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
denote that this Incense and offering is not to be carnal but spirituall What agreement hath this with the Masse Which is a diuelish inuentioÌ„ prophaneth the holy supper Other places of the scripture alleage they for confirmation of their Masse But with as great faithfulnesse and as much to the purpose As these two of Mechilzedeck and Malachy which by that is said may easily be answered The 8 reason wherewith our aduersaries do magnifie their masse is for the great good profit that therof they receiue And of al these reasons others such like which they alleadge they coÌ„clude vs to be heretiques dogs worse theÌ„ Iewes Turkes Because we so shamelesly speake against the Masse which Iesus Christ instituted his Apostles said all the Church Catholike vnto this day hath celebrated c. They say then that besides the oblatioÌ„ and sacrifice which Iesus Christ hath made vppon the Crosse of his body and of his blood for remission of our sinnes to reconcile vs with God and to obtayne for vs life eternall hee hath ordayned the Priestes which be successors of the Apostles to consecrate in the Masse the bread and wine to transubstantiate it in the body and bloud of Christ to sacrifice and offer vnto God the father that body and that blood for the remission of our sinnes and to obtaine all that is necessarie for vs both in body soule And what greater good then this say they can be This sacrifice say they also doth much profit the dead to allay the paines which they haue to suffer and doe suffer in purgatory As we cited before of the dead maÌ„s scul of Macharius reported by Damascen Who so lusteth to knowe the profits of the Masse Let him read the Spanish houers he shall find very many Amongst others there mentioned be these which follow as much worth is the masse as is the passion of Iesus Christ Also that he which heareth it waxeth not old whilst he heareth it Also that hee shall not loose that day the light of his eyes Also that he shal not die an euil death also that he which shal haue seen the body of the Lord if that day he shal die sodenly that it is taken for comunicating he may not feare to be condemned And al this say they that S. Iohn Chrisostom S. Augustine S. Ierom say for they knew how to raise false testimonies These Articles of faith haue the inquisitors of our countrey of Spaine many yeares ago yeelded to goe among the houers which coÌ„monly are praied And if now they haue caused theÌ„ to be taken away and not suffered them to be printed in this yet doe they shew their ignorance that for so many yeares they haue suffered and commanded that with their license they should print them The cause that they now fall in account is that so grosse and abhominable lies more serue at this day to make wary the people then to deceaue them And therefore permit they such things more to be printed We say then that the Masse procureth vs no good at all but great mischiefe rather As after we shall see Now that we haue answered to the reasons wherewith our aduersaries thinke to mainetaine their Masse for more confutation thereof we will now likewise set downe some notable domages which it causeth and great aduersaries which necessarily follow the popish Doctrine of the masse And I will not be much curious in seting down here al the domages absurdities which follow of the masse for that should be neuer to end Only wil I set down such as most fitly come to mind for the preseÌ„t I say then that the Masse causeth many domages First it prophaneth the holy supper of the Lord suppressing and despising his death passion 2. In it they inuocate the dead saints 3. In it dead saints are placed for intercessors 4. The priests that saith it holde hee intention to consecrate or not and the people that heare it commit idolatrie Fiftly The Masse mainetaineth many other abuses besides the Idolatrie of transubstantiation As the worshipping of Images and the inuention of Purgatorie which is a common cutpurse Sixt. In the masse defraud they the people of the halfe of the Sacrament and this halfe doe they giue seldome and wickedly Seuenthly And put case the Masse were good yet is it said in a straunge Language which the people vnderstand not and with such gesture mouing childish toyes apish fopperies that rather prouoke laughter then deuotion These seuen domages wee proue by the same order as we propounded them And that the masse derogateth from the passion of Christ is clerely sene For the Masse which for this cause was ordayned that a hundred thousand sacrifices should euery one day be offered what doth it pretend but that the passioÌ„ of Iesus Christ wherin he offered himseâ—â—e and this once by one only sacrifice remaineth buried and cast in a corner Who will thinke to be redeemed by the death of Christ when he shall see a new redemption in the Masse Who will beleeue his sins to be pardoned by the death passion of Christ when he shal see a new remission of sins in the Masse Inuocation is a high worship seruice which is only due to God For in him only we beleeue how saith S. Paule shall we call vpon him in whom we haue not beleeued So that inuocation presupposeth faith such a faith as is founded vpon the word of God the Nicen creed they sing in their Masse which beginneth Credo in vnum Deum I beleeue in one only God If in one only God we ought to beleeue one only God ought we to inuocate The which inuocation being done in faith God promiseth that he will heare it Whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord saith Ioel shall escape c As S. Paule Rom. 10. 13. and Saint Peter Acts 2. 21. doe interpret it shal bee saued Also that only God ought to be inuocated is by this reason proued Sacrifice is only due to the true God this our aduersaries will not deny inuocation is a sacrifice As saith the Psal 50. 14. Sacrifice vnto me praise or as saith the common edition The sacrifice of praise The sacrifice of praise commendeth the Apostle Hebr. 13. 15. and Hosea 14. 3 that we shal offer to God Therefore Inuocation sith it is a sacrifice to God onely ought it to bee offered But our aduersaries forsaking the fountaine of liuing waters haue digged them broken cesternes which can holde no water They leaue to call vppon God and inuocate the Saints And Saints sometime also that it is not knowne who they bee and some of them it may bee that are burning in hell An example haue we hereof in the prayer of S. Roccus which togither with the Crowne of our Lady in the 1581 yeare was printed in the house of Iohn Gutierres in Siuell The praier saith thus God which
