this most fonde and fantastical opinion rather by the perswading of your father mother or some other of your speciall friends at these death than for any trueth you know in it or for any learning you haue to defende it at whose earnest request perhappes you haue made eyther a vowe or sworne vnto thē that you would beléeue it as long as you liue and that nothing shoulde allure you from it If any of you haue done so as I thynke some of you haue done so yet you ought rather consider the thing wherefore you sweare or make your vowe than the partie to whom you sweare or make your vowe and the trueth and goodnesse of the matter not the affection you beare to the person Bycause your father mother or some other of your dearest friends beléeued all their liues and their Fathers before them that the breade after the consecration is the verye bodye of Christe yet that makes not that therefore it is the bodye of Christe the heathen and their Fathers grandfathers and greate greate grandfathers before them doe and haue moste wicked worshipped Idolles yea and perhappes some of them at their deathes haue made their children or other whome they loued to vowe or sweare vnto them that they shoulde neuer forsake or refuse to worship theyr Gods or Idols and that they shoulde by no meanes become Christians yet this is not a sufficient argumente to proue that therefore their Idols were Gods and oughte to be worshipped or saye that therefore they shoulde kéepe their othe or vowe to take their Idols for Gods and worship them and not to become Christians If one that hath bene a théefe all his life shoulde at his death saye thus to his sonne come hither my childe and marke well my wordes I haue bene a théefe all my life I haue founde it a verye good trade and I haue liued plentifullye and pleasauntlye withall therefore my sonne I charge thée on my blessing that thou vse the same trade all thy life shall this théeues childe thinke that thefte is a good and honest trade bycause his Father vsed it all hys life and play the théefe and steale as long as he liues for feare of loosing his fathers blessing that were not méet no more ought you to beléeue that a Cake of breade is the verie bodie of Christ and to knéele to it and worship it for Christ thoughe youre Father or mother beléeued so and worshipped it and though they at their death charged you of their blessing so to doe it is better for you to lose youre Father and mothers blessings to haue the blessings of God than to loose the blessings of God to haue the blessings of your Father and mother neuer feare to breake your vowe or promise made to your earthly Father if the kéeping of them will displease your heauenly Father regarde not mans doctrine vnlesse it agrée wyth Gods doctrine care not for mans commaundemente vnlesse it agrée with Gods commaundement and wey not what man doeth charge you as long as GOD doeth not charge you Therefore how farre wide are you howe bewitched are you howe daungerously walke you and as Saint Augustine sayeth In what a miserable bondage of the Soule are you that take the thing that doth signify for the thing signified that take the Sacramente for the thing that is signified by the Sacramente and that take a deade earthy péece of breade for the heauenly and liuing body of Christ And also what horrible Idolatrie doe you committe how derogate yée the merits of Christ and how greatly do you offende the Maiestie of God that knéele too honoure and reuerence a Cake of breade in the stead of Christ the very son of God Did not y e children of Israel highly displease God which immediately after he had so wōderfully deliuered thē out of Egipt frō their enimies did make a golden Calfe and daūst about it saying These be the Gods that brought thee out of the land of Egypt yes truely and Gods wrath being kindled againste them he worthylye therefore plagued them And whosoeuer thinkes that they therefore dyd not iustly deserue the plagues curses y t god sēt vpō them are more sencelesse than swine more brutish thā beasts And I thinke that none of you to whom I write this perswasion but wyl saye that they deserued the same yea if they had bin greater and moe for that they did forgette God so quickly that miraculously deliuered them so lately committing suche wicked Idolatrie to a deade image of a dumbe and senselesse beaste that coulde doe them no good in steade of honoring the liuing God that had done so muche for them and bycause they did attribute theyr deliueraunce out of thraldome which they suffred in Egipt to the Image of a Calfe which none but their liuing and louing God did or could do And further I thinke you wold not be content with them that shoulde say you like wel of their worshipping of that golden calfe And as you thinke not wel of their doings therein So we can not like well of your doings herein for as those wicked and rebellious Iewes moste falselye and abhominably did attribute the wonderfull deliueraunce out of Egypt to a molten image of mettal and did worshippe the same which had neither life nor soule So you most wickedly and Idolatrouslye do worship and honor a péece of breade that hath neither life nor soule and do say this is the verye body of Christe the sonne of God that was borne on the Uirgine Marie which hath brought vs out of the spirituall bondage vnder y e wicked Pharao the Diuel and that hath saued vs by his death from endlesse damnation Doe not you here make a cake or a péece of breade that hath neither life nor soule to be Christ the sonne of God y t hath deliuered you out of Hel as these fond foolish Iews did make a dumbe and dead golden Calfe to be the liuing God that brought them out of the land of Egipt Yes verily and thereby you make that the cake hath done more for you than the golden calfe did for them for their bodies onlye were deliuered out of a shorte thraldome in Egipt but bothe youre bodyes and soules are deliuered oute of the endlesse tormentes in Hell So that hereby you approue that the Cake whiche you say is the very body of Christ and Christ is our onely redéemer out of hel hath done more for you than the Iewes coulde attribute that the golden Calfe hadde done for them And as they honored the golden Calfe for their God so you honor the cake of bread for your Christe O howe witlesse and senselesse are you can any of vs that are liuing soules and made to the Image of God bée equall wyth Chryste the sonne of God no truly and then can a péece of breade be Christ that is a dead and senselesse creature and that God hath made for vs to eate no it is
can not doe For thoughe God be called Omnipotens Almightie yet he is not Almightie bycause he can do al thinges but bycause he can doe all that he will or woulde doe whych the Pope can not do for all he taketh himselfe to bée a God for if he could this our realme of England shoulde not haue béene so long in quyet as it hathe béene And if Christe and the Pope make or haue one Consistorie or Iudgement seate then hereby the Pope maye be copercioner and fellow Iudge with Christe at the daye of Iudgement and iudge both the quicke and the deade But if then the Pope shoulde be so contraâ—ie to Christe and so muche hys enimie as he is here the controuersies of all matters and crimes from the beginning of the Worlde will not be determined and iudged in one daye For one daye woulde be little ynoughe to trye whiche of them shal sitte the vppermost for if he be ther then as haughtie and proud as hée is and hathe bene héere he will scarcelye suffer Christe to sitte aboue him for he that hathe sitâ—e aboue Emperours and kings and hathe made the Emperours necke his foote stoole wil be loath I beléeue to sit beneath Christ that was so poore as he was Nay if his power be aboue all the powers in Heauen and in earth as is before declared you shall sée that the Pope will goe neare to thrust Christ besides his seate and sitte there alone and be Iudge and al himselfe And if the authoritie of the Romaine Churche and the Pope is more than Gods worde as Siluester Prierias doeth write Then when Christ shal sit in iudgemente at the laste daye and hathe seuered the Shéepe from the Goates and bidde the blessed Shéepe to come into the kingdome of heauen and sente the curssed Goates into Hell the Pope maye come in then by hys aucthoritie and say to Christ by your leaue sirra a little séeing you haue giuen iudgement by your lawe I will nowe giue definitiue sentence by my lawe whiche is more than Gods worde And then the Pope maye say Come backe againe yée curssed that Christ bad to go to Hell and looke that yée go into Heauen for I haue appointed it for you to dwell in and you blessed that Christe hath willed to goe into Heauen come backe againe or I wil fetche you and sée that you goe into Hell for that is the place that I haue appointed for you to dwell in And thus maye the Pope by his aucthoritie whiche is more than Gods worde as Prierias sayeth controll and vndoe all Christes doings and sende the godly to Hel and the wicked to Heauen and he himselfe to be in Heauen like a God that liued on the earth like a Diuel What Hel-houndes are these that would make vs beléeue that the Popes power and aucthoritie is more than the word of God But if the Pope in a maner can do whatsoeuer God can doe or if he haue all power giuen hym in Heauen and in Earth as he sayeth then why did Pope Boniface the eight suffer Scaira wyth his souldiours to set fire on the gates of his pallaice and to breake downe the dores and windowes where he was in Aruagium and to enter vpon him and to rifle him of all his goods iewels and Treasure which was suche a deale as Christe and all hys Apostles neuer had And why then did he suffer them to sette him on a wilde and vnbroken colte with his face towardes the horsse tayle and the colte to runne vp and down with him vntil he was almost breathlesse and why did he suffer himselfe to be imprisoned by the sayde Scaira thrée dayes and to be almoste famished for meate thys holye Father that coulde commaunde the Angels to carry mens soules to Heauen I maruell that he did not commande them to come out of Heauen to deliuer him out of prison and out of his enimies handes But be bolde he woulde haue done it if he coulde haue done it And therefore you maye perceiue that he promiseth you more by hys Pardons than he is able to performe for if the Pope hath suche power to pardon you and to forgiue you your sinnes and to sende your soules by Aungels to Heauen then the Pope woulde haue helped himselfe out of prison and thraldome Therefore you maye sée if you wil sée that he tels you that he can doe a greate deale more than he can do for if he coulde deliuer mens soules from Hel he were able to deliuer his owne bodye out of prison And iâ— he be able to bring other mens soules from Earthe vnto heauen where he was neuer then he were as able to bring his own body out of prison to his own house where he hath bin And thoughe the Pope hathe suche greate and high aucthoritie as he hath he claimeth it not but by the aucthoritie of the Scriptures or by excellente and learned argumentes As thus the Sun is higher and greater than the Moone therefore Pope Innocentius sayeth that the Pope is greâ—er and higher than the Emperour this is that holy and méeke Pope that sayde that either he woulde lose his Mitre or else he woulde pul the Emperours Crown from his head Maister Harding to excuse the Pope withal said This is not a reason but a similitude To whom Maister Iewel the Bishop of Salisburie aunswereth as followeth This thing may easilye be graunted for in deede it is a similitude vtterly voyde of either Witte or Reason But who taughte the Pope so childishlye to playe with similitudes thereby to aduaunce himselfe and to abase the Emperour of the Worlde who tolde him that the Pope is the Sunne and the Emperour the Moone or that the Emperour is so farre inferior to the Pope as the Moone is inferior to the Sunne Isodorus that liued 600. yeares before Pope Innocentius the third sayth quite contrarie By the Sunne saith he we vnderstande the kingdome and by the Moone wee vnderstande the Priesthoode whereby he giueth vs to vnderstand contrarie to the iudgement of Pope Innocentius that as the Moone is inferior to the Sun so is the Pope inferior to the Emperour And here is another excellent argumente to proue the Popes aucthoritie both of the Spiritualtie and Temporaltie Peter sayde to Christe Lo heere are twoo swords Therefore Pope Boniface sayeth that the Pope hathe power both of the Spiritual Sworde and of the Temporall Sword Uery wel gest Maister Pope euen so one may say that by as good aucthoritie Lo here are two daggers And then a straunger to him that hath the Daggers may starte straighte-way in and say Marry therefore I oughte to be Lord Chauncelor of England and the Archebishoppe of Canterburie The Pope can lacke no power if suche conclusions may serue his turne Marke what a trimme exposition one of the Popes pâ—n men to maintaine the Pope in his Godhead hathe made vpon a verse of the eighte Psalme attributing
