A TESTIMOnie of ANTIQVITIE shewing the auncient fayth in the Church of England touching the sacrament of the body and bloude of the Lord here publikely preached and also receaued in the Saxons tyme aboue 600. yeares agoe Ieremie 6. Goe into the streetes and inquyre for the olde way and if it be the good and ryght way then goe therin that ye maye finde rest for your soules But they say we will not vvalke therein Jmprinted at London by Iohn Day dwelling ouer Aldersgate beneath S. Martyns ¶ Cum priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis The Preface to the Christian Reader GReat contention hath nowe been of longe tyme about the moste comfortable sacrament of the body bloud of Christ our Sauiour in the inquisition and determinatiō wherof many be charged and condemned of heresye and reproued as bringers vp of new doctryne not knowen of olde in the church before Berengarius tyme who taught in Fraunce in the daies whē William the Norman was by conqueste kyng of England and Hildebrande otherwyse called Gregorius the seuenth was pope of Rome But that thou mayest knowe good christian reader how this is aduouched more boldly then truely in especiall of some certayne men which be more ready to maintaine their old iudgement thē of humilitie to submitte them selues vnto a truth here is set forth vnto thee a testimonye of verye auncient tyme wherin is plainly shewed what was the iudgement of the learned men in thys matter in the dayes of the Saxons before the conquest Fyrst thou hast here a Sermon or homelye for the holy day of Easter written in the olde Englishe or Saxon speech which doth of set purpose and at large intreate of thys doctryne and is found among many other Sermons in the same olde speech made for other festiuall dayes and sondayes of the yeare and vsed to be spoken orderly accordyng to those daies vnto the people as by the bokes thē selues it doth well appeare And of such Sermons be yet manye bookes to be seene partlye remayning in priuate mens handes and taken out from monasteryes at their dissolution partlye yet reserued in the libraryes of Cathedrall churches as of Worceter Hereford and Exeter From which places diuerse of these bookes haue bene deliuered into the handes of the moste reuerend father Matthewe Archbyshop of Canterburye by whose diligent search for such writings of historye and other monumentes of antiquitie as might reueale vnto vs what hath ben the state of our church in England from tyme to tyme these thynges that bee here made knowen vnto thee do come to lyght Howe be it the Sermons were not first written in the olde Saxon tounge but were translated into it as it shoulde appeare from the Lattyne For about the end of a Saxon boke of lx Sermons which hath aboute the middest of it this Sermō agaynst the bodely presēce be added these wordes of the translatour Fela faegere godspell ƿe forlaetaþ on þisū dihte ða maeg aƿendan se ðe ƿile Ne durre ƿe ðas boc na micle sƿiþor gelaengan ðyles ðe heo ungemetegod sy mannum aeþraet ðurh hire micelny'sse astirige We let passe many good gospells which he that lyste may translate For we dare not enlarge thys boke much further lest it be ouer great so cause to men lothsomnes through hys bygnes And in an other booke contaynyng some of these Saxon Sermons it is also thus written in Lattyne In hoc codicillo continentur duodecim sermones anglice quos accepimus de libris quos Aelfricus abbas Anglice transtulit In thys booke be comprysed xij Sermons whche we haue taken out of the bookes that Aelfricke abbot translated into Englishe In which wordes truelye here is also declared who was the translatour to witte one Aelfricke And so hee doth confesse of hym self in the preface of his Saxon grāmer where he doth moreouer geue vs to vnderstand the number of the Sermons that he translated thus Ic AElfric ƿolde ðas litlan boc apendan to engliscum gereorde of ðam staef craefte ðe is gehaten gsammatica syþþan ic tƿa bec aƿende on hund eahtatigū spellum I Aelfricke was desirous to turne into our Englishe tounge from the arte of letters called grammer thys little booke after that I had translated the two bookes in fourescore