Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 3 · Part 37
The seuen and thirtieth Chapter treateth of the oblation and sacrifice of the Masse, as it was vsed of the Apostles and Fathers.Hesk.
When not one of the Apostles or Euangelistes make one word mention, either of Masse or sacrifice therein,Fulke. M. Heskins taketh vponupon him much more then al the Papistes in the world can proue. Concerning the Fathers, as they vse the terme of sacrifice, so I hauehave often shewed, that they meane a sacrifice of thankesgiuing, and not of propitiation, or else they vse the name of sacrifice vnproperly for a memorial of the onelyonly sacrifice of Christ, which he once offered neuer to be repeated. Neither do any of these Liturgies, which M. Heskins calleth Masses, though they be falsly ascribed to Saint Iames, Saint Clement, Saint Basil, Saint Chrysostome, &c. shewe any other thing, but manifestly the same that I hauehave saide. First that which is falsly ascribed to Saint Iames, in these wordes: Memores &c. Therefore we sinners being mindfull of his quickening passions, of his healthfull crosse and death, his buriall and resurrection from death the third day, of his ascension into heauen, and sitting at the right hand of thee ô God the father, and of his second glorious and fearefull comming, when he shall come with glory to iudge the quicke and the dead, when he shall render to eueryevery one according to his workes, we offer vntounto thee ô Lord, this reuerend & vnbloudie sacrifice, praying that thou wilt not deale with vsus according to our sinnes. No reasonable man can vnderstand here any other but a sacrifice of thankesgiuing, or prayer, or a memoriall of the sacrifice of Christ. For he saith not, we offer the body and bloud of Christe, but being mindfull of his sufferings &c. we offer this reuerend and vnbloudy sacrifice, for such is the sacrifice of prayer and thankesgiuing.
The like and more plaine is that which is ascribed to Clemens by Nicholas Methon. Memores igitur: Therefore being mindfull of his passion, death, and resurrection, returning into heauen, and his second comming, in which he shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead, and to render to eueryevery man according to his workes, we offer vntounto thee our king and God, according to his institution, this bread and this cup, giuing thankes vntounto thee by him, that thou hast vouchsafed vsus to stand before thee, and to sacrifice vntounto thee. This is so plaine against M. Heskins, for the oblation of Christes body and bloud &c. that he is enforced to flee to shamefull petitions of principles, the end of which is, that this bread is no bread, & this cup is no cup, but as Christe called bread in the 6. of Iohn, and S. Paule in the 1. Cor. 10. & 11. in exposition whereof lyeth all the controuersie. That Liturgie which is intituled to S. Basil, is yet more plaine for a spirituall oblation of thankesgiuing. Memores ergo &c. Therefore being mindfull ô Lord of his healthsome passions, of his quickening crosse, three dayes buriall, resurrection from death, ascension into heauen, sitting at thy right hand ô God the father, and of his glorious and terrible second presence, we offer vntounto thee, tua ex tuis, thy giftes of thy creatures. M. Heskins saith, he abhorreth not from the name of sacrifice, as we do, but he falsly, belyeth vsus, for if he will looke in our Liturgie or communion booke, he shall finde, that we also offer a sacrifice of thankesgiuing, euen our selues, our soules and bodies, (as the Apostle exhorteth vsus) to be a holy, liuely, and acceptable sacrifice to God. But he will not remember, that the sacrifice he speaketh of, is not the body and bloud of Christe, but tua ex tuis, thy creatures of thy giftes, or thy gifts of thy creatures, namely the bread and wine which also after consecration, he prayeth to be sanctified by Gods holy spirite, but the body of Christe hath no neede of such sanctification. Secondly, he noteth not, that his Basil maketh but two presences of Christe in the worlde, the first, when hee liued in humilitie in the the world, the second which shall be terrible and glorious, by which he doth manifestly exclude ye third imagined presence of Christ in the sacrament. To the same effect prayeth the Priest in the other Liturgie, ascribed to Chrysostome: Memores &c. Therefore being mindfull of this wholesome commaundement, and of all those things which are done for vsus, of his crosse, buriall, resurrection, ascension into heauen, sitting at the right hand, of his second and glorious comming againe, we offer vntounto thee, tua ex tuis, thy giftes of thy creatures. Maister Heskins saith, he will not seeke the deapth of this matter, but only declare, that al these fathers did offer sacrifice. In which words he mocketh his readers egregiously, whereas he should proue, that they offered the body and bloud of Christe to be a propitiatorie sacrifice, and that he proueth neuer a whit. Nowe that the meaning of yt Liturgie was not, to offer Christ in sacrifice, this prayer therein vsed before ye words of cōsecration (as they terme it) doth sufficiētly declare: foreign. O Lord, receiue this sacrifice vntounto thine heauenly altar. So that it is manifest, they called the bread & wine a sacrifice, not the body & bloud of Christ. The like is that of Ambrose, The Priest saith: Therefore being mindfull of his most glorious passion, resurrection from death, and ascension into heauen, we offer vntounto thee this vndefiled sacrifice, this reasonable sacrifice, this vnbloudy sacrifice, this holy bread and cup of eternall life. This vndefiled sacrifice (saith M. Heskins) must needes be the body and bloud of Christe, for else there is nothing vndefiled, that a man can offer. But why may it not be as Ambrose calleth it here, the holy bread and cup of the communion, or as he calleth it a little before in the same place, the figure of the body & bloud of Christ? For the bread and the wine, which vnproperly he calleth a sacrifice, in steede of a memoriall of a sacrifice, in that they be the holy sacraments of Christes body and bloud, are holy, vndefiled, and the foode of eternal life. The same Ambrose, called the soule of his brother, an innocent sacrifice, and offered the same to God in his prayer: De obi… fratris &c.
To conclude, not one of all these Liturgies, no, not the Canon of the Masse it selfe saith, that the body of Christe is the sacrifice that they do offer, or that they offer a propitiatorie sacrifice, or that they offer any other, but a sacrifice of thankesgiuing, or a memoriall of the sacrifice of Christ, by which it is easie to iudge howe the doctrine that the Papistes do nowe holde of the propitiatorie sacrifice of the Masse, doth agree with the auncient Liturgies, ascribed to the Fathers of the Primitiue Church.