so muche to be blamed for mistrustynge the almightie power of God whiche wée confesse to be in all thynges that his pleasure is to haue it shewen as you are for presuming vpoÌ„ the same to haue miracles wrought beside his will and without necessitie For by the meanes of your manifolde miracles without the expresse woorde of God whervpon mens faith in suche mattiers shoulde bee grounded you make that sacrament a torment to trie mens weake and féeble consciences which Christe ordeined to be a comfortable and spirituall féeding to increase and strengthen the consciences of christian people This haue I thought good to answere your defence of priuate Masse and as a champion not méete to matche with any greate clerke yet in suche sorte as I coulde to resist your assaute that you make vpon the foresayde protestacion not as good Dauid valiantly assauted Goliath in defence of his Prince and countrey but as amorous Paris traiterously shotte at Achilles in the behalfe of his loue Helena For neither is it Goliath that you fight against in his brauerie as you say braggynge agaynst the people of God but rather Achilles manfully reuengynge the inceste committed with the spouse of Christe which with your amorous cuppê you haue allured from him nor yet doo you come stoutely as Dauid did in the name of the liuynge God before the face of both the armies to hurle your stones but priuely out of a corner shoote your arrowes agaynst him as Paris against Achilles You were afrayde perhappes if he had séene you that with shame enough he wold haue wronge your bowe and arrowes out of your hande but truly I thynke hee woulde not haue so doone but rather knowyng that in this quarell he coulde not be wounded he would haue suffered you to shoote your in and with his naked hande receiuing your blount arrowes in suche forte woulde haue picked them at your face as for shame either you should haue runne out of the place or at the least submitted your self yelded to the truth that you protest your self to haue forsaken Wherfore as you haue the feare of God as you haue care of your soules health I most earnestly exhorte you to leaue studie of contencioÌ„ and with a single harte diligently to ponder the reasons on bothe partes as the weight of the mattier requireth Consider as the holy father Cyprian counsaileth of what authoritie Christê institucion ought to be that wée should not be so bolde to alter any parte of those weightie greate preceptes that so nighly touche the sacramente of our saluacion Consider that neither Christê ordinaunce nor the testimony of S. Paule maketh any signification of soole receiuyng or ministrynge vnder one kinde but all contrarywise Consider that Iustine Dyonisius Cyprian the holy counsel of Nice withal other the auncient fathers testifie the common maner of the primatiue churche to haue ben in forme of a communion that in both kindes Consider that Chrisostome other so earnestly call the people beyng present vnto it as they affirme them to doo impudently that do refraine Consider that the maner of the primatiue church was as Dyonisius witnesseth that none did remaine in the church but those only that woulde communicate Consider the Anacletus Sixtus the cannons of the Apostles Antioch counsell threatned excommunicacion punishment to such as being present at consecration readyng of the lessons of scripture woulde not receiue Consider I say and vnfeinedly weigh these thynges with your selfe and ye cannot choose but se that the aucthoritie of Gods worde and consente of the primatiue churche maketh wholy with vs in these mattiers And on the contrarie parte you shall perceiue that you haue no coullor in the scripture for priuate Masse that you are fayne to séeke defence in the churches aucthoritie beside Gods word that your reasons be grounded on false principles and suche as haue no proufe at all That your aucthorities out of the doctours be either abuses of the primatiue churche or such extraordinarie cases of necessitie contrarie to the coÌ„mon maner as they can not be rules to shew either what was then orderly done or what now ought of right to be done Be not these gaye reasons thynke you to builde mens consciences vpon Priuate Masse is nothyng but soole receiuyng in case of necessitie therfore it is lawfull The Priest may celebrate alone in thassemble of the people because diuers in necessitie and extremitie receiued alone in their priuate houses The priest may receiue alone when the people will not because he is bounde to offer and the people is lefte frée The priest may do it when he wil because he may doo it in necessitie when the people will not The minister may receiue alone for companie is but an ornamente and not of the substance of the sacramente The Doctours in diuers places name one kinde Therfore one kinde only was receiued of the people How will you be able to proue that priuate Masse is nothyng but soole receiuyng in necessitie How wyll you be able to proue that it is al one thing for the minister in the congregacion and a laye man at home in peril to receiue alone How will you proue that the priest is bounde to the frequentyng of the sacramente and the people leste frée How will you proue that companie is but an accident or ornamente to the sacramente or that one kinde onely was receiued because one kinde onely was named And yet these argumentes muste be good or els those prouses and testimonies that you wold haue to séeme vnuincible shall indéede be of no force Oh sir for the loue of God weigh the mattier more indifferently Do not dissemble that you must néedes know If you will haue your doctrine tried by the balance of the scripture and primatiue churche adde more weight to your side of the balance or els confesse that your parte is the lighter Let not the vayne sounde of the holy churches name where the thynge is not leade you to be enemie to that doctrine whiche you se to haue more force in the worde of God Remember that the true churche is ruled and guided onely by Christes worde and doctrine If you abyde sayth he in my worde then be you my true disciples Christe is the good shepparde and the churche is the folde of his right shéepe Christe is the wise maister and the churche is the companie of his diligente scholars Christe is the bridegrome the church is his derely beloued spouse The true churche therfore will not go rangynge what way she lusteth she will not learne of hir owne braine she will not folowe hir owne phantasie They be wilde Goates they be not tame shéepe that when the shepardes voyce calleth one way will runne headlonge an other way They be selfwill moichers they be not diligent scholers that leauyng their maisters teachyng will folow their owne interpretacions She is a frowarde and presumptuous woman she is not an obedient wife that will make light of hir husbandes commaundementes and thinke she may alter them at hir pleasure The true shéepe of Christe therfore the diligent scholars the obediente spouse that is the right and true churche will harken onely to hir good