The Anatomy of the Mass, Book 1 · Chapter 15
CHAP. XV. Of the Adoration of the Sacrament. The opinion of the Roman Church.
THe Roman Church having deified the Sacrament, hath conſequently obliged her ſelfe to worſhip it with the higheſt adoration which is due to God alone. By this meanes a wafer of bread hath taken Gods place, and is called God, and is worſhipped as God. They ſpeake of lifting up God in the Maſſe, and of Gods feaſt (viz, Corpus Chriſt… day) and of carrying God to a ſick… body. Phraſes that are not to bee found in the holy Scriptures, and unheard off in the Ancient Chriſtian Church.
The Councell of Trent in the thirteenth Seſſion, Chapter 5. ſpeaketh thu… There remaines no doubt but that all faithfull Chriſtian people ought to give the worſhip of L…tria, nullus dubu andi locus relinquitur, qu…n omnes Chriſti ſideles latriae cultum qui vero Deo debetur, huic ſanctiſſimo Sacramento in veneratione adhibeant.which is due to the true God, to this holy Sacrament in the veneration. Now by this word Sacrament, they underſtand the body of Chriſt with the ſpecies or accidents. For by this word Sacrament, our Adverſaries never underſtand Chriſt Jeſus out of the ſpecies. This Councell then ordaineth that the ſpecies of the bread and wine ſhall be worſhiped with ſoveraigne adoration.
The practiſe doth verifie what I ſay. For the people worſhipping the conſecrated hoſte, divide not their minde into two Adorations, and worſhip not the body of Chriſt with one kinde of Adoration, and the ſpecies of the bread with an other: but carry their whole devotion to worſhip with ſoveraigne adoration, the hoſte they have before their eyes.
Bellarmin teacheth as much in his fourth Booke of the E chariſt, Chapter 29.*§ Sed haec. Cultu latriae dici… mus per ſe & proprie Chriſtis eſſe adorandu, & eam adera…one ad ſymbola … …i…m panis & v…nt per…nere, qua…nus …ppre … dun…ur … au…um …um ipſo Chriſto qu…m con…nent. We ſay that Chriſt, For ſe & proprie, is to be worſhipped with the ad… ration of Latria, and that this adoration belongeth alſo to the ſignes or ſymboles of the bread and wine, in as much as they are conceived or conſidered, as being one with Chriſt himſelfe, whom they containe. And ſaith, it was juſt ſo that Chriſts garments were worſhipped with the ſame adoration that Chriſt was. For (ſaith he) they did not pull off his cloaths for … worſhip him.
For he propoſeth this for an infallibl… Maxime, that bee that worſhippeth ſo… thing, worſhippeth alſo all the things th… are conj…yned to it. Bell lib. de Imaginibus cap. 25 Qui adoral ea omnia quae cum ipſo conjuncta ſunt.That is to ſay that h… that worſhippeth the Images, worſhips alſo the Cobwebs that are upo… them: And that he that worſhippeth th… Pope, worſhippeth alſo his Breeche… and his ſhirt. Hee will have then th… roundneſſe, whiteneſſe, length, breadth and taſte of the hoſte, to be worſhippe… with the ſame adoration that God i… worſhipped with, becauſe theſe accident and Chriſt are but one.
Vaſquez the Jeſuite ſaith the ſame in his ſecond Booke of Adoration. Diſp. 9. Chapter 1.*Quae abſolute d… tur adorari adorat one latriae, cum tamen per accidens cii d vinitate conjunlla colantur. Chriſts humanity (ſaith he) and the Euchariſt are worſhipped abſolutely with the adoration of Latria, albeit that being enjoyned by accident with th… God-head, a worſhippe is given to the… And that we may know that the accidents of the bread, that is to ſay th… breadth, length, colour and ſavour of the bread are worſhipped with the ſame adoration that Chriſt is worſhipped: he addeth,*Accidentia panis & vini cum exiſtat non propria exiſient…a ſed ex…ſtentia corpor…s & ſanguinis Chriſti, opt… poſſiil ſimul ſub cundem cultum adorat onis cad…re queadmodum humanitas Chriſti ejuſque divinitas …odem motu adorationis coluntur. The accidents of the bread and wine, becauſe they exiſt not by their proper exiſtence, but by the exiſtence of the body and blood of Chriſt, may very well receive the ſame honour of adoration together with the body and blood of Chriſt: even as Ch…ſts humanitie and his Divinitie are worſhipped with one and the ſame motion of adoration.
This Idolatry is prodigious, by which the colour and roundneſſe of the bread are worſhipped with the ſame adoration that God is worſhipped with. The Aegyptians did ſeeme to have attained to the higheſt degree of Idolatry when they did worſhip Cats, Onions, and Storkes. But this Idolatry, in worſhipping the accidents of the bread, goes farre beyond them: For theſe things they worſhipped, were ſubſtances and things really exiſting: But theſe accidents without a ſubject, are imaginary things, and which indeed are nothing. The folly of thoſe Aegyptians would have beene much greater, if they had worſhipped the colour and the length, and the faces or lowring of a Cat, without worſhipping the Cat. Adde moreover that they did not worſhip beaſts and plants as the Soveraigne God: but as having in them ſome ſparkes of the Divinity. But the Roman Church worſhippeth the accidents of bread without bread, with a Soveraigne adoration, and which onelyonly belongeth to God.
And marke the doctrine of this Jeſuite, who ſaith with approbation of the Examinators prefixed in the forefront of his booke, that the accidents of the bread doe exiſt in Chriſt after the ſame manner as the humanitie of Chriſt hath no proper ſubſiſtence, but ſubſiſteth in the divine nature. This truely is to unite and conjoyne the roundneſſe and colour of the bread with Chriſt with a perſonall union.
And as errors are link'd together an… cleave one to an other, it is certain that the accidents of the bread are no… more ſtraitly conjoyned with Chriſt, than Chriſt with theſe accidents. And by conſequent even as becauſe of this imaginary union of the body of Chriſt with the accidents of the bread, the things which befall theſe accidents, are alſo attributed unto the body of Chriſt, of which they ſay, it is carryed, and lifted up, and walked up and downe, and ſtolne away, and eaten by mice, and vomited up, and devoured by a beaſt: So by the ſame reaſon becauſe of the ſame union, they muſt ſay that the roundneſſe and whiteneſſe of the bread are the Sonne of God, and are borne of the Virgin, and are juſt and without origiginall ſinne.
In all this truely the Roman Church ſheweth her ſelfe idolatrous in the laſt degree. It is a bog or quagmire of abuſes, and an abyſſus or a gulfe of ſeduction wherein Satan hath plunged men: God puniſhing in his juſt anger the contempt of his word, which is become an unknowne Booke among the people. For it is juſt that thoſe that have loſt Piety, ſhould looſe alſo the common ſenſe.