for otherwise one may and ought to pray to God for another And so S. Paul recommendeth himselfe to the prayers of those to whom hee wrote that they should pray to God for him And the same Apostle besought God for them Should the Priest say that in saying his Masse he so prayed to God as the Apostle prayed for them to whom he wrote such a prayer were it done in faith should be good But to presume to be an intercessour and to sell his sacrifice for as much vertue and efficacie as the death and passion of Christ it selfe This is intollerable ouermuch pride Let them begin to hūble thēselues to giue glory to God who only pardoneth sins this doth he by the only intercession of Christ by the vertue of that only sacrifice which he once no more offred to his father The fourth domage which we say the Masse worketh and this passeth and ought no way to be supportted That is the Priest which sayeth it and the People that heare it commit Idolatry How great a sinne is Idolatry and how much more God abhorreth it then any other we haue already declared in our first Treatise The Priest ordayned for the Masse say our Aduersaries hath authoritie and power from Christ and his vicar the Pope that in saying the words of consecration as they call them Hoc est enim corpus meum so that hee say them super debitam materiam ouer a competent matter and with intention to consecrate he changeth conuerteth transformeth and transubstantiateth this last word is it that best pleaseth them the bread into the body of Christ and the wine into his bloud In such sort that be the Priest what ye will liue hee a letcher in mortall sinne as the most part of them do be he the greatest and most infamous villaine of the world yet for al this say they that this authoritie he hath to bring Christ from heauen in finishing the words Hoc est corpus meum and to put him into the place where the bread and wine were so that no more bread nor no more wine remaine for the substance of the bread and of the wine is vanished and gone to nought but the body and bloud of Christ the which is there trulie really corporally and carnally these be their proper termes as bigge and as great as corpulent and as large as hee was vpon the crosse when hee dyed for vs sinners This is their doctrine And because we beleeue not these straunge things which be contrarie to the word of God and contrarie to that which the ancient Doctors haue taught as we will prooue it they condemne vs for heretikes they persecute vs most cruelly with fire and bloud worse then were wee Iewes or Turkes But another more strong then they to their griefe hath defended doth defend and will defend vs from them Who listeth to know more of the roote of this doctrine let him reade their new Councels wherein the Popes by their Legats tyrannically haue gouerned Let him reade their Decrees Decretals Sextos Clementines and Extrauagants there shall hee find it at fall Let him not reade the Scripture for in it shall hee finde nothing at all to confirme such wonders Scotus one of the chiefe and principall pillers of their Church sayth That albeyt the priest were not attyred to celebrate nor in the state of grace nor ouer any Altar but should saye the fiue wordes or the foure leauing out Enim ouer all the bread that is in the market or in the Pantry and ouer all the wyne that is in the Sellar how much bread so euer should be in the pantrie or in the market so that he had intention to consecrate should be in that very moment conuerted transubstantiated into the body of Iesus Christ and all the wine of the sellar by the vertue of the wordes spoken and pronounced by the Priest should be conuerted into the bloud of Christ Herehence it commeth that no bread but the body of Christ remayning in the sacrament in their Sagrarios or pixes do they keepe it that when anie shall be sicke they may with torch-light carie it in procession that the diseased may adore and receiue it for the saluation of his soule Iesus Christ say they is in sort as we haue said not onely in one Masse but in an hundred thousand more also if so many could bee said in one moment And whole Christ is not in all the Host only but also in euery small parcell how little soeuer it be so that Christ is in the host as the soule is in the body all in all and all in euery part thereof This their doctrine of Transubstantiation they confirme first with the omnipotencie of God that seeing God of nothing could create something the heauen and the earth and whatsoeuer is therein contained how much more can he cause one thing to be conuerted and transubstantiated into another 2. They say that seeing Iesus Christ is the infallible truth it is meete that that which he saith must be in sort as hee spake it and sith he saith Hoc est corpus meum This is my body they now inferre that the bread is no bread but the body of Christ 3. For confirmation of their opinion they also alleage the sayings of Doctors In answering to these three reasons wherewith they confirme their Transubstantiation me seemeth wee shall haue answered to all whatsoeuer in this matter they can obiect vnto vs. That which they say of the omnipotency of God God forbid that we should once denie we confesse it and it may be and also without may be much better then they With all our heart we do also confesse that which the Creed saith I beleeue in God the Father almightie all sufficient that which we say is that from the power to the deede is no good maner of argument God in that he is omnipotent may eftsoones drowne the world as he did drowne it in the time of Noah and the malice of our times is no lesse but much more then that of that time Notwithstanding his omnipotencie and notwithstanding our extreme malice we know that he will not drown it because so promised he to Noah when he sayd My couenant will I establish witb you that from henceforth all flesh shal not be rooted out by the waters of the floud c. And to seale and confirme this promise God gaue him the Bow in the cloudes for a signe of this couenant c. Reade the historie To this same purpose is it sayd in the Psalm 140. 9. that God set a bound for the waters ouer which they shal not passe nor turne againe to couer the earth And God speaking to Iob concerning the sea chap. 38. 10. saith I established my commaundement vpon it and set barres and doores and said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and there shall it stay thy proud waues Here you see that
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 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
