The fifth section or Tome of this Ecclesiasticall historie conteynyng the horrible and bloudye tyme of Queene Marye.

FOrasmuch as we are come now to the time of Quene Mary, when as so many were put to death for the cause especially of the Masse, & the sacrament of thaltar (as they cal it) I thought it conuenient vpon thoccasion geuē, in the ingresse of this foresaid storie, first to prefixe before, by the way of preface, some declaratiō collected out of diuers writers and autors, wherby to set forth to the reader the great absurditie, wicked abuse, and perilous idolatry of the Popish masse, declaring how & by whom it came in, clouted & patched vp of diuers additions, to the intēt that the reader, seing the vaine institutiō therof, & waying the true causes why it is to be exploded out of al churches, may the better therby iudge of their death, whiche gaue their liues for þ^e testimony & the word of truth.

First cōcerning the origine of this word Missa, whether it came of Missath in Hebrue. Deu. 16. or Mincha, Leui. 6 which signifieth oblatiō: or whether it came of sending away the Catechumeni, & persons vnworthy out of the place of ministratiō (as certain writers suppose)

   

   

stāding without the dores to wait for the misse of the cōgregatiō. And again in the next chapter folowing, he inferreth the same vocable Missa in like sense: Cōtēti, inquit sōno qui nobis post vigiliarum missa vsque ad lucis indulgetur aduētū. i. Cōtēted (saieth he) with so much slepe as serueth vs for the misse, or breaking vp of the nighte

   

To expresse now the absurdity of the said masse & the irreligious applicatiō therof, vnsemely, & perilous for christiās to vse, I wil bring two or thre reasons of the worthy seruant and Martir of god Iohn Bradford, to whiche manye more may be also added out of others.

   

First the masse, saith he, is a most subtile & perniciouse enemy agaynst Christe, & that double waies: namely agaynst his priesthode, & against his sacrifice, which he proueth by this way. For the priesthod of christ, saith he, is an euerlasting priesthod, and such an one as cannot go to another But the masse vtterly putteth hym out of place, as thouh he were dead for euer: and so god wer a lier, which said that christ should be a priest for euer: which briefly commeth vnto this argument.

Fes.	That thing is not perpetual, nor standeth not a- lone which admitteth succession of other to do the same thing, that was done before.
ti.	But the masse priests succede after christ, doing the same sacrifice (as they saye) which he dyd before.
no.	Ergo the masse priests make Christs priesthode not to be perpetuall.

Maior. Ba.	Al priestes either be after the order of Aron, or after thorder of Melchisedech, or after the order of the apos- tles. or after that sprituall sorte wherof it is written, vos estis spirituale sacerdotium. &c.	Maior.
Minor. ro.	But our masse priests neither be after the ordre of Aaron, (for that is to resume that which christ hath a- bolyshed:) neither after the order of Melchisedech (for that is peculiar onely to Christ:) neither after thorder of the Apostles (for then should they be mynisters, not massers, not priestes but preachers: (and which of the Apostles was euer named by the title of a prest?) Again neither ar they after þe general sort of the spritual pryest hod. For after that prerogatiue, euery true christiā is a spiritual priest as wel as they, offering vp spiritual, not	Minor.

bodily

LLl.i.