witnesse of it And thus I began with him I pray you sir how long is it since Christ was borne on the virgin Marie and began in his humanitie forsooth sayd he aboue fiftéene hundreth yéere since you will denie this saide I no that I will not saide he for I can not if I would then I answered him again I feare either you wil denie it or else hold your peace which is as good as a grant for qui tacet consentire videtur you are not ignorant I am sure sayd I y t to morrow there wilbe many Masses sayd song though not in England yet in Rome Italie Spaine France and other places that is surely so said he at the same Masses to morowe said I againe you are sure that y e Priests will haue litle cakes vntill the Priests haue consecrated them they are bread yea said he that is very true but assoone as he hath consecrated them said I then it is the very body of Christ that I must néedes graunt sayd he then said I to all them that did sit at the table maisters I pray you beare recorde this Gentleman said in the hearing of you all that to morrowe the litle cakes before the priests consecrate them be bread and immediatly after they haue consecrated the same they are then the very bodie of Christ. So that hereby he plainly affirmes that to morow the bodie of Christ wilbe made of a péece of bread or that a litle cake will become the bodie of Christ whereby the bodie or humanitie of Christe will begin to morrowe notwithstanding he sayd as you did heare but euen now that it is aboue fiftéene hundreth yéeres since the humanitie or the body of Christe first began Which when I had spoken all they at the table did not only hold their peace but also the sayd learned Gentleman had neuer a worde to say Wherein he did wisely rather to say nothing than nothing to the purpose And thus by this true argument he was confuted that by false argumentes thought to confute the trueth And if this argument will not suffice you with diuers before that are infallible but that you wil néedes persist in your most grosse opinion beléeue that the Sacramentall bread is chaunged into the verie bodie of Christe then I would faine know why the Priestes are allowed and doe vse to burne their bodie of Christ when it doth putrifie is mustie or waxe mowlie for they will kéepe him no longer than he is mans meate which shewes that in continuance of time it wil putrifie be mowlie or mustie but what wise mā or what Christian can once think that y e bodie of Iesus Christ the Sonne of the Eternall God the Sauiour of all mankind and the King of all Kings that shall reigne in euerlasting glory can putrifie corrupt or waxe mowlie or mustie But I will go further with you what is that is burned or that was burned when Pope Hildebrand did cast the bread his bodie of Christ into the fire or whereof are the ashes that commes of that you burne or that Pope Hildebrand burned eyther they must be the ashes of the body of Christ or the ashes of bread If they be ashes of the bodie of Christ then why do they burne the bodie of Christe and what wicked wretches are they that burne the bodie of Christ no maruell though they burne the poore seruaunts of Christ when they sticke not to burne the bodie of Christ himselfe But if it be lawfull for them now in this world to burne Christes bodie whiche they make themselues then it is as lawfull for God hereafter in the worlde to come to burne their bodies and Soules that hée made himselfe farre inferiour to Christes bodie which I feare hée will vnlesse they repent betymes this their maruellous abusing of the woorthy Sacrament whiche Christe lefte vs for a memorie of hys death and Passion and for thus deludyng the people of God And if they are the ashes of bread that is burned then why doo they make vs beléeue that it is the bodie of Christe but there are some of you so vnshamefast y t to maintayne your errours haue sayd that neyther the bodie of Christe nor the bread is burned but the Accidentes that is the whitenesse or colour the roundnesse the breadth the thicknesse the taste and the smell is burned and thereof the sayde ashes came that is very strange that a matter or Substance which is the ashes should come of Accidentes This is more than euer I knew I haue heard that Accidents come of a matter or Substance but not Substance to come of Accidents If the Accidents were burned as some of you saye then I would know whether the Accidents of Christes bodie or of bread was burned If you saie they were y e Accidents of Christes bodie that was burned and his bodie is whole and sound and vnburned then you haue drest Christe well in déede you haue made Christe to haue a proper bodie yea such a bodie as fewe haue heard of for then the bodie of Christ is neyther shorte long thicke nor thinne grosse nor leane round nor square and you haue made him also without weight colour taste and smell what a kinde of bodie haue you made Christ to haue for want of his Accidents which are burned there is not such a bodie to be found in all the whole worlde as you haue made Christe if you haue burned al these his Accidents from him If you say you burned the Accidents of bread as the roundnesse thicknesse thinnesse weight taste smell and colour and left the bread remaining vnburned thē you burned no part of the bodie of Christe so your Sacrament was not the bodie of Christ. But I would very fayne sée that bread that you drest in that order it woulde be a strange cake if one might sée it that hath neither colour taste smell thicknesse length breadth nor weight such a péece of bread or cake was neuer yet séene nor neuer will be You may sée what mischieues incōueniences and impossibilities you bring your selues into with maintaining your most false and grosse opinion of Transubstantiation So that whether you burne the bodie of Christ or the bread or those Accidents either of the bodie of Christe or of bread you are confounded your Christ of bread cleane lost and vanished and your Christ of bread proued nothing but bread so you do honor worship knock and knéele to a cake or péece of bread whiche must néedes be most wicked and detestable idolatrie And further if you saie you burne but the Accidentes so mighte Iosias also saie when he burned the Priestes of Baal on the Altars whereon they committed Idolatrie that he did not burne the Priestes nor hurte their bodies for he burned but their Accidents as their colour their length breadth weight thicknesse thinnesse sauour and suche lyke So if the Quéenes Maiestie should burne these Missall Priestes that
rebels in Ireland or not And whether you were sorie that the Quéenes Maiestie and hir subiects did vanquishe them or not And if you be suche English enimies then why shoulde England harbour hir enimies why should Englande foster hir foes why should England maintain them that mean hir mischiefe And why should our Quéene defend them that desire hir destruction Nay rather why doth she not cutte them off that woulde be a confusion to hir and to hir countrey The fewer such were in England the happyer were Englande the sooner they were rid out of Englande the better it would be for England And if there were none suche in England then God would be wel pleased with England Therefore they that wil not be true to the Quéenes Maiestie and to England God send them short life or soone out of England for England were better haue their roume than their throÌ„g their absence than their presence their death thaÌ„ their life Therfore to you I chiefly write that the diuel hath bewitched with Papistry that fond and ridiculous Romish religion whose blindnes I bewaile and whose follie I lament Consider I beséeche you if you be suche as before I haue described are you not then English Enimies your practises haue proued it your murmurings do manifest it youre disobediencie declares it youre obstinacie doth open it and some of your treasons haue tryed it Therfore how can you thinke wel of your selues that enuy the prosperous raigne of so peaceable a Prince that wishe the sorrowe of youre Soueraigne your selues and of al hir subiects that to haue your péeuish pleasure performed would haue the quiet state of your couÌ„try subuerted and that would prefer plant papistrie and displace the pure worde of God But if you be so wilful which is incideÌ„t to your religion y t you wil not yéeld y t you are English enimies yet I trust you will not deny y t you are English Romanists which is y t you haue English bodies and Romish harts wishing rather you had Romish bodies English harts so that it appéers though youre bodies be in EnglaÌ„d your harts are at Rome Therfore we shold be in good case to trust to such fellows to fight againste oure foes if néed were that haue their harts bodies so far asunder for if a souldior be in the field his hart at home he wil fight but faintly so I thinke we should find but faint-harted souldiors of such of you if it came to fighting nay I pray God you change not then your cowardly harts into couragious stomacks become furious fighters on our enimies sides against thys your owne country Wel thoughe oure Quéenes quiet gouerning of you hir merciful vsing of you hir longsuffring of you can not allure you to loue hir yet I thinke you would like hir a great deale the better vppon condition that she woulde giue you leaue to vse the Romish religion and to haue your Masses Trentalles Dyrges and Pylgrimages and suche trumperie without controllment Yea but that were as though Pyrates and théeues should say vnto their King or Prince if your grace wil giue vs leaue to spoyle whome we wyl to xoaue where we list and to steale what we can we wyll loue you and obey you or else we wil not or as thoughe schollers shoulde say to their scholemaister sir if you wyll giue vs leaue to play when we liste then we wil take you for our scholemaister or else we wil not do you not thinke that these are reasonable conditions for Pyrats and Théeues to make to their Prince or for schollers to make to their scholemaister of trueth as reasonable and more reasonable than yours that you would in this case require of thée Quéene and more méete to be graunted For if men did know that Pyrates and théeues had such a plackard of their prince then merchauntes would purposely prepare themselues to withstand them with strong ships wel furnished with men and munition and woulde goe in greate fléetes togither And also true men would make theÌ„ strong houses hauing guns and crossebowes to withstande the théeues whereby the Pyrates and théeues might come to there cost and be killed and the most harme that Pyrates and théeues could do were but to take their worldly goods and perhaps their liues from them hauing no power to hurt their soules And the schollers that should haue suche a license of their scholemaster should themselues haue the worst which when they were men woulde bewayle that for vain vnprofitable play that lasted but a while they had lost most profitable learning which they mighte haue had all their liues But if the Quéenes maiestie should graunt your condition that is to vse Papistâ—ie and Idolatrie at your pleasure that were such a commission for the Diuell against you hir subiectes that thereby he woulde destroy you both body and soule for euer Whose guns Ingins and dartes you were neuer able to resist and all for wante of Gods word which is our chiefest armor and defence against him And so of hir grace you woâ—lde demaunde your owne destruction If hir maiestie had graunted that condition in the first beginning of hir raigne to all that would haue required it I am sure that thousandes at this day had bin blind and ignorant Papists that ar now perfit protestaÌ„ts profâ—ssors of the Gospell and hir most faithfull and louing subiects for though hir godly orders and restraint hath not brought all from Papistry yet I am certaine that of them it hath diminished a great sort For as some of you are altogither wilful and obstinate and wil not heare the word of God so some againe are more tractable and come to the Church wher they hearing the word of God are brought from their blindnesse And further if the Quéene shoulde grant you this libertie and suffer you not to haue or heare the word of God according to your desires then hir grant would be the cause that you should be vnhappy for Christe sayeth Blessed are they that heare the worde of God and keepe it nowe if all they that heare the worde of God are not happye but they that kéepe it then all they that heare not the word of God must néedes be vnhappy and so your desire of your Prince is to be vnhappye and they that are vnhappy are not the children of God then they must néeds be the children of the Diuel and thus you woulde loue or like wel of your Quéene so that she would giue you leaue to be the children of the Diuel But perhaps you wil saye that you doe not despise the word of God nor disdaine to heare it but you would heare it of such as you like of and not of our Prechers is that al you can saye verye well I am sure that our Preachers appointed by the Quéens maiestie do preach saluation only by the death of Iesus Christ to such as do beleue in him they teach that good workes are
