The safegarde from ship-wracke, or Heauens hauen compiled by I.P. priest.

THE 33. ARTICLE. Of the Sacrifice of the Masse.

THE CATHOLICKE DOCTRINE.

Christians haue in the church one only Sacrifice of the new testament, wherin the vnspotted Lambe, of God, Christ, is offe∣red a Satisfaction for our sins, wherof the Prophet Daniel and God himself speaketh in Malacthie; and of which the Lambe of the Iewes and all other Sacrifices were ty∣pes and figures.

SCRIPTVRE.

aANd of the priostes and leuites shall not fayle from before my face a man, to offer holocaustes, and to burne sacrifice, and to kil victi∣mes all dayes. Hence the Fathers proue that there must be alwayes sacrifice in Gods church.

bWhen the continuall sacrifice shalbe taken away; to wit, in the dayes of Antichrist who (as most Fa∣thers

expound it) shall raigne three yeeres and a halfe.

cAnd as they were ministring to our Lord and fa∣sting, the holy ghost said.

dThe Chalice of benediction which wee doe bles∣se: is it not the communication of the blood of Christ? and the bread which wee breake is it not the participation of the body of our Lord?

eAnd taking bread, he gaue thankes, and brake & gaue vnto them saying &c.

fWee haue an aulter wherof they haue not po∣wer to eat, that serue the tabernacle.

FATHERS.

S. Iames the Apostle in his liturgie saith: [wee offer vnto thee, the vnbloody sacrifice for our sins and for the ignorances of the people.]

[S. Andrew Apostle in the booke of his passion, written by his disciples saith vnto the Tyrant. I sacri∣fice dayly the immaculate lambe to almightie God. Et infra: who when he is indeed sacrificed, and his flesh truly eaten by the people, remaineth whole and aliue.

gS. Clement writing vnto S. Iames, brother to our Lord, saith: It is not lawfull to celebrate Masses in other places, but in these wherin the proper Bishop shall appoynt, these thinges, the Apostles receiued from our Lord and deliuered vnto you.

S. Hippolytus Martyr anno 240. bringeth in Christ speaking thus:h [cum you Bishops and prie∣stes who haue dayly offered my pretious body and blood.]

iTertullian anno 200. saith: [it is not permitted that women should teach or speake in the church, nor Baptize, nor offer.]

kS. Ignatius anno 100. saith: [it is not lawfull wit∣hout a Bishop, to offer, or sacrifice, or celebrate Masses.]

lS. Irenaeus anno 160. saith: [Christ the new

oblation of the new testament, that is to say of his body and blood, which the church haueing receaued from the Apostles, ••hee offereth vnto God through the whole world]

mS. ••thanas••us anno 340. saith: [The oblation of the vnbloodie sacrifice is our propitiation.

nS. Cyprian anno 240 saith: [That the Eucharist is a holocaust to purge our sinnes]

And againe: [yf Iesus Christ our Lord and God, be himself the high priest of God the Father, and offered sacrifice to God the Father, and commaun∣ded this to be done in remembraunce of him; verily 〈◊〉〈◊〉 performeth the office of a priest in place of Christ, that ••••••••ateth that which Christ hath done, and he shall offer the true and full sacrifice to God the Father, then in the church, if he begine in such manner as he saw Christ offer.]

oS. Basil anno ••80. saith: [make vs worthy to stand with a pure hart before thee, and to minister vnto thee, and offer the reuerend sacrifice, for the aboli••hing our sins and reconciliation of thy people.]

pS. Cyrill of Hierus. anno 350 saith: wee offer Christ slaine for our sins, to the end wee may pro∣cure his fauour who is most mercifull, both for our selues and for them.

qS Gregory Niss. anno 380 saith: our Lord preuen∣ting the violence of the Iewes, offered him••elf a sa∣crifice; being himself both priest and lambe, but thou wilt say vnto me when was this done? euen then when he gaue to his familiar friends his body to eat and his blood to drinke, and that which him∣self did he commaunded his ministers to doe the same.

rS. Chrysostome saith: anno 380. That instead of sacrifices and killing of brute beasts he commaun∣ded himself to be offered.

Againe:s not many Christes (saith he) but one Christ is offered in many places, being whole Christ in this place and in that place, one body not many bodies.

