they hold to be the traditions of their Church yea nothing else in effect but their Popes pleasures the best learned amongst them are not ashamed to bestow great paines to accuse the scriptures of such insufficiencie and obscuritie to this purpose as that without the helpe of these their traditions the doctrine of faith and good manners could neither certainelie nor sufficientlie be learned at aâ—l Yea herein they haue some of them as to their perpetuall and euerlasting shame it is well knowen Andridius Ecchius Lindan Hosius Canisius Censura Colon. gone so farre in their writings as that they haue not blusht to set it downe as a catholicke trueth that the greatest part is left to be determined by their traditions that the scriptures were left rather to be vnder the Church then to haue authoritie ouer her that it were a pittiful thing if the Church should be tied to the Canonicall scriptures in euerie thing to be ruled and oueruled thereby eye that it cannot noreuer will be well with the Church as long as the lay people are suffered to read them or to heare them red for they are so obscure and their sense is so flexible and heard to be found say they that thence all heresies are suckt and that their sense is as but a leaden rule or a nose of waxe vnlesse it be stifned streighted and kept euen by the helpe of their traditions Wherein most expresly they resemble the heretikes that Irenaeus describes in his third booke and second chapter who for traditions thus defaced the scriptures What greater blasphemies can be vttered against the maiestie of God the author of these scriptures For he hauing left them vnto his Church in his good prouidence by his penmen for hir better direction to know his will and then to beleeue and liue accordingly as out of all doubt he haith how may we thinke without doing of him the greatest wrong that may be that he hath left it therein no perfecter a rule then they hold to this end For were not this in effect to say that eyther he could not for lacke of power skill and wisedome or that else he would not for lacke of loue and care towardes it make it any sufficienter and certamer For what reason else can there be that he should vndertake begin goe forward as he hath with such a rule for the direction therof and yet leaue it when he hath done so maimed and so vnprofitable as they would make it Now to haue but eyther of these conceites of God were it not most absurde and iniurious vnto him For how can we spoile him either of infinite wisedome or of infinite and most perfect loue care to wardes his Church but withall we plainely denie him to be the true God Wherfore let vs whatfoeuer these men say to the coÌ„trary learne to beleeue as onely the canonical scriptures of God teach vs to that end purpose let vs now as briefly as we caÌ„ take a view what they do teach vs in this respect behalfe Concerning this point What faith the scripture heere requireth first it is out of doubt whatsoeuer the Lord hath taught or told for trueth in these canonicall scriptures we are most firmely by faith to aslent vnto to be so and therefore hereof howsoeuer to discredit vs withall the papistes would seeme to the contrary we neither make nor moue any coÌ„trouersie with them Yea we most heartily wish and pray that as they define faith to be a firme assent to the whole reuealed wil of God by his word that once it would please God to giue them but this faith to assent in deed without wauering to that which he hath taught in his written word in the canonicall scriptures for then all the controuersies betwixt them vs would streight be at an end But alas they enforce such a sense vpoÌ„ these scriptures so equal their vnwritteÌ„ word of traditions herwith that as long as they take this course there is no hope that euer they either can or wil haue this grace wherfore to leaue them a while grounded farre more vpoÌ„ their own vnwritten traditions then vpon the canonical scriptures for the substaÌ„ce of their faith the next thing that we are to vnderstand touching faith is that when it is spoken of as it is here in my text it importeth more then this general assent to al trueth taught in the canonical scriptures For that brings one no further then credere Deo Deum de Deo that is to beleeue or credit God to beleeue that he is what he is wheras here in my text expresly Christ saith he that beleeueth in me thereby requiring that we should not thinke it inough to beleeue him as a speaker alwaies of trueth or to beleeue that he is such a one in person office as I haue shewed him to be for both these he hath already sufficiently called for at our hands in bidding of vs come vnto him but that it is necessarie for vs if we would haue him to be our meat drinke indeed to goe yet further that is to beleue in him Which is indeed the former lessons being wel taken out therupon as vpon a most sound foundation to ground a most certaine trust confidence that in for through and by him whollie and solie freely sullie we shal be iustified heere and saued heere after To all the former degrees of faith the reprobate and such as are destitute fo the graces of regeneration sanctification yea the verie diuels may come namely to yeald that euery thing is as God hath said it to be in his written word to credit him bicause he is trueth it self to beleue that he is that he is also such a one as he therin sets forth himself to bee this may therfore make them to tremble as Iames saith 2.19 But this is not the faith of Gods elect that Paule speakes of to Titus cap. 1. nor that which he saith worketh by charitie Gal. 5.6 nor that which is said purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 nor that whereof it is so often and so vniuersally said Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but hane eternall life Io. 3.15 c. Necessary it is that Gods elect haue all these degrees and branches of faith and the beleeuing thus farre is alwaies found in them before they can beleeue in Iesus Christ so as that through him they can haue any assurance of their saluation but if they will haue such a faith whereby in Christ Iesus they shall be iustied then they must nor stay in these generalities but they must set Christ with all his graces necessarie for either their iustification or saluation before them and by imbracing and applying him particularly vnto them all that euer he did for mans saluation as euen done particularly most certainly fortheÌ„ in him and by him so made theirs they are to be assured that God hath freely
steede in this case and therefore marke it followeth in my text as saith the scripture which wordes if we referre as they may well and some interpreters haue vnto that which went before then they serue most plainely to teach vs that it is no other faith that eyther can or will serue our turne in this case but only that which is taught vs warranted to be sound right in the canonicall scriptures For they are the scriptures onely without all question that heere are spoken of But whether these words as saith the scripture here were added and vsed to this end or rather as some others take them as referred to the wordes following to teach vs to vnderstand the promise that followeth most certaine it is that the true ChristiaÌ„ faith wherby we must feede vpon Christ and make him with all his merits and graces our owne hath these canonicall scriptures of the olde and new Testament for the grounde and sufficient rule thereof For they onely are able to make a man wise to saluarion thorow the faith which is in Christ Iesus and are giuen by inspiration of God and are profitable to teach to conuince to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute beeing made perfect vnto all good workes 2. Tim. 3.15.16.17 And therefore for the right framing and setling vs in this faith these are to be studied and searched and most diligentlie to be mused and meditated vpon and heard red and preached by euery one that hath any care of his saluation as we may learne Deut. 17.18.19 Iosua 1.8 Psal 1.1 Io. 5.39 Act. 17.11 2. Tim. 3.15 in that in these places we shall finde men of all sorts taught eyther by plaine precept reason or example thus to occupie themselues heerein And this hath beene the ancient and sound iudgement with one consent of the Fathers for manie hundred yeares after Christ And therefore though Augustine confesse with the Euangelist that Christ said and did manie things which are not written yet saith he those things are chosen out to be written which seemed to be sufficient for the saluation of them that beleeue Tract 49. vpon Iohn and Cap. 11. And in his 19. booke of the citie of God cap. 18. to this purpose he writeth that the citie of God beleeueth the scriptures both olde and new which we cal Canonical Vnde fides ipsa concepta est ex qna iustus viuit From whence that faith whereby the iust liueth is conceiued yea none of vs can bee or is plainer in this point then hee For in his booke of christian doctrine Lib. 2. cap. 9. he saith there in those thinges quae aperte posita sunt in scriptura that is which plainely are set downe in the scriptures all those things are found which conteineth faith manners of liuing as namely hope and charitie And heerein he was so confident that in his third booke and sixt chapter against Petilean most boldly and plainly he saith if any either of Christ or of his Church or of any other thing whatsoeuer that appertaineth to faith and life I wil not say wee but as Paule said if an Angel from heauen should tell you any thing which you haue not receiued in the scriptures of the lawe and the Gospell accursed be hee And he was not alone of this minde for Athanasius before him in an oration of his against Idolaters had most plainely written that the holy scriptures enspired of God Sufficiunt ad omnem instructionem veritatis that is are sufficient to teach all trueth And Tertullian in his booke against Hermogenes sheweth that he was so resolute in this that he saith there that he did eueÌ„ adore the sufficiencie of the scriptures Basilius also in his sermon of the confession of faith saith that it is a plaine falling from the faith and the verie sin of pride either to refuse any thing heerein written or to bring in ouer and aboue any thing For Christs sheepe heare his voice a strangers they fly And in his Morais definition 72. he saith that the verie hearers must be learned in the scriptures that so they may try those things which are deliuered theÌ„ by their teachers that so they may receiue those things that are consonant to the scriptures reiect those that are not yea in the 80. definitioÌ„ he concludeth whatsoeuer is without the scripture because it caÌ„not be of faith