S. Aug. that I haue heare layde downe and by many other like that I might alleage I truste all suche as feare God and will iudge indifferently may perceiue that this is no new doctrine which at this time I taught touching the likenesse of the Jewes religion and Sacramentes to ours now in time of the Gospell Herevnto I must add this note by the way If the Israelites vnder the old law did in their sacramēts eat y ◠same spirituall meat drink y ◠same spiritual drink y ◠we do in ours that is Christ that effecally and to saluation before Christes natural body blood were borne and come really into the worlde it maye euydently leade vs also to vnderstande what manner of eating and drinking it is that we also should vse in our sacramēts to saluation that is a spirituall eating and drinking of Christ and not such a grosse carnall and reall eating as the Church of Rome now striueth for But of this I haue to speake in the nexte part Therefore here I will make an ende c. ¶ The seconde Sermon vpon this part of the Text. 1. Cor. 10. 3. c. All did eate of the same spirituall meate and all did drinke of the same spirituall drinke For they dranke of the spirituall Rocke and the Rocke was Christe NOt only S. Paule in this place but the spirite of God in sunderye other Places of the Scriptures teacheth vs that Christe only is the blessed and Heauenlye foode of oure soules wherewith we are fed and nourished to eternall life Of this meate and drinke Esay prophecied many yeares before Christ came in fleshe Oh sayd he come all ye that be thirstie come to the waters and yee that haue no siluer come buy and eate come I say bye wine and milke without money wherfore do you lay out siluer for that which is no fode bestow your labor for that which cannot satisfye you harken dilligently vnto me eat that which is good c. In which words he caled the hungry thirstie consciences of gods people to that heauenly foode of Christ which in his gospel is laid before the faithfull by it to be fedde to eternall life and reproueth them for seeking other foode besyde Christ because indeed there is none that can satisfie them but onelye hee This doth Christ himself seeme to expound in this maner in the gospel when he sayth If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke But most euident in John the sixte hee declareth himselfe to be the onely foode of oure soules of which we must feede vnto saluation For vppon the occasyon of the Jewes following him with a carnall affection to haue their bodyes fedde by myracle as before he had done he sharply reproueth that affection in them willeth thē to labour and trauatle not for the meat that perisheth but for the meate y t shold endure to euerlasting life which the sonne of man should giue vnto them And after Moises gaue you not bread from heauen but my father giueth you the true bread from heauen For the bread of God is he who cōmeth down from heauen to giue life vnto the world And after a few words he sayth plainely I am the bread of life he that commeth to me shal not hunger and he that beleueth in me shall neuer thirst And againe I am the bread of life your fathers did eat Manna in the wildernesse and are dead This is the bread of life which commeth downe from heauen of which he that eateth should not die I am the liuing bread that came downe from heauen if any man eate of this bread hee shall liue for euer and the bread which I wil giue is my fleshe which I will giue for the life of the worlde c. Except ye eate of the fleshe of the son of man drink his blood you haue no life in you Whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood hath eternall life c I will raise him vp at the last day For my flesh is meate in deede and my blood is drinke in deede c. Seing then it is very euident that Christ is the meate and drinke of all true Christians it behoueth vs next to learne why Christ is called meate and drinke for we may not groselye vnderstand it as y ◠Capernaites did that it is a Meat wherwith our bodies are to be nourished as with other natural foode God forbid For Christ himselfe a little after sayth The words that I haue spoken are spirite and life Gyuing vs thereby to vuderstande that hee is oure spiritual meate and his wordes spiritually to be vnderstanded This speech then that Christ is meate an drinke vnto Christians is not a naturall and proper kinde of speaking but metaphoricall and figuratiue transferred from the bodye to the soule from a worldlye meaning to a spirituall Seuce Which the better to perceaue you must remēber that man consisteth not of body only but of soule also And as y t body hath his life and death so the soule hath her life and death And as the body hath certayn means to keepe of death and for the time to mayntayne lyfe so hath the soule meanes to preserue the life thereof and to put awaye death The lif of the body is the ioyning of the soule and the bodye togither and the death thereof is the separation of the soule from the bodye The meanes to preserue the life of the bodye that is to continue the bodye and soule togeather is foode and sustenaunce meate and drinke for we daylye and howerly doe consume and the substance of our bodies wasteth by the pores of oure skinne so that when