in such or like owtrage This sentence is S. Austens in his II. booke called of the desertys of sinnes and of forgeuenes the 33. and 34. chapters Where he bringeth in the paines laid on Dauid and other godly men and sayth that thei remayne not as ponisshmēts for sin̄es but as exercises of iust mē Thā the other wordes which say that fastings make vs whorty of gods grace that is that thei make vs deserue it is an error ād an heresye by all meanes to be condemned De predest natione sanctorū cap. 2. as S. Austen sayth in his boke of predestynaciō of saynts And it was Pelagius the heretikes error condemned in the cowncell at Palestina by Pelagius him selff lest els he shuld haue bene cōdemned He sayth the same in his 105.106.107 Lib. epist 105.106.107 epistel And in many other places where he reasoneth against the Pelagians But what nede we alledge S. Austen and other lerned men hauing the wordes of S. Paul to the Romai so plaine where he saith that that which is by grace is not by workes Rom. 11. that is to say is not by desertes And so of the contrary part that which is by workes is not by grace els grace shuld not be grace nor workes that is to say desertes shuld not be workes For the thing that is deserued is not by grace And that which is by grace is not by desertis or workes But this praier denieth grace ād wrappeth in it a cōtrarietie For the thing that is deserued as we haue said is not by grace but by workes And therfor iff our fastings shuld be worthy of gods grace and that we shuld deserue it than grace shuld not be grace which is an enwrapping of contradiction as the for said S. Austen in the alledged booke saith De predestinatione sanctorū cap. 1. That grace in no wise is grace iff it be geuen according to desertes The third part of the praier saith that fasting bringeth vs to the euerlasting promises that is to say to euerlasting glory He that seeth not that this is an vnsufferable blasphemy is blind seing that men can not be sauid by their workes but by the grace of god thorow Christ Rom. 6. Eph. 2. Tit. 3. Act. 4. as we lerne of Paule in so many places And of S. Peter in the actes There is non other name vnder heauen geuen to men wherby we shuld be saued And this praier wold that by the name of workes we shuld become safe There is a nother secret praier on the xxiij sonday affter whitsontide which saith thus Take o helpfull lord the hostes with which thow woldest be pleased and haue saffety restored vnto vs thorow thy mighty mercy This secret saith here ij things First that god desyreth to be pleased by the hostes which the priest offereth Secōdly it saith that god wold by these hostes haue safety restored vnto vs. And where wold god euer be pleased by that bread and that wine which are not yet a sacrament moch lesse haue our safetie restored by them From whens haue they that god wold such things shuld be done by thes offerings In what place of the scripture fynd thei that The scripture saith that by Christ god is pleased with vs as we haue in Esay Esa 24. where it is writen Behold my seruant whom I haue chosen my welbeloued Matth. 12. in whom my sowle is moch delighted which saing Mathew alledgeth somwhat diuerse in wordes but not in sense For in steade of that word which the Prophete calleth seruant mathew saith Son̄ And it is the very same in sense For christ in that he is man is gods seruant and is yet for all that gods sonn The father also saith as it is written in the euangelistes whan christ was baptised Matth. 3.17 Marc. 1. Luc. 3. and also at that time whan he was trāsfigured This is my welbeloued son in whom I am well pleased Which saings all doo giue vs to vnderstond that god is pacified by Christ and by him are all men reconciled Rom. 5. Paul saith the like to the romai We being enemies are reconciled to god by his sonnes death And to the Colosseis it is said that it hath pleased the father to recōcile all things to him bi Christ being pacified by the blood of christes own crosse Coll. 1. These saings of Paul are clere and plaine and affirme that christ is he by whom god is pacified and men reconciled And this praier or secret saith that god will be pacified by those offerings Which are yet no other but Comon breade and wine and are not yet any sacrament Likewise thother point of the praier that by those offerings we might haue safetie is a great blasphemy For euē as by Christ only god is pacified towards vs so by him and not by any other thing We haue safetie Seing then that christ is our only sauior this is sure a gret rasshnes and a deuelissh self likinge to talk so boldly of our safetie withowt the holy scripture yea against gods word And iff any to defend this praier wold say that by thes offerings is not ment that thei than be but that thei shall be and at that time whan thei shall be consecrated To this we haue allredy answered in the chapter before whē the praier of the offring of the host not yet consecrated was examined There is yet a great nōber of thes secreates which declare that that breade and that wine not yet consecrated take away sinnes and forgeue them But of this will we speake in the end where we will proue that the sacrament doth not take away sinnes nor forgiue them moch lesse the breade and wine cā take away sinne beinge not yet consecrated that is to say yelded to an holy vse For to consecrate is none other thing then to yeld a thing vp to an holy vse The second parte examyneth the canon which thei make the most holy and chese part of the masse And it is said all in secreat which is diuided in iiij chapters In the first is examined the iij. first partes of the canō that is to say the Te igitur the memē to off the liuing and the communicantes WHAN the secreates be said thei say alowd per omnia secula seculorū Dominus uobiscum Sursum corda gratias agamus and the uere dignum iustum est and all the preface and affter that the Sanctus whan the Sanctus is ended thei begin to say the canon that is tho say the Te igitur very sofftly which thei say is the chefe part of the masse Yea some thinck that the masse begin̄eth there For all the rest is but of the solemnitie alledging de consecratione distincti 2. capite panìs Albeit in that chapter which is taken owt of the booke intitled Off Sacramentes and attributed to Ambrose it is not said that the masse beginneth at the canon but it is said only of the
is red in the lyfe of Saint Gregorie that the consecrated bread maruelouslye chaunged into a mans finger It is red that that the brute beastes did knele doune at the presence of the thankes geuinge And somtyme there apered a childe when the host was listed vp What shall be sayde to these great myracles sewerlye if Christ were not in the sacrament god wold neauer haue wrought these great signes This reason is nothinge worth and it is like the reason that they make that defended purgatorie with saing that there was heard certaine lamentable voices of the soules of the dead which desired help of there parents or frends that they wold cause to be sayd masses and chefely those masses that be called Saint Gregories and as sone as they were sayd those voyces were heard no more It is told also in the lyfe of a certeyne seinct but in dede a fryars saincte that he saw ones a valley full of soules the which desired help and that seinct was moued to pytye of those poore soules I leaue to you to thinke how many those soules ought to be that filled that valleye when he had sayd I cannot tell how many masses because I do not well remember the storye he returned to se the vally and he found them no more there because they were delyuered out of purgatorye I do much maruell that all the soules in purgatorye went not thether into that vally that thei all might haue bene deliuered by that sainctes Masses Ergo there is a purgatorye What will the lutheranes that denye purgatorye say here what will they saie Thei that you call lutherans will sai that you be a blynde sorte of superstitious I will not sai ignoraunt Idiots of gods causes and that you haue no faith in Christe thinkinge that the materiall fier can do that to the soules that onely Christ hath done with his pretious bluod that is to saye to purge them and perfectly to satiffie gods iustice for all the sinnes of the beleuers And they will saye that you deserue to be begyled and mocked by the deuell that leadeth you to think that the soules of the dead do lament and desire masses and ye perceaue not that he is the same wicked spirite the which fayneth himself to be the soules of the dead and desireth help and caryeth aboute youre brayne and maketh you beleue that glow wormes be lanternes The soules of the dead go not a solasinge here ād there as Chrisostome vpon S. Mathew saith very well but thei abyde in there places apointed vnto thē those soules of the faithfull and godlye abyde with Christ the other abyde in there place lokinge for there finall condemnation Euen so I saye of these maner myracles thoughe thei weare in dede that thei be none other but illusions and disceyts of sathan for to geue credit to the Masse and to beinge to passe that we should not beleue sewerly in Christe And god by his iust iudgement doth suffer these disceyts because we will not receaue the knowledge of the troth nor beleue the holy gospell And for this most great sinne he will that we shall beleue lyes and be deceaued Nor sewerly we deserue none other but to receaue and allow Antichristes myracles as sainct paule sayth to the Thessalonicenses 2. Thess 2. seing that we will not stand to gods worde The holy scripture and gods worde ought without any doubt to be in much more credit with vs then as many such myracles the which in dede be all lyes yea then as many myracles althoughe they be true as can be wrought in the world The whiche worde of god doth affirme and say that Christ Iesus is in heauen Mar. 16. Luc. 24. and that from thence he shall come to Iudge the lyuing and dead and there he shall abyde Act. 3. as peter sayth in the Acts of the Apostels vntill the tyme of the restitution of all thinges and it maketh vs likewise to vnderstand that the sacramentes be signes and be not the thinges signified let vs take hede and geue credit to these thinges that be clere and plaine If we will not be disceaued and not to the opiniōs and phantasies of mē which be not founde in the scripture but be clerely against them the fourthe reason They make another reason the which I wold haue sayd nothinge of because it is allready answered yet for so much as they bringein with the same certeine examples or similitudes to geue a coloure to their opinion of the which we haue not yet spoken we will saie of them a few words to the greather and more plentifull clerenes of the truthe They saye that god can bringe it to passe that is to saie that whole Christ great ād thick as he was on the Crosse should be in the sacramēt and that he should be whole in euery parte of the same as the soule is whole in the whole bodye and whole in euery parte of the bodye and that he should be as man in many places in heuen on earth vpon all altares and in euery other place where the sacrament of thanks geuinge is He can turne one body into another as shall seme good and lik him because he is almighty then he can make that the bread shal be turned into his bodye and the wyne into his bluod Seing he could create the world of nothinge he can much easelyer chaunge one thinge into another They geue eyample of Moyses rodd the which was turned into a serpent and then the serpent was turned againe into the rod likewise the waters of Egypt were turned into bluod Concerninge the being of whole Christ in the sacrament as great and thick as he is in heauen they geue the similitude of the heauen which we see the which being so great is not withstandinge whole in oure litle eye Likewise oure whole face apereth in a glasse that is much lesse then the face is yea the whole man is seen in a litle glasse Concerning the being of whole Christ in euery parte of the sacrament they gyue the similitude of oure soule as we haue already sayd the which is whole in the whole and whole in euery parte of the body Oure face also is whole in the whole glasse and whole in euery parte of the glasse after this sorte that is to saye that if the glasse should be broken in many partes oure whole face wold apere in euery one of them Concerning Christes bodely beinge in many places that is to say in heauen on the earth and in euery place where the sacrament is they geue the similitude of a man the which should haue about him many glasses in euery one of these glasses the forme of a man will apere Likwise if one speak in the presence of many persons his voice is but one and yet it is whole in dyuers mens eares If nature bringe this to passe that is to saye that one thinge may be in dyuers places much more Christ who
