And againe In Christ ye are circūcised with circūcision made without hands by putting off the sinfull body of the fleshe through the circumcision of Christ Euen so is not Baptisme ante bare signe Baptisma eius saith Chrisostome etiam passio eius est Christes baptisme is Christes passion They are not bare signes it were blasphemie so to say The grace of God doeth alwayes woorke with his Sacramentes but wee are taught not to seeke that grace in the signe but to assure our selues by receiuing the signe that it is giuen vs by the thing signified We are not washed from our sinnes by the water we are not fed to eternall life by the bread and wine but by the precious blood of our sauiour Christ that lieth hid in these Sacraments Bernard saith Datur annulus ad inuestiendū c. The fashiō is to deliuer a ring when seisin and possession of inheritance is giuē the ring is a signe of the possession So that hee which hath taken it may say the ring is nothing I care not for it it is the inheritance which I sought for In like maner whē christ our Lorde drewe nigh to his passion hee thought good to giue seisin possession of his grace to his disciples y ◠they might receiue his inuisible grace by som visible signe Chrisost saith In nobis non simplex aqua operatur sed cū accepit gratiam spiritus abluit omnia peccata Plaine or bare water worketh not in vs but when it hath receiued the grace of the holy Ghost it washeth away all our sins So saith Ambrose also Spiritus sanctus descendit consecrat aquā The holy Ghost cōmeth down halloweth the water And Praesentia Trinitatis adest There is the presence of the Trinitie So saith Ciril Quemadmodū viribus ignis aqua c. As water throughly heat with fire burneth as well as the fire so the waters whiche washe the bodie of him that is baptized are changed into diuine power by the working of y ◠holy ghost So said Leo sometimes a bishop of Rome Dedit aquae quod dedit matri Virtus enim altissimi obūbratio Spiritus sancti quae fecit vt Maria pareret saluatorem eadē fecit vt regeneret vnda credentē Christ hath giuen like preeminence to the water of Baptism as he gaue to his mother For that power of the highest and that ouershadowing of the holye Ghoste whiche brought to passe y ◠Mary should bring forth the sauiour of the world hath also brought to passe that the water should beare a new or regenerate him that beleeueth Suche opinion had the auncient learned fathers and such reuerent wordes they vsed when they entreated of the Sacraments For it is not man but God which worketh by them yet is it not the creature of bread or water but the soule of man that receiueth the grace of God These corruptible creatures neede it not we haue need of Gods grace But this is a phrase of speaking For the power of God the grace of GOD the presence of the Trinitie the holy Ghost the gift of God are not in the water but in vs. And wee were not made because of the sacramentes but the sacraments were ordeined for our sake Now for the number of Sacraments howe many there be it may seeme somewhat hard to say that it cannot be spoken without offence For mens iudgments herein haue swarued very much some haue said there are two others three others foure and others that there are seuen Sacramentes This difference of opinions standeth rather in tearmes then in the matter For a Sacramēt in y e maner of speaking which the Church vseth in the writings of the holy scripture of auncient fathers sometimes signifieth properly euery such Sacrament which Christ hath ordayned in the newe Testament for which he hath chosen some certain element and spoken speciall wordes to make it a Sacrament and hath annexed thereto the promise of grace sometimes it is vsed in a generall kinde of taking and so euery mysterie set downe to teach the people and many thinges that indeed and by speciall propertie be no sacraments may neuerthelesse passe vnder the generall name of a Sacrament The sacraments instituted by Christ are only two the sacrament of Baptisme of our Lords Supper as the auncient learned fathers haue made acompt of them S. Ambrose haueing occasion of purpose to entreate of y e Sacraments speaketh but of two De Sacramentis saith he quae accepistis sermonē adorior I begin to speak of the Sacramēts which you haue receiued And yet in his whole treatise deuided into sixe bookes he writeth but of two his booke is extāt if any man doubt this he may see it S. Augustine reckoneth them to be but two Haec sunt ecclesiae gemina Sacramenta These be the two Sacraments of the church Again he saith Quaedam pauca pro multis eademque factu facilima c. Our Lord his Apostles haue deliuered vnto vs a few sacraments in steede of many the same in doing most easie in signification most excellent in obseruation most reuerend as is the Sacrament of Baptisme and the celebration of the bodie and blood of our Lord. Thus Augustine and Ambrose vnto whom I might also ioyne other auncient fathers recken but two Sacramentes Let no man then be offended with vs for so doing wee doe no newe thing but restore the ordinance of Christ and keepe the example of the holy fathers What then Doe we refuse confirmation penance orders and matrimonie Is there no vse of these among vs doe we not allow them yes For we doe confirme and teache repentance minister holy orders and account matrimonie so vse it as an honorable state of life We visit y e sicke among vs and anoynt them with the precious oyle of the mercy of God But we cal not these sacraments because they haue not the like institution Confirmation was not ordeyned by Christ penance hath not any outward element ioyned to the worde the same may be sayd of orders And matrimony was not first instituted by Christ for God ordeined it in paradise long before But in these two we haue both the element and the institution In Baptisme the element is water in the Lords Supper bread and wine Baptisme hath the word of institution Teache al nations baptizing them in the name of y ◠Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost The Lords supper in like maner hath the worde of institution Doe this in remēbrance of me Therfore these two are properly and truly called the Sacraments of the Churche because in them the element is ioyned to the word and they take their ordinance of Christe and be visible signes of inuisible grace Nowe whatsoeuer lacketh eyther of these it is no Sacrament Therefore are not the other fiue which are so reckoned and make vp the number of
shal he regard the desires of women Which place S. Hierome exê‘oundeth Ideo Antichristus simulat cactitatem vt plurimos decipiat Therefore dooth Antichrist faine or pretend chastity that he may deceiue many Thus farre they disagree from the originall of Gods worde But they vse commonly to saye the Churche was then in her minoritie and infancie afterwarde she was better informed So when Christ and the Apostles and the Doctours please them they shall rule the matters they shall be holy Doctours and holy Fathers if not they shall not bee paternes to folow but children infants They vse them as marchants vse their counters for that counter which now standeth for a pound anon after shal be remoued and made a simple halfpenny Yet notwithstanding they cry Fathers Doctours Church and yet indeede do al things contrary to the Church of Christe contrary to the Doctours and fathers of the Church Two principall thinges there be that seeme to beare vp the whole brunt of the religion that hath bene in the world of late time the one is the Masse and thinges thereunto belonginge the other is the authoritie of the Pope These two I wyll breefely compare to the first originall onely running ouer certaine special branches of them both in as few wordes as I can deuise And as touching the Masse if there be any man here that hath any good opinion of it and is also learned and able to iudge let him thinke with himselfe what Doctour or father in the Primitiue Churche euer vsed or taught vs to vse a priuate Masse what Doctour or Father euer hearde of 10. 20. or 30. Masses in one Church said at one time what Father or doctor euer taught the Priest to communicate for other Chrisostome noteth it is an errour to say y â— SacrameÌ„ts receiued of one may do good to others that receiue them not What Father or Doctor euer taught that hoc facite was hoc sacrificate What Doctour or Father euer taught vs that the bread is transubstaÌ„tiate into Christes bodie I assure you that worde was neuer hearde of vntill nowe within litle more then 300. yeeres vnder Innocentius the thirde What Father or Doctor taught vs that there remaine accidentiasine subiecto that Christes body is in a C. thousand places at once that the Priest should holde the bread ouer his head and turne his backe to the people that the Sacrament shoulde bee hanged vp in a canopie for the people to adore What father euer taught vs that their communion bread shoulde be rounde because the earth is rounde That the Priest shoulde kisse the Altar because Iudas kissed Christ that he should wash his fingers because Pilate washed his handes That hee shoulde knocke his breast iu token of the theeues repentance vpon the Crosse Those thinges haue bene written by Durande Bonaâ—enture and Innocentius and others like of late time but the Fathers in the Primitiue Church neuer heard of them Yet some men of late time haue beaten into your heades y â— these many other like thinges haue come by succession euen froÌ„ the primatiue Churche and from the Apostles But so the coniurers and Sorcerers saye that their books of coniuration and sorcerie came from Moses from Enoch and from Abel Plutarche writeth that Theseus Romulus Hercules and other like Princely gentlemen indeede were Bastardes and were be gotten of fathers of very lowe degree but after they came into honour and estimation the people because they knew not whose soÌ„nes they were thought they had come from heauen and therfore they called them the sonnes of the gods Euen so these thinges that I haue here reported nowithstandynge in deede they are base borne yet because they haue stollen into the Churche and haue bene had in honour some men haue taughte you they haue come euen from heauen and therefore they haue fathered them vpon Christe and his Apostles But in the meane season they haue not dealte iustlye with you but haue done wronge both to Christ and to his Apostles Hierome writinge vpon Aggeus sayeth Quae absque authoritate testimoniis Scripturarum quasi traditione Apostolica sponte reperiunt at qué confingunt percutit gladius Dei The Sworde of God stricketh those thinges which men fynde out and deuise of them selues without the authoritie testimonies of the scriptures and deliuer foorthe as if they came by the tradition of the Apostles Againe what Catholique Father taught vs that the Pope is the head of the Church aboue kings aboue Councils aboue the word of god greater and of more authoritie then the Apostles that he cannot erre that the whole world is his diocesse that he may not be iudged what soeuer hee doe although he drawe a thousande soules downe into hell that he is neyther man nor God but a mixture medled together of God and man Al these thinges our later Fathers haue written of the Pope and yet I leaue a hundred things vntouched Thus farre haue they gone from their originall and paterne But what greater disorver can there bee in the Church of God then when Antichrist shall come and sit in the place of God There is an olde fable of Antichrist that when he commeth he would turne trees vpside downe and do such like wonders But the markes whereby Antichrist shall be knowne indeede are otherwise set downe in the holy Scriptures In his comming abhomination shall stand in the holy place and trueth shall be throwne downe in the earth I knowe many men are offended to heare the Pope pointed out for Antichrist and thinke it an vncharitable kinde of doctrine therefore I refraine to vse any such names and only wyl reporte to you of other by what tokens Antichrist when he commeth may bee knowne Gregorie as it were in the spirit of prophesie writing against Iohn bishop of Constantinople saith Rex superbiae propè est quod dici nefas est Sa cerdotum est praeparatus exercitus The king of pride is at hand which is vnlawful to be said an army of priests is prepared By these tokens saith Gregorie you may know him hee shalbe the prince of pride and he shal haue an army of priestes to wayte vpon him In another place he saith Quisquis se vniuersalem sacerdotem vocat vel vocari desiderat in elatione sua Antichristum praecurrit Whosoeuer calleth himself the vniuersal priest or desireth so to be called in the pride of his hart is the forerunner of Antichrist These words were written by Gregorie more then 900. yeeres since If there were euer any that might be knowne by these tokens which was or is the prince of pride is called or desireth to be called y e Vniuersal priest or B. or hath an army of priests I leaue y t to your iudgemeÌ„t whether the same be he whom Gregorie describeth or some other I pray God to lighten the eyes of al the world that all the world may spie him and the man
redemption of the world Amen Rom. 13. The night is passed the day is come let vs therefore cast away the deedes of darknesse and let vs put on the armour of light THis litle portion of the scripture hath bin often expoūded and opened in your hearing yet shal it not be vnprofitable once againe to entreate therof For albeit the proportion and ground of matter be one yet some differēce may be in the manner of vtterance The worde of God is the water of life the more ye laue it forth the fresher it runneth it is the fire of Gods glory the more ye blow it the cleerer it burneth it is the corne of the Lordes fielde the better you grinde it the more it yeeldeth it is the bread of heauen the more it is broken and giuen foorth the more remaineth it is the sword of the spirit the more it is scoured the brighter it shineth The voyce of God cannot be vnpleasant to their eares which are the children of God the oftener they he are it the more comfort they receiue they cā neuer haue ouermuch who neuer haue inough Saint Paule in these woordes stirred vp the Romaines and awaked them out of the slumber of death that they might beholde the cleere light of the Gospel and knowe the time of their visitation and shake off the workes of darknes and apparel themselues with the righteousnesse of Christ our Sauiour But before I proceede farther to declare that which is to be spokē at this present let vs turne our heartes to God euen the father of lightes that it may please him to open the eyes of our vnderstanding and to direct al our doings to his glory c. In worldly businesse it is reckoned a great poynt of wisedome to doe thinges in due time and to choose the fittest season to speake or to holde silence to buy or to sell to buylde or to pull downe Salomon therefore sayde To all things there is an appoynted time a time to euery purpose vnder the heauen Who so doeth not weigh the season and take his conuenient time he is vnwise and defeiteth himselfe and bewrayeth his follie But of all wisedomes this is the greatest that a man lift vp his eyes to the throne of Gods mercie and knowe the time of his blessing and direct his life to the seruice of GOD as hee warneth Make no tarrying to turne vnto the Lorde and put not off from day to day for sodainely shall the wrath of the Lorde breake forth and in thy securitie thou shalt be destroyed If the good man of the house were wise if he knewe at what houre the Theefe woulde come hee woulde surely watche and stande in readinesse and not suffer his house to bee digged through Of this wisedome in taking the vantage of time spake the Prophet Dauid This daye if you heare his voyce harden not your heartes Forslow not the time loose not this good occasion heare his voyce nowe this day Of this wisedome spake Saint Paule We as workers together beseeche you that yee receyue not the grace of GOD in vayne For hee sayth I haue hearde thee in a time accepted and in the daye of saluation haue I succoured thee Beholde nowe the accepted time beholde now the day of saluation Who so knoweth not this time is not wise Of this blindenesse and heauinesse of the people God complayneth in many places of the Prophetes In the eight Chapter of Ieremie Euen the Storke in the ayre knoweth her appoynted times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallowe obserue the time of their comming but my people knoweth not the iudgement of the Lorde Of this their blindnesse and follie our Sauiour reproueth Hierusalem O if thou haddest euen now at the least in this thy day knowen those thinges whiche belong vnto thy peace but nowe are they hidde from thine eyes For the dayes shall come vppon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compasse thee rounde and keepe thee in on euery side and shall make thee euen with the grounde and thy children which are within thee and they shall not leaue in thee a stone vppon a stone because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation Therefore the Apostle calleth vppon the Romaines telleth them that the Sunne is vp and the day open and warneth them not to lose the season for nowe euen nowe saith he it is time to rise That wee may the better discerne the light let vs beholde the darkenesse of that time which was before The whole worlde was diuided into the people of the Iewes and the heathens and besides these there were no other people The Heathens were forsaken of God the Iewes were his chosen people The Heathens woorshipped the workers of their owne handes and gaue the glory of God vnto creatures whiche are not God They went after Idols euen as they were lead they had many goddes according to the number of their Cities they deliuered vp their bodies to all manner filthines God gaue them ouer to followe their lustes The Fathers amongest them slewe their owne children and offered them vp in Sacrifice to Diuels So strongly did the Prince of darkenesse possesse them they had not the Arke of the Testimonie they liued without Prophetes or couenaunt or Christe or God they liued without hope or light or comforte In such a night and such a darkenesse lay the Heathen The Iewes Gods chosen people they were also bereft of knowledge there was no prophet left among them nor any to teache them the wil of the Lord. The lawe did perish from the priest and counsel from the auncient light was turned into darknesse and iudgement into wormewood they were bitter and grieuous to the poore they slew the Prophets which were sent vnto them they did for sake the fountaine of liuing waters and followed Baal and Astaroth Like people like Priestes frō the sole of the foot vnto y ◠head there was nothing whole in them Of them God spake by the Prophet I haue no pleasure in you neither wil I accept an offering at your hand Of them he sayde When you shal stretch out your hands I wil hide mine eies from you and though you make many prayers I will not heare you In such a darkenesse laye the Iewes in suche a darkenesse laye the Gentiles All had sinned they were all corrupt and abhominable in their wayes they were the Children of wrath and the vesselles of distruction So were they wrapt in the cloude of ignoraunce and couered in the shadowe of death Suche was the night Saint Paul spake of so vglie so darke so voyde of comfort But God gaue foorth his light to shyne vppon them he sent the Patriarches and Prophetes and holye Fathers hee sent vnto them Moses and Aaron and Angelles from Heauen to giue out sparkes of this light Hee made it appeare by his Prophete Esaie Beholde the Virgine shall conceyue and beare a Sonne