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
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
woundes they drewe it tied by the heeles to the streete of Saint Iohn de lateran and there left it to the dogs c. Quien tal haze qÌ„ talpague Such deed saith the spanish prouerb such paiment Benedict 6. or 7. succeeded him and then reigned in Spaine Bermudo 3. Such were the deedes of Pope Iohn or 15. that he was abhorred of the Clergie and people of Rome He gaue without discretion all to his kindred which error say Platina and Estella we see vnto our time continueth He died in the 995 yeere at what time Don Bermudo 3. reigned in Spaine Iohn 17. succeeded Iohn 16. and the same yeere after he had bene pope only 4. monethes died Gregorie 5. being an Alman by authoritie of the Emperour Otho 3. was made Pope But when the Emperour was returned into Almaine the Clergie and people of Rome deposing Gregorie made Iohn 18. or 17. Pope Gregorie retired to the Emperour who offended with the Romans came against them and tooke Rome he tooke also Pope Iohn pulled out his eies so the Pope which with his store of mony had corrupted the Romans to make him pope died Mantuan 3. Calamitatum lib. thus speaketh Pernicies mercantur equos Venalia Romae Templa sacerdotes altaria sacra Coronae Ignes thura preces coelum est venale deusque As much to say as all things are sold at Rome be they holy or profane and euen God himself Platina calleth this Iohn a thiefe who dying as afore is said Gregorie returned to be Pope he appointed that thenceforth the Princes of Germanie namely the 3 Archbishops of Maguntia Treuir and Cullen the Countie Palatine of Rhine the duke of Saxonie the Marques of Brandenburg and the king of Boheme who then also was not king should choose the Emperour and so the Empire was translated into Germany In the 998 or after some 997 yeere Pope Gregory died And some count not Iohn 18. for Pope Syluester 2. euen froÌ„ his youth gaue himselfe to inchaÌ„tments witcherie who vnderstanding that in Seuill dwelled a Moore and great maister in that Arte with the great desire he had to be perfect also therin himselfe he left France his natiue countrie went to Seuil and there abode with the Moore And now seing himselfe skilfull he returned into Fraunce carrieng with him a booke wonderfull in that arte which by the meanes of the Moores daughter with whome Syluester had abused himselfe he stole from his Maister This Syluester the better to effect his Inchantments made a couenant with the deuill offering him his body and Soule conditionally that the diuell should helpe him to attaine to great dignities returned into Fraunce with greate applause taught he the liberal Artes notable disciples he had by whose meanes he was made bishop of Remes and afterwards by wicked artes Archbishop of Rauenna In the end by the aide of the deuill in the 999. yeere he came to be Pope who listeth to know his holy life let him read Platina Sabel En. 9 lib. 2. Volat. lib. 22. Berg. lib. 12. Fascic Temp. Pet. Premostrat and Benon And particularly Frier Iohn de Pineda par 3. lib. 19. cap. 15. ¶ 5. 6 a very late writer and he shal see if I speake truely or no. Whiles he was Pope he concealed his arte but in priuate he could not forget his old friendship which he had with the diuel A copper head had he in secret which alwayes gaue him answer of that he demanded of the diuell This Pope vpon a time lusting to know how long he should be Pope demaunded the same of the diuell who doubtfully answering as he wontedly doth told him he should not die vntill he had sayd Masse in Ierusalem This historie reporteth S. Antonino Frier Iohn de Pineda others At this answer the Pope much reioiced neuer purposed to go to the city of Ierusalem It was a custome in Rome that on a certaine day in Lent the Pope should say Masse in the church of the holy Crosse called Ierusalem where Syluester forgetfull of the diuels deceits did celebrate his Masse and was forth with taken with a great feuer The Pope then saith Petrus Premostratensis by the roring of the diuels knowing his end to be come being in these sorrowes he besought them saith Benon to cut off his hands tongue c. Behold here if the Pope can erre Note what maner of vicaredge is that of the Pope seeing many attained it by wicked deuillish arts Learne heere ô Spainards what a thing is the Masse seeing with it the deuill moâ—keth deceiueth as in this Syluester we haue seen Be wise now ye Spainards For long time vpon earth haue the Pope Masse bene your god Nowithstanding that such a one was Syluester 2. one Iulius Roceus Genebrardus Panuinus Illescas the Popes great parasites affirme that he was no Magitian but a most wise Mathematitian c. Speake the truth although it be bitter God to aduance his holy catholike faith hath no need of your lies Don Bermudo 3. at this time raigned in Spaine Iohn Siccus 19. or after some who count not of Iohn 8. being a womaÌ„ nor Iohn 18. being Antipope the 17. by the same means help of the diuel that had his predecessor succeeded Siluester in the Popedome as the disciple of such a maister coÌ„manded that the feast of the soules in Purgatorie the day following the feast of all Saints should be celebrated This Pope affirmed that he hard the grones which the deuils gaue wheÌ„ by vertue of the Masses praiers for the dead the soules snatched at theÌ„ At this time saith Baconthorpius began the name of Cardinal to be had in estimation This Iohn 19. took away the voyce of the Roman people in the election of the Pope saying that the people were to be taught not to be followed and that of greater dignitie is the law which by the holy spirit is gouerned then that of the secular law In the yeere 1003. not hauing fiue moneths bene Pope he died and Don Bermudo 3. then reigned in Spaine Iohn 20. or 18. by wicked Arts was made Pope And it is to be noted as also noteth Cardinal Benon that all the Popes being 18. successiuely from Syluester 2. vntill Gregorie 7. no lesse a villaine then an Inchanter were Inchanters The doctrine of Purgatorie in the time of this Iohn 20. by meanes of false apparitions of wicked spirits which cryed groned shriked complayned of the great torments they endured in Purgatorie saying they were the Soules of such and such and desiring so many Masses and so many trentals to be said for them did grely increase The simple poore people beleeued that which they said to bee truth and drewe the money from their purses wheate from their barnes the wine from their cellars and the waxe from their hiues and offered them for
