CONCERNING THE HOLY EUCHARIST, and the Popish BREADEN-GOD, TO THE MEN OF ROME, as well LAIQVES as CLERIQVES, By THOMAS TUKE. ANNO M.DC.XXV. TO THE COURTEOUS READER. Whilst Sun doth shine, Amant eam (id est veritatem) lucentem: oderunt eam redarguentem. Quia enim falli nolunt, & fallere volunt, amant eam, cum seipsam indicat: & oderunt eam, cum seipsos indicat. August Confess. lib. 10. cap 23. and does not burn, Men willingly to it do turn: But, if it once wax hot, they fly, And hide themselves from't by and by. So truth, that's pleasing, giving light, Is grievous, if it once do bite, And oftentimes procures a foe, Whereas base flattering does not so. For man would have full scope in's ways, And gladly have of all men praise. He would not be supposed to stray, Although he be quite out of's way. Truth's like honey, put to a sore, Which makes the place to smart the more. Of carnal minds such is the case, So fain they would hold on their race. To be discovered, fanned, and tried, Grieves them as much, as to be tied. Yet welcome medicine, that does heal, And welcome they, that truly deal. Sore eyes indeed the light do shun, And Bats, and Owls love not the sun▪ The Thief delighteth in the night, But honesty does love the light. The honest heart, the single ●ye Is very loath to tread awry: And therefore deems the light full dear, And him, that speaks the truth, will hear, It studies to be truly wise, And would not be abused with lies. It therefore gives itself to pray, To read, hear, search, both night and day. And, when the truth it has found out, To loueed, and owned, it does not doubt. Glory, and greatness, and fear, and shame, Gain, that's so loved, and worldly fame, Carnal pleasure, and contentment, Friendship of men, Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, magis amica veritas, dixit, Aristoteles. to errors bend, The honest heart, the single eye, To truth doth these things vilify. Yea life, that is so dear to man, To keep the truth, Nil addendum legi, nihil auferendum Scripturae, Cyril. Alex. in johan lib. 11 cap. 23. forgo it can. And that is truth, to be believed, Which from the Scriptures is derived. For that in faith makes but a breach, Which holy Scriptures do not teach. All Teachers should their teachings square By them: Per scripturam Deus loquitur omne quod vult, Gregor●Moral. li. 16 cap. 16. for they Gods will declare. THEY fully show the Church, and truth lay out: To follow other Guides is to stray out. They, they are Faiths perfect Rule, and Measure, The Touchstone of truth, Chrisost. scripturam vocat exactissimam trutivam, & guomo●em, ac regulam, in 2 Cor. homil. 13. in fine. and Matchless Treasure▪ Thine in the truth, truly, THO. TUKE. TO THE MEN OF ROME, as well LAIQVES, AS CLERIQVES. Priest's make their Maker Christ, ye must not doubt. They eat, drink, box him up, and bear about. Substance of things they turn: nor is this all; For both the Signs must hold in several. he's whole * Under the shows, as they ta●ke of bread and wine. i'th' bread, whole i'th' cup. They eat him whole: whole they sup; Whole i'th' Cake, and whole i'th' cup. This with you all doth go for verity▪ To hold contrary is mere heresy. This is, pure, pure Catholic, pure divine. And thus feast ye; he with his Christ, thou with thine; Without bread and wine indeed: For this is your Roman Creed; Whom ye make, on him ye feed. The bread and wine themselves away are gone. Shows of them tarry still, but Substance none. They make their God, and then they eat him up. They swallow down his flesh, and blood up sup. They'll taste no flesh on fridays (that's not good) But of their newmade God, and of his blood. And as the Whale did jonas, so they eat Him up alive, body and soul, as meat. As men eat Oysters, so on him they feed; Whole, and alive, and raw, and yet not bleed. This cookery, void of humanity, Is held in Rome for sound divinity. And is not this strange to hear, That God, whom, ye say, ye fear, Ye should eat, as belly cheer? The Graver, Painter, Baker, even these three, Your Priests have reason for to magnify. Perhaps the Baker thinks, he merits more▪ Yet both advance their honour, and their store. For they with their gentle feat Help them to money & meat, Making Gods, to beg and eat. And now me thinks I hear old Laban say, Gen. 32. See, they have stolen and borne my Gods away. Me thinks, judg. 18. 2. 24. I hear and see that mountineer, Michah of Ephraim; who did idols fear, Chiding with the Danits, for that they had Took's Priest, and Gods away, which made him mad▪ Me thinks I see the Philistines bereft 2 Sam. 5. 21 Of their vain Gods, 1 Chron. 14. 