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.

CHAP. V.

A Confutation of the first Romish Reason; obtruded for proofe of a Possibility of existence of a Bo∣dy in divers places at once, taken from the nature either of a Voice, or Colour.

SECT. I.

MAster a Brerely thus: The difficulty may be better con∣ceived, rather then directly proved, by an example of the same word: the which, being once uttered, is there∣upon at one instant in the severall hearing of sundrie persons, and that not as a distinct noyse confusedly mul∣tiplyed in the •…•…re, but as one and the same peculiar word, distinguished by the selfe-same syllables wherein it was uttered. So hee, and your Doctor Wright b before him.

CHALLENGE.

BVt the Doctor was answered, that the Example is many thou∣sand miles remote from the Cause, for our Question is of the Presence of the same Body in divers places at once. We say, the same Body; but this your Example of Word, or Voice, which you Both call the same, is not individually the same in every mans hea∣ring, as is here affirmed, but onely the same in kinde, by a multi∣plication of the sounds, and words uttered, as Philosophy teacheth. Like as we see in throwing a stone into the water, it maketh at the first a Circle, and circle multiplyeth upon circle, till the last come to a large Circumference: Even so the word, by voyce breaking the Ayre, doth make in the Aire Circle upon circle, till it come to the eares of the hearers; every of the parts of the Circle being articulated through the multiplication of the first forme, the divers eares doc no more receive the same individuall voice, than they do•• the same individuall Aire, whereby the voice is conueyed. So that this Example is no more, in Effect, than to prove the same Bo∣dy

in divers places at once, by the sound of a word in many mens ••ares; which is not individually the same, and serveth for nothing ra∣ther than to make the Disputer ridiculous.

Thus was that Doctor answered, when he confessed of the voice of the Preacher in the Pulpit, which is received by multitudes of hearers, and of his other Example of a colour of a red Cow by mul∣tiplication of its formes seene of thousand mens eyes at once, that it is not Numerically the same. Take unto you a cleare Example and Apposite, when in a looking-glasse, broken into many peeces, you see many faces, (all of them being but so many multiplied and refle∣cted Images of one face) you may see, that every Image in every broken peece of the glasse is not individually the same: wherefore these kinds of Instances are but Mountebanke trickes, devised to delude men, that love darknesse better then light. It might seeme superstitious diligence to confute such so••tishnes with the serious iudgement of any grave Father; otherwise c Gregory Nazianzen is at hand, ready to tell you, that there is as great a difference be∣tweene Bodies, and Voices, and Sights; as there is betwixt Bodies, and Spirits; so that whereas two Bodies cannot be in one place, yet voices, and sights [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] are by an Incorporeall manner ap∣prehended, so that the same Eare is capable of many voices, and the same sight of many Visibles.

A Confutation of their second, and third Reasons, taken from the Similitude of man's Soule, or Presence of God, devised to demonstrate a no-Contradiction of a Bodie's Be∣ing in two places at once.

SECT. II.

TWo other d Instances you have, whereby to maintaine your supposed Bodily Presence in two places at once; one is in man's Soule, the other in God himselfe. First, we will enquire into the na∣ture of the soule. Our exception against a Bodies being in divers places at once, is by reason of the distance betweene place and place, for it is farre lesse than imaginable that one Bodie should in one and the same moment be at Toledo in Spaine, and at Paris in France; and yet not to be in the intermediate Space betweene both, which divideth Toledo from Paris. But the Condition of the Soule is utterly different, for it is in the Bodily members, not as a Body in diuers places, but as a forme in it's owne matter; nor ha∣ving Quantity and extension, (the unseperable properties of a Bo∣dy) but by a formall perfection, As containing the Body, and not contained thereof, e saith your Aquinas. For the Soule is so in the head and foot, that it is aswell in the parts and members be∣tweene both; and therefore, not being possibly severed from them, cannot be said to be divided from it selfe. Insomuch that if any

member of the Body (as for example the hand) should be cut off, and diuided from the Body, the Soule being indivisible ceaseth to be therein. So utterly dissonant is the Soules being in divers places.

