‘But what do ye say of the sacrament of the altar, as it is called? Why have ye slain many, and burnt others alive in England, France, the Low Countries, and other places, because they could not approve or receive it? Ye assert it as a thing certain, that the bread and wine, as soon as ye have consecrated them, are made Christ, yea, whole Christ, consisting of soul, spirit, flesh, blood, and bones. Besides ye boldly affirm, that all who receive that sacrament do receive whole Christ, and that after your consecration, that very thing becomes immortal and divine.
‘Wherefore come, O pope, cardinals and priests, let us take a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread, and equally divide the wine into two basons, and cut the bread into two parts: then let the pope, cardinals, or priests consecrate one part, which they please; which being done, let us lay up the consecrated and the unconsecrated together, in some close place, and secure the same with seven locks and keys on your part, and with as many on ours, both papists and protestants keeping watch over it. But if it plainly appear, that the consecrated bread and wine are immortal and divine, and lose nothing of their virtue and savour, nor grow mouldy or sour, as though they had been unconsecrated, then we will come over to you: but if they lose their property, quality, and savour, and both parts of the bread do alike grow mouldy, then it will be reasonable for you to come over to us, and confess that your sacrament of the altar, so called, is neither Christ nor his flesh, nor anything immortal or divine; for his flesh saw no corruption, Acts, ii. 27. 31.—xiii. 35. 37, and his precious blood, which delivers from sin and corruption, cannot be corruptible.
‘Let trial then be made hereof; but let judgment be left to just and equal arbitrators, both papists and protestants, and that in a place where the protestants may have the same power that ye have: for it would be unjust to make this trial or experiment, where ye have the whole administration of the commonwealth, and an equal liberty is denied the protestants. This thing will make the truth manifest, and turn to the honour of God: for ye have shed much blood upon this occasion.
‘Wherefore suffer your Christ, whom ye have made, to be tried, that it may be seen whether he be the true Christ, or antichrist; whether he be the true God, or a false one? For it would be somewhat hard that Baal’s prophets should outdo you, for they were willing to have their god tried, though they had before slain many of the people of God, because they would not worship their god; as ye also have often done.
‘Come ye forth therefore publicly, and make trial; that it may appear at length to all Christendom, whether yours be the divine and immortal Christ and God, or no? Or is not rather that mortal and corruptible Christ, which ye yourselves have made, and for whose sake ye have slain multitudes of the people of God, because they could not believe or comply with you?
‘7. Further, where did Christ or his apostles ever speak to the saints of purgatory, wherein men should be purged from their sins after death. Show us where it is written in the New Testament. Is it not therefore a plain denying that Christ’s blood purgeth from all sin, to tell the people a fable of a certain purgatory to purge them from sins after death? Is it not likewise a denying of Christ’s baptism with the holy Spirit, and of spiritual circumcision, and faith in Christ, which purgeth in this life, and giveth the victory?
‘Did not Christ answer some that desired fire might come down from heaven and consume those that would not receive him; “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of?” Did not he rebuke them, saying “That he came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them?” Luke, ix. 54, 55, 56.
‘Ye therefore who have destroyed such a vast number of men and women for their dissenting from you about rites and ceremonies, and taken away their lives by such kind of instruments, racks and fires, as were never sent down from heaven, but devised and invented by yourselves; are ye not worse than they, who desired fire to be called from heaven to destroy men’s lives? And seeing Christ told them, that they knew not what manner of spirit they were of, do ye know what manner of spirit ye are of, who have devised so many ways and torments for the killing of men, and have actually made use of them?
‘With what front can ye persuade us to commit our souls, bodies, and lives, to you, who know not of what spirit ye are children, neither have the mind of Christ who said, “He came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them?”
‘Are ye not all therefore, as many as take away men’s lives for worship devised by you, obnoxious to the rebuke of Christ? For when did Christ or any of his apostles ever give command, or by their example teach, that any one that was disobedient to them, or rejected their doctrine and religion, should be persecuted and imprisoned, or punished by any carnal weapons? Tell us where any thing of this kind is contained, either in the four evangelical histories, or in the epistles written to the Christian Churches? ‘Did ever Christ or his apostles go to the rope-makers to buy whips and halters, to whip and hang men for dissenting from them as ye have done? Did they ever go to the blacksmiths to make chains, fetters, bolts and locks? Or to the gunsmiths to buy guns and muskets; or to the sword-cutlers to buy swords and halberts? Did they ever build prisons, or get holes and vaults dug, to force men by such means to their religion? Show us an example and precept given by Christ or his apostles, which commands and makes the use of such weapons and instruments lawful.