which must come by the hearing of that which is taught in the scriptures as before he had proued must needs be sinne Cyrill Lib. â—2 in Ioannem cap. 69. with Augustine saith that though all things be not written that Christ did yet those thinges were writteÌ„ which the writers thought sufficient both for faith and manners Hierome also saith vppon the 23. of Mathew that which hath not authority froÌ„ the scriptures is as easily contemned as allowed And therfore Origine vpon the third of the Romains hath verie wel noted that the Apostle there giues other teachers in the Church an example that those thinges which they propounde to the people they should streng then and confirme not with their owne presumptions but with testimonies of the scripture For as he saith if such an Apostle thought that the authoritie of his sayinges was not sufficient vnlesse he shewed them to be written in the law and the Prophets how much more ought wee to think so of ours Hilarie also vpon the 118. Psalme notes it as a tricke of infidels and the irreligious to say that the scriptures want perfection of doctrine Seeing therefore it is most certaine and true that Irenaeus writeth in his third booke and first chapter that what the Apostles first preached after by the will of God they set downe in their writinges to be the ground and pillar of our faith and that in the canonicall scriptures of the olde and newe Testament we haue as Chrisostome aduoucheth vpon the second to the Corinthes Homilie 13. a most perfect and exact rule to followe set downe therefore with him and in his wordes immediately thereupon inferred I pray you all that you leaue that which seemeth good to this man or that Et de his Scripturis omma inquirite and of these Scriptures enquire all things that so we may all conclude with Damascene in this point in his first booke and first chapter de fide orthodoxa of sound faith all thinges that are deliuered by the lawe Prophets Apostles and Euangelistes Cognoscimus veneramur nihil vltrà perquirentes that is we acknowledge and reuerence seeking no further These things I haue the rather thus largely noted vnto you because notwithstanding the plain euidence of this vndoubted and ancient trueth our aduersaries the papistes are so farre off from yealding vnto the same that to discourage men from making this vse of the holy scriptures that so they may at their pleasures teach vs to build such a faith as seemeth good vnto them vpon their vnwritten word of God which
iustified thē vndoubtedly also will saue them For though euery trueth taught by God in his word be the general obiect of faith yet the proper obiect therof by apprehensiō where of it is so oft said in the scriptures to iustifie is onely Christ Iesus whō it is not inough for faith with her inward eies to know and cōfesse to be as he is in person and office as you haue before heard but as you may sufficiently perceiue by Christes setting of himselfe before the faithfull as the meate and drinke of their soules and by his requiring that they should hunger and thirst after him yea eate him drinke him then by his plaine expounding that eating drinking of him to be beleeuing in him he is by faith to be taken appropriated to euery right beleeuer in him And to put it out of doubt that the iustifying faith or faith in Christ Iesus must haue and indeed hath this effect Paule after he had willed the Corinthians to proue try themselues whether they were in the faith hee streight addeth And examine your selues know you not your own selues that Iesus Christ is in you vnlesse you be reprobates 2. Co. 13.5 when faith thus apprehendeth Christ so possesseth her owner of him as that he himself may know that Christ is in him how cā it be then but he that hath by faith so found and got Christ hath also in him by him a special assurance that his sins are forgiuen him that vndoubtedly he shall for that Christs sake be saued when it doth all this we denie not but most willingly we confesse that there it bringeth forth by the power of the spirit of sanctification good works plentifully in her owner but yet we dare not say that it iustifieth either for the worthinesse of it selfe or for the worthines of all the noble traine of good works inseperablie alwaies in good measure accōpanying it but onely for the worthines of Iesus Christ whom it apprehendeth But that vndoubtedly faith findeth in Christ Iesus full and sufficient cause and matter for which most certainely God will both iustifie saue all those that thereby haue put him on as Paule speaketh Rom. 13.14 all the places of scripture before produced to proue him to be in and of himselfe a full and most perfect Sauiour most pregnantly and forceably scrue Seeing therefore brethren as thereby sufficiently hath appeared by the blood of Iesus We may be bold to enter into the holy place by the new and liuing way which he hath prepared for vs through the vaile that is his flesh and seeing we haue an high priest which is ouer the house of God let vs draw neere with a true heart in assurance of faith sprinkled in our hearts frō an euill conscience and washed in our bodies with pure water let vs keep the professiō of our hope without wauering for he is faithful that promised Heb. 10.19 For faith is the ground of things hoped for the euidence of things which are not seene Heb. 11.1 Let vs aske thē therfore in faith of our good gracious God and wauer not as Iames coūselleth vs for he that wauereth is like the waters of the sea tost of the winde and caried away neither let that man thinke that he shall obtaine any thing of the Lord Iam. 2.19 And let vs confidently conclude with Saint Paule that beeing iustified by faith we haue peace with God through Iesus Christ by whom also we haue accesse through faith vnto his grace wherein we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God yea with that hope that shall neuer shame or confound vs. Rom. 5.1 c. For whatsoeuer our aduersaries say or feele to the contrary in themselues we that can finde once by faith that we haue put on Christ that we haue eaten his flesh and drunke his blood yea that he is euen in vs and therefore haue first Gods promises often declared and made vnto vs and then the same particularly outwardly in the sacraments and inwardly in our soules by his spirit thus sealed and applied vnto vs dare boldly with Saint Iohn say that we know we are translated from death to life 1. Epist 3.14 and with Saint Paule that we are perswaded that nothing shall euer seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus For seeing he hath not spared to bestow his owne sonne vpon vs how shall he not with him giue vs all things else Rom. 8.13.39 yea we are sure it is no presumption to beleeue God without any wauering thus many waies testifying his effectuall mercy loue to appertaine euen vnto vs eye we know it were wickedly to call the trueth and faithfulnesse of God into question once to doubt when he so many waies hath sought to put vs out of al doubt No maruel though the papistes can attaine vnto no such ioy and peace or assurance in their consciences of saluation by their faith For first they build as much of their faith vpon the sandie foundation of their owne traditions as vpon the rocke of the canonicall scriptures secondly the faith that they talke on leades them no further then to a generall astent to all trueth reuealed by God vnto man in his word whereof in particular they neyther thinke the knowledge of all that trueth necessary nor yet the speciall application of the promises to any contenting themselues with beleeuing in generall that there is in the Church remission of sinnes purchased by Christ c. And thirdly they hold there is no such faith whereby in for Christ the owner therof can come to any such assurāce of the mercy of God of the forgiuenes of his sins and of life euerlasting yea that that is rather a presumption a mere fiction and inuention then any faith allowed of God vnlesse God giue a man a speciall reuelation as it were telling him by name in particular that he shall haue these in deed for Christs sake and that therefore it is inough for to beleeue that their are these things in deede by Christ purchased And therfore lastly they holde that faith may be in the reprobate and that it is said to iustifie onely bicause it is one of the first dispositions to iustification and that it iustifieth not so much for apprenending Christ the iustifier as for that it obtaineth that Christ shoulde formally iustify her owner by powring into him the grace of charity whereby he may after be able more to iustifie himself and to merite the kingdome of heauen by good works So that in effect they hold teach that it iustifieth not for Christ apprehended applied to her owner but for charitie and other good works that Christ by his grace for the worthinesse therof bestoweth vpon him quite contrary to the scriptures which as we haue heard shut workes quite out from this office of iustifying and purchasing of saluation for man Whereas they know further
vnto vs and by his Spirit communicateth him vnto vs after a spirituall and misticall manner and that we by faith wrought and nourished in vs by this his Spirit and meanes feed vpon to our euerlasting saluation Touching which faith Conclusion of the commandement which thus I haue made as it were the hand mouth of our soule to take Christ offered vnto vs in the word Sacraments withall at the hand of God hsi spirit let it be remembred once againe that Christ here in my text calling for it to drinke him by saith not simply he that beleeueth in mee but with this adition as saith the Scripture Wherby let vs to conclude this point withall learne that in this case it is not inough to beleeue as we list nor as this man or that this company or that teach vs alwayes Yea that we neuer beleeue aright to this purpose vntill we beleeue in Christ as the canonicall Scriptures teach vs. All which as I haue before sufficiently shewed lay him still before vs to be beleeued in as our sole and onely meritorious cause of our saluation with whom we may neither ioyne any other person or thing And so stedfast also our confidence of saluation these teach vs ought to be in him that thereby we may say We haue peace with God through him and such accesse to Gods grace as that we stand therin and reioyce vnder hope which shall neuer be confounded Rom. 5. vers 1.2.3 c. In so much that hauing reckoned vp all thinges that are most likely to doe it yet with Paule all that haue this faith may boldly and triumphantly say That nothing shall seperate them from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus In any case therefore by the meanes that he hath