and shee shall call his name Emanuell In him shall all Israel bee saued hee is the light to lighten the Gentiles his name shall be called wonderfull counseller the mightie God the euerlasting father the Prince of peace in him shal al the endes of the worlde bee blessed This light they behelde when it was not cleerely opened vnto them they did see it comming and reioyced in it they were vnder a Schoolemaister and had not the perfect knowledge of this light But nowe God hath scattered all these Cloudes and wee beholde as in a mirrour the glorye of the Lorde with open face Our elder Fathers in the olde Testament had onely a dimme candle to guide their Feete we haue the bright Sunne beames They had onelye the greene blade of the Corne wee haue the plentifull encrease euen as in the time of haruest they had the shadowe we haue the light they had onely a droppe to refreshe themselues wee haue the whole streame of Gods mercie powred out vppon vs. Nowe hath God remembred his holie couenaunt and the othe whiche hee sware to our father Abraham nowe the woorde was made fleshe and dwelt with vs. The day starre is sprong vp in our heartes the Spirite of God hath filled the whole world the earth is full of his glorye The Idols of the Heathen are fallen and are put to silence their greatest mysteries appeare to bee follies and are laught to scorne the children make games of them in their streetes Sathan the Prince of this worlde which is the accuser of our brethren is now cast foorth Nowe is it knowen that saluation and power and glory belongeth to our God Hee hath raysed his Christe and hath established his kingdome the kings and nations of the worlde shall walke in his light and his light shall not bee put out and his kingdome shall haue no ende Nowe is that newe Hierusalem the glorious Citie of our God reuealed from on high nowe hath God made the Heauens newe and a newe earth and hath fixed his Tabernacle and dwelling place among men The fulnesse of time is come the sounde of the Apostles is gone through all the earth the Sunne of righteousnesse hath appeared he is the light and comfort of the whole worlde This is the gracious yeere of mercye this is the daye whiche the Lorde hath made Nowe is the mercy of the Lorde shewed more and more towardes vs and his trueth endureth for euer When Balaam the false Prophete beholde the glorye of this time hee brake out and sayde Who shall liue when GOD doeth this Who shall liue and see and enioy these thinges Awake therefore or arise from sleepe the time so requireth For nowe is our Saluation neerer then when we beleeued it Of those few words haue growen diuers senses al good and godly yet in my iudgement the simplest and playnest sense is this When we were heathen and sate in darknesse we thought we did well and that wee shoulde be saued in that way in whiche wee walked and that there was no hope of saluation but onelie in that and wee had a great liking in our doinges This is the vanitie and miserie of man oftetimes where he thinketh himselfe most sure he is deepely deceyued The Turks the Iewes at this day others the enemies of the crosse of Christ thinke there is no other true religion but theirs in y t they are woonderfull zealous and stande in it vnto death no perswasion nor force can remooue them When the people of Ephesus heard of the preaching of Paul they raysed vproare and filled the Citie full of tumult they caught Gaius and Aristarchus men of Macedonia and Pauls companions in his iourney and woulde haue slayne them they made an outcrie saying Great is Diana of the Ephesians she is a goddesse she hath made Heauen and Earth we haue put our trust in her we will call vpon her and she will heare vs. Christ she weth his Disciples The brother shal betray the brother to death the father the sonne the childrē shal rise against their parents and shall cause them to die and ye shal be hated of al men for my Name For zeale to their GOD the Priestes of Baal cut themselues with kniues and launcers Through zeale manie fathers slewe their owne children and burnte them quicke in fire in the honour of the Idol Moloch Circumcelliones which were a sorte of Heretikes sprong out of the Donatistes about 420. yeeres after Christ through zeale murthered one another they threwe them selues downe from high rockes and destroyed them selues and thought that the onely way to please God so hot and feruent was their deuotion The children of light haue seldome suffered more or more willingly or with more affiance then the children of darkenesse so striued they for God but against God and abused his name agaynst him selfe and wittingly and willingly went downe to Hell They haue great zeale and earnest desire of the glorye of GOD but not according to knowledge They contented them selues with that they had receiued of their Fathers would seeke no further they thought they did serue GOD but they blasphemed the Name of the Sonne of GOD. In suche sorte did God suffer them to walke in the blindenesse of their heart In the latter day many shall say vnto Christ Lorde Lorde haue wee not by thy Name prophecied and by thy Name cast out Diuels by thy Name done many greate workes Wee haue prayed and giuen almes for thy sake was it not done of zeale deuotion towardes thee So well shall they be perswaded of their doinges they shall presse boldely to the throne of Gods Maiesty and require their meede But Christ shall aunsweare them I neuer knewe you you serued your fancie you serued not mee your almes and miracles and your prayers shall condemne you Therfore Christe sayde to the Woman of Samaria Yee worshippe that which you knowe not You are ledde with a zeale and followe your Fathers but are deceiued Euen so hee prayed his father for them that crucified him and stood by and reuiled him O Father thou art full of mercie forgiue them they are moued of zeale and thinke they please thee they knowe not what they doe they knowe not thee nor mee thy Sonne whom thou hast sent Saint Hierome saith Nomine vnitatis fidei infidelitas scriptae est Infidelitie hath bin written vnder the name of faith and vnitie For herein they thought them selues good and holie and Catholike if they departed not from the vnitie of the world Therfore they followed the generall consent of others they thought them selues saieth hee the true Church and seemed to follow vnitie though in deede they fell to infidelitie Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne whatsoeuer it be be it neuer so holy neuer so glorious it is sinne it displeaseth God the ende thereof is destruction Therefore Christ sayeth I am the light of the worlde hee
seuen in due signification and right meaning taken for sacraments For in such sort as these are called sacramentes that is because they signifie some holy thing wee shall finde a great number of thinges which the godly learned Fathers haue called Sacramentes and yet I trow we must not holde them as sacraments ordeined to be kept and continued in the church for then shoulde there bee not seuen but seuenteene sacramentes S. Bernard calleth the washing of the Apostles feete a sacrament Ablutio pedum sacramentū est quotidianorum peccatorum The washing of feet is the Sacrament of daily sinnes So Leo calleth the crosse of Christ a sacramēt Crux Christi quae saluandis est impensa fidelibus sacramentū est exemplū The crosse of Christ which was giuē to saue the faithfull is both a Sacrament also an example Tertullian calleth the whole state of Christian faith Religionis Christianae Sacramentum The sacrament of Christian religion S. Hillary in diuers places saith Sacramentum orationis sacramentum esuritionis sacramentum sitis sacramentū fletus sacramentū scripturarū The sacramēt of praier the sacrament of fasting the sacramēt of thirst the sacrament of weeping the Sacramēt of the scriptures Thus much for the nūber that by the institutiō of Christ there are but two sacramēts as Cardinal Bessarion confesseth Haec duo sola Sacramenta in Euangelijs manifesté tradita legimus We reade that these two onely Sacraments were deliuered vs plainly in the Gospel I wil now speake briefly of the sacramentes in seueral leaue all idle vaine questions and onely lay open so much as is needful profitable for you to know Baptisme therefore is our regeneration or newe birth whereby wee are borne a new in Christ are made the sonnes of God heires of the kingdome of heauen it is a sacrament of the remission of sinnes and of that washing which we haue in the blood of Christ We are al borne the children of wrath and haue our part in the offence of Adam S. Paul saith By one man sinne entred into the world August saith Non dixit veniet super eum sed manet super eum Respexit originem c. Christ saide not it shal come vpon him but it abideth on him He had regard to our ofspring whē he saith the wrath of God abideth on him Vpon which when the Apostle also looked hee said and we our selues also were sometimes the children of wrath That which in Adam was imputed to his offence not to bee of nature is now in vs which are come of Adā become natural Therefore saith the Prophet Behold I was borne in iniquity and in sinn hath my mother conceiued me So y t we all haue cause to crie out mone with Saint Paule I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde leading me captiue vnto the lawe of sinne whiche is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodye of this death Here of speaketh our sauiour That whiche is born of the flesh is flesh that which is borne of the spirite is spirite And for this cause saith he except a man bee borne of the water and the spirite hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God For this cause are infants baptized because they are borne in sinne and cannot become spirituall but by this newe birth of the water and the spirite They are the heires of the promise the couenaunt of Gods fauour is made vnto them God saide to Abraham I will establish my couenant betweene me and thee and thy seede after thee in their generations for an euerlasting couenaunt to be God vnto thee and to thy seede after thee Therefore saith the Apostle If the roote be holy so are the branches And againe The vnbeleeuing Husband is sanctified by the wife and the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the Husbande else were your Children vncleane but now are they holy When the Disciples rebuked those that brought little Children to Christ that he might touch them he saide Suffer the little children to come vnto mee and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of GOD. And againe Their Angelles alwaies beholde the face of my Father which is in Heauen The kingdome of Heauen is of such saieth Christ not onelie then of those but of other like infantes which shall bee in al times As God tooke the seede of Abraham to be partakers of the couenant whiche hee gaue to Abraham so hee appoynted that euerie man childe of eyght dayes olde shoulde bee circumcised And Abraham circumcised his sonne Isaac when he was eyght dayes old as God had commanded him May wee thinke that the promise of God hath an ende so that it reacheth not to our children Or might the children of the Iewes receiue the signe of the couenant and may not the children of the Christiās Whatsoeuer was promised to Abraham the same is also perfourmed vnto vs. Wee enioye the same blessinges and free priuiledge of Gods fauour Saint Paule to the Galathiās saith Know ye that they whiche are of faith are the children of Abraham Againe If yee bee Christs then are ye Abrahams seed heires by promise Nowe is the signe of the Couenaunt also chaunged and Baptisme is in steede of Circumcision as Saint Paule declareth and calleth them circumcised which are baptized In whome meaning Christe also yee are circumcised with circumcision made without handes by putting off the sinful bodie of the fleshe through the circumcision of Christ in that you are buried with him thorow baptisme Our Sauiour giueth charge to his Apostles to baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the sonne and of the holy ghost The Apostles baptized not only such as professed their beliefe but whole housholdes The keeper of y ◠prisō was baptized with all that belonged vnto him So was Crispus the chiefe ruler of y ◠Synagogue his housholde and the housholde of Stephanas Infantes are a parte of the Churche of God they are the sheepe of Christ and belong to his flocke Why shoulde they not beare the marke of Christe they haue the promise of saluation Why should they not receiue the seale whereby it is confirmed vnto them they are of the felowshippe of the faithfull Augustine saith Vbi ponis paruulos non baptizatos profecto in numero credentium Where place you young children which are not yet baptised Verily in the number of them that beleeue Why then shoulde not they be partakers of the sacrament together with the faithfull And as the children of the faithfull by right ought to be baptized So such others also as were borne of vnbeleeuing parents and were aliants from the common wealth of Israel and were strangers from the couenant of promise and had no hope if they acknowledge the errour in which they liued and seeke
handekerchifes sometimes by laying on of handes and by touchinge sometimes with oyle as is in the sixth of S. Marke they cast out many deuils they anointed many y â— were sicke with oyle healed theÌ„ euen as Christ also by many sundrie wayes healed many He healed sometimes though he were absent sometimes by his worde sometimes by mourning and sorowinge sometimes by hys garment sometimes by touching sometimes with specle dust for at that time the Church had the especial gift of working miracles Therefore S. Iames putteth them in mynde that they dispise not to vse the meanes whiche God hath appoynted that whosoeuer falleth into sickenes he call for the Elders and that they vse their gift of healinge and anointe him with oyle because it hath pleased GOD thereby to worke health This was the maner and order of those times Euen as christ vsed dust and spetle so S. Iames willeth them to vse oyle for the restoring of health As the Corinthians dyd abuse the gift of tongues were taught by S. Paul how to vse it better so dyd many abuse y â— gift of healing were therfore warned by S. Iames howe they should vse it better As the gift of tongues was not to last for euer but only for a time so y â— gift of healing was not to continue euer but for a time Christ saith When thou fastest anoint thine head wash thy face Hee dooth not in these words giue an vniuersal commandement that must euer be kept in our fasting that wee vse the ceremonie of anointing but meaneth thereby that in our faste we bee fresh and mery Euen so S. Iames in saying anoint him with oyle doth not set downe an order wherunto hee would haue the Church of God tyed for euer it is not an vniuersal commandement that the after ages should do the like but onely a particular ordinance for the time to vse the gift of healing This is the meaning of his words Let vs marke what abuses haue growne by mistaking them S. Iames speaketh of bare and simple oyle They vnderstande it of their oyle which they consecrate and halow in vnaduised order For these wordes the Bishop vseth when hee consecrateth it Aue sanctuÌ„ oleum chrisma balsamum Haile O holy oyle chrisme and balsame Againe exerciso te immuÌ„de spiritus in nomine patris filii spiritus sancti vt recedas ab hoc oleo vt possit effici vnctio spiritualis vt spiritus sanctus possit in eo habitare I adiure thee thou vncleane spirit in y â— name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy ghost that thou depart from this oile y t it may be a spiritual ointment and y â— the holy ghoste may dwell in it Agayne Emitte quaesumus sancte pater spiritum sanctum paracletum tuum de coelis in hanc pinguedinem oliuae ad refectioneÌ„ corporum sanationem animarum O holy father we beseeche thee send downe thy holy spirit y â— comforter froÌ„ heauen into this fatnesse of y â— oliue to the refreshing of body soule In like sort they are taught to pray ouer y â— sicke Per hanc sactam vnctionem suam piissimam misericondâ—â—m ignoscat tibi deus vt per hanc vnctioneÌ„ habeas remissionem omniuÌ„ peccatorum By this holy anointing by his great mercye God pardon thee that by this anointinge thou maiest haue remission of al thy sinnes I deuise not these thinges I imagine them not of my selfe nor reporte them vntrulye The Byshop in such wordes blesseth the oyle with such wordes doeth the Priest anoynt the sicke with oyle In their Bookes it is easie to bee seene Now iudge you if this were S Iames doctrine or if this order were kept in the church in the time of the Apostles Would you thinke that S. Iames gaue curtesie by bowing his bodie and saying Aue to the oyle dyd he speake wordes of coniuration to driue foorth the euyll spirite woulde he euer say that the Oyle doth heale both bodye and soule or that remission of al sinnes is giueÌ„ by annointing S. Iames knew that remissioÌ„ of sinnes is not giuen by any creature that there is no name in heauen or earth by which wee are saued but the name of Iesus onely that the holy ghost resteth not nor dwelleth in oyle but in the hearts of the faithful that God giueth health not in respect of the corruptible creature but at the praiers of the Church which are offered vp to hym by his sonne our sauiour So great difference is there betweene the late meaning and the meaning of S. Iames. Such vse of y â— oyle we haue not neither doth the Church of God allow it Yet holde we the rule of the Apostle in visitation of the sicke When any is sicke among vs the Minister coÌ„meth vnto him and discretlye instructeth hym in what sorte he should prepare hymselfe to depart this life so leadeth hym to comforte and laboureth to make hym stronge in the certayne hope of euerlasting lyfe Thus he saith Brother you are entringe the way of al flesh Al y â— sonnes of Adam are heires of this sentence of God vpon Adam thou arte duste and to dust thou shalt returne Man that is borne of woman is of short continuance and ful of trouble He shooteth foorth as a floure is cut downe hee vanisheth also as a shadowe and continueth not Humble thy selfe vnder the mightie hand of God Hee is our good father dooth correct those children whome hee loueth Blessed is he whom the Lord doth chastise and instruct in his wayes Here is the proofe trial of your patience faith remember the patience of Iob in al his miseries he praised y â— name of the Lord. Although saith hee he shoulde kill me yet wyl I put my trust in God Although my bowels be consumed within mee and my members of my body bee rent a sunder and the pangues bee neuer so great yet can I not but trust in him Loue not the world nor y t things that be in the world The world passeth away the lust therof The wise man saith I haue coÌ„sidered al the works that are done vnder the sun behold al is vanitie vexatioÌ„ of spirit Againe great trauel is created for al men an heauy yoke vpoÌ„ the sonnes of Adam froÌ„ the day y e thei go out of their mothers wombe til the day y t they return to y e mother of al things Christ hath therfore willeâ— vs to wake bee ready because wee know not in what houre our master will come He saith Behold I come as a thief blessed is he which watcheth kepeth his garments least he walk naked men see his filthines Examine your selfe consider howe and in what thinges you haue offended God make a true and humble confession of your sinnes say with Dauid I haue sinned against the Lorde
