receiue the holy sacrament at thy mouth so it is better to take it in thy haÌ„ds as Christ and his Apostles did and the laite of the primatiue church These matters be touched hetherto but onles God inwardly with his spirit do teache you this Phylosophy and wisdome and transforme your hearts and iudgementes leading you into all truthe my preaching is but lost labour Therfore let vs call vpon the name of God with praier and inuocatioÌ„ for his help and holy spirit Let vs pray for the vniuersall company of Christes church throughout all Realmes and dominions whersoeuer they dwel namely for the congregation of Englande and Irelande desiring the eteâ—nall God of his fatherly mercy to coÌ„tinew strengthen both them and vs in the confession and obedience of his worde and truthe Also for al infideles and vnbeleuers that God may turne their hartes to beleue vpon his sonne Iesus Christ our Lorde for S. Paul vnto Timothe commaundeth vs to pray for all men For the kinges maiestie a prince of moste excellent hope that vertue and knowledge may dwell in his noble hart For these thinges for the remission of our sinnes and for Gods helpe hereafter in all our workes words thoughtes I shall desier you to say a praier after me ⸫ The Praier O Eternall God who art the author of al truth didst ordeine this holy sacrameÌ„t of bread and wyne by thy only begotten son in the roum and place of the easterlambe which they of y e old law did eaâ— yerely for a memory of their deliueraunce from Egipt from Pharao by thy mighty power in hope of the comming of Christ whom Iohn the christener Paul do call our easter lambe that we of the new lawe receiuing this new sacrameÌ„t shold reserue thy louing kindnes in continuall remembraunce in that thou hast sent thy only son to become womaÌ„s seed to breake the serpentes head to deliuer vs from the power of the deuill and from the bondage of syn by his crosse and by theffusion of his most honorable bloud Here our praiers and supplications O merciful father and send vs thy syerit from thy holy place to perswade al men women to celebrate thy supper after the example of Christ and of his Apostles disciples and stablish the hartes of the people against false teachers of priuat masses and of supersticious crossing with the contemplatioÌ„ of Christes ensample with the vse of the Oriental church and with the knowledge of thy holy scriptures y t we may be mete gestes for thy table and be partakers of all the benefites of Christes death and passion to whom with the and the holy spirit â—e al honor glory prayse now euer So be it THE SECOND SERMON vpon the Lordes Supper IN my last Sermon welbeloued in the Lord where as I began to declare vnto you y e Lordes supper which was a part and membre of the Gospel and thorow plenty of matter I did not ende the same now occording to my promes I wyll shew you what a Sacrament is and howe Christes body and bloud be present in his holy supper Thus much remaineth yet to be spokeÌ„ of Take eat saith Christ this is my body And likewyse of the Cup he saith Drinke of it euery one For this is my bloud of the newe Testament shed for many to the forgiuenes of sinnes I say vnto you I will not drinke henceforth of this fruit of the vine tyll that day when I shall drinke it new with you in my fathers kingdom And when they had song praises they weÌ„t out into mouÌ„t Oliuet That I may declare this heaueÌ„ly matter to Gods honour and finde out suche lessons and eruditioÌ„ as may be mete for this audience and for your edifying and enstruction which be assembled here to serue God in prayer and hearyng his word let vs aske Gods help and his holy spirit for the whiche I shall desier you to say the Lordes prayer after me Our father which art in heauen c. There is no matter in the holy scripture welbeloued in the Lord more necessary to be knowen and to be discussed then these wordes of our sauiour Iesus Christ This is my body this is my bloud of the new Testament There is no text which hath bene so abused and racked to maintein superstition and diuers purposes And where as Christ ordeineth here a sacrament of vnitie to knit vs together in peace amitie and loue Inimicus homo super senâ—inauit rirania that is the deuill who goeth about to depraue all Godly thinges hath sowen so many tares and such pestiferous opinions and hurtfull sedes and dampnable doctrine in mens harts by his ministers the Papistes the questionistes scholemen the Anabaptisâ—es that nothing nowe is a matter of more contention of more debate strife variaunce not only betwene man and man but also betwene coÌ„tries and kingdomes because euery man is wedded stubbornly to his own iudgement and where as they should reforme their opinions and submit their iudgementes to Gods scriptures as to the touchstone which trieth good from euil they rather do rack wrest Gods word making it a mariners slop or a nose of wax bowyng it vnto euery purpose Therfore I thought it good to vtter my knowledge which is but smal in this matter not to teach such as be enstructed alredy rype in knowledge of whom I am desirous to lerne my self but partly for their sakes and eruditioÌ„ which be vnlearned of y e laite that thei mai know how to prepare themselues to come to Gods borde this