remission of our sinnes And yet heereby it is most euident that the bodie and bloode of Christ in respect of this their estate and condition are the bodie and blood of his that expresly by the words of the institution we are heere to seeke for and to feede vpon How can this then be otherwise but as we teach by calling heereby to our remembrance that once most certainely they were thus handled for vs and by beleeuing that therby our saluation was wrought which as oft as we doe we are fed and nourished therewith to eternall life Thus then you see the matter in hand the Analogie of faith and good manners and not onely other Scriptures but the verie words of the institution lead strongly to the maintenāce of our expositiō of Christs words in the institution of this Sacrament and to the vtter ouerthrow of theirs And truely the ancient Fathers as we haue a thousand times shewed thē are wholly also of our side against them It were infinite to bring al that might be found in them to this purpose as by large volumes written and published by vs about this matter we haue made it euident Howbeit somwhat yet now againe let vs heare what some of the chiefe of them haue said Christ tooke bread which comforteth mans heart that he might therby represent the trueth of his body saith Hierome vpon the 26. of Mathew Christ in his last supper saith Cyprian in his sermon de vnctione Chrismatis with his owne hands at his table gaue his Apostles bread wine but vpon the crosse he gaue his body to be woūded by the hands of the souldiers that sincere trueth more secretly imprinted in the Apostles the true sincerity might expound vnto the nations how bread wine was the body blood and after what sort the causes and their effects agreed and diuers names and kindes should be reduced to one essence and the things signifying and the things signified were called with one selfe same names And Ambrose in his 4. booke 4. chapter of Sacraments writeth that as in Baptisme we receiue the similitude of death so in this sacramēt we drink the similitude of Christs blood And Chrysostome most plainly saith in his 11. Homily vpō Mathew that Christ his body it selfe is not in the holy vessels but the mysterie Sacrament therof Augustine in his 57. question vpon Leuiticus prescribeth for a rule that the thing that signifieth is wont to beare the name of the thing which it singifieth as Paule said saith he the rock was Christ not ti signified Christ but euē as it had bene indeed which neuerthelesse was not Christ by substance but by signification And in his 23. Epistle he saith that the similitude betwixt the signe and thing signified is the verie cause why the one beareth the name of the other in Sacramentes and therefore in his third booke of Christian doctrine he saith it is a miserable slauerie of the soule to take the signes for the thinges signified Cap. 5. Christ honored the signes and representations which are seene with the names of his bodie and blood saith Theodoret in his second dialogue Gelasius against Eutiches affirmeth the image similitude of the body and blood to be celebrated in these mysteries Bede vpon Luke 22. writeth that because bread doth comfort mans heart and wine doth make good blood in his bodie therefore the breade is mystically compared to Christs bodie and the wine to his blood And who hath not heard vs an hundred times tell them that Tertullian in his fourth booke against Marcion interpreteth This is my body saying that it is to say this is a figure of my bodie and that likewise Augustine against Adimantus the Manichee writeth that Christ doubted not to say This is my body when he gaue a signe of his bodie and vpon the third Psalme that he saith that Christ admitted Iudas to a banquet where he commended a figure of his bodie to his disciples And what can be plainer then these eyther against them or for vs All these thinges considered therefore we may boldlie conclude that they haue no ground from Christes wordes for their grosse reall presence And surely as little haue they eyther from his omnipotencie Neither his omnipotency nor glorified body will helpe them or from the state of his glorified bodie For he will not shew his omnipotencie in whatsoeuer we list but in effecting whatsoeuer himselfe pleaseth and therefore they failing in the proofe as they haue that it is his pleasure to haue it as they would it is in vaine for them to thinke that this can or will helpe them out But indeed and trueth howsoeuer they would seeme to grounde much vpon his almightinesse to haue a strong faith therein and seeke to discredit our faith in the same yet in this verie point lot theirs and ours be but a little indifferentlie compared togither and ours soone will prooue farre the stronger For I woulde haue them tell me in good sadnesse whether the Centurion Math. 8.8 that professed that he beleeued that though Christ came no nearer his house then he was in respect of his bodilie presence that yet he was perswaded that if he but spake the word his scruant should be healed or Iairus that said come and lay thy handes on my daughter and she shall liue Math. 9.19 shewed themselues to be better perswaded of Christes omnipotencie Sure I am both reason and Christes magnifying of the Centurions faith ought to leade them and all men to giue the preeminence to the Centurion aboue the other many degrees Why should they not then see and confesse that we shewe our selues more strongly perswaded of his omnipotencie then they in that we shew by our doctrine that we firmly beleeue that he can wil euen remaining stil in heauen feed vs with his body brokē blood shed though that were so with them so long agoe as it hath or they that by theirs seeme to be perswaded that this cannot be vnlesse according to their fancy to the shaking and crossing needlesly of so many groūds both of good māners faith as we haue heard he conuey himself into our mouthes And to what purpose is it for the maintenāce of this their opinion for thē to labour as they do to put infinite difference betwixt his body vnglorified glorified and to seeke to perswade men that it may be as they say in respect of his body now glorified though not in respect therof before seing it is most certaine that when Christ instituted this Sacrament his body was not glorified and by his words expresly as I lately shewed he instituted this to be a Sacrament of his body broken and bloode shed For who doth not or at least may not heereby perceiue that we haue not here any otherwise to deale with his estate glorified thē therby now the more strōgly to be perswaded that indeed he is able to feede vs with his broken
