some monster Albeit that it should be alwayes one selfe matter very good and very excellent yet for all that the workemāship should be greatly different and the matter very euill applied in as much as by applying thereof they should destroy a good very faire piece of work to make one both euil and filthy And by the same meane a man should do great wrong to the king in so counterfaiting his image It is not enough then to take the matter whereof the Prophetes the Apostles haue made the worke of the Lord if it be not euenly laide squared and wrought as they them selues haue done it For if any man make an other worke contrary to theirs and by the which theirs should be destroyed the stuffe which men haue taken of thē is not well applied Wherefore so farre of is it that the worke is the better because of the same that on the contrary it is more worthy of blame Thus much for the shuting vp of the mouthes of those which doe alleadge the good woordes and the good things which are in the Masse if they cannot otherwise shew the goodnes thereof and that there be nothing at all in it that is good and applied as it ought to be Chapter ix Of the diuision of the matters which shal be handled hereafter and of the principall pointes which are at this day in controuersie concerning the Supper and the Masse I Wil now come to the principal points which do moue vs by good reason not in any wise to allowe the masse being of the same forme and qualitie that at this day it is set forth vnto vs of the which pointes I will firs make a generall diuision and afterward a more special and then I will propone and expounde them all the one after the other euery one of them in his place The first diuision which is the most generall shall conteine fiue pointes of the which fiue pointes I will after ward make more special diuisions The first is touching the matter and all the pieces and inuentions and humaine tradicions in generall whereof it is compounded The second is of the wordes of the same in speciall And the third is of the signes and of the things signified by them The fourth of the prayers The fift of the collectes As touching the second point which concerneth in special the wordes of the masse I deuide it againe into three points The first is touching the language of them The second concerning the pronunciation The thirde concerning the application of them And for the third point which is concerning the signes and the things signified I do deuide them againe into six other pointes The first is the transubstantiation of the signes The second the adoration of them The third the reseruation and application which vsed beside the vse of the supper The fourth is of the sacrifice The fift is of the cōmunion The sixt of the application aswell of the sacrifice as of the communion both for the dead and for the liuing Now concerning the first the fourth and the fifth Of the fiue pointes which I did in the first place set forth in generall I doe not at all make any other more speciall diuision of them Now all these pointes ioyned and comprehended together do amount to the number of 12. the which I am not determined here to handle all at large but onely summarily to the ende that men may vnderstand which be the principall differences to agree vpon between the reformed Church and the Romaine Church concerning the Sacrament of the supper and that of the Masse Chapter x. Of the first general point which is of the whole matter of the Masse and of the additions vvhich men haue giuen to the supper of the Lorde in the same by the vvhich they haue cleane ouerthrovven his institution THe first point then that we doe condemne in the Masse is that ingeneral there are so many inuentions traditions and humane additiōs to the Lordes institution so many chaunges and disguisings of the same and so many ceremonies and foolish and doultishe superstions and insufferable Idolatries that there remaineth in the same no kinde of forme of the pure ordinance of the Lord but that it is there wholy ouerthrowen And by the same meane the expressed word of God is there openly violated in as much as it is so often and so expressedly forhidden by the same in the holy scriptures to adde or to diminish any thing to or from the lawe statutes and ordinances of the Lorde or to go out either on the right hand or els on the left For the which cause Saint Paul meaning to correct the abuses which were already in his time committed in the supper among the Corinthes said plainely setting foorth the institution of Iesus Christ I haue receiued of the Lord that which also I haue deliuered vnto you And after ward he expoundeth it point by poynt in what sorte Iesus Christe did institute and administer this holy Sacrament and ordeined it to be administred afterward in his Church wherein he ment to giue plainely to vnderstand not onley to the Corinthes but also to the whole Churche of God as well for that present time as for all the time to come that the institution of the Lord is pure whole and perfect what rule there was and is to be obserued in such matter without adding any thing to it or diminishing chāging and disguising any thing from it or in it For if Saint Paul which was plucked vp euen to the third heauen and who sawe