word of God then the doctrine of the Romish Catholicks For S. Paule doth teach vs that Christ is the head of the church not a head separated or set away frō it but surely knit and ioyned fast vnto it with all manner of fastninges knittinges that a well vnited and well cōpacted bodye should haue These be his wordes To th end that by following the truth with charitie wee should in all poyntes atteyne to full growth in him which is our head that is to say in Christ vnto whome the whole bodye being throughly knitted and fastned together by all manner of fastninges that may furnish it out doth take bodilye increase of the power that worketh within it according to the capacitye of euery mēber to the full perfecting vp of it self in loue By which wordes euery man may easely iudge that S. Paule ment to portray out vnto vs the great and singular cōiunctiō of the head which is Christ vnto his church in that he sayth that he is knit and fastened to the same by all manner of fastenings requisite to the full furnishing out of a bodye And in an other place he sayth likewise that Christ is the head of the church working all thinges fully in all the members of his bodye which is the church Whereupon it followeth very well that we ought to haue no other head in the church to execute and performe the office of Christ forasmuch as the sayd performance is reseruid to Christ him selfe These be the very wordes of S. paule And he hath put all thinges vnder his feete set him aboue all things to be the hed of the church which is his bodye and the ful furnishing out of him who furnisheth out all thinges fully in all men Also in an other text of S. Paule it is well declared that that church needeth not a liuetenant to hold the place of Iesus Christ her hed For he sayth that lyke as the husband is the hed of his wife so is Christ also the hed of his church And were it meet that a wife should haue a nother man in her husbandes stead would not men say that the wyfe which would needs haue another man to supply her husbāds roome were a whore yes and euē in lyke wise the chast and honest-minded church ought to content herselfe with her hed which is Christ who is well inough able to gouerne the same without a liuetenant specially seing it should be but ill gouerned by such liuetennants as the most part of the Popes haue bene This is the very text of S. Paule For the husband is the hed of the wyfe euen as Christ is the hed of the Church who is also the preseruer of hir bodye Therfore as the church is subiect vnto Christ so lykewise let women be subiect to their husbandes Moreouer when S. Paule maketh reckening of the diuers offices which are in the Church he saith that for the gathering together and building vp of the same Christ hath ordayned Apostles Prophets Euangelistes Shepherds and Teachers and not that he hath appointed a Pope or an vniuersall Shepheard to haue supremacie ouer the vniuersal Church which is dispersed throughout all the world And yet it is very certain that S. Paule would not haue forgotten to haue spoaken of him yea and to haue reckned him in the first place if Iesus Christ had ordayned that there should haue bene a pope in his church to haue bene his lieutenāt These be the very wordes of S. Paul Therefore he hath appoynted some to be Appostles some to be Prophets some to be Euangelists some to be Shepheards some to be Teachers to gather together the Sayntes through their working in the ministery and to build vp the body of Christ And so it appeareth by this text that there needeth no pope for the building vp of the church nor for the work of the ministery but that the offices before named by S. Paule are sufficient for that purpose And as touching the text of Saint Mathew before alleadged whereon the Romish Cotholickes doe build theyr doctrine concerning the Pope saying that Iesus Chryst hath builded his Church vpon S. Peeter the first Pope and geuen him all power ouer the vniuersall Church The Protestances aunswere that the Petra that is to say the rocke which is spoken of there is the fayth whereby S. Peter had most stoutly confessed that Iesus was that Christ the sonne of the liuing god For S. Paule doth teach vs that Iesus Christ is the head corner stone whereon we ought to build And S. Peter himselfe doth witnes that the true beleuers which haue their fayth builded vpon this corner stone christ are as liuing stones conched and cemented together vpon it to fynish vp the building of the lords church And as for the authority which Iesus Christ gaue vnto Peter as it is sayd in the same text They sayd also that he gaue the like to all the rest of his Apostles as S. Iohn witnesseth So as it cannot be inferred vpon this text that S. Peter was ordained to be the onely Soueraygn gouernor of the Christian Church any more then the rest of the Apostles And in an other place S. Paule doth wel declare that S. Peter had no more authority then the other Apostles for hee putteth himselfe in the same degree of apostleship that Peter