THE TENTH BOOK. THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
240. THE ABOMINABLE BLASPHEMY OF THE MASS.
ORASMUCH as we are come now to the time of Queen Mary, when so many were put to death for the cause especially of the Mass, and The Sacrament of the Altar, (as they call it,) I thought it convenient, upon the occasion given, in the ingress of this foresaid story, first, to prefix before, by the way of preface, some declaration collected out of divers writers and authors, whereby to set forth to the reader the great absurdity, wicked abuse, and perilous idolatry, of the popish mass; declaring how, and by whom, it came in, and how it is clouted and patched up of divers additions: to the intent that the reader, seeing the vain institution thereof, and weighing the true causes why it is to be exploded out of all churches, may the better thereby judge of their death, which gave their lives for the testimony and the word of truth.
First concerning the origin of this word Missa, whether it came of non תסם in Hebrew, or nee which signifieth "oblation;" or whether it came of sending away the catechumens, and persons unworthily out of place of ministration, (as certain writers suppose,) or else, "Of gifts and oblations, wont to be offered before the communion." Or whether Missa is derived of Remissa, which in the former writers was used Pro remissione, that is, forgiveness; or whether Missa is taken for sending away the congregation by the words of thedeacon, Ite missa est: or whether Missa hath its denomination of what the Grecians call αφεσις του λαου [Aphesis tou laou], "dismission of the people" (alluding to the story of the Hebrews, licensed of Pharaoh to depart out of captivity after the eating of the paschal lamb, as I read in an old popish book, entitled De Sacramentis Sacerdotalibus); or what term soever it be else, either Latin, Syrian, Dutch, or French, or howsoever else it taketh its appellation, as there is no certainty amongst themselves who most magnify the mass, so it is no matter to us that stand against it. To my judgment or conjecture, this latter exposition of the word seemeth more probable, both for that it is joined with the word ite, which signifieth "departing," and also the time and order in speaking the same agreeth well thereunto. For, as the old Hebrews, after the supper of the lamb, and not before, were set at liberty straightway to depart out of captivity, so, belike, to declare our mystical deliverance by Christ offered and slain for us, first goeth before the action of the holy supper: that done, then the priest or deacon saith Ite missa est, meaning, thereby, the deliverance and liberty which is spiritually wrought in us, after that the body of Christ hath been offered for us. Or else, if Missa otherwise should signify the celebration or the action of the supper, it would not be said Ite, but Venite missa est, &c. Moreover, besides other arguments, there be certain places in Cassianus which seem to declare that Missa signifieth the dismission of the congregation: as where he writeth of him which cometh not in time to the hours of prayer, saying it not to be lawful for him to enter into the oratory, that he ought, standing without the doors, to wait for the miss of the congregation.
And again in the next chapter following, he inferreth the same vocable Missa, in like sense: "contented with so much sleep as served, us for the miss, or breaking up of the night vigil, unto the coming of the day," &c. But, to let pass these conjectures, this by the way I give the reader to note and understand: that as this word Missa never yet entered into the church nor usage among the Greeks, so it is to be observed among our Latin interpreters, (such as have translated of old time the ancient Greek authors,) as Eusebius, and the Tripartite History, (and others that were the Greek writers,) have these terms, "to call the congregation," "to convent assemblies," and "to frequent together;" the old translator of Epiphanius, and others, translate upon the same Missas facere, collectus agere, missas celebrare, &c. Whereby it is not obscure to be seen, that this word "mass," in the old time, was not only and peculiarly applied to the action of consecration, but as well as to all Christian assemblies collected, or congregations convented, according as in the Dutch language this name Masse signifieth any solemn frequency, or panagery, or gathering together of the people. But of the name enough and too much.
To (express now) the absurdity of the said mass, and the irreligious application thereof, unseemly and perilous for Christians to use, I will bring two or three reasons of the worthy servant and martyr of God, John Bradford, to which many more may also be added out of others. First, the mass, saith he, is a most subtle and pernicious enemy against Christ; and that, double ways: namely, against his priesthood, and against his sacrifice. Which he proveth by this way: for the priesthood of Christ, saith he, is an everlasting priesthood, and such an one as cannot go to another; but the mass utterly putteth him out of place, as though he was dead for ever, and so God were a liar which said, that Christ should be "a Priest for ever;" which, briefly, cometh unto this argument.
That thing is not perpetual, nor standeth alone, which admitteth succession of others, to do the same thing that was done before:
But the mass-priests succeed after Christ, doing the same sacrifice, as they say, which he did before:
Ergo, the mass-priests make Christ's priesthood not to be perpetual.
Another Argument.
All priests either be after the order of Aaron, or after the order of Melchizedek, or after the order of the apostles, or after that spiritual sort, whereof it is written, Vos estis spirituale sacerdotium, &c.
But our mass-priests neither be after the order of Aaron, for that is to resume that which Christ hath abolished; neither after the order of Melchizedek, for that is peculiar only to Christ; neither after the order of the apostles, for then should they be ministers, not masters; not priests, but preachers; and which of the apostles was ever named by the title of a priest? Again, neither are they after the general sort of the spiritual priesthood, for after that prerogative every true Christian is a spiritual priest, as well as they offering up spiritual, not bodily, sacrifice: as prayers, thanksgiving, obedience, mortification of the body framed to the obedience of his commandments.
Ergo, our mass-priests are no priests, unless it be after the order of the priests of Baal!
Secondly, concerning the sacrifice of Christ above mentioned, he reasoneth in like manner; which we have reduced in the way of argument as followeth:
To reiterate a thing once done, for the attaining or accomplishing of the end whereof it was begun, declareth the imperfection of the same thing before.
The mass-priests do reiterate the sacrifice of Christ, once done for the end whereof it was begun; that is, for propitiation and remission.
Ergo, mass-priests make the sacrifice of Christ to be imperfect; and so are they injurious to the sacrifice of Christ.
For confirmation of the premises, mark here, reader, I beseech thee, the Rubric here following, written before the Mass of the Five Wounds, in the mass-book.
"Boniface; bishop of Rome, lay sick and was like to die, to whom our Lord sent the archangel Raphael with the office of the Mass of the Five Wounds, saying, Rise and write this office, and say it five times, and thou shalt be restored to thy health immediately; and what priest soever shall say this office for himself, or for any other that is sick, five times, the person for whom it is said shall obtain health and grace, and in the world to come, if he continue in virtue, life everlasting. And in whatsoever tribulation a man shall be in this life, if he procure this office to be said five times for him of a priest, without doubt he shall be delivered. And if it be said for the soul of the dead, anon as it shall be said and ended five times, his soul shall be rid from pains. This hearing, the bishop did erect himself up in his bed, conjuring the angel, in the name of Almighty God, to tell him what he was, and wherefore he came, and that he should depart without doing him harm; who answered, that he was Raphael the archangel, sent unto him of God, and that all the premises were undoubtedly true. Then the said Boniface confirmed the said office of the Five Wounds by the apostolic authority."
Another argument against the mass is, for that it is a hinderance to the true service of God, and to the godly life of men; the declaration whereof is more at large by the said author set out, but, briefly, in form of argument it may be thus contracted.
Another argument.
Whatsoever causeth or occasioneth a man to rest in outward serving of God, (whose service should be all inward, in spirit and verity,) that hindereth the true service of God.
The mass occasioneth a man to rest in outward serving; as, in hearing, seeing, and saying mass, which be but outward senses of a man, and is, as they say, meritorious.
