that to the Pope that Saint Paule applyeth to Christ which though I name not Papistrie yet I maye safely call it blasphemie These are the words Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius id est Papae pecora campi id est homines viuentes in terra pisces maris id est animas in Purgatorio volucres caeli id est animas beatorum which are thus in English Thou hast made all things subiect to him that is to saye to the Pope The cattell of the field that is to saye men liuing on thee earth The fishes in the Sea that is to say the soules in Purgatorie The birds of the Heauens that is to say the soules of the blessed in Heauen You that hold on the Pope how like you this expoūding of the words of Saint Paule if Saint Paule had expounded them himselfe he woulde neuer haue expounded them on this fashion for there was neyther Pope nor Purgatorie when he wrote them was it not happy that thys man was borne that thus expounded them yes I trow for if he had neuer bin borne then it is like they had neuer bene thus expounded and so our holye Father the Pope had neuer knowne the greate aucthoritye and power that GOD by these words of the Psalme hath allowed him Surely Dauid that wrote firste this Psalme was muche ouerséene that he named not the Pope therein for so the Pope might haue lackte a greate deale of his power If the Pope maye applye in thys sorte al the Scriptures to himselfe that are ment vpon Christ then he may put Christe out of all the aucthoritie that God his father hath promised him and at the last day iudge the quicke and the deade and make Christe to stande at the barre and hold vppe his hande and as Pilate condemned Christe on Earthe so the Pope maye condemne Christe in Heauen Marke further for here are excellent proofes for the Popes prerogatiue Peter lept into the water and came to Christ The rest of the Disciples came by boate Ergo the Pope hath iurisdiction of all the world Peter Crab that lately compiled the Bookes of Counsels reasoneth thus Peter paide the Tribute money for Christ and himselfe Christ said vnto Peter Followe thou me Againe he saide Launch forth into the deepe againe Peter art thou a sleepe couldst thou not watche with mee one houre And againe From henceforth thy name shall be Peter And Peter drewe his sworde and cut off Malchus eare Therfore saith he the Pope hath authoritie ouer the whole Church of God Are not here notable argumentes to proue the Popes great authoritie I maruell that Peter Crab had forgotten these that follow which serue for the Popes authoritie as well as the other Christ said to Peter Verily before the Cocke crow thou shalt denie me thrice And he said vnto Peter Come after me Sathan If Peters paying of tribute money made Peter a Pope than the Bishop of Rome is no Pope for he payes no tribute but the Kings are Popes that pay tribute to the Pope If Christ made Peter Pope gaue him all this authoritie bicause he followed Christ then the Pope is a false Pope and hath no such authoritie bicause he hath cleane forsaken Christ followes him neuer a whit Marry if Peters sléeping and bicause he coulde not watch with Christ made him Pope and therby had all this great authoritie then I will not denye but the Pope may be a Pope aswell as Peter for he sléepes in all kind of sinne he watches neuer a whit with Christ. And as Peter did not preach Gods word all the while he slept so it appeares that the Pope sléepes alwayes for he neuer preaches And if Peters fighting and the cutting off of Malchus eare made him Pope and got him such authoritie then I warrant the Pope is a right and perfect Pope for he doth fight as fiercely as Peter did for his life whereas Peter did cut off the eare of one the Pope cuttes off the heads burnes the bodyes of thousandes And whereas Peter dyd fighte with Christes enemie but kylled him not the Pope doeth fight with Christes friends killes them out-right Therfore if Peters fighting made him Pope then the Pope is a ryghte Pope as well as hée But it is not to bée founde in all the newe Testament that Christ eyther called Peter the Pope of Rome or gaue hym any such authoritie as the Pope claymes by Peter I finde as I said before y t Christ called Peter Sathan or Diuell but hée neuer called hym Pope Marry if Christ had sayde these wordes to Peter Peter thou shalt bée Pope of Rome and all that shall succéede thée in that seate shal be Popes and shall neuer erre saye or doe what they wyll I giue to thée and them all my power in Heauen and in earth thou they shall be aboue Emperors and Kings shalt treade in their neckes put them downe and put other in their places when thou they liste Thou and they shall be called God and shal in a manner do what soeuer God can do and thou and they shal haue one place or seate of iudgement with me you shall haue power to giue the Scriptures what vnderstanding and sense you list thy authoritie and theirs shal be aboue the Scriptures or word of God and you shal haue power to commaund the Angels of Heauen to come downe to the Earth and to carry whose Soules you list to Heauen And whosoeuer shall haue your pardons what offence so euer they haue done or howe wickedly soeuer they die they shal be forgiuen and as soone as they are deade they shall goe to heauen c. If Christ I saye had sayde these wordes to Peter as plainely as he said Come after me Sathan then I woulde haue graunted that Peter and all hys successours hadde béene made perfecte Popes and that therefore Christ had gyuen them a good and large commission But sure I neuer read that Christ gaue either him or them al these authorities or made them such Popes But if euer Christe made Peter Pope at all then truely I thinke he made him Pope and all his successours with all the priuiledges before mentioned and a great sorte mo at the same time when he called hym Sathan or named him Diuell whych Popedome and priuiledges belonging therto as the Popes vse them is so fitte an office for Sathan the Diuell to execute that if al the world had deuised they could not haue inuēted a fitter office for him Well though the Pope holde not his Popedome and his power by commission yet at least he kéepes it by custome Therefore hée will be a God who euer sayes nay for as he saith he hath all power in Heauen and in Earth But though he haue al the power in Heauen and earth and ouer the Angels in Heauen yet Hel is lefte out as hap is so that it séemes he beares no swaye there
doo sinne against the holy Ghost whereby to feare you that you should not accuse him nor to thinke hée doth euill whatsoeuer hée dooth it is he it is he rather that sinnes against the holie Ghost that committes such wilfull blasphemie and so wittingly contrarie to his owne Conscience takes vpō him to be Christ and robs Christ of his due honour and glorie who knowes most certenlye that he is neyther Christ nor that the sayde Scriptures were meant of him nor can be by any meanes rightly applied to him And so vnlesse the former Popes whiche besides this great blasphemie were euill and wicked enough as before is manyfest haue repented and the Pope and hys Prelates that are nowe doo repent this their most horrible blasphemie whiche they cannot choose but knowe and commit thus willinglye and wittinglye surelye they shall neuer be forgiuen neyther in this worlde nor in the worlde to come For I beléeue it is the very sinne against the holy Ghost And if all this cannot persuade you that these monstrous and execrable Popes are the Seruauntes of Sathan the Deuils deputies and the very Antichrist and the Antichrist that the Scriptures meaneth off you shall haue here other Authors more credible than my selfe that shall so plainely describe the Pope to be the very Antichriste that you cannot choose but so to take hym vnlesse you be vtterly bent not to yéelde vnto the truth or to saye with the foolish Poet Non persuadebis etiam si persuaseris Though you persuade me I will not be persuaded But yet before we come to that marke what prerogatiue the Pope claymeth whereby you shall the better perceiue that he is the very Antichriste The Pope is aboue all generall Counsels That his bare worde muste be holden as a Lawe That whatsoeuer he do none may say vnto him why do you thus That his iudgementes are more certaine than the iudgementes of all the worlde That if all the whole worlde giue sentence in anye matter contrary to the Popes pleasure yet it seemeth wee are bounde to stande to the iudgement of the Pope And whatsoeuer he sayth or doth being Pope he cannot erre Yet Pope Pius the seconde before he was Pope sayde That the Counsel is aboue the Pope but after when he was Pope being better instructed I see sayde he beefore I was muche deceiued now the Pope is aboue the Counsel Thus eyther the Popes are lyars or else lyars are made Popes The Popes Canonists say That the Pope may dispence against the lawe of God The Pope maye dispence againste the Lawe of Nature The Pope may dispence against Saint Paule the Apostle The Pope maye dispence againste the newe Testament The