hād of god vnderstand you the thinges aboue and not the earthly thinges And shose men do the contrary for they drawe vs doune alow and to the earth sainge that Christ in the litle closeth and in the litle holes when we should haue oure conuersation aboue and in heauen and that we might saye with paule Oure conuersation is in heauen from whence we loke for oure lord Iesus Christ who shall chaunge oure wretched bodyes and shall make them lyke to his glorious bodye We think yea we be certayne that thus farr we haue playnely proued and shewed manye wayes that Christ Iesus is not bodelye in the sacrament of thankes geuinge or the lords supper as paule calleth it and that there is muche lesse made in the same anye substantiall turninge of the bread and the wyne into his body and bluod And we haue made it apere that the opinions whiche affirme such thinges be false ād erroneous There remayneth now in the end to see who were the auctoures of those strainge and phantasticall Imaginations and wherby they were moued to fynde them oute seinge they be withoute all reason and contrarye to Christes mynd and the whole holy scripture I haue not yet heatherto bene hable to know whan this opinion of the reall and bodely being of Iesus Christe in the sacrament did beginne It apereth that aboute the yere of oure lorde 877. or about the tyme of pope Iohn the eight or a litle before men began to dispute about that matter Iohn scotus an Englishe man not he that was called sottell but another more auntiēt and wery worthye in lerninge who florished in fraunce vnder Charles surnamed balde made a boke against this new opinion of the sacrament whose Iudgement shortly after Beringarius of the coūtrye of Turonne and deacon of Aungee followed a mā of singular lerninge ād of holy lyfe who dealt all his goods to the poure and lyued by the labour of his hādes as Platina writeth in the lyfe of Pope Iohn the fiftenth But one lanfranck of pauia bishop of Canterbery in England so much preuayled with his auctoritie with Pope Leo the nynth and so much persuaded him that in the councell of vercels he caused the sayd Ihon scotusses boke and berengarionses opinion who followed him to be condemned And it was ordeined in that councell that men ought to beleue not onely Christes presence in the sacrament but the turning of the bread and the wyne into his body and bluod And this was as Mat. palmerius and Iohn lucidus Samothenus in the amendements of the tymes saye in the yere of the lord 1052. so that it is now iust 500. yeares sence this new opinion of the turninge of the substāces of the bread and the wyne into Christes bodye and bluod was first determined Beringarius opinion of the sacrament the which was condēned as lanfrāck setteth it out in his booke made against him is this The sacrifice of the church is mad of 2. things of the seeable and of the vnseeable that is to say of the sacrament and of the thing of the sacrament The which thing not withstanding that is to say the body of Christ if it were before mens eyes it should be seeable but it is lifted vntill the tymes of the restitutiōs of all thinges vp into heauen and sitting on the right hand of the father can not be called back from heauen as thapostell peter wryteth be cause that the parson of Christ hath his being of god and of man but the sacrament of the lords table is made of bread and of wyne the which things consecrated be not turned but abyde in their substances hauing lykelynes with those things whereof thei be a sacramēt This true and godly opynyon of Beringarius the which as we haue sayd before ◅s the opinion of the old church and is taken out of the holy scripture was condemned in the forsayd councell of ve◅selles And afterward a nother tyme in Rome by pope Nicholas the second who compelled Beringarius to recant and make a beastly and shamefull confession contrary to his own true confession Beringarius recantation is put in the decree of consecration the .ij. distinction capite Ego beringarius where he confesseth and affirmeth that he beleueth with the church of Rome that the bread and the wyne which be set on thaltare be not onely a sacrament but also they be the true body and bluod of our lord Iesus Christ and that he is not only in the sacramēt but also in trowth sensually handled with the priestes handes and is brokē in peces ād with the teeth of the faithfull is gnawed in to morsels Doo ye think that this was a godly confession that they compelled this holy man Beringarius to make the which confesseth that Christ is in deede sensibly handeled that is to say towched and broken with the priestes handes and than after This host was such one as beleued all things that he is knawed in to morsels with the teeth of the faythfull Me thinketh that this confession is like vnto that bost of Bachanus that beleued to moch as it is said The gloser of the decree to whom such a maner of confession semed strange and crewel saw this well ynough and therfor he sayth if thow dowst not after a safe sort vnderstād Beringarius words thou shalt fall into a greatter heresy than that which he had The master of the sentences in the fourth the .xij. distinction myndy◅g to glose the words of the same confession sayth that the same to be sensibly handled may be referred both to th one and thother that is to say to the body and to the sacrament of the body But the same to be broken in peeces and to be knawed into morsels can not be said but of the sacrament only A good glose that speaketh contrary to the text This glose hath .ij. faultes First it speaketh against the auctor that is to say against the master of the sentences him self who geueth it because he will that Christ shuld be in the sacrament vndyuydably whole in the whole and whole in euery part of the sacrament If it be soo how can he be towched and handled with the priestes handes For somoch as that the thing which is handled is felt with the hādes and if it be felt it must nedes be hote or cold moist or drie hard or soft rough or smoth who did euer touch Christes body syns it ascended into heauen and dyd euer feele it whether it were whote could or of what qualytie it should be If the master of the sentences had said that the withcommes of the bread and the wyne be handled with handes he had sayd true according to his opynion because that the greatnes of the bread and the withcommes of it may be felt with handes but the withcommes of Christes body can not be felt Therfor Christes body can not be handled with the priestes handes Further if Christs body in the sacrament may be handled
