Scripture did Alexander learne to mingle water with Wine and to restraine Christians to vnleauened Bread as also his other inuention of driuing away Diuels with salt water exorcized As for the Purgatory Water by him ordained wee will hereafter deriue the originall thereof from Numa Pompilius that great Magician and Romane Idolater But touching the mixture of water with Wine he might peraduenture be instructed by the ancient Idolaters who in celebrating their sacrifices were wont in a Chalice to consecrate Water with Bread especially vpon the Festiuals dedicated to the Sunne which the Persians worshipped called by them Mythros And in the Feast of the Nephalies they also vsed Water for sacrifice With this comparison Iustine Martyr relates the custome obserued amongst Idolaters and by Christians in the consecration of Bread Wine and Water by the one which is to say by the Idolaters in the name of their Idols and by Christians in the Name of their True God And yet this first corruption in the administration of the holy Sacrament by the mixture of water with Wine perseuered not without contradiction For the Greekes were of a contrary opinion and that it was not requisite to brew water with Wine neither would they herein follow the Alexandrian corruptions Amarcanus was of the same opinion as Alexander affirming that the mixture of water with Wine was necessary Scotus the subtile Sophister absolutely denied that it was necessary to mingle the water with the Wine because saith he it cannot then be changed nor transubstantiated into Bloud except the same were first changed into Wine Some others more ingenious laboured to interpret this Institution of Alexander by alleadging that the wine was conuerted into blood but as for the water it was transubstantiated into the water that came out of Christs side This first corruption of Alexanders gaue occasion of many other succeeding abuses For some other more profound Impostors deuised to mingle with the wine bloud that was taken from yong Infants wherewith to besmeare the bread of the holy Supper of Iesus Christ as the Cataphrigians who brought in a kinde of transubstantiation of wine into bloud really and corporlly Some others added cheese thereunto called Artotirites which is to say Cheese-bread-mongers Certaine also abusing this holy Sacrament in stead of wine put in water vnder pretext of the greater abstinence Others had an Institution of steeping bread in the wine the which custome the Messalians also retained in their Missall sacrifices For another detestable corruption of this holy Sacrament some Popes of Rome forbade their Messalian sacrificers not to administer to Christian people whom they call Lay-men the Body of Iesus Christ in both kindes but onely vnder the sacred signe of Bread and not of Wine which they reserued for their Messalian sacrificing Priests Is not this corruption directly against the holy Gospel and Institution of the Supper of Iesus Christ ordained and commaunded that all faithfull men should eate his body and drinke of his blood When he tooke the Cup did he not vse these proper words Drinke all of this Wine in memoriall of my Bloud shed Vsed hee any other words for the eating of his Bodie in the symbole of Bread then hee did of his Blond vnder the signe of Wine For if wee compare the sacred signe ordained by God in the Church of the Israelites being a Figure of the Communion of the body of Iesus Christ which was the true Paschal Lambe whose flesh was ordained to bee eaten without exception of persons so they were circumcised was there euer any difference in the eating of the Paschall Lambe and the celebration of the Passeouer among the Iewes betweene the Leuites being of the race of sacrificing Priests and others of the common people To bring in another odious corruption the Messalians instituted in their Missall-Idolatries to sacrifice and offer the Body and Bloud of Iesus Christ reiterating by this means the Sacrifice fully consummated by Iesus Christ which cannot bee reiterated because it was not according to the forme of Aaron but of Melchizedec the Eternall Sacrifizer and Priest without leauing any successor As also when the Apostle admonished the Corinthians to celebrate sacredly the Supper of Iesus Christ were they commanded to sacrifice No but to eate and communicate together of the Body to drinke of the blood of Iesus Christ The beginning of the Supper was not to kill or immolate or to sacrifice any beast or oblation to God but onely to eate and drinke at his holy banquet prepared for vs by Iesus Christ the Eternall sacrifice and Sacrificer who reserued onely for himselfe this Eternall Priesthood yet neuerthelesse hee left vnto vs a sacred Institution of a banquet set before vs in the Bread and Wine which represent his Body and Bloud After these aboue-named corruptions Satan a diligent Babylonian Architect employed all his power and means to rayse an inexpugnable Fort of Idolatry to the end that hee might wholly demolish and subuert the kingdome of Iesus Christ when hee vndertooke to suborne the Masse in stead of the holy Sacrament of the Supper as wee will briefly produce and so clearely that the most hard-hearted Pharaohs inueterated in their ancient Idolatries shall by the trueth of Histories acknowledge their errours and abominable Heresies CHAP. IX The ancient Religion of the Romane Empire BEfore my deciphering of this labyrinth of Errour wherein the Messalians did so lose themselues I thinke it verie requisite succinctly to lay open the ancient Religion of the Romanes during the reigne of the Occidentall Empire and of the Emperours vsurping both the Temporall scepter and the dignitie of high Priests superintendents ouer the Romane Church and Religion All of them as well as my selfe will confesse that the ancient Romane Religion was either wholly or for the greatest part instituted by Numa Pompilius the second King of the Romanes about seuen hundred yeeres before the Incarnation of Iesus Christ Then were your high Priests inuested which afterwards were reduced to a certaine number euen to foure then the number was augmented to eight and afterwards by Silla to fifteene In the Colledge of Priests there was one Pontifex Maximus who was chosen by the other inferiour Priests of their Order and dignitie euen as the pettie Priest purple-Cardinals make the election of their great Romane Pope out of their place order and dignitie This Pompilian Religion was so religiously obserued by the Romanes from father to sonne as it was neuer possible to irradicate or supplant it but it continues euen to this day as euery one shall manifestly discerne by this succinct Narration To confirme this point no man can be ignorant if euer he read the Romane Histories but that before the Incarnation of Christ there was not so much as one King Consull Dictator or Romane Emperour instructed in the Law of God but all were Idolaters and Infidels obseruing the Religion of that Magician Numa Pompilius For