shepardes voyce will folow hir maisters preceptes will obey hir housbandes commaundementes How then can you excuse your selfe by your holy mother the churche if you teache otherwise then Christe hath taught and make suche interpretacions of your owne head as haue no grounde in his holy woorde You doo vnder that name mainteine your owne errour ye folow not the churches aucthoritie If you will harken to Christes churche to the Apostles churche to the olde fathers churche neither Christe nor the Apostles nor the fathers teache you any suche thyng And so ye séeme your selfe in a sorte to confesse or els ye woulde neuer striue so muche for vnwritten verities and authoritie of the churche in doctrines beside Gods worde You needed no suche helpes if your teachyng had iust proufe in the scripture and auncient fathers as indeede it hath not This haue I framed my answere vnto you in suche sorte as I truste the indifferent reader may iudge that my minde and purpose is rather directly and playnly to consute the summe of your vntrue doctrine thou as you do to séeke shiftes by cauelynge to discredit my aduersarie For if I should haue scanned euery sillable worde or sentence that in this writing hath passed you and indeuoured capciously to haue taken aduantage at euerie trifle as your sorte is wonte to deale with vs for faute of better mattier bothe I shoulde haue fallen into that faute that I proteste my selfe to mislyke in you and my answere would haue growen to suche a length as it might iustly haue weried the reader I haue therfore medled onely with the principall poinctes of this your Apologie whiche may séeme to be of chiefe force in those matters that you touche And of purpose haue let passe many small trifles wherin bothe you might iustly haue béen reproued and some men I know will thinke meete and worthy to be answered I wyll now ende and cease any further to exhorte you to a more diligent examinyng and discussyng of the residue of your doctrines trustynge that your owne conscience hauynge now more feare of God then you say you had before wyll driue you to the same Whiche I pray God may be if not by this occasion yet by some other when his holy wyll shall be FINIS ¶ Imprynted at London in Fléetestréete by Thomas Powell
in the sacrament bee they neuer so farre a sunder and yet can not any one alone minister it in one church withoute company to celebrate with him because Christes institution was otherwise Wil ye say here that company to eate vp the pascal lambe was not of the substance of the sacramente but an ornament to commend it or set it forth and might be altered by spirytual gouernours Although the Iewes weare very bolde in altering many ceremonies yet wée reade not that euer they durst aulter this chiefe sacrament as you take vpon you to alter change and take away by your spirituall gouernours all the partes of the Lordes Supper as I wyl declare to you in order by the doctrine of this your defense of pryuate masse The sacrament as it is in vse hath two partes the mattier and the forme the mattier is bread and the body wine and the bloud of Christ The forme of ministration is that the minister should take the mattier and with the wordes of the gospel geue it to them present as Christ dyd This forme say you may be altered by your spiritual gouernours For sometime the prieste may receiue alone with out the people sometime the people without the priest somtime both together So that no certaine forme of ministration is nedefull as you say in this sacrament to be kepte The mattier also ye signifie may bee altered at your pleasure For to receiue the sacrament of the bloud is not of the substance of Christes institution For if it weare the churche could not alter it as you doo commonly in ministringe to the people and as you coniecture by Tertus and Ciprian that they dyd in the prymatiue church Likewyse the sacrament of the body is not so muche of the substance but that vpon considerations the church may commonly omitte it and minister the wine only For so you séeme togather by the history of the chylde in Ciprian to whiche the prieste gaue only wine as you say So that the sacrament of the lordes supper by your doctrine either hath no parte that is of the substance of it but consisteth only of mutable accidences or els your churche is of such power that it may cleane alter and take away Christes institution For if you haue considerations for which ye may commonly leaue out the wine and vse bread only and other considerations for which ye may omit breade and vse wine only when bothe those considerations come together then may you take away bothe breade and wine and defraude the people of the whole sacrament or in stede of that may point them another What is this but with exceding arrogancie to make your spiritual gouernours omnipotent in alteringe and transposinge the sacramentes by Christ ordeyned Howe much more comely weare it for you reuoking your errour to say with Ciprian If we wil walke in the sight of Christe in the order of his sacramentes we must not swarue or departe from his preceptes and instructions geuinge thankes for that hee instructinge vs what we ought to doe hereafter doth pardon vs for that offence which by simplicitie we haue before committed Where you indeuour to proue 7. Cap. that there may be communion in the sacrament although it be receiued alone in th one part you make your comparison as you haue done before betwene thinges of nature very dyuers that is betwene praier and the lordes supper In the tother where ye confirme generall communion betweene all sainctes you proue that no man denieth There man be communion in the benefite of prayer say you though one doe pray alone A. therfore in the Lordes supper also Who séeth not that prayer and the Lords supper in the vse of them be nothinge like That praier is a common action which done of one alone maye stretch to the benefite and commoditée of many we haue aucthority in the scripture and example in Christe him selfe but that the Lordes supper is suche a commoÌ„ action we neither haue authoritie nor example in gods worde By as good a reason wée may proue that a man may baptise him selfe withoute a minister because one may pray alone without one to guyde him in the forme of his prayer Or that ones baptisme may profite another that is not baptised as a mans prayer may profite him that prayeth not But you must consider that there is greate difference betwene the nature of sacrament and other common good workes The sacraments haue an external forme by christ apointed in the administratioÌ„ of them which wée may not alter In other good workes and godly exercises it is not so And yet you recken them vp together as though they weare in all poyntes like As praier baptisme penance confirmation fastinge almes déedes c. Another mans praâ—â—r or almes dâ—â—de may profite you I graunt and procure gods grace for you May an other mans baptisme therfore receiue you into the church or an other mans penance satisfy for your sinnes I thinke you wyl