vnto vs and by his Spirit communicateth him vnto vs after a spirituall and misticall manner and that we by faith wrought and nourished in vs by this his Spirit and meanes feed vpon to our euerlasting saluation Touching which faith Conclusion of the commandement which thus I haue made as it were the hand mouth of our soule to take Christ offered vnto vs in the word Sacraments withall at the hand of God hsi spirit let it be remembred once againe that Christ here in my text calling for it to drinke him by saith not simply he that beleeueth in mee but with this adition as saith the Scripture Wherby let vs to conclude this point withall learne that in this case it is not inough to beleeue as we list nor as this man or that this company or that teach vs alwayes Yea that we neuer beleeue aright to this purpose vntill we beleeue in Christ as the canonicall Scriptures teach vs. All which as I haue before sufficiently shewed lay him still before vs to be beleeued in as our sole and onely meritorious cause of our saluation with whom we may neither ioyne any other person or thing And so stedfast also our confidence of saluation these teach vs ought to be in him that thereby we may say We haue peace with God through him and such accesse to Gods grace as that we stand therin and reioyce vnder hope which shall neuer be confounded Rom. 5. vers 1.2.3 c. In so much that hauing reckoned vp all thinges that are most likely to doe it yet with Paule all that haue this faith may boldly and triumphantly say That nothing shall seperate them from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus In any case therefore by the meanes that he hath appointed for that purpose which I haue now also laide before you let vs striue to attaine to this faith and to nourish it when we haue once got it For this is it that ioyneth Christ and vs togither and so fully possesseth vs of him and all the treasured graces and mercies of God prouided for mens saluation in him that therefore it bringeth vnto vs the peace that passeth all vnderstanding Phil. 4.7 and the ioy that none can euer take from vs. Iohn 16.22 We haue the word of God and that written outwardly sealed in the Sacramentes and thereby by his spirit also inwardly offering to seale sealing the same vnto our heartes consciences that God the Father in and by his sonne Christ Iesus by the mightie working of the holie Ghost both can and will saue vs. Whatsoeuer therefore papistes prate to the contrarie let vs most firmly and constantlie thus beleeue and not once dare call the trueth of God thus many waies confirmed vnto vs once into question But then let vs neuer for get that golden saying of Cyprian De duplicimartirio Non credit in Deum qui non in eo solo collocat totius suae salut is fiducia that is He beleeues not in God at all that placeth not the whole confidence of his saluation in him alone And the rather for that thus to doe our Creedes our Baptisme and all the scriptures teach vs. Let vs not therefore by the example or doctrine of Papistes be drawne from hence to put our confidence as they doe both in a number of persons and things that are not God For that were vndoubtedly howsoeuer they would perswade men to the contrary no better than to become plaine reuolters and apostares from the ancient found Catholicke faith which all these most plainely teach and binde vs vnto and in deede to fet vp vnto our selues a new Christ of our owne deuising with whom none of these euer acquainted vs. Wherefore as in these respectes I would wish that we tooke heed of the seauen of the popish faith as of the verie baine poyson of our soules so also beware we of their kinde of faith in the vse of the Sacrament of the body bloode of Christ For as you may perceiue by that which I haue said already of that matter the faith that they most call for in that busines is a beleeuing that Christes very body blood are really there vnder the formes of bread wine so be taken in by the bodily mouth of euery receiuer quite contrarie both to the true sence of the Scripturs in that behalf to the nature of Christ These things thus finished and concluded it remaineth now that we proceede in our text wherein we haue yet to consider of the promise therin made by Christ to all those and to none but to those that by right knowing him and beleeuing in him come vnto him and drinke of him This promise he vtters and expresses in these wordes as you haue hearde The promise out of his bellie shall flowe riuers of water of life whereunto if we referre these wordes as saith the Scripture as many interpreters both olde and newe doe then they teach vs to vnderstand this promise as the Scripture teacheth vs ellewhere and not otherwise And seeing Christ hath vttered the promise in such a metaphoricall phrase as hee hath it may verie well be that of very purpose he placed those wordes as he did not onely to teach vs as we haue heard alreadie that we come vnto him and drinke of him by sound knowledge and right faith as the Scriptures shew vs but also plainelie to instruct vs that in so doing we must looke to haue the wordes of this promise fulfilled vnto vs not in any grosse or literall sence but onelie in such spirituall manner and sorte as the Scriptures themselues in other places declare Heereby then to beginne withall Christ hath giuen vs this moste notable and profitable rule that it is a moste sounde way rightile to expounde Scriptures and so rightlie to vnderstande them to conferre Scripture with Scripture and to admit no sence of figuratiue and darke phrases and speaches in the same but that which may doth stand with other more plaine places which in Gods wisedom and prouidence euen of purpose elsewhere are set downe therein that they may be as a key to let vs into the right sence of the harde than which rule howsoeuer nowe a daies our aduersaries would perswade they haue founde a better namely to make the current practise of their Church which when they haue braued of Doctors and Councelles neuer so much is indeede onely the verie pleasure mutable fansie of their Popes the ancient Fathers haue esteemed and followed this as the best and saifest As it is euident in Augustine De doctrina Christiana Lib. 3.2.6 where he defineth that to be alwaies the sence of the harde place which is taught in plainer and that no sence is to be receiued to be the sence of any which cannot be proued so to be out of other places Of the same minde Hierome showes himselfe to haue beene in his 19. Homilie vpon Esay noting that
though according to the diuersitie of places that they hold in that bodie one and the selfe ame Spirit is diuersly bestowed vpon them as we are taught 1. Cor. 12. Ver. 4. c. So that the Spirit and the giftes and graces of God are here so promised to them all and shal be and are performed as that aptly they may be called riuers of water of life flowring out of their bellies But yet then some may maruaile comparing the spirit and giftes thereof seene in many of the faithfull since Christ was glorified with the Spirit and giftes thereof founde in sundry as in the Patriarches and Prophets and other famous holy men in the olde Testament and finding them in show to be but equall or rather inferiour to some of theirs why Iohn shoulde eyther simply or by waie of comparison thus signifie vnto vs that the Spirite had not beene giuen in such measure before as nowe Christ beeing glorified it should Whereunto though I might answere that Iohn might well say so in that then the partition wall betwixt Iew and Gentile shoulde be pulled downe and so the borders compasse of the Church should wonderfully be enlarged in comparison they were before yet more fullie to aunswere this obiection though in respect of those times wherein the Patriarches and Prophets and holie men of GOD liued in the time of the olde Testament their faith and other fruites of the Spirite that appeared and were founde in them were verie commendable yet in many respectes Iohn might preferre the Spirite and the giftes thereof giuen to beleeuers in the newe Testament so before them in the olde that in comparison thereof the Spirite might be saide not to haue beene before For first though then the mysteries of religion were sufficientlie reuealed for those times yet were they not opened so clearely and lightsomely then as now since the comming of Christ and the Spirit that he beeing ascended he promiseth to his leadeth them to all trueth and teacheth them all thinges Iohn 14.26 In so much that the beleeuing Christian nowe can speake by direction therof more plainly of the Trinitie of Christes person and office and of many other mysteries of Christian religion than any of them had done or could In respect and regard whereof Christ saith of Iohn Baptist verily verily amongst them that are begotten of a woman arose there not a greater and yet notwithstāding he that is least in the kingdome of God is greater than he For he preached Christ and pointed him present and none of them sawe him or spake of him but a farre off and yet after Christ had gone thorow with that which he came for and was ascended by his Spirite he so enlighteneth the heartes of the meanest sounde members of his Church that they can say more of him than Iohn coulde And in this respect Christ saide that manie Kings and Prophets had desired to see and heare those thinges which his Apostles and followers sawe and yet did not Luke 10.24 Then who also knoweth not that the ministrie and reuelation of the will of God was then verie darke it lay so much in types and figures in compasson that it is now Christ being come and ascended at whom those did but aime and poynte at a farre off and that therefore in that respect Paule might truely and iustly say that the night was past and the day come Rom. 13.12 and also magnifie the ministerie of the newe Testament as farre more glorious than that of the olde as most notablie he doth 2. Cor. 3.6 c For then they had but the light of the moone and the starres to direct them whereas we nowe haue the brightnesse of the shining sonne and theirs in comparison was but of the letter and of death and ours is of the spirite of life as Paule sheweth there And therefore how can it be otherwise but that the effectes and fruits of the Spirite beeing conformable in some good measure to the ministry wherby it worketh but that now since his comming and glorification they shoulde be in his as riuers of water of life flowing out of their bellies whereas before they were in comparison but like vnto the little and soft running water from out of the fountaine of Siloah at the foote of the mount Syon And somewhat it maketh the better to make vs vnderstande both what Christ saide and did as Iohn heere hath set it down that Tremelius noteth vpō this place For he telleth vs that the Iewes in their Talmud in the tract of the feast of Tabernacles Chapter Chal. shewe that the last day of that feast was the greatest because as they say their ancient Doctors taught them that whereas the other daies thereof they shoulde in ioy onely once circuit the Altar carrying boughes and palmes in their handes and crying Hosannah that is saue I pray this last day by tradition as they tooke it from Haggai and Zachariah they were so to doe seauen times crying both Hosannah and Hatzlicannah that is saue vs I pray thee and make vs to prosper oftentimes with a lowde voyce and further he reporteth that there it is set downe as the fashion of that people receiued by the tradition as they tooke it from the same Prophets that that day they vsed with greate ioy to drawe water out of the fountaine of Syloach and to carry it to the Priestes that they might powre it vpon the Altar with the drinke offering of wine hauing in the meane time that songe cheerefully alowde which we read Esay 12.3 You shall drawe waters with ioy out of the fountaine of saluation which whiles they did they thought they serued God highly and prouoked him to bestow the Spirit of prophesie vpon them as superstitiously they dreamed that he did vpon Ionas whiles he was so occupied Whereupon as he thinketh it might well be that Iesus tooke occasion as that day standing whereas otherwise when he taught he vsed to sit and to speake but in an ordinarie voyce to cry vnto them that so the better for all that noyse and stirre he might be heard of them If any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke he that beleeueth in me as saith the scripture out of his belly shall flowe riuers of water of life so to draw them from that superstitious fashion indeede to drawe water of life out of him the fountaine of liuing waters as he is termed Iere. 2.3 All these things therefore now thus laide and considered togither I hope you vnderstand both Christ and Iohn in these wordes of my text and perceiue what other occasion soeuer he had he had heerein a purpose to promise them that directly come vnto him by drinking of him to satisfie their thirstie soules and that leauing running to all other rotten cesternes that could holde no water they should finde him no drie fountaine but a fountaine to fill them so that they shoulde runne ouer againe therwith to the watering of others and
