Masse and the Popish transubstantiation BVT whether that saint Peter were at Rome or no it makes no gret matter It is sufficient that it can not be proued by the scriptures But if it were graunted vnto the papistes it maketh nothing for the Popes supremacie For saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 3. Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positū est quod est Christus Iesus No man can lay any other foundation then that which is laide which is Christ Iesus And saint Peter himselfe saith in the seconde Chapter of his firste epistle Deponentes igitur omnem malitiam omnem dolum simulationes 1. Pet. 2. inuidias omnes detractiones sicut modò geniti infantes lac sermonis sine dolo concupiscite vt in eo crescatis in salutem si tamen gustastis quoniam dulcis est dominus Ad quem accedentes lapidē viuum ab hominibus quidē reprobatum a deo autem electum ac honorificatū ipsi tanquā lapides viui superaedificamini domus spiritualis sacerdotiū sanctū offerre hostias spirituales acceptabiles deo per Iesum Christum Laying away therefore all malice al guile dissemblings enuies and all bacbitinges as newe borne babes desire the sincere milke of Gods worde that thereby you may growe vnto saluation if so be that you haue tasted that the Lorde is swete Vnto whome comming as to a liuing stone disallowed of men but chosen of God and pretious vppon him be ye builded as liuing stones a spirituall house a holy Priesthoode to offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable vnto God through Iesus Christ Out of the which wordes of S. Paul and saint Peter we haue to learne two notable thinges one that Christe our sauiour is the foundation and the liuing stone which the builders refused but God accepted it honoured it the other that the faithfull must be laide on this foundation as liuing stones be builded vppon that head and principall corner stone euen Iesus Christ which the more effectually to declare vnto vs saint Peter telleth all the faithfull that they who are so builded are made a spirituall house and a holy priesthoode to offer spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God through Iesus Christe spirituall sacrifices and not carnall or transubstantiated sacrifices as the Bishoppe of Rome and his prelates doe falsely faine themselues to doe For to goe a little from my chiefe purpose to sift this horrible heresie of popery I coulde neuer finde in all the holy sciptures or any hystorie of the primitiue Church the euer this kind of transubstantiated sacrifice was ment or spoken of by Christ but that his Church did alwayes receaue and allow the sacrament of Christes body and bloode in such spirituall manner as Saint Paul declareth in the first Epistle to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 11 the eleuenth Chapter No in all the heresies that trobled the primitiue Church which were ouerthrown by the fower first general coūcels there is not one word or question moued of it but it was continually vsed as the mysterie and sacrament of Christes body and bloode In which sort it continued in the best parts of Christendome in the best times still vntill at the length the Bishop of Rome called a councell at Laterane within his owne prouince of Italie in the which this decree was made Con. Later anno domini 1215. Christi corpus sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis viniveraciter continentur transubstantiatis pane in Corpus vino in sanguinem potestate diuina These are the wordes of the firste Canon of the councel holden at Rome in Laterane vnder Pope Innocent the third and called the great Lateran councell kept the yeare of our Lord .1215 Of the which Canon the wordes doe sounde in English That the bodie and bloud of Christe are verily contained in the Sacrament of the altar vnder the formes of bread and wine the bread beeing transubstantiated that is to say the substance of it turned into his bodie and the wine into his bloud by the power of God This notable deuise of transubstantiation coulde not be found out for the space of twelue hundred and fourtéene yeres after Christ his Apostles Euangelistes Disciples Doctours generall councels knew it not They thought the wordes of the sacrament to be spiritually meant and to be spoken by way of a figure as S. Augustine to cite one for many doth say expressely that in these wordes Nisi manducaueritis carnem filij hominis Augusti de doctrina Christiana lib. 3. cap. 16. sanguinem eius biberitis non habebitis vitam in vobis Figura est praecipiens passioni Domini esse communicandum suauiter atque vtiliter recondendum in memoria quòd pro nobis caro eius crucifixa vulnerata sit Whereas Christ doth say Vnlesse you eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud you shall haue no life in you this is a figure saith S. Augustine or a manner of speech commanding vs to be partakers of the passion of Christ comfortably to lay vp in our mindes that his flesh was crucified and wounded for our sakes Moreouer speaking farther vpon the same wordes on the sixth Chapter of Saint Iohns Gospell he sheweth what it is to eate Christes flesh and drinke his bloud Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam August in Iohan. tract 26. illum bibere potum in Christo manere illum manentem