in my beliefe Marke further howe the Popes learned Doctors agrée in this the Popes transubstantiation or chaunging of the breade into the body of Christ Some of you holde saieth M. Iewell against M. Harding in his defence of the Apologie that Christes body passeth downe into the stomacke some say that it onely entreth into the mouth and goeth no further some other say assoone as the formes of the bread be grated with the teeth straight way the bodye of Christ is caught vp into heauen Another of you saith that a mouse can not eate it yea but if she might catch it she would aske no better dinner Peter Lombarde the grand maister of your Schoole is piteouslie confounded in the case and can not imagine poore man what thing it should be that the mouse eateth for after he himself had moued the question what is it then that the mouse receyueth or what eateth it he answereth now God knoweth as for my paâ—te I can not tell Such is your doctors Maister Harding saith M. Iewel such is your doctrine Thus farre hath M. Iewell written You may sée what a sounde doctrine this is of your transubstantiated bread into the bodie of Christ and how certain it is whereon the Popes doctors so diuersly descant Therefore séeing the learned Papistes are not fully resolued among themselues of this their Christes bodie that they saie is made of bread what fooles are yée then that do so stifly maintaine the same and that will so faithfully beléeue that they so firmely doubte and to take that for the bodie of Christ that a Mouse will eate and deuour But bycause some of these learned do saie that a Mouse wil eate it I am of their opinion if she may come by it and then if she eate bread then it is not the bodie of Christ and if it be the bodie of Christe then it is but a simple Christ that will suffer a Mouse to eate him therefore turne it which waie you will you bring your selues into the breares Consider I beséeche you the absurde and vile sayings and opinions of them of the Popes side touching the same whose wordes be these If it be said that a Mouse receiueth the bodie of Christ it is no great inconuenience And Alexander of Hales a great Schoole doctor in vnséemely and grosse manner doth saie If a Dog or Sowe saith he should happen to swallowe downe the whole hoste beyng consecrate I see no reason but the bodie of our Lorde may passe withall into the belly of the Dogge or of the Sowe Is not the doctrine of this holy Romish Church woorthie to be embrased and followed that hath such heauenly doctrine in it what execrable wretches are these that woulde make Christes bodie which is most holy and glorious and is in Heauen on the right hand of God the father to be deuoured of Dogges and Swine If such leaue not to allure and leade the ignorant from the trueth and forsake not their abhominable papisticall Religion and doctrine betymes I feare thy shall haue their portion with Dogges Swine Owles and Gotes in the endlesse and vnquenchable fire of Hell from whence neyther the Pope nor their Christ of bread shall euer be hable to deliuer them Marke how Diuelish and detestable Maister Harding writes in the defence of this doctrine of Transubstantiation at the Supper of our Lorde saith he ministred in the Catholike Church by Priests rightly consecrate there is the true and holy bodie of our Lord and Sauiour giuen and receiued be the receiuers beleeuing or not beleeuing If this be true that M. Harding sayth then it skilles not whether we beléeue in Christ or no so that we may once get it into our mouthes and eate it But S. Augustine and other ancient writers are of a contrarie opinion to M. Harding For he saith Quid paras dentem ventreÌ„ crede manducasti Why prepares thou thy tooth and thy belly beleeue and thou hast eaten Thus by S. Augustines rule beliefe is chiefly required to the receiuing of the Sacrament though M. Harding makes no accompt whether we beléeue or not S. Cyprian calleth the Sacrament Cibum mentis non ventris the foode of the minde or Soule not of the belly Tertullian sayth Christe must be deuoured by hearing chewed by vnderstanding and disgested by fayth Saint Augustine sayth To beleeue in Christe that is the eating of the bread of lyfe And he saith also Vnlesse yee eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee shall haue no life in you Christe seemeth by these wordes sayth Saint Augustine to commaunde vs to doe an horrible wickednesse for it is an horrible matter to eate mans fleshe or to drinke mans bloud Therefore this is a figure commaunding vs to bee partakers of Christes passion and comfortably to laie vp in our minde that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. Therefore the eating of the Sacrament or Christes body with our mouthes as Maister Harding doth dreame is not to eate Christes fleshe and drinke his bloud for this holy Sacrament of Christe supper is the foode of the soule not of the bodie and as the bodie hath a mouth whereby it dothe féede Corporally so hath the Soule a mouth whereby it doeth féede Spiritually which mouth of the Soule is faith and as our bodies are fedde and norished by eating of meate so are our Soules fedde and nourished by beléeuing in Iesus Christ. For if there be none other eating of Christes body wherby we shall haue eternall life but only by the fantasticall fleshly eating with our mouth and téeth then how can the holy Fathers in the old time before Christe be saued as Abraham Isaac and Iacob Moses Dauid Samuell and other of the holy Prophetes that neuer did eate the Sacrament with their mouthes neuer knew it There haue bene a great sorte of godly Martirs yong christian childreÌ„ besides the théefe that died with Christe on his right side whome Christ promised that he should be with him in Paradise that haue not with their mouthes eaten this Sacrament yet I trust fewe will therefore saie that they are al damned But if this eating of the Sacrament with the mouth as M. Harding saith and many of you beléeue be the true perfect eating of y e body or flesh of Christ then there is none other shift but they all must néedes be daÌ„ned As it appeareth by Christs owne words for he saith vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you Hereof we must néedes coÌ„clude if your Romish religioÌ„ doctrine be true that AbrahaÌ„ Isaac Iacob Moses Dauid al the Patriarkes Prophets and other holy men al y e godly Martirs al yong children yea the théefâ— that Christ promised to be with him in Paradise y t neuer did eat or receiue the Sacrament with there mouths haue no lyfe but are
