Againe Titus 3. For we our selues also were in times past vnwise disobedient deceiued seruing lusts and diuers pleasures liuing in maliciousnesse and enny full of hate and hating one another But after that the kindnesse and loue of God our Sauiour to manward appeared not by the deeds of righteousnesse which wee wrought but of his mercy hee saued vs by the fountaine of the new birth and with the renewing of the holy Ghost which he shedde on vs aboundantly through Iesus Christ our sauior that we once iustified by his grace shuld be heires of eternal life through hope This is a true saying But I wil make an end for I am too tedious Dearely beloued repent your sins that is bee sorrie for that which is past beleeue in Gods mercy for pardon how deepely soeuer you haue sinned and both purpose and earnestperuse a new life bringing forth worthy and true fruites of Repentance As you haue giuen ouer your members from sin to sin to serue the diuel your tongues to sweare to lye to flatter to scold to iest to scoffe to beastly talk to vaine iangling to boasting c. Your hands to picking groping idlenesse fighting c. Your féete to skipping going to euil to dancing c. Your eares to heare fables lyes vanities and euill things c. So now giue ouer your members to godlines your tongues to speak your eares to heare your eyes to sée your mouthes to taste your hands to work your féet to go about such things as may make to Gods glory sobriety of life and loue to your brethren and that daily more more diligently for in a stay to stand you cannot eyther better or worse you are to day then you were yesterday But better I trust you be and will be if you mark my Theame that is Repent you The which thing that you wold as before I haue humbly besought you euen so now yet once more I do again beseech you and that for the mercies of God in Iesus Christ our Lord Repent you repent you for the kingdome of heauen that is a kingdome full of all riches pleasures mirth beauty swéetnesse and eternall felicity is athand The eye hath not séene the like the eare hath not heard the like the heart of man cannot conceiue the treasures pleasures of this kingdome which is now at hand to such as repent that is to such as are sorry for their sinnes beléeue Gods mercy through Christ and earnestly purpose to leade a new life The God of mercy through Christ his Sonne grant vs his holy Spirit and worke in our hearts this sorrow faith and new life which through his grace I haue spoken of both now and for euer Amen AN Other Sermon made also by the sayd Master IOHN BRADFORD vpon the Lords SVPPER 1. Cor. 10.16 The Cuppe of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ THere are two Sacraments in CHRISTS Church the one of imitatiō that is wherwith we be enrolled as it were in the houshold family of God which Sacrament we call Baptism the other wherwith we be conserued fed kept and nourished to continue in the same family which is called the Lords Supper or the body bloud of our Sauior Iesus Christ broken for our sins and shed for our transgressions Of the former Sacrament that is of Baptisme to speake now I am not purposed because occasion and time serue not so thereto Babtism is in place of Circumcision Christian mens children ought to be baptized Of the second therefore will I speake something by Gods grace if that first you remember this that Baptisme in Christs Church now since Christs death is come in place of Circumcision which was in the same Church afore Christs comming Whereby we may sée that Christian Parents seeme to be no lesse bound to offer their Infants and Babes to be baptized that they may be taken and accounted of vs as members of Christs mysticall body wherunto they are receiued and sealed Gal. 4. then were the Hebewes their children to be taken as pertayning to the couenant and league with God wherwith they were inrolled alonely the circumstance of of the eight day not necessarie to be obserued being now abrogated But to come againe Of the Lords Supper I am purposed presently to to speake through the helpe of God because we are assembled in Christ I hope to celebrate the same Now that the things which I shall speake may be better obserued and caried away of you I will tell you how and in what sort I will speake of it Thrée things would I haue marked as the principals and scopes whereto I will referre all that I shall at this tyme speake thereof They be these Who what wharfore That is to make it more plain Who did institute this thing which we are about to celebrate this is the first The second is What the thing is whch is instituted And the last is Wherefore and to what end it was instituted whereby we shall be taught how to vse it Who did institute this Sacrament For the first Who did institute this Sacrament and Supper You all doe know that things are more estéemed sometime for the dignitie and authority of the person sometime for the wisedome of the person sometime for the power and magnificence of the person sometime for the tender loue kindnes of the person If néed were I could by examples set forth euery one of these but I hope it is not necessary Now then how can the thing which we be about to celebrate but be esteemed of euery one highly in that the author of it doth want no dignity no authority no wisdome no power no magnificence no holinesse no tender loue kindnesse but hath all dignity authoritie wisedome power magnificence c. and all that can be absolutely wished He is God eternall coequall and substantiall with the Father and with the holy Ghost the Image of the substance of God the wisedome of the Father the brightnesse of his glory by whom all things were made are ruled and gouerned Hee is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords He is the Messias of the world our most deare and louing Brother Sauiour Mediatour Aduocate Intercessour Husband Priest So that the thing which commeth from him cannot but bee esteemed loued and embraced if dignity authority wisdome power glory goodnesse and mercy like vs. Yea if any thing that can bee wished like vs then cannot this which our Lord did institute but like vs and that so much the more by how much it is one of the last things which he did institute and conmaund God open our eies to see these things accordingly so shall wee come with more reuerence to this Table of the Lord which thing hee grant for his mercies sake Amen And thus much for the first who did
