Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	part_n	5,261	5	4.5208	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19367	A supplication exhibited to the most mightie Prince Philip king of Spain &c. VVherin is contained the summe of our Christian religion, for theprofession whereof the Protestants in the lowe Countries of Flaunders, &c. doe suffer persecution, vvyth the meanes to acquiet and appease the troubles in those partes. There is annexed An epistle written to the ministers of Antwerpe, which are called of the confession of Auspurge, concerning the Supper of our sauiour Iesus Christ. VVritten in French and Latine, by Anthonie Corronus of Siuill, professor of Diuinitie.	Corro, Antonio del, 1527-1591.; Corro, Antonio del, 1527-1591. Epistle or godlie admonition, to the pastoures of the Flemish Church in Antwerp. aut	1577 (1577)	STC 5791; ESTC S116690	149,833	422

as they terme them ●ut for other men wonderous necessarie ●or they saluation But some wil men say what shal be●de these of daintie and delicate persons ●hat are soddainly swapte vp with death ●re they can haue these merits of Monks ●applied vnto them and enioye them in ●heir full perfection for it séemeth theyr soules shoulde be in present peril of eternall damnation as who say they may in good time take vp their Inne in Purgatorie whence they maye easyly escape when it shall please the Popes holinesse to open the treasures of Christes bloude and applye vnto them the merrites of Saints and the monkes to commun●●● 〈◊〉 vnto them largely and liberally parte 〈◊〉 their good workes and playe with th● giffe gaffe lyke good fellowes And th● is welnéere the summe of the Popish doctrine concerning satisfaction to pa●● ouer a thousande dreames and blasph●mous lies whyche these men haue de●sed againste the redemption of Christ● perfected moste absolutely by the shedi● of his moste precious bloude Of the satisfaction for sinnes according to the word of God. IF your maiesty most mighty prince haue with any diligēce considered 〈◊〉 obserued that which hath bin said lately before your highnes vnderstandeth right well that there was no mencion made at all of the benefit bestowed by Christ our sauiour wheras the scriptures do minister vs no other comforte to our afflicted consciences than the redemption of oure lord and sauiour Iesus Christ that euerlasting prieste after the order of Melchizedeck whiche offered vp himselfe to the iustice of god a propitiatiō for al the sins 〈◊〉 mankinde the burthen wherof he layd ●d caried vpon his own shoulders as the ●ophet Isay saith therfore gaue vp his ●dy to bée broken to bée sacrifized and ●fered to God his father And to the intent the matter might be ●ade more plaine and euident bycause 〈◊〉 is of so great and singuler commoditie ●e muste repeate a little of that is sayde ●efore concerning the estate of mā in sin ●●oued with repentaunce and sorrow for ●he same For when hée is sommoned to ●ppere before the iudgemēt seat of god ●ath put in baile to answer vnto the law and iustice of god for his forth comming and apperance hath no cloke to couer his sins not so much as a poore fig leafe he is enforced at the lēgth as it were one that were tormēted gréeuously on the rack to cōfesse his manifold and great offēces to acknowledge his nakednesse misery being astonied with the iudgemēt of god not that a man should fall into despayre considering God willeth not the deathe of a synner but hys life and saluation but to the ende only that hée might as● the knowledge of his sinne and transgr●sion bring him vnto repentaunce Then after a mans mynde i● th● prepared the spirite of God beginneth 〈◊〉 to possesse him that he accompteth him 〈◊〉 be wholy his pardoneth all his offences maketh him one of Gods housholde a●● electeth him into the number of hys ch●dren And yet notwithstanding he remoueth not from the eyes of his soule th● liuely Image of God in anger and di●pleasure whose voice and countenaun● was wonte to amaze him and make hi● whole body tremble thereat bycause 〈◊〉 ofte as the minde shal be ouercome with the prouocations and allurementes 〈◊〉 sin the terrible sounde of his thundering voice and the sighte of hys sterne countenaunce shoulde so appall hym that he shoulde shunne and auoyde synne by al●● meanes Agayne the same holy spirite of God to the intent that man should remoue from him and quite abandone all feare doth set as it were before the eies of mā Iesus Christe and him crucified that hée might bée fullye perswaded that all hys sinnes be purged by his death and passion But forasmuche as man being miserable both by his owne nature and by the sense of his sinne and conscience therof doth iudge himselfe to be verye farre from God and can hardly be perswaded that the benefit of Christ doth appertain vnto him therefore the holye ghoste laboureth to perswade him that almightie God is reconciled vnto man and doeth tender hym wyth singular