Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	blood_n	flesh_n	meat_n	9,640	5	9.2298	5	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12703	The high vvay to Heaven by the cleare light of the Gospell cleansed of a number of most dangerous stumbling stones thereinto throwen by Bellarmine and others In a treatise made vpon the 37. 38. and 39. verses of the 7. of Iohn: wherein is so handled the most sweete and comfortable doctrine of the true vnion and communication of Christ and his Church, and the contrarie is so confuted, as that not onely thereby also summarilie and briefly, and yet plainly all men may learne rightly to receiue the sacrament of Christs blessed bodie and blood, but also how to beleeue and to liue to saluation. And therefore entitled The highway to Heauen. By Thomas Sparke Doctor of Diuinitie.	Sparke, Thomas, 1548-1616.	1597 (1597)	STC 23021; ESTC S102434	161,682	384

was preached at Hierusalem euen in the temple at and in the feast of tabernacles and vpon the last and most solemne day therof and that in the middest of most bloody and malitious enemies most confidently stoutly and boldly for he vttered it standing and crying thereby shewing that he was neither afraide to be heard nor seene yea thereby making it most manifest that he desired nothing more then that they shoulde thorowly both see and knowe his person and vnderstand and beleeue his doctrine And yet for all this howe desirous soeuer his enemies were then to haue taken him yet no man had power to lay handes on him as it is noted Verse 44. yea they that were sent to that ende returned and gaue this reason of their not touching him that neuer man spake as he did vers 46. The noting thus of these circumstances by the Euangelist wee must not thinke was needlesse but to very good purpose yea we ought alwaies to assure our selues howsoeuer in humane writings and speeches there may often be found many idle and superfluous wordes that it is neuor so in the Canonicall scriptures For they beeing as they are all enspired of God 2. Tim. 3. vers 16 and the holy writers thereof speaking and writing therein onely as they were mooued by the holie Ghost as Peter testifieth of them 2. Pet. vers 21. we may be sure they haue not vttered or set downe any word in vaine therein And if we doe but a little weigh and consider of those circumstances thus set downe heere by saint Iohn how sleight soeuer the vse thereof seeme to vs at the first we shall soone perceiue that there is both much and very good vse to be made thereof For first notwithstanding the corruptions of those times in that Christ would come to Hierusalem to the feast of tabernacles we may learne not onely Christes obedience to Gods ceremoniall lawe as then yet standing in force and not abrogated to teach vs alwaies to be obedient to his perpetuall lawes But also that it is not lawfull scismaticallie as Anabaptistes Brownistes and they of the familie of loue and others doe to shunne publike assemblies and the exercises of true religion therein for euery small corruption and superstitious fashion either but seeming to such so to bee or indeede which are so to be found therein Because that then both in the priestes and in their additions and detractions from the lawe of God the corruptions were many grosse and euident as the Euangelistes and stories of those times make it most manifest and yet as we may see by this Christ shunned not the temple and their assemblies there And in that Christ there among the greatest and spitefullest enemies that he had preached and taught thus boldlie Further there by his example he hath giuen vs to learne that hauing a lawfull calling and a good cause as he had neither daungerousnesse of the time place or persons that we hauâ— to deale withall ought to make vs shrink from execution and vrging of the same His choise of this day rather then an other to make this sermon in his standing to vtter it and his vttering it crying argue that he had a care and an earnest desire that it both might be heard of as manie as might bee and also be well vnderstoode and caryed awaye for then was it likelie the audience was the greatest and that which they hearde last as Chrisostome verie well obserueth vppon this place in his fiftith Homilie of Sainte Iohn especiallie vttered in this sorte was also likelie best to be regarded and marked of them which may verie well teach vs in all our actions and deedes both wiselie to make a choise of our time to doe them when there is most likelihood to doe good thereby to most and also in the businesse of the Lord to deale faithfully and confidentlie and in no case boldlie but zealously and earnestly And the better to encourage vs therein to followe our Lorde and Sauiour it is worthie the noting that for all his thus dealing and the set purpose of his enemies then to take him that yet he departed thence safe without any trouble for vntill the time appointed of our heauenly father be come wee may see by this we may and shall safely proceed on in the discharging the dueties of our vocation what dangers soeuer otherwise in the meane time seeme to lie in the way to stop vs or to cut vs off And lastly this earnestnesse of Christ about the deliuerie of this doctrine shewed both in his standing and vttering of it crying may teach vs that he saw of the one side the matter was worth the hearing of the other side that there was in his hearers such dulnesse notwithstaÌ„ding to listen as they should thereunto that al this would be little inough the consideration whereof ought to mooue you that be hearers to rowse vp your spirittes to listen thereunto more attentiuely and straightlie it vrgeth me to be as earnest and vehement as I can in the opening the same vnto you and so consequentlie may and ought to stand in steade of a most forcible place both to me and you to bid vs both in speaking and hearing hereof euerie way to behaue our selues righteously Wherefore thus by these circumstances and the vse thereof we being I hope prepared to doe let vs now go on as it followeth Yf any man thirst saith Christ To whom he spake whereby it appeareth that he directeth his speech although to al that thirsted without exception whatsoeuer they had beene before yet to none but to such for he knewe well inough that none but such would eyther regarde his commaundement or had any right vnto or portion in the promise that he meÌ„t to make In the very same sense saith Esay in the person of God Cap. 55.1 Ho euery one that thirsteth come ye to the waters c. and the same prophet Cap. 44. verse 2. 3. bringeth in the Lord saying Feare not Ã´ Iacob my seruant and thou righteous whom I haue chosen for I will powre water vpon the thirstie and floudes vpon the drie ground c. Likewise of the same kind of men spake Christ Math. 5.6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousnesse for they shall be filled And in the chapter going before this whence I haue my text where Christ teacheth that He is the bread of life and that his flesh is meate indeed and his bloode drinke indeede he sayeth hee that commeth vnto him shall neuer hunger and he that beleeueth in him shal neuer thirst vers 35. By all which places laid together we may see that it is an vsuall thing with the Lord by thirstinesse to describe them to whome with any hope to doe good he speaketh and to whome he vseth to make his gracious promises and that though sometimes he name thirstinesse onely that yet he sometimes also requireth both hunger and thirst expressely thereby teaching vs that

the other or confusion eyther of the natures themselues or of the seuerall and speciall properties the one with the other For most necessarie it is that in euery respect he shoulde be such an one or else he neyther can be an able nor fit person to be our Iesus For though the sinne of man there being growne of Gods parte such iust cause of enimitie against man of mans such alienation and auersion of minde from God as there is it was first most meete that he that should be the attonement-maker twixt these shoulde first in himselfe haue the two natures at vnity and one And then seeing the order of Gods iustice required that as man had offended it man againe shoulde appease it by vndergoing the burthen of the sinnes of man to satisfie fullie the same for them as it was necessarie that he that woulde be mans sauiour shoulde therefore be a verie man so likewise because no nature but that which is of power infinite and therefore none but very God coulde euer haue beene able to haue enabled the nature of man to vndertake and effectuallie to go through with this most greate and hard worke to satisfie fully the infinite iustice of God for the sinnes of the world it was as needfull that he shoulde be true and very God Yea for these causes it was most requisite that these two verie God and the nature of man shoulde be so vnited as that thereof shoulde consist but onely one person as I haue said that so the passible nature might beare as Esay speaketh the chastisment of our peace Esay 53.5 and that the other which is impassible by the power and dignitie thereof hauing it so personally subsisting in and with it selfe might fit it for that purpose not onely contributing vnto it power and strength sufficient therefore but also communicating vnto the thinges done and suffered to that end by that nature though in number and for the time of the accomplishing the same fruite an infinite dignity and worthynesse to satisfie the infinite iustice of God for the purchassing and compassing of mans saluation For otherwise if that nature by this means had not been the manhode of one that was and is very God also it might well haue entred into this worke but doubtlesse in wrastling vnder the burthen of our sinnes against hell death and deuil to satisfie the infinite iustice and wrath of God for the same it might well haue been swallowed vp of death and of the sorrows of hel but it neither shoulde nor coulde euer haue valiently and triumphantly ouercome all these and nailed as it were out sins and the hand writing that was against vs for the same to his crosse as Paule speaketh Colos 2.14.10 Begote vs againe vnto a liuelie hope that is to assure vs that he had gone through the worke that he tooke in hand as nowe through the power thereof by rising againe the third day from death to life and by ascending visibly as a conqueror into heauen fourty daies after and by sitting euer since at the right hand of his father in the heauenly places most euidently he hath For it is the spirite that quickneth and without that so vnited vnto it as it was His flesh could haue profited nothing Io 6.63 Therefore verse diuinely saith the apostle that by his eternall spirite it was thereby vnderstanding plainly his Godhead that he offered himselfe without spot to God to purge our consciences from dead workes to serue the liuing God Heb. 9.14 And hence is it as the former saying of Christ sheweth plainlie inough that he saith my flesh is meat indeed and my bloode is drincke indeed Ioh. 6.55 and againe 53.54 except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drincke his blood yee haue no life in you but whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day For howe can it be otherwise but that he being as he is God and man in one person by the meanes of this most high vnion of his Godhead with his manhoode but that from the same Godhead there must needes proceed and flowe throgh his manhoode infinite power to quicken and saue all those that be partakers thereof And how can it be possible but that the heauenlie father must needs account this his welbeloued sonne in whome he is well pleased a fit and most sufficient meanes to make him also to be well pleased with all these that confesse and acknowledge him to be in person as he is and confidently repose their redemption and saluation Whatsoeuer therefore others haue done or yet doe let vs learne by thus knowing and acknowledging Christ to be in person to come vnto him Nowe concerning his office the same light of the gospell will most clearely direct vs what also to holde and to beleeue touching that What Christ is in office and first in generall both in generall and in particulare In generall it sets him before vs to be the Christ the Messiah the sauiour of the world And this it doth also in such sorte as that it teacheth as solie and wholy sullie and freely to account him so to bee For most plainly we read as we cannot heare too ofte that saint Peter most confidently to the faces of his stowtest enimies hath aduouched that there is noe saluation in any other for amongest men there is giuen no other name vnder heauen whereby saluation commeth but his Act 4.12 And therefore in this respect he is called The author and finisher of our faith Heb 12.2 and âˆ and â— the beginning and the ending Reue. 1.8 Besides he himselfe that best knewe himselfe what he was and is tels vs plainly to this purpose that he is the way the trueth and the life Io. 14.6 yea that he is so the dore of the sheepfold that whosoeuer he be that climmeth vp and seeketh to get in by anie other way he is a theefe and a murtherer Ioh 10. vers 1. and 7. againe Mat. 22. comparing the kingdome of heauen to a mariage that a king made vnto his sonne and the true ministers of God to the bidders vnto that mariage he shewes that his heauenlie father to illure his guestes to come therevnto hath willed them to say vnto them all thinges are prepared already vers 4. therby shewing that in that that this mariage is so consummat betwixt him the sonne of the heauenly king and our nature as by the personall vnion thereof we haue heard it is we may be sure that if nowe we will come and feed of the heauenly cheare that in and by this mariage is prouided for vs that euen therein we shall finde all thinges necessarie to feed vs to eternall life so sufficiently prouided for vs before hand already that we need speake no further And this he had an eie vnto when he said to the woman of Samaria Ioh 4.14 whosoeuer drincketh of the water that I shall giue him