vtterly damned for euer Which no true Christian will beléeue Therfore if you will néedes beléeue the Popes Transubstantiation and that the Sacramentall bread is turned into the body of Christ and that if you eate it with your mouth champe it with your téeth that then you eate the very bodie flesh of Christ then you must also beléeue that al these holy men martires yong children and the théefe that neuer did eate it with their mouthes are dāned Which Diuelish and most vntrue doctrine I hope you wil beléeue no longer but if you do yet we will rather beléeue they are saued that your Diuelish doctrine of Transubstantiation is altogither false Thus you may sée into what a great mischiefe inconuenience you are driuen by beléeuing that the Sacramentall bread is the very body of Christ. And now marke well how you are brought into an other maruelous mischiefe and inconuenience by this your Romishe doctrine Christ sayth Whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will rayse him vp at the last day Now if your eating of the Sacrament with your mouth and téeth and your drinking of the wine is the right eating and drinking of the bodie bloud of Christ then Iudas is saued for he did eate drinke it and Iewes Turkes and the Heathen worshippers of Idols shalbe saued if they once catch holde of your bodie of Christ and eate it yea and the little Mouse shalbe saued if she catch it and eate it for I dare say for hir that she neither beléeues in Christ nor would beléeue that it were the bodie of Christ but a péece of bread or a cake for if shée did thinke it were the bodie of a man shée would not come so nie it Thus if it be the very bodie of Christ and be truely receyued whether one beléeue in Christ or not then the greatest Infidels Idolaters Tirants and the most wicked persons on the earth yea and the Mouse the Dogge or any other beast if they may once get this your Christes bodie into their mouthes mawes are sure to be saued Christ will raise them vp at the last day for Christ saith as it is before whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day And so by this your true reasonable doctrine Christ will raise vp Mise and Dogges that haue and shall eate your Sacrament at the last day and also by this meanes the théefe is damned that Christ said should be saued and Iudas is saued that Christ saide was damned When you haue red this may you not be ashamed that euer you gaue such credite to this vile Diuelish doctrine of the Romish Church Yes verily if you haue any wit or reason but especially any sparke of the grace of God Sée hereafter I praie you how Christes doctrine and your Romishe religion agrées in this point forsooth euen as it doeth in all the rest Christe sayde I am the liuing bread that came downe from Heauen but cleane came and quite contrarie you saie that your earthly dead bread is Christ that went to Heauen for I am sure that the bread that you make your Christes bodie of was neuer in Heauen therefore your bread neuer came from heauen and so your bread can not be the bodie of Christe for that hée sayth I am the liuing bread that came downe from heauen And so your dead bread can not be the bodie of Christ. And now bycause it can not be the liuing bodie of Christe it must néedes be a dead Substance or péece of bread Therefore be no longer allured by the Romishe Religion that teacheth you thus falsely and vnreasonably that the Sacramentall bread by their consecrating of it is the bodie of Christ but beléeue as the Gospell doth tell you the Apostles do shewe you as Saint Steuen doth learne you and as your Créede doth teache you that the bodie of Christe is now in Heauen on the right hande of God the father from whence hée will come to iudge the quicke and the dead And if these be not sufficient to persuade you that he in his bodie is in Heauen and no where else you shall heare the opinions of auncient godly and learned men therein S. Augustine saith Ibat per id quod homo erat manebat per id quod Deus erat c. Christ departed by that he was man but abode by that he was God he departed by that that was in one place he abode by that that is in all places Fulgentius writes as followeth concerning Christes absence and presence Secundum humanitatem suam localiter erat in terra c. Christe according to his manhood he was placed in earth but according to his godhead he filled both heauē earth The manhood of Christ is contained in place the godhead of Christ is infinite and in all places The fleshe of Christ is doubtles locall or in place the godhead of Christ is for euer in euery place There remained still in Christ the infinite godhead there was receiued of him a locall manhood how ascended he into Heauen sauing he is very man contayned in place how is he present with the faithful sauing he is infinite and true God And last of all he saith Vnus idemque Christus secundum humanam substantiam c. Christ being one according to the Substance of his manhead was absent frō Heauen when he was in earth and he forsooke earth when he was in heauen Now if we may beléeue Christ if we may credite our Créede if S. Steuen said truly if S. Paule be true of his worde If Tertullian Cyprian Augustine Chrysostome and this Fulgentius with many other godly fathers and learned writers haue not fabled herein then surely the very body of Christ that died on the Crosse is at this present time in heauen on the right hand of God the Father neither here on earth nor any where else though the Pope and his Parasites tell vs that he is here But marke further you shal sée how learnedly clarkly M. Hard. goeth about to proue this turning of a cake into Christ. Who saith that Christ made his Apostles saith M. Iewel misteriall Spirits saying Do this wherein is contained make this in my remēbrance saying a litle before that Christe was a Priest and consecrated as a Priest as S. Hier. dothe witnesse that as Melchisedech in foreshewing the figure of Christ had done Panem vinum offerens ipse quoque veritatem sui corporis sanguinis representaret Christ himselfe also should make present the truth of his body and bloud To whom that famous and learned man M. Iewell late Bishop of Sarisburie answeared as followeth Is representare Latine to make present M. Harding what Grammarian euer taught you so to say or what making finde you in this worde as you tender your credite tell vs who euer
