Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	day_n	holy_a	lord_n	5,913	5	4.1120	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07026	The bee hiue of the Romishe Church a com[m]entarie vpon the sixe principall pointes of Master Gentian Heruet, a Romish Catholike his booke, which is deuided into sixe partes, as in the argument doth appeare. And an epistle made by the authour of this booke vnto Franciscus Sonnius, late Bishop of Antwerpe. Translated out of Dutch into English, by George Gylpen the elder.; Byencorf der H. roomsche Kercke. English	Marnix van St. Aldegonde, Philips van, 1538-1598.; Stell, John, fl. 1580.; Gilpin, George, 1514?-1602.	1579 (1579)	STC 17445; ESTC S119818	327,751	730

holy Church cannot erre Christ must haue patience transubstantiation must take place But we haue yet a much clearer text to witte where Christ himselfe saieth This is my bodie for by those wordes doeth the holie Church of Rome plainely vnderstand that the same which before was breade is nowe no more breade although Paule woulde call it breade a thousande times but is chaunged into the verie bodie of Iesus Christ as long and as broade as it was hanging vpon the Crosse. And for that cause it is that shee doeth disallowe all the expositions and interpretations which Basilius Tertullianus Theodoretus Augustinus and other holie Fathers haue sette foorth vpon the same saying That those woordes must bee figuratiuely and sacramentally vnderstoode as Christ himselfe hath plainely saide I am the vine or as Paule saieth The stone was Christ and as GOD spake to Abraham saying This is my promise Cut off the fore skinne c. Which is as muche to say that the breade shoulde not chaunge his nature nor the verie bodie of Christ bee there present but onelie that it shoulde bee a true and holie token a Sacrament a warrant and pledge a Seale and assuraunce whereby wee are assured and fullie certified that hee hath giuen vppe his bodie and bloud for our saluation And for this cause doe they call it a figure or token and in the Greeke Typus and Antitypa that is to say Speciall tokens But I doe tell you that the holie Church of Rome will not allowe anie such interpretations vnlesse it were so that men woulde vnderstand them as Damascenus doeth interprete them and as was in the seconde Councell of Nice concluded by the Fathers to witte That the breade shoulde bee such a seale pledge figure and holie token onely before it be consecrated which is to say It should be a Sacrament before it is become a Sacrament For that this is their conceite and meaning it is apparaunt out of this That long before the breade and the wine bee consecrated or made a holie Sacrament they doe offer vppe the same vnto God for remission of sinnes as well of the liuing as of the dead For in the Canon of the Masse yea before the bread bee turned into fleshe or the fiue holy wordes of consecration be heard the Priest doeth pray That God will accept that offering of breade and through that deliuer him from eternall death And then That hee will blesse the saide offering of breade in all pointes and make the same holie profitable meate and acceptable That is may become the bodie and bloud of Iesus Christ. Yea and before hee hath yet put the wine into the Chalice immediately after the Offertorie he saith thus O holie Father almightie and euerlasting God take and receiue this vnspotted sacrifice which thine vnworthie seruaunt doeth offer vppe vnto thee for my sinnes and innumerable misdeedes for my forgetfulnesse and vnthankefulnesse yea and for all these which are here present and for all faithfull Christians as well those that be liuing as those that be dead that it may bee acceptable auailable and effectuall vnto the saluation both of me and of them vnto eternall life Amen And in one of the secretes which is commonly read vpon the 24. Sunday after Trinitie Sunday he saith thus O Lord take and receiue mercifully this offering through which thou art pleased contented and pacified and hast receiued vs againe vnto saluation through the almightinesse and vnspeakablenesse of thy mercie c. Consider now here doeth our deare mother the holie Church ascribe vnto this bread all things which may be attributed vnto our Lorde Iesus Christ the onely begotten sonne of God as to say That God is become mercifull to vs for the bread sake and hath pardoned vs our sinnes and that before the bread bee consecrated or in anie point transubstantiated or changed What maruell is it then that they doe make a God of it after the fiue wordes be spoken ouer it and yet make a Sacrament of it before it can be a Sacrament For as they can of a peece of breade make God himselfe and of nothing create something wherfore should not they likewise be able to make of no Sacrament a Sacrament and of a Sacrament no Sacrament That is to say that a simple peece of bread shoulde bee a holie token and seale of the bloud of Iesus Christ euen before it bee made holie and consecrated And then Econtra that the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ shall bee no more either a Sacrament or token but euen the verie bodie of Christ it selfe So that the holie Fathers must needes haue vnderstoode it so especially when they say that this Sacrament is but a token a seale and a pledge specialy before it is become a Sacrament For after that it is once a Sacrament then no remedie our deare mothers will is that it shall bee fleshe and