apointmēt will and pleasure neuer wanteth any one part of hys perfect and full misticall bodie Otherwyse how can the bodie be well offered without the head which for that cause onlie is an acceptable bodie and worthe offering because it cleaueth vnto such an head Againe S. Austine in this place allthough he denieth that the priest offereth sacrifice vnto the Martirs yet he confesseth that the Martirs are named at our sacrifice declaring thereby most plainelie against you that we haue a sacrifice which thei are not but at which thei haue a due and conuenient commemoration Likewyse againe we saie with Chrisostome as you doe that we offer euerie daie doing it in remembrance of his death but we add further out of the same place that this sacrifice is one and not manie And allso that we do not offer vpp now one tomorow an other but allwaies the selfesame For els because it is offered vpp in manie places thei be manie Christes Not so But Christ is euerie where one being whole both here and allso there one bodie For lyke as he which is offered vpp euerie where is one bodie and not manie bodies euen so is the sacrifice allso one Therefor to conclude with S. Austine true it is that in our sacrifice there is a thankes geauing and remembrance of the bodie and bloud of Christ but consider that which foloweth that he gaue and shedd for vs. By which wordes he willeth you to vnderstand that we haue in deede a remembrāce of Christ his body and bloud not in respect of his reall absence from vs but in respect of his painefull suffering for vs. You may see then by this tyme that you haue proued a sacrifice of praiers of thankes geauing and a remembrāce of Christ his passion to be celebrated in the church which the scholes did teache manie hundred yeares before you or Luther war borne and which we knowe better then you and that you may be ashamed to haue gone so farr besides the purpose being in deed able to disproue by no authoritie the sacrifice propitiatorie of Christ in his church against which all your malice is I except this argument onlie which in deed your wisedome doth vse more then once when you saie Eusebius here maketh no mention of propitiatorie sacrifice and S. Austyne saieth not that here is an offering of Christ his bodie and bloud for sinnes Ergo there are no such thinges at all As though that all thinges could be spoken at once or all misteries should be straitwaies reuealed or as though there were no difference betwyxt not speaking of the thing and denieing the thing In which kind of reasoning you cōtinue for the reste of your chapiter alleaging out of S. Cypriane you tell not where out of the Greeke canō of the Masse that thei offered for our Ladie and out of S. Chrisostome that thankes were offered for the whole world and as well for them which were before as them which shall come after of which you conclude saying This was their offering for the dead and not a practise to pull soules out of purgatorie for merchandise and monie as you haue vsed in your priuate Masse This ys your practise both in reasoning and in slaundering In slaundering because you attribute vnto our religion a selling and byeing of soules out of purgatorie for monie which you neuer find to be taught or alowed of any one good man and much lesse of the whole church In reasoning because you conclud that not to be at all in the author which you find not expressed in some place which pleaseth you For to cōtinue in the testimonies which you doe bring allthough S. Cyprian in the .5 epistle of his fourth boke make mention of sacrifice for martirs vndoubtedlie to thanke God for thē yet in his first boke and .ix. epistle he proueth that there is an oblation which the priestes doe make for the deade such as were no martirs and he testifieth allso of a deprecatiō and praier which the church vseth in their names For in chargeing the clergie vnto which he there writeth to make no oblation and praier for the soule of one Victor which had transgressed a canon and decree of the Bisshopes he sheweth therewithall what the clergie would haue done had not his cōmaundemēt staied them and he proueth that for some kind of such as were departed not onlie praises and thankes but supplications rather and praiers were offered Then as concerning the greeke Canon which of them you did meane I cold not tel but now by reason of M. Grindal sermon which he made not long sence at an Englisshe funerall of Ferdinand the Emperor it is euident vnto me that you meane the masse of S. Chrisostome In which allthough I can not find any oblation made for our ladie the prophetes or Apostles allthough that a commemoration of thankes may be offered also for them yet if it were true that in one place of that greek Canon an oblation were made for our ladie that doth not proue but in an other place of the same Canon an expresse oblation and praier was made for the deade such as were not yet at rest For after the consecration of the sacrament ended he saieth within a few lynes we offer vnto the this reasonable seruice for those which slepe and rest in the faithe for our fathers and our greate graund fathers thorough the intercession of Patriarches Prophetes Apostels Martirs and all Sainctes But especiallie for the supplications and praiers of the perpetuall virgin Marie mother of God our Qnene for euer blessed vndefiled and most holie Sainct Iohn the baptist prophete and precursor the holie and most renoumed Apostels and the Sainct whose memorie we celebrate and all thy Sainctes visite vs o God and remember all them which sleepe in our Lord in hope of the rysing againe vnto euerlasting life and graūt them rest where the light of thy countenance doth intend ouer them Now againe allthough you alleage a true saying out of S. Chrisostome vpon the .viij. Chapiter of S. Mathew that the priest standing at the Aultar when the sacrifice is sett furth commaundeth the standers by to offer vp thankes to God for the world in which testimonie it ys playne to see that the sacrifice proposed is one thing and the sacrifice of thankes an other yet to lett goe this vantage you can not denie but he in an other place saieth It was decreed by the Apostles not in vaine that in the celebratiō of the venerable misteries a memorie should be made of them which were departed hence Thei knew that much commoditie and much profit dyd come hereof vnto them For the whole people standing by with lifting vpp their handes vnto heauen and also the cumpanie of priestes and the venerable sacrifice being laied out and proponed how should we not pacifie God in praying for them Therefor it is cleare that your argument is verie vnlerned