scant affirme it although ye be ready to affirme straunge thinges No more therfore can your receiuinge profite another that receiueth not Christe taught vs and his holy worde commaundeth vs to pray on for another But he neuer saide receiue the communion or bée baptised one for another To confirme your purpose you bringe an article of our crede B. that is I â—eseue the communion of saincted By this you proue that there is a communion of all good thinges betwene them that are in place and time farre distante whiche wée deny not But to vnderstande how lytle this communion of saintes doeth serue your purpose of sole receiuing it behoueth to consider what communion is It is called of the Grekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and may be defined to be a societie of a company or multitude whiche by certaine lawes and couenantes are all partakers of one thinge As amonge Marchantes that vpon certaine condicions occupy iointly and are partakers of like gaine and damage So all Christian men haue a certaine societie or coniunction whiche consisteth in this that they are all partakers of one saluation and all members of one mistical body the head wherof is christ Iesu The lawes couenantes wherby wée be all thus knit and ioigned together are the word of God the sacramentê vsed according to Christes institucion Therefore all churches of the worlde haue the same worde of God and the same sacramentes by them through faith are graffed into one and the same body of Christe thoughe they be thousandes of miles a sunder By the word of God our faith is instructed By baptisme wée be receiued first into the societie of christian communion and made members of the misticall body By the Lordes supper wée haue from time to time heauenly foode ministred vnto vs and as it were liuely spirite from the head of this body Iesu Christe He therfore that is baptised in India hath the same baptisme that wee haue and beyng graffed into the same
for your defence in so weightie mattiers Which now seyng your selender and féeble groundes will beginne I doubte not as they haue the feare of God to mistrust your dealyng and more diligently examine the residue of your doctrine It is not good for them any lenger to walke on other mens féete nor to be guided by other mens eyes but them selfe to se what way they go least their guides either by ignorance or wilfulnesse leade them into the pitte of continuall errour Of reseruacion The third poincte that you gather out of these testimonies is reseruacion of the sacrament which to deny say you is extreame impudencie I thinke you haue not mette with any whiche haue flatly denied that in the primatiue churche diuers vsed reseruacion But it foloweth not therevpon but that a man may deny without any impudencie at all either that wée haue any testimonie in the worde of God to iustifie it or that all the holy fathers did approue it Or if ye wyll say the contrarie I wyll not doubte to make the crime of impudencie that you charge vs withal to rebounde vpon your self But you will say you haue witnesse that it was vsed and that of good men whiche is sufficient Indéede it is sufficient to shew that it was then vsed but it is not sufficient to proue that it must therfore be alwayes vsed or that all did well at that time in vsing of it Oh ye will say this is your olde maner so longe as the fathers make with you you wil admit them if they séeme to be any thynge agaynst you ye will reiecte their aucthoritie What authoritie is to be attributed to the doctours Because you cōmonly take holde here and through this odious reporte often vse to stirre mens stomackes agaynst vs before I answere your reseruacion I will protest what aucthoritie wée attribute vnto the olde fathers This will I doo not with my owne wordes but S. Augustines in his epistle to Hierome I confesse that I haue learned to attribute this reuerēce and honour only to the canonical scriptures to beleeue stedfastly without controuersie all that is written in them As for other I so reade them that be they neuer so excellent in great holynes and learnyng I do not therfore counte it true because they were of that opinion but because they coulde perswade me either by scripture or good reason that it was not against the truth Here you may obiecte that men of such learning holinesse and deuocion woulde neuer haue written any suche thynge if they had not thought it to be agréeable with Gods worde Ye sir I thinke they as good men were so perswaded but that they did leaue in writyng many thynges not onely beside the worde of God but also against it I thynke it is not vnknowen to you And that other also may know it and therby holde vs excused when wée doo not in all poinctes agrée vnto them I will recite some proufes therof Clemens Alexand. with Iustine and diuers other taught that Angels fell from their estate for the carnall loue of earthly women Whiche doctrine I thinke you wil not say riseth of true interpretacion of the scripture The same Clement Strom. 2. 6. writeth that mens soules are transformed into Angels and first learne a thousande yeres of other Angels afterwarde teaching other new transformed Angels at the length become Archangels Whiche can not be soundly taken out of the scriptures Iustine Lactantius Iraeneus and other wrote that good men after the resurrection shoulde liue a thousande yeres in all ioye before Christe shoulde come to iudgement And yet is that but a misunderstandynge of the scripture Tertullian séemeth to attribute a bodily substance to God and in diuers places De trinitate speaketh dangerously of Christe for whiche and like thinges many would haue had his workes counted Apócrypha Therfore he doth not alwaies agrée with scripture Cyprian would haue Heretikes to be rebaptised and speaketh so dangerously of them that are fallen from the faith that he might séeme to geue some occasion to Nouatians heresie What shall we say of Origine in whom be founde so many perilous doctrines as both I in this place am loth to rehearse them and in the primatiue churche diuers greate learned men woulde haue had his bookes burned for the same I coulde say the like of diuers other but that I feare some will maliciously gather that I rehearse these thynges of purpose so muche as in me lieth to deface the aucthoritie of the holy fathers Which God is my witnesse I meane not but onely to signifie that when wee measure their doctrine by Goddes wordes or teache not in all poinctes as they did wée be not so muche to be blamed as that men should counte vs as you doo to controlle the doctours and as it were to set them to schoole For if God hath suffered them to erre in so weightie mattiers as is before mencioned although for good cause I haue omitted the greatest it may be also that they haue taught amisse in some other lighter thinges and therfore are to be reade with iudgement as Augustine counselleth bothe in himselfe and in other Nothwithstandynge wée doo greatly estéeme the fathers not only as holy mē indued with singuler grace of God