but had in an everlasting remembrance first of all preached a most fruitfull and comfortable Sermon to his Disciples and afterward as he sate at the table with them hee tooke bread into his hands and after he had given thankes to his heavenly Father as his manner was for his corporall gifts but specially for the deare love that hee of his owne meere mercie and free heartie good will bare toward mankind he brake bread and gave bread unto his disciples saying Take yee eat yee this is my body which is betrayed for you Doe this in remembrance of me And as hee tooke the bread and made it a Sacrament that is to say an holy signe figure token and Memoriall of his Body breaking so likewise he took the wine and made that a Sacrament holy signe figure token and Memoriall of his bloud shedding and after thankesgiving to his heavenly Father for the benefits aforesaid he delivered the Cup unto his Disciples saying Drinke of this all ye This Cup is a new Testament in my bloud which is shed for many for the remission of sins Doe this so oft as yee shall drinke it in the remembrance of me And this heavenly banket once done they said grace that is to say they praised God by saying either certaine Psalmes of David or some other thankesgivings and so departed Here is the whole institution of the Lords Supper Now let us compare Christs Supper with your Popish and Idolatrous Masse and see how well Christs doings and yours agree together If ye be the Ministers of Christ and not of Antichtist the servants of God and not of the Divell then will you follow your Master Christ which saith I have given you an example that as I have done so likewise yee should doe Let us now then goe in hand with the matter First we reade that Christ before hee fed his Disciples with the mysticall food of his body and bloud made a Sermon unto them wherewith as with a certaine most wholesome preparative hee made meet the minds of his Disciples unto so worthy a banket giving all faithfull Ministers an example that whensoever they with the congregation doe come together to celebrate the Lords Supper there should be some Sermon or exhortation made unto the people that they might the better examine themselves and the more deepely consider the thing that they goe about And according to the example of Christ not only the Apostle but all the holy Fathers also of the Primitive church used the trade and so did it continue in the Church of Christ till Antichrist the Bishop of Rome had driven Christ out of place and set up himselfe as God Againe till hee had expulsed the Supper of the Lord and set up his owne peevish yea theevish Idolatrous Masse as wee may see in the monuments of the ancient Writers They continued saith blessed Luke in the Apostles doctrine and fellowshippe and in breaking of bread and in prayers And Saint Paul saith As often as ye shall eat this bread and drinke of the cup shew set forth declare and preach the Lords death till he come A practise hereof have we in the Acts of the Apostles where wee reade That upon one of the Sabbath dayes when the Disciples came together for to breake bread so termeth S. Luke the receiving of the Sacrament of Christs body and blood blessed Paul preached unto them and continued the preaching unto midnight And the Sermon ended they brake bread ate thanked God and departed For if the Sacrament of Christ be never so comfortable yet if they bee not known what they are to what use they were instituted what joyfull promises are annexed unto them what they signifie and preach unto the faithfull receivers c. What other things are they to us thaÌ„ the pretious stone was to Aesops Cock A SacrameÌ„t ministred without preaching of the word is but a dumb ceremony a glasse offered to a blind man and a tale told to one that is deafe The Apostles before the ministration of any Sacrament preached and so did the holy Fathers of the primitive Church Saint Iohn Baptist the sonne of the Priest Zachary preached unto the people before hee baptized them Our Saviour Christ a little before his ascension said to his Apostles â—oe and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Here is Baptism the preaching of the word joyned together And as concerning the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood did not our Saviour Christ preach at the institution and ministration of it Are we not also commanded by the holy Apostle that whensoever wee come to receive the blessed Communion the death of the Lord should be preached declared and set forth Did not the Apostles of Christ and all the godly Bishops of the primitive Church observe the same order They considered right well how little the ministration of the Sacraments availeth without the preaching of the Word For as S. Paul saith how shall they believe without a Preacher Faith commeth by hearing and hearing commeth by the Word of God None therefore of the Lords Sacraments ought publickely to be administred without preaching of the word yea that not in a strange tongue but in such a speech as the people understand or else it were as good to speake the words unto a sâ—rt of sheepe or geese as unto them that are gathered together at the ministration of any Sacrament And this meant Saint Augustine when hee said Take away the Word and what is Water but water But let the word bee added to the ElemeÌ„t it is made a SacrameÌ„t Whence hath the water such a power that it should touch body and wash the heart but by the vertue of working of the word not because it is spoken but because it is beleeved The word signifyeth here not only the speaking of Ego baptizote c. or Hoc est corpus meum c. pronounced by the Priest in a strange tongue but the preaching of the word of God uttered by the mouth of the Ministers in such a language as the people understand or else how shall they beleeve It is not the utterance of Gods word in an unknowne speech that bringeth faith but when it is so spoken that it is understood of them that heare it and that faith through the operation of the holy Ghost ensueth which otherwise is cold lyeth idle and worketh nothing in the heart of the hearer for as S. Augustine saith Take away the Word and what is Water but water that is to say take away the preaching of Gods word from the SacrameÌ„t of Baptism which declareth what Baptisme is who instituted it to what use it was ordained what fruits and commodities wee receive by it c. And what doth the water of Baptisme profit I speake concerning such as are come to the use of reason
