minde and be buried with that honour that fewe of his ranke and sorte was euer before Who could euer haue thought that after such a straunge and a most cruell massacre in France about the yeare 1572. there should haue beene remaining so much as any one Protestant aliue and yet notwithstanding all that crueltie though fewe in number forsaken and destitute of all worldly assurances being brought as it were to nothing haue yet strangely and indeed miraculously lifted vp their heads againe to the terrour and confusion of their proudest enemies Againe how can we conceiue it possible that the citie of Geneua should euer be able to hold out so long against so many intended inuasions and plottes by the Duke of Sauoie entending their vtter ruine and desolation but that the hands of their armies were strengthened by the hand of the mightie God of Iacob their strong redeemer who maintaining their cause against the rage of their enemies compassed them about with many ioyfull deliuerances hiding them as it were a shaft in the quiuer of his most carefull and mercifull prouidence What was purposed and intended by that inuincible Nauie of the Spaniards in 88. the Christiā world can witnesse that it was nothing else but to bring this noble Realme of England into slauish bondage And did not almightie God the sonne stand vpon our gard by getting himselfe honour vpon Pharao and vpon all the Egyptians euen vpon that great Armado which had beene so long in preparing so that their Altar-God their Crucifix God their Capitolian God were not as our God our enemies being iudges sundrie of the souldiours of Spaine confessing that during all the time of the fight at sea Christ had shewed himselfe a plaine Lutherane But let vs looke a litle further into the exceeding fauour of God shewed in particular to the late Queene Elizabeth how many and sundrie times was her dearest blood sought and how neere the bloudie traitours haue beene to the very execution of their diuelish designements some of them and more then once or twice in neerest and priuate places with their murderous weapons in their hands and yet behold how still they were preuented the Lord striking them with such a suddaine trembling of heart and astonishment of minde that they had neuer the power once to lay violent hands vpon her If all this doe not suffice for proofe of the truth on our side and not with the Papists let goddes speciall fauour miraculously shewed to the Kings maiestie that now is and his exceeding blessings vpon this our countrie by his most happie entrance vnto this crowne and successe to this kingdome be to vs as it is indeed an argument that the religion professed this day is the true religion acceptable to God conformable to his word but as God in all ages hath shewed his power in the miraculous and gracious deliuerance of his Church and protection of his holie and eternall truth so did it neuer more cleerely shewe it selfe then in the wonderfull and mighty deliuerāce of our gracious K. Iames the Queene the Prince and the rest of the royall braunches together with the Nobilitie Clergie and the Commons of this Realme by the pouder-Traytors the papists appointed as sheepe for the slaughter And let thus much be sufficient to haue spoken touching the strange and wonderful things which almighty God hath shewed in these last daies for the honour of his Gospell for the better satisfaction of them which as yet stand in doubt whether the Gospel we preach be the onely true Catholike faith of Christ But besides those men which stand at a stay and are not yet resolued which religion I meane ours or the papists is truest ther is risen another generation of men that are of opinion that there is no reall difference between the doctrine of the present Romane church the religion of the protestāts so make a fauorable compromission that the questions of religion betweene vs might easily be accorded which I take to be a thing altogether impossible the Papists standing in such termes of opposition against vs as they doe I remember my selfe preaching at a certaine countrey parish some three yeeres agoe a simple countrey man commeth vnto me and thus beginneth to question with me Syr your preachers make vs simple men of the countrey belieue that there is a wonderfull great difference betweene the new old Religion Pray Sir saith he what oddes is there betweene Our Father and Pater noster None at all said I but onely this that the one is in Latine and the other in English You haue answered right saith he and so I am perswaded that there is no other difference at all betweene the Masse our English Communion but onely that the one is in Latin the other in English And of this opinion it seemeth ther be manie which thinke and are perswaded that our religion