the head and quickned by one Spirite for which cause of Christ it is said that he dwels in vs and wee in him he is the head and wee Ephes 3. 17 4. 16 are the members of his mysticall bodie By this threefold certaintie they teach and belieue that they are made sure of Christ in the Sacrament for performance wherof they show that there is no necessitie of corporall presence First because these meanes of certaintie were appoynted of Christ to supplee his corporall absence till his second comming againe Secondly because the Sonne of God is more able after this manner from Heauen to communicate himselfe to vs on Earth then the Sun that shines dayly is able from Heauen to giue light and heate to vs on Earth without descending corporally to vs. Then for the exposition of the wordes of the Sacrament This is my body they professe to expone them as Saint Paul expones them who sayes that the bread which we break is the communion of the body of 1 Cor. 10 16. 1 Cor. 11 25. Iesus the cup which wee blesse is the Communion of the blood of Christ and as Christ speaking of the cup it must be exponed This cup is the new Testament or covenant in my blood and according to the vsuall forme of the Scripture language concerning Sacraments where the name of the gift is giuen to the Seale to assure them who faithully receaue the one that they are made sure of the other or the name of a mercie bestowed is given to the memoriall of it to make the acknowledgment of that mercy more fresh and liuelie Seeing that therefore J could find for the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation no warrand of the Lords worde and by that doctrine no ground of infallible certaintie to free mee from Idolatrie but on the contrare grounds of assurance that it could not bee that God would expose his Sonne any more to personall suffering of such indignities as is done him in the Masse Let any man iudge whether I had reason to sute to bee receaued to the communion with him according to the warrand of his owne worde and bee free for euer from all perill of that grosse Idolatrie CHAP. 10. The Masse drawes away from Christs rule of the Sacrament and defaces his institution THe next reason why J call the Masse an errour is because it doth leade men away from the right rule of the Sacrament to follow mens deuices and forged mysticall rites of mens appoyntments whereof the Lord hath pronounced in generall In vaine doe they worship mee teaching for doctrine the precepts of men Which howsoeuer they bee in estimation among men yet are abominable before God for our Lord Jesus beeing to leaue the World in regarde of his corporall presence thought good to appoynt a holy Supper wherein hee will haue his bodilie sufferings and bloodshed and death represented and brought to fresh remembrance by the breaking of bread and wine powred out in a cup and the Soules of his faithfull ones fed comforted in the assurance that his body was broken for them and his blood shed for the remission of their sinnes by eating of the bread broken and drinking of the wine powred in the cup which eating and drinking should bee to them a pledge and seale of their spirituall coniunction with CHRIST and partaking of his life as certainely wrought by his spirit as if these elements which they did eate and drinke were ioyned with their bodies Then which ordinance of our Lord nothing can bee more sweet to a Soule that considers his purpose therein and therefore he hath commanded not his Ministers only but his whole Church on Earth to doe this in remembrance of him following his example as he hath caused set down by his pen-men in his Testament to bee followed till his second comming againe But the Church of Rome as her defection hath growne peece and peece hath so far departed from the rule that scarsly now in their Masse can the footsteps of Christs ordinance be seene for vnder pretense that they are not tied to follow these circumstances which were proper to the first Supper such as are the time after Supper the place an vpper Chamber the number of persons eleuen or twelue the sexe men only and not women which any man may perceiue to bee proper to that first time and not belonging to the nature of the Sacrament if these circumstances were vrged vniversally they should marre and hinder that action and the comfort of the communicants women beeing secluded the night taking when the day was free a chamber taking wherein all the Church could not assemble and twelue only admitted where fourtie twelues were prepared and waiting on vnder pretense I say of not beeing tied to these foure circumstances when they may be prejudiciall to the action they haue taken libertie to alter the substance and sacramentall rites of this Supper left to be imitate by all Christs Churches till his second cōming again for as thogh Christs ordināce had beene too base and simple they haue deuised to cloath their Priests in brodering of silk and siluer and gold and to make sumptuous Masse cloathes