[[Cypriani epist. lib. 1. epist. 8.]]
It is adulterus / it is wicked / it is sacrilegus / whatsoeuer is inst.i.tuted by mans furie to violate the ordinance of G.o.dd.
And for this cause the G.o.dly will not call theis ordinces ony lger / ceremonies / simply / but rather mans inst.i.tutions / and supersticions / which are reiected and forbidden of G.o.dd.
Wherfor howsoeuer theis men do beautifully set furth and adorn theise thinges / yet shall they neuer bringe this to pa.s.se / that the G.o.ddly will beleaue that it is lawful for th? to cmunicate with supersticis / and such inst.i.tucions as are forbidd? of G.o.d: Neither will the G.o.dly beleaue but that theis thinges are forbidd? / except the papistes shall proue by playne testimonies of the scripture that they are so inst.i.tuted of G.o.dd as they do vse them. Which thinge when it can not be proued of them / nor yet at all of ony other of the papistes / sum of our false gospellers do turn th? selues. .h.i.ther / that they saye that Paule also did vse forbidden ceremonies /
[[Paul circucised Timothee.]]
and that the prophetes of G.o.dd did reproue the sacrifices / which they neuertheles did partake without synne. And if we do graunte th? this altogether / how can they (I praye yow) helpe or sett furth their cause? We reade that Paule vsed ceremonies inst.i.tuted of G.o.dd / circ.u.mcision and sacrifices / but theis men do contend for ceremonies inst.i.tuted by men. Paul did ons circucise his Timothie /
[[Actu. 16. 18. 21.]]
and did ons ore twis take on him a vowe / and that for certayn and weightie causes. But theise men couet to waxe old in their supersticions / and haue no lawfull causes to do so / except thow wilt call that lawfull which cmith of the affectis of the fleshe. Without doubt Paule wold not haue one ore two of his actes to be sett against his whole doctrine. But whi do they not rather folow Paule in that /
[[Gal. 2.]]
when he refused to circucise t.i.tus? seing like causes are ministred vnto them by thos which go about to spoile th? of their libertie / d brig th? into bdage.
[[Hovv the prophetes reproued Sacrifices and vver also partakers of th?.]]
We do saye that ther were two sortes of the Sacrifices amg the old poeple of Israel. Sum of them are redd to be inst.i.tuted of G.o.dd / which the poeple sum tyme abused / or els did not vse them with true faithe / which thing the prophetes did reproue / and not the Sacrifices th?selues / of which they did partake religiusly and without synne: Euen as we reade that Paule did worthely partake the supper of the lorde / although he doth reproue the abuse of the supper in the Corinthinians. Other sacrifices ther were enuented by man / such were the sacrifices of Baal / and of Ieroboam / and thos which were done in the hilles. Theis truly the prophetes did reproue / but it is not redde that they did communicate with the same. This example therfor is of force against them which will excuse themselues by the example of the prophetes / in that they do partake such sacrifices as are inst.i.tuted of man.
[[Hovv sum do thincke that they may be at Ma.s.ses, d hovv thei vnderstd the ma.s.se.]]
Forthewith th? they saye / what is it to me though papistes do abuse the Ma.s.se? In their abuse I do call to mynd the true vse / and I cme vnto it with an other mynde and vnderstondinge then they do saye it. For when I see the breade and cupp / I do not thincke vppon the transubstciation which the pope hath fayned / but on the sacrament of Christe. And therfor when I am at ma.s.se I do not regarde what ceremonies be ther / ore what the minister is / but I do remember the very inst.i.tution of Christe and I do spitiually receyue that / wich he doth saye that he doth corporally offer and receyue / for the lyuinge and the deade.
