Father Christe saith of Iohn the Baptist This is Elias which was to come Hee saith not hee doth signifie Elias but he is Elias The wordes are plaine yet were there some that stood in the mayntainance of their erorour therby and said that the soule of Elias did abide in Iohn Baptist Christ saith If thine eye cause thee to offend pluck it out and cast it from thee And If thy hand or foot cause thee to offend cut them off cast them from thee The wordes are plaine yet he meaneth not that you should pick out your eyes out of your head nor choppe off your hands or feete from your bodie Iohn saith of Christ He wil baptize you with the holie ghost with fire These words are plaine yet hereof some raised this errour y t children at the time of their baptisme should bee marked in the forehead with a hot burning iron S. Paul saith He hath made him to be sinne for vs which knew no sinne The wordes are plaine Yet Christ neuer sinned Hee is the Lambe of God in whom there is no spot He is hereby sayde to be the sacrifice for sinne Christ saith They two shalbe one flesh And They are no more two but one flesh These wordes are plaine Yet if you trie the wordes by common sence it is not so they are not one but two of seuerall fleshe Christ saith You are the salt of the earth you are the light of the worlde The wordes are plaine yet indeede the Apostles were neither materiall light nor materiall salt Christe saide of Iudas One of you is a diuel The words are plaine Yet Iudas in nature and substance was not a Diuell S. Paul saith of Melchisedech He was without father without mother without kinred hath neither beginning of his dayes neither end of his life These words are plain Yet indeede hee had father and mother and was a man and was borne and died as other men So he saith The rocke was Christ So Moses saith The life of al flesh is his blood And so is Christ called a Lambe a lion a worme a way a bridegrome a head a doore a vine the light bread water a garment These speeches and infinite others the like are plaine open and euident yet are they not true as y t words sound them literally For Christe is not a Lambe in substāce nature but a spiritual Lambe So is he a spiritual garment spiritual light spiritual water and spiritual bread Christ said to Nicodemus Except a man bee borne againe he cannot see the kingdom of God These words are plaine yet Nicodemus mistooke them and was deceiued said Howe can a man be borne that is old can he enter into his mothers wombe again be born Christ meant y e spiritual birth of the soule the spirit not y t natural corporall birth of y e body And to come neerer to the matter in hande whē Christ said I am y e bread which is come down from Heauē except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man drinke his blood ye haue no life in you and my flesh is meate in deede and my blood is drinke indeede He that eateth of this bread shall liue for euer The Capernaites thought these words plaine enough therfore they say How cā this mā giue vs his flesh to eate This is an harde saying who can heare it And they departed away frō him Then said Iesus The words that I speak vnto you are spirit life Upon occasiō hereof S. Augustine writeth thus Spiritualiter intelligite quod loquutus sum vobis Non hoe corpus c. Vnderstand yee spiritually that I haue spoken vnto you Ye shal not eate this body that ye see neither shal ye drink that blood that they shall shed that shall crucifie me I haue recōmended vnto you a certain sacrament being spiritually vnderstoode it will giue you life Euen so Chrysostome What is it that he saith the flesh profiteth nothing He speaketh it not of flesh indeed God forbid but of such which take the things carnally y t are spoke And what is it to vnderstād carnally Euen to take things simply as they be spoken to seeke no further meaning For the things which are seene are not so to be iudged of but al mysteries should be considered with inward eies that is spiritually Againe vpon these wordes If any man eate of this bread he shal liue for euer he saith Panem vero siue doctrinam hoc in loco salutem fidem in se siue corpus suum dicit vtrumque enim animam fortiorē reddit Hee calleth bread in this place either doctrine and saluation and faith in him or els his bodie For either of these maketh the soule stronger S. Paul saith He that eateth or drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his own dānation Dānation is a spiritual thing which is not receiued in by the mouth or broken with the teeth So Christ saith This cup is the new Testament in my blood which is shed for you Yet nowe is not his blood shed any more for he is risen dieth not And these wordes which are so plaine if they be examined wil not be so plaine to yeelde the sense vnto which they are forced It is written He tooke bread whē he had giuen thāks he brake it gaue to thē saying this is my body This bread is my bodie The bread was stil bread neither flesh nor his bodie And this cup is the new testament In due and right open meaning the cup cannot be the new testament Here we see how the wordes are not al so plain but must haue a reasonable cōsiruction It is a rule in the law In fraudē legis facit qui verbis legis saluis sententiam eius circumuenit Hee doth wrong to the law that following onlie the bare words defraudeth the meaning of the Law Orig. saith Est et in nouo testamento litera quae occidit eum c. There is also in the new testamēt a letter which killeth him that doth not spiritually vnderstande those thinges which are spoken For if he folow this after the letter where it is said except ye eat my flesh drink my blood This letter killeth Mark if ye take the word of Christ barely and nakedly as the letter soundeth it killeth S. Augustine saith In allegoria omni haec regula tenenda est vt pro sententia praesent is loci consideretur quod per similitudinem dicitur This rule is to be kept in euery allegory that what is spoken by similitude be weighed by the meaning of the present place Hierō saith Nō in verbis Scripturarum est euangelium sed in sensu The gospel is not in the words of Scriptures but in the meaning And Non in superficie sed in medulla non in sermonum folijs
were made he hath said Hoc est corpus meum therfore it is now no more bread but his body and that this is the faith of the Church in which we were borne and christned In deede this hath lately beene receiued as a matter of faith But if we examine it well wee shall finde it to bee an errour and no point of faith I saye it hath beene receiued of late for our olde Fathers neuer beleeued it as I will declare and prooue and let you see that it hath not beene the Catholike faith nor the faith of the Primitiue churche nor of the Apostles of Christe and therefore no faith at all The opening of this matter will be somewhat darke and where with you haue not beene acquainted but giue me your attendance lend me your senses and I trust by the grace of God I shall make it playne They say the bread is changed and done away vtterly and that it is no breade though it seeme to be bread that in this case we may not trust our eyes but leane to faith Marke I saye they tell vs that the bread remayneth not and for trial hereof they require vs not to leane to any other thing then faith Wee will then close and shut vp our senses and hearken what Christ what S. Paul what the holy fathers of the church who are best able to instruct our Faith haue spoken S. Paul to the Corinthians in one piece of a Chapter calleth it bread foure times Read the place yee shall finde it so in the eleuenth of the first Epistle The Lord Iesus in the night that he was betrayed tooke bread And as often as ye shall eate this bread and drink this cuppe yee shewe the Lordes death till hee come Againe Whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cup of the Lorde vnworthelie shall bee guiltie of the body and blood of the Lorde And againe Let a man therefore examine himselfe so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cuppe They say it is not bread but Paul saith and so manie times saith it is bread And of the wine Christ saide after he had giuen thankes and it was consecrate and after his Supper I wil not drinke of this fruit of the vine hēceforth vntil that day when I shall drinke it newe with you in my fathers kingdome The fruite of the vine is wine therfore the selfe same fruit of the vine the same wine in substaunce did abide still after consecration as before S. Augustine calleth this holy mystery Sacramentū panis vini The sacrament of bread wine Iustinus Martyr saieth Diaconi distribuunt vnicuique praesentium de pane in quo gratiae actae sunt de vino aqua ad eos qui non sunt praesentes deferunt The Deacons deuide vnto euery one of them that are present part of that bread ouer which thankes were giuen and they carry of the wine and water to such as are not present Againe he saith Alimento humido sicco admonemur quae propter nos Deus dei filius perpessus sit By drie moyst food whereby he meaneth the sacrament wee are taught what things God the Sonne of God hath suffred for vs. What meāt he by dry food but bread or by moist food but wine It can not be avoided but that he thought y ◠bread wine remaine after the consecration He liued 1400 yeres since And before him Ignatius Vnus panis omnibus fractus It is one bread which is brokē for al. So Iraen who also liued 1400. yeeres since saith Eum calicem qui est creatura c. He made y t cup which is a creature his body by which he increaseth our bodies Therfore when the cup of mixture the bread whiche is broken receiueth the worde it is made the sacramēt of the body blood of Christ by which the substance of our flesh is increased nourished Hee saith after consecration it is a creature and suche a creature as nourisheth the substance of our flesh Origen who liued wel nigh 1400 yeres since saith Ille cibus qui sanctificatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem iuxta id quod habet materile in ventrem abit in secessum eijcitur The meate which is sanctified by the worde of God by praier as touching the materiall substance therof goeth into the belly and is cast out into the priuy Certainly vnles bread in the substance and nature of bread did remaine in the sacrament these words were too horrible to be spoken Dionisius saith Pontifex opertum panem aperit in frusta concidit The Bishop vncouereth the bread that was couered cutteth it in pieces He noteth that the loafe of the communion was of some bignesse and that the minister after consecration deuided it and gaue to euery man a portion S. Cipriā writeth Dedit Dominus noster in mēsa in qua vltimum cū apostolis participauit cōuiuium c. Our Lord at the table whereat he receiued his last Supper with his Disciples with his own hands gaue not his very body very blood really but bread wine but vpō the crosse he gaue his own body by y ◠hands of the souldiers to be wounded He maketh a difference betweene that which Christ gaue vppon the crosse that which he gaue at the table At the table he gaue breade and wine vppon the crosse hee gaue his body and blood Againe he calleth the bread after consecration Panem ex multorū granorum adunatione cōgestum Bread made not of formes and accidents but of the substance and moulding of many cornes Ambrose saith Quanto magis operatorius est sermo Dei vt sint quae erant in aliud cōmutentur How much more effectual is the worde of God that the bread and wine may be in substance and nature the same that they were before and yet bee changed into another thing They are changed into a Sacrament which they were not before and remaine bread and wine which they were before Chrisostome saith In similitudinē corporis sanguinis Christi panē vinum secundum ordinem Melchisedec nobis ostendit in sacramēto He shewed vs in a Sacramēt bread wine after the order of Melchisedec to bee the likenes of the body and blood of Christ What should I strande to trouble you with the rest As these say so say the other that the thinges which are seene in the sacrament are bread and wine But say they it is called bread because it was bread or because it hath a likenes of bread A pretie shift but it wil not helpe For S. Augustine saith Quod videtis panis est calix quod vobis etiam oculi renuntiant The thing that you see is the bread and the cup which thing your eyes do testify Gelasius saith Non desinit esse substantia panis vel natura vini
