Sathans miracles the more to blind the people with the idolatrie of the Masse Of such miracles the Lord and his Apostles do aduise vs to beware that we bee not deceiued by them Manie other miracles they recount but in answering to these aforesaid we shall haue answered to all that they can recken And the better to answere this fift obiection knowe we that there are two sortes of miracles the one true and the other false Those that are true are done by the power of God for confirmation of the truth and the confusion of falshood Such were the miracles which God wrought by the hand of Moses and of the other Prophetes Such bee those which Christ and his Apostles did Comming then to our purpose I say that the miracles which God hath done in the most holy sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ to make vs vnderstand that he instituted this sacrament and that it was not humane inuention he did them And this did the Lord for one of these two endes The first is to expell the wicked impious and vnworthy persons from this so high a Sacrament for this end serued the miracle which Saint Cyprian saw and we haue declared and others also which the same author reporteth For what actuall sinne had a sucking infant witout anie discretion committed in eating a soppe moystened in the wine sacrificed vnto idols But did the Lord to make vs vnderstand howe much those men which vnworthily and without any consideration receiue the holy Supper doe displease him and that to them is it all one to sitte at the table of the Lord and to receiue the Sacrament of his bodie and of his bloud or to sit at the table of the Diuell and receiue the Diuell himselfe If God chastised by his iust Iudgement a sucking Babe as Saint Cyprian reporteth for hauing participated of the table of the Diuell and of that of the Lord how thinke wee will hee punish those that of ripe age and deliberate purpose do participate of both tables This young childe could not drinke the cuppe of the Lord hauing first drunke that of the Diuels it could not bee partaker of the table of the Lorde and of the table of diuels For the cuppe of the Lord is the communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which wee breake in the Supper is the Communion of the bodie of Christ And what agreement hath Christ with the Diuell This is not mine owne inuention they are the words of Saint Paul speaking for this purpose to the Corinthians 1. Cor. chap. 10. 15. So that we confesse that God hath miraculously many times chastened those which vnworthily receiue the most holy sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ And the Apostle in the eleuenth chapter doth witnesse the same when he saith For which cause as much to say as for hauing vnworthily eaten many amongst you are sicke and weake and many are asleepe that is to say are dead The second end that God pretendeth in the miracles which he doth in the Supper is touching good men In the celebration of this sacrament hath God willed sometimes to do miracles to illustrate the same and to shew forth the excellencie and dignitie thereof and the more therewith to confirme the faith of the godly that the Lord hauing blowne away their sinnes doe worthily receiue it And not onely for confirmation of the faithfull hath the Lord in the Sacrament wrought miracles but also hath he done them in the celebration of Baptisme And so S. Iohn Baptist when Christ was baptized sawe the heauens open and the holy Ghost visibly descending in the shape of a Doue And this was that the Baptist as an eye witnesse might testifie of Christ and say Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde Such miracles then admit wee that for confirmation of our faith are done hy the power of God The second sorte of miracles are done by the arte of the Diuell to deciue men and to cause them not to beleeue the true but the false doctrine such miracles call wee false for one of these two causes The first is in regard of the Authour the Diuell who is a lyar and the father of lyes The second because such miracles deceiue them that beleeue them By the arte of the Diuell did the Sorcerers of Pharaoh worke wonders as Moses did Of such miracles the Lord forewarneth vs There shall arise vp saith he false Christes and false prophetes and shall shewe great signes and wonders so that the verie elect if it were possible should be deceiued Behold saith the Lord I haue tolde you before And Saint Paule speaking of Antichrist saith That his comming shall bee by the working of Sathan in all power signes and lying wonders c. Such may we thinke were the miracles of the Sorcerers of Pharaoh Such bee the miracles which Damascen reporteth of the dead mans scull and of the soule of Traian and of the soule of Falconilla that being condemned and in hell were saued Of these miracles of Damascen we will speake afterwards Such may we thinke was the miracle of the Masse by vs recited of Pius the second In conclusion all miracles which bee to confirme a thing that is contrarie to the word of God be false and done by the arte of the diuell Against the word of God is it that the soules by the iust iudgement of God condemned and buried in hell should go out thence and be saued Against the word of God is it to beleeue there is any other Purgatorie then the bloud of Christ Ireneus a most ancient Doctor telleth that a certain man called Marke a great deceiuer and heretike with the Sacrament of the Eucharist did strangely deceiue the simple For he so changed the colour of the wine that nothing but bloud appeared and by his inchantments so greatly increased a little of the wine that it filled the cuppe and also ranne ouer And another cuppe greater and more capable being brought the selfe same without adding more liquor did fill it vp to the top Shall we beleeue his heresie because he confirmed it with miracles Surely no. A commandement haue we that if an Angell from heauen shall teach vs another Gospell another doctrine another faith then that which Iesus Christ and his Apostles haue taught vs wbich they haue left vs written in the olde and new testament that although hee confirme it with many miracles as did this Marke and the sorcerers of Pharaoh we should not beleeue him Of this Marke maketh Saint Ierome mention and citeth Ireneus for his author This Marke saith he went into France and thence passed into Spaine and with his enchantments deceiued many the Gentle women chiefly whom he allured to carnall loue Reade the epistle to Theodora the wife of Lucinus Beticus or Audaluz tom 1. If we reade the histories of the Gentiles we shall find that they shew
the death of Christ A new inuention it is humane diuelish founded vpon the wicked foundation of transubstatiation Some things there be in the Masse which manifestly declare that there is no transubstantiation as when they say in the Cannon Offerimus praeclarae maiestati tuae de tuis donis ac datis c. that is to say We offer to thy excellent Maiestie of thy gifts and of that which thou hast giuen c. a pure Ho ✚ st an holy Ho ✚ st an Ho ✚ st without spot holy ✚ bread of life eternall and a cup ✚ of euerlasting saluation One of the two either by these gifts which they offer to God doe they vnderstand the bread and the wine without any transubstantiation or els so transubstantiated into the body and bloud of Christ that now there remaynneth neither bread nor wine It apeareth by the prayer that there which there they make that by the gifts they ought to vnderstand the bread and wine without any transubstantiation which gifts the Priest prayeth God to accept as he accepted the gifts which Abel Abraham and Melchisedech offered so say they super quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris c. that is to say Vpon which gifts vouchsafe to behold with thy merciful bright countenance and to accept theÌ„ as thou pleasedst to accept the gifts of thy iust seruant Abel the sacrifice of our Patriarch Abraham that holy sacrifice spotlesse â—ost which that thy high Priest Melchisedech offered to thee Beseeching humbly we pray thee to command these gifts to be caried by the hands of thine holy Angel to the high Alter before the presence of thy diuine Maiesty c. And if by gifts the bread wine vntransubstatiated be vnderstood what necessitie haue we of such a sacrifice to obtaine pardon of our sins holding that most perfect sufficieÌ„t sacrifice which one only time ought not to bee reiterated our redeemer Christ Iesus offered vpon the crosse wherewith he sanctifieth vs for euer But they will say vnto me that they vnderstand by giftes not the bread and wine vntransubstantiated but transubstantiated into the body and bloud of Christ If so they vnderstand it worse is it then it was for then the prayer which the Priest maketh is a most blasphemous blasphemie against Iesus Christ the only begotten sonne of God true God and man What pride what haughtinesse and presumption is it that a miserable sinner conceiued and borue in sinne and corruption and that doth nothing in all his life time but adde sinnes vnto sinnes dare to present himself before the maiestie of God the Father and pray him to receiue and accept his Sonne Iesus Christ And how saith he that he should accept him Euen as he accepted the giftes of Abel Abraham and Melchisedech Is Christ no other thing then Abel Abraham and Melchisedech Is the sacrifice of Christ his precious bodie and bloud which he offered no other thing then the sacrifice of Abel Abraham and Melcbisedech and then the sacrifice of all how many soeuer iust persons that haue bene and shall be Let them then be ashamed so to speake of Iesus Christ and of his sacrifice On the one side they confesse Iesus Christ to be equall with the Father as he is in essence and power and on the other side and stinking Priest put they for intercessor and mediator that the Father should accept and receiue him with a mercifull and chearefull countenance O miserable sinner pray thou vnto God that he