and seinge I know that the vertue of the sacram?t is not of les force for the varietie of ceremonies / ore the vnworthines of the ministers / I do suppose that I / which do well vse an euell thinge / am neither defiled / nor yet that by this my spirituall cmunicating I do denie the gospell. By theise wordes a man wold iudge theis men to be madd / except he do consider that it is not they which do thus speake / but feare / and desire / which are affections playnly most trobled. They do simply acknowledge that papistes do abuse the supper of the lorde / but yet (they saye) that they themselues do wel vse their abuse / forbicause they do come enstructed with an other meaninge then the papistes do it / not to heare a popishe ma.s.se which the papistes saye / but to receyue the supper of the lorde / the self same which they in their ma.s.se do thicke abhominable. I do not know whether ther c be ony greter absurditie spok?. Thow maiste saye that theis m? haue learned an arte which hetherto no man coulde attayne / to robb a naked man of clothes / to wringe water out of a pumeise stone / and to bidde a man to get fishe in the aire / that is / at a table wher no meate is sett furth at all / to fare delicatly and to be filled. But go to / let them frely profes before them with wh they do thus cmunicate / that they be of that mynd which they speake of / that is / that in c.u.minge to Ma.s.se they will not cme to Ma.s.se / but that in it they will vnderstd and consider breade / yea and that they will sett before their myndes the supper of the lorde / that they wil not cfes the popishe transubstantiation / but that they do here in acknowledge Christes Sacrament / and that they do well receyue that spiritually in the Ma.s.se / which the prest doth offer / and receyue bodily for the lyuing and the deade / which thinge he beleauith not. Will not all they forthewithe crye out / that ther holy Ma.s.se is vnhalowed / and that they which thinke so are heretikes / and that they which do cmunicate with them are excommunicated? Truly they wold so behaue themselues / that euery man might vnderstond / that ther is a grete difference betwene the Ma.s.se and the supper of the lorde / and that they do embrace the Ma.s.se / but the supper of the lord they do all wayes hate and reiect. With such a kinde of m? yet do theis men communicate / which wold thincke it a hurtefull and d.a.m.nable thinge / if they shuld admitte vnto their diuine seruice / the cpanions of the religion of the gospell with their faithe. For they do take the approuinge of their doctrine / to be the condemnynge of the religion of the gospell: And they do take the communion in the Ma.s.se to be a certayn confession and approbation of their religion. Who is it then which doth not se / that theis m? do receyue no part of the lordes supper at all in the ma.s.se / but also that by comminge to the ma.s.se they do deny the supper of the lorde d the whole faithe of the gospell? Theis men saye that they pa.s.se nothing what the ceremonies be / what the ministers / for that the vertue of the Sacram?t is not the wors for th?. But the cheif question heer is not of the worthines of the ceremonies or ministers / but of the true vse and inst.i.tucion of the supper of the lorde / and whither that the Ma.s.se as it is this daye vsed (I do not now speake ony thinge at all of that which was vsed aboue a thowsand yeares pa.s.sed) wer so inst.i.tuted of Christe / and be indeede the very supper of the lorde? Yf the Ma.s.se be that misticall supper of the lorde / it must needes be allowed of the lorde / and thow (if so be thow dost come to it in faithe) canst not but receyue therof the foode of lyfe / forsomutch as the vnworthnes of the mynister doth not hinder the. But if the Ma.s.se be not the supper of the lorde / if the supper of the lord be defaced corrupted and troden vnder fote by the Ma.s.se / truly thow shalt receyue no fruite therof / but shalt rather purchase to thy self greate gilte of synne / for that the gaye glosse of the ceremonies or ony worthines of the ministers shall not helpe the at all. Euen Ieroboam himself wold haue beene counted to haue sacrificed to the G.o.dd of Israel: but yet bicause he did not sacrifice after the same manier which G.o.d had cmaunded / but rather after that sorte which he himself hadd inu?ted amd inst.i.tuted / G.o.dd did not accept his sacrifices / and thos did synne against G.o.dd and against true religi / yea and against the lawfull Sacrifices of G.o.dd / as many as did cmunicate with the sacrifices of Ierobo.
For both that Ierobo synned / d that he did leade Israel to synne / the scripture doth repeate very ofte / to beate i to the heade of the whole worlde / that simple obedi?ce doth pleas the lorde / i which we keape his ordinaunces after that manier only which he hath inst.i.tuted / addynge nothinge / dyminishing nothig / and chauging nothig in them.