bloud and not anie longer neither bread nor wine to signifie the fleshe and the bloud And therefore doeth she not make anie account of the exposition of Christ Iesus himselfe who after he had saide of the bread This is my bodie and afterward of the Chalice of Cuppe This is the new Testament in my bloud thereby declaring that those words This is my bodie must be so vnderstoode as if hee had saide This breade is the new promise in my bodie which shall bee broken for you For of that shoulde followe that the breade after the consecration and likewise after the speaking of the fiue wordes should still remaine breade and so bee but simplie a Sacrament and true token of the bodie of Iesus Christ as shewing vnto vs the promise of God made in the breaking of the bodie and shedding of the bloud of Christ Iesus our Sauiour as was saide of the Circumcision This is my couenant which I doe make with you to witte for that the Circumcision is a sure and holie promise a pledge and seale through which the promise of God is verie stronglie and substantiallie made vnto the faithfull No no I assure you that liketh the holie Church of Rome nothing at all She will lay fast holde vpon the first wordes of Christ and not seek after anie exposition or glosse how necessarie soeuer they bee And for that cause shall Paule go without anie Audiuit when he commeth in with his interpretation and saith That the bread which we do breake is the communion of the bodie of Christ. For thereby it should also seeme that it remaineth bread still after the consecration and that it is not the bodie it self but a remembrance of the bodie â–ª which thing the holie Church in no wise admitteth nor alloweth for life nor death But especiallie she will not accept nor like of the interpretation following wherein Paule proceeding doeth declare how and wherefore the bread is the communion of the bodie of Christ saying For al we which eate of one bread become one bodie Nowe truelie that

and that must needes be the holie ghost which commeth with thunder and lightening Likewise vpon Ascension day they pull Christ vp on hie with ropes aboue the clouds by a vice deuised in the roofe of the church they hale him vp as if they would pull him vp to the gallowes and there stande the poore Priests and looke so pitifully after their God as a dogge for his dinner In summe a man doeth often spende a pennie or two to see a play of Robin hood or a Morisse daunse which were a great deale better bestowed vppon these apishe toies of these good Priests which counterfeite all these matters so handsomlie that it will do a man asmuch good to see them as in frostie weather to goe naked I speake not of their perambulations processions going about the towne cariing their crucifixes alongst the streetes there play and counterfeite the whole passion so trimlie with all the seuen sorrowes of our Lady as though it had ben nothing else but a simple and plaine Enterlude to make boyes laugh at and a litle to recreat heauie or sorrowfull hearts for these matters fal out onlie vpon church holy dayes or solemnities when the Catholikes are determined to be merrie drink thēselues so droncke that they tumble frō their seat as you shal see our Maisters of Louen doo euery yere in their solemnitie especially at the seuenth yeres procession which is of the seuen sorrowes of our Ladie All what soeuer Christ hath done must bee set abroch to be counterfeite And after the same manner wee play by the Lent. For because Christ did fast fourtie daies lōg therfore shal our dere mother the holie church bee content to fill her belly all sortes of fish onlie not once touching one morsell of flesh according to the special wordes of Paule who saith Eate it not Taste it not Handle it not And so likewise Moses did fast fourtie dayes for the establishing of the lawes of God which he presented vnto the people And now seeing the Bishops Prelates do weare hornes as Moses did wherefore should they not as well faste fourtie dayes as he did And if the Bishops doo faste then are the Leye people much more bounde to faste which haue no such power nor meane to obteine dispensations bulles or tollerations of our holie father the Pope as these holie Prelates haue Therefore we do now conclude without exception or contradiction That the holie time of Lent is as firmelie founded vpon the scripture as all the rest of the articles of the faith inuented and founded by our deare mother the holie church of Rome and therfore it is good reason that our mother the holie church of Rome do maintein her Lent fish dayes in great reputation not onelie to hold it for a good and holie work in it self but for a meritorious work whereby we may merit deserue heauen the mercie of God appease his wrath and do make sufficient satisfaction recompense for all our sins In so much that our deare mother doth esteeme her fasting yea in a manner better than the merites of the blessed bloud passion of Iesus Christ whervpon these Heretikes doe altogether boast themselues For consider this the holie church saith in one of her secretes vpon the Wednesday in the Ember weeke in the Aduent and on Friday in the Ember dayes after Whitsunday and vppon the Tuesday in Easter weeke O Lord we beseech thee that thou wilt accept this our fasting and that by it we may be made cleane purified worthie of thy mercie that it may bring vs vnto euerlasting saluation c. What can a man wish or desire more S. Iohn