Chapter 4

These men do saye further that the Masse is not to be lickened iustly vnto the Idolatrie of the heathen / for that was directly forbidden of godd / so is not the Masse / saye they: for thoughe it hathe sumwhat swarued aside / yeat is it the Institucion of christe. But to the contrarie I do saye / that the Masse is so farr swarued from the ordinaunce of christe / that it hathe nothing agreing with christis Institucion / yea and that it is most directly repugnant vnto it / A very Idoll / wherin massemungers do committe very vile Idolatrie. And this will I proue by diuers reasons. ffurst of all. The Supper of the Lorde / as it was delyuered of christe shold be a publique and a common worcke and action: for Christe our Sauiour made it with his Apostles. But nowe in the Masse / ther commithe forthe one sacrificing preste / disguised with straunge araye / and he doth all thinges alone / the rest stonde still loking / heeringe / and holding their peace. If paule did worthely and Iustly saye / when the Corinthians did not tarie and loke one for an other / that they did not then eate the Lordes supper / then ther is not the Lordes supper eaten / wher one tarieth not for an other so that they maye eate all together: And how shall we then saye / that the Masse is the Lordes supper / wher one only sacryficing prest doth eate and drincke vpp all alone? surly it can not be so called: for to be, and not to be the Lords supper / ar contrarie / Paule saith / it is not the Lords supper / wherfor call your Masse by what name ye will / the Lords supper it is not / for paule is to be beleaued before all massinge marchauntes.

They saye morouer that in their Masse / they do offer vpp the sonne of godd vnto the eternall father for the synnes of the quicke and the deade: And this they do call the principall point of their masse. But in the Laste Supper of the Lorde that Scacrifice and oblacion was not made / but vppon the crosse / as the scripture witnessith. And as for this their offerenge / ffurst / paul doth denie it in most playn words in the epistle to the hebrues /

[[Heb. 9. 10.]]

wher he sayeth that all oblacions for synne wer consummate and finished / and all thinges made perfect by that one only oblacion / which christe Iesus our Sauiour in his own parson made of hymself vppon the crosse. The worde of godd teachithe / that christe was but ons only to be sacrificed and offered / And that Sacrifice no more to be made: for if it wer often to be made / then the furst was not perfect / But the furst was perfect / Therfor ther must be no repeating of it. The papistes do saye / that they dayly offer christe for to take awaye synne / and that this Sacrifice must be dayly repeted of them / The scripture denieth this playnly: And thus ye do se that heere is a playne contradiction.

Again The supper of the Lorde was not instituted to the end that such a sacrifice for synne (as they fayne) shuld be made of it / but that in the vse of it the communicantes shuld be put in mynde / and made partakers of that only propiciatorie sacrifice which christe offered ons only for all euer vppon the crosse. And therfor ther Masse / in which they wold worcke such marueyles / and the Lordes supper ar vtterly vnlyke. But here they will reply and saye.

The fathers do speake thus of this Sacrifice / We graunte indeede / that the fathers do often tymes speake so as thoughe that the lorde wer offered in this administracion of the Sacrament / or sacrificed: But they vsed this worde / Sacrifice, improperly / for by that kinde of speaking they did onderstonde / the offringes of praise / and sacrifices of thanckes made and gyuen for christes sacrifice done vppon the crosse / This they called to sacrifice. Our sacrificing prests ar not content with this / for they will haue their own worcke to be an vnwonted worcke / belonging to them alone / which neither the scriptures / nor the fathers do teache: ffor to offer this Sacrifice of whiche the fathers do speake / partayneth not to the preist alone / but to the whole poeple that stondith by / and doth communicate / And so it is a common oblacion and sacrifice of all / not of the preiste more then of the poeple / but this only that the preist both in wordes and action / doth go before the poeple.

[[de Ciuitate dei. lib. 10. cap. 6.]]

Augustine doth saye / that the churche is offered in that offeringe which it doth offer. For all which do communicate / they do offer them selues vnto godd / and do testifie that their will is / to abide in christe.

The papistes do holde also that the breade is turned into the substaunce of christes bodie / and that ther remaynith nothing but the qualitie and accidence of breade as whitenes / &c. for the substaunce / saye they / is christes bodie. But the scripture saith that christe in his laste supper did gyue breade vnto his disciples /

[[1. Cor. 11.]]

and paule callith it breade also / yeat in the Masse the papistes saye that it is otherwise.