Nay and your Cardinall having confessed already, that It is not possible by any divine power, that a spirit should be divisible after the manner of a Body; doth hereby as fully confute himselfe, as if hee had said, there is no comparison to be made betweene Body and Spirit, in respect of Locall being: how much lesse betweene it and God the Father of all Spirits, who cannot be so in many places at once, that he is not likewise both in every intermediate space, be∣tweene place and place, and also in all places without them: this being the propertie of his infinitenes to containe all places, and not to be contained of any. And therefore cannot this manner of pre∣sence, without irreligious impietie, be applyed to any creature; which notwithstanding, f your Cardinall blusheth not to do in that manner, as was hitherto (we thinke) never imagined by any Di∣vine before him, namely, a manner of being of a Body in a place, which is neither Circumscriptively, as naturall Bodies are, nor De∣finitively, that is, so that being in one place, it is not at the same time in another, as Angels and Spirits are; but a third, how? By only pre∣sence after the manner as God is in place. So hee. O golden Divine! for who knoweth not that Existence in place onely by presence is a propertie of Divine Infinitenes, which being attributed to any thing, that is not God, doth equall the creature with the Creator.

A Confutation of the former two Romish Instances in Man's Soule, and God himselfe, by Ancient Fathers, in their Doctrine concerning Angels, and Men's Spirits.

SECT. III.

ANcient Fathers (we trow) were profoundly learned both in Philosophicall, and in Theologicall Mysteries, who notwith∣standing (as your g Iesuite witnesseth) held it as a Doctrine of Faith, that Angels, which are Spirits, have every one their owne definite pla∣ces and space, and that they cannot be in divers places, but by moving from one place to another, which cannot be said of any Body that (as you say) is without motion in divers places at once. Surely, if ever such strange and paraphysicall, nay more then Hyperphysicall Croche••s had entred into the minds of ancient Fathers, we should have heard you alleage, at least some one of them, if not for proofe, yet in pretext and colour of patronizing these your repugnant Pa∣radoxes, concerning a Bodie taking the right hand, or left of it selfe, and the like,—Velut aegri somnia vanae finguntur Species.

For your better satisfaction, we shall alleage some Testimonies, which may sufficiently declare their Iudgement of an Impossibili∣tie of a Spirit's being in divers places at one time, whether we consi∣der the Spirits of Angels, or of men; yea or the humane Spirit or soule of Christ. Of Angels, Damascen; h They are so circumscri∣bed in the place where they worke, that they cannot possibly be in moe places at once. Athanasius, i As the Holy Ghost filleth all places, so An∣gels are contained in a certaine place. Accordingly Ambrose: k Here∣in doe Angels differ from the holy Ghost, which filleth all things, that the S••raphims doe move from place to place. Pope Gregory would be heard speake: l Angels are c••rcumscribed, being, in respect of our Bodies, Spirits: but, in comparison of the uncircumscribed God, they are to be esteemed as Bodies. So they. Our next speculation must be touching the soules of Saints departed. The Author set out by your selves, in the name of Athanasius, unto this Obiection; How doe the soules of Saints so often appeare at one moment of time in the Sepulchres, as they seeme to have done? Answereth that They are not the same Saints, but rather visions, and adumbrations of them, by transfigurations of Angels. He giueth his Reason, why he thinketh the other impossible, m Be∣cause it is proper (saith hee) to God alone to be at one moment of time in two places at once. So hee. And if the Fathers shall say, in effect, as much of the humane soule of Christ, you (wee should thinke) would require no more. Tertull••an among his many divine An∣swers, to prove Christ to be God, hee urgeth the Arian Here∣tiques with this one, as not the least: n Because Christ is present in all places, where he is invocated upon, which is a power not incident un∣to man, but proper to the nature of God. So hee. How like you this? And Augustine may not be thought to dissent, when in arguing hee tooke as granted, that the o Soule of Christ, when it departed this life, could not be in Heaven, and in hell at once.

