OF RECEIVING FOR OTHERS. THE EIGHTEENTH ARTICLE. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. OR that the priest had then authority to communicate and to receive the sacrament for others, as they do. [OF THE PRIEST'S SAYING MASS FOR ANOTHER.-ARTICLE XVIII. H. A. 1564.] The priest receireth not the sacrament for What you would say, M. Jewel, I wot not: what you say, I will nots. Verily we do not communicate ne receive the sacrament for another. Neither hath it ever been taught in the catholic church, that the priest receive another. the sacrament for another. (231) We receive not the sacrament for The two another, no more than we receive the sacrament of baptism, or the sacrament of thirty-first hundred and untruth. eth for of penance, or the sacrament of matrimony one for another, Indeed the priest saith For in the mass for others, where he receiveth that he hath offered, and that is it you mean, church the I guess; in which mass, being the external sacrifice of the new testament, according priest receivunto Christ's institution, the thing that is offered is such as maketh our petitions others, as it In Sermone de and requests acceptable to God, as St Cyprian saith: In hujus [(corporis)] Cana Domini. præsentia non supervacue mendicant lacrymæ veniam3: "In the presence of this body tears crave not forgiveness in vain." In Acta, Hom. 21. That the oblation of the mass is done for others than for the priest alone which celebrateth it, may sufficiently be proved by an hundred places of the fathers: the matters 10 being undoubted, two or three may suffice. First, Chrysostom writeth thus in an homily upon the Acts: Quid dicis? in manibus est hostia, et omnia proposita sunt bene ordinata: adsunt angeli, adsunt archangeli, adest Filius Dei, cum tanto horrore adstant omnes, adstant illi clamantes, omnibus silentibus; et putas simpliciter hæc fieri? Igitur et alia simpliciter, et quæ pro ecclesia, et quæ pro sacerdotibus offeruntur, et quæ pro plenitudine ac ubertate? absit. Sed omnia cum fide fiunt111: "What sayest thou hereto ? The host is in the priest's hands; and all things set forth are in due order. The angels be present, the archangels be present, the Son of God is present. Whereas all stand there with so great fear, whereas all they stand there crying out to God, and all other hold their peace, thinkest thou that12 these things be done simply and without great cause? Why then be those other things done also simply, both the things which are offered for the church, for the priests, for 13 plenty and abundance? God forbid. But all things are done with faith." THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. Here M. Harding of the printer's negligence hath taken good occasion to refresh himself out of season, and to play merrily with these two words, "for another." Which thing would rather become some other man than a doctor, professing such a countenance of gravity as do few others. It might 14 have [7 For another, H. A. 1564.] [* Well I wot, 1565, 1609, and H. A. 1564.] [ Cypr. Op. Oxon. 1682. De Coen. Dom. (Arnold.) p. 43; where supervacuæ.] [10 Matter, H. A. 1564.] [Chrysost. Op. Par. 1718-38. In Act. Apost. Hom. xxi. Tom. IX. p. 176.] [12 H. A. 1564, omits that.] [13 H. A. 1564, omits the church, for the priests, for. They are supplied in H. A. 1565.] [14 Mought, 1565.] shall appear. Presence. pleased him, without any great prejudice or hinderance of his cause, to allow us some simple ability of speaking English. But God's judgments be just. He that will scorn shall be scorned. M. Harding, that is so learned, so circumspect, so curious, and maketh himself so merry with the error of one poor syllable committed only by the printer in my book, in the self-same place, and in the next side following, hath erred Fol. 172. b. five syllables together in his own book; as it may easily appear by that his friend for shame hath restored and amended the same with his pen1. line 19. Howbeit, as he, so favourably bearing his own errors, is so witty to play with syllables, and so sharp and ready to carp others; so in this whole article, as poor apothecaries for want commonly use to do, he serveth out quid pro