still spight of all the corruptinges and darckninges of this world and of the maintayners of them And in very deede God who gouerneth the doings of all men in the world by his prouidence hath reserued still in this miserable world a great number of good and honest mē and of such as loue vertue And like as in the foresayd time of the Ciuill warres among the Romaynes Tacitus sayth that that age was not so barrayn of honest men but that it brought forth some good examples so also may we say that euen in this age of oures how much soeuer it be infected and corrupted yet hath God of his gratious goodnes reserued many still which to follow the pure Religion and vertue haue constantly indured pouerty losse of their goods the cruell murthering of their children kinsfolke and frendes banishment out of their Countrey absence from their houses and an infinite number of other aduersities and inconueniences Which thing geueth vs assurance that our Lord god will alwayes maintayne a certayn number of good men here below which shall imbrace vertue by maintayning good lawes and discipline and follow the light of the truth which abideth inuincible for euer and shall scatter the mistes and cloudes that set themselues agaynst it The worthy iudgement of that great monarch Darius king of the Medes and Persians will neuer slippe out of the remembrāce of men For this king hauing vpon a time made a royall feast to all the Gouernors Captaynes and other Officers of his Dominion which was so great that it extended ouer a hundreth and seuen and twenty Prouinces was contented to heare a disputatiō between three young Gentlemen of Iury that were attendant vpon his own person Of whom the one maintayned that nothing is stronger than wine because that commonly it ouercommeth aswell the great as the small Another sayd that nothing was stronger than a king because that with one only word of his mouth he can make men to be slayne Cities to be razed and Fortresses to be beaten down when he listeth And the third named Zorobabell a gentleman of the bloud royall descended of the line of Dauid vpheld that truth is strongest of all things because it contynueth in force euerlastingly and shall raigne for euer and euer Darius hauing heard this disputation and knowing well how it is most certayne that truth is the thing of greatest strength and of longest contynuance in all the world gaue the prize to zorabable as to him that had been of best opinion and gaue him great giftes and priuiledges aswell for himselfe as for all his wholl nation commaunding that from thence forth Zorobabell should be called the kinges Cosen Which iudgement of this great king ought to be wel considered of all persons and specially of kinges and Princes that they may geue themselues earnestly to the seeking out of the truth in all thinges as well in case of Religion as in Ciuil and worldly affaires and esteeme it more strong and inuincible thā any force of man. For certainly there is neither king nor Emperor fire nor sword payne nor tormēts that euer could quench the truth or ouercome it But forasmuch as in these dayes many men are doutfull in the case of Religiō where they should seeke the truth I will not here forget the rule which the great Emperor of Rome Constantine did set down at the cosicell of Nice in Bithinia for the decyding of the points of doctrine which were to be handeled and treated of there For hauing assembled the Councell together to determine vpon the doctrine that Arrius had sowed at that time When he had made the Bishoppes to take their places euery one in his degree which were to the number of 318. besides the Elders and Deacons that accompanyed thē who were aboue 500. he sate him down among them in a low chaire and made this Oration to them well beseeming his Maiestie and godlynes My Lords and fathers quoth he forasmuch as God hath vouchsafed to put down the cruell Princes by my hand and to geue peace to the world vnder my raign it is meete that you also in this holy assembly should doe your indeuoures to set a stable vnitie and cōcord in the Church For it were to euill an example if after the ouercomming of our enemies the publick peace should now be disturbed by the controuersies and disagreementes of the Shepheards of the Church a thing that would minister occasion and matter to the vngodly to mock our Religion to laugh it to scorn Now then sith we be to treat here of diuine matters we must tak the doctrine of the holy Ghost for our rule and resort to the bookes of the Euangelistes Apostles and Prophets which teach vs what opinion we ought to be of concerning Gods holy law Therfore setting aside all stoutnes of contention let vs seeke the resolution of our questions in the word that is inspired by God. After this short and notable speech made by that great Emperor the Councel was held and the doctrine of Arrius was throughly debated by the only word of God and in the end iustly condemned by those holy Fathers as vtterly