12. which they to David left: And how that noble Worthy made them be Destroyed of his souldjers presently. Both men and beasts (a thing to be deplored) May bear away the things, of you adored. The things ye worship with your heart and mind, Men like yourselves, can burn, can melt, can grind. Baruches base things (a shame it is to think) Bar. 6. 12. 22. Can mar the things, ye worship, and make stink. And is not this great folly, More than childish vanity, To dote on things so silly? The foolish Heathens were not all so mad: For they devoured not the Gods, they had. The * Vid Basil. schol in Psal. 11●. Lactan. lib 2 cap 2. Aug. in Psal. 113. ●o●. C. 2. wiser knew their Vanities were wood, Or such like stuff: not Gods, nor flesh and blood. But ye, as if bewitched, do count, and call That poor thing God, Maker, and Lord of all, Which is plain bread in substance, very bread, Made of wheat-flower, ground, with man's hand, and knead. This, which is bread, which all men so will say, Which have not lost all sense, or thrown't away, This ye do say, ye do believe it is, Not bread in truth, but the true God of bliss; Even jesus Christ, God-Man, flesh, blood, and bones, Wherein y'are stupider then they, than stones. O God What is a man, even at his best, If not of thee with heavenly wisdom blest? Grievous errors doth he swallow, And in sin perversely wallow, Not regarding what may follow. Poor Laique! There is one thing more for thee; The Cup of Blessing thou art forced to flee. Concil. Constant. sess. 1● Eat thou mayest by law: but thou mayest not sup; The Priest is he, that's worthy of the cup. Take Christ thou mayst under the breaden sign: But not touch him under the show of wine. A Prince perhaps by favour with his lip Is suffered after's Priest to take a sip. And is this a Priestly feat, Thus the people for to cheat, Who should drink as well, as eat? But Laymen are not Priests: (who says they are?) And therefore ought not in that Cup to share, Why? Are not Princes lay men? yet They may, And do drink of the cup, as men do say. T●'eleuen, or twelve, (for choose ye whether) When they first received altogether, Their Master being by, than were they all As Sheep: the text Disciples does them call. And furthermore, If lay-men may not drink, Because theyare such, Why may they not then think It lawful for them to refuse to eat, For the self same reason, of that sacred meat? Or, who can justly say, and not deluded, That Laiques from the Cup are quite excluded, When Christ says, Drink ye All of this, as though He spoke to Priests alone, and to no more; And yet that, when he said those Words, Take, Eat, To Priests and people too he meant that meat? At Rome no drink's allowed, but only meat: Yet Paul doth bid men drink, 1 Cor. 11. as well, as eat. There sits one with brazen face, That usurps a Bishop's place, Who dares thus Christ's flock disgrace. Now to the Man of Might, who says, he can Do that, which is not in the power, of man; Who can make Christ of bread (he's so divine) As Christ of water once did make true wine. Angel, nor King, nor Artisan of skill Can this; the Priest alone, and he at's will. Others, who can make bread out of their grist, Must leave their bread to him, to make it Christ. Make stones to be men we know that God can: And the Priest brags he can make bread a man. Make a God of a man we know men can: But his art lies in making God a man; So, as if Christ had not took flesh before, Yet without flesh he should be now no more. Nor can the nimblest Baker work a cake So soon, Per v●rba cons●cr 〈◊〉 ver● & 〈…〉 paniss, ita producitur & quasi generatur Christus i● altari, ade● potenter & effica●●ter, ut si C●ristas necdum esset incarnatus, per haec verba Hoc est corpus me●m, inc●rna●ctur, cor●u●que huma●um assumeret, 〈◊〉 graves theologi docent. Cornelius Cornelij a lapide Comm●●. in E●a● 7. 14. as he his cake a man can make. Four words, repeated with a voice submiss, Will serve to make up's man and God, I wisse. These four alone, Hoc Est Corpus Meum, Will work the feat: there needs no greater sum. Indeed, the Priest's intention should concur, Or else the work may chance to take a blur. For, as they do say, This most Rare Invention Will scarcely take without the Priest's intention. But yet here we must all know, That all Priests can not thus do; The Roman can: but no more. Natural Parents, be they ne'er so good, Are God's instruments but of flesh and blood. To get, or make a soul's not in their power: But he a perfect soul can make each hover. Both soul and body are alike to him: That shall not want a power, nor this a limb. Parents' their