law of GOD forgetting belike that the law is so spirituall that it made Paule to crie out of himselfe O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne and death Rom. 7.24 and that Christ most flatly hath said that they worship him in vaine that teach for doctrines mens preceptes Math. 15.9 We vse often to terrifie our hearers from ill workes and from omitting of good by making it manifest vnto them by the iudgements of GOD therefore threatned and executed that so to doe is so daingerous as that thereby they deserue all Gods heauie iudgments to be executed vpon them both in this life and in the life to come and that vndoubtedlye they shall if they repent not Wherein also we goe further than these our aduersaries for they teach that a number of sinnes euen for the littlenes thereof are not deadly or such as deserue damnation which may easily be satisfied for and put away Lastly we forget not to teach them what promises of reward God hath made to such as will carefully walke before him in holinesse and righteousnesse both concerning this life and that which to come assuring them with Paule That godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges and hath the promise hoth of this life present and of that which is to come 1. Tim. 4.8 wherein we goe so farre that also with Christ we confidently tell them that they shall not lease their rewarde in heauen no not of a cup of colde water bestowed aright in his name vpon any of his Mat. 10.42 For though all that we doe or can doe be infinitelie lesse than we owe to God and are bound to doe for in many things we sinne all Iam. 3.2 yet all that approue themselues to be in Christ by walking not after the flesh but after the spirite in bringing forth the right fruites thereof as Paule teacheth Rom. 8.12.13 c. vndoubtedly for Gods promises sake in Christ Iesus shall both heere and in heauen finde themselues and their workes so liberally rewarded that they shal haue no cause to complaine but rather to wonder at Gods most bountifull crowning of his owne blessinges and graces with further both heere and there Thus then you see that though when the question is in hande why men shall be saued we dare sende them to no other meritorious cause thereof but onelie to Christ and the thinges done by himselfe for vs because we know that his name is the one lie name whereby commeth saluation Act. 4.12 yet when it is demaunded who they are which for Christes sake shall indeede be saued and so rest in Gods tabernacle and for euer dwell vpon his holy hill we are boulde to teach that none but they that according to the time and occasion they haue after they be in him proue themselues to be such by the riuers of water of life flowing out of their bellies as you haue heard and therefore are such as are described to that ende Psalm 15.2 c. And beeing such we counte it no presumption but most commendable faith in them to be fully perswaded because they haue not onelie Gods worde and promise generally offered vnto them and particularly sealed in the administration of the worde and Sacramentes outwardlie but also most effectually inwardly testified vnto their spirites by Gods owne Spirit by these newe fruites thereof to appertaine particularly vnto them to ground this their perswation vpon that for Christes sake vndoubtedly they shal be saued These arguments therefore we doubt not will bee sufficient to moue and to perswade all that vnfainedly be the Lordes euen of loue and thankefulnes towardes him for his vnspeakable loue and mercies towardes them to striue both day and night by all possible meanes so to stirre vp the graces of the spirit in them that indeede worthylie they may bee counted as Riuers of waters of life flowing out of their bellies Thus then at last welbeloued in the Lorde we haue hearde first the circumstances of a notable sermon made by Christ our Sauiour himselfe as where when vpon what occasion and in what manner he made it namelie at Hierusalem in the temple in and vpon the last and most solemne day of the feast of Tabernacles to draw them that were there from their owne vaine superstitions that led them from him to himselfe vttered by him standing and that with a crying voice Secondly you haue heard that he spoke therein to all that be thirstie and to none else that is to all that are truely broken and contrite hearted vnder the burthen of their sinnes and so earnestly long for redemption and deliuerance from the same Thirdly you haue heard that he commaunded such what to ease them of this their spirituall thirst they shoulde doe and that that was and is first to come vnto him that is to know and acknowledge him what he is in person and office and then to drinke of him that is rightlie to beleeue in him and so thereby to make him with all the mercies of God prouided for mans saluation in him their owne which they hauing done lastly you haue heard that he promiseth all such that his Spirit in them all should be as riuers of water of life flowing out of their bellies which was not nor had not beene as yet then because when Christ made this sermon hee was not yet glorified And in handling of all these withall you haue beene shewed what we are to learne euerie one of vs thereby both ministers and people which haue beene such and such and so manie good thinges as that if we haue heard as we ought to doe we haue all of vs I hope euen sufficiently to our saluation learned both howe to beleeue and how to liue to be saued For first we haue beene taught howe by the lawe we are to be humbled and throwne downe that we may be fit patients for Christ Iesus secondly we haue heard by the Gospell how we are to rise againe and to recouer a better standing than euer we had in the first Adam by knowledge and faith of the second Christ Iesus our Lord and Sauiour For we haue beene shewed how the Spirit of God by the ministrie of the worde and Sacramentes through this faith of ours grounded vpon sounde knowledge vnites Christ Iesus himselfe and vs togither though after a spirituall manner yet most truelie and effectually to our saluation and the contrarie doctrine hath at large bene confuted And by the way it hath most plainely beene laide before vs howe we ought to be qualified both in faith and manners both in hearing of the worde and in the vse of the Sacraments that thereby still we may growe vp in the house of GOD in Christ Iesus to be perfect men and acceptable in the sight of his heauenlie father Lastlie by the viewe of the promise we haue beene I trust thorowlie taught what manner of liues we ought to leade as long as we liue after that once we bee got
though therein we shew neuer so much zeale and learning he hath the verie thing he desireth For that doubtlesse hath beene and is still a dangerous stratageme or pollicie of his when he findeth he cannot as he would preuaile by keeping men in ignorance and carelesse security then to doe what he can that they may spend their learning and zeale about matters of the least moment that in the meane time he may the more quietlie by their silence in matters of greatest weight by the other contrary way as it were paue the waie to Atheisme yea I feare much to speake plainely what I thinke that lacke of due consideration hereof in time in some hath not onelie beene one of the next causes of the phantasticall sectes of the Brownistes and Familistes but also of too shamefull encrease in so great light of the Gospell both of Papistes and Atheistes amongest vs. Wherefore my heartes desire and prayer to God for England is and euer shall be and for all the Churches of Christ wheresoeuer in the wide world that this subtiltie of Sathan may both heere and euerie where be throughlie well lookt vnto and the mischiefe thence ensuing be as carefully preuented as possiblie may be for otherwise it may growe intollerable and vncurable And J beseech the Lord heartilie to giue your Grace and all the rest of the reuerend Fathers the Bishops of this land and all others that be in authoritie with you in the same both skill and will power and might by the assistance of his holie spirite speedilie and effectuallie to cleanse and purge these Churches of England and Ireland so of all these foure kindes of dangerous aduersaries that without their stopping of vs at the first or seducing of vs afterward eyther of the right hand or of the left all the rest of vs as brethren and heires of the kingdom of heauen may both happilie get into this way thither and also most stedfastlie and constantlie perseuere therein euen vnto the verie end Thus presuming as you see of your Graces curteous and friendlie acceptance both of this my trauell in pointing out this waie and also of this my bold dedicating the same vnto you J will not cease to praie vnto God to requite and recompence seauen-folde into your bosome both this all your great and vndeserued former fauours towardes mee And thus beseeching him also long to preserue you in health and honour to his glorie the Churches good to your owne euerlasting comfort now euer crauing also pardon for this my boldnes and hoping therof I most humblie take my leaue From Blechlie in Buckingham shire 1596. Your Graces alwaies most readie and willing to be at your commandement Thomas Sparks The high way to Heauen Iohn 7. vers 37.38.39 Now in the last and great day of the feast Iesus stoode and cried saying if any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke He that beleeueth in mee as saith the scripture out of his belly shall flow riuers of waters of life This spake be of the spirit which they that beleeued in him should receiue For the holie Ghost was not yet giuen because that Iesus was not yet glorified IN these wordes welbeloued in our Lorde and Sauiour the holy Euangelist Saint Iohn hath set down the summe and effect of a famous sermon made by Christ himselfe the verie consideration whereof ought both to stirre vppe me to open the same the more reuerently and also to prooue you to listen thereunto the more religiously and attentiuely Herein The method the method that he hath followed and that therefore likewise I must is this First hee noteth certaine circumstances thereof then the substance of the sermon it selfe The circumstances hee expresseth in these wordes Nowe in the last and greate day of the feast Iesus stood and cryed saying and the sermon in the rest and that in this order First he noteth to whom he directed it and his speech therein saying that he beganne it thus If any man thirst then in the rest what it was that he spake vnto such Nowe the summe of his speeches as he hath heere recorded it consisted of two pointes first of a commaundement that he gaue to them to whome he spake and then of a promise that he made them obeying that commaundement of his The commaundement the Euangelist saith was this Let him come to me and drinke and the promise was this hee that beleeueth in mee as saith the scripture out of his belly shall flowe riuers of waters of life So that he commaunded two thinges first a comming vnto him and then a drinking of him and forasmuch as the promise was thus deliuered in a figuratiue and metaphoricall kinde of phrase the Euangelist directed by the spiritte of God of a care he had to leade men to the right vnderstanding of Christes meaning therein and to preserue them from mistaking of the same telleth vs plainely that by the riuers of waters of life that Christ spake of in this promise of his he vnderstoode the spiritte which they that beleeued in him shoulde receiue adding withall that that was not in such measure yet powred vppon such as it shoulde be afterward for that Iesus was not yet glorified for so his wordes the holie Ghost was not yet must be vnderstoode as I shall shewe The circūstances when I come vnto them Wherefore nowe to prosecute these thinges in order as they lie as they shall offer themselues vnto vs in the text First we haue to consider what he hath saide concerning the circircumstances of this sermon Touching which nowe in the last and greate daie of the feast Iesus stoode and cryed saith the Euangelist for the better vnderstanding of which wordes if we peruse the former part of this Chapter it will euidentlie appeare vnto vs that when Christ made this sermon he was at Hierusalem and in the temple there by occasion of the feast of tabernacles which then there they kept solemnized where and when the Iewes sought to take him and therfore purposely the pharisies and high priestes sent officers thither and that to the end that so he being taken they might kill him whereof Christ was not ignorant For there before this at this verie feast teaching openly out of the scriptures to the astonishment of all his enemies that heard him he saith slatly vnto them vers 19. Why goe yee about to kill me Nowe the last day of this feast as we may see Leuit. 23. vers 36 was the eight day when by Gods ordināce they were to haue an holie conuocation and a solemne assemblie vpon which daie Iesus stoode vp and made this sermon with a lowde and crying voyce that so the better he might be hearde throughout that great assemblie and concourse of people All these thinges therefore laid together shew vs plainely thus much that Iesus was the preacher of the sermon and where when and in what manner it was preached by him namely that it
remission of our sinnes And yet heereby it is most euident that the bodie and bloode of Christ in respect of this their estate and condition are the bodie and blood of his that expresly by the words of the institution we are heere to seeke for and to feede vpon How can this then be otherwise but as we teach by calling heereby to our remembrance that once most certainely they were thus handled for vs and by beleeuing that therby our saluation was wrought which as oft as we doe we are fed and nourished therewith to eternall life Thus then you see the matter in hand the Analogie of faith and good manners and not onely other Scriptures but the verie words of the institution lead strongly to the maintenāce of our expositiō of Christs words in the institution of this Sacrament and to the vtter ouerthrow of theirs And truely the ancient Fathers as we haue a thousand times shewed thē are wholly also of our side against them It were infinite to bring al that might be found in them to this purpose as by large volumes written and published by vs about this matter we haue made it euident Howbeit somwhat yet now againe let vs heare what some of the chiefe of them haue said Christ tooke bread which comforteth mans heart that he might therby represent the trueth of his body saith Hierome vpon the 26. of Mathew Christ in his last supper saith Cyprian in his sermon de vnctione Chrismatis with his owne hands at his table gaue his Apostles bread wine but vpon the crosse he gaue his body to be woūded by the hands of the souldiers that sincere trueth more secretly imprinted in the Apostles the true sincerity might expound vnto the nations how bread wine was the body blood and after what sort the causes and their effects agreed and diuers names and kindes should be reduced to one essence and the things signifying and the things signified were called with one selfe same names And Ambrose in his 4. booke 4. chapter of Sacraments writeth that as in Baptisme we receiue the similitude of death so in this sacramēt we drink the similitude of Christs blood And Chrysostome most plainly saith in his 11. Homily vpō Mathew that Christ his body it selfe is not in the holy vessels but the mysterie Sacrament therof Augustine in his 57. question vpon Leuiticus prescribeth for a rule that the thing that signifieth is wont to beare the name of the thing which it singifieth as Paule said saith he the rock was Christ not ti signified Christ but euē as it had bene indeed which neuerthelesse was not Christ by substance but by signification And in his 23. Epistle he saith that the similitude betwixt the signe and thing signified is the verie cause why the one beareth the name of the other in Sacramentes and therefore in his third booke of Christian doctrine he saith it is a miserable slauerie of the soule to take the signes for the thinges signified Cap. 5. Christ honored the signes and representations which are seene with the names of his