bread The fift reason Fiftly that the substance of bread remaineth in the Sacrament as the reasons before brought forth do proue so doth the infinition of a Sacrament For the Fathers do affirme it to consist of an earthly thing Ireneus Augustinus Chrysostomus and of an heauenly thing of the word and of the element of sensible things and of things which be perceiued by the minde But Transubstantiation taketh clean away that earthly thing the keement the sensible thing and so maketh it no Sacrament And therefore the definition of a Sacrament ful wel teacheth that bread which is the earthly thing the sensible thing and the element remaineth still as saint Augustine saith the word commeth to the element he saith not taketh away the element and so it is made a Sacrament The sixt reason against Transsubstantiation Sixtly the nature and property of a Sacrament teacheth this also which I haue affirmed for as Cyprian wrieth that Sacraments beare the names of the things which they signifie so doeth Saint Augustine teach Cyprian in Sermone de Chrismat Augustinus ad Bonifacium that if Sacraments haue not some signification with the things whereof they be Sacraments then are they no Sacraments Now in the Lords Supper this similitude is first in nourishing that as bread nourisheth the body so Christs body broken féedeth the soule Secondly in bringing together many into one that as in the Sacrament many graines of Corn are made one bread many Grapes are made one lyquour and Wine so the multitude which worthily receiue the Sacrament are made one body with Christ and his Church Last of all in one vnlikely likelinesse or similitude that as bread eaten turneth into our nature so we rightly eating the Sacrament by faith turne into the nature of Christ So that it is plaine to them that wil sée that to take the substance of bread away is cleane against the nature and propertie of a Sacrament I will speake nothing how that this their doctrine of Transubstantiation beside the manifold absurdities it hath in it which to rehearse I omit it vtterly ouerthroweth the vse of the Sacrament and is cleane cōtrary to the end wherefore it was instituted so is no longer a Sacrament but an Idol and is the cause of much Idolatry conuerting the peoples harts from an heauenly conuersatiō to an earthly and turning the Communion into priuate action and a matter of gazing and piping of adoring worshipping the worke of mens hands for the liuing God which dwelleth not in Tempels made with mens hands much lesse lyeth he in Pixes and Chests whose true worshippe is in spirit and verity which God grant vs all to render vnto him continually Amen The seuenth reason against transubstantiation The Sacrament of Baptisme doth also teach vs that as the substanae of the water remaineth there so in the Lords Supper remaineth the substance of bread after consecration For as by Baptisme we are engrafted into CHRIST so by the Supper we are fedde with Christ These two Sacraments the Apostle gladly coupleth together 1. Cor. 10. and 1. Cor 12. We are baptized into one body saith he and haue drunke all of one spirit meaning it by the Cup as Chrysostome and other great learned men doe well interpret it As therefore in Baptisme is giuen vnto vs the holy Ghost and pardone of our sinnes which yet lie not lurking in the water so in the Lords Supper is giuen vnto vs the Communion of Christs body and bloud that is grace forgiuenesse of sins innocencie life immortality without any Transubstantiation or including of the same in the bread By Baptisme Gal. 3. the old man is put off and the new man put on yea Christ is put on but without Transubstantiating the water And euen so it is in the Lords Supper We by faith spiritually in our soules do féed on Christs body broken do eate his flesh and drinke his blood doe dwell in him and he in vs but without Transubstantiation An answer to the Papists cauill for the foresayd reason As for the cauill they make that wee are baptized into one bodie meaning thereby the mysticall body and not the naturall body of Christ whereby they would enforce that we are fed with the naturall body of Christ but we are not ingrafted into it but into the mysticall body and so put away the reason aforesaid As for this cauill I say we may soone auoyde it if so be that we will consider how that Christ which is the head of the mysticall body is not seperate from the body and therefore to be ingrafted to the mysticall body is to be ingrafted into the naturall body of Christ to be amember of his flesh and bones of his bones as Pope Leo full well doeth witnesse in saying that Corpus regenerati fit caro crucifixi The body saith he of the regenerate is made the flesh of Christ crucified And hereto I could adde some reasons for the excellency of Baptisme I thinke it be more to be gotten then to be nourished As for the excellent miracle of the patefaction of the Trinity and the descending of the holy Ghost in Baptisme in a visible forme the like whereto was no seene in the Lords Supper I will omit to speake of further then