the Apostle will seeme to set foorth a speciall matter when hee saith That the bloud of Christ Iesus doth cleanse vs of our sinnes maketh vs acceptable before God the father but this other nowe doth growe all vpon our owne ground for with our fasting we can obteine that well inough which he doth attribute onelie to the bloud of Iesus Christ. What shall I neede to make much a doe for the festiual daies obseruing of them Of which our dere mother the holy church maketh so great account that shee doeth yerelie pray vnto God that her festiuall dayes may obteine for her meanes sufficient to liue wealthily in this world and after assurance of eternall saluation that she may by the perfect obseruing of the said dayes merit to enioye perpetuall saluation and blisse And of the hallowing of Easter eeuen shee doeth say plainlie as followeth Huius igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera culpas lauat reddit innocentiam lapsis moestis laetitiam fugat odia concordiam parit curuat imperia That is to say The halowing of this night doth driue away sinnes doth purge faults doth restore such as are fallen to their innocencie againe and to the sorowfull giueth gladnesse and expelleth all hatred procureth concord and doth bow Empires or Kingdomes c. Consider nowe what a power the obseruing of these festiual dayes hath What a mischiefe ayles these Heretikes that they so raile vpon vs because wee make a difference and diuersitie of dayes They make a doe with vs saying That Iesus Christ with his precious bloud hath clearlie adnichilated and taken away the instrument which was against vs which consisted wholie in such ceremonies and commaundements of the lawe and hath made fast the same vnto his crosse so that no man else can hereafter iudge vs for our meates or drinkes nor for the obseruing of anie holie dayes of new Moones or Sabbaoths and still they are troubling of vs with that which Paule writeth to the Galathians saying Seeing that you haue nowe knowen God or rather that you are knowen of GOD howe doeth it happen that you returne your selues againe to obseruing and worshipping of weake elementes which you beginne and goe about to serue againe You obserue dayes monthes times and yeeres I am afraied on your behalfes that all my trauell amongst you will be spent in vaine ▪ c. But what haue we to do with this ▪ seeing our mother the holie Church doeth attribute as much power to the obseruing of our festiuall dayes as to the bloud of Christ it selfe and therefore haue our Catholike Doctours reason in teaching That the obseruation of certeine dayes feastes heretofore vsed by the Iewes are not in anie point taken away by the death and bloud of Iesus Christ as Paule goeth about to perswade so alway as the dayes bee something altered as Eckius hath verie finelie set foorth For in place of their Passeouer of the lawe wee haue our Easter and in place of their Pentecost we haue a Whitsuntide of our owne deuising and in steade of the feast of the newe Moone wee haue our Ladies dayes and in place of their Trumpet feasts we haue the Apostles dayes and in place of their

which our louing mother the holy Church hath made vpon it let it bee allegoricall or anagogicall or what it will this is onelie that which makes mightie and liuing because this alone both agree with the iudgement of the holy Church of Rome And all they which doe truely follow her those are permitted to liue in all libertie and wealth yea although they do not beleue that there is a god Therefore whosoeuer will not accept this interpretation of the holie church and vnderstand the scripture ghostly or spiritually as the Catholikes doe vnderstande and interprete the same he is a damned Heretike and his processe is at an ende although he had all the textes of the scripture verie plaine the whole volume of the Bible on his side for the textes can not helpe him without the glasses hee is but a dead man yea though he had an hundred liues lying in a Chest especially if he come once in the handes of the holie Inquisition hee must abie for it it is but lost labour to talke further thereof And for this cause I doe maruell that our good master Gentian will breake his head about this matter namely to proue That the Scripture alone is not sufficient for our mother the holie Church as though that matter were not plaine and euident inough sithence we may daily both see and feele it And yet notwithstanding commes he out here with his profounde speculation in such sort as he hath almost therein forgotten himselfe I cannot iudge otherwise but that the vnmeasurable zeale which hee beares to the welfare of his deare mother the holy Church must haue perforce tumbled him topsie ●uruie ouerthwart the field that he did not well see what he said he is like to kine which are st●ung and chaced with a waspe or horseflie they runne on following their noses like mad beasts shun neither stock nor stone For here it seemes that his wittes be rauished For where hee doth say That the doctrine of the holy Trinitie cannot be proued by the Scripture that is farre too grosse Otherwise wee must condemne the foure first Councels of falshoode who did by approbation conclude vpon the same out of the holie Scriptures verie strongly and with vndoubted testimonies of truth yea and if we could as well defend the Masse with plaine textes of the Scripture as the blessed Trinitie may thereby be confirme● a great manie priests no doubt