guiltie of so manifold dishonoring of the sonne of God CHAP. 11. The Masse drawes men from the true Christ to adore and belieue in a false Christ THe third reason why J call the Masse and their pretended transubstantiation in it an errour is this Because it hath drawne mee and doth drawe all that beleeues it from the true Christ Jesus described in the holy Scripture to a false Christ forged in their fantasie and braines of men giuen ouer for the time to the spirit of delusion in all things contrare to the true Christ our Sauiour the sonne of God for the true Christ is so described to vs in holy Scripture that if an Apostle or Angell from Heauen teach another Gospell especially Gal. 1 8. about the person of Jesus Christ let him bee accursed as the Apostle sayes Well then the Scripture giues vs to vnderstand that the true Christ hath assumed not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Heb. 2. 14 16. euen our nature of the virgine Mary Partaker of flesh and blood in substance properties like to vs in all things except sinne who himselfe hath giuen vs warrand to account of any obtruded in his name as a false Christ But the doctrine of the Masse drawes vs to a pretended Christ the substance of whose bodie is made of the substance of bread changed by the force of fiue latine wordes said by a Romish Priest Hoc est enim corpus meum Secondly the true Christ his bodie is sensible might be seene touched handled and felt as sensibly as any mans body not only before his death when hee bare our infirmitie but also after his resurrection when he had laide downe our infirmities made vp of flesh and bones the verie same that hang vpon the crosse fastned with nails as himselfe testifies Behold my hands and my feete that it Luc. 24. 39. is I my self handle mee and see mee for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as yee see mee to haue sayth hee wherein hee giues vs all to vnderstand that he wil not haue vs to think that hee hath another body or substance now after his resurrection than he had before his crucifying Next to proue the veritie of his reall and corporall presence he appeales to the true testimony of all their senses being contented that they shuld not esteem him bodily present except they saw and felt him to haue flesh and bones but the Doctours of the Masse teach men to beleeue in and to adore a Christ whose body is borne vp betwixt the Priests finger and his thumbe which neither can be seen nor felt nor any wayes is sensible a false Christ who may not abyde the proof and rule which the true Christ hath set downe in his word to try the trueth of his body and bodily presence by Thirdly the true Christ grew vp from a childe to the ordinarie stature of men before his death and beeing dead his body took vp proportionall rowm in the Sepulchre so that when hee was now risen the Linnings wherein his body was wrapped were found in the sepulchre some of them at the part where his feete lay and some at the part where his head lay and after his resurrection hee shewed his hands and feete in the owne due proportion distant one from another in place but the Papists are made to worship a Christ in the Masse whose head and feete and all the partes of his bodye compleet are not only in the boundes of their paper-thin hostie but in euerie preene poynt rowme of the same for this is their expresse doctrine that Corpus Christi est totum in tota hostiâ totum in quolibet puncto that the body of Christ is whole in the whole hostie and whole in euerie poynt or part thereof Fourthlie the true Christ will not haue vs to imagine of his body that euer it was or shall bee in many places at one time for when Ioseph and his mother sought him three dayes they could not find him till they came to the very place where only he was in the Temple disputing with the doctours when he was vpon the mount he was not bodilie any where else when hee was on this side of the Sea he was not on that side when he was in the wildernesse pinnacle of the Temple in the ship in the house there he was and no where else when he was in the graue his body was not risen and when hee rose the Angell sayeth of the graue he is not here hee is risen behold the place where the Lord lay when hee was with his disciples he sayes himselfe hee was not ascended when hee ascended hee left his disciples in regard of his bodilie presence not to come againe in bodily presence vntill hee came to take them to that place which hee went to prepare for them but these doctours tell vs that their Christ in whom they belieue whom they command to be worshipped hath a body which at an instant and poynt of time is in an hundreth places within a Church and in fiue hundreth places of the same Church is not in a word hath a body which is in as many consecrated hosties as are in the World at one time though there will be thousands dayly