Of the institution of the sacrament of the blessed bodie and blood of Christ, (by some called) the masse of Christ eight bookes; discovering the superstitious, sacrilegious, and idolatrous abominations of the Romish masse. Together with the consequent obstinacies, overtures of perjuries, and the heresies discernable in the defenders thereof. By the R. Father in God Thomas L. Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.

I. CHALLENGE.

Against the Romish Alteration of the Catholike and vni∣versall practice•• of the Church, and the Anti∣quity thereof.

IN the examination of this point, Consider in the first place your owne Confessions, given by your i Iesuits, and others, acknow∣ledging that In the dayes of the Apostles, and a long time after, euen for a thousand yeares and more, the whole Church, and in it the Peo∣ple of Rome had knowledge of this part of service, concerning the Sacrament, and vsed to say, AMEN! So you. And this is as much as we need to require, concerning the judgement and practice of the true Antiquitie of this Custome. You will rather doubt (we suppose) of the Vniversalitie thereof, because you vsually goe no farther then your Dictates, which teach, that because there were generally but three generall and knowne tongues, Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine, therefore the divine seruice was celebrated tho∣row-out the Church in one of these three. And because these could not be the vulgar language of euery Christian Nation, it must fol∣low (say k they) that the People of most Nations vnderstood not the publike Prayers vsed in their severall Churches. And with this Per∣swasion doe your Doctors locke vp your consciences in a false be∣leefe of an vniversall Custome of an vnknowne service of God. Which you may as easily vnlocke againe, if you shall but vse, as a key, this one Observation, viz. That the three common tongues (namely) Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine, although they were not alwayes the vulgar Languages, yet were they knowne Languages commonly to

those people that vsed them in Divine Service. Which one only Animadversion will fully demonstrate vnto vs the truth of our Cause.

It is not denyed but that the three Languages Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine were, in primitiue ages, most m vniuersall; insomuch that the Hebrew was spoken (albeit corruptly) thorowout almost the whole Easterne Church. The Greeke was currant thorow the whole Greeke Church also, and in the lesser Asia. And the Latine was dis∣persed ouer a great part of Europe. It will now be fully sufficient to know, that the most of these languages were certainly knowne, in publike worship, vnto all them of whom they were vsed in pub∣like Sermons, and preachings. For your owne Church, howsoe∣ver she decreed of Praying, yet doth she forbid Preaching in an vn∣knowne tongue.

Now therefore ioyne (we beseech you) the eyes of your bo∣dies and mind together in beholding and pondering our Margi∣nals, and you shall finde, first (if we speake of the n Greeke Lan∣guage) that there was a generall knowledge thereof even among the vulgar people of the Churches of Antioch, Caesarea, Alexandria, and thorowout Asia. Secondly, if of the Latine, you may behold anciently the familiar knowledge thereof in the Church of Rome, whereof St. Hierome hath testified, that The people were heard in the Churches of Rome resounding and thundring out their Amen! This in Churches vnmixt. Thirdly, in mixt Congregations of Greeke and Latine, that the o Seruice was said both in Greeke and Latine. Fourthly, your owne generall Confession, yeelding a common knowledge of the Latine tongue to the people of a great part of Europe: and wee say also of Africke, (insomuch that Au∣gustine doth openly teach that the p Latine tongue was better knowne to his Africanes than was the Punicke, although this were their natiue Language:) And also of q France, Spaine, Italie, Germa∣nie, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and many other Nations in the North and West: particularly manifested by the Latine Homelies and writings, made to the people of Africke by Tertullian, Cyprian, and Au∣gustine; and in France and Germanie by the people praying and ioyntly saying, AMEN.

