blessing It is not for vs to eate our meate till we desire God first to sanctifie it The people of Israel would not eate till Samuel came to blesse the Sacrifice 1. Sam. 9.13 And the Apostle saith that Euery thing is sanctified by the word and prayer 1. Tim. 4.5 The reason of it is because without the blessing of the Lord vpon the blessing of the Lord vpon the Creature Reason a secret curse goeth with it which stickes as close vnto it as the Leprosie vnto Gehazi and maketh all fulnesse to become a preparing of them that are full to the day of slaughter Ier. 12.3 Albeit things increase vpon them as they would yet their fulnesse becommeth a very poyson to them their very ease slayeth them and their prosperity destroyeth them Pro. 1.32 Ob. But I see such as vse neither prayer nor supplication Ob. nor any good meanes prosper and all their estate by robbing stealing oppressing vsury gaming false wares or false weights yea all Creatures that are in their hands seeme to bee sanctified of God and to haue power in them vnto such persons or else how could they liue by them We must distinguish betweene the things themselues Sol. and the manner of possessing and enioying of them the Creatures themselues by a generall word of God are sanctified and set apart by God to feede and maintaine good and bad aswell the wicked as the godly euen as the Sun and raine shines and falls vpon the iust and vniust the wickednesse of a particular person cannot alter Gods generall decree But if we consider the manner of possessing and enioying the Creatures that is not sanctified because the person is not in Christ who restores our right vnto vs and then he is but an vsurper and bankrupt that possesseth the Creatures but hath no right thereunto 2. As his person so his course is accused for the onely way to get a blessing from God on the Creatures is to vse Gods meanes who hath commanded to seeke vnto him for it 3. Though he hath the Creatures yet if Gods word proceede not out of his mouth to sanctifie them they will rather become his death then life his bread shall be as poyson and rats-bane within his bowells be-because he possesseth it without Gods promise and blessing How can that bee Ob. I neuer saw any such thing Many poysons are long a working Sol. but the end of such is death and the more slowly they worke they more slily and certainly they kill And if the Lord doth not inuert the order that he hath set in nature by cursing the particular Creature be sure he hath in his iustice reserued a curse for the vniust person and he shall not auoyde it Vse 1 1. This may serue to reproue such as rush vpon the Lords Supper without prayer to the Lord for a blessing vpon it they may receiue the outward elements of bread and wine to heape vpon them temporall iudgements in this life without repentance eternall punishments in the life to come but the Lord Iesus they can neuer receiue Whatsoeuer is blessed vnto any man must first be sanctified by the word and prayer and so must this Sacrament otherwise it turneth to the condemnation of the vnworthy receiuer 2. All those may bee iustly taxed that fall vpon their meate and drinke and forget to call vpon God by prayer to sanctifie them It might bee iust with the Lord that these Creatures should either choak them or poyson them to teach all and euery rauenous and vnmannerly person to remember his duty in this kind But let them scorne the practise of prayer to God in this case and bee ashamed of such an heauenly duty yet I dare bee bold to tell them from the words of the Apostle that al things shal be vnto them impure and vncleane Tit. 1.15 they may receiue the Creatures onely as the fruits of Gods generall prouidence and power whereby hee sustaineth them the bruite beasts the senselesse Creatures nay the very substance of the diuells themselues But not as the gifts of God in Christ a prouident Father nor as tokens of his speciall loue and therefore although the wicked man and oppressing Tyrant beare himselfe vpon the loue of God because all things succeed with him and he thriues in his proiects yet in truth hee hath no more cause then the diuell himselfe hath because he is the God of the world and Prince of the aire mightily ruling in such disobedient children nay he may haue bread and yet want the staffe of bread put on cloathes but not bee warme get riches but want the fruition earne wages but put them into a broken bagge Hag. 1.5.6 and while the flesh is betwixt his teeth before it be chewed the wrath of the Lord may be kindled againsh him and hee may bee smitten with an exceeding plague Nu. 11.33 Vse 2 2. This may teach vs to importune the Lord with our prayers for a blessing