holie ghost c. 872 1 He which sent me to baptise with water the same sayde vnto me Vppon whom so euer thou shalt sée the holie Ghost c. 1033 1 I am not Christ but am sent before him to beare record of him c. 578 1 Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world c. 365. 568 2 Away with these thinges from hence make not my fathershouse an house of merchandize c. 586 3 He that commeth from on high is aboue al He that c. 527 983 3 I am the voyce of a cryer in the wildernesse make streight the waye of the Lord c. 983 3 Ye your selues are witnesses that I saide that I am not the Christe c. 867 3 If I haue tolde you of earthly things and ye beléeue not c. 964 3 This is condemnation bycause the light came into the worlde c. 546 3 He whom God hath sent dothe speake the words of god For God giueth not the spirite by measure vnto him c. 627 3 God so loued the worlde that he gaue his onely begotten sonne c. 48. 546. 549 3 He that beléeueth in the sonne of God is not condemned c. 779 3 And as Moses lifted vp the serpent in the wildernesse c. 48. 549 3 No man hath ascended vp into heauen but he that came downe froÌ„ heauen c. 696 3 Verily I say vnto you Except a man be borne of water and of the spirite c. 501. 1046. 1049 3 The winde bloweth where it lusteth and thou hearest the sounde thereof c. 714 3 Hée that beléeueth not is condemned alreadie bycause hâ—e hath not bâ—léeued in the name c. 643 4 God is a spirite and they that worship him must worship him in spirite and truth c. 416 427. 715 4 I knowe that the Messiah shal come which is caled Christ c. 539 4 Iesus him selfe did not baptise but his disciples c. 1056 4 The home coÌ„meth when ye shal neyther in this mounteine neither at Ierusalem worship c. 1004 4 He whiche drinketh of this water shall thirst againe c. 1002 5 They that haue done good shall come foorth vnto the resurrection of life c. 747 5 The father hath giuen all iudgement to the sonne that al might honour the sonne as they honour the the father c. 661. 686. 920 5 Therefore the Iewes sought the more to kill him not onely bycause he had broken the Sabbaoth daye c. 59. 683 5 Who so hath the sonne hath life who so hath not the sonne of God hath not life c. 643 5 My father worketh hetherto I worke c. 638 5 Thinke not that I will accuse you to my father there is one that accâ—â—eth you c. 402 5 There is one which accuseth you euen Moses in whome ye hope c 376 5 The Lord conueyed him selfe away while the people woulde haue made him a king c. 218 5 We know that the sonne of god is come hath giuen vs a mynde that we should knowe him c. 685 6 The words of our lord touching the eating of his body make muche for the meaning of the wordes vsed in the sacramental supper c. 54 6 He that eateth me shall liue by me c. 49 6 I am the liuely bread that came downe from heauen c. 684 6 Exâ—ept ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud ye haue no life in you c. 1049 6 My fleshe is meaâ—e in déede and my bloud is drinke in déed c. 696 6 He that cateth my flesh drinketh my bloud dwelleth in c. 825 6 No man commeth vnto me vnlesse my father drawe him c. 589 6 This is the wâ—l of him that sent me the â—ather that euery one which sâ—â—th the sonne and beleueth in him shoulde haue euerlasting life c. 48 643 6 Lord to whome shal we go thou hast the wordes of eternall life and we beleeue and knowe c. 569 6 Doth this offend you What therefore if you shall sée the sonne of man c. 69 7 The holy Ghoste was not yet there bicause Iesus was not yet glorified c. 430 7 If any man thirst let him come vnto me drinke c. 706. 725. 825 8 I am the light of the world He that followeth me doth not walke in darknesse 686. 833 8 The diuell was a murtherer froÌ„ the beginning and abode not in the truth c. 485. 746 8 We are not borne of fornication we haue one father eueÌ„ god c 683 8 If ye abide in my sayinge ye shal be my disciples in déede and ye shal knowe the truth c. 676 8 Verily I say vnto you before Abraham was I am c. 678 8 He that is of God dothe heare the word of God c. 822. 827 8 Abraham was glad to sée my daye and he saw it and reioyced c 433 8 Verily verily I say vnto you c. if the sonne therfore shall make you frée c. 444. 591 9 Maister who sinned this man or his parentes that he was borne blinde c. 293 9 Doest thou beléeue in the sonne of God c. 59. 652 10 I am the doore c. 662 10 Many good works haue I shewed you from my father for which of these good works do ye stone me c. 683 10 I and my father are one Then the Iewes tooke vp stones c. 59 10 How long doest thou make vs doubt c. 538 10 I haue power to forgiue â—innes to raiâ—e to life whome I will and to giue righteousnesse c. 696 10 My shéepe heare my voyce I knowe them and they follow me c. 645. 822. 827 10 I giue vnto my shéepe euerlasting life neyther shall they perish for euer c. 683 11 I am the resurrection and the life he that beléeueth in me c 68 12 My soule is heauie euen vnto the death c. 64 12 I when I shal be lift vppe from the earth will drawe c. 64 12 Verily verily I say vnto you vnlesse the séede of corne c. 65 13 Verily verily I say vnto you He that receiueth whome so euer I shall send receiueth me c. 1104 13 About the end of the Supper the diuell entred into Iudas c. 80. 515. 1108 13 Verily I say vnto thée the cock shall not â—â—â—we till thou hast denyed me thrise c. 564 13 He that is washed néedeth not saue to washe his feete c. 772 13 The Apostle or messinger is not greater than he that sent him c. 877 13 A newe commandement I giue vnto you that ye loue one an other as I haue c. 826 14 Ye beleeue in God beleeue and in me c. 692 14 That comforter whiche is the holie Ghost whome the father will send in my name c. 627. 724 14 I will praye the father and
the vse or effect of the lawe of God and of the fulfilling abrogating of the same Of the likenesse and difference of bothe the Testamentes and people the old and the new 400 9 Of Christian libertie and of offences Of good workes and the reward thereof 440 10 Of sinne and of the kyndes thereof to wit of originall and actuall sinne and of sinne against the Holie Ghoste And lastly of the most sure and iust punishment of sinnes 477 The summe or contentes of the tenne Sermons of the fourth Decade 1 Of the Gospell of the grace of GOD who hath giuen his Sonne vnto the world and in him all thinges necessarie to saluation that wee beleeuing in him might obteine eternall life 525 2 Of repentaunce and the causes thereof of confession and remission of sinnes of satisfaction and indulgences of the olde and newe man of the power or strength of mē the other things perteyning to repentāce 561 3 Of God of the true knowledge of God and of the diuers ways how to know him That God is one in substance three in persons 604 4 That God is the creatour of all things and gouerneth all thinges by his prouidence where mention is also made of the good wil of God to vsward and of Predestination 635 5 Of adoreing or worshipping Of inuocating or calling vpon And of seruing the onely liuing true and euerlasting god Also of true and false religion 648 6 That the sonne of God is vnspeakably begotten of the father that he is consubstantiall with the father and therefore true god That the selfe same sonne is true man consubstantiall with vs and therefore true God and man abiding in two vnconfounded natures and in one vndiuided person 677 7 Of Christ King Priest of his onely euerlasting kingdome and priesthoode and of the name of a Christian 698 8 Of the holie Ghoste the thirde person in Trinitie to be worshipped and of his diuine power 714 9 Of good and euil spirites that is of the holie Angels of God and of diuels or euill spirites of their operations 731 10 Of the reasonable soule of man and of his most certeine saluation after the death of his body 759 The third last Tome and first the summe or cōtents of the ten Sermons of the fift and last Decade 1 Of the holy Catholique Churche what it is how far it extendeth by what marks it is knowne from whence it springeth howe it is mainteyned and preserued whether it may erre Also of the power studies of the Church 812 2 That there is one Catholique Church that without the Churche there is no light or saluation Against Schismatiques Wherefore we depart from the vp-start Churche of Rome That the Church of God is the house vineyard and kingdome of God and the body sheepefolde and spouse of Christe a mother and a virgine 841 3 Of the ministerie and ministers of Gods worde wherefore and for what ende they are instituted of god That the orders giuen by Christe vnto the Churche in times past were equall Whence and howe the prerogatiue of ministers sprang and of the supremacie of the byshop of Rome 870 4 Of calling vnto the ministerie of the word of god What manner of men and after what fashion ministers of the worde must be ordeined in the church Of the keyes of the Churche What the office of them is that be ordeyned Of the manner of teaching the Churche and of the holie life of the Pastours 891 5 Of the fourme and maner how to pray to God that is Of the calling on the name of the Lorde where also the Lordes prayer is expounded and also singing thankesgiuing and the force of prayer is intreated 914 6 Of signes the manner of signes of Sacramentall signes what a sacrament is of whome for what causes and how many Sacraments were instituted of Christ for the christian church Of what thinges they doe consist howe they are consecrated how the sign and the thing signified in the Sacramentes are eyther ioyned together or distinguished and of the kinde of speaches vsed in the Sacramentes 955 7 That we must reason reuerently of Sacramentes that they doe not giue grace neyther haue grace included in them Again what the vertue and lawful end and vse of Sacraments is That they profite not without fayth that they are not superfluous to the faythfull and that they do not depend vpō the worthinesse or vnworthinesse of the minister 995 8 Of holie Baptisme what it is by whome when it was instituted and that there is but one baptisme of water Of the baptisme of fire Of the rite or ceremonie of baptisme howe of whome and to whome it muste be ministred Of Baptisme by Midwiues and of infants dying without baptisme Of the baptisme of infantes againste Anabaptisine or Rebaptising and of the power or efficacie of baptisme 1032 9 Of the Lords holie Supper what it is by whom when and for whome it was instituted after what sort when and howe oft it is to be celebrated of the ends thereof Of the true meaning of the wordes of the supper This is my body O◠the presence of Christ in the supper Of the true eating of Christes body Of the worthy vnworthy eaters thereof how◠euerie mā ought to prepare him self vnto the lords supper 1063 10 Of certeine institutions of the church of god Of scholes Of Ecclesiasticall goods of the vse abuse of the same O◠Churches holie instrument◠of Christians Of the admonition and correction of the ministers of the Church and of the whole Churche Of matrimonie Of widowes Of virgines Of Monkes What the church of Christe determineth concerning the sicke and of funeralls and burials 1112 The second table conteyning such places and testimonies of Scripture both of the old Testament and the Newe as are vsed of the Authour euery where throughout this his whole worke The first number is referred to the Chapter the second to the Page ¶ Out of Genesis 1IN the beginning God created heauen earth c. Pag. 632. 1 Let there be light and there was light c. 977 1 Let vs make man in our Image after our owne likenes c. 490. 633 2 Of the institution of mariage It is not good for man to bee alone c. 222. 2 Thou shalt not eate of the fruite of the trée of knowledge c. 483. 484. 488 3 Ye shall not die the death for God doth know that the same day that ye eate thereof your eyes shal be opened c. 751 3 The Serpent was subtiler than all the beastes of the field c. 749 3 The woman whom thou gauest to be with mée gaue mée of the trée c. 479 3 For dust thou art and into dust thalt thou be turned againe c. 764 3 The séed of the womā shall crush the serpents head c. 687 4 The voice of thy brothers bloud cryeth out of the earth c. 167 5 Adam begat a sonne in his owne similitude c. 500 6 I will destroy all flesh wherein there is breath of life
groweth vp in the Lords field which he forbiddeth to plucke vp c. 818. 1132 13 Riches are the thornes that choke the seede of the word of god c. 263 15 Whatsoeuer entreth in by the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast into the c. 325 15 Out of the heart procéede euill thoughts murthers adulteries whoredomes c. 503 15 This people honoreth me with their lippes but their heart is farre from me c. 652. 925 15 In vaine doe they worship me teaching doctrines the preceptes of men c. 19. 473 827. 906 16 What so euer ye shall loose in earth shal be loosed in heaueÌ„ c. 871 16 If any man will goe after me let him forsake him self c. 65. 309 16 Vpon this rocke I will builde my church c. 860. 861. 887. 890 16 And the gates of hell shall not preuaile against the church c. 816 16 Thou art truely the sonne of God c. 652 16 Fleshe and bloude hath not rellealed these thinges vnto thée but my c. 827 16 I will giue thée the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and what so euer c. 902 16 Who so euer will saue his life shall loose it Againe who so euer will loose his life for my sake shall finde it c. 765 17 Of the transformation or transfiguration of Christ in the c. 87. 88 18 There is none good but one c. 657 18 Woe vnto the world because of offences It must néedes be that offences come c. 452 18 Derily verily I say vnto you except you turne and become c. 881. 958. 1014. 18 If he that offendeth the church wil not regard when he is waâ—â—ed 816 18 I say vnto you that if two of you shall agree in earth as touching c. 915 18 It is not the will of my father which is in heaueÌ„ that one of these â—ittle ones should perish c. 104 18 Where so euer two or thrée be gathered together in my name c. 864 19 Verily I say vnto you a riche man shal hardly enter into the kingdome of heauen c. 263 19 If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandements c 408. 478 19 If thou wilt be perfect go and â—ell that which thou haste and giue to the poore c. 263 20 Ye knowe not what ye aske c 919 21 The Chanaanites cast oute of Gods temple c. 698 22 He which had not on his wedding garment is suffered for a season among the other guestes c. 818 22 One onely vineyarde not two or diuers let out to husbande men c. 842 22 GOD is not the GOD of the deade but of the liuing c. 432 22 Ye â—rre not knowing the scriptures For in the resurrection they neyther marrie c. 732 22 What thinke you of Christe whose â—onne is he They sayd vnto him the sonne of Dauid c. 692 22 Giue to God that whiche belongâ—â—h to God and to Caesar c. 220 22 Loue thy neyghbour as thy selâ—â— c. 96 23 Woe to you Scribes and Phariseis hypocrites whiche 〈◊〉 wâ—dowes houses vnder c. 507. 925 23 Woe vnto you Scribes and Phariseâ—s hypocrites bycause ye 〈◊〉 vppe the kingdome of heauen c 901 23 The Scribes and the Phariseâ—s 〈◊〉 Moâ—es seate All therefore c. 846 23 I send vnto you Prophets and wisemen some of whome ye shall c. 155 24 There shall arise false Christes and false Prophetes and shall shew great signes c. 858 24 The Lorde of that seruant shall come in the day wherein he looketh not for him c. 817 24 Doe ye not sée all these things verily I say vnto you there shal not be left c. 415 24 Then if they shal say vnto you Loe here is Christe or there is Christe doe not beléeue c. 1092 24 Heauen and earth shall passe but in word shall not passe c. 37 25 Come â—e blessed of my father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the c. 469. 699 25 Depart from meye curssed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuell and his angels c. 747. 1104 25 Verily I say vnto you in that ye did it not to one of the leaste of these ye did it not vnto me c. 1104 26 The Lord Iesus when he had taken breade he gaue thankes and brake it c. 969 26 Whome so euer I shall kisse that same is he take him c. 957 26 Put vppe thy sworde into thy sheath He that taketh c. 28. 832 26 Thinkest thou that I can not pray vnto my father and he shall sende me more than twelue legions of Angels c. 737 26 And Peter remembered the words of the Lorde which he had sayde vnto him before the cocke crowe c. 564 26 He began to be sorrowfull and heauie And Iesus saide My soule is heauie euen vnto death c. 690 27 Father if it be possible let this cuppe passe from me c. 625 27 So they went and made the Scpulchre sure and sealed the stone c. 1012 28 Tell his disciples and Peter that he is riâ—en and goeth before you into Galilée c. 569 28 Teach ye all nations baptisting them in the name of the father c. 821 28 All power is giuen me both in heauen and in earth c. 627. 836. 1053 28 I will reâ—aine with you continually vnto the end of the worlde c. 599. 699. 864. 1095 Out of the Gospell after Saint Marke 1 IOhn baptised in the wildernesse preaching the baptisme of Repenâ—ance c. 968 2 What haue we to doe with thée thou Iesus of Nazareth art thou come to destroy vs c. 747 3 All sinnes shall be forgiuen vnto the children of men and blasphemies wherewith c. 517 3 My name is Legion bicause we are many c. 748 3 Hee casteth out diuels by the prince of diuels c. 748 9 If thou canst beléeue All things are possible to him that beléeueth c. 35. 646 9 And whensoeuer he taketh him he teareth him and he fometh and guatheth with his teeth and pineth away c. 751 9 And these shall goe into euerlasting punishment but the righteous into life euerlasting c. 717 10 Verily I say vnto you there â—â— no man that hath forsaken house c. 312. 4â—8 10 Suffer the young children to come vnto me and forbid them not c. 1014 11 Whatsoeuer ye desire when ye pray beléeue that ye shall haue it c 922 11 And when ye stande praying forgiue if ye haue ought against c. 924 13 They shall deliuer you vppe to counsels and in their Synagogues they shall scourge you c. 293. 294 14 The poore shal ye haue alwayes with you but me alwayes ye shall not haue c. 692 16 Goe ye into all the worlde and preach the Gospel vnto euerie creature c. 644. 905. 963. 968. 973. 978.
c. 6â—â— 2 Let euery one that calleth vpâ—â— the name of the Lord depart froâ— iniquiâ—ie c. 6â—â— 2 No man whiche goeth a 〈◊〉 fare intangleth himseâ—fe with 〈◊〉 affaires c. 9â—â— 2 Studie to shewe thée selfe approued vnto God A worke-man not to be ashamed c. 908 2 Remember that Iesus Christ of the séede of Dauid was raised c. 294 2 It is a faithful saying For if we be dead with him we shal also liue c. 469 3 All Scripture giuen by inspiration of God is profitable to teache c. 17. 542 4 Paul could not deale against diseases as hee would example of Trophimo whome hee left sicke at Miletum c. 838 4 Bée thou vnto them that beléeue an ensample in word in conuersatioÌ„ c. 901 4 The time shall come that they shall not abide to heare sound doctrine c 324 4 I charge thée therefore before GOD and before the Lord Iesus Christ c. 908 4 Till I come giue attendaunce to reading to exhortation and doctrine c. 911 4 I haue fought a good fight I haue fulfilled my course I haue kept the faith c. 468 ¶ Out of the Epistle of S. Paule to Titus 1 REbuke them sharpely that they may be sound in the faith c. 109. 1 For this cause I left thée in Creta that thou shouldest ordeine c. 894. 895 1 Who can denie that to the cleane all thinges are cleane c. 226 1 That the mouthes of vaine â—alkers stirrers of minds must be c. 908 1 In words they confesse that they knowe God but in their déeds they denie him c. 570 2 Exhort seruants to be obedient vnto their owne maisters and to please c. 273 2 Speake to the elder women that they may teach honest thinges c. 225 2 The grace of God that bringeth saluation hath appeared c 61. 546 3 God according to his mercie hath saued vs by the founteine of regeneration c. 629. 973. 1064 3 Warne them to be subiect to rule and power and to obey magistrates c. 170 3 Touching an heretique obiectons made out of S. Paule c. 203 5. Bring diligeÌ„tly Zenas the lawyer and Apollo vpon their way that they may want nothing c. 1115 ¶ Out of the Epistle of S. Paule to the Hebrues 1 GOD in times past at sundrie times and in diuers maners spake vnto c. 527 1 Are they not all ministring spirits c. 714. 732 1 God by his sonn hath made the worlds and doth rule and vpphold them with the word of his power c. 638 2 For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe likewise toke part with them c. 448. 691 2 Thou madest him litle inferiour to the angels c. 696 2 It became him in all thinges to be made like vnto his brethren c. 61. 687 2 He doeth no where take on him the Angels but the séed of Abraham c. 63. 687. 691 3 Exhort yee one another daily while it is called to day least any of you be hardened c. 710 4 To vs was the Gospel preached as wel as vnto them but the word c. 983. 1026 5 No man taketh the honour to himselfe but hee that is called of God as was Aaron c. 704. 893 5 In the dayes of his flesh when he did offer vp prayers supplications with strong crying and teares c. 707 6 It cannot bee that they whiche were once illuminated if they fall away c. 27. 518 6 Men verily sweare by the greater and an oath for coÌ„firmation c. 132 7 Christ euer liueth to make intercession for vs c. 662 7 And amonge them many were made priestes because they were not suffered to endure by reason of death c. 707 7 Christ for that he endureth for euer hath an euerlasting priesthoode c. 663 7 Our high priest had no néede as those high priestes had first to c. 373 7 The forerunner is for vs entred into heauen after the order of Melchisedech made a priest for euer c. 704 8 Because I will be mercifull to their vnrighteousnesses and I will no more c. 438 8 Christ were no priest if he were on earth c. 706 9 Christ entred not into the Tabernacle made with hands but into the very c. 373. 708 9 If the ashes of a younge cow sprinkled doeth sanctifie them c. 377. 9 Christ appeared once before the end of the world to put away sinne by offering vp himselfe c. 1094 10 Euery priest appeareth daily ministring and oftentimes offereth one maner of offering c. 708 10 Christ being one onely sacrifice offered vp for sinn â—â—tteth for euer at the right hand of GOD c. 569. 1069 10 Ye haue néede of patience that after ye haue done the will of God c. 469 10 If we sinne willingly after we haue receiued the knowledge of the trueth c. 518 10 Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward c. 304 11 Whosoeuer will come to God must beléeue c. 1099 11 And all these holy fathers hauing through hope obteined good report c. 433 11 They wandered about in shéepe skinnes and goate skinnes being c. 312 11 Faith is the substance of things hoped for the euidence of thinges c. 30 11 These through faith did subdue kingdomes wrought righteousnes c. 150 12 Ye are come into the citie of the liuing God the heauenly Hierusalem and to an innumerable companie of Angels c. 737 12 God speaketh to you as to his sonnes My sonne despise not thou the chastening of c. 307 12 The fathers of your flesh did for a fewe dayes chasten you after their owne c. 310 12 Ye came not vnto Mount Sina to a fire to a whirlewinde astormie c. 814 13 To doe good and to distribute forgett not for with such sacrifice God is pleased c. 1125 13 By Christ we offer the sacrifice of praise alwayes vnto God that is the fruite of lippes whiche confesse his name c. 659. 710. 952 13 Hée suffered without the gate and offered himselfe a liuely and most holy sacrifice c. 706 13 Be mindefull of them that are in bonds as bound with them c. 97 13 Wedlock is honourable among all and the bedd vndefiled c. 223. 226. 1132 13 Obey them that haue the rule ouer you and giue place vnto them c. 154 13 The bodies of those beastes whose bloud is brought into the holy place c. 374 ¶ Out of the Epistle of S. Iames. 1 If any of you lacke wisedome let him aske of God c. 16. 304 1 Euery good guieing euery perfect gift c. 918 1 Let no maÌ„ say when he is tempted he is rempted of God c. 485 1 For when he is cried he shall receiue the crowne of life
loased If sayth the Lorde in Ieremie ye can vndoe the league that I haue taken with the day or the couenant that I haue made with the night so that it neyther be day nor night at the appointed time then may my couenant be of none effect which I haue made with Dauid But not the whole worlde laying all their strengthes together is able to make it day when it is once Night nor cause the Daye to breake one howre sooner then the course of Heauen doth commaunde Therefore not all this worlde with all the powre and pompe therof shall be able once to weaken or breake to chaunge or abolish so much as one tittle in the word of God and the trueth of Godds worde Faith therefore which resteth vpon a thing most firme or sure can not choose but be an vndoubted certification And since Gods worde is the foundacion of Fayth Fayth can not wander to and fro and leane to euery worde whatsoeuer For euery opinion conceiued without the worde of God or against Gods word cannot be called true faith And for that cause S. Paule the Apostle of Christ would not ground the true or Christian faith vpon any carnall proppes or opinions of men but vpon the truth and power of god With his wordes will I conclude this place Fayth sayth he commeth of hearing and hearing by the worde of God. By the worde of God he saith and not by the worde of man Againe to the Corinthians My preaching saith he was not in entising wordes of mans wisedome but in the shewing forth of the spirite and of powre that your faith should not be in the wisedome of man but in the power of God. Whereby also we learne that some there are which against all reason require fayth at our handes that is they would haue vs to beléeue that which they are not able to shewe out of Gods worde or that which is cleane contrary to the word of god To the better declaring of this that I haue saide auaileth that short abridgement of Gods word and of fayth which we in the definition of fayth haue closely knitte vp together There are there rehearsed two chiefe â—oints of fayth and of the worde And first of al that God in Christ doth fréely promise life and euery good thinge For God who is the obiect or marke and foundation of fayth beinge of his owne proper nature euerliuing euerlasting good doth of himself from before al beginning beget the son like to himself in al points who bicause he is of the same substance with the father is himselfe also by nature life and all goodnesse And to the ende he might communicate to vs his Sonnes and brethren both life and all goodnesse he became man and being conuersant very God and man among men he testified that God the Father through the Sonne doeth powre himselfe wholly with all good things into the faithfull whom he quickneth and filleth with all goodnesse and last of all doeth take them vppe to himselfe into the blessed place of euerlasting life And that he doth frankly and fréely bestow this benefite to the ende that the glory of his grace may in all thinges be praysed This doth true fayth beleeue and herevnto belonge no small part of the scriptures which testifie that God in Christ doth communicate to the faithful life and al goodnes Iohn the Apostle cryeth out and sayth In the beginning was the word and the word was with God God was the word And the word became flesh dwelt amonge vs And we saw the glorie of God as the glory of the onely begotten sonne of the Father full of grace and truth And of his fulnesse haue all we receiued c. For the Lorde him selfe in the Gospell after Saint Iohn sayde Verily I say vnto you whatsoeuer things the Father doth the same also doth the Sonne For euen as the Father doth raise the deade to life and quickneth theÌ„ so also doth the sonne quicken whom he will for neyther iudgeth the father any man but hath coÌ„mitted all iudgement to the sonne that all men may honour the sonne euen as they honour the father He that honoureth not the sonne the same honoureth not the father which hath sent him Verily verily I say vnto you he that heareth my word and beleeueth on him that sente me hath life euerlasting and shal not come into iudgemente but is escaped from death vnto life With these woordes of the Gospell agreeth that sayinge of S. Paule In Christe are layde vp all the treasures of wysedome and knowledge Because in him dwelleth all fulnesse of the Godheade bodily and yee in him are fullyfilled But that these great benefits of God are freelie bestowed vppon the faithful Paule that Vessell of election declareth in these woords Blessed be God who hath chosen vs in Christe before the foundations of the world were layd and hath predestinated vs into the adoption of children through Iesus Christ vnto himselfe accordinge to the good pleasure of his will to the prayse of the glorie of his grace wherein he hath made vs accepted in the beloued throughe whom wee haue redemption in his bloud c. And againe All haue sinned and haue neede of Gods glorie but are iustifyed freely throughe his grace by the redemption which is in Christe And so forward True fayth therefore doth beleeue that life and euery good thinge doth freely come to it from God through Christe which is the chiefe Article of our fayth as in the Articles of the beliefe is more largly layde forth The second principal point of Gods word and fayth is that in the word of God there is set downe all truth necessary to be beleeued and that true fayth doth beleeue all that is declared in the Scriptures For it telleth vs that God is what maner one hee is what Gods works are what his iudgments his wil his commaundements his promises what his threatnings are finally what soeuer is profitable or necessary to be beleeued that doth Gods worde who lie set downe vnto vs and that doth true fayth receiue beleeuing all thinges that are written in the Lawe and the Prophets in the Gospell and wrytinges of the Apostles But whatsoeuer caÌ„not be fetched or proued out of those writinges or whatsoeuer is contrary vnto them that do the faithful not beleeue at all â–ª For the very nature of true fayth is not to beleue that which squareth froÌ„ the worde of god Whosoeuer therefore beleeueth not the fables and opinions of men he alone beleeueth as he should for he dependeth onely vppon the worde of God and so vppon God himselfe the onely fountayne of all truth The matter the argumente and the whole summe of fayth is brieflye set oute vnto vs in the Articles of the Christian fayth whereof I will speake at another time I haue this houre declared vnto you decrely beloued and reuerende brethren in the Lorde the definition of faith which to the ende that
name of IESVS CHRISTE for the remission of sinnes and yee shall receiue the gifte of the holie Ghoste Therefore in baptisme water or sprinckling of water in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost and al that which is done of the church is a signe rite ceremonie outwarde thing earthly sensible lying opē made plaine to the senses but remission of sinnes partaking of euerlasting life fellowshippe with Christ and his members and gifts of the holy ghoste which are giuen vnto vs by the grace of God through fayth in Christ Iesus is the thing signified the inward and heauenly thing and that intelligible thing whiche is not perceiued but by a faythfull mynde After the same manner the Scripture bearing witnesse also of the Supper of the Lord which is the other sacrament of the Church sayth The Lord Iesus when hee had taken breade hee gaue thankes and brake it and gaue it to his disciples and sayde take ye eate ye this is my body whiche is giuen for you Likewise he tooke the cuppe and gaue it to them saying drinke ye all of this for this is my bloud of the newe Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes doe this in remembraunce of me Nowe therefore all that action which is done of the Church after the example of Christ our high Prieste I meane breaking of bread the distribution thereof yea and the banquet or receyuing of breade and wine is the signe rite ceremonie and the outwarde or earthly thing and also that selfe same sensible thing which lyeth open before the senses but the intelligible thing thing signified the inward and heauenly thing is the verie body of Christ giuen for vs and his bloud shed for the remission of sinnes and oure redemption and fellowship which we haue with Christe and all the Saintes yea whiche he chiefly hath with vs. By these things it shall be easie to determine certeinely of the names or termes nowe giuen to the sacramēts For they are called external or outward signes bicause they are corporall or bodily entring outwardly into those senses whereby they be perceyued Contrariwise we call the thing signified inwarde thinges not that the thinges lye hidde included in the signes but bycause they are perceiued by the inwarde faculties or motions of the mynde wrought in mē by the spirit of god So also those signes are termed both earthly and visible bycause they consist of thinges taken from the earth that is to wit of water breade and wine and bycause they are manifestly séene in these likenesses To be short the thinges signified are called heauenly and inuisible bycause the frute of them is heauenly bicause they are discerned with the eyes of the mynd or of faith not of the body For otherwise the same body and bloude of our Lorde Iesus Christ which in the supper are represented to the faythfull by the fourme of breade and wine are not of their owne proper nature heauenly or inuisible For the body of our Lord touching his substaunce and nature is consubstantiall or of the same substaunce that our bodyes are of Now the same is called heauenly for his deliueraunce from corruption and infirmitie or else bycause it is clarified not by reason of the bringing to nought or laying aside of his owne nature The same body of his owne nature is visible not inuisible resident in heauen howbeit it is séene of the godly celebrating the supper not with the eyes of the body but with the eyes of the mynde or soule therefore in respect of vs it is called inuisible which of it selfe is not inuisible Now the worde in the sacraments is called and is indéede a witnessing of Gods will and a remembraunce and renuing of the benefits and promises of God yea and it is the institution and commaundement of God which sheweth the author of the sacrament with the manner ende of the same For the word in baptisme is the verie same that euen now we haue recited Goe ye into all the worlde c. In the supper of the Lord this is the word of God Iesus tooke breade c. And the rite custome and manner howe to celebrate the supper is to be sought out of the example of the lord going before in the holy action wherein we comprehend bothe prayers and those things which are recited out of the worde of Christ For as he brake breade and diuided it and in like maner the cuppe so likewise with holy imitation and sacramentall rite we follow the same in this holy action As he gaue thankes so also wee doe giue thankes wee by certeine prayers in baptisme doe request the assistaunce and grace of the Lorde we recite certeine places out of the gospell which we know to be requisite in the administration of baptisme and we are woont to doe the same also in the celebration of the Lordes supper But it is not my intent at this presente to speake largely and exactly of the rites of the Sacrament which notwithstanding we holde to bee beste that are taken out of the holie scripture and doe not excéede of whiche shall be spoken in theire place Some in stead of the word doe put promise and in stead of rite ceremonie And truely in the word ceremonie I sée no daunger at all if by ceremonie be vnderstood the outwarde comelines and rite which the Lorde him selfe hath commended to vs by his example and left to be vsed in the celebration And in verie deede Sacramentall signes are not simple or bare signes but ceremonies or religious actions so also there séemeth to bee no daunger in the worde promise so that by promise wee vnderstand the preaching of the gospel the commemoration or remembrance of Gods promises which we often vse in the preching of the gospell and celebration of the sacraments that is to say that God doeth receiue vs into his fellowship for Christe his sake through faith doeth wash away our sinnes endeweth vs with diuerse graces that Christe was giuen for our sinnes shed his bloud to take away the sinnes of all faithfull For in celebrating of Baptisme we vse these wordes of the Lord Suffer little children to come vnto mee for vnto such belongeth the kingdome of heauen c. In the celebration of the banquet of Gods holie children we vse these holie wordes of our Lord And after supper Iesus tooe bread and after he had giuen thanks he brake it gaue it to them saying take ye eate ye this is my bodie whiche is giuen for you This is my bloud which is shed for you for the remission of sinnes this do in the remembrance of me c. For those remembrances and rehersalls are promisses of the Gospel promising forgiuenesse of sinnes to the beléeuers shewing that the Lords bodie is giuen for them and his bloud shed for them whiche faith verilie is the onely and vndoubted meane to obteine life and