matter most cleare that that might be trusted to to worke and to procure these effectes he is so cooled that he concludes the matter but thus that he allowes confidence to be put in good works indeed so that pride therein be auoyded but yet for that that pride is so hardly auoided in this case as it is we are alwaies so vncertaine as we must needes bee whether we haue attained to that measure and manner of righteousnesse that to this purpose is necessary he thinketh it most safe when we haue done all the good works we haue or can that yet we put all our trust and confidence in the onely mercy and goodnesse of God Which what is it else but wheÌ„ he hath done his worst against the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to make the beleeuer in him righteous by for the establishing of this their own inherent righteousnes in the romphe therof euen then to cast vs the bucklets and for shame to take his heeles and to run away from his cause and to leaue vs both the field the victory But alwaies great is the trueth and it will preuaile Wherfore howsoeuer they thinke of themselues we may plainely inough see that their case is pitifull and lamentable in their striuing thus to darkeÌ„ to obscure the glorie of Christ for the maintenance and setting vp of themselues and their owne deuises in his romphe and yet when all comes to all to be enforced thus in effect to confesse that all the while they haue but kicked against the prickts and for that whervnto they dare not trust in conclusion God of his mercy make them to see their grosse errours heerein and in the meane time let vs runne by the light of the gospell this way be Christ by acknowledging him both in person and office to be such an one as I haue thereby proued and manifested him to bee which when we haue done then we haue made a good beginning to obey Christes commaundement heere but yet the chefe is behinde for he further addeth and drinke By this drinking Christe must be caten and drunken and there fore there must be had a true coÌ„munion with him he doubtlesse vnderstoode drinking of himselfe thereby implying eating of himselfe also for as he said in the former chapter Except yee drinke his blood so withall he saith except ye eate the flesh of the sonne of man yee haue no life in you and whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I wil raise him vp at the last day vers 53. 54. By which figuratiue metaphorical kinde of speach he would teach vs that as it is not inough for him that is hungry and thirsty to come where meate and drinke is to see and behold them yea perfectly to knowe them and be able to say what euery thing is and to what vse it serueth but if he would haue his hunger and thirst satisfied he must thereof both eate and drinke euen so is it in this case For it is not inough to come vnto Christ though we come from point to point as I haue shewed vnlesse that done we goe further yea so farre as that we as surely and verily take him vnto vs and into vs and so make him as certainely our own as meate drinke receiued in and wel digested may be said to be our owne Wherby it most clearely appeareth that as no benefite can arise to the maintenance of this present life by meat and drinke vnlesse they be eaten vpon drunken and as neyther the sap and iuice that is in the meate nor the power nor force of the drinke can be made ours to nourish strengthen our bodies vnlesse we eate drinke the meat and drinke themselues wherein they are lodged contained euen so is it betwixt Christ vs. And therefore Though he be the bread of life his flesh meat indeed his blood drink indeed as we are plainly taught by him they are in the former chap. ver 53 55. yet we can be neuer the nearer therby to the maintenaÌ„ce of our spiritual life before God vnles by an eating drinking of him fit for that purpose we feed vpon him cat drink himself so coÌ„sequeÌ„tly by making him wholly God man our very own and so growing into vnion communion with him we attaine vnto all those good things that are prepared for vs in him And to put vs out of al doubt hereof Saint Iohn in his first Epistle Cap. 1.3 sheweth vs that the whole scope of his ministrie and of his fellow Apostles was that there by this communion and fellowship with Christ might be attained saying That which wee haue seene and heard declare wee vnto you that ye may also haue fellowship with vs and that our fellowship may be with the father and with his sonne Iesus Christ Againe most plaine it is to this purpose that he writeth Cap. 5. of that Epistle vers 11.12 where he saith That God hath giuen vs eternall life he that hath the sonne hath life and he that hath not the sonne hath not life For heerby most plainely first we are taught that the chiefe vse that we are to make of the ministrie is thereby to attaine to haue communion with Christ and then as clearely he shewes vs the better to prouoke vs to striue to make that vse thereof indeede that God in his mercy hauing prouided eternall life for vs which we by the fall of Adam and our owne sinnes had lost in his sonne Christ Iesus that yet he would haue the case so stande with vs in respect thereof that we can neuer haue that vnlesse we haue the sonne himselfe in whom it is treasured coffered vp for vs. Wherby questionlesse the Lorde in his wisedome euen of loue towardes vs hath so ordered the matter for our verie best For when Adam and Eue had life in their owne handes in paradice we haue found by experience they very quickly lost it God therfore hauing so costlie and dearely compassed it againe for vs by the death and passion of his owne welbe loued sonne he sawe it in his wisedome neither good nor safe for vs liuing in this dangerous world to trust it any more in our owne handes and therefore he that is the author and purchaser thereof for vs as he hath the best right therunto by his appointment hath it still lodged for vs in himselfe and that so surely and inseparably that none euer shal or can be partaker thereof but by the communication of his verie selfe first and so once beeing sure of him then also he may withall be assured of the other For these two now by Gods ordinance goe alwaies so togither that where Christ is had there the partie in him is sure of euerlasting life and where he is not had there can be no assurance thereof The blessed sacrament of the bodie and blood of Christ was Instituted by him euen

proone this our vnion with Christ to be spirituall not any grosse or carnal mingling or conioyning of him and vs togither it verie well serueth that Christ him selfe in the fixt of Iohn hath both absolutely and most confidently saide verily verily I say vnto you except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloode yee haue noe life in you vers 53. And also a little after that he is the breade of life that came downe from heauen and his flesh is meate indeede and his bloode is drinke indeede whereof whosoeuer eateth and drinketh hath eternall life Verse 51.54.55.56 For this being thus he might wel say to all that would be saued from the beginning of the worlde to the ende therof as we reade he saide to his Ioh. 15.4.5.6 Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot beare fruite of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can yee except yee abide in me I am the vine yee are the branches he that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me can yee doenothing c. For as it hath from the beginning beene a most certaine truth that to the beginning of the being and life of man and to the continuance of the same his bodie and soule must be vnited togeather so hath it alwayes beene is and euer willbee to make whole man to haue any acceptable being before God or life in his sight that he must haue a true vnion and communion with Christ both God and man For as there is but one God so the Apostle hath taught vs There is but one mediator betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus 1. Tim. 2.5 neither is there saluation in any other for amongst men there is giuen no other name vnder heauen whereby we must be saued as Peter most stoutly aduoucheth Act. 4.12 Whereupon it must needs follow that eyther there was none saued before Christ was God and man which was not before the world was 4000. yeare old more which once to imagine were most absurd and notoriously iniurious to all the godly Patriarkes Prophets and others that liued in the time of the old Testament or else that it is most certaine true that Paul hath taught as it is indeed of such that they did all not onely eat sacramental bread drinke sacramental drinke as we doe but that they did eate the same spiritual meat drink the same spiritual drink which was Christ that we do 1. Cor. 10.3.4 c. Christ therefore than hauing no manhood really but only in the purpose and promise of God it could not bee that otherwise then by the worke meanes of the spirit of God they fed vpon him were vnited vnto him God man which yet then was necessary for their saluatioÌ„ Though therfore now he be come gone againe in his manhood hoode out of the worlde vnto his father in the highest heauens which also shal containe him vnto the restitution of al things as Peter hath taught vs Act. 3.21 yet we know also that he is of that almighty power that as his hauing not then yet takeÌ„ mans nature could not then stop the godly Patriarkes and Prophets from their necessary vnion communion with him God man so much lesse he hauing taken it now and hauing finished the worke of our redemption being risen againe ascended set at the right hand of his father can the distance of place betwixt heauen and earth hinder or let the grouth of this vnion betwixt him his For we see the distance of place betwixt man and wife or father and child doth not loose the knot or impeach the vnion that by mariage nature was before betwixt them And we see find by experience that though the head in situation and place be much aboue the feet that yet by the means that but nature hath to vnite them togither there is such an vnioÌ„ betwixt them that froÌ„ the head life is conueied down eueÌ„ to the soales of the feet likewise in the mistical body of Christ though the meÌ„bers be neuer so farre disioyned seuered in place yet that so little hindreth the coÌ„munioÌ„ of Saints that Paul hath said we that are many are one bread one body bicause we al are partakers of one bread 1. Co. 10.17 Seing therefore by that which I haue said it sufficiently appeareth that it is the wil pleasure of God that there shoulde bee a true and certaine vnion betwixt Christ and his Church he being as he is almightie and therefore perfectly able to doe whatsoeuer he will let not the difficultie any way or the incomprehensiblenes of the bringing of it to passe at all make vs to doubte of the truth of the thing For alas so shorte is our reach in comprehending the wonderful workes of God that though we be neuer so sure that we haue soules euery one of vs vnited to our bodies yet the manner how we cannot conceiue therefore it being now made clere and apparant that Christ here by saying drinke hath taught vs to make him our very owne and that this must bee though most truly yet after a spirituall manner to proceede it is necessary now to learne how thus we may eate him and drinke him and so make him our owne To eat and drinke Christ is to beleeue in him aright And for this we neede not seeke farre for whereas if Christ should haue continued the manner of phrase that he began with all he both easily could would and shoulde haue saide in the next verse he that drinketh of mee of purpose doubtlesse to shewe vs that to drinke him or of him is nothing else indeede but rightly to beleeue in him he saith he that beleeueth in mee as saith the scripture c. And the verie same like course hath he taken Vers 35. of the former chapter For hauing saide he that commeth vnto me shall not hunger by and by in steade of saying he that drinketh of mee he addeth he that beleeueth in mee And to the same ende it may well be noted that in that chapter the very same things that are promised to the eater of his flesh and drinker of his blood are also promised to the beleeuer in him and likewise ther the same things that are threatned against the one are threatned against the other as if you compare the 45. verse with the 39. and the 53. with the 64. yee shall soone perceiue Yea if one marke diligently Christs discourse in that chapter he shall easilye finde that there to assure vs that to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood is to beleeue in him he hath of set purpose stoode both vpon the proposition and assumption whereupon necessarilie by the rules of right reasoning that must follow for the conclusion For first there he dwelleth vpon this that to eate the breade of life is to beleeue in him for that he is