by forme of a recapitulation compare the institutions of the Sacraments ordained by God First of all the fruits of the knowledge of good and ill forbidden to our first father Adam as sacred signes and sacraments of feare and obedience whereon depended life or death were they transubstantiated or conuerted into knowledge or into death to leaue their nature of being trees or fruits reduced to an accident without substance The celestiall Manna and the Rocke gushing out liuely water Sacraments that had reference to the holy Sacrament of the supper were they transubstantiated into an accident without substance The vnspotted Lambs immolated by Abel in his acceptable sacrifice to God were they transubstantiated into any other nature The Fore-skinne circumcised for a note and marke of couenant to the good Patriarche Abraham and his posterity was it conuerted into an accident without substance The blood of the Paschall Lamb for an assurance of Israels saluation was that conuerted into any other substance The flesh of the immaculate Lambe to bee eaten on the day of the Passeouer a true figure of the holy Sacrament of the supper was it transubstantiated into an accident without substance The brazen Serpent which being only beheld health was granted to the sicke did it not continue a Serpent of brasse was that transubstantiated being ordained for a Sacrament and sacred signe to the people of Israel Victimes offered in sacrifice both of beasts of the earth and azimall loaues with other sacred signes ordained by God for holy signes and sacraments of expiation and saluation for the people of Israel were they euer transubstantiated into accidents without substance All sacred signes ordained by God in the Israelitish Church though they really and sacramently represented that which was by them figured and not as a simple picture without reall effect yet did there neuer liue so detestable an heretique which inuented or added thereunto this Magicke of transubstantiation And neuerthelesse O Missalians you must needs confesse that the good and holy Fathers of Israel were adopted engrafted and regenerated by faith in Iesus Christ begotten before all ages that they were nourished and purchased eternall life by Iesus Christ that they and we haue but one God and one onely Iesus Christ one Mediator and Redeemeâ— That by faith they sacramentally communicated and participated spiritually of the blood of Iesus Christ for their saluation and eternall life That there is no difference touching God betweene them who did precede the incarnation of Iesus Christ and vs that were since his incarnation but both they and wee are equally the Church of God redeemed by the blood of the iust and vnspotted Lambe Christ Iesus For the rest they had a faith of the future promise and obserued the holy Sacraments and sacred Symboles of the Sacrifice which should be consummated by Iesus Christ and wee in the new law celebrate the memoriall and remembrance of the sacrifice now finished by Iesus Christ hauing a fruition of the promise accomplished If then the Israelites eate the same celestiall bread and drunke the same sauing drinke which we doe by faith in one onely Iesus Christ If they had sacred signes to represent actually and really the future death of Iesus Christ euen as we retaine sacred signes of his present or past death they for the future and we for that which is past why did the Missalians inuent this new magicke to conuert an holy Sacrament ordained by God into a magicke of transubstantiation and into an accident without substance I God to approue his power and to manifest the hardnesse and obstinacy of Pharaoh was pleased to performe wonderfull things by Moses and Aaron by conuerting a Rod into a Serpent water of the riuer into blood and into frogs the dust of the earth into lice and then to make the nauigable sea dâ—y performing many other miracles can we by this infer a transubstantiation of the little round azimall host printed with images into an accident without a substance In what place of the holy Scriptures when mention is made of sacred signes and Sacraments or sacrifices ordained by God is it said that the signe or sacrament was transubstantiated But on the contrary Gods will accommodating it selfe to mans infirmity he ordained from time to time coÌ„mon signes for notes marks of assurance of the thing signified wherein Gods power is the more renowned and exalted in really giuing vs what by the sacred signe is represented by the vertue of faith and of the holy Ghost as if the signe it selfe had beene really transubstantiated by some occular miracle For the Sacraments comprehend in them more spirituall then carnall sense For this reason God by his Prophets euer blamed his people of Israel for vnderstanding the sacraments too carnally as succinctly we haue before declared But tell me O Missalians when Iesus Christ made it knowne how himselfe was the true bread of life descended from heauen to conferre life eternall and how these sacramentall words of eating his flesh and drinking his blood were to be vnderstood wherewith the Capernaits your Predecessors were scandalized did he teach vs in this interpretation that to eate his flesh should be meant by a little round transubstantiated host that the round host of flower and the wine is no more bread or wine but accidents without substance Is this your abhominable magicke the doctrine of Iesus Christ Nothing lesse But Iesus Christ like a true and heauenly Lawgiuer who can onely sincerely interpret his owne law made answer to the Capernait Doctors how they were grosse and carnall minded minding onely the flesh as you Missalians doe though the flesh alone profits nothing alleaging how his sacramental words were spirituall The flesh saith he profits nothing but the spirit quickens As also O Missalians how can you religiously accord your transubstantiation with the doctrine of Iesus Christ which promiseth and assureth eternall life to those that shall eate his flesh and drinke his blood if you conceiue these words carnally For you cannot be ignorant but that your owne bodies when they haue deuoured these round transubstantiated hosts into flesh and bones drunke and taken downe the transubstantiated wine into blood notwithstanding liue are mortal through the necessity of the law Wherefore eternall life promised by this communion cannot be vnderstood by a mortall body or flesh And therefore of necessity you must needs acknowledge for the most sacred interpretation that to eate the body and drinke the blood of Iesus Christ must haue reference to a spirituall and heauenly life and that the flesh profits nothing but the spirituall words and the communion of the body and blood of Iesus Christ by faith and spirit giue eternall life This interpretation is many times recited by the holy Apostâ—e St. Iohn when Iesus Christ himselfe vseth these words Hee that comes to mee shall neuer hunger he that beleeues in
that wipes out the sinnes of the world can wee herevpon induce a transubstantiation If Iesus Christ said that he was the doore of the sheepe-fold by whom we must enter to be saued And that hee is the good Pastor and wee his sheepe must we needs so straine and wrest these places of the holy Scripture as to thinke it necessary because the word est is mentioned to beleeue a transubstantiation When Iesus Christ admonished his Apostles saying that they were the salt of the earth did hee therefore transubstantiate or conuert them into Statues of Pillars of salt as he did Lots Wife If Iesus Christ said by his Apostles that we are the Temples of God in which the holy Ghost inhabits must wee therefore imagine that we are transubstantiated into a masse of stone If the holy Apostle writ that Iesus Christ is the Rocke out of whom came liuing water to wash and purge vs from our sinnes Must we wrest out of this a transmutation and transubstantiation of Iesus Christ into a Rocke or a materiall stone If the holy Apostle testifieth that we are the bodie of Christ may wee by this inferre that we are translated and now no more men but transubstantiated into an accident without substance I readily foresee O you obdurate Missalians that you will obiect all these pre-alleadged places wherein this word est is and make no mention of the Sacraments which must the more exactly bee obserued in that these be sacred mysteries