taken away from thee and the stinking dung of the Pope most miserable cast upon thee Lament thy sinnes O England lament lament Returne to the Lord thy God and most humbly beseech him once againe to looke upon thee with his mercifull countenance to take away these popish dregs to restore unto thee his lively Word and to blesse thee again with the true ministration of his holy Sacraments that thou maist serve the L O R D thy God in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of thy life This doctrine that the Sacrament of the Altar as you terme it is the true naturall reall carnall corporal and substantiall bodie of Christ is the dream of Antichrist the Bishop of Rome and was never received in the Church till Pope Leo Pope Nicholas Pope Innocent Pope Honorius and Pope Vrban through their tyranny brought it in and compelled the Christians with fire and fagot as the manner of the tyrannicall Papists is to receive their abomihable doctrine and yet in all ages God stored up some to confesse the true doctrine of the Sacrament against Antichrist even unto the death Neither is this popish doctrine so ancient as the Papists bragge For it is not much more than five hundred yeares since their gâ—osse opinion of the Saâ—rament began first to be attempted And although Pope Nicholas the second diâ— much in the matter yet was it not thorowly received nor agreed upon untill Pope Innocent the third came which about the yeare of our Lord 1215. kept a Councell at Rome called Latronense I would say Lateranense concilium where were gathered together a swarme of Papists about the number of thirteen hundred pild pates of the which number eight hundred and odde were Monkes Canons and Fryers chickens of the Popes owne brood Last of all came Pope Vrban the Monke in the yeare of our Lord 1264. and he made up all the market For he ordained a Feast called Corpus Christi in the honour of the Sacrament so that ever after that time the Sacrament was no more taken for a signe figure and token of Christs bodie but for Christ himselfe God and man and therefore was it reverenced worshipped censed and kneeled unto as yee teach the people to doe at your unsacred Sakerings and so are yee their schoolmasters to learn them to commit Idolatrie against their Lord God but let us goe foorth with our matter After our Saviour CHRIST had delivered the Sacramentall bread to his Disciples for to eat hee tooke the Cuppe and thanked and gave it them saying Drinke yee all of this For this is my bloud which is of the new Testament that is shed for many for the remission of sinnes This doe as oft as yee drinke it in the remembrance of mee Here CHRIST delivered to his Disciples holy wine I call it holy because it was dedicated and appointed to an holy use which hee made the Sacrament of his bloud And they all dranke of it And here is to bee marked by the way that our Saviour CHRIST afore seeing that there should arise false annointed that would take away from the people the Sacrament of his bloud bade them all drinke of it All all without exception even so many as beleeve on him spirituall or temporall as they call them Are not yee Popish shavelings these false annointed Have you not taken away the Cup of the LORDS bloud from the Lay people and reserved it to your selves alone Doe not ye minister the Sacrament of Christs bodie and bloud to the Lay people under one kinde onely cleane contrary to Christs institution O GOD-robbers O spoilers of Christian mens soules Neither can ye abide that the people should touch your Pope-holy Chalice when they drinke the wine but ye your selves holding the chalice in your own hands give them drinke as though they were babes of three dayes old and could not put the Cuppe to their mouth O tender and jealous nurses In the primative Church and many hundred yeares after as we may see in the monuments of learned men the Sacrament according to Christs institution was received of the people under both kindes untill Antichrist the Biship of Rome by his divellish decree determined the contrary at the Councell of Constance not much more than an hundred years past Pope Gelasius made a godly Decree that those people that would not receive the Sacrament under both kindes should receive none at all but be put away from the Lords Table The Greekes and Bohemes with all that be not under the tyranny of the Pope of Rome and of his wicked Lawes receive the Sacrament under both kinds at this day according to Christs institution Where the contrary is used there reigneth the Devill and the Pope and not Christ and his holy Word But now let us behold your doings After that yee have committed Idolatrie with the sacramentall bread if it be worthy of that name ye fall in hand to consecrate I use still your owne termes the wine with these words In like manner after Supper was done hee tooke this noble chalice that is a lye for Christ never handled that chalice into his holy and worshipful hands and after hee had given thankes to the Father he blessed here fall ye to crossing againe and gave it to his Disciples saying Take yee and drinke yee all of this For this is the cup of my bloud a new and everlasting Testament a mystery of faith w ch shall be shed for you and for many for the remission of sinnes So oft as yee shall doe these things yee shall doe them in the remembrance of me How many words have ye put in here of your owne braine ye shall easily perceive if yee compare them with the words which our Saviour CHRIST spake But for as much as they do not greatly disagree froÌ„ the truth of Gods word I will not strive with you in this behalfe though I would wish you once to deale faithfully and truely in all your doings but specially wheÌ„ you have to doe with God seeing it is written Put nothing to the words of God lest hee reprove thee and thou bee found a lyar After the aforesaid words spoken in hocker mocker yee breathe and blow and shake your head over the Chalice and then yee kneele downe lift up your hands and honour it like most abhominable Idolaters After that yee stand up againe like pretty fellowes and well appointed and taking the Chalice in your hands yee hold it up with heave howe above your heathenish heads that the people also may worship it and bee fellow Idolaters with you and fall into the like danger of everlasting damnation This done yee set the Chalice downe againe upon the Altar and yee cover it with your Corporasse cloath for catching of cold Then once againe kneele ye downe and up againe like dive doppers and kisse the Altar and spread your armes abroad as though
end and there once againe yee wash your hands to shew how â—â—minion trimme fine neat and white-fingered Gentlemen yee are in all your doings but especially in matters pertaining to Lady Venus Court After this yee returne to the Altar and take another licke or two of the dropping of the Chalice because yee would bee loth to lose any thing and taking up your cake in your hand ye come againe to the Altars end where yee began your popish and idolatrous Masse to declare that as good never a whit as never the better and to shew that the matter for the which yee said Masse is as farre forward now as though yee had said none at all After a few Collects mumbled over yee turne you to the people and say Dominus vobiscum bidding them adieu and with Ite Missa est yee bidde them goe and tell them Masse is done And all in Latine because the people understand nothing but English Then fall yee once againe to kneeling downe at the altar and because yee are our Ladies knights yee salute her most humbly with some devout Orison That done ye rise up againe like tall fellowes and saying the beginning of S. Iohns Gospell ye blesse you Secrosse you as though a thousand Devills were about ye After all these things yee trusse up your trinkets yee shut your booke ye fold up your corporasse cloath yee winde up your chalice ye put off your fooles coate your vestment your stole your Fannell your girdle your Albe and your Amice yee put out the candle solemnly making curtesie to your God that hangeth over the altar ye trudg out of the Church either home or else to the alehouse being now at libertie all the whole day after to doe what ye list with a safe conscience to â—dise to card to hunt to hawke to bowle to bib to make good cheere to play revell rout to drinke them all out to set cocke