of their owne nature but as they are by his institution sacred signes simbols representations similitudes pledges and seales of those thinges whose names they beare And therefore we call vpon you most earnestly whensoeuer you receiue in the feare of God reuerently so to take them and so by marking what is said of them and done with them to take occasion first to call effectually to your remembrance how Christs body was broken with sorrowes and tormentes and his pretious blood shed and seuered in his passion from his body to satisfie the iustice of God his heauenly father for mans sinnes yea euen for euery one of your sinnes and therefore withall heartily to sorrowe for your sinnes that put him to al these paines and yet vnsainedlie also with thankefull heartes to reioyce that he woulde take such paines for them that were so vnworthy thereof Which you are notably occasioned to doe when in the administration of this Sacrament you first see the bread broken and the wine powred forth and both particularly offered vnto euerie one of you seuered and apart the one after the other yet bearing the names of his bodie broken and bloode shed for you Secondly knowing the natures of bread and wine as you doe and to what vse they setue touching this life they bearing heere the names of the bodie broken and blood shed of Christ as they doe we assure you that thereby most iustlie we are occasioned to beleue that in the bodie broken and blood shed of Christ both the breade and drinke that is all the foode that is necessary for the maintenance of our spirituall life for euer before God lieth and that therfore there it is only to be sought And in that these further thus called and vsed are giuen vnto euery one of you that come vnto the Lordes boarde and you take them thereby the Lord by vs his ministers particularly offers his bodie broken and his blood shedde vnto cuery one of you to feede and nourish you to euerlasting life and you by taking of them in outward shew answere both him and vs that you doe most firmly and stedfastly euery one of you particularly beleue that he will doe so indeede Wherefore in any case when you streach forth your hands and open your mouthes to take breade and wine thus called at our hands take Christes so calling of them to be a most follemne promise to his to assure you that if indeede then you beleeue that his body was once broken for you and his blood shedde for the remission of your sins as the story of his passion and this Sacrament which is a visible commemoration therof shewe that then vndoubtedly without all question you doe not nor cannot more ceratinly by those instrumentes of your bodies take the breade and wine feede thereof then by this faith of yours the very mouth of your soule in this case you feede vpon his broken bodie and bloode shedde But then I say once againe faile not but when your hands and mouthes are occupied about the taking feeding vpon the outward elements let this faith of yours which is in steede of both to your soule be feruently occupied in beleeuing that by the broken body bloodshed of Christ Iesus your saluation was is fully purchased These three vses thus made taken in the receite of this Sacrament in that you finde by experience knowe it to be most certaine that by the force ordinary worke of nature bread and wine receiued in disgested are conuerted to fit foode for our nature so there growes an vnion betwixt our nature and them so this Sacrament thus receiued is and ought to be vnto vs as a sealed couenant of Christ Iesus by the mightie working of his Spirite to assure vs that he will finde the means most certainlye to vnite himselfe vnto vs to nourish and to feed vs so with himselfe that in him we shall growe to be perfect men in his house And lastly as this Sacrament serues first to these ends so notably to strengthen our faith in Iesus Christ crucified so serues it also as a most notable meane outwardly both before God and men to make confession of the same our faith by to distinguish vs as by our recognisance from others that are not of that fayth to prouoke vs continually to offer vnto God the sacrifice of thankesgiuing for this most sweete sacrifice of his sonne heerein brought fresh still to our remembrance and so beleeued in and vpon and to be a bond of loue and vnitie amongest all the receiuers thereof For as Paule saith We that are many are one bread and one bodie because we are all partakers of one bread 1. Cor. 10.17 So that by the receite heereof as first our vnion and communion with Christ is sealed vnto vs so also is it the seale and bond of the communion that the Saintes of God haue amongst themselues Wherefore as it straitely bindeth vs hauing receiued it vnlesse we would haue it appeare that we receiued it vnworthily afterwardes to liue as they that liue in and by Christ so it bindeth vs also all that receiue as members knit together in one bodie vnder one head to liue together in perfect peace and vnity Worthilie therefore all these thinges considered may we say of it as Augustine did in his time O Sacramentum pietatis Ã´ signum vnitatis Ã´ vinculum charitatis that is O Sacrament of pietie O signe of vnitie O bond of charitie tract 26. vpon Iohn Who should come vnto it how And if these thinges were well remembred as they ought neyther should ministers as they doe in most places without any due preparation of their people before admit them tag and rag one and other to this sacred table neyther would the people so rudely ignorantly and prophanely presse thereunto for a fashion onely as to too commonly they doe For if at any time that commaundement of Christ binde vs ministers as doubtlesse it doth or else Christ woulde neuer haue giuen it vs Giue ye not that which is holie vnto dogges neyther cast ye your pearles before swine Math. 7.6 it most directly bindeth vs heere to doe what lyeth in vs to know that they be neyther dogges nor swine to whome we offer this blessed sacrament before we so doe For heerein we see Christ Iesus that is the true bread of life whose flesh is meate indeede and whose bloode is drinke indeede as he himselfe hath assured vs Iohn 6.35.51.55 is offered to the right commers thereunto therefore here that saying of Christ is most true it is not good to take the childrens breade and to cast it to whelpes Math 15.16 In the ould Testament the Lord hath set downe an expresse Lawe that none that were vncircumcised should be admitted to the eating of the Pasouer Exod. 12.48 Yea Numb 9.6 c. we reade that God by his expresse Oracle shewed Moses that they that were but ceremonially vncleane were

thereof As therefore we see him worthily condemned of disloyally to the Prince her selfe that offers a manifest abusage to her coyne to her Seale Scepter crowne seate royall robes of estate or picture so we may be sure much more is he to be accounted guiltie of the bodie and blood of Christ and so worthie of damnation that not discerning aright that bread and wine are the Sacraments of the body blood of Christ with prophane handes mouth and heart receiues the same The foolish sonnes of Ely and the armie of the Israelites abused but the Arke which was a testimonie and signe of God amongst his people by fetching it into the campe when they fought against the Philistines and we reade the wrath of the Lord broâ—â—â— at both against them and the whole armie to their shamefull ouerthrow and destruction 1. Sam. 4.4 c. And so likewise when the Philistines prophaned it and abused it by setting it after they had taken it in the house of Dagon euen therefore 1. Sam. 5.2 c. not onely in the wrath of the Lord their idoll Dagon fell downe and brake his necke and the inhabitantes of Ashdod and of al the coastes thereof were miserably thereupon smitten with Emerods but also they coulde haue no rest or ease vntill they restored it home againe to the people to whom it did appertaine Yea when it was come home againe what else was the cause why the Lord with sudden death smote fiftie thousand men of Bethshemesh as we reade he did 1. Sam. 6.19 but that they to whom it did not appertaine to doe so looked into it And why did God manifest vnto Dauid his dislike of that fact of his for the manner thereof by striking of Vzza with sudden death for laying his hande to the Arke to stay it because the oxen did shake it though otherwise Dauid and Vzza had neuer so good meanings the one in bringing of it home and the other in so staying it but because it was carted home whereas the Leuites should haue brought it and he touched it that should not 2. Sam. 6.7 Wherefore once againe I say not to driue you from the Lordes table but of a desire that when you come you may come to your comfort examine your selues before you come as Paule hath bidden you 1. Cor. 13. whether you be in the faith or no and whether Christ be in you or no. For vntill you be in him you are as dead men before God For he is The way the trueth and the life Iohn 14.6 so that whosoeuer liueth indeede before God with Paule he may must say I liue yet not I any more but Christ liueth in me Gal. 2.20 and our life is hid with Christ in God and therefore when Christ which is our life shall appeare then shall we also appeare with him in glory Collof 3.2.4 Whereupon it followeth as to eat and drinke for the sustenance and maintenance of this bodie of ours be actions of one aliue that hath alreadie bodie soule conioyned and vnited so none indeed can eate the flesh of the sonne of man drinke his blood but he that already liueth by faith in him as Paule speaketh Gal. 2.20 so alreadie hath Christ dwelling in him And therefore plainly toteach vs thus much saith Christ Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloode ye haue no life in you and then thereupon immediately addeth whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloode hath eternall life and a little after hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me I in him Iohn 6. Whereupon most plainly Saint Augustine in his 26. tract vpon Iohn inferreth thus Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam illum biberepotum c. that is This therfore is to eate that meate to drink that drink to abide in Christ and to haue Christ abide in thee And by this saith he he that abideth not in Christ in whom Christ abideth not without all doubt neither doth he spiritually eate his flesh nor drink his blood though carnally and visibly Premat dentibus SacramentuÌ„ corporis sanguinis Christi He presse with his teeth the Sacrament of the bodie and blood of Christ but rather he eateth and drinketh the Sacrament of so great a thing to his iudgement because beeing vncleane he presumed to come to the Sacramentes of Christ And therefore also most learnedly sundrie times there in that tract he shewes that Aliud est Saeramentum aliud virtus Sacramenti One thing is the Sacrament and an other thing is the vertue therof that it is he that Christ saith shal not die but liue that eateth of his flesh that pertaines to the vertue of the Sacrament and not to the visible Sacrament which eates within and not without which eates in heart not he whtch presseth with teeth For he is most resolute there also that Resipsa cuius est Sacramentum est omni homini ad vitam nulli ad exitium qui eius particeps fuerit c. that is That the thing of the Sacrament is to euery man that is partaker therof to life to none to destruction whereas immediately before he had yet written that the Sacrament therof De meÌ„sa dominica quibusdaÌ„ sumitur ad vitam quibusdam ad exitium that is That the Sacrament thereof might of some from the table of the Lord be receiued to life and of some to destruction And most certaine is all this howsoeuer some would darken all this cleare light and wipe away all this cleare euidence by saying that none else but the faithfull indeede can worthily eate the flesh of Christ and drinke his bloode which are the thinges of this Sacrament but yet vnworthily they may For though we read 1. Cor. 11.27 of an vnworthy eating of the bread and drinking of the cup that maketh them guiltie of the bodie and bloode of the Lord as we haue heard yet we neuer reade nor shall in all the Scriptures of an vnworthy eating of his bodie and drinking of his bloode For if there had beene any such Christ neyther could nor would haue said so simplie absolutely and confidently as he hath Iohn 6.54 and as we haue alreadie heard he did Whosoeuer eateth my flesh drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day No no it is not the taking or feeding therupon that can hurtany but the not doing so that bringeth the daunger especially then when yet we would make a showe to doe both and yet indeede doe nothing lesse Christ is fed on both God and man But all this while I vrging the right commumcant in the vse of this Sacrament to seeke inwardly by faith to feede vpon the body broken and bloode shed of Christ Iesus himselfe when outwardly he feedeth vpon bread and wine I would not be so taken as though my meaning were to teach that faith heere were to reach no further

