stomacke that we might be able to digest it and to be nourished and susteined by it Minister I perceiue Eusebius that you were not in sleepe at my sermon who doe so faithfullie rehearse what you haue heard O that it might please God that all the rest of my auditours woulde bee so attentiue and had so great and singular desire to make profite by the worde as I verilie beleeue you haue But the further I proceede in my excercise I haue the better experience that for the most part they are so cold and carelesse that I am constrained to complaine of them and to shew you my griefe in that behalfe Eusebius If I be diligent to learne the worde of God and in anie small measure capable of the knowledge thereof I am bounde to render vnto him all praise and thankes and to confesse that without his Spirite of my owne nature I shoulde haue as litle taste and feeling thereof as the most carnall and earthlie manne in the worlde But to the ende we do not discontinue and breake off our former matter if memorie faile not for a further and more full declaration of the mysterie whereof we do now intreate to the former similitude of sainct Augustine you ioyned another taken from the bodie of man the members whereof cannot by any meanes haue part of the life which springeth proceedeth from the soule remaining in the bodie except they be vnited and ioyned with it no more is it possible for vs to be quickened by this fulnesse of the Godheade which as sainct Paul saieth dwelleth bodily in Iesus Christ Coloss 2. and giueth life to the whole Church except we be members of his bodie flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Minister You haue sufficientlie declared how the humanitie and flesh of Iesus Christ is the meane of our life But as concerning Faith whereof the Prophet and Apostle haue written Abac. 2. Rom. 1. that the iust shall liue by it how are we to vnderstand this point Euseb I said at the first that there is no life without God and next that there is no God without Iesus Christ nowe I saie following the like course that there is no Iesus Christ without Faith for by Faith we rcceiue him as Sainct Iohn witnesseth Iohn 1. and he commeth to dwell in our hearts as Sainct Paul writeth to the Ephesians Ephes 3. by Faith which he confirmeth by his owne mouth saying If anie man loue me he wil keepe my word and my Father will loue him and we will come vnto him and will dwell with him For the vnion which we haue with him is spirituall and like to that which is betweene the husbande and the wife For euen as they be ioyned and coupled together for euer by mutuall promises and by that faith and truth wherin those promises are mutuallie accepted notwithstanding that their bodies do change neither the outward shape forme ne yet their natural kind and sexe and that for this coupling and knitting of man and wife it is not required or meant that both of thē shold visibly become one body like as wine and water being mingled together in one cuppe or vessel so to marrie and to ioyne vs to Iesus Christ it is not needeful that our bodies shold be bound in one with his bodie as we see the members of one bodie are bound together by the muscles cordes sinewes and gristles of the same which happening it would be the most monstrous thing that a man could imagine to be in nature But the chiefe and onelie matter is that those promises which he maketh vnto vs namely to comfort vs if we wil come vnto him to defend vs to saue to quicken vs to redeeme vs to raise vs vp from the dead to pardon vs and such like that his promises I saie be beleeued of vs and firmelie perswaded that wee like and accept of them and haue assurance in them promisinge vnto him in like manner on our behalfes that we acknowledge none other then him alone for our King and Priest our sheppard and our Prophet that we wil heare no other voice or doctrine but his that for our satisfaction remission and saluation we wil vse no other sacrifice thē that which is once offered for vs that we wil chuse none other Aduocate or Attornie then him when we would be recommended in anie of our necessities to the good grace and fauor and ayde of his Father that for our defence and safegard against the euil spirit and against al other our enemies we wil haue recourse and put our whol affiance in his powre and strength and to be breife that we wil not hold our life and our whole felicitie of any other then of him In these promises giuen taken and kept of both parties consisteth the alliance and league that we haue with Iesus Christ And euen as a woman that is lawfullie married to an husband misdoubteth not albeit her husband abide at Constantinople and she at Paris that notwithstanding the sundring of their bodies and greate distance betweene the places where they abide they are neuerthelesse one flesh and that there is a perfect coniunction betweene them and such a bonde and knot of friendship as is not to be loosed so albeit that Christ Iesus be in heauen and we vpon the earth we ought certeinely to be perswaded that after the marriage made betweene him and vs by the meane of Faith wherein we haue accepted his foresaide promises we are one with him and that this vnion is nothing impeached by the difference of places where we