appointed for that purpose which I haue now also laide before you let vs striue to attaine to this faith and to nourish it when we haue once got it For this is it that ioyneth Christ and vs togither and so fully possesseth vs of him and all the treasured graces and mercies of God prouided for mens saluation in him that therefore it bringeth vnto vs the peace that passeth all vnderstanding Phil. 4.7 and the ioy that none can euer take from vs. Iohn 16.22 We haue the word of God and that written outwardly sealed in the Sacramentes and thereby by his spirit also inwardly offering to seale sealing the same vnto our heartes consciences that God the Father in and by his sonne Christ Iesus by the mightie working of the holie Ghost both can and will saue vs. Whatsoeuer therefore papistes prate to the contrarie let vs most firmly and constantlie thus beleeue and not once dare call the trueth of God thus many waies confirmed vnto vs once into question But then let vs neuer for get that golden saying of Cyprian De duplicimartirio Non credit in Deum qui non in eo solo collocat totius suae salut is fiducia that is He beleeues not in God at all that placeth not the whole confidence of his saluation in him alone And the rather for that thus to doe our Creedes our Baptisme and all the scriptures teach vs. Let vs not therefore by the example or doctrine of Papistes be drawne from hence to put our confidence as they doe both in a number of persons and things that are not God For that were vndoubtedly howsoeuer they would perswade men to the contrary no better than to become plaine reuolters and apostares from the ancient found Catholicke faith which all these most plainely teach and binde vs vnto and in deede to fet vp vnto our selues a new Christ of our owne deuising with whom none of these euer acquainted vs. Wherefore as in these respectes I would wish that we tooke heed of the seauen of the popish faith as of the verie baine poyson of our soules so also beware we of their kinde of faith in the vse of the Sacrament of the body bloode of Christ For as you may perceiue by that which I haue said already of that matter the faith that they most call for in that busines is a beleeuing that Christes very body blood are really there vnder the formes of bread wine so be taken in by the bodily mouth of euery receiuer quite contrarie both to the true sence of the Scripturs in that behalf to the nature of Christ These things thus finished and concluded it remaineth now that we proceede in our text wherein we haue yet to consider of the promise therin made by Christ to all those and to none but to those that by right knowing him and beleeuing in him come vnto him and drinke of him This promise he vtters and expresses in these wordes as you haue hearde The promise out of his bellie shall flowe riuers of water of life whereunto if we referre these wordes as saith the Scripture as many interpreters both olde and newe doe then they teach vs to vnderstand this promise as the Scripture teacheth vs ellewhere and not otherwise And seeing Christ hath vttered the promise in such a metaphoricall phrase as hee hath it may verie well be that of very purpose he placed those wordes as he did not onely to teach vs as we haue heard alreadie that we come vnto him and drinke of him by sound knowledge and right faith as the Scriptures shew vs but also plainelie to instruct vs that in so doing we must looke to haue the wordes of this promise fulfilled vnto vs not in any grosse or literall sence but onelie in such spirituall manner and sorte as the Scriptures themselues in other places declare Heereby then to beginne withall Christ hath giuen vs this moste notable and profitable rule that it is a moste sounde way rightile to expounde Scriptures and so rightlie to vnderstande them to conferre Scripture with Scripture and to admit no sence of figuratiue and darke phrases and speaches in the same but that which may doth stand with other more plaine places which in Gods wisedom and prouidence euen of purpose elsewhere are set downe therein that they may be as a key to let vs into the right sence of the harde than which rule howsoeuer nowe a daies our aduersaries would perswade they haue founde a better namely to make the current practise of their Church which when they haue braued of Doctors and Councelles neuer so much is indeede onely the verie pleasure mutable fansie of their Popes the ancient Fathers haue esteemed and followed this as the best and saifest As it is euident in Augustine De doctrina Christiana Lib. 3.2.6 where he defineth that to be alwaies the sence of the harde place which is taught in plainer and that no sence is to be receiued to be the sence of any which cannot be proued so to be out of other places Of the same minde Hierome showes himselfe to haue beene in his 19. Homilie vpon Esay noting that
for the worthinesse of the thinges done or suffered by men as for that they are done of men formally iustified before with God by the infused grace of charity and that they are therefore growne to that efficacie by the bloode and merits of Christ for which beleeued but on as they teach God hath iustified them by infusing the gift of charitie into their soules and mindes let them not once thinke or dreame I say that any or all of these their sophisticall and cunning sleights or shiftes eyther can or shall once darken or blemish the plaine euidence and cleare light of this doctrine of iustification redemption and full saluation freely and effectually by faith in Christ Iesus For as for the first of these they cannot be ignorant that whensoeuer the question is in hande how and wherby man is to be iustified before God the scriptures throughout as plainely teach vs that there is but one iustification or waie thereunto as they teach vs that there is but one God Indeede they shewe sometimes that there is a proceeding and growing forward â—â—eerein from vertue to vertue from faith to faith and so from strength to strength in applying vnto vs according to the increasings of our knowledge more and more of our owne wantes and of Christes person and office and according to our proceeding in the strength vertue power of our faith grounded therupon Christ Iesus his merits and sometimes they speak of iustification in a larger or in another signification therfore then they may and doe vrge him that is iustified to be yet more iustified but heereupon to builde that therefore there are two distinct kindes of iustification of man before the tribunall seate of GOD is both to builde without grounde and foundation and wilfullie in a most serious cause to play and seeke by dallying with ambiguitie of wordes to deceiue the simple Now as for their second shift the vanity falshoode therof will soone appeare to any that with any indifferencie wil but consider Paules wordes when in handling of this point he shutteth out workes of the lawe from hauing any thing to doe in the office of iustifying For writing as he did alwaies when he handled this question not to Iewes that indeede thorowe ignorance both of Christ and of the true meaning and vse of the lawe vsed to seeke by the workes of the lawe in their sence that is by workes taught by the lawe and done before grace to be iustified but to conuerted and beleeuing Gentiles to what purpose had it beene to labour so often and so earnestlie to driue them from seeking iustification by such workes of the lawe whereof they coulde neuer make anie such reckoning in that before their conuersion they were not so much as once acquainted with the lawe If therfore we must thinke as we are bounde that Paule wrote and spoke to the purpose and aptlie to those that he had to deale withall out of all question we must needs be of that iudgement that he taught euen the conuerted and beleeuing gentiles in what measure soeuer the spirit of grace enabled them to haue and to performe neuer so manie good workes of the lawe yet when they were neuer so full of them to trust perfectly freely to be iustified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus and not at all by the workes of the lawe Alas who is so simple as to thinke that the false Apostles sought to perswade the Galathians whome Paule had left setled in seeking their iustification freely by faith in Christ to seeke manie so to be iustified in part or in whole by workes of the lawe done without or before grace and yet if this popish glose must stand Paule in his Epistle written of purpose to perswade the Galathians not to listen to these teaching them to seeke any way to be iustified before God by the workes of the lawe therein eyther disputes to no purpose and fightes but with his owne shadowe or else it must be granted that these were the workes of the lawe that they were taught by them to put some trust and confidence in which to imagine were most grosse and absurde for there is no likelihoode therein at all His reasons that he vsed to shut out the workes of the lawe from the office of iustifying are these for by the lawe commeth the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 For that our reioycing is in this case excluded not by the lawe of works but by the lawe of faith vers 27. For that if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce but not with God for that the wages is counted to him that worketh not of fauour as he taketh it for graunted it was to Abraham and must be to all the children of Abraham in this case but of debt which likewise he assumeth as graunted to be in this point absurde Rom. 4.2.4 For if they which are of the lawe be heires faith is made voyde and the promise is of none effect For the lawe causeth wrath 14.15 therefore it is by faith that it might come by grace and the promise might be sure to all the seeds 16. As mante as are of the workes of the lawe are vnder the curse For it is written cursed is euery one that continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the lawe to doe them No man is iustified by the lawe in the sight of God it is euident for the iust shall liue by faith and to Abraham and his seede were the promises made he saith not and to thy seedes as speaking of manie but and to thy seede as of one which is Christ Gal. 3.10.11.16 Euerie and all of which argumentes make and serue strongly not onely to debarre woorks done before grace according to the outward letter of the lawe from all office and power to iustifie but also all workes done after grace effectually if mans owne free will in such sort concurre to the working of them as they teach For euen therein and when they are done the lawe findeth such imperfection in the doer as we may see by Paules owne confession Rom. 7.24 that he hath cause to crie O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne and death and to acknowledge euen in such a one as then he himselfe was who doubtlesse was then in the state of grace that the lawe is such a reuealer of sin yet to be in him and therfore also of wrath that he is so farre off from hauing any cause by his own works done after grace to thinke that he deserueth to be iustified or saued in any respect that thereby he may iustly with him take occasion to confesse that though the law be spiritual yet he is carnal so sold vnder sinne that in his flesh there dwelleth no good thing for though to will is present with him that he allowe not the euill he doth because in
