The Buckler of the Faith, Part 2 · Article 38 · Subpart 9
That the Masse, and the Decretals, and Glosses of the Church of Rome, ouerthrow Transsubstantiation.
Sect. 32 Although the marke of Papall religion, is to go to Masse, yet the Masse is much contrary to the Papacie. For the Canon of the Masse is composed of diuerse peeces set together, whereof the greatest part are ancient Doctors which ouerthrow Merits, Purgatory, and Transsubstantiation.
You must vnderstand, that in the Primitiue Church, the sacred table stood in the middle of the Church, whereupon the people came to offer gifts & presents of bread & wine, and of fruits; which presents were called oblations and sacrifices. Of that bread and wine in gteat quantity brought and set vponupon the table, the Minister tooke one part for the celebration of the holy Sacrament, as much as needed to communicate the same vnderunder both kinds vntounto the faithfull; the rest was for the poore. Before the administration of the Sacrament to the people, they made all the Catechumeni, Penitents, and such as were possessed, and all those that either would not, or could not receiue the communion, to go out of the Church.
Ouer these presents and gifts of the people, appointed for the celebration of the holy Supper, diuers prayers were said, whereof the greatest part are at this day said in the Masse, but changed into another sence. For as in stead of a quantitie of bread to communicate to all the assembly, at this day they hauehave but a litle round wafer, which they call god: so whereas those prayers were said ouer the bread and the wine, now the same prayers are said ouer the consecrated host, which they say is Iesus Christ. Whereby it happeneth, that in those prayers the Priest speaketh against his owne intent, and plainly contradicteth his Churches beleefe, and pronounceth words that are iniurious to Iesus Christ.
For after the words of*Panem sanctum vitae aeternae, & calicem salutis perpetuae. Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris & accepta habere vt accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui iusti Abel. Consecration, offering Iesus Christ to God, he speaketh in this manner to God, saying, VponUpon which things may it please thee to looke with a good and fauourable countenance, and to accept of them, as thou diddest accept of the presents of Abel thy righteous seruant. This prayer might be said vponupon the offerings and almes of the people, but in no sort can be vponupon Iesus Christ. For is there any likelihood that Iesus Christ should be called These things, as if they spake of diuerse Iesus Christs, and of things without life? Againe, can he without impiety desire God to accept as well of Iesus Christ, as he accepted the beasts sacrificed by Abel? Their ordinary excuse in this is, that the Priest doth not desire God to accept as well of Iesus Christ, as he did accept of the lambe offered by Abel, but that God would be pleased to accept as well of our deuotion as of that of Abels: But the words of the Masse will not beare this exposition, which compare not Abels deuotion with ours, but the presents which the Priest offereth to God, with those that Abel offered, saying, Accept as well of these sacrifices and of these presents, as thou diddest accept of Abels presents. The hoast and the present is not the deuotion. There is great difference betweene a present and the will, which oftentimes is accepted without a present.
The Priest addeth,*Supplices te rogamus omnipotens Deus, iube haec perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum. We beseech thee most puissant God, to command that these things may be borne by the hands of thy holy Angell into thy heauenly Pallace, into the presence of thy diuine Maiestie. Is there any thing in all this that can be applied to Iesus Christ? Is Iesus Christ presented by the Angels to his Father? Hath he any need of the helpe of Angels to be presented to God?
There followeth a prayer for the dead,**Memento etiam Domine famulorum famularumque tuarum qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei & dormiunt in somno pacis. saying, Lord remember thy seruants which hauehave gone before vsus with the signe of faith, and that sleepe in peace. For then they beleeued not that mens soules were burnt in a fire.
After this there followeth a long catalogue of the names of many Saints; which rehearsed,Intra quorum nos consortium non aestimator meriti sed veniae largitor admittas, per Christum Dominum nostrū, per quem Domine haec omnia semper bona creas, sanctificas, viuificas, benedicis. they make this prayer to God, saying, In whose company we beseech thee to receiue vsus, not regarding our merits, but pardoning our offences. This is contrarie to merits.