in such or like owtrage This sentence is S. Austens in his II. booke called of the desertys of sinnes and of forgeuenes the 33. and 34. chapters Where he bringeth in the paines laid on Dauid and other godly men and sayth that thei remayne not as ponisshmēts for sin̄es but as exercises of iust mē Thā the other wordes which say that fastings make vs whorty of gods grace that is that thei make vs deserue it is an error ād an heresye by all meanes to be condemned De predest natione sanctorū cap. 2. as S. Austen sayth in his boke of predestynaciō of saynts And it was Pelagius the heretikes error condemned in the cowncell at Palestina by Pelagius him selff lest els he shuld haue bene cōdemned He sayth the same in his 105.106.107 Lib. epist 105.106.107 epistel And in many other places where he reasoneth against the Pelagians But what nede we alledge S. Austen and other lerned men hauing the wordes of S. Paul to the Romai so plaine where he saith that that which is by grace is not by workes Rom. 11. that is to say is not by desertes And so of the contrary part that which is by workes is not by grace els grace shuld not be grace nor workes that is to say desertes shuld not be workes For the thing that is deserued is not by grace And that which is by grace is not by desertis or workes But this praier denieth grace ād wrappeth in it a cōtrarietie For the thing that is deserued as we haue said is not by grace but by workes And therfor iff our fastings shuld be worthy of gods grace and that we shuld deserue it than grace shuld not be grace which is an enwrapping of contradiction as the for said S. Austen in the alledged booke saith De predestinatione sanctorū cap. 1. That grace in no wise is grace iff it be geuen according to desertes The third part of the praier saith that fasting bringeth vs to the euerlasting promises that is to say to euerlasting glory He that seeth not that this is an vnsufferable blasphemy is blind seing that men can not be sauid by their workes but by the grace of god thorow Christ Rom. 6. Eph. 2. Tit. 3. Act. 4. as we lerne of Paule in so many places And of S. Peter in the actes There is non other name vnder heauen geuen to men wherby we shuld be saued And this praier wold that by the name of workes we shuld become safe There is a nother secret praier on the xxiij sonday affter whitsontide which saith thus Take o helpfull lord the hostes with which thow woldest be pleased and haue saffety restored vnto vs thorow thy mighty mercy This secret saith here ij things First that god desyreth to be pleased by the hostes which the priest offereth Secōdly it saith that god wold by these hostes haue safety restored vnto vs. And where wold god euer be pleased by that bread and that wine which are not yet a sacrament moch lesse haue our safetie restored by them From whens haue they that god wold such things shuld be done by thes offerings In what place of the scripture fynd thei that The scripture saith that by Christ god is pleased with vs as we haue in Esay Esa 24. where it is writen Behold my seruant whom I haue chosen my welbeloued Matth. 12. in whom my sowle is moch delighted which saing Mathew alledgeth somwhat diuerse in wordes but not in sense For in steade of that word which the Prophete calleth seruant mathew saith Son̄ And it is the very same in sense For christ in that he is man is gods seruant and is yet for all that gods sonn The father also saith as it is written in the euangelistes whan christ was baptised Matth. 3.17 Marc. 1. Luc. 3. and also at that time whan he was trāsfigured This is my welbeloued son in whom I am well pleased Which saings all doo giue vs to vnderstond that god is pacified by Christ and by him are all men reconciled Rom. 5. Paul saith the like to the romai We being enemies are reconciled to god by his sonnes death And to the Colosseis it is said that it hath pleased the father to recōcile all things to him bi Christ being pacified by the blood of christes own crosse Coll. 1. These saings of Paul are clere and plaine and affirme that christ is he by whom god is pacified and men reconciled And this praier or secret saith that god will be pacified by those offerings Which are yet no other but Comon breade and wine and are not yet any sacrament Likewise thother point of the praier that by those offerings we might haue safetie is a great blasphemy For euē as by Christ only god is pacified towards vs so by him and not by any other thing We haue safetie Seing then that christ is our only sauior this is sure a gret rasshnes and a deuelissh self likinge to talk so boldly of our safetie withowt the holy scripture yea against gods word And iff any to defend this praier wold say that by thes offerings is not ment that thei than be but that thei shall be and at that time whan thei shall be consecrated To this we haue allredy answered in the chapter before whē the praier of the offring of the host not yet consecrated was examined There is yet a great nōber of thes secreates which declare that that breade and that wine not yet consecrated take away sinnes and forgeue them But of this will we speake in the end where we will proue that the sacrament doth not take away sinnes nor forgiue them moch lesse the breade and wine cā take away sinne beinge not yet consecrated that is to say yelded to an holy vse For to consecrate is none other thing then to yeld a thing vp to an holy vse The second parte examyneth the canon which thei make the most holy and chese part of the masse And it is said all in secreat which is diuided in iiij chapters In the first is examined the iij. first partes of the canō that is to say the Te igitur the memē to off the liuing and the communicantes WHAN the secreates be said thei say alowd per omnia secula seculorū Dominus uobiscum Sursum corda gratias agamus and the uere dignum iustum est and all the preface and affter that the Sanctus whan the Sanctus is ended thei begin to say the canon that is tho say the Te igitur very sofftly which thei say is the chefe part of the masse Yea some thinck that the masse begin̄eth there For all the rest is but of the solemnitie alledging de consecratione distincti 2. capite panìs Albeit in that chapter which is taken owt of the booke intitled Off Sacramentes and attributed to Ambrose it is not said that the masse beginneth at the canon but it is said only of the
