The na­ture of a Sacramēt. A Sacrament is a sen­sible signe to the eye, instituted of God to be continued in his Church, for the further assu­rance and increase of spirituall graces in the faithful. Of which sort is Baptisme and the Sup­per, August. e­pist. 118. and onely these two, euen as they are ioyntly specified by the Apostle to the Corinthians. 1. Cor. 10.

In the generall may bee ob­serued these foure notes chiefe­ly. The institution to bee of God. 1 The signe visible in sense and resemblance conuenient. 2 The graces secret and mystical, but singular benefites to the faithfull man. 3 The continu­ance is the Churches duetie, 4 rightly to vse and to enioy his ordinaunces as beseemeth the Church of God.

[Page] The insti­tution. 1 Concerning the institution, as God onely is to be hearkened vnto in his sayings, so must hee alone he followed in his wayes wheresoever he goeth before vs, and leadeth vs after him with the least thread. Reason not di­rected by faith, is a disputing and a busie mistresse in the forge of mans braine, and she will be leader in all things. Zeale like­wise without knowledge, is a rashe fire that licketh vp euery fonde deuise, feedeth and glut­teth her selfe on superstitious fancies, whereupon ambition in the man of pride, The Papa­cie. taking her aduantage of the former two, hath stollen away the peoples heartes from their God vnder pretence of deuocion, but in deede superstition, enthronised her selfe in the consciences of men, and exerciseth a proude do­minion ouer the Lordes inheri­tance [Page]in his holy Temple. Not­withstanding of the Apostle we haue learned a contrary lesson, Iam. 4.12. that the onely Lawgiuer in Is­rael is the Lorde, because he a­lone seeth the heart, whereunto the Lawe is principally propo­sed, searcheth the reines, and be­holdeth the inwarde parts, may commaunde, and will rewarde the good conscience, will and is able to discerne right, and iudge uprightly, and hath denounced to take vengeance of the very soules of sinners, wherein they closely, but chiefly offende. Nei­ther may mortall men adde to, take from, or alter at pleasure his wordes: and what are his Sacraments, but his wordes made visible, and inuested with signes of his owne ordayning? August. 80. tract. in Ioh. The examination of Iohns Baptisme was on this maner: Whence is it? Matt. 11.15. from aboue, or [Page]from beneath? of God, or of mā? Yf from heauen, it was to be re­ceiued: if from the earth, they might reiect it. For what is earth to heauen? man to God? our dreames to his worde? our dregges to his wine? Is there any taste in y ^e white of an egge? What is chaffe to wheate, or glasse to a diamonde? 1. Sam. 15.22. Verily obedience is better then the sa­crifice of good ententes, as they be termed. For will we honour him with the fattest cattell out of the stall, or worshippe him in the calfe of purest golde? the one is but a beast that eateth hay, the other the workmanshippe of the engrauers hands. By obeying, we offer vp our bodyes & soules a reasonable sacrifice, wherein he is well pleased. Thereby we reuerence his maiesty, adore his wisedome, subiect our willes to his will, rest in his worde, ma­king [Page]no reckoning at all of any institutions that merely touche the conscience, but of his. Wher­upon with the blessed virgin we saye, Iohn 2.5. What euer he commandeth, doe, and also what he hath not commaunded, we feare not to transgresse & breake asunder, as Samson did those greene withes and newe cordes. Iudg. 16 9. Wee knowe all such witchecraftes the Lorde doeth vtterly abhorre. As for his Sacraments, they are his owne institutions, hee marketh his sheepe with his owne markes, writeth all with his own singer, sealeth his wri­ting with his owne signet. Nei­ther shoulde any presume so much as to set to these his seales, but one ly such as are called to so hye a calling, to be as it were the keepers of them to that ende ap­pointed: much lesse may men make newe seales of their owne [Page]deuising.

When it pleased GOD to seale his promise made to Abra­ham with the sacrament of cir­cumcision, Gene. 17. he calleth it his own couenant, and saide, It is I the Lorde, the author thereof. A par­ticular rule generally to bee ob­serued in euery Sacrament of either Testamēt: It is I the Lord.

The signes. 2 In the second place we are to take viewe of these seales, for they are visible to the eye, as his voyce is audible to the eare.

The drane water flie gazeth on euery faire flower, but ga­thereth no honye as doth the Bee. The wandring sight cōside­reth litle of the excellencie of the seales. Before it was true to say, No institution, no Sacrament: here we may as truely auouch, No signe, no Sacrament. For y ^e whole is made of all his partes, and e­uery Sacrament hath euer [Page]these two members, the out­warde signe, and the inwarde grace, and without the signe is no grace sacramentally signifi­ed at any time, neyther is the shew of a signe sufficient, it must be material and able in a conue­nient proportion, to demōstrate and declare to mans frayle capa­citie, the grace implied and sig­nified, as shall better appeare in the specials afterwarde.

The signes barely looked vpō in thēselues, they are base mat­ters, earthly elements, common & ordinarie: but put once y ^e prin­ces stampe to y ^e mettall, the seale to the waxe, the waxe and seale to the Lordes promise, the case is altered. For earthly, common and vsual elementes, Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. that a litle before were, doe put nowe vpon them, and are endued with di­uine considerations: yet stil in substāce remaining y ^e same, but [Page]in efficacy, vertue, seruice, ends, signification and representation of graces, base thinges become beautifull and marueilous, be­ing thus sequestred by God him­selfe to so high and holy purpo­ses, and therefore are vsualy ter­med by the very names that the graces themselues are called by. And this is also a common rule amongst y ^e Fathers. See it so in examples out of the Scriptures. Circumcision is the couenant, the Lambe the Passeouer, the Arke the Lorde, Baptisme our buriall, Christ the rocke, the Bread his bodye, the Cup his blood, because the analogie of these thinges is liuely, the pro­portion plaine, the signes signi­ficantly ordeyned of God: and be­ing thus vttered, they more af­fect our fayth, and touch our af­fections.

