phrase of speakinge is thus to be vnderstanded / as I haue sayde The like phrases in like matters in the scriptures dothe sufficiētly teche vs. As whereof circumcision / the LORD dothe saye This is my couenaunt where it was but the seale of the couenaūt / as Paul calleth it In the same sorte it is sayde This is the pasouer This cuppe is the new Testament in my bloud Christ is the rocke And in lyke maner are these to be vnderstāded So that if the aduersaries will geue the / geue the holy Ghoste leaue to expound hym self / then these woordes Thys is my body Thys is my bloud are figuratiuely to be vnderstanded As the leke Phariseis are / and so serue they not all for their monstruus transsubstanciation The sacrifice of the masse The second abhominacion is their sacrifice of the masse In whiche too let many thinges passe / as the straungenes of the tounge / the Iewesh apparel / the fonde noddes / crosses / beckes duckes Thre euels moste notable and to a Christian conscience intollerable are there Firste their wicked sacrifice / Thre abhominable euels in the sacrifice off the popishe masse whiche their masseboke testefieth / to be Propiciatorie / to take awaye the synnes of all those / be they dead or liuing / for whom thei do say masse Yea / profitable and availeable for warres / peace / wether / sickenes / for murrain of beastes / and for whatsoeuer ye lust to bye their appliecacion Oh shameful blasphemie As concerninge the sacrifice Propiciatorie for synne / ye must hold the anker of your faith that this sacrifice Christ him self once offered for all in his own bloudy death He was the priest the sacrifice / the offerer and the thing offered / by his own bloudy offering purified he in the shedding of his bloude all hys frō synne By it purchased he eternall sanctificacion saluacion for thē that shal be saued by it finished he for euer / the ful propiciacion for synnes Math. 27 for sayeng these wordes it is fynished or consummate / he yelded vp the ghoste Detestable therfore is the papisticall sacrifice ingerous to the bloudy death of Christ Christ instituted this supper to be a sacrament to vs / and not that of it a priest should make a propiciatory sacrifice for synne In the eating drinking of it / that we should declare the Lordes death / offeringe the sacrifice of thankes therefore and therefore is it called of the fathers a sacrifice of thankes and not leauinge any more sacrifice propyciatorie for synne too anye prieste too offer Eucharistia That we eatynge and drinkynge / according too hys institucion / shoulde by fayth applie vnto oure consciences / the benefite of hys deathe and passion / and not geuinge power too any prieste by messing too applie the benefite of hys death / to whome and to what he lysteth The Lords supper serue not for one dead Christ ordeined hys Supper neither for the dead / whiche haue no vse of eating and drinking with vs in the congregacion nor yet for beastes / wether / nor war / for which Christ did not dre but for hys church liuīg vpon thys earth / that nedeth hys worde / nedeth hys Sacramēts / for the cōfirminge of their fayth ☞ Thus plainly / ye se one mischeuous misuse in this masse The seconde euell is / that the bread and cuppe which the Lorde instituted too be receaued of the faythefull with thankes geuinge In their masse they do abuse / and make of it an Idol / holding it vp for the people / not onely to gaze vppon / but to geue vnto it that honor / whiche is dewe vnto God alone And so bothe make of it an Idol / and of the people grosse Idolators / and transgressers of Gods commaundement The fylthines of which Idolatrie / I know you do se so plaine / that I nede not with many woordes to impugum it / for a Christian conscience can not but abhorre it The thirde euel is that in their masse / that that is eaten and drounken is done deuoured of the priest all alone / with quartering and soppinge / with lickinge and suppinge / with wasshing and wyping / and such prety trickes of their owne inuenting Christe in hys institucion apoynteth thys supper too he selebrate of the whole cōgregaciō Math. 26 Mar. 14. Luc. 22. Take ye and drynk ye all of this sayeth he This do ye in remembraunce of me For so oft as ye eate this bread / and drinke of this cup ye shew the Lordes death tyll he commeth Christ and Paule speaketh not to the priest alone / but too the whole congregacion / too obserue thys ordinaunce of eating and drinkinge at the Lordes supper Whereby ye maye playnely se how contrary thys doyng of our popishe massers is in this also to the Institucion of Christe The masse of all Idoles moste abhorminable And too be shorte in thys their whole masse is nought / els but an horrible prophanaciō of the Lordes supper Wherefore as a moste iniurius blasphemye / too the bloude of Christe / as a moste grosse Idolatrie / as a moste wicked prophanacion of Christes institucion / of all Christians is this masse to be eschewed and abhorred Out of his mischeuous Idol the masse / form they vnto the people / a new founde sacrament of