by you alleaged the simple and obscure oblations of the people because he speake of that which the Prophete Malachie had writen of Yet to shew the grace which you haue in vnderstanding of the Doctours whereas this present testimonie of S. Irenei maketh so plainely against you you saye that he expoundeth hymselfe in an other place as in the .34 chap. of the forsaied boke And signifieth that he speaketh not of the offering of the sacrament consecrated but of the bread and wyne offered partlie to the vse of the supper partlie to the finding of the poore It is wonder to see your boldnes For the place of S. Irenei by which you would proue this your comment doth neither make mention of the vse of the supper neither of finding the poore But rather he saieth we make offering vpp to God c. offering vnto hym the firstfructes of his creatures c. and this pure offering the church only offereth to our maker c. But where doth he saie in that place which either should haue serued your purpose or els not at all haue ben alleaged that the new oblation of the new testament and the prophesie of Malachie of which he had spoken in the 32. Chapiter before were to be vnderstanded of the bread and wyne offered to the vse of the supper and finding of the poore we do not denie but that the people offered bread and wine for such intentes but you shold haue proued that same to be the pure offering which the church onlie offereth as S. Irenei saieth Which can not possiblie be euer concluded because neither the offering of the people singularlie pure neither the Church onlie doth offer bread wyne and firstfructes which the verie panymes that naturallie do offer vp against reason vnto their false Goddes Idolls wherefor you haue brought S. Ierenei out of place not to expound hymselfe but to confound your miserable lying And thus much for the first signification which you make of the word oblation and sacrifice Now as concernyng the second we graunt and the church allso hath taught it you that there is a sactifice of praier and a sacrifice of thankes geauing But how can you proue that the sacrament it selfe is not allso a sacrifice that is to saie an externall and visible signe of our thaÌ„kes geauing and praier for not onlie Te Deum laudamus or Agnus Dei miserere nobis are sacrificies of thankes geauing and humble praying but most especiallie the holie host consecrated And you must not by one truth take awaye an other as because no maÌ„ wil deny that the praiers to God and prayses of God vsed in the masse are true sacrificies to conclude therefor that the bodie and bloud of Christ are for vs no sacrifice Further where you saie concerning the prayers and thankes geauen at the celebration of the sacrament That the Doctours in infinite places affirme that to be the true and onlie sacrifice of the new testament It ys most false and vnreasonable For thankes and praiers are coÌ„nion sacrificies vnto all religions and all lawes new and old supernaturall and naturall And then if we should speake exactlie there is none true and pure sacrifice but onlie that which our Sauior maketh of hymselfe in what so euer forme place and maner it pleaseth hym to be offered For all our Iustice considered by it selfe without relation made vnto the holines and merites of Christ are like the foule clothes of women all vncleane and polluted And the starres themselues being not cleane in his sight muchlesse any praiers or praises of men if without mercie thei should be considered Againe where you drawe the matter out with more length then truth That the fathers called euerie good action a sacrifice were it priuate or common as S. Austine allso signifieth but you tell not where you report of them vntrulie as S. Augustine may proue vnto you For he saieth not that euerie good worke absolutelie but euerie worke that is done to the intent we might cleaue vnto God in holy societie is a true sacrifice As if you should geaue an almes to one because he is your poore frind which asketh it and not referr the geauing of it vnto that supreme end and point which is God hymselfe all though the act be good morallie yet can it not be called a sacrifice After this you bring in Ireneus Eusebius Chrisostome Austyne but to what purpose verelie to proue that which is not denied that the Christians do offer vpp the sacrifices of thankes geauing of praiers and the remembrance of that great sacrifice of the crosse For who denieth this vnto you I tell you againe that to goe no further then the selfesame places of the Doctours which you recite we offer to God most high a sacriâ—ice of praise but allso as it foloweth we offer a ful a sweete and holie sacrifice after a new sort according to the new testament Yet if you meane the simple praises of our hart and lippes