Sermons But how soeuer it be nowe manifest enoughe by thys aboue declared how that these Sermons were translated I thinke notwithstanding that there will hardlye be found of them any Lattyne bookes being I feare me vtterlye peryshed made out of the waye since the conquest by some which coulde not well broke thys doctrine And that such hath bene the dealing of some partiall readers may partlye hereof appeare There is yet a very aunciēt boke of Cannons of Worceter librarye and is for the most parte all in Latyne but yet intermyngled in certayne places euē thre or foure leaues together with the olde Saxon tounge and one place of this booke handleth thys matter of the sacrament but a fewe lynes wherin dyd consiste the chiefe poynte of the cōtrouersie be rased out by some reader yet consider how the corruption of hym whosoeuer he was is bewrayed This part of the Lattyne booke was taken out of ij epistles of Aelfrike before named were written of hym aswell in the Saxon tounge as the Lattyne The Saxon epistles be yet wholie to be had in the librarye of the same church in a boke written all in Saxon and is intituled a boke of Cānons shrift boke But in the Church of Exeter these epistles be seene both in the Saxon tounge and also in the Lattyne By the which it shall be easie for any to restore agayne not onely the sense of the place rased in Worceter booke but also the very same Lattyn wordes And the words of these two epistles so much as concerne the sacramentall bread wyne we here set immediatlye after the Sermon fyrst in Saxon then the words of the second epistle we set also in Lattyne deliuering them most faythfully as they are to be seene in the bookes from whence they are taken And as touching the Saxon writings they be set out in such forme of letters and darke speech as was vsed whē they were written translated also for our better vnderstanding into our common and vsuall Englishe speech But nowe it remayneth we do make knowen who thys Aelfricke was whom we here speake of in what age he liued and in what estimation He was truely brought vp in the scholes of Aethelwolde byshop of Winchester Aethelwolde I meane the elder and greate saincte of Winchester church So canonised because in the dayes of Edgar kyng of England he conspyred with Dunstane Archbyshop of Canterburie Oswalde bishop of Worceter to expell out of the Cathedrall churches through out all England the maryed priestes which then were in those churches the olde dwellers as wryteth Ranulphus Cestrencis in hys pollicronicon and to set vp of newe the religion or rather
beoþ soþlice gesceode gif Æ¿e efenlaecaþ mid urum faerelde and Æ¿eorce forþfarenra manna lif ðaena ðe Gode geþugon ðurh gehealdsumnysse his beboda Hi haefdon him staef on handa aet þaere þigene Se staef getacnaþ gymene hyrdnysse þa ðe bet cunnon magon sceolon gyman oþra manna mid heora fultume underÆ¿riþian þam gemettum Æ¿aer beboden ê§ hi sceoldon caflice etan forðam ðe God onscunaþ ða sleacnysse on his ðegnum and ða he lufaþ ðe mid modes cafnesse ðaes ecan lifes mirþe secaþe Hit is aÆ¿riten Ne elca ðu to gecyrranne to Gode ðylaes þe se tima losie þurh ða sleacan elcunge þa gemettan ne moston ðaes lambes ban scaenan ne ða cempan ðe Crist ahengon ne moston tobraecan his halgan sceancan sÆ¿a sÆ¿a hi dydon þaera tÆ¿egra sceaþena ðe him on tÆ¿a healfa hangodon ac driht aras of deaþe gesund buton aelcere forrotodnysse And hi sceolon geseon aet ðam micclan dome hÆ¿aene hi geÆ¿undodon Æ¿aelhreoÆ¿lice on rode þeos tid is gehaten on ebreiscum geneorde Pasca ê§ is on leden Transitus on englis Faereld forþan ðe on ðisum daege ferde Godes folc fram egipta lande ofer ða readan sae fram ðeoÆ¿te to ðam behaitenan earde Vre driht ferde eac on þisne timan sÆ¿a sÆ¿a se Godspellere Iohns cÆ¿aeþ fram ðisum middan earde to his heofonlican faeder Æ¿e sceolon fylian uruÌ„ heafde faran fraÌ„ deofle to criste fraÌ„ þissere unscaeþþigan Æ¿orulde to his staþelfaetan rice ac Æ¿e sceolon aerest on uruÌ„ and-Æ¿eardan life faran fraÌ„ leahtrum to halgum maegnum fram unþeaÆ¿um to godum þeaÆ¿um gif Æ¿e Æ¿illaþ aefter ðisum laenan life faran toþaÌ„ ecan aefter uruÌ„ aeriste to haelende Criste