Ergo, the mass hindereth the right and true service of God.
Another argument, proving that the mass hindereth good life, is this:
Upon the mass riseth false hope; a false remedy is promised to wicked livers. For evil men, hearing mass in the morning, upon hope thereof, take more security in doing all day what they list. And such as have (in bibbing, brawling, taverning, swearing, whoring, dicing, carding) committed wickedness, to them the mass is set up; promising him sufficient propitiation, sacrifice, remedy of body and soul, for man and beast, though they never heard preaching, never used praying, never repented. Or, how wicked soever they have been, yet if they come to the church, take holy bread and holy water, and hear mass, or find a soul-priest upon the remedy thereof, then they think themselves discharged, and good catholic men.
Upon what cause soever riseth false hope, and false remedy is promised to wicked livers, which hindereth good life.
Ergo, the mass hindereth good life.
Another argument.
Where one thing is sufficient and serveth alone, there all other helps be needless thereunto, wherein it serveth.
The mass (as they say) hath all -- serveth for all; for, by it cometh pardon for sins, by it cometh deliverance from hell and purgatory, by it cometh health for man and beast.
Ergo, all other helps else be needless; hearing of God's word, faith, praying in spirit, repenting, preaching, piety, and all other helps to good life, &c.
Another argument: proving that the mass is diverse and contrary from the institution of Christ's supper.
I. Christ ordained his supper to be a memorial of his death and passion, to be preached until he came.
The mass is no memorial thing of Christ remembered in the sacrament, but rather they make the sacrament to be Christ himself offered and sacrificed for remission of sins; both for the quick and the dead.
II. Christ ordained his supper to be celebrated and received of the congregation; and therefore Paul biddeth the Corinthians to tarry one for another. In the mass there is no such thing: choose the people to come or no, "Sir John" is kin to the tide, he will tarry for no man; if he have a boy to say "amen," it is enough.
III. Christ received not, but he distributed also the whole in every part: "Sir John," when he hath received all alone, he showeth the people the empty chalice; and if he distribute to the people once a year, it is but in one kind alone.
IV. Christ ordained the supper to be a taking matter, an eating matter, a distributing and a remembering matter: contrary our mass-men make it a matter, not of taking, but of gazing, peeping, pixing, boxing, carrying, re-carrying, worshipping, stooping, kneeling, knocking, with "stoop down before," "hold up higher," "I thank God I see my Maker to-day," &c. Christ ordained it a table-matter: we turn it to an altar-matter. He, for a memorial, we, for a sacrifice: he sat, our men stand; he in his common tongue, we in a foreign tongue: whereby it is manifest to appear, how diverse and repugnant the mass is to the institution of the Lord's supper.
Another argument: proving that the Mass is contrary to God's commandments.
Item, Whereas the first table of God's blessed and sacred commandments, teacheth men to worship and serve him, and to direct the meditations of their hearts only unto him, and that in all places, at all times, both publicly and privately;
The mass-book doth point out service for saints and for creatures by name, to be served at least three hundred days and years; as appeareth by the calendars, masses, collects, martyrologue, &c.:
Ergo, the doctrine and institution of the mass-book tendeth contrary to God's holy commandments.
Another reason against the Mass.
Item, Whereas St. Paul, in express words, willeth all things to be done in an edifying tongue, the mass is celebrated in a tongue foreign, strange, and unknown to the people; so that although the matter therein contained were wholesome and consonant to Scripture, (as it is much disagreeing to the same,) yet for the strangeness of the tongue it giveth but a sound, and worketh no edifying to the ignorant.
Now both the tongue being strange to the ears of the people, and the matter also in the mass contained being repugnant to God's word, what defence can the mass have, but utterly it is to be rejected?
And forasmuch therefore as the mass so long used in a foreign language hath not hitherto come to the understanding of the simple and vulgar sort, to the intent they may themselves perceive the matter, and be their own judges, I have here set forth the chiefest part thereof, which is the canon, in English, so as I found it in a certain written copy, by Master Coverdale translated, adjoining withal the rubric and circumstance of the same in every point, as it is in the mass-book contained.
The whole canon of the Mass, with the Rubric thereof, as it standeth in the Mass-book, after Salisbury Use, translated word by word out of Latin into English.
After the Sanctus, the priest immediately joining his hands together, and lifting up his eyes, beginneth these words:
Te igitur clementissime, &c.; that is to say, _ "Therefore, most gracious Father, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, we humbly beseech thee,"
Let him bow down his body while he saith: "And we desire,"
Here the priest, standing upright, must kiss the altar on the right hand of the sacrifice, saying: "That thou accept and bless,"
Here let the priest make three crosses upon the chalice and the bread, saying:
"These + gifts, these + presents, these + holy and unspotted sacrifices."
When the signs are made upon the chalice, let him lift up his hands, saying thus:
"Which, first of all, we offer unto thee for thy holy catholic church, that thou vouchsafe to pacify, keep, unite, and govern it throughout the whole world, with thy servant our pope N. and our bishop N.," [that is his own bishop only] "and our king N." [and they are expressed by name.]
Then let there follow:
"And all true believers, and such as have the catholic and apostolic faith in due estimation." Here let him pray for the living:
"Remember, Lord, thy servants and handmaids N. and N."
In the which prayer a rule must be observed for the order of charity. Five times let the priest pray: first, for himself: secondly, for father and mother, carnal and spiritual, and for other parents: thirdly, for special friends, parishioners, and others: fourthly, for all that stand by: fifthly, for all Christian people. And here may the priest commend all his friends to God, (but my counsel is, that none make over-long tarrying there, partly for distraction of mind, partly because of immissions which may chance through evil angels,) and all that stand hereby round about, whose faith and devotion unto thee is known and manifest; for whom we offer unto thee, or which themselves offer unto thee, this sacrifice of praise for them and theirs, for the redemption of their souls, for the hope of their salvation and health, and render their vows unto Thee, the eternal living and true God.
Communicating, and worshipping the memorial, first, of the glorious and ever Virgin; bowing down a little, let him say:
"Mary, the mother of our God and Lord Jesu Christ, and also of thy blessed apostles and martyrs, Peter, Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Thaddeus, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Laurence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian, and of all thy saints: by whose merits and prayers, grant thou, that in all things we may be defended with the help of thy protection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen."
Here let the priest behold the host with great veneration, saying:
"Therefore, Lord, we beseech thee, that thou, being pacified, wilt receive this oblation of our bound service, and of all thy household: and order our days in thy peace, and command us to be delivered from eternal damnation, and to be numbered in the flock of thine elect, through Christ our Lord. Amen."
Here again let him hold the host, saying:
"Which oblation we beseech thee, O Almighty God, in all things to make,"
Here let him make three crosses upon both when he saith:
"+ blessed, + appointed, + ratified, reasonable, and acceptable; that unto us it may be,"
Here let him make a cross upon the bread, saying: + "The body," here upon the chalice, "and + blood,"
Here with hands joined together, let him say, "of thy most dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesu Christ;
Here let the priest lift up his hands and join them together, and afterward wipe his fingers, and lift up the host, saying:
"Who, the next day, afore he suffered, took bread into his holy and reverent hands, and his eyes being lift up into heaven,"
Here let him lift up his eyes,
"unto the God Almighty his Father,"
Here let him bow down, and afterward erect himself up a little, saying:
"Rendering thanks unto thee, he + blessed, he brake,"
Here let him touch the host, saying:
"and gave unto his disciples, saying, Take ye, and eat of this ye all; for this is my body."
