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
obteine life and saluation Christe is the strength and substance of the Sacramentes by whome onelie they are effectuall and without whome they are of no power vertue or effecte But if any man by promise doe vnderstand couenaunt whereby the Lorde doeth singularly binde or as you would say tye him selfe to the signes in which or with whiche he would be present bodily essentially and really therein hee saith more than hee can shewe or proue by the Scriptures For in no place hath Christe promised to be present corporally that is with his true bodie in the signes or with the signes other wise I am not ignoraunt how God appeared sometimes to our fathers vnder a bodily figure that is in some visible forme or shape as when he shewed him selfe to Iacob whiche was named Israel leaning on a ladder and to Moses in the hole of a rock as it were in a glasse But these do not properly perteine to this purpose where we entreate of the corporall presence of Christe and of the sacramentall signes But because many wrest these wordes of the Lord This is my body This is my bloud to proue a corporall presence of the Lordes bodye in the Supper I aunswere that those wordes of the Lord are not roughly to be expounded according to the letter as though bread and wine were the bodie and bloude of Christe substantially and corporally but mystically and sacramentally so that the bodie and bloud of Christ doe abide in their substance nature in their place I meane in some certeine place of Heauen but the bread and wine are a signe or sacrament a witnesse or sealing and a liuely memorie of his bodie giuen and his bloud shedd for vs but of this thing in place conuenient we wil intreate more at large By these thinges whiche we haue spoken of it appeareth sufficiently howe Sacraments consist of two things the signe and the thinge signified of the worde of God and the rite or holie Ceremonie There are some notwithstanding whiche thincke there is suche force graffed of God into the words that if they bee pronounced ouer the signes they sanctifie chaunge and in a manner bring with them or make presente the thinges signified and plante or include them within the signes or at the leaste ioyne them with the signes For here-vppon are these kinde of spéeches hearde That the water of Baptisme by the vertue of the wordes doeth regenerate and that by the efficacie of the wordes the breade it selfe and the wine in the Supper are made the naturall fleshe and bloud of the Lorde But the Sacramentes of Christe and his Churche doe consiste of the worde and the signe But it séemeth that we must diligentlie searche out what muste be vnderstoods by The worde I saide euen now that ▪ The worde in the Sacramentes was a witnesse-bearing of Gods will and the commaundement of God it selfe or institution of God whiche declareth vnto vs the author manner and end of a Sacrament By this word I say and Commaundement of GOD by this will and institution of God the Sacramentes are sanctified not that the wordes are so pronounced of the ministers as they ar read afore to be recited of the Lord him selfe or deliuered by his Apostles ▪ but because God so would so did and commaunded his Apostles to doe For whatsoeuer GOD doeth or commaundeth to doe is sanctified by the very commaundement or déede of god For all thinges which hee hath done are excéeding good therefore these things which he commaundeth to doe cannot choose but be holie because he is holie and the onelie sanctifier Wherefore by the nature will déede and commaundement of God and not by the pronuntiation of any wordes are the Sacramentes sanctified To which wil of GOD that it may bee applyed vnto man and doe him good the faithfull obedience of men is necessarily required whiche altogether should make vs putt our trust and confidence in the mercie and power of God who in no wise should despise or cast behinde vs the institution of God although it séeme in outwarde appearaunce base and contemptible This will appeare more plainlie in the example of Naaman the captaine of the King of Syria his bande ▪ He heard of the Prophet vndoubtedly at the Lords commaundement that he should washe him selfe seuen times in Iordane For so it should come to passe that he should bee cleansed from his Leprosye Héere thou doest heare the worde the will I say and commaundement of God but thou dost not heare that any wordes were rehearsed either ouer Iordane or ouer Naaman or that any words were prescribed of the prophet to Naamā that he should repeate wherby forsooth there might be any force of purifying or clensing giuen to the water Naaman by faith obeyeth the commandement of God and is clensed frō his leprosie not by his owne merit or by the benefite of the water of Iordane but by the power of GOD and faithfull obedience Lepres also in the Gospel and that not a fewe are clensed by the power and will of Christ and through faith and not by pronouncing or speaking of words The Lorde indéede said I will be thou cleane but if any man at this day shoulde haue recited the same wordes a hundred times ouer any Lepre he should haue preuailed nothing Whereby it is manifest that to words there is no force giuen of working health if they be pronounced The Apostles indéede saide to the sick féeble and lame In the name of the Lorde Iesus arise and walke and they rose vpp and were healed but they were not healed by the benefite of the words but by the name by the power I meane and vertue of Christe For Peter whiche saide vnto the lame man in Hierusalem In the name of Iesus Christe of Nazareth arise and walke saide in the middes of the counsell of Hierusalem If wee this day bee examined of the deede done to the sick-man by what meanes he is made whole be it knowen vnto you all that in the name of Iesus Christe of Nazareth this man standeth heere whole And to the same people hee sayeth And his name through faith in his name hath made this man sounde whome yee see and knowe and the faith which is by him hath giuen to this man health Beside these we read in the Actes of the Apostles that y sonnes of one Scaeua a priest being exorcists or cōiurers did call on the name of the Lord Iesus ouer thē that had euil spirits but these were so farr off from giuing place to their exorcismes and coniuringes that they ranne on them and ouercame them so that they had muche a doe to escape aliue Where it is moste apparaunt that those Exorcistes vsed the same forme almoste in their inchantmentes whiche the Apostle vsed for in the name of the Lord Iesus they proued to caste out the foule spirit But sith these were not able so to do who cannot sèe and perceiue that
his bodie or distribution of his bloud It is manifest therefore that the substance of bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Lordes supper doe remaine in their owne nature and that transubstantiation is a sophistical imagination This also is a sophistical and a notable papisticall forgerie in that they say that the bread and wine consecrated in the Supper is therefore called of the Apostles breade and wine béecause they were bread and wine before For that is nowe done whiche is reade in Erod to haue béene done in times past where Araons rodde is saide to deuoure the Inchaunters rods which neuerthelesse then were not roddes but Serpentes but now they are named roddes because they were rods before they were so chaunged which now are serpents and not rods But againe who doth not sée this example hathe no similitude or likenesse with the breade and wine of the Lord For the rod truely was called a rod. But in the meane while it was and séemed plainly to be not now a rod but a serpént but the bread is called bread neither doeth it appeare to be any thing else but bread here is no forme of flesh séene as was séene there the fourme of a serpent Beside this the rod is saide to be turned into a serpent is shewed for a wonder or miracle but ye shal read in no place that the breade was turned into flesh by any miracle but a sacrameÌ„t is instituted which in déed looseth the name nature of a sacrament when the substance of the signe beeing annihilated made voide nothing remaineth there but the thing signified for the which they triflingly say of accidents myraculously subsisting without their subiect remayning in sted of the signe is to no purpose If we shuld go about to boast of our dreames for miracles there will be nothing so absurde foolish which we shal not colour with our fansies lyes What if this word transubstantiatioÌ„ doth manifestly proue that this whole trifling toy is not fetcht from the simple plaine doctrine of the Apostles but froÌ„ the subtile schole of quarelling sophisters But the Apostle Paule giueth vs in charge to beware both of Philosophie and straungenesse of wordes though at this present we do not only intreate of new wordes but also of new matter and new doctrine contrary in all pointes to the Apostles For this doctrine of transubstantiation is cleane coÌ„trary both to the doctrine of the Apostles Euangelistes touching the true incarnation of our Lorde and the true nature and propertie of his humane body and also the true raising vp againe of our bodies For they are constrayned to forge many thinges altogether myraculous as of the inuisible body of Christ of the subtile body of Christ pearcing by his subtility through the gate the stone I meane that which couered his sepulchre or the Lordes very body béeinge altogether and at one time in many places and filling all thinges and other innumerable which are of this stampe absurde and wicked Nowe also Ioan. Scotus a subtile doctour in his woorke Sentent Distinct 11. Lib. 4. quaest 3. saith That the article of Transubstantiation is neyther expressed in the créede of the Apostles neyther in those créedes of the auncient fathers but that it was brought in and inuented of the Churche so sayth he meaning the Romishe Churche vnder Innocentius the thirde in the Counsel of Lateran Whereby we gather that the doctrine of Transubstantiation is of late time and newely start vp the historie whereof we haue elsewhere more largely compyled But by this that I haue sayde I thinke it playnely and effectually enoughe declared that the signes are not mingled with the things signified or chauÌ„ged into them but that eache of them remaine in their seuerall natures But albeit eyther of the parts without myxture doe reteine their owne nature yet those two agrée in one sacrament and being ioyned together and not diuided do make one perfect and lawfull Sacrament For water alone both priuately and ordinarily sprinckled is no sacrament vnlesse it be applyed and vsed according to the institution of Christ Purifying also or washing away of sinnes and the ingraffing or receiuing into the league and fellowshippe of God and all Saintes of it selfe is no Sacrament vnlesse there be also a sprinckling of water in the name of the blessed Trinitie In like maner it is no Sacrament if we eate bread in a common assembly and drinke wine of the selfe same cuppe after the common manner neyther is it a Sacrament if through a faythfull remembraunce thou consider that the Lordes body was betrayed for thée and his bloude shedde for thée for the which also thou giuest thankes but so farre fâ—â—rth as they are all mysteries of God and our saluation they are generally termed sacramentes that is secrete and spirituall mysteries of GOD and oure saluation For in a perfect and lawfull Sacramente there must néedes goe together both the holy action corporall or sensible and the spirituall celebration thereof for the whiche this sacramentall action was inuented and put in practise But here some moue many and diuers questions touching the sacramentall vnion whether it be personall reall or rationall I bycause I sée nothing of this matter doubtfully deliuered of the Apostles and that the thing being playne of it selfe by such maner of sophisticatioÌ„s is made dark doubtful difficult and obscure simply and playnely saye that the signe and the thing signified are ioyned together in the Sacramentes by Gods institution by faythfull contemplation and vse to be shorte in signification and likenesse of the thinges but I vtterly denye that those two are naturally vnited together so that the signe in the Sacrament beginneth to be that whiche the thing signified is in his owne substaunce and nature I denye that the thing signified is ioyned corporally with the signe so that the signe remayneth still in his owne substaunce and nature and yet neuerthelesse in the meane time hath the thing signified corporally ioyned vnto it that thereby who so euer is partaker of the signe shoulde be also by the signe or with the signe partaker of the thing it selfe The reason why I do so constantly denie that appeareth I thinke sufficiently by those examples whiche I haue hetherto declared and whiche hereafter shall be declared Furthermore I say that the signe and the thing signified are coupled together by Gods institution bycause he whiche instituted the Sacrament of baptisme and the Supper instituted it not to this ende that with water we might washe awaye the filthe of the body as the custome is to doe by daily vse of bathes neyther that wee should take oure fill of the breade and wine but that vnder visible signes he might commend vnto vs the mysteries of our redemption and his grace and to be shorte of our saluation by represeÌ„ting them to renue them and by sealing them to confirme theÌ„ My saying is that they are
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
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
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
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
other yeere of Iubilie In the auncient Iewish yeare of Iubilie there is to be considered the meaning of the letter and of the spirite * According to the letter bondmen were set at libertie and lawful heires did receiue againe their patrimonie and possessions which either was chaunged awaye or otherwise gone from them The meaning of that order as it could not be brought againe into all kingdomes in these latter dayes without the trouble of all estates so is it little set by and the care of the oppressed vterly neglected by the holy popes who nowe of late brought in the yeare of Iubilie and preached it vnto the foolish worlde not for any zeale they had to helpe the oppressed but for the desire they had by robbing the world to augment their owne treasures * The spirituall and hidden mysterie of the Iubilie did cōmende vnto them of olde the frée remission of all sinnes through Christe by faith in Christe which frée grace cannot without reproche to Christe bee otherwise preached than it hath béen alreadie taught by the holie Gospell Therefore the church was without the obseruation of any yeare of Iubilie by the space of one thousande three hundreth yeres after Christ his incarnation At laste vp start Bonifacius the eyghth of that name byshop of Rome who firste of all inuented that wicked ordinaunce For Platina in the life of that Bonifacius saith This is he that first brought in the Iubilie in the yeare of Christe 1300. wherin he graunted full remission of all their sinnes to as manie as visited the See apostolicall And the same did he ordeine to be obserued euery hundreth yeare So then the church of Christ was without this Iubilie without peril of saluation by the space of one thousand thrée hundreth yeres And therefore may wee also be without it without all peril and damage yea to our great profite commoditie For if our Romanists go on to obtrude it to the worlde as a thinge necessarie to saluation then shal they condemne the vniuersal church which was before Pope Boniface his time who first brought in this vnacquainted Iubilie Thus we are so farre frō not being able to be without it that we ought by all meanes possible to detest and abhorre it as a verie wicked and blasphemous ordinance considering that wee haue to beléeue that the Iubilie is vtterly abrogated by Christ and also y al sinnes are fréely through Christ forgiuen to all that beléeue in what place of the world so euer they liue and are conuersant in This Pope Boniface doth to his moste false promise and vnpure place annexe the remission of sinnes Nowe I doubte whether this blasphemous antichriste could do any thing more horrible and more against the honour of the Sauiour For therein is defiled the glory of the onely begotten sonne of God who is the onely health of all the world Therein is defiled the saluation of many thousands for which Christ died vpon the crosse And therein also is defiled the glorie of Christian faith by which alone we are made partakers of eternall saluation This vngratious wicked Pope was he of whome that common prouerbe runneth Hee entred like a woolfe he reigned like a Lyon and dyed like a dogge For verily so blasphemous an ordinaunce was worthie of such an author So foolishe a people was worthie of suche a pastour And so diuelishe a Pope was worthie of such an ende Platina writeth that in that yeare of Iubilie there came so greate heapes of people to Rome that although the citie were indifferently large ynough yet one man could not for throng passe by an other For the worlde will needes bée deceiued if it were not so they would giue eare vnto the Lord which cryeth O all ye that thirste come to the waters and ye that haue no money drawe nigh Why spend ye your money vpon a thing of naught c. Esaie 55. and Iohn 4. 7. Now all the while that the world was sett thus on madding the righteous Lord was not a sléepe nor yet did dissemble howe much they displeased him with that diuelishe inuention For the verye same yeare he stirred vpp Otthoman the Patriarche and first founder of the Turkish empire by whose meanes he did notably scourge the churche of Rome and the corrupt manners that were crept into Christendom A fewe yeares after succéeded Clement the sixte Paule the seconde and Sixtus the fourth as wicked men as he as is to be found in the histories of their liues who chaunged the yere of Iubilie frō euery hundreth to euery fiftieth yere and so at last to euery fiue and twentieth yere that so they might suck the more aduauntage out of mennes foolishnesse But nowe to the matter againe The Sacraments also of the aunclent Iewes are flatly abrogated and in their places are substituted newe sacramentes which are giuen to the people of the newe couenaunt In stéede of circumcision is baptisme appointed The Apostles in the Synode helde at Hierusalem did oppose them selues against those which were of opinion that circumcision was necessarie vnto saluation and in that counsell they allowed of Paules doctrine who both thought and taught the contrarie For Paule in one place sayth Loe I Paul saye vnto you that if ye be circumcised Christe shall profite you nothinge For I testifie to euery man which is circumcised that he is a debitour to the whole lawe to doe it Christe is made of none effect to you as many of you as are iustified by the lawe are fallen from grace Neither is it right or conuenient that in the churche of Christe there should remaine so bloudie a Sacrament as Circumcision was when once that bloud was shead vppon the crosse which stauncheth and taketh awaye the bloude of the olde testament In stéede of the Paschall lambe is the Lordes supper ordeined which by another name is called the Euchariste or a thankesgiuing For so the Lord him selfe in Luke expoundeth it saying that hee did then eate the laste passeouer with his disciples at the ende whereof he did immediately ordeine the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud which he biddeth them to celebrate in remembraunce of him vntil hee returne to iudgement againe Therefore the Lorde leaft the supper to be an vnchaungeable Sacrament vntill the ende of the worlde Moreouer that all sortes of sacrifices conteined in the lawe are vtterly abrogated no man I suppose will once denye which doeth but consider that both the Temple and the two altars with all the holye Instrumentes are vtterly ouerthrowen and come to nothing I told you that those sacrifices were remembraunces of sinnes and types or figures of the cleansing and attonement that was to be made by Christe Iesus Therefore when Christ was come and offered vpp for the sinnes of all the worlde then verily did all the sacrifices of the auncient Iewes come to their ending For where there is a full and absolute remission of sinnes there is no
two speciall and principall markes The sincere preaching of the word of GOD and the lawfull partaking of the sacraments of Christ Wheras some add vnto these the study of godlinesse and vnitie patience in affliction and the calling on the name of God by Christe but we include them in the setwaine that we haue set downe S. Paule writing to the Ephestians saith Christ gaue him selfe for the congregation that he might sanctifie it and clense it in the founteine of water through the worde Ye haue in this testimonie of the Apostle the markes of the Church to witt the Worde and the Sacrament by the which Christe maketh to him selfe a church For with his grace he calleth with the bloud of Christ he purifieth that which he sheweth by his worde to be receiued by faith and sealeth with sacraments that the faithfull shoulde doubt of nothing touching their saluatiō obteined through Christ And these things truly do properly belong vnto the faithfull and the holy members Whereas hypocrits are not purified the faulte lieth in themselues and not in God or his holy ministerie They are surely sanctified visibly wherevppon they are counted holy amongst men and these things doe improperly belonge vnto them S. Peter in this pointe differeth not a whitt from S. Paule who when he preached the worde of God to the people of Ierusalem and they demaunding what they should doe Peter aunswered Repent and be ye euery one baptised in the name of Iesus Christ for the remissiō of sinnes S. Peter therefore ioyned baptisme with doctrine the sacrament with the worde Which thinge he had learned of our sauiour him selfe in the gospel written by S. Matth. saying Teach ye all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holie Ghoste So that ye reade in the Acts no other mysteries of the Word and Sacraments of the Church than are recited in these wordes They continued in the doctrine of the Apostles and in doing almes deeds and in breaking of bread and prayer where ye may sée the supper of the Lorde an other sacramente adioyned to the sacramēt of baptisme also the desire and studie of vnitie and loue and the calling vpon the name of God. These things béeing thus sufficient plaine and firme enough yet notwithstanding I will add other testimonies out of the holie Scriptures Concerning the token of Gods worde or the preaching of his Gospel the Lord him self speaketh by Esaie the Prophet saying I will make this couenant with them My spirite that is come vppon thee the church and my words which I haue put in thy mouth shall neuer go out of thy mouth nor out of the mouthe of thy childers children saith the Lord from this time foorth for euermore For in the gospel also the Lord Iesus saith He that is of God doeth heare the word of God. Againe My sheepe heare my voice and I knowe them and they followe me and I giue to them euerlasting life and they shall not perishe for euer And againe He that loueth me will keepe my commaundements he that loueth mee not will not keepe my commaundements Againe Who so is of the truth wil heare my voice Now as touching the markes and tokens of the Sacramentes Saincte Paule speaking of holie Baptisme saith Through one spirite we are all baptised in one body And he also speaking of the Lords supper saieth Though we be many yet are we one bread one body for we are all partakers of the same bread Is not the cup of blessing which we blesse partaking of the bloud of Christe It is moste certeine therefore for that it is approued by testimonies of holie Scriptures that the outwarde markes and tokens of the church are the word and the Sacrament For these bring vs into the societie of one ecclesiasticall bodie and kéepe vs in the same All these testimonies properly as I said a little before doe belong vnto the elect members of GOD beeing endued with faith true obedience but vnto the hypocrites whiche are voide of faith and due obedience they nothing at all béelong notwithstanding because these also doe heare the voice of the shepheard outwardly and insue vertue and opēly or outwardly are annexed to the elect and true beléeuers in the partaking of the sacraments yea vnto the true body of christ for those outwarde signes sake they are accoūted to be in the church so long as they departe not from it In which pointe for perspicuitie sake hauing treated of the markes of the Church we must add this therevnto that by common order these markes doe declare and note the members of the Church For there are certeine speciall members who although they want these markes yet are they not excluded from the societie and communion of the true churche of Christe For it is moste euident that there are many in the world which doe not heare the ordinarie preaching of Gods worde neither doe come into the congregation and companye of them that call vpon God or that receiue the Sacraments not for that they despise them or that it is a delight vnto them to be from Sermons and the preaching of Gods worde but because through necessitie as imprisonmēt sicknes or being let by sōe other vrgent cause they cannot attaine vnto that whiche they earnestly desire and yet for all that they are the true and liuely members of Christe and of the Catholique church In times past the Lord instituted or appointed to the people of Israel a visible Churche whiche he established by a certeine lawe and set it foorth by visible signes If any man had despised this Church or refused when he might to heare the doctrine of the Church and to enter in among the holie companie and to doe sacrifice or else had railed at it or in sted of the order of worshipping GOD that was appointed had embraced any other kinde truly he was not accoūted at al to be of the order number of the people of god And yet it is certeine that there were an innumerable company of men dispearsed throughout the whole world among the Gentiles who neuer did nor could communicate with this visible companie and congregation of Gods people and yet notwithstanding they were holy mēbers of this societie and communion and the friends of the almightie god There were a great many of the children of God with Ioachim and Iechonias taken prisoners by Nabugodonosor and brought captiue into Babylon to whome it was no preiudice neyther did it hurt them that they were separated from the people of God the Church and worshipping of God being then visibly vpholden by Zedechias at Ierusalem euen as in very déede it did little auayle a great manye to be in the visible assemblies and congregations with the people of GOD in Gods temple when their mindes and hearts were not sounde and perfect We may in these dayes finde out a great many of the
