vnto him that is signified by them Saint Ciprian therefore saieth full well Before prayer the priest with a preface prepareth the hartes of the brethren saying vnto them Lift vp your heartes that when the people aunswereth We lift them vp vnto the Lorde thei may be put in minde to thinke of nothing else but of the Lorde Chrisostome also saith Clamamus in conspectu sacrificij Sursum corda We crie a loude in the sight of the oblation Lift vp your hearts S. Augustine vpon the Psalmes saith Let vs lift vp our heartes if ye be risen againe with christ he saieth vnto the faithfull he saieth vnto them that receaue the body and blood of our Lorde If ye be risen againe with Christ sauour those thynges that are aboue where Christe is at the right hande of God seeke for the thinges that bee aboue not for the things that be in earth Their owne manipulus curatorum saith thus Before the Canon the Priest saith Lift vp your hartes As if he woulde saie who so will receaue this Sacramente ought to haue his hearte lifted vp vnto God. But lette vs graunt vnto them by waie of disputation that the naturall body and blood of Christe bee really present vnder the formes of bread and wine yet we shall alwaies bee in feare to commit Idolatrie if at least their doctrine be true For they saie excepte the Priestes doe pronounce the wordes of consecration which words they be in doubt of them selues and cannot wel tel which they be vpon the creatures of bread and wine Cum intentione consecrandi That is with an intent and mynde to consecrate they be not made the body and blood of Christe but remaine still nude nude and bare creatures of bread and wine Therefore Holtcot saieth vpon the maister of sentences Laicus adorat hostiam non consecratam The laie people saith he worshippeth a wafer that is not coÌ„secrated And therfore that perill and daunger of Idolatrie may be auoyded at all tymes Thomas de Aquino in a certaine booke geueth vs counsell that we worship it with a condition saiyng Lorde if thou be there I doe worship thee if thou be not there I worship thee not Is not this a sure and certaine doctrine thinke ye and most worthy to be mainteined with fire and sworde and with suche sheddyng of innnocent blood Repeâ—t then ye Magistrates and rulers of the people and be sorie in your heartes that euer ye consented to the death of so many Martyrs that in these our daies haue been most cruelly put to death for the truethes sake and crie God mercie betimes lest ye with the beaste and hir false Prophetes whose slaues ye are now become though some of you perceaue it not be cast for euer into the lake that burneth with fire and Brimstone which is the seconde death There be some in the world that alledge Saincte Ciprian to proue that the Sacrament must be worshipped And these wordes of his doe they bryng foorthe The Sacramentes as muche as in them is can neuer be without the proper vertue nor the diuine maiestie can in any wise absent it self from the misteries It foloweth then saie they that they must be worshipped sith that the diuine maiestie is neuer absent from them I would faine aske these greate doctours of diuinitie why they doe not then worship the water of baptisme wherin we are apparelled with Christ renewed with the holy ghost and receiue free remission of our synnes I am sure that the diuine maiestie of God is no more absent from the Sacrament of baptisme then from the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christe And yet none of them all will graunt that the water of baptisme should be worshipped Christ our sauiour who is the trueth hymselfe and can not lie doth saie in his Gospell He that loueth me keepeth my worde and my father shal loue hym and we will come to hym and dwell with hym Againe He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood dwelleth in mée and I in hym These also are sainct Iohns wordes whosoeuer confesseth that Iesus is the sonne of god God dwelleth in hym and he in God. By these textes we doe learne that God the father God the sonne and God the holy Ghoste dwelleth in all the faithfull beléeuers yea I dare saie a thousande tymes more effectuously then in the inuisible elementes of water or bread or of wine And yet no godly honour ought to be doen vnto them for that were a plaine Idolatrie Christe our Sauiour saiyng Thou shalt honour the Lorde thy God and hym onely shalte thou serue and worship Now all men maie see that the saiyng of Saincte Ciprian helpeth them nothyng for to maintaine their Idolatrous worshippyng of the sacrament excepte they will also graunte that the water of Baptisme and euery true christian man must be worshipped also But peraduenture some man wil aske will ye haue no maner of honour to be doen vnto the Sacramentes I doe aunswere that we doe sufficient honour vnto them when we doe receaue them with an vnfained faith and as Christ hath instituted them submitting our selues obediently vnto his holy institution and ordinaunce If we doe otherwise we receaue them vnworthely â–ª to our vtter vndoing and condemnation If then S. Ambroses saiyng after they receaue the Sacrament vnworthely that handle the misteries otherwise than Christ hath instituted If they be also guiltie of the body and blood of the Lorde that come to this holy Supper not obseruyng the institution of hym that is the aucthour of it where shall our Pope catholiques become How shall they escape damnation For none in all the whole worlde if we consider well what hath been saide before doe more abhominably and shamefully breake the ordinaunce of God then they doe Can they therefore haue a deuout mynde towardes hym that saieth Ye shal not doe euery thing as ye thynke best but that whiche I commaunde you that shall ye doe onely I am the Lorde your god Adde nothyng vnto it nor take ought awaie from it but leauing them to the righteous iudgement of hym that with the fire of his wrath did consume Nadab and Abihu in the sight of all the people bicause that thei had offered straunge fire which the lorde had not commaunded them I will goe through by the helpe of God with the rest of their obiection We saide before that thei eate the bread of the Lorde and drinke his Cup vnworthely that come to the holy misteries not hauing truly examined themselues or that come to them without true faithe in the merites of the deathe passion and blood shedding of our Sauiour Iesu Christe and that presume to take or receaue them without true repentaunce vnfeyned confession of their synnes and without amendement of their owne liues I saide also that after the saiyng of Saincte Ambrose thei
him Againe as if a wilfull and rebellious subiect should no more esteeme or regarde his princes seale than other coÌ„mon waxe or haue it in no greater reuerence than the seale of some priuate man it might rightly be saide that he maketh no difference of his princes person that is to say that he doth no more estéeme him than he doeth other men yet it néedeth not that the kinges person be there really present So when we come to the Lordes boorde if we do take vnreuerently the misticall bread and wine as other common meates appoincted for the belly then make we no difference of the Lordes body we doe not esteeme the worthines price and vertue of it which in the holy misteries is so freely and so liberally offered vnto vs. And therefore it is no marueile that in steede of grace in steede of forgeuenesse of our sinnes and of life euerlastyng we doe eate and drinke our owne damnation They saieth sainct Paul that sinne after that they haue receaued the knowledge of the trueth loking for another sacrifice for sinnes do esteeme the blood of the Testament as a prophane and vnholy thyng that is to saie they make no difference of it they haue it in no more estimation then the blood of Calues and of Goates He that would gather vpon this place that they haue the blood of Christe really among them were a very Idiot foole and well worthy to be laughed to scorne of all men In like maner although the vnworthy receauers of the sacramentes doe eate and drinke there their owne damnation bicause that they make no difference of the Lordes body yet it foloweth not therefore that the body of Christ must needes be there really present vnder the formes of bread and wine Yea if it were there or if the bread and wine were really the body and blood of our Sauiour Christe the vnworthy receauers could not eate and drinke there their owne damnation but rather they should eate life and drinke life sith that the trueth hymself doth saie he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life euerlastyng Againe he that eateth mée liueth through mee And therefore sainct Augustine saieth The Sacrament of the vnitie of the body and blood of Christe is taken from the Lordes body to some men vnto life euerlastyng and to some men vnto destruction But the thyng it selfe whereof it is a Sacrament is to all men vnto saluation and vnto no man to destruction whosoeuer is partaker of it These wordes are plaine and doe sufficiently declare vnto vs that if the bodye and blood of our Sauiour Christ were really present vnder the formes of bread and wine or that the bread wine were transubstantiated or really chaunged into the naturall bodye and blood of Christe the vnworthy receauers coulde not eate and drinke their owne damnation but rather as I saide before they shoulde eate and drinke life euerlastyng and haue saluation For the fleshe and blood of Christ whereof the bread and wine are Sacramentes is to all men vnto saluation and to no man vnto destruction as we learne here by S. Augustines wordes ¶ The .xix. Chapiter ¶ Whether the Papistes haue still the â—ame body in the Sacrament that was giuen vpon the Crosse. NOw that I haue sufficiently aunswered to their obiections I will aske them this question whether they haue still the same body that Christâ— did geue at his last supper or not I am sure that they will aunswere that they haue still the same body Then will I aske them againe whether the body that Christ did geue at his last supper was mortall or immortall If they saie that it was immortall they shal be proued liars by the Scriptures whiche doe testifie vnto vs that his body that he tooke of the virgine Marie was put to death the next daie If they saie that it was mortall sith that they haue the same still in their Sacrament it shoulde folowe that the body of Christ were not yet glorified but mortall still and subiect vnto death They are driuen to confesse either the one or the other that is to say that either it was mortall or immortall For it could not be both at one time no not when he did shewe a taste of his glorie vnto his disciples vpon the mount Thabor For as Vigilius Martyr saith One nature or substaunce can not receaue diuers and contrary things in it selfe at one time Therfore let them geue what aunswere soeuer thei will thei can not escape but that thei shal be proued most shamefull lyars both wayes and that the body that thei boast them selues to haue in their Sacrament can not be the true body of Christe that he toke in the virgins wombe of whom he toke his vndefiled substaunce for as it was then mortal when he did institute his holy Supper so is it nowe glorified and immortall and in it doth our Sauiour Christ fit nowe on the right hande of the father for euer tyll his enimies be made his footstoole But a newe phantasticall body of their owne imagination and forging haue thei and none other If thei will flee to the omnipotencie or almightie power of God as thei be woont to do alwayes when thei are put to their trompes thei haue learned before howe farre foorth it will helpe them The almightie power of God and his sacred and holy worde are so ioyned and knit together that as he is able to do whatsoeuer he doth promise in his worde so will he do nothing nor can do nothing that is contrarie vnto it as the wordes of Theodoretus by me alledged before do sufficiently declare Againe wheÌ„ our Sauiour Christe did at his last Supper institute his holy Sacrament he was there present him selfe in his true and naturall body talking with his Apostles and also eating and drinking with them of the mysticall bread and of the mysticall cup of the which being insensible creatures voluit dicere per gratiam he did vouchsafe through grace to say This is my body and This is my blood For as he had befoâ—e called his body Wheate and bread and him selfe a Uine so did he then honour the bread and the wine with the names 〈◊〉 his body and blood Chrisostome saith also before the bread be â—â—â—ctified we call it bread but after that by the meane of the 〈◊〉 the heaueÌ„ly grace hath halowed it it is discharged from the name of bread and is vouchsaued to be called by the name of our Lordes body notwithstanding the nature of the bread remayneth still Ireneus saith Christe confessed bread which is a creature to be his body and the cup to be his blood Reade Ciprian ad magnum which speaketh most plainely hereof also Shall they not be faine to saie then if they will haue their doctrine to stande that Christ had then twoo bodies one that did eate and drinke and the
The .xx. Chapiter ¶ Against the carnall presence of Christe in the Sacrament THE Papistes will harpe still vppon these fewe wordes that our sauiour Christ spake in his last supper when he saide This is my body resemblyng in this pointe the Arians whiche when it was proued vnto them by many strong Scriptures that Christe our Sauiour is coequall with the father in substaunce in Godhead and power would alwaies haue their refuge to the fewe wordes that Christ our Sauiour spake of his humanitie saiyng Pater maior me est The Father is greater then I hauyng alwaies in their mouthes that sith Christ had spoken it it must néedes be so vnlesse we would make him a lyer Shall wee not finde the like in our transubstantiatours which wil haue the body of Christ at the becke and commaundement of euery iugglyng popishe Priest whensoeuer he pronounceth these fewe wordes Hoc est corpus meum This is my body And this is my blood with a full intent to consecrate to be really and substantially in the Sacrament vnder the fourmes of bread and wine the substaunce of them beyng really chaunged and turned into the very substaunce of the body and blood of the Lorde For if ye bryng neuer so many places of the scriptures whiche doe witnesse vnto vs that our Sauiour christ touching his manhoode is set downe on the right hande of his Father for euer vntill his enimies bee made his footstoole And that the heauens must holde him vntill all thinges be restored againe that God hath spoken by the mouth of all his prophetes since the worlde began and that till then wee ought not to looke for any corporall presence of his wherby it foloweth that the doctrine of them that will haue his true and naturall body and blood to be really present vnder the accidentes of bread and wine cannot be true straight waies they crye out in a rage saiyng Be not these Christes wordes This is my body This is my blood hath he not spoken them will ye make hym a lyer and a desembler or one that speaketh one thyng and meaneth another With many such like tragicall exclamations and outcries doe they fill the eares of the symple and ignoraunt hearers as though the whole difference doth consist in this whether Christe hath spoken these wordes or not or whether he must be a lier and dissembler If they haue any other meanyng then they seeme to haue outwardlye at the firste blushe not beyng conferred with other textes of the holy scriptures We doe confesse that these