vnitye to the Church of Roome and to their Byshop the head thereof the aduersary of Christ and vtter enemy to his crosse boldly braying and bragging that out of the vnitye of this bodye and head of theirs no man can be saued For these miserable men ought to vnderstaÌ„d that this necessary vnitye without which no man can haue saluation is not that vnitye whereby members are ioyned to members bunches to bunches monsters to monsters and the deceiued to Antichrist the deceiuer but that it is that vnitye wherby the true members of the true bodye are conioyned to the true and onely one head Iesus Christe our mediator and Sauiour The tyranne of Roome is not the head of the true church I proue thus He hath not the worde of God for his warrant Ergo he is not the head of the true church Christ sayth that he himselfe is the onely vniuersall Shepheard The prophets haue prophesied so of Christ Esai 40. Ezech. 37. 34. Hierem. 30. Psal. 33. c. The Apostle so nameth him Christ himselfe not long before he left this worldâ— sayd to his disciples I will pray the father and he shall geue you another coÌ„forter that he may abide with you for euer euen the spirite of truth Here we learne what vicar Christ hath substituted Not the Pope but the holy ghost So writeth Tertul. Barnard and others This place of Iohn I am the good shepheard S. August expoundeth of Christ So doth Chrisost So doth Nicholas Lyra as simple an interpretour as he was Fiet vnus pastor id est Christus There shal be one shepeheard that is to say not the Pope but Christ The Apostles had no knowledge of this monstrous head The Nicene Councell knew it not The Councell of Carthage excommunicated cursed him to the deuill that called him selfe vniuersall Byshop or chief Priest The whole Councell of Aphrica condeÌ„ned the attempt of this vsurped iurisdiction and called it the smokie pride of the world The Romish Prelate doth subuert corrupt prophane the doctrine of Christ and his Sacraments manifestly maintaineth Idolatrie Therfore he caÌ„ not be the vniuersall Shepheard He is not worthy to be called a Shepheard A Shepheard nay a fleashéepe A Byshop a Butcher a Pastour a Pyrate a Prelate a Pylate a Vicar of Christ a Vicar of Venus a Cephas Caiphas Phocas that execrable murtherer was he that first proclaimed the Byshop of Rome to be head of the vniuersall Church about vj. hundred xiij yeares after Christ was borne This Phocas beyng but a common souldiour did by treason and conspiracie lay hands vpon his liedge Lord and Maister the Emperour Mauritius and in cruell sort did him to death and so by trayterous vilanie he aspired to the Empire The maner of his crueltie was this First he commauÌ„ded foorth the Emperours yongest sonne and caused him to be slayne euen in the fight of his father and so the second and then the third and afterwarde the Empresse Mauritius heauely lookyng on lamentyng saying vnto God Righteous art thou O Lord and rightfull is thy iudgement Last of all he vsed the like tyranny also vpon the Emperour and layd him his wife and his iij. children on a heape together After that he had thus liued and coÌ„mitted sundry murthers and other great misâ—â—â—â—â— the people tooke him slue him â–ª 〈◊〉 â—â—ew him in to the fire Here you maâ— sée the first promotour a holy promotour of the Popes holynes A murtherer â—â—e finder out of supremacie And Supâ—â—â—â—cie fouÌ„ded and builded vpon murther S. Cyprian calleth Stephen and Cornelius Bishops of Rome brethreÌ„ and companions And whereas certaine Schismatickes yelded them selues subiect to the Byshop of Rome perswading them selues that the Bishops of Aphrica had lesse power theÌ„ the Byshops of Rome Cyprian called them desperate wicked persons for so doyng I frame this Argument out of Chrisost Quicunque desyderauerit primatuÌ„ in terra in Coelo inueniet confusionem Whosoeuer ambitiouslye desireth supremacy vpon earth shall finde in heauen confusion The Byshop of Roome ambitiouslye desireth supremacye on earth Therefore he shall finde confusion in heaueÌ„ The Pope is Antichrist Ergo he is not the head of the Church He which auauÌ„ceth himself aboue all that is called God is Antichrist The pope doth so Ergo the Pope is Antichrist Irenaeus a most auncient doctour of the Church who liued almost fiften hundred yeares since disputyng of Antichrist sayth thus Antichristus cum sit seruus tamen adorari vult vt Deus Antichrist notwithstaÌ„ding he be but a slaue yet he will be worshipped as if he were god Ioachimus Abbas saith Antichristus iam pridem natus est Romae altiùs extolletur in sede Apostolica Antichrist is long since borne in Rome yet shall he be higher aduaunced in the Apostolick sea Antichrist sayth Gregory is he that shall clayme to himselfe to be called the vniuersall Byshop and shall haue a garde of priestes to attend vpon him S. August sayth BabyloÌ„ is the first Roome and Rome the second Babylon And to come nearer the matter S. Iohn sayth Antichrist