and the religion of Rome are all one for substance For satisfaction therefore of them which thinke our English Communion and the popish Masse all one for substance I will set downe certaine reall differences whereby it may euidently appeare that the doctrine of the popish Masse neither hath nor can haue any agreemēt at all with the Lordes supper I speake at this time to men of great vnderstanding knowledge iudge yee what I say First whereas all the seruice and sacraments in S. Pauls time were done in the congregation in a knowne language the whole seruice of the Masse is saide either in the Greeke or Latine tongues not vnderstood of the common vulgar people Christ both gaue bread and likewise commanded them saying Drinke yee all of this the Church of Rome will at no hand suffer and permit the Lay-people to drinke of the Cup calling them Heretikes and Calixtions that desire to receiue the Cup together with the bread in the celebration of the Lords Supper By Christs institution the Priest and the people should both communicate together but in their Popish Masse the Priest is suffered to eate and drinke all alone the people standing by and not partaking the Lords supper with him Christ at his Maundie instituted a Sacrament of thanksgiuing and commaunded vs by eating and drinking to be partakers of his bodie that was wounded and of his blood which was shed the next day for the remitting and pardoning of our sinnes But the Church of Rome hath turned this Sacrament into a Sacrifice And whereas the Sonne of God saide Take this and eate it in remembrance of mee the Church of Rome saith take and offer this to bee a propitiatorie sacrifice for the quicke and the dead Christ tooke the bread in his hands blessed it and gaue it to his Disciples but hee did not say looke vpon it kneele and knock vnto it and worship it with diuine honour all which the church of Rome commandeth to be done in their popish Masse but as Christ took the bread so he left it bread whereas the popish
purchased for vs eternall redemption Heb. 9.12 there needeth no more propitiatorie sacrifice to be made for sinne Where there is remission of sinnes alreadie obtained there is no more offering for sinne there needeth no more sacrifice to be offered Heb. 14.18 But Christ hath beene offered once to take away the sinnes of many Heb. 9.28 and by his owne blood he hath entred once to the holy place to obtaine eternal redēption for vs Heb. 9.12 Therefore the Masse cannot be a propitiatorie sacrifice for sinnes seeing alreadie by the death of Christ we haue remission of sinnes Lastly without blood and shedding of blood there is no forgiuenesse of sinnes Heb. 9.22 But in the daily sacrifice of the Masse there is no shedding of blood for they call their Masse an vnbloodie sacrifice Therefore in the sacrifice of the Masse there is no remission of sinnes and so by consequent the Masse can be no true propitiatorie sacrifice Thus we see how the doctrine of the popish Masse is ex diametro repugnant to the doctrine of the Apostle and to the whole order and institution of the Lords Supper A third very materiall and substantiall point of the Christian Catholike faith impugned this day by the present Romane Church is this that contrarie to the expresse words of our Sauiour Christ thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely thou shalt serue Math. 4.10 contrarie to the commandement which the Angel gaue to Iohn when he fell at his feete to worship him See thou doe it not Reue. 19.10 I am thy fellow seruant and of thy bretheren which haue the testimonie of Iesus worship God contrarie to the examples of Peter and Paul and Barnabas Act. 14.15 Which vtterly refused all manner of adoration Paul and Barnabas renting their clothes crying out to the people of Lycaonia O men why doe ye these things We are euen men subiect to the like passions ye be and preach vnto you that ye should turne from these vaine idolles vnto the liuing God which made heauen and earth and the sea and all things that in them are Act. 10.25 and Peter speaking to Cornelius Who at his first meeting of him fell downe at his feete and worshipped him said thus vnto him taking him vp stand vp for euen I my selfe am a man contrarie to the continuall and constant practise of the ancient Catholike primitiue Church of Christ which as S. Hierō witnesseth did neither worship Sunne nor Moone nor Angell nor Archangell nor Cherubin nor Seraphin nor any other name that is named either in this world or in the world to come least they should serue the creature in steed of the creator who is God blessed for euer contrarie to the determination of Gregorie the great and first of that name who also himselfe was Bishop of Rome and therefore his voice to be accounted as an oracle of God who