which was entred among many ought not to make that the trueth should not preuayle and ouercome for Custome without trueth is an oldnes of errours Wherfore leauinge the errour let vs follow the trueth I will let passe a nombre of the auncient fathers as Austē Hierom Ambrose ād other who wold we should stick to the onely worde of god ād not to custome nor to ani other authoritie of mā It hath bene alwaies that the more parte of men haue bene in errour yea and euē of thē that were called the people of god Let the prophets be red and it shall apere that I say the trueth for whye were the prophets persecuted euel handeled and in the en◅ put to death yf not for because they reproued the errours and abuses of there tyme which were amōg the people whye hath Christe and his Apostles suffered persecution and in the end death y◅ not for that they reproued the false faith the vntrew worshippings and the counterfet religion of there tyme And for what cause thē shall we now maruell that the Christian people should be myred and drowned in so many abuses corruptions Idolatries and other infinit errours 2. Pet. 2. et 3. hath not Pete◅ fore tolde vs in his secōd epistle that there should come false teachers that wold bringe in deadly sects ād that in the latter dayes there sholud come begylers and deceauers 2. Thess 2. And Paule in his second to the Thessalonians doth not he declare that there should come a forsaking as I vnderstand it o◅ the faith that is to say that men should goo from the faith and that god wold send forth a mightines of gyle and deceyte so that men should beleue lyes and that because they haue not loued the trueth And to Timothi in his first Epistle doth not he say that in the latter tymes som should departe from the faith 1. Tim. 4. geuing heed to the spirits of errour and doctrines of deuels 2. Timo. 3. And in the second also he saith that in the latter dayes should be perilous tymes and men full of vyces and among other things ◅he saith that they should haue shewes of religion but in dede they should denye the might therof What hath bene preached to the people of a long tyme hetherto but onely the teachings of men some preached the Poets some Aristotle Auerroes Plato and other heathen philosophers some preached the lawes some vnproffitable questions of Scotus Alexander of Hales of Bonauentura of Thomas of Aquine the whiche as it is manifest in there doctrine and opinions the one of then gaynsayd the other in open pulpit the black against the graie the grey against the black the Augustine fryer against them both and so we may say of the rest some held one opinion some an other and and what assurednes of trew doctrine could the poore people haue in so great a diuersitie and confusion who was he that preached the holy scripture and the gospell purely And shall we then maruel that errours are entred in among the Christiā people shall we then say how can it be possible that god wold haue left his churche so long tyme in erroure Naye yf we had but a spark of witt and reason we should say quyte contrary that is how is it possible to be otherwyse but that the more parte of mē haue bene ād yet are in most grosse blindnes couered with the dark mist of innumerable errours and it could not be otherwyse There is amōg the rest one very great disorder a cause of innumerable euels that none of them to whome it belonged to teache and preach to the people hath done his office It is well knowen that the office of preaching the worde of god belongeth to the busshoppes and who was he yea we may now say who is that bisshop that doth preach and feed the flock of Christ with the word of god yea who is he that disdaineth not to preache and doo that office which the Prophets the Apostles ye and the sonne of god himself Christ Iesu god and man hath done and the godliest dewtie of all that is to say the greatest and highest which is to teach the word of god to the people these oure great lordes doo not vouchafe it but haue left it and yet do leaue it for other to do It suffiseth them to haue the title the rents and the honoure of a busshop as in effect they wold declare that they be no busshoppes as in dede they be not except onely in name and in dede yf they were trew busshoppes they wold not be ashamed to doo theire office as Austine Ambrose Ciprian Chrisostom Basile Gregory and other holy fathers were not ashamed the which taught and preached the word of god This is the trew fedinge which Christ commaunded Peter in S. Ihon the last chapter Ioan. 15.21 1. Pet. 5. and the same Peter also in his first Epistle the 5. chapter saith feede so muche as in you is that is to say so much as you can and according to youre habilitie the flock of Christ or els as the other text saith feed the flock of Christ which is in you that is to say which is committed ād geuē to you in charge Of this disorder it commeth to passe that the cleane pure and trew doctrine of the gospel and of the word of god doth want among the people and as thorow a wide and large gate be entred abuses superstitions and errours among the Christiā flock There is none thē that hath witt or reason that will say any more how is it possible that oure elders or let it be the church and so many teachers haue erred God hath suffered by his iust iudgement this horrible decay in his chyrche and it is a most singular grace of god that yet in a few albeit euell handeled of the world who be in dede the true church the faith doth remaine Yea I say that if the world in temporall gouernements had not had better rule and order then the estate called Ecclesiasticall it should haue run̄ into an vtter confusion and decaye Sew◅rly it is trew that there be many disorders in worldly princes doings but yet they doo in some parte there dewtye they minister iustice after a certein maner they chastice the fauters they punisch theft murder blaspemie and other faults they cause by there officer euery mans awne to be restored hym they geue themselues to doo right as there calling is But in the Ecclesiasticall state who hath done or yet doth his office beginning at the highest degre which is a busshopship and see how that is handeled and therebie lett the rest be iudged The bissoppes attend to euery other thing except preaching yea they hinder by all meanes they can whom so euer wold doo this office trewly that is wold declare the gospell and the word of god purely And they will not suffer it to be done but raginglye persecute the teachers
wordes of the consecration and not of all the canon Innocentius in the decretallis de celebratione missarum in the chapter Cum marthe willeth and commandeth because he was pope that this canon shuld be receiued as deliuered by the apostels although it were writen at the least v. hondreth yeare affter the apostels time and but a litle before gregory the first Lib. 7. epist cap. 63. as he him selff witnesseth It was written by a certen mā named Scolasticus and is diuided in to xi partis some going before the consecraciō and some folowing Master William durāt in his Rationale diuinorum officiorum that is to say the declaration of the cause of euery thing vsed in gods seruice with great reuerēce expoundeth thes one part affter a nother as a thingful of veri great ād godly misteries And saith that euery point of this canō which we goo abowt to set owt doth very hardly appeare to be of any valewe Wherfor saith he The tong faileth The spech is vnfitt The witt is ouer come And the vnderstonding oppressed Notwithstonding I will knock at the dore that is to say I will pray god that he wil open to me thes great secrettis And yet for all thes there is not in this canon made by scolasticus so moch as one word of the holy scripture except thos of the consecration which are the least of it For the pater noster was added after by Gregory as in the place before rehersed and be christes wordes So that iff he shuld haue declared Iohns gospel or the mistery of the trinitie he wold not haue made such a furniture of wordes And he expowndeth it with so great diligence ād reuerēce as it is meruolose Thes be the worthy expownders that expownd mans wordes with more reuerence and with greater labor than gods So now expownding this canō he saith many things vaine and childish yea many thinges wicked Amongst the rest he saith that parauenture by gods foresight it is brought to passe and not procured by mans labor that the first letter of this canon shuld be T. which in hebrew is called Tau Which Tau in his shape sheweth and expresseth the signe and mistery of the crosse because god saith by Ezechiel print the Tau Ezech. 9. in the forhead of them that sorow and mourne for the abominations of Ierusalē For thes things sayth he be fullfilled by the passion of Christ ād the cross and haue their strenght And he addeth that in certen bokes that is to say massebokes the maiestie of the father ād also the Image of the crucifix is paynted to the intent that the priest might see as it were presently him that he calleth on and with whom he speaketh saing Te igitur c. And that the passion which here is represented may pearce in to the eyes of the hart And he addeth But the priest kisseth the feete of the Image of the same maiestie and is crossed in the forhead geuing vs to vnderstand that he goeth reuerently to the mistery of the redempcion Not withstonding saith he some kisse first the feete of the Image of the fathers maiestie and affter of the crucifix according to the order of the canon Other contrary wise For by the sonn men come to the father And wher hath this honest fellowe fownd that the maiestie of the father can be painted Exod. 20 Deut. 4.5 what shape hath the father who is an highe spirite that we may paint him Seing he himselff hath so straightly in the lawe commanded that there shuld be made no fasshion nor ymage of god Is not this to teach men to committ Idolatry Let no man maruel that I offten alledge William Durant For I doo it to none other end but that it may appeare of what sort the fowndacions of this masse are For this is he that yeldeth and telleth the causes and reasons of the things that are sayd and done in the masse Therfor I alledge him offten But let vs ronne ouer a litle this canon And examining it we shal see in it thes vnexpressable misteries affter master durant The first is this WE therfor O most mercifull father by Iesus Christ thy sonn our lord doo humbly pray and desire the that thow wilt accept these gyfftes these presentys and these vnspotted sacryfices And here must be made iij. crosses ouer the host and the chales likewise And he addeth First that we offer to the for thy holi catholike church which vouchsafe thow to quiet to kepe to Ioyne to gether and to gouerne in euery part of the earthes compasse to gether with thy seruant our Pope and our bisshop And here is the Pope and the bisshop of that dyocesse where the masse is said named by name Or iff thei be friars or mōkes that celebrate thei name their generall or Abbat and affter he addeth this That is to say And for all the right opinioned and kepers of the catholyke and apostolik faith This is the first of the xi partis of the canon In which it is destred that the breade and the wyne may be accepted for the church for the pope for the bisshops for the generals fryars or mōkes and for all the right opinioned and kepers of the catholik and apostolik faith And it is affirmed that that bread and that wyne not yet consecrated are holy and vndefiled sacrifices which are offered to god for the church ād for all thos that are there mencioned And here is no great hardnes for the wordes be plaine inough except that those iij. crosses which are made ouer the breade and wyne shuld betoken some very great misteries Master William durant saith here that thes iij. crosses doo betoken the iij. deliueries of Christ the first when god deliuerid his son to the world the second whē Iudas deliuerid him to the Iewes and the third whē the Iewes deliuerid him to death Iff this reason be good whi make thei not ther 4. crosses Seing that Christ hath deliuered also him selff as Peter saith 1. Pet. 2. Tradebatautem se iudicanti iuste that is he deliuered himselff to him that Iudgith Iustly Is not this Christ as mā and as priest deliuered or offered vnto god Eph. 5. a sacrifice for our sinnes And doth not S. Paul to the Ephes say that Christ deliuered himselff for the church to sāctifie it Heb. 9. ◅0 ād to the hebrews in how many places is ther made mencion Math. 20. that Christ hath offred himselff to god yea Christ him selff doth witnes that he hath geuē his life for vs. Is not this deliuery of as great importan̄ce as that of the Iewes and rather greater And why is ther not mencion made of it in thes crosses He saith also that thes iij. crosses are made in the worship of the trinitie and also in betokening the threfold vnion in the acceptacion of Christ. Also in rememberance of the threfold crucifiēg that is to say In the will
things as meÌ„ eate and drinck be profitable to euerlasting life to helth of mind and of body How may thei be a defence against all the enemies Mathei 15. and a sheld of the sowle Christ saith that which goith in thorow the mowth defileth not the mind Iff it caÌ„not defile nor doo any spirituall harme to the sowle it can neither bring any spirituall help Rom. 14. And Paul to the romaÌ„s saith The kingdom of god is neither meate nor drinck meaning to say that the kingdom of god which is a spirituall thing doth not stand in bodili things but in spiritual Thes things than that are eaten and dronken can not work so gret effectes as thes blessings doo attribute to them And so moch rather as thei be mennis inuencions and not according to gods word And thei be of thos things that are wasted by vsing them as Paul saith writing to the Colossians Collo 2. Where is it fownd in tholy scripture that god by meanes of certen wordes euer gaue to a bodied thing like strength and powr And iff any man wold say that Paul for all that saith in the 1. to Timothi that the meates be halowed by gods words and by praier and therfor may haue by such halowing or blessing some vertu the which before thei had not To this I answer that Paul in that place by the halowing of meates meaneth not that the same meates shuld take any newe and spirituall powr the which thei had not he fore but meaneth by hallowing the cleane and lawfull vse granted by god to the faithfull the which may eate for the maintenance of life at any time or of any maner of meate giuing thanckes to god who hath made all meates for the vse of the faithfull By the which thing we haue to vnderstaÌ„d that the peple of god vnder the lawe could not at their pleasure eate of eueri meate but of thos only that god did grant theÌ„ in the lawe aÌ„d the other thei called vncleane aÌ„d comoÌ„ that is to say of which the geÌ„tiles might eate Now thos that thei might eate were halowed that is to sai that the vse of theÌ„ was lawfull aÌ„d cleane according to gods word And because that since Christes coÌ„ing eueri meate is made lawful to a ChristiaÌ„ nor we haue no more that prohibicioÌ„ as in the old lawe therfor eueri meate is halowed to thâ—… And this the visioÌ„ that appeared to Peter geuith vs tunderstand as we haue in the dedes of thapostles Actor 10. whan Peter sawe that shete full of all sortis of beastes cleane and vncleane and herd a voice which said vnto him that he shuld kylle of thos beastes and eate And he answering that he had neuer eaten any vncleane and comon thing affter the maner of the gentiles but in that part had kept the lawe It was said vnto him That which god hath halowed thow shalt not say that it is coÌ„mon Here the heuenly voice gaue vs to vnderstand that euery meate is halowed to the faithfull that is to say made cleane aÌ„d lawful as s Paul saith also to Titê° all things be cleane to the cleane But to the vnfaithfull aÌ„d vncleane there is nothing cleane but their mind aÌ„d consciens is defiled So that than whan the Christian taketh his meate praing and giuing thaÌ„kes to god such me ate is halowed that is to say the vse of it made lawfull for so moch as now seing that Christ is come there is no more differens to the faithfull betwene this meate and that meate as Was in thold lawe And therfor thei that forbid meates doo very euill 1 Timot. 