in se habere This is therefore to eate that meate and drinke that drinke to dwell in Christe and to haue Christ dwelling in him Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo in quo non manet Christus procul dubio nec manducat spiritualiter carnem eius nec bibit eius sanguinem licèt carnaliter visibiliter premat dentibus sacramentum corporis sanguinis Christi sed magis tantae rei sacramentum ad iudicium sibi manducat bibit quia immundus praesumpsit accedere ad Christi sacramenta quae aliquis non dignè sumpsit nisi qui mundus est And therfore saith Augustine he that doeth not dwel in Christ in whom Christ doeth not dwell doubtles he neither eateth spiritually the flesh of Christ nor drinketh his bloud although he do carnally and visibly presse with his teeth the sacrament of Christes bodie and bloud but rather he doth eate and drinke the sacrament of so worthy a thing to his iudgement and condemnation because he doth presume being vncleane to come to Christes sacramentes which no man can worthely receiue but he only that is pure and cleane By Christes words therefore béeing wel weighed as it may appeare by S. Augustines words vpon them it may well be gathered that Christ did not meane any transubstantiation or changing the substance of the sacramentall bread into his natural bodie of the sacramentall wine into his naturall bloud but a mystical
spiritual food to the soule wher of the wicked are not partakers who are yet partakers of the sacramental bread wine which do signifie the body bloud of Christ for our sauiour doth say Iohn 6. that Whosoeuer doth eate his flesh drink his bloud hath euerlasting life Wherfore it cannot be that the sacramental bread wine should be the verie natural bodie bloud of Christ for as much as the wicked who shal not liue for euer are partakers of them I mean of the bread wine in the sacrament as wel as the godly For as Paul doeth write to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 10. Brethren I wold not haue you ignorant how al our forefathers were vnder the cloud al passed through the sea were baptised vnto Moses in the cloud and in the sea Et omnes eandem escam spiritualē manducarunt omnes eundē potū spiritualem biberunt bibebant autem de spirituali consequente eos Petrâ Petra autem erat Christus And they did al eat the same spirituall meate and they did all drinke the same spirituall drinke For they did drink of the spirituall rocke that followed them and that rocke was Christ Wherein we sée first that the wicked among the Iewes with whome God was not pleased did enioye the same sacramentes of Christe the cloude the sea the meate the drinke which the godly did yet did they not enioy the same life by Christ which the godly did for it followeth in Saint Paul that God was not pleased with many of them Which wordes are meant of the wicked Secondly we sée that the godly amongest the Iewes did eate the same meate and drinke the same drinke that the godly amongest the Corinthians did to whome S. Paul doeth write yea that Paul him selfe the Apostles did Now the Iewes did it In spefuturi Christi In the hope of Christ to come for their redemption deliuerance from their sinnes and from death whereof it ensueth that our eating drinking in certa fiducia praeteriti Christi in true beliefe that Christ is come and hath redéemed vs and shed his blood for vs must bée the partaking of a meate spirituall and a spirituall drinke no lesse then that which Paul saith that their fathers did eate and drinke For he saith plainely They did eate the same meat and drunke the same drink that flowed out of the rocke and the rocke is Christ For as the Iewes did it in a figure of Christe by faith in whom to come they were saued as Christ doth say of Abraham Abraham desired to see my day Iohn 8. he saw it and reioiced so are we taught to doe it in remembrance of Christ by faith in whom being come we are saued wherevpon our sauiour said to his disciples Luke 22. Doe this in remēbrance of me Which Paul declareth farther in the first to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 11 the eleuenth chapter where after that he had declared the maner of the Lords supper he addeth to both the parts of it Hoc facite ad mei re cordationem Quotie scunque enim manducabitis panem hunc calicem bibetis mortē domini annuntiabitis donec veniat Do this in remembrance of me saith Christe For as often saith Paul expounding the wordes of Christ as ye shall eat this bread and drinke of this cup ye shall shewe the death of the Lord vntil he come So then if these thinges be well considered which I haue briefly touched out of the wordes of Christ declared by his holy euangelists and Apostles the godly I trust shal easily perceiue that Pope Innocent the thirde could by no autority of scriptures proue any transubstantiation in the sacramēt although it were confirmed by neuer so greate a councel of men assembled at Rome hauing in it as they say Archbyshops 70. Byshops 400. Abbats 12. Priors conuentual 800. besides the Orators and Ambassadours of Gréece of the Romaine Empire of the kinges of Ierusalem France Spaine England Cyprus and other kingdomes Many but all to little to take vppon them to alter and change the ordinance and institution which our Sauiour Christ had with