words and made them come againe with Mayster what is the meaning for they were not so instructed yet before the resurrection to beleeue euery thing without questioning if it were contrarie to sense and reason but as they asked who had giuen him any meate when he sayd that he had meate and they could see none so they woulde haue asked what meate is this which wee see not how can euery one of vs eate his body and yet he hath but one body and that body is whole when we eate it loe hee standeth before vs and sayth that his body is like vnto ours and yet he takes bread and breakes it and giues it vnto vs to eate and when we eate it he saith This is my body and yet his body standeth before vs still If his body be like ours as he saith how can it be eaten and be there for ours can not Thus they would haue questioned if they had not bin vsed to such phrases but as they could vnderstand him when he called himselfe a stone and a rocke and a dore and a window and a Vine so they could pick out his meaning when he sayde that bread was his body for hee had tould them before that hee was the bread of eternall life Now the bread of eternall life is not eaten with teeth for the body cannot eate spiritually no more than the soule can eate corporally and therefore hee is such a bread as is eaten with faith and so himselfe faith in the Gospell of Iohn Marke this eating by faith and all the strife is ended Flesh and bloud indeede neede not faith to chewe them for the teeth can chew them well enough Therefore if the Bread and Wine were the body of Christ then we need not faith to eate it but all which haue teeth might eate Christs body yea the Mice might eate it aswell as men for they eate the same bread that we doe aswell after it is consecrated as before If this be not enough to batter the ruines of this vpstart heresie I will come to interrogatories and see whether they haue learned it by rote or by reason If they ground their Transubstantiation vpō these words of Christ This is my body which he spake to his Disciples I aske them whether they receyue that body which was mortall or that body which is glorified because one of these bodyes they must needes receyue eyther his mortall body or his glorified body If they say that it is his mortall body the mortall body wil not profit them for you see that mortall foode is but for this mortall life neyther hath Christ a mortall body now to communicate vnto them because it is chaunged to an immortall body therefore they can not receyue the mortall bodie because Christ hath not a mortall body to giue them If they say that they receyue his glorified body then they must flie from this text for at that time Christ had no glorified body When this Sacrament was instituted and Christ sayd This is my body his body was not glorified because the Sacrament was instituted before his death and his body was glorified after his resurrection Therefore if they receyue the same body which the Apostles receyued as they saye they doo they cannot receyue a glorifyed bodye because then Christ had not a glorified body to communicate vnto thē Thus the rocks and sands are of both sides them they receyue a body neyther mortall nor immortall if Christ hath any such body iudge you Here they stand like a foole which cannot tell on his tale Nebuchadnezar dreamed a dreame and knew not what it meant Beside I aske them to whome Christ spake when he sayd This is my body Marke sayth hee spake them that is to his Disciples well then if these wordes This is my body were not spoken to the signes but to the persons not to the bread wine but to the receiuers as the words which follow Do this in remembrance of mee if these words were not spokē to the bread and wine then it is playne that they doo not change the nature of the bread and wine If the nature of them be not altered then the substance remaineth and then wee receyue no other substance with them because two substances cannot be in one place What then is there nothing in the Sacrament but bread wine like a hungrey nunscion Nay we say not that the Sacrament is nothing but a bare signe or that you receyue no more than you see for Christ sayth that it is his body and Paule sayth that it is the communion of Christs body bloud Therefore there is more in Sacramentall bread than in common bread though the nature be not changed yet the vse is changed it doth not only nourish the body as it did before but it bringeth a bread with it which nourisheth the soule for as sure as we receyue bread so sure we receyue Christ not only the benefits of Christ but Christ although not in a Popish manner yet we are so ioyned vnto him as though we were but one body As the spouse doth not marry with the lands and goods but with the man himselfe and being partaker of him is made partaker of them so the faithfull do