but also as right good witnesses and strong defendours of the chiefe articles of our faith at that time when Sathan indeuoured partely by crueltie of persecution partely by infinite numbers of Heresies to deface and extinguishe the same Therefore who doth not muche honour them when trueth constreineth with reuerence go from their opinion is scantly worthie the name of a christian mā Neuerthelesse I think not the contrary but if they had séene what abuses and supersticions woulde haue folowed vpon diuers thynges that they either taught or for the state of that time winked at and suffered vndoubtedly they woulde either haue recanted those thinges as Augustine did many or els would haue made a more perfit interpretacion of their mindes Before the Pelagians Herisie beganne to be spredde S Augustine so wrote of frée will as he séemed not to himselfe afterwarde sufficiently and as the trueth required to expresse the mere grace of God Therfore vpon occasion of that Herisie he writeth more perfitly of that and of predestination then either the other doctours do or then it is to be thought that himselfe would haue done if that occasion had not been So doubtelesse both he and many other woulde haue doone of diuers thinges now in controuersie if at that time they had been brought in question This much by the way haue I spoken of my opinion in the doctours so muche as I can to eschew the malicious reporte that your sorte is moste readie to spreade of vs in this mattier Now I wyll returne to reseruation Of reseruacion Wee denie not as I sayd that some in that time did vse it as it appereth by your witnes of Ciril As touchinge
shall sit in them Mountaines woddes marriceâ— prisonâ— denneâ— are more safe for me For in those the Prophetes either vosuntarely abydinge or cast thether by violence did prophesie by the spirite of god How could a man more plainely declare that the true churche both then was and after shuld be vexed and persecuted by those that in sight and power of external gouernment were taken for the church At is notable also that Augustine hath Deciuit dei lib. 20. speaking of Antichriste Rectius putant etiam latine dici sicut in graeco est non in templo sed in teÌ„plum dei sedeat â—â—nq ipse sit templum dei quod est ecclesia Some thinke it were better spoken in Latine as it is in the Greâ—e as to say that Aâ—â—ithriste shoâ—th sit not in thâ— temple of God but as the temple of God aâ— thoughe himselfe were the temple of God â–ª which is the churche What Bernarde dyd thinke of the churche in his time aboue 400. yeares agoe it appereth in viuers places There is no sounde parte now faith he in the clergie it remaineth therfore that the man of sinne be reuealed And in an other place All my friendes vt now become my foes all my mainteinere â—â—e now become aduetsariâ—â— â–ª The 〈◊〉 of Christe â—o seruice so Antichrist If I should â—â—eite out of authourâ— and Histories al such testimonies as serueth to this purpose I shoulde be a greate deale longer then this place requireth I will therfore at this time omitte them Seting therfore it doeth euidently appere that in the latter time they shall beare the name of the churche whiche in déede be not the right churche wée must booke diligently that wée gene not ouer to euery power that wil claime the name of the churche but consider whither the true marke of the holy churche be amonge them What is the true marke of Christes churche Christe the true pastour noting whiche were his shéepe faseth 〈◊〉 sheepe will here my voyce And as by his worde and voyce he calleth them into his folde so by his sacramentes there he marketh them The right churche therfore as the folde of Christe hath the true worde of God and vse of his sacramentes accordyng to the same for the due markes therof So much then as the worde of God and vse of the sacramentes be corrupted amonge ady people or congregacion so farre shall that company be from the shate of the true and perfit churche of Christe Therfore it is easie to iudge what is to be thought of them that leaue the worde of God and worship him well nere altogether with their owne deuised phaÌ„tasies That the scripture which is the voyce and worde of God is the true triall of the church wée haue good authoritie in the auncient fathers S. Augustine contra PetilianuÌ„ cap. 2. The controuersie is betweene veâ— the Donatisteâ— saith he where the churche is Therefore what shall wee dot shall wee seeke if in our owne wordes or in the wordes of out forde Iesus Christe the head therof thinke wee ought rather to seeke it in his wordes that is trueth and best knoweth hie body Therfore they be not to be compted the churche that with their owne wordes will san they he the churche but they whose doctrine â—â—â—réeth with the worde of Christe that is head of the churche In like maner hath Chrisostome in Mat. cap. 14. wherfore saith he in this thâ—â— off chaifâ—ouâ— men ought to resorte to the seâ—â—â—â— tureâ— â—ecause in this time since theresie is come into the churches there can be no other proufe of true christianitie nor any other refuge for christian men desyryng to know the tune faith but onely the holy for iptureâ— for before it was she wed by many meanes which was the churche of Christe which was gentilitie But now to them that will knowe whiche is the right churche of Christe there is no meanes but only by the scriptures S. Augustine hath the like in many wordes in the. 16. cap. contra epistolam Periliani whiche I let passe here for breuiries sake The place beginneth in this wise Vtrum Donatistae ecclesiam teneant non nisi diuinatu scripturarum canonicis libris ostendant Quianee nos ppterea dicimus nobis credere oportere quod in ecclesia Christ sumus c. Wherfore a Christian conscience that in this daungerous time wyll walke safely must take the word of god to be his only state must â—ake the holy scripture to be as well the rule whereby his shall measure the true paterne of the church as the very touchstone wherby he must trie al the doctrine of the same For god in time paste spoke by his prophetes many and sundry waies but last of all by his dere sonne Whose doctrine how perfite it was the woman of Samaria witnesseth sayinge When Messias commeth he shall telâ—â— all thinges And the same Messias hym selfe saieth I haue made knowen to you all that I haue heard of my father And therefore sendinge his Apostles hee saith Teach them to obserue all that I haue commaunded As if he had sayd ye shall declare vnto the gentils not whatsoeuer shal seeme good to your selfe but those thinges that I haue commaunded you Those thinges therfore are to be hard those thinges we must stay vppon In those we must séeke our saluation and life What soeuer is not agreinge with them must be cast of and compted of no forse So saieth Origine Wee must nedes cal the holy scriptures to witnes In Hierem Hom. 1. For our senses and declaracions withoute those witnesses haue no credite So saith Hierom. That hath not aucthoritie in the scripture in euen as lighily contenmed