hands and afterward by oversight negligence to possesse the minds of them that were about him with careful remembrance of the truth he was by the continuall neernesse pains of them that were cōtrarie minded changed to an other course yet our most high wise gracious Emperour when his majestie shall see that wee are tied by such affection to our harmles profession that wee choose rather patientlie to suffer then rashlie to change as his highnes royal clemencie hath refreshed manie and rid others out of thrall will bee pleased to be our Physitian with his own hand cure the distempered body of this poore kirke restoring to Christs spouse in the land of his highnes happie birth her priviledges and servants for her Lords emploiments that everie one of them receiving that favour may enjoy one another for edification of the kirke his maiesties better service and their mutuall comfort For your owne confirmation and the credite of your cause in whole and everie part of it you haue a sufficient store of strong reasons in your own hand yet because you haue adoe with humbled Christians who as they are taguht of God so they would be faine followers of him and for their vse loue better the pure fountaines of the scripture then the dark compositions and subtile distinctions of Philosophicall Schoole-men you shall not doe amisse to set before your owne eyes for your present use the following Articles of the Lords Supper as straight rules to rectifie the uncomely eye-lasts required to be introduced upon the sound work of this Sacrament 1 Christs practise in the first Supper qualified with his commandement Doe this in remembrance of me and with Pauls precept Bee yee followers of me even as I am of Christ together with the common maxime rightly understood Every action of Christ is our instruction should be the perfect patterne of our practise 2 The command Doe this being grounded upon Christs practise and hauing respect therto cannot be understood but by the understanding of the particulars practised by him For as practise and custome obserued in any matter before a law be made are the best exponers of the law and not the customes and practises that creepe in afterward so in this Sacrament the things done by Christ and his Disciples expone the institution better then the practises customes in the dayes of Dionysius Areopagita of Iustinus Martyr of Tertullian and of the practises of kirkes in these or other ages 3 The example and institution of Christ are fully set downe by Matthew Marke and Luke Euangelists and by Paul the Apostle conioyntly 4 In the night that the Lord was betrayed for the eating of the Lords Supper Christ and his Disciples came together in one place prepared for the eating of the Paschall Lambe and that holy banket 5 In that place where Christ and his Disciples met there was a Table prepared both for the service of the Lambe and for this Sacrament 6 For the reverent eating of this Supper Christ by choyce and no otherwise sate at that Table with his Disciples in the most comely and convenient forme of sitting 7 For visible Elements he vsed both bread and wine such as were at hand for the time and onely these two without any mixture 8 To the bread by way of preparation Christ did foure things he did take it he blessed it he brake it he gaue it and for the right vsing of it he spake three things to the Disciples a commandement Take ye eate yee a declaration This is my body which is given or broken for you a second commandement Doe this in remembrance of me 9 When he had supped for preparation of the cup he did three things he did take it hee blessed it he gaue it them and for right vsing of it hee spake three things a commandement Drinke ye all of it a declaration This is my blood in the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins a second commandement Doe this as oft as yee drink it in remembrance of me 10 This service is recōmended to be continued in the kirke and frequently used For as often as yee shall eate this bread and drinke this cuppe yee shew the Lords death till hee come 11 A warning of a fearful danger Whosoever shal eate this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall bee guiltie of the body and blood of the Lord. 12 A soueraigne remedy against this danger Let every man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drink of this cup. 13 This is the truth of this holy sacrament and in the most fauourable times this kirke sought this truth and by the testimonie and commendation of other reformed kirkes found it and not onely the mind of Iesus Christ anent this sacrament but in all the particular heads of religion aboue rehearsed 14 If either the sacrament it selfe the ministers and receiuers thereof were priviledged from mens corruptions there were no feare of craft negligence or compulsion to receiue this sacrament neither necessity to examine what were agreeable or dissonant to the measure of their faith that receiued 15 It is an infallible observation that whosoever after the truth once found seeketh farther then truth shall finde errors and lies 16 Of these Fathers who in Christ Iesus begot you and brought you up through the Gospell delivered to you as they receiued it from the scriptures and from this kirke being reformed yee receiued the sound doctrine and right use of this sacrament and other heads of religion not as a meere doctrine and meere rites but as the