is bestowed on vs and deriued from him to vs by the holy Ghoste For the Apostle sayth God which anoynted vs is he also which hath sealed vs and hath giuen the earnest of the spirite in our hearts And againe Ye were in deede defiled with naughtinesse but nowe ye are cleansed and sanctified and lastely iustified throughe the name of the Lorde Iesus and by the spirite of our God. The Father in déede doth sanctifie too but by the bloud of Iesus Christe and poureth the same sanctification out of him into vs by the holy Ghost so that it is as it were the propertie of the holy Ghoste to sanctifie wherevpon he is called Holy or the sanctifier Therefore so often as we heare the holy Ghost named we must by and by think of the power in working which the Scripture attributeth to him and we must looke after the benefites that from him doe flowe to vs For the power operation or action of the spirite is that what so euer the grace of God doth work in vs through the Sonne so that of necessitie we must beléeue in the holy Ghost And in this eight Article we doe professe that we doe verily beléeue that all the faithfull are cleansed washed regenerated sanctified inlightned and inriched of God with diuers gifts of grace for Christ his sake but yet through the holy Ghost For without him there is no true sanctification wherefore we ought not to attribute these giftes of grace to any other meanes this glory belongeth to the holy Ghost onely Of whome I will more largely and fully discourse in my other Sermons The houre is spent which warneth me to wrappe vp briefly and make an ende therefore I exhort you al to haue your faithe religiously bent vpon the Lorde Iesus for him hath the heauēly father sente to vs in him hath he wholy expressed and shewed him selfe to vs and him doth the holy Ghoste printe in our heartes and kéepe in our mindes And in Christ is all mans saluation and euery part thereof contained wherefore we must beware that we deriue it not from any thing else It pleased the father saith the Apostle that all fulnesse shoulde dwell in the Sonne and in him to recapitulate and as it were to bring into a summe all points of saluation that in him all the faithfull may be fulfilled For if saluation be sought then euen by his very name are we taught that saluation is in his power For he is called Iesus that is a sauiour If we desire the holy spirit of God and his sundry gifts we shal finde them also in the annointing of Christ For he is called Christ the annoynted I saye the holye of holies and the sanctifier or else the annoynter of vs with his spirite If any man haue néede of strength and might of power and deliueraunce well he hath to looke for it in Christe his dominion For Christe is Lorde of all In the same Christ we finde redemption For he hath redéemed vs that were solde vnder Sathans yoake In his conception we haue puritie in his natiuitie we haue sufferance For he became like to vs that he might suffer griefe as well as we For in his passion we haue forgiunesse of sinnes in his condemnation we haue absolution satisfaction in his offering or cleansing sacrifice cleansing in his bloude and an vniuersall reconciliation in his descending into hell In his buriall we haue the mortificatiō of our flesh the newnesse of life yea rather the immortalitie of the soule and resurrection of our bodyes in his glorious resurrection We haue also the inheritance of the heauenly kingdome with the assured sealing thereof in his ascension and sitting at the right hand of the father And there is he our mediatour priest and king our safegarde and our heade oure defender and moste sure rest From thence he poureth into vs his holye spirite the fulnesse of all good thinges and dothe communicate him selfe wholy to vs ioyning vs vnto him selfe with an indissoluble knot From thence we doe with confidence and ioy looke for him to be our iudge to be I say our patrone and deliuerer whiche shall condemne and sende downe hedlong into hell all our enimies with sathan but shal take vs and al the faith full of euery age vp into heauen with him self there to sing a newe song and to reioyce in him for euer and euer To him be glory for euer Amen Of the latter Articles of Christian fayth contained in the Apostles Creede ¶ The nynth Sermon LEt vs call to oure Father in heauen through our Lord Iesus Christe that he wil vouchsafe to poure his grace into vs that we may to our no smal profit dispatch and expound the last part of the Articles of Christian beliefe The nynth Article of fayth is this The holy Catholique Churche the communion of Saintes After the confession of our belief in the holy Trinitie and in the mysterie of the Sonne of God our Lorde Iesus Christe and lastly in the holy Ghost the sanctifier and restoarer of al now in the fourth part is reckoned vp the fruite and power the effect and ende of fayth and what doth come to and is bestowed on the faithfull There commeth to them communion of God and all Saintes sanctification remission of sinnes the resurrection of the fleshe and life euerlastinge Of which I will speake in order as they lye so farre foorth as the bountifull Lord shal giue me abilitie Nowe then here we haue to rehearse out of the eight Article this worde I beléeue we must I meane say I beléeue the holy Catholique Churche Some vnlearned there are which hold opinion that in this point of our confession we should say I beléeue in the holy Church The reason that leades them so to thinke is this bycause they finde written in the Constantinopolitane Créede And in the holy Ghost the Lorde that giueth life who procéedeth from the father and the sonne who together with the father the sonne is to be worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophetes in one Catholique and Apostolique Churche For these wordes they doe so distinguishe that as they doe repeate out of the premisses these wordes I beléeue and make this the sense I beleeue in the holye Ghoste the Lorde euen so here againe they doe repeate these wordes I beléeue making this to be the sense I beléeue in one Catholique and Apostolique Church But this is more then néedeth yea and against all godlynesse doe they wrest these wordes of the Créede For this In one Catholique and Apostolique Church is not referred to the Verbe I beléeue but to the holye Ghoste bycause he spake by the Prophetes in one Catholique and Apostolique Churche For our meaning is and we confesse that one and the same spirite did all thinges in both Testamentes contrarie to the opinion of them whiche imagined that there were two spirites contrarie one to the other Moreouer Sainte Cyprian in his exposition
firste begotten or auncient of euery housholde did circumcise before the lawe which office was turned to the priestes when once the lawe was giuen It is a singular example and no more to be found like vnto it that Zippora the wife of Moses did circumcise her sonne Exod. 4. Chap. Nowe also the time of circumcision is set downe to wite the eighth day when the newe borne childe beganne to be of a little more strength And we gather out of the fifte Chapter of the booke of Iosue that they did circumcise them not with kniues of yron but of stone for in that Chapter the Lorde doth in expresse wordes commaund to circumcise the sonnes of Israel with kniues of stone But it is manifest by the rites of the sacraments that God doth alter nothinge in the ceremonies of the sacraments and therefore we coniecture and gather that Abraham vsed none other but kniues of stone especially since we read that Zippora Moses his wife did circumcise her sonne with a stone The rest of the Iewishe trifles which they sowe abrode touching the ceremonies of cicumcision I do of purpose here let passe For they are vtterly vnworthie to be heard and haue no mysteries conteined in them But the knife of stone is of force in the exposition of the mysterie of circūcision For circumcision had a mysterie and a moste certeine meaning hidden within it For firste circumcision did signifie that the whole nature of man is vncleane and corrupt and therfore that all men haue neede of cutting and regeneration And for that cause that cuttinge was made in the member wherewith man is begotten For we are all begotten and borne the sonnes of wrath in originall sinne Neither doth any man deliuer vs from that damnation but he alone that is without sinne to wite the blessed séede Iesus Christ our Lord who was conceiued by the holy Ghost and borne of the virgin Marie who with the shedding of his bloud which was prefigured in the bloud shed in circumcision doth cleanse vs from sinne and make vs heires of life euerlasting And now this circumcision maketh sorely against them that denye original sinne and putteth them to their shiftes that attribute iustification and saluation to our owne strength and vertue For if we were cleane if we by our owne power could get saluation what néeded our fathers to bee cutt in that sorte The things that are cutt off are either vnpure or else superfluous But God made nothing vnpure or superfluous Nowe hee made the flesh of the foreskinne If the fleshe of the foreskinne had béene euill God had not made man with the fleshe of the foreskinne The skinne therefore is not euill of it selfe nor yet superfluous but the cuttinge of the foreskinne doth rather serue to teache vs to vnderstande that by our birth and nature wée are corrupt and that wée cannot be cleansed of that corruption but by the knife of stone And for that cause verily was circumcision giuen in that member and in none other I will anon adde another cause out of Lactantius why it was giuen in the priuities and in none other parte of all the bodye Moreouer circumcision did signifie testifie that God almightie of his méere grace and goodnesse is ioyned with an indissoluble bond of couenant vnto vs men whome his will is first to sanctifie then to iustifie and lastly to inriche with all heauenly treasures through Christe our Lorde and reconciler For that was the meaninge of the stoanie knife Because Christ the blessed séede is the rocke of stone out of which doe flowe moste pure and cleansing waters and he by his spirite doth cutt from vs whatsoeuer thinges doe hinder the mutuall league and amitie betwixt God and vs he also doth giue and increase in vs both hope and charitie in faith so that wee may be knitt and ioyned to God in life euerlasting which is the blessed and happie life in déede Nowe here it is expedient to heare the testimonies of the lawe and the Apostles In the 30. of Deuteron Moses saith The Lord thy God shall circumcise thy harte and the harte of thy seede that thou maist loue the Lorde thy God. Now the outward visible cutting was a signe of this inwarde circumcision And Paule also speakinge of Abraham saith And he receiued the signe of circumcision as the seale of the righteousnesse of faith which he had being yet vncircūcised that he should be the father of all them that beleeue though they were not circūcised that righteousnesse might bee imputed to them also c. Lo here Abrahams circumcision was a signe y God by his grace had iustified Abraham which iustificatiō he receiued by faith before his circumcision which is an argument that they which beléeue though they be not circumcised are neuerthelesse iustified with faithfull Abraham and againe that the Iewes which are circumcised are iustified of God by faith And for that cause was circumcision giuen in the verie bodie of man that he might beare in his bodie the league of God and be thereby admonished that hee is iustified by grace through faith Whereby wee gather also that the grace of God and the iustification of the godly is not tyed to the signe For if it had then had not Abraham béene iustified before his circumcision but euen in his circumcision Furthermore if it had béene so then the Lord whose wil is to haue mankind saued would not haue giuen commaundement to haue them circumcised vpon the eighth day For many children died before the eighth daye and neuer came to circumcision and yet they were not damned To which wee may adde that Sara Rebecca Rahel Iochabeth and Marie Moses sister with innumerable mo matrones and holie virgines could not be circumcised and yet they were saued by the grace of God through faith in the Messiah that was to come The grace of God therefore was not tyed to the sacrament of circumcision but yet it was not despised and neglected of the holy sainctes of the olde church but vsed to the end for which it was ordeined that is to be a testimonie and a seale of frée iustification in Christ who circumciseth vs spiritually without handes by the working of the holie Ghoste Furthermore God by the outwarde and visible signe did gather into one church them which were circumcised in which number those which he had chosen before hee did ioyne to him selfe with the bonde of his spirite For sainct Paule for the verie same cause did call the people of one religiō the circumcision as is euident by the 15. Chapter to the Romanes and the third to the Philippians Therefore by circumcision God did separate his people from the vnbeléeuing nations Whereupon it came that to be called vncircumcised was as great reproache among them as to be called dogge is nowe adayes among vs For an vncircumcised person was reputed for an vncleane prophane man and for such an one as had no parte
in mind that he was not only the God of their fathers and auncestours but that hée would be the God of all the posterities of the Israelites that hee would beare with and spare them for the bloud of Christ and finally that hee both would and could defend them froÌ„ all euill and bestowe vpon them all good and fatherly blessinges For in the 136 Psalme we reade O Praise the Lorde for he is good because his mercie endureth for euer which strucke the first borne of the Aegyptians for his mercie endureth for euer With a strong hand and a stretched out arme For his mercie endureth for euer Besides the remembraunce therfore of the benefit which God did for their fathers the posteritie did by the vse of that ceremonie stirre vp their faith to beléeue that god would haue mercie on and do good for them according to his naturall goodnesse euen as hee did to their fathers before them And by that meanes this ceremonie was no small exercise of faith in the children of Israel Furthermore those ceremonies did conteine the mysteries that were to come of Christ the Sauiour of vs al. For in them was prefigured what Christe should be what hee should do for the worlde by what meanes the faithfull should bee partakers with him and howe they shoulde beehaue them selues before him For amonge many other beastes there was none thought to be more fitt for this sacrament then a lambe not so muche for the signification of simplicite and patience that was in Christe like to the quietnesse of a Lambe as for because a Lambe was the dayly sacrifice that was offered to the Lorde For Paule saith Christe our paschall Lambe is offered vp And a Lamb by the lawe was euery morning and euening offered vp in sacrifice For Christe is the lambe that was killed since the beginning of the worlde Of whome Iohn Baptist testifyed saying Beeholde the lambe of God that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde And for because wée all did goe astray like shéepe euery one after his owne way the sonne of God came downe vnto vs and became a shéepe of oure verie substaunce and nature But yet hee was sound and without spott without sinne and wickednesse conceiued by the holy ghoste and borne of the virgin Marie He was a male and of a yeare old that is to say strong and all one the same to day that he was yesterday and the same for euer to witte the sauiour of al the world The ceremoniall lambe was chosen and taken from amonge other lambs and goates For Christ descended lineally of righteous men and sinners as is to be seene in the first Chapter of Mathewes gospell Likewise for the shedding of y lambs bloud God did beare with the whole church of the Israelits for the bloud of Christ whereof the lambes bloud was a type was to be shedde that by it al the faithful might be cleansed and that by the sheadinge of that the anger of God the father mighte be appeased and he reconciled againe vnto the church The bloud was sprinckled vppon the vpper and two side postes of the house with a bunch of Hysope Hysope verilie is a base hearb and of small accompte and the preachinge of the gospell seemeth to be foolish vile and of no valure yet by the preachinge of the gospell â—he bloud of Christ vnto the remission of sinnes muste be sprinckled on vs which are the house of god Now we receiue the lambe to life when we do eate that is wheÌ„ we beleue that Christ did suffer for vs For Christ is eaten by faith as is at large declared in the 6. Chap. of Sainct Iohn The lambe is dressed with fire and not with water it is not eaten rawe but rosted For Christe was not man alone but verie God also the true burnt offering He is able fully to absolue vs so that there néedes no additioÌ„ of ours All our additions are méere water altogether colde Moreouer the whole Lambe was to be eaten the head the féete and purtenance For vnlesse we beléeue that Christ is very God verie man and that he is our wisedom and righteousnesse wee doe not eate him wholy They eate not the head which deny that Christ is god They eate not the feete which do deny that Christ is man They eate not the purtenance which do not acknowledge the giftes that are in Christ which he doth communicate vnto the faithfull to wite righteousnesse wisedome sanctification redemption and life The bones of the Lambe were neither broken nor thrown to the dogges but burnt with fire For in Christe there was not one bone broken as the Apostle Iohn beareth witnesse in the nineteenth Chapter of his Gospell Herein also lyeth hidd another mysterie For although the sonne of God did susâ—er in his humanitie yet in his diuinitie he remained still without any passion Nowe the thinges in Christe which we cannot attaine vnto by reason of the excellencie of his Godhead we do earnestly wishe for greately desire Moreouer Christ is the meate of the reasonable and faithfull soule and is not to be cast to dogges and vnbeléeuing miscreants The Lambe was to be eaten in haste without delaye For Christ must bée eaten by faith out of hande without foading off and that too with a sharpe desire and eager appetite With the Lambe they were commaunded to eate sower hearbes and vnleauened bread For the faithfull must repent them of their life yll spent and wholie betake theÌ„ selues to a purer trade of liuing For here followeth the maner howe they ought to behaue them selues toward their redéemer They stoode to eate the Lambe hauing their loynes girded with shooes on their féete and staues in their hands Such was the habite of waifaring men or pilgrimes We therefore must so behaue our selues in this present world as doth become pilgrims strauÌ„gers which do contemne this world looke for another countrie In their iorney therfore let them giue them selues to temperate modestie let their féete be shodde with the preaching of the Gospell of peace let them wholie leane vpon y staffe of Gods aide succour let theÌ„ departe with as much haste as may be from the bondage corruption of this naughtie world This verie same ceremonie was as it were a confession of y true religion and as a cognizance wherby y people of God were known froÌ„ other people natioÌ„s Therefore al the Israelites were gathered together into one church societie wherein by celebratinge of the passeouer they did professe that they were the redéemed the Libertines the people of the liuing god For thereunto belongeth the commaundement which charged them that no straunger should eate of the Lambe but that the circumcised alone should be partakers of it that it should not be diuided into many partes that it should bee eaten no where but in one place alone and that too by companies of al the Israelites lastly that no man
Cowe sprinckled doeth sanctifie them that are partakers of it to the purifying of the fleshe howe much more the bloud of Christe Therfore both the priest and the cowe did beare the type of Christ The female kinde in the cowe doth note the infirmitie of mans nature the redd colour doth admonishe vs of the Lord his bloud by whiche wee are washed from our vncleannesse There was no spot to be found in Christ for hee was the holy of holies and altogether frée from and without all sinne Hée was not brought to death by the yoke of necessitie For hee offered himselfe vnto it of his owne free will. Yea hee offered himselfe willingly to go to his death and that too without the hoast or walls of the citie in the mount of Caluarie which thing the Apostle Paule doth touch in the 13. to the Hebrues Christ both God and man was whoalie offered in body and soule whose bloud is hoalesome for vs if by the holyghost it be sprinkled in our harts The faithfull also must die with Christ they must be humbled and burne in loue to Godward as redd as Scarlet and that was the meaning of the Cedar wood the Hysope and the Scarlet lace which were cast into the fire Moreouer the ashes which came of the sacrifice were gathered vp and preserued to purifie and cleanse withall Those ashes were nothing else but the type or figure of the effect of Christ his death or sacrifice I meane the verie cleansing and remission of our sinnes For therefore did bloud and water gushe aboundantly out of the pierced side of Christ that wee might learne that out of the death of Christe doeth flowe our cleansing and our life For in bloud life doeth consist and water purgeth and is a signe of cleÌ„sing The ashes were gathered by a man that was cleane who neuerthelesse was made and did remaine vncleane vntill the euening Finally the water was sprinkled with a sprinklar made of Hysope vppon the defiled to the end that thereby hee might bee sanctified or purged The water was kept in an holy place For Margarites and that which is holy ought not to be caste to dogges and filthie swine The Lord also doth require preachers to teache the effecte of Christ his passion and in the coÌ„temptible and lowly preaching of the Gospell to lay before the world our redemption and sanctification in the death and bloud of Christ he doth require I say such holy teachers as are themselues faithfull and cleansed in the bloud of Christ And yet those teachers with the whole Church beside do euen til the euening I meane the ending of their liues pray stil Forgiue vs our trespasses For the Lord himselfe said Hee that is washed is cleane hath no neede but to washe his feete onely To this do appertaine the often washings vsed in this Ceremonie which signifie that by the grace of God all sinnes are purged that the Sainctes haue alwayes an holy care to watch against the assaults of sinne and that those sinnes are clensed none other wayes but by the water of Christ his grace Lastly it is most often earnestly repeated in the law that they al remaine vncleane how many soeuer being once defiled are not again cleÌ„sed with the holy water of separation For the Lord said to Peter Vnlesse I washe thee thou shalt haue no paâ—te with mee My meaning is not to runne through euery particular point of this Ceremonie but to touch the especial matters onely Therefore now I procéede to that which remayneth To these cleansing sacrifices may also be added the sacrifices whereby the bodily defilings which were figures of the defilinges of sinne were purified cleansed of which sort were the defilinges of the séede the eating and touching of vncleane creatures the Leprosie and of the woman in childbedd All which Moses doth largely handle from the 12. of Leuiticus vnto the 16. of the same And in al this there is nothing else prefigured to the Church of God but our naturall corruption and originall wickednesse with the frée cleansing of the same by the grace of God in the bloud of Christ our Sauiour With these we may also number the sacrifice of iealousie which is thoroughly treated of in the 5. Chapter of Numeri although the maner and order thereof seemeth rather to belonge vnto the Iudiciall lawes of God. The fourth kinde of sacrifices was the sacrifice of thanckesgiuing whiche they called Schelamim or Schlomim the sacrifice of health or the peace offering For it was offered to giue thankes withall to witt either for the recouerie of health or for felicitie and prosperitie I meane when they had receiued some good turne at the handes of God or else by his ayde had escaped the brunt of some mishapp or euil fortâ—ne In this sacrifice they vsed a bâ—aste either of the heard or of the fould It was not lawfull to oâ—fer birds for it was done either â—â—th a vnllocke or an hâ—ffar with a male or a female lamâ—e or with an hée or a shee goate It was 〈◊〉 before the Atrium The â—ide or skinne therof was the priestes fee. The bloud was sprinckled about the altar The kidneys the call of the lyuer the rumpe of the lambe and all the fatt was burnt vppon the altar of burnt offerings The right shoulder was heaued the breast was waued toward the endes of the world For Thruma and Thnupha that is the heauing and wauing were not kinds of sacrifices but ceremonies onely which the priestes did vse in making their sacrifices and oblations By the heauing was signified that Christe should be heaued or lifted vp and that he being once lifted vp should drawe all men vnto him The wauing of the breast toward euery part of the world was a token that the preaching of Christ should be spread in euery corner of the world The breast and the shoulder were both the priestes portion together with the iawe done and the paunch or bellie The rest of the fleshe returned to him that made the oblation and was eaten by him in an holie banquet The remnaunt of Ceremonies belonging to this sacrifice are to be found in the third Chapter of Leuiticus For if it were Thoda a confession a praise or a protestation then was added to the sacrifice a cake of pure wheat floure and salt steeped in oyle or sodden cracknells or bread baked in pannes part whereof was heaued and fell to the priestes share the rest returned to the offerer euen as also leauened bread was allowed to be eaten in the banquet Nowe in this kinde of sacrifice also Christ was preached with the effect â— power of his death and passion and in it was shewed the whole maner and order of giuing thankes to God for his good benefits There are sondry sorts of benefits If a man receyued a good turne if an ill 〈◊〉 had not be fâ—lne him if he had receuered his health or had escaped some misfortune
Rabbines do sticke and cannot tell certeinly what creatures they bée that the Lorde did forbid them To this belongeth that euen before the lawe in the time of Noah God did forbidd to eate the bloud and the fleashe with the bloud of any thing torne by wilde beastes or strangled Before the deluge the fathers did eate the hearbes and fruites of the earth After the floud they had leaue giuen to eate the fleash of lyuinge creatures but so yet that they should cut the throat off and drayn the bloud out of the bodie The place is extant in the ninth Chapter of Genesis Moreouer in the lawe the Lord with greate seueritie saith Whatsoeuer man it be of the house of Israel or of the straungers that soiourne among you that eateth any manner of bloud I will set my face against that soule and wil cut him off from amonge his people Leuiticus 17. And the same lawe is repeated in the ninetéenth Chapter of the same booke and in the 12 and 15 Chapter of Deuteronomie It is againe rehearsed in the thirde and seuenth Chapter of Leuiticus Neither is it without verie iust and great causes that he did so seuerely forbidde the eating of bloud For first of all after the wordes aboue rehearsed he addeth immediately For the life of the flesh is in the bloud I haue giuen it vnto you vpon the altar to make an attonement for your soules For bloud shall make an attonement for the soule Therfore I saide vnto the children of Israel Let no soule among you eate bloud c. Lo in these wordes a moste euident reason is giuen why it was not lawfull to eate bloud because bloud was the most excellent and precious thinge as that which was ordeined for the sanctification of mankinde For God gaue bloud to be as the price wherewith sinnes should be cleansed to bee I saye the price of redemption whereby men should be absolued of their sinnes Bloud also is the life that is the nourishment of life The bloud therefore was a signe of the bloud of Christ that was to bée shedd vppon the crosse by which as by a moste full and absolute attonement the faithful are cleansed and thoroughly sanctified and in which is the nourishment of the soule to life euerlasting and as it was not lawfull to eate of the flesh of the sacrifices whose bloud was carried into the Sanctum for sinne but to burne it without the hoaste so it was vnlawful to eate the bloud which was the cleansing for their sinnes He therefore did eate bloud which attributed to his owne strength or workes the attonement which was made by the bloud of Christ estéeming his bloud to be prophane and not attributing vnto it the full satisfaction for all sinnes Againe he did not eate but powre the bloud downe at the altar who did ascribe the benefite of our redemption to the onely merite of Christe did estéeme it of so greate valure as it ought by right to be estéemed Lastly God would haue it déeply printed in the mindes of men that no man should shead anothers bloud nor liue of the bloud and bowels of other men as mercenarie souldiours couetous persons vsurers and couseners do in sucking out and sheadinge the bloud of sillie people with subtile fleightes and open iniurie And God talking with Noah did with terrible threates beate into all murtherers an horrible feare saying If men bee slacke I will take vengeance vppon the sheading of bloud For mā was made to the image likenesse of God howe can God choose then but take the reproche as done to him selfe whiche is done vnto his image For whosoeuer casteth downe the image of the king he offendeth against the king is accused of treason But nowe touching strangled this lawe was giuen Eate not with bloud And againe Eate not of that which dyeth of it selfe nor of that which is torne with wilde beastes c. But by strangled carrion that dyeth of it selfe are signified the dead woorkes from which he is bidden to purge him selfe whosoeuer desireth to get Gods fauour Hee therefore did eate strangled whosoeuer did liue in wickednesse without repentance not regarding the bloud of Christ his Sauiour Now also the touching of vncleane thinges is sett downe in the lawe by these thrée notes as if thou fouchest an vncleane thing or if thou beare it or if it fall by chaunce into some vessell or garment of thine He verily is defiled by the falling of a thing whosoeuer sinneth vnwittingly But hée sinneth more heynously whosoeuer sinneth willingly and of a set and pretended purpose But he sinneth most grieuously of all that vpholdeth wickednesse and compelleth other to committ the same But whereas in touchinge and in other places it is saide that the vncleanenesse shall abide till eueninge that is an euident prophecie of Christ to wite that the Messiah should come at euening that is in the ende of the worlde to purge the sinnes of all the earth I haue ynough and long ynough thus farre by two whole sermons I praye God it may bee to your profite dearely beloued stayed in and stucke vppon the ceremoniall lawes therefore that I may nowe come to an end I will bring the chiefe pointes wherof I haue spoken into a brief summe I did diuide the whole treatise of the ceremoniall lawes into thrée especiall braunches For I spake of the holie persons of the holie time and place and of the holie thinge which the holie persons did exercise in the sacred place I meane the sacraments the sacrifices and other holie ceremonies The holie persons are the priestes I shewed you their firste beginning their ordering their mysticall apparaile their sundrie offices When I spake of the holy time and place I did describe vnto you the Tabernacle and noted vnto you what was within the Tabernacle to wite the Arke of the couenant the golden table the golden candlesticke the altar of incense the altar of burnte sacrifices and the brasen lauer the mysteries of all which I declared vnto you In the treatise of the holy time I touched all the kindes of holy dayes and solemne feastes dayes with all their certeine and vncerteine holy dayes Last of all in our discourse vpon the holy things I tolde you of the two Sacramentes of the olde church Circumcision and the Passeouer and also of the sacrifices whereof some were burnte offeringes some meate offeringes some peculiar and some of thankesgiuing wherein we spake somewhat also touching frée will offeringes and vowed sacrifices finally of vowes of the discipline of the Nazarites of cleane and vncleane creatures of the choice of meates of bloud and strangled of the touching of vncleane thinges The Lorde Iesus enlighten your heartes that all this may tende to the glorie of his name and the health of yours soules Amen ¶ Of the Iudiciall lawes of God. The seuenth Sermon IN prosecuting the treatise of Gods laws I haue now lastly to speake of that
longer any sacrifice for sinne But in the newe testament there is a ful remission of sinns therefore in the newe testament there is no longer any sacrifice offered for sinnes For Christ is onely and alone in stéede of all the sacrifices For hee was once offered vpp and after that is offered no more who by the once offering vp of him selfe hath founde eternall redemption so that all which be sanctified are sanctified by none other oblation but that of Christ vpon the crosse made once for all Wherefore Christ being once offered vppon the crosse for the sinnes of all the world is the burnt offering of the catholique church he is also the meate offeringe which feedeth vs with his fleashe offered vpon the crosse vnto eternal life if wee receiue and feede on him by faith Moreouer he is the drink offering of the churche which with his bloud doth quench the thirste of the faithfull vnto life euerlasting He is the purging and daily sacrifice of the church because he is the lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the worlde His death and passion cleanseth all men from their sinnes their errours and iniquities Finally he is y churches sacrifice of thankesgiuinge because by Christ we offer praise to god and by Christe we render thanks vnto the Lorde To conclude the onely supper of the Lorde which wee call the Eucharist conteineth in it all the kindes of auncient sacrifices which are in effect but of two sortes to wite of purging and of attonement as those which were offered for sinne or else of thankesgiuing as those which rendered thankes and offered prayse vnto the Lorde Nowe the supper is a testimonie a sacrament and a remembraunce of the bodie of Christe which was giuen for vs and of his blood that was shedd for the remission of our sinnes For the bodie bloude of our Lord which were but once offered vpon the crosse and neither can nor ought to bee offered any more of men are not sacrificed a freash in the celebration of the supper but in the celebrating of it there is reiterated a remembrance of the thing I meane of the oblation which was but once made and in once offering was sufficient Againe in the supper we render thankes to God for our redemption for which also the vniuersal church doth offer praise vnto his name Wherefore the supper of the Lorde doth comprehend the whole substance and matter which was prefigured in those auncient sacrifices so that in y poynt the church is not destitute of any good or necessarie thing although it doth no longer retaine those sacrifices of the elder church Yea they ought not any longer to be solemnized in the church because when they were nothing else but the figures types and sacraments of Christe to come the church doeth nowe beléeue and that rightly too y Christ is alreadie come and that he hath fulfilled and accomplished all thinges as wée read that he him selfe did testifie when on the crosse he cryed saying It is finished Moreouer all vowes are come to an end because all sacrifices wherin the vowes consisted are vanished gone Likewise the discipline of the Nazarites is nowe decayed because the temple with al the ceremonies belonging thereunto is vaded away There remaineth stil in the church a Christian moderate discipline but not that which is described in y lawe And the Sainctes do perfourme to God the vowes which they haue made in the church not contrary to faith and godlynesse But they are sparing warie and verie religious in making vowes For what haue we to giue to God which we haue not firste receiued at his handes and to the perfourming of which wee were not bounde before in baptisme Christe doth not so distinguish betwixt cleane and vncleane in the Gospel as Moses doth in the lawe That saith hee which entreth into the mouth defileth not the man but that which commeth out of the mouth And the apostle Paule doth flatly say that to the cleane all things are clean And like to this he speaketh muche in the fourteenth to the Romanes and in other places mo In his Epistle to the Colossians hee saith If ye bee dead with Christe from the rudimentes of the world why as liuing in the world are ye led with traditions touch not taste not handle not all which doe perishe in abusing And so forth To Peter also it is said What God hath sanctified that call not thou vnclean Therefore whereas in the Synodall Epistle set forth by the Apostles in the fiftéenth of the Actes both bloud and strangled is forbidden and exempted from the meate of menne that commaundement was not perpetuall but momentanie for a time onely For it pleased the Apostles for charities sake to beare therein with the Iewish nation who otherwise would haue been too stubborne and selfewilled The Iewes at that time did euery daye so rifely heare the reading of the lawe which did expressely forbidde to eate bloud and strangled as if the preaching of the Gospell had not begonne to be sowed among them and therefore they could not but bee greatly offended to sée the Gentiles so lauishly to vse the thinges prohibited Wherefore the Apostles would haue the Gentiles for a time to absteine from the thinges that otherwise were lawful ynough to sée if peraduenture by that meanes they might winne the Iewes to the faith of Christ For the Epistles which Paule wrote a fewe yeares after the counsell at Hierusalem do sufficiently argue that the decree of the Apostles against bloud strangled was not perpetuall But the commaundementes giuen againste thinges offered to idols and against fornication in vsing whereof the Gentiles thought that they did not greately offende are perpetuall because they be morals and of the number of the tenne commaundements But of that matter I haue spokén in another place And nowe because I am come to make mention of the Synodall decree ordeined by the Apostles and elders of the counsell at Hierusalem I thinke it not amisse to recite vnto you dearely beloued as a conclusion to this place the whole Epistle sent by the Synode because it doth beare an euident full and briefe testimonie that the lawe is abrogated after that manner which I haue declared Now this is their Epistle or constitution The Apostles and elders and brethren sende greetings vnto the brethren which are of the Gentiles that are in Antiochia Syria and Cilicia For as much as we haue heard that certeine which departed from vs haue troubled you with wordes and cumbred your myndes saying ye must be circumcised keepe the lawe to whō we gaue no such commaundement it seemed good therefore to vs when we were come together with one accorde to send chosen men vnto you with our beloued Paule and Barnabas men that haue ieoparded their liues for the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ We haue sent therefore Iudas and Silas which shal also tell you the same things by
of Christ Iesu haue nothing to doe with the decrées of mans inuentions and that they are not bound to obserue mens traditions because they are dead to traditions with Christ that is to say they are by Christ Iesu redéemed and set frée from traditions whiche traditions did in Christe his deathe finishe and come to an ende while hee did make vs his owne and sett vs at libertie Then also hée doth by imitation counterfaite the woordes of them whiche make those decrées saye Oh touch not Taste not Handle not These thrée preceptes stretch very farre and comprehende manye petit decrées All which hee doeth unmediately confute with these probable argumentes First because they appoinct the worshippe of GOD to be in thinges that perish in the vse thereof But the kingdome of God is neither meate nor drincke but doth consiste in spirituall thinges And that whiche entereth in by the mouth doeth not defile the man Secondarilie béecause they are not made of God the authour of all goodnesse but haue their beginning of mans inuentions But in vaine doe they worshippe mée sayeth the Lord in the Gospell teaching doctrines the preceptes of men Neither doeth the holy Apostle saincte Paul wincke at and slylie passe ouer because hée will not aunsweare to the thinges whiche doe most commende these traditions First of all they are commended for the shewe and appearaunce of wisedome that is in them For they séeme to haue béene not without great wisedome ordeined of wise menne in that they doe so fittlie serue to euerye person time and place The earnest defenders of mens traditions crie out and saye Oure auncestours weee no fooles their lawes are full of wisedome But Ieremie cryeth out on the other side saying They haue reiected the woord of GOD therefore what wisedome can bee in them An other cause why traditions are commended is the Gréekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a chosen kinde of worshippe which wée of our owne braynes haue chosen and taken to oure selues to serue and do God worship with all For men do gladly and willingly receiue the traditions of men because they are agréeable to their inclination Yea Christ in the holie Gospell sayth If ye had beene of the world the world would haue loued her owne Nowe for because I haue chosen you out of the worlde the world doth hate you And againe hée saith That whiche men set great store by is abhominable vnto God. Moreouer mens traditions are commended for humilitie which is vnderstoode in two manners or respectes For first that is said to be humilitie if any man doe readily obey and easilie yéeld to that which is vrged obtruded and thrust vpon him by men of countenaunce and authoritie Secondarilie the lawes of men do séeme to exercise humblenesse and kéepe men in humilitie But such obedience and humilitie may rather bée called sacrilege because it is not ruled and directed by the woord of God as the thinge whereby alone it should be tempered and squared but doth transferre and conueighe ouer the honour of GOD from God to men Last of all mens traditions are commended for the neglectinge of the fleshe For Oh that discipline and chasticemente of the fleashe séemeth to them a goodlye thinge by whiche the wantonnesse of the flesh is somewhat brideled and tamed Finallie the Apostle addeth Not in any honour to the satistyinge of the fleshe that is to say Whiche thinges although they haue a shewe of religion and holinesse haue notwithstanding in verie déede no honour at all considering that those externall things are ordeined of GOD for the ease and reléefe of menns necessities Yea Paul doth flatly finde fault with those decrées because they giue the bodie no honour for the satisfying of the same that is according to the measure of the bodies necessitie For a moderate care and looking to the bodie is not only permitted but also commanded least wée perhapps by too muche lacke and neerenesse do marre the bodie and make it vnapt to doe good woorkes Neither is the care of the flesh in any place forbidden vnlesse it tend to lustes and sensualitie Wherfore the Apostle saith Cherish not the flesh vnto concupiscence Therefore God hath graunted to man for his necessitie the vse of meate drincke sléepe cloathing reste alloweable pleasures and other thinges necessarie In the fourth Chapiter to the Galathians Saincte Paule saith When the fullnesse of the time was come God sent his sonne borne of a womā and made vnder the lawe to redeeme them that were vnder the lawe that wee mighte receiue by adoption the right or inheritaunce of children Nowe because ye are sonnes GOD hath sent the spirite of his sonne into your heartes crying Abba Father Wherfore thou art no more a seruant but a sonne If thou be a sonne thou art also an heire of God thoroughe Christ And immediatly after againe Stand faste in the libertie wherewith Christe hath deliuered vs and bee not againe wrapped in the yoke of bondage In the second to the Hebrues hée saith Christe was made partaker of fleshe and bloud with vs to the ende that throughe death he might expell him that had Lordship ouer death that is the diuell and that hee might deliuer them which through feare of death were all their life time in daunger of bondage Thus I hope these testimonies of Scripture suffice for our purpose These thinges being wel weighed and throughly considered will plainely teache what kinde of libertie they haue whiche are made frée by Christ and what their propertie and inclination is to witt most religious and altogether giuen to holy thinges that is to say in all points addicted to the spirite without whiche there is no libertie and by which al the sonnes of God are alwayes gouerned The Lords frée men doe most diligently beware that they doe vnaduisedly offend no man by their libertie nor vainely abuse their purchased fréedome For they haue continuallie before their minds and eyes the weightie sayings of the holie Apostles of their Lord Christe Iesu Sainct Peter in the second Chapter of his first Epistle saith As free and not as hauing the libertie for a cloake of maliciousnesse but euen as the seruauntes of God. And Paule hath Brethren ye haue beene called vnto libertie onely let not libertie be an occasion to the flesh but by loue serue one an other For I when I am free haue made mee selfe seruaunte to all that I maye winne the more They therefore do specially abuse Christiā libertie who seeking after carnall things vnder the colour and pretence of the spirite and of libertie doe make their bragges that they by the preachinge of the Gospell are set free from all bodily debtes dueties and therefore they do denye to their maisters creditours magistrates and princes the dutie that they owe them by that meanes reuolting and rebelling againste them These fellowes are seditious stirrers and not the reuerencers of the Euangelical doctrin Paule crieth Giue to