quo, and, instead of receiving the communion or sacrament for others, he sheweth us prayers, and sacrifices, and I know not what, and so allegeth one thing for another. Whether the priest in the church of Rome have used to receive the sacrament for others or no, (which thing M. Harding now utterly denieth, and saith it was never used nor never meant,) in the end hereof, God willing, it shall appear. "The thing that is offered," saith M. Harding, "maketh our prayers acceptable unto God." True it is, God accepteth and mercifully beholdeth both us and also our prayers2, and our whole obedience, in Jesus Christ his Son, and for his only sake; not for that he is now or can be offered verily and really by the priest, but only for that he was once offered for all upon the cross. St Paul saith: "By Christ we have access to the throne of grace.” Christ himself saith: "No man cometh to my Father but by me." Irenæus Iren. Lib. iv. saith: "Christ (being in heaven) is our altar; and upon him we must offer up and lay our prayers"." And therefore in time of the holy mysteries the deacon saith thus unto the people: "Lift up your hearts." Heb. iv. John xiv. cap. xxxiv. Cypr. de But St Cyprian saith: "In hujus [corporis] præsentia: "In the presence Cœn. Dom. of this body." Howbeit, St Cyprian saith not, In the local presence of this Trin. Lib. iii. Jud. cap. i. August. in He body: for such presence M. Harding himself hath already refused. meaneth only the presence of faith, and the virtue and power of Christ's body. August. de And in this sense St Augustine saith: Rerum absentium præsens est fides; et rerum, quæ foris sunt, intus est fides: "Of things that be absent faith is August. adv. present: of things that be without faith is within." Again he saith: Accedamus ad Jesum, non carne, sed corde; non corporis præsentia, sed fidei potentia: "Let us approach unto Jesus, not with our flesh, but with our heart; not with presence of body, but with power of faith." Likewise again: Habes Christum... in præsenti, et in futuro: in præsenti per fidem; in præsenti per signum; in præsenti per baptismatis sacramentum; in præsenti per altaris cibum et potum: "Thou hast Christ both in the time present and also in the time to come in the time present by faith; in the time present by the sign (of the cross in thy forehead); in the time present by the sacrament of baptism ; in the time present by the meat and drink of the altar (or communion-table).” St Hierome, writing the epitaph of Paula unto Eustochium, saith thus: Paula ingressa in stabulum, me audiente, jurabat cernere [se] oculis fidei infantem pannis involutum, [et] vagientem in præsepi Dominum": "Paula, entering into the stable (at Bethlehem), affirmed with an oath, in my hearing, that with the eyes of her faith she saw (Christ, as) an infant in his swathing-clouts, and the Lord crying in the manger like a child." So mighty is the power of faith. That virtuous lady Paula saw by faith that indeed she saw not. She saw Christ Hieron. ad [ See the preceding page, note 13.] [ Also all our prayers, 1565, 1609.] [ Est ergo altare in cœlis; illic enim preces [ Cypr. Op. De Cœn. Dom. (Arnold.) p. 43.] [7 There appears to be an error in the reference given; as the words quoted do not appear in the Tractat. adv. Jud. They may be found, however, Contr. Faust. Lib. xxx. cap. viii. Tom. VIII. col. 468; where accedant.] [ Id. in Johan. Evang. cap. xii. Tractat. 1. 12. Tom. III. Pars 11. col. 633.] [ Atque in Bethleem ingressa...postquam vidit ...stabulum...me, &c.-Hieron. Op. 1693-1706. Ad Eustoch. Epist. lxxxvi. Tom. IV. Pars 11. col. 674.] as an infant in his swathing-clouts; and yet then Christ was neither infant, Presence. nor swathed in clouts, nor in corporal presence indeed and verily present there. Therefore St Augustine saith: Absentia Domini non est absens. Habe fidem, et tecum est, quem non vides 10: “The absence of our Lord is not absent. Have faith; and he whom thou seest not is present with thee." Likewise St Ambrose saith: "St Stephen, standing in the earth, toucheth the Lord being in heaven." Ambros. Thus saith St Cyprian: "Christ's body is present at the holy communion, not De Magd. by