which Christ did teache in the Scriptures euen so she hath with their vaine fonde and superstitious fastings quite banished the true fasting required by the Gospell For Christ in the Gospell sayth When ye fast be not sad as the hypocrites are c but when thou fastest appeare not vnto men to fast but vnto thy Father which is in secret thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Here Christ doth appoint vs that we must not let it bée knowne when we fast but the Popes faste is so published and the dayes so commonly and openly commaunded and appointed that euerie one may knowe when they fast So that Christ hath not appoynted his fasting so priuily but y e Church of Rome proclaimes hir fastes as openly Christ hath appointed no dayes nor times for his fasting the Churche of Rome hath appointed dayes and times for hir fasting The meaning of Christs fasting is to abstaine froÌ„ whatsoeuer either meats or drinkes y t makes vs prone to sinne The Popes fast is to forbeare fleshe onely but permits men to eate all kynde of fishe thoughe it be neuer so daintie and deliciously drest and all kinde of Iunkets and banketing dyshes with delycate wynes as muche as wée will cramme and poure in Christes fast is to kéepe our bodyes lowe to be in subiection to the spirite but that is not performed in the Popes fast but by their daintie dyshes and drinkes the Spirite is brought in subiection to the bodie Christes faste is a willing an vncompelled abstinence the Popes fast is a constrained abstinence and is done of many against their wils Christes fasting is to make vs vertuous and holy before God the Popes fast is hypocriticall and to make vs séeme holye before men This is difference enough to shewe you that the Christian fasting of Christ and the common fasting of the Pope are farre vnlike and doe not agrée so that the one shall haue his rewarde hereafter of God and the other hath his rewarde alreadie of men Therefore beléeue not that your accustomed fast of the Church of Rome came either from Christ or his Apostles for neither Christ in his Gospell nor the Apostles in their Epistles doe once commaunde it or affirme it and therefore we can not allowe it S. Augustine one of the excellentest Doctors whose iudgement I trust you will not refuse writes vpon what dayes we ought not to faste and vppon what dayes wee ought to faste I fynde it not appoynted or lymitted by anye commaundement eyther of our Lorde or of the Apostles But what if Saint Augustine had wylled vs to faste on suche dayes as the Pope doeth appoynt and a thousande other learned men moe yet wée are not bounde eyther to beléeue or follow him or them vnlesse we finde their sayings agrée with Gods word for Gods word must leade them but they may not leade Gods worde Therfore bicause your Popish fast is not commaunded nor allowed by the holye Scriptures but cleane contrarie to the same as before is proued therefore it is superstitious wicked and highly displeaseâ—h God and so of vs Christians ought not to be vsed nor commended but vtterly to be eschued and contemned vnlesse it be vsed for worldly pollicie God commaundes vs to refraine swearing euerydaye but for fasting he appointes vs no day but the Pope commaundes vs to faste certaine dayes but byds vs not forbeare swearing any daye yet manye of you regarde the Popes lawe so much and Gods commaundement so little that you thinke it a heynous matter to breake the fasting dayes that the Pope hath commaunded but make it no matter of conscience to sweare euery day which God hath forbydden therefore kéepe the fasting dayes commaunded by our Quéene for good order and pollicye and not for the Popes pleasure for his holinesse or hypocrisie Thus you may sée howe farre wyde you wander and all bicause you will not giue your selues to the hearing and reading of the Scriptures Consider further of your holy Romish Religion which attributes to oyle health of body and soule and remission of sinnes which no oyle but the bloud of Christ can doe And therefore a most blasphemous doctrine Thus the oyle is blest Fiat domino hoc oleum c. O Lorde let this oyle by thy blessing be made a spirituall oyntment to purifie both soule and body And also this is to be said ouer the sicke Per hanc Sanctam vnctionem c. By this holy annoynting thou maist haue remission of thy sinnes Is not this a precious oyle trowe you whereby we may haue remission of our sinnes you may sée what vertue is in the Popish Priests wordes that can make such a precious oyle truely if God had remeÌ„bred this oyle he might haue spared Christ his deare sonne from dying O what a horrible and blasphemous doctrine is this that is taught by your Romish Churche S. Thomas de Aquino which may be S. Thomas of Watring in Englishe saith Some saye and that not without good reason that a man may obteine remission of his venial sinnes which are not deadly sinnes onely by entring into a Churche that is consecrate If one had suche a Churche it would neuer lightly be emptie and it is purposely noted in the glose vpon the Decretalles that veniall sinnes may be remoued eyther by a Pater noster or by holy water that it may be so by a Pater noster which is the Lordes prayer so that it be faithfully sayd I wil not denie but that the popish Pater noster spoken in Latine of them that vnderstande not what they say or els that holy water will do it I will in no wise graunt Thus the church of Rome hath founde out an other manner and way of forgiuenes of sinnes then either Christ or his Apostles euer taught what a damnable doctrine is this to teach remission of sinnes by such toyes and trifles which can be had by no meanes but by the passion death of Christe May not you thinke that the church of Rome is of a pure doctrine and of a perfect religion that allowes and ordaines that Belles must be baptized and christened and allowes Godfathers therefore and giues them a name and puts a coate on their backes to kéepe them from colde as children haue when they are Christened truely I haue redde and perused the whole Bible and the new Testament thorowly and yet I could neuer read in any parte thereof of the christening of belles Marry I remember that Christ a little before his Ascention sayd to his Disciples all power is giuen to me in Heauen and in earth go ye therfore teach all nations baptising them in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost c. but then he made no mention of the baptising of Belles for if he had the Apostles would haue baptised Belles aswell as the Popes Suffraganes and then we should eyther haue heard of it in the Actes