that I would you should know how it were no mastery to set forth the excellency of this Sacrament as well as of the Supper The eight reason It is a plaine signe of Antichrist to deny the substance of bread and wine to bee in the Lords Supper after consecration for in so dooing and granting Transubstantiation the propertie of the humane nature of Christ is denied For it is not of the humane nature but of the diuine nature to bee in many places at once As Dydimus De spiritu sancto doeth proue thereby the diuinity of the holy Ghost Now grant Transsubstantiation and then Christs naturall body must néeds be in many places which is nothing els but to confound the two natures in Christ or to deny Christs humane nature which is the selfe same that S. Iohn saith to deny Christ to be come in the flesh And this who so doeth by the testimony of S Iohn is an Antichrist in his so doing whatsoeuer otherwise he do prate Reade S. Augustine in his Epistle to Dardanus his 50. and 30. Treatise vpon Saint Iohn and easily you shall see how that Christs body must needes be in one place Oportet in vno loco esse But his Trueth is in all places The ninth reason If there be no substance of bread in the Sacrament but Transsubstantiation then Christs body is receiued of the vngodly and eaten with their téeth which is not onely against S. Augustine calling this spéech Except you eate the flesh of the Sonne of man c. A figuratiue speech but also against the plaine Scriptures which affirme them to dwell in Christ and Christ in them and they
to haue euerlasting life that eate him which the wicked haue not although they eate the Sacrament He that eateth of this bread saith Christ shall liue for euermore Therefore they eate not Christs body but as Paul saith they eate in iudgement and damnation which beléeue it is an other manner of thing then Christs body This doth S. Augustine affirm saying None do eate Christs body which is not in the body of Christ that is as hée expoundeth it in whom Christ dwelleth not and he in Christ Which thing the wicked doe not because they want faith and the holy Spirit which be the meanes whereby Christ is receiued To the things which I haue brought hereforth to improue transsubstantiation I could bring in the Fathers to confirme the same which succeeded contnually many hundred yeares after Christ Also I could shew that Transsubstantiation is but a new doctrine not established before Sathan which was tyed for a thousand yeeres was letten loose Also I could shew that euer hitherto since it was established in all times it hath been resisted and spoken against Yea before this doctrine the Church was nothing so endowed with goods lands and possessions as it hath béen since It hath brought no small gaine no small honour no small ease to the Cleargie and therefore no maruaile though they striue and fight for it It is their Maozim it is their Helena God destroy it with the breath of his mouth as shortly hee will for his names sake Amen If time would serue I could and would here tell you of the absurdities which come by this doctrine but for times sake I must omit it Onely for Gods sake see this that this their doctrine of Transsubstantiation is an vntrueth already I haue proued and forget not that it is the whole stay of all Popery and the pillar of their Priesthood whereby Christs Priesthood Sacrifice Ministery and Truth is letted yea peruerted and vtterly ouerthrowne God our Father in the bloud of his Sonne IESVS CHRIST open the eyes and mindes of all our Magistrates all other that beare the name of CHRIST to see to it in time to Gods glory and their owne saluation Amen Now to returne to the second matter what the Sacrament is you see that to the senses and reason of man it is bread and wine Which is most true as by the Scriptures and otherwise I haue already proued and therefore away with Transsubstantiation But here lest we should make it no Sacrament for a Sacrament consisteth of two things and least a man should by this gather that we make it none other thing but bare bread and a naked signe and so rayle at their pleasure on vs saying How can a man be guilty of the body bloud of Christ by vnworthy receiuing it if it bee but bare bread and so forth For this purpose I will now speake a little more hereabout by Gods grace to stop your mouthes and so to stirre vp your good hearts more to the worthy estimation and preception of this holy mystery When a louing friend giueth to thée a thing or sendeth to thee a token as for an example a napkin or such like I thinke thou doest not as thou shouldest doe if that with the thing thou considerest not the mind of thy friēd that sendeth or giueth the thing and according thereunto estéemest and receiuest it And so of this bread thinke I that if thou doe not rather consider the minde of thy louer Christ then the thing which thou seest yea if thou do not altogether consider Christs mind thou dealest vnhonestly and Strumpetlike with him For it is the property of Strumpets to consider the things giuen and sent them rather then the loue and mind of the giuer and sender whereas the true louers doe not consider in any point the things giuen or sent but the minde of the party So we if we be true louers of Christ must not consider harely the outward thing which we sée and our senses perceiue but rather altogether wee must and should sée and consider the minde of Christ and hereafter and accordingly to it to esteeme the Sacrament But how shall we know the minde of Christ Surely as a mans minde is best knowne by his word so by Christs word shal we know his mind Now his words be manifest and most plaine This saith he is my body therefore accordingly should wee esteeme take and receiue it If hee had spoken