are Christes wordes and that he hath spoken them with his owne holy mouth But what then haue I not already proued by innumerable textes of the Scriptures that they must bee taken otherwise then thei sounde outwardly and that beyng taken without trope and figure thei can not stand with the rest of the scriptures which teache and testifie in so many places that Christe our sauiour can no more be here vppon the earth touchyng his manhoode vntill the last daie when he shall visibly as he was séen to go vp come againe to iudge the quicke and the dead But go too put the case that litle or nothyng hath been saide yet touchyng this matter They saie yea they vpholde and mainteine euen with fire and sworde that the bread and wine are transubstantiated and really chaunged into the very substaunce of the bodye and blood of Christe so that there remaines no more bread and wine after that the Prieste hath once gaped and blowen vpon them and spoken the words but onely the outwarde appearaunce and accidentes of them Is not this to saie yea and also most blasphemously to affirme mainteine and vpholde that the precious body and blood of Christ haue their beyng substaunce and beginnyng of the corruptible substaunce of bread and wine For whensoeuer one substaunce is turned into another the seconde substaunce that the first is turned into hath his beginnyng substaunce and beyng of the firste yea it hath of it his originall and ofspryng as for example When Moyses rodde was turned into a Serpent whereof had that Serpent his beginnyng substaunce and beyng whereof had he his originall and ofspring or was he before that the same miraculous transubstantiation and chaunge was made All men can not denie but that the same Serpent had his beginnyng substaunce and beyng and also his originall and ofspring of Moyses rodde and that it was not before that the same miraculous transubstantiation or chaunge was made The like maie we saie of the waters of Egypt that were turned into blood of the dust that was turned into lice For neither the blood nor the lyce were before that the same miraculous tournyng was wrought and doen and as thei beganne then so had they their beyng and substaunce of those thynges or substaunces that were turned into them Againe when our Sauiour Christe did in Cana of Galilee turne water into wine the same wine had his beginnyng of the substaunce of the water and was not before that the water was miraculously turned into it If then they will stifly mainteine that the substaunce of bread and wine are really turned into the substaunce of the body and blood of christ thei shall be faine to confesse that the same body and blood that thei haue in their Sacrament haue their beginnyng substaunce and being and also their originall and ofspryng of the corruptible and insensible creatures of bread and wine and that thā the same body blood doe beginne to be or to haue their being when by the almightie operation or working of the wordes those corruptible and insensible creatures be really and substauncially chaunged into them But the true and naturall bodie of Christe had his beginnyng originall and ofspryng in the blessed virgines wombe of whom he tooke his vndefiled substaunce is nowe glorified and is set on the right hande of the father but a body of their owne inuention and makyng whiche is as often made and shaped a newe as thei do pronounce the wordes of consecration as thei call them vpon the creatures of bread and wine cum intentione consecrandi That is with a full purpose and intent to consecrate Some of them to auoyde this inconuenience are wont to saie that the substaunce of bread and wine is not turned in to the substaunce of the body and blood of christ but that the substaunce of the visible creatures of bread and wine do vanishe awaie geuyng place vnto the substaunce of the body and blood of Christe If it were so then woulde not our Sauiour Iesus Christ haue saide This is my body but rather in this is my body or vnder the accidentes of bread and wine is my body and blood Againe that whiche they doe coulde not be called transubstantiation which is a reall chaungyng of one substaunce that is extant into another substaunce that is not extant but some other name should
they be compelled to geue vnto their monstrous iugglyng and excantation contrary to the myndes and writinges of their owne scholedoctours For Iohannes Scotus otherwise called Duns shewyng from whence this doctrine of Transubstantiation did come writeth after this maner It seemeth that men are chiefly moued to embrace or receaue this sentence bicause that we must holde of the Sacramentes as the holy Churche of Rome doth holde but the holy Churche of Rome doth holde that the bread is transubstantiated or really chaunged into the body of Christ and the wins into his blood Likewise Gabriell Biell writyng vpon the Canon after that he had shewed that it was vncertaine how the body of Christ was in the sacrament whether it was by the conuersion or turnyng of the visible creatures of bread and wine into it or by some other meane doeth saie plainely these wordes But bicause that we muste holde of the Sacramentes as the holy Church of Rome doeth holde sith that it hath decréed and determined that the bread is transubstantiated or really chaunged into the body of Christ therefore this opinion is receaued of all the Catholiques that there remaineth no substaunce but that it is truely and really chaunged transubstantiated and turned into the body of the Lorde Two thynges doe we here learne by the waie First that this monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation did come from Rome the greate Grandame of all abhominable errours heresies and abuses for this doctrine of theirs came neuer out of the worde of God for so saieth he hymselfe I meane Gabriel biell that all this their transubstantiation of substaunces of bread and wine Non inuenitur expressum in canone bibliae That is to saie it is not founde expressed saieth he in the Canon of the Bible And as for the antiquitie of this doctrine it is playnly set foorth by their owne doctour how olde it is For Tonstall saith of the maner meane howe this might be whether by transubstantiation or otherwise perhaps it had been better to leaue euery man that woulde be curious to his owne coniecture sicut liberum fuit ante concilium Lateranum as before the counsell of Laterane it was left at libertie Thus we sée howe auncient it is neuer hearde of in all the worlde vntyll their late counsell of Laterane holden in Rome vnder Pope Innocentius the thirde in the yere of our Lorde 1215. in the time of king Iohn king of Englande and neuer before So for the space of .xij. hundred and .xv. yeres the Churche of God was able to stand well without it So the great antiquitie of their transubstantiation is but thrée hundred fiftie and seuen Therefore all men may see howe much credite we ought to geue vnto it and againe howe worthie a thing it is that for it so many notable learned and other godly men and women shoulde thus cruelly be put to death murthered to the great decay of true religion throughout al realmes whose innocent blood crieth vengeaunce in the eares of god against those wicked papistes and also against the maiestrates that were the Popes butchers and hangmen Wherefore I say turne and repent with all spéede and aske mercie in Iesus Christe our sauiour that your blooddy handes may be made cleane by his blood and so washed from your sinnes Secondly we learne by the sayinges of these holy doctours of theirs that they that holde opinion that the substaunce of bread wine is not really chauÌ„ged but vanisheth away for to geue place vnto the substaunce of the body and blood of Christ do holde against the decrées and canons of the holy mother the Churche of Rome which doth holde that the bread and wine are transubstantiated really chaunged and turned into the substaunce of the body and blood of Christe the outwarde appearaunce and accidentes of them only remayning And therfore wyll they nyll they euen in spite of their smoothe shauen faces thei shal be fayne to confesse if not with their mouthes at least in their consciences that their Christe that they haue in their Masses and in their boxes and in their Sacrament is a bready Christ that is to say a Christ made of bread which hath a body of the substaunce of bread and wine wherewith they haue made all nations to commit most detestable idolatrie and to fal away from the true Messias and Christ whose true and naturall body hath his substaunce not of the corruptible substaunce of bread and wine but of the substance of the blessed virgine Marie his mother and now being glorified and immortal is on the right hand of the maiestie on high where by the mighty operation of his eternal spirite we do feede vpoÌ„ his flesh blood through faith as long as we continue true liuely members of his body but most specially when we do worthely receaue his holy mysteries which he him self hath instituted for a perpetuall remembraunce of his death and passion ¶ The .xxj. Chapiter ¶ The wicked doth neither eate nor drinke the body and blood of Christe IF these wordes This is my body shoulde be taken as they sounde whereby suche transubstantiation must néedes ensue and folowe that no bread and wine shoulde remayne but onely the body blood of Christ couered with the accidentes of bread and wine all the vngodlye and vnfaithfull hypocrites that receaue the Sacrament shoulde eate the fleshe of Christ and drinke his blood and so shoulde haue euerlasting life as it hath béen said before yea they should dwell in Chrst and Christ in them For he saieth He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him But it is most sure that the vnfaithfull hypocrites do not dwell in Christe nor Christe in them except he woulde haue Christe and the deuyll to dwell both together in one place whiche thing can not be saith Saint Paul to the Corinthians Therefore I may conclude that they do neither eate his flesh nor drinke his blood For as Saint Augustine saith Hoc est â—rgo manducare illam escam illum potum bibere in christo manere illum manentem in se habere That is to saie This is to eate that meate and to drinke that drinke to dwell in Christe and to haue Christ dwel in hym Againe in the same place he saith Ac per hoc qui non manet in christo et in quo non manet christus proculdubio nec manducat spiritualitèr carnem eius nec bibit sanguinem eius licèt carnalitèr visibilitèr premat dentibus Sacramentum corporis sanguinis christi And therefore he that dwelleth not in Christ and in whom christ dwelleth not without doubt doth not eate spiritually his flesh nor drink his blood though he doth carnally and visibly presse with his téeth the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ And in another place he doth shewe saith he what it is to eate his
fleshe and drinke his blood not sacramentally but in very deede that is so to dwell in Christ that Christe maie also dwell in hym For he saieth this as if he should saie he that dwelleth not in mee and in whō I dwel not let hym not saie or thinke that he eateth my flesh or drinketh my blood And out of the Sentences of Prosper he doeth alledge these wordes he that doeth disagree from Christ doth neither eate his fleshe nor drinke his blood although he doth euery daie receaue indifferently the Sacrament of so high a thyng to the condempnation of his owne presumptuousnes Againe he saieth Discipuli manducabant panem domini Iudas panem domini contra dominum illi vitam ille paenam The disciples did eate the bread which is the Lorde but Iudas did eate bread of the Lorde against the Lorde they vnto life he vnto death Againe if any doe disagree from Christe the vngodly and vnfaithfull hipocrites doe disagree from hym Therefore if these wordes of Sainct Augustine be true they doe neither eate his fleshe nor yet drinke his blood though they doe euery daie receaue indifferently the Sacrament of so high a thyng to their owne condemnation and vtter castyng awaie of their owne soules Whereby I may also conclude that there is no such transubstantiation as they do falsely imagine but that there remayneth both bread and wine wherevpon the vngodly hypocrites do féede only the godly faithfull being most effectuously made partakers of the precious body and blood of Christ which as Saint Ambrose saieth is the foode of the saintes onely so that who soeuer eateth of it he shall not dye the death of a sinner For it shal be made vnto him remission of sinnes So likewise Saint Origene saith most plainely against these felowes these wordes Est verus cibus quem nemo malus potest edere Etenim s◠malus posse◠edere corpus Domini non scriberetur Qui edit hunc panem viue◠in aeternum The body of Christ is the true foode which no euyll man can eate for if the euyll man coulde eate the body of our Lorde it shoulde not be written He that eateth this bread shal liue for euer Saint Hierome also saith Haeretici non manducant corpus domini nec bibunt sanguinem suum The wicked heretiques do not eate the body of the Lorde nor drinke his blood And againe he saieth All that loue pleasure more then God eate not the fleshe of Iesu Christe nor drinke his blood Thus you sée plainly proued that the wicked do not receaue nor eate the body and blood of Christe although they eate the Sacramentall Sacrament neuer so often Againe if their doctrine were true that is to say if the bread and wine were really and substantially the bodye and blood of Christ then shoulde the Mice Rattes and other vermine that eate their sacramentall bread eate also the body of Christ which thing some of them are not ashamed to confesse and say Si dicatur quòd Mus sumat corpus christi non est magnum inconueniens If it be saide that a Mouse receaueth the body of Christe it is no great inconuenience And Alexander of Hales saieth also beyng a greate doctour of the Papistes transubstantiation Si Canis vel Porcus deglutiret hostiam consecratam integram non video quare corpus Christi non simul traijceretur in ventrem Canis vel Porci If a Dogge or a Pigge shoulde happen to swallow downe the whole hoste being consecrate I sée no reason but the body of Christe may passe withall into the belly of the Dogge or of the Pigge But others of them cōsidering the great absurdities of it do say that whē Mice or other like vermine do approche or come nie vnto it the body of Christ doth flée vp strayght into heauē the olde substaunce cōming againe miraculously vnto the accidētes Belike their fained Christ hath not so much power as a poore Cat or Mouse hath which being but a poore creature of our sauiour Christ whō we do worship and feede vpon aboue in heauen on the right hande of the father doeth with his sent only fraie awaie Mice and Rattes so that they dare not come where he is muche lesse that they shoulde venture vpon hym and eate hym vp as they doe their false Christe or else make him to finde his legges or winges for to be out of their reache and clawes Likewise when they burne their moulded God if their doctrine were true they coulde not choose but that they must burne also the body of Christ excepte they will saie that the substaunce of the ashes is made of meere accidentes But I knowe that they will saie that as soone as the bodie of Christ doth see the fyre come it flieth straight waies vp into heauen makyng the olde substaunce by his almightie power to come to his accidentes againe Who would not deride and laugh to scorne this vaine doctrine of theirs Is Christe now of lesse abilitie and power then he was before his resurrection or risyng againe What Mice what Dogs what Pigges what Rattes what Cattes what heate what fyre what water what bityng what chewyng with teeth what deuils what tyrauntes were not obedient vnto his diuine power when he was conuersant among men being subiect to all maner of infirmities that wee are subiect vnto synne onely excepted And shall he now that he hath all power geuen vnto hym both in heauen and in earth be faine to geue place not only to fyre and water but also to litle poore séely Mice which feare the Cat and dare not presume to approche neigh her no not as nigh as he may haue the sent of the cat And is christ of lesse power that they dare come nigh to eate hym vp or make him flée into heauen as soone as he séeth them comming or is Christe of lesse power then water whiche can quenche fyre or of lesse power then the Sunne that drieth vp water O blasphemous Papistes enemies to Christes body and Passion robbers cleane of his diuine might and power if thus we shoulde folowe your doctrine we shall at last cleane denie God and saie with you in our hartes Non est Deus There is no God at all ¶ The .xxij. Chapiter ¶ The true exposition of these worde◠hoc est corpus meum and that Sacramentes are called by those names wherof thei are Sacramentes I Wyll nowe come to the true exposition of these woordes This is my body Firste and formost it is to be noted and marked that the sacramentes are most commonly called by the names of those things that they be sacraments of Which thing may easyly be proued both by the scriptures and also by the aucthorities of the auncient fathers of the olde catholique Churche When the Lorde our God did institute and ordeyne circumcision he dyd say And my couenaunt shal be in your flesh Here