bodie and blood saith Theodoret in his second dialogue Gelasius against Eutiches affirmeth the image similitude of the body and blood to be celebrated in these mysteries Bede vpon Luke 22. writeth that because bread doth comfort mans heart and wine doth make good blood in his bodie therefore the breade is mystically compared to Christs bodie and the wine to his blood And who hath not heard vs an hundred times tell them that Tertullian in his fourth booke against Marcion interpreteth This is my body saying that it is to say this is a figure of my bodie and that likewise Augustine against Adimantus the Manichee writeth that Christ doubted not to say This is my body when he gaue a signe of his bodie and vpon the third Psalme that he saith that Christ admitted Iudas to a banquet where he commended a figure of his bodie to his disciples And what can be plainer then these eyther against them or for vs All these thinges considered therefore we may boldlie conclude that they haue no ground from Christes wordes for their grosse reall presence And surely as little haue they eyther from his omnipotencie Neither his omnipotency nor glorified body will helpe them or from the state of his glorified bodie For he will not shew his omnipotencie in whatsoeuer we list but in effecting whatsoeuer himselfe pleaseth and therefore they failing in the proofe as they haue that it is his pleasure to haue it as they would it is in vaine for them to thinke that this can or will helpe them out But indeed and trueth howsoeuer they would seeme to grounde much vpon his almightinesse to haue a strong faith therein and seeke to discredit our faith in the same yet in this verie point lot theirs and ours be but a little indifferentlie compared togither and ours soone will prooue farre the stronger For I woulde haue them tell me in good sadnesse whether the Centurion Math. 8.8 that professed that he beleeued that though Christ came no nearer his house then he was in respect of his bodilie presence that yet he was perswaded that if he but spake the word his scruant should be healed or Iairus that said come and lay thy handes on my daughter and she shall liue Math. 9.19 shewed themselues to be better perswaded of Christes omnipotencie Sure I am both reason and Christes magnifying of the Centurions faith ought to leade them and all men to giue the preeminence to the Centurion aboue the other many degrees Why should they not then see and confesse that we shewe our selues more strongly perswaded of his omnipotencie then they in that we shew by our doctrine that we firmly beleeue that he can wil euen remaining stil in heauen feed vs with his body brokē blood shed though that were so with them so long agoe as it hath or they that by theirs seeme to be perswaded that this cannot be vnlesse according to their fancy to the shaking and crossing needlesly of so many groūds both of good māners faith as we haue heard he conuey himself into our mouthes And to what purpose is it for the maintenāce of this their opinion for thē to labour as they do to put infinite difference betwixt his body vnglorified glorified and to seeke to perswade men that it may be as they say in respect of his body now glorified though not in respect therof before seing it is most certaine that when Christ instituted this Sacrament his body was not glorified and by his words expresly as I lately shewed he instituted this to be a Sacrament of his body broken and bloode shed For who doth not or at least may not heereby perceiue that we haue not here any otherwise to deale with his estate glorified thē therby now the more strōgly to be perswaded that indeed he is able to feede vs with his broken
plaine and pregnant in this to show that the perfection of our righteousnes lyeth rather in the sight of our own manifolde vnrighteousnes to vrge vs to thirst after the making of vs righteous through the righteousnes of Christ Iesus thē in any finding at any time of any perfect inherent righteousnesse in our selues Wherefore these thinges considered I trust you will rather vse the meanes before laide before you by mee according to Gods worde to breede in you true hunger and thirst after Christ thē that you wil end any eare at al to these subtilties of Sathan to holde you there from such therefore hopping that by those meanes either God hath heretofore made you or at this present hath or wil let vs proceed The next thing beere to be considered of The commande ment which containes 2. things b. what it is to come vnto Christ is the commandementes here giuen by Christ vnto such as I haue spoken of and haue laboured to make all you wherein as I saide in the beginning he requireth of all such two thinges namely that they shoulde come vnto him and then drinke of him where by comming vnto him we haue not as Augustine hath noted in his 26. and 32 tractes vpon Iohn to vnderstand a comming vnto him by the feete of the bodie For so manie came vnto him touched him and througed him and yet were neuer the better Mat. 5.31 but a comming vnto him by the direction of the eies of the soule by the feete of sound knowledge of him what he is in person and what he is in office When this worde is vsed alone as Mat 11.28 in those wordes of his come vnto me all ye that be wearie and heauie laden and I will ease you then thereby doubtlesse we haue not onely to vnderstand thus much but that therby further is required of vs faith in him grounded vpon this our knowledge of him as vpon the foundation thereof But wher it is coupled with other wordes that either expresly or in effect call for faith as it is here then thus as I haue said it is to be taken as Iohn 6.40 compared with this place makes it euident For there insteed of comming vnto him he saith he that seeth the sonne not vnderstanding thereby the seeing of him with bodily eies but with spirituall and then he goeth on saying and beleeueth in him shall haue euerlasting life Wherefore vntill by the light of the gospell men haue so profited through the inward working of Gods holy spirite in them that they knowe and acknowledge Christ aright both in person and office they haue neither eies not feete in Christes sence here to come vnto him by or withall Pray we therefore for this light and the countenance thereof amongst vs. For certainely the naturall man perceiues not the thinges of God neither can he because they are spirituall 1. Cor. 2.11.14 c. But they that haue the light of the gospell shinning amongst them though before they sat in darknesse and in the shadowe of death yet if the faulte be not in them selues they may see a greate light and life is risen vp to them in this behalfe Mat. 4.16 Peter by this light directing him and shinning vnto him shewed that with these feet he was come to Christ Mathew 16.16 confessing Christ to be the sonne of the liuing God and therefore to his greate comforte and to encourage others so to come vnto him also Christ answered him and said Blessed arte thou Simon the sonne of Ionas for flesh and bloode hath not reuealled this vnto thee but my father which is in heauen Mat 16.17 Surely we here in England Gods name be blessed for it haue had nowe this greate while the light clearely shining amongst vs to direct vs in our comming to Christ to make streight steps vnto our feet least that which is halting be turned out of the way as we are councelled Heb. 12 13. And yet I feare there is such bad and smale cōming to Christ sound amongst vs that he in respect of most of vs hath too too iust cause to say vnto vs as he did to the Iewes in his time This is the condēnation that light is come into the world men loue darknes better then light because their deeds are euil Io. 3.19 wher for we haue cause to thinke that also which in an other place he said vnto some of them euen to be spoken of vs all yet a little while is the light with you walke whiles ye haue light least the darknesse come vpon you for he that walketh in the darke knoweth not whither he goeth and therefore while ye haue light beleeue in the light that ye may be the children of the light Iohn 12.31.36 But that this his aduise and counsell may be in time and that effectually taken to heart and followed of vs in this case in walking aright vnto Christ by the direction of this light whiles it shines amongst vs we are seeing our owne vnablenesse other wise so to doe at all to be as it is to pray him according to his promise made to his disciples that he woulde also praie his father to bestow vpon vs euen the spirite of trueth to teach vs all thinges Iohn 14.16.17.26 and to leade vs vnto all truthe 16.13 For if euer we attaine by this light to the sound and perfect knowledge of Iesus Christ wherein euen the wisedome of God in a mysterie as Paule speaketh is contained 1. Cor 2.7 doubtlesse we shall haue cause with him to say further as he doth there also Ver 10.11 God then hath renealed it vnto vs by his spirite for that searcheth all things even the deep thinges of God For what man knoweth the thinges of a man saue the spirit of man which is in him euen so the thinges of God knoweth no man but the spirite of God Seeing then that Christ commaundeth vs here to come vnto him and to come vnto him is nothing else but according to the light of the gospell directing vs therein by his spirite to be enabled rightly to knowe him acknowledge and confesse him it stan deth vs vpon diligently to marke and to consider howe therein he is described and set forth vnto vs. Which if we doe we shall soone finde What Christ is in person that the summe and substance of all set before vs therein tendeth ether to set out what he is in person or in office let vs therefore before we proceed any further the better to teach vs and to enable vs to doe as Christ here biddeth vs a little consider what in these two respects it hath taught vs. Touching the former what he is in person therein thus much we may learne that whereas most certaine it is as our catholike saith teacheth vs and the whole course of the scriptures proueth that there is but one eternal true and almightie God the maker and gouenour of all the world and yet in the vnity of Godhead that there
the nature with all the assentiall and inseparable harmelesse properties thereof of a true and verie man both in respect of his body and soule That by this forme of a seruant he ment not any other created nature but the nature of man he sufficiently she weth by adding that he was made in the similitude of man and in shape found as a man For Marcion and other heretiques heere upon gathering that he assumed not the verie nature of man but the showe and phantasme of a man they doe most wilfullie but cauill and foolishlie seek to darken a most manifest truth For besides that all the story of his conception birth life and death and most plaine speeches and phrases continually vsed of him in the scriptures prooue that he was a verie true and perfect man both in bodie and soule these wordes giue them no ground to build any such conclusion vpon For Adam is said to haue begot Seth according to his owne image or likenesse Gen. 5.3 and yet we might iustly counte them verie fond that therefore woulde inferre that Seth had not the verie nature of a man that Adam had but a bare shadow or similitude thereof The woordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly englished taking and made well vnderstood made it most cleare that the second person tooke vnto it selfe personally the nature of man so that he vnited so verilie and personally with him selfe as he was the sonne of God and the second person in the trinitie that nature of man that he assumed that Iohn might iustlie say the word was made flesh Cap. 1.14 and that we may most safely beleeue that he that before subsisted onely in the forme of God now also subsistes in the forme of a seruant and that as in respect of the one nature he is the verie sonne of God equall to his father so also in respect of the other he is the verie sonne of his mother and verie man and so lesser and inferiour to his father In the olde testament we reade he appeared in diuerse formes vnto men but yet we neuer can say that then he made him selfe of no reputation by taking such forms vpon him neyther therefore was he made the thinges he appeared to bee because he neuer assumed theÌ„ so to himself that he personally vnited himselfe vnto them And heereby also we may further learne in that the assumer and thing assumed are thus both described heere the one to be that that had his beeing in the forme of God before and in this worke remained still himselfe and the other to be the forme of a seruant accompanied or inuested with the likenesse shape of a seruant that both these notwithstanding this personall vnion are entire and perfect in their owne nature without any abolishing of eyther nature or confounding of other in themselues or in the properties with the other in Christ Lastly these wordes are plaine and forcible to make vs see that notwithstanding the assumer of the forme of a seruant vnto himselfe thereby is made in the likenesse of a man and found in shape as a man that yet he is but one person nowe subsisting both in the true forme of God and in the verie nature or forme of man For as of one person after the finishing of this his incarnation both heere and else where alwaies the gospel speaketh of him Dreame therefore we may not that this vnion of the nature of man personally with the son of God is either in the commixtion of the two natures or by the inhabitation of the one in the other or by the adioining of the one vnto the other or by the assisting of one the other neither yet by the real coÌ„munication of the properties of the one with the other so as that the one nature may simply properly be said to be of the same properties that the other is For though water wine be mixed in one cup the spirit of God dwel in the seruants of God God adioyn him self vnto theÌ„ assist theÌ„ most aparaÌ„tly euery where yet caÌ„not wine the spirit or God be said to haue so taken vnto theÌ„selues water the harts of men or the seruaÌ„ts of God that therefore wine is made water the spirit of God or God the heartes of men or the seruants of God themselues as we heere see him that hath beene alwaies in the forme of God said to haue beene made in the forme of man by his taking vnto himselfe the forme of a seruant And though most certaine it be and therefore most vsuall in the scriptures also the better to note the true reall essentiall and personall vnion betwixt the sonne of God and the nature of man to heare those things that properly appertaine to the manhood to be affirmed of our blessed God and Sauiour and also those things that properlie belong vnto him onely as he is God spoken of the man Christ yet to make it euident that as it is heretical to confound the one nature with the other that so it is also and hath beene euer so accounted of all those who by the motion of Gods spirit and not of their owne haue written the scriptures to coÌ„municate properly the special properties of the one vnto the other they haue neuer so spoken or writ but speaking of these two natures in the concrete that is as the wordes vsed to signifie the same not the person subsisting in the essence and neuer speaking thereof in the abstract as the schoolemen speake that is as the words vsed note the naked and simple essence in it selfe And therefore for this true essentiall and personall vnion of the sonne of God with the forme of a seruant we say according to the trueth and to the scriptures that Christ is God and man but we vse not to say he is Godhead and manheade and we say they crucified the Lorde of glorie so noting that person that was and is the Lord of glorie and vnderstanding this of his person not in respect of that nature whereby he was so the Lord of glory but in respect of the other nature personally vnited thereunto wherein he was passible and might be crucified And so likewise speaking of his person in respect of the other nature we may say and say truely the man Christ is almightie euerie where and infinite because he is so in that respect that he is the sonne of God but we may not say that his manhoode is so For we must vnderstand and alwaies remember that whensoeuer any thing is affirmed of Christ in respect of the one nature that properly belonges vnto aâ—â—ther that the meaning thereof neuer is to inuest the one nature with the properties that are peculiar to the other but that so we speake to shewe the personall vnion of both in one person Wee may see a prettie good image heereof in a man as he consistes of bodie and soule for because of the concurring but of those two