to set out their work with all As if Christ his ceremonies had beene of small signification they haue casten them by and appoynted new ones of their owne making mysticall significations of their owne deuising As if the Apostle Paul had superfluously from Christs mouth giuen commandement to the common people to drink of the cup they haue cutte off the halfe of the peoples comfort and witholden the cup from them As if the Lord had not done wisely in vsing plaine language to his disciples such as they vnderstood they haue rolled vp all in an vncouth language commanding that Masse should only bee said in Latine As if our Lord had not well considered what belongs to the holynesse of such a worke in taking such bread as was vsuall in the Land and as the Master of the house laid downe before him to Supper they haue made a round Masse bread the quantitie of twelvepence or sixpence and as thin as they can cause it sticke together with a stamped crucifixe on the one side of it for the purpose they haue turned the communion of a number to the Priests drinking and eating alone the Lords table to a stone Altar the memoriall of his death to an imaginary corporall presence the seale of Gods giuing of Christ vnto men into mens offering vp of Christ to God Gods Sacrament into mans sacrificing of the sonne of God to the Father in a worde they haue turned Christs holy Supper in the Popes Masse and so what by adding what by pairing what by altering and chopping and changing they haue mutilated deformed and defaced Gods ordinance falsified King Jesus his great seale and corrupted his testament that he who is partaker of the Masse thinking to get Gods blessing by it casts himselfe in danger of Gods curse for beeing
and faith together and yet the Apostle tells them that if they held Christ so Christ shuld not profite them Jt was a misconceaued Christ Gal. 5. 2. that deceiued the Heretiques of old for euery hereticke pretended an intention to honour the true Christ and it is a false Christ that deceaueth the Jewes who pretend that they are keeping their faith and worship to the true Messias promised but haue forged in their owne braine one altogether different from the true yet none of all these haue euer conceiued a Christ more contrary to the true Christ then is this forged Christ in the Masse without warrand as is said of Scripture and contrare to the tenet of antiquitie howeuer the Priests and Iesuites gull their auditours with pretence of the same For Tertullian sayeth Acceptum panem distributum discipulis lib. 4. ad versus Marcionem cap. 40. corpus suum illud fecit hoc est corpus meum dicendo id est figura corporis mei Christ tooke bread and gaue it to his disciples making it his body while hee sayes This is my body that is a figure of my body where ye see that this Father who liued two hundreth yeers after Christ doth expone these words of the institution figuratiuely And yet Bellarmine is not ashamed to use this testimony for lib. 3. Eucharistiae cap. 20. proouing transubstantiation but doth bewray heerein his fraud and deceitfull handling of the Fathers for alledging this place so directly contrare him hee leaueth out the Fathers glosse that is a figure of my bodie And Augustine is so cleare in this matter that it is a wonder that any man shoulde oppose him for giuing a rule how to know when the words of holy Scripture are to be taken figuratiuely when properly he sayth thus Si preceptiua loquutio est aut flagitium aut facinus vetans aut lib 3. 〈◊〉 doctrina christiana cap. 16 utilitatem aut beneficentiam iubens non est figurata si autem flagitium aut facinus videtur iubere aut vtilitatem aut bene ficentiam vetare figurata est nisi manducaueritis inquit carnem filii hominis sanguineÌ„ biberitis non habebitis vitam in vobis facinus vel flagitium videtur iubere figura est ergo If the precept forbid any crime or wicked deede or command any profite or beneficence then is it not figuratiue but if it seeme to command any crime or wicked deed or to forbid any profite or beneficence it is figuratiue then doth he giue for instance to this rule these words of our Sauiour Except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drink his blood yee haue no life in you These wordes sayeth hee seeme to command some crime and wicked deed therefore they are figuratiue Many other passages of Fathers J might cite but I feare to be too tedious neither neede J to insist much on Fathers seeing the very Canon of the Masse doth ouerthrow transubstantiation For after the wordes of consecration the Priest offering Iesus Christ to God prayeth after this maÌ„ner Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicâ—re digneris sicuti accepta babere dignatus es munera pueri tui iusti Abell On which things may it please thee to look with a good and fauourable countenance and to accept of them as thou did accept of the presents of Abell thy righteous seruant Any man may easily perceiue that if there were nothing there but Christ as they affirme the Priest durst neuer take vpon him to be a intercessour betwixt the Father and the sonne as though the son had lost the fauour of his Father for whose only sake wee all are receaued in fauour And since J haue now made mention of the Masse J can not conceale what secreete reluctation was euer in my minde euen when J was most bewitcht with the inchauntments of Poperie against their propitiatory sacrifice dayly offered vp in the Masse which so flatly contradicts the words of Scripture With an offering hath he reconciled Heb. 10. 