Sathans miracles the more to blind the people with the idolatrie of the Masse Of such miracles the Lord and his Apostles do aduise vs to beware that we bee not deceiued by them Manie other miracles they recount but in answering to these aforesaid we shall haue answered to all that they can recken And the better to answere this fift obiection knowe we that there are two sortes of miracles the one true and the other false Those that are true are done by the power of God for confirmation of the truth and the confusion of falshood Such were the miracles which God wrought by the hand of Moses and of the other Prophetes Such bee those which Christ and his Apostles did Comming then to our purpose I say that the miracles which God hath done in the most holy sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ to make vs vnderstand that he instituted this sacrament and that it was not humane inuention he did them And this did the Lord for one of these two endes The first is to expell the wicked impious and vnworthy persons from this so high a Sacrament for this end serued the miracle which Saint Cyprian saw and we haue declared and others also which the same author reporteth For what actuall sinne had a sucking infant witout anie discretion committed in eating a soppe moystened in the wine sacrificed vnto idols But did the Lord to make vs vnderstand howe much those men which vnworthily and without any consideration receiue the holy Supper doe displease him and that to them is it all one to sitte at the table of the Lord and to receiue the Sacrament of his bodie and of his bloud or to sit at the table of the Diuell and receiue the Diuell himselfe If God chastised by his iust Iudgement a sucking Babe as Saint Cyprian reporteth for hauing participated of the table of the Diuell and of that of the Lord how thinke wee will hee punish those that of ripe age and deliberate purpose do participate of both tables This young childe could not drinke the cuppe of the Lord hauing first drunke that of the Diuels it could not bee partaker of the table of the Lorde and of the table of diuels For the cuppe of the Lord is the communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which wee breake in the Supper is the Communion of the bodie of Christ And what agreement hath Christ with the Diuell This is not mine owne inuention they are the words of Saint Paul speaking for this purpose to the Corinthians 1. Cor. chap. 10. 15. So that we confesse that God hath miraculously many times chastened those which vnworthily receiue the most holy sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ And the Apostle in the eleuenth chapter doth witnesse the same when he saith For which cause as much to say as for hauing vnworthily eaten many amongst you are sicke and weake and many are asleepe that is to say are dead The second end that God pretendeth in the miracles which he doth in the Supper is touching good men In the celebration of this sacrament hath God willed sometimes to do miracles to illustrate the same and to shew forth the excellencie and dignitie thereof and the more therewith to confirme the faith of the godly that the Lord hauing blowne away their sinnes doe worthily receiue it And not onely for confirmation of the faithfull hath the Lord in the Sacrament wrought miracles but also hath he done them in the celebration of Baptisme And so S. Iohn Baptist when Christ was baptized sawe the heauens open and the holy Ghost visibly descending in the shape of a Doue And this was that the Baptist as an eye witnesse might testifie of Christ and say Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde Such miracles then admit wee that for confirmation of our faith are done hy the power of God The second sorte of miracles are done by the arte of the Diuell to deciue men and to cause them not to beleeue the true but the false doctrine such miracles call wee false for one of these two causes The first is in regard of the Authour the Diuell who is a lyar and the father of lyes The second because such miracles deceiue them that beleeue them By the arte of the Diuell did the Sorcerers of Pharaoh worke wonders as Moses did Of such miracles the Lord forewarneth vs There shall arise vp saith he false Christes and false prophetes and shall shewe great signes and wonders so that the verie elect if it were possible should be deceiued Behold saith the Lord I haue tolde you before And Saint Paule speaking of Antichrist saith That his comming shall bee by the working of Sathan in all power signes and lying wonders c. Such may we thinke were the miracles of the Sorcerers of Pharaoh Such bee the miracles which Damascen reporteth of the dead mans scull and of the soule of Traian and of the soule of Falconilla that being condemned and in hell were saued Of these miracles of Damascen we will speake afterwards Such may we thinke was the miracle of the Masse by vs recited of Pius the second In conclusion all miracles which bee to confirme a thing that is contrarie to the word of God be false and done by the arte of the diuell Against the word of God is it that the soules by the iust iudgement of God condemned and buried in hell should go out thence and be saued Against the word of God is it to beleeue there is any other Purgatorie then the bloud of Christ Ireneus a most ancient Doctor telleth that a certain man called Marke a great deceiuer and heretike with the Sacrament of the Eucharist did strangely deceiue the simple For he so changed the colour of the wine that nothing but bloud appeared and by his inchantments so greatly increased a little of the wine that it filled the cuppe and also ranne ouer And another cuppe greater and more capable being brought the selfe same without adding more liquor did fill it vp to the top Shall we beleeue his heresie because he confirmed it with miracles Surely no. A commandement haue we that if an Angell from heauen shall teach vs another Gospell another doctrine another faith then that which Iesus Christ and his Apostles haue taught vs wbich they haue left vs written in the olde and new testament that although hee confirme it with many miracles as did this Marke and the sorcerers of Pharaoh we should not beleeue him Of this Marke maketh Saint Ierome mention and citeth Ireneus for his author This Marke saith he went into France and thence passed into Spaine and with his enchantments deceiued many the Gentle women chiefly whom he allured to carnall loue Reade the epistle to Theodora the wife of Lucinus Beticus or Audaluz tom 1. If we reade the histories of the Gentiles we shall find that they shew
they taken it for an error But none of them say that Origin thought amisse of the Eucharist Therfore that which Origin saith is no error neither among the anciēt Doctors was it holden for an error But leaue we the pudles let vs drinke of the cleare water of the fountaine Leaue we apart the fathers and let vs see what the holy scriptur saith Many times doth S. Paul call it bread yea after it be consecrated after it be dedicated made the sacrament of the body of the Lord. First the bread saith he which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ 2. For one bread is that we many are one body 3. For we be al partakers of one bread 4. So that whosoeuer shall eat of this bread c. 5. Let euery man therefore proue himselfe 50. Let him eate of that bread c. The Apostle in all these places calleth the bread bread Not because it was so But because it is so concerning the wine the Lord himselfe aftrr he had made the sacrament of his blood calleth it The fruit of the vine And I say vnto you saith he That henceforth will I not drinke more of this fruit of the vine c. what thing is the fruit of the vine or of the grape but wine S. Paule saith The cupp of Blessing which wee blesse is it not the communion of the bloud of Christ Also Or shall drinke of this cupp of the Lord vnworthily Also And drinketh of that cup. In these there places S. Paul by the cup doth vnderstand that which in the cuppe is conteyned which is that which his maister calleth the fruit of the vine or wine Here yee see that the Lord his Apostle and the auncient Doctours call that bread wine which in the sacrament is visible earthly and by the same reason admit no transubstantiation As there is none in deede This simple and sound Doctrine taketh away many absurditie inconueniences which followe transubstantiatiō it taketh away many scruples afflictions of conscience And so if the sacrament I speak as they speak for it is not a sacrament but when it is taken eaten Take saith Christ and eate and afterwards saith This is my body Then in the sacrament is not Christes body except it be taken and eaten be mouldy corrupt eaten with wormes or mice when it falleth on the ground or powered out c. For to all these things the bread and wine and not the body of Christ are subiect the bread say we is mouldy is corrupt c. The wine is spilled The which bread and wine had not rat◠but men eaten and dronken had bin the sacrament of the body blood of Christ Would our aduersaries vnderstand this they should not neede the booke which they cal De coutelas de la Missa which intreateth what ought in such former like cases to be done This booke is a continuall affliction torment and slaughter house of the consciences which haue zeale but as saith S. Paul not according to knowledge The reason is because this conscience are not founded vpon the firme foundatiō vpon the word of God but vpon the sand the traditions of men Such as will not vnderstand the words of the Lord This is my body c. Spiritually but carnally doe fall into great heresie horrible Idolatrie The Christian religion as witnesseth Athasius in his Symbol beleeueth that in Iesus Christ are 2 natures diuine and humane It beleeueth that these two natures are so vnited and conioyned in Christ that they are not confounded nor mingled one with another The diuine hath his properties and the humane his As the reasonable soule and fleshly bee one man So the diuinitie and humanitie bee one Christ It is the propertie of the diuinitie onely and of no other thing besides to bee in euery place for it is vnmeasurable infinit and no other thing there is that is vnmeasurable and infinite It is the propertie of the humanity to be in some one place and not in euery place So witnesseth the Angell speaking of the humanitie of Christ He is risen sayth he he is not here Beholde here the place where they put him And S. Peter Whom sayth he the Heauens must contayne vntill the time of the restauration of all things And so do wee hold it for an article of faith that he ascended into Heauen and is set at the right hand of God the father from thence shall he come to iudge the quicke and the dead Iesus Christ himselfe sayth The poore shall you haue alwayes with you but me shall you not haue alwayes All these places doe proue Iesus Christ according to his humanity and in as much as he is man not to bee here below but in heauen This Article of faith do our aduersaries impugne when they beleeue the body of Christ to be in euery Masse And so many as dayly through all the world are celebrated and in all their Sagrarios or pixes where they keepe it inclosed really corporally carnally so great and so big as it was vpon the crosse If this be not heresie what shall bee heresie Good Transubstantiators are our aduersaries when they haue transubstātiated the bread and the wine into the body and bloud of Christ so that now is it no bread now it is no wine but as they say the body and bloud of Christ So now they transubstatiate the humanitie of Christ his flesh and his bloud into the diuinitie seeing they attribute vbiquitie to the bodie and bloud of Christ the which is only proper to the diuinitie Iesus Christ is true God and true man But his Godhead is not his manhood and his manhood is not his Godhead The one is the Creator whose beginning is from euerlasting the other is a creature whose being had beginning Notwithstanding all this which our aduersaries of the learned I speake may heare and reade they continue obstinate and hardened and God hath left them to a reprobate mind that they may beleeue the bread to be no bread but the bodie of Christ the wine to be no wine but the bloud of Christ And so they worship that which a parish Clearke maketh betweene two yrons and the Priest giueth it a forme making it his God In the pixe do they keepe it to the sicke they carie it Vpon some feastes of the yeare and chiefly the day which they call Corpus Christi with great pompe triumph and maiestie take they it forth to walke and wo to that person that will not kneele before it I would aske them who commanded them to doe this If they know that Iesus Christ hath so done orcommaunded his Apostles so to doe Neither example nor commandement will they giue Christ neither did nor commanded any such thing nor his Apostles nor the Catholike Church did so by the space of one thousand yeares after
the word flesh Leo Bishop of Rome in the tenth epistle which he wrote to the Clergie and people of Constanstinople saith Walke we on receiuing the vertue of the heauely meat in his flesh which is made our flesh Damascen whom they cite libr. 4. cap. 14. Orthodoxae fidei is clearely for them They alleage Theophilact who manifestly maketh mention of Transubstantiation Other new Authours as Anselme Hugo and Richardus de sancto Victore they alleage which vndoubtedly affirme Transubstantiatiation Councels also do they cite as that of Ephesus which was holden against Nestorius in which was president Cirillus where these wordes are vsed Wee being made partakers of the holy bodie and of the precious bloud of Christ receiue not common flesh and not as of a man sanctified but truly sanctifying and made proper of the word it selfe They cite the Councell of Verceill in the time of Leo the ninth in which Berengarius was condemned They cite the Councell of Laterane in the time of Nicholas the second which caused Berengarius to recant of whose recantation mention is made in the decrees de consecrat dist 2. in the fourth sentence They alleage also another Councell of Lateran in the time of Innocent 3. whereof mention is made in the Decretals de summa Trinitate cap. Firmiter de celebratione Missarum cap. Cum Martha They alleage also the Councell of Constance wherein was Iohn Wickliffe that denied Transubstantiation condemned and Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prage were burned for the same They cite the last Trident Councell They alleage the common consent as they say of all the whole Catholique Church with which consent Scotus so greatly was moued in foure that seeing hee could firmely shew Transubstantiation neither by the holy Scriptures nor by reason yet he approued it he sayd for not being contrary to the common consent of the Church Our aduersaries then seeing as they suppose so many Fathers so manie Councels on their side they thinke all cocke sure and crie out Victorie Victorie against these heretikes dogges Now is there no bread now is there no wine in the Sacrament They be conuerted and transubstantiated into the bodie and bloud of Christ And whosoeuer beleeueth not this they call him an heretike excommunicate accursed and condemned But turne they ouer the leafe and behold and well consider that which followeth Were our strife and contention about Transubstantiation to be decided concluded and proued by men we want not other as manie or rather more Fathers as ancient learned and godly as those whom our aduersaries as they thinke haue armed against vs to arme in our defence against them And many of those also wil we alleage which they haue alleaged against vs. This done to all that will we answere which they haue alleaged against vs. The first Father which they alleage is Ireneus The same also do we alleage and for his antiquitie and authoritie in the vauntgard will we place him Thus sayth Ireneus speaking against the Valentinian heretikes The earthly bread the calling of the word of God receiued is now no more common bread but is made the Eucharist The which consisteth in two thinges to wit in earthly and heauenly As touching the first Ireneus denyeth not the Eucharist to be bread but that which hee saith is that it is now not common bread And then saith hee This Eucharist consisteth in two things the one whereof is earthly and is the bread and the other heauenly and is the bodie of Christ For how necessarie it is that the bodie of Christ bee truly in the Sacrament so necessarie is it also that the bread bee truely in the Sacrament For otherwise the bread which is the figure should haue no annalogie nor likenesse with the thing figured which is the body of Christ Tertullian in his first booke against Marcion saith God hath not cast away the bread his creature sith that with it he hath represented his body Also in his fourth booke against the same Marcion he saith The bread which hee had taken and distributed to his disciples hee made it his body saying This is my body that is to say as himselfe declareth the figure of my body Origen vppon the 26. chap. of Matthew sayth This bread which God the Word doth witnesse to bee his body is the nourishing word of soules Also Homil. 7. vppon Leuiticus He saith For not onely in the old Testament but also in the Gospell is the letter which killeth For if thou follow the letter that which is sayd Except ye eate the flesh c. Also hom 9. vpon the same Leuiticus he saith Cleaue not to the bloud of the flesh but apprehend rather the bloud of the Word and heare what he saith vnto thee For this is my bloud which is shed for you Also vpon the fifteenth chapter of Matthew hee saith The sanctified bread as touching the matter goeth into the belly and is cast out below In the same place also hee saith Not the matter of the bread but the word spoken ouer it is that which profiteth him which worthily eateth it In the eight booke also against Celsus hee sayth After thankes giuen for the benefites which wee haue receiued eate wee of the consecrate bread Cyprian lib. 1. Epist 6. ad Magnum sayth The Lord calleth the bread made of the gathering togither of manie graines his body and the wine pressed out of many clusters and graines of grapes calleth hee his bloud Also interpreting the Lords prayer he calleth the bread the body of the Lord. Also in the sermon of the Supper of the Lord he sayth wee whet not the tooth to bite but with sincere and true faith onely doe wee breake the bread and eate it Also in the sermon de Chrismate hee openly saith The sacramentes haue their names of those things which they signifie Saint Augustine vseth these selfe same two maner of speeches that Saint Cyprian vseth Whereby it appeareth that hee tooke them from him The second hee vseth in the Epistle to Boniface and first when he saith Why preparest thou the tooth and the belly Beleeue and thou hast eaten Tract 25. vpon Saint Iohn And turning to Saint Cyprian in his second booke and third epistle ad Cecilium he saith In the wine is shewed the bloud of the Lord. Also against the Aquarians he sayth That the bloud of the Lord could not appeare to bee in the cuppe if the wine ceased to be therein And after our Transubstantiators no wine is there in the cup therefore it followeth there is no bloud For this is the argument of S. Cyprian In the sermon also of the supper of the Lord he saith The symbols o be changed into the bodie of Christ but so that they take a certiane likenesse of Christ himselfe in whom the humane nature was seene and the diuine remained hidden by
at the right hand of the father Three causes can we shew why the fathers so loftily and so hiperbolically haue spoken of the signes The first is which before we haue touched taking license of the scripture which doth also the same The 2. the more to moue the harts of men and to lift them vp to contemplate heauenly things vnspeakable mercies which in this most holy sacrament we receiue Seeing that our soules are spiritually fed and nourished with the precious bodie and blood of Christ The 3. to shew this representation which we say to be made in the sacrament not to be theatricall not belonging to commedians but that the Lord giueth really that which for his part he promiseth his bodie and his blood for the spirituall nourishment of our soules And that we for our part receiue it by faith Christ being our foode were by good reason to be conuerted into vs as are other meates conuerted into the substaunce of him that eateth them but in Christ is it not so For we eating him doe conuerte our selues into him and are by a secret and vnspeakable vnion made one thing with him Oh admirable misterie Oh high Sacrament Oh sweete and diuine banquet wherein our bodie receauing carnally with the teeth bread and wine our soule receaueth spiritually by faith Iesus Christ with all his treasure and riches which dying and rising againe he gained for vs. For here is hee wholly giuen vnto vs. that which is sayd mee seemeth sufficient to answere that which our aduersaries out of the fathers haue alleaged against vs. But setting a part this generall answeres Let vs answere to each one in particular As touching Ireneus which saith inuocation receaued the earthly bread is nowe no more common bread haue we already answered to bee truth when on our part we alleaged him As touching Tertullian wee say what he himselfe declareth saying The Lord not onely made the bread which hee tooke his bodie saying This is my bodie to wit the figure of my bodie Concerning that which Origen saith that the Lord affirmed the bread to bee this bodie wee deny it not but the controuersie is how it so is carnally or spiritually and in the places which of him for vs we haue alleaged is it declared how Origen himselfe vnderstood it As touching that which Saint Cyprian saith the bread to bee chaunged into flesh and blood The same also say we But we meane not a naturall change that one substaunce is conuerted into another The chaunge which wee vnderstand and which vnderstandeth Saint Cyprian is sacramentall and so hee there saith we are vnited or made one selfe same thing with Christ not so much by a naturall chaunge as by a spirituall For he hath made himselfe both bread flesh and bloud He himselfe is meate substaunce life for his Church which giuing her participation c. he calleth his body Of these words will we conclude the sacramentall bread and wine to be the body and blood of Christ neither more nor lesse then the Church is the body of Christ not corporally but spiritually That which he saith that the bread is changed not in forme but in nature seemeth to make much against vs. But by that which Saint Cyprian himselfe wrote to Cecilius that in the wine is shewed the bloud of God it appeareth to be otherwise Also speaking against the Aquarians he saith If the wine leaue his being in the cuppe the bloud of the Lord cannot appeare to be in the cuppe Also all that moreouer which of him wee haue on our part alleaged Besides this Saint Cyprian being a Latine Authour hee tooke it may be the Latine word Natura not in signification of substance but in signification of vertue force and proprietie as the Latine Authours do many times take it and in the same signification in our Spanish tongue is it taken And so say wee the nature of this herbe or stone c. is this c. The nature of the loade-stone is to draw the yron As much as to say as the vertue or propertie c. Taking it then in this signification it wil very well agree with that which Saint Cyprian saith That which saith Saint Ambrose of bread is made the flesh of Christ ought to bee sacramentally vnderstood as before we haue sayd And that this was his meaning by that which he himselfe saith in the places of him for vs before alleaged appeareth What thought Chrysostome of the figure and the thing figured in this Sacrament in alleaging him for vs we haue already declared Now it resteth to answer that which he saith of the waxe which applyed to the fire is consumed and applying this similitude he saith So the bread and the wine are consumed of the substance of Christ To this obiection we answer that the word thought vsed by Chrisostome declareth vnto vs that which he sayd ought not to be vnderstood but in respect of our faith and knowledge wherewith communicating the bread and wine wee receiue them not as bread nor as wine but lifting vp the spirit on high we receiue them as the bodie and bloud of Christ or whose efficacie they are a figure To the other two places of Chrysostome that Christ giueth himselfe to vs that wee should see him touch him and handle him and in whose flesh also wee might fasten our teeth What Chrisostome thought of the sacramentall bread and wine whether it bee true bread and wine or no we haue very clearely shewed by the same words of Chrisostome himselfe And it is not to be beleeued that so graue an Authour would contradict himself Let vs now answer how this ought to be vnderstood which our aduersaries alleage of him against vs. I say then that simply and properly speaking Neither the body nor the blood of Christ in the sacrament are either seene handled or touched The bread and the wine are seene handled and touched The same Chrisostome in the same homily sayth He maketh vs to say the same also one Masse with him And this not onely by faith but he maketh vs really his body The same saieth he in the 60. and 62. homily to the people of Antioch saying We I say are not onely by faith and loue but also really indeed made and mingled with the body of Christ And notwithstanding this vnion there is none will say that wee are transubstantiated into the body of Christ So say wee also that notwithstanding this sacramentall vnion which remaineth betweene the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ the bread is not transubstantiated into the body of Christ nor the wine into his blood The same Chrisostome saith Thinke not that thou takest the body of Christ of the handes of a man but of a Seraphin c. Should wee simply â—nderstand this the minister is not now a man but transubstantiated into a Seraphin Also hee saieth we must not think the hand of the
