like Sathan SathaÌ„ hath desired to fift thee saith Christ to Peter so we haue a desire to sift others euen Peter which was sifted of Sathan longed to sift Iohn and know what he should do before he karkened to his owne charge Therfore the helpe of examination is a needfull preseruatiue although we were as souÌ„d as Peter They which are suspected of crime do not examine theÌ„selues but are examined of others least they should be partiall but a Christian must examine himselfe of his crime and be his own iudge his own accuser his own condemner for no man knoweth the spirit of man but the spirite which is in man which will condemne him if he be guiltie and tell him all that he hath done and with what minde he did it what he deserueth for it This is the priuate araignement or close Sessions when Conscience sits in her chaire to examine and accuse and iudge and condemne her selfe because she will not be condemned of God Thus holie men haue kept their Sessions at home and made their hearts the foreman of the Iury and examined themselues as we examine others the feare of the Lord stood at the doore of their soules to examine euery thought before it went in and at the doore of their lips to examine euery word before it went out whereby they escaped a thousand sinnes which we commit as though we had no other worke So thou shouldest sit in iudgement of thy selfe and call thy thoughtes and speaches actions to giue in euideÌ„ce against thee whether thou be a Christian or an Infidell a sonne or a bastard a seruaunt or a rebell a Protestant or an hypocrit if thou finde not faith nor feare nor loue nor zeale when thou examinest thy selfe let no man make thee beleeue that thou art holy that thou art sanctified that thou art a Christian that thou art a beleeuer that thou art a Gospeller because thou art worse than thou seemest thy selfe for euery man is partiall to himselfe when he is most huÌ„bled Therfore if my heart tell me that I do loue God whom shall I beleeue before my selfe As Salomon faith No man caÌ„ search the heart of the king so Paule saith No man knoweth the spirite of any man but the spirite which is in man that is no maÌ„ feeleth the heart of man so well as him self And yet himselfe although he haue liued with it euer since he was borne doth not know his owne heart vnlesse he examine it narrowly no more than he knoweth his owne bones or his vaines or his sinewes or his arteries or his muskles how many are in his body or where they lye or what they do This seemes straunge that a man should not know his owne heart yet it is true that the best of vs al doth not know his own heart though he haue dwelt with it froÌ„ his mothers wombe For Christ saith to his disciples euen to his disciples You know not of what spirite you are that is you think better of your selues thaÌ„ you are and know not what the clocke striketh within There is a zeale without knowledge and there is a knowledge without zeale there is a faith without obedience and there is an obedience without fayth there is a loue without feare and there is a feare with loue and both are hypocrites Therefore as Dalilah searched where Sampsons strength lay so let euery man search where his weakenesse lyeth and alway be filling the emptie gap Now this examination must go before vs to the Sacrament Euerie meate worketh according as it is digested this meate worketh according as it is receiued Therefore when Christ had taught what we should doe in receiuing the Sacrament now Paule sheweth what we should doe before we receiue the Sacrament Let a man examine himself But some will come before they examine themselues and therfore as the Priestes of the Law had authoritie to put by lame and blind sacrifices so the Ministers of the Gospell haue power to put by lame and blind receiuers and he which doth not so giueth a sword into their hands to kill them selues If the Pastor would vse this examination duely it were the onely way to make euery one examine himselfe least he be put by like Non proficients As liphtah discerned the Ephramites because wheÌ„ they should pronouÌ„ce Shibboleth they pronounced Sibboleth so all which cannot pronounce Christ that is giue a reason of their faith are to be thrust from this Table There is hearing and a preparatiue before hearing There is a praying and a preparatiue before praying There is a receauing and a preparatiue before receauing which if it be wanting the receauer receaueth vncomfortablie the prayer prayeth idlie the hearer heareth vnfruitefullie like those which eate before hunger and drinke before thirst This preparatiue before hearing and praying and receiuing doth signifie that there is a kinde of Phisicke in these three for preparatiues are ministre◠〈◊〉 wayes before Phisick as the prepaâ—â—tiue which goeth before maketh way to the Phisicke or else it would doe no good but hurt so vnlesse examination go before the SacrameÌ„t we seale vp the threatnings which are written against vs in stead of the promises which are made vnto vs for the SacrameÌ„t is a seale and therfore sealeth good or euill as euerie other seale doth The preparatiue before we receiue is to Examine As Iohn was the forerunner of Christ so examinatioÌ„ is the