shall sit in the Citye that is built vpon seuen hilles and so is the Citie of Roome And Sybilla sayth that the greatest terror and furye of his Empire and the greatest woe that he shall worke shall be by the bankes of Tyber and there is Roome He that hath eyes to sée let him see he that hath eares to heare let him heare Agayne Christ was humble the Pope proude Christ was poore the Pope rich Christ patient the Pope impatient Christ merciful the Pope vnmercifull Christ vsed admonitioÌ„ the Pope imprisonment Christ communication the Pope extirpation Christ all manner of clemencie the Pope all manner of tyranny briefely you shall finde the Pope in all vertue seuered from Christ you shall finde him to Christ Beliall to light darcknes to truth falshode Are not these and such lyke the very fruites of Antichrist the trée is knowne by his fruite Whereas these shakers of the ship of Christ vrge Antiquitie Vniuersalitye and Succession to make much for them I aunswere these thinges make nothing for them but rather agaynst them Notwithstanding their Vincentius Lirinensis whome they haue in so high price This is Vincentius pretious assertion In ipsa catholica Ecclesia magnopore curandum est vt id teneamus quod vbique quod seÌ„per quod ab omnibus creditum est In the Catholick Church we must haue especiall care to hold that which euery where alwayes and of all men is beléeued Yet to helpe his credite the Church of Roome was not so deformed with heresies at the time when he did write which was a thousand yeares more since as it is mentioned Antiquitye doth not preiudice or hinder trueth Their antiquity is no marke of the Church Their Antiquitie is iniquitye Tertull. sayth nothing can prescribe agaynst truth neither time nor authoritye of
must referre you to the places of other auncient Fathers which make the case cleare Tertul. contra Marcionem Lib. 4. August Tom. 6. contra adimantum Manichaei Discipulum cap. 12. Tom. 8. in Psal 3. Tom. 2. epist. 221. Cyp. de Coena Domini Hesichius in Leuit. Lib. 3. cap. 2. Ambros de Sacramentis Lib. 1. cap. 5. Chrisost ad Caesarium August in Ioh. Tract 25. Tract 26. To cōclude Erasmus a mā of great learnyng iudgement sayth thus In synaxi Transubstantiationem sero definiuit ecclesia In the holy ministration it was long and very late before the church determined the Article of Transubstantiation Their owne breath bloweth agaynst them Doctour Tonstall sayth It was no heresie to deny their Transubstantiation before their late Councell of Lateran Doctour Fisher sometyme Byshop of Rochester sayth The very presence of Christes body bloud in the Masse can not be proued by any Scripture This deuelish doctrine was neuer receiued in the Church til Pope Leo Pope Nicholas Pope Innocent Pope Honorius and Pope Vrban Antichristian prelates thorow their tyranny brought it in and compelled the Christiās with fire and faggot as the maner of the tyrānicall Papistes is to receiue their abhominable doctrine It is not much more then fiue hundred yeares since their grosse opinion of the Sacramēt begā first to be attēpted was throughly receiued and agréed vpon about the yeare of our Lord 1215. in the Councell of Laterā which was holden in Rome where were gathered together a mōstrous swarme of Pharisaicall Papistes about the number of thirtene hūdred pildpates of the which number eight hūdred were mōkes channōs fryers a broode of chickēs of the Popes owne hatching Last of all came pope Vrban the monke in the yeare of our Lord a thousand two hundred thréescore and foure and he made vp all the market For he ordained a feast called Corpus Christi in honour of the Sacrament so that euer after that tyme the Sacramēt was no more taken for a signe figure and token of Christes bodye but for Christ himselfe God and man And therefore was it reuerenced worshiped honored sensed and knéeled vnto as they taught the people at their vnsacred sakeringes S. August sayth touching the fathers of the olde law Abraham Moses Aaron and other receiued the bodye of Christ truely and effectually long tyme before that Christ either had receiued fleshe of the blessed virgin or had ordained the Sacrament and that euen the selfe same bodye that is receiued now of the faythfull Of this matter S. Paule speaketh They did all eate of the same spirituall meate And did all drinke of the same spirituall drinke For they dranke of that spirituall rock that folowed them and that rocke was Christ S. August also of Christian children and other faythfull that neuer receiued the Sacrament writeth thus nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum tunc vnumquemque fideliū corporis sauguinisque domini participem fieri quando in Baptismate efficitur membrum Christi c. No man may in any wise doubt but that euery faythfull man is than made partaker of the body and bloud of Christ whan in Baptisme he is made a member of Christ and that he is not without the felowship of that bread and of that cup