eate this is my bodie And when he gaue the wine he said Drinke ye all of this This is my blood In giuing the wine he addeth that not without great mistery this word all for with this word All doth the Lord preuent arme vs against the heretikes which were afterwardes to arise saying Drinke not all of the wine Our aduersaries cannot deny the Lord to haue said Drinke yee all of this They cannot deny that all those which haue receaued the bread haue not drunke of the wine And so saith S. Marke And they all dranke thereof As litle also can they deny that they themselues coÌ„mand contrary to the coÌ„mandement of God that all do not drinke thereof What shall we hereupon conclude That they be heretikes Albeit they deny it because they falsify and clip the most holy sacrament which Christ did institute If the lawes commaund that he which falsifieth or clippeth the coyne bearing the figure of the king or the Lord of the land shal die What punishment shal he deserue that falsifieth clippeth the sacrament which hath not only the figure of Christ but his proper body bloud As in bread wine Iesus Christ did celebrate his supper Euen so did his Apostles celebrate it afterwards Read the 11. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthes where S. Paule intreateth of the celebration of the holie supper But the space of one thousand yeares was the selfe same order touching the substaÌ„ce of the supper obserued in the Church vntil false prophets arose that brake this good order which Christ did institute and his Apostles the Church did long time after obserue These would shew theÌ„se lues to be more wise theÌ„ Christ so coÌ„maÌ„ded they that no Christian were he not a priest shuld receiue wheÌ„ they coÌ„municated the coÌ„secrated wine And their reasons they yeeld but very friuolous ridiculous why they so commaund The first is because there is no difference betwene the priest and the people Great pride arrogancy is this euer haue they pretended to keepe Christian people in subiection So are they called the Clergie for being as they say The Lot of the Lord. As though the people for whom Christ died were the lot of the diuell The second cause is the danger of shedding the bloud by the beardes if the people should drink it If this bee the cause why giue they it not to womeÌ„ seeing they haue no beards why giue they it not to many which either by nature or shauing or cutting haue no beards Why command they not that all Christians should be beard shauen Why permit they the Pope and many Cardinals Bishops in Italie to nourish their beards and so no danger should be The third say they that receiuing the forme of the bread they receiue the body of Christ and by consequence as they call it receaue they the bloud And thus say they that vnder one forme they receaue both thinges the bodie and bloud of Christ Oh learned men Oh great wits The Lord commandeth that all shuld drink They countermaÌ„d saying That all shal not drinke that to receaue one kind is sufficient And a faire thing is this that they coÌ„demne those for heretikes which receiue the supper in both kinds As Christ did celebrate as the Apostles all the Church for more then a thousand so many yeares celebrated the same They see not that in condemning vs they condemne Christ his Apostles all the Church for so many yeares Let theÌ„ shew me one Church that comunicated in one kind for the space of 1000. yeres after the death of Christ Tehâ—s reasons all whatsoeuer they can imagine and in their fantasie forge wil not suffice to diminish nor defeat the order which Christ ordayned in his Church In bread aud wine did Christ institute this sacrament so distributed it to his Apostles and commanded them so to doe the same S. Paul as a good disciple obedient to his maister did so celebrate the holy supper distributing the bread which is the sacrament of the body and the wine which is the sacrament of the bloud Ye saith he cannot drinke the cup of the Lord the cup of diuels c. And a little before by the cup he had made mention of the coÌ„munion of the bloud of the participation of his bodie by the bread Also as often as ye shal eate this bread drinke this cup c. So that whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drink this cup of the Lord vnworthyly c. Let euery one therefore proue himselfe so eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. Also for he that eateth and drinketh vnworthyly c. Of all those that did communicate spake S. Paul and not of the priests alone This selfe same order of communicating in both kindes was for many yeares obserued in the Church As in the ecclesiastical histories writings of the fathers some of whom I wil here alleage appeareth Our flesh saith Tertullian is fed with the flesh bloud of Iesus Christ that the soule may be nourished of God Oftentimes doth S. Cyprian make mention of this coÌ„munion in both kinds in bread wine Read his sermon intituled Delapsis In which not once but 5 or 6 times he maketh mention thereof Also he saith that those which did coÌ„municate receiued the sacrament with the hand giueth a reason why we ought to coÌ„municate in both kinds the which is of other touch then those which our aduersaries giue why we should not in both kindes coÌ„municate How shal we exhort saith S. Cyprian the people to shed their bloud for the confesion of Christ if when they enter the combate we deny them the bloud of Christ Or how shall we make theÌ„ capable to drink the cup of martirdome If we admit theÌ„ not first to drink the cup of the Lord Also that which we said of the same S. Cyprian coÌ„cerning the young Infant wheÌ„ we spake of the miracles that in both kinds receiued the sacrament Chrisostome saith We are not as in the olde lawe where the priest toke his portion and the people had the rest but one selfe same body is here giuen to all and one selfe same cup and all whatsoeuer is in the Eucharist is common both to priest and people Chrisostome in this sacrament putteth not the difference that our aduersaries doe betweene the priest the people That the priest in both kindes communicate and the people only in one But we will shew for greater confusion of our aduersaries all those foure Doctors As they call them of the Church to bee for vs. As great credit giue they to the Doctrine which these foure Doctours with one common consent doe teach As they giue to the Gospell it selfe Saint Ambrose As Theodoret lib. 5. cap. 17. reporteth speaking with the Emperour Theodosius 1. a naturall Spaniarde of Italica which we now call olde Siuill one
league distant from Siuill They said vnto him How darest thou I pray thee stretch out thy handes stayned with vniust slaughter and bloud to receaue with the same the holy bodie of the Lord Or thou that moued with the fury of wrath so much bloud so wickedly hast spilled how wilt thou apply to thy mouth his venerable bloud depart then c. Sozomenus lib. 7. cap. 24. maketh also mention of this Historie The same S. Ambrose in the funerall oration which he made at the death of Theodosius maketh mention of Theodosius his repentaunce Were there many Ambroses There would bee many Theodosies The cause will I here briefly tell why Saint Ambrose depriued him of the holy supper They of Thessalonica murdred a Tribune in a popular tumult the Emperour Theodosius hearing it was so highly offended that hee caused seuen thousand men to bee slayne Pero Mexia writing the life of this Theodosius applyeth this to his Masse which is so much against it Hee saith that Theodosius the day following would go to the Temple to pray and heare Masse as he was saith he accustomed c. And note the affected malice of Pero Mexia That he alleaged not the author of this his saying That Theodosius went to heare Masse which he would haue done had any said it Maliciously he concealeth the name of Theodoret because it made against his Masse which he so much adored Two things may we note in this saying of S. Ambrose First that he which did communicate toke the sacrament with his handes and not with his mouth a childe when they giue it pappe This sacrament is not for Infants which cannot eate strong meates but it is for people that haue discretion can eat a peece of bread and drinke a boule of wine And so saith Christ vnto them Take eate Take drinke He saith not Open thy mouth receaue therewith the bread The second thinge which we are to note in this saying of Saint Ambrose is that the sacrament to the faithful was giuen in both kinds in bread wine For to eate without drinking what doth it profit the body Both the one the other haue we noted in the place of S. Cyprian before aleaged Also lib. 4. De sacramentis cap. 5 these words saith the same S. Ambrose In the distribution of the bodie bloud of Christ the priest said Take the body of the Lord Take the bloud of Christ Whereunto the commucant answered Amen The second Doctour is Saint Ierome Where speaking vppon the second chapter of Malachy saith The priest which consecrateth the bread of the supper and distributeth the blood of the Lord to the people Saint Augustine is full of notable sayings confirming our Doctrine of the communion in both kindes Of which I will alleage one or two to auoyd tediousnesse How saith Saint Augustine lib. 5. Hypognost Tom. 7. dost thou promise the life of the kingdome of heauen to Babes not regenerate of water and the holie Ghost nor nourished with the flesh nor watered with the blood of Christ c. Also in the first Epistle to Ianuarius Some saith he doe euery day communicate the body and the bloud of Christ others c. This is most certaine that in the time of S. Cyprian and of S. Augustine and long time also after the Eucharist was giuen in both kindes and that to Infants As Erasmus noteth it The fourth Doctor which is S. Gregory now remayneth whom we may iustly intitle the last bishop of Rome and his successor Boniface 3. may we call the first Pope because he would be wholy Pope calling himselfe by the ayd of that murderer Phocas vniuersall Bishop Saint Gregorie then saith you haue learned what the bloud of the Lambe is and this not by hearing but by drinking his bloud to wit as often we haue said the sacramēt of his bloud is shed into the mouths of the faithful Here you see al the foure Doctors of the Church confirme our Doctrine Why then doe our aduersaries deny it And what say I of foure doctors reade they all the ancient Doctors as wel Greeks as Latins all are found to be for vs. And many years also after Saint Gregorie when all things as it were went to ruine this custom continued not as a custome but as a law inuiolable was it holdē for the reuerence of the diuine institution was yet on foot in it being to separate those things which God hath ioyned they doubted not to be sacrilege So said Gelasius Bish of Rome as de Consecratione dist 2. cap. Comperimus it is alleaged we haue vnderstood saith he that some hauing only taken the body of the Lord doe absent themselues from the cuppe who for as much as they sinne of superstition must bee compelled to receiue entirely the whole Sacrament or to abstaine from the whole For the diuision of this misterie cannot be without great sacrilege Our aduersaries then in diuiding this mysterie by the saying of Gelasius be superstitious Church-robbers In the 3. Councell of Toledo 2. Cannon And in the conclusion of the sayd Councell the symbol of our faith is commaunded to be said before the communion of the body and bloud of Christ according to the custome of the East the reason which the Councell giueth is that the people should confesse that which they beleeue and so hauing hearts purified by faith are said to receiue the body and bloud of Christ In this Councell was present the Catholike king Ricaredo as by the prayers which hee made in the Councell appeareth The 7. Domage that the Masse causeth is that suppose the Masse were good celebrated as it ought to be celebrated yet in a strange tongue is it sayd that the people vnderstand it not sometimes also be himself that faith it vnderstandeth not that which he saith which is against the commandement of S. Paul who commandeth that all be done with comelinesse order And what comelines or order is there where the people heare a language which they vnderstand not and so know not whether the Priest doth blesse or curse them The same Apostle saith that the vse of tongues not vnderstood albeit to the praise of God is vnprofitable in the Church And therefore without interpretation of that which is said ought not to be vsed Read 1. Cor. 14. 8. where he saith If the trumpet shall giue an vncertaine sound who shall prepare himselfe to the battell So likewise you by the tongue except ye vtter words that haue signification how shall it be vnder flood that which is spoken For ye shall speake in the aire c. And therefore in the 19. verse he sayth I would rather speake fine words in the Church with vnderstanding that is to say that may be vnderstood thereby also to instruct others then tenne thousand wordes in a tongue to wit that the people vnderstand not The same Apostle in the 27. verse commandeth that if
hanged in Siuill These men had secretly by night murdred their prouinciall and the day following to auoyd all note of suspition all foure of them said Masse But as they themselues afterwardes confessed they had no intention to consecrate and so did they not consecrate Yet in the rest they vsed all the Ceremonies and acts accustomably done by them that say the Masse For confirmation of that which I haue said that the popish priests haue oft times no intention to consecrate and that not hauing intention to consecrate they cause all those that heare their masse to commit idolatrie I will here rehearse one notable history which a graue author reporteth in our dayes happened There was in this land saith this author a certaine priest c. Whē this man for his filthy life incredible rudenes and ignorance of holy things was deposed and another more sufficient which could well and profitably feede the sheepe of the Lord put in his place He that was deposed about certaine busines which he had came to my house After some discourse I demanded of him that seeing he had bene aboue 30 yeares a leacher that he had by his concubine some sonnes now of big stature I demanded of him I say if purposely truly withall his hart had at any time repēted him of his whoredome He answered me that he had sometimes repented As at the time whē he celebrated the birth of our Lord at the feast of the resurrection at Easter At that time said he he alwaies separated his bed for some nights slept not with his concubine I cōmanded of him if finally at any time he had truly repēted him of this his abhominable life I demād of him if with praiers teares sighes and grones that with delebrat purpose to liue thence forth chastly to chaūge his life into a better he had craued pardon at Gods hand for his offence And if hauing reputed he put from him his concubine with intent neuer more to receiue her He neuer had sayd he any such purpose I sayd vnto him How then saydest thou euerie day Masse How maidest thou no scruple to eate the bread of the Lord and to drinke of his holie cuppe thy conscience accusing thee of so enormious a sinne Didest thou not feare that the earth would open and swallowe thee vp quick I still insisting and constrayning him at last he confessed that not pronouncing the sacramentall wordes wherewith is consecrated the sacrament that hee should not vnworthilie receiue the bodie and bloud of the Lord he had not consecrated What sayest thou Sayd I I tell you that which passed answered hee and the same is truth Alas Alas sayd I darest thou committe so horrible and neuer once heard of wickednesse Is it possible that thou gauest so great an occasion of so horrible Idolatry The people at your eleuation kneeled on their knees cast thēselues to the earth lifted vp the handes towards the altar stroke their breasts and worshipped the vnconsecrate bread and cuppe What thing is this I tremble to speake it But God sayd I if thou repent not will doubtlesse sometimes giue thee the punishment that for such abhomination and boldnesse thou deseruest But what neede many words When I with wordes had earnestly reprooued him my gallant who not with wordes but with prison and irons deserued to bee punished began to excuse his fault saying that it was not so great and that he was not alone but many more did the same which thought it not so abhominable an offence as I made it c. This far the said author All they that heard the masse of those men adored the sacrament which they lifted vp by their owne Cannons and decrees cōmitted idolatry For this is their Maxim that he consecrateth not which hath no intention to consecrate and as little doth he consecrate that pronounceth not the words of consecration miserable is the religion of those that depend vpon the intention of another And who knoweth the intent of man but God alone which searcheth the harts In the meane time shall man doubt whether that be God which he worshippeth or no. Therefore a certaine Inquisitor most great enemy to the cōuerts fearing when he heard masse whither the priest had intētion to consecrate or no said O Lord if thou be there I adore thee By this subteltie thought this Inquisitor to escape committing of Idolatrie In the time of the Councel of Constance there were 3 Popes all three did the Councel for their wickednes abhominations depose and elected Martin 5. These 3 Popes not being true Popes could not ordaine priests nor giue them authority to consecrate So that after their owne cannons All they that heard their Masses committed Idolatry As little did all they that were ordayned in the time of Constantine 1. and of Pope Ione consecrate For Constantine being a laye man and without receiuing any orders was by force which Desiderius his brother king of Lombardie vsed to the Romaines made Pope who not being a priest could not ordaine nor giue authoritie to ordaine priests which not being priests consecrated not Concerning Pope Ione there is none doubted but that neither shee nor they by her ordayned nor they which by her authoritie were ordayned did consecrate And so as many as in the time of this man Pope and in the time of this woman Pope adored the sacrament by their owne Cannons committed Idolatrie For although they had intention to consecrate yet had they not the Caracter which they call Indelibele Of the priestly order and he which is not ordained priest doth not consecrate and not consecrating all that heare his Masses commit Idolatry And to make their sacrament the more to be loathed I will recite here an historie which in the 1526. yeare in a Monastery of Dominican Fryars of the towne of Auserra in Fraunce and vppon the solemne feast day of Corpus Christi happened There was a Friar in the sayd couēt who by reason of his age and chiefly for being eaten with the Bubos had not sayd Masse now of many dayes before This increasing in him deuotion he tooke courage to say Masse vppon so solemne a day So that hee sayd Masse and finished it His Masse ended and hee going through the cloister of the Monasterie his stomack turned and beeing not able to digest retaine God which hee had in bodie and bloud receiued did vomit him vp before the chapter gate Which thing once knowne a great rumour was presently raysed througout all the Couent Some sayd this thing others that thing should bee done But in fine hauing some time disputed vppon this matter they concluded that the Tabernacle or tombe which they vse to put on the graues when they celebrate the Office of the dead should be placed ouer that holy vomit And so was it done And this that none should tread vppon nor any dogges should eate that holie
negligence forgetfulnes of the things which concern our saluation that we shuld not forget the benefit of his death passion did institute the most holy sacrament of his precious body which he gaue vpon the crosse of his precious bloud which he shed in his passion which sacramēt he wold shuld be vnto vs a memoriall of al that which he suffred for vs of the benefit we receiue by his death passion As often as ye shal do this to wit as ye shall celebrate the holy Supper ye shal do it saith Christ in remembrance of me One only time was Christ offered and by this only offering he obtained for vs a generall pardon of all our sinnes But hee would we should alwayes remember this benefit And to help our memorie did he institute this sacrament and willeth wee not once but many times in our life receiue it The institution of this Sacrament the Euangelists Matthew Marke and Luke do declare but most largely Saint Paul in 1. Cor. chap. 11. and in the tenth chap. he beginneth also to intreate thereof He are wee then Saint Peul declare how Christ celebrated his holy supper wherein hee instituted the Sacrament of his body and of his bloud I receiued of the Lord saith Saint Paul that which I also deliuered vnto you to wit that the Lord Iesus the same night that he was betrayed tooke bread and when he had giuen thanks he brake it and said Take eate This is my body which is broken for you Do this in remembrance of mee Likewise also after supper he tooke the cup saying This is the new testament in my bloud Do this as often as you shall drinke it in remembrance of me For as often as you shall eate this bread and drinke of this cup ye shall shew forth the Lords death vntill his comming Whosoeuer therefore shall eate this bread and drinke of this cup vnworthily shall be guiltie of the body and bloud of the Lord. Let then a man proue himselfe and so eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. For who so eateth and drinketh the same vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation not considering the Lords body We haue heard how the Lord did celebrate his holy supper and instituted therein the most holy sacrament of his body and bloud The same order that Iesus Christ vsed in celebrating of it held his Apostles as often as they celebrated the same This selfe same order as we haue before shewed was for a thousand yeares space obserued in the Church Albeit true it is that before the thousand yeares were accomplished Sathan enuying the great benefite and comfort which we receiue with this sacrament began to alter it adding thereto many thinges touching rites and ceremonies But the thousand yeares passed the whole sacrament with furie hee cast to the earth and in place thereof aduaunced an idoll made of dough made betweene two irons which they adore and sacrifice vnto neither more nor lesse then if it were God himselfe that created heauen and earth But in all this time of so great ignoraunce and Idolatrie The Lord as we haue said did neuer vtterly forsake his Church For euer he raised vp some true prophet some holy man or men that with zeale of the Lordes house and nor accompting of the daunger whereunto they thrust their liues reproued the world Because through the Church of God was sold this so horrible idolatry But particularly in these our times hath the Lord shewed mercy raysing vp very many learned godly men Which being simple poore men haue with great zeale opposed them selues to the tyranny of Antichrist and to all the power of the world which was inchanted bewitched with the false Doctrine of Antichrist And so hath God blessed the labour of these men As he blessed in times past the labour of the Apostles meane simple people that they haue cast to the earth the Missa or Masse the breaden God which our aduersaries haue raysed vp and haue eftsoones restored the holy supper which the Lord Iesus the night before he should suffer celebrated with his disciples They that haue eyes to see Let them see and they that haue eares to heare Let them heare That seeing and hearing All the world may iudge if that be true which we say I will here set downe the order holden in our Churches which God by the meanes of these holy men hath in our time reformed when the holy supper is celebrated Hearken then O Spaine what in thine owne Language I speake that small and great learned and vnlearned may vnderstand me The forme which is holden in the reformed Churches of celebration of the holie supper of the Lord. It is to be noted That the Lords day before the supper is celebratae The minister doth warne the people that each one dispose and prepare himselfe to receiue it worthily and with such reuerence as is meete The second thing which is done is that youthes which haue now attayned to yeares of discretion doe not present themselues to receiue it before they he well instructed and taught in the Christian Doctrine and have made profession of their faith in the Church Thirdly if therebe any straungers or newe commers which be as yet rude and ignorant in religion that they come present themselues to be taught particularly in that which is meete for them to know the day on which they celebrate the same the minister at the end of the sermon toucheth somewhat concerning the misteries Or if neede require his whole sermon treateth of the Doctrine of the supper to declare to the people what the Lord by this mistery will say giue to vnderstand And how we ought to receiue it After that the minister hath publiquely prayed he saith the generall confession after the confession of faith made to witnes in the name of the people that they all wil liue die in the doctrin Christian religion The table being prepared the bread wine vpō it he thus aloud speaketh The institution of the holy supper of the Lord Let vs heare how Iesus Christ did institute vnto vs his holy supper according to that which S. Paule in the 11. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians declareth I receiued of the Lord c. As we haue before recited The forme of excomunication and excluding from the holy supper of the Lord these which be not worthy to receiue it We haue heard brethren how the Lord celebrated the supper with his disciples and in that which he did he sheweth vnto vs that straungers to wit those which be not of the fellowship of his faithfull ought not to be admitted vnto it Following therefore this rule in the name by the authoritie of our Lord Iesus Christ I excommunicate all Idolaters blasphemers contempners of God heretiques all Schismatiques which make sects a part to break the vnity of the Church all periured persons all that be