ordained of God which is most true And this word est is not onely found in the holy Scriptures formerly cited but when we speake of holy Sacraments first instituted by God for his people of Israel is it written that Circumcision is Gods alliance and Couenant In the other holy Sacrament of the Communion of the Paschall Lambe was it said that the Lambe was the Passeouer which is to say the passage But shall we induce hereupon a Magicke of transubstantiation Will you not confesse O Missalian transubstantiators that in these passages of the holy Scriptures speaking of holy Sacraments that this word est can not be otherwise interpreted then to signifie some reall performance and that Circumcision was a signe and a marke of the Couenant and alliance contracted by God with Abraham The Paschall Lambe was also a sacred signe of the passage for a remembrance of their deliuerie out of Egypt The Arke of alliance for another Sacrament of which it is written that it is the truth and power of the Lord Must wee vnderstand by this that it was transubstantiated into the reall Maiestie of God Wee must wee must I say interpret the holy Scriptures with discretion and in humilitie without sophistication and without Magicke soundly to apprehend the conception of words and not sticke so close to the letter which kils but receiue the Word of God in liuely spirit If then the sacred Arke is called the Lord and nominated God because in it he exercised his omnipotent power and declared his Oracles and mysteries by exteriour signes to draw the Israelitish people to bee mindfull of God and to feare and obey him If Iesus Christ also said that hee was bread which came downe from Heauen the Bread of Life and that the Wine was his bloud that the Cup is the New Testament by the externall signes of Bread and Wine to giue vs to vnderstand that our life and sauing nutriment depended onely on Iesus Christ and that by his death bloodshed we haue assurance of eternall life euen as bread and Wine serue for corporall nourishment and that he meant and ordained these sacred signes to bee to vs for Sacraments to approue and confirme our faith Did he determin we should hereby Capernize Nicodemize to enquire or make doubt of Gods power how it is possible to eate the body or drinke the blood of Iesus Christ how we can possibly be regenerated and borne anew Seeing the promise was made vnto vs by the Word wherefore haue you O Missalians conceiued a carnall transubstantiation distrusting in the incomprehensible power of God May it not suffice you simply to beleeue that the body and blood of Iesus Christ was really and sacramentally offered to communicate thereof for our spirituall nourishment and to grant vs eternall life through the Bread and Wine consecrated with giuing of thankes the bread being truely his bodie and the Wine his Blood which we must worthily receiue by faith and puritie of conscience as sacred signes and markes of the diuine Character without searching too subtilly after the meanes other then the plaine interpretation of Iesus Christ that the flesh profits not but the Spirit quickens and that his words are spirit and life Should wee doubt whether God hath power by the symboles of Bread and Wine consecrated to make vs communicate of the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ though the bread remaine bread and the wine wine If it were otherwise this could be no Sacrament but rather called a Miracle As when Iesus Christ conuerted the Water into Wine hee then vsed the miracle of transubstantiation changing the Water into Wine But hee ordained not this for a Sacrament as he did the communion of his body blood by the sacred figures of Bread and Wine Was it not also as easie for God to change the Wine into blood or the bread into flesh as for Moses and Aaron to change the water of the Riuer into blood to confirme the hardnes of Pharaohs heart or when the clouds were turned into the flesh of Quailes that rained vpon the people of Israel Neuerthelesse God did not ordaine that these miracles should serue for ordinarie Sacraments but herein he applyed himselfe to our infirmitie exhibiting to vs sacred but not transubstantiated signes and yet are not vaine nor fantasticall but signes externall that we may behold touch eate and taste remaining still in their substance and neuerthelesse they represent sacramentally what is by them comprehended and intimated wherein consists the approbation of our faith to manifest by a sacramentall worke and ministration that wee are in the number of the regenerate and sustained by the holy Sacraments of Baptisme and the Supper CHAP. XXII Comparison betweene the two holy Sacraments IF wee may presume to make comparison of the two holy Sacraments of Baptisme and of the Supper though there bee a difference betweene it and regeneration which is not reiterated For it sufficeth that we be once regenerate and begotten anew but this spirituall nutriment is often renued according to the course of nature and other differences very amply described by the holy Apostles and Ministers of Gods Word Notwithstanding the same end the same Iesus Christ is represented as well in Baptisme as in the Supper By the blood of Iesus Christ wee are regenerated and by the same blood nourished By the blood of Iesus Christ we are renued sett and
left vnto vs by his New Testament and new Alliance the sacred signe of Water common to all both Male and Female without any distinstion of dayes and the Infant by the Sacrament of Baptisme feeling no paine as it did by the Circumcision of the fore-skinne This Signe of Water intimating vnto vs the purgation and expiation of our sinnes through the Bloud of Iesus Christ was common not onely among the Iewes who vsed ordinarily Water purgatorie and of expiation but the Gentiles also and all other Nations were accustomed to a Lotion and purgation of cleansing and purgatorie Water as we may perceiue in reading Ancient Histories Wherefore to the end that Gods Grace in Iesus Christ might generally bee spred oner all the Earth to all Nations Regions and Prouinces both to the circumcised and vncircumcised to the Iewes and to the Gentiles God made election of the most common signe of Water the more freely to expose himselfe vnto Man and to win him to His feere and obedience By which Signe he hath instituted his holy Sacrament of Baptisme for an assured note and marke of our regeneration and purification sacramentally conferred by the power of the Holy Ghost In which Sacrament God doth warrant vs his helpe and assistance so ingrafted and regenerate in Iesus Christ to be made and renewed the members of his members and to receiue vs as clothed anew and reincorporated by and through him The like reasons may be produced for the other holy Sacrament instituted by God in his New Testament which is that of Bread and Wine Which Signes Symboles and externall Elements all Nations were accustomed to vse in their Sacrifices Oblations and Ceremonies belonging to their Religions both Circumcised and vncircumcised both Iewes and Gentiles As also the two specificall Refections for the nourishment and sustentation of men are comprehended vnder these signes of Bread and Wine Our good God therefore for these reasons desiring to draw all Nations to himselfe to nourish and minister vnto them most necessarie prouisions He instituted the Communion of the Body and Bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ vnder the symboles sacred signes and Sacraments of Bread and Wine And looke how we are assured by the outward marke and Character of Water in Baptisme to bee regenerate and incorporated into the Body and Blood of Iesus Christ represented in