hee calleth the signe of the couenaunt by the name of the couenaunt it selfe The Testament or couenaunt was I wyll be thy God and the God of thy seede after thee And vnto this was circumcision added as a signe or seale of the couenaunt beyng called by the name of the very thing it selfe that it did signifie and represent Againe the Paschall Lambe was called Transitus domini that is to say the Passouer of the Lorde Yet the lambe which was but a bruite beast appointed for the belly was not the Passouer of the Lorde but only a signe or seale of it For the Passouer or passe by of the Lorde was when he went by the houses of the Israelites and slue all the first borne of Egypt not one of all the Israelites that beleued his seruaunt Moyses did as he cōmaunded them being either harmed or hurt Of this exceeding great benefite of their deliueraunce out of Egypt was the Paschall Lambe a memoriall or signe and that it might the better print in their mindes what God hath done for them it was called by the name of the thyng that it dyd signifie or represent For God him selfe doth attribute vnto it his owne name saying by his prophete Nathan vnto Dauid Shalt thou builde me a house for to dwell in who since I brought the Israelites out of Egypt neuer dwelled in house but in tentes Tabernacles It is most euidently plaine that he speaketh there of the arke of the Testament for as he doth not dwell in Temples or houses that be made with handes so dyd he not dwell in Tentes or Pauilions For why the heauens are his seate and the earth his foot stoole Who shall builde him a house Againe it is called the power and glorie of God as when the Psalmiste saieth Suamque potentian captiuitati suum decus hostili exposuit manui That is to saie And he hath deliuered vp his power into captiuitie and his worship or glory into the hands of his enimies The sacrifices also that were offered for sinnes were called synnes And therefore it is written And the priestes shal eate the synnes of my people For this cause was our Sauiour Christe hymselfe who is the true and onely sacrifice for synne prefigurated before and signified by all the sacrifices of the olde lawe called sinne as when sainct Paule saieth him that knewe no sinne God did make synne for vs that through hym we should be made the righteousnes of God in hym By these and many other lyke textes whiche I néede not nowe to rehearse any man may easely perceaue that it is the common phrase of the holy scriptures to call the sacramentes by the names of the thinges whereof they be Sacramentes that so thei may the more liuely with greater efficacie print in the mindes of men the thinges that they doe signifie And also for to certifie vs that if we receaue them worthely we shall most effectuously be made partakers of the thinges that they be Sacramentes of This maner of speakyng then as being well knowen of the Apostles for why they were woont and accustomed to it from their youth our sauiour Christe dyd vse at his last Supper when he did institute and ordeyne the Sacrament of his body and blood Therefore thei that say that our sauiour christ shoulde be an vnwise Testament maker if he shoulde haue vsed then tropes and figures or such obscure and darke maner of speaking will not perceaue that his Testament was made long before that with plaine and manifest wordes and that here he did but institute and ordayne the sacrament of it as a most infallible sure seale of all his heauenly promises and of the vncorruptible inheritaunce that he hath purchased and bequeathed vnto vs wherein he did vse the same phrase and maner of speaking that the holy ghost had vsed before in the institution of all sacramentes which was then so cōmon that it was impossible that the apostles shoulde be ignoraunt in it And though they had been ignoraunt yet Christ our Sauiour shoulde haue deliuered them from all doubt when speakyng of the Cup he did adde immediatly these wordes I saie vnto you I wil not drinke hencefoorth of this fruict of the vine trée vntill that daie when I shall drinke it newe with you in my fathers kingdome declaring therby that the same that was in the Cup which before for the causes aboue rehearsed he had called his blood was wine euen the fruicte of the vine tree I reporte mee vnto you whether the blood of Christe I meane his true and naturall blood be the fruict of the vine tree or not Therefore Sainct Ciprian saieth Quomodo autem de creatura vitis nouum vinum cum Christo in regno patris bibemus si in sacrificio dei patris Christi vinum non offerimus That is to saie how shall wee drinke newe wine of the creature of the Uine with Christ in the kingdome of the father if in the sacrifice of the father and of Christe we doe offer no wine As then the same that was in the cup through our sauiour Christe had said of it This is my blood was still by his owne confession the frute of the vine tree euen so the same whereof he had saide This is my body was bread still For as Theodoretus saieth He that had called his bodie wheate and bread and him selfe a Uine did afterwardes honour the bread and wine with the names of his body and blood not chaungyng the nature but addyng grace vnto the nature For these causes the blessed apostle Paul did not sticke to call it bread not once nor twise but fiue times in his Epistle to the Corinthians As for the example of Moyses rodde beyng turned into a serpent or of the water beyng chaunged into wine and suche other like which they be wont to alledge for to blinde the simple and ignoraunt people withall howe muche it serueth or maketh for them it hath been already sufficiently declared a litle before Now then sith that it hath been already proued that the apostles coulde not doubt of our Sauiour Christes wordes whiche he spake at his last Supper when he did institute his Sacrament bicause that they were accustomed euen frō their tender youth to suche phrases and maner of speakynges I will also shewe that the auncient fathers did vnderstande and expounde these wordes as we doe both vnderstande and expounde them Firste these are Tertullians wordes The lorde did not reproue bread wherewith he doth represent his body Ye shall vnderstande that the Heretique Martion againste whom this father wrote did reproue all the creatures of God as naught Whiche heresie Tertullian did confute stoutly by many strong argumentes and reasons and among all other he doeth gather an argument of the institution of the Lordes supper as if he should haue said If the creatures were naught Christe woulde not
and hauyng taken vpon him a mortall body in the virgins wombe As then he did speake vnto vs by his sonne beyng made man and hauyng taken our frayle nature vppon him so his sonne I meane our sauiour Christe beyng man that is to say touchyng his manhoode and not touchyng his Godheade is the image or figure of his substaunce For the image or figure of a thing must be visible and apparaunt to the eye else it can not be called an image or a figure But the godhead or diuine substaunce of Christ coulde not be séen no more than the diuine substaunce of the father therefore he coulde not touching his Godhead or diuine substaunce be the image or figure of his fathers substaunce but onely touching his humanitie and manhoode As he him selfe doth testifie saying He that séeth me séeth the father And it ought to séeme no straungenesse that we say that Christe touching his humanitie or manhoode is the image or figure of the father For if the first Adam whiche notwithstanding that he was created in the estate of innocencie could fall and breake the commaundement that was geuen vnto him was called the image of God how much more ought the second Adam in whose mouth no guile was founde and which coulde not sinne to be called the image of the fathers substaunce yea the holy scriptures doe testifie of vs that when we be regenerated or borne a newe we are the image of God And shal not he by whose spirite and worde we are begotten a newe and regenerated be most liuely and most effectuously the image of the fathers substaunce Thus then may we conclude that as God did in these last daies speake vnto vs by his sonne beyng made man or hauyng taken vpon hym a mortall body so his sonne beyng man or touching his manhoode is the image of his diuine substaunce But no man will saie that Christe touchyng his humanitie or manhoode is one with the father in substaunce for that were to affirme that the father is a creature Therefore the argument that they make vppon this teâ—te of Paule affirmyng that Christe is the figure of a thing that he is hym selfe is not worth a blewe button And though thei would maintaine still that this place must be vnderstanded of his diuitie and Godhead yet shoulde they winne nothyng by it For the Greeke hath not the figure or image of his substaunce if they would goe to the rigour of the letter but the image or figure of his persone â–ª And takyng it so â–ª I should agree with the Councell of Nice wherein it was decreed that in the blessed Trinitie there is but one substaunce whiche the Greekes call Vsia and three persons whiche thei call Hypostases We doe graunt then after this interpretation that Christ touchyng his diuinitie or Godhead is the image of the persone of the father But we will in no wise graunt that the person of the father and the person of the sonne be all one For that were a plaine heresie whiche ought in no wise to bee suffered in the churche of christ Let them turne themselues whiche way soeuer they will yet this place will helpe them nothyng no more then the places aboue rehearsed But that they shal be faine to confesse Mawgrie their shauen crownes that the auncient fathers haue expounded these wordes This is my body and this is my blood as we do now expounde them But how many places out of the Doctours were I able to bryng for to proue that the Sacramentes are called by the names of the thynges whereof they be Sacramentes Thus doeth the blessed Martir S. Ciprian wryte Dedit itaque Dominus noster in mensa in qua vltimum cum Apostolis participauit conniuium proprijs manibus panem vinum in cruce verò manibus militum corpus tradidit vulnerandum vt in Apostolis saecretius impressa sincera veritas vera sincaeritas exponeret gentibus quomodo vinum panis caro esset sanguis Et quibus rationibus causae effectibus conuenirent diuersa nomina vel species ad vnam reducerentur essentiaÌ„ significantia significata eisdem vocabulis censerentur That is to saie in englishe The Lorde at his last supper whiche hee kept with his Apostles did with his owne handes geue bread and wine and vpon the Crosse he did with the handes of the souldiours deliuer his body to be wouÌ„ded that the sincere veritie and the true sinceritie beyng secretely printed in the Apostles should declare or expounde vnto the gentiles how the bread and wine is blood and fleshe and by what meanes the causes doe agrée with the effectes And how diuers kindes and names shoulde bee reduced or brought to one essence And the thynges that signifie and the thynges that be signified called by one name Sainct Augustine besides that place that I haue already alledged out of his Epistle that he did write to Bonifacius doth in his booke of Questions vppon Leuiticus saie these wordes Solet autem res quae significat eiuâ— rei nomine quam significat nuncupari sicut scriptum est septem spicae septem anni sunt Non enim dixit septem annos significaÌ„t Et septem boues septem anni sunt multa huiusmodi Huic est quod dictum est Petra erat Christus non enim dixit petra significat Christum sed tanquaem hoc esset quod vtique per substantiam non hoc erat sed per significationem Sic sanguis quoniam propter vitalem quandam corpulentiam animam significat in sacramentis anima dictus est In englishe it is to saie The thyng that doth signifie is wont to be called by the name of the thing that it doeth signifie Therefore it is written And the seuen eares of corne are seuen yeres and not the seuen eares of corne doe signifie or betoken seuen yeres And the seuen kyne are seuen yeres And many suche like places And thereof it commeth that it was saide And the Rocke was Christ he saide not the Rocke did betoken or signifie Christe as though it had been that thyng in substaunce whiche was onely in signification And bicause that the blood by reason of a certaine liuely substaunce doeth signifie and betoken the soule therefore in the Sacramentes the blood is called the soule But the wordes that haue been alledged before out of his epistle to Bonifacius make the matter most plaine Therfore I will thinke it no labour lost to repeate them againe as they lye in Latine first Si enim Sacramenta quandam similitudinem â–ª earum rerum quarum Sacramenta sunt non haberent omnino sacramenta non essent Ex hac autem similitudine plaerunque etiam ipsarum rerum nomina accipiunt Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum Sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est Sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est ita Sacramentum fidei fides est If the Sacramentes
