from this Text for at that time Christ had no glorified bodie When this Sacrament was instituted and Christ said This is my bodie his bodie was not glorified because the Sacrament was instituted before his death and his bodie was glorified after his resurrection Therefore if they receiue the same bodie which the Apostles receiued as they say they do they caÌ„not receiue a glorified body because then Christ had not a glorified bodie to communicate vnto them Thus the rocks and sands are of both sides them they receiue a bodie neither mortall nor immortall if Christ hath any such bodie iudge you Here they stand like a foole which cannot tell one his tale Nebucadnezar dreamed a dreame and knew not what it meant Beside I aske them to whome Christ spake when he said This is my bodie Marke saith he spake to them that is to his Disciples well then if these wordes This is my bodie were not spoken to the signes but to the persons not to the bread and wine but to the receiuers as the words which follow Do this in remembrance of me if these wordes were not spoken to the bread and wine then it is plaine that they doe not change the nature of the bread and wine If the nature of them be not altered then the substance remaineth and then we receiue no other substance with them because two substances cannot be in one place What then is there nothing in the Sacrament but bread and wine like a hungrey nunscion Nay we say not that the Sacrament is nothing but a bare signe or that you receiue no more than you see for Christ saith that it is his bodie and Paul saith that it is the Communion of Christs bodie and bloud Therefore there is more in Sacramentall bread than in common breade though the nature be not changed yet the vse is changed it doth not onely nourish the body as it did before but it bringeth a bread with it which nourisheth the soule for as sure as we receiue bread so sure we receiue Christ not only the benefites of Christ but Christ although not in a Popish maner yet we are so ioyned vnto him as though we were but one body As the spouse doth not marry with the lands goods but with the man himselfe being partaker of him is made partaker of them so the faithfull do not onely marry with Christes benefites but with Christ him selfe being partakers of him they are made partakers of his benefites for Christ may not be diuided from his benefites no more than the Sunne from his light It is said the Father gaue vs his sonne and so the Sonne giueth vs him selfe As the bread is a signe of his bodie so the giuing of the bread is a signe of the giuing of his body Thus he lyeth before vs like a Pellican which letteth her yong ones sucke her bloud so that we may say the Lord inuited vs to Supper and he himselfe was our meate But if you aske how this is I must answere it is a mysterie but if I could tell it it were no mysterie Yet as it is said when three men walked in the middest of the fornace One like the Sonne of God walked amongest them So when the faithfull receiue the Bread and Wine one like the Sonne of God seemeth to come vnto them which fils them with peace and ioy and grace that they maruell what it was which they receiued besides bread and wine For example thou makest a bargaine with thy neighbour for house or land and receiuest in earnest a peece of gold that which thou receiuest is but a peece of gold but now it is a signe of thy bargaine if thou keep not touch with him happelie it will claspe thee for all that thou art worth so that which thou receiuest is bread but this bread is a signe of another matter which passeth bread Againe thou hast an Obligation in thy hand I aske thee what hast thou there and thou saiest I haue here an hundreth pounds why say I there is nothing but paper ynke and waxe oh but by this saiest thou I will recouer an hundreth pounds that is as good So beloued this is as good that vnder these signes you receiue the vertue of Christs body bloud by faith as if you did eate his bodie and drinke his bloud indeede which is horrible to thinke that any should deuour their god thinking thereby to worship him neuer any Heretike nor Idolater conceiued so grosly of their God before the Papist We reade of a people which did eate men but neuer of any people which did eate their God Al the Apostles say that it was needfull that Christ should take our flesh but no Apostle saith that it is needfull that we should take Christs flesh for all the blessings of Christ are apprehended by faith and nothing is fit to appreheÌ„d him whom we see not but faith and therfore one of their own pillars said Beleeue thou hast eaten Faith doth more in Religion than the mouth or else we might say with the woman Blessed are the brests which gaue thee sucke and so none should be blessed but Mary but Mary was not blessed because Christ was in her bodie but because Christ was in her heart and least this should seeme incredible vnto you because Mary is called blessed among women When Christ heard the womaÌ„ say Blessed are the brests which gaue thee sucke he replied vnto her Blessed are they which heare the word of God and keepe it these are my brethren and sisters and mother sayth Christ as