est maÌ„ducare panem viuum Beleeue in Christ and thou hast eaten Christ For beleeuing in Christ is the eating of the bread of life Beleue y â— he is that Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Beleeue that there is no other name giuen vnto men wherein we shall be saued but y t name of Iesus Christ Beleeue that he hath payed the raunsome for the sinnes of the whole worlde Beleeue that he hath made peace betweene God and man Beleeue that it is hee which hath reconciled all thinges by his blood Here is nothing to be done by the mouth of the body Whosoeuer thus beleeueth hee eateth hee drinketh him Clemens saith Hoc est bibere sanguinem Iesu participeÌ„ esse incorruptionis eius This is y â— drinking of the blood of Iesus to be made partaker of his immortality Tertul. saith He must be receiued in cause of life hee must be deuoured by hearing he must bee chewed by vnderstaÌ„ding he must be digested by Faith Thus did Christ himselfe teache his disciples to vnderstaÌ„d him The words which I speake are spirit life S. Ierom therfore saith QuaÌ„do audimus sermoneÌ„ domini caro Christi saÌ„guis eius in aures nostras infunditur WheÌ„ we heare the worde of God the flesh of Christ and his blood is powred into our eares The Patriarkes Prophets and people of God which liued before the birth of Christ did by faith eate his flesh drinke his blood S. Paul saith They did al eat the same spiritual meat and did al drink of the same spiritual drink Whosoeuer beleeued in Christ they were nourished by him then as we are now They did not see Christ he was not yet borne he had not yet a naturall body yet did they eate his bodie he had not yet any blood yet did they drinke his blood They beleeued that it was he in whom the promises should be fulfilled that he shoulde be that blessed seede in whom al nations should be blessed Thus they beleeued thus they receiued and did eate his body But say some the fathers of the olde lawe were in darkenes in a shadow a figure it was meete they should receiue the Sacrament spiritually or the body of our Lord spiritually but al otherwise with vs vnto whose benefite y t sacraments of the new Testament work y â— thing it selfe that they signifie so that we receiue Christ really bodily and with the mouth of our bodies S. Paule telleth vs the fathers of the old lawe did eate the same spirituall meate that is to say the same Christe that wee eate So sayeth S. Augustine Sacramenta illa fuerunt in signis diuersa in rebus quae significabantur paria These things were Sacramentes in the outward tokens diuers but in the things signified all one with ours Likewise sayeth Leo Mysteria pro temporum ratione variata sunt quum fides qua vâ—uimus nulla fuerit aetate diuersa The Sacramentes are altered according to the diuersitie of times but the faith whereby wee liue was euer in all ages one If they did eate the same meate if the things that is the matter of their Sacramentes were all one with ours if their faith was al one with our faith what difference is there between their and our eating As they did eate Christ by faith and not by the mouth of the bodie so we eate Christ by faith and not by the mouth of our bodie To make this somewhat more euident let vs take the iudgement of the Fathers They teache vs plainely that the spirituall eating of Christes bodie by faith is the true eatinge and that wee doe not grossely fleshely really or naturally eate him in the Sacrament Saint Cyprian sayeth the bodie of Christe est cibus mentis non ventris It is meate for the mynde not for the belly Not for the teeth to chewe but for the soule to beleeue Cyrillus sayeth Sacramentum nostrum hominis maÌ„ducationem non asserit mentes credentium ad Grassas cogitationes irreligiose inducens Our Sacrament auoucheth not the eating of a man leading the mindes of the faithfull in vngodly maner to grosse or fleshly cogitations Athanasius saith Quot hominibus suffecisset corpus eius c. Vnto how many men could Christs body haue sufficed that he shoulde bee the foode of all the worlde Therefore hee made mention of his ascension into heauen that he might withdrawe them from corporall and fleshly vnderstandyng What thinge may bee spoken more playnelye It were vnpossible his naturall body naturallye receiued mighte suffice all the worlde to let them see hee had no suche meanyng he speaketh of his goyng vp into heauen Spiritually then hee is receiued of euerie one and is digested and becommeth the nourishment of al the worlde S Augustine expounding these words of Christ Who so eateth of this bread shall not die saith thus Quod pertinet ad virtutem sacrameÌ„ti non quod pertinet ad visibilile sacramentum Qui maÌ„ducat intus noÌ„ foris qui manducat in corde non qui premit dente That pertaineth to y â— vertu effect of the sacrament not y t pertai neth to the visible sacrameÌ„t He that eateth inwardly not he y t eateth outwardly that eateth with his heart not that bruseth the sacrameÌ„t with his tooth Thus is Christs bodie receiued as these holy fathers say not to the filling our contentation of the body not with mouth or tooth but with spirite and faith vnto the holinesse and sanctification of the minde After this sort wee eate his fleshe and drinke his blood Therefore wicked men and suche as beleeue not receiue not the bodie of Christe they haue no portion in it So saith Orig Est cibus verus quem nemo malus potest edere c. The bodie of Christ is the true food which no euil man can eate For if the euil man coulde eate the body of our Lord it should not be writteÌ„ he that eateth this bread shal liue for euer Ambrose saith HuÌ„c panem qui maÌ„ducauerit non esuriet est esca saÌ„ctorum non morietur morte peccatoris quia remissio peccatorum est Hee that eateth this bread shal not hunger it is the food of those that are holy He shal not die y e death of a sinner because it is the remission of sins S. Aug. saith Qui discordat a Christo nec panem eius maÌ„ducat nec saÌ„guineÌ„ bibit c. Who so disagreeth from Christ neither eateth his bread nor drinketh his blood although he daily receiue the sacrameÌ„t of so great a thing without difference to the iudgement of his presumption And againe Qui in me non manet c. He that abideth not in mee and in whom I doe not abyde let him not say or thinke that hee eyther eateth my bodie or drinketh my blood And againe Caecus interius panem Christumnon videt Et beatus
the Gospel to be heresie and that the things which he hath done for vs are wrought by the power of Beelzebub and which as good watchmen attending their warde may stirre vp the people to knowe the season that the night is passed and the day is come that it is time to cast away the workes of darkenesse and to put on the armour of light shall witnesse for them what zeale they beare to the house of God If the ministers be mindefull to perfourme their duetie if the Lordes haruest be not neglected if the defence for the Gospel finde vpright Iudges if all that giue outward shew of zeale be in deede zealous and worke the fruites of zeale what hope may they of Iericho haue that their cursed dwellings shal stand or why shall Israel mistrust that the Temple of God shall not receiue againe the former and perfect beautie Nowe because euery where in these sermons hee commendeth the necessary vse of godly learning and is an humble suter for patronage thereof I can not but present them vnto your honours our patrones and fathers right honourable Chauncelours of both the Vniuersities that seeing the benefite of this your gracious protection hath and doeth and shall reache it selfe so farre to do so much good to the whole Church of God you may at home and with your selues reioyce in the comfort of a good conscience for the manifold fruites of your fauour bestowed in such sort and all that haue the loue of the trueth may earnestly praye vnto God for your honours that he will continue his goodnesse towardes you and giue you long and prosperous dayes in this life and after a ioyfull enterance into his glorie Your honours most humble to command Iohn Garbrande ⧠Certaine Sermons of B. Iewell Ioshua 6. And Iericho was shut vp and closed because of the children of Israel neither might any man goe out or in 2. And the Lorde saide vnto Ioshua behold I haue giuen into thine hand Iericho and the King thereof and the strong men of warre 3. And yee shall compasse all the Citie c. IN diuers maners god spake opened himselfe to our fathers by visions dreames by sacraments by angels by plaine expresse words by allegories by secret mystical vnderstanding where one thing is couered vnder another And al this did he that he might cōdescende to our capacitie that wee might bee conuerted and saued that we might be guyded in the right way and not goe aside neither to the right hande nor to the left By vision GOD spake to Ezechiel as appeareth in the firste Chapter of his prophecie The wheeles which he saw were horible to behold they were ful of rings and the rings were full of eyes the foure beasts were also terrible they had faces like a man like a lion like a bullock and like an eagle In dream God spake to Samuel saying Beholde I wil doe a thing in Israel wherof whosoeuer shal heare his two eares shall tingle c. Touching Sacramentes God him selfe saith Thou shalt shew thy Sonne in that day saying this is done because of that which the Lord did vnto me whē I came out of Egipt thou shalt set apart vnto the lord al that first openeth the wombe c. And whē thy sonne shal aske thee to morrow saying What is this thou shalt then say vnto him with a mighty hande the Lorde brought vs out of Egypt out of the house of bondage For when Pharao was hard hearted agaynst our departure the Lord then slue al the first borne in the lande of Egypt from the first born of man euen to the first born of beast therefore I sacrifice vnto the Lorde all the males that first open the wombe but al the first borne of my sonnes I redeeme Sometimes he spake by Angels as by sundrye examples it may appeare Sometimes by him selfe in his owne person as he spake to Moses face to face Sometimes by playne expresse wordes Thou shalt loue the Lorde thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy might And againe Thou shalt haue none other goddes before my face thou shalt make thee no grauen image c. These are playne woordes these are the woordes which our Lord GOD hath spoken Some tymes he expressed his holy will not in words or visions or in such sort as I haue shewed but onely by some mysticall or secret Allegory by some deede which the people sawe done before their eyes of which kynd is this which we haue now to consider Therefore hath God sayde by the Prophet What coulde I haue done any more to my vineyard that I haue not done vnto it What shoulde I doe but it hath byn done What shoulde I say but it hath been sayde what warning shoulde I giue but it hath byn giuen I haue byn carefull for my people that they shoulde repent and turne to me that all Israel shoulde be saued If they perish I am free from their destruction they perishe in their owne wilfulnesse they haue none excuse Now touching an Allegory whereof we are at this present to say God opened his minde sometimes not by wordes but by some notable kinde of deede and the people heard GOD speak vnto them not with their eares but with their eyes The people of Israel as they were passing through the wildernesse lacked water to drinke and were like to perishe there stood a mighty great Rocke of harde stone whiche Moses smote with his rodde it opened and yelded out a great streame of water the whole people dranke of it and was refreshed the same people being likewise in the same wildernesse vtterly voyde of bread and all other substenance was like to famish God sent them Manna from heauen aboue they gathered it they ground it and they ate of it it was sweet and delicate and full of comfort This was an Allegorie that is to say a secret and mysticall kinde of vtterance For by this Manna and by this Rocke the people was ledde to vnderstand and thinke on that bread and that water that should come from heauen Saint Paul saith the Rocke was Christ his side was clouen his blood issued out it is a water springing vp into euerlasting life we drink of it and liue for euer So likewise that Manna was the bodie of Christ the people did eate of it and liued by it Christ had not yet taken vppon him a naturall bodye yet they did eate his bodie he had not yet shedde his blood yet they dranke his blood Saint Paule saith all did eate the same spirituall meate that is the body of Christ and all did drinke of the same spirituall drinke that is the blood of Christ and that as verily and as truely as we doe nowe and who so euer then did so eate Christ liued for euer not because the rocke was turned into his flesh or the water into his blood it was an Allegory as
