creaturam nutrimur Creaturam autem ipse nobis praestat solem suum oriri faciens pluens quemadmodum vult cum Calicem qui est creatura suum corpus confirmauit ex quo nostra auget corpora Quando ergo myxtus Calix factus panis percipit verbum Dei fit Eucharistia sanguinis corporis Christi ex quibus augetur consistit carnis nostrae substantia Quomodò carnem negant capacem esse donationis Dei quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur membrum est eius quemadmodum Apostolus ait in ea quae est ad Ephes Epistola Quoniam membra sumus corporis eius de carne eius de ossibus eius non de spiritali aliquo inuisibili homine dicens haec Spiritus enim neque ossa neque carnes habet sed de ea dispositione quae est secundum hominem quae ex carnibus neruis ossibus consistit quae de Calice qui est sanguis eius nutritur de pane qui est corpus eius augetur Altogither veine are those men which doe contemne the whole order that God hath set denie the saluation of the fleshe and despise the regeneration thereof saying that it is not able to receyue incorruptibilitie For by this meanes that is to saye if these sayings be true neyther hath the Lorde redéemed vs with his bloud neyther is the cup of thankesgyuing the communion of his bloud nor the bread that we breake the communion of his bodye For it is not bloud except it come from the veynes and fleshe and the other substaunce which is of mans nature Wherin the sonne of God being borne in déede hath with his owne bloud redéemed vs. Euen as his Apostle also sayth in whome we haue redemption the forgiuenesse of sinnes through his bloud And bicause we are members of him and be nourished by the creature And he it is that giueth the creature vnto vs causing his sunne to arise and rayning in such sort as it pleaseth him when he sayde for a suretie that the cup which is a creature is his body whereby he doth giue encrease to our bodyes When the mixed Cup therefore and the bread that is made doe receiue the sonne of God it is made the Euchariste or thankesgyuing of the bloud and body of Christ whereof the substaunce of our flesh is encreased and doth consist How doe they denie that fleshe is able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall lyfe sith the same is nourished with the bloud and bodie of Christ and is a member of him as the Apostle saith in that Epistle which he wrot to the Ephesians For we are members of his body of his fleshe and of his bones not speaking these wordes of any spirituall or inuisible man for a spirite hath neyther bones nor fleshe but of that disposition of partes that is in mans nature which doth consist of fleshe sinewes and bones which is nourished by the cup that is his bloud and encreased by the bread that is his body Nowe let the Reader iudge whether Ireneus may be vnderstanded to meane in this place as you by cyting his wordes What maner men Ireneus had to doe with would haue him séeme to meane First it is manifest by hys wordes that he had to doe with such men as did vtterly denie the resurrection of our bodies And he proueth that their assertion is verie veyne sith our bodies be nourished in this lyfe by the same creatures that our sauiour Christ hath made the sacramēts of his body and bloud which creatures we receyue at his hande for he causeth the sunne to arise and to warme the earth and he it is that giueth raine to moysten the earth whereby the same bread and wine that he hath assuredly sayde is his body and bloud doe grow out of the earth wherby he doth giue our bodies encrease And to what purpose should he institute the sacrament of his body and bloud in those creatures if our nature which he hath taken vpon him and is nourished by these creatures should not by him be made incorruptible and immortall Howe can they therefore sayth Ireneus denie that fleshe is able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall lyfe sith the same is nourished with that creature that is the bloud and body of Christ and is a member of him as the Apostle sayth c. Which wordes must be warily considered least we should thinke that Ireneus doth deny that the church of Christ is the spiritual or mistical body of Christ affirming that the same is his very naturall body which he tooke of the substaunce of the Virgine Marie Wordes that must be warily considered But when these wordes be well weighed it appéereth that Ireneus was earnestly bent to disproue not onely the opinion of such as doe denie our resurrection but also their opinion that did affirme that Christ tooke not mans nature vpon him but had a fantasticall body and therefore he applyed the wordes of Paule against that error saying Non de spirituali aliquo c. He spake not those wordes to the Ephesians of any spirituall or inuisible man but of the disposition of partes that is in man which consisteth of fleshe sinewes and bones Vnderstanding Saint Paules wordes in that