transubstatiation beside the manyfold absurdities it hath in it whych to rehearse I omyt it vtterly ouerthroweth the vse of the Sacrament and is cleane contrary to the end wherefore it was instituted and so is no longer a scrament but an Idole is the cause of much Idolatry conuerting the peoples harts from an heauenly conuersation to an earthly and turning the Communion into a priuate action and a matter of gasyng and piping of adoring worshipping the worke of mens handes for the liuing God which dwelleth not in â–ª Temples made with mens handes much lesse lyeth he in pixes and chests whose true worship is in spirit verity which God graunt vs all to render vnto him continually Amen The Sacrament of Baptisme doth also teach vs that as the substaunce of the water remayneth there so in the Lords supper remaineth the substaunce of bread after coÌ„secration For as by Baptisme we ar engraffed into Christ so by the Supper we ar fed with Christ These two sacramentes the Apostle gladly coupleth together 1. Corinth 10. and. 1. Corint 12. VVear baptsed into one body saith he and haue dronke all of one spirit meaning it by the Cup as Chrysostome and other great learned men do wel interprete it As therfore in Baptisme is geuen vnto vs the holy Ghost and pardon of our syns whych yet â—ye not lurking in the water so in the Lords supper is geuen vnto vs the communion of Christes body bloud that is grace forgeuenes of syns innocency lyfe immortality with out any transubstantiation or including of the same in the bread By Baptisme the old man is put of and the new man put on yea Christ is put on but without traÌ„substantiating the water And euen so it is in the Lords supper Wee vp sayth spirituallye in our soules do feede ou Christee body broken doo eate hys flesh and drynke hys bloud doo dwell in hym and he in vs but wythout trausubstantiation As for the tauill they make that wee are baptised into one â—ody meaning therby the mystical body not the natural body of Christ wherby they would enforce that we are fed with the natural body of Christ but we are not ingraffed into it but into the mysticall body and so put away the reason aforesayde as for thys cauill I say we may soone auoyde it if so he that we wyl consider how that Christ whych is the head of the mysticall body is not seperate froÌ„ the body and therefore to be engraffed to the mystical body is to be engraffed into the natural body of Christ to bee a member of his flesh and bone of his bones as Pope Leo ful wel doth witnes in saying that Corpus regenerati fit caro crucifixi The body sayth he of the regenerate is made the flesh of Christ crucified And here to I could adde some reasons for the excelleÌ„cy of Baptisme I trow it be more to be begotten then to be nourished As for the excellent myracle of the paâ—efaction of the Trinifie and the descendyng of the holy Ghost in Baptisme in a visible forme the lyke whereto was not seene in the Lordes supper I wyl omyt to speake of further then that I would you shuld know how it were no mastery to set forth the excellency of this sacrament as well as of the supper It is a playne sygne of Antichrist to denye the substaunce of bread wyne to be in the Lords supper after consecration For in so doing and graunting transubstantiation the propertye of the humane nature of Christ is denyed For it is not of the humane nature but of the deuine nature to be in many places at once As Didimus de spiritu saÌ„cto doth proue there by the diuinity of the holy Ghost Now graunt transubstantiation and then Christes natural body must needes be in many places which is nothyng els but to confound the two natures in Christ or to denye Christes humane nature whych is the selie same that saint Iohn saith to denye Christ to be come in the flesh And this who so doth by the testimony of saynt Iohn in an Antichrist in his so doing whatsoeuer otherwise he do prate Reade saynt Augustine in hys Epistle to Dardanus and his .l. and .xxx. treatise vpon S. Iohn and easely you shall see how that Christes body must needes be in one place Oportet in vno loco esse but hys truth is in all places If ther be no substance of bread in the Sacrament but transubstantiation then Christs body is receiued of the vngodly and eaten with their teeth which is not onely against saint Augustine calling this speech except you eate the flesh of the sonne of man c. a figuratiue spech but also against the playne scriptures which affirme them to dwell in Christ Christ in them and they to haue euerlasting lyfe that eate hym whych the wicked haue not although they eate the sacrament He that eateth of this bread saith Christ shal lyue for euermore Therefore they eate not Christes body but as Paule sayth they eate in iudgement and damnation whych I trow be an other maner of thyng then Christes bodye And thys doth saint Augustine affirme saying none do eate Christes body which is not in the