Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	bread_n	call_v	cup_n	7,649	5	9.8955	5	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17662	The institution of Christian religion, vvrytten in Latine by maister Ihon Caluin, and translated into Englysh according to the authors last edition. Seen and allowed according to the order appointed in the Quenes maiesties iniunctions; Institutio Christianae religionis. English	Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564.; Norton, Thomas, 1532-1584.	1561 (1561)	STC 4415; ESTC S107154	1,331,886	1,044

capacitie of the vnlearned I wyll vndo those knottes wherwith Satan hath endeuored to snare the worlde Fyrst bread and wyne are signes whiche represent vnto vs the inuisible foode whiche we receyne of the fleshe and blood of Christ. For as in Baptisme God againe begettyng vs doothe graffe vs into the felowshippe of his Chirche and by adoption dothe make vs his owne so we haue sayde that he performeth the office of a prouident Father of householde in this that he continually ministreth vs meate that he susteineth and preserueth vs in that lyfe wherinto he hath by his worde begotten vs. Now the only meate of our soule is Christ and therfore the heauenly Father calleth vs to hym that beyng refreshed with common partakyng of hym we maye from tyme to tyme gather liuely force vntill we atteine to heauenlye immortalitie But forasmuche as this mysterie of the secrete vnityng of Christe with the godly is by nature impossible to be comprehended he geueth the figure and image therof in visible signes moste fit for our small capacitie yea as it were by earnestes and tokens geuen he maketh it so assured vnto vs as if it were seen with our eies because this so familiar a similitude entreth euen into the grossest myndes that soules are so fed with Christ as bread and wine do susteine the bodily life Now therfore we haue it declared to what ende this mysticall blessyng tendeth â–ª namely to assure vs that the body of the Lord was so ones offred for vs that we nowe eate it and in eatyng it doo fele in vs the effectual working of that only sacrifice that his blood was so ones shed for vs that it is vnto vs continuall drinke And so sounde the words of the promise there adioyned Take this is my body whiche is deliuered for you The body therfore which was ones offred vp for our saluation we are commaunded to take and eate that when we see our selues to be made partakers of this we may certainly determine that the power of his death which bringeth life shal be effectuall in vs. Wherupon also he calleth the cuppe the couenant in his blood For after a certaine maner it reneweth or rather continueth the couenant whiche he hath ones stablished with his blood so muche as pertaineth to the confirmyng of our faith so ofte as he reacheth vnto vs that holy blood to be tasted of A great fruite verily of affiance and swetenesse may godly soules gather of this Sacrament because they haue a witnesse that we are growen together into one body with Christe so that whatsoeuer is his we may call ours Herupon foloweth that we may boldly promise vnto our selues that euerlastyng life is ours whereof he is heire and that the kingdome of heauen wherinto he is now entred can no more fal away from vs than from him agayne that we can not nowe be condemned by our sinnes from the gyltinesse wherof he hath acquired vs when he willed them to be imputed to himself as if they were his owne This is the maruailous exchange whiche of his immeasurable bountifulnesse he hath made with vs that he beeyng made with vs the sonne of man hath made vs with hym the sonnes of God that by his coÌ„ming downe into earth he hath made vs a waie to goe vp into heauen that putting vpon him our mortalitie he hath geuen vs his immortalitie that takyng on hym our weakenesse he hath strengthened vs with his power that takyng our pouertie to himselfe he hath conueyed his riches to vs that taking to hym the weyght of our vnrighteousnesse wherewith we were oppressed he hath clothed vs with his righteousnesse Of all these thynges we haue so full a witnessyng in this sacrament that we must certainly determine that Christ is truely geuen vs as if Christ hymselfe were sett present before our eies and handled with our handes For this woorde can neither lye to vs nor mocke vs Take eate drinke this is my bodye whiche is deliuered for you this is the blood whiche is shed into the forgeuenesse of sinnes Whereas he commaundeth to take he signifieth that it is ours Whereas he commaundeth to eate he signifieth that that is made one subslance with vs. Whereas he sayth of the body that it is deliuered for vs of the blood that it is shed for vs therin he teacheth that bothe are not so muche his as ours because he toke and laide away both not for his commoditie but to our saluation And truely it is to be diligently marked that the chefe and in a maner whole pith of the Sacrament standeth in these words Which is deliuered for you Which is shed for you For otherwise it should not much profit vs that the body and blood of the Lord ar now distributed vnlesse they had ben ones geuen foorth for our redemption saluation Therfore they are represented vnder bread wine that we shold learne that they are not only ours but also ordeined for the nourishment of spirituall life This is it that we before saied that from the corporall thynges whych are shewed foorth in the Sacrament we are by a certayne proportionall relation guyded to spirituall thynges So when bread is geuen vs for a signe of the body of Christ we ought by by to conceiue this similitude As bread nourisheth susteineth and mainteineth the life of our body so the body of Christ is the onely meate to quicken geue lyfe to oure soule When we see wyne set foorth for a signe of his blood we must call to mynde what vses wyne bryngeth to the bodye that we may consider that the same are brought to vs spiritually by the blood of Christe those vses bee to cherishe to refreshe to strengthen to make mery For if we sufficiently weye what the deliueryng of this holy body what the shedyng of this holy blood hath profited vs we shal plainly perceiue that these thynges whiche are spoken of bread and wine according to such proportionall relation doo very well accorde with them toward vs when they are communicated vnto vs. Therfore the chefe partes of the Sacrament are not simply without hier consideration to reach to vs the body of Christ but rather the same promise wherby he testifieth that his fleshe is verily meate and his blood is drink with which we are fed into eternall life wherby he affirmeth himselfe to be the breade of lyfe of whiche who so eateth he shall liue for euer to seale I saye and confirme that promyse and for bryngyng the same to passe to sende vs to the crosse of Christ where that promise hath ben truely performed and in all pointes fulfilled For we doo not well and healthfully eate Christ but crucified when we doo with liuely feelyng conceiue the effectualnesse of his death For wheras he called himselfe the breade of life he did not borrow that name of the sacrament as some do wrongfully expounde it but because he was geueÌ„ vs suche of the Father and performed

of Christ which is done when he is broughte vnder the corruptible elements of this world or is bound to any earthly creatures The other that nothyng be by fainyng applied to his body that agreeth not with the nature of man whiche is done when it is either saide to bee infinite or is sett in many places at ones But these absurdities being taken away I willyngly receiue what soeuer may auaile to expresse the true and substantiall communicatyng of the Body and Blood of the Lord which coÌ„municatyng is deliuered to the faithfull vnder the holy signes of the Supper so that they may be thought not to receyue it by imagination onely or vnderstandyng of mynde but to enioy it in dede to the foode of eternall lyfe Why this sentence is so hatefull to the worlde and all defence taken away from it by the vniust iudgementes of many there is no cause at all but for that the deuell hath with horrible bewitchyng madded their myndes Truely that which we teache dothe in all pointes very well agree with the Scriptures it conteineth neither any absurditie nor darknesse nor doutfulnesse it is not agaynst true godlynesse and sounde edification finally it hath nothing in it that may offend sauyng that in certaine ages past when that ignorance and barbarousnesse of Sophisters reigned in the Chirche so clere light and open truthe hath ben vnworthily oppressed Yet because SataÌ„ at this day also trauayleth by troublesome Spirites to spot it with all the sclanders and reproches that he can and bendeth himselfe to no other thyng with greater endeuor it is profitable the more diligently to defende and rescue it Nowe before that we goe any further we must entreate of the selfe institution of Christe specially because this is the most glorious obiection that our aduersaries haue that we departe from the woordes of Christe Therfore that we may be discharged of the false cause of malice wherwith they burden vs our fittest beginnyng shall be at the exposition of the woordes Three Euangelistes and Paule rehearse that Christe tooke bread when he had geuen thankes he brake it gaue it to his disciples and sayde Take eate this is my Body whiche is delyuered or broken for you Of the cuppe Mathew and Marke saye thus This cuppe is the blood of the newe testament whiche shal be shedde for many vnto forgeuenesse of synnes But Paule and Luke say thus This cuppe is the newe testament in my blood The patrones of transubstantiation will haue by the pronoune this the forme of bread to be signified because the consecration is made in the whole contente of the sentence and there is no substance that can be shewed But if they be holden with religious care of the woordes because Christ testified that that whiche he reached into the disciples handes was his bodye truely this their deuise that that whiche was bread is nowe the bodie is moste farre from the propre meanyng of them That which Christe tooke into his handes and gaue the Apostles he affirmeth to be his body but he toke bread who therfore can not vnderstande that bread is yet shewed and therfore there is no greater absurditie than to remoue that to the forme whiche is spoken of the bread Other when they expounde this woorde is for to be transubstantiate doo flee to a more enforced and violently wrasted glose Therefore there is no cause why they should pretende that they be moued with reuerence of wordes For this was vnheard of among all nations and languages that the word is should be taken in this sense namely for to be tourned into an other thyng As for them that leaue breade in the Supper and affirme that there is the body of Christ they muche differ among themselues They whiche speake more modestly althoughe they precisely exact the letter This is my body yet afterwarde swarue from theyr precisenesse and say that it is as muche in effect as that the body of Christ is with bread in bread and vnder bread Of the mater it selfe which they affirme we haue already touched somwhat and we shal by and by haue occasion yet to speake more Nowe I dispute only of the wordes by which they say they are restrained that they can not admitte bred to be called the body because it is a signe of the body But if they shunne all figures why do they leape away from the plaine shewing of Christ to their owne maners of speaking farr differing from it For there is great difference betwene this that bread is the body and this that the body is with bread But because they sawe it to bee impossible that this simple proposition might stande that bread is the body they haue attempted to scape away by those formes of speche as it were by croked turnyngs Some more bolde sticke not to affirme that euen in propre speakyng bread is the body and by this meane they truely proue themselues to be litteral meÌ„ If it be obiected that therfore the bread is Christ and is God this verily they will denie because it is not expressed in the wordes of Christ. But they shall nothyng preuayle by denyeng it forasmuche as all doo agree that whole Christ is offred vs in the Supper But it is an intolerable blasphemie that it be without figure spoken of a fraile and corruptible element that it is Christ. Now I aske of them whether these twoo propositions be bothe of one effect Christe is the Sonne of God and bread is the body of Christe If they graunt that they are diuers which we will enforce them to graunte whether they will or no then lett them answere whens commeth the difference I thynke they wyll bryng none other but that the bread is after the sacramentall maner called the body Wherupon foloweth that Christes wordes are not subiecte to the common rule nor oughte to bee tried by Grammer Also I aske of all the precise and stiffe requirers of the letter where Luke and Paule do call the cuppe the testament in the blood whether they do not expresse the same thyng which they dyd in the first parte where they call bread the bodye Truely the same religion was in the one parte of the mysterie that was in the other and because shortnesse is darke longer speche dothe better open the meanyng So oft therfore as they shall affirme by one word that the bread is the body I will out of mo wordes bryng a fitt exposition that it is the Testament in the bodye For why Shall we nede to seke a more faithfull or surer expositor than Paule Luke Neither yet doo I tende herunto to diminishe any thing of that communicating of the body of Christ which I haue confessed onely my purpose is to confute that folish waiwardnesse wherby they do so hatefully brawle about words I vnderstand by the authoritie of Paul and Luke that the bread is the body of Christ because it is the couenant in the body If they fight against