proone this our vnion with Christ to be spirituall not any grosse or carnal mingling or conioyning of him and vs togither it verie well serueth that Christ him selfe in the fixt of Iohn hath both absolutely and most confidently saide verily verily I say vnto you except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloode yee haue noe life in you vers 53. And also a little after that he is the breade of life that came downe from heauen and his flesh is meate indeede and his bloode is drinke indeede whereof whosoeuer eateth and drinketh hath eternall life Verse 51.54.55.56 For this being thus he might wel say to all that would be saued from the beginning of the worlde to the ende therof as we reade he saide to his Ioh. 15.4.5.6 Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot beare fruite of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can yee except yee abide in me I am the vine yee are the branches he that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me can yee doenothing c. For as it hath from the beginning beene a most certaine truth that to the beginning of the being and life of man and to the continuance of the same his bodie and soule must be vnited togeather so hath it alwayes beene is and euer willbee to make whole man to haue any acceptable being before God or life in his sight that he must haue a true vnion and communion with Christ both God and man For as there is but one God so the Apostle hath taught vs There is but one mediator betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus 1. Tim. 2.5 neither is there saluation in any other for amongst men there is giuen no other name vnder heauen whereby we must be saued as Peter most stoutly aduoucheth Act. 4.12 Whereupon it must needs follow that eyther there was none saued before Christ was God and man which was not before the world was 4000. yeare old more which once to imagine were most absurd and notoriously iniurious to all the godly Patriarkes Prophets and others that liued in the time of the old Testament or else that it is most certaine true that Paul hath taught as it is indeed of such that they did all not onely eat sacramental bread drinke sacramental drinke as we doe but that they did eate the same spiritual meat drink the same spiritual drink which was Christ that we do 1. Cor. 10.3.4 c. Christ therefore than hauing no manhood really but only in the purpose and promise of God it could not bee that otherwise then by the worke meanes of the spirit of God they fed vpon him were vnited vnto him God man which yet then was necessary for their saluatiō Though therfore now he be come gone againe in his manhood hoode out of the worlde vnto his father in the highest heauens which also shal containe him vnto the restitution of al things as Peter hath taught vs Act. 3.21 yet we know also that he is of that almighty power that as his hauing not then yet takē mans nature could not then stop the godly Patriarkes and Prophets from their necessary vnion communion with him God man so much lesse he hauing taken it now and hauing finished the worke of our redemption being risen againe ascended set at the right hand of his father can the distance of place betwixt heauen and earth hinder or let the grouth of this vnion betwixt him his For we see the distance of place betwixt man and wife or father and child doth not loose the knot or impeach the vnion that by mariage nature was before betwixt them And we see find by experience that though the head in situation and place be much aboue the feet that yet by the means that but nature hath to vnite them togither there is such an vniō betwixt them that frō the head life is conueied down euē to the soales of the feet likewise in the mistical body of Christ though the mēbers be neuer so farre disioyned seuered in place yet that so little hindreth the cōmuniō of Saints that Paul hath said we that are many are one bread one body bicause we al are partakers of one bread 1. Co. 10.17 Seing therefore by that which I haue said it sufficiently appeareth that it is the wil pleasure of God that there shoulde bee a true and certaine vnion betwixt Christ and his Church he being as he is almightie and therefore perfectly able to doe whatsoeuer he will let not the difficultie any way or the incomprehensiblenes of the bringing of it to passe at all make vs to doubte of the truth of the thing For alas so shorte is our reach in comprehending the wonderful workes of God that though we be neuer so sure that we haue soules euery one of vs vnited to our bodies yet the manner how we cannot conceiue therefore it being now made clere and apparant that Christ here by saying drinke hath taught vs to make him our very owne and that this must bee though most truly yet after a spirituall manner to proceede it is necessary now to learne how thus we may eate him and drinke him and so make him our owne To eat and drinke Christ is to beleeue in him aright And for this we neede not seeke farre for whereas if Christ should haue continued the manner of phrase that he began with all he both easily could would and shoulde haue saide in the next verse he that drinketh of mee of purpose doubtlesse to shewe vs that to drinke him or of him is nothing else indeede but rightly to beleeue in him he saith he that beleeueth in mee as saith the scripture c. And the verie same like course hath he taken Vers 35. of the former chapter For hauing saide he that commeth vnto me shall not hunger by and by in steade of saying he that drinketh of mee he addeth he that beleeueth in mee And to the same ende it may well be noted that in that chapter the very same things that are promised to the eater of his flesh and drinker of his blood are also promised to the beleeuer in him and likewise ther the same things that are threatned against the one are threatned against the other as if you compare the 45. verse with the 39. and the 53. with the 64. yee shall soone perceiue Yea if one marke diligently Christs discourse in that chapter he shall easilye finde that there to assure vs that to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood is to beleeue in him he hath of set purpose stoode both vpon the proposition and assumption whereupon necessarilie by the rules of right reasoning that must follow for the conclusion For first there he dwelleth vpon this that to eate the breade of life is to beleeue in him for that he is
the breade of life Vers 35. c. and then he discendeth to this but he that eateth the flesh of the son of man drinketh his blood eateth the breade of life vers 54. for he shal haue eternal life wherupon what can else follow but this therefore to eate the flesh of the son of man to drinke his blood is to beleeue in him But whom these things yet cānotperswade to be of this minde let them further remēber that Iohn hauing said as many as receiue Christ are made the sons of God cap. 1.12 that immediately lest we should not cōceiue aright what it is to receiue him he addeth that is euen they that beleeue in him And let them also cōsider that Paule praying that Christ might dwel in the hearts of the Ephesians addeth streight to shew vs how that might bee by saith cap. 3.17 For but these two places well laid togither pregnātly prooue that Christ is both got kept receiued of vs continued in vs by faith And let not any mā think either that this is new doctrine of late deuised by vs or that true faith is too weake thus to reach Christ to make him ours For first it is certaine that Tertulian who liued within 200. yeares after Christs birth in his booke de resurrectione carnis cap. 29. most plainely hath said Christus est auditu deuorandus intellecturuminandus fide digerendus that is Christ is to be deuoured by hearing to be chewed by vnderstanding to be digested by faith And Augustine who florished about the 400. yeare is both most plaine plentiful in this point For in his 25. tract vpon Iohn he saith Quidparas dentem ventrē crede manducasti Why preparest thou thy teeth belly beleeue thou hast eaten And in the next he writeth much to that purpose for he saith there Ad Christū non ambulandocurrimus sed credendo non motu carnis sed voluntate cordis that is we runne to Christ not by walking but by beleeuing not by the motiō of the flesh but by the wil of the heart Yea in plain tearms there also he saith Credere in eū est manducare panē vinū to beleeue in him is to eat the bread of life But in my opiniō most notably he writeth to this end vpon occasion of the Centurions cōming to Christ in his 33. booke against Faustus the Manichee cap. 8. saying Accedant ad Iesum nō carne sed corde non corporis praesentia sed fidei potentia Let thē come to Iesus not with or in flesh but with or in heart not by bodily presence but by the power of faith Now teaching the other point also that faith is not too weake thus to apprehend Christ it is as plaine that he hath saide in his 50. tract vpon Iohn Quomodo in coelum manū mittam vt ibi sedentem teneam fidem mitte tenuisti parentes tui tenuerunt carne tu tene corde quoniam Christus absens etiam praesens est nisi praesens esset à nobis teneri non posset c. that is How shal I stretch my hand into heauen that I may holde him sitting there Send thy faith and thou hast hold of him the fathers held him in the flesh hold thou him in heart for Christ absent is also present for vnlesse he were present he could not be held of vs. And how this shall be he plainely sheweth saying He is gone and yet he is heere for he caried his body into heauen but his maiestie he hath not taken from the worlde Chrisostome also an other ancient father who liued much what about Augustines time in his second Homilie vpon these wordes of Esay Vidi Dominum I haue seene the Lord sheweth that though we cannot flie vp to heauen in bodie that yet in minde and cogitation we may For God saith he hath giuen that such winges that nothing can let or stop it if it will flie to heauen farre more pearcing eies God hath giuen it saith he then the body And in his 24. Homilie vpon the first to the Corinthians remembring there that saying of Christ Mat. 24.28 Where the carion is thither will the Eagles resort thereupon he inferreth that the Lordes table is not for Iayes or Crowes that feede belowe but for Eagles that take their meate aloft he saith that by hat speach Christhath taught them that would come vnto his body to flie aloft and not to creepe vpon the earth nor yet to haue any dealing therewith It is worthy the remembring also that the same Father noteth touching the power and force of faith vpon Paules telling the Galathians That Christ was euen crucified amongst them Cap. 3.1 For he plainely sheweth that the Apostle in so saying shewed them that the strength of faith was such that it is able to see thinges though farre off and so by the eies of faith in the ministrie of the worde and sacraments which had beene amongst those Galathians Christes death was or might haue beene as clearely seene and more clearly then it was of many that were present at it And vnto Bernards time who liued aboue 1100 yeares after Christ it seemeth that this was the currant and receiued doctrine of the Church touching our communion to be had and attained vnto with Christ by faith For in his 28. Homilie vpon the Canticles he most plainely sheweth that though Christ be ascended that yet he both may and will be touched Sed affectu non manu voto non oculo fide non sensibus but then saith he it must be by affection and not by hand by desire and not by eye by faith and not by the senses And againe in his 76. sermon vpō the Canticles most notable is it that he writeth to this purpose saying Though Christ be set at the right hand of his Father goe to yet follow him seeke him and let neyther his inaccessable brightnesse nor his height discourage thee from seeking or once cause thee to dispaire of finding him if thou canst beleeue all things are possible to the beleeuer the word is neare to my mouth and heart Crede inuenisti nam credere inuenisse est that is Beleeue and thou hast found him for to beleeue is to haue found him This admirable power of faith doubtlesse is excellently aduouched Heb. 11.1 whiles there it is defined to be the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene Wherefore let vs not once doubt but where Christ is soundly and rightly beleeued in there by that faith the owner thereof eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood to his or her eternall saluation Euerye kinde of faith will not serue heere yea none but that which is according to the scriptures Yet then great need and care is to be taken that this faith of ours be sound right For neither can euery faith a dead faith or an erroneous and wrong faith stand vs in anie