body of Christ that is as he expoundeth it in whom Christ dwelleth not and hee in Christ Which thing the wicked do not because they want fayth and the holy spirite whych be the meanes whereby Christ is receyued To the thinges which I haue brought herefoorth to improue transubstantiation I could bring in the fathers to confyrme the same which succeded continuallye many hundreth yeares after Christ Also I could shewe that transubstantiation is but a new doctrine not established before Sathan whych was tyed for a thousand yeares was letten lose Also I could shew that euer hetherto synce it was established in all times it hath bene resisted and spoken against Yea before thys doctrine the church was nothing so endowed with goodes lands and possessions as it hath beene synce It hath brought no small gayne no small honour no small ease t the Cleargy and therefore no maruel though they striue and fyght for it It is their Maozim it is their Helena God destroy it with the breath of hys mouth as shortly he wylfor his names sake Amen If tyme would serue I could would here tell you of the absurdities whych come by thys doctrine but for tymes sake I must omyt it Onely for Gods sake see this that thys their doctrine of transubstantiation is an vntruth already I haue proued forget not that it is the whole stay of all Popery and the piller of their Priesthood whereby Christes Priesthood Sacrifice Ministery and truth is letted yea peruerted and vtterly ouerthrown God our Father in the bloud of hys sonne Christ open the eyes and myndes of all our Magistrates and all other that beare the name of Christ to see it in time to Gods glorye and their own
saluation Amen Now to returne to the second matter what the Sacrament is you see that to the senses and reason of man it is bread and wyne which is most true as by the scriptures and other wyse I haue allreadye proued and therefore away with transubstantiation But here lest we should make it no Sacrament for a sacrament consisteth of twoo thynges lest a man should by thys gather 〈◊〉 we make it none other thyng 〈◊〉 bare bread and a naked signe and so rayle at their pleasure on vs saying How can a man be giltre of the body and bloud of Christ by vnworthy receiuing of it if it bee but bare bread and so forth For thys purpose I wyll nowe speake a little more hereabout by gods grace to stop their mouthes and to styre vp your good harts more to the worthy estimation perception of this holy mysterye When a louing friend geueth to thee a thing or sendeth to thee a token as for an example a napkyn or such like I thinke thou doest not as thou shouldest doo if that with the thyng thou considerest not the mynde of thy friend that sendeth or geueth the thing and according the runto estemest and receyuest it And so of thys bread thinke I that if thou doo not rather consider the mynde of thy louer Christ then the thyng which thou seest yea if thou doo not altogether consider Christes mynde thon dealest vnhonestly strumpetlike with hym For it is the propertye of strumpets to consider the thynges geuen and sent them rather then the loue mynde of the geuer and sender whereas the true louers do not consider in any poynt the thinges geuen or sent but the mind of the party So wee if we bee true louers of Christ must not consider barely the outward thyng which we see and our senses perceyue but rather altogether we must should see and consider the minde of Christ and therafter and according to it to esteme the sacrameÌ„t But how shall we knowe the mynde of Chryst For sooth as a mans mynde is best knowen by his word so by Christes woord shall we know his mynde How his wordes be manifest and most playne This sayth he is my dody therefore accordingly should we esteeme take and receiue it If he had spoken nothing or if he had spoken doubtfully then might we haue bene in some doubt But in that he speaketh so plainly saying This is my body who can maye or dare bee so bold as to doubt of it He is the truth and cannot lye he is omnipotent and can do all thinges therefore it is his body This I beleue this I confesse and pray you all hartely to beware of these and such lyke wordes that it is but a sygne or a figure of his body Except you wil discern betwixt signes which fignify ouely and sygnes whych also doo represent confirme and seale vp or as a maÌ„ may say geue wyth their signification As for an example An Iuye bush is a sygne of wine to be sold the buddyng of Aarous rod dyd sygnifye Aarons Priesthood alowed of the Lord the reseruation of Moses rod dyd signifye the rebellion of the children of Israel the stones takeÌ„ out of Iordane Gedeons fleese of wool c. such as these be signe significatiue and shewe no gyft But in the other sygnes whych some call exhibitiue is there not onely a signification of the thyng but also a declaration of a gyft yea in a certayne maner a geuing also As Baptisme signifieth not