steede in this case and therefore marke it followeth in my text as saith the scripture which wordes if we referre as they may well and some interpreters haue vnto that which went before then they serue most plainely to teach vs that it is no other faith that eyther can or will serue our turne in this case but only that which is taught vs warranted to be sound right in the canonicall scriptures For they are the scriptures onely without all question that heere are spoken of But whether these words as saith the scripture here were added and vsed to this end or rather as some others take them as referred to the wordes following to teach vs to vnderstand the promise that followeth most certaine it is that the true ChristiaÌ„ faith wherby we must feede vpon Christ and make him with all his merits and graces our owne hath these canonicall scriptures of the olde and new Testament for the grounde and sufficient rule thereof For they onely are able to make a man wise to saluarion thorow the faith which is in Christ Iesus and are giuen by inspiration of God and are profitable to teach to conuince to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute beeing made perfect vnto all good workes 2. Tim. 3.15.16.17 And therefore for the right framing and setling vs in this faith these are to be studied and searched and most diligentlie to be mused and meditated vpon and heard red and preached by euery one that hath any care of his saluation as we may learne Deut. 17.18.19 Iosua 1.8 Psal 1.1 Io. 5.39 Act. 17.11 2. Tim. 3.15 in that in these places we shall finde men of all sorts taught eyther by plaine precept reason or example thus to occupie themselues heerein And this hath beene the ancient and sound iudgement with one consent of the Fathers for manie hundred yeares after Christ And therefore though Augustine confesse with the Euangelist that Christ said and did manie things which are not written yet saith he those things are chosen out to be written which seemed to be sufficient for the saluation of them that beleeue Tract 49. vpon Iohn and Cap. 11. And in his 19. booke of the citie of God cap. 18. to this purpose he writeth that the citie of God beleeueth the scriptures both olde and new which we cal Canonical Vnde fides ipsa concepta est ex qna iustus viuit From whence that faith whereby the iust liueth is conceiued yea none of vs can bee or is plainer in this point then hee For in his booke of christian doctrine Lib. 2. cap. 9. he saith there in those thinges quae aperte posita sunt in scriptura that is which plainely are set downe in the scriptures all those things are found which conteineth faith manners of liuing as namely hope and charitie And heerein he was so confident that in his third booke and sixt chapter against Petilean most boldly and plainly he saith if any either of Christ or of his Church or of any other thing whatsoeuer that appertaineth to faith and life I wil not say wee but as Paule said if an Angel from heauen should tell you any thing which you haue not receiued in the scriptures of the lawe and the Gospell accursed be hee And he was not alone of this minde for Athanasius before him in an oration of his against Idolaters had most plainely written that the holy scriptures enspired of God Sufficiunt ad omnem instructionem veritatis that is are sufficient to teach all trueth And Tertullian in his booke against Hermogenes sheweth that he was so resolute in this that he saith there that he did eueÌ„ adore the sufficiencie of the scriptures Basilius also in his sermon of the confession of faith saith that it is a plaine falling from the faith and the verie sin of pride either to refuse any thing heerein written or to bring in ouer and aboue any thing For Christs sheepe heare his voice a strangers they fly And in his Morais definition 72. he saith that the verie hearers must be learned in the scriptures that so they may try those things which are deliuered theÌ„ by their teachers that so they may receiue those things that are consonant to the scriptures reiect those that are not yea in the 80. definitioÌ„ he concludeth whatsoeuer is without the scripture because it caÌ„not be of faith which must come by the hearing of that which is taught in the scriptures as before he had proued must needs be sinne Cyrill Lib. â—2 in Ioannem cap. 69. with Augustine saith that though all things be not written that Christ did yet those thinges were writteÌ„ which the writers thought sufficient both for faith and manners Hierome also saith vppon the 23. of Mathew that which hath not authority froÌ„ the scriptures is as easily contemned as allowed And therfore Origine vpon the third of the Romains hath verie wel noted that the Apostle there giues other teachers in the Church an example that those thinges which they propounde to the people they should streng then and confirme not with their owne presumptions but with testimonies