take mi pleasure I wil laugh and be mery al the yeare I wil do what my list at Easter I wil repent then I wil come to the Lordes table but not before Examin thine own thoughtes thou oppressor thou dronkard thou horekeper thou flatterer and enter into your own hartes you shal find this to be the cause of your lōg absence and of your seldome comming to the Lordes bāket For as he that hath a hungry and a gready stomack to hys meat declareth hereby his body to be voyd of all corruption and that he is in good perfit health so I say vnto you to obserue an annuall cōmunion is a token of an vnrightuous man of a stubborne seruaunt of an vnquiet woman to come often is a token of one whiche striueth against his flesh which kepeth battell with the deuill and laboreth dayly to liue Godly blamelesse For here we remembre Christes death passion The remembraunce of Christes death maketh vs to remembre our own offences sinnes for he died not for himself but for our iniquities and misdedes The remēbraunce of our offences wrappeth vs in sorowe and heuines Sorowe and heuines do cause vs to fly vnto God for his help mercy as it is written in trouble I cried to thee who embraceth vs like a louing father For as sorow and heuines entred fyrst into this worlde for sinne and for the gylt of Adams disobedience so the same now doth expel sinne againe leade vs into vertue as Paul teacheth Tristitia secundum deum operatur penitentiam in salutem Godly sorow sayth Paul causeth repentaunce vnto saluation Moreouer in that the texte sayth that whyles they were eating Iesus toke bread and ordeined his last supper some do reason hereof that the Sacrament is not to be receiued fastyng as the custome nowe is but after other meates and drynkes after a certayne refection banket or maundy which they say those that be ryche should make to refresh the power and nedy For the defence of this maūdy they alledge not only Christes example but also where it is written that the Corinthiās in dede kept such a maundy But Paul reprehendeth them therfore and disanulleth their custome as an occasion of glotony of drōkennes of pride of contentiō and other misbehauiour in the churche saying vnto them haue ye not houses to eate and drynke in or els dispyse ye the congregation of God And agayne if any man hunger let hym eate at home that ye come not together vnto condempnation nor Christ dyd not celebrate this sacrament after other meates and drinkes to stablyshe any suche custome nor to geue vs any example to doe the lyke but rather to teache vs that our Sacramentall bread is succeded in stead of the Iewes Easterlambe and that their ceremony is nowe disanulled and abrogated Therfore the vniuersall Churche commonly accordyng to Paules mynd to the Corinthians vseth nowe to celebrate the Lordes supper fastyng without any Maundy and not after other meates Notwithstandyng as he doeth well whiche commeth fastynge to the Lordes table so he doth not ill whyche by occasion commeth after that he hack eaten and dronke Meat and drynke do not defyle doe not make a man an vnmete gest for Christes borde for the mariage dyner of the kynges sonne but lacke of the wedding garment that is synne and iniquitie There is no commaundement in the scriptures which restraineth those that haue eaten from the communion Paul reproueth not the Corinthians for any suche thynge but because they made Maundeis and bankettes in the house of praier In their own houses he doth not forbid them to eate and drinke befor the communion but permitteth it and leaueth them to their own libertie necessitie herein saying If any mā hunger let him eat at home I touche this matter partly thorow occasion of the text partly also to reforme those if they wyll be reclaimed whiche for lack of knowledge or offended with those that come after meat thorow some necessitie which offence commeth of a good zele and of a good entent but good ententes must be reformed according to knowledge And percase some will be offended with me for vttering this matter Be not offended with truth be not disceiued nor bewitched with superstition and blynde zele but cōsider my wordes indifferētly or rather not my wordes but y e wordes of Chrisostom a learned and an elder father of christes church who saith a great deale more in this matter then I haue said whose saying moued me 〈◊〉 this tyme to touch this matter For onles he or some other learned man did affirme it I would not teach it He in his .ix. Homily