loue and affection and afterwards openeth the eies of man béeyng in thys blindenesse that hée may beholde and sée by faith Christ Iesus the earnest of his saluation last of al breaketh the peruerse frowardnesse and obstinacie of the minde that the same being somewhat instructed and comforted with the hope of Gods promisses maye wholly submitte hys will vnto Christe and imbrace him moste willingly as the onely phisition of al his diseases and maladies And this worke of the holye Ghoste wherby the reason vnderstanding mind and will of man is instructed in true pietie and godlinesse we may well terme by the name of Faith not any weake opinion or vaine imagination of the worde of God but a firme and constant perswasion by the whiche we are assured that we are beloued of god and adopted to be his sonnes and inheritours of his heauenlye kingdome that by the benefite of this latter Adam we may be as it were remitted into oure former estate of oure auncient inheritaunce namely innocen●ie righteousnes and euerlasting felicitie the whiche was loste by the mischeuous acte of the firste Adam the same faith doth teach vs that after we be reconciled and at one with God there is nothing more gréeuous or offensiue vnto God than iniquitie and sinne and that wée bée deliuered from the yoke and bondage of the Deuil onelye vppon condition that wée should thencefoorth leade a godly righteous and sober life The whiche faith being thus planted in mens mindes by the holy spirite is like an instrument or hand wherby wée apprehēd Iesus Christ or as our mouth to receiue and eate Christ that moste swete foode of our soules and whosoeue is endued with this repentance is not now to be ascribed and thought one of olde Adās ofspring but by meanes of this faith is so linked and coupled with Christe that he is reputed and taken as a brother vnto him so that Christe and a Christian man doe make as it were one spirituall body For we may not call it in question but verily beléeue that what Christ praied for vnto his heauenly father in the .17 of Iohn he obtained the same at his hāds But after this greate and nighe affinitie is brought to passe and fast knitte with the bonde of faith and of the holye ghost then doth the heauenly father looke vpon man being otherwise a sinner with the eies of mercie and grace perceyuing man to be clothed and garnished with the moste beutifull and precious garment of Christ that is to saye the innocencie and holines of Christes flesh and taking delight in the moste fragrant smell thereof dothe bothe perfecte his felicitie and rewardeth him with the inheritance of his heauenly kingdome euen as in time past the Patriarche Isaac delt with

they which be enimies and impugne this doctrine and for that wée mayntayne the same do persecute vs with fire and fagot haue either had small sense of Iustification or else are some newe founde people descended into the Earthe I wotte nere whence For if they haue not had some sensible perseueraunce and féeling of the principles of Christian religion in themselues by experience I councell them for a time to be quiet and refraine to speake and aduise them rather to praye vnto almightie God that hée woulde instruct● them by his holy spirite in suche thinges as they are ignorant of and yet will bée prating rashely and babling either after their owne conceite and imagination or as they haue heard other men talke will moste impudently affirme the same but if they will deriue their pedigrée from God lette them permitte vs to be as we are men contenting our selues with such knowledge as is conuenient for vs For we do willingly confesse that we are the children of Adam by nature disobedient vnto the will of God senselesse in oure owne corrupte nature so peruerse and obstinate that vnneth we wil be brought to repentaunce so hardned in harte that wée can not be broken with the sense of sinne finally of suche pride and arrogancie that wée can scarcely bée drawen to confesse our sinnes to be shorte enimies to our own saluation vnlesse God of hys fatherly fauour and grace vouchsafe to correcte and amende the malice of oure froward nature and to enable and make vs apte to doe suche workes Why doe they then enuie vs thys humilitie and lowlinesse of harte in that we thinke we ●oe greatly honoure our God when wée referre all thinges to hys gratious goodnesse and mercie But if they thinke thys ●ure humilitie be excéeding and more ●han néedefull is this so horrible an offence that we shoulde therefore be thoughte worthie of all punishments and tormentes that can be deuised be ac ompted infamous banished imprisoned hanged and burned Surely this their fierce and barbarous crueltie may be a sufficiēt declaration vnto your maiestie that this is no godly zeale in the Papists as they call it but rather an excéeding choler heate of stomak boiling in their enuious malicious breasts The other benefit of our iustificatiō is our cōiunctiō