Petrus misericordia motus sayth Epiphanius Peter beyng moued with pitie more than with zeale and trueth sayd he would refuse none immediatly vpon their repentaunce Meletius moued with trueth zeale affirmed that he would receiue none except they shewed the fruites of true repentaunce by long triall and proofe of amēdement Epiphanius sayth farther Cōtigit Petrum martyrium subire decessit beatus ille It fell out that Peter suffered Martyrdome and died a blessed man and they that held with Peter were called the Catholicke Church they that dyd sticke to Meletius were called the Churche of Martyrs very few stode with Peter the most of the prisoners stode with Meletius who called his Church the Church of Martyrs which were such as would take vp Christes Crosse and folow him The Church of Rome beyng moued neither with pitie zeale truth reasō nor honesty but onely with ambition and couetousnesse refuseth none so they will shew thē selues to be of that Catholicke Church Traytours murtherers théeues coseners cutters adulters baudes strumpets and all other gracelesse persons may vpon the sayd cōditiō haue safe accesse to Rome and be of that Church Whereas these men alledge Succession of place and persons not beyng hable to proue Succession of true doctrine we may say their Succession is nothyng worth For that is not a iust Succession which lacketh the puritie of the Apostolicke doctrine right vse of the Sacramentes Succession of doctrine is the true and infallible marke of the true Church Irenaeus sayth they are not alwayes true Ministers which séeme so to be but they which kéepe the doctrine of the Apostles S. Paule sayth fayth commeth not by Succession but by hearyng and hearyng commeth not of legacie or inheritaunce from Byshop to Byshop but of the word of god He sayth also be ye folowers of me as I am a folower of Christ S. Ambrose sayth Non habent haereditatem Petri qui fidem Petri non habent They haue not Peters inheritaunce that haue not the fayth of Peter Chrisost sayth The pulpit maketh not a Minister but a Minister the pulpit Christ sayd to the Iewes boastyng that they were the séede of Abraham you are of your father the deuill They are not alwayes godly that succéede the godly For S. Paul sayth in the Actes I know this that after my departyng greeuous wolues shall enter in among you not sparing the flocke Also of your owne selues shall men arise speakyng peruerse thyngs to draw away disciples after them He spake this at Miletum to the bishops of Asia Christ sayth that by Succession desolation shall sit in the holy place and Antichrist shall preasse in to the roome of Christ Manasses succéeded Ezechias Hieroboam succéeded Dauid at this day by Succession the Turke possesseth and holdeth the foure Patriarchall seates or seas of the Church Alexandria Hierusalem Constantinople and Antioche Iohānes Saris buriensis sayth In Romana Ecclesia sedent Scribae Pharisaei By Succession the Scribes and Phariseis sit in the Church of Rome Thus you sée how Antiquitie Vniuersalitie and Succession helpe the cause of the shakers of the shyp It foloweth in the text Now when he had left speaking he sayd vnto Simon launch out into the deepe and let downe your nettes to make a draught Christ hauing ended his heauenly Sermon certifieth vs of the truth of the same and declareth himselfe to be God the Lord of heauen earth the sea and all that is in them Hee sayd vnto Simon launch out into the déepe Christ was able to geue fishe to Simon without launching out of his net and without his labour ▪ but his will was to haue him launch out his nette c. That which is sayd to Peter is sayd to al Launch out into the deepe c. Euery man of what estate and condition soeuer he be is commaunded paynefully to follow his vocation with fayth Man forthwith after his creation was set to labour The Lord tooke man and set him in the pleasant garden of Eden to dresse it and to kéepe it It was sayd to Adam after that he had tasted the forbiddē fruite In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane thou shalt eate thy bread with the sweate of thy face The same is sayd to euery man Man is borne vnto trauaile sayth Iob as the sparkes flye vpward Whē thou eatest the labours of thy handes thou shalt be blessed it shall be well with thée Our Sauiour Christ sayth the kindome of heauē is like to a man that is an housholder which went out earely in the morning to hier labourers into his vineyard This housesholder is God the father The kingdome of heauen in in this place is the preaching of the gospell of Christ The labourers are all men The vineyard is the Church Why stād you heare all the day idle goe ye also into the vineyard apply your vocation with fayth in Christ Iesu Laboure while you haue time