14. Vers 10. for euer them that are sanctified And to exclude reiteration the Scripture sayeth We are sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once made And most clearly As it is appoynted for euery man once to die c. Neither Heb. 9 27. 28. will the distinction of a bloody and vnbloody sacrifice satisfie this passage seeing that the Apostle showes that as a man dieth but once so Christ is offered but once How ridiculous a thing should it bee for one to say that a man can die but once a bloody death but hee can die oftner an vnbloody death and if this distinction of theirs can not hold in the death of man neither can it in the offering of the Lord Jesus Seeing the Scripture precisly compareth them in number that they are both but once Yea in â—â—presse wordes of that same chapter the Scripture excluds this distinction while it sayth Without shedding Ver 22. of blood there is no remission of sins If then the Masse bee an vnbloody sacrifice by it there is no remission of sins And lest this should be eluded by the typicall sacrifices of old the Apostle speakes in the present time c. And this much concerning their Masse which was the second part whereof I promised to speake CHAP. 12. Of Merites FOllowes here the third part whereof J promised to speak which contains some of their common absurdities and first of Merites for the mixture of our works and the workes of Christ Iesus is vntolerable and more incompatible than the mixture of wine and water for to make vp the blood of their Sauiour in the Masse how can wee haue good workes before wee bee made good by regeneration seeing an euill tree can not bring foorth good fruite Yea they are gone so farre on in this mixture that they exclude Christs merites altogether from the formall cause of our iustification and only makes Christs righteousnesse a helpe whereby we our selues may fully formally bee iustified before God Si quis dixerit homines iustificarivel sola imputatione iustitiae Canone 10 11 sessione 6 Concilii Trident. Christi vel sola peccatorum remissione exclusa gratia charitate quae in cordibus eorum per spiritum sanctum diffundatur atque illis inhaereat aut etiam gratiam qua iustificamur esse tantum fauorem Dei anathema sit If any man say that wee are formally iustified by the righteousnesse of Christ let him bee accursed c. Neither doth their doctrine stay heere but proceeds to works of supererogation whereby they put God in their debt and enrich the Pope by laying of these works of supererogation in his store-house to bee sold out at his pleasure for moneyes Since these works can be applyed to men for their satisfaction which they haue not wrought wherfore may not the merits of Christ Jesus be applyed to vs to our iustification
and as sin althogh inherent into vs and only imput vnto Christ Iesus who had no inherent sin in him made him die the death wherefore may not Christs righteousnesse inherent in him and imput vnto vs bee accepted of God for our iustification to life and that so much the more because Christ Iesus is our head and cautioner which the Saints are not For he hath made him to be sin for vs which 2 Cor. cap 5. vers 21 knew no sin c. CHAP. 13. Of taking away the Cup. TOuching their minching of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Table and depriuing rhe People of the one halfe thereof contrare to Christs institution who commanded them all to drinke of it is a grievous defrauding of the people of their due comfort and that by Iohn 6 which they will haue spoken of the Sacrament except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and Iohn 6. drink of his blood yee haue no life in you So to depriue them of the blood is to depriue them of eternall life And in the primitiue times when persecution raged in the Church the godly Fathers neuer omitted the holy cup to the people that not only because of Christs divine institution but also that they might encourage people to shed their blood chearfully for him who had shed his blood for them did so friely communicate with them in the holy cup. Further Christ sayeth it is the cup of the new Testament in his blood which he shed for the remission of sins Then it appeareth that to depriue the people of the cup is asmuch as to depriue them of the blood of Christ for the remission of their sins for in the hostie there is no shedding of blood as they themselues confes As for the custom of the primitiue Church