And these words must be pronounced with one breath, and under one prolation, without making of any pause between. After these words let him bow himself to the host, and afterward lift [it] up above his forehead, that it may be seen of the people: and let him reverently lay it again before the chalice, in manner of a cross made with the same. And then let him uncover the chalice, and hold it between his hands, not putting his thumb and forefinger asunder, save only when he blesseth, saying thus:
"Likewise after they had supped, he, taking this excellent cup into his holy and reverent hands, rendering thanks also unto thee,"
Here let him bow himself, saying:
"Blessed, and gave unto his disciples, saying, Take, and drink of this ye all;"
Here let him lift up the chalice a little, saying thus:
"For this is the cup of my blood, of the new and everlasting testament, the mystery of faith, which, for you and for many, shall be shed to the remission of sins."
Here let him lift the chalice to his breast, or further than his head, saying:
"As oft as ye do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of me."
Here let him set down the chalice again, and rub his fingers over the chalice. Then let him lift up his arms, and cover the chalice. Then let him lift up his arms crosswise, his fingers being joined together until these words: de tuis donis; this is to say, of thine own rewards.
"Wherefore, O Lard, we also, thy servants, and thy holy people, being mindful as well of the blessed passion and resurrection, as of the glorious ascension of the same Christ thy Son, our Lord God, do offer unto thy excellent Majesty of thy own rewards and gifts."
Here let there be made five crosses, namely, the three first upon the host and cup, saying:
+" a pure host; + a holy host; + an undefiled host."
The fourth upon the bread only, saying: "The holy + bread of eternal life,"
The fifth upon the cup, saying:
"And + cup of eternal salvation. Vouchsafe thou also, with a merciful and pleasant countenance, to have respect hereunto, and to accept the same, as thou didst vouchsafe to accept the gifts of thy righteous servant Abel, and the sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham, and the holy sacrifice, the undefiled host, that the high priest Melchizedek did offer unto thee."
Here let the priest, with his body bowed down, and his hands holden across, say, Supplices te rogamus, "We humbly beseech thee," until these words, Ex hac altaris participatione, "of this partaking of the altar." And then let him stand up, kissing the altar on the right side of the sacrifice; and let him make a sign of the cross upon the host, and in his own face, when he saith, Omni benedictione clesti, "with all heavenly benediction."
"We humbly beseech thee, O Almighty God, command thou these to be brought by the hands of thy holy angel unto thy high altar in the presence of thy Divine Majesty, that as many of us as,"
Here erecting up himself, let him kiss the altar on the right side of the sacrifice, saying:
"Of this participation of the altar shall receive thy Son's holy"
Here let him make a sign of the cross upon the host, saying:
"body,"
Then upon the cup, saying:
"and + blood may be replenished"
Then let him make a sign in his own face, saying: "With all heavenly benediction and grace through the same Christ our Lord. Amen."
Here let him pray for the dead.
"Remember, Lord, also, the souls of thy servants and handmaidens, N. and N. which are gone before us with the mark of faith, and rest in the sleep of peace. We beseech thee, O Lord, that unto them, and unto all such as rest in Christ, thou wilt grant a place of refreshing, of light, and of peace, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen."
Here let him smite once upon his breast, saying:
"Unto us sinners also, thy servants, hoping of the multitude of thy mercies, vouchsafe to give some portion and fellowship with thy holy apostles and martyrs; with John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, and with all thy saints; within whose fellowship we beseech thee admit us, not weighing our merit, but granting us forgiveness through Christ our Lord."
Here is not said "Amen."
"By whom, O Lord, all these good things thou dost ever create."
Here let him make a sign over the chalice three times, saying:
"Thou+ sanctifiest; thou + quickenest; thou + blessest, and givest unto us."
Here let him uncover the chalice, and make a sign of the cross with the host five times: first, beyond the chalice on every side; secondly, even with the chalice; thirdly, within the chalice; fourthly, like as at the first; fifthly, before the chalice.
"Through + him, and with + him and in him, is unto thee God, Father + almighty in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory."
Here let the priest cover the chalice, and hold his hands still upon the altar till the Pater-noster be spoken, saying thus:
"World without end, Amen.-- Let us pray. Being advertised by wholesome precepts, and taught by God's institution, we are bold to say,"
Here let the deacon take the paten, and hold it uncovered on the right side of the priest, his arm being stretched out on high until da propitius.
Here let the priest lift up his hands, saying, Pater noster, &c. The choir must say, Sed libera nos, &c.
"Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evil past, present, and for to come; and that, by the intercession of the blessed, glorious, and our Virgin Mary the mother of God, and thy blessed apostles Peter, and Paul, and Andrew; with all saints."
Here let the deacon commit the paten to the priest, kissing his hand; and let the priest kiss the paten. Afterward let him put it to his left eye, and then to the right. After that let him make a cross with the paten above upon his head, and so lay it down again into its place, saying:
"Give peace graciously in our days, that we, being helped through the succour of thy mercy, may both be always free from sin, and safe from all trouble,"
Here let him uncover the chalice, and take the body, doing reverence, shifting it over in the hollow room of the chalice, holding it between his thumbs and forefingers; and let him break it into three parts; the first breaking, while there is said:
"Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son,"
The second breaking:
"Who, with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth God."
Here let him hold two pieces in his left hand, and the third piece in the right hand, upon the brink of the chalice, saying this with open voice: "World without end."
Let the choir answer:
"Amen."
Here let him make three crosses within the chalice with the third part of the host, saying:
"The peace of the Lord + be always + with + you,"
Let the choir answer:
"And with thy spirit."
To say Agnus Dei, let the deacon and subdeacon approach near unto the priest, both being on the right hand, the deacon nearer, the subdeacon further off. And let them say privately:
"O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us: O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us: O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace."
In masses for the dead it is said thus:
"O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, give them rest,"
With this addition in the third repetition, "Everlasting."
Here making a cross, let him put down the said third part of the host into the sacrament of the blood, saying:
"This holy mingling together of the body and blood of our Lord Jesu Christ be unto me, and to all that receive it, salvation of mind and body: a wholesome preparation both to deserve and to receive eternal life, through the same Christ our Lord."
Afore the pax be given, let the priest say:
"O Lord, holy Father, almighty eternal God, grant me so worthily to take this holy body and blood of thy Son our Lord Jesu Christ, that by this I may merit to receive forgiveness of all my sins, and be replenished with thy Holy Spirit, and to have thy peace: for thou art God alone, neither is there any other without thee, whose glorious kingdom and empire endureth continually world without end, Amen."
Here let the priest kiss the corporas on the right side, and the brink of the chalice, and afterward let him say to the deacon:
"Peace be unto thee, and to the church of God." Answer:
"And with thy spirit."
On the right hand of the priest let the deacon receive the pax of him, and reach it to the subdeacon. Then to the step of the choir let the deacon himself bear the pax unto the rectors of the choir; and let them bring it to the choir, either of them to his own side, beginning at the eldest. But in feasts and ferial days, when the choir is not governed, the pax is borne from the deacon unto the choir by two of the lowest of the second form, like as afore.
After the pax given, let the priest say the prayers following, privately, before he communicate; holding the host with both his hands:
"O God, Father, thou fountain and original of all goodness, who, being moved with mercy, hast willed thine only begotten Son, for our sake, to descend into the lower parts of the world, and to be incarnate, whom I unworthy hold in my hands;"
Here let the priest bow himself to the host, saying: "I worship thee, I glorify thee, I praise thee with whole intention of mind and heart: and I beseech thee that thou fail not us thy servants, but forgive our sins, so as with pure heart, and chaste body, we may be able to serve thee, the only living and true God, through the same Christ our Lord: Amen.
