beyng breade and wyne are signes of the bodye and bloud of Christ which is an inuisible grace for Christ is the greatest fauour and grace that euer God bestowed vpon vs or sent vs. Further this is the true diffinition of a Sacrament Sacramentum est signum rei sacrioris se. A Sacrament is a Signe of a holyer thing than it is it selfe And for that nothing is more holye than the bodye of Christ and it beyng a Sacrament is a sygne of a holyer thing than it is it selfe therefore it can not bée the body of Christ. And marke these arguments that followe Nothing is done in the remembrance of it selfe But the sacrament is vsed in the remembrance of Christ Therefore the Sacrament is not Christ. Againe Christ neuer deuoured himselfe But Christ did eate the sacrament with his Apostles Ergo the Sacrament is not Christ himselfe And againe one thing can not be both visible inuisible But the Sacrament is visible and the body of Christ is inuisible therefore they are not one Which Saint Augustine openeth well by these wordes Aliud est Sacramentum aliud res Sacramenti c. The Sacrament is one thing the thing of the Sacrament is an other thing the Sacrament is that goeth into the bodye the thing of the Sacrament is the bodye of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. Saint Augustine sayeth also Euill men haue the Sacrament but they haue not the thing of the Sacrament which is the bodye of Christ that the Sacramente doeth signifie By these sayings it appeares plainly that the Sacrament is one thing and the bodye of Christ is an other thing S. Ambrose saith of the bread and wyne Sunt quae erant c They remaine the same that they were and are chaunged into an other thing That is they are made the Sacrament of y e body bloud of Christ which before they were not S. Ambrose saith let the word be added to the elemeÌ„t or outward creature it is made a Sacrament that is to say another thing Sacraments are signes or tokens of things being by substaÌ„ce one thing signifying an other thing So saith Chrisostom of the water of Baptim when this creature of water hath receiued the holy ghost it is made a Sacrament And now it is not water to drinke but water to sanctifie not coÌ„mon water but water to refreshe Thus the Element or outward creature both remayneth and is changed S. Augustine saith it is so called after a sort that is not in truth of matter but by a mysterie signifying that the sense maye be this it is called the bodye of Christ that is to saye it signifyeth the body of Christ. Hereby it appeares by the iudgementes of these learned wâ—yters that the bread and wyne are changed by the worde into a Sacrament being breade and wine still in substaunce and so are changed into an other thing then they were before for before they were but onelye breade and wine and nowe they are a Sacramentall bread and wine signifying the body and bloud of Christ. So that the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord is a figure and signe of the body and bloud of Christ and not the verye body and bloud of Christ. These holy and learned men that wrote of this worthy excellent changing of the Sacramentes neuer knewe of the Popes changing or transubstantiation or turning of the breade and wyne into the bodye and bloud of Christe but if any were so wicked to write it so deuilish to declare it or so pestilent to persuade it of all them and all suche Saint Augustine doeth write thus This is a myserable bondage sayeth hée of the Soule to take the Sygnes in steade of the things that bee sygnified But whether there were then any suche or no hée hath fully touched you that takes the Sacrament that signifyes the bodye of Christ for the body of Christ. And therefore by his sayings you are in a myserable bondage of your soules that takes the sacrament for the body of Christ whereas it doth but signifie the body of Christ. Therefore for the loue of God release your soules and your bodyes also out of that myserable bondage and take it for a memorie and remembrance of the bodye of Christ as the Scriptures doe will you and the Doctors doe persuade you and beléeue not the Popes turning or changing or transubstantiation of the breade into the body of Christ for it is not true nay it can not bée true For it is not foure hundreth yéeres since it was first allowed or authorized by Pope Innocent the thirde and his Prelates whiche muste néedes come from the Diuell as the rest of the Popes holye Religion dyd aswell for that neyther Christ did teache it nor the Apostles did once mention it nor the auncient Doctors did affirme it or beléeue it as also for that is repugnaÌ„t to scriptures to the doctrine of the Apostles and to the writings of the holy and learned Doctors And though you haue bin persuaded that it is most sure and infallible doctrine the chiefest postes and pillers of the same are not onely in great doubt thereof but are at their wittes ende and knowe not well what to saye therein for Peter Lombard y e chiefe general of this campe of this transubstantiatioÌ„ saith thus as followeth Some meÌ„ iudge thus some saye thus some haue written thus some graunt this some other haue thought thus that the very substaunce of the breade and wine remayneth still Here is but a madde agrement of the learned to proue the same If so many learned men say by the confession of the chiefe champion of this matter that there remaynes still breade and wyne in the Sacrament then it were a verye madnesse for all you to beléeue that it is the very body and bloud of Christ neyther bread nor wyne But marke what Peter Lombard saith him selfe hereof that takes vppon hym to iudge these doubtes howe he is resolued or howe hée agréeth in iudgement wyth himselfe his aunswere is thys Si autem queritur c. If a question were moued saith he what maner of conuersion or change this is whether it be in forme or in substance or of some other sort I am not able to discusse it Here may you see saith M. Iewell the blinde leadeth the blinde he that setteth his foote before the rest and would be taken for a guide knoweth not where to set his owne foote Gabriel Biell sayeth howe the bodye of Christ is there whether it bee by chaunging of something into it or Christs bodye beginne to bee there with the breade both the substaunce and the accidentes of the breade remayning styll without chaunging it is not founde in the Cannon of the Bible c. Thus doe the learned Doctours of the Pope teache you they can not tell what But this I wyll saye if it bée not to bee founde in the Bible it shall neuer be founde
is consecrate is the body and bloud of Christ. Marke further of the goodly doctrine of your Romish doctors in this point Clemens that they will call the Apostles fellow sayth Let no Mise dung be founde among the fragments or peeces of the Lords portion meaning the Sacrament if Clemens said so then he did not it to be the body of Christ. For the glorious body of Christ is not nor will bée where such filth is The Glose also saith that the bodye of Christ may be vomitted vp againe O horrible wordes not méet to be named or once thought though y e priests Christs body of their owne making may be vomitted vp yet we are sure that the body of Christ which is in heauen will suffer no such absurditie And as this their doctrine is absurd wicked concerning their transubstantiation of the bread into y e body of Christ so is the doings superstitious ceremonies of the Priest in saying of the Masse and celebrating as they call it of their said body of Christ as fond and ridiculous as may appeare by their duckings turnings crossing lycking and feyned sléeping with many other such toyes with the childish and ridiculous garments and attire that he then weares drest more like a player than a Priest But Doctor Durand sets out the Priest then as though hée were in his complete harneys Who sayeth as followeth His Amys is his heade peece his Albe is his coate of male his Girdle is his bowe his Subcingle is his quiuer his stoale is his Speere his manyple is his Club his Chyseble is his target and in the ende he sayth these be the peeces wherwith the Bishoppe or Priest must bee harneyssed that will fight agaynst Spirituall wickednesse Muste not thys bée bothe a holye and strong harneys the Diuell dare not come néere hym that hath all thys on his backe If the Diuell wyll bée afrayde it must néedes make him flye awaye for feare I remember that Saint Paul telles vs of a harneys for vs to weare to resiste our spirituall enemye and the fyrie Dartes of the Diuell but among all hys harneys hée names not one iotte of the Priestes harneys that hée weares at Masse Whose wordes are these For this cause sayeth he take vnto you the armour of GOD that ye maye bee able to resiste in the euyll daye and stand perfect in all thinges Stande therefore your loynes gyrte aboute with veritie hauyng on the breast plate of righteousnesse and shodde with shooes prepared vnto the Gospell of peace aboue all take to you the shielde of faythe wherewyth yee maye quenche all the fyrie Dartes of the wycked And take the Helmette of saluation and the sworde of the Spirite whiche is the word of GOD. And praye alwaye wyth all manner of prayer and supplication and that in the Spirite c. Loe here is not one worde of Doctor Durands harneys therfore if it be so good a harneys as he makes it to be I muche muse that S. Paule did leaue it out and spake not of it belike either S Paule knew not of it or he had forgot it or else did mislike it but bicause we are assured that the armour that S. Paule speakes of is an olde auncient harneys and is an armour of proofe and this Doctor Durands harneys is but some couÌ„terfeit new made harneys therfore y e Popes Priestes were best to throwe awaye Doctor Durands harneys and