striued before SalomoÌ„ one told a long tale of her dwelling in one house togeather with her felowe of her owne and her felowes childebearing of her quicke child taken in the night season from her side and the placing of her companions dead boye in her bosome with other such circumstancies more to moue perchaunse some affections When she had ended It ys not so quod the other woman vnto her as thou saiest but thy soune ys deade and myne lyueth But on the other side Thou lyest saieth she for my soune ys a lyue and thyne ys deade And thus thei striued before te kinge Now what sentence the wise Prince gaue it is commonlye knowen as how he called for a sword and commaunding the quick child to be diuided in .ij. partes sought to find out thereby in which of the .ij. women the naturall compassion ouer her child would sonest appeare Which straitwayes vttering it self brimly in one of them as he wittilie had coÌ„ceiued vnto her he apointed the quicke child and sensiblie dissolued a secrete question Of which example this I thinke may be well gathered that in all controuersies we goe strayt to the quicke of the question and rest not vpon the by matters For in disputing of the Sacrament of the aultar and the necessitie whether some allwaies should communicate thou lyest saieth one thou blasphemiest saieth the other this is an itching folie saieth one this is sluttisshe eloquence saith the other you playe apishe partes saieth one you be like S. George an horsebacke saieth the other and this is no litle sport vnto manie to see how contrarie sides can cutt one the other But this vndoubtedlye is nothing to the question how euen one is with the other For coÌ„cerning such odd wordes as I can not tell hou thei come in and serue to the expressing of affections so let hym take heede which vseth them that thei coÌ„sent and agree with the matter and let other be warned which are the readers or hearers not to gape after such glauncies which happ now and then in sadd writing but to marke aduisedlye what truth is in question and neither by acclamation to the wordlie proceedinges neither indignation against the old faith and Catholike to shrinke in anye part from it Wich is me thinketh to call for a Salomons sword and not to sitt still in iudgement with harkening after such by phrases as are not of the substance of the question The sharpnes of which sword will shew who is the false harlot and who is loth to be inwardlie examined caring not what absurditie he permitteth so that he be not openlie confounded and the nature as I may saye of the question be not espyied And this I speake not onlye for the indifferent reader his sake whom I wisshe to consider the truth ernestly but for our ease allso in this fight with the Protestantes that we might come to some peace and conclusion For to the bokes of Catholikes which of late haue ben printed some of the answers and the most coÌ„mon are these It is an vnlerned boke it doth not obserue the stiles titles which it should doe it nameth hym but Master whom it should call my Lord it alleageth such authorities as we neuer saw it reciteth visions which are not in scripture it hath false Latin in it it is full of skoffes and tauntes As who should thinke the argument were dissolued if the maker of it were reproued for lisping in his vtterance or making a wrie mouth vpon his aduersarie For if these were heighnous faultes and might in deede be so proued against the Catholikes or if there were not a perfect hatred which the holye Prophete boldlye confesseth in louing the persons of his enemies with detesting to the vttermost and defying all their iniquities yet a wise preacher would not speake at all of them or lightlie passe away from such matters and go exactlie to the point of the question and proue that it toucheth not the state of his religion Yet I graunt if a religion were approued by long vse of all Christendome it were inough to tell the people that the contrarie is not to be credited and thei without more wordes ought to be perswaded as bound to folow an vniuersall authoritie of Catholike priestes and Bishopes But when new opinions are brought furth in to open pulpites and thei coÌ„mended by no formar authoritie allso when straunge Ghospells are confirmed by no miracles but onlye by naked affirmations and priuate interpretatioÌ„s that this is true and this we vnderstaÌ„d it or els by no likelie and probable reasons by which the vnderstanding might be sumwhat directed it is no honest and indifferent dealing that when such their wordes and argumeÌ„ts are disproued it should be inough for them to answer againe you lie or you iest or you fauor not the pure and sincere Ghospell I gather by the handeling of other Catholikes what I haue to prouide for about my owne doings A preacher at paules crosse in an euill houre prouoked all the Catholikes in the world vpon manifold articles against him for part of his lying a short confutation was straitwaies put in writing which for the shortnes of it being easelie copied out and for the truth and soundnes of it liked verie well of the Catholikes through much goeing abrode in to manie places and free communicating of it vnto diuers persons it cummeth at length vnto a protestaÌ„ts handes which before that was desirous of it Which to the coÌ„mendacion of his zeale vndoubtedlie although not of his science made with speede an answer vnto it and intitled it An answer in defence of the truth c. Wherin you may note how much in a short time the world is chaunged For at that season simple and familiar letters of Catholikes not framed to such purposes were out of hand answered and put in print Treatisies also which went abrode without name from frind to frind were sought and inquired for curiouslie and set furth in print to be considered Yet now when thei are prouoked againe and againe to make good the crakes sett on their Ghospell thei worke I feare by deceipts and subtelties and haue either no answer at all to make or that which thei haue made is not lyked of their fauorers or els thei will make so manie wordes and so greate a worke that lyke craftie wormes thei maye couer themselues vnder leaues and still mainteine a russhing with creeping yet awaye from the taking or els thei are not so hott in sprite as thei were wont to be But concerning that called Defence of the truth being sent vnto me by a great fauorer of the proceedinges and sent of verye good will and frindshipp that I should be reformed after his desire by it by considering how the Papiâ—â—es are allwayes repelled I taried not long but made a reply againste it the veritie of our cause was so euident and the false demeanure of the aduersarie that I might well defend the Catholike
which the old fathers vsed peruerted yet of vs but what old father or young brother hath taught you the mightie contrarietie which you speake of betweene sacrifice and sacrament Yet goe to if we haue mistaken the old fathers how well doe you vnderstand them you can not denie but the old fathers do call the sacrament an oblation or sacrifice but you will expound their meanyng vnto vs. Wherevpon you tell vs that in the beginnyng the people at the celebratiō of the Lord his supper offered vp wyne breade and other victuals partlie to find the priestes and partlie to refresshe the poore and allso to serue the communion And so partlie It came to passe the example being taken first of the common people that the administration of the sacrament of this offering was called an oblation An other occasion that the Doctours vsed those termes of sacrifieng and offering was that in the celebration of the sacrament thei had praier for all states and thankes geauing to God for all benefites After the fathers called euerie good action a sacrifice were it priuate or common And therfor their successors by litle and litle bent the same name vnto the action and celebration of the Sacrament An other cause that the holie fathers call the sacrament an oblation or sacrifice is because according to Christes ordenance we celebrate the remembrance of his death and passion which was the onlie and true sacrifice Where I may begyn to speake against you for this your diuision of sacrifice I can not readelie tell there are so many thinges which are to be moued and reproued First the imperfectnes that you haue vsed in it ▪ because you haue not expressed the full cumpasse of this word sacrifice as the holie Fathers haue vnderstode it Then your superfluousnes because you make many partes of that which you should haue concluded in one member As if euerie good action be called a sacrifice thē should you haue well brought the other kindes which you speake of vnder this one signification as the principall largest aboue all other Allthough you in deuising three maners after which the fathers take the word sacrifice do leaue this one out of the number by which euerie good action as you report is called a sacrifice which yet deserueth to haue the first place emong them if that which is most generall should not be omitted in diuiding Thirdlie your diuision is to be reproued for the greate vntruth which is conteined in it as I shall declare vnto you hereafter If first you will consider what an other maner of diuision was to be lerned out of the Doctours and in what sense it is spoken and beleiued of vs that a sacrifice propiciatorie is offered in our misteries Vnderstand you therefor that A sacrifice is a reuerent seruice and worshipp due vnto God onlie Now againe Of sacrificies some be internall and inuisible other some externall and visible The inward and internall sacrifice may be thus defined It is that worshipp and seruice in which our hart and will is geauen vnto God and this is done vpon the aultar of our hart when either we burne the incense of holie and deuoute loue in his sight or when we vowe to hym ourselues and his giftes in vs or when we remember his benefites in solempne feastes and holidaies or when vpon the aultar of our hart with the fyer of charitie we burne the offeringes of humilitie and praise vnto hym And this is the pure and acceptable sacrifice which onlie God requireth of vs not because of his owne profit and vantage but that we by vniting of ourselues to hym might liue and continue for euer with hym But how shall a man know that there is such a spirituall inuisible and acceptable sacrifice Of his owne doing a man perchaūse may know but of an others mynd who can tell without some externall signe or token shewed Againe if a man would vtter his owne inward deuotion how can he exemplifie it without some externall signe either of bowing of knees or holding vp of handes or lifting vp of eyes or knocking of breast or offering vp of some gift yea rather the soule and bodie being so nigh togeather as they are it ys impossible that the hart soule shold entierlie be occupied in the true worshipe of God and that by no maner of similitude it shold be perceaued in the bodie Therefor by necessarie and naturall consequence and folowing there must be an externall sacrifice And that is defined of S. Augustine by these wordes The visible sacrifice ys a sacrament that ys to saie an holie signe of the inuisible sacrifice Of this second kind of sacrifice if you require exāples you may easelie find them in the sacrificies of Abel Noe Abraham and others in the law of nature and in the boke of Leuiticus as concerning the old law and in the churches and deuotions of Christiās in this tyme of grace as whē thei offer candells burne frankincense take ashes beare palme and do anything outwardlie to the honor of God In which thinges except the offerer haue an internall deuotiō and pietie all those externall ceremonies are not to him worth the vsing and if he be in hart and memorie fullie disposed and aduised to consider his owne miserie and god his mercie then are these outwarde actions and obseruations holie signes and tokens of the internall sacrifice and may be called externall sacrificies But let vs speake of one singular example for all The visible and bitter death of our Sauior Christ vpon the crosse was an external aud bloudie sacrifice But in what sense and meaning vndoubtedlie as it was and is called visible But what meane I by visible I meane that so painefull maner of hys hanging by the handes and fcete vpon the crosse and so vniuersall a wounding of euerie part of his pretiouse bodie so that from the croune of his heade to the soele of his feete there was no whole place in hym and the panting of euerie vaine and stretching of euerie ioynt and incredible torment in all his blessed fleshe these thinges with manie other were I meane holie signes of his inward sacrifice in which he offered vp before hym and to hym which seeth all secreates his liffe his hart his will his thankes his praises and praiers and all that was his for the sauing of mankind and satisfieing of his fathers Iustice. Yea concernyng the eies of men not onlie the sight of God who may doubt of his patience which in all those tormētes dyd neuer once murmur who can mistrust or suspect his charitie which emong so manie cruellties done to hym forgat not to loue his enemies who should not but consider hys endlesse obedience whose soule could not be remoued from the keeping of his fathers will when the bodie was disioynted the one member from the other In verie deed this was an holie signe and sacrament of the inuisible and
