do not saye all one
thinge / but thinges that be moste contrarie / wherby a man maie
iudge that there is no truithe at all in their wordes. But here
they do saie. Thinkest thou that the foolishe vnlearned people
in the olde Lawe dyd vnderstand all the legall ceremonies? no it
was not requisite / no more is yt nowe: To this I answer /
Althoughe that all the poeple dyd not knowe what was mente by
them in the olde lawe / It sufficed yet that they hade the worde
of god for them / Nowe do yee shewe vnto vs the worde of god for
theise your signes and it shall suffice vs.
Agayne the godly and lerned preistes could shew what was ment by
the rites and ceremonies of the lawe / and that by the word of
godd: but ye can do neyther of theis: for ye haue enuented theis
toyes in your own braynes: signes ye do call them but ye do not
know what thinges they do signifie. And therfor as in rites your
Masse doth differ from christes supper / so when ye saye your
pleasure of your rites / ye ar not to be beleaued: for faith
hath no place where goddes worde doth not shew it selfe. I saide
that massemungers in their masse do committ Idolatrie. Their
bready god hanged vp in a pix / and their Images / vnto which
they turne them selues and do make their moste vncleane seruice
and sacrifice do proue this true: Neither do they accompte it
sufficient to behold theis their Idols when they saye their
Masses / but also they so offer vnto them / they cense them /
they bowe the knee vnto them: let them nowe denye whilest they
will that they do not worship the breade / nor the Images / yet
this worship they do them / This kinde of worship (I saye) which
is giuen customabilie vnto god alone / as the lawe of god
teacheth. But seing they giue this vnto these Idols / are they
not Idolatrors? yes truly. And howe then dare ony christian be
present there / to vncouer the heade to bowe the kne to offer
and do such like thinges with them?
They saye that ther Masse is christes Institution / And our men
(of whom I now haue spoken) do saye that the Masse hath sum
affinitie with christes institucion of the holy supper.
But I saye that the olde heathens myghte wyth more coloure of
truithe / excuse and defende their sacrifices by that maner /
then these men maye do their masse. ffor verylye the sacrifices
of the heathen haue lesse departed from the maner which the
fathers vsed in sacrificinge before the lawe giuen / which also
the lorde approued in the lawe
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