c. 10.

"Who ever heard that a priest standing at the altar, even over the relics of the martyrs, said, I offer to thee, Peter, and Paul, or Cyprian"? So, we trow, they must translate it. Again, Nos uni Deo et martyrum et Lib. 22. Civ. nostro sacrificium immolamus, ad quod sacrificium sicut homines Dei suo loco et ordine nominantur, non tamen a sacerdote invocantur. Deo quippe, non ipsis sacrificat, quamvis in memoria sacrificet eorum, quia Dei sacerdos est, non illorum. Ipsum vero sacrificium corpus est Christia. We think they will and must translate it thus: "We offer sacrifice to the only God both of martyrs and ours, at the which sacrifice, as men of God they (martyrs) are named in their place and order; yet are they not invocated of the priest that sacrificeth. For he sacrificeth to God, So as he said before, I offer and not to them, though he sacrifice in the memory of them, because to thee, Peter, he is God's priest, and not theirs. And the sacrifice itself is the body of Christ."

&c.

Fulke. Nay, "what exceeding folly is it to think" that FULKE, an external sacrificing office can be established in the New 23, 24. Testament (which never calleth the ministers thereof sacerdotes, or iepeîs), because men of later time have improperly transferred those terms unto the "elders" or "priests" of the New Testament! Certainly among so many names as the scripture giveth them, if sacrificing for the quick and the dead had been the principal part of their function, as by you papists hath been accounted, is it credible, that the Holy Ghost would never have called them iepeis, as well, yea, and rather than the "sacrificers" of the old testament? Seeing therefore the Holy Ghost had made such a broad difference between their names and offices, those ancient fathers that confounded those names, which the Spirit of God would have to be distinct, cannot be excused; although they

autem audivit aliquando fidelium stantem sacerdotem ad altare etiam super sanctum corpus martyris ad Dei honorem cultumque constructum, dicere in precibus, Offero tibi sacrificium, Petre, vel Paule, vel Cypriane? Augustini Opera, Vol. vii. p. 349. Edit. Paris. 1838.]

[ This quotation also, as here given, differs from the Benedictine edition, where it stands thus: "Sed uni Deo et martyrum et nostro; ad quod sacrificium, sicut homines Dei, qui mundum in ejus confessione vicerunt, suo loco et ordine nominantur, non tamen a sacerdote, qui sacrificat, invocantur. Deo quippe, non ipsis sacrificat, quamvis in memoria sacrificet eorum; quia Dei sacerdos est, non illorum. Ipsum vero sacrificium corpus est Christi, quod non offertur ipsis, quia hoc sunt et ipsi." p. 1073. At 'nostro' there is a various reading with this remark: "Hic editi addunt, sacrificium immolamus: quod abest a manuscriptis." V. Lectiones Variantes, p. 1288, upon the passage.]

never dreamed of the mischief that followed, that the altar of the cross being overthrown, and the only and sufficient sacrifice, which Christ our "high sacrificer" offered once for all, being judged imperfect, a new "altar," a new "sacrifice," and a new "sacrificing priesthood" should be set up in the stead of it. Wherefore the improper speeches of the ancient writers are no warrant for us, either to translate the scripture according to their improper speaking, or to set up a new sacrifice and function of sacrificing contrary to their meaning. They named "sacrifice" and "offering," but they meant not propitiatory sacrifice, but only of prayers, or praises and giving of thanks. They named iepeis and sacerdotes, but they meant, according to the general etymology of those words, such as were occupied in distributing holy things; not such as should verily sacrifice the body of Christ again to his Father, but offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, which after a certain manner, Epist. 23. Bo- as St Augustine saith, is called the body of Christ, when indeed seer. distinct. it is the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. And est, et glossa it is called the "sacrificing" of the body of Christ, not in truth of the thing, but a signifying mystery, as Gracian citeth out of Jerome.

nifac. De con

2. cap. hoc

ibidem cælestis1.

MARTIN, 25.

Lib. de Sac. c. 4.

Sacerdos.

Martin. Likewise when St Ambrose saith, "The consecration (of the body of Christ) with what words is it, and by whose speech? Of our Lord Jesus. For in the rest that is said, there is praise given to God, prayer made for the people, for kings, and others; but when it cometh that the venerable sacrament must be consecrated, now the priest useth not his own words, but he useth the words of Christ." And St

[Si enim sacramenta quamdam similitudinem earum rerum, quarum sacramenta sunt, non haberent, omnino sacramenta non essent. Ex hac autem similitudine plerumque etiam ipsarum rerum nomina accipiunt. Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est, sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est; ita sacramentum fidei fides est. Nihil est autem aliud credere, quam fidem habere. Augustini Epist. ad Bonifacium. Epist. xcvi. c. ix. ordo novus. Opera, Vol. I. p. 400.]

