¶ A MOST excellent Sermon of the Lordes Supper wherein briefely and yet plainly yenough is liuely set foorth the matter of the Supper of the Lorde Iesus By Henry Bullinger Translated out of Frenche into English by I. T. Matthew 17.5 This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased heare yee hym Imprinted at London nigh vnto vnto the three Cranes in the Vintree for William Ponsonby ¶ To the reuerend Father in God Thomas Bishop of Couentrie and Lichfielde FInding mee self vnable in all respects reuerend Father to requite the least benefit receiued at your Lordships hands I haue long intended to present your Lordship with some thing whereby you might at the leaste perceyue my grateful mynd in accepting your vndeserued goodnesse often vnto me shewed And finding nothing which might pleasure your Lordship being no lesse skilful in learnyng than godly in life for as Salomon saith He that is ful abhorreth an hony combe I thought I coulde not better please you which are no lesse carefull for the Christian Congregation than is the Father for his children than by taking in hande some such matter wherby I mee selfe might be well occupied the Christian common Wealth edified and God glorified For this cause that the vnlearned not onely of your Diocesse but also of all places els in England which are destitute of painfull Preachers of Gods woord for who knoweth not that the labourers in Gods Vineyarde be verye fewe might be instructed at the leaste by reading in the true profession of Iesus Christ I haue presumed to translate foorth of Frenche a Sermon of the Lordes Supper made by the learned and graue Father mayster Henry Bullinger Neither dyd I perceyue whereby I might more profit all mē than by handelyng the Lordes Supper which yerely and often ought to be receyued of al men nor wherein I might better serue my carnall and transitory countrey than in setting foorth that foode whereby we are fed to out spirituall and euerlasting countrey For if we ought to trauaile painefully for the foode of the body according to the admonition of the Apostle Saint Paul That if any would not worke the same should not eate whiche although we haue in abundance mainteyneth vs not alwayes being by syn made subiect to death howe much more painefull ought we to be for the atchieuing of the foode of the soule Christe Iesus which is the bread of life wherof if we eate by faith we shall not die being by grace made partakers of euerlasting life Wheras there be many which haue learnedly godly handeled this argument I am moued to thinke my labour best bestowed vppon this authour because there is none which I haue read that dooth in so briefe a summe in my simple iudgement more plainly set foorth the doctrine of the Lordes Supper to the comfort of the professours of the Gospel or more sensibly disclose the errours thrust into the Church of God concernyng the same to the griefe of the aduersaries of the truth both the which poyntes he hath so aptly handled that I knowe not in whether he hath vsed more facilitie It may be that some which haue not only trauailed of purpose into Frāce the hithermost coastes whereof I neuer saw there to learne the french tongue but also at home haue diligently studied to attayne the finenes of the Englishe tongue wherein I confesse I was neuer curious might haue translated this Sermon much more finely than by me it is I enuie not their skill neither disdaine I their trauaile I haue done myne indeuour so neare as I could to vse my selfe like a faithful Interpretour in yeelding the sense of the Authour truely and yet in such sort as best might be vnderstood by the vnlearned Reader Touchyng the testimonies of holy Scripture alleged by this authour in this Sermon I haue thought good rather to set them down after the last translation of the Bible set foorth by aucthoritie than to translate them foorth of the French that I might the rather hereby cut of the cauilles of the aduersaries of the truth whith they are woont to make vpon the diuersitie of Translations And that the diligent Readers if it shal please them to conferre the Testimonies with the Text may the more easily find forth the same I haue quoted in the Margent both chapter and verse whence they are taken Thus haue I yeelded vnto your Lordship the causes of my bold enterprise with the order of the handeling of the same which if it may please God to blesse with the increase of the Readers knowledge I haue my desire God long preserue your Lordship to the comforte of his Church Your Lordshyppes to commaund I. T. ¶ A Sermon of the Supper of our Lorde Iesus Christe the Sonne of God. THe Apostles the Euangelistes Paul also the vessel of election and Apostle of the Gentiles haue diligently and