are all one lofe and one body in asmuch as we all are partakers of one bread and as often as ye shal eate this bread c. and whosoeuer shall eat of this bread vnworthely and againe let euery man examin him selfe and so let hym eate of this bread Lo S. Paul nameth the on part of this sacramēt bread whersoeuer he maketh mention therof and Christ our Maister whome we are commaundeth to heare nameth the other part the fruite of the vine by their names teaching vs that the matter the ensence and the substaūce both of bread and wine are not transformed are not transubstātiat into the substaunce of his flesh and bloud but do remaine and continue as well after the consecration as before or els they can be no sacraments as I proued in my secōd lesson Nowithstanding Christ in his supper affirmeth bread and wyne to be his body bloud and calleth his body Granum frumenti a wheat corne and his bloud the fruit of the vine For those thre properties and similitudes whiche I haue declared and also for another similitude whiche nowe he teacheth vs here that is because his body and bloud are the fruite of Mary the fruit of Dauid the fruit of Abraham and of others as it is written Ex quibus Christus est secundum carnem Christ is of the fathers touching his flesh Euen as the sacramental bread and wyne are the fruit of wheat and the fruit of the vine For this cause and such other he calleth his body Granum frumenti a wheate corne and affirmeth the signes to be his fleshe and bloud not for any mutation of their substaunces For this similitude and such other do chaunge the names of bread and wyne but not their natures and essence into Christes nature for Christes nature is the fruite of many Patriarkes and diuers kynges not the fruite of the vine nether yet the fruit of wheate But the Papistes reply here that Paul calleth the sacrament bread so many tymes and that Christ nameth the wyne the fruite of the vine not of that it is but of that it was not that they are styll bread and wyne after the consecration but because they weere so before And they defend this their distinction interpretation with two stronge argumentes inuincible as they do thinke Their first argument is gathered of the wordes of Christ immediatly folowing in that he sayth that he wyll drynke of this fruite of the vyne in the kyngdome of his father with his disciples We shalbe fed sayth the Papist in Gods kyngdome whiche is the glory of the lyfe to come with this fruite of the vyne but we shall not be fed there with the corruptible fode and naturs of bread and wyne Ergo their natures do not remayne and continue and wyne is called the fruite of the vyne and bread Granum frumenti a wheat corne or the frute of wheat of that it was not of that it is I answer his fathers kingdom in which Christ saith that he wil drinke new wine with his disciples in the aforesaid text is not the glory of the life to come but that tyme whiche folowed immediatly his resurrection in which not for any necessitie or hunger as S. Austin saith epi. xlix ▪ which he writeth to one Deogratias but for a trial and probation that he was verely risen concerning his humanitie he did both eate and drinke with his disciples as Peter witnesseth in his sermō to Cornelius Then he dranke the fruite of the vyne a new with them that is after a straunge and a newe sort hauyng not passible and mortall but impassible and immortall flesh and such as neded no bodely foode Chrisostom a learned and Godly byshop of Christes church doth so vnderstand these wordes of Christ. For vpō Mathew he writeth thus expounding this very text meminit iam resurrectionis ac regnū patris eam appellat that is Christ remembreth nowe his resurrection calling it his fathers kingdom Nether is it against reason or the phrase of the scriptures to take gods kingdom in this signification which began chiefly to florishe immediatly after Christes death as appeareth and as he him self taught his disciples that it shuld so do saying Cū exaltatis fuero omnia tra ham ad meipsum when I shalbe lifted vp I will drawe al thinges to my selfe For God doth not reigne only in heauē but also in this life as it is wryten Regnum dei intra vos est the kingdome of God is within you Christ speaking of drinking new wyne in his fathers kingdom meaneth this raigne wherby God the father reigned in the hartes of the faithfull after his sonnes resurrection by the grace of his almighty spirit with many visible giftes and signes Therfore it can not be proued of these wordes that the natures of bread and wyne are disanulled Their second reason wherwith they would proue the sacramentes to be named bread and wyne in that they were so before and not in that they be so still is framed and made of many like phrases in the scriptures When the serpent which was made of Aarons rod deuoured the serpentes which the enchaūters of Pharao made of their rods the texte faith that Aarons