Now let vs see iff thes most greuos sinnes be fownd among the Christian peple I call them Christian becaus thei be so named or no. I wold to God there were fownd none How moch vnbilefe how many blasphemies how many Idolatries haue we Tell me is it any vnbilefe ād Idolatry to worship verie mē And what shall we speake of verie mē Is it Idolatry to worship their bonys their ashes their garments ther hattys their girdles And what more to worship that which is not knowen Sometime the bonys off some wicked parson I will not say of other beastys which thing may easily happen in the place of saintes reliques Thei doo also worshipp in diuers places diuers bodies as though thei were the bodies of one selff saint and the simple peple byleueth that both th one and thother of thos bodies be the bodies of that saint as though one man shuld haue had 2. bodies I doo remember that I haue sene in the citie off Arle a certen body the which thei say is S. Antonis the abbot and yet not withstonding there is shewed a nother in the citie of Vienna In Dolpheny the which neuerteles thei say and affirme is S. Antonyes The body off S. Williā of aquitan the Seneases say that it is in an abbey in their territory and thei shewe it And yet a nother body is shewed in a certen vale called S. Iames vale vnder the rule of grisones and there is done to it gret reuerens It is worshipped thei ronn to it for raine for faire wether and other busines How many heades of S. Iohan Baptist be shewed in diuers placis And what scornes be thes of the Christen religion What madnesses what dulnesses be thes that men shuld loose the comon sense and shuld haue lesse Iudgement than the brute beastes So we could iff we wold tell yow a gret nombrer of like abuses This corrupcion can not be scused for it is to plaine Let vs goo on further Is it Idolatry to worship the Imagis to knele before them to stick candels before them to sett lampes there to call vp on them to make vowes to them to hang torches tapers cloth corne garments eyes handes heades leggs sometime off waxe somtime off siluer before them to hang before them Imagis off men off wemen of yong childern off oxen and off hors Is it Idolatry and likewise I ought to saye plaine doltisshnes to haue greter deuociō to one Image or picture than to a nother off the selff same saint or saintes As for example more to that off S. Loreto than to that off the Annunciation in Florence and to think that the one shuld doo more miracles than the other Is it Idolatry to make the Image of the Trinitie the which is an high spirite that can not be painted nor carued by any maner off meanes And yet against Gods commandement thei paint it and carue it in the shape of certen strange monsters that is to say somtimes in the shape of a man with 3. heades somtimes in the fasshon of 3. men with 2. leggs only and in this forme thei worship it and make their vowes to it What will thei say here will thei defend thes manifest abuses with that their distinction that thei make off Dulia and Hiperdulia and Latria This thing meaneth a nother maner of thing than Dulia and Hiperdulia I will not declare thes wordes and their distinction the which I knowe well ynough frō whēs it cometh Iff there were not worldy gaine here in this Idolatry their Images and heir Dulias and Hiperdulias wold soone cease It can not be denied but among the Christen peple there be many Idolatries moch vnbilefe many blasphemies and sacrilegis Sacrilege is to robb the holy things What is more holy than Gods and Christes honor This is to cleere Neuertheles among all the rest as there be many Idolatries I will not say withowt nomber that of the masse is the gretest and the chefe not only becaus the host and the cup be worshipped in stead of Christ not being certen that the same Christ is there as before in the Cannon we haue proued in that part where their consecracion is spoken off and as also we will better proue in the sermon in th end of this booke but moch more becaus thei will that all the Masse shuld be a worship of God saing that it is a sacrifice for the sinnes of the liuing and of the dead in the which God is honored yea Christ him selff is offered to God wherfor it doth well folow that it is a most gret Idolatry for so moch as that Idolatry is not only where any visible ydoll or ymage is honored but euery worship the which is made vnto God withowt his word is Idolatry for becaus that no such worship is trewe worship nor pleasith God but rather it is to him abhominacion for so moch then as that God will not as before we haue allredy offten told that we shuld honor him affter our own mind and as it semeth good to vs but will that we shuld honor him as he doth teach and command vs Esa 29. Math. 15. as we haue in Esay and Christ alleageth him selff in sanct Mathew We haue before allredy proued that the Masse is mans inuencion therfor seing we will make it a worship as we doo yea the chefe of the Christian religion we must conclude that it is an Idolatry becaus that it is a worship withowt Gods word But let vs see off what sort off Idolatry it is First there be many deceites and amōg the rest there is this that thei persuade the peple as an article off their faith not only that Christ is bodily in that host and likewise in the cupp and make them honor the one and thother but that he is there as gret and as thick as he was vp on the wood off the crosse and that he is wholly not only in that litle host but in euery part off the host and the wine and that he is in heauen and in earth and in all places where the hostes be consecrated And thei persuade that there is the whole court off heauen and that there is no more bread nor wine but only the withcōmes off th one and off the other For their substancis thei be transsubstanciated that is to say changed in to the substance off the body and blood off Christ. All the which things and many other thei haue fownd owt to geue the more credite to this their masse to th entent that the peple shuld haue more deuocion to it Thei haue fownd that it is good for euery thing and that it hath vertews innumerable and thei haue geuen vs to vnderstand so many other things off this Masse that it is a wonder Further more as we haue proued in the former discorse that we haue made frō the Introibo to the end how many falsedes how many supersticions wickednesses and blasphemies be in this Masse There Christ
