beoþ soþlice gesceode gif Æ¿e efenlaecaþ mid urum faerelde and Æ¿eorce forþfarenra manna lif ðaena ðe Gode geþugon ðurh gehealdsumnysse his beboda Hi haefdon him staef on handa aet þaere þigene Se staef getacnaþ gymene hyrdnysse þa ðe bet cunnon magon sceolon gyman oþra manna mid heora fultume underÆ¿riþian þam gemettum Æ¿aer beboden ê§ hi sceoldon caflice etan forðam ðe God onscunaþ ða sleacnysse on his ðegnum and ða he lufaþ ðe mid modes cafnesse ðaes ecan lifes mirþe secaþe Hit is aÆ¿riten Ne elca ðu to gecyrranne to Gode ðylaes þe se tima losie þurh ða sleacan elcunge þa gemettan ne moston ðaes lambes ban scaenan ne ða cempan ðe Crist ahengon ne moston tobraecan his halgan sceancan sÆ¿a sÆ¿a hi dydon þaera tÆ¿egra sceaþena ðe him on tÆ¿a healfa hangodon ac driht aras of deaþe gesund buton aelcere forrotodnysse And hi sceolon geseon aet ðam micclan dome hÆ¿aene hi geÆ¿undodon Æ¿aelhreoÆ¿lice on rode þeos tid is gehaten on ebreiscum geneorde Pasca ê§ is on leden Transitus on englis Faereld forþan ðe on ðisum daege ferde Godes folc fram egipta lande ofer ða readan sae fram ðeoÆ¿te to ðam behaitenan earde Vre driht ferde eac on þisne timan sÆ¿a sÆ¿a se Godspellere Iohns cÆ¿aeþ fram ðisum middan earde to his heofonlican faeder Æ¿e sceolon fylian uruÌ„ heafde faran fraÌ„ deofle to criste fraÌ„ þissere unscaeþþigan Æ¿orulde to his staþelfaetan rice ac Æ¿e sceolon aerest on uruÌ„ and-Æ¿eardan life faran fraÌ„ leahtrum to halgum maegnum fram unþeaÆ¿um to godum þeaÆ¿um gif Æ¿e Æ¿illaþ aefter ðisum laenan life faran toþaÌ„ ecan aefter uruÌ„ aeriste to haelende Criste He us geliâ—de to his lifigendan faedâ—r ðe hine sealde for usuÌ„ synnum to deaþe Si hun Æ¿uldor and lof ðaere Æ¿â—ldaeda on ealrâ— Æ¿orulda Æ¿orulo AMEN MEn beloued it hath bene often sayd vnto you aboute our Sauiours resurrection how he on this present day after hys suffering mightely rose from death Now will we open vnto you through Gods grace of the holy housell whiche ye shoulde nowe goe vnto and instructe your vnderstandyng aboute thys mysterie both after the olde couenaunte and also after the newe that no doubting may trouble you about thys liuelye foode The almyghtie God badde Moyses his captaine in y e land of Aegypt to commaunde y e people of Israell to take for euery familye a lambe of one yeare old the night they departed out of y e countrey to y e land of promise to offer y t lambe to God after to kill it to make y e signe of y e crosse with y e laÌ„bes bloud vpon the side postes the vpper poste of their dore afterward to eate y e lambes flesh rosted vnleauened bread w t wilde lettisse God sayth vnto Moyses Eate of y e laÌ„be nothing raw nor soddeÌ„ in water but rosted w t fire Eate y e head y e feete and the inwardes let nothing of it be left vntill y e morning if any thing therof remaine y t shall you burne w t fire Eate it in this wyse Gyrde your loynes do your shoes on your fete haue you staues in your haÌ„des eat it in hast This time is y e lordes passeouer And ther was slain on y t night in euery house throgh out Pharaos raigne the first borne child and Gods people of Israell were deliuered froÌ„ y t sodeine death through the laÌ„bes offring his bloudes marking TheÌ„ said God vnto Moyses Keepe this day in your remembraunce and holde it a greate feast in your kinredes with a perpetuall obseruation and eate vnleauened bread alwayes seuen dayes at thys feaste After thys deede God ledde the people of Israell ouer y e redde sea w t dry foote and drowned therin Pharao al his army together w t their possessions fedde afterward y e Israelits fortie yeares with heauenlye foode gaue theÌ„ water out of the hard rocke vntil they came to the promised land Part of this storye we haue treated of in an other place part we shall now declare to witte y t which belongeth to the holy housell Christian men may not now kepe that olde lawe bodely but it behoueth them to know what it ghostlye signifieth That innoceÌ„t lambe which the old Israelites did then kill had significatioÌ„ after ghostly vnderstanding of Christes suffering who vngiltie shedde his holy bloude for our redemptioÌ„ Hereof sing Gods seruauntes at euery masse Agnus dei qui tollis peccata mundi miserere nobis That is in our speech Thou lambe of God that takest away y e sinnes of the world haue mercy vpon vs. Those Israelites were deliuered from that sodaine death froÌ„ Pharaos bondage by the lambes offringe which signified Christes suffering through which we be deliuered from euerlasting death froÌ„ the deuils cruel raigne if we rightly beleue in the true redemer of the whole world Christ the Sauiour That lambe was offered in the euening and our Saniour suffered in the sixt age of thys world This age of thys corruptible worlde is reckened vnto the euening They marked with the laÌ„bes bloude vpon the doores and the vpper postes Tau