pardon thy sinnes thy superstitions and idolatries and pray not nor intreat thou for Christ who is the Lambe without spot which taketh away the sinnes of the world he is he that committed no sinne neither was anie guile found in his mouth He needeth not thee that thou shouldest pray to the Father for him but thou hast need that he pray for thee The father himselfe speaking of his sonne faith This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him Ye see here a terrible blasphemy vttred by the priest in saying of the Masse Of that which is sayd doe wee conclude that all those which heare Masse seeing they beleeue this transubstantiation bee Idolaters and that the priest which faith it hold he intention of consecration or not is a double Idolater For he not only committeth idolatrie but causeth also all that heare his Masse to commit Idolatry Infinite thankes I giue to my God that although he permitted that I with the rest committed Idolatrie for a time in hearing the Masse yet hee neuer suffered me to commit idolatrie by saying it to others The third reason wherewith they confirme their new article of Transubstantiation is the authoritie of Doctors which they alleage and determinations of Councels They cite Ireneus who in his fifth booke saith When the cup mingled and the bread broken receiue the word of God the Eucharist of the body and bloud of Christ is made Tertullian lib. 4. faith Christ made the bread which he tooke his bodie and distributo his disciples Origen vpon Matth. chap. 25. saith This bread which God the Word doth witnesse to be his bodie c. Saint Cyprian Sermone de coena Domini saith This common bread changed into flesh and bloud procureth life Also in the same sermon he saith This bread which the Lord gaue to his disciples not in forme or appearance but chaunged in nature is made flesh of the omnipotent Word Saint Ambrose lib. 4. de Sacramentis saith Before the words of the sacrament it is bread when consecration is applied to it of bread it is made the flesh of Christ Saint Chrysostome hom de Eucharistia tom 6. sayth This Sacrament is like waxe applyed to the fire in which no substance remayneth but becommeth like to the fire So saith Chrysostome the bread and wine is consumed of the substance of the bodie of Christ Also in the 61. Homily hee saith That Christ not onely gaue himselfe that we should see him but that wee should also touch and handle him and in whose flesh also we should fasten our teeth Also Hom. 38. vppon Matthew he saith Manie say that they will and desire to see the forme and figure of Christ and also his rayment and shooes but he giueth himselfe to thee that thou maist not only see him but also touch him Saint Augustine Prolog in Psal 23. saith Christ did beare himselfe with his handes when in the Supper hee instituted the Sacrament And vpon the 98. Psalme declaring those words Fall downe before his footestoole he affirmeth that the flesh of Christ ought to be in the Sacrament adored which should not fitly be if the bread remayned Hillarie in his eight booke of the Trinitie saith Christ is in vs by the truth of nature and not by conformity of will onely and saith that in the meat of the Lord we truly receiue
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
Priest to giue vs the Sacrament but we must vnderstand the stretched out hand of Christ to doe this By all this varietie of speach what think we sought Chrisostome to doe but to drawe the mindes of the Communicants from the consideration of the outward signes and figures visible and subiect to perish and to make them consider the heauenly and diuine things which by them be figured This glorious Father then would that in communicating we should so celebrate the memorie of the death and passion of Christ as if then at the same instant that we communicate his body were crucified his bloud were shed for vs. Would God that all Christians when they communicate would haue this consideration meditation other fruit should they then receiue of the cōmunion The faithfull beleeuing the Euangelicall doctrine and celebrating the holy Supper are present as it were at the condemnation and death of the Lord this is the memorie commanded them to doe and so saith Saint Paul to the Galathians That before their eyes was Christ condemned among them crucified As touching that of Saint Augustin which they obiect vnto vs that Christ bare himselfe in his hands We denie it not For what inconuenience is it that Iesus Christ with his hands hath borne his owne body if by the body we vnderstand the Sacrament of his body And that this was his meaing hee himselfe a little lower declareth when hee saith Quodam modo in a certaine maner not simply To the other which they say of Saint Augustin that the flesh of Christ ought to be adored in the Sacrament We denie not the flesh of Christ in so much as it is conioyned with the Diuinitie from the which it neuer departeth ought to be worshipped For whosoeuer otherwise shall simply worship the flesh of Christ not respecting the hypostaticall vnion which is betweene the flesh and the Diuinitie in Christ shall commit idolatrie for only God onely his Diuinitie ought to be worshipped Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue Deut. chap. 6. vers 13. Who so listeth to see how much Saint Augustine is for vs and how much against the Transubstantiation of our aduersaries and this not in one place by chance but in manie let him reade that which we haue alreadie alleaged S. Hillarie in the place cited against vs groundeth his argument vpon the truth of the Sacraments the which doe really and truly seale giue and present that which they represent vnto vs. We receiue then in the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ the true body and bloud of Christ and make our selues one selfe same thing with him and this spiritually by faith as so often we haue sayd which vnion is not onely made in the Eucharist but also in Baptisme And so the same Hillarie a little before he had sayd those wordes of the Eucharist had sayd the same of Baptisme saying that by it we are conioyned with Christ and amongst our selues And this not by vnion of consent and will only but also of nature let them also put Transubstantiation in the water of Baptisme As touching that which they say of Leo the first wee confesse the same which he saith that Christ is made our flesh and that we doe passe into his flesh As touching Damascen there is no doubt but that he is wholly for them As appeareth in the place against vs alleaged This Damascen by nation and profession was a Iew vntill hee came to Constantinople and was conuerted and being conuerted became a Monke He liued in the time of the Emperour Leo Isauricus About the 720. yeare when the Moores a fewe yeares before hauing passed the Straights of Gibraltar had by the chastisement of God subdued almost all our country of Spaine Some things he wrote wherein are found many wonders superstitions and erours I will here set downe some that the credite may be seene that to such an authour is due A great defender hee was of Images They are not only to be made saith he but also to be honored and reuerenced The which is contrary to the second comaundement Thou shalt not make to they self any grauen Image Thou shalt not worship nor honour them The reliques of Saints he much esteemed and doubted not to call them fountaines of the giftes of God He dared to say that wee ought with faith to honor dead saints the which is blasphemy For in one only God ought we to beleeue As we confesse in the beginning of the Nicene Creed Speaking of Purgatory to confirme it he reporteth great wonders hee telleth how Traian the Emperour who was a pagan an Idolaten a great persecuter of the Christians by the praiers of S. Gregory went out of the paines of hell c. Also that the soule of a woman called Falconilla a Pagan went out of hell whither for her idolatrie she was condemned and this by the prayers of one which he calleth Primera a martyr Frier Iohn de Pineda libr. 18. cap. 24. ◠1. telleth another such like tale and this it is Zenoras whom he calleth a noble Historian saith that the Empresse besought the Patriarch bishops and religious persons to pray for the soule of the Emperour Theophilus her hushand and that they obtayned pardon for his offences but I saith Pineda hold it very doubtfull seeing that he dyed an obstinate heretike And then I will leaue mine opinion founded vpon the rootes of faith One of which saith that where the tree falleth there shall it euer remaine and another that in hell there is no redemption and another that grace deuideth betweene the sonnes of the kingdome and of hell c. For the selfe same causes say we that which Damascen sayth of the soules of Traian and Falconilla to be lies Pero Mexia vpon the life of Traian sayth that that which is sayd of the soule of Traian is a meere fable and iest Doctour Illescas vpon the life of Gregorie the first holdeth it for certaine truth and condemneth Pero Mexia Also saith Damascen that one Macarius consulting with a drie scull knew many thinges of the state of the dead and what is to be a Nigromancer if this be not This Macarius sayth hee wontedly prayed for the dead and desired to know if such prayers did ought auaile them and if they receiued any comfort by them He sayth that God a louer of soules willing by manie and firme arguments to declare this to his seruaunt inspired into the drie skull the word of truth For these words the skull pronounced When thou prayest for the dead some small consolation wee feele c. Also hee reporteth that one sawe a a Disciple of his which had liued a life somewhat dissolute burning in the fire whose body was in the flame euen to the throate Afterwardes by the prayers of the Maister The same Maister himselfe sawe him in the fire vp to the middle and afterwardes praying eftsoones for
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
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
