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 wyne which is most true as by the scriptures and other wyse I haue allreadye proued and therefore away with transubstantiation But here lest we should make it no Sacrament for a sacrament consisteth of twoo thynges lest a man should by thys gather 〈◊〉 we make it none other thyng 〈◊〉 bare bread and a naked signe and so rayle at their pleasure on vs saying How can a man be giltre of the body and bloud of Christ by vnworthy receiuing of it if it bee but bare bread and so forth For thys purpose I wyll nowe speake a little more hereabout by gods grace to stop their mouthes and to styre vp your good harts more to the worthy estimation perception of this holy mysterye When a louing friend geueth to thee a thing or sendeth to thee a token as for an example a napkyn or such like I thinke thou doest not as thou shouldest doo if that with the thyng thou considerest not the mynde of thy friend that sendeth or geueth the thing and according the runto estemest and receyuest it And so of thys bread thinke I that if thou doo not rather consider the mynde of thy louer Christ then the thyng which thou seest yea if thou doo not altogether consider Christes mynde thon dealest vnhonestly strumpetlike with hym For it is the propertye of strumpets to consider the thynges geuen and sent them rather then the loue mynde of the geuer and sender whereas the true louers do not consider in any poynt the thinges geuen or sent but the mind of the party So wee if we bee true louers of Christ must not consider barely the outward thyng which we see and our senses perceyue but rather altogether we must should see and consider the minde of Christ and therafter and according to it to esteme the sacrameÌ„t But how shall we knowe the mynde of Chryst For sooth as a mans mynde is best knowen by his word so by Christes woord shall we know his mynde How his wordes be manifest and most playne This sayth he is my dody therefore accordingly should we esteeme take and receiue it If he had spoken nothing or if he had spoken doubtfully then might we haue bene in some doubt But in that he speaketh so plainly saying This is my body who can maye or dare bee so bold as to doubt of it He is the truth and cannot lye he is omnipotent and can do all thinges therefore it is his body This I beleue this I confesse and pray you all hartely to beware of these and such lyke wordes that it is but a sygne or a figure of his body Except you wil discern betwixt signes which fignify ouely and sygnes whych also doo represent confirme and seale vp or as a maÌ„ may say geue wyth their signification As for an example An Iuye bush is a sygne of wine to be sold the buddyng of Aarous rod dyd sygnifye Aarons Priesthood alowed of the Lord the reseruation of Moses rod dyd signifye the rebellion of the children of Israel the stones takeÌ„ out of Iordane Gedeons fleese of wool c. such as these be signe significatiue and shewe no gyft But in the other sygnes whych some call exhibitiue is there not onely a signification of the thyng but also a declaration of a gyft yea in a certayne maner a geuing also As Baptisme signifieth not onely the clensing of the coÌ„science from syn by the merites of Christes bloud but also is a very clensyng from synne And therfore it was sayd to Paule that he should aryse and wash away hys syns not that he should aryse and take onely a sygne of washyng away hys syns In the Lordes supper the bread is called a partaking of the Lordes body and not onely a bare signe of the Lordes body This I speake not as though the elements of these sacraments were trausubstantiate whych I haue already impugned either as though Christes body wér in the bread or wyne eyther were â—yed to the elementes otherwyse then sacramentally and spiritually eyther that the bread and wine may not and must not be called sacramentall and externall signes but that they myght be discerned froÌ„ significatiue and bare signes onely and be taken for signes exhibitiue and representatiue By thys meanes a Christian comcience wil call and esteme the bread of the Lord as the body of Christ For it wyll neuer esteeme the Sacraments of Christ after their exteriour appearance but after the words of Christ Wherof it commeth that the Fathers as Chrysostome and others doo speake with so ful a mouth when they speake of the Sacrament for their respect was to Christes woordes If the Schoolemen which folowed them had had the same spirit whych they had then would they neuer haue consented to transubstantiation For wyth great admiration some of the Fathers doo say that the bread is chaunged or turned into the body of Christ and the wyne into hys bloud meaning it of amutation or chaunge not corporal but spirituall figuratiue sacramental or mysticall For now it is no coÌ„mon bread nor common wyne beyng ordayned to serue