that is the signe of the crosse and were so defended from the angell that killed the Aegyptians first borne childe And we ought to marke our foreheades and our bodyes with y e takeÌ„ of Christes roode that we may be also deliuered from destruction when we shall be marked both on forehead and also in harte with the bloud of our Lordes suffering Those Israelites eate the lambes fleshe at their Easter time when they were deliuered and we receiue ghostlye Christ bodye and drinke his bloude when we receaue with true beliefe that holye housell That tyme they kepte with them at Easter seuen dayes with great worshippe when they were deliuered froÌ„ Pharao and went from that land So also Christen men kepe Christes resurrectioÌ„ at y e time of Easter these vij dayes because through hys suffering and risiing we be deliuered and be made cleane by goyng to this holy housell as Christ sayth in his ghospell Verely verely I saye vnto you ye haue no life in you except ye eate my flesh drinke my bloud He y t eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud abydeth in me I in him and hath y t euerlasting life I shall raise him vp in y e laste day I am y e liuely bread that came down froÌ„ heaueÌ„ not so as your forefathers eate that heauenlye bread in the wildernesse and afterwarde dyed He that eateth thys bread he liueth for euer He blessed bread before his suffering and deuided it to his disciples thus saying Eate thys bread it is my body do this in my remembraunce Also he blessed wyne in one cuppe and sayd Drinke ye all of thys Thys is my bloude that is shedde for many in forgeuenesse
bread and wyne to housell before his suffering and sayd this is my body my bloud Yet he had not theÌ„ suffred but so notwithstanding he turned through inuisible might y t bread to hys owne body y t wyne to his bloode as he before did in y e wildernes before y t he was borne to meÌ„ wheÌ„ he turned that heauenly meate to his fleshe and the flowing water from that stone to hys owne bloude Verye many ate of that heauenlye meate in the wildernes and dranke that ghostlye drinke and were neuertheles dead as Christ sayd And christ ment not that death whiche none can escape but that euerlastynge death whiche some of that folke deserued for their vnbeliefe Moyses and Aaron and many other of that people whiche pleased God eate that heauenly bread and they dyed not that euerlastyng death though they dyed the common death They sawe that the heauenlye meate was visible and corruptible and they ghostly vnderstode by y t visible thing and ghostly receyued it The Sauiour sayeth He y t eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe And he bad theÌ„ not eate y t body which he was going about w e nor y t bloud to drink which he shed for vs but he meÌ„t w t those wordes y t holy housell which ghostly is his body his bloud he y t tasteth it with beleauing hart hath that eternall life In the old law faithful meÌ„ offred to god diuers sacrifices that had fore significatioÌ„ of Christes body which for our sinnes he himselfe to his heauenly father hath since offred to sacrifice Certaynlye this housell whiche we doe nowe halow at gods alter is a remembrauÌ„ce of Christes body which he offred for vs and of his bloude whiche he shedd for vs So he him selfe commaunded do thys in my remembraunce Once suffred Christe by hym selfe but yet neuerthelesse hys suffrynge is daylye renued at the masse through mysterye of the holye housell Therefore that holy masse is profitable both to the lyuing and to the dead as it hath bene often declared VVe oughte also to consyder diligently how that this holy housell is both Christes body and the body of all faythfull men after ghostly mysterye As the wyse Augustine sayth of it Yf ye will vnderstand of Christes body heare y e apostle Paule thus speaking Ye truely be Christes body and his members Nowe is your mysterye sett on Godes table and ye receyue your misterye whiche mistery ye your selues be Be y t whiche ye se on the alter receiue that whiche ye your selues be Agayn the apostle Paule saith by it We manye be one bread and one bodye Vnderstand nowe and reioice many be one bread and one body in Christ He is our head and we be his limmes And y e bread is not of one corne but of many Nor the wine of one grape but of manye So also we all should haue one vnitie in our Lord as it is writteÌ„ of the faithfull armye how y t they were in so great an vnitie as though all of them were one soule and one harte Christ halowed on hys table the mysterye of our peace and of our vnytye he whyche receyueth that mysterye of vnytye and kepeth not the bonde of true peace he receyueth no mysterye for hym selfe but a witnesse agaynst hymselfe It is very good for Christen men that they goe often to housell yf they brynge wyth them to the alter vngyltynes and innocencye of harte To