and which body is in no other place or space betwixt the hosties and yet will avow that such a body is but one single and the same body vndivided which was borne of the Virgin and hang vpon the crosse so peart are they to hold vp their false Christ by calling him the true when hee hath nothing of this trueth that is in our Lord. Fifthly the true Christ once died from his giuing vp the ghost vpō the crosse vntill his resurrectiō but after that he dieth no more but is aliue for euermore he suffers no more bodily his blood is shed no more his soule no more seuered from his body this is the Christ which the Scripture teaches vs to beleeue into and to worship but the Popish doctrine drawes these silly soules that beleeues them to beleeue and adore such a Christ whose verie substantiall body is bathed and swimmes in his owne naturall and true blood dayly for when the Priest consecrateth the chalice then the wine as they say is turned substantially in blood as certainly really as Christ changed water into wine Now when the hostie is broken and a part thereof put in the consecrate chalice among the verie blood as they teach which hostie and every part thereof as they say doth containe the very body of Iesus doe I speake any thing but according to their doctrine when I say that that Christ of theirs swimmes dayly in his owne blood incace they abide at their doctrine teaching that Christs words in the Sacrament are taken literally for these words This is my body taking the wordes literally must haue another sense than these wordes This is my blood and so the words beeing taken literally
and faith together and yet the Apostle tells them that if they held Christ so Christ shuld not profite them Jt was a misconceaued Christ Gal. 5. 2. that deceiued the Heretiques of old for euery hereticke pretended an intention to honour the true Christ and it is a false Christ that deceaueth the Jewes who pretend that they are keeping their faith and worship to the true Messias promised but haue forged in their owne braine one altogether different from the true yet none of all these haue euer conceiued a Christ more contrary to the true Christ then is this forged Christ in the Masse without warrand as is said of Scripture and contrare to the tenet of antiquitie howeuer the Priests and Iesuites gull their auditours with pretence of the same For Tertullian sayeth Acceptum panem distributum discipulis lib. 4. ad versus Marcionem cap. 40. corpus suum illud fecit hoc est corpus meum dicendo id est figura corporis mei Christ tooke bread and gaue it to his disciples making it his body while hee sayes This is my body that is a figure of my body where ye see that this Father who liued two hundreth yeers after Christ doth expone these words of the institution figuratiuely And yet Bellarmine is not ashamed to use this testimony for lib. 3. Eucharistiae cap. 20. proouing transubstantiation but doth bewray heerein his fraud and deceitfull handling of the Fathers for alledging this place so directly contrare him hee leaueth out the Fathers glosse that is a figure of my bodie And Augustine is so cleare in this matter that it is a wonder that any man shoulde oppose him for giuing a rule how to know when the words of holy Scripture are to be taken figuratiuely when properly he sayth thus Si preceptiua loquutio est aut flagitium aut facinus vetans aut lib 3. 〈◊〉 doctrina christiana cap. 16 utilitatem aut beneficentiam iubens non est figurata si autem flagitium aut facinus videtur iubere aut vtilitatem aut bene ficentiam vetare figurata est nisi manducaueritis inquit carnem filii hominis sanguineÌ„ biberitis non habebitis vitam in vobis facinus vel flagitium videtur iubere figura est ergo If the precept forbid any crime or wicked deede or command any profite or beneficence then is it not figuratiue but if it seeme to command any crime or wicked deed or to forbid any profite or beneficence it is figuratiue then doth he giue for instance to this rule these words of our Sauiour Except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drink his blood yee haue no life in you These wordes sayeth hee seeme to command some crime and wicked deed therefore they are figuratiue Many other passages of Fathers J might cite but I feare to be too tedious neither neede J to insist much on Fathers seeing the very Canon of the Masse doth ouerthrow transubstantiation For after the wordes of consecration the Priest offering Iesus Christ to God prayeth after this maÌ„ner Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicâ—re digneris sicuti accepta babere dignatus es munera pueri tui iusti Abell On which things may it please thee to look with a good and fauourable countenance and to accept of them as thou did accept of the presents of Abell thy righteous seruant Any man may easily perceiue that if there were nothing there but Christ as they affirme the Priest durst neuer take vpon him to be a intercessour betwixt the Father and the sonne as though the son had lost the fauour of his Father for whose only sake wee all are receaued in fauour And since J haue now made mention of the Masse J can not conceale what secreete reluctation was euer in my minde euen when J was most bewitcht with the inchauntments of Poperie against their propitiatory sacrifice dayly offered vp in the Masse which so flatly contradicts the words of Scripture With an offering hath he reconciled Heb. 10. 