A replie vnto M. Hardinges ansvveare by perusinge whereof the discrete, and diligent reader may easily see, the weake, and vnstable groundes of the Romaine religion, whiche of late hath beene accompted Catholique. By Iohn Iewel Bishoppe of Sarisburie.

The B. of Sarisburie.

Hitherto M. Hardinge hath brought Doctours without Reason: nowe he brin∣geth Reason without Doctours. And howe say you sir? saithe he, Doo you reproue the Masse? Or doo you reproue Priuate Masse? I trust, he hath not so soone forgotten, wherof he hath discoursed al this while. Neither dothe the mater reast vpon that pointe, what I liste to allowe, or disallowe: but what he can proue, or not proue, by the Scriptures, and by the auncient Councels, and Fathers.

But marke wel, good Christian Reader, and thou shalt sée, how handesomely M. Harding conueieth and shifteth his handes to deceiue thy sighte. Firste he hath hi∣therto foreborne bothe the name, and also the proufe of Priuate Masse: and onely hath vsed the woordes of Sole Receiuinge, and Single Communion: and so hath taken paines to proue that thinge, that was neuer denied: and that thinge that we de∣nie, and wherein the whole question standeth, he hath leafte vtterly vntouched. Now he demaundeth whether I reproue the Masse, or the Priuate Masse? what meaneth this, that Priuate Masse, and Sole Receiuing, be so sodainely growen in one? Surely M. Hardinge wel knoweth, that the nature of these woordes is not one. Neither who so euer receiueth alone, dothe therefore of necessitie say Pri∣uate Masse. This so sodaine alteringe of termes may bréede suspicion.

That he further interlaceth of the Sacrifice of the Newe Testament, is an other con∣ueyance to blinde thy sight, as vtterly nothinge makinge to this purpose.

For neither doth the Sacrifice importe Priuate Masse: nor dooth Sole Recei∣uinge implie the Sacrifice. Yet for shorte aunsweare, we haue that onely Sa∣crifice of the Newe Testament, that is, the Bodie of Iesus Christ vpon the Crosse▪ that Lambe of God, that hath taken awaye the sinnes of the worlde: The vertue of whiche Sacrifice endureth for euer. To this euerlastinge Sacrifice, the Sa∣crifice that is imagined in the Masse is méere iniurious.

And where as M. Hardinge saith, If you denie this, you must denie al our Religion from the Apostles time vntil this day, These be but emptie woordes without weigh, and proue nothinge.

In my litle Booke (saith he) I disallowe the Priuate Masse. If he fynde faulte with my Booke for that it is litle, he might consider, it is but a Sermon, and therefore no reason it shoulde be great. Yet is it a great deale longer then eyther Hippolytus Martyr, or the fable of his Amphilochius, of whom, notwithstandinge their short∣nesse, he maketh no smal accompte. And where he saithe, I dissallowe Priuate Masse, I disallowe that thinge, that infinite numbers of Godly and learned men haue disallowed, and that M. Hardinge him selfe not longe sithens openly, and earnestly disallowed bothe in Schooles and Pulpittes: vntil he was sodainely perswaded to the contrary, onely by the alteration of the state. Of these twoo woordes, Priuate Masse, I can no better saye, then S. Gregorie sometime saide, of that Antichriste shoulde be called Deus,* 1.1 God: Si quantitatem vocis perpendimus, sunt duae syllabae: sin pondus iniquitatis, vniuersa pernicies. If wee weight the quantitie of the woorde, they are but two syllables: but if we wey the weight of the wickednesse, it is an vniuersal destruction.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Lib. 6. Epist. 30.