4. And Paul writing to Timothy saith that such doctrine is the deuels doctrine and against gods word because the meate and euery creature made for mans vse is halowed that is to say the vse off it made lawfull by gods word and by praier First by the word of the creacion the which hath made all meates and all bodied things for mans vse Than also by that word that Peter hard which also was gods word And by that word also the which assuerith vs that we be frâ—…id from the lawe and that we may for our nede vse any meate geuing thanks vnto god and making praier So that the faithfull ought not at any time to take meate except praier and thankes geuing goo before See now affter what sori Paul is vnderstand So than that halowing is no nother but the cleane and lawfull vse of meate The blessing of the holy water is all full of supersticions First the salt is charmed and coniured And there is desired that the salt may be come charmed salt for the sowle helth of the bileuers and that it may be to all thos that shall take it helth of sowle and of body And than be made iij. crosses The second praier saith the like that is to say that this salt may be safetie of mind and body to all thos that shall take it and there is made one crosse The other that foloweth doth charme and coniure the water and desireth it may become charmed and coniured water to driue a way all powr of the enemy aÌ„d that it may roote vp and pluck owt the same enemy with his frogoing angels by the vertu of the same our lord Iesus Christ. And thaÌ„ be made iij. other crosses Thother praier that foloweth desireth that god wold geue the vertu of his blessing to that water And there is also made one cross and this is said that his creature seruing gods misteries may take theffectt of the godly grace to driue a way deuels and diseases And besides it desierith that that place where it shall be sprinkled may be free from all vncleanes and from all harme that it may be free from the pestilent spirite and from corrupt ayeâ—… Let all the waitelaings of the hiddeÌ„ or lurking enemies saith that third praier pack theÌ„ heÌ„s c. This blessing attributeth great powres to the water the which gods word geuith it not How can the water with wordes fownd owt by meÌ„ as thei of this halowing be doo that that we reade not that the wordes of the holy scripture which be gods wordes euer did We finde in dede that Christ aÌ„d thapostles speaking brought meruelos effectes to passe but that thei shuld haue geuen to thes wordes thei spake any powr a nother man vttering theÌ„ to work any effect we reade it not Surely all thes blessings be supersticios and wicked and doo geue to moch to the bodied things I wold faine saylom what of the blessing of the popes Agnus deies which be made of white waxe But I caÌ„ not tell with what ceremonies it is done because I haue not thos bokes wherein it is writton Yet notwithstanding master durant in his vi booke of his Rational saith that thos such Agnus deies are made of newe hallowed waxe or els of the pascal taper of the former yea are mingled with the Creame
S. Lucia or of a nother saint How moch shuld it be to the purpos ād conueniēt iff one hauing nede to intreate the Emperor or a king wold goo to a poore mā and on his kneis wold say vnto him I commend my selff to your magestie ād I besech yow that yow wold shewe me this fauor and wold desire of him such things as he could not doo and as were not conuenient to be axed of such a parson shuld not that poore man cownt him selff mocked and scorned Thei doo moch wors becaus thei attribute to a plaine creature that which belōgeth to god only and to Christ who withowt measure doo more excede euery creature thā any earthly estate doth any poore or base parson as to the world And marke that in the councelles of thes owre times their is no worde spokē of thes and manie other so greate ād grosse errors and abuses as Reingne nowe Amonge Christes flock Be thes things deuociōs Men must not touche thē Well it is ynough that thei goo abowt to condēne the Lutherā Heretikes that is christ with all the whole holy scripture as their fathers haue done that is to say the chefe priestes the scribes ād the phariseis Who crucified Christ condemned euelhādled and in the end killed the holi Apostels Euen soo doo they A nother abuse is that they geue to vnderstand that the angels with all the court of heauen be present at the masse This is ouergret a falshode for that the angels ād the sowles of Iust mē can not be but in one place And according to this opiniō we must say that thei be eueri where wher so euer the masse is said For seing that thei must accompany Christ and that Christ as thei think is in all thos places where thei celebrate there must be also the angels and the sowles of saintes ād so the plaine creatures shall be at one time in diuers places the which cānot be we can not say that thei accompany him more in one place thā in a nother seing that Christ as thei think is equally in all places where the sacramēt is Wherfor we must say that eyther thei accōpany him in all places or in none A nother abuse is that thei say the masse for the deade against Christes institutiō The caus is this for that the sacraments auaile for thē for whō thei were instituted and not for other It is clere that thei were instituted for the liuing ād not for the deade therfor thei auaile not for them As for baptisme it is plaine that it auaileth not for the dead seinge the deade be neither baptised thē selues nor ani other for thē And though sōtime it were done as some vnderstand the saing of Paul to the Chorinthes 1 Corin. 15. Vt quid baptisantur pro mortuis This was by error and it was not well done So we will say of the super that it was instituted for the liuing and not for the deade becaus that the deade can not vse it in Christes rememberans nor eate it nor drinck it Some man will say the deade can not vse it but the liuing may vse it for the deade I wold haue of thes men that thei wold alledge me the caus why this sacrament may rather be vsed for the deade than baptisme There is differens betwene baptisme and the supper I know it becaus baptisme is vsed only ones in the life for a man But the holy supper many times I doo confesse that in this point there is a differens and there be also other differencis but this notwithstanding baptisme at thos times that it is vsed may also be taken for the deade such a nomber of childern being baptised as there is for so moch as that in baptisme there is made memory of the passion crossing death and burieng of Christ Roman 6. 2 Coloss 2. as we haue to the romans and to the collossians and mencion is made of the forgiuenes of sinnes Yea iff we shuld speake by the scripture it semeth to attribute more vnto baptisme than to the holy supper Marc. 1. Luc. 3. Act. 2. et 22. Iff we shuld consider many saings according to the letter we haue in Mark ād in Luke that Iohn did baptise in forgeuenes of sinnes We haue in the actes of thapostles how Peter said let euery one off yow be baptised in the forgiuenes of sinnes and Ananias said to Paul Rise vp baptise the and wassh thy sinnes The article off the faith which saith I doo confesse one baptisme in forgeuenes off sinnes c. All thes saings and other which we could bring forth iff we wold seme according to the letter that they shuld attribute more to baptisme as concerning forgeuenes of sinnes than to the supper And yet no one of the catholiks euer said that baptisme shuld help the deade Why than shall the holy supper help for the sinnes off the dead It is certen that where the holy supper is spoken off there is not so offten and so expresse mencion made that it shuld be taken in forgeuenes off sinnes as where the baptisme is spoken of I meane not by this my saing to affirme that by baptisme sinnes be forgeuen I will not affirme this for before we haue proued the contrary that is to say that the baptisme is in dede a signe off the forgeuenes off sinnes and it certifieth vs and maketh vs more sure off the same not that it doth it But I will say that in the writings of theuangelists and Apostles there is more mencion made of the forgeuenes of sinnes whan the baptisme is spoken of than whan the supper is spoken off And that iff the lords supper shuld auayle for the deade baptisme also shuld auaile but baptisme doth not auaile for the deade wherfor also the sacrament of thanks giuing doth not auaile A nother abuse is so gret a variete of gestures of strange dedes now this now that now the prist stoupeth now he standeth vp And this may haue some reason becaus the stouping there is a signe of prayer and in the masse are said diuers prayers But how many gestures and cown enancis be made withowt any purpos Somtime he Ioynith his handes and fingars By and by sondereth them Now he liffteth vp his armes now he putteth them down Now he speaketh now he saith nothing Now he speaketh sofftly now a lowd somtime he standeth at one end of the altare a nother time he standeth at the other and remoueth the masseboke Now he he turnith him to the peple by and by he turneth his back somtime he semith to slepe Oh there be made I can not tell how many crosses and how moche a doo I know well that thei geue to all thes things their significacion Imagined at their pleasure ād fained of their own head The which significaciō neuertheles neither the peple that seith and heareth nor thei thē selues that say the masse doo vnderstād But tell me I pray yow to
gost as peter saieth in the second Epistle 2. Pet. 1. and it was confirmed with great signes and meruelous miracles Nor no ◅ue of the fathers or old doctours did ◅auer desire that they should be beleued as the holy scripture but they all with one voice do say and chefely Saint Augustine that concerninge matters of fayth we should so farr beleue them as is found in the holye scripture and none otherwise And thei will that it should be laufull to denye any men yea let them be of what so euer holynesse learninge and aucthoritie you will but not to deny the holy scripture Tell me who is he that wold beleue the article of the trinitie althoughe the whole world had told him if it were not plaine in the holy scriptures who wold beleue the article of the incarnation of the sonne of god and the other articles of the fayth If gods word had not told it What can men know of such thinges except so much as god oppeneth vnto them by the scripture Loke vpō Austen in the 19 epistle The 19. pistell where he sayth in sentēce that he beareth this honoure towards the Canonicall bokes of the scripture that he beleueth seurly that no one of them hath ◅rred but for all the rest he may deny them if thei do not proue their suings by the holy scripture The 3. pistell The very same in meaninge he sayth in the hundreth and eleuenth epistle writing to fortunatianus the bishop They all beside all this that I haue sayd were of this opiniō that Christ in that he is m◅ is only in heauē bodely In the se second boke against the denatists cap. 3. Let vs say the same of the determinacions of popes and of coūcels that all may err Austen in the second boke against the donatists sayth that the vniuersall former Coūcels may be amended by thē that folow If they may be amended suerly they may err and so they that folow after them who doubteth but they mai err aswell as they that go before And we by experience ma◅ see that many councels do err for one of thē doth gaynsay an other I speak not this because that men ought not to haue reuerence to councels when they be lawfully gathered together and in the holy gost and when the determinations that be made in them be accordinge to the holy scripture as the Councell of Nece was against Arrius The councell of Calcedone against Eutiches And certein other old councels the which had gods word for their rule And these onely were gathered to gether in Christs name and in the holy gost But I say in dede that whan they determine anye maner of thinge pertaining to fayth and do not stick to gods word that we ought not to obey such councels nor men ought not to beleue them And in our dayes we haue the example of the councell of Trent the goodly determinations that it made all at the popes good pleasure whome the bishoppes cannot gainsay because they haue all sworne neauer to go against the sea Apostolike What estimation should men haue of such coūcels where no respectt is had to gods honoure nor to his worde and such as be gathered together against Christ for to quēche him out and to establish the kingdō of Antichrist shal we allow such coūcels This is a cheefe grounde The faithfull Christian is not bounde nor ought not in matters pertaining to faith to beleue the hole world together if they do not bringe forth gods worde that is to say the holy scripture for their witnesse Wel now thei wil say that they haue gods worde that is to saye Christes words who sayd this is my body and this is my bluod she winge the bread and the wyne therfore the bread and wyne be turned into Christes body and bluod and Christ is wholly in the host and in the wyne Further he sayd those words in the sixt chapter of Ihon aboue recyted where he willeth that we should eat his flesh and drink his bluod and this is not done except in the sacrament therfore he is bodely in the sacrament I answer first to those words this is my body and this is my bluod and I aske where in the scripture at any tyme is found that suche a speche as This is my bodye and this is my bluode should meane this is turned into my body and into my bluod or els my body and my bluod be in these signes I neauer found this maner of speche Therfore the fore sayd words haue another meaninge then that the whiche they geue them or that whiche the scriptures vse that is to say this is the signe of my body shewinge the bread and this is the signe of my bluod shewinge the wyne as before we haue sayd and we will also better say in the declaration of those words This is in dede their meaninge To the saings of the sixt chapter of Ihon I say that they do not alledge thē to purpose because that there Christ doth not speak of the sacramentall eatinge but of the spirituall and by faith as in the third reason we haue declared yea as Christ him self doth expounde it in the text and so all the old doctours do expounde it And cheefely Augustine who sayth beleue ād thou hast eaten so that seinge that opinion of the turninge of the substāces of the bread and wyne into Christs body and bluod nor that of his bodely presence in the sacrament cannot be proued nether by reason nor any aucthoritie that auayleth we ought to conclude that it is a fayned inuention and imagination of men and commeth not from god The reasons of the true and Catholike opiniō beinge ended before that we answer to the obiections and ground workes of the partyes contrary to the trueth there remanith to mak apere that the opinion which we haue proued is that of the old church and the forenamed doctours and holy men And because I should be to long if I wold bringe the multitude of doctours It shall suffise me therfore to tell Augustines opinion a most ware and true expounder of the old and sound opinions the which Augustine holdeth not but the opinion of the Auntiens and that which was holdē in his tyme ād of his predecessours In his Epistle to bonifacius he writeth after this sorte Epistle 23. If the sacramēts should not haue some similitude of those things of the which they be sacraments they should be in no wyse sacraments And by this lykelynes those same sacraments many tymes take the name of the things them selues Euen us therfore after a certeyn meyns the sacrament of Christs body is Christes body the sacrament of Christes bluod is Christs bluode and so the sacrament of faith that is to say the baptisme is faith and is called faith See here Augustine how he vnderstandeth Christs speache when he sayth this is my body shewing the bread and this is my bluode shewinge the