The inuisi­ble grace. 3 Thirdly, the graces, (that is, [Page](the inward parte of the Sacra­ments) are, though singular in consolation, yet secret in the my­sterye of their operation. God worketh howe he listeth, and on whom he pleaseth. The Iay fee­deth belowe, the carnall eye se­eth nothing but the barke and ryne of these things, bare water and bakers bread. Fayth flyeth higher, as the Eagle soareth vp­warde, and mounteth to heauē it selfe, where Christ sitteth at the right hande of the father, the onely grounde worke, life and soule of all the Sacraments that euer were, or are in vse. The song of Salomon is called the song of songes for his excel­lencie, Nazianz. de Sacro. Bapt. and God the God of gods for his puissāce. In like maner, the graces we reape & receiue by Christ in y ^e sacraments, (so great & gracious are they) they may be termed graces of graces: as [Page]namely, remission of sinnes, im­putation of righteousnesse, sanc­tification of life, & a speciall ap­plication of our sauiour Iesus. Neither yet for all this (which is diligently to be noted) doe we tye or binde his goodnes so here­by that he must needes worke with, or can not worke without these meanes by his spirit, the saluation of them whom he had chosen and destinated to eternal life before all worldes. Many Israelites that died in the desert when they could not trauaile if they had bene sore and cut, were saued without circūcision. The thiefe that from the crosse went straight to heauen, was neuer otherwise baptized then in his owne confession, faith, and peti­tion to Christ. Saluation is nei­ther kneaded into y ^e dough, nor mingled w ^e water, no more then with the word, which is as Hie­rom [Page]sayeth more truely Christ, Hierom. in Psal. 147.3. cap. eccle. but proceedeth from God, and is conueyed by ordinary meanes of eyther word or outward signes, where they are not contemned, but may conueniently he had, & are reuerētly vsed as they ought.

The vse & cōtinuance. 4 And this is the fourth and last point, the right vse and con­tinuance of the Sacraments. Phisicke is not prepared, but to be receiued. As in the Reuelati­on, no man receiueth the white stone, Reuel. 2.17. but to whome it is giuen: so no man readeth the writing, but who receiueth it. The au­thour of the Sacraments, is God, the signes holy, the grace most holy. This Manna would be kept in a golden pot, and these iewels set in y ^e purest golde. The gifte that is bestowed, is most syncere, the stone white that is deliuered. And ought not then the hande to be a cleane hande, [Page]or rather the heart a pure heart, that receiueth such pearles? GOD couenanteth to bee our God, shoulde we not accept the offer, & reioyce in his couenant? Achaz in hypocrisie pretended he woulde beleeue God without a signe. Esai. 7.12. Certainely so must we doe in deede many times. Balaam, Nom. 23.19. that saw lesse thē his asse, saw so much, y ^e Gods worde is ynough. Shall he speake, and not doe? Yet when he offereth signes withal, to helpe forth our infirmities in faith according to his worde, ey­ther naturall as the rainebow, or artificiall as the brasen ser­pent, or miraculous, or Sacra­mental, or whateuer, if we then refuse them, in steade of shun­ning the fault of tempting him, we runne vpon the contempt of his heauenly wisedome. Goe preach, baptize all nations. Mat. 28.19. This is a generall commaundement, [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page]and must be obserued. 1. Cor. 10.24 As often as ye eate this bread, and drinke this cuppe, ye shewe the Lordes death vntill his comming againe. As often, therefore often and v­sually: vntill his comming againe, therefore perperually must this Sacrament be continued in a godly remembrance of y ^e Lordes death. Gen. 29.17. Deut. 34.7. The olde ceremonies were weake sighted like Leah, and therefore could not last euer. Moses eyes were not dimme, vntill his dying day: so the force of Christian Sacraments re­maine in their full vse vntill the ende of the worlde.

Their sacraments, some were speciall for place and person. In Paradise the tree of life was for the place, Gen. 2.9. Iudg. 6.37. Esa. 28.8. the wette & dryed fleece, the going backe of the dial, were personally to Gedeon and Eze­chias. And their chiefest Sacra­ments, either extraordinary, as [Page]Manna and the rocke, ceased in the wildernesse: or ordinary, as circumcision and the Passeouer, these also haue had their ende in the fulnesse of time, when their wombe (as Cirill speaketh) was deliuered of Christ, as a woman of her childe into the worlde. For Christ is come, and their cere­monies were of Christ to come, and when he came, they as sha­dowes yeelded place at the pre­sence of the body. The difference of their Sacraments and ours consisteth in cleerenes of know­ledge, and continuance of tynte. They caryed the former parte of the staffe, & we the hinder ende. Christ is borne betwixt vs both, but we that come after, haue the fuller viewe, and see directly be­fore our face, they respectiuely and looking backe to that which they caryed and came after: and therefore more obscurely then [Page]we. And nowe because Christ is borne no more, liueth no more, dieth no more, & because all these thinges are plainely to the eye painted, & poynted to with y ^e fin­ger in our Sacraments, ours are not henceforth to be changed any more, but are constant and perpetuall, and continually in all duety to be vsed and enioyed till his comming again to iudge the quicke and the dead in the last day.

