spake such Latine or out of such Latine made suche English if you can shewe vs no better Author wee muste needes thinke it is your owne c. but that representare should signifie eyther to make Christes bodie or to make it present no man I trowe euer durst to say so but Maister Harding In these woordes doe this you say is conteyned make this doth Christ bid you to make this in deede Maister Harding and what this I pray you would you make ye will say Christes bodie but Christes bodie as we beleeue is made already and needeth no newe making at your handes But you will say you will make Christ in remembraunce of Christe All this is meere follie for euery way yee tell vs you make Christ. Presume not Maister Harding to make him that made you it is inough for Stella clericorum to say qui creauit me c. he that made me hath gyuen me power to make him a Priest is his makers maker by this meanes the Prieste was before he was and God was not God when he was oh abhominable doctrine But God hath made Hell fire to the destruction of all them that yeelde their mouthes to speake suche blasphemie Thus Maister Iewell answeared and confounded Maister Harding that so foolishly and falsly did expound and wrest the wordes of Christe for the making of Christ of a péece of bread Marke further howe learnedly and truely Maister Harding commendes and extolles the Masse vpon whose wordes Maister Iewell wryteth as followeth M. Harding sayth he maketh as though in their Masse the Lords banket is so purely finely truely and so delicately drest and that it is such a feast for the people as the lyke is not in any thing else saying let this banket be dight as it ought to be let the best dishe be made readie c. Good Christian reader sayth Maister Iewell the best the wholesomest the most pleasant and most comfortable dish at this table is the death of Christ that lambe of God that hath taken away the sinnes of the world Thus Christ himselfe the maister of this feast hath willed vs to dresse this dinner Do this saith he in the remembraunce of me Likewise Saint Paule sayth as often as ye shall eate of this bread and drink of this cup yee shall shewe forth and publish the Lordes death vntill he come This banket therefore is not the outwarde or bare Sacrament And as it is alleaged out of S. Ambrose this banket is not the bread of the Sacrament that passeth into the belly but the bread of euerlasting life which relieueth the Substance of the Soule c. Likewise Saint Augustine sayth hee that is blinde in his harte within seeth not Christe that is our bread And is he blessed no man will so saie vnlesse he be one as blinde as he And so Maister Iewell goeth on and sayth But what maner of feast is it that M. Harding prepareth for the people how is it seasoned how is it drest firste by vncurteous and vnciuile dealing he withdraweth the one halfe that is the cup of the new Testament and reserueth it seuerally to him selfe And yet he woulde make the people beleeue they haue the whole And this doth he when he hath the greatest companie to sup with him when his feast is best furnished otherwise he suffreth his guestes to stand aloofe he consumeth all his prouision himselfe alone Neither hath hee any thing to set before them sauing onely a cold surcharge of dead shewes and dumbe Ceremonies The poore people heareth nothing vnderstandeth nothing eateth nothing drinketh nothing tasteth nothing they publish not the Lords death they know not the Lords supper To such a bāket Pasetes the Iugler vsed sometimes to cal his friendes there was great varietie and plentie of all maner of meates and drinkes the table full but when anye of the guestes would haue touched any thing it vanished sodainly away and was turned to nothing and so when their eyes were ful they put vp their kniues rose an hungred Euen thus M. Harding feedeth and feasteth the people of God with shewes and Ceremonies suffers them in the meane while to sterue for hunger Euen as the Prophet sayeth it shall be like a dreame of a hungrie man beholde he eateth and maketh merrie but when he is awakte his soule is emptie Thus excellently and most truelye hath that famous learned Bishop M. Iewell compared your great and worthie feast in the Masse whiche M. Harding so highly commendes and maintaines to the feast of Pasetes the Iugler Your Romish religion is so fond childishe false that it bewrayeth it selfe and hir champions that séeme to defende hir doe wounde hir and quite ouerthrowe hir and the more they approue hir the more they disproue hir for though M. Harding doth praise his Masse to be such a maruellous and godlye feast yet it appeares that the maister of the feast is but a very churle for as M. Iewell sayeth he hath none to his feast or dinner but himselfe but Christes Supper though M. Harding commendes it not was more like a feast than your Masse for he did not eate his Supper by himselfe but he bad all his Apostles to it yea Iudas his enimie that betraide him and all and they did eate drinke with him and he deuided both the breade and wyne among them but the Priest at the Masse though he breake the bread yet he eates and drinkes al himselfe Therfore if the Masse be a feast it is not onely a churles feast but also it is quite contrarie to Christs feast as before is well proued Therefore in all things the Papistical religion and doings be quite contrarie to the doings of Christ. And for that in many places before it appeareth that your Romish religion doth ouerthrowe it selfe euen so I will nowe by your Doctors owne doctrine ouerthrow your Christ of bread It is concluded in a Booke called Antididagma lately set forthe by the Chapter of Colain that the bare wordes of Christes institution without the wordes of the Canon of the Masse are not sufficient to make consecration If this bée true then Christ dyd not consecrate the breade and wyne bycause the Cannon of the Masse was not then nor of a good whyle after And you saye that before the consecration the breade is not the body of Christ so that for want of consecration Christ dyd not make the breade his bodye and bycause your Priestes makyng of Christes bodye dependes wholly of Christes making the breade his bodye for that they claime to do as he did and by the wordes that he spake therefore they doe not make the breade Christes bodye bycause Christ made not the bread hys bodye and thus by your owne doctrine your changing of the breade into the bodye of Christ is cleane ouerthrowne and therefore it must néedes bée breade still and so they teache you falsely and you beléeue falsely that the Sacrament after it
passe from me but god sayde then neuer a word of y e Masse to his son in y e gret agony yet then was the time for God to haue spoken of it if euer he would speake of it therefore it is most manifest that the Masse hath no suche power to release vs of our sinnes as the Pope and his Prelates would make vs beléeue For if it would deliuer vs from our sinnes then God at this special time wold haue heard the earnest prayer and request of Christ his deare and only sonne and would haue kept him from that cruell death that after he suffered and would or might haue answered his sonne thus oh my louing sonne be merry and glad thou shalt not dye for the sinnes of the people for I haue deuised another easier way to saue thē wherby thou shalt not néede to dye and this it is the Pope and his Priestes shal say and celebrate the Masse whiche is not onely the most highest and honorable seruice that can be done to me but also it shal be a sufficient and perfit sacrifice for sinnes both of the quicke and dead and therby they shal be deliuered from Hel as well as though thou had dyed for them and it shal be a ladder for them to climbe vppe to heauen If God had said thus to his son our sauiour Christe when he prayed so earnestlye to his Father for the sauing of hys life I would haue liked you Masses a great deale better but bycause Christ saide to his Father if it be possible let this Cup of deth passe frōme yet God suffred him to die for al his request therfore it is most manifest true y t it is impossible for vs to be saued by any thing but only by the passion death of Christ. This is so sufficiēt an argument to make you forsake most spéedily y e most detestable Masse y e robs Christe of his merits to take hold on Christ to embrace his gospel as none cā be more sufficiēt probable But for that manye of you doe thynke and beléeue that the bread in the Masse after the Priest hath consecrated it is the verye bodie of Christe bycause Christe sayde This is my bodye you shall nowe heare playnely by the auntient and learned Fathers and Doctors what Christ ment by these wordes But firste before I rehearse them you shall sée what Christe ment by conferring of his owne wordes Christe tooke breade and gaue thankes and brake it and gaue it to hys Disciples saying this is my bodye whiche is giuen for you this doe in my remembraunce now thys latter sentence doe thys in my remembraunce doth shew the meaning of the first sentence For if Christ hadde lefte hys owne bodye wyth vs then he woulde not haue sayde doe thys in my remembraunce For what néede one be wylled to remember that thing that hée séeth Saint Paule likewise sayeth That whiche I deliuered vnto you I receyued of the Lorde for the Lorde Iesus the same nighte in whiche hee was betrayed tooke breade and gaue thankes and brake it and sayde Take yee and eate yee this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembraunce of me After the same manner hee tooke the cup when supper was done saying this cup is the newe Testament in my bloud yet the cuppe wherin was the wine was not the new testament though the very words are so this do as ofte as yee drinke it in remembraunce of me for as ofte as yee shall eate this breade and drinke this cup not meaning that they shoulde drinke the Cuppe thoughe he say so but the Wine in the Cuppe yee shall shewe the Lordes deathe till hee come Here Saint Luke and Sainte Paule differ from Sainte Matthew and from Sainte Marke for here they saye This Cuppe is the newe Testamente in my bloude but Marke and Matthew sayth This is my bloud of the new Testament c. wherby it appeares that therein S. Luke and S. Paule doe open the meaning in this place of y e other two Euangelists So y t therby Christ mēt not that the Wine was the bloud but that the Wine doth signifie his bloud and is a newe couenaunt or witnesse of his bloud that was shed for manye and so he meant of the bread And Saint Paule sayth further Ye shall shew the Lordes death vntil he come So that by his words it plainelye appears that in eating of the Lords supper we chiefly ought to remember Christ in his absence and shewe and remember his death and to be thankeful to him therefore vntil he come again at the last day for these words vntil he come do signifie plainely that he is absent in his body and will come at length And nowe you shall heare whether the auntiente Doctours and writers were of the same iudgemēt or not Tertullian expoundeth these wordes of Christe hoc est corpus meum hoc est figura corporis mei which is This is my bodye that is to say this is the figure of my body likewise Saint Augustine sayth Non dubitauit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cùm daret signum corporis sui Our Lord saith he doubted not to say this is my body when he gaue a signe of hys bodie And he sayth Christ receiued Iudas vnto his banket whereat he gaue to his Disciples the figure of his body and bloude here by these auntient and learned writers it appeares that the breade that Christe brake and gaue to hys Disciples was not his body but a figure and signe of hys body Sainte Cyprian sayeth The cuppe is offered in the remembraunce of Christe by the wine the Lordes bloude is shewed or signified therefore Wine is vsed that by Wine we maye vnderstande the Lordes bloude c. Sainte Augustine sayth in this sacrifice is a thankesgiuing and a remembraunce of the fleshe of Christe that hee hath offered for vs and of the bloude that hee shedde for vs And if you refuse all these learned authors aforesaid yet you wil not refuse I hope y e Popes own glose y t expoūdeth it thus vocatur corpus Christi id est significat corpus Christi It is called the body of Christ that is to say it signifieth the bodye of Christ. De consecra dist 2. hoc est quod in glossa A great sort moe of learned Authors write of the Sacrament to this effect but these are sufficient to proue that the Sacramentall breade and wyne are fygures and sygnes of the bodye and bloud of Christ and not the verye bodye and bloud of Christ. If it be a Sacrament as you call it then it can not be the body of Christ for Saint Augustine sayth Sacramentum est visibile signum inuisibilis gratiae A Sacramēt is a visible signe of an inuisible grace Now if it be a signe of an inuisible grace then it is not the inuisible grace it selfe So that the Sacrament