when the night commeth no man can labour Idlenes is the mother and nourisher of all vices which thinge hath bin obserued in the Primitiue Church where it was ordayned that euerye one should liue of his owne labour The which also the auntient Romanes kept straightly as writeth Cicero in his booke of lawes wherein he affirmeth that in tyme past no Roman durst goe by the streates if he bare not a shew whereon he did lyue to th end that it might be knowen the he liued of his owne labour and not by the sweate of others In consideration thereof the Consull did beare a battell axe before him The priest a hat in manner of a Coyfe The Tribune a mace The Cutler a sword The Smith a hammer The Tayler a payre of sheares The Oratour a booke All godly men heretofore haue laboured and also haue continued in spirituall exercise Noha planted a vineyard The kinglye prophet Dauid laboured euen from his youth The Apostle Paule sustayned great labours Reade of that vertuous and painefull woman in the last chapter of prouerbes she eateth not her bread with Idlenes A good lesson for good huswiues to remember A good lesson for ill huswifes to follow But what shall I say of the holye of all holyes is it not written Iesus fatigatus exitinere Iesus being weary of his iorney c Such was his labour he trauailed sometyme among the Iewes sometyme among the Samaritanes he trauailed to the sea side to the moūtaynes to the wildernes so much trauailed he that his handes féete and whole bodye did sweate droppes lyke bloud trickeling downe to the ground and all for the redemption of miserable man to destroy the works of the deuill It is writtē to the praise of Cyrus king of Persia that in tyme vacant frō the affaires of his realme he with his owne handes had planted innumerable trées which long before he dyed brought forth aboundāce of fruite And for the cunnyng and delectable order in setting of
oboloquie and euill report it is now The worlde hateth the light of veritye In so great malice of the world partely contemning and partelye persecuting the word of the gospell who can satisfie or content all men In old tyme there were but seuen wise men among the Greekes and now there are not so many fooles among vs for all of vs glorye of our wisedome euery head is full of wit euery man will haue his owne way Hearers are rather rashe iudges than fit and obedient schollars and most of them before they haue learned any thing doo rashly condēne all thinges S. August sayth Tutior est discentis quà m docētis conditio Salfer is the condition of him that learneth thē of him that teacheth I pray you good audiēce let me heare your iudgements How should a man make an excellēt Sermon either in matter or forme Som would haue the matter Catholique Some Gospel like Some would haue altogether common places of Scripture decided Some would haue vs procéede stil in the treatises of fayth iustification with inuectiues agaynst the Masse Purgatory and satisfactions Other would haue vs to launch into the déepes of predestination originall sinne free will election and reprobation Other would haue vices rebuked but they can not agree how it should be done Some would haue it generally and coldly Some directly and hotely Some the vices of the Clergy and Magistrates some onely the vices of the commō people and inferiours all men other mēs vices but no man his owne vices These disagrée in matter very ill in forme much worse Some would haue long texts some short textes Some would haue Doctours Fathers and Councels some call that mās doctrine Some would haue it ordered by Logicke some terme that mans wisedome some would haue it polished by Rheotrique some call that persuasiblenesse of wordes And agayne in Rhetoricke some would haue it holy eloquence liable to the Ebrue Gréeke phrase Some would haue it proper and fittyng to the English capacitie Some loue study and learnyng in Sermōs Some allow onely a sudaine motion of the spirite Some would haue all said by heart some would haue oft recourse made to the booke Some loue gestures some no gestures Some loue long Sermons some short Sermons Some are coy and can broke no Sermons at all But we be not to féede mens humours but to folow Christ we must folow Christ into the shyp and the crosse must be borne after the example of Christ No man sought more the glory of God then Christ yet for all that he was called a blasphemer He liued without spot of vice and yet he was called a wine bibber Hee expresly taught to render to Cesar the thynges whiche belong to Cesar and yet he was accused to haue taught the contrary No man taught patience more and yet was he condemned as a seditious person There was neuer such a one in Israell as Christ was in workes and wordes Neuer any liued so purely neuer