passe from me but god sayde then neuer a word of y e Masse to his son in y e gret agony yet then was the time for God to haue spoken of it if euer he would speake of it therefore it is most manifest that the Masse hath no suche power to release vs of our sinnes as the Pope and his Prelates would make vs beléeue For if it would deliuer vs from our sinnes then God at this special time wold haue heard the earnest prayer and request of Christ his deare and only sonne and would haue kept him from that cruell death that after he suffered and would or might haue answered his sonne thus oh my louing sonne be merry and glad thou shalt not dye for the sinnes of the people for I haue deuised another easier way to saue thē wherby thou shalt not néede to dye and this it is the Pope and his Priestes shal say and celebrate the Masse whiche is not onely the most highest and honorable seruice that can be done to me but also it shal be a sufficient and perfit sacrifice for sinnes both of the quicke and dead and therby they shal be deliuered from Hel as well as though thou had dyed for them and it shal be a ladder for them to climbe vppe to heauen If God had said thus to his son our sauiour Christe when he prayed so earnestlye to his Father for the sauing of hys life I would haue liked you Masses a great deale better but bycause Christ saide to his Father if it be possible let this Cup of deth passe frōme yet God suffred him to die for al his request therfore it is most manifest true y t it is impossible for vs to be saued by any thing but only by the passion death of Christ. This is so sufficiēt an argument to make you forsake most spéedily y e most detestable Masse y e robs Christe of his merits to take hold on Christ to embrace his gospel as none cā be more sufficiēt probable But for that manye of you doe thynke and beléeue that the bread in the Masse after the Priest hath consecrated it is the verye bodie of Christe bycause Christe sayde This is my bodye you shall nowe heare playnely by the auntient and learned Fathers and Doctors what Christ ment by these wordes But firste before I rehearse them you shall sée what Christe ment by conferring of his owne wordes Christe tooke breade and gaue thankes and brake it and gaue it to hys Disciples saying this is my bodye whiche is giuen for you this doe in my remembraunce now thys latter sentence doe thys in my remembraunce doth shew the meaning of the first sentence For if Christ hadde lefte hys owne bodye wyth vs then he woulde not haue sayde doe thys in my remembraunce For what néede one be wylled to remember that thing that hée séeth Saint Paule likewise sayeth That whiche I deliuered vnto you I receyued of the Lorde for the Lorde Iesus the same nighte in whiche hee was betrayed tooke breade and gaue thankes and brake it and sayde Take yee and eate yee this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembraunce of me After the same manner hee tooke the cup when supper was done saying this cup is the newe Testament in my bloud yet the cuppe wherin was the wine was not the new testament though the very words are so this do as ofte as yee drinke it in remembraunce of me for as ofte as yee shall eate this breade and drinke this cup not meaning that they shoulde drinke the Cuppe thoughe he say so but the Wine in the Cuppe yee shall shewe the Lordes deathe till hee come Here Saint Luke and Sainte Paule differ from Sainte Matthew and from Sainte Marke for here they saye This Cuppe is the newe Testamente in my bloude but Marke and Matthew sayth This is my bloud of the new Testament c. wherby it appeares that therein S. Luke and S. Paule doe open the meaning in this place of y e other two Euangelists So y t therby Christ mēt not that the Wine was the bloud but that the Wine doth signifie his bloud and is a newe couenaunt or witnesse of his bloud that was shed for manye and so he meant of the bread And Saint Paule sayth further Ye shall shew the Lordes death vntil he come So that by his words it plainelye appears that in eating of the Lords supper we chiefly ought to remember Christ in his absence and shewe and remember his death and to be thankeful to him therefore vntil he come again at the last day for these words vntil he come do signifie plainely that he is absent in his body and will come at length And nowe you shall heare whether the auntiente Doctours and writers were of the same iudgemēt or not Tertullian expoundeth these wordes of Christe hoc est corpus meum hoc est figura corporis mei which is This is my bodye that is to say this is the figure of my body likewise Saint Augustine sayth Non dubitauit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cùm daret signum corporis sui Our Lord saith he doubted not to say this is my body when he gaue a signe of hys bodie And he sayth Christ receiued Iudas vnto his banket whereat he gaue to his Disciples the figure of his body and bloude here by these auntient and learned writers it appeares that the breade that Christe brake and gaue to hys Disciples was not his body but a figure and signe of hys body Sainte Cyprian sayeth The cuppe is offered in the remembraunce of Christe by the wine the Lordes bloude is shewed or signified therefore Wine is vsed that by Wine we maye vnderstande the Lordes bloude c. Sainte Augustine sayth in this sacrifice is a thankesgiuing and a remembraunce of the fleshe of Christe that hee hath offered for vs and of the bloude that hee shedde for vs And if you refuse all these learned authors aforesaid yet you wil not refuse I hope y e Popes own glose y t expoūdeth it thus vocatur corpus Christi id est significat corpus Christi It is called the body of Christ that is to say it signifieth the bodye of Christ. De consecra dist 2. hoc est quod in glossa A great sort moe of learned Authors write of the Sacrament to this effect but these are sufficient to proue that the Sacramentall breade and wyne are fygures and sygnes of the bodye and bloud of Christ and not the verye bodye and bloud of Christ. If it be a Sacrament as you call it then it can not be the body of Christ for Saint Augustine sayth Sacramentum est visibile signum inuisibilis gratiae A Sacramēt is a visible signe of an inuisible grace Now if it be a signe of an inuisible grace then it is not the inuisible grace it selfe So that the Sacrament
