lettres or worde leauing the free election notwithstanding to them to whome of right it apperteineth as this placing of Sadoc in Abiathars office may welbe vnderstande To th'example of Ezechias I answer with the scripture that of all those thinges here rehersed and what so euer elles may be he was onelie the executor the councell and ordering thereof comming alwaies from Esaias the prophete Who as the mouth commaunded the arme that is the prince to doe and put in execution this or that In like māner I answer to the example of Iehu who killed the wicked prophetes but by thaduertisement and sentence as it wer first giuen ageinst them by Haelizeus the prophete sent to Iehu as king by him to be put in execution How Iosias warned the priestes of their office and duety it appeareth in the fourth booke of the kinges where he required the priestes to demaund at goddes handes councell what he and his people should doe so that what so euer he did also he cā be counted no otherwise to haue doen but as a ministre apon the aduertisement and relation of the priestes Nowe as for Iosaphat and Ioas if th'one ouerthrewe the wooddes and hilles where the people lurcked from the temple the other warned the priestes to see better to the reparation of the same what greate matter is this I praie yow or how doeth this proue that kinges ought to haue the chief rule ouer the churche If princes that haue byn in times past had so well looked in this point to their duetie as of right they ought and all good men wishe they had if they had scoured your luskes corners and ouerthrowen the wooddes the blinde cellers and rotten barnes in which yow first vttred your poisoned doctrine neither had that made thē rulers of the church but faithefull and trusty ministers nor yow byn here nowe to trouble the churche of god as yow doe As if on thother side they had also folowed th'example of Ioas in calling apon the reparation of goddes house neither would any good man haue found faulte therewith all nor any wise man haue thought that this should haue made thē the chief gouernours in religion nor finally so many churches lien at this day flat on the ground so many monasteries in which god was serued and the pooer relieued made stables for horses housen for shepe or sties for swine And thus may yow see good readers that all thiese examples alleaged by our aduersaries ar to no purpose as of the which some as of king Dauid who was not a king onely but a prophete also conteine a manifeste fallacie other as that of Iosue that he should receiue especiall commaundemēt of almightie god to meddle with religion an impudent lie some as of Salomon Ezechias and Iehu a figure or phrase of speche as by the scriptures I haue proued and as of Iosias may be also truely answered who enterprised nothing before he had caused the priestes first to goe and consult what he should doe and other some such as of Iosaphat and Ioas as no man euer denied to kinges yea many wishe that in the practising thereof they had in times past and at this daie also would showe them selues much more forward then they haue or doe And last of all yow may see that all wer it so that euery example had plainely concluded their intention that yet it is no good reason to say that therefore our kinges nowe a daies must haue the like auctoritie no more then this that if Moyses had byn no priest it should folow that other temporall gouernours might consecrate bishoppes because he did being none consecrate his brother Aaron or that because Dauid had many wiues therefore our kinges also maie or the cleargie put to death kinges because Samuel did or priestes kille adulterers after th'example of Phinees or one spoile an other I meane of them that be of contrarie opinions in religion because the children of Israel spoiled the Egiptians And here there cōmeth to my remēbraunce an other cause why that reason of theirs should be naught which is this that the priestehod of the Iewes was altogether carnall and fleshelie and might therefore the rather be subiect to the kinges whereas the priesthod of the newe testament is so much more excellent then that as by how much the matter and obiect about which it is occupied the head author and chiefe priest thereof which is no other then Christ him self the eternall priest according to the ordre of Melchisedech doeth far surmount either the matter the priest or priestehod of theirs Which thing S. Petre did not obscurely signify by these wordes vos estis regale sacerdotium yo we ar a kingelie priestehoode as who should say the priestehood before was not kingly for that that kinges ruled ouer priestes but nowe is the priestehod kingly for that to it be subiect euē kinges them selues Which neither is any such greate