as it is spoken And againe in psal 86. Consider what hee saith Which were in it not which be in it So that except the Apostles whatsoeuer should be spoken afterwarde let it bee cutte of let it not haue authoritie Therfore be one neuer so holy after the Apostlee bee hee neuer so eloquent he hath not authority Because the lord wyll make his declaracion in the writinge of people and princes that were in it In that place Hierome at large declareth that the doctrine of god must bee proued by such wrytinges as were in the churche vntil the Apostles time and those that after folowed to bee of no sufficient authority were they neuer so holy Let vs stay therefore vpon the canonical scriptures and holy worde of god For saith S. Cyprian Hereof arise schismes because we selâ—e not to the head nor haue recourse to the springe nor kepe the commaundementes of the heauenly maister Let he aske Peter saith Ambrose let vs aske Paule if we wyl finde out the trueth And Christ him selfe biddeth vs searche the scriptures and not presume of our owne spirite vppon vnwritten verities beside the worde of god What credite is to bee geuen to those that so speake Chrisostome teacheth vs. As Christ saith he when hee vnderstode that they sayde
nor of many other trifling doubtes you make because all such doubtes are answered to the ful in the oryginall veritie of Christes words being in the nature of the veritée necessarily imploied As these are agaynste the whiche you may kicke till you be very but it lieth not in you to alter the nature of Christes owne wordes If you had found in the scripture spoken by Christe concerninge the blessed sacrament This is not my body but the figure of my body beyng absent in substance and onely present to your imaginacions by the sight of the bread You might haue triumphed and blowed vp your horne lustely in euery pulpit and made your auaunte that you had bin able to controlle all christendome But now the letter is very playne against you and the sence of the letter also as the fathers do recorde in all ages and generall counsels to As may appere by your owne mistrust for the space of the last .ix. hundred yeres and odde I take God to iudge I wrote not this for any malice to suche as are otherwise â—ente I pittie them rather and dayly pray for them that they may embrace the catholike faieth But when I perceiued Goltas in his brauerie hauynge truste in his bigge bones and stronge weapons braggyng many times as though there were none of the Israelites hable to matche him Notwithstandynge there are very many that coulde haue handled him better then I beyng a man of small learnyng troubled with much businesse yet I thought it my dutie for the honour of my mother the catholike churche to hurle out foure or fiue stones in Dauids sling against this champion not to hurte him in the forhead as Dauid did Golias but to crushe in péeces certeine vntruethes that he taught Wyshyng him as wel to doo as I woulde my self And all my countrey men of Englande to be ware least they fal into the snares and trappes that our ghostly enemie laieth abrode euery where not onely to hurte their bodies but to hurle downe bothe body and soule into the déepe dongeon of hell The whiche I beséeche God moste hartely géeue all men grace to auoyde Amen An Answere in defence of the truth Againste the Apologie of priuate Masse LONDINI Mens NoueÌ„b 1562. The cheefe poinctes touched in this defence of the trueth Against priuate Masse or soole receiuing by the minister in the common place of praier Why the doctours call the sacrament of the Lordes supper by the name of oblacion or sacrifice Against communion vnder one kinde Of reseruacion of the sacrament Against the argumentes of multitude and longe continuance of time Against the alledging of the aucthoritee name of the church What is to be attributed to the auncient fathers Of reall presence and interpretacion of christes wordes Hoc est corpus c. ⧠The preface to the Reader IT is wel knowen to a greate number partly by presence in hearinge partely by wrytinge set forth of the same that a worthy learned man and Bishop of this Realme stoutly in dede as the matter required and clerkly also as learning and knowlage taught him did openly protest in certaine Sarmons not to the furtheraunce of vntrueth as malice carpeth but to the confusion of falshodde as the ende proueth that if any of those things which he then rehearsed could be proued of the contrary side by any sufficient authoritie of the scriptures olde doctours and auntient councels or by any alowed example of the primatiue church then he would be contented to subscribe and yelde to their doctrine This his doynge as no lesse was to be loked for sum men depraued many dispraised all they misliked that mainteined suche superstitious errours as false teachinge hath trained people in the space of certaine hundred yeares And in dede seinge they harde their doctrine so plainely defaced and their wilfull misleadynge of Christian men so openly to be noted a man maye thinke they had good cause to startle at the matter and somewhat to loke aboute them leste they seemed altogether carelesse Wherfore as dyuers haue dyuersly shewed theyr mislikinge so one of that partie hath in writing priuely spred abrode an answere to the forsaide offer or protestatioÌ„ for priuate masses wherin he both perswadeth him selfe and would haue other also to beleue that he hathe so fully satisfied the parties request as it maye seeme greate folly and as he termeth it impudencie any longer to staye vpon it One of the copies of this answere by occasion as it fortuned not many monethes sence lighted into my hands which I vnderstande is so spred abrode in dyuers places of this Realme as there be fewe mislikers of the trueth but they haue it and make such accompte of it as a greate number of the vnlearned sorte staie their consciences there vpon Who the aucthour is or what maner of man I neither knowe nor can gesse more then he witnesseth of him selfe in the entraunce of this treatise Where he signifieth that once he imbraced that religion which he now detesteth and writeth against In that parte me thinketh he doth deale as fonde men sometime are wonte to doe which to displease their enemies sticke not to hurte them selues also So he to discredite the doctrine that he is reuolted from geueth such testimonie of his owne naughtie life and conscience as he would be lothe to heare at any mans mouth but his owne All that time saieth he neither regarded god nor good relygion nor any good conscience beside What malice it is to charge the doctrine that by hipocrisie he professed with the cause of his euill doinge I will not declare with suche wordes as the matter requireth This muche I will saye that he learned this of olde Adams greate councellour Who at the beginninge beinge blamed for his disobedyence seemed to bourden God him selfe with the cause of it and excused his owne folly by that thinge whiche his maker had geuen him to his comforte and commoditie In like manner when this mans conscience as it seemeth by hys owne wordes accused him of lewde liuinge and lacke of the feare of god to excuse his owne ill disposed minde he casteth the faute vpon the doctrine of the gospell whiche God did open vnto him vndoubtedly to his great commoditie if he would haue taken it And vnder this pretence bothe forsaketh it him selfe and by his example exhorteth other to eschew it But as the wicked life of a man to his owne greate harme may be a blotte to the religion that he professeth so God forbidde it should be compted a full reprofe of the same or a iuste cause to be of all other reiected If it were so men should refuse Christianitie because dyuers not of the basest sorte but of the heades of the Churche as their owne histories witnes haue ben of horrible and wycked life But we muste thinke that the hipocrisie and traiterous couetousnes of Iudas and his felowes is a confusion to them selfe but no iust reproche to