the breade of life Vers 35. c. and then he discendeth to this but he that eateth the flesh of the son of man drinketh his blood eateth the breade of life vers 54. for he shal haue eternal life wherupon what can else follow but this therefore to eate the flesh of the son of man to drinke his blood is to beleeue in him But whom these things yet caÌ„notperswade to be of this minde let them further remeÌ„ber that Iohn hauing said as many as receiue Christ are made the sons of God cap. 1.12 that immediately lest we should not coÌ„ceiue aright what it is to receiue him he addeth that is euen they that beleeue in him And let them also coÌ„sider that Paule praying that Christ might dwel in the hearts of the Ephesians addeth streight to shew vs how that might bee by saith cap. 3.17 For but these two places well laid togither pregnaÌ„tly prooue that Christ is both got kept receiued of vs continued in vs by faith And let not any maÌ„ think either that this is new doctrine of late deuised by vs or that true faith is too weake thus to reach Christ to make him ours For first it is certaine that Tertulian who liued within 200. yeares after Christs birth in his booke de resurrectione carnis cap. 29. most plainely hath said Christus est auditu deuorandus intellecturuminandus fide digerendus that is Christ is to be deuoured by hearing to be chewed by vnderstanding to be digested by faith And Augustine who florished about the 400. yeare is both most plaine plentiful in this point For in his 25. tract vpon Iohn he saith Quidparas dentem ventreÌ„ crede manducasti Why preparest thou thy teeth belly beleeue thou hast eaten And in the next he writeth much to that purpose for he saith there Ad ChristuÌ„ non ambulandocurrimus sed credendo non motu carnis sed voluntate cordis that is we runne to Christ not by walking but by beleeuing not by the motioÌ„ of the flesh but by the wil of the heart Yea in plain tearms there also he saith Credere in euÌ„ est manducare paneÌ„ vinuÌ„ to beleeue in him is to eat the bread of life But in my opinioÌ„ most notably he writeth to this end vpon occasion of the Centurions coÌ„ming to Christ in his 33. booke against Faustus the Manichee cap. 8. saying Accedant ad Iesum noÌ„ carne sed corde non corporis praesentia sed fidei potentia Let theÌ„ come to Iesus not with or in flesh but with or in heart not by bodily presence but by the power of faith Now teaching the other point also that faith is not too weake thus to apprehend Christ it is as plaine that he hath saide in his 50. tract vpon Iohn Quomodo in coelum manuÌ„ mittam vt ibi sedentem teneam fidem mitte tenuisti parentes tui tenuerunt carne tu tene corde quoniam Christus absens etiam praesens est nisi praesens esset Ã nobis teneri non posset c. that is How shal I stretch my hand into heauen that I may holde him sitting there Send thy faith and thou hast hold of him the fathers held him in the flesh hold thou him in heart for Christ absent is also present for vnlesse he were present he could not be held of vs. And how this shall be he plainely sheweth saying He is gone and yet he is heere for he caried his body into heauen but his maiestie he hath not taken from the worlde Chrisostome also an other ancient father who liued much what about Augustines time in his second Homilie vpon these wordes of Esay Vidi Dominum I haue seene the Lord sheweth that though we cannot flie vp to heauen in bodie that yet in minde and cogitation we may For God saith he hath giuen that such winges that nothing can let or stop it if it will flie to heauen farre more pearcing eies God hath giuen it saith he then the body And in his 24. Homilie vpon the first to the Corinthians remembring there that saying of Christ Mat. 24.28 Where the carion is thither will the Eagles resort thereupon he inferreth that the Lordes table is not for Iayes or Crowes that feede belowe but for Eagles that take their meate aloft he saith that by hat speach Christhath taught them that would come vnto his body to flie aloft and not to creepe vpon the earth nor yet to haue any dealing therewith It is worthy the remembring also that the same Father noteth touching the power and force of faith vpon Paules telling the Galathians That Christ was euen crucified amongst them Cap. 3.1 For he plainely sheweth that the Apostle in so saying shewed them that the strength of faith was such that it is able to see thinges though farre off and so by the eies of faith in the ministrie of the worde and sacraments which had beene amongst those Galathians Christes death was or might haue beene as clearely seene and more clearly then it was of many that were present at it And vnto Bernards time who liued aboue 1100 yeares after Christ it seemeth that this was the currant and receiued doctrine of the Church touching our communion to be had and attained vnto with Christ by faith For in his 28. Homilie vpon the Canticles he most plainely sheweth that though Christ be ascended that yet he both may and will be touched Sed affectu non manu voto non oculo fide non sensibus but then saith he it must be by affection and not by hand by desire and not by eye by faith and not by the senses And againe in his 76. sermon vpoÌ„ the Canticles most notable is it that he writeth to this purpose saying Though Christ be set at the right hand of his Father goe to yet follow him seeke him and let neyther his inaccessable brightnesse nor his height discourage thee from seeking or once cause thee to dispaire of finding him if thou canst beleeue all things are possible to the beleeuer the word is neare to my mouth and heart Crede inuenisti nam credere inuenisse est that is Beleeue and thou hast found him for to beleeue is to haue found him This admirable power of faith doubtlesse is excellently aduouched Heb. 11.1 whiles there it is defined to be the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene Wherefore let vs not once doubt but where Christ is soundly and rightly beleeued in there by that faith the owner thereof eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood to his or her eternall saluation Euerye kinde of faith will not serue heere yea none but that which is according to the scriptures Yet then great need and care is to be taken that this faith of ours be sound right For neither can euery faith a dead faith or an erroneous and wrong faith stand vs in anie

will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Iohn 1.12 13. And Christ hath most plainely said Iohn 3.5.6 Verely verely I say vnto thee except a man be borne of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit And yet more plainely to assure vs of the trueth of this point Paule in expresse words hath taught vs that faith is the fruite of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Ordinarily the worde preached But yet we must not thinke though the Spirit can extraordinarily worke this faith without meanes immediately where when and in whom it listeth that yet notwithstanding ordinarily it doth it by the ministrie of the word and that preached For so Paule concludeth saying Rom. 10.17 Then faith is by hearing and hearing by the worde of God And therefore accordingly 1. Cor. 1.17 he writeth That seeing the world by wisedome knew not God in the wisedome of God it please him by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue those that beleeue And therefore also he notes it is an especial fruit and effect of Christes ascension Ephes 4.10.11 c. that he gaue and bestowed sundrie ministries there mentioned vpon his Church for the repairing of the Saintes for the worke of the ministrie and for the edification of the bodie of Christ Till we all meete togither in the vnitie of faith and the acknowledging of the sonne of God vnto a perfect man and vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ that we henceforth be no more children wauering and caried away with euerie winde of doctrine by the deceit of men and craftinesse whereby they lay in waite to deceiue Saint Peter also agreable heereunto in his first Epistle Cap. 1.22.23 c. noteth that our souls are purified in obeying the truth thorow the spirit being borre again not of mortall seed but of immortal by the word of God which after there he saith endureth for euer and is that which is preached amongst them Whereupon therefore in the next chapter he exhorteth them to lay aside all malitiousnes all guile dissunulation enuie and euill speaking and as new borne babes to desire the sincere milke of the worde that they may grow vp thereby if it be so they had tasted how bountifull the Lord was Vers 1.2.3 Whereunto we had as much neede to listâ—n as euer they had For these are the daies wherein we liue wherin that prophecie of Christ is fulfilled Mat. 34. touching the danger that should be by false prophets and teachers able if it were possible to seduce the verie elect Verse 24. and wherein he may behold multitudes for lacke of foode and faithfull preachers and teachers as sheepe hauing no sheepheard dispersed and scattered and therefor in respect wherof he may also say Surely the haruest is great but the labourers are few And by the administration of Sacraments I woulde to God therefore we coulde and woulde euerie one of vs according to his counsell there Praie the Lord of the haruest to thrust out labourers into his haruest Matth. 9.3.6 c. Besides the bare preaching of the worde as it is well knowne and confessed of all for the better both breading and nourishing of this our faith as an outward good meanes for the spirite to worke that effect in vs by our most gratious and louing GOD knowing howe slowe to beleeue we woulde bee hath left and giuen vnto vs visible and palpable Sacramentes thereby as it were to seale and more particularly to apply vnto vs all the good promises of saluation in Christ Iesus as namelie nowe baptisme and the supper of the Lorde to vs of the newe Testament The first whereof offereth vnto vs and sealeth the deliuerie to the right receiuer thereof of his regeneration teaching him to looke for it at the handes of God the Father through God the Sonne by the mightie working of the holie Ghost onelie in that onelie he is baptized in water in their names And the other is a Sacrament of his continuall nourishment to eternall life in and by the broken bodie and bloodeshed of Christ Iesus And therefore as to be a man it is necessarie but once to be borne but yet after often to bee sedde so is it most necessarie for those that woulde euer growe to bee perfect men in Christ Iesus but once to bee baptized but often to receiue the other Sacrament And it must be remembred alwaies that both these offer and set before vs one and selfe same Christ the one that he may by his blood wash vs cleane from our sinnes and regenerate vs that we may beginne to lead a newe and a holy life the other that by his body broken and his bloode shed for vs he may be both meate and drinke and sufficient spirituall foode and nourishment vnto our hungrie and thirstie soules but then withall we may vnderstand that the same Christe to the same endes is offered still vnto vs when his Gospell is preached vnto vs onely this is the difference as I said before that the worde offers and sets him before vs in generall and these in particuler and speciall manner leade vs vnto him And whereas the word to breede or nourish faith in vs stricketh onely the sense of our hearing these duely ministred doe not onely the better to prouoke and strengthen the same mooue and strike that but also our sight smelling tast and feeling And therefore as it was noted by Paule Heâ—â—â— 2. that the cause why the worde which the Iewes heard in the wildernesse profited them not because it was not mixed with faith in those that heard it so is it most certaine that these shall not profit vs though outwardly we be partakers thereof neuâ—r so much if we haue not faith to pearse further than to the outward elementes and if it be a fault so to harden our heartes when the worde is but preached that we take not occasion thereby to beleeue it must needes be a farre greater fault if these added therunto we be still vnfaithfull And therefore as in respect of hearing of the word the Apostle said Heb. 3.5 So long as it is said to day harden not your heartes as in the prouocation for some when they heard prouoked him to anger so say I vnto you in respect of both much more To this ende neuer forget the examples of Simon Magus and of Iudas whereof though the one was baptized as we read he was Act. 8.18 and the other was with Christ at the institution of the other Sacrament as it appeareth Luke 22.21 yet as it appeares in both those chapters for that they neither of them had any sound or true faith they were neuer the better but the worse for that to their other sinnes they added in the receiuing of these the prophaning as much as lay in them of both thes If when the word is preached