was And whē he reckneth vp the chiefest Apostles he reckneth first S. Iames then Saynt Peter and in the third place S. Iohn wherein he had greatly ouershot him selfe which cannot be sayd without blaming the holy ghost if the saying of the Romish Catholickes be trew who affirme that S. Peter was the Prince of the Apostles and had soueraygne authority ouer them and ouer the whole vniuersall church These be the uery wordes of S. Paule For he which hath wrought by peter in the office of Apostleship among the circumcised hath like wise wrought by me among the Gentiles and Iames Cephas and Iohn who are esteemed to be the pillers haue knowne the grace which was geuen me Neither doth S. Peeter in his Epistles name himselfe Pope or prince of Apostles or head of the church or Christs vickar but simply an Apostle as the others And when his companions did geue him charge to go preach in Samaria he was so far of from pretēding to haue any princely authority ouer them that he obayd them without gayneseing as it is written in the Actes of the Apostles And therefore it appeareth playnelye by all these sayings that the doctrine of the protestantes is better grounded vpon the word of God then the doctrine of the Romish Catholickes and consequently that it is the most auncient and true according to our second Maxime Let vs now come to the Canons Truely when I read these Canons which I wil reherse hereafter I maruel that pope Engenie the third who authorised the decres of Gratian and commanded that they should be openly red
purpose to haue the vnderstanding of all secretes and all knowledge vnles it be matched with charity And as for charitye they can haue no peece thereof by doing nothing els but study without making their neighbors partakers of the giftes that god hath bestowed vpō them And if they reply yet again and say that there are many moonkes which geue themselues to preaching and teaching of the people I answere therunto first that not one among a hundred of thē doth so and secondly that such of them as preache doe agaynst the profession of moonkes for by the Canōs a moonk ought to bee alwayes shut vp in his cloyster and not in any wise meddle with preaching or teaching These are the very wordes of the Canon The office of a Monke is to weep and not to teach for he ought to look for the comming of the Lord with feare mourning for himfelfe and for all the world And in an other place it is sayd thus According to the tenor of the good counsel of Calcedon we geue cōmādement as well to the Moonkes of S. Benets order as to other religious persones to keepe themselues within their cloysters that they stray not abroad in Cities Castles and Townes and we charge them to forbeare preaching to the people in any wise sauing onely to such as are willyng to take their habit vpon them for the remedying of their soules health Seeing then that it is agaynst the profession of Moonkes to preache it followeth that they cannot iustifie their contemplations to be good vnder pretence that some of them doe deale with preaching for as much as in so doing they doe against their generall profession And as for their watchinges Mattines Euensong and such other Seruices wherto they binde themselues by their vow of obeoience we will speak of them hereafter It is inough for me at this presēt to haue shewed in few wordes that the works wherunto the Monks do binde themselues as well by their vow of obedience as by their other vowes cannot be called good works because they be to farre of from the word of God. It is also to be prooued by the Canons that these pretended good works be neither good nor merytorious And first as touching their garmēts the Canons doe cursse and ban all such as repoze any holynes in them So that by the sayinges of those Canons we ought to abhorre all kind of Moonkes For all of them accompt themselues to deserue somewhat at Gods handes by theyr wearing of that kind of apparell and of those shirtes of heare next their skinne and that they should do ill if they should wear such garmentes as other men doe These wordes here following be the very wordes of the Canon which is a chapter of the counsell Grangrene If any man thinke him selfe to be the better furthered to chastity by his wearing of the Moonkes cowle or take himselfe to be the more righteous for it and ther upon holde scorne of such as modestlye weare hoods and other attyres after the common fashion Cursed be they And touching their vow of abstinence from meates the auncient Canons speake thereof in such sort as generally they alow of sobriety without prescribing of any abstinēce more from fleshe then from fishe These be the expresse words of the Cannon For there is nothing so delectable as meates well drest and digested Nor any thinge better for our health or for the sharpning of our wits or for the preseruing of our bodyes frō sicknes than sober and moderate feeding for as suffizance nurrisheth vs so doth it also maintayne vs in good plight and pleasures By this Canon