to take S. Paules sure armour of prooffe Marke I beséeche you to what streites the Popes Doctors are driuen for the prouing of this their transubstantiation and changing of the bread into the body of Christe and yet it will not be nay they are vanquished with their owne argumentes For they saye that the body of Christ in the sacrament hath neither forme nor proportion nor limitation of place nor distinction of partes and is neithâ—r highe nor lowe long nor short thicke nor thyn and yet for all this saying many of you beléeue firmely that it is the very body of Christ truely if it be so it is the strangest body that euer I hard of if they make Christ body such a body but for maners sake he were as good haue neuer a bodye This your Christes body is such a body by their saying that none can sée it féele it heare it nor perceiue it and so within a whyle they will make I hope that not none will beléeue it and when none beléeues it then farewell the Masse the flowre of your follio I haue heard diuerse of you say y t they would desire no better iudge than S. Augustine well I am content S. Augustine shall be iudge but when you haue heard hym speake I feare you will not like his iudgement But if S. Augustine or any other shoulde say that the body of Christ may be without shape proportion qualitie quantitie or be without place I would saye then that neither he nor they were worthy to be counted to be learned or at the least wel learned Nowe let vs heare what S. Augustine saith in this case These are his wordes Spatia locorum tolle corporibus nusquam erunt quia nusquam erunt nec erunt c. Take away sayth he from bodyes limitation of place and the bodyes will be no where and bicause they be no where they wil be nothing Take awaye from bodyes the qualities of bodyes there will be no place for them to be in And therefore the same bodyes must needes be no bodyes at al. And now bycause that which you call the bodie of Christ hath neither quantitie qualitie nor place neither proportion of a body Therefore by Saint Augustines iudgement it is no body And if it be no bodye then it muste be bread or else it must néedes be nothing but I truste you wil not say that it is nothing y t the Priest doth consecrate or that it is nothing that he doth holde ouer his head Therefore you were beste to take and vse it as Christe by his Gospell hath appointed and as he himselfe did vse it and so you shall haue it thoughe not Christes very bodye yet a worthye something that is a holye Sacrament a pretious pledge a singular seale a soueraigne signe and a most comfortable remembraunce of our redemption and saluation by the passion and death of our Sauiour Iesus Christe the sonne of God Marke I beséech you how wide they wander that walke in a wrong way Was there euer any thinke you did so grossely so fondly so vnlearnedly and so vntruely applye the sacred Scriptures as Maister Harding one of the Captaines of your crue hath done for the prouing of this your Transubstantiation or changing of the bread into the body of Christe I thinke but a fewe For he saith That the sonne of man came not to destroy but to saue That is He tooke breade and wine and turned them into his bodie and bloude aduauncing these creatures of breade and
passe from me but god sayde then neuer a word of y e Masse to his son in y e gret agony yet then was the time for God to haue spoken of it if euer he would speake of it therefore it is most manifest that the Masse hath no suche power to release vs of our sinnes as the Pope and his Prelates would make vs beléeue For if it would deliuer vs from our sinnes then God at this special time wold haue heard the earnest prayer and request of Christ his deare and only sonne and would haue kept him from that cruell death that after he suffered and would or might haue answered his sonne thus oh my louing sonne be merry and glad thou shalt not dye for the sinnes of the people for I haue deuised another easier way to saue thē wherby thou shalt not néede to dye and this it is the Pope and his Priestes shal say and celebrate the Masse whiche is not onely the most highest and honorable seruice that can be done to me but also it shal be a sufficient and perfit sacrifice for sinnes both of the quicke and dead and therby they shal be deliuered from Hel as well as though thou had dyed for them and it shal be a ladder for them to climbe vppe to heauen If God had said thus to his son our sauiour Christe when he prayed so earnestlye to his Father for the sauing of hys life I would haue liked you Masses a great deale better but bycause Christ saide to his Father if it be possible let this Cup of deth passe frōme yet God suffred him to die for al his request therfore it is most manifest true y t it is impossible for vs to be saued by any thing but only by the passion death of Christ. This is so sufficiēt an argument to make you forsake most spéedily y e most detestable Masse y e robs Christe of his merits to take hold on Christ to embrace his gospel as none cā be more sufficiēt probable But for that manye of you doe thynke and beléeue that the bread in the Masse after the Priest hath consecrated it is the verye bodie of Christe bycause Christe sayde This is my bodye you shall nowe heare playnely by the auntient and learned Fathers and Doctors what Christ ment by these wordes But firste before I rehearse them you shall sée what Christe ment by conferring of his owne wordes Christe tooke breade and gaue thankes and brake it and gaue it to hys Disciples saying this is my bodye whiche is giuen for you this doe in my remembraunce now thys latter sentence doe thys in my remembraunce doth shew the meaning of the first sentence For if Christ hadde lefte hys owne bodye wyth vs then he woulde not haue sayde doe thys in my remembraunce For what néede one be wylled to remember that thing that hée séeth Saint Paule likewise sayeth That whiche I deliuered vnto you I receyued of the Lorde for the Lorde Iesus the same nighte in whiche hee was betrayed tooke breade and gaue thankes and brake it and sayde Take yee and eate yee this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembraunce of me After the same manner hee tooke the cup when supper was done saying this cup is the newe Testament in my bloud yet the cuppe wherin was the wine was not the new testament though the very words are so this do as ofte as yee drinke it in remembraunce of me for as ofte as yee shall eate this breade and drinke this cup not meaning that they shoulde drinke the Cuppe thoughe he say so but the Wine in the Cuppe yee shall shewe the Lordes deathe till hee come Here Saint Luke and Sainte Paule differ from Sainte Matthew and from Sainte Marke for here they saye This Cuppe is the newe Testamente in my bloude but Marke and Matthew sayth This is my bloud of the new Testament c. wherby it appeares that therein S. Luke and S. Paule doe open the meaning in this place of y e other two Euangelists So y t therby Christ mēt not that the Wine was the bloud but that the Wine doth signifie his bloud and is a newe couenaunt or witnesse of his bloud that was shed for manye and so he meant of the bread And Saint Paule sayth further Ye shall shew the Lordes death vntil he come So that by his words it plainelye appears that in eating of the Lords supper we chiefly ought to remember Christ in his absence and shewe and remember his death and to be thankeful to him therefore vntil he come again at the last day for these words vntil he come do signifie plainely that he is absent in his body and will come at length And nowe you shall heare whether the auntiente Doctours and writers were of the same iudgemēt or not Tertullian expoundeth these wordes of Christe hoc est corpus meum hoc est figura corporis mei which is This is my bodye that is to say this is the figure of my body likewise Saint Augustine sayth Non dubitauit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cùm daret signum corporis sui Our Lord saith he doubted not to say this is my body when he gaue a signe of hys bodie And he sayth Christ receiued Iudas vnto his banket whereat he gaue to his Disciples the figure of his body and bloude here by these auntient and learned writers it appeares that the breade that Christe brake and gaue to hys Disciples was not his body but a figure and signe of hys body Sainte Cyprian sayeth The cuppe is offered in the remembraunce of Christe by the wine the Lordes bloude is shewed or signified therefore Wine is vsed that by Wine we maye vnderstande the Lordes bloude c. Sainte Augustine sayth in this sacrifice is a thankesgiuing and a remembraunce of the fleshe of Christe that hee hath offered for vs and of the bloude that hee shedde for vs And if you refuse all these learned authors aforesaid yet you wil not refuse I hope y e Popes own glose y t expoūdeth it thus vocatur corpus Christi id est significat corpus Christi It is called the body of Christ that is to say it signifieth the bodye of Christ. De consecra dist 2. hoc est quod in glossa A great sort moe of learned Authors write of the Sacrament to this effect but these are sufficient to proue that the Sacramentall breade and wyne are fygures and sygnes of the bodye and bloud of Christ and not the verye bodye and bloud of Christ. If it be a Sacrament as you call it then it can not be the body of Christ for Saint Augustine sayth Sacramentum est visibile signum inuisibilis gratiae A Sacramēt is a visible signe of an inuisible grace Now if it be a signe of an inuisible grace then it is not the inuisible grace it selfe So that the Sacrament