thei are not worth the honor of so manie epithetons and titles as Eusebius attributeth vnto the sacrifice of this owr tyme of grace Againe according to the same Eusebius true it is we celebrate the remembrance of that great sacrifice but yet we take that which foloweth according to the misteries instituted by Christ hymselfe By which wordes he geaueth you to vnderstand that the matter hangeth not vpon your newlie deuised apprehension by which we represent vnto our memorie the passion and merites of the Soun of God but thorough the institution of the misteries which the fatihfull haue allwaies honored that remembrance of the highe and bloudie sacrifice ys continued and celebrated accordinglie We hold furthermore with S. Austine that the Martirs are the misticall body of Christ but yet we hold allso with hym that at the sacrifice which we offer vnto God the Martirs in their place and order are named For as our Sauyor hath true bodies one misticall an other naturall so the offering of the misticall must not exclude the presence and offering of the naturall Yea rather how can the misticall bodie be offered except it be thorough the presence of the naturall For the offering of ourselues is not the offering of Christ his whole misticall bodie although you affirme it And if the whole parisshe would ioyne itselfe neuer so stronglie togeather how doe thei offer S. Peter S. Paule and all the rest of the elect and chosen But when the naturall bodie of Christ is offered vnto whom as the head all the elect as members are ioyned and not onlie thei which are departed this world or which are in it at this present but all thei which euer hereafter shall be borne vntill all the number be fullfilled then loe and onlie then it is verified that Christ his misticall bodie is offered because he the head is offered which as coÌ„cerning God his euerlasting
testimonie of S. Denyse the Areopagite in which it is proued vnto you that the supper of our Lorde is therefore called a communion because all the lyuelye membres of the church are brought thereby to an vnitie with Christ their head And if all this be not sufficient then do you further vnderstand that lyke as in our naturall bodye wheÌ„ one parte reioyseth all the rest is glad of it and if anye one be payned all the rest doth feele it so in the mysticall bodye of Christe there is a diuine entiere and charytable communion of all the fructfull paynes actioÌ„s and graces which any one of the singuler membres either receyueth eyther practiseth And this coÌ„munion is not only in respect of the vniformitie of the church in Sacramentes and scriptures as you saye but also as concerning the communicating of benefytes vvhich are receyued by those sacramentes or deserued by good deedes and meritoryous Of which fellowshipp it commeth to passe that the obedience of Abraham and pacience of Iob vvith all their vertues vvhich lyued in the feare and knowledge of God before the commyng of Christ and the humilitie of the most blessed virgyn labors of the Apostles constancie of martyrs and holynes of all good Sowles sence the Ascention of our Sauyor goe forth without enuye to the bewtifying and comforting of euery ioynt of the whole mysticall bodye Of which Christ is the head which is blessed for euer which is full of grace and truth of whose fullness euery membre receiueth a portion whom the holy ghost hath annoynted with the oyle of gladnes and reioysing which oyle from the head droppeth downe into the berde and so continueth in communicating his graces vntyll that the very skyrte of his vestimentes and the leste of all his church receyue of his influence And this heades example all the membres doe folow eche of them gladly communicating with his next felow some parte and measure of his merites and glorye vnto whom againe the inferiors do ascende with a sweete sauor of thanke and prayses so that in the whole bodye there is no one parte for it selfe but as God is for all so all they are for God and are both for their begynning and ending in most perfect socyetie Therefor in this bodye how can any parte doe anye thing for it selfe alone or how can there be but a communion betwixt all the membres of so perfect a dodye And to this end only doth the Catholikes argument come not as you grosely vnderstaÌ„d hym that he went about to proue that as one maye praye for an other so one might receyue for another Against which point the more you talke the more you make some to laugh and some to be angrie that you reason so hardly without any occasioÌ„ And yet you can not pretend ignorance herein for at length you espye your owne fault your selfe and you declare that you see wel inough what we might say against you and therefor you come in with these wordes You wyl saye perhappes you do