But the words that immediatly follow, are specially to be considered, where it is said, By Christ our Lord, by whom, oh Lord, thou alwaies createst for vsus all these good things, thou sanctifiest, quickenest, and blessest them. Is there any thing in all this that agreeth to Iesus Christ? For can they call the consecrated bread (which they call the host) all these good things, if that hoast be Iesus Christ? Doth God alwayes quicken Iesus Christ? Doth God create & quicken Iesus Christ, by Iesus Christ? These speeches are fit being applied to the bread and wine, but not vntounto Iesus Christ. If by these words they vnderstand that he speaketh of the bread and wine, considering them as they were before consecration, thereby they fall into three ineuitable absurdities. The one is, that they giuegive thankes vntounto God, because he created the bread and the wine in the Eucharist, when that bread and wine is no more bread and wine; The second is, he sheweth the bread and the wine, as being present, saying, Haec omnia bona, All these good things, when those things are no more those good things; vsing a demonstratiue pronowne of a thing present, to shew nothing. The third absurditie is, that those words are spoken then when the Priest is about to lift vp the hoast to cause it to be adored. Is not this a thing against all reason and apparence, that then when men adore the hoast, and pretend to sacrifice the eternall Sonne of God to God, the Priest giueth thankes to God because he causeth the bread and wine to grow? and remembreth not to giuegive him thankes, because he hath put Iesus Christ into his hands to sacrifice and to eate him? As if then when they are to render vp their soules vntounto God, they should giuegive thankes vntounto God, because he maketh it raine vponupon the vines, without giuing him thankes for redeeming our soules from hell, by the death of Iesus Christ.
The many signes of the Crosse*Efficit super ea crucis signaculum, vt per crucis virtutem omnes conatus diabolicae malignitatis effugiant, ne contrasacerdotem vel sacrificium aliquo modo praeualeat. which the Priest maketh vponupon the hoast and vponupon the cup, witnesse that the beleefe of the Church of Rome hath bene changed. For Pope Innocent the third, in the second booke of the Mysteries of the Masse 58. chap. saith, that the Priest makes signes of the Crosse vponupon these things to driue away the diuell, lest he should preuaile against the Priest, or against the sacrifice, that is, against Iesus Christ. But it is not credible that those who brought in that custome, would be so ridiculously officious, as to take on them by signes of the Crosse made in the aire, to defend Iesus Christ against the diuell.
The Glosse of the Romish Decretall vponupon the Canon Hoc est, in the 2. Distinction of Consecration, is no lesse expresse touching this subiect, then if it had bene made at Geneua:**Coeleste Sacramentum quod verè repraesentat Christi carnem dicitur corpus Christi, sed impropriè, vnde dicitur suo modo, sed non rei veritate, sed significante mysterio, vt sit sensus, vocatur corpus Christi .i. significatur. The celestiall Sacrament which truly representeth the flesh of Christ, is called the body of Christ, but improperly: And therefore it is called so after a sort, but not in the truth of the thing, but by a significant mysterie: So that this is the true sence, it is called the body of Christ, that is, it is signified thereby. These words are very considerable.
In the same Distinction it is said,***Can. Qui discordat à Christo non manducat carnem eius, nec bibit sanguinem, et si tantae rei sacramentum ad iudicium suae perditionis quotidiè accipit. He that disagreeth with Iesus Christ, eateth not his flesh, nor drinketh his bloud, although eueryevery day he receiueth the sacrament of so great a thing to his condemnation.
The like in the Canon De hac: ****De hac quidem hostia quae in Christi commemoratione mirabiliter fit edere licet. Deilla verò quam Christus in ara crucis obtulit, secundùm se nulli edere licet.It is permitted to eate of this hoast which is wonderfully made in remembrance of Iesus Christ. But no man is permitted in the same to eate of that which Iesus Christ offered vponupon the altar of the Crosse.
And in the Canon Quia Morte, (likewise taken out of Saint Augustine) It is said,*Quia morte Domini liberati sumus, huius rei memoriam in edendo & potando, carnem & sanguinem quae pro nobis oblata sunt, significamus. Because we are deliuered by the death of our Lord, in remembrance thereof, when we eate and drinke, we signifie his flesh and his bloud, which were offered for vsus.
The Masse (as we hauehave seene) hath diuers formall prayers against Transsubstantiation: yet there is a manifest fraud vsed, and a changing of the ancient Liturgie. The Priest saith:*Quam oblationem tu Deus in omnibus quae sumus benedictam, ascriptam, raptam, rationabilem, acceptabilémque facere digneris, vt nobis corpus & sanguis fiat dilectissimi filij tui Domini nostri Iesu Christi. Qui pridie, &c. Which oblation, may it please thee oh God in all things to make it, blesse it, register it, ratifie it, and accept it, that vntounto vsus it may be made the body and the bloud of thy most deare Sonne.
But we hauehave the same prayer in the 5. Chap. of the 4. booke of Sacraments, among Saint Ambrose works, in these words:**Fac nobis hanc oblationem ascriptam, rationabilem, acceptabilem, quod est figura corporis & sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi. Qui pridie, &c. Make this oblation for vsus to be esteemed as reasonable, and acceptable, which is the figure of the body and of the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ.
An horrible deprauation; for whereas the ancient Fathers said, that this oblation is the figure of the body of Christ, they say, That this oblation may be made vntounto vsus the body of Christ. This deserues seriously to be thought vponupon.