saieth he had not some certaine similitude or likenesse of the thynges whereof they be Sacramentes they should be no Sacramentes and of this similitude many times they haue the names of those thynges them selues As then the Sacrament of the body of Christe is after a certaine maner the body of Christe and the Sacrament of his blood after a certaine maner his blood So the Sacrament of faith is faith All these aucthorities are of them selues plaine enough and néede no further exposition Therefore sith that I haue sufficiently proued both by the holy Scriptures and also by the aucthorities of the auncient fathers that the Sacramentes are called by the names of the thinges whereof they be Sacramentes I wyll be so bolde to conclude that Christe our sauiour dyd at his last Supper call bread his body and the wine his blood because that they were by his holy institution made the sacramentes of his body and blood And vnto this doeth Theodoretus agrée as it hath béen declared before wheÌ„ he saith He that did call his body wheate and bread and himself a vine doth honour the bread and wine with the name of his body and blood not chauÌ„ging the nature but addyng grace vnto the nature S. Chrisostome hath euen the like wordes whereby we may also gather that the bread and wine being coÌ„secrated that is to say being applied to that holy vse that God hath instituted and ordeined for that is the true consecration as one very well sayde consecratio tota actio Christi est whatsoeuer the papistes can prate and scoulds to the contrary be called the body and blood of Christe because that being duely ministred and worthily receaued thei bring with them selues the grace vertue and propertie of his most precious fleshe and blood whose nature and propertie is to bryng immortalitie and life euerlasting that is to say to viuiâ—â—e and quicken all faithfull beleuers both in soules and bodies And this doth S. Ambrose meane when he saieth Thou doest receaue the Sacrament in a similitude but thou obteynest the grace and vertue of the true natural body of Christ and also of his blood and that eating the bread as we ought to do we are fed vnto immortalitie whiche is a propertie of the diuine substaunce This also doth saint Cyprian meane when he writeth on this maner The same bread that the Lord did reache foorth vnto his disciples beyng chaunged not in outwarde appearaunce but in nature was by the almightie power of God made fleshe Which wordes notwithstanding that they be aleaged of the papistes for to mainteyne their butcherly and grosse doctriâ—e of transubstantiation withall haue none other meanyng but that the bread remayning bread styll as it was before as it doth appeare outwardly vnto the eye the nature of it is cleane altered chaunged For whereas the propertie nature of the bread is to féede the body only and to mainteyne or continue the life of it beyng applied to that holy vse that Christ hath instituted ordeyned in his holy misteries it doth feede both the soules bodies vnto immortalitie life euerlasting so that by it not only our soules do receaue a life that neuer shall haue ende but also our bodies are made partakers of vncorruption as Ireneus doth testifie saying As the bread which is of the earth after that the name of god is called vpoÌ„ ouer it or receauing the name or calling of god is no more coÌ„mon bread but the bread of thankes geuyng consistyng of two thinges that is to say of the heauenly and earthly so our bodyes receauyng the bread of thankes geuing are no more corruptible hauyng a hope of resurrection Who woulde not saie that the nature and propertie of the bread is wonderfully altered and chaunged The like doeth Sainct Augustine wryte of the water of baptisme saiyng Vnde ista tanta virtus aquae vt corpus tangat cor abluat nisi faciente verbo Whence commeth this so greate vertue of the water to touche the body and wash the soule but by workyng of the worde here is a wonderfull alteration and chaunge The propertie and nature of the water is to washe awaie the filthines of our bodies to quenche our thirste and to serue vs in other thinges that parteine to this mortall life to moyst the grounde and to make it fruictfull but beyng rightly ministred and worthely receaued in the Sacrament of baptisme it washeth awaie the filthinesse of the soule and maketh the inwarde man cleane from all sinnes through the working spirit of God and yet it remaineth water still no parte of the substaunce thereof beyng chaunged so ought we to vnderstande of the sacramentall bread and wine For though beyng duely ministred worthely receaued they haue the nature propertie and grace of the precious fleshe and blood of Christ yet as Theodoretus saieth they remaine still in their former substaunce shape and figure Whereunto the olde writer Emisenus doeth agree affirmyng plainely that the corruptible creatures of bread and wine are by the consecration or worde and secret power of the inuisible priest so chaunged and turned as we be chaunged in baptisme where though we be renued by the holy ghost and made newe creatures yet we remaine stil the same in substaunce that we were before And so with the blessed Martir Ciprian he calleth the visible creatures of bread and wine the body and blood of Christ bicause of the excellent nature vertue propertie and grace of his most precious fleshe and blood that thei do receaue by the mightie word and secret power of the inuisible Priest who is our Sauiour Iesus Christe hym selfe For this excellent propertie I saie vertue and grace that the creature of bread beyng rightly ministred and worthely receaued doth obtaine by the almightie power of God. The blessed Martir sainct Ciprian with the other auncient fathers doe saie that the bread is made fleshe Else if we shoulde take his wordes so grossely as our papistes doe we should be faine to confesse that the blessed body of Christe beyng made of bread should haue his beginnyng originall and ofspryng of the corruptible creature of bread as I haue sufficiently proued already before Wherefore Saincte Ambrose saieth Sunt quae erant in alium mutantur in substaunce they are meaning the Sacrament the same they were before but in accident or qualitie they are turned into another thyng for before it was common meates For mans table nowe is turned to be meate for the Lordes table and in another place he saieth Ante consecrationem alia species nominatur post consecrationem corpus christi significatur before the consecration it is named by another kynde but after consecration it doeth signifie the body of Christe Sainct Chrisostome agreeyng herewith saieth Si incorporei essemus c. If we were bodilesse god would geue vs these thynges bare and bodylesse but for
contradiction or resistaunce But the scriptures do teache vs cleane contrary For they all testifie vnto vs that Christe our Sauiour hauyng offered one oblation or sacrifice for synnes is set downe on the right hande of God for euer tariyng there till his fooes be made his footstoole as it hath been sufficiently proued before Thei doe therefore alledge in vaine the omnipotencie and almightie power of God for to proue thereby their deuillishe and moÌ„strous opinioÌ„ beyng in this point like vnto the anabaptistes which wheÌ„ thei be so sore pressed with the scirptures that they knowe not whiche waie to escape doe flye streight waie vnto the spirite hauyng then none other thyng in their mouthes but the spirite the spirite So these ioly felowes when they be beaten with the scriptures that they haue not one worde to saie will by and by with a great circumstaunce of wordes and fetchyng aboute alledge the omnipotencie and almightie power of God settyng foorth his wonderous works miracles that he hath wrought by it that so they may vnder the shadowe of them deceaue and blinde the poore vnlearned people whiche haue no vnderstandyng nor perceiueraunce of thynges These be for the moste parte the goodly argumentes and reasons that they doe vse if god hath doen this thyng or that thyng then will they bryng in some excellent miracle that god did worke in tymes paste may not he by his omnipotencie and mightie power bring to passe that the natural body of his sonne Christe should be in the Sacrament ye may see howe these newe fangled felowes do most shamefully deny the omnipotencie of God. These and other like thynges they doe daiely vomite out againste the true ministers of Gods worde in their railyng bookes and vpon their Alebenche where as they themselues are vtter enimies and subuerâ—ours of the omnipotencie and almightie power of god For thei do preache and daily shewe teache and write and also with fyre and sworde compell men to beléeue that christe can not geue vnto vs his fleshe to eate excepte his naturall body that he tooke of the virgine Marie that died vpon the crosse and ascended vp into heauen be there in the Sacrament â–ª really and substancially in déede more like a monstrous thyng then an humaine body Wheras on the contrarie we doe both beléeue and teache that our sauiour christ is able by his euerlasting and almighty spirite whensoeuer we doe worthely receiue his Sacrament to feede with his most precious flesh and blood both our soules and bodies vnto life euerlastyng and yet that hee needeth not therefore to come downe from heauen nor to be after suche a monstrous fashion in the sacramentall bread and wine For as the blood of our sauiour christ doth cleanse vs from all our synnes and yet we neede not to haue it really present with vs for to be washed or bathed in it so Christ our sauiour accordyng to his promise doeth daily or whensoeuer we doe come worthely to his holy Table feede both our bodies and soules with the wholsome and heauenly foode of his pretious body and blood and this doeth he by his eternall and almightie spirite so that he needeth not therefore to come downe at the becke and commaundement of euery iuglyng Papiste and to be really present in a péece of their sterched breade after that they haue with gapyng and blowyng spoken foure or fiue wordes vpon it Let any man that hath any sparke of the spirite of GOD iudge whether this maner of feedyng vpon the body and blood of Christ in the holy Sacrament whiche as I saide is doen by his eternall spirite doth not in all poinctes agrée with the holy Scriptures and with the almightie power of God who is neuer wont sith that of his owne nature he is most true to do or worke any thyng againste his owne worde and sacred Scriptures wherby we are certified that the heauens muste holde our Sauiour Christe till all thynges be restored againe that God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophetes since the worlde began The examples that they doe bryng of the walkyng of our Sauiour Christ vpon the waters or of his commyng in to his disciples and apostles when the doores were faste shut if they be well considered and looked vppon it shal be easie for to perceaue and vnderstande that they make nothyng for them but rather against them For when our Sauiour Christe did walke vpon the Sea although he did it by his diuine and godly power yet had he at the same present houre his true and naturall body with due proportion of lymmes and all other dimensions that doe pertaine to a mans body so that he coulde then be seene with the bodily eyes of his apostles taken vp sensibly into the Boate that they were in But no suche thyng will thei alowe in their monstrous being of christe his true and naturall body in their Sacrament Therefore this example maketh not for them but against them Now againe where they saie that our Sauiour Christ did go in to his apostles through the doores beyng faste shut here they make a shamefull lye For neither in the Gréeke nor in the Latine we shal finde that it is written through the doores beyng fast shut but the doores beyng shut or when the doores were fast shut Whereby the Euangelist doth signifie vnto vs the tyme that our Sauiour Christe came in to his disciples For therby may we vnderstande that it was verie late in the night when he came in to them as when any of vs doth saye I came home by candle light or when all the doores were fast shut yet no man is so foolishe as for to construe vppon his wordes that he had light borne afore hym or that he went in through the doores but by this maner of speaking we be wont to gather that it was late in the night when he came home Moreouer we do reade in the booke of the Actes that the apostles were put in the common prison at Hierusalem but the angell of the Lorde by night opened the doores of the prison and brought them foorth the doores of the prison beyng shut fast againe as sure as it was possible and yet none of the kéepers that were standyng without before the doores and kéeping them with al diligence did espie it when it was doen. Likewise in the same booke we finde written that when Herode would haue brought foorth Peter for to put hym to death the angell of the Lorde did come vnto hym as he slept betweene twoo souldiours bounde with two chaines and the keepers that watched and warded the prison standyng without before the doores And as soone as the angell smote Peter on the side and waked him his chaines fel of from his handes and also that when he and the angell were paste the firste and seconde watche and were come to
teache Moyses another lesson For wheÌ„ he was comming to the fierie bushe he did bid him to put of his shoes because that he stoode in a holy place whereby we are admonished of two thinges First howe that God doth preferre our bare skinne which he hath sanctified with the blood of his sonne before the skinne of dead beastes which shall neuer rise againe nor be partakers of the glory that the children of God shall haue at the general resurrection of all fleshe both in their bodies and in their soules Secondly howe that we ought to put away all dead workes from vs if we will truely and as we shoulde do handle holy thinges or if we loke for to obteyne true holynesse at Gods hande These godly lessons should thei teache the people when thei come to the Communion and as true and faithfull Pastours thei should endeuour themselues to deliuer them from the abominable superstition of these false apostles whiche according to the doctrines and preceptes of men be woont to say Touche not eate not handle not ¶ The .xvij. Chapiter ¶ Againste woâ—shippyng of the Sacrament NOw to speake of the detestable Idolatrie that they doe with all tyranny and crueltie compell men to commit making them to worship a péece of bread in steede of the liuyng God creatour of all thynges it will be necessarie for whereas the Sacrament of the body and blood of christe was instituted and ordeined for to put vs in remembraunce of the death passion and bloodsheddyng of our sauiour christ and that we should in it being duely ministred and worthely receiued be made partakers of all the merites thereof that is to â—aie be put in full possession of all that he did purchase by the death of his bodie and by the sheddyng of his blood thei make of it a plaine ydoll causing the simple ignoraunte people to geue godly honour to the corruptible elements of bread and wine which thyng they can not deny but to be directly against all the scriptures which doe alwaies teache vs to lifte vp our heartes and mindes vnto the Lorde that is to saie vnto the thynges that by the Sacraments are signified vnto vs and not vnto the visible elementes and signes of them For as sainct Chrisostome saieth The Infidell when he heareth of the water of baptisme thinketh it to be onely plaine water but I that beléeue in Christe doe not onely see water but also the cleansyng of the soule by the spirite of god I consider christes buriall his resurrection our sanctification righteousnes and the fulnes of the spirite the thing that I see I iudge not with my bodily eies but with the eyes of my minde Thus farre he Sainct Augustine therefore plainely saieth to them that hang so vppon the visible signes Ea demum est miserabilis animae seruitus signa pro rebus accipere This is a miserable bondage of the soule to take the signes in steede of the thynges that be signified And for this cause were they wonte to saie Lift vp your heartes all the people or congregation aunswered We haue lifte them vp vnto