the discretion of you that be Iudges Now will we speake of the masse This name Masse / was doutlesse in the Apostles tyme nether vsed ner heardof Nether can there any certeyne occasion be shewed whence this name shuld come But certeyne it is / that all the preparacion aboute it / was institute and ordened to the intent / that the supper and death of the lorde might be had in remembraunce which maye easely be perceaued by the vestimentes and other thinges perteyning to the masse Now in the prymityue church was not the supper of the lorde kepte afore none / as now the vse is / but in the euenyng after supper as Christ himsefe kepte it Neuertheles thorow the misbehaueouae of certeyne filthie persones / which with their dronkennes dishonoured this holy supper / arose great slaunder and offence / which S. Paul to the Corinthians doth ernestly rebuke And therfore thought the holy fathers it shulde not be agaynst the ordinaunce of the lorde Yf men kepte this holy supper afoâ—â—â—oone / fasting wherby such inordiâ—â—â—e people might somwhat be withdraweÌ„ from their incoÌ„uenience Which the coÌ„sidred / thei might well do / for asmuch as they altred nothing of the principall matter And at the first / was no more added thervnto / saue onely the Pater noster / the prayer of the lorde But afterward in proces of tyme by addyng more and more it grew tho the poynt that it is now at And besydes that with such additions they thought to garnishe the supper of the lorde peraduenture of a good intent they haue allmost vtterly lost the principall poyntes of the remeÌ„braunce of the supper So that now the right name of it is altred / and no more called the lordes supper / but is called Messe / which name is both straunge and vnknowne in the scripture yea and that worse is / it is named a sacrifice / that maye be done for other folkes Wherof then spronge the slaunderous market of byeng and sellyng of masses in churches here of was renewed the daungerous ydolatrie / that we ranne vnto the masse as to a speciall worck / thinkyng there to fetch all saluacion / which we shulde haue loked for onely at Christes hande But let vs loke / wherfore they call it a sacrifice Euen because saie they that in the masse / Christ the sonne is offred vp vnto god his father O what a greate blasphemy is this / yea to be abhorred of al vertuous men Who wold thinke it possible / that men mortall and synfull / coulde euer haue bene so in a lapert or rather mad / as to presume with their vncleane handes / to offre Christ the lorde vnto his father yet ones agayne Christ saieth S. Paul is entred in to the very heauen / for to appeare now in the sight of god for vs not to offre himselfe offten / as the hye prest entreth in to the holy place euery yeare with straunge bloude for then must he haue offt suffred sens the world beganne And afterward it foloweth thus was Christ offred vp ones for all to take awaye the synnes of many but they will saye Christ is not so sacrificed in the masse / that he dieth agayne vpon the crosse / but it is for the remembraunce of the same sacrifice that ones was made Whi do they than call it a sacrifice / seyng it is but a remembraunce of a sacrifice And why saie they that it maye be done for other seyng that of it selfe it is no such worke / but onely a remembraunce of the supper and passion of oure lordt Iesu Christ Which saieth take and eate / this is my body And of the cuppe he saieth drynke ye all therout And as afft as ye this do / then do it to the remembraunce of me He saieth not offre my body and my bloude Wherfore let the rihht true remembraunce of the lordes Supper remayne in the congregacions / and let vs shew the lordes death vntill he come Now yf we be disposed to offre / let vs offre oure owne bodies / a quycke / holy and acceptable sacrifice vnto god / which is euen the reasonable waye to serue him We reade in the scripture / that no vyce was ponished so sore / as the abuse of gods seruyce Wherfore me thinketh all vertuous meÌ„ shulde hartely praye / that the abuse of the masse were put downe in the churches For yf we wilfully synne after the knowlege of the trueth / there remayneth no more sacrifice for synnes c. But I willet the masse go / and treate of both the kyndes in the lordes holy Supper / whiche shulde also be geuen vnto the laye people It is past all doubte by euery man / that Christ in the holy Supper gaue his disciples both the kyndes Therfore it is manifest / that their opynion is not euell / which wolde haue the chalice distributed vnto euery man And me thinketh the other do erre sore / that holde the contrary / and specially because they put such difference betwene prestes and laye people / not consideryng the prestly office that is coÌ„mitted vnto all faithfull beleuers For in the lawe of Moses / the office of prestes was to offre and