waye to escape the fire of Hell and to enioye Paradise truely either they were verye forgetful or else they knewe not so muche of Gods secretes as this Pope Clement did or else they had not such an inuenting wit to prouide a remedie for a mischiefe as he had Wel be it so but what if one of Lucifers diuels by their maisters commaundement shoulde take by force the sayde soule awaye from the Popes Angell and so in steade of Paradise carrie him to Hell then the man that was going to Rome on pilgrimage and dyed by the waye were in good case and then the Pope by his pardon had serued him but a slipperie touch Howsoeuer he serued him y e Pop will so serue them that truste to him and hys pardons for he promised more than the Angels woulde doe for him For if the Popes hadde the Angels of GOD at there commaundemente then why did not Pope Clement the seauenth commaunde the Angels to come from Heauen to deliuer him and his Cardinals out of prison and Captiuitie from the Spaniardes that kepte hym prisoner for Charles the Emperour Peter that was the firste Pope as they saye was deliuered out of prison by the Aungell of GOD not at Peters commaundement but at Gods commaundement whereby it appeares that this Pope thus prisoned was not so holy and vertuous nor so well beloued of God as Peter was for then God woulde haue deliuered him out of prison as he did Peter or else he had not the Angels at his commaundement as the Popes haue made vs beléeue for if the Pope be not able to kéepe his owne bodye out of prison he is scant able to deliuer your soules out of Hell Marke this Pope well that followes and you shall finde that the same was a holy vertuous and chast Pope As the Romishe Churche is counted a spiritual Harlot and called the whore of Babilon with whome the Princes of the earth haue coÌ„mitted spiritual fornication euen so through Gods prouidence to the more manifesting thereof a verye whore indéed did syt in that whorish seate called Pope Ioan the eight hir proper name was Gilberta a Dutch woman of Magunce who went with an Englishe Monke out of the Abbey of Fulda in mans apparel vnto Athens and after through hir dexteritie of witte and learning was elected and promoted to be Pope and so she ruled as a Pope two yeaâ—es and sixe monthes At the last that their holye and spirituall dealing myght better appeare in a generall Procession opâ—nly she fel in laboure and trauel of Childe and so dyed by reason whereof the Cardinals vntil thys day do auoyde to come neare y e stréete where y e holy sea receiued that shame so that then they had no man Pope but a woman Pope But thoughe al this while they lackte a holye Father yet they were sure they had a holye Mother And séeing I haue nowe tolde you of a vertuous and chast woman Pope called Pope Ioan the eight you shall nowe haue as godlye and holye a manne Pope called Pope Iohn the thirtéenth therefore marke him well for thoughe you can learne but small goodnesse of him yet you maye shunne suche mischiefe as you shall reade of him This Pope Iohn from his first bringing vp was full of abhominable vices he was a whoremayster an adulterer incestuous libidinous a gamster an extortioner periured a fighter a murtherer cruel and tirranous Of his Cardinals some he put out their eyes of some of them he cutte out their tongues of some he cutte of their fingers of some their noses and manye other like merciful actes He ordayned Deacons in a Stable he committe incest with two of his Sisters he called for the Diuell to helpe when he plaide at Dice he made Boyes Bishops for money he defloured Uirgins and straungers he made a Stewes of his Pallace of Lateâ—ane he laye with Stephana his Fathers Concubine and with other he putte out the eyes of Bishop Benedict he caused houses to be set on fire he brake open houses he dranke to the Diuel c. Al these things were laide against him in a generall Counsell before Otho the Emperour wherfore he was worthily deposed by y e conseÌ„t of y e Emperor of the Prelats How many of the Prophetes or Apostles did you euer heare that was such a one as this holy Pope Iohn was It was time for the Emperoure to vnpope him or else within a while hée woulde haue turned all vpside downe whereby euery one would haue thought that the Diuel himselfe had bin Pope of Rome But I maruel that he commaunded not the Angels to come and destroye the Emperour and Prelates for doing so and that he made not the saide Angels to garde and defende his bodie and to kéep him stil in his chayre of estate séeing al the Angels are at his becke and commandement But belike they were then either asléepe or else they were otherwise occupied It séemes that this holy Pope Iohn did striue with Nero Caligula and Heliogabalus whiche of them shoulde be the moste likest to the Diuell for hereby it appeares he went not about to resemble Christ whose Uicar the Pope makes you beléeue he is therefore the Diuels Uicar hée might wel be for Christes Uicar I am sure he was not vnlesse in this that Christ was not there wheresoeuer hée was Here followeth now a good merciful Pope Pope Iohn the fourtéenth therfore you that would learne to be merciful learne of him for he hathe lefte you suche a patterne of mercie as Christe neuer lefte among the Iewes whiche Pope Iohn being taken by one Petrus the head Captaine of the Citie and two Consuls twelue Aldermen and diuers other noble menne and by them clapte in prison eleauen monthes not without due desertes was after deliuered by the Emperor the execution of which Petrus the Emperour committed to the discreation of the sayde Pope Iohn whiche Pope choosing rather to followe the Diuell by crueltie than Christe by mercie caused the sayde Petrus first to be stripte naked then his heade to be shauen and to be hanged by the heire a whole daye togither after that to be set vpon an Asse his face turned backward and his handes bounde vnder the Asses tayle and so to be ledde through the Citie that all men mighte sée him that done to be scourged with rods and so banished the Citie But yet I can not but muse that the Pope hath al power in heauen and in earth and hauing the Angels at his commaundement that he woulde be taken prisoner suffer hys enimies so to vse him but we must thinke that it was rather of humilitie than for lacke of abilitie Here is another mercifull Pope called Pope Boniface the seauenth he caused Pope Iohns eyes to be putte out and after to be throwen into prison where he was as some saye famished Some saye he was slaine by Ferrucus Now you shal haue a verye humble a merciful
an Innocent Pope gaue to Philip the French king full remission of all his sinnes and the possession of al the realme of England to him to his heires if he eyther did kill King Iohn then King of this realme or expell him Was not this a frée and liberall Pope that would giue whole kingdomes at once this is more than euer Christe gaue that euer I heard of for he neuer gaue any remission of sinnes nor yet any Kingdomes for killing of Kings or of any other or for driuing them out of their owne kingdome or countrey Pope Boniface saide that Whoredome is no more sinne than the rubbing of the handes togither Some of you say that this our religion doth giue libertie to sinne but these wordes of the Pope doe not séeme greatly to forbid or restraine sin Saint Paule saieth that neyther whoremongers nor fornicatours shall enherite the kingdome of Heauen But I neuer heard that either he or Christ said that they that rub their hands togither shal not inherite the kingdome of heauen therfore rubbing of our hands togither is no sin but Whoredome is a great sin if the Scriptures be true therefore the Pope is a most wicked liar to saie that is no sinne that God Christ and the Apostles called sinne And as here he cals whoredome no sinne which is a great sinne so in other places the Popes call that a great sinne which Christ doth not cal sinne And thus you may sée plainly that the Pope is both in his sayings and doings cleane contrarie to Christ therfore if you followe the Pope you are then contrarie to Christe and so no true Christians Pope Sextus at the request of Petrus Ruerius a Cardinall of his owne making and of Ierom his brother permitted and graunted vnto the whole familie of the sayde Peter the Cardinal in the thrée hotte moneths of Sommer Iune Iuly and August frée leaue and libertie to vse the sinne of Sodomitrie a thing most shamefull to be vttered but most horrible and abhominable to be licenced or permitted What a wicked Pope was this that did licence and permitte that which God doth so detest that therefore he consumed Sodom and Gomora and whole countries with fire from Heauen And now as these that committed this detestable sinne were destroyed with fire from Heauen so I feare this Pope Sextus and other that licence and allowe it shall be tormented with fire in Hell Pope Clement the sixthe poysoned Lodowike that good vertuous and godly Emperour whiche shewes what hée was for euil men haue oftentimes poysoned good men but good men neuer poysoned euil men Therefore you may sée that this holy Pope was not of God but of his father the Diuell who was a murtherer from the beginning who teacheth his children to be of his owne occupation Pope Alexander did set his foote on Frederickes necke the Emperour when the said Emperour told him that he yéelded that honor not vnto him being Pope but vnto Peter yes sayd the Pope both to me to Peter so he placed himselfe before Saint Peter Be not here pretious Popes to make Emperours beléeue that Peter lookes for such honor Surely it is verie straunge that Peter should looke for that now being dead that he neuer desired when he was aliue nay when he was aliue he was most humble and willingly suffered the Emperour to put him to death now that he is dead would he so faine tread in Emperours necks or take pleasure that other shall do it for him truely I can not beléeue it nay I am most sure he doth abhorre it Therefore if pride be godly then your proude Popes are holy Pope Marcellinus was an Idolatour and Pope Siluester the seconde was a Coniurer and gaue himselfe wholy both body and soule to the Diuell by the Diuels procurement was made Pope must not these be good vertuous Popes when the Diuell muste be faine to make them Thus you may sée if you will not winke for the nonce that the Popes that name themselues Christes Uickars to bryng themselues in credite are neuerthelesse the Diuels Chaplaines for as they onely were Christes Apostles that Christ did chose and allow so they are the Deuils disciples that he doth elect and authorize And now bycause this sayd Siluester was made Pope by the Diuell therefore he was none of Christes but the Diuels deputie to determine and order things for the Diuel as no doubte but he and all other such like and of his religion haue done Pope Iohn the two and twentith was a cruell wicked Tirant he proclaymed al them for Heretikes that taught that Christ and his Apostles had here no possessions Bicause the Pope would not be poore like vnto Christ therefore he would haue Christ to be rich like vnto hym so bycause he can not resēble Christ therfore he wold haue Christ to resemble him and therfore he woulde haue it blased abrode that Christ and his Apostles were rich and had great possessions not that he would be like them in vertue but that they shoulde be like him in wealthe and thus he makes them Heretikes that tell trueth of Christe and them to be his Catholikes that shal tel lyes of Christ thus you maye sée howe the Pope Christes Uickar is vnlike to Christ for Christ would haue vs say true and the Pope would haue vs to lye Pope Clement caused certain of the electours to choose a new Emperour for he liked not the old which was Lewes Truely Christ nor all his Apostles neuer caused a new Emperour to be chosen I maruell that Peter did not cause a newe Emperour to be chosen in the steade of Nero when he was Pope for I am sure that the Emperour that the Pope did depose was not so euill as hée But whereas Peter was contente to suffer an euill Emperour to raigne our holye Father the Pope will not suffer a good Emperour to rule Pope Gregorie promised the kingdome of Heauen to all thē that fought against the Emperor thus he set Kings and the Emperour togither by the eares and encouraged his subiectes to rebell against him But I neuer read in the Scriptures that heauen should be gottē by fighting against their Prince or for one to murder kill another But I remēber well that Christ saith but it is something contrarie to the Popes wordes Blessed are the peacemakers for they shal be called the children of God Now if we may beléeue Christe who is of as good credite as the Pope the Pope will hardlye performe this his large promise For if the peace-makers shall be called the children of God then the peace-breakers who are cleane contrarie to them shall be called the children of the Diuel And I trust the Popes authoritie doth not extende so farre to giue the kingdome of Heauen to the children of the Diuell for heauen is onely appointed for the children of God as Christ doth
knéele to him and kisse his féete surely he woulde haue done it But séeing these holy Fathers Popes who you do so reuerence and whose lawes you so loue did not learne these Luciferlike doings of Christ nor of his Apostles then surely they must néedes learne them of the Diuell who will reward them one day if they haue not repented for learning his lessons so well and for putting that in practise that he taught them If the Pope did not meane to kéepe the people in blindnesse errour what reason shoulde then leade him to kéepe the Scriptures from them and not to haue the same in their vulgar tongue You sée that children schollers are suffered to haue rules in their owne tongue that they vnderstande to make them Gramarians they that learne Arithmetike are permitted to haue the Rules of that science in the tongue they vnderstande to make them Arithmeticians they that studie Geometrie are permitted to haue the same in such a tongue as they vnderstand that they may become perfect Geometricians they that desire to learne Phisicke are suffered to studie the same in the tongue they vnderstand wherby they may be perfect Phisitions so of all other Sciences And shall not wée then that professe Christianitie be suffered to haue the lawe of Christ to looke on the lawe of Christ and studie the law of Christ in that tongue that we vnderstand whereby we may become perfect Christians Nay we haue more néede that meane to be Christians to haue y e law of Christ in our mother tongue that we vnderstand than they that studie any other Sciences For the sciences that they studie can but make them Doctors to maintaine them here to liue a while but our lawe of Christ if we studie it and practise it well will make vs Saintes and the sonnes of God whereby we shall liue in Heauen for euer And therfore the lawe of Christ which is the Gospell hath most néede of all other lawes sciences to be in the vulgar tongue y t euery one may reade studie vnderstand it vnlesse you wil say y t it is not méete for euery one to be Christians or that it is not méete for euery one to be saued Therefore howe iniuriously and tyrannously doeth the Pope vse the people in taking Gods worde from them that should guide them to heauen and without which they must néedes wander in darkenesse and fall into Hell If many goe out of their way which they