"O Lord Jesu Christ, thou Son of the living God, who, according to the will of the Father, the Holy Ghost working withal, hast quickened the world through thy death, deliver me, I beseech thee, through this thy holy body, and this thy blood, from all my iniquities, and from all evils. And make me to alway obey thy commandments, and never suffer me to be separated from thee for evermore, thou Saviour of the world, who, with God the Father, and the same Holy Ghost, livest and reignest God, world without end: Amen.
"O Lord Jesu Christ, let not the sacrament of thy body and blood which I receive, (though unworthy,) be to my judgment and damnation; but, through thy goodness, let it profit to the salvation of my body and soul: Amen."
To the body let him say with humiliation before he receive:
"Hail for evermore, thou most holy flesh of Christ; unto me, afore all things and above all things, the highest sweetness. The body of our Lord Jesu Christ be unto me, sinner, the way and life, in the + name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Amen."
Here let him take the body, a cross being first made with the same body afore his mouth, saying:
"Hail for evermore, thou heavenly drink! unto me, before all things and above all things, the highest sweetness. The body and blood of our Lord Jesu Christ profit me, sinner, for a remedy everlasting unto life eternal: Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Amen."
Here let him take the blood, which when it is received, let him bow himself, and say the prayer:
"I render thanks to thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty eternal God, which hast refreshed me out of the most holy body and blood of thy Son our Lord Jesu Christ. And I beseech thee, that this sacrament of our salvation, which I, unworthy sinner, have received, come not to my judgment nor condemnation after my merits; but to the profit of my body, and to the salvation of my soul into life everlasting: Amen."
Which prayer being said, let the priest go to the right side of the altar, with the chalice between his hands, his fingers being yet joined together as afore, and let the subdeacon approach dear, and pour out wine and water into the chalice. And let the priest rinse his hands, lest any parcels of the body or blood be left behind in his fingers or in the chalice. But, when any priest must celebrate twice in one day, then, at the first mass, he must not receive any ablution, but put it in the sacristy, or in a clean vessel, till the end of the other mass; and then let both the ablutions be received.
After the first ablution, is said this prayer: "That we have received with mouth, O Lord, let us take with a pure mind, and out of a temporal gift, let it be to us a remedy everlasting."
Here let him wash his fingers in the hollow room of the chalice, with wine being poured in by the subdeacon; which, when it is drunk up, let the prayer follow:
"Lord, let this communion purge us from sin, and make us to be partakers of the heavenly remedy." After the receiving of the ablutions, let the priest lay the chalice upon the paten; that if aught remain behind, it may drop. And afterward bowing himself, let him say:
"Let us worship the sign of the cross, whereby we have received the sacrament of salvation." Afterward let him wash his hands. In the mean season let the deacon fold up the corporas. When his hands are washen, and the priest returneth to the right end of the altar, let the deacon reach the chalice to the priest's mouth, that if aught of that which was poured in do remain behind, he may receive it. After that, let him say the communion with his ministers. Then, making a sign of the cross in his own face, let the priest turn himself to the people; and with his arms somewhat lifted up, and his hands joined together, let him say, Dominus vobiscum; and, turning him again to the altar, let him say, Oremus, "Let us pray."
Then let him say the postcommon, according to the number and order of the aforesaid prayers. Before the epistle, when the last postcommon is ended, and the priest hath made a sign of the cross in his forehead, let him turn him again to the people, and say, Dominus vobiscum. Then let the deacon say, Benedicamus Domino. At another time is said, Ite missa est. As oft as Ite missa est is said, it is always said in turning to the people. And when Benedicamus Domino or Requiescant in pace must be said, let it be said in turning to the altar. When these things are spoken, let the priest (with his body bowed down, and his hands joined together) in the midst before the altar, say, with a still voice, this prayer:
"O holy Trinity, let the office of my bond-service please thee! and grant that this sacrifice, which I, unworthy, have offered in the eyes of thy Majesty, may be acceptable unto thee: and that unto me and all them for whom I have offered it, it may avail to obtain remission, thou being merciful, who livest and reignest God," &c.
Which prayer being ended, let the priest stand upright, crossing himself in his face, saying, In nomine Patris, &c. And so when obeisance is made, after the same order wherein they came afore to the altar at the beginning of the mass, so, having on their apparel, with the censer-bearer, and other ministers, let them go their way again.
THE END OF THE CANON.
Now it remaineth (as we have promised before) to entreat of the parts and parcels of the Mass, declaring likewise how, and by whom, this popish, or rather apish, mass became so clampered and patched together with so many divers and sundry additions; whereby it may the better appear what hath been the continuance of the same.
First, in the beginning of this preface it was declared before, how this word "mass" was never used or known in the old primitive church among the first Christians, nor among the Grecians. Therefore they that deduce and derive the origin of the mass from St. James and Basil, are far deceived. As I think, that St. James was once bishop at Jerusalem, so I think not contrary, but sometimes he ministered at the communion there, in breaking of bread, and that not without the Lord's Prayer, and other prayers of thanksgiving, as we now in our communion use like prayers, and these prayers make not the communion to be a mass. And the like is to be said of St. Peter, who though he did celebrate the communion at Rome, yet it followeth not that he said mass at Rome, as some report him to have done.
Neither is it hard to fetch out the origin, how this error first came up among the people, that St. James said mass at Jerusalem, if a man consider well histories and authors which have written. For in the history of Eusebius, Egesippus thus writeth of St. James, Eum ab apostolis primum constitutum fuisse episcopum et liturgum, &c. Upon the which word liturgus, it is not unlike, and divers suppose, this error to come: that St. James did first set and institute the order of mass. For so lightly the old translators, wheresoever they find liturgia, or collecta, (κοινωνια [Greek:koinonia],) they translated it missa; whereupon the greatest occasion of this error riseth, to make the people believe the mass to be so ancient as to proceed from the apostles, and from St. James. Notwithstanding, that error, as it lightly came up, so it may be as lightly exploded. For how could St. James say mass then at Jerusalem, or St. Peter at Rome, when as yet neither the name of mass was heard, nor the parts thereof invented? And although Sigebert in his Chronicles reports, that in the city of Bazas, being delivered from the siege of the Huns, the pastor of that church did celebrate mass with thanksgiving, about the year 453, yet Sigebert, in so saying, is to be taken as speaking rather after the use and manner of his time when he wrote it, than of that time when it was done. For in all the works of St. Augustine, and of Chrysostom, and in all that age, the name of mass is not found, but it is called either the supper of the Lord, or the Lord's board or communion, synaxis, sacrifice, oblation, mystery, celebration of the sacrament, eucharistia, the mystical table, mystagogia, cna mystica; or with some other like term they nominate it. The name of the mass was not yet devised, nor were the patches thereof compiled. Platina testifieth, that before Pope Celestine, only the epistle and gospel were read at the communion, which being done, the communion ended. And Gregory saith, that the apostles, afore the ministration of the sacrament did use only the Lord's Prayer, that is, the Pater-noster. Let us hear what Walafridus Strabo writeth of that matter: "That which now is done in the church, with such a long circumstance of so many orisons, lessons, or readings, songs and consecrations; all that the apostles, and they that next succeeded the apostles, (as it is thought,) did accomplish simply with prayer only, and with the commemoration of the Lord's passion," &c. It followeth in the same author: "And, as the report is, like as it is in the Roman church upon Good Friday, where the communion is wont to be taken without any mass; so it was in the old time with them," &c.