they hold to be the traditions of their Church yea nothing else in effect but their Popes pleasures the best learned amongst them are not ashamed to bestow great paines to accuse the scriptures of such insufficiencie and obscuritie to this purpose as that without the helpe of these their traditions the doctrine of faith and good manners could neither certainelie nor sufficientlie be learned at aâ—l Yea herein they haue some of them as to their perpetuall and euerlasting shame it is well knowen Andridius Ecchius Lindan Hosius Canisius Censura Colon. gone so farre in their writings as that they haue not blusht to set it downe as a catholicke trueth that the greatest part is left to be determined by their traditions that the scriptures were left rather to be vnder the Church then to haue authoritie ouer her that it were a pittiful thing if the Church should be tied to the Canonicall scriptures in euerie thing to be ruled and oueruled thereby eye that it cannot noreuer will be well with the Church as long as the lay people are suffered to read them or to heare them red for they are so obscure and their sense is so flexible and heard to be found say they that thence all heresies are suckt and that their sense is as but a leaden rule or a nose of waxe vnlesse it be stifned streighted and kept euen by the helpe of their traditions Wherein most expresly they resemble the heretikes that Irenaeus describes in his third booke and second chapter who for traditions thus defaced the scriptures What greater blasphemies can be vttered against the maiestie of God the author of these scriptures For he hauing left them vnto his Church in his good prouidence by his penmen for hir better direction to know his will and then to beleeue and liue accordingly as out of all doubt he haith how may we thinke without doing of him the greatest wrong that may be that he hath left it therein no perfecter a rule then they hold to this end For were not this in effect to say that eyther he could not for lacke of power skill and wisedome or that else he would not for lacke of loue and care towardes it make it any sufficienter and certamer For what reason else can there be that he should vndertake begin goe forward as he hath with such a rule for the direction therof and yet leaue it when he hath done so maimed and so vnprofitable as they would make it Now to haue but eyther of these conceites of God were it not most absurde and iniurious vnto him For how can we spoile him either of infinite wisedome or of infinite and most perfect loue care to wardes his Church but withall we plainely denie him to be the true God Wherfore let vs whatfoeuer these men say to the coÌ„trary learne to beleeue as onely the canonical scriptures of God teach vs to that end purpose let vs now as briefly as we caÌ„ take a view what they do teach vs in this respect behalfe Concerning this point What faith the scripture heere requireth first it is out of doubt whatsoeuer the Lord hath taught or told for trueth in these canonicall scriptures we are most firmely by faith to aslent vnto to be so and therefore hereof howsoeuer to discredit vs withall the papistes would seeme to the contrary we neither make nor moue any coÌ„trouersie with them Yea we most heartily wish and pray that as they define faith to be a firme assent to the whole reuealed wil of God by his word that once it would please God to giue them but this faith to assent in deed without wauering to that which he hath taught in his written word in the canonicall scriptures for then all the controuersies betwixt them vs would streight be at an end But alas they enforce such a sense vpoÌ„ these scriptures so equal their vnwritteÌ„ word of traditions herwith that as long as they take this course there is no hope that euer they either can or wil haue this grace wherfore to leaue them a while grounded farre more vpoÌ„ their own vnwritten traditions then vpon the canonical scriptures for the substaÌ„ce of their faith the next thing that we are to vnderstand touching faith is that when it is spoken of as it is here in my text it importeth more then this general assent to al trueth taught in the canonical scriptures For that brings one no further then credere Deo Deum de Deo that is to beleeue or credit God to beleeue that he is what he is wheras here in my text expresly Christ saith he that beleeueth in me thereby requiring that we should not thinke it inough to beleeue him as a speaker alwaies of trueth or to beleeue that he is such a one in person office as I haue shewed him to be for both these he hath already sufficiently called for at our hands in bidding of vs come vnto him but that it is necessarie for vs if we would haue him to be our meat drinke indeed to goe yet further that is to beleue in him Which is indeed the former lessons being wel taken out therupon as vpon a most sound foundation to ground a most certaine trust confidence that in for through and by him whollie and solie freely sullie we shal be iustified heere and saued heere after To all the former degrees of faith the reprobate and such as are destitute fo the graces of regeneration sanctification yea the verie diuels may come namely to yeald that euery thing is as God hath said it to be in his written word to credit him bicause he is trueth it self to beleue that he is that he is also such a one as he therin sets forth himself to bee this may therfore make them to tremble as Iames saith 2.19 But this is not the faith of Gods elect that Paule speakes of to Titus cap. 1. nor that which he saith worketh by charitie Gal. 5.6 nor that which is said purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 nor that whereof it is so often and so vniuersally said Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but hane eternall life Io. 3.15 c. Necessary it is that Gods elect haue all these degrees and branches of faith and the beleeuing thus farre is alwaies found in them before they can beleeue in Iesus Christ so as that through him they can haue any assurance of their saluation but if they will haue such a faith whereby in Christ Iesus they shall be iustied then they must nor stay in these generalities but they must set Christ with all his graces necessarie for either their iustification or saluation before them and by imbracing and applying him particularly vnto them all that euer he did for mans saluation as euen done particularly most certainly fortheÌ„ in him and by him so made theirs they are to be assured that God hath freely
therwith the Spirit of God so to worke in your heartes that the eies of your soules be opened aright to see and knowe Christ and your hearts framed accordingly to beleeue in him vndoubtedly euen then according to Christs commaundement heere in my text you come vnto him and drinke him yea you eate his flesh and drinke his bloode to eternall life Wherefore deare brethren when you come but to heare I say vnto euerie one of you with the wise man Ecclesiastes 4.17 Take heede to thy foote when thou entrest into the house of God that so thou maist follow his counsel in that which followeth that is to be more neare to heare thā to offer the sacrifice of fooles And according to the aduise of Ieremy by the strong plow of repentance faith breake vp the fallow ground of your hearts when you come to heare that we sow not the good seede of the worde amongst thornes Cap. 4.4 For as you may most plainly learne by the parable Mat. 13.4 c. though the Lord send neuer so good seedsmē amongst you they sow the good seed neuer so faithfully yet if your hearts be either like the high way or like thornie or stony ground you shal neuer bring forth any good haruest to the Lord. For onely the good honest heart furnished with patiēce shall doe that as there we are taught and therefore labour to bring such hearts But alas when all comes to all most true it is that Christ saith none can come vnto him but whom the father draweth Io. 6.44 Paul may plant and Apollo water and yet all to no purpose vnlesse God giue the increase 1. Cor. 3.3 And yet I say for all this despise not prophecying if you woulde take out the former lesson quench not the spirit 1. Thes 5.19.20 For by the outwarde ministrie of men the Lord inwardlie by his spirite worketh in you a knowledge and loue of Christ and so draweth you vnto him And that hath Christ himselfe taught immediatly saying Ioh. 6.45 It is written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God Euerie man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the father commeth vnto me Whereupon very well Augustine in his 26. tract vpon Iohn noteth saying videte quomodo trahit pater docendo delectat non necessitatem imponendo that is behold how the father draweth by teaching he delighteth not by imposing necessitie or enforcing And to the same purpose vpon the foresaide wordes hee moste sweetely obserueth that it being founde true in these earthly delightes that euerie one is drawne or caried with his delight that much rather Christ by teaching beeing manifested vnto vs by his Father will draw vs vnto him Yet most certaine it is that onely God it is that first openeth and enlightneth our mindes to see Christ by his ministrie set before vs and who then creates in vs a newe a will to delight in him and to imbrace him which the same Father acknowledgeth also saying that we will well he worketh of himselfe without vs and when we so will that we doe he worketh togither with vs De gratia libero arbitrto Cap. 17. And yet though all this be most true Of Sacramentes in generall are not the sacramentes and the vse and meditation thereof needlesse and superfluous vnto vs to this purpose For as the worde written in the canouical Scriptures is as the written will of our heauenly Father which we publish vnto you when we read them and by preaching open them vnto you so the Sacramentes are as the great and auten tike seales of the Lord annexed thereunto for the more and better assuring vs of the certainetie of those heauenly legaces that therein are bequeathed vs. Indeed God for his part is so stedfast constant and true in all his sayings that though onelie by bare speech he should reueale his will vnto vs it were our dueties most stedfastly to beleeueit But he that made vs knoweth what is in vs and by experience we finde how necessarie so euer it be for vs to beleeue the word of God that yet though we haue it as in the goodnesse of God towardes vs we haue both written and thus sealed and confirmed by his Sacraments that all this is little inough to make vs beleeue it as we should Wherefore seeing it hath pleased God to stoupe so lowe vnto vs thus to apply himself to our capacity let vs in the name of God praise him therfore and most thankfully take vse of all the meanes that he hath left vs to get vnto his sonne by And therefore giue me leaue heere to enlarge my selfe a little vnto you that there be nothing wanting in mee to shew you or to helpe you forward by the helpe of these Sacramentes that I speake of through the working of Gods spirite in your heartes withall more and more to come vnto Christ and to be vnited vnto him to your euerlasting saluation And the rather because I know as the right vnderstanding of the nature thereof may by Gods blessing mightilie helpe you or ward therein so eyther the ignorance thereof or an erroneous conceite of them may verie much hinder you in the same Sacraments I call them according to the ancient vse and phrase of the Church which name I take was at the first borrowed from an ancient fashion of making a solemne vow and couenant betwixt the Emperour and his souldiers whereby he was bound to them to goe in and out before them as an Emperour they bound themselves vnto him againe to be faithfull and obedient souldiers And therefore because in these sacred rites it was obserued that likewise there passeth a solemne couenant betwixt God and the worthie receiuers thereof it was thought that not vnfitly they might be called Sacraments And in verie deede whether we consider Baptisme or that other of the bodie and blood of Christ we shall easily finde that thereby this is done For in Baptisme the minister in the name of GOD offereth by baptising in water in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost vnto the partie baptized not onelie a figure representation of the washing away of his sinnes and of his regeneration in the bloode of Christ but also a visible and sensible seale thereof whereby God bindeth himselfe to doe all this for the partie if the let and stoppe thereof be not in himselfe and he likewise by receiuing this Sacrament maketh open profession that he will liue and beleeue accordingly And in the other when breade and wine called as they be are deliuered vnto the communicant in like maner then God offereth to feede that partie to eternall life with the bodie broken and blood shed of his son and he by taking of them makes open confession that he so beleeueth and therefore will so shew it in his life therafter and of this mutuall couenant the sacrament deliuered and receiued is a most certaine pledge and seale betwixt them