and I will confesse against my selfe my wickednes vnto y e Lord. Call to minde how you haue gotten your goods how you haue vsed thē whether you haue delighted in thē or put any confidence in thē Call to minde how you haue taken care for your Children seruantes if by your good meanes they haue bene nourtered in the feare of y t Lord. In these such other parts of your lyfe lay open your sinnes let them come forth before you acknowledge thē against yourselfe vnto the Lord say boldly because you may saye it truelye I am an vnprofitable seruant I haue not done that which I ought to haue done there is no good thinge dwellinge in mee the Law in my members hath preuailed agaynste the Lawe of my minde It can not bee but God wyl cast his eyes vpon you and wyl heare you and wil pardon the wickednes of your sinnes What wanteth in you to the fulnesse of righteousnesse is already satisfied in the rigeteousnes of Christ God hath saide and sworne As I liue saith the Lord God I desire not y e death of the wicked but y t the wicked turne from his way liue And againe if the wicked will returne from all his sinnes y t he hath cōmitted al his transgressions y t he hath committed thei shal not be mētioned vnto him The Lord is ful of compassion mercy For as high as the heauen is aboue the earth so great is his mercie towared them that feare hym As far as the East is frō the West so farre hath he remoued our sinnes frō vs. Christ himselfe saith God so loued the world y t he hath giuen his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting And S. Paul god setteth out his loue toward vs seeing y t while we were yet sinners Christ died for vs much more thē being iustified by his blod we shalbe saued frō wrath through him Thus in time of sicknes are we put in minde to examine and view our sins to solace our selues in y t bloodshedding of Christ Farther he that is sicke is counsailed to call to minde what any man hath trespassed him to forgiue them because God is y e God of loue and if any man hate his brother hee abideth in death and we are commanded to saye forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs if we doe forgiue men theyr trespasses our heauenly father will also forgiue vs. But if we do not forgiue men theyr trespasses no more wil our heauenly father forgiue vs our trespasses That so all we which are redeemed with one price by the precious blood of the vnspotted lambe may ioyne together as partakers of one inheritance and the children of one father and so goe forewarde to one glorie by one way and become al one in Iesus Christ our Lorde In this case the good father calleth his sonne vnto him and exhorteth him in this manner My sonne harken vnto mee these be the last words which I shal speake vnto thee Thou seest in me the weakenes and decay of flesh thou shalt be as I am now One passeth before another the worlde and the beauty thereof fade away and come to an ende Trust not the worlde it wil deceiue thee walke aduisedly knowe y t thou shalt giue an accompt of thy doings For we must al appeare before y e iudgement seate of christ y t euery man may receaue the things which are done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it be good or euil Deceiue no man by wrongful dealing encrease not thy goodes by extortion nor by vsury he that giueth his money vnto vsurie shall not enter into the tabernacle of the Lorde Hee that taketh vsury of his neighbour killeth him without a sword The Lord wyll auenge it he wil not blesse yl gotten goods they cannot prosper they wyll neuer continue nor remayne vnto the third heire My sonne in all thy doings feare the Lord. If thou feare the Lord thou shalt prosper in the day of thine ende thou shalt bee blessed Medle not much with other mens busines least thou be entangled with controuersies abhorre the flanderer double tongued Let my doings which am thy father be euer before thyne eyes Those few goodes which I haue were truly gotten I haue not gathered them of the teares and heauines and vndoing or hindering of any Be faithfull to thy wife and besides her know none other Helpe thy neighbour accordinge to thy power and turne not thy face from the poore needie Be mercifull after thy power If thou hast much giue plentiously if thou hast licle do thy diligence gladly to giue of that litle Be not slowe to visit the sick whatsoeuer thou takest in hande remember the ende and thou shalt neuer do amisse As for me I haue passed the vanities and miseries of this world The Lorde hath giuen and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. He is the Lorde my God let hym doe with me as it seemeth good vnto hym I knowe that this shall hasten my saluatien And that Christ shalbe magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death I haue not so liued that I am ashamed to liue neither am I afrayde to die for we haue a gracious Lord. I know that if my earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed I haue a building giuē of God that is an house not made with handes but eternal in y ◠heauens They that die in the Lord are blessed they shall rest from their labors Christ is vnto me both in lyfe and in death aduantage In such sort do the Godly prepare themselues to their iourney out of this life Then the Minister prayeth that he e may bee constant in this faith he strengtheneth him confirmeth him in it He exhorteth the sicke to commende him selfe vnto God he prayeth vnto God that he will giue his Angels charge ouer him to keepe him and defende hym that hee fall not into temptation He teacheth him to saye O lord in thee haue I trusted let mee neuer be confounded Come Lord Iesus come and take mee vnto thee Lord let thy seruant depart in peace thy kindome come I am thy sonne thine am I O saue me into thine hands O Lord I commende my spirite thou hast redeemed mee O Lorde God of trueth In this state he dyeth and hath his eyes alwayes fastened vpon God and so seeth how indeede the dead are blessed which dye in the Lord. Thus doth the Churche of God instruct all men to liue and to die and to bee in readinesse Thus ar the sicke amonge vs annointed with the inner in uisible oyle of y ◠mercie of God Thus are they put in minde to haue the oyle of faith and of a good conscience and that their lampes may euer be burning that so they may enter in with the
CERTAINE Sermons preached before the Queenes Maiestie and at Paules crosse by the reuerend father IOHN IEVVEL late Bishop of Salisburie Whereunto is added a short Treatise of the Sacraments gathered out of other his sermons made vpon that matter in his cathedrall Church at Salisburie Imprinted at London by Christopher Barker Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie 1583 To the right honorable Sir William Cicil Knight Lorde high Treasorer of England and to the right honorable L. Robert Dudley Earle of Leicester two of her Maiesties most honorable priuie Counsaile most worthie Chauncelours of both the Vniuersities Oxforde and Cambridge VNtrue reportes and sclaunders can neither giue falsehoode any credite among the wise nor disgrace the due estimation of the trueth Howbeit it seemeth there are some which hope it will turne them to no small aduauntage if to other their secrete and wicked practises they ioyne a sleyght of ill speaking of sclaundering the writings the godly sayings the life and the death of those whome it hath pleased God to vse to the setting forth of his Gospel and thereby to the great comfort of his people Among others vpon whom this hath bene practised they haue made some especiall choice of the late Bishop of Salisburie a man of famous memorie whose life and death is truely and syncerely written by M. Doctour Humfrey Howsoeuer they dealt vncharitably with him in his life Christian and godly discretion would they should spare to reproche the dead Or if not so yet in wisedome they might foresee that when matters are called to tryall such things cannot passe for currant lawfull wherof some due proofe hath not bene yeelded Yet as though the discredit of that one man who in great humilitie did acknowledge himselfe inferiour to many godly fathers then liuing in this Church of England were ynough for them to ouerthrowe all that whole worke which the Almightie God hath by his right hand and strong arme established they deliuer by tradition certaine false obseruations of his either simple or negligent or wilfull and malicious gathering and abusing the holy Scriptures of God and the auncient writings of the Fathers It is a harde thing for him that speaketh much to speake nothing worthy iust reprehension But it is much harder to escape the reprehension of corrupt Iudges euen when he shal speake most vprightly His defence is abroade published by himselfe And notwithstanding the endeuour of a learned aduersarie was to empeache it yet by his last and a moderate answere he auouched it good and approued his plaine and syncere dealing to the consciences of all men Whom it may please to vnderstande after what sort he prepared himselfe to the accomplishment of those two notable bookes of the defence of the Apologie and the Replie which are as two double Canons prepared for the battery of errour and superstition must needes confesse his diligence and reuerent proceeding in such cause to haue bene such as for which he may well be compared with any whomsoeuer the former or this present age hath thought therefore worthie commendation For besides his aduised obseruation of all such things as in the aduersaries bookes deserued answere and besides that he disposed a summarie and full collection of such matter as he would vse for the disproofe of the same the which he conceiued in short notes this may be a notable testimonie that he had purpose to set downe the aucthorities out of the Fathers and the quotations truely and playnely whereas in times before hee had gathered sundrie bookes of common places out of the Greeke and Latine and later writers he did peruse a fresh the authors themselues and made euery where in them speciall markes for the difference of such places whereofhee made choyce Those were all drawen forth and layde to their themes by certeine scholers who wrote them out by such direction as he had giuen vnto them So reuerent regard had he to do the worke of the Lord and to defend the trueth faithfully With like reuerence also did he in all places where he was occasioned to preach handle the word of God Albeit his giftes of reading and vnderstanding memorie were great yet it appeareth he did seldome or neuer deliuer any exposition vpon any peece of scripture before any Congregation in the meanest parish of the countrie but vpon diligent studie and whereof he drewe his notes In this his care Gods prouidence wrought mercifully for his Church that so there might be some way to deliuer in common vnto all the fruites of those godly trauailes which he gaue forth to some one especiall part of the Church Hereby it is that these his Sermons preached before her Maiestie and at Paules crosse come nowe to the reading of all such before whome they were once spoken to seeke that of them in true practise of Christian religion for which they were in their times vttered Why I make choyce of these among so many so excellent his sermons pronounced in those places if any be curious to aske let him aduisedly consider the state of Gods Church amongst vs in these dayes and bestowe his paynes to reade these which are offered to his Christian iudgement and then make to himselfe a charitable answere And if at such seuerall times as that reuerende father in the feare of God moued his petitions before the conscience either of her highnesse or of your honors or of any others the good children and seruantes of God he were so well acquitted that he was thought to speake vprightly in true zeale for the aduauncement of Gods glorie and like a wise buylder of the house of God no doubt in this rehearsall of them altogether they shall worke that wholsome effect if through the assistance of Gods holy spirite they be considered now with as great diligence as hee was then heard with good attention Your honours haue wel declared that you measured not your louing affection to him by the short terme of his life which giueth great hope that his humble requestes so many as are to craue ayde and furtherance of aucthoritie shall in good time be preferred They are such as shew how desirous he was to see the peace and prosperitie of Ierusalem and that the kingdome of God might neuer againe be taken away from vs. He sheweth what thinges they are by which this may bee brought to passe that among all the meanes which mans wisedome can prouide next to the high meanes of princely authoritie the chiefest is that all particular Churches may bee furnished with sufficient learned and godly Ministers and therefore that tender due care be had to encrease the nomber of them Their seruice is most needeful in the ouerthrowe of Iericho the citie which God will haue destroyed and in the buylding vp vnto God his Temple at Ierusalem The care which Magistrates take hereof and that laborers may be sent into the Lordes haruest which may defende the cause of Christ against those which charge
worlde was made to lie downe on all foure that Sapores might set his feete on his shoulders and so get to horsebacke Al this notwithstanding the Gospel of Christ grewe stil and went forwarde Suche successe shal they haue that take in hand to builde Hiericho The Lorde wil smyte his enemies vpon the cheeke bone he will breake the teeth of the wicked Well may they barke they shal not byte God knoweth the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked shal perish God resisteth the proude but giueth grace to the lowly Yet a little while saith Dauid the wicked shall not appeare and thou shalt looke after his place and hee shall not be found The remembraunce of him shall perish Euery plant which our heauenly father hath not planted shalbe rooted out Put not your trust then in princes nor in the sonnes of men which cannot saue themselues their breath departeth and they returne to their earth It is God that is king of kings which loueth the righteous ouerthroweth the way of the wicked All flesh is grasse and al the grace thereof is as the floure of the field the grasse withereth the floure fadeth but the word of our God shall stande for euer Was God able in those daies to auenge the crâ—elty of Tyrantes to withstand the proud to defend the humble and lowlie shal we thinke that his hande is shortened great is our God his power is wonderfull and there is no ende of his iudgements O what leagues and confederacies what practises pollicies haue we seene defeyted what aboundaunce of blood hath been shed by sword and by fire the workers thereof are gone the end of many of them was horrible yet the Gospel continueth and encreaseth in all places Aeneas Siluius who was afterward Pope and called Pius the seconde sheweth in his storie of Bohemia what great preparation was made to mainteyne the Church of Rome and to destroy al those which professed the Gospel whom they called Hussites and Calixtians because they defended the receyuing of the cup as well as of the bread in the Lordes Supper Two Cardinals the one of them Cardinall Beauford an English man Bishop of Win the other Iulianus were sent into Germany to leauy power at whose intreaty the Emperour and States appoynted three armies of men to fulfill the Popes purpose But saith the story Non visum hostem fugerunt They fled before they did see the enimie And againe the secoÌ„d time Priusquam hostis vllus daretur in cospectu foedis sima caepta fuga They fledde away with shame before any enimy came to fight here of one of the Cardinals Iulianus writeth thus to Eugenius the fourth Nonne videbitur hic digitus Dei Ecce exercitus armatorum toties fugit à facie eorum nunc similiter Ecclesia vniuersalis fugit ecce nec armis nec literis vinci possâ—t Videbitur miraculum Dei euideter demonstrans illos ver a sentire nos falsa Is not the power of God here to be seene our armies of souldiers haue fled before theÌ„ many times and now the vuiuersal Church fleeth They cannot be ouercome neither by weapons nor by learning This must needs appeare a miracle wrought by God to declare that their opinion is true and ours false Thus we see how vainly and miserably they encumber themselues which take vpon them to restore Hiericho God withstandeth them defeateth their purpose as wee may see this day Let vs therfore reioyce in God and let vs saye with the people of Israel I will sing vnto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and him that rode vpon him hath he ouerthrowen in the sea It is not enough that wee looke backe and gaze at this decayed citie of Hiericho and beholde the rampiers loosed the walles throwen downe the houses burned and the people thereof slayne God can giue peace God can withdrawe it we haue seene the iudgements of the Lord vpon them wee haue seene the turning of the Lords hand towards vs. That thing whiche hath bin done may be done again The Arke of God was taken by the Philistims and God suffered his temple to be spoyled not that he was offended with the Arke or with the temple but for the vnworthines of the people He neuer forsaketh but he is first forsaken As he saith Seeing ye haue forsaken mee I wil also forsake you God himself telleth vs by the prophet Ieremie as you heard before That which I haue built wil I destroy that which I haue planted wil I plucke vp When Christ rebuked the vnthankfulnes of the Iewes he said vnto them The kingdom of God shalbe taken froÌ„ you and shalbe giuen to a nation whiche shall bring forth the fruites thereof And agayne The children of the kingdom shalbe cast out into vtter darknes for many are called but fewe are chosen It behoueth vs not therfore ouermuch to glory in victory It is fickle and casuall and may be lost Let vs humble our selues vnder the mighty hande of God let vs acknowledge the woonderfull woorke that he hath wrought in our dayes and praye him to continue the good thinge hee hath begunne among vs. In him we haue our lyuing our mouing and our being We are nothing but claye before him that he which reioyceth may reioyce in the Lorde Now it remaineth we consider what wholsome remedies may be deuised that Hiericho be neuer againe restored Here of I wil say somewhat the time so requireth Heere might wee marke the practises and policies of noble coÌ„querors what wayes they take to keepe themselues in safety and their conquered subiectes from rebellion Some when they had gotten a citie thought it enough to ouerthrow the walles therof Some razed al the castels threw down al the holdes Others haue built strong places and Towers and furnished them with munition to bridle the people Others haue spoyled them and kept theÌ„ poore Others haue vnarmed them kept them from all weapon Others to withdrawe them from vnquiet fancies haue set them to Plough the ground and to other bodily labour Others haue cut off their captaines and al such as might seem able to leade the people and to moue rebellion Some haue killed their male children Some dissolued the old Lawes and gaue them new Others haue forbidden banquets feasts and al other conuenticles or asseÌ„blies to make them strange one to another Others haue purposely sowed and mainteined factions set city against citie surname against surname blood against blood that no man might safely trust another Some haue deuised othes and bands of conscience some haue deuised lawes martial other crueltie some haue transported and caried away the whole people man woman and child as Nabuchodonozor did the Iewes into BabiloÌ„ put others in their place By these and such other like wayes as much as wisedom and pollicie could deuise they thought to keepe countries and nations in