Now how this mass hath grown up and increased since, let us search out, by the Lord's help, out of authors, so much as may be found.
The "Introite."
Pope Celestine gave the first Introite, as Platina and Sigebert write.
The Psalm. "Judica me Deus," &c.
And before the priest do prepare himself to his mass, first with the psalm, Judica me Deus et discerne causam meam, &c.: that was ordained by the said Celestine.
And where they ascribed to St. Ambrose the two prayers which he used in the preparation to the mass, and he added to the books of Ambrose, Erasmus judgeth the same to be none of his, and that rightly as it seemeth: for therein are contained errors, not else to be found in the books of Ambrose, both in giving adoration to the bread of the sacrament, and making invocation to saints, namely, to blessed Mary; as in the second prayer, where he saith, "And that this my prayer maybe of efficacy, I desire the suffrage and intercession of blessed Mary the virgin," &c.: whereby it may appear learned Ambrose not to be the author of such an error.
Chrysostom, in the eleventh Homily upon the Gospel of Matthew, saith, that in his time, and afore his time, the use was to sing whole psalms, till they were entered and assembled together. And so belike Celestine borrowed this custom of the Greeks, and brought it into the Latin church, as Rupertus writeth.
Gregory the Great (as some write) called a synod at Rome, about the year of our Lord 594, in which synod he appointed that the introite of the mass should be taken out of some psalm.
The "Confiteor."
The Confiteor Pope Damasus brought into the mass, as it is written: albeit peradventure not this popish Confiteor, winch in the latter church hath been used, stuft full of idolatry and invocation of saints, against the word of God.
The "Kyrie Eleison."
The Kyrie Eleison, nine times to be repeated in such a tongue as few priests either understand, or do rightly pronounce, Gregory did institute about 600 years after Christ; taking it out of the Greek church, and yet transposing it otherwise than there it was used. For among the Greeks this Kyrie Eleison, which they called their litany, was sung of all the people; the which Gregory ordained to be sung only of the choir: adding thereto also Christe Eleison, which the Grecians used not; as Gregory himself, writing to the bishop of Syracuse, doth testify.
"Gloria in Excelsis."
Next followeth Gloria in Excelsis, &c. which words were sung of the angels, at the birth of our Saviour. Albeit these words also were corrupted, as many other things were in the church; for where the words of the angels' hymn were "to men good will;" the mass said, "to men of good will," &c. This hymn was brought into the mass by Pope Symmachus, (and not by Telesphorus, as some not truly write, that he ordained three masses on Christmas day; for in his time there was no mass, A.D. 140,) about the year of our Lord 510. And after, the said hymn was augmented by Hilary, of Poictiers, with those words that follow, Lan-damns te, &c., singing it first in his own church, which was A.D. 340. And afterward it was brought into other churches by Pope Symmachus, A.D. 510, as is aforesaid.
"Dominus vobiscum," with the answer "Oremus," and the Collects.
Dominus vobiscum, with the answer of the people, although we have no certain author named by whom it came; yet this is certain, that it was deduced out of the Greek church into the Latin; as may appear by the Liturgy of Chrysostom and Basil (if the Liturgy be rightly ascribed unto them): also by Origen, and other ancient writers; by whom, it may seem that the liturgy or mass (as they call it) did first begin with Dominus vobiscum, and then Sursum corda; after that Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro, and so following upon the same, Vere dignum et justum est, &c.: to the which beginning of the canon other additions, after, were put by others, as ye shall hear, by the Lord's grace, hereafter more at large.
Hugo de Sto. Victore writeth, that this prayer was taken out of the ancient salutation of Boaz saluting his harvest-folks. And out of the book of Paralipomena, where the prophet saluteth Asa the king, with his company about him, saying, Dominus vobiscum. Honorius writeth thus: "As the priest saluteth the people with the words of the Old Testament, Dominus vobiscum; so the bishop useth the words of the New Testament, saying, Pax vobiscum," &c. Concerning the collects, Walafridus writeth, that as they be divers and uncertain, so they were made of divers and sundry authors, as every of them thought it congrue. Hugo de Sto. Victore affirms, that chiefly they were made by Gelasius and Gregory.
Why they were called collects, William Durand and Micrologus show the cause: for that in the city of Rome they said them over the people collected together on the station-day, therefore they were called collectæ.
The "Gradual," with "Alleluia," "Tract," and "Sequences."
The responsory, which is called the "gradual," (being wont to be sung at the steps going up,) with Alleluia, Honorius saith that Ambrose made them, but Pope Gregory ordained them to be received.
Upon festival days the "sequences," which were wont to be sung, were chiefly composed by an abbot called Notherus de Sto. Gallo, and by Pope Nicholas commanded to be sung in the mass.
The gradual the people were wont to sing when the bishop was about to go up to the pulpit, or some higher standing, where the word of God might be the better and more sensibly heard at his mouth, reading the epistle and the gospel.
The epistle and the gospel.
The reading of the epistle and the gospel, although it was not used in the apostles' times, yet it seemeth to be of ancient continuance, as Hugo saith: "In former time the mass began first with the epistle of St. Paul, after which epistle then followed the gospel, as also now," &c.
Walafridus saith, "It is uncertain who first ordered and disposed them so to be."
Some attribute them to Jerome, some to Damasus, some to Telesphorus aforesaid. This is certain, that Pope Anastasius ordained to stand up at the hearing of the gospel read; about the year of our Saviour 406.
Petrus Ciruelus writeth thus: "We read that about five hundred years since almost, the epistle," saith he, "was brought into the mass."
Honorius: "Alexander," saith he, "appointed the epistle and gospel to be read at mass. The translation and the disposition of them, in that order as they stand, Jerome the priest collected; but Damasus appointed them to be read in the church, so as the use is now."
Betwixt the epistle and the gospel the old canons of the Spaniards did forbid any hymn or canticle to be sung in the order of the mass, which now by the Romish order is broken.
The Creed.
The creed was made by the synod of Constantinople, but, by Damasus the pope, ordained to be sung at the mass. And whereas some affirm, that it was brought in by Pope Marcus, about the year of our Lord 340 -- to reconcile these two together, peradventure thus it may be taken, that theone brought in the creed, or symbol, of the Nicene council, the other appointed the creed of Constantinople, as is said.
The Offertory.
After this, oblations were wont to be offered of the people to the priest; and the offertory to be sung of the choir.
Of these oblations speaketh Irenæus: "Instead of the sundry rites of sacrifices, let the simple oblation of bread and wine suffice the faithful."
Item, Walafridus: "Every person entering in the church must do sacrifice, as the order of ecclesiastical institution doth teach." What order this was, it is declared in Ordine Romano by these words: "The people give every one his oblations; that is, bread and wine, first the men, then the women. After them priests and deacons offer, but bread only," &c.
Likewise Burchardus testifieth the same: "In the synod of Masçon it was ordained, that every Sunday and festival day, oblation should be made of all the people which came to the mass, or liturgy, both men and women, in the church; every person bringing and offering his own oblation. The liturgy being done, they should receive the oblations of the priest," &c.
Thus ye may see what were their oblations and sacrifice in the ancient time, in their liturgy. Whereof now remaineth nothing but the name only with the song.