it appeareth that moderate dyet is so commended as that wee must haue a regard to our health and not appayre it eyther by to much pyning of our selues or the eating of meates that are cōtrary to our health And in good sooth the same Canons do lykewise witnes with vs that to abstayne from iniquitie is the true manner of keeping and obseruing the Lent and that therein consisteth the perfection of fasting These be the very wordes of the Canon It is a great and generall fast to abstayne from iniquitie and vnlawfull pleasures of the worlde and that is the most perfect kinde of fasting in this world For we obserue the Lenton fast when wee liue honestly keeping our selues from iniquitie and vnlawful delights And truely as sayth an other Canon mens prayers and fastinges are nothing worth if the ill lyfe be not amended Vppon this poynt of abstynence from meates this history which Eusebius reciteth is worthy to be noted In the tyme of the Emperour Marke Antonius ther was a great persecution of the Christians in Vienna nigh vnto Lyons Emong others two noble personages named Alcibiades and Attalus were put in prison Alcibiades did punish himself greatly in prison through hys to great abstinence eating nothing but bread and salt and drynking nothing but water forbearing to eate eyther fleshe or any kinde of meate Where upon it was reuealed vnto Attalus that Alcibiades did euill in forbearing to vse the creatures of God and ministred occasion of offence to the other christians Which thing when Attalus had told to Alcibiades Alcibiades began to eat of all kinds of meats without any kind of scrupulosity gaue thāks to God being perswaded so to doe sayth Eusebius by the same spirit which had reuealed it vnto Attalus It is also a very notable thing whiche we read in the history Tripartite concerning the greate diuersitye which was vsed in old tyme in abstayning from meates and in keeping of lent For in auncient time the Romayne Churche did make their lent of three weekes and no more And all Greece Slauonia and Alexandria made it of sixe weekes And neither the one nor the other did make their lent of fortye dayes as it ought to haue bene in following the signifacatiō of the word Moreouer some of them did abstayne from all thinges that had life Other some did eate onely fysh And some others which were not of the grossest diet did feede onelye on flying soules and fish and did eate neyther beefe Mutton nor other such gros fleshe There were some other so scrupulous as they would eate neither egs nor whitemeate And others which were not scrupulous at all did eate of all kindes of meates sauing that vpon the fasting dayes they would not eate til late towards night All which diuersities sayth the historye were in those dayes practised in sundrye churches without finding any faulte or chalinging one an other for so doing Wherby it appeareth that the christians which liued in those dayes were of much greater modestye than those which haue liued in our dayes in whom we haue seene all kind of crueltie in burning and persecuting of such as haue not followed the traditions and superstitions that are obserued in the Romish Church As touching Pilgrimages They also are reproued in their Canō law For euery body knoweth that
ceremonies for the Catholicks beleue that if a childe dye before he be baptised he cannot be saued and that in case of necessity women may Baptise And they woulde haue Baptisme ministred with coniured water such as had bene kept all the yere in a vessell which they call a font within the Churche affirming that the euil sprites be coniured to go out of the bodies of the little Infants which are baptised And that they muste be held all naked ouer the fonte in the tyme of the christning and that both salte and spittle should be put into the mouthes of the babes Al which things the Protestaunts do vtterly disallow because as touching the infāts which die vnchristened if they belong to Gods election which goeth both before their natiuitye also before theyr conception they be with him and are partakers of his saluation although they die vnbaptised For Gods election cannot be disapoynted Besides this it is not their fault if they be not baptised but the negligence of their Parentes or by chaunce of soden death And as concerning women their sect and nature doth exclude them frō publick charges which onely belong vnto men And therfore are they altogether vnmeete either to preache in Churches or to Minister the Sacramentes And touching the children of Infidels it is not reasonable to receaue them into the church to be members of christ vntil they acknowledge him to bee their heade and make cnofession of their faythe and consequently be of conuenient yeares because that being borne of vnbeleuing Parents they haue no warraunt or witnes that they belong to the couenant of god Neither doe the protestantes allow the forementioned ceremonies And their reasō is for that they beleue that god is the only cause whereof and whereby we receiue