vtterly damned for euer Which no true Christian will beléeue Therfore if you will néedes beléeue the Popes Transubstantiation and that the Sacramentall bread is turned into the body of Christ and that if you eate it with your mouth champe it with your téeth that then you eate the very bodie flesh of Christ then you must also beléeue that al these holy men martires yong children and the théefe that neuer did eate it with their mouthes are dāned Which Diuelish and most vntrue doctrine I hope you wil beléeue no longer but if you do yet we will rather beléeue they are saued that your Diuelish doctrine of Transubstantiation is altogither false Thus you may sée into what a great mischiefe inconuenience you are driuen by beléeuing that the Sacramentall bread is the very body of Christ. And now marke well how you are brought into an other maruelous mischiefe and inconuenience by this your Romishe doctrine Christ sayth Whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will rayse him vp at the last day Now if your eating of the Sacrament with your mouth and téeth and your drinking of the wine is the right eating and drinking of the bodie bloud of Christ then Iudas is saued for he did eate drinke it and Iewes Turkes and the Heathen worshippers of Idols shalbe saued if they once catch holde of your bodie of Christ and eate it yea and the little Mouse shalbe saued if she catch it and eate it for I dare say for hir that she neither beléeues in Christ nor would beléeue that it were the bodie of Christ but a péece of bread or a cake for if shée did thinke it were the bodie of a man shée would not come so nie it Thus if it be the very bodie of Christ and be truely receyued whether one beléeue in Christ or not then the greatest Infidels Idolaters Tirants and the most wicked persons on the earth yea and the Mouse the Dogge or any other beast if they may once get this your Christes bodie into their mouthes mawes are sure to be saued Christ will raise them vp at the last day for Christ saith as it is before whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day And so by this your true reasonable doctrine Christ will raise vp Mise and Dogges that haue and shall eate your Sacrament at the last day and also by this meanes the théefe is damned that Christ said should be saued and Iudas is saued that Christ saide was damned When you haue red this may you not be ashamed that euer you gaue such credite to this vile Diuelish doctrine of the Romish Church Yes verily if you haue any wit or reason but especially any sparke of the grace of God Sée hereafter I praie you how Christes doctrine and your Romishe religion agrées in this point forsooth euen as it doeth in all the rest Christe sayde I am the liuing bread that came downe from Heauen but cleane came and quite contrarie you saie that your earthly dead bread is Christ that went to Heauen for I am sure that the bread that you make your Christes bodie of was neuer in Heauen therefore your bread neuer came from heauen and so your bread can not be the bodie of Christe for that hée sayth I am the liuing bread that came downe from heauen And so your dead bread can not be the bodie of Christ. And now bycause it can not be the liuing bodie of Christe it must néedes be a dead Substance or péece of bread Therefore be no longer allured by the Romishe Religion that teacheth you thus falsely and vnreasonably that the Sacramentall bread by their consecrating of it is the bodie of Christ but beléeue as the Gospell doth tell you the Apostles do shewe you as Saint Steuen doth learne you and as your Créede doth teache you that the bodie of Christe is now in Heauen on the right hande of God the father from whence hée will come to iudge the quicke and the dead And if these be not sufficient to persuade you that he in his bodie is in Heauen and no where else you shall heare the opinions of auncient godly and learned men therein S. Augustine saith Ibat per id quod homo erat manebat per id quod Deus erat c. Christ departed by that he was man but abode by that he was God he departed by that that was in one place he abode by that that is in all places Fulgentius writes as followeth concerning Christes absence and presence Secundum humanitatem suam localiter erat in terra c. Christe according to his manhood he was placed in earth but according to his godhead he filled both heauē earth The manhood of Christ is contained in place the godhead of Christ is infinite and in all places The fleshe of Christ is doubtles locall or in place the godhead of Christ is for euer in euery place There remained still in Christ the infinite godhead there was receiued of him a locall manhood how ascended he into Heauen sauing he is very man contayned in place how is he present with the faithful sauing he is infinite and true God And last of all he saith Vnus idemque Christus secundum humanam substantiam c. Christ being one according to the Substance of his manhead was absent frō Heauen when he was in earth and he forsooke earth when he was in heauen Now if we may beléeue Christ if we may credite our Créede if S. Steuen said truly if S. Paule be true of his worde If Tertullian Cyprian Augustine Chrysostome and this Fulgentius with many other godly fathers and learned writers haue not fabled herein then surely the very body of Christ that died on the Crosse is at this present time in heauen on the right hand of God the Father neither here on earth nor any where else though the Pope and his Parasites tell vs that he is here But marke further you shal sée how learnedly clarkly M. Hard. goeth about to proue this turning of a cake into Christ. Who saith that Christ made his Apostles saith M. Iewel misteriall Spirits saying Do this wherein is contained make this in my remēbrance saying a litle before that Christe was a Priest and consecrated as a Priest as S. Hier. dothe witnesse that as Melchisedech in foreshewing the figure of Christ had done Panem vinum offerens ipse quoque veritatem sui corporis sanguinis representaret Christ himselfe also should make present the truth of his body and bloud To whom that famous and learned man M. Iewell late Bishop of Sarisburie answeared as followeth Is representare Latine to make present M. Harding what Grammarian euer taught you so to say or what making finde you in this worde as you tender your credite tell vs who euer
wine to a muche excellenter condition than they were before but so as they shoulde lose none of their former vertues but that they shoulde haue stil their colour thicknesse waight tast and all other their accidents And these their accidentes forsooth were the thinges that Maister Harding saieth that Christe came to saue Oh that euer a man that hath learning and knowlege discretion wit or vnderstanding and that professeth himselfe to be a Christian shoulde either in earnest or in bourde write or affirme any such thing for Christ came to saue mans soule that was lost But now let vs weigh to what more excellent condition or state y e bread wine is brought more than they were before vnlesse he ment they were changed into a sacrament which is not the marke he here shootes at they haue the same colour taste weight bignesse smel fashion nature vertue of bread and wine as they had before And this he saith Christ came to saue for feare belike they should al else haue flowne or gon away But would al these haue remained stil if y e substance of bread wine had bin gone can a man take a pot leaue the weight y e colour the bignesse y e thicknesse the length y e bredth the fashion behinde this passeth all Aristotles learning no no if you take away the fire you take away also y e brightnesse heate of the fire For if the brightnesse colour and heate of the fire remayne theÌ„ the fire remaynes also Call you this changing of theÌ„ bread and wyne into a more excellent condition or as you meane into a more excellent matter of substance this your changing of the bread wine into the body of Christ and as you say into a much more excellent condition is lyke as thoughe one shoulde saye to a poore lame leane cryple sytting in the colde with nothing but a shirte on his backe sirra by that time I haue sayde certaine words ouer thée thou shalt be a goodly strong faire and well liking King and when he hath spoken the wordes yet the colour length bredth weight proportion fashion lamenesse leanesse and the shirt and all to sée to of the lame cryple is there as was before doe you thinke the man is gone and left all these things behynde hym you may make fooles beléeue so if you wyll but I thinke if one aske all these accidentes whether the lame cryple were gone or no they woulde aunswere him and saye that the same criple is there as he was before Yea and woulde bée angrye with hym that made him such a King He myght well say to him that made him such a King but for the name of a King he were as good be a poore lame leane cryple as hée was before and myght also say that he coulde make such a King himselfe Euen so the least childe that is may quickly make suche a bodye of breade as you make Therefore thinke not but that the substaunce of breade and wyne remaynes still though as Saint Augustine sayeth they are changed into an other thing which is into a holy Sacrament which is a signe of Christes death and a pledge lefte vs of Christ that he will come agayne at the laste daye and yet the verye substaunce of breade and wyne remaines still A garland of Iuie before it be hanged out of a tauerne is nothing else but a garlande of Iuie but when it is once hanged on a pole out of the Taruerne then it is chaunged into an other thing than it was before for it is a signe that there is wyne to sell. Notwithstanding it is styll a garland of Iuie But if one woulde bée so fonde as to saye that the same garlande of Iuie that hanges out of the Tauerne is the verye wyne it selfe that is in the Tauerne there is none woulde beléeue hym that is wise Euen so