annointing of the holy spirit which dwelleth in you If yee shal receiue divers teachers divers doctrines and sacraments you must quite the spirit that dwelleth in you and seek another As the Cotinthians by the distemper of their members and corruptions marked among them by the Apostle transgressed against the first article aboue written so if yee come together in a mixture of nick-named Puritans and conforme people standing under contention expressed there by the Apostle and vnremoved from among you your comming together cannot bee with profite but with great hurt The first maine difference and cause of dissention betwixt you and them ariseth from the fifth article anent a Table and the necessarie vse of it For the sacrament yee holding that it is necessarie for the eating and drinking the sacramentall elements both for the exercise of your faith toward God charitie among your selues is necessarily required in that sacramentall and heavenly banquet and they thinking it onely commodious for the people to kneele at in reverence of the sacrament and others neither necesry nor commodious but a meere Metaphore But you doe well that beleeue that there was a Table at Christs supper as certainly as the hand of him that betrayed him was with him at the Table and as truly for vse as the Apostle Paul tearmeth the
AN EPISTLE OF A CHRISTIAN BROTHER Exhorting an other to keepe himselfe vndefiled from the present corruptions brought in to the ministration of the Lords Supper Printed Anno 1624. My reverend and deare brother YOVR doubtfull loue to your owne ancient and well deserved religion and your just feare of this uncouth change was after manie hard assayes with threatnings and terrours strangely enforced rankles your tender heart weary of contending with heavie perplexities of wrath and temporall losses if ye shall continue to walk as ye haue learned and are best perswaded of scandall and defection if ye leaue your own old profession which ye haue judged and judge to be most agreeable to the truth and of shame and of gnawing of conscience if ye shall pollute your self with practises different from your faith and contrary to the best light and likeing of your own mind In these difficulties your case is the more lamentable that ye are drawn under the displeasure of high authoritye which next to God ye would fainest please under the dislike of some Peers and Iudges of the land hauing such particular care to their owne charges giuing them small leasure to sound the depth of ecclesiastical controversies only for a matter of conformitie that known enemy to the vnitie and peace of the kirks of Christ in all the world where it hath found credit And surely your griefe must be the greater that in the day of your sorrow the wise men of your own mind are silent and slack for your help and your great opposites in this distressed cause your neerest friends and old acquaintance but without equall reason on their part or iust desert on yours Who would not be pierced in heart with the pittifull lookes of your wearied countenance as at the last gaspe of your wonted sinceritie and chearfull constancie In this againe if you be left to your selfe affliction is added to the afflicted and our mother the Kirke and her mother the Truth are forsaken And notwithstanding of this strait if any friends of a willing minde shall timously contribute to your comfort some Doeg or some Amazia is euer ready with their biting censure and check of high presumption But praised be the Lord there is no small number of religious and honest men in the kirke and common-weale and the hearts of all are in the hands of the Lord who may at his pleasure moue any that hath the tongue of the learned to speake a word in season to you that are wearie also dispose your friends and brethren of their old ingenuitie and tender compassion of your bleeding heart by their holy wisedome to remoue your doubts confirme your faith and helpe you to be perswaded in your owne minde and to advise you rather now to hold fast that which you haue heard and receiued then afterward with vntimous repentance to change their tune and stile as if you were not a brother but an aduersarie and Apostate if it shall happen as God forbid that you be driven from the bright candle of your knowne profession to the deepe darknesse of an unknowne way and by that unhappy change so much the more blinded as your light hath been greater and with the purest Ivorie turned with fire into saddest black or shal be mis-shapen in a new face stained with the contempt of your first puritie and blushing at the disparagement of your new forme A vile confusion that cannot bee eschewed if you shall suffer your selfe to bee drawne back againe to the deformities for iust causes casten out of the kirk and from that beauty of reformation which you haue before held and with ioy so long professed and vpon no better warrant then a bare example and very authoritie of mens names although for the time fathers and favourers of your profession but after long standing now suddenly moved and so taken with the novelties of the time that for ioyning with them they dare not onely separate from their old masters and fellow brethren but from themselues in respect of that which they were And yet in this maine current some way to be excused by their embarking like simple men in a warre ship and miserable mistaking of these base additions to be layd