but had in an everlasting remembrance first of all preached a most fruitfull and comfortable Sermon to his Disciples and afterward as he sate at the table with them hee tooke bread into his hands and after he had given thankes to his heavenly Father as his manner was for his corporall gifts but specially for the deare love that hee of his owne meere mercie and free heartie good will bare toward mankind he brake bread and gave bread unto his disciples saying Take yee eat yee this is my body which is betrayed for you Doe this in remembrance of me And as hee tooke the bread and made it a Sacrament that is to say an holy signe figure token and Memoriall of his Body breaking so likewise he took the wine and made that a Sacrament holy signe figure token and Memoriall of his bloud shedding and after thankesgiving to his heavenly Father for the benefits aforesaid he delivered the Cup unto his Disciples saying Drinke of this all ye This Cup is a new Testament in my bloud which is shed for many for the remission of sins Doe this so oft as yee shall drinke it in the remembrance of me And this heavenly banket once done they said grace that is to say they praised God by saying either certaine Psalmes of David or some other thankesgivings and so departed Here is the whole institution of the Lords Supper Now let us compare Christs Supper with your Popish and Idolatrous Masse and see how well Christs doings and yours agree together If ye be the Ministers of Christ and not of Antichtist the servants of God and not of the Divell then will you follow your Master Christ which saith I have given you an example that as I have done so likewise yee should doe Let us now then goe in hand with the matter First we reade that Christ before hee fed his Disciples with the mysticall food of his body and bloud made a Sermon unto them wherewith as with a certaine most wholesome preparative hee made meet the minds of his Disciples unto so worthy a banket giving all faithfull Ministers an example that whensoever they with the congregation doe come together to celebrate the Lords Supper there should be some Sermon or exhortation made unto the people that they might the better examine themselves and the more deepely consider the thing that they goe about And according to the example of Christ not only the Apostle but all the holy Fathers also of the Primitive church used the trade and so did it continue in the Church of Christ till Antichrist the Bishop of Rome had driven Christ out of place and set up himselfe as God Againe till hee had expulsed the Supper of the Lord and set up his owne peevish yea theevish Idolatrous Masse as wee may see in the monuments of the ancient Writers They continued saith blessed Luke in the Apostles doctrine and fellowshippe and in breaking of bread and in prayers And Saint Paul saith As often as ye shall eat this bread and drinke of the cup shew set forth declare and preach the Lords death till he come A practise hereof have we in the Acts of the Apostles where wee reade That upon one of the Sabbath dayes when the Disciples came together for to breake bread so termeth S. Luke the receiving of the Sacrament of Christs body and blood blessed Paul preached unto them and continued the preaching unto midnight And the Sermon ended they brake bread ate thanked God and departed For if the Sacrament of Christ be never so comfortable yet if they bee not known what they are to what use they were instituted what joyfull promises are annexed unto them what they signifie and preach unto the faithfull receivers c. What other things are they to us thaÌ„ the pretious stone was to Aesops Cock A SacrameÌ„t ministred without preaching of the word is but a dumb ceremony a glasse offered to a blind man and a tale told to one that is deafe The Apostles before the ministration of any Sacrament preached and so did the holy Fathers of the primitive Church Saint Iohn Baptist the sonne of the Priest Zachary preached unto the people before hee baptized them Our Saviour Christ a little before his ascension said to his Apostles â—oe and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Here is Baptism the preaching of the word joyned together And as concerning the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood did not our Saviour Christ preach at the institution and ministration of it Are we not also commanded by the holy Apostle that whensoever wee come to receive the blessed Communion the death of the Lord should be preached declared and set forth Did not the Apostles of Christ and all the godly Bishops of the primitive Church observe the same order They considered right well how little the ministration of the Sacraments availeth without the preaching of the Word For as S. Paul saith how shall they believe without a Preacher Faith commeth by hearing and hearing commeth by the Word of God None therefore of the Lords Sacraments ought publickely to be administred without preaching of the word yea that not in a strange tongue but in such a speech as the people understand or else it were as good to speake the words unto a sâ—rt of sheepe or geese as unto them that are gathered together at the ministration of any Sacrament And this meant Saint Augustine when hee said Take away the Word and what is Water but water But let the word bee added to the ElemeÌ„t it is made a SacrameÌ„t Whence hath the water such a power that it should touch body and wash the heart but by the vertue of working of the word not because it is spoken but because it is beleeved The word signifyeth here not only the speaking of Ego baptizote c. or Hoc est corpus meum c. pronounced by the Priest in a strange tongue but the preaching of the word of God uttered by the mouth of the Ministers in such a language as the people understand or else how shall they beleeve It is not the utterance of Gods word in an unknowne speech that bringeth faith but when it is so spoken that it is understood of them that heare it and that faith through the operation of the holy Ghost ensueth which otherwise is cold lyeth idle and worketh nothing in the heart of the hearer for as S. Augustine saith Take away the Word and what is Water but water that is to say take away the preaching of Gods word from the SacrameÌ„t of Baptism which declareth what Baptisme is who instituted it to what use it was ordained what fruits and commodities wee receive by it c. And what doth the water of Baptisme profit I speake concerning such as are come to the use of reason