poore sillie Lazarus For Lazarus though he was the friende of God did notwithstanding die for want of foode The other though he was Gods enimie did spend his life in deintie fare and pleasures and felt none ill But hearken after this life what their iudgement was Abraham saith to the riche glutton My sonne remember that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy good and Lazarus likewise receiued euill but nowe he reioyceth and thou art tormented Therefore if the godly bee at any time afflicted in this present life they shal be abundantly rewarded for it in the life to come But if the wicked be spared in this worlde they are more grieuously punished in the world to come For God is iust rewardeth euery man accordinge to his merite If hereafter therefore thou shalte chaunce to sée the wicked liue in prosperitie thinke not thou by and by that God is vniust suppose not that his power is abated and say not that he sleepeth séeth them not For that saying of the Prophet which is also vsed by the Apostle Peter is assuredly true The eyes of the Lord are vpon the iust and his eares open vnto their prayers Againe The eyes of the Lorde are vppon them that do wickednesse Wee must in suche a case fortifie our mindes with the iust examples of Gods iudgementes gathered together out of the holy Scriptures Let vs consider that the world was destroyed with the generall deluge when God had in vaine a longe time looked after repentaunce Let vs remember that Sodom Gomorrha and the cities adiacent thereaboute were burnt with fire sent down from heauen Let vs thinke vppon Aegypt howe it was stricken with diuers plagues and the inhabitantes drowned in the redde sea Let vs call to minde the thinges that happened by the holie and iust iudgement of God to the Amorrhites the Chanaanites the Amalechites the verie Israelits first vnder their Iudges then vnder their Kinges Their measure at last was fully filled Neither did they at anye time despise God and his worde but were at the last payde home for their labour They neuer sinned went scotfâ—â—e long The historie of Paulus Orosius yea the vniuersall historie of all the world doe minister vnto vs inumerable examples like vnto these declaring the certeintie of Gods iudgement Let vs thinke that God doeth not therefore allowe of sinnes beecause he is slacke in punishing them but let vs persuade our selues that he by the prolonging of punishment doth of his vnmeasurable goodnesse both looke and staye for the repentaunce conuersion of miserable sinners For in the Gospell the Lord biddeth not to cutt down the barren figg trée because hee looked to see if it woulde bring any fruite the next yere following The Apostle Paule saith Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and patience and long sufferaunce not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance But thou after thy stubbornesse and heart that cannot repent heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and declaration of the righteous iudgement of God which wil rewarde euery man accordinge to his deedes to them which by continuing in wel-doing seeke for glorie and honour and immortalitie eternall life But vnto them that are contentious and doe not obey the trueth but obey vnrighteousnesse shall come indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish vppon euery soule of man that doth euil This I saye let vs firmely holde with this let vs content our selues not grudging to sée the wicked liue long in prosperitie without paine or punishment The holie iust wise and mightie God knoweth best what to doe howe to doe why and when to doe euery thing conueniently To him bee glorie for euer and euer Amen To this belongeth also that God doeth as well afflicte the good as the badd Touchinge which I spake at large in the thirde Sermon of this thirde Decade Nowe here therefore some there are which demaunde why God doth with diuers punishements persecute those sinnes whiche he hath alreadie forgiuen to men For he forgaue Adam his sinne and yet he layde on him both death and innumerable calamities of this life beside To Dauid we read that the Prophet Nathan saide The Lorde hath taken thy sinne away and yet immediately after the same Prophet addeth The sworde shall not departe from thy house To this wee aunswere simply that these plagues which are layde on vs beefore the remission of our sinnes are the punishmentes due to our sinnes but that after the remission of our sinnes they are conflictes and exercises wherewith the faithfull doe not make satisfaction for their sinnes which are alreadie remitted by Grace in the death of the sonne of God but wherewith they are humbled and kept in their duetie hauing an occasion giuen of the greater glorie And here I wil not sticke to recite vnto you dearely beloued Saincte Augustines iudgement touching this matter in his seconde booke De peccatorum meritis et remissione Chap. 33. 34. where he sayth Thinges the guilt wherof God absolueth or remitteth to the ende that after this life they should doe no harme and yet he suffereth them to abide vnto the conflict of faith that by them men may be instructed and exercised profiting in the conflict of righteousnesse c. And presently after Before forgiuenesse they are the punishments of sinners but after remission they are the conflictes and exercises of iust men And againe after a fewe wordes more he faith The flesh which was first made was not the flesh of sinne wherein maÌ„ would not kéepe righteousnes among the pleasures of paradise Wherfore God ordeined that after his sinne the flesh of sinne being increased shoulde indeuour with paines and labours to recouer righteousnesse againe And for that cause Adam being cast out of Paradise dwelt ouer against Eden that is against the place of pleasures which was a signe that with labours whiche are contrarie to pleasure the fleshe of sinne was then to be invred which being in pleasures kepte not obedience before it was the flesh of sinne Therefore euen as those oure first parentes by liuing iustly afterward whereby they are rightly thought to be by the bloud of Christe deliuered from vtter punishment deserued not yet in that life to be called backe againe into Paradise so also the fleshe of sinne although when sinnes are forgiuen a man liue righteously in it doth not presently deserue not to suffer that death which it drew from the propagation of sinne Such a like thing is insinuated to vs in the booke of the Kings concerning the patriarche Dauid to whome when the prophet was sent and had threatened vnto him the euils that shoulde come vppon him through the anger of God bicause of the sinne which he had committed by the confession of the sinne he deserued forgiuenesse according to the answere of the prophete who tolde him that that sinne and crime was forgiuen vnto him and yet those thinges betyded him
true Temple the true highe priest the true altar of incense and burnte offeringes euen Christe Iesus the Lord and Sauiour they haue the true worshippe whiche was of olde prefigured onelye in those externall Ceremonies As I haue alreadie declared vnto you in that place where I handled the Iewishe Ceremonies The Gentiles are out of euerie quarter of the world called vnto Christe Iesu All the promises touching the calling of the Gentiles haue béene hetherto most aboundantly fulfilled and are euen at this day Nowe are wee the chosen flocke according to the doctrine of Saincte Peter We are the royall priesthood an holie nation a peculiar people being called hereunto that wee should preach the power of him which hath called vs out of darckenesse into his meruailous light Therefore let the vnhappie Iewes vnlesse perhappes they had rather to bee intangled in greater errours to bée vexed dailye with endelesse calamities and so at laste perishe eternally turne vnto Christ by faith and together with vs beginne to worshippe him in whome their fathers hoped and in whome alone is life and saluation For that I may with the Apostles woords conclude this place GOD is made manifest in the fleshe iustified in the spirite seene to the Angels preached to the Gentiles beleeued in the world and receiued in glorie And euerie one that beleeueth him shal liue eternallie and neuer be confounded Wée haue nowe behinde the last part to expounde the contents whereof are that God the father who before was angrie with the world is pleased nowe in his onely begotten sonne Iesus Christ oure lord First of all therefore I haue to shewe you that God was angrie with the world whiche is no hard matter to proue For God is angrie at sinnes But the whole world is subiecte to sinne therefore it must of necessitie be that the most iust God is mightilie angrie with all the world And Paule sayeth The wrath of God is reuealed from heauen against all vngodlinesse vnrighteousnesse of men Againe the same Apostle sayeth that all men are subiecte vnto sinne for confirmation whereof hee citeth these sentences of the holy Scriptures saying There is none righteous no not one there is none that vnderstandeth or seeketh after God They are all gone out of the way they are all become vnprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throate is an open sepulchre they haue vsed their tongues for to deceiue the poyson of aspes is vnder their lippes Whose mouth is full of cursing bitternesse their feete are swift to shedd bloud Hartes greefe and miserie are in their wayes and the waye of peace haue they not knowen There is no feare of God before their eyes Nowe least the Israelites should aunsweare that these thinges doe not perteine to the people of GOD but to the heathen and vngodly alone hee addeth Wee knowe that whatsoeuer the lawe sayeth it sayeth it to them which are vnder the lawe that euerie mouth may bee stopped and that all the world may bee endaungered to God. No man is here excepted For to the Galathians the same Apostle sayeth Hee hath shutt vpp all vnder sinne that hee may haue mercie on all It followeth therefore that all the world was subiect to the wrath or indignation of the most iuste and righteous God as is at large proued in the second fourth and fifte Chapiters to the Ephesians But the heauenly father is appeased or recōciled to this wicked world thorough the onely begotten sonne our Lord Iesus Christe And this I hope I shall aboundantly proue by the onely testimonie of God himselfe For the father by sending downe a voyce from heauen vnto the earth vppon Christe first ascending newely out of the water after his baptisme and then againe at his transfiguration in the sighte of his disciples did significantly saye This is my beloued sonne in whom I am delighted pleased or reconciled heare him This testimonie is read to haue béene foreshewed in the 42. Chapiters of Esaies Prophecie And Peter the Apostle repeateth the same in the first cap. of his second Epistle Paule also did as it were expound this and saye It pleased the father that in the Sonne should dwell all fulnesse and by him to reconcile all things vnto himselfe since he hath sett at peace thoroughe the bloud of the Crosse by him both the thinges in earth and the thinges in heauen In heauen is God and wée men heere vppon earth Nowe Christe is the mediatour which goeth betwixte vs and reconcileth vs vnto his father so that nowe we are the beloued of the father in his beloued sonne For in the Epistle to the Ephesians the same Apostle sayth He hath made vs accepted in the beloued in whom wee haue redemption thorough his bloud the forgiuenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace All this shall be more fully vnderstood by that which followeth For nowe I must proue that God the father hath in his sonne giuen vs al things that are necessarie to a happie life and eternal saluation I name héere two thinges a happie life and euerlasting saluation By a happie life I vnderstand a holy and godly life whiche wee liue and lead quietly and honestly in this present world Eternall saluation is that felicitie of the life to come whiche wée with assured hope doe verilie looke for Nowe we haue in Christ a most absolute doctrine of a happie life taught vs by the Gospel wherein also wée doe comprehend the example of Christ his owne trade of life Verily our heauenly father hath made him oure teacher in saying Heare him And he himselfe in the Gospel after Sainct Matthewe sayeth Bee ye not called maisters for ye haue one master euen Christ who in the Gospel after S. Iohn is called The light of the world In an other place also he testifieth that his doctrine is conteyned in the holy Scriptures wherevppon it commeth that hee referreth his disciples to the diligent reading of the holy scriptures Touching which Scriptures Paule the teacher of the Gentiles and the vniuersall Church of Christ doth say All Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to doctrine to reproue to correction to instruction whiche is in righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfecte instructed in all good workes Wherefore althoughe the whole world bee madd and that the obstinate defenders of the traditions rather than the Scriptures do whet their téeth for anger yet maugre their heades the word of the Apostle shal abide most firme wherein he testifieth that the doctrine of the scriptures otherwise called the Christian doctrine is in all pointes most absolute and thoroughly perfecte Touching whiche matter because I haue alreadie spoken in the first Sermons of the first Decade I am therfore here a great deale the briefer Nowe concerning the eternall saluation fully purchased for vs by Christe thus ye must thincke Eternall saluation is the séeing and enioying of the eternall God and so consequently an
And Sainct Paul to Timothie sayeth It is a sure saying and worthie by all meanes to be receiued that Iesus Christ came into the world to saue sinners In the same Gospel the Lord sayeth Euerie sinne blasphemie shal bee forgiuen men but blasphemie against the holy Ghoste shall not bee forgiuen men And whosoeuer shall say a word against the sonne of man it shall bee forgiuen him but whosoeuer speaketh a word against the holy Ghost it shall not be forgiuen him nether in this world nor in the world to come Concerning sinne against the holy Ghost I haue alreadie spoken in another place Nowe to this place doe belonge all the examples of that most liberall kinde of forgiuenesse whiche is expressed in the Gospell as for example of the sinnefull woman Luke the seuenth Also Iohn y fourth and Matthew the eighth Chapiter Of Zachee Sainct Peter and the théefe vppon the Crosse But who is able briefely to reckon them all To this also doe apperteine the thrée parables in the Gospell after the Euangeliste Sainct Luke In the Gospell after Sainct Iohn the forerunner of the Lord doeth crie out saying Behold the lambe of God that taketh awaye the sinnes of the world And the Lord himselfe did say to his disciples Whose sinnes soeuer ye forgiue they are forgiuen Peter the Apostle in the Actes doth crie and say All the Prophets beare witnesse to Christe that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should by his name receiue remission of his sinnes The same Apostle againe in his Epistle sayeth Christ his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his bodie vppon the Crosse that wee beeing dead to sinne might liue to righteousnesse by whose stripes ye are healed The Apostle Paul in the 5. chap of his 2. Epistle to the Corinthians saith God was in Christe reconciling the world vnto himselfe not imputinge their sinnes vnto them For him that knewe not sinne hee made sinne for vs that wee throughe him might bee made the righteousnesse of God. And in the tenthe to the Hebrues hee hath Christ hauing offred one sacrifice for sinne is set downe at the right hand of God for euer from henceforth tarying till his foes bee made his footestoole For with one offering hath he made perfecte for euer them that are sanctified Moreouer the blessed Apostle and Euangeliste Iohn doth no lesse truely than euidently testifie saying The bloud of Iesu Christ the sonn of God doth cleanse vs from all sinne And againe And he is the propitiation for our sinnes not for ours only but for the sinnes also of the whole world But nowe most vaine and the verie messingers of sathan himselfe are the Nouatians and Anabaptists whiche feigne that wee are by baptisme purged into an Angelicall life whiche is not polluted with any spotts at all but if it be polluted then can hee that is so defiled looke for no pardon at all For to passe ouer many other places of holy Scripture was not S. Peter cōsecrated to God in baptisme had hée not tasted of Gods good grace After that notable confessiō which he made the Lord said vnto him Happie arte thou Simon Bar Iona flesh bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my father which is in heauen Againe when the Lord demaunded of his disciples saying Will ye depart also Then Peter in the name of them all aunsweared Lord to whome shal we goe ▪ Thou hast the words of eternall life and wee beleeue and knowe that thou art Christe the sonne of the liuing God. And yet this very fame Peter after his baptisme and tasting of the grace of God sinneth notwithstanding and that too not lightly in denying and foreswearing his Lord and maister Now was he for this sinne of his altogether vnpardoneable was his returne to God againe stopped vp by his stumbling No verilie For when he heard the cocke crowe he remembred presently the wordes of the Lord hee descended into himselfe hee considered what hee had done hee wept bitterly and mourned lamentablie And yet hee was not longe tormented in that griefe without consolation For the third day after to the women which came to the Lords sepulchre it was said by the Angels Tell his disciples Peter that he is risen and goeth before you into Galilee Loe here the Lord wil haue it knowen to Peter by name that hee was risen And why to Peter by name Because forsooth he had sinned more gréeuously than the other not that the Lord did like of Peters sinne but because hee would therby declare to vs that penitents doe obteine forgiuenesse of their sinnes so often as they do turne to the heauenly grace of God againe And not many dayes after he restored Peter to the ministerie againe commending to him the charge of his shéepe Moreouer the Lord in Ieremie speaketh to the people of Israel saying If any man put away his wife and shee marrie to an other man will her first husband turne to her againe But is not this land defiled Hast thou not committed fornication with many yet turne thee to me againe sayth the Lord. And the Galathians being once rightly instructed by the Apostle Paule but after that seduced by the false apostles reuolted from the trueth preaching of the Gospell yet notwithstanding they obteyned pardon The Corinthians also after they had receyued grace did wittingly willingly sinne in many things but yet vppon repentaunce the Apostle Paule promised them forgiuenesse of their sinnes at the handes of the lord And what is more manifest than this that all the saincts doe daily in earnest and truly not hypocritically or falsely praye saying Forgiue vs our trespasses They whiche praye thus doe plainelye confesse that they are sinners And the Lord promiseth to heare those that praye with faith therefore euen those sinnes are forgiuen at the prayers of penitents whiche are committed after the grace of God is once knowen and obteyned Nowe the places in the Epistle to the Hebrues whiche the Nouatians alledge for the confirmation of their opinion I haue in an other place so thoroughly discussed that I neede not heere busilie to stand longe vppon them But nowe to gather a summe of those thinges whiche I haue hetherto said concerning repentaunce let vs hold that repentaunce is a turning to God which although hee doeth by his woord and other meanes stirre it vpp in vs is notwithstanding especially by the holy Ghoste so wrought in vs that with feare wée loue and with loue wee feare our iust God and mercifull Lord from whome wee were turned backe being sorie now withall oure heartes that wee with oure sinnes did euer offende so gratious a father For being humbled before his eternall and most sacred maiestie we acknowledge the sinnes that are obiected against vs by the word of God yea we acknowledge that in vs there is no integritie or soundnesse but doe hartily desire to bee reconciled wyth God againe and since that reconciliation cannot be otherwise made than by the only
to minde that notable sentence of the Lord Iesus in the Gospell saying Woe be to thee Chorazin woe be to thee Bethsaida for if the wonders had beene done in the citie of Tyre and Sidon that haue beene done in you they would haue repented long ere this in sackcloth and ashes But I say vnto you it shal be easier for Tyre Sidon and Sodoma in the day of iudgement than for you The parable of the vnfruitefull figgetrée is knowen to all men whereof mention is made in the Gospell whiche withered vpp by the Iudgement of God to be an example to teache and terrifie all impenitent sinners What shall fall may wee thincke vppon the men of these dayes that do so boldly despise repentaunce now so many yeares so plainly preached vnto them and beaten into their heads Some there are a Gods name that will outwardly for a shewes sake only séeme to be desirous of the Euangelical truth other are vtter enimies contemners and persecuters of the Gospell an infinite rable thou shalt finde of Lucianists Epicures Nullifideans and Atheistes nowe since all these do equally in a manner swéetely deride or rather scoffingly mocke at this hartie repentance we cannot doe otherwise but still expect looke when the terrible iudgmeÌ„t of Gods mightie arme should fall vppon such vnrepentaunt sinners Let them y wish well to themselues spéedily turne to the lord and consider with themselues coÌ„tinually and earnestly howe great the damage is to kéepe the transitorie ioyes of this present life so to loose the eternal ioyes of the kingdome of heaueÌ„ Let euery one make hast to do that which hée perceiueth to be done the better by so much by how much the sooner it is taken in hand And yet I would not that any man should despaire in his sinnes if so be y he doth not stubbornely despise the remedie of repentaunce nor because of the facilitie and gentlenesse of his heauenly father doth not maliciously by the way of contempt deferre repentaunce euen til the very end And if any man be hindered by the flesh the world and the diuel so that it be late or ere he applie his minde to repentaunce neither would I haue him to fall to desperation But nowe because I haue somewhat more longe drawen out this discourse of repentance than I had thought to haue done that I may heere at last make an end of my sermon I wil in steed of a conclusion recite vnto you those golden words of the holy martyre s. Cyprian bishop of Carthage where he writeth against Demetrian to this effecte following Beleeue and liue ye that nowe for a time doe persecute vs reioyce with vs for euer When ye are once out of this life then is there no place for repentaunce nor any effect of satisfaction In this world the life is either wonne or lost In this world eternall saluation is prouided for by the vnfeigned worshipping of God and the fruites of true faith Let not any man either by his sinnes or yeares be held backe from comminge to lay hold vppon Saluation So long yet as a man is in this world no late repentaunce doth come out of season The entrie is open vnto Gods indulgence and to them that seeke and vnderstaÌ„d the truth the path to pardon is passing plaine Thou eueÌ„ at the verie end and last gaspe of this temporall life aske pardon for thy sinnes at the handes of him which is the true and onely GOD call to him for the confession faith of his knowledge to him that coÌ„fesseth pardon is granted and to him that beleeueth saluation is giuen he euen presently vppon his departure doeth passe to immortalitie This grace doth Christ communicate this gift hee doeth attribute vnto his owne mercie by making death subiect vnto the triumph of the crosse by redeeming him that beleeueth with the price of his bloud by recoÌ„ciling man to God the father by quickening the mortal by the heauenly regeneration Let vs all if it be possible followe him Let vs all professe his signe and sacrament He openeth to vs the way of life Hee bringeth vs to paradise againe He leadeth vs to the kingdome of heauen With him we shall alwayes liue and being by him made the sonnes of God wee shal with him alwayes reioyce being restored by the sheding of his bloud We shal be Christians glorified together with Christe blessed in God reioycing with perpetuall pleasure alwayes in the sight of God and euermore giuing thanckes to god For he cannot choose but be merrie alwayes and thanckefull who beeing once in daunger and feare of death is nowe made secure in immortalitie ¶ The end of the seconde Sermon TO THE MOST RENOVMED Prince Edward the sixt King of England and Fraunce Lord of Ireland Prince of Wales and Cornewall defender of the Christian faith Grace and peace from God the father through our Lord Iesus Christ THE promise that not long agoe I made to your most Royall Maiestie I doe nowe perfourme offering here the other eight Sermons of the 4. Decade which I dedicate vnto your Royall Maiestie that of mee you may haue two Decades of Sermons full and wholie finished In March I sent 12. Sermons vnto you which were fauourablie accepted of your Royall Maiestie as I vnderstand by the letters of that Godly and worthy learned man maister I. Hooper the most vigilant bishop of Glocester my brother reuerend fellow father in Iesus Christ Who also by the commendation of your Royall M. goodwill to me ward hath hartened mee on so that now with farre more confidence and libertie than before I send vnto your Maiestie this other part of my worke entreating of most weightie and holy matters In this my dedication I respect nothing else but that which I declared in my former Epistle to witt that I according to the gift that the Lord hath indued me withall may helpe forward and aduaunce the state of Christian religion nowe againe happily springing vp in the famous realme of England by your Royall Maiesties good beginnings and counsels of your worthy Nobles All they of euery nation that is in Christendome whiche doe truely beleeue in Christ Iesus doe hartily reioyce on your Maieâ—ties behalfe and the behalfe of your most flourishing kingdome for this renouation of true Religion and do earnestly pray to Christ the Lord that he will happily bring to a good end the thinge that you in the feare of him haue happily begonne Your Royall Maiestie verily hath aduentured vppon a woorke both very great and full of troubles but he will neuer faile your Godly endeuoures that sayd Behold I am with you for euer vnto the end of the world And now also euen as it hath beene alwayes from the first beginning of the Church there are many letts and great impediments that are obiect against most holy and wholesome intentes doing what they can to hinder and trouble the reformation of religion and amonge other
He that obeyeth the commaundement of Christe and in his name maketh inuocation the same néedeth not at al the mediation of Saintes Hath not he all thinges plentifully in Christe We say therefore and affirme that onely Christe is the mediatour intercessour and aduocate with the father in heauen of all men whiche are in earth and in such sorte the onely mediatour c. that after him it is néedelesse to haue other aduocates Many do graunt that Christe is giuen vnto vs an intercessour with God but bycause they ioyne with him many other they do not surely send all vnto him alone neyther yet do they preache one onely mediatour They imagine that Christe is the mediatour of redemption yea and the onely mediatour how be it not the onely mediatour of intercession but together with him many more But the scripture setteth foorth vnto vs Christ as the only mediatour of redemption so also of intercession The office of a mediatour touching redemption and intercession is one and the selfe same A mediatour putteth him selfe in the middest betwéene them that are at variance or disagréement and he is ioyned to eache in disposition and nature An intercessour putteth him self in the midst betwéene them that are at strife and dissention and vnlesse he be indifferent for eyther side he can not be an intercessour On both parts reconciliation or attonement is required and looked for There muste néedes therefore be a certeine cause of discorde which being taken away the discord or debate doth also ceasse The cause of discorde is sinne It is the duetie therefore of a mediatour or intercessour quite to raze out sinne that disagréement may no longer remayne For this there is no amendes or satisfaction made with wordes or with prayers but with bloude and death Hebr. 9. Wherevpon we doe necessarily gather that only Christ is the mediatour or intercessour with the father For principally Christ may set him selfe in the middest betwéene God and men bycause he onely is partaker of both natures The Saints participate but onely one For they are men But Christe is both God and man Furthermore he that is an intercessour muste also be a reconciliatour or an attonement-maker For the end wherat he y maketh intercession doth shoote is reconciliation But Christe is the onely reconciliatour of men therfore also the onely intercessour For it belongeth to an intercessour to disolue the cause of contention and discorde that is to say to abolish and take away sinne But Christ alone and no creature taketh awaye sinne It remayneth therefore that Christe is the onely intercessour Hetherto doe nowe perteine the testimonies of scripture Paul sayth There is one god and one reconciler or mediatour of God and men the man Christ Iesus who gaue him selfe the price or raunsome for the redemption of all And although the Apostle speake expressely of redemption yet notwithstanding these wordes are placed in the middest betwéene the disputation of the inuocation vppon God which is done by Christ who is the onely mediatour of redemption and intercession For as he alone redeemed vs so doth he alone euen now commend vs being redéemed vnto the father Touching this let the Apostle be heard once againe saying to the Romanes Christe when as yet we were sinners dyed for vs muche more therefore no we being iustified or made righteous by his bloud we shall bee saued from wrath through him And yet againe somewhat playner For if when we were enimies we were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne much more being recoÌ„ciled we shall be saued by his lyfe For in an other place the same Apostle sayth Christ euer liueth for this ende to make intercession for vs. And againe It is God that iustifieth who is hee that can condemne Christ is he that dyed yea that is raysed vp who also is at the right hande of God and maketh intercession for vs The same Christe openeth the waye or maketh accesse for vs vnto the father Hebr. 4. chapter and Ephes 2. chapter For the Lorde Iesus him selfe in the gospel doth not shew vnto vs many doores but one onely doore I am sayth he the dore And againe I am sayth he the way the truth and the life None commeth to the father but by me Doth not he which sayth I am the way the truth and the life yea and such a way that there is accesse to the father by none other than by me that is by me onely and alone exclude all other meanes al other wayes and al other patrones or aduocates what so euer Also in an other place of the Gospell least any through shamefastnesse â—nowledge of their owne vnworthinesse and guiltinesse of sinnes or the maiestie and glory of Christ the sonne of God shoulde be hindered from calling vppon God in the name of Christe and commiting them selues to Christ his defence he in his owne person plainly and louingly calling all vnto him to the benefite of his defence cryeth Come vnto me al you that labour are heauie loaden and I wil giue you rest Out of the Epistle to the Hebrues no lesse euideÌ„t testimonies thaÌ„ these and that good store may be gathered Amongst other this one is excellent Christe for that hee endureth for euer saith the apostle hath an euer lasting priesthoode Wherefore he is able perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth for this ende to make intercession for theÌ„ For such an high priest it became vs to haue which is holy harmlesse vndefiled separated from sinners and made higher than the heauens c. Marke I praye you howe many arguments in this testimonie of Paule we haue to proue that Christe is the onely intercessour of the faythfull in heauen with the father The proper or peculiar office of the prieste is to make intercession But only Christe is priest in the presence of God He therefore is the only intercessour Nowe also the priesthoode of Christe is euerlasting or vnchangeable Therefore not by once offering vp hath he redeemed vs being made the onely and alone mediatour of redemption but the euerlasting and perpetuall mediatour also of intercession making intercession for vs euen till the end of the world For albeit our Lorde be a iudge yet notwithstanding he is a iudge of the vnfaythfull a defender and vpholder of the faithfull and at the length when the worlde is at ende a iudge of all And if so be he haue an euerlasting priesthood and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not conueyable I say or remoueable which can not eyther by succession resignation or part-taking passe ouer to any other then certeinely Christe onely and alone remayneth intercessour of the faithfull Moreouer there is no cause why we should choose and take to our selues eyther after Christe or with Christe other intercessours For he is able him selfe alone to worke oure saluation at the full leauing vnto others nothing at all whereabout to