any corporal or real presence, but by the effectual working and force of faith." In like sort Eusebius Emissenus saith: Ut perennis illa victima viveret in memoria, De Conseer. et semper præsens esset in gratia 12: "That that everlasting sacrifice might live corpus. in our remembrance, and evermore be present in grace." He saith not, that Dist. ii. Quia Rer. Eccles. the sacrifice of Christ's body should be present locally, really, verily, or indeed, but in remembrance and in grace. Germanus hereof writeth thus: Non amplius German. in super terram sumus; sed in throno Dei regi assistimus in cœlis, ubi Christus Theor. est 13: "We are no longer upon the earth; but we are assistant unto the king in the throne of God in heaven, where Christ is." For that Lamb's sake, whom we thus see and thus have present, whatsoever we pray, our tears beg not in vain. For he is our Advocate and Mediator, and evermore maketh 1 John ii. intercession for us. Whatsoever we desire the Father in his name, shall be Heb. vii. done unto us. Rom. viii. John xvi. Thus "the angels and archangels," as Chrysostom by way of amplification saith, Chrysost. de Incomp. Dei "lifting up, and shewing forth, and presenting unto God in heaven that body Nat. Hom. 3. of Christ, make their prayers for mankind, and thus they say: For them we pray, O Lord, whom thou lovedst so tenderly, that for their salvation it pleased thee to suffer death, and to yield thy soul upon the cross: for them we pray, for whom thou hast given thy blood, and offered up this body 14" This certainly is the meaning of Chrysostom's words. And therefore he saith again: "Whether we pray for the church, or for the ministers, or for the increase of the earth, our prayers are acceptable unto God only in Christ and for his sake 15." Hom. 15. ad Touching that he writeth further of the presence and assistance of angels and heavenly powers, it is the ordinary manner and course of Chrysostom's eloquence, and serveth him both to beautify the matter, and also to stir up and inflame the hearers' minds; and that not only in the time of the holy mysteries, but also at all other holy assemblies and public prayers. For thus he saith unto the people: Angeli sunt ubique, et maxime in domo Dei adsunt regi, et Chrysost. omnia plena sunt incorporeis illis virtutibus1: “The angels of God are every Heb. where, but specially in the house of God. They are assistant unto the king; and all places are full of spiritual powers." In like manner of amplification he saith: "The martyrs are here present in the church. If thou wilt see Chrysost. in them, open the eyes of thy faith, and thou shalt see a great company 17" are present amongst us, and mark Basil. de Je So saith Tertullian: "Let no man Tertull. de So saith St Basil: "The angels of God and register them that keep their fast 18" [10 August. Op. Serm. ccxxxv. In Dieb. Pasch. vi. 3. Tom. V. col. 990; where non est absentia, and habeto.] ["Stephanus in terris positus Christum tangit in cœlo.-Maxim. Taur. Hom. ad calc. Leon. Magni Op. Lut. 1623. De Sep. Dom. et de Mar. Magdal. Hom. iv. col. 612. See before, page 499, note 10.] [12 Euseb. Emiss. in Corp. Jur. Can. 1624. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, De Consecr. Dist. ii. can. 35. col. 1927; where et perennis victima illa.] [13 German. Constant. Rer. Eccles. Contempl. in Biblioth. Vet. Patr. Stud. Galland. Venet. 1765-81. Tom. XIII. p. 225.] [14 ... οὕτω δὴ καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τότε ἀντὶ κλάδων ἐλαιῶν αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα τὸ δεσποτικὸν προτεινόμενοι, τὸν Δεσπότην παρακαλοῦσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, μονονουχί λέγοντες, ὅτι ὑπὲρ τούτων δεόμεθα, οὓς αὐτὸς φθάσας οὕτως ἀγαπῆσαι κατηξί ωσας, ὡς τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπιδοῦναι τὴν σεαυτοῦ· ὑπὲρ [15 The passage referred to is that quoted in [16 Id. in Epist. ad Hebr. cap. ix. Hom. xv. Tom. XII. p. 156.] [17 Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἄγγελοι πάρεισιν, ἀγγέλων καὶ μαρτύρων ἡ σύνοδος γέγονε σήμερον. καὶ εἰ βούλει ἰδεῖν καὶ μάρτυρας καὶ ἀγγέλους, ἄνοιξον τῆς πίσω τεως τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ ὄψει τὸ θέατρον ἐκεῖνο... Id. In Ascens. Dom. Hom. Tom. II. p. 448.] [18 Αγγελοί εἰσιν οἱ καθ ̓ ἑκάστην ἐκκλησίαν ἀπογραφόμενοι τοὺς νηστεύοντας.