perfectly described the holy and mysticall Supper of our Lorde and Redeemer Iesus Christ in these wordes When the Euen was come the same night in which Iesus was betrayed he sate downe with the twelue And as they dyd eate Iesus when he had taken bread and geuen thankes brake it and gaue it to his Disciples saying Take yee eate yee This is my body which is broken for you This doo in the remembrance of me Likewise also when he had supped he tooke the Cuppe and when he had geuen thankes he gaue it to them saying Drinke ye all of it and they all dranke of it Then he saide to them This is my bloud of the new Testament Saint Luke and Saint Paul haue This Cuppe is the newe Testament in my bloud which is shedde for you and for many for the remission of sinnes As often as you shall doo this doo it in remembrance of me For as often as yee eate this beead and drinke this Cuppe yee doo shewe the Lordes death tyll he come In the holy and mysticall Supper of our Lorde Iesus Christ we must not onely consider the woordes of the Institution presently recited but also we muste here ioyne the things going before with those whiche come after as such whereby the whole mysterie is more clearely and amply set foorth And first we must consider the doctrine which the Lord taught his Disciples in the Supper Secondly what he did and how he instituted this Supper that is to say howe the Lord celebrated it and ordeyned it to be celebrated by the Church vnto the ende of the world Finally of what sort the disciples were in this supper and how they behaued them selues therein that we may learne hereby howe we ought to behaue our selues in celebrating this most holy banquet and also that by the declaration of all these poynts we may vnderstand truely what the mysticall Supper of the Lord is that is to say speaking in the first place of the summe of the matter although it be inwrapped in shadowes and figures and proposing the
whole matter as it were to be beholden with one onely sight that it is a sacramentall Ceremonie or an holy action ordeyned for the Churche by Iesus Christe our Lord Redemer and high Priest wherby in setting before vs in this Banquet the bread and the wine being mystical tokens and pledges he commendeth vnto vs in like maner his doctrine and also maketh vs a full promise of euerlasting life the which in geuing his bodye to death and shedding his bloud he hath prepared for vs and offered them vnto vs to be receyued by faith in liuely meate and drinke and by this certification he ratifieth it vnto vs. Moreouer he representeth or signifieth by these tokens and pledges reneweth as it were setteth before our senses his giftes or benefites which the faithful receiue Also he gathereth together visibly his seruauntes into the companie and vnitie of his body finally he confirmeth vnto vs the remembrance of his death and passion and of our redemption admonishing vs in the meane season of our dutie which is chiefely to yelde him prayse and thankes giuyng Touching the doctrine as it is euerye where so is it also heere that is to saye a thing so excellent that it surmounteth all the rest which doctrine although it be diuers and most copious yet is it such as may be gathered into certaine and a fewe Articles For the first and chiefest matter which it handleth at large and most euidently is the principall poynt of our Christian religion and the ende of our mysticall Supper that is to say that the Lorde our God of his meere grace and mercy taking pitie of mankind sent into the worlde for the saluation of the faithfull his onely sonne our Lord Iesus Christ who by his death hath purged vs from all our sinnes and deliuered vs from death from hell and from Satan and made vs heires of life euerlasting And for so much as in this poynt consisteth chiefely all the matter of our saluation he commendeth vnto vs and repeateth this thing in many sortes and diuersely to the ende that we shoulde not forget him or lightly regarde him but that he myght shewe himselfe cleerely vnto the faythfull for euer as a most cleare lyght which myght shyne vnto them and lighten them Moreouer he figureth proposeth and commendeth vnto vs vnder most apt figures and shadowes this most excellent part of doctrine For in the beginning of the Supper the Lorde washed his disciples feete By the which acte after that he had lyuely declared vnto them a great humilitie of hart with charitie and affection of mutuall seruice and of all kinde of dutifull behauiour one toward another we reade that the Lorde sayde vnto Peter which gaynesayd him If I washe thee not thou hast no part with me And straight way afterward He which is washed needeth not saue to washe his feete but is cleane euery whit Whereby we gather that the Lorde