forerunner of the Sacrament like the harbinger which rideth before to prepare the rowme For if Iob commanded his sonnes to sanctifie theÌ„selues before they did come to his sacrifice how should we sanctifie our selues before we come to Christes Sacrament wherein we are commaunded to doe as the Lord him selfe did which instituted it It is said that the Chamber wherein Christ did institute this Sacrament was trimmed the Chamber wherein the Apostles receiued this Sacrament was trimmed If Iudas Chamber his inner Chamber had bene trimmed so to he had receiued this Sacrament with as much comfort as the other Disciples did but because his heart was not trimmed therefore he was the first which was condemned for the vnworthie receiuing of this Sacrament Adam did not thinke that death had bene in an Apple so you would not thinke that death should be in bread but as a coale hath fire in it beside the coale it selfe which fire doth either warme or burne so this meate hath another meate in it beside that which is seen which doth either saue or destroy therefore he which commeth to this spirituall meate must examine whether hee haue a spirituall mouth as well as a carnall mouth or else he shall receiue no more than he seeth and that which he seeth not shall destroy him No man saith Christ putteth new wine into old vessels least the vessels breake and the wine leake This Wine is new Wine therefore put it into new vessels holy
expositor of Christ than Christ himselfe Therefore marke what he sayth At first when Christ said that he was the bread of life that all which would liue must eate him they murmured vntill he expounded his words and how did he expoūd his wordes Thus He that commeth vnto me hath eaten and he that beleeueth in me hath drunke After whē he instituted this Sacramēt in like wordes they murmured not which they would as before if he had not resolued thē before that to eate his body and to drinke his bloud was nothing but to come to him beleeue in him After he had sayd so they murmured not because they did see some reason in it As it is plainlie sayd This is my body so it is plainlie said these wordes are spirite that is they must be vnderstood spiritually and not literally But if it be flesh indeed why do they not satisfie the simple people how they may eate this flesh in Lent when they forbid thē to eate any flesh they must needes eate it doubtfully and he which doubteth sayth Iames receaueth nothing therefore he which eateth the Masse receiueth nothing I did not alledge the Fathers in my Sermon but if any suspend his assent till they bring in their verdit let him heare thē make cōfessiō of their beleefe Augustin sayth the Lord doubted not to say this is my body when he gaue onely a signe or Sacrament of his body Tertulian saith this is my body that is a signe of my body Ambrose sayth the bread and wine remayne still the same thing that they were Theodoret saith after the consecration the mysticall signes do not cast off their own nature but abide still in their first substance and forme Origene sayth the bread that is sanctified with the word of God as touching the materiall substance thereof goeth into the bellie and forth agayne like other meates Irenaeus saith that it hath two things in it one earthly and the other heauenly Cyrill saith Our Sacraments auouch not the eating of a man Cyprian sayth the Lord calleth bread made of many graines his body called wine made of many grapes his bloud Athanasius saith Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might withdraw his disciples from corporall and fleshly eating Chrysostome saith God giueth vs things spirituall vnder things visible naturall And againe being sanctified it is deliuered from the name of bread is exalted to the name of the Lords bodie although the nature of the bread still remaine And because they beleeue that the Pope cannot erre Pope Gelasius setteth to his hand and saith with the rest Neither the substance of the bread nor nature of the wine cease to be more thā they were before Tell vs Papist doe not these Fathers speake as plaine as we Canst thou auouch Transubstantiation more flatly than they denie it How had this heresie bene chased if the diuel had hatched it in their time Thus the Scriptures on the one side and the Fathers on the other side did so trouble three arch papists Biel Tonstal and Fisher that Gabriel Biel saith how the body of Christ is in the Sacrament is not found in the canon of the Byble Tonstal saith It had bene better to leaue euerie man to his owne coniecture as they were before the Councell of Laterane than to bring in such a question Fisher saith No man can proue by the words of the gospel that any Priest in these dayes doth consecrate the verie bodie and bloud of Christ Here is fulfilled Out of thine owne mouth I will condemne thee But we will not carry the matter so because a iudge must haue two eares therefore now let them speake Because they cannot tell how the bread and wine should be turned into flesh and bloud and yet appeare bread and wine still they say it is a myracle but how do they proue it If they contēd it is a myracle they must shew vs a signe for euerie myracle may be seene like all the myracles