an euill man it turneth to no good but to destructioÌ„ if he receiue vnworthely y t holy housell Holy bookes commauÌ„d y t water be mengled to y t wine which shalbe for housell bicause y e water signifieth the people and the wine Christs bloud And therfore shall neither y e one without the other be offred at y e holy masse y t Christ may be with vs we with Christ the head w t the limmes and the limmes with the head VVe would before haue intreated of the lambe whiche the olde Israelites offered at their Easter tyme but y t we desired first to declare vnto you of this misterye and after how we should receyue it That signifying lambe was offred at the Easter And the apostle Paule sayeth in the epistle of this present day that Christ is our Easter who was offred for vs and on thys day rose from deathe The Israelites did eate the lambes fleshe as God commaunded wyth vnleuened bread and wylde lettisse so we should receyue y t holy housell of Christes bodye and bloud without the leauen of sinne and iniquitie As leauen turneth the creatures from their nature so doth sinne also chaunge the nature of man from innocencye to foules spottes of giltinesse The apostle hath taught how we should feast not in the leauen of euelnesse but in the swete dough of puritie and truthe The her be whiche they shoulde eate with the vnleauened bread is called Lettisse and is bitter in taste So we shoulde with bitternesse of vnfayned weepinge purifye our mynde if we wil eat Christes bodye Those Israelites were not wont to eate rawe fleshe although god forbad them to eate it rawe and sodden in water but rosted wyth fyer He shall receyue the bodye of God rawe that shal thynke wythout reason that Christ was onelye man lyke vnto vs and was not God And â—e that wil after mans wisedome search of y e mysterye of Christes incarnation doth lyke vnto hym y t doth seeth lambes flesh in water bycause that water in thys same place signifieth mans vnderstaÌ„ding but we should vnderstaÌ„d that al the misterie of Christs humanity was ordered by y e power of y e holy ghost And theÌ„ eate we his body rosted wyth fyre because the holy ghost came in fyrye lykenes to the apostles in diuerse tonges The Israelites should eate the lambs head y e fete and y e purtenaunce and nothing therof muste be left ouer night Yf any thing therof were lefte they did burne y t in the fyre and they brake not y e bones After ghostlye vnderstandinge we doe then eate the lambes head when we take hold of Christes diuinitye in our beliefe Agayn when we take holde of hys humanyte wyth loue then eate we the lambes feete bycause that Christ is the beginnyng and ende god before all world and man in the ende of thys worlde VVhat bee the laÌ„bes purtenauÌ„ce but Christes secrete preceptes and these we eat wheÌ„ we receiue with gredines the worde of lyfe There muste nothing of the laÌ„be be left vnto the morning bicause y t all godes sayings are to be searched w t great carefulnesse so that all his preceptes maye be knowen in vnderstaÌ„ding deede in the nyght of thys present lyfe before that the last day of the vniuersall resurrection do appeare If we can not search out throughly all the mistery of Christes incarnation then
ðisne hlaf hit is min lichama he eft bletsode aenne calic mid Æ¿ine and cÆ¿aeþ heom ðus to drincaþ ealle of ðisum hit is min agen blode ðaere niÆ¿an gecyþnysse ðe biþfor manegum agoten on synna forgyfenysse Se drihten þe halgode husel aer his ðroÆ¿unge and eÆ¿aeþ ê§ se hlaf Æ¿aere his agen lichama ðaet Æ¿in Æ¿aere Æ¿itodlice his blod se halgaþ daeghÆ¿amlice ðurh his sacerda handa hlaf to his lichaman Æ¿in to his blod on gastlicere geryne sÆ¿a sÆ¿a Æ¿e raedaþ on bocum Nebiþ se liflica hlaf lichamlice sÆ¿a þeah se ylca lichama ðe Crist on ðroÆ¿ode Ne þaet halige Æ¿in nis þaes haelendes blod þe for us agoten Æ¿aes on lichamlican ðinge ac on gastlicum andgyte AEgþer biþ soþlice se hlaf his lichama ê§ Æ¿in eac his blod sÆ¿a sÆ¿a se heofonlica hlaf Æ¿aes ðe Æ¿e hataþ manna ðe feoÆ¿ertig geara afedde Godes folce ðaet hlutre Æ¿aeter Æ¿aes Æ¿itodlice his blod ðe arn of ðam stane on ðaÌ„ sestene ða SÆ¿a sÆ¿a Paulus aÆ¿rat on Æ¿umon his pistole Omnes patres nostri eandem escam spiritualem manducauerunt et omnes eundem potes spiritualem biberunt c. Ealle ure faederas aeton on þaÌ„ Æ¿estene þone ylcan gastlican mete þone gastlican drenc druncon Hi druncon of þaÌ„ gastlicum stane se stan Æ¿aes Crist Se apostol saede sÆ¿a sÆ¿a genu gehyrdon ðaet hi ealle aeton ðone ylcan gastlican mete hi ealle druncon ðone gastlican drenc Ne cÆ¿aeþ he na lichamlice ac gastlice Naes Crist ða gyt geboren ne his blod naes agoten þa þaet Israhela folc geaet ðone mete of ðam stane dranc se stan naes lichamlice Crist þeah he sÆ¿a cÆ¿aede Hit Æ¿aeron þa ylcan gerynu on þaere ealdan ae hi gastlice getacnodon ðaet gastlice husel ures haelendes