his owne wordes established and set in his church for the space of aboue twelue hundred yeares together before the contrary was decréed though some did dreame of it But Pope Innocent was sure to enact there what he wold for that he had aboue the number of twelue hundred shauen crounes in his councel with him so that neither Princes nor Orators of Princes might hinder his pretēses The lesse it is to be meruelled at that the byshop of Rome would take vppon him so proudly to be aboue al other byshops yea the Emperours themselues and kings of this world séeing that he tooke vpon him to do more then euer Christ did that is to make Christ our creator and redéemer of a péece of bread whensoeuer he list and to make that euery one of his priests and chaplens might do the same also as them selues haue a saying Sacerdos est creator creatoris sui The priest doth make his maker And all by the authority of this Lateran Councel not by Christs scriptures And all for the aduancing of his worldly glory extolling of his clergie throughout all Christian kingdomes which after came to passe to the taking away of the goods and liues of a great number of good true Christians who would not beleeue such a new deuised faith of the sacrament of Christ set forth so lately so fondly so vngodly neuer before allowed as any point of our christiā faith for the space of so many hundred yeres after Christ as I haue shewed For in the former ages the godly had bene taughte that Christe according to the presence of his naturall bodye was ascended into heauen but by the benefites of his spirite and by the fruite of his passion he is alwayes present with thē who doe beléeue in him Wherof he gaue them a most liuely moniment and pledge in the blessed sacrament of his body and bloud a moniment for vs to remember his death a pledge to vs of euerlasting life with out transubstantion of the breade and wine or any alteration thereof at all otherwise then of common bread and wine to make it by the words of Christ the sacramental bread wine the signes of Christes body and bloud he being by those creatures of bread wine represented to vs that we may therby with the mouth of our faith that I may so speak receiue spiritually the very selfe same Christ god and man that was borne of the virgin Mary suffered death for our sinnes ascended into heauen and sitteth on the right hand of God the father almighty thence shall he come at the last day to iudge the quick the dead And this most heauenly maner of the spiritual receiuing of Christe is more agréeable to our christian religion then is the Romish dream of transubstantiation which doth as much abhorre from
euident by Christes words Chap. 4. That the second commission which Christ gaue out to his Apostles was giuen in like sort as the first not with any greater authoritie to Peter then to any of the rest THe second commission whiche our sauiour gaue to all his Apostles was giuen to them after that he had suffered death vpon the crosse for al mankinde and hauing redéemed them with his precious bloude was raised vp againe from death vnto life This commission is declared by the Euāgelist saint Mark in these wordes Mark 16. Nouissimè autem recumbentibus illis vndecim apparuit et exprobrauit incredulitatem illorum duritiem cordis quia his qui viderant eum resurrexisse non crediderunt Et dixit eis euntes in mundum vniuersum praedicate euangelium omni creaturae qui crediderit baptizatus fuerit saluus erit qui verò non crediderit condemnabitur Last of all he appeared to the eleuen Apostles sitting at the table and rebuked them for their vnbeleefe and hardnes of their heartes because they did not beleeue them which had seene him being risen from death And he sayde vnto them Go you into all the world and preach the gospell to euery creature He that shal beleeue and be baptised shal be saued But who so will not beleeue shall be damned vnto which commission he added further promises what signes should followe thē who beléeued to wit that in his name they should cast out diuels they should speake new languages they shoulde take away serpentes yea if they did drinke poyson it should not hurt them they shoulde lay their hands vpon diseased persons they should recouer The meaning and manner of this commission that Christe did giue them is declared farther by the Euangelist saint Iohn in that he doth say Cùm ergo serò esset die illo Iohn 20. vna sabbatorum fores essent clausae vbi erant discipuli congregati propter metum Iudaeorum venit Iesus stetit in medio dixt eis pax vobis Et cū haec dixisset ostendit eis manus latus Gauisi sunt ergo discipuli viso domino Dixit ergo eis iterum pax vobis sicut misit me pater ego mitto vos Hoc cùm dixisset insufflauit dixit eis Accipite spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis peccata retenta sunt The same day then at nighte which was the first daye of the weeke and when the dores were shut where the disciples were assēbled for feare of the Iewes Iesus came stood in the middest of thē and said vnto thē peace be vnto you And when he had sayd that he shewed vnto them his hands and his side then were the disciples glad when they had seene the Lord. Then saide Iesus againe vnto them peace be vnto you as my father sent me so I also send you And