Exod. xxv. & xxvii. Sam. vii. 1 Chron. xxviii. I ai. lv. Rom. i. Gen. xxxi. Chrysost. in Gen. Hom. 57. "The pope is carried upon men's shoulders; ergo, the sacrament must be carried before him, whithersoever he go, upon a fair white jennet." And whereas it liketh M. Harding thus merrily to sport himself with bishops sitting under painted boards; certainly, I reckon it much fitter for the church of God to have painted boards than painted bishops, such as he is that claimeth to be the bishop of all bishops, and yet doth not indeed any part of the office of one bishop. The bishop's chair or stall was appointed at the first as a place most convenient for him to read and to preach in. But what needeth more? Such vanity of words should not be answered. For the rest, God himself commanded Moses to make the tabernacle, and also shewed him in the mount in what order and form it should be made. Neither durst Moses, or his workmen, to add, or to minish, or to alter any one thing of their device, or to do any thing more or less, otherwise than God had appointed him. When David of his devotion would have built a temple unto God, God forbade him by the mouth of his prophet Nathan, and said: "Thou shalt build me no temple." Afterward Salomon set upon to build the temple; not when he would himself, but only when God had so willed him. Neither followed he therein any part of his own fantasy, but only that self-same plat and proportion that God had given to his father. For so saith David himself: "All this pattern was sent to me in writing by the hand of the Lord, which made me understand all the workmanship of the pattern." Here mark, good christian reader, in every of these examples, God hath bridled our devotion, and hath taught us to worship him, not in such sort as may seem good in our eyes, but only as he hath commanded us. Yet can M. Harding by his cunning apply every of these same examples to prove thereby, that we may honour God in such sort as we of ourselves can best devise. This was evermore the very root of all superstition. And therefore Almighty God saith: "My thoughts be not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways. Who ever required these things at your hands?" M. Harding would fain, in all that he taketh in hand, be called catholic; and yet nevertheless maintaineth a mere particular devotion, only used within this realm, and that only within these few late years, and never either used or known in any other christian country else, and therefore such as can in no wise be called catholic. But he saith: "There is now found one among other monstrous and strange forms," &c. This, I trow, is not that sobriety and modesty that was promised at the beginning. Such eloquence would better become some other person than a man professing learning and gravity. Herein I will gladly give place to M. Harding. It is rather a testimony of his impatience and inordinate choler than good proof of the cause. Certainly, if the sacrament be both God and man, as here, I know not how godly, it is avouched, then is this but a very simple honour for so great a majesty. Undoubtedly this is a very strange and monstrous doctrine, to teach the people, that Christ, being both God and man, and now immortal and glorious, may canker and putrefy and breed worms. The time was, when whoso had uttered such words of blasphemy had been reckoned a monster among the faithful. But this is the just judgment of God. He giveth men up "into a reprobate mind, to turn God's truth into a lie, and to worship and serve a creature, forsaking the Creator, which is God blessed for ever." I trust, our doctrine abridgeth not any part of Christ's glory. We adore him, as he hath commanded us, sitting in heaven at the right hand of the power of God. And therefore, O M. Harding, ye have burnt your brethren, and scattered their bones upon the face of the earth, and wrought upon them what your pleasure was, only because they would not be traitors unto God, and give his glory unto a creature. Chrysostom, expounding the complaint of Laban against Jacob for stealing away of his gods, writeth thus: Quare deos meos furatus es? O excellentem insi propositionis, et vasa tabernaculi deportare... Hinc cem velut arcam fœderis deportant.-Durand. Rat. Div. Offic. Lugd. 1565. Lib. 11. cap. ix. 2. foll. 55, 6.] 