vpon his Creatures when they are before vs for if we regard the meanes more then Gods blessing vpon the meanes and so morning euening and vpon all occasions when the Creature is offered neglect our duty the Lord may lay a sensible curse vpon our persons and estates either in our owne time or in the time of our heires and take away from vs the comfort of his Creatures Oh therefore let vs consider that Gods blessing maketh rich Pro. 10.22 that it giueth wel-being to our soules a comfortable vse of all Gods Creatures that it giueth force and vertue to the Creature and is the prop and stay of both soule and body and then we cannot but mooue God by our prayers and make our supplications and requests dayly knowne vnto him Phil. 4.6 Hee gaue thankes Here learne againe That Thanksgiuing is a seruice that Christians owe vnto God Doct. This is manifest in the word of God 1. by Testimonies 2. by Examples 1. by Testimonies Let vs offer the sacrifice of praise alwaies to God Heb. 13.15 Psal 147.1 It is a pleasant thing and praise is comely Psa 33.1 It becommeth vpright men to bee thankfull Phil. 4.6 Let your requests bee shewed vnto God in prayer and supplication with giuing of thanks In al things giue thanks 1. Thes 5.18 c. 2. By Examples Melchizedeck after Abrahams victory slacked not this seruice Gen. 14.20 but gaue thankes vnto God Exod. 15.1 Moses composed a song after the deliuerance of the Israelites from the Egyptians and out of the Red sea Deborah and Barak gaue thanks to God when Sisera was ouerthrowne Iudg. 5.1 1 Sam. 2.2 Hannah praised God for her sonne Isa 38.9 and Hezekiah also for his deliuery from the gates of death Ionas 2.9 Ionas sacrificed to the Lord with the voyce of thanksgiuing according to that he had vowed and the Samaritan returned backe to giue God
then any people c. but because he loued vs. Vse 1 1. This may teach vs to labour that wee may bee affected with this so immeasurable infinite and incomparable loue of God the Father Ps 103.13 Isai 49.15 farre excelling the loue of naturall Parents What father would take his son and giue him as a possession to his chiefest friend But to take his son his heire and eldest son nay his onely Son and giue him to his enemy yea to giue him to death for his enemy this is a loue beyond all loues and may astonish all Angells and men Great was the loue of Abraham towards God that so commanded his naturall affections as to offer vp his sonne Isaac at the commandement of the Lord vnto death hauing but one son giuen him by a speciall fauour to comfort his age and him whom he loued being vertuous and religious when hee had no hope to haue any more sonnes and this beeing the sonne of the promise in whom both himselfe and the whole world should be saued that this child should not be banished from him but put to death and killed not before his face but with his owne hands this was a great loue for flesh and blood to fall into But yet farre greater is the loue of God towards vs who louing Christ a thousand times more then Abraham could loue Isaac because betweene heauenly and earthly things there is no comparison that God I say should deliuer him vp not to the whip but to the gibbet not by commandement as Abraham did but of his meer and voluntary loue not into the hands of them that sorrowed to see him afflicted but into the hands of butchers that cared not how cruelly they dealt with him and this not for his friends as Abraham did who was called the friend of God but for traytors that wold haue pulled the Lord out of his owne seate This doth wonderfully set forth the loue of God the fulnesse of it and depth of it being not to be comprehended of all the hearts of men ioyned in one though euery one of thē were wiser then Solomon Let this loue beget loue in vs again that there may bee a reflection of our loue in some measure we cannot but requite loue for loue Vse 2 2 Seeing God was content to take his Sonne to giue him yea to marke and seale him to become our Sauiour This must teach vs to be content to suffer our selues to be marked and sealed for his glory and the good of his Church God set apart and sealed his owne Sonne for our glory that wee might be redeemed from shame and bee glorified in the heauens Now he asketh nothing at our hands for this his great fauour and loue but that wee would suffer our selues to bee sealed and marked with the seale and marke of Christianity and so answerably glorifie him and doe good to his Church In this respect Paule exhorteth vs yea entreateth and beseecheth vs to giue vp our bodies as holy Rom. 12. and liuing sacrifices acceptable to God But notwithstanding all this it is farre otherwise with most of vs Gods seale