owne institution shall neuer be broken of the church and when you be deliuered of this feare see whether you can proue any better then you haue done hitherto that the necessitie of cumpany to receiue with the priest is determined in scripture And if it be not determined expreslie it standeth as a thing indifferent by your owne vayne principle and then it is no breache of Christ his institution to vse sole receyuing How saye you then Will you forsake that fonde principle of yours that nothing is of necessitie to be credited but that which is expreslie in the scriptures No you will not I know your harte is so great against traditions Make then no more a doe but graunt that the obseruing of number and cumpanye is no more requisite then the obseruing of the tyme place kynde of persons and other circūstances which the Ghospell sheweth to haue ben vsed at the institution of the Sacrament No saye you that Many circumstances of place person and tyme maye be altered c. we graunte you but that cumpanye in receyuyng is one of those circumstances that we can not graunte as well for the reasons before declared as allso that we haue none example of the Apostles or primitiue church that we maye so doe Consider I praye you Syr the maner of your reasonyng We cōclude vpon your owne principle which againe we must call vayne leste anye should thinke that we doe allow it that cumpanie in receiuing is by expresse scripture of no more necessitie then the circumstances of tyme and place which Christ vsed in the delyuering of his sacrament and you answer that it is not founde in the example of the Apostles or primitiue churche that the cumpanie in receiuing was omitted as tyme and place are founde to haue ben altered in which saying you doe but enlarge your vayne principle vpō the graunting of which our argument proceeded Cumpany in receiuing in respect of the sacrament receiued is no greater matter then the circumstance of tyme and place ▪ but yet of sole receiuing saye you we haue none examples of the Apostles or primitiue church as though nothing might be vsed otherwise then as of former example it maye be gathered which addition if you thinke good to vse to make your foresaid principle vayne absolutelye lett it be so then and according to this reformed principle our argument shall thus come against you What so euer Christ did at the institution of the sacrament which we fynde not to be altered by the authoritie or example of Apostles or primitiue churche that is of necessitie to be obserued But our Sauior delyuered the sacrament at night and the Apostles with the primitiue churche of their tyme haue no example or manner to warrant vs to doe otherwyse ergo we must of necessitie receiue at night But it is vnreasonable to bring in such a necessitie ergo it is a vayne principle which maintayneth such absurditie And what you might aunswer vnto this I can not diuise except you will take examples of the primitiue church which folowed the Apostles But then remembre what you be wonte to saye out of Tertullian how that is best which was fyrst and agayne out of S. Cypriane Christ is most to be followed which was the first of all And consider allso whether the church of Corinth dyd not receiue the sacrament at night and reade in the actes of the Apostels whether there was not breaking of bread at night and fynde if you can in all scripture that ministring of the sacrament was vsed in the mornyng Are you wiser then Christ can you better dispose the tymes then the maker of tyme hymselfe Did not the Corinthians receiue at night Is there anye mention in scripture of receiuing before none These loe be your common places which if I would follow I could make as great exclamations at the breaking of Christ his institution in the tyme as you doe make for the lacking of communicantes For it is no matter to vs whether you do bring two or three causes wherefore the receiuing at night is or maye be altered for if good causes would haue preuailed you would neuer haue plaied so madd partes in crying out against sole receiuing but all thinges you saie must be brought to the institution of Christ and as he gaue example so must we follow and wherfore then might not one first breake his fast and afterwarde come to the Lorde his table And if busynes lett a Merchant all the daye why might he not receiue at night If you can dispense with one thing you maye do the lyke with all If you alter the tyme you maye alter the maner the place the bread the wyne and all that Christ did This kynde Syr of Rhetoryke and Logike we learne of you which if you do greatly myslyke when you heare it of an other besides your selfe looke then vpon your selfe better and correcte that vayne glorious principle which hath a shewe of learning and pietie but is in deede most rude and wycked when you saye that nothing should be necessarylie obserued which is not expreslie in scripture or nothing thereof might be altered without auctoritie or example of the Apostles and primitiue church Which example of Apostles or primitiue church you neede not to passe vpon in this kynde of matter For if you be most surely persuaded by the very text of the scripture that companye to receiue with the priest is of the substance of the sacrament allthough example might be founde in the primitiue church of sole receiuing or receiuing vnder one kynde you would yet condempne that example by the playne institution of Christ as you would take it what good then should an example do to you which although it were neuer so playne yet you would not be persuaded but that the cumpany at the communyon is allwaies of necessitie But of our examples we shall speake hereafter in the meane tyme what bring you to shewe that the hauing of company is of the necessitie of the sacrament And marke that we aske you not of companye whether it be laudable conuenient or honorable at the celebration of euerie masse but whether it be necessarie Of necessitie our question is and of expresse commaundement and you tell vs of the Paschall lambe of the Iewes and applye it vnto our Sacrament that lyke as cumpanye was of necessitie to the eating of the Paschall lambe so that it should be as necessarie to the receiuing of the sacrament After which argumēt you triumphe without victorie and aske of vs VVyll you saie that companye to eate vpp the Paschall lambe was not of the substance of the sacrament c. If you meane by the worde sacrament in this place the Paschall lambe it selfe cumpanye you know was no more of the substances of the lambe thē you with your bydden gestes be of the substance of your meate when you haue prouided for your selfe and them a fatt goose and
with staÌ„ding in two sundry external thinges geaue the communion of them to his Disciples This letteth nothing our beleif which do know as well as you that Christ gaue his body and bloud vnder two formes of bread and wyne and yet notwithstanding one Christ was receiued vnder both formes of bread and wyne But therefor he deliuered hymselfe vnder those two kyndes and not one that we might the better consider his passion in which the bloud was separated from the bodye Therfore the fayth of the communicantes in the one parte receiueth the body trusting to Christ his promises the same fayth in the other parte receyueth the bloud beleiuing also our Sauior his wordes therein You haue not to proue that in the one part the body was receiued but that the bodye onlye without bloud is receiued And then further where you say that the faith of the communicantes receiueth the bodie doeth it receiue it as a dead carkas shame to thinke it or else as the bodye of the soune of God Christ our Sauior saieth The flesh profiteth nothing it is the spirite which quyckeneth How then doth the communicantes faith receiue such a sole body which hath neither bloud neither lyfe neither diuinitie in it The forgeauenes of synnes commeth only from the Deitie but the cheif instrument by which God worketh is Christes our Sauior most dearlye beloued Humanitie Which if a man conceiue as separate from his Diuinitie then trulye as it is emong all creatures most excellent so yet is it but a creature and very lytle auayleable vnto vs mary as it is the bodye and bloud of hym which was not only man but also God most glorious his body and bloud doth releiue vs through the presence of his maiestie You therfore which do diuide Christ and by your faith which no wyse man doth euer trust make a receiuing of a body without all bloud lyfe or diuinitie doe most playnelie take the fructe of their redemption from the people and make them to hang vpon grosse imaginations of a bodye without bloud and bloud without a bodye to their exceading losse and iniurie But now if all other argumentes fayled vs and if your deuise were not so obscure and vyle as it is yet the authoritie of the church is no small thing emong Christians againste which you speake so lyke a madd master as though you knew the voyce of Christ better then the church of Rome which yet doe not know whether there be any Christ or no except it were for the authoritie of the church of Rome And whereas you buyld all your institutions and articles vpon the textes of the scripture and your priuate interpretations and coÌ„tempne your mother Church yet except you folow the voyce of the church of Rome you can with no reason defende that this which you holde is scripture And here againe you call vpon vs to remembre S. Cyprian which in all that epistle of his vnto which you do referr vs doth so make against them which ministred only in water that he coÌ„futeth also them which minister onlye in wyne prouing both by the old and new law that wyne and water both should be mengled togeather in the misteries But as concerning tâ—e receiuing vnder one kynde of which we haue to speake what aunswer you vnto the place of Tertullian or vnto S. Cyprian his authoritie You saye that our argumentes taken out of them are but coniectures and the same very vncertayne for often tymes in the Doctors where one kynde is mencyoned both are vnderstanded as after shall more appeare Let the wordes of the authors them selâ—es trye it whether you or we do vse the vncertayne coniectures Tertullian in his second booke vnto his wyfe where he telleth her of the sondrye faultes and inconueniencies into which those women do bring themselfes which after their husbandes death do become wyffes vnto infidell and heathen rulers or gentlemen theÌ„selues being Christians emong which this is a verye principall one that in the houses of paynyms they shall not well be able to keep the orders of Christian people he sayeth after other persuasions Shalt thou not be espied cùm lectulum cùm corpusculum tuum signas c when thow doest blesse thy bedd and thy bodye with the signe of the crossâ— when thou doest spet out with exuâ—flation some vncleane thing when also thou doest aryse in the night tyme to praye and shalt thou not be thought to worke some witchcrafte Shall not thy husband know what thou doest taste secretely of before all meate And if he know it he beleiâ—eth it to be bread and not that which it is said to be Of these wordes you gather that in the name of bread is vnderstanded also wyne and why so Mary because that some tymes emong the Doctors of which hereafter we shall speake more both kyndes are vnderstanded when but one