of Moses and Christ and the Apostles and therefore a myracle is called a signe because it may be seene like a signe and the word signifieth a wōder as though we did see some thing to wonder And the Iewes crauing a myracle saide Shewe vs a myracle as though they were taught to iudge of myracles by sight All which doth shew that a myracle may be seene but here no myracle is seene Againe a myracle especially in the time of the Gospell is an extraordinary thing but they make this an ordinarie thing for if the bread and wine be turned into flesh and bloud then myracles are as common as Sacramēts and so because they haue Masse euerie day they should worke myracles euery day Lastly this seemeth strange that Augustine whom they so much honor gathered all the myracles which are written in the scripture yet amongst all speakes not of this therefore then it was counted no myracle but Paul speakes of lying myracles and this is one of them If they say that Christ can turne bread and wine into his bodie therfore he doth First they must proue that he will for they can doe many things themselues which they doe not because they will not therefore it is an old answere that from Can to Will no argument followeth The Leper did not say to Christ If thou can thou will but If thou wilt thou canst But the question which they thinke can not be answered like their inuincible Nauies is this If the bread be not his bodie why doth he call it his bodie Resolue this knot al is cleere Marke then and we will loose it as well as we cā He saith This is my bodie as he saith after which is broken for you Why his bodie was not broken before he suffered how did he say then which is broken before it was broken There is no sense of it but this the bread was broken and signified that his body should be broken Now as the breaking of the bread did signifie the breaking of his bodie so the bread must needs signifie his bodie but as his bodie was not broken indeed when the bread was broken so the bread could not be his body indeed for then his bodie should haue bene broken when the bread was broken yet let them obiect what they can If say they the bread and wine be not changed into his bodie and blood why doth he speak so darkly he might haue spoken plainer I answere though this seeme darke to Papists yet it was not darke to the Apostles they vnderstood his meaning well enough and all the rest for 1215. yeares after Christ before Transubstātiation was spoken of If the Apostles had not vnderstood his meaning they would not sticke to aske him as their manner was vntill they were acquainted
then we were vnited to him in the flesh and not now Christ tooke our flesh we take not his flesh but beleeue that he tooke ours therfore if you would know whither Christes body be in the Sacrament I say vnto you as Christ sayd vnto Thomas touch feele and see In visible things God hath appointed our eyes to be iudges for as the spirite discerneth spirituall obiectes so sense discerneth of sensible obiectes As Christ taught Thomas to iudge of his body so may we so should they therfore if you cānot see his body nor feele his body you may gather by Christ saying to Thomas that he would not haue you beleeue that it is his bodie for my body saith Christ may be seene felt And thus Trāsubstātiatiō is foūd a lyer Now if you aske me why Christ calleth the signe by the name of the thing it selfe I aske thee agayne Mayst thou say when thou seest the picture of the Queene this is the Queene and when thou seest the picture of a Lyō this is a Lyon and may not Christ say when he seeth a thing like his bodie This is my bodie I shewed you before that euerie Sacrament is called by the name of the thing which it doth signifie and therefore why should we stūble at this more thā the rest The reason why the signes haue the name of the things is to strike a deeper reuerence in vs to receiue this Sacrament of Christ reuerentlie sincerelie and holilie as if Christ were there present in bodie and bloud himselfe And surelie as he which defaceth the Queenes Seale is cōuicted of contempt and treason to her owne person so he which prophaneth these Seales of Christ doth not worship Christ but despise him and that contempt shall be required of him as if he had contemned Christ him selfe This is the reason why Christ calleth the signes of his body his body to make vs take this Sacrament reuerentlie because we are apt to cōtēne it as the Iewes did their Manna It followeth Do this in remembrance of me that is these signes shal be a remēbraunce of my death when you breake the bread you shal remember the woūding of my body and when you drinke the wine you shall remember the shedding of my bloud If we must do this in remembraunce of Christs body which was broken like the bread it is an argument that his bodie is not there because remembraunce is not of things present but of things absent we remember not but we see that which is before vs. This might put the Papists in remembrance that Christ is not sacrificed now when we do but remember his sacrifice this is not Christes sacrifice but a remembraunce of his sacrifice he was sacrificed before and now it is applied least his sacrifice should be in vayne This