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
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
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
are gathered and knitt together into the vnitie of the bodie of Christe are separated from all other religions fellowships assemblies more too we are bound by them as by an othe to the true worship of one God and vnto one sincere religion to the which wée openly professe that we agrée and giue our consent with all them that are partakers of the sacraments Where this chiefly is to be marked that the gathering or knitting together into the vnitie of the body of Christe hath a double respecte for either wée are ioyned with Christe that hée is in vs and wée liue in him or else wée are coupled with all the members of Christe to witt with Christes faithfull seruauntes I meane with the Catholique Church it selfe Furthermore we are knit together with Christ in spirite and faith But we are ioyned to the Church or to the members of Christ by the vnitie of faith and of the spirite and by the bonde of charitie All which verily are the inward giftes of the spirite whiche fréely are bestowed on vs by the Lord onely not by any creatures not by any elementes Sacraments therefore do visiblie graffe vs into the fellowship of Christ his saincts who were inuisibly graffed by his grace before we were partakers of the Sacramentes but by receyuing of the sacramentes we doe nowe open and make manifest of whose body wée would bée and are members the Lord with his signes or markes by his minister also visiblie marking vs for his owne household and for his owne people Whiche thing by the Scriptures wée will more fully open and make manifest They who in time past by the force of the couenaunt by the grace mercie and promise of God were the people of God were by Circūcision visibly gathered together into one Churche knit together into one bodie For the Apostle S. Paule sayeth vnto the Ephesians Wherefore remember that ye beeing in time passed Gentiles in the fleshe called vncircumcisiō of them which are called circumcision in the fleshe made with handes that at that time I say ye were without Christe and were aliantes from the cōmon wealth of Israel and straungers from the couenaunt of promise c. Whereby it is also easilye vnderstood how the Iewes by circumcision were distinguished from other religions and fellowships and that circumcision in another place for this cause is put for them that are circumcised and why the name of vncircumcised was reprochfull For those that were vncircumcised were counted for vngodly and vncleane persons that had no fellowshippe nor parte or inheritaunce with God and his Sainctes Of baptisme whiche was ordeined in the stéede of circumcision some thing is spoken in my former Sermons And also the apostle setteth it out most plainely As the bodie sayeth hée is one and hath many members and all the members of the bodie whiche is one thoughe they bee many yet are but one bodie euen so is Christ For by one spirite are wee all baptised into one bodie whether wee be Iewes or Gentiles whether wee be bond or free and haue been all made to drinke into one spirite Wee are therefore knitt together by the Sacramente of baptisme into the vnitie of the bodie of Christe so that to haue broken this bond and to yeld our selues into another fellowshipp of religion and brotherhoode may worthilie be called sacrilege and treason Herevnto the Apostle séemed to haue respect when he asked the Corinthians Are ye not baptised into the name of Christe declaring thereby that they whiche are baptised into the name of Christ haue openly sworne and bound their faith before the church of Christe so that nowe they neither can nor ought to reioyce in any other name than in the name of Christ into whose household they are receiued by baptisme So I say wée are separated by baptisme from all other religions and are onelye consecrated to Christian religion Hée hath the like place in all pointes touching the supper of the Lord 1. Corinth cap. 10. For when the Apostle would declare to the Corinthians that it is a thinge farre from all godlines vnséemely yea and sacrilegious that Christians should eate in the idols temples thinges offered to idols and be partakers of the Gentiles sacrifices reasoning from the manner and nature of the Sacrament of the Lords supper he sayeth Flie from idolatrie I speake as vnto them that haue vnderstanding iudge ye what I saye The cupp of blessing whiche wee blesse is it not the communion of the bloud of Christ The bread whiche we breake is it not the communion of the bodie of Christe For wee that are many are one bread and one bodie because we all are partakers of one bread Behold Israel whiche is after the flesh are not they whiche eate of the sacrifices partakers of the altar What say I then that the idol is any thinge or that that whiche is sacrificed vnto idols is any thing Nay but rather this I say that those thinges whiche the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to diuels not to god And I would not that yee should haue fellowship with the diuels Ye cannot drincke the cupp of the Lord and the cupp of the diuels Ye cannot bee partakers of the Lords table and of the table of diuels c. For all this is Paules saying whiche since it serueth notably to oure purpose and is verie plaine I will but briefly runne ouer it First he layeth downe the state and scope of the matter whervnto he immediatly directeth his whole discourse Flie saith he idolatrie And he meaneth by the word Idolatrie whatsoeuer perteyneth to idolatrie especially the eating of meate offered to idols But if you know not what Idolothytū is which word he there vseth vnderstand that it is a Gréeke word whiche Paule vseth in this case and it signifieth a thinge sacrificed to an idol or a thing publiquely in sacrifice consecrated to an idol And it was the manner of the Corinthians to sacrifice at the altars of their Gods in idol-houses that is to say in their idol temples and to call Christians vnto those their sacrifices and they when they came sate and eate of that whiche was offered vnto idols eating without difference with the idolaters thincking they might haue done that without any fault at all béecause by the bright shining of the Gospel it appeared that neither the idol neither that God whome the idol represented and therefore also the thinges themselues that were offered to idols were nothing else but vaine names and thinges of no price or estimation But Paul disputing against these from the 8. Cap. vnto the 11. teacheth that it is farre wide from Christianitie to be partakers of the Gentiles sacrifices and saith I wil speake vnto you as vnto them that haue discretiō that after I haue shadowed out vnto you which way to walke you by the sharpenes of your witt maye vnderstand what is true what is false and to be
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
all that is their owne For if this their mysterie be vnspeakable why then do they vse these termes essentially substantially really corporally For they that speake so doe â—â—ter truly and set down the manner of his presence If the bread be supâ—rnaturally the body of Christ why thâ—â— do they ad naturally And if the bread be Christes bodie inuisibly then can it not be corporally neither can it be a true body whose propertie is to be visible Who would not laugh if hee should heare that fire burnt and gaue no heate and that light did shine and gaue no light If he be not present in qualitie quantitie and as in a place then is he not corporally present For I pray you are not qualities quantities and place belonging to the body Hearken what Augustine saith vnto Dardanus touching the presence of God Take saith he space of place froÌ„ bodies and they shal be no where and because they shal bee no where they shal not be at al. Take the bodies theÌ„selues from the qualities of bodies they shal be no where and therfore it must needes be they cannot be at all Let not vs therfore robb or spoile the Lords bodie of the properties thereof and so denie the trueth of his bodie Againe that we bring not so many contrary and absurd things into one and the same opinion we interprete the words of the Lord This is my bodie this is a memorall or remembrance of my body or else This signifieth my body Moreouer if this word Est Is be to bée vnderstoode substantiuely in the Lordes words This is my body it followeth then that the breade is chaunged into Christes body But that this is not so all our senses doe witnesse the verie substance remayning not onely the accidentes of the breade It is necessarie therefore that our aduersaries doe vnderstand that in this with this or vnder this is Christes body But so are they gone from the simplicitie of the Lordes wordes who sayde This is my body and not vnder this is my body Againe if we we be so tyed to the words aboue recited that vpon paine of sacrilege we may not starte from them an haires breadth I beséeche you then how durst Luke and Paule recite the words which belong to the cup farre otherwise than Matthewe and Marke For these two doe sette downe the wordes belonging to the cup in this sorte This is my bloude which is of the new Testament whiche is shead for manye for remission of their sinnes But they two recite them thus This cup beeing the newe Testament through my bloud whiche is shead for you And This cuppe is the newe Testament in my bloud But shal we thinke that there is no difference betwéene the bloude of Christe and the newe Testament S. Paule defineth the newe Testament after Ieremie to be a full remission of all sinnes And the self same sayth that this remission of sinnes is obteined through the bloud of Christ But who will so impudently contend as will dare to affirme that the verie cup or the wine in the cup is really and substantially the remission of sinnes What cause is there if wee holde on and sticke precisely to the letter why we should be forced to confesse that the cuppe not the wine nor the drinke is eyther the bloude of Christ eyther the newe Testament or the remission of sinnes For the Lord sayth not This wine but This cup. Howbeit in this place to avoyde absurditie wee willingly admitte a trope wherfore theÌ„ are we not indiffereÌ„t in a matter of equal importaÌ„ce Therfore like as the cup or the wine is the Testament or remission of sinnes so likewise the cup or the wine is Christes bloude and in like maner also the breade is Christes body But the cup is not substantially the remissioÌ„ of sinnes or bloud but the sacrament of Christes bloude whereby the new Testament was dedicated full remission of sinnes obteyned for vs therefore the breade is the bodye of Christe bycause it is the sacramente of the body of Christ Surely it is a strong and firme argumente that wee haue brought foorth and of no lesse force and strengthe we hope is that behinde whiche we will nowe bring foorth The Lord at the celebrating of the holy supper sayth Doe ye this in the remeÌ„brance of me These wordes do not import that we should determine them to be really present whome we ought to remember For who shall be sayde to remember those things which he beholdeth before him in presence But we must not goe from the simple signification of remembrance or memorie specially since Paule sayth Declare the Lords death vntill he come For thus wee gather thereby Hee whose remembrance is repeated vntill hee come or returne hee surely is not counted to be present but is looked for to come therfore the Lords body which was giuen for vs the remembraunce whereof is celebrated in the mysticall Supper is not present but is looked for to come Now those places touching Christes leauing the world and departing hence doe not simply admit the interpretation of the words of the supper It is expedient for you saith he that I depart For if I goe not away the coÌ„forter shal not come vnto you But if I depart from you then will I send him vnto you Also I went from the father and came into the worlde Againe I leaue the world and go to the father And againe And hencefoorth I am not in the worlde but these are in the worlde and I come vnto thee These sayinges truely are repugnaunt That he went hence That he is no longer in the world That he left the worlde and that his natural body is in the world and that verily it is giuen and receyued really and substantially in the Supper Neyther is it lawfull figuratiuely to interpret the testimonies whiche are brought foorth of Sainte Iohns Gospel concerning Christes departure For the Apostles doe confesse that the Lord spake plainely or simply without any parable In so much therefore as the Apostles do testifie that this speach of the Lord was simple and simply pronounced it is needeful that those other wordes whiche are contrarie vnto these This is my body be expounded by a figure that the Scripture be not repugnant Moreouer those places whiche to it selfe beare recorde that Christes bodie after the resurrection was circumscribed by place seene and felt which also doe make a difference betwéene Christes body clarified and the angelicall spirites where by the way we may sée that here is no place left for the deuice of the definitiue meane do not admit the bare interpretation of the solemne wordes of the Lorde The Angels say He is risen he is not here Beholde the place where they layde him Also He shall goe before you into Galilee there shall you see him And againe he him selfe saythe to his disciples Feele me and see A spirite hath not fleshe and bones as you see mee haue
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
not onely the sacramentes of the bodie and bloude of Christ We answere that Paule saieth thus in plaine wordes Who soeuer eateth of this bread and drinketh of the Lords cup. c. Marke this he sayeth Who so eateth this bread drinketh of this cup vnworthily hee saith not Who so eateth the flesh and drinketh the bloud vnworthily For they whiche eate the Lorde are not without faith and Christe dwelleth in them and they in him If thou yet meruaile how the vnbeléeuers can bée guiltie of the Lordes body and bloud being eaten but sacramentally learne this out of other places of the Scripture The Lord saith in Iohn Verilie verilie I say vnto you he that receiueth whomsoeuer I shall send receiueth me and whoso receiueth me receiueth him that sent mee Wherfore whose receiueth not an apostle trespasseth not against y Apostle but against God himself although in y mene while he hath not séene god nor will not séeme to haue repelled him Wee read how y the iudge will say to them that are on his left hand Departe from me you wicked into euerlasting fire For I was hungrie and you gaue me no meat I was thirsty you gaue me no drink c. But harkeÌ„ now how the reprobate wil make exceptions againste thus sentence of the Iudge Lord when did we se thee hungrie or thirstie and ministred not vnto thee TheÌ„ heare again what the iudge wil answere Verily I say vnto you in that yee did it not vnto one of the least of these ye did it not to mee wherfore like as he that sinneth against a minister or a begger sinneth agaiÌ„st Christ himselfe although in y meane while he hath not hurt Christes person in any point so is he also giltie of the body bloud of Christ whosoeuer receiueth the sacrament of the body bloud of Christ vnworthily although in the meane seasoÌ„ he haue not receiued the very body bloud of the lord Paul saith in another place that reuolters do crucifie againe vnto them selues the sonne of god He also denieth in an other place by all manner of meanes that it is possible for Christe to be crucified or to dye any more Therefore Christ cannot be crucified againe by the Apostataes or reuolters how beit their shamefull falling away from him is so estéemed of as if they had crucified the Sonne of God. Although therefore the wicked doe not eate the Lordes verie bodie nor drinke his bloude neuerthelesse they are guiltie of betraying the Lords body and bloud as farre as in them lyeth If a rebell treade vnder his foote y seale or letters of the Prince or Magistrate although hee touche not the Magistrate him selfe nor treade him vnder his foote yet is hee sayde to haue troaden the magistrate vnder his foote and is accused not for hurting the seale or defiling the letters but hee is charged of treason and accused for treading the Prince vnder his féete What meruaile then if we heare it said that they which do eate the Lords bread vnworthily are guiltie of the body and bloud of Christ For the bread and the mysticall cup are a sacrament and seale of it Hetherto haue we disputed of the eating of the bodie of Christe and of drinking of his bloud haÌ„dling euery one point therof with asmuch breuitie as we could Now we go to knit vp the other endes of the Lords supper béeing placed in the description of the supper We said that the supper was instituted by the Lord that it might represent visibly the gifts of God vnto the Church and lay them foorth before the eyes of all men But we haue learned by the whole discourse of this matter that Christ him selfe is a most full rich treasure of all the giftes of God as namely froÌ„ whom béeing deliuered for vs vnto death we haue all things belonging to life remission of sinnes life euerlasting Since these things be inuisible gotten by faith they be also visibly that is to say by sacraments represented almost vnto all the senses to the sight to hearing to tasting and to féeling to the intent that man béeing wholy therwith moued bothe in body and soule may celebrate this moste comfortable mysterie with greate reioycing in heart Héere vnto now apperteyneth that analogie whereof I haue spoken before in the 7. Sermon of this Decade whereby I would haue these things to be better learned Furthermore we haue said that the supper was instituted of the lord that he might visibly gather together into one body all his members which were in a maÌ„ner dispersed throughout all parts of the world Whervppon we haue said that the holie men some where else did call the supper a league or confederacie We are knitt inuistbly with Christe and all his members by vnitie of faith and participation of one spirit but in the supper we are ioyned together euen by a visible coÌ„iunctioÌ„ For now not by words but by déedes also but by mysterie but by sacrament we are very néerly knit and ioyned together opening and declaring to all men by celebrating the supper that we are also of the number of them that beléeue that they are redéemed by Christ and that they are Christes members and people But we binde our selues together vnto Christe and the Church bothe that we will kéepe the sincere faith and promising that wee will vse good déedes and charitie towards all men Looke for more touching this matter in the seuenth Sermon of this Decade Héerevppon truely did S. Paule proue that it is not lawfull for them whiche receiue together at the Lords table to eate of meate offered to Idols and to take parte of prophane sacrifices Which thing if at this day many would rightely weigh and consider they would not séeme to be séene so busie in straunge and for reigne sacrifices We said also that the Lord instituted the Supper that thereby hee might kéepe his death in memorie so that it should neuer be blotted out with obliuion For Christes death is the summarie of all gods benefits He wold haue vs therfore to kéep in memorie the benefite of his inâ—arnatioÌ„ passion redemption and of his loue And although the remembrance of a thinge that is past bee celebrated to wit of his death yet the same belongeth greatly vnto vs quickneth vs. Neither most we thinke that this is the lest end For there is none so diligently expressed as this is For the Lorde repeateth this saying Doe this in the remembraunce of me But the holy rite or holy actioÌ„ béeing ioyned with the word or with the preaching of Christes death the redemption of mankind how mauelously doth it renue from time to time that benefit and suffereth it not to be forgotten Last of al we said that the supper was ordeined of the lord that therby we might be admonished of our duety praise thanksgiuing It is our dutie to be sincere in the faith of Christ to imbrace all our brethren