of the scripture For as he saith if such an Apostle thought that the authoritie of his sayinges was not sufficient vnlesse he shewed them to be written in the law and the Prophets how much more ought wee to think so of ours Hilarie also vpon the 118. Psalme notes it as a tricke of infidels and the irreligious to say that the scriptures want perfection of doctrine Seeing therefore it is most certaine and true that Irenaeus writeth in his third booke and first chapter that what the Apostles first preached after by the will of God they set downe in their writinges to be the ground and pillar of our faith and that in the canonicall scriptures of the olde and newe Testament we haue as Chrisostome aduoucheth vpon the second to the Corinthes Homilie 13. a most perfect and exact rule to followe set downe therefore with him and in his wordes immediately thereupon inferred I pray you all that you leaue that which seemeth good to this man or that Et de his Scripturis omma inquirite and of these Scriptures enquire all things that so we may all conclude with Damascene in this point in his first booke and first chapter de fide orthodoxa of sound faith all thinges that are deliuered by the lawe Prophets Apostles and Euangelistes Cognoscimus veneramur nihil vltrà perquirentes that is we acknowledge and reuerence seeking no further These things I haue the rather thus largely noted vnto you because notwithstanding the plain euidence of this vndoubted and ancient trueth our aduersaries the papistes are so farre off from yealding vnto the same that to discourage men from making this vse of the holy scriptures that so they may at their pleasures teach vs to build such a faith as seemeth good vnto them vpon their vnwritten word of God which
of the creator our blessed God and sauiour for euer Nowe lasthe in as fewe wordes as I can to arme thee that thou take no harme by that which they teach touching the lawe and the keeping thereof First to ouerthrow their maine grounde therein remember and marke well that Peter in the first famouse councell at Hierusalem speaking of the lawe openlie and confidentlie pronounces it to be a burthen which neyther they nor their forefathers were able to beare Act. 15.10 and that the refore Paule hath proued that no man can be iustified by his keeping of the lawe because it is written cursed is euerie one that continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the law to doe them Gal. 3.16 For these places will stande in force for all Bellarmines and his fellowes cauilling and seeking by their Romish sophistrie to wipe away the same to the full and direct confutation of this their opinion that it is possible and also found true by experience for otherwise they say nothing for we dispute not as Augustine saide in this case Lib. 2. cap. 6. de pectatorum meritis what God can doe but what he doth that a regenerate man shoulde perfectly keepe the lawe For neither was the question that they had in hand in that councell onely of the keeping of the ceremoniall and iudiciall lawe of Moses but of keeping therewith also the whole lawe as it appeares by the setting downe of the same and the circumstances thereof Vers 5. neyther was the lawe nor is it anie other waie a yooke or burthen which neyther they nor their fathers were able to beare but as therein especially is comprised the lawe morall which rightly vnderstoode mans weakenesse considered is infinite harder to keepe for man then both the other And for Paule in the other place to haue graunted onely this that no man by his owne strength without faith and grace can keepe the whole law would not nor coulde not haue serned his turne to any purpose to confute those that he dealt withal For neither were the false Apostles so foolish to teach or the Galathians once so sillie or simple as to be but in daunger to beleeue that any such works of the lawe so done were at all to be trusted vnto to erne or merit their saluation by And therefore as it cannot be denied but that he speaketh there of the lawe in generall as his wordes continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the lawe doe shewe so may it not nor cannot without wilfull cauilling that the proposition that he assumeth as granted and such as might not be denied was this that certaine it is no man continueth in all the thinges that are written in the lawe to doe them whosoeuer he bee For thereupon it must and doth onely follow that such as these were that he reasoned against that put trust and confidence in the works of the law which they did after faith and in grace coulde not be iustified thereby because the lawe found them yet in some thinges breakers thereof and therefore was so farre of from iustifying of them for keeping it in parte that he pronounced them accursed for not keeping it in whole and in enery point And yet Bellarmine seemes to perswade himself that he hath clenlie shilted of the former place by telling vs that Peter so spoke of the lawe in respect of the ceremonies thereof and the iudicialles thereunto appertayning onelie and that also he hath quite ridde his handes of the other by assuming a proposition about such workes of the lawe as were yet neuer in question there betwixt him and anie of his aduersaries Thus then the piller of theirs throwne downe and laide in the dust with it are all the rest that depend thereon ouerthrowne also Notwithstanding briefely let vs take a view of them the better to vnderstand the vanitie and impiety therein set downe That the perfect and exact sense of the law is rather for men in heauen then in earth how can it be seeing most of the commaundementes are such as concerne onely this life our Sabaoth is perpetuall and not one day in the seauen and what distinction of degrees amongst vs are