with Christ for it is not inough for a man to be onely absolued of his sinne but it is also requisite and necessarye that hée bée marueilously renuee shew a new obediēce the which nothing can worke in thē saue only the power of god through our L. sauiour Iesus Christe this is the secōd effect of faith which the holy ghost hath poured into our harts by the which a man being made frée from the feare of all enimies danger of damnation doth wholy possesse Iesus Christ the very sonne of God and man to the intent hée might liue in hym not in walking after the fleshe but in holinesse of spirit and that he should thenceforth work righteousnesse in the sight of God of his son Christe through whose bloude shedde and sacrifice offred hée is purged and clensed from all hys offences and filthinesse Last of all that to declare himselfe bothe mindefull and also thankfull for so greate mercifulnesse and louing kindnesse shewed towardes him he shoulde on the other side retourne loue backe againe towardes God and be zealous in seruing and honouring him The whiche doctrine the Apostle doth plainely sette forthe in hys epistle to the Romaines in these words Ther remaineth now no condemnation saith he vnto suche as be engrafted into Christe Iesu that is to say those that walke not after the fleshe but after the spirite for the liuely lawe of the spirite whyche is in Christe hath loosed me from the bondage of sinne and death For that whiche was impossible to the lawe through the infirmitie of the fleshe God by sending hys owne sonne into fleshe of likenesse and similitude vnto our sinful fleshe hath after a sort destroied sinne by sinne in the same fleshe that the iustice of the lawe might be accomplished in vs whiche walke not after the fleshe but after the spirite for those that be addicted vnto the flesh haue their mindes bent vppon fleshly desires but they that be renued in spirite doe followe the motion and direction of the spirite and the desire of the fleshe is death and destruction contrariwise the desyre of the spirite is peace ioye and life euerlasting For the desire or affection of the fleshe is againste God neyther is it nor can not bée obedient vnto the lawe of god Therefore suche as are giuen to the flesh can not please God howbeit you walke not in the fleshe but in the spirite if so be the spirite of God be within you And who so hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his but if Christe be within you then is the body dead as concerning sinne but the spirite aliue or rather life it self for righteousnesse sake Wherfore if the spirite of hym that raysed Christs from deathe abide in you the same also will restore you and your mortall bodies vnto life bicause of the spirite that dwelleth in you wherefore brethren wée are nowe no more subiecte vnto the fleshe to liue after the luste thereof For if ye liue after the desires and concupiscentes of the fleshe yée shall dye the deathe but if contrariwise by the power of the spirite you conquer and subdue the lusts therof you shall liue in most perfect felicitie for al whosoeuer is directed by the spirit of god are numbred among the sonnes of God. Here dothe Paule moste notably and largely declare the seconde parte of oure Iustification and the end also of our coniunction with Christ Iesus namely that we shoulde leade our life not after the motion of the fleshe and the voluptuousnesse thereof but according to the direction of the holy spirite the which moste profitable and comfortable coniunction felowship with him if we had and did enioye we would not fall to such vayn and néedelesse questions as we do For what profite is in the subtil questions and difputations whether the righteousnes of a Christian man be a substance or an accident a qualitie inherent or only in vs by imputation whether the iustification of the wicked and vngodly be only the forgiuenesse of the sin or no whether infusion of grace be requisit in the remission of the fault or whether the motion of fréewill be not also requisite thervnto whether the wicked be iustified in an instant or in processe of time whether iustification of grace do go before in order of nature such like quiddities and subtil niceties except wée haue the vertue efficacie of Christ Iesus imprinted in our harts which we trust is in the harts of the faithful beleuers as Paule prayed for the cōgregatiō of Ephesus who loueth his churche dearly as the same apostle saith in another place and