and marke is wome out wee beare but onely the name of Christians suffering our selues to bee marked sealed with the markes and seals of the Diuell we abound in most sinnes in pride Gal. 5.19.20.21.22 in vanity of our minde in selfe-loue couetousnesse drunkennesse ignorance whoredome prophanation of the Sabbath lying swearing c. These are the markes of the Diuell and by them will hee marke vs as his owne for euer if we doe not repent Oh therefore if wee would auoyd his snares and the eternal torments in hell if wee would bee sealed of God vnto glory let vs take heed of these markes and seales of the Diuell and receiue Gods seales of an holy and godly life Vse 3 3 Seeing God the Father hath taken and bestowed his onely Sonne vpon vs to be our Mediatour and redeemer Here then is comfort to those that are redeemed of Christ notwithstanding al their afflictions and their tortures for sins God hath giuen his Sonne to the death that they might liue so as when they offer Christ to him hee cannot but haue pitty on them As Pilate presented Christ whipped to the Iewes with his Behold the man to moue compassion so must they presēt Christ crucified to the Lord to moue his compassion to thē Behold what thine owne hand hath done to thine own son and say It is enough 2 Action v. 24. He gaue thankes In the Euangelists it is said He blessed the bread wine not that Christ thereby through a secret vertue in himselfe did consecrate and transsubstantiate the bread and wine into his body and blood but rather the word Blesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie a praier made by Christ to his Father for the sanctifying blessing the significant Creatures that hee had in his hand and his thankesgiuing for them so doth Erasmus turne the words Mat. 26.27 Luk. 22.17 The other Euangelists Mathew and Luke and so Paule in this place make the words Blessing and Giuing of thankes to signifie the same thing Much deceiued are the Papists the enemies to sound and sauing doctrine that ground their consecration and meanes of transsubstantiation vpon this action of Christ He gaue thankes To giue thankes or to blesse God was a commendable custome of the ancient Iewes they gaue thankes before and after meate which custome our Sauiour followeth in his Gospell He tooke bread and gaue thankes It is also the vse and custome of the neotericall and later Iewes Rab. Kim to call vpon God for a blessing vpon their Passeouer and of all Christians to desire God to blesse the table and the meare thereon not that any thing is vncleane in it owne nature as the Manichees held or that the euill spirits are mingled among the creatures Orientales et Itali as they of the Easterne Countrey imagine which defend the sprinkling of holy water for the creature of God is good because all which God made is good but it is our own corruption sin which defileth the creature Prayer therefore before the receiuing thereof is necessary that it may be sanctified and made wholesome for our vse and that wee may vse them soberly and moderately Hence we learne first that Doct. It is the duty of Christians to supplicate and make requests to God for a blessing vpon the Sacrament or any creature they are about to receiue and taste Our Sauiour would not venture vpon his Supper till such time as he had desired of God a blessing vpon it for that vse he instituted it And it may be gathered from Paules words The Cup of Blessing which wee blesse 1. Cor. 10.16 c. that the Apostle made requests to God for the sanctifying of the Sacrament to this end that it might be a Communion And in all things wee must call vpon God for a
againe the third day and by consequence there shall be a resurrection of all men according to the * Iob 19.25.26.27 Esa 26.9 65.18 Ionas 2.11 Scriptures So as the word of God is still apparent to be a touch-stone for the triall of all our actions and behauiours and a speciall meanes for the redressing of thing a misse Psal 119.9 Wherewith shal a yong mā redres his way In taking heed thereto according to thy word Adam at first made small reckoning of the word of God Gen. 2.17 when he told him That in that day he tasted of the forbidden fruit he shold die the death but afterward whē the Lord put him in mind of it again Gen. 3.11 c. he remē bred both what God had said and what himselfe had done and so came to reformation Manasses was a wicked Idolater 2. Cho. 33.2.3 and caused the streetes to swimme with innocent blood euen from comer to corner The Gentiles were wicked people walking in their owne wayes Acts 14.16 carried away to dumbe Idols 1. Cor. 12.2 walking in the vanity of their owne mindes c. Eph. 2.17.18 vnwise disobedient deceiued