66 pientiam! Tales sunt dii tui, ut quis eos furari queat? Non erubescis dicere, Quare furatus es deos meos1? "Wherefore hast thou stolen away my gods?' O what a passing folly is this! Be thy gods such ones, that a man may steal them? And art thou not ashamed to say, 'Wherefore hast thou stolen away my gods?"" This matter needeth no farther application. Verily, the thing that M. Harding calleth God and man may soon be stolen away, with pix, and canopy, and all together. If Chrysostom were now alive, he would say to M. Harding, as he said to Laban: "Art thou not ashamed," &c. And, touching the honouring of Christ, he saith: Discamus.... Christum, prout ipse vult, venerari. Honorato Chrysost. ad namque jucundissimus [est] honor, quem ipse vult, non quem nos putamus. Nam Hom. 60. et.... Petrus eum honorare putabat, cum sibi pedes eum lavare prohibebat: sed non erat honor, quod agebat, sed contrarium2: "Let us learn to honour Christ, as he hath willed us. For to him that is honoured that honour is most pleasant that he himself would have, not that we imagine. For Peter thought to honour Christ, when he forbade him to wash his feet: howbeit, that was no honour unto Christ, but, contrariwise, it was dishonour." To conclude, whereas M. Harding, in the impatience of his heat, demandeth of us, with what face we can find fault with the hanging up of the sacrament under a canopy, we may easily answer him thus: Even with the same face wherewith Linwood found fault with the same; and with the same face wherewith all Christendom, England only excepted, hath evermore refused to do the same. the over the altar is ancient. H. A. 1564.] M. HARDING. THE FOURTH DIVISION. Pop. Ant. ish fable name of Am Now concerning this article itself, if it may be called an article, wherein M. Jewel thinketh to have great advantage against us, as though nothing could be brought for it* (though it be not one of the greatest keys, nor of the highest • Before it was the mysteries of our religion, as he reporteth it to be, the more to deface it), of the honouring of God: now it canopy what may be found, I leave to others, neither it forceth greatly. But is no great [Hanging up of the hanging up of the sacrament over the altar, we find plain men- gion. key of relioction in St Basil's life, written by Amphilochius, that worthy bishop of A vain childIconium; who telleth that St Basil at his mass, having divided under the the sacrament in three parts, did put the one into the golden dove philochius. (after which form the pix was then commonly made) hanging over the altar. His words be these: Imposuerunt3 columbæ aureæ pendenti super altare1. And for further evidence that such pixes, made in form of a dove in remembrance of the Holy Ghost that appeared like a dove, were hanged up over the altar, we find in the acts of the general council holden at Constantinople, that the clergy of Antioch accused one Severus, an heretic, before John the patriarch and the council there, that he had rifled and spoiled the holy altars, and molted the consecrated vessels, and had made away with some of them to his companions: Præsumpsisset etiam columbas aureas et argenteas in formam Spiritus sancti, super divina Here be doves lavacra et altaria appensas, una cum aliis sibi appropriare, dicens, non opor- no mention tere in specie columbæ Spiritum sanctum nominare3. Which is to say, that "he had presumed also to convert to his own use, beside other things, the golden and silver doves made to represent the Holy Ghost, that were hanged up over the holy fonts and altars, saying, that no man ought to speak of the Holy Ghost in the shape of a dove." Neither hath the sacrament been kept in all places and in all times in one manner of vessels. So it be reverently kept for the voyage-provision for the sick, no catholic man will maintain strife for the manner and order of keeping. Symmachus, a very worthy bishop of Rome, in the time of Anastasius the emperor, [Chrysost. Op. Par. 1718-38. In cap. xxxi. Gen. Hom. lvii. Tom. IV. p. 556.] [ Id. Op. Lat. Basil. 1547. Ad Pop. Ant. Hom. lx. Tom. V. col. 398; where prohiberet.] [3 Imposuerit, H. A. 1564.] [ Amphiloch. Op. Par. 1644. In Vit. S. Basil. pp. 175, 6. See before, page 188.] [ Suppl. Cler. Ant. ad Joan. Patr. contr. Sever. in Concil. Constant. sub Menna, Act. v. in Concil. Stud. Labb. et Cossart. Lut. Par. 1671-2. Tom. V. col. 160. See also Crabb, Concil. Col. Agrip. 1551. Tom. II. p. 34.] [6 Sylvern, 1565, and H. A. 1564.] indeed, but of any sacrament. Dove. and seventy truth, stand translation. as it is written in his life, made two vessels of silver to reserve the sacrament in, and set them on the altars of two churches in Rome, of St Sylvester and of St Andrew1. These vessels they call commonly ciboria2. We find likewise in the life of St Gregory, that he also like Symmachus made such a vessel, which they call ciborium, for the sacrament, with four pillars of pure silver, and set it on the altar at St Peter's in Rome3. In a work of Gregorius Turonensis, this vessel is called turris....in qua The hundred mysterium dominici corporis habebatur: "a tower wherein (174) our Lord's fourth un- body was kept." In an old book, De Pœnitentia, of Theodorus the Greek of ing in untrue Tarsus in Cilicia, sometime archbishop of Canterbury, before Beda his time, it is called pixis cum corpore Domini ad viaticum pro infirmis: "the pix with our Lord's body for