I will not now reason how that the Ma.s.se doth agre nothing at all with the lordes supper / for this is eu? to the eyes of all men often tymes shewed in many bookes of most lerned and G.o.dly seruantes of G.o.dd. Yea eu? children which are but instructed in the priciples of faith / do know that Christe did inst.i.tute a com partaking / ore communi / in which all the faithfull which are one bodie in Christe are knitt together into one bodie / d that the Ma.s.se is a dissipaci of vnitie and a priuate deuowrig of one lurching sacrificer. They knowe that Christ cmauded: Take / eate / diuide it amonge you / and drincke ye all of this.
And that the Ma.s.se doth sett furth theis thinges to be gazed vppon / to be worshipped / to be caried about / and to be shutt vpp / to be hdeled and also receyued of preistes only: They know that Christe sayd: Do this in the rememberaunce of me. And that the priestes do saye Ma.s.se in the rem?beraunce of sayntes / that they do sacrifice for the synnes of the quicke and the deade / and to be short that they do say ma.s.se for euery thinge / for filthie lucres sake.
Ther were in the tyme of the Apostles certayn witty disputars which reasoned that it was lawful for Christians to eate meates offered vnto Idols. Meates offered to Idolls / were sacrifices vsed in the temples of Idolls / to be offered vnto Idols.
Therfor thos faithfull men did contend / that it was lauful indifferently to communicate with the holy seruice of the Christians / and also to sytte down in the Idols feaste. They did add plausible expositis / that an Idoll was nothinge / bycause G.o.dd was not represented by the Idoll / that ther is but one G.o.dd / the same our true and euerlastinge G.o.dd: Wherof it folowed that the Idoll was nothinge / that is to say a thinge of no valure or a very vanitie / that it could hurt no bodie / and that the very meate offered vnto the Idoll was a thinge of nothinge / that it did defile no man. But Paule with many wordes doth confute that folery. 1. Cor. cap. 8. 9. and 10. In this tenth chapter amonge other thinges he gatherith of the nature of the supper of the lord that a man maye not bothe be partaker of the supper of the lorde and of the table of Idols / and saith: Ye c not drincke of the cup of the lorde / and of the cup of deuils. Ye can not be partakers of the lordes table / and of the table of deuiles. Either do we prouoke the lorde? Are we strger then he? Also the Apostles of Christe and elders of the churche of Hierusalem in that same greate and notable coucell of Hierusalem / which of all that euer were was most holy and of most auctoritie / did playnly forbidd the Gentils / which were conuerted to Christe / thos meates offered to Idols. Yea and the lord Iesus hymself in the boke of the Reuelacion doth greuusly accuse and condemne them which do eate meate offered vnto Idols.
This may ye se in the epistles of the churche of Pergamos and Thiatira.
[[Apocal. 2.]]
In the furst he saithe: But I haue a few thinges againste the / bicause thow hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam which taughte in balacke to put occaci of synne before the childr? of Israel / that they shuld eate of meates dedicate vnto Idolls and committ fornication / and so furth. I thincke here neadith not many wordes to shew wherfor I haue alledged thies sayinges of meates offered vnto Idolls: for all the G.o.dly do plainly see / that by like reason all diuine seruice that is vnholy / or contrary to G.o.dds worde / with what colour so euer they be stayned / are forbidden and condemned. They see that all such expositions are put awaye / by which theise fearefull m? / and such as do loue the worlde and worldly pompe to mutch / do leade themselues away fr the right tracke / that they shuld not sincerely confes Christe.
[[The Conclusi and adhortation to fre confessi.]]
All they which be G.o.dly do both see and perceyue that they which do desire to lyue euerlastingly haue neade to make a simple cleare and playne cfession / they see that Christes name must be confessed / and that no man must communicate with Antichriste / how great so euer daungers do hange ouer them / and how gret so euer the aduautages be which are offered vnto them. They see that they must treade down the feare and desire of the fleshe. The most holy Apostle of Christe writ.i.th of Moses.
[[Heb. 11.]]