carnall body nor carnally taken They should fall into such an absurditie Also least wee should fall into this absurditie and others which wee will afterwards set downe in his supper may we not beleeue Iesus Christ to be in the first manner carnally but in the second spiritually This second manner of eating can no way be done without faith Because as wee haue said it is not carnall but spirituall And it is to be noted that this spirituall eating is done in two manners The first by the preaching of the Gospell As Saint Paule saith Faithfull saith hee is God By whom yee are called to the Communion of his sonne Iesus Christ By the preaching of the Gospell are wee made flesh of the fleshly of Christ and bones of bones By the preaching of the Gospell hee is to vs the bread of life which came downe from heauen to feede our soules By the preaching of the Gospell are we made one thing with him Euen as he is one with the father The second manner of spirituall eating is done by the sacraments and in the holy supper chiefly These two kindes of spirituall eating the body of Christ and of drinkeing his blood by the preaching of the Gospell and by the sacraments doe the ancient Doctours confesse Origen Hom. 16. vppon Nombers saith wee are said to drinke the blood of Christ not with the rite of the sacraments onely but also when wee receaue his wordes The same vppon Ecclesiastes chap 3. saith Saint Ierome The faithfull in the holy supper receauing with the mouth of the outwarde bodie and carnally the bread and wine which be the most holy sacramentes of the body and blood of Christ receaueth with the mouth of the soule which is faith inwarde and spiritually the true body and blood of Christ without that carnall body of Christ discendeth here belowe or ceasseth to sit at the right hand of his father As wee will afterwardes more largely declare So that wee confesse the faithfull truly and really to receiue in the holie supper the bodie and blood of Christ As Christ himselfe witnesseth This is my bodie this is my blood yet not carnally but spiritually doe wee vnderstand these wordes as Christ himselfe doth declare them For hee as before we haue said speaking of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood which is done in the supper saith that this ought to be spiritually vnderstood and not carnally As did the Capernaits and some of the disciples also vnderstand it My wordes saith hee are Spirit and Life And therefore that which hee saith of the eating of the bodie and drinkeing of the blood ought spiritually to bee vnderstood For the Spirit it is that quickeneth and the flesh profitteth nothing Vnderstanding then As wee haue sayd Christ to bee thus present in the Sacrament it shall not bee needefull to adnihilate the substaunce of the bread nor of the wine nor to transubstantiate it into the substaunce of the bodie and blood of Christ Wee confesse then that in this most holie sacrament besides the hauing of the true bodie and blood of Christ in sort as before wee haue sayd and the Lord himselfe declareth Wee confesse I say there is also true bread and wine in their proper substaunce as beeing the bread and wine say I haue lost nothing as touching their substaunce but as touching their qualities they haue much gayned For by the vertues and efficacie of Christes institution and of his wordes they ceasse to bee common bread and wine and bee dedicated to signifie figure represent and giue the true body and blood of Christ and doe so signifie figure represent seale and giue the same that whosoeuer taketh this bread and eateth it taketh this wine and drinketh it worthily according to the institution of Christ who saith Take and eate Take and drinke yee all of this taketh and receaueth truely and really the bodie and blood of Christ According to that which the Lord there saith This is my bodie This is my blood Yet not carnally but spiritually by faith And if the bread and wine should not abide in their substaunce and being this sacrament should not bee a sacrament for euery sacrament As our aduersaries themselues cannot deny in two thinges consisteth In a visible and earthly thing which they call Materia and an inuisible and celestiall thing which they call Forma That the inuisible and celestiall is the bodie and blood of Christ doe wee all agree As touching the visible and earthly betweene them and vs is there very great difference For wee say That the substaunce of the bread and wine togither with their accidents remayneth They say that of the bread and wine no substaunce remaineth But onely the accidents of the bread and of the wine the whitenesse the roundnesse the smell the sauour and the coullor As though the accidents of the bread doe nourish As though the accidents of the wine doe make cherefull and comforte They bee not accidents of bread that doe nourish but the substaunce of the bread They bee not the accidents of the wine which glad the hart but the substaunce of the wine The bread and wine conuerting themselues into the substaunce of man which eateth and drinketh the same To receaue spiritually in the supper the true body and blood of Christ needful it is to receiue carnally materially true bread true wine For otherwise should therbe no Analogie or agreement betweene the figure which is bread the wine the thing figured which is the body and blood of Christ This that we say teach the ancient Doctours that in two thinges consisteth this sacrament in earthly and heauenly So saith Ireneus speaking against the Valentinians Also Gelasius a Bishoppe of Rome who disputed of the coniunction of the bread with the body of Christ both natures of the bread of Christ remayning in their being And by this communication he proueth in Christ the vnion of the humane nature diuine both the one and the other remayning in their whole being and substaunce Were there not in the sacrament true bread and true wine the argument of Gelasius should bee nothing worth But his argument is good and proueth that which he pretendeth Therfore is there true bread true wine in the sacrament of the supper As there is also true water in the sacrament of baptisme This selfesame argumēt vseth Theodorit As a little after we will declare Origin saith these words So that that which is materiall in the bread of the Lord goeth into the belly is cast out into the draught But which that is by praier the word of the Lord according to the proportion of faith profitteth the soule They will not say vnto me that Origin had some errors that one of thē is this for had this bin an error the ancient Doctors As S. Ierom Epiphanius which collected his errors would haue noted this for an error had
the death of Christ A new inuention it is humane diuelish founded vpon the wicked foundation of transubstatiation Some things there be in the Masse which manifestly declare that there is no transubstantiation as when they say in the Cannon Offerimus praeclarae maiestati tuae de tuis donis ac datis c. that is to say We offer to thy excellent Maiestie of thy gifts and of that which thou hast giuen c. a pure Ho ✚ st an holy Ho ✚ st an Ho ✚ st without spot holy ✚ bread of life eternall and a cup ✚ of euerlasting saluation One of the two either by these gifts which they offer to God doe they vnderstand the bread and the wine without any transubstantiation or els so transubstantiated into the body and bloud of Christ that now there remaynneth neither bread nor wine It apeareth by the prayer that there which there they make that by the gifts they ought to vnderstand the bread and wine without any transubstantiation which gifts the Priest prayeth God to accept as he accepted the gifts which Abel Abraham and Melchisedech offered so say they super quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris c. that is to say Vpon which gifts vouchsafe to behold with thy merciful bright countenance and to accept theÌ„ as thou pleasedst to accept the gifts of thy iust seruant Abel the sacrifice of our Patriarch Abraham that holy sacrifice spotlesse â—ost which that thy high Priest Melchisedech offered to thee Beseeching humbly we pray thee to command these gifts to be caried by the hands of thine holy Angel to the high Alter before the presence of thy diuine Maiesty c. And if by gifts the bread wine vntransubstatiated be vnderstood what necessitie haue we of such a sacrifice to obtaine pardon of our sins holding that most perfect sufficieÌ„t sacrifice which one only time ought not to bee reiterated our redeemer Christ Iesus offered vpon the crosse wherewith he sanctifieth vs for euer But they will say vnto me that they vnderstand by giftes not the bread and wine vntransubstantiated but transubstantiated into the body and bloud of Christ If so they vnderstand it worse is it then it was for then the prayer which the Priest maketh is a most blasphemous blasphemie against Iesus Christ the only begotten sonne of God true God and man What pride what haughtinesse and presumption is it that a miserable sinner conceiued and borue in sinne and corruption and that doth nothing in all his life time but adde sinnes vnto sinnes dare to present himself before the maiestie of God the Father and pray him to receiue and accept his Sonne Iesus Christ And how saith he that he should accept him Euen as he accepted the giftes of Abel Abraham and Melchisedech Is Christ no other thing then Abel Abraham and Melchisedech Is the sacrifice of Christ his precious bodie and bloud which he offered no other thing then the sacrifice of Abel Abraham and Melcbisedech and then the sacrifice of all how many soeuer iust persons that haue bene and shall be Let them then be ashamed so to speake of Iesus Christ and of his sacrifice On the one side they confesse Iesus Christ to be equall with the Father as he is in essence and power and on the other side and stinking Priest put they for intercessor and mediator that the Father should accept and receiue him with a mercifull and chearefull countenance O miserable sinner pray thou vnto God that he pardon thy sinnes thy superstitions and idolatries and pray not nor intreat thou for Christ who is the Lambe without spot which taketh away the sinnes of the world he is he that committed no sinne neither was anie guile found in his mouth He needeth not thee that thou shouldest pray to the Father for him but thou hast need that he pray for thee The father himselfe speaking of his sonne faith This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him Ye see here a terrible blasphemy vttred by the priest in saying of the Masse Of that which is sayd doe wee conclude that all those which heare Masse seeing they beleeue this transubstantiation bee Idolaters and that the priest which faith it hold he intention of consecration or not is a double Idolater For he not only committeth idolatrie but causeth also all that heare his Masse to commit Idolatry Infinite thankes I giue to my God that although he permitted that I with the rest committed Idolatrie for a time in hearing the Masse yet hee neuer suffered me to commit idolatrie by saying it to others The third reason wherewith they confirme their new article of Transubstantiation is the authoritie of Doctors which they alleage and determinations of Councels They cite Ireneus who in his fifth booke saith When the cup mingled and the bread broken receiue the word of God the Eucharist of the body and bloud of Christ is made Tertullian lib. 4. faith Christ made the bread which he tooke his bodie and distributo his disciples Origen vpon Matth. chap. 25. saith This bread which God the Word doth witnesse to be his bodie c. Saint Cyprian Sermone de coena Domini saith This common bread changed into flesh and bloud procureth life Also in the same sermon he saith This bread which the Lord gaue to his disciples not in forme or appearance but chaunged in nature is made flesh of the omnipotent Word Saint Ambrose lib. 4. de Sacramentis saith Before the words of the sacrament it is bread when consecration is applied to it of bread it is made the flesh of Christ Saint Chrysostome hom de Eucharistia tom 6. sayth This Sacrament is like waxe applyed to the fire in which no substance remayneth but becommeth like to the fire So saith Chrysostome the bread and wine is consumed of the substance of the bodie of Christ Also in the 61. Homily hee saith That Christ not onely gaue himselfe that we should see him but that wee should also touch and handle him and in whose flesh also we should fasten our teeth Also Hom. 38. vppon Matthew he saith Manie say that they will and desire to see the forme and figure of Christ and also his rayment and shooes but he giueth himselfe to thee that thou maist not only see him but also touch him Saint Augustine Prolog in Psal 23. saith Christ did beare himselfe with his handes when in the Supper hee instituted the Sacrament And vpon the 98. Psalme declaring those words Fall downe before his footestoole he affirmeth that the flesh of Christ ought to be in the Sacrament adored which should not fitly be if the bread remayned Hillarie in his eight booke of the Trinitie saith Christ is in vs by the truth of nature and not by conformity of will onely and saith that in the meat of the Lord we truly receiue
which likenes it appeareth that he wold say that as in Christ remain two natures diuine and humane So in the same maner are the two natures preserued in the Sacrament That of the bread which is seene and that of the body of Christ which is not seene In the second booke and third epistle he also sayeth So that the body of Christ cannot be floure onely Nor water only But both doe meete and couple together and with the meeting togither and vnion of one bread become firme with which and the same sacrament our People is shewed to be coupled Athanasius expounding these words If any man shall speake a word against the Sonne of man it shall be forgiuen him but he which speaketh against the holy spirit c. saith And how great is the body that all the world is to eate of And concludeth that this is spiritually to be vnderstood and hereby that in this place the Lord speaketh of his ascention against the Capernaits Basil in his Liturgie calleth the bread of the sacrament Antitypon of the body of Christ to wit an example or patterne of the like forme And after the consecration he calleth it so also Dionysius de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia cap. 3. saith The Bishop vncouereth the couered and vndiuided bread and parting it in peeces c. Saint Ambrose vpon the first epistle to the Corinthians saith When it is said that this is done in memorie of Christ and of his death we by eating and drinking do signifie the flesh and bloud of Christ which haue bene offered In the same place also he saith We receiue the mysticall cup in type or figure of the bloud of Christ Also in the fourth booke De Sacramentis and fourth chap. where he setteth downe the change of the symbols he handleth also our change into Christ but for all this those that receiue the Sacrament are not transubstantiated into Christ Also in the same chapter he saith So that we affirme How can that which is bread be the body of Christ by consecration And then If the word of the Lord haue so much power that the things which were not begin to be how much more powerfull shall it be to cause that these things remaine which haue their being and be changed into another thing Saint Ierome vpon Saint Matthew saith clearely that in the bread and the wine is represented the body and bloud of Christ Chrysostome vppon the second to the Corinthians sayth Not onely that which is set before vs vppon the table but the poore also is the body of Christ to whom wee are bound to doe good for he that sayd this is my body with his mouth sayd also that he it was which receiued the benefite and that hee in the poore was in necessitie Also in the eleuenth Homily vppon Matth. In opere imperfecto he saith In the holy vessels is neither the bodie of Christ nor his bloud but the mystery of the bodie and bloud of Christ Also vpon the twelfth chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians Hom. 27. he saih So that Christ in the bread and wine sayd Doe this in remembrance of me In declaring also these wordes vppon the twentie third Psalme Thou hast prepared a table before me saith So that the bread and the wine in the Sacrament is shewed vnto vs in the similitude of the bodie and bloud of Christ c. Also writing to Cesarius against Apollinarius and others which confounded the diuinitie and humanitie of Christ this Epistle is found in the Librarie of Florence he saith For euen so the bread before it bee sanctified wee call bread but the diuine grace signifying this the bread by meanes of the Priest is freed from the name of bread and is found worthy to be called the bodie of the Lord albeit the nature of bread remaine stil in it In verie manie places is Saint Augustine wholly for vs and roundly confirmeth our doctrine Vppon the fourescore and second Psalme hee saith Thou art not to eate that which thou seest nor art thou to drinke this bloud which they haue to poure out That which I say is a mysterie which will quicken being spiritually vnderstood Also in the Treatise De Fide ad Petrum chap. 19. hee calleth it the Sacrament of bread and wine Also against Faustus the twentith booke and twentie first chapter he sayth In the old Testament vnder the similitude of the sacrifices to wit of the beastes sacrificed the flesh and bloud of Christ was promised vnto vs vpon the crosse was it really giuen but in the Sacrament for a memoriall it is celebrated Let vs well consider these three times noted by Saint Augustine and the great difference there is After one sort gaue Christ himselfe in the olde Testament after another vpon the crosse and after another in the Sacrament of the Supper Also De Ciuitate Dei the 21. booke and the twentie fift chapter he clearelie affirmeth that the wicked eate not the matter of the Sacrament to wit the bodie of Christ And so saith he It is not to be thought that hee which is not in the bodie of Christ and in whom Christ is not nor he in Christ eateth the body of Christ Also in the twentith Treatise vppon Saint Iohn hee saith the same Against Adimantus also a Manachie chap. 12. he saith The Lord doubted not to say This is my body when he gaue notwithstanding the signe of his body In this sheweth Saint Augustine the words of Christ This is my body ought not to bee fully vnderstood according as they sound but by trope or figure and so saith hee that this manner of speech is like to that alleaged out of the twelfth chapter of Deuteronomie verse 23. The bloud is the life Also De doctrina Christiana lib. 3. cap. 16. Hee sheweth that which Christ in the sixt chapter of Iohn vseth Except ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man c. to bee a figuratiue maner of speech the reason which hee giueth is because it seemeth to commaund a great wickednesse For to eate the flesh of a man is a greater crueltie then to kill him and to drinke his bloud then to shed it And therefore saith Saint Augustine that it is a figure which commaundeth vs sweetely and profitably to remember that the flesh of Christ was crucified and wounded for vs. Also in the Epistle to Boniface sayth The Sacramentes take their names of those thinges whereof they are Sacraments These wordes as wee haue noted tooke Saint Augustine from Saint Cyprian and excellently nameth the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ in a certaine manner to bee the bodie of Christ and then sayth The Sacrament of the bloud of Christ is the bloud of Christ Vpon the eight Psalme he also saith Christ receiued Iudas vnto his banquet when hee commended the figure of his bodie Let that which wee haue already sayd of this glorious Doctor suffice Leo
the first in an Epistle to the Clergy and people of Constantinople affirmeth this distribution to be mysticall to be spirituall meate and that therein wee receiue a celestiall power to passe or bee conuerted into the flesh of Christ who for vs tooke vpon him our flesh Ciril lib. 4. cap. 14. vpon Saint Iohn saith So to the faithfull disciples gaue he peeces of bread saying Take c. Also in an Epistle to Calosyrius he sayth It was meete that by meanes of his holy flesh and precious bloud he shoud in a certaine maner vnite or couple himselfe with our bodies which by the liuely blessing in the bread and wine we receiue Hesychius lib. 20. vpon Leuit cap. 8. saith By this he commandeth to eat the flesh with the bread that we might vnderstand hee called it a mysterie which is bread and flesh ioyntly togither Gelasius doth witnesse against Eutiches that in the Eucharist the substance and nature of the bread and wine in no wise ceaseth to hold their being And that moreouer which before we haue said Gregorie the first in his Register saith When we receiue as wel the bread without leauen as the leauened wee are made the body of the Lord our Sauiour Bertram in the booke which hee made of the bodie and bloud of the Lord speaking of the nature of the Symbols sayth that according to the substance of creatures the symbols which be the bread and wine bee the same after consecration that before they were But why alleage I one place of Bertrams booke sith the whole booke doth purposely handle this argument and concludeth the same that we now affirme with the holy Scripture and many sayings of the Fathers Ambrose Ierome Augustine Fulgentius c. confirmeth Bertram his doctrine and confirming his doctrine which is the same with ours it weakeneth and ouerthroweth that of our aduersaries which sayth the bread and wine in the sacrament to bee the very same body and bloud of Christ in flesh bones and sinewes which was borne dyed and rose againe c. But the bodie of Christ saith Bertram is in two maners one in flesh and in bones c. which was borne and dyed c. and the other spirituall which is that which is giuen in the sacrament and also he saith that the spirituall body of Christ and his spirituall bloud vnder the couerture of the corporall bread and of the corporal wine remaine At the request of Charles the Great wrote Bertram this booke as he himself in the end of his book speaking of Charles the great to whom he dedicated the same saith The occasion he had so to didicate it was for that As Bertram saith in the beginning of the booke Charles the Great had demanded of him whether the body and blood of Christ which in the Church is receiued with the mouth of the faithful be in mistery or really in truth receiued So that it is now aboue 760. yeeres past sithens this booke was written Iohannes Trithemius giueth this Testimony of Bertram Bertram was saith Trithemius much conuersant in the holy scripture very learned in humane science eloquent he was and no lesse excellent in life then in Doctrine S. Bernard is the sermon of the supper of the Lord by the similitude which he putteth of a ring sheweth that he is wholy for vs. Now to close vp this band of the fathers which against transubstantiation of diuerse times diuerse regions we haue alleaged we will set downe one most learned godly This is Theodoret bishop of Cyr that wrote the ecclesiastical historie He flourished about the yeare of our Lord 451. For he was present in that famous Councell of Chalecdon in the company of 630. bishops which condemned Diâ—scorus These bishops with great curtesie honorable titles did honor Theodoret being present in the Councel calling him catholique true pastor Doctor of the Church The same witnesseth Leo 1. Bishop of Rome in an epistle which he wrote to the foresaid Theodoret. And it is to be beleeued that had not Theodoret rightly thought of so high a mystery As is the sacrament of the body bloud of Christ that a Councel and one of the most famous that hath bin wherin were 630. bishops wold not haue called Theodoret catholike true pastor of the church c. In the 2. Councel of Ephesus was this Theodoret vniustly depriued from his bishopirck because he would not take parte with the heretike Eutiches But in the Councell of Chalcedon with great honor praise was his bishopricke restored If that which Theodoret then thought taught touching the Doctrine of the sacrament were catholike the same also shall it now be for the same which then was truth is now truth Very truely spake this Theodoret against transubstantiation in a booke God would should be printed in Rome for the greater confusion of the Romists which cannot deny that Theodoret is wholly for vs. But they excuse him with saying that this question of transubstantiation the Church had not yet determined Thus may the Pope for he is all in all cause that the Doctrine which in old time was catholike true be now hereticall wicked and that which then was hereticall and wicked be now catholike and good But if an Angel from heauen saith S. Paul shall preach another Gospel other Doctrine then that which he had taught such a one should be cursed Theodoret in his Dialogues bringeth in 2 persons which dispute of good things of thinges touching Christian religion The one called Orthodoxo and the other Eranistes Then saith Orthodoxo dost thou know that God hath called the bread his proper bodie Eran. I knowe it Ortho. knowest thou also that in an other place his flesh he calleth wheate Eran. This doe I also knowe c. And a little lower Ortho. In the same distribution of the misteries The bread he calleth bodie the cuppe mingled blood Erannist So doth he suerly call them Ortho. But also hath power to be called a bodie according to it nature his bodie surely and his blood Erannist It is clere Ortho. But the same our sauiour chaungeth the names and giueth vnto his bodie the name of symboll and contrariwise to the Simboll giueth hee the name of bodie After the same manner also when he had said of himselfe that he was a vine the same blood called he a Symboll Eranist This hast thou well spoken But I would learne also the cause why the names are chaunged Ortho. This is the marke whereat those ayme which professe religion For I would not that they which be partakers of the diuine misteries should settle their minds vpon the nature of those things which are seene but that by the change of the names they may beleeue that transmutation which is wrought by grace For hee which called his natureall body wheate and bread and called also himselfe a vine he himself honoreth the