not only marry with Christes benefits but with Christ himselfe and being partakers of him they are made partakers of his benefits for Christ may not be deuided from his benefites no more than the Sunne from his light It is sayd the Father gaue vs his Sonne and so the Sonne geueth vs himselfe As the bread is a signe of his body so the geuing of the bread is a signe of the geuing of his bodie like a Pellican which letteth her yong ones suck her bloud so that we may say the Lord enuited vs to Supper and he himselfe was our meate But if you aske how this is I must aunswer it is a mysterie but if I could tell it it were no mysterie Yet as it is sayd when three men walked in the middest of the fornace one like the Sonne of GOD walked amongst them So when the faithfull receyue the Bread and Wine one like the Sonne of God seemeth to come vnto them which fils them with peace and ioy and grace that they maruell what it was which they receyued besides bread and wine For example thou makest a bargaine with thy neighbour for house or land and receyuest in earnest a peece of goulde that which thou receyuest is but a peece of goulde but now it is a signe of thy bargaine and if thou keepe not touch with him happely it will claspe thee for all that thou art woorth so that which thou receyuest is bread but this bread is a signe of an other matter which passeth bread Againe thou hast an Obligation in thy hand and I aske thee what hast thou there and thou sayest I haue heere an hundreth pounds why
of a Psalme It followeth This is my bodie Here is the fruite of his thankes before he praied that the bread wine might bee blessed and they were blessed As Isaacs blessing shewed it self vpon Iaacob whom he blessed so Christs blessing appeared straight vpon these mysteries for it could not bee sayd before this is my bodie because it was meere bread but now it may bee called his bodie because his blessing hath infused that vertue into it that it doth not onely represent his bodie but conuey his bodie and himselfe vnto vs. The efficacie of this blessing is in this Sacrament euer since sanctifying it vnto vs as well as it did to the Apostles euen as Christs prayer staied Peters faith after Christ was dead Because vpon these words the Papists ground their Transubstanciation that is that the bread is chaunged into Christs flesh and the Wine is turned into Christs blood whereby we eate the same bodie which died vpō the Crosse and drinke the same blood which issued out of his side that you may see the blindnesse of this Popish dreame I would haue you but marke euerie word of this Scripture how they make against Trāsubstanciation that you may see them slaine like Goliah with their owne sword Euen as GOD made Caiphas speake against himselfe so the Scriptures which heretickes alleage doo make against thēselues like the Baalites which wounded their owne flesh I may liken their allegations to Sathans when hee tempted Christ in the Wildernesse he alleaged but one sentence of Scripture for himself and that Psalme out of which he borrowed it makes so plaine against him that hee was faine to picke here a worde and there a worde and leaue out that which went before and skip in the middest and omit that which came after or els hee had marred his cause The Scripture is so holie and pure and true that no word nor sillable thereof can make for the diuell or for sinners or for hereticks yet as the diuell alleaged Scripture though it made not for him but against him so doo the Libertines and Epicures and Heretickes as though they had learned at his schoole Now there is no sentēce of the scripture which the wiser Papists aledge bouldly for their Transubstantiation but this that Christ sayd This is my body by which they may proue as well that Christ is a dore because he sayth I am the dore or a Vine because he sayth I am a Vine for his sayings are like Figuratiue speeches must not bee construed literally but this is Heretikes fashion If you marke you shall see thorough out that all the testimonies which the Papists aledge for their heresies are eyther tropes or figures or allegories or parables or allusions or darke speeches which when they presume to expound allegorically or literally without conference of other scriptures then they wander and stray from the marke or else it is impossible that the trueth should mainteyne error that is that the scripture should speake for heresie if it were not peruerted therefore we see that Eue neuer erred vntill she corrupted the text Now we will enter the lists with our aduersaries and see whether these words doo proue that the bread and wine are turned into Christes bodye Paule sayth Iesus tooke bread well then yet it is bread when he had taken it then he blessed it what did he blesse the bread which he tooke well then yet it is bread when