Concil. Laod. can. 59. Concil. Tolet. iv. cap. 17. Nic. Cusan. ad Cler. et the communion in order after the priests, either the bishop or the priest ministering it." So the council of Laodicea: "It is lawful only for the priests of the church to enter into the place where the altar standeth, and there to communicate1.” So the council of Toledo: "Let the priests and deacons communicate before the altar, the clerks in the quire, and the people without the quire2." Nicolaus Cusanus, writing unto the clergy and learned of Bohemia, hath these Lit. Bohem. words: Hoc est... singulariter attendendum, quod sacerdotes nunquam sine diacono celebrabant: et in omni missa diaconus de manu sacerdotis accipit eucharistiam sub specie panis, et sacerdos de manu diaconi calicem3: "This thing is specially to be noted, that the priest did never celebrate without a deacon; and that in every mass the deacon received the sacrament in the kind of bread at the priest's hand, and the priest the cup at the deacon's hand.” Chrysost. in Popul. An But what needeth much proof, in a case that is so plain? Chrysostom himself, in the liturgy that commonly beareth his name, followeth the same order. "After that the priests have received," saith he, "the archdeacon commandeth the deacons to come forth; and they, so coming, receive as the priests did before1." This was the very order of Chrysostom's mass, touching the clergy, and that by the witness of Chrysostom himself. Now let M. Harding judge uprightly, whether these shifts be so poor as he would make them. But if the whole clergy had been so negligent, that not one of them all, being so many, and so straitly charged, would have communicated with the priest, as M. Harding seemeth to condemn them all, only upon his own word, without any evidence; yet let us see whether M. Harding's nemo were able of necessity to shut out all the rest of the people. Chrysostom in divers places seemeth to divide the whole multitude into three sorts, whereof some were "penitent," some "negligent," and some "devout." The "penitent" were commanded away, and might not communicate: the "negligent" some time departed of themselves, and would not communicate: the "devout” remained, and received together. Now that the "devout" remained still with Chrysostom the whole time of the holy mysteries, it is plain by the very same place that M. Harding here allegeth for his purpose. For thus Chrysostom saith unto Chrysost. ad the people : "Thou art come into the church, and hast sung praises unto God tioch. Hom. With the rest, and hast confessed thyself" to be one of the worthy, in that thou departedst not forth with the unworthy." By these words he sheweth that some were worthy, and some unworthy; that the unworthy departed, and the worthy remained. And again in the same homily he saith: "The deacon, standing on high, calleth some to the communion, and putteth off some; thrusteth out some, and bringeth in some." Chrysostom saith: "Some are called," and "some are brought in," to receive with the priest. Where then is now M. Harding's nemo? Verily, if there were "some people" with the priest, then was there no place for "nobody." If "nobody" received, then is it not true that Chrysostom saith, that 66 'some received." 61. Here of a false principle M. Harding, as his wont is, guesseth out the like conclusion: "If there were so few communicants in that populous city of Antioch, where the scriptures were daily expounded and preached, then it is likely in country churches there were none at all." This argument hangeth only by likelihood, as ... [2. sacerdos et Levita ante altare communicent, in choro clerus, extra chorum populus.-Concil. Tolet. iv. in eod. cap. 18. Tom. V. col. 1711.] [3 Nic. de Cusa Op. Basil. 1565. Ad Cler. et Lit. Bohem. Epist. vii. pp. 854, 5; where we find celebrarunt, et in omni missa diaconus de manu diaconi calicem, ut glo. in cap. pervenit 93. distin. ponit causam, et ita præceptum fuit servari.] [Chrysost. Miss. in Lit. Sanct. Patr. Par. 1560. fol. 21. See before, page 116, note 3.] [ Theeself, 1565.] [ Ita scilicet et tu venisti, cecinisti Deo laudem, cum omnibus es confessus de dignis esse, cum indignis non secedendo.-Chrysost. Op. Lat. Basil. 