although before he eate of that bread drinke of that cup he hepart this world being in the vnitye of Christes bodye for he is not made frustrate of the Communion and benefite of that Sacrament while he findeth that thing which is signified in the Sacrament The enemies of the crosse of Christ mightfully obiect Onlesse ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud ye shall haue no lyfe in you I aunswere if there be no other eating of Christes bodye whereby wée shall liue but onely fleshly eating with mouth and teath than what lyfe hath Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses Aaron and other holy Patriarches Prophets that were before the comming of Christ what lyfe haue a great nūber of holy martyrs what lyfe haue Christian Children that being baptised in the bloud of Christ depart this lyfe before they can receiue the Sacrament Shall we say they haue no lyfe Or shall we condemne them of euerlasting death Or shall we thinke they shall neuer rise agayne And shall we denye Gods election S. August speakyng of our fathers sayth Visibilē cibum Manna spiritualiter intellexerunt spiritualiter esurierunt spiritualiter gustauerunt They vnderstode Manna the visible meate spiritually they hungred it spiritually they tasted it spiritually I aske the defenders of transubstātiation what body Christ gaue whether mortall or immortall I reason thus if he gaue his body he gaue his mortall body or his immortall body But he gaue not his mortal body neither his immortal body Therfore he gaue not his body I proue thus he gaue not his mortall body accumbebat mensae for it sate at the table He gaue not his immortall body nō dum resurrexerat for it was not yet risen Therfore he gaue not his body Therfore it is a figuratiue spéech I vrge their owne wordes agaynst them By and by after they haue confessed that the bread is the body of Christ essentially substantially and in déede and the wyne his naturall bloud they adde Sed inuisibiliter ineffabiliter non vt in loco non qualitatiue aut quantitatiue But inuisiblely and vnspeakeablely and not as in a place not in quātitie or in qualitie Note I pray you how fitly these thynges agrée how the one is subuerted by the other For if the true and naturall body of our Lord which he tooke of the virgin Mary dead buried risen ascended into heauen so they say be present in the Sacrament assuredly that same body must haue quantitie and qualitie must be contained in a place except that body was not naturall or els now beyng in glory hath put away all truth of a body The Angels testifie of the glorified body of Christ Surrexit nō est hic ecce locus vbi posuerunt eum He is risen he is not here behold the place where they had put him Christ him selfe sayth behold my handes and my féete that it is euē I my selfe handle me and sée for a spirite hath not flesh and bones as ye sée me haue If this body haue not place qualitie quantitie it is not the substantiall naturall and true body of our lord Read S. August epist. 57. ad Dardanum Tom. 2. Thus much concernyng the Lordes Supper Also these men teach that we are not iustified by fayth onely This doctrine is false Therefore they breake the net They call vs Solifidiās We may call them Nullifidians I argue thus the righteous man liueth by his fayth Therefore fayth iustifieth Abraham was iustified by fayth Therfore other are iustified by fayth Abrahā is the father of all beleuers The antecedent is proued Abraham beleued God and
It is a familie of blasphemy a familie of falshode a familie of pride a familie of idolatrie a familie of ignoraunce and follie a familie of mallice to be short a familie of all vice and vilanie That this is true their fruites declare The trée is knowne by the fruite For proofe I refer you to the bookes or rather bables of H. N. whom they name the true Prophet of GOD where as he is a false and lying Prophet I promised to prosecute the Argumēt that the Romish Catholickes are not the true Church as I haue already proued that they shake the shyp of Christ so I infer they break the net of the gospell I argue thus they commit Idolatrye Therefore they breake the net After that the popish priest hath spoken these v. wordes Hoc est enim corpus meū Which is one word more thē euer Christ left and is of so great vertue as they say that without that word there can be no perfect consecration where as notwithstandyng Christ his Apostles the Primitiue Church and the Gréekes neuer vsed this word Enim It is a superstitious additiō of the Papistes most wickedly leauyng out these most necessary wordes that Christ hymselfe spake namely Which is betrayed for you Do this in remembraūce of me After the the priest I say hath spoken the former wordes hath blasted breathed and blowed vpō the bread he knéeleth downe to it and worshyppeth it saying in Latin Agnus Dei qui tollis c. O Lambe of God that takest away the sinnes of the world haue mercy vpon vs Thrise doth he call the bread which