he had blessed it then he brake it what did he breake the bread which he blessed well then yet it is bread when he had broken it then he gaue it what did he giue the bread which he brake well then yet it is bread when he had giuen it then they did eate it what did they eate the bread which he gaue them well then yet it is bread when they did eate it then he sayd this is my body what did he call his body the bread which they did eate well then yet it is bread If it be bread all this while when he did take it and blesse it and breake it giue it and they did eate it when is it turned into his body heere they stande like the Sadduces as mute as fisshes Now that ye may see that not we only say it is bread and wine after the consecration in the 27. verse Christ himselfe doth call it bread and wine after he had giuen it as he did before And in Marke hee sayeth I will drinke no more of the fruit of the Vine Here Christ saith that it was the fruite of the Vine which he dranke but his bloud is not the fruite of Vines but Wine therefore Wine was his drinke and not bloud Beside if you would heare Paule expound Christ he sheweth that all our Fathers had the same substance of Christ in their Sacraments that we haue in ours for he sayth They all did eate the same spirituall meate and all drinke the same spirituall drinke Straight he sayth that this meate and this drinke was Christ. Marke that he sayeth not onely They did eate the same meate that we eate but he sayth that this meate was Christ and not onely so but to shew that Christ is not a corporall meate as the Papists say he sayth he is a spirituall meate as we say therefore you see that we doo not eate him corporally no more than our Fathers but that as they did eate him spiritually so doo we for spirituall meate must be eaten spiritually as corporall meate is eaten corporally Againe for the signes to be turned into the thing signified by them is vtterly against the nature of a Sacrament and makes it no Sacrament because there is no signe for euery Sacrament dooth consist of a signe and a thing signified the signe is euer an earthly thing and that which it signifieth is a heauenly thing This shall appeare in all examples as in Paradise there was a very Tree for the signe and Christ the thing signified by it In Circumcision there was a cutting off of the skin and the cutting off of sinne In the Passeouer there was a Lambe and Christ. In the Sabaoth there was a day of rest and eternall rest In the Sacrifices there was an offering of some beast the offering of Christ. In the Sanctuarie there was the holie place and heauen In the Propitiatorie there was the golden Couering and Christ our couer In the Wildernesse there was a Rocke yeelding water and Christ yeelding his bloud In the Apparition there was a Doue and the Holy Ghost In the Manna there was Bread and Christ. In Baptisme there is verie Water which washeth vs and Christes bloud washing vs so in the Supper of Christ there is verie Bread and Wine for the signe and the bodie and bloud of Christ for the thing signified or els this Sacrament is
against the nature of all other Sacraments Againe there must bee a proportion betweene the Passeouer the Lords Supper because this was figured by the other Now the Iewes had in their Passeouer Bread and Wine and a Lambe so Christ instituting his Supper left Bread and Wine a Lamb which name is giuen to himselfe because he came like a Lamb and died like a Lamb. Againe if Christs verie bodie were offered in the Sacramēt then it were not a Sacrament but a Sacrifice which two differ as much as giuing and taking for in a Sacrifice we giue in a Sacrament we receiue therfore we say our Sacrifice and Christs Sacrament Againe euery Sacrifice was offered vppon an Altar Now marke the wisedome of the Holy Ghost least wee should take this for a Sacrifice he neuer names Altar when he speakes of it but the table of the Lord. Therefore it is no doubt but the diuell hath kept the name of Altar that wee might thinke it a Sacrifice Againe if the bread were Christs flesh and the wine his bloud as these two are separate one from the other so Christs flesh should bee separate from his bloud but his bodie is not diuided for thē it were a dead bodie Againe that which remaineth doth nourish the bodie and relish in the mouth as it did before which could not be but that it is the same foode which it was before Againe I would aske whose are this whitenesse and hardnes and roundnes and coldnes None of them say that it is the whitenesse and hardnesse and roundnes and coldnes of Christs bodie therefore it must needes bee the whitenesse and hardnesse and roundnes and coldnes of the bread or els qualities should stand without substances which is as if one should tell you of a house without a foundation Againe as Christ dwelleth in vs so he is eaten of vs but he dwelleth in vs onlie by saith Ephe. 3. 