this Sacrament of consecrated Water by the power of the Holy Ghost so are wee nourished by the Communion of his Body and Bloud really presented to vs in the consecrated Bread and Wine for our spirituall foode liuing and eternall by the vertue and power of the Holy Ghost Wherein God hath shewed vs this speciall fauour to discharge vs of all bloudie Sacrifices ordained in the first Church of the Israelites who were charged with sundry and diuers Sacrifices celebrated with the bloud of many earthly beasts shed according to the diuersitie of sinnes and offences and of persons that had offended All which Sacrifices were consummated and abolished by shedding of the bloud of that iust and Innocent Lambe IESVS CHRIST who by his perfect Sacrifice hath absolutely abolished all other Sacrifices reseruing to himselfe the dignity of High and eternall Priest placed at the right hand of God the Father But so much hee hath fauoured vs that in stead of abolished sacrifices hee hath instituted two holy Sacraments heretofore mentioned for an infallible assurance of our Regeneration Purgation Adoption and of our nourishment and eternall life bestowed vpon vs by the Blood of our Sauiour Iesus Christ CHAP. VII Of the Corruption of the Sacrament of Baptisme AS the Israelites being too grosse and carnall relyed too much on externall signes hauing corrupted the true vse of Sacrifices and Sacraments appointed for them by God so such like abuses yea farre greater corruptions haue happened in the two holy Sacraments left vnto vs by the New Testament of Iesus Christ For in the Sacrament of Baptisme which succeeded in the place of Circumcision man conceiued of a foule and wicked masse could not bee contented with the holy Institution from GOD but quickly depraued and defiled the vse of the holy Sacrament of Baptisme by Coniurations Exorcismes mixtures of Salt and Oyle waxe Candles Extreme VnctioÌ„s Breathings Babies or Puppets with a thousand Cruzadoes in the forehead in the eyes on the backe on the stomacke on the shoulders and at the mouth and all to driue away Deuils For the Messalian Heretikes Authors of Exorcismes of Cruzadoes affirmed that euery borne Infant was borne with his peculiar Daemon or Deuill which cannot bee driuen away but by Coniurations and Exorcismes By this meanes the holy Sacrament of Baptisme came to bee corrupted euen to the adding and annexing of Syriacke words of Driuell and Purgatory-Spittle What greater corruption can bee imagined then such abominable inuentions as if the bloud of Christ Iesus were not sufficient for our Regeneration and purgation and that God of himselfe were not powerfull enough to engraft and regenerate vs by the sacred signe of Water representing the Bloud of Iesus Christ but that there must bee exorcised Spittle and Driuell Oyle Salt Puppet-Images Creames Torches Waxe-Candles Milke or Honie inuented and deuised by other Heretikes Some also there bee more subtill Magicians Pithagoreans instructed in the Messalian Heresie haue added to all this the pronouncing of the Deuils name twenty times to exorcise and coniure him as â—e that associates the male Infant when hee comes to be baptized and thirty times they vtter it at the baptizing of a Daughter Was there euer so detestable a corruption in the Sacrament of Circumcision Wherefore O you Messalians haue you foysted in Oyles into the holy Sacrament of Baptisme imitating herein the Heresie of Marcus and Marcosus who commanded that Infants to be baptized should bee anointed The sacred signe of Water instituted by the hand of God was it not sufficient to signifie the precious blood of Iesus Christ for our regeneration and purification without intruding of Fattes Oiles spittle and other mixtures inuented by the corrupters of Sacraments The Body and Bloud of Iesus Christ wherewith wee are clothed anew by the sacred Water of Baptisme was it not powerfull enough and efficacious to preserue vs from all tempests without borrowing of your Exorcismes and Vnctions And yet for a further corruption and abuse Women were permitted to baptize conformable to the errour of the Marcionists Quintilians Cataphrigians Montanists Pepuzians Priscilians and Artotirites Were Women euer admitted by the Law of God to minister the holy Sacraments or Sacrifices instituted in the first Church of the Israelites or in the New Testament of Iesus Christ In the Historie of Moses it is reported that his wife Sephora excited with feminine furie tooke the stone or knife wherewith shee circumcised her sonne But it is not written that shee or any other like her were euer permitted to administer the holy Sacraments Out of these corruptions in
from the Law Euangelicall of Iesus Christ they thought to attribute these inuentions meerely to themselues though they had their originall from the ancient heathen Romane Idolaters 700. yeares before the Incarnation of Christ To resolue this first Missall part it were much more expedient O you Missalians in stead of your sacrifices and exorcismes of salt water wherewith you sprinckle the people to preach purely and cincerely the holy Gospell and to teach Christian people that the true purification washing away of sins depends on the blood of Iesus Christ which is powerfull enough to repell deuils to deliuer vs from hell to preserue vs from eternall death and to wipe out in vs euery spot and blemish of sin without vsing exorcismes or coniurations with salt to driue away deuils conformable to Pompilian Magicke the herefie of the Samaritans who thought themselues purified by those and washing with the same euery day CHAP. 14. The Procession of the Masse AFter the Asperges is sung the lustral exercizde water sprinckled vpon the Altars the Images and all the assistants at a Masse then followes Procession which is attributed to Agapet the Romane Pope But this was Instituted aboue a thousand yeares before him for the ancient Romane Idolaters called it Supplication A forme Instituted by Numa to goe on Procession either to appease the wrath of the godds to obtaine peace or to pray vnto God for the fruits of the earth the order was in the manner First before the Procession walkt certaine young children then the sacrificing Priests clad in white Surplesses singing Hymnes Paeans and Canticles to the honour of their gods Then marched the high Priest or Curio Then marched the Romane Senators with their wiues and children and sometimes the common people assisted There was commonly carried about in Procession the Shrine or Reliquarie of god Iupiter or of Anubis by some Priests clad in white Surpleses with shauen heads and thereon wearing crownes This Crowne was of such reuerence and esteeme that the Emperour himselfe Commodus Antonius high Pontifex caused his head to be shauen cut round expressely to carry the Cabinet of god Anubis Before the Cabinet or Reliquarie went a Cierger carrying a light Taper in his hand When the Procession went along through the streets there were seats erected to serue for stations or places where the Priests which caried the relicks were apointed to rest take breath When the Procession was ended the Temples were opened the Altars Images perfumd with Insence and the reliques of their gods shewed On those dayes when the Procession went abroad a Feast was celebrated the shops were closde vp the Hall of Iustice shut in and the prisoners vnshackled who can better discipher the order of Processions obserued euen at this day by the Missalians Instructed from father to sonne in the Pompilian religion What other Author can be alleadged touching the ceremonies performed in Procession except Numa Pompilius himselfe If the Missalians sought not out further for their