nothing or if hee had spoken doubtfully then might wee haue been in some doubt But in that hee speaketh so plainly saying This is my body Who can may or dare bee so bolde as to doubt of it Hee is the trueth and cannot lye he is omnipotent and can do all things therefore it is his body This I beléeue this I confesse and pray you all heartily to beware of these and such like words that it is but a signe or figure of his body Except ye will discerne betwixt signes which signifie only and signes which also do represent confirme and seale vp or as a man may say giue with their signification As for an example An Iuy bush is a signe of Wine to be sold the budding of Aarons Rodde did signifie Aarons Priesthood allowed of the Lord the reseruation of Moses Rod did signifie the rebellion of the children of Israel the stones taken out of Iordan Gedeons fléece of woole c. Such as these be signes significatiue and shew no gift But in the other signs which some cal exhibitiue is there not only a signification of the thing but also a declaration of a gift is in a certaine manner a giuing also As Baptisme not onely signifieth the cleansing of the conscience from sinne by the merits of CHRISTS bloud but also is a very cleansing from sinne And therefore it was sayd to Paul that he should arise and wash away his sins and not that he should arise and take onely a signe of washing away his sinnes In the Lords Supper the bread is called a partaking of the Lords body and not only a bare signe of the Lords body This I speak not as though the elements of these Sacraments were Transsubstantiate which I haue already impugned eyther as though Christs body were in bread or wine or that they were tyed to the elements otherwise then Sacramentally and spiritually either that the bread and wine may not and must not be called Sacramentall and externall signes but that they might be discerned from significatiue and bare signes only and he taken for signes exhibitiue and representiue By this meanes a Christian conscience will call and estéeme the bread of the Lord as the body of Christ For it will neuer estéeme the Sacraments of Christ after their exterior apearance but after the words of Christ Whereof it commeth that the Fathers as Chrysostome and others doe speake with so ful a mouth when they speake of the Sacrament for their respect was to Christs words If the Schoole-men which followed had the
same spirit which they had then wold they neuer haue consented to Transsubstantiation For with great admiration some of the Fathers doe say that the bread is changed or turned into the body of Christ and the wine into his bloud meaning it of a mutation or change not corporall but spirituall figuratine Sacramentall or mysticall For now it is no common bread nor common wine beeing ordained to serue for the food of the soul The Schoole-men haue vnderstood it as the Papists now speake of a substantiall changing as though it were no great miracle that common bread should now be assumed into that dignity that it should bee called Christs body and serue for a celestiall foode and be made a Sacrament of his body and bloud As before therefore I haue spoken Christs presence in the Supper I would wish that this Sacrament should bee esteemed and called of vs Christian men after Christs words namely the bread Christs body and the wine Christs bloud rather then otherwise Not that I meane any other presence of Christs body then a presence of grace a preseruer to Faith a presence spiritually and not corporally really naturally and carnally as the Papists doe meane For in such sort Christs body is onely in heauen on the right hand of God the Father almighty whether our faith in the vse of the Sacrament ascendeth and receiueth whole Christ accordingly Yea but one will say that to cal the Sacrament on that sort An obiection is to giue an occasion of Idolatry to the people which wil take the Sacrament which they see simply for Christs body as by experience wee are well taught and therefore it were better to cal it bread and so lesse harme should be especially in this age To this obiection I answere An answer that indéed great Idolatry is committed to and about this Sacrament and therefore men ought as much as they can to avoyd from occasion or confirming it But in as much as the holy Ghost is wiser then man and had foresight of the euils that might be and yet notwithstanding doth call it Christs bodie I thinke we should do euill if we should take vpon vs to reforme his spéech If Ministers did their dueties in Catechizing and Preaching then doubtlesse to call the Sacrament Christs body and to estéeme it accordingly could not giue occasion to Idolatrie and confirme it Therefore Woe vnto them that preach not There be two euils about the Sacraments which to auoyde the holy Ghost hath taught vs. For least we should with the Papists think Christs body present in or with the bread really naturally and corporally to be receiued which our bodily mouth where there is no other presence of Christs body then spirituall and to the faith in many places he kéepeth still the name of bread as in the Epistle to the Corinthians the tenth and eleuenth Chapters And least we shold make to light of it making it but a bare signe and no better then common bread the holy Ghost calleth it Christs body whose spéech I wish we would follow and that not onely as well to auoyde the euill which is now a dayes most to be feared concerning the Sacrament I meane of contemning it as also for that no faithfull man commeth to the Sacrament to receiue bread simply but rather yea altogether to communicate with Christs body and bloud For else to eate drink as Paul saith they haue houses of their owne The contempt of the Sacrament