with staÌ„ding in two sundry external thinges geaue the communion of them to his Disciples This letteth nothing our beleif which do know as well as you that Christ gaue his body and bloud vnder two formes of bread and wyne and yet notwithstanding one Christ was receiued vnder both formes of bread and wyne But therefor he deliuered hymselfe vnder those two kyndes and not one that we might the better consider his passion in which the bloud was separated from the bodye Therfore the fayth of the communicantes in the one parte receiueth the body trusting to Christ his promises the same fayth in the other parte receyueth the bloud beleiuing also our Sauior his wordes therein You haue not to proue that in the one part the body was receiued but that the bodye onlye without bloud is receiued And then further where you say that the faith of the communicantes receiueth the bodie doeth it receiue it as a dead carkas shame to thinke it or else as the bodye of the soune of God Christ our Sauior saieth The flesh profiteth nothing it is the spirite which quyckeneth How then doth the communicantes faith receiue such a sole body which hath neither bloud neither lyfe neither diuinitie in it The forgeauenes of synnes commeth only from the Deitie but the cheif instrument by which God worketh is Christes our Sauior most dearlye beloued Humanitie Which if a man conceiue as separate from his Diuinitie then trulye as it is emong all creatures most excellent so yet is it but a creature and very lytle auayleable vnto vs mary as it is the bodye and bloud of hym which was not only man but also God most glorious his body and bloud doth releiue vs through the presence of his maiestie You therfore which do diuide Christ and by your faith which no wyse man doth euer trust make a receiuing of a body without all bloud lyfe or diuinitie doe most playnelie take the fructe of their redemption from the people and make them to hang vpon grosse imaginations of a bodye without bloud and bloud without a bodye to their exceading losse and iniurie But now if all other argumentes fayled vs and if your deuise were not so obscure and vyle as it is yet the authoritie of the church is no small thing emong Christians againste which you speake so lyke a madd master as though you knew the voyce of Christ better then the church of Rome which yet doe not know whether there be any Christ or no except it were for the authoritie of the church of Rome And whereas you buyld all your institutions and articles vpon the textes of the scripture and your priuate interpretations and coÌ„tempne your mother Church yet except you folow the voyce of the church of Rome you can with no reason defende that this which you holde is scripture And here againe you call vpon vs to remembre S. Cyprian which in all that epistle of his vnto which you do referr vs doth so make against them which ministred only in water that he coÌ„futeth also them which minister onlye in wyne prouing both by the old and new law that wyne and water both should be mengled togeather in the misteries But as concerning tâ—e receiuing vnder one kynde of which we haue to speake what aunswer you vnto the place of Tertullian or vnto S. Cyprian his authoritie You saye that our argumentes taken out of them are but coniectures and the same very vncertayne for often tymes in the Doctors where one kynde is mencyoned both are vnderstanded as after shall more appeare Let the wordes of the authors them selâ—es trye it whether you or we do vse the vncertayne coniectures Tertullian in his second booke vnto his wyfe where he telleth her of the sondrye faultes and inconueniencies into which those women do bring themselfes which after their husbandes death do become wyffes vnto infidell and heathen rulers or gentlemen theÌ„selues being Christians emong which this is a verye principall one that in the houses of paynyms they shall not well be able to keep the orders of Christian people he sayeth after other persuasions Shalt thou not be espied cùm lectulum cùm corpusculum tuum signas c when thow doest blesse thy bedd and thy bodye with the signe of the crossâ— when thou doest spet out with exuâ—flation some vncleane thing when also thou doest aryse in the night tyme to praye and shalt thou not be thought to worke some witchcrafte Shall not thy husband know what thou doest taste secretely of before all meate And if he know it he beleiâ—eth it to be bread and not that which it is said to be Of these wordes you gather that in the name of bread is vnderstanded also wyne and why so Mary because that some tymes emong the Doctors of which hereafter we shall speake more both kyndes are vnderstanded when but one is expressed ergo Tertullian in this place is in lyke maner to be construed But our collection is otherwise that because we reade but one kynde specifyed therefore without any necessitie we doe not make coniectures that he meaneth both And we see that Tertullian in this booke was not in such hast