and the abhominable and murtherers c. 655 22 And after I had heard and séene I fell downe to worship c. 653 22 Sée thou do it not for I am thy fellow seruaunt c. 743. 842. 890 The third and last table conteyning a short summe of such words or names and matters as are mentioned in this booke A. AAron a type or figure of Christ 332 Aaron his rod. 332 Abraham how he is iustified 3. 387. 554 Abia beléeuinge the ward of the Lord ouercommeth 5000000. men of theâ—ribe of Israel 253 Abigei what they are 279 Abrogation of the Lawe 409 Abrogation of the Iudiciall lawes 427 Abortion what it is 443 Abuse of Christian libertie 449 Alsolom 523 Abuse of the Church goods 1128 Achaz 254 AccusatioÌ„s false and wrongfull 320 Accusations that be iust 322 Actuall sinne and the cause thereof 505 Adam and â—ethusalem 649 Adoration 651 Adamonition before punishmeÌ„t 202 Adulterie spoken against 231 Adulterie and fornication 863 Adulcerie pardoned by Christ 234 Adulterie what things are in it forbidden 234 Arian heretiques condemned 775 Affinitie that the word of God hath with sacraments 291. 892 Afflictions 292 293. 298 299. 307. 310. 311. 312. 313 316. Altar 348 Altar or table of the Lord. 1070 Allthinges of God by God and in God. 494 Amasias 254 Ammon the king rebelling against the word of God after two yeares infortunate reigne was murthered of his owne household servaunts 255 Ambition worketh by priuate gifts 278 Anabaptistes and Nouations the me 〈◊〉 of Sathan 569 Angel and Angels 732. 733. 734. 735. c. vsque 745. Anthropomoâ—phites 118. 613 Antiochus Epiphanes 511 Anthemius 892 Annoynting or annoyling 1136 Apostles of Christ 11 Apostles how they bynde and loose 902 Apostles what they be 877 Apostles bâ—ptise infants 1055 Apostles authoritie very great 12 Apostles Créede 55 Apostles receiue wages 1121 Application of scripture necessarie 903 Appeale 392 Appearing of spirits 392 Article of the Christian faith 55 2 Article 59 3 Article 60 4 Article 63 5 Article 67 6 Article 69 7 Article 74 8 Article 78 9 Article 78 10 Article 81 11 Arâ—icle 84 12 Article 90 Aristocracie 169 Arcke 345. 346. 996. Assemblie 1064 Assemblies that be holy 915. 916 Ascension of Christ 69 Asturia 235 Asa 253 Ascend into heauen 1088 Auncient lawes 387 Authoritie of the Apostles very great 12 Authoritie of fathers 393 Auengment taken by the magistrate 196 Augustines opinion of the righte hand of the father 73 Augustines diuision of signes 955 Augustines sentence touching merites of Saintes 494 Auricular confession 577. 578 581 Authoritie of pastours 912 Authour of Sacraments God himselfe 962 Auncient exposition of the words of the Supper This is my bodie 1086 B. Backbiting pernicions 323 Bargaining buying selling 287 Baptisme 989. 1005. 1013. 1027. 1031. 1033. 1050. 1055. 1060. 1061. 1062. Baptising with water vnconsecrated 1039. 1040. Baptiser 1042 Baptised 824. 1055. 1060 Baâ—lards 395 Baâ—des and Curtisans haue benefices at Rome 900 Belongeth to vs to knowe what was written to theÌ„ in old time 15 Beléeue in the sonne of God. 59 Beléefe of oures the second Article thereof 58 Beléefe in the church forbidden 78 Bed in wedlocke ought to be vndefiled 226 Benâ—fits of God are to be acknowledged 952 Beginning of sinne against the holy Ghost 517 Beginning of the ministerie from whome and the worthines thereof 875 Behauiour of the godly in their calamities 300 Bearing witnesse 319 Birth of Christ 63 Bishops 878. 905. Blaspemie 516. 517 Blessing and thankesgiuing 977 Bloud and strangled forbidden by the apostles 421 Body of Christ 689 Body glorious 87. 88 Body naturall body spirituall 89 Bodies of the wicked rise againe 89 Bonauentures opinion of grace 1003 Bondage 395. 441. 442 Both kindes in the supper giuen receiued 1066 Bow downe to images what it is 122 Bread among the Hebrues what it signifyeth 947 Bread and wine remaine in their substance after consecration 984 Bread and wine are so called after consecration 985 Breaking of bread 1063 Buriall of Christ 65 Buying and selling c. 394 C. Catalogue of the bookes of the diuine Scripture 12 Cause of Christes incarnation 60 Calling to the ministerie 891. 893 Cathechising 907. Calamities 291. 293 Candlesticke golden 347 Carnall and fleshly people 404 Cure of the bodie 448 Cauills of those that attribute iustification to workes 458 Cause of sinne and euill 483 Catholique church what it is 79. 813 Carnall bondage and seruile 991 Carthage counsell for examining of bishops 895 Celebration of the supper c. 1072 Ceremonies 229. 328 329. 330. 364. 413. 415. 424. 1033. 1034. Confession of true religion 366 Charitie 92. 98 Christe as yet executeth all the dueties of a priest in the church 872 Christ what hee receynâ—th to himselfe from his ministerie and apostles 872 Christ is the naturall sonne of God 883 Christ reâ—eyneth both natures vnconfounded together 691 Christ in one person remayneth vndiuided 694 Christ is king of all 698 Christ is a Monarch 698 Christ is cotent to debate with Pilate of his kingdome 700 Christ called the onely sonne 59 Christ how he reigneth on earth in his kingdome 700 Christ Iesus the highe prest 704 Christ is annointed but with inuisible oile 705 Christ doth the office of a priest that is teacheth maketh intercession blesseth sacrificeth and sancrifieth 705 Christe his priesthood 706 Christians are kinges and priesis 709 Christ compared with Adam 49 Christ died not in vaine 50 Christ by interpretation annoynted 60 Christ is our Lord. 60 Christs conception and the maner thereof 62 Christes conception pure 63 Christ suffered vnder Pontius Pilate 64 Christ a Judge 74 Christ conueyeth himselfe awaye when the people would haue made him a king 218 Christians haue nothing to doe with the yron like Philosophie of the Stoikes 301 Christ coÌ„mandeth vs to beare his crosse 309 Christ and Paule examples to vs. 314 Christ is the rock not Christ signifieth the rocke 991 Christ the first begotten 331 Christ and his Apostles institute scholes 1115 Christ hath taken all burthens froÌ„ our shoulders 437 Christ fulfilled the lawe and is the perfectnes of the faithful 407 Christ alone is our life and saluation 543 Christ doeth fully worke our saluation 544 Christ is receiued by faith and not by workes 548 Christ how he preached the Gospel 548. 661. 862. Church Churches and CoÌ„gregation c. 667. 812. 813. 815. 816. 820. 821. 827. 831. 832. 833. 852. 860. 861. 863. 864. 866. 867. 868. 1118 1127 Circumcision 355. 357. 358. 359. 360. 361. Citie and temple of Hierusalem destroyed 413 Clearkes what they were sometime 883 CoÌ„municating of properties 696 Counsell of the priestes forsaken by king Ioas what followed 254 Conscience at quiet peace before God is the worke of the holy ghost 723. Constancie of the Apostles 723 Consecrating of pastours begun with fasting and prayer 897 Concupiscence 108. 949 Consubstantiall and coessentiall 59 Communion of sainctes 80 Confession and acknowledging of sinnes 81
443. 445. 446. Frée 444 Fréemen of Christe abuse not their libertie 445 Fruits that become repentance 593 Fulgentius 74 Furniture of them that would haue accesse to God. 922 G. Gardiansor ouerséers of fatherlesse children 145 Garment to be worne at the Lords supper 1071 Gentiles 102. 104. 105. 106. 148. Gesture in prayer 928 Gestures at the Lords supper 1071 Gospel 326. 527. 526. 528. 558. 530 547. 1010. Giftes of the holy Ghost 729 Giftes of the new testament 438 GOD. 481 God being good created all thinges good 481 God is said to make men blinde 492 God is said to hardeÌ„ in what sense 492 God sometimes afflicteth them whose sinnes hee hath forgiuen 584. God gouernour of all things 637 God is one in substance and thrée in persons 56 God a father 57 God the maker of heauen and earth 58 God almightie 57 Gods sonne 59 God alone forgiueth sinnes 83 God alone to be loued 94 God will not be likened to any thing 118 God a rewarder of his true worshippers 125 God is all in all to his confederats 357 God did forbeare the fall of man. 488 God doth punish sinners iustly 520 God exhibiteth grace by in Christ 532 God shadowed in visions 616 God giueth his giftes fréely 616 God sheweth himselfe to Moses 617 God what he is 618 God doeth euidently open himselâ—e in Christ 618 God is knowen by his works 620 God is shadowed to vs by comparisons 622 God is one in essence or being 623 Gods good will learned by his prouidence God draweth by meanes those that the preâ—estuiared to life 645 God onely alone is to be worshipped 6â—6 God only to be serued 671 God hâ—th his church 855 God present in the ministerie to the worlds end 919 God is moued with the prayers of the 〈◊〉 God deâ—â—â—reth to heare once petitions 919 Godhead and manhoode of Christe mitted 691 Godlinesse 18. 43 Goode of the church 156 Goods of other man ought not to remaâ—ne in thy possession 280 Goods serue to supplye our necessitie 283 Goodes muste serue to relieue the poore 288 Good to whom it must be done 289 Good how we ought to do it 290 Good 〈◊〉 515. 457 Godly 〈◊〉 falsly charged to frussleare the sacramentes 1008 Gouernours of scholes 1114 Grace 529. 530. 531. 360. 1000. 1003. 1006. Gâ—atian Emperour 181 Guiltinesse punishment therof 397 H. Halowed be thy name expounded 943 Herode and Antiochus eaten of wormes aliue 218 Heretikes and false prophets 397 Head of the church 864 Heauen the seate throne or pallace of our king Historie of the Lordes tabernacle 342. 343 Historie of Anabaptisme 1057 Housholder his charge or office 138 141. Honour 146. 147. 149. 151. 153. 154. 155. Honestie 226 Hospitalitie 286 Hope of the faithfull vpholdeth Christian patience 304 Hopâ— 503. Holy day 350 Holy things 391 Holocaustum the burnt offring 368 How God guieth men ouer to a reprobate mynde or sense 491 Howe God is saide to do euill 493 How Christ is receyued 547 Howe often the Lordes supper is to be celebrated 1016 Holinesse that is perfect whence it proceedeth 813 Holy church how to be vnderstanded 814 Holy time 1129 Holy buildings 1126 Holy instruments 1127 Holy Ghoste 715. 716. 718. 719. 722. Holy Ghost is called a comforter 723. 724. Holie Ghoste compared to water fire 〈◊〉 a done 725. 1016 Hoares Canonicall 936 Howe Christ hath giuen his fleshe to be meare 1098 Howe Christes bodie is eaten and his bloud drunken 1098 Howe the vnbeleeuers are made guiltie of Christes body bloud 1104 How we should prepare our selues to the Lords supper 1109 Humanitie of Christ 687 Humbling and acknowledging of sinnes 564 Hart of all kyndes and sortes forbidden 166 Hirelings wages 397 Hire is due but Heritage procéedeth of the parents good will. 469 Hypocrites how they are or may be counted of in the churche of God. 817 I. Iacob 4 Iames defended 426 Iames no patrone of auricular coÌ„fession 580 Idols teach not 122. 266 Idolatrie 392 Idlenesse condemned 266 Iesus the name of the onely begotten sonne 60 Iesus is Christ the looked for Messias 537 Iewes denie that Christe is come or that Iesus is Christ 540 Images 117. 120. 121. 122 Image of patience 303. Image of god 614. 489 Image of the diuell 560 Imperiall lawe against the Anabaptistes 1058 Impenitents are vnhappie 597 Incest 236 Infelicitie of the vngodly 299 Institution of a king and of princes 390 Inheritaunce 393 Incarnation of Christ 687 Indulgences 585 Infants not beléeuing are baptised 1014 Infantes departing without baptisme are saued 1044 Infantes confessing or beléeuing 1052 Infants vnderstande not the mysterie of baptisme 1054 Infants baptised from the time of the Apostles 1057 Intercessour 660 Intercession of Christ 665 Inuocation 185. 586. 656 Inward markes of the church 824 Interpreting to whome it perâ—eyneth 907 Interpreret or teacher what he must not seeke 908 Institution of baptisme by whome 1033 Institution of sacraments 965 Ioas. 254 Iosaphat 253 Ioram 253 Iothan 254 Iosias 255 Ioiada 254 Iudas was present at the Lordes Supper 1103 Iustification 44. 52. 457 Iustifie 45. 1006 Iustified 49. 50. 51. 406. 532 Iudge Iudgement and to Iudge 74. 191. 192. 193. 194. 295. 388. 389. Iudiciall lawes 389. 397 Iubilie Romishe 417 Iustiman Emperour 129 K. Kaliad the grandfather of Moses 4 Keyes of the kingdome of heauen 558 Keyes of the church 901 Keyes are the ministerie of preaching the Gospell 902. 903 Kinsmen and Cousens 146 Killing and to Kill 166. 175. 198 Kindes of Bishops 885 Kindes of prayer 914 Kindes of punishment 199 Kings Kingdomes 218. 252. 256 257. 390. 699. 700. 701. 702. 703. 944 L. Labour commended 266 Lambe a type of Christ c. 365 Lawe and Lawes c. 100. 101. 102 303. 107. 108. 109. 110. 166. 186. 188. 189. 190. 400. 403. 404 405 408. 409. 411. 446. 447. 448. 578 Lauer of brasse 349 Legion of Thunder 215 League 6. 355. 356. 331. 357. Learners two sortes in the church 907 Leuites 331. 332 Libertie of Christians or Christian Libertie 408. 440. 443. 448 591 Light clearest of the first worlde were nine men 3 Lie Lying and kinds of Lyes 320 Licentiousnesse 449 Life eternall and the day of iudgement 6 Life euerlasting 90 Life promised to them that kéep the lawe 408 Likenesse and difference of the â—lde and newe testament and people 428 Loue and Charitie 92. 93. 95 The Lorde hath not burthened his Church with infinite lawes 1112 Lords prayer expounded 941 M. Maiestie and dignitie of the moral lawe 112 Magistrats or rulers 145. 168. 169 170. 171. 172. 175. 177. 178. 187 188. 198. 216 Magistracie thrée kindes 169 Marriage and Married folke 222 227. Marriage 228. 229. 230. 231. 392 Martyrs 724 Manasses 255 Manner of ordeyning those that be called to the ministerie 896 Manner of the auncient singing in the auncient church 933 Manner of prayer 938 Manner of Christes death 64 Mans last day 779 Man old and newe what it is 588 Man conuinced of sinne
the Father from whence it shall come to iudge the quicke and the deade and let vs thinke that the Lord speaking of the Sacrament woulde haue vs to expounde the words of the Sacrament Sacramentally and not Transubstancially Also in reading that saying of the Apostle Fleshe and bloud can not inherite the kingdome of God let vs not by and by vppon these wordes take it simply as the words do séeme to signifie but sticking to the Article of our sayth I beleeue the resurrection of the body let vs vnderstand that by fleshe and bloud are ment the affectiōs infirmities not the nature substance of oure bodies Furthermore we reade in the gospell that the Lorde doth gather a sum of the lawe and the Prophets saying Thou shalt loue the Lorde thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule and with al thy mind this is the chief and great commaundement And the second is like vnto it Thou shalt loue thy neighbor as thy selfe In these two commaundemēts hangeth the whole law and the Prophets Math. 22. Vpon these words of the Lorde that holy man Aurelius Augustinus in the. 36. Chapter of his firste booke De doctrina Christi sayth ▪ Whosoeuer doth seeme to himself to vnderstād the holy scriptures or any part thereof so that that vnderstanding he dothe not worke these two points of charitie towardes God his neighbor he yet doth not vnderstande the scriptures perfectly But whosoeuer shall take out of them such an opinion as is profitable to the working of this charitie and yet shall not say the self samethig which shal be proued that he did meane whome he readeth in that place that mā doth not erre to his own destruction nor doth altogether by lying deceiue other mē Thus much writ Augustin We must therefore by all meanes possible take héede that our interpretations doe not tende to the ouerthrow of charitie but to the furtherance and commendatiō of it to al men The Lord sayth Striue not with the wicked But if we affirme that he spake this to the Magistrates also thē shal charitie towards our neighbours the safetie of them that are in ieopardie defence of the oppressed be broken and cleane taken away For théeues vnruly persons robbers and naughtie fellowes will oppresse the widowes the fatherlesse and the poore to that all iniquitie shall reigne and haue the vpper hande But in a mattter so manifestly knowen I suppose it is not néedefull to vse many examples Moreouer it is requisite in expounding the Scriptures and searching out the true sense of Gods worde that we marke vpon what occasion euery thing is spoken what goeth before what followeth after at what season in what order and of what person any thing is spoken By the occasion and the sentences going before and comming after are examples and parables for the moste parte expounded Also vnlesse a man do alwayes marke the manner of speaking throughout the whole Scriptures and that verie diligently too he can not choose in his expositions but erre very muche out of the right way Sainte Paule obseruing the circumstaunce of the time did thereby conclude that Abraham was iustified neyther by Circumcision nor yet by the Lawe The places are to be séene in the fourth to the Romanes and the thirde to the Galathians Againe when it is sayde to Peter Put vp thy sword into thy sheath He that taketh the sworde shall perishe with the sworde We must consider that Peter bare the personage of an Apostle and not of a Magistrate For of the Magistrate we reade that to him is giuen the sworde to reuengement But it woulde be ouer tedious and too troublesome to rehearse more examples of euery particular place There is also beside these another manner of interpreting the worde of God that is by conferring together the places whiche are like or vnlike and by expounding the darker by the more euident and the fewer by the more in number Wheras therfore the Lorde sayth The father is greater then I we must consider that the same Lorde in another place sayth My father and I are all one And whereas Iames the Apostle sayth That Abraham and we are iustified by workes there are many places in Saint Paul to be set againste that one And this manner of interpreting did Peter the Apostle allowe where he sayth We haue a right sure worde of prophesie wherevnto if ye attend as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place ye doe well vntill the daye dawne and the daye starre arise in your heartes That auncient writer Tertullian affirmeth that they are heretiques and not men of the right fayth which drawe some odde thinges out of the Scriptures to their owne purpose not hauing any respecte to the rest But doe by that meanes picke oute vnto them selues a certaine fewe testimonies which they woulde haue altogether to be beleeued the whole Scripture in the meane season gaine-saying it bycause in deede the fewer places muste be vnderstoode according to the meaning of the more in number And finally the moste effectuall rule of all whereby to expounde the worde of God is an heart that loueth God and his glorye not puffed vp with pryde not desirous of vayne glorye not corrupted with heresies and euill affections but whiche doth continually praye to God for his holy spirite that as by it the scripture was reuealed and inspired so also by the same spirite it maye be expounded to the glorye of God and safegarde of the faythfull Let the mynde of the interpreter be set on fire with zeale to aduaunce vertue and with hatred of wickednesse euen to the suppressing thereof Let not the heart of suche an expositor call to counsell that subtile Sophister the deuill least peraduenture nowe also he doe corrupt the sense of Gods worde as heretofore he did in Paradise Let him not abide to heare mans wisedome argue directly against the worde of god This if the good and faythfull expositor of Gods worde shal doe then although in some pointes he doe not as the prouerbe sayth hit the very head of the nayle in the darker sense of the Scripture yet notwithstanding that errour ought not to be condemned for an heresie in the authour nor iudged hurtfull vnto the hearer And who so euer shall bring the darker more proper meaning of the Scripture to light he shall not by and by condemne the vnperfect exposition of that other no more then he whiche is authour of the vnperfect exposition shall reiect the more proper sense of the better expositour but by acknowledging it shall receiue it with thankes giuing Thus muche hytherto haue I said touching the sense and exposition of Gods worde which as God reuealed it to men so also he would haue them in any case to vnderstand it Wherefore there is no cause for any man by reason of a few difficulties to despaire to attaine to the true vnderstanding of the Scriptures The Scripture
the Virgin Marie by Iosephe or by any seede of man but by the holie ghoste not that the holy ghoste was in place of the seede For nothinge is begotten of the spirite but what is spirituall Neyther hath our Lorde a phantasticall but a very true body and of the same substance with vs So then our Lord was conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin by the holie ghost For the holie ghost by his eternall power did bring to passe that the virginitie of the Virgine mother beinge vncorrupted shee I say being made with child cōceiued of her owne bloud and gaue a pure and verye humane bodie to the sonne of god As is declared at large by the Angell Gabriel in the first cap. after S. Luk. Of which place because I meane to speake else where more largely I do now passe it ouer vntouched God himselfe streight wayes after the verie beginninge of the worlde did foretel that such should be the manner of that cōception For he said not the seede of the man shal tread downe the Serpents heade but the seede of the woman Moreouer the Lord by the Prophets sayth I will rayse vp seede to Dauid But Moses law for the raysinge vp of seede to the brother departed is wel knowne For if the brother died without issue of Children his brother remayning aliue was compelled to marrie the deceassed brothers wife and of her to beget childrē which were called and counted not by the name of him that was liuinge but of the deade brother Wherefore when there was not to be found amā of Dauids lyne that was sufficientlie meete to begett on the Virgin the sonne of God the fauiour of the world God himself raiseth vp seede to Dauid and by his holy spirite maketh the Virgin with childe who although she were not with child by a man of Dauids lyne yet because shée was a daughter of Dauids stock and because God so workinge shée of her owne substaunce gaue substaunce to the sonne of God this her childe Christe both is and is called the sonne of Dauid What doth that argue moreouer that Dauid in the 110. Psalme sayth In the mightie power of holines the deaw of thy birth is to thee of the wombe of the morning Or the deaw of thy birth is to thee of the wōbe of the morninge in the mightie power of holines That is to say By a certaine mightie power of holines meruaylous meanes shalte thou bee borne For thy birth shal be like vnto the ingendring of the deaw which cōmeth of the pure morning as it were a child borne of the wombe For as in the day time the Sūne draweth out of the earth a vapour which by reason of the smallnes of the heat which draweth it vpwarde is by the coldnesse of the tēperat night or euenings drawn downe againe and resolued into water So God the is the Sunne of righteousnes tooke blood of the earth that is of the bodie of the vntouched Virgine Marie and by a wonderfull meanes did holilie and purely bring to passe that of her vnipotted wombe shoulde be borne and conceiued the most holie sonne of God. The causes whie this conception of the sonne of God in the wombe of the holie Virgine is most pure are these Hée that is conceiued in the wombe of a Virgin is God but God is a consuming fire which cannot take or suffer any vncleannesse in it self An other cause is this God came to cleanse our vncleannesse that is the vncleannesse of vs men hée himselfe verilie oughte to be exempte from all originall spots in all pointes most holie to the ende that being the onely vnspotted Sacrifice offered vp for the sinnes of all the world he might cleane take away all the sinnes of the world For that which is it selfe defiled cannot cleanse the thing that is defiled but rather the spot or filthines doth double his vncleannesse by the comminge too of that other vncleane thing The seconde member of this thirde Article is Hée was borne of the Virgin Marie The Lord was borne of Marie his mother and yet shée a Virgine still Hec is therefore very man which is borne of Woman Moreouer his byrth is pure For hee was borne of the Virgine so that together shée was a mother and yet a Virgine too For Esaias sayth Beholde a Virgine shall conceiue and bringe forth a sonne A Virgine sayth hee shall do both Conceiue and bringe foorth so that neuerthelesse shée may remaine a Virgine still The birthe therefore of the sonne of God is moste pure Also his birthe is a true birth verilie and in deede For hee taketh fleshe of the substaunce wombe of the Virgin. In which signification also our Lorde Iesus Christe is called the sonne of Dauid Hee coulde not bee called Dauids sonne vnlesse hée had taken verie humane substaunce of Marie a mayde or daughter of the stocke of Dauid Which that the Apostle Iohn mighte most properly signifie and expresse he sayth The Woord was made fleshe And the Apostle Paul sayth He doth no where take on him the Angells but the seede of Abraham And in the same place againe he affirmeth That the Lorde was made like to his bretheren in al things sinne excepted To the Philippians hee saith When hee was equall with God hee made himselfe of no reputation taking on him the forme of a seruaunte and made in the likenesse of men and founde in figure as a mā Againe the Apostle Iohn beareth witnesse sayth Euerie spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christe is come in the flesh is of God and euerie spirite which confesseth not that Iesus Christ is com in the flesh is not of God. Luke in his 2. Cap. hath at large set forth the manner of his Natiuitie And I do meane elsewhere to speake of it at the full Let vs therefore confesse that Iesus Christe was conceiued by the holie ghoste and borne of the Virgin Marie The fourth article of Christiā faith is this Hee suffered vnder Pōtius Pilate was crucified dead buried hee descended into hel In this fouth article is declared the end vse chiefeste comodity of the Lord his incarnation For he became man that he might suffer and dye and by dying suffering might redéeme vs from eternal death the torments of hell make vs beinge once clensed heyres of life euerlasting For this is the end of the Lorde his death as I will by by shew you and as Paule doth at large declare in the 9. chapter to the Hebrewes This article also is diuided into his partes First wée confesse that oure Lord suffered in very deede not phātastically to the appearaunce onelye that he suffered verily the calamities and myseries of this world and after that againe the tormēts of the slaughtermen and death it selfe in most bitter panges Hée suffered therfore both in soulde and bodye yea and that too in many facions For Esaias sayth He is a man of sorrowes