in darknes Our sauiour therefore saith The wordes y ◠I spake vnto you are spirite and life To eate the bodie of Christ and to drinke his blood is not the parte of the bodie it is rather a worke of our mind And therefore S. Ambrose saith Non corporali tactu Christum sed fide tangimus We touch not Christ by bodily touching but we touch him by faith And againe Stephanus in terris positus Christum tangit in caelo Stephen being in the earth toucheth Christ being in heauen By faith therefore wee eate Christ and by faith we drinke Christ by faith wee are apparelled and clothed with Christ And this is that the Apostle saith Put ye on the Lorde Iesus Christ Let vs bee incorporate in him Let God see nothinge in vs but the image of his sonne so shall he dwell in vs wee in him Take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the lustes thereof The sonnes of God rest vpon the prouidence of God their father He giueth thē water out of the rockes hee raineth downe breade from heauen hee openeth his handes and filleth euery liuing thing w t his blessing The Prophet saith The Lorde is my shepheard I shall not want The thinges of this worlde shall haue an ende they fade away and will not continue If riches abounde wee must not set our heart vpon them but rather bee carefull for the life to come We must seeke the kingdome of God the righteousnes thereof then al these things shalbe ministred vnto vs. He doeth not forbid honest moderate forecast and prouision as if it were not lawfull for Christians to deale in matters appertaininge to the good estate of this life For he hath said vnto Timothie If there be any y ◠prouideth not for his own namely for them of his houshoulde he denieth the faith is worse then an infidel again he saith no mā euer yet hated his owne flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it Agayne writing to Timothie drinke no longer water but vse a litle wine for thy stomakes sake and thine often infirmities In whiche speéches hee sheweth we are bonde to nourish and feede and bee carefull for our bodies Though the conuersation of the faithfull bee in heauen and they seeke after the thinges which are on high yet whiles they passe the pilgrimage of this lyfe they must needes haue the felowshippe and company of their naturall bodies the whiche they must not so weaken that thereby they shall become vnprofitable and not hable to doe seruice in the Churche of god and yet so keepe them vnder that they may be made obedient to the spirite Onely wee may not bee ouer carefull To take great care for the body is to cast away all care for the soule For they that will bee riche fall into temptation snares and into many foolish and noysome lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction for the desire of mony is the roote of al euil which whiles some lusted after they erred from the fayth and perced themselues with many sorrowes Of this care speaketh our sauiour It is easier for a Camel to go through y ◠eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of God No care can satisfie the vncontented minde The righteous eateth is satisfied but the bellie of the wicked euer wanteth Hee hath enlarged his desire as hell and ladeth hym selfe with thicke clay he encreaseth that which is not his and cannot be satisfied The horse leache hath two daughters whiche cry giue giue There be there things y ◠wil not be satisfied Yea foure y ◠say not it is enough They care not by what meanes they make their gaynes they liue in vsurie a most fylthye trade a trade which God detesteth a trade which is the verye ouerthrow of all Christian loue They eate vp the people as they eate breade Such are the wayes of euery one that is greedy of gaine He wolde take away y ◠life of y ◠owners thereof They haue hardened their heart against God they doe not serue God but Mammon But their gayne shall be to their losse their mony to their destruction He that giueth his money vnto Usurie shall not dwell in the tabernacle of the Lorde nor rest vppon his holy mountayne Wee haue here no continuing Citie wee are straungers as were al our fathers before vs. If we gather riches to our selues be not rich in God he shall say vnto vs O foole this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee Then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided Let him therefore that hath this worldes goods be as if hee had them not They are the giftes of God The Lorde giueth them and the Lorde taketh them away Settle not your hearts vpon thē As they come so wil they fade away they bee vncertaine they will deceiue you Set your desier vpon heauenly thinges seeke after the life which is to come in the lande of the liuing When wee shall see those vnspeakable ioyes wee shal perceiue that all the pleasures of this life in comparison of them were nothing Now somewhat more specially to applie the woordes of the Apostle to this present time It is now time also that wee should arise from sleepe God hath deliuered vs also from the night We may say This is the day which the Lorde hath made Let vs reioyce and be glad in it Wee may say he hath shewed his mercies towardes vs and the truth of the Lorde endureth for euer Let vs looke backe to the time late past and beholde the night of errour and ignoraunce What shall I say Where should I beginne or howe may I ende The matter is of great compasse the time I haue to speake is but shorte and I haue no delight to speake of darknes After God had deliuered the people of Israel and giuen them passage through the red sea Marie the Prophetesse sister of Aaron looked backe into Egipt There she remembred Pharao and his crueltie howe he plagued the children of God she remembred how by a mightie hande and out stretched arme hee deliuered them and wrought his wonders vpon Pharao and all the lande of Egipt She looked backe vpon the great darknes and vpon the frogges and flies and botches she behelde the waters turned into blood the killinge of the first borne of man and beast the ouerthrowe of Pharao and all his Charets in the middes of the sea And therefore she answered the men Singe yee vnto the Lorde for he hath triumphed gloriously The horse and his rider hath he ouerthrowen in the sea Euen so let vs cast backe our eies make a view of the Church Loth I am to speake of it Yet it is nedefull to say somewhat thereof that we way reioyce in our deliueraunce All thinges were done in a strang tounge the priest spake and
who haue bin constant in y ◠faith haue suffred death for Christs sake That so they may be taught by their name to remēber whose name they beare y t they neither speake nor doe anie thing vnworthy of their name As if any bee called Iohn that hee praye for grace and desire to be filled with grace that he giue witnesse of Christ that hee is the Lambe of GOD which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde that hee rebuke vice boldelie as Iohn did in Herode though hee were a mightie Prince Or if he be called Paule that hee so become a follower of Paule as Paule was of Christe and saye with Paul That I might liue vnto God I am crucified with Christ Thus I liue yet not I now but Christ liueth in mee and heare Christ speaking vnto him as did Paul fal down say Lorde what wilt thou that I doe So let him that is called Thomas touche the bosome of Christ and handle his woundes and make a good confession as Thomas did and say My Lord and my God Let Matthew forsake his custome euen the deceitful gaines of y ◠world and followe Christ Let Daniel remember Daniel and though he should be throwen in to the denne of Lions or be burnt in the fire or suffer any cruell tormentes yet let him not therfore forsake God but put his whole trust in him Thus should our names teach vs that whether we write them or vtter them or heare them spoken they may put vs in minde of christian duetie and Godlines The other Sacrament of Christes Church is the sacrament of the Lordes Supper whiche some haue called the Sacrament of the Altar some the Sacrament of the holie table some the Sacrament of bread and wine but wee most properly may call it the sacrament of the bodie and blood of Christ And that we wander not at large but may stande in certaine ground I wil expounde those words of our Sauiour This is my bodie and this is my blood of the newe testament that is shed for manie for the remission of sinnes This matter these two or three hundreth yeeres late past hath beene encumbred with manie questions and much controuersie Some saie the woordes are plaine Christe him selfe spake them hee is almightte and can doe what soeuer hee will hee hath not spoken otherwise then hee meant If wee expounde them by signes and figures wee take away the force of the holy mysterie and make nothing of it the woordes muste bee taken euen as they lye they must not haue any other construction Therefore at this day many wise men which yeelde from other pointes of superstition and in many other thinges receiue the truth stand here and sticke at this and cannot yeeld I will declare the whole matter simplye and plainely and submit my selfe to the vnderstanding and capacitie of all men That which I will vtter heerein shall not be of my selfe but of the Fathers of the Churche not of those whiche haue beene of later yeeres but of the most auncient not of the Heretiques◠but of the most Catholique which euer haue beene the enemies and confounders of Heretiques I wil shewe the vse and order and faith of the Primitiue Churche whiche was in the times of the Apostles and of Tertullian Ciprian Basill Nazianzene Hierome Augustine Chrysostome and others Catholique and godly learned Fathers Let no man regarde mee or my speeche I am onely a finger these are cleare and bright starres I doe but shewe them vnto you and poynt them that you maye beholde them God giue vs grace that wee may see them truely and by them bee able to guyde and to direct our waye let vs laie aside all contention and quietly heare that shall bee spoken Whatsoeuer shall bee saide if it bee true if it bee auncient if it be Catholique if it bee so cleere as the sunne beames let vs humble our heartes and beleeue it There is no trueth but of God Whosoeuer resisteth the truth resisteth God First I will shewe you that we doe truelie and indeede eate the bodie of Christ and drinke his blood And this shall be the foundation and key of entraunce into all the rest Secondely I will open these woordes This is my body and there howe by what sort in what sense and meaning the bread is the body of Christ Thirdly that the bread abideth still in former nature and substance as before euen as the nature and substance of water remayneth in Baptisme Fourthly how the body of Christ is eaten whether by faith or with the mouth of our bodie and how the body of Christ is present in the Sacrament Fiftly What difference is betweene the body of Christ and the Sacrament of the body of Christ Sixtly howe wee ought to prepare our mindes and with what faith and deuotion wee must come to the receiuing thereof Wee saie and beleeue that wee receiue the body and blood of Christ truelie and not a figure or signe but euen that bodie whiche suffered death on the crosse and that blood which was shed for the forgiuenes of sinnes So saieth Christ My fleshe is meate in deede and my blood is drinke indeede And againe Except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drink his blood ye haue no life in you And againe He that eateth me euen he shall liue by me Wee say there is no other substantiall foode of our soules and that hee is diuided among all the faithfull and that hee is voyde of saluation and the grace of Christ whosoeuer is not partaker of his body and blood This we say and may not flee from it hereafter Yet least happily any should be deceiued we say this meate is spirituall and therefore it must be eaten by faith and not with the mouth of our bodie Augustine saith Vt quid paras dentes ventrem crede manducasti Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy bellie beleeue and thou hast eaten And againe Nolite fauces parare sed cor Prepare not your iawes but your heart As material bread nourisheth our bodie so doeth the bodie of Christ nourishe our soule and is therefore called bread Deus panis intus est animae meae saith Augustine God is the inward bread of my soule For wee receiue him and eate him and liue by him But heereof hereafter more at large Nowe let vs consider the wordes of Christ This is my body this is my blood These woordes you say are plaine open easie and manifest So are they yet albeit they are plaine they must haue a right construction The plainest woordes that bee vnlesse they bee duelie expounded may breede errour S. Iohn saith The word was made flesh These words are plaine yet of these plaine wordes Apollinaris did breede an heresie Christ saith My father is greater then I. His woordes are playne yet did the Arrians gather thereof an heresie that Christe is not equall with his