beyng breade and wyne are signes of the bodye and bloud of Christ which is an inuisible grace for Christ is the greatest fauour and grace that euer God bestowed vpon vs or sent vs. Further this is the true diffinition of a Sacrament Sacramentum est signum rei sacrioris se. A Sacrament is a Signe of a holyer thing than it is it selfe And for that nothing is more holye than the bodye of Christ and it beyng a Sacrament is a sygne of a holyer thing than it is it selfe therefore it can not bée the body of Christ. And marke these arguments that followe Nothing is done in the remembrance of it selfe But the sacrament is vsed in the remembrance of Christ Therefore the Sacrament is not Christ. Againe Christ neuer deuoured himselfe But Christ did eate the sacrament with his Apostles Ergo the Sacrament is not Christ himselfe And againe one thing can not be both visible inuisible But the Sacrament is visible and the body of Christ is inuisible therefore they are not one Which Saint Augustine openeth well by these wordes Aliud est Sacramentum aliud res Sacramenti c. The Sacrament is one thing the thing of the Sacrament is an other thing the Sacrament is that goeth into the bodye the thing of the Sacrament is the bodye of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. Saint Augustine sayeth also Euill men haue the Sacrament but they haue not the thing of the Sacrament which is the bodye of Christ that the Sacramente doeth signifie By these sayings it appeares plainly that the Sacrament is one thing and the bodye of Christ is an other thing S. Ambrose saith of the bread and wyne Sunt quae erant c They remaine the same that they were and are chaunged into an other thing That is they are made the Sacrament of y e body bloud of Christ which before they were not S. Ambrose saith let the word be added to the elemeÌ„t or outward creature it is made a Sacrament that is to say another thing Sacraments are signes or tokens of things being by substaÌ„ce one thing signifying an other thing So saith Chrisostom of the water of Baptim when this creature of water hath receiued the holy ghost it is made a Sacrament And now it is not water to drinke but water to sanctifie not coÌ„mon water but water to refreshe Thus the Element or outward creature both remayneth and is changed S. Augustine saith it is so called after a sort that is not in truth of matter but by a mysterie signifying that the sense maye be this it is called the bodye of Christ that is to saye it signifyeth the body of Christ. Hereby it appeares by the iudgementes of these learned wâ—yters that the bread and wyne are changed by the worde into a Sacrament being breade and wine still in substaunce and so are changed into an other thing then they were before for before they were but onelye breade and wine and nowe they are a Sacramentall bread and wine signifying the body and bloud of Christ. So that the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord is a figure and signe of the body and bloud of Christ and not the verye body and bloud of Christ. These holy and learned men that wrote of this worthy excellent changing of the Sacramentes neuer knewe of the Popes changing or transubstantiation or turning of the breade and wyne into the bodye and bloud of Christe but if any were so wicked to write it so deuilish to declare it or so pestilent to persuade it of all them and all suche Saint Augustine doeth write thus This is a myserable bondage sayeth hée of the Soule to take the Sygnes in steade of the things that bee sygnified But whether there were then any suche or no hée hath fully touched you that takes the Sacrament that signifyes the bodye of Christ for the body of Christ. And therefore by his sayings you are in a myserable bondage of your soules that takes the sacrament for the body of Christ whereas it doth but signifie the body of Christ. Therefore for the loue of God release your soules and your bodyes also out of that myserable bondage and take it for a memorie and remembrance of the bodye of Christ as the Scriptures doe will you and the Doctors doe persuade you and beléeue not the Popes turning or changing or transubstantiation of the breade into the body of Christ for it is not true nay it can not bée true For it is not foure hundreth yéeres since it was first allowed or authorized by Pope Innocent the thirde and his Prelates whiche muste néedes come from the Diuell as the rest of the Popes holye Religion dyd aswell for that neyther Christ did teache it nor the Apostles did once mention it nor the auncient Doctors did affirme it or beléeue it as also for that is repugnaÌ„t to scriptures to the doctrine of the Apostles and to the writings of the holy and learned Doctors And though you haue bin persuaded that it is most sure and infallible doctrine the chiefest postes and pillers of the same are not onely in great doubt thereof but are at their wittes ende and knowe not well what to saye therein for Peter Lombard y e chiefe general of this campe of this transubstantiatioÌ„ saith thus as followeth Some meÌ„ iudge thus some saye thus some haue written thus some graunt this some other haue thought thus that the very substaunce of the breade and wine remayneth still Here is but a madde agrement of the learned to proue the same If so many learned men say by the confession of the chiefe champion of this matter that there remaynes still breade and wyne in the Sacrament then it were a verye madnesse for all you to beléeue that it is the very body and bloud of Christ neyther bread nor wyne But marke what Peter Lombard saith him selfe hereof that takes vppon hym to iudge these doubtes howe he is resolued or howe hée agréeth in iudgement wyth himselfe his aunswere is thys Si autem queritur c. If a question were moued saith he what maner of conuersion or change this is whether it be in forme or in substance or of some other sort I am not able to discusse it Here may you see saith M. Iewell the blinde leadeth the blinde he that setteth his foote before the rest and would be taken for a guide knoweth not where to set his owne foote Gabriel Biell sayeth howe the bodye of Christ is there whether it bee by chaunging of something into it or Christs bodye beginne to bee there with the breade both the substaunce and the accidentes of the breade remayning styll without chaunging it is not founde in the Cannon of the Bible c. Thus doe the learned Doctours of the Pope teache you they can not tell what But this I wyll saye if it bée not to bee founde in the Bible it shall neuer be founde