This offertory some ascribe to Eutychianus, about the year of our Lord 280, but thereof no certain evidence appeareth.
"Orate pro me, fratres," &c.
Nauclerus writeth, that Pope Leo brought in that which is said in the mass, Orate pro me, fratres et sorores, &c.
The preface of the canon.
The preface of the canon from vere dignum et justum est, &c., to per Christum Dominum nostrum, is given to Gelasius. Sursum corda seemeth to be borrowed out of the old manner of the Greek church; St. Cyprian also maketh mention of the same, and St. Augustine. And therefore Thomas Walden judgeth that this part of the preface cannot be attributed to Gelasius.
After Christum Dominum nostrum, in the old liturgy, then followed Qui pridie quam pateretur, as Rhenanus supposeth; but then came Gelasius I. about the year of our Lord 497, which inserted that which followeth, Te igitur clementis ime, &c. Whereby it is to be noted, that Polydore Virgil, which ascribeth Qui pridie to Pope Alexander, is deceived.
The like is also to be said of Panormitane, who referreth the same clause, Qui pridie, &c., to the apostles.
Furthermore note, good reader, how this doth agree with the long canon of St. Ambrose (lib. iv. de Sacrament. cap. 5): Dicit Sacerdos, Fac nobis hanc oblationem adscriptam, rationalem, acceptabilem, quad est figura corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesus Christi. Qui pridie quam pateretur in sanctis manibus suis accepit panem, respexit ad cesium, ad te Sancte Pater omnipotens et æterne Deus, gratias agens benedixit, fregit, &c. If it be true either that Panormitane saith, or that Gelasius made Qui pridie, &c., how can this canon then be fathered upon St. Ambrose? And by the same reason also his whole book, entituled De Sacramentis, may be suspected; as of divers learned men it is.
Then came Pope Sixtus ten years after him, who brought into the canon Sanctus, Sanctus, thrice to be sung out of the book of Isaiah; and, to annex it together, joined also that which goeth before, Per quem majestatem tuam, &c.
He that writeth the Liturgy of Basil, ascribeth it to his name: whether he doth it truly or no, I will not here contend. This is to be noted, that seeing in the said Liturgy of Basil the same particle Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth: pleni sunt cli et terra gloria tua, Osanna in Excelsis is sung; therefore it must needs follow, that either Leo, who was about the year of our Lord 460, borrowed this out of Basil's Liturgy, or else the same is falsely attributed to Basil.
After this followeth Sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam, till ye come to placatus accipias, which Leo the First did make and institute.
The words in the communion, Hoc quotiescunque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis, &c., were put in by Pope Alexander, as Humbertus writeth: Alexander martyr. et papa quintus ab apost. Petro, passionem Domini inserens canon missæ, ait, Hoc quotiescunque feceritis, &c.
Pope Gregory the Third, about the year of our Lord 732, put to his piece, Et eorum quorum memoria, &c.
This Gregory the Third called a council at Rome, wherein he decreed, that images should not only be had in temples, but also be worshipped, and that all gainsayers should be counted as heretics.
Innocent the Third affirmeth Pope Gelasius, who was about four hundred and ninety years after Christ, to have made a great piece of that canon,as he himself did something therein, about the year of our Lord 1215.
Panormitane affirmeth that Gregory did add to the canon this clause, Diesque nostros in pace disponas.
Briefly, Gregory saith, "that one Scholasticus made the most part of the canon, finding also fault with the same, that in composing the canon he would put in his own prayers, and leave out the Lord's Prayer," &c.
Where it is to be noted, for the reconciling these writers together, of whom some impute the canon to Gelasius, some again to Scholasticus: in my conjecture it may be said, that both these be one, and so the matter is reconciled. The reason that moveth me is this; for so I find in a certain ancient book De Officio Missæ, after these words, Gelasius, Papa ex Scholastico effectus, in ordine 48. fecit Tractatus et Hymnos, &c.
The elevation and adoration.
The elevation and adoration of the sacrament we cannot find to come in by any other than by Honorius the Third, about the year of our Lord 1222; who ordained that the people then should kneel down and worship the sacrament.
The "Pater-noster."
John the deacon, writing of Gregory, saith, "that Gregory caused the Lord's Prayer to be recited immediately after the canon upon the host," &c.
Although the apostles ever used the Lord's Prayer at the supper of the Lord, as is said before; yet Gregory (belike) placed it so, in that order, after the canon, and brought it in with those words, Præceptis salutaribus, &c.
Gregory: "The Lord's Prayer," saith he, "amongst the Grecians, was wont to be sung generally of all the people: with us it is sung only of the priest."
The "Agnus."
The Agnus, Pope Sergius, about the year of our Lord 700, brought into the mass, as witnesseth Expositio Rom. Ordin. Propter oficium confractionis Dominici corporis, constitutum est a papa Sergio ut Agnus Dei decantetur, &c.
The "Pax."
Innocent ordained the pax to be given to the people. Pacis, ait, osculum dandum post confecta mysteria, ut constet populism ad omnia, quæ in mysteriis aguntur, præbuisse consensum, &c.
Peter Martyr, in his commentaries on Jude, saith, that it was brought in by Pope Leo the Second, as it is said: and yet he supposeth the same not to be so, saying, "That this was an ancient custom in the apostles' time, for Christians to salute one another with the kiss of peace," &c.
To this of Peter Martyr agreeth also Gabriel Biel, writing in these words: "In the primitive church the priest gave a kiss of peace to the minister, to be given by him to the people."
The distribution and communion.
After this followeth the communion, wherein our popish mass and ministers thereof do much alter and degenerate from ancient antiquity, two manner of ways. First, in that they make no communion thereof, receiving only to themselves, contrary both to their own words, where they say after their receiving, Sacramenta quæ sumpsimus, &c., and also to the ancient examples and decrees of the apostles and others; and where it is decreed in the epistle of Anacletus, "The consecration being done, let all communicate together; unless they will be thrust out of the church doors," &c.
Here note by the way, gentle reader, how Gratian, the writer of the pope's decrees, is overseen, who, in his book De Consecrat., dist. 2, referreth this saying of Anacletus to Pope Calixtus. And likewise also Cochleus, writing against Musculus, followeth Gratian in the same error.
Likewise in the canons of the apostles (if the canons were theirs) we read, "All the faithful, who resort to the church, and tarry not out the end of the service, and receive not the holy communion, be such as, bringing in disorder to the church, ought to be dissevered," &c. And again, Si quis episcopus, presbyter, aut diaconus, aut quicunque ex sacerdotali consortio, oblatione facto, non communicaverint, causam dicito, &c.
For how can that be called a communion, which is not common, but private to one? As Micrologus writeth: "It cannot be called a communion, except more than one do participate of one sacrifice," &c.
And Durandus: "In the primitive time all that were present at the ministration were wont every day to communicate, because that the apostles did all together drink of the cup," &c.
Secondly, They alter and degenerate therein from ancient antiquity, in that when they communicate also with the people, yet they deprive them of the holy cup: which deprivation was not in the church before the council of Constance, about the year of our Lord 1414. For before, it was so authenticly received, that it was counted a sacrilege to receive the one without the other, as appeareth by the words of Pope Gelasius. The whole in English is this: "We understand that there be some, who, receiving the one part only of the holy body, abstain from the cup of the sacred blood; who, because they be taught so to do, (by what superstition I cannot tell,) either let them receive the sacrament whole together, or let them abstain from the whole sacrament altogether; because the division of that one and whole sacrament cannot be without great sacrilege," &c.
