say Christ and his graces cannot be sundered such as when we haue Christ giuen vs are thē in and with him also bestowed vpon vs. Two sorts of graces in Christ Of which there are likewise two speciall sorts First the imputation or accoūting vnto vs of Christs holinesse righteousnes obedience that so in him we may be the righteousnes of God through the forgiuenesse of our sinnes Secondlie a spirituall life it selfe flowing vnto vs his members from the flesh of Christ God and man by the force and power whereof we are new borne and nourished into euerlasting life euen as by meat and drinke this fraile life is fostred and mainteined in vs. 4 How Christ togither with his gifts and graces may be receiued of vs. THat we receiue Christ togither with all his gifts and graces What the Holie ghost is this must be attributed as we freelie confesse to the free working of the Holie spirit alone which is the essentiall power of the father and the sonne 1. Cor. 2.13.14 for he alone maketh vs meet to vnderstand these things which are of God yea and that in such sort that we doo not onelie confesse all Gods promises generallie to be true What faith is but also euerie one of vs in our hearts doo certeinelie persuade our selues that these promises doo belong vnto vs Rom. 8.15 Galath 4.6 and therefore may with boldnesse crie Abba O father This same most excellent worke of the Holie ghost we call faith Ephes 2.8 which is the free gift of GOD alotted speciallie to the elect and is as in respect of vs the onelie fit and meet instrument to perceiue Christ by and to receiue all his graces Therefore we teach with Paule Rom. 3.28 that we are iustified and saued by faith alone we meaning thereby nothing else but this that by that onelie instrument of faith wee lay holde vpon all thinges necessarie to saluation to wit Christ with all his giftes Furthermore the Holie ghost to the end that this faith may be begotten in vs by his secret power as also for the fostering and strengthening thereof after that it is wrought dooth vse likewise outward meanes because wee consist of a rude and grosse nature to wit the worde written and preached The outward meanes of faith which hee by his power maketh effectuall in vs that so he may worke in vs these thinges of which wee haue before spoken The word considred two waies to wit as it is preached without the sacraments and as the sacraments are annexed thereto And this word sometime is simple and by it selfe or alone as you would saye not accompanied with other of whiche sort is the dailie preaching of the same woorde And sometimes againe it hath visible signes ioyned to it togither with certeine ceremonies which signes the Greekes call mysteries and the Latines sacraments for God verilie regarding our weaknesse went to assure vs of that his goodwill towards vs not by the eares onelie but also by other sences and so more and more to establish and seale vnto vs our coniunction with Christ his sonne These things being put downe and these ground-works and fountions laid it shal be an easie matter to gather our mind touching the questions following which respect or concerne the matter of the sacrament Q 1 Wherfore and to what purpose are sacraments ordeined Sacraments ordeined to three ends A First that we might so much the more effectuallie possesse Christ himselfe Secondlie that look how much the more strait our growing vp with Christ himselfe is so much more and more should that life of Christ bee deriued and conueied ouer vnto vs with other his gifts and graces Thirdlie that we might so much the more effectuallie remember that holie loue which ought to be of force amongst such as are members of the same bodie and to which loue we by solemne protestation bind our selues as it were Q 2 From whense floweth that force of the sacraments A Wholie and altogither from the working of the Holie ghust The force of the sacraments is from the Holie ghost onelie and not from the signes otherwise than as by these outward obiects the inward sences are mooued And the Holie ghost vsing those meanes aids for our infirmities sake dooth make these motions effectuall and powerfull in what measure and at what time soeuer it pleaseth him Q 3 Which is the formall cause of the sacraments A The ordinance of God conteined in his word The formall cause of the sacraments and set out or declared by his minister according to his commandement and not the bare pronunciation of those same words nor any force lieng hid in the words themselues Q 4 What is the power of this formall cause A That the signes not in their verie nature or substance The elements are changed i◠the sacrament but that is in respect of vse onelie and not of substance but as in respect of their