albeit hee did well like the hauing of images in the Church yet he vtterly condemneth the idolatrous worshipping of them alleaging for proofe thereof the place of scripture before named Lib. 7. episto cap. 109. thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue All this I say notwithstanding the Church of Rome this day euen in this cleare light of the Gospel maintaines and defends the worship and adoration of Angels the worship of Saints departed the worship of the images of the trinitie the worship of the crosse and crucifixe the worship of images which they set vp in their Churches to the intent the people may attribute diuine honour vnto them and lastly the worship of their breaden-God their sacrament of the Altar as they terme it whom they call their Lord and their God crying out to a peece of bread O Lord O God O Lambe of God that takest away the sins of the world haue mercie vpon vs and receiue our praiers And verily were there no other cause to induce all good Christians to depart from the fellowship and communion of the Church of Rome this one doctrine of adoration wherein they teach the common people to call the sacrament their Lord and God and so by giuing the honour of God to a creature that is no God to commit grosse and manifest Idolatrie this point alone were cause sufficient for them to detest both them and their religion for euer Iere. 2.27 For what oddes I beseech you is there betweene those blind Iewes which said to a stocke thou art my father to a stone thou hast begotten me and those wilfull and blind Papists which cry vpon the Sacrament of the Altar in substance a base and corruptible creature Lord I am not worthie Lord be mercifull to me a sinner O Lord O God O Lambe of God receiue our praiers The one sort the H. Ghost hath traduced for a memorable and detestable crew of idolaters and so may we by the like reason and vpon as good ground and warrant condemne all the Papists liuing this day for most vile and shameful idolaters for adoring and worshipping a peece of bread O most horrible idolatrie Tully himselfe being an heathen man could say Who was euer so very a foole De natu deorum as to beleeue the thing he eateth to be his God The very children in Grammer Schoole can tell vs that the heathens that adored Bacchus and Ceres which first found out and taught the vse of breade and wine whereas before they had fed on achornes and dranke water yet notwithstanding they were neuer so foolish or so besotted as to giue godly honour to bread and wine By this then which hath bene alreadie spoken it is clearely proued that there is no compatibilitie betweene Protestancie Poperie and that the diuersitie betweene vs is of so materiall and needfull points that if they be right wee are wrong if wee be right they are wrong both they and wee cannot be both together Catholike members of the true Church The reason why wee cannot account Papists for members of the true Church is because they maintain sundry points which go directly against the Christian faith they doe not content themselues onely with Christ nor with his Sacraments but set vp other mediatours in heauen other doctrines and sacraments on earth Besides that as I haue alreadie proued they adore the creatures of bread and wine in steede of Christ They bow their knees to painted carued images they ioyne nature with grace mans merites with Gods mercies vnwritten verities with holie scriptures their owne satisfactions with the blood of Christ and so directly impugne sundrie fundamentall points of the Christian faith which generally otherwise they will seeme to hold Obiect But I heare some man saying vnto mee if the case be such the differences so great betweene the religion of the Papists and our religion how is it possible that any Recusant papist now liuing can be saued Solut I answer that as in the rebellion which Absolom made against his Father
common people to imitate such vices as they see in their Princes vnder whom they liue And let this suffice to haue obserued in the person of Ahab Touching the people whom the Prophet reproueth in this for their halting consciences and doubling in matter of religion we may see the pronenesse and inclination of mans corrupt kind and nature to the most abominable vice of idolatrie True it is that mans nature at the first had vnderstanding graunted to the end that the truth might be learned by them and the true worship of the one God the onely Lord and maker of all But the diuels malice craftily came in place and caused men to forget their owne estate and the maiestie of God for their owne imaginations So that flesh delighting in her owne deuises hath made vs prone aboue all other faultes to superstition and wicked worshippings Sundrie lawes and ordinances almightie God