taken away from thee and the stinking dung of the Pope most miserable cast upon thee Lament thy sinnes O England lament lament Returne to the Lord thy God and most humbly beseech him once againe to looke upon thee with his mercifull countenance to take away these popish dregs to restore unto thee his lively Word and to blesse thee again with the true ministration of his holy Sacraments that thou maist serve the L O R D thy God in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of thy life This doctrine that the Sacrament of the Altar as you terme it is the true naturall reall carnall corporal and substantiall bodie of Christ is the dream of Antichrist the Bishop of Rome and was never received in the Church till Pope Leo Pope Nicholas Pope Innocent Pope Honorius and Pope Vrban through their tyranny brought it in and compelled the Christians with fire and fagot as the manner of the tyrannicall Papists is to receive their abomihable doctrine and yet in all ages God stored up some to confesse the true doctrine of the Sacrament against Antichrist even unto the death Neither is this popish doctrine so ancient as the Papists bragge For it is not much more than five hundred yeares since their gâ—osse opinion of the Saâ—rament began first to be attempted And although Pope Nicholas the second diâ— much in the matter yet was it not thorowly received nor agreed upon untill Pope Innocent the third came which about the yeare of our Lord 1215. kept a Councell at Rome called Latronense I would say Lateranense concilium where were gathered together a swarme of Papists about the number of thirteen hundred pild pates of the which number eight hundred and odde were Monkes Canons and Fryers chickens of the Popes owne brood Last of all came Pope Vrban the Monke in the yeare of our Lord 1264. and he made up all the market For he ordained a Feast called Corpus Christi in the honour of the Sacrament so that ever after that time the Sacrament was no more taken for a signe figure and token of Christs bodie but for Christ himselfe God and man and therefore was it reverenced worshipped censed and kneeled unto as yee teach the people to doe at your unsacred Sakerings and so are yee their schoolmasters to learn them to commit Idolatrie against their Lord God but let us goe foorth with our matter After our Saviour CHRIST had delivered the Sacramentall bread to his Disciples for to eat hee tooke the Cuppe and thanked and gave it them saying Drinke yee all of this For this is my bloud which is of the new Testament that is shed for many for the remission of sinnes This doe as oft as yee drinke it in the remembrance of mee Here CHRIST delivered to his Disciples holy wine I call it holy because it was dedicated and appointed to an holy use which hee made the Sacrament of his bloud And they all dranke of it And here is to bee marked by the way that our Saviour CHRIST afore seeing that there should arise false annointed that would take away from the people the Sacrament of his bloud bade them all drinke of it All all without exception even so many as beleeve on him spirituall or temporall as they call them Are not yee Popish shavelings these false annointed Have you not taken away the Cup of the LORDS bloud from the Lay people and reserved it to your selves alone Doe not ye minister the Sacrament of Christs bodie and bloud to the Lay people under one kinde onely cleane contrary to Christs institution O GOD-robbers O spoilers of Christian mens soules Neither can ye abide that the people should touch your Pope-holy Chalice when they drinke the wine but ye your selves holding the chalice in your own hands give them drinke as though they were babes of three dayes old and could not put the Cuppe to their mouth O tender and jealous nurses In the primative Church and many hundred yeares after as we may see in the monuments of learned men the Sacrament according to Christs institution was received of the people under both kindes untill Antichrist the Biship of Rome by his divellish decree determined the contrary at the Councell of Constance not much more than an hundred years past Pope Gelasius made a godly Decree that those people that would not receive the Sacrament under both kindes should receive none at all but be put away from the Lords Table The Greekes and Bohemes with all that be not under the tyranny of the Pope of Rome and of his wicked Lawes receive the Sacrament under both kinds at this day according to Christs institution Where the contrary is used there reigneth the Devill and the Pope and not Christ and his holy Word But now let us behold your doings After that yee have committed Idolatrie with the sacramentall bread if it be worthy of that name ye fall in hand to consecrate I use still your owne termes the wine with these words In like manner after Supper was done hee tooke this noble chalice that is a lye for Christ never handled that chalice into his holy and worshipful hands and after hee had given thankes to the Father he blessed here fall ye to