visible signes with the name of his bodie of his blood Not changing verely the same nature but adding grace to the nature Eranist Surely the mysticall thinges are mystically spoken and the thinges not Notorious to all are clearely manifest Ortho. Seeing he saith that the robe and the vesture are called of the patriarke the bodie of the Lord and that wee are entred into discourse of diuine misteries Tell mee truely whose signes and whose figure supposest thou that most holy meate to be Of the diuininitie it selfe of the Lord Christ or of his body and blood Eran. Of those things doubtlesse whose names they haue receaued Ortho. Of the body saie thou and of the bloud Eran. So I say Ortho. Verie well hast thou spoken For the Lord hauing taken the signe said not this is my diuinitie but this is my bodie Also this is my bloud and in another place The bread which I will giue for the life of the world Eran. All this is most true for they be the wordes of God c. And in the 2. Dialogue Ortho. Tell me then whose Symbols be these mysticall symbols which be offered to God of the ministers of holy thinges Eran. Of the bodie and of the blood of the Lord. Ortho. Of the true or not the true bodie Eran. Of the true c. Ortho. For those mystical symbols no not after sanctificatiō leaue not their proper being nature For they remaine in their former substaunce figure forme are seen handled neither more nor lesse thē before But the things which are made are vnderstood belieued adored as thiugs being which are beleeued Cōpare thē the Image with the Archtipe to wit the thing whose Image it is thou shalt see the likenes For the figure of necessity must agree with the truth For that same body holdeth no doubt his first figure forme circumscriptiō to speake simply the same substaūce also of the body c. That which Theodoret cheifly pretendeth to proue in these dialogues is that as there be a things really in the sacramēt the figure the thing figured bread The bodie of Christ these 2 things be not confused but each one holdeth his proper being So neither more nor lesse are there 2 natures really in Christ diuine humane not confounded nor the one conuerted into the other Were there not 2 things really in the sacrament The argumēt of Theodoret should not proue his intent but shold be rather for the heretikes against whom he disputed which said that the body of Christ ascending into the heauens is wholly conuerted into the diuine nature As now say our aduersaries that the bread and wine are conuerted into the bodie and blood of Christ So that there remaineth no more bread nor no more wine The selfe same argument of Theodoret vseth Gelasius bishop of Rome against Eutiche◠as before we haue alleaged Here sest thou the victorie which our aduersaries haue gotten by aleaging the fathers to cōfirme their transubstantiation If many they haue alleaged for their transubstantiation many more haue we alleaged against transubstantiation as ancient as learned as godly as those whom they haue cited and the selfe same also haue we alleaged oftentimes that they haue alleaged Our aduersaries with ful mouth still crie out saying Fathers fathers as though the fathers were for them not for vs But by this disputation which we haue in hand shal be seene whether the fathers be before vs whether they approue and confirme our Doctrine and condemne that of our aduersaries or no. But for as much as say the Logitians to giue an instance is not to assoyle the argumēt It shal be good to answere that which our aduersaries haue alleaged against our Doctrine This will we doe with all possible breuitie because we purpose not here to make long discourse of this mater To shew then that that of the fathers which they haue alleaged maketh nothing against vs. Needful shall it be to consider that the holy Scripture it selfe doth wontedly giue the names of Symbols signes or figures to the thinges which they betoken figure and represent and contrarywise the names of the things signified and figured they giue to the signes and figures as the fathers doe obserue it Thus is Christ the pascall lambe the pascal lambe is Christ Christ is bread the bread is Christ c. For this cause the fathers imitating the phrase of the scripture speaking of the things signified they call them by the names of those things which they signifie contrariwise speaking of the figures they giue vnto them the names of the things which they figure Which thing S. Ciprian by vs before alleaged S. Augustine in an epistle which he wrote to Boniface before by vs also alleaged Therdoret in the Dialog a little be fore cited do witnesse Moreouer if we diligently consider that which a litle before or a litle after in other places they haue said we shall see that they haue vnderstood witnessed this meat to be spirituall not carnall for the mouth teeth nor the belly Wherefore saith S. Augustine as before of him we haue sayd preparest thou the tooth and the belly Beleeue and thou hast eaten In which manner of speaking S. Augustine doth imitate S. Cyprian As before we haue said It is also to be noted that the fathers speake one way of the bread of the wine before consecration and after consecration otherwise Before consecratiō say they that the bread and wine are common and vulgar as the rest But of consecration they deny it to be common bread they deny it to be common wine there is a chaunging say they in them which thing is most true For the bread wine by consecration cease to be common bread and wine and be dedicated to a sacred vse and so the bread and the wine are made holie or sanctified ceasing to bee common and prophane Such a chaunge as this vnderstood the fathers to be made in the bread and wine but not as touching the substaunce and being But as touching the qualities The which chaunge wee doe willingly allow By such a chaunge we confesse that the bread and wine are made Sacraments which effectually by the vertue of the holie spirit doe signifie present seale and giue vnto vs as touching the soule by the meane of faith The body blood of the Lord. Who so will marke this shal vnderstand that when the fathers say there is now no more bread nor wine in the Sacrament this ought not to bee simply vnderstood As touching the substaunce but in a certaine manner in respect of him which receaueth the sacrament who ought not to settle his eyes vppon the bread nor vppon the wine which bee visible earthly and corruptible things but ought to lift vp his hart soule and spirit to receiue that which by the bread the wine is signified vnto vs To wit Iesus Christ set
anie shall speake in a straunge tongue there be also an Interpreter And if there shall be no Interpreter hee commandeth that hee speake not in the Church And that if he speake hee speake to himselfe and to God and not to the people for the people receiue no edification by a tongue that is not vnderstood And therefore in the 26. verse he commandeth that all be done to edification For this cause when God spake with the Patriarks with the Prophets and with his people of Israel or they with him they speake vnto him in their mother tongue that all did vnderstād The same did Iesus Christ speaking with the Scribes and Pharisies he spake vnto them in the vulgar tongue the same that was then vsed in Iudea The Apostles when the Lord sent them through the world to preach had first receiued the gifts of tongues to preach the Gospell and celebrate the sacraments to euerie nation in their proper language Why then do not our aduersaries in this imitate the Apostles they taught and celebrated their Sacraments in the vulgar tongue that al might vnderstand that the people might be edified God might be glorified The mysteries of Christian religion be not as the misteries of the Gentiles which were those that they called Mysterios Eleusimos those of the good goddesse wo vnto him that reuealed the same Herehence it commeth that the Priest pronounceth the words of consecration not onely in a strange tongue but also in a verie low voice that none can heare thē so say they Pope Vigilius cōmanded as reporteth D. Illescas vpon the life of Vigilius The Lord wil that his Christian people vnderstād the mysteries vnderstood do meditate vpon them as God in old time loued not the beast that chewed not the cud suffred not his people to eate thereof so now loueth he not that christiā that chaweth not the cud meditates on the saw of the Lord his misteries and his sacraments Dauid speaking of the exercise of a godly man saieth That he meditateth night and daye vpon the lawe of the Lord. The Lord speaking with Iosua who was no Priest but a moste warlike Captaine that wan so many battailes saith these wordes vnto him The booke of this law shall neuer depart from thy mouth but day and night shalt thou meditate therein that thou maiest keepe and doe c. To each nation in their vulgar tongue let them then say their Masse that they may vnderstand and knowe whether that which is therein saied be good or euill and not saie it to all nations in Latine whereof the people receiueth no edificacion but destruction nought learning but superstition and Idolatry As before we haue proued Some notable domages which the Masse causeth haue we shewed Now will we show some absurdities great inconueniences which thereof followe Against the worde of God are some of them against the doctrine of the fathers others be against experience it selfe against naturall reason and common sence And but three or foure will I set downe to auoyd tediousnesse We sayd being so taught by the word of God that in the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ the faithfull onely receiue spiritually and by faith the true body bloud of Christ Our aduersaries not herewith contented say that not only the good godly and faithfull but also the euill wicked and vnfaithfull the Turkes Iewes and Pagans do receiue the true bodie and bloud of Christ yet passe they further they say that beasts mice and other vermine do eat it that the moisture doth moisten it the mouldinesse doth make it mouldy c. Their blacke Transubstantiation hath made them fall into so great an absurditie strange wonder they beleeue that there is no bread nor wine but the body bloud of Christ it the Sacrament They vnderstād that not the faithful only but also the infidel Turke Pagan and Iew the Mouse c. eateth that which was in the Sacrament Hereupon conclude they that they eate and drinke the body bloud of Christ He that will deny them Transubstantiation will also deny this their conclusion to be good But this set apart the wicked c. will we shew by the month of Christ himselfe not to eat nor drinke the body and bloud of Christ S. Iohn sheweth that the Lord saith Except ye eate the flesh of the son of man and drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you Hereupon is concluded that except wee eate his flesh and drinke his bloud we shall not be saued We eat and drinke his flesh his bloud when we not only reciue this Sacrament but also at all times and as often as we beleeue in him Beleeue saith S. Augustine and thou hast eaten And therefore the same Lord recounteth the fruites which this eating of his body and drinking of his bloud do necessarily bring forth He that eateth saith he my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I wil raise him vp c. Also He that eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him And he that eateth me shall liue also by me Presuppose this as most true and apparant it is that wicked men Iewes mice c. haue not eternall life nor shall bee raised vp in the companie of the faithfull It is seene they that dwel not in Christ nor Christ in them it is also apparant that they shall not liue by Christ Hereupon we conclude that they eat not the flesh of Christ nor drinke his bloud For had they eaten it and had they drunke it heauen and earth should rather faile then the word of Christ should faile the wicked Iewes Turks mice c. should haue life eternall and should dwell in Christ and Christ in them c. and to say this is a most great absurdity Therefore it followeth that such eate not the flesh nor drink his bloud Saint Augustine considering this he sayd The other Disciples did eat Panem Dominum the Lord which was bread but Iudas did eat Panem Domini the bread of the Lord as if he had sayd Iudas wanting faith and receiuing the Sacrament vnworthily did not eat the body nor drinke the bloud of Christ which the other Apostles did because they had faith and did eate it worthily but Iudas did only eat drinke the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ Also in the 21. booke de Cinitate Dei cap. 25. he sayth It is not to bee thought that he eateth the body of Christ which is not in the body of Christ nor in whom Christ is not nor hee in Christ Origen vppon those wordes That which entreth in at the mouth defileth not the man c. manifestly sayth that the wicked doe not eate the body of Christ and giueth the reason because the bodie of Christ sayth he is quickening and he which eateth it dwelleth in
to his Apostles The Supper of the reformed Churches In celebrating of the Supper the Minister first breaketh the bread then giueth it to the communicants therefore is our supper the supper of the Lord. The prophane Masse of the Pope The Popish Priest in his Masse obserueth not this order for he first speaketh certaine words ouer the bread and then at his pleasure breaketh it or as they say the accidents of bread by they is transubstātiated into the body of Christ But Iesus Christ first brake the bread and then spake the words therefore the Masse is not the Supper of the Lord. The holy Supper of the Lord. Christ after he had broken the bread said Hoc est corpus meum This is my body The Supper of the reformed Churches The same saith and doth the Minister without ought adding or diminishing therfore is our Supper the Supper of the Lord. The Prophane Masse of the Pope The Popish Priest speaketh the words without breaking of the bread and not content with Christs wordes addeth thereto this word enim saying Hoc est enim corpus meum therefore the Masse is not the Supper of the Lord. The holy Supper of the Lord. Christ sitting at the Table with his Apostles sayd Take and eate The Supper of the reformed Churches The same saith the minister and neuer celebrateth the Supper but the Church doth the like and all ioyntly with him doe communicate and not one swallow vp all therefore is our Supper the Supper of the Lord. The prophane Masse of the Pope The Popish Priest all being on their knees onely sheweth them the bread and wine to be worshipped and giueth nought to the people but like a glutton keepeth all for himselfe and eateth it alone which is not onely contrary to Christes institution but the custome also of ancient Fathers as by the Cannons of Anacletus and Calixtus plainely appeareth Where vnder the paine of excommunication it is ordayned that after the consecration all should communicate The same is ordayned in the Cannons sayd to be the Apostles And in the Councell of Tholouse Whereuppon it plainely followeth that the Masse as now it is said was neuer by Iesus Christ instituted nor by his holy Apostles celebrated which being so all those that now heare it all those I say are by the same Cannons excommunicate Seeing that hearing the Masse they communicate not but the Priest onely taketh it for himselfe and eateth it alone contrarie to rhat which Christ and the ancient Fathers ordayned Therefore the Masse is not the Supper of the Lord. The holy Supper of the Lord. Christ gaue not the bread onely but also the wine saying Drinke ye all of this Matth. chap. 26. 27. And as saith Saint Marke chap. 14. verse 23. And they dranke all thereof The Supper of the reformed Churches The Minister giueth not the bread only but also the wine saying Drinke yee all of this And all drinke thereof as Christ hath commaunded therefore is our supper the supper of the Lord. The prophane Masse of the Pope The Popish Priest onely giueth the consecrated bread and not the wine to the people which is wholly contrarie not to the institution of Christ onely but the custome also of the the ancient Doctors since the Apostles who communicated in both kinds of bread and wine and condemned all such as communicated in one kind only as in the Consecra Dist 2. Cap. Comperimus appeareth where it is sayd that such as receiue not the sacrament in both kinds refuse the one part or the other be sacrilegious infidels Therefore the Masse is not the Supper of the Lord. The holy Supper of the Lord. Christ gaue the bread by it selfe and the wine by it selfe The Supper of the reformed Church The Minister giueth the bread by it selfe and the wine by it selfe beleeuing the bread to be the Sacrament of the body of Christ and the wine to be the sacramēt of his bloud therefore is our Supper the Supper of the Lord. The prophane Masse of the Pope The Popish Priest doth first consecrate as he thinketh the bread and wine and then a good while after breaking it in 3 parts one part whereof he letteth fall into the wine and so mingleth thē together all which he himselfe deuoureth Sauing that once a yeare whē the people communicate then he giueth them the consecrate bread but of the consecrate wine he neuer giueth to the communicants Who thinketh this to agree with the Lords supper Therefore the Masse is not the supper of the Lord. The hoy Supper of the Lord. Christ ordained his holy supper in memoriall of his death passion and that he had once offered vp his body and bloud vpon the crosse for vs. The Supper of the reformed Churches The Supper which we celebrate is in memorial of the death and passion of Christ and that he hath once offered his bodie and bloud for vs vpon the crosse therefore is our supper the supper of the Lord. The prophane Masse of the Pope The popish Priest saith his Masse in memoriall of the Saints both he and she And those oftentimes do they hold for Saints whose soules are burning in heil Hee sayth his Masse also to find things which be lost and that for money The Priest vseth the Masse for a plaister or drugge against all infirmities And which is more hee sacrificeth saith he Iesus Christ in his Masse and presenteth him to God his father for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead Which Christ did once vpon the crosse and none but he onely could euer doe the same Because as Saith the Apostle Heb. 7. chap. vers 26. it behoued that the Priest which purged sinnes should be holy innocent pure separate from sinners and made higher then the heauens which needed not euery day to offer sacrifice first for his owne sinnes and then for the sinnes of the people This Christ once perfourmed offering vp himselfe for the sinnes of all men Examine the liues of the popish priests and how farre off they are from that puritie which it behoueth the Priest to haue that offered the expiatorie sacrifice will appeare Therefore the Masse is not the Supper of the Lord. Many other things there be wherein the holy Supper the Masse do differ are contrary as in so many mouings iestures childish fopperies maskings apish toyes done in the Masse which Chhrist neuer did nor once thought of The Lord in celebrating his supper neuer commanded men to make Saints their intercessors nor to call vpon them nor to kisse nor worship images nor to pray for the soules of the dead in purgatory nor not taking nor eating the sacrament beleeuing it to bee God to worship it nor to keepe it in the boxe nor carry it in procession to walke in the streets couered with boughes the walles hanged with fine Tapisterie of silke gold and cloth of gold with castles and much iollitie c. Who commanded thē to do these things Not Christ
addeth So famous and so admirable was this miracle that the fame thereof hath stretched throughout all the kingdome c. Then was it a true miracle But of those which Sathan worketh to deceiue men and not a fiction of the Prioresse Why make their Lordships no mention in their sentence how the Prioresse had made Sathan to appeare in the figure of Christ crucified And how that litle so deuout a crosse was made and how the sicke persons were healed The principall passed they ouer least they should 〈…〉 superstitions and Idolatries That which they demanded of her is How sayd she that she had oftentimes seene the mother of God wherof in the Letters were made little mention O great subtiltie herewith they haue stopped the mouth of the people All these things was the iust iudgment and punishment of God wherewith he punisheth those that beeleue not the word of God reuealed in the holy Scripture but beleeue lies confirmed with false miracles illusions of the diuel The principall resteth for me yet to demaund What was I demaund of them that consecrate forme as saith the Prouinciall or hoste consecrated as saith Friar Lewes de Granada which the wednesday in the holy weeke issued out of the little casket wherein the most holy sacrament lay which casket of it selfe opened and out of it issued the said host without any visible ministery was presented to the mouth of the Religious and she receiued it with most great deuotion c. The Prouinciall addeth that another time vpon Innocents day another such like miracle happened Friar Lewes de Granada saith That the Masse being ended which Saint Iohn Euangelist did celebrate a consecrated host came from the Altar and was put into the mouth of this most holy Nunne Of Magâ—alen de la Cruz was it said that when shee communicated she lifted vp a rod to measure the hight of the ground as in the Treatise of the Masse we haue noted The host which Magâ—alen the Franciscan hipocrite and that which Mary the Dominican hypocrite receiued albeit the ordained Masse-Friars and with intention to consecrate did consecrate them murmuring ouer them their words of consecration Hoc est enim Corpus meum were not the body of Iesus Christ whose glorious body sits at the right hand of the Father and is not to descend thence vntill hee come to iudge the quicke and the dead As witnesseth S. Peter Act. 3. 21. Whom meaning Christ the heauens must containe vntill the day of restauration of all things And so doe we holde it for an article of faith and confesse the same in the Creed Were there no other proofe to proue their consecrated hostes their sacrament of the aultar not to be the body of Christ this in good reason should suffice that the diuell vseth his consecrated hostes he carrieth them into the aire and putteth them into the mouth of his he and she deuoted that men may holde them for holy As these two domestical exaÌ„ples of the Franciscan Magdalen de la Cruz and of the Dominican Mary de la visitation doe confirme the same But for as much as many other proofes they are taken out of the holy scripture out of the ancieÌ„t doctors which we haue noted in the Treatise of the Masse there maist thou read the same This opening of the casket this issuing out of the consecrated host and visible comming through the aire without any visible mystery and putting it in to the mouth of Magdalen of Mary and other such like was by the arte of the deuill he came betweene and was inuocated Open then thy eies O Spaine and vnderstand Suffer not thy selfe to be deceiued in the first article of christian religion Remember it is the first coÌ„mandement which our great God whose name is Iehona coÌ„maÌ„deth vs to keep Thou shalt haue no other Gods before me How can that be God how can that be a creator which the diuell vseth to cause the people to commit idolatry to entertaine the fained holinesse hypocrisy of Magdalen Mary and of other such both hee and shee Holy and blessed is our God he abhorreth wickednes hipocrisy superstition idolatry Therfore conclude that he which entertaineth these abhominations is not the true but a false God made by the inuention of men and Sathan their father which gouerneth them And this is the iust iudgment and punishment of God that they which neither read nor heare nor yet giue credit to the word of God registred by the holy prophets and Apostles without which there is no saluation may beleeue lies wherwith Antichrist and his father the diuil deceiued them to carry them with him into hell These things which we haue spoken of done by these Ladies I confesse are miracles and they caused that which our aduersaries hold for the sacrament and for the body of Christ truely to come But of these they are which the false prophets Antichrist and their father the diuell doe as our redeemer forewarneth vs Math. 2â— 24. and his Apostle 2. Thess 2. 9. wherewith they that are founded vpon the firme rocke which is Christ they that be taught by the word of God shal not be deceiued But they that be founded vpon the sand they that confirme their opinion with dreames imaginations and humane tradititions these shall beleeue them and hold them for true miracles which God hath wrought so beleeuing them shall perish except God hauing mercie vpon them doe before they depart this world conuert them With their Lordships fauour conclude we theÌ„ saying that Mary de la visitation did her miracles by the help and inuoâ—ation of the diuel for otherwise could she not doe them I vehemently suspect the cause of their so saying they feare to giue occasion lest some begin to think that their Sacrament which they sell for the body of Christ is not the body of Christ nor his Sacrament which in his holy Suppeâ— he instituted but their prophanation thereof This if our Spaniardes begin once to vnderstand the pontificall kingdom will wholly fall the kitchin of the Preists and Friars which is the Masse and Purgatory will bee cold and so superstition ignonorance heresy and Idolatry as a new thing which hath no foundation in the word of God but in dreames with false miracles and illusions of the diuell shall likewise fall and the ancient doctrine of the Gospell of Christ crucified written in the holy scripture maugre Antichrist shall flourish through the worlde Blessed and euer glorified be the holy name of the Lord who by his great mercie freed vs from such ignorance errors and superstitions heresies Idolatries where we were nourished who deliuered vs I say from the power of darknes and translated vs into the true kingdome of his beloued sonne in whom we haue redemption by his bloud and forgiuenes of sinnes What shall we render speaking as doth the Prophet vnto the Lord for all his benefites bestowed vppon vs we will take the cuppe
Antichrist so proued by his abominable life and doctrine by the testimonie of Gods sacred word and vnrefutable arguments drawne from the same If thou wouldest know and be assured likewise that the Masse is a diuelish prophanation of the holy Supper of the Lord a most blasphemous idolatrous and false sacrifice derogating from the most precious bloud death passion of Iesus Christ If thou wouldest know by the same Spirit be assured that the same Iesus Christ true God true man is the only Lord Sauiour and redeemer of the world the onlie aduocate Intercessor Mediator betweene God and man the only alone king Prophet and true high Priest which entred into the holy place once for all and found eternall redemption If thou wouldest know that his body and bloud once offred vpō the altar of the crosse is the only alone true sacrifice of a sweet smelling sauor in the nosethrils of God his Father for the remission of sins whereby onlie Gods wrath is appeased we obtaine pardon peace reconciliation with God grace fauor and euerlasting life If thou wouldest know and be likewise assured that this most holy sacrifice of Christ one only time offered is all sufficient for the sins of all men that no place remaineth for any other reiteration of the same sacrifice If thou wouldest know the true meaning vse practise of the holy Supper of the Lord Iesus the benfit thereof to the Faithfull If thou wouldest certainlie know and be fully assured by the same Spirit of Grace which is the ancient doctrin of God leading to all blisse and true blessednesse confirmed with his sacred word contained in the bookes of the old new Testament and penned by the finger of the holy Ghost and which is the new doctrine of men pointing the pathway to hell death destruction confirmed with vaine apparitions dreames false miracles and illusions of the diuell Come and see except the god of this world hath blinded thy mind that the light of Christes glorious Gospell should not shine vnto thee except thou list to grope at noone day and wilfully say I will not see except thou hast shaken hands with death and made a couenant with hell except God for thy wilfull obstinacie hath giuen thee ouer vnto a reprobate sence to oppose thy selfe against him his knowne truth In reading this booke without partiall preiudication thou canst not but see exactly perceiue and tast to thine vnspeakeable comfort how sweet are the mercies of the Lord in reuealing to thee dust and ashes the mysterie both of the one and the other which the wise of this world neither haue vnderstood nor can comprehend but is reuealed vnto babes his Saints to whom he would make knowne the riches of his glorie to confound and make foolishnes the vvisdom of the wise Which if thou shalt find as if in singlenesse of heart thou seeke thou canst not but find Then praise Iehouah the author of all goodnesse be thankefull to this Author the meanes of thy good and take in worth my simple trauell an inferiour furtherance thereunto who hartily wish thee no lesse comfort and ioy in reading then my miserable selfe receiued in translating of this booke And because it seemeth a thing difficult to translate the Prouerbs wherein not the letter but the sence is to be followed that course haue I obserued set downe withall the proper phrase of the Spanish and Portugal tongues both in them and some other hard doubtfull words that thou gentle Reader indued with better gifts maist iudge and curteously amend by thy knowledge what my vnskilfulnesse hath missed hoping that my desire herein to do well may excuse in thy Chistian conceit whatsoeuer is if any thing misdone And so I leaue thee to him that is able to keepe thee Thine in the Lord I. G. THE EPISTLE TO THE CHRIstian Reader HAd it not bene for the great necessity which our country of Spaine hath to know the liues of the Popes that knowing them it may beware them and nought esteeme their authority which against all right diuine and humane they haue vsurped ouer the consciences which Iesus Christ our redeemer with his death passion hath freed I should neuer Christian Reader haue entred a labyrinth so confused and rugged as is to write the liues of Popes For thou must know that the Romists themselues concord not nor agree in the number of the Popes Some set downe more and others lesse And hence it commeth that so little they agree touching the time that they poped Let it be lawfull for me as of a king he is sayd to raigne to say of a Pope to Pope Some of these selfe same also that all confesse to haue bene Popes of some of them say great Laudes and praises extolling them to the heauens Of these selfe same say others filthie things casting them downe to hell An example of the first S. Gregory As saith Friar Iohn de Pineda 3. part cap. 8. ¶ 1. of his Ecclesiasticall Monarchie was the 66. Pope c. And not the 63. As saith Mathew Palmer Nor the 64. As saith Panuinus Nor the 65. As saith Marianus nor lesse 62. As saith S. Antoninus This farre Pineda Gelasius 1. after Platina is the 51. Pope After Panuinus the 50. And after George Cassander and Carança the 49. Also Paule the second after Platina is the 220. Carança counteth him for the 219. Pero Mexia for 218. and Panuinus For 215. fiue lesse then Platina According to this account Sistus 5. which in the yeare 1588. tyrannizeth in the Church should be after Platina the 236. Pope after Carança 235. After Per◠Mexia 234. and after Panuinus 231. Most Popish authors be all these Some Spaniards and others Italians And had we alleaged more authors more disagreement and contrariety should we haue found Of this diuersitie springeth the disorder which is in the time that some Popes Poped For they which reckon least Popes put the yeares which they take from 4 or 5 Popes whom they reckon not to other Popes Carança in his Summa conciliorum speaking of Boniface 3. this was the first Pope as in his life shal be shewed saith these words There is diuersitie among writers how long time Boniface 3. was Pope For of Platina is it gathered that he was nine monthes Others say 8 monethes and a halfe others a yeare and 25 dayes Others a yeare 5 monthes 28 daies Others say that he died hauing bene Pope 8 moneths and 22 dayes This farre Carança The same might we say of many other Popes For example of the second will we put Liberius and Formosus besides many others that we might set downe Liberius and Formosus some of the papists themselues do cannonize and others doe curse them Platina saith that Liberius was an Arian Panuinus saith that he was holy Read his life which of diuerse authors we haue gathered As touching Formosus Stephen 6 or 7. condemned him So