—Basil. Op. Par. 1721-30. De Jejun. Hom. ii. Tom. II. p. 11.] Hom. de Ascens. jun. Hom. 2. Baptism. be hard to believe that the holy angel of God is present, and tempereth the water to the salvation of man1." This is it that Chrysostom meaneth by his vehement exornation of the presence of angels. And whereas M. Harding saith he hath passed over an2 hundred authorities and more that might be alleged to like purpose, this is one of his accustomed colours, and an artificial shift of his rhetoric. Verily, hitherto he hath not found one authority to prove that thing that is in question. M. HARDING. THE SECOND DIVISION. St Ambrose, in his funeral oration of the death of Valentinian the emperor, calling the sacrament of the altar the holy and heavenly mysteries and the oblation of our mother (by which term he understandeth the church), saith that he will prosecute the holy soul of that emperor with the same3. This father, writing upon the 38th Psalm, exhorteth priests to follow Christ, that, as he offered for us his blood, so priests offer sacrifice for the people. His words be these: Vidimus Principem sacerdotum, &c.6: "We have seen the Prince of priests coming unto us: we have seen and heard him offering for us his blood. Let us that be priests follow as we can, so as we offer sacrifice for the people, though weak in merit, yet honourable for the sacrifice," &c. Obit. Valent. Imper. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. This objection is easily answered. St Ambrose saith that in the congregation, and in the time of the holy mysteries, he would offer up unto God praises and thanksgiving for that godly emperor Valentinian. But he saith not that he would offer Christ the Son of God unto God his Father, or receive the sacrament for the emperor. Therefore M. Harding might well have passed this authority over among the rest. Neither did St Ambrose think that the emperor Valentinian was in purgatory, whereas M. Harding imagineth he might be relieved; but contrariwise he presumeth him undoubtedly to be in heaven. For thus he writeth of him: Ambros. de Quænam est hæc anima, &c.7: "What is this soul that looketh forth as the day-star, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun? O blessed soul, thou lookest down from above upon us, being here beneath: thou hast escaped the darkness of this world: thou art as bright as the moon: thou shinest as the sun." Further he saith: Cum fratre conjunctus æternæ vitæ fruitur voluptate. Beati ambo: "Being now with his brother, he enjoyeth the pleasure of everlasting life. Blessed are they both." Therefore the sacrifice that St Ambrose made was not a propitiatory, or satisfactory, or other like mass, whereby M. Harding thinketh himself able to bail souls out of purgatory; but only a sacrifice of thanksgiving for that godly emperor, being now in heaven. The other place of St Ambrose, as it nothing toucheth this question, so it is already answered fully and at large, Artic. vi, Divis. 7, and Artic. xví, Divis. 12. [Ne quis durius credat angelum Dei sanctum [ Made of the death, H. A. 1564.] [ Godly, H. A. 1564. But H. A. 1565 has holy.] [Date manibus sancta mysteria, pio requiem ejus poscamus affectu. Date sacramenta cœlestia, animam nepotis nostris [al. animam piam matris] oblationibus prosequamur. Extollite populi mecum manus in sancta, ut eo saltem munere vicem ejus meritis rependamus.-Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. De Obit. Valent. Consol. 56. Tom. II. col. 1189.] [6 Id. in Psalm. xxxviii. Enarr. 25. Tom. I. col. 853. See before, page 490, note 5, and page 729, note 12.] [ Quænam est hæc prospiciens sicut diluculum, speciosa ut luna, electa ut sol?...Prospicis nos igitur, sancta anima, de loco superiore, tamquam inferiora respiciens. Existi de tenebris istius seculi, et ut luna resplendes, ut sol refulges. Id. De Obit. Valent. Consol. 