He us geliâ—de to his lifigendan faedâ—r ðe hine sealde for usuÌ„ synnum to deaþe Si hun Æ¿uldor and lof ðaere Æ¿â—ldaeda on ealrâ— Æ¿orulda Æ¿orulo AMEN MEn beloued it hath bene often sayd vnto you aboute our Sauiours resurrection how he on this present day after hys suffering mightely rose from death Now will we open vnto you through Gods grace of the holy housell whiche ye shoulde nowe goe vnto and instructe your vnderstandyng aboute thys mysterie both after the olde couenaunte and also after the newe that no doubting may trouble you about thys liuelye foode The almyghtie God badde Moyses his captaine in y e land of Aegypt to commaunde y e people of Israell to take for euery familye a lambe of one yeare old the night they departed out of y e countrey to y e land of promise to offer y t lambe to God after to kill it to make y e signe of y e crosse with y e laÌ„bes bloud vpon the side postes the vpper poste of their dore afterward to eate y e lambes flesh rosted vnleauened bread w t wilde lettisse God sayth vnto Moyses Eate of y e laÌ„be nothing raw nor soddeÌ„ in water but rosted w t fire Eate y e head y e feete and the inwardes let nothing of it be left vntill y e morning if any thing therof remaine y t shall you burne w t fire Eate it in this wyse Gyrde your loynes do your shoes on your fete haue you staues in your haÌ„des eat it in hast This time is y e lordes passeouer And ther was slain on y t night in euery house throgh out Pharaos raigne the first borne child and Gods people of Israell were deliuered froÌ„ y t sodeine death through the laÌ„bes offring his bloudes marking TheÌ„ said God vnto Moyses Keepe this day in your remembraunce and holde it a greate feast in your kinredes with a perpetuall obseruation and eate vnleauened bread alwayes seuen dayes at thys feaste After thys deede God ledde the people of Israell ouer y e redde sea w t dry foote and drowned therin Pharao al his army together w t their possessions fedde afterward y e Israelits fortie yeares with heauenlye foode gaue theÌ„ water out of the hard rocke vntil they came to the promised land Part of this storye we haue treated of in an other place part we shall now declare to witte y t which belongeth to the holy housell Christian men may not now kepe that olde lawe bodely but it behoueth them to know what it ghostlye signifieth That innoceÌ„t lambe which the old Israelites did then kill had significatioÌ„ after ghostly vnderstanding of Christes suffering who vngiltie shedde his holy bloude for our redemptioÌ„ Hereof sing Gods seruauntes at euery masse Agnus dei qui tollis peccata mundi miserere nobis That is in our speech Thou lambe of God that takest away y e sinnes of the world haue mercy vpon vs. Those Israelites were deliuered from that sodaine death froÌ„ Pharaos bondage by the lambes offringe which signified Christes suffering through which we be deliuered from euerlasting death froÌ„ the deuils cruel raigne if we rightly beleue in the true redemer of the whole world Christ the Sauiour That lambe was offered in the euening and our Saniour suffered in the sixt age of thys world This age of thys corruptible worlde is reckened vnto the euening They marked with the laÌ„bes bloude vpon the doores and the vpper postes Tau that is the signe of the crosse and were so defended from the angell that killed the Aegyptians first borne childe And we ought to marke our foreheades and our bodyes with y e takeÌ„ of Christes roode that we may be also deliuered from destruction when we shall be marked both on forehead and also in harte with the bloud of our Lordes suffering Those Israelites eate the lambes fleshe at their Easter time when they were deliuered and we receiue ghostlye Christ bodye and drinke his bloude when we receaue with true beliefe that holye housell That tyme they kepte with them at Easter seuen dayes with great worshippe when they were deliuered froÌ„ Pharao and went from that land So also Christen men kepe Christes resurrectioÌ„ at y e time of Easter these vij dayes because through hys suffering and risiing we be deliuered and be made cleane by goyng to this holy housell as Christ sayth in his