wit If the head of an horse be put to a humane body A distinction truly very rediculous Conclude we this matter with that which was ordeyned in the Councell of Eliberis in Spaine holden about the yeare of the Lord. 335. whose 36. Cannō was as Carranza noteth in his Summa Conciliariorum Placuit picturas in Ecclesia esse non debere ne quod colitur aut odoratur in parietibus depingatur It pleaseth vs that pictures ought not to be in the Church lest that be worshipped or adored which is painted on the walles Eliberis where was celebrated this ancient Councell was a Cittie neare vnto that place where is now Granada Eliberis was destroyed and of the ruines thereof was Granada builded or augmented And there is one gate in Granada euen to this day called the gate Deluira corrupting the worde in steed of Elibera The gate is so called because men goe that way to Elibera Had this Cannon made in our countrie of Spaine 1263. yeares past bene obserued in Spaine there had not bene such Idolatrie in Spaine as now there is Vp Lord regard thine owne honour Conuert or confound not being of thine elect all such as worship Pesel grauen or carued Images or Temuna picttures or patternes All that whatsoeuer we haue sayd against Images is meant of those that are made for religion seruice worship and to honour serue and adore them Such Images are forbidden by the law of God And so the Arte of caruing grauing painting and patterne making not done to this end is not forbidden but lawfull The superstition and Idolatrie taken away the Arte is good If there be any people or nation that haue and doe commit inward and outwarde Idolatrie it is the Popish Church For what else see we in their Temples houses streetes and crosse-streetes but Idolles and Images made and worshipped against the expresse commaundement of God Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image No nation hath bene so barbarous to thinke that which they outwardly beheld with their eyes to be God They supposed as before we haue said their Iupiter Iuno Mars Venus to be in Heauen whom they worshipped in the Images that did represent them Many of the Moores Turkes and Iewes would conuert vnto Christ were it not for the offence and scandall of Images in the Churches Therefore said Paulus Pricius a most learned Hebrew which became in a Christian Paue that it was very meet Images should be taken out of the Temple for they were the cause that many Iewes became not Christians The Popish Church doth not onely commit the Idolatrie of the Gentiles but farre exceed them also One Idolatrie it committeth which neuer Pagan nor Gentile euer committed It beleeueth the bread and wine in the Masse called a sacrifice celebrated by her Pope or a Priest made by the authoritie of the Pope to be no representation nor commemoration of the Lordes death but his very body and bloud the same Iesus Christ as bigge and great as he was vpon the crosse And so as very God doth worship it We will then in this first Treatise proue by the Lords assistance whose cause we now maintaine the Pope to be a false Priest and very Antichrist that such Idolatrie and other much more he hath inuented in the Church In the second Treatise we will also proue by the same assistance the Masse to be a false Sacrifice and great Idolatrie And because our chiefe purpose is not so much to beat downe falshood as to aduance the truth after we haue shewed the Pope to be a false Priest And the Masse a false Sacrifice we will shew also which is the argument of the Apostle in the Epistle written to the Hebrewes Iesus Christ to be the true and onely Priest and his most holy body and bloud which he offered vnto his father vpon the Crosse to be the true and only sacrifice where with the eternall father is well pleased and receiueth vs into his fauour and friendship iustifying vs by faith and giuing vs his holy spirit of Adoption whereby we crie Abba father and liue in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life And so be glorified of him to reigne ' with him for euer Many will wonder that we with so great constancie or as they call it sawsinesse reiect condemne and abhore the Pope and his Masse And therefore doe slaunder and defame vs not among the common people onely but amongest the Nobles also and great Lordes Kinges and Monarches that we are fantasticke heady arrogant sedicious rebellious partiall and many other false reportes they raise against vs wherewith they fill and breake the eares of the ignorant and of all those that take pleasure to heare them To shew them then that it is no foolish opinion nor fantasie which doth lead vs neither any ambition vaine glory nor other passion that doth alter moue or transport our minds but a good zeale rather of the glory of God and feruent desire of the health of our owne soules A reason will we giue in this first Treatise vnto all that desire to heare vnderstand it of that which we beleeue hold concerning the Pope and his authoritie And chiefely if we be asked because as saith Saint Peter we ought to be ready with meekenesse and reuerence to make answere to euery one that demaundeth a reason of the hope which we hold The reason then which we giue for reiecting condemning and abhorring the Pope and flying from him as from the pestilence is his euill life and wicked doctrine Note also what the Doctors and ancient Councels the holy Scriptures in three wonderfull places chiefly for that purpose say concerning him In the second Treatise we will declare what wee thinke of the Masse and the holinesse thereof The Pope and Masse two pillers of the Popish church be very ancient For it is now a thousād yeares past since they first began to be buylded Their beginnings were very small but they dayly increased adorning and decking themselues vntill they attayned to the estate wherein we now see them For aswell the Pope as the Masse is holden and called God Without are they made very beautifull couered ouer with silke gold siluer cloth of gold rich stones but within is superstition hypocrisie and Idolatrie I haue often pondred with my selfe whether of these two pillers the Pope or the Masse were strongest and more esteemed The vertues excellencie holinesse and diuinitie which they say is in the Masse who can declare How profitable it is for al things liuing and not liuing quick dead By cōsideratiō hereof the Masse I supposed was chiefest and therefore ought to begin with it But the Pope vpon better aduisement mee seemed notwithstanding to be the chiefest piller The reasons mouing me so to beleeue are these that the cause in dignitie is before the effect the creator before the creature the maister before the seruant the Priest before the
the 2. to Timoth. cap. 4. 1. 2 which some what before his martyrdome he wrote the second time being prisoner in Rome and in the Epistle to Philemon verse 23. and 24. Also in the Epistle which he wrote to the Romanes he not once maketh mention of Saint Peter to whom no doubt he would haue sent salutations had hee bene in Rome and which is more Saint Peter being Bishop at Rome as they say 25. yeares Read the last chap. of this epistle and thou shalt see the catalogue which S. Paule maketh from the fift verse to the fifteenth he saith onely Salute such a one salute such a one c. without naming of Saint Peter Because he neither was Bishop of Rome nor yet was in Rome Also the Iewes which dwelled in Rome as reciteth S. Luke Act. 28. 21. 22. said to S. Paule when he came prisoner to Rome that they had not heard nor vnderstood any thing concerning him and prayed him to declare his opinion touching that sect which was gainsayd and euill spoken of in all places vnderstanding by this sect the Gospel which Saint Paule preached Who will beleeue that S. Peter which as they say was before come to Rome and a Minister of the Circumcision had not taught nor spoken ought vnto them of the Gospell These reasons taken out of holy Scripture are me seemeth as they be very sufficient to proue the common opinion holden of S. Peters being Bishop of Rome and that 25. yeares to be false Whereupon that of the Papists appeares plainely to be meere ignorance or which is worse extreame malice when they call the Pope Saint Peters successor Vicar of Iesus Christ as though hee were Saint Peter and therefore vniuersall Bishop Against the Primacie of the Pope we will speake in the end of this Treatise Seeing then Saint Peter was not Bishop of Rome we place Linus for the first All the Bishops of Rome that were from Linus to Syluester who was in the time of the Emperour Constantine the great whom we will put in the first order were in generall trulie Bishops and holy men who with their good doctrine and holy life and conuersation wrought great fruit in the Church of God They were the salt of the earth the light of the world a Citie built vpon a mountaine a candle light and set vpon a candlesticke These be the titles wherewith Christ adorneth his apostles and ministers Math. 5. These were the Angelles of God according to the saying of Malachie speaking of Leuie and consequently of the good Ministers The lawe of trueth saith he was in his mouth and no iniquitie was found in his lippes In peace and equitie he walked with me and turned away from iniquitie For the priestes lippes should preserue knowledge and they should seeke the lawe at his mouth for he is the Angell of the Lord of hosts Many more titles are comprised in the holy scriptures wherewith the true ministers are adorned which I will passe ouer to auoide tediousnes In the ende these good bishops of Rome sealed the Gospell which they had preached with their bloud and so were Martyrs of Iesus Christ Men they were poore in spirit and simple of heart strangers to couetosnes and ambition they were true bishops for the space of almost three hundred yeares And so the Church of the Lord hauing such ministers was then happie and rich in the sight of God albeit in the eies of men contemptible miserable such as the Apostle in the eleuenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes from the 36. to the 38. verse describeth Others saith he haue benetryed by mocking and scourgings yea moreouer by bonds and imprisonment 37. Others were stoned others were hewen asunder Others were tempted others slayne with the sworde Others wandered vp and downe in sheepes skinnes and in goats skinnes being destitute afflicted and tormented 38. whome the worlde was vnworthie of they wandred in wildernesses and mountaynes and dens and caues of the earth c. These Bishops caried on their heads not Miters but coifes not honor but dishonor not riches but pouerty following herein their Maister as Esaias the Prophet in his chapter 53. 3. doth liuelie describe him Despised and forsaken of men a man full of sorrowes hauing experience of infirmities and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not This was the outward apparance of the Primitiue Church and so hath it bene in our time sithens the reformation of the Church began these 70. or 80. yeers vnto this time how many haue bin burned drowned beheaded hāged banished shamefully disgraced and died of hunger Truly innumerable and that which is more admirable the more they burned and killed the more they increased and multiplied For the bloud of the Martyrs as saith Tertullian is the seed of the Gospell From the passion of the Lord vnto Saint Siluester which is the time of the first order were almost three hundred yeares wherein the Emperours of Rome became Lords of Spaine The Romanes in two hundred and so manie yeares that they conquered Spaine vntill the time of Augustus Caesar were neuer absolute Lords thereof Augustus was the first that vanquished the Montanists and Biscayes and made himselfe absolute Lord of all Spaine The Romists as those say they that haue held the command and staffe for many yeares to giue antiquitie and authoritie to their ceremonies and humane traditions haue falsly reported that manie of these good Bishops of Rome whom we place in the first order ordained them Clement the fourth Bishop of Rome say they ordained the confirmation of young children the Masse and holy garments wherewith the Priests are clothed They do not consider that he was a a man poore and for preaching of the Gospell banished into mines where he hewed Marble stones and tyed in the end to an anchor they cast him into the sea D. Illescas speaking of Pope Caius in his Pontificall historie saith He ordained that no laye man might bring a Clearke to iudgement That no pagan nor heretike might make accusation against a Christian c. How can this be true sith Caius liued and died in the time of the tenth persecution which as Illescas himselfe saith was of all the most cruell and lasted many yeares Let the Romists be ashamed and cease with lies to confirme their religion Now is it not the time that was wont to be when the blind led the blind c. So say they also that Euaristus Alexander and Sistus fifth sixth and seuenth Bishops of Rome made the popish decrees namely the ordering of the Clergie holy water and holy garmentes Telesphorus say they that was the eighth Bishop of Rome ordained three Masses to be sayd on the day of the Natituitie These good Bishops had other cares and embraced not such childish and superstitious toyes Saciety and idlenesse brought them forth O what euils haue riches wrought to the Church of God Wisely therfore said
rents and not giuing to the Pope but only fiue shillings a day Thus did Hildebrand enrich himselfe greatly Alexander by Hildebrand so tyranically handled in the 1074. yeare dyed and of poyson as it is presumed which Hildebrande gaue him Don Sancho 2. reigned in Castile Alexander being dead Hildebrand fearing that if he foreslowed it another would be chosen ayded by his souldiers without consent either of the Clergie or people enthronized himselfe To his election none of the Cardinals subscribed And as the Abbot of Cassina was comming to this election already made Hildebrand said vnto him Thou hast much slacked brother To whom the Abbot answered and thou Hildebrand hast too much hastened which before the Pope thy Lord was buried hast cōtrary to the commons vsurped the seat Apostolicke Hildebrand thus enthronized how he liued how he cast from him the Cardinals which ought to haue bene witnesses of his life and doctrine how miserably he tormented the world with how many heresies he corrupted it how many were his periuries what great treasons he practised hardly could many describe The blood of Christians which hath miserably beneshed whereof he was the author and procurer cryeth vnto the Lord. This tyrannicall history reciteth Cardinall Bennon Hildebrand being Pope called himselfe Gregory 7. In briefe he was a notable villaine and terrible inchanter which art he learned of Lawrence who was disciple of Siluester 2. Betweene the Cardinals Lawrence Theophilact Iohn Gracian Hildebrand was a most staight league of familiaritie Of this Pope Cardinall Bennon reciteth a notable historie The Emperour saith Bennon did vsually repayre to S. Maries church which is in mount Auentino to pray and as Hildebrand by his espials diligently enquired of all that Henry the Emperour did he caused the place where the Emperour prayed to be marked and perswaded a certaine man with great promise of reward to place secretly certaine great stones ouer the beames of the Temple so that they might fall from an high vpon the head of the Emperour praying and bruse him to peeces which thing as this minister of so notable a villanie hastened to effect would haue placed ouer the beames a stone of great poise the stone with it waight fel backward vpon him and breaking a table that was amongst the beames the stone and the miserable man by Gods iust iudgement fell from an high to the floore of the Church so was he crushed in peeces Thus farre Cardinall Bennon This Hildebrand demanding answere of the Sacrament against the Emperor and it not answering he cast the sacrament into the fire albeit the Cardinals present did gainesay him He left not for all this to persecute the Emperour he excommunicated him depriued him and named another Emperour to whom he wrote this verse Petra dedit Petro Petrus diadema Rodulpho The Rocke gaue to Peter Peter giueth the crowne to Rodulph This Rodulph was Duke of Sueuia Henrie here with disquieted left his Imperiall ornaments and with his wife and little sonne in the middle of winter came to Canusium where the pope remained The Emperour clothed in linnen and bare-footed made a spectacle as saieth Cardinall Bennon to Angels and men came to the gates of Canusium There continued he fasting from morning to night humbly crauing mercie The beast must be cut off his horne hath very much increased Somewhat long is the historie but we will make it short Thus abode there the Emperour for three dayes space and when he instantly craued license to enter The Bishop he was answered as yet was busied and could not speake with him In the ende the fourth day at request of the Countesse Mathilda who sayth the historie much loued the Pope and others the Pope commanded he should enter Forasmuch as this Maud is one of the chiefe benefactors of the Popes I will heere declare that which saieth Pineda lib. 16. cap. 26. ¶ 4. There was sayth he in Italie one Beatriee sister of the Emperour Henry the second and wife of Boniface Lord of Luna of whom was borne the famous Maude wife of the Counte Gofredo which inherited her fathers possessions and Gofredo gouerned the landes of Luca Parma Regio Mantua and others of Italy which came by the Testament of Maud to the power of the Popes and called them S. Peters patrimonie When the Emperour was entered he demaunded pardon and gaue him his crowne but the Pope would not pardon nor absolue him of the excommunication vntill he promised to purge himselfe in the Councell with other vnlawful cōditions as the Pope should command All which the Emperor promised yet for al this was he not restored to his Empire After saith the history that Henry vanquished Rodulph and that Rodulph was dead the Pope made Emperor Herman County of Lucēburg whō a womā slew with a stone And yet for all this this cruell Pope did not cease but a third Emperour named against this good Henry who being newly named by the hand also of the Emperials as miserably ended By how much the more adulterous and filthy was this pope by so much the more pure mariage hee forbade to his Clergie Fryar Iohn de Pineda part 3. lib. 16. cap. 29. ¶ 5. of him saith He depriued married Priestes from the diuine office and forbade lay men to heare Masses of such and publique wenchers and they mortally sinne that of such heare Masses although they remaine without Masse hearing vppon Easter day except the Councell of Constance doe free them c. And a little lower This euill happened that lay men contemned the most holy Sacrament of the bodie of our Redeemer consecrated by Priests openly married or concubine keepers and turned the blood of Christ as if it were no Sacrament but let this be holden for an vndoubted trueth that the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Eucharist loose nothing of their vertues by the wickednesse of the Ministers which that crue beleeued they did Thus farre Pineda All Germanie as saieth Carion lib. 5. withstoode this wicked forbidding of matrimonie the which when Maguntino propounded it those that were present were so greatly prouoked that they almost killed Maguntino To this purpose reade aboue the liues of Siricius and Gregorie 1. Pope Liberius an Arrian he canonized and commanded as sayth Cardinall Bennon that his feast should be celebrated Behold if the Pope erred one heretique did canonize another Pope Damasus which liued in the 366. yere for an Arrian condemned this Liberius And S. Ierome who at the same time liued held him for an Arian but Gregorie 7. did sanctifie and canonize him Pope Vrban 2. who in the 1088. yere liued confirmed all that which Gregorie the seuenth had done this Gregory condemned the doctrine of Beringarius touching the Sacrament This Pope was the first as is said that put in practise Transubstantiation Gregorie in the end wickedly ended for the Emperour celebrated the Councell of Brixa wherein Pope
French English and Flemish In this booke it is liuely depainted and with many notable exampeles confirmed This is to be noted that how many soeuer entred into the Inquisition for what cause soeuer all came out with confusion and losse of goods and many of their liues and none at all instructed Such is the intreatie wherewith the Fathers of the faith doth intreat them They haue not leysure to teach them but to robbe and kill them Would God that according to the lawdable custome of Spaine in other Audienecs Iudges of residence should be sent men learned and voyd of passion which might examine the Inquisitors and those that be and haue bene prisoners in the Inquisition O what would then bee discouered Aragon as it were by force receiued afterwardes the Inquisition and so they killed the first Inquisitors In the 1546. yeare Don Pedro of Toledo attempted to place it in Naples but could neuer effect it as Doctor Illescas vppon Paul 3. reporteth For the Neapolitanes did vehemently withstand it Thinges standing in these termes Pope Paule before certified of what passed in Naples dispatched forth a writ apostolique whereby he declared that the knowledge of causes touching the offence of heresie apperteyned to the ecclesiasticall Court and Iurisdiction apostolique commaunding the viceroy and all whomsoeuer secular Iudges to surcease in them and not entermedle to proceede against any heresie by way of Inquisition nor any other manner reseruing to himselfe the determination of such causes as of a thinge concerning the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction Thus farre Doctour Illescas Some yeares after one Sayavedra Cordoves perswaded the king of Portugale that he was sent a Nuncio from Paul 3. vnto him And so in the 1545. yeare thus brought in the Inquisition into Portugale There went out of Portugale 30000. Iewes Time brought it to light that the Pope had not sent him and so was he condemned to the gallies Another pleasant conceate haue I heard of this Nuncio an excellent writer he was and well knewe to counterfeite what handsoeuer This Nuncio remayning in the gallies came a poore woman to beseech the Generall of the gallies to ayde her with some almes for the mariage of her poore daughter The General made answere that very willingly would he helpe her but present want of money was the cause he could not The poore woman with this answere departed weeping of whom when the Nuncio saw her weepe hee demaunded the cause of her weeping She told him that which she had passed with the Generall Then did he comfort her saying that he would effect what she desired And taking inke and paper he wrote these words Steward vpon sight of these presents giue so many thousand marmades the number I remember not to her that shall giue you this scedule which scedule the Nuncio subcribed as if the Generall himselfe had done it The poore woman departed with her scedule to the Stewarde The steward answered that he wondered his Lord would in such a time send that scedule But sith such was his pleasure he would giue her that which he commaunded him to giue her and so gaue it indeede When the day came that the Generall tooke account of the steward the steward presented the said scedule vnto him which he read againe and said to the steward True it is that such a poore woman came to me to aske an almes but I answered her that I could not helpe her for the present And beholding the subscription said this is my hand but I wrote it not Wherefore he made inquirie in the gally who had written it and it was proued to be the Nuncio For which cause the generall would haue caused his hand to be cut off but at request of many his hand cutting was spared and he put to the oares For by reason of his wealth he rowed not-before D. Illescas in the life of Clement 6. saith that he saw him in the gally rowing One of the chiefe causes of the low countries reuolt wherein so many thousands of Spaniards and other nations haue died and so many millions of crownes haue bene wasted y aun el rabo como dizen estápor desollar yet the taile as the say is to be fleyed for to begin anew is each day needfull was that the Duke d' Oliua sought to bring in the inqusition You see here the profit which the Inquisition hath brought to Spain This saie I not as though I would that there were neither king nor ruler but that each one might doe and beleeue what he listed Good lawes be necessarie in euery cōmon wealth for this cause committed God the sword to the Magistrate for the chastisement of the wicked and praise of the good as saith the Apostle Saint Peter Let them then that doe euill be punished but not tyrannically All lawes permit the delinquent to know who is his aduersarie and the witnesses that depose and who they be that he may except against them if they be infamous or his enemies c. In this Inquisitorie Audience the Lo. Treasurer who it may be neuer knewe nor saw the delinquent is made partie the witnesses howe infamous what villaines soeuer or great enemies they be are neuer named and so cannot be excepted against The which is contrary to all diuine and humane Iustice If the witnesses haue witnessed against one three or foure things the Inquisitors doe charge him as though the witnesses had spoken of ten or twelue things much more horrible then the witnesses haue deposed And so maie the Inquisitors doe what they list knowing that there is no residēt Iudge which is to take account of that they haue done Against this tyrannie doe we speake Maie it please the diuine Maiestie which hath geuen to the king the sword authoritie and commaund ouer all whatsoeuer that liue in his kingdomes be they secular as they terme them or ecclesiasticall to put into the kinges heart willingnes to be informed of the wronges and grieuances which the Inquisition doth and to geue as is his dutie remedie for the same which one day I hope the Lord will performe reuenge the blood of the iust which the Inquisition vniustly hath spilled The blood of the Iust is as the blood of Abell crying for vengeance How long say the dead for the word of God c. Lord holy and true wilt thou not iudge auenge our blood c. The brotherhood hath done and doth great good to Spaine for it clenseth the waies and wast places of the eues and robbers and so men may walke and sit safely vnder their figge trees and at the foote of their vine A common prouerbe it is that in Spaine are three holy sisters the holy Inquisition the holy Crosse and the holy brotherhood frō the one which is the Inpuisitiō they pray God to deliuer them from the other will they keepe themselues The tyrrany of the Inquisition in this saying is noted God of his great loue