praye for the pople But now for asmuch as Christ beyng ones offred vp for vs / hath abrogate all other sacrices / and not onely permitted but also commaunded all men to praye I can not sewhat difference can be betwene prestes and laye people / excepte the gouernaunce of the church and minystracion of gods worde For. S. Peter in his Epistel saieth and ye also as lyuing stones / are made a spirituall house / an holy presthode / to offre vp spirituall sacrifices / acceptable to god thorow Iesus Christ And euen there also saieth S. Peter but ye are the chosen generacion / the royall presthode / the holy nacion etc. Here wryteth S. Peter not onely vnto bishoppes and prestes / but to the straungers that were dispersed and scatred abrode in Ponto / Galatia etc. And calleth them alltogether an holy and royall presthode S. Paul also wryting of this holy supper of the lorde to the commen congregacions at Corinthum / maketh mencion not onely of the bred / but also of the cupen Yf the cuppe then at that tyme / was commen vnto all Christen men / why is it now withdrawen from the laye people The holy fathers saieth oure aduersary haue with good coÌ„scieÌ„ce brought the supper to this ordenyng that it now is in and that mihht they well do / as we reade that in the Apostles tyme certeyne thinges were ordyned / wher of no mencioÌ„ is in the gospell Among which this is one in the Actes of the Apostles / where they commaunded to absteyne from thinges offred vnto Idolles / and from bloude and from strangled whiche commaundement the Apostles estemed necessary Whervnto I answere brefely / that the Apostles gaue no such commaundemeÌ„t for that intent that it shulde allwaye so coÌ„tynue
church is set forth before oure eyes Wherby we maye euidently percaue / that the holy Catholike church is nothing els but a feloshippe of saynctes And the same is also the bryde of Christ without spot or wrynckle / purified thorow the bloude of the brydgrome himselfe euen the heauenly hierusalem / in to the which / no vncleane persone commeth the most holy temple / wher into is entred oure bishope Iesus Christ / who is a prest for euer after the ordre of Melchisedech This I saye / is the church buylded vpō the roke / agaynst the which nether the windes / ner the waues of waters / no ner the gates of hell / cā preuayle the head and fundacio wheoff is Christ himselfe To this church pertayne all they / that syns the begynnyng of the worlde haue bene saued / and that shal be saued vnto the ende therof For they are the lyuinge stones of this heauenly hierusalem and of this most holy temple Know ye not saieth S. Paul that ye are the tempel of God / and that the sprete of god dwelleeh in you Yf anye man defyle this temple / him shal god destroye for the temple of god is holy / the same temple are ye Euen this church / doth this Christē brother of oures beleue stedfastly ◠yea and in this church also beleueth he forgyuenesse of synnes / ond after the resurrection of the flesh an euerlasting life Why saiest thou than / that he is falelen awaye from the church To the speake I now / thou vnreasonable accuser What hast thou yet more to laye to his charge He beleueth in god the father allmightie maker of heauen and arth / and in Iesu Christ his onely begotten sonne oure lorde / which was conceaued of the holy goost / borne of Marye the virgyn / suffred vnder Pōtius Pilate / was crucified / dead and buried / descended vnto hell / on the thirde daye rose agayne from death / ascended vnto heauen / sitteth at the right hand of god the father allmightye / from thence shal he come to iudge the quycke an dead He beleueth also in the holy goost / and al the rest that we mencioned afore of the church He beleueth likiwise all that is written by the prophetes and other olde fathers of the olde testament In like maner beleueth he all that in the gospels is written of the actes and doctryne of Christ He confesseth also that the doctryne of the Apostles and disciples of Christ is not to be dowted vpon Moreouer he beleueth that whatsoeuer the holy fathers of the new testament haue written / is true / so farre as it is not contrary to the doctryne of Christ and of his Apostles With this true and fre confession of faith / I suppose thou art so satisfied / that now thou wilt not sticke with all expedicion to quyte this Christen mā / and faithfully to commytte him vnto the iudges as a right membre of the church and for asmuch as thou hast vnaduysedly accused him as an heretike and as a rennegate from the church / hast done him wrong / I hope thou wilt therfore aske him forgeuenesse But I se well / thou shakest thy heade / bytest thy tethe one vpon another / and art be come as me thinketh nothing the mylder Wherfore beholde I besech you / how shameles this man is / yf I maye call such one a mā / which so vnmāly dealeth / that