enim apostoli statuerunt sancta Romana tenet ecclesia After consecration saith hee let all be partakers which wil not be excommunicate For so the Apostles decreed and the holy churche of rome obserued The same wordes by some are attributed to Calixte Doo you not heare excommunication threatned to all that doo not communicate Doo you not heare that the Apostles decreed it and the holy church of Rome obserued it And wil you yet stand so stubburnly in your assertion that there was priuate masse in the primatiue church Wil you haue better witnesses of that time then Iustine then Dionisius then Anacletus then Calixte then the other holy fathers before mencioned would Ambrose haue blamed the people for not resortinge to the sacramente dayly Would Chrisostome haue saide that they which be present and not receiue doo wickedly and impudently Would they haue commonly vsed as Iustine saith to send to those that could not be present if Christes institution and the maner of the prymatiue churche had ben such that the minister might celebrate alone without callinge or offeringe and people without offence bee present and not communicate as you of longe time haue vsed it Surely say what you wyll and alledge as ofte as you liste the aucthoritée of your holy mother the churche of Rome so many hundred yeres I thinke very few that haue feare of god and care of their saluation wyl geue credite vnto you Especially seinge you can bringe no better testimonies for your purpose then in this defence you haue vsed Agaynst coÌ„munion vnder one kinde An other poincte that you picke out of these aucthorities of Tertul. and Cyprian is for ministrynge vnder one kinde wherein wée haue the institucion of Christe expresly against you as wée had in the other For in the Euangelistes and S. Paule wée se testified that Christ tooke breade and gaue with it his body and afterwarde tooke the cuppe and gaue with it his bloud and willed them to obserue vse the same Here you muste of necessitie flée to your â—lde place of refuge that is that to receiue vnder bothe kindes is not of the substance of the sacrament but such a thynge as may be altered by spirituall gouernours For Christes bodie say you is not without his bloud therfore he that receiueth his body vnder forme of breade receiueth his bloud also Per concomitantiam Therfore you say the people is not defrauded of that Christes will was that they shoulde receiue yea and for good consideracions honorable to the bloud of Christ they receiue it more conuenient then vnder bothes kindes O profounde and déepe sette reason wherin you séeme to make your selfe wiser than Christe him selfe that ordeined the sacrament While you will séeme with your gay gloses to glorifie the bloud of Christe you cleane take away the right forme and maner of his sacramente These are the vanities wherwith God iustly doeth punish you for your rashenesse in leauyng his worde and folowyng the phantasies of your owne braine But it should haue béen your obedience to Goddes worde to consider that the communion of Christê body and bloud is not the worke of nature in this Sacrament For what so euer is here geuen in these thynges is to be taken by faith and is offered to vs in the wordes of Christes promisses So much is geuen vs as God appoincted to giue Of whose will and pleasure wée know no more then his wordes declare vnto vs. But Christ as I saied tooke twoo partes of the sacrament in one of the whiche he saied wée shoulde be partakers of his body in the tother of his bloud and lefte his prescripte and appoincted wordes as well for the tone as for the tother Wherfore wée must more trust him than mans subtill deuise You alledge a perpetuall societie of the body and bloud whiche ye call Concomitantiam It is your owne deuise and not Christes promisse in his sacrament In Christes naturall body that is in heauen I know his flesh is not without his bloud But in the sacramente whiche is no naturall worke how will you assure me that the flesh and bloud is ioinctly signified and geuen to mee vnder one parte onely seyng Christ himself who knew as wel as you the ioincte condicion of his flesh and bloud did notwithstandyng in twoo sundrie external thinges geue the communion of them to his disciples Therefore the faieth of the communicantes in the tone parte receiueth the body of Christe trustynge to Christes promisses The same faith in the other parte receiueth the bloud beléeuyng also our sauiours wordes therin It hath respecte to Christes wordes and promisses it looketh not how the body and bloud is in Christe naturally What grounde shal our faith haue if we leaue the worde of God Oh ye will say our holy mother the churche hath so ordeined it Yea but I say to you that if your mother the churche of Rome be the folde of Christe and if the shéepe therof be his shéepe they will heare his voyce and obey his worde If they doo not alledge the name as ofte as ye wyll I will say you be shéepe of an other folde and not of his For he saith Oues meae vocem meam audiunt He saith not they heare them selfe their owne deuises but they heare my voyce Remember what Cyprian saith Only Christe is to be hearde in this And wee must not looke what other did before vs but what Christe did before all other When we doubt we must haue recourse to the order taken by Christe and by the Apostles in their wrytinge But ye will say the churche hath aucthoritie to alter diuers thinges especially beyng indifferent and not of the substance of the sacramente Yea but Cyprian saith the preceptes of this sacrament bee Grandia magna And if he be called least in the kingdome of god that altereth one of the least commaundementes what shal be sayd of him that taketh awaye these great and weightie commaundementes Ciprian wrate against those that were called Aquarij water drinkers which vsed only water in stede of wine in the ministration of the sacrament But they offended not so much as you doe For they altered only the licour and that vppon holy considerations They kepte the wordes and promysses of Christe But you take away the one parte cleane and leaue out the wordes and moste comfortable promysses of Christes bloud to bee shed for vs. If then Cyprian were so earnest againste those vsers of water in stéede of wyne how muche more earnest woulde hee haue ben againste this maner if it had ben common in his time Here those places that you recite may séeme to helpe you and to make againste vs. For where Tertullian speaketh of the Paynimes wife hee mencioneth bread only And wheÌ„ Ciprian reporteth that the woman kept the lordes body in her coffer it may séeme to be vnder one kinde These are but coniectures and the same very vncertaine For oftentimes in the