which likenes it appeareth that he wold say that as in Christ remain two natures diuine and humane So in the same maner are the two natures preserued in the Sacrament That of the bread which is seene and that of the body of Christ which is not seene In the second booke and third epistle he also sayeth So that the body of Christ cannot be floure onely Nor water only But both doe meete and couple together and with the meeting togither and vnion of one bread become firme with which and the same sacrament our People is shewed to be coupled Athanasius expounding these words If any man shall speake a word against the Sonne of man it shall be forgiuen him but he which speaketh against the holy spirit c. saith And how great is the body that all the world is to eate of And concludeth that this is spiritually to be vnderstood and hereby that in this place the Lord speaketh of his ascention against the Capernaits Basil in his Liturgie calleth the bread of the sacrament Antitypon of the body of Christ to wit an example or patterne of the like forme And after the consecration he calleth it so also Dionysius de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia cap. 3. saith The Bishop vncouereth the couered and vndiuided bread and parting it in peeces c. Saint Ambrose vpon the first epistle to the Corinthians saith When it is said that this is done in memorie of Christ and of his death we by eating and drinking do signifie the flesh and bloud of Christ which haue bene offered In the same place also he saith We receiue the mysticall cup in type or figure of the bloud of Christ Also in the fourth booke De Sacramentis and fourth chap. where he setteth downe the change of the symbols he handleth also our change into Christ but for all this those that receiue the Sacrament are not transubstantiated into Christ Also in the same chapter he saith So that we affirme How can that which is bread be the body of Christ by consecration And then If the word of the Lord haue so much power that the things which were not begin to be how much more powerfull shall it be to cause that these things remaine which haue their being and be changed into another thing Saint Ierome vpon Saint Matthew saith clearely that in the bread and the wine is represented the body and bloud of Christ Chrysostome vppon the second to the Corinthians sayth Not onely that which is set before vs vppon the table but the poore also is the body of Christ to whom wee are bound to doe good for he that sayd this is my body with his mouth sayd also that he it was which receiued the benefite and that hee in the poore was in necessitie Also in the eleuenth Homily vppon Matth. In opere imperfecto he saith In the holy vessels is neither the bodie of Christ nor his bloud but the mystery of the bodie and bloud of Christ Also vpon the twelfth chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians Hom. 27. he saih So that Christ in the bread and wine sayd Doe this in remembrance of me In declaring also these wordes vppon the twentie third Psalme Thou hast prepared a table before me saith So that the bread and the wine in the Sacrament is shewed vnto vs in the similitude of the bodie and bloud of Christ c. Also writing to Cesarius against Apollinarius and others which confounded the diuinitie and humanitie of Christ this Epistle is found in the Librarie of Florence he saith For euen so the bread before it bee sanctified wee call bread but the diuine grace signifying this the bread by meanes of the Priest is freed from the name of bread and is found worthy to be called the bodie of the Lord albeit the nature of bread remaine stil in it In verie manie places is Saint Augustine wholly for vs and roundly confirmeth our doctrine Vppon the fourescore and second Psalme hee saith Thou art not to eate that which thou seest nor art thou to drinke this bloud which they haue to poure out That which I say is a mysterie which will quicken being spiritually vnderstood Also in the Treatise De Fide ad Petrum chap. 19. hee calleth it the Sacrament of bread and wine Also against Faustus the twentith booke and twentie first chapter he sayth In the old Testament vnder the similitude of the sacrifices to wit of the beastes sacrificed the flesh and bloud of Christ was promised vnto vs vpon the crosse was it really giuen but in the Sacrament for a memoriall it is celebrated Let vs well consider these three times noted by Saint Augustine and the great difference there is After one sort gaue Christ himselfe in the olde Testament after another vpon the crosse and after another in the Sacrament of the Supper Also De Ciuitate Dei the 21. booke and the twentie fift chapter he clearelie affirmeth that the wicked eate not the matter of the Sacrament to wit the bodie of Christ And so saith he It is not to be thought that hee which is not in the bodie of Christ and in whom Christ is not nor he in Christ eateth the body of Christ Also in the twentith Treatise vppon Saint Iohn hee saith the same Against Adimantus also a Manachie chap. 12. he saith The Lord doubted not to say This is my body when he gaue notwithstanding the signe of his body In this sheweth Saint Augustine the words of Christ This is my body ought not to bee fully vnderstood according as they sound but by trope or figure and so saith hee that this manner of speech is like to that alleaged out of the twelfth chapter of Deuteronomie verse 23. The bloud is the life Also De doctrina Christiana lib. 3. cap. 16. Hee sheweth that which Christ in the sixt chapter of Iohn vseth Except ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man c. to bee a figuratiue maner of speech the reason which hee giueth is because it seemeth to commaund a great wickednesse For to eate the flesh of a man is a greater crueltie then to kill him and to drinke his bloud then to shed it And therefore saith Saint Augustine that it is a figure which commaundeth vs sweetely and profitably to remember that the flesh of Christ was crucified and wounded for vs. Also in the Epistle to Boniface sayth The Sacramentes take their names of those thinges whereof they are Sacraments These wordes as wee haue noted tooke Saint Augustine from Saint Cyprian and excellently nameth the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ in a certaine manner to bee the bodie of Christ and then sayth The Sacrament of the bloud of Christ is the bloud of Christ Vpon the eight Psalme he also saith Christ receiued Iudas vnto his banquet when hee commended the figure of his bodie Let that which wee haue already sayd of this glorious Doctor suffice Leo
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
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
him he saw him free and safe without hurt of the fire These foure so straunge wonders besides others which we passe ouer shall you finde in his sermon of the dead You see heere the Textes of holie Scripture wherewith hee confirmeth his Purgatorie Also to proue the resurrection he citeth the place of Genesis the ninth chapter and the fourth verse where God commaunded Noah The flesh with the bloud shalt thou not eate Also another straunge thing in the chapter of Virginitie he saith that had not Adam sinned men for generation should not carnally haue coupled with their wiues And because hee saw the Text of Scripture to bee against him God might sayth hee by other meanes multiply men without the coniunction of man and woman Also seeing that Saint Basil calleth the bread and the wine of the Sacrament examples of the bodie and bloud of Christ which was opposite to him This saying of S. Basil said he ought to bee vnderstood of the bread and of the wine before sanctification which is not so for the bread and wine before consecration as already wee haue proued by the Fathers are common bread and wine as the rest and be no symbols nor figures of the body and bloud of Christ vntill and not before these words Take and eate this is my body bee sayd Sith such a one then is Damascen leaue we him and let vs followe that which the hole Scripture doth teach vs that which the Fathers whom against Transubstantiation we haue alleaged doe tell vs and that also which experience it selfe of that which we see touch and tast in the sacrament doth shew vs. To Theophilact Anselme Hugo Richardo c. whom they cite against vs and liued in the time that the holy Supper of the Lord was now falling the Popes then tyrannizing the consciences of men who neuer stayed vntill the holy supper destroyed they had made of some reliques patches and remnants of their Masse such as now it is full of abuses superstitions and idolatries do we answer the same He of these late writers which least erred in this matter of Transubstantiation is Scotus who saith as before we haue said that neither by Scripture nor reason it can be proued but would yet be deceiued because the Church so commaundeth How could his Church which is the Pope and his Cardinals make new articles of faith besides those which Iesus Christ our king our Prophet and priest ordained and taught us which be contained in the Creed of the Apostles Let vs now answer to the Councels which our aduersaries alleage against vs. As touching that which they obiect against vs of the Councell of Ephesus wherein Cirillus gouerned and Theodoret who is so appaparantly against Transubstantiation was present therein they doe vs great wrong For the same do wee confesse that the Councell confesseth We say that receiuing this Sacrament we receiue not common flesh but flesh sanctifying which by an inseparable vnion is conioyned with the diuine word But how do we receiue it Spiritually by faith not carnally as say our aduersaries that they receiue eat and digest it For vntil it be digested they affirm it to be the flesh of Christ They obiect the councel of Vercell in the time of Leo the ninth where Berengarius was condemned They obiect the Councel of Lateran in the tyme of Nicholas 2. which