any taught so heauēly and yet many wicked graces persons sayd of him he hath a deuill and is mad why heare ye him The schollar is not aboue the maister You sée the chaire of the maister know the chaire of the schollar More safe and sure is the standyng of the hearers whiche standyng on the land heare the word of saluation The greatest part of hearers kéepe them selues out of perill for when any sudaine storme of persecution ariseth for the Gospell on the sea of this world either they hide them selues or els vtterly forsakē the ship chaire teacher and all Such is the condition of the most part of hearers These thyngs are clearely knowne I neede not to make long demonstration Examples remaine fresh in memory Touchyng the shyp the state of the Church militant is here excellētly depainted The Church of Christ is that shyp where agaynst Sathan bloweth out so many blastes the woman clothed with the sunne whom the old Dragon ceaseth not continually to persecute This shyp is like to the Arke of Noah Euen as a shyp on the sea whē any stormy tempestes arise is terribly shaken right so nothing in the wast and wide world is more shakē with stormes and tempestes of all maner euils then the Church If you aske me who they are that shake the shyp of Christ and how the same is shakē I will giue you to vnderstād Turkes Iewes Anabaptistes Libertines Sectaries Atheistes Schismatikes the Familie of loue the Romishe rable and to be short the deuill and all his members shake this shyp but they shal neuer be hable to drown it For the gates of hell shall not preuaile agaynst it Because Christ sitteth at the sterne and hath the helme in his owne hand For that the Romish Catholickes do most shake the true Church of England which is the Church of Christ I purpose at this present to proue against them They say they shake not the ship but are in the ship as in the Arke of Noah and that we Protestantes shake the ship and are out of the ship and out of the Arke Farther they boldly say that without the vnitie of their body and their head the Churche of Rome and their holy father the Pope no man can be saued I will clearely proue the contrary namely that they shake the ship that they are out of the shipp and they are not the true Church Their body is a Sinagogue of Sathan their holy father is not head of the true Church happy were he if he were a member of the same he hath not the keyes of heauē but rather of the bottomles pit I proue thus the Romish Church heareth not the voyce of the shepheard Therfore the Romish Church is not the true Church I wil prosecute this Argumēt in treatyng of breakyng the net Now to proue that they shake the ship how The Romish Church is a persecutyng Church therfore it shaketh the shyp cōsequently is not the true church For persecutiō is an euident token of Antichristes Church Cayn persecuted Abell the Giantes Noah the Sodomites Loth Ismaell Isaac Esau Iacob the Egyptiās the Israelites Pharao Moses Saul Dauid yet Dauid would not hurt him Of whom we learne that Gods Church doth suffer rather than hurt and pardon rather then persecute The false Prophetes persecuted the true Prophetes The Priestes Scribes Byshops Annas Herod Pilate and Caiphas persecuted Christ The Iewes and Turkes persecute the Christians And most of all the tyran of Rome persecuteth Christes litle flocke and congregatiō The Church of Christ did neuer persecute but was alwayes persecuted So Hilarius Nicephorus in many places discourse Lactantius sayth excellently to this matter Defendenda religio est non occidendo sed monendo non saeuitia sed patientia non scelere sed fide Nā si sanguine tormētis si malo religionē defendere velis iā non defendetur illa sed polluetur atque
vnitye to the Church of Roome and to their Byshop the head thereof the aduersary of Christ and vtter enemy to his crosse boldly braying and bragging that out of the vnitye of this bodye and head of theirs no man can be saued For these miserable men ought to vnderstaÌ„d that this necessary vnitye without which no man can haue saluation is not that vnitye whereby members are ioyned to members bunches to bunches monsters to monsters and the deceiued to Antichrist the deceiuer but that it is that vnitye wherby the true members of the true bodye are conioyned to the true and onely one head Iesus Christe our mediator and Sauiour The tyranne of Roome is not the head of the true church I proue thus He hath not the worde of God for his warrant Ergo he is not the head of the true church Christ sayth that he himselfe is the onely vniuersall Shepheard The prophets haue prophesied so of Christ Esai 40. Ezech. 37. 34. Hierem. 