the Lorde To be shorte Christe our sauiour who sayeth that he hath shewed and declared vnto vs all that he hearde of his father maketh no mention at all of this worshippyng but sayeth onlye Take eate c. The blessed Apostle S. Paule who doeth sette forth at large the whole institution of his master Christ saieth not Let a man fall downe on his knees and worship the bread and wyne But let a man examine him selfe that is to saye descend into his owne conscience and trye his owne hart and so let him eate of this breade and drinke of this cuppe If any suche worshippyng had ben requisite and necessarie both Christ our Sauiour himselfe and also his Apostle woulde not haue left it out vnspoken of Whereby we may conclude that all that thei do in the honouring of the misticall bread and wine is a méere inuention of theirs and a most detestable idolatrie which ought in no wise to be suffered in the church of christ For by it the honour that is due vnto the liuing God only the creatour and maker of all thinges and vnto his sonne Iesus Christ our Lorde and Sauiour is geuen vnto the dumbe and insensible creatures and corruptible elementes of bread and wine That they are corruptible creatures Saint Augustine saith If we beholde the visible creatures as the bread and the wine wherein the sacramentes are ministred who seeth not that thei be corruptible But if we consider the thinges that are wrought thereby who séeth not that thei can not be corrupted Saint Origene saith The meate that is sanctified by the word of God by prayer according to the materiall part that is in it passeth into the belly and so foorth into the priuie c. Therefore let vs folowe S. Chrisostomes councell where he saieth Nolimus creatorem cum creatura confundere ne illud audiamus seruierunt creature potius quà m creatori Let vs not confounde the creature and the creatour both together lest it be saide of vs they haue honoured a creature more then their creatour For saith he in a nother place creatures are to worship the creatour to be worshipped But here thei will say that thei worshippe not the bread and the wine but the body and blood of Christe that be there really present vnder the formes of bread and wine for to be receaued of the faithfull communicantes Be not these Saint Augustines wordes say they No man doth eate the fleshe of christ except he worship it first not only we do not sinne if we worship it but rather we do sinne if we worship it not They can neither proue by this place of Saint Augustine that the body and blood of Christe be really present vnder the formes of bread and wine nor yet mainteine their idolatrous worshipping of the Sacrament by it For all faithfull christians being commaunded to lift vp their heartes do worshippe the fleshe of Christe in his Godhead sitting in glorie on the right hande of the father before that thei feede vpon it by faith through the mightie operation of the eternall spirite of god And that this is the meaning of Saint Augustine it may easyly appeare by that that foloweth For by and by after he saith that wee ought not to sticke long in the fleshe but to clyme vp higher vnto the godhead of christ And verely their very wordes that they do vse afore that thei go about or euen when thei go about their holy misteries saying vnto the people Lift vp your heartes do vtterly condemne them For by them folowing in this point the custome of the auncient Catholique Churche thei doe exhort the people that thei sticke not vnto the visible elementes and signes of bread and wine but that thei lift vp their heartes and mindes
receiue this Sacrament vnworthely that handle the misteries otherwise than the lorde hath instituted and ordeined them and that they be guiltie of the body and blood of the Lorde which as this father doeth write is to be punished for the death of Christe or to suffer the punishment that they shall suffer and haue that did put him to death and did shed his most precious blood that come to this holy Table not obseruyng the institution and ordinaunce of Christe and without a christianlike conuersation The .xviij. Chapiter ¶ How the vnworthy receiuers are guiltie of the body and blood of Christe although he be not corporally in the Sacrament NOwe let vs sée whether the vnworthy receauers of this holy Sacrament can not eate and drinke their owne damnation or be guiltie of the body and blood of Christ except our Sauiour both God and man fleshe blood and bones as he was borne of the virgin Marie be there vnder the formes of bread and wine really present Christe our sauiour did say with his owne mouth Uerely I say vnto you whatsoeuer ye doe to one of these litle ones ye do it vnto me Shal we say therfore that Christ is naturally fleshe blood and bones in euery poore body that lieth impotent and sicke or that goeth from doore to doore It were too much madnesse so to say As then our Sauiour Iesus Christe is either refreshed or despised in his poore néedie members so is he honoured or dishonoured in his Sacramentes And as he doth recken and impute that to be done vnto him that we do vnto his poore néedy members so doth he recken and impute that to be done vnto his body blood that is doen vnto the sacrament of the same In an other place he saieth vnto Saul who persecuted his Church Saul Saul why doest thou persecute me Christ was then risen from death and coulde die no more or yet be persecuted of any man and neuerthelesse he saith Why doest thou persecute me Shall we by and by descant vpon these words that Christ our Sauiour is really in euery one of his faithfull members that be persecuted If we should so do all the world might count recken vs for mad and out of our right wittes We may say then as we did before As our sauiour Christ doth impute that persecution to be done vnto his owne body and vnto his owne person that is done vnto his faithful members so if we do with an vnworthy and vnreuerent receauing with a presumptious or wilfull disobedience towardes his institution and ordinaunce pollute and defile his holy Sacramentes he will impute it to be done vnto the very thinges that thei do signifie and not to the visible signes elementes The Lorde him selfe saith He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye He were a very idiote that woulde vpon the occasion of this text affirme and mainteyne that euery one of the faithfull is really the apple of the Lordes eye We do rather learne by this text that God doth loue his elect and chosen as dearely as a man doth loue the apple of his owne eye that he will as sore punishe the cruel tyrantes of the worlde that persecute and hurt them as he woulde punishe them that should hurt the apple of his owne eye Which as it is a dreadfull saying for the tyrantes and persecutours of Gods people so is it very comfortable for all those that suffer persecution here in this worlde for righteousnesse sake Many like textes haue we in the Scriptures as when S. Paul saith A man praying or propheciyng and hauing any thing on his head ▪ doth dishonour his head And before he sayd that the head of euery man is Christ. It shoulde folowe then by their owne doctrine that Christ coulde not be dishonoured except he were really and substantially in euery mans head that doth pray or prophecie But thei will neither perceaue nor vnderstande that this maner of speaking that the holy ghost doeth vse here in this place is borowed of the common phrase and speache that is vsed among men If I shoulde send a gift or a present vnto a man if he woulde not take it but refuse it despitefully or cōtemne it I would veryly thinke that he had contemned and disdayned me and not my gift or present But what woulde I thinke if he shoulde cast it into the dirt and treade it vnder foote When an earthly king doeth sende foorth his broade seale among his subiectes thereby to declare his princely fauour towardes them and that he will helpe ayde ▪ and succour them in all their necessities and troubles and deliuer them from all peryls and daungers as much as in him lyeth If any man shoulde despitefully take it breake it in péeces and cast it into the myre or estéeme it no more than other common waxe Woulde it not be saide that he should commit treason against the kinges person And yet no man will say that the kinges person is there really vnder the waxe or that the waxe is the kinges person So the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christe is the true seale of our heauenly king wherby he doeth seale vp vnto vs all the benefites of his precious death passion and bloodsheeding and also certifie vs that if we will take holde vpon him by faith he will deliuer vs from all our enimies both bodyly and ghostly and as long as we be in this mortall warre fighting against the whole worlde Satan the deuill and the fleshe féede and comfort vs with the heauenly foode of his most precious body and blood and at length make vs felowe heires with him of his heauenly kingdome Therefore if we do handle it vnreuerently not considering who is the aucthour of it nor who it is that offereth him selfe so mercifully and louingly vnto vs Is it marueyle that the holy Apostle saith that we are guiltie of the body blood of the Lorde that is to say that we are before the iudgement seate of almightie God because of our vnthankfulnesse and vnreuerent handling of the holy misteries counted as guiltie as if we had slaine the body of the only begotten sonne of god and shed his most precious blood vppon the crosse And yet it foloweth not that the body and blood of Christe be really present there in the Sacrament The Apostle Saint Paul doeth write that thei that fall away from the knowen trueth do crucifie a new the only begotten sonne of god Shall we therfore say that thei haue our sauiour Iesus Christ among them and that thei nayle him vpon the crosse as the Iewes did vnder Pontius Pilate when thei did by the handes of the Gentiles put him to a most shamefull death That were to great a blasphemie against the glorious resurrection of our sauiour Iesu Christ who rising againe from the dead dieth no more death hath no more power ouer
asmuche as we haue soules fastened vnto our bodies therfore God geueth vs thynges spirituall vnder thinges visible Sainct Augustine to put all out of doubte that we eate not grosly nor drynke verily or carnally the body and blood of Christe as the Papiste affirmeth saith these wordes Non hoc corpus quod videtâ—s manducaturi estis bibiturs illud sanguinem quem fusuri sunt qui me cruciâ—igent Sacramentum aliquod vobis commendaui That is to saie Ye shal not eate this body that ye sâ—e mee to haue nor yet shal ye drinke that blod whiche they shall shed that crucifie mee it is a sacrament that I geue or deliuer vnto you therefore hee â—aide in his tracâ—es vppon Iohn Aliud est sacramentum aliud res sacramenti The sacrament is one thyng and the thyng of the sacrament is another Wherefore he geueth this lesson to all saiyng In sacramentis videndum est no quid sint sed quid significent In the sacramentes wee maie not looke what they are but what they doe signifie Nowe all men may see howe shamefully the papistes doe belye vs saying and writyng that we do make of the Sacrament but a bare figure and signe For this is our faith and beléefe that if a man doth truely examine himself that is to say ponder weigh and consider with his owne mynde whether he acknowledgeth him selfe to be a sinner or not and whether he hath an inwarde gréefe and an vnfayned repentaunce or sorow for his sinnes whether he hath forgiuen from the bottome of his heart all his enimies and reconciled him selfe vnto them that he hath offended whether he be determined to restore againe vnto his neighbour al that he hath taken away from him wrongfully by any maner of meanes whether he be mynded for the loue that he beareth vnto God to liue afterwardes vertuously according to his holy coÌ„maundements forsaking sinne and the worlde but aboue all thinges whether he hath a true faith in the mercie of God and in the name of his sonne Iesu Christ and whether he beleueth stedfastly that Iesus Christe is his only sauiour redéemer intercessour aduocate and mediatour betwixt God and him finally whether he hath a desire to liue and dye in the onely doctrine of Christ forsaking all other false and erronious doctrines with all kinde of deuillishe superstition and idolatrie and so eate of this bread and drinke of this cup our faith I say and beléefe is that such a man doeth féede most effectuously vppon the body and blood of Christe our onely sauiour and yet it néedeth not therefore that his naturall body and blood be really present vnder the formes of bread and wine For as in the holy Sacrament of baptisme if it be duely ministred and worthely taken we receaue the holy ghost by whom we are renued or made newe creatures we obtayne frée remission forgeuenesse of our sinnes and are apparelled with Christ whom we do put on there and yet no man wyll say that the water is any of these thinges or that it is turned into them So in the holy misteries when we come worthely vnto them we are most wholsomly fed with the precious bodye and blood of our sauiour Christ yet if we shoulde say that it coulde not be doen vnlesse the bread and wine were transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ or except his body and blood be there really present vnder the formes of bread and wine we might moste iustely be likened vnto the Iewishe ruler and gouernour whiche thought that excepte Christ should come in his owne person his sonne could not be healed For christe our sauiour is able by the vertue of his holy institution and by the mightie workyng of his eternall spirite to doe all these thinges as he sitteth on the right hande of his father And for the obiections that some make out of Chrisostome where he saieth doest thou see bread doest thou see wine doe they auoyde beneath as other meates doe God forbid think not so for as waxe if it be put into the fire it is made like the fire no substaunce remainyng nothyng is lefte so here also thinke thou that the misteries be consumed by the substaunce of the body they are easyly aunswered and yet our papistes thinke by these wordes of Chrisostome that they haue the conquest because he saith that we sée no bread nor wine but as waxe in the fire they be consumed to nothing so that no substaunce remayneth If thei had rehearsed no more but the very next sentence that foloweth in Chrisostome which craftyly and deuillishly they leaue out the meanyng of the Doctour would easyly haue appeared which wordes that folowe are these Wherfore saith he when you come to these misteries do not thinke that you receaue by a man the bodye of Christe but that with tonges ye receaue fire by the Angels Seraphin Thinke that the blood of saluation floweth out of the pure and godly side of Christ and so comming to it receaue it with pure lippes casting downe your eyes liftyng vp your mindes mournyng priuily without speache and reioysing in our heartes Nowe if the papistes wyll gather of the wordes by them recited that there is neither bread nor wine in the Sacrament then we may aswel gather of the wordes that folowe that there is neither Priest nor Christes body For as in the former sentence Chrisostome saieth that we maye not thinke that we see bread and wine so in the seconde sentence he saith that we may not thinke that we receaue the body of Christ of the priestes handes Nowe if vpon the seconde sentence the papistes will say it can not be truely gathered that in the holy coÌ„munion there is not the body of Christe ministred by the Priest then must they confesse also that it can not be well and truely gathered vpon the first sentence that there is no bread nor wine But all these thynges be together in the holy Communion Christ hym selfe spiritually eaten and drunken and norishyng the right beléeuers the bread and wine as a sacrament declaryng the same and the priest as a minister thereof wherfore Chrisostome meant not absolutely to deny that there is bread and wine or to deny vtterly the Priest and the body of Christe to be there But his intent was to drawe our myndes vp towards heauen that we should not consider so much the bread wine Priest and body of Christe as we should consider his diuinitie holy spirite geuen vnto vs to our eternall saluation And therefore in the same place he vseth so many tymes these wordes Thinke and Thinke not willyng vs by these wordes that we should not fixe or set our thoughtes and mindes vpon bread wine Priest nor Christes body but to lift vp our heartes higher vnto his spirite and diuinitie without the whiche his body auaileth nothyng as he saieth hym selfe It is the spirite that geueth