wholy the true exercise and vnderstanding of the holye ceremonies wherin we may be confirmed by the procéedings and degrées of the doctrine whiche wée doe sée in the bookes of the said holy men For who can deny that Martine Luther was ignoraunte in manye things at his beginning to preach which the Lorde reuealed vnto hym after affyrmyng in the wordes of hys owne mouth that GOD hadde sente him not so muche to edifye and reestablishe the Churche of Christe as to ruinate and batter the kingdome of Antichrist wherin he founde dayly such change of abuses vnworthy to be supported in the Christiā Religion that in the ende hée protested that the Masse deserued to be abolished whiche Melancthon in the ende of the confession of Auspurge maintained contrarilye professing the Masse to bée yet retayned in their Churches All this notwithstandyng you my brethren of thys tyme will not as farre as I fynde agrée that the Masse is yet retayned in youre churches no not in the sorte that the confession of Auspurge propoundeth it The wordes of Melancthon bée these Falsò accusantur ecclesiae nostrae quòd Missam aboleant Retinetur enim Missa apud nos summa Reuerentia celebratur seruantur ei vsitatae Ceremoniae ferè omnes preter quam quod latinis concionibus admiscentur alicubi Germanicae quae additae sunt ad docendum populū that is to say Our Churches be falsly accused in that they abolishe the Masse for the Masse is reteyned with vs and is celebrated with great reuerence with an vse obseruatiō of almost al the accustomed ceremonies sauing that in some places there bée certain Canticles in the Dutche intermedled with those that are sōg in the Latine and that to teach the people Sée brethren howe you would now aduow so goodly a reformation of Masse being assured that suche institution is the true heape of vanities inuented by men and tending to the prophanation and abolition of the holy Supper of the Lorde but if others in the verye tyme of Luther and Melancthon haue bene moued wyth the spirit of God and wyth a zeale of S. Paule haue resisted such simulation wel affected notwithstanding to the glorie of God proueth it therfore in vs any duety of obseruation of suche Ceremonies hauing regard only to the authoritie of Peter God defende No let Peter remaine still as Peter and Martine as Martine that is to saye as a man that may fayle and let the spirite of God be encreased by the organs and instrumentes whyche hée shall stirre vp to manifest the truth of his gospell whether he be Paul or Zwinglius or Oecolampadius or anye other of lesse aucthoritie than they And for oure partes suche organs and instruments of God let vs receiue honour and haue in singular respecte without perswasion or belief that they be innocēt or that they can not erre or that they bée not ignoraunte of some things Let vs béeléeue that from day to daye our Lorde will stirre vp such lyke organs and instruments to aduance hys glorie and to augment the lighte of hys holy Truth if our own vnthankfulnesse be not a barre to such liberality begon by our GOD. Béesides brethren I consider the lamentable tyme wherein those holy men didde lyue as béeyng employed rather to purge and clense the filthinesse of Papistrye than to study or consider of the introduction of the pure Truthe they were rather vsed in the resistaunce of the furye of Antichriste and hys supposts to flée from one coaste to an other to make Apologies and defences to aunswere the falsehoodes that were laide vpon them by dyuers and to dispute wyth the Monkes of their Purgatorie and Bulles than that they hadde leysure and quiet libertie to searche by meditation the truth of the Christian doctrine manifested in the diuine worde By which occasion it came to passe that their writings were stuffed wyth so many opprobrious and spitefull wordes vnworthy of the true seruauntes of God and perfecte pronouncers of the Gospel of peace whiche notwithstanding as we supporte such infirmities as hauing regarde to so wicked a time So now that god hath sent vs so many beames of his light let vs leaue to liue and remaine so blind as in times paste when we hadde but a glimmering as it were by suddaine lightning My meaning deare brethren in al this discourse hath not ben to other purpose than to declare the smal occasion we haue aswell one as another to make Gods or to say more truly idols of our doctours and for their occasions to maintaine parrialities dissentions and debates vppon the matter of our doctrine to the greate slaunder of the poore and weake consciences and notable hinderaunce of the propagation of the churche wherein if the Corinthians haue béene rebuked bycause they made Partialities to maintaine the renoume of Saint Paule the chosen vessell of GOD Apostle of Iesus Christ doctour of the Gentiles and to speake in one word a man indued wyth moste singular and excellent giftes how may God laye it againste vs who contende quarrell make continuall warre and as a man woulde saye deuoure one another as Dogs and Cattes breaking alwaies the bonde of charitie which Iesus Christ hath lefte of suche estimation When the Lorde woulde marke hys disciples and children of hys father hée willed them not to folowe the confession of Auspurge nor the Catechisme of Martine or of Iohn but he saith In this me● shal know you are my disciples if ye lou● one another Alas most blind and miserable that we are whilest