I suppose he hath forgottē / that he himselfe is a man I doute not right deare Iudges / but the same fre confession of this Christen man is sufficient ynough to quyte him / and that in youre iudgment he neadeth no farther clearyng of himselfe Notwithstōding lest oure aduersary shulde reporte / that I haue sayde nothing to the ordely rehearsall of his accusaciō / but wittingly passed ouer it or how that I am so short of memorye / that I haue forgottē what he hath layed for him selfe therfore wil I rehearce it all agayne to the intēt that whā I haue repeted his vnhonest complaynt / and confuted it / euery man maye vnderstond / that he is smytten with his owne swerd Ye haue perceaued / I suppose / that his whole accusacion consisted in eight principall articles / which I will now repete in ordre / that yf any thing ther in haue bene forgetten / it maye be called vnto remābraunce agayne This heretike saith oure aduersary doth affirme First / that the bishope of Rome is not the head of the church ner the true vycar of Christ Secondly that the masse is no sacrice ner ought to be vsed for other Thirdly that the supper of the lordt ought to be mynistred in fourmes both of bread and wyne / and that also vnto the laye people Fourthly that ther is no purgatory / and that suffragies for the deed are in vayne / and supersticious Fyfthly that it is not necessary to call vpon saynctes Sixthly that auricular confession was nether commaunded ner institute of Christ and his disciples Seuenthly that on the daies prohibited and forbiddē by the church of Rome / it is no synne to eate flesh Eightely / and fynally / he saieth planely / that prestes maye mary These ye deare Iudges are the foule misdedes these are the horrible vyces these are the detestable blasphemies her off cometh the great vproure horrible noyse of heauē and erthe / wher thorow it is to be feared / that the foure elementes wil come together / and that rhe world wil returne in to his ol darcknes and confusion agayne And why do not we all rent oure clothes / and stoppe oure eares after the maner of the Iewes / crie ewith loude voyce He hath blasphemed Crucifie / Crucifie Such a matter might happly be laught at / yf it were shewed in the waye of ieasting / and to make the people a pastyme with all But for asmuch as the matter is now handled in Iudgment / and brought so farreforth / that this Christen man is like to suffre death therfore / Me thinketh euery faithfull Christen mā ought frō the ground of his hert to bewayle it But now let vs examen the first article / and pondre well / what is to be holden of the bishoope of Romes power All Christē men do confesse / that the holy Catholike or vniuersal church / is the feloshippe of saynctes And this is the one onely church / wherin is but one lorde / one faith / one baptyme / one god and father of all thinges But for asmuch as we saye I beleue an holy vniuersall church / we do cōfesse / that the same is not visible ner corporall Notwithstōding in the scripture / ther is named yet another church which is bothe visible and corporall Whervnto the keyes of the kyngdome of heauen are committed / which the lord also meaneth whan he saieth Tell it vnto the church In the which church all they are comprehended / that are named
gods worde Concernyng miracles which god so greatly worketh in his sayntes / who wolde not higlye wonder at such / as at a syngular gift of god Not withstonding it is manifest also / that to do miracles add wonders / is not allwaye a sure probacion of holynesse / seyng we reade not euer that Abraham / Isaac / Iacob / Dauid and Ihon the baptist dyd miracles Must they therfore not be holy / and shuld we therfore despise them Or why call we not Iudas the traytour / as a saynt / that dyd miracles with the Apostles and healed many people / as we maye perceaue out of the historie of the gospell But let vs heare the sentence of Christ many saieth he shal saye vnto me in that daye lorde / lorde / haue not we profecied in thy name Haue not we cast out deuels in thy name Haue we not done great vertues in thy name Then wil I confesse vnto them / I neuer knewe you Departe frome all ye euel doers What can oure aduersarys boast now of sayntes miracles / seyng we reade that vngodly and damned persones haue done many great actes in the name of Christ And. S. Paul also prophecieth to the Thessalonians / sayeng that the wiked shal come / namely the childe of perdicion / whose cōmyng is after the workyng of the deuell / with all maner lyeng powers / tokens and wonders Wherfore let vs not beleue euery sprete / but proue them whether they be of god / or no. And let vs not be so vnaduysed as to ascrybe vnto sayntes and to their merites / the honoure that onely apperteyneth vnto god Whan Peter and Ihon at the gate of the temple / had made the lame man whole / and