Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse Part 29

The Lord of COBHAM said, "I believe that the Sacrament of the Altar is very CHRIST's body in form of bread; the same body that was born of the Virgin MARY, done on the cross, dead and buried, and the third day rose from death to life: which body is now glorified in heaven."

Then said one of the Doctors of the Law, "After the sacramental words said, there remaineth no bread but the body of CHRIST!"

Then the Lord of COBHAM said to one, Master JOHN WHITEHEAD, "You said to me in the Castle of Cowling [_Lord COBHAM's home_], that the host sacred was not CHRIST's body: but I said, 'It was CHRIST's body!' though Seculars and Friars hold each one against other in this opinion."

Then said they, "We say all that it is G.o.d's body!"

And they asked him, "Whether it were material bread after the consecration?"

Then said the Lord, "I believe it is CHRIST's body in form of bread.

Sir, believe ye not thus?"

And the Archbishop said, "Yea!"

Then the Doctors asked him, "Whether it were only CHRIST's body after the consecration, and no bread?"

And he said to them, "It is CHRIST's body and bread. For right as CHRIST was here in manhood, and the G.o.dhead hid in the manhood: so I believe verily that CHRIST's flesh and his blood is hid there in the form of bread."

=SMILING THEY SAY, "IT IS AN HERESY!"=

Then they smiled each on other, deeming him taken in heresy; and said, "It is an heresy!"

The Archbishop asked him, "What bread it was?" and the Clerks also, "Whether it were material or not?"

Then the Lord said, "The Gospel speaketh not of this term _material_; and therefore I will not! but say, it is CHRIST's body and bread! For the Gospel saith, _Ego sum panis vivus qui de coelo descendi_, that is to say, "I am quick bread that came down from heaven." For as our Lord JESUS CHRIST is Very G.o.d and Very Man; so the most blessed Sacrament of the Altar is CHRIST's body and bread."

Then they said, "It is an heresy, to say that it is bread after the consecration and the sacramental words said, but only CHRIST's body."

The Lord said, "Saint PAUL the Apostle was as wise as ye be! and he called it _bread_; where he saith thus _The bread that we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the LORD?_"

Then they said, "PAUL must be otherwise understanded; for it is an heresy to say, that it is bread after the consecration, but only CHRIST's body: for it is against the determination of the Church."

Then they asked him, "Whether he believed not in the determination of the Church?"

And he said, "No, forsooth! but I believe all G.o.d's Law, and all that G.o.d wills that I believe; but not in your law nor in your determination: for ye be no part of Holy Church, as openly your deeds shew; but very Antichrists, contrary to G.o.d's law. For ye have made laws for your covetousness."

"This," they said, "was heresy: not for to believe in the determination of the Church."

=LOLLARD DEFINITION OF "HOLY CHURCH."=

Then the Archbishop asked him, "What was Holy Church?"

He said, "I believe that Holy Church is the number of all them that shall be saved; of whom CHRIST is head: of the which Church, one part is in Heaven, another in Purgatory, and the third here in Earth. This part here, standeth in three degrees and estates, Priesthood, Knighthood, and the Comminalty, as I said plainly in my _Belief_."

Then the Archbishop said to him, "Wot you who is of this Church? It is doubt to you who is thereof? Ye should not judge!"

The Lord said, "_Operibus credite! justum judicium judicate!_" that is to say, "Believe ye the works! judge ye rightful judgement!"

Also he said to them all, "Where find ye by G.o.d's Law, that ye should set thus upon any man, or any man's death, as ye do? But ANNAS and CAIAPHAS sat and judged CHRIST; and so do you!"

Then said they, "Yes, Sir, CHRIST judged JUDAS!"

=THE VENOM OF WORLDLY POSSESSIONS.=

The Lord of COBHAM said, "No, CHRIST judged not JUDAS! but he judged himself, and went and hanged himself: but CHRIST said, _Woe to him_, as he doth to many of you! For since the venom was shed into the Church; ye followed never Christ, nor ye stood never in perfection of G.o.d's Law!"

Then the Archbishop asked him, "What was that venom?"