for the foods of the soule The scolemen haue vnderstood it as the Papistes nowe preach of a substautial chauÌ„ging as though it were no great myracle that common bread should now be assumed into that dignity that it should bee called Christes body and serue for a celestial food and be made a Sacrament of hys body and bloud As before therfore I haue spoken I would with that this Sacrament should be esteemed called of vs ChristiaÌ„ men after Christes wordes namely Christes body and the wyne Christes bloud rather then otherwy e. Not that I meane any other presence of Christes body then a presence of grace a presence to fayth a presence spiritually not corporally really naturally and carnally as the Papistes do meane For in such sort Christes body is onely in heauen on the right hand of God the father almightye whether our faith in the vse of the Sacrament asceudeth and receyueth whole Christ accordingly Yea but one wyl say that to cal the Sacrament on that sort is to geue an occasion of idolatry to the people which wyll take the Sacrament which thei see simply for Christes body as by experience we are well taught and therfore it were better to call it bread and so lesse harme should be especially in this age In this obiection I aunswer that in dede great idolatry is coÌ„mitted to and about this Sacrament and therfore men ought as much as they can to auoyd from occasioning or contirming it But in as much as the holy Ghost is wyser then man had foresight of the euils that might be and yet notwithstanding doth cal it Christes body I thinke we should do euyl if we should take vpon vs to reforme his
speech If Ministers did their duties in Catechisyng preaching then doubtles to call the Sacrament Christes body to esteme it accordingly cold not geue occasion to idolatry and coÌ„tirme it Therfore wo vnto them that preach not There be two euyls about the Sacraments which to auoid the holy Ghost hath taught vs For lest we should wyth the Papists thinke Christes bodye present in or with the bread really naturally and corporally to bee receyued with out bodelye mouth where ther is no other presence of Christes body then spirituall and to the fayth in many places he keepeth styll the name of bread as in the epistle to the Corinthians the tenth and eleuenth chapters And lest we should make to lyght of it making it but a bare sygne no better then common bread the holy Ghost calleth it Christes body whose speech I wish we wold follow and that not onely as wel to auoyd the euyl which is now a daies most to be feared coÌ„cerning the Sacrament I meane of contemnyng it as also for that no faythfull man coÌ„meth to the Sacrament to receyue bread simply but rather yea altogether to communicate with Christs body and bloud For els to eate and drinke as Paule sayth they haue houses of their own The contempt of the Sacrament in the dayes of Kyng Edward hath caused these plagues vpon vs presentlye the Lord be mercyful vnto vs Amen And thus much for the obiection of easlyng the Sacrament by the name of Christes body Why sayth one to call the Sacrament Christes bodye and to make none other presence then by grace or spiritualy to faith which is of things hoped for of things which to the bodely senses do not appeare is to make no presence at all or to make hym none otherwyse present then he is in hys woord when it is preached and therefore what neede wee to receiue the Sacrament in as much as by thys doctrine a man may receiue hym dayly in the fiâ—â—d as wel as much as in the church in the celebration and vse of the Sacrament To this obiection I first aunswer that in deede neyther the scripture nor Christian faith wyl geue vs leaue to make any carnall reall naturall corporall or any such grosse presence of Christes naturall body in the Sacrament For it is in heauen and the heauens must haue it as sayth Peter tyll Christes commyng to iudgement except we would deny the humanity of Christ the veritye of mans nature in hym The presence therfore which we beleue and confesse is such a presence as reason knoweth not the world cannot learne nor any that looketh in this matter with our eyes or heareth with other eares then wyththe eares and eyes of the spirite and of fayth Whych fayth though it bee of thinges hoped for so of things absent to the corporall senses yet this absence is not an absence in deede but to reason and the old man the nature of fayth being a possession of thynges hoped for Therfore to graunt a presence to fayth is not to make no presence at all but to such as knowe not fayth And thys the Fathers taught affirmyng Chryst to bee present by grace and therefore not onely a signification but also an exhibition and geuyng of the grace of Christes body that is of lyfe and of the seede of immortalitie as Cypriane wryteth We eate lyfe and drinke lyfe sayth S. Augustine â—efecle a presence