be trewe baptisme becaus there is the substance of the same that is to say the water And affter thos holy wordes that is to say I baptise the in the name of the father the sonn and of the holy goost Amen Euen so is it of the masse that for all that that there be many things added and that it is infolied with many diuicis of men yet the substance not withstanding of the sacrament is there that is to say the bread and the wine ād the wordes of the consecraciō the which things be instituted and ordeined by Christ him selff nor our purpos is not to allowe any other thing but Christis plaine institution And allthough there be made a certē worship we doo not worship the sacrament For god forbid we shuld but we doo worshipp Iesus Christ and no nother Therfor we doo not sinne going to the masse for so moch as that we doo not approue any other thing than that which is good and that which is of god The rest we leaue and we gather as it is comonly said the rose and leaue the thornes To conclude The fifft reason thei bring furth thexamples of the holy scripture that is to say of Nicodemus of Ioseph of the citie of Aramathea which both were secret disciples of Iesus Christ Luk. 23. Iohn 3.7.19 And theuangelistes doo witnes of them saing that thei were Iust Ioh. 3.7.19 And of Nicodemus Iohn writeth that he came first to Iesus by night Affterward he defended him in the cowncell of the Iewes In the end he caried an hundreth pownd of mirrh and Aloes to Christes buriall Surely thes were holy and iust men yet thei hidd them selfes for feare of the Iewes the which cowld not haue bene iff thei had not dissembled with thother Iewes doing as they did 4. kings 5. Thei bring furth also thexample of Naaman Sirus of whom it is writton in the iiij booke of the kings that Heliseus granted him that he might enter in to the temple of Remmon which was an Idoll and to worshipp in the same with the king of Siria Naaman being the chefe of the same kings warr And why may not we also doo the like Now thes and other like reasons and scusis be no nother but pretenses to doo euell and leaues with the which men wold yet couer thos things that thei doo but thei be deceiued as we will make it appeare But first we will proue our purpos that is to say that by no meanes it is lawfull to a Christian to say nor to heare no nor to be present at the masse and affter we will answer to thes reasons He that goeth to the masse doth iij. great euels He that goth to the mass doth 3. great euils First he doth against the honor nor of God Secondly against his neighbors safetie Thirdly against his own sowle helth That he doth against Gods honor I will proue it It is plaine that in no case it is at any time lawfull to doo against Gods honor for so moch as the honor and glory of God with the angels with mē ād with all maner of creatures is of more importans than the heauen and the earth becaus that God hath made euery thing for his glory as Salomon saith in the Prouerbis that is Prouer. 16. the lord hath wrought all things for him selff ād the wicked for the euell day That he who goth to the Masse or saith it or standeth there present at it doith against Gods honor it is to plaine for that we haue in the former discours hetherto proued that the Masse is the greatest abhominacion that euer was in all worlds becaus that there is committed a most gret Idolatry and that honor that belongeth only to God and Christ is geuen to plaine creatures The Masse is full of falsodes of supersticions of abuses of wickednessis and of blasphemies against God and Christ And how can it be euer lawfull in any case let it be what so euer it will for a Christen man to say it to heare it or to be present at it And iff a gentle man do more esteme his honor than his own liffe how moch more ought we to esteme Gods honor for the which we ought to gyue not only one but infinite liues iff we had so many And so moch the more as euery life is his gifft and procedeth from him yea is his We doo reade that many Idolaters haue bestowed their liffe for their earthly cōtry and for thonor of the same the which notwithstonding affter this present life did loke for none other And shall the Christiā feare to giue his mortall life for Gods honor and Christes for thē of whom he is euery way most sure that he shall haue euerlasting life I proue this thus Paul saith to the Romains euery thing that is not of faith is sinn Who is he knowing what maner a thing the Masse is that knoweth not likewise the same to be against Gods word Iff it be so how than can one with faith and good consciens be present at a thing the which he iudgeth to be blasphemos damnable and against God And who dowteth that he who doeth against his consciens sinnith let him doo what so euer he will It is not therfor lawful by any maner of meanes to be present at the Masse That he doith against his neighbors safetye likewise proue it First he offendeth and hurteth them that haue not yet the knowlege of Christ For so moch as whā thei see one that hath the knowlege of the gospel stād at the Masse herken to it bowe him selff and knele to the Sacrament and worship it what els can thei thinck but that he hath the self same opinion that thei them seluis haue And this being persuaded thei be confirmed in their error saing to them seluis behold him who was come to that newe opinion or religion now he changeth his mind and returneth to the old faith the which he had forsaken Surely he wold neuer haue returned iff he had not knowen that he was deceiued by the pretens of the gospell and perceiued that with vs is the trewe gospell the trewe church and Christes religion God forbid that we shuld forsake our opinion the which he with euident dedes doth shewe to be good And with thes thoughtes thei be enstranged from the gospell and from the truth and be confirmed in error Do yow thinck that this is a small euell with our example to estrange the mindes of men from the gospell and and from Christ and to confirme them in Antichrists church Secondly it hurteth the weake faithfull the which begin to bileue the gospell for whan thei see that thei who better vnderstād thā thē selues goo to the Masse thei become weaker in faith ād occasion is geuen them to returne to their first errors And affter this sort in the rase of faith thei be stopt not only hindered becaus thei begin to dowt And what
fownd them selues naked and shamfast to be sene and hauing themselues no way to be couered with cootes of skinnes So let thes with teares axe of the same God that thei may be clothed with the same most pure cleane holy and godly skinn that is to say Iesus Christ to th entent that being couered with it thei might be no more ashamed of Gods sight But this can not be done iff thei will scuse them selues It behoueth that thei accuse them selues that thei tell their own fawt that thei doo poenance and that plainely thei confesse to haue erred Affter this sort thei shall obteine this godly garment and thei shall folow Paules cowncell yea his commandement the which he teacheth writing to the Romans put on the lord Iesus Christ Roma 13. for otherwise thei shall allweys remaine naked and with shame that is to say that their consciens shall neuer be quyet but thei shall allweyes haue hell at home Wherfor o Christians euen as in the beginning of this booke I haue exhorted yow to reade it and well to consider it to th entent that yow might vnderstand the crafft off this masse so many wayes blasphemos so now in the end of the same whan yow doo clerely vnderstand the most vngratios