absurditie if we indifferentlie wey the matter as some men would haue it seme to be considering that Ignatius disciple to S. Iohn the euangelist that all the auncient fathers doe most plainely affirme the same neither yet anie greate reason why thiese wordes should be to any man cause of offence seing that when all is counted this honor of gouernement resteth not in the priestes but goeth farder to god him self whose ministres they ar as contrarywise the dishonor the contumelies and reproches doen vnto them ar doen also to Christ as him selfe witnesseth Qui vos spernit me spernit he that dispiseth yow dispiseth me The which thing I would to god our aduersaries which glory so much of the name of Christians vaunt them selues of the knowledge of the gospell would not thinck scorne to learne by the exāple of a pagane and infidell I meane Alexander the greate Who although he wer by religion an ethnike by nature intollerably proude so that not contentid as Quintus Curtius writeth of him to be born of the race of mortall men he cōueighed his petigrue frō the goddes not suffering but commaunding also that apon peine of his indignation all men should call him the sonne of Iupiter and to encrease the more that naughty humor of his and to poure as the prouerbe is oile in to the fier by fortune so happy that the whole worlde was in a manner by the dent of his sword conquered and brought vnder that at his name the proudest tirants trembled and barbarouse nations stooped he yet all this not withstanding being such and so mighty a Monarche when on a time he should entre in to the citie of Ierusalem as sone as he once perceiued Iaddus the highe priest comming towardes him fell downe and reuerenced him Whereat whē Parmenio one of his trusty friendes marueiling not a little had demaunded of him why he whom all other men worshiped and had in reuerence did worship the prince of the Iewish priestes his answer was
to them thiese perniciouse persuasioÌ„s that they be here in earth by almighty god placed in his churche to be the heads thereof and not membres to be fathers and not children to rule in causes of religion and not to be ruled that to them it belongeth in the right of their crowune to approue doctrine or to condemne it to alter at their pleasure the state of religion by actes of parliament without the consent of their cleargie to depose bishops and put other in their places in their stiles and titles boldely to write them selues gouernours in their realmes in all things and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall and yet no ordre all this while broken because forsoth theie be such as theie beare them in hand they ar that is to say the heades the rulers the shepherdes the fathers maisters and guides in religion Thiese be theie therefore good readers that as the prophete saith call bonum malum malum bonum tenebras lucem lucem â—enebras good euel and euel good darckenes light and light darckenes Thiese be they that as their Idol of Geneua in this poinct trulie giueth answer goe about to make princes iustle with god Finally thiese ar those lowsy brokers that leading as it wer by the hand their good and vertuous princes after this sweete poysoned bait from the most pleasaunt and fertile valeis of humilitie to the toppe of the highe barren and craggy mountaines of pryde and arrogaÌ„cie showing them when they haue them there the riches and ornaments of the churche the landes and reuenues thereof by good and vertuous princes their predecessors and auncestors long time before for this entent especially thereto giuen that the ministres of Christes most holy word and blessed sacraments being by hauing of their owne deliuered from that comberouse care of prouisioÌ„ for them selues that afterward the holy ghost who was the procuror of such almoise and stirred from time to time the deuocion of good men thereto forsaw thorough the decay of pietie and coldenes of charitie towardes the latter ende of the world they wer likelie to fall into might thereby the more quietlie folow their vocation promise of all the same to make them the lordes and maisters if they will doe them homage and fall down and worship them that is to say harckeÌ„ to their doctrine submit them selues thereto and graunt to it within their realmes and dominions fauorable entreteinement And that this is true good readers that they haue thus shamefully abused and deceiued their princes and not surmised or imagined by me to bring them in to hatred whome god I take to recorde I pity much and hate nothing I hope by his assistaÌ„ce who is the giuer of all good thinges â—o plainely to proue that yow your selues shall at the eye see it and they if there remain yet in them anie sparcle of grace shall not be hable