when he had saide this he breathed vpon them and sayde vnto thē receiue you the holy ghost Whosoeuers sinnes you shall forgiue they are forgiuen them and whosoeuers ye retein they are reteined By this later commission our sauiour Christ gaue to all his Apostles like power and equal authority to go through the whole world to prech the gospell of saluation to all creatures of whome he said in general He that shal beleeue and be baptised shall be saued he that will not beleeue shall be damned He gaue them equall authority and power to remit and reteine the sinnes of all both Iewes and Gentiles which by their first commission they could not because they had not authority to preach vnto any but to the lost shéepe of the house of Israel I say this authority nowe giuen the Apostles was giuen in equall and like manner to them all and not to one more then to all the rest Wherfore vnlesse that Satan had mightily puffed vp the bishops of Rome naming them selues Peters successours whome Christe once called Satan and I know not in what they be his successours vnlesse it be in that it might séeme strange that any man pretending the name and faith of a Christian shoulde so farre abuse Christes worde and commission as to claim such authority so far greater then his worde and commission doth extend vnto But it is a true saying who is so blind as he that wil not see Verily if the Papistes woulde read and sée with an humble spirit and obedient hart to the almighty God that which is written in his worde as I beséeche the Lorde they may then out of doubt they shoulde finde that Peter had no greater or larger authority then other the Apostles had Neither did he euer chalenge such authority aboue other the Apostles as the Byshops of Rome haue done aboue all other bishops vnder the false pretence that they are Peters successours because for sooth they are Byshops of Rome therein as they say doe succéede Saint Peter Chap. 5. That Peter was neuer at Rome as farre as may be gatherd by the scriptures Therefore the Popes supremacie may not be laide on that foundation BVT to touch this by the way for so much as they make so much a do about it by the scriptures they can not proue that Peter was euer at Rome much lesse that he was Byshop of Rome But this we can proue that he was at Ierusalem and in many other places gouerning and instructinge the congregation of Christe Yea aboue three yeares after saint Paules conuersion Galat. 1. we read that he went to Ierusalem to see Peter and hauing bene in sundry countries after other fouretéene yeares he went vp to Ierusalem againe talked with him Peter afterward came to Antioche where saint Paul also mette with him as his words doe witnes to the Galatians Galat. 2. Cùm autem venisset Petrus Antiochiam in faciem ei restui quia reprehensibilis erat Prius enim quà m venirent quidā 〈◊〉 Iacobo cū gentibus edebat quū autē venissent subtrahebat segregabat se c sed cū vidissem quòd non rectè ambularent ad veritatē euangelij dixi Cephae corā omnibus si tu cū Iudaeus sis gentiliter viuis non Iudaicè quomodo gentes cogis Iudaizare Therefore when Peter did come to Antioche saith saint Paul I withstood him to his face because he was to bee rebuked For before that some came from Iames he did eate with the gentiles when they were come he did withdrawe him selfe c. But when I sawe that they went not the right way to the truth of the Gospel I saide to Cephas that is Peter before them all if thou being a Iewe liuest as a gentile and not like a Iewe why doest thou cause the gentiles to liue after the manner of Iewes Nowe this rebuke of Paul for that is worth the notinge also Peter did patiently beare and suffer at Paules handes Whereby it is manifest that Peter did not claime the Popish
Christe the redéemer of all men hath purchased vnto vs with his own pretious bloud Whiche discourse at length is shut vp in the councell with these verie wordes Placuit igitur sanctae aecumenicae Synodo vt singulis prouincijs pura inuiolata quae iam inde ab initio habent sua iura seruentur vt vnusquisque metropolita secundum priscum solitum morem rerum faciendarum aequabiliter facultatem obtineat propriumqueius firmum possideat Quòd si quis superbia contumaci definitis obuiam ierit hunc abrogatum iri placuit toti sanctae oecumenicae Synodo It hath therefore seemed good to all this general councell that euerie prouince should keepe wholy without any breache or empairing at all their auncient rightes liberties which they haue had from the beginning that euerie Metropolitane according to the olde and accustomed manner doe freely enioy the like and equall power of doing thinges belonging to them and eache keepe surely and safely his owne right If any puffed vp with pride doe go against these determinations it hath pleased all this holie and general councel that he shal be depriued By the which decrée of the councel of Ephesus it is most manifest that the Bishop of Rome may not meddle within the prouince of any other whiche yet the Bishoppes of Rome did endeuouring still to clyme vp by little and little ouer other Bishops till they might ouerlooke them all Concil Carthagin 6. As it doth appeare by the councel of Carthage whereat Saint Augustine was present and by sundrie others But this ambition