contrary to a number of expresse places of the holy Scriptures which auow vnto vs the Godhead and euerlastingnes of the sonne of God which thing Arrius did wickedly deny But I must tell you by the way that in this speech of Constantines we haue three dueties to marke which doe wel beseeme a great Prince The one is to be inclyned to publicke peace and tranquillitie and to procure the maintenance thereof by all lawfull meanes Another is to loue the truth aboue al things chiefly in cases of Religion And the third is to seeke the same truth in the Scripture inspired by God. Now I beseech God of his gracious goodnes to make your Maiesties vertue godlines to shine forth dayly more and more in those holy dueties and to cause your Royall highnes to grow greater and greater in all his heauenly giftes and in all honor and felicitie Dated the 15. day of February the yere of our sauiour Christ 1578. The author of this Apology his Song THe Pope of Rome a thousand Canons bendes Agaynst the Church which doth Gods word imbrace And stoutly forth his own Decrees he sendes The soueraign Lords commaundements to deface Or rather quite and cleane away to chase Presuming proudly for to beare chiefe sway In mannes saluation euery kinde of way He thinkes ere long that noble fort to win And tryumphing aforehand in despight Of heauenly truth he sets him down within Gods Temple boasting euen in open sight Himselfe as God and striues with al his might To maintayne still his Lordly soueraintie Aswell aboue as vnderneath the Skie But thou O Christ our King omnipotent Reach out thine arme and with thy skilfull hand Lay holde vpon the Canons that are bent Agaynst thee by the Romish Tirants band And turne them back at him that hath them
eyes and tast with our mouthes to be bread and wine should be flesh and bloud No nor that neither which is contrary to the order of Nature namely that accidents should haue an abyding without a substance fitte and conuenient for them to be in or that a naturall body of a man may be inclosed in so small roome as the bignes or roundnes of an hoast for these things are contrary to nature And if the Catholicks reply that God is almighty and able to doe these things the Protestants doe answere that doutlesse he is of power to doe whatsoeuer he listeth In so much that because God will neither sinne nor lie we say he can neither lie nor sin But our Lord meant so litle that his body after his glorification should receaue vnnaturall qualities that cleane contrarywise he would haue his Apostles to iudge by the sence of their sight and feeling that his body was a true and perfect naturall body and not an imagined body And although the effects of the Sacrament be thinges diuine and supernaturall yet are they not contrary to nature as those are which depend vpon the doctrine of Transubstantiation Neither can it be proued by the word of God that the Sacraments or any other of the ordinances of God conteine any thing contrary to nature This doctrine of the Protestantes touching this Sacrament is also euidently grounded vpon the word of god For first of all we doe say and beleue according to the articles of our faith that Iesus Christ is ascended into heauen from whence he shall come not ten thousand times a dry but only once at the last day when he shall come to iudge both the quick and the dead Which thing S. Peter declareth very openly when in speaking of the last comming of our Lord he sayth thus Whom the heauens shall contein vntill the full setting of all things in perfecte state which God hath foretold by the mouthes of all his holy Prophetes that haue beene since the beginning of the world And Iesus Christ himselfe also did wel geue vs to vnderstand that we should not beleue that his body after his ascention should euery day return hither on the earth nor remayne shut vp in boxes when he said to his disciples which found themselues greeued at the shedding of a little ointmēt vpon his body You shall not haue me alwayes with you And yet notwithstanding we must beleeue that by the efficacie of his grace he will alway be with vs as he declared to his Apostles in sending them throughout the world to preach the doctrine of his grace saying vnto them Behold I am alwayes with you euen vnto the end of the world And we must furthermore consider that the body of Christ was made in all points like vnto the bodies of other men except sinne as the scriptures do witnes In so much that it hath euer had and still hath at this present a certain measure of greatnes and thicknes as the bodies of other men haue Wherupon it followeth of consequence that his body neither is nor euer hath been in any mo places than one at one time And therefore when he celebrated hys holy supper with hys Disciples the day before he suffered hys death passion his body which sate at the table was not in the bread which he gaue thē for the nature of a true body doth not permit it to be in any moe places than one at one tyme And if