crossing againe and gave it to his Disciples saying Take yee and drinke yee all of this For this is the cup of my bloud a new and everlasting Testament a mystery of faith w ch shall be shed for you and for many for the remission of sinnes So oft as yee shall doe these things yee shall doe them in the remembrance of me How many words have ye put in here of your owne braine ye shall easily perceive if yee compare them with the words which our Saviour CHRIST spake But for as much as they do not greatly disagree froÌ„ the truth of Gods word I will not strive with you in this behalfe though I would wish you once to deale faithfully and truely in all your doings but specially wheÌ„ you have to doe with God seeing it is written Put nothing to the words of God lest hee reprove thee and thou bee found a lyar After the aforesaid words spoken in hocker mocker yee breathe and blow and shake your head over the Chalice and then yee kneele downe lift up your hands and honour it like most abhominable Idolaters After that yee stand up againe like pretty fellowes and well appointed and taking the Chalice in your hands yee hold it up with heave howe above your heathenish heads that the people also may worship it and bee fellow Idolaters with you and fall into the like danger of everlasting damnation This done yee set the Chalice downe againe upon the Altar and yee cover it with your Corporasse cloath for catching of cold Then once againe kneele ye downe and up againe like dive doppers and kisse the Altar and spread your armes abroad as though
but ye give it to your selves But as Christ gave the bread to his Disciples willing them to eat it in remembrance of his passion and death so ought yee to doe to the faithfull congregation that are present and not like swinish beasts to eate and drinke up all alone your selves and afterward to blesse the people wiâ—h an empty cup as ye doe at your high and solemne feasts But this doe yee not therefore are ye plaine Antichrists Take this bread saith our Saviour Christ. Take it in your hands Hand off say yee Papists Gape and wee will put it in your mouths and feed yee as children use to feed their Iack-dawes Handle so pretious a relique Marry Sir God forbidde The woman peradventure hath lien with her husband all night or the husband with the wife and shall such touch the pretious body of our Lord with their handes Marry Sir God forbid That were a piteous case But yee abominable Whoremasters ye filthy fornicators yee stinking Sodomites ye deceitfull Deflowrers of mayds yee devillish defilers of mens wives yee cankred corrupters of widowes and yee lecherous locusts may lie with your whores and harlots all night and the next day after goe to Masse consecrate make touch handle breake and devoure your God and yet ye defile the Sacrament nothing at all O abominable Whorehunters O monstrous Massmongers Honest Matrimonie after your corrupt judgements defileth the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud but filthy fornication abominable adultery wicked whoredome and stinking Sodomitrie advanceth the dignity thereof O right Chaplins of that filthy Idoll Priapus But come off I pray you what hath the hand more offended than the mouth that it may not touch the Sacrament Are they not both the good creatures of God are they not made both of one substance and to say the truth there commeth not so much evil from the hand as there doth out of the mouth For out of the mouth come Blasphemies cursed speakings evil reportes bannings slanders lies malicious words filthy tales idle talke singing of bawdy ballads c. But from the hand commeth vertuous occupation honest labour painefull travaile getting of thy living helping of our neighbors and almes-giving to the poore But yee are alwayes like your selves that is to say very Antichrists For yee are evermore contrary to Christ. Christ delivered the Sacrament into his Disciples hands and you put it into the Communicants mouths as though the people were not so wise as to put a morsel of bread in their owne mouthes The people are much bound to you that have so good opinion of them Ye make them momes indeed asses louts and your very riding fools God once open their eyes that they may perceive your jugling Ye are well worthy to have your tithes and offerings truely payd yee doe your duty so well Verily they that give ought to find you Masse-mongers withall and to maintaine you in your abominable massing doe nothing else but offend God dishonor Christ tread under foote the pretious bloud of Christ make Christs death of no price maintaine Idolatrie defie the holy Communion destroy the Christian common-weale uphold Antichrists brood cherish Satans Chaplains pamper Priapus pildepates make fat Venus stout stallions enrich Bacchus Sacrificers and nourish such monsters as doe nothing else than murther kill and slay the soules of so many as follow your damnable Doctrine and hant your Idolatrous Masses Let the Christians therefore beware how and upon whom they bestow their goods lest by giving to Massing priests they get to themselves everlasting damnation The doer and maintainer shall receive like punishment He that readeth the practises of the ancient Church shall evidently see that the manner of the godly Ministers at that time was not to put the Sacramentall bread into the peoples mouths as yee doe at this present but to give it them into their hands For it was not then taken and honored for a God as it is now but it was reverently used and taken as an holy and worthy Sacrament of Christ. But what marvaile is it though yee will not suffer the people to handle the Sacramentall bread seeing yee will not suffer the coÌ„municants to touch your Popes holy chalice wherein notwithstanding is not the