Pope maye dispence wyth all the Commaundementes bothe of the olde and also of the new Testament If the Pope can doe all this then he may putte Christe out of al his aucthoritie then hée maye cursse the mercifull and blesse the cruel tyraunte then hée maye damne them that be saued and saue the damned And then GOD helpe the poore Protestantes for they are lyke to goe to Hel and all the Papistes are like to goe to Heauen And if Christe and the Aungels be no Papistes he wyll goe neare to thruste them al out of Heauen and sende them to Hel. Who would thinke or beléeue that these proude Popes woulde suffer them selues to be called God or that any would be so beastly or wicked to call them so The Popes Canonistes haue moued questions whether the Pope bée God or not and one saide thus presentlye before his face in the Counsell of Laterane without rebuke Thou arte another God in the Earth And the Popes Godhead is published abroade to the whole worlde in printed Bookes Our Lorde God the Pope If our Bibles or other Bookes contained such blasphemy and heresie as these your Popes Bookes doo they were then well worthy to be burned but the Pope neither punisheth these blasphemers nor yet burnes their Bookes as he burneth the Bible and worde of God And wheras Saint Augustine writeth Who dare to say thus to God the Popes Canonistes haue bettered it in this sorte Who dareth to say thus to God or to the Pope Marie I say Scaira that tooke the Pope prisoner made him to ride with his face towardes the Horse tayle and had like to haue famished him in prison durst saye so to the Pope although he durst not say so to God The Pope also hearde these wordes spoken before his face In the Pope is all maner of power aboue all powers as well of Heauen as of Earth What power is this but euen the very power of God thus you may plainely perceyue that the Pope is contented to be called a God of the earth The Pope is Lord God The Pope hath al power aboue all powers either in Heauen or in earth And as Zabarella sayth the Pope doeth whatsoeuer hée lysteth yea although it be vnlawfull and is more than GOD. What would you haue more this is enough I think it is more than euer his Father had before him vnlesse he were a Popes son if they had al this power which none hath or can haue but God as they would make fooles dawcocks beleue they haue why did popes then suffer them selues to be poysoned famished killed haue their eyes put out who is so blinde but may plainely sée that the Popes are horrible and wicked the children of Sathan and make men beléeue that they are farre more and greater than they are Abbat Panormitan saith out of Hostiensis Christus Papa faciunt vnum consistorium excepto peccato potest Papa quasi omnia facere quae potest Deus Christ and the Pope make one Consistorie and Sinne excepted the Pope in a manner can doe al things that God can doe Woulde you haue thought that eyther any woulde haue written thus of the Pope or that the Pope woulde take thys vppon him or suffer anye eyther to write or saye thus I thinke that none of you doe beléeue that the Pope can doe as God can doe for I am sure that God can and will burne all the worlde at once yea and that quickly whiche I am sure the Pope can not do for if he could then al they that professe Gods word should be burned ere to morrowe nay within this houre besides he would do then many other things that he can neuer doe but thoughe the Pope cannot doe whatsoeuer God can doe yet I will helpe hym a lyttle he can doe more than God can doe for hée can blaspheme God he can lye he can hate them that loue him he can hurte them that neuer offended him hée can be vnmercifull he can breake his promise hée can saye that hée can doe more than hée can doe hée can bée a false Harlot hée can bée the chylde of the Dyuel he can bée Antichriste and he can aduaunce himselfe higher than he ought to be al whych God
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
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
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
you and suffer you vnplagued and vndestroyed that are but Bastards and as wilde Oliues whiche cruellye murther Christes members or reioice in the same whiche is as much as though you had killed Christ himselfe or reioyced in his death And if God spared not the Aungels in Heauen whyche serued hym day and night not for hurting of hym and hys members but for their Pride in that they would haue bin higher not content wyth their estate that God called them vnto doe you thinke then that he wil spare you that are vile earthly wretches whyche regarde not his lawes and burne spoile and murther the innocent members of Christ for the professing of Christs Gospell no no I warrant you Yet Lucifer and his fellowe Aungelles looked and hoped for as fayre a day as you hope for for they thought to be equall with God whyche you looke not to be thoughe you had your fayre hoped day but their hope was aslope and for their faire â—ndlesse daye they gote an euerlasting fowle darke and stormy night for the glorious and ioyful kingdome of Heauen they haue got the moste dolefull sorrowfull and paineful kingdome of Hell where the moste furious flames of fire shall neuer go out and where shal be wayling wéeping howling and gnashing of téeth for euer worlde without ende Thus you may sée what a faire day the tyrannicall Emperours that persecuted tormented and killed Christs innocent members the true Christians and the Iewes that put Christ to death and also the Aungels of Heauen haue got which they hoped and looked for Therefore if you hadde vppe your Masse and the Papisticall religion againe and thereby burnte youre brethren killed your countreymen and embrewed your armes vp to the shoulders in their bloud and drunke so much therof vntil your bellies burste what other daye could you looke for but onely for suche a day as the Iewes that killed Christe the tyrants that murthered Christes members and as the prowde Aungels of Heauen had that resisted God whyche in stead of a fayre day is turned into a darke terrible and stormy night Wherefore I beséeche you abhorre and forsake the Masse and the Popes doctrine which will not bring you a faire warme calme and bright daye as you thinke but a moste darke stormie and tempestuous night as we know and not a ioyfull day as you beléeue but a moste sorrowfull and doleful night as we are moste certaine I woulde you should not thinke that eyther the Quéens Maiestie doth feare you or that we dread you bycause so vehemently I do persuade you neyther lette this my exhorting you cause you to be more hawtie that oughte to make you more humble to encourage you to be more obstinate that teacheth you to be more obedient and procure you to rebellion that persuadeth you froÌ„ treason for the Quéenes Highnesse and hir louing and obedient Subiectes are most assured that as God hitherto hathe blessed and defended hir Grace for the setting forth and maintayning of his holy gospel so he wil hereafter blesse and defend hir against you and al hir enimies that shal goe aboute to resist or fight againste hir to suppresse the Gospel If you that are hir subiects do hope that the Pope wyll blesse you for disobeying your Prince Then hir Grace being your Quéene may be wel assured that God wil blesse hir Highnesse which is as good as the Popes blessing for obeying of him in setting forth maintayning and defeÌ„ding the doctrine of Christ the lawe of God You may perceiue if you wil perceiue by the reasons arguments examples and proofes before mentioned that if the Popes souldiours that you procure or wishe to come fight against our Prince to aide and helpe you vp with your Masse and y e rest of the Popes paltry should get the victorie whyche the Lord forbidde yet they would spoile you kil you murther you as they woulde vs though you be of their religion and woulde neyther trust you nor suffer you to beare any rule or be in aucthority for they would thinke as they might wel ynough that you that are false and rebellious to your lawfull naturall and most mercifull Princesse and Quéene that suffreth you to enioy quietly all that you haue and that dothe preserue you in suche prosperitie quietnesse peace as neuer any Subiectes enioyd before in England would not be true and obedient to them being forrain vnlawful and more straighter rulers that woulde dayly exact on you poll and pill you and your liuings to bring you vnder and in thraldome to them Whiche when you shoulde féele then their crueltie would teach you what our Quéene Elizabeth was whome nowe hir mildnesse and mercie cannot learne what our Quéene Elizabeth is And on the other side if the Quéenes Maiestie shoulde vanquishe you and them then manye of you shoulde be knowne for open Traytors that nowe are not surmysed to be hir priuie enimies and so therfore to be executed as you were well worthy This were but a verye foolishe and an vnwise matche made of you for whiche side soeuer should win you should be sure to loose and which side