children get: they make them not. They get them like themselves, with stain and spot, But he no getter is allowed to be, And wife he does by vow with horror flee. he's only a maker, and but of one: If he make not that one, he makes just none, And, whereas children by degrees do grow, That, which he makes, is made at once: not so, Full holy also, pure, void of all sin, Having no soil without, no fault within. Yet he, that makes him, is not without both: Which if not he, yet others often loath. And which is strange, he may not get a man: But yet make God he may, and thinks he can▪ And, whereas others works may be destroyed, His, he believes, is not to be annoyed. I ask then of this man, this man of might, Who does so far surmount each mortal wight; Is thy mouth the virgin's womb? Is bread her seed? Are thy words the Holy Ghost? Is this our Creed? What? Does a Temple make the Architect, That thou of bread thy maker the shouldst erect▪ Or does a Servant use to make his Lord, That Priests to theirs a being do afford; O presumptuous Undertaker! Never Cake could make a Baker: And shall a Priest make his Maker? Indeed, we see some men by Priests made stones: But who sees them make bread flesh blood, and bones▪ They rather merit faith, that say, they can Sooner make a man bread, than bread a man. That, though Unnatural, has often been: This, Supernatural, was yet never seen. Tell me: Was not Christ before thy bearing? And hundreds of years afore thy shearing? Was he not a man before thine anointing? And must he yet be made at thine appointing? Does he not still abide in humane flesh, That yet he must be made of thee afresh? And sooner too, than thou thyself wast made, Either man, or of this Man-making trade. What a kind of brow hast thou, That dost say, Thou mak'st him now, Since thou took'st thy Priestly vow? Hast thou Priests power from the man Christ received? So thou wilt say, or else I am deceived. With what face then dar'st thou say, Thou him makest, Of whom thyself and power, thou sayest, thou takest? As if a justice should say, he makes the King, Of whom he does receive his justicing: As if a child should say, he makes his sire, Or coloured clothes should say, they make their dyer. Thus ye dim the noone-day-light, And 'gainst sense and reason fight. Holding, Writlesse, what's not right. Perhaps you'll say, Christ jesus is not made Of bread: but that the bread away does fade, And that his body follows in its stead, It being only there now, and not bread. Well: be it so, yet thus his body's made Here still on earth to be: which is gainsaid, By Christ himself, by Peter, john 12 and 17. Act. 3. and our Creed: To whom we could add more, if there were need. For Austin, Vigil, and others agree, That Christ is not now on earth bodily. And vain it is to plead the power divine, Which out of darkness can make light to shine. Which of just nothing can make things to be, And can make dead things live, and stone-blind see, And most easily do the things, which can Be comprehended of no brains of man. Make it appear by holy Scriptures light, That God does will and work these things, ye fight For, with such earnestness, and then we will Confess your power, and applaud your skill. But till ye prove by Written word, That God to these things does accord, To make faith of them were absurd. We read of Christ twice made: and that is all; Of Woman, and under Law, Is this small, Unless thou also make him at thy will Gal. 4. By thine high creating power, and thy skill? Is't not enough for him, and for us all, That he was Once borne, and Once under thrall, But that he must yet also, day by day, By you be made, and offered, as ye say? So, for faith ye fancy teach, And for truth men's dreams ye preach, Making in God's Church a breach. What a silly thing is this, thou makest, Which for the Lord jesus Christ, thou takest? Which, Idol-like, can neither hear, nor talk, Nor see, nor feel, nor smell, nor one jo●t walk, Which can do nothing for aught does appear: But's fit all wrong, that's offered, for to bear. Which can not save itself from cat, nor Dog, From Rat, nor Mouse, nor from the grunting Hog. Fie that such a sorry thing, A mouse can in danger bring, Should be counted for thy King, Hezekiah says the Assyrian king The Gentiles Gods into the fire did fling, Because they were not Gods: for so he saith; Is. 37. 