Againe:t the number of sacrifices in the law were

great & without number, all which new grace com∣ing afterwards vnto vs, it doth imbrace them or com∣prehend them in one sacrifice, establishing one true oblation. Againe.

vThe sacred oblation it self, whether Peter or Paul, or any other priest, of any worth doe of∣fer it, is the same which Christ himself gaue to his disciples, and which priestes also do now make, this oblation hath nothing lesse then that hadd: why so? because mā doe not sanctifie this but Christ who sanctified that before; for as the words which Christ spake be the same that the priest doth now pronounce, so the oblation is also the same.

Againe:x The priest (saith he) being an embassa∣dour maketh intercession and prayer vnto God for the whole world, that he would forgiue the sins of all men both liueing and dead.

yAgaine: make vs vvorthy to offer vnto thee giftes and sacrifices for our sins, and the iniquitie of the people.

zS. Ambrose anno 380, saith: vvhen vve sacri∣fice, Christ is present, Christ is offered, Christ is sacrificed, because Christ our pasouer is offe∣red. Againe.a Christ offereth himself as a priest to forgiue sins. Againe: although Christ be not now seene to offer, yet he doth offer vpon earth when his body is offered. Againe: I continued in myne office (saith he) I beganne to say Masse, and to pray vnto God in the oblation, that he would be mercifull.

bS. Gaudentius anno 390. saith: In the shadow of that legall passouer, one lambe was not slayne but many, because one vvas not sufficient for all &c and the same lambe being offered through all chrches in the mysterie of bread and wine, it refres∣heth, being belieued it quickeneth, being consecra∣ted it sanctifieth the consecrators; this is the flesh of the lambe, this is his blood.

cS. Hierome anno 380. saith: if lay men be com∣maunded to absteyn from their wiues for prayer; vvhat shall vvee think of a Bishop vvho must dayly offer immaculate sacrifices vnto God for his

owne sins and the sins of the people?

dS. Augustine anno 400. saith: by those sacrifices, this sacrifice, wherby true remission of sins is obtey∣ned, was signified.

Againe.e what more acceptable thing (saith he) can be offered or receaued, then the flesh of our sa∣crifice, made the body of our priest.

Againe:f expounding that place of Malachie, he saith. The church by the successours of the Apostles, offereth the sacrifice of payse in the body of Christ.

Againe:g for as much (saith he) as they may see in euery place, euen from the rising of the sunne vn∣to the letting, that this sacrifice is offered vnto God by priestes according to the order of Melchisedech; they cannot deny but that the sacrifice of the Iewes, of whome it is said, I haue no w ll in you; hath cea∣sed, or else they exspect another Christ.

hS Eusebius anno 330. Cesariensis: Therfore wee sacrifice vnto almightie God a sacrifice of prayse, wee sacrifice vnto God a full sacrifice, which carri∣eth a sweete smelling odour, and most holy sacrifice; wee sacrifice a pure sacrifice after a new manner ac∣cording to the new testament.

S. Gregory 1. Pope:i anno 1600. saith. This victime or sacrifice doth marueilouslie deliuer a soule from eternall destruction, and doth also renew vnto vs in a mysterie that death of the only begotten, who al∣though rising againe from the dead he doe not now dye, and death shall no more triumph ouer him, yet liueing in himself immortallie and vncorruptiblie, is sacrificed againe for vs in this mysterie of the holy sacrifice, for his body is receaued there, his flesh is giuen for the saluation of the people, his blood is now powred out, not into the handes of the vnfaith∣full, but into the mou••hes of the faithfull, hence therfore let vs consider what a manner of sacrifice this is for vs. which at the voice of a priest doth opē the heauens for our absolution, in that mysteries of Christ the companies of Angels are present, the lo¦west thinges are ioyned in fellowship with the high∣est, earthlie things with heauenly, and of visi∣ble

and inuisible one thinge is made.

THE ADVERSARIE.

kM. Beacon (whome the ministers of lincolnshire in their abridgment &c. affirme to be a deuyne of chiefe note in their church) saith seriously: The masse was begotten, conceaued, and borne anone after the Apostles tymes, yf all be true, that Histo∣riographers wryte.

lHospinianus saith: euen in that first age they yet liueing, the Diuell did attempt to lay his snares ra∣ther against this Sacrament, then Baptisme, and by little and little did seduce men from that first forme.

m Sebastianus Flaucus saith most plainly, That presently after the Apostles, all things were turned vpside downe &c. the supper of the Lord was chaun∣ged into a sacrifice.