deliuered to his people to be kept yet concerning none other matter did he giue either mo or more earnest and expresse lawes than those that concerned the true worshipping of him and flying of idolles and images and idolatrie and yet it is strange to consider how the Iewes the onely chosen people of God notwithstanding they were so often and earnestly warned so dreadfully threatned concerning images so many times and so extreamely punished therefore should yet for all this like blinde men without all knowledge and vnderstanding dishonour and diminish the high maiestie of the liuing God by the basenesse and vilenesse of sundrie and diuerse images of dead stones and stockes and mettalles to whom they bowed and gaue worship The meanes how the people of the Iewes fell to such grosse idolatrie was partly by the inclination of their owne corrupt nature and partly occasioned by the gentiles and heathen people dwelling round about them which were idolaters for thus the Prophet Ezechiel testifieth of them that they were wont to say Eze. 20.32 we will be as the heathen and as the families of the countries and we will serue wood and stone We see how the Iewes forced Aaaron afore his brother Moses could descend from the mount to make them a golden calfe Vp say they to Moses Exod. 32.1 and Aaron make vs goddes that may goe before vs. Ezechiel affirmeth that when the Israelites were yet in Egypt they had rebelled against the Lord and had not cast away the abominations of their eyes nor yet forsaken the idolles of the countrie Yea when they were in the land of Canaan they had no sooner tasted of the sweetnesse thereof but when they saw euery hie hill and all the thicke trees they offered there their sacrifices Eze. 20 28. and there they presented their offerings of prouocation there also they made their sweete sauour and powred out there their drinke offerings We may reade and see in the booke of Iudges that notwithstanding God sundrie times most grieuously plagued them for their idolatrie yet still they went a madding after their idolles We see that after the zealous kings Ezechias and Iosias had reformed religion and reduced it to his ancient puritie the people were so prone to the contrarie that immediately the people after their decease returned to their vomite againe Yea when the ten tribes were brought to Captiuitie for seruing God otherwise then he would the tribe of Iuda was not by this their brethrens plague amended nor when they were brought vnder yoke themselues they considered any whit the cause of their distresse which was the forsaking of the Lord their God When they were in Babylon they went as neere as they could to the rites of gentilitie and returning againe into the land of promise vnder Antiochus they fell againe Such is and such hath alwaies been the violent perswasion of errour and such is the force of superstition that assoone as euer occasion is ministred our corrupt nature inclineth to it desiring alwaies of our selues to attemper goddes seruice to our outward senses That blessed impe our late Iosias K. Edward the 6. was no sooner departed this life but the common people of the land as though they had neuer heard of God neuer heard any Preacher that shewed them the good and right way were mad after pilgrimages pardons c with other such idle toyes No maruaile then if al men generally being as wel inclined of their owne corrupt nature to spirituall fornication as to carnall and that the nature of man is no otherwise bent to worshipping of images if he may haue them and see them then to whoredome and fornication in the company of harlots no meruaile I say if so many occasions being ministred partly by the Priests and Iesuites remaining in prisons and lurking in diuerse parts of this kingdome and partly by the comming in of forraine Embassadours into this land which are in right permitted to haue the free vse and exercise of the present Romane Religion there are so many of our people specially of women a sex euer too credulous and apt to beleeue which are like the idolatrous Iewes euen mad in running to heare and see a Priest say Masse which Masse they are strongly borne in hand that it is the most precious treasure and inualuable iewell that euer Christ left to his Church that the want thereof is to be redeemed not onely with the losse of an 100 markes but with the losse of an 100. thousand liues But to speake of the Masse as the truth of the thing requireth and as hereafter I will more largely proue this I say that the popish Masse as now it is vsed in the Church of Rome is a very sea of abominations a gulfe a hel of iniquitie the vilest villaine that euer crept into the Church of God being so many waies derogatorie to the death and bloodshedding of Iesus Christ wherein poore