14. Vers 10. for euer them that are sanctified And to exclude reiteration the Scripture sayeth We are sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once made And most clearly As it is appoynted for euery man once to die c. Neither Heb. 9 27. 28. will the distinction of a bloody and vnbloody sacrifice satisfie this passage seeing that the Apostle showes that as a man dieth but once so Christ is offered but once How ridiculous a thing should it bee for one to say that a man can die but once a bloody death but hee can die oftner an vnbloody death and if this distinction of theirs can not hold in the death of man neither can it in the offering of the Lord Jesus Seeing the Scripture precisly compareth them in number that they are both but once Yea in â—â—presse wordes of that same chapter the Scripture excluds this distinction while it sayth Without shedding Ver 22. of blood there is no remission of sins If then the Masse bee an vnbloody sacrifice by it there is no remission of sins And lest this should be eluded by the typicall sacrifices of old the Apostle speakes in the present time c. And this much concerning their Masse which was the second part whereof I promised to speake CHAP. 12. Of Merites FOllowes here the third part whereof J promised to speak which contains some of their common absurdities and first of Merites for the mixture of our works and the workes of Christ Iesus is vntolerable and more incompatible than the mixture of wine and water for to make vp the blood of their Sauiour in the Masse how can wee haue good workes before wee bee made good by regeneration seeing an euill tree can not bring foorth good fruite Yea they are gone so farre on in this mixture that they exclude Christs merites altogether from the formall cause of our iustification and only makes Christs righteousnesse a helpe whereby we our selues may fully formally bee iustified before God Si quis dixerit homines iustificarivel sola imputatione iustitiae Canone 10 11 sessione 6 Concilii Trident. Christi vel sola peccatorum remissione exclusa gratia charitate quae in cordibus eorum per spiritum sanctum diffundatur atque illis inhaereat aut etiam gratiam qua iustificamur esse tantum fauorem Dei anathema sit If any man say that wee are formally iustified by the righteousnesse of Christ let him bee accursed c. Neither doth their doctrine stay heere but proceeds to works of supererogation whereby they put God in their debt and enrich the Pope by laying of these works of supererogation in his store-house to bee sold out at his pleasure for moneyes Since these works can be applyed to men for their satisfaction which they haue not wrought wherfore may not the merits of Christ Jesus be applyed to vs to our iustification
as they pretend the hostie being put in the cup the body is put in the blood Sixtly the true and liuing Christ where hee is bodily present can walke alone he needes not to be lifted nor to bee borne or carried in mens hands he is not feared to fall nor that any euill befall him But the Romish Doctours in effect J must now say with griefe deceauers drawe the people to adore for their Lord and Saviour a Christ of the Priestes making in the Masse who is so weake that hee can not rise till he bee lifted hee can not walke but must bee carried and when he is mounted vp in his makers hand except his creator and maker hold him vp or if the Priest himselfe snapper and fall at a procession or in a journey then this Christ goeth to the ground and his maker both and there he lyeth though it were in a myre till hee bee lifted againe What care haue J seene taken to lift this Christ attentiuelie and to lay him downe againe softly for feare of breaking of him and if hee bee not eaten presently but must bee keeped to bee adored vpon the Altar some dayes after then euery night at euen hee is put in ward and keeped fast vnder locke and key ordinarly lest while his maker and preseruer is sleeping the myce or the ratts whom the Worlde can not persuade but the hostie is verie bread indeed should carry him away and vse some short improbation against this their transubstantiation this can not bee but a matter of laughter to those who are fred from the Romish yock but alace for pittie of the Soules that beleeues all is well I know they gull the people by telling them that Christ Iohn 20. 