lesse obediently embrace than they and do wey them with more godly reuerence Yea their negligent carelesnesse sheweth that they doo not greatly care what Christe ment so that it geue them a buckler to defende their obstinatie like as oure earnest searchyng ought to be a wytnesse howe muche we esteeme the authoritie of Christ. They odiously spread abrode that naturall sense of man withholdeth vs from beleuyng that which Christ hath vttered with his owne holy mouth but howe maliciously they burden vs with this sclander I haue a great part already made playne and hereafter it shall more clerely appere Therfore nothing withholdeth vs from beleuing Christ when he speaketh nor from obeying so soone as he dothe but with becke will this or that Only this is the question whether it be vnlawful to enquire of the naturall meanyng These good maisters that they may seme wel lettred do forbid men to departe be it neuer so litle from the letter But I on the other syde when the scripture nameth God a warlike man because I see that with out figuratiue translation it is to rough a maner of speakyng doo not dout that it is a comparison taken from men And truely vpon none other pretence in the olde tyme the Anthropomorphites troubled the true teaching Fathers but that catching fast hold of these sayings The eies of God do see It went vp to his eares His hand stretched out The earth his footestole they cried out that God had his bodye taken from hym whiche the Scripture assigneth vnto hym If this law be receiued outragious barbarousnesse shal ouerwhelme the whole light of faith For what monsters of absurdities may not phrentike men picke out if it be graunted them to allege euery small tittle to stablishe their opinions That whiche they obiect that it is not likely that when Christ prepared for his Apostles a singular comfort it aduersities he did then speake in a riddle or darkly maketh of our side For if it had not come in the myndes of the Apostles that bread was figuratiuely called the body because it was the signe of the body they had without doute ben troubled with so monstrous a thyng Almost at the same moment Iohn reporteth that they did sticke in perplexitie at euery of the least difficulties They whiche striue among themselues howe Christ will go to the Father and do moue question howe he wyll goe out of the worlde they which vnderstande nothyng of those thynges that are spoken concernyng the heauenly Father till they see hym how wold they haue ben so easy to beleue that whiche all resoÌ„ refuseth that Christ sitteth at the boorde in their sight and is enclosed inuisible vnder bread Whereas therfore they in eatyng the bread without doutyng testified their consent hereby appeareth that they toke Christes wordes in the same sense that we do because they remeÌ„bred that which ought not to seme strange in mysteries that the name of the thing signified is transferred to the signe Therfore it was to the disciples as it is to vs a certaine and clere comfort entangled with no riddle Neither is ther any other cause why some should depart from our exposition but because the enchauntment of the deuyll hath blynded them namely that they shoulde faine darkenesse to themselues where the exposition of an apt figure offreth it self Moreouer if we precisely stande vpon the words Christ shold wrongfully haue spoken in one place seuerally an other thyng concernyng the bread than he speaketh of the cup. He calleth the bread his body he calleth the wyne his blood either it shal be a confused vaine repetition or it shal be such a partition as shall diuide the body from the blood Yea it shall as truely be sayd of the cuppe This is my body as of the bread it selfe and it may likewyse enterchangeably be sayd that the bread is the blood If they answer that we muste consider to what ende or vse the signes were ordeined I graunt it in dede but in the meane tyme they shall not vnwynde themselues but that their error must drawe this absurditie with it that the bread is the blood and the wyne is the bodye Nowe I wote not what this meaneth when they graunt the bread and the body to be diuers things yet to affirme that the one is spoken of the other proprely and without any figure as if a man shold say that a garment is in dede a thyng differyng from a man and yet that it is proprely called a man In the meane while as though their victorie consisted in obstinatie railing they say that Christ is accused of lieÌ„g if an exposition be sought of the wordes Now it shal be easy for vs to shew to the reders how vniust wrong these catchers of syllables do to vs when thei fill the simple with this opinion that we withdraw credit from the wordes of Christ which we haue proued to be furiously peruerted and confounded by them but to be faithfully and rightly expounded by vs. But the sclaunder of this lye can not be vtterly purged till an other crime be wiped away For they spread abroade that we be so addicted to naturall reason that we geue no more to the power of God than the order of nature suffreth and common sense teacheth From so malicious sclauÌ„ders I appelle to the very doctrine it selfe which I haue declared whiche dothe clerely enough shewe that I do not measure this mysterie by the proportion of mans reason nor doo make it subiect to the lawes of nature I beseche you haue we learned out of naturall philosophie that Christe dothe so from heauen feede our soules and bodies with his fleshe as our bodies ar norished with bread and wyne Whens cometh this power to fleshe that it may geue lyfe All men will say that it is not doone naturally It will no more please mans reason that the fleshe of Christe reacheth to vs that it maye be foode vnto vs. Finally whosoeuer hath tasted of our doctrine shal be rauished into admiration of the secrete power of God But these good men that be so zelous of it forge to themselues a miracle which beyng taken away God hymselfe vanisheth with his power I desire to haue the readers ones agayne warned that they diligently wey what our doctrine bringeth whether it hang vpon common sense or with the winges of Faith surmounting the worlde climbeth vp beyond it into the heauens We say that Christ as well with the outwarde signe as with his Spirite descendeth to vs that he may truely quicken our soules with the substance of his fleshe of his blood In these fewe wordes he that perceyueth not to be conteined many miracles is more than senslesse forasmuche as there is nothyng more beside nature than that soules should borrow spiritual and heauenly life of the fleshe which toke her beginnyng of the earth and which was subiect to death Nothing is more incredible than that thinges distant and asunder by the

verily a substaÌ„ce of an earthly and corruptible element and suffreth no change in it selfe but hath vnder it selfe the body of Christ enclosed If they did so declare their meaning that when the bred is deliuered in the mysterie there is adioyned the deliuering of the body because the trueth is vnseuerable from the signe I would not much striue with them But because they placing the body in the bred do faine to it a beyng euery where contrarie to the nature thereof and in adding vnder the bred they wyll haue it lye there hiddeÌ„ it is necessarie a litle while to draw such suttelties out of their deÌ„nes For my mynde is not yet as of set purpoÌ„se to go through with all this point but only that I may lay the fundations of the disputation which shall by and by folowe in place fit for it They wil therfore haue the body of Christe to be inuisible and immeasurable that it may lie hid vnder the bread because they thinke that they do not otherwise communicate with hym than if he descende into bread but they comprehend not the maner of descending wherby he lifteth vs vpward to himself They lay vpon it all the colors that they can but when they haue said all it sufficiently appereth that they staye vpon the locall presence of Christ. Whense commeth that euen because they can abide to conceiue no other partakyng of the fleshe and blood but whiche consysteth either of ioynyng and touchyng of place or of some grosse enclosyng And that they may obstinately defende the error ones rashly conceiued some of them sticke not to say that the flesh of Christ had neuer any other measurynges but so farr and wide as heauen and earth is brode Whereas he was borne a childe out of the wombe whereas he grewe wheras he was spred abrode on the crosse whereas he was enclosed in the sepulchre the same was doone by a certaine dispensation that he myght be borne and dye and performe the other dueties of man Where as after his resurrection he was seen in his wonted forme of body wheras he was taken vp to heauen wheras last of all also after his ascension he was seen of Stephen and Paule it was doone by the same dispensation that it might appere to the sight of men that he was made a kyng in heauen What is this ells but to raise vp Marcion out of hell For no man can dout that the body of Christ was a fantasy or a fantasticall thyng if he was of suche state Some slip away somewhat more suttelly with sayeng that this body whiche is geuen in the Sacrament is glorious and immortall and that therfore it is no absurditie if it bee conteined in many places if in no place if with no forme vnder the sacrament But I aske what maner of body Christe gaue to the disciples the day before that he suffred doo not the wordes sounde that he gaue the same mortall body whiche was within a little after to be deliuered He had already before say they shewed his glorie to be sene to thre of the disciples That is true in dede but his will was by that brightnesse to geue them a taste of immortalitie for an houre In the meane tyme they shall not there fynd a double body but that one body which Christ did beare garnished with newe glorie But when he distributed his body at his first Supper the tyme was nowe at hande when he beyng striken of God and humbled shold lie without glorie as a leprous man so farre is it of that he then wold shew forth the glorie of his resurrection And howe great a wyndowe is here opened to Marciâ—n if the body of Christ was seene in one place mortall and base and in an other place was holden immortall and glorious Howebeit if their opinion take place the same happeneth daily because they ar compelled to confesse that the body of Christ beyng visible in it selfe lyeth hyd inuisibly vnder the signe of bread And yet they that vomite out such monstruousnesse are so not ashamed of their own shame that they do vnprouoked hainously raile at vs because we do not subscribe to them Nowe if they lyst to fasten the body and blood of the Lorde to bread and wyne the one shall of necessitie be plucked in sunder froÌ„ the other For as the bread is deliuered seuerally from the cup so the body vnited to the bread muste nedes be diuided from the blood enclosed in the cup. For when they affirme that the body is in the bread and the blood in the cup and the bread and wyne are by spaces of place distant the one from the other they can by no shift escape but that the body must be seuered from the blood But wheras they are wonte to allege that by accompainyng as they faine in the body is the blood and likewise in the blood is the body that verily is to triflyng forasmuche as the Signes in whych they are enclosed are so seuered But if we be lifted vp with our eies and myndes to heauen that we seke Christ there in the glorie of his kingdome as the signes doo allure vs to hym whole so vnder the signe of bread we shal be fedde with his bodye vnder the signe of wyne we shall seuerally drynke his blood that at length we may enioye hym whole For although he hath taken awaye his fleshe from vs and in his body is ascended vp into heauen yet he sitteth at the right hande of the Father that is to say he reigneth in the power and maiestie and glorie of the Father This kyngdome is neyther bounded with any spaces of place nor compassed aboute with any measurynges but that Christ may shewe foorth his myght wheresoeuer it pleaseth him both in heauen and in earth but that he may shewe himselfe present with power and strength but that he may alway bee at hande with them that be his breathing his lyfe into them may liue in them strengthen them quicken them preserue them safe euen as if he were present in body finally but that he may fede them with his owne bodye the communion wherof he dothe by the power of his Spirite poure into them After this maner the body and blood of Christe is delyuered to vs in the Sacrament But we must appoint such a presence of Christ in the Supper as may neither fasten hym to the element of bred nor shut hym vp in the bred nor by any meane compasse hym in for it is playne that all these thynges abate his heauenly glorie fynally suche as may neither take from him his owne measure nor diuersly draw hym in many places at ones nor faine to hym suche an vnmeasurable greatnesse as is spred abrode throughout heauen and earth for these thynges are playnely agaynst the truthe of the nature of manhode Let vs I say neuer suffer these two exceptions to be taken away from vs. The one that nothyng bee abated from the glorie

this they haue warre not with me but with the Spirite of God Howsoeuer they cry oute that they be touched with reuerence of the wordes of Christ wherby they do not figuratiuely vnderstande those thynges that are playnly spoken yet this is not a pretence rightfull enoughe why they shoulde so refuse all the reasons whiche we obiecte to the contrarie In the meane tyme as I haue already geuen warnyng it is conuenient to learne what maner of thing this is The testament in the body and blood of Christ because the couenant stablished with the sacrifice of death should otherwise not profit vs vnlesse there were adioyned that secrete communicatyng whereby we growe into one with Christe It remaineth therfore that for the affinitie which the things signified haue with their signes we confesse that the selfe name of the thing was geuen to the signe figuratiuely in dede but not without a most fitt proportionall agreement I leaue allegories and parables least any man should quarell that I seeke startyng holes and wander out of the present purpose I say that this is a speche by figure of transnomination whiche is coÌ„monly vsed in the Scripture when mysteries are entreated of For neither can you otherwise vnderstand that whiche is sayd that circumcision is a couenant that the lambe is the Passeouer that the Sacrifices of the law are expiations finally that the rocke oute of whiche water flowed in the deserte was Christ vnlesse you take it to be spoken by way of transferring of names Neither are names transferred only from the hyer name to the lower but contrariewise the name of the visible signe is also geuen to the thing signified as when it is sayd that God appeared to Moses in the bushe when the arke of couenante is called God and the face of God and the doue is called the Holy ghost For though the signe differ in substance from the thing signified because this is spirituall and heauenly and that is corporall and visible yet because it doth not only figure the thing whiche it is holily appointed to represente as a naked and empty token but doth also truely deliuer it in dede why may not the name of the thing rightly accorde with it If signes deuised by men whiche are rather images of thyngs absent than markes of thynges present which selfe absent thynges they do oftentymes deceitfully shadow are yet somtime garnished with the titles of the thinges then those thinges that are ordeined of God do by much greater reason borrow the names of those thyngs of which they alway bothe beare a sure and not disceytfull signification and haue the truthe adioyned with them There is therfore so great likenesse and nerenesse of the one to the other that it is easy to draw their names to and froe Therfore let our aduersaries cesse to heape vnsauory scoffings against vs in calling vs Tropistes because we expounde the Sacramental maner of speakyng after the common vse of the Scripture For whereas the Sacramentes agree together in many thinges in this traÌ„sferryng of names they haue all a certaine communitie together As therfore the Apostle teacheth that the stone out of which spiritual drynke did spring to the Israelites was Christ because it was a visible signe vnder which that spirituall drinke was truely in dede but not discernably to the eie perceiued so bread is at this day called the body of Christe forasmuche as it is a sygne whereby the Lorde offereth to vs the true eatyng of his bodye Neither dyd Augustine otherwyse thynke or speake least any man shoulde despise this as a newe inuention If sayeth he the Sacramentes hadde not a certaine likenesse of those thynges whereof they are Sacramentes they should not be Sacramentes at all And of this likenesse oftentimes they take the names of the things themselues As therfore after a certaine maner the sacrameÌ„t of the body of Christ is the body of Christ the sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood of Christ so the sacrameÌ„t of faith is faith There be in him many like places which it were superfluous to heape together sithe that same one suffiseth sauyng that the readers must be warned that the holye man teacheth the same thyng in the Epistle to Enodius But it is a trifling shift to say that where Augustine teacheth that when transferryng is often and commonly vsed in mysteries he maketh no mention of the Supper because if this shyft were receiued we myght not reason from the generaltie to the specialtie neither were this a good argument Euery feling creature hath power of mouing therfore an oxe and a horse haue power of mouyng Howbeit long disputation hereof is in an other place ended by the wordes of the same holy man where he sayth that Christ sticked not to call it his body when he gaue the signe of his bodye Against Adimantus the Manichean in the .xii. Chapiter And in an other place vpon the thirde Psalme Meruailous saieth he is the patience of Christ that he receiued Iudas to the banket wherein he coÌ„mitted and deliuered to his disciples the figure of his body and blood But if some precise man beyng blynde at all the rest doo stand onely vpon this worde this is as though is seuered this mysterie from all other the solution is easy They saye that the vehemence of the substantiue verbe is is so great that it admitteth no figure Which if we grauÌ„t to them euen in the wordes of Paule is redde the Substantiue verbe where he calleth bread the communicatyng of the body of Christe But the communicatyng is an other thyng than the body it selfe Yea commonly where sacramentes are entreated of we fynde the same woorde vsed As. This shall be to you a couenant with me This Lambe shall be to you a Passeouer To reherse no moe when Paule sayth that the rocke was Christe why do they take the substantiue verbe in that place to be of lesse vehemence than in the speche of Christ Let them also answer where Iohn saith the Holy ghost was not yet because Iesus was not yet glorified of what force the substantiue verbe is in that place For if they abide fastened to their rule the eternall essence of the Holy ghost shal be destroyed as though it toke beginnyng at the Ascension of Christ. Finally let them answer what meaneth that sayeng of Paule that Baptisme is the washyng of regeneration and renewyng which it is euideÌ„t to be vnprofitable to many But nothyng is stroÌ„ger to confute them than that sayeng of Paule that the Chirch is Christe For. bryngyng a similitude of the body of man he addeth So is Christ in whiche place he vnderstandeth the onely begotten sonne of God not in himselfe but in his membres Hereby I thinke I haue obteined that to soundwitted and vncorrupted men the sclaunders of oure enemies are lothsome when they spread abroade that we withdraw credit from the wordes of Christ whiche we doo no

