not yet borne, nor hys bloud shedde, whē that the people of Israel did eate that meat, & drank of that stone. And the stone was not bodily Christ, though he so sayed. It was the Marginalia* That is, a misterye of the same thyng, that was in the olde lawe.* same mistery in the olde lawe, and they dyd ghostlye signifie that ghostlye housell of our Sauiours bodye whiche we consecrate nowe.
[Back to Top]The material in this paragraph is drawn from A testimonie of antiquitie (London, 1566?), STC 159.5, fos. 3v-4r.
MarginaliaSermo ad plebem in Die facto Paschæ.Furthermore as touchyng these lxxx. Sermōs afore sayd, whiche Ælfricus translated into Englishe, here is to bee vnderstanded, that in the sayd Sermons vsed then orderly to be recited to the people, there is one appointed to be read In die Santo Pascæ, that is, vppon Easterday. Whiche Sermon beyng translated by the sayd Ælfricus, we haue here exhibited both in Saxon speache and in Englishe, to the entent, that the Christē & indifferent reader perusing þe same, may iudge therby, how þe phantasticall doctrine of trāsubstantiation, in those dayes of Ælfricus & before his time, was not yet receaued nor knowen in the Churche of England: forsomuch as the sayd Sermon beyng in Latine before, doth leaue vnto vs an euident declaration, what was the common opinion of this Sacrament in the Church receaued, before that Elfricus did euer set hand to trāslate the same out of the Latin.
[Back to Top]And thoughe the Latine copies and exemplars of these foresayd Sermons, are not remaining in our Libraries, let that be no meruel to thee, louing reader: MarginaliaThe Latin bokes written agaynst transubstantiation, craftely by the papistes abolished.but vnderstand thereby the craftie packyng of the Popes Clergie, who in the tyme of Lancfrancus, and Pope Innocent, studying by al meanes, how to preferre and further this their newcome doctrine of transubstantiatiō, did abolish & rase out of Libraries & Churches, all such bookes which made to þe contrary. And therfore because Lancfrancus and other Italian Priestes here in England vnderstode not the Saxon bookes, as they did the Latine, all that whiche they vnderstode, they made away. The Saxon bookes because they knew thē not, they let remaine. And this is þe cause why our Latine copies now are not to be found. Which to be true, by iij. reasons coniectural it may probably be supposed.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThree coniectures prouyng that the papistes haue made away of purpose the old Latin bookes against their transubstantiation.First, for that these Saxon Sermons beyng translated out of the Latine (as ye haue heard by the wordes of Ælfricus already proued) only we see the Saxon bookes reserued: of the Latine none doth appeare.
[Back to Top]The claim about the erased passages is made in A testimonie of antiquitie (London, 1566?), STC 159.5, fo. 5r-v. But these passages are not quoted; Foxe must have obtained this information from either John Joscelyn or Matthew Parker.
MarginaliaAn Italian trycke of Polydore Virgill, to burne his bokes, which he had gotten into his handes.Thirdly, by one Italian tricke of Polydore Virgill in our dayes, þe propertie & doings of al other Italiā Papistes of elder tyme, may partly be coniected. For so I am informed by such, as preciselye will affirme it to be true, that when Polydore beyng licensed by the kyng to vewe and searche all Libraries, had once accōplished his storye by the helpe of such bookes as hee had cōpiled out of Libraries: in þe end, when he had taken out what hee would, lyke a true factor for the Popes owne toothe, he pyled his bookes together and set them all on a lyght fire
The charge that Vergil burned books did not originate with Foxe. It was also made in John Caius, De antiquitate Cantabrigiensis academiae (London, 1568), STC 4344, pp. 71-2. Whether Foxe was repeating Caius, or simply a common rumour, is unknown and unknowable.
Aelfric's Easter sermon is reprinted from A testimonie of antiquitie (London, 1566?), STC 159.5, fos. 19v-61r. Rather unusually, Foxe repeats the Parker/Joscelyn marginal annotation in the English translation verbatim.
f. g. r. s. t. vv. y. z.
¶ a. b. c. d, e. f. g. h. i. l. m. n. o. p. r. s. t. u. w. y. z.
Æ. Th. Th. S. VV. And. th. th.
Æ. Ð. Þ. S. W. & ð. þ.
MarginaliaA Sermon vsual to be read in the Church here in England in the Saxons tyme.
¶ An. 996.MEn ða leofostan . gelome eow is geræd ymbe ures hælendes æriste . hu he on þisum andweardan dæge æfter his ðrowunge mihtiglice of deaþe aras ; Nu wille we eow geopenian ðurh Godes gife be þam halgan husle ðe ge nu to gan sceolon . & gewissian eower andgyt ymbe ðære gerynu . ægðer ge æfter þære ealdan gecyþnysse . ge æfter þære niwan . ðy læs ðe ænig tweonunge eow derian mæge be þam liflicum gereorde ; Se ælmihtiga God bebead Moyses þam heretogan on egypta lande . þt he sceolde bebeodan Israhela folce . þt hi namon æt ælcum heorþe anes geares lambe on ðære nihte ðæ hi ferdon of þam lande to þam behatenan earde . & sceoldon þt lambe Gode geoffrian . and syþþan sniþan . and wyrcan rode tacn on heora gedyrum . & oferslegū mid þæs lambes blode . etan syþþan ðæs lambes flæsc gebræd . &