to denie it The which that I may the better perform I shall truly bring furth as it wer into the face of the open courte all such euidence of importance as either parte hath to alleage for them selfe so truely Itrust that the councel of th'other side shall haue no cause to complaine that either I haue suppressed and coÌ„cealed their necessary proofes one waie or obscured their beauty in the bringing of theÌ„ furth on th' other But because an indifferent and vpright iudge must alwaies haue an earnest eye to the issue which is betwene vs who should gouerne in ecclesiasticall causes the prince or the priest it shall not be amisse because to be chief gouernour in thinges and causes ecclesiasticall is nothing elles but to haue the supreme iurisdiction thereto belonging to examine first in what poinctes that consisteth that so by conferring our euidence wyth the same whether it agre with euery parte with none with some and with which we maie at the length by good scanning comme to the knowledge of euery mans owne Iurisdiction therefore ecclesiasticall consisteth especially in thre poinctes in auctoritie to iudge ouer doctrine whych is sound and which is other in the power of the keyes that is to say as our sauiour him self hath expounded it in loosing and binding excommunicating and absoluing in making rules and lawes for the gouernement of the church and in the ministery of the word and the sacraments To the first of thiese three what title Kinges and princes haue it shall if theie haue anie be seene hereafter But for priestes yow shall see to begin withall an auncient commission out of the scriptures where almighty god speking to Aaron vsed thiese wordes Praeceptum sempiternum eâ—t in gener ationes vestra vt habeatis scientiam discernendi inter sanctum prophanum inter pollutum mundum docâ—atisqué filios Israel omnia â—egitima mea that is to say it is a precept that shall euer endure thorough all your generations to haue the knowledge to discern and put difference betwene holy thinges and prophane betwene cleane and polluted and that yow teache the children of Israel all my commaundements To whome gaue almightie god here the power to iudge of doctrine whome commaunded he to teache anie other then Aaron and his race which wer priestes In the booke of DeuteroÌ„ saieth he not also that if there arise any hard or doutefull question the priest must be consulted that he that of pride will spurn ageinst his ordinance shall suffer death therefore and agein in the same booke in an other place that apon the priestes word all causes shall hang. Ezechiel the prophete doeth he not witnesse the same â–ª and when there is anie controuersy sayth he they shall stay in my iudgements and giue iudgement Aggeus and Malachias prophetes bothe bid they vs enquier for the law of god at the priestes handes or at the kinges No assuredlie they send vs not to kinges which had they bene the chiefe gouernours in those matters without faile they would haue doen but to the priestes whose lippes they promise shall not misse to kepe the true knowledge because theie ar our lordes angels Haue we any such warrant of worldely princes No trulie And wer it not more theÌ„ necessary that we should if princes should rule them in matters of religion of whom thiese wordes be spoken But to procede is this auctoritie giue to them onely in the olde testamentâ—ar they not put trow yow in as greate trust in the newe Or ar they thinck yow excluded and kinges admitted theâ—eâ—â—â— If it had bene so neuer would S. Paule tâ—at blesâ—ed aposâ—le haue made his accopte that god had placed in his churche first apostles next to them prophetes then doctours and so furth Emongest all the which although that frantick foole that preaching not many yeaâ—eâ— sence at Powles crosse went about with his rayling Rhetoricke to make his audience as foolish as he was maâ—de in beleâ—ing that this place should make ageinst the auctoritie of the pope because
He made psalmes and wrote himnes to the glory and praise of god And who is there I praie yow that at this day forbiddeth anie prince or king to doe the like He appoincted and established to serue the temple for euer some to sing some to plaie on the organes some and a greate some the scripture hath fower thousande to kepe the dores And what conclude they hereof if Dauid had appointed plaiers and singing men as he did not but willed the chief of the Leuites to appoint some of their brethern thereto that therefore he was chief gouernour in all causes ecclesiasticall O what newe logick is sodenly sprong vp with their newe diuinitie How manie notable Kinges hath our littell countrie had which in their daies haue established for the like purposes like fundations by our aduersaries