and wheras it was necessarie that they which were mingled with prophane men and idolatrers should by some outwarde signe testifie their Fayth the holy man for order and policies sake appoynted that day wherin the whole people of Christians should by partaking of the Lordes Supper vtter a confession of their faith The ordinance of zepherinus being otherwise good hath ben euel wrested of them that came after when a certaine law was made of one communicating yerely wherby it is come to passe that almost al men when they haue ones communicate as though they had gaily discharged themselues for al the rest of the yere slepe soundly on bothe eares It ought to haue ben farr otherwise done Euery weke at the least the Lordes table shoulde be sett before the assemblie of the Christians the promises should be declared which might fede vs spiritually at it none should in dede be compelled by necessitie but all should be exhorted and prycked forwarde the sluggishnesse also of the slouthfull should be rebuked All should by heapes as hungry men come together to such deynties Not without rightfull cause therefore at the beginning I complayned that by the craft of the deuil this custome was thrust in which wheÌ„ it apointeth one certaine day of the yere maketh men slouthfull for all the reste of the yere We se in dede that this peruerse abuse was crept in euen in the tyme of Chrysostome but we may also therewithall see how muche it displeased hym For he complaineth with greuous wordes in thesame place whiche I euen nowe alleged that there is so great inequalitie of this mater that often in sometimes of the yere they came not euen wheÌ„ they were cleane but at Easter they came eueÌ„ wheÌ„ they were vncleane Then he cryeth out O custome O presumption Then in vaine is the daily offring vsed in vaine we stande at the altar there is none that partaketh together with vs. So farr is it of that he alowed it by his authoritie adioyned to it Out of the same shop proceded also an other ordinance whiche hath stolen away or violently taken away the halfe of the Supper from the better nuÌ„ber of the people of God namely the signe of the blood which beyng denyed to lay and profane men for with such titles forsothe they set out Gods inheritance became a peculiar possession to shauen anoynted men It is the commaundement of the eternall God that al should drynke which commaundement man dare discontinue and repelle with a new and contrarie law commaunding that not all shoulde drynke And that these law makers should not seme to fight wtout reson against their God they pretende perils that myght happen if this holy cup were commonly geuen to all as though those dangers had not ben foreseen and marked of the eternal wisdome of God And then suttelly forsothe they reson that the one is enough for both For if say they it be the body it is whole Christ which can not now be seuered froÌ„ hys body Therfore by Accompanieng the body conteineth the blood Loe how our wit agreeth with God when it hath neuer so litle begon with loose reines to be wanton and wilde The Lord shewing bred saith that it is his body when he sheweth the cup he calleth it his blood The boldnesse of mans reason crieth out contrariwise that the bred is the blood and the wine is the body as though the Lord had for no cause seuered his body from his blood bothe in wordes and in signes or as though it had euer ben heard spoken that the body or blood of Christ is called God man Uerily if he had ment to signifie whole himselfe he might haue sayed it is I as he is wont to speake in the Scriptures and not thys is my body thys is my blood But he willing to helpe our weaknesse did set the cup seuerally from the bred to teache that he sufficeth no lesse for drinke than for meate Nowe let one part be taken away then we shall finde but the one halfe of the nourishmentes in him Therfore although it be true which they pretende that the blood is in the bred by way of Accompanieng and againe the body in the cup yet they defraude godly soules of the confirmation of Fayth whiche Christe deliuereth as necessarie Therefore bidding their suttelties farewell we muste holde faste the profit whiche is by the ordinance of Christe in the twoo earnestes I knowe in dede that the ministers of Satan doe here cauil as it is an ordinarie thing with them to make mockerie of the Scriptures First thei allege that of one bare doing ought not to be gathered a rule wherby the Chirch should be bounde to perpetual obseruing But they lye when they say that it was but a bare doyng for Christ did not only deliuer the cuppe but also did institute that his Apostles should in tyme to come doo the same For they are the wordes of a commaunder drinke ye all of this cuppe And Paule so reherseth that it was a dede that he also commendeth it for a certain rule An other starting hole is that the Apostles alone were receiued of Christ to the partaking of this Supper whome he had already chosen and taken into the order of the sacrificyng prestes But I would haue them answere me to fiue questions from which they shall not be able to escape but that they shall be easily conuinced with their lies Fyrst by what oracle haue they this solution reueled beyng so strange from the worde of God The Scripture reckeneth .xii. that sate with Iesus but it dothe not so obscure the dignitie of Christ that it calleth them sacrificing prestes of which name we will speake hereafter in place fit for it Though he gaue it then to the .xii. yet he commaunded that they should do the same namely that they shold so distribute it among them Secondely why in that better age from the Apostles almost a thousand yeres were al without exception made partakers of bothe the signes was the old Chirche ignorant what gestes Christ had receiued to his Supper It were a point of moste desperate shamelesnesse here to sticke and dally in grauÌ„tyng it to bee true There remayne the ecclesiasticall hystories there remayne the bokes of the old writers which minister euident testimonies of this matter The fleshe sayth Tertullian is fed with the body blood of Christ that the soule may be fatted with fedyng vpon God How sayd Ambrose to Theodosius wilt thou receiue with suche handes the holy body of the Lorde With what boldnesse wilte thou with thy mouthe partake of the cup of the precious blood And Hierome sayth The prestes whiche make the Thankesgeuing and do distribute the blood of the Lorde to the people Chrysostome Not as in the olde lawe the prest did eate parte and the people part but one body is set before all and one cuppe Those thynges that perteine to the Thankesgeuing are all coÌ„mon betwene the

lyes of Satan and hys kyngdome may vanish away be destroyed and perish he defendeth them that be his with the helpe of hys Spirite directeth them to vprightnesse and strengtheneth them to coÌ„tinuance but ouerthroweth the wicked coÌ„spiracies of hys enemies shaketh abrode their treasons and deceites preuenteth their malice and beateth downe their stubbornnesse til at length he kill Antichrist with the Spirite of hys mouth and destroy all vngodlinesse with the brightnesse of his comming The third petition is That the wil of God be done in earth as it is in heauen Which although it hangeth vpon his kingdome and can not be seuered from it is not in vaine added seuerally for our grossnesse whiche doth not easily or by and by conceiue what it is that God reigne in the world It shal therfore be no absurditie if this be taken by waye of plainer exposition that God shal then be king in the world when al things shal submitt themselues to his will Now here is not meant of hys secret will wherby he gouerneth al thinges and directeth them to their ende For though Satan and men are troblesomly caried againste him yet he can by hys incomprehensible counsell not only turne aside their violent motions but also driue them into order that he may do by them that which he hath purposed But here is spokeÌ„ of an other wil of God namely that whereunto answereth willing obedience and therefore the heauen is by name compared with the earth because the Angells as it is sayd in the Psalme do willingly obey God and are diligently bent to do his commaundements We are therfore coÌ„maunded to wish that as in heauen nothing is done but by the becke of God and the Angels are quietly framed to al vprightnesse so the earth al stubbornnesse and peruersenesse being quenched may be subiect to such gouernemeÌ„t And when we require this we renounce the desires of our owne fleshe because whosoeuer doth not resigne and yelde his affections to God he doth as much as in hym lyeth set himself against him forasmuch as nothing cometh out of vs but faulty And we are againe by thys prayer framed to the forsaking of our selues that God may gouerne vs after his wil and not that only but that he may also create in vs new mindes and new hartes our olde being brought to nought that we may fele in our selues none other motion of desire than a mere coÌ„sent with his wil summarily that we may wil nothing of our selues but that his Spirite may gouerne our hartes by whoÌ„ inwardly teaching vs we may learne to loue those thinges that please hym and to hate those thinges that displease him Wherupon this also foloweth that whatsoeuer affections fyght against his wil he may make them vaine and voide Loe here be the first three chefe pointes of thys prayer in asking wherof we oughte to haue the onely glorie of God before our eyes leauing the respect of our selues and hauing no regarde to any of our owne profit whiche although it come hereof largely vnto vs yet we ought not here to seke it But albeit al these thinges though we neither thinke of them nor wish them nor aske them must neuerthelesse come to passe in their due time yet we must wishe them and require them And thys to doe is no smal profit for our trauaill that we may so testifie and professe our selues to be the seruantes and childreÌ„ of God as much as in vs lyeth endeuoring and being truely and throughly geuen to set fourth hys honor which is due to hym being bothe a Lord and a Father Whoso therefore doe not with affection and zele of auauncing the glorie of God pray that the name of God be hallowed that hys kyngdome come that hys wyll be done they are not to be accompted among the childreÌ„ and seruantes of God and as all these thinges shal be done agaynst their willes so they shal turne to their confusion and destruction Now foloweth the seconde part of the prayer in which we come down to our own commodities not that bidding farewel to the glorie of God which as Paul witnesseth is to be regarded euen in meate and drink we shold seke only what is profitable for our selues but we haue alredy geuen warning that there is thys difference that God peculiarly claiming three petitions to hymselfe doth draw vs to hymselfe wholly that he may in thys wise proue our godlinesse Then he graunteth vs also to haue an eye to our own commodities but with this condition that we aske nothiÌ„g for our selues but to this ende that whatsoeuer benefites he bestoweth vpoÌ„ vs they may set fourth his glorie forasmuche as nothing is more rightfull than that we lyue and dye to hym But in thys petition we aske of God generally al thinges whiche the vse of the body nedeth vnder the elementes of this world not only wherwith we may be fed and clothed but also whatsoeuer he foreseeth to be profitable for vs that we may eate our bred in peace By which prayer brefely we yelde our selues into his care and commit vs to his prouidence that he may fede cherishe and preserue vs. For the most good Father disdayneth not to receiue also our body into hys faythfull sauegarde and keping to exercise our Fayth in these smal thinges when we loke for all thinges at hys handes euen to a crumme of bred and a droppe of water For wheras it is come to passe I wote not how by our iniquitie that we be moued and vexed with greater care of the fleshe than of the soule many which dare trust to God for their soule are yet carefull for their fleshe are yet in doute what they shall eate and wherewith they shal be clothed and if they haue not plenty of wyne wheate and oyle aforehande they tremble for feare So muche more do we esteme the shadow of this lyfe which lasteth but a moment than that euerlasting immortalitie But whoso trusting to God haue ones cast away yâ— carefulnesse for the prouision of the fleshe do also by and by loke for saluatioÌ„ and euerlasting lyfe at hys hand which are greater things It is therfore no smal exercise of Fayth to hope for those thinges of God whiche otherwise do so much holde vs in care and we haue not smally profited when we haue put of thys vnbeleuingnesse whiche sâ—â—cketh fall within the bones almost of all men As for that whiche some doe here teache of transubstantiall bred it semeth but smally to agree with the meaning of Christ yea but if we did not euen in thys frayle lyfe geue to God the office of a nourishing Father our prayer should be vnperfect The reason whiche they bryng is to muche profane that it is not mete that the children of God which ought to be spiritual should not only cast their minde to earthly cares but also wrappe God therin with them As though his blessing fatherly fauor doth not also appeare in yâ— sustenaÌ„ce