though the rest were no kin to him in heauen though they were kin in earth Thus if Christ were in thy body thou shouldest say as this woman Blessed is the bodie which hath thee in it nay would Christ say Blessed is the heart which hath me in it If Mary were no whit better for hauing Christ in her armes nor for hauing him in her bodie how much better art thou for hauing him in thy bellie where thou canst not see him Must the Sunne needes come to vs or else cannot his heâ—â—â— and light profite vs nay it doth vs more good because it is so farre off so this Sunne is gone from vs that he might giue more light vnto vs which made him say It is good for you that I go froÌ„ you therfore away with this carnall eating of spiritual things Many daughters haue done vertuously but thou saith Salomon surpassest theÌ„ all So many hereticks haue spokeÌ„ absurdly but this surpasseth theÌ„ all that Christ must be applied like Phisicke as though his bloud could not profit vs vnles we did drinke it and swallow it as a potion Is this the Papistes vnion with Christ Is this the manner whereby we are made one flesh with Christ to eate his flesh Nay when he tooke our flesh vnto him and was made man
feelinglie thanke him for it For which the Lord complaineth saying I haue loued you yet ye say wherein hast thou loued vs Shewing that we are worse than the Oxe which knoweth his feeder And if we acknowledge all things from God yet we do like Lot Is it not a little one saith he when he craued to go vnto Zoar as though it were not much which he asked so we mince and extenuate the giftes of God before we receiue them and after like them which haue a grace for dinner and none for breakfast as though they had their dinners from God and breakfastes of their owne Our exaÌ„ple did not so Although it was but bread which he receiued yet he was more thaÌ„kfull for bread than many which burie the fowles and fishes and beasts in their belly for if a couÌ„t of all were kept for one that prayeth Giue vs this day our dayly bread a hundred take their bread and meate sleepe to which neuer pray for it After he had giuen thankes he brake it and gaue vnto them and sayd Take eate for when he had giuen thankes to God then it was sanctified and blessed and lawfull to eate So when thou seruest God then it is lawfull for thee to vse Gods blessings then thou mayst eate and drinke as Christ did but not before for these things were created to serue them which serue God if thou doest not serue him for them thou encrochest vpon Gods blessings and stealest his creatures which are no more thine than thou art his for the good God created all things for good men as the deuils possessions are reserued for euill men Therfore as Christ would not breake the bread before he had giuen thankes to the founder so know that there is some thing to be done before thou receiue any benefite of God and presume not to vse his creatures with more libertie than his Sonne did which did not eate without giuing thankes nor rise againe without singing of a Psalme It followeth This is my body Here is the fruite of his thaÌ„ks before he prayed that the bread and wine might be blessed they were blessed As Isaaks blessing shewed it selfe vpoÌ„ Iaakob whoÌ„ he blessed so Christes blessing appeared straight vpoÌ„ these mysteries for it could not be sayd before This is my body because it was meere bread but now it may be called his body because his blessing hath infused that vertue into it that it doth not onlie represent his bodie but conuey his bodie and himselfe vnto vs. The efficacie of this blessing is in this SacrameÌ„t euer since sanctifying it vnto vs as well as it did to the Apostles euen as Christs prayer stayed Peters faith after Christ was dead Now ye haue heard the meaning of these wordes He tooke bread and blessed it and brake it and gaue it you shall see with what a mysticall resemblance they vnite Christ and vs. First as Christ in the Supper tooke bread to feede vs so in his birth he tooke our flesh to saue vs. Secondlie as Christ when he had taken the bread blessed the bread to make it a spirituall foode So Christ when he had taken our flesh powred forth most rich precious graces into it to make it food of life vnto vs. Thirdly as Christ when he had blessed the bread brake the bread so Christ when he had filled his bodie with most precious graces brake it vp like a rich treasure house his hands by the nayles his backe by the stripes his head by the thornes his side by the speare that out of euery hole a riuer of grace and goodnes might issue flow forth vnto vs. Lastly as Christ gaue the bread when he had broken it so Christ by a liuely faith coÌ„municateth his bodie after he hath crucified it Hereby we are taught that when we see the Minister take the bread to feede vs we must conceaue that Christ being God from euerlasting tooke our flesh to saue vs. When we see the Minister blesse the bread to a holy vse we must conceaue that Christ by vniting the Godhead vnto it sanctified his flesh for the work of our redemption When we see the Minister breake the bread to sustaine our bodies we must conceaue that Christ in his death brake his body to