As for the Beeing of God in divers places at once, which was your Cardinal's instance, for proof of a Possibility of the Being of Christ's Body in many places, without Contradiction of making One not One, by dividing it from it selfe; wee know not whether rather to cen∣sure it ••gregiously absurd, or extreamly impious; seeing that the Being of God in divers places at once without Contradiction ariseth from the very nature of God's Infinitenes of Being in whatsoever place: which is (as your owne Schoole might have taught him) so, as p Containing all places, and not contained in any: which the Fa∣thers have as fully declared, in making Being in all places, as filling them with his presence, to bee the property of his Deity. Such then is the impietie of your arguing; by labouring to defend the manner of the Being of a Bodie, by the manner of Being of a Soule or

Spirit, denyed by q Nazianzene; and manner of the Being of a Creature, by the manner of the Being of God the Creator, excedeth all Absurdities that can be named. The holy Fathers have some∣thing more to say to you; but first we are willing to heare what you can say for your selves.

A Confutation of the Third Romish Pretence; why they need not yeild to these Reasons, whereby their Doctrine is proved to be so grossely Vnreasonable.

SECT. IV.

MYsteries of Faith, (saith your r Cardinall) which excede man's understanding, are only to be apprehended by Faith. Such as are the Articles of the Trinity of Christ his Incarnation, of the Resurrection, of the Creation, and of Eternity it selfe; and so ought this, concerning the Presence of Christ his Body, notwithstan∣ding any Obiection from Reason. So you. Wee answere. Some of these former Mysteries we confesse to be such as excede man's understanding, yet such againe they are, as are not contrary to un∣derstanding, though above it; that is to say, such (and this you will confesse with us) as admit not Contradiction in themselves: for it is no Contradiction to say of the Trinitie there is One God, and Three Persons, because the Essence of the Godhead is common to each person: or to say in the Incarnation there is one Person, and two natures; no more than to say, that in one man there is one person, and two essentiall parts, one his Body, the other his Spirit: or in the Resurrection to beleeve the same that was created, might be restored to life, more than to beleeve that one graine of Corne dying, might revive againe: or in the Creation to beleeve that something may be made of nothing, than to say that a blinde man was made to see. As for the last Obiection, saying that s Eternity is the instant of Duration, it is an atheologicall Paradoxe: for Eter∣nitie is Duration it selfe, without beginning, or ending; which is conceived without Contradiction.

In all these your former Pretences nothing is more considera∣ble than the miserable Exigence whereunto your Disputers are brought, whilest they are constrained, for avoiding of Contradi∣ctions in things subiect to the determination of Sence, to pose us with spirituall Mysteries, which are Obiects onely of Faith, by reason of the Infinitenes of their properties; and therefore may well exceede the reach of mans wit, and apprehension, without any preiudice unto Truth, by contradiction: as if they meant to teach men to put out their eyes, and never any more to discerne any sensible things, by sensible meanes. By which manner of rea∣soning

all the Arguments used by the Apostles against Infidels, for proofe of the Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ's Body; all the Reasons of Fathers against Heretiques, in distinguishing of the Pro∣perties of the divine and humane nature of Christ in himselfe, and their former Testimonies in discerning Bodies from Spirits by Cir∣cumscription, and Spirits from God by Determination in one place; and lastly your owne Consequences of many confessed Impossibili∣ties concerning Place, (as the Impossibility that God should be con∣tained in Place, as for one Body having Quantity to be incapable of a Place, and the like) are all vtterly made voyd. For to what end were any of these, if your Pretences have in them any shaddow of Trueth?