I muste counte you most fonde and foolishe that take the Sacramentall breade and wyne to bée the verye bodye and bloud of Christe which are signes and tokens of the bodye and bloud of Christ. But some of you haue sayde so fayne you woulde haue a Christe of a Cake what dyd not Christ at a marryage turne and chaunge Water into Wyne and why myghte not he then turne the Sacrament into his bodye forsooth and well sayde you haue broughte such an argument for the prouyng of your Christ of breade as I wyll desire none other for the ouerthrowing of your Christ of bread Christ you say turned Water into Wine Ergo Christ turned the Sacrament into his bodye If you coulde proue the one aswell as wée can proue the other wée shoulde agrée better herein than wée doe but marke howe your owne weapon y t should wound your enemie doth kill your selfe Christ by a wondeful myracle at a marriage in Cana of Galile turned water into wine but the Pope and euery one of his Chapleynes tagge and ragge by your sayings doe a greater myracle than Christ did for they turne a péece of bread into the body of Christ. Nowe you shall sée whether Christes myracle and the Popes myracle are like or not nay in all wyse mens eyes it shall appeare that Christes turning of the water into wyne was a great myracle but the Popes turning of bread into y e body of Christ is no myracle for the water that Christ turned into wyne was very pure and good wine in colour taste and smell and had all the qualâ—ties of perfect and excellent wine but the bread after the Priestes as they say haue turned it into the body of Christ is very bread still in colour in smell and in taste and is neuer a whit changed and hath all the qualities of bread as it had before So that if Christ had turned the water no better into wine than the Priestes doe turne their bread into the body of Christ the Iewes would haue drunke none of Christes wine they woulde haue bidde hym drinke it himselfe and might haue sayd but for the name of wine one were as good to drinke faire water But if the Priestes did turne the bread into the verye body of a man with head face body armes legges and féete as all men haue and that we might sée it and féele it as the Iewes did the wine that Christ made of water then many woulde a great deale the better beléeue them For séeing manye doe nowe beléeue them a great sorte moe woulde then beléeue them Which if they shoulde doe yet for all that no godly or wise man woulde beléeue that it were the verye bodye of Christ but y t it were some other fantasticall body wrought by the power of the Diuell For thoughe by myracle one creature may be changed into an other contrarie creature as Christ turned water into wine which were two contrarie creatures yet a creature by any meanes can not be turned into Christ our Creator both God and man But whereas Christ turned water
into wine that is one creature into an other contrarie creature the Priestes woulde make vs beléeue that they turne a creature which is bread into Christ which is no creature but God Mā the sonne of God creatour maker of al things So that Christes body cānot be made of bread nor of any other thing for Christ is the Sonne of God and was not made but was begotten by God his Father and was conceyued by the holy Ghost and borne on the virgin Marie Therefore let it neyther sinke in your mindes that a péece of bread or a cake can be turned into the bodie of Christe nor that the bodie bloud of Christ is to be eaten and drunke with our mouthes and so to be conueyed into our bodies as other meates and drinkes are but they are onely foode of the Soule and must be eaten and drunke of the same by faith as before is declared If the Canibals are to be abhorred bicause they deuour and eate mans flesh their enimies whome they take in the warres are not you then much more to be detested that are not ashamed to eate and deuoure with your mouthes and téeth the very bodie of Christ your great high friend the onely Sauiour of all the worlde Bels Priests were much more to be commended than the Popes priestes and were not such Caniball rauenours as they be for they did honor their God Bell and did but eate his meate from him but the papisticall Priests after they haue honoured the bodie of their Christe they eate him cleane vp deuoure him Are not these fellowes woorthy to haue a Christ that after they haue honored him a litle do then eate and deuoure him that he shall neuer be séene againe If a King Cyrus did put the 70. Priests of God Bell woorthily to death for eating their Gods meate from him surely then our Quéene might more lawfully put the papisticall Priests to death that eate and deuoure vp their Christ himselfe But the Priestes haue none other song but this Christ sayd This is my body therfore it is the bodie of Christ and Christ bad them eate it and therfore according to Christes commaundement they eate the bodie of Christe well the meaning of those wordes and what is the true eating of Christes bodie is sufficiently expressed before but to driue you cleane from this grosse and absurde errour marke wel these reasonable argumentes following As Christ did say this is my bodie so he said I am the waye c. yet wée must not thinke therefore that he is a very waie that leades vs from Towne to Towne or that wée muste treade or goe vppon him when wée walke or goe to any place as the proude Persian Prince Sopores vsed to treade on a Kings backe when hée got vp vpon his Horse But as this worthie Sacrament doth signifie Christes bodie which by his death hath redéemed vs Euen so Christe is our Spirituall waye by whome we must go to Heauen And as our common wayes leades vs in our earthly trauell to the place wée determine to go so Christe doth onely lead and direct vs in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen Christe also saith he is the light of the worlde If wée shoulde take these wordes litterally and as they are spoken then wée might say that Christe is the Sunne that shineth dayly vpon vs for the Sunne is the chiefest lighte that wée in this worlde doe sée by and without it we could not so perfectly direct our iourneis in this worlde as wée do But Christ doth not meane that he is the Sunne or any suche light But as the Sunne doth gyue vs light to direct our iourneis on the earth so Christ being the Sunne of God doth shyne and giueth vs our whole light in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen And thus Christe is the light of the worlde that in this worlde doth light vs to Heauen Christe also sayd I am the doore but wée muste not thinke though he sayde so that he is a very doore but in some respect is lyke vnto a doore for as the righte and readie waie into a house is to go in at the doore so Christ is the very true doore of Heauen by whome euery one must enter that shall go into Heauen And as Christ calleth them Théeues that enter into the house any other waie but by the doore euen so they are Spirituall théeues and enimies to God that goe aboute to enter any other waie into Heauen than by Christe the true doore of Heauen And this is the true meaning of Christe that sayd he is the doore Christ also sayd haue I not chosen twelue of you and one of you is a Diuell meaning Iudas that after betrayed him if we may credite old wiues fables the Diuell hath hornes and clouen féete yet we must not thinke though Christ called him so that Iudas was turned or Transubstantiated into a Diuell and had hornes and clouen féete But as the Diuell is a murtherer and a betrayer of innocent bloud so Iudas did resemble the Diuell in betraying his innocent maister Christe and in procuring his death Thus you may sée that the wordes of Christ are not alwayes to be vnderstanded litterally as Christe spake them no more ought those wordes spoken by hym of the Sacrament But if all this that is sayde herein will neyther satisfie nor persuade you I woulde fayne knowe of you whether the bread is turned into Christes bodie that was vncrucified or that was crucified if you saye it was his bodie that sate among his Disciples at his last Supper before hée was crucified then how coulde he die on the crosse after séeing his Apostles had eaten his bodie before If you saie it was his bodie after it was crucified that coulde not be for when he brake the bread to his Disciples he was not then crucified therefore he could not gyue them his crucified bodie to eate for then it was not crucified for as one can not gyue to any baked bread before it bée baked so Christe coulde not gyue hys crucified bodie to his Disciples before it was crucified And thus euery way you are dryuen to a mischiefe There was a learned man he was a maister of Arte at the least chaūced to be at supper where I was with diuers other who said then that he would proue by Scriptures by learning that the bread after it is cōsecrated by a priest is the very bodie of Christ the same that was borne on the virgin Marie whome then I asked if he would stand to his worde and he said he would then I said to him againe that I would eyther make him denie his worde yéeld vnto me or else hold his peace for want of answere who answered me againe as it séemed both proudely and disdainfully saying that I was to yong a Scholler to do that Then I sayd againe if I do it not then let all them at this table beare