sed in radice rationis It is not in the outward shew but in the inner marow not in the leafes of wordes but in the roote of reason When Christ saide Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I wil raise it vp againe The Iewes following the bare letter did beare false witnesse against him saying We heard him say I will destroy this temple made with handes and within tree dayes I will builde another made without handes Wee may not take the letter in all places of the scripture as it lieth The scriptures stand not in the reading but in the vnderstanding By taking the bare letter the Iewes founâ—â— matter to put Christ to death Orig. saith There is a let ter in the new Testament which killeth Ierome saith The gospel is not in the wordes of the Scripture not in the outward shewe nor in the leaues but in y e meaning in y e marow in the root which are hid not open manifest So y t they may not be takeÌ„ by y e bare sound but must haue some other construction But what shall be the construction of these wordes This is my body whose interpretation or iudgement of them shal stand The learned men which haue been of late yeres which yet liue are suspected Let vs heare the elder ancieÌ„t fathers whom there is no cause that any should suspect they were not Sacramentaries nor Zuinglians nor Lutheranes they were not deuided into any of these sectes Tertullian an ancient father who liued more then 1300. yeeres since expoundeth them thus Acceptum panem distributum discipulis corpus suum illum fecit dicendo hoc est corpus meuÌ„ id est figura corporis mei Figura autem non esset nisi veritatis esset corpus CaeteruÌ„ vacua res quae est phantasma figuram capere non potest Christ taking the bread distributing it to his disciples made it his body saying This is my body y t is to say this is a figure of my body But a figure it coulde not bee vnlesse there were a body of a truth in deed For a void thing as is a fantasie can receiue no figure Chrysostome saith Si mortuus Christus non est cuius SymboluÌ„ ac signum hoc sacramentum est If Christ died not whose signe and whose token is this Sacrament Againe The very bodie of Christ it self is not in the holie vessels but the mysterie or Sacrament thereof is there conteined Augustine against the heretique Adimantus writeth Non dubitauit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cum signum daret corporis sui Our Lorde doubted not to say this is my body when he gaue a tokeÌ„ of his body And in another place Christ tooke Iudas vnto his table wherat he gaue vnto his disciples the figure of his bodie Saint Hierom saith Christ represented the veritie of his bodie S. Ambrose saith Before consecration it is called another kind after consecration the body of Christ is signified And again In eating and drinking that is in receiuing the holy communion we signifie the bodie blood of Christ that was offered for vs. So also Gelasius saith Imago similitudo corporis sanguinis in actione mysteriorum celebratur The image and similitude of his body blood is shewed in the action of the mysteries It woulde be ouerlong to lay forth vnto you what other reuerende olde Fathers haue written to like effect and haue expounded those woordes of Christ by suche termes as you haue hearde of signe figure token image and likenesse I trust no man be offended these speeches are not mine owne but the speeches of moste auncient Fathers and haue beene spoken or written and continued in the Church these 1200 1300. and wel neere 1400. yeres and neuer condemned in them as false though many of late times haue sought otherwise to vnderstand the words of Christ The glose vppon the Canons ioyneth herein with the Fathers Dicitur corpus Christi sed impropriè vt sit sensus uocatur corpus Christi c. It is called the body of Christ but vnproperly the meaning thereof may be this it is called Christes bodie that is to say it signifyeth Christes bodie Therefore doeth S. August giue vs good and wholesome aduertisements thus hee writeth to Bonifacius Vnlesse sacraments had a certain likenes of the things of which they be sacrameÌ„ts then indeed they were no sacraments And of this likenes oftentimes they beare the names of y t things themselues that are represented by the sacraments And again In sacrameÌ„ts we must coÌ„sider not what thei be in substance nature but what they signify Againe he saith It is a dangerous matter a seruitude of the soule to take the signe in stead of the thing that is signified And again if it be a speech that commandeth either by forbidding an horible wickednes or requiring that which is profitable it is not figuratiue but if it seeme to require horrible wickednes to forbid y t is good profitable it is spoken figuratiuely Exceptyee eate saith Christ the flesh of the sonne of maÌ„ drink his blood ye haue no life in you He semeth to require the doing of that which is horrible or most wicked it is a fygure therfore coÌ„manding vs to coÌ„municate with the passion of Christ coÌ„fortably profitably to laie vp in our remeÌ„braÌ„ce that his flesh was crucifyed wouÌ„ded for vs. In another place hee saith It is a more horrible thing to eate maÌ„s flesh theÌ„ to kil it to drink maÌ„s blood theÌ„ it is to shed it Againe he saith Wee must beware that wee take not a figuratiue speeche according to the letter for therto it pertaineth that the Apostle saith the letter killeth Besides that which hath been shewed you out of the godlie learned olde fathers howe they haue expounded these wordes who soeuer wil aduisedly consider these principall sentences or rather rules of Saint Augustine shall be holpen muche and directed to the due and Catholique construction and meaning of them The nexte matter and the thirde of the sixe is whether the breade and wine abide still in former nature and substaunce as before euen as the nature and substaunce of water remayneth in the Sacrament of Baptisme There are some that saye by vertue of these woordes Hoc est corpus meum the bread is chaunged into the bodie of Christ that the substaunce of bread is gone and nothing remayning but onely accidentes that is a shewe and appearance and likenesse of bread They say it seemeth to be the same it was but it is chaunged it seemeth to bee bread but it is not bread and the wine by the taste and colour seemeth to be wine but it is not wine They say we may not beleeue our eye sight nor stand to the iudgement of our senses They say Christ is almighty he spake the word and al thinges
damnation In this case God so loued y â— world that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne y â— whosoeuer beleeueth in him shoulde not perishe but haue life euerlasting And as Saint Paule sayeth God sent his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinful flesh and by sinne coâ—â—emned sinne in the fleshe There was no other thing in He auen or earth which woulde be taken for our ransome Therefore was the Sonne of GOD brought before the Iudge and arraigned as a Theefe and condemned and scourged and put to death his side was opened with a speare and the bloode flowed out and he sayde It is finished that is to say the price for man is nowe payed Thus beeing in the fourme of God hee thought it no robberie to bee equall with God but he made himselfe of no reputation tooke on him the fourme of a seruaunt and was made like vnto men was founde in shape as a man He humbled himself and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse Hee gaue his bodye to bee crucified and his blood to bee shedde for our sakes There was no other sacrifice left for sinne woe worth the sinne of man that was the cause of the death of Christ What were the effects of his death What followed God hath highly exalted him and giueÌ„ him a name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus should euery knee bowe and that euerie tongue should confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father God spake out of the heauens and saide This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Hee crowned him with glorie and honour hee hath not onely aduanced Christ but vs also together with him And made vs sitte together in heauenly places in Christ Iesus Hee hath made vs like to the Image of his sonne Thus hath hee made vs an acceptable people and hath renewed the face of the earth so y â— nowe hee saith not as he did to Adam thou art earth and shalt returne to earth but he saith Thou art heauen an immortall and vndefiled inheritance that fadeth not away is reserued in heauen for thee This is the effect and value of the death of Christ All these thinges are layde before vs in the holy Table if wee haue eyes to see and beholde them There may wee see the crucifiyng of his bodie and the shedding of his blood as it were in a glasse Therefore Christe sayeth doe this in remembraunce of mee in remembraunce of my benefite wrought for you in remembrance of your saluation purchased by me Saint Paul saith As often as ye shal eate this bread and drinke this cuppe ye shew the Lordes death til he come In this supper lieth a hiddeÌ„ mystery There is the horror of sinne there is y e death of our Lorde for our sinne represented howe he was wounded for our sinnes and tormented for our iniquities and ledde as a lambe to the slaughter There may we see the shame of the crosse the darkenesse ouer the worlde the earth to quake the stones to cleaue asunder the graues to open and the dead to rise These thinges may we see in the Supper this is the meaning of these holy mysteries Therefore let euery one examine him selfe and search and weigh his owne hearte whether he be the childe of GOD and a member of the bodie of Christe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cuppe The sacrament of the Lordes Supper is a holie foode the seale of our Faith the assuraunce of Gods promises and a couenant betweene God and man He that doeth vn worthely thrust himselfe to this table eateth and drinketh his owne damnation When a sicke man of a weake and feeble stomacke sitteth downe to eate with them that are whole whatsoeuer he eateth or drinketh it doth increase his sicknesse To them that perish the worde of God is a sauour of death vnto death Who so disagreeth from Christ neither eateth his bread nor drinketh his blood as saith S. Augustine If any of vs come to the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ and yet make our selues the members of the Diuell wee treade Christe vnder our feete we regarde not his body crucified nor his blood shed for vs we regard not the price of our saluation wee are guiltie of his death we betraie the innocent blood we are fallen from grace and Christ hath died in vaine for vs. Let vs remember Christ was forsaken scorned buffeted crucified and left vpon the crosse he was a worme and no man a reproch among men Nature it selfe yearned and yelded at the sight hereof The whole lande grewe darke the earth did quake the sunne lost his light the powers of heauen were moued the rockes were clouen the vaile of the temple rent the thiefe repented said Lorde remember me when thou coÌ„mest into thy kingdome the centurion glorified God and said of a suretie this man was iust Where is the power of Christs death now Where is the force and power of his word By these meanes he speaketh to thee and calleth saying Beholde O man thus haue I sought thee these things I suffer for thy sake that thou shouldest eate my flesh and drinke my blood be made one with me that thou mightest come into mee and I into thee I haue made thee a member of my bodie bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh Thou that wallowest in thy sinnes thou Sodoma and Gomorrah thou childe of destruction which hast reioysed in my shame and arte not moued with the paines which I haue suffered what might I do for thy sake to saue thee that I haue not done What might I suffer and haue not endured it O be a partener of my death that thou matest haue part in my resurrection Let vs die with Christ let vs bee crucified vnto the worlde Let vs bee holy Egles and scare aboue Let vs goe vp into the great parlar and receiue of our Lorde the cup of the newe testament There let vs beholde the bodie that was crucified for vs the blood which was shead for vs. There let vs say this is the raunsom of the world this was once offered hath made perfect for euer al them that beleue this entered once into the holy place and obtained euerlasting redemption for vs this standeth alwaies in the presence of God maketh intercession for vs this is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world by this bodie I am now no more earth ashes by this I am now not a bondman but made free This bodie hath broken the gates of hell hath opened heauen In this are all the treasures of Gods mercie by this the prince of darkenes is cast foorth in this bodie shall he come againe to iudge the quicke and the dead Let no vncleane or filthie person no adulterer no vsurer no cruel extortioner or deuourer of Gods people offer him selfe to
