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861 [837]

K. Henry. 8. The history and actes of Doct. M. Luther.

(whiche they call of the altare) is a true Sacrament of the body and bloud of the Lord. Item, that the spirituall manducation of his body and bloud is necessary for euery Christen man. And furthermore, that the vse of the Sacrament tendeth to the same effect, as doth the word, geuen and ordeyned of almightie God, that thereby infirme consciences may be styrred to belefe, by the holy Ghost. &c. Ex Paral. Abbat. Vrsp.

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In all these summes of doctrine aboue recited, Luther and Zuinglius dyd consent and agree. Neither were their opinions so different in the matter of the Lordes Supper, but that in the principall poyntes they accorded.  

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In fact, in 14 of the 15 articles drawn up by Luther before the Colloquy (and listed by Foxe), the Lutheran and Swiss Reformers agreed. But the Swiss refused to accept the doctrine of the Eucharist contained in article 15. Foxe is de-emphasizing the disagreement in response to a blistering attack by Nicholas Harpsfield, who argued that Lutherans, Zwinglians and Calinists were not of the same religion because they did not share the same beliefs on the key doctrine of the Eucharist (Harpsfield, Dialogi sex, pp. 802-17 and 822-25).

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For if the question be asked of them both, what is the materiall substaunce of the Sacramēt, which our outward senses do behold and feele: they will both confesse bread, and not the accidentes onely of bread. Further if the questiō be MarginaliaLuther and Zuinglius agree in the presence: only in the maner of the presence they differ. asked whether Christ be there present: they will both confesse his true presence to be there, onely in the maner of presence they differ. Agayne, aske whether the materiall substaunce layd before our eyes in the Sacrament, is to be worshypped: they will both deny it, and iudge it idolatry. And likewise for transubstantiation, and for the sacrifice of the Masse, they both do abhorre, and do deny the same: As also the Communion to be in both kyndes administred, they do both assent and graunt.

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MarginaliaHow and wherein Luther & Zuinglius dissent in doctrine of the lordes supper. Onely their difference is in this, concernyng the sense and meanyng of the wordes of Christ: Hoc est corpus meum: This is my body. &c.MarginaliaLuthers opinion in the Sacrament. Whiche wordes Luther expoundeth to be taken nakedly and simply, as the letter standeth, without trope or figure, and therefore holdeth the body and bloud of Christ truely to be in the bread, and wyne, and so also to be receaued with the mouth.MarginaliaZuinglius opinion in the Sacrament.
Ex Ioan. Sled. lib. 5.
Vldricus Zuinglius, with Ioannes Oecolampadius and other moe, do interprete these wordes otherwise, as to be taken not litterally, but to haue a spirituall meanyng, and to be expounded by a trope or figure, so that the sense of these wordes: This is my body, is thus to be expounded: this signifieth my body and bloud. Ex Ioan. Sled. Lib. 5. With Luther consented the Saxons.  

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I.e., the Lutherans, who were from the duchy of Saxony.

With the other side of Zuinglius, went the Heluetians. And as tyme dyd grow, so the diuision of these opinions increased in sides, and spread in farther Realmes and countreys:MarginaliaLutherians. the one part beiyng called of Luther Lutherians:MarginaliaSacramentaries. the other hauyng the name of Sacramentaries. Notwithstandyng in this one vnitie of opinion, both the Lutherians, and Sacramentaries do accorde and agree, that the bread and wyne there present is not transubstātiate into the body and bloud of Christ (as is sayd) but is a true Sacrament of the body and bloud.

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MarginaliaEx Paralip. Abb. Vrsp. But hereof sufficient, touchyng this diuision betwene the Lutherians and Zuinglians. In which diuisiō, if there haue bene any defect in Martin Luther: yet is that no cause why either the papistes may greatly triumph, or why the Protestantes should despise Luther.  

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Now Foxe is advising English Protestants not to disown Luther because they did not share the same theology of the Eucharist.

For neither is the doctrine of Luther touching the Sacrament, so grosse that it maketh much with the Papistes: nor yet so discrepaunt from vs, that therfore he ought to be exploded. And though a full reconciliation of this difference can not well be made (as some haue gone about to do) yet let vs geue to Luther a moderate interpretation, & if we will not make things better, yet let vs not make them worse then they be, and let vs beare, if not with the maner, yet at least with the tyme of his teachyng:MarginaliaLutherians and Zuinglians differ more in charitie then in doctrine. and finally let it not be noted in vs, that we should seeme to differe in Charitie more (as Bucer sayth) then we do in doctrine. But of this hereafter more (Christ willyng) when we come to the history of Iohn Fryih.