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
rose againe from the dead But now this worde fleshe doth a great deale more significantly expresse the resurrection of this flesh then if wee should say the resurrection of the bodie Verily Cyprian saith that in some Churches of the Easte this article was thus pronoūced I belieue the resurrectiō of this flesh And Augustine also in the tenth chap. of his booke De fide Symbolo sayth Wee must without doubting belieue that this visible which is properlie caled flesh shall rise againe The Apostle Paule doth seeme as it were with his finger to point at this flesh when hee saith This corruptible must put on incorruption When hee saith This hee doth as it were put out his finger vnto this flesh This hath Augustine Moreouer Sainct Hierome compelleth Iohn Eishoppe of Hierusalem openly to confesse the resurrection of the flesh not of the bodie onely Fleshe saith he hath one definition and the bodie an other Al flesh is a bodie but euery body is not fleshe That is flesh properlie which is compacte of bloud veynes boanes and synewes A bodie althoughe it be called fleshe yet sometime is said to be of like substance to the firmamēt or to the ayre which is not subiect to touchinge or seeing and oftentimes too maye be both touched and seene A Wall is a bodie but it is not fleshe Thus much out of Hierome Let vs therefore belieue that mens bodies which are taken of the earth and which liuinge men beare aboute wherein they liue and are which also die and turne into dust and ashes That those bodies I say are quickned and liue againe But thou demaundest howe this fleshe beinge once resolued into duste and ashes and so into nothing can rise againe in the former shape and substaunce as when it is torne with the teeth of beastes or consumed to nothing with the flame of fyre and whē in the graue there is to be founde but a small and little quantitie of dustie powder I referre thee to the omnipotencie of God which the Apostle spake of where hée sayth Christ hath transformed this vile bodie of ours to make it conformable to his glorious bodie by the power wherein hee can make all things subiecte to himselfe Wherefore hee that in the beginning when as yet there was not a man in the world could bring forth man oute of the duste of the earth although the same man be again resolued into that out of which hee was taken I meane into earth as the saying is Dust thou art and into dust shalt thou retourne againe Yet notwithstandinge the same God againe at the ende of the world is able to rayse man out of the earth For the Lorde in the Gospell saith plainely The houre shall come wherein all they that are in the graues shall heare the voyce of the sonne of God and shal come forth they that haue done good to the resurrection of life and they that haue done euill to the resurrection of iudgement And now by fayth wee are throughly persuaded As the Apostle sayth that he that hath promised is able also to per forme There are moreouer liuelie examples of this matter and moste euident testimonies of the holie Scripture Ionas is swallowed vp of the Whale in the Syrian sea but the third daye after hee is caste vppe againe alyue vppon the shoare out of the beastes entrailes which is a token that the fleshe shall verily rise againe Wherefore that is not harde to be belieued that in the Apocalipse is said that The Sea casteth vp her dead The force of fyre had no force to hurte the three companions of Daniel yea the rage of wilde beastes contrary to nature absteyned from bytinge Daniell himselfe What marueile is it therefore if at this day neither the force of fyre nor rage of wielde beasts is able to resiste the power of God being disposed to raise his creatures vp againe Did not our Lord Christ rayse vp Lazarus when he had lyen thrée dayes in the graue yea and stancke too to life againe Did not hée himself hauing once brokē the tyrannie of death rise vp againe the thirde day from the deade did he not rise againe in the same substaunce of fleshe and forme of bodie wherein hée hanged on the Crosse and beinge taken downe from the crosse was buried Not without good cause do wée looke back to Christe which is called the first begottē among the dead so often as we thincke in what maner the resurrection of our fleshe shall bee For the members shall rise againe in the same order that the heade is risen vp before them in Wee verilie shall not rise againe the thirde daye after our death but in our maner and order shall wee rise at the last daye yea and that too in the very same body wherin now wée liue I will adde a fewe testimonies to proue the resurrection of oure fleshe Iob confessing his faith touchinge the resurrection of the deade in his greate weakenesse affliction and sicknesse sayth I knowe that my redeemer lyueth and that in the laste day I shall rise out of the earth and shal be clad againe with my skinne in my flesh I shall see God whom euen I my selfe shall see and my eyes shal behold and none other This hope is layde vp in my bosome This testimonie is so euident as that it néedeth no larger an exposition No lesse euident are those testimonies oute of Esaie Cap. 26. Ezech. 37. Psalm 15. Matth. 22. Iohn 5. 6. 11. Throughout the Actes in euerie place is often repeated the resurrection of the dead S. Paule in the 15. Chap. of his first Epistle to the Corrinthians doth make a ful discourse of this resurrection In the fourth Chapter of his 2. Epistle hée sayth Wee which liue are alwayes deliuered to death for Iesus sake that the life of Iesus also mighte appeare in our mortal fleshe Sée now what coulde be spoken more plainlye then that the lyfe of Christe shal be made to appeare in this mortall flesh of ours For by and by after hee saith We know that hée that raysed vp the Lorde Iesus shall rayse vs vp also by the meanes of Iesus And in the fifth Chapiter againe Wee must all appeare before the iudgemente seate of Christe sayth hee that enerye man may receiue the woorkes of his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or euill Therefore these verie bodyes of ours shall rise againe in the day of iudgement And now déerely beloued I haue to declare vnto you in what manner our bodyes shall rise againe and of what sorte they shal be in the resurrection In the shuttinge vppe and ende of all ages or of this world our Lord Iesus Christe shall come to iudgement with great maiestie and then whomsoeuer that day shall finde alyue they shall in a momente of time be chaunged and first I saye shall all they that dyed from the firste Adam to the laste that shall dye ryse vppe
to stretche to that expence then did he offer a Lambe or a Kidde and yet againe if he could not offer that by reason of his pouertie it was lawful for him to sacrifice birdes not Géese or Cockes or other vncleane foules but Turtels and Doues and suche kinde of cleane birdes Nowe the manner of making this burnt sacrifice was in this order The beast that was to be offered was placed at the one side of the altar vppon which the priest did presently lay his handes and cut the throte of it The bloud was saued to be sprincled round about the altar the skinne was flayed from the slaughtered beast and that alone was all the fées that fel to the portion or share of the priest The legges were chopped off and washed together with the purtenance Immediately after a fire was made vppon the altar whereuppon was layde the whole sacrifice to wite the head the bodie y legges and the purtenance and were altogether burnte vppon the altar before the Lorde But if so be it happened that a Turtle or a Doue were offered for a sacrifice then did the prieste with his finger wreathe about and breake the necke thereof and the bloud was let droppe about the sides of the altar The fethers also were cast at the one side of the altar into a place where ashes laye the winges were ioynted and last of all the whole bodie was burnt vppon the altar This was the manner of the sacrifice or oblation which they did commonly call a burnte offeringe the signification whereof was moste chéerefull pleasant to them which were persuaded that by the burnt offering was prefigured the verie sonne of God to be incarnate of the vnspotted virgine and to be sacrificed once for the cleansinge of all the sinnes of the whole worlde For they in the glasse of that sacrifice did beholde the crosse and passion of the Lorde which tooke our sinnes vppon him selfe and beeing slaine did shead his bloud for the remisson of sinnes offeringe him selfe wholye to God the father in the fire of charitie heauenly zeale The verye same Christe is the Turtle or Pigeon Moreouer beside these ceremonies in the burnt sacrifice it was required that no burnte sacrifice of beastes should at any time bee made without that kinde of offering which they called Minha that oblation was an handfull of corne or of meale or else of crustie bread sodde in a caldron or a bowed piece of bread which we call a Cracknell baked in an ouen or in a frying panne which was burnte with oyle and frankincense vppon the altar of burnt sacrifices And Christ verily is the bread of life who by the eternall spirite as saith the Apostle did offer him selfe to God the father for vs to be the meate and preseruation of our life In the number of burnt sacrifices are reckoned the dayly sacrifices that were offered euery morning and euery euening and the sacrifices of the annoynting or consecrating of priestes Of the daily sacrifice a large exposition is made in the 29 of Exodus and the sixte Chapter of Leuiticus It was called the daily offering beecause euery morning and euening two Lambes were offered to wite one in the morning and another at the euening In these Lambes was Christ most manifestly prefigured who is that lambe of God that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde whose vertue is alwayes effectuall and of power to take awaye the sinnes of the faithfull For that Lambe was killed frō the beginning of the worlde he was once slaine vppon the crosse but yet his merite and effectuall power endureth still and doth absolue all them that are deliuered from their sinnes Nowe the sacrifices of consecrating I meane of the priestes of the tabernacle and of all the vessels or instrumentes belonginge to the holie ministerie are in many pointes all one with the burnt offeringes and in some things differing from them as is fully to be séene in the 29 of Exodus and the eighth of Leuitic And Christe our Lord did first beginne the priesthood by his passion and after that hallowed all the faithful to be priests vnto him selfe The second kinde of sacrifices was the oblation which they called Minha a gift reward or sacrifice of a wheaten cake and by another name was called a meate offering This sacrifice was of the fruite of the earth was not offered alwayes after one sorte for there are reckoned thrée kindes of this sacrifice For there was offered either parched wheate sticking in the eares or wheate out of the eares or else cleane meale vnbaked or at least wise meale made vppe into bread which breade againe was made thrée sundrie wayes and in thrée sundrye facions For either it was baked in an ouen or fornace or else sodde in a pott or a caldron or else fryed in a frying panne like vnto cakes To these there was added as sauce to the sacrifice salte oyle frankincense Honie and leauen were by a generall rule vtterly barred from all sortes of sacrifices For cakes made with honie were neuer allowed of nor admitted in their offerings Yet in the feast of thankes giuing they did eate leauened bread Therefore when any man did offer wheate it was first annoynted by the prieste with oyle then seasoned with salte and last of all had frankincense put vpon it after that the priest tooke one handfull from out of all but in the sacrifice for the prieste all was burnt and burnt it vppon the altar the rest hee did reserue as a share to him selfe And in al meate offerings frankincense was alwayes vsed except in the sacrifice for sinne and in the sacrifice of ielousie as is to bee séene in the fifth of Leuiticus and the fifth of the booke of Numbers The rest that belongeth to the full rites and ceremonies of the meate offerings whosoeuer is desirous to knowe hee shall finde them in the seconde Chapter of Leuiticus For I meane not here particularly to repeate euery iott and title of their accustomed ceremonies Nowe euen as Christ was before prefigured in beastes and birdes so also is he represented in this bread or cakes For he is the bread of life and hath sundry facions of infirmitie and glorie In Christ thou shalt not finde any leauen that is sinne vncharitablenesse hypocrisie or pride There is in Christe no swéetenesse nor honnylike taste of worldly or wicked pleasures But salte thou mayst finde in him a well seasoned temperature altogether heauenly and moste absolute wisedome because of Christe for his sake all things of ours are acceptable vnto God for Christe his sake our prayers are heard of God the father vppon Christ therefore there is a swéete smelling frankincense in the nose of God the father And in these ceremonies are also shadowed the maner and matter of our sacrifices to wite that they should be without hypocrisie bitternesse hatred enuie fleshly pleasure and should be seasoned with godly continual prayers With the
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
the remnant and those thinges that are remaining behinde And Sainct Peter saith that Christ suffered for vs leauing behinde him an example for vs that wee might followe his trace and footesteppes Therefore the Apostle affirmeth that he by suffering fulfilled the remnaunt which was behinde After this againe they alledge the wordes of the Apostle Paul where he saith If I haue all faith so that I can remoue mountaines out of their place and yet haue not charitie I am nothing For vpon this they inferre Therefore not faith onely but also charitie yea rather charitie than faith doth iustifie But we say that Paul in this sentence doth neither denye that faith alone doth iustifie nor yet doeth attribute the iustification of the Sainctes to charitie For when we affirm that we are iustified by faith or when wée make faith the cause of iustification which thing must be by often repetition beaten into our memories wee do not vnderstand that faith as it is a vertue in vs doth worke and by the qualitie that sticketh to vs doeth merite righteousnesse in the sight of God but so often as wee make mention of faith wee vnderstande the grace of God exhibited in Christe whiche is through faith freely applyed to vs and receiued as the free gifte of God bestowed vppon vs And in that sense doeth Paule vse the name of faith when he affirmeth that faith doth iustifie But in this place of the thirteenth Chapter to the Corinthians hee doth not so take the name of faith but putteth it for the power of workinge miracles as is manifest by that which followeth where he saith So that I can remoue mountaines That faith doeth not comprehende Christe wholie but onely the power in shewing of miracles And therefore it may be sometime in an vniust man and an hypocrite as it was in Iudas Iscariot to whom the faithe of miracles profited nothing because hee was without the iustifying faith which faith is neuer without but of it selfe ingendreth charitie Againe whereas they obiect that saying out of the Gospell of Saincte Iohn Whosoeuer knoweth my commaundementes and keepeth them he it is that loueth mee and my father will loue him and we wil come to him and make our abidinge in him Therefore for the obseruation of the commaundements that is for our woorkes sake Gâ—d is ioyned to vs we againe alledge this saying of the same Euangeliste and Apostle Iohn By this wee knowe that weabide in him and he in vs because he hath giuen vs of his spirite But that spirit of God is a free gifte Therfore wee are ioyned to God by meere and frée grace It followeth in Iohn And wee haue seene and do testifie that the father hath sent the sonne to bee the Sauiour of the worlde Thou hearest I hope by what it is that the worlde is saued and what Christ the Sauiour of the worlde is Nowe who knoweth not that hee was sent vnto vs of the father by the méere and onely grace of God It followeth nowe howe that Grace is receiued Whosoeuer confesseth that Iesus is the sonne of God God abideth in him and he in God. But in the sixte of Iohn in steede of confesseth is put beléeueth And no merueile since out of a true faith a true confession doth arise By faith therefore are we saued and by faith are wee ioyned vnto god But letting passe these wranglers who will neuer bee without store of such sophistical shifts we do againe returne to our purposed argument to shewe you howe and in what sense life and iustification are attributed to workes They that are well exercised in the reading of the holie Scriptures that they may reconcile the places of scripture that seeme at a blushe to bee at discorde do teache that faith works in verie déede are not separated one from another For the same holie spirite which giueth faith doth therwithall also regenerate the vnderstanding and will so that the faithfull doeth ardently desire and do his indeuour in all things to doe seruice to GOD his maker Therefore for the vnseparable knott betwixt faith and good workes which alwayes kéepe company and attende vpon faith we saye that iustification is somtimes somewhat vnproperly attributed to workes which is somewhat more properly to bee attributed to faith but moste properly of all to be ascribed to Christe apprehended by faith who is in verie deede the foundation subiect of our faith I will yet assaye to make this more manifest In true faith there are two thinges to be considered Reconciliation and Obedience Reconciliation because by faith wee vnderstande and verily beléeue that God is reconciled to vs for Christe his sake by whome wee are adopted into the number of the sonnes of god And Obedience because they that are reconciled doe wholie yelde them selues to him to whome they bee reconciled with carnest desire and zeale to doe his will and pleasure So then wee saye that faith is of two sortes the iustifying and the obeying faith Of the iustifying faith Sainct Paul maketh mention where he saith Beeing iustified by saith we haue peace toward God through the Lorde Iesus Christe by whome wee are reconciled Againe hee maketh mention of the obeying faith where hee saith Knowe yee not that to whome yee giue your selues as seruauntes to obey his seruauntes ye are to whome ye do obey whether it bee of sinne vnto death or of obedience vnto righteousenesse that is to saye which obedience maketh you to doe the thinges that are righteous and to bee the seruauntes of righteousenesse which shall turne to you to eternall life and not the seruauntes of sinne which turneth vnto death Nowe therefore iustification is properly attributed to the reconciling righteousenesse through Christe Iesus and is improperly ascribed to the obeying righteousenesse or righteousenesse of obedience For the obeying righteousenesse is of the reconciling and without the reconciling righteousnesse obedience shoulde not bee called righteousenesse To which this also is to bee added that they which are iustified doe not put any confidence in this obedience as that which is alwayes spotted in this worlde by reason of our fleash To this also agreeth this other explication which I will here annexe The moste proper woorke of faith is purification and sanctification For Sainct Peter doeth expressely saye that by faith our heartes are purified But in sanctification the holie scriptures doe shewe to be two especiall thinges Firste that all the faithfull are fréely purified by the bloud of Christe Iesus For againe the same S. Peter saith Ye knowe that you are redeemed not with transitorie thinges as golde and siluer but with the precious bloud of Christe as of an vnspotted Lambe Sainct Paule saith Ye are sanctified by the will of God through the oblation of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made For with that one oblation he made them perfecte for euer whiche are sanctified Sainct Iohn also saith The bloud of Iesus Christ the sonne of God doth cleanse vs