there secrets incomprehensible to man and hath so faire and excellent a testimonie of his vocatiō by Iesus Christ him selfe neither would nor durst take in hande such a matter but did content him selfe with the simple ordinance of the Lord and tied him selfe to the fame rule and did drawe thereunto the whole Church what pride is this in those which dare vndertake more then he yea more then the very sonne of God him selfe did These which are so audacious ds they not feare at all the curses which are denounced by Saint Iohn in the Apocalypse to all those which either adde or diminish any thing to or from the doctrine reuealed by the Lord for that which he saith in his Apocalypse doth no lesse agree to all the rest of the body of the holy scriptures then to it selfe for so much as there is no canonicall booke which is of lesse authoritie And if Saint Paul did assubiecte the very Angels to the Gospell which he had preached Note who dare set him selfe vp aboue them Chapter xi Of the second generall point which is of the wordes of the Masse and of the diuision of the same into his members and first of the language of the Masse AS concerning the second point which is touching the wordes of the Masse we haue to note first that albeit that it were so that there were not one onely worde in the
sacrament offered to God by the ministers which do administer it but onely the banket which witnesseth vnto vs the communication which wee haue in the sacrifice which is already offered For seeing that it endureth for euer because of his eternall and infinite vertue it needeth not at all to be offered againe wherefore there resteth no more to doe in respect of the same but onely the application and communication which is done ordinarily in the Churche by the ministerie of the woorde of God and of the sacraments and chiefly of the supper And therefore Iesus Christe did commande none other thing to be done in the same when he coÌ„manded the distribution of the bread and of the wine which are the signes but onely to celebrate the remembrance and commemoration of him in awayting his comming from heauen as Saint Paul declareth it vnto vs saying As often as ye shall eate this bread brinke this cup you shall shewe foorth the death of the Lorde vntill the time that he come Seing then that Iesus Christ hath ioyned none other propiciatorie sacrifice to his supper but onely that which he him selfe hath offered vpon the crosse it followeth then that they which doe ioyne any other vnto it are very falsaries and counterfaitors of his testament for so much as the supper is as his testament and the sacrament and witnesse of the benefit which hee offereth and communicateth vnto vs by the same Wherefore if men accounte them falsaries Note which do falsifie the testament of a mortall man howe great a fault is this to falsifie the testament of the eternall sonne of God adding an other sacrifice to his for the remission of sinnes seeing that it may not in any wyse bee reiterated For seeing that there is but this onely hostie euen so may the same dye but only one and his blood may bee shead but onely once From whence it followeth also that it can not bee offered nor sacrificed to God but onely one tyme for the remission of sinnes Wherefore seeing that Iesus Christe hath already offered the sacrifice which is of eternall and infinite vertue there resteth no more but the partaking and the communication of the same which is represented vnto vs by the table of the Lorde in the Supper and in the visible banquet of the same as it is done in very deede inuisibly and spiritually towardes the faythfull by the vertue of the holy Ghost and of faith And by that meane the Supper is not ordeined therein to offer a newe sacrifice of the body and of the blood of Iesus Christe nor to reiterate that which hee him selfe hath already offered but onely to be a Sacrament testimonie and commemoration of the sacrifice once offered and to communicate in the same by the meane of this Sacrament for so much as the sacrifice can not at all profite vs to saluation but so farre forth as we are made partakers thereof as it is needefull for vs to be continually Chapter .xv. That the Masse may be neither sacrifice nor Supper of Iesus Christe if in deede there were there no other addicion then that of the sacrifice and that Iesus Christe may not be offered in sacrifice but once nor by any other then by him selfe ANd therefore when the Romaine priests do make of the sacrament of the supper a propiciatorie sacrifice of Iesus Christe to God the Father in steade of administring this Sacrament to the faithfull as Iesus Christe him selfe did and commaunded and as the Apostles and their true successours and all the true auncient Churche did obserue and practise it appeareth euidently that they doe wholy ouerthrowe the ordinaunce of the Lorde in what sorte soeuer they colour their Masse For for the first seeing that there is no true communion for the whole Churche therein beholde there alreadie the principall intent of Iesus Christe oueâ—â—rowen in respect of the institution of the Supper and of the chiefe point of the same But there is yet more For albeit that they did indeede administer the Supper to the whole Churche as often