Sacrament of Christs bloud but only meere wine dedicated and appointed to no godly use Ye are contrary to Christ in all things God amend you Take eat saith our Saviour Christ. Nay say ye Masse-mongers neither take yee nor eat but come heare Masse devoutly see us take and eat up altogether and it is enough for you Fall down kneele worship your Maker that wee shew unto you Honor your God that is hanged up in the pixe over the Altar and so shall yee be good Catholickes and deare children of our mother holy Church If yee come at Easter according to P. Zepherinus commandemeÌ„t and then receive your maker devoutly it is enough for you At all other times we wil receive the Sacrament for you and it shall do you as much good as though you had eaten it your selfe O false and subtile hypocrits O wicked corrupters of the Lords blessed Testament If other men shold eat up your dinners and suppers in your stead as ye eat up the SacrameÌ„t from the people ye should not have so fat panches as yee have nor yet so frie in your grease as you doe Christ delivered the Sacramental bread to his Disciples and bade them eate but yee eat up all your selves and will give no man part with you O cankred carles O churlish chuffes And here may we note by the way to what end the Sacramental bread is ordained not that it should be kneeled to nor honored as a God nor gazed on nor carried about in popish pompous processions nor offered up for a sacrifice for the sins of the quick the dead nor yet to reserve it to hang it up in the pixe over the Altar as yee Papists doe but that it should be received and eaten of the faithfull Communicants at the Lords Supper in remembrance of CHRISTS death Take eat saith our Saviour Christ. Hitherto have wee heard that your peevish popish private pedlary pelting masse agreeth with the Lords blessed Supper and holy Communion nothing at all Let us now see how well ye behave your selves in the words of Consecration as yee call them wherein after your opinion hangeth all the matter Christ said This is my bodie which is betrayed for you Doe this in the remembrance of me Now let us behold your consecration Taking the little Cake in your hands yee say these words The day before hee suffered hee tooke bread into his holy and worshipfull hands and lifting up his eyes unto heaven to the God his Father Almightie and giving the thanks he blessed brake and gave to his Disciples saying Take and eat of this all ye For this is my body The Author of these words as
ground straightwayes And then welcome again hard fare greasy cap threadbare gowne broken shooe torne hose empty purse and all that beggerly is Make much therefore of praying for the dead and wish that your Masse which of late yee have to your great joy recovered againe may long continue in her great prosperty or els your cake is dough and all your fat lye in the fire What shall I speake of dancing of your little great God about the Chalice with Per Ip cum Ip In Ip Sum which followeth the praying for the dead That is so holy a thing that it is called the second Sakering and may by no meanes bee left undone Your Childe must needs bee dandled and playd withall a little while least hee chance to sleepe too long After that yee have layd your young God to rest againe you say your Pater noster like good devout men That done yee take up the patine of the chalice and afterward yee crosse your selves withall both upon your brests and upon your bald crownes and lay it downe againe I thinke yee doe this either to fray away spirits or else to enarme your selves with the signe of the croose that they may bee the more able to bring to passe your butchery that is now at hand For straightwayes yee strike up your sleves yee uncover the chalice yee lay downe the Corporasse cloth ye take up your little God yee hold him up over the chalice and ye cruelly teare plucke and breake him in three pieces according to Pope Sergiâ—s commandement about the yeare of our Lord 700. When yee have so done ye keepe two parts of your Christs body which yee your selves made and have now destroyed again in your hands holding them over the chalice and the third part yee let downe into the wine that it may bee the tenderer when yee eat it The myâ—ticall mysteries hereof I declared a little before Then doe ye say the Agnus which Pope Sergius also commanded that it should bee said at Masse a little before the receiving of the host And here againe yee play the abominable Idolaters For looking upon the bread yee looke your selves and worship it saying in Latine Agnus Dei qui tollis c. O Lambe of God that takest away the sinnes of the world have mercie upon us Thrice doe yee call that Bread which yee hold in your hands the Lamb of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world O intollerable blasphemy Was there ever Idolater that worshipped a piece of broken bread for God What marvell is it though the Iewes the Turkes and all other Infidels bee so loth to come to the Christian religion when they see so manifest Idolatrie committed when they behold a piece of a thinne wafer Cake honoured for God Certainly this abominable Idolatry which yee Masse-mongers maintaine and commit at your Masse hath beene and is the occasion that innumerable thousands have beene and are daily damned Yea these your wicked doings are the cause why so many doe abhorre the Christian religion defie the Name of Christ as wee reade of a certaine Emperour of Turky which when hee was demanded why hee and his people did so greatly abhorre the Religion of Christ answered that hee coead by no mulnes approove or allow the religion service and honour of that God whom men at their pleasure doe make and straightwayes eat him when they have done Better were it for you O ye Masse-mongers