at this daie almost all ouerthrowen of whom no one euer by this meanes thought him selfe anie thing the more auctorised to gouerne in matters of religion the cleargie of his countrie But for this example that which I haue allreadie saide maie suffise bothe because I thincke they leane not much theretoe for that theie can showe no greate store of Kinges yea I maie be bould to say none at all by them persuaded to builde anie churches or to establish anie fundacions of such as shoulde there continually serue god and also for that the place it selfe howe euer in the apologie the conclusion conteine more then the premisses semeth not to be brought in directly to proue any such thinge For our apologie which alleageth it hath onely quodammodo praefuit sacerdotibus that is and in a māner or after a sort he was aboue the priestes And therefore will I procede to their other examples Salomon they say builded and dedicated to god a churche made to the people an oration concerning religion and worshiping of god deposed Abiathar the bishop placing Sadoc in his roome Ezechias purged the temple commaunded the lightes to be kindled encense to be doen and sacrifice offred after the old accustomed manner finally the brasen serpēt which was then worshipped by the people to be vtterlie taken awaie and broken all to fitters Iosaphat toke awaie the hilles and wooddes whereby the people was hindred from the common temple of Ierusalem Iosias warned the priestes and bishops of their duties Ioas restreined their riot and insolency and last of all Iehu put the wicked prophetes to deathe These be th'examples good readers which the aduersaries to the truthe bring for the maintenaunce of the contrarie out of the old Testament Which manner of reasoning from examples in that age vsed if it might be at these daies in all poinctes laufull to folow what and how houge a nombre of inconueniences might by iust consequence thereapon be easelie grounded and brought in I nede not here to reherse anie man but meanelie exercised in the holie scriptures may with him self easely conceiue If the miracles examples significatiue and singuler priuileages doē practised and graunted in that age might without any daunger aswell be to the present esta te of the churche which now is drawen applied and accomodate as the morall preceptes of that lawe maie and ar whie haue not then the Kinges now a daies as many wiues as had King Dauid then why should it not be as laufull for the cleargie I will not onely say to admonishe and reprehend to put Kinges doing amisse at this tyme to death as it was at that for Samuel to cut in pieces with his owne hādes the body of Agag king of Amalech why not for thē to depose kinges aswell as kinges to depriue them For if they bring to vs th'example of Salomon who deposed Abiathar the priest and placed Sadoc in his roume they shall heare of vs again that Samuel by gods own cōmaundemēt pronoūced Saul depriued of his king dome and settled Dauid in the same Phinees being a priest killed with his dagger the Israelite and the Madianite as they filthely abused thēselues and haue priestes therefore at this day thinck we like iurisdiction Or woulde god is it likely praise him for the doing that would nowe doe the like as he then did him No no good readers they treade not vprightely that so interprete the scriptures And thus yow see howe generally all these examples and auctorities being euen after this sort answered make no more for kinges to rule in matters of religion then other places doe for the cleargy to depose kinges or to kill them or other doing amisse But to descend nowe more particulerly to the seuerall examination of these examples I would gladly aske this question of some of these our newe Rabbines that being graunted to them by the way of reasoning which theie presuppose that is that king Dauid entremedled in th' affaires of religion how this argument holdeth not withstanding Dauid being bothe a king and a prophete had the rule of religion Therefore the kinges of our tyme must haue the like And in deede thus must they reason if they will reason trulie For so was king Dauid they can not all deny it And as well am I able to proue that if he had any such power it was because he was a prophe te and not in respect of his kingedome as they shall euer be to proue the contrary So that to make this reason of theirs haue yea seeme to haue some apparence of truthe of two thinges must they nedes doe one that is either proue our kinges nowe a daies prophetes also or Dauid in his daies to haue bene but a king simply In Salomon also is the case trowe ye all so cleare as they make it For touching the depriuation of Abiathar the priest to that I answer that as in breaking the wicked packe