30. Psal. 33. c. The Apostle so nameth him Christ himselfe not long before he left this worldâ— sayd to his disciples I will pray the father and he shall geue you another coÌ„forter that he may abide with you for euer euen the spirite of truth Here we learne what vicar Christ hath substituted Not the Pope but the holy ghost So writeth Tertul. Barnard and others This place of Iohn I am the good shepheard S. August expoundeth of Christ So doth Chrisost So doth Nicholas Lyra as simple an interpretour as he was Fiet vnus pastor id est Christus There shal be one shepeheard that is to say not the Pope but Christ The Apostles had no knowledge of this monstrous head The Nicene Councell knew it not The Councell of Carthage excommunicated cursed him to the deuill that called him selfe vniuersall Byshop or chief Priest The whole Councell of Aphrica condeÌ„ned the attempt of this vsurped iurisdiction and called it the smokie pride of the world The Romish Prelate doth subuert corrupt prophane the doctrine of Christ and his Sacraments manifestly maintaineth Idolatrie Therfore he caÌ„ not be the vniuersall Shepheard He is not worthy to be called a Shepheard A Shepheard nay a fleashéepe A Byshop a Butcher a Pastour a Pyrate a Prelate a Pylate a Vicar of Christ a Vicar of Venus a Cephas Caiphas Phocas that execrable murtherer was he that first proclaimed the Byshop of Rome to be head of the vniuersall Church about vj. hundred xiij yeares after Christ was borne This Phocas beyng but a common souldiour did by treason and conspiracie lay hands vpon his liedge Lord and Maister the Emperour Mauritius and in cruell sort did him to death and so by trayterous vilanie he aspired to the Empire The maner of his crueltie was this First he commauÌ„ded foorth the Emperours yongest sonne and caused him to be slayne euen in the fight of his father and so the second and then the third and afterwarde the Empresse Mauritius heauely lookyng on lamentyng saying vnto God Righteous art thou O Lord and rightfull is thy iudgement Last of all he vsed the like tyranny also vpon the Emperour and layd him his wife and his iij. children on a heape together After that he had thus liued and coÌ„mitted sundry murthers and other great misâ—â—â—â—â— the people tooke him slue him â–ª 〈◊〉 â—â—ew him in to the fire Here you maâ— sée the first promotour a holy promotour of the Popes holynes A murtherer â—â—e finder out of supremacie And Supâ—â—â—â—cie fouÌ„ded and builded vpon murther S. Cyprian calleth Stephen and Cornelius Bishops of Rome brethreÌ„ and companions And whereas certaine Schismatickes yelded them selues subiect to the Byshop of Rome perswading them selues that the Bishops of Aphrica had lesse power theÌ„ the Byshops of Rome Cyprian called them desperate wicked persons for so doyng I frame this Argument out of Chrisost Quicunque desyderauerit primatuÌ„ in terra in Coelo inueniet confusionem Whosoeuer ambitiouslye desireth supremacy vpon earth shall finde in heauen confusion The Byshop of Roome ambitiouslye desireth supremacye on earth Therefore he shall finde confusion in heaueÌ„ The Pope is Antichrist Ergo he is not the head of the Church He which auauÌ„ceth himself aboue all that is called God is Antichrist The pope doth so Ergo the Pope is Antichrist Irenaeus a most auncient doctour of the Church who liued almost fiften hundred yeares since disputyng of Antichrist sayth thus Antichristus cum sit seruus tamen adorari vult vt Deus Antichrist notwithstaÌ„ding he be but a slaue yet he will be worshipped as if he were god Ioachimus Abbas saith Antichristus iam pridem natus est Romae altiùs extolletur in sede Apostolica Antichrist is long since borne in Rome yet shall he be higher aduaunced in the Apostolick sea Antichrist sayth Gregory is he that shall clayme to himselfe to be called the vniuersall Byshop and shall haue a garde of priestes to attend vpon him S. August sayth BabyloÌ„ is the first Roome and Rome the second Babylon And to come nearer the matter S. Iohn sayth Antichrist shall sit in the Citye that is built vpon seuen hilles and so is the Citie of Roome And Sybilla sayth that the greatest terror and furye of his Empire and the greatest woe that he shall worke shall be by the bankes of Tyber and there is Roome He that hath eyes to sée let him see he that hath eares to heare let him heare Agayne Christ was humble the Pope proude Christ was poore the Pope rich Christ patient the Pope impatient Christ merciful the Pope vnmercifull Christ vsed admonitioÌ„ the Pope imprisonment Christ communication the Pope extirpation Christ all manner of clemencie the Pope all manner of tyranny briefely you shall finde the Pope in all vertue seuered from Christ you shall finde him to Christ Beliall to light darcknes to truth falshode Are not these and such lyke the very fruites of Antichrist the trée is knowne by