19 Which plainly shows the fondness of your faith. For this, ye say the Priest hath made, ye call God almighty: and yet the same may fall, Or by plain force be cast into the fire, By Turks or Moors, or flung into the mire. May not men then boldly say, It does your handiwork bewray, When they see it hurled away? What a kind of vile servitude is this, Thou mak'st him serve, of whom thou look'st for bliss; To coop him in a piece of bread in show, Where he must stay a time, and must not go? A pretty Godlin sure; now in thine hand, Then boxed up, to carry by sea, or land. Now in thy mouth, and by and by i'th' maw: Oth' Altar now, then in some solemn shaw, Riding about i'th' streets, to grace that man, Who dares do that, which justly no man can. Yet more; This God, ye seem so to adore, Ye basely prostitute to knave and Whore; Teaching that the Wicked his flesh may eat, Whereas Christ jesus is to such no meat. joh. 6. 51. For he, joh. 6. 56. that eats his fles; h and drinks his blood, Shall live: Aug. de civi. dei. li. 21. ca 25 Bedain and therefore sure he must be good. Yea he, 1. Cor. 6. that eats Christ's flesh, in Christ doth dwell: But they in him do dwell, that's kept for hell. He must be of Christ's flesh, that eats his flesh: And only those with it he does refresh. Indeed, Aug. in joh. tract 26. the Sacrament thereof ill men May eat: but bane it is unto them then. But it itself Whosoever does eat, Ambros. de sacram. lib. 5. cap. 4. To him it is no bane, but wholesome meat; Able to nourish, & preserve the spirit, And to do that, which no man can by's merit. He, johan. 6. 57 that eats of this bread, that eats of me, Shall live by me, saith Christ, eternally. And he eats Christ, Aug. trac. 26 in johan. & serm. circa sacr. fer. pasc. that does aright believe, And being knit unto him does receive, And draw forth of him that by faith, which may Sustain, preserve, and feed him night and day. Whereas your Christ, ye say, ye take and eat With hand and mouth, both good and bad, as meat, I ween, ye say not now, ye tear and grind Him with your teeth in pieces, as I find. But, that ye mouth him, that ye all profess, All, all of you alike, both more and less. O the great stupidity In absolute foolery, And senseless impiety! What's become of all those Christ's, Priests have made? Do all those hosts of wonder bide? or fade? Do they stay below? Or ascend on high? Or turn they back to bread, and wine? Or die? Or are any by digestion wrought, And into men's spirits, or bodies, brought? Or is not he, that yet in heaven does stay, Able to feed and keep us every way, But that there must be still a new creation Of him, after your strange imagination? One Christ bides: but all those fly. One Christ lives: but all those dy. One is true: the rest a lie. When ye have eat them, Exod. 14. ye may say, as of yore; The eye, joh 20. that hath seen them, shall see them no more. He abides, that is above. Him we fear, and him we love. These below do nothing prove. Alas, alas, there needs no fabrication Of him still by Priests for man's sustentation. jesus Christ both yesterday, Hebr. 13. and to day, Is our food, and rock, the Selfsame, for ay. Great need we have all to take him, And fear, lest we should forsake him: But can not, nor need not make him. Hony we read found in a Lion dead: judg. 14. But not of Worms in God incarnate bred. Yet in this thing, for Christ ye do adore, And whose almighty aid ye do implore, Even in this very thing a worm hath bred, Even on this very thing a worm hath fed▪ The silly jentles may in these things breed: Plain crawling Maggots may on these things feed. For shame then forsake this toy, Which the Church does so annoy, And in truth delight and joy. Ye show us clothes, which▪ ye say, Saints have worn, As ye would persuade us, which are not torn▪ As yet with time, but uncorrupt, as were Th'Izraelites in their walk of forty year. Nehe. 9 21. And yet many an age is come, and gone, Since the Saints did last put them off, or on, Whereof I find your reason to be such; Forsooth, their sacred bodies did them touch. Why then should putrefaction at all These Accidents, ye talk so off, befall? How is't that vermin are in them engendered, Seeing Christ's blessed bodies in them tendered? How is't, that filthiness is there discovered, Where jesus Christ, our Lord, God-Man lies covered. Is't, because his body can not them touch? Or for that of virtue it has not much? Or is't, because theirs his did far exceed? Or else for that no other Wonders need? Yet such a Wonder, shown unto the eye, Would with men be of no small potencye, Being void of fraud, and no forged tale: Whereas your, so much talked of, Wonders fail; Things, which neither sense, nor Scriptuees do teach: But which even ye yourselves do feign, & preach. Indeed, we would confess you made, If sense or Scriptures lent you aid: But by both them ye are gainsaid. Saint Austin writes, Tract. 