haue gone in a faire bright day then it is impossible for one to goe right in a darke night where they knowe not the way or neuer went before Wherefore the childe of God will be willing that his brother shoulde haue a torche or a candle to guyde him in the darke Then may not he be called the child of the diuell that doth put out the candle or torche purposely that his neighbour hath in his hand for y e lighting of him home in the night and leades him a wrong waye in the darke whereby he falles into a ditch and is drowned yes truely and none will iudge the contrarie Then must the Pope néedes be a most cruell and diuelish Tyrant that pluckes the light of Gods word from vs that should guide vs to heauen so leades vs in the darke out of our way into the déepe pit of Hell where we shal be drowned both body and soule For he doth not onely burne Gods worde but also burnes them that haue it in their hands to light them withall and to guide them in this darke worlde to the kingdome of Heauen Perhaps some of you will say that we doe belye y e Pope for he suffereth vs to haue y e scriptures in Latine Yea marry but that is euen as though one should take the burning candle out of the launtorne and suffer the launtorne still in our handes and doe you thinke that then we shoulde sée to kéepe our way aswell as we did before No I trowe Euen so though we should haue the Bible in Latine and vnderstande neuer a worde of Latine what shoulde we then bée the better for the Bible Perhaps you will say that your Bishops Doctors and Priests would teach vs the right meaning of it and would leade vs the right way forsooth that they woulde as they haue done alreadye and as he that plucketh out the bright lincke out of ones hande and leades him in the darke into a ditche and so makes him to be drowned If one ment that I should go right he would not put out the Candel and leade me in the darke No more the Pope meaneth that we shoulde walke in the right way to Heauen that blowes out the Candel of Gods word and leads vs in the darke which way he list Nay he that is my friende and woulde haue me goe right wil not only suffer me to haue a linke to light me in my way in the darke but also he himselfe wil direct me in my waye Euen so if the Pope and his Prelates were of GOD they woulde not onelye suffer the people to haue the word of God in theyr vulgar or known tong that they vnderstande to guide them in the way but also they themselues would preach Gods word vnto them and so directe them the right way to heauen Therfore as théeues hate the light and desire to be in the darke bycause they woulde not be spyed so the Pope bycause he is a spirituall théefe hates the lighte of Gods worde and woulde not haue the people to haue it but kéepes it from them and suppresseth it least they by that light should spye his théeuerie and perfectly perceiue that he is a spirituall théefe For he knowes that Gods worde is the chiefest lighte of all other whereby to espye a spirituall théefe being well assured that if they hadde the lighte of Gods worde that then he coulde neyther robbe them of theyr goods and treasure as he daylye doeth neyther woulde they honour estéeme or credite him but take him for a Théefe a murtherer the enimie of God a destroyer of soules and the very Antichrist as he is in déed And therefore by no meanes he can abyde that the people shoulde haue Gods worde openly in theyr vulgar or knowen tongue for it woulde shewe them what he is what he hath bin and to what slauerie bondage and thraldome he brings them For as the word of God in our English tong hath vttered reuealed him what he is and therby out of estimatiō with our Prince vs here in England Euen so he knoweth well ynough if the word of God were in al other realmes in their vulgar tong they would then estéeme him no more than we do And so the Pope bycause he hides the Gospel and takes it from the people which shoulde chiefely guyde them hates the light and so is a spiritual théefe Christs enimie Therefore it séemeth that Christ did not chose his enimie to be his Uickar but the
Pope knewe that it was a good way to bring him in credite For if kings rulers and Lords of the earth which may be deceiued do chose as nie as they can their most dearest and trustiest friendes to bée their presedents and deputies then I am sure that Christ the sonne of God and the King of all Kings that can not be deceiued if he had ment to haue had a general vickar on the earth woulde haue made one of his dearest and trustiest friendes his vickar and not his mortal enimie And therfore the Pope may saye what he wil but al wise men do sée that Christ neither takes him for his vickar nor yet for his Curate Can he or his chaplaines be the children of God that prefers ignorance before knowledge I think not some of them haue affirmed that ignorance is the mother of deuotion O Lord how contrarie are these mē both to God and to his son Christ nay ignorāce of Gods word is rather the mother of mischiefe the father of falsehoode the sister of sinne the son of sedition the daughter of disobediency the coosin of conspiracie and the Captaine of crueltie Ful wel the Diuel knew that ignoraunce was the next way to bring the Pope to promotion and the people to destruction for their ignorance made them thinke that none but the Pope or his Prelats did know the truth And their blindnesse did make them beléeue that none did sée perfectly but he and his pretious Prelates So that for wante of knowledge of Gods word which of purpose they kept frō them they beléeued that al they spake was true and that it was the very right way that they did lead them So that the peoples ignoraunce was the occasion of the Popes credite his credite the cause of his gaine his gaine the cause of his power his power th◠cause of his pride his pride the cause he made Emperours and Kings his seruauntes or rather slaues and thus the ignoraunce of Gods worde brought the Pope to promotion the Princes to subiection and the people to destruction And if you mark wel you may perceyue that the Popes suppressing and the keeping of Gods worde from the people is a manifest argument that he is neither Christs vickar nor his deputie nor that he loues Christe For Christe sayde to Peter louest thou mee to whome Peter sayde yea Lorde thou knowest that I loue thee then Christ saide to him againe Feede my sheepe c. So that Peters loue to Christ appeared by féeding of Christes shéepe whiche was not by féeding their bodies with meate and drinke but by féeding their soules through preching to them the Gospel Now if they loue Christe that féede his shéepe then they must néedes hate Christ that starue his shéepe neuer preching to them at all And such a one is the Pope for he neuer preacheth therfore he neuer féedes Christs shéepe Nay besides that he doth not only trouble molest hurt burne and kill suche as do or would féede Christes shéepe but also hideth kéepeth backe and burnes the Bybles and Testaments leaste the people shoulde loke on them and féede themselues So that here it is manifeste that the Pope loues not Christ bycause he féedes not Christes shéepe And he that loues not Christe muste néedes hate Christe and therefore the Pope being Christes enimie can not be the vickar of Christ. And here also is a great contrarietie betwéene Peter the Pope though he claime to be Peters successor for Peter loued Christ for that he fed Christs shéepe but y e Pope hateth Christ bycause he sterueth his shéepe yea and also kils his shéepe So that the Pope doth not succede Peter in any thing vnlesse it be in denying of Christ. Here it plainely appeareth that the Pope maye wel be the Uicar of the Diuel for Christes Uickar sure he can not be I am moste certaine that it was Christes wil that hys word should not be kept from any though it be the Popes will it should be rightly knowen of any For would Christ haue vs kepe that we neuer heard of and would he haue vs searche we know not what no Christe was neuer so vnreasonable For Christ sayth vnto vs all If you loue me keepe my commaundements that is whatsoeuer he hath willed by his word But how can we knowe what is his commandements y t we should kéep if none declare thē vnto vs neither read thē our selues nor yet haue thē red vnto vs Therfore if our louing of Christ depēd on y e kéeping of his cōmandements thē how cā we loue him séeing we can not knowe his commaundements So that y e Popes kéeping or hurding of Gods word from the people is the cause they can not kéepe Gods commaundementes And their not kéeping of Gods commaundements is the cause they doe not loue him and their not louing of him is the cause that he hates them and his hating of them will be the cause of their dampnation And thus the Pope is the first worker of the ignorant peoples damnation Christ saith also Search the Scriptures for they are they that witnesse of me but how can they search the Scripturs that haue not the Scriptures to search neyther know how to come by them now if the Scriptures witnesse what is Christes wil and pleasure and if their searching and looking therein wil shew them how to performe his wil and please him and the pleasing of him would be the cause of their saluation Then the Popes hiding and kéeping the Scripturs from them is the cause they cānot heare read or search the Scripturs and not hearing reading or searching of the Scriptures is the cause they cannot know the wil of Christe and the not knowing the wil of Christe is the cause they can not please him and their not pleasing of him is the cause they please the Diuel and the pleasing of y e Diuel is y e cause of their dānation And thus once again y e Pope is the chief cause of the ignorant peoples dānation Christe saith also Blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it so that they that heare the worde of God and kéepe it not are vnhappy Nowe if all they that heare the worde of God are not happy then all they that heare not the worde of God muste néedes be vnhappy for there are none happy but they that kéepe or folow the word of God but howe can they kéepe the word of God that neither heare it nor reade it Nowe if the hearing of Gods worde is the cause that they kéepe it and their kéeping or following of it is the cause they are happye or blessed then the Popes restrayning of Gods word frō the people is the cause they doe not heare it and their not hearing it is the cause they cannot kéepe or followe it and their not kéeping or following of it is the cause they are vnhappy and theyr vnhappinesse is the cause of their damnatiō
And thus that holye Father that names hymselfe the Uicar of Christe whome you so muche estéeme fauour and honor the third time is proued to be the chiefe cause of the ignorant peoples damnation by kéeping them from the worde of God which is their onely guide to Saluation Christe bad al his Apostles go throughout the worlde and preache the Gospell and to teach al Nations to obserue all things that he commaunded them whiche is a manifest token that he that woulde haue it preached to all would not haue it kept away or hyd from all What Emperor King or other Prince that makes good orders lawes for their subiects to kéepe with penalties of death for the breaking thereof woulde locke vp the same in their Chests and neither suffer them to be proclaimed nor their subiects to looke on them nor know them yet would put them to death that should break the same Truly there was neuer any Emperour or Ruler that were so vnreasoble For it were méete that their subiectes shoulde learne reade heare vnderstand the lawâ—s that they are bound to kéepe For how can they kéepe these lawes they know not Then it staÌ„deth as much with reason that we should learn know search study and heare the word law of God not to haue it hid or kepte from vs the kéeping and not kéeping wherof stands vpon our euerlasting saluation or damnation Therfore it is a moste diuelishe and tyrannous part of y e pope to take y e word of God from vs which Christe hathe left behind him only to leade vs to heauen to leade vs in y e darke with his Idolatrie and superstition to bring vs to Hel. Saint Paule saith There is no damnation to theÌ„ that are in Christ Iesu but how can they be or abide in Christe that neither sée heare or reade the law of God that should teach them to be or remaine in Christe Whatsoeuer S. Paule saith Pope Bonifacius telleth vs an other manner of tale who saith if we may beléeue him That There is no Saluation without the Churche of Rome And also the glose of the same saith Quicquid saluatur est sub summo Pontifice Whatsoeuer creature is saued is vnder the highest Bishop that is the Pope Here is neither mention made of Christ nor of his Gospell Christ and Saint Paule may both be deceiued but the Pope cannot erre for Christ prayd for Peter that his faith should not faile therfore the Pope cannot erre But why not thus rather Peter denyed Christe his Maister therefore the Pope denyes or forsakes Christ I think this is the more likely and truer argument for if Coniurers Idolators Murtherers Heretikes Blasphemers Fornicators Apostatas Periured persons that giue theÌ„selues body and soule to the diuel as Pope Siluester the second did that deny forsake Christ then the Popes haue erred and haue denyed forsaken Christe for they haue bin such as before is manifestly proued Therefore if the Pope holde any thing of Peter it is his denying of Christe But as they deny Christe with Peter so I beséeche God that the Pope and his Prelates may repent with Peter and not to forsake him with Iudas And though Christ prayed for Peter yet he prayed not that the Popes shoulde be Coniurers Idolators Murtherers and suche like as before is declared Christ saith moreouer My Sheepe heare my voice whiche is the Gospel Euen so the diuel may say My Goates heare my voice whych is Papistrie Thus it is manifest