wée dispute of th● true and false interpretation of the word● of the Sacrament of vnitie wée break● the verye vnitie it selfe in contendyng whether the wicked infidel and vnworthy receiue as well the bodye of Chryste in the Supper as the children of GOD wée robbe our selues of the very Christ and make oure selues of the number o● them that receiue him not at all in searchyng whether Christe come in fleshe i● Spirite or in Sacramente wée doe depriue oure selues of the true communion of Christe for he that hateth his brother Christe dwelleth not in him in siftyng curiously whether the body of Christe b● giuen to vs in the bread vndere the bread or with the bread wée cut our selues of● frō the true body of Christ and make vs members of sathan the father of dissentions quarells contentions and debates And for my opinion vpon the matter of the holy Supper I wyll say in few● words good brethren what I vnderstād leauing to euery one his libertie to folow that which God shall teache hym Wée ●now right wel that the meaning of our redéemer Iesus cōming into this world was to manifest to men the good wyll of hys heauenly Father towards them and ●ow his diuine Maiestye had prouided to remedy the fault transgression and disobedience of the first Adam by the innocēcie most pure iustice and obedience satisfactory of the second and heauenly Adam And that

foure certaine pointes and that more to reueale the slender edification that their readers may hope for of such lessons than to encumber our selues with the confutation of such vanities Touching that which you say of our inheritance of the originall sin and frée will lost the worlde it selfe doth declare well inough at this daye that euery one hath gotten a good lumpe of the inheritance of the corruption of Adam and the originall sinne as they call it and your writings shewe that you haue had youre parte thereof And I beléeue as you say that men nowe a dayes haue not any Frée will séeing it maye be further beléeued that there be a great many that haue slender sense and well worse vnderstanding as being altogither ruled and caried ouer by their affections Touching the matter of the incarnation of the sonne of God and redemption of man I coulde well haue pardoned you the obmission of the subtill questions you vse therein searching curiously the house wherein Christe dwelleth Item what make we of ascension or the signification of this worde heauen or the righte hande of God so that you woulde teache vs the true meane to receyue Iesus Christ into our selues séeing it pleaseth him in respecte of his goodnesse to make his dwelling in the hearts of the faythful and regenerate Otherways of what vse is Iesus Christe to vs being so far from the hart of man as you make him B. 4. Touching youre place of iustifying fayth I vnderstande not your language where you say that only fayth by meane whereof we take as of a hande the benefite of Iesus Christe to obtaine iustification regeneratiō and health the whiche indéede is true but immediatly after you say that by the Sacramentes are imputed and applied to vs the iustice and merite of Iesus Christe B. 4. Item in the same doctrine of Iustification you say it is a moste harde question to know what is that true Iustice which makes vs iust and agréeable to god with atteinment of eternall life but I had rather that without so many argumentes confutations and subtilties you hadde shewed to the poore and ignorant people what is the christian iustice and by what meane shée is giuen to vs B. 5. In the tractate of good workes you saye that the workes which men oughte to call good are those whyche God demaundes in hys worde and that those which be regenerate and guided by the spirite of God are they whiche shewe the fruites of a good Trée I beléeue it well and conclude vpon your saying that who hath not zeale loue charitie who suffereth not all things with pacience taketh euery thing in the best part couereth the faults of his neighbor and laboureth not to put peace in place of dissention can not haue regeneration And touching the rest of your questions whether good workes concurre in iustification as a cause formall or efficient the simple people haue not to doe contenting themselues wyth this beliefe that regeneration and faith without good works is a méere hipocrisie thing dead and that it is necessary that our new obedience serue as witnesse of our reconciliation and iustification Nowe deare brethren as I am voide of intent herein eyther to examine or exaggerate the newnesse of youre confession and much lesse to confute it by argumentes so I will leaue to the consideration of the Reader youre excuse in cutting off the commandement of the liuing God vnder pretext of certaine gloses and distinctions vnworthy to be vttered for here we doe not dispute whether the commaundement not to make anye images of veneration be a commandement particular or an appendix of an other whether