to have a Mil-stone tied about your neckes and to be cast into the sea than thus with your abominable massing and God-making to drive so many from Christ and provoke so great multitudes unto Idolatry and finally unto everlasting damnation and with what a conscience can yee say to the bread which is a dumbe and insensible creature without all life or spirit O Lambe of God which takest away the sinnes of the world have â—â—ercie â—pon us Is that bread which a little before was corn in the Plough-mans barne meale in the Millers trough flower in the Bakers boulting tubbe and afterwards tempered with a little water and baked of the waferman betweene a paire of hot printing irons come now suddainely through your charming unto such dignity that it is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world that men must pray unto that to have mercie forgivenes of sins O Lord thou living God have mercie upon us and destroy this abominable Idoll of the masse In the worshipping of Baal Astaroth Moloch Bel-Peor Melchom Dagon Chames the Queene of heaven Saturnus Iupiter Priapus Iuno Venus and such other Idolls was never so great a blasphemy and dishonour to God as is the setting up of this broken bread to bee worshipped for God And the matter is so much the more to bee abhorred because yee colour your abominable Idolatrie with Gods word Faigned holines saith Saint Gregorie is double iniquity Ah is that polluted and defiled bread the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world Then was that your bread also borne of Mary the Virgine and nourished with the milke of her breasts Then did that bread live upon the earth speake eate drinke sleepe preach woâ—ke miracles c. Then was that bread betrayed accused beaten buffeted spitted on crowned with a crowne of thornes clad wtâ—h a garment of purple crucifyed and nailed to the Crosse. Yea then did that bread offer himselfe on the Altar of the Crosse a Sacrifice to God the Father for the sinnes of the world dyed and rose again for our Iustification Hath your broken bread done all these things Christ the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world hath done all these things alone alone Bee ashamed once Oye wicked Papists thus to blaspheme God and to deceive the people through your abominable Massing Again is grace mercie favor and remission of sins to bee craved of these fragments of bread which ye hold in your hands So is it that true living immortal and everlasting God which hath bin without beginning which made heaven earth and all things contained in them For none can forgive us our sins but God alone Hath your broken bread bin without beginning hath it made al things Yea it is a creature it selfe vile and devillish as yee use or rather abuse it Be ashamed O ye shamelesse hypocrites thus to deface the glory of God and to leade the people in damnable blindenesse Shortly after the Agnus yee kisse the Pax whch was the ordinance of Pope Innocentius in the yeare of our Lord 310. And while the boy or Parish Clerke carryeth the Pax about yee your selves alone eat up all and drinke up all Ah what riding fools and very dolts make yee the people yee send them a piece of wood or of glasse or of some metal to kisse and in the meane season yee eat and drinke up all together Is not this a pageant
you cleane contrary to Christs institution And yee may justly be cal'd lecherous priests For ye abhorre godly and lawfull matrimonie and ye defile your selves with all kiâ—d of stinking whoredome and abominable Sodomitry Maids ye deflowre mens wives ye defile and widowes doe yee corrupt besides much other abomination which chast eares abhorre to heare Men meete to consecrate such a God and fit champions to say such divellish Masses GOD give you grace once to leave this most detestable wickednesse Moreover was not the Sacrament of CHRISTS body and bloud ordained to move and stir all men to friendship love and concord and to put away all hatred variaÌ„ce and discord and to testifie a brotherly and unfained love betweene them that be the meÌ„bers of Christ. But what friendship or love can bee maintain'd at that ministration of the Sacrament where one eateth and drinketh all alone as ye do at your Masses If it bee a Sacrament of Charitie and Love then ought the members of Christ charitably and lovingly to eat and drinke the Lords Supper together as the Apostle saith Wee are all partakers of one bread and of one cuppe and not one to devoure all alone For charitie consisteth not in one alone but in many And the Lords Supper is called a Communion and not an Union Therefore yee Masse-mongers grievously offend which contrary both to the commandement of CHRIST and the order of Charitie at your Masses eat and drinke up all alone and by this meanes yee make the the Lords Supper a Sacrament rather of hate and dissention than of love and unitie And heere commeth into my remembrance an History of a Christian of a Iew. The Christian perceiving the Iew to bee an honest civill man faithfull in his promise and upright in his dealing toward all men sorrowed greatly in his heart that hee was not also of the Christian beleefe The christian thinking that the most ready way to bring the Iew unto Christ was to leade him to church that he might there heare and see how well God was served among them desired the Iew upon a certaine Sabboth day to goe with him unto the temple of the Christians nothing doubting but if hee would so doe hee should bee allured to give over his Iewish opinions and to become a christian man The Iew consented and went with him to church where he quietly saw and beheld all things He heard iolly ringing pleasant singing and merry organs playing Hee beheld a sort of gay gawdy mawmets and a number of merry fellowes in the quire singing sometime high sometime low sometime in a meane and sometime nothing at all Hee saw also a fellow with a shaven crowne going up and downe in the church and casting water in the peoples teeth and afterward having a iolly coat upon his backe he saw him goe about the church-yard after an Image all the people following him After all these things hee saw that shaveling cast off the gay-coat againe and put on other game plaiers garments so to addres himselfe unto an altar covered with white linnen cloathes wherupon was set as hee thought meate and drinke for he saw the cup there After much singing and piping he saw the sacrificer that stood at the altar lift up a little thin round cake a cup of drinke above his head Here will bee good cheere thought the Iew anon for here are iolly signes proffers But when he saw the people fall downe worship the bread and cup hee marvailed greatly at their madnes Masse ended hee looked alwayes when the people should have beene called to eat and drink with Hicke-scorner that heaved the bread and cup over his head but no man had part with him He devourd all alone like Sim slap sauce when they were departed out of the church going home ward the christian willing to prove how the Iew was affected toward the christian religioÌ„ said unto him Sir how like you our religion and serving of God To whom the Iew answered ye have in the temple many things that would make a sad man glad and one that is sorrowfull cheerefull I meane your thundring of bells your playing on the organs your merry singing the casting of water in the peoples teeth and your running one after another about the church-yard like the Prior of Pricklingham and his covent All these things seeme to be matters of mirth used among you as I thinke onely to make you merry But the having of Idols in your temples I do not allow I see you also fall downe and worship a peece of bread and a silver cup which I iudge high abomination and damnable Idolatry And another thing there is used in your temples which I also do nothing like What is that quoth the christian I will tell you said the Iew. Yee talke cracke and boast much of charity but I say right well that there is little used among you For there was an Altar spred with fine white cloths and meat and drinke as I suppose set upon it I alwaies looked when ye should have beene called to eate and drinke together according to the order of charity but that shaveling that stood at the altar in the gay coat did both eat and drink all alone giving you no part with him which is a token of small charity friendship among you Certs you shal redresse these great vices and have more charity among you before I become one of your order And so the Iew refused to be made a christian God have mercy on us Among many other notable faults which the Iew perceived in our Temples this was not the least that one standing with his backe toward the people at an altar did eat and drink al alone giving no man part with him which is a token of small charity and friendship as the Iew said Verily the private masse wherin the sacrament of Christs body and bloud is too much abused hath beene and is the cause that many at this day doe abhorre the name of Christ and utterly condemne the christian religion God for his mercy drive this Idolatrous masse out of this realme once againe and restore unto us the true use of his holy Supper Amen Amen But let us see what followeth in your Popish masse and make an end When the Boy or Parish Clarke commeth againe with the Pax yee hold forth your chalice like Sir Ralph Rinspitcher for a little more drinke And when yee have once drunken up that yee hold forth your Goddard yet once againe to have a little more swill No marvell For peradventure ye fell the night before into a great heate while you kept company with your toying Thais and therfore no marvell silly soules though you drinke solemnly But O good Lord what wiping of the mouth and licking of the fingers is there then It would doe a woman good to see how cleanly Sir Iohn Sweet-lips is And yet not so contented yee goe to the Altars
THE DISPLAYING of the Popish Masse wherein thou shalt see what a wicked Idoll the Masse is and what great difference there is between the Lords Supper and the Popes Masse Againe what Popes brought in every part of the Masse and counted it together in such monstrous sort as it is now used in the Popes Kingdome Written by THOMAS BECON and published in the dayes of Queene MARY Psalme 73. They that forsake thee O Lord shall perish and all them that commit whoredome against thee thou shalt utterly destroy Ier. 15. Fly away from Babylon let every man save his life that yee be not rooted out with her wickednesse For the time of the Lords vengeance is come Apocalyps 18. I heard a voice from heaven saying Come away c. Matth. 15. Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up by the roots LONDON Printed by A. G. for the Company of Stationers 1637. Cum privilegio R. P. D. D. IOANNES PARKHURSTUS Episcopus Noruvicensis ad Thomam Baeconum Vidi perlegi doctos Baecone libellos Quo tua nonpridem sancta Minerva dedito Dispercam siquid legi unquam sanctius aut si Quid potuit populo tradier ut liu◠Auspice perge Deo tales vulgare libellos Variloquax sed nec lingua timenda tibi est Sic Christum possis avido iaculare popello Sic possis nomen condecorare tuum The displaying of the Popish Masse IF I were not led O yee MASSING Priests with a naturall and fervent affection toward this our common country which as a most tender mother hath tenderly brought me forth and as a most loving nurse hath hitherto sweetly embraced kindly fostered and carefully kept me up whose destruction and utter desolation if provision betimes be not made