lichaman ðe Æ¿e halgiaþ nu SOme pristes keepe the housell that is hallowed on Easter day all the yere for syke men But they doe greatlye amysse bycause it waxeth horye And these will not vnderstand how greuous penaunce the poenitentiall booke teacheth by thys if the housell become hory and rotten or yf it be lost or be eaten of mise or of beastes by neglygence Men shal reserue more carefullye that holy housell and not reserue it to longe but hallowe other of newe for syckemen alwayes wythin a weke or a fortnight that it be not somuch as horye For so holy is the housell whych to day is hallowed as that whyche on Easter daye was hallowed That housell is Christes bodye not bodylye but ghostlye Not the bodye whyche he suffred in but the bodye of which hee spake when he blessed bread and wyne to housel a night before his suffring sayd by the blessed bread thys is my bodye agayne by the holye wyne thys is my bloude whiche is shede for manye in forgeuenes of sinnes vnderstand nowe that the lord who could turne y t bread before his suffring to his body and y t wyne to his bloude ghostlye that the selfe same lorde blesseth dayly throughe the priestes handes bread and wine to his ghostly body and to his ghostly bloud Here thou seest good reader how Aelfrike vpon fynding fault wyth an abuse of his tyme whiche was that priests on Easter day filled their housell boxe and so kept the bread a whole yere for sickmen toke an occasion to speake agaynst the bodely presence of Christ in the s acrameÌ„t So also in an other epistle sent to Wulfstane Archbyshop of York he reprehending agayne thys ouerlong reseruing of the housell addeth also wordes more at large against the same bodely presence His wordes be these SOme priests fil their boxe for housel on Easter day so reserue it a whole yere for sicke meÌ„ as though that housel were more holy theÌ„ any other But they do vnaduisedlye bicause it waxeth black or al together rotleÌ„ by keping it so long space And thus is he become giltie as y e boke wytnesseth to vs. Yf anye do keepe the housell to long or lose it or myse or other beastes do eate it see what y e paenitential boke sayeth by this So holy is altogether that housell whiche is hallowed to daye as that which is hallowed on Easter day VVherfore I besech you to kepe that holy bodye of Christ with more aduisement for sick men from sonday to sondaye in a verye cleane boxe or at the most not to kepe it aboue a fortnight and then eate it laying other in the place VVe haue an example hereof in Moyses bookes as god him selfe hath commaunded in Moyses lawe How the priestes should set on euery saturnday twelue loaues all newe baked vpon the tabernacle the whiche were called panes prepositionis and those shoulde staÌ„d there on gods tabernacle til y e next saturnday the did y e pristes theÌ„ selues eate them set other in y e place SoÌ„e priestes wil not eate y e housell which they do hallow But we will now declare vnto you how y e boke speaketh by theÌ„ Presbyter missaÌ„ celebrans et non audens sumere sacrificium accusante coÌ„scieÌ„tia sua anathema est The priest that doth saye masse and dare not eate theÌ„ housell hys conscience accusynge hym is accursed It is lesse daunger to receyue y e housell theÌ„ to hallowe it He y t doth twyse hallowe one host to housell is lyke vnto those heretikes who do christen twyse one childe Christ himselfe blessed housel before his suffring he blessed y e bread and brake thus speaking to hisa postels Eate this bread it is my body And agayne he blessed one chalice w t wyne and thus also speaketh vnto theÌ„ Drinke ye all of this it is myne owne bloud of y e newe testament which is shed for many in forgeuenes of synnes The lord which halowed housel before his suffering sayeth y t y e bread was his owne body y t y e wyne was truly his bloud he haloweth dayly by y e haÌ„des of y e prist bread to his body wyne to his bloud in ghostly mystery as we read in bokes And yet y t liuely bread is not bodely so notwithstaÌ„ding not y e self same body y t Christ suffered in Nor y t holy wine is y e sauiours bloud which was shed for vs in bodely thing but in ghostly vnderstanding Both be truly y t bread hys body and y t wyne also hys bloud as was y e heauenly bread which we call Manna that fed forty yeres gods people And y e cleare water which did then runne from the stone in the wildernes was truly his bloud as Paul wrote one summe of his epistles Omnes patres nostri eandem escam spiritualem manducauerunt et omnes eundem potum spiritualeÌ„ biberunt c. All our fathers ate in the wildernes the same ghostlye meate and dranke the same ghostly drinke They dranke of y t gostly stone and