downe againe when it should please them like good schollers to returne to their owne masters the standard-bearers in our faith with imagined liberty not onely to concurre but to confirme and encourage their owne brethren afresh for the advancement of the interrupted worke of the ministry and edification of the body of Christ as they are bound in conscience and calling But howsoever men haue been inclined to giue place to the streame of the time yet from the day that the kirk hath been crossed and many of all sorts grievously afflicted with the perturbations daily arising about the violent inbringing of these intrused alterations neverthelesse you haue found some sweet refreshment under the shadow of a heavenly dispensation so ruling the pathes of these proceedings that you haue kept the truth suffered reproches and discredit with patience in standing against these misliked novelties so long as they remained without the compasse of your owne practise esteeming your particular losses contented gain and your iniuries excusable for keeping the liberties of Gods service and the secret ioy of your owne conscience to be brooked by your quiet carriage and sober conversation But now if the day of that poore ease be passed and patient walking can haue no further fauour and if you shall be drawen out to a publick stage before the Lord who would keepe you to be his witnesse and in the eyes of men who would gain you to be their disciples you must needs by your owne practise either shamefully recant or honestly confesse the religion wherein you haue stood Choose you this day whether with humbled Esther you will wisely resolue to proue constant and glad the hearts of many people by cleaving to that way wherein you haue found the Saviour with his blessings and benefits of all sorts or if you will against your owne experience of Gods favour to you and hard successe seene upon these novations where they haue beene most greedily embraced hazard by your vnseasonable example to giue occasion of stumbling to many and to loose the patience and labours of your former constancie and now like Peter overwhelmed with feare adventure to seek your comfort and quietnesse in the sway of time as though the Lord could be syled as Absolom was with Chusayes policie If you dare suffer committing your soule to the will of God as vnto a faithfull Creator it is his place to temper the cuppe of all your troubles and when he shall be pleased to try and determine your matter before the highest barre But if you shall deny before men the Lord and his truth once received he will deny you before his heavenly father and will not deliver you from the houre of temptation It may be that you find
into a sacrifice the cup simply removed from the people and the bread also by transubstantiation or some other way And so for curing that alledged rudenesse Christs sacrament was turned into mans imagination and so ceased to bee Christs sacrament and became mans Yee know the truth and if yee sinne willingly after that yee haue received and acknowledged it by forsaking all or any part thereof fundamentall substantiall or accidentall all being copulatiue not to be changed in the meanest circumstance but upon a necessarie occasion good warrants and to good ends you know the danger set down by the Apostle and what it is to make your owne conscience naked before God and by your example to giue offence to many Take heed to your selfe and draw neere to God that you may keepe your conscience pure against the great day For this purpose set before you the image of mans frailtie and the character of Christian constancie that yee may striue to be strengthned and stand by grace In that unhappy division of the Tribes of Israel Heresie rooted in Ieroboam and spreading it selfe over the people in all the ten tribes who were taught in the truth of God before their fall found no contradiction in all the ten tribes notwithstanding of their forme of religion and of the heavie judgements of God powred out upon that fowle defection but it continued in force and they without sense aboue three hundred yeares and an halfe The Arrian abhomination broched by the envy and stomack of a man prone to contradiction possessing the Emperours heart by subtile suggestion made Arrius personall quarrels to produce reall questions anent the Godhead of Christ a filthy blasphemy at the beginning resisted by pastors people and long detested but by processe of time by authority and by the subtiltie of few Arrian Apostates not onely the multitude of Bishops very few excepted some sooner some later some as leaders and some as common souldiers either yeelding through feare or brought vnder with penurie or by flatterie ensnared or else beguiled through simplicitie become subject to the current of time Yea Osius the ancientest Bishop of Christendome the most forward in defence of the Catholicke cause and on the contrarie part most feared by whose hand the Nicene creed was set downe and framed for the whole Christian world to subscribe unto yeelded in the end with the same hand to ratifie the Arrian confession leaving the catholick faith to be kept and defended against the force of the world Whether a fretting cancker enter in the head as in Ieroboam or in the foote as in Arrius it is dangerous for the bodie Beware thou that standest lest thou fall But you haue before you a faire table liuely expressing the amiable