M. Hardinge. The .17. Diuision.
Tertullian exhortinge his wife that if he died before her,* 1.1 she marry not againe, specially to an Infidel▪ shewinge that if she did, it woulde be harde for her to obserue her religion without greate inconuenience,* 1.2 saithe thus: Non sciet maritus, quid secretò ante omnem cibum gustes? Et si sciuerit, Panem, non illum credet esse, qui dicitur. Wil not thy husbande know what thou eatest secretely before al other meate? And if he doo know, he wil beleeue it to be Breade, and not (27)* 1.3 him, who it is called. He hath the like sayinge in his booke De Corona Militis. whiche place plainely declareth vnto vs the beleefe of the Church then in three greate pointes by M. Iuel and the reast of our Gospellers vtterly denied. The one that the Communion may be kepte: the seconde, that it may be receiued by one alone without other company: the thirde, that the thing reuerently, and deuoutely before other meates receiued, is not Breade, as the Infidels then, and the Sacramenta∣ries nowe beleeue: but he who it is saide to be of Christian people, or who it is called, that is 28* 1.4 our Maker and Redeemer, or, whiche is the same, our Lordes Bodie. And by this place of Ter∣tullian, as also by diuerse other auncient Doctoures, wee may gather, that in the times of persecu∣tion the maner was, that the Priestes deliuered to deuoute and godly men and women the Sacrament Consecrated in the Churche to carie home with them, to receiue a parte of it euery morning fasting, as their deuotion serued them, so secreatly as they might, that the Infidels shoulde not espie them, nor get any knowlege of the holy Mysteries. And this was doone bicause they might not assemble them selues in solemne congregation, for feare of the Infidels amongst whom they dwelt. Neither shoulde the case of necessitie haue excused them of the breache of Christes commaundement, if the Sole Communion had been expressely forbidden, as wee are borne in hande by those that vpholde the contrary doctrine. And Origen that aūcient Doctour, and likewise S. Augustine doth write of the great reuerence, feare, and warenesse, that the men and wemen vsed in receiuing the Sacrament in a cleane linen clothe to cary it home with them for the same purpose. S. Cyprian writeth of a woman that did the like, though vnwoorthely after this sorte. Cum quaedam arcam suam, in qua domini sanctum fuit,* 1.5 manibus indignis tentasset aperire, igne inde surgente, deterrita est ne auderet attingere. When a certeine woman went aboute to open her Chest, wherein was the holy thinge of our Lorde, with vnwoorthy handes, she was fraide with fier that rose from thence, that she durst not touche it. This place of S. Cyprian reporteth the maner of keepinge the Sacra∣ment at home to be receiued of a deuoute Christian person alone at conuenient time. The example of Serapion of whom Dionysius Alexandrinus writeth,* 1.6 recited by Eusebius, confirmeth our purpose of the single Communion. This Serapion one of Alexandria, had committed Idolatrie, and liyng at the pointe of death, that he might be reconciled to the Churche before he departed, sent to the Priest for the Sacrament. The Priest being himselfe sicke and not hable to come, gaue to the ladde that came of that errant, Parum Eucharistiae, quod infusum iussit seni praeberi, A litle of the Sa∣crament,