seruing their lusts Tit. gain Wantons couetous the eue◠drunkards 1. Cor. 6.9.10 ignorant of God Gal. 4.8 dead in trespasses and sinnes Eph. 2.1.3 and in a word the seruants of all sinnes Rom. 6.20 When the word of God was taught among them they turned from Sathan and their Idols 1. Thes 1.10 to serue the liuing God Thus it is plaine that the word of God is a wonderfull meanes sanctified by God to redresse things amisse and to deliuer a man from the euill way Pron 2.12.16 The reason why men must haue recourse vnto Gods word Reason and conforme themselues to it is because heerein God hath reuealed his will what in euery thing he will haue vs doe and what to leaue vndone therefore it is called his reuealed wil yea Psal 19.7 a perfect law conuerting the soule sufficient to correct to instruct to comfort and to make the man of God euery way perfect Vse 1 1 To confute the Papists who preserre their chaffe and dung their trashie inuentions before the pure word of God locking the same vp so fast that poore people cannot bee acquainted with it no maruell if they lye open to temptation and all manner of ignorance when as they are denied the vse of the Scriptures in a knowne tong◠which beeing truely taught and opened are able to bring them to repentance 2. Tim. 2.26 out of the snare of the diuel at whose will they are now taken Hosius a wicked Father in the Councell of Trent tyed vp the Scriptures from Lay-men making them beleene that their danger should bee equall with the men of Bethshemesh 1. Sam. 6. looking into the Arke if they shold looke into them And Pius the fourth Pope of that name to the end hee might deterre the Laytie from reading the Bible accounted it as a booke prohibited marking it in the forehead with this stroake Noli me tangere God hath not giuen the Bible to Lay-men But this practise is 1. against Gods commandement enioyning the reading of the Word written to al sorts of men as wel the vnlearned as Deut. 31.11.12 the learned Thou shalt reade the words of this law before all Israel that they may heare it learn to feare the Lord and he names there men women children strangers Deut. 31.11.12 Search the Scriptures Iohn 5.19 Let the word of God dwell plentifully in you Col. 3.16 2 Against the Example of Christ and his Apostles who alwaies taught in known tongues that the people might more easily come to knowledge whatsoeuer was written by them they did write it in a familiar knowne and vulgar sort that euery one might learne it and by patience and consolation of the Scriptures might haue hope 3 Against the ancient Fathurs Chrysostome faith In epist ad Col. 3. v. 16. Al secular and Lay-men heare and get Bibles to you which are the soue raigne remedies of the soule Ireneus faith the Valentinians fell into heresies through their ignorance of the Scriptures Contra Valentin lib. 3. ca. 12. And we read in Nicephorus of Paphnutius a Lay-man Niceph. lib. 8. cap. 14. so commended of the Fathers for his singular knowledge in Diuinity that he was thought worthy to beare a part in the Nicene Councell By all this we conclude that these enemies of the Word are deceiuers of the world by detaining the written truth and holding ignorance a maine pillar of their religion and a foster-mother of their deuotion needs must it walk in blindnesse when the means of knowledge are taken away and in darkenesse when the light is hid in secret and put vnder a bushell Vse 2 2 Here againe may bee condemned and reprooued al those that contemne the Word of God and content themselues in their ignorance such suffer Sathan to rule ouer them for hee holds them vnder the power of darkenesse that they cannot come to amendment of life these can willingly spend time in reading ouer play-bookes prophane histories and fables which are incitements to vncleannesse but that time which they passe in heating the Word of God or in reading the same they thinke euill spent These can take into their hand the diuells bookes Cards and Dice instruments of idlenesse and prouocations vnto all manner of wickednesse as cursing swearing rayling quarrelling misspending of goods and time drinking bezeling c. but they are loath to touch or take into their hands the booke of God to reade lest it should cut them short of their liberty to sin which they loue as their liues Iam. 1.24.25 But seeing thou art a forget full hearer as S. Iames faith and doest cast the word of God Ps 50.17 behinde thy backe it is impossible for thee to bee reformed and reclaimed and continuing so thou heapest the wrath of God vpon thee against the day of wrath when the Lord in the seuerity thereof will come against thee in flames of fire and against all those that would not