was done once reallie when he offered himself vpō the Crosse therfore that offering was called a sacrifice because he was sacrificed indeed but this offering is called a Sacrament because it is but a signe of his sacrifice If Christ in this Sacrament were offered indeed then it should be called a sacrifice as his once offering was but because it is but a remembrance of his sacrifice therfore it is called a 〈◊〉 This is not a sacrifice of Christ but a sacrifice of our selues Least we should take it to be a sacrifice of Christ Christ himselfe calleth it a remembrance of his sacrifice Do this in my remembraunce Here is our worke as Christ hath done so must we doe so we minister and so you receiue we can giue you nothing but that which we haue receiued from him as Paule saith Therfore if Christ did not giue his mortall body which stood before them and could not profit them nor his glorified body which was not glorified thē and when it was glorified ascended vp vnto heauen and there abideth how cā these iugling Priestes make their God again which made them They can no more turne wine into bloud and bread into flesh than they can commaund a Gnat to become a Cammell for it is a greater worke to make God than to make the world Therefore as Christ saith When they tell you here is Christ and there is Christ beleeue them not So when they tell you that Christ is in heauen and that Christ is in earth in this place and that place beleeue them not for Elias ascention was a figure of Christs ascention when Elias was ascended yet some sought for his bodie vpō earth so though Christ be ascended yet many seeke his body vpon earth but as they could not finde Elias body so these can not finde Christes bodie although they haue sought 300. yeares But if his bodie were vpon earth as they say should we handle it and touch it now it is glorified After his resurrection he sayd to Marie Touch me not because his bodie was glorified that is not to be touched with fingers any more but with faith Therefore we read of none which touched his bodie after it was risen but onelie Thomas to settle his faith Thus you see we need to suborne no witnesses for euery word in this text which they alledge for Trāsubstantiatiō doth make against Trāsubstantiatiō whereby if Antichrist doth signifie thē which are against Christ you see who may be called Antichrist There is no question in Poperie except Purgatorie the Popes Publicā tasker about which the Papists are at such ciuill warres among themselues as about this transubstātiatiō They cannot tell whē the chāge beginneth nor what manner of chāge it is nor how lōg the chāge continueth som hang one way some another like the Midianites which fought one against another And no maruaile though their consciēces stagger about it for to shew you the right father of it it was one of the dreames of Innocentius the 3. in the yeare of our Lord 1215. so many yeares passed before Trāsubstātiation was named thē a Pope set it first on foote so it came out of Rome the grādame of all heresies and for wāt of Scriptures hath been defended with fire and sword and swallowed moe Martirs than all the gulfes of the Papall sea beside Now when the doctrines of men go for Scripture you shall see how many errours rush into the Church for graūt but this to Innocentius as the Papists do that the bread and wine are changed into Christes body First it will follow that Christs body is not ascended vp to heauen because it remaineth vpō earth and so one of the Articles of our fayth shall be falsified which saith He is ascēded into heauē or if he be ascēded descended agayne another Article will be falsified which saith that he sitteth at the right hand of his Father that is as Peter saith he abideth in heauen Secondly it will follow that Christ hath not a true body but a fantasticall body because it may be in many places
Supper This admonished them that the matter now to be performed was verie waightie and therfore they were deepely to consider it for now was the action summe of all saluatiō in handling if they did prepare themselues so before they did receiue the figure of this Sacrament how shold we be prepared before we receiue the Sacramēt it selfe Therfore as Iosiah commanded the Leuites to prepare the people so Paul aduiseth the people to prepare themselues that is to examine whether they haue faith and loue repentāce before they come to this feast By this al may see first that Paul would haue euerie lay man so skilfull in the scripture that he be able to examine himself by it for this admonition is not to thē which minister the sacramēt but to al which receiue the sacrament And the rule by which we must examine ourselues is the law which we should obey therfore if the rule be vnknowne the examination must be vndone Our doctrine must be examined by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles our prayers must be examined by the sixe petitions of Christs prayer our beleefe must be examined by the 12. Articles of faith our life must be examined by the ten Cōmaundements of the Law Now he which hath his Touchstone may trie gold from copper but he which hath it not takes one for the other Therfore before Paules Examine you had