in the dayes of King Edward hath caused these plagues vpon vs presently the Lord bee mercifull vnto vs. Amen And thus much for the obiection of calling the Sacrament by the name of Christs body Another obiection of Christs presence in the Sacrament What saith one to call the Sacrament Christs body and to make none other presence then by grace or spiritually to faith which is of things hoped for and of things which to the bodily senses do not appeare is to make no presence at all or to make him none otherwise present then he is in his word when it is preached and therefore what néede we to receiue the Sacrament in as much as by this doctrine a man may receiue him dayly in the fielde as well and as much as in the Church in the celebration and vse of the Sacrament So this obiection I first answere that indeede neither the Scripture nor Christian Faith wil giue vs leaue to make any carnall reall naturall corporall or any such grosse presence of Christs naturall body in the Sacrament For it is in Heauen and the Heauens must haue it as saith Peter till Christs comming to iudgment except wee would denie the humanity of Christ and the verity of mans nature in him The presence therefore which we beléeue and confesse is such a presence as reason knoweth not and the world cannot learne nor any that looketh in this matter with other eyes or heareth with other eares then with the eares and eyes of the Spirit and of Faith Which Faith though it be of things hoped for and so of things absent to the corporall senses yet this absence is not an absence indéede but to reason and the old man the nature of Faith being a possession of things hoped for Therefore to grant a presence to Faith is not to make no presence at all but to such as know not Faith And this the Fathers taught affirming Christ to be present by grace and therefore not only a signification but also an exhibition and giuing of the Grace of CHRISTS body that is of life and of the seede of immortality as Cyprian writeth Wae eate Life and drinke Life faith Saint AVGVSTINE We féele a presence of the Lord by Grace or in Grace saith Chrystome We receiue the celestiall foode that commeth from aboue saith Athanasius We receiue the propertie of the naturall coniunction Athanasius Hylarius and knitting together saith Hillarius We receiue the nature of the flesh the blessing that giueth life in bread and Wine saith Cyrillus Cyrillus And else where he sayth that with the bread and Wine we eate the vertue of Christs proper flesh life grace and the propertie of the body of the onely begotten sonne of God which thing he himselfe expoundeth to be life Basilius Basilius saith that we by the Sacrament receiue the mysticall Aduent of Christs grace and the very vertue of his very nature Ambrosius Ambrose saith that we receiue the Sacrament of the true body Epiphanius Epiphanius saith we receiue the body or grace And Hierome saith that we receiue spirituall flesh Hieronimu which he calleth other flesh then that which was crucified Chrisostome saith Chrisostomus that wee receiue influence of grace and the Grace of the holy Ghost Saint Augustine saith that we receiue grace and veritie the inuisible grace and holinesse of the members of Christs body All the which sayings of the Fathers doe confirme this our faith and doctrine of
institute this Sacrament Now to the second What the Sacrament is If we shall aske our eyes our nose our mouth our taste What the Sacramēt is our hands and the reason of man they will all make a consonant answere that it is bread and wine And verily herein they speake the truth and lye not as by many things may be proued although the Papists prate their pleasure to the contrary And here my dearely beloued I thinke I shall not bee either tedious or vnprofitable vnto you if I tarry a little in shewing this verity that the substance of bread and wine remaine in the Sacrament after the words of consecration as they cal them be spoken Whereby wee may learne what shamelesse beasts they be which wuld enforce men to beleeue Transubstantiation which is an errour whereupon in a maner Vpō transsubstantiation all popery almost is builded dependeth all Popery for it is the stay of their Priest-hood which is neither after the order of Aaron nor after the order of Melchisedech but after the order of Baal which thing is something séen by their number For the false Prophets and Priests of Baal were alwaies many mo in number when the wicked were in authority then the true Priests and Prophets of the Lord as the holy Histories of the Bible doe teach Reade 3. Kings chap. 18. The Sacrament of the popish Masse not the Sacrament of Christs body That in the Supper of the Lord or in the Sacrament of Christs body which the Papists call the Sacrament of the Altar as though that were Christs Sacrament which thing they can neuer proue for it being peruerted and vsed to a contrary end as of sacrificing propitiatorily for the sinnes of the quicke and of the dead of idolatrie by adoring or worshipping it by godly honour c. is no more Christs Sacrament but an horrible prophanation of it and therefore as Christ called Gods Temple which was called an house of prayer for the abusing and prophaning of it by the Priests a den of Theeues so this which the Papists cal the Sacrament of the Altar full truely may we call an abominable Idoll And therefore I would all men should know that the Sacrament of the Altar as the Papists now do abuse it omitting certaine substantiall points of the Lords institution and putting in the stead thereof their owne dregges and dreames is not the Sacrament of Christs body nor the Lords Supper whereof when we speake reuerently as our duty is wee would not that men should thinke we speake it of