Notes

• a

  In his Booke of the Liturgie of the Masse: where hee hath other as Idle reasons as this.
• b

  In his Booke of the Reall Presence, tract. 2 §. 4. S••bd. 1. p. 149.
• Verbum, quasi a••rem verberans. Cic.
• c

  Greg. Naz. Orat. 51. Vnius corporis locus duorum, aut plurium non est ca∣pax: sed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• d

  Argumentum sumitur ab exemplis Dei, & animae ratio. nalis. Deus est unus in infinitis locis indi∣visibilis, & anima hu∣mana est tota in qua∣libet par••e corporis. Bellar. l. 3. de Euch. c. 3.
• e

  Anima est in corpore, ut cōtinens, non ut contenta. A∣quin. 1. qu. 52. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• See above Chap. 4. Sect. 3.
• f

  Quòd si quis re∣quirat esse in loco tàm circumscriptivè quàm definitivè, id requirere, ut non sit alibi; dicere possu∣mus daritertium mo∣dum existendi in lo∣co, nimirùm, per solam praesentiam, quomodò Deus est in loco. Bellar. l. 3. de Euch. c. 4. §. Altero.
• g

  Iob 1. 6. [Cum venissent & astitis∣sent Angeli, &c.] O∣rigen. Athanas. Greg. Nazianz. tanquàm dogma fidei tradunt, Angelos moveri lo∣caliter, neque omni∣bus locis praesentes, sed esse cui{que} locum suum, & spatium prae∣finitum cùm illud necessario requiratur, ut ab uno loco in lo∣cum alium veniant. Simili ratione con∣firmat hanc veri••a∣tem Tert. Apol. c. 22. Chryso. Hom. in Heb. 1. Ambros. l. 1. de Sp. S. c. 10. Damasc. l. 2. de fide c. 3. Nazian. Orat. 2. de Theol. Athanas. Epist. ad Serap. Teste Pined•• Ies. in cundem locum Ioh.
• h

  Damascen. Orthod. fid. l. 1. c. 17. & l. 3. c. 7. Angelus dicitur esse in loco, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Deus autem ubique existens, corpora ve∣rò 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• i

  Athanas. Tom. 1. Epist. ad Serap. p. 201. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• k

  Ambros. de Sp. S. lib. 1. cap. 10. Sera∣phim quod iubetur exequitur, Spiritus quod vult dividit: Seraphim de loco ad locum transit, non c∣nim complet omnia, sed ipsum repletur a Spiritu.
• l

  Greg. Moral. lib. 2. cap. 3. Angeli, ut & nos, loco circumscri∣buntur: comparati∣one quidem corpo∣rum nostrorum Spi∣ritus sunt, compara∣tione Dei incircum∣scripti, corpus sunt.
• m

  Athanas. qu••st. ad Antioch. 26. Quo∣modò (cedo mihi) una existens Petri aut Pauli anima, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 apparere in ••••o monumento, & in mille templis per to∣tum mundum, nè•• Angelus potest? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. E∣dit. Paris. Anno 1627.
• n

  Tert. de Trinit. circiter medium. Si homo tantummodò Christus, quomodò adest ubique invocatus? cùm haec non hominis natura sit, sed Dei, ut adesse possit in omni loco▪ si homo tan••ummodò Christus, cur & Mediator invocatur? &c.
• o

  Aug. Epist. 57. ad Dardan. [M••cum ••ris in Paradiso.] Non ex bis verbis in coelo existimandus Paradisus, ne{que} enim in ••pso die futurus erat in coelo ho no Christus, sed in inferno secundù•• animam, & in sepulch••o secundùm car∣nem.
• p

  Aquinas 1. qu. 52 Art 2.
• q

  Nazian. Orat. 51 cont. Apollinar. Obij∣cientem: Duo perfe∣cta non continebat Christus, vz. divini∣tatem & humanita∣tem. Resp. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (ut vas unius modij non duos modios continet) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. &c.
• Below Chap. 6. Sect. 2.
• r

  Bellar. lib. 3. de Euch. c. 3. Argumen∣tum sumitur à myste∣rijs, &c.
• s

  Aeternitas est instans Durationis. Bellar. ibid. §. Quin∣••um.