The nature of Baptisme. BAptisme is the Sa­crament of regene­ration in water, wherby our sinnes are clensed, we clad with Christ, endued with his spirit, our names entred among the number of Christian profes­sours, [Page]in the name of the blessed Trinitie.

The institu­tion.Touching the institution, whether it growe out of y ^e earth, or descende from aboue, be of men, or of God, being of all con­fessed to be a Sacrament, and a Sacrament being already pro­ued to be alwayes a diuine insti­tutiō, it is needlesse to repeate or say further therein. Yet moreo­uer and aboue that, our Saui­ours owne example and general commandement, Go preach, Mat. 3 15. bap­tize, &c. are euident warrants, autentike, and special for proofe herein, that it is of God.

The forme of the admi­nistration.The fourme of the action de­clareth what we receiue of God, and there withall enformeth vs what we owe and ought to ren­der him againe. Through sin­gular mercie in the name of the Father, by like merit and mame of the Sonne, by the vertue of [Page]the Holy Spirite, name & pow­er thereof, we are made parta­kers of all the priuiledges, that may be incident to such as shall be saued in the house & Church of God. In whose lap, we are as it were newe borne, newe wa­shed, new apparelled, made new creatures in Iesus Christ. Such is the forme, so great the force of this sacrament.

Wherein yf any man vpon a farther desire to be instructed in the mysteries of his profession, The mar­ueilous o­peration of Bap­tisme. muse in minde, breake foorth, and say as Mary did to the An­gel, Luke 1.34. How may this be, that a ma­teriall element shoulde thus worke in spirituall things, that water touching the body should clense the soule, that water in y ^e fountaine where it is cleanest, hauing no such operatiō, should thus change and be changed in the Church and fonte whither [Page]it is brought from his spring? are these effectes naturall? Exod. 11.25. Of olde y ^e waters of Marah were made sweete, water in Cana, Iohn. 2.8. turned into wine, Exod. 7.17. the riuers of Nilus into bloode: and though euery of these mutations were mar­ueilous in the sight of the wisest eye, yet in this case there is more done. Meere and bitter water in comparison, is made exceeding sweete, sweeter then the fruite of the ripest & purest grape: yea, yet more then this is done. Cold and vsual water, is really chan­ged, truely, and indeede turned after the maner of Sacramēts, from a common moisture, into y ^e dewe of gods spirit, and into the bloode of the Lambe, Reuel. 7.14. wherein the soules of y ^e Saintes are wa­shed. For although it leaue not off to be water, but remaineth as before, a visible signe, yet by the accesse of Gods worde, and [Page]the omnipotent power of his spirite, the Angell as it were descending vpon the poole in the Gospel, Iohn 5.4. the change is greater, then mans wordes can expresse.

By similitudes framed and vttered to our capacities, fayth conceiueth conuenient instruc­tion & sufficient comfort. Where the sunne warmeth not, wa­ter is a sterile and bare moy­sture, neyther can it engender a­ny thing without the heate and helpe of the spirite, that moued vpon the waters at their first creation. Gen. 1.2. For as it was then, so is it still, & as it was and is so in y ^e generation of things: so much more is it so in the regeneration of man. Water of it selfe cannot make a man, much lesse a Chri­stian man. The pro­portion of the signe with the graces sig­nified. The spirite of God is sometymes sayde to enflame and purifie like fire, and in this case to regenerate in water, to clense [Page]and washe like water. And as verily as cleare water clenseth and cooleth the body: so, and as truely, the like graces by the bloode of Christ and his spirite, are wrought vpon the soule, by entrance into this bathe. Wher­in we may obserue a further si­militude, that as in washing pooles, when men goe into thē, they doe off their aparell, and then enter the bath, and bathe their bodies: so in this the olde man is put off, Adams fig leaues throwen aside, & then with niter & fullers sope, nay rather with the bloode of the sonne of God, all our former filthe is scoured a­way. This dissimilitude is in this similitude, our former rags are neuer resumed, as sinners resume their garmentes when they haue washed. Those plaguy clothes that tooke stayne and infection from sinfull Adam, [Page]we burie or we burne. The rege­nerate man hath done away his former generation, dyeth to sin, the gylte and dominion where­of lyeth as a dead body in the graue, and hath no more power ouer the creature which is en­dued with the newe man, freed from Satan, accepted into ser­uice and fauour in the familie of GOD, weareth the cloth of righteousnes, and is apparelled as the womā in the Reuelation with the sonne of God. Reue. 12.1.

Wherein notwithstanding it is expedient, still and euer to remember from what rocke we were he wen, on what stocke we grewe, what we haue lost, and what wee haue founde, howe fowle we were, howe cleane we are, that tasting howe sweete the Lord is, we may as it were, feele the difference betweene soote and sugar, see and view the [Page]oddes betweene our crimosin & blood red sinnes, and the snowe white innocencie we haue ob­teyned in him.