1547. Ad Pop. Antioch. Hom. Ixi. Tom. V. col. 403. ... stans erectus... hos quidem vocat, hos autem arcet hos quidem pellit et ejicit, hos autem introducit et assistit. Id. ibid. col. 405. Op. Par. 1718-38. In Epist. ad Ephes. cap. i. Hom. iii. Tom. XI. p. 23. In Epist. ad Hebr. cap. x. Hom. xvii. Tom. XII. pp. 170, 1.] do the rest of his making; and being set in order, it standeth thus: There was no private mass in the great city of Antioch; ergo, there was private mass in the country. Surely, good reader, this is a very country argument, whatsoever it seem to M. Harding. Act. Hoin.45. Hom. 5. And further, whereas to advance the city, and to abase the country, he saith, "The people in cities were daily taught by open sermons ;" herein he must needs be content that his guess give place unto the truth. For Chrysostom himself saith far otherwise. Thus he speaketh unto the people in the city: Dum per Chrysost. In hebdomadam semel vocamus vos, et ignavi estis, et alii quidem non advenitis, alii autem Idem in Matt. præsentes sine lucro disceditis; quid non faceretis, si nos hoc continuo faceremus* ? Whereas, being called by us but once in the week, yet ye be slothful, and some of you come not at all, and other some, being present, depart without profit; what would ye not do, if we should call you every day?" I note not this for that I mislike with daily preaching, but for that untruth so boldly presumed should not pass untouched. 66 Yet saith M. Harding: "In small country churches, either the priest let cease the daily sacrifice, or else he received alone. But the daily sacrifice ceased not; for then that had been left undone that Christ commanded to be done; ergo, there was private mass." O M. Harding, is it not possible your doctrine may stand without lies? So many untruths in so little room, without shame of the world, without fear of God? Where did Christ ever command you to make your sacrifice? By what commission? By what words? Where did Christ will you to do it every day? Where did Christ ever call it the daily sacrifice? Or where ever learned you that the remembrance of Christ's death pertaineth more to the priest than to the people? And if your mass be that sacrifice, who ever commanded your priest to say your daily mass? What law, what decree, what decretal, what legantine, what provincial? Or what priest ever was there that said it daily? Miss. can. 2. Quotidie. Peccham in his provincial was never so strait. He saith no more but thus : Statuimus, ... ut quilibet sacerdos, quem canonica necessitas non excusat, conficiat omni De Celebr. hebdomada saltem semel3: “We ordain that every priest, unless he be excused by Altissimus. some canonical necessity, do consecrate every week once at the least." There is odds between once a week and once a day. And Linwood, writing upon the same, allegeth these words of St Augustine's: Quotidie eucharistiæ communicare nec laudo De Con. Dist. nec vitupero9: "As for receiving the communion every day, I neither praise it nor dispraise it." Innocentius the third noteth, that there were priests in his time Extr. de that would scarcely say mass at four times in the year 10. And Thomas of Aquine Dolentes. thinketh it sufficient for a priest, that is not charged with cure, to say mass only Parte ult. upon principal feasts11. It is also written in Vitis Patrum, that a certain holy Art. 1. man, being made priest, would notwithstanding never say mass while he lived. Yet was there none of these ever charged with foreslowing 12 or ceasing the daily sacrifice, or leaving undone that thing that Christ had commanded to be done. Celebr. Miss. In Summ. Quæst.lxxxii. Concerning the priest's sole receiving, which is grounded only upon itself, without further proof, verily I see no cause but that Nicolaus de Cusa, being a cardinal of Rome, ought to carry as good credit herein as M. Harding, with all his guesses. He saith, and willeth his words to be specially noted, as it is before Nicol. de touched, that in those days the priest did never receive without the deacon 13. Yet et Lit. Bo hath M. Harding a certain surmise by himself, that the priests in the country received alone. [ Id. In Act. Apost. Hom. xliv. Tom. IX. p. 335. See also In Matt. Hom. v. Tom. VII. p. 72.] [ Provincial. seu Const. Angl. Antw. 1525. Lib. III. De Celebr. Miss. fol. 168.] [ Id. ibid.; where communionem accipere. See August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. De Eccles. Dogm. cap. xxiii. Tom. VIII. Append. col. 78.] [10 Sunt et alii, qui missarum solemnia vix celebrant quater in anno.