beyng breade and wyne are signes of the bodye and bloud of Christ which is an inuisible grace for Christ is the greatest fauour and grace that euer God bestowed vpon vs or sent vs. Further this is the true diffinition of a Sacrament Sacramentum est signum rei sacrioris se. A Sacrament is a Signe of a holyer thing than it is it selfe And for that nothing is more holye than the bodye of Christ and it beyng a Sacrament is a sygne of a holyer thing than it is it selfe therefore it can not bée the body of Christ. And marke these arguments that followe Nothing is done in the remembrance of it selfe But the sacrament is vsed in the remembrance of Christ Therefore the Sacrament is not Christ. Againe Christ neuer deuoured himselfe But Christ did eate the sacrament with his Apostles Ergo the Sacrament is not Christ himselfe And againe one thing can not be both visible inuisible But the Sacrament is visible and the body of Christ is inuisible therefore they are not one Which Saint Augustine openeth well by these wordes Aliud est Sacramentum aliud res Sacramenti c. The Sacrament is one thing the thing of the Sacrament is an other thing the Sacrament is that goeth into the bodye the thing of the Sacrament is the bodye of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. Saint Augustine sayeth also Euill men haue the Sacrament but they haue not the thing of the Sacrament which is the bodye of Christ that the Sacramente doeth signifie By these sayings it appeares plainly that the Sacrament is one thing and the bodye of Christ is an other thing S. Ambrose saith of the bread and wyne Sunt quae erant c They remaine the same that they were and are chaunged into an other thing That is they are made the Sacrament of y e body bloud of Christ which before they were not S. Ambrose saith let the word be added to the elemeÌ„t or outward creature it is made a Sacrament that is to say another thing Sacraments are signes or tokens of things being by substaÌ„ce one thing signifying an other thing So saith Chrisostom of the water of Baptim when this creature of water hath receiued the holy ghost it is made a Sacrament And now it is not water to drinke but water to sanctifie not coÌ„mon water but water to refreshe Thus the Element or outward creature both remayneth and is changed S. Augustine saith it is so called after a sort that is not in truth of matter but by a mysterie signifying that the sense maye be this it is called the bodye of Christ that is to saye it signifyeth the body of Christ. Hereby it appeares by the iudgementes of these learned wâ—yters that the bread and wyne are changed by the worde into a Sacrament being breade and wine still in substaunce and so are changed into an other thing then they were before for before they were but onelye breade and wine and nowe they are a Sacramentall bread and wine signifying the body and bloud of Christ. So that the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord is a figure and signe of the body and bloud of Christ and not the verye body and bloud of Christ. These holy and learned men that wrote of this worthy excellent changing of the Sacramentes neuer knewe of the Popes changing or transubstantiation or turning of the breade and wyne into the bodye and bloud of Christe but if any were so wicked to write it so deuilish to declare it or so pestilent to persuade it of all them and all suche Saint Augustine doeth write thus This is a myserable bondage sayeth hée of the Soule to take the Sygnes in steade of the things that bee sygnified But whether there were then any suche or no hée hath fully touched you that takes the Sacrament that signifyes the bodye of Christ for the body of Christ. And therefore by his sayings you are in a myserable bondage of your soules that takes the sacrament for the body of Christ whereas it doth but signifie the body of Christ. Therefore for the loue of God release your soules and your bodyes also out of that myserable bondage and take it for a memorie and remembrance of the bodye of Christ as the Scriptures doe will you and the Doctors doe persuade you and beléeue not the Popes turning or changing or transubstantiation of the breade into the body of Christ for it is not true nay it can not bée true For it is not foure hundreth yéeres since it was first allowed or authorized by Pope Innocent the thirde and his Prelates whiche muste néedes come from the Diuell as the rest of the Popes holye Religion dyd aswell for that neyther Christ did teache it nor the Apostles did once mention it nor the auncient Doctors did affirme it or beléeue it as also for that is repugnaÌ„t to scriptures to the doctrine of the Apostles and to the writings of the holy and learned Doctors And though you haue bin persuaded that it is most sure and infallible doctrine the chiefest postes and pillers of the same are not onely in great doubt thereof but are at their wittes ende and knowe not well what to saye therein for Peter Lombard y e chiefe general of this campe of this transubstantiatioÌ„ saith thus as followeth Some meÌ„ iudge thus some saye thus some haue written thus some graunt this some other haue thought thus that the very substaunce of the breade and wine remayneth still Here is but a madde agrement of the learned to proue the same If so many learned men say by the confession of the chiefe champion of this matter that there remaynes still breade and wyne in the Sacrament then it were a verye madnesse for all you to beléeue that it is the very body and bloud of Christ neyther bread nor wyne But marke what Peter Lombard saith him selfe hereof that takes vppon hym to iudge these doubtes howe he is resolued or howe hée agréeth in iudgement wyth himselfe his aunswere is thys Si autem queritur c. If a question were moued saith he what maner of conuersion or change this is whether it be in forme or in substance or of some other sort I am not able to discusse it Here may you see saith M. Iewell the blinde leadeth the blinde he that setteth his foote before the rest and would be taken for a guide knoweth not where to set his owne foote Gabriel Biell sayeth howe the bodye of Christ is there whether it bee by chaunging of something into it or Christs bodye beginne to bee there with the breade both the substaunce and the accidentes of the breade remayning styll without chaunging it is not founde in the Cannon of the Bible c. Thus doe the learned Doctours of the Pope teache you they can not tell what But this I wyll saye if it bée not to bee founde in the Bible it shall neuer be founde
wine to a muche excellenter condition than they were before but so as they shoulde lose none of their former vertues but that they shoulde haue stil their colour thicknesse waight tast and all other their accidents And these their accidentes forsooth were the thinges that Maister Harding saieth that Christe came to saue Oh that euer a man that hath learning and knowlege discretion wit or vnderstanding and that professeth himselfe to be a Christian shoulde either in earnest or in bourde write or affirme any such thing for Christ came to saue mans soule that was lost But now let vs weigh to what more excellent condition or state y e bread wine is brought more than they were before vnlesse he ment they were changed into a sacrament which is not the marke he here shootes at they haue the same colour taste weight bignesse smel fashion nature vertue of bread and wine as they had before And this he saith Christ came to saue for feare belike they should al else haue flowne or gon away But would al these haue remained stil if y e substance of bread wine had bin gone can a man take a pot leaue the weight y e colour the bignesse y e thicknesse the length y e bredth the fashion behinde this passeth all Aristotles learning no no if you take away the fire you take away also y e brightnesse heate of the fire For if the brightnesse colour and heate of the fire remayne theÌ„ the fire remaynes also Call you this changing of theÌ„ bread and wyne into a more excellent condition or as you meane into a more excellent matter of substance this your changing of the bread wine into the body of Christ and as you say into a much more excellent condition is lyke as thoughe one shoulde saye to a poore lame leane cryple sytting in the colde with nothing but a shirte on his backe sirra by that time I haue sayde certaine words ouer thée thou shalt be a goodly strong faire and well liking King and when he hath spoken the wordes yet the colour length bredth weight proportion fashion lamenesse leanesse and the shirt and all to sée to of the lame cryple is there as was before doe you thinke the man is gone and left all these things behynde hym you may make fooles beléeue so if you wyll but I thinke if one aske all these accidentes whether the lame cryple were gone or no they woulde aunswere him and saye that the same criple is there as he was before Yea and woulde bée angrye with hym that made him such a King He myght well say to him that made him such a King but for the name of a King he were as good be a poore lame leane cryple as hée was before and myght also say that he coulde make such a King himselfe Euen so the least childe that is may quickly make suche a bodye of breade as you make Therefore thinke not but that the substaunce of breade and wyne remaynes still though as Saint Augustine sayeth they are changed into an other thing which is into a holy Sacrament which is a signe of Christes death and a pledge lefte vs of Christ that he will come agayne at the laste daye and yet the verye substaunce of breade and wyne remaines still A garland of Iuie before it be hanged out of a tauerne is nothing else but a garlande of Iuie but when it is once hanged on a pole out of the Taruerne then it is chaunged into an other thing than it was before for it is a signe that there is wyne to sell. Notwithstanding it is styll a garland of Iuie But if one woulde bée so fonde as to saye that the same garlande of Iuie that hanges out of the Tauerne is the verye wyne it selfe that is in the Tauerne there is none woulde beléeue hym that is wise Euen so I muste counte you most fonde and foolishe that take the Sacramentall breade and wyne to bée the verye bodye and bloud of Christe which are signes and tokens of the bodye and bloud of Christ. But some of you haue sayde so fayne you woulde haue a Christe of a Cake what dyd not Christ at a marryage turne and chaunge Water into Wyne and why myghte not he then turne the Sacrament into his bodye forsooth and well sayde you haue broughte such an argument for the prouyng of your Christ of breade as I wyll desire none other for the ouerthrowing of your Christ of bread Christ you say turned Water into Wine Ergo Christ turned the Sacrament into his bodye If you coulde proue the one aswell as wée can proue the other wée shoulde agrée better herein than wée doe but marke howe your owne weapon y t should wound your enemie doth kill your selfe Christ by a wondeful myracle at a marriage in Cana of Galile turned water into wine but the Pope and euery one of his Chapleynes tagge and ragge by your sayings doe a greater myracle than Christ did for they turne a péece of bread into the body of Christ. Nowe you shall sée whether Christes myracle and the Popes myracle are like or not nay in all wyse mens eyes it shall appeare that Christes turning of the water into wyne was a great myracle but the Popes turning of bread into y e body of Christ is no myracle for the water that Christ turned into wyne was very pure and good wine in colour taste and smell and had all the qualâ—ties of perfect and excellent wine but the bread after the Priestes as they say haue turned it into the body of Christ is very bread still in colour in smell and in taste and is neuer a whit changed and hath all the qualities of bread as it had before So that if Christ had turned the water no better into wine than the Priestes doe turne their bread into the body of Christ the Iewes would haue drunke none of Christes wine they woulde haue bidde hym drinke it himselfe and might haue sayd but for the name of wine one were as good to drinke faire water But if the Priestes did turne the bread into the verye body of a man with head face body armes legges and féete as all men haue and that we might sée it and féele it as the Iewes did the wine that Christ made of water then many woulde a great deale the better beléeue them For séeing manye doe nowe beléeue them a great sorte moe woulde then beléeue them Which if they shoulde doe yet for all that no godly or wise man woulde beléeue that it were the verye bodye of Christ but y t it were some other fantasticall body wrought by the power of the Diuell For thoughe by myracle one creature may be changed into an other contrarie creature as Christ turned water into wine which were two contrarie creatures yet a creature by any meanes can not be turned into Christ our Creator both God and man But whereas Christ turned water
into wine that is one creature into an other contrarie creature the Priestes woulde make vs beléeue that they turne a creature which is bread into Christ which is no creature but God Mā the sonne of God creatour maker of al things So that Christes body cānot be made of bread nor of any other thing for Christ is the Sonne of God and was not made but was begotten by God his Father and was conceyued by the holy Ghost and borne on the virgin Marie Therefore let it neyther sinke in your mindes that a péece of bread or a cake can be turned into the bodie of Christe nor that the bodie bloud of Christ is to be eaten and drunke with our mouthes and so to be conueyed into our bodies as other meates and drinkes are but they are onely foode of the Soule and must be eaten and drunke of the same by faith as before is declared If the Canibals are to be abhorred bicause they deuour and eate mans flesh their enimies whome they take in the warres are not you then much more to be detested that are not ashamed to eate and deuoure with your mouthes and téeth the very bodie of Christ your great high friend the onely Sauiour of all the worlde Bels Priests were much more to be commended than the Popes priestes and were not such Caniball rauenours as they be for they did honor their God Bell and did but eate his meate from him but the papisticall Priests after they haue honoured the bodie of their Christe they eate him cleane vp deuoure him Are not these fellowes woorthy to haue a Christ that after they haue honored him a litle do then eate and deuoure him that he shall neuer be séene againe If a King Cyrus did put the 70. Priests of God Bell woorthily to death for eating their Gods meate from him surely then our Quéene might more lawfully put the papisticall Priests to death that eate and deuoure vp their Christ himselfe But the Priestes haue none other song but this Christ sayd This is my body therfore it is the bodie of Christ and Christ bad them eate it and therfore according to Christes commaundement they eate the bodie of Christe well the meaning of those wordes and what is the true eating of Christes bodie is sufficiently expressed before but to driue you cleane from this grosse and absurde errour marke wel these reasonable argumentes following As Christ did say this is my bodie so he said I am the waye c. yet wée must not thinke therefore that he is a very waie that leades vs from Towne to Towne or that wée muste treade or goe vppon him when wée walke or goe to any place as the proude Persian Prince Sopores vsed to treade on a Kings backe when hée got vp vpon his Horse But as this worthie Sacrament doth signifie Christes bodie which by his death hath redéemed vs Euen so Christe is our Spirituall waye by whome we must go to Heauen And as our common wayes leades vs in our earthly trauell to the place wée determine to go so Christe doth onely lead and direct vs in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen Christe also saith he is the light of the worlde If wée shoulde take these wordes litterally and as they are spoken then wée might say that Christe is the Sunne that shineth dayly vpon vs for the Sunne is the chiefest lighte that wée in this worlde doe sée by and without it we could not so perfectly direct our iourneis in this worlde as wée do But Christ doth not meane that he is the Sunne or any suche light But as the Sunne