they reply that a glorified body may be in many places at one instaunt the aunswere thereunto is that the body of Christ was not thē glorified but mortall at the tyme when hee celebrated hys holy supper was put to death the day after and that the wordes of the holy supper cānot as now be true in any other sort than they were whē he spake them and instituted the Sacrament And therefore this replication is impertinent and besides that it is vntrue for the body of Christ hath not through his glorification lost the qualities of a perfect body whiche is to be felt to haue flesh and bones and to be contayned within the compasse of certayne bowndes And therefore when hee celebrated the holy supper hys body was not in the bread which he gaue to hys Disciples and much les was the bread transubstantiated into hys body Whereof it followeth that these words of Iesus Christ This is my body This is my bloud ought to be vnderstood sacramētally as if he had said This is the sacrament of my body of my bloud because that as is aforesayd the nature of a very true body in deede permitteth vs not to vnderstand that euery morsell of the bread which he gaue to his disciples was his owne natural body Also the words which S. Luke and S. Paul vse in speaking of the Sacrament of his bloud do well declare that it is so to bee vnderstood For they say not that Christ sayd This is my bloud but rather this cup is the newe couenaunt in my bloud Neuerthelesse wee must thinke it all one with the other speach where it is sayd this is my bloud or els should S. Luke and S. Paule be contrary to S. Mathew and S. Marke which were vngodly to beleue So that if it be graūted as truth is that to say this is my bloud is asmuch as to say this cup is the couenant in my bloud It followeth playnely that this manner of speaking ought to be vnderstoode of the sacrament of his bloud or of the sacrament of the new couenant of his bloud which is all one and commeth all to one sense For the bread and the wine of the supper are the sacramentes of the body and bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christe and of the newe couenaunt which he maketh with vs because that in receiuing this sacrament with our mouthes our soules do also participate and receiue spiritually and really the thing signified which is the body and bloud of Christ in whiche participation consisteth the couenant which he maketh with vs. And in very deed Iesus Christ him selfe in speaking to his disciples of the eating of his flesh and of the drinking of his bloud yea and of the supper it selfe as the Catholickes expound it perceiuing them to be offended thereat tolde them that it ought to be vnderstood of a spirituall feeding and not of a crusshing of his flesh and hys bones betwixt their teeth nor of a cāniballike kinde of drinking of mans bloud as the catholicke scholemen of these dayes do vnderstand it Neither ought it to seeme a more straunge interpretation of these wordes this is my body to say this is the sacrament of my body thā to make the same interpretation of a great sort of other figuratiue speaches conteined in the scripture As for example where Christ sayth I am the vine and my Father is the husbandman I am the gate And agayne it is sayd the rocke was
it appeareth by the canons that the saluatiō of men doth doth not depend wholly vpon Baptisme but principallye vpon fayth These be the very wordes of the Canon S. Ciprian to proue that the torment of death may stād in stead of Baptisme hath grounded his argument vpon these wordes of Christ spoken to the vnbaptised theefe This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise In the examining whereof more narrowly I fynde that not onely the suffering of death for the name of Christ but also the harty beleuing in him and the confessing of him may supply the want of baptisme when the party is so distressed by some extremity of tyme as he cannot haue the sacrament of batisme ministred vnto him And there followeth an other Canon which sayth that if a learner of the Catechisme that is to say such a one as is but newly entred into the doctrine of the faith and is not yet baptised do suffer marterdome for the name of Christ he fayleth not to be saued although hee want Baptisme And the reasō herof as sayth the same canons is because that in this case such as haue not receiued the sacrament of Baptisme haue not wanted it through pride or disdayne but through inforcement of necessity In likewise it is forbidden by the Canons that women how wise so euer they bee shall either preach or baptise It is true that hereunto they do ioyn this one exception which is if it be not in case of necessity But if it be graūted according to the truth that the Infants which dye vnbaptised be not therfore excluded from saluation It followeth well that no necessity can be great inough to dispēse with women for intermedling themselues with the administration of the Sacramentes And truely in old time as the canons do