59 in johan. even what himself believed, That the Disciples jesus Christ received, That they that heaven-come bread of life did eat, Which is to true Believers drink, and meat. Yet judas, who to avarice was wed, Ate not the Lord, but only ate his bread. But by your learning, seeing that the bread Is turned into Christ's flesh, on's flesh he fed. For seeing Christ under those shows doth lie, Eat Christ he must, which Austin does deny; Saying that he ate the bread of the Lord Against the Lord, A thing to be abhorred. Neither are bare shows of bread bread in kind, And therefore Austin was not of your mind. For he held the Traitor on bread did feed: Whereas ye say, There's nought, but shows, indeed. Yet one word more, Absit a nobis ut ●a, qu●e per sensus corporis didicimus, vera ●sse dubitemus. Aug. de Trinit. li. 15. cap. 12. Because ye do from hence Send packing with disdaigne all humane sense. Far be it from us, says the selfsame Father, That we should be at all in doubt, or waver, But rest assured that, what senses pure, And uncorrupt, do teach us, that is sure, And true, the very selfsame things, they seem: No other things, than those, we do them deem. I pray you, show then, why we should not trust Our senses here, as if they were accursed, Sith that in other precepts of the Lord They stand us in great stead to keep his word. For by our sense we can put difference 'twixt man and man: and so do reverence. By sense 'twixt man and beast discern we can, Between a father and an other man. By sense we may perceive they are but stocks, Which fools adore, who are themselves but blocks. By sense men are let see how for to keep Their fingers from their neighbour's ox, & sheep. And finally, by sense men learn much good, And avoid the shedding of guiltless blood. Now tell me, Why should sense be trusted here, And yet so utterly denied there? For though to sense it does appear, That bread and wine are truly there, Yet ye say Nay, and nothing fear. We are not certain that Christ's Disciples did Receive the Eucharist, whiles he lay hid In's sepulchre, starke-dead: but yet they might Have boldly took it then, and done but right. And say they had: if that, ye hold, were good, Then had they eat and drunk him flesh and blood, Hot, and alive, when as in truth he lay, Not quick but dead, as do the Scriptures say. Or, will ye say the Sacrament did lack Its virtue, as being for a time kept back, Or quite extinct, until he rose again? Or that his body, as void of life, as pain, Was really, and substantially, Presented in that sacred Mystery? Either of which ye shall as soon make clear, As make the Sun at midnight to shine here. Whereas to faith Christ absent present is, And dead, might live to faith, weare sure of this. Whilst here he was, he present was to sense: But absent from it now he is gone hence. His blessed body present was, from days Of old, to true believers faith always. He ever with them was by the power of faith, By which he dwelleth in them, Ephes. 3. 17. th' Apostle saith. Not come in flesh, yet was he come to faith, Slain from the beginning, Rev. 13. 8. as Scripture saith. And hence it is, that they of old by Paul Are said the very same spiritual 1. Cor. 10. ●▪ Both meat to eat, and drink to drink, which we Ourselves receive by faith, not carnally. For meat and drink, which are spiritual, Are not to be eaten and drunk as carnal. This food, they fed on, Gen 3. 15. and ●2▪ 18. is that Promised Seed, Which they received by faith, and so did feed. And still by faith, Gal. 3. 19 if true, is to be ta'en, And not with hand, or mouth, as ye would feign. For faith can see things a far off with ease, And on them, as upon things present, seize. Faith for the soul is as much, as the eye, Hand, mouth, throat, and maw are for the body. But some of you stick not to say, The Lord Deceived you, As one 〈◊〉 Paul's cross i● Queen Mary's da●es▪ D. Lessius de sum. bono l. 4 c 2 pag 568 lin. 23. if deceived ye be, with's word. Forsooth, because he says, This is my body. A bold conceit it is: both blind, and frothy. For, if it please you to weigh this Scripture With other Scriptures, or in peace endure To see it for you done in love by others, (Who are, if ye be Christ's, in truth your Brothers) Ye may clearly see, if ye will permit Your will to be directed by your wit, That these same words do bear an other sense, Then that, ye go about to fetch from thence, View well the places, ye see quoted here, And ye may plainly see what IS means there. Genes. 17. 10. and 41. 26. Exod. 12. 11. and 13. 9 and 31. 13. 16. Esay. 5. 7. Ezek. 37. 11. Zach. 1. 