is expressed ergo Tertullian in this place is in lyke maner to be construed But our collection is otherwise that because we reade but one kynde specifyed therefore without any necessitie we doe not make coniectures that he meaneth both And we see that Tertullian in this booke was not in such hast that he needed to speake by figures vnto his wyfe or to number syx for the dozen Then by common reason we see that wyne in so lyttle a quantitie as ones parte commeth vnto in the distributing of the mysteries was not to be reserued of any person because of the quyck alteration of it Allso we beleiue that vnder one kynde Christ wholye is geauen and therefor that the gouernors of the church were not so folysh or scrupulous as to make a necessitie of both And whereas you perceyue by this testimonye that sole receyuing was then vsed which by your sayeing Christ his institution doth not permit we had no iust occasion to mystrust the receyuing vnder one kynde which we know to be of no greater force then the receyuing with company And you also if you had good wyttes might for good cause feare least you were deceyued in the question of receiuing vnder both kindes whereas in the controuersie of sole receyuing you be so openly confounded which yet you doe as earnestile endeuor to proue as you doe shifte to vnderstand both kyndes in Tertullian whereas he mencioneth but one Note further that when Christ said This is my bodye you will haue no bloud to appertaine vnto it and when any Doctor doth speake onlie of bread you will at your pleasure make wyne to be vnderstanded Iniurious in the one and superfluous in the other Therefore let it be tryed which of our two sydes doth vse more vncertaine coniectures Now as concerning S. Cyprian When a certayne woman saieth he assayed with her vnworthye handes to open her cheste in the which SanctuÌ„ Domini fuit the holy dody of our Lorde was she was made afrayd by fyer arysing from thens that she durst
no Doctor vpon his bare word without scripture or reason and as we folow his lesson therein so yet we add further that be a man neuer so auncient and well learned and let hym bring neuer so much scripture and reason yet except he be allowed of the churche he is to be eschewed with all his 〈◊〉 and learning For if it shall please you to learne more iudgement this 〈◊〉 must vnderstand 〈…〉 in all places of all persons To dispute of that which the whole church doth obserue through the world â–ª it is saieth S. Austyne a most impudent madnes and therfor it may be rightlye and well beleiued first of all that which the whole church doth teach vs. But what if ther be schismes and diuisions in the church for thetyme present Mary Syr then we must resort vnto Antiquitie and aske counsell of the most auncient fathers But then agayne what if the auncient fathers agree not emong themselfes Truly then we must folow the voyces of the most and best learned of them And so by these meanes we haue three places of refuge Vniuersalitye Antiquitye and CoÌ„sent And we the Catholikes haue most certaine and infallible rules by which we do trye priuate opinions of doctors geauing lesse vnto them then you do which esteeme your owne iudgemeÌ„tes so highlye except thâ—â— agree with the church of Christ or agree with other of their 〈…〉 as though that the Catholikes did make an article of faith of euery thing which thei reade in the fathers but consider rather that we trye them more exactly then you doe and we can not be straitwaies persuaded without further question if the best learned that euer was shold bring scripture and reason to proue his singular opinion Yet seeing that you can finde in your harte so quicklie to yeld vnto the learned and holy mens scriptures or good reasons although there is a better waye which you shold take neuertheles to lett you haue a litle your owne mynde what saie you now vnto S. Cyrill his wordes be these vnto Calosyrius They are then madd which saye the mystical beâ—ediction or blessing to recise from her sanctification if any leauinges remayne vntyll the next daye ' Because the very holy body of Christ shall not be chainged but the vertue blessing and lyuely quyckenyng is in it rather This is S. Cyrill against you an how can you auoyde hym You wyll not you say playnlie deny the place because it is alleaged of diuers other Yet because this worke of S. Cyrill is not extant you haue good cause to suspect it Although the worke be not extant vnto you yet it maye be in some libraries of the world and the place being alleaged of many an honest plaine dealing man would not suspect without some good and great cause that it were falsely fathered vpon S. Cirill For if the Catholikes could haue founde in their hartes to haue mysused the simplicitie of others and to attribute vnto holie fathers such sentences as were neuer thers it had ben an easie matter for the Bisshoppes of Christendome in that great consent and peace of faith which hath ben in the church for eight or nine hundred yeares togeather vntill the dyuell raised vpp Luther to haue agreed vpoÌ„ such a booke which should make expressely against new vpstart heretikes and haue the name of S. Augustine S. Ambrose S. Hierome or some other And againe it had ben an easye matter for some one Bisshop Abbot or Doctor to fayne that he had fouÌ„de such or such a booke of S. Augustine S. Ambrose S. Hierome or other if there had ben no more conscience in Catholikes then is proued to be now in heretikes It is sone said this is not Saint Cyrill his testimonie and as the prouerbe is in some scholes Plus potest asinus negare quà m Aristoteles probare And further also if the Catholikes should be perceiued neuer to haue had emong them this testimonie of S. Cyrill before that late heretikes of these dayes beganne to impugne them openlye as one might easely alleage at all aduenture vpon some priuate wylfulnes that S. Cyrill sayeth this vnto Calosyrius so might he probably be suspected of an other lest perchauÌ„se he inuented false testimonies But you can not proue it by vs that we haue vsed this defence out of S. Cyrill only sence we haue striued against you but rather when all thinges were quyet you shall finde those testimonies which you suspect to haue ben recyted of Catholikes And especiallye that saying of his which maketh for the supremacie of the Bishop of Rome which some hundred yeares agoe S. Thomas Aquinas hath recyted out of S. Cyrill Thesaurorum .xij. which testimony if it be not in the Latyn now extant yet it maye be in the Greeke and what Greeke copyes are beyonde sea you can not tell and if it be not in print yet it may be in wryten bookes whereas many yeares before any printing was in the world this testimonie is alleaged by approued men and excellent both for learning and lyuing Also if you haue cause to suspect the testimonie which hath not the worke extant out of which it was taken what cause moued you then to make so greate store of a fragment of Gelasius which you doe allwaies alleage most busylye when you talke of receyuing vnder both kyndes And allthough Gelaâ—sius in that selfe same abrupt and short sentence doth expresselye declare that he speaketh against such as which vpon a certayne superstition abstayned from the receyuing of Christ his bloud and serueth nothing at all vnto the purpose of which we talke Yet you delight so much in it as though all were fysâ—he which commeth to your nett and no testimony were to be suspected which may seeme to serue for your purpose although the work be not extant Whereby it appeareth that you picke onlye a quarrell againste the testimonye which we bring out of S. Cyrill and myslyke with it not because the worke is not extant but because he calleth you madd men in reprouing reseruation of the sacrament Now wheÌ„ you haue said as much as you could to the disgracyng of the testimony then flatter you with it agayne and saye But be yt so that these are Cyrill his owne wordes in deede â–ª we haue for that one suspected place a numbre of sounde testimonyes that all dyd not allow reseruation nor thinke it according to the worde of God You geaue and take awaye againe You graunt that they shall be Saint Cyrill his owne wordes in deede and yet stratwayes you call it a suspected place But lett vs consider how sounde your testimonies beâ— First you alleage Origine which in deede hath those wordes which you recite but his meaningâ— yet was not to reproue all reseruation of the sacrament â–ª For he expounding those wordes Leu. 7. in which it is commaunded that the flesshe of the sacrifice which shall be offred in
the same was then by our saying in her infancie which now is come as you report to her dotage And as infancie then dyd nothing preiudicate vnto her wysedome by which she was well able to gouerne and rule her childerne so her dotage now which is seen in the liffe of manie doth nothing excuse you for contempnyng your old mother If therefor now it may be well said in sundrie waies and senses that the church in the Apostells tyme was in a certen infancie what spryte moued you to make such a sense of it as against which you might vse your indignation without the matter and purpose Or with what honestie could you coÌ„clud that the Catholikes do make Christ and his Apostells infantes of which the one thei honor as true God the others thei worship as Doctours and Patrones of the world Brothern saieth the Apostle I could not speake vnto you as vnto spiritual but as to carnall lyke as to litle ones in Christ I gaue vnto you milke to drinke not meate For as then you were not able no neither yet you can For as yet you be carnall And to the Galathians O my litle childerne sayeth he with whom I am in trauaile againe vntill Christ be formed in you Doe not therefor Sir I pray you so ernestly take the matter when you see the Apostle hymselfe not to leese any of his own strength and wisedome because of the imperfection of the Corinthians and others and consider allso whether thei might not be called infantes which as yet were to be fedd with milke But let vs goe further in to the chapiter You laie the cause of priuate Masse vpon the keycold charitie of the people and perhappes the first occasion came thereof in deede but. c. Who tould you that this was the cause of priuate Masse You read it not I am assured in the Apologie which you would faine answer and yet you buyld so much vpon it as though it had ben a most plaine conclusion of it The Catholike in hys Apologie sayeth that the constant faith the pure liffe the feruent charitie c whiche florisshed in the primitiue church were causes perhappes why no Masse was then celebrated but that diuers Christians dyd communicate But what conclusion doth he inferr there vpon not that truely which you dreame of but this only which he labored to proue that you should not therefor require the lyke manner of coÌ„municatyng with the priest to be at these dayes vsed when the lyke deuotion and charitie ys not in the peoples hartes grounded He said not that the keycold charitie of the people shold be the cause of priuate masse no more then he saied that the number of communicantes was the efficient cause of saying masse as though there might haue ben no masse att all except there had ben some prepared to receiue Is there no difference trou you betwyxt these ij propositions There were no masses saied in the primitiue church but there were some readie to commâ—nicate and Except there had ben some readie for that purpose there would haue ben no masses in the primitiue church The first perhappes was true and the cause thereof ys attributed in the Apologie vnto the deuotion of the people The second ys denied playnely vnto you because the sacrifice of the church of Christ doth not depend at all vpon communicantes â–ª for lyke as in these dayes at an Easter tyme the perfect holy men may be espyed to go closely in to some one chapple and there saie priuatelie a masse in great deuotion and silence the cause of which is not in the lacke of such as would communicate but togeather with many other causes the desire which thei haue geaueÌ„ in to their hartes to goe so much the further from the sight and respect of men by how much the neerer they would come to the contemplation and admiration of God so it might right well haue come to passe without any scripture aâ—thoritie or reason to the contrary that euen in the