witnes Baptisme was not ministred ordinarily but only at two tymes in the yeare namely at Easter and at Whittesontyde which well bewrayeth that they vsed no such haste as that women shoulde bee fayne to meddle with the matter Likewise it doth also appeare by the Canōs that Baptisme was not ministred to the infidels but only to such as had faith and did make confession therof when they were of age to do it And as touching the forementioned Ceremonies in deed there are some Canons how be it of the worst stamp which do allow thē But the best and most auntient canons do vtterly dissallow thē For by the auntient Canons men are permitted to baptise in Riuers in the Sea in fountaynes and in euery other place commodious for that purpose These be the wordes of a Canon taken out of the decrees of Pope Victor Let the Gentiles that are come to the faith be baptised in all seasons and all places fit for them be it in Riuer sea or Spring as being made cleane by confession of the Christian fayth And by an other Canon it is well shewed that wee ought rather to rest vpon the Baptisme of the couenaunt of fayth than vpon the Baptisme of water For it sayth thus The true baptisme doth not consist so much in the washing of the bodie as in the beleife of the hart as the apostolicke doctrine doth teach vs saying They make cleane their hartes through fayth And in an other Canon going before it is sayed that a catholicke not Baptised for it presupposeth that one may be a catholick without being baptised whiche hath an ardent zeale of deuine charity is to be preferred before a wicked man that is baptised As for example sayth the Canon Cornelius the Centener who was filled with the holy ghost before he was baptised is to be preferred before Simon Magus who was possessed with an vncleane Spirit after he had bene Baptised But if Cornelius hauing receiued the holy ghost had not bene willing to be baptised he had bene greuously guiltye of the despising of so excellent a sacrament By which canon it is easy to iudge that wee ought altogether to depend vpon that which the sacrament doth signifie vnto vs and vpon the graces which god doth thereby geue vnto vs and not to set our mindes vpon a sort of superstitious and vayn ceremonies as the Romish catholicks do in these dayes For they may easely perceiue by the things aforesayd that the doctrine of the reformed religion touching the sacrament of baptisme is better more auncient furder from heresy than theirs is according to our three maximes here before set downe to proue the points which are in question Let vs now speak of the supper of the Lord. ⧠Of the Sacrament of the holy supper The vii chapter THe difference betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes concerning the Supper of the Lord doth consist in three points The one in the naming therof for the Catholickes call that the keeping of Easter which the Protestantes doe name the Supper of the lord But this diuersitie of speaking importeth not much for both of them are still a celebrating of the mistery of our redemtion True it is that the Catholickes vse the maner of speaking of the old Testament according to the phrase whereof the feast of Easter that is to say the passeouer was celebrated by the eating of a Lambe which did represent Christ in remembrance of the deliuerance of the people of Israell whom God had brought out of the thraldome of Egipt But the Protestantes vse the manner of speaking of the new Testament whereby the holy institution which our Lord Iesus Christ ordayned to celebrate the remembrance of his death and passion and to make vs partakers of his body and bloud is called the supper of the lord But we must not striue about words so it be knowen that to keepe the Easter and to celebrate the Lords Supper are at this day one selfe same thing The second difference which is much greater consisteth in the substance of the Sacrament For the Catholickes at leastwise the schoolmen vphold that assoone as the priest hath spoaken the words of consecration ouer one hoaste or ouer many they change their nature presently and are transubstantiated into the very body and bloud of Iesus Christ in the selfe-same greatnes bignes that it was vpon the crosse so as the bread of the hoast is thē no longer bread although the color and the tast of bread remayn still therin Their proofe of this doctrine is that when our Lord Iesus Christ did institute his supper as he gaue the bread to his disciples he said vnto them This is my body And in geuing them the cup he said vnto them This is my bloud They proue it also by a Canon which beginneth thus I Beringarius c. which Canon saith in expresse wordes that after the consecration the bread and wine become not only sacraments but also the very body and the very blo ud of Christ And that the priest doth sensibly handle the same very bodye and breake it And that the faithful in eating the Sacrament with