doth gyue vs light to direct our iourneis on the earth so Christ being the Sunne of God doth shyne and giueth vs our whole light in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen And thus Christe is the light of the worlde that in this worlde doth light vs to Heauen Christe also sayd I am the doore but wée muste not thinke though he sayde so that he is a very doore but in some respect is lyke vnto a doore for as the righte and readie waie into a house is to go in at the doore so Christ is the very true doore of Heauen by whome euery one must enter that shall go into Heauen And as Christ calleth them Théeues that enter into the house any other waie but by the doore euen so they are Spirituall théeues and enimies to God that goe aboute to enter any other waie into Heauen than by Christe the true doore of Heauen And this is the true meaning of Christe that sayd he is the doore Christ also sayd haue I not chosen twelue of you and one of you is a Diuell meaning Iudas that after betrayed him if we may credite old wiues fables the Diuell hath hornes and clouen féete yet we must not thinke though Christ called him so that Iudas was turned or Transubstantiated into a Diuell and had hornes and clouen féete But as the Diuell is a murtherer and a betrayer of innocent bloud so Iudas did resemble the Diuell in betraying his innocent maister Christe and in procuring his death Thus you may sée that the wordes of Christ are not alwayes to be vnderstanded litterally as Christe spake them no more ought those wordes spoken by hym of the Sacrament But if all this that is sayde herein will neyther satisfie nor persuade you I woulde fayne knowe of you whether the bread is turned into Christes bodie that was vncrucified or that was crucified if you saye it was his bodie that sate among his Disciples at his last Supper before hée was crucified then how coulde he die on the crosse after séeing his Apostles had eaten his bodie before If you saie it was his bodie after it was crucified that coulde not be for when he brake the bread to his Disciples he was not then crucified therefore he could not gyue them his crucified bodie to eate for then it was not crucified for as one can not gyue to any baked bread before it bée baked so Christe coulde not gyue hys crucified bodie to his Disciples before it was crucified And thus euery way you are dryuen to a mischiefe There was a learned man he was a maister of Arte at the least chaūced to be at supper where I was with diuers other who said then that he would proue by Scriptures by learning that the bread after it is cōsecrated by a priest is the very bodie of Christ the same that was borne on the virgin Marie whome then I asked if he would stand to his worde and he said he would then I said to him againe that I would eyther make him denie his worde yéeld vnto me or else hold his peace for want of answere who answered me againe as it séemed both proudely and disdainfully saying that I was to yong a Scholler to do that Then I sayd againe if I do it not then let all them at this table beare
make Christe and eate Christe and if he once be past mans meate burne Christe who hath as great authoritie so to do as Iosias had shée might likewise saye their fleshe nor bodies were not burned nor hurte but their Accidentes as their length breadth thicknesse thinnesse weight and colour and such like but if they were thus handled though they woulde make vs beléeue that nothyng of the Sacrament is burned but the Accidentes they woulde then both beléeue and féele that their bones fleshe skinne sinewes and all their whole bodies were burded aswell as their Accidents Marke this also if the bread bée chaunged into the bodie of Christe by the Priestes consecrating it then why was the Emperoure Henrie the sixth poysoned by eating the bodie of Christ and why was Pope Victor poisoned in his Chalice by drynkyng the bloude of Christe is the bodie of Christe nowe so farre contrarie to it selfe to that it was before and is nowe become a destroyer and killer of menne whiche before was a helper and healer of men a meruailous matter when Christ was here on earth and his bodie not glorified he raysed Lazarus from death to lyfe that had bene foure dayes dead and now that he is in Heauen and glorified his bodie hath poysoned and killed men that had lyued aboue thirtie yéeres and so brought them from lyfe to death Therefore how soeuer you haue vsed Christ amoÌ„g you he is woÌ„derfully changed A man would thinke it had bene more likely that Christes bodie being so full of vertue and power as it is that it should haue turned the poyson mixt with it to the good nature and vertue of it selfe and to haue preserued mens bodies and not the poyson to turne Christes bodie into poyson and so to poyson or kill men Perhaps you will saie that it was not Christes bodie that the poison was mixt withall truely if you say so I beléeue you I allow his wit the better that he tarried not it was time for him to be gone for if he had tarried he had bin poisoned But I pray you what was it then that the poison was mixt withall you will not now for shame say that it was the accidents of Christes bodie least you make Christ to haue such a strange bodie or rather no bodie at all as is before mentioned Belike then it was the bread that was there before for the one it must néedes be for what soeuer the Popes Doctors saie al learned and wise men affirme that there can be no Accidentes without a Substance and yong children that are but in the beginning of their Grammer can tell you that an Adiectiue must néeds haue a Substantiue truly if the bread being the bodie of Christ and exalted to so high a degrée did vnchriste himself was content to become bread again to be poisoned to saue the bodie of Christ froÌ„ poisoning then it was the louingst bread the friendliest bread a bread of the greatest consideration that I euer heard of well in so doing I muste néedes saie that the bread shewed Christ a verye friendly part for if the bread had not come againe then Christ himself had bin poysoned and then he had dyed twice then the professors of the Gospell had bin vtterly vndone for the Pope beyng â—opercioner with Christ hauing both one consistorie or seate of Iudgement would haue claimed all by suruiuor and so he woulde haue sit alone and thereby he might haue sent the Diuels and the wicked to heauen and the Angels and the godly to hell But if one shoulde aske you howe many bodyes Christ had I am sure you will say he had but one if you say truely then if the bread were changed as you say yet coulde it be but a péece of the body of Christ or else Christ hath had at one time twentie thousand bodyes at the least for I am sure there haue bin so many Masses at the least saide in one day Though this be sufficient that I haue alreadie spoken to any ChristiaÌ„ godly wise or reasonable man that the bread is not neither by any meanes can be changed into the body of Christ yet I will go further with you Suppose y t Christ at his last Supper by these wordes this is my bodye dyd turne the bread into his very body which before is proued he did not both by the scriptures auncient Doctors and naturall reason yet therefore the Priestes are neuer a whyt the neare for the turning or changing of the breade into the body of Christ. For if he had done it yet he gaue them no warrant nor commission to doe it For where can you finde that Christ said as often as any Priest shal pronounce and say these wordes ouer a white little cake this is my body and shall blesse and consecrate it that straight way the little cake shall be turned and transubstantiated into my very body and the substance of the bread from thence forth shall be cleane gone and my very bodye fleshe bloud and bone that was borne on the virgin Marie my mother shall remaine there in the steade of bread If you coulde shewe vs these wordes or such like spoken by Christ then it woulde séeme that they had Christes commission so to doe but they haue from Christ no such commission or warrant so to doe if Christ had done it as he did it not Therefore all the racking glosing and expoundyng of the some wordes of Christ serue your turne neuer a whyt all that Christ said therein to his Apostles was doe this in my remembrance So that neyther Pope nor Priest can haue anye more authoritie therein than the Apostles had themselues Therefore the Priestes doe not onely most wickedly to make you beléeue that the Sacramentall breade is the body of Christ which is but a signe or remembraunce of Christ and his death but also both they and you committe moste horrible and abhominable Idolatrie in knéeling to it and worshipping of it If a great Lorde that loues me wel being my maister should deliuer me his painted picture which were somthing more like him than a cake is like Christ say to me when you looke on this my picture in my absence remember me and then if I should when he were gone shew the same picture abroade say to euerye one that sées it that the same picture is my Lord maister himselfe that left it with me and so make curtesie to it and reuerence honor it for the said Lorde all that should sée me doe so woulde not onely thinke I were starke mad but also my said Lord maister that loued me so much would not be very wel content with me for taking and honoring that dumbe dead and sencelesse picture for himselfe that he did leaue with me for a signe to remember him withal in his absence besides that I thinke he would dismisse me as I were wel worthy out of his seruice Euen so all wise men may
thinke y t you are more than mad y t take a péece of breade for the body of your deare and louing maister and Sauiour Christ and knéele to it and honor it for Christ which he hath lefte you for a signe to remēber him withal in his absēce a pledge of his cōming againe And doubtlesse he wil be very angry with you y t so doe thrust you out of his seruice that giue that honor to a péece of breade that is due vnto himselfe vnlesse you repent and take it for a remembrance of him as he did leaue it for you Thus you may plainly sée that y e words y t Christ spake this is my body will not serue their turne any way to make the sacramentall bread the body of Christ nay the Popes Doctors by tossing y e same euery way for their transubstantiatiō haue brought themselues into such a maze or labyrinth that they can not tell how to get themselues out I could haue helped the Pope to a better place of Scripture than this for the making of Christes bodye whereby Christ should not onely by expresse wordes haue allowed it for his bodye at all times but it shoulde haue bene like the body of Christ in substance qualitie all other accidents And that is this Christ tooke a child and sayd who so shal receiue such a little child in my name receiueth me These are Christs very words and woulde haue serued the Popes turne a thousand times better than y e words y t Christ spake of the sacrament at his last supper But perhaps it may be thought that by this word whosoeuer euerye one may doe it aswel as the Pope his Priests therfore it is not for his purpose Yea but I could helpe y t matter wel enough for as much as the Pope hath power to expound the scriptures as he list and that they shall haue none other sense than he will allow thē then y e Pope might haue said y t whereas Christ said whosoeuer receiueth such a child in my name receiueth me that is to say whosoeuer of y e Popes or of y e Popes Bishops Abbots or priests receiueth such a child in my name receiueth me And thus y e Pope his Priestes whē so euer they would haue made the body of Christ might haue taken a childe and said In the name of Christ I receiue thée and then straight way by Christes owne wordes the same childe had bene Christ And so they might haue allured taught the people to haue knéeled to the same chyld worshipped it and so to haue taken it for Christe althoughe it were not And thus doyng they shoulde not onelye haue had a good commission frō Christ by special words so to do but also the childe whom they made the people beléeue was Christ should haue had the proportion shape forme body bones fleshe skinne head armes legges all other members as Christ had And therefore the Pope his Priestes bée very farre ouerséene that without any authoritie make the body of Christ of a deade péece of breade so farre vnlike vnto Christ and might haue made it with Christes commission and warrant of a liuing childe that in all pointes to the eye is like vnto Christ. This had bin a finer likelier and more credible way to haue made Christ of a lyuing body than of dead breade For if the people are so fonde to beléeue that a cake of bread is the very body of Christ then they would I thinke quickely beléeue that a quicke boy or childe were euen Christ himselfe But though the Priest might make many beléeue that that same childe were Christ yet perhaps the father of that childe would not beléeue it but would say vnto the Priest sir you make the people beléeue a false lye for this childe is not Christ he is my sonne I begot him and I am his father Euen so might the Wafer maker say to the Priest sir you are much deceiued and deceiue the people also this is not the body of Christ it is a cake and thereof I am very sure for I my selfe made it And though this had bene a more fitter text for the Pope to haue chosen for the making of Christes bodye yet if they had sayde the same wordes a thousand times ouer a boye yet for all that he shoulde haue bene a boye still as he was before so the cake of breade is a cake of breade still thoughe the Priest prattle neuer so much ouer it For as I sayd before Christs words ought not alwayes to be taken litterally but sometimes spiritually and so these wordes of Christ ought also to be vnderstanded spirituallye and not as Christ spake them For though Christ sayde Whosoeuer shall receiue such a little childe in my name receiueth mee he ment thereby y t whosoeuer receiueth such a one in his name and doth any thing for him for Christes sake he shall haue as great a rewarde therfore as though he had receiued Christ or done y e same to Christ himselfe And he that receiueth the spiritual mēber of Christe he muste néedes receiue and entertayne the spiritual heade of that member which is Christ but to receiue Christ his owne person or verye body none can doe neyther can we haue the body of Christ presēt by any meanes before the last day though you most fondly and falsely beléeue that his body is presente here and that the sacramental bread is turned into his body which is sufficientlye proued before to be a moste absurde grosse and wicked errour Therefore whosoeuer sayth there is no bread in the sacrament but that it is the bodye of Christ beléeue him not for you haue heard plainely that gods word the Doctors the auntient writers our owne reason our owne eyes our nose our tong our fingers and the silly mouse do al agrée in one and say that there is breade and if you refuse so many sure and sounde witnesses so wel agréeing in their tale and that wil lye for no mans pleasure then cal the Sacrament it selfe to recorde and it will tel you the trueth who will saye vnto you if you aske it I am grated with the téeth I am conueyed into the belly I perish I can endure no space I canckar I bréede wormes I am kept in a box for feare of bats if you leaue me out all night I shal be deuoured before morning for if the mouse get me I am gone I am breade I am not the body of Christ beléeue thē not This and the rest that I haue written is sufficient to perswade you from your grosse senselesse vnreasonable and most wicked abhominable errour of your turning or changing the sacramentall breade into the body of Christe vnlesse you are fully determined and purposely bent to offēd God and to deny and refuse Christe and his merits and wilfullye and obstinatelye to withstande and resist the trueth It may be that some of you holde