-Innoc. III. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. Decretal. Greg. IX. Lib. 111. Tit. xli. cap. 9. col. 1377.] [11 unde sacerdoti, etiam si non habeat curam animarum, non licet omnino a celebratione cessare, sed saltem videtur, quod celebrare teneatur in præcipuis festis, &c.-Thom. Aquinat. Op. Venet. 1595. Summ. Theol. Pars III. Quæst. lxxxii. Art. 10. Tom. XII. fol. 276.] [12 Foreslowing: putting off.] [13 Nic. de Cusa Op. Ad Cler. et Lit. Bohem. Epist. vii. pp. 854, 5. See before, page 198, note 3.] Cusa, ad Cler. hem. Chrysost. ad 3. But what a wonderful case is this! The mass that we must needs believe is so ancient, so universal, so catholic, so holy, so glorious, cannot be found, neither in churches, nor in chapels, nor in secret oratories, nor in private houses, in town or city; but must be sought out in some petty parish in the country, and that by conjecture only, and by guess, and by such records as directly condemn the whole order of the mass, and will suffer no man to be present thereat, but only such as will receive! For thus saith Chrysostom: "If thou stand by and do not communicate, thou art malapert, thou art shameless, thou art impudent. Thine eyes be unworthy the sight hereof, unworthy be thine ears. O, thou wilt say, I am unworthy to be partaker of the holy mysteries. Then art thou unworthy to be partaker of the prayers: thou mayest no more stand here than a heathen that never was christened." And, touching himself, he saith: "In vain we come to offer the daily sacrifice in vain we stand at the altar1:" meaning thereby, as may appear, that, if he said private mass for lack of company, it was in vain. Here M. Harding, seeing that his mass, even by his own authority, is shrewdly cracked, and left for vain, assayeth to salve it as well as he may. "The mass," saith he, "is not in vain in itself, but unto the people that will not come." This is a gloss beside the text; yet let us take it as it were true. But if hearing of the mass be a thing pleasant unto God, and meritorious unto the people; if Christ be there offered indeed for the sins of the world; if the priest alone may receive for all the rest; if it be sufficient for the people to communicate spiritually, as M. Harding hath avouched; then is not the saying of the mass in vain, no, not unto the people; no, although they never would communicate. Chrysostom saith, "It is in vain:" M. Harding saith, "It is not in vain." And yet, to see a greater contradiction, M. Harding himself in this place saith: "It is in vain unto the people." And yet the same Division ix. M. Harding hath said before: "It is commanded by councils: it is sufficient for the people to communicate in spirit: it is not in vain unto the people." fol. 13. b. 2 Concil. Constan. vi. can. If M. Harding will stand unto the authority of Chrysostom, let him not dissemble, but speak plainly unto the people, as Chrysostom spake. Let him say to them that come to hear his mass: "If ye receive not, ye are shameless, ye are impudent, ye are not worthy to be partakers of the common prayers: depart ye from the church; ye have no more place here than Turks and heathens; your eyes be unworthy to see these things, unworthy be your ears; our masses cannot profit you; they are not meritorious for you; they please not God; they provoke his anger; they are all in vain." This is Chrysostom's sense and plain meaning; and this is a fair winding up of M. Harding's clew. Now let us examine this invincible argument, wherewithal every child, as M. Harding vaunteth, is able to prove the private mass. The major is this: "The sacrifice in Chrysostom's time was daily offered." The minor is this: "But many times no man came to communicate with the priest." The conclusion: ergo, "There was private mass." Here the major is apparent false; the minor proved at adventures, only by blind guess, and so not proved at all: therefore the conclusion must needs follow after as it may. Unless M. Harding look better to it, I trow it will prove but a childish argument. As for the major, it is plain by the sixth council of Constantinople3, by St Augustine upon St John', by St Basil Ad Cæsariam Patriciam5, by the epistle Aug. Tract. of the council of Alexandria in the defence of Macarius, and by the council 52. 