the breade of life Vers 35. c. and then he discendeth to this but he that eateth the flesh of the son of man drinketh his blood eateth the breade of life vers 54. for he shal haue eternal life wherupon what can else follow but this therefore to eate the flesh of the son of man to drinke his blood is to beleeue in him But whom these things yet cānotperswade to be of this minde let them further remēber that Iohn hauing said as many as receiue Christ are made the sons of God cap. 1.12 that immediately lest we should not cōceiue aright what it is to receiue him he addeth that is euen they that beleeue in him And let them also cōsider that Paule praying that Christ might dwel in the hearts of the Ephesians addeth streight to shew vs how that might bee by saith cap. 3.17 For but these two places well laid togither pregnātly prooue that Christ is both got kept receiued of vs continued in vs by faith And let not any mā think either that this is new doctrine of late deuised by vs or that true faith is too weake thus to reach Christ to make him ours For first it is certaine that Tertulian who liued within 200. yeares after Christs birth in his booke de resurrectione carnis cap. 29. most plainely hath said Christus est auditu deuorandus intellecturuminandus fide digerendus that is Christ is to be deuoured by hearing to be chewed by vnderstanding to be digested by faith And Augustine who florished about the 400. yeare is both most plaine plentiful in this point For in his 25. tract vpon Iohn he saith Quidparas dentem ventrē crede manducasti Why preparest thou thy teeth belly beleeue thou hast eaten And in the next he writeth much to that purpose for he saith there Ad Christū non ambulandocurrimus sed credendo non motu carnis sed voluntate cordis that is we runne to Christ not by walking but by beleeuing not by the motiō of the flesh but by the wil of the heart Yea in plain tearms there also he saith Credere in eū est manducare panē vinū to beleeue in him is to eat the bread of life But in my opiniō most notably he writeth to this end vpon occasion of the Centurions cōming to Christ in his 33. booke against Faustus the Manichee cap. 8. saying Accedant ad Iesum nō carne sed corde non corporis praesentia sed fidei potentia Let thē come to Iesus not with or in flesh but with or in heart not by bodily presence but by the power of faith Now teaching the other point also that faith is not too weake thus to apprehend Christ it is as plaine that he hath saide in his 50. tract vpon Iohn Quomodo in coelum manū mittam vt ibi sedentem teneam fidem mitte tenuisti parentes tui tenuerunt carne tu tene corde quoniam Christus absens etiam praesens est nisi praesens esset à nobis teneri non posset c. that is How shal I stretch my hand into heauen that I may holde him sitting there Send thy faith and thou hast hold of him the fathers held him in the flesh hold thou him in heart for Christ absent is also present for vnlesse he were present he could not be held of vs. And how this shall be he plainely sheweth saying He is gone and yet he is heere for he caried his body into heauen but his maiestie he hath not taken from the worlde Chrisostome also an other ancient father who liued much what about Augustines time in his second Homilie vpon these wordes of Esay Vidi Dominum I haue seene the Lord sheweth that though we cannot flie vp to heauen in bodie that yet in minde and cogitation we may For God saith he hath giuen that such winges that nothing can let or stop it if it will flie to heauen farre more pearcing eies God hath giuen it saith he then the body And in his 24. Homilie vpon the first to the Corinthians remembring there that saying of Christ Mat. 24.28 Where the carion is thither will the Eagles resort thereupon he inferreth that the Lordes table is not for Iayes or Crowes that feede belowe but for Eagles that take their meate aloft he saith that by hat speach Christhath taught them that would come vnto his body to flie aloft and not to creepe vpon the earth nor yet to haue any dealing therewith It is worthy the remembring also that the same Father noteth touching the power and force of faith vpon Paules telling the Galathians That Christ was euen crucified amongst them Cap. 3.1 For he plainely sheweth that the Apostle in so saying shewed them that the strength of faith was such that it is able to see thinges though farre off and so by the eies of faith in the ministrie of the worde and sacraments which had beene amongst those Galathians Christes death was or might haue beene as clearely seene and more clearly then it was of many that were present at it And vnto Bernards time who liued aboue 1100 yeares after Christ it seemeth that this was the currant and receiued doctrine of the Church touching our communion to be had and attained vnto with Christ by faith For in his 28. Homilie vpon the Canticles he most plainely sheweth that though Christ be ascended that yet he both may and will be touched Sed affectu non manu voto non oculo fide non sensibus but then saith he it must be by affection and not by hand by desire and not by eye by faith and not by the senses And againe in his 76. sermon vpō the Canticles most notable is it that he writeth to this purpose saying Though Christ be set at the right hand of his Father goe to yet follow him seeke him and let neyther his inaccessable brightnesse nor his height discourage thee from seeking or once cause thee to dispaire of finding him if thou canst beleeue all things are possible to the beleeuer the word is neare to my mouth and heart Crede inuenisti nam credere inuenisse est that is Beleeue and thou hast found him for to beleeue is to haue found him This admirable power of faith doubtlesse is excellently aduouched Heb. 11.1 whiles there it is defined to be the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene Wherefore let vs not once doubt but where Christ is soundly and rightly beleeued in there by that faith the owner thereof eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood to his or her eternall saluation Euerye kinde of faith will not serue heere yea none but that which is according to the scriptures Yet then great need and care is to be taken that this faith of ours be sound right For neither can euery faith a dead faith or an erroneous and wrong faith stand vs in anie
that the same scriptures put a manifest difference betwixt this righteousnesse of the law that lies in doing and that which we haue to make vs righteous by by saith in Christ Iesus Rom. 10.5 c. and Gal. 3.12 And yet euen their great Doctor Bellarmine neither is nor will be ashamed of any of this their doctrine of faith and in this last point though he be enforced to graunt that we are first iustified freely without workes in Christ Iesus and that heauen also is Gods childrens by adoption and inheritance yet the formall cause of our iustification must be with him the infused habite of charitie and good workes after done must make vs to haue a second right vnto the kingdome of heauen and so to further degrees of glory there by the way of wages and iust debt Though for all this when he hath done his best for the maintenance of this second title and right thereunto he dare not teach any with any special assurance confidence that cannot deceiue them to trust thereunto Nay these things thus being most certainly held and taught by thē touching the nature of faith quite contrary to the scriptures I can neuer maruaile that by their faith there is bred no certainner hope or confidence in them of Gods mercie or of the forgiuenesse of their sinnes or of anie thing else that appertaines to saluation then as when they are at the best may finally deceiue them and in the meane time with much feare and doubting of their estate trouble them yea I rather wonder that in the iust iudgement of God they are not in continuall horrour and terrour of conscience and as it were compassed about euery houre with the verie tormentes of hell for that they will not be brought to seeke to come to the father onely by him but by whom as he himselfe hath taught vs none can euer come vnto him Io. 14.6 For whiles thus they pleade and stand vpon a wrong title and would also beare men in hand that a speciall ende and vse of Christes comming was not to procure them sufficient title and right to the kingdome of heauen in and by himselfe and thinges done and suffered by and in his owne person but to inable them by these meanes to make themselues to haue a second a better further title thereunto they are most worthy to loose al the comfort that they might haue if they would stand to the right and onely good title by and for Iesus Christes sake alone And doubtlesse as I haue shewed before if they repent not they will one day all the packe of them finde though too late that Paule hath pronounced sentence of them in the like case of the Galathians Cap. 5.4 saying Yee are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the lawe yee are falne from grace God of his mercie therefore if it be his holy will open their eies in time that they may repent of all these their most dangerous errours and come with vs once to be content to beleeue in Christ Iesus as the Scriptures indeede teach vs. In the meane time let this that I haue said be a sufficient warning to vs as the adopted sonnes of God thorow faith in Christ Ioh. 1.12 to looke for heauen as an inheritance prepared for vs by our heauenly father before the foundations of the world were made Matt. 25.34 and now reserued for vs which are kept by the power of God thorow faith vnto saluation Pet. 1.4 5. that so heauen may be to vs as it is said to be indeed the free gift of God Rom. 6.23 through Iesus Christ our Lord. And let vs let thes hireling and mercenarie minded men alone that disdaine to haue heauen of Gods free almes and therefore will haue it eyther by their owne earninge and deseruing of it or else they will goe without it which they are most like to doe bicause they will haue it otherwise