impossible Therfore as the Iewes were worthily plagued for going from the word of the Lorde in committing suche wicked Idolatrie to a golden Calfe euen so assure your selues for your contemning and refusing the Gospell and for committing this moste detestable Idolatrie to a Cake of bread making it your Christe that you shal receiue the gréeuous plagues before rehearsed or greater in this world and after your deaths euerlasting torments in hel fire suche as no tong can expresse or hart can thinke vnlesse you repent vnfainedly flye from your Romish doctrine moste spéedily and embrace Christes Gospel right thankfully whiche is the pure doctrine of Christ and law of God thoughe many of you moste blasphemously call it Heresie Therefore right earnestly I desire you and most humbly beséeche you to cease from worshipping a Cake on earth and fall to the honoring of Christ in heauen Thus you maye sée if you wil sée that youre Popishe Masse and your Transubstantiation or turning or chaunging of the bread into the body of Christe by Gods worde is confounded by the Doctors confuted and by naturall reason cleane ouerwhelmed which you counted y e most truest and holyest parte of the Romish religion besides that it is a most diuelish detestable and damnable doctrine which robbes God of his glorie Christe of his merites and you of youre saluation Hitherto you may perceiue that the Popes and their doctrine doe not muche differ for as the Popes were moste wicked and diuelish so their religion is most erronious and pernitious So that howe can you thinke well of your selues and how can you take your selues to be méete members of Englande that for to haue this abhominable Idolatrous and monstrous Masse againe planted here you seeke or wish the supplanting of our prince the ouerthrow of our Nobilitie the sorrowe of our Communaltie the confusion of our Country and the ruine of the whole realme of England wherefore with all spéede of English enimies becom English friends to be defeÌ„ded by the power of England and to be nourished in England And séeing that I haue proued vnto you that your Masse is a gugaw not a Iewell a poyson not a preseruatiue a confusion not a consolation and a guyder to Hel not a leader to Heauen Nowe you shall heare what proper things the Popes pardons are to please you withall as your yong children are pleased with Babies but I would to God his pardons did hurte you no more than the Babies doe the children for the Babies doe stil them when they crye and make them mery hurte them not but the Popes pardons please you here for a while to displease you euer after I may compare the Popes pardons to a counterfaite Priuiledge as if a false suttle fellowe to get mony withal should write a large Priuiledge from the Prince counterfayting the Kings seale wherein he sheweth that the King hath giuen hym licence and whome hée shall allowe to steale without daunger of any lawe and to haue no harme therefore thoughe they be taken with the manner where vppon many giue him money to be priuiledged thereby to steale and think it to be no counterfaite but a true priuilege from the Kyng whereby they steale boldelye but are hanged therefore sodainely and though they alleage for themselues at the gallowes and shewe their aucthoritie to steale from hym that had the counterfaite Priuiledge and say that hée had money of them for it yet al that wil not serue but they are hanged for their stealing Euen so the Pope maketh you beléeue that he by his power and auctoritie from God may pardon whom he list for whatsoeuer offence they commit but whatsoeuer he say he hath no such Priuilege from God therfore his is but a counterfaite Commission which he like a false harlot hathe inuented onelye to get money whose wordes you so credite that you beléeue that God himselfe solde his Commission wherevppon you thinke that Commission from God is so cocke sure that you gyue hym mony for his pardons whereby you thinke you are not onely pardoned of all your sinnes and as cleane as when you were newe borne but also that you maye fréely commit what sins you wil assuring your selues for money therfore at anye time to be pardoned at the Popes handes yet we must not say but that your religion doth restraine men from sin and our religion of the Gospell doeth giue libertie to sin but how true it is herein you may sée if you be not blinde but when you are deade if before you haue not a better pardon of God without money than you haue of the Pope for money you are like to be hanged in hell with the Popes pardons about your necke And then the Pope bringeth you into a worse case than they that were hanged for stealing by a counterfaite Priuiledge But marke the mischieuous crafte of the Pope all the wares that he selleth you as his Masse Trentalles Dirges and pardons and al other his trumperie are such that by iust tryall in this life you cannot comptroll them or say they haue not pleasured you excepte you looke in Gods worde whyche hée kéepeth safe ynoughe from you for the tryall of hys wares whether they do you good or not is after your death whereby he is sure you can not come backe agayne to chyde or checke him for selling to you such deceitfull wares He promiseth and selleth you great and woÌ„derfull things that are to be tryed after your death but he doeth not promise and sell you things of smaller force and waight that maye be tryed duryng youre life I warrant you he wil not sell you any Pardons or Priuiledges that steale as ofte as you wil you shall neuer bée hanged or putte to death therefore that eate as muche as you will you shall neuer surffet or be sicke of it drinke as much as you wil you shal neuer be drunk and spend what you list you shal haue neuer the lesse mony in your puâ—â—e and yet these are easier things for him to promise and perform than to giue vs the kingdom of heauen y t deserue the kingdom of hel thaÌ„ to saue vs from our spirituall hanging in Hel though we neuer so much robbe God of his glorie and though we offend neuer so much yet still to be pardoned and cleane clensed from sinne Wherfore you may wel suspecte nay firmely beléeue that his pardons and other wares that he so boldly sels you are naught bycause they are such as you can not reproue before you be dead and for that he neuer offers to sel you any thing that you may trie whiles you are aliue For he knowes full well that if hée should sell you a priuiledge that though you eate neuer so much or what meate soeuer you eate you shoulde neyther be sicke or surfet thereby yet when you were sicke or did surfet by eating of it wherof you should be sure then you would say that his priuiledges were naught not
rebels in Ireland or not And whether you were sorie that the Quéenes Maiestie and hir subiects did vanquishe them or not And if you be suche English enimies then why shoulde England harbour hir enimies why should Englande foster hir foes why should England maintain them that mean hir mischiefe And why should our Quéene defend them that desire hir destruction Nay rather why doth she not cutte them off that woulde be a confusion to hir and to hir countrey The fewer such were in England the happyer were Englande the sooner they were rid out of Englande the better it would be for England And if there were none suche in England then God would be wel pleased with England Therefore they that wil not be true to the Quéenes Maiestie and to England God send them short life or soone out of England for England were better haue their roume than their throÌ„g their absence than their presence their death thaÌ„ their life Therfore to you I chiefly write that the diuel hath bewitched with Papistry that fond and ridiculous Romish religion whose blindnes I bewaile and whose follie I lament Consider I beséeche you if you be suche as before I haue described are you not then English Enimies your practises haue proued it your murmurings do manifest it youre disobediencie declares it youre obstinacie doth open it and some of your treasons haue tryed it Therfore how can you thinke wel of your selues that enuy the prosperous raigne of so peaceable a Prince that wishe the sorrowe of youre Soueraigne your selues and of al hir subiects that to haue your péeuish pleasure performed would haue the quiet state of your couÌ„try subuerted and that would prefer plant papistrie and displace the pure worde of God But if you be so wilful which is incideÌ„t to your religion y t you wil not yéeld y t you are English enimies yet I trust you will not deny y t you are English Romanists which is y t you haue English bodies and Romish harts wishing rather you had Romish bodies English harts so that it appéers though youre bodies be in EnglaÌ„d your harts are at Rome Therfore we shold be in good case to trust to such fellows to fight againste oure foes if néed were that haue their harts bodies so far asunder for if a souldior be in the field his hart at home he wil fight but faintly so I thinke we should find but faint-harted souldiors of such of you if it came to fighting nay I pray God you change not then your cowardly harts into couragious stomacks become furious fighters on our enimies sides against thys your owne country Wel thoughe oure Quéenes quiet gouerning of you hir merciful vsing of you hir longsuffring of you can not allure you to loue hir yet I thinke you would like hir a great deale the better vppon condition that she woulde giue you leaue to vse the Romish religion and to haue your Masses Trentalles Dyrges and Pylgrimages and suche trumperie without controllment Yea but that were as though Pyrates and théeues should say vnto their King or Prince if your grace wil giue vs leaue to spoyle whome we wyl to xoaue where we list and to steale what we can we wyll loue you and obey you or else we wil not or as thoughe schollers shoulde say to their scholemaister sir if you wyll giue vs leaue to play when we liste then we wil take you for our scholemaister or else we wil not do you not thinke that these are reasonable conditions for Pyrats and Théeues to make to their Prince or for schollers to make to their scholemaister of trueth as reasonable and more reasonable than yours that you would in this case require of thée Quéene and more méete to be graunted For if men did know that Pyrates and théeues had such a plackard of their prince then merchauntes would purposely prepare themselues to withstand them with strong ships wel furnished with men and munition and woulde goe in greate fléetes togither And also true men would make theÌ„ strong houses hauing guns and crossebowes to withstande the théeues whereby the Pyrates and théeues might come to there cost and be killed and the most harme that Pyrates and théeues could do were but to take their worldly goods and perhaps their liues from them hauing no power to hurt their soules And the schollers that should haue suche a license of their scholemaster should themselues haue the worst which when they were men woulde bewayle that for vain vnprofitable play that lasted but a while they had lost most profitable learning which they mighte haue had all their liues But if the Quéenes maiestie should graunt your condition that is to vse Papistâ—ie and Idolatrie at your pleasure that were such a commission for the Diuell against you hir subiectes that thereby he woulde destroy you both body and soule for euer Whose guns Ingins and dartes you were neuer able to resist and all for wante of Gods word which is our chiefest armor and defence against him And so of hir grace you woâ—lde demaunde your owne destruction If hir maiestie had graunted that condition in the first beginning of hir raigne to all that would haue required it I am sure that thousandes at this day had bin blind and ignorant Papists that ar now perfit protestaÌ„ts profâ—ssors of the Gospell and hir most faithfull and louing subiects for though hir godly orders and restraint hath not brought all from Papistry yet I am certaine that of them it hath diminished a great sort For as some of you are altogither wilful and obstinate and wil not heare the word of God so some againe are more tractable and come to the Church wher they hearing the word of God are brought from their blindnesse And further if the Quéene shoulde grant you this libertie and suffer you not to haue or heare the word of God according to your desires then hir grant would be the cause that you should be vnhappy for Christe sayeth Blessed are they that heare the worde of God and keepe it nowe if all they that heare the worde of God are not happye but they that kéepe it then all they that heare not the word of God must néedes be vnhappy and so your desire of your Prince is to be vnhappye and they that are vnhappy are not the children of God then they must néeds be the children of the Diuel and thus you woulde loue or like wel of your Quéene so that she would giue you leaue to be the children of the Diuel But perhaps you wil saye that you doe not despise the word of God nor disdaine to heare it but you would heare it of such as you like of and not of our Prechers is that al you can saye verye well I am sure that our Preachers appointed by the Quéens maiestie do preach saluation only by the death of Iesus Christ to such as do beleue in him they teach that good workes are