refresh our soules When we see the Minister giue the bread to our haÌ„ds we must conceaue that Christ as trulie offereth himself to our faith to be receiued of vs. Because vpon these wordes the Papists ground their Transubstantiation that is that the bread is changed into Christs flesh and the wine is turned into Christes bloud whereby we eate the same bodie which died vpon the crosse drinke the same bloud which issued out of his side that you may see the blindnes of this popish dreame I would haue you but marke euery word of this Scripture how they make against TraÌ„substantiation that you may see them slaine like Goliah with their owne sword EueÌ„ as god made Caiphas speake against himself so the Scriptures which heretickes alleage do make against theÌ„ selues like the Baalites which wounded their owne flesh I may liken their allegations to Sathans when he tempted Christ in the Wildernesse he alledged but one sentence of Scripture for himselfe and that Psalme out of which he borrowed it makes so plaine against him that he was fayne to picke here a word there a word leaue out that which weÌ„t before skip in the middest and omit that which came after or else he had marred his cause The Scripture is so holy pure true that no word nor fillable therof caÌ„ make for the deuil or for sinners or for heretickes yet as the deuill alledged Scripture though it made not for him but against him so doe the libertines and Epicures and heretickes as though they had learned at his schoole Now there is no sentence of the Scripture which the wiser Papistes alledge boldlie for their TransubstantiatioÌ„ but this that Christ sayd This is my bodie by which they may proue as well that Christ is a doore because he sayth I am the doore or a vine because he saith I am a Vine for his sayings are like Figuratiue speaches must not be coÌ„sâ—â—ued litterally but this is heretickes fashion If you marke you shal see throughout that all the testimonies which the Papists alledge for their heresies are either tropes or figures or alle gories or parables or allusions or darke speaches which when they presume to expounde allegoricallie or litterallie without coÌ„ference of other Scriptures then they wander and stray from the marke or else it is impossible that the truth shuld maintaine error that is that the Scripture should speake for heresie if it were not peruerted therfore we see that Eue neuer erred vntill she corrupted the text Now we will enter the lists with our aduersaries see whether these
with Christs phrase whensoeuer they doubted vpon any of his speeches they were wont to come vnto him and say master what is the meaning but they were vsed to such phrases for it was Christs manner to teach by similitudes shewing one thing by another which is the plainest manner of teaching and most vsed in holy Scripture especially in the types and shadowes of this Sacrament For example Christ calleth the Lamb the Passeouer in place wherof this Sacrament succeeded and therefore presently after they had eaten the Passeouer Christ instituted this Sacrament to be vsed for it Christ I say called the Lambe the Passeouer and yet the Passeouer was this an Angel passed ouer the houses of the Israelites and strooke the Aegyptians this was not a Lambe and yet because the Lamb was a signe of this Passeouer as the bread wine is of Christs body therfore Christ called the Lambe the Passeouer as he calleth the bread and wine his bodie Againe Circumcision is called the Couenant yet Circumcision was nothing but the cutting away of a skin but the Couenant is In Abrahams seede all nations shall be blessed I will be their God and they shall be my people I will defend and saue them and they shall serue worship me This is not Circumcision yet as though Circumcision were the Couenant it selfe it is called the Couenant because it signified the Couenant so bread and wine are called Christs bodie because they signifie Christs bodie Againe Baptisme is called regeneration and yet baptisme is a dipping of our bodies in water but regeneration is the renewing of the minde to the image wherein it was created this is not Baptisme and yet as though Baptisme were regeneration it selfe it is called regeneration because it signified regeneration so the bread and wine are called Christes bodie because they signifie Christs bodie Againe the Cup is called the new Testament and yet the Cup is but a peece of mettall filled with wine but the new Testament is He which beleeueth in the Sonne shall be saued this is not a Cup and yet as though the Cup were the new Testament it selfe it is called the new Testament because it signifieth the new Testament so the bread wine are called Christes bodie because they signifie Christs body They which knew that the Lambe is not the Passeouer though Christ called it the Passeouer that Circumcision is not the Couenant though God called it the Couenant that Baptisme is not regeneration though it be called regeneration that the Cup is not the new TestameÌ„t though Christ called it the new Testament could they not as well vnderstand that the bread and wine were not Christs body though Christ called theÌ„ his bodie As they