vnto death to those that beléeue not But howsoeuer men liste to take it this shal be my beléef that the goyng downe of Christ into hell is our deliueraunce from thence For excepte our sauiour Christe had been enuironed and compassed aboute with the sorowes and paines of hell and in a maner ouerwhelmed with them for a while hell would haue swallowed vs vp vnto euerlastyng damnation we should haue perished vtterly both in body and soule wee should neuer haue escaped the tyranny of Sathan nor be healed of the deadly wounde that we haue receiued of that olde venimous serpent the deuill and enimie to our saluation So that I denie not that article of Christes discention but of the maner howe is the question for when it is saide he will not leaue his soule in hell he speaketh not of his discendyng into hell of the damned but that he shal rise againe from the dead that is he shall not leaue hym in death or liyng continuallie in the graue For the soule in that place is taken for the whole naturall man c. For seeke all the scriptures from one ende to a nother and ye shall neuer finde that Christ in body or soule discended into hell but that he died and rose againe the thirde daie accordyng to the Scriptures For you shall note that the East Churche had it not the Counsell of Nicen Creede hath it not nor the Counsell of Ephesus c. But to be short ye shal vnderstande that christ descended into hell three maner of waies Videl Firste in power as when the Uaile of the Temple did rent in twaine from the top to the bottome and the earth did quake and the stones were clouen and the graues did open them selues and many bodies of the Sainctes whiche slept arose and came out of the graues after his resurrection and went into the holy Citie and appeared vnto many Secondly in spirite when as he saide my soule is heauy euen vnto the death and when he cried my God my my God why hast thou forsaken mee The thirde in person when as he was laide in the graue as we reade that thei tooke the body of Iesus and wrapped it in linnen clothes with the odours as the maner of the Iewes is to bury Paul saith now in that hee ascended what is it but that he had also descended first into the lower parte of the earth This deare brother is my beleefe grounded vpon the worde of GOD and not vpon men or mens dreames or phantacies And reporte not that I doe denie any article of the faithe God forbid I should wherfore reade with iudgement and with the spirite of mildenes come not pre iudicio but with iudicio Some there be againe that be of opinion that the soule of Christe went not downe into the hell of the damned but that it went onely downe for to deliuer the Patriarkes and other holy fathers of the olde Testament out of the Lymbe ▪ and also for to deliuer the soules of them that were of lesse perfection then the Patriarkes and other holy fathers out of the paines of purgatory where they were kepte for to make satisfaction for those synnes that they had done no penaunce for in this worlde But as for Lymbe I knowe none but Abrahams bosome whiche to saie truely is that moste blessed life whiche they that dye in the faithe that Abraham did shall enioye after this worlde ¶ The .vij. Chapiter ¶ Christe is our true Purgatorie and the Papistes Purgatorie is false AS for Purgatorie I knowe none other but the blood of Iesu Christe our onely sauiour that doth cleanse vs from all our sinnes Againe none other fire doe I know in all the Scriptures that hath any vertue or power to purge synnes but the fire of his holy spirite wherewith he promised to Baptize his elect and chosen and the fire of his sacred and diuine word whereof hym selfe speaketh on this maner ye are cleane bicause of the woorde that I haue spoken vnto you This is true purgatorie wherein all muste be purged afore that they can enter into the kingdome of God. That other Purgatorie that they haue inuented of their owne heades without and against Gods worde is a most deuillishe and abhominable blasphemyng against the merites and bloodshedding of our sauiour Christes death and Passion For by it the onely begotten sonne of God is made an vnperfect sauiour and of lesse aucthoritie power and strength then they will haue that fleshely ydoll of Rome and most pernicious antichriste to be vnto whom they dare attribute and giue full aucthoritie and power to absolue men and to graunte vnto them a ful pardon of all their synnes euen a poena a culpa that is to say to deliuer them not onely from the offence it self but also from the paine or punishment that is due vnto it Whereas poore Christe who hath shed his heart blood for vs and who hath troden the Wine presse alone is scarcely able by their doctrine to forgeue vs our offences at least he cānot release vs of the paine For if it be of his forgeuing we must suffer the paines that be due vnto our synnes in the fire of Purgatorie till we haue made satisfaction for them or till we haue bought them out at the antichristes handes and at the handes of his shauelinges or els we muste make a full satisfaction for them here in this worlde whiles we are here yet a liue if at least we entend for to escape that whot burning fire of theirs So that euery waie Christe shall be but halfe a a Sauiour and God his father a moste abhominable and deceitfull lyer for he saieth at what tyme soeuer a synner doth repent hym of his synne from the bottome of his harte I wil put his wickednes out of my remembraunce so that it shall no more be thought vpon How is this promise fulfilled I praie you if he doe so cruelly punishe our wickednes and offences in the fire of purgatorie after that he hath forgeuen and pardoned them Is this to thinke no more vpon them what can these deuillishe and abhominable Sophisters alledge nowe for them selues will they saie that GOD is a lier and that he doeth not performe and fulfil his promises moste truely either they must saie so what startyng holes soeuer they can finde out or els confesse and acknowledge that their doctrine is most detestable and also blasphemous against the trueth of Gods promises and against the merites of the moste precious death passion and bloodsheddyng of his onely begotten sonne our Sauiour Iesu Christe And in a nother place this moste mercifull Father and bounteous Lorde who is alwaies true and most faithfull in all his promises doeth crie out saiyng I am he I am he that taketh awaie thy wickednes and that for mine owne sake and thy synnes will I remember no more Here
Christe had meant some other thyng then the bare wordes do sounde but one or other woulde haue expounded them Againe how could it be that they that do eate of that bread and drinke of that Cup vnworthilie shoulde be guiltie of the body and blood of Christ and receaue their damnation bicause they make no difference of the Lordes body excepte the verie naturall body and blood of the Lorde were there present in the holy communion Firste and formost I graunt that the worde of the Lorde must be fulfilled and that it must néedes be as the truth saith But then we muste take the wordes of that the Lorde doeth speake in their right sence and according to the meanyng that he hath spoken them and not after the vaine imagination of of mens wittes For that holy father Tertullian saieth we must not bryng our owne sences to the readyng of Scriptures but we muste take the sence that the Scripture doeth geue by conferryng one Scripture by another and therefore he saieth Oportet secundum plura intelligi paâ—ciora The fewer places must be expounded by the mo Saint Hierome also saieth Non in verbis scripturarum est euangelium sed in sensu The Gospell standeth not in the bare wordes of the Scriptures but in the meanyng Saint Augustine also saith Solet circumstantia scripturaruÌ„ illuminare sententiam The circumstances of the scriptures is wont to geue light and to open the meanyng Else it will bee verie straunge as when he saith I am the dore I am the true vine we might by as good reason imagine that hee is a materiall dore and a material vine and that his Apostles are vine brauÌ„ches because that he saieth and ye are the braunches Againe ye are speakyng to his Apostles the Salte of the earth Againe when Paul did saie and the rocke was christe men readyng or hearyng the same might haue surmised that the Apostles were verie Salt that the Rocke whiche the Isralites dranke of in the wildernes was very Christ in deede why bicause that the wordes doe sounde so and seeme vnto the ignoraunt to signifie so Therfore if we will haue the true and liuely worde of god to take effect we muste with diligent conferryng of the Scriptures searche out the meanyng and right sence of it as wee haue saide a little aboue out of the Fathers else we may saie long enough euen vntil our heades do ache this is gods word thus and thus did the Lorde say before that we can proue any thyng And whereas they doe boast and crake so much of their witnesses which do al with one consent rehearse these words of the lordes institution This is my body after one maner and fashion they do in that point but deceaue the poore simple and ignoraunt people For although thei doe nothyng varie in the repeatyng of these wordes This is my body yet when they rehearse the wordes of our Sauiour Christe whiche he spake touchyng the Cuppe they doe sufficiently declare howe these wordes of Christe ought to be taken and vnderstanded and what is the true sence and meanyng of them For where Matthewe and Marke doe saie in the persone of Christ This is my blood both Luke and the blessed apostle S. Paul as faithfull interpreters of our sauiour christes wordes doe saie This cup is the newe Testament in my blood Which wordes if they be well considered and marked doe open the vnderstandyng of all the whole matter For as the Cup or that whiche is in the Cup is the newe Testament by the newe Testament hee doeth vnderstande the frée remission of our sinnes that we haue through the merites of his death passion and bloodshedding so the bread is the body of Christe But the cup doeth onely signifie and represent vnto vs the newe Testament that is to say the forgeuenes of our sinnes whiche we haue in the blood of Christ whereof we are made partakers in his holy and blessed Sacrament therefore we can conclude none otherwise but that the bread doeth onely represent and signifie vnto vs the blessed body of christ which was broken for vs the vertue of which body is communicated and geuen vnto vs by the due ministration and worthy receauyng of the holy and blessed Communion Againe if the multitude of witnesses ought to take place three of the chéefe Euangelistes do testifie vnto vs that our Sauiour Christe did saie Ye shall not haue me alwaies with you vnto whom we may adde Peter for the fourth whose wordes are these Repent ye therefore and turne that your sinnes may be done awaie when the time of refreshyng commeth whiche we shall haue of the presence of the Lorde and when God shall sende hym whiche before was preached vnto you that is to wit Iesus Christ who must receaue heauen vntill the tyme that all thynges whiche God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophetes sence the worlde began be restored againe Here Doctour Harding with the residue of the louanistes â–ª wil replie and saie why sir this place of Peter maketh litle or nothyng for you for this worde oportet in the Actes whiche signifieth must dooth not importe so much as you woulde inferre of necessitie as may euidently appeare by Saint Paul where hee saieth Oportet Episcopum esse vnius vxoris virum A Bishop must be the husbande of one wife Here you maye see saie they that oportet doeth not importe suche a necessitie as you make that he that neuer was maried may be a Bishop Here gentle reader vnderstande thou that this place of Paul by them alledged is not alike whiche these Papisticall Louanistes goe about to compare For in comparyng of the Scriptures we must not consider the naked words but the meaning thereof for as saint Hierome saieth Ne putemus in verbis scripturarum esse euangelium sed in sensu That is let vs not thinke the Gospell standeth in the words of the scriptures but in the meanyng For this place of Sainct Paul by them alledged doeth declare of what equalitie a Bishop ought to be But in the other place S. Peter teacheth vs the place where Christe must necessarily be vntill the ende of the worlde whiche wee ought to beléeue to be true accordyng to our Creede And this comparison of this worde oportet doth no more aunswere this place of Peter in the Actes then if I woulde saie of you being here present Oportet te hîc esse You must néedes be here which importeth such necessitie for the time that you can none otherwise be but here And yet our Popecatholiques goe aboute in wordes to auoyde this necessitie with an other oportet in another sence as this Oportet te esse virum bonum You must be a good man here oportet doeth not in verie deede conclude anye such necessitie but that you may be as euill a man as a papist Thus you maie see