their owne inuentinge deliuering to the people as they saye through the miracle of their transsubstanciatiō a body / in which body / because also there is bloude therefore / they do not minister their consecrated cup accordingly / for feare of spilling and yet they geue drinke too their houseled to washe doune the cromes withall Oh theues where learne ye too minister suche a sacrament Where haue ye your ground in the scripture for this / your vnholsome housell Who can with a good consciīce receyue suche a new found Popish sacramente at a papistes hande / seynge also it is thereto off them vsed / to put Christes true institucion out of hys trew vse Whose appointed ordinaunce is that the bread of thankesgeuing / and the cuppe of thankesgeuing shoulde be eaten and droncken of the congregacion / as before I sayd Thys their newe founde Sacrament they hange vppe in the pix / they carrye abrode in processiōs to be adored / with many such mischiefs of their owne inuentinge / whiche to reken vp / all were an endles labour The papistes defende their doctrine vvith manacinge vvordes vvith empresonemēt vvith fyre and faggot vvith axe and halter The doctrine of iustification corrupted of the papistes I leaue them therfore euer listeninge when I may heare them defende these their abhominacions by the written woorde off God / but this as they neuer yet coulde do / so shall they neuer be able to do it / and therfore of all Christians are they wish their euasyons to be forsaken In the doctrine of Iustificacion
A letter to the trew professors of Christes Gospell / inhabitinge in the Parishe off Allhallowis / in Bredstrete in London / made by Thomas Sampson / sometyme their Pastore 2. Corin. 6. ¶ We as helpers therfore exhorte you / that ye receaue not the grace of God in vayne ¶ Imprynted at Strasburgh in Elsas / at the signe of the goldē Bibell / In the moneth of Auguste the yeare of our LORD 1554. The grace ād fauour of God / our heauenly father / pourchased vnto vs / by the blody death of Christ our Sauiour / befelte and encreased in all your consciences / too your euerlasting consolation THe violēce of this age dothe not suffer me / my most louinge brethren / to come as I wolde do vnto you / and by talke brotherly cōferringe / to putte you in mynde of the Gospel of Iesus Christe / which amongeste woothers farre more worthie / euen I by Gods grace preached amōg you I therfore haue thought nedeful by these letters / now to do thesame / nowe I saye / when thoughe the peruerse frowardnes of men / the trew preaching of Christes Gospel is bannished and mans doctrine is taughte with lyes fables And thoughe some perchaunce will thinke that thys longeth not to me / but too hym that is youre Pastore to doo / yet for as muche as once I was your pastore / I cā not but testefye / that some pece of pastorall cure dothe yet reste in my harte towardes you The whiche in dede dothe muche perswade me / as the presente necessitie also semeth no les to require / to make a longe a large treatise / by whiche ye mighte haue an whole armour againste all the assaultes off false Prophetes But whē I consider / how truly / and that with much diligēce ye haue ben taughte / and therewith thinkinge / that ye are not forgetfull hearers of the worde / I thinke that amonge you it shall suffice / if I do but name those greatest euelles / whiche nowe are poured forthe out of pulpittes amonge you / and therewith put you in mynd of the truthe / contrary to these lyes / which once you both herde and recyeued / desiring you to abide in the same This will I do shortly / as I haue but littell / and thesame vnapte tyme to do it / yet truly I trust to do it / as let Gods worde therein trye it If first ye will suffer me to tell you / that throughe these fals Prophetes / the castell of youre healthe / the saluacion of your soules is assalted / whome if ye suffer too be with you if ye yelde vp your selfes to the beleuinge folowing of their doctrine / then knowe ye that as by blynde lears ye be ledde / so you wyth them then beynge blynded / Math. 15. shal wyth them fall in to the pitte of pardiciō / which is prepared aswell for the falsely seduced / as for the false seducer Of thys I coulde be content to speake the lesse / but that I se that whylest of to many / and that Londyners / these beastes befolowed Ye haue euen drawen and pulled vpon your heades those abhominacions / whiche if but reason had ruled / shoulde not haue bene admitted before that by lawes they had ben thrust vnto you / that I speake not / what trew Christianitie shoulde haue moued you too haue done Oh London / London / An exclamation vpō London is this the Gospelling fruicte / to be the firste / that withoute a lawe shouldest bannish trew preaching out of the / too be the fyrste that againste lawes shalt admitte that massinge Idolatrie / to be the firste that shall geue the example of stōbling to all Englande / whych shouldest yet haue bene the fyrst in constancy / in humble / sayeng for the continuinge of the truthe in the / in quiet