not inferr this vpon the argument of general communion but onelye that they which are in diuers places maye communicate Yea Syr we saye so without perhappes and if you had ben a reasonable man you would neuer haue made such an earnest battaill against your owne fancye â–ª supposing one to stand before you which should saye that as one maye praye for an other so one myght receyue the Sacrament for an other Against which coÌ„clusion you myght haue some aduantage by gathering therof this absurditie that so it wold folow that our baptisme here in England myght benefite some that are in Fraunce yet oure only meaning was to shewe how they which are in diuers places maye that notwithstanding communicate togeather Of which thing what saye you now wel Syr I grawnte yow that Remembre I praye you then what you graunt you graunt vs this that they which be in diuers places maye coÌ„municate wel Syr I graunt you that but yet ye should haue inferred the other point c. That is to be lyke coÌ„munion in the Lorde his supper of one alone receyued as there is in prayer when one man in place alone prayeth for a multitude That your selfe maye not seeme to haue spoken much out of the purpose therefore you tell vs what we should haue inferred But lett the Apologie be considered agayne and if it can be proued that any such conclusion was intended as you doe speake against then shall you haue the victorie You vnderstand the catholike in this fashion that whereas he sayd there is a communion betweene all faythfull Christians as well in receyuing the Sacrament as in prayer you conclude that lyke as one alone maye praye for a multitude so that we shold inferr that one alone may receyue the SacrameÌ„t for a multitude As who should saye when a similitude or proportion is made betwyxt two thinges that they must in all partes answer one an other or els the comparison is nothing worth Yet we reade in wyse mens workes this similitude Lyke as a munkey doth counterfait and folow a mann so doe the heretykes couet to appeare lyke vnto the trew Catholykes in which so saying no man I trow doth meane that all heretikes haue tayles but only that in the acte of imitating perfect and good Christians they playe verye munkyshe partes which comparison yf you shall despyse because it is made of twoe thinges of nature very diuers and tell vs that a munkey hath an other maner of heare and coat then a maÌ„ or make sporte against the author of that similitude as though he would haue coÌ„cluded that a reasonable man is no better then a beast I would not geaue ouer so but further continew in the similitude and saye that lyke as munkeyes when thei haue spent all their other knackes doe make moppes and mowes cunninglie to delight thereby the lookers on so some men in the world when they haue no more to saye or do least they should seeme to be yâ—le resorte vnto making of newe constructions as it were distorted and madd faces For in deed it is of your owne making when you saie that the catholike shold haue proued if he had folowed good order that lyke as one may praye for a multitude so lykewise that one may receyue for a greate number For it was not said vnto you that receyuing and praying were in all thinges lyke and proportionable but only as concerning the strength of communioÌ„ which goeth through the whole mistical bodye of Christ not in praier only or receiuing of the sacrameÌ„t but in fasting almes deedes penaÌ„ce or anye other good acte or benefyte And therefor concerning the proportion which is in this respect betwyxt prayer and receyuing of the sacrament you haue to answer why there is not a communion to be graunted when one alone receiueth as you can not denie a plaine coÌ„munion when one alone prayeth We
apointmēt will and pleasure neuer wanteth any one part of hys perfect and full misticall bodie Otherwyse how can the bodie be well offered without the head which for that cause onlie is an acceptable bodie and worthe offering because it cleaueth vnto such an head Againe S. Austine in this place allthough he denieth that the priest offereth sacrifice vnto the Martirs yet he confesseth that the Martirs are named at our sacrifice declaring thereby most plainelie against you that we haue a sacrifice which thei are not but at which thei haue a due and conuenient commemoration Likewyse againe we saie with Chrisostome as you doe that we offer euerie daie doing it in remembrance of his death but we add further out of the same place that this sacrifice is one and not manie And allso that we do not offer vpp now one tomorow an other but allwaies the selfesame For els because it is offered vpp in manie places thei be manie Christes Not so But Christ is euerie where one being whole both here and allso there one bodie For lyke as he