as they shoulde saye and sing their Masse yet shoulde they for all that ouerthrowe the ordinance of the Lorde in adding a sacrifice the which hee hath not ordained to the sacrament by him ordained For first he hath not commanded to offer and to sacrifice to God his father either the bread or the wine in the supper neither yet his body and his blood signified by the same and theÌ„ to offer present and communicate the same to his Church but did coÌ„maunde to do that only which he hath done in the supper to witte to distribute and administer the things which hee did administer in the same But in steade of doing that the Romaine priestes doe nothing in their masse of all that which Iesus Christ hath done and commaÌ„ded in the supper but on the contrary they wil do that which he hath not done coÌ„maunded neither may they in any wise doe nor yet any other creature whatsoeuer no not the very Angels them selues For euen as there is no other hostie which may be sacrificed to God for the remissioÌ„ of sinnes sufficient to satisfie his iudgement but very Iesus Christ euen so the same can not be offered any oftener then onely once the which endureth alway for so much as it 〈◊〉 â—erfect and eternall nor yet by any other theâ—â—by him selfe onely for so much as there is no sacrificer meet to offer such a sacrifice nor that may be allowed of the Father as is very plainely and euidently set forth in the whole Epistle to the Hebrues From whence it followeth that the sacrameÌ„t of the supper can not be the sacrifice of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and then much lesse the masse for so much as it is not the supper of the Lorde and that in deede it can not be such a sacrifice albeit it were the very true supper of the Lorde For being the supper of the Lorde it could bee no more the same then that of Iesus Christ and of the Apostles and of the true auncient Church For the supper can not be the sacrifice which Iesus Christe did offer vpon the crosse by meane of the reasons which I haue already yelded Now there is none other which is propiciatorie for the remission of sinnes and the redemption of soules be it bloodie or not bloodie as it shall please them to call it but euen so as I haue already declared Chapter .xvi. Of the straunge consequence which followe the sacrifice of the Masse and howe the Masse may not be either sacrifice propiciatorie or Eucharistique and the cause why FRom wheÌ„ce I conclude either that the masse may in no wise be a sacrifice either for the liuing or for the dead or els that Iesus Christ is not the true perfect and eternall sacrificer and the onely sauiour and redeemer and that his sacrifice is not
no more then they can of their fayth onely God excepted which knoweth the heartes Wherefore either they put them selues in daunger to bee idolaters according to their owne very doctrine worshipping the bread and the wyne in steade of the body and of the blood of Iesus Christe or els they must needes worship them with condition the which can not bee voyde of doubt From whence it followeth that it can not bee in fayth but onely in opinion and by consequence it is sinne seeing that whatsoeuer is not of fayth and without the same can not please God but is sinne Chapter viii Of the diuision of the signes of the Supper and of the Sursum corda of the Masse and of the signification of the same and whereunto it serueth at this present ANd on the other side seing that the Lord hath ordeined 2. signes in this sacramēt the one may not be separated from the other but that his ordinance is there violated and ouerthrowen contrary to his intent and his expressed commandement Now so it is that the wine appointed to be that signe of the bloud is separated from the bread which is appointed to be the signe of the body not onely when the bread is reserued in their pixtes boxes all alone without the wine but also in their supper which they administer beside their masse to them whome they call the Lay people From whence it foloweth that this bread is not at all the sacrament of the supper for so much as it is not applied to his true vse according to the intent and expresse commandement of Iesus Christ but cleane contrary And if it be not a sacrament of the supper it can not be an other sacrament For Iesus Christ hath not instituted any other to that which he hath appointed the bread for a signe but only this And if it be not at all a sacrament how may it be the body of Iesus Christ Iesus Christ him selfe God and man yea in so many places at one instant as there be boxes pixtes cupbordes and caskets in the which this bread is reserued and kept as a relique Therefore I would gladly that the transsubstantiators and Romaine doctors should well consider in all their worshippings that they doe to this bread bee it in their masses or in their pixtes cupbordes and boxes or in their processions to what purpose a litle before they do lift it vp in their masse to cause it to be worshipped they say and sing Lift vp your heartes which is as much to say Sursum corda For it is an exhortation to the Christian people taken of the true ancient Churche whereby the ministers did admonishe them which should cōmunicate at the supper not to stay them selues and rest