soeuer got the victorie you should be sure to haue the ouerthrow Therefore giue ouer your wilfulnesse and be persuaded by reason cease from your diuelish deuises your wicked attemptes and priuie conspyracies against our most milde and merciful Quéen and forsake your doctrine of the Pope and embrace the gospell which wil teach you to feare GOD to beléeue and hope in Christ to obey your Prince to loue your brethren and to be true to your countrey Thus I haue sufficiently prooued you specially you that are wilfull obstinate and determined Papistes to be not onely English enimies but also the worst enimies to England that can be and how the Pope is moste wicked and his doctrine false that you so muche loue and followe and that our religioÌ„ is most true which you abhorre and withstande that you hate your Prince enuy hir happy estate contemne our concorde desire our destrustion and therefore séeke your owne sorrow for that thereby you shal procure God to powre his plagues and cursses on you before mentioned Al which I haue done by sensible similitudes by tryed testimonies by infallible arguments by euident examples by ineuitable reasons and by the sacred Scriptures whyche if you be wise you wil wegh if you be Christians you wil consider and if you be of God you wil regarde But some of you are so addict to your holy Father the Pope that be a thing neuer so plainelye proued by arguments reasons proofes similitudes examples learning by learned Doctors and Writers yea and by the moste holy Scriptures yet you wil not beléeue it vnlesse it bée allowed or confirmed by the Pope who you think can not erre nor lye and therefore of all other to be trusted and al other besides him and his Chaplains to be mistrusted Wherfore to satisfie you withal I wil bring a Pope that
can not doe For thoughe God be called Omnipotens Almightie yet he is not Almightie bycause he can do al thinges but bycause he can doe all that he will or woulde doe whych the Pope can not do for all he taketh himselfe to bée a God for if he could this our realme of England shoulde not haue béene so long in quyet as it hathe béene And if Christe and the Pope make or haue one Consistorie or Iudgement seate then hereby the Pope maye be copercioner and fellow Iudge with Christe at the daye of Iudgement and iudge both the quicke and the deade But if then the Pope shoulde be so contraâ—ie to Christe and so muche hys enimie as he is here the controuersies of all matters and crimes from the beginning of the Worlde will not be determined and iudged in one daye For one daye woulde be little ynoughe to trye whiche of them shal sitte the vppermost for if he be ther then as haughtie and proud as hée is and hathe bene héere he will scarcelye suffer Christe to sitte aboue him for he that hathe sitâ—e aboue Emperours and kings and hathe made the Emperours necke his foote stoole wil be loath I beléeue to sit beneath Christ that was so poore as he was Nay if his power be aboue all the powers in Heauen and in earth as is before declared you shall sée that the Pope will goe neare to thrust Christ besides his seate and sitte there alone and be Iudge and al himselfe And if the authoritie of the Romaine Churche and the Pope is more than Gods worde as Siluester Prierias doeth write Then when Christ shal sit in iudgemente at the laste daye and hathe seuered the Shéepe from the Goates and bidde the blessed Shéepe to come into the kingdome of heauen and sente the curssed Goates into Hell the Pope maye come in then by hys aucthoritie and say to Christ by your leaue sirra a little séeing you haue giuen iudgement by your lawe I will nowe giue definitiue sentence by my lawe whiche is more than Gods worde And then the Pope maye say Come backe againe yée curssed that Christ bad to go to Hell and looke that yée go into Heauen for I haue appointed it for you to dwell in and you blessed that Christe hath willed to goe into Heauen come backe againe or I wil fetche you and sée that you goe into Hell for that is the place that I haue appointed for you to dwell in And thus maye the Pope by his aucthoritie whiche is more than Gods worde as Prierias sayeth controll and vndoe all Christes doings and sende the godly to Hel and the wicked to Heauen and he himselfe to be in Heauen like a God that liued on the earth like a Diuel What Hel-houndes are these that would make vs beléeue that the Popes power and aucthoritie is more than the word of God But if the Pope in a maner can do whatsoeuer God can doe or if he haue all power giuen hym in Heauen and in Earth as he sayeth then why did Pope Boniface the eight suffer Scaira wyth his souldiours to set fire on the gates of his pallaice and to breake downe the dores and windowes where he was in Aruagium and to enter vpon him and to rifle him of all his goods iewels and Treasure which was suche a deale as Christe and all hys Apostles neuer had And why then did he suffer them to sette him on a wilde and vnbroken colte with his face towardes the horsse tayle and the colte to runne vp and down with him vntil he was almost breathlesse and why did he suffer himselfe to be imprisoned by the sayde Scaira thrée dayes and to be almoste famished for meate thys holye Father that coulde commaunde the Angels to carry mens soules to Heauen I maruell that he did not commande them to come out of Heauen to deliuer him out of prison and out of his enimies handes But be bolde he woulde haue done it if he coulde haue done it And therefore you maye perceiue that he promiseth you more by hys Pardons than he is able to performe for if the Pope hath suche power to pardon you and to forgiue you your sinnes and to sende your soules by Aungels to Heauen then the Pope woulde haue helped himselfe out of prison and thraldome Therefore you maye sée if you wil sée that he tels you that he can doe a greate deale more than he can do for if he coulde deliuer mens soules from Hel he were able to deliuer his owne bodye out of prison And iâ— he be able to bring other mens soules from Earthe vnto heauen where he was neuer then he were as able to bring his own body out of prison to his own house where he hath bin And thoughe the Pope hathe suche greate and high aucthoritie as he hath he claimeth it not but by the aucthoritie of the Scriptures or by excellente and learned argumentes As thus the Sun is higher and greater than the Moone therefore Pope Innocentius sayeth that the Pope is greâ—er and higher than the Emperour this is that holy and méeke Pope that sayde that either he woulde lose his Mitre or else he woulde pul the Emperours Crown from his head Maister Harding to excuse the Pope withal said This is not a reason but a similitude To whom Maister Iewel the Bishop of Salisburie aunswereth as followeth This thing may easilye be graunted for in deede it is a similitude vtterly voyde of either Witte or Reason But who taughte the Pope so childishlye to playe with similitudes thereby to aduaunce himselfe and to abase the Emperour of the Worlde who tolde him that the Pope is the Sunne and the Emperour the Moone or that the Emperour is so farre inferior to the Pope as the Moone is inferior to the Sunne Isodorus that liued 600. yeares before Pope Innocentius the third sayth quite contrarie By the Sunne saith he we vnderstande the kingdome and by the Moone wee vnderstande the Priesthoode whereby he giueth vs to vnderstand contrarie to the iudgement of Pope Innocentius that as the Moone is inferior to the Sun so is the Pope inferior to the Emperour And here is another excellent argumente to proue the Popes aucthoritie both of the Spiritualtie and Temporaltie Peter sayde to Christe Lo heere are twoo swords Therefore Pope Boniface sayeth that the Pope hathe power both of the Spiritual Sworde and of the Temporall Sword Uery wel gest Maister Pope euen so one may say that by as good aucthoritie Lo here are two daggers And then a straunger to him that hath the Daggers may starte straighte-way in and say Marry therefore I oughte to be Lord Chauncelor of England and the Archebishoppe of Canterburie The Pope can lacke no power if suche conclusions may serue his turne Marke what a trimme exposition one of the Popes pâ—n men to maintaine the Pope in his Godhead hathe made vpon a verse of the eighte Psalme attributing