to be imagined there that we should reade the fifth commaundement Yea what neede shall then be there to haue any of the other prescribed vs where there is no danger at all or feare to be had of losse of life honestie goods or name As for the next glose wherbysom would haue men to be coūted keepers fulfillers of the law for keeping it in the most part Iames hath most planily taught saying whosoeuer shall keep the whole law and yet faileth in one point he is guilty of all Cap. 2. Ver. 10. Now other of them say that grace makes the whole easie to be kept it is easier saide then any way proued to be so for that all experience of such as haue had grace in as good measure as any againe can hope to haue it hath beene euer yet most flat to the contrary Yet we easily graunt that to men in grace it is far easier then to any other yea and that it is easie to them in this respect that they vnfainedly studying and endeauouring to keep it though somtimes they faile com short thereof yet thereby taking occasion to repent and so by faith to seeke to the fountaine of grace Christ Iesus for pardon they finde him most able and willing to account their purpose and care to haue kepte it euen insteede of the fulfilling therof indeede to pardon purge them of all their a berrations from the same But where is all this to proue man any time to be so full and perfect a keeper thereof that he neyther may be charged with the transgression of any one commaundement nor in iustice debarred from the wages of heauen which he hath merited and deserued thereby And yet thus farre they goe in this pointe though quite without warrent or ground For though this were granted them that after regeneration some thus coulde and did keepe the lawe yet where finde they that God hath bounde himselfe by any promise to giue heauen to any for keeping his lawe onely in some part or for some peece of his life Doubtlesse the promise that God hath made of life or reward to the keepers of his law is if they during their whole life wholly obserue the same otherwise hee hath promised them nothing but a curse as we haue heard before But to let this passe and to proceede their next helpes and refuges are that which they holde of veniall sinnes and of concupiscence and of the first motions to sinne not consented vnto wherein they ere many waies For first it is great boldnesse in them to say where Iames or any other say in mancy thinges we sin al that there they meane only their veniall sinnes Where experience told dailie shewes and prooues that very many of those
possest there also the possessour may be assured that with him he possesseth all those things also And yet these men no not their Bellarmine can abide any of these but it shall be inough with them him also to beleeue there is remission of sins accompanying baptisme to be had by him in him in the Church that there is such a mercy of God that is able to saue and that the righteousnesse of Christ may be as he is our head ours in such a sort that it may be the efficient cause of an inherent righteousnes in our selves able to earne heauen by but particularlie especially for vs to beleeue that we shall without all doubt haue all our sinnes forgiuen vs that we are sure of this mercie and haue this righteousnesse of his imputed vnto vs as our owne whereby we shall and may be righteous before God at no hand they can abide As though he that sticketh not to giue vs his sonne God and man to be our verie owne so that we are his and he ours would not or could not together with him giue vs these things also Yea how can he withold them giuing vs his sonne seeing these and he goe alway togither But to proceede This vniō is not carnall but spirituall this vnion of ours and cōmunion with Christ though it must be certain reall true in refpect of the things to be vnited yet in regard of the manner of vniting them we must not imagine it to be any grosse or earthly commixtion or cōiunction with him such as is with vs the mingling or ioyning togither of any creatures that in themselues are diuerse but that it is altogither in respect of the manner spirituall and supernaturall and yet neuerthelesse true and certaine though it be both vnsearchable and vnutterable For let a man fearch all the scriptures thorow and an other communion and fellowship with Christ whereupon saluation commeth then that which is spirituall he shall nether finde eyther promised expected or performed In deede it was both promised and thereupon expected and performed that Godhead and manhood shoulde be vnited togither in one person that so man who by sinne had lost his vnion communion and fellowship with God might recouer the same againe in and by that person and by that which he should accomplish in those two natures for him But as the personall vnion of these two natures in one Christ as by our Catholicke faith we are perswaded is reall certaine and sure so we finde it yet by humaine sense and reason incomprehensible and yet by the power of the eternall spirite by the same faith we are taught vndoubtedly to beleeue it was so verily effected for our euerlasting good A communicating of the merits of this Christ God and man vnto those that belezue in him by imputation there is we knowe For the righteousnes of God is on all and vpon all that beleene in him Rom. 3.22 which is a righteousnes that such attaine vnto by faith in him not made manifest by the lawe as the inherent righteousnesse of our owne merits if there were any such as men knowe is as both in that verse and that which goeth before is shewed But without the inhabitation of the spirit of God proceeding both from the Father and the Sonne the worke whereof faith is Iohn 6.29 Gal. 5.22 we cannot attaine heereunto Howbeit heere we talke not eyther of the vnion of