and paciente suffringe for the truths sake euen deathe / if by the rulers it had bene offered the. That grounde arte thou / whyche not in persecucion / but before persecuciō commeth dost go backe / a groūd thou arte reserued for the Lordes wofull cures / to whose iudgement London I leue the. Seing in Lōdō these euels are receiued / as it is nowe meete for vigilante Pastors too watche ouer their flocke / to chase the wolf awaye / les at the Lordes hande they doo heare the name of hierlinges / Ioan. 10 so nowe is it hygh tyme for you my louinge brethrē / and all them that he the chyldrē of God / to take heede whose voyce ye do heare / too beware of the leauen of papisticall Phariseis / and to kepe your selfes vndefiled from all their abhominacions The errour of transsubstantiation The greatest of whiche now I will resite amonges all their abhominacions / one of the principall is their doctrine of transsubstanciatiō / the very pryde of papistrie / and the horrible offence / euen of the Turckes and Heathen That a popish priest / by his hussing and bussinge / and mumblinge vp of the woordes of Christe / more lyke a Coniuror then a Christian / shoulde worke that miraculous alteracion and chaunginge of the substaunce of breade and wyne / into the substaunce of the bodye and bloude of Christe / whiche then is to be taken / as Christ hym selfe God and man / so to be adored But you knowe my dere brethren / that there is no suche miracle too be beleued without the certayne doctrine of Gods worde to warant thesame / which the papistes can neuer showe / therfore their miracle is not to be beleued / Christ in Instituting the Supper / mēt not to leaue there hys body and bloud really and substancially as the papistes do teache For Christe in the substaunce of hys body / was then to be crucified / he was to dye / he was to ryse agayn / he was to ascende / and he was / and in thesame yet now is / to appeare before the glorious God / our Bishop / aduocate / mediator / there so to remayne vntill the laste daye / as the schriptures do teache In the Supper he instituted a commemoration of the breaking of hys body / and sheddinge of hys bloud / to be done and made of them that do eate that breade / and drynke of that cuppe / accordinge to hys institution which he called his body and bloude / for that it is to the receauers a seale and confirmacion of Christes body brokē / and Christes bloud shedde for them / that the profite and commoditie thereof is theirs / whiche there do partake by fayth And so these woordes This is my body and this is my bloud are to be vnderstand / and not as the transsubstāciators / literally enforce them For their vnderstanding / them is bothe cōtrary to Christus meaninge / and also to the office of hys body / besydes that it is agaynst the nature of hys very body And that thesame
blast of bourning heate / but they abide in Godes truthe / serchinge and learninge thesame in hys holy scriptures / and that with suche faithfull diligence and constante obedience / that if an aungell from heauen shal preache an other Gospel / they holde hym accursed Galat. 1. Yea / and thoughe there be many counterfaicie Christians / that fall awaye frome the Lordes truthe / yet abide they with Christe and saye Ioan. 6. Heare and kepe the vvorde off god Thou hafte the wordes of euerlasting lyfe Consider my deare brethren / that not too heare alone / but to kepe Christes woorde maketh a man happie And in kepinge the principall parte is too perseuer in the doctrine off truthe / thys maketh Christes disciples / this maketh you free / yea / thys is it / that maketh a man safe / for he that perseuereth too the ende / shal be saued Matth. 10 Thys also haue I written too exorte you / to kepe your selfes vndefiled frome all Popishe leauen / Note and bevvare yf ye do fall from the Gospell / and embrace Poperie / ye fall frome truthe to lyes / frome the woorde of lighte and lyfe / to darkenes and death / frome saluacion to dampnacion / from God too the deuell Luce. 11. Ye are then they / into whome the euell sprete reentreth with seuē worse then hym selfe / ye are then the folishe buylders whiche suffer the vnrecouerable ruin And as then with that filth that is in Popery / ye be defyled with it so of the dampnacion whiche is due to suche abhominacion / ye shall be partakers of it Christes death the Popish Masse can not agre together But if ye thinke that ye can bothe embrace Popery and the Gospel / ye do disceaue your selfes / for you can not bothe holde the taste off Christes deathe in your consciences / and alowe also that masse / whiche is the defacer of Christes deathe / you can not embrace the righte vse of the Lordes supper / and also vse and partake the horrible prophanacion of thesame Ye can not by faythe apprehende free iustificacion / and yet seke by your righteousnes and merites too be saued you can not accepte Godes written woorde / as the sufficient doctrine of saluacion and alsoo take mans doctrine and tradicions / as necessarie to thesame / and so forthe of the rest This can ye not do bothe / they are so contrarie Serue God accordinge to his vvorde But if ye coulde do it / yet may ye not do it / for God will none of your māgeled seruice / for as there is no cōueniēce betwene Christe and Beliall / so men must not halte on both sydes in Godes seruice / but eyther say that God is God / or els that Baal is god 2. Cor. 6. 