holy time of Easter at other times partly also to testifie professe my conscience and faith in this matter Many doe affirme and thinke these wordes of Christ this is my body to be a lyke phrase a like kynde and a lyke maner of speche as when he sayth Ego sum vitis I am the vyne I am the dore I am the way I am the bridgrom They be no like phrases but far diuers and different For the vine is no sacrament nether the dore nor the wey nor the bridgrom be no sacramentes but metaphores and borowed speches The bread of which Christ said this is my body the mine which he affirmeth to be his bloud be not bare and naked metaphores as y e aforesaid phrases are but they be sacramentes of his honorable body comfortable bloud as both the Occidental and OrieÌ„tal the Greke church al writers both new olde do acknowledge confesse with one voyce For al christendom haue always agreed in this point Therfore the nature of a sacrameÌ„t being thorowly knoweÌ„ examined tried it will teach you y e meaning of Christes words how he is present in his supper What is a sacrament I wil not deuise a discription of mine own head nor shew a fantasy of mine own braine I will folowe in this matter the sentence iudgementes
learne hereof that there is a difference betwene Christes honorable body and bloud and the visible sacrament and figure therof such a diuersitie and difference as is betwene thy house and thy seale and lease therof S. Ambrose also his maister and the great clerk prosper doe teache vs the very same doctrine For Ambrose in his boke whiche he wryteth of Sacramentes sayth Qui discordat a Christo non manducat carnem eius c. He that discordeth from Christ doth not eate his fleshe nor drynke his bloud although he receiue the Sacrament of so great a thyng vnto his damnation and destruction And Prosper in his boke of sentences saieth of suche vnworthy receiuers that though euery day indifferently they doe receiue that they eat the sacrament and figure of so great a thing vnto the condēnation of their presumption and not Christes body Bede also hath the very same wordes And the famous and learned father S. Hierō doth confirme this to be a true doctrine writing vpō the ·66 Chapter of the Prophet Esay saying Dum non sunt sancti corpore spiritu nec comedunt carnem Iesu nec bibunt sanguinē eius as long saith this elder and Godly father of Christes church as long as thei be not holy and cleane in body and in spirit they do not eate the flesh of Iesu nor tast of his bloud Of these it is euidēt that as the sensible sacrament is receiued vnworthely of vngodly men vnto condemnation so the body of Christ which is the bread of life is only receiued worthely and of good men always vnto saluation expiation and rightuousnes and of no man vnto destruction death dānation whosoeuer is partaker of it as S. Austin saith in his sermon of the holy feast of passeouer Therfore if we say y t vngodly men do eate Christes flesh we deny the doctrine of al the elder fathers we deny Christ to be the bread of life we deny him to be our rightuousnes our sauing health our expiatiō our raunsome our sanctification and holines who will not faile to deny vs likewyse before his father onles we renounce this diuelysh errour Notwithstanding both S. Austin and other of the fathers do affirme otherwhiles that Iudas and other vngodly persons did eate Christes body meaning by Christes body the Sacrament therof and geuing the name of the thing to the figure and signe For sacramentes be called by the very names of those thinges whiche they doe represent and signifie and wherof they are Sacramentes as both S. Austin teacheth in his Epistle whiche he writeth to Boniface and also the holy martir famous clerke S. Ciprian in a sermon which he maket de chrismate of anointinting For this cause Christes flesh hath two significations both in the scripturs and elder fathers For as properly and in his naturall and chefe acception is that substaunce and humanitie which was born of the virgin Mary and suffered on the crosse for the expiation of our synnes so sometyme it is token also for sacramentall bread and wyne In which signification when the elder father doe affirme vngodly men to eate Christes flesh the papistes wold make vs to beleue y t they teache Christes flesh which is the bread of life to be eaten vnworthely vnto damnation not vnderstanding the doctors and yet great braggers of knowledge learning or rather deprauing and corrupting the doctors to mainteine their transubstantiation which is the castel of all supersticion and Popery leadyng vs vnder the names of fathers and antiquitie from our father which is in heauen vnto whom that I may declare the remnaunt of Christes supper to your edifying and enstructiō which be come together to serue God in praier hearing his word let vs make hūble supplicatiō c. It foloweth in the text I wil not drink henceforth of this fruite of the vine vntyll that day when I shall drynke it newe with you in my fathers kyngdom Christ our maister welbeloued in god nameth here the sacramentall wyne the frute of the vyne that after the consecration If the nature and substaunce of wine wer disanulled turned into Christes flesh he wold not so name it for christes flesh is the frute of