the benefite of generation and the remission of originall sinne in baptim without the ayd of hallowed water or of any of the other Ceremonies Nay which more is they take it to be a defiling of the holy baptisme to adde thereunto any other ceremonies then the institution of God that it ought to be ministred purely and simply according to his ordinaunce For wee ought to doe this honour vnto God namely to beleue that whatsoeuer hee hath ordeined is perfect and that thereto there ought nothing to be added nor aught taken away And therefore it doth appeare that in this poynte of Baptisme the Doctrine of the protestantes doth much better yeelde God his due honor then doth the doctryne of the Catholickes For the Protestantes mind not to restrayne the election of God to those onely which are Baptised but doe extend it to the children of the faythfull forasmuch as it is a thing very reasonable to be beleued that if the fathers and moothers bee of the household of God their children are so likewise But the Romish Catholicks do hold on the contrary that the children whiche die before they be baptised be not of the household of God although theyr Fathers and moothers were Agayne whereas the Catholickes enable women to baptise which they call christening in doing wherof they committe vnto them one of the chiefe charges in gods house to wit the ministring of the sacrament wherby we be graffed into the bodye of Christes church and made the members of his bodye and meyny of his householde The Protestantes will not graunt to admit women into any of the publick charges in Gods household specially seeing that euen by the ciuill lawes which in that poynt agree with the law of nature women be disabled to take vpon them the executing of anye publick office euen in the houses or dominions of earthly princes Moreouer wheras the catholickes as much as in them lieth not onely receyue such into the churche by baptisme as are faythles and haue no knowledge of Christ neither they nor their Parentes but also bestow baptisme vpon bels after such a maner as they thē selues haue inuented for it The Protestantes cannot finde in their hartes to defile Gods house so much as to receiue infidels into it or to avowe those to be the mēbers of Christ who haue no fayth in them neither themselues nor their Parentes for asmuch as it were to vnseemely a thing to avow such a one for a member of a body as acknowledgeth not the heade there of Finally the Protestantes yeeld this honor vnto holy Baptisme instituted by God that they will in no wise adde any thing to it besids gods ordinaunce nor defile it with spittle oyle salt coniured water and such other Ceremonies As the Romishe Catholickes doe Besides this the word of God doth teach vs that Christ receiued little Children whiche were not Baptised and that he pronoūced of them that the kingdome of heauen doth belong vnto them and that God doth promise his blessinges vnto all the faythfull and to their children yea euen vnto the thousandth generation So as those infantes shall neuertheles be saued though they dye vnchristened seeing they be comprysed in the couenaunt of God. The same word doth also teach vs that Christ gaue commission of baptising and preaching not to the holy virgin his mother nor to any other of the women that resorted to his Sermons but to his Disciples and Apostles And therfore women ought not to take vpon them to baptise seeing that as saith the Apostle None ought to vsurpe any charge or degree of honor without lawfull calling therunto And the same word doth declare further vnto vs that those which doe not beleeue in Christ nor come of beleuing parents ought not to receaue Baptisme forasmuch as baptism is no other thing but the zeale of faith And lastly the same word of God doth teach vs that in the tyme of the Apostles Baptisme was alwayes ministred with common water That is to say without any charme or particular blessing For the Apostles and disciples of Christ did baptise men on the banckes of Riuers or in the first water that they found fit for the purpose Also it doth teach vs that God is the God of the faythful and of their Children So as little Infantes begotten and brought forth of beleuing or faythfull Parentes doe belong to God to hys couenaunt euen from their moothers womb And so by consequence their bodyes as is aforesayd cannat be possessed with ill spirites And therefore it is needles to dryue them out by coniurations as the priests of the Catholicks do Likewise the Protestantes say also that to hold the tender babes all naked ouer the font specially in winter is often time a cause of their death and that those which do practise that Ceremony be oftē guilty of murder which is forbidden by the commaundementes of god Likewise they disalow the salte the oyle the spittle and the other ceremonies aswell for that they cannot but be hurtful to the little childrē as also because they be filthy and fōde ceremonis and haue no groūd in the word of God. Also