vse onelie should be changed that so long as the action whervnto they serue is of force or in hand For in the holy mysteries we esteeme not water as water simplie or bread as bread alone or wine as wine onelie but as certeine signes and true pledges of those thinges which the Lord though in another manner in deed as we shall by and by declare yet notwithstanding most certeinlie and trulie dooth giue vnto vs that is to say of Christ himselfe with all his giftes and graces The matter of the sacraments is two fold Q 5 What is the matter of the sacraments The outward matter are the elements A The outward matter we count the signes themselues to wit water in baptisme bread and wine in the Lords supper togither with the ceremonies ordeined by Christ as his word testifieth which also themselues doo truelie signifie matters of great weight and altogither heauenlie We haue alreadie often times said Christ and his graces are the inward matter that not that onelie is termed of vs the inward matter or matter it selfe of the sacrament whatsoeuer is deriued to vs from Christ but principallie Christ himselfe with whom it is meet that we be made one before we can draw or fetch anie thing from him Baptisme what it signifieth And in deed in baptisme there is set out vnto vs the true and verie bloud of the Lord as a lauer or founteine with which bloud being washed we are more and more ingrafted into Christ and buried with him The supper what it signifieth And in the supper the bodie and bloud of the same Christ is giuen to vs and that in seuerall signes as our true meat and true drinke into life euerlasting Christ offered in the word and in the sacraments but yet in two respects more liuelie plainlie in the sacraments There is then one inward matter of the word alone or by it selfe and the sacraments also annected thereto that is to
the party baptized and in the Lords supper bread wine with the rites and orders that christ himselfe ordained And this againe by a double manner of speech for sometimes vnder this worde there are meant onely the outward signes as when Augustine affirmeth August that the wicked do eate Christ as in respect of the sacrament And somtimes it is vsed for the signes ioyned with the very thing it selfe signified as when Irenaeus saith Irenaeus that the sacrament consisteth of two things one heauenlie and the other earthlie for hee calleth the heauenlie thing the body and bloud of christ and the earthlie the bread and the wine and all that together hee nameth the sacrament And this much concerning the word it selfe or the name sacrament Let vs now at the length come to the matter Sith nowe therefore that euerie sacrament is a signe wee must needes put the word Sacrament in the predicament of relation or relatiues as the logicians call them that is amongst such things as haue mutuall respectes one of them to an other And sith relation must needes be amongest sundrie thinges which haue mutuall respect one of them to an other wee must therefore of necessitie confesse that in the sacraments there is a signe and the thing signified Neyther when I deliuer these 2 parts which indeed do meete or wherof in truth al sacraments do consist do I shut out the word August Let the worde saith Augustine come vnto the element and it shal become a sacrament I do not therefore exclude or shut out the worde which is as it were the life soule of either of the parts and to which the sacraments themselues as wee haue saide before are adioyned as seales And thus farre foorth euen they agree with vs which otherwise doo most of all dissent from vs. Wherefore lette vs nowe see which bee those signes and which bee those thinges signified for in this point we doo not all agree Wee call water the signe in Baptisme and the thing signified we call Christs bloud by the washing whereof we hauing obtained forgiuenes of sinnes and being mortified in our flesh we are saued But concerning baptisme I will not nowe say anie more In the supper certainelie there are two signes or rather signes of two sortes For some of them are certaine materiall and substantiall signes as for example the bread and wine other-some are actions and sacramentall rites which are not for all that vaine or superfluous acts but haue there certaine sacramentall consideratton and respect from the Lordes institution of whiche point wee will speake heereafter I say then that in the Lordes supper these are outward materiall visible and as you would say palpable signes that God hath annected vnto his word euen the bread and wine This the Papistes denie as who after that they haue confessed that the sacraments doo consist of a signe and a thing signified doo yet notwithstanding afterwardes take the bare