the two natures in the person of one Christ nor yet of his communicating of his merits vnto vs by imputation nor of his dwelling in vs by his spirit but of his owne vniting and communicating of himselfe both God and man vnto vs. For consisting of those two natures heere in my text he biddeth vs to come vnto him and as I haue shewed to drinke of him which if once we duelie performe then we withal euen thereby are sure of all the benefits necessary to our saluation that by any of these we may looke for Now Paule when he spoke most plainely of this saying We are members of his body of his flesh of his bones Ephes 5.30 to assure vs that it is reall and essentiall yea and most certaine in respect of the thinges to be vnited Christ his members yet within two verses after he confesseth and saith that it is a great mystery that he speaketh of thereby also shewing that in respect of the manner of vniting of them it is supernaturall and vnsearchable by humaine sen̄se and reason howbeit this is our comfort that though we cannot conceiue it whiles we are heere and our knowledge is vnperfect that yet Christ our sauiour to our vnspeakeable consolation hath tolde vs that the day shall come when his shall knowe By the spirit it is obtained That he is to the father they in him and he in them Io. 14.20 In the meane time thus much it hath pleased him to reueale vnto vs by the worde that it is the holie Ghost the vertie spirit of God without which this cannot be and by the means whereof this vnion and communion is made betwixt Christ and vs. For it is written as vttered by Christ himselfe Io. 3.5 Except a man be borne againe of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God And Paule most plainelie saieth Rom. 8.9 If any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And likewise Saint Iohn 1. Epist cap. 4. vers 13. writeth that by this we knowe that Christ is in vs by his spirit that he hath giuen vs. Paule also to this purpose verie notablie saith by one spirite we are all baptized into one bodie and haue beene all made to drinke into one spirite 1. Cor. 12.13 And therefore vpon verie good ground hath the ancient father Irenaeus who liued in the next age to the Apostles in his third booke and 19. chapter against the heresies of the Valentinians and others written most sweetely and profoundlie Sicut de arido tritico massa vna fierinon potest neque vnus panis ita nec nos multi vnum fieri in Christo Iesu poteramus sine aqua qnae de coelo est sicut arida terra si non percipiat humorem non fruclificat sic nos lignum aridum existentes primùm nunquam fructificaremus vitam sine superna voluntaria pluuia that is As of drie wheate neyther one lumpe of dowe nor one loafe can be made so neyther we beeing many could euer haue beene made one in Christ Iesu without water from heauen and as the drie earth fructifieth not without moysture so we being first but dry wood could neuer haue had our fruit to be eternall life without voluntarie raine from aboue Which in the same place he interpreteth to be the spirit of God which God bestoweth vpon his Which Chrisosiom in his Homilie at Pentecost of the holy spirit calleth the coupling or band of the vnion betwixt Christ and his Further to
It standes therefore euery one in hand that receiue these Sacraments to haue a greate care not onelie to beleeue that GOD for his parte will performe that which thereby he bindeth himselfe vnto but also for their partes to fulfill that whereunto they tie themselues otherwise sure they are no better than dissemblers before men and hypocrites before GOD. If the Etimologie of this worde Sacrament be but considered it might teach vs in anâ—e case to deale with these alwayes Sacra mente that is with a sacred and a holy minde The worde is taken and vsëd so generally often that euery outward thing by Gods ordinance signifying a further grace or benefite hath beene called a Sacrament And therfore Iohn Chappâ—â—s in his CoÌ„mentary vpon Raymunds summe of the Sacraments tract 1. thought he had found in Hugo de sancto victore in his sixt booke of Sacraments a verie perfect definition of a Sacrament when he found that he defined it to be Naturale elementum extrinsecùs oculis suppositum ex institutione figurans ex similitudine repraesentans ex sanctificatione aliquam gratiam inuisibilem conferens that is A naturall element set outwardly before the eyes by institution figuring by similitude representing and by sanctification conferring some inuisible grace And in verie deede it somewhat well restraineth the ouerlarge vse of the word and there is nothinge therein but it is true of Sacraments properly taken as I take them now But to make it fully to expresse the nature of a sacrament thus taken and noe more I woulde thereunto adde and I am sure it ought to be so that the institutor must bee God himselfe that sometime the outward partis not onely one element to be seene with the eies but more then one and that it is not enough that by sanctification it conferre any visible grace whatsoeuer but that that grace be euen Christ himselfe with such graces as in him re prouided for our saluation And therfore I define a Sacrament as nowe I speake thereof to be A visible signe or signes ordained by Christ to be ministred in his Church to theÌ„ that be his not only to figure represent himselfe and what he hath done for their saluation but also whereby to offer himselfe with grace necessarie to saluation and to deliuer himselfe with the same and to seale the communication and deliuerie thereof to euery worthy receiuer of the outward element or elementes according to his institution And such we finde no more now in the newe Testament but Baptisme and the Lordes Supper The other fiue vrged as Sacrament by the Romanists of our daies