yea and thou shalt accuse thy father and mother if they professe the Gospell to the holy inquisitors of the church of Rome that they may be burned for Heretikes if thou be an Emperors son or a Kings son thou shalt rise against thy father and put him downe place thy selfe in his roume as Henry the Emperour was serued by his son if he loue embrace the Gospell and do any thing against the Popes wil and pleasure And whereas God saith Thou shalt do no murther now the iudgement of the Church of Rome is chaunged therfore God hath likewise chaunged his iudgement so that thys commaundement must now be turned thus quite contrary Thou shalt murther kil and burne thy brother mother father sister or else any other whatsoeuer he be if he professe the Gospel and followe Christes lawe And whereas God saith Thou shalt not commit adultry nowe the iudgement of the Pope and the Churche of Rome is chaunged and therfore Gods iudgement is chaunged so that this lawe by the iudgement of the Churche of Rome must now be thus Thou shalt not marry but thou maiest haue a Concubine or a Harlot to commit aduoutrie or fornication withal and thou shalt haue a licence for money of the Pope to doe so and so he shall allowe thée to commit aduoutrie or to playe the whoremonger or Harlot but take héede thou marry not according to the law of God for then thou shalte loose all thy lyuing thou shalte be taken for an heretike and the Pope wil not dispence with thée therfore And wheras God saith Thou shalt not steale now y e iudgement of y e Popes church is changed so Gods iudgement is changed therefore this law must now be after this sort thou shalt steale and rob God of his glorie thou shalt giue the glorie that is due to God vnto his Saints nay vnto stockes and stones yea and if thou chaunce to steale anye mans good care not for the Pope shal pardon thée therfore for the Pope by his power is able to dispence with all the lawes both of y e olde Testament of the new Testament And whereas God said Thou shalte not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour nowe forasmuch as the iudgement of the Romishe Church is changed the iudgement of God is changed therfore this lawe muste be turned an other way and thus it muste be taken thou shalt beare false witnesse against God his word say there is no saluation without the Church of Rome and that the death of Christ is not a sufficiēt sacrifice for our sins if thou chance to bear false witnes against one that professes the gospel thou shalt be heard the Pope shal giue thée his blessing for it thou shalte haue no harme therfore And if thou chance to beare false witnes against any for a little mony thou shalt haue y e Popes pardon for it therfore beare false witnesse and spare not for y e pope the holy church of Rome do giue thée leaue And whereas God sayd Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours house thou shalte not couet thy neighbours wife nor his seruant nor his maide nor his Oxe nor his Asse nor anye thing that is his Now this is not Gods commaundement bycause the Churche of Rome doth not allowe it and Gods iudgement is therein changed bycause the Church of Rome hath now chaunged hir iudgement therfore you must turne this lawe vpside downe take it thus thou maist be bolde to couet any thing that is thy neighbors for if thou steale anye thing from hym or take it by vyolence or take thy neighbors wife or his maid lye w t them or lye with thine owne sister and marry hir the Pope wil dispence with thée and pardon thée for money as Pope Martin didde dispence with one that marryed his owne sister Thus this vile and viperous generation haue by their authoritie whiche they say is aboue the Scriptures allowing the scriptures whatsoeuer they list and taking from the same what they thinke good haue turned cleane contrary the commaundements of God into the commaundementes of the Pope whiche you maye plainelye perceiue by their doings and dispensations before mentioned to be the very doctrine of the Diuel And further this Carnal Cardinal sayeth Scripturae ad tempus adaptantur c. Scriptures are applyed to the states of diuerse times so are taken in diuerse senses so that at one time they are expounded according to the current order of the Church but the order being chaunged the sense of the Scripture is likewise changed Howsoeuer they would haue the Scriptures to be chaunged in their meaning the wicked Pope and his presumptuous Prelates are chaunged from al goodnes and truth both in their sayings liuings for according to the time they make the Scriptures and the Gospel of Christ agrée with their doings but they wil not frame their liuings to make thē agrée w t y e scriptures And bycause the Popes conditions and the iudgemente of the Church of Rome is chaunged therefore the meaning and sense of the Scriptures must be chaunged as is before sayde For whereas Christ sayd Blessed are the mercifull for theirs is the kingdome of heauen nowe the meanyng and sense therof ought to be chaunged quite contrarie and say thus blessed are the vnmerciful for theirs is the kingdome of Heauen or else thus vnhappye are the merciful for theirs is the kingdome of Hell And whereas Christe sayde Blessed are the peace makers for they shall bee called the children of God Now according to the time the sense of the Scripture is chaunged bicause the iudgement of the Church of Rome is chaunged and therefore not to be expounded as it was in Christs time So that now it ought to be turned thus Blessed are the peace breakers and they that set men togither by the eares as the Pope doeth and blessed are the rebels that fighte againste their Prince and Country in the Popes quarrel for they shal be called the children of god and the Pope wil giue them the kingdome of heauen And wheras Christ sayth Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorify your Father in heauen Now the meaning thereof is chaunged according to the time therfore now it is thus let not your light shine before men but worke the déedes of darknesse wherby you may please the Diuel your Father And wheras Christ saith Whosoeuer puts away his wife except it be for fornication and marryeth with another cōmitteth aduoutry now for as much as the iudgement of y e Church of Rome is chaunged therfore according to y e time y e meaning of this saying must be changed therfore vnderstand it now thus what Priest soeuer kéepeth his wife and puts hir not away from him though she be neuer so honest shal be coūted
it hath not yet it had néede to haue a very strong commission to tie the trueth so harde to it that it shoulde neuer departe thence Hierusalem was once a holy Cittie and the Temple of God was placed in the same wherein hée appeared and shewed his Maiestie and reuealed his will in which Temple King Salomon that buylded it thought the Lord would dwell there for euer and that there should be his house and his Churche yet now God hath lefte both that Cittie of Hierusalem and the Temple suffred them to be destroyed and ouerthrowen now if God hath departed from and left Hierusalem and the holy Temple which he himselfe appointed to be buylded to be his house for himselfe and wherein he appeared and reuealed his will and pleasure then there can be no great warrantie made but that he and the truth may departe from and forsake the Cittie and Churche of Rome which he neuer called his Cittie neyther appointed any Temple or Churche there to be buylded for him to dwell in neyther euer appeared there and reuealed his will to his Prophetes and seruants as he did in the Temple of Hierusalem which Cittie of Rome was first buylded with murther continued with murther and maintayned with murther where in is the Churche of couetousnes the pallace of pryde the Castell of crueltie the boothes of brothelrie the Innes of Idolatrie the mansion of mischiefe the houses of Harlotrie and the dungeon of all Diuelishnesse and iniquitie Therefore it is verie harde to warrant that the truthe shall neuer departe from this your Churche of Rome vnlesse you meane that the trueth can not departe from thence bycause it is not there or neuer wil be there By this vndoubted assertion it should séeme that you haue bound Christe in some great bond or statute Marchant that he beyng the trueth shall not departe from the Pope but it were more méete that the Pope were bounde not to departe from Christe Therefore seing the truth hath departed from Hierusalem and the Temple there which was the Cittie and Temple of God where he was content to appeare and reueale his will to his people Then the truth may well departe from Rome if it were there which God neuer chosed for his Cittie neyther euer appeared there in any Temple nor appointed any house there to be buylded for him as he did in Hierusalem Yet we may boldly affirme that the truth was once in Rome and the Gospell of Christe was there embrased and then there was the Churche of God but now of a long time it hath not had the truth as before it appeares but is the enimie to the truth and forsakes and driues from them the trueth that is the Gospell Therefore Rome is not nowe the Churche of God but the Synagoge of Sathan Yet Doctor Harding did write that the Churche that nowe is meaning the Churche of Rome and the Churche that was in the olde time is one Churche as the man in his olde age is the same he was in his youth I graunt herein that Maister Harding saies true but though hée be the same man yet the same man may be an honest man in his youth and a false harlot in his age Euen so your Churche of Rome when shée was yong she was godly honest and was a true spouse to Christe hir husbande but now your Churche of Rome in hir olde age is become wicked dishonest and false to Christe hir husbande and is a verie