vnderstood these speeches so they vnderstoode this speech therfore they which say that the bread and wine are Christes bodie because Christ saith This is my bodie may as well say that the Lambe is the Passeouer because Christ calleth it the Passe ouer that Baptisme is regeneration because Paul calleth it regeneration that the Cup is the new Testament because Christ calleth it the new Testament If euerie Sacrament was called by the thing which it signified and yet neuer any Sacrament was taken for the thing it selfe what reason haue they to take this Sacrament for the thing it selfe more than al the rest It is the consent of all writers that a Sacrament is a signe therefore not the thing signified no more then the bush at the dore is the wine in the seller If I cal the Prince a Phoenix the Vniuersitie a Fountain the Court a Peacocke the Citie a Sea the Countrey an Eremite why can the Papists vnderstand me and not vnderstand Chrst What a darke and strange and intricate and incredible speech had this beene for them to vnderstand grosly literally Would they think that they did eate Christes body when his bodie stoode before them and he had told them before that his bodie was like their bodie Nay this would â—aue required moe words and made â—hem come againe with Master what 〈◊〉 the meaning for they were not so â—structed yet before the resurrection â—o beleeue euerie thing without queâ—â—ioning if it were contrarie to sense and reason but as they asked who had giuen him any meate when he said that he had meate and they coulde see none so they would haue asked what meate is this which we see not How can euerie one of vs eate his bodie and yet he hath but one bodie and that bodie is whole when we eate it Loe he standeth before vs and saith that his bodie is like vnto ours and yet hee takes bread and breakes it and giues it vnto vs to eate and when we eate it he saith This is my bodie and yet his bodie standeth before vs still If his bodie be like ours as he saith how can it be eaten and be there for ours cannot Thus they would haue questioned if they had not beene vsed to such phrases but as they could vnderstand him when he called himselfe a stone and a rock and a dore and a window and a Vine so they could picke out his meaning when he said that bread was his bodie for he had told them before that he was the bread of eternall life Now the bread of eternall life is not eaten with teeth for the bodie cannot eate spiritually no more then the soule can eate corporally and therefore he is such a bread as is eaten with faith and so himselfe saith in the Gospel of Iohn Marke this eating by faith and all the strife is ended Flesh and bloud indeed need not faith to chew them for the teeth can chew theÌ„ well enough Therfore if the bread and wine were the bodie of Christ then we need not faith to eate it but all which haue teeth might eate Christs bodie yea the Mice might eate it as well as men for they eate the same bread that we do as well after it is consecrated as before If this be not enough to batter the ruines of this vpstart Heresie I will come to interrogatories and see whether they haue learned it by rote or by reason If they ground their Transubstantiation vppon these wordes of Christ This is my bodie which hee spake to his Disciples I aske them whether they receiue that bodie which was mortall or that bodie which is glorified because one of these bodies they must needs receiue either his mortall bodie or his glorified bodie If they say that it is his mortall bodie the mortal bodie wil not profite them for you see that mortall food is but for this mortall life neither hath Christ a mortall bodie now to communicate vnto them because it is changed to an immortall bodie therefore they cannot receiue the mortall bodie because Christ hath not a mortall bodie to giue them If they say that they receiue his glorified bodie then they must she
at one time for if his body be in the Sacramēt he must needes haue so many bodies as there be Sacraments nay he must haue so many bodies as there be bits in euerie Sacramēt Thirdly it will follow that his bodie is diuided from his soule and consequētly is a dead bodie because the bread is onely changed into body and not into his soule Fourthly at will follow that the wicked and prophane and reprobate may receiue Christ as well as the godly because they haue a mouth to eate as well as the best Fiftly it will follow that Christs sacrifice once for all was not sufficient because we must sacrifice him againe and breake his bodie shed his bloud as the Iewes crucified him vpon the Crosse Sixtly it will follow that the bread being turned into the body of our redeemer hath a part of our redemption as well as Christ Seauenthly it will follow that Christ did eate his owne bodie for all the Fathers say that he did eat the same bread which he gaue to his Disciples Lastly it will follow that a Massing Priest shal be the creator of his creator because he makes him which made him all these absurdities are hatched of Transubstantiation Thus when men deuise articles of their owne while they strike vpon the handuill the sparkes flie in their face they are