the people ranne to them wonderyng / Peter sayd vnto them ye men of Israel / why wonder ye at this thing / or why loke ye so vpon vs / as though we thorow oure power or vertue had made this man go And afterward it foloweth throw the faith in his name namely Christes hath he vpon this man whom ye se and know / confirmed his name And faith thorow him hath geuē this mā healt before youre eyes Where are now the miracles which they saye are done thorow the merites of sayntes Peter and Ihon pilorus of the church cōfesse playnlie / that this lame man was not made whole thorow their power or vertue / but in the faith thorow Christ O eternall god / in what an horrible depe pitt of Idolatrie are we fallen How farre haue we erred from the true faith of Christe We shal not lightly fynd any tyme wher in the heithē haue honoured their goddes with so greate supersticiousnesse / as some Christē honoure their sayntes Euery occupacion hath his advowrie / euery lāde their owne defendoure / and euery sicknesse a peculiar phisician There be some sayntes also whom they do not honoure to haue profit by them but because they shulde do them no harme To certayne peculiar sayntes cōmitte they their matters of warre / their marchaūdise / their causes of mariage The husband men also haue their owne helpers one increaceth the sede / another kepeth the vynyardes / the shepe / the kyne / the geyse yea the filthye swyne haue likewise their owne propre herde To him offre the foolishe people allmaner of thinges / but for the most parte waxe so that here in they are allmost become like vnto the Egiptians / who worshipped such bestes themselues for their goddes These sayntes now are all honoured / they are all called vpon onely mercifull Christ is not regarded And though they somtyme name him with bare wordes / yet is all their trust in the sayntes Nether are they satisfied in such straunge honouryng of sayntes / but make also a wōderfull difference of holy places Here of cometh it that they thinke Mary the mother of Christ to be more gracious in one place / thē in another Now pilgremages also mynishe sō that the reputaciō of the olde They rūne to Compostell in Spayne to visite S. Iames to Ihō in douchland to salute oure lady / and in many othrr places to sayntes graues as the kytes flie to the cariō honoure many deed bodies vpō erth whose soules are in hell I passe ouer the foolishe supersticion that they vse with deed saynctes rayment / as cotes hosen shues / regarde litle the poore sayntes / that lyue with vs as brethren in Christ vpō erth / haue greate nede of such apparell Yet wold I esteme it a lesse errour / yf they worshipped not also the ymages that haue no vnderstondyng are made with mēs handes / of gold / syluer / stone wodde yea very litle it fayleth that they worshippe not with al / euē the wormes the wormes that gnaw the bodies of such blessed saynctes of wodd To such ymages ascrybe they wōdere miracles Of some one they saye / that it had spoken Of another they say / that by his owne vertue he is gone from one place to another They daye shulde be to long for me / yf I wolde saye all that might be spokē of this vnreasonable matter Sūma they leaue nothing be hynde that belōgeth to full ydolatry We maye well saye / that the Indianes had much more right to worshipe the. Sōne / such a deare / profitable / wōderfull excellent creature / then these mad folkes haue to worshippe such a rottē worme atē ydoll Now though we disalowe such ydoatrie / such peruerse honouryng wrōg inuocacion of sayntes / let no mā thinke / that we therfore wil withdrawe frō thē anye thing of their true worshipe reputaciō Sayntes haue nothing that they haue not receaued Paul saieth what is Paul What is Apollo Euen ministres they are / by whō ye are to the beleue / and that accordyng as the lorde hath geuē vnto euery mā And afterward it foloweth therfore let no mā reioyce in mē / for all is yours / whether it be Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world whether it be life or death / whether it be thinges present or for to come all is yours but ye are Christes / and Christ is gods Wherfore all grace which commeth thorow Chriin the holy goost / ascrybe we vnto god as vnto him that onely geueth it And hartely we beseke him that vnto vs poore synners also he will graū this infynite mercye / to the intent that we maye forsake oure synnes / and be holy before him thorow Iesus Christ his onely begotten sone / who vpō the crosse hath delyuered vs not with a small pryce / but with his owne bloude Reason it is / that sayntes haue their due honoure / but faith and inuocacion belonget onely vnto god Let us go therfore with confidence vnto the seate of grace / that we maye receaue mercy fynde grace to helpe in the tyme of nede For we haue not an hye prest which can not haue compassidn on oure infirmities