vnshamefast whore and an aduoutresse and goeth a whooring worshippes Images and committes Idolatrie And as the learned Maister Iewell late Bishop of Salisburie saith thus vpon the same Euen so is the Moone being full and the same Moone Eclipsed is one Moone Euen so a man well aduised and the same man starke madde is one man Euen so the house of God and a caue of theeues is one house And the same Master Harding was so farre in loue with the Church of Rome that he thought it to be so holie true that all other Churches ought to receyue their truth and light from it and would not haue it dayed or Iudged by the Scriptures or by any other thing but that all other Churches ought rather be daied iudged by the church of Rome thought she was too old ancient to be controlled in these daies either of God Christ or of the Scriptures And therfore he saith thus as followeth Our doctrine meaning the doctrine of the Pope and of the Churche of Rome hath had too high a teacher to be tried by mē now it hath bene approued too lōg to be put in daying in these daies at the latter end of the world Thus much saieth he of the Churche of Rome thinking she is too true honest and auncient to come to triall or to be put to daying But I say he that refuseth triall of his matter doubtes belike that it is not very good he that standes so much vpon his honestie and will refuse to be tried by his neighbors may be thought to be scant an honest man so the Church of Rome refusing to be tried by the Scriptures and by the worde of God which is as honest as true and as auncient as she is I am sure doubtes the truth of hir cause and suspects hir owne honestie The Iewes doctrine was once the doctrine of God and the auncientest truest of al other they the people of God it was long before y e Gospel which is y e doctrine of Christ yea and before the Popes holie religion or the Romish doctrine yet for all that the Iewes now are not the people seruantes nor the true Churche of God Who might now say thus aswell as the Popes proctors a great deale better Our law hath bene approued too long to be put in daying in these daies at the latter end of the worlde I trust you would not thinke y e saying were sufficient to ouerthrowe your Churche of Rome although it might well inough It is not the auncientnesse but the truth of the doctrine that ought to be allowed or accepted Caine the first wicked murtherer that murthered his brother Abel was elder than Abel Yet murther for all the auncientnesse and long continuance therof may be put to daying wel enough and that by Gods lawe which Abel profest though he were the yonger brother The Heathen may say by as good reason our worshipping of Idolles beyng long before the religion of the Christians hath bene approued and vsed too long by our auncestors to be put in daying in these dayes in the latter end of the worlde The Diuell was before the worlde began and fell from Heauen for his pryde a great while before God did sette foorth his lawe eyther by Moses or else by Christe Yet I trowe that pryde is not therefore to be allowed to be good The Diuell might likewise say my law of pryde began so long agoe yea before the worlde
And thus that holye Father that names hymselfe the Uicar of Christe whome you so muche estéeme fauour and honor the third time is proued to be the chiefe cause of the ignorant peoples damnation by kéeping them from the worde of God which is their onely guide to Saluation Christe bad al his Apostles go throughout the worlde and preache the Gospell and to teach al Nations to obserue all things that he commaunded them whiche is a manifest token that he that woulde haue it preached to all would not haue it kept away or hyd from all What Emperor King or other Prince that makes good orders lawes for their subiects to kéepe with penalties of death for the breaking thereof woulde locke vp the same in their Chests and neither suffer them to be proclaimed nor their subiects to looke on them nor know them yet would put them to death that should break the same Truly there was neuer any Emperour or Ruler that were so vnreasoble For it were méete that their subiectes shoulde learne reade heare vnderstand the lawâ—s that they are bound to kéepe For how can they kéepe these lawes they know not Then it staÌ„deth as much with reason that we should learn know search study and heare the word law of God not to haue it hid or kepte from vs the kéeping and not kéeping wherof stands vpon our euerlasting saluation or damnation Therfore it is a moste diuelishe and tyrannous part of y e pope to take y e word of God from vs which Christe hathe left behind him only to leade vs to heauen to leade vs in y e darke with his Idolatrie and superstition to bring vs to Hel. Saint Paule saith There is no damnation to theÌ„ that are in Christ Iesu but how can they be or abide in Christe that neither sée heare or reade the law of God that should teach them to be or remaine in Christe Whatsoeuer S. Paule saith Pope Bonifacius telleth vs an other manner of tale who saith if we may beléeue him That There is no Saluation without the Churche of Rome And also the glose of the same saith Quicquid saluatur est sub summo Pontifice Whatsoeuer creature is saued is vnder the highest Bishop that is the Pope Here is neither mention made of Christ nor of his Gospell Christ and Saint Paule may both be deceiued but the Pope cannot erre for Christ prayd for Peter that his faith should not faile therfore the Pope cannot erre But why not thus rather Peter denyed Christe his Maister therefore the Pope denyes or forsakes Christ I think this is the more likely and truer argument for if Coniurers Idolators Murtherers Heretikes Blasphemers Fornicators Apostatas Periured persons that giue theÌ„selues body and soule to the diuel as Pope Siluester the second did that deny forsake Christ then the Popes haue erred and haue denyed forsaken Christe for they haue bin such as before is manifestly proued Therefore if the Pope holde any thing of Peter it is his denying of Christe But as they deny Christe with Peter so I beséeche God that the Pope and his Prelates may repent with Peter and not to forsake him with Iudas And though Christ prayed for Peter yet he prayed not that the Popes shoulde be Coniurers Idolators Murtherers and suche like as before is declared Christ saith moreouer My Sheepe heare my voice whiche is the Gospel Euen so the diuel may say My Goates heare my voice whych is Papistrie Thus it is manifest that they that heare not the gospel which his Christs voice are none of Christes shéepe Then the tyrannous Pope his murthering ministers that heare not Christes voice that stop their eares at his voice that suppresse and burne the Gospel his voice that torment murther and kill his shéepe that heare his voice are none of Christs shéepe And if they be none of Christes shéepe then they muste néedes be the Diuels Goates For there are none but must néeds be the one of these two that is either the shéepe of Christ or the goates of the Diuell And truely there is no better marke whereby to knowe Christes shéepe than by hearing of Christes voice whiche is the holy Gospel And there is no plainer marke whereby to know the Diuels Goats than by refusing to heare the Gospel which is the voice of Christe Therefore if you entende to be Christes shéepe then heare the Gospell Christs own voice But if you had rather be the Diuels Goates then refuse as you doe to heare the Gospell and care not for Gods Gods worde but loue and obey the Pope and followe Papistrie whych is the voice of the Diuel Here may you plainely perceiue that the Popes doctrine is to refuse the Scriptures in the mother tongue and so not to heare the voice of Christe therfore they that are of the Popes doctrine are none of Christes shéepe bicause they heare not Christs voice so that you by the refusing Gods word which is Christss voice you make your selues to be none of Christes Shéepe Therefore flye from Papistrie and hearken to the Gospell the voice of Christe that you may bée Christes Shéepe and so to bée placed on the right hande of Christe at the laste day in the Kyngdome of Heauen For assure your selues if you wil not heare the Gospell whiche is Christes voice you can be none of Christes shéepe yet to heare Christes voice is nothing vnlesse you vnderstande his voice For though the Iewes heard Christs voice when he preched to them in the Hebrewe tong whiche they vnderstoode yet if one should come vnto vs and preach the Gospell in the Hebrewe tong we should be neuer the better for though wée hearde his voice yet we shoulde not vnderstande his word whiche is the right hearing of Christs voice When the Nobles and chiefe of Thessalonia receyued the worde of God whiche Paule preached they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things that he preached were so or no but these Scriptures were not then in the Latine tong but in their mother or vulgare tong that they vnderstoode when they did reade them or else what should their searching of the Scriptures haue profited theÌ„ If one did lacke fire thogh he had a flint stone lying by him did not know ther were fire in it or if he knew it could not tel which way to get y e fire out of it what were he y e better Euen so thoughe the vnlearned in the Latine tongue had the Bible in Latine lying by them what were they the better Therefore I muse what learning or reason shoulde leade you that it is sufficient for vs to haue the Scriptures in the Latine tongue that we vnderstande not that in the Primitiue Churche and a greate while after were in the common tongues Saint Augustine was not of youre minde who saide The holy Scriptures passing from one tong and beeing publyshed abroade farre and