17. Therefore he is eaten only by faith Againe none can bee saued without the communion of the bodie but if all should communicate with it corporally then neither infants nor any of our fathers the Patriarkes or the Prophets should bee saued because they receiued it not so Againe Christ saith not this wine but this cup and therefore by their conclusion not onely the wine should be turned into bloud but the cup too Againe Paule saith They which receiue vnworthily receiue their own damnation But if it were the flesh of Christ they should rather receiue saluation than damnation because Christ saith He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath life euerlasting Againe if they would heare an Angell from heauen whē Christs bodie was glorified an Angel said to the women He is risen and is not here as if he should say his bodie is but in one place at once or els he might haue been there though he was risen Againe why doo they say in receiuing this Sacramēt euer since the Primitiue church Lift vp your hearts if they haue all in their mouths To end this controuersy Here we may say as the Disciples sayd to Christ Whether shall we goe from thee I meane we neede not go to any other expositor of christ than Christ himselfe Therefore mark what he saith At first when Christ said that he was the bread of life and that all which would liue must eate him they murmured vntill he expoūded his words and how did hee expounde his wordes Thus He that commeth vnto me hath eaten and he that beleeueth in me hath drunke After when hee instituted this Sacrament in like wordes they murmured not which they would as before if he had not resolued them before that to eate his bodie and to drink his bloud was nothing but to come to him and beleeue in him After he had sayd so they murmured not because they did see some reason in it As it is plainly sayd This is my bodie so it is plainlie saide these words are spirit that is they must be vnderstood spirituallie and not literallie I did not alleage the Fathers in my Sermon but if any man suspend his assent till they bring in their verdit let him heare them make confession of their beleefe Augustine saith the Lord doubted not to say this is my bodie when he gaue onely a signe or Sacrament of his bodie Tertullian saith this is my bodie that is a signe of my bodie Ambrose saith the bread and wine remaine still the same thing that they were Theodoret saith after the consecration the mysticall signes do not cast off their owne nature but abide still in their first substance and forme Origen saith the bread that is sanctified with the word of God as touching the materiall substāce thereof goeth into the bellie and foorth againe like other meates Irenaeus saith that it hath two things in it one earthly and the other heauenly Cyrill saith Our Sacraments auouch not the eating of a man Ciprian saith the Lord calleth bread made of many graines his bodie and called wine made of many grapes his bloud Athanasius saith Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might withdrawe his Disciples from corporal and fleshlie eating Chrysostome saith God giueth vs things spirituall vnder things visible and naturall And againe being sanctified it is deliuered from the name of bread and is exalted to the name of the Lords bodie although the nature of the bread still remaine And because they beleeue that the Pope cannot erre Pope Gelasius setteth to his hand and saith with the rest Neither the substāce of the bread nor nature of the wine cease to bee more than they were before Tell vs Papist doo not these Fathers speake as plaine as wee Canst thou auouch Transubstanciation more flatly than they denie it How had this heresie been chased if the diuell had hatched it in their time Thus the Scriptures on the one side and the Fathers on the other side did so trouble three arch Papists Biel Tonstal and Fisher that Gabriel Biel saith how the bodie of Christ is in the Sacrament is not founde in the canon of the Byble Tonstal saith It had been better to leaue euerie man to his owne coniecture as they were before the Councell of Laterane than to bring in such a question Fisher saith No man can proue by the words of the Gospell that any Priest in these daies doth consecrate the very bodie and bloud of Christ. Heere is fulfilled Out of thine owne mouth I will condemne thee But wee will not carrie the matter so because a Iudge must haue two eares therfore now let thē speake Because they cannot tell how the bread and wine should bee turned into flesh and bloud and yet appeare bread and wine still they say it is a myracle but how doo they prooue it If they contend it is a myracle they