accidents of bread and wine as coulour forme and such like for the signes themselues for they maintaine that in the Lords supper there remaineth not the substāce of bread and wine but that that vanisheth away that there cōmeth in the place thereof the substance of the Lords bodie and bloud Therefore in their iudgement the signes shall be the accidents And which I beseech you Forsooth whitenesse roundnes and rednesse if they consecrate red wine which accidents they doo by a new name call kind shew or forme Augustine But as Augustine rightlie teacheth Vnlesse there were a certeine analogie proportion and agreement betweene the things signified the signes themselues they could not be counted sacraments Now betweene accidents substances there is no agreement therefore the sacraments as they call them shal not be sacraments for it behooueth the signes so to agree with the things signified that they may represent to mēs minds that which they signifie I will speake somewhat more plainelie A similitude If admonishing some one I would haue him with his eies to behold and with his mind to cōceiue a man I will not set before him the image of a horsse or of an oxe to looke vpon because that outward shape or forme of an horsse or of an oxe cannot beget in his mind the conceit portrature or image of a man although all these things that is to say man horsse oxe c. are referred to one generall word or terme to wit liuing creature much lesse then shall the shape of an herbe or forme of an horsse bring to my minde and memorie the forme or shape of a man and least of all others shall those accidents which are void of all substance as whitenesse rednesse roundnesse c. call to my remembrance things that in deed are to wit the bodie bloud of Christ In that papists make the accidents of the elements the signes of the sacraments there followeth three absurdities therevpon But it was the Lords purpose in his supper to offer vnto our mindes and thoughts the verie food of our soules that is to say Christes bodie deliuered to death for vs and his bloud shed for the forgiuenes of our sinnes betweene which and those accidents there is no proportion and agreement whereas yet notwithstanding bread and wine the verie food of our bodies in deed doo most fitlie euen set before our verie eies almost that same spirituall nourishment that we must haue from him And sith no man can be fed by accidents how can such accidents then represent that same eternall food Furthermore though by the meanes of some accidents materiall things may be set before our eies yet all accidents doo not belong to or agree with euerie matter for manie both white and round things may be beheld which shall not for all that represent a bodie and who hath told them that the bread which Christ brake and gaue vnto his disciples was white or round in such sort as they bake it and make it Therefore the true signes of Christes bodie and bloud are the verie bread and the verie wine which thing the apostle declareth 1. Corinth 10.16 saieng The bread which we breake is the communion or partaking of the bodie of Christ and the cup that we blesse is the partaking of the bloud of Christ And that same consubstantiation or transubstantiation is a filthie forgerie and deuise of satan Now let vs come to the thing signified and first wee will declare Enemies to truth are of two sorts that is ignorant and malicious what manner and kinde of signification this is that wee speake of For this is obiected against vs partlie by some that know not what is deliuered and taught in our churches and partlie by other some that doo maliciouslie slander vs that wee saie wee set out to be beheld in the sacraments as it were a vaine picture or a certeine dead image that maie stir vp in vs the remembraunce of Christ when yet notwithstanding
of Christ as they will needes haue it The former of these I grant to wit that by the cuppe should be meant the wine contained in the cup but the latter I denie to wit that that wine should be in substance the very bloud of Christ and this I do deny standing vpon the reasons which I haue before spoken and alleaged But howsoeuer it be whether there be meant therby this wine alone or together with the wine euen the bloud it selfe yet needes must these deadly enimies of tropes and figures acknowledge one figure here to wit a Metonomia of the thing containing for the thing contained yea and that same verie trope of the same figure Synecdoche which wee haue spoken of before wherby it commeth to passe that the wine and the bloud are saide to be the bloud Now then let them tel me how See for the proofe of this Genesis 17.9 without a crope or figure that shall be counted the couenant it selfe by meanes