obey the Gospell 2. Thes 1.8 Luk. 19.27 nor suffer Christ to reigne ouer them use 3 3. Is it so that the word of God is able to recouer a man from his falls let this serue to admonish vs not onely to be carefull for attendance vnto the Word but also inwardly to weigh it and consider the working efficacy of it for it is neuer without power to direct them of whom it is well pondered and meditated It is a hand to guide thee if thou be in the right way a light to shine vnto thee that thou slip not out of the way If thou bee in ignorance it will draw thee to vnderstanding if hard of heart it is an hammer to sosten thee it is fire to purge and cleanse thee and whatsoeuer thou wantest it is a store-house of new and olde things to
vnderstood shall quickenyou c Idem in serum ad infant ista fratres dicuntur sacramenta quia in eis aliud videtur aliud intelligitur And in another place he saith These things meaning the bread the cup are therefore called Sacraments because one thing is seene in theÌ„ another thing is vnderstood That which is seene hath a bodily forme but that which is vnderstood hath a spirituall fruite d Idem coÌ„tra Maximinum lib. 3. cap. 22. InsacrameÌ„tis viden dum non quid c. Againe In Sacraments we must not consider what they be but what they signifie e Theodoret. Dialo 1. seruator noster commutauit c. He that called his naturall body wheat and bread and named himselfe a Vine euen hee in like manner hath honored the signs which are seene with the name of his body blood not changing the nature but adding grace vnto nature f Chrysost in Psal 22. Christ prepared this Table that he might dayly shew vnto vs in the Sacrament bread and wine after the order of Melchizedecke for a similitude or likenesse of the body and blood of Christ g Tertullian aduersus Marcion lib. 4. Christus acceptum pauem et Discipulis c. Christ made the bread which he tooke and distributed to his Disciples his body by saying This is my body that is to say a figure of my body but it had been no sigure except there had beene a true body For that which is no substance but a fantasie can take no figure h Ambrose de sacra lib. 4. cap. 5. Carnem et sangninem quae pro nobis oblata sunt c. Make vnto vs this Oblation meaning this Sacrament both reasonable and acceptable which is the figure of the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus i Beda in Lucan cap. 22. panis corroborat carnem et vinum opcratur c. And Beda saith Because bread strengtheneth the flesh and wine worketh blood in it the one is referred mystically to the body of Christ and the other vnto his blood k I dem in Octauis epiphaniae panis et vini eseaturae in Sacramentum c. The creatures bread and wine saith he in another place by the vnspeakable sanctification of the holy Ghost is changed not into the very reall body and blood of Christ but into the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ By these sentences of diuine Authors it is plaine and manifest that the words which Christ pronounced in the institution of this his mysticall Supper are not to bee vnderstood simply and as the letter soundeth but after a figuratiue and spirituall manner This bread is my body that is a resemblance and figure of my body Secondly it being now granted that these words of Christ haue a mysticall sense it may in the next place bee demanded Why Christ should speake in such a mysticall manner Ob. I answer 1. The Apostles Sol. to whom hee spake could well vnderstand the sense and meaning of our Sauiour in this case else they would haue put out some question vnto him and haue said Master what is thy meaning This is an hard saying Luke 8.9 and we cannot vnderstand thee But being acquainted with such vsuall phrases they could better vnderstand him 2 It was Christs manner and vsuall custome to speake by similitudes shewing one thing by another I will open my mouth in a parable saith Christ which is a plaine and familiar kinde of teaching frequent in Scriptures especially in the types and shaddowes of the Sacrament 3 He spake darkely to the end that they which bee partakers of this holy Supper might not set their mindes vpon the nature of the things which they see so rest contented with the creatures bread and wine but that by the chaÌ„ge of the names they might beleeue the things that bee wrought in them by Grace 2 Quest If the bread in this Sacrament bee not the body of Christ Quest but a representation of it then how is Christ present in the Sacrament I answer Sol. that Christ is not really or corporally in the sacrament but spiritually and by grace And therefore as one well saith coÌ„cerning the flesh which Christ tooke in his Incarnation which was borne