the yron gate that leadeth into the citie it did open vnto them of his owne accorde Shall wee saie nowe that an Angell was able so to open and shut againe the doore of the prison that the apostles were in that none of the keepers coulde perceaue nor espie it when it was doen And that our Sauiour Christ who is the Lorde of al angels was not able to open and shut againe the doore of the Parlour where his apostles were either by the ministerie of his angels or by his owne diuine and godly power but that he must be seen and hearde when hee was doyng of it Shall the yron gate of Herodes pryson open of his owne accorde vnto Peter and vnto the Angell and shall not the doore of the Parlour where the apostles were gathered together open and shut againe of his owne accorde vnto the onely begotten sonne of god but that either it must be opened by mans hand or els the sonne of God must creepe through it Here then do we learne that all power is geuen vnto our sauiour Christ both in heauen and in earth and that all creatures be subiect and obedient vnto him For he did declare no lesse by this miraculous commyng in to his apostles and disciples Therefore when they do say and all to mainteyne their monstrous doctrine that Christe went through the doores as they were fast shut whiche thing they do by false interpreting of the Scriptures as it doth appeare both by the Gréeke and Latine text they do not a litle derogate to his diuine and godly power For they make that he coulde not come to his apostles the doores being shut fast except he should put away from him all the properties of his true and naturall body that he tooke of vs in the virgins wombe of whom he tooke his vndefiled substance specially sith that after their doctrine and saiynges he went through the same doores beyng shut as he is in their sacrament where they will haue his body to bee without his due proportion of lymmes and all other dimentions that doe pertaine to a perfecte mans bodye whiche is nothyng els but to take awaie altogether the veritie truth of his manhoode But let vs graunt vnto them that he went as they will haue it through the doores as they were made faste what shall they get by it For after our sauiour Christ was gotten in and the apostles were abashed and affraied supposing that thei had seen a spirite he saide streight waies vnto them why are ye troubled and why doe thoughtes arise in your hartes Beholde my handes and my feete that it is euen I my selfe Handle mee and see for ▪ spirites haue not fleshe and boones as ye see mee haue And when he had thus spoken he shewed them his handes and his feete Now hauyng the scriptures so plaine vnto vs as we haue whiche doe witnesse vnto vs that our sauiour Christe hauing in his owne person pourged our synnes is set downe on the right hande of the maiestie on high wee are abashed at their doctrine and be afraied lest they will haue vs to receaue and worship a false Christe we are troubled at the straungenesse of this newe learning of theirs and thoughtes doe arise in our heartes Therfore if they will haue vs to be without trouble in our consciences and myndes if they will haue vs to beléeue and credite them let them so worke that we maie handle and see hym let them shewe vs his handes and his feete and then the battaile is fought and the victory theirs For Saincte Augustine saieth plainely without any darke speakyng Christum secundum humanitatem visibilem corporeum localem atque omnia membra humana veracitèr habentem credere conuenit confiteri That is to saie in englishe we muste beléeue and confesse that christ accordyng to his humanitie is visible hath the sustaunce and properties of a body is conteined in place and verely hath all the members and the whole proportion of a man Therfore let them as we haue said shewe vnto vs that we may see Christ in the cake or otherwise the feelde is ours the ouerthrowe and shame theirs ¶ The .xv. Chapiter ¶ What it is to be guiltie of the body and blood of Christe BUt now I will come to their common obiection that thei be wonte to make out of the eleuēth chapter of the first to the Corinthians where the apostle doth say whosoeuer shal eate of this bread or drinke of this cup vnworthely shal be guiltie of the body and blood of the lorde or he shal eate and drinke his owne damnation bicause that he maketh no difference of the Lordes body How coulde it be saie they that they whiche doe eate of this bread drinke of this cup vnworthely should be guiltie of the body and blood of Christe or that they should eate or drinke their owne damnation bicause that they make no difference of the Lordes body excepte the verie natural body and blood of Christe were there present in the holy Sacrament I will first declare what it is to receaue this holy Sacrament vnworthely and then will I aunswere at large to al the rest They eate and drinke vnworthely this holy and blessed sacrament that come vnto it not hauyng truely examined their owne selues that come vnto it without faith in the merites of the death passion and bloodsheddyng of our Sauiour Iesus Christe or without true repentaunce vnfained confession of their synnes vnto God without amendement of their owne liues and without loue and charitie Thei do also receaue vnworthely that handle the misteries otherwise then the lorde hath instituted and ordained them For they can not haue a deuoute mynde to God that presume to minister or receaue the Sacramentes and misteries otherwise then the aucthour of them hath appointed For there shal be a iudgement where euery man shall geue aunswere howe he hath receaued euen at the day of the Lorde Iesu Christ. For they that come to it not obseruyng the tradition ordinaunces and institution of the Lorde and without a christian like conuersation are guiltie of the body and blood of the Lorde Sainct Ambrose saieth But what is it to be guiltie of the body and blood of the Lorde euen to bee punished for his death For he is dead for them that set nought by his benefit Saint Ciprian also saieth ▪ Impijs in morte christi nullus superest quaestus iustissimè eos beneficia neglecta condemnant That is to saie the wicked haue no gaine by the death of Christe but the benefites that they haue despised doe most iustely condemne them Saint Augustine plainely saieth Habent foris sacramentum corporis christi sed rem ipsam non tenent intus cuius est illud sacramentum Et ideò sibi iudicium manducant bibunt Outwardely they haue the Sacrament of Christes body but the thyng it selfe inwardely in their
hartes they haue not And therefore they eate and drinke their owne iudgement Againe he saith Reâ—s erit non paruipretij sed sanguiniâ— christi qui violat commaculat animam christi sanguine passione mundatam He is guilty of no small price but euen of the blood of Christ that defileth his owne soule that was made cleane by the passion and blood of Christe Athanasius also saieth Adorantes dominum neque ita vt dignum est eo viuentes non sentiunt se reòs fieri dominicae mortisâ— Worshippyng our Lorde and not liuyng so as it is meete for our Lorde they feele not that thereby they are made guiltie of our Lordes death So that we may easely perceiue by these testimonies that Saint Paules meanyng is that the wicked resortyng vnworthely to the holy misteries and hauyng no regarde what is meant thereby and maketh no more accounte of it then if he did eate and drinke at an Alehouse vppon an Alchentche is guiltie of the Lordes body and blood for so Sainte Augustine speaketh of the water of baptisme Baptismum multi habent noâ— ad vitam aeternâ—m sed ad panam aeternam noÌ„ bene vtentes tanto bono That is to saie some haue baptisme not to life euerlastyng but to paine euerlasting not well vsing so good a thing Thus you haue hearde out of these auncient fathers what it is to be guiltie of the body and blood of the Lorde Whereby our Pope catholikes may learne that they all receaue this sacrament vnworthely that thei are all guilty of the body and blood of the lorde and so eate and drinke their owne damnation For they doe moste shamefully alter and chaunge the holy institution and ordinaunce of our Sauiour Christe not onely in this that they doe without any grounde of the scriptures take awaie the cup of the lorde froÌ„ the laitie or laie people for whom he did shead his precious blood as wel as for our gallaunt maisters of the Cleargie but also in this that thei doe suffer their shauelinges to eate and drinke vp all alone blessyng the people with an emptie Cup and sendyng them home againe as much fooles as they came But if they be guiltie of the body and blood of the lorde if they eate and drynke there I meane in the Sacrament their owne damnation and yet doe not vnderstande nor perceaue in what perill they be and that very damnation doth hang ouer their heades it ought to be no marueyle vnto vs For GOD hath geuen them ouer into a reprobate sence hee hath made their wisedome meere foolishenes And why bicause that thei haue preferred their owne wisdome before the wisdome of our sauiour christ who is the wisdome of the heauenly father ¶ The .xvj. Chapiter ¶ The Sacrament ought to be ministred to all the people in both kyndes OUr Sauiour Christe did appointe institute and ordeine that his holy sacrament should be receaued in both kindes and that the faithfull shoulde take the misticall cup and deuide it among themselues For these are his wordes Take this and deuide it among you Whiche thyng they did immediatly For as the blessed Euangeliste Saint Marke doth write thei al dranke of it No no will these wise folkes saie it needeth not to be so For sith the bread is the naturall body of Christe it can not be without blood If the people then doe receaue the bread beyng made the body of Christe they doe per concomitantiam for so thei tearme it whereby they signifie that the body cannot be without the blood nor the blood without the body receaue both the fleshe and blood together and haue no neede to receaue the misticall cup for that were to receaue the blood of Christe twise In deede Christe our sauiour had not the wit to perceaue so muche or else his mynde was so much vppon his death and passion that he shoulde suffer the next daie that he wiste not well what he did O ye blinde bussardes and wicked obstinate enemies of al trueth wil yet set the wisdome of god to schole or if it be so as ye saie that the one is sufficient so that receauing the one we receaue both together what néede haue your shauen Madianites of suche sippyng and lickyng as thei vse in their abominable and blasphemous Masses If by our goodlie concomitantiam the flesh and blood are so conteined and ioyned together vnder the accidentes of bread as ye say that no man can receaue the sacramentall bread but he must receaue both the bodie and blood together why do your Priestes both sippe and licke vp the blood seuerallie by it self in the Chalice why is it not as lawfull for the laitie or laye people to drinke the Cup of the Lorde as ye make it lawfull for your annoynted gentlemen was it not as well instituted for vs as for you or for either Doth not the wisdome of God saie himself drinke ye all of this And Marke writeth that according to the lordes commaundement they dranke all of it Yea saie they but this was spoken to the apostles onely who alone were there present we reade not that their were any besides them in the company of Christ or that fate with hym at boorde when he did institute this sacrament Sith thaÌ„ that the priestes are the apostles successors it is most requisit that they should communicate in both kyndes that the laitie or laie people of whom none was with christ at the first institution of the sacrament do content themselues with one kinde Uerely this is well hit If thei do put awaie the laie people from the misticall cup bicause that none of them was present with christ at the firste institution of his sacrament how dare thei be so bold to minister vnto them the sacramentall bread sith that Christ did geue it to none of the laitie then nor commaunded afterwards that the one should be more geuen vnto them then the other Or how doth it chaunce that when your sacred apostles doe communicate without Masse and receaue the Sacrament at their holy brethrens handes they do vtterly refuse the misticall cup of the precious blood of our Sauiour Iesu Christe Are they the apostles successors onlie whyles they say Masse do thei not run into the curse the of Pope Gelasius whose wordes are these we haue vnderstanded that some hauyng onely receaued the holye portion of the body do abstaine from the cup of the holy blood But sith that they are moued by a fonde superstition whiche I knowe not thus to abstaine either let them receaue the whole Sacrament or be put from all For there can be no deuision of this one Sacrament and high misterie without greate sacriledge The glose that is written vpon this Canon doth also saie It is not without a iuste and necessarie cause that the Sacrament is taken vnder both kyndes For the kynde or forme of
to him in our willes and vnited in our affections If we shoulde say thei againe minister the mysticall cup to the laye people we shoulde be fayne to keepe the sacramentall wine as well as the sacramentall bread But the wine can not be kept long but it waxeth eger so that it can not be drunken for egernesse Therefore the Churche of Rome hath thought good that the cup shoulde be cleane taken away from the laye people Who woulde not laugh at this balde reason of theirs do not your holy cakes in the pixe if thei be to long kept moulde also and finnie yea and runne full of maggottes and wormes too so that ye be fayne many tymes to burne that blessed body of the Lorde that ye your selues haue made and to burye the ashes in some blinde and darke corner Let the cautels of your Masse beare witnes of the thing How chaunceth it that your whorishe mother the Churche of antechriste did not for the same cause put the laye people from the sacramentall bread too Doeth not the one stande with as good a reason as the other For if ye can finde a remedie that the bread shall not waxe out of fashion by often chaunging of your holye cakes that is to say by often taking away of the olde and putting in of newe may not the same remedie be vsed in the wine Whereas they say the wine can not be kept or reserued for causes before expressed Herein they shewe them selues most miserable blasphemers From where and from whence haue they this aucthoritie to reserue and locke vp their consecrated bread as thei call it scriptures thei can shewe none and the learned are against them yea and some of their owne proctours and doctours Gabriell Biell a greate stickeler in your Transubstantiation saieth Non dedit discipulis vt ipsum honorificè conseruarent sed dedit in sui vsum dicens accipito manducate Christ gaue not the sacrament to his disciples that they should reuerently reserue it but he gaue it for their vse sayng take and eate Saincte Ciprian an olde auncient Father saieth Panis iste recipitur non includitur This bread is receaued and not shut vp Clemens likewise saieth Tanta in altario Holocâ—usta offèrantur quanta populo sufficere debeant quod â—i remanserint in crastinum non reseruentur Let there be so many Hostes or so muche bread offered at the aulter as maie bee sufficient for the people if any thyng remaine let it not be kepte vntil the mornyng Origene and Cirill saie also verie plainely Dominus panâ—m quem discipulis suis dabat non distulit nec iussit seruari in crastinum The bread that our Lorde gaue to his disciples he lengred it not nor â—ad it to be kepte vntill the mornyng Sainct Hierome shewyng the order of the Churche of Corinth saieth After the Communion was doen whatsoeuer portion of the Sacrifices remained they spent it there together in the Churche eatyng their common supper Hesichius sheweth the order in his tyme of that that was left of the sacrament and saieth that the remanentes of the Sacramente were burnt immediatly in the fire Nicephorus also saieth of the order in his tyme of that was lefte after the people had communicated together that the remanentes of the same in some places were geuen to the children that went to schole to be eaten by them presently in the Churche These testimonies are sufficient to disproue all that they haue or can alledge for their reseruation and if they woulde vse this order as thei haue declared they should neuer doubte of â—nowing moulding and sowring of the sacramentall bread and wine but yet a little more to reason with these fellowes of Rome aboute the sowryng of the wine for the which cause it can not be reserued saie they If it be the blood of christ how can it corrupte or chaunge or if it doeth corrupt and chaunge how can it be the blood of Christe Is not the blood of Christ vncorruptible and no more subiect to alteration Your owne reasons whatsoeuer ye can imagine and prate of your accidentes without substaunce or of your