hath taught hereby that they which are once receyued to the fauour of God and purged by the bloud of the Sonne of God receyued by fayth are fully iustified But bycause they which are iustifyed so long as they lyue in this world haue infirmities in their fleshe wherewyth they are after a sort soulied as be the feete of them which are washed with muddy water he signifieth that they should clense these spottes by continuall repentance Here vnto agreeth the worthy saying of the holy Apostle There is then no damnation to them which are in Christ Iesu which walke not after the fleshe but after the spirit Agayne the Lorde setteth before our eyes our redemptiō obtained by his death when he eateth with a great desire wyth his Disciples the Pascall Lambe beyng offered vp For we knowe that Iesus Christ is the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde and that Christ our Passeouer is offered vp and that the sprinklyng of his bloud stayeth and keepeth farre from vs the destroying Angell Also that he clenseth our sinnes and refresheth vs with spirituall drinke guideth vs to eternall lyfe and maketh his father pacifyed with vs who were it not for this would still be angry agaynst our sinnes Moreouer he commendeth vnto vs the mysterie of our redemption by the bread and wine holily instituted for signes and Sacramentes of his bodye deliuered to death and of his bloud shed for vs and willeth vs that we neuer forget him Besides this he hath not onely commended vnto vs this principall point of our saluation in parables and figures but also hath expoūded it vnto vs most manifestly in cleere and euident woordes as when he sayth plainely that many mansions that is to say sufficient dwelling places are prepared with his heauenly father to receiue all the elect and that he departeth hence that by his death he myght open the heauenly dwellings to bring in thether his faythful seruauntes For I will receiue you euen vnto my selfe that where I am there maye ye be also And agayne he sayth I am the way and the truth and the life no man commeth vnto the father but by me Also Nowe are ye cleane through the word which I haue spoken vnto you Byde in me and I in you I omit here purposely many such lyke things for you haue sufficiently vnderstoode by that which wee haue alledged with what diligence and howe abundantly and aptly he hath expounded and commended vnto vs in his doctrine the which often in his Supper he repeated to hys Disciples the principall point of our saluation Nowe for so much as the doctrine of our Lord Iesus Christ doth not only shew vnto vs our redemption and teacheth that faith in Christ which truely iustifieth but also instructed vs to repentaunce and to a graue and earnest accusation of all our misdeedes a man may finde a singular discourse of all this matter in this Supper And because there be two sortes of men the one altogether hypocriticall and vnfaithfull wherof Iudas Iscariot which betrayed our Sauiour is the true patterne and the other righteous pure perfect and faithful neuerthelesse laden and burdened with vices and sinnes the which the other Disciples of our Lord doo represent the Lorde in the beginnyng addresseth his speache to Iudas and admonisheth hym grauely reproueth hym and toucheth him nearely threatening hym with euerlasting destruction Consequently he represseth his Disciples reasonyng among them selues who should be greatest he confirmeth comforteth and strengtheneth the weake the fearefull and ready to fall Also he aduertiseth them of their greeuous fall exhorting them after their fall to repentance in setting before them the example of Peter to whom he said Simon Simon behold Satan hath earnestly desired to sift you And the rest which is to be read in the .22 of S. Luke Out of all the which things we maye gather that in al the Sermons which are to be made to the people both before the Supper
Therefore the auncient ministers of the Church were accustomed in the beginning of the Supper to cry to the people Lift vp your hartes Whereunto in like manner the saying of the Apostle may be applyed when as he sayth Our Fathers did all eate of the same spirituall meate and did all drinke of the same spirituall drinke The which we reade in the .x. Chapter of the fyrst to the Corinthians Touching the rest wee will speake some other tyme how the vnfaythfull being partakers of the symboll and Sacrament and not of the thing which it signifieth eat and drinke their iudgement and condemnation The Lord in like manner tooke the cuppe after supper and distributed it amongst them all For he shedde his bloud for them all And as he is the meate of al so is he also the drinke of all Therfore sayd he playnly Drinke ye all of it And in like manner