crowned shauen crownes and white Surplesses which the ancient Aegiptian Idolaters were wont to vse the Priests of the Goddesse Isis or the Babilonian sacrificers wearing their heads and beards shauen As for the Law of God the contrary therein was obserued and the sacrificing Priests were forbidden to cut their heads or haire round and to shaue their heads And as for the Law of the Gospel there is no such like ceremony commanded by Iesus Christ nor by his Apostles they must therefore needs proceed from the ancient Pompilian Religion For other things in the Procession they haue added the carrying of the Crosse or Banner this Banner was tearmed by the ancient Romane Idolaters Labarum which was reputed a sacred ensigne so much reueerd by the Dictators and Emperours as also by the souldiers that went to the wars Antenor first pictured in that Banner a Sow by reason of the name Troia which in the vulgar Italian tongue signifies a Sow which ensigne Antenor vowed and dedicated in the Temple of Iuno Queen of the heauens because the Sow was the consecrated Victime to the same Goddesse The old Romans afterwards caused a Mercurius Caduce to be drawn vpon the Banner whereon was painted the picture of two Serpents coupyed together then was an Eagle portraced for the Ensigne of the Romain Empire but Constantine the Great Emperour in Greece made to be drawne therein a figure of greek letters a X interlaced with an ę on the two sides α ω in this signe α ☧ ω signifying thereby this word Christos or Christ This Banner was spread vpon a pole or staffe of wood made in forme of a Crosse the Bāner being foure square in the fashion of an Ensigne of crymosine violet silke edgd about with fringe of Gold or siluer pretious stones In imitation of this the Missalian Priests haue adornd their Pompilian Processions in which they carry Banners as if they meant to goe to the wars or conduct a martiall Army but in stead of portraying therin the name of Iesus Christ they paint the effigies Images of diuers gods and goddesses saints men women the Patrons of each parish This in somme is the originall of the Missall Procession standing for the second part of the Masse Was there euer such palpable Idolatry vsed by the Israelites when they would celebrate the Feast of vnleauened bread to eate the Paschall Lambe a Figure of the holy Sacrament of the Supper which the Missalians haue adulterated by their Missall sacrifices Did they euer carry about in Procession the flesh or the bloud of the immaculate Lambe Did they euer lay it vp in a Reliquarie to be carried in Procession about the streets The Serpent of Brasse though they much prophaned and abused it yet did they at any time carry any part of it in a Reliquarie vpon the shoulders of their Priests wearing their heads and beards shauen as the Greek Pontife Vrban ordained that the round consecrated Hoste should be carried in Procession by the Missalians instituted a solemn Feast euery yeare on holy Thursday that so he might conuert the vse of the holy Sacrament to a more detestable Idolitrie then all his Predecessors CHAP. XV. The third part of the Masse that is the Altar and Candels lighted AFter the sprinkling of holy-water Procession performed Numa instituted that the Masse priest to celebrate Sacrifice being clad with his Aube and Chasible or painted coate his head crown'd beard shauen that he should approach to the Altar prepared for sacrifice set forth with a Lamp or light Taper which ordinarily was of Tede or Pine For without an Altar fire no Sacrifice could be celebrated He also ordained that the Masse Priest should turne himselfe neere to the Altar towards the East Porphirius the heretick did not only continue this Pompilean Magick but further he constituted that the
to fauour her best beloued sonne gaue him bread Ioseph in Egypt offered bread to his brethren for their nourishment When we goe about to describe a Famine and scarcitie of victuall doe we not say there wants bread When God promised any mercy or fauour to his people that did keepe his commandements Did he not giue them assurance of bread in sufficiencie when hee recommends vnto vs the poore as his members commands hee vs not to giue them bread It is bread therefore which nourisheth and sustaines the heart and life of man When Satan enterprized to tempt Iesus Christ to testifie that he was true man Did hee not make choice of bread when hee incited him to make the stones bread When Iesus Christ celebrated his banquets to giue bodily nourishment once to fiue thousand men and then againe to foure thousand persons Did he not shew his power vnder the Symbole of bread When hee taught vs to addresse our prayers to God Did he not expressely ordaine in the Lords Prayer that we should request of God to giue vs our dayly bread And bread is not onely mentioned in the holy Scriptures for vulgar and corporall nourishment but also in sacrifices celebrated by the Hebrew Priests and the prescript Law of Sacred bread ordained by God that was azimall bread without Leauen Other bread was tearmed the bread of proposition which the Priests euery weeke renued and eate which Dauid vsed presented to him by Achimelech the High Priest Contrariwise the tearme of bread is appropriated to the bread of iniquitie of lyes of sorrow to polluted bread of Idolaters to bread of coinquination offered vpon the Altar to bread of mourning and to bread of trembling The Ephraimites also called ashy and vnturned loaues that is to say halfe hak't halfe circumcised and Idolaters And therefore O you Missalian Capernaites you must not be so obdurate and inueterate in your carnalities as not to obserue the phrases of the holy Scripture in which bread is oftentimes taken for terrestriall and corporall bread as when it was said that man did not liue onely by bread but also by whatsoeuer proceeded out of the mouth of God Sometimes also bread is taken for the Word of God and Doctrine When Iesus Christ commanded his Apostles to keepe themselues from eating leauened bread with the Pharises these tearmes of bread and leauen are they not expressed by the doctrine of the hereticall Pharises When the Cananitish woman demanded grace and mercy for her daughters health detained in in a long malady of sicknesse did not Iesus Christ answer her how it was not lawfull to take the Childrens bread and cast it to Doggs Was not the bread in this answer taken for life and health and not onely for corporall nourishment Wherefore if bread bee taken for the life of Man which depends principally of Bread and of Wine and that Gods goodnesse accommodating it selfe to our infirmities made choise of these two signes and symboles or notable markes to signifie his body and his blood that is to say the bread the Wine these two prouisions being common to all Nations was this any reason to build vpon it a carnall transubstantiation as if God without it were not mighty enough really to figure and represent vnto vs sacramentally that life was giuen vs yea life eternall by the communion of consecrated bread and Wine of benediction these being figures and symboles of his body and of his blood Iesus Christ produced these words that the Bread is his body and the Wine is his blood he also said that himselfe was the Bread of Life the liuing bread and that he was the liuing bread come down from Heauen Furher hee sayes that hee who eates of that bread shall liue eternally Doth this inferre by the word est that Iesus Christ is conuerted and transubstantiated into bread and that hee is no more Christ but an accident without substance O abominable heresies haue you any more reason O you Missalians to interpret these words carnally This is my