To compare the state wherin we were by creation, & then in nature corrupted, and nowe by grace and regeneration, were to compare an innocent lyfe, a de­serued death, & life euerlasting together, that is, Paradise, hell, & heauenly blisse, betwixt themselues. For our case at y ^e first was no worse, afterward no bet­ter, and in Christ betterthen e­uer before. Rom. [...]. For as by one man came sinne, and by sinne death, which presupposeth a former in­nocencie, and life: so by the man Christ, much more excellent is the righteousnesse that is im­puted to faith, imported by this Sacrament, and shalbe enioyed without end. As the first Adam, eating of the forbidden tree, he [Page](susteining the person of al man­kinde) by his disobedience did set on edge his posterities teeth: so the second Adam trode the wine presse alone, and yet wee his po­steritie also drinck neuer the lesse of his wine. And here let no man say, Prou. 9.2. I haue mixed mine owne wine, I haue compassed these thinges my selfe. Strength, if it leane to presumption, is weaker then water, and the broken reede: and yet the strongest thinges of man, are but meere weaknesse, the puritie of nature, pollution, libertie of will, thraldome, and the merite of workes, a stayned cloute. And then if the clothe be so course, howe course is the list: or if the wooll be course, can the clothe be fine? Adam begate Seth, Gen. 5.3. and all his children in his owne likenesse. For as the man that is not, cannot beget him­selfe that he may haue a being: [Page]so man being naught, can neuer of him selfe beget any thing els, or him selfe to bee good againe. Why thē do we presume? A puffe of pride bloweth out the candle that was lightened of another at the first, and cannot kindle it selfe the seconde time. The deb­ter in the Gospel was not able to make payment for the ten thou­sand talentes, Matt. 18.24. and the more in debte in processe of time, the more vnlike to come out of debt, albeit he sayd as the aduersaries of the trueth saye, if his Lorde would haue patience, he would pay and satisfie all. The three pa­rables in Saint Luke, tende all to this purpose, Luke 15. to shewe mans inhabilitie in euery respect, and the Lordes exceeding mercie al­together. The lost groat lacketh sense, the strayed sheep witte, the prodigall sonne wisedome. The woman lighteth y ^e candle, swee­peth [Page]the house, seeketh diligent­ly. The shepheard goeth out into the wildernesse, and bringeth home on his shoulders. And as for the wastfull sonne, God in his prouidence disposed so, that by afliction and famin, he should be taught and constrained to re­turne backe, making a most true confession, that hee had sinned against heauen and his father, and was no more worthie to bee called his sonne. Had sin­ned, and therefore nowe onely was to stande vpon grace & par­don: had sinned against heauen, and therefore in earth vnfit and vnable to make satisfaction: had sinned against so louing a father, & therefore vnworthy the name of a sonne. Notwithstanding, while he stoode yet a great waye off, his father sawe him, and had compassion, ranne, (pre­uented him with mercie) fell on [Page]his necke and kissed him, killed the fatte calfe, put shoes on his feeete, and a ring on his finger, hyred musicians, and called for the best robe, & clad him there­with that was vtterly destitute of al attire, except such as Job speaketh of: Iob. 9.31. Mine owne clothes defile me.

Many excellent and rich or­naments are layde together in one heape in the Prophet Eze­chiel: embroydred works, Ezech. 16. brace­lets, silke, siluer, golde &c. and all these God bestowed on them y ^e lay dead in their blood, whome he raised to life, circūcised with his owne hand, dryed their cor­ruption with salte, washed their vncleannes with water, swad­led and clad them with newe & precious apparell, euen with Iosephs party coloured coate, or rather with the Queenes gar­ment of needle worke, which yet [Page]was not of her owne making.

The olde purifyings did pre­figure out, and as it were made the first draught thereof: but the water of Baptisme most liuely expresseth his mercy & compassi­on, whose onely eye, & no mans els, tooke pitie on vs then, when we lay, not wounded, but dead & long dead in our sinnes. In this water y ^e litle fish & humble Chri­stian resumeth life againe, y ^e lay gasping & dead on the shoare be­fore. In this water y ^e Scorpion loseth his venim, Cypr. 4. lib. epist. 7. and can not sting. In this water, Sinne, Satan, the flesh and the worlde lye floting & drowned, as in the deluge in Genesis, 1. Cor. 10.1. 1. pet. 3.21. and red Sea in Exodus, where Noah y ^e prea­cher of righteousnesse and a few with him were saued in y ^e Arke, which after a sorte was a figure of Baptisme. The Israelites went through on dry foot, Pha­rao [Page]and all his hoste drowned in the red sea. But for all this, this is true in the letter of these sto­ries, and certaine in the trueth of a farther meaning, y ^e though Noah escaped drowning, yet he was ouercome afterward with wine: though the Egyptians were ouerwhelmed al, yet there remained other enemies in y ^e de­sert: neither did Israel straight­wayes enter the promised land, w ^tout further labour & fightes first had with sundry and diuers nations.

Hierom. ad Ocean. Aug. retract. lib. 1. cap. 7. Ephe. 5.25. Rom. 7. In this Sacrament, though generally iniquity be pardoned, and sinne drowned, and wee sa­ned, yet for all this, al infirmitie is not quite abolished, wee are washed al, Ioh. 13.10. but our feete (such are y ^e wayes wherin we tread) neede daily and continuall washing. The effect of Baptsme worketh not in a moment, but by litle & [Page]litle, as the leauen seasoneth the whole fiue peckes at length. Af­ter a great sicknesse, strength is not recouered but in continu­ance of time: the wound is hea­led, but it must be skinned ouer also. When this mortalitie shall change for immortality, corrup­tion put on incorruption, y ^e olde Phenix be made a newe, then, & neuer till then perfectly, euery wrinckle shall be made plaine, e­uery spot washed, & euery teare wiped away from our face, our nakednesse couered ouer, or quite done away, and we presen­ted blamelesse to the iudgement seat of God. Col. 1.22. In the meane time, while our dwelling is in this vale of miserie & houses of clay, it is our continuall duetie daily more and more to contende and proceed from faith to faith, from strength to strength, frō vertue to vertue, crucifying the old mā, [Page]hauing still recourse to that ge­nerall graunt of pardon we ob­tained in Baptisme at the first, remission of sinnes in the death of Christ.