on the hoope let the divell pay the Maltman to fish in Venus pond to sacrifice to Bacchus and what not And here is your goodly godly massing wherwith ye bewitch the ignorant and make the simple people to doate I passe over your monstrous and apish toyes your inclinations and prostrations your complications and explications your elevations and extensions your incurvations and genuflexions your inspirations and exosculations your benedictions humiliations your pulsations pausations with your consignations and all other abominations What Christian heart can abide either to say heare or see such a divellish and abominable kind of massing as ye use at this day yee doe nothing at all in your masse that agreeeth with Christs institution The Lords Supper and your peevish popish private masse doe agree together like God and the divell Christ and Beliall light and darkenesse truth and falsehood and as the common proverbe is like harpe and harrow or like the hare and the hound Sowre and sweete are not so contrary one to another as your Masse is contrary to Christs holy Communion as yee have abundantly heard heretofore For whereas Christ preached at the institution of his holy Supper yee preach nothing at all at your Masse Whereas Christ ministred his blessed Supper at a table yee say your popish Masse at an Altar Whereas Christ did sit while he have the Sacrament of his body and bloud to his Disciples yee stand and by no means will sit when yee receive it Whereas Christ did use none other apparell but his â—suall garments yee disguise your selves with such geare as is more meet for a gameâ— player than for a sober minister Wheras Christ at his supper both prayed gave thanks to his heavenly Father in that tongue which those that were present did understand ye at your Masse speake all things in such a tongue as yee your selves for the most part understand not and so are they that are present unedified Whereas Christ in his holy supper gave the sacrament of his body and blood to all his Disciples yee in your abominable masses give it to none but yee your selves eate and drinke up altogether alone Whereas Christ at his mawndy gave to his Discipler holy Bread and holy Wine to bee figures signes and memorialls of his blessed body breaking and of his pretious blood shedding yee at your Masses take upon you to eate and drinke not spiritually but corporally and naturally the corporall and naturall body and bloud of our Saviour Christ as hee was borne of the Virgin and hung on the crosse Wheras Christ ministred with true and perfect breaâ— yee minister with starch or with a thinne waâ—er Cake Whereas CHRIST delivered the Cuppe contayning Wine onely in it yee in your Chalice put both Wine and Water mingled together Whereas Christ gave the Sacrament of his body and bloud to his Disciples sitting at the Table yee give the Sacrament to such as kneele before the Altar Whereas Christ gave his Disciples the Sacramentall bread and the cup into their handes yee put the bread into the mouths of the Communicants and by no meanes will you suffer them to touch your Popes holy chalice wheras Christ delivered the Sacrament of his body and bloud under both kinds to his disciples and so commanded it to be observed in his holy congregation yee contrary to Christs institution ordinance minister it to the common people under one kind only whereas Christ did institute his holy Supper to bee eaten and drunke in the remembrance of his blessed passion and precious death yee reserve the Sacramentall bread and hang it up in your pixes carry it about for a pageant at your pompous popish processions whereas Christ ordayned his blessed Supper to bee a Sacrament of thanksgiving you make your Masse to be a Sacrifice propitiatory satisfactory and expiatory for the sinnes both of the quicke and the dead Whereas Christ at his Supper gave the Sacrament of his body and bloud freely to his Disciples you sell your Masses and make merchandise of the Sacrament as the Costard-monger doth of his costards and of his other fruits To conclude whereas Christ appointed the Sacrament of his body and bloud to put us in remembrance of his blessed body breaking and precious bloudshedding and to stirre us up unto mutuall love and unto thankesgiving to his heavenly Father for the benefits received by the death of his Sonne Christ yee apply your Masses to a thousand severall purposes cleane contrary as to the getting of faire weather rain health long life riches victory in battell overhand of enemies c. To driving away of devills chasing away of agues putting away of pestilences curing of measled swine healing of sicke horses helping of chickens of the pip making hot of a Winchester goose restoring of a good name procuring of friends preserving of evill chances bringing of good lucke pacifying of Gods wrath obtaining of remission of sinnes delivering of soules out of Purgatory yea out of Hell
but ye give it to your selves But as Christ gave the bread to his Disciples willing them to eat it in remembrance of his passion and death so ought yee to doe to the faithfull congregation that are present and not like swinish beasts to eate and drinke up all alone your selves and afterward to blesse the people wiâ—h an empty cup as ye doe at your high and solemne feasts But this doe yee not therefore are ye plaine Antichrists Take this bread saith our Saviour Christ. Take it in your hands Hand off say yee Papists Gape and wee will put it in your mouths and feed yee as children use to feed their Iack-dawes Handle so pretious a relique Marry Sir God forbidde The woman peradventure hath lien with her husband all night or the husband with the wife and shall such touch the pretious body of our Lord with their handes Marry Sir God forbid That were a piteous case But yee abominable Whoremasters ye filthy fornicators yee stinking Sodomites ye deceitfull Deflowrers of mayds yee devillish defilers of mens wives yee cankred corrupters of widowes and yee lecherous locusts may lie with your whores and harlots all night and the next day after goe to Masse consecrate make touch handle breake and devoure your God and yet ye defile the Sacrament nothing at all O abominable Whorehunters O monstrous Massmongers Honest Matrimonie after your corrupt judgements defileth the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud but filthy fornication abominable adultery wicked whoredome and stinking Sodomitrie advanceth the dignity thereof O right Chaplins of that filthy Idoll Priapus But come off I pray you what hath the hand more offended than the mouth that it may not touch the Sacrament Are they not both the good creatures of God are they not made both of one substance and to say the truth there commeth not so much evil from the hand as there doth out of the mouth For out of the mouth come Blasphemies cursed speakings evil reportes bannings slanders lies malicious words filthy tales idle talke singing of bawdy ballads c. But from the hand commeth vertuous occupation honest labour painefull travaile getting of thy living helping of our neighbors and almes-giving to the poore But yee are alwayes like your selves that is to say very Antichrists For yee are evermore contrary to Christ. Christ delivered the Sacrament into his Disciples hands and you put it into the Communicants mouths as though the people were not so wise as to put a morsel of bread in their owne mouthes The people are