of the Lord by grace or in grace sayth Chrysostome We receiue the celestial foode that commeth from aboue sayth Athanasius We receyue the property of the natural coÌ„iunction and knitting together sayth Hylerius We perceyue the nature of flesh the blessyng that geuethlyfe in bread and wyne sayth Cyrillus And els where he sayth that wyth the bread and wyne we eate the vertue of Christes proper flesh lyfe grace and the property of the body of the onely begotten Sonne of God which thyng behimselfe expoundeth to be life Basilius saith that we by the Sacrament receiue the mystical Aduent of Christ grace and the very vertue of his very nature Ambrose sayth that we receiue the Sacrament of the true body Epiphanius sayth wee receiue the body or grace And Hierome sayth that wee receiue spirituall flesh which he calleth other flesh then that which was crucified Chrysostome sayth that we receiue inâ—uence of grace the grace of the holy Ghost Saynt Augustine sayth that we receyue grare and veritye the innisible grace and holynes of the members of Christes body All the which layings of the Fathers do confirme this our fayth and doctrine of the Sacrament we grauÌ„ting in all thynges herein vnto them and they in lyke maner vnto vs And therefore the lying lyps which both be lye the Doctours as though they graunted a carnall a reâ—â— presence of Christes holy naturally and corporally after the Papistes declaration and meaning and which belye vs also as though we dâ—yed all presence of Christ and so made it but a bare signe These lying lips the Lord wyll destroy if they repent not and with vs beleue and teach the truth that the Sacrament is a food of the soule a matter of fayth and therfore spiritually and by sayth to bee talked of and vederstanded whych fayth they want and therfore they erre so grossely in that they woulde haue such a presence of Christ as is contrary to all the scriptures to our Christian religion wherby commeth no such commoditie to the receiuer as by the spiritual presence which we teach and according to Gods word do affirm For we teach these benefites to be had by the worthy receiuing of this Sacrament namely that we abyde in Christ and Christ in vs Agayne that we attayne by it a celestiall lyfe or a lyfe wyth God more ouer that by fayth and in spirite wee receiue not onelye Christes body and vioud but also whole Christ God and man Besydes these we graunt that by the worthy receiuing of this Sacrament we receiue remission of our syns and confirmation of the newe Testament Last of all by worthy receiuing we get an increase of incorporation with Christ and amongest our selues whych bee hys members then whych thinges what more can be desired Alas that men consider nothing at all how that the couplyng of Christes body and bloud to the Sacrament is a spirituall thing and therfore there needes no such carnall presence as the Papistes imagine Who wyll deuye a mans wyfe to bee with her husband one body and flesh although he be at London and she at Yorke But the Papistes are carnall men guided by carnall reason onely or els would they know how that the holye Ghost because of our infirmitye vseth metaphorically the wordes of abiding dwelling eating drinking of Christ that the vnspeakeable coniunction of Christ wyth vs might somthing be knowen God open their eyes to see it And thus much for this Now to that part
caÌ„ neuer proue For it being peruerted vsed to a contrary ende as of sacrifieyng propitiatorily for the syns of the quicke and of the dead of idolatry by adorning or worshipping it by godly honor c. is no more Christes Sacrament but an horrible prophanation of it and therefore as Christ called Gods Temple which was called au house of prayer for the abusing and prophanyng of it by the Priestes a den of the eues so this which the Papists call the sacrament of the Aultar full truly may we call au abominable Idol And therfore I would all men shoulde knowe that the sacrament of the Aultar as the Papistes now do abuse it omittyng certayne substantiall poyntes of the Lords iustitution and putting in the steede thereof their own dregs and dreaues is not the sacrament of Christs body nor the Lords supper wherof when we speake reuerently as our duty is we 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 reason to teach these many thinges also do teach the same First the holy Christ doth plainly tell vs by calling it often bread aftrr the wordes of consecration as 1. Cornith 10. Is not the bread which we breake a partakyng of the body of Christ sayth Paule Loe plainly he saith the bread which we breake not onely calling it bread but addyng thereto breakyng which cannot be attributed eyther to Christes body whereof no bone was brokeÌ„ either to any accident but must needes be of a substance which substance if it be not Christes body cannot be but bread As in the .xi. chapter foure times he plainly calleth it He that eateth of this bread He that receiueth this bread c And in the Actes of the Apostels we reade how that in speaking of the Communion they met together to breake bread c So that it is playne that the substauce of bread and wyne doo remayne in the Supper after the wordes of consecration as also may appeare playnly by Christs own wordes which calleth that which he gaue them in the Cup wyne or the fruit of the vyne as both Mathew and Matke doo write Wherby we set that there is no transubstantiation of the wyne and therfore may we also see that there is no transubstantiation of the bread As for the Panistes cauillyng how that it hath the name of bread because it was bread as Symon the leper was called stylle prous though hee was healed or as Moses rod beyng turned into a serpent was called a Rod styll it proueth nothing For there was in the one a playne sight and the senses certified that SimoÌ„ was no leper and in the other playne mention that the rod was turned into a Serpent But concernyng the Sacrament neyther the senses see any other thiug theÌ„ bread neither is ther auy mentioÌ„ made of turning And therefore theyr â—auill is plainlye seene to be but a cauyll and of no force But to come a gaine to bryng moe reasons against TransubstantiatieÌ„ Secondly that the substance of bread remaineth stil the very text doth teach For the Euangelists and the Apostle Saint Paule do wytnes that Christ gaue that to his Disciples and called it hys body whych hee tooke on which he gaue thankes and whych he brake but he tooke bread gaue thankes on bread broke bread Ergo he gane bread called bred hys body as he called the cup the new testament So that it foloweth by this that there is no transubstantiation And thys reason I my selfe haue promised in writing to proue by the authority of the Fathers namely Ireneus Tertullian Orgine Ciprin Epiphanius Hierommus Augustinus Theodorete Cirill Bede it so be I may haue the vse of my bookes Thirdly that in the Sacrament there is no transub stantiation of the bread by this reason I doo proue Lyke as by our Sauiour Christ the spirit of truth spake of the bread This is my body so saith the saâ— spirit of truth of the same bread That we many are one body and one bread c. So that as it appeareth the Sacrament not to be the Church by transubstantiation euen so is it not Christes natural body by trausubstanciation Fourthly I proue that there is no transubstantiation by Luke Paules wordes spoken ouer the Cup. For no Lesse are they effiâ—tuall to transubstantiate the cup then their wordes spoken of the bread are operatorius myghty to transubstaÌ„tiate the bread For as they say of the bread Thys is my body so say they of the Cup This cup is the new testament which thing is absurde to be spoken or thought either of the cup or of the thing in the cup by transubstanti ation Yea rather in saying these wordes This cup is the new Testament we are taught by their coupling thys word Cup to the demonstratiue This how we should in these wordes This is my body know that this word This doth there demonstrate bread Fiftly that the substaunce of bread remaineth in the SacrameÌ„t as the reasons before brought forth do proue so doth the definition of a Sacrament For the Fathers do affirme it to consist of an earthly thyng and of an heauenly thing of the woord and of the element of sensible thinges and of thinges which be perceyued by the mynde But transubstantiatioÌ„ taketh cleane away the earthly thing the element the sensible thing and so maketh it no Sacrament And therfore the definition of a SacrameÌ„tful wel teacheth that bread which is the earthly thing the sensible thyng and the element remayneth styl as Saynt Augustine sayth The word commeth to the Element he saith not taketh away the Element and so it is made a Sacrament Sixtly the nature and propertion of a SacrameÌ„t teacheth this also which I haue affirmed For as Cipriane writeth that Sacramentes beare the names of the thynges which they signifye so doth saynt Augustine teach that if Sacramentes haue not some signification with the things wherofthey be Sacraments then are they no sacraments Now in the Lordes supper this similitude is first in nourishing that as bread nourisheth the body so Christes body broken feedeth the soule SecoÌ„dly in bringing together many into our that as in the sacrament many graynes of corne are made on bread many grapes ar made one liquour and wine so the multitude which worthelye receiue the Sacrament are made one body with Christ and hys Church Last of all in one vnlykelr lykelynes 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 playne to them that wyll see that to take the substance of bread away is cleane against the nature and property of a sacrament I wil speake nothing how that this their doctrine of