Corinthians Let him loke vpon Chrisostom in the 83. homelye vpon S. Mathew Let him loke vpon Ierō vpon Ecclesiastes the thirde chapter all whose sainges for shortnes I leaue out Then it is playne that the opinion ād iudgemēt of the old churche Marke is that which before we haue proued And we must here marke that the old doctours intēdinge in their maner of speache to agree with the scripture the which whan it speaketh of the Sacramēts doth name them by the name of the thinges signified very oftē when they treat of the same sacraments and chefely of the thanks geuinge theical it many tymes bodye and bluod and they speak in suche sorte as it semeth thei meane to affirme the bodely presence of the body and bluod in the sacrament a thinge that they neauer intended The which thinge when the late wryters and chefely the schole men haue not taken hede to they haue boldely setfurth the bodely presence of th one and thother in the sacrament but they be deceaued for so much as that was neauer the opinion of the Auntientes And if any one wold bringe furth the boke of sacramentes ascribed to Ambrose the which putteth this new opiniō of Christes bodelye presence in the sacrament It may be boldely answered him that that boke was neauer Ambroses because that neyther the style of the speche was Ambroses nor the sentence the which is contrary to many his sainges in his other bokes Nor let no man maruell thoughe I denye those bokes to be Ambroses for many bokes were ascribed to the old doctoures that they neauer saw much lesse made as that boke of the true and false repentance ascribed to Austen the which teacheth against Austen naminge him and yet certein haue attributed it to him Certeine men of small consciences haue done this other that they might better sell such bokes or to make their opinions be beleued and to geue them auctoritie vnder the name of Auntients or els for some other respects scant honest It is no small fault to go aboute vnder other mens auctorities without their consent to make men beleue their opinions as it is a great faulte that their laboure and bokes should be attributed to other And I say more also againe that althoughe all the old doctours were of suche opinion that is to say that Christ were bodely present in the sacrament we be not bounde nor we ought not to beleue thē If they proue it not by the holy scripture the which they neauer did nor it can not be done And this is the signe that as mani as eauer were of this opinion could neauer hetherto mak reason that might auaile If this bodely presence of Christ in the sacramēt had bene true it should haue bene a thinge much belonginge to faith and the Apostolike wrytinges wold haue made vs clere and suere of it but we see that such a presence is affirmed in no one place of the scripture Therfore it is not true but it is an inuentiō of mā the which ought not to haue any place in gods thinges Now there remayneth to answer to their reasons that hold this bodely presēce of Christ in the sacrament They make as in the beginninge we haue sayde many profes and reasons but none auayleth And we will not answer but to three or foure whiche haue a certeine small shew for answeringe to these few it is an easy thinge to answer to all the other One and the first is this The first reason that is to say Chist calleth the consecrated bread his bodye and the wyne his bluod therfore it is so that the bread is his body ād the wyne his bluod that is that the bread and the wyne be turne into his bodye and bluod or at the least be there really present or els he should haue spoken a lye the which cannot be seing Christ is the vndeceaueable troth This is the greatest reason that they can make the which not withstandinge is nothinge worth yea it commeth of an ignoraunce of the maner of speche of the scripture or els if it come not of ignoraunce it procedeth of an obstinacye and self willednes because they desire to defend whether it be accordinge to the common sainge right or wronge that which ones they haue affirmed because thei wolde not seme to haue erred I answer to this reason and saye that Christ sayd the troth and could not speake an vntroth because he could not err beinge god And it is true that the bread is Christes bodye and the wyne is his bluod and I confesse it but it is true as Christ ment it not as they wold haue it Christ when he sayd this is my bodye shewinge the bread ād this is my bluod shewing the wine did not entend nor went not a bout to saye that that bread was really and substantially his bodye and the wyne his bluod but he ment to say that that bread and that wyne were a sacrament and did signifie his bodye and his bluod And he folowed the maner of the speche of the scripture when he speaketh of sacramentes you know well ynough that Christ alwayes did honoure the holye scripture alledginge it very often and prouokinge men to the same And therfore because he knew that the custome of the scripture is to name the sacraments and call them by the name of the things signified and represented by them he also desired to vse that maner of speche callinge the bread and the wyne his body and bluod because they did signifie both the one and the other that is to say he called the bread his bodye because it did signifie his bodye and the wyne his bluod because it did signifie his bluod as before S. Augustine hath sayde That the custome of the scripture is to call the sacraments by the name of the thinges signefied by them it is easelye proued and we haue alreadye sene it in the former talk The circuncisiō was a sacrament of the hebrewish people and because it was a sacrament the scripture doth call it couenaūt because it was the signe of gods couenaūt made with Abrahā and his of springe as it is written in genesis where god doth first call it the signe of the couenaunt ād after a few words he calleth it the couenaunt The couenaunt was this that god wold be the god of Abrahā ād of his seed that is to say of his of springe It is a plaine matter that the circuncision was not really this couenaunt or promesse and yet god doth call it couenaunt because it was the signe of the couenaunt should we saye that the circuncisiō was in dede gods couenaunt because god called it by this name couenaunte Sewerly no but we must say if we will saye well that therfore god calleth it so becaus the same is a signe of gods couenaunt or els of gods promesse And if ani should say what meaneth it that god did vse this maner of speche Could not he vse
of the trueth they condemne them they imprison them they torment them and in the ende they kill theÌ„ And what is this but to shew plainely to the whole worlde that they be raueninge wolues and not shepherdes of Christs flock yea that they be very antichristes And the worshipfull inquisitours what els be they but antichristes Catchpoules creweller theÌ„ Neroes so that it were better to fall into the hands of Turks and Mores without comparison then into thers Besyde that they are vtterly ignorant of the holy scripture they are skilled in none other learning but in the skotish and sophisticall mouldines And these as you see are appointed to order the matters of oure faith and in there handes are the goods the honoure and the lyues of poore soules whom miserably they put to death by pretence of the faith although they be enemies of it and of all godlines I am desyrous to make this discours to open there eies Which fault not by maâ—…ice but by ignoraÌ„ce and to make them vnderstand that they should not maruell that I reproue the Masse and the Masse booke saing that they be full of falshod abuses aÌ„d many other errours as it may plainly be sene in this present booke Wherfore I deâ—…yre for the dere loue of Iesus Christ all the louers of the trueth and those that teÌ„der godlines to read â—…nd well consider this my labour for without â—…oubt they shall fynde trew that I say Praye to â—…od for me God be with yow THE TABLE The Table of the matters contained in this present book which we haue deuided in IIII. partes 1. The first parte examineth the Masse from the beginning that is from these words Introibo ad altare Dei vnto that parte which they call the Cannon when the Sanctus is said 2. The second examineth the Cannon it self the which they make the most holy and principall parte of the Masse and is said altogether in secret 3. The third examineth all the rest from the end of the Cannon beginning at these words Per omnia saecula saeculorum which goeth before the Pater noster vnto the end of the Masse 4. The fourth examineth the abuses and the superstitions that be in the same Masse coÌ„cluding after in the end that no Christian ought to be present at it but that it ought to be eschewed of all men as the plage The first parte is deuyded into foure chapters 1. The first saith that the introibo is false and a superstition 2. That the ConfÃteor is not Christian because it maketh no mention of Iesus Christ. 3. The two prayers that are said softly when he goeth to the aulter the one is false and the other is very wicked aÌ„d lesseneth the honour of Iesus Christ The second Chapter 1. Examineth the Kyrie eleison and the Gloria in excelsis Deo 2. It declareth that many praiers said after the Gloria in excelsis Deo are wicked and â—…gainst the plaine word of God 3. It declareth that the epistle and the gospell and â—…enerally all Gods word are vnworthely and euell â—…auoredly handled in the Masse The third chapter 1. Declareth that the praier which is sayd in the â—…ffering of the bread or as they say of the host is 2. That the mixting of water with wyne wicked 〈◊〉 an inueÌ„tion of meÌ„ which ought not to haue plaâ—â— among holly thyngs 3. That the praier at the offering of the Cupp is â—…icked as that is of thost The fourth Chapter 1. That many praiers which they call secreats and are sayd before the preface hold in them these wickednesses that is to say 2. That fasting doth purge sinns and make 〈◊〉 Worthy of the grace of god and leadeth vs to thâ—… heauenly glory 3. That by the bread and Wine not yet consecrâ—…ted God is apeased toward vs. Te second parte vuhich is deuided into foure chapters 1. The first axamineth the thre first parts of thâ—… Cannon That is Te igitur the memeâ—…to of the liuinge and the CommunicaÌ„teâ—… The second chapter 1. Examineth the fourth aÌ„d first parte of the saâ—… Cannon that is Hanc igitur oblationem and Quam oblationem 2. It examineth the sixt and seauenth parte that Qui pridie quam pateretur and tâ—â— Simili modo postquam coenatuâ—… est which be parts of the Consecration The third chapter 1. Examineth the eight parte of the Cannon aâ—… â—…heweth that he who saith the Masse vsurpeth that office which is onely Christs 2. That he saith a most wicked praier the which wrongeth Christ. The fourth chapter 1. It examineth the nynth parte which is most wicked and praieth that the Aungels may beare â—…he body and blud of Christ into heauen before the â—…ace of god 2. It examineth the tenht parte of the Cannon â—…he which is folish and gaine saieth itself 3. It examineth the eleauenth and last parte of the Cannon The third parte vvhich is deuyded in to foure chapters 1. The first sheweth that the saing of the prayers in secret and the desyre that amen shuld be answered by him that vnderstandeth not the prayer as it is in the Masse is a foolish thing and without any reason and against S. Paules saing 2. That the prayers which they say after the Pater noster that is to say the libera nos quaesumus is with out reason said in secret 3. That the breaking of the host and making thre parts of it and the mingling one of those parts with the wyne is vnfitt The second chapter 1. Declareth how deuout and holy the thre praieâ—… sayd Inmediatly after Agnus Dei be and thâ—… Domine non sum dignus which is saâ—… thryse and the praier concerning the host and tâ—… cup and the two praiers that follow 2. That the last praiers which are said in the eâ—… of the Masse be most wicked because they geueâ—… to the sacrameÌ„t that office which is onely Christ â–ª 3. And certein other prayers doe gainsay the prâ—…uat Mass 1. The third chapter of the Masse for the dead 2. Declareth that the first praier is folish aÌ„d to 〈◊〉 purpose because it asketh that it ought not to asâ—… 3. That the Epistle taken out of the Apocalipâ—… gainsaith the strst prayer aÌ„d the whole Masse thâ—… praieth for the dead 4. The words of the books of the Machabees arâ—… examined That the offertory is foÌ„d aÌ„d an incoÌ„uenieÌ„t requeâ—… Te fourth chapter of the blessings 1. Declareth that the blessing of the ashes is blasphemy because it geueth to ashes the raunsom of sinn and likewise all the other blessings as of Candels of palmes of fyer of frankincense of the pascall of chese of eggs of bread of water and to be â—…hort of the popes Agnus Dei they are all wicked and full of superstition because they geue â—…o much to the bodyly things The fourth parte of the book is of the abuses of the Masse and is deuided into 6. chapters 1. In the first that it is a great errour that the Masse should