with a greate man it is no harme to speake to his Chamberlaine or to one that is next vnto him that he may shewe y e king of vs which vaine reason Saint Ambrose answers very wel saying we are broughte vnto the Princes of Kings by Lordes and officers bycause the king is a man and knoweth not to whom he may committe his Realme But to obtaine Gods fauour from whome nothing is secrete as knowing what euerie man is meete to haue we neede no spokes man but a deuoute minde wheresoeuer suche a one speaketh vnto God God wil aunswere him Thus hath that learned Doctour aunswered this foolish and vaine obiection wherby it plainely appeares that there wer some of your opinion in his days and that he was of the same opinion that we are in these dayes But if Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine and a thousande moe of learned men shoulde write that we ought to praye vnto the Uirgin Marie and to the Saintes yet we oughte not to beléeue them for as muche as Christ hath taught vs contrarie who biddes vs to make our prayers onelye to GOD oure Heauenlye Father But as long as the Doctoures and Fathers doe agrée with the Gospell we wil allowe them but if they do not we wil reiect them But whatsoeuer Christ sayth y e Pope saith otherwise now marke wel herein the holy doctrine of the Church of Rome which allows wils you to pray vnto y e blessed Uirgine thus Let him know thee to be his mother commaund thy sonne vse thy motherlye authoritie ouer him Is not this a trim kind of prayer you shal not finde this in al the Lordes prayer that Christ taught to his Disciples if you say y t this is but a spiritual dallying as M. Harding said to maister Iewel then I wil answere you as M. Iewel answered M. Harding this must néedes be a blessed kinde of Diuinitie that can turne praying to dallying This kinde of prayer was vsed vniuersally saith M. Iewel throughout all the Church of Rome that men women and children learned and vnlearned were taught and forced thus to praye Thou art the Queene of heauen Thou art the Lady of Angels cōmaunde thy sonne shew thy selfe to be the mother Cardinal Bembus sometimes the Popes secretarie calleth the Virgine Mary Lady and goddesse Ambrosius Catharinus in the late Chapter at Trydent calleth hir goddes fellow by these words fidelissima eius Socia that is Gods moste faithful fellow Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinal of Rome saith This thing turneth to the praise of God and the Virgin Marie the mother of Christ that she was neuer at any time vnder the Princehoode of the author of death That Virgin neded no deliuerer that should redeeme hir from the sentence pronounced against Adam and his posteritie Mary was neued raced out of the booke of death for she was neuer written in it Here we are taught that Marie the Virgin is our Lady and goddesse that she is Gods fellow and that she had no neede to be saued by the death of Christ nay your church of Rome teacheth to pray vnto hir thus Saue thou al thē that glorifie thee and this also is in Lipomanus beholde howe mighty is the mother of God and how no mā may be saued but by hir What is blasphemie if this be not blasphemie yet this is the religion of your holy church of Rome would you haue thought y t either they had writtē thus or durst be so bold to write thus there was none that euer came of the séede of Adam but they haue néede to be saued by the death of Christ. These Bookes that containe these things you ought to burne and not the holy Scriptures wherin you can spie no such faultes Your Church of Rome calles the Uirgin Marie which is the mother of Christ the Quéene of Heauen but it mistakes hir as it doth many other things for she is not the Quéene of Heauen but hir Sonne Christ is the King heauen Therfore the Church of Rome doth most wickedly to worship hir as they doe Wherevpon Epiphanius sayth Let no man eate of this errour touching S. Marie for though the tree be faire yet is not the fruite to be eaten although Marie be beautiful holye and honorable yet is she not to be adored But these women worshipping S. Marie renue againe the sacrifice of wyne mingled in the honor of the goddesse Fortuna and prepare a table for the Diuell and not for God as it is written in the Scriptures They are fedde with meate and wickednesse And againe Their women boult flowre and their children gather stickes to make fine cakes in the honour of the Queene of Heauen Therfore let such women be rebuked by the Prophet Hieremie and let them no more trouble the worlde and let them not say we worship the Queene of Heauen Thus much writeth that auncient Father Epiphanius against the fonde and vnchristianly exalting and honouring of the Uirgin Marie for the Quéene of Heauen Marke also what a blasphemous prayer y e holy Church of Rome doth teache you to pray whereby it appeares that they that belonge to that Churche néede not the bloud of Christ to saue them for the bloud of Thomas Becket which was once a traitour to his King here in England is sufficient for they say thus in their Mattins O Christ make vs to ascend vnto heauen whether Thomas is ascended euen by the bloud of Thomas that he shed for thy sake Is not this Church of Rome thinke you the true Churche of God that blots out the blessed bloud of Christ without which there is no saluation puts in the bloud of a sinfull wretch to climbe to heauē by but I thinke they mistake y e words perhaps the meaning of them is thus make vs to descende into hell whether Thomas is descended euen by the bloud of Thomas y t he shed for the Popes sake for surely if Thomas Becket did pray to ascēd by the bloud of any but of Christ as these of the Churche of Rome doe by his I beléeue that this your holye Saint Thomas a Saint of the Popes making is rather in hell than in heauen Can the children of God or they that are Christians bée content to abide in this blasphemous Church of Rome that vseth suche a kinde of praying as desires to climbe to heauen by the bloud of a vile wretched sinner and refuseth the bloud of that immaculate lambe Iesus Christ the sonne of God Surely if I were as déepely drowned in that detestable Papistrie as any of you are or euer was hearing but halfe this that I haue written I should not onely with al spéede detest that abhominable Religion of the Pope but also flie vnto Christ and take holde on his holy Gospell as I doe not doubt but assuredly trust that many of you will And as this Romish Church hath with hir most wicked prayer blotted out the pure and perfecte order of praying
of the Apostles or else the Euangelists would haue written of it Be indifferent Iudges your selues was there euer such a ridiculous religion as this your Romish religiō is that permitte and appointe Belles to be baptised belike their baptising makes them giue a lowde a perfect and a true sound if it be so then the Bels are better baptised than many of the Popes preachers Doctors be for many of them in the pulpet giue no sounde at all or else giue a false sounde both in their preaching and writing Many of you mislike the putting downe of Abbayes and wishe they were vp againe for you thinke the Monkes Friers were the holiest men in the world yea and that perfect holinesse can not be well without them that God by thē was chiefly serued If the Monkes were so in your time it is maruell for they were not such in S. Augustines time therfore you shall heare how they serued God then Wherof S. Augustine writes thus These Monkes serue not God saith he they serue their bellies And againe he saith Hipocrisie or vaunting of holinesse is the more dangerous for that it deceiueth vs vnder the name of Gods seruice Againe he saith it deceiueth vs by the deceitfull countenance or Image of holines And againe touching the Mōkes he saith we can not tell whether they became Monkes for purpose to serue God or else being weary of their poore painfull life were rather desirous to be fedde and clothed doing nothing Therfore he saith they carrie their hypocrisie about to sale S. Bernard saith which knew something of their holinesse for he was an Abbot the seruants of Christ serue Antichrist S. Hierom saith of thē they are loth to be abiects in seruile state for idlenesse they wil not labour and to beg they are ashamed for being valiant lusty people no man would giue thē any