Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	faith_n	teach_v	4,044	5	6.3549	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19563	An aunsvvere by the Reuerend Father in God Thomas Archbyshop of Canterbury, primate of all England and metropolitane, vnto a craftie and sophisticall cauillation, deuised by Stephen Gardiner Doctour of Law, late Byshop of Winchester agaynst the true and godly doctrine of the most holy sacrament, of the body and bloud of our sauiour Iesu Christ Wherein is also, as occasion serueth, aunswered such places of the booke of Doct. Richard Smith, as may seeme any thyng worthy the aunsweryng. Here is also the true copy of the booke written, and in open court deliuered, by D. Stephen Gardiner ...; Answer of the Most Reverend Father in God Thomas Archebyshop of Canterburye, primate of all Englande and metropolitane unto a crafty and sophisticall cavillation devised by Stephen Gardiner doctour of law, late byshop of Winchester, agaynst the trewe and godly doctrine of the moste holy sacrament of the body and bloud of our saviour Jesu Christe	Cranmer, Thomas, 1489-1556.; Cranmer, Thomas, 1489-1556. Defence of the true and catholike doctrine of the sacrament of the body and bloud of our saviour Christ. Selections.; Gardiner, Stephen, 1483?-1555. Explication and assertion of the true catholique fayth, touchyng the moost blessed sacrament of the aulter.; Foxe, John, 1516-1587. Actes and monuments.	1580 (1580)	STC 5992; ESTC S107277	634,332	462

body from his spirite affirming that in Baptisme we receaue but his spirite and in the communion but his flesh And that Christes spirit renueth our life but increaseth it not and that his flesh increceth our life but geueth it not And agaynst all nature reasō and truth you confound the substance of bread and wine with the substance of Christes body and bloud in such wise as you make but one nature and person of them all And against scripture and all comformity of nature you confound and iumble so together the natural members of Christes body in the sacrament that you leaue no distinction proportion nor fashion of mannes body at all And can your church be taken for the true naturall mother of the true doctrine of Christ that thus vnnaturally speaketh deuydeth and confoundeth Christes body If Salomon were aliue he would surely geue iudgement that Christ should be taken from that woman that speaketh so vnnaturally and so vnlike his mother and be geuen to the true church of the faithful that neuer digressed from the truth of Gods word nor from the true speeche of Christes natural body but speake according to the same that Christes body although it be inseparable annexed vnto his Godhead yet it hath all the naturall conditions and properties of a very mans body occupying one place and being of a certayne height and measure hauing all members distinct and set in good order and proportion And yet the same body ioyned vnto his diuinitye is not only the beginning but also the contynuance and consummation of our eternall and celestiall life By him we be regenerated by him we be fedde and nourished from time to time as hee hath taught vs most certainly to beleue by his holy word and sacraments which remayne in their former substaunce and nature as Christ doth in his without mixtion or confusion This is the true and naturall speaking in this matter like a true naturall mother and like a true and right beleeuing christian man Marye of that doctrine which you teach I cannot deny but the church of Rome is the mother therof which in scripture is called Babilō because of commixtion or confusion Which in all her doinges and teachinges so doth mixte and confound error with truth superstition with religiō godlines with hipocrisie scripture with traditions that she sheweth her selfe alway vniforme and consonant to confound all the doctrine of Christ yea Christ him selfe shewing her selfe to be Christes stepmother and the true naturall mother of Antichrist And for the conclusion of your matter here I doubt not but the indifferent reader shal easely perceiue what spirit moued you to write your boke For seeing that your booke is so full of crafts sleightes shiftes obliquities manifest vntruthes it may be easely iudged that what soeuer pretence be made of truth yet nothing is lesse intended then that truth should ether haue victory or appeare and be seene at all Winchester And that thou reader mightest by these markes iudge of that is here intreated by the author agaynst the melt blessed sacrament I shall note certayne euident and manyfest vntruthes which this author is not afraid to vtter a matter wonderfull considering his dignity if he that is named be the author in déede which should be a great stay of contradiction if any thing were to be regarded agaynst the truth First I will note vnto the reader how this author termeth the faith of the reall and substanciall presence of Christes body and bloud in the sacrament to be the faith of the papistes which saying what foundacion it hath thou mayest consider of that foloweth Luther that professed openly to abhorre at that might be noted papish defended stoutly the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament and to be present really and substancially euen with the same wordes and termes Bucer that is here in England in a solemne worke that he wryteth vpon the Gospels professeth the same faith of the reall and substanciall presence of Christes body in the Sacrament which be affirmeth to haue béen beleued of all the church of Christ from the beginning hetherto Iustus Ionas hath translated a Catechisme out of dutch into latin taught in the citie of Noremberge in Germany where Hosiander is chiefe preacher in which Catechisme they be accounted for no true Christian men that deny the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament The wordes really and substancially be not expressed as they be in Bucer but the word truly is there and as Buter saith that is substancially Which Catechisme was translated into englishe in this authors name about two yeares past Phillip Melancton no papist nor priest writeth a very wise epistle in this matter to Decolampadius and signifiyng soberly his beléefe of the presence of Christes very body in the Sacrament and to proue the same to haue béen the fayth of the old church from the beginning alleadgeth the sayinges of Irene Ciprian Chrisostome Hillary Cirill Ambrose and Theophilacte which authors he estemeth both worthy credite and to affirme the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament plainly without ambiguity He answereth to certain places of S. Augustine and saith all Decolampadius enterprise to depend vpon coniectures and argumentes applausible to idle wittes with much more wise matter as that epistle doth purport which is set out in a booke of a good volume among the other Epistles of Decolampadius so as no man may suspecte any thing counterfayte in the matter One Hippinus or Oepinus of Hamborough greatly estéemed among the Lutherians hath written a booke to the Kinges Maiesty that now is published abroad in printe wherein much inueyng against the church of Rome doth in the matter of the sacrament write as followeth Encharistia is called by it selfe a sacrifice because it is a remēbrance of the true sacrifice offered vpon the crosse and that in it is dispensed the true body true bloud of Christ which is plainly the same in essence that is to say substāce and the same bloud in essence signifiyng though the maner of presence be spirituall yet the substaunce of that is present is the same with that in heauen Erasmus noted a man that durst and did speake of all abuses in the church liberallye taken for no papist among vs to much estéemed as his peraphrasis of the Gospell is ordered to be had in euery church of this Realme declareth in diuers of his workes most manifestly his fayth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament by his Epistles recommendeth to the worlde the worke of Algerus in that matter of the Sacrament whom he noteth well exercised in the scriptures and the olde doctors Ciprian Hilary Ambrose Hierome Augustine Basill Chrysostom And for Erasmus own iudgement he sayth we haue an inuiolable fountation of Christes own words this is my body rehearsed agayn by S. Paule he sayth further the body of Christe is hidden vnder those signes and sheweth also vpon what

one vniforme consent agreed that accidences had none other being or remayning but in their substances And yet if the fayth of our religion taught vs the contrary then reason must yelde to fayth But your doctrine of Transubstantiation is as directly contrary to the playne wordes of scripture as it is agaynst the order of naturall reason And where you say that the doctrine of Transubstantiation doth not teach that no earthly thing remayneth but that the visible forme of bread and wine remayneth the same in greatnes in thicknes in weight in sauour in tast in property also to corrupt putrify and nourish as it did before tell playnly I pray you what thing it is which you call the visible fourme of bread and wine whether it be an accidence or a substance and if it be an accidence shew whether it be a quantity or quality or what other accidence it is that all men may vnderstand what thing it is which as you say is the same in greatnes thicknes weight sauour and other properties And where you alleadge Emissen for the conuersion of the substaunce of bread and wine this conuersion as Emissene sayth and as I haue declared before is like to our conuersion in baptisme where outwardly is no alteration of substance for no sacramentall alteration maketh alteration of the substance but the meruaylous and secret alteration is inwardly in our soules And as the water in baptisme is not changed but sacramentally that is to say made a sacrament of spirituall regeneration which before was none so in the lordes supper neyther the substance nor accidences of bread and wine be changed but sacramentally but the alteration is inwardly in the soules of them that spiritually be refreshed and nourished with Christes flesh and bloud And this our fayth teacheth vs and naturall reason doth good seruice to fayth herein agaynst your imagined Transubstantiation So that you haue not gotten reasons good wil nor consent to your vayne doctrine of Transubstantiation although you had proued your reall presence Which hitherto you haue not don but haue taken greate payne to shoote away all your boltes in vayne missing quite and cleane both the pricke and the whole butte And yet in the end you take a good ready way for your owne aduantage like vnto a man that had shot all his shaftes cleane wide from the butte and yet would beare all men in hand that he had hitte the pricke And when other should go about the measure how farre his shaftes were wide from the butte he would take vp the matter himselfe and cōmaund them to leaue measuring and beleue his owne saying that his arrowes stacke all fast in the marke and that this were the nearest way to finish the contention Euen so do you in this matter willing all men to leaue searching of how in the mistery of Christes presence in the sacrament saying that to be the nearest way And it were a much nerer way for you in dede if all men would leaue searching of how and without ground or reason beleue as well your Transubstātiation as the corporall presence of Christes body onely bicause you do say it is so But S. Peter requireth euery christen man to be ready to render a reason of his fayth to euery one that asketh and S. Paule requireth in a christen Bishop that he should be able to exhorte by holsome doctrine and to conuince the gaynsayers and not to require other men to giue fayth vnto him without asking of how or why only because he sayth so himselfe The olde catholique Authors tell wherfore Christ called bread his body and how christen people fed of his body And the blessed virgine Mary asked how she should conceaue a child neuer hauing company with man And you tell yourselfe how Christ is in heauen how in vs and how in the sacrament declaring all to be but after a spirituall maner And what maner of men be you that we may not aske you how to render a reason of your Transubstantiation being a matter by you onely deuised clearly without Gods word But at length when you haue swette well fauoredly in answering to myne arguments of naturall reason and naturall operation you be fayne to confesse a great part to be true and to turne altogether into miracles and that into such kind of miracles as the old catholike writers neuer knowledged nor touched in none of their workes For besides the chief miracle which you say is in the conuertiō of the substance of bread into the substance of Christes body and of the wine into his bloud there be other miracles when the formes of wine tourue into viniger and when bread mouldeth or a man doth vomite it or the mouse eateth it or the fire burneth it or wormes breed in it and in all like chaunces God still worketh miracles yea euen in poysoning with the consecrated wine And the multitude of such miracles as you do iudge pertayneth to the excellency of the Sacrament where as among the schoole authors this is a common receaued proposition non esse ponenda miracula sine necessitate And where you say that I make my principall foundation vpon the arguments of the scholasticall writers although myne arguments deduced out of the scholasticall authors be vnto you insoluble and therfore you passe them ouer vnanswered yet I make no foundation at all vpon them but my very foundation is onely vpon Gods word which foundation is so sure that it will neuer fayle And myne arguments in this place I bring in onely to this end to shew how farre your imagined Transubstantiation is not onely from Gods word but also from the order and precepts of nature and how many and portentuous absurdities you fall into by meanes of the same Which it semeth you do confesse by holding your peace without making answere therto But now lette vs consider what is next in my booke The Papisticall doctrine is also agaynst all our outward senses called our fiue wits For our eyes say they see there bread and wine our noses smell bread and wine our mouthes tast and our handes fele bread and wine And although the articles of our fayth be aboue all our outward senses so that we beleue thinges which we can neyther see feele heare smell nor tast yet they be not contrary to our senses at the least so contrary that in such thinges which we from tyme to tyme do see smell fele heare and tast we shall not trust our fenses but beleue cleane contray Christ neuer made no such article of our fayth Our fayth teacheth vs to beleue thinges that we see not but it doth not bid vs that we shall not beleue that we see dayly with our eyes and heare with our eares and grope with our handes For although our senses can not reach so farre as our fayth doth yet so farre as the compasse of our sences doth vsually reach our fayth is not contrary to the same but

try my Lord of Cāterburies benignitie namely for that his cousins accusatiō touched onely the offence agaynst him and none other Whereupon the sayd Chersey came to one of the Archbyshops Gentlemē whose father bought yearely all his spices and frute of the sayd Chersey and so thereby of familiar acquaintaunce with the Gentleman who openyng to him the trouble wherein his kinsman was requested that he would be a meanes to my Lord his Maister to heare his sute in the behalfe of his kinsman The matter was moued The Archbyshop like as he was of nature gentle and of much clemencie so would he neuer shew him selfe straunge vnto suters but incontinently sent for the said Chersey When he came before him Chersey declared that there was a kinsman of his in the Fléete a Priest of the North countrey as I may tell your grace the truth quoth Chersey a man of small ciuilitie and of lesse learnyng And yet he hath a personage there which now by reason that my Lord Cromwell hath layd him in prison beyng in his cure is vnserued and hee hath continued in duraunce aboue two monethes and is called to no aunswere and knoweth not when hee shall come to any end so that this his imprisonment consumeth his substaunce will vtterly vndoe him vnlesse your Grace be his good Lord. I know not the mā sayd the Archbyshop nor what he hath done why he should be thus in trouble Sayd Chersey agayne he onely hath offended agaynst your Grace and agaynst no man els as may well be perceiued by the Articles obiected agaynst him the Copy wherof the sayd Chersey then exhibited vnto the sayd Archbyshop of Caunterbury Who well perusing the sayd Articles sayd This is the common talke of all the ignoraunt Papisticall Priestes in England agaynst me Surely sayd he I was neuer made priuy vnto this accusation nor of his induraunce I neuer heard before this tyme. Notwithstandyng if there be nothing els to charge him withal against the Prince or any of the Coūsaile I will at your request take order with him and send him home againe to his Cure to do his duetie and so therupō sent his ryng to the Warden of the Fleete willyng him to send the prisoner vnto him with his kéeper at after noone When the kéeper had brought the prisoner at the houre appointed and Chersey had well instructed his Cosin in any wise to submit him selfe vnto the Archbishop confessing his fault whereby that way he should most easely haue an end and winne his fauour thus the Parson beyng brought into the garden at Lambeth and there sittyng vnder the vyne the Archbyshop demaunded of the Parson what was the cause of his induraunce and who committed him to the Fléete The Parson aunswered and sayd that the Lord Cromwell sent him thether for that certaine malicious Parishioners of his Parish had wrongfully accused him of wordes whiche he neuer spake nor ment● Chersey hearyng his foolish Cosin so farre out of the way from his former instruction sayd Thou dasterdly ●olt and varlet is this thy promise that thou madest to me Is there not a great number of thy honest neighbours hādes agaynst thée to proue thée a lyer Surely my Lord quoth Chersey it is pitie to doe him good I am sory that I haue troubled your Grace thus farre with him Well sayd the Archbyshop vnto the Parson if you haue not offended me I cā do you no good for I am intreated to helpe one out of trouble that hath offended agaynst me If my Lord Cromwell hath committed you to prison wrongfully that lyeth in him selfe to amend and not in me If your offence onely touche me I will be bold to doe somewhat for your frendes sake here If you haue not offended agaynst me thē haue I nothyng to do with you but that you may go remaine from whence you came Lord what a●● his kinsman Chersey made with him callyng him all kynde of opprobrious names In the end my Lord of Cāterbury séemyng to rise and go his wayes the fond Priest fell downe on his knées and sayd I beséech your Grace to forgiue me this offence assuryng your Grace that I spake those wordes beyng dronke and not well aduised Ah sayd my Lord this is somewhat and yet it is no good excuse for dronkennesse euermore vttereth that whiche lyeth hid in the hart of man when hee is sober alledgyng a te●t or twayne out of the Scriptures concernyng the vyce of dronkennesse whiche commeth not now to remembraunce Now therfore sayd the Archbyshop that you acknowledge somewhat your fault I am content to common with you hopyng that you are at this present of an indifferēt sobrietie Tell me then quoth he did you euer sée me or were you euer acquainted with me before this day The Priest aunswered and sayd that neuer in his life he saw his Grace Why then sayd the Archbyshop what occasion had you to call me an Hostler and that I had not so much learning as the goslinges which then went on the gréene before your face If I haue no learnyng you may now try it and be out of doubt thereof therfore I pray you appose me either in Grammer or in other liberall sciences for I haue at one tyme or other tasted partly of them Or elles if you are a Diuine say some what that way The Priest beyng amased at my Lordes familiar talke made aunswere and sayd I beséeth your Grace to pardon me I am altogethers vnlearned and vnderstand not the Latin toung but very simply My onely study hath bene to say my seruice and Masse fayre and deliberate which I can do aswell as any Priest in the countrey where I dwel I thanke God Well sayd the other if you will not appose me I will be so bold to appose you yet as easly as I can deuise that onely in the story of the Bible now in English in which I suppose that you are dayly exercised Tell me therfore who was kyng Dauids father sayd my Lord The Priest stoode still pausing a white and sayd In good sayth my Lord I haue forgotten his name Then sayd the other agayne to him if you can not tell that I pray you tell me then who was Salomons Father The fond foolish Priest without all consideration what was demaunded of him before made aunswere Good my Lord beare with me I am not further séene in the Bible then is dayly read in our seruice in the Church The Archbyshop then aunsweryng sayd this my question may be found well aunswered in your seruice But I now well perceiue howsoeuer you haue iudged heretofore of my learnyng sure I am that you haue none at all But this is the common practise of all you which are ignoraunt and superstitious Priestes● to sclaunder backbite and hate all such as are learned and well affected towardes Gods word and sincere Religion Common reason might haue taught you what an

to instruct S. Iames in the sacraments and in all manner fashion how he should vse himself in his vocation as he should say that Iames who learned of Christ himself knew not how to vse himselfe in the necessary poynts of Christes religion except Clement must teach him Sixtly there be few things in those epistles that either be obserued at this day or were at any tyme obserued sithens Christes religion fyrst beganne Seuenthly a great number of scriptures in those Epistles be so far wrasted from the true sence thereof that they haue an euill opinion of Clemēt that thinke that he would do such iniury to Gods word Eightly those epistles spake of Palles and Archdeacons and other inferior orders which is not like that those things began so soone but as the histories were inuented many yeres after Peters tyme. And finally in one of those epistles is contayned a most pernicious heresy that al things ought to be common and wives also which could not be the doctrine of Clement being the most pestilent errour of the Nicholaites whom the holy ghost doth hate as he testifieth in the Apocalips Now all these things considered who hauing either wit or good opinion of the Apostles and their disciples can thinke that they should write any such epistles But the Epistle of S. Clement say you speaketh not of bread what was it then I pray you that he ment when he spake of the brokē peces in the Lords supper Yf it were not bread it must be some other thing which Christ did eat at that supper Paraduēture you will say as some stick not to say now a dayes that Christ had some other meat at that supper then bred as if he fared daintely which we neuer read you might imagine he had capon partrich or fesaunt or if he fared hardly at the least you would say he had cheese to eat with his bread because you will defend that he did not eat dry bread alone Such vayne phantasies men may haue that will speak without Gods word which maketh mention in that holy supper of nothing but of bread and wine But let it be that Christ had as many dishes as you can deuise yet I trust you will not say that he called all those his body but onely the bread And so S. Clement speaking of the broken peeces of the Lords body of the residue and fragments of the Lords body of the portion and leauing of the Lords body must needes speak all this of bread And thus is if manifest false that you say that the epistle of Clement speaketh nothing of bread And then forasmuch as he calleth the leauings of the same the brokē peeces of the Lords body and the fragments and portion therof he calleth the fragments and portion of the Lordes body he sheweth that the bread remayneth and that the calling therof the lords body is a figuratiue speech The body of Christ hath no fragments nor broken peces and therfore the calling here is so materiall that it proueth fully the matter that to call bread Christs body is a figuratiue speech And although to auoid the matter you deuise subtill cauillatious saying that calling is not materiall because it signifieth that was Yet they that haue vnderstanding may soon discerne what a vayne shift this is imagined onely to blynd the ignorant readers eyes But if that which is bread before the consecration be after no bread and if it be agaynst the Christen fayth to think that it is still bread what occasion of errour should this be to call it still bread after consecration Ys not this a great occasion of errour to call it bread still if it be not bread still And yet in this place of Clement the calling can in no wise signify that was before consecration but must needes signify that is after consecration For this place speaketh of fragments broken peeces and leauings which can haue no true vnderstanding before consecration at what time there be yet no broken peeces fragments nor leauings but be all done after consecration But you wrangle so much in this matter to auoyd absurdities that you snarle your self into so many and haynous absurdities as you shall neuer be able to winde your selfe out For you say that Christes body which in all the hostes and in all the partes of the hostes is but one not broken nor distributed is called the leauing peeces of the body portiō of the body residue of the body yet euery peece is Christs whole body which things to be spoken of Christes body christian eares abhore for to heare And if you will say that your booke is false that you meant al these leauing peeces portion and residue to be vnderstand of the hostes and not of Christs body then you confesse the hostes which be broken to be called by name the leauings or peeces of Christs body the portion of his body the residue of his body by a figuratiue spech which is as much as I speake in my first note And so appeareth how vaynely you haue traueled for the confutation of my first note Now as touching the second note Clement declareth expressely that nothing might be reserued For where he sayth that if any thing remain it must not be kept vntill the morning but be spent and consumed of the clearkes how could he declare more playnly that nothing might be reserued then by those wordes And as for Iustine he speaketh not one word of sicke persons as you report of hym And concerning Cirill ad Calosyrium would to God that worke of Cyrill might come abroad for I doubt not but it would clerely discusse this matter but I feare that some Papistes will suppresse it that it shall neuer come to light And where you say that Linehood found fault with his owne countrey of England and blamed this realme because they hāged vp the sacrament contrary to the vse of other countreyes You haue well excused me that I am not the first finder of this fault but many yeares ago that fault was found that it was not the vse of other countreys to hang it vp And yet the vse of other countreys was fonde inough euen as they had charge commandement from Innocentius the third and Honorius the third And as for the receiuing of the Sacrament with feare and trembling ought not they that be baptised in theyr old age or in yeres of discression come to the water of Baptisme with feare and trembling as well as to the Lords supper Think you that Symon Magus was not in as great damnation for the vnworthy receyuing of Baptisme as Iudas was for the vnworthy receyuing of the Lordes supper And yet you will not say that Christ is really and corporally in the water but that the washing in the water is an outward signification and figure declaring what God worketh inwardly in them that truely be baptised And likewise speaketh this Epistle of the holy communion For euery good

no whit darkened by any thing this Author hath brought As for naturall operation is not in all mens iudgements as this Author taketh it who semeth to repute it for an inconuenience to say that the accidents of wine do sower and ware viniger But vlpian a man of notable learning is not afrayd to write in the law In venditionibus de contrahenda emptione in the Pandeas that of wine and viniger there is prope eadem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in manner one substance wherin he sheweth him selfe farre agaynst this Authors skill which I put for an example to shew that naturall operations haue had in naturall mens iudgements diuers considerations one sometime repugnant to an other and yet the Authors of both opinions called Philosophers all Among which some thought for example they spake wisely that estemed all thing to alter as swiftly as the water runneth in the streme and thought therfore no man could vtter a word being the same man in the end of the word that he was when he began to speake and vsed a similitude Like as a man standing in one place can not touch the same one water twise in a running streame no more can a man be touched the same man twise but he altereth as swiftely as both the streame These were laughed to skorne yet they thought themselues wise in naturall speculation Aristotle that is much estemed and worthely fansied a first matter in all thinges to be one in which consideration he semeth to be as extreame in a stay as the other fond Philosophers were in mouing By which two extremeties I condemne not naturall speculation wherwith I thinke God pleased for man to meruayle in contemplation of his inferiour workes and to tame his rash wit in the inexplicable variety of it but to vse it so as to make it an open aduersary to religion it is me semeth without all purpose The doctrine of Transubstantiation doth not teach no earthly thing to remayne in the Sacrament but contrarywise that the visible forme of bread and wine is there as the visible figure of the Sacrament and to be the same in greatnes in thicknes in wayght in sauor in tast in propriety also to corrupt putrifie and nourish as it did before and yet the substance of those visible creatures to be conuerted into the substance as Emissene sayth of the body of Christ. And here will reason do seruice is sayth to say if there be a conuersion in deede as fayth teacheth and none of the accidents be conuerted then the substance is conuerted for in euery thing all is substance and accidents but the accidents be not chaunged and yet a change there