then God himselfe the owner therof hath couenanted and appointed that euer anie shall come by it I know they haue their colours and sophistical deuises to giue yet such a glosse and faire shewe to this their dealing as though for all this all were very well of their sides but all they can gaine therby is this that so much the more they proue their religion to be aptlie and worthily tearmed by the Apostle the mistrie of iniquitie 2. Thess 2.7 and that the proud and pompeous whore of Babylon shoulde haue that worde Mysterie set for her very brand and marke in her forehead and that she should yet carie al her abhominations and fornications wherewith she shoulde make the inhabitantes of the world drunken in a golden cup the sooner to entise them to drinke deepely thereof For indeede and trueth as I haue shewed before and elsewhere they can stand them in no better steede eyther before God or before any that are wise than Adam and Eues fig leaues did them to hide their nakednes from the eies of God For how can they be so sillie and simple as to imagine indeede that in this great light any can wil be so foolish as hearing what they doe so plainelie and plentifully set downe euerie where in the doctrine of the gospell that Christ went thorow effectually in his owne person with the worke of our redemption and saluation as once to be drawne by their sophisticall perswasions that yet what he hath done serueth especially but to merit that chantie first should be bestowed vpon vs and then that thereunto to our good workes proceeding therefrom should be conuaied from his merits a dignitie and power first formally to iustifie vs by the one which we could not bee by the application of him and his merites vnto vs thorow faith and then after to earne and merite more surelie for vs by the other the kingdom of heauen then he had done For they may prate and brag that whiles they thus say and teach they attribute more to the merits of Christ than we doe that both for our iustification and saluation trust onelie thereunto but euerie man for all that vnder these fayre wordes may plainely see that in verie deede they heereby most grosselie woulde make him as I saide before the verie principall in the robbing of himselfe of that speciall honor that is his to be a full and a perfect Sauiour in and by himselfe This faith is wrought by the spirite But inoug his said of this point Howbeit this further touching this faith whereby we eate and drinke Christ and make him our owne welbeloued I would haue you to vnderstand that it is not to be attained vnto by any power or strength of flesh and blood but it is the speciall worke and fruite of the Spirit of God For immediately after Iohn had tolde vs that they that beleeue in Christ at they that receiue him whereby they are made the sonnes of God he saith that such are borne not of bloode nor of the
therwith the Spirit of God so to worke in your heartes that the eies of your soules be opened aright to see and knowe Christ and your hearts framed accordingly to beleeue in him vndoubtedly euen then according to Christs commaundement heere in my text you come vnto him and drinke him yea you eate his flesh and drinke his bloode to eternall life Wherefore deare brethren when you come but to heare I say vnto euerie one of you with the wise man Ecclesiastes 4.17 Take heede to thy foote when thou entrest into the house of God that so thou maist follow his counsel in that which followeth that is to be more neare to heare thā to offer the sacrifice of fooles And according to the aduise of Ieremy by the strong plow of repentance faith breake vp the fallow ground of your hearts when you come to heare that we sow not the good seede of the worde amongst thornes Cap. 4.4 For as you may most plainly learne by the parable Mat. 13.4 c. though the Lord send neuer so good seedsmē amongst you they sow the good seed neuer so faithfully yet if your hearts be either like the high way or like thornie or stony ground you shal neuer bring forth any good haruest to the Lord. For onely the good honest heart furnished with patiēce shall doe that as there we are taught and therefore labour to bring such hearts But alas when all comes to all most true it is that Christ saith none can come vnto him but whom the father draweth Io. 6.44 Paul may plant and Apollo water and yet all to no purpose vnlesse God giue the increase 1. Cor. 3.3 And yet I say for all this despise not prophecying if you woulde take out the former lesson quench not the spirit 1. Thes 5.19.20 For by the outwarde ministrie of men the Lord inwardlie by his spirite worketh in you a knowledge and loue of Christ and so draweth you vnto him And that hath Christ himselfe taught immediatly saying Ioh. 6.45 It is written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God Euerie man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the father commeth vnto me Whereupon very well Augustine in his 26. tract vpon Iohn noteth saying videte quomodo trahit pater docendo delectat non necessitatem imponendo that is behold how the father draweth by teaching he delighteth not by imposing necessitie or enforcing And to the same purpose vpon the foresaide wordes hee moste sweetely obserueth that it being founde true in these earthly delightes that euerie one is drawne or caried with his delight that much rather Christ by teaching beeing manifested vnto vs by his Father will draw vs vnto him Yet most certaine it is that onely God it is that first openeth and enlightneth our mindes to see Christ by his ministrie set before vs and who then creates in vs a newe a will to delight in him and to imbrace him which the same Father acknowledgeth also saying that we will well he worketh of himselfe without vs and when we so will that we doe he worketh togither with vs De gratia libero arbitrto Cap. 17. And yet though all this be most true Of Sacramentes in generall are not the sacramentes and the vse and meditation thereof needlesse and superfluous vnto vs to this purpose For as the worde written in the canouical Scriptures is as the written will of our heauenly Father which we publish vnto you when we read them and by preaching open them vnto you so the Sacramentes are as the great and auten tike seales of the Lord annexed thereunto for the more and better assuring vs of the certainetie of those heauenly legaces that therein are bequeathed vs. Indeed God for his part is so stedfast constant and true in all his sayings that though onelie by bare speech he should reueale his will vnto vs it were our dueties most stedfastly to beleeueit But he that made vs knoweth what is in vs and by experience we finde how necessarie so euer it be for vs to beleeue the word of God that yet though we haue it as in the goodnesse of God towardes vs we haue both written and thus sealed and confirmed by his Sacraments that all this is little inough to make vs beleeue it as we should Wherefore seeing it hath pleased God to stoupe so lowe vnto vs thus to apply himself to our capacity let vs in the name of God praise him therfore and most thankfully take vse of all the meanes that he hath left vs to get vnto his sonne by And therefore giue me leaue heere to enlarge my selfe a little vnto you that there be nothing wanting in mee to shew you or to helpe you forward by the helpe of these Sacramentes that I speake of through the working of Gods spirite in your heartes withall more and more to come vnto Christ and to be vnited vnto him to your euerlasting saluation And the rather because I know as the right vnderstanding of the nature thereof may by Gods blessing mightilie helpe you or ward therein so eyther the ignorance thereof or an erroneous conceite of them may verie much hinder you in the same Sacraments I call them according to the ancient vse and phrase of the Church which name I take was at the first borrowed from an ancient fashion of making a solemne vow and couenant betwixt the Emperour and his souldiers whereby he was bound to them to goe in and out before them as an Emperour they bound themselves vnto him againe to be faithfull and obedient souldiers And therefore because in these sacred rites it was obserued that likewise there passeth a solemne couenant betwixt God and the worthie receiuers thereof it was thought that not vnfitly they might be called Sacraments And in verie deede whether we consider Baptisme or that other of the bodie and blood of Christ we shall easily finde that thereby this is done For in Baptisme the minister in the name of GOD offereth by baptising in water in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost vnto the partie baptized not onelie a figure representation of the washing away of his sinnes and of his regeneration in the bloode of Christ but also a visible and sensible seale thereof whereby God bindeth himselfe to doe all this for the partie if the let and stoppe thereof be not in himselfe and he likewise by receiuing this Sacrament maketh open profession that he will liue and beleeue accordingly And in the other when breade and wine called as they be are deliuered vnto the communicant in like maner then God offereth to feede that partie to eternall life with the bodie broken and blood shed of his son and he by taking of them makes open confession that he so beleeueth and therefore will so shew it in his life therafter and of this mutuall couenant the sacrament deliuered and receiued is a most certaine pledge and seale betwixt them