Nature feeleth wante of Substaunce to supplye the wasting of the body then it is sayde in proper speeche to hunger or to thirst that is to desyre and couette that thing whereby the waute of naturall Substaunce and moysture maye be supplyed least the Instrumentes of the soule shoulde bee made feeble and so the soule departe and the body dye Nowe looke what the soule is to the hedye that is GOD vnto the soule As the lyfe of the bodye is the ioyning of the soule to the bodye for wythout the Soule there is no life so the life of the Soule is the ioyning of GOD and the Soule togeather and the death of the Soule is the separation of GOD from the soule for without GOD the soule hath no lyfe And yet you maye not thinke that the Soule dyeth after that sorte that the bodye doeth by ceassyng to haue a beeing or a continuaunce but it dreth a spirituall death by separation of God from it so that the tyme that it is and hath a beeing withoute God is nothing but a moste horrible tormente and more greeuous then a thousande bodilye deathes Nowe further as the body hath a certayne meanes by foode and Sustenaunce to preserue life that is
away the sinnes of the worlde shall bee sure to be saued from that wrath of God wherein the wicked and vnbeleeuers shall bee wrapped And because S. Paule speaketh here of Manna doe you not see it a marueilous Image of Christ Manna came from heauen so did Christ Manna was deliuered to all in lyke measure so is Christ an indifferent and full saluation to all men Manna was white of colour and pure of substaunce so is Christ pure and vnspotted of sinne and infirmities Manna that it myght bee nourishment was beaten and bruised in a morter so Christ that he myght bee the foode of lyfe was broken and brused on the crosse Manna was the onely substaunce whereby the Israelites lyued in the wyldernesse so is Christ the onely foode whereby the true Israelites and children of Abraham lyue in the desert and wildernesse of this wicked worlde This similitude vndoubtedly and many suche other in the residue of their sacramentes the faithfull Jewes before the comming of Christ did see although not so plainely as wee doe nowe in the time of the Gospell And so S. Paule signifieth in this place when he sayth That they did eate the same spirituall meate and drinke the same spirituall drinke which they could not possibly haue done if in Manna in the Rocke they had not vnderstanded Christ for Christ was Manna and Christ was the Rocke For wee maye not thinke that they iudged Manna or the Rocke or any of their Sacramentes to bee of that price and worthynesse that for the vse of them they shoulde bee saued and in the fauour of God For God by his Prophetes sundrye times telleth them the contrarie Therefore it is not to bee doubted that in their sacrifices and sacramentes they sawe the true Messias and Sauiour and vnderstoode that those things were but Sermons and Preachings to direct them to the beliefe thereof Thirdly we must consider that both the people of the Jewes before Christ and wee nowe since Christ haue but one meanes to apprehende this way of saluation and to apply the same vnto them that is by fayth in the promyses of God For as we beleeue to be saued nowe by Christ that is come so they beleeued to bee saued by Messias that should come As we bee sure of saluation by faith in Christ that hath redeemed vs so they were sure of saluation by the same Messias that shoulde worke their redemption For it is not our owne dignitie in any respect but the assured trust of Gods mercie through Christ that saueth vs. Wherefore as the faythfull nowe after their departure out of this lyfe passe to most assured ioy and comfort so the faithfull departing then in lyke manner passed to ioye and felicitie Therefore the Papisticall doctrine is false and wicked that teacheth eyther Lymbum Patrum or else that Christ deliuered the Fathers out of hell at hys descendyng thither Seeyng they had the same meanes of saluation that wee haue seeyng then there is but out God of both these people truely to be worshipped one maner of saluation in Christ proposed to them both one meanes to apprehende and applye that saluation vnto them one Churche one spirituall baptisme one spirituall meate and drinke as Saint Paule here witnesseth I see not by what authoritie of Gods worde our Sacramentes canne haue any other difference from theirs then in the external signes and respecte of tyme as that theire Sacraments ledde them to beleeue that a Messyas and Sauyour should come by whome they shoulde bee delyuered from the bondage of sinne and oures leade vs to vnderstande that this Sauioure is come and hath ransommed and deliuered vs and maketh vs partakers of the benefite thereof I knowe what difference the Churche of Roome putteth betweene the Jewes Sacramentes and ours that is that the Sacraments of the old law do but signifie and promise grace and saluation and ours giue exhibite the same Which I thinke they gathered of some sentences of S. Aug. and other Fathers not rightlye vnderstanded The Sacraments sayth Aug. of the new law be more wholesom happie then those that were in the olde lawe for they promise and these giue But the same father in other places expoundeth