of the Virgin which was apprehended of the Iewes which was crucified on the tree taken downe from the crosse lapped in linnen clothes buried rose againe and appeared after his Resurrection c. You shall not haue Christ present Ier. 23.24 Vigilius contra Eutychen lib. 1 Dei silius sâ—â—â—du humanitatem â—â—â—essit a roâ—â—s secum dâ—mdiuinitâ—tâ—m ait Ecce â—go vobiscum sum c. but as concerning his Maiesty so Christ is neuer absent He filleth both heauen and earth To this purpose well did Vigilius the Martyr speake The Son of God according to his manhood is gone from vs He is ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of God the father but according to his Godhead he saith Behold I am with you vnto the end of the world So as then we may see plainly that Christ is not present as touching his body but as he is God Vse 1 1 This makes much against the transubstantiation of Papists They strongly maintaine that bread is changed into the body of Christ and wine into his naturall blood and so they say Christ is really present touching his flesh Their words are these In this Sacrament say they after Consecration the substance of bread and wine is turned into the substance of the body and blood of Christ the outward formes or rather the Accidents of bread and wine remaining which are the Sacraments of holy things the body and blood of Christ Conceiue their words in a briefer maner when the Priest hath consecrated the bread wine forthwith these Creatures are made the body and blood of Christ the Accidents of them as roundnesse thicknesse hardnesse coldnesse whitenesse sweetnes c. still remaining which are the Sacraments What might be answered to the particulars of their words B. Iewell D. Tindall M. Bradford M. Smith M. Attersoll is elaboratly dispatched of others and therefore wee may bee the more silent in them that which I will speake shall be limited and bounded in these two things a confutation of their Accidents and their maine error of Transubstantiation 2. An answere to certaine obiections they make for it 1. First the Papists take away the substance of bread and wine and leaue nothing to bee Sacraments but a few Accidents this dealing is contrary to all truth If it were so that Accidents as whitenes roundnesse c. of the bread should represent Christ then this absurdity would follow that such Accidents in any other substance or subiect might represent Christ yea and that substance should bee Christ himselfe Againe if Accidents shold be Sacraments then Accidents should be mysteries of heauenly things as whitenesse roundnes thicknes c. should signifie heauenly
seruice of himselfe Helps and meanes of obedience And that we may walke in the way of obedience let vs vse these helpes 1 Make conscience of the least duty as knowing that omission of duties shall receiue sentence against them Mat. 25.42 as well as commission of euill 2 Looke what thou art called vnto and in thy calling what is most needfull and that doe wisely preferring the generall calling before the speciall and heauenly things before earthly Mat. 6.33 3 Keepe thy selfe in readinesse to euery good work knowing that thou hast alwaies one iron in the fire a soule to saue an Election to make sute 2. Pet. 1.10 which requireth all diligence 4 Suffer thy selfe to be guided by the rule and square of Gods Word it is a Lanterne a light to guide thee and the word of grace that will teach thee to deny all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts Tit. 2.11.12 and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world 5 Hee that would doe all that God commands must not only take occasions offered but euen seeke them and watch thē as beeing glad to obtaine them 6 Let not the Lord finde a time wherein hee may say to thee as hee did once to some standing in the streets Why stand you here gazing all day but say to thy soule as Dauid did to his Sonne Salomon Vp and be doing There is no time wherein God and thy neighbour and thy selfe the Church or Cōmonwealth or thy family or the Saints abroad broad call not for some duty from thee Oh lay vp these rules and they will be excellent helps to set thee forward in the way of obedience Notes of obedience Quest But how may I know that I am obedient vnto Gods Commandements Quest Sol. 1. Sol. God loues truth in the inward parts and refuseth all that obedience which followes not sanctification of the spirit Examine now thy inward parts and see whether there bee such a change in thee as thou canst ioin the subiection of thy soule with the obedience of thy body 2 Examine thy selfe whether the loue of God constraines thee or the prouocations of men compells thee to obedience a free horse