26 [3 Concil. Quinisext. can. 52. in Concil. Stud. Labb. et Cossart. Lut. Par. 1671-2. Tom. VI. cols. 1166, 7.] [ August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. In Johan. Evang. cap. vi. Tractat. xxvi. 15. Tom. III. Pars II. col. 500.] [5 Basil. Op. Par. 1721-30. Ad Cæsar. Epist. xciii. Tom. III. p. 186.] [ Epist. Synod. Concil. Alex. in Concil. Stud. Labb, et Cossart. Tom. II. col. 548.] can. 49. holden at Laodicea, and by sundry other authorities to that purpose before alleged, that the sacrifice was not daily offered, as M. Harding imagineth. Communion. Touching the minor, it is not proved, but hangeth, as I have said, only by guess. M. Harding himself saw that this is but a slender proof: 66 Chryso- Concil. Laod. stom ministered every day; ergo, he received alone;" and therefore he sought further to find his single communion in the country. But Chrysostom saith: "There is nobody to communicate." By this it may appear, as I have already said, that Chrysostom himself did not communicate, unless we will say Chryso"nobody," and so "nobody" received alone, and "nobody" himself said M. Harding's private mass. And therefore "nobody" may come forth and justly require me to subscribe. Thus, the major being false, the minor not proved, the conclusion not following, thou seest, good christian reader, what invincible force M. Harding hath brought to reprove his mass. stom was But because he seemeth to set somewhat by the winding up of his clew, it shall not be from the purpose to unwind it again, and to lay it abroad, and to consider the stuffing of it, and to see how closely and handsomely it is wound together. 1. First, there is not one thread of the holy scriptures in all this clew, but the plain example of Christ and his apostles quite refused. 2. Secondly, the private mass is founded upon the negligence, and, as M. Harding calleth it, the undevotion of the people. 3. Thirdly, there is a way devised, how two priests, saying their masses in divers countries, may communicate together in breaking bread, be the distance between them never so great; and that without any manner warrant of scripture or doctor. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Fourthly, lay-people, women, sick folks, and boys, that received or ministered the sacrament alone, are brought in for this purpose, as though it had been lawful then for women or boys to say mass. Fifthly, because St Ambrose, St Augustine, St Hierome, St Chrysostom, St Basil, and such others would not serve, there is brought in a great number of petty doctors, all of doubtful credit, and many of them long sithence misliked and condemned by the church. Sixthly, the matter is made good by visions, dreams, and fables. Seventhly, there are alleged canons of councils not extant in any council, gathered without great judgment by one Gratian, and yet none of them neither proving nor once naming the private mass. Eighthly, because M. Harding could not find his mass in the whole church of Rome, within the space of six hundred years after Christ, he hath therefore made search at Alexandria in Egypt, at Antioch in Syria, at Cæsarea in Cappadocia, a thousand miles beyond the limits of all Christendom, where as was never private mass said, neither then, nor before that time, nor never sithence. 9. Ninthly, for that he stood in despair of cathedral and other like great churches, he hath sought out chapels, cells, oratories, and private houses; and, because he had no hope to speed in towns or cities, he hath sought out the little churches in the country. 10. 11. Tenthly, notwithstanding all this inquiry, he hath not yet found neither the name of private mass, nor any priest that ever ministered and received alone. To be short, the whole substance of his proofs hangeth only upon his own surmise, without any certainty or appearance of truth. These be the contents of M. Harding's clew, and thus substantially hath he proved the antiquity and universality of his mass. Now, good reader, to give thee only a taste of some part that may be said of our side; first, it is apparent that Christ our Saviour, at his last supper, ministered the holy communion, and no private mass, and bade his disciples to do the same in his remembrance. Likewise St Paul willed the Corinthians one to wait and tarry for another in the holy ministration, and to conform themselves to Christ's example. Where [ Concil. Laod. in eod. can. 49. Tom. I. col. 1505.] [ Put, 1611.] [ Prove, 1565, 1609.] Communion. Hieron. in 1 Cor. xi. Ambros. 