body to transubstantiate the bread into the body then when hee testifies that himselfe was the bread to transubstantiate him into bread considering that it is written how the communion of this bread giues eternall life Iesus Christ said Hoc est corpus meum he also sayes of himselfe Hic est panis qui de Coelo descendit in both these places is not this word est vsed And yet must we needs hereupon inferre a transubstantiation in stead of orthodoxally interpreting the same by a Metonimy and familiar comparison of bread to Iesus Christ that we might apprehend how eternall life was giuen vs by him and likewise by him our spirituall food is ministred euen as by bread a nourishment corporall Howsoeuer wee must alwayes haue recourse to the true expression of Iesus Christ the absolute Law-giuer and Author of this holy Sacrament who expounding his owne Institution saith in the first place that hee is the Bread of Life then afterwards hee sayes that this bread is his flesh and his body which must be offered for the saluation of the world he saith his flesh is true meate and his blood true drinke he sayes that whosoeuer eates of his flesh and drinkes of his blood he will remaine in him How doth hee himselfe expound this Manducation Iesus Christ by his owne words expresseth himselfe Whosoeuer comes to me shall neuer hunger and hee that beleues in me shall neuer thirst Is not this a true eating and a true drinking neuer againe to be hungry nor neuer to thirst Must wee not in this haue faith which consists in spirit To addresse our selues to Iesus Christ our celestiall bread our spirituall drinke wherewith to bee satisfied for euer to quench our thirst of sinne perpetually must we runne to the Magicke of transubstantiation and forge an accident without substance Wherefore O Missalians doe you presume to inuent any other interpretation then that of Iesus Christ who witnesseth that the flesh profits nothing but the Spirit quickens and that his words are not carnall but spirituall giuing spirit and life by faith and confidence that hee is the Sauiour of the world incarnate dead and crucified to purchase for vs eternall life and then raised vp againe he ascended into heauen sits at the right hand of God his Father remaining an eternall Priest Propitiator Mediator and Redeemer To returne to this terme est that does so molest the Missalians braines that they dreame out of it a transubstantiation If Iesus Christ vttered how he was the true Vine that God his Father was the keeper and that we are the branches Can wee hereupon conclude by this word est a Magick of the transubstantiation of God into the keeper of a Vine of Iesus Christ into a Vine and of our selues into branches If Iesus Christ was said to be the immaculate Lambe
engraffed and by the same blood we are entertained and preserued from hungring or thirsting for euer By the blood of Iesus Christ wee cast off our old corrupt skin and put on his body from which likewise wee receiue nourishment and eternall life By the blood of Iesus Christ we haue accesse and entry into the Kingdome of Heauen And by the same blood we haue fruition of the same kingdome In this sense the holy Apostle testifieth that wee were all baptized by the vertue of the holy Spirit and we are likewise drunke of the same spirituall drinke giuen vnto vs by Iesus Christ Be not these comparisons drawne out of the holy Scriptures to witnesse that Iesus Christ is the onely aime and scope whereto we must tend both in Baptisme and the holy Supper If therefore that the signes of sacramentall water in Baptisme and of Bread and Wine in the Supper of Iesus Christ are sacred Signes Earnests Gages Hostages Symboles Seales and Sacraments instituted by God for an assurance and approbation of our faith Wherefore O Missalians seeing you haue inuented a Magicke of transubstantiation for the Sacrament of the Supper why did you not likewise with the same Magicke sophisticate the Sacrament of Baptisme Why haue you not constituted that sacramentall water after it is by you exorcis'd and coniur'd with salt to repell diuels to be transubstantiated into the blood of Iesus Christ the water being no more water but an accident without substance as you haue forged by the Bread and Wine What difference doe you assigne but Sophistries Sophismes and Missalian subtilties If you perseuere in your heresie by reason of this word est this word is also vsed in the water of Baptisme which is termed renouation and regeneration it is named the holy Spirit and the Vestment by and with which wee are reuested renued and regenerated in the blood of Iesus Christ Seeing therefore you acknowledge O Missalians that you could neuer yet meet with a second Berengarius to institute another Decree of a Palinody for the extending of your Magicall transubstantiation to the sacred water of Baptisme and by the same meanes likewise to transubstantiate your lustrall Plegme Spittle your Oyle your Creames your Salt other Drugges wherewith you haue corrupted the holy Sacrament of Baptisme why are you so inueterate and obdurate in your Pompilian Religion as to hale Iesus Christ from the right hand of his Father to make him in body and blood to descend by your muttered Magick like another Iupiter Elicius before the day preordained for his second comming I may well propound vnto you the similitude of the Sunne called by some Apostles the Sunne of Righteousnes Iesus Christ because light comes from Heauen by this luminous and glorious sphericall Planet and so spirituall light is exhibited to vs by Iesus Christ who out of the night and darknesse of sinne hath brought vs into the brightnesse and cleare sun-shine of his grace You may now therefore vnderstand carnall grosse Capernaites this sufficient and euident comparison to intimate that the infinite power of God is much more compleat and perfect then your abominable inuention of Transubstantiation Will you not acknowledge except your eyes be blinded and obfuâ—cated with the palpable darknes of obstinacie that the Sunne giues vs his light his force his heat and vigour and yet neuerthelesse the body it self of the planetall Sunne remaines and continues in his sphericall Orbe Doe you not vse to say ordinarily in common language when the window of an house is open on that part where the Sunne shines that the Sunne is come into the house although the Sunne remaines still in the Firmament Must wee therefore violently hale and pull the body of the Sun to make it descend and bee transubstantiated into this earthly substance before it can affoord its heat beames light and nourishment to Plants Trees Herbes and Beasts of the earth Are you so brutish O Capernaits as not to recognize that the true Sunne of Righteousnes Iesus Christ hath more power then this Astrall Sunne being but mortall and created If then a mortall creature hath this power to infuse into vs the vertue and efficacie of his body by his beames light and heate extended really and effectually ouer the whole earth the body remaining still in its heauen and shall wee not beleeue that God an immortall Creator hath much more power to grant vs the true Sunne of Righteousnesse Iesus Christ to giue vs the vertue and power of his body and bloodshed for vs by the beames light and heate of his holy Spirit except hee be by your Magicke pluckt from the right hand of God and his body drawne out of heauen to be transubstantiated vpon earth Why should not Iesus Christ haue this power to affoord vs his light and to offer his body and blood to enter into vs if by faith and a pure conscience wee be ready to receiue him by the efficacy of his holy Spirit as well and better then the sphericall Sunne can enter