caused Berengarius to recant The Lateran Councel also in the time of Innocent 3. Also the Councell of Constance Anno. 1516. The Trident also of our time in the time whereof so many Popes as Paule 3. Iulius 3. Marcellus 2. Paulus 4. Pius 4. and none of these for the causes that speaking of the Popes wee haue shewed were present in it poped But examine wee the recantation which Pope Nicholas the second that poped about the yeare 1060. commaunded Berengarius to make in the Councell of Lateran as it is written in the Decrees de consecrat dist 2. cap. Ego Berengarius Wherein hee was constrained to confesse that the body of Christ is handled or sensnally felt with the hands of Priests that it is broken that it is chewed with the teeth I demand of them how can the body of Christ which now is glorified and therefore impossible and no way subiect to these humane miseries suffer these things Which the Pope and his Councell do say The Glosser of the Decrees himselfe although not verie wise could not but see so great an absurditie as this and therefore sayd that this verie warily and aduisedly ought to be vnderstood for if thou doest not so saith he thou shalt fall into an error farre greater then that of Berengrius The Glossor then vnderstood it much better then Pope Nicholas or his Councell whose holy spirit the Pope was that the body of Christ in the Sacrament could no wayes bee touched with the handes nor broken nor chawed with the teeth For this cause the Maister of Sentences in the fourth willing to amend or conceale this so notable a fault saith That this which was commāded Berengarius to say ought not to be vnderstood of the body of Christ but of the Symbols which say they be the accidents And so in that manner of speaking admitteth a trope or figure according whereunto is attributed to the thing that which is of the symbols But should we vse this figure they would eat out our eyes Now shalt thou vnderstand the account which is to be made of such a Councel and of the other Councels that followed this in which the Pope or his Legates haue gouerned and nothing aught worthy was in them determined albeit the Fathers had broken their heads about it if the Pope approued it not So that the Pope only is hee which maketh and vnmaketh decrees and articles of faith and not the Councel Whē a Councell is celebrated the which from many to many yeares is done as though there were no euill life of the Prelates to be amended nor abuses superstitions heresies nor idolatries in the Church to bee corrected the Legates of the Pope which commonly are three for such is his cause that hee trusteth not one with it haue great regard to write to the Pope this or that is determined in the Councel how liketh it your Holinesse Then doth the Pope either approue it or blotting it out disalow it If he blot it out there is then no more treaty of that matter how true soeuer it be how profitable soeuer for the Church That which he approueth he writeth to his Legats This letter which the Pope sendeth is the holy spirit which now gouerneth the Councels This holy Spirit descendeth not from heauē but commeth inclosed in a budget or wallet Thus is the Councell not free but a seruant and of whom of the Pope Who as before by many most sufficient reasons we haue proued to be Antichrist So necessarie an article to saluation is
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
anie shall speake in a straunge tongue there be also an Interpreter And if there shall be no Interpreter hee commandeth that hee speake not in the Church And that if he speake hee speake to himselfe and to God and not to the people for the people receiue no edification by a tongue that is not vnderstood And therefore in the 26. verse he commandeth that all be done to edification For this cause when God spake with the Patriarks with the Prophets and with his people of Israel or they with him they speake vnto him in their mother tongue that all did vnderstād The same did Iesus Christ speaking with the Scribes and Pharisies he spake vnto them in the vulgar tongue the same that was then vsed in Iudea The Apostles when the Lord sent them through the world to preach had first receiued the gifts of tongues to preach the Gospell and celebrate the sacraments to euerie nation in their proper language Why then do not our aduersaries in this imitate the Apostles they taught and celebrated their Sacraments in the vulgar tongue that al might vnderstand that the people might be edified God might be glorified The mysteries of Christian religion be not as the misteries of the Gentiles which were those that they called Mysterios Eleusimos those of the good goddesse wo vnto him that reuealed the same Herehence it commeth that the Priest pronounceth the words of consecration not onely in a strange tongue but also in a verie low voice that none can heare thē so say they Pope Vigilius cōmanded as reporteth D. Illescas vpon the life of Vigilius The Lord wil that his Christian people vnderstād the mysteries vnderstood do meditate vpon them as God in old time loued not the beast that chewed not the cud suffred not his people to eate thereof so now loueth he not that christiā that chaweth not the cud meditates on the saw of the Lord his misteries and his sacraments Dauid speaking of the exercise of a godly man saieth That he meditateth night and daye vpon the lawe of the Lord. The Lord speaking with Iosua who was no Priest but a moste warlike Captaine that wan so many battailes saith these wordes vnto him The booke of this law shall neuer depart from thy mouth but day and night shalt thou meditate therein that thou maiest keepe and doe c. To each nation in their vulgar tongue let them then say their Masse that they may vnderstand and knowe whether that which is therein saied be good or euill and not saie it to all nations in Latine whereof the people receiueth no edificacion but destruction nought learning but superstition and Idolatry As before we haue proued Some notable domages which the Masse causeth haue we shewed Now will we show some absurdities great inconueniences which thereof followe Against the worde of God are some of them against the doctrine of the fathers others be against experience it selfe against naturall reason and common sence And but three or foure will I set downe to auoyd tediousnesse We sayd being so taught by the word of God that in the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ the faithfull onely receiue spiritually and by faith the true body bloud of Christ Our aduersaries not herewith contented say that not only the good godly and faithfull but also the euill wicked and vnfaithfull the Turkes Iewes and Pagans do receiue the true bodie and bloud of Christ yet passe they further they say that beasts mice and other vermine do eat it that the moisture doth moisten it the mouldinesse doth make it mouldy c. Their blacke Transubstantiation hath made them fall into so great an absurditie strange wonder they beleeue that there is no bread nor wine but the body bloud of Christ it the Sacrament They vnderstād that not the faithful only but also the infidel Turke Pagan and Iew the Mouse c. eateth that which was in the Sacrament Hereupon conclude they that they eate and drinke the body bloud of Christ He that will deny them Transubstantiation will also deny this their conclusion to be good But this set apart the wicked c. will we shew by the month of Christ himselfe not to eat nor drinke the body and bloud of Christ S. Iohn sheweth that the Lord saith Except ye eate the flesh of the son of man and drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you Hereupon is concluded that except wee eate his flesh and drinke his bloud we shall not be saued We eat and drinke his flesh his bloud when we not only reciue this Sacrament but also at all times and as often as we beleeue in him Beleeue saith S. Augustine and thou hast eaten And therefore the same Lord recounteth the fruites which this eating of his body and drinking of his bloud do necessarily bring forth He that eateth saith he my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I wil raise him vp c. Also He that eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him And he that eateth me shall liue also by me Presuppose this as most true and apparant it is that wicked men Iewes mice c. haue not eternall life nor shall bee raised vp in the companie of the faithfull It is seene they that dwel not in Christ nor Christ in them it is also apparant that they shall not liue by Christ Hereupon we conclude that they eat not the flesh of Christ nor drinke his bloud For had they eaten it and had they drunke it heauen and earth should rather faile then the word of Christ should faile the wicked Iewes Turks mice c. should haue life eternall and should dwell in Christ and Christ in them c. and to say this is a most great absurdity Therefore it followeth that such eate not the flesh nor drink his bloud Saint Augustine considering this he sayd The other Disciples did eat Panem Dominum the Lord which was bread but Iudas did eat Panem Domini the bread of the Lord as if he had sayd Iudas wanting faith and receiuing the Sacrament vnworthily did not eat the body nor drinke the bloud of Christ which the other Apostles did because they had faith and did eate it worthily but Iudas did only eat drinke the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ Also in the 21. booke de Cinitate Dei cap. 25. he sayth It is not to bee thought that he eateth the body of Christ which is not in the body of Christ nor in whom Christ is not nor hee in Christ Origen vppon those wordes That which entreth in at the mouth defileth not the man c. manifestly sayth that the wicked doe not eate the body of Christ and giueth the reason because the bodie of Christ sayth he is quickening and he which eateth it dwelleth in