substaunce without accidentes doe quite ouerthrowe your false and erronious doctrine of Transubstantiation But that I should be somewhat shorter you haue no commaundement in all the scriptures to doe as you doe Is not this that ye doe in keepyng any parte of the Sacrament one of your beggerly traditions Doe ye not moste vngodly contemne despise and breake the holy commaundementes of the lorde that so ye maie maintaine vpholde your lousie inuentions The wisdome of the father our sauiour Iesu Christ doth saie drinke ye all of this diuide this among you whiche thyng the holy apostles whom we ought most chiefly to folowe next vnto Christe did performe immediatly For they dranke all of it But this wholsome commaundement of our Sauiour is cleane put downe that your wise traditions maie stande and take place When we do reproue your false shamefull and detestable abuses wherwith ye haue filled the Churche of Christ ye crie out still againste vs The Fathers The Fathers and nothyng haue ye in your mouthes but the Fathers Heare then what Sainct Ciprian who is one of the moste auncient writers of the true Churche doeth saie if in the sacrifice whiche is Christe saieth he Christe onely ought to be folowed truely we must heare and doe the same that Christe our Sauiour did and commaunded to be doen. For he saieth in his gospell if ye doe the thinges that I commaunde you I wil no more cal you seruauntes but frendes And that christ alone ought to be hearde the father doeth also testifie from heauen saiyng This is my welbeloued sonne in whom I am pleased heare hym If Christe onely must be hearde we ought not to care what any man hath thought good to be doen afore vs but what Christe first who is before all hath doen. For we ought not to folowe mans custome but the trueth of god Sith that the Lorde doeth crie out by Esay saiyng They worship mée in vaine teachyng the doctrines and commaundementes of men And he saieth a litle after whosoeuer breaketh one of the least of these commaundementes and teacheth men so to doe he shal be called the least in the kyngdome of heauen If it be not lawfull saieth he to breake the least of the lordes commaundementes How much lesse ought wee to breake or transgresse those greate and weightie commaundementes and that do so muche pertaine to the Sacrament of the Lordes death and of our redemption or to chaunge them into any other thyng than it hath been instituted or ordained of God Sainct Ambrose also hath a notable saiyng Nos noua omnia quâ— christus non docuit iure damnamus quia christus fidelibus via est Si igitur christus non docuit quod
other that was eaten vp and drunken euen of his owne selfe The body of Christ say they only when it is glorified and immortall can be euery where or in mo places then in one at once but it was not then glorified nor yet immortall for why he died the next day after howe coulde it be then all at once sitting at the boorde and in the handes and mouthes of all his Apostles rounde about him As for the first absurditie thei go about to put away by S. Augustines wordes which are these Christ was borne in his owne handes when commending or deliuering his body he did say This is my body For he did beare the same body in his owne handes As it is then no absurditie to say that Christ did beare him selfe or the same body that he gaue them in his owne handes so it ought to seeme no straungenesse if we say according to the scriptures and the fathers that christ did eate his owne body For as being borne in his owne handes he did declare that there was somewhat in him more excellent than in other men which though thei can be borne with other mens handes yet thei can not be borne in their owne so by eating his owne body which thing no mortall man is able to do he did shewe openly that he coulde worke aboue the possibilitie of man. I am well content to graunt that Christ our Sauiour did eate his owne body as he did beare him self in his own hands But howe was he borne in his owne handes For when he did coÌ„mende or deliuer the same body of his and also his blood he toke that in his handes which the faithfull do knowe and bare him selfe after a certayne maner when he did say This is my body These are Saint Augustines very wordes as hée wrote them also whereby he doth let vs to vnderstande how we ought to take his wordes before For adding this worde quodammodo after a maner he doth signifie therby how Christ did beare his fleshe in his owne handes that is to say Sacramentally For as he saieth in another place Except the Sacramentes shoulde haue a similitude of the thinges whereof thei be Sacramentes thei shoulde be no Sacramentes and by reason of this similitude or likenesse thei receaue many times the names of the things whereof thei be Sacramentes For as the Sacrament of the body of Christ is Secundum quendam modum after a certaine maner â–ª the body of Christ and the Sacrament of his blood his blood so is the Sacrament of faith faith By the Sacrament of faith he vnderstandeth baptisme which because of the similitude or affinitie that it hath with the thing whereof it is a Sacrament is called by the name of it When he saith then that Christe did beare him selfe in his owne handes after a certaine maner his meaning is that he did beare the Sacrament of his body But then peraduenture thei will say againe that if it were so Christ did no more then another man is able to do For any man is able to beare the signes of his owne body It is true that any man is able to beare his owne signe but we speake here of a sacrament which bringeth with it self the efficacie nature vertue strength of the thing that it is a Sacrament of For which properties it taketh the name of the thing it selfe which can not be sayde of the bare signe of a mans body Therefore all that the papistes are able to bring here for to â—asill the eyes of the simple and ignoraunt people is méere sophistication and iuggling Yet I am in doubt that thei will replie and say If a Sacrament doth bring with it selfe the nature efficacie vertue and strength of the thing that it is a Sacrament of being because of those properties called by the name of the thing it selfe what needeth Christ to eate the Sacrament of his owne body whose nature propertie and vertue is to worke bring life Was not Christ the life it selfe Chrisostome writing vpon the blessed Euangelist Saint Matthewe doth say That Christ him selfe did communicate that is to say eate drinke of the mysticall bread and wine for to make his Apostles to receaue the misteries without any maner feare or dread of conscience For before when he spake of the eatyng of his fleshe and of the drinkyng of his blood many being offended with that forsooke him and went away Left then the same shoulde happen nowe he did eate drinke with them of those visible creatures of the whiche he did say through grace as Epiphanius writeth This is my body and this is my blood Besides this thei will not denie that baptisme is a Sacrament wherin the worthy receauers are renewed by the holy ghost doe receaue free remission of their synnes and are made the children of God. Was not christ that newe Adam whom all we that séeke to be renewed must put on And vnto whom the holy Ghost was not geuen by measure Was not he that vnspotted Lambe in whose mouth no guile was founde was not he the true and naturall sonne of God What needed hee then to be baptized Had not he aboundantly and of his owne nature all those thynges that are geuen vnto vs in baptisme And yet did he with the Publicanes and Synners come to Iohn Baptiste for to be baptized of hym in the water of Iordane Therfore as he was baptized for to sanctifie our baptisme and for to certifie vs that we should al be baptized most truely and moste effectuously in his baptisme that he was baptized withall in his passion which was his death and bloodshedding whereby we are purged from all our synnes So besides the cause alledged before of Sainct Chrisostome he woulde communicate with vs that is to saie eate and drinke of the misticall bread and of the misticall wine for to signifie vnto vs sith that he was not onely partaker with vs of the coÌ„mon meates and drinkes but also of the holy misteries whiche he himselfe had instituted and ordeined that we are in deede fleshe of his fleshe and bone of his bones and that therefore we neede not to feare or to doubt if we continue stil his true members vnto the ende feedyng in those misteries whiche he hym selfe woulde be partaker of vppon his fleshe and blood through a liuely faithe but that we shal be partakers with hym both in bodies and soules of the glorie and ioyes of his heauenly kingdome Now as touching the seconde absurditie I knowe that for the auoydyng of it they will flée to the common refuge that is to saie vnto the omnipotencie of God whiche as I saide wil helpe them no further than their doctrine doth agrée with the holy Scriptures whiche testifie vnto vs that the body of Christ is in all thinges like vnto ours synne onely beyng excepted
represent his body with bread whiche no man can denie to be a creature but Christe doth represent his body with bread Ergo the bread is not naught but a good creature of God to be vsed with thankes geuyng But how soeuer the matter goeth Tertullian doth plainely affirme here that Christe doth represent his body with bread And vnto him doeth S. Hierome agree saiyng He taketh bread whiche comforteth the hearte of man that as Melchisedech had doen in the figure of hym when he did bryng foorth bread and wine so he shoulde represent the veritie of his body and blood No man will saie that the thyng that doeth represent and the thing that is represented be all one except it be the papistes as Doctour Harding Cope Marshall and Shakestockes I woulde saie Shackelocke who goeth about by Columellas wordes to proue as VVinchester did such a thyng but if the saiyng of that prophane writer shoulde take place in this matter it should folowe that the bread should but represent it selfe and none other thing as Columella will haue Vt Villicus semper se representet That the Bailife of husbandry shoulde alwaies represent hymselfe whiche is no more in our englishe but that he shoulde be alwaies present We are not woont to saie that a kyng doeth represent hymselfe or his owne person But of a Lorde or of a iudge that sitteth in iudgement we say commonly that the same Lorde or iudge doeth represent the kynges person not as a plaier that doeth represent an Emperour or a kyng in a stage or footplaie but bicause of the kynges aucthoritie and power that is geuen vnto hym Euen so in the Sacrament we saie with the auncient Fathers that the bread doth represent the body of Christ not as a bare naked figure or signe whiche thyng all the rablement of popishe papistes doe most slanderously laie to our charge but bicause that beyng duely ministred and worthely receaued it bringeth with it selfe the nature propertie vertue and grace of the body of christ as Ambrose doth testifie with these wordes Thou doest receaue the Sacrament for a similitude but thou doest obteine the vertue and grace of the true nature And bicause that thou doest receaue bread thou arte in the same foode made partaker of the diuine substaunce These be the causes wherefore we saie with the olde Fathers of the auncient catholique Churche that the bread doeth represent the body of Christe But as it needeth not that a kyng be really or personally present for to haue his aucthoritie or power to take place among his faithfull and obedient subiects so is it nothyng necessarie that wee shoulde haue the naturall body of Christe really present vnder the formes of bread and wine For without it that is to saie though it be sittyng still accordyng to the Scriptures on the right hande of the father we haue by the vertue of his institution and the mighty workyng of his spirite there in the Sacrament the verie propertie vertue and grace of the naturall fleshe and blood of christ most effectuously ministred vnto vs to the euerlastyng comfort and nourishment both of our soules and bodies The same auncient writer and father I meane Tertullian in his fourth boke against Martion writeth after this maner Christe takyng bread and distributyng it did make it his body saiyng Hoc est corpus meum hoc est figura corporis mei This is my body that is to saie the figure of my body And vnto hym will I ioyne Sainct Augustine that all men maye see what shameful lyars Doctour harding other the papistes are who are not ashamed to saie that none of all the auncient fathers neither before nor sence did expounde these wordes of christ as Tertullian did expounde them in that place The wordes of Sainct Augustine are these Adhibuit ad conuiuium in quo corporis sanguinis sui figuram discipulis commendauit tradidit And he did admit or receaue hym vnto the banquet wherein he did commēde and deliuer vnto his disciples the figure of his bodie And in another place he saith againe So the blood is the soule as the Rocke was Christe and yet the apostle saieth not the rocke did signifie Christe but the Rocke was Christ So may I expounde that this precepte or commaundement was geuē in a signe Non dubitauit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cum daret signum corporis sui For the Lorde did not doubte or sticke to saie This is my body when he did geue the signe of his body In their owne distinctions thei haue these wordes Dicitur corpus christi sed improprie vt sit sunsus vocatur corpus christi id est significat corpus christi That is to saie in englishe it is called the body of Christe meanyng the Sacrament but improperly as the meaning of it may be thus it is called the body of christ that is to saie it doeth signifie the bodie of Christ. These sayinges neede no exposition at all For they are so plaine that the very children in the streete be able to vnderstande them and also to perceaue and espie out the shamefull leasinges of our disguised papistes who care not what they say so that they may séeme to say some what for to deceaue the simple and ignoraunt people withall and for to mainteyne their great graundfather Antechristes kingdome of proude Rome For ye must vnderstande that this is the only marke that they shoote at all the packe of them that they may set vp them selues as gods and bryng all mens heades vnder their girdles And no doctrine they thinke wyll serue better for that purpose than this grosse and Capharnaiticall doctrine of transubstantiation and of the corporall presence of Christes body in the sacrament For who woulde not stande in feare of them and reuerence them as gods that can with fiue wordes make Christ both God and man of a péece of bread whensoeuer they list And therefore it is written in a booke of theirs these wordes O howe honourable howe worshipfull and excellent is the dignitie of priestes if they will liue priestlike in whose handes as it were in the virgines wombe the sonne of God is incarnated or taketh fleshe And then by and by after it foloweth Iste qui creauit me dedit mihi creare se qui creauit me sine me creatur mediaente me cum ergo tante dignitatis fit sacerdos quod creator fit sui creatoris totius creature ▪ ipsum perdere vel damnare inconueniens est That is to saie in Englishe He that made mee gaue mee power to make hym and he that made mée without mée is made by the meanes of mée Seeyng then that a Priest is of so greate dignitie that he is the maker of his maker and of euerie creature to destroye or to condemne hym it is not conuenient euen the like you may reade in another