S. Marke affirmeth that they also did saying And they all dranke of it Let then the decrees and ordinaūces of all men whatsoeuer which ordinaūces commaūd that the lay or secular should communicate at the Supper vnder one of the two kindes onely that is to say vnder the forme of breade giue place to these cleare and expresse woordes of the lord Now as he declared before what māner bread it was which he gaue to his so dooth he here in lyke manner shew what manner cuppe or wine this is that is to say sacramentall This is my bloud sayth he of the new testament or This cuppe is the newe Testament in my bloud We haue declared before that in this speech there is a figure For the chalice or the cuppe is the Sacramēt of the bloud of Christ by the which bloud the newe testament is consecrated and dedicated and by the which we haue obtayned remission of sinnes We drinke therefore spiritually the bloud of the Lord by fayth as we also eate his body Furthermore these Sacramentes or symbols serue vs for a seale and for a true testimonie that the sonne of God hauyng takē humane flesh is come into the world who hauyng gyuen his body and shed his bloud hath fully redemed his electe fulfyllyng all thinges promised and written in the lawe and Prophetes The which matter Sainct Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrues doth more at larg expounde vnto vs. The Lorde addeth herevnto So often as you do this do it in remembraunce of me And Sainct Paull sayth Ye do shewe the Lordes death till he come This sentence teacheth vs three thinges First that it is lawfull for the Church of Christe To celebrate this Supper so often as it will and that it is not bound or subiecte to any certayne number And for this cause the sentence of S. Augustine to Ianuarius is commendable The which he vttereth thus Some will say That we ought to receyue the communion euery day and other will say the contrary But he reconcyleth them well which admonisheth them to continue especially in the peace of Christ Let euery one do that which he beleeueth Godly according to his fayth that he ought to do For neyther of them both dishonoureth the body and bloud of the Lorde This foode may no wyse be contemned Consequently the ende of the Supper is shewed when as it is not once only but often tymes repeated This do ye in remembraunce of me For the Lorde by the holy assembly of his people and by this action the which after a sorte speaketh yea and layeth playnely before our eyes these things to be loked vpon by vs woulde that we shoulde retayne and imprinte in our memorie this great benefite and mistery of our redemption and of his passion that is to say that he had delyuered his body to death for vs and shed his bloud for the remission of our sinnes and gyuen them vs also in meate and drinke for our saluation Wherfore in beholdyng the bread and wyne we must not stay our selues only in the beholdyng of them but we must beholde the thinges which they represente vnto vs that is to say the passion of the Lorde and our redemption Our Lorde came once into the earthe he died once and hath purged and clensed vs all Afterwarde he ascended into heauen from thence he shall not come before he come to iudge the worlde Also our Lorde shall dye no more he died once but his only death hath strength and efficacy for euer And the Lorde worketh in vs through his holy spirite sanctification and lyfe To be briefe these thinges which we do serue vs for remembraunces remembraunces I say instituted touching thinges past to confirme refreshe often tymes the remembraunce of the passion of the Lord and of our redemption Wherfore the saying of S. Augustine agaynst a Manichee is prayse worthy The fleshe saith he and the bloud of this sacrifice were promised before the comyng of Christ by the oblations and offeringes Which were figures of them in the passion of Christ they were perfourmed by the trulie it selfe and after the ascentiō of Christ they are celebrated by the sacrament of the memoriall Lo what he sayth hereof Now the same Lorde in auncient tyme ordained the Pascall Supper which he called also a memoriall and commemoration that the benefit of the deliueraunce foorth of Egypte the true image and figure of the vniuersall redemption by Christ might be refreshed and renued euery yere to the remēbraunce of the faythfull There was meate in both the two there were great benefites in both two but yet the truth is here in the Supper the shadow in the other in both two the remēbraunce in both two saluation and lyfe through the Messias finally in both two there were prayses and spirituall reioysyng For in the Supper we are commaūded to shewe the death of the Lord which in deede is nothyng els but the commaundement which is