M. Hardinge. The .18. Diuision.
Of keeping the Sacrament secretly at home, and how it might be receiued of deuoute persons alone without other companie, I weene none of the auncient. Doctours wrote so plainely, as S. Basil in an Epistle that he wrote to a noble woman called Caesaria, which is extant in Greeke, where he saithe further▪ that this manner began not in his time first, but longe before: his woordes be these, Illud autē in persecutionis temporibus necessitate cogi quempiam, non praesente sacer∣dote aut ministro communionem propria manu sumere, nequaquam esse graue, superua∣caneum est demonstrate, propterea quòd longa consuetudine, & ipso rerum vsu confir∣matum est. Omnes enim in Eremis solitariam vitam agentes, vbi non est sacerdos, Communionem domi seruantes, a seipsis Communicant. In Alexandria verò, & in Aegypto, vnusquisque eorum qui sunt de populo, plurimùm habet Communionem in domo sua. Semel enim sacrificium sacerdote consecrante & distribuente, meritò parti∣cipare, & suscipere, credere oporet. Etenim & in Ecclesia sacerdos dat partem, & ac∣cipit eam is qui suscipit, cum omni libertate, & ipsam admouet ori propria manu. Idem igitur est virtute, siue vnam partem accipiat quisquā à sacerdote, siue plures partes simul. As concerninge this, that it is no greeuous offence, for one to be driuen by necessitie in times of persecution to receiue the Communion with his owne hande, no Priest nor Deacon beinge presente, it is a thinge superfluous to declare,* 1.1 for that by longe custome and practice it hath been confir∣med and taken place. For al they whiche liue a solitarie life in wildernesse where no Priest is to be had, keepinge the Communion at home, doo Communicate with them selues alone. And in Alexandria, and in Egypte, euery one of the people for the moste parte, hath the Communion at home in his house. For when as the Priest hath once Consecrate and distribute the Hoste, it is reason wee beleeue, that wee ought to be partakers of it, and he that taketh it, receiueth it without al scruple of conscience, and putteth it to his mouthe with his owne hande. And so it is of one vertue, whether anybody take one parte of the Priest, or moe partes togeather. Thus farre S. Basil. In this saieing of Basil, it is to be noted: First that necessitie here hath respecte to [ 1] the lacke of Priest and Deacon: So as 30* 1.2 in that case the Sacrament might be receiued of a faithful person with his owne hande. And that for the ratifiyng of so dooinge he allegeth continuance of [ 2] custome, whiche for vs in this pointe of the Sole receiuinge, may in more ample wise be alleged.
Againe, that holy Eremites liuinge in wildernesse aparte from companie, and also the deuoute [ 3] people of Alexandria and Egypte, receiued the Communion alone in their Celles and houses. Fur∣thermore that the Hoste once consecrated of the Priest is algates to be receiued whether of many [ 4] togeather, or of one alone, by him it seemeth not to force.
Finally, that whether a man take at the Priestes hande the blessed Sacrament in one piece or mo [ 5] pieces, and receiue them at conuenient times, when deuotion best serueth: the vertue, effecte, and power thereof is one. By whiche authoritie reseruation is auouched. Doubtlesse where he speaketh so precisely and particularly of sundrie cases touchinge the order of receiuinge, if he had been of M. Iuels opinion that the Sacrament may not be receiued of one without a certaine number of Communicantes togeather, he woulde not so haue passed ouer that mater in silence, muche lesse written so plainely of the contrarie. Now that the Communion thus kepte in wildernesse and in Egypte, places of extreame heate, where wine in smal quantitie as is for that purpose conueni∣ent, can not be longe kepte from sowringe, and chaungeing his nature, was in the forme of Breade onely, and not also of wine: I differre to note it here, bicause it perteineth to the treatise of the nexte article.