the popish Masse that I say in the Supper of the Lord or in the Sacrament of Christs body there remaineth the substance of Bread and Wine as our senses and reasons do teach these many things also doe teach the same The first reason against Transsubstantiation First the holy Ghost doth plainely tell vs by call it often bread after the words of Consecration as 1. Corinthians 10. Is not the bread which we breake a pertaking of the body of Christ saith Paul Loe plainely he saith The bread which we break Not onely calling it bread but adding thereto breaking which cannot be attributed eyther to Christs body whereof no bone was broken either to any accident but must néeds be of a substance which substance if it be not Christs body cannot be but bread As in the 11. Chapter fonre times he plainly calleth it He that eateth of this bread He that receiueth this bread c. And in the Acts of the Apostels wee reade how that in speaking of the Communion They met together to breake bread c. So that it is plaine that the substance of Bread and Wine doe remaine in the Supper after the words of Consecration As also may appeare plainely by CHRISTS owne words which calleth that which he gaue them in the cuppe Wine or the fruit of the Vine as both Mathew and Marke do write Whereby wee fee that there is no Transsubstantiation of the Wine and therefore may wee also see that there is no Transsubstantiation of the bread An answer to the Papists cauill for the foresayd reason Mat. 26 Exod. 7. As for the Papists cauilling how that it hath the name of bread because it was bread as Simon the Leper was called still leprous though hee was healed or as Moses Rodde being turned into a Serpent was called a Rodde still it proueth nothing For there was in the one a plaine sight and the senses certified that Simon was no Leper and in the other a plaine mention that the Rod was turned into a Serpent Contrariwise concerning the Sacrament neither the senses see any other thing then bread neither is there any mention made of turning And therefore their cauill is plainly seene to be but a cauill and of no force But to come againe to bring mee reasons of transsubstantiation The second reason against Transsubstantiatiō Mat. 26. Mar. 14. Luke 22. 1. Cor. 11. Secondly that the substance of bread remaineth still the very text doth teach For the Euangelists and the Apostle Saint Paul doe witnesse that Christ gaue that to his Disciples and called it his body which he tooke on which he gaue thanks and which hee brake but he took bread gaue thanks on bread and broke bread Ergo hee gaue bread and called bread his body as he callled the Cuppe the new Testament So that it followeth by this that there is no Transsubstantiation And this reason I my selfe haue promised in writing to proue by the authority of the Fathers namely Ireneus Tertullian Origine Cyprian Epiphanius Hieronimus Augustinus Theodorete Bede if so be I may haue the vse of my bookes The third reason against Transsubstantiatiō Thirdly that in the Sacrament there is no Transsubstantiation of the bread by this reason I doe proue Like as by our Sauiour Christ the Spirit of truth spake of the bread This is my body So saith the same Spirit of trueth of the same bread That we many are one body 1. Cor. 10 and one bread c. So that as it appeareth the Sacrament not to be in the Church by Transsubstantiation euen so is it not Christs naturall body by Transsubstantiation The forth reason against Transsubstantiatiō Fourthly I proue that there is no Transsubstantiation by Luke and Pauls words spoken ouer the Cuppe For no lesse are they effectual to transsubstatiate the Cup then their words spoken of the bread are opeartorious and mighty to transsubstantiate the bread For as they say of bread This is my body so say they of the cuppe This Cup is the new Testament which thing is absurd to bee spoken or thought either of the cuppe or of the thing in the cup by Transsubstantiation Yea rather in saying these words This Cup is the new Testament we are taught by their coupling this word Cup to the demonstratiue This how we should in these words This is my body know that this word This doeth their demonstrate
fire sayth Dauid so doe the wicked perish at the face or countenance of the Lord. If dearely beloued his face bee so terrible and intolerable for sinners and the wicked what thinke wee his hand is At the face and appearing of Gods anger the earth trembleth but we earth earth yea stones yron flints tremble nothing at all If we will not tremble in hearing woe vnto vs for then shall we bee crashed in pieces in feeling If a Lyon roare the Beasts quake but wee are worse then beasts which quake nothing at the roaring of the Lyon I meane the Lord of Hosts And why because the curse of God hardnesse of heart is already fallen vpon vs or else we could not but lament and tremble for our sins If not for the shame and foulenesse thereof yet at the least for the malediction and curse of God which hangeth ouer vs for our sins Lord be mercifull vnto vs for thy Christs sake and spare vs in thine anger remember thy mercy towards vs Amen And thus much for the third thing to the mooning of vs to sorrow for our sinnes that is for the tagge tyed to Gods Law I meane for the malediction and curse of God But if our hearts be so hard that through these we yet feele no hearty sorrow for our sinnes let vs fourthly set before vs examples past and present olde and new thereby the holy Spirit may be effectuall to worke in his time this worke of sorrowing for our sinne Looke vpon Gods anger for sinne in Adam and Eue for eating a peece of an apple Were not they the dearest creatures of God cast out of Paradise Were not they subiect to mortality trauaile labour c. Was