gyuē vs to yeelde prayse and thankesgiuyng to the Lorde for his death And so this parte whereof we haue heretofore spoken is agayne repeated and for this cause we are often put in remembraunce thereof as of that thing which is not the least in that holy bankquet Now we are commaunded to do these thinges vntill he come That is to say vntill the Lorde returne in Iudgement All the sacramētes of the auncient fathers were instituted vntil the tyme of correctiō that is to say vntill the cōmyng of Christ who by hys commyng into the worlde hath fulfilled al the promyses hauyng abrogated and abolished the shadowes and figures Therfore hath he now instituted this sacrament that it might be perpetual and immutable That is to say that it might indure in the Churche vntill the Lorde returne in iudgemēt fully to accomplish that which he promised by his word Who is he than that dare chaunge it If any haue bene so holde to make any such chaunge who is he which seeth not how greately he hath sinned agaynst God
things signified whereof commeth greate profite if they be receiued by faith They which beholde onely the outward custome and facion of the Sacramentes of the olde Fathers without the woorde faith and the inwarde lightenyng of the spirite and doo consider none other thing in the Pascal supper nor in the sacrifices of the Fathers but that which we beholde outwardly with our eyes what difference thinke you may they put betweene those things and a commō banquet or a slaughter wherin the beastes are slaine before the bouchers table euen in such sort as vppon the holy Aultar Contrarily it wyll seeme to our fleshe that these holy things haue no maiestie at all but that they be rather to be mocked at For this cause we reade that the most holy and most wise Prophetes of God dyd greatly reproue them which esteemed the sacrifices by the outward appearance onely without faith and the spirit saying Who hath required this at your handes Heape vp your burnt offerings with your sacrifices and eate the fleshe For when I brought your Fathers foorth of Egypt I spake no woorde vnto them of burnt offerings and sacrifices The rest is in Ieremie the seuenth chapter Nowe because all the sacramentes of the auncient Fathers dyd promise that Christ should come and redeeme his elect and also considering that the Lorde Iesus Christ is already come into the world being geuen of his Father for the saluation of all the faithful it had been very vnseemly that the signes shoulde continue in the church which should witnesse that Christ should come who already was come Wherefore Christ after that he had abolished the Symboles and ceremonies of the auncient fathers to wyt Circumcision the feast of the Passeouer and the sacrifices in stead of Circumcision placed Baptisme and in stead of the Sacrifices and of the Pascall Supper ordeyned his mysticall Supper for a perpetual signe and vnchaungeable memorial of his body yeelded vp and geuen to the death and of his bloud shedde Therefore you must not only regarde in this our misticall supper the signe the fashion of dooing and the outward act but rather the thing signified The symboll or the signe in the Supper is the breade and wine and the holy banquet it selfe and the misticall action which Iesus Christ hath geuen vs The thing signified is the body of our Lord deliuered for vs and his bloud shedde for the remission of sinnes and the passion of the Lord it selfe and the remembrance thereof and our redemption which ensued thereof This doo saith the Lord in remembrance of me The companie therfore of the faythful assemble them selues togeather to celebrate the misteries of Christ In the which according to the auncient custome the simbols of bread and of wine borrowe the names of the things signified and be called the body and the bloud of the Lord Iesus Hereby are we called backe from visible things to behold heauenly things which are spiritually communicated vnto vs. For if thou behold onely the breaking of the breade and the distribution of the the cuppe with the brotherly feast and if thou knowe not what this breade is what this wine is and what things they represent vnto vs in refreshing our memorie therewith this Supper will not seeme to differ much from a common supper The sacrament therefore of Iesus Christ deliuered to death and of his passion and in lyke manner our redemption is deliuered here vnto vs And that we may the better vnderstand these things we wil proceed in searching out throughly that which the Lord did in this Supper and that which he commaunded vs to doo It is not needefull that I be tedious vnto you in speaking more of the forme maner of the Institution of the Supper for the Lorde our Sauiour instituted it and he did not