simple soules are forced to attribute diuine honour to a peece of breade which the Papists teach them to call their Lord and their God and also made beleeue that the very hearing of a Masse is auailable vnto them ex opere operato that is onely because it is said and done and lastly that the Masse in all respects of power and vertue is as auailable and effectuall for the remission of sinnes as was the sacrifice of Christ vpon the crosse the absurditie of which positions shall receiue a iust confutation when I come to lay downe such arguments and proofes as may be produced out of the word of God for the disprouing of their daily Sacrifice of their Masse Hauing thus farre spoken of the person of Elias and of the person of Ahab and of the people whom the prophet Elias thus reproueth The thing hee reproueth it remaineth now that I speake of the speciall thing which hee reproueth in them that is their halting betweene two opinions not being resolued whether God were the Lord or Baal Which may seeme the more strange that this people which were the seede of Abraham the Lords owne
Priest takes bread and coniureth it away by breathing vpon it Lastly Christ ordained his last Supper and instituted this Sacrament of his bodie and bloud to this ende that we should continually remember his death vntill his second comming and for that cause it is called Eucharistia And whereas Eusebius saith that Christ commaunded vs to offer vp a remembrance of his death in steed of a Sacrifice the popish church not contēting themselues with this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing wherein we celebrate the remembrance and as Nazianzene calleth it A figure of that great mysterie of the death of Christ they hold that their Masse which they call The daily Sacrifice of the Church is not a commemoratiue but a reall sacrifice not a figure and remembrance of that which is past but the thing it selfe that the sacrifice Christ offered vpon the Crosse and theirs in the Masse is all one that the same bodie of Christ which was borne of the Virgin Marie and which was offered vp vpon the Crosse for our Redemption is the very same euen idem numero with that which is offered vp by the Priest to God the Father in the Masse for the remission of sinnes By these materiall differences which here I haue set downe it is plainely manifest that the popish Masse doth in manie things varie swarue from the institution of Christ as most plainly is to be seene in the 11. cha of 1. Corint vers 23. where the Apostle at large doth describe the whole order and institution of the Lords Supper And thus it is euidently to be perceiued that the Masse as now it is vsed is nothing else but an heape of sinfull deuises and abuses inuented by Sathan and broached by Antichrist to deface frustrate the Lords supper where besides their fruitelesse praiers and superstitious ceremonies their priuate and halfe communion subuerteth the Lordes institution their sacrifice derogateth from his death and bloud-sheading their adoration of bread and wine conuinceth them of hainous Idolatrie But to proue that Protestancy and poperie cannot be reconciled First the Papists themselues bold the differences betweene vs to bee such that it is impossible for any Protestant to be saued Againe all the grounded diuines of the Protestants religion insist vpon the same differēce That sundry points of poperie doe quite raze the verie foundation of Christian religion Marke saith Bishop Iewell to D. Harding What yee were lately and what yee would now seeme to bee what way yee trode then and what way yee treade now the difference is no lesse then betweene light and darkenesse life and death heauen and hell so great a change saith hee would require some good time of deliberation Which asseueration of that worthy Bishop how agreeable it is to the truth and consonant to the practise of the ancient Catholike church and Doctors thereof who would neuer yeeld I will not say in an opinion but not so much as in a forme of speech or in the chāge of a letter sounding against the orthodoxall faith and whether there bee not in sundry fundamentall points of faith great and many differences betweene Rome and vs let it be duely considered by these instances following The first maine point of Catholike doctrine which the Papists goe directly against is the doctrine of free iustification by faith alone which doctrine D. Bishop in his Epistle dedicatory to the K. Maiestie setteth down as a maine heresie that Luther layed for the ground of his religion namely that a man is iustified by faith alone But I demaund of any sober Papist not too much wedded to the preiudice of his own opinion what other or what better foundation could any man lay then that which is already laid which is Iesus