c your eares to heare fables lyes fanities euil things c so now geue ouer your members to godlynes your touÌ„gs to speake your eares to heare your eyes to see your mouthes to last your hands to worke your feete to go about such thiuges as maye make to gods glory sobrieâ—y of life loue to your brethreÌ„ that daily more and more diligently for in a stay to stand you cannot either better or worse you are to day then you wer yesterday But better I trust you be wil be if you marke wel my theme that is Repent you The which thing that you would do as before I haue huÌ„bly besought yon eueÌ„ so now yet once more I do agayn besech you that for the tender mercies of God in Christ Iesus our Lord Repent you repent you for the kingdom of heauen that is a kingdom ful oâ—al ritches pleasures myrth beauty swetenes eternall felicitie is at hand The eye hath not sene the like the eare hath not heard the like the hart of man cannot conceiue the treasures pleasures of this kingdoÌ„ which now is at hand to such as repent that is to such as are sory for theyr sins beleue Gods mercy through Christ earnestly purpose to leade a new life The God of mercy through Christ his soÌ„ne graunt vs his holy spirit work in our hartes this sorow fayth new life which through his grace I haue spoken of both now for euer Amen ¶ An other Sermon made also by the sayd Maister Iohn Bradford vpon the Supper of the Lord. THere are two Sacramentes in Christes Church the one of initiation that is wherewith we be enraled as it were in to the houshold family of God which Sacrament we call Baptisme the other wherwith we be conserued fed kept nourished to continue in the same Familye which is called the Lords supper or the body and bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ broken for our syns and shed for our trausgressions Of the former Sacrament that is of Baptisme to speake now I am not purposed because occasioÌ„ and tyme serue not so therto Of the second therfore wyl I speake somthing by Gods grace if that first you remeÌ„ber this that Baptisme in Christs Church now sithen Christes death is come in place of CircumcisioÌ„ which was in the same church afore Christs comming Whereby we may see that Christian Parents seéme to bee no losse bound to offer theyr Infants and Sabes to be baptised that they may be takeÌ„ and accoÌ„pted of vs as meÌ„bers of Christes mistical body wherunto thei are receiued and sealed then wer the Hebrues their children to be taken as pertayning to the coue naunt league with God wherin they were enroled alonely the circumstance of the eight day not necessarye to be obserued being now abrogated But to come agayne of the Lords Supper I am purposed presently to speake through the helpe of God because we are assembled in Christ I hope to celebrate the same Now that the things which I shall speake may be better obserued and caryed away of you I wyl tell you how in what sort I wyll speake of it Three thynges would I haue marked as the principals and scopes wherto I wyl referre al that I shal at this time speake therof They be these Who what and wherefore That is to make it more plaine who dyd institute this thing which we are about to celebrate this is the first The second is what y thing is which is instituted And the last is wherfore and to what end it was instituted whereby we shall be taught how to vse it For the fyrst who did institute thys Sacrament and Supper you all do know that things are more esteemed sometyme for the dignity and authority of the person sometime for the wisedom of the person sometyme for the power and magnificence of the persou and sometime for the tender loue and kyndnes of the person If neede were I could by examples set forth euery one of these but I hope it is not necessarye Now then how can the thyng which we be about to celebrate but be estemed of euery one highlye in that the Auth or of it doth want no dignity no authority no wysedome no power no magnificence no holmes no tender loue and kindnes but hath al dignity authority wisdome power magnificence holynes tender lone mercy glory and all that can be wished absolutely He is God eteruall coequall and substantiall wyth the Father with the holy Ghost the image of the substance of God the wysedome of the Father the brightnes of hys glory by whom all things were made are ruled and gouerned He is the Kyng of all Kyngs and the Lord of all Lords He is the Messias of the world our most deare and louing brother Sauiour Mediatour Aduocate Intercessor Husbaud Priest So that the thyng which commeth from hym caÌ„not but be estemed loued and embraced if dignity authority wisdom power glory goodnes mercy lyke vs Yea if auy thing that can be wyshed lyke vs theu cannot thys whych our Lord dyd institute but like vs and that so much the more by how much it is oue of the last things which he did institute commaunde God open our eyes to see these thynges accordingly so shall we come with more reuerence to thys Table of the Lord which thing he graunt for hys mercies sake Amen And thus much for the fyrst who dyd institute thys Sacrament Now to the second what the Sacrament is If we shall aske our eies our nose our mouth our taste our handes and the reason of man they wyll