Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 2 · Part 47
The seuen and fortieth Chapter proceedeth in the proofe of the adoration of the Sacrament by doctors.Hesk.
The first doctor named,Fulk. is Dionysius Areopagita disciple of S. Paule (as he sayeth) Eccles. Hierarch. 3. parte. Cap. 3. who maketh this prayer to the sacrament: O verie godly & holie mysterie, opening fauourably the couerings of signifying signes, wherewith thou art couered, shine openly and apertly vntounto vsus, & fill our spiritual eyes with the singuler & open brightnesse of thy light. That this Dionyse, although of some antiquitie, yet is not that Dionyse, that was conuerted by S. Paule, nor any that liued 600. yeres after, at the least, it is plaine by this reason; that neither Eusebius, nor Hieronyme, nor Gennadius, which wrote the Catologs of all ecclesiasticall writers, that were before them, or were famous in the church in their time, nor yet any other writer within the compasse of 600. yeres after Christe, maketh any mention of any such Dionyse, to be a writer of those bookes, which are saide to be written by him. Now touching his supposed prayer, it is but an exclamatiō rethoricall, named apostrophe, not vntounto the bread & wine, but to him, that in that mysterie is represented, which is Christ, that he would vouchsafe to open him self, & shine in the hearts of the faithfull, as the outward signes are seene wt the outwarde eyes. And that he allowed no transubstantiation, it is manifest by that he saith in the same place, that the Bishop doth after consecration, cut in peeces the vndiuided bread, & speaking of ye sacrament, doth often affirme, that by those symboles or signes, wee are changed into God & Christ, meaning, we are renewed by his spirite, but neuer affirmeth, the bread & wine to bee turned into the bodie & bloud of Christ. Howbeit, what I iudge of his authorite & antiquitie, I hauehave declared before. The next is Gregorie Nazianzen in Epitaph. Gorgoniae sororis. Quid igitur, &c. What then did the soule both great & worthie of greatest things, and what remedie had shee against her infirmitie? For nowe the secreat is disclosed, when shee had dispaired of all other, shee flyeth to the Phisition of all men, and taking the solitarinesse of the night, when the disease had giuen her a little respite, shee fell downe with faith, before the altare, and with a lowde voice and all her might, shee called vppon him which is worshipped at is, and vntounto him shee rehearsed all the myracles that he had done of olde time. M. Heskins immagineth, that it was such an altare as they hauehave in the popish Churches, which is vntrue, for it was a table, & men stoode round about it, as is to be proued by many testimonies of antiquitie. Secondly, he immagineth, that ye sacrament was hanged ouer the altare to be worshipped, as it is among them, but that is vtterly false: for it was receiued at such time as it was consecrated, except some remanents that were kept to be eaten. Therfore, though shee made her prayer at the altare, shee made no prayer to any thing vppon the altare, but to God, whome shee did worship and reuerence, and whose mysteries shee vsed to receiue at the same altare. Therefore M. Heskins falsifieth Gregories words, which are these: foreign, &c. but thus they are turned by him into latine, ante altare cum fide procubuit, & illum quem super altare venerabatur &c. Shee prostrated her selfe with faith before the altar, and called vponupon him whome shee worshipped vponupon the altare. But Gregorie sayeth: foreign, in it, or at it, meaning the altare where shee prayed. And to put all out of doubt, yt shee worshipped not the sacrament vppon the altare, it followeth afterwarde? foreign. And if her hand had layde vp any where, any parte of the figures of the precious bodie, or of the bloud, that shee mingled with teares, O marueilous thing! and immediatly departed feeling health. By these wordes it appeareth, that shee brought this remanent of the sacrament with her, which Gregorie calleth foreign, the signes or tokens, or figures of the bodie and bloud of Christ, and not the verie naturall bodie of Christe: and those shee worshipped not, but wett them with teares, whether superstitiously let the Papistes iudge, for they them selues will allowe no such fashions, nor yet reseruation for such purposes, but as for adoration of the sacrament, which is the matter intended, here is none spoken of in this place. After this, he toucheth the facte of Satyrus the brother of S. Ambrose, which is aunswered before, lib. 1. Cap. 24. whose hope was in God, and not in the sacrament. Although Satyrus as a young nouice, not throughly instructed in Christian religion, cannot simply be defended, though he may be excused, howsoeuer by his brother Ambrose he is highly commended. Then followed Eusebius Emisser…us Hom. Pascal. Because he woulde take away his assumpted bodie from our eyes, and carrie it into heauen, it was needefull that this day he should consecrate vntounto vsus the sacrament of his bodie and bloud: vsus coleretur iugiter per mysterium quod semel offerebatur in precium: that it might be continually worshipped or exercised by a mysterie: (for colere signifieth both) whiche was once offered for our price.