Mary the frute of Dauid others not y e fruite of y e vine And as the wyne is the fruit of the vine and therfore it is not altered into the substaunce of Christes body whiche is the fruit of those fathers frō which Math. 1 Luk. 3. do fetch his stok generatiō so vndoubtly the sacramental bread is the fruit of wheat after the consecration in that it is a sacrament of Christes honorable flesh For vnto this fruit he himselfe compareth likeneth his body saying nisi granū frumenti c. Onles the corne which is sowen in the groūd do first die it doth not encrease If it die it bringeth furth much fruit And theuangelistes do testifie w t one voice y t Christ both toke gaue also that he brake this fruit to his disciples What toke he bread what gaue he to his disciples thesame y t he toke And what did he breake Verely euen y t which he gaue them Ergo he gaue them not his reall body and naturall fleshe which was borne of the blessed virgyn for though he died for vs concernynge his body yet the sayd body was not thē broken when he ordeined his holy supper Moreouer almighty God many years before in the mistery of the easter lambe forbad the breaking therof by the mouth of his holy Prophet Moises saying os non comminueti◠ex eo ye shall not breake a bone of it whiche wordes the Euāgelist S. Iohn doth refer to Christs body The primatiue churche folowed this example of their high bishop in breaking the sacramental bread as Paul witnesseth Panis quem frangimus c. is not the bread which we breake saith Paul a communion or partaking of Christes body ▪ And the vniuersal church through out all Realmes and dominions from y e Apostles tyme haue religiously obserued this ceremony Seing then the sacramentall bread that is after that it is a sacrament must be broken to be distributed to such as come to Gods table how is it dayly turned into the substaunce of Christes honorable body which now is impassible and in eternall glory Howe can it be his real and natural flesh which was not then broken when he brake the the bread It was brokē afterward whē his handes were nayled to the crosse when his bloud by the cruel Iewes was let furth out of his side with a spear for our redemptiō in remēbraunce of which benefit the sacrament of bread is broken cōtinually without any alteratiō chaūge or transmutation of his nature For the Apostle S. Paul speaking hereof doeth always name it bread as in the aforsayd text Is not y e bread which we breake c. And againe we
the rods of Aaron the enchaunters were transubstantiat into serpents nether wer the riuers of Egipt transubstantiat into bloud We doe neuer reade throughout the scriptures of any suche mutatiō in any of Gods miracles from the beginning of the worlde Therfore when Ambrose Ciprian or any other of the old fathers doe saye that the nature of bread wyne is chaunged they do not exclude their substaunces and very essence which they teach to remaine after the consecratiō as I haue proued before but thei speake of a mutation of the naturall properties of bread wyne wherby they are no longer common bread wyne but through Gods power and benediction sanctified holy sacramentes chering vs with the comfortable promyses whiche God our father hath made vnto vs for the effusion of his sonnes bloud and for the death of his body The elder fathers do acknowledge confesse and teache no other mutation of y e outward signes As for Theophilact he is not of authoritie to stablish any article for he reproueth the Latyn church for beleuing the procession of the holy spirit and he was the yeare after Christ .1058 In the tyme of Lanfranke Gerengary when the byshops of Rome toke vpon them first stoutly to maintain and to publysh the doctrine of transubstantiatiō which before time was scarfly heard of Albeit his wordes touching the sacrament doe not disagre with the doctrine of the elder fathers if they be well construed When he denieth the bread to be a figure he speaketh of a vaine bare figure for so he expoundeth himself vpō Marke denying that it is figura tantum a figure only whiche we do confesse and graunt But he saith that the bread is transelemented transformed He saith also wryting vpon the said chapter of Iohn that we are transformed transelemented in to Christ and almost all the elder fathers do say the same And yet our natures remaine we ar not transubstantiat we are not made Christes reall flesh but vndefiled and holy flesh of his flesh and suche as shall aryse and be immortal with him for he doth knit cople and incorporat vs to him selfe by his sacramentes Therfore as this word transformed doth proue no mutation of our substaūce no more doth it proue the substaunce of bread and wyne to discontinue There remaineth yet one reason with which they defend their transubstantiation vnto which I thinke necessary to make an aunswer forsomuch as it is commonly in al the mouthes both of lay and ecclesiastical persons which suppose Christes body to be eaten really naturally They say if we doe not eate Christes flesh really why doth S. Paul make such as receiue vnworthely giltie of the Lords body and bloud Why doth he teach such to eat and drinke their own damnation because they make no difference of the Lordes body These wordes do not proue y t