onely the clensing of the coÌ„science from syn by the merites of Christes bloud but also is a very clensyng from synne And therfore it was sayd to Paule that he should aryse and wash away hys syns not that he should aryse and take onely a sygne of washyng away hys syns In the Lordes supper the bread is called a partaking of the Lordes body and not onely a bare signe of the Lordes body This I speake not as though the elements of these sacraments were trausubstantiate whych I haue already impugned either as though Christes body wér in the bread or wyne eyther were â—yed to the elementes otherwyse then sacramentally and spiritually eyther that the bread and wine may not and must not be called sacramentall and externall signes but that they myght be discerned froÌ„ significatiue and bare signes onely and be taken for signes exhibitiue and representatiue By thys meanes a Christian comcience wil call and esteme the bread of the Lord as the body of Christ For it wyll neuer esteeme the Sacraments of Christ after their exteriour appearance but after the words of Christ Wherof it commeth that the Fathers as Chrysostome and others doo speake with so ful a mouth when they speake of the Sacrament for their respect was to Christes woordes If the Schoolemen which folowed them had had the same spirit whych they had then would they neuer haue consented to transubstantiation For wyth great admiration some of the Fathers doo say that the bread is chaunged or turned into the body of Christ and the wyne into hys bloud meaning it of amutation or chaunge not corporal but spirituall figuratiue sacramental or mysticall For now it is no coÌ„mon bread nor common wyne beyng ordayned to serue for the foods of the soule The scolemen haue vnderstood it as the Papistes nowe preach of a substautial chauÌ„ging as though it were no great myracle that common bread should now be assumed into that dignity that it should bee called Christes body and serue for a celestial food and be made a Sacrament of hys body and bloud As before therfore I haue spoken I would with that this Sacrament should be esteemed called of vs ChristiaÌ„ men after Christes wordes namely Christes body and the wyne Christes bloud rather then otherwy e. Not that I meane any other presence of Christes body then a presence of grace a presence to fayth a presence spiritually not corporally really naturally and carnally as the Papistes do meane For in such sort Christes body is onely in heauen on the right hand of God the father almightye whether our faith in the vse of the Sacrament asceudeth and receyueth whole Christ accordingly Yea but one wyl say that to cal the Sacrament on that sort is to geue an occasion of idolatry to the people which wyll take the Sacrament which thei see simply for Christes body as by experience we are well taught and therfore it were better to call it bread and so lesse harme should be especially in this age In this obiection I aunswer that in dede great idolatry is coÌ„mitted to and about this Sacrament and therfore men ought as much as they can to auoyd from occasioning or contirming it But in as much as the holy Ghost is wyser then man had foresight of the euils that might be and yet notwithstanding doth cal it Christes body I thinke we should do euyl if we should take vpon vs to reforme his
speech If Ministers did their duties in Catechisyng preaching then doubtles to call the Sacrament Christes body to esteme it accordingly cold not geue occasion to idolatry and coÌ„tirme it Therfore wo vnto them that preach not There be two euyls about the Sacraments which to auoid the holy Ghost hath taught vs For lest we should wyth the Papists thinke Christes bodye present in or with the bread really naturally and corporally to bee receyued with out bodelye mouth where ther is no other presence of Christes body then spirituall and to the fayth in many places he keepeth styll the name of bread as in the epistle to the Corinthians the tenth and eleuenth chapters And lest we should make to lyght of it making it but a bare sygne no better then common bread the holy Ghost calleth it Christes body whose speech I wish we wold follow and that not onely as wel to auoyd the euyl which is now a daies most to be feared coÌ„cerning the Sacrament I meane of contemnyng it as also for that no faythfull man coÌ„meth to the Sacrament to receyue bread simply but rather yea altogether to communicate with Christs body and bloud For els to eate and drinke as Paule sayth they haue houses of their own The contempt of the Sacrament in the dayes of Kyng Edward hath caused these plagues vpon vs presentlye the Lord be mercyful vnto vs Amen And thus much for the obiection of easlyng the Sacrament by the name of Christes body Why sayth one to call the Sacrament Christes bodye and to make none other presence then by grace or spiritualy to faith which is of things hoped for of things which to