Christ The Lambe is the passeouer The circumcision is the couenaunt The sacrifice is the clensing of the law and Christ is the church For out of question all these textes are to bee interpreted figuratiuely Thus may you see that the doctrine of the Protestauntes touching the holy sacrament of the supper is grounded vpon the pure word of God. But now as touching the canons The Catholickes thinke they make altogether for them and for the vpholding maintayning of their transubstantiatiō as in deed there be of them which do and chiefly the canon before alleadged which is an abiuratiō that pope Nicolas caused to bee made at Rome by one Beringarius a deacon of the church of S. Mawrice of Angiers by which abiuratiō they inforced this poore man of Angiers to say and protest that he renounced the doctrine that he had holden aforetime wherby he had maintained that the bread and wine of the sacramēt remained bread and wine stil after the consecration that the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ could not be handled with the handes of men nor eaten with their teeth Declaring that contrariwise he there allowed the doctrine of the Romish church and of pope Nicholas that is to wit that after the cōsecration the bread and the wine doe chaunge and transubstantiate themselues into the very body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ and that the priest in putting the sacramēt into the mouthes of the faythfull doth sensibly handle Christes very body it selfe and that the faythfull doe crowze and crashe it betwixt their teeth But agaynst this goodly abiuration racked by pope Nicholas and a hundred and fourtene bishops out of this pore Deacon whom they helde amongest them in their clawes there are many other canōs to be opposed which are of a better stampe Thus sayth one of them which is taken out of S. Augustine wher he interpreteth these wordes of the Lord The wordes which I haue spoken vnto you are spirit life meaning of the eating of his flesh and of his bloud These words sayth he are spirit and life to those that vnderstande them spiritually But to those that vnderstand them carnally they are neither spirit nor life You shall not eate this bodye that you see neither shall you drinke the bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifye me the thing that I commend vnto you is a sacrament If you vnderstād it spiritually it will quicken you the fleshly vnderstanding thereof auayleth nothing at all Afterwards he concludeth thus The Lord shall be still aboue vntill the end of the world but yet in the meane while his truth shal remayn here amongest vs For it must needes be that the body wherein he is risen agayne is in a place certayne but his truth is spred euery where throughout the worlde And to shew that the flesh of our lord is not crushed so betwixt the teeth as Beringarius sayth in his abiuration here is an other canon taken also out of S. Augustine which sayeth thus To what purpose doost thou prepare thy teeth and thy belly beleue and thou hast eaten for to beleue in the Lord is to eat the bread and to drinke the wine who so beleueth in him eateth him And an other Canon following sayth thus That which is seene and perceiued with the eies is the bread and the cuppe but as in respect of sayth which seeketh to be taught the bread is Christs body and the cup is his bloud And because the receiuing of the sacrament is spirituall It followeth that at that supper the wicked receiue but the signes onely not the things signified whiche are the spirituall meat of Christes body and bloud And the same is auowed by an other Canon which sayth He that agreeth not with Christ eateth not his flesh nor drinketh his bloud though he receiue the sacrament to his vtter vndoing and damnation By these Canons it appeareth plainly that transubstantiation is reproued and condemned and so by cosequence the locall worshipping of the body of christ in the sacrament of the bread and wine But before I passe out of this matter I will alleadge one text of S. Augustines which is so cleare and fitte to confute this transubstantiatiō as is possible For first of all that men may learne to know what manner of speaches in the scriptures are to be taken figuratiuely and what are to be taken according to the letter he setteth downe this rule which is a very notable one If there be any thing sayth he so spokē in Gods word as that it can not properly agree with the comelines of good maners nor with the trueth of fayth you must take the same to be figuratiuely spoken Afterwardes to make this rule plain by examples he sayth these very wordes If then the maner of speaking be a precept so as it forbiddeth any crime and misbehauiour or commaundeth the thing that is good and behoue full such maner of speaking is not figuratiue But if it seeme to commaund an euill fact or to forbidde the thing that is good and behouefull then is it spoken figuratiuely Vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the sonne of man sayth our Lord and drinke his bloud