he had no mother Wherevppon sprange a suspicion that he should say the Lord was bare man and that hee should mainteine the hereticall opinion of Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus Whiche thing Socrates handleth at large Historiarum Lib. 7. Cap. 32. But Nestorius was iniurious to the Scripture and to true faith For Elizabeth the wife of Zacharie and the mother of S. Iohn Baptist béeing full of the holy Ghost in expresse woordes saluteth the holy virgin Marie and calleth her the mother of the Lord that is the mother of god And albeit his heauenly nature be without generation and corruption yet notwithstaÌ„ding it is most certeine that hee whome Marie brought forth was God in verie déede For that whiche is borne of her sayeth the Angel is the sonne of God therefore shee brought forth God and shee worthily is called the mother of god For if she bare not God she brought forth bare man neither hath the sonne of GOD coupled man vnseparablie to himselfe In like manner since God of his owne nature is immortall truely he cannot die but if any man for that cause should absolutely denie that God was crucified and offered yea and died for vs hee should gainesaye Paule saying Had they knowen it they would not haue crâ—cified the Lord of glorie But who is ignorant that the God of glorie or glorious god cannot be crucified In the meane while since he which according to the fleshe suffered and was nailed on the crosse was God not bare man onely wee rightly say that God suffered and was nailed on the crosse for vs though he which suffered suffered according to that onely which could suffer For Peter the Apostle sayeth Christ hath suffered for vs in the flesh The first Toletane counsell following him decréed in these wordes If any shall say or beleeue that the God head may be borne let him be accursed If any shal say or beleue that the deitie of Christ may be turned chaunged or iubiecte to suffering let him be accursed If any shal say or beleeue that the nature of the Godhead and the manhoode is one in Christe let him bee accursed And Damasus bishop of Rome sayeth If any shall saye that in suffering on the crosse the sonne of God God suffered paine and not the flesh with the soule whiche hee put on in the fourme of a seruaunt whiche he toke on him as the Scripture sayeth let him be accursed Therefore whereas Paule sayeth that God hath purchased to himselfe a Churche with his owne bloud who is so madd to beléeue that the diuine nature hath or euer had bloud In the meane while who is such a dorrhead that he vnderstandeth not that the fleshe whiche God toke hath bloud and since that God accounteth not that as an others but his owne which he tooke vnto him selfe wee most truly say that GOD with his owne bloud redéemed the world Wherevppon Theodoretus also bishopp of Cyrus Dialog Eran. 3. a little before the end sayeth If Christ be both GOD and man as both the holy Scripture teacheth and as the most blessed fathers haue always preched then as man hee suffered but as God he was not subiect to suffering But when wee say the bodie or fleshe or humanitie suffered wee do not separate the diuine nature For as it was vnited to his humane nature whiche was hungrie and thirstie and wearie yea and slept also yea and was vexed with sorrowe and heauinesse for the passion which hee should suffer abyding in deede none of those but suffering that to abide the affections passions of nature euen so was it ioyned vnto him when he was crucified permitted that his passion should bee throughlie ended that by his passion he might suffer death not feling griefe truely by his passion but making his passion agreeable conuenient for himselfe as the passion of his temple or dwelling place of his flesh ioyned vnto him by the whiche also they that beleeue are called the members of Christ he himselfe is called the head of those that beleeue Thus farre hée This figure of speache is called of some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alteration or chaunging of Iohn Damascenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutual giuing or an interchaunging of properties That is wont to be called a communicating of properties to witt when that propertie is giuen to one nature which is proper to another As for example No maÌ„ hath ascended vp into heauen sayth the Lord but he that came downe from heaueÌ„ euen the sonne of man whiche is in heauen Truelie his humane nature was not then in heauen when the Lord spake this but in earth yet notwithstanding beecause flesh is taken into the fellowshipp of his Godhead that whiche is proper to this is attributed to his manhood And bishop Fulgentius making mention of this interpretation in his second booke to kinge Thrasimundus hath thus left written He said this not that the humane substance of Christ is present in euery place but because one the selfe same sonne of God and sonne of man very God of the father as hee is very man of man though according to his true humanitie hee was then locallie in earth yet according to his diuinitie whiche by no meanes can be conteined in place hée did wholie fill heauen and earth Thus sayeth hée Wherefore the sentences bearing witnesse of Christ in the writinges of the Euangelistes Apostles are diligeÌ„tly to be marked For some are peculiarly referred to his diuine nature as are these I and the father are one Before Abraham was I'am In the beginning was the word the word was with GOD and God was that woord Hee is before all thinges the image of the inuisible God by whom all thinges are made And some are particularly referred to his humane nature or to the mysterie of his embassage or ministration of whiche sort are these The father is greater than I. Thou madest him a little inferiour to the Angels My soule is heauie euen to the death Againe there are testimonies whiche haue respecte to both natures but to neither of them seuerally do they sufficiently agree Such are these My flesh is meate in deede and my bloud is drincke in deede I haue power to forgiue sinnes to raise to life whome I will and to giue righteousnes and holinesse I am the sheepeheard the doore the light the waye the trueth the life No man coÌ„meth to the father but by mee For these doe sett forth and commend vnto vs the verie substaunce of Christe the person I meane of oure true sauiour and mediatour God and man For no man forgiueth sinnes but God onely Againe they are not forgiuen without death and sheading of bloud as the Apostle witnesseth in the ninth Chapiter to the Hebrues Againe there are testimonies whiche cannot aptly bee declared but by communicating of woords Touching whiche I hope this is sufficient Againe he doth not diuide the person of our mediatour God
histories declare more largelie Of this King Christ the Prophets prophecying said And in mercie shal the seate be prepared and he shall sitt vpon it in trueth in the tabernacle of Dauid iudging and seeking iudgement and making haste vnto righteousnes And againe Beholde the time commeth saith the Lorde that I will raise vp the righteous brauÌ„che of Dauid which King shall beare rule he shall prosper with wisdome and shall set vp equitie and righteousnes againe in the earth In his time shall Iuda be saued and Israel shall dwell without feare and this is the name that they shall call him The Lorde our righteousnesse And because our Lord is a king therefore be must néeds haue a kingdome As well the realme dominion subiecte to a kinge is called a kingdoÌ„e as principalitie empire power maÌ„ner of gouernment it selfe Therefore the church the communion or fellowship of saints béeing obedient subiect to their king Christe is called the kingdoÌ„e of god For Micheas saith And the Lord shall reigne ouer them in mount Sion therfore Sion which signifieth the church is the kingdome of god And god is said to reigne when in the church he ruleth gouerneth kéepeth defendeth those that be his and indueth and maketh theÌ„ fruitful with diuerse graces For Paule saith The kingdome of God is not meate and drink but righteousnes peace ioy in the holy ghost Moreouer the kingdome of god is that eternall glorie felicitie which God dâ—eth communicate to his elect For the Lord saith in the gospel Comeye blessed of my father inherit the kingdome which is prepared for you froÌ„ the beginning of the world And the théefe euen at point of death making his praâ—er to the Lord who was redy to dye on the crosse desiring to bee â—artaker of this kingdoÌ„e saith Lord remember me when thou coÌ„mest into thy kingdome â–ª Againe since y gospel teacheth vs how God reigneth in vs in this world in time to translate vs vnto him self into that other that is since the gospell is that thing by which the Lord reareth vp his dominion it is not vnaduisedly called of Matthew in his 13. cap. the kingdome of god In another place for the same cause it is called the word of the kingdome To be short we at this preseÌ„t by the kingdome of God vnderstand the coÌ„gregation of saints it self the catholique church I meane and the power or administratioÌ„ of God reigning therein that is preseruing gouerning glorifying the same And this kingdome of god is verily but only one for ther is but one God only one king Christ only one church â— life â—uerlasting But his one kingdome of god according to he dispensation 〈…〉 two wayes First acording to y omâ—ipotencie of god For he 〈◊〉 he iâ— the highest omnipotent hath executeth ouer all creatures visible inuisible â—oste iust rule and equall powerâ— nill they or will they be obedient Secondly according to his spirits whereby he reigneth in his elect And so y kingdoÌ„e of God is againe two waies coÌ„sidered For either it is earthly is called the kingdome of grace or else it is heauenlye and is called the kingdome of glorie The earthly kingdome of grace is not therefore called earthly as though it were carnall earthly like the kingdome of Babylon Persia Alexander or Rome but because it is on earth For a good parte of the holie churche of God is conuersant on this earth beeing partaker of flesh bloud while it â—â—eth on the earth though it liue not an earthly life according to the â—â—esh For acording to the spirit whereby it is ruled it liueth a heauenly life Not that the partakers of the kingdome of God sinne not For the iust man falleth riseth seuen times in a day Whervpon it is also called the kingdome of grace For as long as we liue in this world our King Lord neuer denyeth his grace mercie to vs that craue pardon And the faithfull doe wholie hange vppon the grace of their king they embrace continuall repentance and endeuor theÌ„ selues to things of more perfectnesse For they frame all that they do according to the lawes of their king prince For he reigneth in his elect by the worde of truth and by the holie ghost By the word of truethe hee teacheth what the Saintes should doe and what they should auoide By his holie spirit he moueth their hartes and giueth strength to 〈◊〉 euill and followe that is good For truely our king reigneth not so much for him self as for vs For he maketh vs also kinges that we béeing deliuered from the diuell damnation sinne and the curse may be Lords ouer the diuel damnation sinne and the cursse yea ouer all thinges and ioynâ—t-heires with the sonne of God him self For these causes the kingdoÌ„e of God is called a spirituall kingdoÌ„e For the partakers of the kingdome of God indued with the spirite of God doe bring foorth the fruites of the spirit not the works of the flesh and to be short are gouerned with the spirit of god Neither truelie doeth our Lorde reigne after the manner of the kinges of this worlde sayinge to Pilate My kingdome is not of this worlde Which sentence some abuse gathering y there is no ouâ—ward gouernemeÌ„t in the church of God vnder whiche name they also take away the office of a Magistrate and speake so subtilely of the kingdome of God that a man cannot tell where the kingdome of God is or who be partakers of this kingdome They vnderstand nâ—t that the meaning must bee gathered vppon the occasion of that saying The Iewes accusing the Lorde before Pilate laide to his charge that he ambition flye sought after a kingdome The lord clering him self of this crime sheweth Pilate that his kingdome shal not be such a one whiche after hee had cast out Tiberius Caesar should be gotten and kepte with armes and be gouerned after the manner of this worlde declaring that he addeth If my kingdome were of this world then would my seruaunts surely fighte that I should not bee deliuered to the Iewes Therefore he inferreth But now is my kingdome not from hence therefore they fight not for me to place main the throne of the kingdome Tiberius béeing cast out And anon he saith For this cause was I borne and for this cause came I into the worlde that I should beare witnesse vnto the truethe and all that are of the truethe heare mye voice As therefore Christ by trueth not by lyinge deceipts and craftie practises like the Princes of this worlde prepareth him selfe a kingdome so by trueth he doeth bothe reteine gouerne his kingdome and whosoeuer imbrace trueth are partakers of Christes kingdome whether they be princes or of the coÌ„monaltie all these obey the voice of their king and serue their highest prince Héere neuerthelesse we expresly add y Kings can no
people being God his flocke was called a Synagogue For this woord Synagogue signifieth as much as Ecclesia the Congregation But because of the stubbornesse of the Iewes and the vnappeasable hatred whiche they bare towards Christian religion this word Synagogue is not estéemed but is almost quite growen out of vse But we will not dispute by due and right order of the Churches either of the Iewes or the Turkes or of other strange Churches of the Gentiles whereof we know there are many sortes and kinds Wée will speake of the Christian Church and congregation of the faithfull which the Germans do call Die kirch alluding peraduenture to the Gréeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any thing belonging to the Lord to witt a house or a people as the Germans doe call Die kirchen both the people of God themselues and also the place wherin they assemble together to worship god But first of all wée will describe a little plainelier what the Church or congregation is The Church is the whole companie and multitude of the faithful partly being nowe in heauen and partly remayning yet here vpō earth where it doth agrée plainely in vnitie of faith or true doctrine and in the lawefull partaking of the Sacraments neither is it diuided but ioyned and vnited together as it were in one house and fellowship This Church was vsuallie called Catholique that is to say vniuersall For shée bringeth forth her branches in all places of the wyde world in all times of all ages and generally doth comprehend all the faithfull of the whole world For the Church of God is not tyed to any one region nation or kinred to condition age sexe or kinde all the faithfull generally and each one specially where euer they or hée be are citizens and members of this Church Sainct Paule the Apostle sayeth There is neither Iewe nor Greeke neither bondman nor free neither man or woman for ye bee all one in Christ Iesu The Church is distinguished into the Triumphant and the Militant The Triumphant is that great companie of holy spirits in heauen triumphing for the victorie gotten against the world sinne and the diuel still enioying the sight of God wherein consisteth all fulnesse of all kinde of ioye and pleasure Wherevppon they set forth Gods glorie and praise his goodnesse for euer This Church doth S. Iohn the Apostle set forth verie notablie in his Reuelations saying After this I sawe and behold a great companie which no man was able to nūber of all nations peoples tongues standing before the Throne and in the sighte of the Lambe clothed in white garments and Palmes in their handes and they cryed out with a lowde voice saying Saluation belongeth to him that sitteth vppon the throne of our God to the Lambe And a little after that he sayeth And one of the Elders aunsweared said vnto me These which are clothed in white garments who are they or frō whence come they And I said vnto him Thou knowest lord And hee said vnto mee These are they that haue come out of great affliction and haue spread abrode their garments haue made them white in the bloud of the Lambe therefore are they before the Throne of God and serue day night in his holy temple And hee that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell ouer them They shall neyneither hunger nor thirst henceforth any more neither shall the Sunne shine on them or any heate beecause the Lambe who sitteth in the middest of the Throne shal gouerne them bring them to the springes of the water of life And the Lord shall wype away all teares from their eyes Brethren ye haue heard a notable description of the triumphant Church in heauen and that too triumphinge truely thoroughe the bloud of Iesus Christ by whom they conquered and doe nowe reigne For Christ is that Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world By whome all which be sanctified are sanctified and shal be sanctified and doe liue from the first creation of the world vnto the end of all times Sainct Paule in a certeine place giuing vnto vs also a notable description of this Church telleth that wée whiche as yet are busied in the Militant Church shall sometime bée translated to the same and be made fellowes with the Angels of GOD receiued amonge the orders of the Patriarches and placed in the companie of the blessed spirites with the most highe God himselfe and the Mediatour oure Lord Iesus Christe For hée preaching the greatnesse of Gods grace brought vnto vs by the Gospell exhorting vs to receiue the same with a true faith Ye came not sayeth he vnto mount Sina to a fire to a whirlewinde a stormie tempest and darckenes but vnto mount Sion to the citie of the liuing God to heauenly Hierusalem to the innumerable companie of Angels and to the Church or Congregation of the first begotten whiche are written in heauen and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirites of the perfecte iust and to the mediatour of the newe testament Iesus Christe speaking better things than the bloud of Abel spake And therefore all the Sainctes in heauen do belonge vnto our companie or rather we belonge vnto their fellowship For we are companions and fellowe heyres with the Sainctes from Adam vnto the end of all worlds and Gods householde Which conteyneth the greatest comfort of all mans life and moueth most of all to the studie of vertue For what more worthie thing is there thā to be of Gods househould Or what may be thought more swéete to vs than to thincke our selues fellowes with the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Martyrs of all Angels blessed spirits This benefite I say Christ hath bestowed on vs To him therfore be praise glorie and thankes for euer and euer Amen The Militant Church is a congregation of men vppon earth professing the name and religion of Christ continually fightinge in the world against the diuel sinne flesh and the world in the campe and tentes and vnder the banner of oure Lord Christe This Church is to be cōsidered two wayes For either it is to bee taken strictly comprehending them onely which bée not onely called but are in very déede the Church the faithfull and electe of God liuely mēbers knit vnto Christ not with bandes and other outward markes and signes but in spirite and faith often times by these meanes without the other Of which matter wee will speake hereafter This inward and inuisible Church of GOD may be wel named the electe spouse of Christ onely knowen vnto God who alone knoweth who are his When wée bee first taught to knowe this Church we confesse her with the Apostles créede saying I beleeue the holie Catholique Church the communion of Sainctes And in these fewe woords wee conclude that there is a Church also what is the Church and what
power to giue iudgement of doctrines euen by this one sentence of the Apostle Paule appeareth Let the Prophets sayth he speake two or three at once and let the other iudge And in an other place he saith Proue all thinges and kepe that which is good And S. Iohn said Dearelie beloued beleeue not euerie spirite but trie the spirits whether they are of God. But of this kinde of power to iudge there is also a certeine order For the Church doth not iudge at her owne pleasure but after the sentence of the holy Ghost and according to the order and rule of the holy scriptures And heere also order moderation and charitie is obserued Therefore if at any time the church of god according to the authority which she hath receiued froÌ„ the Lord do call a couÌ„sel together for some weightie matter as we read that the Apostles of the lord did in the Actes of the Apostles it leaneth not here to her owne fleshly iudgment but giueth ouer her selfe to bee guided by the spirite and examineth all her doinges by the rule of the word of God and of the two-fould charitie Wherefore the Church maketh no new lawes as the church of Hierusalem or rather the Apostolique church sayeth that it séemeth good both to the holy Ghost and to the Church that no other burthen should be layd vppon the faithful Christians but onely a few and those verie necessarie thinges and neither beside nor contrarie to the holy scriptures Now Ecclesiastical matters are of diuers sortes the good ordering and well disposing whereof for the coÌ„moditie of men is in the power of the Church of whiche sorte those thinges are which concerne outward worship in place in time as is prophecying or interpretation of tongues and scholes Also the Church hath to iudge in causes of matrimonie and chiefly it hath correction of manners admonitions punishmentes and also excommunicating or cutting off from the bodie of the Church For the Apostle also sayeth that this power is giuen him and yet to the intent hee should therewith edifie not destroy For all these thinges whiche we haue remembred such like are limitted with the rule of the word and of loue also with holy examples and reasons deduced out of the holy scriptures Of all which wee will perchaunâ—e more largelye speake in their place Thus much haue I hetherto said concerning Ecclesiastical power the contrarie whereof I haue declared with how open a mouth our aduersaries do publish but yet they handle these matters so grossely that it may appeare euen vnto children what they séeke or what they would defende to witt not the Ecclesiasticall power but their owne couetousnesse luste and tyrannie The Canonicall trueth teacheth vs that Christ himselfe doeth hold and exercise absolute or full power in the Church and that he hath giuen the ministeriall power to the Church who executeth it for the most part by ministers and religiously executeth it according to the rule of Gods word These thinges beeing in this sorte considered it shall not bee greatly laboursome to knowe the studies of the holy Church of god For it executeth as I said euen nowe that power whiche it hath receiued of GOD most carefully and faithfullye to the ende that it maye serue God that it may be holy and that it may please him And that I may reckon vp some of her studies specially first of all it worshippeth calleth vppon loueth and serueth one God in Trinitie and taketh nothing in hand not hauing first consulted with the word of this true god For she ordereth all her doings according to the rule of Gods word she iudgeth by the woord of God and by the same she frameth all her buildinges being built mainteyneth them being fallen downe she repaireth or restoreth them againe The assemblies and congregations of Saincts vppon earth she feruently furthereth and loueth In these things it harkeneth diligently to the preaching of the word of God she is partaker of the sacrameÌ„ts deâ—outly and with great ioy and desire of heauenly thinges It prayeth to God by the intercession of our only mediatour Christ with a strong faith ferueÌ„tly continually and most attentiuely It praiseth the maiâ—stie of God for euer and with great ioy giueth thanks for all his heauenly benefits It highly estéemeth all and euery the institutions of Christ neither doth it neglect any of them But chieflie it acknowledgeth that it receiueth all things belonging ether to life saluation righteousnes or felicitie of the onely sonne of God our Lord Iesus Christ as he who onely chose her and then by his spirite and bloud sanctifyed her and made her a Church that is a chosen people whose onely king redéemer high priest and defender he is without whom there is no saluation Therefore in God alone by our Lord Iesus Christ she only resteth him shee onely desireth and loueth and for his sake she reioyceth to loose all things that apperteine to this world yea and to spend her bloud and her life And therefore it cleaueth vnto Christe by faith inseparablie neither doeth it hate any thing more bitterly than falling awaye from Christ and desperation For without Christ there séemeth nothing in all this whole life to be pleasant With Sathan as with a deadly enimie she hath vnappeaseable enimitie Against heresies and errours it striueth both constantly and wisely The simplicitie of the Christian faith the sinceritie of the doctrine of the Apostles it most diligently kéepeth She kéepeth her selfe as much as lieth in her vnspotted of the world and of the flesh from all carnall and spiritual infection And therfore she fléeth from and by all meanes detesteth all vnlawefull congregations and prophane religions with all wicked men and willingly and openly confesseth Christe both by woord and déede euen with the damage of her life It is exercised with afflictions but yet neuer ouercome It keepeth vnitie and concord carefully All and euerye the members of her body shee most tenderly loueth It doeth good vnto all men as much as power and abilitie will suffer It hurteth no man It forgiueth willingly It beareth with the weake brotherlye till they bee brought foorth forward to perfection Shee is not puffed vpp with pride but thoroughe humilitie is kept in obedience in modestie and in all the dueties of godlinesse But who I praye you is able to recite all and euery one of the studies of the church in a very large discourse much lesse in this short recitall And who would not desire to be a member of so diuine and heauenly a congregation I would by and by ioyne herevnto that which remayneth touching the vnitie of the catholique Church of the diuision thereof and of other thinges belonging to the consideration hereof but that I doe perceiue you beeing alreadie wearie of hearing do earnestly loke for an end of this sermon Therefore we will put off the residue till to morrowe And now lifting
their goods and as it were a certeine knitting together into one body not to be dissolued Therefore when Christ tooke vpon him our flesh both he became oures in all thinges and we also are members of the same body of his fleshe and of his bones In vs there is infirmitie sinne and death the same thinges hath our husband also taken vnto himselfe that he might make them hurtlesse vnto vs In Christe our husbande is iustification sanctification and life the same thinges dothe he communicate vnto vs his spouse that in him we might be iust and holy and might liue through him Of that lawfull ioyning together of the Lord and the Church are borne lawfull children vnto god Wherevpon the Churche is called a mother and a frée womā that is to say a matrone and a mistresse For the Apostle Paule sayth Ierusalem which is aboue is free which is the mother of vs all For euen as through the ioyning of man and woman together by propagation of séede are borne children so Christe hath coupled the Churche vnto him selfe wherein he hath left the séede of his worde By the word our mother the Churche begetteth children whereof before I admonished you when I spake of the originall of the Churche that is to say whiles she reteyning the séede of the worde by the preaching of the worde doth fashion and nourishe vs in her wombe and after bringeth vs foorth into lighte whome afterwardes she nourisheth with mylke and bringeth vp with stronger meate vntill wée growe vp into a perfect man But euen as without a husbande without true fayth plighted and without séede there is no other euen so the Church without Christ without true faith and the séede of Gods worde is not that our mother that is a frée woman and our mistresse We haue by these things by the way learned why the Church of God is called a mother The same notwithstanding is also called a virgine For of this holie mother the Church the Lorde before all things requireth faith and integritie For the Apostle Paule saith I haue coupled you to one man to present you a chaste virgine vnto Christe Therefore it is the part of the spouse to bring vnto her husband for her dowrie her virginitie and to kéepe the same vndefiled But what manner of virginitie is that sincere faith in Christe whiche wholy or with all her mynde cleaueth for euer vnto one whiche commeth to passe when we giue eare only to our spouse and loue none but him alone to be short when we perseuere in the simplicitie of the Gospell For it followeth in the wordes of the Apostle But I feare lest it come to passe that euen as the serpent deceiued Eue with his subtiltie so your mindes should be corrupt from the simplicitie that is in Christe That simplicitie acknowledgeth Christe to be the meanes of saluation the recouerie of life and all heauenly treasures without whom there is no saluation nor no good thing But who wil call her a chaste matrone who gyueth eare to bawdes and setteth her hearte also vppon the loue of othērs neyther contenteth her selfe with her husbande onely will not all men cry out that she is a naughtipack and an adultresse lying with others and bringing foorth children of straunge séede And in the holy Scriptures spiritual adulterie and fornication is muche spoken of All the sermons of the Prophetes are ful of suche Allegories They call those men or Churches adulterers whoremongers and fornicatours which receiue straunge seede that is to say doctrine differing from the word of god For suche as they going a whoreing from God cleaue not vnto God only they loue not alone him with all their hart they do not worship serue call vpon him only yea rather they choose vnto them selues others whome they may worship and call vpon eyther instead of God or together with god Herevnto perteyneth a good parte of the fift chapter of Ieremie and all the second chapter of Osée Amongest other thinges the Lorde sayth I will not haue compassion vpon her children bycause they are children of fornications for their mother hath played the harlot for she hath sayde I will go after my louers c. Since these thinges are thus brethren there is no cause why any man shuld reuerence the Churche of Rome decking her selfe with the title and beautie of the holie mother the church For she is not the holie mother churche she is not an vncorrupted matrone and virgine For where is the husband who is the onely husbande of this chaste matrone where is the faith and integritie kept with her husband hath she not defiled her selfe with straunge séede hath not she receiued taught a newe and straunge doctrine from the word of God and by that means begetteth many childrē not to Christ but to antichrist Saint Iohn beautifying this churche with her apt title calleth her Great Babylō the mother of whoredomes and abhominations of the earth and a woman drunken with the bloude of the Saintes and with the bloud of the martyrs of Iesu Christe Our holie mother the church is an vndefiled virgine hearing only the voyce or doctrine of her only welbeloued husband placing all the meanes of life and saluatiō in him alone and depending onely vpon him in all things With many other Allegories doth the Scripture paint out the mysterie of Christe and the Church but thereof it sufficeth to haue spokē thus muche The Lord Iesu the true and onely shepheard of his Church bring hoame againe louingly the wandering shéepe into his fould and being gathered together in his Churche preserue thē for euer Amen Of the ministerie and the ministers of Gods worde wherefore and for what ende they are instituted of god That the orders giuen by Christ vnto the church in times past were equall Whence and howe the prerogatiue of ministers sprang and of the supremacie of the Bishop of Rome ¶ The third Sermon THE expositiō touching the Churche of God shal be trulyer vnderstoode brethrē by those things whiche remayne to be spokē out of the worde of the Lorde concerning the ministerie and ministers of the Church For I sayde the Church of God is builded and preserued by the worde of God and that through ministers appointed for that purpose by the Lorde so that nowe it followeth to speake of the ministers of the Churche and of their ministerie that is of that order wherwith God gouerneth his church And truely the Ecclesiasticall ministerie is extended both to stirre vp and also to mainteine publique prayers and the administration of the sacraments and especially it is occupied in preaching of the worde of god Of the two former I will speake in place and time conuenient Of the ministerie of the worde I will entreate at this present In consideration whereof first it is expedient to viewe wherefore God in instructing men vseth the ayde or ministerie of men and what men perfect or worke
of the ministers that are ordeined in the church I can shew you in one worde to gouerne the church of God or to féede the flocke of Christe For Paule the Apostle speaking vnto the pastours of Asia sayth Take heede vnto your selues and to all the flocke ouer the which the holie Ghost hath made you ouerseers to rule or feede the churche of God which hee hath purchased with his owne bloud And the pastours do gouerne the church of God with God his worde or with wholesome doctrine and with holie example of life For S. Paule sayth againe vnto Timothie Be thou vnto theÌ„ that beleue an ensample in word in conuersation in loue in spirite in faith and in purenesse He writeth also the same vnto Tit. 2. chap. But for so much as the Papistes doe forge farre other thinges of the office or function of bishops and doe confirme the same as they also doe their other trifles by the authoritie or power of the keyes as I sayde when I intreated of the power of the church I wil therfore first of all speake somewhat and that as muche as I shall thinke to be sufficient for this matter as touching the keyes A keye is an instrument very well knowne to all men wherwith gates doores and chestes are eyther shut or opened It is transferred from bodily things vnto spirituall thinges and it is called the key of knowledge and of the kingdome of heauen For the Lorde sayth in the Gospell of Luke Woe vnto you interpreters of the lawe for ye haue taken awaye the keye of knowledge ye enter not in your selues and them that came in ye forbad The same sentence S. Matth. bringeth foorth after this sort Woe vnto you Scribes and Phariseis hypocrites bicause ye shut vp the kingdome of heauen before men for ye your selues goe not in neyther suffer ye them that wold enter to come in Beholde that which Luke calleth to Take away the keye of knowledge that Matthewe expoundeth To shut heauen The key therefore of knowledge is the instruction it selfe as concerning a blessed life by what means we are made partakers thereof He taketh away the keye which instructeth not the people of true blessednes or else is a hinderance that other can not instruct them Therfore the keys of the kingdome of heauen are nothing else but the ministerie of preaching the Gospell or worde of God committed by god vnto his ministers to that ende that euery one may be taught which way leadeth vnto heauen and which way carrieth downe vnto hell These keyes the Lord promised to Peter in him to all the other apostles when he said I wil giue thee the keys of the kingdome of heauen And whatso euer thou shalt bind in earth shal be bound in heaueÌ„ whatso euer thou shalt loose on earth shal be loosed in heauen Let vs inquire therefore when the keyes were deliuered to Peter and to the rest And the agréeable consent of all men is that they were giuen in the daye of the resurrection But it is euident the same day the ministerie or function of preaching the Gospell was committed to the Apostles whereby it followeth that the keyes are nothing else but the ministerie of preaching the gospel amoÌ„gst al nations For this thing is declared vnto the world that saluation purchased by Christ is communicated to them that beléeue and that hell is open for the vnbeléeuers But nowe let vs heare the testimonies of the holy Euangelistes Iohn the Apostle and Euangelist saith The Lord came vnto his disciples sayde Peace bee vnto you As my father hath sent me so sende I you And when he had sayd that he breathed on them and sayde vnto them Receiue the holy Ghoste Whosoeuers sinnes ye remit they are remitted vnto them and whosoeuers sinns ye reteine they are reteined These sayings agrée with the words whereby he promised the keyes for there he sayde â–ª Whatsoeuer ye shall binde in earth shal be bound in heauen Here he sayth Whosoeuers sinnes ye reteine they are reteined There he saide And whatsoeuer ye shall loose in earth shall bee loosed in heauen Here he sayth Whosoeuers sinnes ye remit they are remitted vnto them Wherefore to binde is to reteine sinnes to loose is to remit sinnes You will say howe do men remitte sinnes since it is written that onely God forgiueth sinnes Let other testimonies therefore of the other EuaÌ„gelistes be adioyned expressing that the same historie was done in the day of his resurrection Luke sayth Then the Lorde opened their vnderstanding that they might vnderstande the scriptures and sayd vnto them Thus it is written and thus it behoued Christe to suffer and to rise againe from the deade the thirde day And that repentaunce and remission of sinnes shuld be preached in his name among all nations And Marke saith He appeared vnto them as they sate together and reproued them of their vnbeliefe and hardnesse of heart and he saide vnto them Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to euerie creature He that shal beleeue and be baptised shall be saued but he that will not beleeue shall be damned Therfore God only forgiueth sinnes to them that beléeue in the name of Christe that is to say through the merites and propitiation of Christe but that sinnes are forgiuen the ministers doe assuredly declare by the preaching of the Gospell and by that preaching do binde and loose remitte and reteine sinnes The matter will be made playner by an example or two S. Peter speaking vnto the citizens of Ierusalem Repent ye saith he and let euery one of you be baptised in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and ye shall receiue the gifte of the holy Ghoste And so S. Peter vsed the keyes committed vnto him after this manner he looseth in earth and remitteth sinnes vnto men that is promising to them that beléeue assured remission of sinnes through Christe Whiche message God hath confirmed giuing remission of sinnes vnto the faythfull as they beléeued Moreouer the kéeper of the prisonat Philippos being amazed saith to Silas and Paul Sâ—â—s what must I doe to be saued The Apostles answered Beleeue on the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saued and thy whole houshold The Apostles loosed him that was bounde and forgaue him his sinnes by the keyes that is by the preaching of the Gospell which Gospell since he beléeued in earth the Lorde iudged him to be loosed in heauen These things are taken out of the Acts of the Apostles In the same Acts we reade examples of the contrarie in this manner The Iewes being filled with indignation spake against those thinges whiche were spoken of Paule and rayled But Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and sayde It was necessarie that the word of God should first haue bene spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and thinke your selues vnworthy of euerlasting life loe wee turne to the
of Sacraments is made through the will institution choyce or commaundement of God and seale of his word Wherfore water bread wine vsed after a cōmon maner or not so as they are chosen and instituted of God the word of God is as it were slaundered and they are altogether common prophane but being only vsed according to the choyce or cōmandement of God holily and the worde or signe being added they begin to be Sacramentes whiche they were not afore The same substaunce remaineth in them still which they had before But they are instituted to another ende and vse for they are sealed with the word and commaundement of God and therefore are hallowed wherevnto may also be added their holy vse by a true faith setting forth the benefite of our redemption and giuing of thanks by faithful praiers to our boūtiful redéemer To this purpose we may fetche examples of ciuil gouernmēt wherin some things for certein newe causes adioyned hauing their substance remaining still are now made that whiche before they were not For siluer or golde being not yet coyned with the Magistrates marke is nothing else but siluer and golde But if by the commandement of the Magistrate a new forme be added by a printe it is made money whiche it was not before althoughe it be the verie same substance whiche it was before Waxe before it be sealed is common and vsuall waxe but when by the kinges will and commaundement that which is ingrauen in the kinges seale is printed in the waxe and is sette to euidences and letters patentes by and by it is so estéemed that who so shall deface the sealed euidence is attached as guiltie of treason Whereby I trust you sée plainely that the true sanctification or consecration of Sacraments doeth consist in the will and institution of God in a certaine ende and holie vse of the same whiche are declared vnto vs in the word Of the whiche peraduenture I haue spoken more at large than some may think néedfull But the godlie Reader will pardon mée this my tediousnesse since my desire is to open all thinges faithfully diligently and at large Now that I haue defended the lawfull vse of the word and declared the vertue of it and opened vnto you as occasion serued the true sanctification or consecration of Sacramentes I will returne to that where I left and because I taught that sacraments consist of two parts the signe and thinge signified it remaineth to shew that those two parts reteine their natures distinguished not communicating properties by declaration whereof bothe to those thinges which go before and to those whiche followe yea and to the whole substance of the sacrament a wonderful light without doubt shal appéere But of communicating of the names or termes I will speake in their conuenient place That eche parte reteineth theire natures distinguished without cōmunicating or mingling of properties it is to be séne hereby that many be partakers of the signe and yet are barred from the thinge signified But if the natures of the partes were vnited or naturallye knit together it must néedes be then that those whiche be partakers of the signes must be partakers also of the thing signified Examples of Scripture as they are ready so are they euident For Simon Magus in the Actes of the Apostles receiued y signe and was baptised but of the thing signified he had not neither receiued so much as one iote And Iudas Iscariot a cruell and faythelesse traytour of his maister did likewise Eate the bread of the Lord but he did not eate bread the Lord. Otherwise he had liued happie iust blessed for euer For he which eateth me saieth the Lord himselfe shal neuer dy But Iudas died euerlastingly therefore he did not eate that foode of life To these euident testimonies of scripture I will nowe adde also certeine of Saint Augustines perteyning to that purpose who in his treatise vpon Iohn 26. saith We receiue this day visible meate but the Sacrament is one thing and the vertue of the sacrament is another Howe many doe receiue of the things vpon the altar and when they haue receiued it doe die Wherevppon the Apostle sayth He eateth and drinketh his owne damnation Was not the morsel poyson which the Lord gaue vnto Iudas and yet he receiued it after he had receiued it the enimie entred into him not because that was euill which he receiued but because he being euil did receiue that good thing vnworthily And immediately after he saith The sacrament of the thing that is of the knitting together of the bodie and bloud of Christ is receiued at the Lords table of some vnto life of other some to destruction but the thing it selfe whereof it is a Sacrament is reteiued of all men vnto life of none to destructiō whosoeuer shal be partakers thereof And againe he sayth He which dwelleth not in Christe nor Christe in him without doubt he neither eateth his flesh nor drinketh his bloud spiritually although earnally and visibly he chawe with his téeth the Sacrament of the bodie bloud of Christ but he doeth rather eate and drinke the Sacramēt of so great a thing to his owne damnation And so forth He hath the like words in his booke De Ciuit. Dei. 21. cap. 25. And in his booke De Doctri Christ. 3. ca. 9. he sheweth that In the Coniunction of natures there had need to be a distinction lest we shuld sticke too muche vpon the outwarde signe Now we come to the proofes of the scripture The Apostle witnesseth in the Cor. 10. chap. that all our fathers were baptised and did all eate of one spirituall meate and did all drinke of one manner of spirituall drinke but the Lord◠in many of them had no delight Whereas if they had eaten that spiritual meate and dranke that spirituall drinke spiritually by faith vndoubtedly the Lorde had delighted in them For without faith as he himselfe saieth it is impossible to please God therefore with them that haue faith GOD is well pleased Wherefore our fathers truely were partakers of visible sacraments but they were destitut of inuisible grace whereby it followeth that the signe and y thing signified do reteine their natures not confounded or mingled but distinguished and separated Besides this the wordes of the gospell haue some affinitie or at the leasfe some likenesse with Sacramentall signes Otherwise the wordes are preferred farre before the signes the Apostle sayinge that he was sente to preach and not to baptise But many heare with their outwarde eares the worde of the Lorde who for all that because they are voyde of faith are also without the inwarde frute of the worde Paule saying yet againe For to vs was the gospell preached as well as vnto thē but the word which they heard did not profite them because it was not coupled with faith For so it commeth to passe that many receiue the visible sacramentes and yet are not partakers