that they that heare not the gospel which his Christs voice are none of Christes shéepe Then the tyrannous Pope his murthering ministers that heare not Christes voice that stop their eares at his voice that suppresse and burne the Gospel his voice that torment murther and kill his shéepe that heare his voice are none of Christs shéepe And if they be none of Christes shéepe then they muste néedes be the Diuels Goates For there are none but must néeds be the one of these two that is either the shéepe of Christ or the goates of the Diuell And truely there is no better marke whereby to knowe Christes shéepe than by hearing of Christes voice whiche is the holy Gospel And there is no plainer marke whereby to know the Diuels Goats than by refusing to heare the Gospel which is the voice of Christe Therefore if you entende to be Christes shéepe then heare the Gospell Christs own voice But if you had rather be the Diuels Goates then refuse as you doe to heare the Gospell and care not for Gods Gods worde but loue and obey the Pope and followe Papistrie whych is the voice of the Diuel Here may you plainely perceiue that the Popes doctrine is to refuse the Scriptures in the mother tongue and so not to heare the voice of Christe therfore they that are of the Popes doctrine are none of Christes shéepe bicause they heare not Christs voice so that you by the refusing Gods word which is Christss voice you make your selues to be none of Christes Shéepe Therefore flye from Papistrie and hearken to the Gospell the voice of Christe that you may bée Christes Shéepe and so to bée placed on the right hande of Christe at the laste day in the Kyngdome of Heauen For assure your selues if you wil not heare the Gospell whiche is Christes voice you can be none of Christes shéepe yet to heare Christes voice is nothing vnlesse you vnderstande his voice For though the Iewes heard Christs voice when he preched to them in the Hebrewe tong whiche they vnderstoode yet if one should come vnto vs and preach the Gospell in the Hebrewe tong we should be neuer the better for though wée hearde his voice yet we shoulde not vnderstande his word whiche is the right hearing of Christs voice When the Nobles and chiefe of Thessalonia receyued the worde of God whiche Paule preached they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things that he preached were so or no but these Scriptures were not then in the Latine tong but in their mother or vulgare tong that they vnderstoode when they did reade them or else what should their searching of the Scriptures haue profited theÌ„ If one did lacke fire thogh he had a flint stone lying by him did not know ther were fire in it or if he knew it could not tel which way to get y e fire out of it what were he y e better Euen so thoughe the vnlearned in the Latine tongue had the Bible in Latine lying by them what were they the better Therefore I muse what learning or reason shoulde leade you that it is sufficient for vs to haue the Scriptures in the Latine tongue that we vnderstande not that in the Primitiue Churche and a greate while after were in the common tongues Saint Augustine was not of youre minde who saide The holy Scriptures passing from one tong and beeing publyshed abroade farre and
which Christ did teache in the Scriptures euen so she hath with their vaine fonde and superstitious fastings quite banished the true fasting required by the Gospell For Christ in the Gospell sayth When ye fast be not sad as the hypocrites are c but when thou fastest appeare not vnto men to fast but vnto thy Father which is in secret thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Here Christ doth appoint vs that we must not let it bée knowne when we fast but the Popes faste is so published and the dayes so commonly and openly commaunded and appointed that euerie one may knowe when they fast So that Christ hath not appoynted his fasting so priuily but y e Church of Rome proclaimes hir fastes as openly Christ hath appointed no dayes nor times for his fasting the Churche of Rome hath appointed dayes and times for hir fasting The meaning of Christs fasting is to abstaine froÌ„ whatsoeuer either meats or drinkes y t makes vs prone to sinne The Popes fast is to forbeare fleshe onely but permits men to eate all kynde of fishe thoughe it be neuer so daintie and deliciously drest and all kinde of Iunkets and banketing dyshes with delycate wynes as muche as wée will cramme and poure in Christes fast is to kéepe our bodyes lowe to be in subiection to the spirite but that is not performed in the Popes fast but by their daintie dyshes and drinkes the Spirite is brought in subiection to the bodie Christes faste is a willing an vncompelled abstinence the Popes fast is a constrained abstinence and is done of many against their wils Christes fasting is to make vs vertuous and holy before God the Popes fast is hypocriticall and to make vs séeme holye before men This is difference enough to shewe you that the Christian fasting of Christ and the common fasting of the Pope are farre vnlike and doe not agrée so that the one shall haue his rewarde hereafter of God and the other hath his rewarde alreadie of men Therefore beléeue not that your accustomed fast of the Church of Rome came either from Christ or his Apostles for neither Christ in his Gospell nor the Apostles in their Epistles doe once commaunde it or affirme it and therefore we can not allowe it S. Augustine one of the excellentest Doctors whose iudgement I trust you will not refuse writes vpon what dayes we ought not to faste and vppon what dayes wee ought to faste I fynde it not appoynted or lymitted by anye commaundement eyther of our Lorde or of the Apostles But what if Saint Augustine had wylled vs to faste on suche dayes as the Pope doeth appoynt and a thousande other learned men moe yet wée are not bounde eyther to beléeue or follow him or them vnlesse we finde their sayings agrée with Gods word for Gods word must leade them but they may not leade Gods worde Therfore bicause your Popish fast is not commaunded nor allowed by the holye Scriptures but cleane contrarie to the same as before is proued therefore it is superstitious wicked and highly displeaseâ—h God and so of vs Christians ought not to be vsed nor commended but vtterly to be eschued and contemned vnlesse it be vsed for worldly pollicie God commaundes vs to refraine swearing euerydaye but for fasting he appointes vs no day but the Pope commaundes vs to faste certaine dayes but byds vs not forbeare swearing any daye yet manye of you regarde the Popes lawe so much and Gods commaundement so little that you thinke it a heynous matter to breake the fasting dayes that the Pope hath commaunded but make it no matter of conscience to sweare euery day which God hath forbydden therefore kéepe the fasting dayes commaunded by our Quéene for good order and pollicye and not for the Popes pleasure for his holinesse or hypocrisie Thus you may sée howe farre wyde you wander and all bicause you will not giue your selues to the hearing and reading of the Scriptures Consider further of your holy Romish Religion which attributes to oyle health of body and soule and remission of sinnes which no oyle but the bloud of Christ can doe And therefore a most blasphemous doctrine Thus the oyle is blest Fiat domino hoc oleum c. O Lorde let this oyle by thy blessing be made a spirituall oyntment to purifie both soule and body And also this is to be said ouer the sicke Per hanc Sanctam vnctionem c. By this holy annoynting thou maist haue remission of thy sinnes Is not this a precious oyle trowe you whereby we may haue remission of our sinnes you may sée what vertue is in the Popish Priests wordes that can make such a precious oyle truely if God had remeÌ„bred this oyle he might haue spared Christ his deare sonne from dying O what a horrible and blasphemous doctrine is this that is taught by your Romish Churche S. Thomas de Aquino which may be S. Thomas of Watring in Englishe saith Some saye and that not without good reason that a man may obteine remission of his venial sinnes which are not deadly sinnes onely by entring into a Churche that is consecrate If one had suche a Churche it would neuer lightly be emptie and it is purposely noted in the glose vpon the Decretalles that veniall sinnes may be remoued eyther by a Pater noster or by holy water that it may be so by a Pater noster which is the Lordes prayer so that it be faithfully sayd I wil not denie but that the popish Pater noster spoken in Latine of them that vnderstande not what they say or els that holy water will do it I will in no wise graunt Thus the church of Rome hath founde out an other manner and way of forgiuenes of sinnes then either Christ or his Apostles euer taught what a damnable doctrine is this to teach remission of sinnes by such toyes and trifles which can be had by no meanes but by the passion death of Christe May not you thinke that the church of Rome is of a pure doctrine and of a perfect religion that allowes and ordaines that Belles must be baptized and christened and allowes Godfathers therefore and giues them a name and puts a coate on their backes to kéepe them from colde as children haue when they are Christened truely I haue redde and perused the whole Bible and the new Testament thorowly and yet I could neuer read in any parte thereof of the christening of belles Marry I remember that Christ a little before his Ascention sayd to his Disciples all power is giuen to me in Heauen and in earth go ye therfore teach all nations baptising them in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost c. but then he made no mention of the baptising of Belles for if he had the Apostles would haue baptised Belles aswell as the Popes Suffraganes and then we should eyther haue heard of it in the Actes
and taught them therefore this is no souÌ„d grounde for your Masse to stand on whereby it must néeds sincke and come to nothing Surely if this your Masse came from Christ or were so auntient and so godly as some of you take it to be then your owne Doctors and great Champions of the Churche must néeds haue known and not say there were many abuses in it Doctor Stephen Gardner that was Bishop of Winchester saith That the vse of the ministration vnder one kinde that is of the Masse as it is now vsed began first not of Christ or his Apostles or of any ancient learned father but onelye of the simple deuotion of the people whyche may be called error wel ynough for those people that lacke the knowledge of Gods worde must néeds be in error and then their error did bréede their simple deuotion and their simple deuotion did bring forth the same Masse and so by Doctoure Gardners iudgement youre Masse as it is nowe vsed is builded on plaine error and whatsoeuer is builded on error must néeds be false and vngodly and so your Masse by your owne Doctors dayment is false and vngodly Albertus Pighius one of the Popes chiefest postes affyrmeth That there are many abuses in the Masse If the Popes diuine Doctors finde faulte with the Masse then why shoulde you thinke that the Masse is so holy and ful of Uertue And Maister Harding whiche was a mightie defender of the Popes doctrine cannot tell when your priuate Masse first began or who saide it first of all wel though he can not tel when your Masse began yet we can tel when our Communion began and who he was that was the first authour and sayer of it whiche was Christe the sonne of God who saide it the day before he suffered his passion Wherfore if you can proue that your Masse is ancienter than our Communion and that it was first said by a better man than by Christe we wil then refuse our Communion and embrace your Masse but vntil you do that we wil not do the other but bycause Maister Harding cannot tell who said the first Masse I wil now tel you who saide it firste in Latine and where it was said One Iohn Portuensis being the Popes Legate almost 700. yeres after Christ did say the first Masse in Latine before the Patriarch and Princes at Constantinople in the Temple of Saint Sophie Here we haue gotten at first eight hundred yeres from your Masse so that it is not so olde as oure Communion by eight hundreth yeares and I am sure that Iohn Portuensis that firste saide youre Masse is scantly able to compare with Christe that firste saide our Communion Yet your Masse that you so muche reuerence and estéeme was not then in his perfection nor fully finished For it séemes that then it was so vnperfect that it was a péecing seauen hundreth yeares after and then made vppe at the laste as it is So that hereby it doth plainely appeare that youre holy Masse was not come to hir full growth two hundred yeares since But it is almoste sixtéene hundred yeres since oure Communion beganne firste instituted by Christ and the Apostles and holy fathers vsed this our Communion according to the Scriptures but your Masse was patchte vppe by the Pope but of late and vsed of his Prelates and Priests and is not to be founde in anye parte of the Scriptures and cleane contrary to the same Therefore you may well call the Popes Masse a newe lawe and not our Communion vnlesse you call it new bycause it agrées with the new Testament Thus you may sée that your Masse was patchte vppe of late and your owne Doctors say it came not from Christ nor his Apostles that there are manye abuses in it and that they know not how nor when it firste began therfore it is méere madnes for you to estéem the Masse any longer And thoughe this be sufficient yet as I haue proued the Masse caÌ„not be good so I wil proue that the priests be most wicked that say the Masse if they be wicked that are guiltie of the body bloud of Christ. S. Ambrose an auncient learned father and a Doctor of good credite called one of the Doctors of the Churche saith Is indignè sumit qui aliter sumit quam