you shall haue no life in you By this maner of speaking he seemeth to commaunde a cruelty and an euill facte in eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud therefore it is a figure wherby we be commaunded to become partakers of the passion of our Lord and to imprint gentlye and profitably in our memories that his flesh was māgled and crucified for vs. The Scripture sayeth likewise If thine enemye hunger feede him if he be a thirst geue him drink no doubt but in this case he commaundeth a good deede But wheras it followeth for in so doing thou shalt heape coales of fire vpon his head forasmuch as thou mayest thinke that he commaundeth a malicious deed doubt not but that this manner of speache is figuratiue and that those wordes may be taken two manner of waies the one to do hurt the other to do good Thou oughtest therfore rather to construe them according to charitye than otherwise and by those burninge coales to vnderstand the burning sighes of repentaunce wherby the pride of the party is healed in that he repenteth himself to haue bene an enemy to such a one as releeueth his misery and necessity Also it is written who so loueth his soule shal lose it Now It is not to be thought that he forbiddeth so requisite a thing as the sauing of a mans owne soule but that this speache ought to bee taken figuratiuely He shall lose his soule that is to say he must suppresse and forsake the froward vntoward dealing wherunto his mind is now geuen by meanes wherof he is so greatly wedded to these temporall things that he hath no regard of the euerlasting things Agayn it is also written Shew mercy and receiue not the sinner The latter
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
whoredome and bawdry which is amongst the most parte of Priests And moreouer the Canons denounce those persons to be Idolaters which heare the Masse of any Priest or Deacon that is a Fornicator For thus saith a Canon taken out of S. Gregory If any Priest Deacon or Subdeacon be stayned with the sinne of fornication we in the name of the father almighty by the authoritie of S. Peter doe vtterly forbid bim to come into the Church vntill he haue done penance and made amendes And if they continue in their sinne let no mā presume to heare their diuine seruice for their blessings shall be turned into cursings their prayer into sinne And this doth the Lord himselfe witnesse where he saith by his Prophet I will curse your blessings And as many as disobay this holesome commaundement shall fall into the sinne of Idolatry Were this Canon wel vnderstood of the infinite number of pore ignorant soules that hold of the Romish Religion and doe ordinarily hear the Masses and other Church seruices of lecherous priestes I beleeue they would rather forbeare it vtterly than defile themselues so wretchedly with Idolatrie And as saith this Canon receiue the curse of God in receiuing the blessing of such a priest But ignorance accompanied with error which hath been long bred and rooted in the Romain Church doe cause the poore people to be content to heare the masses of these Fornicators But if a maryed Priest should sing them a Mas they would stone him to death and not allow his masse to be good Behold what power long forgrowen error hath ouer poore ignorant people and how strangely the tirany therof causeth their wretched consciences to goe astray For by the auncient Canons it is a cursed thing to shun the offering of a maryed priest or to beleeue that the same is to be despised because he is marryed These be the very words of a Canon taken out of the councell of Gangra If any man make difference of a marryed Priest in forbearing to come to his offering as though he might not doe it because he is marryed Cursed be he And there is yet another Canon which saith that no Priest hath power to consecrate singingcakes except he be a man of good life Which thing should make the Romish Catholicks to thinke that they put them selues in great danger of Idolatry when they worship the singing cake although it were admitted that their doctrine of Transubstantiation were true which thing the Protestants doe still deny For questionles by this Canon all be Idolaters which worship the singing bread that is consecrated by priests of euill life as the most part of them be These be the very wordes of the Canon The priestes which minister the body and bloud of the Lord vnto the people doe wickedly in beleeuing that by the law of Christ it is the wordes which the priest speaketh and not his good life which make the consecration of the Sacrament And that to doe the same there nedeth but only the solemne pronouncing of the prayer without any merit of the priest for it is written that the Prieste which hath any blemish in him may not approch to the Lord to offer any Sacrifice vnto him So then by this Canon it may be well said that in these dayes there are very few Priestes which haue power to consecrate Moreouer in these dayes they obserue no parte of the Ceremonies appointed