I see unfainedly to be at hand againe if I were not moved with very pitie and tender compassion towards you my country-men greatly lamenting and even from the very heart bewailing the miserable and wretched state wherein at this present yee stand perceiving also your dreadfull damnation besides the corporall plagues which with other ye shall suffer not to be farre off except yee shortly repent turne unto the Lord our God and leave your abominable Idoll service I would chuse rather quietly to goe forth in giving my minde to the studie of the holy Scriptures according to my profession and in calling on the Name of God by fervent prayer for the redresse of the great abominations which now of late dayes as most fierce outragious flouds have violently burst in overflowed and utterly deformed the Christian Common-weale of this our Realme of England than breaking off my present studies to take upon me at this time to write unto you and especially of such a matter as some brainsicke persons straightwayes will condemne as hereticall but all wil judge it superfluous seeing the matter whereof I entend to write doth but a little agree with the common opinion of religion yea rather superstition that is now received among us against the which to strive who will not count it a thing of great folly being so defenced not onely with Lawes and Statutes but also with the power of the head rulers with the wily subtilties of the fleshly hypocrites and with the consent of the grosse multitude as I may speake nothing of the untowardnesse yea rather frowardnesse and malicious madnesse of a number of you Masse-mongers to whom these my Letters bee directed which have been so rooted from the beginning of your greasie Priest-hood in this wicked kinde of massing taking it for most perfect pure true sound godly and Christian Religion and have found so great ease quietnesse lucre gaine and advantage in it that it shall be more easie except God setteth to his helping hand to make a man of Inde white than to plucke many of you from your old accustomed and cankered trade so hard a thing is it to use an old dogge to the reine or to cure that disease that is bred in the bone But notwithstanding having a good opinion although not of all yet of some of you which sinne not of obstinate malice against the truth but of simplicitie ignorance and blindnesse offend for lacke of better knowledge whom also peradventure God hitherto hath suffered to remaine in errour that he now at the last thorow the riches of his mercy might bring you into the glorious light of his blessed Gospell and make you of Sauls Pauls of ravening wolves faithfull Shepheards of cruell persecutors Christian Preachers of abominable Idolaters true worshippers of God that by this meanes ye may beleeve and be saved I will attempt even for your sakes even to the uttermost of my power as time shall serve to declare unto you my minde concerning the great abuse yea the abominable Idolatry which ye commit in the most wicked and Divellish Masse while yee take upon you contrary to the Word of God to defile the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and bloud to minister it in your Masses unto your selfe alone contrary to Christs institution to offer it for a sacrifice unto God for the sinnes of the quicke and dead to avouch it to bee of no lesse excellencie price dignitie efficacie might vertue and power than the sacrifice which our Saviour Christ offered on the altar of the Crosse and to make a shew of it to the people that they may fall downe and worshippe it as a god yea God himselfe Creator and maker of all things that yee having the knowledge of these your errors may from henceforth cease to offend the Lord our God give over your Idolatrous massing repent you of your former life and become godly Ministers in the Church of Christ unto the glory of God and the profit of his holy Congregation And that wee may the better discerne the truth from the falsehood and the prophanation of the Sacrament from the true ministration thereof I will compare Christs doing in this behalfe and yours together that when ye shall perceive how farre ye dissent and swarve from the truth ye may forsake your errour and follow no more the trifling traditions of Antichrist the Bishop of Rome and of his adherents but rather embrace that Godly and faithfull order which our Saviour Christ hath set and appointed in his holy Word for the due Ministration of his blessed Communion It is not unknowne to you that the Lord Iesus after he had eatē the Paschall Lambe with his Disciples according to the Law of Moses that same night wherein hee was betrayed knowing that the time appointed of his heavenly Father frō everlasting wherein he should offer himselfe a sweet smelling sacrifice to God for the sinnes of the world was at hand and willing to leave behinde him a memoriall of his glorious Passion and precious death to his holy Congregation that the fruits commodities and benefits which the faithfull penitent sinners have by the offering up of his blessed bodie should not be forgotten