mans lawe had such a chaire of Uertue as this Popes Chaire is to sitte in then they shoulde not néede to take suche paines in studying nyghte and daye as they doe Therefore this Chaire being so full of vertue as is before saide surely one or other hathe stolne it from the Pope and set another chaire in the place of it like it in fashion but not in vertue truth was there euer any religion so rediculous that woulde teache vs to thinke that the whole knowledge and trueth of the same were nayled or fastned to a Chayre and that their Pope when he sittes in that Chayre can not erre God send vs a more certaine trueth than to depende vpon the trueth of a Chayre But if you be desirous to heare what Uertue and trueth there is in the Popes Chayre and how wise learned it makes the Popes to be after they once si◠in it I will not sticke to shewe you that by an excellēt example There was a great contention betwéene them of Ratispone in Germanie and the Abbay of Saint Denise in Fraunce about the bodie of Saint Denise which was so déepe a doubt to discusse that none but the Pope was able to try y e truth therof And so to Rome they went and the Pope sat sadly in iudgemente about it and examined their allegations and matter throughly and grew to a conclusion and in the end gaue thereof his déepe and diffinitiue sentence and sayde that both they of Ratispone and they of Saint Denise had the whole bodie of Saint Denise and that whosoeuer wold say the contrarie shoulde be an Heretike If the trueth hadde not bene faste nayled to the Pops Chayre the Pope could neuer haue giuen suche a true wise and learned Iudgemente of thys weyghtie matter Nowe surelye it was a Popely resolution yea and suche a one as muste néedes make the veriest fooles in the World beléeue that Wyll Somers woulde not haue giuen so fonde and ridiculous a iudgement This famous Diuine and true iudgement of the Pope is sufficient if there were nothing else to make vs beléeue that the Pope can not lye And as the Pope is verie wise and learned by the vertue of his Chayre to resolue doubtful matters so he hath wise and learned Doctours to giue him weightie and doubtfull matters to resolue Wherof I wil shew you some for a taste to sée howe you wil like them Augustine the Italian Monke that of some hath bin taken for the Apostle of Englande demaunded of Pope Gregorie by way of great councel whether a womanne wyth Childe mighte be Baptized or not and howe long afterwarde it myghte be lawfull for hyr to come to the Church Bonifacius the Apostle of Germaine demaunded of Pope Zacharie whether Iayes Dawes Storkes Beuers Otters Hares wilde Horsses be mens meate or not what order were to be taken with man or Horsse hauing the falling sicknesse at what time of the yeare it maye be lawefull or wholesome for folkes to eate Bacon and if a man list to eate it rawe howe olde it ought to be before he eate it what maye bée done if a Prieste haue a blacke in his eye who may hallow oyle with other déepe and doubtefull questions Surelye vnlesse the Pope had bene déepely profoundly learned by the great vertue of hys chaire he coulde neuer haue resolued these mysticall questions You maye reade the newe Testamente ouer ere you shal finde anye that euer demaunded anye suche thyngs of Christ. Marke further I praye you what dolting doctrine the Pope is faine to haue to proppe vppe hys Papistry wythall and what worthye argumentes are brought out of the Scriptures for prouing that the vulgar or common people ought not to reade the Scriptures Giue not holye things to dogges sayth Christ Ergo sayth the Pope it is not laweful for the vulgar people to reade the Scriptures Is not this an excellent and a true proofe to hide or kéep the Scriptures from the people By as good an argumēt I may say thus open not your secretes to your foe therefore tel not your minde to your friend or thus Giue no drinke to them that are drunken Ergo let sober men haue no drink The lay people are much beholden to the Popes penne men for they liken them to dogges But here for their purpose they can call the Scriptures holy but when they list they will call it the blacke Gospell and a nose of waxe Therefore consider and marke well though euen nowe to serue their turne the Scripture of them is called holye in what estimation and reuerence the Popes Prelates haue the holy Scripture and word of God and howe they extoll their Romishe Churche Ludouicus a Canon of the Churche of Laterane in Rome saith thus The Church meaning the Church of Rome is the liuely breast of Christ. But the Scriptures is as it is nowe deade Inke The Byshoppe of Poyters sayde the Scripture is a dead and a dumbe thing as are all other politike lawes Albertus Pighius sayeth if thou saye these matters muste be putte ouer to the iudgement of the Scriptures thou shewest thy selfe to be voyde of common reason for the Scriptures are dumbe Iudges and can not speake Eckius calleth the Scriptures The blacke Gospell and the Inken Diuinitie Pighius agayne sayeth The Church that is the Church of Rome hathe power to giue Canonicall authoritie vnto certaine writings whiche otherwise they haue not neither of themselues nor of their Authors and thus may the Pope by his aucthority allowe anye booke of the Scriptures and so he may make Scriptures Againe he sayth as one both truely and merily sayde the Scripture is like a nose of waxe that easily suffereth it selfe to be drawen backwarde and forward and to be moulded and fashioned this way and that way and howsoeuer they list Thus they teache the people to reuerence and estéeme the holy Scripture Gods worde they cal it deade Inke a liuelesse letter a dumbe Iudge that can not speake a blacke Gospell Inken Diuinitie a nose of waxe a thing vtterlye voyde of aucthoritie of it selfe Notwithstanding that Christ the sonne of God sayeth Search the Scriptures c. and they are they that testifie of me and hys Prelates giue good credite to Gods worde which is the chiefe worker of our saluation When obiection was made that King Dauid being not a Bishop but only a Temporall Prince had written the Psalmes that is to say the very key of the scriptures Hosius made aunswere Wrote Dauid Psalmes and why shold he not write them Horace sayth we write Ballades euerye body learned and vnlearned tagge and ragge so vnreuerently he skorneth and scoffeth at the holye scriptures the most pure word of God and compares the heauenly ditties of the holy Ghost to a vile heathen wanton ballade The same Hosius as one that hathe a mouth to speake blasphemie and to saye without all shame what he liste
of God you wil scantly like The Popes Doctors say auouch it for truth that if the Priest say thus when he doth Baptise a childe Ego te Baptiso in nomine patris filij spiritus sancti diaboli that is I Baptise thee in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and of the Diuell yet the forme of Baptisme is very good and the child is rightly christned I remember that Christ bad his Apostles Baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost but that he bad them Baptise any in the name of the Diuel I neuer heard If they be rightly christned that are christned in the name of the Diuel according to the Popes law then I hope they are not falsely christned that are christned in the name of God without naming the Diuell accordyng to Gods lawe If wée shoulde allowe such Baptizing to bée good and that they were rightlye Baptized that were Baptized in the name of the Diuell you that call vs nowe Sathans broode woulde then call vs as you myght well the chyldren of the Diuell Must not this Churche of Rome bée a holy Church that hath such goldy doctrine and diuine Doctours if they bée curst that take any thing from the worde of God then they are not blest that adde the Diuell to the Baptizing of the children of God Euerye one that haue an affection to the Popes Religion woulde scantly beléeue that there is such handsome doctrine belonging to his religion This is not much vnlike other of the Romish Doctors doctrine for in the Defence of the Apologie which the learned Bishop of Sarisburie wrote against the confutation of Doctor Harding are these wordes Petrus Asotus Hosius sticke not to affirme that the same Counsell wherein our Sauiour Iesus was condemned to die had both the spirite of Prophesie and the holy Ghost and the spirite of truth And that it was no false saying when the Bishop sayd we haue a lawe and by our lawe he ought to die and that they so saying did light vpon the very truth of iudgemēt and that the same was a iust decree whereby they pronounced that Christ was worthy to die Thus the Popes Prelates take part with Annus Caiphas against Christ. If that were a good true iudgement that most shamefully wrongfully condemned the sonne of God to death then where shal we finde any false and wicked iudgement by this meanes the Popes sentences iudgements in burning the members of Christ for professing of y e Gospel cā not be false wicked or euill I feare they y t say they had the holy ghost the spirite of truth y t iudged Christ to death and that the same was a iust decrée wherby they pronounced y t Christ was worthy to die I feare I say y t they are none of them that Christ dyed for and as they y t iudged Christ most wrongfully did it not by the spirit of God Euen so Asotus Hosius and all other that say y t their iudgement was true that their decrée was iust whereby they pronounced that Christ was worthy to die spake and vttered the same by the spirit of y e diuell for if they gaue true iudgement against Christ then Christ was an offendor and deserued to die The Lorde blesse euery man from beléeuing the doctrine of such that either say or beléeue that Christ the Sonne of God that neuer offēded nor sinned was worthily or rightly condemned to die If our Bishops Preachers and Doctors shoulde preach teache or write such blasphemous doctrine you might then iustly cal vs Heretiks as we may wel cal them al other y t take their partes blasphemers the disciples of Antichrist But Caiphas sayd it is good that one man die for the people least all the people perishe Ergo sayth M. Harding Caiphas had the spirit of God To whom that learned and worthie M. Iewel late Bishop of Sarisburie replyes with these wordes But that ye may the better M. Harding espie your ouersight like as ye saye Caiphas prophesied blindly himselfe not vnderstanding what he sayd Ergo he had the holy Ghost S Paule sayth no man can say the Lorde Iesus but in the Spirit of God hereof by your Logicke you may reason thus the Diuell sayd vnto Christ I knowe that thou arte Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Ergo the Diuell had the Spirit of God c. If Caiphas had the spirit of God then he had y e holy ghost that wrote this note vpon the Popes decrée that the Iewes had committed mortall sinne if they had not nayled Christ to the Crosse. Now open your eyes and beholde whether this be good sound doctrine or not y t these Papisticall Doctors do teach They that worship God aright follow Christes Gospel wil do detest such diuellish doctrine Therefore flie from this Romish Church that taketh the Pope to be hir heade and that refuseth to be tried by the Scriptures and spéedily become members of that Churche that taketh Christ to be hir heade and is content to bée iudged by the Scriptures For they that are of Christ will heare his voyce which is the Gospell which true Church wherof Christ is the head can not be knowne but by the Scriptures Chrisostome saith now can no mā know the Church but by the scriptures S. Augustine saith Whether they haue the Church or no let them shewe by the Canonicall Bookes of the holy scriptures we must know the Church euen lykewise as we know Christ which is the head of the Churche in the holy Canonicall Scriptures Againe he saith the holy Scriptures shewes the Churche without any doubtfulnesse Againe the question or doubt is where the Churche shoulde be what then shall we doe whether shall we seeke the Churche in our owne wordes or in the wordes of hir heade which is our Lorde Iesus Christ In my iudgement wee ought rather to seeke the Churche in his wordes for that he is the trueth and best knoweth his owne body And agayne he sayeth Let vs not heare these wordes this say I This sayest thou but these wordes let vs heare Thus sayth the Lorde there let vs seeke the Churche there let vs discusse our cause And Saint Ambrose sayeth the Church shineth or is knowne not by hir owne light but by the light of Christ which is the word of God These learned holy and auntient fathers wordes are sufficient to proue vnto vs that y e Church of Christ is known and is chiefely to be discerned by the word of God But what if these auncient and learned Doctors had not written thus shoulde wée then haue taken that for the Churche of God which the Popes doctrine doeth allowe then we shoulde haue a trimme and holy Church as by the premysses doth appeare And nowe bicause nothing can describe which is the true Church better than Christ