howsoeuer in some generall improper sense they maybe so called in this they cannot For some one or other necessary thing mentioned in this definition is wanting in euery one of them And yet there is nothing in this definition that can be omitted if we minde so to define or describe a Sacrament as that indeed truely and fully we meane to expresse the nature thereof as it is common but to these two Baptisme and the Supper To the constitution therefore of a Sacrament by this we may see that it is first necessarie that Chrst be the author and institutor thereof Secondly that there haue a commandement passed from him to administer it in his Church Thirdlie that it consist of such outward visible element or elementes as he hath chosen and appointed for that purpose And fourthly that according to his ordinance they be taken as meanes to put him on by and to make him ours with all such graces as in him are prouided for our saluation So that asto the making of a perfect maÌ„ there must concurre bodie and soule in one and to the being of our Christ to be a fit person to be our Messias and Sauiour Godhead manhood so to the full beeing of a Sacrament according to Christs ordinance an outward element or elements and Christ himselfe and his grace fit and needfull for our saluation are necessary And therefore as neither bodie soule in man nor Godhead manhood in Christ without falling into a grosse errour there about can or may be said or thought to be eyther confounded with the other or annihilated or absorpted sorpted of the other so neyther may we say or thinke of these two partes in a Sacrament When therefore we come to receiue any Sacrament as outwardly we receiue the outward element so inwardly we must seeke to receiue also the heauenly thing thereby offered vnto vs or else by our default we seuere those thinges which we should coupple and as much as lyeth in vs ouerthrowe the nature and vse of the Sacrament Nowe to descend from the consideration of a Sacrament thus in generall Of Baptisme to these two particuler Sacramentes In Baptisme which is the first we haue Christes ordinance for it and commaundement also for the ministring of it Math. 28.19 where Christ said vnto his disciples Goe and teach all nations baptising them in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And thereby also the worde baptise signifying as it doth to dippe in water or therewith to sprinkle we may see the outward element to be water Which is also coÌ„firmed by al the practise of the Churches in the Apostles times as appeares both in the storie of their Actes written by Saint Luke and elsewhere And that the thing therby signified offered deliuered is Christ himselfe and so in him remission of sinnes regeneration and dying to sinne and liuing againe vnto righteouspesse it sufficiently appeareth in these places of the Scriptures Knowe ye not that all we which haue beene baptised into Christ haue beene baptised into his death we are then buried with him by Baptisme into his death that like as Christ was raysed vp from the dead to the glory of the Father so we also should walke in newnes of life Rom. 6.3.4 All ye that are baptised into Christ haue put on Christ Gal. 3.27 Be baptised euery one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sinnes Act. 2.38 Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word c. Ephe. 5.25.26 According to his mercie he saued vs by the washing of the new birth and renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Baptisme that now is saueth vs by the resurrection of Iesus Christ 1. Pet. 3.21 They therefore that are desirous not onely to be accounted baptised with the outward Baptisme of water must as you see according to Paules counsell Rom. 13.14 put on the Lord Iesus Christ himselfe and take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the lustes of it For if they be partakers of the other part thereof in the blood of Christ they are washed and cleansed and so must and are bound to liue as men dead to sinne and aliue to righteousnesse Baptisme therfore Is a Sacrament of the new
haue bene so nousled therein that the conceite they haue yet of the trueth thereof will hinder them if it be not the better confuted from taking any great good by al I haue said hitherto though otherwise heere I might well haue ended this matter and would yet I must craue leaue of you to take some further paines for the better backing of that which I haue said to lay before you that which I thinke sufficient for the iust confutation of this grosse moutheating of Christ Iesus by all communicantes whatsoeuer The things that Lutherans papistes hold in comon for their grosse reall presence confuted Heerein I shall haue to deale with two sortes of aduersaries the one sort where of are the Lutherans which I late spok of who to that end interprete Christes words spoken of the bread and wine so as that therevpon they inferre such a Consubstantiation that is such a beeing together of the verie bodie and blood of Christ with bread and wine in the vse of this Sacrament that whosoeuerreceiues the one with his mouth receiues the other and the other sort are our common aduersaries the Papistes who interprete the wordes of Christ so as that by the force thereof they teach the bread and wine to be transubstantiated that is to be turned into the bodie and bloode of Christ as some of them haue held or at least thereby as now most of them hold so to be conueyed away that there remaines nothing but the accidents thereof vnder which and together with which the bodie and bloode of Christ really are so certainly present that euery receiuer thereof takes into his mouth the verie bodie and bloode of Christ Otherwise these two are at deadly warre one with another and the former in most of