not the earth accursed for their sinnes Doe not we all men in labour women in traueling with childe and all in death mortality and misery euen in this life féele the same And was God so angrie for their sinne and he being the same God will he say nothing to vs for ours alas more horrible then the eating once of one piece of an apple In the time of Noe and Lot Gen. 6. God destroyed the whole world with water and the Cities of Sodom and Gomorra Sebiom and Adamah Gen. 19. with fire and brimstone from heauen for their sinnes namely for their whoredomes pride idlenesse vnmercifulnesse to the poore tyranny c. In which wrath of God euen the very babes birds fowles fishes hearbes trées and grasse perished and thinke we that nothing will be spoken to vs much woorse and more abominable then they For all men may sée if they will that the whoredomes pride vnmercifulnesse tyranny c. of England far passeth in this age any age that euer was before Lots wife looking backe Gen. 19. was turned into a salt stone and will our looking backe againe yea our turning backe a gaine to our wickednesse doe vs no hurt If we were not already more then blinde Béetles we would blush Pharao his heart was hardned so that no miracle could conuert him if ours were any thing soft we would begin to sob Of sixe hundred thousand men Iosua and Caleb only but twaine entred into the Land of promise because they had ten times sinned against the Lord as he himself saith and think we Num. 14. that God wil not sweare in his wrath that we shall neuer enter into his rest which haue sinned so many tenne times as we haue toes fingers yea haires on our heads and beards I feare me and yet wée passe not The man that sware and he that gathered sticks on the Sabboth day Leuit. 24. Num. 15. were stoned to death but we thinke our swearing is no sinne our bribing rioting yea whore-hunting on the Sabboth day pleaseth God or else we would something amend our manners Helias negligence in correcting his sonnes 1. Reg. 5 nipped his necke in two but ours which pamper vp our children like puppets wil put vs to no plunge Helias sonnes for disobeying their fathers admonition brought ouer them Gods vengance and wil our stubbornnesse doe nothing Sauls malice to Dauid Acabs displeasure against Naboth 3. Reg. 21.22 brought there bloud to the ground for dogges to eat yea their children were hanged vp and slaine for this cause 4. Reg. 21. 4. Reg. 10. but we continue in malice enuie and murther as though we were able to wage warre with the Lord. Dauids adulterie w e Bethshabe was visited on the childe borne on Dauids daughter defiled by her brother and on his children one slaying another his wiues defiled by his owne sonne and himselfe driuen out of his Realme in his old age and otherwise also although he most heartily repented his sinne But we are more déere vnto God then Dauid which yet was a man after Gods owne heart or else we could not but fromble and begin to repent The rich glutton who insatiably delighted in gluttony what did it auaile him it brought his soule to hell and haue we any preheminence that God will doe nothing to vs. Achans subtill theft prouoked Gods anger against all Israel and our subtiltie yea open extortion is so fine and politike that we thinke God cannot espie it Gehezi his couetousnesse brought it not the Leprosie vpon him and on all his séed Iudas also hanged himselfe But the couetousnesse of England is of an other cloth and colour Well if it were so the same Taylor will cut it accordingly Anania and Saphira by lying linked to them sudden death but ours now prolongeth our life the longer to last in eternall death The false witnes of the two Iudges against Susanna lighted on their awne heads and so will ours do at length But what goe I about to auouch ancient examples where daily experience doth teach The Sweat the other yeare the Stormes the Winter following will vs to weigh them in the same ballances Men hanging and killing themselues which are alas too rife in all places require vs to register them in the same roules At the least in Children Infants and such like which yet cannot vtter sinne by word or déed we sée Gods anger against sin in punishing them by sicknesse death mis-hap or otherwise so plainly that wee cannot but grone again in that we haue poured out these sinnes in word and déede more aboundantly And here with me a little look on Gods anger yet so fresh that we cannot but smell it although we sloppe our noses neuer so much I pray God we smell it not more fresh hereafter I meane it forsooth for I know you looke for it in our deare late Souereigne Lord the Kings Maiesty You all know he was but a child in yéeres defiled he was not with notorious offences Defiled sayd I nay rather adorned with so many good gifts and wonderful qualities as neuer Prince was from the beginning of the world Should I speake of his wisedome of his ripenesse in iudgement of his learning of his godly zeale heroicall heart