make Christe and eate Christe and if he once be past mans meate burne Christe who hath as great authoritie so to do as Iosias had shée might likewise saye their fleshe nor bodies were not burned nor hurte but their Accidentes as their length breadth thicknesse thinnesse weight and colour and such like but if they were thus handled though they woulde make vs beléeue that nothyng of the Sacrament is burned but the Accidentes they woulde then both beléeue and féele that their bones fleshe skinne sinewes and all their whole bodies were burded aswell as their Accidents Marke this also if the bread bée chaunged into the bodie of Christe by the Priestes consecrating it then why was the Emperoure Henrie the sixth poysoned by eating the bodie of Christ and why was Pope Victor poisoned in his Chalice by drynkyng the bloude of Christe is the bodie of Christe nowe so farre contrarie to it selfe to that it was before and is nowe become a destroyer and killer of menne whiche before was a helper and healer of men a meruailous matter when Christ was here on earth and his bodie not glorified he raysed Lazarus from death to lyfe that had bene foure dayes dead and now that he is in Heauen and glorified his bodie hath poysoned and killed men that had lyued aboue thirtie yéeres and so brought them from lyfe to death Therefore how soeuer you haue vsed Christ amoÌ„g you he is woÌ„derfully changed A man would thinke it had bene more likely that Christes bodie being so full of vertue and power as it is that it should haue turned the poyson mixt with it to the good nature and vertue of it selfe and to haue preserued mens bodies and not the poyson to turne Christes bodie into poyson and so to poyson or kill men Perhaps you will saie that it was not Christes bodie that the poison was mixt withall truely if you say so I beléeue you I allow his wit the better that he tarried not it was time for him to be gone for if he had tarried he had bin poisoned But I pray you what was it then that the poison was mixt withall you will not now for shame say that it was the accidents of Christes bodie least you make Christ to haue such a strange bodie or rather no bodie at all as is before mentioned Belike then it was the bread that was there before for the one it must néedes be for what soeuer the Popes Doctors saie al learned and wise men affirme that there can be no Accidentes without a Substance and yong children that are but in the beginning of their Grammer can tell you that an Adiectiue must néeds haue a Substantiue truly if the bread being the bodie of Christ and exalted to so high a degrée did vnchriste himself was content to become bread again to be poisoned to saue the bodie of Christ froÌ„ poisoning then it was the louingst bread the friendliest bread a bread of the greatest consideration that I euer heard of well in so doing I muste néedes saie that the bread shewed Christ a verye friendly part for if the bread had not come againe then Christ himself had bin poysoned and then he had dyed twice then the professors of the Gospell had bin vtterly vndone for the Pope beyng â—opercioner with Christ hauing both one consistorie or seate of Iudgement would haue claimed all by suruiuor and so he woulde haue sit alone and thereby he might haue sent the Diuels and the wicked to heauen and the Angels and the godly to hell But if one shoulde aske you howe many bodyes Christ had I am sure you will say he had but one if you say truely then if the bread were changed as you say yet coulde it be but a péece of the body of Christ or else Christ hath had at one time twentie thousand bodyes at the least for I am sure there haue bin so many Masses at the least saide in one day Though this be sufficient that I haue alreadie spoken to any ChristiaÌ„ godly wise or reasonable man that the bread is not neither by any meanes can be changed into the body of Christ yet I will go further with you Suppose y t Christ at his last Supper by these wordes this is my bodye dyd turne the bread into his very body which before is proued he did not both by the scriptures auncient Doctors and naturall reason yet therefore the Priestes are neuer a whyt the neare for the turning or changing of the breade into the body of Christ. For if he had done it yet he gaue them no warrant nor commission to doe it For where can you finde that Christ said as often as any Priest shal pronounce and say these wordes ouer a white little cake this is my body and shall blesse and consecrate it that straight way the little cake shall be turned and transubstantiated into my very body and the substance of the bread from thence forth shall be cleane gone and my very bodye fleshe bloud and bone that was borne on the virgin Marie my mother shall remaine there in the steade of bread If you coulde shewe vs these wordes or such like spoken by Christ then it woulde séeme that they had Christes commission so to doe but they haue from Christ no such commission or warrant so to doe if Christ had done it as he did it not Therefore all the racking glosing and expoundyng of the some wordes of Christ serue your turne neuer a whyt all that Christ said therein to his Apostles was doe this in my remembrance So that neyther Pope nor Priest can haue anye more authoritie therein than the Apostles had themselues Therefore the Priestes doe not onely most wickedly to make you beléeue that the Sacramentall breade is the body of Christ which is but a signe or remembraunce of Christ and his death but also both they and you committe moste horrible and abhominable Idolatrie in knéeling to it and worshipping of it If a great Lorde that loues me wel being my maister should deliuer me his painted picture which were somthing more like him than a cake is like Christ say to me when you looke on this my picture in my absence remember me and then if I should when he were gone shew the same picture abroade say to euerye one that sées it that the same picture is my Lord maister himselfe that left it with me and so make curtesie to it and reuerence honor it for the said Lorde all that should sée me doe so woulde not onely thinke I were starke mad but also my said Lord maister that loued me so much would not be very wel content with me for taking and honoring that dumbe dead and sencelesse picture for himselfe that he did leaue with me for a signe to remember him withal in his absence besides that I thinke he would dismisse me as I were wel worthy out of his seruice Euen so all wise men may
voyce that vttereth Christ hath néede of the tongue to be the minister The Captaine at this halfe out of his witte bare in hande that the hangman deceiued the sight of the people by some subtill and craftie conueyance Not so quoth the hangman if ye suspect my déede open his mouth and searche the roote of his tongue The Captaine at length being confounded with the fortitude and courage of the Martir commaunded him to be brought backe into the prison and there to bée strangled And so he was where his sorrowfull lyfe and paines being ended he now enioyeth quiet rest in the Lord and where no Tirants can hurt him This worthy Martir in whom God thus myraculously did speake when his tongue was plucked out by the rootes and in whom God thus maruellously wrought and whom God did thus strengthen and made bolde and stoute in his cause though his name was Romanus yet he was not of your Romish religion but a professor of the Gospell and of Christes religion And as the spirite of God was plentifull in this holye Martyr and true Christian so hath he bene most aboundant in our Martyrs of late and wil be for euer in all them that professe the Gospell of Christ and are true and perfect Christians And now I will recite no moe examples of the auncient Martyrs but of such as were persecuted and suffred for the professing of Christes Gospell of late dayes wherein you shall plainely sée that as they were persecuted and tormented in Christs quarrel and cause as Romanus was so God wrought in them as he did in Romanus the holye Ghost taught them as he taught Romanus and Christ did strengthem them most wonderfully myraculously as he strengthned Romanus Therfore marke the most cruell and mercilesse dealings of these Tormentors the Papistes which they doe to shew themselues howe like they are to their father the Diuell who as Christ saith was a murtherer from the beginning and yet they will néedes be Christes shéepe and his chiefe flocke But thoughe they saye they are the Churche and flocke of Christ this moste horrible murther and slaughter doeth shewe that they are the Churche and flocke of the Diuell By that holye Father Pope Pius the fourth the professors of gods word were persecuted in Cabria wherof thys that I wil now describe and shew as wel for an example of the maruellous constancie and patience of them that were persecuted as of the crueltie of them that did persecute is to be well noted There were fourescore and eight persons that were Protestants put all into a house togyther and the executioner commeth in and amongst them taketh one and blindfoldeth him with a mufler about his eyes and so led him furth to a larger place where he commaunded him to kneéele down which so doing he did cut his throte and leauing him halfe deade he helde the bloudye knife betwéene his téeth as Butchers vse to doe and carried the mufler all of goare bloude in his hande and came againe to the rest and so he led them out one by one into that other house and cut their throtes And thus Butcherly he killed thē al like Calues and shéepe Whych was a dolefull and horrible spectacle to behold who wente so humbly and patientlye to their deathes as many wyll scantly beléeue Yet as y e true professors and persecuted for the Gospel haue alwayes vsed to doe There was a blind woman was burned at Darby for saying that the substaunce of the breade and Wine is not turned into the substaunce of the bodye and bloude of Christ which woman did offer to the Bishop that perswaded hir to beléeue that the Sacrament was the verye body of Christ that if he would before that company take it vpon his conscience that that doctrine which he would haue hir beléeue concerning the Sacrament was true and that he