much bound to you that have so good opinion of them Ye make them momes indeed asses louts and your very riding fools God once open their eyes that they may perceive your jugling Ye are well worthy to have your tithes and offerings truely payd yee doe your duty so well Verily they that give ought to find you Masse-mongers withall and to maintaine you in your abominable massing doe nothing else but offend God dishonor Christ tread under foote the pretious bloud of Christ make Christs death of no price maintaine Idolatrie defie the holy Communion destroy the Christian common-weale uphold Antichrists brood cherish Satans Chaplains pamper Priapus pildepates make fat Venus stout stallions enrich Bacchus Sacrificers and nourish such monsters as doe nothing else than murther kill and slay the soules of so many as follow your damnable Doctrine and hant your Idolatrous Masses Let the Christians therefore beware how and upon whom they bestow their goods lest by giving to Massing priests they get to themselves everlasting damnation The doer and maintainer shall receive like punishment He that readeth the practises of the ancient Church shall evidently see that the manner of the godly Ministers at that time was not to put the Sacramentall bread into the peoples mouths as yee doe at this present but to give it them into their hands For it was not then taken and honored for a God as it is now but it was reverently used and taken as an holy and worthy Sacrament of Christ. But what marvaile is it though yee will not suffer the people to handle the Sacramentall bread seeing yee will not suffer the coÌ„municants to touch your Popes holy chalice wherein notwithstanding is not the Sacrament of Christs bloud but only meere wine dedicated and appointed to no godly use Ye are contrary to Christ in all things God amend you Take eat saith our Saviour Christ. Nay say ye Masse-mongers neither take yee nor eat but come heare Masse devoutly see us take and eat up altogether and it is enough for you Fall down kneele worship your Maker that wee shew unto you Honor your God that is hanged up in the pixe over the Altar and so shall yee be good Catholickes and deare children of our mother holy Church If yee come at Easter according to P. Zepherinus commandemeÌ„t and then receive your maker devoutly it is enough for you At all other times we wil receive the Sacrament for you and it shall do you as much good as though you had eaten it your selfe O false and subtile hypocrits O wicked corrupters of the Lords blessed Testament If other men shold eat up your dinners and suppers in your stead as ye eat up the SacrameÌ„t from the people ye should not have so fat panches as yee have nor yet so frie in your grease as you doe Christ delivered the Sacramental bread to his Disciples and bade them eate but yee eat up all your selves and will give no man part with you O cankred carles O churlish chuffes And here may we note by the way to what end the Sacramental bread is ordained not that it should be kneeled to nor honored as a God nor gazed on nor carried about in popish pompous processions nor offered up for a sacrifice for the sins of the quick the dead nor yet to reserve it to hang it up in the pixe over the Altar as yee Papists doe but that it should be received and eaten of the faithfull Communicants at the Lords Supper in remembrance of CHRISTS death Take eat saith our Saviour Christ. Hitherto have wee heard that your peevish popish private pedlary pelting masse agreeth with the Lords blessed Supper and holy Communion nothing at all Let us now see how well ye behave your selves in the words of Consecration as yee call them wherein after your opinion hangeth all the matter Christ said This is my bodie which is betrayed for you Doe this in the remembrance of me Now let us behold your consecration Taking the little Cake in your hands yee say these words The day before hee suffered hee tooke bread into his holy and worshipfull hands and lifting up his eyes unto heaven to the God his Father Almightie and giving the thanks he blessed brake and gave to his Disciples saying Take and eat of this all ye For this is my body The Author of these words as
of Hick-scorner Is not this a toy to mocke an ape withall Is this Christs Accipite and Edite Take yee and eat yee speaking to many and not to one alone Is this Christs Bibite ex eo omnes Drinke of this all yee Did Christ eat the Sacrament alone Did he not rather give it to his Disciples and commanded all faithfull Ministers so to doe Why then doe ye O ye Antichrists eat drinke up all alone contrary to Christs institution and commandement And yet behold how yee shunne not to lie even to Gods face Yee say at your Postâ—Communion these words Quod ore sumpsimus Domine c. That which wee have taken with our mouth grant that we may receive it with a pure minde and that it may be made unto us of a temporall gift an everlasting remedie Againe Hâ—c nos summo purget à crimine c. This Communion might purge us from Sinne and make us partakers of the Heavenly Remedie And in another place yee desire God that so many as shall receive the body and bloud of Christ may bee filled with all heavenly blessing and grace Yee tell God that you with the rest of the congregation have received even with your owne mouthes the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud and ye lye most abominably For yee your selves have eaten and drunken up altogether alone and like churlish carles ye have given no man part with you Againe ye call it a Communion which is a partaking of many together but yee might right well call it an Union For no man eateth and drinketh of the bread and wine but you alone Item ye desire God that so many as shall be communicants may be filled with the heavenly blessings and grace and no man do receive but you alone What a mocking is this of God and a deceiving of the people God have mercy on us and once againe deliver us from this most lying wicked abominable and divellish Idoll the Masse and restore unto us the holy and blessed Communion Christs ordinance is not that one standing at an Altar should eat devoure and mouch up altogether alone but that a multitude should receive the Sacramentall bread and wine together Take yee saith our Saviour Christ eat ye and drinke yee all of this He saith not Take thou Sir Iohn eate thou and drinke thou alone In the Acts of the Apostles wee see that a multitude of the Christians came together to breake the bread and not that one alone did eate all alone turning his arse to the people as yee Massemongers doe Saint Paul saith The bread which ye breake is it not the partaking of the body of Christ Hee saith not the bread which I breake but which we breake speaking of many and not of one Againe we all be partakers of one bread and of one Cup. Indeed wee bee or wee ought to be But wee be not therefore yee Masse-mongers doe us the more wrong Where the blessed Apostle entreateth of the Lords Supper he saith My brethren when yee come together to eate he meaneth the holy Communion or the Lords Supper tarry one for another Hee saith not when yee come together to see the Priest say Masse and to eate and drinke up altogether alone standing at an Altar and turning his backe towards you as one full of little good manners Hee saith also Tarry one for another But yee tarry for no man but having a Boy to helpe you to say Masse ye goe to your mingle mangle and never