whereof the couenant is established And yet this further I would gladly demaund of them if the bare word or letter being so precisely obserued that reall consubstantiation must of necessity ensue how it can be that this should not followe likewise that the signes beeing not onely distincted but in very deede and truth separated and sundered also the body it selfe shoulde not likewise in deede bee separated and sundered from the bloud Consubstantiation erronious and al that is obiected for iâ— most weake I many times thinking and that earnestly of this one matter to wit why diuers did so greatly vrge this same rule Consubstantiation euen as if it were the principall point of all our religion of a truth nothing could come into my minde but that which was most easie to be confuted As for the that they say An obiection that vnles Christs very body and his very bloud be beleeued to be so present that it may be receiued with the hands and with the mouth or else the bread and the wine shall be but emptie and void signes I say it is of no force In good sooth suppose yee that yee speake the trueth Belike then all the sacraments that the Fathers had The answeare â—â—ken from an absurditie before that Christs flesh was indeede created were voide and of no force Their Sacraments saith Augustine were in signes diuers but in matter equall But in what matter were they equall Euen in Christ the only matter of the sacraments for that same spirituall word that is as the selfe-same writer vpon the 77. August in psa 77 psalme expoundeth it signifieng some spirituall thing was Christ they did eat the same meat that we eat 1. Corint 10.2.3 and did drinke the same drinke to wit Christ that was to be born as we eat and drinke Christ alredy borne who is a spirituall meat and drinke How vntrue therefore is it that the signes are of no force except the thing signified being in deede also present bee coupled and ioyned with the signe 2 A second reson standing vpon comparison of the element of baptisme with the elements of the supper Yea shall we say that the water of Baptisme is an idle signe yet I neuer hard of any man that would say that the bloud of Christ was indeede consubstantiated together wyth the wine But against this they replie saieng the reason or cause of that is because the Lord saide not that that water was his bloud Let vs grant that and yet in the meane while wee haue gained this that the sacrament is not abolished or made of no force though the signe bee in one place and the thing signified thereby bee in an other so that both of them be truly offered and giuen And this much or hitherto haue we spoken of this third point that is to say of the sacramentall coniunction or ioyning of the signe with the thing signified Now the summe of this true and right beleeuing iudgement is this to wit The summe of that which hath bin saide touching the sacramental coniunction of the sigâ— and the thing signified that that is a sacramentall coniunction wherby it commeth to passe that through gods ordinance that which is signified by the signes vsed though nowe it be neuer so farre from vs I meane Christ himselfe as in respect of his flesh is yet notwithstanding through the power of the holie ghost but yet in suche a spirituall sorte and manner as wee shall declare heereafter as truely and verily offered vnto vs and giuen vs to be enioyed of vs as verily as the signes themselues are looked vpon wyth the eies touched with the handes and receiued and perceiued also wyth the mouth But let vs now come at the length The fourth or last part of this discourse to the fourth or last question and points to wit what manner of taking or receiuing there is both of the signs themselues and of the thing signified Concerning the taking or receiuing of the signs there is no controuersie or doubt made of it A syllogisme but that it is naturall and outward because it is manifestly and plainely perfourmed of all them that come vnto it by bodily instruments and meanes The maior But as for the things signified to wit that very flesh of Christ and that very bloud of his they are so receiued and taken euen as they are present and offered The minor But they are present and offered also to our mind and faith because they are nowe as wee haue saide not on earth The conclusion but in heauen and therefore they can not bee taken or receiued otherwise than by our minds and faith Augustine Augustine also speaking well and rightly touching this point after this manner Why preporest thou thy mouth and bellie This foode belongeth not to the bellie but to the minde Beleeue and thou hast eaten Wherevpon also this likewise followeth that all that come to the Lordes table as the same Augustine saith