institute the Masse And if the Masse seeme vnto any to be worthy of commendation price and estimation because it was ordeyned by the auncient Popes of Rome howe muche more I beseeche you ought the Supper to be renoumed and esteemed which was instituted by the great and onely priest Iesus Christe before all Popes and before Rome had receyued the faith from Hierusalem Moreouer it is most certaine and out of all controuersie that the Lord ordeyned this forme and none other And for this cause we reade that saint Paul Doctor of the Gentiles said That which I deliuered vnto you I receyued of the Lorde Truely the Euangelistes and the Apostles are witnesses that the Lord said often tymes This doo yee I say this doo yee this doo yee that is to say This which you see me first doo We haue then the expresse commaundement of God and the cleare woorde whereunto not without cause we are obedient We haue a famous and notable example which if we should not folow we should woorthily be called transgressors And truely that which is deliuered vnto vs by the Sonne of God hymself which is the wisedome of the Father and the light of al the world deserueth well to be preferred before the aucthoritie of the most excellent personage of the world And if the aūcient Fathers be in great estimation among you whose aucthoritie knowledge holynesse and auncientnesse hath woonne vnto them a great renoume in so much that in consideration of them the Masse is taken to be an excellēt thing ought not the Apostles the Father of Fathers to be much more esteemed of you who in holynesse and learnyng and in all things are to be preferred before all men and before all that is in the worlde They knewe not what the Masse ment but they celebrated the Supper in the same forme as the Gospell here teacheth vs For as much then as the Masse was as it were vnknowen vnto the aūcient Fathers them selues as we said let vs setting it apart approch to the Supper of the Lorde and let the Institution of the Sonne of God please vs Let vs thinke that without the word of God there is no holynesse Wherfore that which repugneth the ordinaunce of God and is not done as God hath appoynted may rightly be called cursed sacrilege These things are confirmed by the aucthoritie of God and man For the Lord saith in his Lawe Who soeuer offereth not at the doore of the Tabernacle an offring vnto the Lord shal be giltie of bloud and shal perish as if he had shed bloud Consider wherfore in the histories of the kynges the high places are reiected with so great indignation And in like manner Paul accurseth and pronounceth euery thyng cursed which agreeth not with the Gospell or which is contrarye thereunto Saint Cyprian also the Martyr saith that euery thing which is deuised by mans madnesse to breake Gods ordinaunce is adulterous wicked and full of sacrilege In his first and seconde booke of his Epipistles We ought not saith he to followe the custome of man but the truth of God for so much as God speaketh and
that which is signified by this bread least peraduenture any should lyghtly esteeme this bread and make as litle accompte thereof as of vsuall and common bread therefore sayth he This is my body which is geuen for you Which kinde of speech is altogeather like vnto that of the pascall Supper that is to say Of this manner shall ye eate it with your loynes girded and your shoes on your feete and your staffe in your hand and ye shall eate it in hast For it is the Lordes Passouer Euen so dooth the Lord speake in this place in lyke sort Take ye eate ye this is my body Howbeit this speech is sacramentall and misticall wherefore it ought to be expounded simbollycally and according to the meaning For the breade is a sacramēt signe or pledge of the body of Christ And truely the auncient Doctours of the Churche haue so expounded these wordes of our lord And in deede we doo not deuise any newe matter in saying that the bread signifieth the body of Christe For we haue els where shewed at large that the auncient Interpreters of the Scripture as wel Greekes as Latines haue vsed this exposition Also we haue geuen you to vnderstande by many euident reasons that these words of our Lord This is my body This is my bloud ought not to be taken accordyng to the grosse literall sense but to be expounded mystically or sacramentally For the bread remayneth in his substance and is not chaunged into the substance of the body of Christ In like maner the naturall body of Iesus Christ the which being geuen once for vs and raysed from death is ascended into heauen is not hyd nor inclosed vnder the kinde or forme of bread For the Angels of God speakyng of this body beare witnesse thereof and say This same Iesus which is taken vp from you into heauen shall