it is lyke vnto a corne fielde whiche beyng sowen with good graine is by the ennemies fraude scattered with tares of whiche it is not cleansed vntyll the croppe bee broughte into the barne floore Fynally let them heare that it is lyke vnto a floore wherein the wheate is so gathered together that it lyeth hydden vnder the chaffe tyll beyng clensed with fanne and syâ—e it be at length laide vp in the grainer If the Lorde pronounce that the Churche shall euen to the daye of Iudgement be troubled with this euyll to be burdened with mynglyng of euyll men they doo in vayne seeke for a Churche sprynkled with no spotte But they crie out that it is an intollerable thyng that the pestilence of vices so raungeth abroade What if the saying of the Apostle dooe here also answere them Among the Corithians not onely a few had gone out of the waie but the infection hadde in a maner possessed the whole body There was not onely one kynde of synne but many neither were they light offences but certayn horrible outragious doings it was not onely corruption of maners but also of doctrine What in this case saith the holy Apostle that is to say the instrument of the Holy ghoste by whoe 's testimonie the Churche standeth and falleth Doth he require a diuision from them Doth he banishe them out of the kingdom of Christ Doeth he strike them with the extremest thunderbolt of curse He not only doeth none of all these thyngs but he both acknowledgeth and reporteth it a Churche of Christ and felowship of sainctes If there remayne a Churche among the Corinthians where contentions sectes and enuious partakynges doo broyle where quarels and brawlynges be in vre with a gredynesse of hauyng where that wicked dooyng is openly allowed whiche were abhominable amonge the very Gentiles where Paules name is vniustly rayled at whome they ought to haue honoured as their father where some scorne at the resurrection of the dead with ruine wherof the whole Gospell falleth where the gracious giftes of God serue to ambition and not to charitie wher mâ—ny things are vncomely and vnorderly doone and if therfore there styll remayne a Churche because the ministerie of the word and of the Sacramentes is there not refused who dare take away the name of the Churche from them that can not be charged with the tenth part of these fauâ—es They that with so great precisenesse deale so cruelly against the Churches of this present tyme what I pray you wold they haue don to the Galathians which were almost vtter forsakers of the Gospel among whom yet the same Apostle founde Churches They obiect also how that Paule greuousely rebuketh the Corinthians for sufferyng in their company a man that was a hainous synner and then he setteth a generall sentence wherin he pronounceth that it is vnlawfull euen to eate breade with a manne of reprochefull lyfe Here they crie oute If it be not lawfull to eate common breade howe may it be lawfull to eate with them the bread of the Lorde I confesse in dede that it is a greate dishonour if hogges and dogges haue place among the children of God it is also a muche more dishonour if the holy body of Christe be geuen foorth to them And truely if they bee well ordred Churches they will not suffer wicked men in their bosome and will not without choise admitte bothe worthy and vnwoorthy together to that holy banket But forasmuch as the Pastors doo not alway so diligently watche yea and somtyme are more tender in bearyng with men that they ought to be or are hindered so that they can not vse that seueritie that they woulde it commeth to passe that euen they that ar openlye euyll are not alway thruste out of the company of the holy ones This I graunte to bee a faulte neyther wyll I dymynysshe it sithe Paule dooeth so sharpely rebuke it in the Corinthians But although the Churche be slacke in her duetie it shall not be therfore immediately in the power of euery priuate man to take vpon him selfe the iudgemeÌ„t to seuer him I do in dede not deny that it is the doyng of a godly man to withdraw himselfe from al priuate company of euil men to entangle himself in no willing familiaritie with them But it is one thing to flee the companie of euill men and an other thyng for hatred of theim to forsake the Communion of the Churche But where as they thynke it sacrilege to be partakers of the Lordes bread with them they are therin muche more rigorous than Paule is For where he exhorteth vs to a holy and pure partakyng he requyreth not that one should examin an other or euery man the whole Churche but that they should echone proue hym selfe If it were vnlawfull to comunicate with an vnworthy man then truely Paule would byd vs to looke circumspectly whether there were any in the multitude by whoe 's vncleannesse we might be defiled Nowe when he requireth onely of euery man the proofe of themselues he sheweth that it nothyng hurteth vs if any vnwoorthie doo thruste them selues in among vs. And nothyng els is ment by this whiche he saieth afterwarde He that eateth vnworthily eateth drinketh iudgement to him selfe He doeth not say to other but to himselfe And rightfully For it ought not to stande in the choise of euery particular man who bee to be receiued and who to be reiected The knowledge hereof belongeth to the whole Church which knowledge can not be had without lawfull order as hereafter shall be saide more at large Therfore it shoulde be vnryghtuous that any priuate man should be defiled with the vnworthynesse of an other whome he neyther can nor ought to kepe backe from commyng to it But althoughe by this vndiscrete zeale of rightuousnesse this tentation doeth sometyme also entre into good men yet this we shall finde that to muche precisenesse groweth rather of pride disdainfulnesse and false opinion of holynesse than of true holynesse and true zeale therof Therfore they that are bolder than other and as it were standerd bearers to make any departyng from the Churche for the moste parte doo it vpon no other cause but in despisyng of all men to boast them selues to be better than other Therfore Augustine saieth well wisely When godly order and maner of Ecclesiasticall discipline ought principally to haue regarde vnto the vnitie of Spirite in the bonde of peace whyche the Apostle commaunded to be kept by bearyng one with an other and whiche beeyng not kepte the medicine of reuenge is proued to bee not onely superfluous but also pernicious and therfore nowe to be no medicine at all those euill children which not for hatred of other mens iniquities but for affection of their owne contentions doo gredyly labour eyther wholly to drawe or at least to diuide the weake common peoples entangled with the bosting of their name swelling with pride madde with stubburnesse

vaine opinion fained to be a singular holinesse aboue the rest And some thynges also were vowed muche more childyshe although not of children For this was holden for a greate wisdome to take vpon them vowed pilgremages to holyer places and somtyme either to go all their iourney on foote or with their body halfe naked that by their werinesse the more merite might be gotten These and suche other with incredible zele wherof the worlde hath a while swelled if they be examined by those rules whiche we haue aboue sett shal be founde not onely vayne and triflyng but ful of manifest vngodlinesse For howsoeuer the fleshe iudge God abhorreth nothyng more than fained worshippings There are beside this those pernicious and damned opinions that hypocrites when they haue such trifles thinke that they haue gotten no small rightuousnesse they repose the summe of godlinesse in outewarde obseruations they despise all other that are lesse carefull of suche thynges To recken vp all the particular formes is nothyng to purpose But forasmuche as the monkishe vowes are had in greater reuerence because they seme alowed by the common iugement of the Chirch of those it is good to speake brefely First least any shold by prescription of long tyme defende monkerie such as it is at this day it is to be noted that in olde tyme there was in monasteries a farre other order of liuing Such as were disposed to exercise themselues to greatest seueritie and patieÌ„ce went thether For what maner of discipline they saye that the Lacedemonians had vnder the lawes of Lycurgus suche was at that tyme among the monkes yea and muche more rigorous They slept vpon the grounde their drinke was water their meate was breade herbes and rootes theyr chiefe deynties were in oyle and ciches They absteyned from all delicate diet and trimmyng of bodye These thynges myght seme aboue truthe if they were not written by witnesses that sawe and proued them as Gregorie Nazianzene Basile and Chrysostome But with suche introductions they prepared themselues to greater offices For that the colleges of monkes were then as it were the sedeplottes of the order of ministers of the Chirche bothe these whome we haue nowe named are a profe playne enough for they were all brought vp in monasteries and from thense called to the office of Bishops and also many other singular and excellent men in their tyme. And Augustine sheweth that this was also vsed in his tyme that monasteries yelded clerkes to the Chirch For he speaketh thus to the monkes of the Isle of Caprarea But you brethren we exhort in the Lord that ye kepe your purpose and continue to the ende and if at any tyme our mother the Chirche shall require your trauaile do ye neither with gredy pride take it vpon you nor with flateryng slouthfulnesse refuse it but with a meke harâ— obeye to God Neither preferre ye your owne quiet leasure aboue the necessities of the Chirch to whom if no good men wold haue ministred in her trauaile you should not haue founde how you should haue ben borne He speaketh there of the ministerie by whiche the faithfull are spiritually borne agayne Also to Aurelius There is both occasion of fallyng geuen to themselues and most haynous wrong done to the order of the clergie if forsakers of monasteries be chosen to the soldiorship of the clergie when euen of those that remaine in the monasterie we vse to take into the clergie none but the most aproued and best Unlesse parhappes as the coÌ„mon people say he is an euell pyner but a good fiddler so it shall also be ieslyngly said of vs he is an euell monke but a good clerke It is to muche to bee lamented if we lifte vp monkes into suche a ruinous pride and thinke clerkes worthy of so great reproche wheras somtyme eueÌ„ a good monke maketh not a good clerk if he haue sufficient continence and yet want necessary learning By these places it appeareth that godly men were wonte with the discipline of monkes to prepare themselues to the gouernement of the Chirche that they might the fitter and better instructed take so great an office vpon them Not that they all atteyned to this ende or yet tended towarde it when for the most part they were vnlearned men but suche were chosen oute as were mete for it But chiefely in two places he paynteth out vnto vs the forme of the olde monkrie In the boke Of the maners of the Catholike Chirche where he setteth the holynesse of that profession agaynst the sclanders of the Manichees and in an other booke whyche he entitled Of the woorke of monkes where he inueyeth agaynste certaine degendred monkes whiche beganne to corrupte that order I wyll here so gather a summe of those thynges whyche he sayeth that so nere as I maye I wyll vse his owne woordes Despysyng sayeth he the enticementes of this worlde gathered into one moste chaste and holy lyfe they spend theyr tyme together lyuyng in prayers readynges and disputations not swellyng with pride not troublesome with stubbornesse not waÌ„ne with enuiousnesse None possesseth any thyng of his owne none is burdenous to any man They gett by woorkyng with their handes those thinges wherewith both their bodie may be fed and theyr mynde may not be hindered froÌ„ God Theyr work they deliuer to them whom they call deanes Those Deanes despisyng all things with great carefulnesse make accompt therof to one whom they call Father These Father 's not only most holy in maners but also most excellent in godly doctrine hye in all thynges doo with no pride prouide for them whome they cal children with great authoritie of them in coÌ„maunding great willyngnesse of the other in obeying They come together at the verye last tyme of that day euery one froÌ„ his dwelling while they be yet fasting to heare that Father and there mete together to euery one of these Fathers at the least three thousand men he speaketh chefely of Egypt and of the East then they refreshe their body so muche as suffiseth for life and healthfulnesse euery man restrainyng his desire not to take largely euen of those thinges that they haue present very spare and vile So they do not onely absteine from fleshe and wyne so much that they may be able to tame their lustes but from suche thynges which do so muche more gredily prouoke appetite of the belly and throte howe muche they seme to other to be as it were cleaner by color whereof the filthy desire of exquisite meates which is not in fleshe is wont to be fondly fowly defended Whatsoeuer remaineth aboue necessarie foode as there remaineth oftentimes muche of the workes of their hands and pinching of their fare is with greater care distributed to the poore than it was gotten by them that do distribute it For they do in no wise trauail that they may haue abundance of these thynges but they by all meanes endeuor that that whiche they haue aboundyng maye

to admonishe them of what force the worde of God is of it self being preached by man he compareth the ministers themselues to husbandemen which when they haue bestowed their labor and trauaile in tillyng the earth haue no more to do But what shold tillyng and sowing and wateryng profit vnlesse that whiche is sowen should receiue liuetynesse by heauenly benefite Therfore he concludeth that bothe he that planteth and he that watereth are nothyng but that all thynges are to be ascribed to God whiche alone geueth the encrease Therefore the Apostles do in their preachyng vtter the power of the Spirite so farre as God vseth the instrumentes ordeined by hymselfe to the settyng foorth of his spirituall grace Yet we must kepe still that distinction that we remembre what man is able to do by hymselfe and what is propre to God Sacramentes are so confirmations of our Faith that many tymes when the Lorde meaneth to take away the confidence of the very thynges that are by hym promysed in the Sacramentes he taketh away the sacramentes themselues When he spoyleth and thrusteth away Adam from the gifte of immortalitie he sayth Let him not eate of the fruite of lyfe least he lyue for euer What sayth he Coulde that fruite restore to Adam his vncorruption from which he was nowe fallen No. But this is all one as if he had said Least he should enioy a vaine confideÌ„ce if he kepe still the signe of my promise let that bee shaken awaye from hym whiche myght bryng hym some hope of immortalitie After this maner when the Apostle exhorteth the Ephesians to remeÌ„bre that they were forein gestes of the testamentes strangers from the felowship of Israell without God without Christ he saith that they were not partakers of Circumcision Whereby he doth by figure of transnomination signifie that they were excluded from the promise it self which had not receiued the signe of the promise To their other obiection that the glorie of God is conueyed to creatures to whome so muche power is ascribed and that therby it is so farre diminished we haue in redynesse to answere that we set no power in creatures Onely this we say that God vseth meanes and instrumentes whiche he hymselfe seeth to be expedient that all thynges may serue his glorie forasmuch as he is Lorde and iudge of all Therfore as by bread and other nourishementes he feedeth our body as by the sunne he enlightneth the world as by fire he warmeth yet neither bread nor the sunne nor fyre are any thing but so farre as by those instrumentes he dothe distribute his blessynges vnto vs so spiritually he nourisheth Faith by the Sacramentes whose onely office is to sett his promises before our eies to be loked vpon yea to be pledges vnto vs of them And as it is our duetie to fasten none of our affiance in other creatures which by the liberalitie and bountifulnesse of God are ordeined to our vses and by the ministerie wherof he geueth vs his giftes nor to haue them in admiration praise them as causes of our good so neither ought our confidence to sticke fast in the Sacramentes nor the glorie of God to be remoued vnto them but leauyng all thynges both our Faith and confession ought to rise vp to him the author bothe of the sacramentes and of all thyngs Wheras some bring an argument out of the very name of a Sacrament it is nothyng strong A Sacrament saye they whereas it hath among allowed authors many significations yet it hath but one which agreeth with the signes that is wherby it signifieth that solemne othe whych the soldior maketh to his capitaine when he entreth into profession of a soldior For as by that othe of warfare newe soldiors do bynde their faith to the capitain and professe to be his soldiors so by our signes we professe Christ our capitaine and do testifie that we serue vnder his banner They adde similitudes to make therby the mater more playne As a gowne made the Romains seuerally knowen froÌ„ the Grekes which dyd weare clokes as the very degrees of men at Rome were discerned by their seueral signes the degree of Senators from the degree of knightes by purple cote and piked shooes againe a knyghte from a coÌ„moner by a ryng so we beare our signes that may make vs seuerally knowen from prophane men But by the thynges aboue said it is euident enough that the olde writers whyche gaue to the signes the name of Sacramentes hadde no regarde howe this woorde was vsed among Latine writers but for theyr owne purpose fayned this newe signification wherby they signified onely holy Signes But if wee will searche the mater more depely it maye seme that they haue with the same relation applied this woorde to suche a signification wherewith they haue remoued the name of Faith to that sense wherin it is nowe vsed For wheras Faith is a truthe in performyng promises yet they haue called Faith an assurednesse or sure persuasion whiche is had of the truth it selfe Likewise wheras a Sacrament is the soldiors part wherby he voweth hymselfe to his capitayne they haue made it the capitaynes parte whereby he receyueth soldiors into roomes of seruice For by the Sacramente the Lorde doothe promise that he will be oure God and that we shall bee his people But we passe ouer suche suttleties forasmuche as I thynke I haue proued with argumentes playne enoughe that they hadde respecte to nothyng ells but to signifie that these are Signes of holye and spirituall thynges We receyue in deede the similitudes whyche they bryng of outwarde tokens but we allowe not that that whyche is the last poynte in the Sacramentes is by them set foâ— the chiefe yea and onely thyng But this is the fyrste poynte that they should serue our Faith before GOD the later poynt that they should testifie our confession before men Accordyng to this later consideration those similitudes haue place But in the meane tyme lette that first point remaine because otherwise as we haue already proued the mysteries should be but colde vnlesse they were helpes to our faith and additions to doctrine ordeined to the same vse and ende Agayne we must be warned that as these men doo weaken the force and vtterly ouerthrowe the vse of Sacramentes so on the contrarie syde there be some which faine to Sacramentes I wote note what secrete vertues whiche are no where red to be putt in them by God By which error the simple and vnskilfull are dangerously deceiued while they are bothe taught to seke the giftes of God where they can not bee founde and are by little and little drawen away from God to embrace mere vanitie in stede of his veritie For the Sophisticall schooles haue taught with great consent that the Sacramentes of the new law that is to say those which are nowe in vse in the Christian Chirch do iustifie and geue grace so that we do not laie a stoppe of deadly