woulde at the dreadfull daye of iudgement aunsweare for hyr therin as Doctour Taylor before in King Edwards time in diuerse of his Sermons did offer for that that hée preached she woulde then further aunsweare them Wherevnto the Bishop sayde he would But Doctour Dracote his Chauncellour hearing that sayde my Lorde you know not what you do you maye in no case answere for an Heretike Then the Bishoppe asked hir if she wold recant or no and sayde she should answeare for hir selfe Then the poore blinde woman perceyuing this sayde if you refuse to take it on your conscience that it is true you woulde haue me beléeue I wil aunsweare no further and desired them to do their pleasure And then they gaue sentence against hir and so she was burned Were not these godly and holy Fathers and of a good and true religion that did burne innocente people bycause they did not beléeue that they themselues did not beléeue to be true for if the doctrine was true that they taught and they beléeued the same why mighte not they then haue sayde on theyr conscience that it was true and why might not they haue aunswered for them therein to God at the daye of iudgemente this notable example shewes plainely that the doctrine of these persecuting Papistes is wicked and false that they are not of the church of God but of the fellowship of the Diuell that burned these poore blinde and simple women and manye other bycause they beléeued not that the Sacramentall breade and Wine was the verye body and bloud of Christe and theyr wicked religion of the Pope whyche they themselues being learned Byshoppes and Doctoures dyd not beléeue nor stande too But our Preachers of the Gospell will take on theyr conscience and wil stand betwéen God and their hearers that the doctrine they teach is true Therfore this only example if I had writtē nothing else vnto you is sufficient to persuade you that our doctrine is true and your Romishe religion is false vnlesse you winke for the nonce bycause you wil not sée Here also is another notable example whereby you may vnderstande howe God giues his spirite of trueth to the professors of the Gospell hys seruauntes that dye for the Testimonie of the same wherein you shall heare howe maruellouslye and truelye a poore man that was burned for thys our Religion prophesied of the shamefull ende of his persecuter a wicked Papisticall Commissarie A certaine pore man of Callais saying that he woulde neuer beléeue that a Priest coulde make the Lordes body at his pleasure was therefore accused and also condemned by one Haruy Commissarie there Whiche Haruy in time of his iudgement inueighing againste him wyth opprobrious words said that he was an heretike and should dye a vile death The poore man aunswering for himself saide againe that he was no heretike but was in the faith of Christe And whereas thou saist that I shall dye a vile death thou thy selfe shalt dye a viler death and that shortly And so it came to passe for within halle a yeare after the said Haruy
which Christ did teache in the Scriptures euen so she hath with their vaine fonde and superstitious fastings quite banished the true fasting required by the Gospell For Christ in the Gospell sayth When ye fast be not sad as the hypocrites are c but when thou fastest appeare not vnto men to fast but vnto thy Father which is in secret thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Here Christ doth appoint vs that we must not let it bée knowne when we fast but the Popes faste is so published and the dayes so commonly and openly commaunded and appointed that euerie one may knowe when they fast So that Christ hath not appoynted his fasting so priuily but y e Church of Rome proclaimes hir fastes as openly Christ hath appointed no dayes nor times for his fasting the Churche of Rome hath appointed dayes and times for hir fasting The meaning of Christs fasting is to abstaine froÌ„ whatsoeuer either meats or drinkes y t makes vs prone to sinne The Popes fast is to forbeare fleshe onely but permits men to eate all kynde of fishe thoughe it be neuer so daintie and deliciously drest and all kinde of Iunkets and banketing dyshes with delycate wynes as muche as wée will cramme and poure in Christes fast is to kéepe our bodyes lowe to be in subiection to the spirite but that is not performed in the Popes fast but by their daintie dyshes and drinkes the Spirite is brought in subiection to the bodie Christes faste is a willing an vncompelled abstinence the Popes fast is a constrained abstinence and is done of many against their wils Christes fasting is to make vs vertuous and holy before God the Popes fast is hypocriticall and to make vs séeme holye before men This is difference enough to shewe you that the Christian fasting of Christ and the common fasting of the Pope are farre vnlike and doe not agrée so that the one shall haue his rewarde hereafter of God and the other hath his rewarde alreadie of men Therefore beléeue not that your accustomed fast of the Church of Rome came either from Christ or his Apostles for neither Christ in his Gospell nor the Apostles in their Epistles doe once commaunde it or affirme it and therefore we can not allowe it S. Augustine one of the excellentest Doctors whose iudgement I trust you will not refuse writes vpon what dayes we ought not to faste and vppon what dayes wee ought to faste I fynde it not appoynted or lymitted by anye commaundement eyther of our Lorde or of the Apostles But what if Saint Augustine had wylled vs to faste on suche dayes as the Pope doeth appoynt and a thousande other learned men moe yet wée are not bounde eyther to beléeue or follow him or them vnlesse we finde their sayings agrée with Gods word for Gods word must leade them but they may not leade Gods worde Therfore bicause your Popish fast is not commaunded nor allowed by the holye Scriptures but cleane contrarie to the same as before is proued therefore it is superstitious wicked and highly displeaseâ—h God and so of vs Christians ought not to be vsed nor commended but vtterly to be eschued and contemned vnlesse it be vsed for worldly pollicie God commaundes vs to refraine swearing euerydaye but for fasting he appointes vs no day but the Pope commaundes vs to faste certaine dayes but byds vs not forbeare swearing any daye yet manye of you regarde the Popes lawe so much and Gods commaundement so little that you thinke it a heynous matter to breake the fasting dayes that the Pope hath commaunded but make it no matter of conscience to sweare euery day which God hath forbydden therefore kéepe the fasting dayes commaunded by our Quéene for good order and pollicye and not for the Popes pleasure for his holinesse or hypocrisie Thus you may sée howe farre wyde you wander and all bicause you will not giue your selues to the hearing and reading of the Scriptures Consider further of your holy Romish Religion which attributes to oyle health of body and soule and remission of sinnes which no oyle but the bloud of Christ can doe And therefore a most blasphemous doctrine Thus the oyle is blest Fiat domino hoc oleum c. O Lorde let this oyle by thy blessing be made a spirituall oyntment to purifie both soule and body And also this is to be said ouer the sicke Per hanc Sanctam vnctionem c. By this holy annoynting thou maist haue remission of thy sinnes Is not this a precious oyle trowe you whereby we may haue remission of our sinnes you may sée what vertue is in the Popish Priests wordes that can make such a precious oyle truely if God had remeÌ„bred this oyle he might haue spared Christ his deare sonne from dying O what a horrible and blasphemous doctrine is this that is taught by your Romish Churche S. Thomas de Aquino which may be S. Thomas of Watring in Englishe saith Some saye and that not without good reason that a man may obteine remission of his venial sinnes which are not deadly sinnes onely by entring into a Churche that is consecrate If one had suche a Churche it would neuer lightly be emptie and it is purposely noted in the glose vpon the Decretalles that veniall sinnes may be remoued eyther by a Pater noster or by holy water that it may be so by a Pater noster which is the Lordes prayer so that it be faithfully sayd I wil not denie but that the popish Pater noster spoken in Latine of them that vnderstande not what they say or els that holy water will do it I will in no wise graunt Thus the church of Rome hath founde out an other manner and way of forgiuenes of sinnes then either Christ or his Apostles euer taught what a damnable doctrine is this to teach remission of sinnes by such toyes and trifles which can be had by no meanes but by the passion death of Christe May not you thinke that the church of Rome is of a pure doctrine and of a perfect religion that allowes and ordaines that Belles must be baptized and christened and allowes Godfathers therefore and giues them a name and puts a coate on their backes to kéepe them from colde as children haue when they are Christened truely I haue redde and perused the whole Bible and the new Testament thorowly and yet I could neuer read in any parte thereof of the christening of belles Marry I remember that Christ a little before his Ascention sayd to his Disciples all power is giuen to me in Heauen and in earth go ye therfore teach all nations baptising them in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost c. but then he made no mention of the baptising of Belles for if he had the Apostles would haue baptised Belles aswell as the Popes Suffraganes and then we should eyther haue heard of it in the Actes