portraits of more valorous Worthies and better deserving in conflicts for religion Christ the righteous his Apostles the Hebrewes those valorous and worthy people defenders of the truth against the Arrian heresie and terrours of Valence and Vrsatius the great patrons of that impurity Memorable Athanasius whose motto is his high honor Athanasius against the world and the world against Athanasius and old Eleazar who being desired by his old acquaintance to deliver himselfe from death by eating of flesh which was lawfull for him to vse and make as if hee did eate the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the king answered that it becommeth not our age in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might thinke that Eleazar being fourescore yeare old and ten were now gone to a strange religion Seeing yee are compassed with such a cloud of witnesses cast away the turmoyling of the world and every thing that presseth downe and run with patience the race that is set before you looking unto Iesus the author and finisher of your faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse and despised the shame and is set at the right hand of the Throne of God If you would be to your wearied brethren the comfort of their miseries and the guide of their difficulties if yee would liue and dye a warriour against Sathan and an enemy against sinne and unchangeable servant to your owne master and if in this world yee would haue peace and in the world to come everlasting joy take heed to your conscience for it is Gods Officer for the purpose put into you to keepe you in awe You may dye your conscience cannot dye The light of it may be shadowed because it is not God but not quite put out because it is of God Howsoever many be afraied for their fame and few for their conscience yet suffer not yourselfe in your whole life to slippe the breadth of your naile from your good conscience It is a diet booke wherein the sinnes of everie day are written and for that cause to the wicked a mother of feare but the children of God though the world should never credit them require no better witnesse Augustine esteemeth not what Secundinus thinketh of him so long as his conscience accuseth him not before God Jt is the secretarie of a mans heart a sealed booke close now but to bee opened wide upon the great day It is the treasure of the libertie of our spirits which should be vnto us as farre aboue the libertie of the body and things belonging thereunto as the soule is aboue that dust which must goe to the dust If you would haue this libertie of your spirit yee must not stand for a name among men but you must striue to store vp in your conscience the true testimonies of your sincere loue to your owne religion and to your fellow brethren for your conscience shall bee for you if you doe well and as you shal stand dissemble or revolt without partialitie it will beare witnesse The reformation of our religion was builded by difficulties and maintained by patience and paines If our loue of ease and of worldlie goods and if our feare of temporall losses shall destroy it it had been better for us that we had never sought glory by that faire profession then by a foule revolt to staine not onely our owne name and conscience but by our hypocrisie to endanger the people of God My deare brother watch yee stand fast in the faith quit you like a man The sonne of God sitteth at the right hand af the Father and all power is given vnto him hee appoynteth and moderateth all our wrastlings hee giveth victorie and will come shortly and his reward with him As you haue happily begunne so goe on your whole course that nothing may bee observed in you other then such as becommeth a wise man to doe and a righteous man to suffer Goe on happily and loue your owne religion If by his grace hee shall strengthen you to proue a pattern of constancy at this time he shall make you an heire of glory for ever Feare not put your selfe and all that yee haue in the hands of the Lord yee shall never loose ought at his hand he shall liberally returne to you your gifts with advantage Bee stedfast in the Lord and let God and man see that yee honour him and your enemies shall see and you shall finde that great things shall be done to the man whom the King of Kings will honour To him that overcommeth will Christ grant to sit with him in his throne Now vnto him that is able to keepe you that yee fall not and to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with joy that is to God onely wise our Saviour bee glorie and majestie and dominion and power both now and for ever Amen The present difficulties dangers Resolution to suffer required Impediments arising from other mens persons removed Impediments arising from the qualitie of the cause removed The cause in the end wil be iustified howsoever for the present it bee maligned The cause is grounded upon sufficient reasons Rules for right administration of the Lords supper the present differences an impediment to communicate here The first difference The second difference The third difference Consent in heart and articles of religion required in communicants The ground of the alledged differences evill No part of the truth is to be forsaken The falles of backsliders to be set before the eyes of the sufferer The constancy of others tâ— be set before the eyes of thâ— sufferer A good conscience to be regarded in time of triall