The Lord said, "The lords.h.i.+ps and possessions. For then, cried an angel, 'Woe! woe! woe! This day is venom shed into the Church of G.o.d!' For before that time, there many martyrs of Popes; and since I can tell of none! but, sooth it is, since that time one hath put down another, and one hath slain another, and one hath cursed another, as the Chronicles tell; also of much more cursedness."

Also he said, "CHRIST was meek, and the Pope is proud. CHRIST was poor and forgave; the Pope is rich and a man-slayer, as it is openly proved.

And thus this is the nest of Antichrist, and out of this nest cometh Antichrist's disciples, of whom these Monks and Friars be the tail."

Then said [RICHARD DODINGTON] Prior of the Friars Augustines, "Sir, why say ye so?"

And the Lord of COBHAM said, "For as ye be Pharisees, "divided," and divided in habit [_dress_]; so ye make division among the people. And thus these friars and monks with such others be the members of the nest of Antichrist."

And he said, "CHRIST saith, _Woe be to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye close up the Kingdom of Heaven before men: for, sooth, ye enter not yourselves! nor ye will not suffer them that would, to enter in!_ And thus, ye be the disciples of Antichrist! For ye will not suffer G.o.d's Law to go through, nor to be taught and preached of good priests; which will speak against your sins, and reprove them: but of such that be flatterers, which sustain you in your sins and cursedness."

Then said the Archbishop, "By our Lady! Sir, there shall no such preach, that preacheth dissension and division, if G.o.d will!"

Then said the Lord of COBHAM to the Archbishop, "CHRIST saith that _there shall be so great tribulation, as never was since the beginning._ And this shall be in your days! and by you! for ye have slain many men, and shall more hereafter: but CHRIST saith, _Except that those days were shortened, no flesh should be saved_: but hastily G.o.d will short[en]

your days! Furthermore, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons be grounded in G.o.d's Law: but not these other Religious [_Monks and Friars_] as far as I can wit."

=THE 4 DETERMINATIONS OF THE CHURCH.=

Then a Doctor of Law, one Master JOHN KEMP, put to him these four Points that follow:

"_The faith and determination of Holy Church touching the blessed Sacrament of the Altar is this. That after the sacramental words be said of a priest in his_ Ma.s.s, _the material bread that was before, is turned into CHRIST's body, and the material wine that was before, is turned into CHRIST's very blood: and so there remaineth in the Sacrament of the Altar, no material bread nor material wine; the which were there, before the saying of the sacramental words._ Sir, believe you this?"

The Lord of COBHAM said, "This is not my belief. For my belief is, as I said to you before, that the wors.h.i.+pful Sacrament of the Altar is very CHRIST's body in form of bread."

Then said the Archbishop, "Sir JOHN! ye must say otherwise!"

The Lord of COBHAM said, "Nay, if G.o.d will! but that it is CHRIST's body in form of bread, as all the common belief is."

The Doctor [JOHN KEMP] said, "The second is this, _The Holy Church hath determined that every Christian man living bodily upon the earth oweth_ [ought] _to be shriven to a priest ordained by the Church, if he may come to him._ Sir, what say ye to this?"

The Lord answered and said, "A sick man and sore wounded had need to have a sure Leech and a true, knowing his cure; and therefore a man should be princ.i.p.ally shriven to G.o.d; and else his confession is nought.

And a man should rather go and be counselled with a good priest that knoweth G.o.d's Law, and liveth thereafter; than with his own priest, if he were an evil man, or with any other such."

The Doctor said, "The Third is this, _CHRIST ordained Saint PETER to be his Vicar in earth, whose See is the Church of Rome; ordaining and granting that the same power that he gave to PETER should succeed to all PETER's successors, the which we call now the Popes of Rome: by whose power in the Church particularly and specially, be ordained Prelates as Archbishops, Bishops, and other degrees; to whom Christian men owe_ [ought] _to obey after the law of the Church of Rome._ This is the determination of the Church."

To this, he answered and said, "Who that followeth next PETER in living, is next him in succession: but your living refuseth poor PETER's living, and many other Popes that were martyrs in Rome that followed PETER in manner of living; whose conditions ye have clean forsaken, all the world may know it well!"

The Doctor said, "The fourth point is this. _Holy Church hath determined that it is meedful to a Christian man, to go on pilgrimages to holy places; and there especially to wors.h.i.+p holy relics of Saints, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and all Saints approved by the Church of Rome._"