is it must nedes be then that substance is changed Which deduction reason will make and so agree with Transubstantiatiō in conuenient due seruice And thus I haue gotten reasons good will whatsoeuer this author sayth and from the ground of fayth haue by reason deduced such a conclusion to proue transubstantiation as vnles he destroy the true fayth of the presence of Christes very body which he can not must nedes be allowed And as for naturall operation of putrifying engendring wormes burning and such experiences which being the substance of bread absent this Author thincketh can not be so when he hath thought throughly he can of his thought conclude it onely to be a meruayle and it be so as agaynst the common rules of philosophy wherin as me semeth it were a nearer way as we be admonished to leaue searching of how of the worke of God in the mistery of Christes presence being that the celestiall parte of the sacrament so not to search how in the experience of the operation of nature of the visible earthly part of the Sacrament When God sent Manna in desert the people saw many meruayles in it besides the common operation of nature and yet they neuer troubled them selues with howe 's And as one very well writeth it is consonant that as there is a great miracle in the worke of God to make there present the substance of the body of Christ to likewise to knowledge the miracle in the absence of the substance of bread and both the heauenly and earthly part of the sacramēt to be miraculous and so many miracles to be ioyned together in one agreeth with the excelency of the Sacrament As for the obiections this Author maketh in this matter be such as he findeth in those scholasticall writers that discusse as they may or labour thereaboute wherwith to satisfie idle imaginations and to make learned men prompt and ready to say sumwhat to these trifles whose arguments this author taketh for his principall foundation For playne resolution and auoyding wherof if I would now for my parte bring forth their solutions and answers there were a part of schole Theologie so brought into English to no great prayse of eyther of out learninges but our vayne labour to set abrode other mens trauayles to trouble rude wittes with matter not necessary and by such vnreuerent disputing and alteration to hinder the truth Finally all that this Author reherseth of absurdity repugneth in his estimation onely is the conclusion of philosophie which should nothing moue the humble simplicite of sayth in a christen man who meruayleth at Gods workes and reputeth them true although he can not comprehend the wayes and meanes of them Caunterbury HEre in the beginning of this chapiter it is a strange thing to me that you should thinke strangenes in my saying that naturall reason and operation ioyned to Gods word should be of great moment to confirme any truth not that they adde any authority to Gods word but that they helpe our infirmity as the sacraments do to Gods promises which promises in themselues be most certayne and true For did not the eating and drincking of Christ his laboring and sweating his agony and pangs of death confirme the true fayth of his incarnation And did not his eating with the Apostles confirme and stablish their fayth of his resurrection Dyd not the sight of Christ and feeling of his woundes induce Thomas to beleue that Christ was risen When neyther the report of the deuout woman nor yet of the Apostles which did see him could cause him to beleue Christes resurrection And when they tooke our Sauiour Christ for a spirite did not he cause them by their sight and feeling of his flesh and bones to beleue that he was very man and no spirite as they phantasied Which sensible profes were so farre from derogation of fayth that they were a sure establishment therof Wherfore if your vnderstanding can not reach this doctrine it is indede very slender in godly thynges And as for my reason of vacuum you haue not yet answered thereto for nature suffereth not any place to be without some substance which by meanes of his quantity filleth the place And quantity without substance to fill any place is so fare from the rulers of nature that by order of

hath defyned and determined in this matter many thinges contrary to Christes words contrary to the old catholick church and the holy martirs and doctors of the same and contrary to all naturall reason learning and philosophy And the final end of al this Antichristes doctrine is none other but by subtilty and craft to bring christen people from the true honoring of Christ vnto the greatest idolatry that euer was in this world deuise as by Gods grace shal be plainly set forth hereafter Winchester It hath vene heard without fables of certaine men that haue liued and bene norished with sauors onely And in gold and certayne precious stones that they geue a kinde of nurriture to an other substance without diminution of their substance experience hath shewed it so and therefore the principle or maxime that this author gathereth hath no such absurdity in it as he noteth to say that substaunce is nourished without substance But when vermin by chaunce happen to deuour any host as I am sure they cannot violate Christes most precious body so what effect foloweth of the rest what néedeth it to be discussed If it nourisheth then doth that effect remaine although the substaunce be not there If euery nurriture must néedes bee of substaunce then would those that discusse those chances say the substaunce to returne but hell gates shall not make me speake agaynst my fayth And if I be asked the question whether the visible matter of the sacrament nourish I will answere yea Ergo sayth he there is substaunce I deny it He shall now from the effect to the cause argue by physicke I shall disproue the conclusion by the authority of faith who is it most méet should yeld to other And if in nature many things be in experience contrary to the generall rules why may not one singular condition be in this visible matter of the sacrament that the onely substaunce being chaunged all other partes properties and effectes may remayne Is it an absurdity for a mayde to haue a child because it is against the rules of nature Is it an absurdity the world to be made of nothing because the philosopher sayth Of nothing commeth nothing The principle of nature is that whatsoeuer hath a beginning hath an end and yet it is no absurditye to beléeue our soules to haue a beginning without end and to be immortall Wherefore to conclude this matter it is a great absurdity in this author to note that for an absurdity in our fayth which repugneth onely to the principles of phylosophy or reasō when that is onely to be accounted for an absurdity that should repugne to the scripture and gods will which is the standerd to try the rule of our fayth Howsoeuer reason or Phylosophy be offended it forceth not so gods teaching be embraced and persuaded in fayth which néedeth no such plaisters and salues as this author hath deuised to make a sore where none is and to corrupt that is whole Caunterbury MEn may here see what fayned fables be sought out to defend your errors and ignorance which is how so manifest that it appeareth you neuer read or els haue forgotten the very principles and diffinitions of Philosophy Of which this is one that nutrition is a conuertion of substance into substance that is to say of the meate into the substance of the thing that is fedde An other is thus Ex eisdem sunt nutriuntur omnia All thinges be nourished of thinges like themselues And so I graunt you that a man made of sauoures and a man made of the vertue of gold and precious stones may be nourished by the same