to y t original as the vse is in trying of mesures where in tryal whether is true or fals ye haue euermore recourse to the standard For if ther be any falt whatsoeuer it be the standerd wil bewray it This order Christ himselfe vsed with the priests Pharises saying Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur My house shall bee caled the house of praier But you haue gone froÌ„ the paterne or original you haue made it a harbour for theeues And whereas the contention stoode vpon diuorse Christ called them to y e first original A principio non fuit sic From the beginning it was not so they twayne shall be one flesh And S. Paul when the holy mysterie of the Lordes Supper was abused called theÌ„ home to the first institutioÌ„ I haue receiued of the Lorde that which I also haue deliuered vnto you By this standerde Christ reproued the Sadduces Erratis nescientes Scripturas You erre not knowing the Scriptures And by the same hee confuted the Deuil when hee came to tempt him Soriptum est It is written This standerd shall bee able to warrant vs if we can saye truely Scriptum est For as the learned father Irenaeus sayth Scriptura est basis fundamentum fidei nostrae The Scripture is the pillar foundation of our faith It is rashnesse to beleeue without the warrant or direction of the Scriptures It is not deuotion nor catholique faithe but foolish rashnesse Now howe many wayes and in howe many poyntes the Church of late dayes hath dissented from the Churche of Christe and of the Apostles which no doubt was the Catholique Church it were almost an infinite worke to recken vp For they disagree in so many things y t in maner they agree in nothinge Notwithstanding I wil lay out one or two things before you and by them your wisedomes shall ghesse the rest Christ gaue the Sacrament of his body and blood to bee frequented in the Congregation that all shoulde bee partakers thereof in remembrance of his death and sayde Hoc facite in meam commemorationem Do yee this in remembrance of mee Thus Christ hymself ordayned and commanded thus the Apostles and the catholique fathers in the primatiue Church vsed it and there can no commandement nor example be shewed forth to the contrary Yet our later fathers agaynst Christ agaynst the Apostles against the primitiue church haue thought it sufficient that one priest alone should communicate for all the rest Christ deliuered the holy Communion vnder both kindes and so was it vsed in the Primitiue Church and in the times of the doctors Chrysostome Ambrose Gregorie Augustine and Hierome But our fathers in the Councill holden at Constance of late yeares haue gone from the originall and haue decreed against Christ himselfe against his Apostles and Doctours that to minister the Communion to a lay man vnder both kinds is an open heresie Alas good brethren I beseeche you consider by the way in what state was the Church of Christe then when Christes owne institution and the Apostles doctrine was called heresie Christ his Apostles the catholque fathers vsed their praiers in a common tongue that the people might perceiue what was saide in the Church say Amen But how neere our later fathers come to that originall it needeth no rehearsal For you haue heard it taught you as a necessary doctrine that your prayers should be in the Latine tongue although you did not vnderstand what ye prayed for and that kinde of prayer hath bene called deuotion God left order to his Church Non facies tibi sculptile thou shalt not make thee any graueÌ„ image From Christs time for the space of 500 yeres there was no allowance of images in the Catholique Church but our later fathers caÌ„not take it for a Church vnlesse it be decked set about with images The Apostles were maried as Ignatius and Ambrose witnes so were others y e ministers of the Church after them as it is wel knowne for 1000. yeres after Christ To hold good this originall there haue bene certayne Canons set downe Si quis doâ—uerit sacerdotem sub obtentu religionis propriaÌ„ vxorem coÌ„temnere anathema sit If any man teach y t a priest for color of religioÌ„ should conteÌ„nâ— his wife let him be accursed And y e general couÌ„cel holden at GaÌ„gra as it is set downe also by Gratian If any put differeÌ„ce betwene the priest that is maryed by reson of his mariage that he should not offer for that cause coÌ„meth not to his offring he is accursed yet pope Hildebrand one of the later fathers decreed coÌ„manded that no man should heare such priests Masse that had a wife but caused their tenth to bee burnt their prayers blessings to be holden as curses and the sacrament which they had consecrate to be spit at and troden vnder mens feete You wyll saye These be but smal matters and may be borne withal for decencie and good order But you shal vnderstand that the canons of the Apostles and diuers of the first Bishops of Rome and other holy Fathers required that all such as were present at the ministration of the Communion shoulde also bee patakers of the Sacrament accounted worthy to be put out af the Church whosoeuer would not communicate with the Minister And Chrisostome calleth such a one impudent malepert Quisquis mysteriorum coÌ„sors nonest c. whosoeuer saith he doth not communicate standeth by he is shameles malepert CoÌ„munioÌ„ vnder one kinde is no smal matter but such a matter of such weight that Gelasius calleth it opeÌ„ sacrilege to minister y e sacrament in one kinde Common prayer in a straunge tongue is such a matter that it taketh away the very vse of coÌ„mon prayer For the people as Paul saith cannot say Amen nor be edified nor giue God thankes And the Emperour Iustinian in a law that he maketh touching the publike prayers of the Church saith thus we coÌ„mand al Bishops priests to minister the holy oblatioÌ„ the prayer at y e holy Baptism not vnder sileÌ„ce but with such voice as may bee hard of the faithful people to the intent that the harts of the hearers may be stirred vp to more deuotion c. And let the holy priests vnderstand that if thei neglect ani of these things they shal make answer therfore at the dreadful iudgment of the great God our sauiour Iesus Christ And yet neuerthelesse wee our selues vnderstanding the same wyll not passe it ouer nor leaue it vnpunished To haue images in the church of God is no smal matter It is forbidden by a general councel called EliberinuÌ„ Epiphanius a catholique father calleth it abhomination The violent inforcing of sole life is such a matter that S. Paul calleth it doctrinaÌ„ daemoniorum the doctrin of deuils And Daniel saith it is one of the marks of Antichrist Neither
saieth the Lord. There be certain bookes of our Lord vnto the authority whereof eche parte agreeth eche part beleeueth eche part yeeldeth there let vs seeke for the Churche thereby let vs examine and trye our matters This is the Rocke vppon whiche Christ hath builte his Churche against this Rocke the gates of Hell shall not preuayle Augustine speaketh this in a prety allusion Non me aedificabo super te sed te aedificabo super me I will not builde my selfe vppon thee but I wil builde thee vppon mee The same affirmeth Hierome Basil Cyril Hillarius and other the auncient writers It woulde bee too long to alleage any more onely I will recite vnto you Lyraes iudgement of these woordes more for that hee was one that fauoured our Aduersaries then for the weight of his authoritie Super hanc petram sayeth hee id est super Christum Vpon this rock that is vpō Christ ex quo patet quod Ecclesia non consistit in hominibus ratione potestatis c. Wherby it is manifest that the Church is not among men by reason of any Ecclesiasticall or Seculare authoritie or dignitie because many Princes and chiefest Bishoppes haue forsaken the faith therefore the Church resteth in those persons in whō are to be found true knowledge the confession of faith acknowledging of the trueth Wherefore the foundation of this building wherupon all the whole worke must rest must be Christ and his holy word for as Saint Paul saith No man can lay an other foundation then that which is layde already Iesus Christ The Emperour Domitian pretending a refourming of the Empire which afore his time Tyberius Caligula Nero and other wicked Emperours had spoyled and defaced asked a Philosopher one Apollonius Tyanaeus what order were best to be taken therein Apollonius made him aunsweare Sir if it please your Maiestie you must doe as the Musition had his Schollers doe Howe is that sayde Domitian Marye Sir quoth Apollonius there was a cunning Musition that set his Schollers to an ignoraunte and homelye minstrell to learne musicke of him but before hee sent them out hee gaue them this Lesson whatsoeuer you see your Maister doe see that you auoyde it he is vnlearned and his Lessons and manner of fingering nought therefore see you doe the contrary Euen so may I say whatsoeuer we see that they haue done that were our later fathers before vs that haue destroyed Christes Church let vs remember to doe the contrary Their foundation as you know and as they themselues confesse is ignoraunce let our foundation be Christ and knowledge of Gods word They haue pulled the Scriptures out of the peoples heades and handes that no man might see their doings Let vs exhort all men as S. Chrysostome Origen and other holy fathers did to reade the Scriptures that all the worlde may see our doings They buyld Gods worde vpon the Church let vs as Paule doth teach vs buyld the Church vppon Gods word They contrary to God contrary to his word haue made the Bishop of Rome supreame head of the Church contrary I say to the worde of God haue they made him supreme head of al the Church These are not my wordes but S. Gregorie who was himselfe a bishop of Rome saith of them Piae leges venerandae Sinodi ipsa Domini nostri Iesu mandata superbi atque pompatici cuiusdam sermonis inuentione turbantur The godly lawes the reuerend Synodes and the very commandements of our Lord Iesu are broken by the inuention of a certain proud and pompous name And thereof as Gregorie himselfe testifieth hath ensued Vniuersa pernicies An vniuersal destruction Marke I beseeche you and let it not out of your remembrance They say this is the key of the Church that one be the head of it to rule it and to gouerne and keepe in vnity all the rest But Gregorie which was himselfe a Bishoppe of Rome saith it is Vniuersa pernicies A generall corruption and plague of the Church Let vs according to Gods woorde according to the Canons knowe that as Cyprian saith Vnus est Episcopatus cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur There is but one Byshopricke part wherof is holden in whole of euery seueral Bishoppe And as Hierome saith Vbicunque fuerit Episcopus siue Romae siue Engubij fiue Constantinopoli siue Rhegij siue Alexandriae siue Tanais eiusdem meriti eiusdem est sacerdotij Whersoeuer there be a Bishop be it at Rome be it at Eugubium be it at Constantinople be it at Rhegium be it at Alexandria be it at Tanais they are al of one worthines they are al of one priesthood They set the Pope aboue kings princes against Gods word Let vs know that according to Gods worde euery soule must be subiect to y ◠higher powers In these things in al other the like in which they forsake y e paterne original in which they doe cōtrary to the scriptures to Christ and his Apostles contrary to the practise of the Primitiue Church and contrary to the sound iudgement of the auncient Catholike fathers grounded vpon the worde of God let vs remember whatsoeuer they do or haue done to doe the contrary For it is not possible by what meanes things haue growen to corruption that by the same meanes they shall euer bee wel restored againe After the Temple was builded or was in building and rearing Esdras the Prophete read the Lawe of GOD and sacrificed Oxen sheepe and Lambes and the people wepte in consider action that they and their fathers had so vnkindly offended God and deserued so extreamely to be punished at his hande So the good king Iosias after he had founde the booke of the Lawe and sawe howe highly both he and his fathers had offended God hee fell a weeping for the consideration of Gods greate benefites and our owne vnwoorthinesse canseth vs to mourne at the sight of our owne vnkindenesse Then they turned 〈◊〉 GOD repented themselues of their wickednesse and left suche vanities as they had walked in before So Christ our Sauiour when he began to preache the Gospell and to spreade abroade the vnspeakeable treasure of our saluation called vs first to repentance and said Poenitentiam agite appropinquauit enim regnum coelorum Repentye for the kingdō of God is at hād Zachaeus when he had receiued Christ to his table repented him of his excortion and made restitution Then Iesus sayd vnto him This day is saluatiō come vnto this house forasmuch as he is also become the sonne of Abraham So the Christian men in the beginning repented themselues and changed their whole life therfore were called Saintes as S. Paul vseth in many places to name them Vocatis Sanctis to those which are called Saints And sanctis qui sunt Corinthi To the Saintes which are at Corinth Plinie being a heathen and set by the Emperour to enquire of Christian men made report in
despise his calling let him not speake to vs in vain let vs no longer say it is not yet time to build vp the Lords house God hath raised vp vnto vs a most vertuous noble Lady that hath already set labourers a woorke begun the building Let vs remember that the Chaldees when they came to Ierusalem neuer strayned curtesie or sayde It is not yet time to pul down the house of God they layd handes on it spoyled it they burnt it without mercy euen vnto the grounde Let vs not in Gods cause bee more negligent then our enemies were against God Let euery man say with himselfe It is Gods temple that must be built vp it is the heauenly Hierusalem it is the arke of the Lord it is the Lords busines that I haue in hand accursed be he that doth the Lordes busines vnfaithfully And you my Lordes forasmuch as God hath planted you in chiefest honour and made you the greatest ouerseers of his worke I beseech you euen for his sake when you see your owne houses so furnished as is meete for your estates remember the poore house of God When you see your men waiting attending at your Tables remember howe fewe there bee to wayte vppon Christ at his table When you coÌ„sider that your owne houses cannot bee mainteyned without prouision remember there bee prouision made for the house of God Let y e zeale of Gods owne house rauish and deuour our hearts let vs build vp the cabernacle of the most holy and dreadful and euer liuing God so will God dwell and abide with vs and be glorified in the middest amongst vs. And thou most mercifull father deale fauourably with Sion that wee may see the walles of thy Hierusalem restored For now is the time of thy mercy come vpon vs now is the time And as thou hast begun this worke in vs in these our daies so vouchsafe to blesse the same that it may endure and continue for euer that al the world may know thee the onely true and liuing God and thy Sonne Iesus Christe whose Gospell thou hast reuiued amongst vs. To whom with thee and the holy Ghost be al honour and glory world without end Amen Psalme 69. The zeale of thine house hath eaten me CErtaine learned wise men of old time that had no vnderstaÌ„ding or sauour of god when they considered with themselues to what end and purpose mankinde was create set in this worlde after they had driuen the matter as farre as they might by naturall knowledge at length they concluded some that man was made to knowe the properties and qualities the conuenience or difference of natural thinges either in the aire or in the water or in the earth or vnder y e earth Some other that man was made to consider and behold the Sunne and Moone the starres the course and reuolutions of the Heauens And so they iudged that man which eyther had most aboundance of naturall reason or behelde and considered the heauens best to be most perfect of all others and that he came neerest to the end of his creation Thus sayde they as men without feeling of God onely endued with the light of nature But as God himselfe declareth who fashioned vs and made vs and knoweth vs best the very true ende why man was made was to knowe and to honour God Therefore who so knoweth him best honoreth him with most reuerence he is most perfect hee commeth neerest the end of his creation When Salomon had described the deceyuable vanities of the worlde and saide Vanity of vanities vanitie of vanities al is vanity wheÌ„ hee had concluded by longe discourse that riches empire honour pleasures knowledge and whatsoeuer els vnder the Sunne is but vanitie hee knieteth vp the matter with these woordes Feare GOD and keepe his commaundementes for this is the whole duetie of men That is this is trueth and no vanity this is our perfection to this ende are wee made not to liue in eating and drinking not to passe our time in pleasure follies not to heape vp those thinges which are daylye taken from vs or from whiche wee are daylye taken awaye but that in our woordes in our life in our bodye and in our soule wee doe seruice vnto God that wee looke aboue the Sunne and Moone and all the Heauens that we become the Temples of the holye Ghoste that the holy spirite of GOD may dwell in vs and make vs fitte instrumentes of the glorye of God Therfore God gaue vs his holy word hath continued it from the beginning of the worlde vntill this daye notwithstanding the Philosophers and learned men in all ages who scorned it out as the worde of fâ—llie for so it seemeth to them that perish Notwithstanding the wicked Princes and Tyrants and high â—omers of the worlde who consumed and burnt it as false and wicked or seâ—â—tious doctrine notwithstanding the whole worlde and 〈◊〉 of darkenes 〈◊〉 euer bent against it yet hath he wonderfully coÌ„tinued and perserued it without losse of one letter vntil this day that we might haue whereby truly to know him the true and onely God and his sonne Iesus Christ whom he sent Therfore haue we Temples and Churches places to resorte vnto altogether to honour to worship and to acknowledge him to be our god to ioyne our hearts and voyces together and to call vpon his holy name In suche places God hath at all times vsed to open his maiesty and to shew his power In such places God hath made vs a special promise to heare our prayer when soeuer we call vpon him Therefore are they called the dwelling place and house of GOD. In such places al godly men euermore set their greatest pleasure and thought themselues miserable when they were seciuded or put off from the same as the Prophete and â—oiy prince Dauid Laetatus sum in his quae â—icta sunt 〈◊〉 in domum Domini ibimus O saith that holye man my hart reioyced within my body wheÌ„ my fellowes called vpon me and said Let vs go into the house of the Lord. Againe I am in loue with the beauty of thy house And again O how beautiful is thy tabernacle O Lord O thou y â— God of hosts my heart longeth fainteth to come within thy courts His spirits were rauished with the sight maiesty of the tabernacle not for y â— the place it selfe at y â— time was so beautiful for in Dauids time it was almost rotten ruinous a homely thing to behold nothing in comparison to that teÌ„ple that afterward was built by Salomon But therein stood the shew worthines of that holy place y â— Gods trueth and lawe was opened and proclaimed in it and the sacraments and ceremonies so vsed in such forme and order as God had commanded them to be vsed the people receiued them obediently and liued thereafter Therfore when the tabernacle was restored when the Arke was fet