Christus instituit Hee taketh it vnworthilye that is the Sacrament that taketh it otherwyse than Chryste ordayned it Nowe Christe commaunded it to be done in his remembrance the Priest doth it in remembraÌ„ce of dead meÌ„ Christ tooke bread left it bread the Priest taketh bread and coniureth it quite away Christe toke breade and gaue thankes the Priest taketh breade breatheth vpon it Christ toke breade and brake it y e Priest taketh bread and hangeth it vp Christ toke bread and dâ—lt it to his Discipels the Priest taketh bread and eateth it vp euery whit himselfe Christ in a Sacrament gaue his own body to be eaten in faith the Priest for lacke of fayth receiueth accidents as whitenesse roundnesse weight thickenesse and such like without the substance of bread as they say Christ gaue a Sacrament to strengthen mens fayth the Prieste giueth a sacrifice to redéeme mens sâ—ules and Christe gaue it to be eaten the Priest giueth it to be worshipped and to conclude Christe gaue breade the Prieste sayeth he giueth the very bodye of Christe Here is difference ynough betwéene Christ and the Priest Beside all this Christ spake in such a tong that he the Apostles knew what was spoken but the Priest speaketh in latine that fewe or none vnderstande him what he sayeth And sometimes the Priest himselfe scantly vnderstandes what he sayth And thus bycause y e Priest receiueth it otherwise than Christ did appoint it he taketh it vnworthyly to his condemnation Therfore the Priests were best to leaue saying of Masse to their owne condemnation and saye our communion to their saluation And for al this Maister Harding though he knewe not by whom nor when the Masse began yet he was not ashamed to say That the Masse is the moste highest and moste honorable seruice that is done to God in his Churche If it be so I maruayle that Christe was so forgetfull of his deare Father that he neuer spake of it that we mighte thereby highlye and honorablye serue GOD. And if he hadde tolde it to hys Disciples in secrete that they did neuer vtter it Therefore vntyll it bée more crediblye affyrmed than on Maister Hardings bare worde there is no wyse man that wil beléeue it And if the Masse were so high and honorable a thing and that it were a sufficient sacrifice both for the quick and the deade and that thereby we might be cleane clensed of our sinnes I much muse that God did not tel his deare son Christ of it when he so earnestly prayed a little before his death saying Oh my Father if it be possible let this cup
beyng breade and wyne are signes of the bodye and bloud of Christ which is an inuisible grace for Christ is the greatest fauour and grace that euer God bestowed vpon vs or sent vs. Further this is the true diffinition of a Sacrament Sacramentum est signum rei sacrioris se. A Sacrament is a Signe of a holyer thing than it is it selfe And for that nothing is more holye than the bodye of Christ and it beyng a Sacrament is a sygne of a holyer thing than it is it selfe therefore it can not bée the body of Christ. And marke these arguments that followe Nothing is done in the remembrance of it selfe But the sacrament is vsed in the remembrance of Christ Therefore the Sacrament is not Christ. Againe Christ neuer deuoured himselfe But Christ did eate the sacrament with his Apostles Ergo the Sacrament is not Christ himselfe And againe one thing can not be both visible inuisible But the Sacrament is visible and the body of Christ is inuisible therefore they are not one Which Saint Augustine openeth well by these wordes Aliud est Sacramentum aliud res Sacramenti c. The Sacrament is one thing the thing of the Sacrament is an other thing the Sacrament is that goeth into the bodye the thing of the Sacrament is the bodye of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. Saint Augustine sayeth also Euill men haue the Sacrament but they haue not the thing of the Sacrament which is the bodye of Christ that the Sacramente doeth signifie By these sayings it appeares plainly that the Sacrament is one thing and the bodye of Christ is an other thing S. Ambrose saith of the bread and wyne Sunt quae erant c They remaine the same that they were and are chaunged into an other thing That is they are made the Sacrament of y e body bloud of Christ which before they were not S. Ambrose saith let the word be added to the elemeÌ„t or outward creature it is made a Sacrament that is to say another thing Sacraments are signes or tokens of things being by substaÌ„ce one thing signifying an other thing So saith Chrisostom of the water of Baptim when this creature of water hath receiued the holy ghost it is made a Sacrament And now it is not water to drinke but water to sanctifie not coÌ„mon water but water to refreshe Thus the Element or outward creature both remayneth and is changed S. Augustine saith it is so called after a sort that is not in truth of matter but by a mysterie signifying that the sense maye be this it is called the bodye of Christ that is to saye it signifyeth the body of Christ. Hereby it appeares by the iudgementes of these learned wâ—yters that the bread and wyne are changed by the worde into a Sacrament being breade and wine still in substaunce and so are changed into an other thing then they were before for before they were but onelye breade and wine and nowe they are a Sacramentall bread and wine signifying the body and bloud of Christ. So that the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord is a figure and signe of the body and bloud of Christ and not the verye body and bloud of Christ. These holy and learned men that wrote of this worthy excellent changing of the Sacramentes neuer knewe of the Popes changing or transubstantiation or turning of the breade and wyne into the bodye and bloud of Christe but if any were so wicked to write it so deuilish to declare it or so pestilent to persuade it of all them and all suche Saint Augustine doeth write thus This is a myserable bondage sayeth hée of the Soule to take the Sygnes in steade of the things that bee sygnified But whether there were then any suche or no hée hath fully touched you that takes the Sacrament that signifyes the bodye of Christ for the body of Christ. And therefore by his sayings you are in a myserable bondage of your soules that takes the sacrament for the body of Christ whereas it doth but signifie the body of Christ. Therefore for the loue of God release your soules and your bodyes also out of that myserable bondage and take it for a memorie and remembrance of the bodye of Christ as the Scriptures doe will you and the Doctors doe persuade you and beléeue not the Popes turning or changing or transubstantiation of the breade into the body of Christ for it is not true nay it can not bée true For it is not foure hundreth yéeres since it was first allowed or authorized by Pope Innocent the thirde and his Prelates whiche muste néedes come from the Diuell as the rest of the Popes holye Religion dyd aswell for that neyther Christ did teache it nor the Apostles did once mention it nor the auncient Doctors did affirme it or beléeue it as also for that is repugnaÌ„t to scriptures to the doctrine of the Apostles and to the writings of the holy and learned Doctors And though you haue bin persuaded that it is most sure and infallible doctrine the chiefest postes and pillers of the same are not onely in great doubt thereof but are at their wittes ende and knowe not well what to saye therein for Peter Lombard y e chiefe general of this campe of this transubstantiatioÌ„ saith thus as followeth Some meÌ„ iudge thus some saye thus some haue written thus some graunt this some other haue thought thus that the very substaunce of the breade and wine remayneth still Here is but a madde agrement of the learned to proue the same If so many learned men say by the confession of the chiefe champion of this matter that there remaynes still breade and wyne in the Sacrament then it were a verye madnesse for all you to beléeue that it is the very body and bloud of Christ neyther bread nor wyne But marke what Peter Lombard saith him selfe hereof that takes vppon hym to iudge these doubtes howe he is resolued or howe hée agréeth in iudgement wyth himselfe his aunswere is thys Si autem queritur c. If a question were moued saith he what maner of conuersion or change this is whether it be in forme or in substance or of some other sort I am not able to discusse it Here may you see saith M. Iewell the blinde leadeth the blinde he that setteth his foote before the rest and would be taken for a guide knoweth not where to set his owne foote Gabriel Biell sayeth howe the bodye of Christ is there whether it bee by chaunging of something into it or Christs bodye beginne to bee there with the breade both the substaunce and the accidentes of the breade remayning styll without chaunging it is not founde in the Cannon of the Bible c. Thus doe the learned Doctours of the Pope teache you they can not tell what But this I wyll saye if it bée not to bee founde in the Bible it shall neuer be founde
in my beliefe Marke further howe the Popes learned Doctors agrée in this the Popes transubstantiation or chaunging of the breade into the body of Christ Some of you holde saieth M. Iewell against M. Harding in his defence of the Apologie that Christes body passeth downe into the stomacke some say that it onely entreth into the mouth and goeth no further some other say assoone as the formes of the bread be grated with the teeth straight way the bodye of Christ is caught vp into heauen Another of you saith that a mouse can not eate it yea but if she might catch it she would aske no better dinner Peter Lombarde the grand maister of your Schoole is piteouslie confounded in the case and can not imagine poore man what thing it should be that the mouse eateth for after he himself had moued the question what is it then that the mouse receyueth or what eateth it he answereth now God knoweth as for my paâ—te I can not tell Such is your doctors Maister Harding saith M. Iewel such is your doctrine Thus farre hath M. Iewell written You may sée what a sounde doctrine this is of your transubstantiated bread into the bodie of Christ and how certain it is whereon the Popes doctors so diuersly descant Therefore séeing the learned Papistes are not fully resolued among themselues of this their Christes bodie that they saie is made of bread what fooles are yée then that do so stifly maintaine the same and that will so faithfully beléeue that they so firmely doubte and to take that for the bodie of Christ that a Mouse will eate and deuour But bycause some of these learned do saie that a Mouse wil eate it I am of their opinion if she may come by it and then if she eate bread then it is not the bodie of Christ and if it be the bodie of Christe then it is but a simple Christ that will suffer a Mouse to eate him therefore turne it which waie you will you bring your selues into the breares Consider I beséeche you the absurde and vile sayings and opinions of them of the Popes side touching the same whose wordes be these If it be said that a Mouse receiueth the bodie of Christ it is no great inconuenience And Alexander of Hales a great Schoole doctor in vnséemely and grosse manner doth saie If a Dog or Sowe saith he should happen to swallowe downe the whole hoste beyng consecrate I see no reason but the bodie of our Lorde may passe withall into the belly of the Dogge or of the Sowe Is not the doctrine of this holy Romish Church woorthie to be embrased and followed that hath such heauenly doctrine in it what execrable wretches are these that woulde make Christes bodie which is most holy and glorious and is in Heauen on the right hand of God the father to be deuoured of Dogges and Swine If such leaue not to allure and leade the ignorant from the trueth and forsake not their abhominable papisticall Religion and doctrine betymes I feare thy shall haue their portion with Dogges Swine Owles and Gotes in the endlesse and vnquenchable fire of Hell from whence neyther the Pope nor their Christ of bread shall euer be hable to deliuer them Marke how Diuelish and detestable Maister Harding writes in the defence of this doctrine of Transubstantiation at the Supper of our Lorde saith he ministred in the Catholike Church by Priests rightly consecrate there is the true and holy bodie of our Lord and Sauiour giuen and receiued be the receiuers beleeuing or not beleeuing If this be true that M. Harding sayth then it skilles not whether we beléeue in Christ or no so that we may once get it into our mouthes and eate it But S. Augustine and other ancient writers are of a contrarie opinion to M. Harding For he saith Quid paras dentem ventreÌ„ crede manducasti Why prepares thou thy tooth and thy belly beleeue and thou hast eaten Thus by S. Augustines rule beliefe is chiefly required to the receiuing of the Sacrament though M. Harding makes no accompt whether we beléeue or not S. Cyprian calleth the Sacrament Cibum mentis non ventris the foode of the minde or Soule not of the belly Tertullian sayth Christe must be deuoured by hearing chewed by vnderstanding and disgested by fayth Saint Augustine sayth To beleeue in Christe that is the eating of the bread of lyfe And he saith also Vnlesse yee eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee shall haue no life in you Christe seemeth by these wordes sayth Saint Augustine to commaunde vs to doe an horrible wickednesse for it is an horrible matter to eate mans fleshe or to drinke mans bloud Therefore this is a figure commaunding vs to bee partakers of Christes passion and comfortably to laie vp in our minde that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. Therefore the eating of the Sacrament or Christes body with our mouthes as Maister Harding doth dreame is not to eate Christes fleshe and drinke his bloud for this holy Sacrament of Christe supper is the foode of the soule not of the bodie and as the bodie hath a mouth whereby it dothe féede Corporally so hath the Soule a mouth whereby it doeth féede Spiritually which mouth of the Soule is faith and as our bodies are fedde and norished by eating of meate so are our Soules fedde and nourished by beléeuing in Iesus Christ. For if there be none other eating of Christes body wherby we shall haue eternall life but only by the fantasticall fleshly eating with our mouth and téeth then how can the holy Fathers in the old time before Christe be saued as Abraham Isaac and Iacob Moses Dauid Samuell and other of the holy Prophetes that neuer did eate the Sacrament with their mouthes neuer knew it There haue bene a great sorte of godly Martirs yong christian childreÌ„ besides the théefe that died with Christe on his right side whome Christ promised that he should be with him in Paradise that haue not with their mouthes eaten this Sacrament yet I trust fewe will therefore saie that they are al damned But if this eating of the Sacrament with the mouth as M. Harding saith and many of you beléeue be the true perfect eating of y e body or flesh of Christ then there is none other shift but they all must néedes be daÌ„ned As it appeareth by Christs owne words for he saith vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you Hereof we must néedes coÌ„clude if your Romish religioÌ„ doctrine be true that AbrahaÌ„ Isaac Iacob Moses Dauid al the Patriarkes Prophets and other holy men al y e godly Martirs al yong children yea the théefâ— that Christ promised to be with him in Paradise y t neuer did eat or receiue the Sacrament with there mouths haue no lyfe but are