Christ which doctrine is the very life and soule of the Church For this was the Catholike faith of the church of Rome when S. Paule wrote his Epistle vnto them that a man is iustified gratis Rom. 3.24 for God a mercie for nothing and that by the grace of God without the workes of the law Quite contrarie to which doctrine of the Apostle the Papists hold iustification by workes of grace auouching that we are not iustified before God onely by the merites of Christ but also by our owne doings affirming that good workes are truely and properly meritorious and the causes of our saluation and that heauen is as truely the reward of good workes as hell is the stipend of euill workes that good workes doe fully satisfie the law of God and worthily deserue eternall life and that good workes wrought and done in the state of grace are so farre meritorious as that God should be vniust if he rendred not heauen for the same charging the iustice of God not in respect of his promise as the Apostle doth but in respect of merite and desert of workes Where we clearely perceiue and see that there is a great difference betweene the Church of Rome and vs euen in the principall Article of our faith touching the Saluation of our soules we beleeuing stedfastly that it is to be ascribed to the merites of Christ they expecting it for the merit of their workes Another substantiall point of the Catholike faith the Papists directly impugne in maintaining a daily reall sacrifice of the body of Christ in their Masse for the sins of the quicke and dead which they hold to be a very soueraigne true and propitiatorie sacrifice in all respects of power and vertue as auailable and as effectuall as was the sacrifice on the crosse for the remission of sinnes For the disproofe of which most wicked and blasphemous assertion there be sundrie arguments and proofes to be produced out of the word of God First if Christ could haue bene offered more then once then must he likewise after haue suffered Heb. 9.25.26 But now in the end of the world he hath appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe Heb. 9.26 Therefore he cannot now any more be offered in the Masse Againe that thing is in vaine and to none effect where there is no necessitie it should be done but to offer vp any more sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead there is no necessitie the reason whereof the Apostle giueth to be this because Christ hath offered one sacrifice and with that one sacrifice and offering vp of himselfe hath consecrated for euer them that are sanctified Heb. 10 12.14 This must then be the conclusion that there is no necessitie why we should offer vp Christ any more for remission of sinnes Thirdly the reason why the Priests of the old law did yearely repeate their sacrifices was this because those sacrifices yearely offered could neuer take away sinnes Heb. 10.11 But the sacrifice of Christ once offered hath sanctified the commers thereunto for wee are sanctified euen by the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made Heb. 10.10 Therefore seeing that Christ by that one oblation of himselfe hath
die the death of those righteous persons and that his latter end might be like vnto theirs This is then the exhortation which Elias giueth to those wauing and wauering Israelites which could not resolue whether God or Baal was to be worshipped if God be the Lord follow him cleaue fast vnto him and serue him with all the desire of your hearts but God is the Lord yea the onely Lord therefore he onely is to be worshipped It is the Lord onely that formeth the light and createth the darkenesse it is he that hath made all things which hath spread out the heauens alone and stretched out the earth by himselfe it is he that can foretell things before they come to passe it is he alone that can say my counsell shall stand and whatsoeuer I will haue come to passe shall come to passe it is he that bringeth Princes to nothing and maketh the iudges of the earth as vanitie yea it is the euerlasting God that hath created the ends of the earth and bringeth out all their armies by numbers and calleth them all by their names And therefore he onely is the Lord. As for Baal if he be a God let him plead for himselfe against him that cast downe his Altar Iudi. 6.31 saith Ioas the father of Gideon after that his sonne had destroyed the Altar of Baal and cut downe the groue that was by it Baal can giue you nothing he can doe neither good nor euill and therefore he is no god though a man cry vnto him yet cannot he answere him nor deliuer him out of his tribulation and therefore he is no God The Papists are much grieued with vs because we will not acknowledge the Sacrament of the Altar to be our Lord and our God and thereupon cast this vniust