Not to tell you of the now-Custome of the remote Christian

Churches, such as are the Egyptians, Russians, Ethiopians, Armeni∣ans, and others; All which exercise their publike Service in the vulgar and mother-tongues of their owne so distinct and different Nations. For the which cause they can finde no better entertain∣ment with your Iesuites; than to admonish you that r You are not to be moued with the example of such barbarous people. O Iesuiticall superciliousnes! to contemne them as Barbarous, in an example of praying in a knowne tongue: the contrarie whereunto (as namely praying in an vnknowne tongue) the Apostle condemneth as Barbarousnes it ••elfe.

With the same modestie might you scoffe at, and reproach other more ancient Nations and Christians, commended by primitiue Fathers for celebrating their Oblations, Prayers, and Psalmes in their Nationall tongues; so, that one repeating the words first, the whole people with ioynt voyce and heart accorded in ••inging. Among whom are recorded the converted s Iewes, the t Syrians; and u All, as well Greekes as Romanes, praying in their owne tongue, and with ••armonicall consent singing of Psalmes, in the publike wor∣ship: as also the x Grecians, Egyptians, Thebaeans, Palestinians, Ara∣bians, Phoenicians, and Syrians. This from the Testimonies of ho∣ly Fathers.

Whether therefore the tongue we pray in be barbarous or lear∣ned, it is not respected of God, but whether it be knowne or vn∣knowne, is the point. In which respect wee may vsurpe the Simi∣litude which S^t. y Augustine hath; What availeth a golden Key, if it cannot open that which should be opened? or what hur••eth a wooden Key, if it be able to open, seeing that wee desire nothing, but that the thing shut may be opened? By this time you see your Noveltie in your Romish practice.

Behold in the next place the Iniquitie and prophanenesse there∣of, and how after the death of Pope Gregory the first, which was abou•• 608. yeares after Christ, your Romane Church degenera∣ted as much from the (then) Romane truth in this point, as shee did from her Romane tongue and Language it selfe. Wee are here constrained to pleade the whole cause, for the defence of a ne∣cessity of a knowne worship, in respect of God, of Man, and of Both.

Notes

• i

  Tempore Apo∣stolorum totum po∣pulum respondere solitum in diuinis of∣ficijs—Et longo tempore post in Oc∣cidente & Oriente Ecclesia: tempore Chrysostomi, & Cy∣priani, atque Hiero∣nymi, eadem Con∣suetudo invaluit. Et Hieronym{us} scribit in praefat. lib. 2. ad Gal. In Ecclesijs vrbis Ro∣mae quasi coeleste to∣nitru audiri populum reboaniem, Amen. Bellar. lib. 2. de verbo Dei, cap 16 §. Sed ne∣que. Tempore Apo∣stolorum, cùm cele∣bratetur Sacrificium hoc, Sacerdos dixit, [Hoc est corp{us} meū] & populus responde∣bat, Amen.—Et hic usus manavit in totam Ecclesiam us∣que ad mille & am∣plius annos. Maldon. Ies. Disp. de Sacram. Tom. 1. de Euch. Coni••ct. 1. §. Vbi Scribit.
• k

  Bellar. lib. 2. de verbo Dei, cap. 15. & 16, and so Others also.
• m

  Tres hae linguae vniuersalissimae, ità ut Hebraica per to∣tum fere Orientem: Omnes enim Chal∣daicâ, aut Syriacâ. i. Hebraicâ, sed cor∣ruptè Ioquebantur. Graeca per totam Graeciam, & Asiam minorem, olim, ac varias provincias la∣tè patebat: Latina autem per magnam Europae partem va∣gabatur. Ledesima Ies. in defens. Bellar.
• n

  [Concionatus est Graecè Chrysostomus a∣pud Antiochenos, apud Caesari••nses Basilius, a∣pud Alexandrinos A∣thanasius, apud Hiero∣solymi••anos Cyrillus.] Thus from Constan∣tinople to Antioch, throughout Asia, was the Greeke Language universally knowne.
• See about, at the letter (i.)
• o