all make a consonant answer that it is bread wyne And verelye herein they speake the truth and lye not as by many thyngs may be proued although the Papists prate their pleasure to the coutrary And here my dearely beloued I thynke I shal not be either tedious or vnprofitable vnto you if that I tary a litle in shewing this verity that the substance of bread and wine remaine in the Sacrament after the wordes of consecration as they call them be spoken Wherby we may learne how shameles beastes they be whych would enforce men to beleue traÌ„substaÌ„tiation which is an errour wherupon in a maner dependeth all popery For it is the stay of theyr Priesthood whych is neyther after the order of Aaron nor after the order of Melchisedech but after the order of Baal whych thing is somthyng seene by theyr number For the false prophets Priestes of Baal were alwayes many moe in number when the wycked were in authority then the true Priestes and Prophetes of the Lord as the holy histories of the Bible do teach Reade the third of the Kings the. 18 chap. That in the supper of the Lord or in the Sacrament of Christes body which the Papists call the sacrameÌ„t of the Aulter as though that were Christes Sacrament which thing they
caÌ„ neuer proue For it being peruerted vsed to a contrary ende as of sacrifieyng propitiatorily for the syns of the quicke and of the dead of idolatry by adorning or worshipping it by godly honor c. is no more Christes Sacrament but an horrible prophanation of it and therefore as Christ called Gods Temple which was called au house of prayer for the abusing and prophanyng of it by the Priestes a den of the eues so this which the Papists call the sacrament of the Aultar full truly may we call au abominable Idol And therfore I would all men shoulde knowe that the sacrament of the Aultar as the Papistes now do abuse it omittyng certayne substantiall poyntes of the Lords iustitution and putting in the steede thereof their own dregs and dreaues is not the sacrament of Christs body nor the Lords supper wherof when we speake reuerently as our duty is we would not that men should thinke we speake it of the popish Masse that I say in the Supper of the Lord or in the sacrament of Christs body there remaineth the substance of bread and wine as our senses and reason to teach these many thinges also do teach the same First the holy Christ doth plainly tell vs by calling it often bread aftrr the wordes of consecration as 1. Cornith 10. Is not the bread which we breake a partakyng of the body of Christ sayth Paule Loe plainly he saith the bread which we breake not onely calling it bread but addyng thereto breakyng which cannot be attributed eyther to Christes body whereof no bone was brokeÌ„ either to any accident but must needes be of a substance which substance if it be not Christes body cannot be but bread As in the .xi. chapter foure times he plainly calleth it He that eateth of this bread He that receiueth this bread c And in the Actes of the Apostels we reade how that in speaking of the Communion they met together to breake bread c So that it is playne that the substauce of bread and wyne doo remayne in the Supper after the wordes of consecration as also may appeare playnly by Christs own wordes which calleth that which he gaue them in the Cup wyne or the fruit of the vyne as both Mathew and Matke doo write Wherby we set that there is no transubstantiation of the wyne and therfore may we also see that there is no transubstantiation of the bread As for the Panistes cauillyng how that it hath the name of bread because it was bread as Symon the leper was called stylle prous though hee was healed or as Moses rod beyng turned into a serpent was called a Rod styll it proueth nothing For there was in the one a playne sight and the senses certified that SimoÌ„ was no leper and in the other playne mention that the rod was turned into a Serpent But concernyng the Sacrament neyther the senses see any other thiug theÌ„ bread neither is ther auy mentioÌ„ made of turning And therefore theyr â—auill is plainlye seene to be but a cauyll and of no force But to come a gaine to bryng moe reasons against TransubstantiatieÌ„ Secondly that the substance of bread remaineth stil the very text doth teach For the Euangelists and the Apostle Saint Paule do wytnes that Christ gaue that to his Disciples and called it hys body whych hee tooke on which he gaue thankes and whych he brake but he tooke bread gaue thankes on bread broke bread Ergo he gane bread called bred hys body as he called the cup the new testament So that it foloweth by this that there is no transubstantiation And thys reason I my selfe haue promised in writing to proue by the authority of the Fathers namely Ireneus Tertullian Orgine Ciprin Epiphanius Hierommus Augustinus Theodorete Cirill Bede it so be I may haue the vse of my bookes Thirdly that in the Sacrament there is no transub stantiation of the bread by this reason I doo proue Lyke as by our Sauiour Christ the spirit of truth spake of the bread This is my body so saith the saâ— spirit of truth of the same bread That we many are one body and one bread c. So that as it appeareth the Sacrament not to be the Church by transubstantiation