A Reply to an Answer Made by Doctor Whitgift, Reply · Part 36
To the next ſection contained in the. 102. and a peece of the. 103. page.
IF the place of the. 5. to the Corinths do forbid that we ſhould hauehave any familiarity wyth notorious offenders / it doth much more forbid that they ſhould be receyued to the communion. And therfore papiſts being ſuch / as which are notoriouſly knowne to hold hereticall opinions / ought not to be admitted / much les compelled to the ſupper. For ſeeing that our ſauioure Chriſte did inſtitute hys ſupper amongſt hys diſciples / and thoſe only whych were as S. Paule ſpeaketh wythin / it is euident / that the papiſtes being wythout / and foreiners and ſtraungers from the church of God / ought not to be receiued / if they woulde offer them ſelues: and that miniſter that ſhall geue the ſupper of the Lord to hym whych is knowne to be a papiſt / and whych hath neuer made any cleare renouncing of popery with which he hath ben defiled / doth prophane the table of the Lord / & doth geue the meat that is prepared for the children / to dogges / and he bryngeth into the paſture whych is prouided for the ſheepe / ſwine and vncleane beaſts / contrary to the faith and truſt that ought to be in a ſtewarde of the Lordes houſe / as he is. For albeit that I doubt not / but many of thoſe whych are now papiſts / pertaine to the election of God / whych God alſo in hys good time will call to the knowledge of hys truthe: yet notwythſtanding they ought to be vntounto the miniſter and vntounto the church touching the miniſtring of the ſacramentes / as ſtraungers and as vncleane beaſtes. And as for the papiſts / howſoeuer they receiue it / whether as their popiſh breaden God (as ſome doe) or as common and ordinary bread (as other ſome do) or as a thing they know not what (as ſome other) they do nothing els but eat and drinke their owne condemnation / the waight wherof they ſhall one day aſſuredly feele / vnles they do repeat them of ſuch horrible prophaning of the Lords moſt holy myſteries. And if thys be to gratify the papiſts / to ſhewe that they ought not to be compelled to receiue the ſupper of the Lorde / as long as they continue in their popery: I am well content to ſhewe them thys. pleaſure / ſo that bothe they and you forget not / what I hauehave before ſayd / that the magiſtrate ought to compell them to heare the worde of God / and if they profite not / nor wyth ſufficient teaching correcte not them ſelues / that then they ſhoulde be punyſhed. And if you doe aſke whye they ſhoulde be more compelled vntounto the ſermons / then vntounto the ſupper of the Lorde / or why they are not as well to be admitted vntounto the one / as vntounto the other: you ſee the like done in the ſacrament of baptiſme / whych may not be miniſtred vntounto all to whome the word may be preached. The reaſon alſo is at hand / for the preaching of the worde of God to the papiſtes / is an offer of the grace of God / whych may be made to thoſe whych are ſtrangers from God / but the miniſtring of the holy ſacraments vntounto them / is a declaration and ſeale of Gods fauor & reconciliation with them / and a plain preaching / partly that they be waſhed already from their ſinnes / partly that they are of the houſhold of God / and ſuch as the Lord will feede to eternail lyfe / whych is not lawful to be don to thoſe whych are not of the houſhold of fayth. And therfore. I conclude / that the compelling of papiſts vntounto the communion / and the diſmiſſing and letting of them go / whē as they be to be punyſhed for their ſtubbernes in popery (wyth thys condition if they will receiue the communion) is very vnlawful / when as although they wold receyue it / yet they ought to be kept back / vntil ſuch time / as by their religious and goſpellike behauior / they hauehave purged themſelues of that ſuſpition of popery / whych their former life and conuerſation hath cauſed to be conceyued. As for the fee that M. doctor ſayeth we be worthy of / for ſhewing our ſelues (as he ſayth) ſo good patrones of the papiſtes / he hath geuen vsus well to vnderſtande / what it ſhould be if he were the paymaiſter: but as we ſerue the Lord in thys worke / ſo we loke for rewarde at hys hande / not fearing but that the Lord will in the ende geue ſuch bleſſing vntounto our labors / as we ſhal not neede greatly to feare at the hands of thoſe whych God hath placed in authority / thereward whych you do ſo often call for.
VntoUnto that whych is contained in the two next ſections in the. 103. and a peece of the. 104. pages I hauehave anſweared before partly particularly: and partly when I noted the generall faults of the ſeruice boke / eſpecially ſeeing that M. Doctor wil not defend the piping / and organes / nor no other ſinging then is vſed in the reformed churches: whych is in the ſinging of two Pſalmes / one in the beginning / and an other in the ending / in a plaine tune / eaſye bothe to be ſung of thoſe whych hauehave no arte in ſinging / and vnderſtanded of thoſe whych becauſe they can not read / can not ſing wyth the reſt of the churche.