that he needed to speake by figures vnto his wyfe or to number syx for the dozen Then by common reason we see that wyne in so lyttle a quantitie as ones parte commeth vnto in the distributing of the mysteries was not to be reserued of any person because of the quyck alteration of it Allso we beleiue that vnder one kynde Christ wholye is geauen and therefor that the gouernors of the church were not so folysh or scrupulous as to make a necessitie of both And whereas you perceyue by this testimonye that sole receyuing was then vsed which by your sayeing Christ his institution doth not permit we had no iust occasion to mystrust the receyuing vnder one kynde which we know to be of no greater force then the receyuing with company And you also if you had good wyttes might for good cause feare least you were deceyued in the question of receiuing vnder both kindes whereas in the controuersie of sole receyuing you be so openly confounded which yet you doe as earnestile endeuor to proue as you doe shifte to vnderstand both kyndes in Tertullian whereas he mencioneth but one Note further that when Christ said This is my bodye you will haue no bloud to appertaine vnto it and when any Doctor doth speake onlie of bread you will at your pleasure make wyne to be vnderstanded Iniurious in the one and superfluous in the other Therefore let it be tryed which of our two sydes doth vse more vncertaine coniectures Now as concerning S. Cyprian When a certayne woman saieth he assayed with her vnworthye handes to open her cheste in the which SanctuÌ„ Domini fuit the holy dody of our Lorde was she was made afrayd by fyer arysing from thens that she durst
dissolute fryar be thought worthy of estimation because he hath at these dayes manye folowers are not the religious in deede which continued in great numbre and with much praise in ther orders much more to be regarded If this be the tyme of grace and light in which we may see and lament vowes broken monasteryes ouerturned the landes of Christ and his church alyenated virginitie fasting praying and all rules of good and perfect lyfe coÌ„temned â–ª what tyme was that in which the contraries of all these were highlie commended and practysed The continuance onlye of a religion .900 yeares â–ª without interruption is a very probable argument not lightlie to passe away from it But when it is considered how many learned and godlie men how great Vniuersities how mighty Princes lyued within the compasse of those yeares and that of them all no one of the good and learned did anye thing write or preache against it and none of the Princes either would either could resist it who but vnsensible may thinke that it should not be of God Although that heresies do very shamefully encreace and that there be so many sectes and diuisions emong them that no one parte can euer be greate although the whole world were ouerturned vnto heresie yet at this day moe Catholikes are in Christendome then Lutherans Zuinglians Osiandrians Caluinyans Anabaptistes and all the rest of the lyke making togeather For these heresies are yet God make them narrower but here and there dispersed and Germanye the mother of them is for a great part of it full Catholike Yet as litle place as the new ghospell hath in comparison of Christendome see how much he whom you take for no small fole doth crake and bragg of that lytle Be ye sure sayth he so many free cityes so many kynges so many Princes as at this daye haue abandoned the sea of Rome and adioyned themselues to the Ghospell of Christ are not become madd Loe Syr if this felow might so trulye haue reported that all Kynges all Princes all free cityes of Christendome were of his religion as he doth falselye make an accompt of so many free cityes so many kynges so many princes c. how great an argument would you thinke that he dyd make for your side And againe if he had ben able to proue that for .ix. hundred yeares togeather Kynges and Princes and free cityes had contynued in his fayth without open contradiction how madd would he haue said all such to be as resist a religion confirmed by such authoritie and contynuance But this is your practise to denye all thinges which make presentlye against you and to allow the same againe when hereafter they maye serue for you and so long as you be in danger of law No man must be violentlye constrayned to receyue the religion which his conscience can not allow And when the Prince and power is with you then saye you Hanging is to good for hym which wyll not beleiue as you doe And so in the Apologye of your Englysh church the argument was â—ound and comfortable that because many Kynges had abandoned the sea of Rome therefore they might seeme not to be madd which did folow them and now in this your defence of the truth as you call it when we alleage contynuance and authoritie of .ix. hundred yeares you saye that multitude maketh not to the purpose and you thinke your selfe not a lytle wise in reprouing of our argument But how wise you proue your selfe therein it is worthwhile to consider First you say that the prescription of .xv. hundred yeares the consent of the most part of Christendome the holynes and learning of so many fathers as haue ben these .ix. hundred yeares the age and slender learning of those which stande against you all which thinges we doe bring for our defence These thinges saye you Doe nothing at all eyther feare vs or moue vs to suspect that doctrine which by Christs authoritie and wytnes of the Apostels we know to be true Stode you by the Apostles at their elbowes when they wrote their ghospells or epistles or were you then present with Christ when he walked visibly vpon the earth and by signes and myracles proued hym selfe to be the soune of God Trulye because your eye was not present at the wryting or working of our