euen so is it not Christes natural body by trausubstanciation Fourthly I proue that there is no transubstantiation by Luke Paules wordes spoken ouer the Cup. For no Lesse are they effiâ—tuall to transubstantiate the cup then their wordes spoken of the bread are operatorius myghty to transubstaÌ„tiate the bread For as they say of the bread Thys is my body so say they of the Cup This cup is the new testament which thing is absurde to be spoken or thought either of the cup or of the thing in the cup by transubstanti ation Yea rather in saying these wordes This cup is the new Testament we are taught by their coupling thys word Cup to the demonstratiue This how we should in these wordes This is my body know that this word This doth there demonstrate bread Fiftly that the substaunce of bread remaineth in the SacrameÌ„t as the reasons before brought forth do proue so doth the definition of a Sacrament For the Fathers do affirme it to consist of an earthly thyng and of an heauenly thing of the woord and of the element of sensible thinges and of thinges which be perceyued by the mynde But transubstantiatioÌ„ taketh cleane away the earthly thing the element the sensible thing and so maketh it no Sacrament And therfore the definition of a SacrameÌ„tful wel teacheth that bread which is the earthly thing the sensible thyng and the element remayneth styl as Saynt Augustine sayth The word commeth to the Element he saith not taketh away the Element and so it is made a Sacrament Sixtly the nature and propertion of a SacrameÌ„t teacheth this also which I haue affirmed For as Cipriane writeth that Sacramentes beare the names of the thynges which they signifye so doth saynt Augustine teach that if Sacramentes haue not some signification with the things wherofthey be Sacraments then are they no sacraments Now in the Lordes supper this similitude is first in nourishing that as bread nourisheth the body so Christes body broken feedeth the soule SecoÌ„dly in bringing together many into our that as in the sacrament many graynes of corne are made on bread many grapes ar made one liquour and wine so the multitude which worthelye receiue the Sacrament are made one body with Christ and hys Church Last of all in one vnlykelr lykelynes or similitude that as bread eaten turneth into our nature so we rightly eating the sacrament by faith turne into the nature of Christ So that it is playne to them that wyll see that to take the substance of bread away is cleane against the nature and property of a sacrament I wil speake nothing how that this their doctrine of
saluation Amen Now to returne to the second matter what the Sacrament is you see that to the senses and reason of man it is bread and wyne which is most true as by the scriptures and other wyse I haue allreadye proued and therefore away with transubstantiation But here lest we should make it no Sacrament for a sacrament consisteth of twoo thynges lest a man should by thys gather 〈◊〉 we make it none other thyng 〈◊〉 bare bread and a naked signe and so rayle at their pleasure on vs saying How can a man be giltre of the body and bloud of Christ by vnworthy receiuing of it if it bee but bare bread and so forth For thys purpose I wyll nowe speake a little more hereabout by gods grace to stop their mouthes and to styre vp your good harts more to the worthy estimation perception of this holy mysterye When a louing friend geueth to thee a thing or sendeth to thee a token as for an example a napkyn or such like I thinke thou doest not as thou shouldest doo if that with the thyng thou considerest not the mynde of thy friend that sendeth or geueth the thing and according the runto estemest and receyuest it And so of thys bread thinke I that if thou doo not rather consider the mynde of thy louer Christ then the thyng which thou seest yea if thou doo not altogether consider Christes mynde thon dealest vnhonestly strumpetlike with hym For it is the propertye of strumpets to consider the thynges geuen and sent them rather then the loue mynde of the geuer and sender whereas the true louers do not consider in any poynt the thinges geuen or sent but the mind of the party So wee if we bee true louers of Christ must not consider barely the outward thyng which we see and our senses perceyue but rather altogether we must should see and consider the minde of Christ and therafter and according to it to esteme the sacrameÌ„t But how shall we knowe the mynde of Chryst For sooth as a mans mynde is best knowen by his word so by Christes woord shall we know his mynde How his wordes be manifest and most playne This sayth he is my dody therefore accordingly should we esteeme take and receiue it If he had spoken nothing or if he had spoken doubtfully then might we haue bene in some doubt But in that he speaketh so plainly saying This is my body who can maye or dare bee so bold as to doubt of it He is the truth and cannot lye he is omnipotent and can do all thinges therefore it is his body This I beleue this I confesse and pray you all hartely to beware of these and such lyke wordes that it is but a sygne or a figure of his body Except you wil discern betwixt signes which fignify ouely and sygnes whych also doo represent