it be ceremoniall or morall but wée will here mayntaine that it is an audacitie moste cursed to cut off from the law of oure God any one worde séeing specially that that summe and content of cōmandement is so shorte and compēdious that it conteineth but ten commandemētes the which if god woulde haue abridged he knew better how to do it than wée and therfore such as vndertake to correct his stile and accuse him of prolixitie giue sufficient proofe of their abhominable temeritie But let vs nowe come to the principall poynte of your debate and auncient question the which vpon a brauery you séeme to renue vppon euery purpose and place without hauing respect to the gret slaunder of those that bée weake Firste you vtter the summe of your confession of the Supper in these wordes Credimus igitur Christo affirmante quòd corpus sanguis eius verè ac realiter in sacra Coena adsit deturque externo modo accipiendum cùm Pane vino non fide tantùm aut spiritualiter idque tam ab indignis quàm à dignis sumantur contraria docentes cum Augustana confessione consentiendo damnamus That is to saye Wée beléeue in Chryste who assureth vs that his body and bloud be truly and really in the sacred Supper and that it is gyuen vs in taking it outwardly wyth the bread and wine not only with faith and spirituallye the whyche body is eaten aswell of the vnworthy as of those that be worthy And those that shall teache the contrary wée sticking to the confession of Auspurge do condemne them Sée here my brethren youre goodlye entrie of the article of your supper whiche we may not improperly liken to that of the newe inquisitors who condemne anathematize excommunicate and call Heretikes and cut off from the communion of the Churche all those whiche receiue not their cōfession which me think you doe also as of purpose to maintayne yours of Auspurge as though it were a fifth Gospel or new article of the Créed What shall we say brethrē to these matters haue you no shame that men of good iudgement and vnderstandyng shoulde reade suche arrogant and rashe wordes Who are they that haue se● the authour of the confession of Auspurge or that of yours in such aucthoritie or degrée of the Churche that they may pronounce sentence of damnation agaynste suche as will not admitte theyr interpretation vppon a place or Texte of the Scripture What is hée of anye iudgement at all who will not feare to forsake the tyrannie of the Papistes to euer into an nther almoste of like condition Wée call the Pope Antichriste tyrant and butcher of mens consciences bycause that wythout libertie to heare men speake he cōdemneth and excommunicateth them and yet your doings are nothing inferior to his crueltie in pronouncing condemnation not onely agaynste your enimies but also againste suche as you receiue for youre brethren and companions in the worke of the Lorde and w●o no lesse for the duety of Christians than to take away the slaunder from the Churche of Christe doe searche by all theyr possible meanes to lyue in loue and friendshippe with you I coulde willingly say to the authour of youre confession as the Apostle sayth my brother my friend what art thou that condemns the seruants of another

that it may be done in good order and with the consent of the state we would also that you agrée first amongest your selues to the ende we might knowe what part to maintayne Wherin albeit I cannot but feare that your intent was rather to search matter of triumph without victorie with occasion to sende of your bookes to the nexte fayre of Frankefort than of a zeale pur● affection to pacifie this afflicted Church toward which God graūt vs the zeale of his glory And I pray you of what purpose wold it be to vs vpon the disputatiō to agre with you seing that by such meanes we shuld fal into the euil wil of a gret part of the Princes Protestants of Germanie who abhorre alredy the opinions you haue vttered of the person of Christ to be in the presence of the Supper by the same meane also we shuld make our selues companions and adherents to Yllyricus your Superintendent or author of your confession who is hated of the moste noble Churches and vniuersities of Germanie and chieflye in VVittenberge who hath bin the mother nurse of the first Protestants These things considered I sée neither order to dispute nor reason to come to accord with him his adherēts The seconde point wherein I requested Mathias Illyricus and you to take some paynes was in the doctrine of mortification a thing most necessary for this lamentable time wherin we sée so many Epicures so many Libertines so manye Atheists and people abandoned to all filthinesse and dissolution of which so principall a matter you touch not one worde in all your cōfession but rather with your vnbridled order of procéeding shewe to the people great example of immortification By the which those that haue iudgement in spirituall things maye sée that youre doctrine and