meaning that the wordes of Laban must be vnderstand when he sayde to Iacob Genes 29. Os meum es caro mea Thou art my bone and my fleshe That is thou art of the same lynage that I am and descended out of the same loynes So Ireneus vnderstandeth saint Paules wordes in that place to signifie that Christ and we concerning his mans nature be descended out of the loynes of one man that is the first man Adam And so he concludeth that for as much as our nature is nourished and encreased by those creatures bread and Wine wherein Christ hath instituted the sacrament of his body and bloud and doth therefore call the same creatures by the names of those things that they be sacraments of the same nature must néedes be made incorruptible and immortall through him that hath receyued it to himselfe and is himself incorruptible and immortall Watson is to bolde with Ireneus Wherfore it séemeth to me M. Watson that you are to bolde with Ireneus when you affirme that his meaning is such as we finde to be contrarie to his playne and manifest wordes For he sayth that the
multa sed vnum corpus What meaneth saint Paule when he sayth the communion he meaneth that we be all one body What meaneth he by this worde bread the body of Christ What are they made that receyue the bodye of Christ they are not made many bodyes but one bodye And therefore saint Paule sayth by and by after Vnus panis vnum corpus multi sumus omnes enim de vno pane participamus We that be many are made one bread one body for bicause all we doe receyue and eate of one bread Here he telleth playne why we that be many in number are all made one bread one misticall bodye bicause sayth he all we eate of one bread which is one naturall bodye And this worde bread here must needes be taken for Christes naturall body and not for materiall bread as the heretikes say for it can not be conceyued neyther by reason nor by fayth how that all we christen folkes that liue now and haue lyued since Christes time and shall liue till Domesday can eate all of one and the same bread and eate also at sundrie times all of the same one bread being one bread in number and not one bread in kinde as some would make cauilation seing we be not fed Cum generibus speciebus with kindes of bread as the Logitianes say but with singuler bread except we vnderstand by this one bread the bread of lyfe that came from heauen the dread of Christes naturall body in the sacrament which he promised to giue vnto vs all wherof as saint Cyprian sayth Aequa omnibus portio datur integer erogatur distributus non dimembratur Cyprian De Caena Domi. incorporatur non iniuriatur and so forth whereof equall portion is giuen to all this deliuered whole and being distributed is not dismembred and being incorporate into vs is not iniuried and being receyued is not included and dwelling with those that be weake is not made weake And the reason why all we should be made one bodye that receyue one body is declared in Cyrill Cyrillus de Trini li. 1. the Latine is long but the Englishe is this We men beyng all dyuers in our owne proper substaunce according to the which one man is Peter an other is Thomas an other Mathew yet are we all made one body in Christ bicause we be fed with one fleshe and are sealed in vnitie with one holy spirite and bicause Christes body is not able to be deuided therfore being of infinite power and receyued of all our diuers bodies maketh all vs one body with himselfe Chrisost in Math. hom 83. Which vnitie of body saint Chrisostome expresseth by a similitude of Dough and Leuine that we are made one body as meale of many graine and water when it is kned are made one Dough or Leuine his wordes be these Veniat tibi in mentem quo sis honore honoratus qua mensa fruaris ea namque re nos alimur quam angeli videntes tremunt nec absque pauore propter fulgorem qui inde resilit aspicere possunt nos in vnam cum illo massam reducimur Christi corpus vnum cara vna c. Remember with what honor thou art honored of what table thou eatest for we are fed with that thing at which the Aungels looking vpon doe tremble and quake and without great feare be not able to beholde it for the brightnesse that commeth from it and we are brought into one heape of Leuine with him being one body of Christ and one fleshe for by this misterie he ioyneth himselfe to all the faythfull and those children whom he hath brought forth he doth not commit them to be nourished of an other but he himselfe most diligently and louingly doth feede them with himselfe Let my maysters of the newe learning tell me how that these words can be any wayes applyed and verified of bread and wine with all their figuratiue speeches and hyperbolies This coniunction also of vs with Christ Cyrill expresseth by a similitude of two waxes melted and mingled togither Cyrillus li. 10. Cap. 17. libr. 4. ca. 17. Quemadmodum si quis igne liquefactam ceram