redemption you must therefor resort vnto such as maye instruct you of all thinges by the eare And because credit is not lightly to be geauen to an historie which is tolde vs of thinges passing reason therfor they ought to be of good authoritie whose wordes we should beleiue in the articles of euerlasting saluation But there can be no greater then the testimonye of all Christendome and they be few obscure and vnknowen whom you would haue to be our masters therefore no reasonable and wyse man will suspect the authoritie of the world and falsely persuade hym selfe that he beleiueth Christ or his Apostles when he hath contemned the voyce of Christendome which caused him to beleiue in Christ and credit his Apostles For how know you what doctryne Christ or his Apostles haue taught in the world Yf you know it by the scriptures what perswadeth you these scriptures to be true For when any new scripture and vnherd of vs before is alleaged or coÌ„mended vnto vs by a few without any reason which is able to confirme it we beleiue not first the scripture but them rather which browght it forth vnto vs. Therefore who told you that these be true scriptures If you name Luther and such as he was you haue done very rashly to beleiue incredible articles at the report of an vpstart rennegate which confirmed his authoritie by no myracle But on the other syde if Luther and you both haue ben content to receiue the scriptures of the Catholikes lest you should be accompted ouer frantyke or scrupulous in doubting whether al Christendome were not deceiued therein by what reason then can you suspect the contynuance pietye learnyng and multitude of Catholikes in the church of God and referr your selfe vnto Christ and his Apostles with contempt of the mysticall bodye of our Sauiour whereas you could not by reason without myracle beleiue in Christ and trust the Apostles except the authoritie of the Catholike church which you see to contynew in the world dyd moue you I wold not beleiue the Ghospell sayeth holye S. Augustine except the authoritie of the Catholike church dyd moue me thervnto Wherfore the contynuance of .ix. hundred yeares is and should be so worthelye regarded that eueÌ„ the authoritie of the church which now is shold by her selfe perswade you to beleiue her But say you our possession which we bragg of hath not ben quyet For in the .600 next after Christ our doctrines were neuer heard of which is a very fowle lye as it hath ben allready here before proued and as coÌ„cerning the 900. folowing they dyd not take
was betwene S. Augustine and the Donatistes We seeke for the church and the place where she resteth You say that it hath ben vnknowen defaced obscured and coarcted you saye that it is now in England and before these last .lx. yeares you knew not where she was to be founde On the other syde we beleiue that it hath ben and shall be continually visible tholike vpon the topp of the hill not in gardens or chambers not in corners of countreyes but in the open sight of the worlde And here now at this point we shal haue no other thing but our yea and our nay Yes saye you lett the matter be tryed by scripture So lett it be and because you are so trymlye seene in them that you will make vs altogeather ignorant shewe vs your scriptures to proue your pretie narrow and shamefast churche Yf you can shewe none reade for the truthes sake those places which we shall name vnto you In thy seede all nations shall be blessed Aske of me and I wyll geaue the for thy heritage the Gentyles He meaning the Messias shall rule frō sea vnto sea and from the floud euen vnto the endes of the worlde Agayne The stone which was cutt out of the hyll without handes fylled the whole worlde So it hath ben wrytten and so it behoued Christ to suffre and repentance and remission of synnes to be preached in his name through all nations You shall be my wytnesses in Iury and Samaria and vnto the endes of the earthe But what of all this Marye Syr that you shold reade in these scriptures how playnly it was promysed that the whole world should be Christ his inheritage and that his churche should be sought for not in pelting corners of Africa of Europa or Asia not in wyttenberge Geneua or England but in all nations and in all countreyes of the world And if you myslyke this our cōclusion gathered out of these places of scripture consider then better then you haue done S. Augustins reasoning against Petilian and against all other Donatistes when so euer he wrote against them as in his 162. 166. 170. 171. and other of his epistles In all which places he proueth that it is vnpossible that Donate which was an vpstart heretike in Africa should haue the truth on his syde because the scriptures do so playnlye promyse vs that the church of Christ should be enlarged ouer the whole worlde and because it was so sensibly performed that euery one might see that churche which was extended through all nations Now if you haue any scriptures or authorityes or reasons to proue that the church should not be openly knowen for 900. yeares togeather or that about the yeare of our Lorde God .1500 the light of the Ghospell should begynne to appeare or that the churche may be in one countrey only or that Christ shold leese his inheritage which was promysed hym ouer the world or that all the dryfte of S. Augustyns reasoning against the Donatistes doth not expresly make against you then shall you speake somewhat worth the answering Against which tyme prouyde also to tell vs how S. Cyprian whom you alleage to proue that recourse should be had to the scriptures doth make any thing for you Yea rather he maketh cleane against you and if you had taken but small leysure to consider hym he teacheth you that to come vnto the truth and to be sure of it there is an other and better waye then