Authors For it is an hotch-potch devised made by a number of Popes and by others also It is a very beggers cloke cobled clouted and patched with a multitude of popish ragges And yet the Papists affirme it to bee the holiest part of your Masse And it may soone be For there is not one part of the Masse that can worthily be called good as it is used at this present All things are so far out of order without edifying and contrary to Gods holy ordinance The authors of this their goodly and godly Canon they make Pope Aleâ—ander Pope Gelasius Pope Gregory Pope Sixtus Pope Leo and a certaine man called Scholasticus with other And here beginne yee wonderfully to crosse and to pray for the Universall Church first for our LORD Pope secondly for the Bishop of the Diocesse wherein yee dwell thirdly for your King and Queen last of all for all those that be of the Catholike faith And now come yee to your first Memento which serveth for the living where yee stand nodding like a sort of drunkards and praying yee say for all your good friends and benefactors for all that uphold and maintaine the kingdome of the Clergie and defend our mother holy Church against the assaults of the Gospellers and here ye alledge a sort of Saints and ye desire that for their merits and prayers sake yee may bee saved and preserved from all evill O abhominable blasphemers This done yee fall to crouching and beholding the little cake and chalice speaking a few little good words in Latine yee blesse and crosse wonderfully the cake and Chalice as though they were haunted with some ill spirits While yee are thus blessing the boy or Parish Clerke rings the little Sacry bell which biddeth the people lay all things aside now and lift up their heads behold their maker kneele down and worship their Lord God which Sir Iohn shall straight-wayes make with as much speed as may be and shew him unto them above his head Before it was Sursum corda Lift up your hearts unto the Lord but now is sursum capita come in lift up your heads and looke upon your maker betweene the priests hands with his arse turned towards you because no woman at that present shal be inamored with his sweete and loving face Come off kneele downe looke up knocke your brest behold the apple-maker of Kent and marke well him that killed thy father This is the Lord thy God Let us fall downe and worship him O unsufferable Idolatrie Notable is the doctrin of the Nicene Counsell which commandeth that wee shall not direct our mindes downeward to the bread and cup but lift them up to Christ by faith whith is ascended up into heaven really and corporally and not present carnally in the Sacramental bread as the papists teach Christ while we live in this world is not to be seen with the eyes of this body but of the spirit by faith If we wil see and worship Christ aright we must see and worship him in spirit sitting in his glory and majestie above in heaven at the right hand of God his father and not behold him in the Sacramentall bread with the corporall eyes where nothing is to be seene felt tasted or received with the mouth but bread onely But before wee come to your consecration to your Sacring and to the lifting up of your litle great young old God we will first see what Christ did afterward compare your doings with his Christ sitting at the table tooke bread and after hee had given thankes he brake the bread and gave it to his Disciples for to eat Christ sate at the table yee stand at an Altar Christ tooke bread to make it a Sacrament of his body yee take a little thinne round Cake or rather a thinne piece of starch to make it the naturall body of Christ God and man and to offer it for a Sacrifice for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead Christ delivered the bread to his Disciples to eate it in the remembrance of his death ye take the bread and hold it up above your head and make a shew of it to the people and when yee have once so done ye alone devoure and eate it up Christ brake the bread signifying thereby the breaking of his body on the Altar of the Crosse for the Salvation of the world according to this his promise in the Gospell of Saint Iohn I am that living bread which came downe from heaven If any man eateth of this bread hee shall live for ever And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Ye breake the bread also which yee say is the naturall body of Christ flesh bloud and bone But very fondly ye breake it For yee breake your Host I use your own tearmes in three parts holding it over the chalice while you breake it I thinke because yee would lose none of the bloud that should issue out of the body which ye newly have made and now suddainely yee breake and destroy againe When ye have broken your new formed God in three parts two pieces you keepe still in your hands for flying away and the third yee let fall downe into the chalice to lie there awhile a sleeping or to put you in remembrance of your nappy Ale and Tost which your pretty Parnell hath full lovingly prepared for you against your Masse bee done lest you should chance to faint for taking so great paines at your butcherly altar Many significations have the Papists invented for those 3. broken pieces of the cake which all here to rehearse were too long I will rehearse one and if yee desire to know more enquire of your brethren the Papists and they shall easily teach you The first part say they which is both the longest and the greatest doth not onely signifie but also is a Sacrifice of thanksgiving to God the Father for his benefits declared to mankinde in the death of Christ his sonne The second is a Sacrifice propitiatory for the sinnes of the people that â—ee living in this world but specially for the sinnes of such as have bought the Masse for their money that they may bee delivered a poena culpa toties quoties The third piece which is let downe into the chalice is a satisfactory Sacrifice for the soules that lie miserably puling in the hot fire of Purgatorie to deliver them from the grievous paines and bitter torments that they there suffer and through the vertue and merits of that Sacrifice to bring them unto everlasting glory O intollerable abomination Here is the breaking of your Host with the goodly mysteries thereof Christ say the Evangelists took bread brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body which is broken for you Doe this in remembrance of me Yee also take bread and breake it