ghospell Verely verely I saye vnto you ye haue no life in you except ye eate my flesh drinke my bloud He y t eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud abydeth in me I in him and hath y t euerlasting life I shall raise him vp in y e laste day I am y e liuely bread that came down froÌ„ heaueÌ„ not so as your forefathers eate that heauenlye bread in the wildernesse and afterwarde dyed He that eateth thys bread he liueth for euer He blessed bread before his suffering and deuided it to his disciples thus saying Eate thys bread it is my body do this in my remembraunce Also he blessed wyne in one cuppe and sayd Drinke ye all of thys Thys is my bloude that is shedde for many in forgeuenesse
ðisne hlaf hit is min lichama he eft bletsode aenne calic mid Æ¿ine and cÆ¿aeþ heom ðus to drincaþ ealle of ðisum hit is min agen blode ðaere niÆ¿an gecyþnysse ðe biþfor manegum agoten on synna forgyfenysse Se drihten þe halgode husel aer his ðroÆ¿unge and eÆ¿aeþ ê§ se hlaf Æ¿aere his agen lichama ðaet Æ¿in Æ¿aere Æ¿itodlice his blod se halgaþ daeghÆ¿amlice ðurh his sacerda handa hlaf to his lichaman Æ¿in to his blod on gastlicere geryne sÆ¿a sÆ¿a Æ¿e raedaþ on bocum Nebiþ se liflica hlaf lichamlice sÆ¿a þeah se ylca lichama ðe Crist on ðroÆ¿ode Ne þaet halige Æ¿in nis þaes haelendes blod þe for us agoten Æ¿aes on lichamlican ðinge ac on gastlicum andgyte AEgþer biþ soþlice se hlaf his lichama ê§ Æ¿in eac his blod sÆ¿a sÆ¿a se heofonlica hlaf Æ¿aes ðe Æ¿e hataþ manna ðe feoÆ¿ertig geara afedde Godes folce ðaet hlutre Æ¿aeter Æ¿aes Æ¿itodlice his blod ðe arn of ðam stane on ðaÌ„ sestene ða SÆ¿a sÆ¿a Paulus aÆ¿rat on Æ¿umon his pistole Omnes patres nostri eandem escam spiritualem manducauerunt et omnes eundem potes spiritualem biberunt c. Ealle ure faederas aeton on þaÌ„ Æ¿estene þone ylcan gastlican mete þone gastlican drenc druncon Hi druncon of þaÌ„ gastlicum stane se stan Æ¿aes Crist Se apostol saede sÆ¿a sÆ¿a genu gehyrdon ðaet hi ealle aeton ðone ylcan gastlican mete hi ealle druncon ðone gastlican drenc Ne cÆ¿aeþ he na lichamlice ac gastlice Naes Crist ða gyt geboren ne his blod naes agoten þa þaet Israhela folc geaet ðone mete of ðam stane dranc se stan naes lichamlice Crist þeah he sÆ¿a cÆ¿aede Hit Æ¿aeron þa ylcan gerynu on þaere ealdan ae hi gastlice getacnodon ðaet gastlice husel ures haelendes lichaman ðe Æ¿e halgiaþ nu SOme pristes keepe the housell that is hallowed on Easter day all the yere for syke men But they doe greatlye amysse bycause it waxeth horye And these will not vnderstand how greuous penaunce the poenitentiall booke teacheth by thys if the housell become hory and rotten or yf it be lost or be eaten of mise or of beastes by neglygence Men shal reserue more carefullye that holy housell and not reserue it to longe but hallowe other of newe for syckemen alwayes wythin a weke or a fortnight that it be not somuch as horye For so holy is the housell whych to day is hallowed as that whyche on Easter daye was hallowed That housell is Christes bodye not bodylye but ghostlye Not the bodye whyche he suffred in but the bodye of which hee spake when he blessed bread and wyne to housel a night before his suffring sayd by the blessed bread thys is my bodye agayne by the holye wyne thys is my bloude whiche is shede for manye in forgeuenes of sinnes vnderstand nowe that the lord who could turne y t bread before his suffring to his body and y t wyne to his bloude ghostlye that the selfe same lorde blesseth dayly throughe the priestes handes bread and wine to his ghostly body and to his ghostly bloud Here thou seest good reader how Aelfrike vpon fynding fault wyth an abuse of his tyme whiche was that priests on Easter day filled their housell boxe and so kept the bread a whole yere for sickmen toke an occasion to speake agaynst the bodely presence of Christ in the s acrameÌ„t So also in an other epistle sent to Wulfstane Archbyshop of York he reprehending agayne thys ouerlong reseruing of the housell addeth also wordes more at large against the same bodely presence His wordes be these SOme priests fil their boxe for housel on Easter day so reserue it a whole yere for sicke meÌ„ as though that housel were more holy theÌ„ any other But they do vnaduisedlye bicause it waxeth black or al together rotleÌ„ by keping it so long space And thus is he become giltie as y e boke wytnesseth to vs. Yf anye do keepe the housell to long or lose it or myse or other beastes do eate it see what y e paenitential boke sayeth by this So holy is altogether that housell whiche is hallowed to daye as that which is hallowed on Easter day VVherfore I besech you to kepe that holy bodye of Christ with more aduisement for sick men from sonday to sondaye in a verye cleane boxe or at the most not to kepe it aboue a fortnight and then eate it laying other in the place VVe haue an example hereof in Moyses bookes as god him selfe hath commaunded in Moyses lawe How the priestes should set on euery saturnday twelue loaues all newe baked vpon the tabernacle the whiche were called panes prepositionis and those shoulde staÌ„d there on gods tabernacle til y e next saturnday the did y e pristes theÌ„ selues eate them set other in y e place SoÌ„e priestes wil not eate y e housell which they do hallow But we will now declare vnto you how y e boke speaketh by theÌ„ Presbyter missaÌ„ celebrans et non audens sumere sacrificium accusante coÌ„scieÌ„tia sua anathema est The priest that doth saye masse and dare not eate theÌ„ housell hys conscience accusynge hym is accursed It is lesse daunger to receyue y e housell theÌ„ to hallowe it He y t doth twyse hallowe one host to housell is lyke vnto those heretikes who do christen twyse one childe Christ himselfe blessed housel before his suffring he blessed y e bread and brake thus speaking to hisa postels Eate this bread it is my body And agayne he blessed one chalice w t wyne and thus also speaketh vnto theÌ„ Drinke ye all of this it is myne owne bloud of y e newe testament which is shed for many in forgeuenes of synnes The lord which halowed housel before his suffering sayeth y t y e bread was his owne body y t y e wyne was truly his bloud he haloweth dayly by y e haÌ„des of y e prist bread to his body wyne to his bloud in ghostly mystery as we read in bokes And yet y t liuely bread is not bodely so notwithstaÌ„ding not y e self same body y t Christ suffered in Nor y t holy wine is y e sauiours bloud which was shed for vs in bodely thing but in ghostly vnderstanding Both be truly y t bread hys body and y t wyne also hys bloud as was y e heauenly bread which we call Manna that fed forty yeres gods people And y e cleare water which did then runne from the stone in the wildernes was truly his bloud as Paul wrote one summe of his epistles Omnes patres nostri eandem escam spiritualem manducauerunt et omnes eundem potum spiritualeÌ„ biberunt c. All our fathers ate in the wildernes the same ghostlye meate and dranke the same ghostly drinke They dranke of y t gostly stone and
micelre stemne to all the men which with ealluÌ„ ðam mannuÌ„ ðe mid Moyses were in the Moyse Æ¿aeron on ðam wildernesse then Æ¿aestene ða THe lorde was Dryhten Æ¿aes speaking these sprecende ðas wordes to Moyses and thus Æ¿ord to Moyse and ðus sayth I am the Lord thy cÆ¿aeþ Ic eom ðryhten ðin God I thee out ledde of God Ic ðe ut gelaedde of Aegypt lande and of their egipta londe and of hiora bondage Ne loue y u other ðeoÆ¿dome Ne lufa ðu oþre strauÌ„ge Gods besides me Ne fremde Godas ofer me Ne my name name thou in minne noman ne cig ðu on vayne for that thou ne idelnesse forþon ðe ðu ne arte giltlesse with me if bist unscyldig Æ¿iþ me gif thou in vayne namest my ðu on idelnesse cigst minne name RemeÌ„ber that thou noman Gemyne ê§ Ã°u hallowe thy rest day gehalgige ðone raeste daeg VVorke ye vj. dayes on Æ¿yrceaþ eoÆ¿ vi dagas on the seuenth rest ye bycause þaÌ„ siofoþan restaþ eoÆ¿ forðam in vj. dayes Christ on vi daguÌ„ Crist geÆ¿orhte made heauen and earth heofonas eorþan y e sea all creatures that saes and ealle gesceafta ðe in them be And he rested on him sint hine gereste on the seuenth day therfore on þone siofoþan daeg forþon the Lord it hallowed dryhten hine gehalgod Honour thy father thy Ara ðynuÌ„ faeder þinrae mother that the Lorde medder ða ðe dryhten gaue thee y t thou be