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They which write the lyfe of Saintes, vse to describe and to extoll their holy lyfe and godly vertues, and also to set forth such miracles as be wrought in them by God: Wherof there lacketh no plenty in Martin Luther, but rather tyme lacketh to vs and oportunitie to tary vpon them, hauyng such hast to other thyngs.  

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This section is a very interesting attempt by Foxe to grapple with one of the major challenges to Protestant martyrology: why miracles did not occur to support the sanctity of Protestant martyrs? And how could Luther be regarded as a divinely inspired teacher when he did not buttress his message with miracles? Foxe explains this by describing the 'miracles' performed by Luther.

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MarginaliaA notable myracle of God to ouerthrow the pope by a poore Frier. Otherwise what a miracle might this seeme to be, for one mā, and a poore Frier, creeping out of a blynd cloyster, to be set vp agaynst the pope, the vniuersall Byshop and Gods mighty Vicare in earth: to withstand all his Cardinals: yea and to susteyne the malice and hatred almost of the whole world, beyng set agaynst him: and to worke that agaynst the sayd Pope, Cardinals and Churche of Rome, which no Kyng nor Emperour could euer do, yea durst neuer attempt, nor all the learned men before him, could euer compasse. Whiche miraculous worke of God, I recount nothyng inferiour to the miracle of Dauid ouerthrowyng great Goliath. Wherfore if miracles do make a Saint (after the Popes definition) what lacketh in Meartin Luther but age and tyme onely to make him a Saint? who standyng openly agaynst the Pope, Cardinals, and Prelates of the Church, in number so many, in power so terrible, in practise so crafty, hauyng Emperours, and all the Kinges of the earth agaynst him, who teachyng and preachyng Christ the space of 29. yeares, could without touche of all his enemyes so quietly [illegible text] where he was borne, dye and sleepe in peace.Marginalia[illegible text] [illegible text] M. Luther, first to stand against the pope, was a great miracle to preuaile agaynst the Pope, a greater: so to dye vntouched may seeme greatest of all, especially hauyng so many enemyes, as he had. Againe neither is it any thing lesse miraculous, to consider what manifold daungers he escaped besides,  
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We have been unable to find the source for the stories of of these two interesting 'miraculous' escapes of Luther from death. Foxe may have heard them from an oral source; perhaps a sermon.

as when a certeine Iewe was appointed to come to destroy hym by poyson, yet was it so the will of God, that Luther had warnyng therof before, and the face of the Iewe sent to hym by picture, whereby he knew hym, and auoyded the perill.

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MarginaliaM. Luther miraculously preserued. An other tyme as he was sittyng in a certaine place vpō his stoole, a great stone there was in the vault, ouer his head where he did sit, whiche beyng stayd miraculously, so long as he was sittyng, as soone as he was vp, immediatly fell vpon the place where he sat, able to haue crushed hym all in peeces if it had light vpon hym.

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And what should I speake of his prayers, which were so ardente vnto Christ, that (as Melancthon writeth)  

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This is taken from Johannes Sleidan, A famouse cronicle of our time, called Sleidanes Commentaries, trans. John Daus (London, 1560), STC 19894, sig. G8v.

they whiche stode vnder his windowe, where he stode praying, might see his teares fallyng and droppyng downe. Agayne, with such power he prayed, that he (as hymselfe confesseth) had obteined of the Lord, that so long as he lyued, the Pope should not preuayle in his countrey: after his death (sayd he) let them pray who could.

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MarginaliaM. Luther vehement & mighty in prayer. And as touching the meruelous workes of the Lorde wrought here by men, if it be true which is credibly reported by the learned,  

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Who these 'learned' sources were cannot be determined. There were numerous stories current in the sixteenth century of Luther's successful confrontations with the devil; this appears to be one of them. (Luther's inveterate adversary and first biographer, Johannes Cochlaeus, caustically referred to the prevalence of such stories: Historia de actis et scriptis Martini Lutheri (Paris, 1565), pp. 302-3). For a discussion of the contemporary legends of Luther and Satan see Robert Scribner, 'Luther Myth: Historiography of the Reformers' in Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Germany (London, 1987), pp. 301-22, esp. 304-5.