By faith Moses when he was greate / refused to be called the sonne of Pharaos daughter / and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the people of G.o.dd / then to enioye the pleasures of synne for a ceason / and esteamed the rebuke of Christ greater riches / th? the treasures of Egypt. For he hadd respect vnto the rewarde. Whos example (most goodely indeede) that we may folowe / we must alwais haue before our eyes d (as I iudge) we must neuer lett slypp out of our myndes thos most holy most true and healthefull wordes of our lord Christe / which I see neade often tymes to be repeated and inculcate:
[[Mat. 10.]]
Euery one that shall knowledge me before men / hym wyll I knowledge also before my father which is in heauen. But whosoeuer shall denie me before men / hym will I also denie before my father which is in heauen.
[[Luc. 9.]]
For who so is ashamed of me and my wordes / of hym shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commith i his maiestie / d in the maiestie of his father / and of the holy Aungels. And therfor ther are in all places of the scripture most large promises sett furthe to them which do fely confes Christe / and deny Antichriste with a goode corage. Iohn in the boke of the Reuelacion /
[[Apocal. 6.]]
I sawe (saithe he) the sowles of them which wer filled for the name of Iesu and the word of G.o.d. And wher as in this furst place he hadd writ / them which wer filled / he added.
[[Apoc. 13. 19. 20.]]
And as many as worshipped not the image of the beast / nor did take the marcke in their foreheade / or in their hande / all which / whom he did se in the very same place / he couplith together and saythe. And they lyued and reigned with Christe. He saith that they lyued and reigned with Christe / not only they which were filled / but they which abiding in the constautnes and confession of true faithe / did not worshipp the image of the beaste / nor receyued ony markes of it. The blessed Apostle Paule doth proue that we do receyue more in the rewarde of sufferinge / then it is that we do heere suffer i the afflicti it self /
[[Rom. 8.]]
saying: for I suppose that the afflictis of this lyfe / are not worthie of the glorie which shal be shewed vp vs. Who is it th?
that will not labor with all his poure to come vnto so greate an excell?cie / that he may become the frend of G.o.dd / and forthwith ioye with Christ? that after famin and banishem?t or torm?tes and punishem?tes / which are but earthely / he may attayn vnto heauenly rewardes? Yf it be a glorius thinge for worldly souldiours to returne in to ther coutrie triuphing after they haue vanquished their enemie / how mutch more worthi a thig is it for vs / after our fleshe the world and deuell beinge ouercme / to go again with triuphe into paradise? And to offer vnto G.o.dd a gifte most acceptable / faith incorrupte / the sownd vertue of mynd / and sincere cfession of faithe / a notable praise of deuotion. To cme in his cpanye when he cmith to take vengeaunce of his enemies / To stond by his syde when he shall sytte down to iudge / to be made the felow heire of Christe / to be made equall with the angels / to reioyce in the possession of the heauenly kingdom with the patriarches / with thapostles / with the prophetes / and all confessours and martirs. What persequution can vanquishe theis thoughtes / which are not uain / but of force / and of poure / i the holy ghoste?
what tormentes can ouercome them? The mynd ons grownded in theis G.o.dly meditacis doth endure stronge and stable / and that mynd abydeth immutable against all the terrors of the deuell / and the threttes of the world / and of Antichriste / that mynd I say which the certayn and sure faith of thinges to come doth strenghth?. The eyes be shutt vpp in theis persequutions of the earthe / but heau? is open. Antichriste threatneth / but the lord Christe defendith. The world is taken from him that is killed / but paradise is gyuen to him being therunto restored.
T?porall lyfe is taken awaye / but the euerlastinge lyfe is repayred. What a dignitie (o brethern) is it / how great a safetie / for a man to depart myrily from hens / to depart so through oppressions and trobles? It is a glorius thinge to shutt vpp the eyes in a moment / with which men and the world wer seene / and forthewith to open the same to se G.o.dd and Christe.
But that we maye behold theis thinges in mynde and thought / that we may (I saye) night and daye meditate theis thinges / and sincely confes the holy name of Christ / and escape and treade down all thinges which are contrary to pure confession / we must diligentlly praye vnto that same our heauenly father through Iesus Christe our lorde.