Lawe in their inwarde partes and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shal bee my people and they shal teach no more euery maÌ„ his neighbour and euery man his brother sayinge Know the Lord for they shall all know mee from the leaste of them to the greatest of them sayeth the Lorde And agayne our Sauiour sayeth out of the prophet Esay They shall all be taught of God And in the seuententh of Saint Iohn he sayeth This is life eternall that they knowe thee to be the onely very God and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ To this ende and for this cause He gaue some to bee Apostles and some Prophetes and some Euangelistes and some Pastours and teachers for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the edificatioÌ„ of the body of Christ that we hencefoorth bee no more children waâ—ering and caried about with euery wind of doctrine by the deceit of men with craftines whereby they lay waite to deceiue Therefore doeth S. Peter cal vpon them that are of the church of god in all places that they shew foorth the mercies of God that they witnesse vnto all the world what the Lord hath done for them in filling them with all spirituall knowledge and vnderstanding Be readie alwayes to giue an answer to euerie man that asketh you a reason of the hope y t is in you There fore doeth God giue charge to his people the children of Israel to heare his Lawe and keepe his commaundements not as an ordinance that shoulde stande good but for a season whiche shoulde bee kepte onely by them but also requireth that they teache the same to their posteritie that so his great blessinges may neuer bee forgotten For thus hee sayeth These wordes which I commande thee this day shall bee in thine heart and thou shalt rehearce them continually vnto thy children and shalt talke of them when thou taryest in thine house and as thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest downe and when thou risest vp Thus doeth God by promise that hee wyll giue the Spirite of knowledge and of vnderstanding vnto his people and by raysing vp labourers whom he hath sent foorth into his viniarde Prophetes Apostles Euangelistes and pastours and teachers and by his earnest commaundement that we giue eare to his woorde and speake of his wonderfull kindenesse shewed vnto vs and our forefathers make it appeare howe needefull a thinge it is that we knowe his will Without this knowledge we cannot loue hym as our father we can not feare him as our Lorde But when wee see the miserable blindenesse and ignoraunce in all places abroade what hope may wee haue to see Hiericho suppressed and quite ouerthrowne It cannot be but great inconueniences shall followe in the Churche of God as confusion of order and dissolution of life to the indangering of the state vnlesse by godly care of the Magistrates some helpe be prouided This care must shewe it selfe in remouinge blinde watchmen whiche haue no knowledge who are but dumme dogges that can not barke who lye and sleepe and delight in sleeping These greedye Dogges can neuer haue enough sayeth the Prophet Esaye Non residence and absence from their cure is a fault that woulde bee amended in the Sheapheardes of the Lordes flocke Though they be neuer so able to instructe and therefore worthie to haue the roumes in the Churche yet if they haue not a desire to do good if they feede not Christes sheepe if they be strangers to the people of their chargeâ— if they bee not at hande to giue their flockes their bread in due season what let may there bee but that ignorance and blindenesse shall growe and encrease in the people Another fault no lesse hurtfull to the Church of God is the sufferinge of pluralities when one man taketh the profite of two or more benefices whiche is not worthye of one These Non residents and pluralitie men teache not they knowe not nor care for the People of their charge they haue brought this confusion and shame into the house of God They are blinde guides they are the darkenesse of the world Against those whiche are suche GOD sheweth his heauy displeasure My Sheep sayeth he wandred through all the mountaines and vpon euerie high hill yea my flocke was scattered through al the earth and none dyd seeke or searche after them And againe Neither did my shepheards seeke my shepe but the shephardes fedde themselues and not my sheepe And by the Prophet Ieremie he saith They that shoulde minister the law knew me not And againe The Pastours are become Beastes and haue not soughte the Lorde therefore haue they none vnderstandinge and all the flockes of their pastures are scattered These either bee a remnant of the wicked Inhabitantes of Hiericho that resist the passage of Gods people towardes the land of promise or suche as haue forgotten the commaundement of the Lorde and haue giuen themselues to doe the sinnes of the people whom the Lord gaue ouer vnto them These be they that seeke the restoringe of Hiericho the ouerthrow of Hierusalem therefore the curse of God wyll fall vppon them the blood of Gods people shall be required at their handes because they bring the abhomination of desolation into the holy place because they suffer Christes flocke to perishe for lacke of knowledge and to be caryed away after euery wynde of false doctrine God graunt al such that they may see with their eyes and vnderstande in their heartes and knowe the gratious goodnesse of the Lorde that the people bee not through their negligence like Horse and Mule but that they may descerne betweene darkenesse and lighte and betweene Hiericho and Hierusalem that they may bee able to giue a reason of the faith whiche is in them and that they may teache the same vnto their Children So shall we be builte vpon a rocke so shall we stande as firme as mount Sion so shall wee neuer be confounded The thirde meanes to stay the buyldynge of Hiericho is to bee thankefull for the benefites whiche God hath bestowed vpon vs and in suche sorte to leade our life that it may appeare wee bee his seruants To this ende God hath giuen his holye worde and to this ende hath he left his holy sacraments that we should be put in minde of his kindenes and not become vnmindefull or vnthankefull and so receiue his grace in vayne But you wil say What thanks shall I giue Some leade me one way and some another some saye heare is Christe some saye there is Christe I know not nor wherefore nor howe to yeelde thankes Hereto a short answere can not suffice and a long woulde be tedious Let vs call to remembrance the Lesson that was giuen vs in this place on Sunday last Let vs search the scriptures Esay the Prophet saith To the Law and to the testimonie if they spake
his Epistle to Traianus that they were a sect which would not offer vp to Idols which coulde not be compelled to blaspheme Christ but were wont at certayne times appointed to meete together and sing hymnes to one Christ their God that they were of one mynd agreed among themselues and did absteine from theft murther and adultery and did keepe their faith and defraâ—â—ed no man Euen such should we be thus ought we to liue these things are examples for vs to follow we should meet often to sing hymnes and giue thankes to our God we should lament our former wickednes wherwich we haue called Gods anger vpon vs. But alas there appeareth not in vs that chaunge of life that ought to be in such as turne to Christ we are as proude as couetous and wicked in abusing the holy name of God as euer we were in the time of ignorance Thus we abuse the great mercy of God thus we withhold his trueth in vnrighteousnesse We say we know God but giue him not the glorye that is due vnto God And besides this wee are in loue with our owne corruption and as the Prophet sayeth we reioyce when we haue done wickedly wee cannot abide to haue our fault touched our pride is growen vp as hie as heauen our couetousnesse is sunke as deepe as hell our poore weake brethren be offended and think that these be the very fruites of Christes gospel Yet we can in no wise suffer to be reproued we say to the Preacher peace and talke not to vs in the name of the Lord tell not vs of the Scriptures tel not vs of Christ of Peter Paul we did him speake vs faire and blesse those things that be accursed by Gods owne mouth We say he is too busie he medleth with that he knoweth not Yes yes man he knoweth it wel inough he knoweth that pride is pride that vsury is vsury that sinne is sinne and thou thine owne conscience knowest it too if thou wouldest be knowen of it yea thou knowest it indeede in thy heart of force art weary of it And this is extreeme miserie that we are so farre plunged in sinne that wee can neither abide our owne faultes nor yet the amendinge of them Is this the repentaunce of our life Are these the fruits of Gods Gospell are these the fruites of the innocent blood that we see shead before our eyes Are these our teares for the sinnes wee haue commited Is this the thanks that we render vnto God for giuing vnto vs so great blessings But what sayd I blessings Would God we were so blessed that we might consider our blessednesse Many alreadie bewray the weakenesse of their stomakes they brooke not the Gospell yea they seeme already weary of these Preachers they call them Pulpit men men of the spirite and I knowe not what as though they themselues had nothinge to doo with Gods spirite Ha mercifull God what way may GOD take to winne you Alas what are wee what haue wee offended you Are we become your enemies for tellinge you the trueth I feare mee this murinuring is not agaynst vs but against the Lord. You haue had the Masse and that you worthely hated you haue now the Communion and that you regard not God hath sent to call you with fire and fagots those which vsed that seueritie crueltie you called tyrants He hath sent vnto you now simple men that bringe you nothing els but the kingdome of God and seeke for nothinge but onely for your saluation and them you disdaine It is eueÌ„ now come to passe that Christ said We haue piped to you you haue not danced we haue mourned to you you haue not wept but wisedoms is iustified of al her children Many of you are euen ful of the gospel ful weary of these schoolemaisters Therfore shal God send amongest you an other maner of schoolemaister y â— shal intreat you after another sorte that shall pull the pride from your neckes the ruffes from your shaulders I will saye I woulde God I might not speake thus in y e spirit of truth I would to God it might proue vntrue and neuer come to passe But God is iust and the extreame disdaine of Gods trueth and his holy Gospel iustly deserueth the extremitie of Gods vengeance and this Gospell that you are already so weary of shal be taken away from vs. The kingdome of God shalbe taken away from vs and shalbe giuen to a nation that shal do the fruites of it The kingdome of God which is the true vnderstanding of Gods word shalbe taken away And theÌ„ what shall remaine but blindenes and falshood which is the kingdome of the Diuel I will send saith God a famine in the land not a famin of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the word of the Lord. Let vs therefore good brethren remember for what causes God suffred his temple at Hierusalem to be destroyed burnt by y e Chaldees let vs remember wherefore God tooke from vs his holy Gospel that he had planted amongst vs of late time let vs now thankefully receiue it with teares and repentance for our former life let vs not make our selues vnwoorthye of the great grace and blessing of God To you this holy promise is made you are the children of Abraham to you Christ spreadeth out his armes to embrace you receiue not the grace of God in vayne let vs not put out that heauenlye light which God hath kindled let vs pray to God to giue vs new heartes and to put a newe spirite within vs Why should you perish you that are so dearely saued why should you perish O you the house of Israel Let vs once fal to the building vp of Gods holy temple let vs not driue it off any longer The Foxes haue boroughes and the birds of the aire haue nests but the Sonne of man hath not yet a place to rest his head in God calleth to vs by the Prophet Bring wood builde this house I will be fauourable in it Is it time for your selues to dwel in your sieled houses this house lie waste Your houses are fresh faire furnished yet my house lieth desolate flat vpon the ground Behold the miserable desolation of my holy place my flock is scattered in the mountaines behold your brethren y e lie in chaines in a thousande places bound beaten tormented and drawen to most cruel death not for any offence they haue coÌ„mitted but only for the building of my temple and professing of my name They are your owne body flesh and blood My bones are scattered vpon the face of the earth my blood is shed without compassion as it were water vpon y e grounde O what cruel eyes haue you that can see this not be moued that can buyld your owne houses serue your owne pleasures and leaue my house forsaken Thus almighty God speaketh to vs O good brethren let vs not