most best tyme of the primitiue church such masses were saied now and then which you do odiously call priuate Wherefor seing there is so great fault committed of you in the misconstruing of the Catholike his reason no wonder if you haue taken great peines in commentyng vpon it all out of purpose As when yow tell vs of many coÌ„modities which grow by the oft receiuing of the sacrament c. But who shall bring the people daily or weekly yea quarterly rather vnto the receiuyng of their maker yf thei will not themselues The priestes saie you should warne them and instruct them and tell them plainely that if they be gasers only and no receiuers they runn thereby in to displeasure of God with many other vehement sentences which for that purpose you alleage owt of S. Chrisostome And you make the matter so easie as though for the speaking the priest could bring the people vnto the coÌ„munion whereas it doth presently appeare eueÌ„ in your late erected churches that for al that you are able to do you haue most often tymes no coÌ„munion at all And except it were more for the princes law then for that by your vehement exhortations you shold perswad the people I thinke there wold be fewer coÌ„munions by four partes then are now in England which as many as they are do not lightly excede one or .ij. a quarter in most parisshes First therefor pluck the beame out of your owne eie and then you shall be better able to take a mote out of an others eie And when you shall perceaue by experience which allreadie in part doth trie it that except you coÌ„straine men by act of parleameÌ„t you shall neuer bring them by the strength and dailynes of your preaching vnto the frequentyng of the coÌ„munion then lo you shall be more mercifull towardes others in your owne exact iudgement and thinke that with good cause that may be vnspoken in which you shold haue no hope of redresse to be made by your speakyng But of the diligence and discretion of the church which she hath vsed concernyng the calling of people vnto their housel because of better occasion which hereafter foloweth I will in this place leaue it vncounted But ye obiect that priestes are bounden of dutie to the daily frequentation of it and the people left free That would I faine lerne at your hande and see some good proufe of the Scripture for the same Yf you would faine lerne tary vntill I bring our doctors and readers vnto you But as though you had all the lernyng of the world sett in a table before your eies so you answer that we haue lesse then a light shadow to hyde our assertion in Truly Syr you geaue testimonie against your selfe that you be very blind because you can iudge no better of colours For this first I trust you will graunt that priestes and laye men are not alltogeather one
concerning the blessed thefe which neuer you saie was baptised which you saie truly in that he was not dipped in water and yet he was baptised in the Holy ghost and in his owne bloud because of our principall questioÌ„ I will not stand about him And whether in the ordinarie vse of it the supper of the Lord ought of necessitie to haue coÌ„municantes to be partakers of it as you would make the controuersie to be I will not reason with you at this tyme. Either because it ys not perceaued what you will meane by the terme ordinarie vse either because the question ys more generall as we haue put it furth vnto you And wheras at other tymes in your pulpites and allso bokes you appeale vnto the institution of Christ and make the matter so weighty as though it might neuer be suffered that one should receaue alone with out cumpanie yet now you talke of an ordinary vse of the Sacrament as who should thinke that you neuer denied but that in particular cases and for extraordinary causes one alone might receaue without any iniurie done vnto the institution of Christ. And yet againe when the Catholikes do alleage diuerse examples and authorities to proue that cumpanie ys not necessary absolutely in the vse of the Sacrameâ—t then loe you be so ernest against them as though it were in no wyse to be graunted that in the primitiue church any one example authoritie or argument might be shewed to proue sole receauing as thowgh yowr cause were anyiote hindered by it if in deed you hold the question not absolutely but only concernyng the ordinarie vse of the Sacrament Wherefor seeing that you goe so in and out hyther and thyther without all maner of keeping of order and place like dimilaunces or light horsemen or els like the wild Irisshe in their fighting I therefor thinke it necessarie againe to byd you remember your selfe and to coÌ„sider the state of the question vpon which the Catholike rested And thee gentle Reader I desire to marke exactly the cheife and principall matter which we haue to debate vpon which is this Not whether in tyme of necessity a priest may receaue alone Not whether the ordinary vse of the Sacrament ought of necessitie to haue communicaÌ„tes we will not at this tyme medle with these questions because we haue allreadye a greater and more principall in hand but our question ys this Whether as I haue sayed before vppon paine of God his indignatioÌ„ the priest ought to haue allwaies cumpanie to receiue with hym Let this be first examined and then shall the other be quickly answered Trusting therefor that thow wilt marke diligently where vpon the catholike striueth against the aduersarie I now returne againe vnto the M. of the defence and require the to consider the maner of his fighting In answering the Catholike his demaund he saieth Our proufe ys this In the celebration of this sacrament of the Lorde his supper we ought to do that only and nothing els that Christ the author of it did in his institution But in Christ his institution appeareth neither sole receauyng nor ministring vnder one kynd therefore in celebration of the sacrament neither sole receiuing nor ministring vnder one kind ought to be vsed First to the maior then to the minor Syr I deny your maior vnto you because you affirme that generally which ys true only in certen pointes of Christ his mauÌ„dy For if we must do that only which Christ dyd at his supper and doe nothing els but that then must we vse sitting and not kneeling or standing then must the Sacrament be delyuered vnto .xij. persons and neither to more nor lesse then shall we not celebrate before dyner or in a cope or surplesse or with psalmes organes and solempnitie such as you allso vse because we must do nothing els but that which Christ did as your maior importeth Now if you be to wise and lerned to thinke that in such a generall maÌ„ner we ought to do as Christ did at his last supper then haue you iust cause to correct your maior and we can not but deny it vntil we may vnderstand of your limitation which you will we trust add vnto it And what limitation might that be which being added we would graunt your proposition Forsoth if for the terme institution you woulde put tradition For what so euer Christ dyd about the coÌ„secrating or delyuering of his pretious body it may be truly saied that he dyd it in his institution but yet such circumstancies as he then vsed are not beleeued to be his tradition For it is allso one thing to saie thys is Christ his institution and it hath a farr other meanyng to saie Christ dyd this in his institution For his institution importeth a law and is directly to be obserued but the phrase of in his institution importeth a signification of tyme and place and circumstancies within which his institution was vttered Which thinges as thei be not essentiall but stand only about the substance themselues being accidentall and chaingeable so thei may be without all hurt altered as the church shall thinke good and conuenient Therefor as I graunt that in matter of weight and substance Christ onlye and no other is to be folowed so in that generall maÌ„ner of speach which you do vse I am sure it can neuer be proued Yeas saie you The maior is S. Cyprianes proued at large and much staied vpon in his epistle ad Cecilium de Sacramento sanguinis You may be for euer ashamed that you alleage Saint Cypriane for the proufe of your proposition which nothing at all maketh for you and that you do so wickedly in so ernest a matter abuse the simplicitie of your countriemen such as can vnderstand no Laten And because it is not once or twyse that you appeale vnto this epistle of S. Cypriane I will therefor sumwhat at large shewe it furthe in this place to the Reader that he take good heed for euer of geauing hastie creditt vnto strainge and newfound teachers There were in S. Cyprians tyme some such priestes which either for simplicitie or for custome sake or for certen deuout causes dyd offer vp at the tyme of the misteries not wyne and water togeather but only water by itselfe Against whose doinges in that point S. Cypriane most ernestlye writeth and it is the only scope and marke at the which he shooteth in all that long epistle alleaging first the example of Melchisedech which brought furth bread and wyne for he was the priest of God most highest afterwardes the saying of Salomon how that wysedome killed her sacrificies and mingled her wine in a cup then further the prophesie of â—acob speaking of his soun Iuda in the figure of Christ and saying he shall wasshe his robe in wyne and his cloke in the bloud of the grape after that againe the testimonie of Esai when he saw
And whereas you confesse and we know that similitudes are of small force in them selues wherefor doe you discusse so narowlie all the partes of this similitude as though there had not ben one speciall point for the which it was alleaged which is this Yf we can not obtaine the best that then we should take the next best vnto it which veritie being so natural and reasonable the author of the Apologie was not so scrupulous as to passe vpon a most perfect squaring of his similitude whereas to his intent and conclusion it was he thought well inowgh framed But yet let vs consider your wisedome in vsing of your aduersarie and the mightie strength of your reasons which yow bring furth against hym Besides this you conclude here only the case of necessitie which helpeth the common vse of the priuate Masse very lytle As for the common vse as you speake now or the ordinarie vse as you spake before or the terme of necessitie in which necessitie it seemeth by your owne confession that we proue vnto you our sole receauing which you call priuate Masse all these are but shiftes of yours and starting holes in whiche you may couche before the ignorant and seeme to haue some hart left vnto you As for vs if we proue that in necessitie when the people wil not receiue the priest may take and eate alone ergo sole receiuing may be vsed ergo the indignatioÌ„ of God hangeth not ouer hym which hath no felow communicantes ergo we haue our purpose which was to make the state of our question not vpon common vse or ordinarie vse but generally vpon sole receiuing whether absolutely it be against Christ his coÌ„maundement and his truthe or no. but let vs come to the forsaid similitude which so much displeaseth you You make your comparison betweene thinges very vnlike and of nature diuers that is betweene possible and impossible and lawfâ—ll and vnlawfull I wyll not greatly wonder if you haue strainge opinions as concernyng diuinitie whereas in naturall matters and reasonable yow make new conclusions besides all truth and consequence What call you then impossible Mary saie you that all coÌ„tention should be banisshed from emong men in this world What thinke you then of virginitie Is it not as impossible that it should be kept of all Christians as you thinke it impossible that an vniuersall coÌ„cord might be contynued emong men whiles thei lyue in this world No doubt but you wyll graunt my saying true in respect of the whole number of Christians whereas many of the spirituall fathers and brothers of your syde do thinke that virginitie can not be kept vndefiled no not in any one person of the world As a Prophete of your owne boldly preached at AbingdoÌ„ in presence of the whole deanery to the great commendation forsoth of his chastitie that All thinges which beare horne or heare must goe to their mate once a yeare But I thinke not so euil of you that virginitie should be altogeather impossible mary that generallie it is to be no more looked