knéele to him and kisse his féete surely he woulde haue done it But séeing these holy Fathers Popes who you do so reuerence and whose lawes you so loue did not learne these Luciferlike doings of Christ nor of his Apostles then surely they must néedes learne them of the Diuell who will reward them one day if they haue not repented for learning his lessons so well and for putting that in practise that he taught them If the Pope did not meane to kéepe the people in blindnesse errour what reason shoulde then leade him to kéepe the Scriptures from them and not to haue the same in their vulgar tongue You sée that children schollers are suffered to haue rules in their owne tongue that they vnderstande to make them Gramarians they that learne Arithmetike are permitted to haue the Rules of that science in the tongue they vnderstande to make them Arithmeticians they that studie Geometrie are permitted to haue the same in such a tongue as they vnderstand that they may become perfect Geometricians they that desire to learne Phisicke are suffered to studie the same in the tongue they vnderstand wherby they may be perfect Phisitions so of all other Sciences And shall not wée then that professe Christianitie be suffered to haue the lawe of Christ to looke on the lawe of Christ and studie the law of Christ in that tongue that we vnderstand whereby we may become perfect Christians Nay we haue more néede that meane to be Christians to haue y e law of Christ in our mother tongue that we vnderstand than they that studie any other Sciences For the sciences that they studie can but make them Doctors to maintaine them here to liue a while but our lawe of Christ if we studie it and practise it well will make vs Saintes and the sonnes of God whereby we shall liue in Heauen for euer And therfore the lawe of Christ which is the Gospell hath most néede of all other lawes sciences to be in the vulgar tongue y t euery one may reade studie vnderstand it vnlesse you wil say y t it is not méete for euery one to be Christians or that it is not méete for euery one to be saued Therefore howe iniuriously and tyrannously doeth the Pope vse the people in taking Gods worde from them that should guide them to heauen and without which they must néedes wander in darkenesse and fall into Hell If many goe out of their way which they haue gone in a faire bright day then it is impossible for one to goe right in a darke night where they knowe not the way or neuer went before Wherefore the childe of God will be willing that his brother shoulde haue a torche or a candle to guyde him in the darke Then may not he be called the child of the diuell that doth put out the candle or torche purposely that his neighbour hath in his hand for y e lighting of him home in the night and leades him a wrong waye in the darke whereby he falles into a ditch and is drowned yes truely and none will iudge the contrarie Then must the Pope néedes be a most cruell and diuelish Tyrant that pluckes the light of Gods word from vs that should guide vs to heauen so leades vs in the darke out of our way into the déepe pit of Hell where we shal be drowned both body and soule For he doth not onely burne Gods worde but also burnes them that haue it in their hands to light them withall and to guide them in this darke worlde to the kingdome of Heauen Perhaps some of you will say that we doe belye y e Pope for he suffereth vs to haue y e scriptures in Latine Yea marry but that is euen as though one should take the burning candle out of the launtorne and suffer the launtorne still in our handes and doe you thinke that then we shoulde sée to kéepe our way aswell as we did before No I trowe Euen so though we should haue the Bible in Latine and vnderstande neuer a worde of Latine what shoulde we then bée the better for the Bible Perhaps you will say that your Bishops Doctors and Priests would teach vs the right meaning of it and would leade vs the right way forsooth that they woulde as they haue done alreadye and as he that plucketh out the bright lincke out of ones hande and leades him in the darke into a ditche and so makes him to be drowned If one ment that I should go right he would not put out the Candel and leade me in the darke No more the Pope meaneth that we shoulde walke in the right way to Heauen that blowes out the Candel of Gods word and leads vs in the darke which way he list Nay he that is my friende and woulde haue me goe right wil not only suffer me to haue a linke to light me in my way in the darke but also he himselfe wil direct me in my waye Euen so if the Pope and his Prelates were of GOD they woulde not onelye suffer the people to haue the word of God in theyr vulgar or known tong that they vnderstande to guide them in the way but also they themselues would preach Gods word vnto them and so directe them the right way to heauen Therfore as théeues hate the light and desire to be in the darke bycause they woulde not be spyed so the Pope bycause he is a spirituall théefe hates the lighte of Gods worde and woulde not haue the people to haue it but kéepes it from them and suppresseth it least they by that light should spye his théeuerie and perfectly perceiue that he is a spirituall théefe For he knowes that Gods worde is the chiefest lighte of all other whereby to espye a spirituall théefe being well assured that if they hadde the lighte of Gods worde that then he coulde neyther robbe them of theyr goods and treasure as he daylye doeth neyther woulde they honour estéeme or credite him but take him for a Théefe a murtherer the enimie of God a destroyer of soules and the very Antichrist as he is in déed And therefore by no meanes he can abyde that the people shoulde haue Gods worde openly in theyr vulgar or knowen tongue for it woulde shewe them what he is what he hath bin and to what slauerie bondage and thraldome he brings them For as the word of God in our English tong hath vttered reuealed him what he is and therby out of estimatiō with our Prince vs here in England Euen so he knoweth well ynough if the word of God were in al other realmes in their vulgar tong they would then estéeme him no more than we do And so the Pope bycause he hides the Gospel and takes it from the people which shoulde chiefely guyde them hates the light and so is a spiritual théefe Christs enimie Therefore it séemeth that Christ did not chose his enimie to be his Uickar but the
East Church haue offended that they may not be dispenced withall to marry as wel as the Priests of the Weast Church belike the Pope thinkes that God hathe appointed the Easterne Priestes to liue in whoredome and the Westerne Priests to liue in marriage sureâ—y this your Romish religion is the fondest the vnreasonablest and most coÌ„trary to it self of al other Thus I trust you are satisfied for the marriage of Priests and Ministers which I haue not onelye proued to be lawful by Gods lawe by the ancient Doctors by reason but also haue manifested what mischiefe and wickednesse this vowed chastitie of Priests hath wrought besides the Popes abhominable lawes and shameful suffring nay rather maintaining and procuring of whordome and most vitious liuing of his Prelates and Priestes And nowe as I reproued the forbidding of Priestes marriage and other of the doctrine of the Churche of Rome manifesting the same to be moste wicked and vngodly and against the word of God euen so I will proue that your Masse is moste wicked detestable and that the Sacrament as you vse it is bothe moste abhominable Idolatrie and not the body of Christe as your Romishe religion doth teach and as you beléeue though you thinke Gods worde can not confounde it no doctrine disproue it no writers ouerthrowe it nor no reason condemne it And now to beginne therein whereas many of you are persuaded that this youre Masse was vsed of Christe and his Apostles and so came from them your opinion therein is moste vntrue false for if Christe hadde instituted it and the Apostles had vsed it then assure youre selues that Christe woulde haue made mention thereof in the Gospell or Saint Luke would haue shewed it in the Actes of the Apostles or the Apostles woulde haue written of it in their Epistles or else GOD would haue reuealed it in the Reuelations whereby Saint Iohn woulde haue vttered it in the Apocalips and therefore forasmuche as there is no mention at al in any of those places eyther of the Masse or of any part of it as you haue it wée muste néedes thinke and are moste assured that it is not to be receiued allowed vsed nor estéemed but rather to be eschewed and contemned of all true Christians for whatsoeuer is necessarye for vs Christe and hys Apostles haue vttered in the Newe Testament And therefore this that I haue alreadye sayd is sufficient to ouerthrowe and quyte to confound your Masse For where shoulde we Christians looke for Christe oure Capitaines lawe but in Christes Booke and what other Booke hath Christe but onelye the Newe Testament therefore hys lawe and wil is there to be founde and no where else and so whatsoeuer is not to be found in that booke is not the law of Christe and bycause your Masse is not to be found in the Newe Testament therefore it is not Christes lawe nor commaundement and séeyng it is not Christes lawe nor commaundement what shoulde Christians doe with it this me thinke were sufficient for you vtterly to refuse and forsake the Masse bycause it is not mentioned by Christe nor his Apostles Perhappes some of you wyll saye thoughe it be not in the Gospell yet therefore it is not to be reiected for that Christe lefte many things oute of the Gospell that hée woulde haue vs to follow whych you would séeme to proue by these wordes of Christe which he spake to his Apostles I haue many things to saye vnto you but you are not able to beare them yet c. if this be the best foundation to build your Masse on it wil be quite ouerthrowne at the firste I can tel you that this is the text whereby the Pope would proue his Purgatorie and pardons with much of his other trashe I muse that any wil be so fonde as once to thinke that a text wil proue that thing wherof it makes no mention you are very hard driuen for your Masse when you muste be faine to trye it by a sentence that neither names it nor meanes it He is harde bestadde that is enforced to go to one for the tryal of hys honestie that neyther knows him nor euer sawe him Bycause Christe saide I haue manye things to say vnto you but you are not able yet to beare them therefore you muste knéele to the Masse whiche is a Sacrifice both for the quicke and the dead Is not this a good proofe thinke you what if the Quéenes Maiestie should say to one of hir seruantes sirra I haue many thinges to saye vnto thée but bycause thou canst not nowe remember them al I wil tell thée my minde when I come againe Nowe when the Quéene is gone if the same fellowe shoulde saye that hir Grace by these wordes did giue him one of hir greatest Parkes and Lordships that he woulde choose and so hée therevppon pluckes downe hir Pales and houses putting oute hir tenauntes and buildes what he listeth vppon hir ground do you thinke therfore that this was the Quéenes meaning or doe you thinke that she will be well contente with his doynges I thinke not Nowe looke what authoritie this man had by these hir wordes to haue one of hir beste Parkes and Lordshippes and to plucke downe hir houses and Parke pales and thereon to build what he list euen so by like aucthoritie of the saide wordes of Christ the Pope hath entred and taken possession of Christes Church plucking downe his ordinaunces taking away the Scriptures whiche is the wal and defence of his Churche and putting out the Preachers of Gods worde building and setting vp insteade therof in the same this your monstrous Masse with all the Idolatrie belonging to the same which Christ neuer thought nor meant by these his words if euery seruant might construe take his Maisters wordes in this order spoken in like sorte and shoulde by aucthoritie haue it performed the Maisters within a while should become seruants the seruants would be Lords Maisters as the Popes be who make the scriptures to meane what they list But Christe to hedge you out of this libertie and that you shoulde not build your Masse nor other dreames out of these aforesaide wordes written in the 16. chap. of S. Iohn he shewes more plainely in the 14. chap. of S. Iohns gospel what things they are y t they are not yet able to bear away or remember And these are the words But that comforter the holy ghost whome my father will sende in my name he shall teache you all and bring al to your remembraunce whatsoeuer I haue tolde you Hereby it plainly appéeres y t neither the Pope nor any other can imagine out of their own brains any thing by y e same words of Christ but only such thiÌ„gs as Christ had told his disciples before al which throughe their fleshly weaknessâ— they coulde not remember vntill they had receiued the holy Ghoste who dyd then putte them in remembraunce of al thynges that Christ had tolde
in my beliefe Marke further howe the Popes learned Doctors agrée in this the Popes transubstantiation or chaunging of the breade into the body of Christ Some of you holde saieth M. Iewell against M. Harding in his defence of the Apologie that Christes body passeth downe into the stomacke some say that it onely entreth into the mouth and goeth no further some other say assoone as the formes of the bread be grated with the teeth straight way the bodye of Christ is caught vp into heauen Another of you saith that a mouse can not eate it yea but if she might catch it she would aske no better dinner Peter Lombarde the grand maister of your Schoole is piteouslie confounded in the case and can not imagine poore man what thing it should be that the mouse eateth for after he himself had moued the question what is it then that the mouse receyueth or what eateth it he answereth now God knoweth as for my paâ—te I can not tell Such is your doctors Maister Harding saith M. Iewel such is your doctrine Thus farre hath M. Iewell written You may sée what a sounde doctrine this is of your transubstantiated bread into the bodie of Christ and how certain it is whereon the Popes doctors so diuersly descant Therefore séeing the learned Papistes are not fully resolued among themselues of this their Christes bodie that they saie is made of bread what fooles are yée then that do so stifly maintaine the same and that will so faithfully beléeue that they so firmely doubte and to take that for the bodie of Christ that a Mouse will eate and deuour But bycause some of these learned do saie that a Mouse wil eate it I am of their opinion if she may come by it and then if she eate bread then it is not the bodie of Christ and if it be the bodie of Christe then it is but a simple Christ that will suffer a Mouse to eate him therefore turne it which waie you will you bring your selues into the breares Consider I beséeche you the absurde and vile sayings and opinions of them of the Popes side touching the same whose wordes be these If it be said that a Mouse receiueth the bodie of Christ it is no great inconuenience And Alexander of Hales a great Schoole doctor in vnséemely and grosse manner doth saie If a Dog or Sowe saith he should happen to swallowe downe the whole hoste beyng consecrate I see no reason but the bodie of our Lorde may passe withall into the belly of the Dogge or of the Sowe Is not the doctrine of this holy Romish Church woorthie to be embrased and followed that hath such heauenly doctrine in it what execrable wretches are these that woulde make Christes bodie which is most holy and glorious and is in Heauen on the right hand of God the father to be deuoured of Dogges and Swine If such leaue not to allure and leade the ignorant from the trueth and forsake not their abhominable papisticall Religion and doctrine betymes I feare thy shall haue their portion with Dogges Swine Owles and Gotes in the endlesse and vnquenchable fire of Hell from whence neyther the Pope nor their Christ of bread shall euer be hable to deliuer them Marke how Diuelish and detestable Maister Harding writes in the defence of this doctrine of Transubstantiation at the Supper of our Lorde saith he ministred in the Catholike Church by Priests rightly consecrate there is the true and holy