you haue yet inuented For after those wordes Hereof aryse schysmes because we seeke not to the head nor haue recourse vnto the spring nor keepe the cōmaundementes of the heauenly master After which wordes you make a full point as though you had tolde all his meanyng he saieth further that to proue this there is no neede of long talke or reasonyng Our Lorde spake vnto Peter and sayed I tell the thow art Peter and vpon this rock I wyll buyld my church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it c. And allthough he gaue lyke authoritie vnto all his Apostles after his resurrection and said Euen as my father sent me I also sent you receyue you the holyghost yf you remyt any man his synnes they are forgeauen hym yf you reteyne them they are reteyned yet that he might make playne and set furth an vnitie he disposed by his owne authoritie the head and spring of that vnitie which beginneth of one And a lytle after he sayeth Doeth he beleiue that he holdeth and keepeth his fayth which keepth not this vnitie of the church How then could you bring in S. Cyprian in the commendatyon of anye of your two markes of the church which so expressely warneth you to consider the vnitie thereof and the authoritie which was geauen vnto S. Peter in which vnitie who so euer is not found hath lost all true fayth crake he neuer so much of his sacramentes and scriptures But now because it is not inough to declare that your markes of the church are vncertayne and controuersious except we geaue some better signes which may leade all men vnto the true church therfore it is to considered what we professe openlye in one of the articles of our Crede I beleiue sayeth euery Christian one holye Catholike and Apostolike church and if he knoweth also what he speaketh then shall he neuer be to seeking of the churche For she must be fyrst of all One church that is to saye she must haue one profession of fayth one ordre in sacramentes and one head for her gouernement by which one worde thei be quicklye tryed for no good Christians which can neuer agree vpon their fayth or haue no certayne head or gouernour Secondlye the church is holye in this sense either because none are holye which are out of this church either because she hath ben bought with bloud a deare price either because she is stable and inuiolable Which note doth warne vs to beware of them which haue no contynuance in their religion but are quyckely altered at euery new preachers inuention Thirdly the church must be Catholike which is to say she must goe through the whole world not only in respect of place but also of persons and tyme wherevpon it foloweth that all such religion as lurketh only in particular countreyes or which hath no antiquitie and contynuance at all is to be reiected as a singuler naught and no Catholike or good religion And last of all the true church must be Apostolike by which worde I meane that if they of England now or those of Geneua can by degrees ascende and frō one minister vnto an other go vpwardes in a cōtynual ordre vntyll they do come vnto one of the Apostles whō they will proue to haue ben a father to their religion that then they haue one good signe to commende their doinges But because this is vnpossible to be doone of them therfore they are not
You must graunt allso that as we are vnder a proper and most excellent law so lykewyse that we haue a correspōdent priesthode as it is writen VVhen the priesthode is transferred it must needes be that there be made a transferring of the law allso because law and priesthode do go◠ioyntly togeather Then it foloweth herevpon That euery Bisshope chosen out of men is apointed for men in those thinges which are to Godward that he should offer vp giftes and sacrifices for synnes c. But sacrifice for synn there is none in this law and tyme of grace besides the body and bloud of our Sauyor ergo that must be offered Yet no man should take an office vpon hym except he were called and there is no place in all scripture where that calling ys expressed but only in the last supper of Christ. therefor whereas he in that his last supper gaue authoritie vnto priesthode in saying Do this in remembrance of me I conclude that priestes only are bound to blesse to breake his body and consequently to eate it I saie not that euery priest is bound to daily frequentation of the sacrament which if you thinke vs to do you speake without boke therein and misreport the Catholikes but concernyng the whole body of priesthode and the necessitie of a daily sacrifice priestes are not only bound to offer but to prouide that there be daily offering Knowing this that it is a most sure token of Antichrist his presence whē the Iuge sacrificium the daily sacrifice shall cease to be offered For thei only are called to that high office and their dutie is to folow their office And this thing being rightly considered of the auncient fathers made them so reuerently to behaue them selues towardes the blessed sacrament As S. Denyse the Areopagite speakyng of the order of masse in his tyme saieth that the Bisshope excused hymselfe that he offered vp the helthsome sacrifice which is aboue his power and that he cried out decently saying vnto God Thow hast saied Do this in my remembrance As who sould saie except thow hadest geauen licence and authoritie what man would haue bē so bold as to come nigh to the touching of so diuine misteries S. Iustine allso the Martir witnesseth that the Apostles in their cōmentaries which are the ghospells do declare that Christ cōmaunded them to consecrate the bread by the prayers of his word at what tyme he toke bread and after thankes geauing saied Do this in remembrance of me And S. Cypriane more plainely saieth that in Christ his last supper those sacramentes came furth which had ben signified from the tyme