himselfe as when he sayth The Sacramentes of the olde law signifie before hand and our sacramēts declare that is done And agayne The sacramentes of the olde law were promises of thinges that shoulde be fulfilled and ours are notes of things that are fulfilled I graunt Aug. and other fathers haue said our sacraments are more happy and of more excellente grace and vertue meaning therby only that they were more ful and perfect more euident and playne In many places Augustine noteth this difference that our sacraments are fewer easyer more bewtifull more playne and euident and so truelye they are The same August expounding this very place of Paule sayth in this manner All doe eate the same spirituall meate It might seeme sufficient to haue sayde All did eate spirituall meate but he addeth the same I find not how to vnderstande it but the same that wee also doe eate But some will say vnto me Is Manna the same thing that I doe now eate than nothing is now come if the same were before and Christ his passion is voyde how then saith he the same but that he addeth spirituall for they that did eate it as meate only to feede theire Bodies did not eate the same meate that wee doe c. Breefely therefore I say whosoeuer in Manna did vnderstande Christ did eate the same spirituall meat that we doe c. so likewise the same spirituall drinke that we doe for the Rock was Christ for there was not one Christ then another now for thē christ was to come Now he is come To come is come are diuers words but one Christ In the 26 Tract vpon Iohn he hath a like discourse to the very same purpose touching y ◠same place of Paule Where he sheweth that as many did eate Manna mortui sunt i. and are dead so diuers did eate it mortui non sunt i. and are not dead Moises Aaron Phinees did eat it and died not because they did vnderstande the visible meate spirituallye to the ende they might spiritually be satisfyed with it c. And it followeth This bred Manna did signifie this bread the Table of the Lord doth now signifie They were Sacramēts in signs diuers in the thīgs that are signified the self same Heare what the Apostle sayth I would not haue you ignorante my bretheren that they did eate the same spirituall meate for their bodily meate was not the same they did eat Manna we eat another thing but they did eate the same spiritual meat c. And so they did drink the same spirituall drinke They one thing and we another as touching the visible kinde which yet in spirituall vertue signified the selfe same thing By these words of
will raise him vp at the last daye Who seeth not heere that Christ attributeth the same force to beleeuing that in the other verse he did to eating and drinking and therfore vseth y â— wordes indifferently as beyng of one meaning I myght stay vpon many other places wherein the holy Ghost wytnesseth that we haue eternall life by beleeuing in Christ as in the same place He that trusteth in me hath eternal life but the matter is needelesse and the time will not suffer me Therefore by Christes owne wordes to beleeue in Christ is to eat Christ That you may not thinke this is a new deuise proceeding from my selfe or from the Preachers of thys tyme hearken you what S. Augustine sayeth This is the bread that came from heauen that if any doe eate of it he shoulde not die but that stretcheth to the Vertue of the Sacrament not to the visible Sacrament He that eateth within not he that eateth without he that eateth with the hart and not he that presseth it with his teeth Marke I pray you y â— he attributeth the true effectuall eating not to the pressing with the teeth and bodyly mouthe but to the inward eating with the hart and what is that but by faith and beleeuing spiritually to eate him and so he expoundeth himselfe in an other place This it is therefore fayeth he to eate that foode that perisheth not but remaineth to eternall lyfe What preparest thou thy tooth and thy belly beleeue and thou hast eaten And againe To beleeue in hym that is it to eate the bread of lyfe Cyprian also to the same purpose writeth These things so often as wee doe wee sharpen not our teeth to byte but with sincere fayth wee breake and diuide that holye breade Some happily thinke that this spirituall eating by faith is but a â—leight matter and of no great weyght and so the teachers of the Churche of Rome woulde perswade men but they consider not the great vertue power and strength of Faith By Fayth wee knowe Christ and the true meane of our saluation by hym By Faith wee bee graffed into Christ as braunches into the roote and stocke so that wee lyue now by him and by his spirit as the braunches doe by the Iuice that commeth from the bodye of the tree By Fayth wee bee so vnited vnto Christ that we may iustly saye whatsoeuer is hys is ours also by fayth we are made the chyldren of God and heyres of eternall lyfe By fayth wee haue peace wyth God and are assured of hys fauour in the myddest of all our troubles by fayth wee dare boldly approche to the throne of Gods mercie This might and strength of fayth they feele not that thinke it so simple a matter to eate Christ by fayth Christ witnesseth That by eating him by faith and beliefe we haue saluation and eternall lyfe and that hee will