Sacrament either of the olde or new Testament there was euer any such real coniunction of the inward and spiritual part thereof with the outward and yet al men know for all that they were and are effectuall Sacramentes and seales of the deliuerie thereof to the right receiuer what reason in the world can they haue why they should not thinke that this likewise may be and also is a full and effectuall Sacrament to participate the bodie and bloode of Christ without any such coupling of them and the outward elements therof as for the defence of this their real presence here they vrge If that were heere necessarie it should be so eyther by the generall right of all Sacramentes or by some speciall right that may be shewed this hath therunto But neither of these can they or shall they euer be able indeed to shew in this case Further Christs owne sitting visibly seuered in place without any altering of his forme or mouing of his place hauing vttered the words of the institution they being doubtlesse as powrefull then as euer they were since or shal be to make him really to be present to and with the outward elements doth most clearely ouerthrow this conceite And for the next of hauing him so really heerewith present and conioyned that the receiuers thereof though they haue neyther faith nor good manners yet receiue him also therwith as I haue alreadie sufficiently proued it is both against Scripture and sound antiquitie and the former beeing so absurd whereupon it followeth and is built as I haue nowe shewed it is that must also therewith fall downe and be ouerthrowne Yet for the further mabling of thee welbeloued to see yet more not onely the vanitie and impietie thereof vnderstand that such a kinde of presence of Christ shakes all the articles touching the manhood of Christ and in verie deed leades men most strongly so to spoyle him of all the true properties of his manhood that in effect it leadeth them and most forceably teacheth them to denie him indeede to be come into the flesh and to be the seede of the woman of Abraham Isaac and Iacob of Iuda Iesse and Dauid according to the ancient prophesies that are of the Messiah And so for a bootlesse eating of him and fruitlesse as they themselues must needes confesse this mouth-eating of him to be for that they graunt ouen to the worst sort of men that receiue the outward elements in the end they will leaue vs no true Christ at all eyther for vnbeleeuers or beleeuers to feede vpon I knowe their refuge and shift is to auoide this withall to say that it is by miracle as they teach and yet Christes manhood and all the articles touching the same true sound and whole Indeede any man may see that eyther they must say so or else they can say nothing and that in trueth and of absolute necessitie it must be graunted to be the greatest miracle that euer was wrought if it be as they say and yet all these things be vpheld sound according to the true ancient catholicke faith For of both these it must needs follow that Christ at one and selfe same time hath a bodie visible and inuisible palpable and impalpable compassed in place and vncompassed yea that he hath but one bodie and yet many bodies or that one multiplied into many vnlesse contrary to manifest Scripture they wildenie him in the heauens Which shall containe him as Peter saith vntill the restitution of al thinges Act. 3.21 to haue though a glorified bodie yet a true bodie the contrarie whereof all the ancient Fathers as they know well enough with vs against them haue taught And they know though sundrie of these Fathers of purpose haue written of the miracles of the Scripture that yet they haue not once reckoned vp this of theirs amongst them Neither haue they any reason why to thinke that there is heere any such A mysterie and great mystery we willingly acknowledg it to be that in the right vse of this Sacrament Christ by his Spirit by the meanes of the faith of his verily vnites himself vnto his but yet no miracle we count it or cal it because it is Gods ordinary work in other Sacraments so to cōmunicate himselfe to those that rightly vse them and because when he worketh a miracle there is some straunge thing done beyond nature that the verie senses can iudge of which we finde not heere For they all with one consent iudge them in respect of their substances to be verie bread and wine still in the mouthes of all receiuers O but say they neyther sense nor reason are to be consulted withall in this case Indeed I graunt they neuer are against any trueth certainely taught and warranted by the Scriptures but when their iudgement concurres and consents therewith then it is verie lawfull and good to listen thereunto and so alwaies haue the godlie learned in all ages thought and taught And therefore seeing both sense and reason striue against this their deuise for the maintenance of Christes true manhoode and the right sense of all the articles of our faith touching the same with vs euen thereby their cause hath a greater wound than they are euer able to cure againe Besides all this whiles they thus teach without all warrant from Christ or hir word they are compelled least otherwise they shoulde be inforced most absurdly to say that the wicked eate the bodie and blood of Christ to saluation to seperate Christ and his sauing graces the one from the other whereas they cannot be seuered For that must alwaies remaine an absolute trueth Whosoeuer eateth his flesh and drinketh his bloode hath eternall life Iohn 6.54 and so that also he that hath the Sonne hath life and he that hath not the sonne hath not life Iohn 5.12 A spirituall vnion and communion with him they shall both finde oft promised and spoken of as I haue at large alreadie shewed but a beeing of his bodie and bloode in the verie mouthes of all receiuers as they talke of otherwise then Sacramentally that is when the outward sacramentes or signes therof are there they shall neuer finde so much as once spoken for in the scriptures or in any sound and ancient writer indeed I cannot denie but that indeed the Capernaits Iohn 6. by misconceiuing of Christes speeches there had of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood began to dreame that he meant some such thing but we haue heard that Chrisostome plainely sheweth by the answere that he made them that he had no such meaning his wordes were spiritually to be vnderstood and so should giuelife and not otherwise And Athanasius vpon these wordes Whosoeuer speaketh a worde against the Sonne of man writeth that withall then Christ put them in minde of his ascension as indeed he did Iohn 6.62 to draw them from corporall and fleshly vnderstanding of his wordes And therefore verie excellently hath Augustine to preuent
all such conceits or murmuring by occasion of that doctrine of Christ written of those words of his whereat they so stumbled in his third booke of christian doctrine Chap. 16. saying thus That saying of Christ except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man drinke his bloode ye haue no life c. seemeth to commend an heinous thing and a wicked and therefore it is a figure commaunding vs to be partakers of Christes passion and to keepe in our mindes to our great comfort and profit that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. But I am not ignorant that these men would seeme to mislike the Capernaits opinion as much as we and that therefore they labour to put an infinite difference betwixt their fansie of eating his flesh and drinking his bloode and this of theirs For they imagined say they that then they should feede vpon them visiblie and by piece-meale as they did of other their vsuall meat and drinke whereas they purpose them to be fed on inuisibly and wholly But alas what a poore difference is this as though it were not as much against the lawe of God the law of all nations and nature also knowing it to eate and drinke mans flesh and bloode vnseene as seene all at a morsell or at a sup as by many morsels and suppes If yet they will needes vrge this their reall presence and their mouth-eating really of Christ how will they auoyde the daunger then that that generall and vniuersall proposition of Christ will bringe them vnto saying as we reade he did Mat. 15.17 What soeuer entreth into the mouth goeth into the bellie is cast out into the draught c Euen this hath caused many both as learned as any of them and farre more ancient to vnderstand the eating of Christ to be by the mouth of the soule faith and not by the very mouth of the bodie And they know with one consent the ancient Fathers teach that the wicked and vnbeleeuing whiles they remain such cannot eate the bodie and bloode of Christ which they neither could nor would haue done if they had knowne that there was any such reall presence eyther by Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation as nowe these men teach For eyther of these beeing graunted the other how absurd soeuer it be must follow thereupon And therefore is it because they know that the Consequent being absurd the Antecedent frō whence it floweth must needs be so also that these men are thus eager to defend this to be no absurditie that all that communicate though they be neuer so bad and faithlesse eate the bodie and drinke the bloode of Christ really for otherwise they know they cannot defend any longer their reall presence as they do For Isee no cause else why they should make so much a doe for persons so vnworthie to haue such care and paines taken for them But yet so wedded are these men vnto their groundes that they haue builded this their fancie vpon mentioned before Christes wordes proue not their purpose that vnlesse we can driue them frō thence notwithstanding all yet said against it it is to be feared that they wil think that they both may and ought to holde it still Wherefore whereas first they seeme to thinke that the wordes of Christ are plaine and pregnant to prooue their kind of reall presence and mouth-eating consequently of his bodie and bloode doubtlesse if with a single eie and without any preiudicate opinion we consider thereof we shall soone see that it is nothing but peeuishnesse wilfulnesse that makes them eyther so to say or thinke That the wordes of Christ are most certaine and true in the sense that he meant them when he vttered them we neuer denied nor will no nor yet we neuer gaue leaue vnto our selues so much as once to doubt thereof Wherefore if any of them perswade any man otherwise of vs they doe vs open and manifest wrong Neither can we thinke so vncharitablie of them but that we are perswaded that they so likewise thinke of them Heerein then is the difference and controuersie betwixt them and vs whether we or they hit of the right sense thereof Which beeing the question indeed as it is for the determining herof euery reasonable man must needes confesse that whose interpretation agrees best with the nature of the thing in hand with the analogie of faith and good manners with the rest of the Scriptures and sound antiquitie that is to be taken best to agree with Christes meaning and therefore is the fense to be followed and preferred before all others Nowe we interprete the wordes of Christ as spoken by a Metonymie that is by a figure of speech whereby one thing beares the name of the other as heere bread and wine we say doe of the bodie broken and blood shed of Christ because the one both signifies and representes the other vnto vs and also assures vs rightlie receiuing the one that we are and shal be partakers also of the other These men crie and vrge that the wordes are plaine and without any such figure and yet howsoeuer they therefore agree that they import a reall presence to the outward clementes and to the mouth of euerie receiuer as we haue heard yet the one sorte would haue them expounded to that end to inferre Consubstantiation and the other a Transubstantiation Iudge therefore now I beseech you by the foresaid rules whether theirs or ours be likest to be Christes meaning The matter in hande when those wordes were first vttered by him was a Sacrament and they know as wel as we that in all other Sacramentes when eyther they were instituted by God or afterwards spoken of by him though the very like Phrases for all the world were vsed of them that are here by Christ of these that yet vnto this day neuer any of themselues or others expounded them eyther as they doe these heere or otherwise then we doe these Circumcision is called the Couenant Gen. 17.10 the Lamb the Passeouer Exod. 12.21 the rocke that the people of Israel dranke the water of in the wildernesse Christ 1. Cor 10.4 the blood of their sacrifices the blood of the Couenant Exod. 24.8 the Arke the King of glorie and Iehouah Psal 24.8.10 and Baptisme is called the lauer or washing of our new birth Tit. 3.5 And yet who euer expounded these phrases eyther by Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation thereby really to make alwaies present to euery of these outward elements the spirituall matter thereby signified and resembled yea who euer vnderstoode these otherwise then to be as the wordes import onely by signification representation and for the assurance of the right vsers of them of the presence to them of the thinges therby signified and represented spiritually Why therfore should Christ either speake otherwise in the instituting of this then had beene vsed in all other Sacraments or speaking but euen so what reasō is there why his speach should otherwise