home from Obededom and set in the mount Sion when Religion reuiued which through the negligence and malice of Saul was forsaken when he saw his nobility his Bishoppes his Priestes and all his people willing and forward he could not refraine him selfe but brake out and song Haec est dies quam fecit Dominus exultemus laetemurin ea This is the day which y ◠Lord hath made let vs be glad and reioyce in it Let vs be merry ioye that euer we liued to see it Euen so Paul when in his time hee saw the Gospel take roote and prosper and that the sauour of life was powred abroade that the kingdome of God was enlarged and the kingdome of Satan shaking down his heart leaped and sprong within him Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile Behold now that acceptable time behold God hath looked downe mercifully vpon the world beholde the daye of saluation is come vpon vs. But the godly man as hee reioyceth at the beautie of Gods house so when contrariwise he seeth the same disordered filthily when he seeth the Sacraments of God abused the trueth troden vnder foote the people mocked the name of god dishonoured he cānot but lament mourn and finde himselfe wounded at heart When the good king Iosias saw the booke of god whiche was so long hid in y ◠wall out of remēbrance when he considered the blindenes in which they had liued the vnkindnes of their forfathers he could not forbeare but fell a weeping he feared least god would take vengeance vpō thē for so great cōtempt of his word Whē Ieremy saw the wilfulnes and frowardnesse of the people which would not submit themselues and be obedient vnto god he cryed Oh that my head were ful of water mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and hight c. Such care had they for Gods people thus the zeale of Gods house had eaten them vp Zeale if any man know not the nature of the word is an earnest affection and vehement loue as is the loue of a mother towards her children or of y e natural child towards his mother This zeale cannot abyde to see that thing which it loueth despised or hurt Such a zeale and care carieth God ouer his people hee loueth them as a mother loueth her little children he wil not suffer them to be hurt By y e Prophet Esai he saith Can a woman forget her childe not haue cōpassion on the sonne of her womb thogh they should forget yet wil I not forget thee Zachary also saith He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eie For God hath said they shalbe my people and I wil be their God Such care likewise heare al the godly towards their God they loue him with all their soule with al their heart with al their strength they reuerence him as their deare father they are grieued at anye blasphemy and with anye contempt of his holy name But as euery man be he neuer so wicked yea euen he that saieth in his heart there is no God which is become filthy abhominable in al his doings yet in his talke outwardly saith he hath a God and that hee beleeueth in him euen so there is none so wicked or so forsaken of God in his heart but he perswadeth himselfe hee hath the zeale of GOD and what he doth in selfe loue of his owne fantasie hee will beare in hand he doth it for the loue of God The ouerthrowers and wasters of the Churche will seeme to shew a speciall care for the Churche Dissemblers hypocrites despisers scorners euen suche as sinne agaynst the holye Ghost which denie the trueth of God after they haue knowen it which witting and knowing fight against the trueth which say of Christ we will not haue him to rule ouer vs which worke that sinne that shall neuer bee forgeuen in this worlde nor in the worlde to come yet notwithstanding wil pretend and seem to haue the zeale of God Thus the Scribes and Pharisies set vp their bristles against Christ thy Disciples keep not the common fast thou sufferest them to put and to eate the eares of corne thou sufferest them to eate with vnwashed handes thou breakest the tradition of the Elders thou breakest the Law of God which he gaue vs by Moses thou art a seditious teacher thou art a schismatike thou art an Heretike They sayde we fast twise in the Weeke wee haue Abraham to our father we are Moses Disciples Therfore when they hearde Stephen speaking those heauenly words Behold I see the heauens open and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of God through zeale they gaue a shoute with a loud voyce stopped their eares and ran vpon him al at once When Christ had said Ye shall see the sonne of man sit at the right hād of God come in the clouds of heauē the hie priest through zeale rent his clothes sayd Ye haue heard the blasphemie This naughty man speaketh blasphemie against God He called a Councell the Scribes Pharisies met together not one man amongst them but of themselues they looked about them as if they only were the pillars and buttresses of the church and were only zealous and carefull for the house of God But their meeting was as Dauid forespake and as Peter declareth and as wee knowe against the Lorde and against annointed They were touched with zeale of their owne glory not with the zeale of Gods trueth They sought their owne praise but not the praise which is of God They made crakes that they knewe the scriptures that they were the Temple of God that they had the consent of al antiquitye as others haue done since that time and as wee see many do this day in very deed these men now haue euen as much as they had then as by proof and triall it wil appeare There are others which haue a feeling of God and a great care for his Church but such a feeling and care as commeth either of their owne fantasies or of some opinion and credite they haue in their Fathers which were before them not of the vnderstanding of Gods pleasure Such are they which offende God not of malice or wilfulnesse but onelye for lacke of teaching and vnderstanding Such were they whiche withstoode Saint Paule in all his preaching for that they tooke him for an Heretike and thought his preaching was against God I beare them witnesse saith he that they haue the zeale of GOD but not according to knowledge Such a zeale haue many who forbid that God commandeth and commande that which God forbiddeth Such a zeale had Paule himselfe I was a blasphemer a persecutor an oppressor but I was receiued to mercy for I did it ignorauntly without beliefe Such a zeale haue they who think they do God good seruice whē they kil murther the righteous good seruāts of God Such a
a potion shewed him not what was in it began to chafe and take on with him why said he heale not me as thou wouldest heale an oxe or a horse but shew me what thou giuest me what are the ingredients and wherefore thou giuest it me Euen so must the people bee healed of their errours they must know what is giuen them and wherefore Fides saith Bernard suadenda est non imponēda Faith may not be compulsed by force or rigour but gently brought in by perswasiō For forced faith is no faith Saint Paule saieth Faith commeth by hearing hearing by the word of God And therefore it is wel obserued by the wise politike father S. Ambrose that the church of Christ was not gathered by the law but by faith Basil saith If you wil haue Gods wisedō take place al your worldly wisedome must be set a parte And in like sort Hillarius Humanis operib extructa nō permanent aliter aedificanda Ecclesia aliter custodienda est c. Things that be set vp with mans workmanship saith Hillary will not endure the church of God must otherwise be buylded and preserued for the foundation of it must be layde vppon the Apostles and Prophets The church being thus built by God that is to say by the doctrine of God shall neuer fall I speake not this against all ciuil and honest lawful policie for I know it is the gift of God without the which nor common state nor the Church can be mainteined But this seemeth to haue byn the meaning of these olde Fathers that in the building of Gods church y e preaching of Gods worde must goe before to quiet mens consciences and wisedome pollicie like handmaides must follow after For this honor prerogatiue God claimeth onely to himselfe that his Church must bee built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Which if it be otherwise built Nisi dominus aedificauerit domū in vanum laborauerunt qui aedificant eam Vnlesse God himselfe build vp the house they sweat and labour but in vain that set it vp Thus Christ at the beginning gathered his Church not by lawes of men but against all law policy by the preaching of his word God might haue instructed Cornelius by the Angell that appeared to him as it appeareth in y e Acts of the Apostles but he woulde not so but sent Peter to him that he might be instructed by the mouth of a Preacher Hee might haue taught Paul after he had striken him downe from his horse when he appeared to him said Ego sum Iesus quē tu persequeris I am Iesus whō thou persecutest But he would not so but rather left him to be taught by Ananias And as it appeareth in the Actes of the Apostles at the preaching of Peter 3000. people were conuerted wonn in one day that it might appeare by what tooles and with what workemen God woulde haue his haruest set forward Nowe let vs beholde the present state of our countrey These wordes of Christ our Sauiour were neuer more true then we find them now in these our dayes The haruest is great the labourers very fewe the poore people lyeth forsaken and left as it were sheepe without a guide the afflicted in conscience haue no man to quiet them they growe wilde and sauadge as it were a people that had no God they are commaunded to change their religion and forlacke of instruction they know not whither to turne them they knowe not neither what they leaue nor what they should receiue Some other defie and spit at the holy gospel of our Sauiour Christ and refuse the Couenāt of euerlasting life Some other for lacke of knowledge followe after wilfull blinde maisters and become Arrians or Pelagians and thus they blaspheme the sonne of God Some other giue themselues ouer to their owne affections and as he saith reioyce and triumph in their filthinesse without feare of God without conscience of sinne and so treade downe the blood of the testament vnder their feete and this do they for lacke of teaching because they haue not learned men and preachers to shew them what they should doe O saith our Sauiour Christ the good shepheard and Bishop of our soules my haruest is beaten down and lost and there is none that wil goe abroade and saue it My people run headlong to their own destruction not of malice but of verye simplicity onely because they are not taught because they know not my father nor me Alas it is not my fathers will that anye of them should be lost They be our brethren they be the flocke of God they be the haruest they are bought with great price I beseeche you euen for that blood that was shed and spent for them and vs al let vs not despise them If the kingdome of God be not worthy to be promoted yet the kingdome of Satan is worthye to be ouerthrowne Now is that acceptable and ioyfull time come amongst vs euen nowe God hath visited his people now the haruest is greate and plentious Al the world this day longeth and groneth after the Gospell Let vs therefore altogether directe our prayers to the Lord and master of the haruest Wee beseeche thee most mercifull father for thy sonne Iesus Christes sake as thou hast plentifully encreased thy haruest brought it to a ripenes in these our dayes so sende out labourers to get it in that it be not spilt Gather in al thy sheepe that lie straying w tout a heard Lighten the heartes of thine aduersaries that they may know the time of their visitation and see that blessed hope whereunto thou haste called them That all the worlde with one mouth and one minde may know and gloryfie thee the onely true and lyuinge God and thy sonne Iesus Christ to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be al honour and glorye Amen Luke 11. vers 15. But some of them saide he casteth out deuils through Beelzebub the chiefe of deuils c. THat it may please God so to order both my vtterance and your vnderstāding that whatsoeuer shalbe spoken or heard may turne to the glory of his holy name and to the profite and comfort of his Church before I enter into the exposition of these wordes I desire you to call vpon our gracious God with your earnest and harty prayer And heere I commende vnto you the good estate of Gods holy and catholique Church and therein the Queenes most excellent maiesty by the especial grace of God Queene of England Fraunce and Irelande defender of the true ancient and Apostolique faith and the highest gouernour next vnder God of this Churche of England c. That as God of his mercie hath marueilously preserued her to the possession of her righte to the great comforte of all our her subiects heartes and to the reformation of the Church so it may please him to ayde and encrease her with his holy spirite to the continuance
We malice them not wee are not enemies vnto them And that thou O Lorde that knowest al things knowest best Let them haue the commendation of learning God giue them grace to ioyne it with trueth and to vse it to his glory and not to their owne Yet they must needes be very well learned that wyll charge all their aduersaries with ignorance Albeit in contention of learning I may bee worst heard to speake being the vnworthyest of all my brethren yet this dare I be bolde to say because it is true we are not so farre to seeke in learninge as they woulde haue vs appeare to be S. Paul being driuen to answere in his owne defence in a lyke matter in cōparison betweene him and the false prophets writeth on this sort Hebraei sunt ego Israelitae sunt ego Semen Abrahae sunt ego ministri Christi sunt ego They are Hebrewes so am I they are Israelits so am I they are the seede of Abraham so am I they are the ministers of Christ so am I. So wyll I saye and truely saye betweene vs and them They are seene in the tongues Latine Greeke and Hebrewe so are wee They haue studied the artes so haue wee they haue read the Doctours the generall Councels and the scriptures so haue wee If they can be learned doing this O what vnfortunate vnhappy men are we that are so vnlearned yet doe the same This lucke commonly foloweth al them that be professours of the trueth S Paul was counted and called a rebell and accused that he was an Egiptian and had gathered a number of men of warre to disquiet and trouble the Countrie Wee haue founde saith Tertullus This man a pestilent fellow a mouer of sedition amongest all the Iewes throughout the world So saieth Tertullian that in his time the Christians were called hostes public◠that is enemies destroyers of all common states And those reportes the enemies not only scattred amonge the common people but also dropped them into the magistrats princes eares that they might haue an il opinion of Christian religion and suppresse the Ministers and preachers of it so vnkinde commonly many haue bene towardes the messengers of Gods word When Christ hymselfe came downe from Heauen from the bosome of his father and began to vtter to teache the Gospell of euerlasting life and to confirme the same with manie a straunge myracle the poore people gaue eare vnto hym and beleeued his doctrine and by his wonderous workes knew him to be the sonne of Dauid the very Messias y t was promised them But the Scribes Pharises that bare the name of Doctours and had bene euermore brought vp in learnynge were the instructors of the people made light of Christes miracles said to y e people he casteth out deuils thorow Beelzebub the chiefe of the deuils The miracle was such that no reasonable man would haue thought it to be wrought by y e deuil The poore man that before had ben deafe was now able to heare that before was possessed of the deuill was now deliuered that before was sicke was now restored to his health The poore people marueiled at the doing and glorified God But the Pharisies cryed out against him In Beelzebub principe daemoniorum eiicit daemonia He casteth out deuils through Beel zebub the chiefe of y e deuils Not because it was true nor because it was likely to be true nor because they in their conscience thought it to bee true but onely to bring Christ in hatred w t the people to deface his doctrin And therfore they blasphemed that y e indeede they coulde not deny that they knew to be the workmanship of God they said it proceeded from y e deuil Christe our Sauiour putteth backe these slaunders with diuers reasons whereof at this time for shortnes sake I wyll touche but two The first reason is Euery kingdome that is diuided in it selfe shal be brought to desolation if Satan be deuided against him selfe then must his kingdome needes be dissolued that by his owne workyng But that is not likely For al y e Angels of Satan agree and conspire together to y e vpholding of their kingdome therfore must you needes confesse that I haue remoued this deuil by some other greater power not by the power of Beelzebub the chiefest of the deuils Here perhaps some man wil replie that witches coniurers oftentimes chase away one deuil by y e meane of an other Possible it is so but that is wroughte not by power but by collusion of y e deuils For one deuil y e better to attain his purpose will giue place make as though he stood in awe of another deuil And by y e way to touch but a worde or two of this matter for y t the horrible vsing of your poore subiectes inforceth therunto It may please your grace to vnderstād y t this kind of people I meane witches sorcerers w tin these fewe last yeres are marueilously increased w tin this your graces realm These eyes haue seene most euident and manifest markes of their wickednesse Your graces subtectes pine away euen vnto the death their colour fadeth their flesh rotteth their speach is benummed their sences are bereft Wherefore your poore subiects most humble petitiō vnto your highnes is that the lawes touching such malefactours may bee put in due execution For the schole of them is great their doinges horible their malice intollerable the examples most miserable And I pray GOD they neuer practise further then vpon y e subiect But this onely by the way these be the scholers of Beelzebub the chiefe captaine of the deuils This first reason that Christ vseth is taken of common experiēce For natwithstanding there be nothing so puissant as y e force of a kingdom yet if it be deuided in it self it wyl perish come to confusion For concord and agreement is the strength and maintenāce of al states Break the hoopes of a vessel al the boordes wil fal asunder The exāples hereof are too rife The mightiest kingdomes that euer were by such meanes haue bene conquered fallen into the power of their enemies Therfore Esay prophecying the destruction of the kingdome of the Jewes sayeth firste the people shal fal at dissention within themselues and then should folow their confusion When Vespasian the Emperour his sonne Titus came with an armie against Hierusalem the whole natiō of the Jewes was deuided into three factions eche of them ready to vndo the other Then folowed the ouerthrow of that kingdome Then was Hierusalem rased to y e groūd Then were there slayne of the Jewes to the nūber of 1100000. Once agayne I wil say it because it is marueilous and most true as Iosephus who was thē a capitain there in y e field writeth there were then slayne of the Jewes of men women and children no lesse then 1100000. Of late yeeres the