abide and continue Minist Then your meaning is that Faith is not the cause of our life but inasmuch as it doth marrie vs to Iesus Christ by whom we are afterwarde ledde and conducted euen to God with whom we finde all the happinesse that we can aske and desire This is verie well meant and vnderstoode of you But what will you say to that which Sainct Paul hath written touching the word of the Gospel Rom. 1. that it is the power of God vnto saluation to all beleeuers Euseb Sainct Paul saieth so because there is no Faith without the worde no more then there is Iesus Christ without Faith Rom. 10. for Faith commeth by hearing hearing by the word of God And to this purpose is the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments By the one the Spirite of God inspireth and planteth Faith in our hearts by the other he confirmeth and establisheth the same to the end that by this meane being made the members of Iesus Christ we might draw nearer vnto God and liue in him Minist Then the sum of al that you haue hitherto discoursed is that our blessed estate eternal life is to possesse God and to possesse him to be members of Iesus Christ and to be his members to haue Faith and to haue Faith that the Gospell be preached and the Sacraments administred
great lamentation deuised sharpe inuectiues against the Iewes Pontius Pilate Herod Iudas and those that had executed and put to death Iesus Christ yet in the meane time flattered themselues gloried in their merites and considered not narrowlie that Iudas Pontius Pilate and Herod were none other then the executours and ministers of their impieties and offences Let vs consider therefore in the breaking of the bread that our sinnes yea the sinnes of euerie one of vs in particular haue crucified the Sonne of God and haue broken him with the paines of the first and second death And euen so is it preciselie witnessed in the Supper that the bodie of Iesus Christ was broken for vs and that his blood was shedde for the remission of our sinnes And our heauenlie Father himselfe doth testifie the same by the mouth of his Prophet Isaiah saying Isa 63. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was broken for our iniquities Now if it be so that our sinnes being weyed in the balance of God his iustice are found to be of so greâ—t consequence and importance that his anger and displeasure conceiued against vs can by no meanes be appeased but by the death of his onelie Sonne yea by the cruel and shamefull death vpon the crosse by which alone satisfaction is per 〈…〉 ed why should we not hencefoorth abhor 〈…〉 ur sinnes wickednesse the cruell and bloodie murtherers of the onely Sonne of God Behold the Sunne the Moone the elements the vaile of the Temple the stones rockes were mooued at the death of Iesus Christ and shewed tokens of sorow heauinesse and shal not we which beare about vs the cause of this death abhorre so foule euil-fauored and vnfortunate a guest who hath taken vp his lodging in our heartes and shall we suffer him to abide or rather to dwel within vs vntill he haue brought euerlasting death into his lodging No verely But contrariwise we ought to esteeme him most detestable as one that first did set vp a wall of separation between vs and God our souereigne happinesse and as one that hath caused vs to loose that image and resemblance of God whereunto at the first we were created It is he that hath defiled vs within and without it is he that hath spoyled vs of our holines and righteousnes it is he that hath driuen chased vs out of Paradise it is he that hath brought vs in bondage to the tyrany of the Deuil it is he that hath made vs subiect to pouertie and sicknesse and finally to the first and second death It is he that after he had barred and diuided vs from God caused vs to see our filthines and brought vpon vs shame blacke reproch that caused vs to tremble at the voice of our God which before was to our eares most sweete amiable It is he by whom the wrath of God is heaped vp against al mankind which is in cause that the earth becoÌ„meth barren and bringeth forth thorns and bryers that women do labour and bring foorth children in sorowe and that men eate their bread with the sweate of their face trauaile of their bodies Now seeing that sin doth bring vpon vs continually so many euils mischiefes it followeth that we ought to retire withdraw our selues from it except we will be voluntarie hinderers and enemies of our happines saluation And heere I call into presence al such as wallowing in al kind of sinne and wickednesse and giuing occasion of grieuous offence to the children of God are neuerthelesse so shamelesse as they dare presume to present themselues at the Lord his table I would haue them to answere what it is that they promised to God to his church in their Baptisme They wil saie they promised to forsake the Deuill and al his works Euen so but sinne is one of the cheife and principall workes of the Deuill why then do they not abstaine from it why are they trayterous and disloyal to God and to his Church why haue they conspired with the Deuil the world and the flesh against their owne saluation how dare they present themselues before God to craue pardon remission of their sinnes at his hands