offended because Apius Claudius had chosen himselfe of the Decemuiri and Lucius Furius Camillus to be Consull and they were pagans and to be named Pope he being a Christian held it no let c. Such like vnto him was this Iohn 24. that elected himselfe This Pope depriued Hugh Bishop of Catura disgraded and deliuered him to secular power to be tormented embowelled and burned till he were dead The cause of his great crueltie was this that the said Bishop he said had conspired against the Pope This Iohn much affected nouelties of one Bishopricke he made 2 and contrarywise of 2 one Of an Abotship he made a bishoprick and of a bishoprick he made an Abbotship Caragoça he made an Archbishoprick and fiue bishopricks of 11 in the Prouince of Taracona hee gaue it for suffraganes The Knights of Christs order as they call it to fight against the Moores he instituted in Portugale and by consent of Don Alonso king of Portugal gaue them the goods of the Templars Those he condemned for heretiques which said Christ and his Apostles had nothing proper He forbad this question in the vniuersities to be disputed He condemned one Peter a Franciscan Friar because he exhorted men to follow Christs pouertie For which cause many were condemned and burned This Pope so cruell against such as he called heretiques erred in the faith and was an heretike For hee taught that the soules seperated from the bodies saw not God nor reioyced with him before the day of iudgement For so as saith Masseus deceiued by the visions of one Tundall an Irishman had his father taught him By that saying of the Lord to the theefe vpon the Crosse This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradice Luke 22. 43. and by the speech which he vttered concerning Lazarus whose soule saith he was in Abrahams bosome Luke 16. 22. by that which saith S. Stephen Act. 7. 59. Lord Iesus receiue my spirit imitating therein his maister who being vpon the crosse said Father Into thy handes I commend my spirit And by the saying of S. Paul Phil. 1. 21. To me Christ is gain whether in life or death and verse 23. I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ and that he saith is better for him Also Eccle. 12. 7. And dust returne to the earth c. the spirit returne to God that gaue it Also Matth. 22 23. the Lord speaking of Abraham Isack Iacob who were dead as touching the body saith that God is not a God of the dead but of the liuing And Luke 16. 9. Make ye friends of the vnrighteous Mammon that when ye shall haue neede to wit when ye shall die They may receiue you into euerlasting habitation And 2. Cor. 5. 8. we loue to be out of the body and to be with the Lord is this heresie confuted Whereupon it followeth that the soules of the faithful which die in the Lord see God and at the parting from their bodies enioy his presence in these two thinges to see God and enioy his presence our happinesse consisteth To teach and preach this heresie this Pope sent 2 Friars to Parris the one a Dominican the other a Franciscan vnto whom Thomas Vales an English Dominicke opposed himself for which the Pope cast him into prison many others likewise opposed themselues In conclusion the vniuersitie of Paris ayded by the fauour of their king Phillip the faire who had withdrawne himselfe and all his kingdome from the Popes obedience compelled the Pope as he did to recant not without sound of trumpet for feare of loosing his Popedome as Iohn Gerson in the sermon of Easter doth witnes The errors of this Pope which now we will reckon are according to the papists errors but according to Christian religion perfect truth He commaunded the Nunnes called Beguinas to marry He could not abide to see pictures nor Images He affirmed that Iesus Christ gaue no other rule to his Apostles then that which he had giuen to all faithfull Chistians The Apostles said he neuer vowed Chastitie And that vowes make not them perfect which vowe them nor put them in the state of perfection We will now returne to his wonders Iohn Mandeuell lib. 1. cap. 7. reporteth this Pope to haue written a large Epistle to the Greciās saying That there was but one church whose head he was the vicar of Christ Whereunto the Grecians in few words answered thy power ouer thy subiects we verily beleue to be great thy excaeding pride we cānot suffer thy couetousnesse we cannot satisfie the deuill be with thee for the Lord is with vs. In this Laconismo or breuitie well declared the Grecians the whole state of the Pope This Pope Iohn proclamed the Emperour Lodowicke of Bauiera for a Rebell Sismatique and heretique The cause was as saith Ieronymus Marius for that the Emperour being elected by the Princes without othe of subiection to the Pope as Clement 5. had commanded tooke vpon him the administration of the Empire The Emperour to auoyd contention sent his Embassadours to the Pope being then at Auignon requesting at his hands the authority and title of the Emperour But so farre of was the Pope from graunting this that he sent home with a mischiefe and verie euill intreated the Ambassadours peremptorily cyting the Emperour himselfe personally to appeare in Auignon and submit himselfe to the decrees of the Church But the Emperour knowing the tyrannie which the Pope vsurped in the Church and perceiuing that he had receiued onely of God his Emperiall Maiestie would not as a seruant subiect himselfe nor come to Auignon Affecting peace notwithstanding he eftsoones by Embassadours did gently request him to graunt what he demaunded The Pope was still obstinate and for the hate which he bare to the Emperor excommunicated the Vicounts whom the Emperour had placed to gouerne Millan When the Emperour sawe his obstinacie he came to Rome where he was very magnifically receiued and demaunded of the Romanes that which the Pope had denyed him The Nobles of Rome hearing this sent their messengers to the Pope beseeching him to come to Rome and graunt that which the Emperour desired which if he denyed to doe they would doe said they according to the law and auncient custome of the Romans yet for all this was the Pope nothing moued but rather much more incensed and cast them from his presence with many iniuries and threatnings When the people of Rome saw this they determined to graunt that which the Emperour demaunded and so the Senators Stephen and Nicholas by commaundement of the Clergie people crowned the Emperour with his wife the Emperesse This knowne to Pope Iohn he made great processe against the Emperour calling him heretique and saying he had committed high treason he depriued him of all that he had excommunicating him a new with a most cruell excommunication Thus farre Ieronymus Marius Diuines and lawyers in those times