whiche are persuaded that the sacramentall speaches are not to be expounded as figuratiue and borrowed but most properly and literally so that by that meanes the water bread and wine are not nowe signes and tokens onely of regeneration and of the body of Christe giuen and of his bloude shed for vs but regeneration it selfe and the verie substantiall body and bloude of oure Lorde Iesus For being of this opinion they are offensiue vnto the common manner both of speaking and interpreting vsed in all ages they are also repugnaunt to true fayth yea to common sense Whereby it commeth to passe that by their confounding of the signe with the thing signified they bring in a seruile weaknesse that I may vse S. Aug. words A carnall bondage For he Li. 3. de doct Ch. ca. 9. intreating of the Sacramentes of Christians sayth The Lorde him selfe and the Apostles in their doctrine haue left vs fewe thinges in steade of many and those most easie to be done most reuerend in vnderstanding and moste pure in obseruing as is baptisme and the celebration of the body and bloud of the Lorde Which Sacramentes euerie man when hee receyueth being instructed acknowledgeth wherevnto they are referred that wee should not worshippe them with carnall seruitude or bondage but rather with spirituall freedom or libertie And as to folow the letter and to take the signes in stead of the thinges which are signified by them is a point of seruile weaknesse so to expound the signes vnprofitably is a point of euill wandering error And yet he speaketh more plainly chapter 5. First of all you must beware leâ—t you take a figuratiue spech according to the letter For to this agreeth that which the Apostle saith The letter killeth but the spirite giueth life For wheÌ„ that which is figuratiuely spoken is taken as though it were spoken properly it is carnally vnderstanded Neyther is there any thing that may more agreably be termed the death of the soule then wheÌ„ that wherein we excell beasts which is vnderstanding or knowledge is made subiect to the fleshe by following the letter For he that followeth the letter vnderstandeth words translated or borrowed as proper or naturall neither doth he referre that which is signified by a proper worde to another signification but if for an example he shall here mention of the Sabbaoth he vnderstandeth it no otherwise but as one day of the seueÌ„ which by continuall course come goe And when he heareth mention made of sacrifice it wil not out of his heade but that this is ment of that whiche was wont to be done aboute offering of beastes and fruites of the earth To be shorte this is the miserable bondage of the soule to take the signes for the things them selues and not to bee able to lifte vp the eyes of the mynd aboue the bodily creature for the obteyning of euerlasting light Thus farre August By these wordes of Augustine we doe gather that they reuereÌ„ce the sacraments by spirituall libertie which neither stick to the letter neither worship and reuerence the visible thinges and elements as water breade and wine in steade of the thinges signified but being rather admonished and stirred vp by the signes they are lifted vp in their mindes to behold the things signified The same Augustine in the same booke chapter 15. teaching when and after what manner a trope or figure is to be receiued or acknowledged sayth In figuratiue speaches this manner of rule shall be kept that so long you viewe with diligent consideration what is read vntill the interpretation come vnto the rule of charitie For if it be not repugnaunt to charitie thinke not that it is a figuratiue speach And yet more plainly hee addeth in the 16. chapter following If it bee an imperatiue speache eyther forbidding any haynous offence or wicked deede or coÌ„maunding any profitable or good deede it is no figuratiue speach But if it commaund any wicked deede or forbid any deede of charitie then it is figuratiue Except ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloude ye haue no life in you Hee seemeth to commaund some horrible offence or wicked deede therefore it is a figuratiue speache commaunding vs to communicate with the passion of Christe and comfortably and profitably to lay vp in our remembraunce that his fleshe was crucified and wounded for vs The Scripture sayth If thine enimie hunger feede him Heere no man doubteth but hee commaundeth well doing but that whiche followeth For in so doing thou shalte heape coales of fire vppon his head A man would thinke that a wicked and euill deede were commaunded therefore doubt not but that it is figuratiuely spoken And so foorth All these thinges doe conuince their errour whiche interprete sacramentall speaches as proper and reiect al figures and tropes especially in the institution of the supper Neuerthelesse I am not ignoraÌ„t what they set againste this last testimonie of S. Augustin that the words of our sauiour in the sixte of Iohn doe make nothing to the interpretation of the ministration of the sacrament and therefore that the place of S. Augustine doth nothing agrée to our purpose But it is manifest that in the same booke S. Augustine disputeth of signes and of the sacramentall speaches And that is manifest also by many other places oute of S Augustine that he often alledgeth these wordes of our sauiour out of the sixte of Iohn to expounde the celebration of the supper But why doe they nothing perteyne to the celebration of the Supper Doth he speake of one body in the Supper and of an other in the 6. chap. of Iohn shal we beleue that the Lorde had and hath two bodies Our Lorde Iesus hath but one body the whiche as it profiteth nothing being eaten corporally according to S. Iohn 6. chapter euen so that body being corporally eateÌ„ doth nothing auaile according to S Mat. 26. chapter But this matter we haue elsewhere handled And of as little force is this vnsauourie obiection of theirs which is that the consequence is false when we argue thus Circumcision is the couenant the lambe is the Passoeuer Sacrifices are sinnes and sanctifications or cleansings are sacramentall speaches mysticall and figuratiue therefore this also This is my body is a mysticall and figuratiue speache For since in Sacramentes there is the like reason why may wee not frame arguments from the one to the other And that sacraments haue the like reason it is receyued of all them whiche acknowledge the trueth aright and it shall be proued hereafter to the full But if it be not lawfull to reason froÌ„ the sacraments of the olde testament and by them after a certeine comparison to interprete ours and by ours to make them plaine truely then the Apostle did not well who by a false consequent by comparison we reade to haue argued from their sacrameÌ„ts vnto ours in the 1. Cor. 10. and to the Coloss
2. chap. But now we returne to oure purpose That we may yet at lengthe make an ende of this place they are sacramentall and figuratiue speaches when we reade and heare that the breade is the body of Christe and the wine the bloud of Christ and that they do eate and drinke the body and bloude of Christe which eate and drinke the Sacramente of the body and bloude of the Lord also that they are purged from their sinnes and regenerated into a newe life which are baptised in the name of Christe and that baptisme is the washing awaye of all our sinnes And after this manner speaketh the scripture and this fourme of speache kept the olde doctours of the Churche whome for so doing none that is wise dothe dispraise neyther can one discommend any man whiche speaketh after this manner so that he also abide in the same sinceritie wherein it is manifest that those holy men of god did walke For as they did willingly and simply vse those speaches so did they not roughly rigorously strayne the letter and speaches they did interprete them in suche sorte that none was so vnskilfull but that he might vnderstand that the signs were not that thing it selfe whiche they signified but that the signes doe take the names of the things therfore they vsed words significatiuely sacramentally mystically and figuratiuely Nowe whereas some will not haue the Sacramentall speaches to be expounded as though being not expoūded they were of more authoritie maiestie and worthines this draweth after it a soare daunger and giueth a most gréeuous offence and is repugnant to the rule of the Apostles to sounde reason and to the custome of them of old For when these kinde of spéeches are set forth and vttered to the simple sort béeing not expounded to witt The bread is the bodie of Christe When thou drinckest the wine of the Lord thou drinckest the verie bloud of the lord Baptisme saueth vs c. what other thing I pray you is set forth than a snare of carnall bondage and a most daungerous offēce of idolatrie Many words néede not in this matter since experience doeth aboundantly enoughe sett forthe in this place what hath béene done and what at this day is done The rule of the Apostles commandeth the diuine oracles to be expounded in the Church and to lay forth all the mysteries of the scripture that they may be soundly vnderstanded as wée may sée 1. Corinth 14. And reason it selfe teacheth vs that the mind of mā is litle or nothing moued if the things themselues be not vnderstoode What fruite therefore shall the simple sorte receiue by the Sacraments vnto whom the meaning of the sacramentes hath not béene opened Better therefore did the auncient fathers not onely in expounding all the mysteries of the kingdome of God and especially the sacraments but in teaching also that they ought to be expounded Whiche although it be made plaine inough by those thinges whiche goe before yet will I add two examples out of S. Augustine touching this matter Hee cap. 6. de chatechisandis rudibus sayeth Let the newe Christian man bée taught concerning the sacraments that they bée visible signes of heauenlye thinges and that inuisible things are to be honoured in them neither that the signe after it is blessed and sanctified is so to bee taken as it is daily vsed It must also be tould him what that spéech signifies which he heareth and what thing is giuen in the signe whereof it is a representation Moreouer vppon this occasion hée must bée taught that if he heare any thing euen in the Scriptures that soundeth carnally although he vnderstand it not yet to beléeue that some spirituall thing is signified thereby whiche belongeth to holy manners and to the life to come And as followeth The same Augustine Lib. 4. de doctr Chr. cap. 8. doth vtterly forbid the doctours teachers of the church not to thinke that they ought therefore to speake obscurely of the mysteries of the scripture because they sée that these things are deliuered somewhat intricately and darckely in the scripture but he rather requireth light plainnesse in them If any man desire to heare his wordes they are these If we fetche examples of the manner of speaking out of the writinges of our canonicall authours and doctours which are easily vnderstoode yet wée ought not to thincke that wee should followe them also in those spéeches wherein they haue vsed a profitable and wholesome obscuritie to exercise and as it were to quicken the readers mindes and to take awaye lothsomnes and to stirre vp the studies of the willing learners and also to make the minds of the wicked zealous that they may either bée turned to godlines or else excluded from the mysteries For so they spake that those which came after them and could vnderstand and rightly expound them might reueale a second grace vnlike to the former but yet ensuing in the church of god Therefore they which expounde them ought not so to speake as if they by the like authoritie would offer themselues to bee expounded but in all their kinde of spéeches first let them labour chiefly and first of all to be vnderstanded with as plaine kinde of speaking as they can that he be very dull and slow-witted which doeth not vnderstand or at the least let not the fault of the hardnesse and subtiltie of the thinges which we goe about to open and declare be in our owne spéech whereby that which we speake should be somewhat longer in vnderstanding Thus farre Augustine And let this that I haue hitherto said of sacramentall spéeches be sufficient The Lord be praised Amen ¶ That wee must reason reuerently of Sacraments that they doe not giue grace neither haue grace included in them Againe what the vertue and lawefull ende and vse of Sacramentes is That they profite not without faith that they are not superfluous to the faithful that they do not depend vppon the worthines or vnworthines of the minister ¶ The seuenth Sermon YEsterday déerely beloued I tould you what a sacrament was whoe was the authour of them and for what causes sacramentes were instituted of what thinges they consiste that is to say of the signe and the thinge signified I tould you also what a signe is what the thinge signified and by what names they are termed howe they are consecrated that the signe is not mingled with the thing signified but that both of them remaine in their owne nature and propertie of nature that the signe is not taken away or myraculously turned neither that the thing signified is so ioyned with the signe that whosoeuer is partaker of the one is partaker also of the other To be short I declared howe and after what manner the signe and the thing signified are coupled together to make a full perfect and lawfull sacrament where also I intreated of sacramentall spéeches Now therfore it remaineth that I also cōsequently speake of
Iesus Christe And whereas in euery place almost they adde Not by the lawe not by ceremonies or other rituall obseruationes do wee thinke that they will admitte Sacramentes to the partaking of suche power and vertue séeing they be cōprehended vnder rites and ceremonies and so accounted Christian faith doeth attribute the grace of GOD remission of sinnes sanctification and iustification fully and wholely to the frée mercie of God to the merite of Christs passion yea in suche sorte doth Christian faith attribute these spirituall benefites vnto it that beside it nothing at all is admitted to take parte with it Therefore whereas Lombard saieth That sacramentes haue receiued power to conferr or giue grace by the merite of the passion of Christe it is of his owne foarging For as Christ giueth not his glorie to any either saint or mortall man muche lesse to a creature without life euen so he that beléeueth to be fully iustified by the death and resurrection of the Lord séeketh no further grace and righteousnesse in any other thing than in Christe only vpon whom he stayeth whome also by faith he féeleth in his hart or minde alreadie to exercise his force by the holy Ghost For herevnto perteyne those sayinges in the Gospel Goe in peace thy faithe hath saued thee And also He whiche drinketh of this water shall thirst againe but whosoeuer shall drinke of that water which I shal giue him shall neuer thirst c. To this perteineth the saying of Paule also Therefore being iustified by faith we are at peace with God thorough our Lorde Iesus Christ By whome also we had an entraunce by faith vnto this grace wherein wee stande and reioyce in hope of the glorie of God. I am not ignorant of the craftie sleightes of some who imagine there is a certeine generall also a speciall faithe The generall faithe they call that whereby we beléeue that we are truely iustified by the deathe and resurrection of Christe but that they call a speciall faith whereby we béeléeue that by the sacramentes and by our owne worke the gyfts of GOD are applied particularly to euery one of vs one by one But to what purpose was it béeing in a lande where they might bee fedde with Manna to looke backe to the potage pottes and vnsauourie léekes of Egypt What I pray you haue Christians to doe with the distinctiōs of subtile sophisters or how will they proue this distinction of theirs vnto vs Verily there is but one faith and the same is no other in the vse of the Sacraments than it is without the vse of them Without the vse of them we beléeue that wee are sanctified by the death and resurrection of Christ In baptisme and the Lordes supper we practise no other faithe than wherby we beléeue that we are purged from our sinnes by the grace and mercie of Christe and that by his body giuen for vs and his bloud shed for vs we are redéemed from deathe and become heirs of eternal life Not the Sacramentes but faithe through the holy Ghost applyeth these thinges vnto vs whiche thing all the writinges of the Apostles doe witnesse but suche feigned gloses do obscure and darken To be shorte there is one GOD and Sauiour of all one Saluation one Redemption and purging one faith whereby wee receiue Saluation offered vnto vs of GOD in Christe through the holie Ghoste The same is declared or preached vnto vs in the worde by the minister and is represented and sealed by the Sacramentes And now who knoweth not that Paule the Apostle in all his writinges onely laboureth to proue that those that beléeue are iustified by faith in the Lorde Iesus and not by any workes Againe who is ignoraunt that the receiuing and celebration of sacramentes are also counted among our workes Wherevnto I will add this that Sacramentes giue not that whiche they haue not themselues but they haue not grace and righteousnesse and heauenly gyftes therfore they doe not giue them But hence springeth vppe another disputation for vs to handle whether the grace of GOD and a certeine heauenly power be put in or included in the Sacramentes and as it were conteined in them so that from them it might be conueyed into the receyuers The whole rable of Priestes and monkes as well in worde as in déede haue bewrayed them selues that they thinke That in the bare signes there is heauenly grace included yea and that God himselfe is comprehended in them For from no other founteine sprang their carefull disputations concerning That the mouse eateth when it eateth the Sacrament of the bodie of Christe Pope Innocent Libro quarto De Sacramento altaris Capite vnde cimo sayth Miraculously doth the substaunce of bread returne againe not that bread which was turned into flesh But it cōmeth to passe that in sted of it other bread is miraculously created which bread is eaten c. Behold here is a certein wittie miraculous kinde of diuinitie I passe ouer of purpose many other whiche are of this kinde And herevnto that by crossinges and certeine secret words gestures and breathings they consecrate the water of baptisme all which things they beautifie with the name of blessinge And among other thinges they sing thus God by the secrete mixture of his light make fruitefull this water prepared to regenerate men with-all that beeing sanctified and borne againe of the immaculate wombe of the heauenly founteine it may come foorth a new creature Let this holy innocent creature be free from all the assaultes of the aduersarie Let him not intrap it in his snare Let it become a liuing founteine a regenerating water a purifying riuer that all that are dipped in this wholesome lauer the holy ghost working in thē may atteine to the excellencie of perfect purificatiō Wherfore ô thou creature of water I blesse or coniure thee by the liuing God by the true God by the holy god by the god which in the beginning feparated thee by his word from the drie lande c. Againe breathing thrice on the water he forthwith vttereth these wordes Thou O Lord blesse with thy worde these waters which make request vnto thee that beside their natural cleannes whiche in washing they may giue to our bodies they may also be effectual to purifie our soules Then the priest taketh a burning waxe candle and putteth it thrice in the water consecrated to baptisme saying Let the power of the holy Ghost come down into this plentifull founteine He addeth And let it make the whole substance of this water fruitefull with the fruite of regeneration And so foorthe All these thinges they vnderstande and expounde to be spoken simplie and without tropes or figures whiche euidently enough declareth what these men attribute to holy or consecrated water and howe they thinke that in the signes the holy thinges themselues are conteyned Aboute this matter Bonauentura hathe woonderfully busied himselfe who in his writing In 4. Magistri
that by a certeine heauenly couenant it is so appointed by GOD that sacramentes shoulde haue grace in themselues and should from themselues as by pypes conuey abroade the water of grace vnto those that are thirstie that is alledged without warrant of the Scripture and is repugnaunt vnto true religion As by those thinges whiche haue hitherto béene handeled and disputed of doeth as wee thinke sufficiently appeare wherevnto also we adde this The holy and elect people of God are not then firste of all partakers of the first grace of God and Heauenly gyftes when they receiue the Sacramentes For they enioy the thinges before they be partakers of the signes For it is plainely declared vnto vs that Abraham our father was iustified before he was circumcised And who gathereth thereby that iustification was not exhibited and giuen vnto him by the sacrament of circumcision but rather that that righteousnesse whiche he by faith before possessed was by the Sacrament sealed and confirmed vnto him And moreouer who wil not thereof gather that we whiche are the sonnes of Abraham are after no other manner iustified than it appeareth that our father was iustified and that our sacramentes worke no further in vs than they did in him especially since the nature of the sacramentes of the people of the olde Testamente and ours is all one Whereof I will speake a little afterwarde more at large when I expound the place of the Apostle in the fourth to the Romanes The Eunuche of whome I spake euen now out of the Actes as he iournyed and sawe water he said to Philip See here is water what letteth me to be baptised Philip sayde vnto him If thou beleeuest with all thy hart thou maist And he answered and saide I beleeue that Iesus Christe is the sonne of God. Afterward immediately it followeth And they weÌ„t down both into the water he baptised him The Eunuche sayeth the Euangelist beléeued with al his hart that is to to say truly without dissimulation Nowe let vs sée what the Scripture saith concerning suche a faith S. Iohn the Apostle Euangelist saith Who so euer beleeueth that Iesus is Christ is borne of God. He againe saith Whosoeuer confesseth that Iesus is the sonne of God in him dwelleth God and he in GOD Also Paule that elect vessel and doctour of the Gentiles sayth If thou shalt knowledge with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeue in thine hart that God raysed him from the dead thou shalt bee saued And againe Saint Iohn sayth in his Epistle He that beleeueth on the sonne of God hath the witnesse in him self And this is the record how that God hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in his Sonne He that hathe the Sonne hathe life and he that hath not the Sonne hath not life Briefely of all these thinges this wee gather The Eunuche beléeued before he receiued baptisme therefore before he receiued baptisme he was borne of God in whome he dwelled and God in him hee was iust and acceptable in the sight of God and moreouer he had also life in himselfe and therefore the baptisme whiche followed did not giue that to the Eunuch which he had before but it became vnto him a testimonie of the trueth a seale of the righteousnesse whiche came by faith and there withal to assure vnto him the continuance and increase of God his gyftes After the same maner we reade of Cornelius the Centurion in the same Actes of the Apostles that he beléeuing the preaching of the Apostle Peter receiued the holie Ghost also in a visible shape as the Apostles did at Hierusalem in the day of Pentecoste And that Peter when he knewe that thing sayde Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptised whiche haue receiued the holy Ghost as wel as we For asmuche therefore as Cornelius with his housholde receiued the holy Ghoste before they were baptised it is manifest that he did not obteine the holie Ghoste as giuen firste by baptisme or with baptisme Againe we reade in the Actes of the Apostles They that gladly receiued the woorde of Peter were baptised Therefore before they were baptised of Peter they had obteined the grace of God through faith For why I pray you doe we baptise our Infantes Is it because they beléeue with their hart and confesse with their mouthe I thinke not Do we not therefore baptise them because God hathe commaunded them to bée brought vnto him because he hath promised that he will be our GOD and the GOD of our séede after vs To be short because we beléeue that GOD of his méere grace and mercie in the bloud of Iesus Christ hathe cleansed and adopted them and appointed them to bee heires of eternall life We therefore baptising Infantes for these causes doe aboundantly testifie that there is not first giuen vnto theÌ„ in baptisme but that there is sealed and confirmed whiche they had before Let vs also ioyne vnto these thinges a testimonie of the Supper of the Lord. The Apostle teaching how the Godly shoulde prepare them selues to come to the Lordes Table sayth Let a man proue him selfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this Cuppe But to examine or proue signifieth to search as muche as lyeth in man the harte or minde and thoroughe diligent inquisition to sifte ones conscience And GOD is sayde â—o proue our nartes And the same Apostle willeth vs To proue what is the good acceptable wil of God. But this proofe cannot be without knowledge iudgement y knowledg iudgement of Christians is faith therfore whosoeuer proueth himselfe before hee come to the Supper hath faith If he haue faith then he wanteth not those thinges that are coupled with faithe and therefore in the Supper those heauenly benefites are not firste receiued but thankes are giuen for those that are receiued I haue hereby shewed and proued I suppose that Sacramentes doe not conferre grace They obiect I know well enoughe against these thinges who are persuaded that sacraments giue grace and conteine included within them the thinges signified that wee doe euacuate and make of none effect the Sacramentes and that wee teache that the faithfull receiue in them or by them nothing but bare water and bare bread and wine and that by that meanes GOD by vs is accused of falshode and lying Wee briefely answere If they set voyde or emptie thinges as I may so say againste full thinges so as they bee voide or emptie whiche haue not the thinges themselues included in them truely I had rather confesse them to be voide than full But if they call them voide or emptie and meane prophane or vnholy thinges that is to say whiche differ nothing from prophane signes if by bare they vnderstande thinges of no force we openly professe that we haue sacramentes whiche are holy and not prophane effectuall and not without force
garnished from aboue not naked therefore full not void or emptie For they are holy thinges and not prophane because they are instituted of GOD and for godly men not for prophane persons They are effectual and not without force for in the Churche with the godly and faithfull they worke the same effect and ende wherevnto they were ordeined of god Whereof more hereafter They are also worthily said to be beautified and adorned by God and not bare thinges whiche haue the worde GOD it selfe wherewith they are moste beautifully adorned And therefore also they are full and not emptie sacraments because they haue those things whiche make a perfect Sacrament We will repeate here the parables or similitudes whiche aboue also intreating of consecration for the moste parte we did alledge to the intente to giue more cleare light vnto this treatise All the while that waxe for confirmation and witnesse sake is not hanged on letters patents or other publique instrumentes it is common voide and bare waxe that is to saye nothing else but waxe but when it is sealed and fastened to those publike instruments it is now neither voide nor bare waxe For it is called the testimonie of the truth The armes of a prince or of any coÌ„mon wealthe if it be painted in a windowe or on a wall it is a bare signe but if the same be fastened to writinges or set to letters there is greate difference betwéene this and the other For nowe it declareth and witnesseth the will of the prince or common wealthe therefore it hathe this estimation among all men that who â—o deâ—aceth it or contrarie to the will of the Prince and common weale doeth sette it to any other charter is reputed guiltie of counterfetting of high treason A stone when as yet it is not set for a marke or bound of fieldes it is a bare and voide that is to say a coÌ„mon stone whiche to tread vnder foote or to remoue out of his place is no offence but being set to part the boundes of fieldes it is no more a voide or bare stone but a witnes of lawful diuision and iust possession which to moue out of his place is committed an heynous offence And therefore water bread and wine without the institution and vse of the Sacrament are nothing else but water bread and wine but beeing vsed in the celebration of the sacrament they differ verie far from that they were before are sacraments signed of Christ by his word and ordeined for the saluation of the faithfull Therefore they that are partakers of the sacraments do not recetue nothing as these say vnlesse the institution of god be to be estéemed as nothing He instituted sacramentes to be testimonies of his grace and seales of the trueth of his promises Which thing I will anon declare more at large Therefore as God is true and cannot lye so the seales of his promises are most true He hath promised that he wil be oures and that in Christ he will communicate himselfe vnto vs with al his giftes He therefore of a certeintie sheweth himselfe suche an one and doeth communicate him selfe vnto vs Althoughe hee doe it not nowe firste of all when wée receiue the Saramentes as it he shoulde powre out of himselfe into vs by them as it were by conduite pypes were included in them as in vessels for immediatlie vpon the beginning of the world he promised his grace vnto vs as soone as we first beleeued he begaÌ„ to shew him self such an one vnto vs doth shew him selfe more and more through the whole course of our life we receiue him and comprehend him spiritually and by fayth Therefore when we are partakers of the Sacraments he procedeth to communicate him self vnto vs after a speciall manner that is to say proper vnto sacraments and so we which before were made partakers of Christ do continue and strengthen that communion or fellowship spiritually and by faith in the celebration of the Sacramentes outwardlie sealing the same vnto our selues by the signes Nowe who will hereafter say that they whiche thinke thus of the Sacramentes and are by this faithe partakers of them haue nothing but emptie shewes and receiue nothing in them Albeit we neither include grace in the signes neither deriue it from them But if any man haue any other opinion of God and his ordinaunces that shall no more be falsehode in GOD or accuse him of vntrueth than if any one shoulde charge a iuste man with a lye because he perfourmeth not that whiche he looked for when in the meane time this man promised not the thing whiche he looked for but he throughe his corrupte and false opinion hathe dreamed that it was promised vnto him And thus farr by occasion I haue shewed what agréement and difference there is betweene the Sacramentes of the olde and new Testament and that our Sacraments doe neither conferre nor conteine grace Now we returne to that whiche we beganne I meane to the principall ground of this disputation that forasmuch as we haue taught what they doe not worke so now at length wee may sett downe what they worke in very déede that is to say expounding what is the power ende and lawfull vse of the Sacramente where-vnto they are ordeyned of god We handled indéede the place of the causes why they were instituted in the beginning almoste of the 6. Sermon But now I wil ad other things whiche perteine to this purpose and entreate of eche thing by it selfe more fully and at large The chiefe end of sacramentes is this that they are testimonies to confirme the trueth by which the Lorde in his Church euen visibly doeth testifie that the things now vttered by preaching of the Gospel by the promises assured to the faithful from the beginning of the world are in euery pointe so brought to passe and are so certeinly true as they are declared and promised in the worde of trueth Euen so Baptisme is the heauenly and publique witnesse in the Church of Christe whereby the Lorde testifieth that it is hee whiche receiueth men fréely into fauour and whiche cleanseth from all blemishes and to be shorte maketh vs partakers and heyres of all his goodnesse For after the same manner Circumcision in times past was a publique and heauenly testimonie that it is God that purgeth and adopteth vs For therefore Moses saith Deu 30. The Lorde thy God wil circumcise thine hart the hart of thy seede that thou mayest loue the Lord thy GOD with all thy heart c. After the selfe same manner the Lorde him selfe instituting the holie supper in his Church by the present signes doeth openly beare witnesse that his bodie was certeinely giuen for vs and his bloud truely shedd for the remissioÌ„ of our sinnes that he also is that liuing food that féedeth vs to eternall life Wherefore we read in Chrysost his 83. Homilie vpon Matthew in these wordes As in the olde lawe so in
receiued againe by faithfull repentaunce into the same grace from whence they fel. But to our purpose Baptisme the seale of the righteousnesse of faithe is not sett to parchmente or to the writing of the Gospell but it is applyed to the very bodyes of the Children of God and is as it were marked and imprinted in them For wée are whoâ—â—e dipped with our bodies or wholie sprinckled with the water of Baptisme which truely is a visible sealing confirming that the true God is our God which sanctifieth and purifieth and that purification and euery good gifte of God is due vnto vs as the heyres of god And to the setting foorth of this matter pertayneth that euidente place of Paule which in the Epistle to the Galathians is thus read For yee are all the children of God by faith in Christ Iesus For all ye that are baptised haue put on Christe And so foorth The supper of the Lorde hath the like reason whiche also is a seale of the righteousnesse of faith For the sonne of God dyed hee by his death redéemed the beléeuers also his body and bloud is our meat and drinck vnto eternall life And truely this singular and excellent priuiledge giuen vnto the faithfull is declared and sett downe in writing by the Apostles â–ª but it is consecrated and sealed of the Lorde him selfe by the Sacramente of his bodye and bloude whereby he sealeth vs an assuraunce that we are iustified by faith in the death of Christ and that all the good giftes of Christe are communicated vnto vs and that wee are fedd and strengthened by Christe Moreouer that the sealing might be the more liuely he setteth not the seale to written parchmente but it is brought and also giuen to be eaten of our bodyes that we might haue a witnesse within our selues that Christe with all his giftes is wholy ours if wee perseuere in faith For the Lorde him selfe in the Gospell saith He that eateth me shall liue by the meanes of mee But hee eateth whiche beléeueth For in the same place the Lord saithe I am the bread of life He that commeth to mee shall not hunger and hee that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst Héereby we gather the summe of the whole matter that the Sacramentes doe seale vpp the promises of God and the gospel and that therefore so often mention is made in the Churche of euidences or letters patents or charters and seales of the preaching of the gospell and the promises of God that the whole mysterie of our saluation is renued and continued as oft as those actions instituted of God I meane Sacramentes are celebrated in the Church Hetherto I think doeth that belong whiche the faithfull minister of Christe Zuinglius vppon the SacrameÌ„ts hath deliuered in these wordes Sacramentes beare witnesse of a thing that hath bene done For al lawes customes and ordinaunces doe shew their authours and beginnings Therefore Baptisme since it setteth foorth in signification the death and resurrection of Christe it must needs bee that those thinges were done indeede These wordes are to be found In Expositione sidei ad regem ChristianuÌ„ The same Zuinglius Ad principes Germaniae contra Eggium saith When that noble man taking his iourney in to a farre countrie distributing bread and wine did farre more liuelie and peculiarly giue him selfe vnto vs when he saide This is my body than if he had said This is a token or signe of my bodide although hee tooke away his naturall bodie and carried it into Heauen Yet neuerthelesse by these wordes in that apperteyneth to faith and grace hee giueth him selfe wholy as if hee had saide Now I goe to dye for you and after a while will wholie departe from hence But I wil not haue you doubt of my loue and care to you warde How much soeuer I am I am altogether yours In witnesse whereof I commend vnto you a signe of this my betraying and testament to the intente you might maintaine the memorie of me and of my benefites that when ye see this bread and this cupp ministred vnto you in the supper of my remembraunce ye may be no otherwise mindfull of me that is that I deliuered vp my self for you than if you should see mee with your eyes face to face as ye now se me bothe to eate with you and by and by shall see me to be led from you to dye for you Hetherto I haue recited Zuinglius his words and anon I wil rehearse other wordes of his againe not that I stay my selfe vppon them or vppon any testimonyes of man but that it may be made manifest that this man did not as some haue falsely thought contemne the sacramentes In the meane while we acknowledge these testimonies of the holie Scripture And God it is which stablisheth vs with you in christ hath annointed vs whiche hath also sealed vs and hath giuen the earnest of the spirite in our harts 2. Cor. 1. And also After ye beleeued ye were sealed with the holie spirite of promise whiche is the earnest of our inheritaunce vnto the redemption of the purchased possession vnto the praise of his glorie Ephesi 1. verse 13. And againe Greeue not the holie spirit of GOD by whome ye are sealed vnto the day of redemption Ephe. 4. Wee acknowledge the trueth of God to be sufficiently sound true and certeine of it selfe neither can wee from else-where haue a better confirmation than out of it For if our minde be not confirmed one euerye side it wauereth God therefore frameth him self according to our weaknesse and by his Sacraments as muche as may bee doeth as it were vpholde vs yet so that we referre all the benefite of our confirmation to the spirite it selfe and to his operation rather than to the element Wherfore as we attribute Confirmation to doctrine and to teachers euen so doe wee Sealing to the Sacramentes We read in the Actes of the Apostles Chapter 14 and 18. The Apostles returned and strengthened the Disciples soules againe and exhorted them to continue in the faithe Againe in the firste to the Thesâ—a 3. Wee haue sent saith Paule Timotheus our Brother and minister of GOD to confirme or stablish you and to comforte you concerninge your faithe Neuerthelesse vnlesse the inwarde force of the spirite doe drawe and quicken the hartes of the hearers the outwarde persuasion of the teacher though it bee neuer so forceable veheÌ„ment shall nothing auayle but if the holie spirit do shew foorth his might and worke with the worde of the Preacher the soules of the hearers are moste mightilie strengthened And so it standeth with the mysterie of the Sacramente For if the inwarde anuoynting and fealing of the holy Ghost be wanting the outwarde action will be counted but a toy to the vnbeléeuers neither worketh the sealing of the Sacramentes any thing at all but when faith the gifte of the holie Ghost goeth before the sealing of the Sacramentes is very strong