call purre to you For yee eate and drinke up altogether alone being much worse than the swine-heards Wee reade in the ancient Canons that such as would not communicate should bee excommunicate and driven out of Christs congregation and not to be reputed or taken as members of CHRISTS bodie Whereof wee may easily and truely gather that this private Massing which yee Masse-mongers use at this present is not of God but of the Devil and was not practised of the holy ancient Fathers in their Churches but of late yeares brought in by Antichrist and his shamelesse shavelings which in their private Masses doe nothing else than prophanate defile and corrupt the LORDS Supper and make merchandize of it While they take upon them to receive the Sacrament for other and to make it a Sacrifice for the sinnes of such as hire them for their money that they of the labour of other mens hands and the sweate of other mens browes may live an idle voluptuous life as Epicures and belly beasts borne onely to consume the good fruits of the earth But as yee Masse-mongers cannot bee baptised nor beleeve for other no more can yee receive the Sacrament for other As every man is baptised for himselfe so must hee eat and drinâ—e the mysterie of the LORDS bodie and bloud for himselfe Can my eating slake your hunger No more can your eating of the Sacrament doe mee good The righteous man saith the Prophet shall live by his owne faith The Priests eating therefore of the Sacramentall bread for other is abominable and in all points contrary to Christs holy institution which ordained his blessed Supper not to be received of one alone for all the congregation but that every one should receive it for himselfe that by the worthy receiving thereof his troubled conscience might be quieted and his faith confirmed We reade that when Saint Anthony which lived about the yeare of our Lord 350. was in the wildernesse he saw a vision which was this He beheld a number of Altars suddenly built up and covered with white Linnen cloths with bread and wine set upon them and a great sort of uncleane and filthy swine standing at them and slovenly devouring all that ever was set upon the Altars Saint Anthony being wonderfully amazâ—d at this strange sight cried unto God and said O Lord God what mean these foule ill favoured sights God said unto him These filthy swine which thou seest standing at the Altars are the leacherous Priests which after thy dayes shall arise and driving away the holy CoÌ„munion out of Churches which I instituted to be received of many shall eat and drinke all the Sacramental bread and wine alone giving no part thereof to the residue of my people whom I redeemed with my precious bloud and for whose sake I ordained my holy Supper to be received of them also Are not ye leacherous Priests these filthie swine Have yee not cast away the LORDS Table and set up Idolatrous Altars Doe not yee at your Masse eat and drinke up all alone like hungrie hogges and give no part to Gods faithfull people Ye may right well bee compared to filthy swine For as these brutish beastes cannot abide any other to eat with them but would â—aine eat up all alone themselves even so play yee At your Idolatrous Masses like a sort of beastly hogges yee eat and drinke up all alone giving no man part with
or such as are present at the ministration of Baptisme And so likewise may wee say of the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud Take away the word and what is Bread but Bread What is wine but wine that is to say Take away the preaching of the Lords death from the holy Cōmunion and what doth it profit to eat drinke the Sacramentall bread and wine seeing the mystery is not knowne nor understood But put the preaching of the word to the Elements water bread and wine and so are they made holy and honourable Sacraments full of singular joy and great comfort as Saint Augustine saith Let the word be added to the Element and it is made a Sacrament Therefore where the Lords Supper is rightly ministred there is declared the death and passion of Christ there is shewed forth the misery of man from the which hee could have beene no otherwise released but only by the death of Christ there is taught what the Sacrament is what it signifyeth and to what use Christ our Saviour did institute it there are the people exhorted not rashly nor with unwashed feet as they use to say to come unto the Lords Table but to prove trie and examin themselves whether they come with such faith and love unto that most worthy mystery as they ought least they eat and drinke their own damnation there are they stored up unto the workes of mercie toward the poore and unto hearty thankesgiving to God the Father for the death of his Son Christ there also are they put in remembrance that after they have tasted those heavenly mysteries have spiritually fed upon the body bloud of Christ which through faith are present and truly received in spirit of faithful Cōmunicants and are become one body with Christ they ought no more to returne unto their old sinfull wicked conversation but from henceforth to serve their Lord God in holines righteousnes all the daies of their life Is there any such thing done in the popish Masse Who preacheth Who maketh the exhortation Who moveth the people to repentance faith love and amendment of life mutuall recōciliation workes of mercie or unto thankesgiving to God the Father for the death of his Sonne Christ Who playeth the Schoolmaster and giveth the people such exhortations that they goe home from your Masses better learned than they came thither What theese ever lest his theft What false lawyer gave over his bribing what whore forsooke her whordome what wicked man at any time repented him of his wickednesse by comming unto your Masse Yea rather they goe from your Masse so well instructed that they thinke that now they have heard a Masse they may doe all the day after what they will Amends is made beforehand If they bribe poll pill steale lye slander blaspheme kill murder runne on whoring play the harlot fall to drunkennesse to dicing to carding and doe all other unlawfull things it maketh no matter for they have heard Masse They have satisfyed for the sinne before it be committed The hearing of masse hath dispatcht al the matter aforehand And what marvaile is it though such abomination followeth of your massing seeing the people heareth no goodnesse at it but rather are confirmed in all kind of ungodlinesse The chiefest jewell of all I meane the preaching of Gods word is utterly exiled from your Masse as all goodnesse is besides There is none of you all that stand up in the pulpit that lift up your voice to declare unto the people either their wickednesse or preach unto them the most joyfull pleasant and comfortable Gospel of our Saviour Christ. If there bee any preaching at all the Bells make it when the popish Clark ringeth to Masse The Bells being hanged up tell the people somewhat which they understand namely that there is a popish masse ready at hand come heare it who list and be never the better when yee have done But ye speake nothing at all that the people understand and so are yee worse than the Bells Oh how often have I seene here in England at the ministration of the holy Communion people sitting at the Lords table after they have heard the sermon or the godly exhortation set forth in the Booke of Common prayer read unto them by the minister