A TESTIMOnie of ANTIQVITIE shewing the auncient fayth in the Church of England touching the sacrament of the body and bloude of the Lord here publikely preached and also receaued in the Saxons tyme aboue 600. yeares agoe Ieremie 6. Goe into the streetes and inquyre for the olde way and if it be the good and ryght way then goe therin that ye maye finde rest for your soules But they say we will not vvalke therein Jmprinted at London by Iohn Day dwelling ouer Aldersgate beneath S. Martyns ¶ Cum priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis The Preface to the Christian Reader GReat contention hath nowe been of longe tyme about the moste comfortable sacrament of the body bloud of Christ our Sauiour in the inquisition and determinatiō wherof many be charged and condemned of heresye and reproued as bringers vp of new doctryne not knowen of olde in the church before Berengarius tyme who taught in Fraunce in the daies whē William the Norman was by conqueste kyng of England and Hildebrande otherwyse called Gregorius the seuenth was pope of Rome But that thou mayest knowe good christian reader how this is aduouched more boldly then truely in especiall of some certayne men which be more ready to maintaine their old iudgement thē of humilitie to submitte them selues vnto a truth here is set forth vnto thee a testimonye of verye auncient tyme wherin is plainly shewed what was the iudgement of the learned men in thys matter in the dayes of the Saxons before the conquest Fyrst thou hast here a Sermon or homelye for the holy day of Easter written in the olde Englishe or Saxon speech which doth of set purpose and at large intreate of thys doctryne and is found among many other Sermons in the same olde speech made for other festiuall dayes and sondayes of the yeare and vsed to be spoken orderly accordyng to those daies vnto the people as by the bokes thē selues it doth well appeare And of such Sermons be yet manye bookes to be seene partlye remayning in priuate mens handes and taken out from monasteryes at their dissolution partlye yet reserued in the libraryes of Cathedrall churches as of Worceter Hereford and Exeter From which places diuerse of these bookes haue bene deliuered into the handes of the moste reuerend father Matthewe Archbyshop of Canterburye by whose diligent search for such writings of historye and other monumentes of antiquitie as might reueale vnto vs what hath ben the state of our church in England from tyme to tyme these thynges that bee here made knowen vnto thee do come to lyght Howe be it the Sermons were not first written in the olde Saxon tounge but were translated into it as it shoulde appeare from the Lattyne For about the end of a Saxon boke of lx Sermons which hath aboute the middest of it this Sermō agaynst the bodely presēce be added these wordes of the translatour Fela faegere godspell ƿe forlaetaþ on þisū dihte ða maeg aƿendan se ðe ƿile Ne durre ƿe ðas boc na micle sƿiþor gelaengan ðyles ðe heo ungemetegod sy mannum aeþraet ðurh hire micelny'sse astirige We let passe many good gospells which he that lyste may translate For we dare not enlarge thys boke much further lest it be ouer great so cause to men lothsomnes through hys bygnes And in an other booke contaynyng some of these Saxon Sermons it is also thus written in Lattyne In hoc codicillo continentur duodecim sermones anglice quos accepimus de libris quos Aelfricus abbas Anglice transtulit In thys booke be comprysed xij Sermons whche we haue taken out of the bookes that Aelfricke abbot translated into Englishe In which wordes truelye here is also declared who was the translatour to witte one Aelfricke And so hee doth confesse of hym self in the preface of his Saxon grāmer where he doth moreouer geue vs to vnderstand the number of the Sermons that he translated thus Ic AElfric ƿolde ðas litlan boc apendan to engliscum gereorde of ðam staef craefte ðe is gehaten gsammatica syþþan ic tƿa bec aƿende on hund eahtatigū spellum I Aelfricke was desirous to turne into our Englishe tounge from the arte of letters called grammer thys little booke after that I had translated the two bookes in fourescore Sermons But how soeuer it be nowe manifest enoughe by thys aboue declared how that these Sermons were translated I thinke notwithstanding that there will hardlye be found of them any Lattyne bookes being I feare me vtterlye peryshed made out of the waye since the conquest by some which coulde not well broke thys doctrine And that such hath bene the dealing of some partiall readers may partlye hereof appeare There is yet a very aunciēt boke of Cannons of Worceter librarye and is for the most parte all in Latyne but yet intermyngled in certayne places euē thre or foure leaues together with the olde Saxon tounge and one place of this booke handleth thys matter of the sacrament but a fewe lynes wherin dyd consiste the chiefe poynte of the cōtrouersie be rased out by some reader yet consider how the corruption of hym whosoeuer he was is bewrayed This part of the