M. Ascham (a prime protestant) doth acknowled∣ge without more adoe, that no beginninge therof after the Apostles tyme can be shewed, saying; At what tyme, and by whome the supper of the Lord was thrust from its possession by the masse, cannot certenly be knowne.

nCaluin saith that Athanasius, Ambrose, Austine, Ar∣nobius &c. erred heerin so farre, that they forged a sacrifice in the Lords supper, without our Sauiours commaund, and so adulterated or corrupted the sup∣per, with adding of (Sacrifice.)

Againe, he saith:oThe auncient Fathers cannot be excused, for as much as it is manifest they haue declined from the pure and true institutiō of Christ: for wheras the supper ought to be celebrated vnto this end; that wee might cōmunicate the sacrifice of Christ, they being not therwith content did also add (oblation:) this augmentation, I say, is vitious and naught. These Caluin.

pThe Century-writers reproue S. Cyprian saying: the priest (saith Cyprian) doth supply the place of Christ, & offereth sacrifice to God the Father: And in their

Alphabeticall table of that centurie at the letter. S. they say:q That Cyprian doth superstitiously affirme the priest to supply the place of Christ in the supper.

rAgaine: Although (say they) the Doctores, of this age haue nothing of offering an vnbloody sacrifice to God in the Eucharist, yet there do occurre in thē certayne sayinges very ambiguous and incommo∣dious, as in the epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnēses: It is not lawfull (saith Ignatius) without a Bishope either to offerre sacrifices, or celebrate Massess Also they say the lyke of S. Irenaeus.

t S Irenaeus is so plaine that they doubt not to chard∣ge him with negligence, and of being improper in his speech and often calling the Eucharist an oblation.

To conclude these foresaid sayings of Ignatius & Irenaeus who are so plaine to the Centuristes, that al∣though they be lykewise extant in all copies and li∣braries; yet they blush not to say concerning that of Ignatius:v that they doe partly supect it as inserted, concerning that of Irenaeus they say.

xYf notwithstanging the place be voyd of fraud & errour

Which reprehension is so euident and not to be excused, thaty M. Sutcliffe doth acknowledge it.

LVTHERS DOCTRINE.

aLuther briefly answeareth to all this, saying: yf ther be nothing that can be said, it is more saue to de∣ny all, then to graunt the masse to be a sacrifice.

Againe: I professe (saith he) especially against all such, as shall cry out, that I teach against the custo∣me of the church, against the statures of the Fa∣thers, I professe (I say,) that I will heare none of this: And a little after he saith: I care not what the Fa∣thers said of the masse.

Againe in his booke against king Henry the eight he saith: last of all the king bringeth in the sayinges of the Fathers for amassing sacrifice, or the sacrifice of the Masse, and laugheth at my foolishnes, that I on¦ly will seeme to be wise before all others, but I say,

they haue nothing to produce but a multitude of mē. Et infra: I care not if therbe a thousande Augustines and a thousand Cyprians against me.

Againe. Heere (saith he) I nothing regard it, if the Papistes cry out, the church, the church; the Fathers, Fathers, because as I said wee respect not mens say∣inges or deeds in so weighty matters: for wee know that the Prophets themselues haue fallen, yea and the Apostles also: by the word of Christ wee iudge the church, Apostles, yea and Angels themselues.

CALVINS DOCTRINE.

Caluin saith:b lett all readers vnderstand that hee∣re I am to deall with that opinion, wherin the Romā Antichrist & his Prophets haue instructed the whol world, to witt, that the masse is a worke, wherby the priest that offereth Christ, and others that doe par∣ticipate, in that oblation doe obteyne the fauour of God, or that it is a satisfactory oblation, wherby to reconcile thēselues vnto God. Againe:c certenly this is most certayne, the crosse of Christ is made frustra∣te assoone as the aulter shalbe erected.