9 Math. 13. 37. Luke 8. 11. Gal. 4. 24. Rev. 1. 20. and 4. 5. and 5. 8. and 11. 4. To put IS for SIGNIFIES is not rare, As he soon may see, that to see does care. Neither is this exposition new, But old: no youth, as that, that's brought by you. For herein your Mother's wit, Neither sense, nor holy Writ, Nor antiquity does fit. As for that Offering of Christ, ye hold, I wonder much wherefore ye are so bold. Search the Scriptures: ye can not find it there. Or look to reason, and y'are never the near, His own One's enough, Heb. 10, 10. & 7, 27, & 9, 28. all-able and good. Nor is sin pardoned without shedding blood. And therefore yours, Hebr. 9, 22. without such effusion, Is nought else at all but mere delusion. Yours either is the same with his, or not: If it be not the same, then have ye got An other Gospel besides that he taught. But if it be the same with that he wrought, Then do ye offer him in blood, and slain, Which ye can not, Rom. 6, 9 would ye never so fain. Christ is no more on earth, but is above. He says as much: john 12, 8. & 17, 11. and that doth you reprove▪ I say again, that must have consecration, Which unto God is made a right oblation. And who dare say, that's not a devil's limb, That jesus Christ is consecrate by him. By one offering hath he consecrated For ever them, Heb. 10, 14 that are sanctified. He consecrates us, and his act is stable. To consecrate him we are all unable. See then the straits, whereinto ye are brought, Whiles ye forsake the ways inth ' Scriptures taught. To the Scriptures than give ear: And, what God speaks in them, hear; Holding fast the truth in fear. Now do I speak to all you men of fire, Who hotter are, than reason does require: There's one thing, I would gladly have you show, Wherefore your choler should so strangely flow, That nothing will suffice you, but the blood Of such, as think your doctrine is not good, But new, and naught, concerning your Oblation▪ Of Christ, and of your Transubstantiation? And yet both ye and we agree in this, That jesus Christ, our life, in heaven now is. We both believe he died upon the Tree, And offered up himself most willingly. We both acknowledge his own one oblation, Made on the Cross, is our propitiation▪ We neither of us doubt, but hold he is A true and perfect man, God, Lord of bliss. More, Both of us affirm, and not deceived, That he's given i'th' Eucharist, and received; Given of God, and received of the godly, Which come fitted for that sacred Mystery. And yet, forsooth, this will not serve our turn, But that as Heretics we needs must burn. And why as Heretics? Because we say, There's no such offering of him day by day. (Yet confess we that a Representation Is in the Sacrament, of his oblation, Who Once offer up himself for sin, Hebr. 9 28. and 10. 12. But since that Once hath never offered been; Not properly, but in a type, or, figure, Whereof we certain are: of yours not sure.) And for because we say, as sense does teach, And as both Scriptures and old Doctors preach, That bread and wine do truly there remain, And not in show only, as ye do feign, Teaching men to believe under a curse, That their substance is gone: and which is worse, Turned into the flesh and blood of our Lord: Which ye press upon men with word and sword. Now for because we do not hold this turning, Ye hold us, as heretics, worthy burning. Well, what's past, let that suffice. Wake, and learn for to be wise. Hate not men for hating lies. The great and mighty God, that hath made all, Christians and others, both great and small, Allows you not to take away man's life Through bitter zeal and unadvised strife: Allows you not his creatures blood to spill, For crossing of your private thoughts and will. Fowl shame it is that men's own fond opinions, In Christendom should cause so great divisions. A shame it is, such Boasters of Antiquity Should be so faulty in devising novity. O that all humane understanding might Once become subject to the Scriptures light: That all would truly yield, and nothing grudge, To make them their Sole Rule of faith, and judge, O that charity, so much talked off, might Once among Christians obtain her right. O that God, whose Great Name we all confess, Were better served, and offended less. If filthy Lucre, Pride, and base Ambition, Which are the Workers of so great confusion, Were once abandoned, and that men would go Roundly to work, the naked truth to know, Preferring it to all things else beside, Then should our Lord be better glorified. Then factions soon would cease: They, that vex, would seek to please, And Christ's kingdom would increase. Then they, that now the holy Church do rend, Would all their wits and labours for it spend, Then factious Nicknames soon would all be left, Neither should men of peace be so bereft The truth, that now is banished, True love, which now is vanished, Would both be better cherished. Now to the plain, and well-minded Roman, Who is misled, I am returned ' again. The truth, ye should be taught, I will not tell, That which your learned Priests do know full well. The Cup is yours all as well as the Bread, As in the sacred Scriptures ye may read. Mat. 26. 