qualities of the same that yow will wholly forsake it Hether to many not only lay men but priestes fryres and monkes haue by ignorāce fawted thinking that it had bene a thing most holy and a worship most thanckfull to God and therfor haue hawnted it not knowing it And though thei haue greuosly offēded God yet in some part thei were excusable hauing fawted by ignorance And here I doo not speake of thos the which against their conscience and knowing what maner a thing it was only for feare or other wordly respect haue dissembled bacaus that thos maner of men haue committed a great fawt albeit that thei also shall be pardoned iff thei forsake the same and doo poenance and be sory for that which is past But now that by this boke iff thei will reade it and vnderstād it all mens eyes are opened and made plainely to see with how many abuses and cursings it is not only ful but heaped iff thei shall being priestes frires or monkes any more say it or being other men shall any more heare it I say surely that thei shall be vtterly vnexcusable and damnable as thei that knowingly and willingly shall sinn euen of very purpos and shall heape vpp Gods wrath vp on them Nor it shall not help nor auayle them talleage the perell of their goodes of their howsold or of their own life For so moch as that all thes things and as many other as can be had in the world to gether with the liffe it selff compared to Christ ought to be cownted as vile yea of no valure and for his loue we must necessarly forsake them becaus he is that treasure hiddon in the felde and that precios margarite for the which we ought to sell all our goodes to bye it Math. 13. And whan we be brought to such an eschew that we must either loose all thes things with the mortall liffe or forsake Christ Who dowteth but all the rest ought to be forsaken to kepe Christ whom iff we haue we possesse God and euery good thing What doth it help man saith Christ him selff though he in dede winn the whole world and lose his sowle Math. 1◅ What a foly is this to gett other things and to loose a mans selff withowt whō nothing cā help or auayle him Off thother part let vs consider that nedes whether we will or noo we must leaue the world and this same life for we be mortal and cānot allweyes tary here but we be certen that we must nedes depart and goo owt off this contry that is to say dye and change the liffe This is a sure rule And seing that this is necessary and we can not eschewe it is it not better for Christes sake to leaue the whole the which is not in deede to loose but to gaine and to lay vp treasor in heauē nor it is not to leaue it but to put it in to his hādes to th entent that he euerlastingly may kepe it for vs Is it not better I say to doo thus thā vtterly to lose all to gether It is a thing most certen that he that looseth Christ loseth euery thing and he that possesseth him possesseth euery good thing I knowe that Antichrist with his tirantes like a roaring lion doth threaten the lābe and warreth with him persecuting his affter diuers sortis afflicting them tormenting them and in th end killing them But for all that let them work as moch as thei will and can yet they shall lose and the lambe as Iohn saith in the Apocalipse shall ouercom them Apo. 14.17 For he is the king of kings and lord of lordes that hath all powr in heauen and in earth Math. 28. And hath a name aboue all names to whom euery knee in heauen in earth Philip. 2. and in hell is bowed and there is not that can resist him Now it semeth that he slepeth but the time will come of reuenge whan yea Antichrist with his tyrantes to gether with his fals prophetes shall be cast in to the burning pitt or lake of fire and brimstone where thei shall be tormented for euer Now the poore Christians be in the handes of Antiochessis of Dioclesians of Domicians of Neroes and other cruel tyrantes and Antichristes I touch not the good princis the which tyrants haue allweyes and will afflict Gods peple But let vs O brethern haue pacience in Christ as him selff doth admonissh vs saing Math. 14. In yowr paciens possesse your sowles And he that shall continewe to th end shall be safe Let vs pray and haue trust in God through Christ for he is able to deliuer vs from the hand of our enemyes and defend vs iff it shall please him And whan we shall see apparent parell rather than to denye Christ let vs flee awaye iff we can from the vnhappy nacion But iff we can not what els is to be done but to confesse him boldly Roma 8. 2. Timo. 1.2 calling to remembrans that the trewe Christian hath not the spirite of feare but of stowtnes and powre let vs rather obey God than men the which can in deede kill the body but not the sowle Math. 10. Let vs dye for God and Christes name for this death shall be glorios and let vs remember that which we said before that nedes we must dye Let vs dye I say with the prophetes with the Apostels with the holy martirs yea with Christ him selff Why shuld we be affrayed hauing such companions so noble and glorios that haue ledd vs the way being sure that iff we shall dye to gether with them Roma 8. and with Christ we shall also to gether with them and with Christ reigne
wyne not to meane that the bread should be in dede Christes body and the wyne Christes bluod He meaneth not this But he meaneth that therfore the bread is called Christes body and the wyne his bluod because thei be sacramētes and signes of Christes body ād bluod Also in a boke the which is against Adimantus the Maniche in the xij chapter Augustine sayth Against Adimantus ca. 12 The lord doubteth not to sai and he speaketh of Christ this is my body when he gaue the signe of his body Here Austen plainly expoundeth this sainge of Christ that is to say this is my bodye that is as muche to saye as this is the signe of my body The 3. boke cap. 16. And in the third boke called de doctrina Christiana in the xvi he sayth that if that thinge whiche Christ commaundeth shall seme strange inconuenient or euell done then we ought not to vnderstand such speach accordinge to the letter but figuratyuely And geuinge the examples of these words of Christ that is to say If you eat not the fleshe of the sonne of man and drink not his bluod you shall not haue lyfe in you He saith that such speche ought not to be vnderstand accordinge to the letter because that vnderstanding it according to the letter it is a disagreable and an inconuenient thinge that is to say that the flesh of a man should be eaten and his bluod dronk And therfore it ought to be vnderstand soundly that is to say that Christ did not meane of the eating of his flesh and drinkinge his bluode fleshly but spiritually beleuinge in him and hauinge remembraunce of so great a