  Cum Ecclesia Rom. de Latinis & Graecis es••et permix∣ta, singulae ••ectiones de utra{que} lingua re∣citabantur: nam ab una lingua recitan∣tes ab utrius{que} lin∣guae populis intel∣ligi non poterant. Rupertus de Diuin. of∣fic. l. 3 c. 8.
• p

  [Augustini sunt plurimi Tractatus & Sermones ad Hipponenses suos. With whom hee rather chose to speake ossum than os: to the end they should understand him.] Lib. Retract. cap. 20. Psalmum, qui ijs caneretur, per Latinas literas feci, propter vulgi & Idiotarum notitiam. Idem Sermon. 25. de verb. Apostol. Punicum proverbium est antiquum, quod qui∣dem Latinè vobis dicam, quia Punicè non omnes nôstis. So well was the Latine knowne vnto them. Item Tert. ad vxorem scripsit Latinè, Ad mulieres de Habitu, ad Foeminas de cultu, ad Virgines de velo, directing the same writings to them, thus; Dei Servae, Conservae, & Sorori meae, &c. Cyprianus saepe ad Martyres & plebem Latinè.]
• q

  Curabant Romani, ut & in provincijs plurimi loquerentur Latinè, ita ut Hispanias & Gallias Latinas prorsus fecerint, veteribus illarum gentium linguis abolitis. Vives in Aug. de Ci. Dei l. 19. c. 7. Nostri per to∣tum ••erè occidentem, per Septentrionis, per Africae non exiguam partem brevi spatio linguam Romanam cele∣brem, & quasi Regiam fecerunt.—Nostra est Italia, nostra Gallia, nostra Hispania, Germania, Pannonia, Dal∣matia, Illyricum, & multae aliae nationes. Valla Praesat. in l. Elegant. Certè testimonium ex Hilario ductum videtur omninò cogere, ut credamus in Gallia fuisse consuetudinem ut populus & Ecclesia caneret etiam antè Ambro∣sij tempora. Bellar. l. 1 de bonis operibus. c. 16. §. Fortasse.
• r

  Cer tum est (in∣quiunt Protestantes) Ruthenos, Aegypti∣os, Aethiopes, Arme∣nos, & quosdam ali∣os celebrare diuina Officia in Lingua vulgari.—Respon∣demus, nos non mo∣veri Barbarorū mo∣ribus. Salmeron. Ies. Com. in 1. Cor. 16. Disp. 30. §. Septimò.
• 1. Cor. 14. 11.
• s

  De Iudaeis con∣versis, Ambros. in 1. Cor. 14. Aliquando Syrâ Linguâ, ple∣run{que} Hebraeâ in Oblationibus ute∣bantur.
• t

  Hier. ad Eustoch. Epitaph. Paulae. He∣braeo, Graeco, Lati∣no, Syrò{que} Sermone Psalmi in ordine per∣sonabant. Ad finem.
• u

  Orig. con. Celsum. lib. 8. Graeci Grae∣cè, Romani Roma∣nâ, finguli{que} pre∣centur linguâ suâ—Non enim est Deus maximus unus eo∣rum, qui certam ali∣quam linguam sor∣titi, coetorarum ig∣nari sunt.
• x

  Basil. ad Cler. Eccles. Caesarien. Qui∣dam Psalmos causan∣tur, & modos Psalmo∣diae—Vnum hoc numeris datur, ut quod canendum sit prius ordiatur, reli∣qui succinunt.—elucescente die pari∣ter omnes veluti vno ore & corde confes∣sionis Psalmum Deo offerunt—Horum gratia si nos fugitis, fugietis simul Aegyptios, Thebaeos, Palaestinos, Arabes, Phoenicas, Syros, & ut semel dicam omnes apud quos vigiliae, preces{que} communes{que} Psalmodiae in pretio sunt. For the Scla∣vonians. See hereafter. 6. Challenge at (d)
• y

  Aug. de doctr. Christ. l 4. c. 11. Quid prodest, &c.