[ Consecratio autem quibus verbis est, et cujus sermonibus? Domini Jesu. Nam reliqua omnia quæ dicuntur in superioribus, a sacerdote dicuntur, laudes Deo deferuntur, oratio petitur pro populo, pro regibus, pro ceteris; ubi venitur ut conficiatur venerabile sacramentum, jam non suis sermonibus utitur sacerdos, sed utitur sermonibus Christi. Ambrosii de Sacramentis, Lib. iv. c. iv. Opera, Vol. 11. p. 368.]

2. Tim.

Sacerdote.

Chrysostom in very many places saith: "The sacred oblation itself, Hom. 2. in whether Peter, or Paul, or any meaner priest whatsoever offer it, is Sacerdos. the very same that Christ gave unto his disciples, and which now the priests do make or consecrate. Why so, I pray thee? because not men do sanctify this, but Christ himself, which before consecrated the same." And again: "It is not man that maketh the body and blood of Christ, but he that was crucified for us, Christ; the words are uttered by the Sacerdotis. priest's mouth, and by God's power and grace are the things proposed consecrated. For this, saith he, 'is my body". With this word are the things proposed consecrated."

25.

Fulke. These testimonies are heaped up without any need, FULKE, for the improper usage of these words iepeùs, or sacerdos, in the ancient writers we do acknowledge: but in the holy scripture you are not able to bring one place where presbyteri of the New Testament are called sacerdotes, or iepeîs. Wherefore of the improper applying of these names to the ministers of the New Testament, can follow no consequence of external"sacrifice," or "altar," which you urge, except "sacrifice" and "altar" be likewise used improperly, as where the table is called "an altar," the bread and wine " a sacrifice," as in Irenæus, lib. iv. cap. xxxii. where also he saith, that the "sacrifices" do not sanctify the man, but the conscience of the man being pure sanctifieth the "sacrifice," and causeth God to accept it as of a friend, cap. xxxiv.:

[3 Ἡ προσφορὰ ἡ αὐτή ἐστι, κἂν ὁ τυχὼν προσενέγκῃ, κἂν Παῦλος, κἂν Πέτρος, ἡ αὐτή ἐστιν, ἣν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἔδωκε, καὶ ἣν νῦν οἱ ἱερεῖς ποιοῦσιν· οὐδὲν αὕτη ἐλάττων ἐκείνης, ὅτι καὶ ταύτην οὐκ ἄνθρωποι ἁγιάζουσιν, ἀλλ ̓ αὐτὸς ὁ καὶ ἐκείνην ἁγίασας. Chrysost. in 2 Epist. ad Timoth. c. i. Hom. ii. Opera, Vol. x1. p. 671. Edit. Montfaucon, Par. 1734.]

[· Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ ποιῶν τὰ προκείμενα γενέσθαι σῶμα καὶ αἷμα Χριστοῦ· ἀλλ ̓ αὐτὸς ὁ σταυρωθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν Χριστός. σχήμα πληρῶν ἔστηκεν ὁ ἱερεὺς, τὰ ῥήματα φθεγγόμενος ἐκεῖνα· ἡ δὲ δύναμις καὶ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι. τοῦτό μου ἐστὶ τὸ σῶμά, φησι. Chrysost. de Proditione Judæ, Hom. i. Opera, Vol. 1. p. 384.]

[3 Quoniam autem non indigens Deus servitute eorum, sed propter ipsos quasdam observantias in lege præceperit, plenissime prophetæ indicant. Et rursus quoniam non indiget Deus oblatione eorum, sed propter ipsum qui offerat hominem, manifeste Dominus docuit, quemadmodum ostendimus. Irenæi, Lib. IV. Contra Hæres. c. xvii. Opera, p. 247.

Igitur ecclesiæ oblatio, quam Dominus docuit offerri in universo mundo, purum sacrificium reputatum est apud Deum, et acceptum est

MARTIN,

26.

which cannot in anywise be true of the natural body of Christ.

Martin. And so by these places, where themselves translate sacerdos Presbyteri. a "priest," they may learn also how to translate presbyteros in St Jerome, saying the very same thing, "that at their prayers the body and blood of our Lord is made;" and in another place, "that with their sacred mouth they make our Lord's body." Likewise when they read St Ambrose' against the Novatians, that God hath granted licence to his Sacerdotibus. priests to release and forgive as well great sins as little, without exception; and in the Ecclesiastical History, how the Novatian heretics taught that such as were fallen into great sins, should not ask for remission of the priest, but of God only: they may learn how to translate presbyteros in St Jerome3, and in the Ecclesiastical History, where the one saith thus: Sozom. lib. 7. Episcopus et presbyter, cum peccatorum audierit varietates, scit qui ligandus Socrat. lib. 8. sit, qui solvendus; and the other speaketh, de presbytero pœnitentiario, of an extraordinary priest, that heard confessions and enjoined penance, who afterward was taken away, and the people went to divers ghostly fathers, as before. And especially St Chrysostom will make them

Sacerdote.

c. 16.

c. 19.