the voyage-provision for the sick." In that book, in an admonition of a bishop to his clergy in a synod, warning is given, that nothing be put upon the altar in time of the sacrifice, but the coffer of reliques, the book of the four evangelists, and the pix with our Lord's bodys. In the fable of Amphilochius, and nowhere else. Thus we find that the blessed sacrament hath always been kept, in some places in a pix hanged up over the altar, in some other places otherwise, every where and in all times safely and reverently, as is declared, to be always in a readiness for the voyage-provision of the sick. Which keeping of it for that godly purpose, and with like due reverence, if M. Jewel and the sacramentaries would admit, no man would be either so scrupulous or so contentious as to strive with them either for the hanging up of it, or for the canopy. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. It is marvel that M. Harding in so short a tale cannot avoid manifest contradiction. He holdeth and teacheth, that this is the honouring of Christ, God and man; and yet he saith, it is no great key of his religion. Verily, whatsoever key he now make of it, great or small, he bringeth in very small authorities and proofs to make it good. Concerning the canopy, wherein all this question standeth, he is well contented to yield in the whole, as being not able to find it once mentioned in any manner old writer. But the hanging up of the sacrament, and that even over the altar, he is certain may well be proved by that solemn fable that we have so often heard under the name of Amphilochius; concerning which fable (for a very childish fable it is, and no better) I must for shortness refer thee, gentle reader, to that is written before in the first article of this book, and in the thirty-third division, as answer to the same. Yet thus much shortly, and by the way: first, M. Harding's Amphilochius saith that St Basil, after he had said mass to Christ and his twelve apostles, immediately, the same night, put one portion of the sacrament in the dove, that was then hanging over the altar; and the next day following sent for a goldsmith, and caused the same dove to be made, the same dove, I say, that he put the sacrament in the night before. And so M. Harding's dove was a dove before it was made. But dreams and fables are worthy of privilege. Yet, lest this tale should pass alone, it is accompanied with a miracle. For after that time, whensoever St Basil was at mass, and lifted [Hic. fecit basilicam S. Andræ apostoli... ubi fecit ciborium ex argento...basilicam S. Sylvestri et Martini ... construxit... ubi et super altare ciborium argenteum fecit.-Ex Lib. Pontif. in Crabb. Concil. Col. Agrip. 1551. Tom. I. pp. 999, 1000.] [2 Bingham produces authorities to shew that the ciborium ought not to be confounded with the pix; for that anciently it was quite another thing, viz. an ornamental erection over the altar.-Bingham, Orig. Eccles. Book VIII. chap. vi. 18, 19.] [3 Hic fecit ad beatum Petrum apostolum super altare ciborium cum columnis quatuor ex argento puro. Ex eod. in eod. Tom. II. p. 180.] [Gregor. Turon. Op. Lut. Par. 1699. De Glor. Mart. Lib. I. cap. lxxxvi. cols. 818, 9; where turre.] [5 The editor has not succeeded in discovering this passage in the Penitential of Theodore; but it occurs in a treatise De Cur. Past. attributed to Leo IV. in Concil. Stud. Labb. et Cossart. Lut. Par. 1671-2. Tom. VIII. col. 34, as follows: Super altare nihil ponatur nisi capsæ cum reliquiis sanctorum, aut forte quatuor sancta Dei evangelia, aut pyxis cum corpore Domini ad viaticum pro infirmis. See, however, Not. in Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. Lit. Oxon. 1740-3. Vol. II. p. 40; also Fabric. Biblioth. Lat. Med. et Inf. Ætat. Hamb. 1734-46. Tom. IV. p. 761.] [ H. A. 1564 omits a.] [7 Will, 1565, and H. A. 1564.] up the bread, the same dove (so saith this Amphilochius) used evermore to rouse herself over the altar, and moved and stirred of herself hither and thither; much like to the mathematical dove, that Archytas Tarentinus made, that was able to fly alone9. If this golden dove had not been endued with spirit and life, this tale had lost half his grace. Again, Pekham in his Provincial giveth a strait commandment of 10 all priests, that the bread in the pix be changed and renewed every seventh day11, for avoiding of putrefaction, or some other loathsomeness that may happen. But M. Harding's golden dove had a special virtue above all others, to keep the bread seven years together without corruption, and the same at the last meet to be given to a sick man in his death-bed. But there is mention made of golden and silvern doves in the council of Constantinople. I grant. Howbeit, there is no mention made there of any pix or reservation of the sacrament. But if every dove there were a pix, or, as they