of Adonias Abiathar and other their complices who had conspired to haue put Salomon beside his kingdom he vsed the councell of Sadoc and Nathan to defeat them so vsed he their auctoritie and ministery to punishe them Nor it forceth not that the scripture saieth Eiecit ergo Salomon Abiathar vt non esset sacerdos domini therefore cast Salomon Abiathar out that he should no lenger be our lordes priest as though that therefore it wer his own deede and could be doen by no other seing that that is a phrase of speche common not in the scriptures onelie but in common talck also as if for example a man should say that Quene Mary whose soule god assoile depriued Thomas Cranmer of the archebishoprick of Cantorburie whose treason also ageinst her was no lesse then that of Abiathar ageinst Salomon he should not say a misse And yet was not she god wot the chief doer thereof but an instrument ioining with the pope in the execution of his determination touching the rooting out of that wicked membre So saie we in like manner that the prince hath made such a man bishop when in very dede he onely commended him by his
your sermon printed they ar to be sene that all men maie vnderstand how handsomely my L. of Salesburie can plaie hiâ—k scornersparte and then after shape thereto such an answere as I trust shall to all reasonable men be sufficient Moreouer the priest by the masse booke is taught to saie accipite edite Take ye eate ye and habete vinculum charitatis c. that is Haue ye the band of charitie that ye maie be mete for the hoâ—e misteries And to vvhome shall vve thinke the priest speaketh these vvordes It vver a vaine thing for him in the open congregation to speake to him selfe and specially in the plurall numbre yet vver it a greate deale more vaine for him to speake the same vvordes to the bread and vvine and to saie to them Take ye eate ye or haue ye the band of charitie that ye may be meâ—e for the holie misteries Therefore it is euident that these vvordes should be spoken to the people I haue good hope M. Iuell bothe by these testimonies alleaged out of the Masse booke so far from the purpose and also by your chalenge wherein yowe promise being ouercome to yelde that yowe will at the length doe as honest soldiours pressed against their mindes to serue in an euell cause ar wont to doe that is when it commeth to the push either cast awaie their weapons and suffer them selues to be taken or keping them in their handes fight verie weaklie For suerlie M. Iuell if this be not your meaning beare with me if I tell yow as the truthe is and as I beleue it must nedes be a greate deale worse and such as declareth inuinciblie to the worlde your cankred stomack and maliciouse minde towardes your mother the catholike church For standing the case so as yow meane nothing lesse then that good which I conceiue of yow what true dealing is this of youres to proue that no Masse maie be saide without there be company to receiue with the priest to alleage these wordes Take eate as spoken by the priest to the people Whereas your owne conscience if yow haue any telleth yow I dare saie that they ar a parte of other wordes going before cutt by you from the rest to serue your scoffing spirit and that they ar not nor euer were any more taken for the priestes owne wordes then ar those that immediatlie followe This is my bodie And as yow would I nothing doute laughe at his simplicitie that hearing the priest say This is my bodie would take the consecrated host to be the priestes bodie because he repeteth the same wordes at the altar that Christ spake at his supper So perswade your self that other men cease not to lament from the bottom of their hartes to se yow not of simplicitie but of malice willfullie to do the like But I shall here whollie alleage the wordes as they ar in the canon of the Masse that yowe maie if it be possible be deliuered of that greate scruple that so troubleth your minde whether those wordes Take eate should be spoken by the priest to him self in false latin which yow thinck were to greate an ouersighte or to the bread and wine which yow thinke and I would yow neuer might thinck worse were a farre greater The wordes ar these Qui pridie quâm pateretuâ— c. who the daie before that he suffred toke bread in to his holie and venerable handes and lifting vp his eyes into heauen to the o god his father allmightie geuing to the thanckes blessed brake and gaue it to his disciples saieng Take eate this is my bodie By these wordes if yow doe not euery man I trust elles doth moste manifestlie perceiue that these ar not the priestes wordes and therefore neither spokeÌ„ to him self neither yet to the bread or wine But because I doubte not but yow ar werie to heare so much of your owne