ad populum Antiocheum is earnest against those which withdraw them frō the cōmunion many times because they were not fasting and he exhorteth them to come otherwhiles after meat saying Si tibi persuaseris quod post cibum potum ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conuenire necesse est omnino inuitus multam geres curam modestie neque in ebritatem neque in craxulā vnquam deduceris Cura enim expectatio in ecclesiam cōueniendi cum honesta mēsura cibum potum sumere docet ne ingressus fratribus commixtus postea vinum redolens inordinate eructans ab omnibus praesentibus deridiaris Which words be thus much to say If thou determine with thy self to come otherwhyles to the communion after thou hast eat dronk by this meanes thou shalt learne to be modest and sober in thy behauiour thou shalt neuer offende in dronkēnes nor defile thy self with glotony but remēbring Gods table thou wilt take meat drink with moderation lest comming to the church if thou smell of wyne or belche inordinatly through the fulnes of y e stomak thou be a laughing stock to al that shall se thee in that taking Whensoeuer thou arte Godly affected whensoeuer thou hast remorse for thy sinnes with an ernest entent of amendment and reformatiō of thy liuing be not afraid to com to Christes banket to the mariage diner of the kinges son whether thou hast eaten dronke or art fasting Be afraid if thou being an officer or magistrate dost deuise euill statutes ether ecclesiastical or temporal contrary to the statutes of the eternal God or if thou doest make vnlawful grauntes and geue dispensations lycences and cockettes to cary wol leather corne or other wares ouer the sea enpouerishyng many thousandes to enriche thy selfe and fewe others Be afrayd if thou be a Tayler and doest steal part of their cloth which cost them dear from thy customers makyng them beleue that no lesse then thre yardes wyll serue their tourn when two yardes be sufficient Be afraid to come if thou kepe a drapers or an Haberdashers or Poticaries shop and doest oppresse thy brethren by takyng immoderat and vnreasonable gaynes If thou be a husbandman and wylt not store
A FAITHFVL DECLARATION OF Christes holy supper compreheÌ„ded in thre SermoÌ„s preached at Eaton Colledge by Roger Hutchinson 1552. Whose contentes are in the other syde of the lefe ¶ Newly imprinted at London by Iohn Day dwelling ouer Aldersgate 1560. Cum gratâ—a priuilegio Regiae maiestatis per septeâ—â—ium ¶ THE CONTENTES OF the first sermon THe first sermon sheweth why Chryste ordeyned his supper after the eatinge of the Paschall lambe that the Iewes easter lamb was a fygure of our sacramentall bread and wyne a commemoratioÌ„ of their delyueraunce a sacrament of Christes death that the Iewes had some continual rites and sacrameÌ„ts other some temporal how their sacraments ours how their receit and owres do differ Why God who is immutable disanulled thir rites and ordeined new rites and new ceremonies for vs. For what cause men absent themselues from Christes banket to the which thei shuld come not annually but continually That as it is best to come fasting therto so it is not euill by occasion to receiue after meate and drinke That to blesse is not to make a crosse vpon the sacrament but to render thankes to God y e father for the remission of our sinnes through the seed promised That Christ ordeyneth here no priuate masse but a communion and that the scriptures and the Orientall church disalow al priuate receit that as it is not euill to receyue the holy sacrament at thy mouth so it is better to take it in thy handes as Christ and his Apostles did and the laytie of the primatiue church ¶ The contentes of the second sermon THe second sermon declareth what a Sacrament is that the nature matter of the sygnes remayneth â–ª that Christ affirmeth breade to be his body and wyne to be his bloude for thre properties and similitudes and not for any transubstantiatioÌ„ and mutation of their natures That his body bloude are the sustinaunce of mannes soule and spirite which are not fed or nourished w t corporall food That both the spirituall eating and the sacramental receit are necessary and commaunded That by our worthy receyt of the sacrament we are made Christes body not by fayth only but also realli What a testameÌ„t is what the new testament is what the ould is That the ould christians before Christes cumming did eat his body drinke his bloud as truly as really and as