rod did eate vp theyr roddes calling thē roddes because they were so before So the scriptures many tymes do name man earth forsomuche as he was earth touching his body before his creation They doe call wyne water whiche was made of water as we reade After this sort saith y t Papistes Christ nameth his bloud wyne and the fruit of the vyne and his body bread and Granum frumenti a wheat corne or the fruit of wheat Though Aarons rod were turned into a Serpente yet this mutation was no transubstantiation neither is earth transubstantiat into man nor water into wine The scriptures make relation of many wonders and myracles in both testamentes but let them shewe any transubstantiation in any of Gods myracles from the begynnyng of the worlde and I wyll be of their opinion If they can not it is against reason that they should abuse Gods myracles to proue their transubstantiatiō and to mainteyn their own dreames and inuentions Moreouer the scriptures doe manifestly expresse a mutation in the aforesayd myracles They testifie with plaine wordes that the rods turned to Serpentes that man was formed and made of the earth and that water was made wyne but they do not testifie that bread and wyne are turned into Christes reall body and bloud neither doe they saye that Christes body and bloud was made of them but rather deny it For Paull sayth that God sent his son Factum ex muliere made of a woman teachyng vs with manifest wordes that touchynge fleshe and bloud he is womans seede that is the fruit of Mary not the fruite of the vyne But because both they and we haue scriptures and it must nedes be
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
death of the body And Paull from the death of the soull before they were with any minister He receyued also Abraham into his fauour before he was circumcised Not withstanding we haue commaundemēt to repaire to the minister for absolution for to them belongeth to loose and to bynde to blesse and to curse as appeareth of y e foresayd ensamples For Paul after that he was lyghtened from aboue was directed vnto Ananias to receyue imposition of handes The Leper also was commaunded to shew himself to the priest for a witnes to the congregation And Lazarus after his vprysing was deliuered to Christes disciples which were priestes to be losed stripped of his graue bondes And the patriark Abraham after that he was iustified and accepted into Gods fauour he receiued the sacramēt of circumcisiō as a seale of the rightuousnes which is by faith So albeit Christes body be receiued in faith many tymes without the sacrament yet thou must come vnto his borde because of his commaundement because of his promises and also to receiue spirituall comfort and encrease of fayth Otherwyse thou doest nether eat his body nor drinke his bloud nether shalt thou be partaker of the fruites of his passion whiche appertaine to those only which by receiuing the memorial of his death do shewe them selues not to be vnkinde or forgetfull but obedient thankefull It is not ynough to receiue it spiritually we must receiue it also sacramentally for both receits be required commaunded and Christ him self with his Apostles vsed both for our eruditiō ensample and enstruction Here a question may be demaunded no lesse necessary to be knowen then hard to dissolue and aunswere If Christes be eate only by fayth how is that true which I rehersed out of Chrisostom that we are transformed into Christ and made his body non solum per fidem not only by faith sed reipsa but also really truly and effectually You shall vnderstande welbeloued in the Lord that when we receiue Christ in faith that this receit ioyneth and coupleth vs effectually really vnto Christ. Not only our hearts and mindes but also our bodies and fleshe be purified be washed and clensed by this receit so that Christ our head and Lord dwelleth and abideth in vs hereby and norisheth and fedeth vs continually with faith in his bloud and with the comfort of his holy spirit making vs liuely holy and very membres of his misticall body This is the affect and meaning of Chrisostoms wordes in which he affirmeth that we ar made the body of Christ really truly and affectually Hetherto I haue declared vnto you two matters what it is to eate Christes body and that thre similitudes or properties be necessarely required in this sacrament as I haue proued aswell by euident textes of the Gospell as with the authoritie of many of the elder and best learned fathers of Christes church whose doctrine interpretatiōs I exhort al men to folow Of these similitudes or properties we may gather y t the matter natures of bread wyne do remaine that Christes words This is my body be asmuch to say as this is a sacrament of my body For these similitudes properties must be in the bread wyne in that they be sacramentes after the consecration els they ar no sacramentes For take away the substaunce