follie therefore I will dwell no longer in the aggrauating of that which as in the eyes of all men is brimme ynough so would I to god that yow had neuer geuen occasion to me or to anie other once to haue mencioned it To your other obiection that yow make of these wordes habete vinculum charitatis haue yow the band of peace that yowe maie be mete for the holie mysteries I answere that if there be any such place in the masse booke as hauing sought therefore I finde none such that such wordes first forbidde not the priest to saie masse if none be disposed to communicate with him then that they do not necessarilie prouoke the people to the sacramentall receiuing but maie well be vnderstand of the spirituall communicating with the priest in those holie misteries by earnest meditacion of Christes death and passion the which the more effectually to doe they ar exhorted to be one with an other in loue and charitie And thus vnderstand we that other place where the priest after the Agnus praieth that that holie commixtion of Christes bodie and bloude maie be bothe to him and to all that receiue it healthe of bodie and soule For we saie that as many as being present at the masse doe hartely ioine with the priest in the swete remeÌ„brance of Christes bitter death and passion doe all receiue with the priest Christes bodie and bloud they spirituallie and he corporallie And this call we a true communion But what if now in euery leafe of the masse booke M. Iuell you had fouÌ„de exhortacions to the people to coÌ„municate Verely except yow had founde withall that vnlesse they would the priest should not all would not helpe yea it would hinder yow thus much that where as you and your mates haue borne the worlde in hand that the cleargie hath kepte the laitie from communicating now it woulde appeare by this that the priest loketh for them and their owne defaulte kepeth them awaie Well if the masse booke haue failed yow M. Iuell as it was neuer other like but that it would yow haue yet I dare saie other witnesses Yea verely yow vauÌ„te to haue the helpe of the canons of the apostles of Clemens of Dionisius of Calixtus of Iustinus of Leo of Chrisostome of S. Gregorie yea of S. Paule and of Christ him selfe Which be suerly good witnesses and such as in lawe maie be called omni exceptionâ— maiores and for the better abeling of theÌ„ of whose credite might most be doubted your selfe haue saide so much as no man I trow can saie more For you call theÌ„ good growndes to builde apon So that now there remaineth no more but to consider how they proue your entent The which that I maie the better doe I shall alleage your owne wordes as they ar in your sermon touching this matter to be founde that so the reader maie be the more able to iudge whether your euidence be to the yssue or no. In the .xxxv. leafe of your saide sermon yow haue these wordes And I trust yovv shall clearlie see that for
churche permitteth to baptise at all times And your congregation M. Iuell is content also to goe from the olde manner and to baptise on the Sundayes and holie daies whether there be anie necessitie or none If all this satisfie yow not but the churche must nedes appeare coram vobis in youre L. consistorie to giue a reason whie she forbiddeth not all men now to be present at the masse sauing those that will communicate as once yow saie she did although he shoulde offre yow no wronge that should first bidde yowe proue that she were subiect to youre iurisdiction and then afterwarde to propose youre interrogatories yet will she not deale with yow after that sorte but is contented because she is illustris persona and can not be compelled by the lawe personallie to appeare to send yowe her aduocate S. Austen who answereth for her in this sorte Sicut aeger non debet reprehâ—ndere medicinalem doctrinam c Euen as the sicke man ought not to reprehend the phisicions prescriptes commaunding him one thing to daye an other to more we yea forbidding that which before he coÌ„maunded for so required the healthe of his bodie to haue it Euen so man kinde from Adam vnto the ende of the worlde so long as the corruptible carcas being sicke and wounded annoieth the soule maie not finde faulte with goddes phisike if in this it commaunde one thinge in that an other one thinge first the contrarie after Lo M. Iuell I trust yowe see that lawes maie be in the churche altered and changed as the time and manners of meÌ„ require and that no maÌ„ ought to grudge or murmure at the change thereof And by this also I trust it appeare vnto you that it was not so vnhandsome a coÌ„parison as yow saide it was that M.D. Cole made when he resembled the state of the churche in the apostles time to the age of infancie The which because yow sawe