Not that this Sacrament be eftsoones repeated & reiterated againe in fact, Anabap­tistes. but afresh recor­ded in faith, godly meditation, August. 11. tract. in Ioh. vterus non repetitur. & humble prayer. The father doth not often begette his sonne, but the sonne remembring that hee was begottē of a louing father, bethinketh himself, considereth his duetie, increaseth in pietie, reuerent awe & obedience. Nei­ther the seede one and the same graine is often sowen, but be­ing once sowen in due season, it bringeth foorth his fruite. The haruest of mans perfectiō is not in this worlde. The sowing which is once, and the growing time which is still, is here: full ripenesse is foūd els where. August. de Ieiunio. Imus [Page]nondum peruenimus: we are but in the way to heauen, going on and trauailing till we come thi­ther, euen growing toward it, & groning after it. In y ^e midway, no man spinneth so euen a thred that neuer breaketh, treadeth so right that neuer trippeth. For besides diuers actuall sinnes, y ^e ineuitable sinne of concupiscēce which lusteth against the spirit, is left still as a sting in the Bee, notwithstanding his hony and diuers graces by grace receiued. The aduersaries to the trueth, in their Couent at Trent, 1. Decr. 5. Sess. Cat. Tri. de. bap. sacr. and in their Treatise of Baptisme, woulde extenuate & make light of it, saying, it is not in any wise sinne, except it be consēted vnto. Saint Iames teaching what will be the ende of sinne, Iacob. 1.14. sayeth, that concupiscence tēpteth, dra­weth and entiseth to (actual and externall) sinne: and is this no [Page]sinne? It is the mother of sinne, and are not y ^e mother & daughter both of one nature? Againe the very name Lust carieth with it a kinde of consent, desire, and will to sinne. But suppose, that by dis­senting the external acte of sin­ning be restrained, what then? God considereth the hearte, and he with all our strength, power and faculties, is to be serued: the least defaulte in any parte of our inward parts, is an offence and sinne against his Maiestie. But doeth consent or dissent, make our lustes eyther sinnes or no sinnes? Is not an enemie an enemie if he be conquered? Is not rebellion treason, if it be pre­uented? Is not sedition sedition, if it be repressed? Is lust no sinne if it be kept in? Is fire no fire, ex­cept it flame? What neede many words? Doth not the Apostle in expresse words, sundry times cal [Page]concupiscence sinne, because it hindereth the good he woulde, & helpeth forward y ^e euil he would not? They say the Apostle spea­keth improperly: a wonder. He that framed the eare, made the eye, fashioned the tongue, shall he not heare, doth he not see, can he not speake as properly as the children of men? were there no­thing but this, y ^t we are taught to pray with sighes as S. Paul doth against this temptation, it were sufficient & proofe plaine y­nough, y ^t it is sinne. For in pray­ing y ^t it be not, we cofesse y ^t where it is, it shoulde not be, and so be­cause it is, it is sinne, especially being forbidden in y ^e Lawe. A li­tle feeling of a good conscience, might take away all controuer­sie in the question, as hath bene wel declared not long since. Reply to the censure 5. articulo. And thou, O man, which hast a sence what sinne is, submitte thy selfe [Page]vnder the power of Gods hand, powre forth thy soule in prayse to so mercifull a Lorde, who hath forgiuen the gylte of this and al other thine offences, who bin­deth them dayly in a bundell, & will one day drowne or dye them all to an other colour in y ^e blood of his sonne, whereof thy Bap­tisme is a sure seale.

This knowledge and confes­sion belongeth to al people, from the cleauer of the woode, to the Prince and counseller, from the Cedars of Libanus, to the Hys­soppe of the wall backe agayne: high and lowe, rich and poore, old and yong, one with another, without respect of persons, they are the Lordes equally. Ancient men must not forget who was hee that tooke them from their cradle, and caried them along in his armes to their gray heares. Esa. 46.4. Children must learne that they [Page]also are conteyned in his coue­nant. Iohn was sāctified in his mothers wombe, The bapti­zing of chil­dren. Samuel in his childhoode consecrated vnto the Lorde, Mar. 10.14. Children brought to Christ that he might lay handes on them. Bring wee then also our children, that Christ may blesse them in his owne institu­tion, Gen. 17.12. as of old God did y ^e circūci­sed infantes of eight dayes age. Delayes may be dangerous and are needlesse, August. de verb. a post. hom. 9. the vsage is an an­cient rule of fayth. It is true, y ^t not the lacke, Bern. ad Hugon. Epi. 77. but the neglecte of the Sacrament doeth hurt: be­ware then of contempt. Christ baptizeth with y ^e spirit & w ^t fire: with the spirite, that is, w ^t spiri­tual graces he endueth thē who in faith & thankfulnesse obserue his word, receiue his sacramēts, are ingraffed into him, & growe vp in him as liuely brāches in y ^e true vine. Iohn 15.1. Againe hee baptizeth [Page]with his spirite, Luk. 3.16. able to discerne hypocrites, & with fire red hote, readie to consume al chaffe & cor­ruption, as both the superstitiō of the Popishe, and also the secu­ritie of y ^e Anabaptist, that eyther presume, or peruert, or any way pollute y ^e right vse of this his ho­ly ordinance, which to the reue­rent receiuer, is the bath of his regeneration in Christ, y ^e badge of his profession, and the bonde of brotherly loue in the house of our God. Ephes. 4.3.