his fruite Whereas these shakers of the ship of Christ vrge Antiquitie Vniuersalitye and Succession to make much for them I aunswere these thinges make nothing for them but rather agaynst them Notwithstanding their Vincentius Lirinensis whome they haue in so high price This is Vincentius pretious assertion In ipsa catholica Ecclesia magnopore curandum est vt id teneamus quod vbique quod seÌ„per quod ab omnibus creditum est In the Catholick Church we must haue especiall care to hold that which euery where alwayes and of all men is beléeued Yet to helpe his credite the Church of Roome was not so deformed with heresies at the time when he did write which was a thousand yeares more since as it is mentioned Antiquitye doth not preiudice or hinder trueth Their antiquity is no marke of the Church Their Antiquitie is iniquitye Tertull. sayth nothing can prescribe agaynst truth neither time nor authoritye of
persons nor priuileges of kingdomes And a litle after he sayth Christ is called trueth and not custome If Christ be from euerlasting and more auntient than all then is also trueth more auntiēt than all customes Heresies haue alwayes bin vanquished by truth and not by noueltye and whatsoeuer is contrary to this trueth is heresie though it be neeuer so olde a custome S. August sayth after that the truth is once found out let custome geue place to the trueth let no man set custome before truth reason for reason truth euermore put custome to silēce That swéete martyr S. Cypri sayth Si solus Christus andiendus est non debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putauerit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit Neque enim hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet sed Dei veritatem If Christ be onely to be heard we must not regard what any other hath done before vs but we must looke what Christ hath done which is before al. For we must not follow the custome of men but the truth of God. To be short Ignatius a disciple to S. Iohn the Euangelist and a most constant martyr of Christ hath these wordes all my Antiquitie is Iesus Christ whome not to heare is manifest destruction You see the most auncient send vs to learne the truth of him which is most aunciēt of all Symmachus disputyng with S. Ambrose agaynst the certaintie of the Christiā Religion groundeth his chief Argument vpon antiquitie Affirmyng the Religion in truth the superstition of the Heathen to be the truer Because it had bene of more antiquitie In resolution of the Argumēt Ambrose séemeth almost graueled But the very aūswere to be made hereunto is that the Religion of the Heathen is not more auncient than ours much lesse the Religiō of the Papistes Our true Christian Religion was not first published xv hundred fifty odd yeares sithence when Christ and his Disciples taught that most playnly in Iury But from the first infancie of the world immediatly after the creation of the first mā the same hath bene manifestly reuealed and from that time forward alwayes hath bene confirmed by the testimonies of the Prophetes Patriarkes Apostles faithfully obserued and maintained by all the godly of all ages euen from Adā to this houre For all this I will not sticke to graunt these men antiquitie euen frō Nemrod yea to pleasure them from Cain Their Babylon begā by Cain They alwayes turne the bewtie of Sion into the confusion of Babylon Vniuersalitie is no true note of the Church Christ clearely teacheth that many more shal be damned than saued because that fewe doe heare the word of God and bryng forth fruites through patience Many are called and fewe are chosen Enter ye in at the straite gate For wyde is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which goe in thereat but straite is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth vnto lyfe and few there be that finde it Christ sayth feare not my litle flocke c. In the time of the flud onely viij persons Noah and his familie were preserued in the Arke At the burnyng of Sodome and the other Cities adioynyng Loth his wife and ij daughters were saued and yet after Lothes wife because she looked behynd her was turned into a piller of salt Of the innumerable multitude of the children of Israell and others which went out of Egypt toward the land of promise onely Caleb and Iehosua entred into that fruitfull land and all the other perished miserably in the wildernes In the dayes of Elias iiij hundred and fifty Prophetes of Baal and iiij hundred Prophetes of the groues which did eate at Iezabels table stode agaynst Elias Foure hūdred false Prophetes stode agaynst one true Prophet Michaea The blessed doctrine of Christ him selfe hath not bene receiued euermore euery where of all men For the Turkes receiue it not the Iewes