himselfe suche when being made partaker of our humane martalitie he made vs parteners of his diuine immortalitie when offring himselfe for sacrifice he toke our accursednesse vpon himself that he might fil vs with blessing when with his death he deuoured swalowed vp death when in his resurrection he raised vp this our corruptible flesh which he had put on to glory vncorruption It remaineth that by appliance all the same maye come to vs. That is done bothe by the Gospell and more cleerely by the holy Supper where bothe he offreth himselfe to vs with all his good thynges we receiue him by faith Wherfore the sacrameÌ„t maketh not that Christ first beginneth to be the bread of life but when it bringeth into remembrance that he was made the bread of life whiche we continually eate and when it geueth vnto vs the taste and sauor of that breade then it maketh vs to fele the strength of that bread For it promiseth vs that whatsoeuer Christ did or suffred the same was done to geue life to vs. Then that this geuing of life is euerlasting by which we may without ende be nourished susteined and preserued in life For as Christ should not haue bene to vs the bread of life vnlesse he had bene borne and had dyed for vs vnlesse he had risen agayne for vs so now he should not bee the same vnlesse the effectualnesse and fruite of his birth death and resurrection were an euerlasting and immortall thing All which Christe hath very well expressed in these wordes The bread which I wil geue is my flesh which I wil geue for the life of the world By which wordes without dout he signifieth that his body shoulde therfore bee to vs for bread to the spirituall life of the soule because it shold be geuen forth to death for our saluatioÌ„ and that it is deliuered to vs to eate of it when by faith he maketh vs partakers of it Ones therfore he gaue it that he might be made bread when he gaue foorth himselfe to be crucified for the redemption of the world daily he geueth it when by the word of the Gospell he offreth it vnto vs to be receiued so far as it was crucified where he sealeth that deliuerance with the holy mysterie of the Supper where he inwardly fulfilleth that which he outwardly betokeneth Now herein we must beware of twoo faultes that neither doing to muche in abaring the signes we seme to pluck them froÌ„ their mysteries to which they are in a maner knitte fast nor that being immeasurable in aduancing the same we seme in the meane tyme somwhat to darken the mysteries themselues That Christ is the bread of life wherewith the faithful are nourished into eternal saluation ther is no man but he graunteth vnlesse he be altogether without religioÌ„ But this point is not likewise agreed vpon among al men what is the maner of partaking of him For there be that in one worde define that to eate the fleshe of Christe and to drinke his blood is nothing els but to beleue in Christ himlsefe But I thinke that Christ meant some certainer and hyer thyng in that notable sermon where he coÌ„mendeth to vs the eatyng of his fleshe namely that we are quickned by the true partaking of hym whiche also he therfore expressed by the woordes of eatyng and drynkyng least any man should thynke that the life whiche we receiue of hym is conceyued by bare knowlege only For as not the syghte but the eatyng of bread suffiseth the body for nourishment so it behoueth that the soule be truly and throughly made partaker of Christ that by the power of hym it may be quickened into a spirituall lyfe But in the meane tyme we confesse that there is no other eatyng but of faith as there can no other be imagined But this is the difference betwene my wordes and theirs that with them to eate is only to beleue but I say that the flesh of Christ is eaten with beleuing because by faith he is made ours and I say that eatyng is the fruite and effect of faith Or if you wil haue it plainer with them eatyng is faithe and I thynke it rather to followe of faith In wordes verily the difference is but smalle but in the thyng it selfe not small For though the Apostle teacheth that Christe dwelleth in oure hartes by Faithe yet no manne will expounde this dwelling to be Faith but all men doo perceyue that there is expressed a singular effect of faith for that by it the faithful do obteyne to haue Christ dwellyng in them After this maner the Lorde meant in callyng hymselfe the bread of lyfe not only to teache that in the faith of his death and resurrection saluation is reposed for vs but also that by true partakyng of himselfe it is brought to passe that his life passeth into vs and becometh oures like as bread when it is taken for foode ministreth lyuelinesse to the body Neither dyd Augustine whom they bryng in for their patron in any other meanyng write that we eate by beleuyng than to shewe that this eatyng is of faith not of the mouthe Which I also denye not but yet therwithall I adde that we do by faith embrace Christe not apperyng afarre of but makyng hymselfe one with vs that he may be oure head and we his membres Yet do not I vtterly disalow that maner of speakyng but only I deny it to be a full declaration if they meane to define what it is to eate the fleshe of Christ. Otherwyse I see that Augustine hath ofte vsed this forme of speche as when he saith in the thirde boke Of Christian doctrine Unlesse ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man this is a figure teachyng that we must communicate with the passion of the Lorde and muste sweetely and profitably laye vp in remembrance that for vs his fleshe was crucified and wounded Agayne when he sayeth that the three thousande menne whyche were conuerted at Peters sermon dyd drynke the bloode of Christe by beleuyng whyche they had shedde by cruell dealyng But in manye other places he honorably setteth out that benefyte of Faith that by it oure soules are no lesse refreshed with the communicatyng of the fleshe of Christe than oure bodies are with the breade whiche they eate And the same is it whyche in a certayne place Chrysostome wryteth that Christe doeth not onely by Faith but also in dede make vs his body For he meaneth not that we doo from any other where than from Faithe obteyne suche a benefite but this onely he meaneth to exclude that none when he heareth faithe to be named shoulde conceyue a naked imagination As for them that will haue the Supper to be onely a marke of outwarde profession I do now passe them ouer because I thinke that I haue sufficiently confuted their error wheÌ„ I entreated of Sacramentes generally Only thys thing let the reders marke that when the

But that most nere felowship wherby we are coupled with his fleshe he hath yet set out with a more glorious title when he sayd that we are members of his body and are of his bones and of hys fleshe At the last to declare it to be a mater greater than all wordes he concludeth hys sayeng with an exclamation This is sayth he a greate secret Therefore it should be a pointe of extreme madnesse to acknowlege no communion of the faythfull with the fleshe and blood of the Lord which the Apostle declareth to be so greate that he had rather wonder at it than expresse it Let the summe be that oure soules are so fed with the fleshe and blood of Christ as bred wyne do mainteine susteine the bodily lyfe For otherwise the proportional relation of the signe should not agree vnlesse soules dyd fynde their fode in Christ. Which can not be done vnlesse Christ do truely grow into one with vs and refresh vs with the eating of his fleshe and drinking of hys blood But although it seme incredible that in so great distance of places the flesh of Christ reacheth to vs that it may be meate to vs let vs remember how much the secret power of the Spirit surmounteth aboue al our senses and how foolysh it is to goe aboute to measure hys vnmeasurablenesse by our measure That therfore whiche our mynde comprehendeth not let our fayth conceiue that the Spirite truely knitteth in one those thinges that are seuered in places Nowe that same holy coÌ„municating of his body and blood wherby Christ poureth hys life into vs euen as if he peaâ—ced it into our bones marowes he in the Supper also testifieth sealeth land yâ— not with setting before vs a vayne or voyde signe but bringing fourth there the effectuall working of his spirite wherby he fulfilleth the which he promyseth And verily he there offreth and deliuereth the thing signified to al them that sit at that spiritual banket although it be receiued with frute of the faythfull onely which receiue so great bountifulnesse with true Fayth thankfulnesse of mynde After which maner the Apostle sayd that the bred which we breake is the communion of the body of Christ and that the cup which we hallow with the word prayers to that purpose is the coÌ„munion of hys blood Neither is there any cause why any man should obiect that it is a figuratiue speche by which the name of the thing signified is geuen to the signe I grauÌ„t verily that the breaking of the bred is a signe not the thiÌ„g it selfe But this being admitted yet we shall rightly gather of the deliuerance of the signe that the thing it selfe is deliuered For vnlesse a maÌ„ wil cal God a deceiuer he can neuer be so bolde to say that he setteth before vs an empty signe Therfore if by the breakyng of bred the Lorde doth truely represente the partakyng of hys body it ought to be out of dout that he truely performeth and deliuereth it And this rule is alway to be holden of the godly that so oft as they se the signes ordeined of the Lorde they certainly thinke persuade themselues that the truth of the thyng signified is there present For to what purpose should the Lorde deliuer to thee into thy hande the signe of hys body but to assure thee of the true partaking of it If it be true that a visible signe is geuen vs to seale the gift of an inuisible thing when we receiue the signe of the body let vs no lesse certainly beleue that the body it selfe also is geueÌ„ vs. I saye therefore which both hath ben alway receiued in the Chirch and al they teache at thys day that thynke right that the holy mysterie of the Supper consisteth of twoo thinges that is to saye of the bodily signes which beyng set before our eyes doe represent vnto vs inuisible thinges according to the capacitie of our weakenesse and of spirituall trueth which is by those signes bothe figured and deliuered Of what sort that is when I meane to shewe it familiarly I vse to set thre thinges the signification the mater which hangeth of the signification the vertue or effect which foloweth of both The signification consisteth in the promisses which are after a certayne manner wrapped together with the signe The mater or substance I cal Christ with hys death and resurrection By effect I vnderstande the redemption righteousnesse sanctification and eternall lyfe and whatsoeuer other benefites Christ bringeth vs. Now although all these thinges haue respect to Fayth yet I leaue no place to thys cauillation as though when I say that Christ is receiued by Fayth I would haue hym coÌ„ceiued with vnderstanding only and imaginatioÌ„ For the promises offer hym not that we should sticke fast in the sight alone and in bare knowlege but that we should enioye the true communicating of hym And truely I se not how any maÌ„ maye haue coÌ„fidence that he hath redeÌ„ption and righteousnesse in the crosse of Christ lyfe in hys death but principally standing vpon the true coÌ„munion of Christ himselfe For those good thinges shoulde not come to vs vnlesse Christ first made himselfe oures I say therefore that in the mysterie of the Supper by the signes of bread and wine Christ is truely deliuered to vs yea and hys body and blood in which he hath fulfylled al obedieÌ„ce for purchasing of ryghteousnesse to vs namely that first we should growe together into one body with hym then beyng made partakers of hys substance we may also fele hys power in the communicating of al hys good thinges Now I come down to the excessiue mixtures which superstitioÌ„ hath brought in For herein Satan hath played with maruelous sutteltie that withdrawing the myndes of men from heauen he might fyl them with peruerse error as though Christ were fastened to the elemente of bred And first we must not dreame such a presence of Christ in the Sacrament as the craftesmeÌ„ of the court of Rome haue fayned as though the body of Christ were made present with presence of place to be handeled with handes to be broosed with teethe and swallowed with mouth For this forme of recantation Pope Nicolas endited to Betengarius to be a witnesse of hys repentance namely with woordes so farr monstruous that the author of the glose cryeth out that there is danger if the reders do not wisely take hede to themselues least they should sucke out of them an heresie worse than was that of Berengarius In the seconde distinctioÌ„ in the Chapter beginning thus Ego Berengarius But Peter Lombarde although he trauaile much in excusing the absurdity yet more inclineth to the contrary senteÌ„ce For as we nothing dout that it hath limites accordyng to the perpetual nature of the body of men and is holden in heauen into which it was ones receiued vntill he returne to iugement so to draw it backe vnder these corruptible