vpon the visible signes of the same but that they should lifte vp their heartes and their mindes on high to heauenly and diuine things represented by them and to the Lorde which only can communicate those things and will bee serued and worshipped in spirit and truth as he him selfe witnesseth and not in visible and corruptible things nor in things base and earthly For if the time be come that he will not be any more worshipped either in Ierusalem or in the mountaine no more will hee be worshipped betweene the handes of the Romaine priestes nor in their masses and boxes cupbordes pixtes and caskets For that cause after that this exhortation Sursum corda was giuen to all the assistantes they answered Habemus ad dominum which is to saye we haue them vp to the Lorde to witte the heartes the which they were exhorted to lift vp on high Note For the same was spoken in a tongue vnderstoode of al. But to what purpose serueth it now to sing in the masse Sursum corda before the poore people and the ignorant which knowe not what men saye vnto thē neither do they vnderstand at al the exhortation which is giuen vnto them for so much as it is deliuered in Latin and not in their owne language And although that it were deliuered vnto them in their owne language saying Lift vp your heartes on high it coulde not serue them but onely to make them lift them vp to the handes of the priestes which holde and lift vp their hostie and their cuppe euen as hye as their pixtes boxes wherin they holde their holy hostie inclosed no hygher at all For seeing that they doe teache them there to seeke God Iesus Christe our Lorde they neede not to lift their heartes more high to worshyppe him in spirit and trueth but rather that they doe abase them to the earth where they shewe them their visible god whereupon they thinke and rest Wherefore they may very wel boaste thē selues that they haue a god which they see and hee seeth not them But as for vs we knowe no God created nor visible but onely hee which hath created all things and is not him selfe created and which is eternall and inuisible the which doeth very well see vs albeit that we see not him at all for so much as his diuine nature can not bee seene And albeit that hee made him selfe visible in his Sonne Iesus Christe in whome hee hath declared him selfe yet for all that Iesus Christ would withdrawe his bodily presence from this visible worlde to the ende that wee shoulde not seeke him any more in this base territorie nor in corruptible things but that wee shoulde seeke him in the heauens where hee is at the right hande of the Father to worshippe him there in spirit and trueth For hee will not bee worshipped with any other worshippe then that wherewith hee hath taught vs that God must bee worshipped seeing that hee is the cause for the which hee is worshipped for otherwyse it should not be lawfull to worship him seeing that that honour apperteineth to none but to God onely Chapter ix Of the auncientie of transsubstantiation and of the worshipping and keeping of the holy Romaine hostie and of the feast and procession which is dedicated vnto it LEt them not then finde it straunge if we doe not beleeue thē at all when they say vnto vs Lo here is Christ yea there is Christ behold he is in the wildernesse or in the closets For Iesus Christ doth not giue vs testimonie of such a presence of him in his Churche neither of any such comming of his from heauen but in deede giueth vnto vs one cleane contrary No more may they also alleage vnto vs in this behalf the authoritie of the auncient Church nor of the ancient doctours nor the auncientie of their religion touching such worshipping reseruation and keeping of the bread of their holy hostie For the auncient Church hath at the least continued vpon the point of a thousand and three score yeeres before that the doctrine of transsubstantiation was brought into it receiued and approued by the councel in
bodie cannot be the soule because it cannot be a spirite or els if it be conuerted into spirit it is no more a bodie as also the spirite is no more the spirite if it be conuerted into bodie The like is of the bodie and of the soule of Iesus Christe and of his diuine and humaine nature of the which euery one of them holdeth so continually his proprieties that the one cannot be that which the other is For albeit that they be vnited together by personall vnion yet for all that they remaine alway distinct in their vnitie according to their proprieties and not confused in sort that the one cannot be the other wherefore we may not say at all that the diuinitie is the humanitie or that the humanitie is the diuinitie nor that the one is conuerted into the other For if there were such a conuersion they should no more be that which they are but should be chaunged into other natures which thing cannot be For God can neuer be but God Wherefore he can not be conuerted into man but he may well vnite man to him selfe as he hath done in the person of his sonne Iesus Christ In likewise man can not be conuerted into God forsomuch as he is a creature that God which is the creator of all cannot be created but is without beginning as he is without end and infinite the which thing can not agree with any creature