graces which at this present they enioy Shortly after the maister Petrus Fabrus and Antonius de Araoz and then others also came to Castile When Paul 3. was dead Pope Iulius 3. almost with the confirmation of this sect in the 1550. yeare began his Popedome By the conuersation which Don Francisca de Boria Duke of Gandia and Marquesse of Lombay had with the said Araoz he bare great loue and liking to this sect wherein he was much more confirmed by the perswasions of his wife Dona Leonora de Castro a Portugale much deuoted to the Iesuites And so went the Duke to Rome in the company of the said Araoz who was the first prouinciall in Castile VVhen they both two returned into Spaine the Duke was made a Iesuite in the Colledge of Onate where he tooke all the orders In Rome built Inigo Layola the Almaigne Colledge to instruct the youth of that nation against the Doctrine which they cal Lutheran saw befor he died 16 Prouincials of his owne Institution and more then 70. Colledges he died in Rome in the 1556. yeare and in the 61 yeare of his age The Iesuits were commonly and yet in Italy and Spaine are called Theatinos but so be they not For the Theatinians had another beginning and manner of liuing certaine gentlemen and other people they were which moued with deuotion were giuen to praiers singing other such exercises and were called at the beginning the fellowship of Godly loue Of this company was made Iuan Pedro Carrasa a Neapolitan Bishop of Chiety who holden a person famous as he was for the principall and head of these religious persons they began to bee called Chietinos after corrupting the word for Chietinos were they called Theatinos This passed in the time of Clement 7. These Chietinians or Theatinians by reason of the sacking of Rome fled from Rome to Astia where they found certaine venecian galleys and in them passed to Venice And this was 11. yeares before Inigo layola his 10 cōpanions came to Venice to go to the holi-land The Iesuits stopped in this voyage by the wars between the Turk Venecias went frō Venice to Rome The Romans supposed they were the Chietinians or Thiatiniās which returned to Rome and so through ignorance they confounded these two sects which are far diferent the principal of the Thiatinians Iuan Pedro Carraf◠was afterwards Pope called Paul 4. Of the Thiatinians but few Colledges or monastaries are foūd to wit in Venice Rome Naples Pauia The Iesuites also in Arogon of Inigo their founder are called Iniguistes in Portugal Apostles but in al places else they are called Iesuits and so in the buls processe of the Pope are they called Greatly in short time haue these Iesuites multiplied For the locusts be they wherof speaketh S. Iohn in the 9. chap. of his Reuelation which issued out of the bottomlesse pit whose K. which is the Angell of the deepe in Hebrewe is called Abaddon in Greeke Apolyon both the one and the other word as much to say as destroyer And who but the Pope can be this Abaddon which Popeth and all destroyeth And who be his locusts but the Iesuits which wheresoeuer they come doe destroy consume all things They Insinuate themselues into the houses castles palaces of princes kings and monarches and stay not till they know the very inward secret and intents of the hart with fire blod doe they incite them to war vpon those which speake not nor thinke as they doe And if force and violence suffice not then by crafty treasons poysonings do they practise to kill them And so no Lord prince king nor monarche in his owne house is secure if he speak think not as they doe Sufficient exampls hereof we haue had within these 20 or 30 yeares let the Histories be read Lady Elisabeth the most illustrious Quene of England wel knowing thē for such as she that of the Iesuits great treasons hath so great experience whō so so often they haue practised to murther God the father of mercies hath as often againe deliuered her for the comfort of his Church advancemēt of the kingdome of his Christ the confusion and contempt of Antichrist that Abaddon hath banished them from her kingdome commanding vpon paine of life that they enter not into it These Iesuits haue also practised to murther Henry 4. king of France And so one of this company called Iohn Castell did wound him but by the prouidence of God hee missed his blow and willing to strike him in the throat hit his vpper lip brake one of his teeth The murtherer was caught and as a traitor adiudged to death and so Iustice was executed on Thursday the 29 of Decēber in the 1594. yeare The house where the said Iesuit was borne was pulled down in it place a Piramides set wherupon the cause why the house was puld downe and the pyramides erected are written in marble with letters of gold which in latine say thus Audi viator siue sis extraneu◠Siue incola vrbis cui Paris nomen dedit Hic alta quae sto Piramis domus fui Castella sed quam diruendam funditus Frequens senatus Crimen vltus Censuit Huc me redegit tandem herilis filius Malis magistris vsus et schola impia Sotericum eheu nomen vsurpantibus Which in English is this Listen O thou traueller whether thou be straunger or inhabitant of the Citie which Paris named In this place where I stand the high Piramides was the house of Castel which the cōmon consent of the senate for punishment of the fault appointed to be pluckt downe To this hath the son of my maister brought me because he had ill maisters and was trained vp in a wicked schole which ô griefe vsurpe the name of the Sauiour Iesus There was also written D. O. M. which is Deo Optimo Maximo Pro salute Henrici 4. clementissimi ac fortissime Regis quem nefandus Parricida perniciosissimae factionis haeresi pestiferra imbutus quae nuper abhominandis sceleribus pietatis nomen obtendit vnctos Domini viuasque maiestatis ipsius Imagines occidere populariter docuit dum confodere tentat caelesti numine scelestammanum inhibente cultro in labrum superius delato dentiū occursu faeliciter retuso violare ausus est Which in English is thus For the health of Henry 4. most mercifull and potent king whom whiles the wicked homicide infected with the pestiferous heresie of the most pernicious sect which with abhominable wickednesse here lately pretended the name of pietie taught the people to murther the annoynted of the Lord and dared to violate the sacred Images of his maiestie attempted to stabbe But the dyuine maiestie letting the cursed hand caused the knife to wound the vpper lip and so by the teeth to be most happily hindred Also Pulso praeterea tota Gallia hominum genere nouae ac
the same danger To another monke another chaūce hapned And this it was A certaine boy seeing that by reason of the great presse and multitude of people he could not goe forth clymed as he could vpon their shoulders and heades and so came and placed himselfe on the top of the Church dore where he aboade not able to passe further Thus resting vpon the height of the dore he espied by chaunce among those that came crawling vpon the heades of others a monke comming towards him who bare at his backe a great and large cowle the boy seing good occasion offered let it not slip and so when the monke was neare vnto him he let fall himselfe from the height of the dore and very wittily put himselfe into the monkes cowle supposing if the monke escaped that he also with him as it hapned should goe out of the Church In conclusion the monke crawling vpon the heades of others at last escaped carrying the boy at his backe that was placed in the cowle for some time perceiued not any weight or burthen vpon him In the end within a while the monke came somewhat to himselfe felt his cowle more weightie then wontedly it was and hearing the voyce of one that spake in his cowle then began he afresh to feare more thē before when he was thronged among the people supposing that verely that the euill spirit which had fired the Church was placed in his cowle then presently began he to coniure the spirit saying In the name of God and of all the Saintes I commaund thee to tell me whom thou arte that hanges at my backe To whom the boy answered I am Beltrams boy for so was his maister called But I coniure thee said the monke in the name of the indiuisible Trintie that thou wicked spirit tell me who thou art whence thou comest and that thou depart hence To whom the youth answered I am Beltrams boy I beseech you sir let let me goe and so speaking assayed to goe out of the cowle which with the weight and the boyes endeuour to goe out began to rend vpon the shoulders of the monke When the monke well vnderstood the matter he drew the boy out of the cowle The boy seeing himselfe out of daunger tooke him to his heeles and ranne with what speede he could In the meane time whiles this passed they that were with out the Church beholding on all sides and seeing there was no cause of feare marueyled to see them in such a straight and made signes showes to them in the Church to be quiet and told them abroad there was no cause of feare But for asmuch as they that were in the Church could not for the great noyse and rushing within heare that which was told them the signes which they made they interprete to the worst sence as though all without the Church had with liuely flames burned and that for the distilling downe of the molten lead and for that it fell in many places they should abide within the Church and not aduenture to goe forth So that signes and voyces much increased the feare For the space of some howers indured this confusion The day following and that whole weeke also were many billets fixed one the Church dore one said If any haue foūd a payer of shooes lately lost in the Church of Saint Mary another said if any haue found a garment In another it was prayed that a hat should be restored In another a girdle with a purse and mony which was lost In another was demanded a little ring other such like thinges for there was no one person almost in the Church which had not lost or forgotten some thing As touching the poore penitent him they commaunded that for asmuch as he had not by reason of this tumult done his pennance as was meete he should doe it the day following in the Church of Saint Frideswid and so he did it These Histories of the fire of Rome of the fire of Vallodalid and the imaginarie fire of Oxford doe very wel confirme that which wee haue said that the poore Chistians haue at all times bene slaundered and vniustly condemned Therefore are they called sheepe appointed to the slaughter God who is Iust will not leaue without punishment such monstrous lies such false testimonies and such fierce cruelties his day albeit he slacke will come vpon the Inquisitors For the bloud of the Iust holy faithfull and catholique Christians by them shed cryeth vnto God as did the bloud of Abell saying How long Lord holy and true wilt thou slacke to Iudge and reuenge our bloud on those that dwell vpon the earth To whom it was answered that they should rest yet a while vntill their fellow seruantes were fulfilled and their brethren which were also to be slaine with them This day let vs then expecte with pacience God one day shew mercie to Seuil that this monasterie of Saint Isodor be conuerted to an vniuersitie where diuinitie may be chiefly professed The rents of this monasterie which be great suffise with ouer plus to maintaine the said vniuersitie and the ruyned house of Isabella de Vaena may be conuerted to a publique Church where the word of God may be preached and the Sacraments without adding or diminishing according to the institution of Iesus Christ administred So great and greater things then these hath the Lord in our time brought to passe It shall not be from our purpose to recite that which D. Illescas reporteth to haue happened in Spaine in the time of this Paule 4. touching the great nomber of Spaniards of the religion which he calleth Lutheranes that was discouered His words be these In the former yeares were Lutheran heretiques accustomed to be taken burned whatsoeuer in Spaine but al those that they punished were straungers as Dutchmen Fleminges or Englishmen c. And of those which came from these kingdomes And a little lower vile people and of most wicked race afore times did wontedly goe out to the Scaffoldes and to weare the Sarbenitos in the Churches but in these latter yeares haue we seene the prisons scaffolds and fires also furnished with famous people And which is more to be moaned of illustrious persons also and of such as to the eie of the world in learning and life were farre before others c. And somewhat lower The businesse came to termes that they practised now among themselues a most fearefull conspiracie such as had it not happened so soone to be discouered as it was afterwardes vnderstood al Spaine had run in great hazard to be lost c. And a lttle lower In Valladolid D. Caçalla his fiue brothers and mother with most great secrecie singular diligence were taken In Toro was taken Herrezuelus many other in Cemora in Pedrosa many men women Nunnes maried women and damsels famous and of great qualitie c. Among those that were burned were also certaine Nunnes very young and
Elephant fell to the ground vppon him and there he dyed Iudith cutte of the head of Holophernes The warre that Antiochus and Holophernes made against the people of God was vniust but the warre which Henry the third made against the league which had conspired against him to kill him and take from him his kingdome was most iust So that herein was hee no tyrant Besides this both liuing and dying hee was of the same religion of the league as at his end appeared For in that small time that he liued after he was wounded hee confessed communicated and was anoynted But leauing these humane reasons come we to the holy scripture It appeareth by the scripture that Saule was a wicked king an hypocrite a tyrant forsaken of God and so hath God to Samuel How long doest thou morne for Saul seeing I haue forsaken him and that he shall not reigne ouer Israell And commanded him to goe and anoynt for king one of the sonnes of Issai which was Dauid and in the same chap. verse 14. it is said The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and the euill spirit of the Lord did torment him Albeit such a one was Saul yet did not God commaund Samuel or any other to kill him And so Dauid although God had chosen him and Samuell annointed him for king when manifest occasion and meanes were twise offered him to kill Saul yet killed he him not Also when Dauid and his followers were hid in a caue for feare of Saul as 1. Sam. 24. appeareth Saul entred the same caue to doe his needs then did Dauids men aduise him not to let slippe occasion but to kill Saule But Dauid instructed in a better schoole then were they answered The Lord keepe me from doeing such a thing against my maister and the annointed of the Lord that I stretch not out my hand against him for he is the Lordes annointed And not only did not kil him but grieued to haue cut of the lap of his garment as if herein he had done some great disgrace And in the 26. chap. of the same booke it is reported that Dauid Abisai came by night to the camp of Saule found him sleeping c. Then Abisai said to Dauid God hath closed thine enemy into thine hands this day now therfore I pray thee let me smite him once with a speare vnto the earth and I will not smite him agayne And Dauid said to Abisai Destroy him not for who can lay his hand on the Lords Annoynted and be guiltlesse Moreouer Dauid said As the Lord liueth either the Lord shall simite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descend into battayle and perish The Lord keepe me from laying myne handes vpon the Lordes annoynted c. And when one brought newes of the death of Saule saying that hee had slaine him what gaue Dauid vnto him for his good tidings He said vnto him How wast thou not affraid to put forth thy hand to destroy the Annointed of the Lord Then Dauid commanded one to kill him who wounded him and so he died And Dauid said vnto him Thy bloud be vpon thine owne head for thine owne mouth hath testified against thee saying I haue slaine the Lords annointed And Dauid mourned for Saule c. Whereupon we will conclude that wickedly did this Friar and those of his counsell in murthering their king and that wickedly did the Pope in praising and cannonising this fact What reuelation had Sistus 5. that God had wholly cast off Henrie the third that he should forbid any obsequies and honours accustomed to be made for the dead should be made for him commanded also that they should not pray for him Samuel and Dauid had most sure reuelation that Saule was forsaken of God and that as such a one was he fallen into a reprobate sence yet notwithstanding did they let him liue coÌ„spired not his death If a Prince in our time be he heretike as they call him or Catholike shall not fully obey whatsoeuer the Pope commandeth him albeit it be to the depriuing him of his kingdome and giuing it to another then shall he be cursed and excommunicate both in bodie and soule and the most vile person if we beleeue Sistus 5. with good conscience may kill him And such a one that shall murther him shall haue done an act very meritorious and holy for the which he deserueth to be cannonized What Christian religion is this that one shall be cannonized for committing that which by the word of God as by exaÌ„ples we already haue proued is expresly forbidden Oh times oh customes But vpon such will his day come these swine shall not escape as they say without their Saint Martin With Sistus 5. conclude we saying that in the moneth of September and 1590. yeare he died whom Vrban 7. which poped 12 dayes succeeded At the end of the yeare 1590. Gregorie 14. succeeded him and died in September 1591. Innocent 9. succeeded Gregorie 14. who a small time poped So that in the space of 14. moneths foure Popes died Sistus Vrban Gregorie and Innocent and it is to be thought the most or all of them died of poyson For Brazuto is not dead that giueth theÌ„ poyson This Brazuto killed 6 Popes with poison as vpon the life of Damasus 2. we haue declared In the 1592. yeare Innocent 9. being dead Clement 8. or 9. or 10. succeeded This Clement poping in the 1599. yeare a Friar Capuchan incited by the Iesuits attempted to kill the French king Henry 4. but his treason was discouered and so was he caught In the time of this Pope in September 1598. died the king Don Philip 2. aged 70 yeares Don Philip 3. sonne of the forenamed Don Philip 2. and of the daughter of Maximillian the Emperour and of the Empresse Dona Maria de Austria sister of the king Don Philip 2. succeeded him God grant him grace as the dutie office of a king requireth night and day to meditate in the law of the Lord accomplish that which God Deut. 17. 18. commandeth a king shuld do When he shall sit saith God speaking of the king vpon the throne of his kingdome he shall cause to be written the booke of this law c. And it shall be with him and he shall reade therein all the dayes of his life Note ye Spaniards that God commandeth the king to reade the holy Scriptures and then saith he he is to reade them that he may learne to feare the Lord his God that he may keepe all the words of this Law and these ordinances to do them That he lift not vp his heart aboue his brethren nor turne fâ—rm the commandement to the right hand nor to the left that he may prolong his dayes in his kingdome he and his sonnes c. And God not onely comaundeth the king to reade the holy scripture but his captaines also when they be in warres to reade the
without any competency of Antichrist may reigne So be it Amen I haue long dwelled vpon this fourth answere for the matter so required considering that many simple people which not otherwise haue heard nor are able to vnderstand how God who loueth his Church would permit her so long time to be deceiued at the least with such a deceit of idolatrie are in this deceiued And so they and the rest shall see that not to be the truth which our aduersaries hold for for an oracle that the visible Church cannot erre God open their eyes that seeing they may see and hearing they may heare and so conuert and be saued Amen Only God is he which cannot erre but doth euer right But only his sonne Christ Iesus is he which sinned not which erred not neither was there any guile found in his mouth Onely the word of God abideth for euer And as often as the Church be she neuer so populous apparant shall depart from this word of God and shall not hold it for her squire rule and patterne she shall erre And the more she turneth away the more shall she erre But alwayes when she will be gouerned thereby she shall be established and shall neuer erre For the word of God saith Dauid is a lantern vnto our feet and a light vnto our paths The 5. reason wherewith they confirme their Masse is the great miracles which the Masse their consecrate hostes haue done Here will I recken some for to seeke to recken all should bee neuer to end Damascen among other great strange matters which he citeth in the sermon of the dead afterwards will wee speake of these wonders telleth for a great miracle a true fable and old womans tale One Macarius saith he desirous to know the state of the dead spake with the drie scull of one that was dead c. And that the same scull answered him that the soules of the dead are not so greatly tormented whilest the sacrifice of the Masse continueth Herehence our aduersaries conclude the Masse to be holy and good S. Cyprian an Author more ancient and autentike and a martyr of Iesus Christ reporteth a strange miracle which in his presence happened Thus then saith he I my self being present an eye witnes therof It chaÌ„ced that the pareÌ„ts of a yong girle flying making through great feare no reckening of their daughter they left her with the Nurse that brought her vp The Nurse hauing the abandoned childe caried her to the Magistrate gaue vnto this young girle before the idoll whereunto the people flocked a foppe wet in the wine that was left of the sacrifice of them which perished This sop gaue they vnto her for that by reason of her tendeâ— age she could not yet eate flesh the mother after this recouered her child but so much could the infant tell or declare the horrible fact it had committed as it could not before either vnderstand or auoyd it It happened that the mother brought her through ignorance when we were sacrificing as much to say as celebrating the supper of the Lord which in memorie of the sacrifice by the Lord once offered was celebrated but the infant mingled with the Saints vnable to abide our supplication and prayer nowe with shrikes tormented her selfe now with feruour of heart like a waue of the â—ea she cast her selfe to and fro as though a hangman had tormented her And with the tokens and shewes that the ignorant soule of her age and simplicitie might shee confessed the conscience of the deede But when the solemnities ended the Deacon began to present the cuppe to them that were present note the communion in both kindes and the others hauing taken it the turne came to her in the time of Saint Cyprian they also gaue the cup to young children the girle by very instinct of the diuine Maiestie turned away her face shut her mouth and forcing together her lippes refused the cuppe But all this notwithstanding albeit she refused the sacrament of the cuppe yet insisted the deacon and cast it into her mouth Then began she to sigh and vomite The Eucharist could not stay in a body and mouth which were filthy The drinke sanctified in the bloud of the Lord note that he calleth the wine in the supper drinke sanctified in the bloud of the Lord with furie departed from the polluted intralles so great is the power of the Lord so hreat is his maiestie c. Hitherto Saint Cyprian Of this miracle Saint Augustine also in the 23. Epistle maketh mention reciting it there so certaine authours and more Saint Cyprian saith that hee was an eye-witnesse I assuredly beleeue that so it happened But the same will I not say of that recounted by Damâ—scen noâ— of that which now I will declare Albeit reported by Pius the second In the description of Europe cap. 21. Pius the second speaking of Estiria a prouince of Almaine saith these words It is said and is a thing common among theÌ„ of Estiria that there was a certain Gentleman who manie times purposed to hang himselfe which much displeasing hm he went to a certaine learned person to demaund remedie against this temptation The counsell that hee gaue him was this that he should carie his owne priest euery day to say Masse in a solitary rocke where he dwelled The Gentleman obeyed and so continued for a yeere and neuer after came into his memorie this wicked thought Afterwards the Priest craueth of him licence to goe and ayde another Priest his neighbour which dwelled in another mountaintaine neare adioyning to celebrate the feast of the dedicatioÌ„ of the Church The Gentleman was contented that the Priest shuld go purposing in himself to follow speedily heare Masse The Caualleâ—o busied now with one thing then with another stayed long after In the end almost at the middle of the day he departed and in the way encountred a certaine villaine which said vnto him The Masse in the other mountaine is already ended and the people departed The Gentleman sorrowing at this newes and calling himselfe vnluckie for not seeing that day the body of Christ the villaine began to cheare him and said vnto him that he would sell him the merite which he had gotten by hearing of Masse if the other would buy it and demaunded for a price of the Gentleman his coat for know this that among the Papists one selleth his merits to another as if there were some that had done more thereof then hee ought wherewith he might do what he pleased The sale made and passed the knight notwithstanding went vp into the mountaine and made his prayers in the Church And as he returned he found the villaine hanged vpon a tree and neuer afterwards was troubled with wicked temptations Hitherto Pope Pius the second If this were truth who ought not to worship the Masse But either it was a lie or if it so happened it was one of