cōmaundement of the Church of Roome But asfor the supper of our Lord It is no sacrifice but an holy bancket which is prepared to put vs in mynde of thonelye and soueraigne sacrifice whereby our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe was once for all sacrificed for our redemption and to make vs pertakers of his body and bloud by the spirituall and effectuall eating thereof So that there is noe more lykenes betweene the celebrating of the Lordes supper and the celebrating of the masse than is betwixt geuing taking which are things far differyng For in the supper the faythfull receyue the body and bloud of Christ but in the Masse the Priest geueth or offereth vp Christ wholly vnto God the Father as an host of sacrifice Now it must needes be graunted that in this poynt of the Masse the catholickes and the Protestantes doe vtterly disagree And that the same disagreement is the principall cause why the Catholicks do so extreemely bate the doctrine of the sayd Protestants For they esteeme the masse to be one of the principall poyntes of the Christian religion and therfore think it very straunge that the Protestants should be so bould as to reiect it syth it hath dured so long tyme and is cōposed of so many good things drawē out of holy Scripture the whiche the Protestantes seeme to reiect in reiectyng the texts that are taken out of it In deede these reasons geue some likelyhood wherby to iudge so without hearing the other partye But if the Catholickes will vse a little patience and here the replies of the Protestantes they shall not finde them so voyde of reason as they thinke For first they say that the onely sacrifice whereby Christ hymselfe was sacrificed once for all is more than sufficient for the saluation of the whole worlde Yea though he had shed but one only drop of hys precious bloud vpon the crosse It had bene sufficient to haue satisfyed the Iustice of God his father and to washe away the sinnes of all men which should be borne into the world in an hundred thousand yeres if the world shold last so long for that inasmuch as he was the sonne of god the dignity of his priesthoode and the infinite greatnes of hys Sacrifice are of sufficiency and worthines inough and more than inough to doe away the innumerable sinnes of all men hetherto borne or hereafter to be borne And therefore it is great outrage say the Protestants to our Sauiour to crucifie hym new agayne as they do in the masse to obtayne remission of sinnes and lyfe euerlasting for the quick and the dead for it is all one as to say that hys onely once sacrificing of himselfe is not sufficient to take away our sinnes and to obtayne vs lyfe euerlasting because that if they held it for sufficient and perfect as in truth it is it should follow that it were in vayne to do it any more And is it not a great blasphemy to say that the oblation and sacrifice of the death and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ is not sufficient for the saluation of the whole world Truely it is not to be douted for although it be nether auailable nor appliable to any other than to such as beleue in him yet notwithstanding his sacrifice is more thā sufficient to saue all the world And furthermore wheras the Catholickes at the least wise the simple common people imagine that the Protestants in reiecting the masse doe reiect the holy Sacrament of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ they deceyue themselues greatly for contrariwise the Protestantes hold the same sacrament in his true perfection as we haue showed in the Chapter going before Neither do they reiect the textes that are stuffed into the Masse and be taken out of the holy Scripture But they like much better to read learn them in the bible it selfe than in the Massebooke Neither do they reiect the good prayers which are mingled in the Masse but they say it is much better to pray to God with a contynual prayer for Princes Magistrates for the Shepheards of the church for the necessities of all the people for the remission of sinnes for those which are sick and afflicted for the conseruation of the faithfull for the inlightening of the ignorant and for the aduancement of the kingdome of Iesus Christ as they themselues doe than to say an Oremus or particular prayer for euery of these thinges as the Priest doth in his masse which sayth now one Oremus for himselfe and by and by another for the Pope and 〈◊〉 a third for his benefactors and for those that are departed and often times for brute beastes as is done in the Masse of S. Anthony For besides that the most part of the prayers in the masse be not allowable by the word of God It is certaine that men pray more hartely more aduisedly and with greater zeal when the prayer is contynued to the end without interruption than when it is sayd by iumps with often interruption Besides this the people which do harken to the Priestes Oremus cannot set their mindes well vpon the prayer which he is saying because they vnderstand it not nor often times the Priest himselfe