benefit as he hath wrought vs sufferinge and dyinge for vs. And this is the eatinge and drinking that Christ ment of And to eat and drinke after this sorte It nedeth not that Christ should be really in the consecrated bread and wyne The thirty treatise vpō Ihon. but onely that the faith of Christ should be in vs. And in the xxx treatise vpon Iohn he sayth The lord is aboue that is to say in heauen but the lord that is the trueth is also here Christes body in the which he rose must nedes be in one place but his troth is euery where and he meaneth by the troth Christes godhead And in the epistle which he wryteth to dardanus he sayth he shall come for to iudge the lyuinge and the dead in the self same forme that he ascēded into heauen to the which forme he hath seurly geuen immortalitie but he hath not taken away the nature of it we may not thinke that according to this maner of forme that is to sai mans he should be spred abrode euery where For we must take hede that we do not so affirme his god head that we take away the truth of his body for it followeth not that that which is in god should be so euery where as god Of these two saings of Austen the which before we haue also alledged in the seauenth reason is concluded that Austen wil not that Christes body may be in more then one place at one tyme he will in dede that his god head should be euery where but not his manhode the whiche is in one onely place that is to say in heauen The master of the sentences glosinge or els expounding certeyn sainges of Augustine in the fourth of his sentences the tenth distinction where he bringeth furth amongst his other sainges this In the 4. of the sentences the tenth distinction that is to say that Christs body may be in one place but the trueth is spred abrode euery where he sayth that Christes body may be in one placeseable in mans forme but his truth that is to say his godhed is euery where vpon Ihon the sixt And he addeth the truth also of the same that is to say his very body is on euery aultare in euery place where men celebrate Sauinge his reuerēce this is not to set forth Austen mynd but it is to geue it straūge senses that he neauer ment and it is in dede a maiminge of his saings Austē by that word troth meaneth Christes godhed the whiche is powred abrode euery where and doth not meane the bodye and yet he doth notwithstāding expounde it for the body the whiche is as he sayth on all the aultares where thei celebrat And so he doth with many other saings of S. Augustine in the sayd distinction and in other where he speaketh of the matter of the thanks geuing mayming S. Augustines sainges and calling those heretikes that say the contrary that is to say that hold not that Christes bodyly presence is in the sacrament But we will let him glose at his will and say what pleaseth him And it is to be maruelled-at that he should so lightly and without reason pronounce these to be heretiks that speak nothinge contrary to gods word but they do in such sorte honoure it as they do not alow in the matter of religion and faith any more then so muche as the same word speaketh not mindinge to stand to mens opinions except they be agreable with the holy scripture The master of the sentences here geueth an vniust and a wicked iudgement But in the third boke of the trinitie The third boke of the trinite ca. 10. Augustine sayth that no myracle happeneth about the sacrament of Christes body and bluod If it be so that according to Saint Augustine there chaunceth no myracle about that sacrament he then beleued not that Christ shuld be bodelye in the sacrament for if he had beleued it he wold neauer haue sayd that there was no myracle but he wold haue sayd that there happened many and most great myracles as before in the fifth reason we haue seene Well it is playne then after Austens mynde that Christ is not really in bodye and in soule in the sacramēt but he calleth the cōsecrated bread ād wyne Christs bodye ād bluod because they be signes of his bodye and bluod not that they should be really and in dede his true body and bluod because he will that those should be in heauen and not on the earth in the sacrament We might if we wold alledge the other old doctours as Ireneus Tertullian Origen Cyprian Ambrose Ierome and Chrysostome all the whiche be of the self same opinion but let S. Austen suffise vs who amonge all the rest is the most faythfull witnes of all the auntientie And this we do to be shorte not withstandinge if any wold see these doctours sainges let him loke vpon Ireneus who herd Policarp Ihō the Euāgelistes disciple in the fourth ād fift boke that he maketh against heresies Let him loke vpon Tertullian that was next to Ireneus in the first fourth and fift boke against Martian the heretike Let him loke vpon Origen vpon leuiticus the seauenth and nynth homely Let him loke vpon Ambrose in the eleuenth chapter vpō the first epistle to the
broken but there be manye Images and so many as there be peeces of the broken glasse deuyded the one from the other It is true in dede that they be like but thei be not the self same as the self same bodye of Christ is in all the peeces after their Imagination To the other two exāples with the which they wold proue that one thinge may be in many places I saye to the first that is to saye to that which saieth that the Image of one mā may be in diuers glasses if a man were set aboute with many glasses for so much as that the Image of the same man shal be in euery one of those glasses I say that those Images that shal be in dyuers glasses shall not be one onely but as many as there shal be glasses albeit that they shal be like and therfore the example auayleth not It had bene behouefull if it should haue auayled that one self Image and no more should haue bene in dyuers glasses the which is false To the last example the which sayth that one self voyce is in dyuers eares therfore one bodelye thinge may be in dyuerse places I answer that that voyce the which is heard is one and no mo but I denye that the self same is in dyuers eares yea I sai that that which is earde is not in any eare but is in the eyre next to him that speaketh It is true in dede that the similitude of the same voyce is there in their eares that heare but that similitude is not one but as many as the eares be that heare and this is like the thinge that is seen As for example many eies see one face and that face which is seene is no more but one neuertheles in dyuers eyes that see the face be dyuers Images and that Image that is in one eie is not in an other And so is it of the voyce thesame is one but it is not in the eares And the Images be dyuers which do represent the voyce that is in the ayre and it is behouefull