of their owne nature but as they are by his institution sacred signes simbols representations similitudes pledges and seales of those thinges whose names they beare And therefore we call vpon you most earnestly whensoeuer you receiue in the feare of God reuerently so to take them and so by marking what is said of them and done with them to take occasion first to call effectually to your remembrance how Christs body was broken with sorrowes and tormentes and his pretious blood shed and seuered in his passion from his body to satisfie the iustice of God his heauenly father for mans sinnes yea euen for euery one of your sinnes and therefore withall heartily to sorrowe for your sinnes that put him to al these paines and yet vnsainedlie also with thankefull heartes to reioyce that he woulde take such paines for them that were so vnworthy thereof Which you are notably occasioned to doe when in the administration of this Sacrament you first see the bread broken and the wine powred forth and both particularly offered vnto euerie one of you seuered and apart the one after the other yet bearing the names of his bodie broken and bloode shed for you Secondly knowing the natures of bread and wine as you doe and to what vse they setue touching this life they bearing heere the names of the bodie broken and blood shed of Christ as they doe we assure you that thereby most iustlie we are occasioned to beleue that in the bodie broken and blood shed of Christ both the breade and drinke that is all the foode that is necessary for the maintenance of our spirituall life for euer before God lieth and that therfore there it is only to be sought And in that these further thus called and vsed are giuen vnto euery one of you that come vnto the Lordes boarde and you take them thereby the Lord by vs his ministers particularly offers his bodie broken and his blood shedde vnto cuery one of you to feede and nourish you to euerlasting life and you by taking of them in outward shew answere both him and vs that you doe most firmly and stedfastly euery one of you particularly beleue that he will doe so indeede Wherefore in any case when you streach forth your hands and open your mouthes to take breade and wine thus called at our hands take Christes so calling of them to be a most follemne promise to his to assure you that if indeede then you beleeue that his body was once broken for you and his blood shedde for the remission of your sins as the story of his passion and this Sacrament which is a visible commemoration therof shewe that then vndoubtedly without all question you doe not nor cannot more ceratinly by those instrumentes of your bodies take the breade and wine feede thereof then by this faith of yours the very mouth of your soule in this case you feede vpon his broken bodie and bloode shedde But then I say once againe faile not but when your hands and mouthes are occupied about the taking feeding vpon the outward elements let this faith of yours which is in steede of both to your soule be feruently occupied in beleeuing that by the broken body bloodshed of Christ Iesus your saluation was is fully purchased These three vses thus made taken in the receite of this Sacrament in that you finde by experience knowe it to be most certaine that by the force ordinary worke of nature bread and wine receiued in disgested are conuerted to fit foode for our nature so there growes an vnion betwixt our nature and them so this Sacrament thus receiued is and ought to be vnto vs as a sealed couenant of Christ Iesus by the mightie working of his Spirite to assure vs that he will finde the means most certainlye to vnite himselfe vnto vs to nourish and to feed vs so with himselfe that in him we shall growe to be perfect men in his house And lastly as this Sacrament serues first to these ends so notably to strengthen our faith in Iesus Christ crucified so serues it also as a most notable meane outwardly both before God and men to make confession of the same our faith by to distinguish vs as by our recognisance from others that are not of that fayth to prouoke vs continually to offer vnto God the sacrifice of thankesgiuing for this most sweete sacrifice of his sonne heerein brought fresh still to our remembrance and so beleeued in and vpon and to be a bond of loue and vnitie amongest all the receiuers thereof For as Paule saith We that are many are one bread and one bodie because we are all partakers of one bread 1. Cor. 10.17 So that by the receite heereof as first our vnion and communion with Christ is sealed vnto vs so also is it the seale and bond of the communion that the Saintes of God haue amongst themselues Wherefore as it straitely bindeth vs hauing receiued it vnlesse we would haue it appeare that we receiued it vnworthily afterwardes to liue as they that liue in and by Christ so it bindeth vs also all that receiue as members knit together in one bodie vnder one head to liue together in perfect peace and vnity Worthilie therefore all these thinges considered may we say of it as Augustine did in his time O Sacramentum pietatis ô signum vnitatis ô vinculum charitatis that is O Sacrament of pietie O signe of vnitie O bond of charitie tract 26. vpon Iohn Who should come vnto it how And if these thinges were well remembred as they ought neyther should ministers as they doe in most places without any due preparation of their people before admit them tag and rag one and other to this sacred table neyther would the people so rudely ignorantly and prophanely presse thereunto for a fashion onely as to too commonly they doe For if at any time that commaundement of Christ binde vs ministers as doubtlesse it doth or else Christ woulde neuer haue giuen it vs Giue ye not that which is holie vnto dogges neyther cast ye your pearles before swine Math. 7.6 it most directly bindeth vs heere to doe what lyeth in vs to know that they be neyther dogges nor swine to whome we offer this blessed sacrament before we so doe For heerein we see Christ Iesus that is the true bread of life whose flesh is meate indeede and whose bloode is drinke indeede as he himselfe hath assured vs Iohn 6.35.51.55 is offered to the right commers thereunto therefore here that saying of Christ is most true it is not good to take the childrens breade and to cast it to whelpes Math 15.16 In the ould Testament the Lord hath set downe an expresse Lawe that none that were vncircumcised should be admitted to the eating of the Pasouer Exod. 12.48 Yea Numb 9.6 c. we reade that God by his expresse Oracle shewed Moses that they that were but ceremonially vncleane were
then to the vniting of Christes bare bodie and bloode and the right communicant togither For as he both in bodie and soule standeth neede of him to be his Sauiour so it is certaine as Christ both God and man perfecte God and perfecte man in one person is the head and husband of his Church and the redeemer and Sauiour thereof so here faith is to feed so vpon his body broken blood shed as that withall it must stedfastly conceiue and beleeue that it was is the body and blood of such an one as was and is both very God and man and yet but one person For thence it cōmeth that the things done for vs by his broken bodie and blood shed though in number and time wherein they were done they were finite are in the sight of the heauenly Father of infinite value and dignitie as once I said before to worke our perfect redemption and saluation that they were done by such a man that had not onely a perfect bodie and soule of a man and in them both was such an one as it became vs to haue that was seperate from sinners Heb. 7.27 but also was and remaineth for euer a true euerlasting God and therefore was able thus to dignifie the workes done for vs in his manhood And to this end it is most heauenly and diuinely noted Heb. 9. that the force that the offring that Christ made of himselfe vpon the crosse for vs to purge our consciences from dead workes to serue the liuing God commeth and riseth from hence that then by his eternall Spirit he offered himselfe without fault to God for vs. And though I am not ignorant that Chrisostome to very good purpose in his 46. Homilie vpon Iohn interpreting those wordes of Christ Iohn 6.63 It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the wordes that I speake vnto you are spirit and life notes that they were spoken by Christ not to disable his flesh altogether from being profitable because so to thinke is absurd but to warne vs that carnally we vnderstand not his wordes which by his interpretation there we doe if we take his wordes simplie as they sound thinke no otherwise of them for that as he saith all misteries are to be considered with inward eies that is spiritually yet I cannot but thinke with others also that in so saying Christ meante not onely to teach vs that his wordes were not grosly and camally to betaken that he had spoken of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloode as the Capernaits and such of his hearers that beleeued not then tooke them but spiritually as his beleeuing disciples who notwithstanding them taried with him when the other murmured or departed by occasion thereof but that therin he had this further meaning and purpose to shew them that if his flesh and blood were as they tooke them but the flesh and bloode of a man then they could not be indeed such foode for their soules as he had taught them to be but beeing as they were the flesh and blood of such an one as withall was a spirit and that an eternall creating Spirit euen very God thence they might be sure that they rightly fed on by faith and the spirite both could and would bring life Thus therefore we teach and exhort all men in the vse of this Sacrament to feede vpon the bodie broken and blood shed of our Christ and Sauiour And yet thus we speake with Christ and according to the phrase vsed in the institution therof because as by Christ God and man as by our onely mediatour we come to the Father so it hath pleased God in his word to reueale him vnto vs that by his manhood and the workes done therin we should grow on to faith in his Godhead vnited thereunto and so shining manifesting it selfe vnto vs therin Thus then I hope by this time euen by this plaine and short declaration onely of our faith and iudgement concerning the doctrine and nature of this Sacrament The conclusion of this our doctrine you may most clearely see and perceiue that we are wonderfully wronged and slandered and that so also are all the Churches of our profession by our aduersaries whiles to discredit vs withal they would make men belecue that we make it but a naked Supper of bread and wine and so seeke to feede our people therein but with bare signes and figures For you may see and heare that most plainely and earnestly we vrge our hearers therein to seeke to feed to their eternall saluation of Christ Iesus himselfe both God and man and so many other notable vses thereof as you heare we teach that euen in respect thereof all the names and titles that any sound antiquitie hath honoured this Sacrament withal may most iustly be giuen vnto it as it is ministred and vsed by vs. We finde it hath beene called the Supper of the Lord the Table of the Lord the Sacrament of his bodie and bloode the Eucharist a Sacrifice and Synaxis and vsually with vs it is called the Cōmuniō And which of these is it not with vs It is the supper of the Lord because as we teach at the last supper he instuted it and it is his Table because therin he feedeth his with himself it is the Sacrament of his body blood because to his it is a sacred meanes of the Lord to nourish strengthen and exercise their faith therein it is the Eucharist because thereby we are so directly forceably occasioned as we are to yeeld all heartie thankes vnto God for the death and passion of Christ lesus whereof it is so notable a memorial and a Sacrifice euen therfore also it may be tearmed also Synaxis it is because it is an excellent bond of our assemblies and meetings together to receiue it and lastly worthily we may and doe call it the Communion be cause it is a seale first of our communion with Christ and then of one of vs with an other in him And yet for all this though this most certainely be the generall doctrine held with one consent by all the Churches that professe the Gospell with vs except of a fewe peeuish and wilfull Lutherans our aduersaries nor these neither will not be satisfied but when we haue said and done what we can all is nothing with them that in this case we say or doe vnlesse we will with them by vertue of Christes wordes spoken by him in the institution heere of hold such a real presence of Christes bodie and blood in this Sacrament as that by the mouthes of all commers thereunto and receiuers thereof haue they true faith or no his verie bodie and blood really be taken in and sed vpon Which beeing a doctrine so directly contrarie to that which lutherto I haue taught you rouching our vnion and communion with Christ by faith and his spirit onely especially seeing also it is to be feared that a number
was ratified and so standeth by the shedding of that bloode to all beleeuers in him But indeed though they would seeme to be men that make wonderfull great conscience of the letter and wordes as though it were sacriledge to goe one iot from the sound thereof yet any man that lookes but with halfe an eye vpon either of their interpretations which they stand vpon to grounde their kinde of reall presence by shall soone perceiue that they are nothing the men they make shewe for For is it all one eyther to say together with this is my bodie and bloode or vnder the accidentes heereof is my bodie and blood and to say This is my bodie and bloode And yet thus when al is done Christes wordes must sounde or else neither will there or can there be either the Lutherans Consubstantiation or the popish Transubstantiation brought in therby to vphold their fond reall presence by Sure I am neyther any Dictionarie or Grammer in the worlde will allow them thus to expounde this worde Is. Were it not better for them with vs to retaine the word and also with vs so to expound it or vnderstand it as not onelie vsually alwaies it is in all other Sacramentall phrases but also commonly alwaies when it is placed betweene two thinges of so diuers natures as bread and wine and bodie and bloode be The rather yet to prouoke them so to doe let them but consider whether their newe found sense therof or this of ours vnderstanding it as placed for it signifieth representeth and sealeth vnto you my bodie broken and blood shed to be yours to eternall life stand better but with these wordes of Christ Doe this in remembrance of me Luke 22.19 1. Cor. 11.24 especially so taken as it is cleare Paule tooke them when thereof he inferreth 1. Cor. 11.26 as oft as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come For according to our doctrine by these words thus vnderstood Christ would teach vs that this Sacrament was instituted by him of purpose to keepe in our memories his death and passion and by the vse whereof wee might vntill his comming againe to iudgment professe and nourish our faith in his body then broken and blood shed for vs. Here is nothing sounding in the meane time towardes any corporall presence of his to the outward elements or mouthes of the receiuers whosoeuer but these words In remembrance of me and Till he come againe sounde plainly to the cotrarie For what need a thing to be done in remembrance of one bodily present or how can a thing with any good sence be said to be done but till one come that yet he being verily present in body is done We read Act. 1.11 that shortly after the institution of this Sacrament he visibly ascended into heauen the Apostles seing him so to doe with their eyes and there we read also that the Angels told them that even so likewise he shoulde come againe when he comes from thence reading also as we doe and haue alreadie noted once or twise that the heauens must containe him vntill the restitution of all things Act. 3.21 and that his comming from thence is plainely called his second cōming Heb. 9.28 how can we but thinke that Christ as well meant to forwarne vs of these fellowes that by their Consubstantiation or Transubstantiation say vnto vs lo heere is Christ with this piece of