possesse them incorporateth them into himselfe and he incorporateth himselfe into them These be they alone which receiue not only the bread wine but also the sacramēt of the body bloud of Christ by the bread by the wine signified receauing the sacramēt of the bodie bloud of Christ they receiue truly really the glorious body bloud of christ yet not carnally but spiritually by faith As before we haue said would our aduersaries admit this so true and cleare doctrine that bringeth with it no absurdities but rather taketh away manie which the word of God doth teach vs and the ancient Doctors doe witnesse they would not beleeue that the mouse the chicken the poore Chough c. doe eate the bodie of Christ but a peece of bread and that but of small substance and so would they not burne nor being burned preserue their ashes I cannot omit here to tell that which on the same day of Corpus Christi did an Inquisitor in Bercelona The tale is this It is 34. or 35. yeares little more or lesse since that being to go in solemne procession which with so great pompe and triumph is vpon this day of Corpus Christi accustomed to be done through out all Spaine and the Priest hauing now sung the high Masse which wontedly is the last vpon that day for all the Priests will that day go in procession it then hapned that the consecrated Host which was to be put in the boxe was so great that it could not be placed in the same This seen the preparation staied and there was none in that famous companie that could tel in such a case what ought to be done But in the end the wisest of the cōpany were of opinion that another Masse should be sayd and an Host consecrated of the like bignes with the boxe but grieuous it was vnto them to waite so long it might be also that no Priest was found which had not already said his Masse and broken his fast the better to be able to go in procession which as that day is very solemne and is farre in going and comming In this famous companie was there an Inquisitor much spoken of called Molon This man impatient to suffer so much delay waite so long a time presuming vpon his Inquisitory authority demanded a paire of sheeres wherewith he clipped the consecrate Host so that he made it fit for the boxe and so the procession went forward It is to bee thought that some did abhorre the rashnesse of the Inquisitor and sighed to see their God and Creator as they call the sacrament so handled by the wicked hands of the Inquisitor Others would say otherwise This is most certain that had any other but the Inquisitor committed such an offence and chiefly had he bene of any race of a new Christian he should not I suppose haue escaped with life one by one al that he had he should haue lost The chastisement wherewith Signor Molon was punished for so enormious a fault was that they depriued him of his inquisitors Office in Barcelona but because so notable an Inquisitor should not be idle they prouided for him the office of the inquisitor at Seuill where hee better might vse his handes in the time of the great persecution which a few yeares before was raised as in the life of Pius the 4. and the 1557. yeare we haue declared This was the great punishment which they gaue to better him withall We will then conclude this Treatise with a notable history reported by Don Rodrigo Archbishop of Toledo who ended his history as himselfe at the end thereof witnesseth in the yeare of the Lord 1243. and in the 26. yeare of king Don Fernando and in the time of the great vacation of Gregorie 9. So that it is now three hundred fifty fiue yeares since he wrote it The said Archbishop in his sixt booke and twentie fiue chapter That the Office which they call Toledano by Isidorus and Leander ordayned was throughout all Spaine celebrated vntill king Don Alonso the sixt which wanne Toledo at the instance of his wife Queene Constance Frenchwoman sent to Rome to Pope Gregory 7. requesting him that the Toledan Office being taken away the Roman Office throughout all Spaine might be vsed c. And in the 26. chap. he saith that Pope Gregory 7. at the petition of king Don Alonso sent one Ricardus Abbot of Saint Victor to set in good order the Churches of Spaine This Legate sent by the Pope as the same Archbishop reporteth did wickedly gouerne so that he was depriued from his office Before he was depriued he much disturbed the state Ecclesiasticall and common wealth of Spaine For the Legate and the King caused them to take the French Office and to leaue the Toledan wherein they and their Ancestors had beene brought vp by the space almost of fiue hundred yeares which was from Saint Gregorie the first in whose time liued Saint Leander and his brother Saint Isidor Archbishops of Seuil vntill this Gregorie the seuenth in whose time reigned Don Alonso the sixt and so vppon a certaine day for his pleasure was this matter very truly debated in the presence of the king the Primate the Legate and the people The Ecclesiasticall state Nobilitie which the Archbishop calleth Militia and people did purposely much withstand it endeuouring what they could that their seruice should not be changed But the king perswaded by his wife a French-woman insisted with threates vnlesse it were chaunged The conclusion was thus Two knights were named to fight the one for the king which should defend the French Office the other for the Nobilitie and Communaltie of Spaine which should maintaine the office of Toledo Hee that tooke part with the king was vanquished the people seeing the knight of the Toledan Office was victor reioyced But so greatly was the king pricked forward by the Queene that hee would not chaunge his purpose ' saying That the single fight or combat of two was not law The knight which sought for the Toledan Office was of the linage of the Matienças whose race as yet liueth And when for this cause arose great tumult for the Nobilitie and people did greatly mutine it was determined that the booke of the Toledan Office and the booke of the French Office should bee cast into a great fire all being first commanded to assemble and pray together Then after they had deuoutly ioyned together and prayed both the one booke and the other were cast into the fire And the booke of the Toledan Office arose vp safe and sound without dammage aboue all the flames of the great fire All which saw those that were present gaue thanks vnto God But the king being of an high stomacke and bold executor of his will neither feared by the miracle nor moued by request perseuered rather in his purpose threatening the losse of goods and life to those that should resist him
French English and Flemish In this booke it is liuely depainted and with many notable exampeles confirmed This is to be noted that how many soeuer entred into the Inquisition for what cause soeuer all came out with confusion and losse of goods and many of their liues and none at all instructed Such is the intreatie wherewith the Fathers of the faith doth intreat them They haue not leysure to teach them but to robbe and kill them Would God that according to the lawdable custome of Spaine in other Audienecs Iudges of residence should be sent men learned and voyd of passion which might examine the Inquisitors and those that be and haue bene prisoners in the Inquisition O what would then bee discouered Aragon as it were by force receiued afterwardes the Inquisition and so they killed the first Inquisitors In the 1546. yeare Don Pedro of Toledo attempted to place it in Naples but could neuer effect it as Doctor Illescas vppon Paul 3. reporteth For the Neapolitanes did vehemently withstand it Thinges standing in these termes Pope Paule before certified of what passed in Naples dispatched forth a writ apostolique whereby he declared that the knowledge of causes touching the offence of heresie apperteyned to the ecclesiasticall Court and Iurisdiction apostolique commaunding the viceroy and all whomsoeuer secular Iudges to surcease in them and not entermedle to proceede against any heresie by way of Inquisition nor any other manner reseruing to himselfe the determination of such causes as of a thinge concerning the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction Thus farre Doctour Illescas Some yeares after one Sayavedra Cordoves perswaded the king of Portugale that he was sent a Nuncio from Paul 3. vnto him And so in the 1545. yeare thus brought in the Inquisition into Portugale There went out of Portugale 30000. Iewes Time brought it to light that the Pope had not sent him and so was he condemned to the gallies Another pleasant conceate haue I heard of this Nuncio an excellent writer he was and well knewe to counterfeite what handsoeuer This Nuncio remayning in the gallies came a poore woman to beseech the Generall of the gallies to ayde her with some almes for the mariage of her poore daughter The General made answere that very willingly would he helpe her but present want of money was the cause he could not The poore woman with this answere departed weeping of whom when the Nuncio saw her weepe hee demaunded the cause of her weeping She told him that which she had passed with the Generall Then did he comfort her saying that he would effect what she desired And taking inke and paper he wrote these words Steward vpon sight of these presents giue so many thousand marmades the number I remember not to her that shall giue you this scedule which scedule the Nuncio subcribed as if the Generall himselfe had done it The poore woman departed with her scedule to the Stewarde The steward answered that he wondered his Lord would in such a time send that scedule But sith such was his pleasure he would giue her that which he commaunded him to giue her and so gaue it indeede When the day came that the Generall tooke account of the steward the steward presented the said scedule vnto him which he read againe and said to the steward True it is that such a poore woman came to me to aske an almes but I answered her that I could not helpe her for the present And beholding the subscription said this is my hand but I wrote it