aliae cerae similiter liquefactae ita miscuerit vt vnum quid ex vtrisque factum videatur sic communicatione corporis sanguinis Christi ipse in nobis est nos in ipso c. Like as if a man mingle one waxe melted with an other waxe melted so that one whole thing of them both be sene to be made euen so by the communion and receauing of Christes body and bloud he is in vs and we in him for otherwise the corruptible nature of our bodyes could not be brought to incorruption except the body of naturall lyfe were ioyned to it Hilarius also the great learned and godly Bishop sayth Per communionem sancti corporis Hilarius in Psal 6. in communionem deinceps sancti corporis collocamur By the communion of his holy body we are afterwarde placed and brought into the communion of hys holy body In such a playne matter as this is what neede I to heape places one aboue another all the fathers be full of it Wherfore seing the effect of this sacrament is to be made one misticall body with Christ fleshe of his fleshe and bones of his bones as saint Paule sayth Ephes 5. Cyrillus li. 10. Capit. 13. Hilarius de trini li. 8. which vnion as Cyrill sayth is not onely by will affection fayth and charitie but also carnall and naturall as Hilary sayth by Christs flesh mingled with our flesh by the way of meat I can not see but that it is great wickednesse and plaine blasphemy to ascribe this glorious effect to the needie elementes of this worlde as to bread and wine but onely to the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ as to the onely substaunce of the blessed sacrament of the aultar Now CROWLEY you are come to the principall and chiefe effect of your sacrament of the aultar Which you say is to make vs one body with Christ This ye will proue first by the wordes of Paule to the Corinthes which are these Panis quem frangimus c. The bread which we breake c. 1. Cor. 10. Howe farre the meaning of Saint Paule in the place that you cite doth differ from your meaning in cyting his wordes may easily appéere to as many as will and are able to iudge indifferently I dare therefore saye to such as shall reade thys aunswere as saint Paule sayth there to the Corinthians Vos ipsi iudicate quod dico Be you your selues iudges of that which I speake Saint Paules purpose in that place is to perswade the Corinths that they might in no case match christen religion with Idole seruice For a little after those wordes that you cite he sayth Nolo vos fieri socios Demoniorum Non potestis Calicem Domini bibere Calicem Demoniorum Non potestis mensae
of the name of Israell doth not commend By these wordes it is most euident that Cyprian ment to teache that such as shall be partakers of Christ must by election in Christ be made méete thervnto being commended by the nobilitie of the name of spirituall Israell whereof the carnall Israell was a figure And their Lambe Manna and shew bread Cyprians meaning was farre other then was Watsons a figure of that euerlasting bread which he speaketh of here So farre of is he from confirming of that which you would prooue that is that our knitting togither in Christ is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar as you call it Yet one thing more I must néedes note in the words of Cyprian He sayth that all the whole Church is called to this bancquet and that equall portion is giuen to euery one How agréeth this with your priuate Masses and your withholding of the one halfe of the sacrament from the laye sort But nowe to Cyrill once agayne Cyrillus de Trini lib. 1. He must helpe you once more to beare vs downe by strong hande that our cowpling togither in Christ is the effect of your sacrament of the aultar His Latine is long you say and therefore you passe it ouer But the Englishe is thus We men being all diuers in our owne proper substaunce c. Well though the Latine were longer then it is yet would I be bolde to trouble the reader with it bicause it shall make manifest to all men that will read it that it was not the desire to auoyde tediousnesse that moued you to leaue out the Latine but a purpose to blinde the simple hearer or reader of your subtile Sermon The words of Cyrill in Latine are thus Dissecti enim quodammodo in subsistentiā propriam hoc est singularem iuxta quam hic quidem est Petrus ille Thomas vel Matheus eiusdem corporis facti sumus in Christo vna carne pasti vno spiritu sancto ad vnitatem obsignati Et quandoquidem est indiuisibilis Christus nullo enim modo diuisus est vnum omnes sumus in ipso We being after a certaine sort deuided euery man into his owne proper that is to say his singuler substaunce whereby this man is Peter and that man is Thomas or Mathewe are made one body in Christ being fed with one fleshe and sealed vnto vnitie by one holy spirite And bicause Christ can not be deuided for he is by no meanes deuided we are all one thing in him Nowe let the indifferent reader