summe of all these words is the institution vse of the Lords Supper First Paule sheweth the author of it The Lord Iesus then the time when it was instituted in the night that he was betraied then the manner how he did institute it he tooke bread and when he had giuen thankes he brake it and gaue vnto his disciples c. then the end why he did institute it for a remembrance of his death Touching the author he which is signified by it was the author of it The Lord Iesus hath bid vs to Supper I am not worthie sayeth Iohn to loose his shoe so wee are not worthie to waite at his trencher and yet he will haue vs sit at his table To him belongeth the power to ordaine Sacraments in his Church because he fulfilled the Sacramēts of the Law When Christ came the Passeouer ceased because he is our Passeouer that is the Lambe by whose blood we are saued When Christ came Circumcision ceased because he is our Circumcision that is the purifier and clenser of our sinnes Now these two Sacraments are fulfilled he hath appoynted two other Sacraments for them in sted of the paschal Lambe which the Iewes did eate he hath giuen vs an other Lambe to eate which Iohn calleth the Lambe of God that is himselfe vppon whome all doo feede whosoeuer doo receiue this Sacrament with an assured faith that Christ died to possesse them of life The breaking of the bread doth signifie the wounding of his bodie the powring of the Wine dooth signifie the shedding of his bloud The eating of the bread and drinking of the Wine dooth signifie that his flesh and bloud do nourish in vs life eternall as the bread and Wine doo nourish the life present Instead of Circumcision which began at Abraham he hath ordeined Baptisme which began at Iohn a more liuely representation of the true circumcision of the heart because it representeth vnto vs the blood of Christ which washeth our soules as the water in Baptisme washeth our bodies Touching the time In the night saith Paule therefore this Sacrament is called The Lords Supper because it was instituted at night when they vsed to suppe But what night euen that night sayth Paule when he was betrayed that night which he should haue cursed as Iob did the day of his birth if he had suffred against his will that night when he should haue thought to destroy men as men conspired to destroy him that night saith Paule this Sacrament of grace and peace and life began Euen that night when we betrayed him Many nights did he spend in watching and praying for vs and is there a night now for vs to kill and betray him That was a dark night when men went about to put out the Sunne which brought them light Who can but wonder to see how Christ and they for whome Christ came were occupied at one time when they deuised mischiefe against him and sought all meanes to destroy him then he consulted how to saue them and instituted the same night this blessed Sacrament to conuay al his graces and blessings vnto them Euen that night when they betrayed him The reason why this action was deferred vntill night is because that was the time appointed by the Lawe to eate the Passeouer which was like a predecessor of this Sacrament The reason why he deferred vntill his last night was because the Passeouer could not be ended before the fulnesse of time and the true Paschall Lamb were come to be slaine in stead of the other Therefore how fitly did Christ end the Passeouer which was a signe of his suffering so presently before his suffering And beside how sweetly did hee confirme his Disciples faith when as they should see that the next day performed before their eyes which ouernight both in the Passeouer and in the Sacrament was so liuely resembled vnto them If any from this do gather that we ought to eate the Lords Supper at night as Christ did he must vnderstand that we haue not the same cause to doe so which Christ had because of the Passeouer And therefore the Church which hath discretion of times and places hath altered both the time and the place vsing the temples in stead of the chamber and the morning in stead of the euening for indifferent things are ruled by order and decencie Touching the manner He tooke bread and when he had giuen thankes he brake it and gaue it vnto them He would not eate it nor breake it before he had giuen thanks to God What neede he which was God giue thanks to God but to shew vs what we should do whē we eate our selues In all things giue thanks saith Paule whereby we declare that all things come from God but the wicked beleeue easier that God doth take than that he doth giue and therefore they neuer pray hartely vnto him for any thing nor feelingly thanke him for it For which the Lord complaineth saying I haue loued you yet yee say wherein hast thou loued vs shewing that wee are worse than the Oxe which knoweth his feeder And if wee acknowledge all things frō God yet we do like Lot Is it not a little one saith he when hee