The vse of the breade and wyne by christis institucion is only / that the congregacion shuld eate and drincke therof in the remembrance of christe / But the papistes in their Masse do most shamefully abuse them both. For wheare as the worde of godd saythe:

[[Deutron 6]] [[math. 4.]]

Thow shalt worshipp the Lorde thy godd and hym only shalt thow serue / They in ther masse do lyfte vpp the breade and wyne / and euen in the rowme of godd they sett them furthe to be adored and worshipped of the poeple: now how farr this differrith from the vse of christes supper eich man may se. Yea what can be more vile and filthie Idolatrie / then to adore and worshipp a peace of brede and cupp of wyne / as godd? Be not offended that I do vse theise bare names. I do confes / that whosoeuer acording to the Lordes Institucion doth communicate with the congregacion and dothe eate the breade and drinke of the cupp of the Lorde / beholding the deathe of christe with Lyuely faithe / the same man is in sprete and after his manier / made partaker of the body and bludd of the lorde. Contrari wise if thow do not vse the breade and wyne acordinge to the ordinaunce of christe / but gase vppon them / then ar they nothinge els to the / but breade and wyne: But if in a popishe Masse / or in the popishe hanging / heauing / carying / or handelinge of them / thow do worshipp them / then ar they vnto the a false Idoll / and thow indeede a filthie Idolatror. If therfor thow wilt be partaker of the body and bludd of christe in the holy supper / then eate the breade and drincke the cupp as the lorde hathe instituted. Godd wold haue the poeple in the vse of the holy Supper to ascend vppwarde into heauen in mynde and affection / that they might ther cleaue fast vnto christe. And therfor the true ministers of the churche do labour to the vttermost of their poure / thus to lifte vpp the poeples mynde into heauen / that they shuld not seeke christe in the worlde / that they shuld not thinck ony fleshly or earthely thinge of hym: Theise men clean contrarie in the order of their Sacrament and Masse do miserably detayn the poeple in the earthe / bynding and holding them to the visible signes.

[[1. Cor. 14]]

The apostle commaundith that thinges shuld not be doone in the congregacion in a straunge tongue / except ther wer an Interpretour / that the thing being vnderstonded of all / the hearers might saye / Amen / and that the edifyinge of them shuld be sought. Now theise men in their masse do all in the Laten tongue / which is to the common poeple vnknown / and they do defend this theyr doing euen against the worde of godd. But it is most certayn that christe our sauiour in his administration / and after him all his apostles and disciples which wer hebrues / vsed theyr vulgare hebrue tongue / the Grecians also their greke tonge. And euen vnto this daye the Sclauonians in their churches vse their vulgare and commen speache.

Those wordes of our greate and singuler consolation / in wich the partakinge of Christes bodye and bloude is promised / the papistes in their Masse speake secretlie / they whisper them so that euen they which knowe the Latine tonge can neither heare them nor vnderstande them. And so do they rumble them vp to their owne selues as thoughe the people were vnworthie to heare them: But christ in his super spake them openlie. And so the greke churche and the Churche of India / do yet speake them with an audible voice And the auncient manier was / as Ambrose and Augustine among other of the fathers do testifie that the people dyd answer vnto those words. Amen. But as I suppose the papistes do thus murmure and speake these words in secrete / bicause they wolde not haue their Lies knowen / for they do saye / Take ye and eate / and this so often as ye do / do yt in the remembraunce of me. But who taketh / or to whom do they giue? The wordes be spoken to the people: And yet they them selues do eate and drike vp all alone / and do distribute vnto no man ells. Is not this to make a lie? To lie alwaies is taken to be an euill thinge / but before god to lie / is a moste shamles and wiked thinge: who dothe eate (o ye lyyng papistes) or who doth drinke wyth you? If ye do distribute at any tyme to ony other ye do yt not when ye your selues receyue / but ye chose for them an other time / yea and another kinde also / for to them ye do minister but the breade onlye. Thus ye se that all theise thinges which these massers do in their masse / ar contrarye to the institution of Christe. Ther masse then and Christes supper ar not lyke.