bodie of our Lord and Sauiour giuen and receiued be the receiuers beleeuing or not beleeuing If this be true that M. Harding sayth then it skilles not whether we beléeue in Christ or no so that we may once get it into our mouthes and eate it But S. Augustine and other ancient writers are of a contrarie opinion to M. Harding For he saith Quid paras dentem ventreÌ„ crede manducasti Why prepares thou thy tooth and thy belly beleeue and thou hast eaten Thus by S. Augustines rule beliefe is chiefly required to the receiuing of the Sacrament though M. Harding makes no accompt whether we beléeue or not S. Cyprian calleth the Sacrament Cibum mentis non ventris the foode of the minde or Soule not of the belly Tertullian sayth Christe must be deuoured by hearing chewed by vnderstanding and disgested by fayth Saint Augustine sayth To beleeue in Christe that is the eating of the bread of lyfe And he saith also Vnlesse yee eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee shall haue no life in you Christe seemeth by these wordes sayth Saint Augustine to commaunde vs to doe an horrible wickednesse for it is an horrible matter to eate mans fleshe or to drinke mans bloud Therefore this is a figure commaunding vs to bee partakers of Christes passion and comfortably to laie vp in our minde that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. Therefore the eating of the Sacrament or Christes body with our mouthes as Maister Harding doth dreame is not to eate Christes fleshe and drinke his bloud for this holy Sacrament of Christe supper is the foode of the soule not of the bodie and as the bodie hath a mouth whereby it dothe féede Corporally so hath the Soule a mouth whereby it doeth féede Spiritually which mouth of the Soule is faith and as our bodies are fedde and norished by eating of meate so are our Soules fedde and nourished by beléeuing in Iesus Christ. For if there be none other eating of Christes body wherby we shall haue eternall life but only by the fantasticall fleshly eating with our mouth and téeth then how can the holy Fathers in the old time before Christe be saued as Abraham Isaac and Iacob Moses Dauid Samuell and other of the holy Prophetes that neuer did eate the Sacrament with their mouthes neuer knew it There haue bene a great sorte of godly Martirs yong christian childreÌ„ besides the théefe that died with Christe on his right side whome Christ promised that he should be with him in Paradise that haue not with their mouthes eaten this Sacrament yet I trust fewe will therefore saie that they are al damned But if this eating of the Sacrament with the mouth as M. Harding saith and many of you beléeue be the true perfect eating of y e body or flesh of Christ then there is none other shift but they all must néedes be daÌ„ned As it appeareth by Christs owne words for he saith vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you Hereof we must néedes coÌ„clude if your Romish religioÌ„ doctrine be true that AbrahaÌ„ Isaac Iacob Moses Dauid al the Patriarkes Prophets and other holy men al y e godly Martirs al yong children yea the théefâ— that Christ promised to be with him in Paradise y t neuer did eat or receiue the Sacrament with there mouths haue no lyfe but are
vtterly damned for euer Which no true Christian will beléeue Therfore if you will néedes beléeue the Popes Transubstantiation and that the Sacramentall bread is turned into the body of Christ and that if you eate it with your mouth champe it with your téeth that then you eate the very bodie flesh of Christ then you must also beléeue that al these holy men martires yong children and the théefe that neuer did eate it with their mouthes are dāned Which Diuelish and most vntrue doctrine I hope you wil beléeue no longer but if you do yet we will rather beléeue they are saued that your Diuelish doctrine of Transubstantiation is altogither false Thus you may sée into what a great mischiefe inconuenience you are driuen by beléeuing that the Sacramentall bread is the very body of Christ. And now marke well how you are brought into an other maruelous mischiefe and inconuenience by this your Romishe doctrine Christ sayth Whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will rayse him vp at the last day Now if your eating of the Sacrament with your mouth and téeth and your drinking of the wine is the right eating and drinking of the bodie bloud of Christ then Iudas is saued for he did eate drinke it and Iewes Turkes and the Heathen worshippers of Idols shalbe saued if they once catch holde of your bodie of Christ and eate it yea and the little Mouse shalbe saued if she catch it and eate it for I dare say for hir that she neither beléeues in Christ nor would beléeue that it were the bodie of Christ but a péece of bread or a cake for if shée did thinke it were the bodie of a man shée would not come so nie it Thus if it be the very bodie of Christ and be truely receyued whether one beléeue in Christ or not then the greatest Infidels Idolaters Tirants and the most wicked persons on the earth yea and the Mouse the Dogge or any other beast if they may once get this your Christes bodie into their mouthes mawes are sure to be saued Christ will raise them vp at the last day for Christ saith as it is before whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day And so by this your true reasonable doctrine Christ will raise vp Mise and Dogges that haue and shall eate your Sacrament at the last day and also by this meanes the théefe is damned that Christ said should be saued and Iudas is saued that Christ saide was damned When you haue red this may you not be ashamed that euer you gaue such credite to this vile Diuelish doctrine of the Romish Church Yes verily if you haue any wit or reason but especially any sparke of the grace of God Sée hereafter I praie you how Christes doctrine and your Romishe religion agrées in this point forsooth euen as it doeth in all the rest Christe sayde I am the liuing bread that came downe from Heauen but cleane came and quite contrarie you saie that your earthly dead bread is Christ that went to Heauen for I am sure that the bread that you make your Christes bodie of was neuer in Heauen therefore your bread neuer came from heauen and so your bread can not be the bodie of Christe for that hée sayth I am the liuing bread that came downe from heauen And so your dead bread can not be the bodie of Christ. And now bycause it can not be the liuing bodie of Christe it must néedes be a dead Substance or péece of bread Therefore be no longer allured by the Romishe Religion that teacheth you thus falsely and vnreasonably that the Sacramentall bread by their consecrating of it is the bodie of Christ but beléeue as the Gospell doth tell you the Apostles do shewe you as Saint Steuen doth learne you and as your Créede doth teache you that the bodie of Christe is now in Heauen on the right hande of God the father from whence hée will come to iudge the quicke and the dead And if these be not sufficient to persuade you that he in his bodie is in Heauen and no where else you shall heare the opinions of auncient godly and learned men therein S. Augustine saith Ibat per id quod homo erat manebat per id quod Deus erat c. Christ departed by that he was man but abode by that he was God he departed by that that was in one place he abode by that that is in all places Fulgentius writes as followeth concerning Christes absence and presence Secundum humanitatem suam localiter erat in terra c. Christe according to his manhood he was placed in earth but according to his godhead he filled both heauē earth The manhood of Christ is contained in place the godhead of Christ is infinite and in all places The fleshe of Christ is doubtles locall or in place the godhead of Christ is for euer in euery place There remained still in Christ the infinite godhead there was receiued of him a locall manhood how ascended he into Heauen sauing he is very man contayned in place how is he present with the faithful sauing he is infinite and true God And last of all he saith Vnus idemque Christus secundum humanam substantiam c. Christ being one according to the Substance of his manhead was absent frō Heauen when he was in earth and he forsooke earth when he was in heauen Now if we may beléeue Christ if we may credite our Créede if S. Steuen said truly if S. Paule be true of his worde If Tertullian Cyprian Augustine Chrysostome and this Fulgentius with many other godly fathers and learned writers haue not fabled herein then surely the very body of Christ that died on the Crosse is at this present time in heauen on the right hand of God the Father neither here on earth nor any where else though the Pope and his Parasites tell vs that he is here But marke further you shal sée how learnedly clarkly M. Hard. goeth about to proue this turning of a cake into Christ. Who saith that Christ made his Apostles saith M. Iewel misteriall Spirits saying Do this wherein is contained make this in my remēbrance saying a litle before that Christe was a Priest and consecrated as a Priest as S. Hier. dothe witnesse that as Melchisedech in foreshewing the figure of Christ had done Panem vinum offerens ipse quoque veritatem sui corporis sanguinis representaret Christ himselfe also should make present the truth of his body and bloud To whom that famous and learned man M. Iewell late Bishop of Sarisburie answeared as followeth Is representare Latine to make present M. Harding what Grammarian euer taught you so to say or what making finde you in this worde as you tender your credite tell vs who euer
is consecrate is the body and bloud of Christ. Marke further of the goodly doctrine of your Romish doctors in this point Clemens that they will call the Apostles fellow sayth Let no Mise dung be founde among the fragments or peeces of the Lords portion meaning the Sacrament if Clemens said so then he did not it to be the body of Christ. For the glorious body of Christ is not nor will bée where such filth is The Glose also saith that the bodye of Christ may be vomitted vp againe O horrible wordes not méet to be named or once thought though y e priests Christs body of their owne making may be vomitted vp yet we are sure that the body of Christ which is in heauen will suffer no such absurditie And as this their doctrine is absurd wicked concerning their transubstantiation of the bread into y e body of Christ so is the doings superstitious ceremonies of the Priest in saying of the Masse and celebrating as they call it of their said body of Christ as fond and ridiculous as may appeare by their duckings turnings crossing lycking and feyned sléeping with many other such toyes with the childish and ridiculous garments and attire that he then weares drest more like a player than a Priest But Doctor Durand sets out the Priest then as though hée were in his complete harneys Who sayeth as followeth His Amys is his heade peece his Albe is his coate of male his Girdle is his bowe his Subcingle is his quiuer his stoale is his Speere his manyple is his Club his Chyseble is his target and in the ende he sayth these be the peeces wherwith the Bishoppe or Priest must bee harneyssed that will fight agaynst Spirituall wickednesse Muste not thys bée bothe a holye and strong harneys the Diuell dare not come néere hym that hath all thys on his backe If the Diuell wyll bée afrayde it must néedes make him flye awaye for feare I remember that Saint Paul telles vs of a harneys for vs to weare to resiste our spirituall enemye and the fyrie Dartes of the Diuell but among all hys harneys hée names not one iotte of the Priestes harneys that hée weares at Masse Whose wordes are these For this cause sayeth he take vnto you the armour of GOD that ye maye bee able to resiste in the euyll daye and stand perfect in all thinges Stande therefore your loynes gyrte aboute with veritie hauyng on the breast plate of righteousnesse and shodde with shooes prepared vnto the Gospell of peace aboue all take to you the shielde of faythe wherewyth yee maye quenche all the fyrie Dartes of the wycked And take the Helmette of saluation and the sworde of the Spirite whiche is the word of GOD. And praye alwaye wyth all manner of prayer and supplication and that in the Spirite c. Loe here is not one worde of Doctor Durands harneys therfore if it be so good a harneys as he makes it to be I muche muse that S. Paule did leaue it out and spake not of it belike either S Paule knew not of it or he had forgot it or else did mislike it but bicause we are assured that the armour that S. Paule speakes of is an olde auncient harneys and is an armour of proofe and this Doctor Durands harneys is but some couÌ„terfeit new made harneys therfore y e Popes Priestes were best to throwe awaye Doctor Durands harneys and to take S. Paules sure armour of prooffe Marke I beséeche you to what streites the Popes Doctors are driuen for the prouing of this their transubstantiation and changing of the bread into the body of Christe and yet it will not be nay they are vanquished with their owne argumentes For they saye that the body of Christ in the sacrament hath neither forme nor proportion nor limitation of place nor distinction of partes and is neithâ—r highe nor lowe long nor short thicke nor thyn and yet for all this saying many of you beléeue firmely that it is the very body of Christ truely if it be so it is the strangest body that euer I hard of if they make Christ body such a body but for maners sake he were as good haue neuer a bodye This your Christes body is such a body by their saying that none can sée it féele it heare it nor perceiue it and so within a whyle they will make I hope that not none will beléeue it and when none beléeues it then farewell the Masse the flowre of your follio I haue heard diuerse of you say y t they would desire no better iudge than S. Augustine well I am content S. Augustine shall be iudge but when you haue heard hym speake I feare you will not like his iudgement But if S. Augustine or any other shoulde say that the body of Christ may be without shape proportion qualitie quantitie or be without place I would saye then that neither he nor they were worthy to be counted to be learned or at the least wel learned Nowe let vs heare what S. Augustine saith in this case These are his wordes Spatia locorum tolle corporibus nusquam erunt quia nusquam erunt nec erunt c. Take away sayth he from bodyes limitation of place and the bodyes will be no where and bicause they be no where they wil be nothing Take awaye from bodyes the qualities of bodyes there will be no place for them to be in And therefore the same bodyes must needes be no bodyes at al. And now bycause that which you call the bodie of Christ hath neither quantitie qualitie nor place neither proportion of a body Therefore by Saint Augustines iudgement it is no body And if it be no bodye then it muste be bread or else it must néedes be nothing but I truste you wil not say that it is nothing y t the Priest doth consecrate or that it is nothing that he doth holde ouer his head Therefore you were beste to take and vse it as Christe by his Gospell hath appointed and as he himselfe did vse it and so you shall haue it thoughe not Christes very bodye yet a worthye something that is a holye Sacrament a pretious pledge a singular seale a soueraigne signe and a most comfortable remembraunce of our redemption and saluation by the passion and death of our Sauiour Iesus Christe the sonne of God Marke I beséech you how wide they wander that walke in a wrong way Was there euer any thinke you did so grossely so fondly so vnlearnedly and so vntruely applye the sacred Scriptures as Maister Harding one of the Captaines of your crue hath done for the prouing of this your Transubstantiation or changing of the bread into the body of Christe I thinke but a fewe For he saith That the sonne of man came not to destroy but to saue That is He tooke breade and wine and turned them into his bodie and bloude aduauncing these creatures of breade and