4

ei: non quod indigeat a nobis sacrificium, sed quoniam is qui offert, glorificatur ipse in eo quod offert, si acceptetur munus ejus. Irenæi, Lib. IV. Contra Hæreses. c. xviii. p. 250. Edit. Paris, 1710.]

[1 Similiter impossibile videbatur per pœnitentiam peccata dimitti; concessit hoc Christus apostolis suis, quod ab apostolis ad sacerdotum officia transmissum est. Ambrosii de Pœnitent. Lib. 11. c. ii. Opera, Vol. II. p. 419.]

[ Sed aiunt se, exceptis gravioribus criminibus, relaxare veniam levioribus. Non hoc quidem auctor vestri erroris Novitianus, qui nemini pœnitentiam dandam putavit; ea scilicet contemplatione, ut quod ipse non posset solvere, non ligaret, ne ligando sperari a se faceret solutionem. In eo igitur patrem vestrum propria damnatis sententia, qui distinctionem peccatorum facitis, quæ solvenda a vobis putetis, et quæ sine remedio esse arbitremini: sed Deus distinctionem non facit, qui misericordiam suam promisit omnibus, et relaxandi licentiam sacerdotibus suis sine ulla exceptione concessit. Ambrosii de Pœnitent. Lib. 1. c. iii. Opera, Vol. I. p. 393.]

[3 Dupliciter vero sanguis Christi et caro intelligitur: vel spiritualis illa atque divina, de qua ipse dixit, Caro mea vere est cibus, et sanguis meus vere potus; et, Nisi manducaveritis carnem meum, et sanguinem meum biberitis, non habebitis vitam æternam: vel caro et sanguis, quæ crucifixa est, et qui militis effusus est lancea. Comment. Hieronymi in Epist. ad Ephes. c. i. Opera, Vol. iv. p. 328.]

[· Εἶχον ἐξουσίαν οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἱερεῖς· καὶ οἶσθα πῶς περιμάχητον ἦν τὸ τῶν ἱερέων τότε; οὗτοι δὲ οὐ λέπραν σώματος, ἀλλ ̓ ἀκαθαρσίαν ψυχῆς, οὐκ ἀπαλλαγεῖσαν δοκιμάζειν, ἀλλ ̓ ἀπαλλάττειν παντελῶς ἔλαβον ἐξουσίαν. ὥστε οἱ τούτων ὑπερορῶντες πολλῷ καὶ τῶν περὶ Δαθὰν εἶεν

cerd.

understand what these presbyteri were, and how they are to be called in English, who telleth them in their own word, that sacerdotes, "the Lib. 3. de Sapriests of the new law, have power, not only to know, but to purge the filth of the soul; therefore whosoever despiseth them, is more worthy to be punished than the rebel Dathan and his complices."

Fulke. Where St Jerome useth the word presbyteri, we FULKE, will make no great curtesy to translate "priests;" knowing 26. that when he saith, at their prayers "the body and blood of Christ is made," he meaneth the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, as he himself saith in another place: Dupliciter sanguis Christi et caro intelligitur; "The blood and flesh of Christ is understood two manner of ways," either that spiritual and divine, whereof he himself said, 'My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed; and except ye shall eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have eternal life;' or else the flesh and blood which was crucified, and which was shed by the spear of the soldier." This and such other places teach us to understand St Jerome, if he speak any where obscurely or improperly of the mystery of our Lord's supper. We grant with Ambrose, that God hath given authority to all the ministers of the word to remit all sins that be remissible. But this do not you grant; for you reserve some to the bishops, and some to the pope alone to remit: wherein you go clean against Ambrose, who favoureth you not so much by the term sacerdos, which you say he useth, as he condemneth your partial and popish reservation of cases, when he alloweth every priest to forgive as well great sins as little, without exception. St Jerome you cite at large, as it seemeth, to insinuate auricular confession but the whole saying you liked not, because it sheweth how they forgive sins. It is written in Matt. Lib. 1. cap. 16. upon those words spoken to Peter, "Unto thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c. Istum locum episcopi et presbyteri non intelligentes, &c. "This place ἐναγέστεροι, καὶ μείζονος ἄξιοι τιμωρίας. Chrysost. de Sacerdotio, Lib. III. Opera, Vol. 1. p. 284.]

[ Istum locum episcopi et presbyteri non intelligentes, aliquid sibi de Pharisæorum assumunt supercilio: ut vel damnent innocentes, vel solvere se noxios arbitrentur; quum apud Deum non sententia sacerdotum, sed reorum vita quæratur. Legimus in Levitico de leprosis, ubi jubentur, ut ostendant se sacerdotibus; et si lepram habuerint, tunc 18

[FULKE.]