craued to goe vnto Zoar as though it were not much which he asked so we mince and extenuate the gifts of God before we receiue them and after like them which haue a grace for dinner and none for breakefast as though they had their dinners from God and breakefasts of their owne Our example did not so Although it was but bread which he receiued yet he was more thankefull for bread than many which burie the fowles and fishes and beasts in their belly for if a count of all were kept for one that prayeth Giue vs this day our dayly bread a hundreth take their bread and meate and sleepe too which neuer pray for it After he had giuen thankes hee brake it and gaue vnto them and sayd Take eate for when he had giuen thanks to God then it was sanctified and blessed and lawfull to eate So when thou seruest God then it is lawfull for thee to vse Gods blessings then thou mayest eate and drinke as Christ did but not before for these things were created to serue them which serue God if thou doest not serue him for them thou encrochest vppon Gods blessings and stealest his creatures which are no more thine than thou art his for the good God created all things for good men as the diuels possessions are reserued for euill men Therefore as Christ would not breake the bread before he had giuen thanks to the founder so know that there is some thing to be done before thou receyue any benefite of God and presume not to vse his creatures with more libertie than his Sonne did which did not eate without giuing thāks nor rise againe without singing
say I there is nothing but paper inke and waxe oh but by this sayst thou I will recouer an hundreth pounds that is as good So beloued this is as good that vnder these signes you receyue the virtue of Christes bodie and bloud by faith as if you did eate his body and drinke his bloud indeede which is horrible to thinke that any should deuoure their God thinking thereby to worship him neuer any Heretike nor Idolater conceyued so grosly of their God before the Papist We reade of a people which did eate men but neuer of any people which did eate their God All the Apostles say that it was needfull that Christ should take our flesh but no Apostle sayth that it is needefull that wee shoulde take Christes flesh for all the blessings of Christ are apprehended by faith and nothing is fit to apprehend him whome we see not but faith and therefore one of their owne pillars said Beleeue and thou hast eaten Faith doth more in religion than the mouth or else we might say with the woman Blessed are the breasts which gaue thee sucke and so none should be blessed but Mary but Mary was not blessed because Christ was in her body but because Christ was in her hart and least this should seme incredible vnto you because Mary is called blessed among Women When Christ hard the woman say Blessed are the brests which gaue thee sucke he replied vnto her Blessed are they which heare the word of God and keepe it these are my Brethren and Sisters and Mother saith Christ as though the rest were no kin to him in heauen though they were kin in earth Thus if Christ were in thy body and thou shouldest say as this woman Blessed is the body which hath thee in it nay would Christ say Blessed is the hart which hath me in it If Mary were no whit better for hauing Christ in her armes nor for hauing him in her body how much better art thou for hauing him in thy belly where thou canst not see him must the sunne needes come to vs or else cannot his heate and light profit vs nay it doth vs more good because it is so farre off so this sunne is gone from vs that he might giue more light vnto vs which made him say It is good for you that I goe from you therefore away with this carnall eating of spirituall things Many daughters haue done virtuously but thou saith Salomon surpassest them all So many Heretikes haue spoken absurdly but this surpasseth them all that Christ must be applied like phisicke as though his bloud could not profit vs vnlesse we did drinke it and swallowe it as a potion Is this the Papists vnion with Christ is this the manner whereby we are made one flesh with Christ to eate his flesh Nay when he tooke our flesh vnto him and was made man then we were vnited to him in the flesh and not now Christ tooke our flesh we take not his flesh but beleeue that he tooke ours therefore if you would knowe whether Christes body be in the Sacrament I say vnto you as Christ sayde vnto Thomas touch feele and see In visible things God hath appoynted our eyes to bee iudges for as the spirit discerneth spirituall obiects so sense discerneth of sensible obiects As Christ taught Thomas to iudge of his bodie so may wee and so shoulde they therefore if you cannot see his bodie nor feele his bodie you may gather by Christes saying to Thomas that he would not haue you