bread or vnder the accidents therof loe take him into thy verie mouth as of those that point vnto vs wrong Christes heere or there when he said if any should say vnto you speaking of such as should so doe after he had left the world was gone vnto his Father Loe heere is Christ or there is Christ beleeue him not And how is it possible that we should beleeue these places of Scripture to be true and hold stil them notwithstanding that Christ is really and in his full bodie present in euery communicants mouth May we thinke with Peter that the heauens doe and shall containe him still and that yet vpon this occasion he is alwaies thus heere And that beeing so how can it be that his comming from thence at the last daie shall be but his second comming or that it is true when he comes from thence he shall come visibly no such thing hauing euer beene seene heere I knowe they will say all these places are to be vnderstood of his visible body and that they speake of his inuisible bodie Yea but then we replie where euer learned they either in Scripture or in any ancient Father that euer he had any such inuisible bodie or howe can they euer make it sinke into any mans head that hath rightlie learned in the Scriptures to know Christes manhood that at one and selfe same time he shoulde haue a visible bodie and an inuisible yea one in the heauens to come inuisiblie againe when he pleaseth and yet the same both there and this heere also multiplied into so many inuisible bodies as there be receiuers mouthes If this be not with the olde rotten doting and long agoe condemned Marcion to make a meere phantasme of the bodie of Christ let any man iudge But once for all by this sworde of the Spirit to pierce this monstrous conceipt of theirs to the verie heart and so to leaue it for dead seeing they stande so much vpon the letter and wordes of the text I would haue them once againe to marke and remember that Saint Paule that saith therein That which he receiued of the Lord he deliuered hath vpon his credite told vs that the Lord speaking of the bread called it not simplie and nakedly his bodie but his bodie broken and they all agree in one that he called the other his blood shed If therefore they will sticke to the wordes of the text and yet haue a reall presence as they teach of his verie bodie and blood by vertue of the wordes thereof they see most plainely then it must be of his bodie broken and of his blood shed Vnlesse therefore nowe they can finde vs an inuisible bodie broken and blood inuisible shed of his for the mouth of euerie receiuer they neither say or doe any thing to the purpose according to the text But I hope they are not so farre gone but they know that it is now a thousand and fiue hundred yeares agoe and more since he had eyther his bodie broken or blood shed and that when they were so he died so that he dies no more as we reade Rom. 6.9 And therefore euen heereby the most simple may see that though they could shew that his bodie aliue or glorified could be inuisible infinite and so multipliable as their doctrine importes which yet they can neuer doe that yet all this were nothing to the reall presence of the bodie and blood of Christ in respect of that estate of his when the one was broken and the other shed for the
therefore it is the fashion of the scriptures after hard things to ioyne other that be plaine Origen also in his first Homilie of Hierimie and Chrysostome in diuers places namely writing of the holy Ghost and in his 12. Homtlie vpon Genesis are most pregnant in this point the one reiecting all sences and interpretations as of no credit without warrant from other scriptures and the other affirming plainely that the scriptures so expounde themselues that they suffer not the Reader to erre Whereupon no man no not amongst vs is more earnest to vrge all sortes of men to read the scriptures than Chrysostome as any man may see in his 9. Homilie vpon the Collossians in his third vpon Matthew Let vs therefore in this case take triall of this rule that so we may learne what we are to vnderstande by these riuers of water heere spoken of and promised And for as much as when these wordes were first vttered by Christ then the Canonicall scriptures onely of the olde Testament were written it shal be most fit to looke into them for this purpose Wherein to this end verie pertinent it is that the blessed man which doubtlesse he is that commeth vnto Christ and drinketh of him aright is described in the first Psalme to be like a tree planted by the riuers of waters that will bring forth his fruite in due season and whose leafe shall not fade but whatsoeuer he doth it shall prosper Vers 3. But that in the fiue and fiftie of the prophesie of Esay vers 1. c. in my iudgement and in my opinion best agreeth with this and appertaineth hereunto For there after that the thirsty are solemnly as it were by way of proclamation called and allured to come to the waters and so freely being come to drinke wine and to cate milke and that which was fatte and good a promise is made them if they would so do that they should liue and enioy the sure mercies of Dauid That also Esay 59.20.21 may well be as a Commentarie vpon this where after that it is said that the redeemer shall come vnto Sion it is saide that this couenant shal be made with them that turne from iniquitie in Iacob that his spirite and word shoulde neuer departe from them nor from their seede after them which couenante or promise is more fully opened Ieremie 31.33.34 vnto which time of the comming of the Messiah and the performance of this promise then Ioell hauing an eye he bringeth in GOD promising then that he woulde poure out his spirite vpon all sortes olde and yong men and women Cap. 2. vers 28. whereunto in my opinion it seemeth that Iohn thought that Christ had relation in this promise-making heere in that in plaine termes he telleth vs that this he spake of the Spirite which they should receiue that beleeued in him for saith he the holy Ghost was not yet bycause that Iesus was not yet glorified This therefore is euen sufficient to teach vs in what sence the scripture woulde haue vs to vnderstand that riuers of waters of life shall flowe out of the bellies of such as will come vnto him drinke of him and beleeue in him as we haue heard namely euen of the plentifull giftes and graces of the spirite that vndoubtedly he woulde bestowe and continue in such And let it not seeme strange vnto any man thus to heare the spirite of God watering and moystening the house of God and washing and softning the heartes of those that be in neede therof compared vnto waters for it is very vsuall in the scriptures For not onely Psal 1.3 Esay 55.1 c. as I haue noted before by riuers of water waters we cā vnderstād nothing so fitly as the most plentifull rich graces of God in Christ but also elsewhere often both in the olde Testament and in the new the same or like speeches are vsed whereby we can vnderstand nothing else For after that God to perswade Iacob not to feare had said I will powre water vpon the thirstie and floudes vpon the drie ground to make it plaine that he vnderstoode nothing else thereby immmediatly he addeth I will powre out my spirite vpon thy seede and my blessing vpon thy buddes and they shall growe as amongest the grasse and as the willowes by the riuers of waters Esay 44.2.3.4 And what else could or did Ezechiell vnderstande Cap. 47.1 c. by the vision of waters flowing out of the Lordes house in such a plentifull manner that they were first ancle deepe then thigh deepe then vnpassageable on euerie side whereof growe all fruitfull trees whose leafe shoulde not fall and that monethly should bring forth fruite and that wholesome and medicinable And we beleeuing as we doe that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne as both the scriptures and all sound confessions of the Catholicke and Christian faith teach what can we more fitly vnderstand by that pure riuer of water of life cleare as chryst all that Iohn saw proceeding out of the throne of God the Lambe c. Reuel 22. Vers 1. than the holy Ghost proceeding and flowing from the father and the sonne to cheere and to make fruitful the Citizens of the heauenly Hierusalem And by that water of life which Christ taught the woman of Samaria to aske of him whereof if a man drinke he saide he should neuer thirst againe for that it should be in him a well of water springing vp to euerlasting life noe doubt of it he vnderstoode nothing else but the Spirit which he would bestow vpon all his to regenerate and sanctifie them effectually withall Hereby then you may see not only this interpretation iustified that by riuers of water of life flowing out of the bellies of such as come vnto Christ and rightly make him their owne by drinking of him we are to vnderstand the Spirit of God and the plentifull graces thereof promised to the faithfull but also that this is a Metaphore very fit apt to expresse the same or else that God woulde neuer haue so much delighted therein as thus by the often vsing it he sheweth he hath done Howbeit before we proceede any further to confider of the ground why this Metaphor should be counted so apt and so much to this purpose delighted in we are first to vnderst and that by the belly frō whence these riuers of water of life shoulde flowe is meant the soule heart and good conscience by faith purified in the beleeuers Actes 15. Ver. 9. For the end of the commaundement and so the shew of all the good fruites of the Spirit in Gods children commeth from a pure conscience and both them from faith vnfained as Paule testifieth 1. Tim. 1. Ver. 5. The bellie and bowels are no seate or fountaine from whence such things issue or flowe Then whereas Iohn saith the holy Ghost was not yet whereof he telleth vs we are to vnderstande Christes promises we must take heede
besides you see that the Lord hath alwaies taken a delight thus to speake of the spirite and giftes thereof that they shoulde receiue that would onelie seeke to come to the Father by him Wherefore seeing the ground of such metaphoricall speeches is alwaies the similitude and resemblance as once I haue said alreadie betwixt the metaphore and the thinges metaphorized The right vse and application of the promise let vs see and viewe what likelihoode there is betwixt riuers of waterof life flowing out of ones bellie and the giftes and graces of Gods spirite promised to them that thus come vnto Christ and beleeue in him Marke therefore amongest manie other properties that water hath it hath these soure that is first to wash and make cleane then to soften and mollifie and next to make fruitfull that which otherwise would be barren and lastly to quench and coole For as you knowe cloathes and other thinges a number are washed and made cleane thereby the earth that otherwise woulde be as Brasse and Iron vnder vs is softened and thereby it falling vpon it in due season and manner it is made fruitefull also and thereby likewise we see fire quenched and heate much cooled and abated Wherefore in that Christ promiseth his spirite vnto those that thus come vnto him and make him theirs by beleeuing in him vnder the name of waters thus much to beginne withall vnlesse we might thinke that he coulde not tell howe to speake aptly which but to imagine were absurd euen hereby we are taught that the spirite of God in such must and will be as water and therefore of power to wash and make them cleane of the soule errours and sinnes wherewith before they were defiled and so also of power to soften their stonie and harde heartes that the seede of the worde may sinke deepe inough therein and to make them bring forth fruite alwaies in due season and finally likewise it will shew it selfe of force to quench in them the fire of concupiscence and to abate the heate of all other sinne Let not any man therefore flatter himselfe and thinke he hath done what heere Christ commaunded vnlesse he can approoue it by the beeing and dwelling of the spirite in him in that sorte and measure that it may worthilie beare the name of water in all these respectes For Christ was and is of infinite power and wisedome and therefore we may be sure he hath made heere no other promise but that which he both can and will performe Neyther lacke of abilitie to be as good as his worde nor rashnesse or vnaduisednesse in passing of it at any time was euer found in him wherefore let vs not be behind in performing the commaundement and nothing is more certaine than that he will not be behinde with vs in performing of his promise If therefore we finde our hearts and liues still delighted with our old filthie errours and sinnes stonie and slinty that the worde can take no roote in or that cannot tremble at the judgementes of God barren of all goodnesse and burning still with lust and on heate with and after other sinnes then whatsoeuer we can prate or talke of Christ or faith in him as yet we are meere strangers from them both Without figure or Metaphor that you may see the plaine euidence thereof marke I beseech you but amongst infinite other places these most plame testimonies of Scripture concerning this point The fruite of the stirit it in al goodnes righteousnes and truth Ephes 5. Ver. 9. They that are in Christ and so partakers of his death and resurrection they must be and are therby and by the power of his spirit deade to sinne aliue to righteousnes Rom. 6. Ver. 3. c. Collos 2. Ver. 11. 12. They that are Christes haue crucified the flesh with the affections lustes thereof Gal. 5. Ver. 24. And with such old thinges are passed away and all things are become newe and therefore they must be new creatures 2. Cor. 5. Ver. 17. For by him we are deliuered from the handes of our enemies to serue him in holines and righteousnes all the daies of our liues that before him and as in his sight without feare Luk. 1.74.75 And therefore we must not walke after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 c. and so put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnes and true holines being renewed in the spirit of our minde and casting off the conuersation that was in times Past the olde man Ephe. 4. Vers 22. c. yea we may not dare call him Father vnles we passe the time of our dwelling here in feare in being holy as he is holy 1. Pet. 1. Vers 16.17 and if we say we haue fellowship with him and walke in darknes Saint Iohn will plainely tell vs we lie and doe not the truth Epist 1. Chap. 1. Ver. 6. Whereby it is most euident whatsoeuer we haue beene before when once we are come to Christ and haue pur on him the case must be so quite changed and altered with vs that then though Paule may say of vs you were once such and such yet now he may haue cause to say as he saide in the like case of the Corinthians but yee are washed but yee are sanctified but yee are iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of our God For Dauid can say hauing an eie to Christ then far off purge me with Hisop and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall be whiter than snow Psal 51. Vers 7. How then may we doe that dishonour vnto Christ being come as either to think that we are washed in his bloode and so iustified and yet remaine still foule filthie or hauing seemed to be clensed and escaped from the filthines of the world through the knowledge of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ to suffer our selues to be tangled and ouercome therewith againe If we should thus doe we doe him the greatest dishonour discredit that we can For what cleanly landresse would not take it to be a shame vnto hir to be said or thought to haue washt her clothes they remaining still as foule filthy as euer they were And most certaine it is if hauing put our hand to the plow we looke back againe we are by Christs owne sentence alreadie pronounced vpon vs not meete for the kindom of heauen Luk. 9.62 and if we be backsliders and reuolters Saint Peter hath told vs what we may trust to namely that then our latter end shal be worse than our beginning yea that we are no better than dogs turned to our vomit or than sowes after they are washt returning to the wallowing in the mire 2. Epist Cap. 3.20 And most seareful is that which we read Heb. 6.4 c. 10.26 c. touching apostataes reuolters from the faith for there such are told that it is impossible that they should be renewed