thing Thus y e Monkes seruing of God of the ancient writers Doctors is called plaine Idlenes If the Monkes were idle in S. Augustines time I feare they were not very well occupied in our time One of the Popes proctors of late to make vs beléeue that Monkerie was instituted by Christ if we may credite his owne tale saith that the Apostles were Mōkes Christ was the Abbot If they were so but in all the Scriptures they are not named so they were not like our Abbots Mōkes that are now that we had of late for they were an Abbot Monks without an Abbey and had neuer an Abbey to dwell in in those days belike there were good Abbots and good Monkes without Abbeys but now there be Abbeys without good Abbots and good Monkes In the booke called Opus Tripertitum it is thus written Wel neere the whole world crieth out against is offēded for so great a multitude of begging Mōkes Friers that are entred into the world Pope Damasus speaking of the order of thē that were called Chorepiscopi saith thus From whēce this third order is come we cannot tell and the thing that wāteth reason must needs be taken vp by the rootes Thus by the Popes owne saying both Monks Friers Chānons Nonnes yea al y e Popes cardinals their popish priests their Masses Dirges Pardons and al the holy religion of the Pope bicause we know not how it first came in for by Gods word it was not plāted bicause their doctrine of al other is the most foolish false both against reason truth therfore it must néedes be pluckt vp by y e rootes This is the Popes owne decrée therfore it must néedes stand for a law And they are Heretikes y t once speak against it if they be Heretikes y t speakes against y e Popes doings or sayings If al the lawes decrées y t the Popes haue made had bene as true reasonable as this saying of Pope Damasus then the Popes law religion had not bene so repugnant contrarie to Gods law as it is Marke further what a Diuelish doctrine your Church of Rome doth allow hir doctors do teach for M. Harding saith Euerlasting life is a rewarde for our deseruings if euerlasting life were not a due reward it were vncerten for due debte is certen mercie or fauor is vncertaine Thus saith M. Iewell they haue drowned the grace of God the saluation we haue only in Iesus Christ and haue turned the most comfortable doctrine of the Gospel into a dungeon of desperatiō Thus the Popes doctrine saith we may deserue Heauen but Christ which best of all knewe what wee are hable to deserue saith when ye haue done all that you can saie that yee bee vnprofitable seruaunts and therefore haue deserued nothing and thus we can not deserue the kingdome of Heauen If we deserue any thing it is the kingdome of Hell If we looke to deserue any thing then we make our selues labourers and hirelings and so we make our selues not the children of God for the naturall and louing childe obeyes his Father for loue and not for rewarde and therefore being laborers we must haue no more than we deserue which is nothing if vnprofitable seruaunts deserue nothing And Maister Harding saith that good workes haue their rewarde They haue so sayth M. Iewell S. Iohn saith their workes follow them And Christ sayth whosoeuer shall giue a cup of water to drinke for my names sake bycause you belong to Christ verely I say vnto you he shal not lose his rewarde S. Paule sayth Your workes shall not be in vaine in the Lorde But bicause they are rewardes it is rather of mercie than of dutie For a dutie is wages but a rewarde is a gift For if I send my seruaunt to a noble man with a present and he giues my seruant a reward it is rather of his goodnesse than of my seruaunts duetie for hée could aske nothyng of him therefore the rewarde is of his curtesie and gentlenesse Iob sayth If a man will dispute with God he is not hable to aunswere him one for a thousande And though Iob is called the moste pacient and a verie godly man yet hée sayth I stoode in doubte and was afrayde of all my workes And againe he saith although I were perfect yet my Soule shall not knowe it if I woulde iustifie my selfe mine owne mouth shall condemne mee Esay sayth all our righteousnesse is lyke a fowle stayned clowte S. Hierome sayth If we behold our owne merites we must be driuen to desperatiō The Apostle saith I iudge that the afflictions of this tyme are not worthie of that glorie that shalbe reuealed vnto vs. Therefore it is the most surest way to take hold on Christes merits let our owne go for God will iustifie vs for Christes sake merites not for our owne sakes or good workes Blessed are they that haue washed there Robes in the bloud of the Lambe not in there owne workes I will giue sayth God
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
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
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
dayly increased for kill they neuer so many yet let them tell them they shall finde them mo in number And so doth no other religioÌ„ in the world but it therfore there is no better marke wherby to know the true religion the church of Christ than by persecution by increasing thereby And hereto Tertullian agréeth who saith Crudelitas vestra nostra gloria est Your crueltie is our glorie your earnest crueltie is an entisement and a prouocation to this sect as often as ye recken vs ye find vs mo mo the seede is Christian bloud Thus it appeare that the Gospell of Christ growe and spring by being troubled persecuted so as I said doth no other religioÌ„ But the Popes doctrine would decrease if they should not trouble and persecute When the Emperour Adrian had yéelded to graunt one church within the cittie of Rome certaine of his priuie CouÌ„sel aduised him in any wise not to do so for that they said if the ChristiaÌ„s might haue but one church within the Citie the whole people would al become Christians and thereby their idols churches should be forsaken EueÌ„ so if y e Princes that holde on the Pope his religion would cease froÌ„ their killing murthering burning tormeÌ„ting of the professors of the gospel suffer them quietly to teach preach the gospel that would to haue the Bible the coÌ„mmunion in the Churches surely the Bible would driue away al y e images the CoÌ„munioÌ„ would quite ouerthrow their Masses y e truth of Gods word would vtterly confound abolish the Pope al his false doctrine Which the Pope knowes wel inough therfore he kéepeth the Kings Rulers not only in errour blindnesse but also persuadeth theÌ„ to be persecutors of theÌ„ that professe the Gospel And as Christ is mercifull so the Pope is cruell not to the wicked but to the godly for the Pope kil them that professe the Gospell whom God would haue preserued and not killed but harlots fornicators aduouterers Sodomites and incestuous persons which God appointeth to be executed stoned to death he preserueth maketh much of maintaine Christ saued a woman from being stoned to death y e had deserued to die by the law but the Pope cleane contrarie burneth kilteh murther them that ought to liue both by Gods lawe and mans lawe If Peter were Pope of Rome as some of you beléeue then marke how his doings did differ from the Popes practises for Peter did giue sentence of death against Ananias Saphira his wife the children of the Diuell so were suddenly stroken to death by the powre of God for lying but the Pope his Prelates pronounce sentence of death agaynst the children of God and burne them for speaking of truth And thus the persecuting Pope will néedes be contrarie to Christe do and say what we can Therefore if Christ be good as he is then the Pope is euill as he is for that they be so contrarie for Christe was méeke and mercifull the Pope is proude a tyrant Christe was poore y e Pope is rich Christ was in subiectioÌ„ to Emperours Kings y e Pope maketh the Emperours Kings his subiects seruants the Iewes did offer to make Christ a King but he refused it the Pope maketh himselfe a King of Kings and no man doth offer it Christ was the Author of peace the Pope is the author of wars Christ forbad sinne the Pope doth licence to sin Christ preached the Gospel the Pope suppresseth y e gospel Christ was persecuted killed the Pope doth persecute kill Therfore as Christ is the sonne of God so is y e Pope the child of the Diuel vnlesse he turne frame himself to the fashioÌ„ of Christ otherwise theÌ„ he doth This I hope is sufficieÌ„t for you to know of whose church they are y e do murther persecute eueÌ„ of the church of the Diuell for he was a murtherer from the beginning for as I saide murthering persecuting are badges of the Diuels church but let y e Pope be assured y t God is not only angrie with him for this his cruel murthering and persecuting but also wil pluck downe his pride at leÌ„gth for if God were angrie with king Saule put him from his kingdome bicause he killed not Gods enimie king Agag according to his coÌ„mandement then you néede not doubt but y e God is angrie with the Pope will put him out of his Popedome that killeth his friends contrarie to his commaundement