raise vs at the last daye Wherefore I woulde knowe of them what other eating there is beside thys whereby wee maye assure our selues of Saluation Truely the Scriptures mention none And that carnall eating for which the Churche of Rome striueth is suche as they themselues confesse that Iudas and all wicked persons may vse and bee damned Nowe I appeale to the consciences of them that feare GOD and will not willyngly runne into errour whether wee or they deale with the people of God more sincerely They without any euident proofe of the Scriptures contende as I haue sayde for that reall and bodily eating with which damnation maye bee ioyned wee endeuour to perswade men that manner of spirituall eatyng by faythe throughe which by the testimonie of the whole Scriptures wee shall be assured of eternall lyfe and with which damnation can not bee ioyned Some perchaunce wyll saye vnto mee or wyll thinke with themselues in their mynde If this doctrine bee true then are Sacramentes needelesse For wee may eate Christ by fayth spiritually in such sort as you haue sayd without any vse of the Lordes supper and therefore it maye seeme superfluous God forbydde that the most perfect Christians and of strongest fayth should once thinke Sacramentes to bee superfluous and needelesse They bee the blessed and holy ordinaunces of Christ by his mercy and goodnesse appoynted for our great helpe and benefite as I haue in the former Sermon declared And yet I must confesse to the great comforte of many godlye persons that the faythfull Christian maye and doth often feede vpon Christ to saluation beside the vse of the Sacrament For the spirituall grace and benefites which as I haue sayd before is the principall parte of a Sacrament is not of necessitie alwaye so tyed to the outwarde signes that without them God can not or doth not sometime bestowe the same I doubte not but the Theefe vppon the Crosse without vse of the Sacrament dyd eate the bodye and blood of Christ in such sort that he was the same day w t him in Paradise We see in the Actes of the Apostles that Cornelius and hys company was sealed with the spirite of GOD before the receauing of the outward Sacrament in such sort that if he had then immediatly departed out of this life he should haue gone to heauen which coulde not bee vnlesse he had spiritually by fayth eaten the true foode of euerlasting life that is Christ Jesus crucifyed which he fed vppon most assuredly whyle he heard Saint Peter preach Christ There were in tyme of the Primitiue Churche great numbers of godly Martyrs saued which neuer outwardly receaued the Sacrament of the Lordes supper and yet fruitfully and effectually did eat Christ by faith And so doe many at this daye which either by sicknesse or by imprisonment or by any other lyke cause of necessitie are tyed from the outwarde vse of the Sacraments Yet as I haue fayde God forbyd that we shoulde thinke the Sacrament of the Lordes supper superfluous but rather exceeding profitable In the vse of y t Sacrament there is a double eating of which one helpeth the other †As manne consisteth of two partes bodie and soule so the bodye feedeth vppon the outwarde elementes of bread and wyfe but the soule feedeth in deede and truely vpon Jesus Christ crucified The outward eating by y â— instrumeÌ„ts of our body causeth al our senses our hearing our seeing our feeling our tasting to helpe our inwarde eating by faith by the same quickeneth stirreth strengtheneth increaseth our faith y t we may eate y t body and blood of Christ more effectually fruitfully For when the faithful christian heareth the wordes of Christes institution sounde in his eares This is my body that is giuen for you this is my blood that is shed for the remission of your sinnes it stirreth vppe his faith for faith is by hearing to lay strong howfast vppon this promise in his hart doth assure himselfe that Christ dyed and shed his blood not
fyguratiue speeche passing all truth thereby to signifie a meane truth But I would learne of these mē what it is that sauing the nature of his Godhead maye in this kind of thing be spoken of him more then truth seeing he is Omnipotent of infinite knowledge and is present in al places So much as they shal exempt from Gods disposition in his Creatures so much shall they with dishonour of God pul from his Almightie power and infinit wisdome We may not think it is any disgracing of y ◠maiesly of god to drawe the same his prouydence to the preseruation and direction euen of his meanest creatures For he worketh not as men do with labour and greefe or torment of mind His very beck will and countenaunce is ynough to doe or alter all thinges euen to shake Heauen and earth as the blinde Heathen Poet Homere could saye Yea this is the greatest profe that can be of his exceeding maieftie that he seeth all thinges that he dispofeth and worketh al things that he directeth all his Creatures to that ende for which in the beginning he made them If this be so some wil say vnto mee why then as God is to be praysed and thanked for all that is good so whatsoeuer is euill also is to bee imputed vnto him and no man or other creature no nor the Deuil himselfe to be blamed for any hurt that is done because it is