matter nature of them and what similitude or propertie remayneth ether of nutrition or of vnitie or of conuertion Ergo the assence nature matter and substaunce of bread wyne is not altered not transformed not transubstantiat but do remayne and continewe as before for these properties and similitudes be in the very substaunce inward nature of bread and wyne The scholemen and Papistes to defend and mainteyne their transubstantiation which is the bishop of Romes kingdom the fortresse and castell of all superstition idolatry they make the accidentes of bread and wyne the sensible outward signe the visible earthly terrenal nature of thys sacrament When thou metest with such a scholemaister that teacheth this doctrine and that the bread is not bread stil ▪ aunswer hym thus Sir there must be thre similitudes and properties in the sacrament a similitude of norishyng a similitude of vnitie another of conuersiō But these thre properties and similitudes can not be in the outward shewe of accidentes that is in the color in the fasion in the breadth and roundnes in the quantitie of bread wyne for these thinges nor no other accidentes do not norishe and fede vs be not conuerted into vs nether haue they any propertie or similitude of any vnitie But the bread wyne haue al these similitudes they doe norysh they be turned into our nature and they doe conteyne a similitude of vnitie Therfor bread and wine is the outward and sensible signe the terrenall nature of this sacramēt and the bread is bread styll and the wyne is wyne styll ▪ aswell after the consecration as afore or els they be no sacramentes and yet not withstanding they be named the body bloud of Christ not because of any mutation chaunge or alteration of their natures and substaūces but because of the thre similitudes properties aforsaid Aunswere papisticall teachers on this wyse and with this reason and thei shal not be able to gainsay thee Now let vs enter somwhat further into the text and in into other matters Christ speaking of the cup saith Hic est sanguis noui testamēti This is my bloud of the newe testament or of the new couenaunt What meane these wordes the new testament and what is a new testament Verely a testament is as much to say as a legacy or behest of goodes So S. Austin defineth it Testimentum est quo defertur bono rum hereditas a testament saith S. Austin is a behest legacy of goods And there is an old testament and a new testamēt as Christ teacheth vs here The old testament is a bequest and legacy of temporall goodes and earthly commodities vnto the sinagoge of the Iewes The new testament is a bequest of eternall heauenly enheritaunce through Christ vnto all men both Iewes and Gentils Or otherwyse The old testament is the axe set to the roote of the trees the lawe whiche causeth anger that is the preaching of the lawe against wicked men for lex iusto non est posita the lawe sayth Paul was not ordeined for good men but for euyl and therfore he defineth it in another place to be ministratiō of death and damnation But the new testament is a sermon of Gods mercy and clemēcy of saluation of redemption and rightuousnes through the effusion of Christes bloud who calleth all men and women from superstition to true holynes from shadowes to light from the letter to the spirit and from the workes to the flesh to labour and worke in his vineyard y t is to honor
geue the thankes vnto God And as touching these sermons iudge of them thy selfe as God shall geue the grace Thus fare thou wel in him y â— liueth for euer Amen The .25 of September ⧠THE FIRST Sermon on the Sunday next before Easter ¶ The sum of the Gospell THe Gospell of this day wel beloued in the Lord conteyneth a narration of suche things as our master Chrisâ— did immediatly before he was through the couetousnes of Iudas enuy of his own nation betrayed vnto death It is a loÌ„g processe as you haue heard worthy of perpetual remembraunce and a worthy matter to be declared to al men and women For it setteth forth plainly afore our eyes as it wer in a scaffolde the sede promised which by many darke ridels and figures is signified shadowed in Moeses and the Prophetes and conteineth the beneuolence the louing kyndnes the great tender mercy and good wil of God the father who so loued vs that for our honor he suffred his honorable and only begotten chylde to be dishonored and oppressed of malicious and couetous men And that so noble and worthy a benefite should not fall out of remembraunce which is the alone author of our redemptioÌ„ and our only comfort against sinne that we should reserue this his louing kindnes in continuall memory not be vnthankefull he hath commaunded vs by the mouth of Christ our Lorde to celebrate a commemoration of his fauour clemency of his sonnes dishonour death and to resorte vnto the holy sacrament of the same that is of Christes honorable body and bloud Because this matter is