short which waye you must incline And then hee scattereth certeine groundes of argumentes which they afterward discussing might by their diligence polishe and make perfecte They sayeth he that are partakers of the supper of the Lord in which the bread of the Lord is broken and the cup of the Lord is dronken are of the same communion fellowship or body with the lord For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche word Paul vseth héere and which interpreters haue translated Communion or partaking though fellowship is better than partaking as in the Dutch translation Gmeind is better than Gmeind chaffe is not taken actiuely as I may so say for the distributing giuing or reaching out Christes bodie by the minister but passiuely for the fellowship and societie for the bodie I say of the Churche as when the churche is called a communion that is an assemblie a gathering together and societie of saincts or godly Christians Furthermore the Churche is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a communion of the bodie and bloud of Christe beecause it is redéemed by the bodie and bloud of Christ being partaker of Christ liueth by him For he liueth in the godly Christians communicating vnto them all his good gifts of life And that the partakers of the supper of that Lord are the bodie or communion of Christ he declareth by a reason which followeth saying Because we that are many are one bread and one bodie Wherevnto by by hee addeth another more euident reason for interpretations sake saying For we are all partakers of one bread In that we are partakers of one bread sayth he we doe openly testifie that we are partakers of the same bodie with Christe and all his Sainctes In which wordes hée hath a notable respecte to the Analogie For as by vniting together of many graines as Cyprian saith is made one breade or one loafe as of many clusters of grapes one wine is pressed out so out of many members groweth vpp and is made the bodie of the Church which is the bodie of Christ Nowe in the woordes of Paule these thinges offer themselues vnto vs to be marked First for that nowe hée calleth that a multitude or manye by a woorde expressing his minde better whiche before he named a communion A communion therfore is nothing else but a multitude or congregation For he said The bread is the partaking of the bodie of Christe but now he saith We being many are one bread one body We being many sayeth he that is all wée which are a multitude and a congregation or Churche redéemed by the bodie of Christ which was giuen and by his bloud whiche was shedd for vs Afterwards hée saith We being many are one bodie hee doeth not say are made one bodie For wee are not first graffed into the bodie of Christe as wée haue often repeated alreadie by partaking of the sacramentes but wée whiche were before ingraffed by grace inuisiblye are nowe also visibly consecrated Againe by the like reason of Sacraments or by an example of the scripture taken from the Sacramentes of the people of the old Testament hee sheweth that the partakers of the sacramentes are one bodie both with him to whome they offer and with them with whome they offer or with whome they eate of thinges offered to idols Behold saith hee the Israelites whiche offer sacrifices after the flesh Are not they that eate the sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say communicants fellowes or partakers of the thinges of the temple or of the altar For vnder the word of the things of the temple or of the altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is his word he comprehendeth whatsoeuer doth belong to the worshipp and religion of the God of the Iewes so that the sense or meaning may be this Are not all they one bodie one communion one people both with the God of Israel and with his people which eate of the sacrifices offered to the God of Israel by the Israelitish people As if hee had said There is none that is ignoraunt of it or that can denie it since it is confessed and manifest amonge all men By these thinges hée leaueth to the Corinthians of their owne accord thus much to be gathered Therefore they that are partakers of the sacramentes of the Gentiles are one bodie and one fellowship with the Gods of the Gentiles and the Gentiles which do sacrifice Nowe by the figure Occupatio which is when in aunswearing we preuent an obiectiō that may bee made hée placeth these woordes betwéene What saye I then That the idol is any thinge Or that that whiche is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing Wherevnto by and by he addeth But this I saye that the thinges whiche the Gentiles offer in sacrifice they offer to diuels and not to God. Herevpon he might lawfully haue inferred Therefore if you continue to bée partakers of thinges offered to idols ye shall verilie be one bodie and one fellowshippe both with the diuell him selfe and all his members But béecause this might haue béene taken of many to haue béene bitterly spoken hée addeth another sayinge some-what more milde and gentle and sayeth And I would not that yee should bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is communicants or partakers haue fellowship with diuels After which woords by comparing the contrarie partes hée bringeth in the summe of the whole matter to whiche he directed all his reasons and sayeth Yee cannot drincke the cupp of the Lord and the cupp of diuels ye cannot bee partakers of the Lords table and of the table of diuels And so forth The Sacramentes therefore doe separate vs from all other worshippinges and religions and doe binde and consecrate yea and also as it were make vs of the same body with one true GOD and sincere Christian Religion béecause wée béeing partakers of them doe openly professe that wée be the members of Iesus Christe whiche no man that is well in his wittes will take and make them the members of fornication and of idols That which Zuinglius that learned man hath In expositione fidei Christianę ad regem Christianum is not impertinent to this purpose Sacramentes sayeth hée are in steede of an oathe For Sacramentum with the Latines is vsed also for an oathe For they that vse one and the selfe-same Sacramentes are one peculiar nation an holy sworne cōgregation they are knitt together into one body and into one people whome whoso betrayeth shall perishe Therefore the people of Christe since by eating his bodye sacramentally they are knit into one bodie Now he that is faithlesse and yet dare be so bould as to make himselfe one of this societie or fellowship betrayeth the body of Christe as well in the head as in the members c. Thus farre he By this it is easie to vnderstand that sacramentes put vs in minde of oure duetie especially if wée marke in the writings of the Apostle how considering the maner of sacraments
vnto saluation that baptisme is superfluous he hath despised the ordinance of God is condemned for a rebell and an enimie to God. Furthermore that place of Iohn 3. is not to be vnderstood of the ourward signe of holy baptisme but simplie of the inward most spiritual regeneration of the holy spirite which when Nicodemus vnderstoode not perfectely the Lorde figured and made the same manifest vnto him by parables of water of the spirit that is to say of the winde or the ayer by elements verie base and familiar For by and by he addeth That whiche is borne of the flesh is flesh c. Again The winde bloweth where it lusteth c. whiche must néedes be ment of the ayer For the other part of the coÌ„parison followeth So is euery one that is borne of the spirite Furthermore he addeth If I tel you of earthly thinges and ye beleeue not how will you beleeue if I tel you of heaueÌ„ly things But the argumeÌ„t which he put forth was not altogether earthly For this is the argument of his whole disputatioÌ„ Except a man be borne from aboue he cannot see the kingdome of God That is to say vnlesse a man be renued as it were borne againe by the spirite of God which is giuen from aboue that is to say powred into him from heauen he caÌ„not be saued The doctrine is altogether heauenly but the meanes wherby he deliuered declared set forthe this heauenly doctrine is earthly For by thinges taken from the earth he shadowed out to man beeing grosse of vnderstanding earthly a spiritual and heauenly thing laid it open as it were euen â—â— the view of his eyes As by water ayre oftentimes the qualities of bodies are changed and as the effecte and woorking of water and the aire in bodies is merueilous in like manner is the working of the holy Ghoste in the soule of man which it changeth purifieth and quickeneth c. For so the Lorde himselfe afterward whiche I tolde you euen now expoundeth an other parable of the spirite And because al olde writers for the moste part by water haue vnderstood sacramentall water that is to say holy baptisme we also receiue this interpretation For we willingly graunte that baptisme is necessarie to saluation as wel in such as are of perfect age as also in babes or infantes so that necessitie constraine not the contrarie For otherwise if we goe forwarde stubbernly with S. August to condemne infantes by this place truely we shal be compelled also to coÌ„demne euen those that are baptised if they departe this life without partaking of the bodie and bloud of Christ For S. Augustine béeing infected with the like errour defendeth that the sacrament of the Lordes supper ought to be put into the infantes mouthe or else they are in daunger of death and damnation because it is written Except ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man drink his bloud yee haue no life in you Therefore after this same order he placeth these two sentences Except a man be born of water and of the spirite he cannot see the kingdome of God. And Excepte ye eate the flesh of the sonne of man c. So that if thou persist obstinately in S. Augustines sentence verily thou wilt condemne the whole Church at this day which denieth the partaking of the Lordes supper vnto Infantes But if in this thing there be admitted a coÌ„uenient interpretation why are ye so rigorous obstinate in another the like place cause not disagréeable What wil you say if in this opinion Augustine doeth not satisfie no not himselfe in all and euery point To a Lay-man he thinketh it veniall sinne if he baptise in time of necessitie He cannot tell whether it be godlily spoken the baptisme ministred by a lay-man ought to be iterated or done againe But how much better and safer had it béene letting the necessitie of baptisme pas which hath no lawful causes to holde opinion the infantes if they be not preuented by death ought to be baptised of the minister of the church in the church their parents procuring it as opportunitie first serueth that too too spéedie souden death which we cal the pinch of necessitie is no let or hinderance to saluation to them which are not yet broght to be baptised The same Augustine trembleth and is afraide to determine of the punishmente of damned infants for not beeing baptised neither knoweth truly what he might certeinly say In his first booke De anim c. ca. 9. hée saith Let no maÌ„ promise to infantes vnbaptised as it were a middle place of rest or felicity whatsoeuer it be or whersoeuer it be betweene hell and the kingdome of heauen But that sentence is for the most part receiued of all men â–ª whervpon also the infantes are buried in the churchyarde in a certeine middle place betwéene the prophane holy ground And againe the same Aug. contra Iulianum Pelagianum lib. 5. ca. 8. writeth That those infantes of all other shal come in the easiest damnation And immediately bee addeth Which of what maner how great it shal be although I cannot describe yet I dare not say that it were better for them to be as no body thaÌ„ to be there And againe in his Epistle to Sainte Hierome 28. he sayth When I come to determine of the punishments of little infants beleeue me I am driuen into narrowe streightes neyther finde I any thing at all to aunswere Héere also may that be added whiche hee disputeth vppon Lib. 4. contra Donatist cap. 22. 23. touching the théefe whiche was crucified with Christe among other things saying That then baptisme is fulfilled inuisibly when not the contempt of religion but the poynt of necessitie excludeth and shutteth out from visible baptisme Why then should wee not beleeue also that in infantes departing by to to timely death baptisme is inuisibly perfourmed since that not contempt of religion but the extremitie of necessitie whiche can not bee auoyded excludeth and debarreth them from visible baptisme And since verie many at this day doe graunt that any man of perfect age withoute baptisme in the point of necessitie may bee saued so that hee haue a desire of baptisme why then may not the godly desires of the parentes acquite the infantes nowe newly borne from guiltinesse But thus much hitherto Touching this also who are to be baptised both in time past our age there hath bene bitter iarring Pelagius in time past denyed that infants ought to be baptised which we heard euen nowe Before Pelagius time AuxeÌ„tius Arianus with his sectaries denyed that they are to be baptised Some in the time of S. Barnard denied the same as we may gather out of his writings The Anabaptistes at this day a kinde of men raysed vp of sathan to destroy the Gospel denie it likewise But the Catholique trueth whiche is deliuered vnto vs in the holy scriptures
The same also is mentioned in Luke In the Gospel of Iohn the third chapter baptisme is called Purifying In the Actes of the Apostles Peter saith to the people which demaunded what they should do Repent ye and let euery one of you be baptised in the name of Iesus Christe for the remission of sinnes Ananias also sayth to Paule Arise and be baptised wash awaye thy sinnes in calling on the name of the Lord. And now Paule himselfe saith Christ loued the church gaue himselfe for it to sanctifie it when he had cleansed it in the founteine of water in the word Wherefore the promise yea the trueth of sanctification and â—rée remission of sinnes is written and ingrauen in oure bodies when we are baptised For God by his spirite thorough the bloud of his sonne hath newly regenerated and purged againe oure souls and euen now doth regenerate and purge them And baptisme is sufficient and effectual for the whole life of man yea and reacheth and is referred to all the sinnes of all them that are baptised For the promise of God is true The seale of the promise is true not deceiueable The power of Christ is euer effectuall throughly to cleanse and wash away all the sinnes of them that be his Howe often therefore soeuer wee haue sinned in our life time let vs call into oure remembrance the mysterie of holy baptisme wherewith for the whole course of our life we are washed that we might know not doubt that our sinnes are forgiuen vs of the same God and oure Lord yea and by the bloud of Christe into whome by baptisme once we are graffed that he might alwayes woorke saluation in vs euen til we be receiued out of myserie into glorie Neither is there any doubt that Abraham in his whole life had continually in his minde the mysterie of circumcision and rested in God and the séede promised vnto him Yet I thinke that that ought diligently to be marked which S. Augustine pithily plainly hath ofteÌ„ cited That our sinnes are forgiuen or purged in baptisme not that they are no more in vs for as long as we liue concupiscence beareth swaye alwayes breedeth and bringeth forth in vs somewhat like it selfe but that they shuld not be imputed vnto vs neither that wee may not â—inne but that it should not bee hurtfull for vs to haue or had sinned that our sinnes may be remitted when they are committed not suffered to be continued De Fide operib cap. 20. And also many more of this kind Gratian reciteth Distinct 4. de Consecrat Beside that by baptisme wee are gathered together into the fellowship of the people of god Wherevppon of some it is called the first signe or entrie into Christianitie by the whiche an entraunce into the churche lieth open vnto vs Not that before wee did not belong to the church For whosoeuer is of Christ partaker of the promises of God and of his eternall couenaunt belongeth vnto the Churche Baptisme therefore is a visible signe and testimonie of our ingraffing into the bodie of Christ And it is rightly called a planting incorporating or ingraffing into the bodie of Christe For I said in the generall discourse of Sacramentes that wee first by baptisme were ioyned with Christe and afterward with all the members of Christ our brethren For Paul saith All ye that are baptised haue put on Christ But to put on Christ is to bée made one with him as as it were to be ioyned and incorporated in him that he may liue in vs and we in him For hée onely by his spirite regenerateth and renueth vs and most liberally inricheth vs with all manner good giftes which the same Apostle in another place expresseth in these words God saued vs by the founteine of the regeneration renuing of the holy Ghost whiche he shedd on vs richly through Iesus Christ our sauiour Yea and therefore Christ our Lord is baptised in oure baptisme to declare that he is our brother and we ioynte-heires with him Verie well therefore said S. August That baptisme is thus farre forceable that wee beeing baptised are incorporated into Christ and counted his members The same Aug. calleth Baptisme the sacrament of Christian felowship For we are gathered againe visibly by baptisme into the vnitie of one bodie with all the faithfull as many as haue beene are and shal be For Paule also saith By one spirite wee are all baptised into one bodie And it followeth hereby that baptisme serueth for our confession and is rightly called the token of Christian religion For it is a badge or cognizaunce wherby we witnesse and professe that wée consent and are lincked into Christian religion Wée coÌ„fesse that we by nature are sinners and vncleane but sanctified by the grace of God through Christ For if we were cleane by nature what néeded we then any cleansing But now since wee are cleansed who doubteth of the truth of God Therefore when we receiue baptisme wee truely and fréely confesse both our sinne wherein we were borne and also frée forgiuenesse of sinnes Lastly the remembrance and consideration of the mysterie of baptisme putteth vs in minde of the dueties of Christianitie and Godlines that is to say al our life long to weigh diligently with our selues of whose bodie we be made members to denie our selues and this world to mortifie our fleshe with that coÌ„cupiscences of the same and to be buried with Christ into his death that we may rise againe in newnesse of life and liue innocently to loue our brethren as our meÌ„bers with whom by baptisme we are knit together into one bodie to remaine in the bond of concord in the vnitie of the church not to followe straunge religions béeing mindeful that we are baptised into Christ to whome alone we are consecrated and farre separated and diuided from all other Gods worships or religions and to be short from all heresies Let vs thincke also that wée must constantly and valiantly fighte against Sathan and the whole kingdome of Sathan As often therefore as wée remember wée are baptised with Christes baptisme so often are these thinges put into our mindes and wée admonished of our duetie But the Apostle handleth this matter more at large in the sixt Chapter of his epistle to the Romanes where hee expresly maketh meÌ„tion that we by baptisme are made the graftes of Christ that is to say that we might growe out of him as braunches out of the vine and féele in our mindes and bodies both the death and resurrection of Christe For since we are indued with the spirit of Christ which worketh in vs our body verily dieth daily but oure spirite liueth and reioyceth in Christe To whom be glorie for euer and euer Amen ¶ Of the Lords holie Supper what it is by whome when and for whome it was instituted after what sort when and howe oft it is to be celebrated and
of the endes thereof Of the true meaning of the woordes of the Supper This is my body Of the presence of Christ in the Supper Of the true eating of Christes bodie Of the worthie vnworthie eaters therof and howe euerie man ought to prepare himselfe vnto the Lords Supper ¶ The ninthe Sermon VNto the holy baptisme of our Lord Christ is coupled the Sacrament of the bodie bloud of our lord which we call the Lords Supper For those whome the Lord hath regenerated with the lauer of regeneration those doeth hee also féede with his spirituall foode and nourisheth them vnto eternall life wherefore it followeth necessarily that wée intreate nexte of the holy Supper of the Lord. This hath many names euen as hath the feast of Passeouer and is instituted in the place thereof in old time it was called The Passing ouer or the Lords Passeouer whiche was in déede a memorial of the Passeouer also a Remembrance Signe Solemnitie a festiual or holie day a méeting together or an holy assemblie an obseruation of worshipping a ceremonie and sacrifice of Passeouer a sacrifice or offering of which we haue spoken in place conuenient This is called by S. Paule the Apostle The Lords supper because this Ceremonie was instituted by the Lord in his last supper and because therein is offered vnto vs the spirituall banquet The same Paul termeth it and that doubtlesse for none other causes By the same Paule it is also called the Communion not so much for that wee haue communion or fellowship with Christe and hee with vs as that wee being many are one bread one bodie which do partake of the same bread Luke calleth it Breaking of bread naming the whole by a parte And it is euident that our forefathers of old gaue not vnto the receiuers of the Lords supper a morsell but that they brake the bread amongest themselues In time past firme leagues were perfourmed by breaking of bread It is called also a memoriall and remembrance of the Lords passion For the Lord said Doe this in the remembrance of mee It is named a thankesgiuing because when wee celebrate the Lords supper wee thanke him for all his benefites and especially for his death by the whiche wee are redéemed It is called also a Token and a mysterie and a sacrament of the bodie and bloud of the lord Our forefathers did terme it by this word Synaxis Synaxis is a ioyning together a knitting a closing or an agréement For the Church is ioyned and vnited vnto Christe in the holy Supper by a most streight league and to conclude the members themselues are therewith ioyned very fast together Furthermore it is called an assembly of Saincts an holy company and a gathering together For in the old time it was neuer customablye celebrated but in the common assembly of the Church Whiche is plainely to be proued by the words of the Apostle 1. Corinth 2. To conclude we shall offend nothing at all if we call the supper of our Lord The Testament and will of God and of oure lord For herein shalt thou finde all thinges belonging to a full and perfecte Testament For Christe is the Testatour All faithful Christians are appointed heires The Legacie is the forgiuenes of sinnes and life euerlasting obteined by the body of Christ which was giuen his bloud which was shedd The letters or table of this testament or wil be the words of the Lords supper wittnessing as it were by a publique writing that Christ is the foode and life of the faithful The order and doing thereof is as it were the seale Wherefore euen as we do call that a testament whiche hath letters sealed conteyning a testament both by writing and sealing so the Lord himselfe did call his supper a testament For This cupp said hee is the newe testament in my bloud For otherwise the newe testament is not the remission of sinnes Whiche thing Ieremie the prophete doeth plainely testifie in the 31. Chapiter and Paule to the Hebrues in the eighth Chapiter This holy mysterie hath diuerse other names but these for the most part are chiefest and most cōmonly vsed Of the other names wee will speake else-where They doe define for the most part the Lordes supper to bee a spirituall banquet wherewith the Lord doeth both kepe his death in remembrance and also féedeth his people vnto life euerlasting But let me set downe a more large description thereof vnto you The supper of the Lord is an holy action instituted vnto the Churche from God wherein the Lord by the setting of bread and wine before vs at the banquet doeth certifie vnto vs his promise and communion and sheweth vnto vs his giftes and layeth them before oure senses gathereth them together into one body visibly and to be short will haue his death kept of the faithfull in remembrance and admonisheth vs of our duetie and especially of praise and thākesgining First we say that the supper of the Lord is an action or déed For the Lord when hee made his supper did giue thanks vnto God he brake bread and gaue the cupp and said Doe this in the remembraunce of mee Againe it cannot be euery action For at the table where we eate meat we also giue thankes vnto God wée breake bread and giue the cup but it is an holy action because it is from God and instituted vnto the Church Wherefore it farr differeth frō our ordinarie meate suppers as wel for that it is specially instituted by the sonne of God vnto the Church as also because it hath the word of God and the peculiar example of Christ Therefore S. Paul making a difference betwene this and common eating sayeth If any man hunger let him eate at home least that yee come together to your condemnation And againe Haue ye not houses to eate drincke in As though hée might say This supper is mystical Again what maner of action it is it doth forthwith appeare by that whiche felloweth where the Lord by the setting of bread and wine before vs at the banquet doeth assure vs of his promise and communion c. This supper therefore hath his peculiar limites of the whiche although I spake when I entreated generally of the vertue of the Sacraments yet will I repeate certeine of them that make most for this purpose when I shall drawe toward an end of this Sermon But concerning the description of this supper these thinges are chiefly to be consider and declared First who did institute it who is the true authour and maker of the Lords supper not any man but the very sonne of God himselfe the wisedome of the father verie God and man So that wee come not to the table of men althoughe a man being the minister bée the chiefest there neither do wée receiue holy signes at the handes of the minister onely but also at the hand of oure Lord himselfe
whose guestes wée are if we be faithfull He hath consecrated the supper for vs and doeth yet consecrate it by his holy word his will and his power of which matter we spake before And because the faithfull vnderstand and know these things they sitt downe to the holy and heauenly banquet with Christ being wholie occupied in heauenly thinges both in minde and soule Hee instituted the supper the same night that he was betrayed and the next night by his death and bloudsheding he confirmed the new testament For so soone as hee had eaten the figuratiue Lambe with his disciples and had plainely told them that from that time forwards that ceremonie should not be vsed the supper was established in the place of that which was abolished That like as the bloudie Lambe did signifie that Christ should suffer euen so the bread which is with out bloud witnesseth that Christ who is the bread of life is alreadie baked vpon the crosse and hath suffered and made the food for all beléeuers Wherfore that night was worthie to be obserued and celebrated and that last supper is full of mysteries For wee commonly most of all account of the words déeds of our dearest friendes whiche they vse a little before their death Wherefore as all Christes doinges are beloued and pretious vnto vs so ought this his last supper to be most déerely beloued and pretious in our sight The supper consisteth of the word and manner promise and ceremonie The word is this that Christ is preached to haue béene giuen vpp to death for our sinnes and that hee shedd his bloud for the remission of our sinnes Promise is made vnto al that beléeue that their offences shall bee forgiuen The same thinge is also expressed by the manner The manner is diligently sett downe in writing by S. Matthew Marke and Luke whome S. Paule following hath nothing at all varied from them The wordes therefore déerely beloued as they be gathered out of these foure into one text I will recite vnto you The same night in the Euening wherein he was betrayed the Lord came with the twelue and when it was time hee sate downe the twelue with him And while they were eating Iesus tooke bread when he had giuen thankes he brake it and gaue it vnto his disciples saying Take and eate this is my bodie which is giuen for you or broken Doe this in the remembraunce of mee Likewise taking the cup after he had supped hee gaue thanâ—kes deliuered it vnto theÌ„ saying Take ye this diuide it among you drink ye al therof And they dranke al therof And he said vnto them this is my bloud which is of the new TestameÌ„t which is shed for many for the remission of their sins This cup is the new testameÌ„t in my bloud which is shed for you This do as ofte as you shall drink it in the remembrance of mee Verily I say vnto you that I will not drinke hencefoorth of the fruite of the vine vntill that day come that I drinke it new with you in my fathers kingdom These are word for word the solemne moste holy wordes of the Lorde spoken at his last supper The high bishop of the catholike church Christ our Lord celebrated his supper with his disciples in like sorte as we haue now séene heard without al pompe simplie plainly sparingly He tooke away the ouer-busie ceremonie of the lawe appointing an other verie easie to be gotten and no thing sumptuous Moste thinges apperteining to the law were troublesome and all belonging to the gospel easie nothing sumptuous The Lord sitteth downe with his twelue disciples Whereby we learue that first of all there must a companie bée gathered together which must celebrate the supper In his assemblie these thinges doth the Lord First of all he preacheth most diligently vnto his disciples of those things especially which concerne the mysterie of his passion and of our redemption But wheresoeuer is the preaching hearing of the word of God or of the gospel of Christ there are also gronings vowes or prayers of the faithfull wherfore they that intende to celebrate the supper of the Lord before althing according to the example institution of the highe bishop Christ our Lord they do most diligently heare the preaching of the Gospel also pray most earnestly Afterward he took bread the lord blessed it and brake it moreouer he gaue vnto his disciples bad them eate Anon he parted the Cup among them commaunding them al to drinke thereof And therevpon he plainely and expresly commaunded saying Do this to wit as you haue séene me do Wherfore the disciples did eate the bread and dranke all of the cup. Therfore they the celebrate the Lords supper lawfully do one vnto an other breake distribute and eate the Lords bread which they receiue at the handes of Christes ministers likewise distribute and drinke al of the Lords cup which they receiue at the hands of Christes ministers And like as the high bishop Christ bad theÌ„ do it in remembrance of him so they the celebrate the Lords supper remeÌ„ber the death of Christ all his benefits Moreouer as the Lord hath gone before vs in his example in giuing thanks to God the Father so likewise do the faithfull make an ende with this holy mysterie with giuing of thaÌ„ks praysing his goodnes and mercie because he is good and his mercie indureth for euer This is the most simple best maner of the Lords supper whiche the Apostles receiuing of Christ deliuered to be obserued of all nations Wherfore when this questioÌ„ is asked Whether it be lawfull to sup after an other rite or manner Whether it be lawfull to add or diminishe any thing froÌ„ the maner left deliuered or to chaunge any thing therin Whether the supper of the lord ought only to be celebrated after the maner alreadie deliuered not after any other there is no small follie rastnesse yea rather great vngodlinesse therein bewrayed For to what end serueth the most simple most plaine best and perfectest forme of the supper deliuered of the Lord himselfe receiued of his apostles if we deuise another who I pray you shal deliuer a better than the sonne of God himselfe the highe priest of the Catholique Churche hath alreadie deliuered Or who I beséech you that is well in his wittes shall either add or diminish any thing to the ordinaunces of God Who dare be so â—old as to chaunge that whiche is deliuered by the euerlasting wisedome of God All the sayings and doinges of Christ are most perfect Therefore the fourme also of the Lords supper is a moste perfect fourme of a right singular and excellent ordinaunce or institution The rites or ceremonies of celebrating the sacramentes of the olde testament were most perfect so deliuered from the first institution of them that nothing was added to theÌ„ nor taken froÌ„ them by suche
treatise of the sacramēts therefore at this presēt we will do no more but touche them briefly for memories sake meaning to handle those things somewhat more largly which shall by occasion arise as they are intreated vppon But this word Cōmunion I meane the societie cōiunction or partaking of the lord Christ by the which through his spirit he doth wholy knitt and ioyne himselfe to vs and wee are made partakers of him by faith are coupled vnto him so that being by him deliuered from sinn and death we may liue in him being made heires of euerlasting life and that hée maye liue in vs and bee wholie ours as we be wholie his Neither doe wée say that the communion of the Lords body bloud is any thing else For by his body which was deliuered ouer to death for vs and by his bloud whiche was shed for the remission of our sinns it is come to passe that we being purged from oure sinnes are made his members and he now quickeneth vs and susteineth vs as food which giueth life wherevppon wee are also said to eate and drinke him as the meate and drinke of life The promise therefore wherof we made mention euen now is none other than the woord of God which declareth vnto vs that life is in Christ only For Christ deliuered his body to the death and shedd his bloud for the remission of our sinnes that we beléeuing in him maye haue life euerlasting But this promise communion of Christ is not nowe first of all giuen in the supper or by the supper For the Lord our God immediatly after the creatiō of the world promised life and remission of sinnes vnto Adam his séed through Christ afterward renued the same promise w Noe Abraham Moses Dauid and the other fathers And that the fathers did communicate with Christ were partakers of his goodnes Paul the Apostle w the whole scripture is a witnes But this so great goodnes happened not to the fathers onely For the promise was made vnto vs also and the communion of Christ was conueyed vnto vs is conueyed particularly vnto euery one of vs in holy baptisme also in the manifest preaching of the Gospel moreouer we receiue the same by faith by which we are ioyned to Christ and are made his members Therfore as we are not void without Christ before the supper but are quickened by him made his members or partners so in the verye action or celebration of the supper the promise is renued vnto vs and we renue continue that fellowship which we haue with Christ by the body and bloud of Christe spiritually truly participating his life and all his good giftes through faith And by this meanes we eate the Lords body and drinke his bloud Moreouer the Lord doth visibly declare scale vnto vs the spirituall cōmunion promise of life made through Christ by visible signes to wit the banquet of bread and wine ioyned to his word or promise namely that he is the quickening bread and drinke that we hauing receiued the signes by faith and obedience beeing therto sealed do take vppon vs the promise communion of Christe by imprinting or transferring into our bodies the seale or sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ Of which thing the Apostle hath also intreated in the first Corinth cap. 10. And also to the Rom. cap. 4. we also haue said more thereof in the generall treatise of the sacraments But before I intreate further of other ends of the supper consisting in the description thereof I wil recite what othersome allege of the promise and communion of Christ They condemne our doctrine as hereticall For they contend that the lord promised the hee would giue vnto the faithfull his very body bloud to be eaten dronken vnder the forme of bread wine therfore it must by al meanes and without al contradiction be beléeued that the bread is the Lords naturall body and the wine his bloud that these ought to be eaten and dronken not only spiritually but also corporally vnto life euerlasting And that Christ is bodily present in the supper and the the bread is his body the wine his bloud thus they proue That which the lord speaketh cānot be false for he is the trueth it selfe But he saith that the bread is his body the wine his bloud Therefore the bread and wine of the sacrament are verily really and essentially the body bloud of Christ Whiche trueth they say must simply he beléeued although reason it selfe the whole world all senses and nature it selfe be against it We answere the in déede all things are very true which the Lord hath spoken who is truth it selfe but in that sense which he himself said and vnderstood not in that meaning which we wil inforce vpō his words Wherfore before all things we must search out the true sense of the Lords words in the supper This is my body This is my bloud c. These men crye out saying that the Lords words ought to be expounded simply according to the letter For they are wordes of the testament and the same would not haue his words to be taken by a trope of figure But wee say that all the Euangelical and apostolical bookes are numbered vnder the name of the testament therefore throughout all and euery place of the Scripture nothing must be corrupted nothing added nothing taken away vnlesse we will be subiect to the curse Wée are also constreined to confesse that there be infinite sentences in the holy scripturs which if we will procéede to expound simply according to the letter we shall ouerthrow the whole scripture the true faith or we shall séeme to goe about to reproue the scriptures of lyes or contradictiō I wil bring forth one of two examples of this sort The Euāgelist S. John writeth The word became flesh Now if we wil cleaue to the very words then must we say that God was chaunged into man But forasmuch as this sense is contrary to the faith and the scriptures For God is immutable and Christ is perfect God and man without all mingling or conuerting of naturs but remayning stil in their ownepropertics and so do we admit this exposition which declareth that the word toke flesh and that God was made man And this sense is not against scripture For Paul saith that the sonne of God neuer toke vpon him the nature of angels but the séede of Abraham And therefore the eatholique fathers together with the apostle doe expoūd this word Est is by this word Assumpsit toke vppon him Whereof Theodoret hath intreated at large in his Polymorphus Dialog 1. Againe the Lord saith in the same John The father is greater than I we should make an inequalitie in adoring the Trinitie if wee should contend that the Lordes words are simply to be vnderstood without interpretation But by cōference of other