need to learne Christs Search Search the Scriptures and they wil lighten you to search your selues This is the doctrine with which I will end and the necessarie point for which I chuse this text to teach you if I could that Christian Arte how to examine your selues Let a man examine himselfe before he eate Here is first an examination Secondly an examination of our selues Thirdlie an examination before we come to the Sacrament Touching the first here Paule sayth Examine your selues but in 2. Cor. 13. he doubleth his charge Prooue your selues and agayne at next word Examine your selues as if he should say this worke must be done when it is done because it is neuer throughlie done and therefore we must double our examination as Paule doubleth his coūsell If a mā suspect his enemie he will trie him with a question if that will not search him he will put forth another if that be spied he will moue another like one which putteth diuers keyes into a locke vntill it open So he which examineth must try and try proue and proue search and search for the Angell of darknesse is like an Angell of light and we haue no way to discouer him but that of Iohn Trie the spirites God examineth with trials the deuill examineth with temptations the world examineth with persecutiōs we which are thus examined had need to examine to If any mā skill not what Examining meaneth the verie word Examine is so pregnant that it prompteth vs how we should examine for it signifieth to put our selues vnto the Touch-stone as if we would trie Gold from Copper Therfore one saith that Examination is the eye of the soule whereby she seeth her selfe and her safetie and her danger and her way which she walketh and her pace which she holdeth and the end to which she tendeth she lookes into her glasse and spieth euerie spot in her face how all her graces are stayned then she takes the water of life and washeth her blots away After she lookes agayne and beholdeth all her giftes her faith feare loue patience meekenesse and marketh how euerie one doth florish or wither If they fade and decay that she feeleth a consumption then she taketh preseruatiues and restoratiues of prayer and counsell and repentance before the sicknesse grow thus euery day she letteth downe a bucket into her heart to see what water it bringeth vp least she should corrupt within and perish sodenly To heare and read pray and fast and communicate is a worke of many but to examine those workes is the fashion of few and therfore Ieremie cōplaineth No man sayth what haue I done as if he should say no mā examineth himselfe and therfore in all the Scripture it is said but of one that he feared all his workes as though he durst not thinke nor speake nor do any thing before he had examined what it was from whence it came and whether it went so the more precious treasure is deeper hid in the groūd The second point is to Examine our selues Paule saith Trie all things much more should we trie our selues The good sower doth sow his own ground but the bad sower doth sow another mans ground as the deuill did The Disciples of Christ said Master is it I not Master is it he The Disciples of Iohn asked Master what shall we do not Master what shall they do we must obey some and heare others and admonish others loue all but examine our selues That which we applie vnto others the Apostle applieth vnto our selues for when we speake of an examiner we intend one which examineth other when we speake of an accuser we intēd one which accuseth other when we speake of a Iudge we meane one which iudgeth others but the Scripture crieth Examine thy selfe accuse thy selfe iudge thy selfe that is be not curious to search a mote in thy brothers eye but pull out the beame which is in thy owne eye This doth shew that they which sit in Gods chaire to iudge others commonly haue greater faults themselues than they whom they vse to iudge and therfore Christ calleth their fault a beame and the others a mote This made Dauid say Examine thy heart thy heart is thy owne heart therefore thou must examine whether thou pray whether thou watch whether thou fast and not whether he pray whether he watch as the Pharisie examined the Publica least thou haue Peters checke when he examined what Iohn should do Christ said What is that to thee follow thou me Thou art a priuate man and hast a priuate examination therfore let thy question be What haue I done and make thy Anatomie of thy selfe See beloued we may not beleeue our selues before we haue examined our selues for we are false hearted and the notablest cosiner that deceiueth most for one time that he deceiueth others ten times deceiueth himselfe Because the flesh is a wylie seruaunt and will lye like Gehezi to his own master and face him that it hath not sinned when it cōmeth from sinne therefore as Elisha examined his seruāt so the soule must examine her seruant that is man must be ielous of himselfe and take himselfe for a lyer for a flatterer for a dissembler vntill he be throughly acquainted with himselfe for no mā is so often beguiled as by himselfe by trusting his double heart and taking his owne word without further triall If Paule had bid vs examine others we would haue sifted thē