confirme and seale vp or as a maÌ„ may say geue wyth their signification As for an example An Iuye bush is a sygne of wine to be sold the buddyng of Aarous rod dyd sygnifye Aarons Priesthood alowed of the Lord the reseruation of Moses rod dyd signifye the rebellion of the children of Israel the stones takeÌ„ out of Iordane Gedeons fleese of wool c. such as these be signe significatiue and shewe no gyft But in the other sygnes whych some call exhibitiue is there not onely a signification of the thyng but also a declaration of a gyft yea in a certayne maner a geuing also As Baptisme signifieth not onely the clensing of the coÌ„science from syn by the merites of Christes bloud but also is a very clensyng from synne And therfore it was sayd to Paule that he should aryse and wash away hys syns not that he should aryse and take onely a sygne of washyng away hys syns In the Lordes supper the bread is called a partaking of the Lordes body and not onely a bare signe of the Lordes body This I speake not as though the elements of these sacraments were trausubstantiate whych I haue already impugned either as though Christes body wér in the bread or wyne eyther were â—yed to the elementes otherwyse then sacramentally and spiritually eyther that the bread and wine may not and must not be called sacramentall and externall signes but that they myght be discerned froÌ„ significatiue and bare signes onely and be taken for signes exhibitiue and representatiue By thys meanes a Christian comcience wil call and esteme the bread of the Lord as the body of Christ For it wyll neuer esteeme the Sacraments of Christ after their exteriour appearance but after the words of Christ Wherof it commeth that the Fathers as Chrysostome and others doo speake with so ful a mouth when they speake of the Sacrament for their respect was to Christes woordes If the Schoolemen which folowed them had had the same spirit whych they had then would they neuer haue consented to transubstantiation For wyth great admiration some of the Fathers doo say that the bread is chaunged or turned into the body of Christ and the wyne into hys bloud meaning it of amutation or chaunge not corporal but spirituall figuratiue sacramental or mysticall For now it is no coÌ„mon bread nor common wyne beyng ordayned to serue for the foods of the soule The scolemen haue vnderstood it as the Papistes nowe preach of a substautial chauÌ„ging as though it were no great myracle that common bread should now be assumed into that dignity that it should bee called Christes body and serue for a celestial food and be made a Sacrament of hys body and bloud As before therfore I haue spoken I would with that this Sacrament should be esteemed called of vs ChristiaÌ„ men after Christes wordes namely Christes body and the wyne Christes bloud rather then otherwy e. Not that I meane any other presence of Christes body then a presence of grace a presence to fayth a presence spiritually not corporally really naturally and carnally as the Papistes do meane For in such sort Christes body is onely in heauen on the right hand of God the father almightye whether our faith in the vse of the Sacrament asceudeth and receyueth whole Christ accordingly Yea but one wyl say that to cal the Sacrament on that sort is to geue an occasion of idolatry to the people which wyll take the Sacrament which thei see simply for Christes body as by experience we are well taught and therfore it were better to call it bread and so lesse harme should be especially in this age In this obiection I aunswer that in dede great idolatry is coÌ„mitted to and about this Sacrament and therfore men ought as much as they can to auoyd from occasioning or contirming it But in as much as the holy Ghost is wyser then man had foresight of the euils that might be and yet notwithstanding doth cal it Christes body I thinke we should do euyl if we should take vpon vs to reforme his
of the obiection which sayth that we teache Christ to be none otherwyse present in the Sacrament then in his word I would that the obiectors would wel consider what a presēce of Christ is in his word I remember that sayut Augustine writeth how that Christes body is receiued sometime visibly and sometime inuisibly The visible receypt hee calleth that whych is by the Sacrament the inuisible receypt hee calleth that which by the exercise of our fayth with ourselues we receiue And S. Hierom in the third booke vpon Ecclesiastes affirmeth that we are fed with the body of Christ and we drinke his bloud not onely in mysterye but also in knowledge of bolye scripture Wherein he playnlye sheweth that the same meate is offered in the words of the scriptures which is offered in the sacrament so that no lesse is Christes bodye and bloud offered by the scriptures then by the Sacramentes Upon the 147. Psalme he writeth also that though these wordes He that careth my flesh and drinketh my bloud may be vnderstand in mistery yet he saith it is more true to take Christes body and his bloud for the word of the scriptures and the doctrine of god Yea vpon the same Psalme he sayth playnly that Christes flesh bloud is poured into our eares by hearing the word and therefore great is the perill if we yeld