by the Canons in the saying of their Masse For they ought to sing the Masse in single linnen cloth and not in silks of colors These are the expresse words of the Canon By the opinion of vs all we ordain that no man presume to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Altar in cloth of silke nor in any other cloth of color but in linnen cloth only consecrated by the Bishop That is to say made and wouen of flax which groweth vpon the earth Euen in such like sorte as the bodye of our Lord Iesus Christ was buried and wrapped in a simple white sheete made of flax Neither ought they to sing or say Masse without two assistantes least they should offend in the congruity of Grammer in hauing but one when they said Dominus vobiscum and Orate pro me fratres speaking in the plurall number But yet this notwithstanding the most part of Masses are said nowadayes but with one Clarke to accompany the priest yea and often times the Priest is constrayned to answere himselfe as it is sayd by a common prouerbe of a priest named Martin These be the very wordes of the Canō It is also ordayned that no priest shal presume to say masse except he haue two assistants so as he himselfe may be the third For when he saith in the plurall number the Lord be with you these words of the Memento Brethren pray for me it is very conuenient that other folks should answere of themselues to his salutation So as if all these Canons be well considered euery man may well perceiue that the Romish Catholicks haue no great reason to make so great account of their Mas or to thinke the Protestants to be in error in that they will neither come at it nor allow of it Of Maryage The ix Chapter AS cōcering marriage the doctrine of the Protestauntes differeth not much from the doctrine of the romish catholickes In deed the Catholickes do terme it a sacrament and the protestantes say it is a holy institution of God but not a sacrament because that in euery sacramēt there must be an outward signe to bee discerned with the eie and an inward thing signified which is inuisible as I haue sayed of Baptisme heretofore shewing that in that sacrament the water is the outward signe and the washing of the soule is the inward inuisible thing signified And in the supper of our lord the bread and the wine are the outward signes and the body and the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ bee the things signified which our soules do receiue inwardly and spiritually But it cannot be sayd that in marriage ther is an outward visible signe and an inward inuisible thing signified And therfore it is not a Sacrament Agayne the Protestants affirm that marriage is honorable amongst all sorts of people be they lay men or men of the church noble or vnnoble rich or poore because God hath instituted it and hath permitted the vse thereof to all persons of what quality soeuer they be and to celebrate the same at all seasons And that to make gloses and limitations or restrayntes of the which God hath set at liberty is to goe about to be wiser than God which in deede is starke foolishnesse beastly presumption and heddy trayterousnesse Contrarywise the romish Catholickes holde opinion that it is not lawfull for men of the church to be married at all nor to celebrate any marriage in Lent in Aduent and in the foure ember weeks And the reason whereupon they haue
god For a true virgine maye wel be misused but she cānot be made a whore because the godly virgine is the church of God and her chastity cannot be defiled by the brothelhouse For the chastity of the minde abolisheth the infamy of the place For the vnderstanding of the which Canon we must haue an eye to the time of the primitiue Church when diuers among the heathen men did put their bondslaues whether they were wiues or maydens into brothel houses and common stewes to rayse gayne of the shamefull abuse of their bodies And it fel out oftentimes that their poore slaues were Christians and yet full ill against their willes they were faine to suffer that shamefull abuse in their bodies and to become as it were open brothels and harlots to make gaine to their Masters wherof they are excused by this Canon as hauing only their bodies abused by a forcible constrainte and not their mindes by consent of their willes Now therfore it may wel be discerned by these Canones whether this doctrine of the Protestants concerning mariage ought to be reputed erroneous or not and whether it be not more agreable to Gods word and the auncient Cannons than the doctrine of the Romish Catholickes And now let vs proceed on ¶ Of princes and Magistrates The x chapter THe Protestants hold opinion that all such as dwel within the lands Dominions or Prouinces of any Prince be they naturall subiectes or free Denizens ought to yeald faithful obedience to him and also to all Magistrates vnder him without any exception of persons or of their goods And that they ought to acknowledge and to honor him as Gods Lieutenant vpon earth hauing the sword in his