shoulde not eate so leane brewes as now they do It is true that this worde Trinitie neither this worde Consubstantiall that is to say Euangelicall in being substance is not so printed in the scripture But the Huguenots say plainly that they will not make anie brabbling about these wordes but will simply followe the true ground meaning substance of the Scripture Now it is plainly wri●ten That there are three in heauen which giue witnes to wit the father the worde and the holie ghost that these three are al one There is likewise written That there is but one Baptisme and one God and yet notwithstanding we are cōmanded that we shall be baptised In the name of the father of the sonne and of the holie ghost So that it is apparant that the doctrine or approbation of the Trinitie was not sowed out of the Popes thumbe as purgatorie the holie Masse were but are plainly alledged in the scripture after the letter The like is to be said touching the two sacramēts of Baptisme of the Supper of the lord For although this worde Sacrament is not found in the scripture yet the substance the being and the ground of the doctrine is without exception cōcluded out of the scripture according to the letter plaine wordes of the text For the Circumcision and the Pascall lambe are openly called The promises of God and doe signifie the promises of God left in liuely remembrance of his mercie to the cōfirming of our iustificatiō by faith And now doth Paul teach that Circumcision is signified in Baptisme and that the sacrament of the Lords supper is likewise appointed by Christ in remembrance of his death passion Whervpon it is called The new promise in the bloud of Christ and ministred in place of the Pascall lamb Insomuch that heretikes out of that do teach That baptisme the supper of our Lord are onely sacraments that is holy tokens of Gods promises made in the bloud and passion of Iesus Christ. Which we cannot say of that holy oyle nor of their holy confirmation and other Sacraments which our deare mother the holie Church hath instituted of great deuotion and ioyned them to the two first for an help or assistance yea and the same likewise established and defended That Confirmation by her instituted is much more worthie than baptisme which Christ himselfe cōmanded And why Forsooth because it cannot be ministred or executed by any simple or common Priest as baptisme may but only by a Suffragane or Bishop and that it makes one ful christned and doth giue the holy ghost more plentifully effectually than baptism doth which was instituted by Christ. As in her decrees and booke of Sentences is in plaine wordes written Now besides all this the heretikes doe also say That wee are not able to alledge or bring out of the holie Scripture so much as one worde which speakes of the Masse nor of annoynting of priests nor of their sinne offrings of their priests office of their pardons Popes bulles no nor of the Pope himselfe nor of the praying to Saints images of our Ladie nor al those saints which do so many goodly miracles nor of their purgatorie nor of their auricular confession nor of their whorish chastitie of Priests Monks Nonnes In summe they will say it is nothing else but mens inuentions and deuises of diuels which the priests haue called to remēbrance to bring in monie by heapes and to pamper their panches with daintie dishes but is not this a spiteful matter And yet our master Gentian letteth that slippe vntouched where he should haue proued That all these pointes are aswell concluded out of the scripture as the twelue articles of the faith He saith in deed that Ieremie had said before That the new lawe of the Gospell should bee written in mens hearts whereby we will conclude that men ought not to seeke them in the scripture but in the head and heart of the Pope of Rome of his holy Prelates for that the Pope hath all lawes both of God man shut vp in his bosome breast as hereafter shal be declared more at large But this serues to no purpose against the Heretikes for they are so lustie that they would make M. Gentian ashamed hereof if he had anie shame in his bodie Which I do not iudge of anie such great doctor who hath long ago put off his shamefast shooes and laid them aside nay ●ast them cleane away But

matter for otherwise if he had well knowen howe that Melchisedech had offered vp bread and wine he would then without doubt therevpon haue concluded with the Church of Rome That there must bee Priests to sing Masse and to offer vp Iesus Christ in fourme of bread and wine vnto God the Father For if this were not as the Doctours of Louen doe teache then could not the offering of Christ Iesus endure and last for euer after the order of Melchisedech as our Maister Gentianus hath verie wittilie here noted Consider I pray you if Christ had no Vicar nor Liefetenant as the saide Apostle pretendes how could he be an euerlasting Priest and continue his Priesthoode euermore in the person of the most holy Pope of Rome Howe could he offer vp his bodie a newe dailie in the Masse Therefore hee may thanke the Priestes greatly that they after his departure hence haue taken vppon them his place And for so much as his offering could not of it selfe sufficiently serue the turne therefore haue they founde out another sonne offering of the Masse whereby they applie or ioyne his offering to men as with a plaister notwithstanding they doe not name it onelie Sacrificium propitiatorium