bitterly weep heartily repent and sorrowfully lament their too much unkindnesse and unthankfulnesse toward the Lord God for the death of his Sonne Christ and for his other benefits againe their negligence in doing their duty toward their poore neighbours what free and large gifts also have I seene given to the poore mens boxe what laying aside of al enmity and renewing of unfained mutuall reconciliation what loving embracing and holy kissing of one another What assurance of heartytty friendship for ever to continue where immortall hatred was before what godlinesse also of life have I seen afterward practised by them that were the Communicants what alteration of manners What newnesse of conversation The covetous man to abhorre his covetousnesse the Adulterer to leave his adultery the Whore to defie her whoredom the Proud man to detest his pride the Vsurer to give over his usury and so forth by hearing the word of God preached and by the worthy receiving of the holy Communion hath full oft bin seen in England when the doctrine of the Gospell flourished among us Never saw I one point of like godlinesse practised of any man by hearing your popish Masses but as they have come thither wicked and ungodly so have they departed againe with the same ungodlines and wickednes rather being the worse than the better by hearing that your Idolatrous masse and yet Oh God be mercifull unto us and forgive us our sinnes the glorious and blessed Cōmunion is now through the craft and subtilty of the devil and through the wilinesse of his sturdy stout champions that filthy Synagogue of Sathan utterly banished out of this Realme unto the great dishonour of God and unspeakable sorrow of all true Christians and that most vile most stinking most pestiferous most abominable most wicked most devillish most idolatrous popish private Masse received again set up and magnifyed above the starres yea and above God and his holy ordinance when indeed of all Idols the Masse is most to be abhorred of such as feare and love God But though your Masse were never so good as indeed it is starke naught without comparison yet forasmuch as it is done without the preaching of the word and in a strange it is altogether unprofitable yea and abominable Notwithstanding behold the hypocrisie and counterfeit holinesse yea rather your double dissimulation and devillish deceiving of the simple people when yee have stood awhile pattering like a sort of asses yee know not what at the lower end of the Altar saying the Introite or office of the Masse as they call it the Kyrrys the Gloria in Excelsis the Collects
Authors For it is an hotch-potch devised made by a number of Popes and by others also It is a very beggers cloke cobled clouted and patched with a multitude of popish ragges And yet the Papists affirme it to bee the holiest part of your Masse And it may soone be For there is not one part of the Masse that can worthily be called good as it is used at this present All things are so far out of order without edifying and contrary to Gods holy ordinance The authors of this their goodly and godly Canon they make Pope Aleâ—ander Pope Gelasius Pope Gregory Pope Sixtus Pope Leo and a certaine man called Scholasticus with other And here beginne yee wonderfully to crosse and to pray for the Universall Church first for our LORD Pope secondly for the Bishop of the Diocesse wherein yee dwell thirdly for your King and Queen last of all for all those that be of the Catholike faith And now come yee to your first Memento which serveth for the living where yee stand nodding like a sort of drunkards and praying yee say for all your good friends and benefactors for all that uphold and maintaine the kingdome of the Clergie and defend our mother holy Church against the assaults of the Gospellers and here ye alledge a sort of Saints and ye desire that for their merits and prayers sake yee may bee saved and preserved from all evill O abhominable blasphemers This done yee fall to crouching and beholding the little cake and chalice speaking a few little good words in Latine yee blesse and crosse wonderfully the cake and Chalice as though they were haunted with some ill spirits While yee are thus blessing the boy or Parish Clerke rings the little Sacry bell which biddeth the people lay all things aside now and lift up their heads behold their maker kneele down and worship their Lord God which Sir Iohn shall straight-wayes make with as much speed as may be and shew him unto them above his head Before it was Sursum corda Lift up your hearts unto the Lord but now is sursum capita come in lift up your heads and looke upon your maker betweene the priests hands with his arse turned towards you because no woman at that present shal be inamored with his sweete and loving face Come off kneele downe looke up knocke your brest behold the apple-maker of Kent and marke well him that killed thy father This is the Lord thy God Let us fall downe and worship him O unsufferable Idolatrie Notable is the doctrin of the Nicene Counsell which commandeth that wee shall not direct our mindes downeward to the bread and cup but lift them up to Christ by faith whith is ascended up into heaven really and corporally and not present carnally in the Sacramental bread as the papists teach Christ while we live in this world is not to be seen with the eyes of this body but of the spirit by faith If we wil see and worship Christ aright we must see and worship him in spirit sitting in his glory and majestie above in heaven at the right hand of God his father and not behold him in the Sacramentall bread with the corporall eyes where nothing is to be seene felt tasted or received with the mouth but bread onely But before wee come to your consecration to your Sacring and to the lifting up of your litle great young old God we will first see what Christ did afterward compare your doings with his Christ sitting at the table tooke bread and after hee had given thankes he brake the bread and gave it to his Disciples for to eat Christ sate at the table yee stand at an Altar Christ tooke bread to make it a Sacrament of his body yee take a little thinne round Cake or rather a thinne piece of starch to make it the naturall body of Christ God and man and to offer it for a Sacrifice for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead Christ delivered the bread to his Disciples to eate it in the remembrance of his death ye take the bread and hold it up above your head and make a shew of it to the people and when yee have once so done ye alone devoure and eate it up Christ brake the bread signifying thereby the breaking of his body on the Altar of the Crosse for the Salvation of the world according to this his promise in the Gospell of Saint Iohn I am that living bread which came downe from heaven If any man eateth of this bread hee shall live for ever And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Ye breake the bread also which yee say is the naturall body of Christ flesh bloud and bone But very fondly ye breake it For yee breake your Host I use your own tearmes in three parts holding it over the chalice while you breake it I thinke because yee would lose none of the bloud that should issue out of the body which ye newly have made and now suddainely yee breake and destroy againe When ye have broken your new formed God in three parts two pieces you keepe still in your hands for flying away and