Epistle the grayle which is certeiâ—… verses of Psalmes and for the most parte with certein alleluiaes orels the tract which is also certeine verses of Psalmes and then is saide the gospell These things are of the holy scripture and good but be vndewâ—…ifully handled because they â—…re vnprofitably spoken Tell me what can the â—…pistle gospel or any of the scripture profit if they â—…e not vnderstand It is plaine that the more parte â—…f the people that here Masse commenly vnderâ—…and not the latine But what speake I of the peopâ—… They themselues that say the Masse for the â—…ost part are ignoraunt and vnderstand not the â—…eaninge of the words they speake but like pyes â—…r popingaies they pronounce the words and the â—…enteÌ„ces and vnderstand not the meaninge of then what an abuse is this And so much the more as that they say softly before the gospell two praiers â—…hat is Clense o almightie god my harte and my â—…ippes that didest clense the lippes of I say the prophet with a burning stone voutsafe eueÌ„ so to clense me with thy pitie that I may worthelie declare this holly gospell by Christ oure lord And after this he saieth the other Oure lord be in my hart and in my lippes that I may worthely aÌ„d sufficieÌ„tly shew forth his gospell After this sorte the priest saieth these prayers when there is no deacon but where the deacon is there he asketh the blessing at the priests hands who speaketh vnto him in the second person sainge The lord be in thy hart and in thy lippes c. The praier ended the deacon then singeth the gospell There is required in these praiers to set furth the gospell worthely and as it ought But how caâ—… the gospell be worthely set furth wheÌ„ it is vttered in such sort as it is nether vnderstand of him thaâ—… hereth it nor him that speaketh it and proffiteth nothinge at all Suerly they mock god and the gospell for on the one parte they desire gods grace to shew forth worthely the gospell and of the other parte they speak it or singe it in such sort as it cannot be vnderstand Is the gospell worthely declareâ—… by reading it onely on the boke Did our sauior câ—…maunde his Apostles when he said vnto them preach the gospel to all creatures that they shoulâ—… preach it in a tong that men vnderstand not Wheâ—…fore gaue he them the gift of tongs But that euen nation might vnderstand them The gospell why iâ—… it preached to the entent to be beleued How caâ—… it be beleued when it is not vnderstand What 〈◊〉 corruption is this of this Masse to say it to all the people whiche are there some time a thousand persons men and women litle and great and the more parte of them heareth onely the voice without vnderstanding any thinge that is saide in the hole Masse O poure people what misorder and abuse is this There is that haue hard Masse aboue fourescore yeres that neuer vnderstode any thinge nor knoweth what they haue done O shepherds that haue the charge of mens soules is this youre gouernement do you handell of this sorte Christs poore shepe which you ought to seede with gods worde and ye feed them with wynde why do you not remedy in youre Councels which to what end you kepe them it is well knowen this horrible abuse and many other as great as this but rather defend them and increase them from day to day as lawes of the churche What excuse shall you haue â—…at the day of iudgement before Christs throne for this youre administration Who hath taught you to speak in the churche before the hole nombre in an vnknowen tonge do you not know that this is against gods commaundement declared by the Apostell Paule 1. Cor. 14. where plainely he willeth that in the church and when the people are gathered together men should speak in a tonge that all men might vnderstand and rebuketh those that speake in an vnknowen tonge because it is without edification and proffit what a destruction is this to make the poore people lose the tyme and to kepe the people so disceaued that they should think it well done onely to here and vnderstand nothinge They know not that to read a thinge and not to vnderstand it is to dispise it as Cato saieth whom euery chilce doth lerne The cause why in the old tyme the latine tong was vsed in the churche was because that then the people did vnderstand it And Gregory at Rome to the people did vse none other tonge but latin as himself doth witnes in the preface to Ezechiell writing to Marian the bishop yea it was commaunded by the Emperours Ciuill law that the minister should speake the words of Consecration with a loud voice that all the people might here and vnderstand which should haue bene done in vaine if the people had not vnderstand the meaning of the words And therfore there was no praier said softly but all were openly spoken with a loud voice to the intent that the people might answer amen Which should haue bene askorne by the witnes of Paule in the said place of his Epistle to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 14. if they had not vnderstand what was said Therfore the minister or the priest when he should say the prayers said and yet saith Oremus prouoking the whole multitude gathered to gother to whom he speaketh that they should pray and make together with him the same peticion that he speaketh which cannot be fitly done if that be not vnderstand that the priest saieth And therfore this saing of the Epistle and gospell and all the rest as it is handeled in the Masse in the latine tonge and being not vnderstanded of the â—…tanders bye is a very great abuse and a begiling of the people of the profit of Gods worde The thirde chapter THere is declared that the prayer which is said in the offering of the host is wicked That the mixting water with wine is mans inuention and not gods That the praier of the offeringe the cupp is wicked as that is of the hoste When the gospell is done the Crede is sayd on holly daies on other daies it is not said After the Crede then is the offertory which is a saing of the Psalmes and some tymes it is some other parte of the scripture brefe and short When the offertory is said or whilest it is saing on holy daies chefely on sonday men offer and kysse the maniple or the paten and there is said to them that offer Centuplum accipies c. The which saing was a promes that Christe made to those that wold forsake father mother wyfe children and there temporall goods for his name and they aplie it to them that offer in this offeringe Behold wheather this be to pull gods word from the purpose and to corrupt it or no As though Christs inteÌ„t had bene to sai in these words whoso euer will kisse the phanel and offer to geue
which to passe it was nedefull that the son of god shuld become man shuld be borne in our miseryes shuld suffer so many trobles shuld be of wicked men persecuted delyuered taken beaton mocked spytefully handled whipt Iudged hy thuniust crucified deade and that he shuld goo downe to the grettest lowlines And here he sayth that with the asshes is made the redempcyon of sinnes How can the godly ād Christen eares heare this Looke vp on this yow that goo to the mass Looke vp on it yowr selues Reade what I tell yow is in the masse boke Thei that vnderstand the latyn haue not consydred it Thoter knowe not what is sayd because the hole is sayd in a tong not vnderstand of the vnlerned And thei may blaspheme and say what they will at their pleasure And be thes things to be born to close vp our redempcyon within thasshes of woode the which only Christ hath brougth to passe with his hlood and death That of the candels which is done on candelmes day in the first prayer it desyreth that god wold by the calling vp on of his most holy name and by thintreatyes of the blessed Mary allweys virgyn and by the prayers of all sayntes blesse and make holy thos cādels for mans vse ād helth of bodyes and of sowles whether it be vp on the land or in the waters And where fynd we in the hole scripture that any bodyly creature fasshoned by mē as the cādels ād the weekis be shuld haue this vse to geue the helt of sowles The helth of sowles is the forgeuenes of sinnes and the holy making Thes so gret and godly things are done by thonly fauor of god and by Christ Esay 53.61 1. Pet. 2. Luk. 4. Esa 61. and are not wrought with wax candells Yea this prayer speaketh against it selff because in th end it sayth that we be redemed with the precyos blood of the son of god And before he sayth that thes cādles be for mens vse and for helth of sowles that is to say for remissyon of syn̄es And how cā thes ij things stand to gether that is to say that we be redemed with the precyos blood of the sonn of god which is most trewe and that the candels shuld be the helth of our sowles that is tho say the forgeuenes of synnes Seing that forgeuenes of syn̄es is redempcyon it selff as Paul witnesseth in many places Surely iff the cādels forgyue synnes than they worck our redēpcyon Roma 3. Ephes 1. collo 1. But Christ only hath wrought our redempcyon and hath not wrought it with candels I knowe well that the wranglyng and supersticyous parsons will not want answers and glosts Notwithstanding let euery faithful and godly man wey and iudge whether the candels cā work such effectis or no. whan the candels be blessed and the holy water cast on thē and that they be censyd certē verses are song Affter they goo on processiō and they sing iij. songes of praise which they call Anthemes And one of thē which is the second sayth Adorna thalamū tuum Syon suscipe regem Christum amplectere mariā quae est coelestis porta ipsa enim portat regem gloriae And here this Antē confessith that mari is the heuēly gate And though I shall say somwhat here to defēd gods honor ād christis let no mā meruell I speake to thos that haue no knowlege of the holi scripture For I ā sure that thei which haue wil not meruel There is no dowt but the most blessid mother was ād is blessed aboue all wemē ād is in that gretnes ād worthines that cā not be estemed because she is Christes mother And yet for all that we ought not to geue hir thos praises that be not fitt for hir and that belōg only to christ For so thin king to honor hir we dishonor hir ād do hir most greatest wrong ād iff she were nere vs ād hard vs whā we geue hir such titles that is to say gate of heauē mother of merci whā we call hir our hope our aduocate and such like titles which be lōg to christ ōly or to god she wold spitt in our facis ād wold not suffer that the honor of god ād of christ the which she ād all tho her saintes doo more esteme with owt cōparison than theit own shuld be geuē to plaine creatures were thei neuer so excellent Onli Christ is our liffe and hope Io. 1.6.11.14 Collossen 3. 1. Timot. 2. Iohann 10 1. Iohan. 2. Actor 4 the gate of heauē our aduocate fowntane king ād father of mercy Thes names be namis for god ād Christ To be the gate of heauē ād to be the aduocate belōgeth to Christ god and man but the other belong to god and to Christ as god So that they thā cōmitt a gret error that to honor the saintes ād chefely the blessed mother doo sing thes Antēs as the Salue regina the Aue maris stella and as many other as geue godly honor to plaine creatures Fom hens it comith that the deuocion to christ and god is lost and it comith to passe that where we shuld call vp on god and Christ ād ron̄e to thē in our nede we ron̄e to mē ād we place thē in our redemer ād makers place The blessing of the boughes in the first praier affter the preface of the same blessing destreth that thos that shall take of thos boughes that thei may be vnto them a defence both of sowle and ād body a remedy of our safetie through Christ our lord The fourth praier which beginnith Deus qui per oliuae ramum desireth that god wold blesse and make holy thos boughes of the olife ād of other trees so that thei may be profitable for sowle helth to all the peple Surely thes be very great effectis that is to say to be a protection of sowle and body and to be a remedy or to be profitable for our sowle helth God doth noth vse thes meanes to defend our sowles and to saue vs. We haue not in any place of the scripture āy of thes things Paul thapostel to the colossians Coloss 2. saith that in Christ we be furnisshed that is to say that as concerning the things perteining to the sowle helth we haue no nother but Christ god excepted For in Christ and by Christ we haue all things whether we speake of forgeuenes of sinnes of Iustificacion of repentans of holy making or of sowl helth We haue all thes things in Christ and bi Christ and not by the boughes of oliue palme or of any other thing And beside it is a gret supersticion to be content to beleue that the boughes of oliues palmes or other treis shuld by reason of thos blessings made with thos words crossis and other ceremonies that are made take any powr to bring to passe such ād so great effectis We find not that the Prophetis thapostels or Christ himselff
a sorowfull mind and so let our sacrifice be made this day in thy sight that it may please the o lord god And that other the which the bowt standers say that is to say Let the lord receiue the sacrifice from your handes to the praise ād glory of his name The which saings be affter the offering of the host and the cupp before the preface And that which is said in th ēd of the masse that is to say let the willing duty of my seruice please the o holy trinitie and make that the sacrifice which I vnworthy haue offered before thi miaesties eies may be acceptable vnto the c. And very many other saings innumerable which all make mention that the masse or the masses sacramēts shuld be a sacrifice Allthough that in the former chapter we haue sufficiētly proued that this is a gret error for so moch as that if the masse doo not forgiue sin̄es it is not neither any sacrifice for the same Neuertheles for the plētifull clerenes of the truth And for that the matter is of such Importās we will particularli proue that the masse is no sacrifice but because this word sacrifice hath diuers significatiōs to th entēt that we may well vnderstād affter what sort thei make a sacrifice It is to be vnderstand that acording to the scripture there are fownd many sortis of sacrifices as we haue in exodus leuiticus ād in numerus Exodus 29. Where it is taught as well what maner of sacrifices they did owe to make Exo. 29. Leui. 4.5.6.7.10 12.13.14 17.22 Num. 1.6.8 15.19 as of what sort ād for what cause Chefely in leuiticus where is spoken at length of sacrifices the which all to gether may be brought generalli to ij sortis of sacrifices that is to sai clēsing sacrifices ād praising or thanks geuing sacrifices And all though that this diuisiō shuld not cōprehend all the sacrifices it shal make no matter so that we proue that the masse is not a sacrifice affter that sort as they meane The clēsing sacrifices were thos that were made to pourge ād clēse frō sin̄es or els to satisfie for thē as that was of the bulchin or yonge bullok wich is writton in leuiticus And very many other sacrifices that were made for sinnes Leuiti 4. All the rest that are made for other respects whe haue by a general or comen name called them praising or thanckes geuing sacrifices Iff they that say that the mass is a sacrifice wold haue said that it had bene a praising or thanks geuing sacrifice they had said sōthing better But they will haue it and they vse it for a quiting sacrifice that is to say purging or clensing and satisfieng for the sinnes not only off the liuing but also of the deade Surely this is a gret effect to wipe a way and to purge the sinnes not only of the liuing but also of the deade From whēs gather they this Where haue they it They haue it not owt of thold scripture for it speaketh not of the masse because it was not than nor owt of the newe Let them shewe one only word that Christ or the Apostles euer spake that the masse shuld be a sacrifice for the liuing and for the deade Thei shall find in deede that the sacramēt or let it be the lordes supper is a remēbrans of the sacrifice the