albeit God of his absolute power can drowne the whole world againe yet will hee not drowne it So then say we now that Christ could doe that which they say annihilate the substance of the bread and be transubstantiated into it But we say that he will not do it because he will remaine sitting at the right hand of his father in heauen and according to his humanitie according to his flesh which he tooke of the Virgin Mary according to the flesh wherein he dyed wiil he neuer descend hither vntill he come to iudge the quick and the dead And so to this end sayd he to his disciples The poore ye shall haue alwayes with you but me shall ye not haue alwayes For fortie dayes passed after his resurrection hee ascended into heauen sitteth at the right hand of the Father c. Very well did his Apostle S. Peter vnderstand this when in a sermon which he preached at Ierusalem hee sayd Whom meaning Christ the heauens must containe vntill the time that all things bee restored And this is an Article of our faith which in the Creed we confesse That Iesus Christ is ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father from whence shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead Then will he not come to transubstantiate the bread into his body So our aduersaries be heretikes denying in deed this article of faith which with their mouth they confesse in the Creed Hereuppon let vs nowe conclude that Christ can but hee will not transubstantiate himselfe into the bread but will sit at the right hand of the Father vntill he come to iudge c. As the holy Scripture doth witnesse it and in the Creed wee confesse it The second reason wherewith they confirme their Transubstantiation is That Iesus Christ is infallible truth and therefore of necessitie that which hee sayth must bee as hee saith it He saith This is my body Then it followeth that that is his bodie and if it be the body of Christ it is not Bread With Esayas chap. 53. verse 9. and Saint Peter chap. 2. vers 22. confesse we that Iesus Christ neuer sinned we also confesse that vntruth nor deceit was euer found in his mouth For he is that which of himselfe he saith Ioh. chap. 14. verse 6. The way the trueth and the life Wee also confesse that with his owne mouth he hath sayd This is my body and so beleeue we that it is For should wee denie that which our King Prophet and Priest affirmeth we should not be Christians Thus farre agree we with our aduersaries The difference that is betweene them and vs is as touching the maner How or in what manner that which Iesus Christ by the meane of his minister in the holy Supper doth giue vs is truely and really the body and bloud of Iesus Christ For the better vnderstanding hereof it shall bee needfull to vse the distinction which the Lord vseth in the sixth chapter of the Gospell of Saint Iohn That there bee two maners of eating the bodie of Christ the one carnall the other spirituall Commonly when the Scripture opposeth the flesh to the Spirit by the flesh it vnderstandeth the parte of man that is not regenerate nor subiect to the lawe of God So call wee men without the knowledge of God carnall naturall and sensuall men But it is not heere so to bee taken By the flesh is vnderstood the same flesh of Christ it selfe ioyntly with his blood bones and sinewes and which Iesus Christ took when he was borne and liued in this world when he dyed and rose againe c. The second maner of eating which is called spirituall is when the faithfull Christian his bodie being here below is lifted vp so high in spirit that with the wings of faith it flyeth and with one flight doth pierce all the heauens and stayeth not vntill it come before the throne of the maiestie of God the father at whose right hand he findeth sitting his redeemer and satisfier Christ And finding him with great ioy doth feede vpon him eateth his glorious bodie and drinketh his most precious bloud And if the faithfull Christian doth freely eate him much more freely doth the Lord giue himselfe to sustaine the soules which he with the death of his body with the shedding of his bloud redeemed He that with his body and bloud did redeeme them with his body and with his bloud wil he maintain them yet not carnally but spiritually by faith as before we haue sayd Our aduersaries beleeue the body of Christ in the first manner to be in their Masse They beleeue that the mouth taketh the teeth chawe the throate swalloweth and the stomacke receiueth the same carnall bodie which was borne which dyed which rose againe c. They wil vnderstand the words of Christ literally be it as it will be but Christ himselfe speaking of the necessity that wee haue to eate his flesh and drinke his bloud saith The words which I speake vnto you are spirit and life to wit that which I haue sayd vnto you touching the eating of my flesh and drinking of my bloud vnderstand you not after the letters as they carnally sound lift vp the mind and vnderstand it spiritually The Capernaits and many of the disciples also as saith S. Iohn carnally vnderstood the words of Christ And also they sayd that it was a hard saying and murmured at it To whom Christ vnfolding their errour told them they should vnderstand his words spiritually You see here that our aduersaries are worse then the Capernaits for the Capernaits would not carnally eate the flesh of Christ nor drinke his bloud but they make no bones at it without any scruple and without any loathing will they eate the flesh of Christ carnally but it will nought auaile them For the Spirit it is that quickeneth and the flesh as Christ himselfe saith speaking to our purpose profitteth nothing c. That the Lord in his supper gaue carnally his body may wee not vnderstand For should wee so vnderstand it A most great absurditie world followe that Iesus Christ when hee celebrated his supper had two carnall bodies One by one The Bodie that celebrated the supper that brake the bread in his handes blessed it brake it and gaue it to his disciples c. was the true carnall body of Christ which was borne and dyed c. If that which this carnall bodie tooke in his handes and gaue to his disciples was also the carnall body of Christ it followeth that Iesus Christ when he had celebrated his supper had two carnall bodies one which sate and remained in his place and the other which sitting body gaue to his disciples The which is a great absurditie But did they vnderstand this second manner of body which the Carnall body of Christ gaue to his disciples and they tooke it and did eat it not to bee his
Priest to giue vs the Sacrament but we must vnderstand the stretched out hand of Christ to doe this By all this varietie of speach what think we sought Chrisostome to doe but to drawe the mindes of the Communicants from the consideration of the outward signes and figures visible and subiect to perish and to make them consider the heauenly and diuine things which by them be figured This glorious Father then would that in communicating we should so celebrate the memorie of the death and passion of Christ as if then at the same instant that we communicate his body were crucified his bloud were shed for vs. Would God that all Christians when they communicate would haue this consideration meditation other fruit should they then receiue of the cōmunion The faithfull beleeuing the Euangelicall doctrine and celebrating the holy Supper are present as it were at the condemnation and death of the Lord this is the memorie commanded them to doe and so saith Saint Paul to the Galathians That before their eyes was Christ condemned among them crucified As touching that of Saint Augustin which they obiect vnto vs that Christ bare himselfe in his hands We denie it not For what inconuenience is it that Iesus Christ with his hands hath borne his owne body if by the body we vnderstand the Sacrament of his body And that this was his meaing hee himselfe a little lower declareth when hee saith Quodam modo in a certaine maner not simply To the other which they say of Saint Augustin that the flesh of Christ ought to be adored in the Sacrament We denie not the flesh of Christ in so much as it is conioyned with the Diuinitie from the which it neuer departeth ought to be worshipped For whosoeuer otherwise shall simply worship the flesh of Christ not respecting the hypostaticall vnion which is betweene the flesh and the Diuinitie in Christ shall commit idolatrie for only God onely his Diuinitie ought to be worshipped Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue Deut. chap. 6. vers 13. Who so listeth to see how much Saint Augustine is for vs and how much against the Transubstantiation of our aduersaries and this not in one place by chance but in manie let him reade that which we haue alreadie alleaged S. Hillarie in the place cited against vs groundeth his argument vpon the truth of the Sacraments the which doe really and truly seale giue and present that which they represent vnto vs. We receiue then in the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ the true body and bloud of Christ and make our selues one selfe same thing with him and this spiritually by faith as so often we haue sayd which vnion is not onely made in the Eucharist but also in Baptisme And so the same Hillarie a little before he had sayd those wordes of the Eucharist had sayd the same of Baptisme saying that by it we are conioyned with Christ and amongst our selues And this not by vnion of consent and will only but also of nature let them also put Transubstantiation in the water of Baptisme As touching that which they say of Leo the first wee confesse the same which he saith that Christ is made our flesh and that we doe passe into his flesh As touching Damascen there is no doubt but that he is wholly for them As appeareth in the place against vs alleaged This Damascen by nation and profession was a Iew vntill hee came to Constantinople and was conuerted and being conuerted became a Monke He liued in the time of the Emperour Leo Isauricus About the 720. yeare when the Moores a fewe yeares before hauing passed the Straights of Gibraltar had by the chastisement of God subdued almost all our country of Spaine Some things he wrote wherein are found many wonders superstitions and erours I will here set downe some that the credite may be seene that to such an authour is due A great defender hee was of Images They are not only to be made saith he but also to be honored and reuerenced The which is contrary to the second comaundement Thou shalt not make to they self any grauen Image Thou shalt not worship nor honour them The reliques of Saints he much esteemed and doubted not to call them fountaines of the giftes of God He dared to say that wee ought with faith to honor dead saints the which is blasphemy For in one only God ought we to beleeue As we confesse in the beginning of the Nicene Creed Speaking of Purgatory to confirme it he reporteth great wonders hee telleth how Traian the Emperour who was a pagan an Idolaten a great persecuter of the Christians by the praiers of S. Gregory went out of the paines of hell c. Also that the soule of a woman called Falconilla a Pagan went out of hell whither for her idolatrie she was condemned and this by the prayers of one which he calleth Primera a martyr Frier Iohn de Pineda libr. 18. cap. 24. ◠1. telleth another such like tale and this it is Zenoras whom he calleth a noble Historian saith that the Empresse besought the Patriarch bishops and religious persons to pray for the soule of the Emperour Theophilus her hushand and that they obtayned pardon for his offences but I saith Pineda hold it very doubtfull seeing that he dyed an obstinate heretike And then I will leaue mine opinion founded vpon the rootes of faith One of which saith that where the tree falleth there shall it euer remaine and another that in hell there is no redemption and another that grace deuideth betweene the sonnes of the kingdome and of hell c. For the selfe same causes say we that which Damascen sayth of the soules of Traian and Falconilla to be lies Pero Mexia vpon the life of Traian sayth that that which is sayd of the soule of Traian is a meere fable and iest Doctour Illescas vpon the life of Gregorie the first holdeth it for certaine truth and condemneth Pero Mexia Also saith Damascen that one Macarius consulting with a drie scull knew many thinges of the state of the dead and what is to be a Nigromancer if this be not This Macarius sayth hee wontedly prayed for the dead and desired to know if such prayers did ought auaile them and if they receiued any comfort by them He sayth that God a louer of soules willing by manie and firme arguments to declare this to his seruaunt inspired into the drie skull the word of truth For these words the skull pronounced When thou prayest for the dead some small consolation wee feele c. Also hee reporteth that one sawe a a Disciple of his which had liued a life somewhat dissolute burning in the fire whose body was in the flame euen to the throate Afterwardes by the prayers of the Maister The same Maister himselfe sawe him in the fire vp to the middle and afterwardes praying eftsoones for
the Alarabes which occupied the best part of Spaine vsed the same from the time of Saint Llefonso Archbishop of Toledo and Saint Isidor Archbishop of Seuill In the end and time of Gregorie the seuenth forcibly constrained by Don Alonso the sixt which wan Toledo at the instigation of Queene Constance a French woman after many great contentions and not without teares leauing their countrie rite they receiued the French or Roman rite Which rite notwithstanding could not so be rooted out but that it still remained and yet doth remaine in some Churches and Chappels of Toledo Verie largely is this discourse in the generall historie of Spaine made in the name of Don Alonso the tenth It is also found in the historie of Don Rodrigo a most graue Historiographer of Toledo Hitherto Cassander Iohannes Vasseus heereof maketh mention speaking in his Chronicle of the destruction of Spaine which happened in the time of King Don Rodrigo The Christians saith this Authour which remained in Spaine had libertie of their Christian religion vntill the time of Don Alonso the seuenth in whose time came out of Affrike the Almohades which suffered no Christian to liue in the Christian religion These Christians which liued among the Moores were called Mosarabes to wit mingled with the Alarabes and their diuine Office composed by Saint Leander and Saint Isidor was called the Mosarabish Office He saith also This Office at this day is called Mosarabe and is vsed in sixe parishes in Toledo and in the Cathedrall Church in the Chappell of Cardinall Francisco Ximenez On certaine dayes of the yeare in Salamanca is it also vsed in the Chappell of Doctor Talauera Others say they are called Muçarabes with ç not with s of Muça the Moorish Captaine which wan Spaine and gaue libertie to the Christians to liue in the Christian religion After this describeth Vasseus what maaner of Office is this Mosorabe and how it is celebrated But I much feare me that the Office Mosorabe now in the foresayd places celebrated either by adding or diminishing is much different from that which Saint Leander and Saint Isidor made a thousand yeares past Of this I feare me because the Popes haue bene verie diligent in taking away that which hath bene contrarie to their doctrine and in adding that which made for them And so suspect I many of the ceremonies and garments that now as saith Vasseus are vsed in the Office Mosorabe In this opinion doe I strengthen my selfe seeing that among other names of Saints in the Office Mosorabe named are named Ambrose Augustine Fulgentius Leander Isidor And it is not to bee thought that Saint Leander and Saint Isidore which composed this Gothish Office would put their owne names among the names of the Saints and so thinke I that they haue much added and taken away to and from the Office Mosorabe to make it hold affinity with the Masse which now they say and so to declare it almost all to be one But be it as it will be either that they haue added vnto it or taken from it or not I hold for a more sure thing the simplicitie and maner which Iesus Christ his Apostles and Martyrs vsed in celebration of the holy supper in the primitiue Church Imbrace we then the first institution which the Euangelists and Saint Paul 1. Cor. 11. recite and so shall we not erre By that we haue said in this Appēdix thou shalt see most deerly beloued Spaine God for his mercy open thineeies the account which the Pope his cleargy make of the Sacrament albeit they affirme it to be God not bread nor wine It they vse to reuenge their wrongs hatreds and malice and so in Florence was the eleuation the signe to begin the murder With it they poison as a little before we haue said They vse it for an Harbenger sending it one or modaies iornies before atended with the basest sort of people as in the beginning of this booke we haue declared For coniuration they vse it as did Gregory the seuenth and because the sacrament did not answer him he cast it into the fire and burned it The Dominicans of Auserra did also burne it and the Franciscans de Alta villa burned the Chough and in burning the Chough they burned the Sacrament which she had eaten c. And the booke which they call de Cautelis commanded in such cases that they should so do And when the Sacrament for want of renewing in time is become mouldy it commandeth it to be burned and the ashes to be kept Molon the Inquisitor clipped it also The book of the Roman Office also was burned the Gothish remaining miraculously safe and sound as reporteth Don Rodrigo Archbishop of Toledo before alleaged Also seeing the diuell vseth it to deceiue as he deceiued the Pope when he told him hee should not die vntill he had said Masse in Ierusalem before by vs mentioned vpon the life of Syluester the second and to cause idolatrie as we haue seene in Magdalen de la Cruz and in the foure Fryars which were hanged in Siuill which had no intention to consecrate and so did not consecrate and in the clearke which sayd not the words of consecration and in them that Constantine 2 Pope Ione ordayned who had intention to consecrate but not being priests as before we haue said did not consecrate What shall we hereupon conclude Two things the first that the Popes and their ecclesiasticall rable which doe such things be Atheistes without any God or religion The 2. That their Massall sacrament albeit they say though many of themselues beleeue it not the same to be Gods is no God but an Idoll set in the place of God and as God worshipped And if this be so why then do they persecute them with fire bloud which so taught by the holy scripture do well know the Masse it misfall sacrament to be a prophanation of the holie supper of the Lord to be a terrible abhomination and Idolatrie The Masse hath no agreemēt with the holy supper which the Lord instituted which his disciples did celebrate Compare the one with the other the which we wil do at the end of this Treatise aswel touching the substaunce of that which is giuen as also the ceremonies with which it is giuen And it is euidently to be seene that there is no more agreement betweene the holy supper the diuelish Masse then there is betweene light and darknesse betweene good euill betweene truth falshood betweene Christ and Beliall I haue passed by the Lordes assistaunce whom with my whole hart I beseech to direct my steppes two terrible labyrinthes of filthinesse and Idolatrie which are the Pope aud his Masse Now by the same assistaunce wee will enter into the most pleasant garden into the most sweete and most holie orchard and garden full of all consolation and comfort Which is the Treatise of the true priest and of the true Sacrifice which this
forgiuen thee The Scripture in many other places maketh mention of this humiliation and deiection of Christ and then of his glorious triumph against his enemies But this which we haue sayd sufficeth This benefit of the death and passion of Christ proposed ingenerall to all men doeth Saint Paule by faith applye to him selfe saying I am crucified with Christ and liue not I now but Christ liueth in me and in that I now liue in the flesh I liue by faith in the sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for mee Who so will enioy this benefite proposed in generall to all let him learne of Saint Paule to apply it by faith in particular to himself For whosoeuer shall not so doo Let him holde it for spoken he shall not enioy it They only be safe which beleue Christ to be giuen for their proper sinnes and risen againe for their iustification Hee which of himselfe shall not particularly beleeue this shall be condemned the death of Christ shall nothing auayle him But he which shall beleeue it shall be saued and being saued is assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor strength nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate him from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. His Maiestie increase this faith his gift it is A Christian then armed with such weapons of faith shall patiently and I say more ioyfully suffer for Christ tribulation sorrow persecution famine nakednesse danger sword fire and dishonour for to all these things the very day that wee truely beleeue in Christ are wee subiect For the disciple is not more to bee exempted from them then his maister was Hee increase faith in vs and make vs constant in aduersities for without him can we do nothing and with him can we do all things This verie well perceiued Saint Paule when he sayd I am able to do all things through the helpe of Christ which strengtheneth me God then with his exceeding loue so louing vs that he spared not his proper and only begotten Sonne but gaue him vp for vs and being bought not with gold nor siluer but with an inestimable treasure with the most precious bloud of Christ the Lambe without spot let vs not abase nor subiect our selues to sinne and wickednesse but seeing we are the friends sonnes and heires of God and brothers and coheires with Iesus Christ let vs highly esteeme our selues and apply our selues to vertue that God bee not angrie but ioyfull to haue such sonnes nor Christ ashamed but rather honored to call vs brethren friendes and companions In the sacred Scriptures are there very many places wherein the holy Spirit doth exhort vs to liue godly and holily but of all haue I chosē one which maketh much to the purpose because in it are mentioned both kindes of sacrifices to wit the propitiatory which only Christ one only time offered and the Eucharistcall which euery moment we offer or to speake better ought to offer the Spirit of God by the mouth of S. Paul doth thus exhort vs Be ye therefore followers of God as deare children walke in loue euen as Christ hath loued vs and hath giuen himselfe for vs to be an offring and sacrifice of a sweet smelling sauor to God But fornication and all vncleannesse let it not once be named among you as it be commeth Saints neither filthines neither foolish talking nor iestings which are things not comely but rather giuing of thanks c. For all the che chapter is an exhortation to well liuing Let not man thinke for being called a Christian for being baptised for saying that he beleeueth in God for being trayned vp in the Church where he frequenteth sermons and celebrateth with the rest the holy supper Let him not thinke for all this say I that hee shall be saued if hee keepe not together with this the commaundements of God If thou wilt saith Christ enter into life keepe the commandements thou shalt not kil thou shalt not cōmit adultery c. That hypocrits may doe and doe the same but not this For without a true and liuely faith which hypocrites and wicked Christians haue not this cannot be done The outward shew the dead faith imaginary and idle is not the faith which iustifieth but the liuely true and diligent faith which bringeth forth in time fruits of charitie For as true fire cannot be without heate and the greater that the fire is the greater heat it giueth So true faith cannot be without good works and the more the faith is so much the more it worketh And contrariwise as the painted fire warmeth not as little also the dead faith worketh for being dead how shall it worke Such a perfection doth the holy Spirit require in vs that we do not onely good and commit no euill but willeth also that we be not familiar nor conuersant with the wicked Whereas such calling themselues brothers bee hypocrites vniust and impious So commaundeth the Apostle 1. Cor. chap. 5. 1. If any man saith hee calling himselfe a brother shall be a fornicator a couetous person an idolater an euill speaker a drunkard a theefe with such a one eate not The cause why we ought not to bee familiar with such in the second epistle to the Thessal chap. 3. 14. he sheweth And conuerse not with him saith he that hee may bee ashamed And Rom. 16. 17. he commandeth vs to depart from them which make dissentions And 2. Ioh. vers 10. it is commanded we should not salute them To receiue then and enioy the benefit of Christs sacrifice such ought as we haue mentioned to be the life of a Christian Hee that shall not be so perfect for who shall hee bee seeing there is no man but finneth and sith the iust man falleth seuen times I would say many times a day if he fall seuen times a day what will hee doe all his life long fall and rise againe He that shall not then be so perfect let him desire so to be let him sigh and bewayle his imperfection before the Lord let him beseech him of grace to become perfect Let him beleeue the Lord to be so good that he will accept this good desire proceeding from so contrite and humble heart and so will he supply the faults of our imperfections and not impute them vnto vs. And thus shall we enioy the benefite of the sacrifice which Christ our high and onely Priest once offered to his Father We haue proued Christ onely to be our Priest and onelie his body bloud which he once offered vpon the crosse to be the only and vnreiterable sacrifice expiatorie whereby our sinnes are pardoned and we for euer sanctified Let vs now as we promised treat of the institution of the holy supper and so wil we conclude this Treatise The Lord knowing our carelesnesse