the bodely senses do not appeare is to make no presence at all or to make hym none otherwyse present then he is in hys woord when it is preached and therefore what neede wee to receiue the Sacrament in as much as by thys doctrine a man may receiue hym dayly in the fiâ—â—d as wel as much as in the church in the celebration and vse of the Sacrament To this obiection I first aunswer that in deede neyther the scripture nor Christian faith wyl geue vs leaue to make any carnall reall naturall corporall or any such grosse presence of Christes naturall body in the Sacrament For it is in heauen and the heauens must haue it as sayth Peter tyll Christes commyng to iudgement except we would deny the humanity of Christ the veritye of mans nature in hym The presence therfore which we beleue and confesse is such a presence as reason knoweth not the world cannot learne nor any that looketh in this matter with our eyes or heareth with other eares then wyththe eares and eyes of the spirite and of fayth Whych fayth though it bee of thinges hoped for so of things absent to the corporall senses yet this absence is not an absence in deede but to reason and the old man the nature of fayth being a possession of thynges hoped for Therfore to graunt a presence to fayth is not to make no presence at all but to such as knowe not fayth And thys the Fathers taught affirmyng Chryst to bee present by grace and therefore not onely a signification but also an exhibition and geuyng of the grace of Christes body that is of lyfe and of the seede of immortalitie as Cypriane wryteth We eate lyfe and drinke lyfe sayth S. Augustine â—efecle a presence of the Lord by grace or in grace sayth Chrysostome We receiue the celestial foode that commeth from aboue sayth Athanasius We receyue the property of the natural coÌ„iunction and knitting together sayth Hylerius We perceyue the nature of flesh the blessyng that geuethlyfe in bread and wyne sayth Cyrillus And els where he sayth that wyth the bread and wyne we eate the vertue of Christes proper flesh lyfe grace and the property of the body of the onely begotten Sonne of God which thyng behimselfe expoundeth to be life Basilius saith that we by the Sacrament receiue the mystical Aduent of Christ grace and the very vertue of his very nature Ambrose sayth that we receiue the Sacrament of the true body Epiphanius sayth wee receiue the body or grace And Hierome sayth that wee receiue spirituall flesh which he calleth other flesh then that which was crucified Chrysostome sayth that we receiue inâ—uence of grace the grace of the holy Ghost Saynt Augustine sayth that we receyue grare and veritye the innisible grace and holynes of the members of Christes body All the which layings of the Fathers do confirme this our fayth and doctrine of the Sacrament we grauÌ„ting in all thynges herein vnto them and they in lyke maner vnto vs And therefore the lying lyps which both be lye the Doctours as though they graunted a carnall a reâ—â— presence of Christes holy naturally and corporally after the Papistes declaration and meaning and which belye vs also as though we dâ—yed all presence of Christ and so made it but a bare signe These lying lips the Lord wyll destroy if they repent not and with vs beleue and teach the truth that the Sacrament is a food of the soule a matter of fayth and therfore spiritually and by sayth to bee talked of and vederstanded whych fayth they want and therfore they erre so grossely in that they woulde haue such a presence of Christ as is contrary to all the scriptures to our Christian religion wherby commeth no such commoditie to the receiuer as by the spiritual presence which we teach and according to Gods word do affirm For we teach these benefites to be had by the worthy receiuing of this Sacrament namely that we abyde in Christ and Christ in vs Agayne that we attayne by it a celestiall lyfe or a lyfe wyth God more ouer that by fayth and in spirite wee receiue not onelye Christes body and vioud but also whole Christ God and man Besydes these we graunt that by the worthy receiuing of this Sacrament we receiue remission of our syns and confirmation of the newe Testament Last of all by worthy receiuing we get an increase of incorporation with Christ and amongest our selues whych bee hys members then whych thinges what more can be desired Alas that men consider nothing at all how that the couplyng of Christes body and bloud to the Sacrament is a spirituall thing and therfore there needes no such carnall presence as the Papistes imagine Who wyll deuye a mans wyfe to bee with her husband one body and flesh although he be at London and she at Yorke But the Papistes are carnall men guided by carnall reason onely or els would they know how that the holye Ghost because of our infirmitye vseth metaphorically the wordes of abiding dwelling eating drinking of Christ that the vnspeakeable coniunction of Christ wyth vs might somthing be knowen God open their eyes to see it And thus much for this Now to that part