into wine that is one creature into an other contrarie creature the Priestes woulde make vs beléeue that they turne a creature which is bread into Christ which is no creature but God Mā the sonne of God creatour maker of al things So that Christes body cānot be made of bread nor of any other thing for Christ is the Sonne of God and was not made but was begotten by God his Father and was conceyued by the holy Ghost and borne on the virgin Marie Therefore let it neyther sinke in your mindes that a péece of bread or a cake can be turned into the bodie of Christe nor that the bodie bloud of Christ is to be eaten and drunke with our mouthes and so to be conueyed into our bodies as other meates and drinkes are but they are onely foode of the Soule and must be eaten and drunke of the same by faith as before is declared If the Canibals are to be abhorred bicause they deuour and eate mans flesh their enimies whome they take in the warres are not you then much more to be detested that are not ashamed to eate and deuoure with your mouthes and téeth the very bodie of Christ your great high friend the onely Sauiour of all the worlde Bels Priests were much more to be commended than the Popes priestes and were not such Caniball rauenours as they be for they did honor their God Bell and did but eate his meate from him but the papisticall Priests after they haue honoured the bodie of their Christe they eate him cleane vp deuoure him Are not these fellowes woorthy to haue a Christ that after they haue honored him a litle do then eate and deuoure him that he shall neuer be séene againe If a King Cyrus did put the 70. Priests of God Bell woorthily to death for eating their Gods meate from him surely then our Quéene might more lawfully put the papisticall Priests to death that eate and deuoure vp their Christ himselfe But the Priestes haue none other song but this Christ sayd This is my body therfore it is the bodie of Christ and Christ bad them eate it and therfore according to Christes commaundement they eate the bodie of Christe well the meaning of those wordes and what is the true eating of Christes bodie is sufficiently expressed before but to driue you cleane from this grosse and absurde errour marke wel these reasonable argumentes following As Christ did say this is my bodie so he said I am the waye c. yet wée must not thinke therefore that he is a very waie that leades vs from Towne to Towne or that wée muste treade or goe vppon him when wée walke or goe to any place as the proude Persian Prince Sopores vsed to treade on a Kings backe when hée got vp vpon his Horse But as this worthie Sacrament doth signifie Christes bodie which by his death hath redéemed vs Euen so Christe is our Spirituall waye by whome we must go to Heauen And as our common wayes leades vs in our earthly trauell to the place wée determine to go so Christe doth onely lead and direct vs in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen Christe also saith he is the light of the worlde If wée shoulde take these wordes litterally and as they are spoken then wée might say that Christe is the Sunne that shineth dayly vpon vs for the Sunne is the chiefest lighte that wée in this worlde doe sée by and without it we could not so perfectly direct our iourneis in this worlde as wée do But Christ doth not meane that he is the Sunne or any suche light But as the Sunne doth gyue vs light to direct our iourneis on the earth so Christ being the Sunne of God doth shyne and giueth vs our whole light in our Spirituall iourney to Heauen And thus Christe is the light of the worlde that in this worlde doth light vs to Heauen Christe also sayd I am the doore but wée muste not thinke though he sayde so that he is a very doore but in some respect is lyke vnto a doore for as the righte and readie waie into a house is to go in at the doore so Christ is the very true doore of Heauen by whome euery one must enter that shall go into Heauen And as Christ calleth them Théeues that enter into the house any other waie but by the doore euen so they are Spirituall théeues and enimies to God that goe aboute to enter any other waie into Heauen than by Christe the true doore of Heauen And this is the true meaning of Christe that sayd he is the doore Christ also sayd haue I not chosen twelue of you and one of you is a Diuell meaning Iudas that after betrayed him if we may credite old wiues fables the Diuell hath hornes and clouen féete yet we must not thinke though Christ called him so that Iudas was turned or Transubstantiated into a Diuell and had hornes and clouen féete But as the Diuell is a murtherer and a betrayer of innocent bloud so Iudas did resemble the Diuell in betraying his innocent maister Christe and in procuring his death Thus you may sée that the wordes of Christ are not alwayes to be vnderstanded litterally as Christe spake them no more ought those wordes spoken by hym of the Sacrament But if all this that is sayde herein will neyther satisfie nor persuade you I woulde fayne knowe of you whether the bread is turned into Christes bodie that was vncrucified or that was crucified if you saye it was his bodie that sate among his Disciples at his last Supper before hée was crucified then how coulde he die on the crosse after séeing his Apostles had eaten his bodie before If you saie it was his bodie after it was crucified that coulde not be for when he brake the bread to his Disciples he was not then crucified therefore he could not gyue them his crucified bodie to eate for then it was not crucified for as one can not gyue to any baked bread before it bée baked so Christe coulde not gyue hys crucified bodie to his Disciples before it was crucified And thus euery way you are dryuen to a mischiefe There was a learned man he was a maister of Arte at the least chaūced to be at supper where I was with diuers other who said then that he would proue by Scriptures by learning that the bread after it is cōsecrated by a priest is the very bodie of Christ the same that was borne on the virgin Marie whome then I asked if he would stand to his worde and he said he would then I said to him againe that I would eyther make him denie his worde yéeld vnto me or else hold his peace for want of answere who answered me againe as it séemed both proudely and disdainfully saying that I was to yong a Scholler to do that Then I sayd againe if I do it not then let all them at this table beare
of the Scriptures and other learned Writers seauen thousand yeres then he that hath pardon for twentie thousand yeres is sure of ynough for thoughe the Pope may make you beléeue that his pardons will pleasure you before the day of Iudgement yet I hope that none of you beléeue that they will doe you anye good after the daye of Iudgement wherefore they that haue pardons from the Pope for twentie thousand yeares or nowe for two thousande yeares and payde their money to him for so long if they shoulde goe to Hell by and by the Pope dothe them greate wrong to suffer them to goe thither before theyr pardons be out and if they shoulde goe to Heauen then the Pope hath done euil likewise to take mony of them for me yeares than he was able to performe therefore it séemeth that the Popes pardons were naught bicause he gaue men more yeres than there néeded For if his pardons had bin good he would rather haue giuen them fewer yeares than they ought to haue He that sels water in steade of wine thoughe hée be a niggarde wil neuer sticke to giue more than measure It apperes that Frier Ticel the Popes pardner thought that the Popes pardons were of greate force and that the Pope that did graunt them had eyther greater aucthoritie than God had or else at the leaste equall aucthoritie wyth him for he made his Proclamations to the people openlye in the Churches as followeth Althoughe a man had laine with our Lady the mother of Christe and had begotten hir with childe yet were he able by the Popes power to pardon the faulte This is déepe Diuinitie they that woulde not giue mony for these pardons were not worthy to lie w t a fair womaÌ„ he y t can pardon one y t should get Christs mother w t child he is able to pardon Priests for keping of harlots I think if one had got a child on Christs mother if he were here on earth or aliue I thinke the Pope though hée were a bastard would make him Legitimate and I think they would make him more than the brother of Christ for I beléeue he would say it were Christ himselfe for he that makes a Cake to be Christ woulde surely make our Ladies second sonne to be Christ. What folly and fondnesse is this your Romish religion to pardon such vndecent and impossible things but as many of the things are ridiculous foolish vnméete to be named that the Pope promiseth to pardon So all his pardons that should pardon them are vayne toyes and bables to please fooles withal and of Christians are to be derided reiected and to be abhorred And now for that your Popish pardons were not manifested by Moyses not proclaymed by the Prophets not authorized by Christ not allowed by the Apostles not mentioned of the Martyres not declared by the Doctours but quite contrarie to Christ and his Gospel and is a maynetayner of mischiefe a procurer to wickednesse and a libertie sinne therefore they are to be detested and abhorred wherefore flye from them and trust no more to them and séeke only for Gods pardon which he will giue you fréely and shal cost you no mony only for y e loue of his deare son Iesus Christ. If the Popes pardons were so pretious his blessings so godly and his relikes so ful of vertue as some of you haue made witlesse woodcocks beléeue Then why did M. Smith hang himselfe in his Chamber who commonly did weare an Agnus dei aboute his necke hauing besides a Crucifixe whiche he broughte with him from Louaine why did the Parson of Grondal in Kent dye sodainely in the Pulpit hauing there presente the Popes pardon And why did the Suffragane B. of Douer breake his neck going down a paire of staires immediately after he had receiued the Cardinals blessing why did the Bishoppe of Winchester Steuen Gardener being pardoned by the Pope a little before his death-say That he had denyed with Peter but repented not with Peter and died so horribly stinckingly and desperatly as he did with diuerse other that ioyfullye receiued the Popes religion into England had the Popes pardon Surely if euerye one were of my mynde and opinion séeing so euill â—ck followes them that haue the Popes pardons relickes and blessing the Popes Bulâ— shold be kept in store to bread the Popes calues his blessings he should kéepe vntill we were yong Children againe and came to aske him blessing â—nd his Agnus dei and Crucifixes and his other whimwhams should be kept in store vntill haruest than to be hanged about the haruestdams neckes to make them gay withal and so though they did not much good yet they should do no great harme If a Chirurgion should promise that he coulde would help al kind of sores wounds aches vlcers impostumes al other pains and griefes that are so cured by surgerie yet for al his great brags promises curseth neuer a one but leaues them as he found them or rather worse fewe within a while after would set that Chirurgion on work or giue him anye money for his salues playsters or oyntements If a Phisition with a great show of learning shold take vpon him to helpe the diseases that were to be cured by Phisicke and therby should receiue much money of many and for all that neither helpe nor ease any suffering theÌ„ to dye vnder his hand few within a while would come to him for Phisike neither would any I think buy any of his medicines nor would receyue anye of them thoughe they might haue theÌ„ for nothing And can wée be so wise cyrcumspect to refuse the Chirurgions salues and the Phisitions medicines that helpes not or hurtes our bodyes And yet so foolish to buy the Popes paltry pardons that destroyes both oure bodies and soules séeing it is thus I muste néedes saye that the Pope hathe the beste lucke in vttering of his wares of all that euer I knew or hard for though his pardons are starke staring noughte and doe muche harme yet manye are so witlesse and foolishe and so farre in loue with the Pope and his pardons that rather then they shoulde not haue them they would goe to Rome with great paine trauell and cost and pay dearelye for them when they come there thoughe they hang themselues drowne themselues breake their neckes and dye sodainely when they come hom But to haue Gods pardoÌ„ in their owne house which brings eternall life without any trauel labour paine or cost and without paying anye thing at al they make none accoÌ„pt Thus you of this wicked Romish religion had rather with payne pay dearelye for your damnation than with ease at home and fréely to haue your saluatioÌ„ therfore if you are wise or wel in your wits let al wise men iudge If Christ had vsed the Iewes in this sorte as the Pope doth vse you that is to promise much performe nothing so manye woulde not haue followed