so long that it caÌ„not be worthely declared in one hower nor â—wayne forasmuch as many be yet ignoraÌ„t of the fruit of the vse and cause of the mary and swetnesse of the Lordes supper knowe not what it meaneth nor what a sacrament is and Easter now draweth nigh at whiche time al men and women dispose them selues to come to Christes banket as I wold wishe they wold also aswell at other times and so come do whose praiers God doth not forget yet because the most part wil not come but at the aforesaid feast therfore and also for as much as it is a member parcel of the gospel of this sonday before Easter I thought it good to speake now of this matter which is an abbridgement of the whole scripture as wel for the erudition of those that be vnlearned as also that suche as be stubbornly wedded to their owne iudgements and are hardned against the truth may not excuse them selues by ignoraunce when to rendre an account of their faithes they shalbe cited to appere at the barre before the diuine maiestie But that you may y e better impresse in your hartes cary away that which I shal speke hereof I wil reherse vnto you that part meÌ„ber of this gospel which coÌ„prehendeth Christes supper Whiles they were eating Iesus toke bread and when he had geuen thankes he brake it and gaue it to the Disciples and saied Take eat this is my body And he toke the cup thanked and gaue it them saying Drink of it euery one for this is my bloud of the newe Testament shed for many to the forgeuenes of synnes I say vnto you I will not drynke henceforth of this fruit of the vyne till that day when I shall drinke it new with you in my fathers kingdome And when they had geuen praises they went out in to mount Oliuete This matter is declared how we doe receiue Christes body and bloud in the sensible sacrament of bread and wyne also without the sacrament is shewed in the sixt chapter of S. Iohns Gospell That I may speake hereof to the promotion of Gods glory finde out suche lessons such doctrine in y e text which may be to your instruction edifying which be assembled here to serue God in praier hering his word let vs aske gods help spirit for the which I shal desire you to say the lords praier after me Our fa. c. This Gospel welbeloued in the lord is ful of spiritual erudition and heaueÌ„ly comfort it hath as many good lessons fruitful matters as wordes yea and as many heresies be gathered of the words therof as good lessons as shalbe declared Lest thorow plenty of matter I be ouerlong and tedious I wil ouerrun it in order as the text leadeth speaking much or litle of euery sentence as I shal see nedeful for your enstruction desiring you not to loke for a learned profound declaration but only for a plain exposition and a faithful confession of the catholike faith First and in the beginning of the supper in that the text saith Whyles they were eating Iesus toke the bread Of this we may learne that Christ his disciples did celebrate this sacrameÌ„t of his honorable body and bloud not after the present vse and maner of the congregation but after other meates and drinkes First he did eate his passeouer and EasterlaÌ„be with his disciples after the custome of the old testament which passeouer and easterlambe was a figure and shadow of our sacramentall bread wyne For as they of the olde lawe did eat yearly an easterlambe in remeÌ„braÌ„ce of their deliueraunce from Egipt and from the expression of Pharao so we of the new testament do receiue sacramentall bread and wyne in remembrauÌ„ce of Christes death passion through which we ar deliuered from the Egipt of sinne from the gates of hell and from the power of the deuil And as the paschal laÌ„be was ordeined and eaten the night before the children of Israel were deliuered froÌ„ Egipt so likewyse this sacrament was ordeined and eaten the night before we were deliuered from our sinnes And as when the Israelites were escaped out of Egipt they did eate neuertheles the paschal lambe which was called stil the passing by or their passouer and pasport because it was a remembrauÌ„ce of their passage out of Egipt and they eating the same hartely reioysed offering him sacrifice and acknowledging with infinit thankes that they were the felowship of them that had such a merciful God So we now being deliuered from sinne doe eate neuertheles the sacrament which is stil called his bodi that once died for our deliueraunce and we hartly reioyce offring to him y e sacrifice of praise acknowledging with infinit thankes that we ar of the feloship of them which haue such a mercifull and mighty God thorowe Christ. And their lambe was a sacrameÌ„t not only of their deliueraunce out of Egipt but also it was a sacrameÌ„t of Christ to come that he thorow death should deliuer both the Iewes and all other men from the tiranny and bondage of SataÌ„ as Iohn the christener taught the Iewes saying Ecce agnus dei qui tollit peccata mundi behold the lambe of God whiche taketh away the sinnes of the world He nameth Christ a