not Wherefore he made inquirie in the gally who had written it and it was proued to be the Nuncio For which cause the generall would haue caused his hand to be cut off but at request of many his hand cutting was spared and he put to the oares For by reason of his wealth he rowed not-before D. Illescas in the life of Clement 6. saith that he saw him in the gally rowing One of the chiefe causes of the low countries reuolt wherein so many thousands of Spaniards and other nations haue died and so many millions of crownes haue bene wasted y aun el rabo como dizen estápor desollar yet the taile as the say is to be fleyed for to begin anew is each day needfull was that the Duke d' Oliua sought to bring in the inqusition You see here the profit which the Inquisition hath brought to Spain This saie I not as though I would that there were neither king nor ruler but that each one might doe and beleeue what he listed Good lawes be necessarie in euery cōmon wealth for this cause committed God the sword to the Magistrate for the chastisement of the wicked and praise of the good as saith the Apostle Saint Peter Let them then that doe euill be punished but not tyrannically All lawes permit the delinquent to know who is his aduersarie and the witnesses that depose and who they be that he may except against them if they be infamous or his enemies c. In this Inquisitorie Audience the Lo. Treasurer who it may be neuer knewe nor saw the delinquent is made partie the witnesses howe infamous what villaines soeuer or great enemies they be are neuer named and so cannot be excepted against The which is contrary to all diuine and humane Iustice If the witnesses haue witnessed against one three or foure things the Inquisitors doe charge him as though the witnesses had spoken of ten or twelue things much more horrible then the witnesses haue deposed And so maie the Inquisitors doe what they list knowing that there is no residēt Iudge which is to take account of that they haue done Against this tyrannie doe we speake Maie it please the diuine Maiestie which hath geuen to the king the sword authoritie and commaund ouer all whatsoeuer that liue in his kingdomes be they secular as they terme them or ecclesiasticall to put into the kinges heart willingnes to be informed of the wronges and grieuances which the Inquisition doth and to geue as is his dutie remedie for the same which one day I hope the Lord will performe reuenge the blood of the iust which the Inquisition vniustly hath spilled The blood of the Iust is as the blood of Abell crying for vengeance How long say the dead for the word of God c. Lord holy and true wilt thou not iudge auenge our blood c. The brotherhood hath done and doth great good to Spaine for it clenseth the waies and wast places of the eues and robbers and so men may walke and sit safely vnder their figge trees and at the foote of their vine A common prouerbe it is that in Spaine are three holy sisters the holy Inquisition the holy Crosse and the holy brotherhood frō the one which is the Inpuisitiō they pray God to deliuer them from the other will they keepe themselues The tyrrany of the Inquisition in this saying is noted God of his great loue
the 170. yeare the Gentiles forced with tormentes the seruants of the Christians to say of their maisters many abhominations and among others that they eate their owne children Celsus the Gentile Philosopher accused the Christians for disloyall and traytors and said that their religion they had taken from the Barbarians and Iewes Origen defended the Christians with 8 bookes which he wrote against this Celsus In the time of S. Augustine were great calamities and wars the which Symachus an orator and many other imputed to the Christians saying that whiles the Roman Empire adored their Gods it prospered The like Historie reciteth Ieremy that when they worshiped the Queene of heauen then all thinges prospered Read the bookes intituled of the citie of God where Saint Augustine wrote against this slaunder in defence of the Christians In the time of the glorious martyr Saint Ciprian who many yeares liued before S. Augustine there was a Proconsull in Africa called Demetrianus a great enemy of the Christians he and others such like with him said that all the wars famine and pestilence wherewith the world was then afflicted ought to be imputed to the Christians because they did not worship the Gods Against this Demetrianus wrote S. Cipriā saying that not the Christians but the Gentiles were the cause of these calamities because vnwilling to worship the true God they adored false Gods and afflicted the Christians with so great and so vniust persecutions not that they should confesse God but that they should denie him The weakenesse of their Gods he shewed them seeing they could not defend themselues c. Al this in our time fully passeth For the selfe same causes are we at this day slaundered and vniustly to the most cruell and shamfull kind of death condemned The same state of the Church is now as it was in the time of Saint Ciprian and of the other Saintes by vs named And as they were defended against the Gentiles So we against the Antichristians doe now make our defence We tell them that God sendeth in our dayes so many calamities of wars famine and pestilence because they haue profaned the diuine worship and in the place of the creator they honour the creatures They worship not God as he hath commaunded in spirit and truth but after the doctrines and commaundements of men and God alone doe they not worship but also the Saints their Images and pictures They adore not will they tell me the Images but that which they represent albeit their second Nicen Councell not the first which is holy and good commaundeth Images with the same adoration to be worshiped as that which they represent as in the beginning of this Treatise we haue declared Also our aduersaries seing themselues in some affliction inuocate the saints of Paradise without any commandement or example in al the holy scripture so to do where they ought to inuocate none but God alone Also wheras ther is but one only mediator Intercessor aduocate betwixt God mā which is Christ Iesus as the Apostle calleth him they not contented with the only Intercessiō of Christ for were they cōtented Christ is sufficient for thē many mediators do they inuent each one maketh choice of one for himself Also they take away ad to the law of God he which so doth being cursed of God so take they away the 2. cōmandement against Images to fil vp the number of ten of the tenth doe they make two commandements Also we read in holy scripture that the Lord in his catholike church did institute but two sacraments baptisme the holy supper they haue made 7. They also say that neither the Pope nor Coūcel nor the Inquisition can erre hence commeth it that they giue so much credit to the decrees constitutions of the Popes Councels Inquisitors as if they were the word of God it selfe yet would God they gaue not more credit to them then to the word of God Very common are ignorance supersticion Idolatrie in the Romane Church This is the height of al their wickednesse that with fire bloud doe they persecute the true catholique Christiās because so instructed gouerned by the word of God they worship one only God in spirit truth because they hold Iesus Christ for the only and alone mediator and because they ad not nor ought diminish from the law of God nor his worde When our aduersaries shal then say that we trouble the world with our new doctrine we will make them the same answere that Elias inspired with the diuine spirit freely made vnto K. Achab. Art thou he saith Achab which troublest Israell Elias answered Not I but it is thou thy fathers house that trouble Israell because ye haue forsaken the commandements of the Lord and followed Baall yee then will we say to our aduersaries are they that haue forsaken the commandements of Christ haue followed the traditiōs of Antichrist your father the Pope ye are they which worship not nor honour God but ye worship and honor Images against the expresse cōmandemēt of God Exod. 20. Deut. 5. with many other places Let our aduersaries at last vnderstand these others such like to be the cause why God afflicteth the world with so great wars famine pestilence diuers other calamities within our dayes we haue yet doe suffer His maiestie for his infinit mercy for his Christs sake opē their eyes that they may consider the works of God so may soften not harden their harts as did Pharo who by the more God did afflict him for his rebellion contempt by so much the more was he hardened against God the people of God But leauing ancient histories come we to that which in our dayes happened let vs come to our countrie of Spaine God by his iust iudgement hath many times in the space of 40 yeares afflicted Spaine with wars famine pestilence and other calamaties which began a little after that great persecution against the faithfull and catholique Christians This persecution beginning in Seuill hath stretched almost throughout all Spaine against the noble learned people as after we wil declare The priests of Baall in their pulpits cōfessiōs discourses do affirme all this of right to be imputed vnto those whom they cal Lutheran heretiques The common people which neither know nor other thing beleeue but that which these Baalamites tell them cōmand thē to beleeue doe beleiue it so to be For confirmation of my sayings I wil here recite that which D. Illescas cap. 31. vpon the life of Pius 4. saith His wordes be these In the 1561. yeare on Saint Mathewes day the 21 of September being the Saboth two howers before day in the morning aftre was kindled in the streete called Costanilla of Valladolid so terrible and fearefull that without hope of remedy in the 30. howers space it ruined aboue 400. of the most