that those Images should be as many as the eares be which heare I haue made this longe talke of these examples the which peraduenture to some shall seme superfluous yet I desired to do it for to make the Vnlerned vnderstand that all the examples which they can bringe forth be not to the purpose Laste of all we will tell you one obiection that they make that is to saye Christ sayd that he whold be with vs vntill the end of the world this to be with vs here beneath is for that he is in the sacrament and dwelleth with vs beinge in the churches Inclosed with in the pixes and litle closets O poure and wretched people that will hyde Christe vnder lock and keye as the Iewes did that thought to kepe him well in the sealed tombe that he should not be stolen awaye You haue kept him many hundreth yeres in such sorte shut vpp that oure predecessoures could not see him yet at the last by gods goodnes he is not onely come a brode but he hath broken youre shettinges and doth shew his merye and godlye countenaunce to his that is to say to them that desire to see him and he hath put you in such feare that you wote not what to do you wold yet ones againe Imprison him but there is no meane to do it Do what you will yea and can apoinct deuyse gather councells against him folow youre foregoers that crucified him persecute and take his members euell handell thē make them rott in prison as ye haue alredye made some of them torment them after sundrye and crewell whayes and kill them yet you shall not auaile But by these meanes you shall make him more shyninge and glorious It must nedes be o Antichristes that you should lose stryuinge with him that is kinge of kinges and lord of lords I answer them that when Christe sayd to his disciples in the name of the whole churche I will be with you vntill the ende of the worlde he ment not to saye that he should be with vs in the sacrament no but he ment to saye that he wold be with vs with his help that he would be with vs with his poure and with his spirite to the entent that the Apostels and after the Apostells we should not think whē he ascended into heauen and as to the bodely presence for soke the earth that he did forsake both them and vs or had no more care of vs as to the helpinge vs. And therfore he sayd I will be with you vntill the end of the world euen as the sonne although it be bodely in heauen separate from the earth yet as to the power ād help ād as to do it good it doth not forsake it because it geueth it light it warmeth it it maketh it springe it maketh the trees flowre couereth and deckith them with leaues it maketh them bringe forth frute it helpeth the generation of beastes and it is as it were a lyfe of all the bodyed thinges So doth Christ notwithstandinge that he is in heauen much higher thē the sonn yet he doth not therfore forsake vs but he hath suche care of vs that he doth help vs and worketh in vs with his holie spirite and godly poure much more noblye ād effectuously then the sonne doth in all the bodyed thinges because without him we can doo nothinge but sinne and he helpeth vs muche more effectuously then if he were on the earth And therfor he sayd to his disciples that it was expedient that he should ascend into heauen as it is written in Ihon. He lighteth vs inwardly he conuerteth vs teacheth vs maketh vs stronge geueth vs fayth and loue increaseth both the one ād the other he geueth vs trust and hope in god he geueth vs ioye and myrth in spirite he geueth vs pacience and euery vertue And to be shorte he worketh euery good thinge in vs and fulfilleth euery thinge in all as it is written to the Ephesians where he his compared to the head Ephe. 1 ād 4 the which powre thin and geueth vertue strenght and workinge to all the members accordinge to the beinge of euery one of them Be hold after what sorte Christs sainge is vnderstand And they that expounde it of Christes presence in the sacramēt do not vnderstād it yea I sai that thei do greatly diminish Christes meaning because they draw doune the hartes of men the which god and Christ wold shuld be on hye and lifted vp into heauē And this is one of the cheifest causes why Christ Iesus wold ascend into heauen and not any longer be conuersant on earth to th entent that they should folow the councell yea commaundement of paule the which as before in the eight reason we haue sayd writinge to the Collossiās sayeth If you be risen againe with Christ Colos 3 seke the thinges that be a boue where Christ is who sitteth on the right
not there bodyly preseÌ„t of any maner of sort but as maÌ„ he is onelie in heauen where he sitteth on the right haÌ„d of the father froÌ„ whence he shall come to Iudge the liuinge aÌ„d the deade The first reason as tharticle of our faith doth sai And this opinion we haue proued with many reasons First by the definition of a sacrament the which is none other but a signe of an holy thing and it is not nedefull for to be a sacrament that Christ should be really as man in the same and moch lesse that there should be made any substantiall turning of the bread and the wyne It suffiseth that the bread and the wyne be there as signes of his body and bluod The 2. reason Then next seinge that this sacrament was instituted only for remembrance it suffiseth that it doo bring vs in remembrance of Christs body and bluod geueÌ„ for our raunsominge And it nedeth not to put there the bodyly presence of th one or of thother for so moch as that the right of no sacrament either in generall or particular requireth thys c. The third seing the spirituall eating of Christ is only profitable and not the bodyly The 3. reasoÌ„ If Christ were as man in the sacrameÌ„t he should help nothing The turnekindinge of the bread and wyne into Christes body and bluod The. 4. re cannot stand together with certen playne and many fest effects which be sene that is to say with the noryshing because the sacrameÌ„t doth norish as other bread and wyne doth and with thingenderyng of certen beasts as magots or such like beastes the which things cannot be made admitting this turnkynding of the bread and the wyne in to Christes body and bluod The fift if any such thing were god with out any maner of nede shuld work some The fift reason yea many most stonishfull myracles such as was neuer the greater The syxt it should not be necessary that Christ on the day of iudgement should come down froÌ„ heauen The syxt reason but that he shuld stepp out of the sacrament seing he is here moch nerer on earth then in heauen The seuenth The seuenth reason the opinion of Christs bodyly presence in the sacrament dymynisheth the truth of his body and maketh it phantasticall yea nothingeth it The eyght The eyght reason The sursâ—â—m corda