1 Cor. xi. Can. Apost. can. 9. upon be celebrate together, and may be ministered unto all 2." In the canons of the apostles it is decreed that, if any man resort unto the De Con. Dist. church, and hear the scriptures, and abstain from the communion, he stand exDe Con. Dist. communicate, as one that troubleth the congregation 3. 2. Peracta. 1. Episcopus. De Con. Dist. 2. Si non. De Con. Dist. 2. Si quis. ■ Clem. Epist. 2. b Aug. de Serm. Dom. in Mont. Lib. The like decrees are found under the names of Calixtus1, Anacletus", Martinus, Hilarius, and others; by which it is certain that the whole church then received together. so с a Clemens, as M. Harding calleth him, the apostles' fellow, writeth thus: "Let many hosts be offered upon the altar as may be sufficient for the people." bSt Augustine saith of the congregation in his time: "Every day we receive the sacrament of Christ's body"." And, opening the same more particularly, "August. in he saith thus: Unde...confido in eis, quibus heri communicasti, et hodie communicas, et cras communicabis 10? "What trust can I have in them, with whom thou didst communicate yesterday, and dost communicate to-day, and wilt communicate again to-morrow?" ii. Psal. x. d Clement. Strom. Lib. i. 1 Cor. Hom. 27. d Clemens Alexandrinus saith: "After that certain, as the manner is, have divided the sacrament, they give every of the people leave to take part of it"." St Chrysostom plainly describeth the very order of the communion that was Chrysost. In used in his time, by these words: "The spiritual and reverend sacraments are set forth equally to rich and poor: neither doth the rich man enjoy them more, and the poor man less: they have all like honour, and like coming to them. The sacraments being once laid forth (as then the manner was for the people to receive) are not taken in again, until all the people have communicate, and taken part of that spiritual meat; but the priests stand still, and wait for all, even for the poorest of them all 12" Chrysost. 2 Cor. Hom. 18. Gregor. Dial. Lib. ii. cap. xxiii. Missa. Isidor. in Again he saith: "There are things wherein the priest differeth nothing from the people; as when we must use the fearful mysteries. For we are all of one worthiness to receive the same 13." St Gregory saith that even in his time the order was, that in the time of the holy communion the deacon should stand up and say aloud unto the people: Si quis non communicat, det locum11: "If there be any body that is not disposed to communicate, let him give place." This Latin word missa, in the time of Tertullian and St Cyprian, signified a dimissing, or a licence to depart, and was specially applied unto the communion upon this occasion that I must here declare. They that were then named catechumeni, that is to say, novices of the faith, and not yet christened, were suffered to be present at the communion until the gospel was ended. Then the deacon commanded them forth, pronouncing these words aloud: Catechumeni exeunto: or thus: Ite, missa est: "Go ye forth, ye have licence to depart." Of this dimis ['Hieron. Op. Par. 1693-1706. Comm. in Epist. I. ad Cor. cap. xi. Tom. V. col. 997. See before, page 18.] [2 Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. Comm. in Epist. I. ad Cor. cap. xi. Tom. II. Append. col. 150. See before, page 17.] [3 Canon. Apost. 9. in Concil. Stud. Labb. et Cossart. Lut. Par. 1571-2. Tom. I. col. 28.] [Anaclet. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. [5 Id. in eod. ibid. Dist. i. can. 59. col. 1907.] [ Hilar. in eod. ibid. can. 15. col. 1919.] [ Clement. Papæ I. Epist. ii. ad Jacob. in Epist. Decret. Sum. Pont. Rom. 1591. Tom. I. p. 16. See before, page 17.] [ quod [sacramentum] quotidie accipimus. [11 Clem. Alex. Op. Oxon. 1715. Strom. Lib. 1. Tom. I. p. 318. See before, page 153, note 14.] [12 Chrysost. Op. Par. 1718-38. In Epist. 1. ad Cor. Hom. xxvii. Tom. X. pp. 240, &c. The homily expresses at large what is here asserted; but the precise words do not appear in it.] [13 Ἔστι δὲ ὅπου οὐδὲ διέστηκεν ὁ ἱερεὺς τοῦ ἀρχομένου· οἷον, ὅταν ἀπολαύειν δέῃ τῶν φρικ τῶν μυστηρίων. ὁμοίως γὰρ πάντες ἀξιούμεθα τῶν avTwv.-Id. In Epist. 11. ad Cor. Hom. xviii. Tom. X. p. 568.] [14 Gregor. Magni Papæ I. Op. Par. 1705. Dial. Lib. II. cap. xxiii. Tom. II. col. 253.] |