elementes or to imagyne it present euery where we accompt it to be vtterly vnlawfull Neyther verily is it so nedefull to this that we may enioy the partaking of it for as much as the Lord geueth vs thys benefit by his Spirite that we be made one with him in body Spirite and soule The bonde therefore of thys conioynyng is the Spirite of Christ by the knitting wherof we be coupled together and as it were a certaine conduit by whiche whatsoeuer Christ himselfe bothe is and hath is conueyed to vs. For if we beholde the sunne shyning fourth with hys beames vpon the earth after a certaine maner to cast fourth his substance vnto it to engender nourishe and quicken the frutes thereof why should the extending of beames of the Spirite of Christ be inferior to conuey the communion of his flesh and blood into vs Wherfore the Scripture when it speaketh of our partaking with Christ referreth the whole force therof to the Spirite Yet in stede of many one place shal be sufficient For Paule in the viii chapter to the Romaines sayth that Christ dwelleth in vs none otherwise than by hys Spirite wherby yet he taketh not away that coÌ„munioÌ„ of his flesh and blood of which we now speake but teacheth that the Spirite alone worketh that we possesse whole Christ and haue him dwelling in vs. The Scholemen thought more shamfastly which were withholdeÌ„ with horror of so barbarous vngodlinesse Yet thei also theÌ„selues do nothing but mocke with sutteler deceites They graunt that Christ is not coÌ„teined there by way of circumscription nor after a bodily maner but afterward they inuent away which neither them selues do vnderstande nor they can declare to other yet it is such as falleth to this point that Christ must be sought in the forme of bred as they call it For what is it When they say that the substance of bred is turned into Christe doe they not fasten hym to the whytenesse which they there leaue But saye they he is so conteined in the Sacrament that he abideth in heauen and we determyne no other presence but of habitude But whatsoeuer woordes they bryng in to cloke it with a deceitfull color thys is the ende of all that that is by consecration made Christ which before was bred that from thense fourth Christ lieth hid vnder that color of bred Which also they are not ashamed in playne wordes to expresse For these be the wordes of Lombarde that the body of Christ which in it selfe is visible wheÌ„ the consecration is ended lyeth hydden and is couered vnder the forme of bred So the forme of that bred is nothyng ells but a visor that taketh away the sight of the fleshe from the eyes Neither nede we many coniectures to fynde what snares they mynded to lay with these wordes sithe the thing itselfe plainly speaketh it For it is to be seen with howe great superstition in certaine ages past not onely the common sorte of men but also the very chefe of them haue ben holden at thys daye be holdeÌ„ in popish Chirches For hauing litle care of true Fayth by which alone we both come into the felowship of Christ and do cleaue together with hym so that they haue a carnall presence of hym which they haue framed besyde the worde they thynke that they haue hym presente enough Therefore in a summe we see that thys hath ben gotten by thys witty sutteltie that bred was taken for God FroÌ„ hense proceded that same fayned transubstaÌ„tiatioÌ„ for which at thys day they fyght more earnestly thaÌ„ for al the other articles of their faith For the first bilders of that local presence could not vnwynde themselues from thys doute how the body of Christ should be mingled with the substance of bread but that by and by many absurdities did thrust themselues in place Therfore they were driuen of necessitie to flee to thys inuention that there is made a turning of bred into the body not that the body is properly made of bred but because Christ that he mighte hide himselfe vnder the forme bringeth the substance to nothing But it is maruellous that they fel to so great ignoraÌ„ce yea senslesse dulnesse that not only the Scripture but also the consent of the old Chirch fighting against it they brought abrode that monster I graunt in dede that some of the olde writers somtyme vsed the name of turning not for that they would destroy the substance in the outwarde signes but that they might teache that the bred dedicate to the mysterie differeth farre from common bred and is now other But ech where they al plainly declare that the holy Supper consisteth of twoo partes an earthly parte and a heauenly and the earthly part they do without controuersie expounde to be bred and wyne Truely whatsoever they babble it is plain that in confirming of this doctrine they want the defense of antiquitie whiche they oftentymes presume to set against the euident worde of God For it is not so long agoe sins it was inueÌ„ted it was verily vnknowen not only to those better ages in which the purer doctrine of religioÌ„ yet florished but also euen wheÌ„ that same purenesse was much defiled There is none of the olde writers that doth not in expresse wordes coÌ„fesse that the holy signes in the Supper are bred and wyne although as we haue sayd they somtime set it out with diuerse titles to aduaunce the dignitie of the mysterie For wheras they say that in the coÌ„secration is made a secrete turning that now it is an other thing than bred and wyne I haue euen now geuen warning that they do not therby meane that the thinges themselues are brought to nought but that they are now to be otherwise estemed than common meates which are appointed onely to fede the belly forasmuch as in them is deliuered to vs the spiritual meate and drinke of the soule This we also deny not If say these men there be a turning it must nedes be that there is of one thing made an other thing If they meane that there is some thing made which before was not I agree with them If they wil draw it to that their own imagination let them answere me what change they thinke to be made in Baptisme For herein the Fathers also do determine a maruellous turning when they say that of a corruptible elemeÌ„t is made a spiritual washing of the soule yet none of them denyeth that water remayneth But saye they there is no such thing in Baptisme as is that in the Supper This is my body As though the question were of those wordes which haue a meaning plaine enough and not rather of that word of turning which ought to signifie no more in the Supper than in Baptisme Therefore farewel they with these snares of syllables wherby they do nothing els but bewray their own hungrinesse For otherwise the significatioÌ„ would not agree together vnlesse the trueth which is there figured

had a liuely image in the outwarde signe Christes wil was by the outward signe to testifie that hys fleshe is meate If he did set before vs only an empty imaginatiue forme of bred not true bread where were the correlation or similitude which should leade vs froÌ„ the visible thing to the inuisible For that al thinges may agree together the signification shall extende no further but that we be fed with the forme of the fleshe of Christ. As if in Baptisme the forme of water should deceiue our eyes it should not be to vs a certayne pledge of our washing yea by that deceitfull shewe there should be geuen vs an occasion of wauering Therfore the nature of the Sacrament is ouerthrowen vnlesse in the maner of signifieng the earthly signe answer to the heauenly thing And therefore we lose the truth of thys mysterie vnlesse true bred represent to vs the true body of Christ. I repete it againe Sith the Supper is nothing ells than a visible testifieng of that promise which is in the vi chapter of Iohn namely that Christ is the bred of lyfe which came downe from heauen there must be visible bred vsed for a meane wherby that same spirituall bred may be figured vnlesse we will that we lose all the frute whiche in this behalfe God tenderly graunteth to susteine our weakenesse Now by what reason should Paule gather that all we are one body and one bred whiche doe together partake of one bred if there remayned onely an imaginatiue forme and not rather a naturall truth of bred But they could neuer haue ben so fowly begyled with the deceites of Satan but because they wer alredy bewitched with this error that the body of Christ enclosed vnder bred was by the bodily mouth sent down into the belly The cause of so brutishe imagination was that consecration signified as much among them as a magical enchauntment But thys principle was vnknowen to them that bread is a Sacramente to none but to men to whom the worde is directed lyke as the water of Baptisme is not changed in it selfe but so sone as the promise is adioyned it beginneth to be that to vs which it before was not Thys shall better appeare by example of a lyke Sacrament The water springing out of the rocke in the desert was to the fathers a token and signe of the same thing which the wyne doth figure to vs in the Supper For Paul teacheth that they dronke the same spirituall drinke But it was a common watering for the beastes and cattell of the people Wherupon it is easily gathered that in earthly elementes when they are applyed to a spirituall vse there is made no other turning but in respect of men in so much as they are to them seales of the promises Moreouer sithe Gods purpose is as I often repete as it were by handsome chariots to lift vs vp to himselfe they doe by their waywardenesse wickedly disapoint the same which do in dede cal vs to Christ but lurkig inuisibly vnder bred For it is not possible that the mynde of men vncombryng it selfe from the immesurablenesse of places should atteine to Christ euen aboue the heauens That which nature denyed them they attempted to amende with a more hurtfull remedie that abiding in earth we should nede no heauenly nerenesse of Christ. Lâ—e this is the necessitie that compelled them to transfigure the body of Christ. In Bernardes time althoughe a harder maner of speaking was growen in vse yet transubstantiation was not then knowen And in all ages before that this similitude dyd flye aboute in every mans mouth that there is with bred and wyne a spiritual thing ioyned in thys mysterie Of the wordes they answer as they thinke wittily but bringing nothing fit for thys preseÌ„t cause The rod of Moses say they being turned into a Serpent although it dyd get the name of a Serpent yet kepeth stil the olde name and is called a rod. So in their opinion it is as probable that although the bred passe into a new substance it may be abusively and yet not vnaptly called that which it appeareth to the eies But what likelhode or nerenesse fynde they betwene a cleare miracle and their fained illusion of whiche no eye in earth is witnesse The Magicians had mocked with deceites so that the Egiptians were persuaded that they excelled in diuine power to change creatures aboue the order of nature Moses came fourth dryuing away all their deceites shewed that the inuincible power of God was on his side because his owne rod consumed al the rest But forasmuch as that was a turning discernable with eyes therfore as we haue sayd it perteyneth nothing to thys preseÌ„t cause and in a litle time after the rod visibly returned into his own forme Beside that it is not knowen whether that soden turning was of substance or no. Also the alluding to the rods of the Magicians is to be coÌ„sidered which the Prophet therfore would not call Serpentes least he should seme to signifie a turning where none was because those deceiuers had done nothing but cast a myst before the eies of the beholders What likenesse herewith haue these formes of speche The bred which we breake So ofte as ye shal eate this bred They coÌ„mmunicated in breaking of bred and suche other It is certaine that their eyes were only deceiued with the enchantmeÌ„t of the Magicians As concerning Moses the mater is more douteful by whose hande it was no more hard for God to make of a rod a Serpent and againe of a Serpent to make a rod thaÌ„ to cloth Angels with fleshly bodies by and by after to vncloth them If the nature of thys mysterie were the same or like there were some color for their solution Let this therfore remaine certaine that it is not truly nor fittly promised vs that in the Supper the flesh of Christ is truely to vs for meate vnlesse the true substance of the outwarde Signe agree with it And as one error groweth of an other the place of Ieremie is so foolishlye wrested to proue transubstantiation that it irketh me to reherse it The Prophet complaineth that wood is put in his bred meaning that by the crueltie of his enemies his bred was infected with bitternesse As Dauid with a like figure bewayleth that his meate was corrupted with gall and hys drynke with vineger These men will haue it that the body of Christ was by way of allegorie fastened to the crosse But some of the olde fathers thought so As though we ought not rather to pardoÌ„ their ignorance and to bury their shame than to adde shamelessnesse to compell them yet still to fight like enemies with the natural meaning of the Prophet Other which see that the proportionall relation of the signe and the thing signified can not be ouerthrowen but that the truth of the mysterie must fal do confesse that the bred of the Supper is