receue the body of the lord Augustine that is to say the sacrament of the Lordes body to wit the bread vsed at may be one euen as thou and I are one And in one worde as you would say to finish the matter if onelie the members of Christ are to be saued then they must needes confesse that wee are thorowe faith truelye grafted into Christ and that euen before wee come to the supper in so muche as no manne can rightlye and orderlye come to the supper which is not nowe already both in baptisme and in the worde That followeth not that the aduersaries fantasie become a member of Christe and therefore is vnited with Christe him selfe And yet it dooeth not heerevppon followe that the institution of the Supper is superfluous by which wee doo not indeede at the first pushe but yet notwithstanding in processe of time doo growe vppe more and more in Christ For him that wee doo alreadye possesse must
much lesse was it confirmed as an article of faith before the Councell of Laterane which was kept and holden in his dayes And though wee might by authoritie of good historiographers make it yet somewhat more new namely that it was not ratified as an article of religion till the Councell kept at Constance a citie so named in Germanie in the dayes of Pope Iohn the 23 which was about the yere of our Lord Garan in sinu Concilio Harding in confut Apolog. 1415. Yet to gratifie them wee wil grant it to be as old as the councel of Lateran in Rome held in the yere 1215 thaÌ„ the which also their own writers will not prescribe further But alas what get they hereby namely that this their dotage and dreame of transubstantiation at the least in the name of it hath not so manie gray haires on the head or yeares on the backe of it as they would beare the world in hand it hath for as by computation it may appeare it is but 300 do yeres old Neither wil that shift serue that they flee to here to wit that though the terme were not till then yet the matter was before A verie likelie thing forsooth as though the fathers of the Greeke and Latin churches so well skilled in those seuerall languages had not bin able aswel to haue deliuered the word as the matter In points of greater consequence than this by farre they hadde their peculiar and significant words as trinitie harmonously hypostasis and such like and yet in this they must faile forsooth to the end that the glorie of new inuention or forgerie rather may bee ascribed to some other But to conclude â—his point If papists vnder a false cloke of â—oueltie will not spare to reiect not onely olde but good and true things also then much more may we and that vppon good ground refuse this fantasie not onelie because it is new but also bicause it is false as shal god willing hereafter more fullie appeare 2 Howbeit that there is a chaunge no man of sound iudgement I thinke dooth or will denie but that is not in respect of the nature of the thinges themselues for the elements of bread and wine remaine in their owne proper peculiar substance wherof not only al men may be sufficient witnesses but almost all the senses of euery man as sight taste feeling c but this mutation is made in regarde of the vse and ende wherevnto they are applied because that they are by the Lordes owne institution and appointment separated from the common vse yea as it were froÌ„ common bread and wine and applied not onlie to a holy vse whilest they are vsed in holie assemblies wyth sanctified and religious mindes but dedicated also to holie endes that is to saye to ratifie and confirme our Faith in the trueth of Gods promises and to be sure seales and pledges to our consciences of holy things to wit of christs body and bloud and of the effects and fruits that by his death passion wee receiue But that this chaunge shoulde be wrought by any words as they say of consecration I am so farre off from allowing it as true that I am verily persuaded that they speake they knowe not what because it is not yet resolued not onely amongst the doctors of their side as Bessarian Biel Bonauenture Catharin Durand Scotus and others which be the words of coÌ„secratioÌ„ or with which words Christ and the priest by his example maketh the bread Christs body but because a pope himselfe who hath the fulnes of all knowledge in his breast and cannot erre if all bee true that they affirme I meane Pope Innocent the third Innocent de saâ—r altar myster lib. 4. cap. 6. a great fauourer and furtherer of such fantasies coulde not well tell how to resolue it as appeareth by his writings Yea in ascribing mutation and change of things to a forme of wordes vttered by the mouth of a mortall man they blasphemoussy robbe God of that glorie which is due vnto him alone Psalm 148.5 For to him