all the world to wite Christe once offered vpp for vs which are by faith made partakers of him But nowe as we do not acknowledge or admitt the satisfactions that are obtruded vnto vs in the doctrine of the priestes and Monckes so do we by all meanes detest the indulgences of the Byshops of Rome They called these Indulgences a beneficiall pardoning of crimes or remission of the punishment or of the guilt or of both to wite by the power of the keyes bestowed by the Lorde and for the merite of the Martyrs bloud for so they saye graunted or giuen to them that are rightly contrite in heart and do confesse their sinnes For these fathers of Indulgences are wont with their Indulgences to remitt againe the rigour and seueritie of the satisfaction whiche lyeth in them to order at their discretion Truely as one saide The fathers gentle Indulgence doeth make the children naught So haue their Indulgences vtterly corrupted true repentance But thou canst read in no place that such power was giuē to the Popes as they did feigne We read that to the Apostles the keyes were giuen by the Lorde but those keyes were nothing else but the ministerie of preaching the Gospell as I in place conuenient will shewe vnto you Nowe the Gospell promiseth to vs remission both of the guilt and penaltie for Christe his sake and faith in Christ and doth admonishe vs that in the latter times there shall come men that shal saye we are Christes that is which shall attribute to them selues the things that do properly belong to Christe alone such as is especially the forgiuenesse of sinnes But it commaundeth vs to flie from them and by all meanes to take héede of them as of wicked seducers The same Euangelicall trueth doth teache that the faithfull are cleansed by the onely bloud of the sonne of God. Their indulgences do promise mē the cleansing of their sinnes through the bloud of S. Peter S. Paul and other holie Martyrs And for that cause are they the prophanation of the bloud of the sonne of god The Saincts do washe their garments in the bloud of the Lamb not in the pardoning bull or boxe of indulgences nor in the Martyrs bloud Yea Paule him selfe denyeth that either he or Peter or any other of the Sainctes was crucified for the Church of god And yet their indulgences were so sett foorth as though God were pleased with vs for the bloud of the Martyrs Therefore their indulgences are flatly contrarie to the Apostles doctrine And I admonished you in my Sermon of good woorkes in these woordes of Paule I fulfill that which is behinde of the afflictions of Christ in my fleshe for his bodies sake which is the Church that that fulfilling is not referred to the worke of the purging or propitiation of Christ which is consummate vnlesse Christe at his death did testifie falsly saying It is consummate but to those afflictions where with the members of Christ that is the faithful are exercised by the crosse so long as they liue in this fraile fleashe Verily the Lorde maketh accompt of the afflictions layde vppon the faithful as of his owne For to Paule he saide Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee Moreouer when he saith For the churche he meaneth not for the expiation of the churche but for the edification and profite of the same And Paule susteined gréeuons afflictions at the handes of the Iewes because he preached the Gospell to the Gentiles And it was expediēt that in him there should be shewed to the Church an example of Patience so rare as coulde not lightly be founde againe Yea other haue often times obiected against these indulgence defenders this godly saying of the holie man Pope Leo in his 81. Epistle Although the death of many Saincts is precious in the sight of the Lord yet the slaughter of no man subiect to sin is the propitiation for the sinnes of the worlde Again The righteous haue receiued not giuen Crownes of glorye and of the manful constancie of the Martyrs are sprong examples of patience not the gifts of righteousnes for their deaths were singular neither did any one by his ending pay the debt of another since there is one Lord Iesus Christe in whome they are all crucified dead buried and raysed vp againe Thus much out of pope Leo. We haue therfore by diuine and humane testimonies euidently proued that the indulgences giuen to sinners by the merite or treasure of the Martyrs bloud are méere blasphemies against God and open iniuries against his holye Martyrs I haue hetherto spoken of those indulgēces which were of olde fréely bestowed by the Popes of Rome although at this day they be few in number and curtayled too now therfore I will say somewhat of their indulgences which they for the moste parte doe sell and make traffique of To sell indulgences is in the Church of God a sinne so detestable as that it is harde to name any one more horrible And yet it is and hath bene a common practise and merchandize these many yéeres with the Bishops of Rome their factors whom they cal Apostoliques not hauing any one word in the scripture wherewith to cloak y wicked inuention And now though I slip ouer and doo not shew you how Indulgences are nothing but a bare name with out any stuffe or matter and that vnder that vaine name miserable men and silly soules are foulely deceiued yet note that Christ the chiefe and only high Prieste of his Catholique and holy Church in the dayes of his fleshe did with a whip driue the buyers and sellers as impudent dogges out of the Church of God whiche thing hee did twice Once at the beginning of his preaching and an other time a little before his Passion At the first time he added Away with these thinges from hence and make not my fathers house an house of merchādize At the latter time he saide It is written my house shall be called the house of prayer but ye haue made it a den of theeues And Simon Magus also in the Actes of the Apostles seeinge that by the laying on of the Apostles hands the holye Ghoste was giuen did offer them money saying Giue me this power also that on whome soeuer I lay my handes hee may receiue the holy Ghoste But hearken howe Peter accepteth his petition Thy money said he perishe with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of GOD may be obteined with money Thou haste neither parte nor fellowship in this businesse For thy harte is not right in the sight of God. Loe the giftes of God are not gotten with money Loe their harte is not righte that make merchandize of Religion Loe they haue no parte or fellowship in the inheritaunce of the kingdome of Heauen or in the preaching of the glad tidings therfore what shall we say now of the Indulgences whiche the Popes Apostoliques doe set to sale for money What shall we say of the very
thinges doe require that I speake somewhat likewise of the reasonable soule of man wherein I will follow the plainenesse of the scripture and of the interpretours thereof leauing physicall or naturall poyntes vnto them to be expounded vnto whom it belongeth by duetie and profession sauing that we will so farre deale in them as wee cannot want them in this discourse of oures The holy scripture and the interpretours therof neither moue curious questions of the soule of man neither doe they satisfie curious heads when they desire to knowe those thinges whiche cannot be declared or if they coulde yet it would alwayes séeme vnto theÌ„ that nothing were vnto them more aptly spoken for they alwayes stagger they are alwayes learning and yet doubte they neuor come to the knowledge of the truthe with a quiet minde they neuer abide in the plaine trueth when it is found they searche after other many more subtiler matters than they vnderstand But we know that all things whiche are necessarie and for our saluatioÌ„ are simplie plainely deliuered in the holy scripturs that we must simply godlily religiously rest in them therefore those things that are not deliuered in theÌ„ touching that matter of our saluation we know that they are not to be sought after of vs that they hinder not our saluation if we be ignoraÌ„t of them The word Anima whiche we call soule is diuersly taken in the holy scripture First of all Anima that soule is takeÌ„ for euery liuing thing For Moses bringeth in the lord speaking Let the earth bring forth liuing creature after his kinde catel worme beast of the earth after his kinde For who knoweth not that there are reckoned thrée kindes or parts giue me leaue so to speake for instruction sake or thrée principal powers of the souls for there is y soule vegetatiue whiche worketh in plants There is the soule sensitiue which is not without the soule vegetatiue it giueth life to brute beasts and other creaturs indued with life féeling There is also the reasonable soule wherwith men are indued whiche is furnished with many powers or abilities and comprehendeth both y other Hereof Anima the soule is taken in the scripture for breath which men drawe in and let go againe also for the life of maÌ„ or of a liuing creature Thus we read Anima eius c. His life is in him And I wil doe thee no more harme saith Saul to Dauid because Anima mea my life was precious in thine eyes this day The Grecians cal Anima the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because by drawing breth it refresheth The Hebricians call it Naephaeseh of comforting Again Anima the soule is taken in the scriptures for the thing it selfe that hath life yea euen for any or rather for the whole man For it is said in the law The soule that worketh with a spirit or that is a southsayer shall die Likewise in Paule we reade Let euery soule be subiect to the higher power And again in Genesis the king of Sodome saith to Abraham Giue me the soules take the substance or goods to thy selfe For the scripture is wont to name the whole by a part For as by the soule he meanes that whole man rehearsing the nobler part so by flesh also he signifies the whole baser part Moreouer since man also other liuing creatures haue an appetitiue or desiring soule is vsed in the scripture for affection wil desire or lust For Ezechiel saith They shal not satisfie their soules In Dutch Sy werdend iren glust nâ—t buffen Noither shal their bellies be filled Lastly Anima y soule signifieth y reasonable soule of man. Whereof we will intreate God assisting at this present Yet here I cannot dissemble that among verie famous writers there is controuersie De anima animo aboute the soule and the minde whether they are one and the selfe same or diuerse and that there are reasons on bothe sides They that make a difference betwéene them say that by the soule we liue and that with the minde we vnderstand which thing Lactantius saith in his eightéenth cha De opisiâ—â—o Dei. I know that all the best moste approued writers vse them bothe indifferently and take the one for the other For we must not thinke that there are two soules in man For verie well haue the schoose definitions defined vttering these wordes in y 15. cha We do not say that there are two soules in one ma as Iacobus certein of the Syrians write one natural wherby the bodie hath life and is mingled with bloud the other spiritual which ministreth reason But we say there is one the selfe same soule in man which both quickneth the body with his felowship ordereth him self by his own reason Therefore we do not think that there is any consideration to be had of them whiche altogether denie that there is a soule For these are as madde as they whiche denie that the sunne shineth For al of vs do sée féele the sunne as also we liue by the benefite of the soule Furthermore what the reasonable soule of man is the wise heades of this worlde could not as yet with one agréement define For they so differ y a man shall hardly find two which say one thing And there are â—pinions not a few contrarie betweene themselues What do not the old interpretours â—f the scriptures doubtingly procéed in deâ—ining the soule Lactantius in his booke De opificio Dei denieth that man can atteine to the reason and nature of the soule Therfore nothing at al did they erre from the truth which thought the soule coulde be comprehended in no absolute definition wherin his nature might be expressed throughly at the ful yet that the nature or disposition of the same might after a sort bâ— shadowed out and that by the workes or actions thereof by such qualities as the scripture doth attribute There are some therfore which haue said that the soule is the spirite of life created after the image of god breathed into the bodie of man One ther is which describes it thus The soule is a spirit whereby the bodie to whiche it is coupled doth liue made apt to the knowlege of God through loue and hereby méete to be ioyned within vnto euerlasting blessednesse Another defineth it after this sort A reasonable soule is an vnderstanding spirite one part of the substance of man neither dyeth it when it is departed froÌ„ the bodie but is immortal Cassiodore defineth it The soule of man is created of God a spirituall and peculiar substance which quickeneth the bodie whose owne it is reasonable in déed and immortal We will setdown a description fetched from the scripture to be weyed considered vpon of the godly to direct rule this our whole discourse The soule
death of the soule But neuerthelesse y reasonable some liueth in his proper Essence or béeing so that when it liueth miserably a miserable life is in verie déede called death but desperation also is the very death of the soule For by hope wée liue And Paule sayeth I liue yet not I but Christe liueth in mee and the life whiche I nowe liue in the fleshe I liue by the faith of the sonne of God therefore they that are destitute of faith are dead they that haue faith liue S. Augustine Cap. 10. De fide Symbolo sayeth The soule as it may bee called corruptible by reason of finne and wickednes so it may be called mortal For the death of the soule is the reuolting or falling from God whiche first sinne of the soule was committed in Paradise as is declared in the holy Scriptures And the same Augustine againe Lib. de Trinitate 14. Cap. 4. sayeth The soule also hath his death when it lacketh a blessed life whiche is to bee named the true life of the soule But for this cause it is called immortall for that whatsoeuer life it liueth yea thoughe it bee most miserable yet it neuer ceaseth to liue Wée therefore fréely confesse that the soules of men separated or taken out of their bodies doe not die but liue immortall for euer the faithfull in euerlasting ioye and felicitie but the vnbeléeners in eternall damnation Whiche thing I will now goe on to confirme by some substantial testimonies of Scripture But first take this with you that testimonies of scripture in this case are farre more liuely than mans reasons framed out of Philosophie For these testimonies are fetched from the verie mouthe of the liuing God himselfe whiche preserueth vs in life who since he is true cannot lie and who since hee giueth life and is life it selfe is able to wittnesse most certainely aboue all other touching life Neither is it doubtfull that the spirit of God worketh ioyntly with the word of GOD of whom vnlesse the heartes of men be touched the reasons of Philosophie howe manifest soeuer they bee shall preuaile nothing especially in the daunger of death and in other temptations They are fleshlie therefore and brutishe altogether whiche are not ashamed to say That they cannot be persuaded or brought to beléeue the immortalitie of soules by the Scriptures onely Nay which is more that shall neuer be stedfast and stable in temptations whiche shall procéede from fleshe and bloud Wee will therefore add some certaine testimonies and those too most manifest Dauid the most nuissaunt and happiest king in the world comprising in one verse both the immortalitie of soules and the resurrection of bodies sayeth Thou O Lord shalt not leaue my soule in hell neither shalt thou suffer thine holie one to see corruption Man consisteth of bodie and soule The bodie rotteth awaye when it is dead and is turned into dust but it shall not therefore perish For as the bodie of Christ which was buried did not rat but rose againe the third day so in the day of iudgemente shall oure bodies be raised vpp and by Christe â—e deliuered from corruption And our soul goeth not into hell there to remaine But as the soule of Christ returned from the nether parts vnto his bodie and ascended into heauen in his bodie which he had taken againe euen so shall oure soules also liue by Christ â–ª they shall not dit Solomon the sonne of Dauid excelling all kinges and mortall men in wisedome in one verse likewise expounding the prouidence of GOD touching the soule and the body saith The dust shall bee turned againe vnto earth from whence it came and the spirite shall returne vnto God who gaue it Solomon calleth mans bodie Dust béecause it is said in Moses that GOD made it of the dust of the earth Therefore the bodie turneth againe vnto dust for it putrifieth and is resolued into that which first it was euen vntill the Iudgement daye as the Lord sayeth For dust thou art and into dust shalt thou be turned againe But the spirite that is to say the reasonable soule dieth not with the bodie it is not resolued into dust béecause it is not taken out of the dust neither is it scattered into the aire because it doest not consist of aire but returneth aliue from death vnto god And therefore it returneth vnto GOD because God gaue the soule and after a singular manner made man after his owne likenes image breathing into his face the spirite of life of life I say that is of liuely power not the spirite of death Therefore the soule caÌ„not perish béecause it receiueth immortalitie from God who since hee is life is able to preserue that breath of life which he hath made The Lord Iesus the true and verie sonne of God the life and resurrection of the faithfull sayeth plainely in the Gospell Feare ye not them whiche kill the bodie but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him whiche is able to destroye both bodie and soule in hell If when the bodie being slaine by tyrauntes the soule is not killed then it remaineth aliue after the bodie is destroyed and so assuredlie it remaineth that hauing put off the bodie it should bee caste of the most iust God into hell there euerlastingly to burne for his vnâ—aithfulnes For in the same Gospel the Lord saith againe Whosoeuer wil saue his life shall loose it againe whosoeuer will loose his life for my sake shal finde it For not he only looseth his life or soule whiche bridleth it from the pleasures of the world and liueth most temperately but hée also who offereth himselfe into the bloudy hands of tyrants to be slaine for the confession of Christian faith And hée findeth his life or soule whiche he lost Therefore the soules of men euen after the death of the bodie remaine aliue and immortall In the Gospel according to S. Iohn the Lord saith Verilie verilie I say vnto you hee that heareth my word and beleeueth on him that sent mee hath euerlasting life and shall not come into iudgement â–ª but is eâ—caped from death vnto me Thou hast in these words of the Lord the death of the bodie But forthwith afterward he witnesseth that wée Escape vnto life therefore mens â—oules remaine aliue after death For nowe hee speaketh nothing of the raising againe or of the saluation of the bodie but of the life of the soule after death In the same Gospel the Lord sayth againe Verilie verilie I say vnto you if a man keepe my saying he shall neuer see death But it is euident that all men are ordeined once to die namely with bodily death therefore the soule liueth after the death of the bodie For it must néedes be that a faithfull man shall neuer sée or â—eele death vnlesse hee told a lie who affirmed with an oth that which he spake For in euery other place he
addeth an oâ—he saying Verilie I say vnto you that wée should not doubt of the unmortalitie of soules There are very many testimonies and those most euident of Christ the sonne of God in the same Gospell as in the sixte and eleuenth Chapiters to whiche wee will ioyne one or two out of the writings of the blessed Apostles of Christ Sainct Peter speaking of the soules of the fathers which were dead a great while agoe sayeth that The Gospell was preached also to the dead that they should bee iudged like other men in the flesh but should liue before God in the spirite Spirites or soules of the blessed fathers whose bodies being buried a great while agoe doe waite for the vniuersall sentence of that generall and last iudgement that is that their flesh may be raised vp againe be iudged with other men in the last day but in the meane while their soules liue with God so that mens soules are aliue thoughe their bodies were rotten a great while agoe S. Paule in his epistle to Timothie sayeth that life and immortalitie is made manifest and brought by Christ The same Paule euery where doeth so plainely auouche the immortalitie of soules that hee must néedes be blinde which séeth it not S. Iohn the Apostle and Euangelist sawe vnder the altar in heauen that is vnder the protection of Christe whoe is the sacrifice and propitiation for the sinnes of the world liuing soules lying and crying Howe longe tariest thou Lord to reuenge our bloud He sawe them cloathed with white garmentes and enioying euerlasting rest But these soules were the soules of the martyrs of Christe whose bodies died béeing murthered on the earth vnder tyrauntes and persecuters of the Christian faith Therefore the soules of men are immortall Most true therefore yea and vndoubted are those woordes whiche are read in the booke of Wisedome vttered in this manner The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shal no torment touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeared to die and their ende is taken for a miserie and their departing from vs to be vtter destruction but they are in rest For thoughe they suffer paine before men yet is their hopefull of immortalitie They are punished but in few things neuerthelesse in many thinges shall they be well rewarded For God proueth them findeth them meete for himselfe As gold in the fornace doth he trie them and receiueth them as a burnte offering and when the time commeth they shal be looked vpon They shall shine and runne thoroughe as the sparckles amonge the stubble They shall iudge the nations and haue dominion ouer the people and their Lord shall reigne for euer Wherefore most truely and according to the Canonicall Scripture doe the Ecclestasticall definitions pronounce Cap. 16. Wee beleeue that man onely hath a substantiall soule whiche hauing put off the bodie liueth and keepeth his senses and disposition liuelie It doeth not die with the bodie as Aratus affirmeth nor a little while after as Zenon sayeth because it liueth substantiallie But the soules of beastes and other mortall creatures are not substantiall but are borne with their fleshe thorough the life of their fleshe and with the death of their flesh are at an end and doe die Furthermore that truth touching the immortalitie of soules as it were by the lawe of nature is written and imprinted in the mindes of all men Wherevppon it is no meruaile that all the wise men amonge the Gentiles could neuer abide that the soule should be called mortall For the consent of all whiche is thought the voice of nature specially of the chiefest declareth y soules are immortall And M. Tullie also affirmeth that saying As by nature wee thincke there are Gods and by reason wee know what they bee so wee hold opinion with the consent of all nations that soules doe stil continue All y auncient writers therefore and all that followed them haue said that soules are euerlasting or immortal as Trismegistus MusÄ™us OrphÄ™us Homerus Pindarus and Pherecydes the Syâ—ian the maister of Pythagoras and his scholer Socrates Plato himselfe who to learne the opinions of Pythagoras sailed into Italie was not onely of the same opinion that Pythagoras was of touching the immortalitie of souls but brought reasons also to confirme the same These reasons as Tullie witnesseth are many that he whiche readeth his booke cannot seeme to desire any thing further Seneca so plainely affirmeth and proueth the immortalitie of soules that nothing can be more plaine And Epictetus a famous Philosopher who liued in the time of Seneca hath done no lesse If as yet there be any light headed men to whome the immortalitie of the soule séemeth doubtfull or whiche vtterly denie the same these truely are vnworthy to haue the name of men For they are plagues of the coÌ„mon wealth and verie beastes worthy to be hissed and driuen out of the company of men For hee lacketh a bridle to restraine him and hath cast awaye all honestie and shame is prepared in all points to committ anye mischiefe whosoeuer beléeueth that the soule of man is mortall I shewed that soules by death béeing separated from their bodies doe not die but remaine aliue it resteth now behinde that I teach you where the soules when they are destitute of the dwelling place their bodies leads their life and are conuersaunt While they were coupled to the bodies they vsed them as their dwelling houses so that though they be said not to be limitted in place yet they doe not wander out of their bodies but they are as it were shut vp in them as in prisons vntill the time they be dissolued and sett at libertie Those same soules therefore being now disseuered from their bodies since they reteine their sound senses their nature or disposition and their whole substance in liuely manner albeit they are said no not euen now to be limitted in place not are they not let loose runne aftraye hauing their abiding in no place but beeing compacte and sett fast in their owne Essence or béeing are in some place againe hauing no newe bodies for the soules are frée euen till the Iudgement day when they shall bee ioyned againe to their bodies how beit certaine abiding places are prepared for them of God wherin they may liue Although other by my leiue verie subtily and wittilie doe reason howe spirites are conteyned in place or not conteined I simplie affirme with the scripture that soules separated from bodies are taken vpp either into heauen it selfe or else are drowned in the depthe of hell and that their béeing and abiding is euen so there that when they are héere they are not else where For the Lord most plainly and pithilie saieth in the Gospell that the soule of beggerly Lazarus was carried into Abrahams bosome and the soule of the rich glutton was caste downe into hell But that more is it foorthwith followeth in
