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
geuen all thynges c. sayth not learne of me to make the world or to rayse the dead but to be hūble méeke O wholsome comfortable coūsaile O faithful doctour humble Doctour Lord and Maister of mankind He would not teach that he was not he would not commaund that he him selfe did not Consider this you which with ill shepheards by force and cruelty gouerne And he sate down and taught the people out of the shippe Christ euery where and alwayes sheweth him selfe a Sauiour and is set forth vnto vs in the Gospell preachyng diuers and sundry wayes Walkyng on the land sittyng in the shyp paynefully trauailyng by the way sittyng vpon the well in the Synagogues in the stréetes in houses in wildernes vpō hils He healed the sicke he comforted the afflicted Doth not wisedome crie doth not vnderstandyng put forth her voyce She stādeth in the top of high places by the way in the place of the pathes She crieth at the gates of Cities and at the entries of mens doores These thynges accordyng to the letter are best spokē of Christ which preached the Gospell publiquely not onely in Synagogues and temples but also in other places where the people assembled together Vpon the moūtaine he made that excellent and passing Sermon written in Mathew In his iorneys he oftentymes disputed with his aduersaries taught the multitude and his Disciples sundry excellēt matters confirmed his doctrine with wonderfull miracles At the gate of the Citie Naim hee shewed him selfe by raysing the widowes sonne In priuate houses when he sate at the table he gaue heauēly instructiō and would not suffer somuch as that tyme to passe without doyng good When hee was but xij yeares old he sate in the tēple among Doctours hearyng thē and posing them so that all men which heard him had him in maruailous admiration for his singular wisedome and passyng vnderstandyng He made many Sermons publikly and openly in the temple at Hierusalem When he was brought bounde to Caiphas and of him demaunded concernyng his Disciples and doctrine He aunswered I spake openly to the world I euer taught in the Sinagogue and in the temple whether all the Iewes resort and in secret haue I sayd nothyng c. Briefly in all places he graciously sought meanes to instruct the people He calleth all mē he excludeth no man They that were not entred in Musike and Geometrie were not admitted into Platoes schole but the mercyfull goodnesse of Christ Iesus admitteth all mē into his schoole not excludyng euen children He teacheth all men out of the shyp of what soeuer age sexe state or condition they be Hee instructed Nicodemus familiarly Most gently he entreated the Cēturion albeit a Heathen man. Hee behaued him selfe mildly towardes the woman of Samaria sittyng on the well Notable sinners he despised not What kinde of dissease did he euer cry fie vpon or turne his face from He turned his mercifull face to Leapers to men possessed with deuils afflicted with bloudy flixes disseased with palsie and many other daungerous maladies and cured thē all He commaunded infantes to be brought vnto him agaynst the will and minde of his Apostles He taught that yoūg man whiche demaunded what good thyng he should doe that hee might haue eternall lyfe He reiecteth not the weake in fayth but he inuiteth allureth desireth all to come to him You haue heard how wisedome in this place and in all places cryeth to all men And at this day she slacketh not to cry and to put forth her voyce in England and many other places by Preachers by holy Scripture by signes and wonders What maters Christ taught in this place I finde not expressed A learned man sayth Nefas est quaerere quae in sacris Scripturis non traduntur It is wickednesse to search those thynges which are not taught in scripture Thus much touchyng the letter Foure things come to be obserued in this mistery The sea Christ in the shyp the people on the shore the shyp it selfe The sea is an Image of the world Christ is an image of true and sincere teachers The people on the shore an image of hearers the shyp an image of the true Church Touchyng the first The sea hath his name of bitternes Isidorus sayth Propterea Mare appellatum quod eius aquae sunt amarae The sea hath his name Mare in Latin of the Latin worde Amarum which signifieth bitter because the waters therof are bitter The sea is very bitter notwithstandyng to fishes nourished in the same it sauoureth swéetelye Right so the world is very bitter yet to worldly men chiefly delighting in the same it sauoureth swéetely But woe be to them which make sowre swéete and swéete sowre which call euill good and good euill whiche make darkenes light and light darknes The sea is bitter the dealynges of the world are bitter Pride is bitter couetousnesse is bitter vsurie is bitter adulterie fornication cosenyng swearyng forswearyng deceitfull vilanie traiterous treacherie murther are bitter These horrible and hatefull vices with many moe ouerflow the world The world is bitter The sea is inconstāt it ebbeth and floweth The world is inconstant it chaūgeth euery day Some be borne and some dye Some be sicke some be whole Some grow toward mans estate Some drawe in age Sometymes commeth good tydynges some tymes heauy To day in fauour to morow quite out of credite To day a man to morow none The sea is full of daungers daungers of windes pirates Mermaidēs rockes quickesandes other daungers There are thynges creepyng innumerable both small great beasts There is that Leuiathan whom God hath made to play therein They that sayle ouer the sea tell of the perilles therof and whē we heare it with our eares we maruaile thereat They that go downe to the sea in shyps and occupy by the great waters they sée the wordes of the Lord and his wonders in the depe They sée as it were a thousand deathes In the sea no rest can be had The world is full of daūgers in the world a thousād deathes in the world no rest Daungers in the world more then in the sea The world hath tempestuous windes Pirates rockes waues Mermaidens quicke sandes and many moe daungers thē can be numbred Moe perishe in the world then in the sea The sea is tēpestuous the world is tempestuous If the sea seme neuer so calme yet looke for a tēpest If the world séeme neuer so prosperous it may looke for a tempest of aduersitye The world hath neuer long stode without stormes and tempestes The case is cleare and S. Ambrose calleth them Procellae mundi Tēpestes or stormes of the world The same wordes hath S. Cyprian and many other Here is tēpest of euil tongues tempest of lying tempest of slaunder tempest of aduersitye tempest of sicknes tempest of losse of frendes and good
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