your selfe yow coulde not well denie and that by the graunting thereof your parte woulde be the worse yow turne his wordes an other waie because yow woulde seme to saie somwhat and impudentlie father apon him that he shoulde call Christe and his apostles enfantes But I praie yow good sir by the waie let me be so bolde to aske yow being a marchant of logicke and sent from the wisdom of your father to scoffe at all other mennes reasons that went before yowe emongest whome yow haue not spared S. Austen although either of malice or of ignoraÌ„ce yowe attribute his reason of Peters primacy and so by a consequent the B. of Rome his to Roffensis what price bare logike which at other times was yowe saye so good cheape when yowe made this argument he saith the churche vvas in Christes and in his apostles time in her enfancie Ergo he calleth Christe and the apostles enfantes Trulie I thincke the marcket was risen and good stuffe verie deare when my L. bishop thought to vtter such homelie ware as this is If a man had saide of the famouse vniuersitie of Paris in Charles the greate his time when it was first erected that it was then in her enfancie had he called Alcuinus that greate clercke and all the rest of the learned doctours called thither to plant good learning babes and infantes If of your scattred congregation one shoulde saie that it were yet vnder that age of infancie I wene no man woulde thincke that Iohn Caluin if he now liued wer called a babe No he wer like to kepe his olde name still for all that I warrant yow and the rest of your pillers to But here it is a worlde to see howe thorough ignorance yow be shamefullie deceauid in taking one for an other If yow had readen S. Austen so diligently as reason woulde yow shoulde bothe him and the rest of the doctours toe before yow had made your chalenge Yow shoulde haue founde that yow reprehended not so muâ—h M. Cole as yow did vnwares S. Austen Whose wordes agreing with his I haue thought good here to alleage that all men maye see how ignorance hath deceiued yow The wordes arre these Dominus enimipse in corpore suo quod est ecclesia iunior fuit primis temporibus ecceiam senuit For oure lorde that is to saye him selfe was in his body that is the church yonge at the first and now lo beholde he is becomen olde And a little after autem Christi quod est ecclesia tanquâm vnus quid am homo primâ—o iunior fuit ecce iam in fine seculi est in senecta pingui The body of Christ which is his churche was as it wer a man at the beginning yong and now beholde in the ende of the worlde it is in a ripe or fâ—ll age But leauing this as wide of my purpose I shall returne thither from whence I haue digressed Well let it be graunted yow wil saye that the churche hath power to alter and chaunge thinges indifferent apon occasion and as necessitie requireth what such occasion was there here to reuoke that olde commaundement that all that wer presente at the masse shoulde receiue with the prieste or elles departe Will yowe know I shall shewe yowe an occasion If the churche then when although all woulde not some yet there were that failed not dailie to communicate with the prieste forbad those that would not so much as to be present with other that did thinking therebie to drawe the worse to the imitation of the better founde at the length by experience that not onelie by this restreinte theie were nothinge amendid but by absteining from that communion in the which oftentimes before theie were wont spirituallie by the swete remembraunce of Christes deathe and passion in those holie misteries to ioyne with the prieste in their manners and liues not a littell empaired If the churche I saie apon these considerations bearing like a good mother with the infirmities of her children willing rather to holde her selfe contented with a littell with their good willes then to leese all deuotion with their euell released the former coÌ„maundement was it not trowe yowe cause sufficient But all this M. Iuell I must desire yowe to take as spoken vnder an if that if yow can be hable to proue anie such commaundement of the churche yowe maie haue a reason whie the same hath bene abrogate and taken a waie To make an ende and to knit vp the knot of this present article I haue here thought good M. Iuell that if yow minde to write againe yow maye finde in fewe wordes couched together the some of all that hath bene saide touching this matter before briefelie to showe the catholike doctrine in this pointe which is this First the catholikes forbid no man meete for the holie misteries to receiue with the prieste when and as often as he listeth but wishe and hartelye praie that all men woulde so put theÌ„selues in ordre as at euerie masse there mighte be that