know thou beleeuest it say therefore in thy heart still Domine audage mihi fidem Lord encrease my faith Lord help my vnbeliefe Blessed are they which see not by reason this but yet beleeue Beloued wee must hope aboue hope as Abraham did And thus much for a taste of the promises which are euery where not only in the new Testament but also in the Old Reade the last end of Leuiticus 26. The Prophet Esay 30. Where he saith God tarrieth looking for thee to shew thee mercy Also the 40. and so forth to the 60. Reade also 2. Kings 24. Psal 33. Ioel 2. c. Howbeit if all this will not serue if yet thou féelest no faith no certaine perswasion of Gods loue then prepare thy selfe vnto praier and diligent considering of the frée and vniuersall promises of the Gospell Thirdly set before thée those blessings which heretofore and at that present God hath giuen thée Consider how hee hath made thée a man or a woman which might haue made thée a Toade or a Dog And why did he this Verily because he loued thée And thinkest thou if hee loued thée when thou wast not to make thée such a one as he most graciously hath will he not now loue thee being his handy worke Doth he hate any thing that he made Is there vnablenesse with him Doth he loue for a day and so farewell No beloued God loueth to the end his mercy endureth for euer Say therfore with Iob. Operi manuum tuarum porrige dexteram that is To the worke of thy hands put thy helping hand Againe hath hee not made thee a Christian man or woman where if he would hee might haue made thee a Turke or Pagan This thou know'st he did of loue And doost thou thinke his loue is lessened if thou lament thy sin Is his hand shortned for helping thee Can a woman forget the child of her wombe and though she should yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord. Hee hath giuen thee limbes to see heare go c. He hath giuen thee wit reason discretion c. Hee hath long spared thee and born with thee when thou neuer purposedst to repent and now thou repenting will he not giue thee mercy Wherfore doth he grant thee to liue at this present to heare him to speake this and mee to speake this but of loue to vs all Oh therefore let vs pray him that he would add to this that wee might beleeue these loue tokens that he loueth vs and indeed he will do it Lord open our eies in thy gifts to see thy gracious goodnesse Amen But to tarry in this I will not Let euery man consider Gods benefites past and present publike and priuate spirituall and corporall to the confirming of his faith concerning the promises of the Gospel for the pardon of his sinnes I will now go about to shew you a fourth meane to confirme your faith in this euen by examples Of these there are in the Scriptures very many as also daily experience doth diuersly teach the same if we were diligent to obserue things accordingly wherfore I will be more briefe herein hauing respect to time which stealeth fast away Adam in Paradise transgressed grieuously as the painefull punishment which we all as yet féele prooueth if nothing else Though by reason of his sin he displeased God sore and ran away frō God for he would haue hid himselfe yea he would haue made God the causer of his sin in that he gaue him such a Mate so far was he from asking mercy yet all this notwithstanding GOD turned his fierce wrath neither vpon him nor Eue which also required not mercy but vpon the Serpent Sathan promising vnto them a séed Iesus Christ by whom they at the length should be deliuered In token whereof though they were cast out of Paradise for their nurture to serue in sorrow which would not serue in ioy yet hée made them apparell to couer their nakednes a visible Sacrament and token of his inuisible loue and grace concerning their soules If God was so mercifull to Adam which so sore brake his commandement and rather blamed God then asked mercy thinkest thou O man that he will not bee mercifull to thée which blamest thy selfe and desirest pardon To Cain hee offered mercy if hee would haue asked it What hast thou done saith God The voice of thy brothers bloud cryeth vnto me out of the earth O merciful Lord should Cain haue sayd I confesse it But alas he did not so and therefore said God Now that is In that thou desirest not mercy Now I say be thou accursed c. Loe to the reprobate he offered mercy and will he deny it thee which art his child Noah did he not sin and was drunk Good Lot also both in Sodome dissembled a little with the Angels prolonging the time and out of Sodome he fel very foule as did Iudas and the Patriarks against Ioseph but yet I ween they found mercy Moses Myriam Aaron though they stumbled a little yet receiued they mercy yea the people in the wildernes often sinned and displeased God so that he was purposed to haue destroyed them Let me alone saith he to Moses that I may destroy them But Moses did not let him alone for he prayed still for them and therfore God spared them If the people were spared through Moses prayer they not praying with him but rather worshipping their golden Calfe eating drinking and making iolly good cheere Beloued why shouldest thou doubt whether GOD will bee mercifull to thee hauing as indeede thou hast one much better then Moses to pray for thee and with thee euen Iesus Christ who sitteth on the right hand of his Father and prayeth for vs being no lesse faithfull in his fathers house the Church then Moses was in the Synagogue Dauid that good King had a foule foile when hee committed whoredom with his faithfull seruants wife Bethsheba wherunto he added also a mischieuous murther causing her husband his most faithfull Souldier Vria to bee slaine with an honest company of his most valiant men of warre and that with the sword of the vncircumcised In this sinne though a great while he lay asleep as many do now a dayes God giue them good waking thinking that by the Sacrifices he offered all was well God was content yet at length when the Prophet by a Parable opened the offence and brought Dauid in remembrance of his owne sin in such sort that he gaue iudgement against himselfe then quaked he his Sacrifices had no more taken away his sinnes then our Sir Iohns Trentals and wagging of his fingers ouer the heads of such as lye asleep in their sinnes out of the which when they are awaked they will see that it is neither Masse nor Mattins blessing nor cursing will serue then I say he cryed out saying Peccaui Domine I haue sinned sayth hee against my Lord and good God which hath done so much for me I caused indeed