bicause he is made of the same And yet it may be that some certayne sauor or the vertue of some precious stone may increase or continue some humor wherof a man may be nourished as we read of some men or certayne people that haue liued no small time by the sauonr of apples But still in your booke you crye fayth fayth and catholike fayth when you teach but your owne inuentions cleane contrary to the true catholike fayth and expresse worde of God And in all your arguments here you commit the greatest vice that can be in reasoning called Petitio principij taking that thing which is chiefly in controuersy to be a principle to induce your conclusion Fayth fayth say you where is no fayth but your bare faining I haue disproued your fayth by gods word by the vniuersall consent of all Christendome a M. yeares togither and you crye out still fayth fayth which is not the fayth of Christ but of Antichrist Let christen men now iudge who should yeld to other If you had proued your doctrine by fayth founded vpon Gods word I would condescend vnto you that it is no absurdity that accidents remayne when the substance is gone But gods word is clearly agaynst you not onely in your doctrine of transubstantiation but also in the doctrine of the reall presence of the eating and drinking and of the sacrifices of Christes flesh and bloud Winchester The best plaster and medicine that could now be deuised were to leaue a part questions and idle talke and meekly to submit our capacities to the true fayth and not to ouerwhelme our vnderstandinges with search and inquiry wherof we shall neuer finde an ende entring the bottomles secresy of Gods misteries Let vs not seeke that is aboue our reach but that God hath commaunded vs let vs do Each man impugneth an others learning with wordes none controleth in others liuing with better dedes Let all endeuour themselues to do that God commaundeth and the good occupation therof shall exclude al such idlenes as is cause and occasion of this vayne and noysome curiosity And now to returne to this author whiles he seeth a mate in an other mans iye he feeleth not a beame in his owne Who recommendeth vnto vs specially Theodoret whome he calleth an holy Bishop and with him doth bring forth a pece of an Epistle of S. Chrisostome The doctrine of which two ioyned with the doctrine of this author in such sence as this author would haue all vnderstanded to be called catholike touching the fayth of the sacrament hath such an absurdity in it as was neuer hard of in religion For this author teacheth for his part that the body of Christ is onely really in heauen and not indeed in the sacrament according wherunto this author teacheth also the bread to be very bread still which doctrine if it be true as this author will needes haue it then ioyne vnto it the doctrine of the secret Epistle of Chrisostome and Theodoret whose doctrine is that after the consecration that is consecrate shal be called no more bread but the body of Christ. By these two doctrines ioyned togither it shall apeare that we must call that is consecrate by a name that we be learned by this author it is not and may not by the doctrine of Theodoret call it by the name of the

Chrisostome declaryng at length that the priestes of the old law offered euer new Sacrifices and chaunged them from tyme to tyme and that Christian people do not so but offer euer one Sacrifice of Christ yet by and by least some might be offended with this speach he maketh as it were a correction of his wordes saying But rather we make a remembraunce of Christes sacrifice As though he should say Although in a certaine kinde of speach we may say that euery day we make a sacrifice of Christ yet in very deede to speake properly we make no sacrifice of him but onely a commemoration and remēbraunce of that sacrifice which he alone made and neuer none but he Nor Christ neuer gaue this honour to any creature that he should make a sacrifice of him nor did not ordaine the Sacrament of his holy Supper to the intent that either the priest or the people should sacrifice Christ agayne or that the priestes should make a sacrifice of him for the people but his holy Supper was ordeined for this purpose that euery man eatyng and drinkyng therof should remember that Christ dyed for him and so should exercise his fayth and comfort him selfe by the remembraunce of Christes benefites and so geue vnto Christ most harty thankes and geue him selfe also clearely vnto him Wherfore the ordinaunce of Christ ought to be folowed the priest to minister the Sacrament to the people and they to vse it to their consolation And in this eatyng drinkyng and vsing of the Lordes Supper we make not of Christ a new sacrifice propitiatory for remission of sinne But the humble confession of all penitent hartes their knowledgyng of Christes benefites their thankes giuyng for the same their fayth and consolation in Christ their humble submission and obedience to Gods will and commaundements is a sacrifice of laude and prayse accepted and allowed of God no lesse then the sacrifice of the priest For almighty God without respect of person accepteth the oblation and sacrifice of priest and lay person of kyng and subiect of maister and seruaunt of man and woman of young and old yea of English French Scot Greeke Latin Iew and Gentile of euery man accordyng to his faythfull and obedient hart vnto him and that through the sacrifice propitiatory of Iesu Christ. And as for the saying or singyng of the Masse by the priest as it was in tyme passed vsed it is neither a sacrifice propitiatory nor yet a sacrifice of laude and prayse nor in any wise alowed before God but abhominable and detestable and therof may well be verified the saying of Christ That thyng which seemeth an high thing before men is an abhomination before God They therfore which gather of the Doctours that the Masse is a sacrifice for remission of sinne and that it is applyed by the priest to them for whom he sayth or singeth they which so gather of the Doctours do to them most greuous iniury and wrong most falsely belyeng them For these monstrous thynges were neuer sene nor knowen of the old and primitiue Church nor there was not then in one Church many Masses euery day but vpon certaine dayes there was a common Table of the Lordes Supper where a number of people did together receaue the body and bloud of the Lord but there were then no dayly priuate Masses where euery priest receiued alone like as vntill this day there is none in the Greeke Churches but one common Masse in a day Nor the holy Fathers of the old Church would not haue suffered such vngodly and wicked abuses of the Lordes Supper But these priuate Masses sprang vp of late yeares partly through the ignoraunce and superstition of vnlearned Monkes and Friers whiche knew not what a sacrifice was but made of the Masse a sacrifice propitiatory to remit both sinne and the payne due for the same but chiefly they sprang of lucre and gayne when priestes founde the meanes to sell Masses to the people whiche caused Masses so much to encrease that euery day was sayd an infinite number and that no priest would receiue the Communion at an other priestes hand but euery one would receiue it alone neither regardyng the godly decree of the most famous and holy Councell of Nice which appointed in what order priestes should be placed aboue Deacons at the Communion nor yet the Canons of the Apostles which commaund that when any Communion is ministred all the priestes togither should receiue the same or els be excommunicate So much the old Fathers mysliked that any priest should receiue the Sacrament alone Therfore when the old fathers called the Masse or