seeing that from time to time they doe heape sinne vpon sinne and outragiouslie crucifie again as much as in them lyeth the Sonne of God or at the least deride the purgation of his blood which was applyed to them in Baptisme Let the case be of an offendor beggerly needy and destitute of al helpe succour that he were fallen into a fowle and filthie bogge whereout by his owne strength wit he could not escape and of a King his sonne passing by the said place that he tooke the paines to draw him out of this myrie hole that he made him cleane and that he decked him richlie with braue and costly attire If this miseralbe wretch shal returne againe into this pit of filth mire defiling therein both his bodie his garments and further placing his life in extremity of danger maie we not iustlie thinke him to be vnthankful aboue measure and carelesse of that princelie bountie and humilitie On the other side maie we not boldlie affirme that he hath wittingly willingly taken an othe as it were against his owne life and safetie and that he is worthy to come to ruine and to perish without al helpe and succour Like is the case betweene vs and Iesus Christ We are al fallen into the fowle pit of sinne in the person of Adam we are al offendors before God worthie of innumerable gibets we cannot of our selues by any meanes possible get out of this pit of our destruction into the which we are fallen by our owne defaulte and follie The Sonne of God the King of Kings the Lord of Lords not onelie draweth vs out of this filthy pit but washeth vs cleane also with his pretious blood vouchsafeth to cloath vs with his owne garment of righteousnesse innocencie If we fall to tumble and to wallow againe in the pit of sinne if we please our selues therein if we defile and stayne the garment of innocencie which he gaue vs in Baptisme cleane and vnspotted do we not manifestlie contemne the loue and the benefit of Iesus Christ not able no be valued esteemed are we not worthie to rot an hundred thousand times in our vncleannesse or rather with the Deuill in hell to gnash our teeth for euer It is out of al controuersie Then sith it is so that the end of our redemption Baptisme iustification requireth that we should abstaine from sinne so farre as is possible and the fraylenes of mans nature can permit it behooueth vs to employ al our paine diligence by the mightie power of the Spirit of God to driue out of our soules bodies al vncleannes filthines idolatrie blasphemie rebellion hatred murther whoredome stealing vsurie and al other things contrarie to his holy
of the Lord his supper by the imperfection and weakenesse of our Faith prouided allwaies that the same be vnfeined and that we acknowledging the basenesse and weakenesse thereof do praie vnto God to haue it augmented and increased by the working of his holie Spirite and also that to this end we vse the meanes that he hath left to be vsed Minist It is sufficient that we beleeue that Iesus Christ by his obedience hath purchased vnto vs the grace of God and in this grace and fauour hath gotten vs righteousnesse and life and that by his crosse he making satisfaction for our sinnes hath appeased his wrath and hath freed vs from the danger of death and of the cursse Euseb No syr but when we haue beleeued thus much we must be well assured that we are receiued into the communion of this obedience satisfaction when we receiue the bread and the wine which are presented vnto vs in the supper And for the last and most principall point we must beleeue that we are made one and incorporate with Iesus Christ and allowed of him of his Father not onely for his flocke his disciples his brethren and friends but also for members of his bodie and flesh of his flesh Out of which point we may drawe matter of singular and manifold comforts and consolations For by this meane we are sure that so long as we continue in this vnion we cannot be condemned ne kept holden in the bands of death no more then he himselfe and that the prince of this world hath no more part in vs or power ouer vs then he hath in or ouer him and that righteousnes and life are as well inseparable from vs as from him and that we are coheires with him of all the honor of his kingdome that where he is there we shal be of necessitie not impeacheable by al the power and practises of the Deuill Minist I haue two questions to aske you touching that you said euen now of the participation that we haue in the humanitie of Iesus Christ when we do take and eate the bread in the supper The first is whither that before the bread is giuen vnto vs we be not already vnited vnto him and if we be what profit we can receaue by the supper Euseb It is necessarie that by Faith we be ioyned vnto him before we come vnto the table otherwise we should be wholie vnworthy and yet we come that we maie be yet more neerelie knit in one with him For euen as two diuers things when they be tyed bound together with a corde maie be yet tied with another and if a man would vse an hundred cordes to that purpose it might be verie well saied that they are still tied together more and more so albeit that we by baptisme and Faith wherein we heare and obey the word of God are allied vnto him and ingrafted in the bodie of Iesus