Hitherto also pertaineth the testimony of St. Augustine in these words: "There be you at the table; and at the cup there also be you with us: for together we receive, and together we drink, because we live together."
As also out of the book of Gregory it is manifest, that not only the people received them in both kinds; but also the words were prescribed to the minister, that he should say in giving the cup: "Let the priest say, in giving the cup, 'The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ keep thee to everlasting life, Amen.'"
Further, in rendering the cause why it should so be done, Thomas Aquinas writeth: "For that serveth to represent the passion of Christ, wherein his blood was parted severally from the body, &c. Secondly, for that it is convenient to the use of the sacrament, that the body should severally be given to the faithful for meat, and the blood for drink."
And therefore served the office of the deacons, as we read: "To lay the offerings of the people upon the altar to be hallowed, and when the mysteries be consecrated, to distribute the cup of the sacred blood of the Lord to the faithful," &c.
But among all other testimonies to prove that the sacrament ought to be common to all people in both kinds, there is none more evident than that of Jerome: "The supper of the Lord ought to be indifferently common to all his disciples there present," &c.
And thus have ye heard the canon described, which otherwise is called Secretum; that is, "The secret of the mass," being so termed, because the priest was wont to read it in secret or in silence. The reason thereof Pope Innocent the Third declareth in his third book: "For that the holy words," saith he, "of the canon should not grow in contempt with the people, by the daily use and hearing thereof." And he bringeth in an example concerning the same of certain shepherds, which in the fields, using the same words of the canon upon their bread and wine, "the matter was turned," saith he, "into flesh and blood, and they plagued therefor from heaven:" but with such popish tales the church hath been long replenished.
The Postcommon.
After the canon and communion then followeth the postcommon, with the collects, which the mass-book requireth always to be used in an odd number, sometimes teaching to use but one, as in the Sundays in Lent; and sometimes three, as in certain masses from Low-Sunday till the Ascension; but never to pass the number of seven.
"Ite missa est."
Last of all cometh Ite missa est, whereby the minister dimitteth and sendeth away all the congregation there present to their business: for, as you heard before, it was decreed in ancient time, that it was not lawful to depart from the congregation in the time of holy ministration, before the end of the whole communion. And therefore, all things being accomplished, the minister, turning to the assembly, pronounceth, Ite missa est.
Where note, that upon Sundays and festival days only, when Gloria in excelsis was sung, Ite missa est was wont to be said: on the work days Benedicamus Domino; sometimes Requiescant in pace.
Now concerning such trinkets as were to the aforesaid mass appertaining or circumstant: first, the linen albes and corporasses were brought in by Pope Mark, A.D. 340; if that be true which is thought by some. Where note again, that in the time of this pope it was nothing offensive for every honest priest to have his own proper wife. In the time also of this Mark was the council of Elvira in Spain, which condemned all kinds of images and pictures in temples.
Contrary to the which council Pope Gregory the Third, about the year of our Lord 732, calling a council at Rome, did not only stablish the images before condemned, but condemned the gainsayers for heretics, as is aforesaid.
By Sixtus the Second it was ordained, that no liturgy should be done save only upon altars hallowed, about the year of our Lord 260, as some suppose. But as I see no firm probation upon the same, so have I probable conjecture the same not to be true.
Some there be that shame not to say, that St. Clement brought in the albes and vestments to the popish mass.
Item, That the sacrament of the blood of the Lord should be consecrated in chalices of glass, and not of wood, as it was in time before, they say it was the ordinance of Pope Zephyrinus.
After this came in golden chalices, and a true proverb withal, "That once they had wooden chalices, and golden priests; now they have golden chalices, and wooden priests."
Sabinian ordained the ringing of bells and burning of lamps in churches.
Vitalian, the playing on the organs.
Damasus, by the instigation of Jerome, appointed Gloria Patri after the Psalms.
Pelagius devised the memento for the dead. Leo brought in the incense.
Eutychian, as others say, brought in the offertory, which was then after a manner far otherwise than it is, or hath been used now a great while. For what time as many of the heathen, being greatly accustomed with offerings, were converted unto Christ, and could not be well brought from their old long use of offerings, the pope thought to bear somewhat with the weak, and permitted them to bring meats into the congregation or church, that when the bishop had blessed them, they that brought them might distribute them to the poor, or take them to their own use. But afterwards did Pope Gregory so help with this sentence, "Thou shalt not appear in the sight of thy God empty," &c., that as he willed the people to lay their offerings upon the altar, so they did; and have not yet forgotten to do so still.
Soul-masses, and masses applied for the dead, came in partly by Gregory, partly by Pelagius, who brought in the Memento, as is said.
Wherein note, good reader, and mark, how these two stand together, that which our Saviour saith in his evangelist, Do this in remembrance of me; and that which they say, "In whose commemoration the body of Christ is taken," &c. Christ would it to be done in his remembrance; and the pope saith, "Do it in remembrance of the dead," &c.-- What can be more contrary?
Innocent the Third ordained that the sacrament should be reserved in the church. The same brought also in auricular confession as a law, about the year of our Lord 1215. He did also constitute that no archbishop should enjoy the pall, unless he were of his own religion; and therefore no great marvel if there be such unity in popery.
Vigilius ordained that the priest should say mass having his face toward the east.
Platina writeth how the first Latin mass was sung in the sixth council of Constantinople, which was about the year of our Lord 680: so that the said mass was there and then first allowed, and not before. And yet they (I mean the Greek church) should have known as soon as the mass, if it had proceeded from James or Basil, as the Latin church did know it.
The opinion to think the mass to help souls in purgatory, was confirmed by Pope John the Seventeenth by reason of a dream, wherein he dreamed that he saw (and heard the voices of) devils lamenting and bewailing, that souls were delivered from them by the saying of masses and diriges. And therefore he did approve and ratify the feast of All Souls, brought in by Odilo. Moreover he adjoined also to the same the feast of Allhallows, about the year of our Lord 1003.
Concerning Lent fast, some think that Telesphorus, about the year of our Lord 140, was the author thereof. But that peradventure may be as true, as that which they also attribute to him, that he ordained three masses of one priest to be said on Christmas day. Or, if he did ordain that fast, yet he did ordain it but freely to be kept: for so I find among the decrees, that Lent was commanded first to be fasted but only of the clergy or churchmen.
Pope Leo commanded the sacrament to be censed.
Pope Boniface set in his foot for covering of the altars.
In St. Cyprian's time it seemeth that water was then mingled with the wine, whereof we read mention in his second book of Epistles, which mixture is referred to Alexander the First, in the Order of the Roman canon.
As concerning the breaking of the body in three parts, we read also mention to be made in the same book of Order, but no certain author thereof to be named. The words of the book be these: "Three ways is the body of the Lord understood: one which rose again from the dead, being signified by that part which is let fall to the blood in the chalice; the other is that which yet is living in the earth, which the part of the priest eaten doth signify; the third is that which now resteth in Christ, which also is figured by that particle that is reserved upon the altar."
Dedication of churches came in by Felix the Third; and that churches might not be hallowed but by a bishop, A.D. 492.
The canticle, Gloria laus, &c., in the procession before the mass on Palm Sunday, was instituted by Theodulphus, bishop of Orleans, as Sigebert writeth, about the year of our Lord 483.