you with looking on many places There is a little treatise of Melancthons intituled De vsuintegri sacrameÌ„ti in which ye shall finde diuers argumentes concludyng the necessitie of bothe kindes and that they sinne and greuously offende that doo restraine the people from one parte of the sacrament But I perceiue this is your coÌ„mon fashion to make Doctours writers to speake whatsoeuer you woulde haue them to speake Now sir 12. Cap. if ye haue no better proufes and testimonies oute of the holy scriptures and olde fathers then these whiche ye haue in this your Apologie alledged I assure you the challenge that before was made may iustly be againe repeted And A. it may be sayde to you that you haue out of the scripture nor sillable nor tittle out of the auncient doctours nor sentence nor halfe sentence that doeth directly proue eyther your priuate masse or communion vnder one kinde to the laitie For all that here you haue vttered be nothinge but wrythed coniectures vpon cases extraordinary and shiftes of extremitie to proue a continual or general rule to bée obserued in the church of Christe contrary to the example and order by hym selfe apointed Wherefore there is no cause that you should so confidently conclude as though you had profoundly ben faire clokes for them to holde their peace where as in déede they haue in these poinctes or litle or nothing to say for them selfe And surely if I had ben of your sorte I would haue wyshed that you also had ben bounde in recognisance if that would haue stayed you from wrytinge For both your reasons and aucthorities by you vttered though they séeme to your selfe neuer so stroÌ„g doth rather bewray your parte theâ— pithely defend it But if you and yours had neuer so greate store of armour prouision and furniture as to the terrour of men you would pretende to haue yet ye shold neuer be able to beare downe the manifest trueth so euidently apperinge in the wordes of Christes institution nor the wytnesses of the primatiue churche agreinge with the same Answere to the argumente of multitude continuance of time c â–ª Therefore the thunderinge in of the aucthoritie of the holy catholike church the prescription of .xv C. yeres the consent of moste parte of Christendome the holines and learninge of so many godly fathers as hath béen these ix C. yeres the age and sclender learninge of those that stande against you doth nothinge at all either feare vs or moue vs to suspect that doctrine which by Christes aucthoritie and witnesse of the Apostles wée know to be trewe We haue ben accustomed of longe time to those vaine voices Wée sée they all be either manifestly false or at the least of small effecte These are the mystes which you haue alway cast before the eies of the simple and ignorant as it were to blinde and amase them to the ende that either they may not sée the trueth when it is brought to them or if they sée it to make them suspecte it when they heare that .xv. C. yeares the more parte of the worlde haue bene of contrary opinion But this is euidently false that you say For .600 yere after Christe more these doctrines were neuer heard of in the church much lesse vnder one kinde prohibicion of mariage in priestes purgatory the supremacie of Rome nor a number moe of your errours Yea and at this daye thinke and doo contrary to you in those thinges And wyll you then so falsely beare men in hand that the whole churche was always of your opinion But be it so that the moste part of christendome .ix. C. yeres hathe taught as you doo Is that a sufficient argument to reiecte a doctrine euident by the worde of god May not all christianitie be cleane defaced if such argumentê of continuance of time and multitude of persons should be rules to gouerne mens conscience Might not the gentiles haue alledged the like againste the Apostles and their successours Might not they haue saide and saide more truly then you that the worshipping of their gods had continued not hundreds but thousande of yeares that the whole worlde helde with them that the wise and profound learned Philosophers defended their doctrine that the Apostles were but new heretikes Ideotes and vnlearned persons that their doctrine came from the dotinge people of the Iewes that the gods declared their dyspleasure and indignations against the new teachinge of Christ with seditions tumultes warres plagues dearthes tempestious weatheringes and suche like Might not the Israelites haue couÌ„ted greate folly in the house of Iuda that they would swarue from theim in worshippinge of god seinge they were tenne partes to one Might not the priestes in the olde lawe yea dyd they not alledge against the prophetes continuance of time and multitude of doctours priestes and Rabins Were they not hundredes to one poore Micheas Did they not the like in Christes time Did they not beate vpon the longe continuance of Moyses law whiche they saide he came to destroy Did they not none can forsake the guidinge and instruction of our holy mother the church without manifest perill of their owne soules and such as they doo leade from the church In déede this accusation is greuous and may not lightly be passed of mée although you staie not longe vpon it This is that you feare mens consciences withall This is it that in déede maketh many to stagger in receininge the trueth when they heare you continually beate vppon the name of your holy mother the churche and in wordes claime that to you whiche verely and in déede is not in you For all be not the sonnes of Abraham that bragge and auante that they came of Abrahams stocke All be not the people of god that say they bee the people of god All be not Israelites that discended of Israel All be not Christian men in déede that name them selfe Christians I will therfore in few wordes declare what the church is and howe we may if we take not good héede be deceiued by the name of the churche takinge the church of Antichrist for the true and right churche of Christe First how necessarie indéede it is for a christian man to beléeue the faieth of the holy church it may by this appere that to be borne to euerlastyng life and saluacion to be made the sonne of God and heire of the kyngdom of heauen of necessitie wée must be conceiued in the wombe of the churche of Christe and as it were fostred vp in hir lappe For she is the mother of all those that are the true children of God And in hir custodie Christe hath lefte the treasure of his grace by hir ministery to be bestowed amonge his people Therfore if wée couitte to haue entrance into the kyngdome of God and be partakers of the graces and promisses of Christe I confesse wée must remaine in the faith of his holy churche But what is this churche or how may