which is offered vpp euerie where is one bodie and not manie bodies euen so is the sacrifice allso one Therefor to conclude with S. Austine true it is that in our sacrifice there is a thankes geauing and remembrance of the bodie and bloud of Christ but consider that which foloweth that he gaue and shedd for vs. By which wordes he willeth you to vnderstand that we haue in deede a remembrāce of Christ his body and bloud not in respect of his reall absence from vs but in respect of his painefull suffering for vs. You may see then by this tyme that you haue proued a sacrifice of praiers of thankes geauing and a remembrāce of Christ his passion to be celebrated in the church which the scholes did teache manie hundred yeares before you or Luther war borne and which we knowe better then you and that you may be ashamed to haue gone so farr besides the purpose being in deed able to disproue by no authoritie the sacrifice propitiatorie of Christ in his church against which all your malice is I except this argument onlie which in deed your wisedome doth vse more then once when you saie Eusebius here maketh no mention of propitiatorie sacrifice and S. Austyne saieth not that here is an offering of Christ his bodie and bloud for sinnes Ergo there are no such thinges at all As though that all thinges could be spoken at once or all misteries should be straitwaies reuealed or as though there were no difference betwyxt not speaking of the thing and denieing the thing In which kind of reasoning you cōtinue for the reste of your chapiter alleaging out of S. Cypriane you tell not where out of the Greeke canō of the Masse that thei offered for our Ladie and out of S. Chrisostome that thankes were offered for the whole world and as well for them which were before as them which shall come after of which you conclude saying This was their offering for the dead and not a practise to pull soules out of purgatorie for merchandise and monie as you haue vsed in your priuate Masse This ys your practise both in reasoning and in slaundering In slaundering because you attribute vnto our religion a selling and byeing of soules out of purgatorie for monie which you neuer find to be taught or alowed of any one good man and much lesse of the whole church In reasoning because you conclud that not to be at all in the author which you find not expressed in some place which pleaseth you For to cōtinue in the testimonies which you doe bring allthough S. Cyprian in the .5 epistle of his fourth boke make mention of sacrifice for martirs vndoubtedlie to thanke God for thē yet in his first boke and .ix. epistle he proueth that there is an oblation which the priestes doe make for the deade such as were no martirs and he testifieth allso of a deprecatiō and praier which the church vseth in their names For in chargeing the clergie vnto which he there writeth to make no oblation and praier for the soule of one Victor which had transgressed a canon and decree of the Bisshopes he sheweth therewithall what the clergie would haue done had not his cōmaundemēt staied them and he proueth that for some kind of such as were departed not onlie praises and thankes but supplications rather and praiers were offered Then as concerning the greeke Canon which of them you did meane I cold not tel but now by reason of M. Grindal sermon which he made not long sence at an Englisshe funerall of Ferdinand the Emperor it is euident vnto me that you meane the masse of S. Chrisostome In which allthough I can not find any oblation made for our ladie the prophetes or Apostles allthough that a commemoration of thankes may be offered also for them yet if it were true that in one place of that greek Canon an oblation were made for our ladie that doth not proue but in an other place of the same Canon an expresse oblation and praier was made for the deade such as were not yet at rest For after the consecration of the sacrament ended he saieth within a few lynes we offer vnto the this reasonable seruice for those which slepe and rest in the faithe for our fathers and our greate graund fathers thorough the intercession of Patriarches Prophetes Apostels Martirs and all Sainctes But especiallie for the supplications and praiers of the perpetuall virgin Marie mother of God our Qnene for euer blessed vndefiled and most holie Sainct Iohn the baptist prophete and precursor the holie and most renoumed Apostels and the Sainct whose memorie we celebrate and all thy Sainctes visite vs o God and remember all them which sleepe in our Lord in hope of the rysing againe vnto euerlasting life and graūt them rest where the light of thy countenance doth intend ouer them Now againe allthough you alleage a true saying out of S. Chrisostome vpon the .viij. Chapiter of S. Mathew that