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what myracle can be more myraculous, then that which was declared of a young man about Wyttenberge, who being kept bare and needy by his father, was tempted by way of sorcery, to bargaine with the deuill, or a familiare (as they call him) to yeld himselfe body and soule into the deuils power, vpon condition to haue his wish satisfied wyth money: So that vppon the same, an obligation was made by the young mā, written with his owne bloud, and geuen to the deuill. This case you see, how horrible it was, and how damnable: now heare what folowed.MarginaliaA myraculous worke of the lord in deliuering a young man out of the deuills daunger by Christian prayer. Vpon the sodeine wealth and alteration of this younge man, the matter first being noted, began afterward more and more, to be suspected, and at length, after long and great admiration, was brought vnto M. Luther, to be examined. The young man, whether for shame or feare, long denyed to confesse, & would be knowen of nothing. Yet God so wrought beyng stronger then the deuil, that he vttered vnto Luther the whole substaunce of the case, as well touching the money, as the obligation. Luther vnderstanding the matter, & pitying the lamentable state of þe man, willed the whole cōgregation to pray: and he himselfe ceased not with his prayers to labour, so that the deuill was compelled at last to throw in his obligation at the wyndow, and bad hym take it agayne vnto hym. Which narration if it be so true as certainely it is of him reported, I see not the contrary, but that this may well seeme comparable with the greatest miracle in Christes Church, that was since the Apostles tyme.

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Furthermore, as he was mighty in hys prayers: so in his Sermons God gaue hym such a grace, that when he preached, they which heard him, thought eueryone his own temptations seuerally to be noted and touched.  

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See Johannes Sleidan, A famouse cronicle of our time, called Sleidanes Commentaries, trans. John Daus (London, 1560), STC 19894, sigs. G8v-H1r.

Whereof when signification was geuen vnto him by his frends, & he demaunded how that could be: myne owne manifold temptations (sayd he) and experiences are the cause therof. For this thou must vnderstand (good reader) that Luther, from his tender yeares, was much beaten and exercised with spirituall conflictes, as Melancthon in describyng of his lyfe, doth testifie.MarginaliaEx Phil. Melancth. in orat. funerbri. Also Hieronymus Wellerus, scholer and disciple to þe sayd Martin Luther, recordethMarginaliaEx Hierony. VVellero. that he often times heard Luther his maister, thus report of himselfe: that he had bene assaulted and vexed with all kyndes of temptations, sauyng onely one, which was with couetousnes.MarginaliaLuther meuer in all hys lyfe tempted with couetousnes. With this vice he was neuer (sayd he) in all his lyfe troubled, nor once tempted. And hetherto concernyng the lyfe of M. Luther: who lyued to the yeare of his age. 63. He continued writyngMarginaliaM. Luther how long he lyued and taught. and preachyng, about 29. yeares. As touchyng the order of his death, the wordes of Melancthon be these.  
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This is taken from A famous and godly history contayning the lyves a[nd] actes of three renowned reformers…, trans. Henry Bennet (London, 1561),STC 1881, sigs. F8v-G1r. For a modern translation of Melanchthon's life of Luther, see Elizabeth Vandiver, Ralph Keen and Thomas D. Frazel, Luther's Lives (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), pp. 14-39.

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MarginaliaThe sicknes of Luther. In the yeare of our Lord. 1546. and the 17. of February,  

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This is taken from A famous and godly history contayning the lyves a[nd] actes of three renowned reformers…, trans. Henry Bennet (London, 1561), sigs. G1r-G2r.

Doctour Martin Luther sickned a litle before supper, of his accustomed maladie, to witte, of the oppression of humors in the orifice or openyng of his stomacke, whereof I remember I haue sene him oft diseased in this place. This sicknes tooke him after supper, with the which he vehemētly contendyng, required secesse into a bye chamber, and there he rested on his bed two houres: all which time hys paynes encreased. And as Doctor Ionas was lying in his chamber, Luther awaked and prayed him to rise, & to cal vp Ambrose his childrens scholemaister, to make fire in an other chamber. Into the whiche, when he was newly entred, Albert

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Earle
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