hand to minister iustice to al men and to be the defender and maintayner of Gods commaundements and to cause his Subiectes to obay them Also they hold opinion that all folke ought to pray to God for the preseruation and prosperitie of the Prince and of all other Magistrates And they beleeue that to disobay the prince is a disobaying of God who hath set him vp And that mē must obay him not only for feare but also for the duety of conscience which doth binde vs to obay God and so consequently the Prince whom God hath commaūded vs to obay But the opinion of the Romish Catholicks is that such as are of the clergie be exempted from this generall rule and that they be not the subiects of temporall Princes but of the pope And that so by consequence the prince neither may nor ought to leuy any tribute beneuolēce loane or subsedy of the Cleargie of his Countreis nor of their goods Accordingly as Pope Boniface the eight in one of his decrees expresly forbiddeth all Kings Princes Dukes Earles Barons Potentates Captaines Officers Gouerners of Cities and Castles and all other persons of what estate degree or condition so euer they be to doe the like vpon paine of present interditing and excommunication whereof none other but only the Pope himselfe can geue absolution Also they hold opinion that the Prince whom they tearme secular hath no authoritie in matters of Tenthes nor in matters of Matrimony among the lay people nor in many other such like things Thirdly they hold opinion that the Pope hath power to put down kings and Princes and to depriue them of their Realmes and Principalities as Pope Gelasius vaunteth himselfe in an epistle sent to the Emperor Anastasius wherin he alleadgeth the example of Pope Zachary who deposed king Chelderike of Fraunce from his kingdome not for any wicked doings sayth he but because he was vnfitte to be a king And did set vp king Pipin the father of Charlemaine in his place Also by reason of this great authoritie which the Popes tooke to themselues ouer kinges they be puffed vp with such pride that they compare themselues to the Sun and to Golde and kinges and Emperors to the Moon and to leade tearming themselues the masters of them as the same Pope Gelasius did write to the sayd Emperor Anastasius Euery man therefore may iudge whether doctrine is the better either that of the romish Catholicks which doth so limmit cut short the authoritie of kinges and Princes to augment the greatnes of the Popes and Prelats Or that of the Protestants which doe not challenge but disalow such limitations affirming that the Pope hath no such iurisdiction ouer the Subiects of kings and Princes And seeing that Princes be the Lieutenantes of God here on earth holding their Scepters and Crowne of him No doute but the honor which is done to them is done to God himselfe And so consequently God is better honored by the doctrine of the Protestantes than by the doctrine of the Romish Catholicks The doctrine of the Protestantes is groūded euidently vpon the word of God which commaundeth all men without exception of any person to obay the Prince vnder whose Dominion they dwell not only for feare of his sword but also for conscience sake These be the words of S. Paule who speaketh generally Let euery man be subiect to the higher powers for there is no power but of God and the authorities that be are ordayned of God and therefore we ought not to be subiect for fear of displeasure only but for conscience sake also And hereupon S. Chrisostome saith that this rule is so generall that there is neither Apostle nor Euangelist nor Bishop nor other person that is exempted from the obedience of the Prince And likewise S. Peter speaking to al Christians and to al Gods chosen flock sayth thus Submitte your selues to all ordinance of man for the loue of God whether it be to the king as to the chief or to the gouernors as to those which be sent and oppointed by the Prince to punish malefactors and to prayse the well doers And the reason why euery one ought to yeald obedience to the Prince is because the charge and estate which Princes take vpon them is of God For the Scripture doth call Princes Gods because they are the Lieuetenants of God. And therfore next after God we ought to feare and honor the Prince as sayeth S. Peter Feare God and honor the king And as Salomon doth also teach vs saying My Sonne feare the Lord and the king And it is to be noted that in these textes the king is put next after god as his Lieuetenant presenting God himselfe And we ought not onely to honor and feare the prince but also to pray to God for him and for all those which are in authoritie vnder him that their gouernment may be in peace and tranquility and that we may liue vnder their obedience in the seruing of God with all godlines and goodnes These be the very wordes of S. Paule I warne you therfore that before all other thinges you make intercessions prayers supplications and thankesgeuinge for all men and specially for kings and for al such as are