Scripture is not a doctrine taught by the spirite of God and receyued in his schoole but rather certayne textes and propositions gathered oute of the papers and Bookes of others who peraduenture haue proued better than wée that whiche they haue taughte and left in writing The last part of my request to M. Illiricus was to exhorte you to intertaine a charitable and louing vnitie to the ende al the church might be edified as well by the one as the other which he hath done quite contrarie in your cōfession as witnesseth the words of the xvij article in this sort Quod aduersariorum coena impie celebetur Si quis hactenus dubitauit vtra sen●entia sit verior in sacramentaria cōtrouersia ●lli sanè vel ex solis ipsorum agendis ac formuli● sacra communionis ipsa praxi coena statue●e haud difficulter poterit Tantis enim corru●ptelis sacrilegijs in tam sacrosanctis mysterijs ●assantur vt citra horrorem ac tremorem eas ●ophanationes pia mens cognoscere non possit ●as igitur vastationes ac violationes tanti mysterij hic breuiter exponemus vt sibi pusilli Christi cauere à tantis piaculis ira Dei poss●nt Multis ergo modis eorum liturgia impiè ●●ragitur That is to saye If any by the things aforesayde be yet in doubte not knowing whiche is the truest opinion in the matter of the Sacramentes he may easily be certified of a truth in beholding their actions and ceremonies in the celebration of the Communion for there be so many corruptions and sacrileges in so holye mysteries that a Christian mynde cannot behold such prophanations without horror and feare We will then declare briefly in this Epistle the destructions and violations that are committed in so great a mysterie to the ende the little ones of Christ maye stande vpon their gard against such execrable crimes but speciallye againste the ire of god Their ceremonie of the Supper that is to saye of the sacramentaries as you call them is celebrated with impiety in many sorts First you say that we make no benediction vpon the bread Secondly in that that when we giue the breade we exhort those that receyue it to haue remembrance of Iesus Christ broken offered and sacrificed for our reconciliation to the heauenly father and satisfactiō of our sinnes with the diuine iustice Thirdly bicause that in this we séeke to be folowers of Iesus Christ who celebrating the supper sayd to his disciples Take and eate c. Fourthly you accuse vs in that we forget in the Supper the wordes of consecration Fiftly for that we pronounce not the wordes of consecration to the ende the bread may perceyue our voyce and so vnderstande the worde of God and so be conuerted into the body of Christe Sixtlye you accuse vs bicause we persuade the assistantes not to settle their eyes vpon the consideration of the visible exterior elements but rather raise our minds cōsideratiō to Iesus Christ the true heauenly bread for the nouriture of our soules who being already immortall is glorified vpon the right hande of the Father The seauenth impietie which you saye we commit is That we tell the assistantes that they take the breade and wine in remēbraunce of Iesus Christ In the eyght you saye we fayle in that we vse the wordes of Christe saying Take and eate and haue remembraunce of Iesus Christe employed for you wherein according to your scoffes of custome and poeticall sleightes you make vs like to the Beguiars and Beguines when they féede in their repastes The Lorde pardon you such orders of teaching to your neyghboures and reueale vnto you the modest grauitie whiche he demaundes in those that professe themselues pastors of the shéepe and pronouncers of the Gospell Ninthlye you blame vs in that we doe not counterfeite Iesus Christ as the Priests of the Papists doe as obseruing not point by point and worde by worde the ceremonies that he made and speake not in the same order the wordes which he pronounced Your tenth and last accusation is in that as you saye we rob deceitfully the supper of the wordes of consecration by meane whereof the body of Christ ought to come thither and yet we say to the assistants that they receiue the bodie of Christ Beholde deare brethren one part of the accusatiōs wherwith you haue charged vs touching the matter of the Supper whervnto I will not aunswere as being things so vaine of so small importance that there is none participating with eyther pietie or godlinesse which accoūt not the time lost or at least euill employed in the debate of such things for as the Lord hath made vs once to vnderstand by his grace what it is to receyue Christe and that we haue felt the fruites of his presence so all youre accusations and Argumentes of persuasions to the contrarie are but superfluous And therefore in place to make you aunswere and fall into the faulte whiche I sée in many who doe nothing in all the tyme of their life but dispute and debate I will praye to that good God to giue vs all a grace of participation wyth his