effectually as we do How Christes body and bloud be present in his holy supper that they ar not to be honored in the forme of bread and wine with eleuatioÌ„ of handes or kneling but by faith in them by cumming to his supper bi geuing of thanks and by offring vnto him frankeÌ„seÌ„ce and myrre that is to say by confessing him to be very natural man borne of his mother after the fulnesse of tyme for our redemptioÌ„ and very god begotten of his father before al tyme that this is the catholike fayth and the doctrine of the elder fathers of Christes church ¶ The contentes of the third Sermon THE thyrde sermon sheweth that Christes flesh which is the bread of lyfe is neuer receyued vnworthely neuer vnto destruction but alwayes vnto saluation vnto righteousnesse and iustification That Christ with playne wordes and the elder fathers do affirme the substaunces of bread wyne to remayne after the consecration how the elder fathers do affirme the natures of the signes to be altered and chaunged without any transubstantiation That Christes cup ought not to be denyed to the laitie that such as come vnworthely to Gods saâ—raments be gylty of Christes body bloud albeit they receyue the onely fygure and signe therof That after the receit of the holy sacrameÌ„t relapse into sin is daungerouse that we muste passe our life tyme thencefurth in praier and geuyng of thankes and go into mount Oliuet that is seke for heauenly thinges and despise earthly thinges THE PRINTER TO the reader FORASMVCH gentle reader as al felicitie helth prosperitie of a christen man staÌ„deth consisteth in the perfecte knouledge of the true and liuing god and of himself which knowledge euery faithfull man may plentifully and abundantly finde in the holy and sacred scriptures as it were in a moste pure cleare glasse or myrrour In whiche all men ought to delight and exercise themselues both day and night to the amendement of their owne lyues and to the edifieng of their neighbours And considering also y t there are many in these latter daies God amend them and sende them better grace the which only study with haÌ„d and fote toth and nayle and yet would be counted good Christians when in very deade thei ar nothing lesse to impugne the truth and to bury in perpetual obliuie and forgetfulnes the monumentes labours and trauailes of moste worthy men who refused no paynes to aduauÌ„ce true religion and to ouerthrow the false religion superstitioÌ„ and idolatry I haue therfore taken vpon me through Gods helpe to set forth bring to light these sermons which were geuen vnto me by maister Roger Hutchinson to put into prynt and that a litle before the death of the most Godly king King Edward the sixt and because immediatly after his death Gods true religioÌ„ was ouerthrowen and troden most shamefully vnder fote by the bloudy Papistes I was enforced and coÌ„pelled not only to surcesse from printing of these sermons but also of diuers others Godly mens workes The author of these sermons liyng on his death bed Whome the Lord toke to his mercy sent to me in my trouble desiring me that wheÌ„soeuer almighty God of his own mere mercy goodnes wold loke no more vppon our wretchednes wherwith we had moste iustly prouoked him vnto wrath but wipe awaiour sinnes and hide them in the precious woundes of his sonne Iesus Christ and turne once againe his mercifull countenaunce towardes vs and lighten oure heartes with the bright beames of his most glorious Gospel that I would not only put these Sermons of his in print But also his other boke called the Image of God the which he himselfe had newly corrected declaring that although God should take him vnto his mercy yet he wold leaue behynd him som litle monument of his good heart mind will the which he bore towards y e truth of Gods holy word and furtheraunce profit of Christes church for that diuers sectaries wer crept in vnder y e colour title of true religioÌ„ who through y e perswasioÌ„ of the deuill hath sowed their diuilish 〈◊〉 as y e AriaÌ„s Anabaptists PelagiaÌ„s Papists dyuers others y t the flocke of Christes coÌ„gregation might haue som strong armoure for y e sure defeÌ„ce of theÌ„selues and fitte weapons wheÌ„ thei shal haue at any time any doing w t those sectaries to y e vtter ouerthrowing of theÌ„ Therfore as the authors good wil was through y e help of God in setting forth y â— boke for thy profit So accept take it in good parte and
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