64. Tom. II. cols. 1190, 1.] [ Id. ibid. 77, 8. col. 1194.] M. HARDING. THE THIRD DIVISION. That the oblation of the mass is profitably made for others, St Gregory witnesseth very plainly, homilia 37, expounding the place of St Luke, cap. xiv.: Alioqui...legationem mittens, ea quæ pacis sunt postulat: "Else he sendeth forth an ambassade, and sueth for peace." Hereupon he saith thus: Mittamus ad Dominum... legationem nostram, flendo... sacras hostias offerendo. Singulariter namque ad absolutionem nostram, oblata cum lacrymis et benignitate mentis, sacri 10 altaris hostia suffragatur1l: "Let us send to our Lord our ambassade, with weeping, giving alms 12, and offering of holy hosts. For the host of the holy altar (that is, the blessed sacrament) offered with tears, and with the merciful bounty of our mind, helpeth us singularly to be assoiled." In that homily he sheweth that the oblation of Christ's body in this sacrament present, which is done in the mass, is help and comfort not only to them that be present, but also to them that be absent, both quick and dead, which he proveth by example 13 of his own knowledge. Whoso listeth to see antiquity for proof hereof, and that in the apostles' time bishops and priests in the dreadful sacrifice offered and prayed for others, as for every state and order of men, and also for wholesomeness of the air, and for fertility of the fruits of the earth, &c., let him read the eighth book of the Constitutions of the Apostles set forth by Clement 14. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. Prayer for the dead is none of those articles that M. Harding hath taken in hand to prove. And therefore, as his manner is, he sheweth us one thing for another. This kind of prayer, although it be mere superstitious, and utterly without warrant of God's word, yet I confess it was many wheres received and used, both in Gregory's time and also long before, and is avouched of Gregory by a number of vain and childish fables. Touching the sacrifice of the holy communion he saith: "In this mystery Christ suffereth again for our sake: in this De Consecr. mystery Christ dieth: we offer up the sacrifice of his passion: we renew again Quid sit. his passion unto ourselves 15." As Christ suffereth and dieth, and as his passion hoc mysterio and death is renewed in the holy communion; even so is he offered and sacrificed Gregor, in in the same, that is to say, as Gregory expoundeth himself, by representation 37. and by memory, and not verily, really, or indeed. Touching the matter itself that standeth in question, Gregory saith not, neither here nor elsewhere, either that the priest receiveth the communion for the rest of his parish, or that one man's receiving is available for another. Dist. 2. Iterum in moritur. The sacrifice that he nameth is no more the sacrifice of the priest than the sacrifice of any other of all the people. For thus he writeth in the same fable: Toties mariti vincula solvebantur in captivitate, quoties ab ejus conjuge oblatæ fuis- Gregor. in sent hostia pro ejus animæ absolutione 16: "The husband being taken prisoner Hom. 37. had his gyves loosed from him as often as his wife offered up sacrifice for his soul." The words of this supposed Clement, by whom M. Harding would seem to claim a shew of great antiquity, nothing touch the thing that is demanded. For thus only he saith: Offerimus tibi, Regi et Deo, &c. 17: "We offer up unto thee, our Evang. [ Flendo, tribuendo, sacras, H. A. 1564. But H. A. 1565 omits tribuendo.] [10 Sacris, 1609, 1611.] ["Gregor. Magni Papæ I. Op. Par. 1705. In Evang. Lib. 11. Hom. xxxvii. 6, 7. Tom. I. cols. 1630, 1; where alioquin, rogat ea quæ pacis sunt, and mittamus ad hunc.] [12 Almose, 1565, and H. A. 1564.] [13 Examples, 1565, and H. A. 1564.] [14 Constit. Apost. Lib. VIII. capp. xii. xv. in Concil. Stud. Labb. et Cossart. Lut. Par. 1671-2. Tom. I. cols. 482, 6.] [15... quia is qui in se resurgens a mortuis jam non moritur, adhuc per hanc in suo mysterio pro [16 Id. ibid. 8. ibid.; where cujus toties vincula, [17 ...προσφέρομέν σοι τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ Θεῷ κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ διάταξιν τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον καὶ τὸ που τήριον τοῦτο εὐχαριστοῦντές σοι δι' αὐτοῦ.-Const. |