which is song in the masse geueth to vnderstand that in old tyme Christs bodyly presence in the sacrament was not beleued The nynth The nynth reason If forbecause Christ sayd this is my body shewing the bread and thit is my bluod shewing the wyne the bread and the wyne shuld be turned into his body and bluod or els that the body and bluod shuld be there present seing there be many other speaches in the scripture like vnto this it shuld be behoue full that the lyke shuld be done in all those from whens wold folow many inconueniences The tenth reason The tenth seing that Christes flesh can not be eaten nor his bluod droken but after .ij. sortes that is to say spiritually by fayth and sacramentally And this may be done without the bodyly presence 1. Chor. 10. as the auncients did eate and drink him before that he toke mans fleshe as paul saith wryting to the Chorynthyes there is therfor no necessytie to affirme that bodyly presence in the sacrament Then further all though that we shuld bringe forth no reason for vs it belongeth not to vs to proue our negatiue but it belongeth to them that affirme such a being there to proue their affirmatiue the which thei did neuer nor can not doo by any saing of the scripture We haue after also made appeare that our oppinion is of thold church and chefely Augustines And we haue answered to the obiections of the contrary opinion making it apparant that they be vneffectuall vnpithye and weak to proue their purpose declaring the maners of speach that the scripture vseth when it treateth of the sacraments In the end we haue added from when the false ImaginatioÌ„ of that maner error is proceded And we haue bene long in treating of this article and we haue made many moo wordes than we thought and haue repeated the self things often and haue somthing exceded the measure of a sermon for the which thing the readers shall haue me excused We haue coÌ„sidered first that the thing was most wayghty and worthy to be well expressed the which could not be done with few wordes Then further also the error was so coÌ„firmed and after such sort rooted in the myndes of the people that it could not be pluckt vp nor rooted out without as it is comonly said moch digging and deluing And therfor it was necessary for vs to be long and parauenture somthing tedious to the lerned neuertheles this labor is chefely taken for the vnlerned Well it suffiseth that this our purpose was vpright and that we toke not vpoÌ„ vs this entreprise for no nother end but for gods honor and for the loue and defence of the truth And last of all to doo good and help to the simple Christians who haue bene so long tyme drowned in so great an error and deceiued by the suttle and wicked Antichrist WhoÌ„ let vs all praye vnto god with a good hart aÌ„d continually that he will so roote owt and plucck vp or to speak better destroie sauing allwayes not withstanding the men to whoÌ„ we desire all good I sai euen destroie as the lytle stone did that great Image which Nabuchodonosor sawe in his dreame that is to sai that he will make him vtterly vanysh away and be come nothing to the entent that gods finall aÌ„d perfite kingdome mai come thorow Christ Iesus his son our lord and redemer to whoÌ„ be honor and glory world without ende Amen FINIS Faults escaped in the printing and corrected after this sort Take lea for the leafe A for the first side B for the secoÌ„de side Ly. for the lyne R for read Lea. 2. b. ly 8. headolugnes r headlongnes Lea. 4. a. ly 21 opinious r. opinions lea 6. b. ly 1. ehyrch r. church lea 9. b. ly 18. strst first Lea. 12 b ly 1 euy r any lea 11 b. ly 20 Hollis r. holies lea 21 a ly 2. vpistle r epistle 6. ly 13 soruant r seruant lea 25 b ly 13 and the blud r and the winne the bluod lea 35 b. ly 20 glorios r. gloriousnes lea 36 a ly 11. tedyosnes r. tediousnes lea 40 b. ly 8. ho r hoc lea 42 a. ly 26. poinctt r poinct b. ly 20. coÌ„secrationi r. consecration lea 49 a. ly 24 ony r any lea 54 b. ly 16. wat. r. was lea 60. a. ly 8 mades r. made and for CoÌ„secrauyon r. coÌ„secration lea 65 a ly 16. no r. not ly 25. superstitos r. superstitious Lea. 67. a ly 18. tho r. to lea 68 a li. 5. thert r. there l. 17. fom r from lea 74. a. ly 16 byleuers r beleuers and all waies after lea 72 a. ly 10 he fore r. before lea 77 a li. 19. candache r candace lea 81. b. ly 26. crimin crimine lea 88. a. ly 21 offied r offered lea 94 b ly 12. passhion r passion lea 111. b 21. except r except lea 115 a li 1 song r soung ly 2. rong r roung lea a li. 2. misfortutune r. misfortune lea 118 b ly 11. apostos r. apostles Lea. 120. ly r. super r. supper lea 121. b. ly 22 Now he he r Now. he lea 122 a ly 19 parauentur r. perauenture le 124. a li. 12. thes r. those lea 125 b ly 13. the chefe greatest miste ry r the cheefe mystery lea 126. a. li. 15. the lawe I speak r the lawe Nor there is no sinn but that is against gods lawe but gods law I speake lea 126. b. ly 7. haue heuier sinnes than r haue heuior sinnes then mans laughter then lea 127 a li. 5. Idolatros r Idolatrous li. 9. thcik r thicke li 13. in them r in it lea 127 b ly 8 benefice r benefite lea 128. a. ly 18 ame r. same Lea. 131. a. li. 19. saint or saintes r saint or sainctess ly 20 S. loreto r loreto b ly 6 say here willâ—â— say here be these Idolatreis how can thei de â—…ey it will Lea. 131. b. ly 9 Hiperdulia r Hyperdulia lea 137 a li. 5. wis r. with lea 138. a. li. 13 folow done a nother r folowed one an other lea 156 a li. 22. and and. r. and. lea 174. b. ly 19. mas r masse lea 177. a. li. 7. couered with r. couered wear couered with b. ly 1. crafft r. craft and lykewise in other places lea 178 a. li. 14 eschew r. issue and generally read for off of for thos those for thes these for couerid couered and for such other in vid read coÌ„meÌ„ly ved and often for ans or ens read ance or ence as for importans read importance and for reuerens reuerence and often for or read our as for sauior read sauiour and for byleuers allways beleuers and commenly for os read ous or ose as the word geueth as for gratios read gratious and for purpos read purpose Lea. 180. a. l. 8 yoie r. ioy 182. b. ly 15 trewe faults in the sermom read true and 185. b. li. 9. who euer read whosoeuer 186. a. li. 15. remembrans read remembraunce and after 187. a. ly 18. substans read substance 188. b. li. 5. body lithere read bodyly there 192. a. li. 7. dewe read due 193. a. il 3. euerlasting read euerlasting 193. b. li. 17. be beleweth read beleueth 194. b. li. 15. seane read seene 196. b. l. 14 blode r. bluod 199. b. l. 3. satisfing r satisfiing 205. a. l. 25. wheÌ„ should r. when thei should 222. b. l. 1. turne read turned and 228. a. li. â—… beinge r. bringe 225. b. li. 5. shose r. those FINIS