iudge howe faythfully you haue handled this place of Cyrill And as he shall finde you faithful herein so let him giue credit to the rest of your doings Cyrill hath sayde that we be all one thing in Christ bicause Christ can not be deuided you say that we be made all one body in Christ bicause we bée fed with one fleshe c. And bicause Christes body is not able to be deuided And you adde a conclusion as though Cyrill had so concluded The cause why Watson would not cite Cyrill in Latine and you say Therefore being of infinite power and receyued of all our diuers bodies maketh all vs one body with himselfe No maruell though you would not cite the Latine seing you were minded to swarue so farre from it in your Englishe But vna carne pasti Being fed with one fleshe is the grounde that you builde vpon As though Cyrill might not meane here of that spirituall eating of Christs fleshe that Christ himselfe spake of in the sixt of Iohn Iohn 6. where he sayth that the flesh that is the fleshly meaning doth profit nothing at all Yet once more must Chrysostome helpe to proue this effect You say that he doth expresse this vnitie by a similitude of Dough or Leuen c. His words be these you say veniat tibi in mentem c. Chrysost in Math. ho. 83. You are so accustomed to belye the auncient wryters that you can not both cite their wordes aright and Englishe them truely in any one place that I can yet méete withall Chrysostome hath not spoken any one worde of Leuen in that place which you cite Et nos in vnam cum illo massam reducimur And we are brought into one lumpe of Dough with him being one body of Christ and one fleshe Here is no mention of Leuen neyther of meale of many graines and water Which you say Chrysostome maketh a similitude of to proue our vnitie in one body And this is also to be noted That when you are come to Christi corpus vnum vnae caro one bodye of Christ and one fleshe you passe ouer twice so much matter as you haue cited and then in Englishe you go on with these wordes For by this misterie c. as though there had bene no word at al betwixt And to enure your selfe with your accustomed feates you translate the wordes of the later sentence farre otherwise then they signifie in Latine For where Chrysostome doth in Latine say thus Sed ipse studiosissime alit But he himselfe doth most diligently and carefully nourishe them you haue sayde thus But he himselfe most diligently and louingly doth féede them with himselfe Thus you doe as one eyther past shame or assured that no man should at any time examine your wordes and charge you with your subtile dealing But nowe you haue wonne the victorie let my maysters of the newe learning say you tell me c. Your maysters of the new learning as it pleaseth you to terme vs néede not to vse eyther figuratyue spéeches or hyperbolies to proue that these wordes of Chrysostome may be verified of bread and wine For I am sure there is not one amongst vs that is learned but he will readily graunt that Chrysostomes purpose in this place was to set forth and commende vnto vs the excéeding greatnesse of the loue of Christ towards his elected and chosen Church and congregation Who as saint Paule sayth being in the maiestie of God spared not to abase himselfe and to take on him Philip. 2. our base and miserable estate And to this purpose hath Chrysostome sayde Et nos in vnam cum illo massam reducimur And we are brought into one lumpe of Dough with him And agayne Singulis enim fidelibus per hoc mysterium se coniungit He doth by this mysterie ioyne himselfe to euery faythfull man and woman And in conclusion he sayth thus Hac etiam re tibi persuadens carnem illam tuam assumpsisse tanta igitur charitate atque honore affecti non torpeamus Perswading thée also by this thing that he hath taken vpon him that verie flesh of thine Beyng therefore so greatly beloued and honored let vs not be sluggardes Nowe let my maysters that would be called of the olde learning tell me howe this place of Chrysostome can be rightly applyed to proue that our cowpling togither in Christ in the felowship of
and your Popishe fathers haue laboured by the bragge of fiftene hundred yeres to disceyue all the whole christen worlde For which you shall one day drinke of the cup of Gods wrath except ye repent before ye depart hense Your if and your but will not serue you then But as you say the errour is in your selfe which woulde harken to the witlesse sophisticall reasoning of a fewe Popishe men and so runne headlong to destroy your owne soules Forsaking and not contynuing in that fayth that was taught by the mouth of Christ sealed with his bloud and testified by the bloud of Martyrs and hath preuailed from the beginning and shall continue to the ende in the dispite of Antichrist and all his members and the whole power of hell As for that which remayneth concerning the thirde point that causeth you to contynue