transubstatiation beside the manyfold absurdities it hath in it whych to rehearse I omyt it vtterly ouerthroweth the vse of the Sacrament and is cleane contrary to the end wherefore it was instituted and so is no longer a scrament but an Idole is the cause of much Idolatry conuerting the peoples harts from an heauenly conuersation to an earthly and turning the Communion into a priuate action and a matter of gasyng and piping of adoring worshipping the worke of mens handes for the liuing God which dwelleth not in â–ª Temples made with mens handes much lesse lyeth he in pixes and chests whose true worship is in spirit verity which God graunt vs all to render vnto him continually Amen The Sacrament of Baptisme doth also teach vs that as the substaunce of the water remayneth there so in the Lords supper remaineth the substaunce of bread after coÌ„secration For as by Baptisme we ar engraffed into Christ so by the Supper we ar fed with Christ These two sacramentes the Apostle gladly coupleth together 1. Corinth 10. and. 1. Corint 12. VVear baptsed into one body saith he and haue dronke all of one spirit meaning it by the Cup as Chrysostome and other great learned men do wel interprete it As therfore in Baptisme is geuen vnto vs the holy Ghost and pardon of our syns whych yet â—ye not lurking in the water so in the Lords supper is geuen vnto vs the communion of Christes body bloud that is grace forgeuenes of syns innocency lyfe immortality with out any transubstantiation or including of the same in the bread By Baptisme the old man is put of and the new man put on yea Christ is put on but without traÌ„substantiating the water And euen so it is in the Lords supper Wee vp sayth spirituallye in our soules do feede ou Christee body broken doo eate hys flesh and drynke hys bloud doo dwell in hym and he in vs but wythout trausubstantiation As for the tauill they make that wee are baptised into one â—ody meaning therby the mystical body not the natural body of Christ wherby they would enforce that we are fed with the natural body of Christ but we are not ingraffed into it but into the mysticall body and so put away the reason aforesayde as for thys cauill I say we may soone auoyde it if so he that we wyl consider how that Christ whych is the head of the mysticall body is not seperate froÌ„ the body and therefore to be engraffed to the mystical body is to be engraffed into the natural body of Christ to bee a member of his flesh and bone of his bones as Pope Leo ful wel doth witnes in saying that Corpus regenerati fit caro crucifixi The body sayth he of the regenerate is made the flesh of Christ crucified And here to I could adde some reasons for the excelleÌ„cy of Baptisme I trow it be more to be begotten then to be nourished As for the excellent myracle of the paâ—efaction of the Trinifie and the descendyng of the holy Ghost in Baptisme in a visible forme the lyke whereto was not seene in the Lordes supper I wyl omyt to speake of further then that I would you shuld know how it were no mastery to set forth the excellency of this sacrament as well as of the supper It is a playne sygne of Antichrist to denye the substaunce of bread wyne to be in the Lords supper after consecration For in so doing and graunting transubstantiation the propertye of the humane nature of Christ is denyed For it is not of the humane nature but of the deuine nature to be in many places at once As Didimus de spiritu saÌ„cto doth proue there by the diuinity of the holy Ghost Now graunt transubstantiation and then Christes natural body must needes be in many places which is nothyng els but to confound the two natures in Christ or to denye Christes humane nature whych is the selie same that saint Iohn saith to denye Christ to be come in the flesh And this who so doth by the testimony of saynt Iohn in an Antichrist in his so doing whatsoeuer otherwise he do prate Reade saynt Augustine in hys Epistle to Dardanus and his .l. and .xxx. treatise vpon S. Iohn and easely you shall see how that Christes body must needes be in one place Oportet in vno loco esse but hys truth is in all places If ther be no substance of bread in the Sacrament but transubstantiation then Christs body is receiued of the vngodly and eaten with their teeth which is not onely against saint Augustine calling this speech except you eate the flesh of the sonne of man c. a figuratiue spech but also against the playne scriptures which affirme them to dwell in Christ Christ in them and they to haue euerlasting lyfe that eate hym whych the wicked haue not although they eate the sacrament He that eateth of this bread saith Christ shal lyue for euermore Therefore they eate not Christes body but as Paule sayth they eate in iudgement and damnation whych I trow be an other maner of thyng then Christes bodye And thys doth saint Augustine affirme saying