shalt see if I speake truth Great shame it is for our Spaniards who esteemed themselues of as free and good conceit as the Italians that they disable and deiect themselues slaues to the Pope not daring to whisper against him what villanies soeuer they see him commit Libertie of conscience Libertie away away with the Pope this proud Antichrist Some of these places which Pius 5. hath gelded among the sayings of learned men which haue spoken against the Pope will we afterwards alleage In the 1572 yeare and first day of May died Pius 5. Don Philip being king of Spaine Gregorie 13. a Bolonnist before called Hugo boncompagno the 15. day of may 1572. yeare was set in the seat of Antichrist 13 yeares little more or lesse he Poped when he was Pope he renewed the old hatred of his predecessor Pius 5. against the Queene of England so practized by al possible meanes one while by force as appeareth by the great Armada sent into Ireland had a miserable end another while by craft and deceit as was seene in the great traitor Parry and others by him sent who had also a miserable end and were quatered into 4 parts as they had deserued to doe her all the mischiefe he could But God deliuered the Queene from all those cursed inuentions and the same God a iust iudge in the end chastized this Gregorie by killing his body and sending his soule into hell It was the common voyce and fame in Rome that Gregorie before he was Pope and also being Pope like a father but not most holy nor yet holy but carnall had his concubyne of whom he had also little sonnes which said vnto him such graces as made him to laugh And beeing Pope such was the grace that his little sonne Philippicus sayd that the Pope his father gaue him fiue thousand crownes of rent Marke ô yee Spaniards how the Patrimony which you call Saint Peters is imployed And he is not alone he which hath it doth so also imploy it as we haue seene in the liues of the Popes The ceremony of the stoole needed not this Gregorie for very well was he knowne to be a man and not a woman In the time of this Pope was the most fierce bloudy battaile betweene the Portugales and Moores in Africk wherein 3 kinges died Don Sebastian the king being dead in this battell the Cardinall Don Henry brother of king Don Iohn the third grandfather of Don Sebastian was elected king who like another Anius was king and Priest of whom Virgill saith in the 3. of his Aeneads Rex Anius rex idem hominum Phaebique sacerdos Of this Cardinall say the Portugales that in the Epistle of the moone he was borne and in the Eclipse of the moone he died In the 1581 or 82 yeare in the time of Gregorie 13. his Popeing a very straunge chaunce happened in Valladolid There dwelled in Valladolid a knight quallified who in the Inquisition had 2 daughters which constantly perseuering in the good religion they had learned of the good D. Caâ—alla and other martyrs of Iesus Christ were condemned to be burned The father being a most rancke Papist besought the Inquisitors to permit theÌ„ for their better instruction to be carried to his house which thing the Inquisitors in regard of the great credit they reposed in him graunted And brought thus to his house the father endeauored to diuert them from their constant resolution And seing he could not conuince them he caused Priests and Friars to dispute with them but in vaine were all their disputs For the Lord as in Luke 21. 15. he had promised gaue them vtterance and wisedome which the new Pharesies Priests and Friars were not able to resist nor gainesay The father then seeing al his endeuour nought auailed went himselfe to his groue cut downe wood and caused it to be drawne to Valladolid he himselfe kindled the fire so were they burned And no maruell Seing the Lord in the same place of S. Luke forwarned vs that it so shuld happeÌ„ Ye shal be saith he deliuered vp euen of your owne fathers brothers kinsflolkes friends they shall kill you ye shal be hated of all men for my names sake thus farre of the afflictions miseries of the poore faithful yet that which the Lord then addeth is for our comfort But one haire saith he shall not perish or fall from your head in pacience possesse ye your soules So did these two blessed of the Lord possesse and now enioy that celestiall glorie which the Lord for whom they died had prepared for them before the foundation of the world This cruell father in doing that he did against his daughters vndoubtedly supposed he did great seruice to God Of this also hath the Lord foretould vs Iohn 16. 2. The hower commeth saith he that whosoeuer shall kill you shall thinke he doth God seruice And that we should not bee dismayed but coragious in such afflictions the Lord in the end of this chapter saith These things haue I told you that in me ye might haue peace in the world ye shall haue trouble but be of good comfort I haue ouercome the world This Gregorie carelesse to correct himselfe or Clergie either in life or doctrin by aÌ„ticipating 10 daies in the yere gaue himselfe to correct the callender And to eternize his name this callender he called Gregorilanum At this time were reunited al the kingdomes of Spaine which from the enterance of the Moores into Spaine 880. so many yeares sithens haue bene deuided so Don Philip our king and Lord in all Spaine reigneth I beseech my God from the bottome of my hart to giue him vnderstanding to know who the Pope is In the 1521. yeare the yeare of famine the 13 of December and in a village of 25 or 30 houses called Montalto neere to the citie of Firmo which is in the marches of Ancona was borne Felix Pereto called Sistus 5. In this Sistus 5. the common saying in Spaine was fulfilled Rex por natura y papa por Ventura A king by nature a Pope by aduenture for so poore was his father that he was a swineheard Felix in his childhood was very poorely brought vp but shewing some sufficiencie of wit a geÌ„tlewoman for Gods sake clothed him with the habite of Saint Frauncis intreated the warden to receiue him into his couent where he studied GraÌ„mer logique Philosophie schoole diuinitie and in those sciences much proffited In the end being nowe of age hee was made Inquisitor In which office such was his cariage as few could abide his crueltie And so it happened that he called before him a magnifico of Venice who being come very discourteously inhumanly he intreated This gentleman vnaccustomed to heare such iniuries and disgraces as by that which after he did for reuenge to the Lord Inquisitor appeareth did stomacke the matter A few dayes after this gentleman