Giving of holy bread came in by this occasion, as it is to be gathered, partly out of Honorius, partly out of Durandus, and others. The manner was in ancient time, that the ministers were wont to receive certain meal of every house or family, wherewith a great loaf was made, called Panis Dominicus, able to serve in the communion, and to be distributed unto the people, who then were wont every day to be present and to receive, especially they thatoffered the meal: for whom it was wont therefore to be said in the canon, Omnium circumstantium, qui tibi hoc sacrificium laudis offerunt, &c. But afterward, the number of the people increasing, and piety decreasing, as Durandus writeth, it was then ordained to communicate but only upon Sundays.
At length followed the third constitution, that thrice a year, at least Easter, every man should communicate; it being thus provided, that instead of the daily communion before used, the pax did serve. And instead of receiving upon the Sunday, bread was hallowed, and suddenly given and distributed unto the people, which also was called Eulogia; the constitution whereof seemeth to proceed from Pope Pius. For so we read in the decrees of the said Pope Pius: "That the minister shall take of the oblations offered of the people, remaining of the consecration, or else of the bread which the faithful bring unto the church, or else to take of his own bread, and cut it conveniently in portions in a clean and a convenient vessel; so that after the solemnity of the ministration being done, they that were not prepared and ready to communicate, may receive every Sunday or festival day 'eulogies,' or benedictions, with the same."
As concerning holy water, which they used to sprinkle at the church door upon them that entered in, I will not say that it sprung from the idolatrous use of the Gentiles.
This I say as I find in Historia Zozomeni: "It was an old custom among the Romans, that at the entering in at the church door, the priest, after the usual manner of the ethnics, having in his hand moist branches of olive, did sprinkle with the same such as entered in," &c. To the which custom this our manner of giving of holy water is so like, that it seemeth to proceed out of the same.
In the book of the pope's Decrees, and in the Distinctions of Gratian, there is a certain decree fathered upon Alexander the First, about the year of our Lord 121; which decree may well seem to be a bastard decree, neither agreeing to such a father, nor such a time, concerning the conjuring of holy water. The words of the decree be these: "We bless water sprinkled with salt among the people, that all such as be sprinkled with the same may be sanctified and purified; which thing we charge and command all priests to do. For if the ashes of the cow, in the old law, being sprinkled among the people, did sanctify and cleanse them, much more water sprinkled with salt, and hallowed with godly prayers, sanctifieth and cleanseth the people. And if that Elisha the prophet, by the sprinkling of salt, did heal and help the barrenness of the water; how much more doth the salt, being hallowed by godly prayers, take away the barrenness of human things, and sanctify and purge them that be defiled; also multiply other things that be good, and turn away the snares of the devil, and defend men from the deceptions of fantasy," &c.
Thus ye have heard the author and father of holy water, which some also ascribe to Pope Sixtus, who succeeded Alexander: but as the papists do not agree in the first author or institutor of this hallowing of elements, so I think the same untruly to be ascribed to either. But leaving the probation of this to further leisure, let us now hear, in our own tongue, their own words, which they use in this their conjuration.
The form and words used of the priest in conjuring salt.
"I conjure thee, thou creature of salt, by the + living God, by the + true God, by the holy God, &c.: that thou mayest be made a conjured salt, to the salvation of them that believe; and that unto all such as receive thee thou mayest be health of soul and body; and that from out of the place wherein thou shalt be sprinkled, may fly away and depart all fantasy, wickedness, or craftiness of the devil's subtlety, and every foul spirit," &c.
The form of conjuring water.
"I conjure thee, thou creature of water, in the name of + God the Father almighty, and in the name of + Jesu Christ his Son our Lord, and in the virtue + of the Holy Ghost, that thou become a conjured water to expel all power of the enemy," &c.
Who seeth not in these words blasphemy intolerable; how that which is only due to the blood of Christ, and promised to faith only in him, is transferred to earthly and insensate creatures, to be salvation both to body and spirit, inwardly to give remission of sins, to give health and remedy against evils and devils, against all fantasies, wickedness, and all foul spirits, and to expel the power of the enemy, &c.? If this be true, whereto serveth the blood of Christ, and the virtue of Christian faith?
Therefore judge thyself, gentle reader, whether thou think this trumpery rightly to be fathered upon those ancient fathers aforenamed; or else whether it may seem more like truth that John Sleidan writeth, whose words, in his second book De Monarchiis, are these: "The decrees of these aforesaid bishops and martyrs be inserted in the Book of Councils; but of these decrees many be so childish, so trifling, and so far disagreeing from the Holy Scripture, that it is very like that the same werefeigned and counterfeited of others long after their time," &c. Thus much saith Sleidan, with more words in that place; unto whose testimony if I might be so bold also to add my conjecture, I would suppose the conjuration of this aforesaid water and salt to spring out of the same fountain from whence proceeded the conjuring of flowers and branches, because I see the order and manner of them both to be so like and uniform as may appear.
The manner of hallowing flowers and branches.
"I conjure thee, thou creature of flowers and branches, in the name of + God the Father almighty, and in the name of + Jesu Christ his Son our Lord, and in the virtue of the Holy + Ghost. Therefore be thou rooted out and displanted from this creature of flowers and branches, all thou strength of the adversary, all thou host of the devil, and all the power of the enemy, even every assault of the devils," &c.
And thus much concerning the antiquity of holy bread and holy water; whereby thou mayest partly conjecture the same not to be so old as Stephen Gardiner, in his letter against Master Ridley above mentioned, would have; being both deceived himself, and also going about to seduce others.
Furthermore, as touching the relics and the memorial of saints brought into the mass, Gregory the Third is the author thereof, who also added to the canon thereof this clause, Quorum solemnitates hodie in conspectu Divinæ majestatis tuæ celebrantur, &c.
Finally, it were too long to recite every thing in order, devised and brought in particularly to the mass, and to the church. For after that man's brain was once set on devising, it never could make an end of heaping rite upon rite, and ceremony upon ceremony, till all religion was turned well nigh to superstition. Thereof cometh oil and cream, brought in by Pope Silvester, not wont to be hallowed but by a bishop: that the corporas should not be of silk, but only of fine linen cloth: that the psalms should be sung on sides, the one side of the choir singing one verse, the other another, with Gloria Patri, &c.: that baptism should be ministered at no other time in the year but only at Easter and Whitsuntide, (save only to infants, and such as were in extreme infirmity,) and that it should be required forty days before: so determined by Pope Sirloins. And therefore was it that fonts were hallowed only at these two seasons, the which hallowing they keep yet still, but the ordinance they have rejected. Item, that bells also were christened. Item, no priest should wear a beard, or have long hair: so appointed by Pope Martin the First. Item, that auricular confession should be made, that the book of decrees and decretals should be established, and transubstantiation confirmed; in which three acts Pope Innocent the Third was the chiefest doer, about the year of our Lord 1215.
And thus have ye in sum the gatherings of the mass, with the canon and all the appurtenance of the same: which, not much unlike to the crow of Æsop, being patched with the feathers of so many birds, was so long a gathering, that the temple of Solomon was not so long in building, as the pope's mass was in making, Whereby judge now thyself,good reader, whether this mass did proceed from James and other apostles, or no. And yet this was one of the principal causes for which so much turmoil was made in the church, with the bloodshed of so many godly men, suffering in so many quarters of this realm; some consumed by fire; some pined away with hunger; some hanged; some slain; some racked; some tormented one way, some another: and that only or chiefly for the cause of this aforesaid popish mass; as by the reading of this story following, by the grace of Christ our Lord, shall appear more at large. In whom I wish thee to continue in health, and to persevere in the truth.