of the obiection which sayth that we teache Christ to be none otherwyse present in the Sacrament then in his word I would that the obiectors would wel consider what a presēce of Christ is in his word I remember that sayut Augustine writeth how that Christes body is receiued sometime visibly and sometime inuisibly The visible receypt hee calleth that whych is by the Sacrament the inuisible receypt hee calleth that which by the exercise of our fayth with ourselues we receiue And S. Hierom in the third booke vpon Ecclesiastes affirmeth that we are fed with the body of Christ and we drinke his bloud not onely in mysterye but also in knowledge of bolye scripture Wherein he playnlye sheweth that the same meate is offered in the words of the scriptures which is offered in the sacrament so that no lesse is Christes bodye and bloud offered by the scriptures then by the Sacramentes Upon the 147. Psalme he writeth also that though these wordes He that careth my flesh and drinketh my bloud may be vnderstand in mistery yet he saith it is more true to take Christes body and his bloud for the word of the scriptures and the doctrine of god Yea vpon the same Psalme he sayth playnly that Christes flesh bloud is poured into our eares by hearing the word and therefore great is the perill if we yeld to other cogitations whilest we hear it And therfore I trow S. Augustine saith that it is no les peryll to heare Gods word negligently then so to vse the sacrament But hereof may no man gather that therefore it needeth not to receiue the Sacrament or to affirme that a man maye as much by himselfe mediating the word in the field receiue Christs body as in the Church in the right vse of the Sacrament For Christ ordayneth nothing in vayne or superfluously he ordayneth nothing wherof we haue not nede Although his authoritye is such that without anye questonyng hys ordinances are to be obeyed Agayne though in the fielde a man may receiue Christes body by faith in the meditation of the word yet deny I that a mā doth ordinarely receyue Christes body by the onely meditation of Christes death or hearing of hys word with so much sight and by such sensible assurance whereof God knoweth our infirmity hath no small neede as by the receipt of the sacrament not that Christ is not so muche present in hys woord preached as he is in or with his sacrament but because there are in the perception of the Sacrament more wyndowes open for Christ to enter into vs then by hys woord preached or heard For there I meane in the word he har◠an entraunce into out harts but onely by the eares through the voyce and sound of the wordes but here in the Sacrament he hath an enterance by all our senses by our eyes by our nose by our taste by our handling also And therefore the Sacrament full well may be called seeable sensible tastable touchable wordes As therfore when many windowes be opened in an house the more lyght may come in then when ther is but one opened euen so by the perception of the Sacraments a chrystian mās conscience hath more helpe to receiue Christ then simply by the word preached heard or meditated And therfore he thinketh the Apostle ful wel calleth the sacramentes obsignations or sealings of Gods promise Reade Roma the. 4. of Circumcision And thus much for the aunswer to the obiectiōn aforesayd Now to returne from whence we came namely to the consideration of the second thing what the Sacrament is I haue told you that it is not simply bread wyne but rather Christes body so called of Christ and so to be called and estemed of vs But here let vs marke what body what bloud Christ called it The Papistes styll babble Thys is my body This is my bloud but what body it is what bloud it is they shewe not Looke therefore my dearly beloued on Christes own woordes and you shall see that Christ calleth it his body broken ▪ and hys bloud shed Marke I say that Christ calleth it his body which is broken hys bloud which is shed presently and not which was broken or shal be broken which was shed or shall be shed as the Greeke textes doo plainl◠shew therby teachyng vs that as God woulde haue the Passeouer called not which was the Passeourr or whych shall be the Passeouer but playnlye the Passeouer to the end that in the vse of it the passyng ouer of the striking Angell should be set before their eyes as present so in the celebration of the Lords supper the verye Passion of Christ should bee as present beholde a with the eyes of fayth For which end Christ our Sauiour did specially institute this Supper saying Do ye this in remembrance of me or as Paule sayth Shew you thr Lordes death tyll he come The Supper of the Lord then is not simply Christes body and bloud but Christes body broken and hys bloud shed Wherefore broken Wherfore shed Forseth that tencheth Christ himselfe saying Broken for you Shed for your syns and for the syns of many Here now then we haue occasion in the vse of the Sacrament to call to mynd the greatnes and greuousnes of syn which could not be taken away by any other meanes then by the sheding of the most precious bloud and breaking of the most pure bodye of the onely begotten Sonne of God Iesus Christ by whom all things were made all thinges are ruled gouerned c. Who considering this geare shall not be touched to repent Who in receipt of this Sacrament thinking that Christ sayth to him Take eate this is my body wyich is broken for thee This is my bloud which is shed for thy syns can but tremble at the greevousnes of his sins for the which such a price was payd If there were no plague at al els to admonish man of syn how greuous a thing it is in Gods sight surely that one were enough But alas how are our hartes bewitched through Sathans subtilties the custome of syn that we make syn a thing of nothing God open our eyes in tyme and geue vs repentance which we see this Sacrament doth as it were enforce vs vnto in the reuerence and true vse of the same Againe in hearing that thys which we take and eate is Christes body broken for our syns his bloud shed for our iniquities me are occasioned to call to mynd the infinite greatnes of Gods mercy and truth and of Christes loue towardes vs For what a mercy is this that God would for man beyng lost through hys wylfull sinnes be content yea desirous to geue hys owne onelye sonne The image of his substaunce the brightnes of his glory being in his own bosome to be made man for vs that we mē by him might be as it were made Gods What a mercy is this that God the Father should so tender vs that hee
would make this hys sonne being coequal with him in diuinity a mortall man for vs that we might be made immortal by him What a kindnes is thys that the almighty Lord should send to vs his enemies hys deare darlyng to be made poore that we by him might be made ritch What bowels of compassiō was this that the omnipotent Creator of heauen and earth would delyuer his own onely beloued sonne for vs creatures to be not onely flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones that we myght by hym through the holy Ghost be made one with him and so wyth the Father by communicatyng the merites of his flesh that is righteousnes holynes innocency and immortality but also to be a stayne sacrifice for our syns to satisfy his iustice to conuert or turue death in to lyfe our syn into righteousnes hell into heauen misery into felicitye for vs What a mercy is this that God wyll rayse vp this his sonne Christ not onely to iustify and regenerate vs but also in his person to demōstrate vnto vs our state which we shall haue ▪ for in hys comming we shall be lyke vnto hym Oh wonderfull mercy of God whych would assume this his Christ euen in humane body into the heauens to take and keepe ther possession for vs to leade our captiuity captiue to appeare before hym alwayes praying for vs to make the throne of Iustice a throne of mercy the seate of glory a seate of grace so that with boldnes we may come and appeare before God to aske and finde grace in tyme conuenient Againe what a verity and constant truth in God is thys that he would accordyng to hys promise made fyrst to Adam and so to Abraham and others in his time accomplish it by sending his sonne so graciously Who would doubt hereafter of any thing that he hath promised And as for Christes loue oh whose hart can be able to thinke of it any thing as it deserueth He beyng God wold become mā he beyng ritch would become poore he beyng Lord of all the world became a seruaunt to vs all he being immortall would become mortall myserable and fast of all Gods curses yea euen of hell it seife for vs His bloud was nothyng to deare hys lyfe he nothing considered to bryng vs from death to lyfe But thys hys loue needeth more harty waying then many wordes speaking and therefore I omit and leaue it to your considerations So that in the receiuing of this supper as I would you wold tremble at Gods wrath for syn so would I haue you to couple to that terrour and feare true fayth by which ye myght be assured lye perswaded of Gods mercy towardes you Christes loue though al thinges els preached the contrary Do euery of you surely thinke when you heare these wordes Take eate this is my body broken for your synnes Drinke this is my bloud shed for your syns that God the eternal father embracing you Christ calleth and cleppeth you most louingly makyng himselfe one with you and you one wyth hym and one wyth another amongest your selues You ought no lesse to be certayne now that God loueth you pardoneth your syns and that Christ is all yours then if you dyd heare an Angell out of heauen speakyng so vnto you And therefore reioyce and be glad and make thys Supper Eutharichiam a thankes geuing as the Fathers named it