our cause which is his because it is the vndeceiueable truth which his maiesty in his holy Scripture hath reuealed Concerning the lies false doctrine of the authority of the Pope the holines of the Masse which our aduersaries maintaine persecuting with fire bloud all those that beleeue it not nor worship it therefore trouble they the world as at this day we see it troubled We assuredly know that it shall perish According to that which the Lord saith Euery plant which my heauenly father hath not planted shal be plucked vp by the roote And we haue the axe which is the word of God put to the root of the two trees the Pope the masse to cut them downe I beseech the Lord our God Christian reader which hath giuen thee a desire and will to be informed to know the causes why we subiect not our selues to the Pope nor wil heare his Masse but rather detest and abhor the one the other that he would please to lighten thine vnderstanding that thou maist comprehend what in these two Treatises haue bin said confirmed not with the sayings of men but of God himselfe of his holy Scripture giue thee such a mind and strength that thou maist wholly depart out from this wicked Babylon which is Rome deliuer thee from all the enormities abominations horrible superstitions and detestable idolatries which Rome hath inuented among which the principal is the Masse These idolatries without doubt be the chiefe cause original and fountaine of all miseries calamities and warres where with they that are called Christians be at this day afflicted For if God in the primitiue Church plagued with infirmities death the Corinthians for the abuses which they had brought into the holy supper the Apostle S. Paul yet liuing which he reporteth in his first epistle that he sent them what shal we say this selfe same Lord wil now do when the malice impiety superstition idolatry haue so greatly increased that the holy supper of the Lord which he instituted and commanded vs in remembrance of him to clebrate haue they wholy conuerted into the prophane Masse of the Pope Truly the abuses of the Corinthes as touching the Supper had no agreement by far with the erronious intollerable abuses which those that are called Christians commit at this day in their Masse And notwithstāding all this Saint Paul speaking to the Corinthians saith vnto thē For which cause many ef you are infirmed and weake many sleepe he wold haue sayd are dead We are not then to maruel if God strong iealous of his honour do chasten at this day such an idolatry as is that which in the Masse is committed with such great warres famine pestilence and which is worse and lesse perceiued a reprobate sense And no other mean there is Christian reader to obtaine pardon for these superstitions passed idolatries to get and keepe the grace of God of whom thou oughtest not only to expect all prosperity goodnesse but to endeuour by all possible meanes to serue him honour him applying thy selfe with all thine heart to all that which pleaseth him which is that which his Maiestie hath ordained and instituted in his holy word flying contrariwise all whatsoeuer may displease offend him and especially all kinds of idolatrie which he more detesteth abhorreth then all other sinnes abhominations and as such doth punish it as in the beginning of the first Treatise we haue declared Such is the Masse fly then from it follow the holy institution which Iesus Christ our king prophet and onely high Priest ordained This is the holy Supper as the Euangelists and S. Paul do shew Do this thē which Iesus Christ ordained commanded vs to doe in remembrance of him as by the mercy of God with all simplicity without all superstition or idolatrie is celebrated in our reformed Church and thou shalt walke aright All they that do otherwise erre God giue thee grace to walk aright that thou be not with this world coondemned And this do he for the vertue merit of the sacrifice with our high and only Priest Christ one onely time offered vnto him To whom who liueth and reigneth with the Father and the holy Spirit be euerlasting glorie and perpetuall power Amen A SWARME OF FALSE MIRAcles and Illusions of the diuell wherewith Maria de la visitacion Prioresse de la Anuntiada of Lisbon deceiued very manie and how she was discouered and condemned Anno. 1588. FOr confirmation of that which in these two Treatises so often I haue said that the Papists confirme their religion with false miracles inuēted by their ecclesiasticall persons or wrought by the Art of the diuell I will here set downe a most true historie deliuered in two popish bookes which by the prouidēce of God came to my hands Out of which with all faithfulnesse as he that must appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ giue an account not only of that hee hath done and said but of that also which he hath thought I haue taken that which I will deliuer Hee that will not beleeue me let him reade the two bookes from whence I haue taken that which I say I name the Authours of these bookes the Printers the yeare and place where they were imprinted as a litle after you shall see Our Aduersaries I wot well would haue buried all these thinges for they open a dore to men to seeke to vnderstand and the truth And that they may vnderstand it I haue put it in writing The Lord which knoweth my desire blesse my trauaile Our Aduersaries hauing no sound proofe to confirme their new articles of faith which they haue made as in very truth there is none haue confirmed them with dreames with fained apparitions and visions of Phantasmes of spirits and of soules come as they say from another world Now I hauing met with a new great and thicke swarme of such things which I found in a Portugal hiue me seemed I should do well by a new familiar and domesticall example which be they that most moue and that none can denie seeing it happened in our countrey of Spaine in the yeare 1588 truly to manifest the same that all the world and chiefly my countrimen the Spaniards for whom I haue taken this paine may hasten to know them and knowing them may abhorre them so may turne to the holy catholike faith true religion of Iesus Christ which is written in holy Scripture This hiue is Maria de la Visitacion Prioresse of the Monastery de la Anunciada in Lisbon who was held so certainly for holy whose hypocrisie false miracles were discouered publikely condemned as we shall after see I hearing much talke of the great holinesse admirable life and maruellous miracles of this womā whom for excellency they called The holy Nunne aduised my countrimen the Spaniards in a booke which I published in the
that they are certayne lost persons and without reformation they taught a grosse error which ought in no wise to be suffered That the holy virgin was conceiued without sin He told them also that they should highly houour an Image of the holy virgin which their Fryars had made by a certaine Arte that distilled teares by the eyes as though it had wept All this at first was beleeued that red bloud was adored As the verie bloud of Christ and was sent to great Lordes as an incomparable Treasure Great concourse there was to the weeping Image So well knew the Dominickes to draw water to their mill that they onely were holden for holie and so caried they all the Almes and deuotions of the people And the poore Franciscans were cast aside and no man made reckoning of them The Franciscans then seeing themselues so despised and perceiuing like people as well exercised in false miracles as were the Dominickes and the rest of the popish Clergie the craft and deceit of the Dominickes vsed great diligence to discouer the villany So much did they that at last it was discouered The foure principal Authors of this Tragedy in the one thousand fiue hundred ninth yeare were burned and the rest were pardoned Those deceauers that so shamelesly make a mockery of religion besides these aforesaid confessed in their torments great abhominations As the papists themselues that wrote this Historie doe witnesse wherein the Pope sending His Legate for this purpose put all to scilence For he feared to loose his ecclesiasticall persons which so great seruice with their false miracles haue done and doe vnto him For well vnderstandeth the Pope their superstitions and Idolatries whereof their religion is full to haue bene inuented or at the least confirmed with like deceipts of fayned apparitions reuelations and false miracles Into this reprobate sence God leaueth them to fall for not reading of the holie Scripture which is the onely rule of the well liuing and seruing of God As his maiestie will be serued But returne we now to our holy Nunne who with ful gale vntill now most happily sayled and set as say the Gentiles on the toppe of Fortunes wheele so much as was possible of small and great Aswell in Portugal as else where was esteemed and reuerenced O how often of her was it sayd Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the pappes that gaue thee sucke Shee nothing wanted in this world to be wholy blessed but that then shee should die O how great a Saint shall hell possesse O how great a Saint hath the Roman Church lost Now that we haue hard the Pro Let vs heare the Contra. From this spouse of Iesus Christ so holie so charitable and so miraculous would the true Iesus Christ not her husband which was the diuell that the Maske of hypocrisie wherewith she was couered should be taken away her abhominations wickednes superstitions Idolatries discouered And so at the end of the admirable yeare 1588. was she condemned as a certaine booke which at the beginning of the yeare following being the 1589. was printed at Seuil doth witnes from whence word for word haue I drawne that I will say against other The title thereof is this A Relation of the holinesse and woundes of Mother Mary de la Visitation which was Prioresse de la Annuntiada of Lisbon and that which was declared in the Sentence which was giuen All the booke will I not set downe but the principall points thereof will I take for my purpose Thus then it beginneth Hauing committed the verification of the woundes and holinesse of Marie Prioresse de la Annunciada of the order of Saint Dominick to the most reuerend and illustrious Archbishoppes of Lisbon and Braga the Bishop de la Guardia the Prouincial of Saint Dominiks order the Inquisitors of this Citie of Lisbon and Doctor Paulo Alfonso of his maiesties Councell The sayd Lordes went to the Monastery vppon the said verification and examination by the testimony of many Nunnes of the sayd Monastery which consentingly declared that the holinesse of the Prioresse was fayned and the woundes painted The information ended the sayd Prioresse was brought before them whom they commaunded to sweare vppon the Masse booke and Christ crucified that shee should say the truth of that should be demaunded of her And if shee so sayd that God should helpe her And if not that the diuell should carry her away Frst how sayd she that she had oft times seene the mother of God And how had she the woundes By the oath she had made she answered That at nine or tenne yeares of age shee entred into the Monastery And after she had made profession being seuenteene yeares olde one day as she was praying to her was it reuealed that God would cherish her And that anonother like day when shee was at prayer came the Angels and put a Crowne of thornes vppon her head which wounded her And many dayes after being in prayer Christ crucrufied apeared vnto her and of the beams that issued from his woundes were those which she had imprinted And Christ whom she called husband oftentimes appeared to her and talked with her and holpe her to say ouer the praiers and that she confessed to this confessor that she said Gloria Patri tibi Spiritui sancto The Confessor told her she should no more say so but Gloria Patri Filio Spiritui sancto as saith the holy mother the Church And in a conference which shee had with her husband she told him that which her Confessor had sayd vnto her And the husband answered she should doe what her Confessor had commanded her The foresayd Fathers seeing she sought each way to make her selfe holy and yet all was fayned as the other Nunnes declared vnto them they perswaded her to say the truth of that which had passed seeing all was fictions and so to them it appeared by information which they had taken and that shee should craue mercie and so would they haue compassion vpon her But she persisting that no other truth there was but that which shee had sayd as her husband well knew they left her Another day in the Visitation which they had with her they tooke hard sope and hot water and well washed her hands and wounds And when they began to do it she fained to haue great paine And after a while that they had washed them the sayd wounds were taken from her And when she saw they were taken away she fell to the earth and began to weepe sigh and craue mercie and cast her selfe at the feete of the sayd Lords who willing her to confesse the truth shee was wearied and dead said she and that they should leaue her till another day and she would confesse the truth and so they left her in guard of the Nunnes charging them on paine of excommunication they should for no cause leaue her alone Another day the foresaid Lordes returned to
the Masse Gen. 14. 18. Malachy 1. 11. Our aduersaries first reason and our answere The Masse is no sacrifice The difference betwene a sacrifice and a sacrament Christ alone the expiatory sacrifice The sacrifice Eucharisticall Mal. 1. 11. Rom. 12. 1. Hebr. 13. 6. Hosea 14. 3 Hebr. 13. 15. Phillip 4. 18. Luke 17. 10. The second third reasons of our aduersaries and our answer Christ did not institute the Masse neither did the Apostles say it The Romistes raise vp false witnesses against Christ S. Peter S. Iames c. 1. Chr. 11. 23. Goncilium Vercelense Priuate Masses forbidden A reason prouing that neither Christ nor his Apostles said Masse Confiteor Hymnes Collect Respons gradu prefac verè dignum Gloria in excelsis Commemoratio defunctoruÌ„ Antif introit Kerie-elison Alleluia c. Agnus Dei Quorum Soleâ—â—itas Sequeâ—ces Sanctus pax Orate pro me Deo gratias Sanctum Sacrificium Hanc igitur Offertorie Vnleauened bread Water put into wine Qui pridie quaÌ„ pateretur Teigitur Commnâ—icaÌ„tâ— Nobis quoque peccatoribus The Masse patched like a beggers cloak The 4. Reason of our aduersaries and our answere Deut. 32. Exod. 23. 3. 4. Esaie 6. 9. Ieremy 25. 1. kings 19. 10. The Church Councel chiefe Bishop may haue erred in the faith Matth. 23. 37. How the church being the piâ—lar of truth may erre 1. kings 19. 18. Esay 53. 9. 1. Pet. 2. 22. Esa 40. 8. Psal 119. 105. The 5. reason our answer Sermone de lapsis The Communion in both kinds in the time of Saint Cyprian Drinke sanctified in the bloud of the Lord. Two sorts of miracles Mat. 3. 16. Ioh. 1. 29. False miracles Mat. 24. 24. â— Thes 2. Sermone de defunctis The sixt reason and the answer All whatsoeuer is in the Masse is poysoned The 7. reason the answer Gen. 14. 18. Heb. 7. 1. c. Epist ad Euagrium tom 3. Heb. 7. Melchisedech in three things was the figure of Christ Heb 7. Psal 110. 4. pssalm 110. 4. Rom. 10. 19. Deâ—â— 32. 21. Esaias 65. Malach. 1. 10. Mar. 16. 15. The calling of the Gentiles Iohn 4. 24. The 8 reason of our aduersaries our answere The propfits of the Masse 7. domages the Masse causeth The 1. domage The 2. domage Rom 10. 4. Ioel 2. 23. Ieremy 2. 13. prayer psal 120. Ioel. 2. 23. Act. 2. 21. Rom. 10. 13. Heb. 12. 17. The third Domage Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 8. 6. 9. 15 12. 24. Rom. 14. 23. Heb. 11. 6. 1. Ioh. 2. 1. Saint Iohn saith not we haue aduocates but an aduocate psal 51. The legend of S. Christopher after the pope himselfe is fabulous Ier. 2. 28. 11. The priest which saith the Masse and the people which heare it commit idolatrie The authority of the popish Priest Scotus super 4. sent Three reasons wherewith they confirm Transubstantiation The answere to the first reason wherwith they confirme transubstantiation Act. 3. 21. The heresie of the Papists The second confirmation of transubstantiation Two maners of eating Christ The one carnall the other spirituall Read the recaÌ„tation which Nich. 2. commanded Berengarius to make which we wil place a litle beneath in answering to the Councels Ioh. 6. 63. Ioh. 6. 60. Ioh. 6. 63. An obsnrditie of transubstantiation The spirituall eating in two sorts 1. Cor. 1. 9. Ephes 5. 30. Iohn 6. 36. Iohn 17. 21. Origin Ierome The sacrament Consisteth in 2. thinges the one earthly the other heauenly Origin snpper Matth. cap. 15. 1 1. Cor 10. 16. 23. 1. Cor. 10. 17. 4 1. Cor 11. 27. 5 1. Cor. 11. 28. Math. 26. 29. Mar. 14. c. Luke 22. 18. 1. Cor. 10. 16. 1. Cor. 11. 27. 1. Cor. 11. 28. It is no sacrament but when it is taken and eaten Rom. 10. 2. Athanasius Mark 16. 6. Act. 3. 21. The hetesie of the papists The hetesie of the papists These crosses with the papists haue their mysterie Blasphemi of the Priest The third confirmation Ireneus Tertullian Origen Ciprian Ambrose Chrystome Augustine Hillary Leo. Damascen Theophilact Auselme Hugo Ricardus de sancto Victore The Councell of Ephesus The Conncell of Veceill The Couucell of Lateran Another councell of Lateran The Councell of Constance Trident Councell Transubstantiation cannot be proued either by Seripture or reason Common consent of the Fathers against Transubstantiation Ireneus Tertullian Origen Ciprian Ciprian Athanasius Basil Dionysius Ambrose Ierome Crisostome Augustine The wicked eat not the body of Christ Leo. 1. Ciril Hesychius Gelasius Gregorie 1. Bertram Two maners of the body of Christ Bernard Theodoret. 363 Bishops in the Councell of Chalcedon Dialogue Iohn 15. 1. Iohn 6. 51. Ciprian What Consecration is Three causes why the fathers haue giuen the name of things figured to the figures Ireneus Tertullian Origen Cyprian Ambrose Chrisostome Augustin Hillarie Damaseen and how much his authority is to be estemed Sermone de de functis purgatory confirmed with wonders Gen. 9. 4. Lib. 4. cap 25. Orthod fideâ— Leo. 1. Transubstantiation can neither be proued by Scripture nor by reason The Councell of Ephesus The Councell of Latâ—ran The Councell of Lateran The Councell of Constance The Councell of Trident. Great wonde In the end of the Treatise shal ye see how the Councel of Trent was celebrated The manner of celebrating the Popish Councels There was neuer mutual coÌ„sent of the Church touching Transubstantiation The 5. domage of the Masse purgatory Masses sold for money according to the prouerbe No peny no Pater noster Thus doing they do contrary to that which the Apostle saith Euill is not to be done that good may come of it Rom. 3. â— The. 3. Credes containe the some of that whicha ChristaÌ„ is to beleeue The. 6. Domage Mar. 14. 23. The heresie of the Papists 1 Cor. 10. 20. Tertullian lib. de resurrect Cyprian Serm De lapsis Chrisostom vppon 2. Cor. â— Ambrose The sacrament taken with handes and in both kynds Ieorme Augustine Gregorie Gelasius The papists be Superstitious Sacrilegious The 7. Domage 1 Gor. 14. 40. 1 Cor. 14. Leuit 11. 3. Deut. 14. 4. Psal 〈◊〉 Iosua 18. Absurdities which the Masse causeth The faithful only receaue the body and bloud of Christ The first absurditie Transubstantiation is the cause that the papists beleeue the mouse c. to eate the body of Christ 10. 6. 53. Tractat. 59. in Iohannem Origen super Math. 15. 11 Saint Ierome vppon Esay Chap. 66. The 2 absurdity The papistes which heare the Masse Communicate not are ex communicate by their owne Cannons The Nouices commonly are little villaines The 3. Absurditie The 4. Absurditie The estimation wherein the pope holdeth his God the Sacrament The pope cast the Hoste into the fire the cause The pope erreth in faith Victor 3. poisoned in the Chalice Thh Archbishop of Yorke poisoned in the Chalice The Emperor poisoned in the Sacrament Impietie The legat by the Popes commandement gaue the eleuation
Transubstantiation among our aduersaries that they hold him not a Christian but an heretike anathematized accursed and excommunicated that doth not beleeue it Wherein to the Councell of Florence held in the time of Eugenius the fourth in the yeare of our Lord 1439. do they great iniurie In this Councell were present the Emperour of Grecia the Patriarke of Constantinople and many Easterne Bishops The Greekes and Latines agreed in this Councell in the difference which they held touching the holy Spirit and in some other things they also agreed but as touching Transubstantiation albeit the Pope did labour them to allow of it yet could they neuer effect it with them And great heed tooke the Greekes that in the letter of vnitie no mention were made of Transubstantiation the which was done to the good liking of the Greeks as in the Bull of Eugenius which beginneth Exultent coeli laetetur terra appeareth wherin he giueth for good to all Christendome that the Greeke and Latine Church had once againe accorded And I surely know had their Transubstantiation bene an article of faith without which there is no saluation the Romane Church did wickedly to admit the Greeks for brothers seeing they openly denyed Transubstantiatiō That which our aduersaries say of the mutual cōsent of the Church touching the article of Transubstātiation here appeareth to be false For neither the Greek nor Eastern church euer beleeued it nor now at this day beleeueth it nor yet did the Latine Church for a thousand yeares space beleeue it Of all this which we haue spoken touching Transubstantiation we conclude that which we say to be truth that he which heareth the Masse is a great Idolater and he which sayth it is a greater The fift Domage which the Masse causeth is that besides the sayd foure domages it maintaineth many abuses as is Purgatorie Concerning Purgatorie say we there is no other purgatorie but the bloud of Christ which purgeth our sinnes By which purgation wee are reconciled with the euerlasting Father The other purgatorie say we which our aduersaries haue forged without the word of God is the head of a wolfe as Doctor Constantine did call it who for the cause of religion of infirmitie age and hard imprisonment among those cruell Canibals and eaters of mans flesh the defilers of the faith in the castle of Traiana died Purgatorie is a common cutpurse that without shame or correction stealeth robbeth and catcheth all what it can to fill the paunches of these idle bellies priests and friers all the ecclesiasticall order For whence haue they so enriched themselues whence is it that they haue builded so many sumptuous Monasteries which seeme rather Castles and pallaces of most rich kings and Princes then houses of begging Friers and poore Monkes who in times past gained their liuing with the labour of their hands Whence haue they founded so many Chappels so manie Trentals so many Masses prayed and sung which they called de requiem but of the foolish perswasion of Purgatorie As the Masse entertayneth Purgatorie so also doth Purgatorie entertaine the Masse The Masse and Purgatorie are euen as two Mules the one rubbing the other The false prophets made an old simple woman beleeue that the soule of her father mother husband daughter or other person whō she deerely loued was suffering most grieuous torments and paines in Purgatory and demanded some reliefe by the Masse or Masses which should be said for it Then the poore old woman taking it from their mouth ioyned peece to peece 68 Blancas which is a ryall went to a Priest and giuing him the tyall for Masses are sold for money besought him to say a Masse with great deuotion for the soule of her father or some other person whom she loued And were the old woman so much more superstitions then went she to a monasterie holding it for certaine that the Fryers liued a more religious and holy life then the Priestes and being come to the monasterie besought the Sextan or potter to cause a Masse with all speede to be sayd The Sextan or porter sayd it should presently bee done Then went out a Father to say the Masse and tooke money of her to whom better had it beene to haue giuen then taken it from her for God knoweth the pouertie that remayned in the house of this old woman and the riches and superfluity that was in the monasterie And a faire thing it was that they sayd it not for her for oftentimes it happeneth that more Masses are receiued for in one day then all the Priestes of the monastery can say in a moneth And this is the cause why they cannot say all the Masses they receiue for But thou wilt say vnto mee Why do these reuerend men take of them more money for Masses then they well can say Me seemeth they rob in doing this which thou sayest Hereunto I answer that they reckon not of this nor make they any conscience thus to rob and deceiue And that which is worse this their theft and robberie do they sanctifie saying that is very well done and that necessity so requireth that the deuotion of the people be not despised Ad the Pope for the cause aforesayd a proueth and maketh good this theft and commandeth them to say two Masses at euery moneths end one for the quicke another for the dead which two Masses saith he are as auayleable as all those how many soeuer they haue omitted to say Did the Magistrates their dutie they would seeke and in the chests of their Monasteries should find such Bulles such mockeries and such licenses to steale Purgatorie haue they made a new article of faith so that he which beleeueth it not is therefore an heretike If it be heresie not to beleeue that which neither in the doctrine of the old or new Testament is confirmed Nor is in any of the three Creedes of the Apostles the Nicen nor of Athanasius being a Summarie token out of the scripture which a Christian ought to beleeue conteyned The 6. domage is that suppose the sacrifice of the Masse or sacrament of the altar As they call it had bene such As they paint it out Yet should it not be wel administred sith the Christian people are defrauded and depriued of the one halfe of the sacrament because they giue them not the sacramentall wine which is the sacrament of the bloud of Christ shed for vs vpon the Crosse when the other halfe is receiued they giue it seldome once in the yeare wickedly with so many superstitions and Idolatries As we haue already proued In bread and wine did Iesus Christ institute this sacrament for the high signification and allusion which the bread and wine holde with his bodie and with his bloud and commaunded his Apostles in the selfe same maner As they had seene him celebrate the supper in memoriall of his death to celebrate it When he gaue thē the bread he said Take