From whence it foloweth that the Goddes which are created and that haue had any beginning are no Goddes at all but are onely creatures or else illusions And as the substaunce of God cannot be conuerted into that of man nor that of man into that of God for otherwise God should not be God nor man should not be man at all Euen so neyther the one nor the other may be without his conuenient and naturall proprieties For if the humaine nature haue the proprieties belonging to the diuine nature it is no more humaine nature but diuine In like sort if the body and the bloud of Iesus Christ haue the natural proprieties which doe belong to the bread and to the wine as they haue indeed if they haue their qualities accidents these same effects they are not at all the body and the bloud of him but bread and wine remayning alwaies in their substance with their accidents Chapter v. That the doctrine of transsubstanciatiō doth ouerthrow a great parte of the Articles of the faith and Christian religion concerning the worke of the redemptiō wrought by Iesus Christ THen euen as the transsubstanciators doe abolish from the supper the true signes of the same by their transsubstanciation euen so doe they take away the thinges signified by them to wit the body and bloud of Iesus Christ in asmuch as they transfigure them into an other nature spoyling them of their bodyly proprieties in such sort that they are no more a very body nor a very bloud forsomuch as they haue not their naturall proprieties but haue those of the bread and of the wine which should represent them and should not be the thing it selfe the which they should signifie And by the same ineane they ouerthrowe all the Articles of our faith touching the incarnation of Iesus Christ and his conception and natiuitie his death resurrection and ascension into heauen for if he haue such a body as they attribute vnto him in their masse and supper it is not a true humayne body in asmuch as it hath no thing at all of that which is required in a true humayne body but onely that which is proper and naturall to the bread if it be so that the bread be conuerted into the same From whence it foloweth nyther that it is not the same very body which was conceyued and borne of the virgine Mary and which died rose againe and went vp into heauen or else if it be the same very body it was neuer a true body neyther in the conception and natiuitie nor in the death resurrection and ascension or else it was afterwarde chaunged eyther into an imaginatiue body or into a spirite or into God in sort that it is become infinite as God and that it is euery where in his proper essence and substance as God or at the least that it is in many places at one instaunt and that it hath no one qualitie nor quantitie agreeable to a humayne bodie The which things can in no wise agree with the nature of a true body And that which I do say of the doctrine of the transsubstanciators may be also said of that of the consubstanciators who albeit they doe condenme transsubstanciation as we do yet for al that they doe constitute a corporall presence of the body and of the bloud of Iesus Christ with the bread and with the wine in the supper which is not greatly different from that of the transsubstanciators and draweth after it as many absurdities concerning the proprieties of the humaine nature of Iesus Christ Chapter vi That the doctrine aswell of the transsubstanciators as also of the consubstanciators hath no certayne foundation vpon the wordes of Iesus Christ and for what causes and of the chiefe different which is betweene them and vs touching the presence of Iesus Christ in the Supper IT may not then bee that the transsubstantiatours nor also the cōsubstantiacors may bragge and glorye as they do that they haue the expressed worde of Iesus Christe who sayd This is my body and that their faith of transsubstantiation or consubstantiation is grounded vpon the expressed and certaine worde of god For seeing that their faith doth ouerthrowe the true faith of the principall articles of the Christian doctrine and religion which are very plaine throughly certaine it followeth then in deede that it can not be a true faith as touching that point and by consequent it cannot bee builded vpon the word of god For they may not bragge to haue it in their fauour if they do not take it in his true sense without the which it is no more the worde of God but it is disguised and ouerthrowen Now it appeareth euidently that it is taken in an other then his owne true sense when it is taken in such a sense as ouerthroweth the principal articles of the Christian faith which are not grounded vpon any passage of the holy scriptures that is not well vnderstoode but vpon so many testimonies of the Prophetes and of the Apostles and so plaine and euident that there may remaine no ambiguitie or doubt to those which do beleeue the diuine letters The which thing can not bee saide of the doctrine of transsubstantiation nor of consubstantiation which haue no other ground but vpon a wrong and euill vnderstanding exposition of the wordes of Iesus Christe the which doth plainely and manifestly appeare to bee contrary to the true sense of the same for so much as it is impossible to agree it