needs not the wand nor one willing to obey needes no coactions nor faire encreatings 3 Examine thy manner of obedience whether it be a cheerful and a willing obedience that repineth not as giuing God too much that deuiseth no excuses as Saul when he did but halfe the Commandement 1. Sam. 15. that seeketh no delayes I made haste Psal 119. delayed not to keepe thy righteous iudgements 4 Doest thou make conscience of the least Commandement as well as the greatest and of all the Commandements as well as one obeying the Commandement of faith in the Gospell as well as the Commandement of the actuall and morall law obeying the Commandement as well of doing good as of abstaining from euill And lastly doth thy obedience hold out and neuer shrink away then surely thy obedience is sound and thou art a true and faithful Disciple doing whatsoeuer thy Lord and master hath commanded Ioh. 15. Thus much in generall of this Commandement of Christ in these words This doe c. That which Christ in particular commanded was the celebration of this Supper This do as you haue seene mee doing before you Celebrate this my Supper according to my institution Obserue Doct. the celebration of this Sacrament is imitatorie the Minister and receiuer haue nothing therein difficult or miraculous for then Christ would not haue imposed it vppon them for imitation workes of wonder are impossible to simple men they must bee left vnto diuine powers That which our Sauiour commanded heere is such a thing as both may and ought to be done Hee did not bid his Disciples turne the bread into his body or the wine into his blood that is a matter that went beyond their skill and had beene a strange miracle indeed but as hee tooke the bread and wine gaue thankes for them brake the bread and powred the wine distributed them amongst his Disciples and commanded that they should eate and drink of them so would he haue both Minister and people to doe in imitation of him This may serue to reproue the Papists Vse that add so many gawds to this Sacrament which Christ neuer instituted that Lay people cannot see Christ through them This institution left to our imitation is made an oblation and a sacrifice by them Christ said Doe this but not offer this for hee offered not his body nor his blood at this Supper yet they make this Sacrament an Offering an Expiatory Propitiatory and a satisfactory Sacrifice for the sinnes both of the quicke and dead which doth much weaken the vertue of Christs death and crosse the word of Gods Spirit teaching vs by his Apostle that with one offering Christ hath consecrated for euer them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 so as this Sacrament cannot be a Sacrifice The offering of his body was but once made to take away the sinnes of many Ver. 10. Heb. 9.28 neither did Christ leaue it to vs that wee should vnderstand it as a Sacrifice knowing that then wee could neuer imitate him Besides they make the Sacrament a veile to hide Christ by their trashy additions Christ said Doe this that is eate drinke c. But they goe further they must put on their masking apparell Albes girdles copes tunicles deacon subdeacon they must haue their ceremonies as censers balles candles candlesticks paxes pixes corporasses corporasse clothes superaltaries Altars Altar cloathes chalices cruets napkins they must vse strange gestures turnings returnings gaspings gapings kneelings crowchings crossings knocking 's winckings starings kissings lickings noddings nosings washings weepings with confessions prostrations commemorations consecrations coniurations pausations and a thousand other abominations All which are strange things and nothing concerne vs in the celebration of Christs Supper 2 Here also may be reprooued all too curious Ministers that runne more vpon circumstance then substance putting as much vertue in the outward robes and vestiments as in the matter of this Sacrament But Christ bids vs not put on this apparell or that piece of linnen all that he gaue in charge was they should administer this Supper as he did to his Disciples 3 Here may bee reprooued many receiuers who make many a quaere at the behauiour of the Minister not regarding the efficacy of this Supper to bee of God Ob. Some say Ob. how may I communicate with a wicked Minister or with what comfort Sol. The wickednesse of the Minister may somewhat lessen the comfort Sol. but neither diminish the perfection of the Sacrament it selfe nor hinder the efficacy thereof to vs seeing the efficacy depends onely on the promise of God and the faith of the receiuer Ob. But how can he be a means of conueying grace to me Ob. that is a gracelesse man Sol. Grace is compared