onelie it belongeth to speake the woorde and to haue thinges made and giue it to an other to whom it at no hand appertaineth And if words be so strong in the one Sacrament as to turne bread into Christes body and wine into his bloud what reason is there that the wordes of institution vttered by the same person I meane the priest with intent also to consecrat it shold not alter the element of water in the other sacrament to wit of Baptisme and be so strong and powerfull as to make the same the very true and naturall bloud of our Sauiour Christ But let them say what they will For mine owne parte I rest resolute in this that this assertion and their whole action in consecration sauoureth verye stronglie of a magicall incantation and I am so muche the more confirmed in this because the Papistes reioycing as inchaunters and sorcerers doo in theyr odde numbers haue added one woorde that is to saye enim which is not in the Greeke or Latine textes Missali Roman ex decreto concil Trident. restitutum Pij quinti iussu editum pa. 23. col â— to the wordes of institution sayeng Hoc est enim corpus meum as may appeare in their misfall or masse booke and that not their old ones onelie but in one newlie furbished by the decree of the councel of Trent and published abroad to beholde the light like an vntimelie birth by the authoritie and commandement of Pope Pius the fift 3 And as the noueltie of this fained fantasie of transubstantiation is a brand good enough to worke the discredit thereof euen as though it had beene bored thorow the eare or worne a paper for forgerie and deceit so the grosse and palpable absurdities which follow the same opinion are sufficient and strong enough of themselues to make it out of credit with all persons indued with holie wisedome and right vnderstanding and to cause theÌ„ to esteeme of it not onely as a thing false and eronious but very vngodlie and blasphemous also To reckon vp all or largelie to discourse vppon the particulars neither is it my purpose neither is it almost possible so fertile a soile is this point in falshoode and yet I minde to touch some and that in suche sorte also as the vanitie and falshoode of this greate corruption may thereby easilie appeare to all suche as will not be wilfully blinded or stoppe their eies and eares at the brightnes and sound of truth At the least my hope and persuasion is that though I preuaile not either with the malicious blinde or simple ignorant yet I shall confirme and strengthen my brethren who together with me as in many other pointes of our christian religion so in this haue embraced the truth of God to our coÌ„forts 1 First I saye that this assertion of Transubstantiation or reall presence of Christes naturall bodie dooth
so it pleaseth God to vse his word written and preached that so hee might teach vs the knowledge of saluation yet the way and order in both of these is maruellously diuers if not altogether contrary For whereas our minde by a certaine ingendred and natural power is apt to conceiue vnderstand worldlie things yea and though it be true that some men are more apte to learne than othersome yet all men generallie are indued with facultie and power to vnderstand those points either by bookes or the mouth of their teacher when wee come to the true knowledge of God and that his heuenlie secret touching our saluatiō God must of necessitie vse a far other power in framing and disposing our minds that so our eares beeing purged and our harts also we may in our vnderstanding comprehend these matters and hauing comprehended them approoue of them yea consent vnto them and stay our selues vpon them or else we shall neuer attaine thereto And this is that same inuisible working power of the holie-ghost which graueth into our heartes that which the minde perceiueth or vnderstandeth otherwise the pastors and techers might speak to deafe people as it doth by too too common examples appeare at this day Therfore the Apostle saieth 1. Corinth 1.23 that the gospell is an offense or stumbling blocke to the Iewes and that it seemeth foolishnesse vnto the Gentiles And in another place that it is to some 2. Corinth 2.16 the sauor of life vnto life and to other-some the sauor of death vnto death But to whome is it the sauor of life vnto life Euen vnto suche as so perceiue and receiue it that they admit and submit themselues thereto And yet it can not be vnderstood and receiued vnlesse the holie-ghost doo by his powerfull grace alter and change vs. Wherfore to them then it must bee the sauor of death vnto death that doo refuse it and cast it farre from them Neither is God or the gospell it selfe cause of this neglect or contempt but the verye corrupt nature of man 1. Corinth 2.14 