like the man which began to build and could not finish it When I see the Papist in so many absurdities for intertaining one error me thinks he seemeth like a Collier which is grimed with his owne coales Therefore as in manners we should think of Peters saying Whether is it meete to obey God or men So in doctrines we should thinke whether it be meete to beleeue God or men Thus you haue heard the author of this Sacrament the Lord Iesus the time when it was instituted in the night that he was betraied the manner how it was instituted after thanks giuing the end why it was instituted for a remembrance of his death and the discouery of Transubstantiation one of the last heresies which Babylō hatched Now they which haue been Patrons of it before should do like the father and mother of an Idolatrer that is lay the first hand vpon him to shorten his life Thus I end Thinke what account ye shall giue of that ye haue heard The end of the first Sermon A TREATISE OF THE LORDES SVPPER The second Sermon 1. Cor. 11. vers 25. 26. 27. 28. 25 After the same manner also he tooke the cup whē he had supped saying This cup is the New Testamēt in my bloud this doe as oft as ye drinke it in remembraunce of me 26 For as often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come 27 Wherefore whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cup of the Lord vnworthelie shall be guiltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. 28 Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. HEre I am to speake of the second seruice as it were at the Lordes Table and of that preparatiō which is like the Wedding garment that euerie man must bring vnto this banquet These wordes are diuerslie repeated of the Euangelistes Here it is said This Cup is the New Testament in my bloud In Mathew and in Marke it is sayd This Cup is my bloud of the New Testament This is the first mētion which Christ makes of a Testament as though now his promises deserued the name of a Testament because the seale is set vnto them which before this Sacrament was not sealed but like a bare writing without a signet This word Testament doth implie a promise and therefore teacheth vs that the Sacrament doth cōfirme and strēgthen and nourish our fayth because it sealeth the promise which we should beleeue Here is to be noted that Christ doth not onely speake of a Testament but he calleth it a New Testamēt which words neuer met together before as though the Law were for the old man to mortifie him and the Gospell for the new man to comfort him agayne or as if the old Testament had so washt her face and chaunged her apparell at Christes comming that one would not thinke it the same but a New Testament because euē now she was shadowed with a thousand Ceremonies now they are gone from her like a myst at the Sunne rising As Christ calleth loue a New Commaundement because he renewed it like a Law worne out of memorie so he calleth the promise of saluation a New Testament Because as it was renewed to Sem and after renewed to Abraham and after renewed to Dauid so now he renewed it agayne which should bee alwaye new and fresh vnto vs. Euerie Testament is confirmed with bloud the old Testament was confirmed by the bloud of Goats and Bullockes and Rammes but the New Testament is confirmed by the bloud of Christ My bloud saith Christ is the bloud of the New Testament nay This Cup sayth Christ is the New Testament You may see thē that they may gather as well out of Christes wordes that the Cup is the New Testament as that the Wine is his bloud For Christ sayth This Cup is the New Testament as well as he sayth This Wine is my bloud or This bread is my body Beside when Christ speakes of a New Testament he implieth that the old Testament is fulfilled the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law did signifie Christ before he came therefore they are fulfilled in his comming no mo Sacrifices no mo Ceremonies for the truth is come Sacrifices and Ceremonies are honorably buried with the Priesthood of Aaron let them rest it is not lawfull to violate the Sepulchers of the dead and take their bodies out of the earth as the Witch would raise Samuell out of his graue Therfore they which retaine Ceremonies which should be abrogated reliques of Iudaisme or reliques of Papisme may be said to violate the sepulchers of the dead and disturbe the deceased like the Witch which presumed to raise Samuell out of his graue This Testament is called a Testament in bloud because the Testament and will of a man is cōfirmed when the man is dead so Christ cōfirmed his Testament by his death Moses saith that life is in the bloud so the bloud of Christ is the life of this Testament If Christes bloud had not been shed this Testament made vnto vs had been vnprofitable as the Testamēt of a Father is to his Sonne if the Father should not dye but liue Therefore the Apostle sayth without shedding of bloud there is no remission of sinnes Therfore the Testament or couenaunt of the remission of our sinnes is called the Testament in bloud the bloud of Christ is the seale of the Testament which we haue to shew vnto God for the remission of our sinnes and the