into our houses with his force and power and neuer be drawne out of his heauen to bee transubstantiated The Sunne is an entire body created residing in heauen the cause of the generation of Plants Trees and Herbes which by his force and calidity giues sustentation to whatsoeuer liues vpon the earth and in one and the same moment hath power to quicken heat and nourish an infinit number of Plants Trees Herbes and beasts of the earth and yet his body is neuer separated diuided drawne out of his spheare nor transubstantiated The body also of Iesus Christ which he assumed vp into heauen set at the right hand of God hath not that more force more vertue more power to regenerate nourish and sustaine vs to giue vs his vertue light and beames to inspire quicken illuminate and nourish vs and in a moment to make vs all by faith partakers of his body and bloud to make vs members of his members vnited in and by him through his true promise comprehended vnder the symboles sacred signes commended vnto vs till the second coÌ„ming of his humanity be reuealed vpon earth Wherefore then O Missalians haue you deuised this Magicke of transubstantiation to blaspheme against God to impaire his omnipotency and disable his vertue more then you do that of the sphericall Sun but his creature Why should you hale the body of Iesus Christ out of heauen before the preordained time to transubstantiate it into your little round azimall hosts printed with imageâ—y which you cause to bee adorâ—d seeing Christ as God there assists his Church perpetually and hath the power to regenerate feed and sustaine vs yea with an eternall life and nourishment by his most assured promise testified by the holy Sacraments of Baptisme and the sacred Supper For other more familiar and domesticall comparisons consider O Missalians how earthly and moâ—tall Princes are reputed
reuerenced and honoured by such sacred signes as they ordaine I will onely propound vnto you two which is to say waxe and mettals of one the Princes seale is composed with which grants pardons and remissions are sealed charters and priuiledges by the Prince conferred He that falsifies this seale is he not punisht as in case of high treason euen as if hee had outraged the person of the Prince Does not this seale represent his owne person euen as if himselfe were present Neuerthelesse the seale though it bee called the seale of the Prince is not transubstantiated but still remaines waxe but otherwise hauing receiued the sacred character of the Prince being then no more called waxe but the Princes seale Also the mettals of gold or siluer coyned with the Princes stampe doe serue for mony although they are no more called gold nor siluer but hauing once exchanged their names at the Princes wil they are either crownes Angels or Pistols or else shillings groats or penies or other such like names they are yet notwithstanding mettals of the very substance as they were before there is but that difference that they haue the Princes impression vpon them by and in which hee is represented really so that whosoeuer clips or falsifies that money is sorely punisht by death as a fellon and a Traitor his Prince for it is in a manner as bad and as if he had offended and conspired against the Princes owne person by farre greater reason the bread and the wine consecrated and ordained to bee Sacraments of the pretious body and blood of Christ Iesus represents them really and not by picture Wherefore whosoeuer receiues it vnworthily commits a haynous crime against the supreame and Diuine Maiesty of him to his eternall damnation but t is not to conclude a transubstantiation by a most abhominable coniuration or witchcraft But if you Massalians or Masse-Priests Nicholaits and transubstantiators be not sufficiently satisfied with Iesus Christ his Apostles interpretations as likewise with those similitudes and familiar comparisons to reduce and bring you to the sincere way and certaine forme ordained of God for to celebrate his holy Sacraments in abolishing your Pompilian and Missafique Idolatries eiecting from you your abhominable witchcraft of transubstantiation At the least will ye not beleeue at all the interpretations of the anciâ—et authors of the Church hearken but to the sayings of St. Augustin against Adamantine that notable hereticke Euen as the blood saith hee in many parts and places of the holy Scripture is said to be the water the Stone also to bee Christ euen so the bread is said to be his body which three places must be vnderstood and interpreted to bee sacred signes and figures then when this very author said Christ Iesus vttered these words Hoc est corpus meum this is my body in presenting and breaking bread to his Disciples hee gaue them the signe of his body for otherwise it should seeme to bee a thing both inhumane and vnlawfull to deuoure the pretious flesh and blood of Iesus Christ if there were not the figure of the bread and wine for to keepe in memory his flesh and blood the body of Christ hauing beene sacrificed to God his Father for our life and eternal nourishment Againe the same author vseth this interpretation The Sacrament visible is the new Testament that is to say the sacred signe of the inuisible sacrifice the like interpretations are described by Tertullian against that hereticke Marcion Christus acceptum panem corpus suum fecit dicendo hoc est corpus meum id est figura corporis mei Wherefore then O Missalians haue you not followed the authority of these holy Doctors of the Church which would not blasphem against God by the magick of transubstantiation but haue freely and vertuously acknowledged the Sacrament to be a visible signe or sacred figure signifying by faith spirit that which is inuisible wherefore do you prepare the mouth and the belly for to deuoure the body and blood of Christ corporally really and carnally why offer you not your selues by true liuely faith for to eate worthily Christ Iesus Why haue you not vnderstood the manducation of the body of Christ by the notable distinction of that learned Doctor S. Ierome saying the flesh of Christ Iesus is to be vnderstood carnally when it is spoken of the shedding his blood and crucifying of his body for our saluation but spiritually when it is said that his flesh is the true meat for vs to eate For another proofe I will alledge that learned Prelate Gelase Bishop of Rome the which disputing against the Heretickes Eutichines and Nestorians doth affirme the bread wine consecrated and made Sacraments are neuerthelesse in substance bread and wine but to be signes of the body and blood of Christ Iesus by the mystery of the Sacrament And if ye desire larger testimonies Saint Ambrosius vpon the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians hath explicated and made manifest that the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine doth signifie the flesh and the blood of Christ Iesus offered for vs. Origen likewise in his Homilies teacheth the Sacraments to be figures which we ought to examine really and not carnally because saith he that those words Hoc est corpus meum not vnderstood spiritually kils the soule when he writes to eate the flesh of Christ Wherefore S. Chrysostome admonished the people to honour that holy Sacrament in offring himselfe his soule to God for the which Christ Iesus was crucified that by that holy Sacament of bread wine is signified to vs the similitude of the body and blood of Iesus Christ For resolution we must follow and be ruled according to the instruction and interpretation of our holy Sauiour Christ Iesus and his Apostles to honor and reuerence his holy Sacraments instituted of him by exterior signes to lift vp our hearts and raise our spirits and minds to heauen for to comprehend that which by those signes is represented to vs and not to esteeme hold account them as vaine pictures or apparitions but endeuour to receiue them worthily by liuely faith and vertue of the holy Ghost to the end to be fed and nourished with celestiall bread to the saluation of our soules thereby to attaine life eternall Let vs then be assured in Christ Iesus as members of his body that we may be reduced and brought all into one vnity for to communicate and eate the same bread and drink the same wine compounded of many graines vnited together to the end that wee may say with the holy Apostle All wee faithfull are the body of Christ Iesus saued and redeemed by his holy body crucified and pretious blood shed for vs and so remaining permanent in faith in Christ Iesus in eating his body and drinking his blood to beleeue firmely to haue beene crucified and