the third yee let fall downe into the chalice to lie there awhile a sleeping or to put you in remembrance of your nappy Ale and Tost which your pretty Parnell hath full lovingly prepared for you against your Masse bee done lest you should chance to faint for taking so great paines at your butcherly altar Many significations have the Papists invented for those 3. broken pieces of the cake which all here to rehearse were too long I will rehearse one and if yee desire to know more enquire of your brethren the Papists and they shall easily teach you The first part say they which is both the longest and the greatest doth not onely signifie but also is a Sacrifice of thanksgiving to God the Father for his benefits declared to mankinde in the death of Christ his sonne The second is a Sacrifice propitiatory for the sinnes of the people that â—ee living in this world but specially for the sinnes of such as have bought the Masse for their money that they may bee delivered a poena culpa toties quoties The third piece which is let downe into the chalice is a satisfactory Sacrifice for the soules that lie miserably puling in the hot fire of Purgatorie to deliver them from the grievous paines and bitter torments that they there suffer and through the vertue and merits of that Sacrifice to bring them unto everlasting glory O intollerable abomination Here is the breaking of your Host with the goodly mysteries thereof Christ say the Evangelists took bread brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body which is broken for you Doe this in remembrance of me Yee also take bread and breake it
Christ as concerning his corporall presence is no more in the earth but in heaven only Christ hath in him two natures the nature of God and the nature of man As concerning his divine nature hee is in heaven in earth and in every place But as touching his humane nature hee is in heaven onely and there shall remaine untill the Day of Iudgement as Saint Augustine saith as concerning the presence of his Majestie wee have Christ alwayes but as touching the presence of his flesh it was truely sayd to his Disciples Mee shall yee not alwayes have with you For the Church had him a few dayes after thâ— presence of his flesh but now it holdeth him by faith and seeth him not with the eyes Againe he saith God and man is one person and both is one Christ Iesus in every place in that he is God but in heaven in that he is man Also in another place Where and in what manner Christ is in heaven it is a vaine and superfluous thing to aske or demand but wee must surely beleeve that hee is onely in heaven If hee be onely in heaven as concerning his corporall presence as both the Scriptures and Saint Augustine affirme how then is hee either in your round cake at Masse or else hanging up in your popish Pixe over the Altar with an halter But let us heare what the ancient Doctour Virgilius writeth concerning this matter The Sonne of God saith he as concerning his Humanitie is gone away from us but as touching his Divinity hee saith unto us Behold I am with you alwayes unto the end of the world Againe forasmuch as the word is every where and his flesh is not every where it appeareth that one and the same CHRIST is of both natures and that hee is in every place as concerning the nature of his Godhead Againe that hee is contayned in a place as touching the nature of his manhood Of these Authorities doth it manifestly appeare that Christ inasmuch as he is God is in every place but having respect to that hee is a man he is only in one place that is to say in heaven If he bee only in heaven inasmuch as he is man then consider yee what is to be thought of the doctrine of the Papists which teach that Christs naturall body is in every place wheresoever his Godhead is O Antichrists If this be not to play the Hereticke Marcions part and utterly to destroy the verity of Christs humane nature or of his naturall body what is it But Saint Augustine saith very well in this behalfe wee must take heed saith hee that we doe not so set forth maintaine or affirme the Godhead of the Man Christ that wee take away or destroy the truth of his body For it doth not follow that that which is in God should be every where as God Christ inasmuch as he is God is every where but being man hee is onely in heaven But yee will object according to your old wont the omnipotencie or almighty power of God and say that forasmuch as he is omnipotent and almighty he may both make the bread his body and also bee in as many places concerning the corporall presence as he list that is to say in infinite places at once I answer God is not called Almighty because he can doe all things but because he is able to doe whatsoever his Godly pleasure is to doe For there are certaine things which God cannot doe as for example hee cannot denie himselfe hee cannot lye hee cannot save such as die in infidelity hee cannot make another of like power with himselfe hee cannot save the reprobate nor condemne the Elect which have their names written in the Booke of life c. Whatsoever is contrary to his Word that cannot God doe But it is contrary to the Word of God for Christs body to bee in more places at once than in one yea to bee both in heaven sitting at the right hand of God the Father and heere also in earth at your popish Masses in a thousand places at once therefore is not God able to make his body to bee in so many places at once as ye faine forasmuch as the nature of God onely is infinite and the nature of all creatures is contained in some certaine one place at once But here againe yee will bring forth these promises of CHRIST Wheresoever two or three be gathered together in my Name there am I in the middest of them Againe I am with you alwayes unto the end of the world These promises and such like are to bee understood not of the corporall presence here on earth but of his Grace as the Doctors themselves doe declare It is to bee noted marked and considered saith Cyril that although Christ hath taken away the presence of his body from hence yet by the Majesty of his God-head hee is alwayes present as hee at his departure promised his Disciples Behold saith he I am with you alwayes unto the very end of the world The like saying of Saint Augustine heard wee before Of all these things heretofore spoken it is evident that the naturall body of Christ is not here in earth as yee Masse-mongers would gladly make us beleeve but in heaven onely and there shall remaine untill the day of Iudgement Christ in the mean season being here present with us by his Spirit and Grace Seeing then that the Sacramentall bread is not the naturall body of Christ God and man but a figure Sacrament and holy signe of his body with what forehead dare you either affirme that your little thinne round cake after five words pronounced over it and you breathing blasting and blowing upon it to be the true naturall reall corporeall and substantiall body of Christ God and Man as hee was borne of the Virgine Marie and suffered for us on the Altar of the crosse or worship it your selves or yet provoke others so to doe according to Pope Honorius decree and not after Christs institution What is Idolatrie if this bee not Idolatrie To worship a piece of bread for God what heathen Idolater ever so doted If good king Ezekias lived in these our dayes hee would rather play with the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud as he did with the Brasen Serpent than hee would suffer such abomiable Idolatry to be committed at the ministration of it to the great dishonour of God the utter defacing of Christs passion and bloud and death and to the dreadfull damnation of innumerable souls O England England teares yea teares of bloud mayest thou well weepe which in the prosperous time of that most godly King Edward the Sixt wert blessedly purged of all superstition Idolatry and popish doctrine and hadst restored unto thee the true Gospel of thy salvation and the right ministration of the Lords Sacraments But now for thine unthankfulnesse toward the Lord thy God all these heavenly treasures are