he holdeth in his handes the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world This is abhominable Idolatry The authour of this Idolatrous leuation or liftyng vp of the bread aboue the priests head was Pope Honorius the third about the yeare of our Lord 1210. He commaunded that the host should be lifted vp aboue the priestes head at Masse and that all the people should fall downe and worship it Antichrist sheweth him selfe Here all men may sée how auncient a thyng their holy sackeryng is which is coūted the best and chiefest part of their Masse whereas in déede it is the most wicked and abhominable part of the patched paltrye of their maskyng Masse The lying Papistes therfore may be ashamed to bragge that their deuilishe Masse came from the Apostles seing that it is proued to be a new and late inuention of Antichrist The worde Masse is not in the Byble And as hath bin sufficiently proued there was no tidinges of any Masse priuate in any doctour or Coūcell by the space of six hundred yeares after Christ Their oblation they call Sacrificium nouum A new sacrifice Their Masse booke hath these wordes Acceptum sit omnipotenti Deo hoc sacrificium nouū O that this new sacrifice might be thankfully taken of almightye god They may truely call it a new sacrifice for it was neuer heard of before that a wafer cake and a sponeful of wine mingled with water should be an oblation and sacrifice for the saluation of the liuing and for the rest and quietnes of all the faythfull that are dead I know they will say they commit not idolatre for that which they hold vp is the verye naturall bodye of Christ God and man Therfore may they iustlye worship it I aske them how they proue it to be the verie body of Christ They answere by the vertue of these wordes Hoc est enim corpus meum a goodly profe I reply Christ spake these wordes of the bread as the holy scriptures and all auncient writers doe witnes It is agaynst the veritye of a naturall bodye to be in moe places then one at once as he must be in a hundred thousand places at once if their doctrine be true The article of our faith is that Christ is ascēded vp into heauen and sitteth on the right hand of God the father almighty and from thence shall come c. Our sauiour Christ tolde his disciples oft a litle before his passiō that he should leaue the world and goe to his father S. Marke sayth Christ was taken vp into heauen and sitteth on the right hand of god Wée reade in the Actes This Iesus which is taken vp from you into heauen shall so come as you haue séene him going vp into heauen Of these wordes of the angells we learne that as Christ went vp visiblye and was séene with the corporall eyes of his disciples so lykewise when he commeth agayne from thence he shall come visiblye and be séene with the corporall eyes of all men But neuer man sawe him yet comming downe with his corporall eyes Therefore neuer came he downe corporall since his ascention S. Stephan sawe him Where not in the popishe pixe nor in their singing bread but in heauen S. Paule heard him frō whence from heauen S. Peter sayth that heauen must holde Iesus Christ till the tyme that all thinges be restored which god hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began This tyme is till the daye of iudgement If therefore they will haue Christ bodily at their Masses they must tary till the day of iudgement This doctrine that the sacrament of the alter as they terme it is the true naturall reall carnall corporall and substantiall bodye of Christ is a dreame of Antichrist the Byshop of Rome and cannot be proued neither by holy scripture nor by auncient fathers You haue heard the holye scripture clearely denyeth it The fathers also deny it Clemens Alexandrinus sayth Duplex est autem sanguis domini alter enim est carnalis quo redempti sumus ab interitu alter vero spiritalis quo scilicet vncti sumus hoc est bibere Iesu sanguinem esse participē incorruptionis domini verbi autem virtus est spiritus quemadmodum sanguis carnis The bloud of Christ truely is of two sortes the one carnall wherby wée are redéemed from death the other spirituall wherewith we are annoynted For to drinke the bloud of Iesus is to be parttaker of the Lords immortality The spirite is the vertue of the worde as bloud is of fleshe Theodoret an auncient father sayth thus Christus naturam panis non mutat Christ chaungeth not the nature of the bread Gelasius sayth Non desinit esse substantia vel natura panis vini It ceaseth not to be the substance or nature of bread and wine Origen that old learned father sayth Si secundum literam sequaris id quod dictum est Nisimanducaueritis carnem filij hominis non habebitis vitam in vobis litera illa occidit If accordyng to the letter you vnderstād that saying Except ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud ye haue no lyfe in you That letter killeth It is the Spirit that giueth life the flesh profiteth nothyng For shortnesse of tyme I