aspersion vpon vs and falsely charge vs that We call the bodie of Christ an abominable idoll True it is indeed that we call that an abominable idoll Which they terme the body of Christ and vnder that pretence fall downe before it to worship it and call it Lord and God in doing whereof what other thing doe they but make a God of a peece of bread and vnder the name of the bodie of Christ set vp an Idoll in the Church of God But as for the bodie of Christ wee haue euermore confessed with Chrysostome that it is worthie of the highest honour 1. Cor Homil 14. as being inseparablie ioyned to his God-heade in one person sitting now at the right hand of God and wee adore it and worship it euen as the bodie of the sonne of God not onely for the turning of an hand as the Papists vse to do while the priest is able to hold vp the Sacrament and that with doubt of our selues whether wee doe well or no which thing is vtterly vncomfortable and dangerous and full of terrours to the conscience but we worship that blessed and glorious bodie as that blessed Martyr S. Stephen did being in heauen at the right hand of the power of God and therefore without doubt or danger and that at all times and for euer and we belieue and thus wee teach that Iesus Christ euen in the nature and substance of our flesh is the Lord in the glorie of God the Father Howbeit we say Christs bodie is one thing the Sacrament another The Sacramēt is an earthly thing Christs bodie an heauenly thing the Sacrament is corruptible Christs bodie is glorious the Sacrament is receiued into our bodies Christs body is only receiued into our soules and entreth not into our bodies S. Luke reporteth how that the Disciples of Christ being abashed at Christes suddaine presence among them Luk 24 38.39 and through feare supposing they had seene a spirite or Ghost our Sauiour spake vnto them in this manner Why are yee troubled and wherefore doe doubts arise in your hearts behold mine handes and my feete for it is I my selfe handle mee and see me for a spirite hath not flesh and bones as yee see me haue and so shewed them both his hands and his feete Euen so verily the Sacrament it selfe if it could speake would speake in this manner at the time of the eleuation to the standers by why doe such thoughts arise in your harts as to thinke that I am your Lord and God Why stand ye thus gazing thus knocking your breasts and bending your knees to me Handle me taste me and looke vpon me and see whether I haue not all the naturall properties of true bread that is whether I haue not the very forme shape sauour smell colour and weight of bread As for the bodie of Christ it cannot bee broken with hands or grated with teeth or conueied into the bellie as you see that I am The bread of life cannot be felt seene or tasted or discerned by any outward sence as you see that I am and therefore belieue them not which teach you otherwise for I am bread I am no God Quarta Pars. Hauing thus farre spoken of the exhortation of the Prophet Elias wherein hee exhorteth them to be constant in religion and constant in the confession of him which is the onely true God it remaineth now in the last place to shewe vnto you what the successe was which insued vpon the Prophets reproofe which at the first was thus that the people answered him not a word standing in doubt whether hee were the onely God or no. But a little afterwards when they saw how miraculouslie the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked vp the water which was in the ditch 1. King 18.38 being moued with this strange and miraculous worke of God they were sodainly changed in their opinions and falling on their faces cryed out the Lord is God the Lord is God Where we may see that howsoeuer it may be that God permitteth his owne people for some certaine time to fall into manie dangerous errours yet such is his great mercie towards them that first or last he calleth them home againe and will not suffer them finallie to perish as here hee dealt with his owne people of Israell There is no one thing more commonly obiected by Papists against the religion of the Protestants then that as they say wee haue no miracles in our church If your Church be the true church if the doctrine you teach be the true Catholike faith of Christ where bee your miracles say they and where bee those signes and wonders among you which may proue vnto vs that your religion is of God To the which objection I answere with Chrysostome Opere imperfecto Hom 49. that there was a time wherein of olde it was knowne by miracles who were true Christians who were false and where a man might finde the true Church of God indeede but now saith hee the working of miracles is quite taken away and is rather found among them that are false Christians Which