and taught them therefore this is no souÌ„d grounde for your Masse to stand on whereby it must néeds sincke and come to nothing Surely if this your Masse came from Christ or were so auntient and so godly as some of you take it to be then your owne Doctors and great Champions of the Churche must néeds haue known and not say there were many abuses in it Doctor Stephen Gardner that was Bishop of Winchester saith That the vse of the ministration vnder one kinde that is of the Masse as it is now vsed began first not of Christ or his Apostles or of any ancient learned father but onelye of the simple deuotion of the people whyche may be called error wel ynough for those people that lacke the knowledge of Gods worde must néeds be in error and then their error did bréede their simple deuotion and their simple deuotion did bring forth the same Masse and so by Doctoure Gardners iudgement youre Masse as it is nowe vsed is builded on plaine error and whatsoeuer is builded on error must néeds be false and vngodly and so your Masse by your owne Doctors dayment is false and vngodly Albertus Pighius one of the Popes chiefest postes affyrmeth That there are many abuses in the Masse If the Popes diuine Doctors finde faulte with the Masse then why shoulde you thinke that the Masse is so holy and ful of Uertue And Maister Harding whiche was a mightie defender of the Popes doctrine cannot tell when your priuate Masse first began or who saide it first of all wel though he can not tel when your Masse began yet we can tel when our Communion began and who he was that was the first authour and sayer of it whiche was Christe the sonne of God who saide it the day before he suffered his passion Wherfore if you can proue that your Masse is ancienter than our Communion and that it was first said by a better man than by Christe we wil then refuse our Communion and embrace your Masse but vntil you do that we wil not do the other but bycause Maister Harding cannot tell who said the first Masse I wil now tel you who saide it firste in Latine and where it was said One Iohn Portuensis being the Popes Legate almost 700. yeres after Christ did say the first Masse in Latine before the Patriarch and Princes at Constantinople in the Temple of Saint Sophie Here we haue gotten at first eight hundred yeres from your Masse so that it is not so olde as oure Communion by eight hundreth yeares and I am sure that Iohn Portuensis that firste saide youre Masse is scantly able to compare with Christe that firste saide our Communion Yet your Masse that you so muche reuerence and estéeme was not then in his perfection nor fully finished For it séemes that then it was so vnperfect that it was a péecing seauen hundreth yeares after and then made vppe at the laste as it is So that hereby it doth plainely appeare that youre holy Masse was not come to hir full growth two hundred yeares since But it is almoste sixtéene hundred yeres since oure Communion beganne firste instituted by Christ and the Apostles and holy fathers vsed this our Communion according to the Scriptures but your Masse was patchte vppe by the Pope but of late and vsed of his Prelates and Priests and is not to be founde in anye parte of the Scriptures and cleane contrary to the same Therefore you may well call the Popes Masse a newe lawe and not our Communion vnlesse you call it new bycause it agrées with the new Testament Thus you may sée that your Masse was patchte vppe of late and your owne Doctors say it came not from Christ nor his Apostles that there are manye abuses in it and that they know not how nor when it firste began therfore it is méere madnes for you to estéem the Masse any longer And thoughe this be sufficient yet as I haue proued the Masse caÌ„not be good so I wil proue that the priests be most wicked that say the Masse if they be wicked that are guiltie of the body bloud of Christ. S. Ambrose an auncient learned father and a Doctor of good credite called one of the Doctors of the Churche saith Is indignè sumit qui aliter sumit quam Christus instituit Hee taketh it vnworthilye that is the Sacrament that taketh it otherwyse than Chryste ordayned it Nowe Christe commaunded it to be done in his remembrance the Priest doth it in remembraÌ„ce of dead meÌ„ Christ tooke bread left it bread the Priest taketh bread and coniureth it quite away Christe toke breade and gaue thankes the Priest taketh breade breatheth vpon it Christ toke breade and brake it y e Priest taketh bread and hangeth it vp Christ toke bread and dâ—lt it to his Discipels the Priest taketh bread and eateth it vp euery whit himselfe Christ in a Sacrament gaue his own body to be eaten in faith the Priest for lacke of fayth receiueth accidents as whitenesse roundnesse weight thickenesse and such like without the substance of bread as they say Christ gaue a Sacrament to strengthen mens fayth the Prieste giueth a sacrifice to redéeme mens sâ—ules and Christe gaue it to be eaten the Priest giueth it to be worshipped and to conclude Christe gaue breade the Prieste sayeth he giueth the very bodye of Christe Here is difference ynough betwéene Christ and the Priest Beside all this Christ spake in such a tong that he the Apostles knew what was spoken but the Priest speaketh in latine that fewe or none vnderstande him what he sayeth And sometimes the Priest himselfe scantly vnderstandes what he sayth And thus bycause y e Priest receiueth it otherwise than Christ did appoint it he taketh it vnworthyly to his condemnation Therfore the Priests were best to leaue saying of Masse to their owne condemnation and saye our communion to their saluation And for al this Maister Harding though he knewe not by whom nor when the Masse began yet he was not ashamed to say That the Masse is the moste highest and moste honorable seruice that is done to God in his Churche If it be so I maruayle that Christe was so forgetfull of his deare Father that he neuer spake of it that we mighte thereby highlye and honorablye serue GOD. And if he hadde tolde it to hys Disciples in secrete that they did neuer vtter it Therefore vntyll it bée more crediblye affyrmed than on Maister Hardings bare worde there is no wyse man that wil beléeue it And if the Masse were so high and honorable a thing and that it were a sufficient sacrifice both for the quick and the deade and that thereby we might be cleane clensed of our sinnes I much muse that God did not tel his deare son Christ of it when he so earnestly prayed a little before his death saying Oh my Father if it be possible let this cup
in my beliefe Marke further howe the Popes learned Doctors agrée in this the Popes transubstantiation or chaunging of the breade into the body of Christ Some of you holde saieth M. Iewell against M. Harding in his defence of the Apologie that Christes body passeth downe into the stomacke some say that it onely entreth into the mouth and goeth no further some other say assoone as the formes of the bread be grated with the teeth straight way the bodye of Christ is caught vp into heauen Another of you saith that a mouse can not eate it yea but if she might catch it she would aske no better dinner Peter Lombarde the grand maister of your Schoole is piteouslie confounded in the case and can not imagine poore man what thing it should be that the mouse eateth for after he himself had moued the question what is it then that the mouse receyueth or what eateth it he answereth now God knoweth as for my paâ—te I can not tell Such is your doctors Maister Harding saith M. Iewel such is your doctrine Thus farre hath M. Iewell written You may sée what a sounde doctrine this is of your transubstantiated bread into the bodie of Christ and how certain it is whereon the Popes doctors so diuersly descant Therefore séeing the learned Papistes are not fully resolued among themselues of this their Christes bodie that they saie is made of bread what fooles are yée then that do so stifly maintaine the same and that will so faithfully beléeue that they so firmely doubte and to take that for the bodie of Christ that a Mouse will eate and deuour But bycause some of these learned do saie that a Mouse wil eate it I am of their opinion if she may come by it and then if she eate bread then it is not the bodie of Christ and if it be the bodie of Christe then it is but a simple Christ that will suffer a Mouse to eate him therefore turne it which waie you will you bring your selues into the breares Consider I beséeche you the absurde and vile sayings and opinions of them of the Popes side touching the same whose wordes be these If it be said that a Mouse receiueth the bodie of Christ it is no great inconuenience And Alexander of Hales a great Schoole doctor in vnséemely and grosse manner doth saie If a Dog or Sowe saith he should happen to swallowe downe the whole hoste beyng consecrate I see no reason but the bodie of our Lorde may passe withall into the belly of the Dogge or of the Sowe Is not the doctrine of this holy Romish Church woorthie to be embrased and followed that hath such heauenly doctrine in it what execrable wretches are these that woulde make Christes bodie which is most holy and glorious and is in Heauen on the right hand of God the father to be deuoured of Dogges and Swine If such leaue not to allure and leade the ignorant from the trueth and forsake not their abhominable papisticall Religion and doctrine betymes I feare thy shall haue their portion with Dogges Swine Owles and Gotes in the endlesse and vnquenchable fire of Hell from whence neyther the Pope nor their Christ of bread shall euer be hable to deliuer them Marke how Diuelish and detestable Maister Harding writes in the defence of this doctrine of Transubstantiation at the Supper of our Lorde saith he ministred in the Catholike Church by Priests rightly consecrate there is the true and holy bodie of our Lord and Sauiour giuen and receiued be the receiuers beleeuing