for heauen or the place of blessednesse as the left hande for hell or the place of damnation Therefore this is his meaning When thou art deade thou shalt remaine for euer either 〈…〉 agreeable to the heaueÌ„ly For S. Cypriâ— against Demetrianâ—s sayth When we shall bee departed hence there is then no place of repetance 〈…〉 value Here life is eyther lost or gotten Here is prouision made for eternall saluation by the seruing of god and the fruite of fayth They obiect againe That souls when they depart from the body are purged in déede by the bloud of the sonne of God but not fully for there remaines some filth to be washed away in Purgatoriâ— For they depart out of this worlde not hauing a full and perfect sayth therefore they be not altogether good and again since they haue some fayth they be not altogether euill bicause they are not perfectly good they cannot enter into heauen againe since they are not altogether euil they caÌ„not be daÌ„ned and therefore there remayneth a middle place wherein they may be fully tryed and at the length being purified may be presented â—â—to the sight of god But these mâ—n after their manner 〈◊〉 what they 〈◊〉 But we haue shewed by the holie scriptures that the souls of the faithfull are purged by the onely bloud â—â— the sonne of God through 〈◊〉 and not by purgatorie Nowe will I also shewe in that whiche followeth that the sinnes of all men are puriâ—â—edfully that is to say moste absolutely by the onely sacrifice of Christe and further that by the grace of God in the bloude of Christe is forgiuen in the verie instant of death whatsoeuer infirmitie remnants of sinne are behinde in the soules of the faithfull departing from the body For the Lorde saith in the gospel He that is washed needeth not saue to washe his feete 〈…〉 euery whâ—â— Beholde he 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 washed by the grace of Christ so that the 〈…〉 of the féete that is to say the infirmitâ—e and imperfection whiche remaineth after regeneration caÌ„not bring him againe into the number of those that are vncleane For the Lord sayth againe in the Gospell And for their sakes sanctifie I my self that they also might bee sanctified through the truth The Lorde gaue vp himselfe to be a sacrifice for oure sinnes to the ende that we might be sanctified that is purged from oure sinnes truly that is to say fully and 〈◊〉 perfectly For Paule sayth For with one offering hath he made perfâ—st for euer them that are sanctified â–ª Mark I pray you y apostles words Christ with one oblatioÌ„ Lo he saith with one hath perfectly sanctified al that are sanctified are made heires of eternall life Herevpon we gather If by the one sacrifice of Christ once offered for vs al soules are purified and that in déede perfectly purified so that there is nothing waÌ„ting to their puâ—â—fying what I praye you findeth Purgatorie to purifie Therefore it is a shamelesse forgerie and horrible blaspheâ—â—ie against the merite of the purifying of IESVS CHRIST the some of god If there séeme any thing to be diminished or wanting vnto the soule nowe departing Christe by his grace performeth and maketh it vp whilest it is yet in the worlde It is a wicked speach and vnworthy to be heard among christian people that by oure sufferings in Purgatorie that is fulfilled whiche was not as yet fully satisfied with the bloud and passion of Christ As if our suffrings were better more effectual than the passion of that sonne of God. Thâ—se men obieâ—te vnto vs the weaknesse of faith in them that dye and we â—n the other side obiect vnto them the mercie of God fully pardoning his faithfull people The father of the Lunatique mentioned in the Gospell requiring helpe of the Lord heareth If thou caÌ„st beleeue to wit that I am able to heale thy sonne al things are possible to him that beleeueth And albeit he felt his fayth not altogether perfect but that therein remayned much weakenesse yet the helpe of God was not hindered by the weaknesse thereof For bycause he humbly submitted him selfe wholy vnto the mercy of the Lorde beséeching and saying Lord I beleeue help my vnbeliefe the Lorde by and by succoured him and without delaye healed his sonne So there is no dout that the most mercifull Lorde will fayle his faithfull people to whom he hath promised most full forgiuenesse acknowledging their weakenesse in the houre of death and therefore also calling for the mercy of God but that vppon the instant of the going out of the soule he forth with perfectly â—anctifieth it with his spirtie for Christes sake and beautifieth it with all kynd of graces that being truely purged from all filthe of sinnes it maye flée vp and deserue to appeare in the presence of god And this shoulde be beaten into the heades of them that are a dying For there are extant most large promises of god there are extant examples of many holy men dying and calling vpon god Furthermore it is certeine by those thinges which we haue already alledged that the death of Christ hath made ful satisfaction for sinnes so that nowe there remayneth nothing further to â—e 〈◊〉 wâ—th the fire of purgatorie Souls after the death of the â—â—dy 〈◊〉 the right 〈…〉 heauen taking nothing 〈…〉 them which â—â— it dâ—th purging Therefore that fire of purgatorie is nothing else in verie déeâ—e than a traâ—â—â—que or merchandize of most couetâ—â—s meÌ„ whereby craftily and cunningly they purge the pursses not the soules both of rich and poore These men by and by vnderprop their purgatorie building which is a falling with two postes The first is this They of olde say they prayed for the saluation of soules separated from the body therfore there is a purgatorie For since in heauen they haue no néed of prayers surely in hel prayers do no good since in hell is no redemption truely there is a middle place left wherein soules are kepte vnto whom the prayers of the liuing doe good that place is Purgatorie Thus in déede they reason howbeit imagining all thinges of their owne heades without the authoritie of the scriptures But this is that they haue to say That they of old prayed for the deade I knowe what Augustine that famous doctour of the Churche what Chrysostome that golden-mouthed man and other auncient and notable men haue lâ—â—t written touching this matter But I aske the question Whether that whiche they did were well done For not all thinges which the holy fathers sayd and did who oftentimes haue suffered somthing of maÌ„s inuention are absolutely to be alowed or followed Those things are not to be allowed and folowed which are set down by them against the decrées of the scripture which thing they theÌ„ selues vnfeinedly confesse but those things onely whiche are vttered and confirmed by the authoritie of holie scriptures which 〈…〉 of godlynesse But thou 〈…〉 nothing in them
manner one it is For first wee confesse that there hath béene and is a Church of God and that it shall continue for euer Then professing what it is wée add this The communion of Sainctes That is to say Wée beléeue the Church to bee nothing else but the companie of all those Sainctes that are haue béene and shal be as wel in this present age as in the age to come who enioye all good thinges in common granted vnto them by god Also wee declare what manner one it is in calling it holy I say the spouse of Christ cleansed and blessed For S. Paule calleth them holy whiche are cleansed with the spirit and bloud of oure God of whiche a great part haue receiued crownes of glorie the residue labour heere vppon earth hoping to receiue them in heauen And truely in consideration of the Church the chiefest matter is that thoroughe the Grace of God wee be made the members of Christes body and partakers of all heauenly gifts with the Angels For wée confesse none to be more holy than our owne selues Or else it may be taken more largly and then it doeth comprehende not onely them that are the very faithfull and holy in déede but also them who althoughe they beléeue not truely or vnfeignedly neither be cleane or holy in the conuersation of their life yet do they acknowledge and professe true religion with the true beléeuers and the holy men of God yea they speake well and allowe of vertues and reproue euill neither doe seauer themselues from the vnitie of this Militant Church In whiche consideration not so much as the wicked and hypocrits such as wée read to haue béene in the Church in the time of Christe and the Apostles as Iudas Ananias and Saphira Simon Magus also Demas Hymenęus Alexander and many other are excluded and put from the church which Church maye well be called the outward and visible Church But this Church whereof wee speake is to bée accompted off either by reason of some part thereof or else of the whole For it is to be considered generally particularly And the particular Church is that whiche is comprised in a certeine number is knowen by some sure and certeine place For it is named of the place being called after the names of cities as the Churches of Zuericke and Bernes c. The Gréekes called those particular Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche wee commonly call Parishes And we call that a parish which hath dwelling houses and streates ioyned together in neighbourhoode But in cities and townes vnto certeine portions are vsually ascribed both Churches and parish priestes to serue them and the whole circuite is called a parishe In the Dutche tongue Ein Barchi oder pfarkirch oder ein kirchhory And in the old time the parish priest was a prouider For hee prouided and gaue necessaries to straungers and chiefly salt and wood Some called him the maker of the feast other cal him a preparer of Virgins Therefore because the pastours of Churches were preparers of Virgins for the redéemer and head of the Church whiche is Christe bringing vnto him a chast and vndefiled virgin to be short because they themselues prouided things most necessarie for the people of God and also prepared heauenly meates and banquets the pastours of the Lords flocke are very well called parish priestes or the curates of soules The Lord speaking in the Gospel of the particular Church said If hee that offendeth the Church will not regard when hee is warned complaine vnto the Church But it is not possible that the vniuersall Church through the whole world should assemble come together that the rebellious and obstinate should be brought before it wherfore iudgment is referred to be giuen on that stubborne by the particular Churches To conclude the vniuersal Church consisteth of al the particular Churches through out the whole world and of all the visible partes and members thereof This is the same which we drue forth euen nowe when wée spake more at large thereof But the catholique Church of God doeth abide with vs as wée began to tell a litle before cōtinually from age to age from the beginning and is at this time dispersed thorough out the whole world both visiblye and inuisiblye and the Lords people and God his house shall continue vppon earth vnto the worlds end For there was neuer yet any world neither shal be any age wherein God hath not or will not sanctifie some vnto himselfe wherin he will dwell and that they shall be his flocke and holy house For the testimonies of auncient Prophets doe record that the Church is perpetual For thus wee finde it written in the 132. Psalme The Lord hath chosen Sion hee hath chosen her for an habitation for him selfe This is my resting place for euer and euer heere will I dwell because I haue chosen her And againe I haue sworne vnto Dauid in my holinesse his seede shall remaine for euer and his seate shall continue before mee as the Sunne But who knoweth not that all this is to be vnderstode of Christ the sonne of Dauid and of his seate and spirituall Sion which is the Church He also signifying the continuaunce of the Church sayeth in the Gospell I will remaine with you continually vnto the ende of the world And againe I will aske of my father and hee shall giue you an other cōforter the spirite of truth that he may abide with you for euer To this belongeth also that saying in the Gospel And the gates of hell shal not preuaile against the Church Whiche saying truely is a great comfort to the faithfull in so many and so great persecutions intended to the vtter destruction and ouerthrowe of the Church As Christ had alwayes his Church héere vppon earth hath now and for euer shall haue So likewise the diuel as longe as the world shall continue shall neuer want his people in whom hee maye reigne This Church of the diuel toke her first beginning of Cain and shall continue to the last wicked person comprehending also all those euill peoples that haue beene in the meane time and shal be betwixte the beginning and the ending But they liuing héere on earth haue societie and common with them that are tormented in hell For as all that bee Godly béeing vnder one head Christ do make one body so all the wicked vnder one head sathan are one incorporate body This maye right worthily be called that wicked Church Sodome and Gomor Babylon the cōgregation of Chora Dathan Abyron a synagogue a schole and a stewes of the diuell the kingdome of antichriste or any other of like sort In this Church are reckoned vpp all such as are wicked and and infidels separating themselues from the societie of oure holy mother the Church or forsaking the communion thereof and specially such as are mockers of God and his holy woord blasphemers
all his faithfull which shoulde abide with them for euer sayeth In that day ye shall knowe that I am in my father and you in me and I in you to witt by the holie Ghoste Iohn the Apostle expounding it and saying By this we knowe that he dwelleth in vs by the spirite that he gaue vnto vs. And againe By this we knowe that wee dwell in him and he in vs because he hath giuen of his spirite vnto vs. S. Paule the vessell of election differeth not from Saincte Iohn writing and saying to the Romanes If any man hath not the spirite of Christe the same is none of his And whosoeuer are led by the spirit of God they are the children of God. Now as touching true faith which tyeth vs vnto the Lord S. Paule saith I liue now yet not I but Christe liueth in me But the life whiche I now liue in the flesh I liue yet thorough the faith of the sonne of God who loued me and gaue vp him selfe for me And againe he saith Christe dwelleth in our hartes thorough faith With which sayings Sainct Iohn the Apostle agréeing againe saith Whosoeuer confesseth that Iesus Christe is the sonne of God God dwelleth in him and hee in God. For the Lord him selfe before that said in the Gospell He that eateth my fleshe and drincketh my bloud dwelleth in mee and I in him And he eateth Christes flesh and drinketh Christes bloud that beléeueth Therefore Christe our Lorde is ioyned vnto vs in spirite and wée are tyed to him in minde and faithe as the body vnto the head they therefore that lack this knotte and bonde that is that haue not the spirite of Christe nor true faith in Christe are not the true and liuely members of Christe the Lord him selfe in the gospell witnessing and saying If a man abide not in me he is cast foorth as a branch and withereth and men gather them and cast them into the fier and they burne Which words of our sauiour the Apostle imitating as we said euen now said He that hath not the spirite of Christ is none of his But they that are not destitute of the spirite of Christe are inflamed with the loue of god Neither do we separate loue from faith the same S. Iohn so teaching vs saying God is loue and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and GOD in him For the Lord saith in the gospell If a man loue me he will kepe my word and my father will loue him and we wil come vnto him wil dwel with him But although properly faith ioine vs to our head Christ yet the same also doth knit vs to all Christes members vpon earth For whereas there is but one faith of them al and therefore the same spirit there can not but be the same mouth the same minde the same sentence amongest them all although faith be not nowe taken only for a confidence in the mercy of God through Iesus Christe but also for an outwarde confession of fayth For we all confessing one faith and one and the selfe same head with one spirite and mouth we also together professe that we all are members of one and the selfe same body Neither is there any thing else in the worlde that more vnappeaseably disseuereth the mindes of men than the diuersitie of faith or religion and therfore there is nothing that maye more nearely ioyne vs together than vnitie of faith We come nowe to speake of loue whiche I sayde ioyneth together the members of the ecclesiasticall body mutually amongst them selues The Lord saith in the gospel A new commandement giue I vnto you that ye loue one an other as I haue loued you that ye also loue one an other By this shall all men knowe that ye are my disciples if ye haue loue one to an other It is therfore out of doubt that the onely marke of the church next after faith is loue a bond most firmely knitting together all the members This groweth from the communion of Christ and vnitie of the spirit For insomuch as Christ the king the head and highe Byshop of the catholique churche enduing vs all with one and the same spirite hath made vs all his members the sonns of God brethren and fellow heires whom vndoubtedly he loueth tenderly euery faithfull man can not choose but with feruent loue embrace the members and fellowe heires of their king their head and their high Byshop For Iohn the Apostle saith Euerie one that loueth him that begatte doth loue him also that is borne of him If any man say I loue God and hateth his brother he is a lyar For howe can he that loueth not his brother whome he hath seene loue God whome he hath not seene Paule to the end that he might moste properly expresse before oure eyes and as it were set to viewe and beholde this vnitie and agréement of the members vseth a parable taken from the members of a mans body and saith For as we haue many mēbers in one body and all members haue not one office so we being many are one body in Christ and euery one one an others members The same in the twelfth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians more largely and plainely expounding ioyning together of the heade and the members and that chiefly by the sayd parable of the members of a mans body and publishing it very eloquently witnesseth that betwéene the highest members of the churche and the lowest members of the same there is a very greate and apt consent and moreouer a diligent care and a helpe both continuall and most faythfull Of all whiche it appeareth that the markes of the true liuely church of Christ are the cōmunion of the spirit of Christ sincere fayth christian charitie without the which thinges no man is partaker of this spirituall body By these thinges also it shall be easie to iudge whether thou art in the fellowship of the churche or thou art not Moreouer we gather out of those things which we haue hitherto disputed touching the markes of Christes churche from whence is her original also how the church is planted spred abroade preserued Her originall is heauenly for S. Paule speaking of the churche saith Ierusalem which is aboue is free which is the mother of vs all Therefore he calleth the church heauenly not that it dwelleth altogether in heauē but that she being here on earth hath a heauenly beginning For the children of God are not borne of flesh bloud but from heauen by the renuing of the holy spirit who through the preaching of Gods word planteth faith in our hearts by which faith we are made the true members of Christ his church For Peter saith Ye are borne a newe not of mortal seed but of immortall by the worde of God whiche liueth and lasteth for euer And Paul saith I begat you in Christ