Gods will and disposition it shoulde bee and agaynst that who is able to stande And so GOD shall be accounted the Authoure of sinne whiche is a wicked and horrible assertion These daungerous cogitations are by Sathan thrust into the mindes of Christians purposely to make them to murmure against God and his prouidēce And as I am very loth in this Auditory to enter into the searche of Gods secrete Judgementes so may I not cleane omit to take away the offence of this vngodlye cogitation And yet meane I not to doe that deepelye and with intricate and harde reasons but such as the meanest person not voyde of naturall vnderstanding may sufficientlye conceaue Who knoweth not that the end wherevnto anye thing is done maketh one and the same thing eyther good or badde iust or vnuiste A Magistrate putteth a man to death not for hatred of the person not for particular reueugement nor to haue benefite by his goods and in this he doth well being the Minister of God by him appoynted so to die A Ruffyan or a Theefe killeth a man to be reuenged on him to haue his goods or to th'end he may auoyde some daunger thereby and in this he sinneth greeuously And yet to kill a man or to put him to death is all one act iust and good in the one wicked and naughty in the other So GOD by his prouidence maye dispose those thinges to bee done which wicked persons as his Instrumentes doe perfourme the same iust in God in them sinfull and naught For God in those thinges respecteth his owne glorye or the punishmente of vice and wickednesse without any corrupt affection at all The naughtie men whome the wisedome of God vseth as instruments herein haue not the sayd ends but with al indeuour seeke to satisfye their own ambition cruelty couetousnesse pride or other sinfull passion of the mind and haue no regarde to the iustice of God and fulfilling of hys holy will I will vse but one example notwithstanding the scriptures minister to me a great number God had often times by his Prophets called his people the Jewes to leaue their Superstition and Idolatrie to leaue their wickednesse and naughtie life and to returne to him by repentaunce and yet they would not I rose vp earely sayth God by the mouth of Ieremy and sent vnto you all my Prophets and you haue not heard me nor haue not in cliued your eare vnto mee but haue done worse then your forefathers c. Therefore he was resolued according to their deseruing iustely to punish them And who can denye but this resolution in God was moste iuste For his Instrumente he vsed the Kinge of Assiria a prowde a cruell and a wicked Prince who came vppon the Jewes and shewed toward them all crueltie and extremitie in no part respecting the satisfying of Gods Justice or the punishing of his naughtie people but the fulfilling of his owne ambitions and eruell affection wherwith he thought to inlarge his Empyre and so sette foorth hys owne glory And who can denie but that this doonig was in the King stafull and naughte and therefore was this enill mind in him not long after punished by GOD himselfe And this maketh verye greatlye to the setting foorth of Gods wisedome that hee canne vse naughtie Instrumentes to punishe naughtye men and turne the minds and indeuoures of wicked persons to his glorye and to the satisfying of his iustice though they in no parte regard the same But I see a desyre to aunswere the peruerse cogications of euill mindes hath drawne mee somewhat from my purpose Let vs nowe therefore come to the seconde note that is with what causes God is vsually mooued to worke such plagues and euils to men those generally are two The first is the punishment of sinne and the transgression of his commaundementes as infinite Examples and almoste the whole course of the scriptures teache vs. For their owne sinnes sayth Moyses and for the sinnes of their fathers shall they be plagued to confesse theire iniquities c. And agayne If you shall leaue the Lorde your God and shall serue strange Gods he will turn himself and punish you But of al other places most plainly Deut. 21. Leuit. 26. ver 14. Where after god hath signifyed what worldly blessings should come vnto them if they did obserue and keepe his lawes he addeth But if thou wilte not obeye me nor doe all these commaundementes c. then will I also doe this vnto you I will bring vppon you fearefulnesse a consumption a burning and the burning ague to consume the eyes and make the heart heauie you shall sowe your seede in vaine for your enimies shal eate it and I wil set my face against you and you shall fal before your enimies and they that hate you shal raigne ouer you I will breake the pride of your power and make your Heauen as yron and youre Earth as Brasse your strength shall be spent in vaine neither shall thee Trees of the Lande giue their fruites I will sende wylde beastes vpon you which shall spoile you destroy your Cattell and make you few in number for youre highe wayes shal be desolate I will send a sworde among you and when you be gathered in your Citties I will sende the pestilence vpon you and ye shall be deliuered into the hand of the ennemie And so continueth God to recken vp all these miseries and calamities that anye wayes may come to man and that he will send them