and the like murtherers But the Godly when they see any disorder they doe nothing like the other they mourne in their heartes to see that the trueth is not rereyued and to see the mindes of their brethren so obstinately hardened they make prayer to God for them they are deepely touched with the feeling of suche calamittes whiche GOD layeth vppon other The zeale of Moses coulde not like the Idolatrie of the people yet hee went vnto the Lorde againe and sayde Nowe if thou pardon their sinne thy mercie shall appeare but if thou wilte not I praye thee rase mee out of thy Booke which thou hast written Christ lamented ouer Hierusalem O Hierusalem Hierusalem which killest the Prophetes stonest them which are sent to thee how often woulde I haue gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickins vnder her wings ye would not Beholde your habitation shall be left vnto you desolate Paul suffered much at the haudes of the wicked Iewes They troubled y e church of god they hindred y e course of the gospell they were enemyes of the Crosse of Christ they were Dogges they were conâ—â—sion Yet he sayeth I haue great heauenes continual sorrow in mine heart for I would wish my selfe to be separated froÌ„ Christ for my brethren are my kinsmen accordinge to the flesh which are the Isralites Dauid saith Mine eyes gush out with riuers of water because they keepe not thy Lawe And agayne My zeale hath euen consumed me because mine enimies haue forgotteÌ„ thy words Againe I saw the transgressours and was greued because thei kept not thy word And when hee saw the whole nation of Israel wasted by the enimies how mournfull a complaint made he to god O god the heathen ax come into thine inheritance thine holye temple haue they defiled made HierusaleÌ„ heaps of stones The dead bodies of thy seruants haue they giuen to be meat vnto the foules of the heauen the flesh of thy saints vnto the beasts of the earth At this time whâ— the tabernacle was lost wheÌ„ Saul was vnquiet and the Priestes were sâ—ayne and the Prophets despised and the people lef without al comfort hee powreth out his heare in these wordes Zelus domus tuae comedit me O Lorde the zeale I beare vnto thine house hath eaten me vp It inflameth my heart drieth my blood consumeth my marowe Such a care had bee for the house of God it was death vnto him to see it so destroyed and layde wast So Christ when he sawe the temple of God fowly and vnseemely abused that they made the holy place a place for their vnlawfull and vnhanest game by vsurie that they turned Religion into robberie solde oxen sheepe and doues and keept their bankes for exchaunge in the temple when the Priestes and Leuites whiche shoulde serue God were become marchantes and serued them selues when the temple or house of God which Dauid purposed and Salomon finished and Ezechias and Esras and other Godly Princes preserued in whiche was kept the booke of the Law whether al the people assembled together to serue God was not vsed lyke gods house but like a common faire or market and was made a denne of theiues When these grosse abuses were suffered and things were let runne to such extremities and al this vnder pretence of holines as if it were not onely lawfull but needes it must be so moued with zeale hee coulde not abide it He made a scourge of smal cordes droue them all out of the temple and poured out the changers mony and ouerthrew the tables saide make not my fathers house a house of marchaÌ„dise And his disciples remembred that it was writteÌ„ the zeale of thine house hath eaten me vp This was no frantique or melancholy passion neither in Moses nor in Dauid nor in Christ Moses was a very meeke maÌ„ aboue al that were on the earth Dauid was a man that heareth not and in whose mouthe are no reproofes And Christ sayde learne of me for I am humble and meeke When his disciples Iames Iohn grewe wrothfull against the Samaritanes that would not receiue hym and sayde Lord wylte thou that wee commaunde that fire come downe from heauen consume them euen as Elias did He turned about and rebuked them saide yee know not of what spyrite you are Yet through zeale for Gods house Christ whypped out the buiers and sellers Dauid shed foorth teares abundantly and Moses dashte in peeces the tables of Gods commandements Al men ought to bee pacient gentle in matters appertayninge to them selues but in Gods cause no man must yeelde or bee patient In our dayes vppon whom the ende of the worlde is come when wee did lately see those times wher of our sauiour foretolde so longe sâ—theuce that desolatioÌ„ should be in the holy place and such confusion ignorance and blindenes that men shoulde stomble at noone dayes that truth should be a stranger vpon earth that men should forsake wholsome doctrine and giue eare vnto fables that the mysterie of iniquitie should work and the very elect if it were possible bee deceiued what trial was made of true godlye zeale How notably did it shew it selfe agaynst the rage and furie of the wicked What should I speake hereof The exaÌ„ples are fresh you can not forget them you hearde of them so late it is so late since you did beholde them What moued so many so learned so vertuous to yeelde their backes to the scourge their neckes to the tormentours their bodies to the fire to forsake their goodes their friends their parentes their wiues and childreÌ„ but the zeale of Gods house Neither death nor life nor Angels nor thinges present nor things to come was able to separate them from the loue of God They continued stedfast vnto the ende the zeale of Gods house dyd eate them vp But now God hath restored vs he hath taken away the desolation from vs hee hath giuen vs his trueth he hath reuealed the man of sinne he hath raysed vp a banner of hope We se and enioye such thinges as many kings and Prophets would haue eniayed and could not What remayneth but that we take the zeale of the Lords house into our heartes and seeke by all meanes the glory of the same As our good fathers and brethren shewed the vehemencie of their loue in disly king the disorders which troubled y e church of God so in this blessed peace which God giueth to his Church let vs witnesse our earneste zeale in seeking that it may be made beautifull and established for euer Let our next care be to continue possession Kingdomes are preserued by the same meanes by which they were first gotten That which is conquered by zeale by carefull zeale must bee kept It was saide of Annibal that he knew how to get the victorie but howe to vse it bee knew not Many haue lost that by negligence which they had by diligence
in a cloude and like corne buried in the ground After it was somewhat more cleerely set forth in the Law giuen by Moses After that it was reuiued by the Prophetes and in manner plainely in what place at what time of what mother of what house or stocke Christ should be borne what doctrine he should teach what miracles he should worke what death he shoulde die how he should be buried howe he shoulde arise how he should ascend into heauen howe the heathens shoulde be called to beleeue in him howe the holy Ghost should be sent and to conclude how Christ should come at the last to iudge the world After that came Saint Iohn the Baptist to point out Christ plainely with his finger and to say Ecce agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi Behold the lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world Last of al Christe himselfe began to preache and prophecie of himselfe and to gather vnto him a chosen people that should be followers of good woorkes Then was the accomplishment and fulnesse of time come to passe that had so long beene looked for then the kingdome of God began to suffer violence and men violently euen by force brake in vpon it then the corne sowed and cast into the ground by the patriarks long before and watered cherished by the dew of the Prophets was ripened and kerned by the spirit of God then was the haruest greate and the eares white euen ready to be cut Yet this notwithstanding Christ saith the haruest men are but few He saith not the Haruest is great and there are but few Scribes but few Pharisies but few Sadduces but few priests but few Leuites For the Priests and Leuites were distributed through y e whole countrey In euery litle Towne or borough there was a colledge as one of their Rabbines recordeth in y ◠city of Hierusalem there were no lesse then 400 schooles so that the number was almost infinit Moreouer they vsed commonly to say as it is reported by the Prophet leremie Non peribit Lex a sacerdote nec consilium a sapiente nec sermo a Propheta It cannot be that the true vnderstanding of the Law should be taken frō the Priest nor good counsel frō the wise nor the word from the Prophet They read expounded the Law to the people euery day they had their daily sacrifice and whēsoeuer the oxe or calfe or sheep or goate was slaine and offered vnto God as then the maner was the priest for his share had the breastlet that couered the heart in token as Origen writeth that the Priest should be a man of counsel He had also appointed to him the right shoulder and the tongue in token that he should be prompt ready in good works and eloquent to declare the law of God The Bishop had euermore before his breast a tablet wherein was imbrodered in letters of Golde Vrim and Thumim in token that he should be a man both perfect in life and also full and plenteous in the truth of God In the same were set twelue stones and therein grauen the names of the twelue tribes of the people that he might haue thē euermore in remembrance The skirtes or hemmes of his roabes were set with belles of gold and pomegranates in token that his life should giue a good sauour and his voice should ring and be heard among the people The Pharisies had certaine special poynts and sentences of the Lawe written round about in the borders of their garmentes that it might neuer be out of their eyes they prayed no men more and that in euery corner of the streetes they fasted twise euery weeke the bed that they laye vpon as Epiphanius writeth was but a spanne broade yet that they might sleepe with lesse ease they strowed thornes vnderneath thē Briefly all their life in appearance was such al their apparel and behauiour so seemely and decent that if a man would paint out wisedom sobrietie and perfect holinesse he could haue no better patterne And therfore they were called Pharisaei that is diuided as men in holines perfection of life farre passing al the rest of the people Yet for al this notwithstanding their greate shewe of wisedome of learning of perfection of life the great multitude of them Chrst sayeth there were few workmen to goe to the haruest For They did prophecie out of their owne harts they did not rise vp in the gappes nor made vp the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battell in the day of the Lorde they haue seene vanity lying diuination saying the Lord saith it the lord hath not sent thē they haue made others to hope that they would confirm the words of their prophecie saith Ezechiel No contrariwise these that should haue been the chiefe haruest men were the wasters and destroyers of the haruest My people saith God hath byn as lost sheep their shepherds haue caused thē to go astray haue turned them away to the mountaines Christe telleh the Pharisies they haue made his fathers house a denne of theeues He speaketh thus of them All that euer came before mee are theeues and robbers Notwithstanding their stout learning and shew of holinesse they were nothing els but theeues robbers they did robbe mens soules chey stale the sheepe out of the fold they spoyled God of his glory When they sawe the people followe thicke after Christ and to haue him in reuerence they cried out none of the Princes and great holye learned men beleeue in him but these Rascals that thus runne after him are accursed ignorant and know not the law The vnlearned sort said of Christ he casteth out vncleane spirits by y ◠power of God y ◠great learned men said no he throweth out diuels by y ◠power of Beelzebub y ◠prince of y ◠diuels The vnlearned marueiled were astonied at y ◠wonderful works that he did the learned saide he hath a diuel he is out of his wittes The vnlearned said no doubt a great Prophet is risen amongst vs the learned sayd He deceiueth the people The vnlearned sayde God hath visited and sent comfort amongst his people the learned said Behold a glutton and a companion of Publicans sinners The great learned shepherds persecuted Christ chased him from place to place the poore sheepe folowed him into the desert They that were the guyders of the flocke crucified Christ and shed his blood the poore flocke set their whole affiance in his death so dranke his blood to the reliefe of their soules they beleeued in him they knew the time of their visitation And therefore notwithstanding there were grosse damnable errours amongst the people as wel as amōgst the learned yet Christ chalenged not the people for them but only y ◠priests the Pharisies that tooke vpon them to lead the people for that he saw the