therwith the Spirit of God so to worke in your heartes that the eies of your soules be opened aright to see and knowe Christ and your hearts framed accordingly to beleeue in him vndoubtedly euen then according to Christs commaundement heere in my text you come vnto him and drinke him yea you eate his flesh and drinke his bloode to eternall life Wherefore deare brethren when you come but to heare I say vnto euerie one of you with the wise man Ecclesiastes 4.17 Take heede to thy foote when thou entrest into the house of God that so thou maist follow his counsel in that which followeth that is to be more neare to heare thaÌ„ to offer the sacrifice of fooles And according to the aduise of Ieremy by the strong plow of repentance faith breake vp the fallow ground of your hearts when you come to heare that we sow not the good seede of the worde amongst thornes Cap. 4.4 For as you may most plainly learne by the parable Mat. 13.4 c. though the Lord send neuer so good seedsmeÌ„ amongst you they sow the good seed neuer so faithfully yet if your hearts be either like the high way or like thornie or stony ground you shal neuer bring forth any good haruest to the Lord. For onely the good honest heart furnished with patieÌ„ce shall doe that as there we are taught and therefore labour to bring such hearts But alas when all comes to all most true it is that Christ saith none can come vnto him but whom the father draweth Io. 6.44 Paul may plant and Apollo water and yet all to no purpose vnlesse God giue the increase 1. Cor. 3.3 And yet I say for all this despise not prophecying if you woulde take out the former lesson quench not the spirit 1. Thes 5.19.20 For by the outwarde ministrie of men the Lord inwardlie by his spirite worketh in you a knowledge and loue of Christ and so draweth you vnto him And that hath Christ himselfe taught immediatly saying Ioh. 6.45 It is written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God Euerie man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the father commeth vnto me Whereupon very well Augustine in his 26. tract vpon Iohn noteth saying videte quomodo trahit pater docendo delectat non necessitatem imponendo that is behold how the father draweth by teaching he delighteth not by imposing necessitie or enforcing And to the same purpose vpon the foresaide wordes hee moste sweetely obserueth that it being founde true in these earthly delightes that euerie one is drawne or caried with his delight that much rather Christ by teaching beeing manifested vnto vs by his Father will draw vs vnto him Yet most certaine it is that onely God it is that first openeth and enlightneth our mindes to see Christ by his ministrie set before vs and who then creates in vs a newe a will to delight in him and to imbrace him which the same Father acknowledgeth also saying that we will well he worketh of himselfe without vs and when we so will that we doe he worketh togither with vs De gratia libero arbitrto Cap. 17. And yet though all this be most true Of Sacramentes in generall are not the sacramentes and the vse and meditation thereof needlesse and superfluous vnto vs to this purpose For as the worde written in the canouical Scriptures is as the written will of our heauenly Father which we publish vnto you when we read them and by preaching open them vnto you so the Sacramentes are as the great and auten tike seales of the Lord annexed thereunto for the more and better assuring vs of the certainetie of those heauenly legaces that therein are bequeathed vs. Indeed God for his part is so stedfast constant and true in all his sayings that though onelie by bare speech he should reueale his will vnto vs it were our dueties most stedfastly to beleeueit But he that made vs knoweth what is in vs and by experience we finde how necessarie so euer it be for vs to beleeue the word of God that yet though we haue it as in the goodnesse of God towardes vs we haue both written and thus sealed and confirmed by his Sacraments that all this is little inough to make vs beleeue it as we should Wherefore seeing it hath pleased God to stoupe so lowe vnto vs thus to apply himself to our capacity let vs in the name of God praise him therfore and most thankfully take vse of all the meanes that he hath left vs to get vnto his sonne by And therefore giue me leaue heere to enlarge my selfe a little vnto you that there be nothing wanting in mee to shew you or to helpe you forward by the helpe of these Sacramentes that I speake of through the working of Gods spirite in your heartes withall more and more to come vnto Christ and to be vnited vnto him to your euerlasting saluation And the rather because I know as the right vnderstanding of the nature thereof may by Gods blessing mightilie helpe you or ward therein so eyther the ignorance thereof or an erroneous conceite of them may verie much hinder you in the same Sacraments I call them according to the ancient vse and phrase of the Church which name I take was at the first borrowed from an ancient fashion of making a solemne vow and couenant betwixt the Emperour and his souldiers whereby he was bound to them to goe in and out before them as an Emperour they bound themselves vnto him againe to be faithfull and obedient souldiers And therefore because in these sacred rites it was obserued that likewise there passeth a solemne couenant betwixt God and the worthie receiuers thereof it was thought that not vnfitly they might be called Sacraments And in verie deede whether we consider Baptisme or that other of the bodie and blood of Christ we shall easily finde that thereby this is done For in Baptisme the minister in the name of GOD offereth by baptising in water in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost vnto the partie baptized not onelie a figure representation of the washing away of his sinnes and of his regeneration in the bloode of Christ but also a visible and sensible seale thereof whereby God bindeth himselfe to doe all this for the partie if the let and stoppe thereof be not in himselfe and he likewise by receiuing this Sacrament maketh open profession that he will liue and beleeue accordingly And in the other when breade and wine called as they be are deliuered vnto the communicant in like maner then God offereth to feede that partie to eternall life with the bodie broken and blood shed of his son and he by taking of them makes open confession that he so beleeueth and therefore will so shew it in his life therafter and of this mutuall couenant the sacrament deliuered and receiued is a most certaine pledge and seale betwixt them

then to the vniting of Christes bare bodie and bloode and the right communicant togither For as he both in bodie and soule standeth neede of him to be his Sauiour so it is certaine as Christ both God and man perfecte God and perfecte man in one person is the head and husband of his Church and the redeemer and Sauiour thereof so here faith is to feed so vpon his body broken blood shed as that withall it must stedfastly conceiue and beleeue that it was is the body and blood of such an one as was and is both very God and man and yet but one person For thence it coÌ„meth that the things done for vs by his broken bodie and blood shed though in number and time wherein they were done they were finite are in the sight of the heauenly Father of infinite value and dignitie as once I said before to worke our perfect redemption and saluation that they were done by such a man that had not onely a perfect bodie and soule of a man and in them both was such an one as it became vs to haue that was seperate from sinners Heb. 7.27 but also was and remaineth for euer a true euerlasting God and therefore was able thus to dignifie the workes done for vs in his manhood And to this end it is most heauenly and diuinely noted Heb. 9. that the force that the offring that Christ made of himselfe vpon the crosse for vs to purge our consciences from dead workes to serue the liuing God commeth and riseth from hence that then by his eternall Spirit he offered himselfe without fault to God for vs. And though I am not ignorant that Chrisostome to very good purpose in his 46. Homilie vpon Iohn interpreting those wordes of Christ Iohn 6.63 It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the wordes that I speake vnto you are spirit and life notes that they were spoken by Christ not to disable his flesh altogether from being profitable because so to thinke is absurd but to warne vs that carnally we vnderstand not his wordes which by his interpretation there we doe if we take his wordes simplie as they sound thinke no otherwise of them for that as he saith all misteries are to be considered with inward eies that is spiritually yet I cannot but thinke with others also that in so saying Christ meante not onely to teach vs that his wordes were not grosly and camally to betaken that he had spoken of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloode as the Capernaits and such of his hearers that beleeued not then tooke them but spiritually as his beleeuing disciples who notwithstanding them taried with him when the other murmured or departed by occasion thereof but that therin he had this further meaning and purpose to shew them that if his flesh and blood were as they tooke them but the flesh and bloode of a man then they could not be indeed such foode for their soules as he had taught them to be but beeing as they were the flesh and blood of such an one as withall was a spirit and that an eternall creating Spirit euen very God thence they might be sure that they rightly fed on by faith and the spirite both could and would bring life Thus therefore we teach and exhort all men in the vse of this Sacrament to feede vpon the bodie broken and blood shed of our Christ and Sauiour And yet thus we speake with Christ and according to the phrase vsed in the institution therof because as by Christ God and man as by our onely mediatour we come to the Father so it hath pleased God in his word to reueale him vnto vs that by his manhood and the workes done therin we should grow on to faith in his Godhead vnited thereunto and so shining manifesting it selfe vnto vs therin Thus then I hope by this time euen by this plaine and short declaration onely of our faith and iudgement concerning the doctrine and nature of this Sacrament The conclusion of this our doctrine you may most clearely see and perceiue that we are wonderfully wronged and slandered and that so also are all the Churches of our profession by our aduersaries whiles to discredit vs withal they would make men belecue that we make it but a naked Supper of bread and wine and so seeke to feede our people therein but with bare signes and figures For you may see and heare that most plainely and earnestly we vrge our hearers therein to seeke to feed to their eternall saluation of Christ Iesus himselfe both God and man and so many other notable vses thereof as you heare we teach that euen in respect thereof all the names and titles that any sound antiquitie hath honoured this Sacrament withal may most iustly be giuen vnto it as it is ministred and vsed by vs. We finde it hath beene called the Supper of the Lord the Table of the Lord the Sacrament of his bodie and bloode the Eucharist a Sacrifice and Synaxis and vsually with vs it is called the CoÌ„munioÌ„ And which of these is it not with vs It is the supper of the Lord because as we teach at the last supper he instuted it and it is his Table because therin he feedeth his with himself it is the Sacrament of his body blood because to his it is a sacred meanes of the Lord to nourish strengthen and exercise their faith therein it is the Eucharist because thereby we are so directly forceably occasioned as we are to yeeld all heartie thankes vnto God for the death and passion of Christ lesus whereof it is so notable a memorial and a Sacrifice euen therfore also it may be tearmed also Synaxis it is because it is an excellent bond of our assemblies and meetings together to receiue it and lastly worthily we may and doe call it the Communion be cause it is a seale first of our communion with Christ and then of one of vs with an other in him And yet for all this though this most certainely be the generall doctrine held with one consent by all the Churches that professe the Gospell with vs except of a fewe peeuish and wilfull Lutherans our aduersaries nor these neither will not be satisfied but when we haue said and done what we can all is nothing with them that in this case we say or doe vnlesse we will with them by vertue of Christes wordes spoken by him in the institution heere of hold such a real presence of Christes bodie and blood in this Sacrament as that by the mouthes of all commers thereunto and receiuers thereof haue they true faith or no his verie bodie and blood really be taken in and sed vpon Which beeing a doctrine so directly contrarie to that which lutherto I haue taught you rouching our vnion and communion with Christ by faith and his spirit onely especially seeing also it is to be feared that a number

Sacrament either of the olde or new Testament there was euer any such real coniunction of the inward and spiritual part thereof with the outward and yet al men know for all that they were and are effectuall Sacramentes and seales of the deliuerie thereof to the right receiuer what reason in the world can they haue why they should not thinke that this likewise may be and also is a full and effectuall Sacrament to participate the bodie and bloode of Christ without any such coupling of them and the outward elements therof as for the defence of this their real presence here they vrge If that were heere necessarie it should be so eyther by the generall right of all Sacramentes or by some speciall right that may be shewed this hath therunto But neither of these can they or shall they euer be able indeed to shew in this case Further Christs owne sitting visibly seuered in place without any altering of his forme or mouing of his place hauing vttered the words of the institution they being doubtlesse as powrefull then as euer they were since or shal be to make him really to be present to and with the outward elements doth most clearely ouerthrow this conceite And for the next of hauing him so really heerewith present and conioyned that the receiuers thereof though they haue neyther faith nor good manners yet receiue him also therwith as I haue alreadie sufficiently proued it is both against Scripture and sound antiquitie and the former beeing so absurd whereupon it followeth and is built as I haue nowe shewed it is that must also therewith fall downe and be ouerthrowne Yet for the further mabling of thee welbeloued to see yet more not onely the vanitie and impietie thereof vnderstand that such a kinde of presence of Christ shakes all the articles touching the manhood of Christ and in verie deed leades men most strongly so to spoyle him of all the true properties of his manhood that in effect it leadeth them and most forceably teacheth them to denie him indeede to be come into the flesh and to be the seede of the woman of Abraham Isaac and Iacob of Iuda Iesse and Dauid according to the ancient prophesies that are of the Messiah And so for a bootlesse eating of him and fruitlesse as they themselues must needes confesse this mouth-eating of him to be for that they graunt ouen to the worst sort of men that receiue the outward elements in the end they will leaue vs no true Christ at all eyther for vnbeleeuers or beleeuers to feede vpon I knowe their refuge and shift is to auoide this withall to say that it is by miracle as they teach and yet Christes manhood and all the articles touching the same true sound and whole Indeede any man may see that eyther they must say so or else they can say nothing and that in trueth and of absolute necessitie it must be graunted to be the greatest miracle that euer was wrought if it be as they say and yet all these things be vpheld sound according to the true ancient catholicke faith For of both these it must needs follow that Christ at one and selfe same time hath a bodie visible and inuisible palpable and impalpable compassed in place and vncompassed yea that he hath but one bodie and yet many bodies or that one multiplied into many vnlesse contrary to manifest Scripture they wildenie him in the heauens Which shall containe him as Peter saith vntill the restitution of al thinges Act. 3.21 to haue though a glorified bodie yet a true bodie the contrarie whereof all the ancient Fathers as they know well enough with vs against them haue taught And they know though sundrie of these Fathers of purpose haue written of the miracles of the Scripture that yet they haue not once reckoned vp this of theirs amongst them Neither haue they any reason why to thinke that there is heere any such A mysterie and great mystery we willingly acknowledg it to be that in the right vse of this Sacrament Christ by his Spirit by the meanes of the faith of his verily vnites himself vnto his but yet no miracle we count it or cal it because it is Gods ordinary work in other Sacraments so to coÌ„municate himselfe to those that rightly vse them and because when he worketh a miracle there is some straunge thing done beyond nature that the verie senses can iudge of which we finde not heere For they all with one consent iudge them in respect of their substances to be verie bread and wine still in the mouthes of all receiuers O but say they neyther sense nor reason are to be consulted withall in this case Indeed I graunt they neuer are against any trueth certainely taught and warranted by the Scriptures but when their iudgement concurres and consents therewith then it is verie lawfull and good to listen thereunto and so alwaies haue the godlie learned in all ages thought and taught And therefore seeing both sense and reason striue against this their deuise for the maintenance of Christes true manhoode and the right sense of all the articles of our faith touching the same with vs euen thereby their cause hath a greater wound than they are euer able to cure againe Besides all this whiles they thus teach without all warrant from Christ or hir word they are compelled least otherwise they shoulde be inforced most absurdly to say that the wicked eate the bodie and blood of Christ to saluation to seperate Christ and his sauing graces the one from the other whereas they cannot be seuered For that must alwaies remaine an absolute trueth Whosoeuer eateth his flesh and drinketh his bloode hath eternall life Iohn 6.54 and so that also he that hath the Sonne hath life and he that hath not the sonne hath not life Iohn 5.12 A spirituall vnion and communion with him they shall both finde oft promised and spoken of as I haue at large alreadie shewed but a beeing of his bodie and bloode in the verie mouthes of all receiuers as they talke of otherwise then Sacramentally that is when the outward sacramentes or signes therof are there they shall neuer finde so much as once spoken for in the scriptures or in any sound and ancient writer indeed I cannot denie but that indeed the Capernaits Iohn 6. by misconceiuing of Christes speeches there had of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood began to dreame that he meant some such thing but we haue heard that Chrisostome plainely sheweth by the answere that he made them that he had no such meaning his wordes were spiritually to be vnderstood and so should giuelife and not otherwise And Athanasius vpon these wordes Whosoeuer speaketh a worde against the Sonne of man writeth that withall then Christ put them in minde of his ascension as indeed he did Iohn 6.62 to draw them from corporall and fleshly vnderstanding of his wordes And therefore verie excellently hath Augustine to preuent

all such conceits or murmuring by occasion of that doctrine of Christ written of those words of his whereat they so stumbled in his third booke of christian doctrine Chap. 16. saying thus That saying of Christ except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man drinke his bloode ye haue no life c. seemeth to commend an heinous thing and a wicked and therefore it is a figure commaunding vs to be partakers of Christes passion and to keepe in our mindes to our great comfort and profit that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. But I am not ignorant that these men would seeme to mislike the Capernaits opinion as much as we and that therefore they labour to put an infinite difference betwixt their fansie of eating his flesh and drinking his bloode and this of theirs For they imagined say they that then they should feede vpon them visiblie and by piece-meale as they did of other their vsuall meat and drinke whereas they purpose them to be fed on inuisibly and wholly But alas what a poore difference is this as though it were not as much against the lawe of God the law of all nations and nature also knowing it to eate and drinke mans flesh and bloode vnseene as seene all at a morsell or at a sup as by many morsels and suppes If yet they will needes vrge this their reall presence and their mouth-eating really of Christ how will they auoyde the daunger then that that generall and vniuersall proposition of Christ will bringe them vnto saying as we reade he did Mat. 15.17 What soeuer entreth into the mouth goeth into the bellie is cast out into the draught c Euen this hath caused many both as learned as any of them and farre more ancient to vnderstand the eating of Christ to be by the mouth of the soule faith and not by the very mouth of the bodie And they know with one consent the ancient Fathers teach that the wicked and vnbeleeuing whiles they remain such cannot eate the bodie and bloode of Christ which they neither could nor would haue done if they had knowne that there was any such reall presence eyther by Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation as nowe these men teach For eyther of these beeing graunted the other how absurd soeuer it be must follow thereupon And therefore is it because they know that the Consequent being absurd the Antecedent froÌ„ whence it floweth must needs be so also that these men are thus eager to defend this to be no absurditie that all that communicate though they be neuer so bad and faithlesse eate the bodie and drinke the bloode of Christ really for otherwise they know they cannot defend any longer their reall presence as they do For Isee no cause else why they should make so much a doe for persons so vnworthie to haue such care and paines taken for them But yet so wedded are these men vnto their groundes that they haue builded this their fancie vpon mentioned before Christes wordes proue not their purpose that vnlesse we can driue them froÌ„ thence notwithstanding all yet said against it it is to be feared that they wil think that they both may and ought to holde it still Wherefore whereas first they seeme to thinke that the wordes of Christ are plaine and pregnant to prooue their kind of reall presence and mouth-eating consequently of his bodie and bloode doubtlesse if with a single eie and without any preiudicate opinion we consider thereof we shall soone see that it is nothing but peeuishnesse wilfulnesse that makes them eyther so to say or thinke That the wordes of Christ are most certaine and true in the sense that he meant them when he vttered them we neuer denied nor will no nor yet we neuer gaue leaue vnto our selues so much as once to doubt thereof Wherefore if any of them perswade any man otherwise of vs they doe vs open and manifest wrong Neither can we thinke so vncharitablie of them but that we are perswaded that they so likewise thinke of them Heerein then is the difference and controuersie betwixt them and vs whether we or they hit of the right sense thereof Which beeing the question indeed as it is for the determining herof euery reasonable man must needes confesse that whose interpretation agrees best with the nature of the thing in hand with the analogie of faith and good manners with the rest of the Scriptures and sound antiquitie that is to be taken best to agree with Christes meaning and therefore is the fense to be followed and preferred before all others Nowe we interprete the wordes of Christ as spoken by a Metonymie that is by a figure of speech whereby one thing beares the name of the other as heere bread and wine we say doe of the bodie broken and blood shed of Christ because the one both signifies and representes the other vnto vs and also assures vs rightlie receiuing the one that we are and shal be partakers also of the other These men crie and vrge that the wordes are plaine and without any such figure and yet howsoeuer they therefore agree that they import a reall presence to the outward clementes and to the mouth of euerie receiuer as we haue heard yet the one sorte would haue them expounded to that end to inferre Consubstantiation and the other a Transubstantiation Iudge therefore now I beseech you by the foresaid rules whether theirs or ours be likest to be Christes meaning The matter in hande when those wordes were first vttered by him was a Sacrament and they know as wel as we that in all other Sacramentes when eyther they were instituted by God or afterwards spoken of by him though the very like Phrases for all the world were vsed of them that are here by Christ of these that yet vnto this day neuer any of themselues or others expounded them eyther as they doe these heere or otherwise then we doe these Circumcision is called the Couenant Gen. 17.10 the Lamb the Passeouer Exod. 12.21 the rocke that the people of Israel dranke the water of in the wildernesse Christ 1. Cor 10.4 the blood of their sacrifices the blood of the Couenant Exod. 24.8 the Arke the King of glorie and Iehouah Psal 24.8.10 and Baptisme is called the lauer or washing of our new birth Tit. 3.5 And yet who euer expounded these phrases eyther by Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation thereby really to make alwaies present to euery of these outward elements the spirituall matter thereby signified and resembled yea who euer vnderstoode these otherwise then to be as the wordes import onely by signification representation and for the assurance of the right vsers of them of the presence to them of the thinges therby signified and represented spiritually Why therfore should Christ either speake otherwise in the instituting of this then had beene vsed in all other Sacraments or speaking but euen so what reasoÌ„ is there why his speach should otherwise

presse withall hast vnto him for forgiuenesse of them And this we see most clearely in the examples of Zacheus and Marie Magdalen whereof the one as we reade in Luke 19. Ranne vp into a wild fig tree that he might satisfie himselfe with seeing Christ and no sooner hearde Christ say vnto him Come downe at once but he came downe hastelie and receiued him ioyfully vers 5. 6. And the other hearing of Christ to testifie her vnfained sorrowe for her sinnes and her loue to Christ for that she hoped by him to haue them forgiuen her as the same euangelist sheweth Cap. 7.37.38 pressed after Christ into a Pharifies house as he sat at meat bringing with her a boxe of oyntment to bestow vpon him whither when she came she stoode at his feete behinde him weeping and washt his feete with teares and wiped them with the heire of her heade and kissed his feete and annoynted them with oyle In all the storie of the new testament where haue we more heartie affection and earnest hunger and thirst after Christ shewed then in these two greate sinners when once the Lorde had made them to feele their sinnes and to be wearie of them Nay this I dare and doe boldlie affirme that if we peruse the whole booke of God thorow we shall neuer find that eyther God the Father or Christ his onely sonne euer comforted any before they were discomforted or healed anie eyther of bodily or spiritual disease before they sawe their disease felt it were weary of it and therefore sued for helpe and deliuerance For why should pearles be cast before swine or health be offered to those that finde not wante of it or meate and drink be set before those that neither hunger nor thirst Out of al question therefore we must thus first hunger and thirst before we can be of the number of those to whome Christ will offer himselfe eyther to be meate or drinke and vnlesse we feele our spirituall sicknesse of sinne and the danger thereof without him he will be no phisition of ours and vnlesse we haue good stomacks and appetites to and after the notable cheere that alreadie is prepared for vs in the marriage of the Kinges sonne wherof ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ we reade Matth. 22.1 ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ it is but in vaine to haue bidders sent vnto vs to bidde vs come for let them doe what they can eyther we will not come at all or else we will make light of comming or come to the purpose This our most mercifull and wife God foreseeing as he hath in his sonne Christ Iesus prouided both meate indeede and drinke indeede for our hungrye and thirstie soules sufficientlie to feede vpon to eternall life without which he knoweth we can no more liue before him at all then we see by experience this life can long be maintained and continued without meate and drinke fit for it so hath he left vnto vs most notable and effectuall meanes to breede in vs the hunger and thirst that is meete to be had after this foode of the soule for he is not onely like a liberall housekeeper that when he hath prouided good cheere for his friends would haue them bring good stomackes with them that they might wel feed theron but also least his prouision shoulde be lost or ill bestowed vppon such as care little for it hee prouideth for all those that he will allowe for his guestes waies and meanes to procure them before they come hunger and thirst indeede after his dainties Waies and meanes to driue vs to Christ And these waies and meanes of his are these his lawe his iudgements threatned and his iudgements executed vpon others and especially on the person of our sauiour For by the lawe rightly vnderstoode commeth the knowledge of sinner Rom. 7. vers 7. yea thereby as most notablie the Apostle sheweth in that place the power and tyranny of sinne ouer vs is most plainely described in respect of which office of the law the law is said to be our schoolmaster vnto Christ Gal. 3.24 for whiles it maketh vs see our selues to be sinners and that great and dangerous sinners it causeth vs to despaire of heauen at all by our own merits yea it driueth vs eyther to make no other reckoning but to goe to hell whether by our sinnes we haue descrued to goe or else to seeke out of our selues quite by faith in Christ Iesus to be iustified and so to come to heauen by him But this it cannot doe vnlesse we muse and meditate thereon aright and vnlesse we vnderstand it aright for though it be set before vs of the Lord as a glasse to discouer and lay before vs on the one side what we owe vnto him had beene abie to pay him if we had continued in the state wherin he created vs of the other side to shewe vs that now by our ownfal we are become such bankrupts that wheÌ„ we ow gold we are not able to pay copper yea where we owe him thousands we are not able to answere him one of a thousaÌ„d yet vnles the lord open our eyes rightlie to vnderstand this his law it cannot nor wil not stande vs in this steed for as the best glasse beeing looked into without light directeth vs nothing but when by the light it is looked vpon it doth the office euen so is it in this case And therefore to this purpose we are to vnderstand with Dauid that the lawe of God is perfect and in that respect as gold is tried seauen times in the fire Psal 19.7 c. Wherefore we may be sure it stretcheth rightly vnderstoode to the condemnation of all sinne whatsoeuer and to the commendation of all vertue likewise whatsoeuer Insomuch as it contayneth an absolute and most perfect rule of righteousnesse and holinesse from which as oft as we decline eyther to the right hand or to the left in heart worde deede or countenance eyther in omitting thinges therein commaunded or in coÌ„mitting things therin forbidden so oft it pronounceth vs to be transgressours thereof Whereupon consequentlie it must needes be true that if we iudge our owne selues but according to the lawe we shall finde it as impossible for vs to number our sinnes as eyther it is to number the starres of heauen or the sand of the sea shore the consideration wherof seeing that the promise of the lawe is onely this Doe this and liue Leuit. 18.13 and he that faileth in one poynt is guilty of al. Iam. 2.10 may first make vs see that heauen beeing the Lordes and therefore none being worthie but he to set the price thereof or couenant with man vpon what condition he shall haue it that it is set at a price and offered vpon condition of such perfection in workes as infinitely passeth our reach and therefore that way none but they that eyther vnderstande not the lawe or are so foolish that they thinke they can haue heauen at their owne price or that God will measure