king of kings and vnder the name of Pastor he sheweth himselfe a rauening Wolfe and vnder pretence to be S. Peters successor he declareth himselfe the follower of Iudas For as Iudas with a kisse fayned friendship betrayed his Lord so with fayned holinesse and outward ceremonies doth the Pope draw the common people into the chaines and snares of ignorance and superstitions The said title therefore which Christ gaue vnto Iudas Ioh. 17. 12. the Apostle giueth to Antichrist 2. Thess 2. 4. A contemner of mariage when he esteemes it a carnall estate and therefore with such seuerity forbiddeth it to his Clergie that although fornicators and adulterers can easily purchase absolution of their sinnes no pardon remaineth for the Clergie that mary according to the ordinance of God but the same is reputed and punished by the Pope for an vnpardonable sinne Albeit the holy scripture teacheth 1. Cor. 7. 9. That it is better to marry then to burne And Hebr. 13. 4. Marriage is honorable among all men Also 1. Timoth. 3. 2. Euery Bishop must be the husband of one wife Insatiable is the couetousnesse of the Pope and extendeth into all parts For money he pardoneth sinnes selleth ecclesiasticall functions maketh marchandize of his Bulles indulgences Iubilies Reliques Masses praiers and sacraments and compelleth the miserable people to buy his marchandize not on such dayes onely as other marchants vse to traffique but also and principally on the feast dayes the Lords dayes and Sabboths when other men rest And raketh together euery day in the yeare and of all sortes of people euen of the Iewes and Curtesans of Rome A tyrant he is and persecutor of Saints being the cause of the sheding of so much Christiā blood inciting kings princes to persecute such as contradict him and abandon his Idolatries and superstitions to serue God according to his will and word whom the Pope condemneth for heretiques to be burned and least they should speake putteth a gagge in their mouthes And to fill vp the measure of his crueltie he spareth not Emperours nor kings being the Lords Annointed when they refuse to execute his tyrannies as histories plainely witnesse A deceauer he is sundry waies because he deceaueth the common people with false doctrine and vaine promises with high titles and fayned holinesse with bulles Pardons false miracles and illusions of the diuell c. He is full of impietie because he pleaseth and delighteth himselfe not only in sinne but causeth others also to sinne because he hath depraued the worship of God with idolatrie the authoritie of kings with tyrany The common faith with deceit and the life of his Clergie with shame and filthinesse occasioned by constrayned single life To conclud in the kingdome of the Pope is the fountaine and spring af all abhominations and slaunder according to the old prouerbe The neerer to Rome the worse Christian So the neerer to Antichrist the further from Christ By these demonstrations it appeareth plainely that the Pope is Antichrist whom the Holy scripture hath foretold and by whom the Church of Christ hath so much suffered The second Treatise of the Masse and the holinesse thereof WE haue passed by the Lords assistance the Laborinthe not of Creete but of Rome of the Pope and his Roman Court another much worse and for more intricate troublesōe The Pope haue we proued to be a false Preist and very Antichrist to be the man of sin sonne of perdition to be that whereof whom speaketh S. Iohn in his Reuelation This haue we proued by his euil life wicked Doctrine by the sayings of Doctors and ancient Councels and by three notable passages of holy scripture Now will we shew the Masse which is the second pillar that supporteth and vpholdeth the Roman Church to be a false sacrifice an inuention of the diuell and a profanation of the holy supper which Iesus Christ our redeemer instituted And if such bee the Masse as we will proue it to bee it followeth that wee ought to flie and detest it and so doe we flie and abhorre it as a thing condemned and abhominable before the face of God This done wee will shewe by the Lordes assistance without which we can doe no thing that good is Iesus Christ to be the true and onely priest and chiefe bishop And his propper body blood which he offered vpon the crosse to his father to be the true only sacrifice the memory wherof we shew forth so oftē as we celebrate his holy supper A table wil we place at the end of this Treatise wherein we will shew the conformity vnion and likenesse which the holy supper instituted by Iesus Christ holdeth with the holy supper in the reformed Churches celebrated And thē also wil we shew the differēce disconformity contrariety that the Masse which our aduersaries celebrate holdeth with the holy supper of Christ which is the same we now celebrate As the name of Pope is not found in the holy scripture as little also is there found the name of Masse And doubtlesse had it bene so necessarie for a Christian to beleeue the authoritie of the Pope and holinesse of the Masse without which faith say they it is vnpossible for a man to bee saued It is I say to bee beleeued that Iesus Christ or his Apostles would haue made some mention thereof For all whatsoeuer is necessary for our saluation doth Christ and his Apostles teach vs. Saint Paule speaking to the Ephesians saith Ye knowe that I keepe backe nothing that was profitable but haue shewed you and haue taught you openly and throughout euery house Witnessing both to the Iewes and Grecians the repentance and faith in our Lord Iesus Christ But this holy Apostle so diligent in teaching that which we ought to beleeue maketh no mention of the Pope nor of the Masse Hereuppon it followeth that to beleeue the authoritie of the Pope or holinesse of the Masse is no Article of faith But true it is will they saie vnto me that this word Masse is not found in the scripture but its equiualent is found the supper of the Lord And if we ought to admit the Lords supper thē must we admit this name Missa Whereunto we aunswere that most great Iniurie and wrong doe they to the holie supper which the Lord instituted in saying it to be the same that is their Masse which they haue imagined and forged For how great difference there is betweene Truth and Falshood Light and darkenesse God and Belial So great is the difference betweene the holy supper and the profane Masse Had the question bene concerning the name whether the holy supper were to be called Missa or no. It should not be of great importance Agree wee in the substance of the things and call it as ye list Albeit it bee il done when the holy spirit calleth a thing by such or such name that man dare call it by another name The Apostle calles it
Sadduces shamelesly denied the resurrection and allowed neither Angel nor spirit As by the disputation which they held with Christ about the woman that had seauen husbands appeareth Matth. 22. 22. and in the Acts 23. 8. The Essees apart had their opinions It was a people solitarie like the Charterhouse Monkes They had no wiues drunk no wine nor did they eat any flesh a people they were very austere and euery day fasted Whiles the Church was deuided into these sects when all was confused came the sonne of God into the world With such he conuersed And of such for preaching the truth vnto thē he was crucified When the light of the Gospel was come which Christ and his Apostles preached who allowed it not but rather killed and crucified those that preached the same The same people of God the Church of God chiefly the Scribes Pharisies priests and high priests These came togither held a Councell wherein they concluded that Christ should die and all those that should preach the same Doctrine They tooke him because they wanted authoritie to put any to death with false witnes they accused him before Pilate Deputy to the Emperour Tiberius and thisin the holy Ierusalem And so was he condemned for an euil doer for such a one was crucified O what a Church O what a Councell if the cheife Preist may erre and erred in dede The Lord by diuine power eftsoones raysed vpp who suborned his keepers to say that his disciples had stollen him away Who assembled a Councell to persecute the Apostles and commaunded them that they should not preach who caused S. Iames to be put to death Who made S. Peter to be taken to cause him to die had not the Angel of the Lord deliuered him The visible Church of God the scribes and Pharisies and high Priests Not without cause faid the Lord speaking of Ierusalem Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the prophets and stonest those that be sent vnto thee Afterwards the very same hath hitherto happened leauing former times spake we of these wherein we liue Who hath for the space of 70 or 80. yeares hitherto shed so much bloud of Martyres they that call themselues the Church of Iesus Christ chiefly the peeuish Friars Bishops chiefe Bishops and the same shal they doe vntill the end of the word And so Christ speaking of his second comming when he shall come to the vniuersall Iudgement saith Luke 18. 8. The son of man when he commeth shall he find faith vpon the earth As if he should say no. And in the XXIIII chapter of Saint Matthewe he maketh a discourse hereof verse 12. And because saith he iniquitie shal be increased the loue of many shal be cold And verse 24. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceiue the very elect And thinke we not these false Christs and false Prophets shal bee Turkes and Iewes Christians they shal be and for such shall they be holden Bishops and chiefe Bishops shal be the principally as at this day they be I haue sufficiently proued me thinketh by many examples and passages of the old and new Testament that the Church of God may erre and hath erred indeede which to our aduersaries seemeth vnpossible Now will we resolue a doubt and this it is If the Church bee such and subiect to fall into Errours superstitions heresies and idolatries as before we haue proued How shall that be vnderstood which the scripture saith That the Church is the body of Iesus Christ That the Church is the spouse of Christ That the Church is the pillar of truth founded vppon the sure foundation That the Churche is without spot or wrincle and wholy faire That the gates of hell shall not preuaile against her and other like commendations and prayses thereof the word of God witnesseth To this may we answere that both the one and the other may very well stand For God neuer suffered all his Church to fall togither into Error But rather hath alwayes reserued some good and some times also seauen thousand As said he speaking of Elias albeit in corners which neuer bowed the knees to Baal Such as these the common error dispatched wherewith all the Church was generally deceaued Against this Error such others of these spake preached and wrote and most times it cost them their liues and had each one of them had a thousand liues a thousand liues would each one of them haue lost for the same cause That Church wherein Catholiquely and vniuersally raigned that Errour or heresie shee and her Bishoppes did persecute condemned and kill them As by examples wee haue confirmed the same So that when the scripture saith All Israel all Iuda all the inhabitants of Ierusalem turned away from God committed Idolatrie c. Of such a manner ingenerall must wee vnderstand which hath it Exceptions for in the middest of these Errours and idolatries so Catholique fo vniuersall had alwayes God some particular men whom he reserued cleane and pure from that common errour So reserued God Moses and Iosua and some other particular persons also which worshipped not the calfe when all Israel ingenerall and Aaron the high Priest him selfe worshipped it The same will wee say of the time of the Iudges that God neuer forsoke his Church The same wee say also of the times of the kings of Israel and of Iuda When all committed Idolatrie God raysed vp an Esaias a Micheas a Ieremias an Ezechiel a Daniel c. Who reproued vices and false Doctrine and declared the truth But which of these did not the Church and her high priests persecute and kill So also reserued the Lord vnro himselfe at his first comming into the worlde A Simeon an Anna widdowe a Ioseph and his spouse the virgin Marie mother of our sauiour An holie Elizabeth and her sonne Saint Iohn Baptist which were Godly very well thought of the true religion and agreed neither with the Pharisies nor Sadduces nor Essees And so the Lord in so vnhappy times preserued his Church And so likewise vntill now hath he preserued the same And now also in these lest miserable times wherein neither faith Luk. 18 8. nor loue is found Matth. 24. 12. God reserueth some which oppose themselues to the tyranny of the Antichrist of Rome and to the common errour and Idolatrie of all the Romane Church ingenerall And so God hath not permitted that his Church hath wholly bene deceiued nor according to his promise I am with you vnto the end of the world Wil he euer permit the same Euer thē hath God reserued fome that haue not bene deceiued with the cōmon errour many from time to time be enlightened As by experience we haue seene it God of his infinit mercy increase them that the number of his chosen may be fulfilled so sinne may cease and only Christ
Transubstantiation among our aduersaries that they hold him not a Christian but an heretike anathematized accursed and excommunicated that doth not beleeue it Wherein to the Councell of Florence held in the time of Eugenius the fourth in the yeare of our Lord 1439. do they great iniurie In this Councell were present the Emperour of Grecia the Patriarke of Constantinople and many Easterne Bishops The Greekes and Latines agreed in this Councell in the difference which they held touching the holy Spirit and in some other things they also agreed but as touching Transubstantiation albeit the Pope did labour them to allow of it yet could they neuer effect it with them And great heed tooke the Greekes that in the letter of vnitie no mention were made of Transubstantiation the which was done to the good liking of the Greeks as in the Bull of Eugenius which beginneth Exultent coeli laetetur terra appeareth wherin he giueth for good to all Christendome that the Greeke and Latine Church had once againe accorded And I surely know had their Transubstantiation bene an article of faith without which there is no saluation the Romane Church did wickedly to admit the Greeks for brothers seeing they openly denyed Transubstantiatiō That which our aduersaries say of the mutual cōsent of the Church touching the article of Transubstātiation here appeareth to be false For neither the Greek nor Eastern church euer beleeued it nor now at this day beleeueth it nor yet did the Latine Church for a thousand yeares space beleeue it Of all this which we haue spoken touching Transubstantiation we conclude that which we say to be truth that he which heareth the Masse is a great Idolater and he which sayth it is a greater The fift Domage which the Masse causeth is that besides the sayd foure domages it maintaineth many abuses as is Purgatorie Concerning Purgatorie say we there is no other purgatorie but the bloud of Christ which purgeth our sinnes By which purgation wee are reconciled with the euerlasting Father The other purgatorie say we which our aduersaries haue forged without the word of God is the head of a wolfe as Doctor Constantine did call it who for the cause of religion of infirmitie age and hard imprisonment among those cruell Canibals and eaters of mans flesh the defilers of the faith in the castle of Traiana died Purgatorie is a common cutpurse that without shame or correction stealeth robbeth and catcheth all what it can to fill the paunches of these idle bellies priests and friers all the ecclesiasticall order For whence haue they so enriched themselues whence is it that they haue builded so many sumptuous Monasteries which seeme rather Castles and pallaces of most rich kings and Princes then houses of begging Friers and poore Monkes who in times past gained their liuing with the labour of their hands Whence haue they founded so many Chappels so manie Trentals so many Masses prayed and sung which they called de requiem but of the foolish perswasion of Purgatorie As the Masse entertayneth Purgatorie so also doth Purgatorie entertaine the Masse The Masse and Purgatorie are euen as two Mules the one rubbing the other The false prophets made an old simple woman beleeue that the soule of her father mother husband daughter or other person whō she deerely loued was suffering most grieuous torments and paines in Purgatory and demanded some reliefe by the Masse or Masses which should be said for it Then the poore old woman taking it from their mouth ioyned peece to peece 68 Blancas which is a ryall went to a Priest and giuing him the tyall for Masses are sold for money besought him to say a Masse with great deuotion for the soule of her father or some other person whom she loued And were the old woman so much more superstitions then went she to a monasterie holding it for certaine that the Fryers liued a more religious and holy life then the Priestes and being come to the monasterie besought the Sextan or potter to cause a Masse with all speede to be sayd The Sextan or porter sayd it should presently bee done Then went out a Father to say the Masse and tooke money of her to whom better had it beene to haue giuen then taken it from her for God knoweth the pouertie that remayned in the house of this old woman and the riches and superfluity that was in the monasterie And a faire thing it was that they sayd it not for her for oftentimes it happeneth that more Masses are receiued for in one day then all the Priestes of the monastery can say in a moneth And this is the cause why they cannot say all the Masses they receiue for But thou wilt say vnto mee Why do these reuerend men take of them more money for Masses then they well can say Me seemeth they rob in doing this which thou sayest Hereunto I answer that they reckon not of this nor make they any conscience thus to rob and deceiue And that which is worse this their theft and robberie do they sanctifie saying that is very well done and that necessity so requireth that the deuotion of the people be not despised Ad the Pope for the cause aforesayd a proueth and maketh good this theft and commandeth them to say two Masses at euery moneths end one for the quicke another for the dead which two Masses saith he are as auayleable as all those how many soeuer they haue omitted to say Did the Magistrates their dutie they would seeke and in the chests of their Monasteries should find such Bulles such mockeries and such licenses to steale Purgatorie haue they made a new article of faith so that he which beleeueth it not is therefore an heretike If it be heresie not to beleeue that which neither in the doctrine of the old or new Testament is confirmed Nor is in any of the three Creedes of the Apostles the Nicen nor of Athanasius being a Summarie token out of the scripture which a Christian ought to beleeue conteyned The 6. domage is that suppose the sacrifice of the Masse or sacrament of the altar As they call it had bene such As they paint it out Yet should it not be wel administred sith the Christian people are defrauded and depriued of the one halfe of the sacrament because they giue them not the sacramentall wine which is the sacrament of the bloud of Christ shed for vs vpon the Crosse when the other halfe is receiued they giue it seldome once in the yeare wickedly with so many superstitions and Idolatries As we haue already proued In bread and wine did Iesus Christ institute this sacrament for the high signification and allusion which the bread and wine holde with his bodie and with his bloud and commaunded his Apostles in the selfe same maner As they had seene him celebrate the supper in memoriall of his death to celebrate it When he gaue thē the bread he said Take
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