to haue made distinction of the maner of presence And verily some had rather with great shame to vtter their ignorance than to yelde neuer so litle of their error I speake not of the Papistes whoe 's doctrine is more tolerable or at the least more shamefast But contentiousnesse so carrieth some away that they say that by reson of the natures vnited in Christ wheresoeuer the Godhed of Christ is there is also his fleshe which can not be seuered from hys Godhed As though that same vniting haue compounded of those twoo natures I wote not what meane thing which was neither God nor man So in dede did Eutyches and after hym Seruettus But it is plainly gathered out of the Scripture that the only one person of Christ doth so consist of twoo natures that either of them hath still her owne propertie remayning safe And that Eutyches was rightfully condemned they wil be ashamed to deny it is maruel that they marke not the cause of hys condemning that takyng away the difference betwene the natures enforcing the vnitie of persoÌ„ he made of God man and of man God What madnesse therefore is it rather to mingle heauen and earth together than not to draw the body of Christ out of the heauenly Sancturarie For wheras they bring for themselues these testimonies None is gone vp to heauen but he that is come down the Sonne of man which is in heauen Againe The sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he shall declare them it is a poynt of like senslesse dullnesse to despise the communicating of properties which was in olde tyme not without cause inueÌ„ted of the holy Fathers Truely when the Lord of glory is said to be crucified Paule doth not meane that he suffred any thiÌ„g in his godhed but because the same Christ which being an abiect and despised in the flesh did suffer was both God and Lord of glory After thys manner also the Sonne of man was in heauen because the selfe same Christ which according to the fleshe did dwel the Sonne of man in earth was God in heauen In which sorte he is sayd to haue descended from the sayd place according to hys Godhed not that the Godhed did forsake heauen to hide it selfe in the prison of the body but because although it fylled all thynges yet in the verye maÌ„hode of Christ it dwelled corporally that is to say naturally and after a certaine vnspeakable maner It is a coÌ„mon distinction in scholes which I am not ashamed to reherse that although whole Christ be euery where yet not the whole that is in hym is euery where And I wold to God the Scholemen themselues had wel weyed the pith of thys sayeng for so should the vnsauorie inuention of the fleshly preseÌ„ce of Christ haue ben met withall Therefore our mediator sithe he is whole euery where is alway at hande with his and in the Supper after a speciall maner geueth himselfe present but yet so that whole he is present not the whole that he is because as it is said in his fleshe he is conteined in heauen till he appeare to iudgement But they are farre deceiued which conceiue no presence of the fleshe of Christ in the Supper vnlesse it be made present in bread For so they leaue nothyng to the secrete workyng of the Spirite whiche vniteth Christ hymself vnto vs. They thinke not Christ present vnlesse he come downe to vs. As though if he did lift vs vp to hym we should not aswel enioy his presence Therfore the question is only of the maner because they place Christ in the bread but we think it not lawful for vs to pluck hym out of heauen Let the readers iudge whether is the righter Only let this cauillation be driuen away that Christe is taken awaye from his Supper vnlesse he be hidden vnder the couer of bread For sith this mysterie is heauenly it is no nede to drawe Christ into the earth that he may be ioyned to vs. Nowe if any man do aske me of the maner I will not be ashamed to confesse that it is a hyer secrete than that it can be eyther coÌ„prehended with my witt or vttered with my woordes and to speake it more plainly I rather fele it than I can vnderstand it Therfore I do herein without controuersie embrace the truthe of God in whiche I maye safely rest He pronounceth that his fleshe is the meate of my soule and his blood is the drinke With suche foode I offre my soule to hym to bee fedde In his holy Supper he commaundeth me vnder the signes of bread and wyne to take eate and drinke his body and blood I nothing dout that bothe he dothe truely deliuer them and I doo receiue them Onely I refuse the absurdities whiche appeare to be either vnworthy of the heauenly maiestie of Christ or disagreyng from the truth of his nature of manhode forasmuche as they must also fight with the word of God which also teacheth that Christ was so taken vp into the glorie of the heauenly kyngdome that it lyfteth hym vp aboue all estate of the worlde and no lesse diligently setteth forth in his nature of man those thynges that are proprely belongyng to his true manhode Neither ought this to seme incredible or not consonant to reason because as the whole kyngdome of Christ is spirituall so whatsoeuer he doth with his Chirch ought not to be reduced to the reason of this worlde Or that I may vse the wordes of Augustine this mysterie as other are is done by men but from God in earth but from heauen Such I say is the presence of the body as the nature of the Sacrament requireth which we say here to excell with so great force and so great effectualnesse that it not only bryngeth to our myndes vndouted trust of eternall lyfe but also assureth vs of the immortalitie of our fleshe For it is nowe quickned of his immortall fleshe and after a certaine manner communicateth of his immortalitie They whyche are caried aboue this with their excessiue speches do nothyng but with suche entanglementes darken the simple and playne truthe If any be not yet satisfied I wold haue hym here a whyle to consider with me that we now speake of a Sacrament all the partes wherof ought to be referred to Faith But we do no lesse deintyly and plentifully feede Faith with this partakyng of the bodye which we haue declared than they that plucke Christe hymselfe oute of heauen In the meane tyme I plainly confesse that I refuse that mixture of the fleshe of Christ with our soule or the pouryng out of it suche as they teache because it suffiseth vs that Christ dothe out of the substance of his fleshe breathe life into our soules yea doth poure into vs his owne lyfe although the very flesh of Christ doth not entre into vs. Moreouer it is no doute that the proportion of Faith whereby Paule willeth vs to examine all

exposition of Scripture dothe in this behalfe very well agree with me As for them that speake agaynst so euident a truthe let them looke after what rule of faith they fashion themselues He that dothe not confesse that Iesus Christ is come in the fleshe is not of God These men althoughe they cloke it or marke it not doo spoile hym of his fleshe Of communicatyng is to be likewise thought whiche they acknowlege none vnlesse they deuoure the fleshe of Christe vnder bread But there is no small wrong done to the Holy ghost vnlesse we beleue that it is brought to passe by his incomprehensible power that we communicate with the fleshe and blood of Christ. Yea if the force of the mysterie such as it is taught of vs and as it was knowen to the old Chirch from fower hundred yeres agoe were weyed accordyng to the worthinesse of it there was enough and more wherupon we myght be satisfied the gate had ben shut against many fowle errors out of which haue ben kindled many horrible dissensions wherwith both in olde tyme and in our age the Chirche hath ben miserably vexed while curious men do enforce an excessiue maner of presence which the Scripture neuer sheweth And they turmoyle aboute a thyng fondly and rashely conceiued as if he enclosyng of Christ vnder bread were as the prouerbe is the prowe and poupe of godlinesse It principally behoued to know howe the body of Christ as it was ones deliuered for vs is made ours how we are made partakers of his blood that was shedde because this is to possesse whole Christ crucified that we may enioy all his good thyngs Nowe these thynges in which was so great importance beyng omitted yea neglected and in a maner buried this onely crabbed question pleaseth them howe the body of Christ lieth hidde vnder bread or vnder the forme of bread They falsly spread abrode that whatsoeuer we teache concernyng spirituall eatyng is contrarie to the true and eatyng as they call it because we haue respecte to nothyng but to the maner which among them is carnall whyle they enclose Christ in bread but to vs it is spirituall because the secrete power of the Spirite is the bonde of our conioynyng with Christ. No truer is that other obiection that we touche onely the frute or effecte which the faithfull take of the eating of the fleshe of Christ. For we haue said before that Christ himselfe is the substance of the Supper and that therupon foloweth the effect that by the sacrifice of his death we ar cleansed from sinnes by his blood we are washed by his resurrection we are raised vp into hope of the heauenly lyfe But the foolishe imagination whereof Lombarde was the author hath peruerted their myndes while they thinke that the eating of the fleshe of Christ is the Sacrament For thus sayth he The Sacrament and not the thyng are the formes of bread and wyne the sacrament and the thyng are the fleshe and blood of Christe the thyng and not the sacrament is his mysticall fleshe Agayne within a littell after The thyng signified and conteined is the propre fleshe of Christ the thyng signified and not conteyned is his mysticall body Wheras he maketh difference betwene the fleshe of Christ and the effectual power of norishyng wherwith it is endued I agree but whereas he faineth it to be a sacrament yea and conteined vnder bread it is an error not to be suffred Hereupon hath growen the false exposition of sacramentall eatyng because they haue thought that wicked men also and euell doers doo eate the fleshe of Christ howe muche soeuer they bee strangers from hym But the fleshe of Christ it selfe in the mysterie of the Supper is no lesse a spirituall thyng than eternall saluation Wherupon we gather that whosoeuer be voide of the Spirite of Christ can no more eate the fleshe of Christ than they can drinke wine wherwith is ioyned no taste Truely Christ is to haynously torne in sonder when that dead body and which hath no lyuely strength is geuen foorth in common to vnbeleuers and his expresse wordes are directly against it Whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood abideth in me and I in hym They answer that in that place is not entreated of the sacramental eatyng which I graunt so that they wyll not nowe and then stomble agaynst the same stone in sayeng that the fleshe it selfe is eaten without fruite But I would knowe of them howe long they hold it when they haue eaten it Here in my iudgement they shall haue no waye to gett out But they obiect that nothyng can bee withdrawen or faile of the promises of God by the vnthankfulnesse of men I graunt in dede and I say that the force of the mysterie remaineth whole howsoeuer wicked men doo as muche as in them lyeth endeuor to make it voyde Yet it is one thyng to be offred and an other thyng to be receiued Christ reacheth this spirituall meate and offreth this spirituall drinke to all men some do gredily eate of it some do lothingly refuse it shall these mens refusyng make the meate and the drynke to lose their nature They wil say that their opinioÌ„ is holpen by this similitude namely that the fleshe of Christ though it be vnsauorie is neuerthelesse his fleshe But I denie that it can be eaten without the taste of faith or if we list rather to speake as Augustine doth I say that men beare away no more of this sacrameÌ„t thaÌ„ thei gather with the vessel of faith So nothing is abated from the Sacrament yea the truth and effectualnesse therof remaineth vnminished although the wicked depart emptie froÌ„ the outward partakyng of it If they agayne obiect that this worde this is my bodye is diminished if the wicked receiue corruptible bread and nothyng ells we haue a solution ready that God will not be acknowen true in the receiuyng it selfe but in the stedfastnesse of his owne goodnesse when he is ready to geue yea liberally offreth to the vnworthy that whiche they refuse And this is the fulnesse of the Sacrament which the whole world can not breake that the flesh and blood of Christ is no lesse geuen to the vnworthy than to the chosen faithfull ones of God but therewithall it is true that as water lightyng vpon a hard stone falleth away because there is no entrie open into the stone so the wicked do with their hardnesse driue back the grace of God that it caÌ„ not perce into them Moreouer that Christ should be receiued without faith is no more agreeyng with reason than sede to bud in the fyre Wheras they aske how Christe is come to damnation to some vnlesse they receiue him vnworthily it is a very cold question forasmuch as we no where rede that meÌ„ do procure death to themselues by vnworthily receiuyng Christe but rather by refusing him Neither doth Christes parable helpe them where he saith that sede groweth vp among thornes

and afterwarde beyng choked is marred because he there entreateth of what value the faith is whiche endureth but for a tyme which they do not think to be necessary to the eatyng of Christes flesh and drinkyng of his blood that in this behalfe do make Iudas egally felow with Peter But rather by the same parable their error is coÌ„futed where Christ saith that some sede falleth in the hie waie other some vpon stones neither of them taketh roote WherupoÌ„ foloweth that to the vnbeleuers their owne hardnesse is a let the Christ atteineth not to them Whosoeuer desireth to haue our saluation holpen by this mysterie shall fynde nothyng fitter than that the faithfull being led to the very fountaine shold draw life out of the SoÌ„ne of God But the dignitie of it is honorably enough set out when we keepe in mynde that it is a helpe wherby we be graffed into the body of Christ or beyng graffed do more and more growe together till he do fully make hymself one with vs in the heauenly lyfe They obiect that Paule ought not to haue made them giltie of the body and blood of Christ vnlesse they wer partakers of them But I answer that they ar not therfore condemned because they haue eaten them but only because they haue prophaned the mysterie in treadyng vnder feete the pledge of the holye conioynyng with God which they ought reuerently to receiue Now because Augustine among the old writers chiefly hath affirmed that article of doctrine that nothyng is abated from the Sacraments nor the grace which they figure is made void by the infidelite or noughtinesse of men it shal be profitable to proue clerely by his owne wordes how vnfittly peruersly they do draw that to this present cause which cast the body of Christ to dogges to eate The sacramentall eating after their opinion is wherby the wicked receiue the body blood of Christ without the power of the Spirit or any effect of grace Augustine coÌ„trariwise weyeng wisely those words He that eateth my flesh drinketh my blood shal not die for euer saieth Namely the power of the sacrament not only the visible sacrament verily within not without he that eateth it with harte not he that presseth it with tooth Whereupon at length he concludeth that the sacrameÌ„t of this thing that is to say of the vnitie of the body blood of Christ is set before men in the Supper of the Lorde to some vnto life to some vnto destruction but the thing it selfe wherof it is a sacrament to al men vnto life to none vnto destruction whosoeuer be partaker of it That none shold here cauill that the thing is called not the body but the grace of the Spirit which may be seuered froÌ„ the body the coÌ„trarie comparison betwene these two wordes of addition Uisible Inuisible driueth away al these mystes for vnder the first of them can not be coÌ„prehended the body of Christ. Wherupon foloweth that the vnbeleuers do communicate only of the visible signe And that al douting may be better taken away after that he had said that this bread requireth the hunger of the inward man he addeth Moses Aaron and Phinees many other that dyd eate Manna pleased God Why so because the spirituall meate they spiritually vnderstoode spiritually hungred spirituallye tasted that they myghte bee spiritually fylled For we also at this daye haue receiued spiritual meat but the Sacrament is one thyng and the power of the sacrament is an other A litle after And by this he that abideth not in Christ and in whom Christ abideth not without doute neither eateth spiritually his fleshe nor drinketh his blood though carnally and visibly he presseth with teeth the signe of the body and blood We heare agayne that the visible signe is set in coÌ„parison as contrary to spiritual eating Wherby the error is coÌ„futed that the body of Christ inuisible is in dede eaten sacrameÌ„tally though not spiritually We heare also that nothing is grauÌ„ted to prophane vncleane meÌ„ beside the visible receiuyng of the signe Hereupon cometh his famous sayeng that the other disciples did eate the bred the Lord but Iudas did eate the bread of the Lord wherin he plainly excludeth the vnbeleuers froÌ„ the partakyng of the body blood Neither tendeth it to any other end which he sayth in an other place What meruailest thou if to Iudas was geueÌ„ the bread of Christ by which he might be made bond to the deuel when thou seest on the coÌ„trary side that to Paul was geuen the angel of the deuell by whome he might be made perfect in Christ He saith verily in an other place that the bread of the Supper was the body of Christ to them to whom Paule said He that eateth vnworthily eateth and drinketh iugement to himselfe and that they haue not therfore nothyng because they haue receiued noughtily But in what sense he declareth more fully in an other place For takyng in hand purposely to define howe the wicked euell doers which professe the christian faith with mouth but with dedes do deny it do eate the body of Christ and that against the opinion of some which thought that thei did not eate in sacrameÌ„t only but in very dede But neither saith he ought it to be said that they eate the body of Christ because thei ar not to be reckned among the membres of Christ. For to speake nothing of the rest they can not together be the meÌ„bers of Christ and the membres of a harlot Finally where himselfe saith He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood abideth in me and I in hym he sheweth what it is not sacramentally but in very dede to eate the bodye of Christ. For this is to abide in Christ that Christ may abyde in him For he so sayd this as though he had sayde he that abydeth not in me and in whom I abide not let hym not say or thinke that he dothe eate my body or drynke my blood Let the readers weye the thynges sett as contraries in the comparison to eate SacrameÌ„tally and in Uery dede and there shall remaine no dout He confirmeth the same no lesse plainly in these wordes Prepare not your iawes but your hart Herupon is this Supper commended Loe we beleue in Christ when we receiue by faith in receiuyng we know what to thinke We receiue a little and are fatted in hart Therfore not that which is sene but that which is beleued dothe fede Here also that whiche the wicked receiue he restraineth to the visible signe and teacheth that Christ is none otherwise receiued than by Faith So also in an other place pronouÌ„cyng expressly that the good and the euell do communicate together in the signes he excludeth the euell from the true eatyng of the fleshe of Christ. For if they receyued the thing it self he wold not vtterly haue left that vnspoken which was more fitt for his