that whiche you haue not done to one of these litle ones you haue not done to me He procedeth further and bringeth in Peter against those which do worship God after their owne fantasies saying Discamus itaque Philosophari christum prout ipse vult venerari Let vs learne this Philosophy saith Chrisostome that is to honor Christ as he hath willed vs to honor him For that honor is most acceptable to him whiche is honorable or worshipfull whiche he doth esteme and not which we doe imagin For Peter thought no lesse but that he honored Christ when he forbad hym to wash his fete notwithstanding he did not honour hym herein but rather did dishonour and disworshyp hym So doe thou worship and honour him with pitie liberalitie towardes the pore These be the wordes of Chrisostome in his homily against such as come vnworthely to Gods misteries in which he teacheth vs that to honour Christes body is to glorifie hym by doyng of good workes For this cause he toke vpon hym his body and became a naturall man of womans seede as it is writtten God hath raysed vp a horne of health vnto vs in the house that is of the stock and kindred of his seruaunt Dauid and why It foloweth that we being deliuered out of the handes of our ennemies should serue and worship hym without fear all the daies of our lyfe in holines rightuousnes before hym I haue declared two wayes how Christes body and bloud are to be worshiped One way is by faith in his bloud by geuing thankes to him for his incarnation and cōming and by offring him frankynsence myr that is by cōfessing him to be very God and very naturall man Another way to honor it is to serue hym in holines and rightuousnes and to exercise in earth y ◠workes of mercy towardes the pore The elder fathers vsed no other worship toward Christes body before Honorius the third byshop of Rome He first commaūded bread and wyne to be worshiped with eleuation of handes Anno post Christum 1226. lib. 2. Decret titul de celebra missarum For the space of a thousand yeares there was no such custome The papistes obiect here that the body of Christ is present vnder the forme of bread to be honored If saith the Papistes a man say vnto thee this is my right hand or this is a stone thou beleuest him God saith this is my body not this is a figure of my body or this doth signifie my body and he that eateth my flesh hath life not he that eateth a figure of my flesh and we doe not beleue him but do make of sugar salt and of chese chalke I aunswer Christ doth not say this is trasformed this is turned this is transubstantiat into my body nether that the nature and substaunce of wine doth discontinue or is excluded as you wold force the wordes Here resteth all the matter how this word est is to be vnderstand whiche is neuer taken in that sence in whiche they would take it here Throughout the Byble no transubstantiation is expressed by this word nor by no other phrase the scripturs speake of no such mutatiō But the other phrase this is for this is a figure is commen and dashed euery where in the scripturs The rock saith Paul was Christ that is a figure of Christ. He nameth him also y e easterlambe whiche was but a figure of hym He is called a stone the worde of God is named seed a swerd a kay a lanterne God is called our banner our castell Ihon the christiner is named a burning candell and he nameth the lawe securim an axe which is set at the rote of the trees which al be figuratiue speches And the elder fathers do so expound this text they confesse and teache Christe to speake here figuratiuely Christ saeith Tertullian who was but .210 yeare after Christ and .13 hundred yeares agone he lib. 4. against Marcion who said that Christ had no natural body but only aparant flesh and a fantasticall body saith thus Christ takyng bread and dealyng it to his disciples made it his body saying This is my body that is a figure of my body And of these wordes he contriueth an argument against Marcian in this wyse But the bread can not be a figure of it if Christ had no true body For a vayne thyng or fantasy can take no figure Lo how this auncient father expounded these wordes S. Austin also taketh Christes wordes in lyke maner saying thus in hys preface vpon the third Psalme He admitted Iudas vnto the maundy wherin he deliuered to his Disciples the figure of his body and bloud And Ambrose in his boke of Sacramentes speaking of the cup sayth that we drynke there Similitudinem pretiosi sanguinis the similitude of his precious bloud But though they say that Christes aforesayd wordes be a figuratiue speache they doe not teache bread and wyne to be bare and naked metaphors but holy Sacramentes hauyng many promyses annexed vnto them for which promises the visible signes be named Christes body and bloud and not for any mutation of their natures or substaunces