to other cogitations whilest we hear it And therfore I trow S. Augustine saith that it is no les peryll to heare Gods word negligently then so to vse the sacrament But hereof may no man gather that therefore it needeth not to receiue the Sacrament or to affirme that a man maye as much by himselfe mediating the word in the field receiue Christs body as in the Church in the right vse of the Sacrament For Christ ordayneth nothing in vayne or superfluously he ordayneth nothing wherof we haue not nede Although his authoritye is such that without anye questonyng hys ordinances are to be obeyed Agayne though in the fielde a man may receiue Christes body by faith in the meditation of the word yet deny I that a mā doth ordinarely receyue Christes body by the onely meditation of Christes death or hearing of hys word with so much sight and by such sensible assurance whereof God knoweth our infirmity hath no small neede as by the receipt of the sacrament not that Christ is not so muche present in hys woord preached as he is in or with his sacrament but because there are in the perception of the Sacrament more wyndowes open for Christ to enter into vs then by hys woord preached or heard For there I meane in the word he har◠an entraunce into out harts but onely by the eares through the voyce and sound of the wordes but here in the Sacrament he hath an enterance by all our senses by our eyes by our nose by our taste by our handling also And therefore the Sacrament full well may be called seeable sensible tastable touchable wordes As therfore when many windowes be opened in an house the more lyght may come in then when ther is but one opened euen so by the perception of the Sacraments a chrystian mās conscience hath more helpe to receiue Christ then simply by the word preached heard or meditated And therfore he thinketh the Apostle ful wel calleth the sacramentes obsignations or sealings of Gods promise Reade Roma the. 4. of Circumcision And thus much for the aunswer to the obiectiōn aforesayd Now to returne from whence we came namely to the consideration of the second thing what the Sacrament is I haue told you that it is not simply bread wyne but rather Christes body so called of Christ and so to be called and estemed of vs But here let vs marke what body what bloud Christ called it The Papistes styll babble Thys is my body This is my bloud but what body it is what bloud it is they shewe not Looke therefore my dearly beloued on Christes own woordes and you shall see that Christ calleth it his body broken ▪ and hys bloud shed Marke I say that Christ calleth it his body which is broken hys bloud which is shed presently and not which was broken or shal be broken which was shed or shall be shed as the Greeke textes doo plainl◠shew therby teachyng vs that as God woulde haue the Passeouer called not which was the Passeourr or whych shall be the Passeouer but playnlye the Passeouer to the end that in the vse of it the passyng ouer of the striking Angell should be set before their eyes as present so in the celebration of the Lords supper the verye Passion of Christ should bee as present beholde a with the eyes of fayth For which end Christ our Sauiour did specially institute this Supper saying Do ye this in remembrance of me or as Paule sayth Shew you thr Lordes death tyll he come The Supper of the Lord then is not simply Christes body and bloud but Christes body broken and hys bloud shed Wherefore broken Wherfore shed Forseth that tencheth Christ himselfe saying Broken for you Shed for your syns and for the syns of many Here now then we haue occasion in the vse of the Sacrament to call to mynd the greatnes and greuousnes of syn which could not be taken away by any other meanes then by the sheding of the most precious bloud and breaking of the most pure bodye of the onely begotten Sonne of God Iesus Christ by whom all things were made all thinges are ruled gouerned c. Who considering this geare shall not be touched to repent Who in receipt of this Sacrament thinking that Christ sayth to him Take eate this is my body wyich is broken for thee This is my bloud which is shed for thy syns can but tremble at the greevousnes of his sins for the which such a price was payd If there were no plague at al els to admonish man of syn how greuous a thing it is in Gods sight surely that one were enough But alas how are our hartes bewitched through Sathans subtilties the custome of syn that we make syn a thing of nothing God open our eyes in tyme and geue vs repentance which we see this Sacrament doth as it were enforce vs vnto in the reuerence and true vse of the same Againe in hearing that thys which we take and eate is Christes body broken for our syns his bloud shed for our iniquities me are occasioned to call to mynd the infinite greatnes of Gods mercy and truth and of Christes loue towardes vs For what a mercy is this that God would for man beyng lost through hys wylfull sinnes be content yea desirous to geue hys owne onelye sonne The image of his substaunce the brightnes of his glory being in his own bosome to be made man for vs that we mē by him might be as it were made Gods What a mercy is this that God the Father should so tender vs that hee