owne exaÌ„ple that we shoulde mutually dedicate deliuer our selues one to an other but in so much as he maketh himselfe common to al he maketh al vs also one in himselfe But hereby is that very well confirmed whiche I haue sayd in an other place that the true ministration of the Sacramente standeth not without the worde For whatsoeuer profit commeth to vs of the Supper requireth the worde whether we be to be coÌ„firmed in Faith or to be exercised in confessioÌ„ or to be stirred vp to dutie praier is nedeful Therfore nothing can be more disorderly done in the Supper than if it be turned to a dumme actioÌ„ as hath ben done vnder the tyranny of the Pope For they would haue the whole force of consecration to hang vpon the intent of the Prest as though this nothing perteined to the people to whom it most of all behoued that the mysterie shoulde be declared But therupon hath growen this error that they marked not that those promises wherw t the consecration is made are directed not to the elemeÌ„tes theÌ„selues but to them that receiue them But Christe speaketh not to the bred that it may be made his body but coÌ„mauÌ„deth his disciples to eate and promiseth to them the communicating of hys body and blood And none other order doth Paul teach than that together with the bred and the cup the promises should be offred to the faythful Thus it is truely We ought not here to imagine any magical enchauntment that it be sufficient to haue muÌ„bled vp the wordes as though the elemeÌ„tes did heare them but let vs vnderstande that those wordes are a liuely preaching whiche maye edifie the hearers which may inwardly pearce into their myndes whiche may be emprinted and settled in their hartes which maye shewe fourth effectualnesse in the fulfilling of that which it promiseth By these reasons it clerely appeareth that the layeng vp of the SacrameÌ„t which many do earnestly require that it may be extraordinarily distributed to the sicke is vnprofitable For either they shal receiue it wtout rehersing of the institutioÌ„ of Christe or the minister shall together with the signe ioyne the true declaration of the mysterie In silence is abuse and fault If the promises be rehersed and the mysterie declared that they which shal receiue it maye receiue it with frute there is no cause why we shoulde doute that thys is the true consecration To what ende then wil that other consecration come the force wherof commeth not so farr as to the sicke men But they that doe so haue the example of the olde Chirch I graunt but in so great a mater and in which we erre not without greate danger nothing is safer than to folow the truth it selfe Now as we see that thys holy bred of the Supper of the Lord is spiritual meate no lesse swete and delicate than healthful to the godly worshippers of God by the taste wherof they fele the Christ is their lyfe whom it rayseth vp to thankesgeuing to whome it is an exhortation to mutuall charitie among themselues so on the other side it is turned into a moste noysome poyson to all them whoe 's Fayth it doth not nourishe and confirme and whom it doth not stirre vp to confession of praise and to charitie For as bodily meate when it fyndeth a stomach possessed with euill humors being it selfe also therby made euil and corrupted doth rather hurt than nourish so thys spiritual meate if it lighte vpon a soule defiled with malice and noughtinesse throweth it down hedlong wyth greater fal verily not by the fault the meate it selfe but because to defyled and vnbeleuing meÌ„ nothing is cleane though otherwise it be neuer so muche sanctified by the blessing of the Lorde For as Paule sayth they that eate and drynke vnworthily are gylty of the body and blood of the Lorde and do eate and drinke iugement to themselues not discerning the body of the Lorde For suche kynde of men as without any sparcle of Fayth without any zele of charitie do thrust theÌ„selues fourth lyke swyne to take the Supper of the Lorde doe not discerne the bodye of the Lorde For insomuche as they doe not beleue that that body is their life they doe as muche as in them lyeth dishonor it spoiling it of al the dignitie therof and finally in so receiuing it they prophane and defyle it But in so much as being estranged and disagreyng from their brethren they dare myngle the holye sygne of the bodye of Christe with their disagreementes it is no thanke to them that the body of Christ is not rent in sonder and limmemeale torne in peces And so not vnworthily they are gyltie of the body and blood of the Lorde whiche they do with vngodlinesse ful of sacrilege so fowly defile Therfore by thys vnworthy eating they take to themselues damnation For wheras they haue no Fayth reposed in Christ yet receiuing the Sacramente they professe that there is saluation for them no where ells thaÌ„ in him and do forswere al other affiance Wherefore they themselues are accusers to themselues they themselues pronounce witnesse againste themselues and they themselues seale their own damnation Againe when they being with hatred and euil wil diuided and drawen in soÌ„der from their brethren that is from the members of Christe haue no parte in Christ yet they do testifie that this is the only saluation to coÌ„municate with Christe and to be made one with him For this cause Paule commaundeth that a man proue himselfe before that he eate of this bred or drinke of this cup. Wherby as I expounde it he meant that euery man should descende into himselfe and weye with himselfe whether he doe with inwarde affiance of hart rest vpon the saluatioÌ„ which Christ hath purchaced whether he acknowlege it with confession of mouth then whether he do with desirous endeuor of innocence and holinesse aspire to the folowing of Christ whether after his example he be redy to geue himselfe to his brethren and to coÌ„municate himselfe to them with whoÌ„ he hath Christ common to hym whether as he himselfe is accompted of Christ he do likewise on his behalfe take al his brethren for members of his own body whether he couet to cherishe defende and helpe them as his own members Not for that these duties both of Fayth and charitie can now be perfect in vs but because we ought to endeuor this and with all our desires to long towarde it that we may daily more and more encrease our Fayth begonne Commonly when they goe about to prepare men to such worthinesse of eating they haue in cruell wise tormented and vexed poore consciences and yet they brought neuer a whit of all those thinges that myghte serue to the purpose They sayd that those did eate worthily which were in state of grace To be in state of grace they expounded to be pure and cleansed from al sinne By which doctrine all the men that

be dayly sacrificed that he may somewhat profit vs. The Supper shoulde haue bene distributed in the coÌ„mon assemblie of the Chirch that it might enforme vs of the communion whereby we all cleaue together in Christ Iesus The sacrifice of the Masse dissolueth and plucketh in sonder this coÌ„munitie For after that the error grew in force that there must be sacrificers that shold sacrifice for the people the Supper of the Lord as though it were posted ouer to them cessed to be coÌ„municated to the coÌ„gregatioÌ„ of the faithful according to the commaundement of the Lord. An entrie was made open to priuate Masses which might rather resemble a certaine excommunication than that same communitie ordeined of the Lorde when â—â—pety sacrificer wylling seuerally by hym selfe to deuoure his sacrifice doothe seuer hymselfe from the whole people of the faithfull I call priuate Masse least any man be deceiued wheresoeuer there is no partaking of the Lordes Supper among the faithful although otherwise a great multitude of men be present And whense the very name of Masse first sprong I could neuer certainly iudge sauyng that it semeth to me likely that it was taken of the offringes that were geuen Whereupon the olde writers vse it commonly in the plural number But to leaue stryuyng about the name I saye that priuate Masses are directly against the ordinance of Christe and therfore they are a wicked prophanyng of the holy Supper For what hath the Lorde commaunded vs not to take and diuide it among vs What maner of obseruyng of the commaundement doth Paule teache not the breaking of bread which is the communion of the body blood Therfore wheÌ„ one taketh it without distributing what liknesse is there But that same one maÌ„ doth it in the name of the whole Chirch By what coÌ„maundement Is not this openly to mocke God when one maÌ„ priuatly taketh to hym selfe that which ought not to haue ben done but amoÌ„g many But bicause the wordes of Christ Paul ar plain enough we may brefely coÌ„clude that whersoeuer is not breaking of bread to the coÌ„munion of the faithful there is not the Supper of the Lord but a false and wrongfull counterfaiting of the Supper But a false counterfaityng is a corrupting Now the corrupting of so great a mysterie is not without wickednesse Therfore in priuate Masses is a wicked abuse And as one fault in religion from time to tyme bredeth an other after that that maner of offring without communion was ones crept in by litle and litle they beganne in euery corner of Chirches to make innumerable Masses diuersly to draw the people hether and thether which should haue come together into one assemblie that they might reknowlege the mysterie of their owne vnitie Now let them goe and deny it to be ydolatrie that in their Masses they shew forth bread to be worshipped in stede of Christ. For in vaine they bost of those promises of the presence of Christ which howsoeuer they be vnderstode verily wer not geueÌ„ to this purpose that wicked and prophane men so oft as they will and to whatsoeuer abuse they list may make the body of Christ but that the faithfull when wyth religious obseruation they do in Celebrating of the Supper follow the commaundement of Christ may enioy the true partaking of him Beside that this peruersnesse was vnknoweÌ„ to the purer Chirch For howsoeuer the more shamelesse sort among our aduersaries do here goe about to disguise the mater with false colors yet it is moste sure that all antiquitie is against them as we haue afore proued in other things it may more certeinly be iudged by the coÌ„tinual reding of old writers But ere I make an ende of speaking of it I aske our Massing doctors sithe they knowe that obedience is more estemed of God than oblations and that he more requireth that his voice be harkened to thaÌ„ that sacrifices be offred how they beleue that this maner of sacrificing is acceptable to God whereof they haue no certaine commaundement and which they see not to be allowed by any one syllable of the Scripture Moreouer when they heare the Apostle say that no maÌ„ taketh to himself the name honor of sacrificing presthode but he that is called as AaroÌ„ was yea that Christ himself did not thrust in himself but obeyd the calling of his father either they must bring forth God the author ordeiner of their sacrificing presthod or they must coÌ„fesse that the honor is not of God into which they have with wicked rashnes brokeÌ„ in vncalled But they caÌ„ not shew one tittle of a letter that mainteineth their sacrificing presthod Why therfore shal not their sacrifices vanish away which caÌ„ not be offred without a prest If any maÌ„ do thrust in short senteÌ„ces of the old writers gathered here there and do by their authoritie trauail to proue that the sacrifice which is done in the Supper is far otherwise to be vnderstaÌ„ded thaÌ„ we do expound it let him be brefly answered thus if the question be of allowyng the forged deuise of sacrifice suche as the Papistes haue fayned in the Masse the old writers do neuer speake in defeÌ„se of such sacrilege They do in dede vse the worde Sacrifice but therwithal they expounde that they meane nothing ells but the remembrance of that true and onely sacrifice which Christ our only sacrificing preste as they eche where report of him made on the crosse The Hebrues sayeth Augustine in the sacrifices of beastes which they offred to God did celebrate a prophecie of the sacrifice to come which Christ offred the Christians doe with the holy oblation and partaking of the body of Christe celebrate a remembrance of the sacrifice alredy made Here verily he teacheth altogether the same thing which is written in moe wordes in the boke of Fayth to Peter the Deacon whosoeuer be the author of it The words be these Beleue most stedfastly and dout not at al that the only begotteÌ„ himself being made fleshe for vs offred himselfe for vs a sacrifice and oblation to God into a sauor of swetenesse to whoÌ„ with the Father and the Holy ghoste in the tyme of the olde testamente beastes were sacrificed and to whom now with the Father and the Holy ghost with whoÌ„ he hath one Godhed the holy Chirch throughout the whole world cesseth not to offer the sacrifice of bred and wyne For in those fleshly sacrifices was a figuring of the fleshe of Christ which he should offer for our sinnes and of hys blood which he should shed to the forgeuenesse of synnes But in this sacrifice is thankesgeuing rehearsal of the fleshe of Christ whiche he offered for vs and of his blood whiche the same he hath shed for vs. Wherupon Augustine himselfe in many places expoundeth it to be nothing ells but a sacrifice of prayse Finally you shal commonly fynde in him that the Supper of the Lord is for no other

Selected quad for the lemma: body_n

Text snippets containing the quad