remission of our sinnes And yet heereby it is most euident that the bodie and bloode of Christ in respect of this their estate and condition are the bodie and blood of his that expresly by the words of the institution we are heere to seeke for and to feede vpon How can this then be otherwise but as we teach by calling heereby to our remembrance that once most certainely they were thus handled for vs and by beleeuing that therby our saluation was wrought which as oft as we doe we are fed and nourished therewith to eternall life Thus then you see the matter in hand the Analogie of faith and good manners and not onely other Scriptures but the verie words of the institution lead strongly to the maintenāce of our expositiō of Christs words in the institution of this Sacrament and to the vtter ouerthrow of theirs And truely the ancient Fathers as we haue a thousand times shewed thē are wholly also of our side against them It were infinite to bring al that might be found in them to this purpose as by large volumes written and published by vs about this matter we haue made it euident Howbeit somwhat yet now againe let vs heare what some of the chiefe of them haue said Christ tooke bread which comforteth mans heart that he might therby represent the trueth of his body saith Hierome vpon the 26. of Mathew Christ in his last supper saith Cyprian in his sermon de vnctione Chrismatis with his owne hands at his table gaue his Apostles bread wine but vpon the crosse he gaue his body to be woūded by the hands of the souldiers that sincere trueth more secretly imprinted in the Apostles the true sincerity might expound vnto the nations how bread wine was the body blood and after what sort the causes and their effects agreed and diuers names and kindes should be reduced to one essence and the things signifying and the things signified were called with one selfe same names And Ambrose in his 4. booke 4. chapter of Sacraments writeth that as in Baptisme we receiue the similitude of death so in this sacramēt we drink the similitude of Christs blood And Chrysostome most plainly saith in his 11. Homily vpō Mathew that Christ his body it selfe is not in the holy vessels but the mysterie Sacrament therof Augustine in his 57. question vpon Leuiticus prescribeth for a rule that the thing that signifieth is wont to beare the name of the thing which it singifieth as Paule said saith he the rock was Christ not ti signified Christ but euē as it had bene indeed which neuerthelesse was not Christ by substance but by signification And in his 23. Epistle he saith that the similitude betwixt the signe and thing signified is the verie cause why the one beareth the name of the other in Sacramentes and therefore in his third booke of Christian doctrine he saith it is a miserable slauerie of the soule to take the signes for the thinges signified Cap. 5. Christ honored the signes and representations which are seene with the names of his bodie and blood saith Theodoret in his second dialogue Gelasius against Eutiches affirmeth the image similitude of the body and blood to be celebrated in these mysteries Bede vpon Luke 22. writeth that because bread doth comfort mans heart and wine doth make good blood in his bodie therefore the breade is mystically compared to Christs bodie and the wine to his blood And who hath not heard vs an hundred times tell them that Tertullian in his fourth booke against Marcion interpreteth This is my body saying that it is to say this is a figure of my bodie and that likewise Augustine against Adimantus the Manichee writeth that Christ doubted not to say This is my body when he gaue a signe of his bodie and vpon the third Psalme that he saith that Christ admitted Iudas to a banquet where he commended a figure of his bodie to his disciples And what can be plainer then these eyther against them or for vs All these thinges considered therefore we may boldlie conclude that they haue no ground from Christes wordes for their grosse reall presence And surely as little haue they eyther from his omnipotencie Neither his omnipotency nor glorified body will helpe them or from the state of his glorified bodie For he will not shew his omnipotencie in whatsoeuer we list but in effecting whatsoeuer himselfe pleaseth and therefore they failing in the proofe as they haue that it is his pleasure to haue it as they would it is in vaine for them to thinke that this can or will helpe them out But indeed and trueth howsoeuer they would seeme to grounde much vpon his almightinesse to haue a strong faith therein and seeke to discredit our faith in the same yet in this verie point lot theirs and ours be but a little indifferentlie compared togither and ours soone will prooue farre the stronger For I woulde haue them tell me in good sadnesse whether the Centurion Math. 8.8 that professed that he beleeued that though Christ came no nearer his house then he was in respect of his bodilie presence that yet he was perswaded that if he but spake the word his scruant should be healed or Iairus that said come and lay thy handes on my daughter and she shall liue Math. 9.19 shewed themselues to be better perswaded of Christes omnipotencie Sure I am both reason and Christes magnifying of the Centurions faith ought to leade them and all men to giue the preeminence to the Centurion aboue the other many degrees Why should they not then see and confesse that we shewe our selues more strongly perswaded of his omnipotencie then they in that we shew by our doctrine that we firmly beleeue that he can wil euen remaining stil in heauen feed vs with his body brokē blood shed though that were so with them so long agoe as it hath or they that by theirs seeme to be perswaded that this cannot be vnlesse according to their fancy to the shaking and crossing needlesly of so many groūds both of good māners faith as we haue heard he conuey himself into our mouthes And to what purpose is it for the maintenāce of this their opinion for thē to labour as they do to put infinite difference betwixt his body vnglorified glorified and to seeke to perswade men that it may be as they say in respect of his body now glorified though not in respect therof before seing it is most certaine that when Christ instituted this Sacrament his body was not glorified and by his words expresly as I lately shewed he instituted this to be a Sacrament of his body broken and bloode shed For who doth not or at least may not heereby perceiue that we haue not here any otherwise to deale with his estate glorified thē therby now the more strōgly to be perswaded that indeed he is able to feede vs with his broken
vse and estimation Bertram in a set treatise written of this matter as it is thought in Carolus Calunus time by manie argumentes proues bread and wine still to remaine And Elfricke about the yeare 996. as Fox noteth in two Saxon Epistles which to that ende he recordes therein taught bread and wine heere no otherwise to be the bodie and bloode of Christ then Manna and the water of the rocke in the wildernes were Christ which all men knowe they were but by representation and signification and not really for that then Christ was not become man And the same man as maister Fox noteth translated a sermon out of Latine into the Saxon tongue which he insertes wholly in his story also by him then appointed to be red on Easter day to the Saxons inhabiting then this land which who so readeth shal finde that it contains much direct matter proofe both against transubstantiation and grosse reall presence built thereupon In Bedes time also who died about the yeare 734. the same doctrine was continued heere and elsewhere as it appeareth by that which he hath written vpon the institution as it is set downe by Luke 22. where he shewes as I haue noted before not onely the likelyhoode of the vse of bread and wine in nourishing and cheering our bodies to be the cause they beare the names of the bodie and blood of Christ which semblablie nourish and feede our soules but also he so speaketh and writeth thereof that yet he shewes he tooke them to be bread and wine still And as by this you may see then that both Scriptures and Fathers are against them herein so questionles is all sound reason most stronglye which as long as it is not controwled or crost either by the doctrine of faith or good manners taught in the Scriptures is worth the listening vnto Now reason and all our sences and the experience that we haue had and may haue of the sowreing of the wine of the mouling and corrupting of the hoasts so that wormes may and haue bred thereof and that Dogges Battes Rattes and Mise and so not onely vnbeleeuers can feede thereof are most sure euidence vnto vs that for all their great brags to the contrary with all their crossing whispering breathing becking and doucking and demure pronuncing of the words they cānot neither once remoue the substances of bread and wine away nor bring Christes bodie or blood into the romphs thereof For neither can these things that I haue spoken of all or any of thē be incident to bare accidents neither yet to the most precious