so come euen as you haue seene hym goe into heauen In like maner S. Peter saith The heauē must receiue Iesus Christ vntyl the tyme that all things be restored c. S. Paul sayth also Iesus Christ after he hath offered one sacrifice for sinnes is set down for euer on the right hand of God from hencefoorth tarying tyll his foes be made his footestoole Wherfore we reade that S. Augustine writing to Dardanus said rightly and accordyng to the Scriptures Christ as he is God is all wholy present in euerye place but accordyng to the measure propertie of a true bodye he hath his place in some one place of heauen He hath giuen immortalitie to his body in the glorification therof After this forme he is not to be thought to be diffused and spread abrode euery where Wherfore we must take good heede that we doo not so affirme the Diuinitie of the man Christe that wee take awaye the truth of his body For one person is God and man and one Christe Iesus is both two being euery where in that he is God but being in heauen in that he is Man. Yea and this Authour hath left in his bookes these things and many other like both Catholique and according to the true sense of the Scripture agreeable to this matter Moreouer the Catholique veritie suffereth vs not to faine that Christ hath two bodyes But if thou take the woordes of the Lorde after the Letter This is my body without doubt the blessed body of the Lorde being set at the Table with his Disciples gaue vnto them also I knowe not what other body for he could not geue hym self with his own hāds vnto his Disciples Therefore with his true body and with his handes he deliuered vnto his Disciples the Sacrament of his onely bodye Hereuppon it foloweth that the faythfull acknowledging the Sacrament and misterie receiue with their mouth the sacramental bread of his body but with the mouth of the spirit they eate the very body of the Lord. He is eaten in suche sort as he may be eaten that is to say spiritually by fayth as the Lord hym selfe expoundeth this misterie vnto vs at large in S. Iohn the sixt chapter Neyther haue the purest Doctours of the auncient Church taught any otherwise Yea and this place may wel be applyed to the woordes of the Supper of the lord For seeyng our Lord hath but one true bodye the which he gaue vp to death for vs that in these two places he speaketh of this selfe same body it seemeth vnto me that this place of Saint Matthewe ought to be expounded by that of S. Iohn seeing that S. Augustine also in his third booke of the agreement of the Euangelistes supposeth that S. Iohn speaketh not of the Institution of the Supper of the Lord because in another place he had set foorth this matter at large Al the auncient Doctours of the Church speaking of the Supper allege the woords of the Gospel of S. Iohn and apply them to the supper of the Lord. To be short me thinketh that there cannot be found a better interpretour or expounder of the Lordes woord then the Lord himselfe who for so much as he saith in the .vi. Chapter of Saint Iohn that his flesh being eaten to wit corporally as the Capernaites tooke it profiteth nothing It is most certayne that hee would not geue in the .xxvi. of Saint Matthewe that which profiteth nothing and that he hath not ordayned here that which he reiecteth and reprooueth there Therefore the Lord Iesus Christ sitting in his true body at the ryght hand of the Father in heauen maketh vs partakers of lyfe which he purchased for vs by giuing his body for vs and by shedding his bloud and we receyue the same lyfe of Christ by true fayth that is to wit all the heauenly giftes of Christ that Christ may lyue in vs and we in him And there is none other meane to receyue Christ but by fayth Euen as bodily foode cannot be taken to conserue the bodyly lyfe but by the mouth of the body so spiritual foode cannot otherwyse be receyued of vs to bring vs to the spirituall and eternall lyfe but by the mouth of the soule that is to say by fayth Hereby all men may see that we doo not acknowledge in any respect the naked and prophane eating of bread as some doo wrongfully charge vs For we doo acknowledge and confesse Christ to be the meate and the drinke of lyfe the which conceyue spiritually by fayth as it hath been foreshewed not being able to eate him present with the corporall mouth carnally and corporally We doo acknowledge that the faythfull are partakers of Christ truly and that they doo receyue him And yet doo not the faythfull so restrayne or tye this partaking eyther to certayne tyme or element as though they did not confesse that it myght be obtayned without the Symboll or Sacrament In both the two Sacramentes there is one reason of the communion of Christ and in both the two those things which