Therfore albeit thou hast bene led and made to beleue in tymes past that this doctrine is newe learnyng yet thynke not so hereafter It is the doctrine of Christ the fayth of y e old fathers the cōfession of innumerable martirs which haue ratified it w t the losse of their liues in hope of plentuous reward hereafter in y e kingdome of god That we may haue grace to beleue y e truth cōcerning this holy sacramēt to vse it aright to refuse all false doctrine that these wordes which I haue spokē in your outward eares may sinke into your heartes mindes let vs call on the name of Christ who ordeined this sacrament with inuocation and praier The praier O Christ the son of God our sauing health who dost affirme bread to be thy body wine to be thy bloud because of certain properties and similitudes the nature notwithstanding and the matter of the signes remayning and cōtinuing heare our praiers and supplicatiōs and graūt vnto vs for thy mercifull promises these our requestes As our outward man and naturall flesh is norished with bread and wyne so of thy clemency noryshe fede our inward man with the foode of thy swete flesh And as bread and wyne are made of diuers graines of the iuice of many grapes neuertheles they are but one lofe and one cup of wyne so worke thou in vs one heart and mynde knyt vs in a continuall amitie Godly loue vnitie by the operatiō of thy holy spirit And as the natures of the signes are turned and conuerted into our nature so do thou conuert turne and transforme vs into thy nature making vs thy body holy flesh of thy flesh not only by fayth but also really and effectually that is
lyuely holy and very members of thy mistical body Abide alwayes in vs and norishe vs cōtinually with the grace of thy almighty spirit with the fode of thy eternal word with faith in thy holy bloud with the death of thy precious and natural body which thy body is the bread of lyfe to vs the bread of redemption and rightuousnes not really eaten but in y t it was cruelly beatē slain for vs. Teach vs the right vse of this thy sacrament deliuer vs from superstition idolatry ignorauncie with whiche both we our forefathers haue bene snared and fettered in times past Fulfyll these our desyres and petitiōs of thy voluntary goodnes and fre mercy who lyuest and reignest in one glory and equal maiestie with the father and the holy spirit worlde without end So be it ⸫ THE THIRD SERMON vpon the Lordes Supper HEtherto christē hearers I haue furnished Christs supper with two sermōs as it were with two disshes Ther remaineth yet apercel vnspokē of which now I entend to finish I haue declared the meaning theffect the vnderstāding of these wordes of Christ our lord Hoc est corpus meum c. This is my body this is my bloud of the new testament And I haue shewed aswel out of the scripturs as also by the authoritie of the elder and learned fathers of gods church that they are thus much to say This is a sacrament of my body bloud this is a certificat of my fauor a testimony as it wer a broad seal and patent that God my father is recōciled vnto you that he doth embrace that he doth loue you and dwel in you by the grace of his holy spirit for theffusion of my bloud death of my body I tolde you also what it is to eate Christes body that it is not eatē really or corporally for asmuch as it is the meat and sustenaunce not of our bodies and fleshe but of our spirit and inward man which are not fed or norished with any corporal nature or bodely substāce Or to expresse this thing more plainly Christes flesh is panis vitae the bread of life in that it was beaten not in that it is eaten It is the bread of saluatiō of redētion of sanctificatō of rightuousnes of iustification in y t it was cruelly scouged and slayne for vs and not through any corporall any reall or naturall receit As he teacheth vs hymselfe Iohn vi reprouing those whiche vnderstode that he would geue his body to be really and substancially eaten saying Caro non prodest quicunque c. The flesh profiteth nothing it is the spirit that quickeneth that is to say the spirituall receit and eating doeth profite and sanctify you the bodely and corporall eatyng is vnprofitable To eate Christes fleshe and to drinke his bloud is to beleue that the sonne of God concerning his humanitie fleshe was nailed on the crosse that his bloud was let furth for y e expiatiō of our sins for our redemption and rightuousnes to repose vs againe into Gods fauour And this spirituall receit whiche is by faith is so effectuall and of so mighty so vehement an operation that as matrimony maketh man and wife one flesh according as it is written Erunt duo in carne vna So it ioyneth vs vnto Christ re ipsa that is really truly and effectually making vs flesh of his flesh bones of his bones as Paul witnesseth That is liuely holy and very members of his mistical body For Paul doth not speak there only of natural flesh but also