M. Heskins gathereth hereof, that the same bodie, should be honoured by mysterie, whose visible presence not his bodie, was taken away from the earth. But Eusebius sayeth, not onelyonly that he would take his bodie from our sight, but also place it in heauen, and in steede therof, he leaueth the sacrament of his bodie and bloude, which no man doubteth, but it ought to be honoured, as so high a mysterie deserueth, but not as God or Christe. The other saying of Eusebius, which hee addeth, doeth shewe, howe it is to be honoured: When thou commest to the reuerende altare to be satisfied with heauenly meates, beholde with faith the holy bodie and bloud of thy God, honour it, wonder at is, touch it with thy minde, take it with the hande of thy heart, and cheefely, receiue it with the inwarde draught. What can be layed more plainely for the spirituall receiuing, and the like reuerence to be giuen to so holie a sacrament? But because M. Heskins thinketh this saying to make more against him, then for him, therefore he sayeth, to auoyde cauilling, Eusebius proceedeth sone after in these words: Sicut autem, &c. As any man comming to the faith of Christe, before the wordes of baptisme, is yet in the bands of the olde deis, but when the words are spoken, is foorthwith deliuered from all dreg… of sinne: So when the creatures are set vppon the holie altares to be blessed with heauenly words, before they be consecrated by inuocation of the most highest name, there is the substance of bread & wine, but after the wordes of Christ, the bodie & bloud of Christ. This is a plaine place for M. Iuell, what else? But if it be rightly vnderstood, it is a plaine place against M. Hesk. for he sheweth the change or transubstantiation that is in the Lordes supper, to be the same, that it is in baptisme, which is spirituall, and not carnall, and so doth verie fitly compare them together, or else his similitude were to no purpose, if it were not to shewe by that which is don in baptisme, what is likewise done in the other sacrament.
M. Heskins still blattereth of a bare figure, which is of vsus always denyed. Consequently he citeth Bernarde, whose authoritie I leaue vntounto him, being a burgesse of ye lower house, in which he hath many voices, as he hath neuer a one in ye vpper house, though he wrest their speaches most iniuriously. To confirme some phrase of Bernard, he rehearseth certein phrases of the old writers like to them in words, but not in sense, which hauehave bene aunswered alreadie, as Hierom. ad Hed. qu. 2. Our Lord Iesus is the feaster, & the feast: he that eateth and which is eaten. Ambrose in praepara. ad miss. which is none of his, but falsly intituled to him: Thou art the Priest and the sacrifice, wonderfully and vnspeakably appointed. And Augustine in Psal. 33. He was borne in his owne hands. But he leaueth out a worde, which expoundeth both Augustine, and all the rest that speake so: quodam modo, after a certeine manner Christ was borne in his owne hands, is the feast & that which is eaten, & the sacrifice. I say quodam modo, therefore not simpliciter. Last of all, he wil ioyne issue, to subscribe on this point, that the proclaimer can bring but one auncient doctor, that saith the sacrament is not to be adored. To whome I answer, that forasmuch as in the primitiue church, the opinion of transubstantiation was not knowen, there neuer grew any question of the adoration of the sacrament, as yt Papistes nowe do vse it and commaund it.