beleeue that it is his bodie for my bodie saith Christ may be seene and felt And thus Transubstanciation is found a lyar Now if you aske mee why Christ calleth the signe by the name of the thing it selfe I aske thee againe Mayest thou saye when thou seest the picture of the Queene this is the Queene and when thou seest the picture of a Lion this is a Lion and may not Christ say when he seeth a thing like his bodie This is my body I shewed you before that euery Sacrament is called by the name of the thing which it doth signifie and therefore why should we stumble at this more than the rest The reason why the signes haue the name of the things is to strike a deeper reuerence in vs to receiue this Sacrament of Christ reuerently sincerely and holyly as if Christ were there present in body and bloud himselfe And surely as he which defaceth the Queenes Seale is conuicted of contempt treason to her owne person so hee which profaneth these seales of Christ doth not worship Christ but despise him and that contempt shall be required of him as if he had contemned Christ himselfe This is the reason why Christ calleth the signes of his body his body to make vs take this Sacrament reuerently It followeth Doo this in remembrance of me That is these signes shall bee a remembrance of my death when you breake the bread you shall remember the wounding of my bodie and when you drinke the wine you shall remember the shedding of my bloud If we must do this in remembrance of Christs body which was broken like the bread it is an argument that his bodie is not there because remembrance is not of things present but of things absent we remember not but we see that which is before vs. This might put the Papists in remembrance that Christ is not sacrificed now when wee doo but remember his sacrifice this is not Christs sacrifice but a remembrance of his sacrifice he was sacrificed before and now he is applied least his sacrifice should bee in vaine This was done once really when hee offered himselfe vppon the Crosse therfore that offering was called a sacrifice because he was sacrificed indeede but this offering is called a Sacrament because it is but a signe of his sacrifice If Christ in this Sacrament were offered indeed then it should be called a sacrifice as his once offering was but because it is but a remembrance of his sacrifice therefore it is called a Sacrament This is not a sacrifice of Christ but a sacrifice of our selues Least wee should take it to bee a sacrifice of Christ Christ himselfe calleth it a remembrance of his sacrifice Doo this in my remembrance Here is our worke as Christ hath done so must we doo so we minister and so you receiue wee can giue you nothing but that which wee haue receiued from him as Paule saith Therefore if Christ did not giue his mortall body which stood before them and could not profite thē nor his glorified body which was not glorified then and when it was glorified ascended vp vnto heauen there abideth how can these iugling Priests make their God againe which made them They can no more turne wine into bloud and bread into flesh than they can commaund a Gnat to become a Cammell for it is a greater worke to make GOD than to make the worlde Therefore as
Christ saith When they tell you here is Christ and there is Christ beleeue them not So when they tell you that Christ is in heauen and that Christ is in earth in this place and that place beleeue them not for Elias ascention was a figure of Christs ascention when Elias was ascended yet some sought for his body vpon earth so though christ bee ascended yet many seeke his body vpō earth but as they could not finde Elias bodie so these can not finde Christs bodie although they haue sought 300. yeares But if his bodie were vppon earth as they say should wee handle it and touch it now it is glorified After his resurrection he sayd to Mary Touch me not because his bodie was glorified that is not to bee touched with fingers any more but with faith Therefore wee reade of none which touched his bodie after it was risen but onely Thomas to setle his faith Thus you see we need to suborn no witnesses for euerie worde in this text which they alleage for Transubstanciation doth make against Transubstanciation whereby if Antichrist doth signifie thē which are against Christ you see who may be called Antichrist There is no question in Poperie except Purgatorie the Popes publican tasker about which the Papists are at such ciuill warres among themselues as about this Transubstanciation They cannot tell when the chaunge beginneth nor what manner of chaunge it is nor how long the change continueth some hang one way and some an other like the Midianites which fought one against another And no meruaile though their consciences stagger about it for to shewe you the right father of it it was