A pistle to the Christen reader The revelation of Antichrist. Antithesis

And that so abominable sin that no hell is sufficient to punish it. And he hath drawn unto him in to this wicked mind and sentence (all though not the hole world) yet truly at the lest the hole heap of the clergy / and a great part of the lay people / destroying them that consent unto him perpetually / so that not by one manner of way / but by all ways he corrupteth and destroyeth all things / and may well be called a corrupter of marvellous things.

And that so abominable synne that no hell is sufficient to punissh it. And he hath drawen vn to him in to this weked mind and sentence (all though not the hole world) yet truly at the lest the hole hepe of the clergye / and a great parte of the laye people / destroyng them that consente vnto him perpetuallye / so that not by one maner of waye / but by all wayes he corrupteth and destroyeth all thinges / and may well be called a corrupter of mervelous thinges.

¹But let us proceed to the greatest & most abominable mischief of all other / concerning the sacrament of the altar and baptism or repentance. First he hath taken from the church the holy mystery of the mass. And so hath corrupt it concerning the lay people that he hath clean taken away the one part from them / and not only takenie away / but also made it sin / ye and extreme ⟨p. lxxiij⟩heresy if any man according to the ordinance of Christ use both the kinds. O living & immortal god / what presumptuous boldness hath this wicked abomination? If Christ had forbidden any of the kinds / he had been an heretic that had received both but now sith he doth not forbid it / and so ordaineth no sin in the receiving / but rather doth ordain both parts to be received / his vicar in a thing not forbid / but lawful and free / ye and ordained of Christ himself / hath made not only sin but also high heresy. Nether so is Antichrist known / but is yet worshipped / as the vicar of God. O the roughness of the wrath and fury of god Plainly I think that the hole is taken away sith I see manifestly on part gone (for the bred and the wine is but one sacrament) the other is left only for a laughing stock / for he that in one part offendeth against god is guilty in all / except peradventure god by his secret judgement hath reserved it in the faith / with out any outward receiving of the sacrament. Therefore it were better to rece ve nether of the parts then the one alone / for so we might the more surely eschew the transgression of that which Christ did institute.