places taking aduise of faith we say that the sonne is equall with the father touching his diuinitie but inferiour vnto him in respect of his humanitie according to that saying of the prophete which is alleged by the Apostle to that purpose Thou hast made him litle inferiour to the angels We read in the Eospell that Christ our lord had brethren and that S. John the Apostle was called the sonn of Marie Marie called the mother of John. But who vnlesse he were infected with the heresie of Heluidius wil stand herein that these places are to be expounded according to the letter specially since other places of the scripture do manifestly proue that they were called brethren which in déede were brothers sisters children cousen germans kinsmen or néere of bloud also the circumstāces of the place in the 19. cap. of S. John proue that Marie was committed to John as a mother to her sonne Wherefore if they haue a desire stil to wrangle as hetherto at their owne pleasures wee haue by proofe founde them to doe crying out and in crying to repeate This is my bodie This is my bloud This is This is This is This is Is Is Is Wée will also repeate The woord was made was made was made flesh The father is is is greater than I. Christ hath brethren I say he hath brethren hee hath brethren The scripture hath so The trueth sayeth so But tell mee nowe what commoditie shal there redound to the Church by these troublesome odious outcries and most froward contentions Howe shall the hearers be edified Howe shal the glorie of God be enlarged How shal that truth be set forth Necessitie therfore cōstreyneth vs to confesse that in some places wée must forsake the letter but not the sense and that sense is to be allowed which faith it selfe w other places of scripture conferred with it and finally the circumstances of the place the first being compared with the last do yeld as it were of their owne accord Howbeit we also cry out and repeate againe and againe that we ought not without great cause to goe from the simplicitie of the word But when as the absurditie not of reason but of pietie and the repugnancie of the Scriptures and contrarietie to the articles of oure faith doe inforce vs then we say affirme and cōtend that it is godly yea necessarie to departe from the letter and from the simplicitie of the words And that these places which we alledged euen now doe constreine vs to depart from the letter in these words of the Lord This is my bodie This is my bloud wée will proue by most sound arguments taken out of the sciptures when I haue first briefly declared the true auncient sense meaning of those vsuall and solemne words The Lord sitting at the selfe same table with his disciples reached the bread vnto them with his owne hand And he hauing only one true humane and natural body with the very same bodie of his deliuered bread vnto his disciples and not a body either of any other mans or that of his owne Neither doeth that trouble vs whiche S. Augustine reciteth of Dauid in expounding the 33. Psalm And he was borne in his owne hands where vnto he addeth immediatly Who is borne in his owne handes A man may bee borne in the hands of other men but none can be borne in his owne This is therefore ment of Dauid not of Christ For Christe was borne in his owne handes when as commending his very body vnto them he said This is my body For that body was borne in his owne handes For by these wordes S. Augustine doth not feigne that Christ hath two humane bodies but he meaneth that the humane body bare in his handes the Sacramentall bodie that is to say the bread which is the sacrament of the true body For he speaketh plainely saying He cōmending his body bare that body in his owne hands For in the second sermon almost in the same words being but a litle chaunged he saith How was he borne in his owne hands For whē he had commended his body bloud he toke that in his handes whiche the faithful know and after a sort he bare himselfe when he said This is my bodie By which words he manifestly de clared that he ment not that Christ in his naturall body deliuered his naturall body to his disciples but the which the faithful do know to wit the sacrament or mysterie For it followeth And hee bare himselfe after a sort I pray you marke this saying After a sort when hee said this is my body Wherfore those solemne words This is my body whiche is broken for you And likewise this is my bloud which is shedd for you can haue none other sense thā this This is a cōmemoration memoriall or remembrance signe or sacrament of my bodie which is giuen for you This cup or rather the wine in the cup signifieth or representeth vnto you my bloud whiche was once shed for you For there followeth in the Lords solemne words that which notably confirmeth this meaning Do this in the remēbrance of me As if he should say Now am I present with you before your eyes I shall die ascend vp into heauen then shall this holy bread wine be a memorial or token of my body and bloud giuen shed for you Then breake the bread eate it distribute the cup and drink it and do this in the remembrance of me praysing my benefits bestowed on you in redéeming you giuing you life Althoughe this interpretation bee most slaunderously reuiled and become abhominable in the sight of many yet is it manifest to be the true proper and most auncient interpretation of all other Tertul. lib. 4. contra Mart. saith Christ taking the bread and distributing it to his disciples made it his bodie in saying This is my body that is to say the figure of my bodie Hierom vpon S. Matt. Gospel saith That like as in the prefiguring of Christ Melchisedech the priest of almightie God had done in bringing forth bread wine so he might represent the truth of his bodie Chrysostome also in his 83. homilie vpon Matt. If Iesus be not dead saith he whose token signe is this sacrifice Ambrose vppon the first to the Corinthians cap. 11. Because wee be deliuered by the Lords death saith he being mindeful thereof in eating drinking we do signifie the flesh and the bloud whiche were offered for vs Au. Aug. also in many places heapeth vpp many speaches like to this same kind of speach The bloud is the soule The rock was Christ And This is my body Let vs heare then what he saith of these speaches that we may vnderstand what he thinketh of the true interpretation of this text This is my body In the 3. booke of Questions in the 57. question vppon Leuiticus hee saith It remayneth that that be called the soule whiche signifieth the
soule For the thing that signifieth is wont to be called by the name of that thing whiche it signifieth as it is written The seuen eares of wheate are seuen yeares He said not doe signifie seuen yeres And seuen oxen are seueÌ„ yeres and many such like In like sort it is said The rocke was Christ Hee said not The rock signifieth Christ but as though it were so in deede whiche is not the same in substance but by signification So likewise the bloud beecause thrugh a certeine vital substaÌ„ce in it signifieth the soule in the sacraments is called the soule Thus far he The same Augustine also against Adimantus cap. 12. saith So is bloud the soule like as the rock was Christ And againe in the same place he saith I may also expouÌ„d that that precept of the bloud and soule of the beast c. consisteth in the signe For the lord douted not to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body Thus much Augustine There is no foole so doultish that will say that these wordes of Augustine are darcke or doubtfull Who so liste maye add here vnto that which the same authour hath plainely written concerning figuratiue spéech Libro 2. Contra Aduers Legis Cap. 9. But let vs leaue off to cite mens testimonies coÌ„cerning the proper and most auncient exposition of Christes wordes This is my bodie Let vs rather procéede to alledge sounde arguments out of the scriptures as we promised to do thereby to proue that wée must sometime of necessitie depart from the letter that Christes words are accordingly as I haue said to bée expounded by a figure First it is euident that the Lord at this present instituted a Sacrament whereby it is manifest that the Lord spake after the same manner as he is wont to speake in other places of the scripture concerning sacraments as when he saith that circumcision is the Lords couenaunt the lambe the Lords Passeouer that sacrifices are sinnes and sanctifications baptisme the water of regeneration But we declared in the sixt sermon of this Decade that all these kindes of speaches remaine to be expouÌ„ded This saying or spéech therefore is to be expounded This is my bodie This is my bloud because it is sacramentall For it receiued the common interpretation whiche most truly and for certeinty was vsed and receiued by the catholique church euer since the time of the Apostles yea and euer since the time of the Patriarches vnto this day to wit that signes do receiue the termes and names of those things that are signified so that thereby they receiue no part of their substance but do stil continue remaine in their owne proper nature For this cause it coÌ„meth to passe that our Lord Christe in the Gospell written by S. Luke did ioyne the banquet of the Passeouer with this our lordes supper in such sort that he substituted this in the place of the other that it should not séeme straunge if he said in this our supper This is my body for in the solemnizing of the feast of Passeouer it is thus said The lambe is the Lords Passeouer Which kind of speach was not darke to be vnderstoode by the Apostles who vnderstoode that this lambe was a remembrance of the passage once past By that meanes also they vnderstood that the Lords bread giuen vnto them by the Lord is a remembrance of his body For in other matters of much lesse weight they diligeÌ„tly questioned and inquired of the Lord touching the proper sense signification of the words But of these woordes they neuer once doubted or asked any question For al sacramental spéeches were to the holy fathers very wel knowen Moreouer if we continue to vnderstand the words of the supper simply according to the letter it followeth that the Lord hath deliuered vnto vs his body and bloud corporally to be receiued And I pray you to what ende should hee deliuer them but that we receiuing them corporally might liue But the vniuersal canonical scripture teacheth that our life or saluation our iustificatioÌ„ coÌ„sisteth in faith only which we repose in the body which was giuen the bloud shedd for vs which is the spiritual eating not in any work of ours much lesse in the bodily eating of Christes body whiche he sheweth in another place to be nothing auaileable Then since there is but one meanes and that most simple wherby to obteine life and iustification to wit by faith only not by the work of our eating neither is the scripture repugnant to it selfe surely the Lord hath not instituted any such worke of eating therefore the solemne words of the supper do admit some other exposition If the bread were the lords true and natural body it must néeds follow the euen the wicked being partakers of this bread shuld eate Christs body that verily his flesh shuld be meate to feed the bellie since they that eate it lack both mindes faith But all holy men abhorre that thought as absurd most vnworthie of whiche matter I will intreate more hereafter Therfore the saying of Christ This is my body admitteth an expositioÌ„ The whole vniuersal canonical scripture witnesseth that our Lord Iesus Christ toke a body of the vndefiled virgin consubstantial in al poincts vnto our bodies that is to say an humane bodie yea that hee was made like to vs in all respectes except sinne Nowe it is manifest that he spake of his true sensible bodie when he sayeth This is my body For he addeth Whiche is broken or giuen for you But the true natural sensible or humane body was deliuered and died for vs But this appeareth not in the bread or vnder the bread Wherefore the Lords words must be expounded Surely if it had béene the Lords will to make his body of bread his bloud of wine according to the power wherby he made all thinges with his word as soone â—s euer he had said This is my body the bread had béene the body of Christ and that very body whereof he spake mortall passible to be felt and séene For he spake the word and they were made he commaunded and they were created He said let ther be light and light was made and such kind of light as might be perceiued and did shine But in the supper we sée nothing in Christes hands but bread no body And therfore it was not our sauiours meaning by these words This is my bodie to create or make his body of the bread For if he had ment so to do surely it had béene done Neither is there any cause why they should here as it were casting their mistes before our eyes and applie their coloured interpretations vnto a rotten construction vsing wordes vnspeâ—keably supernaturally inuisibly not qualitiuely not quantiuely not as in a place For by these termes they intending in the meane while to bring some other thing to passe doe by the wonderfull iudgement of God quite subuert and ouerthrow
vnto euerlasting life They gather Therefore he hath giuen his verie body and bloude to the saythfull vnder the forme of breade and wine for meate and drinke to euerlasting life Whervpon it must be eaten corporally as it is corporall To the confirmation whereof they alledge the Lordes words as they are written in the 6. chapter of Iohns Gospell We answere God most perfectly and fully perfourmeth that which hee hath promised but wee adde that he perfourmeth not according to that meaning that we deuise but as his worde truely importeth We must therfore sée first of all in what sense the Lord promised to giue his flesh for breade and his bloud for drinke to the faithfull and next how we ought to eate his flesh and how to drink his bloud These thinges truly which the Lord promiseth heere are wel-nigh all allegories Parables The Lorde promiseth that he wil giue vs his sleshfor bread or meat his bloud for drink But because meate and drincke are ordeined and giuen vnto men to preserue their bodily life and the Lorde in the 6. chapter of Iohn speaketh not of the life of the bodie but of the soule there is a passage made from bodily thinges to spirituall thinges When therefore the lorde promised that hée woulde giue vs his fleash for breade or meate and his bloude for drink what other thing did he promise vs than that hée woulde giue his bodie to the death and shed his bloude for the remission of sinnes For by the death of Christe wee are as it were by meate preserued and deliuered from death By Christes bloude wee are washed from sinne our soules are as it were with drincke spiritually drunken Therefore the Lorde speaketh nothing héere of the bread of the lords supper neither doth he promise that at the supper hee will make of bread his fleash or that he would giue his bodie in fourme of bread Then let this mine exposition of Christes wordes concerning the giueing of Christes bodie or fleash in the fourme of bread c be false and â—eigned vnlesse I confirme the same by the wordes of Christe The Lorde said in the Gospell Seeke for the meate that perisheth not but remayneth to life euerlasting whiche the sonne of man shall giue vnto you A little after by interpretation hee addeth And the bread which I will giue vnto you is my fleash which I will giue for the life of the worlde I said that I would giue you breade or meate For this worde bread is after the Hebrue manner vsed by the Lorde for meate and all manner of sustenaunce but saith he this bread or this meate is my flesh and therefore I promise to giue you my fleashe when I promise to giue you The Breade of Life Héere haste thou expressely to vnderstande that the Lorde by breade did not meane bodily bread or the breade of the supper But how doeth hée promise to giue his fleash for bread that is to say to be meate for vs or to quicken vs The Lorde repeateth this worde I will giue and saith Whiche I will giue for the life of the worlde I will giue it that is to say euen to the death that through my death I may quicken you By dying therefore my fleash shall féede that is to say shall quicken Thus muche concerning the promise of his fleash for breade héereafter followeth of the eatinge thereof Like as the holy Scripture setteth downe in euery place without trope or allegorie that wee are made partakers of Christes death or of his body which was giuen for the worlde vnto life through faith so also in this presente place by a trope or allegorie hee biddeth vs to eate and drink the fleash and bloud of Christe vnto euerlasting life Therefore to eate Christes fleash and drinke his bloud is nothing else but to beléeue that Christs body was giuen for vs and his bloud shâ—d for vs to the remission of sinnes and consequently that were maine in Christ and haue Christ remaining in vs For the faith whereof wee spake is not onely an imagination or thoughte concerning things past excéeding our capacitie but a most certeine assurance a féeling of heaue â–ª ly things receiued within vs to our great commoditie For therefore not only faith but also the vertue force of faith is by the Lord signified in Iohn by the allegorie both of eating and drinking Meat passeth not into the substaunce of our body without delight so also by faith thorough a greate desire of the spirite wee are ioyned with Christe that he may liue in vs and wee may liue in Christ be partakers of all his good giftes This is the spiritual eating of Christ who neuer thought no not somuch as once dreamed in this place of the grosse and bodily eating which is indéede vnprofitable But for asmuche as the whole point of the controuersie consisteth in these wordes of eating and drinking the flesh and bloud of the lord they interpreting the same words bodily and we spiritually it séemeth good to be shewed that by the words of eating drinking the Lord ment no other thing than to beléeue and consequently to abide in Christe and to haue Christ abiding in vs we will therefore by conference of places of the scripture bring foorth sire euident testimonies in confirmation of our assertion I am sayth the Lord that Bread of life Who so commeth to me shall not hunger and who so beleeueth in me shall not thirst for euer But who wil deny that there is relation betwéene to eate and not to hunger to drink not to thirst Because therfore y Lord said â–ª He shal not hunger he should first haue saide Whoso eateth me But he rather vsed y word of comming and sayed Whoso commeth to me shall not hunger To eate therfore is to come and to come is to eate And what it is to come to him he expoundeth immediatly saying Whosoeuer hath heard from the father hath learned he it is that commeth to me y is to say receiueth me beléeueth in me For Paul also sayeth Whosoeuer will come to GOD must beeleue These testimonies without contradiction doe proue that to eate is nothing else but to beléeue Yet that followeth whiche is more manifeste And whoso beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst And Whoso drinketh shall not thirst therefore to drink he hath put for to beleeue Therfore to drink is to beléeue For faith satisfieth pacifieth our mindes Héere they haue an answer y make this obiection Whether the Lord himselfe had not words whereby he might declare his minde if so be by eating drinking hee had ment beléeuing They haue I say an open testimonie wherby he vseth the one for the other Againe in the same treatise y Lord saith Whoso eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting life and I will raise him at the latter day And again in y same tretise he saith This is the wil
of him that sent mee that who soeuer shall see the sonne beleeue in him may haue euerlasting life I wil rayse him at the later day Lo héere thou haste againe these wordeâ— to eate Christes flesh to drink his bloud and to beléeue in Christe all in one sense Againe the Lord sayeth I am the liuely bread which came downe from heauen And againe he saith Verilie I say vnto you he that beleueth in me hath life euerlasting Whosoeuer shal eate of this bread shall liue for euer Then to eate Christe and to beléeue in Christe are all one And againe he saith Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in me I in him Moreouer Iohn in his Canonicall epistle saith Who soeuer shall confesse that is to say shal beleue that Iesus is the sonne of God God abideth in him and hee in God. Againe Verily verily I say vnto you vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the sonne of man drink his bloud you can haue no life in you And the same Lord saith also in the 8. chap. of Iohn If you doe not beleeue that I am yee shall dye in your sinnes And againe Verilie Verilie I say vnto you whoso keepeth my sayinges he shall neuer see death Againe the Lord saith Like as the liuing father hath sent me and I liue by meanes of the Father so likewise whoso eateth mee shall also liue by meanes of me And Iohn in the â— cha sayeth Like as the father hath life in himself so hath he giuen to the sonne to haue life in him felfe And likewise in his Canonicall epistle hee sayeth Whoso beleeueth in the sonne of God hath a testimonie in him selfe And Whoso hath the sonne hath life Vnto these most euident testimonies of God we wil now ioyne y testimonies of men whiche doe say the very same that to eate Christ is nothinge else but to beléeue in Christ and to abide in Christe S. Augustine in his 2â— treatise vpon Iohn expounding these wordes of the Lord saith This is the worke of God that you should beleeue in him whome he sent as he left written This is therefore to eate the meate that perisheth not but which remaineth vnto â—uerlastinglife Why then doest thou prepare thy teeth and thy belly Beleeue and thou haste eaten The same againe in his 26. treatise saith To beleue in him this is to eate the bread of life Whoso beleeueth in him eateth inuisibly and is filled bicause he is borne inuisibly And again in y same treatise he saith This is to eat that meat drink that drink to abide in Christ and to haue Christe abiding in him by this meanes who so abideth not in Christ in whome Christe doeth not abide doubtles hee neither eateth spiritually his fleashe c. The same Augustine Lib. de Doctrina Christiana Cap. 16. shewing when a figuratiue speach is to be admited and wheÌ„ not sayth If it be an inioyning speach or forbiding some heynous offence or trespasse or commaunding some profite or good deed to be done it is not figuratiue But if it seeme to coÌ„maund some heynous offence or trespasse or to forbid some profite or good deede then is it figuratiue Vnlesse you eate the fleashe of the sonne of man and drink his bloud you can haue no life in you this seemeth to command an heynous offence trespasse therefore it is figuratiue willinge vs to bee partakers of the Lords passion and sweetely and profitably to keepe in memorie that his fleash was crucified and wounded for vs. Thus said Augustine who doubtlesse set downe not onely his owne meaninge héerein but also the meaning of the whole eatholique Church which was at that time Let our aduersariâ—s therefore take héede what they dâ— who will driue all y faithful to this wickednesse offence to wit that we should corporally eate Christs bodie Furthermore héervnto is to be added that which by reason of the perspicuitie plainnesse thereof doeth almoste surpasse all that wee haue alleadged before which the Lord himselfe aunsweared to those that woondred or rather murmured saying How can he giue vs that his fleash to eate after that hee had declared the summe of that true faith Doth this offend you sayeth hée that I saide I would giue you bread whiche came from Heauen euen my fleash to be meate to all beléeuers I suppose that offence shall take no iust place when you shall sée me ascend into heauen froÌ„ whence I came down vnto you where I was with my Father before all beginning then shal ye perceiue by my diuine ascension that I am the heauenly bread the naturall sonne of God and the life of the worlde ye shal perceiue moreouer that my fleash is not to be eaten bodily and to bee consumed and torne in morcels but is carryed vpp into Heauen for a pleadge of the saluation of mankinde And shortly after this he sayeth further It is the spirite that quickneth the flesh auaileth nothing And yet more manifestly he speaketh The words which I speake vnto you are spirite life Certeine it is y Christes flesh auayleth very much is more profitable to the world than any tonge yea the moste eloquent can expresse Yea the Lord hath warned vs before hand that we shall haue no life vnlesse we eate his fleash Then doeth the Lord deny that his fleash auayleth vs any thing at all if so be it be eaten as the Capernaites vnderstoode that is to say bodily For béeing bodily eaten it auayleth nothing but beeing spiritually eaten it quickeneth and the Lord hath plainely professed that he spake of the spiritual eating in which consisteth life These thinges béeing declared and confirmed after this manner we gather such thinges into a shorte summarie wherein we think sufficient aunswere is made vnto our aduersaries obiection The proposition is true whiche holdeth that the Lorde doeth certeinely perfourme that which hée hath promised But the second proposition is false which saith that the Lorde by his words in the 6. Chapter of Iohn by breade meant the materiall breade of the sacrament and that hee promised that he would conuerte the same into his fleash For by bread he ment not the materiall breade of the Sacrament but meate to liue withall according to the proprietie of the Hebrue tonge yea his very flesh which was deliuered to the death to be meate I say that we might liue through Christes death Thus therefore should the argument haue béene framed That whiche GOD promiseth he perfourmeth but he promiseth that he will giue vs his fleash for bread that is to say to be meat and life for vs Therefore hath he giuen his fleshe to be meate that is to say hee hath giuen ouer him self to the death that by his death wee mighte liue Whiche béeing so surely the meate wherof the Lorde speaketh is no bodily meate although the Lorde him selfe haue a true humane and naturall body of like substaunce to ours
but spirituall not that the fleash is conuerted into the spirit but for that it oughte to be receiued spiritually not bodily But it is eate ▪ spiritually by faith not with the bodily mouth For as chewing or eating maketh vs partakers of the meate so are we made partakers of the body and the bloude of Christe through faith But thou wilt say Howe commeth it to passe that séeing breade whereof mention is made in the 6. chapter of Iohn doeth not signifie the bread of the supper that allmoste all the doctours interpretours and ministers of the Churches do apply these wordes to the Lordes supper I answere that these wordes of the Lorde may be applyed to the matter of the Lordes supper for other causes although the breade signifie not the breade of the sacrament Yea I confesse that these words of the Lord of the eating his fleashe and drinking his bloude do bring great light to the matter of the Lordes supper S. Augustine Lib. De Consensu Euangelistarum tertio Capite primo sayeth Iohn saide nothinge in this place Iohn the. 13. of the bodie and bloud of the lord but plainly witnesseth that the lord hath spokē more at large therof in another place This much sayth hée speaking vndoutedly of the 6. of Ihon. Since therefore it is one the selfe same flesh the same bodie of our Lorde whereof hée speaketh in bothe places in the 6. of S. Iohn and the 26. of Matthewe and the selfe same is sayed in both places to haue béene deliuered to the death for vs or for our life and like-wise because there is but one meanes to be partaker of Christe whiche is by faith in his body whiche was deliuered and his bloude shed and finally bicause it is the catholique or vniuersall and vndoubted doctrine that Christes fleashe beeing bodily eaten auaileth nothing surely the thinges before written in the 6. Chapter of Iohn are agréeable and doe fully open the matter of the Lords supper And to the intente that this yet may be the better vnderstoode I will recite what testimonyes haue béene alwayes alleadged in the Churche out of the holie Scriptures concerninge the two kindes of eatinge of Christe Christes body is eaten and his bloud dronken spiritually it is also eaten dronken sacramentally The spirituall manner accomplished by faith whereby béeing vnited to Christe we be made partakers of all his goodnesse The sacramentall manner is only perfourmed in celebrating the Lords supper The spirituall eating is perpetuall vnto the godlie because faith is to them perpetuall They communicate with Christe bothe without the supper and in the supper and by it they doe more increase and continue their newe beginnings as wee haue also shewed before and now by adioyning of the holie action althings are done more manifestly and plainely As for the vnbeléeuers and hypocrites with their captein Iudas they neuer communicate with Christe neither before the supper nor in the supper nor after the supper in asmuche as they continue in their vnbeliefe but they of the Lordes Sacraments to their owne iudgement and condemnation I knowe héere what some doe teach and how they deuise a certeine third kinde of eating Christe whiche is neither spirituall nor yet sacramentall but altogether compounded of sacramentall and corporall For they holde opinion also that the true and naturall bodie of Christe is receiued bodily by the vnbeléeuers in the formes of the sacrament How be it it shall easily appeare by certein sound argumentes of the Scripture that this is but a deuise of mā which arguments we wil apply to the traitour Iudas that by this one example all the godly may learne what they eate and drink at the Lords supper For that the iudgement whiche is made of the head béeing reuealed vnto vs it shal be easier for vs to pronounce of the members Some truly do make a doubt whether Iudas were present at the supper when the Lorde distributed the holie mysteries among whome is S. Hilarie Howbeit the Euangelicall historie sayeth plainly that the Lord sat downe to meate with the twelue yea Luke so handleth his narration that we cannot dout but that Iudas did communicate of the mysteries with the rest of the Apostles which Saint Augustine also auoucheth Libro De Consensu Euangelistarum tertio Capitulo primo And likewise in the 62. treatise vpon Iohn and vpon the 10 Psalme and in his 163. Epistle Yea moreouer Aquinas also aunswering in this pointe to S. Hilarie approueth the same with vs Parte tertia Quaesti 81. Art. 2. Now therefore béeing manifest that Iudas was at supper with the rest of the Apostles it séemeth néedeful that it were knowen what he receiued of the Lorde He receiued the sacramēt of Christes body as the other disciples did but because hee had not faithe as the other had he partaked not of Christe neither did he eate and drink the Lords bodie and bloud For as many as eate the Lords body and drinke his bloud doe not hunger nor thirst for they dwel in Christe and Christe in them they are Christes members and they neuer dye The contrarie altogether appéereth in Iudas and all his fellowes wherefore the vnbeléeuers doe neither eate the Lords body nor drink his bloud Moreouer it is out of all doubt that there is no agréement betwéene Christ Belial For this hath the Apostle pronounced out of that general consent of the scriptures But Iudas is by Christe him selfe called sathan therefore Iudas did not communicate with Christe Now if we will contend absolutely that Iudas did eate the Lords body truly we shal be constrained wickedly to affirme that it is not onely an vnprofitable but also an hurtfull meate howbeit godlinesse teacheth vs that Christe is an holsome meate all wayes to all them that eate him truely S. Augustine also denyeth that Iudas did eate the Lords body or drink his bloud In the 59. treatise vpon S. Iohn The Apostles saith he did eate the bread which was the lord but Iudas did eate the Lords breade againste the lord They did eate life but hee punishment Againe in the 26. treatise Whoso dwelleth not in Christe nor Christe in him doutlesse he neither eateth his fleash spiritually nor drinketh his bloud although carnally and visibly hee breake in his teeth the sacrament of the body and bloude of Christ but he rather eateth drinketh the sacrament of so greate a matter to his condemnation c. The like also and almoste playner doeth he write in the 21. booke and 25. chapter De Ciuitate Dei. Against these they obiecte the authoritie of Paule saying That they whiche eate vnworthily are not guiltie of the bread and cupp whiche they haue eaten and drunken of but of the Lords body and bloud and also that they doe eate and drink their owne damnation for that they make no differente of the Lordes bodye wherby it followeth necessarily that they haue eaten drunken the Lords body vnworthily
wil not receiue it Furthermore since by experience we finde euerie day the there are many thinges wanting vnto our faithe by meanes whereof diuerse vices spring vppe among vs whereof our vnworthines is the hightest or lest of all which the Lord of his grace may easily washe away almost wipeth away by sending his crosse vpon vs not imputing such infirmities to vs to our condemnation For the Apostle in another place â—aith that there is no condemnation for them whiche are graffed into Christ Iesus walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Neither with equall punishment doth our most iust lord punish these sundry sortes of vnworthinesse Let vs therefore sée what the blessed Apostle teacheth vs concerning the punishmente of those y eate vnworthily Therefore he sayth Who so eateth this bread or drinketh of the lords cup vnworthily the same shal be gyltie of the Lords bodie and bloud By whiche wordes verily he meaneth that chiefe and moste â—owle vnworthines of al other to wit vnbeléefe For he is guiltie of the lords body bloud to whom the fault of the lords death is imputed that is to say to whome Christes death becommeth death and not life as it also happened vnto them who through vnbeléefe wickednes did crucifie Christ For vnto them Christes bloud séemed prophane as it had béen the bloud of some beast murtherer or wicked person as being worthily 〈◊〉 for his offences And I pray you what else doeth he thinke than the Christes bloud is prophane who beléeueth not that the same was shed for the sinnes of the worlde And yet he dareth take part of the lords supper the he may worthily be saide to be guiltie of the Lords bodie bloud It is a verie great offence to eate the Lords bread and to drinke of his cup vnworthily through vnbeléefe which thing by the example of Iudas is laid before our eyes He beléeued not in the Lord Iesus yea he inuented howe to deliuer him into the hands of théeues and murtherers yet neuerthelesse he sate down to meate tooke part of the Lords supper therfore in the end the diuel worthily chalenged him wholy vnto him For S. Iohn witnesseth that about the end of the supper the diuell entred into Iudas not the he was not in him before that he came to the supper for he had begonne before to dwell in him to stir him forward but for that after so many admonitioÌ„s of our lord Christ after that he had prophaned the mysteries of Christ as it were troden them vnder foote he wholy entred into him and fully possessed him The same Apostle Paule threateneth damnation to them that make no difference of the Lords bodie who are placed as it were in another degree of vnworthinesse saying For who so eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation The reason hereof he setteth down in this sentence to wit why we wee oughte not rashly and carelesly to come to the Lords table for that we approche then to our condemnation But condeÌ„nation or iudgment is the paine or punishment which the Lord laieth vpon his faithfull people when they sin not in another world truly as he doth vpon the vnbeléeuers but in this world For it followeth in the words of the Apostle which ministreth vnto vs the same sense For this cause many are weake and feeble among you and many slepe For if we had iudged our selues we should not haue bene iudged But when we are iudged we are corrected by the Lord that wee should not bee condemned with the world The Apostle plainelie distinguisheth betwéene the vnworthie eaters that are subiecte to Gods correction worldly men that is to say vnbéeléeuers whose punishment the Lord deferreth to that other world but vpon his faithful people who yet offende through the negligence come to the supper not sufficiently instructed he layeth diuers sundrie afflictions as pestilence famine sicknes such like to shake off their drousinesse For it foloweth If we had iudged our selues that is if we our selues had restrained our vices separated our selues from euil we had not bene iudged that is to say punished and corrected For immediatly he addeth But when we are iudged we are chastised of the Lord. To bee iudged therefore is to be chastised But hereby we learne from whence there do flow so many mischiefes into the Church to wit by the vnworthie vse of the Lords supper But some man wil answer here if the matter be so it were better wholy to absteine from the lords supper But if any absteine wholie he also therby sinneth againste the Lorde and that grieuously For hee setteth at nought the Lordes commandement who saieth Do this yea he setteth at nought both the Lords death and all the gyfts of god Wherefore he hath not escaped daÌ„ger who hath omitted to celebrate the supper which thing also we haue said before Thou must go an other way to worke if thou desire to auoide both danger sin Heare the counsel of Paule very coÌ„pendiously saying Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. And wee muste mark that in this examination he sendeth no man to another but euerie man to him selfe The Papistes bidd thée Goe to an auricular confessour there to confesse thy selfe to receiue absolution and to make satisfaction for thy sinnes accordinge to the fourme that is coÌ„maunded thée And so they bid thée as sufficiently clensed to go to the Lordes table But Paule the doctour of the gentiles and the vessell of election speaketh not a word of those things but saith simply Let a man examine himselfe so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For like as God is the searcher of the hartes requireth the affection of the minde hateth hypocrisie so none knoweth what is in the hart of man or what affections wee beare to godward but we our selues do therfore he willeth vs our selues to examine euery thing in ourselues that is to say he willeth euerie man to descend into himselfe and to examine him selfe This examination cannot bee made without faith and the light of gods word But the faithfull man haueing the light of Gods worde shining before him and faith extendinge her force and power inquireth of himselfe whether hee doth acknowledge al his sinnes whiche he hath manifoldly committed against God and whether he be sorte for them being committed and whether with sincere fayth of hart he beleeue that Christ hath washed away and forgiuen al his sinnes and whether he confesse fréely with his mouth as he beléeueth in his hart that life saluation consisteth in Iesus Christ onely and in none other whether he haue determined with himselfe to die in this confession and whether he meane diligently and earnestly to applie himselfe to innocencie and holines of life and whether he be readie to loue helpe all the