of al them that speak agaynst vs that touchinge the very substance of religion wee teache nothinge this day but that hath bene taught before by Christ him selfe set abroade by his Apostles continued in the Primitiue Church and maintained by the olde and ancient Doctors And in one or two wordes onely to giue a taste of the same that thereby ye may the better iudge of the rest Wee saye that in the Sacrament after the consecration remaineth the substance nature of bread and wine The same saith S. Augustine S. Chrysostome Theodoretus Gelasius others Gelasius wordes are so plaine as no man can denie them Non desinit esse substantia panis vini There leaueth not to be the substance of bread and wine Thus wrote they and were Catholiques We say that Christes last Supper must be vsed as a communion frequented with more then one So Christ ordeined it so y ◠Apostles the Primitiue Church and all the olde Doctors practised it and neuer was there any of them that euer made mētion of a priuate Masse Thus did they and yet were they Catholiques We say the holy Communion or sacrament of the breaking shedding of the body and blood of Christe ought of necessitie to bee vsed vnder both kindes Thus did all the Doctors vse it And Gelasius an old father saith that otherwise to vse it is open sacriledge And for y ◠space of 1000. yeeres after Christ there can no example be found to the contrary Thus did they and yet were Catholiques We say the publique prayers ought to be in the common tongue that the Bishop of Rome ought not to take vpon him to be the head of the vniuersal Church that the prince is of right by the authority that god hath giuen hym the hiest ruler of his Church and Realme as well of the ecclesiasticall officers as of the temporall And all these thinges bee aduouched confirmed by y e examples of the primatiue Church by the olde general Councels and by the Doctors And the contray here of shall neuer be proued nor by old father or Doctor nor by aucient councel nor by example of y ◠primatiue Church nor by any sufficient authoritie of the Scriptures I leaue the rest for it were an infinite labour to say as much as might be saide Thus they taught thus dyd they were catholikes alas are we sayinge the same onely because we say y e same become heretiques that was once true is it now become false that was once Catholique doctrine is it now at last become heresie O mercifull God was it thy wil y t thy trueth should be true but for a season vntil there should come men to decree the contrary If we be heretiques that teach the same that the olde Doctours of the Church taught what then are they that teach contrary to the Doctours Christ our Sauiour to reproue the Pharises thought it sufficient to say to them Hoc Abraham non fecit This thing Abrahā neuer did Therefore are you not the children of Abraham Euen so may we truely say to such as holde not themselues contented with this doctrine these things that you do Saint Augustine neuer did Saint Hierome neuer did none of the ancient fathers euer did the Apostles in the Catholike primatiue Church neuer did therefore yee are not the children of S. Augustine ye are not the children of S. Hierome ye are not the children of any of the olde catholique doctors ye are not the children of Christes primatiue Catholyke and vuiuersal Church It may not become me to sette order in these thinges yet if it were lawfull I woulde wysh that once agayne as time shoulde serue there might be had a quiet and a sober disputation that eche parte might be required to shew their groundes without selfe wyll and without affection not to mayntayne or breede contention for I trust it should be the way to take away al contention but onely that the trueth may bee knowen many consciences quieted and the right stone tryed by comparison of the counterfaite For at the last disputation that should haue bene you know whiche partie gaue ouer and would not meddle Some will saye the Iudges wyll not be indifferent And alas what man that doubteth his owne matter wyll euer think the Iudges indifferent Let the whole worlde let our our aduersaries them selues bee Iudges heerm affection put apart let our aduersaries themselues be Iudges What can wee offer more if this bee not sufficient what can there be sufficient Pompeius a noble Gentleman of Rome at what time he shoulde goe into the fielde against Caesar that then was his enemie and some of his counsell told him he lacked men and should neuer be able with so small a number to stande in fielde agaynst Caesar beinge well furnished Tushe quoth hee when so euer I shall but beate the ground with my foote I shall by and by rayse vp a swarme of souldiers Afterward it befell that Pompey was vanquished and glad to flee Then Marcus Cato an old gentleman and one of his army sayd to hym O sir remember your promise you lacke men now let vs see your swarme of Souldiers It is wel knowne that it hath bene spoken both in this place and in other lyke that al the Doctours and al the general councels were against vs. Nowe the armie is discomstted nowe they stande in neede of men nowe let them call for their Doctours and Councels if they come but with one sufficient Doctour or Councell they may haue the field I speake not this to boast my self of any learning but the goodnes of the cause maketh me y e holder Neither woulde I haue in this behalfe said so much as I haue sauing that the matter it selfe very necessitie inforced me so to doe Alas it were great pitie that Gods trueth shoulde be defaced w t priuy whisperings It were great pitie that whole houses shoulde be ouerthrowen mēs consciences wounded the people deceiued Gods trueth and the loue thereof pulled from your heartes his woorke blasphemed as if it came from Beelzebub w tout any good ground without any authorytie of the Scripture without any example of the Primatiue Churche without Counsell without any auncient Doctour or father But they haue another kinde of learuynge which because wee haue not therefore they say we are vnlearned For if controuersies might haue bene tryed by learnyng you shoulde neuer haue seene the Masse agayne after it was once downe If there euer come another change as I pray God wee may neuer see nor surely euer shall wee vnlesse our vnkindnesse pull downe Gods plague vppon vs but if a change come suche a one as they looke for you shall see with what argument they wyll proue their Masse We reade that Christ dyd put the Pharises to silence yet afterwarde when their tyme came they sayde We haue a lawe and by our law he must die But Gods name be praysed no persecutions no
time saith a Christian man could be known by nothing so wel as by the changing of his life Cyprian of the Christians in his time sayth Veniunt vt discant discunt vt viuant They come that they may learne they learne that they may know how to liue S. Paul commendeth the Philippians that they shine as lyghtes in the worlde that theyr lyfe doth testifie what they be Eusebius saieth Valeriani aula erat referta piis Ecclesia Deifacta They y t were of the court of Valerian were become Christians and then was the court not lyke a court but like vnto the Church of God Iustinus the martir saith he was first turned to Christ for the admiration that he had of the innocent and godly life of Christian men Such then was the life of them that bare the name of Christ they came to learne they learned to liue You might haue knowne theyr profession by the onely changing of their maners The court wherin they liued was so reuerently kept without notable sinne or wantonnes as if it has ben the temple of God O almighty God howe fares it nowe with them that woulde be called Christians and bee reckoned among professors of the Gospel how many are there that come to learne how many are there that learne to liue howe many are there that may be knowne by changing of their maners Unlesse it be for that they make a mockerie of Gods holy Gospel and so become more dissolute more fleshly more wanton then euer they were afore What court can we finde that any part may be lyke the temple of God Seldome is it that almightye God may bee hearde to speake hys minde But when he hath spoken who is he that thinketh vpon it who is he that doth not dispise it who is he that spurneth not at it If our life should giue testimonie and report of our religion sory I am to speake it but alas it is to true in too many it cryeth out Non est Deus the very course of our life beareth wytnesse against vs that in our heartes wee thinke there is no God and that there is no feare of God before our eyes I amplifie not nor enlarge the matter I woulde to God it were no more then I make of it Thus we doe withholde the trueth of God in vnrighteousnesse thus the grace of God is abused to the contenting of our pleasures thus wee become the vessels of Gods wrath and heape vp vengeance vpon our heads Therefore wil God take away his holy spirit from vs therefore wyl God giue vs ouer to a reprobate minde therfore shal y e end of vs be worse then was y e beginning O good brethren let vs not abuse the mercy of god let vs not receiue the grace of god in vaine Remēber how many eyes are set vpon vs let vs take occasion away from them y t seeke occasion to sclander our profession let not let not our life cause the gospel of Iesus Christ to be yl spoken of and blasphemed let vs walke so as becommeth them that are called and in deede are Filii lucis The children of light The trueth of the gospel of Iesus Christ hath nowe shined ouer the whole worlde if it be yet hiddē from any it is hidden frō them that perish he that perisheth nowe shall perish in his owne blood Now if any beleeue not he is inexcusable The wisdom of god in publishing his word contrary against the course of mans policie y e continual preaching of it in al places the ashes of so many learned fath ers godly men women who haue yeelded their bodies to the cruel torments of tyrants to bee consumed in the fire for the testimony therof are yet so fresh in your eies spoken of in your hearinge and witnessed in your hartes and consciences that you can not denie but the kingdome of God is come amongst vs. But if there be any that is not perswaded in his religion for asmuch as it is a matter of lyfe and death of saluation damnation I beseeche you before God and before his Christ let vs not be careles let vs not be negligent If we mislike it let vs read the Scriptures and know wherefore we mislike it Dispise not good brethren despise not to heare gods worde declared As you tender your owne soules be diligent to come to sermons for that is the ordinary place where mens hearts be moued Gods secrets be reuealed For be the preacher neuer so weake yet is the word of God as mightie as puisant as euer it was If thou heare Gods worde spoken by a weake man anignorant man a sinner as thou thy selfe art and yet wilt beleeue it and heare it with reuerence it is able to open thine eyes and to reueale vnto thee the high misteries of thy saluation Remember we are the sonnes of the Prophets The kingdome of God is come amongst vs. Let vs not withstand the Spirit of God let vs not treade downe the blood of the euerlasting Testament The hande of god hath wrought this let vs not arme our selues against GOD and say They are wrought in the name of Beelzebub It is not our doctrine that we bring you this day we wrote it not we founde it not out wee are not the inuentours of it wee bringe you nothing but that the olde fathers of the Churche that the Apostles that Christ our Sauiour himselfe hath brought before vs. O condemne it not before you know it In the meane while thinke well of them that labour for you that do you seruice that pray for you that shall giue their lyfe for you Let vs lay aside all blinde affection let vs labour to know the truth let God haue the victory And then when we know God let vs glorifie him as our God let vs so liue y e our words our deedes our whole life may testifie that y e kingdom of god is amōngst vs. Let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works gloryfie our father which is in heauen So shall God powre downe his blessings vpon vs so shal god bles whatsoeuer we take in hand so shal we be blessed in peace so shal we be blessed in war so shal god go forth before our armies so shal we be the children of god so shall god bee our god and remayne with vs for euer And thou most mercifull father as thou hast sent vs thy heauenly kingdome that is the most comfortable tidyngs of the Gospel of thy sonne Iesus Christ so wee beseeche thee for thy mercy blesse that thinge that thou hast begunne that it may continue among vs remaine with vs for euer Open the heartes of them that of ignorance thinke ill of it that they may see that blessed hope whereunto thou hast called vs that al the worlde may know thee and thy sonne our sauiour Iesus Christ whome thou hast sent for the
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
the people hearde they knewe not what No man coulde say Amen to their prayers The matters were such that he might be reconed happie which heard them not They abused the Church of God with vaine fables If you doubt hereof rede their Legendes and festiuals They know this they acknowlege it It might well be spoken of them which Hillarie said Sanctiores sunt aures populi quam corda sacerdotum The eares of the people are more holy then the hearts of the Priests I beseech you marke the fourme and fashion of their prayes To the blessed virgin they sayd Aue Maria salus et consolatrix viuorum et mortuorum Haile Marie the sauiour cōforter both of quick dead And agayne O gloriosa virgo Maria libera nos ab omni malo et a paenis inferni O glorious virgin Mary deliuer vs from al euil frō the paines of hel Agayne Monstra te esse matrem shewe that thou art a mother They cal her Regina Coeli domina mundi vnica spes miserorum Queene of heauen Lady of y ◠world the only hope of them that be in miserie It were tedious and vnpleasant to recite the like their blasphemies Howe did these men accompt of the crosse and passion of Christ What leaue they to be wrought by the price of his blood To speak nothing of the multitude of their intercessours and patrones of their false miracles of their deceiueable merits and workes of supererogation how fowle a kinde of Idolatry was it to worship the image with the selfsame honour wherwith they worshippe the thing it selfe that is represented by the Image As if the thinge it selfe bee worshipped with godly honour then must the Image thereof bee worshipped with godlye honour The holy Scriptures which are the light to direct our wayes and the power of God to saue our soules wer hid vnder a bushel Whosoeuer built him selfe and his faith vpon them was adiudged an Heretike Marriage was forbidden and fornication suffered They did not onely deuoure widowes houses but drew to them selues the fat of the land by pretence of their long praiers I spare your chaste and godly eares otherwise I were able to rehearse many their foule abuses and workes of darkenesse Yet will I shewe you one of their night-birdes lately hatched in the nest of all superstition It is the Agnus dei heere it is It was latelie consecrate by the holie Father and sent from Rome They teache that by the vertue of their consecration or rather coniuration and blessing these little thinges haue power to defende the faithfull from lightening and tempest O merciful God what hath the Pope to doe with the lightening what can a piece of waxe preuaile to the staying of a tempest The Lorde of heauen and earth it is hee that sendeth forth lightnings and raiseth vp tempestes Fire and haile snowe and vapours stormie winde execute his woorde God will sende foorth his lightening and consume them Beholde saith Ieremie the tempest of the Lorde goeth foorth in his wrath and a violent whirle winde shal fal downe vpon the head of the wicked O what a shepheard is he that nowe in this light of the day thus mocketh and deceiueth the lambes and sheepe of Christ Is this to woorshippe Christ in spirite and trueth Is this the hope we haue in Christ Is this the profession of the Gospell Is this the will of GOD to commit our liues to so vile a cake Howbeeit there is no cause why any man shoulde maruell hereat For ignorance which is the mother of errour by their owne confession is become the mother of deuotion and these bee the fruites and children of blindnesse and ignorance I will speake nothing of that man from whence this geare commeth Woulde God hee were the man he woulde seeme to bee But if the light it selfe be darkenesse how great then is the darknesse Yet they say of him his voyce must be receiued as the voyce of Peter and the worde of God him selfe must take authoritie and credite of him Thus hath hee come betweene like a Cloude and eclipsed the sunne of Gods glorious Gospell If wee beholde eyther their Schooles or their Churches their quier their pulpit their prayers their Sacramentes their Cleargie their people their doctrine or their life wee may truely saie as the Prophete saide Surely our fathers haue inherited lies and vanitie wherein was no profite We may truely say the Law hath perished from the Priest counsell from the wise and the worde from the Prophet the blind did leade the blind they haue turned siluer into drosse and fedde the people with chaffe in steede of wholesome and good meates Blessed be the name of God who hath giuen vs eyes to espie their dealinges and hath reuealed vnto vs his worde to guide our feete into the way of peace I knowe these thinges are defended boldely and obstinately no maruell For the Apostle saith They haue not all obeied the Gospell There haue bin that haue called the light darknesse and the darknesse light If our Gospel be hid saith he it is hid in them that perish in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mindes I will not here make answeare to any particular albeit occasion be offered and happely it bee looked for Contention and quarrels haue no ende All doctrine shall bee brought to tryall the day of the Lorde shall reueal◠errours and giue witnesse for the trueth God will turne all to his glorie What so euer stirre is raysed vp against the trueth it is but a smoke it will soone fade and come to nothing There are this day many to all appearance godly men of good life of righteous dealing of great zeale and conscience but yet haue not eyes to see these thinges I protest in their behalfe as did Paul they haue a greate zeale of Gods glorie woulde God it were according to knowledge Wee may say with the Prophet O Lorde thy iudgementes are like a great deepe Who hath knowen the mynde of the Lorde or who is of his counsell God knoweth his time He hath the key of Dauid hee openeth and no man shutteth he is the Father of lightes Wee are in his hande both we and al our counsels God graunt we may put off all fleshly affections and put on Iesus Christ and that all the earth may see his glory Nowe on the other side let vs consider howe mercifully God hath dealt with vs. Hee hath restored vnto vs the light of his Gospell and hath taught vs the secrets of his heauenly will We heare him talke with vs familiarly in the Scriptures as a father talketh with his child Thereby hee kindeleth our faith and strengtheneth our hope thereby our heartes receiue ioye and comfort We haue the holy ministration of the Sacraments we know the couenant of baptisme wee knowe the couenaunt and mysterie of the Lordes Supper Wee fall downe together and confesse our life before God