of Melchisedech and that the high priest bringeth furth vnto the sounes of Abraham which do as he dyd bread and wyne sayng this is my body Of which bread saieth this blessed martyr the Apostells dyd eate in the same supper before according vnto the visible forme but sence the time that it was saied of our Lord do this in my remembrance this is my bodye this ys my bloud as often tymes as the thing is done with these wordes and this faith this substantiall bread and chalice consecrated with the solemne blessing profiteth vnto the liffe and health of all the whole man being both a medicine and a sacrifice to heale his infirmities and purge his iniquities Wherefore if you Syr would consider how great this misterie ys you shoulde perceaue how great honor and preeminencie all priestes are indued with For when they worke then are these holy thinges which I speake of begon and perfected But say you Christ his institution was generall and his commaundement therein stretcheth as well to the people as to the priest I haue proued vnto you the contrary both by reason because priesthode ys a distinct office vnto which certen onlye are apoynted and chosen owt from the laitie and by scripture as you may cōsider by S. Paule to the Hebreues and allso by Doctours as S. Denyse Iustine and Cypriane do plainely testifie But then you byd vs to vnderstand That S. Paule a good interpretour of Christ his mind applieth the wordes of Christ to the whole congregation of Corinth where it ys certē were both ministers and cōmon people Nay Sir vnderstand you this rather that you vnderstand not S. Paule which in that his chapiter alleageth the institutiō of Christ to this purpose that the Corinthians by consideration of the charitie and maiestie which was represented therein shold be more felolyke in the cōmunicating of theyr common meates from which they were fallen vnto seuerall and priuate tables or suppers in the church And he doth tell historically what Christ saied vnto his disciples not what Christ apoynted the Corinthians and euery other of the Christians to do For I haue receiued of owr Lord that which I haue delyuered vnto you sayth the Apostell But what meaneth he by these wordes I haue deliuered he spake vnto all the Corinthians without respect of spiritualtie or temporalty but dyd he speake by waie of instruction or by waie of geauing some office and function vnto them And that which he receiued of Christ did he delyuer vnto them as a doctrine and article to be lerned or as a cōmaundement to be exequuted if you meane the first you agree with vs if you meane the second you disagree from cōmon sense and euident truth for if it apperteine vnto all Christians without distinction to doe as S. Paule receaued of Christ and as the Corinthians receaued of S. Paule then must euery Christian take bread geaue thankes and breake it and when euery body is a minister who then shall be a receauer Againe in the wordes of our Sauyor Do this in remembrance of me how much is wylled to be done Are the wordes do this to be referred only to the takyng and eating no truly for do this doth not folow in Sainct Paule immediately vpon the wordes take and eate but after the wordes thys ys my body and it were better and plainelier englyshed make this then do this thereby to geaue you to vnderstand that by those wordes authoritie of makyng and consecrating Christ his body was geauen vnto the Apostles But taking do this after the largest manner it can not yet be referred to takyng or eatyng only but must allso be vnderstanded of blessing now if you will haue these wordes of do this in my remembrance to stretch as well vnto the people as to the high order of priestes then may you cōplaine not only that thei receiue not as oft as the priest which thei will not I warrant you for all your greate mouyng but allso and rather that they take not the bread in to their handes and blesse it themselues and say masse such as may be called priuate in deed Which vnsensible and pernitiouse folissh opinion because you will not suffer to enter in to your hart therefor you must of necessitie graunt great
a capon But if you vnderstand by sacrament al the act and ceremonie of preparing and eating the lambe the calling of company vnto it was in some case materyal For if the numbre be lesse then shall be able to eate vpp the lambe then saieth God he whosoeuer he be shal take his next neighbor But you may say although the calling of company were conditionall yet the hauing of companye was of the substance of the sacrament It was so of the substaunce as other things were which God in that place commaunded I meane gyrding of their loynes and hauing of shooes on their feete and holding of staffes in their hanâ—es But if by reason of some wounde or dysease anye one of them had not ben able to suffer hys shooe on hys foote although his feete would not beare hym yet if his stomache serued hym could he not haue eaten with his fellowes and eate as fast as the best without breaking of the matter Lykewise if one had ben borne without haÌ„des or had lost his handes in fighting for his countrey so that he could not hold any staff in the hand which he had not was he to be excluded from his parte in the lambe Yf these pointes then which God so distinctlie commaunded haue their interpretations and are not so absolutely to be obserued but that for considerations thei maye be omitted I see no cawse whye the hauing of numbre in eating of the lambe should be so necessarye that it could not be omitted But the matter would be playner if we were once agreed how the terme of substance is to be takeÌ„ when you speake of it For if you meane that to be of the substance of a precept whichâ— without case of necessitie and without dispensatioÌ„ of the cheife gouernors can not be rashlye omitted as