Christes body is eaten of vs really or substantially For Paull speaketh there of vnworthy receiuers which do not eate Christes body which is the bread of lyfe but the only figure Sacrament therof and they do eate the sayd only sacrament and only figure to their iudgement and condemnation as I haue proued This is not my doctryne but the doctrine of Hierom Ambrose of S. Austin of Prosper and of Bede as is declared in the beginning of this lesson The contemp of Gods sacrament not y e contract or touching of christes reall body which is now in heauen bringeth dānation causeth this giltines For as he which violētly plucketh down the kings maiesties armes or breaketh the kinges great seale or clippeth his coyne cōmitteth an offence against the kinges owne persone so they which abuse the sacrament of Christes body and bloud presuming to come to it as to common bread not reconciling them to their brethren nor sanctifying them selues to god such presumers and vnthankefull persons do offend against Christ himselfe be giltie of his body and bloud that is of hys death and doe eate their owne damnation To come to Gods holy sacrament vnreuerently without the wedding garment without any examination of thy lyfe past without geuing thankes to God the father for the dishonour and death of his sonne this is Non diiudicare corpuus domini to make no difference of the Lordes body For Paul nameth here the sacrament the Lordes body euen as Christ did when he said of bread wine this is my body bloud For as boeth Cyprian and S. Austin and other elder fathers do teach sacramēts haue the names of y e very thinges which they do represēt signify w t certen similitudes The aforsaid word of thapostle cannot be vnderstād otherwise for he speaketh of vngodly mē which do not eat christs body but the only figure to condemnation He vseth a like phrase in the beginning of the said chapter where he saith that euery mā praying or prophecying with a couered head dishonesteth shameth his head y t is Christ referring to Christ an offence done to mans head because it is a sacrament of Christ. After a like sort necligent and dome pastors whiche doe contemne their flock and neglect the honorable office of preaching ar pronounced of y e prophet Ezechiel giltie of their bloudes which do perishe for lack of enstruction and teaching That vnworthy receiuers are giltie of Christes body and bloud through a like contemt and dissolutnes presumption and neglygence not through any naturall any corporall or real eating of his flesh S. Ambrose declareth expounding Paules aforesaide wordes as it foloweth Dabūt poenas mortis domini quia pro illis occisus est qui eius beneficium irritum ducunt they shalbe promysed for Christes death saith this holy father because he was slaine for them and they do set light by his benefit He doth interprete suche to be giltie of the Lordes body which do not eate his flesh that is the fode of life as I haue proued before but the only figure therof to the condemnation of their contempt presumption and vnkindnes Therfore no transubstantiation can be proued of this place for the defēce wherof they do most shamefully wrest and depraue not only the scriptures but also the elder fathers And to impresse thesame depely into the hartes of al men womē they haue with holden from the laytie many yeares Christes cup for feare as they say of sheading his bloud of which I will speake a few wordes in your gentil eares then I wyll conclude and finishe this matter Christ our maister commaundeth all men and women to drinke of his cup which commaundemēt the Apostles obserued as long as they liued making no prouise nor tradition to the contrary And the vniuersall church folowed and obserued religiously the said precept for the space of a thousād yeres after Christ as many be proued by plaine testimony of auncient wryters For how with such handes saith Ambrose vnto Theodosius the Emperour wilt
multorum oblatio simul celebretur vt omnibus ministretur That is to say we must tary for others that many may offer vp thankes and prayses and that all the cōgregation may receyue Thankes be vnto God that we haue Christes supper in that fashion and maner which he him selfe obserued yet because all men be not perswaded and some doe murmur and grudge at this Godly reformation and of a stubbornes absent them selues from the holy communion and would flye backe into Egipt agayn to heare Masses as they were wont to do I thought it necessary to touche this matter to reforme their iudgementes if they wylbe reclaymed What word of God what authoritie of scriptures can be alledged for priuate masses Or who is able to shewe that euer any of the Apostles any holy man in the primatiue church or any of the elder Fathers before Pope Gregory did celebrate priuatly If there be nether example of any holy man nor no autorite no text no testimony of the scripture to mainteine them let vs conclude that it is but a dreame and fantasy of man submitting our iudgemētes to Gods boke Moreouer as Christ did not ordeine his supper to be receiued priuatly for benefactors ether dead or aliue or for others no more did he eleuate and lift vp the sacramēt ouer his head to be sene and worshipped of his disciples He gaue it them into