wee pray together and vnderstande what we pray This was the order of the Primitiue Churche this was the order of the Apostles of Christe If wee compare this with the former wee shall soone see the difference betweene light and darknesse The kingdome of God nowe suffereth violence The sounde of the Gospell hath gone ouer all the worlde and the whole worlde is awaked therewith and draweth to it The sunne is risen the day is open God hath made his kingdome woonderfull among vs. It is nowe time nowe is it time that wee shoulde arise from sleepe for nowe is our saluation neere Nowe it is in our mouth wee can speake of it GOD graunt it may bee neerer vs euen in our heartes The night is past GOD graunt it be past for euer that we be neuer againe throwen into the darkenesse of death that the worde of life the trueth of Christ be neuer againe taken from vs. And it shall neuer be taken away if wee bee thankefull Unkindenesse can neuer scape vnplagued Let vs wake let vs wake our sleepe is deadly Let vs pray to GOD to awake vs hee is able to rayse the dead Our Sauiour saith The houre shall come when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall liue Lazarus was dead yet hee hearde the voyce of Christe and rose vp agayne and came abroade Let vs put on Iesus Christ let it appeare vpon vs that we weare him let vs not be ashamed of his Gospell it is the power of God to saluation If we be ashamed of him and of his wordes hee will be also ashamed of vs when he commeth in the glorie of his father with the holy Angels Let vs cast away the workes of darkenesse and all doctrines of superstition and ignorance Let vs beholde the troubles and miseries of other countries Heauen and earth our brethren the care of our saluation the Sonne of God himselfe put vs in minde that it is nowe time Whiles we haue time let vs doe good let vs seeke God whiles hee may bee founde The Lorde wayteth when hee may shewe his mercies Let vs turne vnto him with an vpright heart So shall he turne to vs so shal we walke as the children of light so shall wee shine as the sunne in the kingdome of our Father so shall God bee our God and will abide with vs for euer And thou O most mercifull Father wee beseeche thee for thy mercie sake continue thy grace and fauour towardes vs let the sunne of thy Gospell neuer goe downe out of our heartes let thy trueth abide and be stablished among vs for euer Helpe our vnbeliefe encreace our faith giue vs heartes to consider the time of our visitation Apparrell vs throughly with Christ that hee may liue in vs and so thy Name may bee glorified in vs in the sight of al the world Amen FINIS ¶ Ornatissimo viro Thomae Randolpho armigero serenissimo ad Scotos Legato integerrimo QVis te iunxit amor docto Randolphe Iuello Oxonia exilium musa laborque notant Et quod ad exequias defuncti ducere plectrum Triste Buchananos Patritiosque facis Quis tibi gratus erit pro tali munere certè Auctior hoc studio gratia facta tua est Nec nihil ex illo referes Sacra signa redemptor Essent vt fidei tessera fida dedit Haec tuus exposuit sanctè tibi dedico ne sit Tam rarae fidei tessera nulla piae Tuae dignitatis studiosus Iohan. Garbrandus ⧠A treatise of the Sacraments gathered out of certaine Sermons which the Reuerend Father in God Bishop Iewel preached at Salisburie I Haue opened vnto you y â— contents of the Lordes prayer shewed you vpon whom wee ought to call what to aske and y â— articles of our ChristiaÌ„ faith in God y e father y â— sonn the holy Ghost of y e church of remission of sins of the resurrection of life euerlasting c. And I haue opened vnto you the ten commandements in them what our duetie is towards God towards our Prince and magistrates towards our pareÌ„ts towards our neighbour towards our selues Al this haue I done simply plainly without al shewe of learning that it might the better sinke into our heartes Nowe I thinke good to speake of the Sacraments of the Church that al you may know what they are because you are all partakers of the holy sacraments Christ hath ordeined them that by them hee might set before our eyes the mysteries of our saluation and might more strongly confirme the faith which wee haue in his blood might seale his grace in our hearts As Princes seales confirme and warrant their deedes and charâ—ers so doe the Sacramentes witnesse vnto our conscience that Gods promises are true and shall continue for euer Thus doeth God make knowen his secret purpose to his Church first he declareth his mercie by his worde then he sealeth it and assureth it by his sacraments In the word we haue his promises in the sacraments we see them It woulde require a long time if I should vtter that might be saide in this matter especially in laying open such errours and abuses as haue crept into the Church But I wil haue regard to this place and so frame my speech that the meanest simplest may reape profite thereby That you may the better remember it I wil keepe this order I wil shewe you what a Sacrament is Secondly who hath ordained them thirdly wherfore they were ordained and what they worke in vs fourthly how many there are and then I will briefly speake of euery of them A Sacrament is an outwarde and visible signe whereby GOD sealeth vp his grace in our heartes to the confirmation of our Faith Saint Augustine saith Sacramentum est inuisibilis gratiae visibile signum A SacrameÌ„t is a visible signe of grace inuisible And y t wee may the better vnderstand him hee telleth vs what thing we should call a signe A signe is a thing that besides the sight itself which it offreth to the seÌ„ses causeth of itself some other certaine thing to come to knowledge In Baptisme the water is the signe and the thing signified is the grace of God Wee see the water but the grace of God is inuisible we cannot see it Moreouer he saith Signa cum ad res diuinas adhibentur Sacramenta vocantur Signes wheÌ„ thei be applied to godly things be called sacramentes The signification and substance of the sacrament is to shew vs how we are washed with the passion of Christ and how we are fedde with the body of Christ And againe If Sacraments had not a certain likenes and representatioÌ„ of the things wherof they be sacraments then indeed they were no sacrameÌ„ts And because of this likenesse whiche they haue with the things they represent they be ofttimes termed by the names of the things themselues Therefore after a
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
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
of our heart And as S. Basil Est spirituale os interioris hominis quo nutritur recipiēs verbū vitae quod verbū est panis qui descēdit de coelo There is a spiritual mouth of y ◠inner mā by which he is nourished by receiuing Christ y ◠word of life whiche is the bread that came frō heauē In this mystery of y ◠death of Christ his death passion is renewed to our remēbrance We are so moued to sorow for our sins which haue bin cause of his death to be thākful for y e great mercy of God whiche by this meanes wrought our redēption as if we did see him presēt before our faces hanging vpō y e crosse We know y ◠Christ hath left his sacraments to his Church that they might be helpes to lift vs vp into heauē By them we are ioyned with Christ and made partakers of his passion Next let vs consider how and after what sort we eat the body of Christ in the sacrament And here I beseech you that you may take the cōfort of the body blood of Christ to giue good eare For of mistaking this mystery grewe the first error in the Church When y ◠disciples of Christ heard Christ speake of this matter and vnderstood him not they were offended and shrounke backe and departed If we take the wordes of Christ in such meaning as they did wee shalbee deceiued and offended as they were This it is then which wee haue to consider whether the bodie of Christ goe into our mouth and our bodies as other meates or whether it be receiued spiritually as a spirituall meate and so passe into and nourishe our soule Hereof somewhat was sayde before by the way and shortly But for cleerer vnderstanding of the same we haue to weigh and declare that the eating of the body of Christ is not grosse or corporall but ghostly and spirituall as a peculiar worke of the minde The trueth hereof is founded in our Creede and is an article of our Christian faith Wee beleeue that Christ did rise againe from the dead and ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of God in glorie So saith Saint Paule If yee then be risen with Christe seeke those thinges whiche are aboue where Christ sitteth at the right hād of god And again Our conuersation is in heauen from whence we also looke for the sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Christ Christ himselfe saith to his disciples It is expediēt for you that I goe away And The poore alwaies ye haue with you but me yee shall not haue alwayes So S. Peter saith Whom the heauen must conteine vntil the time that al thinges be restored which God had spoken by the mouth of al his holy prophets since the world began Whiche speeches haue occasioned the olde auncient learned Fathers to teache the people after this sort touching the body of Christ Vigilius a godlie Bishop and Martyr saith Caro Christi cū esset in terra nō erat in coelo nunc quia est in coelo non est vtique in terra The flesh of Christ when it was in earth was not in heauen and nowe because it is in Heauen doubtlesse it is not in earth Ambrose saith Seeke the things that be aboue and not the things that be vpō earth Therfore we must seeke thee neither vpō the earth nor in the earth nor according to the flesh if we list to finde thee S. August saith According to the flesh that the word receiued according to that he was borne of the Virgin according to that he was takē of the Iewes according to that he was nayled to the crosse according to that he was taken downe and lapt in a shrowde and layde in the graue and rose againe and shewed himselfe in this respect it is true that hee sayde Yee shall not euermore haue mee with you And againe hee saith Donec saeculum finiatur sursum est Dominus c. Vntill the world be ended the Lorde is aboue yet notwithstāding euen here is the truth of y e Lord. For the body wherin he rose againe must needs be in one place So Cirillus sayd Christus non poterat in carne versari cum Apostolis postquam ascēdisset ad patrē Christ could not be conuersant together with his Disciples in his flesh after he had ascended vnto his father It would bee tedious to alleadge all y t might be saide to like purpose Thus Christe and Paul Peter thus Vigilius Ambrose Augustine Cirill and al the olde Catholique fathers say and wee are taught to beleeue that Christ is not corporally in the churche but is ascended into Heauen and that hee hath giuen to his bodie immortalitie but hath not taken from the same the nature of a bodie Vigilius hauing cause to prooue this same article against Eutiches shutteth vp the matter thus Haec est fides professio catholica quam Apostolitradiderunt martyres roborauerunt fideles huc vsque custodiunt This is the Catholique faith profession which the Apostles haue deliuered the martirs haue confirmed and the faithful hitherto doe continue The body then which we eate is in Heauen aboue all Angels and Archangels and powers and principalities Our meate is in Heauen on high and we are heere belowe on the earth Howe may it be that we may reach it or taste or eate it Heere let vs imagine that there are two men in euery man and that euerie man is fleshe and spirite bodie and soule This man thus doubled must bee furnished with double senses bodily to serue the bodye and spirituall to serue the soule Hee muste haue eyes of the bodie and eyes of the soule eares of the bodye and eares of the soule Spirituall senses ars quicke sharpe and liuely They pearce anye thing bee it neuer so thicke they reache anye thing bee it neuer so farre off Christ saieth of Abraham Abraham reioyced to see my daye hee sawe it and was gladde Hee sawe it not with his bodylie eyes but with the inner eyes of the soule When we speake of the mysterie of Christe and of eating his bodie wee must shut vp and abandon all our bodily senses And as wee cannot say that wee see him with our bodily eyes or heare him with our bodilye eares or touche him with bodily feeling so likewise can we not and therefore may wee not saye wee taste him or eate him with our badylie mouth In this woorke wee must open all the inner and spirituall senses of our soule so shall wee not onely see his bodye but heare him and feele him and taste him and eate him This is the mouth and the feeling of faith By the hande of faith we reache vnto him and by the mouth of Faith we receiue his body Touching the eating of Christes bodye S. August taught the people on this wise Crede manducasti Credere in Christum hoc
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
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
the receiuing of this Sacrament If any bee such a one I require hym by the body blood of Iesus Christ and by the iudge of the quicke and the dead that he come not to the Lordes table that he betraie not the sonne of God It were better he had neuer bene borne and that a milstone were hanged about his necke he throwne into y e sea Let vs not deceiue our selues God wil not be mocked He receiueth dānation y t receiueth vnworthely Let vs fall downe before our Lorde and giue thankes vnto hym Let vs say what shall I giue vnto the Lord for al that he hath giuen vnto me I wyl take the cup of saluation call vpon the name of the Lord. Let vs say O Lord our Lord how wonderful is thy name in all the world Let vs say prayse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me prayse his holy name Let vs purpose and promise amendement of our lyfe let vs goe out with Peter and weepe let vs fall at Christes feete with Marie Magdalene and with our teares washe his feete Let vs saye with Dauid I haue sinned to the Lorde Let vs saye with the Prodigal sonne father I haue sinned agaynst heauen and against thee I am no more worthy to bee called thy sonne Let vs saye haue mercy on mee O God accordyng to thy great mercie thou art my God I am thy seruāt O saue me for thy mercies sake Let vs offer vp our bodies a liuing pure holy and acceptable sacrifice to God So shall we be partakers of the death of Christ and of his resurrection Thus haue we briefly gone through the whole matter of the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ and followed the same order which was set down First that we do in the Sacramente truely eate the bodie of Christ Secondly what is the meaning of the wordes Hoc est corpus meum Thirdely whether y ◠bread remeaine in nature substance Fourthly whether it be eaten with the mouth of the bodie or by faith onely Fiftly what difference is betweene the bodie of Christ and the mysticall signes Sixtly howe we must be prepared and with what deuotiō we ought to come to receiue this Sacrament Hauing thus treated of the Sacramentes of the newe testament and said so much as is needfull for you to knowe of them both as well of Baptisme which is the sacrament of our regeneration as of our Lordes supper which is the sacrament of our refection or nourishment I will now in fewe wordes speake something of confirmation of matrimony of ecclesiastical ministerie which some call holy orders of repentance or penance and of extreme vnctiō which some of late yeeres haue called Sacraments and by ioyning these to the other haue made vp the nomber of seuen Sacramentes so haue charged the Church with fiue sacramēts more then Christ did euer ordaine For these fiue wante either the worde or the element or both and therefore may not bee taken for true sacraments Such as haue with all their skil shewed them selues helpers and furtherers of our aduersaries yet haue plainely cōfessed that they are not sacraments of Christes institution Alexander of Hales saith of confirmation The sacrament of confirmation as it is a Sacrament was not ordained either by Christ or by the Apostles but afterwarde in the Counsel of Melda Which Counsel was kept many yeres after Christ And Durandus saith of matrimonie Matrimonie in due and proper kinde of speach is no Sacramēt And Bessarion a Cardinal cōfesseth as it was shewed before that in due and right consideration none of these fiue may be called Sacramentes We reade saith he that these two onely Sacramentes were deliuered vs plainely in the Gospel First of Confirmation which is so called because that which was done on our behalfe in baptisme is ratified and confirmed many parentes had not such due care as they ought in the godly bringing vp of their childrē so that many children knew not whether they were baptized or no many were neuer taught what couenant was made betweene them God in their baptisme many swarued away from Christian profession and caried them selues to the fellowship of the heathens and of the sonnes of God became the sonnes of the deuel Upon this occasion the Churche of God laieth charge vpon the parentes and the witnesses of the baptizing of younge children that they teach thē the waies of the Lorde to know y e holy mystery that they haue receiued and what they haue promised and professed in baptisme that they put them in minde howe God hath called them out of the kingdome of darknes vnto his wonderfull light and to the fellowship of the saintes in light When the children of the Christiās were thus brought vp had learned the religyō of Christ and to walke in the waies of Godlines they were brought to the church by their parents presented vnto the Bishop and yeeled a reason of their faith openly before the whole congregation they professed they would so beleue that they would liue and die in that faith Then the Bishop and all the people fell downe on their knees and prayed vnto God that he would continue the good thing hee had begonne and the bishop laying his hande vpon them cōmended them vnto God This was the ratifying of the professiō which they made by others at their baptisme and for that cause called Confirmation Now whether it be a sacrament and when I say a sacrament I meane a ceremonie commanded by God in expresse wordes For God onely hath the authorytie to institute a Sacrament Sacraments are confirmations seales of the promises of God and are not of the earth but from heauen As Christ saith The babtisme of Iohn Whence was it from heauen or of men Chrysostome saith The misterie were not of God nor perfect if thou shouldest put any thing to it Marke and iudge your selues shal see whether this were a sacrament instituted by Christ Augustine said Accedat verbum ad elementum fit sacramentum Ioine the worde to the creature it is made a sacrament This creature or element is visible as are water bread wine The word which must be ioyned is the commandemēt institution of christ without the word and the commandement and institution it is no sacrament I protest y t the vse and order of confirmation rightly vsed is profitable and necessarie in the Church no way to be broken But all y t is profitable necessarie is not a sacramēt Christ did not commāde it he spake no word of it Looke and reade if you doubt it Christes wordes are written and may be seene You shal neuer finde that hee commanded Confirmation or that hee euer made any special promise to it Therefore may you conclude that it is no sacrament Otherwise being rightly vsed it is a good ceremonie wel ordeined of our auncient fathers The Apostles layde their handes on