Supper of the Lord a sacrifice they ment that it was a sacrifice of laudes and thankes geuyng and so aswell the people as the priest do sacrifice or els that it was a remembraunce of the very true sacrifice propitiatory of Christ but they ment in no wise that it is a very true sacrifice for sinne and applicable by the priest to the quicke and dead For the priest may well minister Christes woordes and Sacramentes to all men both good and bad but he can apply the benefite of Christes passion to no man beyng of age and discretion but onely to such as by their owne fayth do apply the same vnto them selues So that euery man of age and discretion taketh to him selfe the benefites of Christes passion or refuseth them him selfe by his owne fayth quicke or dead That is to say by his true and liuely fayth that worketh by charitie he receiueth them or els by his vngodlynes or fayned fayth reiecteth them And this doctrine of the Scripture clearely condemneth the wicked inuentions of the Papistes in these latter dayes which haue deuised a Purgatory to torment soules after this life and oblations of Masses sayd by the priestes to deliuer them from the sayd tormentes and a great number of other commodities do they promise to the simple ignoraunt people by their Masses Now the nature of man beyng euer prone to Idolatry frō the begynnyng of the world and the Papistes beyng ready by all meanes and police to defend and extoll the Masse for their estimation and profite and the people beyng superstitiously enamoured and doted vpon the Masse bicause they take it for a present remedy agaynst all maner of euils and part of the princes beyng blinded by papisticall doctrine part louyng quietnesse and loth to offend their Clergy and subiectes and all beyng captiue and subiect to the Antichrist of Rome the estate of the world remainyng in that case it is no wonder that abuses grew and encreased in the Church that superstition with Idolatry were taken for godlynesse and true Religion and that many thynges were brought in without the authoritie of Christ. As Purgatory the oblation and sacrificyng of Christ by the priest alone the applicatiō and appointyng of the same to such persons as the priest would sing or say Masse for and to such abuses as they

or contrary to the Scripture or direct not the forme of life accordyng to the same then it is not the piller of truth nor the Church of Christ but the sinagogue of Sathan and the temple of Antichrist which both erreth it selfe and bringeth into errour as many as do folow it And the holy Church of Christ is but a small herd or flocke in comparison to the great multitude of them that folow Sathan and Antichrist as Christ him selfe sayth and the word of God and the course of the world from the begynnyng vntill this day hath declared For from the creation of the world vntill Noes floud what was then the open face of the Church How many godly men were in those thousand and sixe hundred yeares and moe Dyd not iniquitie begyn at Cain to rule the worlde and so encreased more and more that at the length God could no lenger suffer but drowned all the world for sinne except viij persons which onely were left vpon the whole earth And after the world was purged by the floud fell it not by and by to the former iniquitie agayne so that within few yeares after Abraham could find no place where he might be suffered to worshyp the true liuyng God but that God appointed him a straunge countrey almost clearely desolate and vnhabited where hee and a fewe other contrary to the vsage of the world honored one God And after the great benefites of God shewed vnto his people of Israell and the law also geuen vnto them wherby they were taught to know him and honor him yet how many tymes did they fal from him Did they not from tyme to tyme make them new Gods worshyp them Was not the open face of the Church so miserably deformed not onely in the wildernesse and in the tyme of the Iudges but also in tyme of the kynges that after the diuision of the kyngdome amongest all the kyngs of Iuda there was but onely three in whose tymes the true Religion was restored among all the kynges of Israell not somuch as one Were not all that tyme the true Priestes of God a few in number Did not all the rest maintaine Idolatry and all abhominatiōs in groues and mountaines worshippyng Baal and other false Gods And did they not murther and slea all the true Prophetes that taught them to worshyp the true God In so much that Helias the Prophet knowyng no mo of all the whole people that folowed the right trade but him selfe alone made his complaint vnto almightie God saying O Lord they haue slayne thy Prophetes and ouerthrowen thine aultars there is no mo left but I alone and yet they lye in wayte to flea me also So that although almighty God suffered thē in their captiuitie at Babylon no more but lxx yeares yet he suffered them in their Idolatry folowyng their owne wayes and inuentions many hundred yeares the mercy of God beyng so great that their punishment was short and small in respect of their long and greeuous offences And at the tyme of Christes cōmyng the hygh Priests came to their offices by such fraude simony murther and poysonyng that the like hath not bene often read nor heard of except onely at Rome And when Christ was come what godly religion found he What Annasses and Cayphasses what hypocrisie superstition and abhomination before God although to mens eyes thyngs appeared holy and godly Was not then Christ alone his Apostles with other that beleued his doctrine the holy true Church Although they were not so takē but for heretickes seditious persons blasphemers of God were extremely persecuted and put to vilanous death by such as accompted them selues were taken for the Church which fulfilled the measure of their fathers that persecuted the Prophets Upon whō came al the righteous bloud that was shed vpon the earth from the bloud of iust Abell vnto the bloud of Zachary the sonne of Barachie whom they slew betwene the Temple and the aultar And how many persons remayned constantly in the true liuely fayth at the tyme of Christes passion I thinke M. Smith will say but a very fewe seyng that Peter denyed Christ his Maister three tymes and all his Apostles fled away and one for hast without his clothes What wonder is it then that the open church is now of late yeares fallen into many errours and corruption and the holy church of Christ is secret and vnknowne seing that Sathan these 500. yeares hath beene let lose and Antichrist raigneth spoyling and deuouring the simple flocke of Christ. But as almighty God sayd vnto Helias I haue reserued and kept for mine ownne selfe seuen thousand which neuer bowed their knee to Baall so it is at this present For although almighty God hath suffered these foure or fiue hundred yeares the open face of his church to be vggely deformed and shamefullye defiled by the sects of the Papistes which is so manifest that now all the world knoweth it yet hath God of his manifold mercy euer preserued a good number secret to himselfe in his true religion although Antichrist hath bathed himselfe in the bloud of no small number of them And although the Papistes haue ledde innumerable people out of the right way yet the church is to be folowed but the Church of Christ not of Antichrist the church that concerning the fayth contayneth it selfe with in gods word not that deuiseth daily new artcles contrary to gods word The church that by the true interpretation of scripture and good example gathereth people vnto Christ not that by wrasting of the scripture and euill example of corrupt liuing draweth them away from Christ. And now forasmuch as the