their handes to eate and not to honor it to receiue it and not to worship it with holding vp of their hāds knocks on their brestes Only God is to be honored with this kind of reuerence no sacramēt for God is not a sacramēt neither is the sacramēt God What a sacrament is is to longe a matter to entreat nowe because I wil not wery you I wil difer this point vnto the next sermon Then I wil shew you also how Christes body is in the holy sacrament procede further into the text Let vs vse it as Christ his Apostles did If thou wilt be more deuout then they were be not deceiued but beware y t thy deuotion be not idolatry Christ gaue it thē into their handes not into their mouthes Nether be thou afraid to take and hādel it with thy handes as they did Consider not how it hath bene vsed in times past the counsel holden at Rotomage did first forbid men to take it in their hands regard more Christes example and the exāple of his Disciples and of the primatiue churche whiche alwayes did take it into their handes then the late example of our forefathers But thou wylt say the kings boke made by the learned clergy and wyse men of this realme according to Gods word and confirmed by most high authoritie of the Lordes and commons of the Parliament commaūdeth me to receiue the holy Sacrament at the priestes handes into my mouth As the Apostles commaunded all christen men and women to abstain from bloud ▪ and from straungled meates to beare with those that were weake and for other certein considerations which cōmaundmēt S. Paul afterward disanulleth professyng no meat to be vncleane and licensing them to eate both bloud and straungled whiche licence they embraced wyllingly and obediently and as they of the primatiue church commaunded the people to receiue it at their mouthes because some receiuing it in their handes dyd conuey away the Sacrament secretly to abuse it to superstitiō and magical vses So the king commaundeth the same in dede for like considerations for a tyme season for an vniformitie and to beare with thy infirmitie and weakenes vntil thou shalt haue more knowledge by readyng and hearyng Gods sacred word and vntyll thou shallt be growen a strōg and a perfit man in Christes holy religion entending as I take it when thy heart is tilled with the seede of Gods worde and able to digest stronger meat to make an vniforme lawe to the contrary and to commaunde all men women and children to receiue it with their hands as priestes do and as Christ and his Disciples did and the layte of the primatiue church For indifferent thinges the kynges maiestie with his clergie and the aduise of his Parliamēt may do and vndo forbid and commaund and make one lawe this yeare and an other cleane contrary the next yeare Therfore when soeuer the same authoritie shal will thee to take it in thy handes agayne or if thei shall wyll thee to receiue it syttyng thou must as willyngly obey their commaūdement as they of the primatiue church did embrace Paules commaundement touching bloud and straungled meates notwithstanding it was a contrary commaundement to that which all the Apostles had concluded vpon a little before as is regestred In the meane tyme I do not bid thee disobey or breake their first commaundement But if it be an indifferent thyng thou wylt say why may I not do as I list or how may they forbid me to take it with my mouth for then they make it not indifferent It is not euyll to receyue with thy mouth but it is better to receiue it in thy handes for as muche as Christes Disciples did so and in indiffererent thynges the magistrates may commaunde thee to do that is the better yea or that which is worse as they shall see cause and considerations Prepare thy heart therfore to obedience in suche thynges and be as ready to receyue it in thy handes as with thy mouth be as ready to receiue it syttyng as knelyng yea euen to morow if they shall wyll thee so to doe And as thou doest willingly obey them in that thei bid thee take it w t thy mouth so obey them concerning adoration for in that thei commaunde that the Sacrament shal not be heued nor lift vp they forbid thee to honor it Thus I haue declared you my faithe and knowledge that is why God ordeined his supper after y e eating of the lābe that their lambe was a figure of our sacramental bread and wyne a commemoration of the deliueraunce and a Sacrament of Christes death that the Iewes had some cōtinual rites and sacramētes and other some temporal I shewed you how their sacramentes and ours howe their receit ours doth differ why God who is immutable disanulled their rits and ordained new rites and newe ceremonies for vs for what causes men absent them selues from Christes banket to which they should come not annually but continually and that as it is best to come fasting therto so it is not euil to receiue after meat and drinke I haue proued that to blesse is not to make a crosse vpon the sacrament but to render thankes to God the father for the remission of our sinnes through the sede promised that Christ ordeineth here no priuate Masse but a communion and that the scriptures and the Oriental churche and S. Ambrose a godly and learned father of the Latin church disalowe all priuate receit And that as it is not euill to