the groundes and principles of Christian Religion hold with vs foundly against the other and yet in this and for the maintenance of this their carnall and grosse presence they are as vehement and bitter against vs for the denying oppugning thereof as the other Orderly therefore todeale with them both whereas there are some thinges in this case common to them both wherein they both holde alike against vs set vs consider of them of the groundes thereof first and afterwardes we will take a viewe of those thinges and of their groundes also wherein they differ both betwixt themselues and also from vs least otherwise we should be driuen tediously to repeate one thing often By their bookes that they haue written daily doe about this matter it is cuident that they both holde a reall presence of Christes bodie and blood together with the outward elements in the vse of this Sacrament and likewise that they both therfore teach that together with the same euery receiuer haue he a right faith or no receiues in by his mouth the verie real true bodie blood of Christ And both of them ground both these their opinions first of Christes words vttered of the bread and wine then of his almightinesse and lastly of the state now of his glorified bodie In and about the outward elements when they come to be taken of the mouth of the receiuer what they be and how long this their reall presence of bodie and blood with them continues they could neuer yet agree For the maintainers of Consubstantiation plainely with vs notwithstanding Christes wordes and all their other grounds for their manner of his reall presence holde and teach that they remaine substantially bread and wine still and so are taken and eaten and the other will haue after those wordes are once pronounced the substances of breade and wine to be gone quite though vnto this day they coulde neuer agree to tell what was become of them and the onely accidentes thereof to supplie the roome alwaies after of the outward part of this Sacrament The other hold their reall presence continueth no longer or at least is tyed no longer to bread and wine nor to any more of it then is receiued and the ministerie thereof lasteth For Extra vsum as they speake that is besides the vse they hold neither the bread nor the wine that remaines to be the bodie and bloode of Christ whereas the other stiflie maintaine that all the hostes that they consecrate are euery one of them the bodie of Christ and therefore they hang them vp which they leaue in a Pixe vnder a Canopie and honour and worship them as the verie bodies of their Sauiour And for the wine they take careful order for that bicause they cannot tell howe so well to preserue and keepe that belike sweete as the other to consecrate no more then their priest may quite and cleane sup vp at that verie time But to let these their disagreeings alone the things wherein they agree herein are nowe to be considered of wherein their manner of reall presence of Christ offers it selfe first Touching the which to begin withall this I dare be bolde to say for I knowe it to be most true how drunken soeuer they be with a conceit to the contrarie it is contrarie to all doctrine taught vs in the Scriptures or in any ancient Father or Councell for six hundred yeeres after Christ at the least For with one consent all these when they speake of Christes presence in this Sacrament it is reall presence to the beleeuing communicant for whom indeed he gaue his bodie and blood that they speake for and that they speake of as for any such reall prefence of his eyther with or vnder bread and wine or vnder the accidentes thereof as these men now plead for neuer eyther any writer of any of the Canonical Scriptures nor any sound Father or Councel euer once dreamed off And this reall true presence of Christ to the right receiuer we do not denie but we vrge teach more plainlie and comfortablie than anic of them doc And this is it that bringeth inseperablie with it eternal life saluation in Christ as for this of theirs the verie force of trueth flat experience haue driuen them to confesse may be and yet the receiuer thereby neuer the better but the worse What a vaine thing then is it for men to keepe such a sturre to the vexing and disturbing of all Christendome for a thing so fruitlesse Alas who is so simple but that he knoweth or may soone knowe that Christes bodie was broken and his bloode shed for vs men and not for breade and wine and therefore that neyther bread nor wine are the thinges that haue to doe with his presence nor yet their accidents but onely we men and then that we may haue it sufficiently to our saluation who seeth not that it is the vainest thing in the world to striue for it for bread and wine and their accidentes Further seeing both of these doe confesse this to be a Sacrament wherof we now intreate neither of them yet could shew or euer went about it that in any other