or not beleeuing If this be true that M. Harding sayth then it skilles not whether we beléeue in Christ or no so that we may once get it into our mouthes and eate it But S. Augustine and other ancient writers are of a contrarie opinion to M. Harding For he saith Quid paras dentem ventreÌ„ crede manducasti Why prepares thou thy tooth and thy belly beleeue and thou hast eaten Thus by S. Augustines rule beliefe is chiefly required to the receiuing of the Sacrament though M. Harding makes no accompt whether we beléeue or not S. Cyprian calleth the Sacrament Cibum mentis non ventris the foode of the minde or Soule not of the belly Tertullian sayth Christe must be deuoured by hearing chewed by vnderstanding and disgested by fayth Saint Augustine sayth To beleeue in Christe that is the eating of the bread of lyfe And he saith also Vnlesse yee eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee shall haue no life in you Christe seemeth by these wordes sayth Saint Augustine to commaunde vs to doe an horrible wickednesse for it is an horrible matter to eate mans fleshe or to drinke mans bloud Therefore this is a figure commaunding vs to bee partakers of Christes passion and comfortably to laie vp in our minde that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. Therefore the eating of the Sacrament or Christes body with our mouthes as Maister Harding doth dreame is not to eate Christes fleshe and drinke his bloud for this holy Sacrament of Christe supper is the foode of the soule not of the bodie and as the bodie hath a mouth whereby it dothe féede Corporally so hath the Soule a mouth whereby it doeth féede Spiritually which mouth of the Soule is faith and as our bodies are fedde and norished by eating of meate so are our Soules fedde and nourished by beléeuing in Iesus Christ. For if there be none other eating of Christes body wherby we shall haue eternall life but only by the fantasticall fleshly eating with our mouth and téeth then how can the holy Fathers in the old time before Christe be saued as Abraham Isaac and Iacob Moses Dauid Samuell and other of the holy Prophetes that neuer did eate the Sacrament with their mouthes neuer knew it There haue bene a great sorte of godly Martirs yong christian childreÌ„ besides the théefe that died with Christe on his right side whome Christ promised that he should be with him in Paradise that haue not with their mouthes eaten this Sacrament yet I trust fewe will therefore saie that they are al damned But if this eating of the Sacrament with the mouth as M. Harding saith and many of you beléeue be the true perfect eating of y e body or flesh of Christ then there is none other shift but they all must néedes be daÌ„ned As it appeareth by Christs owne words for he saith vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you Hereof we must néedes coÌ„clude if your Romish religioÌ„ doctrine be true that AbrahaÌ„ Isaac Iacob Moses Dauid al the Patriarkes Prophets and other holy men al y e godly Martirs al yong children yea the théefâ— that Christ promised to be with him in Paradise y t neuer did eat or receiue the Sacrament with there mouths haue no lyfe but are
spake such Latine or out of such Latine made suche English if you can shewe vs no better Author wee muste needes thinke it is your owne c. but that representare should signifie eyther to make Christes bodie or to make it present no man I trowe euer durst to say so but Maister Harding In these woordes doe this you say is conteyned make this doth Christ bid you to make this in deede Maister Harding and what this I pray you would you make ye will say Christes bodie but Christes bodie as we beleeue is made already and needeth no newe making at your handes But you will say you will make Christ in remembraunce of Christe All this is meere follie for euery way yee tell vs you make Christ. Presume not Maister Harding to make him that made you it is inough for Stella clericorum to say qui creauit me c. he that made me hath gyuen me power to make him a Priest is his makers maker by this meanes the Prieste was before he was and God was not God when he was oh abhominable doctrine But God hath made Hell fire to the destruction of all them that yeelde their mouthes to speake suche blasphemie Thus Maister Iewell answeared and confounded Maister Harding that so foolishly and falsly did expound and wrest the wordes of Christe for the making of Christ of a péece of bread Marke further howe learnedly and truely Maister Harding commendes and extolles the Masse vpon whose wordes Maister Iewell wryteth as followeth M. Harding sayth he maketh as though in their Masse the Lords banket is so purely finely truely and so delicately drest and that it is such a feast for the people as the lyke is not in any thing else saying let this banket be dight as it ought to be let the best dishe be made readie c. Good Christian reader sayth Maister Iewell the best the wholesomest the most pleasant and most comfortable dish at this table is the death of Christ that lambe of God that hath taken away the sinnes of the world Thus Christ himselfe the maister of this feast hath willed vs to dresse this dinner Do this saith he in the remembraunce of me Likewise Saint Paule sayth as often as ye shall eate of this bread and drink of this cup yee shall shewe forth and publish the Lordes death vntill he come This banket therefore is not the outwarde or bare Sacrament And as it is alleaged out of S. Ambrose this banket is not the bread of the Sacrament that passeth into the belly but the bread of euerlasting life which relieueth the Substance of the Soule c. Likewise Saint Augustine sayth hee that is blinde in his harte within seeth not Christe that is our bread And is he blessed no man will so saie vnlesse he be one as blinde as he And so Maister Iewell goeth on and sayth But what maner of feast is it that M. Harding prepareth for the people how is it seasoned how is it drest firste by vncurteous and vnciuile dealing he withdraweth the one halfe that is the cup of the new Testament and reserueth it seuerally to him selfe And yet he woulde make the people beleeue they haue the whole And this doth he when he hath the greatest companie to sup with him when his feast is best furnished otherwise he suffreth his guestes to stand aloofe he consumeth all his prouision himselfe alone Neither hath hee any thing to set before them sauing onely a cold surcharge of dead shewes and dumbe Ceremonies The poore people heareth nothing vnderstandeth nothing eateth nothing drinketh nothing tasteth nothing they publish not the Lords death they know not the Lords supper To such a bāket Pasetes the Iugler vsed sometimes to cal his friendes there was great varietie and plentie of all maner of meates and drinkes the table full but when anye of the guestes would haue touched any thing it vanished sodainly away and was turned to nothing and so when their eyes were ful they put vp their kniues rose an hungred Euen thus M. Harding feedeth and feasteth the people of God with shewes and Ceremonies suffers them in the meane while to sterue for hunger Euen as the Prophet sayeth it shall be like a dreame of a hungrie man beholde he eateth and maketh merrie but when he is awakte his soule is emptie Thus excellently and most truelye hath that famous learned Bishop M. Iewell compared your great and worthie feast in the Masse whiche M. Harding so highly commendes and maintaines to the feast of Pasetes the Iugler Your Romish religion is so fond childishe false that it bewrayeth it selfe and hir champions that séeme to defende hir doe wounde hir and quite ouerthrowe hir and the more they approue hir the more they disproue hir for though M. Harding doth praise his Masse to be such a maruellous and godlye feast yet it appeares that the maister of the feast is but a very churle for as M. Iewell sayeth he hath none to his feast or dinner but himselfe but Christes Supper though M. Harding commendes it not was more like a feast than your Masse for he did not eate his Supper by himselfe but he bad all his Apostles to it yea Iudas his enimie that betraide him and all and they did eate drinke with him and he deuided both the breade and wyne among them but the Priest at the Masse though he breake the bread yet he eates and drinkes al himselfe Therfore if the Masse be a feast it is not onely a churles feast but also it is quite contrarie to Christs feast as before is well proued Therefore in all things the Papistical religion and doings be quite contrarie to the doings of Christ. And for that in many places before it appeareth that your Romish religion doth ouerthrowe it selfe euen so I will nowe by your Doctors owne doctrine ouerthrow your Christ of bread It is concluded in a Booke called Antididagma lately set forthe by the Chapter of Colain that the bare wordes of Christes institution without the wordes of the Canon of the Masse are not sufficient to make consecration If this bée true then Christ dyd not consecrate the breade and wyne bycause the Cannon of the Masse was not then nor of a good whyle after And you saye that before the consecration the breade is not the body of Christ so that for want of consecration Christ dyd not make the breade his bodye and bycause your Priestes makyng of Christes bodye dependes wholly of Christes making the breade his bodye for that they claime to do as he did and by the wordes that he spake therefore they doe not make the breade Christes bodye bycause Christ made not the bread hys bodye and thus by your owne doctrine your changing of the breade into the bodye of Christ is cleane ouerthrowne and therefore it must néedes bée breade still and so they teache you falsely and you beléeue falsely that the Sacrament after it