for then surseasing from all contention in so miserable a world I am sure you confesse it vnto me Yet I dare to make this similitude and stand in it allso againste you that lyke as queene apples or take what other name of good apple yow will are most to be chosen and yet yf a man loue a crabb better God make hym mery with it so it were to be wisshed and it ys most best in deed that all should be virgins yet yf any body haue a mind to mariage I am not master of his tast therein How say yow Syr to this comparison will you tell me that the nature of apples and virginity are very vnlyke or that crabbes are sowre and mariage is sweete or that it is impossible that all should be virgins but in any markett daie of the yeare a man shall find good apples or that mariage is honorable and that crabbes are meate for swyne will you make such a serching or Anatomie of a simple and plaine similitude and gather so euill a sense of it as either folie or malice can deuyse Or els rather will you examine it no further then the present matter and cause required for which only the similitude serued for as I doe not deny but that a pleasaunt felow wold make much sport vpon my similitude yet neuerthelesse my meaning is very true and honest that if a man will not folow counsell in the best he may be suffered to folow hys fancie in that which is not the worst Crabbes allso are not euil as some choke peares are and they add a certen grace vnto the cupp when they be rosted and to be short they are not so farr behind good apples in worthines as mariage is farr beneth virginitie be it spoken without irreuerencie vnto the Sacrament of wedlocke Therefore your conclusion vpon the Catholikes comparison is very false and faultie because I haue shewed a good and true similitude in whiche yet after your interpretatioÌ„ the one member is impossible the other is possible Also your mery folowing of the catholikes similitude and your coÌ„cluding as it were by the like argument that bisshopes must not forbydd priestes to haue such cussons with whom Si non castè tamen cautè ys much lyke as when Iacke an Ape doth besides the right waye and maner put a reasonable man his cote vpon hymselfe For as the suing for our ryght is lawfull so will we proue that sole receyuyng is lawfull but as the suing for a man hys right is lawful so neither you neither we do thinke that priestes to haue lemmans is lawfull We also come to our conclusion by an honest principle as When the best is not obtained let vs yet take the next best vnto it but the principle vnto your coÌ„clusion must be this when the best is not obtained let vs take that which is naught Yea truly not in sport but in sadd ernest you make a worse kind of reason fauling from the not obtayning of the best to concluding of that which is worse then naught As when you can not haue ministers to lyue chast to geaue them free licence to take open harlottes whom although you couer with the name of wiues or sisters yet are they in very deed no better then I haue termed them Now after all this you saye that all our whole drift ys by alleaging the corruption of maners in the world to proue that priestes must therefor receaue alone because none will receaue with them But once againe I tell you you vnderstand not our dryft for yf the whole worlde might and would receaue togeather with a priest yet we hold that sole receauyng is in itselfe alowable And as you do misvnderstand vs in this so do you in an other poynt saying Ye haue taken order for the people generally to receaue only at Easter As who should saie
subiectes and bodyes be without dimension it is openlie in scholes concluded to see who can proue the contrarie But how few or how many may make oâ— marr your communion you dare not or can not aunswer vnto it least you should be reproued Wherefor seeing that you make silence your defence and will not vtter the state of your religion it is no lytle confort vnto vs that you be coÌ„founded yet in your owne conscience And as we haue so faithfull myndes that in God his misteries we go no further then he and his holy church leadeth vs so yet thankes be to God our wittes are not so simple that in a plaine and sensible question we can not tell what to answer but saie that either our aduersarie dallieth or fayne that the question which is asked conteyneth a misterie The aight Chapiter THE Catholike in his Apologie to proue that numbre of communicaÌ„tes is not necessarie in the receiuing of the SacrameÌ„t alleageth a saying of Erasmus which he sheweth to be agreable vnto the testimonies of lerned and holie fathers Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Cirill and S. Ambrose which if we should dilate so farr forth as we might our replie would he very long and tediouse and except we doe declare in what sense they serue for our purpose it can not be but intricate and comberous Shortly therefor to make a state of our question in this chapiter and to haue the more leysure to speake of the testimonies brought in for vâ— Lett this be our argument which I praie the good reader to beare awaye Eâ—asâ—us sayeth that in olde tyme the bodye of our Lorde was delyuered into folkes handes that they which had taken yt might receyue yt at home when they would Ergo yt is not necessarye to haue allwayes communicantes Now vnto this argument what doe you answer with all your defence Syr it semeth very straunge to me that you which haue so much hated Erasmus c. should now in your nede take helpe and succor at his hande Syr our store is so greate that we neede not Erasmus authoritie but our behauior is so reasonable that we doe condescend to you in alleaging your owne doctors And it seemeth very strainge vnto me that Erasmus whom you call a singular instrumeÌ„t prouided of God to beginne the reformatioÌ„ of his church shold yet be proued to haue written by name against the false ghospellers and beginners of this new reformation of Christianitie For is God diuided or hath he no better prouided but that such as you call the singular instrumeÌ„tes of vttering his pleasure and will should be found so contrarie emong them selfes and so farr repugnant one vnto an other But as coÌ„cerning this learned man we take his coÌ„fession we vse not his testimonie And we tel you what he thought if perchauÌ„se that maye moue you but we take him not for a wytnes in our cause as though we might not well spare hym And this doth hereby wel appeare that we bring forth holie and blessed mens authorities to proue that most true which Erasmus hath confessed Of whom if you be now werie for all that God prouided him singularly as you saie for you what saie you then to S. Cyprian S. Cirill S. Ambrose and Terrullian by whom it is proued that in olde tyme there was sole receiuing emong ChristiaÌ„s And here now to declare peâ—chaunse that you be well scene in antiquities you tell vs a sadd tale of much trouble vexation and persecution which was vsed in the primitiue church and that the Sacrament was sent to such as were absent and that Hereof it came that diuers receyued alone in theyr houses Now thankes be to God that at length yet you can not but coÌ„fesse that sole receiuing was vsed in the primitiue church Where now are your lowde exprobrations that we haue not one worde or sillable in all the Doctors for the space of six hundred yeares after Christ to make for vs That we haue not so much as any colour or similitude of truth as concerning sole receiuing â–ª c That Christ his institution is wholy against vs That ther must be necessarilie as you do terme it a particular communion You be not farr from the kyngdome of heauen you be allmost wellcome home or at least waies you be looking homeward a litle But this newes is to good I feare to be trew and allthough you can not denye sole receiuing yet you will not be quyet but continew styll in your stryuing For you saie this But you should bring such places as might proue that the common minister in place of the Lorde his supper did celebrate and receyue alone other being present and not partakyng No Syr you must not rule vs in the maner of our reasoning and appoint vs to proue that which we take not vpon vs. This is it which I haue wysshed before to be well remembred that our question is not whether any priest then did receiue alone but whether he might doe it laufullie or no that is our question And as the Catholike in his Apologie fol. 8. warned you most playnelie that there is an open difference betweene these two sentences There was no priuate masse at that tyme â–ª and â–ª There ought to be no priuate masse at any tyme. So take a fayer warning agayne that we labor to proue not what thing was then commonlie doone but what maye now and might then haue ben laufullie doone Mary we can not proue saye you that the common minister dyd celebrate and receyue alone other being present Verâ—â—e what the priest did we take not vpon vs to proue but what he might do that we can shew vnto you Do not you allwaies appeale vnto Christ his institution Doe not you make your selfes so cunnyng in it that you can tell vs of the indifferent partes and of the substanciall partes of it Haue not you defined it that to receiue with cumpany is a substanciall parte of it And do not you coÌ„clude herevpon that the priest can not receiue by hymselfe alone without breach of Christ his institutioÌ„ These being your principles if we do disproue any of them then is your conclusion destroyed But how can we more playnelie do it then by reciting the examples of the primitiue church by which you are contented to be tryed in which age sole receiuing was vsed and yet Christ his institution not thought to be violated Can you denye that sole receiuing was theÌ„ vsed you can not But you make this limitation that it was vsed in case of necessitie and of laye men not of priestes Well make the case how harde so euer you will we aske no more but that all men should know that sole receiuing was lawfullie then vsed Now therfor saie you let vs see how aptly vpon this graunt you conclude your purpose More aptly I trust then you haue doone it for vs which behaue your selfe so vprightly that all
wherefor they go not vnto the church ys Christ one abrode and an other at home that which ys not lawfull in the church ys not lawfull at home c. How saye you then Doth S. Hierome in this place inueigh against the maner of receiuing at home Is it not most playne and euident that he speaketh against such as had no feare to communicate at home after the nightes pollution and yet would not venter to come vnto the places where Martyrs bones rested or into the church And why should any man feare to come vnto the chappelles or memoryes of Martyrs after the nightes what shall I call it with his wyffe Vndoubtedlie for reuerence sake and honor which thei gaue to Martyrs as S. Hierome also testifieth of hym selfe saying I confesse vnto the my feare least perchance it come of superstition when I haue ben angrye and haue thought vpon some euyll thing in my mynde and when some fancy of the night hath deluded me I dare not goe into the churches of Martyrs I doe so thorowghly quake for feare in bodye and sowle Therfor wheras the Romanes after the vse of their wyues the night before would not come the next daye into the presence of Martyrs memories and yet were not ashamed to receiue the body of Christ at home he asketh of them earnestlie VVherfore they goe not vnto the church not in this sense which you haue inuented as though he should saie Wherfore do you receiue at home why goe you not to the church why receiue you in corners why come you not to the open congregation I lyke not these communions at home the doores of the congregation be open to the faithfull it is a shame so to receiue by your selues alone the institutioÌ„ of Christ is excedinglie broken he instituted not his sacrament that they should haue it brought home to theÌ„ or that they might cary it home with them I know not what place is better for that purpose then the house of God where all the people may be present togeather and edifie one the other through beholding the felowship and communion of themselues S. Hierome was not so full of the spirit or so emptie of wytt but onlye he correcteth their folye which in some thinges made a conscience in other some of greater force made none at all And he asketh why they doe not as well come