none do eate Christes body which is not in the body of Christ that is as he expoundeth it in whom Christ dwelleth not and hee in Christ Which thing the wicked do not because they want fayth and the holy spirite whych be the meanes whereby Christ is receyued To the thinges which I haue brought herefoorth to improue transubstantiation I could bring in the fathers to confyrme the same which succeded continuallye many hundreth yeares after Christ Also I could shewe that transubstantiation is but a new doctrine not established before Sathan whych was tyed for a thousand yeares was letten lose Also I could shew that euer hetherto synce it was established in all times it hath bene resisted and spoken against Yea before thys doctrine the church was nothing so endowed with goodes lands and possessions as it hath beene synce It hath brought no small gayne no small honour no small ease t the Cleargy and therefore no maruel though they striue and fyght for it It is their Maozim it is their Helena God destroy it with the breath of hys mouth as shortly he wylfor his names sake Amen If tyme would serue I could would here tell you of the absurdities whych come by thys doctrine but for tymes sake I must omyt it Onely for Gods sake see this that thys their doctrine of transubstantiation is an vntruth already I haue proued forget not that it is the whole stay of all Popery and the piller of their Priesthood whereby Christes Priesthood Sacrifice Ministery and truth is letted yea peruerted and vtterly ouerthrown God our Father in the bloud of hys sonne Christ open the eyes and myndes of all our Magistrates and all other that beare the name of Christ to see it in time to Gods glorye and their own
so hard that thorow these we yet fele not harty sorow for our syns let vs fourthly set before vs examples past and present old new that therby the holy spirite may be effectual to worke in his time thys worke of sorowing for our syn Looke vpon Gods anger for syn in Adam and Eue for eating a peece of an apple Wer not they the dearest creatures of God cast out of Paradise Were not they subiect to mortalitye trauail labour c Was not the earth accursed for their syns Do not we all men in labour women in traueling with child all in death mortality miserye euen in this life feele the same And was God so angry for their syn and he being the same God wyl he say nothing to vs for ours alas much more horrible then the eatyng once of one peece of an apple In the tyme of Noe and Lot God destroyed the whole world with water and the cities of So doma and Gomorrha Seboim Adamah with â—ire and brimstone from heauen for their sins namely for their whooredomes pryde ydlenes vnmercyfulnes to the poore tiraÌ„ny c. In which wrath of God euen the very Babes Birdes foules fishes heroes trees and gras perished think we that nothing wil be spoken to vs much worse more abominable then they For al men may see if they wyll that the whoredomes pryde vnmercifulnes tyranny c. of England far passeth in this age any age that euer was before Lots wife looking backe was turned into a salt stone and wyl our looking backe again yea our runing backe againe to our wickednes do vs no hurt If we wer not already more blnid then beetels we would blush Pharae his hart was hardened so that no myracle coulde conuert him if ours were anye thing soft wee would begyn to sob Of sixe hundred thousand men alonely but twaine entred into the land of promise bicause they had ten times sinned against the Lord as he him selfe sayth and trow we that God wil not swear in his wrath that we shall neuer enter into his rest whych haue synned so many ten times as we haue toes fingers yea heares of our heades and beardes I feare me and yet we passe not The man that sware he that gathered styckes on the Saboth day were stoned to death but we think our swearing is no syn our bidding rioting yea whore-hunting on the Saboth day pleaseth god or els we would something amend our maners Helias negligence in correcting his sonnes nypped his necke in two but ours which pamper vp our children lyke puppets wyll put vs to no plounge Helias sonnes for disobeying their Fathers admonition brought ouer them Gods vengeance and will our stubburnes do nothing Saules malyce to Dauid Acabs displeasure against Naboth brought their bloud to the grouÌ„d for Dogs to eate yea their children were hanged vp and slaine for this geare but we continue in malice enuye and murther as though wee were able to wage warre with the Lord. Dauids adultery with Bethsa be was visited on the child born on Dauids daughter defiled by her brother and on his children one staying an other his wiues defiled by his own sonne on him selfe driuen out of his Realme in his old age and otherwyse also although he must hartely repented his synne but we are more dere vnto God theÌ„ Dauid which yet was a man