Christ yet that is no hinderance but that by the supper when we do celebrate it this alliance is renued and more more confirmed Minist What needeth it that we haue so manie assurances of pledges tokens to confirme the agreement that he hath made with vs for it might be gathered hereupon that he should be a deceiuer or inconstant that we therefore could not be to sure and to warie in our dealing with him Euseb The word of God is eternall and the effect thereof most sure and certeine euen as he being the speaker is euerlasting and vnchangeable his gifts and his callings without repentance neither is our vnbeliefe able to make the Faith or truth of God of no effect Yea as S. Paull saieth the veritie of God is more aboundant through our lying vnto his glorie Therefore the reason why he sweareth and sealeth his promises with a double seale after they be made is not for that they are of theire nature doubtful vncerteine but because our hearts are so full of suspicion and wicked distrust that we will neuer take his bare word for sufficient assurance yea we will hardlie trust him with all the solemnities of swearing signes and sealing that are vsed of him for our warrant in this behalfe Minist Herein the frowardnes and wretchednesse of our nature is the more apparant For we can be content to rest our selues wholie vpon the dreames and conceipt of our owne vaine and foolish wisdome or vpon the bare word of a mortall man by nature a lyar and euerie moment changeable yea diuerse times not proouing and seeing vpon what ground what reason and apparance it is either conceiued or deliuered Nay we go further then so for all the errors lyes fooleries illusions dreames and vaine visions that the Deuill can forge to destroy and seduce from God we receiue both without anie difference or difficultie and also without anie reasoning or debating of their nature or of their end I will saie more that if God were on the one side telling vs one thing and Satan on the other affirming the contrarie this Father of lies and prince of darknesse will finde more credit and faith with vs then God shall finde with all his truth and light And hereof we haue long agone seene and knowne the wofull experience of our first parents who being wiser and better then all their children that came after them onelie Iesus Christ excepted were soone and easely perswaded the verie contrarie to that which God had spoken yea by the serpent being but a beast and vsing no great and long discourse or manie words to confirme his sayings And that which maketh me to marueile to detest the more our malice herein is that we are so readie to receiue and beleeue whatsoeuer this wicked abuser and deceiuer of mankinde is able to put into our eares to our destructiō though he haue no reason or argument to proue his purpose that on the cōtrary we are so slow to allow that which God doth tel vs confirmeth by so many oathes signes witnesses miracles that we might be saued But I will leaue that matter to ask you another doubt to wit whither the vniō whereof you haue spoken which we haue with Iesus Christ be of our bodies or of our soules and minds onelie and whither we are to go vp into heauen from the earth where we abide or he is to come downe from heauen where he remaineth that we may be ioyned and coupled together Euseb You propound a question vnto me which in these dayes much troubleth and exerciseth the heads of manie men yet me thinketh that a man of a modest and sober minde that seeketh not to be contentious might satisfie himselfe with so much as you haue taught vs in that point that is to wit that the vnion is corporall and of the bodies but the meane is spirituall euen as the vniting together of man and wife which is the fittest comparison that can in this case be vsed and alledged Their bodies are vnited
twelfth is that if Iesus Christ were bodilie eaten there were no necessitie to prooue to examin our Faith or our conscience when we would prepare our selues to the eating of his supper but onelie our teeth to wit whither they were sharpe and able enough to chew it and the stomach to see whither it were apt to digest it as we do in all other corporall meats The thirteenth is that we eate the flesh and drinke the blood of Iesus Christ euen in the selfe same maner as the Apostles haue done long before vs. But they did not eate the same corporallie for so men might haue seene the Apostles eating his bodie with their bodilie eies euen as wel as they did see his body before them when he ministred the same vnto them Now we must inferre that no more do we eate his flesh corporallie If anie will saie that God by a miracle prouideth that this eating be not discerned with bodilie eies to the end it should not be abhorred I answeare that in this case the onelie conceipte and inward imagination were sufficient as we reade of S. Peter who in a vision abhorred the eating of those creatures Act. 10. that were in the law forbidden to be eaten The fourteenth is that it is plainelie forbidden in Genesis Gen. 6. To eate flesh with the life thereof that is with the blood thereof Whereupon it may be inferred that Iesus Christ who is not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law hath not enioyned vs a thing