THe Leuits dutie was to prepare the people to the worthy recei­uing of the Passeo­uer. 2. Chro. 35.6 In place whereof, hath suc­ceeded the Sacramēt of the bo­dy & blood of our Sauiour Ie­sus Christ, with semblable, ne­cessarie, and conuenient prepa­ratiō [Page]thereunto. Chrisost. in 1. Cor. hom. 24. For if it were a princes sacred body, or but pur­ple garment onely (the matter whereof is wormes thread, & co­lour no better then the dead fishe blood) yet were it not rashly to be abused w ^t vnwashed or vncleane handes. How much the more re­uerent then ought y ^e receiuing of these holy mysteries of Christs body and blood to be of all them that know what it is to stand in awe that they offend not? Wher­fore let a man examine himselfe, saith y ^e Apostle, 1. Cor. 11.28 & so let him eat of this bread, & drinke of this cup. Euen so, & therfore if not so, not at all. Better to abstaine, then to come together for the worse.

As the print in waxe is more fitly receiued and fully expressed, when the waxe is wrought and warmed first: so like wise the ef­fect of this Sacrament is more liuely felt and seene, when wee [Page]repayre thereunto with prepa­red mindes, wel instructed, and throughly examined.

In which examination, two poyntes chiefely are obserued, wherof the one cōcerneth faith, the other loue. Fayth, to be setled in our heartes towardes God: Loue, to be she wed to our neigh­bor. The latter procedeth out of the former, and both from the spirit of God. Faith receiueth in­crease by hearing and prayer: Rom. 10.17. Luk. 17.5. Mark. 9.24. O Lord increase our faith. Loue and faith iointly are stirred vp and strengthened by repentance, in y ^e worthy repayring to, & recei­uing at the Lordes table. Wher­upon ariseth these three, as a­gents in this examination, assu­red faith, brotherly loue, earnest repentance.

Faith directeth in knowledge. Loue is occupied in thākfulnes to God, and good doing toward [Page]men. Repentance euer in ey­ther amendeth what is omitted or done amisse, and craueth par­don with humble minde and ful purpose, not to offend in the like againe. All which dueties (as I take) may be rightly considered according to the times, wherin eyther we are to receiue, or pre­sently receiue, or haue receiued the Sacrament. The first is cal­led a Preparation vnto the Sup­per, y ^e second, a meditation there­in, the third, a christian conuer­sation that must ensue there­upon.

In preparing our selues is required, Preparatiō. y ^t we knowe of whom, what, and in what order wee must receiue.

It seemeth to be recorded as a commēdation, Of whom we receiue 1. Sam. 1.23. that Anna nur­sed her owne sonne: in which re­spect among infinite others, the loue of God exceedeth all loue. [Page]Wherein as he spareth no cost, so hee vndertaketh any care, Plutar de in­stitu. lib. which nice and vnnatural mo­thers refuse to do, putting forth their infantes to bee nursed a­broade, without neede or cause. Our God doeth not so, neyther needeth he so to doe, Isai. 49.15. his breasts are neither sore, nor drye at any time. Of his owne good will he begat vs againe in baptisme, & so will he stil feede and bring vs vp to a full age, & perfect grouth in Christ. Sufficient or abun­dant prouision for y ^e house, him­selfe in his wisedome hath pro­uided, y ^e holy spirite being stew­ard of all, and as it were distri­buter and caruer at the board.

What we receiue.And to come to the seconde poynt, what we receiue. The meate of this table, is the very death of Christ, the Lambe of God, that taketh away y ^e sinnes of the world. The story and insti­tution [Page]whereof, is recorded by three Euangelistes, Matt. 26.26. Mark. 14.22 Luk. 22.19. and againe commented vpon by the holy ghost at large in the former Epi­stle of S. Paul to the Corinthi­ans: where the Apostle begin­neth the matter with a faithful saying, 1. Cor. 11.23 That which I haue recei­ued of the Lorde, I haue deliuered you. For otherwise, if he came with offers of his own deuising, himselfe raught the Galathi­ans what his entertainement ought to be: Gal. 1.8. Let him be accused, though he were an Angell of God from heauen.

The Lord Iesus, that night y ^t he was betrayed, tooke bread: and when he had giuen thanks, he brake, and sayde, Take, eate, this is my bodie which is broken for you: this doe in remembrance of me, In like maner the cup, &c. For as often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup, ye shewe [Page]the Lordes death till he come againe. Wherein wee see euident­ly what Christ did, & also in due­tie what we must do. In the visible signes which he tooke, of bread that he brake, wine that he powred foorth, and in deliue­ring thē both to be taken, eaten and drunke, he manifestly decla­red two things: the one, that he woulde immediately make an oblation for the redemption of mankinde vpon the altar of y ^e crosse: the other that for euer he woulde be the euerlasting foode of their soules, his body to be the bread of life, his precious blood to be their comfortable drinke, y ^e Physicke of immortalitie, Ignat. epist. ad Eph. and pre­seruatiue against all euill. The sacrifice & oblation he intēded, is plaine by these words, Which is broken, Mat. 26.28. which is shed for many for remission of sinnes. Euen is brokē and shed, because y ^e houre wherin [Page]he should be betrayed and suffer, drewe nigh and was at hande, That he would be their foode, is proued cleerely, in that hee com­maūded to take, & eate, this is my body. Nowe by the way, out of these two notes, may be noted two forcible reasons, against the sacrifice pretended in the masse.