To be short therfore by this doctrine of the Protestants God is better honored than by the doctrine of the Catholicks For the Protestants in not admitting any other sacrifice than that which our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe did make of his own body vpon the crosse which sacrifice they esteeme to be very sufficient and perfect for our saluation doe therby yeald the honor and the effect of our felicity vnto our Lorde Iesus Christ onelye wheras the Catholiques doe attribute parte of his honor to the Priest and parte to the sacrifice of the Mas. Likewise the Protestantes doe much better honor God in learning the texts of Scripture in the Bible it selfe which is the very originall Record of his will than those which wil needes learn them in the Massebook where they be confusedly packed and vnaptly applyed And now to shew that the doctrine of the Protestantes which admitte the only Sacrifice of Christ and reiect the Sacrifice of the Masse is euidently grounded vpon the holy Scripture there needeth no other witnes than the Apostle to the Hebrues For first he doth testifie vnto vs that there is none other Sacrifice for the remission of mennes sinnes but Iesus Christ only and that he himselfe by his own bloud hath obtayned for vs an euerlasting redemtion For thus he sayth Christ being become the high Priest of the good things that are to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands That is to say not of this building nor by the bloud of Goates and Calues but by his own bloud is entered in once into the holy place and hath found eternall redemtion And to the end we should not thinke that Christ is no more a Priest but that although he
was once a Priest yet as now he hath resigned that office vnto others The Apostle testifyeth that he is a Priest still and euer shall be saying thus of him Thou art a high Priest for euer after the order of Melchizedech And because we shold not thinke that there should be any other priest thā he the Apostle teacheth vs that there may be none other in that he saith that no man may take the honor of high priest vnto himselfe except he be called of God as Christ was called to that office by his Father These be his very words No man may take that honor vpon him but he shall enioy it which is called of God as was Aaron Neyther hath Christ presumed of himselfe to be made high Preest but he hath bestowed that dignity vpon him which fayde vnto him Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee Now as we are taught by this text that neyther there is nor ought to be any mo then one Sacrifice for the forgeuenes of sins that is to wit Iesus Christ which is and shal be the high preest for euer So are we taught also by other texts that there is but one only Sacrifice once offered for all sinnes and to obtayn euerlasting life which is the death and passion of Iesus Christ our Saviour And that we need none other Sacrifice for the remission of our sinnes but only that This is the very text of the Apostle which is so playn and cleere as nothing can be more By the which will we are made holy euen by the offering of the body of Christ once for all For by that one offering hath he made them perfect for euer which are to be sanctified where remission of sinnes is there needes no more Sacrifice for sinne Which words of the Apostle are a very definitiue sentence pronounced against the Masse For if there be no more offering for sinne what shall become of the masse seeing it is no other thing in substance as the very words of the consecration doe declare but a Sacrifice and an offering for the forgeuenes of the sinnes of the quick and the dead And in very deede the Catholick Schoolemē not being able by any meanes to rid themselues of these textes which are so playne and cleere do say for their refuge that the Mas is not a very Sacrifice in deed but a remembrance of the only and true Sacrifice of our Lord Iesus Christ But the answere to this shift of descant is very easie For seeing they doe maintayne that the very body of Christ is in the mas and that the bread of the singingcake is changed into his very body and the wine into his very bloud And that they breake his body in peeces and offer vp both the body and the bloud in Sacrifice vnto God It followeth of necessitie that their opinion is that it is a very Sacrifice and not a remembrance only On the other side the protestants doe say that the remembrance of the true Sacrifice of Iesus Christ ought to be done by celebrating his holy supper after the same maner that he hath appointed it For he hath ordayned that his Supper should be celebrated by many at once because it is a sacramentall communion of the body and bloud of our Sauiour by the which we are made one body and as it were one loafe in Iesus Christ become partakers of one selfesame bread of euerlasting life These are the wordes of S. Paule vpon the same matter Is not the cup of blessing which we blesse a partaking of the bloud of