into wine that is one creature into an other contrarie creature the Priestes woulde make vs beléeue that they turne a creature which is bread into Christ which is no creature but God Mā the sonne of God creatour maker of al things So that Christes body cānot be made of bread nor of any other thing for Christ is the Sonne of God and was not made but was begotten by God his Father and was conceyued by the holy Ghost and borne on the virgin Marie Therefore let it neyther sinke in your mindes that a péece of bread or a cake can be turned into the bodie of Christe nor that the bodie bloud of Christ is to be eaten and drunke with our mouthes and so to be conueyed into our bodies as other meates and drinkes are but they are onely foode of the Soule and must be eaten and drunke of the same by faith as before is declared If the Canibals are to be abhorred bicause they deuour and eate mans flesh their enimies whome they take in the warres are not you then much more to be detested that are not ashamed to eate and deuoure with your mouthes and téeth the very bodie of Christ your great high friend the onely Sauiour of all the worlde Bels Priests were much more to be commended than the Popes priestes and were not such Caniball rauenours as they be for they did honor their God Bell and did but eate his meate from him but the papisticall Priests after they haue honoured the bodie of their Christe they eate him cleane vp deuoure him Are not these fellowes woorthy to haue a Christ that after they haue honored him a litle do then eate and deuoure him that he shall neuer be séene againe If a King Cyrus did put the 70. Priests of God Bell woorthily to death for eating their Gods meate from him surely then our Quéene might more lawfully put the papisticall Priests to death that eate and deuoure vp their Christ himselfe But the Priestes haue none other song but this Christ sayd This is my body therfore it is the bodie of Christ and Christ bad them eate it and therfore according to Christes commaundement they eate the bodie of Christe well the meaning of those wordes and what is the true eating of Christes bodie is sufficiently expressed before but to driue you cleane from this grosse and absurde errour marke wel these reasonable argumentes following As Christ did say this is my bodie so he said I am the waye c. yet wée must not thinke therefore that he is a very waie that leades vs from Towne to Towne or that wée muste treade or goe vppon him when wée walke or goe to any place as the proude Persian Prince Sopores vsed to treade on a Kings backe when hée got vp vpon his Horse But as this worthie Sacrament doth signifie Christes bodie which by his death hath redéemed vs Euen so Christe is our Spirituall waye by whome we must go to Heauen And as our common wayes leades vs in our earthly trauell to the place wée determine to go so Christe doth onely lead and direct vs in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen Christe also saith he is the light of the worlde If wée shoulde take these wordes litterally and as they are spoken then wée might say that Christe is the Sunne that shineth dayly vpon vs for the Sunne is the chiefest lighte that wée in this worlde doe sée by and without it we could not so perfectly direct our iourneis in this worlde as wée do But Christ doth not meane that he is the Sunne or any suche light But as the Sunne doth gyue vs light to direct our iourneis on the earth so Christ being the Sunne of God doth shyne and giueth vs our whole light in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen And thus Christe is the light of the worlde that in this worlde doth light vs to Heauen Christe also sayd I am the doore but wée muste not thinke though he sayde so that he is a very doore but in some respect is lyke vnto a doore for as the righte and readie waie into a house is to go in at the doore so Christ is the very true doore of Heauen by whome euery one must enter that shall go into Heauen And as Christ calleth them Théeues that enter into the house any other waie but by the doore euen so they are Spirituall théeues and enimies to God that goe aboute to enter any other waie into Heauen than by Christe the true doore of Heauen And this is the true meaning of Christe that sayd he is the doore Christ also sayd haue I not chosen twelue of you and one of you is a Diuell meaning Iudas that after betrayed him if we may credite old wiues fables the Diuell hath hornes and clouen féete yet we must not thinke though Christ called him so that Iudas was turned or Transubstantiated into a Diuell and had hornes and clouen féete But as the Diuell is a murtherer and a betrayer of innocent bloud so Iudas did resemble the Diuell in betraying his innocent maister Christe and in procuring his death Thus you may sée that the wordes of Christ are not alwayes to be vnderstanded litterally as Christe spake them no more ought those wordes spoken by hym of the Sacrament But if all this that is sayde herein will neyther satisfie nor persuade you I woulde fayne knowe of you whether the bread is turned into Christes bodie that was vncrucified or that was crucified if you saye it was his bodie that sate among his Disciples at his last Supper before hée was crucified then how coulde he die on the crosse after séeing his Apostles had eaten his bodie before If you saie it was his bodie after it was crucified that coulde not be for when he brake the bread to his Disciples he was not then crucified therefore he could not gyue them his crucified bodie to eate for then it was not crucified for as one can not gyue to any baked bread before it bée baked so Christe coulde not gyue hys crucified bodie to his Disciples before it was crucified And thus euery way you are dryuen to a mischiefe There was a learned man he was a maister of Arte at the least chaūced to be at supper where I was with diuers other who said then that he would proue by Scriptures by learning that the bread after it is cōsecrated by a priest is the very bodie of Christ the same that was borne on the virgin Marie whome then I asked if he would stand to his worde and he said he would then I said to him againe that I would eyther make him denie his worde yéeld vnto me or else hold his peace for want of answere who answered me againe as it séemed both proudely and disdainfully saying that I was to yong a Scholler to do that Then I sayd againe if I do it not then let all them at this table beare