The papistes saye that by their Action (I meane ther handeling of ther breade and wyne) they do applie vnto others the profitt of Christs bloudie sacrifice and passion. Of a Sacrament they saye that they make sacrifices to profit the quicke and the Deade. and this do they in ther masse. But the scripture teacheth / that there is but one only propiciatorie sacrifice / able and auaylable to take awaie synnes / whiche Christe Iesus offered in his owne fleshe vpon the Crosse. And that euerie man muste applie vnto him selfe by liuelie faythe the benefite of that same sacrifice of christe / as the scripture teacheth likewise / that eche man is iustified by his own faithe, and that eche man in his owne righteousnes or vnrighteousnes / doth liue / or die. It teachithe also that christe did institute the sacrament only to this end that the congregacion shuld eate and drincke it in the rememberaunce of that same his Sacrifice. And that eiche one in the drincking therof shuld apply vnto himself by faithe / the fruite of that Sacrifice. Now compare the doctrine of the scriptures and of the papistes in this pointe together / and thou shalt se that their Masse is contrarie to christes Institucion. But as they haue / so still will they saye:

That aswell the liuing as the deade be helped by this their acte applied at their pleasure. If they wolde saie that thei profyt others by praier / that were tollerable. But they go further and saie / that ther verye massinge worcke it selfe / hathe so moche vertue / power and strenghthe in it / that it shall profit not only all kyndes of men / but all such creatures and beastes for whom they do say ther masse / bicause in it they do applye the benefite of christes passion: but ye must vnderstond when they be payed for ther labor. This is an horrible error in no wise to be suffered / for as I sayed / ther is but one only sacrifice propiciatorie to take awaye synne / which one sacrifice eiche one of vs must applie vnto our selues by liuelie faythe / And this applyinge faithe is the only gifte of god: But on this grounde buylde they their purgatorie and mutch other such pelf / by which they do pycke mens purses. They saye ther Masses also in the honor of this / or of that saincte. And of what saintes? suche verylie whose histories are not certaynlie knowen / and are of none authoritie / yea many of them are no better then poetes fables / of whom not vnworthelie we doubte whether they be sainctes or no: But be it that they were true sainctes / yet this their doinge is moste contrarie to christes ordinance / for Christe did institute his supper to this ende that it sholde be vsed in the remembrance of his deathe and not of other mens / weare they neuer so holye.

In their masse they haue also diuers and sundrie rytes and customs / clothes / signes / gestures / tornes / remouinges / and blissinges / of and with the breade and wine / but christe vsed none of all theis in his supper: And what they do meane by these thinges the poeple doth not knowe / neither can the priestes them selues for the most part tell what is ment by them: for if ye aske the meaninge of them / either can they saye nothinge at all / or if they do saie owghte / they do not saye all one thinge / but thinges that be moste contrarie / wherby a man maie iudge that there is no truithe at all in their wordes. But here they do saie. Thinkest thou that the foolishe vnlearned people in the olde Lawe dyd vnderstand all the legall ceremonies? no it was not requisite / no more is yt nowe: To this I answer / Althoughe that all the poeple dyd not knowe what was mente by them in the olde lawe / It sufficed yet that they hade the worde of god for them / Nowe do yee shewe vnto vs the worde of god for theise your signes and it shall suffice vs.

Agayne the godly and lerned preistes could shew what was ment by the rites and ceremonies of the lawe / and that by the word of godd: but ye can do neyther of theis: for ye haue enuented theis toyes in your own braynes: signes ye do call them but ye do not know what thinges they do signifie. And therfor as in rites your Masse doth differ from christes supper / so when ye saye your pleasure of your rites / ye ar not to be beleaued: for faith hath no place where goddes worde doth not shew it selfe. I saide that massemungers in their masse do committ Idolatrie. Their bready god hanged vp in a pix / and their Images / vnto which they turne them selues and do make their moste vncleane seruice and sacrifice do proue this true: Neither do they accompte it sufficient to behold theis their Idols when they saye their Masses / but also they so offer vnto them / they cense them / they bowe the knee vnto them: let them nowe denye whilest they will that they do not worship the breade / nor the Images / yet this worship they do them / This kinde of worship (I saye) which is giuen customabilie vnto god alone / as the lawe of god teacheth. But seing they giue this vnto these Idols / are they not Idolatrors? yes truly. And howe then dare ony christian be present there / to vncouer the heade to bowe the kne to offer and do such like thinges with them?