body blood of Christ Iesus God and man For who knoweth not that bare accidents are not nor can be subiectes of such accidents as these bee Neither can they be matter to nourish and feed eyther man or beast withal or to breede any such thinges vpon And howsoeuer these men can finde in their heartes to grant that the bodie of the Christ whom they serue may be subiect to all these thinges sure I am the bodie of the true Christ that the saying of the Psalmist might be verified therof Thou wilt not suffer thy holie one to see corruption Psal 16.10 could not possiblie be helde of death vntill it rotte and therefore much lesse will the heauenly Father now that it is glorified let it be eyther meat for such filthie vermin or for the mouthes of wicked men or to be subiect to putrefaction that wormes shal breede theron But I knowe though some of them haue not beene ashamed to saie that he can and may be eaten of such beastes as well as of such men whereof none of them now doubt yet generally they say when such thinges fall out with the outward elements as I haue spoken of then Christ by his almightie power conueyeth himselfe away and lets the olde substances come againe and ioyne themselues with their accidentes In the meane time then I would the best studied of them in this point could eyther tell vs what was becomde in the meane time of the substances or how their accidentes were kept or vnderpropt without substances and so subiectes to be in And if it were granted then that Christ to exempt and to preserue his bodie from these inconueniences remoues it away before any of these can fal out vnto it yet then they graunt that the best shift that their popish Christ hath in this case is to runne away or to giue place Such a Christ may become such kinde of Christians but surely the wise hearted Christians would be loth to trust to such a Christ for their saluation whose best shift is thus to flie that a Mouse eate him not and I would aduise them not to trust themselues too much to such a dastardly Christ I would thinke that they should would rather hold that he driues all these away then that indeede he should be driuen away of any of them and that therefore when any such thing seemeth to fall out otherwise eyther the priest consecrated not well and so failed and came short of transubstantiation or that the sences are deceiued in thinking any such thing in haue happened But seeing they like better to prouide for their Christ by his suddaine departure I would haue them to tell mee whether they worke a greater miracle in transubstantiating breade and wine into him or these kinde of cattell in trasubstantiating him againe into the old bread and wine And I would be glad once to here a substantiall reason why Christs wordes should not or did not proue as powerfull to driue the accidents away as the substance or why they beleeuing notwithstanding Christs plaine wordes that accidents of bread and wine remaine because the senses telles them so they should not or will not beleeue the same senses as plainly assuring them that the substances themselues also remaine that therefore they are there also But what should I trouble my selfe by reason and sense to confute them which as it should seeme haue herein for the maintenance of their owne wilful conceit pride pompe cōmoditie lost both sense reason and religion Notwithstanding to all such as haue these I trust I haue said sufficient to make not onely the verity of our owne doctrine touching this Sacrament sufficiently to appeare but also to the full displaying disgrasing for euer with such of the vanity of both these our aduersaries herein Wherefore to returne to my text and so to goe on againe therewith I hope yet by this that I haue saide of this matter you now plainly perceiue that notwithstanding the doctrine and vse of this Sacrament the vnion and communion that we must seeke to haue with Christ though it be true reall in respect of him and vs the persons things to be vnited that yet it is not grosse carnall to be attained vnto by the instruments or members of our bodie at all as these our aduersaries teach but that by the worde Sacraments God offers him
besides you see that the Lord hath alwaies taken a delight thus to speake of the spirite and giftes thereof that they shoulde receiue that would onelie seeke to come to the Father by him Wherefore seeing the ground of such metaphoricall speeches is alwaies the similitude and resemblance as once I haue said alreadie betwixt the metaphore and the thinges metaphorized The right vse and application of the promise let vs see and viewe what likelihoode there is betwixt riuers of waterof life flowing out of ones bellie and the giftes and graces of Gods spirite promised to them that thus come vnto Christ and beleeue in him Marke therefore amongest manie other properties that water hath it hath these soure that is first to wash and make cleane then to soften and mollifie and next to make fruitfull that which otherwise would be barren and lastly to quench and coole For as you knowe cloathes and other thinges a number are washed and made cleane thereby the earth that otherwise woulde be as Brasse and Iron vnder vs is softened and thereby it falling vpon it in due season and manner it is made fruitefull also and thereby likewise we see fire quenched and heate much cooled and abated Wherefore in that Christ promiseth his spirite vnto those that thus come vnto him and make him theirs by beleeuing in him vnder the name of waters thus much to beginne withall vnlesse we might thinke that he coulde not tell howe to speake aptly which but to imagine were absurd euen hereby we are taught that the spirite of God in such must and will be as water and therefore of power to wash and make them cleane of the soule errours and sinnes wherewith before they were defiled and so also of power to soften their stonie and harde heartes that the seede of the worde may sinke deepe inough therein and to make them bring forth fruite alwaies in due season and finally likewise it will shew it selfe of force to quench in them the fire of concupiscence and to abate the heate of all other sinne Let not any man therefore flatter himselfe and thinke he hath done what heere Christ commaunded vnlesse he can approoue it by the beeing and dwelling of the spirite in him in that sorte and measure that it may worthilie beare the name of water in all these respectes For Christ was and is of infinite power and wisedome and therefore we may be sure he hath made heere no other promise but that which he both can and will performe Neyther lacke of abilitie to be as good as his worde nor rashnesse or vnaduisednesse in passing of it at any time was euer found in him wherefore let vs not be behind in performing the commaundement and nothing is more certaine than that he will not be behinde with vs in performing of his promise If therefore we finde our hearts and liues still delighted with our old filthie errours and sinnes stonie and slinty that the worde can take no roote in or that cannot tremble at the judgementes of God barren of all goodnesse and burning still with lust and on heate with and after other sinnes then whatsoeuer we can prate or talke of Christ or faith in him as yet we are meere strangers from them both Without figure or Metaphor that you may see the plaine euidence thereof marke I beseech you but amongst infinite other places these most plame testimonies of Scripture concerning this point The fruite of the stirit it in al goodnes righteousnes and truth Ephes 5. Ver. 9. They that are in Christ and so partakers of his death and resurrection they must be and are therby and by the power of his spirit deade to sinne aliue to righteousnes Rom. 6. Ver. 3. c. Collos 2. Ver. 11. 12. They that are Christes haue crucified the flesh with the affections lustes thereof Gal. 5. Ver. 24. And with such old thinges are passed away and all things are become newe and therefore they must be new creatures 2. Cor. 5. Ver. 17. For by him we are deliuered from the handes of our enemies to serue him in holines and righteousnes all the daies of our liues that before him and as in his sight without feare Luk. 1.74.75 And therefore we must not walke after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 c. and so put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnes and true holines being renewed in the spirit of our minde and casting off the conuersation that was in times Past the olde man Ephe. 4. Vers 22. c. yea we may not dare call him Father vnles we passe the time of our dwelling here in feare in being holy as he is holy 1. Pet. 1. Vers 16.17 and if we say we haue fellowship with him and walke in darknes Saint Iohn will plainely tell vs we lie and doe not the truth Epist 1. Chap. 1. Ver. 6. Whereby it is most euident whatsoeuer we haue beene before when once we are come to Christ and haue pur on him the case must be so quite changed and altered with vs that then though Paule may say of vs you were once such and such yet now he may haue cause to say as he saide in the like case of the Corinthians but yee are washed but yee are sanctified but yee are iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of our God For Dauid can say hauing an eie to Christ then far off purge me with Hisop and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall be whiter than snow Psal 51. Vers 7. How then may we doe that dishonour vnto Christ being come as either to think that we are washed in his bloode and so iustified and yet remaine still foule filthie or hauing seemed to be clensed and escaped from the filthines of the world through the knowledge of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ to suffer our selues to be tangled and ouercome therewith againe If we should thus doe we doe him the greatest dishonour discredit that we can For what cleanly landresse would not take it to be a shame vnto hir to be said or thought to haue washt her clothes they remaining still as foule filthy as euer they were And most certaine it is if hauing put our hand to the plow we looke back againe we are by Christs owne sentence alreadie pronounced vpon vs not meete for the kindom of heauen Luk. 9.62 and if we be backsliders and reuolters Saint Peter hath told vs what we may trust to namely that then our latter end shal be worse than our beginning yea that we are no better than dogs turned to our vomit or than sowes after they are washt returning to the wallowing in the mire 2. Epist Cap. 3.20 And most seareful is that which we read Heb. 6.4 c. 10.26 c. touching apostataes reuolters from the faith for there such are told that it is impossible that they should be renewed