and placing them in everlasting Glorie What thing is either in heaven earth or hell for the which the Masse is not profitable and serves for the purpose if it please you to apply it It is a sawce for all meats a salve for all sores a remedy for all diseases a maintenance of all prosperity and a defence against all adversity Protens never turned himselfe into so many formes shapes and fashions as your Masse hath vertues O blessed Masse O holy Masse O vertuous Masse yea O most vile stinking and abominable Idol Now judge ye O ye Masse-mongers what is to bee thought of the peevish popish pratling private Masse which the Papists and the most part of you that are massemongers doe so highly praise commend advance extoll magnifie and set forth not as God onely but in a manner above God For what thing is it that wee desire to have for which wee doe not rather resort unto the Masse than unto God And is this any other thing than meere Idolatrie and stealing away of his Glorie Which thing whosoever doth is he not Gods enemie Is hee not an adversarie to the true Christian religion Doth hee not defile the precious bloud of our Saviour Christ under his foot Doth hee not defile the holy mysteries of God and blaspheme the Name of the Lord Doth hee not give himselfe from God to the devill and become the childe of wrath a vessel of vengeance a firebrand of hell and heire of everlasting damnation God have mercie upon us Behold now the miserable state wherein yee stand and so many as cleave to your abominable Massing Cease therfore cease betimes to bee haters of God hlasphemers of his holy Name Enemies of Christs bloud polluters of the Christian religion defilers of Godâ— most holy Sacraments corrupters of his blessed mysteries seducers of the people destroyers of mens soules pestilences of the Christian common-weale and ministers of Satan Forsake your abominable kinde of Massing forsake it forsake it and defile your selves no more with Idoll service lest yee provoke the fierce wrath and hot vengeance of God to fall both upon you the Masse-mongers and upon all them also that are the Masse-hunters and finally for your wickednesse upon the whole Realme For God cannot alwayes abide his holy Sacraments thus to be abused and defiled If If they escaped not unpunished that did eat leavened bread while the Feast of the Lords Passeover did endure if Vziah went not away unplagued but was strooke with suddaine death because hee touched the Arke of the LORD if hee that came to the Marriage because hee had not the wedding garment was taken from the table bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkenesse where weeping and ghasting of teeâ—h shall be 〈…〉 the devil entred into Iâ—das after that hee had received the Lords bread unworthily if the Corinthians were grievously pâ—agued yea and that many unto the death because they did abuse the Lords Supper and unreverently behave themselves at the Ministration of it if those with many other escaped not unplagu'd for abusing the Lords mysteries thinke not ye which daily defile the honourable SacrameÌ„t of Christs body bloud in your most wicked damnable devillish idolatrous heathenish vile stinking blasphemous detestable and abominable Massing shall escape free from punishment neither yee your selves nor the consenters to your Idolatry Therefore if there bee any love in you toward God any hearty good will toward CHRIST our Saviour any fervent affections towards Gods most holy word any godly zeale toward the Christian commonweale any desire of goodnesse towards this our native Countrey any sparke of well-willing toward the salvation either of your owne soules or of others I exhort you all by the tender mercies of God and by the precious bloud of our Saviour Christ Iesu that yee without tariance give over your abominable Massing which without doubt is not the acceptable service of God as the blind sort of people judge but the very vile blasphemous bondage of Satan invented by the devill brought in by Antichrist confirmed established by such as have received the Beasts marke whose inheritance shall be in that Lake that burneth with fire brimstone Neither lot any thing move you that the Idolatrous Masse w ch before was worthily banished out of the Realme is now againe restored by act of Parliament but rather heare what the Apostles say we must obey God more than men In all matters of religion the will of God is to be considered before the commandement or act of any mortall Prince Pharaoh was a King yet the godly Midwives obeyed not his ungodly commandement in killing the male childâ—en of the Israelites Nebuâ—hadonezer was a King yet the three young men would not obey his wicked proclamation in worshipping his golden Idoll Antiochus was a King yet the faithfull Iewes would not observe his abominable lawes in sacrificing to Idols and in eating unclean flesh Maacha was a Queene and made an abominable Idoll of Priapus and offered sacrifice unto it and exhorted others without doubt to doe so likewise but so many as feared God abhorred her doings and defyed her Idolatry insomuch that King Asa her sonne put her downe because shee had made images in Groves and brake down her Idols and stamped them and burnt them to ashes at the brooke Cedron Iesabel was a Queene and an abominable Idolatresse promoting and making much of Baals Priests and feeding them even at her own table but imprisoning and murdering the Prophets of God she worshipped Baal and caused many other so to doe But those that loved God abhorred her idolatry and by no meanes would follow her wicked steps but chused rather to worship God according to his word The Prophet Elias slew all her Prophets that did service to Baal and Queene Iesabel her selfe came to a most miserable end Shee was throwne downe to the ground from an high window inso that the wall was sprinckled with her bloud and the horses trod her under their feete and the dogs came and eat up her flesh so that there was nothing left of her but her skull her feet and the palmes of her hands Athalia was a Queene and a great Idolatresse shee worshipped Baal and enticed her sonne Ahazia to doe so likewise NotwithstaÌ„ding such as feared God obeyed in this behalfe neither the King nor his Mother but walked after the Commandements of God Both the mother and the sonne were slaine miserably The Bishops the Priests the Lawyers the Scribes the Pharisees the Sadduces and such others were great Rulers in Iewrie and they commanded the Apostles that they should no more preach in the name of Iesu but they obeyed them not but stoutly answered Whether it bee right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God Iudge yee For we cannot but speake that which wee have seene and heard Rulers are so