Marginalia1552.tread þe broad Seale vnder his foote, although he haue broken and defaced nothing but syluer and waxe. Yet is the iniury the Kinges, and the doer shall be taken as a Traitour. Saint Ambrose declareth the meanyng of S. Paule by these woordes. Reus est corporis domini, quia pænas dabit mortis Christi quoniā irritam fecit mortem domini. MarginaliaAmbrosius.The cause of the ordinance therof was the remembrance of the death of Christ, which who so forgetteth, receiueth the sacrament to their condemnation. That same witnesseth S. Augustine. For the sacrament, saith he, is an outward token of loue and charitie. For like as many graines of corne are become one peece of bread, euen so they that receiue it ought to be one. Then sayth he. Mysterium pacis ac vnitatis nobis Christus in mensa sua consecrauit. Qui accepit mysterium vnitatis, & non seruat vnitatem, non mysterium accepit pro se, sed testimonium contra se. MarginaliaAugustinus.
The place of Sainct Paul, of receauing vnworthely, expounded.He that readeth the Gospell wherein is declared the passion and death of Christ, and liueth contrary to the Gospell, shall doubtles be the more gylty of the death of Christ, because he heareth and readeth the word of God, and regardeth it not. In a certayne countrey the maner is, that when the Gospell is read, the King shall stande vp with a naked swoord in hys hande, declaring thereby that he beareth hys sword in defence of the Gospel. But if he himself oppresseth the Gospell, he beareth the sword against him selfe, for the Gospel shall turne to his iudgement, and condemnation. So will Christ so much more extremely punish a man which knowing him selfe to be wicked and without repentance and therefore none of the flocke of Christ, yet notwithstanding wyll impudētly creepe into the company of Christian men, and receiue the sacramentes with them, as though hee were one of the nomber. And this ment S. Paule by the vnworthy receiuing of the Sacrament of Christes body. Wherefore a man may vnworthely take the sacrament, and be giltie of the death of Christ, although hee receiue not Christes body into his mouth, and chawe it with his teeth. But what if I proue that euery Massing Priest is gilty of the body and bloud of Christ?
CVST. I dare say, you can not proue it.
VERI. But if I do proue it, will you beleue me?
CVST. I may well ynough, for it is impossible to doe it. For Priestes commonly are confessed before they goe to Masse: and how can they then take the Sacrament vnworthely?
MarginaliaConfessiō.VERI. In deede confession, if it bee discretely vsed, is a laudable custome, and to the vnlearned man, and feable conscience so good as a sermon. But notwithstanding because it was neuer neyther commaunded of Christ, nor receiued of the Apostels, nor much spoken of the old doctors, it can not make much for the due receiuing of the sacrament
An aside against the Catholic Sacrament of Confession; Protestants denied that it was instituted by Christ and was thus not a Sacrament. Catholics believed that it was instituted when the Risen Christ commanded the apostles to bind and loose sins (see John 20:21-23).
CVST. This liketh me verye well. But what gather you of it?
VERI. This wyl I gather. The massing Priest taketh the sacrament otherwyse then Christ eyther commaunded or taught: Ergo he taketh it vnworthely, and so consequently to hys condemnation.
CVST. That is not so, for he doth altogether as Christ commaunded hym.
MarginaliaThe priest taketh the sacrament not as Christ ordayned it: Ergo the good taketh it vnworthely.VERI. That shall appeare. For Christ commaunded it to be done in his remembraunce: the Priest doth it in remembraunce of dead men. Christ tooke bread, and left it bread: the Priest taketh bread and coniureth it away. Christ tooke bread and gaue thankes: the Priest taketh bread, and breatheth vpon it. Christ toke bread, and brake it: the Priest taketh bread and hangeth it vp. Christ tooke bread and delt to his Apostles: the Priest because he is an Apostle hym selfe, taketh bread and eateth it euery whitte alone. Christ in a Sacrament gaue his owne body to bee eaten in fayth: the Priest for lacke of fayth receiueth accidences, and dimensiōs. Christ gaue a Sacrament to strengthen mens fayth: the Priest geueth a sacrifice to redeme mens soules. Christ gaue it to be eaten: the Priestes giueth it to be worshipped. And to conclude, Christ gaue bread: the Priest sayth he giueth a God. MarginaliaDifferēce betwene Christes ordinancie and the PriestHere is difference ynough betwene Christ, and the Priest. Yet moreouer Christ at his Supper spake his wordes out and in a plaine tounge: the Priest speaketh nothyng but Latin, or Greke, which tounges he ofttymes perceiueth not, & much he whispereth leste any other pore mā should perhaps perceiue him. So it cōmeth to passe that the Priest knoweth no more what hee him self sayth,then what he doth. This you may see that the Massysng priest receiueth þe Sacramēt of Christes body farre otherwise thē euer Christ mynded, & so therfore vnworthely & to hys condemnation
Another aside in which Verity offers a series of objections to the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist, some of them more caricatures of the doctrines than actual discussions of them. Many of them have also been raised in the disputations which Foxe has just related. Such objections include: offering masses for the intentions of the living and for the dead; reservation and worship of the Sacrament; the language in which the liturgy is prayed; the ritual of the mass.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe Sacrament called breaking of bread.The sacrament in the scriptures is named Fractio panis, the breaking of bread: which, to say the truth, were but a colde breaking if there remayned no breade to breake, but certayne phantasies of white, and round. Yet where as they with wordes, crossinges, blessinges, breathings, leapings, and much a doo can scarcely make one God, they haue such vertue in theyr fingers, that at one crosse they be able to make. xx. gods, for if they breake the sacrament euery portion, yea euery mite must needes be a god. After the Apostels tyme there arose vp hereticks
The heretics Verity describes are the Gnostics (from the Greek 'gnosis' - 'knowledge'), among the earliest and largest groups that denied elements of fundamental Christian belief; in this case, the incarnation: that God became a true human being in the person of Jesus.
'Sely': simple.