so strictlie forbidden euen more abhominable then murther And the reason alleaged by S. Augustine to shew that al the places wherin Iesus Christ doth exhort his disciples to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood are vsed by waie of figured and shadowed speaches I wil turne the place of S. Augustine in his booke of Christian doctrine to the end that the readers maie vnderstand his iudgement in this matter If there be anie sentence or anie manner of speach in the Scripture saith he that seemeth to commaund anie outrage or wickednesse or contrarily to forbid any bountifull and liberall action the same is spoken by waie of a figure But this sentence following Ioh. 9. Except you eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his blood ye haue no life in you seemeth to commaund an horrible and detestable case wherefore it followeth that this is a figure by the which he commaundeth vs to be partakers and to haue communion in the death and passion of the Lord and for the profit and comfort of our consciences to enclose this point within the most secret corners of our memorie that his humanitie was crucified and wounded for our cause This is S. Augustine his iudgement which I haue turned word for word The fifteenth is that we cannot receiue the corporal eating of the flesh of Iesus Christ but we must admit alow his bodie to be infinite which thing entirely derogateth from the truth of his nature and by the same meanes vtterly ouerthroweth the chiefest grounds most principall foundations of our Faith For except we beleeue him to haue bin man and the sonne of man in al things our sinnes and imperfections onely reserued like vnto vs whereupon shall we build our assurance and persuasion that he hath redeemed and ransomed our nature and that he is our high priest which hath compassion vpon all our infirmities Further it maie be alleadged that we cannot deuise to speake any thing more fauourable and auaileable for the herises of Marcion and Apollinaris the one of whom maintained that the body of Iesus Christ was a fantastique bodie and the other said that it was an heauenlie bodie as the foresaid corporall eating of the flesh of Iesus Christ is heauenlie The sixteenth is that if we eate the flesh of Iesus Christ bodilie the substance of our bodies must of necessitie be augmented therebie and nourished euen as it is by other corporall meates that we receaue a thing wholie and altogether contrarie to experience for the bodies of the faithfull notwithstanding the eating onely of his flesh drinking of his blood must of necessitie perish and wither awaie except they be nourished and preserued by some other food or else by some other meane The seuenteenth is that as we doe not eate corporall meates spirituallie euen so we can not eate according to this proportion things spirituall carnallie The eighteenth is That if we eate the flesh of Iesus Christ corporallie so little a bodie as his was being so broken in peices and parted should not suffice so manie as by eating were made partakers thereof Wherefore we may safely inferre vpon all these reasons that the meane whereby we are ioyned to Iesus Christ is spirituall and that by Faith wrought in vs by the power of the Spirite we do eate his flesh and drinke his blood that is to say that we are vnited and ingrafted in his bodie and more and more lincked and allied vnto him And so saith Sainct Augustine verie plainelie writing vpon the 26. Psalme Behold saith that holie father our pledge and our assurance that we by Faith Hope and Charitie are for euer ioyned to our head in heauē as he by diuinitie bountie vnion is with vs vpon the earth euen vnto the worlds end And vpon the 30. Psa Whole Christ is the head with the bodie the heade is the sauiour of the bodie the head I say which is already ascended vp into heauen and the body is the church which yet doth labour and is sore troubled heere vpon the earth Now if the bodie had not bin ioyned and bounde to the head with a chaine of Charitie that of the head bodie there might be made but one he would neuer haue spoken from heauen in this manner rebuking that persecutour Saul Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 22. Minist Then this ioyning is not after the manner of things natural or conteined and circunscribed and enclosed in any place as the ioyning together of two stones in one place with lime and sand or of two peeces of wood the one to the other with glew but it is a diuine and mysticall ioyning as you haue sufficientlie declared and what maner of faith we ought to bring with vs when we come to celebrate the Supper Now if it please you I would haue you to proceede to shew me in like manner what manner of Charitie is required Euseb We maie carrie no hatred ne anie euill affection in our heart against our neighbour but forget and pardon one another all such iniuries and offences as being remembred might breake or otherwise offende that mutuall friendship which ought to compasse in and enclose the whole bodie of the Church And yet thus much is not sufficient but we must moreouer reknowledge our selues to bee brethren and the sonnes of one father and members not only of one bodie but also of another haue but one heart one soule and