Lattyne booke was taken out of ij epistles of Aelfrike before named were written of hym aswell in the Saxon tounge as the Lattyne The Saxon epistles be yet wholie to be had in the librarye of the same church in a boke written all in Saxon and is intituled a boke of Cānons shrift boke But in the Church of Exeter these epistles be seene both in the Saxon tounge and also in the Lattyne By the which it shall be easie for any to restore agayne not onely the sense of the place rased in Worceter booke but also the very same Lattyn wordes And the words of these two epistles so much as concerne the sacramentall bread wyne we here set immediatlye after the Sermon fyrst in Saxon then the words of the second epistle we set also in Lattyne deliuering them most faythfully as they are to be seene in the bookes from whence they are taken And as touching the Saxon writings they be set out in such forme of letters and darke speech as was vsed whē they were written translated also for our better vnderstanding into our common and vsuall Englishe speech But nowe it remayneth we do make knowen who thys Aelfricke was whom we here speake of in what age he liued and in what estimation He was truely brought vp in the scholes of Aethelwolde byshop of Winchester Aethelwolde I meane the elder and greate saincte of Winchester church So canonised because in the dayes of Edgar kyng of England he conspyred with Dunstane Archbyshop of Canterburie Oswalde bishop of Worceter to expell out of the Cathedrall churches through out all England the maryed priestes which then were in those churches the olde dwellers as wryteth Ranulphus Cestrencis in hys pollicronicon and to set vp of newe the religion or rather
of sinnes The Apostles dyd as Christ commaunded that is they blessed bread wyne to housell agayne afterward in hys remembraunce Euen so also since their departure all priestes by Christes commaundement doe blesse bread wine to housell in hys name w t the Apostolike blessing Now men haue often searched do yet oftē search howe bread that is gathered of corne and through fyers heate baked maye bee turned to Christes body or how wyne that is pressed out of many grapes is turned through one blessing to the Lordes bloude Now saye we to suche men that some thinges be spoken of Christ by signification some thyng by thyng certaine True thyng is and certaine y t Christ was borne of a maide suffred death of his own accorde was buryed on this daye rose from death He is sayd bread by signification a lambe a lyon a mountayne He is called bread because he is our life angells life He is sayd to be a lābe for his innocencie A lyon for strēgth wherwith he ouer came y e strōg deuill But Christ is not so notwithstāding after true nature neither bread nor a lābe nor a Lyon VVhy is then y t holy housel called Christs body or his bloud if it be not truelye that it is called Truely the bread and the wine whyche by the masse of the priest is balowed shewe one thyng without to humayne vnderstanding an other thing they call within to beleuing mindes VVithout they bee sene bread wine both in figure in tast and they be truely after their halowing Christes body hys bloude through ghostly mistery An heathen childe is christened yet he altereth not his shape without though he be chaunged within He is brought to y e fontstone sinfull through Adams disobedience Howbeit he is washed from all sinne within though he hath not chaunged his shape without Euē so the holy fonte water that is called the welspring of lyfe is like in shape to other waters and is subiecte to corruption but the holy ghostes might commeth to y e corruptible water through the priestes blessing and it may after wash the body soule frō all sinne through ghostly mighte Beholde nowe wee see two thinges in this one creature After true nature that water is corruptible moysture after ghostlye misterye hath holowing mighte So also if wee beholde that holye housell after bodely vnderstanding then see we that it is a creature corruptible and mutable if we acknoledge therein ghostlye myght than vnderstand we that lyfe is therin and that it geueth immortalitie to them that eate it with beliefe Muche is betwixte the inuisible myghte of the holye housell and the visible shape of his proper nature It is neturally corruptible bread corruptible wine and is by mighte of Godes worde truely Christes bodye and his bloude not so notwithstāding bodely but ghostly Much is betwixte the bodie Christ suffred in and the bodie that is halowed to housell The bodie truely that Christ suffered in was borne of the flesh of Marie with bloud and with bone with skinne and with sinowes in humane limmes with a reasonable soule liuing and his ghostlie bodie whiche we call the housell is gathered of many cornes without bloude and bone without lymme without soule and therfore nothing