which Christ made for vs that is to say of his death This doth Christ him selff say whan he did institute the same holy supper as Mathew Mat. 26. Mar. 24. Luc. 22. Marck Luke and Paul in the 1. to the Corinthiās doo say Doo This in My remēbrans In a matter of so gret weight as this is how durst any man yea I speake to all the men in the world gathered to gether be so bold to affirme such a sentēs without gods auctoritie howe can men know that any thing shuld be a sacrifice for sinne if gods word say it not The selff same that is the sacrifice for sinne is the same that sauith vs. The masse than or let it be the masses sacramēt shall be thatt that shall saue vs nor Christ shal not be our sauior but it shall be the masse or hir sacrament And how comith this matter to passe that the sacrament shuld work an effectt contrary to his office Thoffice of the sacrament is to signifie that Christ is deade for vs in forgeuenes of sinnes This Christ him selff saith and signifieth that Christ forgeuith the sinnes and yet thei wold that the sacrament it selff shuld be that that forgeueth sinnes Thes ij things can not stand to gether that the sacrament shuld both signifie that a nother thing forgeueth sinnes and also that the sacrament it selff forgiuith them Iff the sacramēt it selff forgeueth them how doth it betoken that Christ doth forgeue them So than it selff will forgeue them and not Christ Here thei alledge that the holy fathers as Ambros Austen and others did call it a sacrifice And therfor thei also call it a sacrifice Than further thei say that the scripture saith the same that is to say the Prophete malachy the which saith Mala. 1. I haue no delite in yow that is to say yow please me not saith the lord of hostis And I wil not take the gifft at your hand for that from theast to the west my name is gret among the gētiles and in euery place is sacrifised and offered to my name the cleane offering For that gret is my name among the gentiles saith the lord of hostes Loo here thei say that the masse is a sacrifice the which from theast to the west is made to god called by the Prophet a cleane offering the which in euery place is sacrificed In frāce in Spaine in flanders in Almany in Italy and euery where To thes so feble profes I first answer that thold fathers called the supper of the lord a sacrifice meaning that it was a rememberans of the sacrifice as the stone owt of which came furth the water in the desert was called Christ no◅ because it was in dede Christ but because it did signifie Christ. Nor this is not mine but the fathers exposition them selues And I could bring furth the auctoritie of many but the auctoritie of Chrisostom for this time shal suffise vs Chrisost Heb. 9. who vp on the Pistel to the hebrews speaketh of the sacrament affter this sort That which we doo is done in remembrans of that which is allredy done We doo not any other sacrifice but allweyes the selffe same Yea we rather vse the remembrans of the sacrifice Thes be the wordes of Chrisostom who will that she sacrament therfor shuld be called a sacrifice because it is a remembrans of the sacrifice Also the master of the sentencis Senten 4. Distinc 12. the defender of the masse saith that the sacrament of the breade and wine is called a sacrifice and an offering because it
is a remembrans and a representacion of the trewe sacrifice ād of the holy offring made vpon thaultar of the crosse Because on is saith he Christ was dead on the crosse and offred in him selff but euery day he is offered in the sacrament because that in the sacrament is made the remembrans of that that one 's was done we might iff we wold bring furth Cipriane Austen Ambros and many other awncient authors but seking for shortnes we will passe them ouer And allthough that all thold men shuld say that it were in dede a sacrifice not bringing gods word for them we shall not be bownd to byleue them because it behoueth that such a thing belonging to our faith shuld be grownded vpon gods word ād not vp on mennes To the saing of Malachy I say that it proueth not their intent because thei must iff thei will that that saing shuld be to their purpos proue that Malachy shuld speake of the masse Malachy saith that in euery place is offered and sacrificed to god the cleane offring he saith trewe but he saith not that this cleane offring is the masse or the sacrament of the lords supper He only maketh mencion of the cleane offring ād telleth not what that is How trifle thei to gesse affter this sort saing that he speaketh of the masse or of the sacrament Thei must first shewe that the masse is a sacrifice And affterward that malachy shuld speake of the masse or els of the sacrament But thei shall neuer proue neither th one nor thother I say by gods word Than further let vs admitt that malachy Speakith of the sacrament of thaultar ād that the same is a sacrifice the which is offered in euery place thei shuld not yet by this haue their intent Because that thei must also proue that this is a clensing sacrifice for sinnes as thei wold haue it It may be granted affter a good sence the same sacrament being called Eucharistia becaus in the same is yelded thankes to god for so gret a benifite as he hath geuē vs in Christ It mai I sai he grāted that it is a praising or thāksgeuing sacrifice but thei haue not by the saing of malachy that it is a clēsing sacrifice as thei doo meane And iff thei shuld aske Affter what sort than is malachy vnderstād ād of what sacrificest taketh he I say that our meaning is not at this time to expownd that saing It is only to make knowē that the profe is nothing worth as yow may see Neuertheles I wil sai that malachi spake of the spirituall offerings ād sacrifices the which are offred eueri where sin̄s Christes coming In the prophetis time mē might not doo sacrifice except in the temple at Ierusalē But affter christis coming are made eueri where the trewe offrings ād the trewe spirituall sacrifices the which please god made by the byleuers and thei be thes First the sacrifice of praise of the which the Psalm saith Psal 49. Heb. 13. Sacrificiū laudis honorificabit me that is ye shall honor me with the sacrifice of praise And Paul to the hebrews per ipsum offerimus hostiam laudis semper deo that is thorow him we offer the sacrifice of praise alwais vnto god And he addeth to Beneficentiae communicationis nolite obliuisci talibus enim hostijs placetur deo that is be not vnmindful of liberalitie and almesse for with such sacrifice god is pleased See here ij goodly spirituall sacrifices the praise of god and the help of our neighbors thorow charitie Philip. 4. The other sacrifice which pleaseth god and is made euery where is whan we offer ourselues and dedicate vs to gods seruice refusing and forsaking our seluis Of this spake Paul to the romans Rom. 12. Ther is a nother offring or sacrifice of the which also Paul to the romans speaketh whan the ministers with the word of tholy gospel doo offer to god thos that doo turne Rom. 15. as Paul him selff saith he hath done the gentiles And to be short all thos hostes and spirituall sacrifices of the which Peter telleth in his 1. pistel 1 Petri. 2. that be acceptable to god thorow Christ thos such sacrifices be the same of the which I ymagin malachyment For he had the selff same spirit that Paul and Peter had who tell which be the sacrifices that please god And saing thus we speake according to the scripture ād not of our own head as thei doo that say that the masse is a clensing sacrifice for the sinnes of the liuing and deade ād knowe not nor can not bring furth in their fauor any one saing of tholy scripture In the matters of sowl helth which are the chefe and of gret test wayght men ought not only to be hable to defend them but it is necessary that thei proue them by tholy scripture the which can not lie Thei which say that the masse is a sacrifice for sinnes by all the meanes thei can thei indeuor and force them seluis to mainteine that thing with distinctions with a thowsand inuencions and it is ynough for them not to be ouercome as it chanceth to the sect of the schole men the which be of most diuers opinions As for example the Thomists the Scotistes and euery one of them defend their own opinion and thei be in continuall striffe and it is neuer knowen who hath the better Surely it must nedes be that hauing contrary opinions at the least that th one of them shuld be fals and yet thei defend them It is not fitt in gods matters for a man to seeke only to be able to defend his opinion affter what sort he will for so moch as the fals matters also may be defended with writhing and wrangling But it is necessary that we proue our opinion by gods cleare and plaine word And iff we can not proue it we ought not certenly to affirme it Now let vs proue with the lordes help that neither the masse nor the sacrament are sacrifices for the sin̄es neither of the liuing ād moch lesse of the deade First either thei meane of the hole mase The first reason as we haue said before that is to say of all that mixture or els heape and composition of wordes gestures and ceremonies beginning from the Introibo euen vnto th end or els thei meaane only of the breade and wine that thei offer and of the sacrament Iff thei meane off the hole masse it can not be a sacrifice How is it possible that a thing full of so many falshods so many superstitions so many wikednesses and blasphemies and that so many waies robbeth gods honor and Christes and offendeth him shuld be a sacrifice for the sinnes of the liuing and of the deade Shuld we doo sacrifice to god with blasphemies That the masse is full of such things hetherto we haue diuersly proued it by gods word Iff thei meane only of the breade and wine and of
turnekindinge If the bread be turned into the body and the wine into the bluod because Christ said this is my body shewinge the bread ād this is my bluode shewing the wine and that els Christs words should not haue benetrue if the bread should not haue bene turned into the body ād the wine into the bluode or at the least that Christs bodye should be in the bread and his bluode in the wine It followeth that the paschal lamb which Christ did eat with his disciples was turned into the passeouer because Christ said the lāb is the passouer as it is written in luke I haue earnestly desired to eat this passouer with you before I suffer Luk. 22. if is clere that by this word passouer Christ did meane the paschal lāb ād because that pascha is that going ouer and passing by that the Angell made whē he passed ouer the hebrues not entering in but onely entered into the Egiptiās houses killing theire first borne as we haue in Exodus Exod. 12. we shal be cōpelled to say that that lāb was turned into that same going ouer or passing by or els that that going ouer or passīg by was in that lamb according to there opinion that will that Christ should be really in the sacrament the substances of the bread and wine remaininge And because that that going ouer was not then when Christ said those words that is to saie that that lamb was the pascha or passouer but it was onely in Moyses time in Egipt it followeth that he did eat a thinge that was not behold what maner things do folow their opinion that wold that Christ should be bodily in that host and that cup because he spake these words this is my body shewinge the bread and this is my bluode shewinge the wine For so much as it is no lesse true that the lamb is the pascha or passouer then that bread ād that wine be Christs body ād bluod because Christ who cannot lie hath spoken th one and thother And god himself said the lamb is the passouer It was therfore of necessitie that the lamb should be turned into the passouer or at the least that that passouer should be in that lāb because god said soo If we will say that Christ hath geuen to the words of the Sacramēt of the bread ād the wine the power to make the turninge of th one ād tother into the body and bluod but he hath not gewen the pouer to thother words of the lamb to turne it into the passouer orels that the passouer should be the lamb Exod. 12. This saing must nedes be self willed and without reason because the one and thother is a sacrament and is made for remembrance the lamb was ordeined in remembrance of that passouer of the aungell that was in Egipt the bread and the wine in remembraunce of Christs body and bluod geuen for oure raunsominge Furthermore they must shew how Christ hath geuen suche power to those words that is to saie this is my body and this is my bluod that by vtteringe them such turning should be made orels that his body and bluod should be made present They shal neauer be hable to shewe this their self wild talk to be true neather by the holy scripture as it were behoue full thei should do Intending to affirme such a matter ād much lesse by any maner of reason auailable Further though it were so that Christ had geuē such power to the words yet he gaue it not but to those words that he thē said whan he did institute the sacramēt ād not to other And this they of the same opiniō do cōfesse but the words that Christ spake thē be no more true because he spake thē of the time to come and not of the time past that is to say this is my bodi the which shal be geuē for you and this is my bluod the whiche shal be shed for you These words were thē true because that his body was not yet geuē nor his bluod shed but they were to be geuē but now they be no more true but false because that euē as Christ now cā no more die nor suffer so cā he no more geue his bodie nor shed his bluod For so much as if he could do these things he should be sufferable and mortall ād this cānot be Therfore if these words had power to work those effects thē false words should haue had pouer to turne the substances orels to make Christ present in the sacrament but if they be true thē haue they power to make Christ sufferable ād mortal I cōfirm this reasō thus If because Christ said those wosds this is my body ād this is my bluod such turning should be made or els that he should be present in the sacramēt there wold folow inconueniences because that we shuld be compelled to saie that all the speeches of the scripture and of god in the which is affirmed that a thing is other this or that seing that god can not tel an vntroth we shal be compelled I say to affirme and graunt that it is so as the words seme to say And so we shal be cōpelled to graunte that the Testament or gods couenaunt whither you will call it should be there in the same circumcision For so much as that god as we haue in the Genesis said to Abram whan he did institute the circumcision Gene. 17. this is my couenant speaking of the same circumcision and for all that the circumcision was not that couenaunt but onely a signe of that couenaunt as in the same place that is to say the same chapter it is plaine that god called the circumcision the signe of his couenaūt It is plaine that the signe of a thinge is not the self same thinge And yet god said that the circumcisiō was the couenaunt We shal be compelled to graunt that that fearfull fantasy the which appered to Saule 1 Regū 28. as we haue in the first boke of the kings was Samuel in deed because the scripture there dothcal it Samuel and yet al the Catholike doctours say ād affirme that it was a fātasie ād a deceipt of the deuel ād not Samuell And we shal be compelled also to saie that because Christ said that he was the vine that he was so in dede And because the scripture calleth Christ a rock a lyon a lamb a shepe and as many other things as it speaketh of him we shal be compelled to affirme that Christ in dede was all those things But what will they say to Christs owne words in the same institution of the sacrament Christ did not onely say this is my body and this is my bluod but he said takinge the cupp Luc. 22. 1. Cor. 11. as luke ād paule do affirme this cup is my new testamēt in my bluode These words be aswell trew as those this is my body and this is my bluod ād Christ did aswell sai