the priest standing at the Aultar when the sacrifice is sett furth commaundeth the standers by to offer vp thankes to God for the world in which testimonie it ys playne to see that the sacrifice proposed is one thing and the sacrifice of thankes an other yet to lett goe this vantage you can not denie but he in an other place saieth It was decreed by the Apostles not in vaine that in the celebratiō of the venerable misteries a memorie should be made of them which were departed hence Thei knew that much commoditie and much profit dyd come hereof vnto them For the whole people standing by with lifting vpp their handes vnto heauen and also the cumpanie of priestes and the venerable sacrifice being laied out and proponed how should we not pacifie God in praying for them Therefor it is cleare that your argument is verie vnlerned
which the old fathers vsed peruerted yet of vs but what old father or young brother hath taught you the mightie contrarietie which you speake of betweene sacrifice and sacrament Yet goe to if we haue mistaken the old fathers how well doe you vnderstand them you can not denie but the old fathers do call the sacrament an oblation or sacrifice but you will expound their meanyng vnto vs. Wherevpon you tell vs that in the beginnyng the people at the celebratiō of the Lord his supper offered vp wyne breade and other victuals partlie to find the priestes and partlie to refresshe the poore and allso to serue the communion And so partlie It came to passe the example being taken first of the common people that the administration of the sacrament of this offering was called an oblation An other occasion that the Doctours vsed those termes of sacrifieng and offering was that in the celebration of the sacrament thei had praier for all states and thankes geauing to God for all benefites After the fathers called euerie good action a sacrifice were it priuate or common And therfor their successors by litle and litle bent the same name vnto the action and celebration of the Sacrament An other cause that the holie fathers call the sacrament an oblation or sacrifice is because according to Christes ordenance we celebrate the remembrance of his death and passion which was the onlie and true sacrifice Where I may begyn to speake against you for this your diuision of sacrifice I can not readelie tell there are so many thinges which are to be moued and reproued First the imperfectnes that you haue vsed in it ▪ because you haue not expressed the full cumpasse of this word sacrifice as the holie Fathers haue vnderstode it Then your superfluousnes because you make many partes of that which you should haue concluded in one member As if euerie good action be called a sacrifice thē should you haue well brought the other kindes which you speake of vnder this one signification as the principall largest aboue all other Allthough you in deuising three maners after which the fathers take the word sacrifice do leaue this one out of the number by which euerie good action as you report is called a sacrifice which yet deserueth to haue the first place emong them if that which is most generall should not be omitted in diuiding Thirdlie your diuision is to be reproued for the greate vntruth which is conteined in it as I shall declare vnto you hereafter If first you will consider what an other maner of diuision was to be lerned out of the Doctours and in what sense it is spoken and beleiued of vs that a sacrifice propiciatorie is offered in our misteries Vnderstand you therefor that A sacrifice is a reuerent seruice and worshipp due vnto God onlie Now againe Of sacrificies some be internall and inuisible other some externall and visible The inward and internall sacrifice may be thus defined It is that worshipp and seruice in which our hart and will is geauen vnto God and this is done vpon the aultar of our hart when either we burne the incense of holie and deuoute loue in his sight or when we vowe to hym ourselues and his giftes in vs or when we remember his benefites in solempne feastes and holidaies or when vpon the aultar of our hart with the fyer of charitie we burne the offeringes of humilitie and praise vnto hym And this is the pure and acceptable sacrifice which onlie God requireth of vs not because of his owne profit and vantage but that we by vniting of ourselues to hym might liue and continue for euer with hym But how shall a man know that there is such a spirituall inuisible and acceptable sacrifice Of his owne doing a man perchaūse may know but of an others mynd who can tell without some externall signe or token shewed Againe if a man would vtter his owne inward deuotion how can he exemplifie it without some externall signe either of bowing of knees or holding vp of handes or lifting vp of