fruite in hir age as the tree planted in the house of God whereunto such are compared Psal 92.13.14 vseth to doe For to the vnspeakable comfort of all such the giftes and graces of the holy spirit vndoubtedly accompanying their right comming vnto Christ and beleeuing in him are heere resembled vnto riuers of waters of life not onely for that they come from the true fountaine of life and will leade and guide the owner therof therunto but also for that in such in whom they are once founde they will neuer eyther wholly or finally faile or drie vp As therefore such may be sure that the foundation of God remaineth sure The Lorde knoweth who are his 2. Tim. 2.19 so they may be by these fruites of the Spirit without hypocrifie founde in them most certaine that according to Saint Peters counsell they haue ioyned vertue to their faith and so consequently haue made their own election so sure vnto themselues which alwaies before was sure with God as that they shall neuer fall For this is the indissoluble chaine of God whereof one linke can neuer at all be seuered or sundred from an other after that but once the first two be coupled whom he knewe before and predestinated to be like to the image of his Sonne and so elected in him before the foundations of the world those he first calleth then iustifieth then sanctifieth and lastly glorifieth Rom. 8.29.30 Ephe. 1.4 Whom therfore indeed we finde once by these riuers of waters of life sanctified we may be out of doubt that thē God hath elected called and iustified and that also them he wil glorifie For this sanctifying spirit beareth witnes with their spirits that they are the children of God and so imboldneth them to cal vpon him saying Abba Father Rom. 8.15.16 and it is the holy Spirite of promise that sealeth them and is the earnest of their inheritance and redemption in Christ Iesus Ephe. 1.13.14 Though therefore such to their own sence and feeling and perhaps also in the conceit of others may haue not onely these graces of the Spirite more eclipsed at one time than at another yea may thinke that they are quite dried vp and vanished yet forasmuch as whom God once loues as doubtlesse he doth all them whom once truely he doth thus qualifie he loues to the end Iohn 13.1 let all such be most firmelie resolued that this is but the better to humble them and to prouoke them when they finde these graces reuiued in them againe to worke out their owne saluation with the more trembling and feare because he that hath begunne this good work in them will neuer giue it ouer vntill he haue brought it to perfection and he it is that will worke in them both the will and the deede of his good pleasure Phil. 1.6 2.12.13 For such haue the infallible markes of Christes elect and chosen sheepe whereof he himselfe most plainelie teacheth that it is impossible that any shoulde eyther take them out of his handes or that any of them should finallie perish Matth. 24.24 and Iohn 10.28 The reason is that they are kept by the power of God through faith to saluation 1. Peter 1.5 Indeede meete it is and verie needefull that such that once haue attained to the graces giftes of the Spirit to be as riuers of waters of life in them that they should doe what they may possiblie to nourish and increase the same and they are to knowe that if they doe fayle in doing of their duetie in this behalfe that they are worthilie caused to see and feele to the greate griefe of their soules the decaye thereof yea that they haue done as much as lies in them vtterly to lease them and to prouoke GOD to be their enemie and therefore they are most earnestlie to repente their negligence and carelesnesse in this pointe But yet the force of this Metaphore these places and a number moe in the Scriptures that are as pregnant to this purpose most plainely showe that when thus it falles out with such that yet in the goodnesse of GOD towardes them this their sence feeling and the iudgement of others prooue no stronglier that these giftes of the Spirite are quite gone in them indeede than the eclipsing or hiding away of the sunne from our eies by foggie mistes or cloudes at noone daies the raking vp of the fire when there is store thereof in the ashes the not stirring of a liue and strong childe in the mothers wombe at all times a like or the not appearing of leaues and fruite vpon quicke trees in an orcharde in the deepe of winter proue that there is no Sunne in the firmament no fyre on the harth no childe in the wombe or that then there is no sappe in the roote of the trees As therefore when neyther the moone fogges nor cloudes are betwixt vs and the Sunne it will appeare and shine againe as when the ashes are remoued and the coles hid thereunder are blowne againe therof may growe as greate a fire as euer before as when the childe stirreth againe though it haue life without motion a greate while before the mother conceiueth as certaine hope that she is with childe as euer before and as when the spring time commeth there will be both leaues and fruite vpon the trees in the orchard that seemed deade before in the winter so is it in this case when GOD shall remooue the lettes and causes as most certainelie he will aswell in this as in these other we see naturallie and commonlie they are then the brightnesse heat motion and liuelinesse of his Spirite shall and will in his appeare againe But then the better and the more easilie that they may finde this to be thus lastly I woulde haue all such to remember that it is not inough that to their owne sence and in their owne conceites they haue these giftes of the Spirit as riuers of waters of life but that if they be such indeede as heere are promised and therfore are performed to all that come vnto Christ and beleeue in him that they must flowe out of their bellies Where by their bellies we are to vnderstand as Augustine hath well noted in his 32. tract vpon Iohn the bellie of the inner man which as he there telles vs is the cōscience of the heart And as there also he saith this flowing of riuers of water out of the bellie of the inner man Beneuolentia eius est qua vult consulere proximo si enim putet quia quod bibit soli ipsi debet sufficere non fluit aqua viua de ventre eius si autem proximo festinet consulere ideo non siccat quia manat that is Is his bountifulnesse wherewith he will prouide for the good of his neighbour for if he thinke that that which hee hath drunke must but serue himselfe the water of life flowes not out of his bellie but if he make hast to doe good to his neighbour it drieth
not vp and that because it floweth For as Christ hath taught vs by the parable of the Talents Matth. 25.4 c. in no case we may conceale or hide the Talentes that he bestowes vpon vs but vse them we must to his best aduantage for otherwise they shall bee quite taken from vs whereas if we laye them forth and vse them to the gaine of him that bestowed them they shall not onelie be increased but in the ende we shall haue a moste comfortable rewarde Pseudonicodemits then whatsoeuer the time and place bee where and when we liue wee may at no hande bee that is for feare of the Iewes or Pharisies we may not be such as dare with Nichodemus come stealinge to Christ by night onelie Iohn 3.1 For Christ moste plainelie hath tolde vs Mark 8.38 That whosoeuer he bee that will be ashamed of him and of his wordes amongest an adulterous and sinnefull generation he will be ashamed of him in the glorie of his Father As therfore we beleeue with the heart to righteousnesse so Saint Paule teacheth vs that we must confesse with our mouthes to saluation Rom. 10.10 For where true and liuelie faith is indeede there it wil make her owner to be at the same pointe that the Psalmist was whatsoeuer come of it when he saide I beleeued and therefore haue I spoken Psal 116.10 And likewise where true faith is as it worketh immediatelie with GOD in heauen for the iustification of her owner through Christ Iesus so streight also and so thenceforth it setteth the heart of her owner so on fire with loue both towardes God that in his Christ hath so tenderly loued him and towardes man for his sake that thence he is most carefull that such workes and wordes may flowe as both shall and may giue a liuelie testimonie thereof both to God man For all such haue with Saint Paule learned that by Christ they are redeemed from all iniquitie and purged to be a peculier people vnto himselfe zealous of good workes Tit. 2.14 Thus if these riuers of waters of life flow out of our bellies then and not else we may be sure we are come vnto Christ and haue drunke of him to eternall life Whiles then we teach thus as no otherwise wee doe doe we set open any gappe of libertie or licentiousnes to our hearers or are we in our doctrine any way enimies to good works as our aduersaries slander vs Nay doe we not as earnestly and vehemently as they can for their liues vrge men to doe them Indeede we dare not teach them when they haue done neuer so manie of them in any case to make any peece of a sauiour eyther of any thing they doe or suffer because as you haue heard we learned out of the Scriptures that that office so intirely and wholly is to be referred to Christ that it may not be imparted or communicated without antichristian robbing of him of that speciall honour that belongs vnto him to anie thing or person else But yet notwithstanding as now you heare we most plainely teach that none can haue any certaintie in himselfe without which our faith is but a fruiteles wauering conceite that as yet he is in Christ and shall be saued vndoubtedlie for his sake vntill the power of him dwelling in him truelie appeare by these fruites of the spirite that are heere for their puritie multiplicitie vtilitie and continuance called riuers of water of life flowing out of the bellies of such And therefore though we dare not with our aduersaries teach men nor encourage men to doe good workes either in part or in whole to earne deserue or merit heauen by which vnlesse we would say with them we say nothing to this purpose yet most cleare and euident it is that to that end we vse and vrge all the arguments that the Scriptures haue taught vs. For we beseech them by the mercies of God with Paule Rom. 12.1 to giue vp their bodies a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable vnto God in seruing him according to his word and not according to the fashions of the world For that by these tender mercies of God towardes vs in Christ Iesus we that beleeue aright in him are deliuered out of the hands of all our enemies that we should serue him without feare all the daies of our life in holinesse and righteousnesse before him Luke 1.74.75 For in that this grace of God that bringeth saluation vnto all men hath appeared it teacheth vs that we should denie vngodlines worldly lusts that we should liue soberly righteously godly in this present world Tit. 2.11.12 Yea hauing rightlie laid hold of this grace we say againe with the same Paule That we are Gods workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which he hath ordained that we shoulde walke in Ephes 2.10 Againe with Christ to this ende we say vnto all Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heauen Matth. 5.16 and loue one another as he hath loued vs for by this shall all men knowe that yee are his Disciples Iohn 13.34.36 And with Peter we exhorte all men to ioyne vertue to their faith to their vertue knowledge to their knowledge temperance to their temperance patience to their patience godlinesse and to that botherlie kindenesse and loue so to make their election sure 2. Peter 1.5 6. With Iames also we crie and call vpon euerie one that maketh confession of faith to shewe his faith by his workes which if hee doe not we as plainely tell him with the same Iames that his faith is deade in himselfe Iam. 2.17 c. For the faith that auaileth in Christ Iesus as Paul hath taught vs worketh by loue not that loue is in the forme of faith for how can one distinct vertue be the forme of an other but that it is the inseperable companion of a liuely and sound faith Neither are we negligent in often laying before our people Gods law and the true meaning thereof both to teach them what good workes are and to incite them to doe the same Wherein we dare be bould to say we goe beyond our aduersaries in leading men aright to good workes For we vrge and shewe the lawe of GOD to be so perfect and absolute a rule of good workes that it reacheth to the condemning of the first motions arising in our mindes to sinne though they be not at all yeelded vnto and liked of for that it calleth for the whole heart to be occupied onely in the things that please GOD and that all sinne is condemned therein and all vertue commended whereas our aduersaries the papistes holde the lawe to be so imperfect that it condemneth not these first motions to sinne and that there are a number of good workes and as meritorious that haue for their grounde but the traditions and commandements of men as manie that are expresly commaunded by the