of purpose not onely to keepe still fresh in our remembrance his precious death with all the fruites thereof both generally and particularly but also without all doubt to offer to deliuer and to feale the doliuery to as many as rightly as they should receiue the same a most certaine vnion and communion with whole and full Christ himselfe And to teach vs plainly so much Paule saith 1. Cor. 10.16 The cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the communion of the blood of Christ the breade which we breake is it not the communion of the bodie of Christ As certainely therefore as by bodily eating and drinking in that sacrament or elsewhere the eater and drinker of bread and wine makes himselfe partaker of all the force and goodnesse therein by making themselues first his owne to the chearing and strengthening of this life in the bodie so by such eating and drinking of the bodie broken and blood shed for him of Christ which are the thinges in this sacrament signified and offered vnto him as is fit to make such foode his owne by as verily the worthy and right receiuer in soule feedeth vpon and is nourished to eternall life with the broken bodie and bloodshed of Christ Iesus And to assure al such of this by Christ the bread is faid to be his body broken and the wine his blood shed for the remission of their fins and both so termed and called by his ordinance broken and powred forth are particularly to be giuen to euery such communicant and they are likewise to receiue them and therefore doubtlesse thereby taught not only by that which they see and he are in the administration herof with thankfull and penitent hearts to remember his death and sonowe therein his bodie was broken and his blood shed and seuered from his body and that therefore these so handled are the heauenly and spirituall foode prepared for the maintenance of their spirituall life before God but also by that which further is deliuered and they receiue that they are to assure themselues euerie one in particular that Christ died for them and therefore shall nourish and feede them to eternall life by vniting himselfe most certainely vnto them to that ende and purpose Further yet to teach vs that this moste certaine and reall vnion with Christe is for the whole Church and for the saluation thereof most necessary those other metaphors also serue whereby be is compated to the heade and husband of the Church as of his bodie and wife Ephes 1.12 Cap. 5.32 or to the vine stocke whereinto his heauenly father engrasteth all those branches that euer shall being forth much fruite that he may be glorified Io. 15.5.6.7.8 For hereby we are taught that as it is with these heade husband and stocke in respect of the bodie wife and branches so is it betwixt Christ and all those that shall be saued As therefore vnlesse the head really growe and be vnited to the bodie yea though there can but a haire goe betwixt the one and the other the bodie can haue no life from the head and as mariage beeing consummate it maketh them that were strangers before one bodie one flesh yea one selfe fame Ephes 5.28.29 and that otherwise vnperfected it hath no such effect and lastly as it is not inough for the braunches to touch the vine stocke yea nothing to haue life from thence vnlesse they so growe therin that it and they be as it were one euen so is it in this case betwixt Christ and all those that would be saued by him And therefore to expresse as much Paule saith That such as are his they are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephe. 5.30 yea 1. Cor. 1.13 he maketh the Church and Christ but as one perfect man whereof Christ is the heade and the Church his bodie in so much as Ephes 1.23 he calleth the Church his fulnesse to shew that such loue there is betwixt Christ and his Church and that there is also such a perfect vnion betwixt them that though he be he that filleth all thinges and is the perfection thereof that he accounteth himselfe as a heade without a bodie without the true vnion and connexion of the Church with him And therfore Iohn 17.23 he was an earnest suter vnto his father that he might be in his as he his father was in him that so they might be made perfect in one and heerein he knew he was so heard that he accounteth the affliction of any sound member of his Church as the persecution of his owne self and therefore when Saule persecuted such he said vnto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee Act. 6.4 And yet better to assure them thereof he also reckoneth his owne ioyes to be theirs as well as their sorrowes to be his that will open vnto him and be his and therefore to encourage such so to doe and bee he said vnto them Reue. 3.22 that to such he would giue to sit with him vpon his throne and that he woulde sup with them and that they likewise should sup with him The cuidence of this doctrine beeing most strong and apparant as you he are and the papistes themselues not seeming to doubt thereof at all but that theiudgements of God are vnsearchable and that they haue deserued for their wilfull seeking to darken the light of the gospel will they nill they shining amongst them to be made drunke and so quite to be caried away in the most just iudgement of God by a strong dilusion of the enchanted cup ful of formications profered vnto them vged vpon them by the garish whore of Babilon it is a wonder that withal they are not enforced to see to perceiue the most of the absurdities heresies they hold tou ching the article of iustificatioÌ„ saluation For how can it otherwise bee but that they that are thus vnited to Christ he to them must needs most certenly as it were sensi bly vnderstaÌ„d it so to bee by the wonderful alteration that therupon thorowout both in body soule wil grow in theÌ„ by the inseparable graces of the spirit alwaies accoÌ„panying his vnion with his And therfore in him there being also as alwaies there is full and certain remission of sins prepared for al them that be so nilie his he neuer going without his perfect righteousnes being as he is the very fountaine of al Gods fauours mercies towards man how is it possible that he should be a mans owne he know it also but that he may and must without any wauering or doubting thereof fully and firmly be assured that his sins are forgiuen him that his righteousnes is his that therfore he may haue a most speciall assurance and confidence of the mercy of God to his most perfect faluation For these graces and fauours of God are neuer seuered froÌ„ the person of Christ therfore wheras he is once really truely

Testament wherein by beeing dipped in or sprinkled vpon with water in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost we are assured that God the Father can and will in the blood and by the blood of his Sonne by the mighty working of the holy Ghost wash away our sins and so receiue vs and incorporate vs into his Church that we shal be his new borne children and inabled to be holy because he is holy We administer it to infants because it succeedeth Circumcision which was by Gods ordinance appointed to be ministred to the infants of the Iewes when they were but eight daies old Ge. 17.12 because Christ said Suffer little children to come vnto me for of such is the kingdom of heauen Mat. 19.13 because we read that the Apostles baptised whole households as Act. 16.33 amongest which sometimes it is most likelie there were some infantes and lastly because we finde that God promised not onelie to be the God of Abraham but also of his feede after him Gen. 17.7 and that Saint Paule most plainely teacheth that if one of the parents be beleeuing then is the seede holy 1. Cor. 7.14 And therefore it beeing administred to such and in water and in that manner that it is by Christs ordinance the nature of water beeing as we knowe it to bee we may and ought to learne all these lessons that we are all borne and conceiued in sinne and therewith so defiled that we stand need of washing that this washing and cleanseing is to be had at God the Fathers hands through Iesus Christ by the working of the holie Ghost and no where else that God both can and will thus wash and cleanse vs and that therefore this Trinitie in vnitie is onely to be beleeued in and trusted vnto for the matter of our saluation and to be honoured in all thankfulnesse for the same by our ceasing from sinne and doing of that which is good Whereupon we see that they that would lead vs after we haue once beene thus baptised to put our faith and confidence for any part of our forgiuenes of sinnes or saluation eyther in any other person or thing as the coÌ„mon fashion is amongst papistes doubtlesse they would haue vs to reuolt from that faith wherein we were baptised and whereunto therby we haue most solemnly bound our selues Heereby also we may perceiue that though Baptisme it selfe be but once to be ministred for the reason before shewed yet as oft as euer eyther we finde our sinnes readie to shake our faith or otherwise to trouble vs by meditation thereof we are thus to haue our recourse againe vnto it to the strengthening both of our faith and to the weakning of the power of sinne howsoeuer the papistes would perswade vs that it serueth onely to assure vs of remission of sinnes before because we may be sure that God is alwaies readie if we can beleeue in him to performe vnto vs whatsoeuer he hath offered vnto vs therein Which doubtlesse is the remission of all our sinnes before or after we beleeuing and repenting thereof Or else if onely thereby were offered forgiuenesse of sinnes before it then surely the Church would haue deferred it to the last or later then eyther it hath or yet doth And as for the other Sacrament Of the other Sacrament if we doe with any diligence but consider that which we finde set downe thereof Mat. 26.26 c. Mar. 14.22 c. Luk. 22.19 c. 1. Cor. 11.23 c. we shall there finde whatsoeuer appertaineth eyther generally to a Sacrament or particularly vnto it most plainely and effectually expressed For there it is euident that Christ instituted it and commanded his ministers to administer it vntill his comming againe that he ordained very bread and wine to be the outward visible elements and his bodie broken for his and his blood shed for the remission of their sinnes to be the things by the other figured signified and represented yea thereby both offered and truely deliuered and communicated to the right and worthy receiuer And therefore to assure theÌ„ of as much he called the bread broken distributed his body broken the wine powred forth giuen theÌ„ in the cup his blood of the new Testament shed for many to the remission of their sins We therefore by warrant from hence do define this To be a Sacrament of the new Testament instituted by Christ and to administred by his ordinance and to be receiued according to the same of his faithfull people consisting not onely of bread broken wine powred out into the cup to be distributed receiued of al worthy commers thereunto in remembrance of his death and passion and as vndoubted tokens by his institution though not of their own nature both that his body was broken and his blood shed for all his in general and also particularly for the full redemption and saluation of euery right receiuer hereof but also of the very broken body and bloodshed of Christ for our saluation therewith all as certainely offred to be fed on to eternall life and fed on indeed by euery worthy communicant though by spirituall meanes as the other are offered vnto them taken and fed on by the instruments of the bodie Whereupon most earnestly we exhort euery one that would worthily come vnto this table and so be partakers indeed to their comfort of this Sacrament with Saint Paule in any case to trie and examine themselues first and to iudge themselues least for want of so doing they be heere iudged of the Lord by eating of this breade and drinking of this cup vnworthily to haue made themselues guiltie of his bodie and bloode and so to eate and drinke their own damnation For though we holde breade and wine heerein still to retaine their former substance and essence because euen by the expresse wordes of the institution in the places before quoated so much is euident and the common nature of a Sacrament requireth the continuance of the outwarde element in his former nature that so it may carrie the better and apterresemblance of the thing whose name it beareth yet we know and most willingly confesse with all antiquitie that thereof heere by vertue of Christes institution which doth and shal remaine in force stil to the worlds end alwaies to effect the same in bread and wine according to his ordinance set aside and vsed to this purpose there is a verie great change and alteration But that is but in name vse and estimation For whereas before they were but called bread and wine and serued but to the common vse of the nourishing and cheering of the bodie and therefore so onely were to be esteemed heerein they beare the names of the verie bodie and bloode of Christ and they serue as the Lordes good meanes to lead and strengthen our faith to feede therupon indeed to our saluation The vse thereof and therefore we esteeme of them herein not as they are