is to be vnderstand therein bodelye but all is ghostlye to be vnderstande VVhat soeuer is in that housell whiche geueth substaunce of lyfe y t is of the ghostlye might and inuisible doing Therfore is y t holy housel called a misterye because there is one thīg in it seen an other thīg vnderstāded That which is ther sene hath bodely shape and y t we do there vnderstand hath ghostlye might Certaynely Christes bodye which suffred death and rose from death neuer dyeth henceforth but is eternall vnpassible That housell is temporall not eternall Corruptible and dealed into sondrye partes Chewed betwene teeth and sent into the bellye howbeit neuerthelesse after ghostlye myght it is all in euery part Manye receaue that holye body and yet notwithstanding it is so all in euerye parte after ghostly mistery Though some chewe lesse deale yet is there no more myghte notwithstanding in the more parte then in the lesse because it is all in all men after the inuisible myght Thys misterye is a pledge and a figure Christes bodye is truth it selfe Thys pledge we doe keepe mistically vntill that we be come to the truth it selfe and then is this pledge ended Truelye it is so as we before haue said Christes bodye and hys bloude not bodilye but ghostlye And ye shoulde not searche how it is done but hold it in your beliefe that it is so done VVe read in an other booke called vita patrum that two Monkes desired of God some demonstration toucbing the holy housell and after as they stoode to heare masse they sawe a childe lying on the alter where the priest sayd masse and Gods Aungell stoode with a sworde and abode looking vntill y e priest brake y e housell Then the angell deuided y t childe vpon the dyshe and shedde his bloud into y e chalice But whē they did go to y e housell thē was it turned to bread wine they dyd eate it geuing god thankes for y t shewing Also S. Gregory desired of Christ y t he would shew to a certain womā doubting about his mysterye some greate affyrmation She went to housell w t doubting minde and Gregorye forthwith obteined of God that to them both was shewed y t part of the housell which y e woman should receaue as if there lay in a dish a ioynte of a finger al be bloded and so y e womans doubting was thē forthwith healed But now heare the apostles wordes about this misterye Paule y e apostle speaketh of y e old Israelites thus writing in his epistle to faithfull mē All our forefathers were baptised in the cloud and in the sea and all they ate the same ghostlye meate and dranke the same ghostly drinke They dranke truely of the stone y t followed them and that stone was Christ Neither was that stone then from whiche the water ranne bodelye Christ but it signifyed Christ that calleth thus to al beleauing faithful mē whosoeuer thirsteth let him come to me drinke And from his bowelles floweth lyuely water This he sayd of the holy ghost whom he receaueth which beleaueth on hym The apostle Paule sayth that the Israelites did eat the same ghostly meate and drinke the same ghostly drinke bycause y t heauenly meate y t fedde thē xl yeares and that water which from the stone did flowe had signification of Christes bodye and his bloude that nowe be offered daylye in Godes churche It was the same which we now offer not bodely but ghostly VVe sayd vnto you ere while y t Christ halowed
y t stone was christ The apostle hath said as you now haue heard that they all did eate y e same ghostly meate and they all did drinke the same ghostly drinke And he sayth not bodely but ghostly And Christ was not yet borne nor hys bloud shedde when that the people of Israell ate y t meat and drank of that stone And the stone was not bodelye Christ though he so sayd It was the same mistery in the olde law and they did ghostlye signifie y t ghostly housell of our sauioures body which we consecrate now This Epistle to VVulfstane Elfrike wrote first in the Latyne tounge as in a shorte Latyne Epistle set before this and one other of hys Saxon Epistles he confesseth thus Aelfricus abbas VVulfstano venerabili archiepiscopo salutem in Christo Ecce paruimus vestrae almitatis iussionibus transferentes Anglice duas epistolas quas Latino eloquio descriptas ante annum vobis destinauimus non tamen semper ordinem sequentes nec verbum ex verbo sed sensum ex sensu proferentes Beholde we haue obeyed the commaundement of thy excellencie in translating into Englishe the two Epistles which we sent vnto thee writtē in Latine more then a yeare agoe Howbeit we keepe not here alwayes the same order nor yet translate worde for worde but sense for sense Nowe because verye fewe there be that doe vnderstande the old Englishe or Saxon so much is our spech chaunged from the vse of that time wherin Elfrike liued and for that also it maye be that some will doubt how skilfullye and also faithfullye these wordes of