Christ And is not the bread which we breake a partaking of the body of Christ For we that are many are one loafe and one body because we be al partakers of one bread By which text it appeareth euidently that the remembrance of the Sacrifice of our Sauiour ought to be vsed in celebrating the holy Supper by many together accordingly as when he did institute and celebrate it with his Disciples they were many together And so consequently it followeth that the Mas neither is nor can be a true remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ seeing that none taketh part of it but the priest him selfe Now let vs come to the Canones The Canons which we haue alleaged in the former Chapter when we spake of the Lordes Supper doe sufficiently confute this Transubstātiation which is the very principall parte and foundation of the Masse And therfore we will speake no more of that point But I will speake of certain difficulties into the which the Transubstantiatiō hath led the schole diuines as it hapneth commonly according to the saying of the Logicians that in admitting one absurditie there follow many moe The schole doctors hauing once graunted that the bread and wine in the Masse are Transubstantiated into the very body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ are greately troubled how to resolue diuers other questions which haue growen vpon the same matter Pope Innocent the third reciteth one of them which he sayth was greatly debated amongst the sayd Scholedoctors howbeit in such sort as they knew not how to determine it That is to witt whether the water which the preest putteth into the chalice with the wine be transubstātiated into bloud or not for they imagine that water must nedes be put into the chalice where the wine is bicause it is written that out of the side of our Lord Iesus Christ there did issue both bloud and water Notwithstanding their opinion is that there ought to be more wine than water For Pope Honorius the third did sharply checke a certayne Bishop who in singing masse did put more water in his chalice then wine wherupon grew a great disputation amongst the Scholediuines as Pope Innocent reporteth For some of thē held opinion that the water was not Transubstantiated into wine but remayned naturall water still bicause say they there was water in the bloud which issued out of the side of our Lord Iesus Christ when he was vpon the Crosse And therfore seeing that the wine in the Chalice at the masse tyme is Transubstantiated into the very bloud it must needes be that the water remayneth water still to the ende that there be an answerable resemblance aswell of the water as of the bloud Others sayd that although it were graunted that water must needes remayne still in the Chalice with the bloud yet notwithstanding it must alwayes be beleeued that the water which the priest putteth into the Challice is turned into the selfe same water which issued out of the side of our Lord Iesus Christ Which opinion seemeth to haue most shew of wit and most proportionble resemblance agreeing to the matter though at the first sight it might seeme an absurde thinge to saye that water is turned into other water For looke by what reason the wine is trāsubstantiated into the very bloud by the same reason is the water changed into the
in authoritie vnder them that we may leade a quyet and a peaceable life in all godlines and honesty For that is acceptable before God our Sauiour And it is not for any man not only to exempt himselfe from obaying the prince but also to deny to pay him tribute seeing that our lord Iesus Christ did pay it and hath commaunded to pay it S. Paule doth also witnes the same thing saying that the duty of conscience commaundeth vs to pay tribute to princes because they be the ministers of God and serue thereunto Therfore geue vnto euery mā sayth he that which is due vnto hym Tribute to whome tribute belongeth custome to whō custome pertaineth duty to whom duety belongeth and honor to whom honor is due To be short next after God wee owe to the Prince all obedience honour and feare neither ought wee to thinke it straunge that God shoulde haue the cheefe preheminence seeing that the prince is but his minister and seruant and that the Liefetenant ought not to goe before him which putteth him in office nor the seruant before the master And that was the cause why Daniell said so boldly vnto the king Darius that he had made no fault in disobaying his commaundement which he could not haue obayed without offending both God and his own conscience Also it was for the selfesame cause that the obedience which the people of Israell did yeald vnto their king Ieroboham which caused Calues of golde to be made and commanded the people to honor them is condemned by the word of god For in matters of Religion we ought to hold the generall rule which S. Peter teacheth saying We must rather obay God than man. The reason hereof is the same that is alleadged by S. Paule namely