me shall neuer feele thirst but haue eternall life Are not these termes intelligible enough to expresse this holy sacrament of the communion of the body and blood of Iesus Christ without running to your magick of transubstantiation Another interpretation of the holy Doctor and author of the sacramentall law is described when Iesus Christ was interrogated by Nicodemus of the meanes how a man might be regenerated and borne anew Is it possible saith Nicodemus that a man can returne again into his mothers wombe Did Iesus Christ answer this demand by affirming that in the holy sacrament of Baptisme the water was conuerted into the body into flesh blood and transubstantiated in a carnall womb to be there againe ingendered and regenerate Was there not also as great reason according to your Magicke to haue returned this answer as well as in the holy Sacrament of the Supper for by the one of these two Sacraments we are regenerated and by the other nourisht Now regeneration is as admirable to humane wisdome as nourishment for conformable to humane and carnall iudgement it may seeme vnpossible that we can be twice engendered and begotten But our good God vseth the like interpretation of Regeneration as of the communion of his flesh and blood which is that these sacramentall termes must bee spiritually conceiued and not carnally for the flesh profits not but the spirit quickens What is of the flesh is carnall what of the spirit spirituall The holy Apostle relating to the Corinthians what he had receiued from Gods hand admonished them of the comming of Iesus Christ during the expectation whereof hee commands them to communicate of the body and blood of Iesus Christ by the fraction of bread and the cup of benediction called the new Testament and new couenant contracted by the blood of Iesus Christ wherefore seeing wee are assured of the second comming of Iesus Christ being ascended vp into heauen and set at the right hand of God his Father till the day predestinate that hee shall returne to iudge both the quicke and the dead how will you reconcile this passage O Missalians when by the magicke you vtter you make him descend and returne the body of Iesus Christ in flesh and bone before the time preordained for his second comming This Magicke was by you restored since the first author of your Missall Sacrifice Numa Pompilius who by his magicke diuulged that he made his Nymph and Goddesse Egeria come downe from heauen as also his Iupiter Elicius by whose meanes there were celestiall secrets and mysteries reuealed vnto him If by your magicke the round consecrated host was transubstantiated into the true and reall body of Iesus Christ the bread being no more bread but the true body how came you to be so presumptuous to breake and teare in peeces the body of Iesus Christ according to the inuention of Sergius the second of that name your predecessor Romane Pontife Are not you farre more execrable executioners then your predecessors Lieutenants of the Romane Church which crucified Iesus Christ and yet they neuer tare nor rent his body in peeces as he prophesied And notwithstanding you are not contented to haue broken it into three peeces but in your Missall sacrifices you presume to drowne and steepe one portion in wine transubstantiated into blood to be swallowed and drunke To confirme your Magick of transubstantiation why tooke you no order to preserue from corruption your little round printed Hosts which you keepe and lay vp so curiously in reliquaries and boxes after they are transubstantiated into flesh and bone and into the reall bodie of Iesus Christ Is it not an abominable heresie to beleeue that the bodie of Iesus Christ is capable of corruption Nay and oftentimes is eaten by Wormes Weasels Rats and Mice Can you interpret this to be an accident without substance When your Hosts become many times stinking and corrupted in your Cybaries Many times likewise deuoured by bruite beasts of the earth which you cause to be burned and their ashes laid vp in Reliquaries When Victor the third of that name Pope of Rome receiued poison by your transubstantiated Wine into blood was this an accident without substance Or when the Emperour Henry the seuenth of that name was poysoned by eating of a little round consecrated and transubstantiated Host was it without substance when it procured death There was much more apparance for the celestiall Manna giuen to the people of Israel the which though it corrupted when it was kept yet that which was reserued in secret within the Arke of the Lords Couenant was preserued without corruption but yet for all this was it transubstantiated into flesh and bones to bee called celestiall bread bread descending from Heauen the Bread of Life or the bread of Angels Now it remaines for vs to contest with the subtill reasons of the Missalians who to make a foundation for their Magicke insist carnally vpon the word est saying that these words were expressely written This is my body this is my blood when Iesus Christ instituted the holy Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood vnder the Symboles of bread and wine But I desire all those that are zealous of the honour of God exactly to weigh the sacred Institution of this Sacrament by which God meant to symbolize and signifie the communion of his body by the bread and the drinking of his bloud by the Wine and Cup. All will confesse that the true and principall nourishment of mans body is comprehended vnder the kinds of bread and wine so that the terme of bread is often taken in the holy Scriptures for the nourishment and life of Man Let vs enter into an examination of the passages of the Bible Was not the first Man created after Gods similitude for the penalty of his offence told that hee should eate his bread with the sweat and labour of his body Can any man be so ignorant as not to confesse that this was vnderstood by the liuing and life of Man When Iacob prayed vnto God to giue him bread and raiment did hee not vnderstand by bread whatsoeuer was requisite for his whole nourishment When wee heare recited that God rained bread vpon the people of Israel being in the desart and that the Israelites were replenished with this celestiall bread This terme of bread was it not conceiued by the celestiall Manna sent by God to sustaine the people of Israel Is this Manna called the bread of Heauen and the bread of Angels giuen to the people without labour or trauaile When Melâ—hisedech meant to furnish good Father Abrahams Armie did hee not present him with Bread and Wine When Abraham was to gratifie and refresh three Angels that appeared vnto him Did he not expose vnto them bread baked vpon the embers Did hee not giue Agar bread for her nourishment Isaacs Mother