euery priuate man shall thinke good in hym selfe then I graunt that all those poyntes which are comprehended within the ceremonye of eating the paschall lambe were of the substance of it But if substance shall signifye such partes of any sacrament as which no man for any respect maye omitt or chainge in which sence we doe take it in speaking of the necessarye forme and matter of euerye sacrament then doe I denye vnto you that euerie point comprehended within the ceremonye of eating the lambe was of the substance of that matter Therefor if your comparing of all Christendome vnto all the Iewes and our particuler churches vnto their sundrye houses and the eating of our Sacrament vnto their lambe did neuer so well agree togeather yet because it is not proued of you that euerie point commaunded of God about the eating of the lambe is so essentiallie of the sustance therof that in no case it maye be omitted or altered therfore you come nothing nigh to the aunswer of our question which is whether that of necessitie there must be coÌ„panye allwaies to receiue at the masse Then againe it is to be noted that in the old law God did not commaunde them to haue companye at the eating of the lambe but rather then anye parte shold be lefte vneaten he willeth them to call more conpanye presupposing that there would be in euerie household companye inough to eate a lambe but yet geauing no commaundement of companye to be at it For if one by hym selfe alone had eaten a whole lambe his wife and children rounde about hym not louing that kinde of meate and yet delighting in the histories which he would tell them of Egipt and the redd sea I see not that you were able to burden hym with the breache of Goddes institution Besides this whereas the lambe of God which is eaten of the Christians is not more meate vnto a thousande then vnto one alone and one alone receyueth the whole that he needeth not to send for his neighbor your proportion betwyxt the lambe of the lewes and our Sacrament was not rightly deuised of you Also if I could finde no faulte with your application yet except you brought greater aucthoritie for the defence of it then your owne I would lykewise of myne owne head inuent an other sence besides yours and saie that my vnderstanding of that place serueth better to the purpose then yours In which case as both of vs might vse perchaunce probable interpretations so yet none of vs both should conclude any thing of necessitie And yet I neede not to runne vnto myne owne wytt for this matter because that long sence Sainct Denyse the Carthusyan doth saie in his CoÌ„mentaries vpon Exodus that the calling of a neighbor to eate of the lambe if howsehold cumpanie were not sufficient doth signifie that euerie Christian which is neuer able by hymselfe to consider sufficientlie the mercyes of God shewed vnto vs in the death and sacrameÌ„t of his Sonn should call his neighbor to hym and prouoke him to helpe forward that all thankes and praises might be geauen vnto the author of so excellent benefites Now to speake somewhat more of this lambe whilest you are of so good a mynd and remembrance to confesse that ther is a proportion and lykenes betwyxt our sacrament and it consider that the lambe was offered vpp to God before it was eaten which proueth that Christ offred his bodie and bloode in his last supper before the Apostles did receiue hym The blood also of the lambe was put vpon both postes of the doores which signifieth that good Christians do receiue Christ in the mouth and in the hart And they which receyue vnworthely or els in receyuing doe not beleiue it to be the blood of Christ these put the blood vpon one poste onlye You are commaunded also to deuoure the head with the feete and the appourtenaÌ„ces that you shold not be curious and nyce in your feeding but faithfullie and humblie receiue his diuinitie his humanitie and all other profond and secrete mysteries In which if any thing shall seeme absurde vnto your grosse vnderstanding you must referr all vnto the working of the Holyeghost and so you shall fulfyll the law which commaundeth the residue of the lambe to be burned with fier It is sufficieÌ„t to beleeue if it be not graunted to vnderstand for moe doe eate this flesh through beleeuing then vnderstanding Wherefore as the figure of the paschall lambe doth nothing make against the order which the church vseth so it doth most playnelie confound your suppositions and imaginations by which you take Christes reall presence from vs and the offering of his body And now what foloweth in your defence You laye vnto our charge that VVe take vpon vs to alter chainge and take away by our spiritual gouernors all the partes of the Lorde his supper as you will declare to vs in order by the doctrine of our defence of priuate Masse Certainelie this is a greate accusation and we are neuer to be trusted in anye thing if this be proued Do we saie you take vpon vs to alter chainge and take