longe sealde ðe ê§ Ã°u sie ðylenge lyuing in y e earth Ne kill libbende on eorþan Ne sleah thou Ne lig ne y u priuelye ðu Ne lige þu dearnenga Ne steale thou Ne say thou Ne stala ðu Ne saege ðu false witnesse Ne desire lease geÆ¿itnesse Ne Æ¿ilna thou of thy neyghbours ðu ðynes nehstan heritage with vnryght ierfes mid unryhte These coÌ„maundementes we haue taken from the lawes of Alfrede the king before which they are alwaies placed but here the maner of speaking in the scripture is somewhat chaunged and that more is here is lefte out these wordes Non facies sculptile neque omnem similitudinem quae est in coelo desuper quae est in terra deorsum nec eorum quae sunt in aquis sub terra non adorabis neque coles c. 2. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image nor the likenes of any thing that is in heauen aboue or in the earth beneath or in the water vnder the earth Thou shalt not bowe downe to them nor worship them For I thy Lord. c. Which thyng is done in all copyes of Alfredes lawes written in the Saxon tounge and not onely in them but in many other bookes as hath been seene eyther Saxon or Lattyne intreatyng of the commaundementes which were written before the Conquest and since the second Nicene councell wherin was decreed the worshipping of Images See what followed of taking away froÌ„ the worde of God contrarye to the expresse coÌ„maundement of the same vpon the vngodly decree of that couÌ„cell WheÌ„ this thing was espied by them that translated these lawes into the Lattyne tounge sone after the conquest these wordes were restored agayne by the traÌ„slatours to their due place as by the Lattyne bookes of the lawes it is to be seene But bicause we haue made mention of that second Nicene councell whiche decreed both of the hauing and worshipping of Images we shall here brieflye shewe what our stories report was thought of the same couÌ„cell by the learned of England and chieflye by that great learned Englyshe man and of most fame in that age Alcuine scholemaister to Charles the great Anno ab incarnatione Domini 792. Carolus rex Francorum misit Synodalem librum ad BritanniaÌ„ sibi a CoÌ„stantinopoli directuÌ„ in quo libro heu proh dolor multa inconuenientia verae fidei contraria reperta sunt maxime quod pene omniuÌ„ orientalium doctorum noÌ„ minus quam trecentoruÌ„ vel eo amplius episcoporum vnanima assertione confirmatuÌ„ imagines adorari debere quod omnino ecclesia dei execratur CoÌ„tra quod scripsit Alcuinus epistolam ex autoritate diuinaruÌ„ scripturarum mirabiliter affirmataÌ„ illamque cuÌ„ codem libro persona episcoporuÌ„ principum nostrorum regi Francorum attulit That is In the yere froÌ„ the incarnatioÌ„ of our Lord. 792. Charles kinge of Fraunce sent to Brytaine a Synode booke which was directed vnto hym from Constantinople in the which booke alas many thinges vnconuenient and contrarye to the true fayth were found in especiall that it was establyshed with a whole consent almost of all the learned of the East no lesse then of three hundreth byshoppes or more that men oughte to worship Images the whiche the Churche of God doth vtterlye abharre Agaynst the whiche Alcuine wrote an epistle wonderouslye proued by the authoritie of holy Scripture and brought that epistle with the same booke and names of our byshoppes and princes to the king of Frauuce This story hath Simeon of Durham Roger Houeden Flores Historiarum and the historie of Rochester ₠¶ The Saxon Caracters or letters that be moste straunge be here knowen by other common Caracters set ouer them ¶ d. d. ð. th þ. th f. f. g. g. i. i. r. r. s. s t. t. Æ¿. w. y. y. z. z. and. ê§ that ¶ ¶ Æ AE Æ AE Ã. Th. Þ. Th. E. E. H. H. M. M. S. S. Ç·. W. And. ¶ One pricke signifieth an vnperfect point this figure which is lyke the Greeke interrogatiue a full painte which in some other olde Saiâ—â—â— bookes is expressed wyth three prickes set in triangle wyse thus Imprinted at LondoÌ„ by Iohn Day dwelling ouer Aldersgate beneath S. Martyns ⸫ ¶ Cum priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis * Who dyd put out secular priestes out of the church of Canterbury as the story of that house sheweth These charters