them and confirmed them which were baptized of Iohn But that proueth not this confirmation that was extraordinarie it was a miracle The holy Ghost came downe vpon them and lightened their hearts by this laying on of the Apostles handes But it is not so nowe the holy Ghost doth not now descende in visible forme vpon those which are confirmed there is no such miracle wrought There is no neede that it should so be There was no commandement either to appoint it vnto the Church or to continue it vntyl the comming of Christ and the end of the worlde Therefore it is no Sacrament by the institution of Christ Hitherto of the vse Now somewhat of the abuse Nothing so good and holy but it may be abused The worde of God hath bene abused to Heresies to Necromancie to Charmes and Sorcerie and Witchcrafte The supper of the Lord was abused in y â— time of S. Paul He telleth the Corinthians This is not to eate the Lords Supper Lesse marueile then if this happen to a ceremonie Time rusteth and consumeth all things maketh many a thing to proue naught in the ende which was first deuised for good The brasen Serpent at the first was made by Moses and set it vp for good purpose But after warde it was abused The children of Israel did burne incense vnto it and therefore Ezechias brake it in pieces The first abuse in confirmation was that it was done in a strange tongue y â— no man might vnderstand what was ment Then that they receiued to confirmation such children and so young as were not able to make profession of their faith so that the infant promised he knew not what and the Bishop ratified and confirmed where there was nothing to be confirmed he set to his seale where there was nothing to be sealed These abuses were farre vnmeete for the Church of God Besides these ther was great abuse in the manner of doing For thus the Bishop said Consigno te signo crucis confirmo te chrismate salutis I signe thee with the signe of the crosse and coÌ„firme thee with the oyle of saluation Thus they vsed to doe these were their words with the oyle of saluatioÌ„ They tooke not this of Christ nor of his Apostles nor of the holy auncient fathers It agreeth not with our Christian faith to giue the power of saluation vnto oyle He that sâ—eketh saluation in oyle looseth his saluation in Christ and hath no parte in the kingdome of God Oyle for the bellie and for necessarie vses of life It is no fit instrument without commaundement or promise by the worde to worke saluation More they said he was no perfect ChristiaÌ„ that was not anointed by the Bishop with this holy oile This was another abuse For whosoeuer is baptized receiueth thereby the full name of a perfect Christian and hath the full and perfice couenaÌ„t and assurance of saluation he is perfitely buried with Christ doth perfitely put on Christ and is perfitely made partaker of his resurrection Therefore they are deceiued that say no man is a perfite Christian that is not marked with this oyle Els the Apostles and holie Martyrs were but halfe Christians because the lacked this oyle Els what hope and comfort might the pore fathers haue In what state shall he thinke to finde his childe if he die before confirmation passe without perfite Christendome verely they write thus Sine oleo Chrismatis nemo potest sisti ante tribunal christi Without y e oyle of chrisme no maÌ„ can appeare before the Iudgment seat of Christ Againe they say confirmation is more honorable then baptisme because any priest may baptize but confirmation is giuen onely by a Bishop or a suffragain So doe they giue a greater preeminence to confirmation which is diuised by man then to the holy sacrament of baptisme which Christ him selfe ordained I neede not speake more hereof the errour is so grosse so thicke so sensible and palpable Againe when they blessed or halowed their oyle they vsed these wordes Fiat domine hoc oleum te benedicente vnctio spiritualis ad purificationem meÌ„tis corporis O Lord let this oile by thy blessing be made a spritual ointmeÌ„t to purifie both soule body O Christ Iesu where was thy crosse where was thy blood and the price of thy death and passion when a drop of oyle was of power to worke remission of all sinnes to saue and defende against al the dartes of the wicked spirites and to refresh both bodie and soule Yet so were we taught so were wee lead I faine not these things The words may be seene Neither do I speake this to bring you to a misliking or loathing of our latter fathers but onely that wee may humble our heartes and giue thankes to GOD that hath brought vs out of that darkenes and giuen vs better knowledge Nowe a worde or two of the bringing vp of children and preparing them to confirmation Wherein I woulde God the olde order were duely obserued that they were instructed perfitly to know relygion theyr duetie to God and so might be brought before the Congregation and make an open profession of their faith with promise that neither tribulation nor anguish nor persecution nor famine nor nakednes nor fire nor sword nor life nor death shall euer make them denie their faith Hereof might much be spoken but I will be short The whole standeth in knowledge and in the feare of God that they may knowe God walke before him in reuerence and in feare and serue him in holines and righteousnes al the dayes of their life The Iewes are a miserable people they liue in errour they die in their owne blood yet haue they so much vnderstanding that they bringe vp their children in the knowledge of God and that knowledge they teach out of the worde of God They remember what charge God gaue them Thou shalt teach them thy sonnes and thy sonnes sonnes Therefore a father must teache his childe what God is That he is our father that he hath made vs and doeth feede vs and geueth vs all thinges needefull both for body and soule that he is our Lord and therefore we must serue him and obey him and do nothinge whereby he may be displeased that hee is our iudge and shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead and that all men shall come before him to receiue according as they haue done in the flesh He must put his childe in minde of his baptisine and teach him that it is a couenent of Gods mercie to vs and of our duetie to God that it is a misterie of our saluation that our soule is so washed with the blood of Christ as the water of baptisme washeth our bodie So must he also teach his childe the misterie of the Lordes supper what and how he receiueth there to his comfort that as the bread is broken and the wine poured out so the bodie of Christ was
darknesse their worme shall neuer die their fire shall neuer bee quenched they shall goe downe headlong into the fire that is prepared for the deuill and his angels Be not deceiued saith Saint Paul neither fornicatours nor adulterers nor wantōs nor bouggerers shal inherit the kingdome of God Now are wee to speake in the next place of the ministerie of the Church which some haue called holy orders Shall wee accompte it a Sacrament there is no reason so to doe It is a heauenly office a holy ministerie or Seruice By suche as haue this office God lighteneth our darkenesse hee declareth his minde to vs hee gathereth together his scattered sheepe and publisheth vnto the worlde the glad ridings of saluation The Patriarkes dyd beare this office This was the office of the prophets God saith I haue sent vnto you al my seruants the prophets rising vp eueri day sending thē Agayne he saith I haue put my wordes in thy mouth Therefore when they taught the people of God the Prophetes signed their speache thus The mouth of the Lorde hath spoken it The Lorde hath saide The voyce and y e worde of the Lord Heare the word of the Lorde But when the fulnesse of the time came God sent his Sonne and hath spoken vnto vs by hym He became our Prophet to shew vs the wyll of his father He saieth I haue not spoken of my selfe but the Father whiche sent mee he gaue mee a commandement what I should say and what I should speake Hereof Saint Iohn sayth No man hath seene God at any time He is inuisible he is incomprehensible no minde can conceiue hym no eye can see hym but the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosom of y e Father hee hath declared him Of hym the father sayde This is my beloued Sonne in whome I am well pleased heare hym Hearken vnto hym receiue hys woorde credite hym beleeue hym No doubte the Ministerie of the Gospell is hyghlye to bee esteemed seeinge our Sauiour was not ashamed to publish the wyll of his Father in his owne person yet it appeareth not where euer hee dyd ordeine it to be a Sacrament Hee appointed that the comforte thereof shoulde bee carried into all nations and gaue that charge vnto hys Apostles Goe teache all nations Agayne What I tell you in darkenesse that speake you in light and what you heare in the eare y e preache you on the houses Hee sawe the people and had compassion on them hee saw they were dispearsed and scattered abroade lyke sheepe without a shepheard and that they perished because they had no knowledge of the wyll of God Therefore he sayeth Pray the Lord of the haruest that he woulde sende labourers into the haruest Therefore he ordayneth them to this ministery I wyll make you fishers of men And sendeth them foorth as my father sent mee so sende I you And Goe to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel Hee wylled them to call the people to repentaunce and to preache the kingdome of God By this ministerie God hath gathered to hymselfe an acceptable people and hath brought them to the obedience of the Gospell of Christ and hath turned the hartes of the Fathers vnto their children and so made it to be the foundation of religion They that exercise this ministerie are y e eyes of Christ the pillers of y e Church the interpreters of Gods will the watchmen of the Lordes tower the leaders of Christes sheep the salte of the earth the light of the world Daniel saith They that turne many to righteousnes shal shine as the starres for euer euer Not that there is any so great wisdome or eloquence in men they are but weake they are vnfit to do this seruice Esay saith of himselfe I am a man of polluted lippes And Ieremie saith O Lord god behold I cannot speake for I am a child So saith S. Paul I haue planted Apollos watered but God gaue the increase So thē nether is he that planteth any thing nether he that watereth but God y t giueth the increase So said Saint Iohn that he was not Christe nor that Prophet but the voyce of hym that crieth in the wildernesse and not worthy to vnloose the latchet of his shooe that should come after him The power whereby they dyd conquere the worlde was not in them but in the woorde which they preached It is the power of God to saluation to euery one that beleueth It is like a fire lyke a hammer that breaketh a stone When ye receiued of vs y e word of the preaching of god saith S. Paul to the Thessalonians ye receaued it not as the worde of men but as it is indeede the woorde of god which also worketh in you that beleue The power of an earthly Prince is great The wyse man sayeth The feare of a King is lyke the roaring of a Lyon Yet is a Prince but mortall and the Law of a Prince is but mortall it hath no power to force the conscience But the woorde of God dooth breake into the heart it forceth a way into the Conscience it is sharper then any two edged sworde it entreth through euen to the deuidinge a sunder of the soule and the spirit because it is the word of God For it is not man but God that speaketh as Christ telleth the Apostles It is not yee that speake but the spirit of your father whiche speaketh in you So saith the Prophet Zacharie Hee spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which haue bene since the worlde beganne The Prophets and Apostles and holy men of God were but instruments It was God which gaue his holy spirite whiche gaue them tongues to speake and wordes to vtter Therfore said Christ I wil giue you a mouth and wisedome where against al your aduersaries shall not be able to speake nor resist Though men be but simple yet the worde they deliuer is mighty though they be mortall the worde of the Lord endureth for euer Where this worde is receiued it is fire and burneth it is a hammer and breaketh the hardnesse of the heart it is mightie in operation it cleanseth the inner man it openeth the consctence it is a sauour of life vnto lyfe it is the meanes of saluation Hee that receiueth this worde and beleeueth shal be saued This is the worde of reconciliation God hath committed it vnto vs. If any hide this worde he slayeth the people He is a dombe dogge Of such God saieth Beholde I wil come against the Prophets that steale my word euerione frō his neighbour They are thieues and robbers Woe be vnto you interpreters of the law for yee haue taken away the key of knowledge saith Christ ye entred not in your selues and them that came in yee forbad And agayne Woe bee vnto you Scribes and Pharises hypocrites because ye shut vp the kingdome of
sicke That he sayde Come vnto mee all yee that are wearye and laden and I wil ease you For what layeth he on his shoulders with ioy Is it not the lost sheepe Wherefore doeth the woman light a candle and sweepe the house and seeke diligently tyll she finde it Is it not for the peace of siluer which shee had lost Ouer whome had the father compassion and ranne and fell on his necke and kissed him Was not this done for hym which was dead but liued agayne and for hym whiche was lost but was found againe The sonne of man came to saue that which was lost And There is ioy in the presence of the Angels of God for one sinner that conuerteth God is merciful and his mercie endureth for euer So â—ayeth the Prophet Dauid Mercie is with the Lord. By the Prophet Ezechiel I desire not the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God It is the wyll of God that all men shal be saued come to the knowledge of y t truth By Esay the Prophet God saith If your sinnes were as crimosyn thei shalbe made as white as snow For I euen I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake and wil not remember thy sinnes The children of God heare this and are glad They lift themselues vp in the fayth of the mercye of God they see the filthynesse of their sinne they knowe though the wrath of God be kindeled against sinne yet he doth not vtterly destroy those that haue sinned but such as continue in their sinnes without repentance they know god will not dispise an humble and contrite heart Therefore they say Enter not into iudgemeÌ„t with thy seruant O Lord for no flesh is righteous in thy sight Take away the iniquitie of thy seruant They say Why art thou heauie O my soule and why art thou vnquiet within mee Wayte on God for I wyll yet giue him thankes for the helpe of his presence They saye there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus Though I shoulde walke through the valleye of the shadowe of death I wyll feare no euill because thou art with mee They say If our heart condemne vs God is greater then our hearte Thus are wee taughte by the office of the ministerie and by the worde of God to see our selues to know our weakenes to repent our sinnes to beleeue the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and to turne vnto God We are taught to lay open and acknowledge our sinnes not to hide them but to make confession of them This is done two wayes either in the secrete thought of thy heart before God or els in the hearing and presence of men Dauid made confession of his sinnes before God I acknowledged my sin before thee neither hid I mine iniquitie I saide I will confesse against my self my wickednes vnto the Lord thou forgauest y e punishment of my sinne And againe I know mine iniquities and my sin is euer before mee Against thee against thee only haue I sinned done euill in thy sight Such a confessioÌ„ made Daeniel We haue sinned haue coÌ„mitted iniquitie haue done wickedly yea we haue rebelled and haue departed from thy precepts and from thy iudgements For we would not obey thi seruants the Prophetes which spake in thy name to our kings to our princes to our fathers to al the people of the land Euen so the prophet Esay Beholde thou art angrie for we haue sinned We haue all bene as an vncleane thing all our righteousnes as is filthy cloutes we al do fade like a leafe our iniquities like y e winde haue taken vs away But now O Lord thou art our father We are the clay thou art our potter and wee al are the worke of thy handes This is true and Christian confession We are required after this sorte to examine our selues and confesse our sinnes before God who dooth not so hee shall not finde mercy and forgiuenesse of his sinnes The other sort of confession made vnto men I doe not condemne It may doe much good if it be wel vsed S. Iames commendeth it amonge the faithfull Acknowledge your faults one to another pray one for another y t yee may bee healed Hee speaketh not of Priest or minister but of euery one of the faithfull Euery Christian may doe this helpe vnto another to take knowledge of the secret and inner griefe of the heart to looke vppon the wounde whiche sinne and wickednes hath made and by godlye aduise and earnest prayer for hym to receuer his brother This is a priuate exhortation and as it were a Catechizing or instructing in the faith and a meanes to leade vs by familiar and speciall conference to examine our conscience and to espie wherein wee haue offended God The vse and practise hereof is not onely to bee allowed but most needefull and requisite if so the superstition and necessitie and conscience which many haue fondely vsed and put therein be taken away That the Priestes shoulde heare the priuate confessions of the people and listen to their whisperings that euery man shoulde be bound to their auriculer confession it is no commandement or ordinance of God It is deuised and establyshed by men and was lately confirmed by Innocentius the thirde The Church of God in the time of our elder fathers was not tyed to any such necessitie Chrysostome sayth Non dico vt confitearis conseruo tuo peccata tuaâ— dicito deo qui curet ea I wil thee not to confessethy sinnes to thy fellow seruant that is to the Priest confesse theÌ„ vnto God that may heale them Againe he saith Cogitatione tua fiat delictorum exquisitio sine teste sit hoc iudicium solus Deus te confitent em videat Examine thy sins in thy heart within thee let this iudgement be without witnes let god onely see thee makynge thy confession And againe Non dico tibi vt te pro das in publicum neque vt te apud alios accuses sed obedire te volo Prophetae dicenti Reuela Domino viam tuam Apud Deum ergo c. I say not to thee that thou openly shew forth thy selfe nor that thou accuse thy selfe in y â— presence of others but I wyll haue thee obey God which sayeth Disclose thy wayes vnto the Lord. Confesse thy sinnes therefore before God declare thine offences and make thy prayer for them before God which is the true and righteous Iudge Make thy confession not with the tongue but in the record of thyne owne conscience Likewise S. Augustine Quid mihi est cum hominibus vt audiant confessiones meas quasi ipsi sanaturi sint omnes languores meos Curiosum genus ad inquirendam vitam alienam desidiosum ad corrigendam suam What haue I to doe with men that they shoulde heare my confessions as if they coulde heale all my