They saye that ther Masse is christes Institution / And our men (of whom I now haue spoken) do saye that the Masse hath sum affinitie with christes institucion of the holy supper.

But I saye that the olde heathens myghte wyth more coloure of truithe / excuse and defende their sacrifices by that maner / then these men maye do their masse. ffor verylye the sacrifices of the heathen haue lesse departed from the maner which the fathers vsed in sacrificinge before the lawe giuen / which also the lorde approued in the lawe / then these massers do frome the supper which Christe / and the Apostle paule hathe prescribed. In bothe their sacrifices was the inuocation of god / a Temple / an Aultar / slayne sacrifices / sacrificinge priestes / sleynge of beastes / sheddinge of bloude / salte / wine / oyle / mele / an holy feaste / holy garmentes / washinge / censinge / fyer / singinge / prophecies / and suche other thinges / all which to repeate it were to longe: let our Massers (if they can) shewe so many thinges which Christe did in the holye supper: Which thinge if they can not do / then let them cease to boaste that their Masse is the institution of Christ and the Apostles / from which it differethe so farre that if the Apostles and fathers of the primatyue churche were nowe here to beholde this masse / they sholde not knowe it to be the lords supper / but wolde surlie marueyle at suche a monstruous mahometrie.

I omytte also that in and with their Masse they haue many Anniuersaries yearemyndes / diriges done for the deade: But The Lord did not institute ony of them. If they saye that Cyprian and others of the fathers do speake of suche Annyuersaries: I answer that those of which the fathers do make mencyon / were nothinge els but thanckfull remembraunces of the Martirs departed / in which they did gyue thancks to godd for them. They also in their Masses do call vppon the saintes and holy men departed / which is a thing most contrarie to true godlynes / and vtterly vnknown and vnpracticed in the administracion of the Lordes supper.

And to be shorte all their thinges which they do in their Masses / they do choppe and chaunge / they bye and sell and sett them furthe to most vile and filthie gayne. Wherfor / my most Louing Brethern take ye diligent heede / les whilest ye pretend to worshipp godd in your going to Masses / and to entreate hym to be mercifull vnto yow / ye do not most mightyly kindle his wrathe against you by hearinge of theise Masses: which as ye playnly do se / ar nothing els but a shamfull deuise sett vpp to deface the deathe of christe / a pestilent practise fownde out to ouerthrowe the true vse of the Lordes supper / and an Idolatrie inuented to infect the poeple and to make them Idolatrors. whearby eich man may easily iudge / how great a synne it is / to be partaker of a Masse.

But notwithstondinge all this which is spoken / yeat theise men whiche thincke that they maye dissemble at the Masse / cease not to saye / That thoughe the Masse be not the Lords supper / but an Idolatrie / yet is not the presence at it so earnestly to be forbidden / seing that such thinges haue been graunted vnto the Infirmities of men: If a man do aske them wheare:

[[Naman.]]

They do bringe forth the Example of Naaman the Syrian / and by it they will neades haue it made Lawfull vnto them to communicate with wicked supersticions.

[[4. Reg. 5.]]

for he prayed Heliseus / saye they / that he might be suffred to kneele in the temple of Rymmon that Idoll / when the kinge did worshipp / and leane vppon his arme. whom the prophet answered / goo in peace. And that / saye they / which was permitted vnto Naaman / whi do ye forbyd vnto vs? ffurst theise men shuld weye with them selues / whether that we only haue redde this Example of Naaman / or not. So we thincke that the holy Apostles and Martirs of the olde churche which wer occupied nighte and daye in the holy scriptures / did not consider this acte and Example? Truly they wer not ignorant of the historie / yet did they neuer knowe this vnderstandinge of it: for if they did / whi then wolde they not folow this example / especially when they might therby haue saued their lyues?