c. 949 1 Let euery man be swift to heare slowe to speake c. 238 1 Pure religion and vndefiled before God the father c. 475. 668. 2 Abraham was not iustified by faith onely c. 465 2 Séest thou how faith was made perfect by workes c. 461 2 Let him aske in faith nothing wauering c. 922 2 Abraham and we are iustified by workes c. 28 2 If a brother or sister be naked destitute of daily foode c. 97 3 Touching the properties of the tongue c. 238 3 For the tongue is a little meÌ„ber and boasteth great things c. 319 4 Ye aske and receiue not because ye aske amisse c. 918 4 There is one law giuer which is able to saue and to destroy c. 905 5 Behold the hyre of labourers whiche haue reaped downe your fields c. 272 5 How the faithful should behaue themselues towards c. 1080 5 Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed c. 574. 580 5 Ye haue liued in pleasure vppon earth and beene wanton c. 299. 300. 509. 5 If any be sicke amonge you let him send for the elders c. 1139 ¶ Out of the first Epistle of S. Peter 1 YE are redéemed not with gold and siluer c. 60. 770 1 We are borne a newe not of corruptible seed c 21 827 1 The prophets did search at what moment or minute of time the spirite c. 363 1 Hope perfectly in the grace which is brought vnto you c. 305 2 Feare God honour the king 151. 2 Christ his owne selfe bare oure sinnes in his body vpon the c. 568 2 Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthood c. 1106 2 ChristiaÌ„s are called priests 879 2 As frée and not as hauing the libertie for a cloake of maliciousnesse c. 448 2 The foundation of the church is Châ—isâ— c. 861 2 Submit your selues to all manner ordinance of man c. 107 3 The eyes of the Lord are vppon the iust c. 521 3 Touching the manner and ordering of womens apparel c. 239 3 That the Lord went in the spirit and preached vnto the spirits c. 66 3 Baptisme saueth vs not the putting away of the filth of the flesh c. 983. 989 4 Dearely beloued thincke it not straunge that ye are tryed with fire c. 294 4 Sée that none of you be punished as a murtherer c 296 4 As euery man hath receiued the gift euen so minister y same c. 905 4 The Gospâ—ll was preached also to the dead c. 765 4 Charitie couereth the multitude of sinnes c 584 4 The time is that iudgment must begin at the house of God c. 298 5 Be sober and watch for your aduersarie the diuel c. 749. 751 5 The elders that are among you I beséech c. 867 ¶ Out of the second Epistle of S. Peter 1 THe prophecie came not in old time by the will c. 10. 26. 717. 1 No prophecie in the scripture is of any priuate interpretation 907 2 God spared not the angels whiche sinned c. 745 2 The Lord knoweth how to deliuer his from temptation c. 174 2 There were false Prophetes among the people euen as c. 587 2 These are wells without water c. 449 3 In the Epistles of Paule many things are hard to be vnderstood c. 23. 24 ¶ Out of the Epistle of S. Iude. THe Angels which kept not their first estate c. 745 Iude saith that the Angel fought with Sathan the diuel c. 747 ¶ Out of the fâ—â—st Epistle of S. Iohn 1 That which we haue séene and heard we declare vnto you 81 1 The bloud of Iesus Christ clenseth vs from euery sinne c. 82. 552 2 If we say we haue no sinne wée deceiue c. 401. 496. 917 2 They went out from vs but they were none of vs c. 604. 819. 820. 2 Annoynting annoynted c. 180 2 And the annoynting whiche ye haue receiued of him c. 707. 726 2 By this we know that he dwelleth in vs by the spirit that he gaue c. 825 2 My babes these thinges write I vnto you c. 664 2 If any man loue the world the loue of the father is not in him c. 482. 483 2 Who is a lyar but hee that denieth that Iesus is Christ c. 629 3 Now are we the sonnes of god and yet it doth not appeare c. 727 3 We knowe that when he appeareth we shal be like vnto him 608 3 If we receiue y witnesse of men c. 550 3 Who so hath this worlds good séeth his brother haue c. 289. 1124 3 He that committeth sinne is of the diuel c. 485 3 My babes let vs not loue in word nor in tongue but in déede 96. 4 Beléeue not euery spirite but try the spirites c. 715. 839 4 Whosoeuer coÌ„fesseth that Iesus is the sonne of God c. 463. 825 4 Euery one that loueth him that begat c. 55. 826 4 By this we know his loue because he gaue his life c. 150. 825 4 Euery spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God c. 688 4 Little children ye are of God and haue ouercome in you c. 727 4 God is loue he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God c. 825 5 If any man sée his brother sinne a sinne which is vnto death c. 519 5 He that beléeueth not God maketh him a lyar c. 48 5 For all that is borne of God ouercommeth the world c. 54. 709 5 This is the loue of God that we kéepe his commaundements 409 5 And this is the confidence that we haue in him that if we aske c. 54 ¶ Out of the Apocalypse of S. Iohn 1 FEare not I am the first and the last c. 836 1 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. 608 1 Iesus Christ prince of the kings of the earth loued vs c. 708 1 Iohn was banished into the Isle of 〈◊〉 c. 873 2 Remember from whence thou art fallen c. 593 2 To him that ouercometh I will giue to eate c. 863 3 These things saith he that is holy and true c. 836 4 And I saw another angel flying through the middst of heauen c. 653 6 Howe long 〈◊〉 thou Lord which art holy true c. 757. 766 7 After this I â—awe and behold a great companie c. 813 14 And I heard a voyce from heauen saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead c. 780 17 Great Babylon the mother of whoredomes c. 869 18 Go out of her my people c 859 19 And I fell downe before the féeâ—e of the angel to worship him c 653 21 The fearefull and vnbeléeuing
of the Apostles Créede saith He sayd not in the holy church nor in the remission of sinnes nor in the resurrection of the body For if he had added the preposition In then had the force of those clauses beene all one with the force of that that went before For in those words wherein oure beliefe touching the Godhead is set downe we say in God the Father In Iesus Christ his Son in the holy ghost but in the rest wher the speach is not of the Godhead but touching the creatures or mysteries the preposition In is not added that we may say In the holy Churche but that the holy Church is to be beleued not as we beleue in God but as a congregation gathered together to God and that the forgiunesse of sinnes is to be beleeued not that we ought to beleeue in the forgiunesse of sinnes and that the resurrection of the flesh is to be beleeued not that we ought to beleeue in the resurrection of the fleshe So then by this sillable In the Creator is discerned from the Creatures and that that is Gods frō that that is mans This saith Cyprian S. Augustine in his booke De Fide et Symbolo hath I beleeue the holy Churche not I beleeue in the holy Church There are alledged also his wordes in his epistle Ad Neophytos touching consecration Distinct 4. ca. 1. We saide not that ye had to beleeue in the Church as in God but vnderstād how we said that ye being cōuersant in the holy Catholique Churche should beleeue in God. Much more euidently doth Paschasius in the first Chap. of his first booke De Spiritu Sancto say We beleeue the Church as the mother of regeneration we do not beleeue in the Church as the authour of saluation He that beleeueth in the Churche beleeueth in man For man hath not his being of the Churche but the Churche beganne by man Leaue of therefore this blasphemous persuasion to think that thou haste to beleeue in anye worldly Creature since thou mayst not beleeue neither in Angel nor Archangel The vnskilfulnesse of some haue drawne and taken the preposition In from the sentence that goeth nexte before and put it to that that followeth adding thereto also too too shamelesly somewhat more then needed This hath Paschasius in that booke of his which Saint Gregorie the greate Bishop of Rome liked very well of What say ye to that moreouer that Thomas of Aquine reasoning of faith in the seconde booke Part. 2. Artic. 9. quest 1. sayth If we say I beleeue in the holy Churche we muste vnderstande that oure fayth is referred to the holy Ghoste whiche sanctifieth the Churche and so make the sense to be thus I beleeue in the holy spirite that sanctifieth the Church But it is better and according to the cōmon vse not to adde at all the sillable In but simply to say the holy Catholique Churche euen as also Pope Leo sayth This hath Thomas So nowe ye haue hearde the opinions of the auncient Doctours of the Churche Cyprian Augustine Gregorie Paschasius Pope Leo and also of Thomas of Aquine whiche taught nowe in the later times And dearely beloued ye doe vnderstande by proofes taken out of the Canonicall Scripture that we must acknowledge and confesse the holy Catholike Churche but not beléeue in the holy Catholique Church And nowe we haue to sée what that is that is called the Churche and what is called the Catholique church Ecclesia whiche worde we vse for the Churche is properly an assembly it is I saye where the people are called out or gathered together to heare somewhat touching the affaires of the common weale In this present treatise it is the company communion congregation multitude or fellowship of all that professe the name of Christe Catholique is as muche to say as this fellowship is vniuersal as that that is extended throughe all places and ages For the Churche of Christe is not restrained into any corner among the Donatists in Aphrica it stretcheth out it selfe throughe the compasse of the world and vnto all ages and doth conteine all the faithfull from the first Adam euen vnto the very last Saint that shall be remaining before the end of the world This vniuersall Churche hath hir particular churches I mean the churche of Adam and of the Patriarches the Churche of Moses and of the Prophetes before the byrth of Christe the Christian Churche which is so named of Christe him selfe and the Apostolicall Church gathered together by the Apostles doctrine in the name of Christ And finally it containeth these particular Churches as the Churche of Ierusalem of Antioch of Alexandria of Rome of Asia of Aphrica of Europe of the East of the West c. And yet all these Churches as it were members of one body vnder the onely heade Christe for Christe alone is the heade of his Church not onely triumphant but militant also do make one onely Catholike Churche in whiche there are not to be founde either heresies or schismies and for that cause is it called the true Church to wit of the right and true opinion iudgement fayth and doctrine For in the Church onely is true fayth and without the Church of God is neyther any trueth nor yet saluation So then in this Article we confesse that all the faithfull dispersed through out the whole compasse of the earth and they also that at this time liue in heauen as many I say as are already saued or shall euen vntill the very end of the worlde be borne to be saued are one bodye hauing gotten fellowship and participation with God and a mutuall communion among them selues And for bycause no man can be made one with God vnlesse he also be holy pure euen as God is holy and pure therefore we beléeue that the Church is holy that is that it is sanctified by God the Father in the bloude of the Sonne and the gift of the holy Ghost We haue hearde testimonies inough in the former Sermons Therefore this one of Paule shall be sufficient which he writeth to the Ephesians Christe loued the Churche and gaue him selfe for it to sanctifie and to cleanse it in the fountaine of water through the worde to make it vnto him selfe a glorious Churche not hauing spot or wrinckle c. By which words we vnderstand that the church is called vndefiled altogether cleane not in respect of it selfe but bycause of Christe For the Church of Christ is so farre foorth holy as that yet euery day it doth goe forwarde in profiting and is neuer perfect so long as it liueth on the earth And yet notwithstanding the holinesse of it is moste absolutely perfect in Christ Wherevnto veryly belongeth that notable saying of the lord He that is washed hath no need but to washe his feete onely for he is wholy cleane For the faythfull are purely cleansed by Christe who washeth them with his bloud
but yet bycause the fleshe dothe striue with the spirite so long as life remaineth on the earth therefore the godly haue néede with faith and the holy Ghost to wash and wipe their féete that is the reliques and spottes wherewith they are disteined by their dayly conuersation in this world But nowe wherevnto belongeth this that is added The communion of Saintes These wordes are neyther read in Cyprian nor Augustine nor yet by them expounded Wherefore it is likely that they were added for the better vnderstaÌ„ding of that which went before for that it might appeare that the Catholike Church is the fellowship or companie of the faythfull he added The communion of Saintes as if he shuld haue sayd which church is a communion of Saintes Paule called them Sainctes which for their fayth are sanctified by the bloude and spirite of god Also this word CoÌ„munion is verie euideÌ„t and comfortable For first the meaning thereof is that betwixt God vs ther is a Communion that is a fellowship participatioÌ„ and so consequently a parting betwixt vs of all good and heauenlie thinges And then also we vnderstand that we are fellowes and partakers with all the Saintes that are liuing either in heauen or on earth For we are members of theÌ„ vnder one head Christ For the Apostle Iohn saith That which wee haue seene and heard we declare vnto you that ye also may haue fellowship with vs and that your fellowship may be with the father and his sonne Iesus Christ Hereunto appertayneth that trimme similitude of the body members vnder one heade which the Apostle Paul handleth at large in déede but what is he that can worthily enoughe set forth the great goodnesse of Gods gifte benefite in that wée are made fellow partners of God with whom we are most nerely conioyned and haue a part in all his good heauenly things what can bee more delightfull to oure eares then to heare that all that Saints as well in heauen as in earth are our bretheren and that we againe are meÌ„bers partners and fellowes with theÌ„ Blessed be God which hath so liberally bestowed his blessing on vs in Christe his sonne To this place belongeth the discourse vppon the Sacraments of which of the Church I meane at an other time more fullie to entreate This for the present time is sufficient For this that I haue said doth abuÌ„dantly enoughe expresse set out the fruite of faith in the father the sonne the holy ghost to wit that wée haue participation with God and al the Saints and that in this fellowship we are sanctiâ—ied 〈◊〉 all filth or vncleannesse being clensed and holie in Christe our Lord. Now followeth the tenth article of our beliefe which is The forgiuenes of sinnes The second fruit or commoditie of our beliefe in God the father the sonne and the holie ghoste is here set forth that is the remission of sinnes which although it be coÌ„teyned in sanctification spoken of in the last article is in this place notwithstanding more liuely expressed Without the Church as it were without the arke of Noe is no saluatioÌ„ but in that Church I meane in that fellowship of Christe the saincts is full forgiuenes of all offences That this maye be the better vnderstoode I wil diuide it into some parts First of all it is néedeful to acknowledge confesse that wée are sinners that by nature and our owne proper merits we are the children of wrath damnation For S Iohn doth not in vaine nor without a cause call euerie one a lyar that saith he hath no sinne And God which knoweth the harts of men hath coÌ„maunded vs euen till the laste gaspe to pray saying Forgiue vs our debtes Moreouer in the Gospel wee haue two excellent examples of meÌ„ openlie confessing their sinnes to God the prodigall sonne I say and the Publican in S. Luk. Let vs therfore thincke that wee are all sinners as Paule also taught yea as he hath euidently proued in the first Cap. to the Romanes let vs fréely confesse to God our sinnes with Dauid in the 32. and 51. Psal. saying My sinne haue I made knoweÌ„ to thee mine iniquitie I haue not hid I haue saide I wil confesse mine vnrighteousnes against my self thou haste forgiuen the iniquitie of mine offence Haue mercie on me O God accordig to thy great mercie c. The Psalme is knowen Secondarily let vs belieue that al these sinns of ours are pardoned forgiuen of God not for the acknowledging and confessing of our sinnes but for the merit and bloud of the sonne of God not for our owne workes or merits but for the truth and mercie or grace of god For we do plainly professe saying I belieue the forgiuenes of sinns We say not I buy or by gifts do get or by woorkes obtaine the forgiuenes of sinnes but I belieue the forgiuenes of sinnes And the word remission or forgiuenesse doth signifie a free pardoning by a metaphore taken of creditours and debitours For the creditour forgiueth the debitour when he is not able to pay therefore remission is a forgiuing according to that saying of our Sauiour in the Gospell A certaine lender had two debitours when they were not able to pay hee forgaue them both Hereunto belongeth that also in the Lords prayer And forgiue vs our debtes For our debts are our sinnes them do we request to be remitted that is to be forgiueÌ„ vs In this sense also saith S. Paule To him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace but of due debte But to him that worketh not but belieueth on him that iustifieth the vngodlie his saith is counted for righteousnes Euen as Dauid describeth the blessednesse of that man vnto whom God imputeth righteousnes without works saying Blessed are they whose vnrighteousnes are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Blessed is that man to whom the Lord will not impute sinne Wherefore in respect of vs which haue not wherewithal to repaie our sinnes are freelie forgiuen but in respect of Gods iustice they are forgiuen for the merit and satisfaction of Christ Moreouer it is not the sinnes of a few men of one or two ages or a few certaine number of sinnes are forgiuen onely but the sinnes of all men of all ages the whole multitude of sinns whatsoeuer is is called sinne whether it be original or actuall or any other else to be short all sinnes are forgiueÌ„ vs Which we do hereby learne because the onely sacrifice of Christ is effectual enough to wash away all the offences of all sinners which by fayth come to the mercie seat of Gods grace And yet by this wée do not teach men to sinne because the Lorde hath long since made satisfaction for sinnes but if any man do sinne wee teach him to hope well and not to despaire but to flee to the throne of Grace For there wée say that Christ sitting at
mouth For it seemed good to the holie Ghoste and to vs to charge you with no more than these necessarie things that is to say that ye absteine from thinges offered to idols and from bloude and from strangled and from fornication frō which if ye keepe your selues ye shal do wel So fare ye wel This is word for worde the Catholique the Synodall Apostolique and Ecclesiasticall Epistle of the counsell helde at Hierusalem both briefe and easie for as the spéeche of trueth is simple so also may true religion and Christian faith be easily layde downe in verie fewe euident wordes Immediately in the beginning after their accustomed manner of subscribing and inscribing their Epistle they do out of hand fall too and touche the false apostles with whom Paule and Barnabas were in controuersie and do declare what kind of doctrine that of the false prophets was which they had til then preached vnto y churches as the catholique true and apostolique doctrine to wite that they which wil be saued must bee circumcised and keepe the lawe of Moses For they thought not that faith in Christe without the helpe of the lawe was sufficient ynough to full and absolute iustification They made their bostes that they were sent from Hierusalem by the Apostles and disciples of the Lord who did all with one consent teach the same doctrine that they did preache and they saide that Paul with his companion Barnabas alone did schismatiquelike sowe in the churches a certein doctrine peculiar to him selfe touching faith which iustifieth without the woorkes of the lawe Wherfore the Apostles streight ways after the beginning of their Epistle do declare what they thinke of such false teachers and their vnwarranted doctrine Wee confesse saye they that those false teachers went from hence out of Hierusalem but we deny that they were either sent or instructed by vs For we gaue no commandement to any such And so they do testifie y it is vtterly false which those fellowes taught to wite that the Apostles and Disciples of the Lorde did preach That the lawe is requisite to full iustification Yea they do yet go on more plainly to declare what the doctrine of those false Apostles was They trouble you saye they with wordes and cumber your mindes cōmaunding you to be circumcised to keepe the lawe The summe therfore of their doctrine was y vnlesse a man were circumcised did kéepe the lawe he could not be saued Whereby they did ascribe saluation to y kéepinge of the lawe or to the merite of their workes Vnto this doctrine the Apostles do attribute two perillous effectes The first is They trouble you with wordes They be woordes saye they which do rather amaze then appease cōfort or pacifie your minds yea they doe trouble you so that ye can not tell what to beléeue or whereto to trust do moreouer stirre vp strifes discordes and iarrings amonge you To these wordes of the Apostles doeth Paule séeme to haue alluded in his Epistle to the Galathians saying I marueile that ye are so soone turned from Christ which called you by grace vnto another gospel which is not an other gospel in deede but that there besome which trouble you and intēd to peruert the gospel of Christ The latter effect is They cūber or weaken your mindes For they which leane to the lawe to woorkes haue nothinge stable or stedfast in their mindes For since the lawe requireth a moste exact absolute righteousnesse doth thereby kill because such righteousnesse is not found in vs therfore those minds are weakened subuerted that are taught to leane to the woorkes of the lawe which lawe no man doth kéepe as of right he ought to do Therefore Paule to the Romanes saith If they that do belong vnto the lawe are heires then is faith vaine and the promise made of none effect And immediately after againe Therefore the heritage is giuē by faith as according to grace that the promise may be sure to all the seede c. The false apostles therefore did subuerte and weaken mindes by teachinge that saluation is gotten by the lawe which verily is a grieuous iudgement againste those which with them do teache the like Then also they do with like libertie goe on to the other side to shewe their opinion of Paule and Barnabas yea they doe adourne them as their messingers with a moste holie testimoniall to the ende that they maye amonge all men haue the more authoritie and that all men may vnderstand that betwixt them twaine and the other Apostles there was a ful agréement and consent of doctrine religion Wee being gathered together with one accorde saye they haue sent messingers vnto you Lo here of the false apostles they testified that they sent them not nor gaue them any commaundement but these men they sende and doe with one accorde giue them a commaundement But who be they whome they sende Our beloued Paule and Barnabas which haue ieoparded their liues for the name of Christe Iesus These twaine are most choice Apostles and holie glorious martyrs our dearely beloued brethren beeing of the same religion and doctrine with vs who haue declared what their liues and doctrine is by their manifolde vertues and manfull suffering of perill and daungers But for because Paule and Barnabas were them selues no small doers in that controuersie and disputation there were ioyned to them two other chosen men Iudas and Silas to the ende that they might indifferently without suspicion declare the thinges which in the counsell were alledged for both sides as I meane to shewe you in the exposition of the general decrée For now they do in fewe words cōprehēd y verie decrée of y who le vniuersal synode in the laying down wherof they do first of al name the author of the decrée saying It seemed good to the holy ghost to vs. They first set the holy Ghost and then them selues making him to be the author of truth and them selues to be the instruments by which he worketh For hee worketh in the Churche by the ministerie of men But mens authoritie without the inspiration of the holie Ghoste is none at all Therfore do the Apostles verie significantly say It seemed good to the holie Ghost and to vs. That is after that we were assembled in the Synode to treate of the matter of iustification and of the lawe about which thinges Paule and his aduersaries did stand in controuersie wee followed not our owne iudgements neither did wee vse proofes of our owne inuentions but searching out hearing the doctrine of the holie Ghoste we do vppon his warrant write this vnto you In the seconde place they do set downe the summe of the decrée saying That wee might not charge you with greater burthens than these necessarie thinges that is to say that ye absteine from thinges offered to idols and from bloud and from strāgled and from fornication Therefore saye they the doctrine
of the Gospell which Paule hath hitherto preached with vs is sufficient to the obteining of life and saluation We intend not to laye any greater burthen vpon you than the doctrine of the Gospell and abstinence from those fewe things In which sentence they séeme to haue had an eye to the opinion of Sainct Peter who in the counsell saide Ye knowe that I beeing called by God did go to the Gentiles and did preach to them saluatiō through the Gospel Ye know that to the Gētiles being neither circumcised nor keeping the lawe while I preached to them faith in Christ Iesus the holie Ghoste was giuen from aboue so that their hearts wer purified of God him selfe by faith not by the lawe that they were made heires of eternal life And vppon this he inferreth Now therefore why tempt ye God to laye vppon the disciples neckes a yoke which neither wee nor our fathers were able to beare But wee beleeue that through the grace of the Lorde Iesus Christ we shal be saued euen as they Sée here Sainct Peter called the lawe a burthen and a yoke and therfore where the Apostles saye that they will not laye vpō the church any greater burthen they do thereby signifie that the lawe is flatly abrogated They do therefore set the church frée from the burthen of the lawe and do acquite it from all burthens like to y lawe We nowe do gather by those woordes of the Apostles that those burthensome and innumerable ceremonies which the church hath receiued by counsels Synodes since the time of the Apostles were vniustly against the Apostolique spirite then layde vppon the churche and at this daye wickedly reteined and defended in the churche For they in expresse wordes saide It seemed good to the holye Ghoste and to vs to burthen you with no more then these thinges necessarie But if any man obiect and saye that those ceremonies were for the rudenesse of the people layde vpon the churches neckes as a rule or instruction to guide or teache them by Mine aunswere is that that kinde of instruction is cleane taken awaye which whosoeuer goeth about to reduce hee desireth nothing else but to bring in Iudaisme againe God knew verie well what kinde of churche that would be which hee purposed to gather together of Iewes and Gentiles and yet he abolished those external ceremonies Nowe who doth better knowe than God what is expedient or not expedient for his church therefore the things that he abolished were not expedient for the faithfull whereupon the Apostles did rightly verie wel pronounce It seemed good to the holie ghoste and vs not to laye vppon you any greater burthen Let them therefore be ashamed of their doinges which lay so great a burthen vppon the shoulders of the church that otherwise ought to be most free Nowe also heere is added the conclusion of the sentence Than these necessarie things that is to say that ye abstaine from things offered to Idols c. In these wordes they had an eye vnto the sentence of sainct Iames the Apostle and brother of the Lorde for he confirminge and allowing of Sainct Peters opinion touchinge iustification by faith and the not laying of the lawe vpon the Gentiles neckes doth alledge a testimonie of scripture out of Amose who did foretell that the Iewes shoulde bee cut off because of their sinnes and that in their steeds the Gentiles should be taken amonge whome the true church of God should be which was prefigured by the ruine and reparatiō of Dauids tabernacle The same Prophet did also foretell a reason how and a cause why the Gentiles should be receiued into the church not for Circumcisions sake nor yet by the helpe of the lawe but by grace through fayth For he saith The remnaunte of the men shal seeke after the Lorde and all the heathen vpon whome my name is called saith the Lorde which doth all this all these workes of God are knowen to him from before the world beganne Loe here they shall seeke the Lorde and shal be receyued into his fellowship vpon whome his name shal be called This phrase of speech doeth signifie that they whiche are electe shal be the sonnes of god For vpon them the name of the Lord is called which are named the sonnes of God and are his elect Nowe the whole scripture attributeth that to faith By fayth therfore we are made the members of the church and sonnes and heires to God our maker But if any man doe murmur against the counsell of God and say why doth God so Let him thinke that this déede is the déede and worke of God whome it is not lawfull for man to gaynsaye and all whose workes are knowen from the beginninge of the worlde to haue beene donne in iudgement and righteousnesse whervpon it doth consequently follow that this counsell of his is good and righteous whereby he doth through faith in Christ ioyne to himselfe and sanctifie the heathen nations Nowe vppon these wordes of the prophet Saincte Iames subscribing as it were to Sainct Peters opinion doth gather and inferre Wherefore my sentence is that wee trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God That is to say I thinke that they are not to bee molested or charged with the obseruation of the law But least the Gentiles once hearing y the lawe was abolished should thereby thinke that they might freely doe whatsoeuer they would and so by that meanes abuse their libertie and also against all charitie despise giue offence vnto the Iewishe brethren therefore Iames addeth But I think it best for vs to write vnto them that they absteine from filthines of idols For there were at that time certeine conuerts of the Gentiles who thought it lawfull for them to enter into idol Temples and be partakers of things offered to idols because an idol is nothing since there is but one onely God alone whereuppon they gathered that those sacrifices were nothing that they did neither good nor harme and therefore that Christians might with a safe conscience be partakers of them But sainct Iames and Paule also 1. Cor. 8. 9. 10. wil haue the heathen conuerts to absteine vtterly frō the worship of Idols that is from the idols them selues and from those things which are in the idol temples offered to false and fained Gods. Moreouer he addeth Let them beware of fornication The Gentiles verily did by good lawes forbidde the adulteries and defilings of virgins matrones with verie sharpe punishments suppressing the violent deflowrers of honest women but they thought it a verie light and in a manner no fault at all for such to committ whoredome as did of their owne accordes set their chastitie to sale or if an vnwedded man should haue to doe with a single woman and therefore the Apostle Iames euen as Paule also 1. Cor. 6. and 1. Thessa. 4. doeth verie seuerely require the holy pure vse of the bodie
after the supper did beate vpon nothing so muche as the very same thing against which they set shoulder to wit that Christe would be absent in body but present in spirit that this presence wold be more profitable to the church than his bodily presence Do they not also vnderstande wherefore he tooke fleshe and was nayled on the Crosse that is to say what the effect and vse is of Christes body to wit that the sacrifice of his body being once offered for vs vppon earth he might carrie the same vppe into heauen in token that both oure bodies and soules after oure death shall through his merite be also carried thither Therefore after that the Lordes body had fulfilled on earth that whiche it came to fulfill there is no cause why it should doe any thing else vpon earth He nowe sitteth and ought to sit at the right hande of the father that he may drawe all vs thither vnto him If there be any that doth not yet fully beléeue that which we say let him reade the doctrine of Sainte Paule the Apostle in the ninthe and tenthe Chapters of his Epistle to the Hebrues Let him also reade the fourtéenth and sixtéenth chapters of Saint Iohns Gospell But if it be a pleasure to them to hale at the gable of contention and to sticke precisely as well to these wordes of the Lorde I am with you vnto the worldes ende as to these This is my body This is my bloud let them then expound to me these holy testimonies of the holy Scripture Paule sayth that Christe dwelleth in our harts and that Christ liueth in him and he in Christe The Lorde saythe to the théefe This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise And the Euangelist saith of the Lord being dead They layde him into the sepulchre The Scripture sayth not They layde fleshe and bones into the sepulchre but They layde him into the sepulchre The Lorde sayde not to the théefe Thy soule shall be with my spirite or soule in Paradise But Verily I say vnto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Neyther dothe Sainte Paule say that Christes spirite and life doth liue in him or dwell in our heartes But he sayth simply That Christ doth dwell in our heartes But who is so foolishe and giuen to contention that for these wordes and places of the Scripture will contend that Christes diuinitie was buryed with his body that Christes body was with his soule that same daye in Paradise in which either of thē departed this life that Christes body together with his spirit dwelleth in the harts of the faithful liueth in Paul that Paule liueth in Christes flesh Al men doe willingly admit the catholique sense of the catholique Churche gathered out of the word of god namely that Christ in his spirite is present in his Churche euen to the worldes ende but absent in body and that the théefes soule was that day present in Paradise with Christes soule not with his bodye So iudgeth it also of the residue But if any man mistrust myne interpretation let him heare S. August in his treatise vpon Iohn saying thus He speketh of the presence of his body when hee sayth the poore you shal always haue with you but mee shall you not haue alwayes For in respect of his maiestie of his prouidence of his vnspeakable grace is that fulfilled which hee spake Behold I am with you always euen to the worldes end But in respect of the fleshe which the woorde tooke vpon it in respect that he was borne of the virgine that he was takē by the Iewes that hee was nayled to the Crosse that hee was taken downe from the Crosse that hee was woond in a sheete that he was layde into the sepulchre that hee was manifested in the resurrection you shall not haue me with you alwayes And why so Bycause hee was conuersant as touching his bodily presence fourtie dayes with his disciples and they accompanying him but not following him hee ascended into heauen And is not here For there he sitteth at the right hand of the father And hée is héere For hee is not gone hence in respect of the presence of his maiestie Thus farre Sainte Augustine But if they yet procéede not regarding all this that we haue sayd to vrge that saying of the Lorde out of Matthewe Behold I euen I I say am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with you we will also obiect againste them this saying of the Lord and the same out of the Gospel It is expediēt for you that I we here they haue also this worde I doe depart we obiect also against them this testimonie of the angels out of Luke This Iesus which is takē vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from you into heauen c. They shal be at lengthe constreyned whether they will or no to reconcile such places as séeme to be repugnant and to admitte the generall vnderstanding whiche we haue alledged and defended hitherto Neyther is there here any daunger of diuiding Christe neyther diuide we Christes person with Nestorius since we defend the proprietie of bothe natures in Christe against the Eutychians While Christ our Lorde in body was yet conuersant vpon the earth hee him selfe witnesseth in the Gospell that neuerthelesse he was also in the heauens And in déed Christ who was bothe God and man all at one time was then in heauen when he was crucified and conuersant vpon earth although his body was not crucified in the heauens But as Christ diuided not him selfe although being in heauen he was notwithstāding conuersant and crucified in body vpon earth not in heauen so neyther do we diuide Christe who is both God and man although we say he is present with vs when we celebrate the supper and that we communicat with him yet neuerthelesse we affirme that in his body he remayneth in heauen where hee sitteth at the right hand of the father and so let vs keepe our selues within the compasse of the Scripture Of this matter I haue reasoned at large where I haue intreated of one person and of bothe natures in Christ vnpermixed Hitherto haue I spoken of the naturall meaning of the wordes of the Lordes Supper as briefly and plainly as possibly I could Touching the place of Paule in the first to the Corinthians chap. 10. The cup of blessing which we blesse c. with suche other textes which are alledged to proue bodily presence I shal not néed to vse many wordes for wee haue handled that place already once or twise It remayneth therefore that wee examine and weyghe what they deliuer vnto vs touching the eating of Christes body and also what the Canonicall scriptures doe teache to be thought of that eating What say they the lord hath promised the same most surely and fully he performeth They adde But he promised that he would giue vs his true body and very bloude to be eaten and brunken in the fourme of breade and wine