eyes or knocking of breast or offering vp of some gift yea rather the soule and bodie being so nigh togeather as they are it ys impossible that the hart soule shold entierlie be occupied in the true worshipe of God and that by no maner of similitude it shold be perceaued in the bodie Therefor by necessarie and naturall consequence and folowing there must be an externall sacrifice And that is defined of S. Augustine by these wordes The visible sacrifice ys a sacrament that ys to saie an holie signe of the inuisible sacrifice Of this second kind of sacrifice if you require exāples you may easelie find them in the sacrificies of Abel Noe Abraham and others in the law of nature and in the boke of Leuiticus as concerning the old law and in the churches and deuotions of Christiās in this tyme of grace as whē thei offer candells burne frankincense take ashes beare palme and do anything outwardlie to the honor of God In which thinges except the offerer haue an internall deuotiō and pietie all those externall ceremonies are not to him worth the vsing and if he be in hart and memorie fullie disposed and aduised to consider his owne miserie and god his mercie then are these outwarde actions and obseruations holie signes and tokens of the internall sacrifice and may be called externall sacrificies But let vs speake of one singular example for all The visible and bitter death of our Sauior Christ vpon the crosse was an external aud bloudie sacrifice But in what sense and meaning vndoubtedlie as it was and is called visible But what meane I by visible I meane that so painefull maner of hys hanging by the handes and fcete vpon the crosse and so vniuersall a wounding of euerie part of his pretiouse bodie so that from the croune of his heade to the soele of his feete there was no whole place in hym and the panting of euerie vaine and stretching of euerie ioynt and incredible torment in all his blessed fleshe these thinges with manie other were I meane holie signes of his inward sacrifice in which he offered vp before hym and to hym which seeth all secreates his liffe his hart his will his thankes his praises and praiers and all that was his for the sauing of mankind and satisfieing of his fathers Iustice. Yea concernyng the eies of men not onlie the sight of God who may doubt of his patience which in all those tormētes dyd neuer once murmur who can mistrust or suspect his charitie which emong so manie cruellties done to hym forgat not to loue his enemies who should not but consider hys endlesse obedience whose soule could not be remoued from the keeping of his fathers will when the bodie was disioynted the one member from the other In verie deed this was an holie signe and sacrament of the inuisible and
But what of this for euerie thing of which a good meanyng may be gathered is not of necessitie to be obserued of vs. To communicate with Christ our head and his mysticall bodye is a thing most necessarie if we thinke to receiue hym worthelie but to haue a particular communion as you terme it although it be very laudable yet is it not necessarie and the institution of Christ doth not requyre it of vs. For if his blessed will had ben as you do seme to interprete it that there should be a visible company to receiue togeather at his table that the beholding of one the other might lyuelie represent the vnitie which Christ with them and thei haue with Christ and that without this particular coÌ„munion there might be no receiuing of the sacrameÌ„t woe then vnto poore blynde folkes which can not see how many receiue with them Whom if the mercy of our Sauior hath not excluded from commyng to his table it must folow then necessarilye that it was not Christ his institution and commaundement that without a visible cumpany of communicantes his sacramentes could not be ministred And as such a coÌ„maundement dyd not become his wysedome and his bountefullnes so would it haue ben a greate foyle and discoÌ„fort vnto his church if the neighbors slacknes should haue letted the deuotion of the well willing persons or if no receiuyng at all might be suffred without a particular coÌ„munion whereas any one Christian receiuing all alone doth yet therein communicate with Christ his whole mysticall body Now because this generall coÌ„munion of which we speake doth greaue you very sore which loue to make partes and separations you complayne that excommunication seemeth to be taken awaie by this our deuise as you call it of a coÌ„munion betweene such as are absent and distant But as you are allwaies very discrete and wittye so you geaue a reason hereof to excuse you from folye And what reason is that Marye After your deuise a priest that is excommunicated of the Byshopp maye saye masse in his chamber and affirme that he wyll