in old time he shal not finde in â—he celebration of CircumcisioÌ„ the feast of the Passeouer sacrifices any words to haue ben spoken or pronounced wherby thei were formed as it were created sacramentes were made effectuall To which belongeth this that Iohn Baptist did not only baptise the common people without respect of person but the Lord Iesus himself also in the water of Iordane no words in the mean while béeing pronounced wherby he called drew down the heauenly grace ouer or vpon the water of baptisme Againe whiles Christe our high bishop did institute his supper in the gospell he coÌ„maunded nothing to be spokeÌ„ or pronounced by vertue of which spéech or pronuntiation the elementes might either be chaunged or the things signified béeing drawen down from heauen should be present with or ioyned to the signes but what the lord hath simply done what his wil was we should doe after what maner to what end he instituted his supper the Euangelists haue declared We read in no place that the Lord said As often as ye speake or pronounce these my wordes This is my body this is my bloud it shall come to passe by the vertue of my words that the substance of the signe shal be made void that in the same prick of time wherin the words are spoken it shâ—l begin to be the true bodie and the true bloud of the lord vnder y formes or likenesses of bread wine or that the formes or likenesses the truth of y signe remaining it shal begin at once with the bread and wine to be the very body and blood of Christ Wherfore in the pronouÌ„cing or speaking of that words of the lord in the supper there is no power or vertue either to cal down the things signified or to change that things preseÌ„t These imaginations do rather séem more to mainteine superstition than religion As though the words pronouÌ„ced according to the forme conceiued had power to call down out of heaueÌ„ to bring froÌ„ one place to another to restore health to draw to to put from or to transforme or change S. Au. reconeth vp amonge superstitions vanities those things which for remedies of diseases are tyed or fastened about the body which also physick maketh no account of whether it be in charmings or in certein signes called characters or in hanging certeine thinges about some parte of the body The place is to be séene Cap. 20. Li. De doct Christ 2. And Chrysost béeing very angry with them that hang the writeÌ„ gospel about their neck hath these words vpon Mat. 23. cha Wherin consisteth the force or power of the gospel in the forme and figure of the letters or in the vnderstanding of the meaning and sense of the same If in the forme of letters thou dost wel to hang it about thy neck but if in the vnderstanding of the meaning it is better they were laid vp in thy hart Thus saith he But there is the same reason of the figures and of the pronuntiatioÌ„ of the letters or words of the gospel For as the figure of the letters is of power to doe nothing euen so is there no force or vertue either in the pronuntiation or sounde of words Plinie an hethenish writer alledgeth many heathenish examples wherin he declareth that words are effectual but yet among other thinges which he bringeth he hath this It is a queâ—â—io 〈◊〉 he whether words or inchanting speeches are of any force but euerye one that is wise is so far from beleeuing it that euen man by man they vtterly denye it The place is to be séene Lib. 28. Cap. 2. But most worthily is the true word of God it self preferred before al these the which by Moses Deu 18. with great seueritie forbiddeth and condemneth all kinde of superstitions and inchantments I knowe what the aduersaries wil here obiect vnto me namelie that it is a blessing or consecration and not a superstition which they vse Besides this they bring many examples out of the scripture set downe in their Canonicall decrées whereby very foolishly most vnaptlie doutlesse they go about to proue that by blessing or consecration as they say the natures of the things are chaunged whervpon they also gather that the breade by the wordes of blessing or consecrating is turned into flesh Their examples are these and of this sorte The water flowing out of the rock after it was smitteÌ„ with Aarons rod the riuer Nilus turned into bloud the water at the marriage in Cana of Galile turned into wine the bitter waters of Marath chauÌ„ged into swéet water Moses his rod turned into a serpent But I beséech you what make these to the Lords supper wherwith they haue no maÌ„ner of similitude or likenes so that this must néeds be a very vnapt coÌ„parison a doltish which they make The riuer Nilus was turned into blod therfore the bread is turned into flesh the water at the mariage in Cana was changed into wine therefore the wine in the lords supper is changed into the blood of Christ For while that the water gushâ—d out of the rock when it was smitteÌ„ while the riuer Nilus was turned into blood while that water at the mariage was chaged into wine while the bitter waters of Marath becaÌ„e swéet while Moses rod was turned into a serpeÌ„t the water truly the blood the wine the swéet water the serpeÌ„t so turned chaÌ„ged were not vnder y forme or likenesse of 〈◊〉 things which they were before 〈◊〉 were they at once that whiche they were before that which thei were theÌ„ made but y water of Nilus was very bloud not water bloud together nether was there inuisible bloud vnder the visible forme of water And so standes the case also in the other examples therfore they do nothing agrée with the sacramental signes but are so farr from béeing like them that they are altogether vnlike them Moreouer who can wel tell by what pronuntiation of wordes Moses made water brust out of the hard rock turned the riuer Nilus into bloud changed the bitter waters into swéete Who knoweth what forme also of wordes the lord vsed when he changed water into wine Therefore very vnfitly do they apply these examples to their blessing or consecration changing the natures of thinges since it cannot be shewed what maner blessings y saints or holy men vsed Likewise we reade not that Moses Iosue pronouÌ„ced any wordes of blessing wherby they diuided the chanell of the Erithean sea the riuer Iordan Eliseus is read to haue vttered no words of blessing when he made y are to swim reached it out of the water by the helue In al these things the power of God did worke But we must not imagine what we list to procede from it For it is weakenes and not power which is repugnant to iustice taketh things in hande which are contrary to gods trueth But the
of the inuisible grace whiche by faithe onely is receiued Whervpon yet againe it followeth that the signe is not confounded with the thing signified but bothe of them do reteine their substance and nature distinguished What doth not the scripture expressely pithily make a difference betwéene the outward ministerie of man and God the inward worker and giuer of spirituall gyfts For Iohn Baptiste saith I baptise you with water But he Christ shall Baptise you with the holy Ghoste Wherewith agréeth that saying of Peter Baptisme saueth vs not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but in that a good conscience maketh request to God. To this nowe pertcineth that euident testimonie of saint Augustine which is read 3. Quest lib. in Leuit. Quest. 83. In these wordes Wee must diligently consider as often as he saith I the Lord which sanctifie him that he speaketh of the priest when he also spake this to Moses thou shalt sanctifie him Howe therefore doth both Moses and God also sanctifie for Moses doth not sanctifie for the Lord but Moses doeth sanctifie in the visible sacraments by his ministerie and the Lorde by inuisible grace by his holy spirit where the whole fruit of visible sacraments also is For without this sanctificatioÌ„ of inuisible grace what profite haue we by visible sacraments Thus farre August As Iohn Baptist made distinction betwéene his owne ministerie in Baptisme and the power of Christ euen so maketh he distinction betwéen the ministerie of preaching the drawing of the spirituall teacher I am saith he the voyce of a crier in the wildernes make streight the way of the Lord. And againe He that commeth from on high is aboue all he that is of the earth is earthly speaketh of the earth he that coÌ„meth from heauen is aboue all and what he hath sene and heard that he testifieth c. Saint Paule also agréeing therevnto sayth Who is Paule What is Apollos but ministers by whom ye beleeued euen as the Lorde gaue to euerie man I haue planted Apollos watered but god gaue the increase So that neither is hee that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giueth the increase Albeit the comparison of ministers with the signes agrée not altogether and in euerie part which I told you before â–ª because ministers are fellowe labourers with Christ according to their office but the signes which are without life are not so vnlesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we translate vnto them that whiche is the ministers yet by other proofes I suppose it to be made plaine that the signe thing signified do reteine their natures distinguished in the sacraments These things doe specially disproue and conuince those who are persuaded of that papisticall traÌ„substantiation of bread and wine into the substance of the bodie bloud of Christe For these men vtterly denie that the breade and wine béeing consecrated in the mysteries do remaine in their owne substances For they contend that these substaÌ„ces of bread wine are annihilated turned into the verie bodie and bloud of the Lord so that after the consecration the accidents of bread and wine doe remaine and no part of the substance thereof at all For they say that the Lorde in expresse words pronounced ouer the bread wine This is my bodie This is my bloud that the Lord can easily bring to passe by his own omnipotencie that that which he said may be as he said For proofe wherof they alledge these such like places that the Lord for soothe fashioned man out of the clay of the earth by by of the rib of man made woman also turned Lots wife into a piller of salt therfore y he by the selfe same his power can make of bread his bodie of wine his bloud And these truely are their bulworkes But we in another place haue plentifully disputed of the meaning of the Lords words This is my bodie So that it is superfluous to make long repetition of them I haue also tolde you y of the omnipotencie of God we muste not gather determine whatsoeuer commeth into our braine also that Gods power doth nothing against trueth neither against it selfe and that no Godly man ought to take that in hand vnder pretence of the power of God whiche is repugnant to the plaine Scriptures and the articles of the catholique faith Now it is euident and plaine that after consecration there remaineth in the sacrament the substaÌ„ce of bread wine And herein we néed no other witnesses than our verie senses whiche perceiue sée taste and féele no other thing than bread and wine but while clay was turned into a mans bodie the ribb into a woman Lots wife into a piller of salte they were not as the sacrament of the supper that which they were before neither did there appeare vnto the senses any iotte of the clay of the ribbe of Lots wife Verie foolishly therefore and vnaptly are these examples applyed to the mysterie of the Lordes supper wherewith they nothing agrée whiche thing also we touched before The Gospel verie diligently describing the moste holy institution of the Lordes supper and the maner thereof maketh no mention of miraculous transubstantion but calleth the bread and wine whiche the Lord tooke and distributed to his disciples and which they also receiued by the names of bread wine as wel after the words of consecration as they tearme it were spoken as also before consecration Doeth not the Lorde in the 26. cha of Mat. call the wine being coÌ„secrated not wine only but the fruit of the vine after a more vehement and significatiue kinde of spéeche lest any shold be ignorant that the wine was wine in déede and so remained In Marke we reade this of the Cuppe And he tooke the Cuppe and when he had giuen thanks he gaue to them And they dranke of it and he saide vnto them This is my bloud of the new Testament c. Loe they dâ—anke all sayth he of the Cuppe before the words of consecratioÌ„ as they terme it were spoken therefore they dranke wine Nowe if so be they answere that this place of the Euangelist is to be expounded by the figure Hysteroâ—protero that is wheÌ„ any thing is declared out of order preposterously theÌ„ admitt they tropes figures in the celebration of the supper which notwithstandinge they haue contended ought simplie to bee vnderstoode without the help of tropes or figures But Paule also the Apostle in the 1. Cor. cap. 10. calleth the bread of the Lorde beeing nowe in the verie holy vse and that I may so say consecrated by the name of bread And in the 1. Cor. 11. chap. the thirde time hee calleth it bread To this apperteyneth that the Actes of the Apostles doe testifie how that the Churche of the Apostles do call the whole mysticall action The breaking of breade not The breaking of
After the same manner is it to be séene in the institution of the Lordes Supper or Euchariste The broade is called the body of Christe and the wine the bloude of Christe But since the right faythe beléeueth that the true bodye of Christe ascended out of this world liueth and is nowe in heauen and that the Lorde returneth no more into this worlde vntill he come in the cloudes of heauen to iudge the quicke and deade euerie man vnderstandeth that to the signe to wit breade and wine the names of the thinges them selues to witte the bodye and bloude of Christe are giuen throughe the communicating of names Many other speaches vsed in the Scripture and in oure dayly talke are not muche vnlike to the speaches vsed in the Sacrament We reade that Christe is and is called a Lyon a Lambe a Shepehearde a Vine a doore a waye a Ladder the Day the Lighte the Sunne the Water the bread a Spring and a Rocke which if at this day any shuld roughly vrge contending that Christe is a Lambe in deede a doore in substaunce a naturall vine or suche like who I pray you coulde abide him so reasoning We woulde hisse and driue out from amonge vs suche a one as a madde man and a peruerter of GODS oracles Wee reade in déede And that rocke was Christe In the meane time it is to bee considered what shoulde followe For if that rocke really and in vâ—rye déede had béene Christe none of them that dranke of that rocke had béene reprobates For they are acceptable vnto GOD which are partakers of Christe But in many of them that dranke of the rocke the Lorde had no delight For they were stayne in the wildernesse therefore they whiche dranke of the rocke which was Christe were not made partakers of Christe Therefore the rocke was not Christe really and in verie deed We also séeing the standards of kings princes and cities we call the signes by the names of the kings princes and cities for we say This is the king of Fraunce This is the prince of Germanie this is Tigure this is Berne So if we sée the marriage ring or the image of any prince we call it the fayth and trothe of wedlocke or man and wife yea and we saye by the Image This is the prince For matrones shewing their wedding ring say this is my husband When we shewe to any man the picture or image of the duke of Saxonie we say This is the duke of Saxonie If any should goe on obstinately to affirme that the signe in verie déede is the thing signified bycause it beareth the name thereof woulde not all men crye out that suche a one were without with or reason and that he were to be abhorred by all meanes as an obstinate brawler Those therefore that are skilfull in the things vnderstand that that is hath béene Catholique receiued of all men and also sounde which we shewed euen nowe at large to witte that the signes doe borrowe the names of the thinges and not turne into the thinges whiche they signifie And therefore the auncient fathers moued no strife nor contentions about the Sacramentes as are at this day among vs For as they did beautifie the signes with the names of the thinges signified so did they acknowledge the kynde of speache neyther did they roughly vrge the wordes as though the verie signes were really corporally that selfe same thing which they signified Therefore this canon or rule is so often repeated and beaten vppon by Aulerius August That the signes do take or borrowe the names of thinges signified By the same canon or rule he maketh playne certein darke places of which thing we will nowe set downe some testimonies In this epist. 23. ad Bonifacium de paruuloruÌ„ baptismate he sayth If sacraments had not some likenes with those thinges whereof they are sacraments no doubt they were no sacramentes for of this likenesse for the most part they take the names of the thinges them selues As also the Apostle speaking of baptisme sayth Wee are buried with Christe by baptisme into his death He doth not say We signifie the burial but he doth flatly say We are buried Therefore he called the sacrameÌ„t of so great a thing no otherwise but by the name of the selfe same thing And in Tract super Ioan. 63. When the vncleane person is gone all which remaine are cleane Such a like thing shall there be when the world being ouercome of Christ shall passe awaye and there shall no vncleane person remayne among the people of God when the tares being separated from the wheate the iust shall shine like the sunne in the kingdome of their father The Lord foreséeing this woulde come to passe and nowe witnessing that it was signified when Iudas fell awaye as tares separated the holie apostles remaining as wheat he sayth Now is the sonne of man glorified as if he had sayde Beholde what shall be when I am glorified where there shall be no wicked person and where no good man shall perishe For he saith not thus Nowe is the glorifying of the sonne of man signified but he sayth Nowe is the sonne of man glorified As it is not said The rock signified Christ but The rocke was Christe neyther is it sayde the good séede signifieth the childreÌ„ of the kingdome but he saith the good séde these are the children of the kingdome and the tares the children of the wicked As the scripture therefore is wont to speake calling the thinges which signifie as the thinges that are signified euen so spake the Lord saying Now is the Sonne of man glorified after that wicked Iudas was separated and his holy Apostles remayning with him his glorification was signified when the wicked being diuided he shal remaine eternally with the saintes The same Aurelius Agust in his Epistle to Euodius 102. saythe The sounde of the voyce and the bodily shape of a doue clouen tongs like vnto fire which came vppon euerie one of them as those thinges in mount Sina whiche were done after a moste fearefull manner and as that piller of the cloud by day and that piller of fire by night were ordayned and set for some operation which they signified Héerein we must specially take héede of this that none be persuaded or beléeue that the nature and substaunce of the Father or of the Sonne or of the holie Ghoste is chaungeable or maye be turned Neyther let any man be moued for that sometime the thing which signifieth taketh the name of that thing which it signifieth The holie Ghoste is sayde to descend and remayne vpoÌ„ him in the bodily shape of a doue For so also is the rocke Christe bycause it signifieth Christe By these examples alledged oute of the Scripture it is playne that the signes doe borrowe the names of the thinges and not their natures and substaunces Wherevpon it is vndoubtedly true that they erre as farre as heauen is wyde
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
bloud of Christ The reason hereof is this As bread nourisheth and strengtheneth man and giueth him abilitie to labour so the bodie of Christ eaten by faith féedeth and satisfieth the soule of man and furnisheth the whole man to all dueties of Godlines As wine is drincke to the thirstie and maketh merrie the heartes of men so the bloud of our Lord Iesus droncken by faith doeth quenche the thirst of the burning conscience and filleth the heartes of the faithful with vnspeakeable ioy But in the action of the supper the bread of the Lord is broken the wine is powred out For the body of oure Sauiour was broken that is by all meanes afflicted and his bloud gushed and flowed plentifully out of his gaping woundes And wée oure selues truely do breake with our owne handes the bread of the lord For we oure selues are in fault that hée was torne tormented Our sinnes woūded him we our selues crucified him that is to say hée was crucified for vs that by his death hée might deliuer vs from death Furthermore we take the bread into our hands we likewise take the cupp into our hands because he sayd Take ye eate ye take ye and diuide it amonge you neither doe we lay them aside or hide them neither do we giue them forthwith to others but when we haue receiued them we eate and drinke them swallowing them down into oure bodies then afterward wée do communicate and offer them to other For they whiche lawefully celebrate the Lords Supper doe not onely beléeue that Christ suffered or that he suffered for other and not for them but they beléeue that Christe suffered for themselues they beléeue that Christe doeth and as it were hath alreadie communicated all his giftes most liberally vnto them Therefore as the sustenance of bread and wine passing into the bowels is chaunged into the substaunce of mans bodie euen so Christe béeing eaten of the godly by faith is vnited vnto thē by his spirite so that they are one with Christe and he one with them And as meate plentifully prepared deintily dressed and onely séene vppon the table doeth not asswage hūger so if thou heare Christ reuerently preached vnto thée and doest not beléeue that Christ with all his good gifts is thine neither the word thoughe reuerently preached nor yet the board though abundantly stoared doe profite thée any thing And it maketh much to the reconciling renuing and mainteyning of friendship that wée are all partakers of one bread that wee offer bread to our brethren and that wee drinke of the cupp which we receiue at our brethrens hand For vpon no other cause the auncient fathers seeme to call the Supper Synaxis A commmunion But of that we wil speake somewhat else-where And thus muche haue I brought for example sake touching the Analogie of the signe and thing signified and would saye more but that I trust to them that bee diligent this is sufficient For I haue ministered occasion to thinke vpon and to finde out more and greater thinges By this short treatise touching the Analogie I thincke it is plaine that sacramentes stirre vpp and helpe the faith of the Godly For whiles oure mind comprehendeth and considereth the benefites of God Christe his blessing oure redemption and other his good giftes while it enioyeth them with great pleasure of the spirite whiles in them it is glad reioyceth Sacraments are nowe also outwardly giuen whiche doe visibly represent those thinges to oure eyes and as it were make them to enter into all our senses whiche the minde inwardlye comprehendeth considereth and meditateth vpon For because the whole action which consisteth of the words the rite or ceremonie is counted with the signe oure eyes sée the signes and all thinges which are done in the whole action of the signes all which do as it were speake Our eares heare the words and institutions of Christ Yea our very touching and tasting they also doe féele and perceiue how swéete and good the Lord is so that now the whole man as it were both body and soule caught vp into heauen doth féele and perceiue that his faith is stirred vp and holpen and to be short that the fruite of faith in Christe is passing swéete comfortable All these things haue place in them that beléeue In them that beléeue not the signes remaine as they are without life therefore these things are brought to passe by the vertue or power of faith and of the spirite working in the lawfull vse of the sacraments without faith the holy Ghost they are not felt or perceiued There is not vnlike efficacie or force also in the preaching of the word of god For when this word by parables by exāples by descriptiō is set forth to the hearers if the spirite and faith shine in their mind by these they séeme not only to heare things expoūded but to sée them with their eyes In consideration whereof I thinke Paul said O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that ye shuld not beleeue the truth to whom Iesus Christ was described before your eyes among you crucified for it is certeine y Christe was no where either described or crucified among the Galathiās he speaketh therefore of his plainnesse of preaching the word wherby things in déede are shewed but yet with such force and efficacie as if they were in a maner layed before their eyes There is the same reason also in sacraments which for that cause were called of them of old visible words Of these thinges in this manner intreateth Zuinglius in his booke Ad principes Germaniae contra Eggium saying Doeth not a faithful man desire when hee feeleth his faith like to fall to bee vpholden and restoared to his place and where in the whole world shall he hope to finde that more conueniently thā in the verie actions of the Sacraments so much as belongeth to all sensible thinges For let it bee that all creatures allure prouoke vs to the contemplation or beholding of Gods maiestie yet all that their allurement or prouoking is dum but in the Sacramentes there is a liuelye prouoking speaking allurement For the Lord speaketh and the elements also speake and they speake persuade that to our senses which the word spirit speaketh to our minde Howebeit hitherto all these visible things are nothing vnlesse the sanctification of the spirit go before These things he handleth more at large first in his annotations vppon the 27. cap. of Ieremie and afterward In Expositione Fidei ad regem Christianum Furthermore we read that Sainct Augustine disputinge againste the Maniches Lib. 19. contra Faustum cap. 11. said Men cannot bee gathered together into any name of Religion either true or false vnlesse they be knitt together in some fellowship of visible signes or Sacraments c. Wée acknowledging this opinion of S. Augustine fetchte from the Scriptures doe teach touching the Sacraments that we by them
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