call it, a monster, then hath M. Harding a great advantage. For, seeking out but one pix, he hath found twenty, and that all together in one church, some about the altar, some about the holy font, and some elsewhere. And yet I Dove. could never understand, but evermore in one church, were it never so big, one pix was thought sufficient. O what pains M. Harding hath taken to furnish a fable! God grant us to be simple as doves in obeying of God's truth, and wise Matt. x. as serpents in discerning and eschewing lies. The rest, that is alleged of Symmachus, Gregorius Romanus, Gregorius Turonensis, and Theodorus, as it is not denied, so it is no parcel of this question. The hanging of the sacrament, and the canopy, wherein the greatest danger stood, being removed, somewhat may be considered touching reservation, when it shall be thought necessary. Wherein to counterpoise the credit of these four obscure and late doctors, we have the authority of eight other doctors counted learned and ancient, Clemens, Cyprian, Origen, Cyril, Hierome, Augustine, Hesychius, and Nicephorus, as it is already proved. [ Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. Lib. x. cap. xii. 4.] [10 To, 1565, 1609.] .[" Quod quidem venerabile sacramentum omni die dominica præcipimus innovari.—Joh. Pecch. in 562 OF ACCIDENTS WITHOUT SUBJECT. THE TENTH ARTICLE. The hundred and seventy stance of the bread and wine remain shall appear. 1 THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. OR that in the sacrament, after the words of consecration, there remain only the accidents and shews without the substance of bread and wine. [OF THE REMAINING OF THE ACCIDENTS WITHOUT THEIR SUBSTANCE IN THE SACRAMENT.-ARTICLE X. H. A. 1564.] M. HARDING. THE FIRST DIVISION. In this sacrament after consecration (175) nothing in substance remaineth that fifth untruth. was before, neither bread nor wine, but only the accidents of bread and wine, as For the sub their form and shape, savour, smell, colour, weight, and such-like, which here have their being miraculously without their subject; forasmuch as *after consecraeth still, as tion there is none other substance than the substance of the body and blood of Untruth, as our Lord, which is not affected with such accidents, as the scholastical doctors term before. it. Which doctrine hath always, though not with these precise terms, (176) been and seventy- taught and believed from the beginning, and dependeth of the article of transubtruth. For stantiation. For, if the substance of bread and wine be changed into was neither the substance of the body and blood of our Lord (177) (which is contaught from stantly affirmed by all the learned and ancient fathers of the church), The hundred sixth un this doctrine believed nor the begin ning. [Transubstantiation affirmed. H.A. 1564.] it followeth by a necessary sequel in nature, and by drift of reason, that then The hundred the accidents only remain. For witness and proof whereof I will not let to recite seventh un certain most manifest sayings of the old and best approved doctors. and seventy truth. For this kind of real and material change is not affirmed by any father. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY.. M. Harding granteth that this doctrine hath no express authority by precise terms, neither in the scriptures, nor in the ancient councils, nor in any old father, Transub- Greek or Latin; yet the old fathers, both Grecks and Latins, in their kinds were stantia- counted eloquent, and were thought able to utter their doctrine in express and tion. precise words, if there had been then any such doctrine received in the church: wherefore, finding herein such want of all antiquity, we may be bold expressly and in precise terms to say, this seemeth to be a very new doctrine, resting only upon a false position, and a little coloured with drift of reason; which reason, notwithstanding, never entered into man's head within a whole thousand years after that the gospel had been preached. By like position and by like drift the old heretics, the Manichees, held that all that outwardly appeared in Christ was nothing else but accidents; that is, as M. Harding himself expoundeth it, the form and shape3, the colour, the weight; and so indeed nothing else but the shew and appearance and fantasy of a body. From such doctors, it appeareth, For Doctor Tonstal confesseth, Cuth. Tonst. these men have received their new doctrine. de Euch. Lib. i. p. 45. it was first determined in the council of Lateran, which was holden in Rome in the year of our Lord a thousand two hundred and fifteen; and that before that time it was evermore free for any man, without impeachment of his faith, to hold the contrary. [' Remaineth, H. A. 1564.] [2 Such the like, 1565, and H. A. 1564.] [ Tonst. de Verit. Corp. et Sang. Dom. in Euch. Lut. 1554. Lib. 1. fol. 46.] |