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
Epistle which the Apostle wrote to the Hebrewes and chiefly the seuenth chapter Of this will wee intreat somewhat more to the purpose hereafter The 2. manner of sacrifice which wee call Eucharisticall comprehendeth all the exercises of charitie which done to our neighbours in some sort are they done vnto God who is thus honored in his members Our prayers praises thankesgiuing and all whatsoeuer we doe for the seruice and honor of God are also comprehended in this kind of sacrifice Al which sacrifices doe depend vppon that great sacrifice by which we are consecrated in body and soule and dedicated for holy Temples to God This kind of sacrifice nought serueth to appease the wrath of God to obtaine forgiuenesse of sinne or to deserue or purchase righteousnesse but is only to magnifie and glorifie God This Eucharisticall sacrifice can no way please God except it proceede from those which hauing by the other kind of sacrifice which we call Expiatory obtained forgiuenesse of sinnes bee already reconcyled with him and iustified This sacrifice Eucharisticall is very necessarie in the Church And woe to that day which a Christian passeth without offering of this sacrifice to God This is the incense and oblation cleane and pure which Malachie Prophesied that the Church of God should offer Of this sacrifice speaketh Saint Paule when hee saith that we offer vp our bodies a liuing sacrifice holie and acceptable vnto God a reasonable seruice of God For this cause the almes and other good works of the faithfull are called sacrifices wherewith God is well pleased The Prophet Hoseas exhorteth the people to returne vnto the Lord and saie vnto him Take away all iniquitie and receaue vs gratiously So will wee render the Calues of our lippes What the Prophet vnderstood by the calues of lippes the Appostle declareth when hee saith Let vs therefore by him offer the sacrifice of praise alwayes to God that is the fruite of the lippes which confesse or prayse his name Saint Paule calleth the liberalitie wherewith the Phillippians in his necessitie had relieued him A sacrifice of sweete sauour and all the good workes which the faithfull doe are called spirituall sacrifices His Maiestie giue vs grace continually to offer such sacrifices vnto him and that when we offer them we may without all hypocrisie confesse that wee are vnprofitable seruauntes c. For if hee commaunded his Apostles so to say and thinke yea when they had done what God had commanded them Why shal he not command the same vnto vs which be in life and doctrine so farre inferiour to his Apostles that we are vnworthie to lose the latchets of their shooes God giue vs grace to be humble in heart Of this kinde of sacrifice will we also say more hereafter By that which is said is plainely seene that the Masse is neither an expiatorie nor Eucharisticall sacrifice and so by consequence no sacrifice at all That it is not expiatorie we already haue proued and that it is not Eucharisticall by that which our aduersaries say that the Masse is an expiatorie sacrifice is proued If it be expiatorie then is it not Eucharisticall The force of this Argument consisteth in a rule of Logicke which saith The members diuiding must not be confounded As touching the definition of the Masse this is sufficient Wee haue taken from it the kind in prouing it no sacrifice we haue taken from it the difference in prouing that it is not expiatorie both the kind and difference taken away what shall be the definite Nothing Or if the Masse bee anie thing it is a priuation of the holy supper of our master and redeemer Iesus Christ euen as sinne is the priuation of grace Let not our aduersaries thinke that we yeeld thē their Masse to be so ancient as they make it saying that the Lord 1565 yeares past did institute it for so long it is since he suffered Neither do we grant them that S. Peter nor S. Iohn nor any of the Apostles euer said that which our aduersaries say to bee the Masse Those which they bring are false testimonies If any man beare false witnesse against his neighbour how vile or abiect soeuer he be he breaketh the 9. commandement he breaketh the law of God and for the same is worthy of eternall death Howe much more shall he breake it and be worthy of death that vpon cold bloud and deliberat purpose of the learned I speake and not of the vulgar sort which can neither read nor vnderstand bringeth false witnes against Christ his king prophet and priest saying that he did institute the Masse wherin are so many superstitions and idolatries saying that the Apostles chosen vessels of God to denounce the Gospell and to preach the holy catholike faith haue sayd such a Masse And so say they that S. Peter was the first that sang Masse but by hearesay they speake without alleaging any Authors How is it possible that S. Luke so diligent an Historiographer of the Acts of the Apostles hath left in the incke-horne this Article which our aduersaries hold so necessarie to saluation as any other of the twelue Articles of the faith contained in the Creed And seeing that this false testimony which they raise vp against Peter auaileth little to the confirmation of their Masse Another false testimony raise they vp also of S. Iames that S. Iames say they was the first that said the first Masse in Ierusalem Yet are they more shamelesse bring to light the said Masse said of S. Iames which 1500 years since at the least was buried cry out a miracle a miracle Now is there no further disputing to be had sith it is an Apostle which hath said Masse now neither can or ought they to moue any more doubts touching the Masse vpon paine to be an heretike blasphemer whosoeuer shal moue it In the 1560. yeare was this Masse of S. Iames as they call it printed in Paris In this Masse ther is a prayer wherin are said these words We pray for the gifts offred sanctified precious supercelestiall ineffable immaculate glorious horrible fearful diuine What maner of speech is this when vsed the Apostles any such forme of speaking Also that this falshood may be clearely perceiued there is a prayer in the Masse for the Monkes Nunnes which liued in the Monasteries They which say that this Masse is of S. Iames should read this and be silent For in the time of the Apostles was there neither Monkes nor Nunnes nor Monasteries many yeares after were these things inuented Moreouer if this be a Masse of S. Iames let them augment the Cannon Let them place them among the Canonicall bookes of the holy Scripture Let them beleeue do al that which is said in the same In this Masse which they call of S. Iames all the people did vnder two kinds communicate all the office was said in the vulgar tongue the people sang