in to the church and in to the chapples of Martyrs after they haue coÌ„panyed with their wyues as they dare to receiue the bodye of Christ at home for all the formar nightes fancye and pleasure Is Christe one abroad and an other at home As who shold saie will it hurt you if you come to church in the presence of Christ his Martyrs and make you no conscience of recâ—â—uing Christ his body at home in your houses whose Martyrs thei were Yet he doth not reproue them for receiuing at home as by his owne wordes appeareth saying That the faythfull receyue at all tymes the bodye of Christ I neyther reproue neyther allow But to this conclusion he labored to dryue the matter that whilest they should be sorye that they had not communicated some certayne daye because of their pleasure taken the night before with their wyues they might therby abstayne a lytle from them that thei might communicate with Christ. But goe you furth Haue you any other authoritie to proue that sole receiuing at home was euer condemned In Socrates the seconde booke we reade that Synodus Gangrensis coÌ„dempned Eustathium for that contrary vnto the Ecclesiastical rules he graunted liceÌ„ce to coÌ„municate at home Where a man should fynde this Socrates of whom you speake you only I beleiue doe know For in the second booke of the Tripartite historye Socrates maketh no mencion at all of any such Eustathius as you speake of but in the .2 of that booke we doe reade of one Eustathius a verâ—e good Byshop condempned by a false forged tale made against hym by a common harlot his judges being to the outward shew Catholike Bisshops but in hart and deede Arrians For which cause sayeth the historie Many holy meâ— and priestes with others forsaking the company which râ—sorted vnto the coÌ„mon churches did come togeather emong them selues whom all other callâ—d Eustathianos bâ—cause that after Eustathius departure they 〈◊〉 â—â—gâ—ather a syde from others Now if you doe allow the condempnacion of this Eustathius then must we beware of you hereafter least you bring forth new Arrians vnto vs. And any other besides this catholike Eustathius I can not fynde in the seconde booke of the Tripartite historie Therefore I turne me vnto the Councelles and there in deede I fynde that Synodus Gangrensis condempneth one Eustachius not Eustathius for many notable heresyes but yet there is no mencion that he was condempned as you saie for graunting of licence to receiue at home But rather as it appeareth by the epistle prefixed before that Synode these Eustachians were of the opinion that no prayer or oblatioÌ„ should be made in maryed mens houses thei coÌ„tempned also the places of holy Martirs or churches and reproued all such as resorted to them thei tooke further vpon them to distribute the oblations made in the church and therefore the fifth canon of that Councell is this Yf any man doe teach that the house of God is to be contemned and the meetinges which are celebrated in it let hym be accursed And the sixt canon saieth Yf any man doth make conuenticles without the church and despising the church wyll vsurpe those thinges which be the churches without the priest commyng vnto it let hym be accursed according 〈◊〉 the decree of the Bysshope This much 〈◊〉 I fynde in Gangrensis Synodus which doth not so much as seeme to found any thing nigh vnto your purpose Where then is that your Eustathius which was condemned for graunting licence to communicate at home or how well haue you proued that the custome of the primitiue church which for that tyme was tolerated was at any tyme after forbydden as prophane and wycked Yf therefor these testimonyes of S. Hierome and Gangrensis Synodus by which you would proue that to receiue at home was greatlie inueighed at and condempned do no more make for your purpose than to saye that a laye man should not lye with his wyfe the night before he receiueth or that those heretikes are to be condemned which contempne Martirs chapples or churches how lytle at all could you proue that any myslyking was euer had of the sole receiuing at home vsed in the very primitiue church The vse of which tyme you dare not openlye condemne but priuely you leaue to be gathered that it was pius error in them Whereas contrary wise if sole receiuing be such a matter as you make it that it goeth most directlie and playnlie against the substance of Christ his institution then I am sure that the contempt of this lyfe and world was so
great in the Christians at those blessâ—â— dayes that rather then â—hei would haue receiued alone to the confounding of Godes lâ—w and ordenance thei would haue ben coÌ„tent neuer to eate any thing in this world but â—uffre the most cruell death of hunger And vpon this ground so sâ—re that it is not against Christ his institution to receiue alone we can do none otherwise but confesse that the priest receiuing alone is not to be pulled by you from the aultar not denying but that in the primitiue church the people most tymes receiued with the priest and that if thei had not done so thei were coÌ„maunded to go out of the church which thing yet you doe labor so to proue as though the obtayning of it did make any thing to the purpose but orderly folowing our intent which is to proue that sole receiuing is not against Christ his institutioÌ„ and that it is not necessarye to haue allwaies a particular communion Now because the Catholike in his authorities of Tertullyan S. Cyprian and S. Ambrose proued not only sole receyuing to haue ben vsed at that tyme but also communion vnder one kynde which thing secondly in this chapiter you take vpon you to reproue let vs marke your fighting in this parte and trye masteryes with you Fyrst you saye that the institution of Christ is expresly against vs for In the Euangelistes and S. Paule we see testified that Christ tooke bread and gaue with it his bodye and afterwarde tooke the cupp and gaue with it his bloud and willed them to obserue and vse the same You make a shamefull and wycked lye in sayeing that it is testified either in the Euangelistes or Pawle that Christ tooke bread and gaue with it his body for it is maniâ—est that he tooke bread and delyuered it sayeing This is my body and not as you reporte with this I geaue my body But the scriptures I perceyue are not yet playne inough for your purpose and you will I feare neuer be contented vntyll after many affected translations of the scripture in to the mother toÌ„gue you alter the autentike and pure text of it by conneighing in these wordes Take and eate with this is my body Then as concerning Christ his institution lyke as he spake then to his Apostles only and in them vnto his priestes ' of the newe lawe so the priestes doe allwayes when they coÌ„secrate receyue vnder both kindes but as for priestes not consecrating or the laye people standing by it is not of necessitie to delyuer it vnto them in both And hereof we haue alleaged this cause vnto you that it is a matter indiâ—â—erent and not of the substance of the Sacrament O saye you ye flee to your olde place of refuge why Syr what would you haue vs to doe if you keepe styll one argument maye not we lykewise applye one answere And is euerye thing fresh and gaye which you bring although it be twentye tymes repeted and not once proued and shall not we haue licence to refell your obiections with such an answer as you neuer yet haue disproued yet we haue not barely affirmed our saying but we haue geauen good cause for it that to receyue vnder both kyndes should not be of the necessarie substance of the Sacrament as concernyng the people Of which causes you choose out one where we saye that per concomitantiam the body of Christ is neuer without his bloud and his bloud is not seperated from his body so that no losse or hinderance cometh vnto the receyuer which taketh as much vnder one kynde as he should haue doone vnder both At which cause you peck with a skornefull exclamation and saye O profounde and deepe fett reason wherein you seeme to make your selfe wyser then Christ hymselfe that ordeyned the sacrament But I would that you or the best of your syde were but a quarter so godly or learned or wyse as those Masters of diuinitie which were authors of the worde â—oÌ„comitantia the meaning of which worde was euer beleiued in thâ— church of Christ It is yet a comfort vnto vs that such thinges as we beleiue 〈◊〉 not inuented of late by our selues but receiued of the teachers of Christendome but o superficiall and light wittes of yours which make Christ not to haue beÌ„ so wise as he was which resist his holyeghost and goe about to reade a lecture vnto the Church of God What fault doe you fynde with concomitantia Mary saye you The communion of Christ his bodye and bloud ys not the worke of nature in this Sacrament What meane you by the wordes communion of his bodye we talke of concomitantia that is whether vnder the forme of bread there be his bodye accoÌ„panyed with his bloud and his flesh togeather And you tell vs that the communion of his bodye is not the worke of nature Speake vnto the matter and shewe some reason why that his bodie shold be without bloud in the sacrament of bread VVhat so euer is here geauen vnto vs is to be taken by fayth As whoe should saye that fayth might rest vpon a fancy or figure or that by the same fayth by which I beleiue that I receiue his body I might not also beleiue that I receiue togeather his bloud But agayne So much is geauen vnto vs as God appointed to geaue of whose will and pleasure we know no more then his wordes declare vnto vs. Why Syr doth not the worde bodye declare well inough that it is not without bloud When Saint Iohn in his ghospell sayeth The worde was made flesh will you saie with olde heretikes that the worde tooke not also our lyfe and sowle vnto hym because S. Iohn mencyoneth none of them expresly but only that the word was made fleshe Yet allmightie God wâ—â—ch spake by the Euangelist was wise and able inough to declare his mynde In Christes naturall bodye that ys in heauen I know his flesh ys not without his bloud but in the sacrament which is no naturall worke how will you assure me that the flesh and bloud ysioyntly signified and geauen vnto me vnder one parte onlye Yf the sacrament be no naturall worke what is it then Supernatural or artificial Yf you make it a lesse worke then naturall then do you debate greatlye the glorye of the new testament whereas the manna of the olde lawe and water which issued out of a rock for the Israelites were more excelleÌ„t figures then the verities of them which are emong true Christians But if you thinke that they be not naturall to make vs thereby to conceyue a greater estimation of them then saie I so muche the more it is credible that the bloud should be ioyned vnto the body because that in very common nature we see it so and nothing wonder at it But yet saye you Christ which knew as well as you the ioynt condition of his flesh and bloud dyd not