They are lately delighted w ^t motiues and demandes, may I aske them this question? Doe they thinke a sinfull priest can do more at his masse, then the sōne of God did at his supper? I hope they will not prefer a meere man before Christ God and man, the Sauiour of the worlde. And if so, then may they see their priest can make no sacrifice: for Christ himselfe when he sate at boorde with his disciples, made none, but declared what he meante to make. For and if he had so done y ^e Thursday at night, what nee­ded [Page]he thē to haue suffered y ^e Fry­day at noone? againe, he willeth vs to take and eate, and feede on him. He offreth himselfe to be re­ceiued of vs, not to be offered by vs to his Father. That was his owne proper and personall due­ty. But to leaue to speake hereof, our dewtie is with thankfulnes to feede on the food he offreth vs, euen to eate and drinke him, to partake his blessed body and pre­cious blood. Wherein, notwith­standing to mistake and mingle the signes, and the things signi­fied cōfusedly without differēce, were as Aug. sayth, De doct. Chr. a miserable thraldome to the very soule of a Christian man. Christes wordes be plaine. He tooke bread, after thankes giuen he breake & gaue bread: for what he toke, he brake, and what he brake, he gaue, and therefore he gaue bread. For the Apostle saith he brake bread, and [Page]that he calleth his body, and so concerning the cuppe: for after a sort, to speake of one, is to speake of both. Marie tooke Christ to haue bene a Gardiner, Iohn 20.15. but y ^e ad­uersaries take a portion of bread to be Christ. The true professors say and beleeue, that this saying of the Lorde, This bread is my bo­dy, hath a spirituall and Sacra­mental meaning, & otherwise to auouch, y ^t a piece of bread (for y ^t it is bread, is proued) or els which is all one, y ^e the shewe of bread is literally very Christ, is a mōstru­ous kinde of speaking, vtterly impossible, & altogether blasphe­mous. For if bread, or the shew of bread, or that which was bread, be called Christ properly, and w ^t out figure of speache: without all controuersie, as properly and as truely (but there is no shewe of trueth in so grosse errors) bread was borne of the virgin Marie, [Page]bread was crucified on the crosse, bread shal iudge the quicke and y ^e dead, and a piece or a fancye of bread is the Sauiour of the worlde, the sonne of God, the se­conde person in Trinitie, God himselfe, & the Lord of life. In ef­fect so strangely, haue our vnna­tural countrey men writtē and one more fondly then the rest, Sand. in his Manhu. di­recting an Epistle dedicatorie to his Lorde and God, vnder the formes of bread and wine in the Sacrament. Thus it fareth w ^t these men by the iust iudgement of the Almighty God, who haue giuen him ouer, & he them, that because they woulde not beleeue the trueth, they shoulde still be­leeue lyes without ende, chaun­ging the glorie of the immortall God, into the similitude of cor­rupt creatures, besides all sense, reason, and congruence of fayth. Chrysostome, writing vpon La­bans [Page]complaint, where he saith to Iacob, Gene. 31.30. Why hast thou stolen my gods? what, saith that father, what perfect folly is this? Are thy gods such, as they may be sto­len? or art thou not ashamed in so saying? Semblably, what a Christ haue y ^e aduersaries made and imagined? is Christ made of bread? ground with teeth, con­sumed w ^t the bitte of mouth, and stolen away sometime of the sely mouse? or are they not ashamed of these carnal & fleshly more the Capernaitical grosse dreames, y ^e profite nothing? nay rather dread they not in hearte & soule, to say as they haue sayde to the cake in the Priests hands, D. Har. con­futa. of the Ap. pag. 94. Pointz in his Testi. cap. 3. Brist. Mot. 26. Thou art my maker, and to the wine in the chalice, Thou art my Lord and my God, by thee alone and nothing else, I hope to be saued

Bish. Cran. to Winch. and Bish. Iewel to Hard. &c.The iust confutatiō of which strāge speaches, hath bin vnder taken & discharged of most excel­lent [Page]learned mē, in our English tongue. My purpose is onely in a worde, to giue warning to y ^e simple of this myre, wherin they see those drūken men, seruants to their owne deuises, thus to wallowe, plunge, and tumble themselues vp and downe.