in your Popishe fayth that is the consent of the Catholike Church as you say which to your great griefe you could not now for shortnesse of time go thorow with shall be answered in the aunswere to your other Sermon if God wyll I hope in such sort that as many as be not wilfull blinde shall sée the subtiltie of your sophistrie and for euer after defie it and your Popishe Masse also which you boast to be so profitable to be frequented in the Church of Antichrist to maintaine your multituds of ydle belyes in cloysters and else where And I doubt not but whatsoeuer you or any other hath or shall shoote against the right vse of the Lordes supper which is nowe in reformed Churches frequented shall to the glorie of almightie God rebounde into your owne bosomes to the staye of all such as God in prouidence hath appointed to be saued by the preaching of his worde That they neuer encline to your Poperie but walke warily in the truth of the christian religion leading a christian lyfe that in the ende thereof they may with Christ triumph ouer Antichrist and all his Souldiours in endlesse felicitie Which he graunt to his elect and chosen children that in hys sonne Christ knewe them before they were Amen ¶ The second Sermon Obsecro vos fratres per misericordiam Dei vt exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam sanctam c. Rom. 12. AMONGES OTHER THINGES the last time I was admitted to speake in this place WATSON Diuision 1. I brought forth this sentence of saint Bernard written in a Sermon De epithania Pauperes sumus parum dare possumus c. Bernardus Ser. de Epiphania The English is this We be poore little may we giue yet for that little we may be reconciled if we will All that euer I am able to giue is this wretched bodye of mine if I giue that it is sufficient if not then I adde his body for that is mine and of mine owne for a little one is borne vnto vs and the sonne is giuen to vs O Lorde that lacketh in mee I supply in thee O most sweetest reconciliation Here I noted a great benefite of the oblation of Christes body to consiste in supplying that lacketh in the oblation of our bodyes that where as wee beyng exhorted of saint Paule to offer vp our bodies a sacrifice to almightie God and also doe vnderstande by other scriptures that it is oure dueties so to doe which maye bee done three wayes By voluntarie suffering the death for Christes fayth if case so require by painefull and penall workes as by abstinence and other corporall exercises for the castigation and mortifying of the outwarde man or else by the seruice of righteousnesse in that we vse the members and parts of our bodye as instruments of all vertue and godlynesse considering agayne howe there is great imperfection in all our workes and that the best of vs all commeth short of that marke which is prefixed of God to serue him with all oure heart wyth all our strength and that eyther in the worke it selfe or in the intent or in the cause or tyme or in some other degree and circumstaunce for this cause and consideration saint Bernard doth himselfe and moueth vs to ioyne the oblation of Christes body with oures wherewithall we are sure God is well pleased saying This is my sonne in whom I am well pleased Marke 7. by whose merites our oblation and other workes doe please God and not otherwise CROWLEY This place of Bernard is aunswered in the seuenth diuision of the former Sermon wherevnto I referre the indifferent reader And therefore I purposed to make one sermon of the sacrifice of Christ WATSON Diuision 2. not of that which he himselfe made vpon the crosse for oure redemption but of that which the Church his spouse maketh vpon the aultar which purpose being also before promised remaineth now to be fulfilled And entring the last time to speake of it I laid this foundation that is to say the veritie of the blessed Sacrament the bodye and bloud of our sauiour Christ to be verily and really present in it by the omnipotent power of almightie God the operation of his holy spirit assisting the due administration of the Priest and so to bee there not onely as our meat which God giueth vnto vs to nourish vs in spirituall lyfe but also as our sacrifice which we giue and offer vnto God to please him and purge vs from such thinges as may destroy or hinder that spirituall lyfe seing that Christ himselfe is the substaunce of the sacrifice of the new Testament as I haue partly shewed before and beside him wee haue none that is onely proper to vs Christen men This foundation of the reall presence I presupposed to haue bene beleued of vs all and yet I did not so rawly leaue it but declared vnto you such reasons as moued me to continue still in that fayth I was borne in which were the euident playne scriptures of God opened with the circumstances of the places in suche wise as the vaine cauillations of the sacramentaries can not delude them and