are to be sene * No suche demaunde of thys profession in any Englyshe pontificall before thys tyme. Exod. 14. Exod. 17. Math. 27. Marc. 15. Luke 24. * No such signe commaunded by God in that place of scripture but it was the bloud that God dyd loke vpon Exod 12. * Vnderstand thys as that of S. Paule Ephe. 2. Christ reconciled both to God in one body through hys crosse Iohn 6. Math. 26. Luke 22. Marke 14 1. Cor. 11. * This was now in question and so before Beringarius tyme. * A necessarye distinction * The water in baptisme and bread and wine in the Lords supper compared * No transubstantiation * DiffereÌ„ces betwixt Christes naturall body and the SacrameÌ„t therof * 1. Difference * Not the body that suffred is in the housell * 2. Difference * 3. Difference * 4. Difference Math. 15. * 5. Difference These tales seme to be infarsed placed here vpon no occasion 1. Cor. 10. * Note this exposition which is now a dayes thought new Iohn 4. 1. Cor. 10. Exod. 17. Math. 26. Luke 22. Marke 14 * Now we eate that bodye which was eaten before he was borne by the faythfull * See a transubstantiatioÌ„ * Manna Iohn 6. Iohn 6. * What body do the faithfull now eate * A signification before Christ * A sacrifice in Christes tyme. * A remembraunce after Christ Math. 26. Ebreu 10. * This doctrine with praying to images to the dead bodies of men at their tombes tooke his beginning of the auarice of moÌ„kes vnto whom it was gain full * The housell is also the body of al faithfull men * No scripture enforceth the mixture of water with the wyne * The wine signifieth christes bloude * How we shoulde come to the holy coÌ„munion The words inclosed betwene the ij halfe circles some had rased out of Worceter booke but they are restored agayne out of a booke of Exeter church William of Malmes 1. lib. de pontificibus * That is commit no adultery * That is commit no adultery
bread and wyne to housell before his suffering and sayd this is my body my bloud Yet he had not theÌ„ suffred but so notwithstanding he turned through inuisible might y t bread to hys owne body y t wyne to his bloode as he before did in y e wildernes before y t he was borne to meÌ„ wheÌ„ he turned that heauenly meate to his fleshe and the flowing water from that stone to hys owne bloude Verye many ate of that heauenlye meate in the wildernes and dranke that ghostlye drinke and were neuertheles dead as Christ sayd And christ ment not that death whiche none can escape but that euerlastynge death whiche some of that folke deserued for their vnbeliefe Moyses and Aaron and many other of that people whiche pleased God eate that heauenly bread and they dyed not that euerlastyng death though they dyed the common death They sawe that the heauenlye meate was visible and corruptible and they ghostly vnderstode by y t visible thing and ghostly receyued it The Sauiour sayeth He y t eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe And he bad theÌ„ not eate y t body which he was going about w e nor y t bloud to drink which he shed for vs but he meÌ„t w t those wordes y t holy housell which ghostly is his body his bloud he y t tasteth it with beleauing hart hath that eternall life In the old law faithful meÌ„ offred to god diuers sacrifices that had fore significatioÌ„ of Christes body which for our sinnes he himselfe to his heauenly father hath since offred to sacrifice Certaynlye this housell whiche we doe nowe halow at gods alter is a remembrauÌ„ce of Christes body which he offred for vs and of his bloude whiche he shedd for vs So he him selfe commaunded do thys in my remembraunce Once suffred Christe by hym selfe but yet neuerthelesse hys suffrynge is daylye renued at the masse through mysterye of the holye housell Therefore that holy masse is profitable both to the lyuing and to the dead as it hath bene often declared VVe oughte also to consyder diligently how that this holy housell is both Christes body and the body of all faythfull men after ghostly mysterye As the wyse Augustine sayth of it Yf ye will vnderstand of Christes body heare y e apostle Paule thus speaking Ye truely be Christes body and his members Nowe is your mysterye sett on