the heate of his preachementes he could not but take a noune to his bedfellow And as he was in his doinges so is he in his writinges so shameles so fylthy so vncleane so slaunderous so mutable so presumptious and so desperate that it is wonder that he is accompted for a man much lesse for a man of God I speake these thinges to declare what difference ther is betweene our holy Abbates and your rennegate fryars the folowers of our religion and the founders of yours to enforce you hereby to shew what you thinke of S. Bernard S. Bonauenture S. Denyse and others and to signifye hereby vnto you that as we staye vpon contynuance and numbre so yet we reioyce at the vertues and graces which haue and do appeare playnly in many of this numbre wherefore it is not without cause that we are confirmed in our fayth and doctryne because of such a contynuance of it Note that I saye such a contynuanbe For Turkes Sarracenes and Panymes may alleage contynuance but such a contynuance in which the doctrine taught is greauous vnto the carnall man and yet receyued and the greatest professors of it are hated of all heretikes and yet for conscience and wordlye shame are not cōdemned such a one I say is much to be regarded and such a one is not found but onlye emong the Catholikes whose waies in doctrine if they be not open secure especially so great cumpany for so long tyme going in them with prosperous faring to their iourneyes end then will I neuer trust any waye but be as the cumpany is indifferent to go with euery one vntyll I am wery But thankes be to God he hath better prouyded for vs appointing his catholike churche to be the pyller and staye of true religion Which although it is quyckly to be founde out because it is in deede Catholike yet you thinke it necessarye to examyne what is the church and how it maye be knowen Goe to then we will follow you to the end of your defence in euery conclusion which you make against vs. The Scripture saye you speaketh of the church two waies sometyme as it is in deede before God not knowen allwaie to mans iudgement c. Sometyme the church is taken for the vniuersall multitude of all those which beyng dispersed through the world acknowledge one Christ. c. Sometyme the church is taken for the multitude of those that beare rule in the church You performe more then you promysed We looked but for two wayes and you haue declared three in which the scripture speaketh of the church by which it appeareth that you haue pretye knowledge but you keepe lytle good ordre in setting furth your diuisions Yet goe to as concerning the first sense which you make of the church what make you of her Can it err or no No say you this church is the pyller of truth that neuer continueth in error This church is neuer forsaken of the spirite of God In to this church none be receyued but onlye the children of grace and adoption How might a man then I praye you know this church Verely neither you neither any other can tell For whereas it consisteth of such as be the elect and chosen who can saye either of hymselfe that he is one of them or how can one say that of an other whose hart he seeth not which he can not vnderstand of his owne case which is best knowen vnto hymselfe Therfore as cōcerning the profyt and cōmoditye which they that would might take of this churche which is the pyller of truth we can receyue very lytle of it because she is inuisible vnto man and knowen onlye before God And if you dare saye that this churche may also be knowen vnto man I would you had showen one token or other of her that we might be sure where to fynde the pyller of truthe Now as concerning the church which is dispersed through the worlde and acknowledgeth one Christ and is Through baptisme admitted thervnto and by the vse of the Lordes supper openlye professeth the vnitie therof in doctryne and charitie Is this church trow you the pyller of truthe or what other opinion shall we haue of her This church saye you is resembled vnto a nett which hath good and bad in it it is resembled vnto a field which hath pure corne and cockle also in it You saye herein trulye and you agree now very wel with the catholike church which teacheth vs that in this world the good and euyll Christians are mengled togeather You make also much against certayne heretikes which stand in it stoutly that onely the elect are of the howsehold and familye of God which yet as you haue clerkely defined it can not be so because the good and the badd which acknowledge one Christ and receyue the sacramētes are the true church of Christ. Graunting therefor vnto you that the church hath good men and euill in her I aske now the cause of you wherfore you labor to proue that this church maye goe out of the waye for some part of her you tell vs of Noe of the .x. trybes of Israell of the Prophetes of the captiuitie of Babilon and other such historyes But to what end and purpose yf you wil proue thereby that thei which beare the name of the people of God haue often tymes forsaken his law and destroyed his Prophetes you haue spoken that for proufe wherof I wold neuer haue gone to the flood of Noe hauing so many examples at home to make this conclusion manifest For all they which be Christened doe beare the name of the people of God and the promyses are made only vnto them yet this world maye declare how many coniurars dissemblers wycked lyuers faithlesse ministers lecherous friars and desperate peruerters of all law and honestie doe lyue in the churche But if you would proue that because a great numbre was deceyued therefore the whole churche was subuerted you speake alltogeather without booke For to consider one example for all in the tyme of Elias the Prophet when he good man thought that all had forsaken God besydes hym selfe yet said God vnto hym I haue lefte my selfe seuen thousand in Israell which haue not bowed their knees before Baal And before that it is playne by the booke of kynges that Abdyas the stewarde of kyng Achab his house dyd hyde a hundred Prophetes of God from the sight of Iezabell the quene and fedd thē with bread and water Therefore as it can not be denyed but that they which haue borne the name of the people of God haue not allwayes and wholy folowed hym so yet it can neuer be proued that the visible church of God hath ben in all her partes subuerted And yet in the old law the church was not then so richely endowed as it was afterward in the commyng of Christ and his holie ghost neither were those wordes spokē then which haue
of the church Apostolike and for good cause they are to be dyscredited Loe Syr if you be of a good conscience contynew in the fayth which you haue professed and for two symple markes which euery man will set vpon his religion take these fower notes which al christendome aloweth of which fower there is no heretike which worke he neuer so craftely shall euer be able to proue that any one may serue for hym The .xiiij. Chapiter IF you had acquaynted your selfe with faythfull Abraham and Isaac and dyd beleiue that God is able to performe what so euer he promiseth you would make no question of the reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament and that cheif principle being once confessed you shold neuer make great quarreling about certayne consequencies which folow therevpon As whether Christ his bodye be vpon a thousand aultars at one tyme or whether accidentes be without substance and bodye without place or whether reseruation may be alowed with diuers other questions This is the fault which the Catholike in this last Chapiter fyndeth with you in auoyting of which you saie first We graunt as freely as you with Abraham and Isaac that God is able to perfourme what so euer he doeth promyse Yf you thinke as you speake why are these bodging and souterly argumentes so ofte repeted emong you that Christ his naturall bodye is in heauen ergo yt can not be on the earth Item a natural body occupyeth onlye one place but the sacrament is in many places Againe accidences can not be without substance ergo the substance of bread is not chainged into the substance of Christ his bodye Are not these your argumentes most manyfest tokens that you speake against the possibilitie to haue Christ his naturall bodye in the Sacrament For otherwise you should not aske how it might be after the Iewysh fasshyons but rather proue that it is not so after the maner of wyse heretikes Well yet thankes be to God that you be not so folysh as your fellowes and that you graunt that yt ys possible inough vnto God to bring all that vnto passe which the church teaceth vs as concerning the sacrament but saye you How can you shew that it was God his holy wyll to haue so many myracles wrought as you without necessitie doe make in the Sacrament Mary Syr we shew it by his owne wordes This is my bodye This is my bloud vpon which one myracle all the rest of our beleif therein doeth follow by necessitie of consequence You aske allso for an example in some place of all the scriptures lyke vnto this merueylous worke which is beleiued to be in the sacramēt Wherein I answer you with the same wordes as S. Augustine answered Volusianus as concerning the incarnation of God Yf you aske for a reason the thing shal not be wonderfull and if you requyre an example the thing shall not be singular Also the myracles which the scriptures speake of are not therefore beleiued because they haue other myracles of lyke sute with them but because God is allmightie and because all scripture is true We doe not apoint as though all were of our one making but we belieue that Christ his very body is truly in the sacramēt and that it is there not in maner of proportion quantitie or figure also that it maye be in a thousand places at once and yet in neuer a one of them all locallye which is to saye as in a place of his owne Oh saye you Is not this to take awaye the nature of a bodye from his bodye and in deede to affirme it to be no bodye See loe where you be now Do not these wordes importe that it can not be that a naturall body shold contynue naturall and be in a thousand places at once in which your saying what other thing doe you but priuelye conclude that it is impossyble In which least you should seeme to denye the power of God of which you spake reuerentlye a lytle before you amend the matter and saye Yet we say not but that God is able to worke that also if it be his pleasure Verely verelye you be vncertayne in all your conclusions for if you graunt that God is able to do that which we reporte of hym that he worketh in our Sacrament why talke you of the nature of a bodye and taking awaye of the nature of it if Christ be really in the Sacramēt And if it be vnpossible to haue a bodye without quantitie and in a thousand places at once as it is to make that one selfe same thing should be a bodye and no body why saie you that God is able t◠worke this also if it be his pleasure you offende in both sydes doubting at one tyme of God his allmightmes by which we beleiue his naturall bodye to be in the sacrament and at an other tyme making hym so allmighty as though he could bring to passe that such thinges might agree togeather as are in them selues plaine contradictorie the one to the other But as in this later point you goe beyond all truth and possibility so in the other I trust you wil hereafter be more stedefast and neuer argue against the power of God which is able to performe all those articles which the Catholikes haue gathered vpō the sacramēt Which now you begynn to doe at length and saye that it is not God his will to doe as we beleiue he hath done in the sacramēt But how proue you this For neither is there any necessitie that shold once trayne hym to doe yt nor doeth his word teach vs that euer he did the lyke These be your owne reasons as it is easylye to be perceyued by the weight of them which if you will follow in other pointes of our fayth you maye conclude all our Crede to deserue no credit at all For neyther anye necessitie cōstrayned God first to make and afterward to redeeme mankynde and the most of all his workes are of such a peculyar excellency that we maye thinke right well of eche of them that they are in theyr kynde singular what necessitie constrayned our Sauior to take our death vpon hym and what example haue you in all the scriptures lyke vnto the myracle of the death of God Ergo according vnto your diuine logike it is only an inuention of the papistes that God hym selfe did suffre a most paineful death for man It is wysedome for vs rather to beleiue the church then to allow such argumentes by which we maye destroye all true religion And yet not only the church teacheth but the scripture also wytnesseth that this which the Christians receyue in the Sacrament is the bodye of Christ hym selfe as he said most playnly This is my bodye which is geuen for you Now whether the verbe substātiue Sum es fui might be interpreted by transsubstantiare tell me fyrst I praye you whether Sum