also the effectes of this sacrament which be so great and so wonderfull that they can be ascribed to no other cause but onely to almightie God to such creatures as Gods sonne hath ioyned vnto him in vnitie of person as be the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ I alledged also the sayings of the holy fathers not in such number as I would haue done but choosed out a fewe which not onely declared the Authors fayth but conteyned a necessarie argument to proue our common fayth in this matter For aunswere to your handling of those matters that you speake of here CROWLEY I referre the reader to the aunswere that I haue made to that Sermon Concerning the third point WATSON Diuision 3. which is the consent of the catholike Church neyther the time then suffred to speake as behoued nor yet suffereth nowe if I should performe my promise as I intende God wylllng And for that cause I shall but
diuision of this sermon And for aunswere to that which you alledge out of saint Austens Confessions Libro Con. 9. Capit. 12. I referre you to that which I haue written for aunswere to the .9 diuision of your former sermon also De Cura pro mortuis cap. 1. In Iob. Tract 84. Euchirid Cap. 109. To the other thrée places that you alledge out of Austen I must aunswere thus It appeareth by these thrée and certaine other places of saint Austens workes that he supposed that praiers made and almose déedes done for such as departed this lyfe in the fayth of Christ and felowship of the members of his body might be propitiatorie for them in such sort as you haue sayde that your Masse is when it is taken for the worke of the priest And that the reason that perswaded him so to thinke was the custome of the Church in his dayes which was to make mention of the dead in their prayers when according to Christes institution they did celebrate the holye Communion of the bodie and bloud of Christ But shall this be a sufficient warrant for vs to thinke and to teache that the Masse which as it is vsed in the Popes church is but an heape of dumble ceremonies is a sacrifice propiciatorie for the sinnes both of the quicke and the dead The same Austen willeth vs not to stand vpon his warrandice but to be sure that we haue the scripture for our discharge For he knewe himselfe to be a man and that as a man he might erre In his thirde booke De trinitate In Prooemio li. 3. de Trinit he sayth thus Noli meis litteris quasi scripturis canonicis enseruire sed in illis quod non credebas cum inueneris incunctanter crede in istis autem quod certum non habebas nisi certum intellexeris noli firmiter retenere Be not bound to my wrytings as to the Canonicall scriptures but when thou shalt finde in them that which thou diddest not beleue before beleue it without any staying or staggering but when thou shalt finde that in my wrytings that thou didst not surely know before do not firmely holde it vnlesse thou mayst vnderstand it Againe in one of those bookes that you alledge he sayth Euchiridio Capit. 4. Quae autem nec corporeo sensu experti sumus nec mente assequi valuimus aut valemus eis sine vlla dubitatione credenda sunt testibus à quibus ea quae diuina vocari iam meruit scriptura confecta est But those thinges which we neither haue proued by bodily sense nor haue béene or are able to attaine vnto by reason must without any doubting be beleued for those witnesses of whom that scripture that is nowe worthily called diuine was perfectly made And in another place he sayth De Peccatorum merit li. 1. Capit. 22. Cedamus igitur consentiamus authoritati scripturae sanctae quae nescit falli nec fallere Let vs therefore giue place and consent to the authoritie of the holy scripture which neyther can be disceyued nor disceyue Ambrose also hath sayd Nos noua omnia quae Christus non docuit iure damnamus quia fidelibus via Christus est Ambros de Virginibus Si igitur Christus non docuit quod docemus etiam nos id detestabile iudicamus We doe worthily condemne al new things which christ hath not taught for to the faythfull Christ is the way If Christ therefore haue not taught that which we teach euen we our selues doe iudge it detestable These sentences and such like whereof there be many in the auncient fathers wrytings do cause me not to consent to that which Austen wryteth in those places that you alledge and certaine other of his workes Although the same be nothing to proue that which you would proue by his authoritie He maketh the oblation whereof he speaketh there of no greater worthinesse then the almose that is giuen to the poore and the prayers made for the dead wherefore he can not meane there of such a sacrifice as you make your Masse when you say it is Christ himselfe There is great oddes betwéene Christ himselfe offering himselfe to his father and a loafe of bread giuen to an hungrie man It is manifest therefore that he vnderstandeth that oblation