to the blessed Roccus diddest promise a table which an Angel caried that hee which shall pittiously inuocate him may not bee offended with the affliction of the pestilence c. This prayer of Roccus I put for example because it came first to hand Many other examples may bee drawne from their Masses For what doe they in all their prayers which they make to the Saintes but call vppon them requesting them to doe this or that There is no commandement either in the olde or newe Testament wherein God commandeth vs to call vpon any other then himselfe Call vpon me saith God in the day of trouble and I will heare thee and thou shalt honor me He neuer saith Call vpon such or such an Angel vpon this or that other Saint vpon Abraham Samuel Dauid Esay c. Iesus Christ when his Apostles besought him to teach them to pray did not command them to call vpon his mother vpon such or such a Saint but he commaunded them to call vpon God and of him should they demaund whatsoeuer they had need of as well for the body as the soule All which is contained in the prayer that he taught them Our Father c. And as there is no commandement to call vpon any other then vpon God So is there no example of any the faithfull either in the old or newe testament that hath called vpon any other then God alone Secure wee are of the infinite goodnesse loue and power of God Assured we are that wheresoeuer wee shall be albeit in the belly of the whale or in the fierie furnace and shall call vpon him he heareth vs. But of the Saints will we not say so much whose goodnesse charitie and power is limitted and communicated of that infinite Only God is infinite and so is in euerie place The Saints be finite and therefore cannot be in euerie place so can neither heare nor see our miseries and necessities And seeing we intreat of inuocation reason would wee should say something of prayer because inuocation is so commonly called Prayer is a certaine familiar conference discourse which the faithfull soule hath with her God wherein she sheweth all her necessities that he is as a Lord may not only beare theÌ„ but also as a father may prouide for them and beleeueth that his Maiestie will so do and so he doth the same Prayer is a lifting vp of the soule vnto God Prayer is a ladder by the which the soule mounteth from this vale of teares from this gulfe of miseries and pierceth all the heauens and stayeth not vntill it present it selfe before God and propose vnto him all her necessities beleeuing as a good father that he will prouide for them This Ladder of Prayer hath foure stages The Ladder of Prayer 1 Necessitie constraineth vs to pray 2 The Commandement of God commandeth it 3 The Promise maketh vs assured to be heard 4 Faith obtaineth that which is prayed for Man of his owne nature and condition is so euill of himselfe so haughty and proud that did not necessitie constraine him hee would neuer subiect himselfe to God nor yet call vppon him For this cause sayd Dauid Psal 119. verse 71. It is good for me that thou hast humbled or cast me downe and a little before hee had sayd Before I was humbled or abased I went astray The good which Dauid drewe of this deâ—ection and euery Christian ought to drawe the same is that hee humbled himsefe before God and called vpon him The Saints seeing themselues oppressed with afflictions and sorrowes doe acknowledge their offences and call vpon God So did Dauid when he said When I was in trouble I called vpon the Lord and he heard me But when the wicked be afflicted they blaspheme against God and dispaire This is a marke by which the children of God doe differ from those which bee not his The second stage is that God commaundeth vs to call vpon him Call vpon me in the time of tribulâ—tion Pfal 50. 15. The third stage is That the Promise doth make vs assured to bee heard And so when God commaundeth Dauid to call vpon him hee promiseth that he will deliuer him and addeth that when the afflicted calleth vpon God hee doth him great seruice And thou shalt honour me saith he Also Psal 91. vers 15. hee saith He shall call vpon me and then promiseth and I vvill heare him I vvill be vvith him in trouble I vvill deliuer him and glorifie him In diuerse places doth the holy Scripture promise that hee which shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall bee saued but in no place doth it promise ayde succour or saluation to him that shall call vpon any other be hee neuer so holy then God The fourth stage is Faith obtaineth that which is prayed for Whatsoeuer ye desire when yee pray Christ sayth Mark 11. 24. beleeue that ye shall haue it and it shall bee done vnto you This faith had Dauid Psal 4. 4. when hee sayd The Lord will heare me when I call vpon him The eleuenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrues confirmeth this with many examples Reade this whole chapter for therein is liuely set forth the power and efficacie of fayth without the which saith he it is impossible to please God If the heart bee not sincere simple and pure albeit one crie vnto God he will not heare him as he heard not Esau albeit he prayed with teares neither heard he Saul nor many others of a double heart and to make the heart perfect only faith sufficeth Faith then is that which obtaineth that which we pray for The commandement which commandeth vs to pray is of God and not of the creatures The promise which maketh vs assured to be heard God not the creatures maketh The faith that obtaines that which is prayed for is faith in God and not in the creatures Hereupon with great reason will we conclude that this ladder of prayer which hath such stages bringeth vs not to the creatures but to the creator to only God omnipotent Him only let vs worship him only let vs call vpon to him onely let vs pray for so doing sure we are we shall not be confounded He grant vs the grace that we may truly feele our necessitie and miserie and feeling it may call vpon him being assured that for his goodnesse promise sake and for the sacrifice wherewith his only begotten sonne reconciled vs to him he will heare vs. There is no Masse which is not full of intercessions of Saints and the Priest also which saith it presumeth to be a mediatour and intercessour with God that he may pardon the sinnes of those for whom he saith his Masse be they quicke or dead And not for men onely intreateth hee but also for Christ himselfe praying the Father to receiue and accept him as hee accepted the scacrifice of Abel Abraham and Melchisedech Whereof we will entreat in the