abhorre it the Church of Rome abuseth it The vniuersall consent of the world stode against the Disciples of Christ a few poore Fishermen and they all except Iohn the Euangelist were cruelly done to death Consider the tyme of Iohn Husse a man of exquisite excellent learnyng matched with holynes of lyfe He preached the doctrine of Iesus Christ sincerely concernyng iustification and the true Church c. Therefore the malignant rable pronounced him an hereticke in the Coūcell of Constance excommunicated him painted deuils on his cap condemned and burned him and beyng consumed to ashes threw the same in to a riuer All this was done by generall consent After this vilanie they triumphed for that they had dispatched him The saying of Christ is true the world shal reioyce But such spectacles are mournefull to the children of God and cause them to shed bitter teares ye shall wéepe and lament The bones of Bucer and Paulus Phagius those learned godly and faythfull souldiours of Christ were burned at Cambridge with Salue festa dies in a solemne Processiō Was not this Iugulare mortuos To kill as they say God haue mercy on his soule Athanasius that learned and godly Byshop of Alexandria stode almost against all the world beyng fortified with the truth Paphnutius alone stode agaynst the Coūcell of Nice and was heard Christ mercyfully cured x. leapers and of them onely one returned and gaue glory to god Hath not our Sauiour prophecied that many false Christes false Prophetes shall arise and deceiue many in the last cast of the world How goeth the world now The holy father in the Councell of Trent pronounceth thus Qui docet fide in Christum nos tantum iustificari absque operibus nostris item certō credendum esse remissionem peccatorum sit anathema He that teacheth that we are iustified onely by fayth in Christ without our owne workes and also that we ought to beleue assuredly that our sinnes are forgiuen vs let him be accursed O cursed and pestilent Councell Touching the Catholique church S. August writeth thus It is therfore calleth Catholica Quia vniuersaliter perfecta est in nullo claudicat per totum orbem diffusa est Because she is vniuersally perfect and halteth in nothyng nor is shut vp in any one countrey as was the Church of the Iewes but is dispersed throughout the whole world Epiphanius writeth that in the reigne of Diocletian and Maximinian a tyme of great persecution Meletius Byshop of Thebais in Egypt and Peter Byshop of Alexandria and diuers other godly men were put in prison in Alexandria the chief Citie of Egypt Of whom some suffered Martyrdome and some refused Martyrdome They that remayned aliue in prison disputed whether they that had reuolted through the violent persecution should be receiued agayne into the Church or no. The chief of these in the disputation were Peter and Meletius
must referre you to the places of other auncient Fathers which make the case cleare Tertul. contra Marcionem Lib. 4. August Tom. 6. contra adimantum Manichaei Discipulum cap. 12. Tom. 8. in Psal 3. Tom. 2. epist. 221. Cyp. de Coena Domini Hesichius in Leuit. Lib. 3. cap. 2. Ambros de Sacramentis Lib. 1. cap. 5. Chrisost ad Caesarium August in Ioh. Tract 25. Tract 26. To cōclude Erasmus a mā of great learnyng iudgement sayth thus In synaxi Transubstantiationem sero definiuit ecclesia In the holy ministration it was long and very late before the church determined the Article of Transubstantiation Their owne breath bloweth agaynst them Doctour Tonstall sayth It was no heresie to deny their Transubstantiation before their late Councell of Lateran Doctour Fisher sometyme Byshop of Rochester sayth The very presence of Christes body bloud in the Masse can not be proued by any Scripture This deuelish doctrine was neuer receiued in the Church til Pope Leo Pope Nicholas Pope Innocent Pope Honorius and Pope Vrban Antichristian prelates thorow their tyranny brought it in and compelled the Christiās with fire and faggot as the maner of the tyrānicall Papistes is to receiue their abhominable doctrine It is not much more then fiue hundred yeares since their grosse opinion of the Sacramēt begā first to be attēpted was throughly receiued and agréed vpon about the yeare of our Lord 1215. in the Councell of Laterā which was holden in Rome where were gathered together a mōstrous swarme of Pharisaicall Papistes about the number of thirtene hūdred pildpates of the which number eight hūdred were mōkes channōs fryers a broode of chickēs of the Popes owne hatching Last of all came pope Vrban the monke in the yeare of our Lord a thousand two hundred thréescore and foure and he made vp all the market For he ordained a feast called Corpus Christi in honour of the Sacrament so that euer after that tyme the