27▪ The Substance of the bread and wine remain Mar. 14. 23. After their Consecration, 1 Cor. 11. 28▪ 29. that's plain. They are Afterwards, what they were Afore: And yet afterwards they are something more. Even as the Priest, now ordered will confess, he's what he was, yet more by this access. As for their Essence, They are the Same, they Were: But for Use, an other * I mean service, office, or condition. nature they bear. Tho then their proper nature does endure, Yet in their service they are changed its sure. For, once hallowed, they are a Sacrament Of Christ's body and blood, upon us spent. Bare Signs they are not: they are also Seals, And exhibit the grace, the word reveals. The signs thou tak'st at the hand of a man: But God gives thee his Son; for no man can. And, when thou com'st unto this Sacrament, Believing, humbled, and true penitent; Thou art hereby put into sure possession Of jesus Christ, and of his blessed passion. As truly as thou tak'st the bread and wine, So truly are Christ's flesh and blood made thine. His benefits alone thou dost not take: But Christ withal, who died for thy sake. The fruits are thine: the tree is also thine, Even as the substance of the bread and wine. Yea fast thou art united to thy Lord, Who does himself, and his to thee afford. To say That Men Prepared Do Eat His Flesh, And drink his blood, their souls for to refresh, Even his very flesh, and his very blood, May well be said, if't be well understood. And saving faith, by which we do believe, Is that, by which we eat him, and receive. Or say, how this is done, we do not know: Yet the faithful do it, although no more. But, if thou dost not thither come prepared, Then, though thou tak'st this holy Cup and Bread, Yet dost thou not the Bread of life receive: But dost in truth thy foolish heart deceive. For, who so comm's without due preparation, He eats and drinks unto his own damnation; It being certainly no small offence To rush on these things without reverence. And yet too many do, as may appear By their ill lives, after they have been there; Following the courses, they ran before, Whereby they anger God so much the more. Too many also themselves do occupy, Not in themselves, but in this Mystery, Searching and sifting it with carnal wit: Whereas to try themselves were far more fit: But chiefly now, sith God has drawn his sword, And does not to us speak alone by word. The grievous judgements, which make many cry, Should move us all ourselves in time to try. But yet more, know that holy Writ doth teach, (That which the holy men of old did preach) That the signs themselves are dignified With the names of the things signified. And this is for their honour done, and more; Even for to raise our hearts, from things before Our eyes, unto the things, that are above, Which here are tendered to us of free love. This is truth: it is no lie. This is true Antiquity. The other's new, and silly. Glory be to God on high, and to men truth, And love, and peace, through jesus Christ, by the mighty working of the Holy Spirit, Amen, and Amen. March seven. 1624. Tho. Tuke. A POSTSCRIPT To the Reader. THese lines subnexed were brought me by a friend some eighteen months ago, from an author unknown unto us both. Which occasioned me to write these, thou seest. If I have used, or abused any of them, or all, I crave pardon of their Author, & give him free leave to do so with mine, if he be in vivis, as I hope and wish, and be so pleased. Priest's make Christ's body and soul, you must not doubt. They eat, they drink, they box him up, and bear about. One is too little, bread and wine holds him several. So we dine; I with my Christ, thou with thine. Is thy mouth the virgin's womb? is bread her seed? Are thy words the Holy Ghost? is this the Creed? O presumptuous undertaker, Never cake could make a baker, Yet the Priest can make his maker. What's become of all those Christ's, which Priests have made? Do all those hosts of Hosts abide? or do they fade? One Christ bides, all these fly. One Christ lives, all these dye, One is true, the rest a lie. FINIS.