that he speaketh of to be but a meane to mooue God to applie the merites of his sonne to such as whiles they liued here did by repentaunce and fayth make themselues méete to be partakers of mercie For so he teacheth in plaine wordes in the same place that you cite saying Sed eis haec prosunt que cum viuerent vt haec sibi postea prodessè possent meruerunt But these things are profitable to such persons as whilst they liued here deserued that these things might afterward be profitable to them Yea if all be Austens that goeth in his name there is no propiciation to be had for capitall sinnes after this life His wordes be these Sermone 41. de sanct Non capitalia sed minuta paccata purgantur Not the capitall or damnable sinnes are purged but the small sinnes Such as the Italians call Peccadulians little pretie sinnes Yea and those little sinnes sayth he if the fardell of them be great will weigh you downe and drowne you And to giue men occasion to thinke that he had no great deuotion to this doctrine of helping the soules departed he writeth thus Lucae 16. August in Psalm 48. by the occasion of the historie or parable of the rich man and Lazarus Ventri suo seruiunt homines non spiritibus suorum Ad spiritus mortuorum suorum non peruenit nisi quod secum viui fecerunt Men sayth he meaning such as offer sacrifice for the deade doe not serue the spirites of their friends but their owne bellies To the spirites of their friends departed there commeth nothing more then that which they did whilst they liued here with them Here you may sée how little help you haue by saint Austens words when they be better weighed then you would weigh them whē you did vse them And when his wordes in other partes of his workes be weighed also Yea you may sée by this place of Austen that your purgatory priests which are hyred to sing for soules doe not serue the soules that they sing for but their owne bellies And therefore the cost that is bestowed that way is but cast away The scripture that neyther is deceyued nor doth deceyue hath told vs that we shall all stand before the iudgement seate of Christ 2. Cor. 5. Eccles 14. and receyue according to those works that we haue done in our owne bodies whether the same be good or badde And the scripture hath willed vs to worke righteousnesse before we depart hence for in the graue there can no foode be founde I conclude therefore that though you could spend .22 houres in rehearsing of the places that you could bring in
that haue most frequented it Yea they that will but enquire of the lyfe and conuersation of them that at this day be Massemongers shall soone sée how great an enimie the Masse is to the Deuils kingdome Yea though there were none other euill in them The Masse alone is able to holde vp the Deuils kingdome then onely that they say and heare Masse which is ydolatry yet were this one euill sufficient of it selfe to holde vp the kingdome of the Deuill But admit that the Masse were no ydolatry yet it is alwaies accompanied with a multitude of grosse ydolatries As the inuocation of creatures the opinion of meryting by mens owne workes the representing of God to the bodily eye by an Image made lyke a man the bowing of the knées and burning of Wax and Incense before the Images of creatures trust confidence in the holynesse of creatures made holy by men and such lyke Thus is the Masse the greatest aduersarie that the Deuils kingdome hath But least some of your Auditorie should take paynes to read Luthers booke and so perceyue that you haue not sayde truely of him you thinke to preuent that matter by speaking a fewe wordes of that part of the booke that openeth the meaning of the hole and knitting vp your tale with this exclamation O what a cloke of mischiefe is this and all grounded vpon lyes and falsehood He sayth the Deuill lyeth not when he accuseth c. And if this saying of Luther be true then there will folow a number of as great inconueniences as vpon the wordes of Dauid when he sayth Omnis homo mendax Euery man is a lyar Psam .. 115. If Luther were in this lyfe he would not sticke to graunt all that you conclude vpon that proposition that you call his principle For which of the two may be thought better the fayth of a Turke or of a Massemonger Seing the one denieth Christ in wordes denying him to be his sauiour and the other in déedes in séeking saluation by other meanes then by Christ which is to denie him And wherein shall Hieroboams priestes be found worse then the Popes Massing priestes If you wil read the prophecie of Oseas and vnderstande it you shall finde that they had as good a colour of obseruing Moses his lawe as the Popes priestes haue of kéeping Christs institution And so of the reast that you doe name damnable heresies c. Now because the time is farre past shortly to conclude I shall most humbly beseech you to consider and regarde the saluation of your