make Christe and eate Christe and if he once be past mans meate burne Christe who hath as great authoritie so to do as Iosias had shée might likewise saye their fleshe nor bodies were not burned nor hurte but their Accidentes as their length breadth thicknesse thinnesse weight and colour and such like but if they were thus handled though they woulde make vs beléeue that nothyng of the Sacrament is burned but the Accidentes they woulde then both beléeue and féele that their bones fleshe skinne sinewes and all their whole bodies were burded aswell as their Accidents Marke this also if the bread bée chaunged into the bodie of Christe by the Priestes consecrating it then why was the Emperoure Henrie the sixth poysoned by eating the bodie of Christ and why was Pope Victor poisoned in his Chalice by drynkyng the bloude of Christe is the bodie of Christe nowe so farre contrarie to it selfe to that it was before and is nowe become a destroyer and killer of menne whiche before was a helper and healer of men a meruailous matter when Christ was here on earth and his bodie not glorified he raysed Lazarus from death to lyfe that had bene foure dayes dead and now that he is in Heauen and glorified his bodie hath poysoned and killed men that had lyued aboue thirtie yéeres and so brought them from lyfe to death Therefore how soeuer you haue vsed Christ amoÌ„g you he is woÌ„derfully changed A man would thinke it had bene more likely that Christes bodie being so full of vertue and power as it is that it should haue turned the poyson mixt with it to the good nature and vertue of it selfe and to haue preserued mens bodies and not the poyson to turne Christes bodie into poyson and so to poyson or kill men Perhaps you will saie that it was not Christes bodie that the poison was mixt withall truely if you say so I beléeue you I allow his wit the better that he tarried not it was time for him to be gone for if he had tarried he had bin poisoned But I pray you what was it then that the poison was mixt withall you will not now for shame say that it was the accidents of Christes bodie least you make Christ to haue such a strange bodie or rather no bodie at all as is before mentioned Belike then it was the bread that was there before for the one it must néedes be for what soeuer the Popes Doctors saie al learned and wise men affirme that there can be no Accidentes without a Substance and yong children that are but in the beginning of their Grammer can tell you that an Adiectiue must néeds haue a Substantiue truly if the bread being the bodie of Christ and exalted to so high a degrée did vnchriste himself was content to become bread again to be poisoned to saue the bodie of Christ froÌ„ poisoning then it was the louingst bread the friendliest bread a bread of the greatest consideration that I euer heard of well in so doing I muste néedes saie that the bread shewed Christ a verye friendly part for if the bread had not come againe then Christ himself had bin poysoned and then he had dyed twice then the professors of the Gospell had bin vtterly vndone for the Pope beyng â—opercioner with Christ hauing both one consistorie or seate of Iudgement would haue claimed all by suruiuor and so he woulde haue sit alone and thereby he might haue sent the Diuels and the wicked to heauen and the Angels and the godly to hell But if one shoulde aske you howe many bodyes Christ had I am sure you will say he had but one if you say truely then if the bread were changed as you say yet coulde it be but a péece of the body of Christ or else Christ hath had at one time twentie thousand bodyes at the least for I am sure there haue bin so many Masses at the least saide in one day Though this be sufficient that I haue alreadie spoken to any ChristiaÌ„ godly wise or reasonable man that the bread is not neither by any meanes can be changed into the body of Christ yet I will go further with you Suppose y t Christ at his last Supper by these wordes this is my bodye dyd turne the bread into his very body which before is proued he did not both by the scriptures auncient Doctors and naturall reason yet therefore the Priestes are neuer a whyt the neare for the turning or changing of the breade into the body of Christ. For if he had done it yet he gaue them no warrant nor commission to doe it For where can you finde that Christ said as often as any Priest shal pronounce and say these wordes ouer a white little cake this is my body and shall blesse and consecrate it that straight way the little cake shall be turned and transubstantiated into my very body and the substance of the bread from thence forth shall be cleane gone and my very bodye fleshe bloud and bone that was borne on the virgin Marie my mother shall remaine there in the steade of bread If you coulde shewe vs these wordes or such like spoken by Christ then it woulde séeme that they had Christes commission so to doe but they haue from Christ no such commission or warrant so to doe if Christ had done it as he did it not Therefore all the racking glosing and expoundyng of the some wordes of Christ serue your turne neuer a whyt all that Christ said therein to his Apostles was doe this in my remembrance So that neyther Pope nor Priest can haue anye more authoritie therein than the Apostles had themselues Therefore the Priestes doe not onely most wickedly to make you beléeue that the Sacramentall breade is the body of Christ which is but a signe or remembraunce of Christ and his death but also both they and you committe moste horrible and abhominable Idolatrie in knéeling to it and worshipping of it If a great Lorde that loues me wel being my maister should deliuer me his painted picture which were somthing more like him than a cake is like Christ say to me when you looke on this my picture in my absence remember me and then if I should when he were gone shew the same picture abroade say to euerye one that sées it that the same picture is my Lord maister himselfe that left it with me and so make curtesie to it and reuerence honor it for the said Lorde all that should sée me doe so woulde not onely thinke I were starke mad but also my said Lord maister that loued me so much would not be very wel content with me for taking and honoring that dumbe dead and sencelesse picture for himselfe that he did leaue with me for a signe to remember him withal in his absence besides that I thinke he would dismisse me as I were wel worthy out of his seruice Euen so all wise men may