performance of the same The Quenes most honourable counsaile with the residue of the noblitie The miserable state of both the Uniuersities all other schooles of learning the onely nurceries of this Realme The Byshops and preachers that the number of them may bee encreased and that they may haue grace to set foorth the trueth of Gods Gospell as their dutie is diligentlye soberly sincerely truely and faithfully And the whole commons of this Realme especially such as speake yll or thinke ill of Gods holy word that they may haue grace to regarde the saluation of their soules to laye afide all blinde affection to heare the woorde of God and so to come to the knowledge of the trueth Who so list to peruse either the whole course of the Scriptures or other stories and recordes of antiquitie shall finde that the messengers of God such as haue bene sent of purpose to giue knowledge of his holy wyll haue at all tymes bene vnkindely receiued of the more parte and sclaunderously reported of and whatsoeuer they haue sayde or done hath bene falsly depraued turned to the worst Moses that godly Captayne notwithstandynge hee were purposely called and sent from God and in his name wrought many strange wonders befor the people yet were there some that saide hee was a Sorcerer and whatsoeuer he did he did by way of coniuration The Religion of the Jewes was the true worship of the onely God Yet Plinie sayth it was contemptus omnium numinum The despising of all the goddes The Jewes suffered no images to be in their Churches because God had forbiddē them Yet Cornelius Tacitus saith They worship their god in forme of an asse Others said they worship a god whome they call Sobaoth in the shape and fashion of a hogge and that therfore they were forbidden to eate swines flesh Others that they worship Saturnus because they were commaunded to keepe holy the Saturday The wicked and cruell Aman to bringe the people of God into hatred with the king Assuerus made his complaint of them in this wise May it please your Maiestie sayth he to vnderstande you haue a people here in your realme that vseth a new kinde of religion and wyll not be ordered by your graces lawes When the godly prynce Cyrus had giuen Esdras and Nehemias leaue to builde vp againe the Church of God at Hierusalem there came diuers to him and had him take good heede for that the Jewes were his enemies and euer had hene traitours to his crowne Lykewise after that Christ our Sauiour had ascended into heauen and the holy Ghoste was powred downe vpon the Apostles and they began to speake diuers tongues that they neuer had learned the enemies disdainefully scorned at the giftes of God and sayde Musto pleni sunt isti These men be drunken and full of newe wine And therfore they talke they knowe not what When Paul and the other Apostles taught free remission of sinnes without any goodnesse or desert of our partes onely of Gods mercye and in the blood of Christ the enemies iested at that kinde of learning and said faciamus mala vt veniant bona then if Gods mercie bee declared by forgiuenes of sinnes Let vs doo euill that good may come therof Let vs continue in sinne that grace may abound Because the Christians in the ministration of the holy Communion vsed bread and wine some saide they worshipped not Christ but Bacchus and Ceres goddes of the heathens Wheras the Christian men soone after the Apostles time vsed to resorte together in the night time or in the morning before daye into some priuate house there to call vpon the name of God and to receiue the sacrament together for feare of the crueltie of tyrantes the enemies reported that beinge thus together they killed a childe amongst them and so deuoured vp his flesh and dranke his blood and after put out the lights and so committed incest and adulterie one with another But what needeth moe examples Because wee saye that iustification standeth onely vpon the free grace and mercy of God the aduersaries report that we forbid good workes And because we speake against superstition vsed in fasting as before vs did Esay Paul and Christe himselfe they report that wee woulde haue no fasting And because we reproue the errours and abuses in the maner of prayer they say we would not haue the people to pray And because we restore the sacraments to the first institution of our Sauiour Christe and the example of the primatiue Church they say wee take away the Sacraments This is Gods holy wyl that for our exercise whatsoeuer we say or doe be it neuer so well it shall bee ill taken Iulian the apostata founde fault with the simplicitie and rudenes of Gods word Tertullian saith the heathens in the time of the primatiue Church were wont to painte out in mockery the God of the Christians with an asses head and a booke in his hand in token that the Christians professed learnynge but indeede were Asses rude and ignorant And do not out aduersaries the lyke this day agaynst all those that professe the Gospell of Jesus Christ O saye they who are they that fauour this way none but Shoomakers Taylours Weauers Prentises such as neuer were in the vniuersity but bee altogether ignoraunt and voyde of learning Thus haue you bene borne in hande that you might bee broughte to mistruste the Gospell And as the Pharises vpbrayded those that hearde the doctrine of Christe Dooth any of the rulers or of the Pharises beleue in him But this people which knowe not the law are cursed Euen so this day they say by you they vnderstand not their pater noster they knowe not their Creede yee bee ignorant O miserable men doe they aduance themselues of your ignoraunce If you knowe not your beleefe if you vnderstand not your Pater noster if you be so ignoraunt through whose fault are you so ignorant why were they your pastors why did they not teache you why take they from you the holy Scriptures why wyll they haue you be ignorant and vnlearned still This doe they that they may the more discredit and deface the Gospell which GOD of his mercie hath in our dayes restored vnto vs and caused the beames thereof to shine ouer all Countries in such sort that nowe the simple and vnlearned the rich the learned the worshipfull the honourable the states and Princes of the worlde be become professours and mainteyners of it as our eyes do see this day Blessed be his holy name therfore They say that the preachers of the same are vnlearned as men that read nothing but a fewe English books and neuer studied or saw the old Doctors Wee finde not such fault in their learninge neither do we speake those thinges by them that the most parte of you doeth knowe wee might iustly and truely speake For wee seeke not to confound them by such meanes it is not our profession
certaine maner of speech and not otherwise the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the body of Christ the Sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood of Christ so the sacrament of faith is faith Who hath ordeined the Sacramentes Not any Prelate not any Prince not any Angel or Archangel but onely God himselfe For he only hath authoritie to seale the charter in whose authoritie onely it is to graunt it And onely he giueth the pledge and confirmeth his grace to vs whiche giueth his grace into our heartes Chrisost sayth DiuinuÌ„ integrum non esset mysterium si quicquam ex te adderes The mystery were not of God nor perfect if thou shouldest put any thing to it In the daies of Noah when God determined to be mercifull vnto his people and neuer to drowne the whole worlde with water he said I haue set my bowe in the cloude and it shalbe for a signe of the couenant betweene me and the earth and when I shal couer the earth with a cloude and the bow shalbe seen in the cloude then wil I remember my couenaunt whiche is betweene me you and betweene euery liuing thing in flesh and there shalbe no more waters of a flood to destroy al flesh In like maner when God would witnes stablish to Abraham his seede after him the promise of his mercie he himselfe ordained a sacrament to confirm the same This is my couenaÌ„t which ye shal keep between me you thy seed after thee Let euery manchild among you be circuÌ„cised Thus God ordeined y t sacrament of circuÌ„cision This sacrameÌ„t was a seale of Gods promise to AbrahaÌ„ a seale of Abrahams faith obedience towardes God By this sacrament maÌ„ was bound to y t Lord by y t same sacrament God vouchsafed to binde himselfe to man But how is the sacrament formed of what parts is it made August saith Accedat verbuÌ„ ad elementuÌ„ fit sacramentuÌ„ Ioine y t word of Christs institutioÌ„ with the sensible creature therof is made a sacrameÌ„t Ioyue the word to the creature of water and thereof is made the sacrament of Baptisme take away the worde then what is the water other then water The worde of God the creature make a sacrament But why were sacraments ordeined he telleth you In nulluÌ„ nonceÌ„ religionis ceu veruÌ„ c. Men caÌ„not be gathered together to the profession of any religioÌ„ whether it be true or false vnlesse they be bound inthe felowship of visible signes or sacrameÌ„ts The first cause why they were ordeined is that thereby one shoulde acknowledge another as felowes of one household members of one body So was al Israel reckoned the children of Abraham because of their circumcision al such as were vncircumcised were cut off from the people had no part in the common wealth of Israel because they were vncircumcised Euen as wee take them that are not baptised to be none of our brethren to be no children of God nor members of his Church because they will not take the Sacrament of Babtisme An other cause is to moue instruct and teach our dul and heauy hearts by sensible creatures that so our negligence in not heeding or marking the woorde of God spoken vnto vs might be amended For if any man haue the outward seale and haue not the faith thereof sealed within his heart it auayleth him not hee is but an hypocrite and dissembler So the circumcision of the foreskinne of the fleshe taught them to mortifie their fleshly affections and to cut off the thoughts and deuises of their wicked hearts Therefore said Stephen to the Iewes Ye stiffe-necked of vncircumcised hearts eares you haue alwaies resisted the holy Ghost So when in Baptisme our bodies are washed with water wee are taught that our soules are washed in the blood of Christ The outward washing or spriukling doth represent the spriukeling and washing which is wrought within vs the water doeth signifie the blood of Christ If we were nothing else but soule hee would giue vs his grace barely and alone without ioyning it to any creature as hee doeth to his Angels but seeing our spirite is drowned in our bodie and our fleshe doeth make our vnderstanding dul therefore we receiue his grace by sensible thinges Chrysost saith Aliter ego aliter incredulus disponitur Ille cuÌ„ c. I am otherwise affected theÌ„ is he which beleeueth not WheÌ„ he heareth of the water of Baptisme hee thinketh it is nothing els but water But I see not the creature onelie which mine eyes do see but also the cleansing of my soule by the holie Ghost He thinketh y t my body oneli is washed I beleue that my soule is therby made pure holy and withal I consider Christes burial his resurrectioÌ„ our sanctificatioÌ„ righteousnes redemption adoption our inheritance the kingdom of heauen the fulnes of the spirit For I iudge not of y e things I see by my bodily eyes but by the eyes of my minde When one that is vnlearned and can not reade looketh vpoÌ„ a booke be the booke neuer so true neuer so wel written yet because be knoweth not the letters and cannot reade hee looketh vpon it in vayne Hee may turne ouer all the leaues and looke vppon all and see nothing but another that can reade hath iudgement to vnderstaÌ„d coÌ„sidereth the whole story the doughâ—â—e deedes graue counsels discrete answeres examples promises threatnings the very drifte meaning of him that wrote it So do the faithful receiue the fruite comfort by the Sacraments which the wicked vngodlie neither consider nor receiue Thus do the sacraments leade vs instruct vs to behold the secrete and vnknowen mercies of God and to carry our selues to the obedience of his will And this is the other cause why sacraments were ordained Thirdely they are seales and confirmations of Gods promise S. Paul saith Abraham receiued the signe of circumcision as the seale of the righteousnes of the faith which he had when he was vncircuÌ„cised By these we stoy y â— mouth of heretikes For if they denie that our Lorde Iesus Christ was deliuered to death for our sinnes is risen again for our iustification we shew them our sacrameÌ„ts that they were ordeined to put vs in remembrance of Christ and that by the vse of them we shew the Lords death til he come We tell them these are proofes and signes that Christ suffered death for vs on the crosse As Chrisostome saith Laying out these mysteries we stoppe their mouthes What Are they nothing els but bare and naked signes God forbid They are the seales of God heauenly tokens and signes of the grace and righteousnes and mercie giuen and imputed to vs. Circumcision was not a bare signe That is not circuÌ„cision which is outward in the fleshe saith Paul but the circumcision of the heart