These sayinges of the clarified body which is that whiche ascended and sitteth at the righte hande of the father repugne wholy with vbiquitie or being in euerie place and the insensibilitie of Christes body whiche notwithstanding must néedes be graunted if we procéede to inforce the reall presence of Christes bodye out of the wordes of the supper simply vnderstood Whervnto belongeth that whiche the Apostle disputing of the resurrection of the deade sayth If the deade doe not rise neyther is Christe risen But Christe is risen being the first fruites of them that sleepe and therefore shall wee rise also Wherefore by our owne bodies being raysed againe it appeareth what manner of bodye Christes glorious body was or is wherevnto our bodies are made like But our bodyes shall be true bodyes consisting of sinewes veynes fleshe skinne and bones visible not inuisible and remayning in some certeine place in heauen not euerie where wherevpon it foloweth that the lords bodye is not inuisible and euerie where But if any man thinke that to be no good argument whiche is fet from our raysed bodyes to the Lords raysed body or contrariwise let him accuse Saint Paul who hath taught vs this by his example Therefore the Catholique and righte auncient fayth constreyneth vs to expound the wordes of the Supper by a trope or figure Finally when as the Capernaites had hearde the Lord dispute touching the eating of his body and drinking of his bloud and did thinke and imagine of a carnall eating and drinking he sayde that he would ascend into heauen to wit that they shoulde not thinke on the eating of his naturall body since in the selfe same body he would ascend into heauen Neyther is there lefte here any place for the newe and friuolous deuice of certeine men whiche feigne that to ascend into heauen is nothing els than to lay downe the weake state and condition thereof and to receiue a supernaturall For Sainte Luke whome altogether we muste rather beléeue than suche subtile deuises or rather follies saith that the Lord was lifted vp on highe and carried vp into heauen from the sight of his disciples moreouer that his body was receyned by a cloude and that his disciples looked vp into heauen after him vntill they heard the Angels say vnto them that he would returne againe in the verie same manner altogether as they saw him depart away But who knoweth not that he shall come againe in the cloudes of heauē Therfore heauen into which the lord ascended is the name of a place not of a state or condition Also in the gospell he promiseth vs a place with him selfe saying If I go to prepare you a place I will come againe and take you vnto me that where I am there you may be also Yea he layd downe all the conditions and infirmities of a mortall body in his resurrection so that he had no néed to lay them down at his ascension I suppose that there is none of the faythfull that will denye that the Lorde instituted nothing to vs in vaine or without some singular and speciall commoditie to vs But when the Lorde sayde in the Gospell that his fleshe being corporally eaten auayled nothing where he speaketh of none other body than of that verie same whereof he spake in the words of the Supper to wit whiche he gaue for vs it followeth without all contradiction that the Lorde deliuered nothing vnto vs in the Supper but that would profite vs But he should haue deliuered that which would not haue profited vs if hee had giuen vs his body to be eaten corporally It is euident therefore that it is very necessarie the wordes of the Supper shoulde be expounded Herevnto belongeth the notable prophecie and manifest commaundement of oure Lorde Iesus Christe saying in the Gospell Then if they shall say vnto you Loe here is Christe or there is Christe doe not beleeue For there shal arise false Christes and false prophetes and they shall worke greate signes and wonders so that if it were possible the verie elect shall bee brought into errour Beholde I haue tolde you before If therefore they shall say vnto you Beholde where he is in the wildernesse goe not foorth Behold where he is in the innermost parts of the house in the closets or coffers I say For this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the most secrete and innermost partes of all the house wherein we vse to lay vp those things whiche we would haue safest kept which in Dutche we call Schryn schloss vnd ghalt doe not beleeue For like as the lightning goeth out of the east appeareth euen vnto the west so shall the cōming of the sonne of man bee But although this place is vsed to be expounded by many of the calamities of the Iewes yet that can not be denyed whiche S. Hierome also him selfe confesseth that in the same likewise the destinie of all the worlde is prophecied of euen vnto the end therof Wherefore this place which we haue alledged is concluded with the saying concerning Christes last comming into the worlde at the daye of iudgement And moreouer it cannot be denyed that the Lorde doth absolutely condemne that doctrine that defendeth that Christe remaineth or is presente in diuers places of the world in boxes or close places whiche not only the books of the teachers of transubstantiation are séene to do but also tabernacles whiche are erected vnto Christes body whiche they call meate tentes also chapells with famous temples and monasteries In all and euerie one of those places I say they shewe vs Christe saying Lo here is Christ and there is Christ Behold the breade of Angels Christe is wholy in all these sacrifices and he is fully and wholy in euery parte of them euen in suche sorte as he was when hee was borne of the virgine Marie and houng vppon the crosse Which thing they by and by confirm by myracles and wonders they also set it foorthe with circumstaunce of wordes saying that so greate mysteries are not to be inquired of but simply to be beléeued And that these thinges were wrought vnspeakably and inuisibly by the omnipotencie of God. Neyther did the Lorde dissemble howe muche this errour shoulde increase There shall be suche plentie suche great numbers of people that receiue this errour and running after Christe into the desarts innermost places of the houses the the very elect shal be in danger But in the mean while in so great perill and daunger of thinges what doth Christ teach his elect to do Immediately he addeth Do not beleue What do not beleue That Christe is here or there vppon earth in the wildernesse or in the innermost partes of the house or euen in the middest of the cities or in the fieldes He addeth moreouer Goe not foorth Followe not the multitude which by distance of place séeketh for Christe as if he were yet conuersant vpon the earth Therefore nowe if so be the
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
comforting the sicke person prepareth him to die by makeing firste his confession of sinnes to God which he pronoūceth out of the word of God to be forgiuen if he doe stedfastly beléeue He requireth of him also that he forgiue and bée in loue and charitie with all men and that hée kéepe no olde grudge or malice in his hart After this sōe publique prayer is made to God by the sicke person by those that are about the partie that is at the point of death Hée is also admonished of sundrie thinges hée is confirmed in the fayth hée is called to patience hée is instructed according as his goodes and euerie thing else requireth and he is taught that at his departing out of this worlde he commend his soule into the hands of God the father according to the doctrine and example of our redéemer who at the very pointe of death cried aloud saying Father into thy hands I commend my spirite This discipline haue wee learned of the Apostles of our LORDE Christe For the Apostle Saint Iames saieth If any bee sicke among you lette him sende for the elders of the Church and let them pray ouer him anoynting him with oyle in the name of the Lorde And the prayer whiche is made in fayth shall deliuer the sicke And the Lorde shall rayse him vp againe And if he bee in sinne they shal be forgiuen him Confesse your sinns one of you to another pray one for another that you may bee safe for the heartie prayer of the iust is of greate force c. This is the Apostolique discipline But if you say vnto mée Where is the oyle I answere that in Saint Iames the Apostles time and certeine ages after there remained yet in the Churche the miraculous gifte of healing the sicke Of this wée reade in Saint Markes Gospell And the disciples going foorth preached the gospell that they mighte repent and they cast out many diuels they annoynted many with oyle that were sick and healed them And again in the same place saieth Moreouer These signes shal follow them that beleeue In my name they shall cast out diuels c. And anon he sayth They shall lay their handes vppon the sicke and they shall be healed And because this benefite remayned yet in the Church Saint Iames biddeth vs vse oyle and to vse it in the name of the Lorde as the Lorde had commaunded But seing that gift is now ceassed in the Churche and wée finde by experience that oyle doth no good to the sicke according to the time and as our duetie bindeth vs we do the best we can to assuage and cure the diseases of the sicke by medicines most conuenient for the sicknes being applied in the name of Christ I knowe howe by this testimonie of the Apostle the Papistes go about to set out and cōmend their extreame vnction or last annoyling but they labour in vaine But to let passe that Saint Iames speaketh nothing of the hallowed oyle and that they do not admit this medicine but in verie extremitie where S. Iames commaundeth to annoynt euery on that is sick how I pray you can they defend out of Saint Iames wordes that which the priest demaundeth of the sick person Doest thou beleeue that the Lord will heare our prayers for the merites sake and prayers of the Saintes The sick man answering I do beléeue He then saith Let vs therefore pray to God and his Sainctes Or where I beséech you hath Saint Iames or any other Apostle of Christe taught that which they bring in their annointing In the name of the Father and of the sonne and of the holy ghost I annoynt thee with holy oile that by this anointing thou mayest receiue full remission of thy sinnes What scripture I pray you teacheth vs that full remission of sinnes is obteined by that anointing These thinges are done manifestly against the principall article of our religion whiche teacheth that we are purged from all our sinnes onely by the bloud of Christ and that most fully To him onely is the glory due not to the oyle nor to any creature in the whole worlde Moreouer the Church of Christe doth not reiect the bodies of the dead as if it were a deade dogge For it acknowledgeth that their bodies haue béene the Temples of the holy ghoste which hath dwelt in them It acknowledgeth that they are buried in hope of resurrection and glorie of life euerlasting wherefore the Churche doeth in moste reuerent manner take the bodies windeth them in a shéete and couereth them verie decently and béeinge put into the coffine carefully carrieth them vnto the place of buriall or churchyard y neere friends neighbours and brethren following after and accompanying the corse While the bodie is set downe and laid in the earth there are publique prayers made by them that brought the corse For they giue thankes vnto God for that he hath called the partie deceased out of this world in the true faithe and they pray also that it may please the Lorde to take them likewise vnto him spéedily beeing lightened with the true faith Moreouer the name of the dead brother or sister is recited in the publique assemblie of the Churche with honour and all the people are put in minde of their own destinie and spéedily to prepare them selues to die And after this manner we read in the scriptures that the ancient fathers buried their dead yea the moste holie of them We reade nothing of canonizating of woorshipping of reliques of monethes and yeares mindes for the dead which are offered to the ende the soules of the departed shoulde be deliuered from the paynes of purgatorie There be certeine burialles described vnto vs in the olde Testament as the buriall of Abraham Sara Isaac Iacob and Ioseph Aaron Marie Iosua Samuel and Dauid c. And in the new Testament of Iohn Baptiste and Stephan but they were all sparing and without all manner of superstition In that Iosephes bones were carried forth they were carried in a mysterie that the Israelites might gather thereof that they shoulde bee brought into the Lande of promise Wherevnto also that belongeth that the Patriarches chose a buriall in Hebron Otherwise the place auayleth nothing to purchase the better or worse spéed to the bodie that is buried in it We must thinke that the place by reason of the bodies of the saintes and holy men which are there buried is after a maner sanctified or at the least wise called holie not that the bodies do gett any holinesse or safetie by the grounde Therefore vnlesse it séeme good otherwise to the diuine prouidence of God the saints would gladly lye with their auncestours in the selfe same place of buriall But if it please God otherwise they acknowledge that they are notwithstanding receiued into the same earth without any exception and that they are not separated from their auncestours by distance of place Wherefore there is no superstition in the Churche
wine In celebrating the supper nothinge to be followed but that which we haue receiued of Christ Of both kindes to be giuen and receiâ—ed in the â—upper Of the coÌ„sâ—eratioÌ„ of the breade and wine Whether there must be one chiefe dealer in the action of the supper Hebr. 10. Of the place wher the supper is to be celebrated Actes 20. Of the lords altar or table Of vessels belonging to the Lords supper What garment is to be worne at the supper What tongue is to be vsed What gestures Of taking it in the handes The remnantes of the supper Whether to be shut vp and adored Coloss 3. what time to be celebrated How ofteÌ„ to be celbrated For whom the supper is instituted The supper was not instituted for infantes Whether it be to be celebrated against imminent dangers The supâ—er not to â—e celebraâ—ed at 〈…〉 priuaâ—â—â—e for the â—icke nor whole Iames. 5. Actes 2. Deut. 16. The sacrament not to be offered for the dead Sacrifices of 2. sortes of expiatioÌ„ and confession Of the endes of the Lords supper The Lord witnesleth vnto vs his promise coÌ„munion OpinioÌ„ of bodilie presence confuted of the true vnderstandinge of the Lordes wordes This is my bodie When to depart froÌ„ the letter The auncient exposition of the words of 〈…〉 bodie A demonstration of the figuratiue words of the supper This is my bodie Iohn 16 Mark. 16. Luke 24. 1. Cor. 15. 1. Cor. 15. To ascend â—nto heauen Actes 1. Iohn 14. Matth. 24. Heb. 9. Miracles and the omnipotencie of God. O' Chrstes presence in the supper Matth. 28. Christ is not diuided Of the true eatinge of Christes bodie Howe christ hath giuen his flesh vnto â—s for bread that is to say to bee meate for vs. How Christes bodie is eaten and his bloud dronken 1 Heb. 11. 2 3 4 Iohâ— 4. 5 6 The fleshe profiteth nothing The lords wordes in Iohn 6. arfitlie to be applied to the matter of the supper Of two kindes of eating the Lords supper The third kinde of eatinge That Iudas was present at the Lordes supper What Iudas receiued of the Lord at the supper 2. Cor. 6. How the vnbeleuers are made guiltie of Christes bodie and bloud Iohn 13. Matth. 2â— Heb. 6. Of the other endes of the Lords supper 1. Pet. 2. Of worthily and vnworthilie eating and drinkinge the Lords supper Actes 13. Actes 15. To make difference of the Lords bodie The punishment of those that eate vnworthily Iohn 13. Luke 22. Howe we shoulde prepare our selues to the Lordes supper A comfort or afflicted consciences Matth. 26. Luke 22. The Lorâ— hath not burdened his church with infinite lawes The chiefest points of true godlinesse in the Churche Actes 2. Of scholes Gouernoures of Scholes 1. Sam. 10. 4. Reg. 2. 4. cap. Amos. 7. Amos. 2. Actes 15. Actes 2. Actes 22. Actes 6. Christe his Apostles do institute Scholes Titus 3. Scholes apperteine to the preseruation of the ministerie 1. Tim. 6. The corruption of Scholes The true ende of Scholes Discipline in scholes Of Ecclesiasticall goodes The câ—urche of the new testament hath goodes reuenues Luke 8. Matth. 10. Actes 4. Howe in olde time the church goodes were bestowed Ministers of Churches ought to be rewarded Matth. 10. Iohn 13. 1. Cor. 9. 1. Tim. 5. 1. Cor. 9. The Apostles receiued wagis Marke 6. S. Paule receiued no wages 2. Cor. 11. thess. 3. 1. thess. 5. Studentes to be mainteined by wages of the Churche The poore to de reliâ—ued by the Churche goodes The pore not to bee defrauded of theire portion Ezech. 16. Isai 16. 1. Iohn 3. Ezech. 16. Isai 16. Matth. 25. Mark. 14. Gala. 6. 1. Tim. 5. 1. Tim. 6. Heb. 13. Actes 6. Reformation of churches to bee made Holy buildinges Temples of christians Towarde what part of the worlde we must pray Churches not to bee builded to Sainctes Holy Instruments Abuse of the church goodes Holy time Discipline and correction of ministers 〈◊〉 1. Tim. 5. Of Synodes Ecclesiâ—sticall admonition correctioÌ„ 2. Cor. 5. 2. thess. 3. 2. Cor. 12. Matth. 13. 1. Cor. 2. Of Christian matrimonie Hebr. 13. 1. Tim. 4. 1. Tim. 5. Titus 1. 1. Cor. 9. 1. Cor. 7. Hebr. 13. CoÌ„tractes of mariage to bee soberly made 2. Cor. 6. 1. Pet. 3. Diuorcement I. Cor. 6. Of wiâ—ower Of virgins 2. Tim. 5 De bono viduitatis cap. 9. Of monasteries and â—onkes 1. Cor. 3. Of monasâ—ical vowes 1. Cor. 7. How the Church sealeth with the sicke Iames. 5. Annoynting with oyle Last annoyling Of funerals and buriall The churche hath â—o neede of the leagal instrucâ—ion Actes 15. Galath 4.
or apostolique men to reigne like vnto the Princes of this world Hée instituted ministers of the church who should serue the Churche She sitteth at the table the ministers sett that food before her which they receiue of the Lord and rightly diuide the woord of the lord Did not Christe him selfe refuse a Crowne vppon earth and did not hee that is Lord of all minister doth not he him selfe disallowe that any minister shoulde séeke any prerogatiue no not in respect of eldership He that is greatest among you saith he let him be as the yonger He therefore commaundeth an equalitie amongst them all And therefore S. Ierome iudgeth rightly saying that by the custome of man and not by the authoritie of God som one of the elders shuld be placed ouer the rest and called a Byshop wheras of olde time an elder or minister and a Byshop were of equall honour power and dignitie And it is to be obserued that S. Ierome speaketh not of the Romish Monarchie but of euerie bishop placed in euerie citie aboue the rest of the ministers Whiche thing I bring not out to that end we shoulde stay vppon the authoritie of man but to that ende I might shewe that euen by the witnesse of man it may be proued that that maioritie as they call it hath not the original from the Sonne of GOD and from Gods worde but out of mans braine and that therefore both Christe remaineth the onely head of his Churche and the bishop of Rome is nothing lesse than the head of the Church militant And ther withall we cleaue most stedfastly to the sacred and holie Gospell and to the vndoubted doctrine of the Apostles which doctrine taketh away all pride of Supremacie and commendeth vnto vs a faithfull ministerie and the equall authoritie and humblenesse of the ministers The Apostle againe witnessing and saying Let a man so thinke of vs as of the ministers of Christe and disposers of the secretes of God. Herevnto belongeth almoste the whole tenth chapter of Iohn wherein the Lorde named him selfe the true and also the onely shephearde of the vniuersall Church The only shepefolde of this shephearde is the catholique Churche gathered together by the word out of the Iewes and Gentiles And shéepe of this folde are all the faithfull people in the world hearing and giuing them selues ouer wholy to be gouerned by this chiefe shepheard Christe who albeit he also communicate this name of Pastour or shephearde vnto the ministers appointed to the ministerie of the churche yet notwitstanding he reteyneth vnto him selfe the charge of the chiefe shephearde and also the chiefe power and dignitie Men that are Pastours of churches are all ministers and are all equall Christe our Lord is the vniuersall pastour and chiefe and Lord of Pastours The more worthy diligence and trust is in the Pastors the more worthy it maketh them Therefore when the Lorde saide vnto Peter Feede my sheepe he committed not vnto Peter any Empire eyther ouer the world or ouer the church but a ministerie to the behalfe of his redéemed Teach saith he and gouerne with my word my sheepe my sheepe I say whome I haue redeemed with my bloude For Paule saith Take heede vnto your selues and to the whole flocke whereof the holy ghost hath made you ouerseers to feed the church of God which hee hath purchased with his owne bloud The bishop of Rome therefore is deceiued who by the Lordes words spoken vnto Peter thinketh that full power is giuen vnto him ouer all in the church Let the Apostle Peter him selfe be heard talking with his fellow â—lders and as it were opening those wordes of the Lorde spoken vnto him The elders that are among you sayth he I beseeche which am also an elder and a witnesse of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glorie that shall be reuealed Feede the flocke of God which dependeth vpon you caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mynde Not as though ye were Lordes ouer Gods heritage but that ye may be ensamples to the flocke Peter speaketh not of any Empire and Lordship yea by expresse words he forbiddes Lordly dignitie For euen as he is appointed of the Lorde a minister and an elder not a Prince and a Pope so also he appointed no Princes in the Churche but ministers and Elders who with the word of Christe should féede Christes flock that willingly and lawfully al wicked deuises at once set apart Hereto belongeth the whole 34. chapter of Ezechiel whiche a little before we alledged But had not the heart béene hardened and the eyes blinded of the byshop of Rome and his they shoulde long agoe haue séene that they coulde in no parte nor by no meanes haue béene numbered amongest the shepeheardes of the Churche and disciples of Peter They woulde at least haue marked that sentence of their owne Gregorie whiche sentence he reciteth vnto Maurice the Emperour almost in these words I affirme boldly that who so euer hee bee that calleth him selfe the vniuersall Prieste is a forerunner of Antichriste And anon after But for as muche as the trueth it selfe sayes Euerie one that exalteth him selfe shall bee brought lowe thereby I knowe that euerie puffing vppe is so muche the sooner broken how muche the greater it is swollen These are his sayings Last of all the estate of Christ and the Churche is shadowed out by the similitude of marriage betwéene the husbande and the wife For Christ is called the husbande of the Church and the Churche is called the spouse of Christe Sainte Iohn sayth to his disciples Ye your selues are my witnesses that I sayde I am not the Christ but that I am sent before him Hee that hath the bride is the bridegrome but the friende of the bridegrome which standeth and heareth him reioyceth greatly bycause of the bridegromes voyce This my ioye therefore is fulfilled Hee must increase but I must decrease And in the Prophetes this Allegorie is very common In a certeine place is feigned a damsell despised and polluted to lye in her filthinesse and a certeine noble man commeth by who plucking her out of the myre and making her cleane from her filthinesse and also sumptuously apparelling her chose her vnto his wife And albeit this Allegorie declareth that heauenly benefite whiche GOD shewed vnto his people being in bondage in Egypt by the wonderfull deliuerance and adopting them into his peculiar people who notwithstanding séeth not that all mankynde from his first originall is defiled with sinne and wickednesse and sticketh fast in the myre of hell who knoweth not that the sonne of GOD came downe from heauen and washed all mankynde in his bloude and hauing purged her hath ioyned to him selfe a glorious Churche hauing neyther spot nor wrinckle nor any suche thing Surely by marriage is made a mutuall participation in common betweene those that are contracted of all
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
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