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
the day houre and moment when Christ offered it for which cause it neither ought nor may be reiterated without doing most great iniurie to Christ as though his sacrifice which he once offered were not fufficient to obtain pardon for all sins that therefore another new sacrifice were needful or at the least to reiterat the old All as many as were or shal be saued not onely since the death of Christ but before his death also frō the first iust Abel vnto the last were are shal be saued by the vertue of this only sacrifice once offered Otherwise must he often haue suffered since the foundation of the world But now in the end of the world hath he appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himselfe These be the words of the Apostle against which nothing impugneth that which S. Iohn saith in his Reuelatiō That the Lambe Christ was slaine frō the beginning of the world for Iesus Christ but onely once died this was whē Tiberius Caesar was Emperor which is now 1566. yeares since How thē saith S. Iohn that he died frō the beginning of the world To this say we that S. Iohn meant that the sacrifice which Christ offred did not only profit those that in the time of Christ or sithence liued but all those also which were long time before frō the beginning of the world For all before the death of Christ which beleeued that the seed of the woman which is Christ should breake the head of the serpent which is the diuel were neither more nor lesse saued then these which sithence the death of Christ beleeue that he is come and that by dying he hath ouercome the deuill In the same God whom we beleeue beleued they the same faith which wee hold held they and by the same sacrifice of Iesus Christ one only time no more offred they we are saued The same Sacraments as touching the substance that we haue had they So wittnesseth Saint Paul when he saieth Moreouer Brethren I would not that yee should be ignorant That all our fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptised vnto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of the spirituall Rocke that followed them which Rock was Christ This is the difference between them and vs that they beleeued Christ the Messias shuld come and we beleeue that he is already come and hath fulfilled all whatsoeuer was written of him We then here conclude that with one only sacrifice which Iesus Christ offred and this one only time and no more he sanctified for euer all those that from the beginning of the world haue bene are and shall be sanctified The Lord God which whē we were the children of wrath and his enemies hath shewed vs such mercie giue vs grace firmely and constantly to perseuer in this faith perseuering may liue in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life The holy Scripture as we haue seen mentioneth two kinds of Priests which offer sacrifice for sinnes the one after the order of Aaron the other after the order of Melchisedech Many there were after the order of Aaron because being mortall they died and being dead one succeded another After the order of Melchisedech no other Priest there is but only Christ who being an euerlasting Priest and his sacrifice being of euerlasting vertue admitteth no companion for he only is sufficient This priesthood shall shall endure for euer and it is proper to the new Testament wherein there is not nor can be more then one onely Priest which neither hath nor can haue companion nor successor in his office For he is an euerlasting priest and therefore his offering one only time offered is of euerlasting vertue Hereupon we then conclude that if the Masse-priests which say they offer Christ in Sacrifice for the sins of men be Priests instituted by God either they so be after the order of Aaron or after the order of Melchisedech for of these two only orders the scripture maketh mention But Priests they be not after the order of Aaron which already ceased with the death of Christ As little are they of the order of Melchisedech for after this order there is but one only Priest which is Christ Hereuppon it followeth that if they be Priests not by God but by the diuell be they instituted and so be they the Priests of Baal May it please our God and Lord to conuert them Or if they bee vessels of wrath to breake them with his rod of yron that they doe not more mischiefe to the Catholique Church the Spouse of Iesus Christ and with his precious bloud redeemed I trust in mine omnipotent God that one day he will haue mercie vppon our country of Spaine and send the true Elias which with the power of Gods word shal kill these false prophets filthy priests Besides the expiatory sacrifice wherof we haue spoken anothere there is called Eucharisticall of thanksgiuing This sacrifice offereth and ought to offer euery faithfull and Catholique Christian and for such a one he that offereth it not neither is nor ought to be holden What maner of sacrifice this is in the beginning of this Treatise of the Masse we haue before declared And if euery Christian offer vnto God this kind of sacrifice it followeth hereupon that euery Christian seeing he offreth sacrifice is a priest And for this cause God commanded Moses to say these words to all the people of Israel Ye shall be vnto me a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation And S. Peter speaking to all the faithfull saith Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darknesse into his maruellous light c. S. Iohn in his Reuelation speaking of the Lambe saith Thou hast made vs vnto our God kings priests Of this which we haue said we conclude Christ only to be the Preist who offring vp himselfe this onely once obtained for vs remission of sins that all faithful christians are priests that not once but manie times euery day euery houre euery moment so ought it to be done do offer sacrifices of praises vnto God And why ought we to praise God to giue him thanks For al the benefits which we receiue ech momēt of him touching both body soule But for this benefit chiefly that passeth all others which is the inestimable benefit that we receiue by the death passion of Christ By the sin of the first Adam we were all made sinners and seruants of sinne sonnes of wrath enemies of God and to two sorts of death temporall and eternall of body soule condemned Strangers we were from the common wealth of Israel
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