soules WATSON Diuisiō 44 for the which Christes Gods sonne hath shed his precious bloud which saluation can not bee atteyned without knowledge and confession of Gods truth reueled to his holy Church and by her to euery member of her and childe of God whose sentence and determination is sure and certaine as proceeding from the piller of truth and the spirite of God by whome we be taught and assured in Gods owne worde that in the blessed sacrament of the aultar by the power of the holy ghost working with Gods word is veryly and really present the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ vnder the formes of bread and wine which is by Christes owne commaundement and example offered to almightie God in sacrifice in commemoration of Christes passion and death whereby the members of the Church in whose fayth it is offered both they that be aliue and departed perceaue plentuous and abundaunt grace and mercy and in all their necessities and calamities reliefe and succour Our most mercifull father graunt vs to persist stedfast and constant in the true Catholike fayth and confession of this most blessed Sacrament and sacrifice with pure deuotion as he hath ordeyned to vse and frequent this holye mysterie of vnitie and reconciliation that we may thereby remaine in him and he in vs for euermore To whome be all glory and praise without ende Amen To make a short conclusion CROWLEY I will ioyne wyth you in making humble request to the readers of these your sermons and mine aunswere that they will haue an earnest regard to the saluation of their owne soules for which Iesus Christ the only begottē sonne of God hath fréely shed his most precious hart bloud Which saluation can not be attayned vnto without the knowledge and confession of Gods truth which he hath by his worde reuealed to his Church and doth daylie by the faythfull and diligent ministerie thereof reueale it to euery member thereof and child of God Which Church is and euer hath bene the pyller of truth In. 1. Timo. Capit. 3 wherein onely the truth is séene and doth playnely appéere to the worlde as saint Hierome hath sayde and hath hir foundation vpon truth which is hir onely stay and piller to leane vnto as Chrysostome hath written Which truth being the determination of God before the beginning this piller of truth doth still cleaue vnto neuer séeking to determine otherwise then God hath by his sonne Christ determined taught In whose worde we are assured that at his last supper with his holy Apostles he did institute a most comfortable sacrament of hys owne body and bloud to be frequented and vsed in his Church in the remembraunce of his death and passion till his comming agayne in our nature to iudge both the quick and the dead In which sacrament is lyuely represented vnto vs yea euen vnto our senses that vnity that he hath and doth by his almighty power make betwixt himself and vs and amongst our selues one with another which vnitie the nature of the bread and wine wherein this sacrament is instituted doth plainely expresse and signifie In vsing whereof his Church doth not onely call to memorie the benifits that she hath receyued by him but also shewe hir selfe thankfull in offring hir selfe a sacrifice of a swéete sauour vnto God by ready good wyll to glorifie him both by lyfe and by death as the holy saintes that be departed thys lyfe did whilste they lyued here assuring themselues of his contynuall presence to comfort help and succour them in all the necessities and calamities of thys lyfe and after thys lyfe of euerlasting ioye and felicitie in euerlasting lyfe through him Which they haue alreadie attayned vnto in part being delyuered from the burden of the fleshe and we shall in the ende of this lyfe attayne vnto in lyke maner if we contynue faythfull to the ende as they did And when the day of the generall resurrection shall come we with them and they with vs shall through Christ receyue our owne bodyes agayne incorruptible immortall glorious and spirituall euen such as his blessed body is nowe in the throne of maiestie to reigne wyth him in his fathers kingdome for euermore Our most mercifull and louing father graunt vs to contynue stedfast and constant in the true Catholike fayth and confession of our hope of forgiuenesse of all our sinnes by that one onely sacrifice that Christ Iesus made in offering hymselfe on the Crosse once for all as by his holy worde and sacraments he doth daylie teache vs to doe And that we may so frequent and vse this holy misterie of vnitie and reconciliation that we may daylie more and more be assured thereby of his dwelling in vs and our abyding in him To whome be all prayse honour and glory for euer Amen FINIS ¶ Imprinted at London by Henry Denham dwelling in Pater-noster Rovve at the Signe of the Starre SVBLIME DEDIT OS HOMINI Anno Domini 1569. 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