Godes table and ye receyue your misterye whiche mistery ye your selues be Be y t whiche ye se on the alter receiue that whiche ye your selues be Agayn the apostle Paule saith by it We manye be one bread and one bodye Vnderstand nowe and reioice many be one bread and one body in Christ He is our head and we be his limmes And y e bread is not of one corne but of many Nor the wine of one grape but of manye So also we all should haue one vnitie in our Lord as it is writteÌ„ of the faithfull armye how y t they were in so great an vnitie as though all of them were one soule and one harte Christ halowed on hys table the mysterye of our peace and of our vnytye he whyche receyueth that mysterye of vnytye and kepeth not the bonde of true peace he receyueth no mysterye for hym selfe but a witnesse agaynst hymselfe It is very good for Christen men that they goe often to housell yf they brynge wyth them to the alter vngyltynes and innocencye of harte To an euill man it turneth to no good but to destructioÌ„ if he receiue vnworthely y t holy housell Holy bookes commauÌ„d y t water be mengled to y t wine which shalbe for housell bicause y e water signifieth the people and the wine Christs bloud And therfore shall neither y e one without the other be offred at y e holy masse y t Christ may be with vs we with Christ the head w t the limmes and the limmes with the head VVe would before haue intreated of the lambe whiche the olde Israelites offered at their Easter tyme but y t we desired first to declare vnto you of this misterye and after how we should receyue it That signifying lambe was offred at the Easter And the apostle Paule sayeth in the epistle of this present day that Christ is our Easter who was offred for vs and on thys day rose from deathe The Israelites did eate the lambes fleshe as God commaunded wyth vnleuened bread and wylde lettisse so we should receyue y t holy housell of Christes bodye and bloud without the leauen of sinne and iniquitie As leauen turneth the creatures from their nature so doth sinne also chaunge the nature of man from innocencye to foules spottes of giltinesse The apostle hath taught how we should feast not in the leauen of euelnesse but in the swete dough of puritie and truthe The her be whiche they shoulde eate with the vnleauened bread is called Lettisse and is bitter in taste So we shoulde with bitternesse of vnfayned weepinge purifye our mynde if we wil eat Christes bodye Those Israelites were not wont to eate rawe fleshe although god forbad them to eate it rawe and sodden in water but rosted wyth fyer He shall receyue the bodye of God rawe that shal thynke wythout reason that Christ was onelye man lyke vnto vs and was not God And â—e that wil after mans wisedome search of y e mysterye of Christes incarnation doth lyke vnto hym y t doth seeth lambes flesh in water bycause that water in thys same place signifieth mans vnderstaÌ„ding but we should vnderstaÌ„d that al the misterie of Christs humanity was ordered by y e power of y e holy ghost And theÌ„ eate we his body rosted wyth fyre because the holy ghost came in fyrye lykenes to the apostles in diuerse tonges The Israelites should eate the lambs head y e fete and y e purtenaunce and nothing therof muste be left ouer night Yf any thing therof were lefte they did burne y t in the fyre and they brake not y e bones After ghostlye vnderstandinge we doe then eate the lambes head when we take hold of Christes diuinitye in our beliefe Agayn when we take holde of hys humanyte wyth loue then eate we the lambes feete bycause that Christ is the beginnyng and ende god before all world and man in the ende of thys worlde VVhat bee the laÌ„bes purtenauÌ„ce but Christes secrete preceptes and these we eat wheÌ„ we receiue with gredines the worde of lyfe There muste nothing of the laÌ„be be left vnto the morning bicause y t all godes sayings are to be searched w t great carefulnesse so that all his preceptes maye be knowen in vnderstaÌ„ding deede in the nyght of thys present lyfe before that the last day of the vniuersall resurrection do appeare If we can not search out throughly all the mistery of Christes incarnation then