But these holy and godly learned men did see that thinge in this historie / which our men do not consider / namely this / that Naaman now newly conuerted to the faithe was a smoking flaxe which was not to be putt out / a weake and shaken reade which was not to be brosed in peices / and that as yet he was very weake / for he was not yet prepared and readye to denye and forsake hymself and all that was his for goddes sake. He thought that it might comme to pas that he shuld together with the knowledge of the Lyuing godd / easili holde and keape still his old place / office / and dignitie / if he coulde happen to haue that / which he desired of the prophet: And when he did well perceyue that this was his infirmitie and synne / it trobled himso that therfor he desired the prayers and helpe of Heliseus: he desired hym / that if he shuld happen to fall into this euill / yeat that he might be fauored / that he mighte finde mercie / and that Heliseus wold praye that the Lorde wolde forgyue hym. Who doth at ony tyme aske forgyuenes for that which he accomptithe Lawfull? forgyuenes is asked for synnes only / Naaman therfor acknowledged this his acte to be a synne: And if I so fall (quod he) then praye the Lorde to forgyue me. This place therfor doth make most against our men / and euen the same wayes which they go about to excuse their facte / by the same it is most playnly proued to be synne. Let them aknowledge therfor in their doinge that thinge / which Naaman the Sirian did. And let them begg the mercie of godd / and the prayers of godly men / that the same thing which they haue euell doone / and do / maye be pardoned them. Neither did Eliseus / as our men do thincke / graunte Naaman licence or libertie to do so as he hadd sayde / but only he saide vnto hym / goo in peace: which manier of speaking was a kind of takinge leaue vsed in that age. And as for any other thinge ther can none be gathered out of thos wordes / onles it be this that he promised to do that which Naaman required: goo thy wayes (saithe he) I will do as thow desirest / I shall praye for the. The prophet doth not reiect hym / if he shuld fall into this euell. As we do not vtterly reiect nor shutt theise men from grace which thus do fall: Yeat must we sharply reproue their doinges that they may acknowledge their fault and synne / and vnfaynedly lament and repent the same. And we ought also hartily to praye that they may be raysed vpp agayn. They do obiect also certayn wordes out of the Epistle of Ieremie / which is entitled Baruch. The wordes ar theise.

[[Bar. 6.]]

Now shall ye see in Babilon godds of golde / of syluer / of wodde / and of stone / borne vppon mens shulders to caste out a fearefulnes before the heathen / But loke that ye do not as the other: be not afrayed let not the feare of them ouercome yowe. Therfor when ye do see the multitude of poeple worshipping them behinde and before / saye yee in your hartes / O Lord / it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped / Of theise wordes our men do gather / that it is sufficient for them when they ar present at Idolatries / Masses / and popishe supersticions / to saye in ther harte / O Lord it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped. In answer to these men: furst I saye / that this booke entitle Baruch is none of the Canonicall scriptures: And therfor no man is bownd to the doctrine of it. But admit the booke wer of sufficient auctoritie / Then theise men must vnderstonde / that the prophet doth not gyue the Iues leaue to comme vnto the temples of Idols / that ther they might be present at vngodly Idolatrie / bowe ther knee / and so make vpp the matier / with sayinge in their hart to the true and lyuyng godd / O Lord / it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped. But he gyuith the Iues instruction against Images which wer caried about / and Idolatries which wer vsed in those places wher they were exiles: ffor the Maneir of the Babilonians was / not only to haue Images in ther temples / but also to haue them sett abroode and caried openly vppon mens shulders. As it is not vnlike that the Image of Nabugodonosor, which beinge dedicated in the feilde of dura, was caried aboute the whole Region with Musicall Instrumentes and songes / at the sownde of which whersoeuer the Image was seene / commaundement was gyuen vnto all men that they shuld worshipp it: which Daniels felows wolde not do. Of theise thinges I saye / that epistle entreatithe / playnlye to warne the godly / that they shuld not adore / nor worshipp thos Idols thoughe that the heathenishe poeple did so bothe before them / and behind them / but when they did see this Idolatrie / detesting it / they shuld then saye / O lord / it is thou to whome worshipp doth only belonge: he saied not / bowe the knee with them / and saye in your hartes / o lord / it is thou &c. but when ye do see these Idols and Idolatrye / say so. These seyngs and suddayn meetings in the cytie streetes and fieldes / could not be auoyded / and therfor the godly were to be enstructed and admonished / how they shuld behaue them selues in that case.