that is A sacrifice of mercie but also Sacrificium applicatorium that is An offring plaistered or put to Was not that a great ouersight of our Lorde that he had suffered such paines and yet al his suffering could not haue helped vs if the Priestes would not haue giuen vs that same addition by their Masse offering Therefore must the Apostle needes haue bene much ouerseene in his Epistle to the Hebrewes when hee tooke vppon him so earnestly to prooue that Christ had no neede of anie Deputie and that his sacrifice or oblation could not bee renewed nor offered againe but that it is giuen to vs made ours through faith or perhaps hee was so busily occupied with the Hebrewes Iewes that he did not once thinke vpon our holie Masse no nor had not the leasure to reade ouer the bookes of the Catholike Doctours of Louen nor the ordinances of the holie fathers of Rome For if hee had read those he should haue lerned something else as speciallie that the principal point of the priesthoode of Melchisedech did rest in the bread and wine which hee set before Abraham and his Souldiers to stake their hunger and thirst For of this bread and of this wine hath our deare mother the holie Church of Rome made a sacrifice and out of that concluded that the Priestes must likewise haue bread and wine to chaunge the same into fleshe and bloud and so to offer it vp But the Apostle had neuer heard anie such newes and therfore he is to be borne withall but these Heretikes who haue read ouer all these things with our Doctours yea they haue it at their fingers ends and yet they make but a mocke at it those felowes truelie are worthie to be looked at vnder the browes and to haue their heades set betwixt two eares Proceeding now as touching the order of Aaron he without doubte was a figure likewise not of Christ but of our Priestes For there is written in the Decrees and in the booke of Sentences That as well the hie Priestes as the Pater noster priestes were all ordeined by Moses when as he by the commaundement of God did institute Aaron an high Priest and did annoint his sonnes vnder priests The councel of Aken or Aquisgrain hath also plainlie concluded out of Isidore That the order of Priestes haue their beginning of Aarons children and that those which in the old Testament were called offring Priestes are the verie same which nowe are called Masse priests And those which at that time were called Hie priestes are nowe our Bishops So that it is easie to be noted that they are all of Caiphas his progenie For as touching that which the Apostle doeth say to the Hebrewes That by the comming of Christ the order of Leuie was cleane taken awaye that can not be true considering that yet at this day the holie Church hath her Leuites as out of the 7. Chapter of the said Councell and out of the 2. Chapter of the 21. Distinction doeth plainlie appeare where it is saide That the Leuites are in Greeke called Diaconi and in Latin Ministri And now these must needes bee our Deacons And therefore in the third Councell of Bracaren it was concluded in the 5. Chapter of the saide Councell That onelie the Leuites and not the Priestes might be pardoners and carrie about with them on their shoulders the reliques of Saint Anthonies swine and such other like hauing on their Albe which is to witte a long shirt aboue vpon their coates as was permitted to the Leuites only in the olde testament to carie or driue the Ark of the promise Is not this a sufficient proofe you are welcome home And likewise that the other Priestes are also come out of the order of Leui doth sufficiently appeare out of that which is before rehearsed Therefore is the Apostle much ouerseene in his Epistle to the Hebrewes where hee will take vpon him to mainteine that the order and succession of the Leuites should be wholy taken away and adnihilated or at least he must be thus vnderstoode as that the order of Leui is not taken away anie otherwise but that in place of the Iewish Leuites are entred in the Priestes Pardoners in place of their sacrifices is the Masse crept in For consider that which he doth write in his 5. and 8. Chapter concerning the Leuite priestes saying That euerie hie Priest is ordeined to offer gifts sacrifices pretending thereby to proue that then Christ must also haue something to offer that the holie Church of Rome vnderstandeth to be her Priests as though the Apostle would haue saide flatlie That the Romish Priestes are ordeined to offer giftes and sacrifices And for that cause the catholike Doctours haue that text continually in their mouth for the verifying of their Priesthoode So that it is euident that the Leuitical Priestes are risen vp againe in our Priestes And although the Heretikes do mocke at al such allegations saying that that text is directly against vs because the Apostle wil thereby proue that by the offering and Priesthoode of Christ Iesus all other offerings and Priesthoods are taken away and adnihilated considering that Christ could not be a Priest so farre as there were anie other Priest that did represent patronize him yea and although he were now here on earth we passe not for that For we will by and by bring out against them the plaine texte of the decrees out of the Councell called Sexta Synodus where it is said That Iames the brother of Christ after the flesh Basilius the Bishop of Caesarea did ioyntly bring in the Masse and ioyned it to the scripture Surely if Iames the lords