was ratified and so standeth by the shedding of that bloode to all beleeuers in him But indeed though they would seeme to be men that make wonderfull great conscience of the letter and wordes as though it were sacriledge to goe one iot from the sound thereof yet any man that lookes but with halfe an eye vpon either of their interpretations which they stand vpon to grounde their kinde of reall presence by shall soone perceiue that they are nothing the men they make shewe for For is it all one eyther to say together with this is my bodie and bloode or vnder the accidentes heereof is my bodie and blood and to say This is my bodie and bloode And yet thus when al is done Christes wordes must sounde or else neither will there or can there be either the Lutherans Consubstantiation or the popish Transubstantiation brought in therby to vphold their fond reall presence by Sure I am neyther any Dictionarie or Grammer in the worlde will allow them thus to expounde this worde Is. Were it not better for them with vs to retaine the word and also with vs so to expound it or vnderstand it as not onelie vsually alwaies it is in all other Sacramentall phrases but also commonly alwaies when it is placed betweene two thinges of so diuers natures as bread and wine and bodie and bloode be The rather yet to prouoke them so to doe let them but consider whether their newe found sense therof or this of ours vnderstanding it as placed for it signifieth representeth and sealeth vnto you my bodie broken and blood shed to be yours to eternall life stand better but with these wordes of Christ Doe this in remembrance of me Luke 22.19 1. Cor. 11.24 especially so taken as it is cleare Paule tooke them when thereof he inferreth 1. Cor. 11.26 as oft as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come For according to our doctrine by these words thus vnderstood Christ would teach vs that this Sacrament was instituted by him of purpose to keepe in our memories his death and passion and by the vse whereof wee might vntill his comming againe to iudgment professe and nourish our faith in his body then broken and blood shed for vs. Here is nothing sounding in the meane time towardes any corporall presence of his to the outward elements or mouthes of the receiuers whosoeuer but these words In remembrance of me and Till he come againe sounde plainly to the cotrarie For what need a thing to be done in remembrance of one bodily present or how can a thing with any good sence be said to be done but till one come that yet he being verily present in body is done We read Act. 1.11 that shortly after the institution of this Sacrament he visibly ascended into heauen the Apostles seing him so to doe with their eyes and there we read also that the Angels told them that even so likewise he shoulde come againe when he comes from thence reading also as we doe and haue alreadie noted once or twise that the heauens must containe him vntill the restitution of all things Act. 3.21 and that his comming from thence is plainely called his second coÌ„ming Heb. 9.28 how can we but thinke that Christ as well meant to forwarne vs of these fellowes that by their Consubstantiation or Transubstantiation say vnto vs lo heere is Christ with this piece of bread or vnder the accidents therof loe take him into thy verie mouth as of those that point vnto vs wrong Christes heere or there when he said if any should say vnto you speaking of such as should so doe after he had left the world was gone vnto his Father Loe heere is Christ or there is Christ beleeue him not And how is it possible that we should beleeue these places of Scripture to be true and hold stil them notwithstanding that Christ is really and in his full bodie present in euery communicants mouth May we thinke with Peter that the heauens doe and shall containe him still and that yet vpon this occasion he is alwaies thus heere And that beeing so how can it be that his comming from thence at the last daie shall be but his second comming or that it is true when he comes from thence he shall come visibly no such thing hauing euer beene seene heere I knowe they will say all these places are to be vnderstood of his visible body and that they speake of his inuisible bodie Yea but then we replie where euer learned they either in Scripture or in any ancient Father that euer he had any such inuisible bodie or howe can they euer make it sinke into any mans head that hath rightlie learned in the Scriptures to know Christes manhood that at one and selfe same time he shoulde haue a visible bodie and an inuisible yea one in the heauens to come inuisiblie againe when he pleaseth and yet the same both there and this heere also multiplied into so many inuisible bodies as there be receiuers mouthes If this be not with the olde rotten doting and long agoe condemned Marcion to make a meere phantasme of the bodie of Christ let any man iudge But once for all by this sworde of the Spirit to pierce this monstrous conceipt of theirs to the verie heart and so to leaue it for dead seeing they stande so much vpon the letter and wordes of the text I would haue them once againe to marke and remember that Saint Paule that saith therein That which he receiued of the Lord he deliuered hath vpon his credite told vs that the Lord speaking of the bread called it not simplie and nakedly his bodie but his bodie broken and they all agree in one that he called the other his blood shed If therefore they will sticke to the wordes of the text and yet haue a reall presence as they teach of his verie bodie and blood by vertue of the wordes thereof they see most plainely then it must be of his bodie broken and of his blood shed Vnlesse therefore nowe they can finde vs an inuisible bodie broken and blood inuisible shed of his for the mouth of euerie receiuer they neither say or doe any thing to the purpose according to the text But I hope they are not so farre gone but they know that it is now a thousand and fiue hundred yeares agoe and more since he had eyther his bodie broken or blood shed and that when they were so he died so that he dies no more as we reade Rom. 6.9 And therefore euen heereby the most simple may see that though they could shew that his bodie aliue or glorified could be inuisible infinite and so multipliable as their doctrine importes which yet they can neuer doe that yet all this were nothing to the reall presence of the bodie and blood of Christ in respect of that estate of his when the one was broken and the other shed for the

to be turned into the bodie and bloode of Christ and therefore to shune both these straites they cannot tell what to vnderstand by it and so are at their wittes end By that which they say and doc they yet are resolute that they coÌ„uey and bannish away the substances of bread and wine and leaue nothing but the bare accidents thereof vnder which they hold lustilie Christ to be flesh blood bone And therefore they sing merilie in their Hymne or Carrol vpon Corpus Christi day Sub diuersis speciebus signis tantÃ¹m non rebus latent res eximiae caro cibus sangnis potus manet homo Christus totus sub vtraque specie a sumente non concisus non confractus nec diuisus integer accipitur c. that is Vnder diuerse kinds signes onely and not thinges most excellent thinges lie hid flesh meate bloode drinke yea whole Christ abideth vnder eyther kinde of the taker not bruised not broken nor deuided but whole is he taken But for all this their sturre it should seeme yet that nowe they are perswaded they haue him rather by bannishing of bread and wine though they cannot tell eyther how whither or into what then by transubstantiation of breade and wine thereinto or of anything else Howsoeuer it were or bee that there should remaine nothing but the bare accidentes or out ward formes of bread and wine that is inough vtterly to ouerthrow the nature of the Sacrament For in Sacramentes alwaies there must bee an Analogie betwixt the signes and the thinges signified which cannot be betwixt bare accidents of bread and wine for that they alone feede not at all and the bodie and blood of Christ which are our foode to eternall life and therfore to abolish or abandon by what meanes soeuer bread wine is to destroy quite the nature of the Sacrament That the verie substances thereof remaine for all their prating when they haue vsed all their art the trickes therof they can both Scripture Fathers and reason make it most euident For in the wordes of the institution scanne and marke them wel who list it is most cleare that Christ tooke verie bread and wine and that he both gaue that which he tooke and that they tooke the same and no other though by his institution now chaunged in name vse and estimation as I haue said And therefore Paule retaineth the name of the bread and cup still euen when they come to be eaten and drunken vpon 1. Cor. 11.26 and Christ calles it the fruite of the vine tree and that after he had deliuered it and they had drunken therof Mar. 14.25 And in all other Sacramentes as we haue hearde though the like phrase of speach haue bene vsed yet alwaies haue they beene fulland forcible Sacramentes to offer to deliuer and to seale the deliuerie of the inwarde grace thereby intended to the right receiuers without any such abolishing or transubstantiating of the outwarde elements thereinto as is heere imagined And if Christ had had anie such purpose it had sure beene as easie a matter with him to haue vttered his minde in and by wordes sounding plainely that he ment to effect some such thing as by saying this is turned into my bodie or let this be transubstantiated thereinto or let the substance of this cease and in the romph thereof let my bodie come and bee as onely to haue saide affirmatiuelie that it was his bodie But hauing but saide so it is most certaine it was some certaine thing that he affirmed to be so for he would neuer call bare nothing or an indiuiduum vagum an vncertaine thing as Gardiner holds he ment by This his bodie And therefore wil they nil they by Christs words interpreted as they doe eyther we must haue Christes bodie which once was of the nature of the Virgin his Mother that so he might be that seede of the woman to treade downe the serpentes head and in whome all the nations of the world shoulde be blessed whensoeuer any of their priestes therby intend to consecrate as they speake made of a wafer againe or at least now growne to be such an one as that it can lie hid vnder the forme therof the substance of breade beeing gone to giue it romph But once againe I must tel them that the words of Christ are so farre from sounding any such thing as that if they should be taken litterally as they sound they rather shew that his bodie and blood were become bread wine or turned thereinto then the contrary For when Moses rod was turned into a serpent or when Lots wife was turned into a pillar of salt if one shoulde haue saide of the one that it was Moses rod or of the other that it was Lots wife woulde anie thereby haue vnderstoode that he mente that the scrpent was transubstantiated into the rod or the pillar of salt into Lots wife nay would not the verie sounde of the wordes most plainly lead any man rather to vnderstand that his meaning was to shew Moses rod was turned into the serpent and Lots wife into the pillar of salt Wherefore they haue not onely no ground in the Scriptures for this their opinion but not onely other scriptures but the verie words of the institution are directly against them And the ancient Fathers are plaine that though Christ called breade and wine his bodie broken and his blood shed that yet neyther by transubstantion nor anie way else the substances thereof are gone Theodoret both in his first Dialogue second also though most plainely as I haue noted alreadie he confesse that Christ honored bread and wine with the names of his bodie and blood most flatly saith that yet he changed not their natures but added grace to nature and that the mysticall signes after sanctification as he pleaseth to speake goe not from their nature figure or forme And Gelasius against Eutiches writeth directly that in the Eucharist the nature of bread and wine cease not Ambrose also as Gratian alledgeth him De consecr dist 2. cap. pâ—nis writing de sacramentis of the Sacraments noteth that in this Sacrament the word of Christ is so powerfull vt sint quae erant in aliud commutentur that they remaine that which they were before and yet are turned into another thing And if we would know in what sense and sort they are chaunged into another thing remaining also still the same that they were before the same Gratian a little before in the chapter quia corpus teacheth vs to learne that of our selues by the chaunge that we finde in our selues by regeneration and that out of Eusebius Emissenus which as he noteth and we all know is true not at all in respect of outward substance for that is the same in vs when we are regenerate that it was before but onelie of inward grace and qualitie which is that which I call heere in this Sacrament an alteration of the outward elementes in name

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