Sacramēt was no more taken for a signe figure and token of Christes bodye but for Christ himselfe God and man And therefore was it reuerenced worshiped honored sensed and knéeled vnto as they taught the people at their vnsacred sakeringes S. August sayth touching the fathers of the olde law Abraham Moses Aaron and other receiued the bodye of Christ truely and effectually long tyme before that Christ either had receiued fleshe of the blessed virgin or had ordained the Sacrament and that euen the selfe same bodye that is receiued now of the faythfull Of this matter S. Paule speaketh They did all eate of the same spirituall meate And did all drinke of the same spirituall drinke For they dranke of that spirituall rock that folowed them and that rocke was Christ S. August also of Christian children and other faythfull that neuer receiued the Sacrament writeth thus nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum tunc vnumquemque fideliū corporis sauguinisque domini participem fieri quando in Baptismate efficitur membrum Christi c. No man may in any wise doubt but that euery faythfull man is than made partaker of the body and bloud of Christ whan in Baptisme he is made a member of Christ and that he is not without the felowship of that bread and of that cup although before he eate of that bread drinke of that cup he hepart this world being in the vnitye of Christes bodye for he is not made frustrate of the Communion and benefite of that Sacrament while he findeth that thing which is signified in the Sacrament The enemies of the crosse of Christ mightfully obiect Onlesse ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud ye shall haue no lyfe in you I aunswere if there be no other eating of Christes bodye whereby wée shall liue but onely fleshly eating with mouth and teath than what lyfe hath Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses Aaron and other holy Patriarches Prophets that were before the comming of Christ what lyfe haue a great nūber of holy martyrs what lyfe haue Christian Children that being baptised in the bloud of Christ depart this lyfe before they can receiue the Sacrament Shall we say they haue no lyfe Or shall we condemne them of euerlasting death Or shall we thinke they shall neuer rise agayne And shall we denye Gods election S. August speakyng of our fathers sayth Visibilē cibum Manna spiritualiter intellexerunt spiritualiter esurierunt spiritualiter gustauerunt They vnderstode Manna the visible meate spiritually they hungred it spiritually they tasted it spiritually I aske the defenders of transubstātiation what body Christ gaue whether mortall or immortall I reason thus if he gaue his body he gaue his mortall body or his immortall body But he gaue not his mortal body neither his immortal body Therfore he gaue not his body I proue thus he gaue not his mortall body accumbebat mensae for it sate at the table He gaue not his immortall body nō dum resurrexerat for it was not yet risen Therfore he gaue not his body Therfore it is a figuratiue spéech I vrge their owne wordes agaynst them By and by after they haue confessed that the bread is the body of Christ essentially substantially and in déede and the wyne his naturall bloud they adde Sed inuisibiliter ineffabiliter non vt in loco non qualitatiue aut quantitatiue But inuisiblely and vnspeakeablely and not as in a place not in quātitie or in qualitie Note I pray you how fitly these thynges agrée how the one is subuerted by the other For if the true and naturall body of our Lord which he tooke of the virgin Mary dead buried risen ascended into heauen so they say be present in the Sacrament assuredly that same body must haue quantitie and qualitie must be contained in a place except that body was not naturall or els now beyng in glory hath put away all truth of a body The Angels testifie of the glorified body of Christ Surrexit nō est hic ecce locus vbi posuerunt eum He is risen he is not here behold the place where they had put him Christ him selfe sayth behold my handes and my féete that it is euē I my selfe handle me and sée for a spirite hath not flesh and bones as ye sée me haue If this body haue not place qualitie quantitie it is not the substantiall naturall and true body of our lord Read S. August epist. 57. ad Dardanum Tom. 2. Thus much concernyng the Lordes Supper Also these men teach that we are not iustified by fayth onely This doctrine is false Therefore they breake the net They call vs Solifidiās We may call them Nullifidians I argue thus the righteous man liueth by his fayth Therefore fayth iustifieth Abraham was iustified by fayth Therfore other are iustified by fayth Abrahā is the father of all beleuers The antecedent is proued Abraham beleued God and