it is clear in this poynt neither can they or do they deny it yet when either the command of Christ or practise of the primitiue Church seemeth to crosse their businesse they dissalow both him and the ancients and in open counsell giue a decreet to their contrare The councill of Constance holden anno 406 which was the first councill that discharged the cup as an heresie towardes the middest of the Canon Concilium Constantinense 13. sess hath these wordes Although Iesus Christ did institute and administer to his Disciples this venerable Sacramēt vnder the formes of bread and wine and likewise although in the primitiue Church this Sacrament was receaued by the faithfull vnder both kinds neuerthelesse this custome hath with reason beene induced that it should bee receaued by those who consecrate vnder both kynds and by the layity vnder forme of bread only c. And concluds that these that would maintaine the contrare were heretiques where by consequence they make Christ and the primitiue Church heretiques at least in practise which if J had not red and considered in their councils J could not haue beleeued that men could be so impudent and absurd as to affirme CHAP. 14. Of Images HEre J can not passe by their adoration of Jmages 2 book of the images of Saints chap. 21. but must giue a taste thereof Their doctrine is of Images that they are not only relativè as they respect the thing represented but properly and perse by themselfe and terminatiuely without respect to the thing represented as Bellarmine hath expresly yea not only with the worship of dulia or seruice as they call it by the which distinctiō they blind the eys of the ignorant since all religious worship in whatsoueer degrie belongs properly to God but also they teach and affirme that the Images of God and the crosse ought to bee worshipped with the selfesame supreme worship that is due to God himselfe which they call Latria as hath expresly their 25. ques 3. arti in the concl 4. article Angelick doctour in his third part Sic ergo dicendum est c. and fourth article in the conclusion Crux Christi c. which conclusion the foresaid doctour prooues by this that wee giue the supreme worship to him in whom we put the hope of our safetie but in the crosse of Christ This is the crosse of wood whereon hee was nailed we put our hope of safetie So the Papists obiect of faith according to his doctrine is an Image of stocke and stone And therefore Suarez sayes in expresse tearmes Per hanc 45. disp 4. sect adorationem c. I shall faithfully translate the words By this adoration a man not only professeth that which hee adoreth to represent God but also to bee God and his supreme Lord and Redeemer otherwise it would not be a true and supreme worship The common people their case in this Idolatrie is deplorable but somewhat more excusable albeit they be involued in that same guiltinesse who must beleeue by an implicite faith whatsoeuer their Church beleeues for their great doctours doe expresly admonish their Readers that their Preachers let not the people vnderstād in their sermons that this Soueraigne worship of God should bee giuen to Images by the principles of the Roman catholicke faith for it might readily skarre them of catholick Romans make them become Calvinist hereticks See Bellarmine of the Jmages of Saints at these words Quantum ad c 22. chap. giues the same watchword in the place forsaid And this 25. ques 54. dis 4. article because as they both acknowledge in the forsaid places the common people can not be capable of these sublime distinctions wherby the foresaid doctrine must be maintained yea skarsly saith Bellarmine our great doctoures themselues Some of them for eschueing the inconvenience of this foresaid doctrine do use these tearmes directly and indirectly but any that pleaseth to examine at more length this defence they shal find it indirect enugh to giue to the creature any way a worship due to the Creator Further for backing of this doctrine their best reason that I could perceiue they euer broght was their blotting out of the second command of the Lords Law for giuing and not graunting that the second command were one with the first yet wherfore do they scrape out so great a part of that command if their best defence stood not in cancelling the Law of God which is opposite to their adoration of Jmages CHAP. 15. Of their new beliefe satisfaction purgatorie IN this place their large addition to their beliefe represents it selfe to my mind as may be seen in the bull of Pope Pitis the 4. concerning the oath taken of their Church-men containing their Trent creed wherein beside the Articles of the Apostles creed they haue ingrossed many other Articles of their most grosse and absurde heresies I can not also omitte heere their idle repetition of Prayers ascrybing merite and satisfaction to the number of them for I my self haue been enioyned to say such a number of Aues Pater nosters by waye of pennance or for the reliefe of Soules and