wicked church of Rome counterfayting the church of Christ hath in this matter of the sacrament of the blessed bodie and bloud of our sauior Christ varied from the pure and holy Church in the Apostles tyme and many hundred yeares after as in my booke I haue plainely declared manifestly proued it is an easy matter to discerne which church is to be folowed And I cannot but maruaile that Smith alleadgeth for for him Vincentius Lirenensis who contrary to D. Smith teacheth playnly that the canon of the Bible is perfect and fufficient of it selfe for the truth of the Catholicke fayth and that the whole church cannot make one article of the fayth although it may be taken as a necessary witnes for the receiuing and establishing of the same with these three conditions that the thing which we would establish thereby hath bene beleued in all places euer and of al men Which the Papistical doctrine in this matter hath not bene but came from Rome sins Beringarius time by Nicolas the ii Innocentius the third and other of their sort where as the doctrine which I haue set forth came from Christ and his Apostles and was of all men euery where with one consent taught and beleued as my book sheweth plainly

the sayd M. Peter Martyr and other iiij or v. which I shall chose will by Gods grace take vpon vs to defend not onely the cōmon prayers of the Church the ministration of the Sacraments and other rites ceremonies but also all the doctrine and Religion set out by our soueraigne Lord kyng Edward the vi to be more pure accordyng to Gods word then any other that hath bene vsed in Englād this M. yeares so that Gods word may be the Iudge and that the reasons and profes vpon both parties may be set out in writing to the intent aswell that all the world may examine and Iudge thereon as that no man shall start backe from his writyng And where they boast of the fayth that hath bene in the Church this M. and v. hundreth yeares we will ioyne with them in this point and that the doctrine and vsage is to be followed which was in the Church a M. v. hundreth yeares past and we shall proue that the order of the Church set out at this present in this Realme by Act of Parliament is the same that was vsed in Church .1500 yeares past and so shall they be neuer able to proue theirs ¶ An Epistle to a certaine Lawyer for his aduise and counsell touchyng his Appeale THe law of nature requireth of all mē that so farforth as it may be done without offence to God euery one should seeke to defend and preserue his owne life Which thyng whē I about three dayes agoe bethought my selfe of and there withall remembred how that Martin Luther appealed in his tyme from Pope Leo the tenth to a generall Councell least I should seeme rashly and vnaduisedly to cast away my selfe I determined to Appeale in like sort to some lawfull and free generall Counsell But seyng the order and forme of an Appeale pertaineth to the Lawyers wherof I my selfe am ignoraunt and seyng that Luthers Appeale commeth not to my hand I purposed to breake my mynde in this matter to some faythfull frend and skilfull in the law whose helpe I might vse in this behalfe and you onely among other came to me remembraunce as a man most meete in this Uniuersitie for that purpose But this is a matter that requireth great silence so that no mā know of it before it be done It is so that I am summoned to make myne answere at Rome the xvi day of this moneth before the which day I thinke it good after sentence pronoūced to make myne Appeale But whether I should first Appeale from the Iudge delegate to the pope so afterward to the generall Councell or els leauyng the Pope I should Appeale immediatly to the Councell herein I stand in neede of your counsell Many causes there be for the whiche I thinke good to Appeale First because I am by an Othe bound neuer to consent to the receiuyng of the Byshop of Romes authoritie into this Realme Besides this whereas I vtterly refused to make aunswere to the Articles obiected vnto me by the Byshop of Gloucester appointed by the Pope to be my Iudge yet I was content to aunswere Martin and Story with this Protestation that myne aunswere should not be taken as made before a Iudge nor yet in place of Iudgement but as pertainyng nothyng to Iudgement at all and moreouer after I had made myne aunswere I required to haue a Copy of the same that I might either by addyng thereunto by alteryng or takyng from it correct and amend it as I thought good The which though both the Byshop of Gloucester and also the kyng and Queenes proctors promised me yet haue they altogether brokē promise with me and haue not permitted me to correct my sayd aunsweres accordyng to my request and yet notwithstandyng haue as I vnderstand Registred the same as actes formally done in place of iudgement Finally forasmuch as all this my trouble commeth vpon my departyng from the Byshop of Rome and from the popish Religion so that now the quarell is betwixt the Pope him selfe and me and no man can be a lawfull and indifferent Iudge in his owne cause it seemeth me thinke good reason that I should be suffered to Appeale to some generall Councell in this matter specially seyng the law of nature as they say denieth no man the remedy of Appeale in such cases Now since it is very requisite that this matter should be kept as close as may be if perhaps for lacke of perfect skill herein you shall haue neede of further aduise then I beseech you euen for the fidelity and loue you beare to me in Christ that you will open to no creature aliue whose the case is And for asmuch as the tyme is now at hand and the matter requireth great expedition let me obtaine this much of you I beseech you that laying aside all other your studies and businesse for the tyme you will apply this my matter onely till you haue brought it to passe The chiefest cause in very deede to tell you the truth of this myne Appeale is that I might gayne tyme if it shall so please God to liue vntill I haue finished myne aunswere agaynst Marcus Antonius Constantius which I haue now in hand But if the aduersaryes of the truth will not admit myne Appeale as I feare they will not Gods will be done I passe not vpon it so that God may therein be glorified be it by my life or by my death For it is much better for me to dye in Christes quarell and to raigne with him then here to be shut vp and kept in the prison of this body vnlesse it were to continue yet still a while in this warrefare for the commoditie and profite of my brethren and to the further aduauncyng of Gods glory to whom be all glory for euermore Amen There is also yet an other cause why I thinke good to Appeale that whereas I am cited to goe to Rome to aunswere there for my selfe I am notwithstandyng kept here fast in prison that I can not there appeare at the tyme appointed And moreouer for asmuch as the state I stand in is a matter of lyfe and death so that I haue great neede of learned coūsell for my defence in this behalfe yet when I made my earnest request for the same all maner of counsell and helpe of proctors aduocates and lawyers was vtterly denied me Your louyng frend T. C. ¶ To maistres Wilkinson a godly matrone exhortyng her to flye in the tyme of persecution and to seeke her dwellyng where she might serue God accordyng to his word THe true cōforter in all distresse is onely God through his sonne Iesus Christ and who soeuer hath him hath company enough although he were in a wildernesse all alone and he that hath xx thousād in his company if God be absent is in a miserable wildernesse and desolation In him is all comfort and without him is none Wherfore I beseech you seeke your dwellyng there as you may truely and rightly