that masse where he that saith it onely taketh the sacrament and doth not deale it to the people We must vnderstand that in old tyme the masse was not said as it is now said as before we haue noted in the bocke of the Anatomy for so moch as that the masse then was no nother but the ceremony of the lords supê‘ the which was dealt to the church and the mynyster did not take it alone as hath bene vsed froÌ„ certeÌ„ hondreth yeares hetherto against Christes expresse ordynaÌ„ce aÌ„d coÌ„maundement who sayd whan he did institute the sacrament that thei should take it and dyuide it amoÌ„g theÌ„ and not that one alone should receue it Thei sawe that this mass was that wych made theÌ„ rych aÌ„d mighty It multiplied the churches reuenewes aÌ„d in th end it made theÌ„ lyue in delytes as before in the boke of the anatomy in the chapter of the abuses of the masse we haue sayd And for to wyne theÌ„ credite and bring to passe that the people should be inclined to theÌ„ and shuld haue deuocioÌ„ to theÌ„ there could not be found a thing more to the purpose then to geue men to vnderstand and make the comoÌ„ sort beleue that Christ shuld be in the sacrameÌ„t and that there shuld be made a turning of the substances of the bread aÌ„d the wyne into his body and bluod and to saie that there be so many myracles and to make the thing so great and wonderfull Thei were sure that if the people were persuaded that Christ were not in the sacrament but that there were only the bread and the wyne as holy signes thei wold haue cared littell for it nor they wold neuer haue beleued that the masse shuld haue so many vertues as thei haue geueÌ„ to vnderstand And thei should not haue had that vnmesurable gaine ther shuld not haue bene drawen out of that golden well thoes infinite richesses Let euery man that hath reason and is without affection consider aÌ„d he shal find as much as I sai to be true This is a sure rule if the people did not beleue Christ to be in the sacrament and were not I meane the people bewitched with some straÌ„ge Imagination that thei wold make lytle count of the masse The popes that sawe this goodlye inuention to be moch for their purpose thei after did not only with their decrees and coÌ„cels allowe it but they did bynd the Christian people beleue it as an article of the faith I haue spokeÌ„ of the first dyuisers of these opinions what causes I thinck did moue theÌ„ to seke owt so strange Imaginations and so farr from the trouth Of the other that folowed next after that is to say of the scholemen I doo not sai soo As for example of one Thomas of Aquine of BonauaÌ„ture of Egidus Romanus and such lyke as were questionistes without noumber and haue dysputed endleslie on the master of the sentences and thereby intangled the world I think well that the first cause that is to say the ignorance of the scripture did seduce them to beleue thus because they did attend more to the wordly knowleges and to the bookes of phylosophy then to the holy scripture But I doo not beleue that any such malyce did moue them as moued those first inueÌ„ters It is true in deede that a nother ignorance made them to erre that is to say that when they sawe that the pope and the councels had so determined thei Imagined that they were tyed and bound to beleue all that that thei had appointed and ordeyned to be beleued of all the faithfull And therfor thei haue affirmed this opinioÌ„ as an article of the faith thinking they should haue bene heretikes if they should haue holden any other wyse And to proue this true certen of them and among the rest Thomas of argeÌ„tyne the heremyte in the fourth the .xi. distinction saye that before the article of the turnkeÌ„ding was determyned by the church It was no heresy to sai the contrary that is to sai that the bread and wyne remayne after the consecration This is that which deceyued them the popes auctorytye whom they thought was Christes lefetenant and that euery thing that the see Apostolyke and those councels determyned was an oracle against the which it was not lawfull to speake the poore soules not vnderstanding that no man is bound in matters perteyning to faith to beleue eyther pope or councles but so farr as gods word speaketh from the which if they swarue though there should come an angel from heauen we should not be bound yea I say we ought not to beleue him as paul sayth writing to the galat. And if we haue particular reuerence to any councels Gala. 1. it is because that in their determinacions they agree with the holy scripture which ought to be the paterne aÌ„d the rule to all the meÌ„ in the world And therfor we haue in specyall worshyp those .iiij. councels that is to say the councel of Nece in the which the error of Arrius was destroyed the councel of ConstaÌ„tinople gathered together against Eunomius and Macedonius the first councel of Ephesus where Nestorius was iudged aÌ„d condeÌ„ned the couÌ„cel of CalcedoÌ„ in the which the wickednes of Eutyches and dyostorus and certen other were reproued because thei haue not spokeÌ„ nor determined any further then is conteined in the holy scriptures But if that men let them be of what so euer knowlege holynes and auctoritie ye will shall not bring furth in gods things the holy scripture we ought not to beleue theÌ„ nor all the whole world to gether can not make a man to beleue a thing as an article of the faith except it be conteyned in the holy scripture A short rehersall It is tyme now that we knyt vp the some of this present sermon in the which this article that is whether Christ be really and bodyly in the sacrament of thanks geuing or no is largely examyned And first we haue sene how there be in this article .ij. principall IudgemeÌ„ts or opinions The first saith that Christ in body and in soule great and thick as he is presently in heauen is whole in the sacrameÌ„t And this opinion is diuided into ij For some say that not only Christ is in the sacrament but that the substance of the bread and wyne be turned into his body and bluod and that there remaineth no more eyther bread or wyne but the only withcoÌ„mes of the one and the other Some other sai that Christ is really in the sacrament but the substances of the bread and wyne remayne and that there is made no turning in them And we haue seene the obiections where vpon this their fantasy is ground-wrought TheÌ„ next we haue put the secoÌ„d opinioÌ„ the which we hold and sure beleue is catholik and godly and it is this that is to sai that the substances of the bread aÌ„d wyne doo not only remaine in the sacrament but Christ is
not there bodyly preseÌ„t of any maner of sort but as maÌ„ he is onelie in heauen where he sitteth on the right haÌ„d of the father froÌ„ whence he shall come to Iudge the liuinge aÌ„d the deade The first reason as tharticle of our faith doth sai And this opinion we haue proued with many reasons First by the definition of a sacrament the which is none other but a signe of an holy thing and it is not nedefull for to be a sacrament that Christ should be really as man in the same and moch lesse that there should be made any substantiall turning of the bread and the wyne It suffiseth that the bread and the wyne be there as signes of his body and bluod The 2. reason Then next seinge that this sacrament was instituted only for remembrance it suffiseth that it doo bring vs in remembrance of Christs body and bluod geueÌ„ for our raunsominge And it nedeth not to put there the bodyly presence of th one or of thother for so moch as that the right of no sacrament either in generall or particular requireth thys c. The third seing the spirituall eating of Christ is only profitable and not the bodyly The 3. reasoÌ„ If Christ were as man in the sacrameÌ„t he should help nothing The turnekindinge of the bread and wyne into Christes body and bluod The. 4. re cannot stand together with certen playne and many fest effects which be sene that is to say with the noryshing because the sacrameÌ„t doth norish as other bread and wyne doth and with thingenderyng of certen beasts as magots or such like beastes the which things cannot be made admitting this turnkynding of the bread and the wyne in to Christes body and bluod The fift if any such thing were god with out any maner of nede shuld work some The fift reason yea many most stonishfull myracles such as was neuer the greater The syxt it should not be necessary that Christ on the day of iudgement should come down froÌ„ heauen The syxt reason but that he shuld stepp out of the sacrament seing he is here moch nerer on earth then in heauen The seuenth The seuenth reason the opinion of Christs bodyly presence in the sacrament dymynisheth the truth of his body and maketh it phantasticall yea nothingeth it The eyght The eyght reason The sursâ—â—m corda which is song in the masse geueth to vnderstand that in old tyme Christs bodyly presence in the sacrament was not beleued The nynth The nynth reason If forbecause Christ sayd this is my body shewing the bread and thit is my bluod shewing the wyne the bread and the wyne shuld be turned into his body and bluod or els that the body and bluod shuld be there present seing there be many other speaches in the scripture like vnto this it shuld be behoue full that the lyke shuld be done in all those from whens wold folow many inconueniences The tenth reason The tenth seing that Christes flesh can not be eaten nor his bluod droken but after .ij. sortes that is to say spiritually by fayth and sacramentally And this may be done without the bodyly presence 1. Chor. 10. as the auncients did eate and drink him before that he toke mans fleshe as paul saith wryting to the Chorynthyes there is therfor no necessytie to affirme that bodyly presence in the sacrament Then further all though that we shuld bringe forth no reason for vs it belongeth not to vs to proue our negatiue but it belongeth to them that affirme such a being there to proue their affirmatiue the which thei did neuer nor can not doo by any saing of the scripture We haue after also made appeare that our oppinion is of thold church and chefely Augustines And we haue answered to the obiections of the contrary opinion making it apparant that they be vneffectuall vnpithye and weak to proue their purpose declaring the maners of speach that the scripture vseth when it treateth of the sacraments In the end we haue added from when the false ImaginatioÌ„ of that maner error is proceded And we haue bene long in treating of this article and we haue made many moo wordes than we thought and haue repeated the self things often and haue somthing exceded the measure of a sermon for the which thing the readers shall haue me excused We haue coÌ„sidered first that the thing was most wayghty and worthy to be well expressed the which could not be done with few wordes Then further also the error was so coÌ„firmed and after such sort rooted in the myndes of the people that it could not be pluckt vp nor rooted out without as it is comonly said moch digging and deluing And therfor it was necessary for vs to be long and parauenture somthing tedious to the lerned neuertheles this labor is chefely taken for the vnlerned Well it suffiseth that this our purpose was vpright and that we toke not vpoÌ„ vs this entreprise for no nother end but for gods honor and for the loue and defence of the truth And last of all to doo good and help to the simple Christians who haue bene so long tyme drowned in so great an error and deceiued by the suttle and wicked Antichrist WhoÌ„ let vs all praye vnto god with a good hart aÌ„d continually that he will so roote owt and plucck vp or to speak better destroie sauing allwayes not withstanding the men to whoÌ„ we desire all good I sai euen destroie as the lytle stone did that great Image which Nabuchodonosor sawe in his dreame that is to sai that he will make him vtterly vanysh away and be come nothing to the entent that gods finall aÌ„d perfite kingdome mai come thorow Christ Iesus his son our lord and redemer to whoÌ„ be honor and glory world without ende Amen FINIS Faults escaped in the printing and corrected after this sort Take lea for the leafe A for the first side B for the secoÌ„de side Ly. for the lyne R for read Lea. 2. b. ly 8. headolugnes r headlongnes Lea. 4. a. ly 21 opinious r. opinions lea 6. b. ly 1. ehyrch r. church lea 9. b. ly 18. strst first Lea. 12 b ly 1 euy r any lea 11 b. ly 20 Hollis r. holies lea 21 a ly 2. vpistle r epistle 6. ly 13 soruant r seruant lea 25 b ly 13 and the blud r and the winne the bluod lea 35 b. ly 20 glorios r. gloriousnes lea 36 a ly 11. tedyosnes r. tediousnes lea 40 b. ly 8. ho r hoc lea 42 a. ly 26. poinctt r poinct b. ly 20. coÌ„secrationi r. consecration lea 49 a. ly 24 ony r any lea 54 b. ly 16. wat. r. was lea 60. a. ly 8 mades r. made and for CoÌ„secrauyon r. coÌ„secration lea 65 a ly 16. no r. not ly 25. superstitos r. superstitious Lea. 67. a ly 18. tho r. to lea 68 a li. 5. thert r. there l. 17. fom r from lea 74. a. ly 16 byleuers r beleuers and all waies after lea 72 a. ly 10 he fore r. before lea 77 a li. 19. candache r candace lea 81. b. ly 26. crimin crimine lea 88. a. ly 21 offied r offered lea 94 b ly 12. passhion r passion lea 111. b 21. except r except lea 115 a li 1 song r soung ly 2. rong r roung lea a li. 2. misfortutune r. misfortune lea 118 b ly 11. apostos r. apostles Lea. 120. ly r. super r. supper lea 121. b. ly 22 Now he he r Now. he lea 122 a ly 19 parauentur r. perauenture le 124. a li. 12. thes r. those lea 125 b ly 13. the chefe greatest miste ry r the cheefe mystery lea 126. a. li. 15. the lawe I speak r the lawe Nor there is no sinn but that is against gods lawe but gods law I speake lea 126. b. ly 7. haue heuier sinnes than r haue heuior sinnes then mans laughter then lea 127 a li. 5. Idolatros r Idolatrous li. 9. thcik r thicke li 13. in them r in it lea 127 b ly 8 benefice r benefite lea 128. a. ly 18 ame r. same Lea. 131. a. li. 19. saint or saintes r saint or sainctess ly 20 S. loreto r loreto b ly 6 say here willâ—â— say here be these Idolatreis how can thei de â—…ey it will Lea. 131. b. ly 9 Hiperdulia r Hyperdulia lea 137 a li. 5. wis r. with lea 138. a. li. 13 folow done a nother r folowed one an other lea 156 a li. 22. and and. r. and. lea 174. b. ly 19. mas r masse lea 177. a. li. 7. couered with r. couered wear couered with b. ly 1. crafft r. craft and lykewise in other places lea 178 a. li. 14 eschew r. issue and generally read for off of for thos those for thes these for couerid couered and for such other in vid read coÌ„meÌ„ly ved and often for ans or ens read ance or ence as for importans read importance and for reuerens reuerence and often for or read our as for sauior read sauiour and for byleuers allways beleuers and commenly for os read ous or ose as the word geueth as for gratios read gratious and for purpos read purpose Lea. 180. a. l. 8 yoie r. ioy 182. b. ly 15 trewe faults in the sermom read true and 185. b. li. 9. who euer read whosoeuer 186. a. li. 15. remembrans read remembraunce and after 187. a. ly 18. substans read substance 188. b. li. 5. body lithere read bodyly there 192. a. li. 7. dewe read due 193. a. il 3. euerlasting read euerlasting 193. b. li. 17. be beleweth read beleueth 194. b. li. 15. seane read seene 196. b. l. 14 blode r. bluod 199. b. l. 3. satisfing r satisfiing 205. a. l. 25. wheÌ„ should r. when thei should 222. b. l. 1. turne read turned and 228. a. li. â—… beinge r. bringe 225. b. li. 5. shose r. those FINIS