of holy flesh and cleane from syn whiche shall arise and be immortall not by the course of nature nor by Adam but through Christ who doth knit and couple and in corporat his chosen to himself by his sacramentes and faith so that they may truly thenceforth say with Paul Viuo iam non ego sed viuit in me Christus I liue yet now not I but Christ liueth in me Gods holy word knoweth no other receit of Christes very body and naturall flesh nether in the Sacrament nor without it Nether any of y e elder fathers of christes church doe acknowledge or teache any other eating Because it is to long a matter to alledge them all I wyll alledge two or thre of the chief and principall and best learned of which y e aduersaries of the truth do brag not a litle S. Austin a famous Godly and learned father of Christes church wryting vpō S. Iohns gospel affirmeth this eating most plainsaying Credere in eū hoc est māducare panē vinū c. To beleue vpō Christ saith this holi father is to eat the bread of life And again qui credit manducat inuisibiliter signa He that beleueth eateth and is fed inuisibly Here percase thou wylt say as Christ spiritually and worthely is receiued by faith of good mē vnto saluation so euil men doe in the sacrament eate his flesh vnworthely and without faith and vnto condemnation By what testimony of the scripture can this be proued that Christes flesh is eaten vnworthely and vnto dampnation Paul sayth quicunque manducauerit panem hunc c. He that eateth of this bread drinketh of this cup of the Lorde vnworthely He doth not say he that eateth Christes body vnworthely or drinketh his bloud vnworthely which alwaies be receiued to sanctification to life saluation but he that eateth this bread that is not common bread not daily bread but sacramētal bread that is ment by the word this Throughout the scriptures this worde vnworthely is neuer ioined with Christes body neuer with his bloud for they do sanctifie their receiuers S. Austin also denieth this destinction Sermone circa sacra feria paschoe wryting thus Qui non manet in Christo in quo non manet Christus proculdubio non manducat eius carnem nec bibit sanguinem etiam si tante rei sacramentum ad iudicium sibi manducet bibit That is to say he that abideth not in Christ and in whome Christ abideth not without doubt he eateth not Christes fleshe nor drynketh not his bloud although he eate and drynke the sacrament of so great a thyng vnto his dampnation This holy father doth teache and confesse here thre things which thynges he teacheth lykewyse in many other places of his bokes One is that euell men do not eate Christes flesh for it is the bread of lyfe and ryghtuousnes Another is that they doe eate the sacrament and the only figure therof Thirdly that they eate the saide only sacrament and the only figure vnto condemnation making them selues as Paul saith gilte of Christes body and bloud whiche they do not receiue because they wyll not beleue These thre most true and Godly lessons of this elder and learned father be a manifest deniall of the transubstantiation and of all corporall reall and naturall receit Let vs
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
hong himselfe and vtterly lost the fauour of God Ananias and Saphira his wyfe for practising the said detestable vice of couetousnes after breaking of bread in the primatiue church were stroken with sodain death Many among the Corrinthians were stroken with diuers diseases and some with sodain death for lyke offences as Paul witnesseth For nothing displeaseth y e diuine maiestie more nothing so kendleth his fury and indignation as relapse into sin after that thou hast bene at his sonnes holy table For thou treadest vnder thy fote his honorable son thou crucifiest him againe thou countest the bloud of the new testament which sanctified thee an vnholy thing doest dishonour the spirit of grace The second office which we ar taught here is thencefurth to passe our life time in praier and in sekyng after heauenly things For Christ and his Apostles froÌ„ geuing of thankes go straght ways to mount Oliuet which place as Iohn the Euangelist saith Iudas who betrayed him knew very well for Iesus oftentymes resorted thether with his disciples to pray If he had gone to an vnknowen place seing his time was at hand many would haue thought that he had suffered death for our redemption agaynst his wyll To auoyde this suspicion and to teache vs that he died of his own voluntary wil and goodnes without compulsion Et secundum propositum c. That is according to the purpose of his father to the prayse of the glory of his grace he resorted to his accustomed place whiche his betraier knew Also he resorted thether as Luke wryteth to pray not that he had nede of prayer whiche is a remedy against sinne but to sturre vs therunto by his ensample For seyng he prayed often and so diligently who neded not beyng without all spot