pleasure to talke of their tormentes yet they had no great pleasure in féeling their torments But who I pray you did put them to death in their errour false heresie as you call it euen they y t are of your holy Romish Church who without repētance shall answer y e shedding of their guiltlesse bloud yea some haue not sticked to say that they that were burned were damned which was but a hard iudgement first to iudge their bodies to be burned here on earth and after their soules to be burned in Hell they will not stand to this iudgement they will rather appeale But if they died in errour and are damned as some of your religion saide then who was the cause of their damnation forsooth euen they that condemned them and burned them for thoughe they had bene so wilfull to burne in an euill opinion yet they shoulde not haue bene so mercilesse to haue burned them in that opinion If you should sée a mad man running into a pit to drown himself would you run after him thrust him into the pyt The children of God would rather pluck him backe saue him frō drowning Euen so if they had bene such heretikes as you would make them their opinions so damnable as you report them why did your holy religious brethren of the Churche of Rome so cruelly burne them whereby they were damned haue you no greater zeale to your brethren but so rashly and vncharitably to sende them to hell Euerlasting damnatiō is an horrible and dolefull thing for they that are there once shal be in torments vnspeakable in hell fyre for euer and euer worlde without ende And can you or any such looke to haue any mercie at Gods hande that thruste your brethren being as you say in a damnable opinion or heresie first into the fire here and burne them from thence sende them into an other fire the fire of hell where they shall burne for euer truely you may looke and hope for mercie but if you refraine not from this your heathenish crueltie and repent the same vnfaynedly you are more like to goe without it than haue it You that are such burners of your brethren herein doe condemne your selues for most cruell and mercylesse tyrants for you burne them here and after say they be damned The Franciscane Friers of Paris in Fraunce maye séeme to bée more charitable than the Popishe persecutors before mētioned for they whiles one was in a good opinion as they said hanged him vp quickly bicause he should be saued go to Heauen but these said cruell Papists haue burned their brethrē bicause they should go to hel Marke it wel for it is worth y e hearing There was a ritch marchant mā in Paris who said in 〈◊〉 to the Friers of S. Fraunces you weare a rope about your bodyes bicause S. Fraunces once shoulde haue bene hanged and the Pope redéemed 〈◊〉 vppon this condition that all his lyfe after he shoulde weare a rope Upon this saying the Franciscane Friers of Paris caused him to be apprehended and to be laid in prison also iudgement past vppon him that he shoulde be hanged But he to saue his life was content to recant and so did the Friers hearing of his recantation commended him saying if he continued so he should be saued and so the Friers calling vpon the officers caused them to make hast to the gallowes to hang him vp whiles he was yet in a good way sayd they least he fal againe And so this Marchant notwithstanding his recantation was hanged Thus though some of you do burne men to send them to hell yet these charitable Friers did hang this Marchant to sende him to heauen But as your burning of vs contrarie to your saying doth bring vs through Christ to saluation so I pray God that the Friers hanging of the Marchant contrarie to their saying did not bring him to damnation If the Popes Friers do hang men for iesting against them then it is no maruell though the Popes Champions doe burne men for speaking against them in earnest The hanging of this Marchant may well be iustice according to y e Popes lawe but it is scant iustice by Gods lawe nor by the lawe of any godly Prince These holy Friers might learne this of the Diuell for I am sure they neuer learned it of God You shall sée by Christes wordes whether you that doe this murther and persecute your brethren are of God or the Diuel Christ saith Whatsoeuer you would that men should doe to you do euen the same to them Now weigh with your selues would you be content that if you were heathen men or Iewes that other shoulde burne you and sende you thereby after to hell I thinke not Christ saith Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie but the Papisticall persecutors are vnmercifull tyrantes as their burning of their brethren and their saying after they be damned do euidently declare therfore you that are the Popes persecutors are vnhappie shal not obteine mercy vnlesse as I said you repent in time But we are most sure that they are not gone to Hell as some of your sect haue both boasted and bragged for they are vnder the Altar where the rest of the Saints Martirs be that haue dipt their garments in y e bloud of the Lambe But if they had bin in errour or Heresie thus you would haue serued them And though they died willingly they died not in Heresie and yet they died not so willingly as the mad man I spoke of parabolically but that they woulde haue liued if they might with a safe conscience without denying Christ. For you droue them to a mischiefe eyther to be burned here in your fire and to saue their endlesse life in Heauen or else to saue their life here and to burne for euer in Hell who remembred Christes wordes which are these Whosoeuer shall denie me afore men him also will I denie before my father in Heauen Thus you may sée what cruell Tirantes the Pope and his partakers are that without all pittie and mercie do burne and kill vs here to burne vs and kill vs euerlastingly in Hell And yet the Popes for all this call themselues the Seruants of Gods Seruants but if the Pope be such an vnderling then he vsed y e Emperour his maister but homely when he made him lie downe and trode in his necke and also if the Pope be the Seruant of Gods seruants then he is a very euill seruant that hath killed so many of his maisters And now you shall haue an other infallible rule that our Religion is the true Religion and that the true professors and followers thereof are of the kingdome of God The Popes kingdome is encreased and mainteyned with crueltie murther and persecuting but Christs kingdome increaseth by humilitie by being murthered and persecuted for though the true Christians are dayly killed and murthered yet their number is
dayly increased for kill they neuer so many yet let them tell them they shall finde them mo in number And so doth no other religioÌ„ in the world but it therfore there is no better marke wherby to know the true religion the church of Christ than by persecution by increasing thereby And hereto Tertullian agréeth who saith Crudelitas vestra nostra gloria est Your crueltie is our glorie your earnest crueltie is an entisement and a prouocation to this sect as often as ye recken vs ye find vs mo mo the seede is Christian bloud Thus it appeare that the Gospell of Christ growe and spring by being troubled persecuted so as I said doth no other religioÌ„ But the Popes doctrine would decrease if they should not trouble and persecute When the Emperour Adrian had yéelded to graunt one church within the cittie of Rome certaine of his priuie CouÌ„sel aduised him in any wise not to do so for that they said if the ChristiaÌ„s might haue but one church within the Citie the whole people would al become Christians and thereby their idols churches should be forsaken EueÌ„ so if y e Princes that holde on the Pope his religion would cease froÌ„ their killing murthering burning tormeÌ„ting of the professors of the gospel suffer them quietly to teach preach the gospel that would to haue the Bible the coÌ„mmunion in the Churches surely the Bible would driue away al y e images the CoÌ„munioÌ„ would quite ouerthrow their Masses y e truth of Gods word would vtterly confound abolish the Pope al his false doctrine Which the Pope knowes wel inough therfore he kéepeth the Kings Rulers not only in errour blindnesse but also persuadeth theÌ„ to be persecutors of theÌ„ that professe the Gospel And as Christ is mercifull so the Pope is cruell not to the wicked but to the godly for the Pope kil them that professe the Gospell whom God would haue preserued and not killed but harlots fornicators aduouterers Sodomites and incestuous persons which God appointeth to be executed stoned to death he preserueth maketh much of maintaine Christ saued a woman from being stoned to death y e had deserued to die by the law but the Pope cleane contrarie burneth kilteh murther them that ought to liue both by Gods lawe and mans lawe If Peter were Pope of Rome as some of you beléeue then marke how his doings did differ from the Popes practises for Peter did giue sentence of death against Ananias Saphira his wife the children of the Diuell so were suddenly stroken to death by the powre of God for lying but the Pope his Prelates pronounce sentence of death agaynst the children of God and burne them for speaking of truth And thus the persecuting Pope will néedes be contrarie to Christe do and say what we can Therefore if Christ be good as he is then the Pope is euill as he is for that they be so contrarie for Christe was méeke and mercifull the Pope is proude a tyrant Christe was poore y e Pope is rich Christ was in subiectioÌ„ to Emperours Kings y e Pope maketh the Emperours Kings his subiects seruants the Iewes did offer to make Christ a King but he refused it the Pope maketh himselfe a King of Kings and no man doth offer it Christ was the Author of peace the Pope is the author of wars Christ forbad sinne the Pope doth licence to sin Christ preached the Gospel the Pope suppresseth y e gospel Christ was persecuted killed the Pope doth persecute kill Therfore as Christ is the sonne of God so is y e Pope the child of the Diuel vnlesse he turne frame himself to the fashioÌ„ of Christ otherwise theÌ„ he doth This I hope is sufficieÌ„t for you to know of whose church they are y e do murther persecute eueÌ„ of the church of the Diuell for he was a murtherer from the beginning for as I saide murthering persecuting are badges of the Diuels church but let y e Pope be assured y t God is not only angrie with him for this his cruel murthering and persecuting but also wil pluck downe his pride at leÌ„gth for if God were angrie with king Saule put him from his kingdome bicause he killed not Gods enimie king Agag according to his coÌ„mandement then you néede not doubt but y e God is angrie with the Pope will put him out of his Popedome that killeth his friends contrarie to his commaundement And though the Pope call them Heretikes burne them bicause they will not woorship images and idols and obey his Diuelish lawe yet they are the children of God and though he burne their bodies he can not hurt their Soules But if they be Heretikes that put away idolatrie whiche God doth commaunde them then what is the Pope and his Prelates that doe sette vp Images and committe idolatrie whiche God doth forbid but though the Pope call them Heretikes that hée persecutes for professing of the Gospell and sayth they be damned yet Christe is of a contrarie opinion for he sayth Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theires is the kingdome of Heeauen Nowe if the kingdome of Heauen be theirs that are persecuted for righteousnesse then they that the Pope persecutes for testifying the Gospell which is trueth and righteousnesse are sure to haue the kingdome of Heauen though the Pope tell vs they are damned And if the kingdome of Heauen be theirs that the Pope persecutes then surely the kingdome of Hell is the Popes that thus doth persecute them So that by Christes owne wordes the Pope though he say hée can saue whom he will and can gyue the kingdome of Heauen to whome he liâ—te is so nie dryuen that he himselfe is like to dwell in the kingdome of Hell And no maruell for he hath bene so lyberall in gyuing to so many the kingdome of Heauen that thereby he hath quite dispossest him selfe of Heauen and therfore he is very lyke to dwell in Hell Wherfore if you woulde auoyde Hell haue no desire to burne your bretherne nor to persecute the professours of the Gospell for thereby you prouoke Gods wrath and also increase his kingdome and get the Diuels fauour decaye the Popes kingdome There is no striuing against God it can be no good bulwarke that is builded with bloud Suffer the house of God by the preaching of the Gospel to be builded for what soeuer you pluck downe in y e night he will builde it more to againe in the day and God will ouerthrow in the daie whatsoeuer you builde in the night For when the wicked Emperour Iulian in dispite of Christ had giuen the Iewes leaue to build repaire their Temple the Princes power assisting them no power séemed able to withstand their purpose Then God himselfe from