seauen in the worship of the seauen ioyes of oure ladye which â—…hings I am sory to say And to be shorte this saing â—…f the Kyrie eleeson nyne tymes vpoÌ„ so vaiâ—…e causes is superstitious and maketh vs vnderâ—…tand how feble and vaine the foundations of the Masse are Yea seing the latine is more plaine to â—…s then the greek Then next when Kyrie eleeson is said followeth the Gloria in excelsis Deo which is a goodly praise and a godly for the Aungels as Luke the Euangelist saith did sing it at Luc. 1. Christs birth those words that are ioyned to it as Laudamus te Benedicimus te vnto the end were put to as some saie by Hilariê° others say by Telesphorê° the pope aÌ„d others that thei were put to by Symacê° the pope there is nothing thereto be reproued coÌ„cerning the substaÌ„ce of the matterâ—… We deny not but that there is in the Masse certeinâ—… things agreable to gods word yea and some parte of gods words it self for there are of the saings of the psalmes of the prophets of the Apostels anâ—… of Christ himself but the matter is that these things should be placed worthely and not otherwise And also that the wicked should not be mingeled with the good This is the suteltie of Satan who vnder the shew of godly matters deceaueth the vnaduysed as we are wont to say that in theâ—… honye lyeth hidden the poison Tell me after what sort are men killed with poison It is suer that it is neauer geuen alone but mixte amonge other good meats aÌ„d after this sonâ—… it is taken and bringeth death EueÌ„ so it happeneth in this Masse for there are diuers good things as the Epistel and the gospell and other saings of the scripture but with such saings are couered many disceyts are told many vntrueths blaspemies and superstitions is taken the honoure from Christ and god and geuen to onely creatures After this sort also are men deceaued with inchauntements for â—…here is none or very few inchauntments made that haue not some words and those good of god and yet they ought not be done Then next after the Gloria certein praiers which they call collects and some of them be godly â—…nd ChristiaÌ„ like made accordinge to gods worde â—…ut there are many wicked and blaspemous as that â—…f the fourth ferie that is to saye on wednisdaye of the Ember dayes in aduent and it is the first praier â—…hat he saieth Graunt we beseche the o lord alâ—…ichtye that this solemne feast that is at hand of â—…ure redemption may help vs in this present lyfe and geue vs the rewards of euerlasting blessednes The fourth praier also the saterday which foloweth in the same Imber dayes sayth the very same in substance as it may be sene in the Masse boke The first praier also on the saterday in albis that is to say the first saterday after Easter saith thus Graunt we beseche the almightie god that we which haue kept with reuerence this feaste of Easter may bye the same deserue to come to euerlasting ioyes These prayers plainlie desyre that by the desert of the feasts that we kepe of Christmas and Easter god wold geue vs the euerlasting happines And how can this staÌ„d that by the kepinge of holy dayes we should deserue euerlasting blessednes First it is playne that in the new Testament we haue no holy day commaunded by Christ nor his Apostels those that are kept are by mans and not by gods apointment I say not for all this that it is euell to ordeine certeine proper daies or feasts that the people may come together to the preaching of gods worde to receaue the holy communion to make common praier together and also for there rest who in that week were weried and to the intent I saye that we may haue some day wherin we may quietly haue regard to the heauenly things But to do this by gods commaundement there is no more one day then an other apointed for the dayes are all a lyke nether is there one more holy then an other in it sel 〈◊〉 4. or by gods ordinaunce Paule reproued the Galathians because they did kepe daies letting them witte that such kepinge is a ieuysh and no ChristiaÌ„ like thinge Colâ—…os â—… Likewise writing to the Colossians he saith let no maÌ„ iudge you neither in meat nor drink nor in any parte of the holidaye nor of the saboth day which things are but shadowes of the things to come c. Then is there not any holliday by gods coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„t since Christs coÌ„ming who hath ended the ceremonial law of the which the keping of daies was a parte by gods oune I saye more ouer that although there were law holy daies coÌ„mauÌ„ded by god in the new TestameÌ„t yet we could not be saued by keping of them seing oure elders were not saued by the keping of the law commaunded by god For there is none at any tyme saued or iustified by the law as Peter saith in the acts of the Apostles Acto 15. but all be saued by the grace of oure sauioure Iesus Christ So now we euen as oure fore fathers be saued by the self same grace of Iesus Christ. How many saings of Paule could I bring forth if I wold that we be not iustified nor saued by the works of the law nor by any other worke but onely by faith whiche is as much to say as by the grace of oure lord Iesus Christ I say by his onely grace And yet the Masse boke will affirme that by the holy daies commaunded bye men god should geue vs euerlasting lyfe which he neauer did to our forefathers for the holy daies commaunded by himself nor for any other work commaunded in the law We haue before said that there is none other name in which we may be saued but that onely of Christs Acto 4. and the Masse book will that we should be saued in the name of holy daies found out and apointed by men which howe they be kept it is well knowen for that god is muche more offended and mo sundry waies out of doubt on such dayes then on any other These prayers are wicked And if it should be sayd that in such prayers is put in the end Per Christum Dominum nostrum geuinge vs to wit that we be saued by Christ I say that this is not enough because Christ onely or hiâ—… deseruings onely do saue vs and these praiers woâ—… that by the deserts of the holy dayes we should bâ—… saued geuing to the holy daies at the least in parte that which Christ onely doth and so do lesse his honoure Gods word will that Christe onelâ—… should haue this office and putteth no other companion wiht him There be many other praiers iâ—… this wicked Collects but we haue geuen an example of these few lest we should werie the reader mâ—…king the boke to great When the prayers are ended the Epistle is said and after the
things There was not withstanding difference betwene those sacraments ād oures because that thei beside that they were apointed to spirituall things serued also for the bodely things that is to say to the necessitie of the present lyfe for so much as the manna and the water were their dayly meat and drink so that they had two vses the one spirituall because it was to them a sacrament the other bodely the which serued to the necessitie of their bodyes Our sacraments be not so the which be taken onely for the spirituall vse that is to say for sacraments and not for the necessitie of the body To cōclude therfore I saie that seing Christ cānot be eatē nor drunke but after one of these two sorts that is to say spiritually and by faith and then sacramentally also And after these two sortes Christ may be receaued though he be not really that is to say in body and in soule in the sacramēt It is not therfore proffitable and much lesse necessary to affirme such reall being in the same sacrament They that say that Christ is really in that host and in that cup do not know what meaneth to eat and drink Christ sacramentally for so much as that to eat and drink sacramētally as we haue said is none other but to receaue the sacrament that is to say the signe of the holy thinge and doth not meane to take bodely the self same thinge that is represented by the sacrament I might if I wold and did not feare to be tedious to the readers make dyuers other reasons also but it nedeth not and those that we haue made do suffice But let vs put the case that we had made no one reason to proue this oure negatiue that is to say that Christ is not really in the sacrament nor there is not made any turninge of the bread and the wyne into his body and bluod nor that we had not alledged any saing of the scripture the which not withstanding god ayding vs we haue sufficiently done let vs put the case I say that we had done no one of those things yet they of the contrary opinion should not by this haue had their purpose because that it doth not belong to vs to proue our negatiue but it belongeth to them to proue there affirmatiue For eueri one that affirmeth any sainge is boūd if he speak reasonably to proue it If it were not already so plaine that euery man might see it He that denyeth is not boūd to proue his negatiue It is not enough for a mā of what so euer aucthoritie he be for to be beleued to say it is so the matter stādeth thus but he must proue his affirmatiue sainge chefely if it be a matter of weight ād pertaining to faith as this is Nor it is not enough nether to be hable to defend and maintaine it for so much as that many false opinions be with witt with distinctions with wrangelinges and intangelinges defended as thoughe they were true We mai see this by experience in the schoole doctoures and questionists for few or none of them do agree to gether but they be of contrary and d◅uers opinions and alwaies euery one of them defendeth his oune fantasies and they striue cōtinually and it is neauer knowen who hath the right and they confound the minds of men they lose the tyme and cause other also to lose it I desire then of these maner men that they wold proue this their rule or opinion that is to say that Christ is bodely in the sacrament and that the substance of the bread and the wyne be turned into his body and bluod I desire that they wold proue it me other by reason or such aucthoritie as I should be boūd to beleue This my request is iust reasonable and honest By reason they can not proue it this is clere and themselues by agrement do confesse it by aucthoritie how do they proue it They bring furth the old doctours they alle◅ge the determinations of popes and of Councels the common opinion of the churche last of all they alledge Christs words when he did institute the supper that is to say this is my body shewinge the bread and this is my bluod shewinge the wyne and Christs sainge also in S. Iohn Io. 6. that is to saye I am the bread of lyfe I am the lyuinge bread that am come doune from heauen and he that eateth of this bread shall lyue for eauer And the bread which I shall geue is my flesh which I will geue for the lyfe of the world And after truely truely I say vnto you if you eat not the flesh of the sonne of man and drink not his bluode you shall not haue lyfe in you he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath lyfe euerlastinge And further my flesh is veryly meat and my bluode is veryly drink these be the aucthorities that thei alledge To the which aucthorities I answer and first to those of the old doctours that is to say as for exāple of Ireneus Tertulian Cyprian Origen Hilary Athanasius Basill Iōh Chrisostom Gregory Nazianzene Gregory Nicene Cyrill Ambrose Iherom Augustine And such other holy fathers the which labored for Christs church in wrytinge bokes expounding the scripture disputinge against heretiks preachinge and teachinge wherby they do in dede deserue to be honoured for their lerninge and holynes but I say that no one of them nor of the other anucients was cauer of this opinion that Christ should be bodely in the sacrament and much lesse that the substances of the bread and wyne should be turned into his body and bluod but in dede they haue sayd the contrary And thoughe somtyme it semeth that they should affirme that the bread and the wyne be Christes body and bluode yet this is for none other cause but that they speak of the sacraments after the maner of the scripture the which doth call them by the name of the thinges signified by them as we oftē finde that Augustine did Who very often hath declared such maner of speches as we will tell here after And let vs admit also that all the old doctours had bene of that opinion and that all the world wold say it yet ought we not to beleue them if thei bringe not furth the witnes of the holy scripture because that this is a thinge pertaining to faith and faith is ground wrought onely vpon gods worde as paule saith to the Romains Ro. 10. faith cōmeth of hearinge but hearinge is by the worde of god he doth not say by the word of men the whiche may all err but he sayeth it commeth of gods word and the holy scripture is gods worde Let them alledge vs in such thinges the holy scripture and we will beleue them els not And if any wold say and the scripture also was made by men therfore we ought not to beleue it I answer that the scripture is writ-told and made by the holy