That we be redeemed or bought with the precious bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ which is a thing of so great and excellent price that we ought not to turne away from the saluation which he hath purchased vs for any thing in all the world We haue heretofore alledged some of the decretall Epistles of the Popes Gelasyus Innocēt the third and Bomface the eight by that which they haue done their indeuour to thrust down emperours kinges and other Princes far vnderneath them but the auncient Canons speake farre otherwise for by them euen the Pope himselfe whensoeuer he cōmitteth any fault ought to be corrected and punished by the Emperour as Pope Leo the fourth auoweth and confesseth in his epistle written to the Emperor Lewes which epistle is made canonicall If we haue done sayth he any thing which wee ought not or haue not performed the equity of the law towards your subiects we are ready to amend our fault by the iudgement of your selfe or of your commissioners for if we which should correct the faultes of other men do worsse then they we be not the children of the trueth but which thing I speake with great grief we be masters of error more thā others Wherfore we most hūbly besech your maiesties clemency to vouchsafe to send hither some commissioners of yours such as feare God to informe you of our behauiour and to make as diligent inquisition thereof as if your imperiall maiestie were here present in proper person and to search out the trueth by peecemeale not onely of the thinges afore mentioned but also of all other matters which may haue bene reported vnto you So as by that meanes al things may be determined by lawfull examinatian of the case and nothing remayne to be discussed and decided hereafter By which Canon it appeareth playnely that the Emperour of Rome hath power and authoritye to inquire of the misbehauiour and misdealings of the pope and that he may by lawful iudgement condemne and punish him when he doth amisse We do also read in S. Gregory who is esteemed for one of the best Popes that in his epistle which he wrote to the kings of fran̄ce of Englād and of the westerngothes he did alwaies call them his children But when the wrate to the Emperor which raygned in his tyme whose name was Mawrice hee called him his Lord and spake very humbly vnto him as vnto hym that was his soueraygne declaring that he did and would obay the sayd Emperors most mylde commaundementes for those be his termes that he vseth There are other Canons also by the which all power of Soueraintye is attributed vnto princes as well ouer the lay people as ouer the clergye and ouer the goodes both of the one and of the other These be the very wordes of the Canon S. Peter in fishing found tribute in the mouth of a fish because that the church ought to pay tribute of such outward good as are sene to al mē And the case so standeth that for his tribute he was commaunded to pay not all the whole fish which he had caught in fishing but onely the peece of siluer which he had founde in the mouth of the fish which he had caught because the church it selfe or the preheminence of the place ought not to be geuen to Emperours and Kinges nor to be put in subiection to their power But surely as I sayd before that which was found in the mouth of the fish is commaunded to be geuen for the tribute of Peter and of the Lord because wee ought to pay tribute vnto princes of the outwarde goods of the church according to the auncient custome to the end they may mayntayne defend vs in good peace and quietnes By which canon it appereth that princes may as well rayse tribute vpon men of the Church as vpon the lay people although they may not take authority in deuine matters further than to cause obedience to be geuen to the commaundements of God as it is sayd in an other Cannon in expresse wordes When Emperors make wicked lawes to maintayne falshood agaynst the trueth it serueth to trye the true beleuers who are crowned with martirdom for perseuering in the truth But when they make good lawes and edictes to mayntayne the truth agaynste the falshood the persecutors are strickē in fear by it and such as vnderstand the truth do amend themselues Whosoeuer therefore doth refuse to obay the edictes of the Emperoures and princes that mayntayne the true doctrine doe procure themselues great punishment but as many as refuse to obay the edicts made agaynst the will of God winne to themselues great reward Eor euer since the tyme of the prophets all kinges are blamed which haue not prohibited and rooted out from amongst Gods people all such thinges as haue bene set vppe agaynst his commaundements And these which haue prohibited thē and rooted them out are highly praysed aboue al others Nabuchodonosor being an Idolater did make a trecherous proclamation that all men should worship his Image But those which refused to obay the vngodly law dealt faythfully and holyly With this Canon agreeth an other canon taken out of S.