worship a wafer cake in shew and tast for verie Christ I am truely perswaded that there hath beene no one thing that hath more hardned the hearts eyther of Turkes or Iewes from becomming Christians then to heare and see as they doe these men thus to worship these wafer Chrisies of theirs who yet would be accounted the onely good Christians And it is certaine euen for this the heathen Philosooner and Phisition Auerois though he by trauelling and reading was acquainted with wonderfull many foolish fond kindes of Idolatrie liuing and florishing about the yeare of Christ noo iudged Christians to be the most foolish Idolaters in the world And without all doubt this hath beene averie God Manzim that is of power and riches to them For the people beeing perswaded that their priests can turne so quickly a poore wafer into Christ their Sauiour and that they can at their pleasure offer him vnto his Father for their soules health both whiles they are aliue and when they are dead they haue not cared what honour and riches they haue bestowed vpon them And therefore not vnfitlie may that of Daniell be as well verified of them euen for this as of them of whome he spoke most properlie and litterally That they honour the God Mauzim a God whom their Fathers knew not Dan. 11.38 And yet behold if we goe on but a little further more iniquitie and impietie in their Maste then all these For therein they haue quite contrarie to Christes institution by absurdlie taking it to be a sacrament of Christes life That they minister it but in one kinde and so of his bodie and bloode now togither in his manhood in heauē wheras he left it to be a sacrament of his death and so of the sundring therby of the one from the other as I haue shewed and by a new deuise of Concomitance that is of the going of his bodie blood now alwaies together robd the common people of the one half of the Sacrament denying thē the cup telling them that in taking the hoast they take al for his body blood are goe now togither But if it were thus why do they themselues take both or would they haue vs to think it needful for thē to eat him once vnder the form of bread after to drink him againe vnder the forme of wine that the one is inough for the people Euident it is in the words of the institution and by the practise therof in Pauls time 1. Cor. 11. that al were as expresly cōmanded to drinke of the cup as to eate of the other But Christ being the wisedome of the Father had not so much wisdom forecast as these men belike to foresee that his body blood go togither therfore for lacke of foresight he ordained a superfluous thing What an intollerable pride and presumption is this that dust and ashes and sinnefull man shall thus vndertake to alter to controule the ordinance of our Lord and sauiour Before the Councel of Constance which was in the yeare 1414. we finde not the administring of this Sacrament vnder both kindes generally and publiklie forbid the common communicant And in the councell of Basil about some 16. years after for all that it was permitted to the Boemians againe De consecratione dist 2. Gratian alleages a decree of Gelasius a Bishop of Rome a thousand yeares agoe to binde all men to receiue in both kinds saying either let him that receiueth receiue both or neither because the diuision of one misterie cannot be without sacriledge By this let them that hold their Popes solmne sentences for Oracles learne what manner of persons now their Popes and priestes in this point are become that now openly professe and practise the contrary hereunto That their priests take it alone And because they haue also in their Masses as they say so often consecration and yet none receiue but the priest himselfe for the most parte what shift will they make with that that we find in the same distinction Cap. Peracta alleadged there as the solemne sentence of Pope Calixt in the yeare 223. or thereaboute consecration being done saith he all that will not be shut from the Church should communicate for so the Apostles taught and the fashion of the Romane Church was Loe heere is both a Popes decree and that grounded both vpon the Apostles practise and the ancient Romane Churches also flatly against the practise of the Romane Church that now is And in verie deed no man can reade that which Saint Paule hath written of this matter 1. Cor. 11. but he must needs most plainly see that it was then the Apostles practise not onely to administer it in both kindes but also openly in the assemblies and to al that could and would trie and examine themselues and this man beeing Bishoppe of Rome was not ignorant what the fashion of the ancient Romane Church had bene Wherefore as in many other thinges so in this it appeares for all their great bragges and countenance of antiquitie that the Romane Church that now is Lastly their Cōsubstantiation is confuted is become an Apostata and runnagate from the ancient Apostolique Romane Church indeed Al these abhominations a number moe in their Masse which here without too to much tediousnesse I cannot stande vpon they are so manie arise grow from their speciall minion and paragon Transubstantration and therefore vntill her braines be dasht out there will neuer be any hoe of their foolishnesse and madnesse in this masse and Chaos of confusion of theirs They would beare the world in hand that she is most ancient and yet indeede and trueth how long soeuer before they were in conceiuing of her yet she was neuer growne ripe to the birth or borne before Innocent the thirdes time For neuer before the Laterane councell which was in his time and in the yeere 1211. as I haue said before was this decreed to be a Catholike trueth amongst themselues And this their owne greate Doctor and Bishop Tonstall in a booke of his written of this matter confesseth adding that perhaps it had beene better to haue less the manner how Christ becommeth present in this Sacrament as it was before that councell Now before this the Greeke Church was departed from the Church of Rome and therefore this was rather the decree of a priuate and particular conuenticle then of the vniuersall Church of God and therefore not onely wee but still vnto this day the Greekes reiect both this councell and decree though I know much tempering hath beene with them since to the contrary Scotus is not onelie of the same minde with Tonstall but if you reade him dist 11 quaest 3. vpon the 48. booke of Sentences you shall not only finde that he bringeth a number of obiections against this which he neuer answereth to anie purpose but also that in the end he setting downe his sole determination for it that yet