Elfrike be translated from the Saxon tounge we haue thought good to set downe here last of all the very wordes also of his latyne epistle which is recorded in bokes fayre wrytten of olde in the Cathedrall Churches of Worcester and Excester * ⎠* QVidam vero presbyteri implent alabastrum suum de sacrificio quod in Pasca Domini santificant conseruant per totum annum ad infirmos quasi sanctior sit caeteris sacrificijs Sed nimium insipienter faciūt Quia nigrescit putrescit tādiu conseruatum Et liber poenitentialis pro tali negligentia poenitentiam magnam docet aut si a muribus commestum sit aut ab auibus raptum Tam sanctum est sacrificum quod hodie sāctificatur quam illud quod in die Pascae consecratum est Et ideo debetis a dominica in dominicam autper duos vel maxime tres heddomadas tenere sacrificium in alabastro mundo ad infirmos ne nigrescat aut putrescat si diutius seruetur Nam in lege Moisi pone bant sacerdoted semper omni sabbato panes propositionis calidos in tabernaculo coram Domino in sequenti sabbato sumebant illos soli sacerdotes edebant alios nouos pro eis ponebant Facite vos sacerdotes similiter Custodite cauté sacrificium Christi ad infirmos edite illud ne diutius teneatur quam oportet Et reponite aliud nouiter sanctificatū propter necessitatem infirmorū ne sine uiatico exeant de hoc seculo Christus Iesus in die suae sanctae caenae accepit panem benedixit ac fregit de dit discipulis suis dicens Accipite cōmedite Hoc est enim corpus meum Similiter calicem accipiens gratias egit dedit illis dicēs Bibite ex hoc omnes Hic est sanguis meus noui testamenti qui pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum Intelligite modo sacerdotes quod ille dominus qui ante passionē suam potuit conuertere illum panē illud vinum ad suum corpus sanguinem quod ipse quotidie sanctificat per manus sacerdotum suorum panem ad suum corpus spiritualiter vinum ad suum sanguinem Non sit tamen hoc sacrificium corpus eius in quo passus est pro nobis neque sanguis eius quē pro nobis effudit sed spiritualiter corpus eius efficiter sanguis sicut manna quod de caelo pluit aqua quae de petra fluxit Sicut Paulus Apostolus ait Nolo enim vos ignorare fratres quoniam patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt omnes mare transieruut omnes in Moysi baptizati sunt in nube in mari Et omnes eandem escam spiritualem mā ducauerunt oēs eundē potū spiritualem biberunt Bibebāt autem de spirituali consequenti eos petra Petra autem erat Christus Vnde dicit Psalmista Panem coeli dedit eis Panem angelorum manducauit homo Nos quoque proculdubio māducamus panem angelorum bibimus de illa petra quae Christum significabat quotiens fideliter accedimus ad sacrificium corporis sanguinis Christi * ⎠* AS the writynges of the fathers euen of the first age of the Churche bee not thought on all partes so perfect that whatsoeuer thyng hath beene of thē spoken ought to be receaued without all exceptiō which honour truelye them selues both knewe and also haue confessed to be onely due to the most holy and tryed word of God So in this Sermon here published some thynges be spoken not consonant to sounde doctrine but rather to such corruption of greate ignoraunce superstition as hath taken roote in the church of lōg time being ouermuch cumbred with monckery As where it speaketh of the masse to be profitable to the quicke and dead of the mixture of water with wyne and wheras here is also made reporte of ii vayne miracles which notwithstanding seeme to haue been infarced for that they stand in their place vnaptly and without purpose and the matter without them both before after doth hange in it selfe together most orderly with some other suspitious wordes soūding to superstitiō But all these things that be thus of some reprehensiō be as it wer but by the way touched the full and whole discourse of all the former part of the Sermō almost of the whole Sermon is about the vnderstanding of the Sacramentall bread wine howe it is the bodye and bloude of Christ our Sauiour by which is reuealed made knowen what hath beene the common taught doctrine of the church of England on this behalfe many hundreth yeares agoe contrarye vnto the vnaduised writyng of some nowe a dayes Nowe that thys foresayd Saxon Homely with the other testimonies before alleadged doe fullye agree to the olde auncient bookes whereof some bee written in the olde Saxon and some in the Lattyne from whence they are taken these here vnder written vpon diligent perusing comparing the same haue found by conference that they are truelye put forth in Print without any adding or withdrawing any thyng for the more faithfull reporting of the same and therefore for the better credite hereof haue subscribed their names Matthewe Archbyshop of Canterburye Thomas Archbyshop of Yorke Edmunde Byshop of London Iames Byshop of Durham Robert Byshop