Be no lesse certaine that Christ and you now are all one then you are certayne the bread and wyne is one wyth your nature and substaunce after you haue eaten and dronken it Howbeit in thys it differeth that you by fayth are as it were chaunged into Christ and not Christ into you as the bread is for by fayth he dwelleth in vs we in hym God geue vs fayth in the vse of this Sacrament to receyue Christ as he geueth vs handes to receiue the element symbole and visible Sacrament God graunt vs not to prepare our teeth and belly as S Augustine sayth but rather of his mercy he prepare and geue vs true and lyuely fayth to vse thys and all other his ordinances to his glory our comfortes He sweepe the houses of our hartes make them cleane that they may be a woorthy harborough and lodging for the lord Amen Now let vs come and looke on the third and last thing namely wherefore the Lord did institute this Sacrament Our nature is very obliuious of God and of all his benefites And agayne it is very full of dubitation and doubting of Gods loue of his kyndnes Therefore to the end these two thinges might be something reformed and holpen in vs the Lord hath institute this Sacrament I meane that wee myght haue in memory the principal benefites of all benefites that is Christes death that we might be on all partes assured of communion with Christ of all kyndnes the greatest that euer God dyd geue vnto man The former to be the end wherfore Christ did institute this Sacrament he him selfe doth teache vs saying Do ye this in remembraunce of me The latter the Apostle doth uo iesse set forth in saying The bread whih we brake is it not the partaking or communion of the body of Christ Is not the cup of blessyng which we blesse the partaking or cōmunion of the bloud of Christ So that it appeareth the end wherefore this Sacrament was instituted was and is for the reformacion and helpe of our obliuion of that which wee should neuer forget and of our dubitation of that wherof we ought to be most certayne Concerning the former namely of the memory of Christes deare what cōmodity it bringeth with it I wyl purposely for times sake omit Onely a lirle wyll I speake of the commodities cōming vnto vs by the partaking and communion we haue with Christ First it teacheth vs that no man can cōmunicate wyth Chryst but the same must needes communicate with Gods grace fauour wher thorow syns are forgeuen Ther fore this cōmoditye cōmeth here-thorow namely that we should ve certaine of the remission pardon of our synnes The which thing we may also perceue by the cup in that it is called the cup of the new Testament to whych Testament is properly attributed on Gods behalfe obliuion or remission of our syns First I say therefore the supper is instituted to this ende that he which worthely receiueth should be certaine of the remission pardon of hys syns and iniquities how many and great soeuer they be Now great a benefit this is onely they know which haue felt the burthē of syn which of all heauy thinges is the most heauye Agayne no man can cōmunicate with Christes body and bloud but the same must communicate with his spirite for Christes body is no dead carcase Now he that cōmunicateth with Christes spirit cōmunicateth as with holynes righteousnes innocency immortalitie and wyth all the merites of Christes body so doth he with God and all his glory
c your eares to heare fables lyes fanities euil things c so now geue ouer your members to godlynes your touÌ„gs to speake your eares to heare your eyes to see your mouthes to last your hands to worke your feete to go about such thiuges as maye make to gods glory sobrieâ—y of life loue to your brethreÌ„ that daily more and more diligently for in a stay to stand you cannot either better or worse you are to day then you wer yesterday But better I trust you be wil be if you marke wel my theme that is Repent you The which thing that you would do as before I haue huÌ„bly besought yon eueÌ„ so now yet once more I do agayn besech you that for the tender mercies of God in Christ Iesus our Lord Repent you repent you for the kingdom of heauen that is a kingdom ful oâ—al ritches pleasures myrth beauty swetenes eternall felicitie is at hand The eye hath not sene the like the eare hath not heard the like the hart of man cannot conceiue the treasures pleasures of this kingdoÌ„ which now is at hand to such as repent that is to such as are sory for theyr sins beleue Gods mercy through Christ earnestly purpose to leade a new life The God of mercy through Christ his soÌ„ne graunt vs his holy spirit work in our hartes this sorow fayth new life which through his grace I haue spoken of both now for euer Amen ¶ An other Sermon made also by the sayd Maister Iohn Bradford vpon the Supper of the Lord. THere are two Sacramentes in Christes Church the one of initiation that is wherewith we be enraled as it were in to the houshold family of