witnesse of it And thus I began with him I pray you sir how long is it since Christ was borne on the virgin Marie and began in his humanitie forsooth sayd he aboue fiftéene hundreth yéere since you will denie this saide I no that I will not saide he for I can not if I would then I answered him again I feare either you wil denie it or else hold your peace which is as good as a grant for qui tacet consentire videtur you are not ignorant I am sure sayd I y t to morrow there wilbe many Masses sayd song though not in England yet in Rome Italie Spaine France and other places that is surely so said he at the same Masses to morowe said I againe you are sure that y e Priests will haue litle cakes vntill the Priests haue consecrated them they are bread yea said he that is very true but assoone as he hath consecrated them said I then it is the very body of Christ that I must néedes graunt sayd he then said I to all them that did sit at the table maisters I pray you beare recorde this Gentleman said in the hearing of you all that to morrowe the litle cakes before the priests consecrate them be bread and immediatly after they haue consecrated the same they are then the very bodie of Christ. So that hereby he plainly affirmes that to morow the bodie of Christ wilbe made of a péece of bread or that a litle cake will become the bodie of Christ whereby the bodie or humanitie of Christe will begin to morrowe notwithstanding he sayd as you did heare but euen now that it is aboue fiftéene hundreth yéeres since the humanitie or the body of Christe first began Which when I had spoken all they at the table did not only hold their peace but also the sayd learned Gentleman had neuer a worde to say Wherein he did wisely rather to say nothing than nothing to the purpose And thus by this true argument he was confuted that by false argumentes thought to confute the trueth And if this argument will not suffice you with diuers before that are infallible but that you wil néedes persist in your most grosse opinion beléeue that the Sacramentall bread is chaunged into the verie bodie of Christe then I would faine know why the Priestes are allowed and doe vse to burne their bodie of Christ when it doth putrifie is mustie or waxe mowlie for they will kéepe him no longer than he is mans meate which shewes that in continuance of time it wil putrifie be mowlie or mustie but what wise mā or what Christian can once think that y e bodie of Iesus Christ the Sonne of the Eternall God the Sauiour of all mankind and the King of all Kings that shall reigne in euerlasting glory can putrifie corrupt or waxe mowlie or mustie But I will go further with you what is that is burned or that was burned when Pope Hildebrand did cast the bread his bodie of Christ into the fire or whereof are the ashes that commes of that you burne or that Pope Hildebrand burned eyther they must be the ashes of the body of Christ or the ashes of bread If they be ashes of the bodie of Christ then why do they burne the bodie of Christe and what wicked wretches are they that burne the bodie of Christ no maruell though they burne the poore seruaunts of Christ when they sticke not to burne the bodie of Christ himselfe But if it be lawfull for them now in this world to burne Christes bodie whiche they make themselues then it is as lawfull for God hereafter in the worlde to come to burne their bodies and Soules that hée made himselfe farre inferiour to Christes bodie which I feare hée will vnlesse they repent betymes this their maruellous abusing of the woorthy Sacrament whiche Christe lefte vs for a memorie of hys death and Passion and for thus deludyng the people of God And if they are the ashes of bread that is burned then why doo they make vs beléeue that it is the bodie of Christe but there are some of you so vnshamefast y t to maintayne your errours haue sayd that neyther the bodie of Christe nor the bread is burned but the Accidentes that is the whitenesse or colour the roundnesse the breadth the thicknesse the taste and the smell is burned and thereof the sayde ashes came that is very strange that a matter or Substance which is the ashes should come of Accidentes This is more than euer I knew I haue heard that Accidents come of a matter or Substance but not Substance to come of Accidents If the Accidents were burned as some of you saye then I would know whether the Accidents of Christes bodie or of bread was burned If you saie they were y e Accidents of Christes bodie that was burned and his bodie is whole and sound and vnburned then you haue drest Christe well in déede you haue made Christe to haue a proper bodie yea such a bodie as fewe haue heard of for then the bodie of Christ is neyther shorte long thicke nor thinne grosse nor leane round nor square and you haue made him also without weight colour taste and smell what a kinde of bodie haue you made Christ to haue for want of his Accidents which are burned there is not such a bodie to be found in all the whole worlde as you haue made Christe if you haue burned al these his Accidents from him If you say you burned the Accidents of bread as the roundnesse thicknesse thinnesse weight taste smell and colour and left the bread remaining vnburned thē you burned no part of the bodie of Christe so your Sacrament was not the bodie of Christ. But I would very fayne sée that bread that you drest in that order it woulde be a strange cake if one might sée it that hath neither colour taste smell thicknesse length breadth nor weight such a péece of bread or cake was neuer yet séene nor neuer will be You may sée what mischieues incōueniences and impossibilities you bring your selues into with maintaining your most false and grosse opinion of Transubstantiation So that whether you burne the bodie of Christ or the bread or those Accidents either of the bodie of Christe or of bread you are confounded your Christ of bread cleane lost and vanished and your Christ of bread proued nothing but bread so you do honor worship knock and knéele to a cake or péece of bread whiche must néedes be most wicked and detestable idolatrie And further if you saie you burne but the Accidentes so mighte Iosias also saie when he burned the Priestes of Baal on the Altars whereon they committed Idolatrie that he did not burne the Priestes nor hurte their bodies for he burned but their Accidents as their colour their length breadth weight thicknesse thinnesse sauour and suche lyke So if the Quéenes Maiestie should burne these Missall Priestes that
voyce that vttereth Christ hath néede of the tongue to be the minister The Captaine at this halfe out of his witte bare in hande that the hangman deceiued the sight of the people by some subtill and craftie conueyance Not so quoth the hangman if ye suspect my déede open his mouth and searche the roote of his tongue The Captaine at length being confounded with the fortitude and courage of the Martir commaunded him to be brought backe into the prison and there to bée strangled And so he was where his sorrowfull lyfe and paines being ended he now enioyeth quiet rest in the Lord and where no Tirants can hurt him This worthy Martir in whom God thus myraculously did speake when his tongue was plucked out by the rootes and in whom God thus maruellously wrought and whom God did thus strengthen and made bolde and stoute in his cause though his name was Romanus yet he was not of your Romish religion but a professor of the Gospell and of Christes religion And as the spirite of God was plentifull in this holye Martyr and true Christian so hath he bene most aboundant in our Martyrs of late and wil be for euer in all them that professe the Gospell of Christ and are true and perfect Christians And now I will recite no moe examples of the auncient Martyrs but of such as were persecuted and suffred for the professing of Christes Gospell of late dayes wherein you shall plainely sée that as they were persecuted and tormented in Christs quarrel and cause as Romanus was so God wrought in them as he did in Romanus the holye Ghost taught them as he taught Romanus and Christ did strengthem them most wonderfully myraculously as he strengthned Romanus Therfore marke the most cruell and mercilesse dealings of these Tormentors the Papistes which they doe to shew themselues howe like they are to their father the Diuell who as Christ saith was a murtherer from the beginning and yet they will néedes be Christes shéepe and his chiefe flocke But thoughe they saye they are the Churche and flocke of Christ this moste horrible murther and slaughter doeth shewe that they are the Churche and flocke of the Diuell By that holye Father Pope Pius the fourth the professors of gods word were persecuted in Cabria wherof thys that I wil now describe and shew as wel for an example of the maruellous constancie and patience of them that were persecuted as of the crueltie of them that did persecute is to be well noted There were fourescore and eight persons that were Protestants put all into a house togyther and the executioner commeth in and amongst them taketh one and blindfoldeth him with a mufler about his eyes and so led him furth to a larger place where he commaunded him to kneéele down which so doing he did cut his throte and leauing him halfe deade he helde the bloudye knife betwéene his téeth as Butchers vse to doe and carried the mufler all of goare bloude in his hande and came againe to the rest and so he led them out one by one into that other house and cut their throtes And thus Butcherly he killed thē al like Calues and shéepe Whych was a dolefull and horrible spectacle to behold who wente so humbly and patientlye to their deathes as many wyll scantly beléeue Yet as y e true professors and persecuted for the Gospel haue alwayes vsed to doe There was a blind woman was burned at Darby for saying that the substaunce of the breade and Wine is not turned into the substaunce of the bodye and bloude of Christ which woman did offer to the Bishop that perswaded hir to beléeue that the Sacrament was the verye body of Christ that if he would before that company take it vpon his conscience that that doctrine which he would haue hir beléeue concerning the Sacrament was true and that he woulde at the dreadfull daye of iudgement aunsweare for hyr therin as Doctour Taylor before in King Edwards time in diuerse of his Sermons did offer for that that hée preached she woulde then further aunsweare them Wherevnto the Bishop sayde he would But Doctour Dracote his Chauncellour hearing that sayde my Lorde you know not what you do you maye in no case answere for an Heretike Then the Bishoppe asked hir if she wold recant or no and sayde she should answeare for hir selfe Then the poore blinde woman perceyuing this sayde if you refuse to take it on your conscience that it is true you woulde haue me beléeue I wil aunsweare no further and desired them to do their pleasure And then they gaue sentence against hir and so she was burned Were not these godly and holy Fathers and of a good and true religion that did burne innocente people bycause they did not beléeue that they themselues did not beléeue to be true for if the doctrine was true that they taught and they beléeued the same why mighte not they then haue sayde on theyr conscience that it was true and why might not they haue aunswered for them therein to God at the daye of iudgemente this notable example shewes plainely that the doctrine of these persecuting Papistes is wicked and false that they are not of the church of God but of the fellowship of the Diuell that burned these poore blinde and simple women and manye other bycause they beléeued not that the Sacramentall breade and Wine was the verye body and bloud of Christe and theyr wicked religion of the Pope whyche they themselues being learned Byshoppes and Doctoures dyd not beléeue nor stande too But our Preachers of the Gospell will take on theyr conscience and wil stand betwéen God and their hearers that the doctrine they teach is true Therfore this only example if I had writtē nothing else vnto you is sufficient to persuade you that our doctrine is true and your Romishe religion is false vnlesse you winke for the nonce bycause you wil not sée Here also is another notable example whereby you may vnderstande howe God giues his spirite of trueth to the professors of the Gospell hys seruauntes that dye for the Testimonie of the same wherein you shall heare howe maruellouslye and truelye a poore man that was burned for thys our Religion prophesied of the shamefull ende of his persecuter a wicked Papisticall Commissarie A certaine pore man of Callais saying that he woulde neuer beléeue that a Priest coulde make the Lordes body at his pleasure was therefore accused and also condemned by one Haruy Commissarie there Whiche Haruy in time of his iudgement inueighing againste him wyth opprobrious words said that he was an heretike and should dye a vile death The poore man aunswering for himself saide againe that he was no heretike but was in the faith of Christe And whereas thou saist that I shall dye a vile death thou thy selfe shalt dye a viler death and that shortly And so it came to passe for within halle a yeare after the said Haruy