pleasure to talke of their tormentes yet they had no great pleasure in féeling their torments But who I pray you did put them to death in their errour false heresie as you call it euen they y t are of your holy Romish Church who without repētance shall answer y e shedding of their guiltlesse bloud yea some haue not sticked to say that they that were burned were damned which was but a hard iudgement first to iudge their bodies to be burned here on earth and after their soules to be burned in Hell they will not stand to this iudgement they will rather appeale But if they died in errour and are damned as some of your religion saide then who was the cause of their damnation forsooth euen they that condemned them and burned them for thoughe they had bene so wilfull to burne in an euill opinion yet they shoulde not haue bene so mercilesse to haue burned them in that opinion If you should sée a mad man running into a pit to drown himself would you run after him thrust him into the pyt The children of God would rather pluck him backe saue him frō drowning Euen so if they had bene such heretikes as you would make them their opinions so damnable as you report them why did your holy religious brethren of the Churche of Rome so cruelly burne them whereby they were damned haue you no greater zeale to your brethren but so rashly and vncharitably to sende them to hell Euerlasting damnatiō is an horrible and dolefull thing for they that are there once shal be in torments vnspeakable in hell fyre for euer and euer worlde without ende And can you or any such looke to haue any mercie at Gods hande that thruste your brethren being as you say in a damnable opinion or heresie first into the fire here and burne them from thence sende them into an other fire the fire of hell where they shall burne for euer truely you may looke and hope for mercie but if you refraine not from this your heathenish crueltie and repent the same vnfaynedly you are more like to goe without it than haue it You that are such burners of your brethren herein doe condemne your selues for most cruell and mercylesse tyrants for you burne them here and after say they be damned The Franciscane Friers of Paris in Fraunce maye séeme to bée more charitable than the Popishe persecutors before mētioned for they whiles one was in a good opinion as they said hanged him vp quickly bicause he should be saued go to Heauen but these said cruell Papists haue burned their brethrē bicause they should go to hel Marke it wel for it is worth y e hearing There was a ritch marchant mā in Paris who said in 〈◊〉 to the Friers of S. Fraunces you weare a rope about your bodyes bicause S. Fraunces once shoulde haue bene hanged and the Pope redéemed 〈◊〉 vppon this condition that all his lyfe after he shoulde weare a rope Upon this saying the Franciscane Friers of Paris caused him to be apprehended and to be laid in prison also iudgement past vppon him that he shoulde be hanged But he to saue his life was content to recant and so did the Friers hearing of his recantation commended him saying if he continued so he should be saued and so the Friers calling vpon the officers caused them to make hast to the gallowes to hang him vp whiles he was yet in a good way sayd they least he fal againe And so this Marchant notwithstanding his recantation was hanged Thus though some of you do burne men to send them to hell yet these charitable Friers did hang this Marchant to sende him to heauen But as your burning of vs contrarie to your saying doth bring vs through Christ to saluation so I pray God that the Friers hanging of the Marchant contrarie to their saying did not bring him to damnation If the Popes Friers do hang men for iesting against them then it is no maruell though the Popes Champions doe burne men for speaking against them in earnest The hanging of this Marchant may well be iustice according to y e Popes lawe but it is scant iustice by Gods lawe nor by the lawe of any godly Prince These holy Friers might learne this of the Diuell for I am sure they neuer learned it of God You shall sée by Christes wordes whether you that doe this murther and persecute your brethren are of God or the Diuel Christ saith Whatsoeuer you would that men should doe to you do euen the same to them Now weigh with your selues would you be content that if you were heathen men or Iewes that other shoulde burne you and sende you thereby after to hell I thinke not Christ saith Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie but the Papisticall persecutors are vnmercifull tyrantes as their burning of their brethren and their saying after they be damned do euidently declare therfore you that are the Popes persecutors are vnhappie shal not obteine mercy vnlesse as I said you repent in time But we are most sure that they are not gone to Hell as some of your sect haue both boasted and bragged for they are vnder the Altar where the rest of the Saints Martirs be that haue dipt their garments in y e bloud of the Lambe But if they had bin in errour or Heresie thus you would haue serued them And though they died willingly they died not in Heresie and yet they died not so willingly as the mad man I spoke of parabolically but that they woulde haue liued if they might with a safe conscience without denying Christ. For you droue them to a mischiefe eyther to be burned here in your fire and to saue their endlesse life in Heauen or else to saue their life here and to burne for euer in Hell who remembred Christes wordes which are these Whosoeuer shall denie me afore men him also will I denie before my father in Heauen Thus you may sée what cruell Tirantes the Pope and his partakers are that without all pittie and mercie do burne and kill vs here to burne vs and kill vs euerlastingly in Hell And yet the Popes for all this call themselues the Seruants of Gods Seruants but if the Pope be such an vnderling then he vsed y e Emperour his maister but homely when he made him lie downe and trode in his necke and also if the Pope be the Seruant of Gods seruants then he is a very euill seruant that hath killed so many of his maisters And now you shall haue an other infallible rule that our Religion is the true Religion and that the true professors and followers thereof are of the kingdome of God The Popes kingdome is encreased and mainteyned with crueltie murther and persecuting but Christs kingdome increaseth by humilitie by being murthered and persecuted for though the true Christians are dayly killed and murthered yet their number is