God which Sacrament we call Baptisme the other wherwith we be conserued fed kept nourished to continue in the same Familye which is called the Lords supper or the body and bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ broken for our syns and shed for our trausgressions Of the former Sacrament that is of Baptisme to speake now I am not purposed because occasioÌ„ and tyme serue not so therto Of the second therfore wyl I speake somthing by Gods grace if that first you remeÌ„ber this that Baptisme in Christs Church now sithen Christes death is come in place of CircumcisioÌ„ which was in the same church afore Christs comming Whereby we may see that Christian Parents seéme to bee no losse bound to offer theyr Infants and Sabes to be baptised that they may be takeÌ„ and accoÌ„pted of vs as meÌ„bers of Christes mistical body wherunto thei are receiued and sealed then wer the Hebrues their children to be taken as pertayning to the coue naunt league with God wherin they were enroled alonely the circumstance of the eight day not necessarye to be obserued being now abrogated But to come agayne of the Lords Supper I am purposed presently to speake through the helpe of God because we are assembled in Christ I hope to celebrate the same Now that the things which I shall speake may be better obserued and caryed away of you I wyl tell you how in what sort I wyll speake of it Three thynges would I haue marked as the principals and scopes wherto I wyl referre al that I shal at this time speake therof They be these Who what and wherefore That is to make it more plaine who dyd institute this thing which we are about to celebrate this is the first The second is what y thing is which is instituted And the last is wherfore and to what end it was instituted whereby we shall be taught how to vse it For the fyrst who did institute thys Sacrament and Supper you all do know that things are more esteemed sometyme for the dignity and authority of the person sometime for the wisedom of the person sometyme for the power and magnificence of the persou and sometime for the tender loue and kyndnes of the person If neede were I could by examples set forth euery one of these but I hope it is not necessarye Now then how can the thyng which we be about to celebrate but be estemed of euery one highlye in that the Auth or of it doth want no dignity no authority no wysedome no power no magnificence no holmes no tender loue and kindnes but hath al dignity authority wisdome power magnificence holynes tender lone mercy glory and all that can be wished absolutely He is God eteruall coequall and substantiall wyth the Father with the holy Ghost the image of the substance of God the wysedome of the Father the brightnes of hys glory by whom all things were made are ruled and gouerned He is the Kyng of all Kyngs and the Lord of all Lords He is the Messias of the world our most deare and louing brother Sauiour Mediatour Aduocate Intercessor Husbaud Priest So that the thyng which commeth from hym caÌ„not but be estemed loued and embraced if dignity authority wisdom power glory goodnes mercy lyke vs Yea if auy thing that can be wyshed lyke vs theu cannot thys whych our Lord dyd institute but like vs and that so much the more by how much it is oue of the last things which he did institute commaunde God open our eyes to see these thynges accordingly so shall we come with more reuerence to thys Table of the Lord which thing he graunt for hys mercies sake Amen And thus much for the fyrst who dyd institute thys Sacrament Now to the second what the Sacrament is If we shall aske our eies our nose our mouth our taste our handes and the reason of man they wyll all make a consonant answer that it is bread wyne And verelye herein they speake the truth and lye not as by many thyngs may be proued although the Papists prate their pleasure to the coutrary And here my dearely beloued I thynke I shal not be either tedious or vnprofitable vnto you if that I tary a litle in shewing this verity that the substance of bread and wine remaine in the Sacrament after the wordes of consecration as they call them be spoken Wherby we may learne how shameles beastes they be whych would enforce men to beleue traÌ„substaÌ„tiation which is an errour wherupon in a maner dependeth all popery For it is the stay of theyr Priesthood whych is neyther after the order of Aaron nor after the order of Melchisedech but after the order of Baal whych thing is somthyng seene by theyr number For the false prophets Priestes of Baal were alwayes many moe in number when the wycked were in authority then the true Priestes and Prophetes of the Lord as the holy histories of the Bible do teach Reade the third of the Kings the. 18 chap. That in the supper of the Lord or in the Sacrament of Christes body which the Papists call the sacrameÌ„t of the Aulter as though that were Christes Sacrament which thing they