Goliath was bygg in stature and wordes and contemned the simple staffe and scripp with which the loueable Dauyd came against hym yet after the stone once fastened in his forehead and the overthrow geuen vnto hym the Philistians hartes were in their heeles and they fledd awaye without any further bragging But he whom you nyckname Parys allthough he hath vtterlye kylled your Achilles shooting as you saye his arrowes out of a corner priuely but how so euer they were shott hitting as we beleiue the marke perfectlye yet you make your Achilles so invincible as though he could not be woūded at all in this quarrell and as though he passed no more of any shott of ours then if benettes or strawes should be cast agayne hym Which is so exceading and vayne glorious a crake that it maye rather be thought that your Achilles would be very gladd if he might neuer hereafter heare any more wordes about his open and loude challendge For as concerning the manifest obiections which are made against hym they are to be read in playne prent which he hath not bē yet in haste to answer as far as we know because perchaunse he knoweth his owne imbecillitie And if this Apologye of the priuate Masse had ben allso putt in prent that it might haue come vnto his sight he would I thinke haue dyssembled the matter or despysed the argumētes to shifte awaye from hym all the labor of answering But how so euer your Achilles be dysposed you haue shewed your selfe a frindlye Patroclus which to saue his worshipp haue taken vpon you to answer in his behalfe Which although you haue done with much infelicitie yet you haue declared your good hart and fidelitie You shall cause Achilles himselfe to take the matter into his owne hādes partly for the chalenge sake which he fyrst of all pronunced partly for you his frendes sake whom he wil be loth to see vndefended God sende you of his grace abundantly that you fyght not for an Helena in deede mainteyning the lustes and appetytes of your carnall reason striuing for your owne inuentions and following your owne prayses The church and spouse of Christ is shamefast chaste gentle faythfull obedient without murmour and spitefullnes full of good vowes stedfast in her profession allwayes desyrous of vnitie which vertues whiles some haue neglected they haue themselues ben contemned of God and permitted to folow their owne frowardnes to the increasing of their iust dampnation Of this kynde was Luther and his folowers which as though they had nothing els to study vpō but only how thei might inuent sectes and diuisyons so they lefte no one thing which the church taught them vncontrolled or vncorrupted making at their will and pleasure of thinges necessarye no matter at all as appeareth in the seauen sacramentes which they haue brought to two only or three and them corrupted of vniuersall and autentyke so indifferent that euerye one might omitt them as prescript fastinges orders of praying and ceremonies and of indifferent in the nature of them so necessary and absolute that no dispensation may serue for the altering of them as in sole receyuing receauing in one kynde and reseruation of the sacramēt So that nothing pleased them that the churche in which they toke their fayth delyuered vnto them because they loued them selues to much and their owne deare Cate and Helena Whom God shall at length destroye with the spyrite of his mouth and by sending of his feare into their hartes which honor her dryue away that wycked one which maynteyneth the battayle and make such peace and tranquillitie in their conscience that it maye haue good space and mynde to consider the securitie which is in the catholike church and learne emong many other this one point of charitie that neither sole receyuing vnder one kynde neyther receyuing vnder both kyndes with company doth commende vs vnto God but the keeping of his commaundementes and obeying of his ordynances which he hath or shal vtter eyther by him selfe immedyatly or by the Catholike church his interpretour Amen Quandoquidem viri docti scripturae sacrae atque Anglicae linguae periti librum hunc Ioannis Rastelli aduersus falso nominatam defensionem veritatis Anglicè scriptum in quindecim ternionibus testati sunt apud me se eundem accuratè examinasse seque reperisse eum non solùm esse catholicum sed etiam vtilem qui ad aedificationem typis excudatur omnino putamus operaepreciū esse vt imprimatur Ita esse testor Cornelius Iansenius Theologus ¶ A table of particular matters which you shall find in this boke That the church had her infancie 24 That priestes are bound to offer 30. 54 A discussing of a testimonie of S. Cyprian lib. 2. epist. 3. 43 Of the sacrifice of the aultar 59 S. Chrisostome his wordes discussed frustra habetur quotidiana oblatio the dailie sacrifice is had in vaine 77 Of the analogie proportion betweene the paschall lambe and the sacramēt of the aultar 83 Of receiuing alone at home 130 Of holie Satirus and his shippwracke with the maner of his receiuing 142 Of reseruation of the Sacrament 148 Of Sirapiō his sole receiuing in one kynd 158 The .xiiij. Canon of the first Nicene Councell examined 162 That continuance of tyme ys a greate commendacion to a religion 170 Of the church and where it ys to be serched for 188 Of the true certen markes of the church 190 Of the reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament 196 ¶ faultes escaped folio pag. linea Pruilege 6 2 22 priuilege not 9 2 12 put it out contended 13 2 10 contented speake 24 1 15 spake allthough 33 2 23 lyke as fol. 19 41 2 in the margē 20 hymselue 45 2 2 hymselfe herr 53 1 6 her new testament 67 2 16 the sacramēt of the new testament Singularly pure 69 1 6 is singularly pure Much lesse 70 1 3 much lesse are war 72 1 25 were writinges 76 1 23 writinge contended 81 1 2 contented strang 81 1 11 strong Substances 100 2 26 substance of the matter 101 1 26 of the substance of the matter vsed 107 1 24 vseth geaue 110 1 21 geaueth dyuided 111 2 5 deuised it 113 2 19 yet the faith 117 1 21 the same faith fair 119 2 6 farr saied 129 2 20 saieth dodie 140 2 3 bodie Iulis 147 1 6 Iulius make 147 2 9 maketh man 148 1 18 men recise 150 2 18 cease had 165 1 19 hath before 180 1 14 be for it 180 2 18 yet 3. Esd. 3. 10. 19. 3. Reg. 3. Psal. 138 3. Reg. 3. 4. R◠20. Defence Replie Defence Reply Defence Reply The M. of the defence slaūdereth D. Cole and Master Iuel bothe M. Iuell in the answer vnto D. Coles first letter Defence Reply How the possessiō of the truthe was geauē and who be the holders of it at this daye Io. 16. Eph. 4. The heretikes chāge their argumentes togeather with the changes of tyme.
was betwene S. Augustine and the Donatistes We seeke for the church and the place where she resteth You say that it hath ben vnknowen defaced obscured and coarcted you saye that it is now in England and before these last .lx. yeares you knew not where she was to be founde On the other syde we beleiue that it hath ben and shall be continually visible tholike vpon the topp of the hill not in gardens or chambers not in corners of countreyes but in the open sight of the worlde And here now at this point we shal haue no other thing but our yea and our nay Yes saye you lett the matter be tryed by scripture So lett it be and because you are so trymlye seene in them that you will make vs altogeather ignorant shewe vs your scriptures to proue your pretie narrow and shamefast churche Yf you can shewe none reade for the truthes sake those places which we shall name vnto you In thy seede all nations shall be blessed Aske of me and I wyll geaue the for thy heritage the Gentyles He meaning the Messias shall rule frō sea vnto sea and from the floud euen vnto the endes of the worlde Agayne The stone which was cutt out of the hyll without handes fylled the whole worlde So it hath ben wrytten and so it behoued Christ to suffre and repentance and remission of synnes to be preached in his name through all nations You shall be my wytnesses in Iury and Samaria and vnto the endes of the earthe But what of all this Marye Syr that you shold reade in these scriptures how playnly it was promysed that the whole world should be Christ his inheritage and that his churche should be sought for not in pelting corners of Africa of Europa or Asia not in wyttenberge Geneua or England but in all nations and in all countreyes of the world And if you myslyke this our cōclusion gathered out of these places of scripture consider then better then you haue done S. Augustins reasoning against Petilian and against all other Donatistes when so euer he wrote against them as in his 162. 166. 170. 171. and other of his epistles In all which places he proueth that it is vnpossible that Donate which was an vpstart heretike in Africa should haue the truth on his syde because the scriptures do so playnlye promyse vs that the church of Christ should be enlarged ouer the whole worlde and because it was so sensibly performed that euery one might see that churche which was extended through all nations Now if you haue any scriptures or authorityes or reasons to proue that the church should not be openly knowen for 900. yeares togeather or that about the yeare of our Lorde God .1500 the light of the Ghospell should begynne to appeare or that the churche may be in one countrey only or that Christ shold leese his inheritage which was promysed hym ouer the world or that all the dryfte of S. Augustyns reasoning against the Donatistes doth not expresly make against you then shall you speake somewhat worth the answering Against which tyme prouyde also to tell vs how S. Cyprian whom you alleage to proue that recourse should be had to the scriptures doth make any thing for you Yea rather he maketh cleane against you and if you had taken but small leysure to consider hym he teacheth you that to come vnto the truth and to be sure of it there is an other and better waye then you haue yet inuented For after those wordes Hereof aryse schysmes because we seeke not to the head nor haue recourse vnto the spring nor keepe the cōmaundementes of the heauenly master After which wordes you make a full point as though you had tolde all his meanyng he saieth further that to proue this there is no neede of long talke or reasonyng Our Lorde spake vnto Peter and sayed I tell the thow art Peter and vpon this rock I wyll buyld my church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it c. And allthough he gaue lyke authoritie vnto all his Apostles after his resurrection and said Euen as my father sent me I also sent you receyue you the holyghost yf you remyt any man his synnes they are forgeauen hym yf you reteyne them they are reteyned yet that he might make playne and set furth an vnitie he disposed by his owne authoritie the head and spring of that vnitie which beginneth of one And a lytle after he sayeth Doeth he beleiue that he holdeth and keepeth his fayth which keepth not this vnitie of the church How then could you bring in S. Cyprian in the commendatyon of anye of your two markes of the church which so expressely warneth you to consider the vnitie thereof and the authoritie which was geauen vnto S. Peter in which vnitie who so euer is not found hath lost all true fayth crake he neuer so much of his sacramentes and scriptures But now because it is not inough to declare that your markes of the church are vncertayne and controuersious except we geaue some better signes which may leade all men vnto the true church therfore it is to considered what we professe openlye in one of the articles of our Crede I beleiue sayeth euery Christian one holye Catholike and Apostolike church and if he knoweth also what he speaketh then shall he neuer be to seeking of the churche For she must be fyrst of all One church that is to saye she must haue one profession of fayth one ordre in sacramentes and one head for her gouernement by which one worde thei be quicklye tryed for no good Christians which can neuer agree vpon their fayth or haue no certayne head or gouernour Secondlye the church is holye in this sense either because none are holye which are out of this church either because she hath ben bought with bloud a deare price either because she is stable and inuiolable Which note doth warne vs to beware of them which haue no contynuance in their religion but are quyckely altered at euery new preachers inuention Thirdly the church must be Catholike which is to say she must goe through the whole world not only in respect of place but also of persons and tyme wherevpon it foloweth that all such religion as lurketh only in particular countreyes or which hath no antiquitie and contynuance at all is to be reiected as a singuler naught and no Catholike or good religion And last of all the true church must be Apostolike by which worde I meane that if they of England now or those of Geneua can by degrees ascende and frō one minister vnto an other go vpwardes in a cōtynual ordre vntyll they do come vnto one of the Apostles whō they will proue to haue ben a father to their religion that then they haue one good signe to commende their doinges But because this is vnpossible to be doone of them therfore they are not