Agained But because I see that those aunciēt Fa∣thers also haue wrested this otherwise thē was agre∣able to the institution of our Lord (although their supper carry a shew of I know not what auncient or at least renewed oblation) I think they cannot be excused, but they haue some thinge erred in the mā∣ner of doing, for they haue rather imitated the Ie∣wish manner of sacrificing then that which either Christ ordayned, or the ghospell did permitt.

Again:e what remaineth (saith he) but that the blin∣de may see, the deafe heare, and children vnderstand, that this abomination of the masse which is drunke in a goulden cuppe, hath so made drunke all kinges of the earth, and people euen from the highest vnto the lowest, and strucken them with such a dead sheepe and gidinesse in the head, that they are become more stupide then brute beasts, and

doe place the very anker hold and sume of their sal∣uation in this only deadly poyson.

An old condemned Heresie.

S. Austine doth report amonge the errours and furies of the Donatistes, that whersoeuer they came they were accustomed to ouerthrowe and break downe aulters, sel the holy Chalices &c. wherby it is manifest that the Donatistes who also in tymes past did boast that they were the true reformers of Gods church, and proclaymed themselues euery where to be the true auncient and orthodoxall Ca∣tholickes, did notwithstanding also take away the sacrifice of the masse.

Notes

• a

  Ieremie ca. 33.18.
• b

  Daniel. 12. v. 11,
• c

  Act. 13.3.
• d

  1. Cor. 10.16.
• e

  Luke 22.1••
• f

  Hebr. 23.10
• g

  Epist. 3. as it is recited de consec. dist. 1. can. hic ergo.
• h

  in orat. de Antichristo.
• i

  lib. de ve∣landis virgi∣nibus.
• k

  in epistola ad Smirnēses
• l

  lib. 4. aduer. haeres. cap. 32 ad finem,
• m

  Sermo de defunctis.
• n

  Sermo de c••m Domi∣ni lib. 2 epist 〈◊〉〈◊〉 O••••ci∣lium.
• o

  in Liturgia
• p

  Cateches. S. ••••yst••g.
• q

  ora••. de re•• 〈…〉〈…〉 c.
• r

  homil. ••4. in 1. ad Cor.
• s

  homil. in epistol ad Hebr••••.
• t

  in psal 95.
• v

  in a homi••. in 2. Tim. 1.
• x

  lib. 6. de Sa∣cerdotio.
• y

  in Liturgia
• z

  in 1. cap. S. Lucae.
• a

  lib. 1 de of∣ficiis cap 4••. in psalme, 8. lib 5. epist. 3••8.
• b

  tr••ct. 2. in Exodum.
• c

  in commē∣tario cap 1. ad T••••. ••n.
• d

  quaest. 57. in leuiticum
• e

  lib 4 de tr••••••t. cap. 14.
• f

  lib. contra aduersatios legis cap 20. Malachie 1. v. 11.
• g

  in omni lo∣co offertur lib 18. de ci∣uitate Dei cap. ••6.
• h

  lib. 1. de∣monstrat. Euang cap. vlt ad locu•• Mal. cap. 1.
• i

  lib. 4. Dia∣log. cap 58.
• k

  pag. 65. M. Beacon in his workes set forth 5560. 3. part. in his treati∣se intituled. The reliques of Rome. fol. 44.
• l

  Hosp. in hi∣storia Sacra∣mentaria lib. 1. cap 6. pap 20. Se∣bast epist. de abrogandis invniuersum omnibus sta∣tutis eccle∣siasticis M. Ascham A∣polog pro coena Domi. pag. 31.
• n

  in omnes▪ Pauli episto∣las in Hebr. c 7. v. 9. pag. 924
• o

  lib. de ver•• Ecclesiae re∣formation•• pag 389.
• p

  Cent. 1•• col. 83. l. 14.
• q

  Ibidem.
• r

  Cent. 2. c. 4 Col. 63.
• s

  Ibid l. 20. Ibid col. 113 line 23.
• v

  Ibidē line. 9.
• x

  Col 6••. li∣ne 22
• y

  Sutcliffe in his subuersiō of the three conuersions pag. ••••.
• a

  lib. de capt. Babylonie•• cap. 1.
• in lib. de missa priuat••
• b

  lib. 4 in∣••••••••. cap 1••. ¶. 1.
• c

  ¶. 3.
• d

  ¶. 11.
• e

  ¶. 1••.
• lib. 2. contra ••••••••ianum.