3. Reg. 18 God neuer allowed that seruice of the Samaritaines / whiche both serued their Idols / and worshipped the lyuing God But if ye be turned to the Lord / then all straunge Gods muste ye cleane forsake The Lorde is God alone / alone therfore according to hys worde will he be serued Exod. 20 God is ouer mā a gelious God / wherefore he will haue whole man wholy to be hys alone / as our fyrst commādement teacheth vs. Agayne / if you thinke that in your hartes ye will serue the Lord / but yet ye will be and may be present in parson at their Idolatrie Fleshlij pollecie For your hart shal be in heauē This is but a fleshly policie / which fayleth as many as trust vnto it The masse is an vvhorish thefe How can you / too whome Christes deathe is deere abyde to se that whorish thefe / that stealeth from Christe the glory of his death Howe can ye / which haue ben and are ready to receaue with thankefulnes the Lordes supper according to Christes institucion / abide to se the horrible prophanacion thereof Harte and mouth must go together in matters of God And so forth of the rest But if your consciēce were suche that ye coulde thus do / yet knowe ye thys / that it is againste your Christian profession Rom. 10. For we are taughte / that too beleue with the hart / to confesse with the mouth maketh a man safe Bothe hartes belefe / mouthes confessiō must go together / whiche dothe not so in you / when inwardly ye are Gospelers / outwardly dessemblers with papistes Ye are bought with a pryce sayeth Paule glorify now God in your body and in your sprite / whiche are Gods 1. Cor. 6. Seinge both body an sprite are Goddes / not onelye by creacion / but bought also by redempciō / euen in the price of Christes bloude / ye can not with a dissembling pretēce / couple your bodies with papistes / for then ye do not glorifie God in your bodies We rede not that any chylde of God / vsed euer iustlye anye suche dissimulacion Examples of constanci in goddes vvorde dan. 6.14 Dan. 3. Daniel vsed none such and therfore was he sone accused of not adoring the kyng / Bel and the Dragon The thre chyldren / whether they came by cōpulsion / or came of their owne mynde / where the Idol was / dissembled not / for forth with they were accused as transgressors of the kynges commaundement Eleazarus wold not dissemble / eating euen of lawful fleshe 2. mach 6 These men glorified God in body sprite / these men beleued in hart / confessed with the mouth / so must you do / without any other muysinge / yf ye will do the office off Christians Of offence geuinge Note vvel And this to do not onely the profession of Christianitie enforceth / but Christian cheritie also Our doinges must be without offence geuinge But by thys dissembling a double stomble blocke is geuē whiche euen in thinges indifferent is to be auoyded For what though a Christian may eate frely of meates offered vnto Idols / yet if thereby an Idolater / whose conscience in hys supersticion / shoulde be confirmed therby / it were better neuer to eate fleshe And what though al thinges be clean to the clean to be eaten on all dayes with thankes geuing / yet better it is not to eate flesh / nor to drinke wyne Rom. 14 1. Cor. 8 then too offende thereby thy weake brother Note ye dissemblinge gospelers If this be to be obserued in thinges indifferente / howe muche more in thinges which are absolutely euell / must ye take heede that neither ye geue occasion off concerninge the conscience of an Idolatrie / nor yet of offending the weke to draw them to the leeke euell with you bothe whiche ye do / when bothe a papist and a weke brother seeth you as mingrels myngling your selfs with the Papistes in their Idolatrie As muche might I speake / howe that all thynges that ye do in the congregacion muste be done to edifyeng 1. Cor. 14 But of this to haue full instruccion Caluine I referre you to the mynde off mayster Caluine / lately trāslated printed in English Thus now I ende wishing you all well in the Lorde Godly exhortations Abide in hys truthe / kepe your selfes vndefiled Offer youre selfes hūbly to suffer all violence of blouddye lawes for the truthes sake / kepe safe your consciēces / thoughe the sworde taketh your lyues from you / suffer beare withal humblenes and quiet obedience Humble your selfes in vnfayned repentaunce before the Lorde / in the horrible plague of Popery / that of hys mercy he maye be moued to ende these dayes of delusion / and let your prayers alwayes ascend vp before the Lord / begginge of hym suche thynges as ye nede In which I besech you to praye also for me Youre louinge frend and orator Thomas Sampson The grace of our LORD Iesus Christ be with you all AMEN