his knowledge and especiallye with his brother he might and would haue ben so bolde as to reforme his simplicitie and superstitious zeale of mynde towardes the sacrament And if you will ymagine that he was loth to tell his owne brother the perfect truth of thin ges in his lyfe tyme yet at least after his death he should neuer haue praysed hym as he doeth in a most exquysite maner for that which according to your saying was to be tolerated onlye in the quyck and not praysed and commended in the dead Saint Ambrose therfore in a most sadd maner and tyme praysing his good brother which then was departed this world for many and sundrye vertues of iustice clemencie temperancie and chastitie and especiallie commending hym for his fayth and pietie which shewed it selfe in the shipwrack of which we haue spoken how can it be thought that so wise and constant a Bishop would alleage that historie to proue the pietie of his brother which rather after your interpretation was to be wynked at and kept vnder silence least he should seeme to betray vtter his superstitious behauiour and folie You myngle also mylke wyne water soppes moysted lynneÌ„ clothes altogeather as though there were no differeÌ„ce whether one did celebrate in milke alone or wyne alone or as though that if the soking of the sacrament of Christ his bodye in his bloud was by Iulis decrees reproued therefore also receyuing vnder one kynde or sole receiuing should be in lyke case myslyked And yet against water alone or mylke in steede of wyne you haue the expresse institution of Christ and the expresse canons of Bysshops and Councelles but you can bring no such proufe against vs that the sole receiuing or receiuing vnder one kynde is in no case lawful One thing I must coÌ„fesse vnto you that in deed you haue taken paynes to proue that the common maner of receiuing in the primitiue churche was vnder both kindes and in this part you alleage Gelasius Tertullian Iustine Cyprian Ambrose Gregorye Nazianzene Hierome Hilary and Chrisostome learned men all and the most of them Sainctes How well thei serue for your purpose what should I neede to examyne whereas you will coÌ„clude no more by them but that which we graunt without prouing It was a common maner to receiue in both kindes and to receiue with cumpanie but what of that Maye you conclude thereby that it was also the only maner and except you proue that it was the only maner all your reasoning make nothing against vs. Therefor Syr as you fought all this while out of the fyelde and matter proposed so haue you triumphed without any victory at all obtayned And although you laye allmost desperate stubbernes vnto our charge and exhort your readers to beholde the slendernes and feblenes of our reasons yet we will not be aferde to resist you in those pointes against which you can saie nothing and we shall counsell lykewise the reader not to walke vpon other mens feete but by his owne sense and disctetioÌ„ to consider whether that you haue not halted out of the question of which onlye we had to talke prouing vnto vs that receiuing with cumpany and vnder both â—yndes was ordinarie and accustomable in the begynnyng of the church which we grauÌ„t but nothing at al disprouing that sole receiuing or receiuing vnder one kynde may and hath ben vsed without any breach of Christ his institution Thirdly now it foloweth to speak of reseruation of the Sacrament which you thinke that no man hath euer flatlie denyed to haue ben vsed in the primitiue church â–ª how now then are not thei impudent which will speake against it No saie you And why saie ye no Mary because we maye denye Eyther that we haue any testimony in the word of God to iustifye it or that all the holy fathers did approue it Naye verelie this can not excuse some man of impudencie those I mean which are soâ— full of bosting and so voyde of doing that thei stand not vpoÌ„ these two pointes whether it be first in expresse scripture or whether all the Doctors approue it but saie playnlie that we haue not one worde one sentence one example of the primitiue church to proue our assertions Against which kynde of men it is sufficient for vs to shew that the thin ges which we affirme haue ben vsed and that also of good men In deede it is sufficient to shew that it was then vsed but it is not sufficient that it must therfore be allwayes vsed or all dyd well at that tyme in vsing of it Sir we doe not coÌ„clude a necessitie that it must be vsed because it was once vsed but a possibilitie and lawfullnes that it maye be now vsed that which in the primitiue church was not refused and we saye not that all then dyd well in vsing of it for what can we iudge of all their doinges but if S. Ambrose his brother alone did well it is inough for our purpose against certayne heretikes which make so much a doe about the vse of the Lorde his supper that except theÌ„ sacrament be straytwaies receyued there should be no bodye of Christ at all And if we had no more but S. Câ—rills testimonye against you it is inough for vs. Whom before you answer or rather not answer but denie you make a protestation and tell vs what authoritie you attribute vnto the olde fathers And because your saying should haue the more weight you conclude with S. Augustyne that you do not count any thing therefore true because men of excellent holynes and lerning were of that opinion But because they can persuade you eyther by scripture or good reason that it is not against the truth â–ª which saying of S. Augustyne we gladly admitt and add further vnto it that although scripture and reason be alleaged plentyfully yett that there is a further and greater authoritie by which we ought to be ruled For albeâ—â— that you doe make this obiection against your selfe as it were in our behalfes that men of great holynes and learning would neuer write that which they thought not to be agreable with God his worde by which your obiection it might be suspected that we doe stiffely and stoutly holde with euery saying of the excellent doctors yet the truth is farr otherwise And we know better then you because it was the Catholike churche which hath defined it and not you that Lactantius Cyprian Origen and many others had theyr priuate opinions and errors And if you wil staÌ„d by that which you haue protested why be you not of S. Cyprian his mynde as concerning rebaptisation whereas he wanted neither scriptures neyther reasons for his purpose or why doe ye not holde with Origen Clemens Alexandrinus TertulliaÌ„ and other great clerkes in such their false opinions which they defended with apparant scripture and reason Therfor as S. Augustyne saieth wiselie that he wil beleiue