after Gods own hart or els wee coulde not but trâ—â—ble and begyn to repent The ritch gluttons gay paunch fylling what did it It brought him to hel haue we a plackard that God wyl do nothing to vs Achams subtyl theft prouoked Gods anger aganist all Israell and one subtiltie yea open extortion is so fyne and politicke that God cannot espy it Eiezi his couetousnes brought it not the leprosy vpon him on all his seeâ—e Iudas also hanged himselfe But the couetousnes of England is of an other cloth and colour Wel if it were so the same Tayler wyll cut it accordingly Anania and Saphira by lying linked to them sodaine death but ours now prolongeth out life the longer to last in eternall death The false witnesses of the two Iudges against Susanna lyghted on their owne pates and so wyll ours do at length But what go I about to auouch auncient examples where dayly experience doth teach The sweat the other yeare the stormes the winter folowing wyll vs to way them in the same ballances The hanging and killing of men them selues which are alas to ryfe in all places require vs to register them in the same roles At the least in Children Infantes and such lyke which yet cannot vtter syn by word or dede we see Gods anger against synne in punishing them by syckenes death my shape or otherwise so plainly that we cannot but grone and groont agayne in that we haue â—ushed out this geare more aboundantly in word and deede And here with me a litle looke on Gods anger yet so fresh that we cannot but smell it although we stop our noses neuer so much I pray God we smell it not more fresh hereafter I mene it forsoth for I know you looke for it in out deare late soueraygne Lord the kings Maiesty You al know he was but a child in yeares defiled he was not with notorious offences Defiled quoth he nay rather adorned wyth so manye goodly giftes wonderfull qualities as neuer Prince was from the begynning of the worlde Should I speake of hys wysedome of hys ripenes in iudgement of his learning of his godly zeale heroycall hart fatherly care for hys Commons nurcely solicitude for religion c. Nay so many thinges are to be spoken in commendation of Gods exceding graces in this child that as Salust writeth of Carthage I had rather speake nothing then to little in that to much is to lyttle this gift God gaue vnto vs English men before all nations vnder the sunne that of his exceding loue towardes vs But alas and welaway for our vnthankfulnes sake for our sins sake for our carnality and prophane liuing Gods anger hath touched not onely the body but also the minde of our Kyng by a long sycknes and at length hath taken him away by death death cruell death fearefull death Oh if Gods iudgemeÌ„t be begun on him which as he was the chefest so I thinke the holyest and godlyeft in the Realme of England alas what wil it be on vs whose syns are ouergrowen so our heades that they are climed vp into heauen I pray you my good brethren know that Gods anger for our syn towardes vs cannot but be great yea to fell in that we see it was so great that our good King could not beare it What followed to Iewry after the death of Iosias God saue England geue vs repentances my hart wil not suffer me to cary longer herein I trow thys wyll thrust out some teares of repeutance If therefore to praier for Gods feare
made Is there vnablenes with him Doth he loue for a day and so farewel No forsoth he loueth to the end his mercy endureth for euer Say therfore with Iob Operi manum tuarum porrige dexteram that is To the woorke of thy handes put thy helping hand Againe hath he not made thee a Christian man or womaÌ„ wher if he would he might haue made thee a Turke or Paynâ—â— Thys thou knowest he did of loue And doest thou thinke his loue is lessoned if thou lament thy synne Is his hand shortened for helping thee Can a woman forget the chylde of her wombe and though she should do it yet wyll not I forget thee saith the Lord He hath geuen thee lyms to see heare go c He hath geuen thee 〈◊〉 râ—ason discretion c. Hee hath long spared thee and borne with thee when thou neuer purposedst to repent and now then repenting wyll he not geue thee mercy Wherefore doth he geue thee to lyue at thys present to heare me to speake this and me to speake this but of loue to vs all Oh therfore let vs pray him that he would adde to this that we might beleue these loue tokens that hee loueth vs and in deede he wyll do it Lord open our eyes in thy giftes to see thy gratious goodnes Amen But to cary in this I wyll not Let euery man consider Gods benefites past and present publyke and priuate spiritual and corporall to the confirming of hys fayth concerning the promises of the Gospell for the pardon of hys synnes I wyll now go about to shew you a fourth meane to confirme your fayth in thys geare euen by examples Of these ther are in the scriptures very many as