of synne ether originall or actuall howe nedefull a thyng is the same for vs whiche be sinners As the lyfe of fyshes lieth in the water and out of water thei lose their liues so I say vnto you the soule of man and womaÌ„ dieth without prayer nether can we eschewe euyll or exercise vertue with out continuall and earnest inuocation of Gods dayly helpe Let vs learne therfore of Christ who prayed not for hym selfe but for our example to resort after the Communion not to the tauerne or ale house not to a bowlyng ally nor to a dysing house as many do dayly but to go into Mount Oliuete that is to a place of prayer as he dyd alwayes thencefurth lokyng vpwarde towardes heauenly thynges that he may encrease in vs all spirituall giftes to the glory of his name For as fathers in earth wyll not let their chyldren knowe their priuities their secrete treasures and riches nor make them partakers of their commodities and landes as long as they folowe the wyld swynge of their youth and delyght in vanities no more wyll God the father to the louers of worldly vanities deale his spirituall graces nor discouer the glorious ryches of his kyngdome We must dispise worldly thynges and become Egles that is we must flie vp into Mount Oliuete we must lyft our myndes vp into heauen where Christes body is at his fathers righthand For it is wrytten Vbi cadauer ibiaquilae where the carcas is thether the Egles resort Christ our maister nameth his own body a carcas because of his death and passion for onles it had died we had not arysen And he calleth vs Egles teaching vs that we must not crepe on the grouÌ„d we must not tary in earth but we must eleuate not bread wyne but our harts our thoughtes our cogitations spirits to the throne of Gods maiestie where Christes body which was a carcas is now in eternall glory to whome with the father and the eternall spirit be al honor and glory prayse and thankes So be it ⸫ The Praier O Heauenly Father who doest norysh Godly men with the fode of thy sonnes fleshe and the drinke of his bloud whiche his fleshe and bloude is the fruite of many the fruite of Dauid and others not the fruite of the vine nor the fruite of wheate Heare our prayers and supplications and so til our hartes with the sede of thy holy worde that we may be of their felowshyp whiche are fed with thy sonnes body the fode of lyfe not of the numbre of the vngodly which do eate the only figure and Sacrament therof to the condemnation of their presumption contempt and vnthankefulnes Stablyshe the heartes of thy people with the knowledge of the scriptures with the doctrine of the elder fathers of thy holy churche against suche as ignonorauntly and falsly teache that thy sonnes flesh whiche is the bread of lyfe and rightuousnes is reciued vnworthely and vnto condemnation of vngodly men Confirme and enstruct them with thy sonnes commaundement with the ensample and vse of the primatiue and Oriental church against the pestiferous doctrine of those whiche to maynteyne supersticion deny the cup of thy newe testament to the temporall and laytie Graunte these our requestes O moste mercifull God that we hauyng a ryght opinion of thy Sacrament may vse it a ryght may come therunto worthely after this lyfe prayse thee conâ—â—â—ually in mount Oliuete that is in the eternall glory for the remission of our sinnes and for all thy benefittes bestowed vpon vs for the dignitie and worthines of Christ who with thee and the holy spirit liueth and reigneth one God world without ende Amen FINIS Luke 22 Mark 14 â–ª 1 Cor. 11 Ihon. 6 Why Christ ordeined his supper after the eating of the lambe Their laÌ„be was a fâ—gure of our sacrament Of their deliueraunce Of Christ Iohn 1 1 Cor. 5 How our sacrameÌ„ts and theirs do differ Continual and temporal Sacramentes Why God hath disanulled the cites of the old lawe Mala. 3 Gal. 3 Why men absent theÌ„ selues froÌ„ Christes table Eccle. 21 zacha 5 Psal. 37 Psal. 117 Gen. 3 â— Cor. 7 It is best to come to Christes banket fasting â— Cor. 11 Math. 22 â— Cor. 11 Chrisost. Homil. 9. ad popul Antioch Mâ—giâ—â—â—a Tâ—ylers Drapers Poticaris HusbaÌ„dmeÌ„ Butchers Bakers Pastorâ— Who is a sclauÌ„derer Flattery Esay 5 Math. 5 Exod. 20 Deut. 5 Esay â— â— Cor. 11 1 Cor. 1â— Luk. 22 Mark 14. To blesse is not to make a Crosse. 1 Cor. 10 Mark 14. Christ ordeineth here a coÌ„munion not a priuate masse Actu 2 An obiect Thansweâ— Gregorius magnus The East churche Plinius The Uenetians An obiect Thanswer Abac. â— Rom. 1 Hebr. 10 1 Cor. 1â— Iohn â— â— Cor. 11 S. Ambr. Theophil The eleuation It is best to take the sacrament into our handes Concil Rotomag Act. 15. Rom. 14 â–ª Tit. 1 Act. 15 The coÌ„clusion with â—â—umeraâ—â—on praâ—er Math. 1â— Iohn 15.11.14 Luke 5 Math. 9 Apoc. 18 What a sacrament is S. Austyn de catechi rudib Epist. 23 S. Cyprian de chrism Christ affirmeth bread to be his body for thre properties and similitudes A similitude of