And though the Pope call them Heretikes burne them bicause they will not woorship images and idols and obey his Diuelish lawe yet they are the children of God and though he burne their bodies he can not hurt their Soules But if they be Heretikes that put away idolatrie whiche God doth commaunde them then what is the Pope and his Prelates that doe sette vp Images and committe idolatrie whiche God doth forbid but though the Pope call them Heretikes that hée persecutes for professing of the Gospell and sayth they be damned yet Christe is of a contrarie opinion for he sayth Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theires is the kingdome of Heeauen Nowe if the kingdome of Heauen be theirs that are persecuted for righteousnesse then they that the Pope persecutes for testifying the Gospell which is trueth and righteousnesse are sure to haue the kingdome of Heauen though the Pope tell vs they are damned And if the kingdome of Heauen be theirs that the Pope persecutes then surely the kingdome of Hell is the Popes that thus doth persecute them So that by Christes owne wordes the Pope though he say hée can saue whom he will and can gyue the kingdome of Heauen to whome he liâ—te is so nie dryuen that he himselfe is like to dwell in the kingdome of Hell And no maruell for he hath bene so lyberall in gyuing to so many the kingdome of Heauen that thereby he hath quite dispossest him selfe of Heauen and therfore he is very lyke to dwell in Hell Wherfore if you woulde auoyde Hell haue no desire to burne your bretherne nor to persecute the professours of the Gospell for thereby you prouoke Gods wrath and also increase his kingdome and get the Diuels fauour decaye the Popes kingdome There is no striuing against God it can be no good bulwarke that is builded with bloud Suffer the house of God by the preaching of the Gospel to be builded for what soeuer you pluck downe in y e night he will builde it more to againe in the day and God will ouerthrow in the daie whatsoeuer you builde in the night For when the wicked Emperour Iulian in dispite of Christ had giuen the Iewes leaue to build repaire their Temple the Princes power assisting them no power séemed able to withstand their purpose Then God himselfe from
heauen aboue encountred with them Earthquakes brake out and ouerthrewe there buildings lightnings fel downe and burnt both the tooles in their hands and the coates on their backes And then was the Gospell of Christ more bewtiful and more glorious than euer it had bene before Thus the Iewes might haue perceyued that God was bothe angrie and dispised them and their Iewish sacrifices though once he estéemed them aboue all other and the Temple that he before commaunded to be buylded and wherein he appeared to the Iewes now he from heauen ouerthrewe and the builders thereof Wherby they also might well vnderstand that he had an other people and Religion that he estéemed better and would fight for And therefore séeing God ouerthrewe the building and the builders of the Temple of Hierusalem which he commaunded to be builded and that he once so well liked then he must néedes ouerthrowe as he hath begon partly well already all the dennes buildings of the temple or church of Rome which he vtterly hates and that he neuer commaunded to be builded For as Christ sayth euery plante that my heauenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted vp Therefore flie from this your Romish Church and hir doctrine which God doth daylie ouerthrowe and let the Pope and his partakers do what they can at length he wil plucke vp by the rootes and walke in the lawe of God least God powre his plagues and cursses vpon you For if they are accurst by Gods lawe that turnes out of it either to the right hande or to the left hande then thinke not that you are blessed that wilfully walke cleane oute of it and neuer come in it And let this suffise you that Woolues deuoure and Shéepe are deuoured So that the deuouryng Woolues are of the Sinagoge of Sathan and the deuoured Shéepe are of the Church of God But some of you haue saide that God in the olde lawe shewed for the better crediting of the same many wonderfull miracles that there haue bene many strange miracles for the confirmation of the Popes religiō Then belike you looke for miracles for a religion you think without miracles is nothing worth and therfore one of your religion said where be your signes where be your miracles but as Christ called the Iewes an euill aduouterous generation bicause they required a signe from heauen that they might the better credite him his doctrine so I can not count you a godly generation that wil not beléeue the gospel of Christ without miracles yea such miracles as you your selues should like And wil you not beléeue our doctrine without miracles nay will you beléeue it with great strange miracles I would you would Wel bicause yée would so faine haue myracles you shal haue myracles that other manner of miracles than euer your Romish church could shewe for the confirming of hir doctrine therfore marke them wel for they are wonderful and maruellous miracles Our litle Bible hath driuē al your great idols out of al the churches of England Our holy Communion hath put to flight all your Masses which you thought nothing could ouerthrow They that were blind the Gospell hath made them now to sée clearly the craftie iuggling of the Pope they that before were dumbe nowe speake so plainely and vehemently preach the Gospel of Christe These are wonderfull myracles I thinke But if some of you should say that these are no myracles or else no great miracles to be counted of yet I dare boldly say they are maruellous great myracles yea and passe your miracles a great deale For marke this well if you had neuer knowne that fire would increase in burning and should haue suddenly séene a whole Cittie burned and cōsumed with one litle sparke of fire and that such a huge and mightie fire shoulde come of one little sparke would you not haue thought that the same had bin a wonderfull myracle I thinke you would then why should not you thinke that the spiritual burning and enflaming with such a little sparke of the gospell at the first of such a number of peoples hartes consuming and wasting the idolatrie false religion and Papisticall superstition of Kingdomes Dukedomes Prouinces and such a great number of countries Cities and Townes and the mightie encreasing of this spirituall fire the gospell and that within so shorte a time is a maruellous myracle although the Pope and his power did what they could to quench the same Surely it is such a miracle in all wise mens eyes considering the Pope and his power do what they could were not able to quench as there can not be a greater And there is nothing that may more better persuade you that this our Religion is the very true Religion and worde of God than that God so mightily defendeth it and so miraculously increaseth it This and the other miracles before mentioned are sufficient miracles I hope for the confirming of any Christian hart to beléeue the Gospell yet you shall heare more miracles hereafter And now for that you haue called for our miracles I trust I may likewise call for your miracles What kind of miracles were they wherby your Romish religion was cōfirmed forsooth they were such as might make the wittie to become fooles but oures are such as will make fooles to become wisemen And now marke your miracles of your Romish Churche your Roodes and Images can speake if they haue a false knaue stande behinde them your Idols can roll their eies wagge there chappes and caste their armes abroade if there be one behinde them to plucke there Engines and they will sweate in Winter and colde weather if they be well oiled with Penetratiue oyles yea your images can light their owne lāps which is as great a miracle as a iack of the clocke to strike on y e bell your holy water can chase away Mise and your Priestes giuing women good counsell and blessing them for the Pope will not haue it called kissing and dallying miraculouslie make them to be with child your Popes pardons can make men die desperately and suddenly your Cardinals blessings can make Bishops breake their neckes your Agnus deis can make menne hang themselues are not these your Romish myracles wonderfull are they not woorthie to go for myracles yes I trow our miracles of the Gospel are no such they are not lyke vnto them but this you were best to beléeue that our miracles before mentioned are of God and these your miracles nowe mentioned are of the Diuell Thus I trust I haue sufficiently proued by Gods word by auncient Fathers and learned Doctours by naturall Reason by Argumentes by Similitudes by Examples by the Popes themselues by their owne wryters and by persecuting and murtheryng that the Pope and many of his predecessors Popes was and is wicked Diuelish the Diuels deputies not Christes vickars and the verie Antichrist and that his Religion is most false erronious and detestable and cleane contrarie