also dayly experiencâ— both diuersly teach the same if we were diligent to obserue things accordingly wherfore I wyl be more briefe herein hauyng respect to time which stealeth fast away Adam in Paradise transgressed greuously as the painfull punishment which we al as yet do feele proueth if nothing els Though by reason of hys syn he displeased God sore and ran away from God for he would haue hid him selfe yea hee would haue made God the causâ—â— of his syn in that he gaue him such a â—ate â—o farre was he from asking mercy yet all â—hys notwithstanding God turned his fâ—arâ—â— wrath neyther vpon him nor Eue which also required not mercy but vpon the the serpent Sathan promising vnto them a seene Iesus Christ by whom they at the length shuld â—e deliuered In token whereof though they were cast out of Paradise for their nurture so serue in sorow which would not serue in ioy yet he made them apparel to couer their bodies a visible Sacrament and token of his inuisible loue and grace concerning their soules If God was so merciful to Adam which so fore brake his coÌ„maundement rather blamed God then asked mercy trow est thou oh man that he wyll not be merciful to thee which blamest thy selfe and desirest pardon To Cain he offered mercy if he would haue asked it VVhat haâ—t thou done sayth God The voice of thy brothers bloud cryeth vnto me out of the earth Oh mercifuâ— Lord should Cain haue sayd I confesse it â–ª But alas he dyd not so and therfore said God Now that is in that thou desyrest not mercy now I say be thou accursed c. Loto the reprobate he offered mercy and will he denye it thee which art his child Noah did not he syn and was dronke Good Lot also both in Sodome dissembled a little with the Angels prolonging the time and out of Sodom he fell verye foule as did Iudas and the Patriarches against Ioseph but yet I weene they fouÌ„d mercy Moyses Myriam Aaron though they stumbled a litle yet receaued they mercy yea the people in the wyldernes often synned displeased God so that he was purposed to haue destroyed them Let me alone sayth he to Moyses that I may destroy them but Moyses dyd not let him alone for he praied styll for them and therefore God spared them If the people were spared through Moyses prayer they not praying with hym but rather woorshipping their golden calse eatyng drinking making â—olly good there why shouldest thou doubt whether God wil be merciful to thee hauing as in dede thou hast one much better then Moses to pray for thee and with thee euen Iesus Christ who sytteth on the â—ight hand of his father prayeth for vs being no lesse faythful in his fathers house the Church then Moyses was in the Synagoge Dauid y good Kyng had a foule foyle when he coÌ„mitted whordome with his faythful seruants wife Bethsabe wherunto he added also a mischeuous murther causing her husbaÌ„d his most faithful soldiour Ury to be slaine with an honest company oâ— his most valiant men of war that with the sweard of the vâ—circumcised In this his syn though a great while he lay a sleepe as many do nowe a dayes God geue them good waking thinking y by the sacrifices he offered all was wel God was content yea at length when the Prophet by aparable had opened the poke brought him in remembrance of his own synne in such sort that he gaue iudgement against himself then quaked he his sacriâ—ices had no more taken away his syns then our syr Iohns â—rentals and wag ging of his fiâ—gers ouer the heads of such as lye asleepe in their sins out of the which when they are awaked they wyl wel see that it is neyther Masse nor Mattinsâ— blessâ—ng nor crossyng wyll serue â—â—en I say he cryed out saying Peccaui Domino I haue synned layth he against my Lord good God which hath don so much for me I caused in deede Ury to bee killed I haue synned I haue sinned What shal I do I haue sinned and am worthy of eternall damnation But what saith God by his Prophet Dominus sayth he transtulit peccatum tuuÌ„ non morieris The Lord hath taken away thy syns thou shalt not dye Oh good God he ayd but Peccaui I haue synned out yet from his hart and not from the lyps onely as Pharao and Saule did incontineÌ„tly he heâ—reth Thou shalt not dye the Lord hath taken away thy fyns or rather hath layd theÌ„ vpon an other yea translated theÌ„ vpon the back of his sonne Iesus Christ who bare them not only them but thine myne also if that we wyl now cry but from our harts Peccauimus we haue sinned good Lord we haue done wyckedly enter not into iudgement wyth vs but be mercyful vnto vs after thy great mercy and according to the multitude of thy compassions do away our iniquities c. â—or in deede God is not the God of Dauid onely Idem deus omnium he is the God of all So that Quicuuque inuocauerit nomen domini saluus erit He or she whosoeuer they be that call vpon the name of the Lord shal be saued In confirmation