coÌ„municate with hym whether he will or no. Yf you thinke as you say you be very dull of vnderstanding or short of memorie because our opinion proueth the cleane contrarie For whereas we tell you that he which receiueth alone doth communicate yet with the rest of the bodye of which he is a parte how farr and wyde so euer the whole be dilated so he which is separated by excommunication from the body coÌ„municateth with no parte of it whether he receiue alone or receiue with many But if your sentence were true as concerning particular communion then would it straitwaies be very hard to haue any excommunication For if England would not receiue one he might seeke after the congregation of Scotland If thei would reiect hym he might seeke many corners of Germany and Hungary If Lutherans would defye hym he might be intertayned of the Zuinglians If thei both were to honest for hym he might receiue after the institution of Christ as thei would saie with Anabaptistes Arrians and such other But with vs how can it come to passe by any deuise of yours that he which is excommunicated by the Byshop and therefor quyte separated from the communion of all Sainctes and Catholikes should communicate with the Byshop or any other whether thei would or no Naye truly Syr if Christ his institution had specially commaunded a particular communion as you saye it doth so in deede if the Bishope should excommunicate you yet you might call halfe a dozen of good fellowes vnto you and in chamber orcharde groue denne stable or vnder hedges celebrate a memory of Christ his passion and challendge vnto your selfes the folowing of his institutioÌ„ which institution whilest you vnderstand so grossely as you doe you must further expounde vnto vs in what quantitie of numbre tyme and place a communion may be celebrated And if for al your fancying of particular communion you haue no ioye to speake of such particular cases albeit you may tell vs that you haue weightie matters in hand and can not therfore dallie yet we see playnelie that you haue not what to answer vs lest you should be dryuen vnto many absurde folyes And therefor to shifte your handes of those questions in which your spirites might be tryed you tell vs that you see in the Euangelist and S. Paule that Christ tooke bread brake it gaue it c. and that he did his thinges in conuenient tyme and place and that he had coÌ„pany which if we either did not know either would denie vnto you then had you said somewhat But our principall question is whether such a company and numbre as he vsed be necessarie or no as yourselfe haue before confessed that the obseruation of place and tyme which Christ vsed is not necessarie And because you styffelie holde that cuÌ„pany is necessarie we would vnderstande your mynde further within how greate and how small numbre that necessarie company consisteth For it is written in the Englysh seruice that without three no communion maye be celebrated except vpon the speciall request of the syck person and in tyme of plagues when one maye receiue with the priest alone But yet I trow the institution of Christ doth permit well inough two alone to receiue togeather at all tymes Now if you be to seeking for your answeres in such questions which would declare vnto us the full meaning of your opinioÌ„s how dare you sett vpp a religion which know not the partes of your owne religion and can not tell how faâ—r you maie graunt or how much you maie denie As coÌ„cerning accidences without their subiectes and other such true consequeÌ„cies which doe folow necessarylie vpon other principles of the Catholike fayth we are able to proue them if you were able to vnderstand them Of which thinges we are not ashamed because thei haue ben openlie declared and beleiued in all the Vniuersities and diuinitie scholes of Christendome many faier yeares before your diuinity was published and if theâ— might be any offence taken of them or else not sufficient defence made for them if your syde should be iudge yet the questions are so subtile and curyous that a good Bysshop might with honesty saie that he needeth not to proue them But you which are the fynders out and founders of the ghospell â–ª the controllers of Christendome the speciall vessells of God and reformers of the perfect and Apostolike religion in so plaine and sensible a matter as place number and tyme is for theÌ„ which will communicate to runne into corners and fayne that you haue weightie matters in hande and coÌ„maund your aduersaries to silence and not to trouble your grauities with any particular questions it is much against your worship and honestie which would be accepted of priuie counsell with God and Christ as coÌ„cerning the ordering of sacramentes Also that accidences may be coÌ„prised without