for the naturall manne perceiueth not the thinges of the spirite of God But to come to the matter that word of GOD that soundeth into our eares is an instrument ordained and directed by the Holie-ghost to teach vs that so wee maye vnderstande suche thinges as are needefull to bee vnderstoode for saluation and may by true faith applie vnto our selues suche thinges as wee vnderstoode and haue yeelded vnto The word by it selfe And this speeche of GOD talking so with vs is sometimes naked as it were and simple and sometimes againe is so decked and trimmed as it were with other things that euen the matter it selfe by reason of the rites and orders The worde with the sacraments annexed therto annected to the speech seemeth after a sort not to be spoken but to be doone Examples of the naked or bare speech are these infinite promises of the gospell as when wee heare this GOD so loued the worlde that hee gaue his onelie begotten Sonne Iohn 3.16 that whosoeuer beleeueth in him shoulde not perishe but haue eternall life So we reade and daily heare in the church the writings of the Prophets Apostles hauing exhortations reprehensions and comforts adioyned to the same according as good sheepheards do their duetie publikely and priuately And yet there are sometimes ioyned to this word of GOD some signes with certaine rites and orders that so the speeche may not onelie beate orders but also the thinges that are looked vppon may come to our sight And these are those thinges that the Latine writers call sacraments August cont Faust Memictiae lib. 19 cap. 16. habit tom 6. col 349. and therefore Augustine also called them visible words This verilye is certaine that euen the most auntient Latine diuines did interprete that Greeke worde Mysterie by the Latine word Sacrament and that not onelie in places where mention is made of the rites and orders of the Sacraments of the church as of Baptisme and the Lords supper but generally wher the question is of suche thinges as are of themselues close secret and far remoued from common vse Ephes 1. ◠So the calling of the Gentiles which the Apostle nameth a mysterie is of the olde Latine interpreter turned 1. Timoth. 3.16 sacrament And our whole saluation is the sacrament of godlinesse with him and the coniunction of Christ his church not the marriage of man wife as commonlie thorough ignorance menne haue supposed is with him a sacrament likewise Ephes 5.32 Apocal. 17.7 yea in the reuelation he mentioneth the sacrament of that vncleane harlot and the beast that carried hir To be short nothing is more common amongest the Latine diuines or commeth more often in their writings than this worde sacrament And yet the Latine church hath in a more secret and narrowe signification taken and vnderstoode this terme Sacrament how it is vsed amongest vs. sacrament namelie for the signes and rites which God hath adioyned to his promises that so hee might the more fully seale vp in our hearts the saluation that he hath reuealed vnto vs. And yet no other certainetie so farre as I knowe or can remember is this worde mysterie in the Apostles writings vsed in that sense or signification Verilie the name or word sacrament it selfe is amongest the Latinists of many significations for which doubtfulnesse of the worde we that nowe come in the last age of the worlde doo sustaine manye and great smartes The Apostle calleth circumcision a signe and a state Roman 4 11. and to speake plainely as the matter it selfe requireth though I doo not willinglie depart from wordes in vse least one inconuenience and mischiefe might be heaped vppon an other yet I hadde leiffer that the Latin authours and writers had still kept Paules worde But that we may at the length come to the purpose What the lords supper is let that rite or order of the Lordes supper bee a signe giuen vs from GOD whereby hee will haue testified and sealed vp vnto vs the communication or partaking of the bodie and bloud of Christ But because euery thing that is vsed in and about this holie banquet is not of one sort maner order and respect we are therefore to marke that euen this worde sacrament The word Sacrament in the narrow signification taken three waies and that in this more narrowe signification is of the olde Latine diuines taken three manner of ways For sometimes they vnderstand by sacraments the verie whole action in which respect both baptisme and the Lords supper it selfe also are called sacraments that is to say mystical actions or outward rites which doo represent to our vnderstanding some other certaine thing Somtimes againe not the whole action it selfe but that which is vsed in that action is so termed as in baptisme the water it selfe the sprinckling or laying it on