one of the dreames of Innocentius the 3. in the yeare of our Lord 1215. so many yeares passed before Transubstanciatiō was named and then a Pope set it first on foote so it came out of Rome the grandame of all heresies and for want of Scriptures hath been defended with fire and sword and swallowed more Martirs than all the gulfes of the Papall sea beside Now when the doctrines of men goe for scripture you shall see how many errours rush into the Church for graunt but this to Innocentius as the Papists doe that the bread and wine are changed into Christes bodie First it will follow that Christes bodie is not ascended vp to heauen because it remaineth vppon earth and so one of the articles of our faith shall be falsified which saith He is ascended into heauen or if he be ascended and descended againe an other article will be falsified which saith that he sitteth at the right hand of his father that is as Peter saith he abideth in heauen Secondly it will follow that Christ hath not a true body but a fantasticall body because it may be in many places at one time for if his body be in the Sacrament he must needes haue so many bodies as there be Sacraments nay he must haue so many bodies as there be bits in euery sacrament Thirdly it will followe that his body is diuided from his soule and consequently is a dead body because the bread is only changed into his body and not into his soule Fourthly it wil follow that the wicked and prophane and reprobat may receiue Christ as well as the godly because they haue a mouth to eate as well as the best Fiftly it will follow that Christes sacrifice once for all was not sufficient because we must sacrifice him againe and breake his body and shead his bloud as the Iewes crucified him vppon the Crosse. Sixtly it wil follow that the bread being turned into the body of our redeemer hath a part in our redemption as well as Christ. Seauenthly it will follow that Christ did eate his owne body for all the Fathers say that he did eate the same bread which he gaue to his Disciples Lastly it will follow that a Massing Priest shall be the creator of his creator because he makes him which made him all these absurdities are hatched of Transubstantiation Thus when men deuise articles of their owne while they strike vpon the handuill the sparkes flie in their face and they are like the man which began to builde and could not finish it When I see the Papists in so many absurdities for intertaining one error mee thinkes he seemeth like a Collier which is grimed with his owne coales Therfore as in manners we should thinke of Peters saying Whether is it meete to obey GOD or men So in doctrines wee should thinke whether it be meete to beleeue God or mē Thus you haue heard the author of this Sacramēt the Lord Iesus the time when it was instituted in the night that he was betraied the manner how it was instituted after thankes giuing the ende why it was instituted for a remembrance of his death and the discouerie of Transubstanciation one of the last heresies which Babylon hatched Now they which haue been Patrons of it before should do like the father and mother of an Idolater that is lay the first hand vpō him to end his life Thus I end Think what account ye shall giue of that ye haue heard In this Sermon leafe C. section 11. lin 3. for he spake them reade he spake to them A Treatise of the Lords Supper The second Sermon 1. Cor. 11. vers 25 26 27 28. 25 After the same manner also he tooke the cup when he had supped saying This cup is the New Testament in my bloud this doo as oft as ye drinke it in remembrance of me 26 For as often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come 27 Wherefore whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cup of the Lord vnworthelie shall be giltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. 28 Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. HEre I am to speake of the second seruice as it were at the Lords Table of that preparation which is like the Wedding garment that euerie man must bring vnto this banquet These words are diuersly repeated of the Euangelists Heere it is sayd This cup is the new testament in my bloud In Mathew and in Marke it is sayd This cup is my bloud of the new testament This is the first mention which Christ makes of a Testament as though now his promises deserued the name of a Testament because the seale is set vnto them which before this Sacrament was not sealed but like a bare wrighting without a signet This word Testament doth imply a promise and therefore teacheth vs that the Sacrament doth confirme strengthen and nourish our faith because it sealeth the promise which wee should beleeue Heere is to be noted that Christ doth not only speake of a Testament but he calleth it a new Testament which words neuer met together before as