[The principal points which are at this day in controversy, concerning the holly supper…[The principal points which are at this daye in controuersie, concerning the holly supper…

Chapter xx.

Of the Charge which is given to Archdeacons, deacons, & subdeacons in the Roman Church, & of the offertories of the mass of the same.

Of the Charge which is giuen to Archdeacons, deacons, & subdeacons in the Romain Church, & of the offertories of the masse of the same.

And in the mean time their deacons, Subdeacons & Archdeacons, are occupied but in foolish & vain ceremonies, as it appeareth aswell by the charge which is given unto them, when they are appointed to their ministry, by their Bishops or suffragans, as by the also which is written of their office in their books, & by the execution of the same. There are in their mass prayers, to wit,¹ those which go before the reading or the singing of the Epistle, that which they do call Collects. But in the mean time there is no collection made for the poor. And the Deacons and Subdeacons which should gather the same, & should distribute them after ward to the poor, do there none other thing, but that the one singeth the Epistle & the other the Gospel, which is to say, some piece aswell of the one as of the other, yea often times very evil & unaptly shaped. And as for the rest they do serve the priest which doth administer the mass, Note. in the ceremonies which he hath to do, & chiefly to gather the offerings of the offertory, that which as I have already said, come not so far as to the poor. And yet they do not ⟨image 85⟩this office, but in solemn masses & such as they do sing with a loud voice: for in the others, it is sufficient to have some petty clerk to answer them, & to serve the priest which is at the altar. And as touching the offertory, it is not so in every mans liberty, either to go or not to go thereunto, but that there is also constraint thereunto, chiefly in certain feasts of the year, & namely in those which they do call solemn. For there is certain tribute laid upon aswell men as women at the least upon fathers & mothers of household, which they must then bring to the offertory. And albeit that the curates have their benefices & cures certainly rented, yet for all that they say that it is their right, as are many other imposts which they do impose to their parochians, aswell for the living as for the dead, & aswell for the administration of their sacraments, as for their other ceremonies, superstitions & Idolatries. If the same be not done in every place after one sort, yet it is done notwithstanding. For they do not any thing freely & for nought. Thus much concerning this latter point, the which we do also condemn in the Romaine mass: