The Pope confuted The holy and apostolic Church confuting the Pope. The first action.…The Pope confuted The holy and apostolique Church confuting the Pope. The first action.…

¹But passing over this and many other enormities, I come now to the sacraments. In the which whereas many things are chopped in place, to colour the credit of their doctrine without the authority of the pure and sacred scriptures; amongst all other, I can not tell how this perverseness of men being so poor blind in matters of them self most manifest, hath in any our thing bewrayed their blockishness more notably,² then in the supper of the Lord. Here is such an huge heap of monstrous mockeries & peevish shifts of most absurd errors thrust into this one sacrament, as that the posterity can never wonder sufficiently at the view of them. For what can be more grossly absurd then to •ake from out the sacraments the likeness & mutual resemblance: out of which only groundwork ariseth chiefly all the whole substance & building of sacraments? what can be more repugnant not only to all the very true proportionable relation of the scripture, but also more disagreeable too all conveniency of reason & common sense, than to turn that to worshipping & kneeling, which was delivered for a thankful remembrance by most agreeable application? what can be more blockish, then to embrace signs for things them selves? what can be more ⟨p. 72⟩devoid of shame, then to enforce to believe contrary too that which the eyes do see, and whereof all the ^*senses have absolute feeling and perseverance: for proof whereof is neither any manner of necessity too be urged, no, not so much as any never so little probability? I do acknowledge the omnipotent power of Christ in working miracles. But where did he ever work miracle, or exact a miracle, where the ^*senses them selves bear no witness th•• it is a miracle? In Cana of Galilee when he turned water into wine, it was not believed to be a miracle, before the senses bare testimony thereof. The Apostles did see with their eyes Christ ryse• out of his grave, they heard him speak, they felt him wi•h hands, finally their sene perceived him to be Christ before their faith did apprehend him. Even so we at this present, though we see him not, yet do believe that he is risen again: but not otherwise, then being endured by the testimony of the Apostles which saw him risen, or else we should never have believed.