was repressed both by those prouincial councels and by the general of Ephesus which but now I spake of according to the iudgement whereof the Bishop of Rome should be depriued because he doth meddle with the prouinces of others Euagrius lib. 2. Hist Ecclesiast Summa conciliorum The fourth generall councell was holden of Chalcedon a Citie of Bithinia where there met sixe hundred and thirtie bishops béeing called together by the Emperour Marcianus against the heresie of Eutyches And here although there be more great and manifest printes and tokens of an aspiring minde in the Bishop of Romes deputies whome he did send vnto that councell notwithstanding the fathers of the councell did allowe no lesser priuiledge and preeminence of honour to the Bishop of Constantinople then to the Bishop of Rome Concilium Chalcedon Can. 28. Howbeit this decrée which I haue heard say and the learned doe know it is in the Gréeke copies of the councell of Chalcedon the eight and twentieth Canon in the latine Booke called Summa conciliorum An abridgement of councels is wholy left out for what cause a wise man may easily coniecture Yet the Frier who did set forth this abridgement of councels setting forth againe the councell of Chalcedon after the Canons of it in an other sorte out of a new translation Concilium Chalced. actione 16. as he doth say doth shew in this second copie of the councel in the sixtéenth action howe the Bishop of Romes deputies hearing of that decrée wherein the father 's allowed the like authoritie and dignitie to the Bishop of Constantinople as to the Bishop of Rome did whine and mutter at it In so muche that one of them stoode foorth and saide that the Sée of Rome the Sée apostolike as he calleth it must not in their presence be so humbled and oppressed Notwithstanding for all the mislyking and grudging of the Bishoppe of Romes deputies who would not consent vnto it the councell did alter no word of their determination but did conclude the point as they before agréed of it Thus I haue shewed that in the fower principall and first generall councells the supremacie of the byshoppe of Rome which hee doeth claime ouer all Byshoppes was neuer allowed nay by those councels he was restrayned though not so straitly as he deserued yet within his own Prouince no lesse then other Metropolitanes and patriarks as they called them Wherby it may appeare how falsely Master Fecknam did auouch and affirme in the Parliament house at the beginning of the raigne of our Soueraigne Lady gratious Quéene Elizabeth Anno primo Reg. Elizabethae when the Popes supremacie was entreted of that to renounce the authoritie of the sée of Rome was to condemne the iudgement of these fower notable councels the councell of Nice of Constantinople of Ephesus of Chalcedon for asmuch as they acknowledged saide M. Feckenam the Bishoppe of Rome to be their chiefe heades and iudges and were obedient vnto them The whiche his report howe notably it is vntrue the indifferent reader I truste may perceiue in part by that which I haue saide and shall perceiue a great deale better if hee peruse the councels them selues and the stories ecclesiasticall which doe entreate of them Chap. 11. Howe Boniface the thirde aboue Six hundred yeares after Christ did first gett the title of vniuersall Bishop and the preeminence of supremacie by the graunt of Phocas a wicked Emperour WHen as the Church was planted by our sauiour Christ after his ascentiō all the Apostles after the Apostles all Bishops were equall At the first generall councell some Byshoppes of the chiefe Cities did lift their heades aboue their brethren yet were they stil equall amongest thēselues At the councels which followed the Bishoppes of Rome and of Constantinople Rome that had beene Constantinople that was the seat of the Emperour by reason of their princely and Emperiall Cities were counted chiefe among the rest Yet equall one with an other chiefly at the councell of Chalcedon as I haue shewed But ambition neuer resteth till it doe clime aboue all The Bishoppe of Rome gotte the supremacie at the last but the Patriarke of Constantinople was busie first with it For in the time of Mauricius the Emperour Iohn the Patriarke of Constantinople did chalenge to himselfe the title of vniuersall Bishoppe calling for that purpose a councell of the Grecians Platina de vitis Pontific Rom. in Gregorio primo and maintayning himselfe in it by the authoritie of the Emperour who as he willed other Byshoppes to make that account of him accordingly to obey him so namely he required it at the handes of Gregorie the first Bishoppe of Rome to whom he wrote purposely touching this matter Gregorius lib episto 4. cap. 76. lib. 6. cap. 194. But Gregorie hauing receiued the Emperours letters wrot backe again vnto him that the name and title of vniuersall Byshop which Iohn did take vppon him is a newe proud vaine foolishe presumptuous and blasphemous name that whosoeuer doth either call him selfe so or desire to be called he in this his pride is a forerunner of Antichrist Wherefore he maketh this humble request vnto the Emperour that hee will represse this proude attempt of Iohn who by the swelling puffe of vaine glorie doth lift vp his necke against the Lorde almightie and the ordinaunces of