26. came in to his Disciples the doore beeing shut And that this could not bee but by rarifying his owne substance to such subtilitie that it might goe through the doore but poore Soules that heareth this they must not dispute nor reply but beleeue as the Church beleeues If they would reply it were greater reason that the doore should yeeld to Christ then hee to it and that it were as easie for him to come in the chamber and the doore shut before and after hee came in keeping still his bodily substance in the owne naturall constitution as it was to Peter to come through the prison and through the yron gate which was shut before and after he came Act. 12 10. out but opened when he went through And no farder can this text affoord them if any J say would replye after this manner this pretext would not saue them They please the people another way also for feare that this might bee answered by distinction of a glorified body and vnglorified for taking away whereof I say Seuenthly the true Christ his body is glorified with such a glory as doth not abolish the substantiall properties of his body but only makes the same more illustrious and conspicuous whereof himselfe gaue a proofe in his transfiguration when hee clothed himselfe with the glorie of the only begotten son of God for a while at which time his glorie made not his body to disappeare but to appeare more conspicuously than before Another proof Act. 9. 3. 26. 13. hee gaue of this at the conversion of Paul when from Heauen there shined a light from him while hee spake downe to Saul brighter than the Sunne at noone day and to put vs out of doubt in this matter the same Apostle Philip. 3. 21. sayth that Christ shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious body Wherein he lets vs vnderstand first that our Lord still retaines the same true body which hee assumed and that his body is glorious and bewtifull Next hee showes that Christ Jesus hath such a body now in Heauen as wee shall haue in our owne degre when the resurrection comes but when the resurrection comes our bodyes flesh and bones will rise and bee glorified Therefore our Lord hath such a body in his owne degree of flesh and bones glorified from which glory now his body can not bee seuered But that Christ which is made in the Masse hath a body no ways glorious nor conspicuous but altogether ignominious and subiect to moe personall disgraces then when hee suffered at Hierusalem as that which is said already may cleare Eightly and last of all to be short the true Christ hath forwarned vs not to beleeue any such Christ after his ascension as men shall poynt out on the Earth saying of Mat. 24 23. him Loe heere loe there is Christ For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders Math. so that if it were possible they should deceaue the very Elect Behold I haue told you before Wherefore if they shall say 24. to you behold hee is in the desert goe not foorth behold he is 25. in the secreete place goe not foorth For as the lightning commeth 26. out of the East and shineth to the West so shall also the 27. comming of the sonne of man bee And again by his Apostle Colos 3 1. 2. declares himself only to be fund in Heauen for his bodily presence discharging vs to set our affection vpon any thing on earth But the Christ in whō the Papists Priests and doctors teaches people to belieue as their God and to worship as their Sauiour on whō they cause them set their affection is corporally present in the earth and his body on the earth all the dayes of the yeare of whom my eares haue heard say times out of number loe heere loe there loe yonder our Lord and Sauiour comming through the street let vs goe and convoy him and in the Masse the Priest lifts him vp and after puts him in the peoples mouth and hee goes ouer the throat What becomes of him then ye will say heare what the true Christ sayeth Perceiue you not that whatsoeuer entereth into the Math 15. 17 mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught O how farre then are the people deceiued First they beleeue they haue among their hands the true Christ and doe worship him when they worship only an Idoll and a false Christ Next they belieue that howeuer the matter bee that their intention to serue the true Christ will saue them from the sinne and the Iudgment due to such a sinne and then they are againe deceaued for if good intentions could haue any weight with God where the worke is not warrantable then these men should goe free who murther the Prophets and seruants of Jesus thinking they do God good seruice of whō Christ speaks Ioh. 16. 2. Then the Jewes should goe free who beleeued when they were pleading against Christ dishonouring him that they were friends to the promised Messias The Galatians beleeued that they held the true Christ when they joyned justification by works