holy misteries For when it is once departed from the true sence of gods worde it draweth in as it were by linkes a number of other absudities none of which can haue any profft in scripture seing the first roote of them came not out of the true sence of scripture Euen so when you had deuised and geuen to Christes wordes another sence then the meaninge of them doth importe no maruel if the same reason doo leade you to a multitude of other doctrines not only beside the worde of god but expressely against it Whether that interprefacion that you make uppon these wordes doo more agrée with the scripture and grounde of our faith then that which we teach any indifferent man that is not contentiously bente to the one parte or to the tother may easely discerne Your sence is when Christ saith This is my body that the naturall substance of the breade which Christ toke was turned into the naturall substance of the very body that Christ dyed in notwithstandinge that the colour taste forme and power to norâ—she that were before in the substance of bread doth still remanynâ— â–ª And yet under those qualities and accidences of bread is really conteined the natural body of Christ hauing neither bignes nor any proportion or sensible qualitie rightly apperteininge to such a body To expresse this your meaning you vse to say that the bread is transsubstantiate into the body of Christ In what tonge or language was it euer séeue In what authour was it euer redde that Sunâ— es fui the verbe substantiue might be iuterpreted by transsubstantiare Or if the proprietie of the worde wil not in any wise admit that sence what one sentence or clause haue you in all the course of the bible that vnder the like wordes can receiue the like interpretacion Or what prouses can you bringe by conference of other places of the scripture that these â—â—â—des in this place ought of necessitie in this maner to be interpreted If neyther the proprietie of the tounge can beare the sence nor you can bring any examples or prouses out of the wordâ— of god where vpon men in so weightis a matter may stay their consciences is it not extreame crueltie in you vnder payne of damnasion to compel them to beleue it Here you will burden vs with the aucthoritie of the holy catholike churche which as you say hath alway receiued alowed that interpretacion Vnto this I answer that the catholike churche of Christe neuer generally receiued the meanynge of any sentence but that they gathered the same either by examples of the like or els by grounded reasons taken out of the scripture declared that of necessitie it must be so vnderstanded This rule was appointed to the churche by Christe and his Apostles who in their doubtes willed men Serutari scripturas to searche the scriptures Therfore when the churche decreed against the Arrians and other Heretikes that in this sentence In principio erat verbum the woorde was in the beginnynge that Verbum was to be taken for the person of the sonne of God Or when they decréed that the sonne was eiusdem substantie cum patre of the same substance with the father they stayed not onely vpon their owne consente and aucthoritie but brought a greate number of prouses out of the scripture that it must of necessitie be so taken as it appereth in Cyrill and other of the holy fathers Now then if this that you defend be the iudgement of the catholike church it hath vndoubtedly good proffe in the scripture or if you can bringe for it no such testimony oute of the worde of god it is euydent that you doo wrongfully father this interpretatioÌ„ vpon the holy catholike churche and vnder the couert of that name you doo promote set forth your owne errour And this much for your opinioÌ„ On the tother parte when wée interprete Christes wordes wée say it is a figuratiue spéeche and suche as the holy ghost often vseth in the institucion of sacramentes and ceremonies or in the deseriuyng of other misteries The figure is named Metonymia when the name of the thynge is geuen vnto the signe When these wordes therefore be laied vnto vs This is my body wée say it is moste true But mistically sacramentally figuratiuely not really and accordyng to the naturall substance For this interpretacion wée haue a number of examples out of the canonicall scriptures God speakynge of circumsicion saieth This is my couenante And yet was circumsicion not the couenante indéede but the signe testimonie wherby they were assured to be the people of God and partakers of his promisses The Paschale lambe is called the Passeouer and yet was it but a testimony and remembraÌ„ce of the greate benefite of God in passyng his plague from them This is the victorie saieth S. Paule that ouercome the world euen your faith And yet is not our faith the victorie it selfe but the instrument or meanes wherby the victorie is gotten In like maner diuers other places As I am a vyne God is a consumyng fier The seuen kine be seuen yeres And that S. Paule hath to the Corinthes Petracrat Christus The rocke was Christe And yet was not the rocke Christe himselfe really onlesse ye will take it as hee there doeth indéede for the spirituall rocke For that spirituall rocke was Christe himself verely and indéede not only in a misterie or signification So in the Lordes supper if you take bread for spirituall bread as Christe doth in the .vi. of Iohn I will say with you that it is really and essentially the verie true body of Christe it selfe and not onely mistically If wée had not these many examples with a greate number mee in the holy scripture to iustifie our maner of interpretacion yet the very wordes whiche the spirit of God by singuler prouidence hath vsed in the Euangelist and S. Paule doeth manifestly leade vs vnto this sence rather then to that you haue deuised For in the seconde parte of the sacrament where Math. and Marke say This is my bloud of the new Testament That Luke and Paule vtter in this maner This is the new Testament in my bloud Whiche can not be otherwise vnderstande but that this sacrameÌ„t is a testimonie or pledge of his laste will and gifte of our saluacion confirmed by his moste precious bloud Wherfore if you say neuer so often times with Math. and Marke This is my body This is my bloud wee wyll repete as often with Luke and Paule who were led with the same spirit This is the new Testament in my body and bloud This interpretacion and meanyng of Christes wordes which wée gather by conference with other places of holy scripture is confirmed also by the consent of the aunciente fathers in many places Whose testimonies I wil recite more copiously partely because you séeme to signifie that they altogether make for you in this mattier partely that all men may se how vniustly your sorte