Et certè imago vel similitudo corporis sanguinis Christi in actione mysteriorum celebratur There leaueth not to be the substance of bread or the nature of wine And indeede the image or represētation likenes of the body blood of Christ is published in the ministration of the mysteries He saith it leaueth not it remaineth it is stil not the forme or appearance but the substance and nature Chrysostome saith Natura panis in Sacramēto remane◠The nature of bread remaineth in y e sacramēt And Theodoretus Signa mystic a post sanctificationem nō recedūt a natura sua manēt enim in priori substātia figura forma The mystical tokens or sacramēts after the cōsecration depart not frō their own nature for they remaine stil in their former substāce forme figure Not only in forme and figure not onely in shewe but it remaineth breade and wine in nature and substance Likewise Cirillus Christus fragmēt a panis dedit discipulis Christ gaue fragmēts or pieces of bread to his discipies It was verye bread deuided into sundrie pieces And Rabanus saith Sacramētū ore percipitur in alimētum corporis redigitur The sacrament is receiued with the mouth and is turned into the nourishment of the body Bertramus saith Secundum creaturarum substantiam quod fuerunt ante consecrationem hoc postea consistunt Touching the substance of the creatures of bread wine they abide y e same after as they were before the cōsecration Euen so saith Clemēs Vinum esse illud quod benedictum est ostendit rursus dicens non bibam amplius ex hoc germine vitis Christe shewed that that was wine which was blessed by saiyng againe I will no more drinke of the fruite of the vine I will bring forth no more witnesses in this matter you haue enough and so manye as maye satisfie any reasonable man You see the consent of the old doctors I know not howe any thing may bee more plainely set downe and declared Why then say you how came transubstantiation into the Church How it came in I cannot shew you The husbandmā that findeth his field ouergrowen with cockel and ill weeds knoweth not how they come They grow of thēselues he soweth them not But when or since what time it hath been receiued and allowed of I wil tel you It was first determined enacted in the Councel of Laterane vnder Pope Innocentius the third in the time of king Iohn king of England in the yeere of our Lorde a thousand two hundreth fifteen that is 350 yeres ago not before Then was it first so named and made a matter of faith and neuer before This I speake not of my selfe they that maintaine that errour confesse it the most learned and wisest sagest of them say it And yet then was it no Catholike faith for it was onely receiued in the Church of Rome the other churches ouer all the worlde receiued it not as appeareth by a Councel holden at Florence Therefore if transubstantiation be a matter of faith it is a newe late founde faith and no old and Catholique faith In the time of our great graundfathers it was not so taken Afterwarde Pope Honorius 3. commaunded that it should be kept vnder a canopie and that the people should worship the sacrament And after him Vrbanus 4. made a newe holie day in honour of it which he called corpus Christi day And all these thinges haue been done within these fewe yeeres For before in the times of Augustine Ierome Chrisostome and the old fathers they were neuer heard of But to returne to that we haue in hand whether the bread and wine in the Sacrament remayne in their proper nature Yes verily for so is it auouched by our Sauiour by Saint Paul by Ignatius Iustinus Irenaeus Origen Dionisius Cyprian Ambrose Chrisostome Augustine Gelasius Theodoretus Cirillus Bertramus and Rabanus By so many good and lawfull witnesses it appeareth that the bread and wine remayne in the same nature and substance as before I seeke not to astonishe you by bringing in such a heape of Authors nor yet to seeke mine owne glorie therby God is my witnes and his Christ If I would seeke mine owne commoditie I shoulde holde my peace and not vnfolde these errours wherewith the Churche of God hath byn disquieted these late yeeres As for glorie I haue none in these things shame come vpon them that seek the glory and commendation of men our glorie is to discharge our cōscience and to speake the truth that wee may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord. And yet in speaking thus of the sacrament of the Lordes supper and denying the strange and new learning of transubstantiation and making it knowen that the bread and wine continue stil that they were before we do not conceiue basely or vnreuerently of the sacrament wee doe not make it a bare or naked token Let no man bee deceiued We doe both thinke speake soberly and with reuerence of the holy mysteries As we cannot cal them more then they are so may wee not esteeme them lesse then they are by the ordinance and institution of Christ We say they are changed that they haue a dignitie and preeminence which they had not before that they are not now common breade or common wine but the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ a holy mysterie a couenant betweene Christ and vs a testimonie vnto our conscience that Christ is the Lambe of God a perfite seale sufficient warrant of Gods promises whereby God bindeth himselfe to vs and we stand likewise bounden vnto God so as God is our God and we are his people In Baptisme the nature substance of water doth remaine stil and yet is not it bare water It is changed made the sacrament of our regeneration It is water consecrated made holy by the blood of Christ They which are washed therein are not washed with water but in the blood of the vnspotted Lambe One thing is seene and an other vnderstande Wee see the water but wee vnderstande the blood of Christ Euen so wee see the bread and wine but with the eies of our vnderstanding we looke beyonde these creatures wee reache our spirituall senses into heauen and beholde the raunsome and prise of our saluation Wee doe beholde in the Sacrament not what it is but what it doeth signifie When wee receiue it with due reuerence and faith we say as sayde Gregorius Nyssenus Ego aliam escam agnosco quae c. I know another kind of meate bearing the likenes resemblāce of our bodily meat the pleasure and sweetnes wherof passeth only into the soule It goeth not into the mouth or belly but onelie into the soule and it feedeth the minde inwardly as the other outwardly feedeth the body We say as S. Aug. Ipse est panis cordis nostri Christ is the bread
est Hoc non dicet nisi pariter caecus He y t is blind in his heart within seeth not Christ that is our bread And is he blessed No man wil say so vnlesse it be one as blinde as he Chrisost saith Where as the carkeis is there are Eagles The carkasse is y â— body of Christ in respect of his death But hee nameth Eagles to shewe that who so will approche to this bodie must mount aloft and haue no dealing with the earth nor bee drawen and creepe downward but must euermore flee vp and behold the Sunne of iustice haue the eye of his minde quicke and sharpe For this is a table of eagles that flie on high not of iaies that creepe beneath So saith Saint Hierome Let vs goe vp with the Lorde in to heauen into that great parlar spread and cleane and let vs receiue of him aboue the cuppe of the new Testament He saith They that rise not vp by faith receiue not the cuppe of Christ So saith Hillary The bread that came downe from heauen is not receiued but of him that hath our Lord and is the member of Christ This is the vndoubted meaning of the olde fathers that the wicked are not partakers of the passion of Christ because they lacke faith whereby onely Christ is receiued of vs. As Augustine saith How shal I holde Christ beeinge absent how shal I thruste my hande vp into heauen that I may holde him sitting there Sende vp thy faith and thou holdest him By this meanes we draw nigh to Christ we hyde our selues in his woundes wee sucke at his breast we feede of his bodie and comfortablye lay vp in our mynde that his flesh was crucified and wounded for our sakes Nowe let vs examine what difference is betweene the body of Christ and the sacrament of the bodie It behoueth vs to take eche part aright as it is least we be deceiued and take one for another Origen saith Simpliciores nescientes distinguere c. Simple meÌ„ not being able to discerne what thinges in the Scriptures ought to be applyed to the outwarde man and what to the inner beinge deceiued by the likenesse of woords haue turned them selues to a sorte of peeuishe fables and vaine fantasies Therefore sayeth Chrysostome Magnum crede mihi bonum est scire quid sit creatura quid sit Creator c. Beleeue me it is a great matter to vnderstande what is the creature and what is God the Creator what are the workes and what is the workman The difference heerein is this A Sacrament is a figure or token the bodye of Christ is figured or tokened The Sacrament bread is bread it is not the bodie of Christ The bodie of Christ is flesh it is no bread The bread is beneath the bodie is aboue The bread is on the table the bodie is in heauen The bread is in the mouth the bodie in the heart The bread feedeth the outward man the bodie feedeth the inwarde man The bread feedeth the bodie the body feedeth the soule The bread shall come to nothing the bodie is immortall and shall not perish The bread is vile the bodie of Christ glorious Such a difference is there betweene the bread whiche is a Sacrament of the bodie and the bodye of Christ it selfe The Sacrament is eaten as well of the wicked as of the faithfull the bodie is onely eaten of the faithfull The Sacrament may bee eaten vnto iudgement the body can not bee eaten but vnto saluation Without the Sacrament we may be saued but without the bodie of Christ wee haue no saluation wee can not bee saued As Saynt Augustine saith Quinon sumit carnem Christi non habet vitam qui eam sumit habet vitam eam vtique aeternam Hee that receiueth not the fleshe of Christ hath not life he that receiueth the same hath life and that for euer Such a difference maketh Epiphanius Hoc est rotundae figurae insensibile quantum ad potentiam c. This thing that is the sacrament is of a rounde forme for it was a great thick round cake and touching any power that is in it vtterly voyde of sense But wee knowe that our Lord is whole sense whole sensible whole God whole mouing Again S. August saith for the difference of them The Sacrament of Christs bodâ— is receiued of some vnto life of some vnto destruction but the thing it selfe that is the flesh of Christ wherof this is a Sacrament is receiued of all men vnto life and of no man to destruction whosoeuer shall be partaker of it Of the difference which is betweene a figure of any thing and the thing it self Chrysost saith Audisti fuisse figuram ne ergo mirare neque omnia require in typo Neque enim typus esset si omnia quae veritati accidunt haberentur Yee haue heard that it was a figure therefore maruell not being a figure require not al thinges to agree for otherwise it were no figure These and such like reasons no doubte mooued the godly Father to say as wee haue learned to say Aliud est Sacramentum aliud res sacrameÌ„ti The Sacrament is one thing the matter of the Sacrament which is Christes verye body is another thing And therfore he saieth Honorem tanquaÌ„ religiosa habere possunt stuporem taÌ„quam mira noÌ„ possuÌ„t These things speaking of the sacrament of Christes body maye haue honour as things appointed to religion but wonder as things maruellous they can not haue Thus are wee taught by the Catholique Learned Fathers to put a difference betweene the Sacrament and the body of Christe and that the one of them is not really lapped vp or shut within the other that the one as Epiphanâ—us saith is vtterly voyde of sense the other whole sense and whole sensible that the one is receiued 〈◊〉 destruction vnto some as Saint Augustine â—aith the other is receiued of all men vnto life That the one is a figure as Chrysostome sayth the other a trueth It remayneth that wee consider howe wee ought to prepare our heartes and with what faith and reuerence wee shoulde resorte to these holy mysteries Wee may not come as we vse to doe to our vsuall meates For here in a mystery and Sacrament of bread is set before vs the bodie of Christe our Sauiour and his blood in the Sacrament of Wine Wee see one thing wee must conceiue another thing Therefore we must in such manner be affected as if we were present to beholde his death vpon the crosse and the sheading of his blood for our sinnes Let vs set before our eyes that dreadfull tragedie and the causes and effectes of his death that so our heartes may bee the rather mooued to yeelde that allegeance obedience and reuerence which is due Wee were the children of wrath the enemies of God shut vp vnder sinne and the heires of euerlasting