There are others, who albeit they are not so farre gone out of the way, yet they treade not the true hie way, in euery respecte. As they confesse Christ to be in heauen, and yet they worshippe no heauen, but Christ, sitting there at the right hand of his fa­ther: so ouer much resting vpon the bare letter of the words, they suppose onely a conioyned pre­sence in the bread, and no more. They go no further, neither doe they adore the bread, thogh they thinke Christ consubstantially to be therein. When they are vr­ged with the vndouted article of [Page]the Creed, wherby we beleeue y ^e ascension of our Sauiour, some of thē replie, y ^t Christ being God, may be euery where. Others al­together absurdly say, he auen it selfe is euery where. Were it not but that somewhat might bee learned, belōging necessarily to this treatise by y ^e way, it were a folly to refute follies. Verely as Christ is perfect God, so is hee perfect man, & the properties of both natures entire in one per­son. We may not build his deity, & destroy his humanity. Who ac­cording to his manhood, is gone from y ^e earth, taken vp to his fa­ther, ascended on hie, sitteth and maketh intercession there: the heauens must conteine him, till the last tymes, and then & thence we look for his comming again. Neither can all this be a meere supposed vanishing out of sight, but a locall departure: because [Page]the place is set downe whence he went, and whither he ascended, and that he shall come againe. I leaue the worlde and goe to the fa­ther. Ioh. 16.28. and he shall so come againe from heauen. Act. 1.11. And here to dreame y ^t heauen is euery where, were a madnesse. For then Christ had bene in heauen before already, & so what needed he to departe and ascende and goe hence? and if earth were heauen, the wicked and earthely minded men were most in heauen. And not onely they but y ^e very damned spriits in hell were in heauen also: for hell is some where, and they say heauen is euery where. And thē where were that great Chaos, that is spoken of in the Gospel, Luk. 16.23.26. betwixt Abrahams ioyes in hea­uen aboue, and the riche mans torments in hel beneath? There is a kinde of spirite which is not driuen away but with prayer & [Page]fasting, to the end to praye more earnestly, the Lorde if it be his will, ende all quarels, especially about this sacrament of vnitie, open the eyes of all those who e­uer they be, y ^t seeke vaine shiftes and fond detrises, to the end one­ly to exclude one conuenient & v­sual figure, which necessarily go­eth w ^t the nature of a sacramēt, & agreeth w ^t the canons of chri­stian beleefe, & w ^tout the which our beleefe concerning the per­son of Christ, can neuer stande. For if hee be perfect man (as we beleeue) like to his brethren in al thinges, Heb. 1.17. sinne excepted, being but one man, hee can bee but in one place at one tyme. The want of sinne both not extende a bodye to pluralities of places: for then euery man, as hee hath lesse or more sinne, shoulde bee straight­waye in fewer & moe places ac­cordingly. But these thinges in [Page]sight are but vanities. Wherfore Christ according to his humani­tie, is and must bee in one place at once, and no moe, and that is in heauen.

Nowe then in earth, what do wee receiue, while wee receiue y ^e Sacrament? certainely Christ Iesus, the land and the fruite, Christ and the vertues of his life and death, and of what euer hee did. But he is in heauen, and we in earth, and y ^e distance is great. Faith hath an eye, an hande & a wing, wherby it pearceth, rea­cheth and flyeth vp to heauen it selfe. To fayth, thinges absent are present, thinges distant are conioyned, thinges secret are o­pen, vnseene are visible, impossi­ble are easy. As verely as bread both serue for the strength of the body, and wine for the comforte thereof: so and as certainly to y ^e in warde man in fayth, Christ is [Page]bread to the soule, and wine to y ^e minde, and we mistically made one in him, and hee with vs, dwell in him, and hee in vs, feede on him, and he our spiritu­all foode. And this is that which we receiue at his boarde. I con­fesse, our knowledge is in parte, and therefore our speach is vn­perfect. Those harder partes of the Lambe that could not be ea­ten, were consumed with fire: euen so, if there be any thing (as I graunt to me there is) which wordes cannot expresse, a godly mans faith may better compre­hend, and in heart conceiue, thē I vtter. It is not bare bread & a sip of wine (as scorners speake) that we receiue, but truely, & in deed very Christ. And wheras it is so, let vs go on & see how such a ghest ought to be entertained.

[...]we [...]rist [...]ght to recei­ [...]Prepare the chamber of thy soule, sweepe the house of thy cō ­science, [Page]yeeld vp the keyes of thy heart, prostrate thy selfe in hu­militie, open wide the gates of faith, that the king of glory may enter therein.

Berengaria [...] his recanta­tion.The aduersary whetteth his teeth, openeth his mouth, ma­keth ready his belly y ^e he might chewe and swallow vp his ma­ker. Meate for the belly, & the bel­ly for meate, and the Lord shall de­stroy them both. O my brethren, who euer you are, this heauen­ly foode is not Let vs eate and drinke, 1. Cor. 6.1 [...]. and to morrowe we shall dye. Here is neither venison for Isahac, nor a Kid for Tobi, nor Quailes in the desert, nor wine in boules, nor wine in flagons. Who euer eateth of this celestial Manna, & drinketh of this spiri­tual rocke which is Christ, shal not only walke in y ^e strength of it fourty dayes and fourty nights as the Prophet did, but shal liue [Page]for euer with God.

Wherfore the wicked and vn­godly, Faith. haue no part nor portion therein. They eate the bread of y ^e Lorde, but not the Lorde the bread of life, because they want the hand of fayth to receiue him. He that eateth Christ, shall liue by the meanes of Christ: but the life of the wicked is no life, & in their death is eternal dānation.

The aduersaries care li­tle what Iewels they cast to swine, what vncleane beastes they driue into the Lordes pa­stures, howe fine manchet they throwe to very dogges. There is no communicating of Christ, but in the true communion of Christ. One head is head but of one body: and though it giueth some heate by meanes of y ^e heart to a rotten member that is not yet cut off, yet it giueth life only to the sound partes. The chaffe [Page]and huske of corne receiueth a kind of humour, but the fat and heart of the seede onely nouri­sheth the wheate, and not the chaffe. The bare name of Chri­stianitie, the barke and letter of the word, the outward elemēts of the Sacrament, are after a sort in common to all: but true Christianitie, a good vnderstan­ding, and the inward grace of these thinges, are proper to the godly, and to none other. The humor y ^t the wicked receiue frō the roote, serueth to encrease a great deale more chaffe, and the chaffe to nourish a bigger fire, y ^e is due for a greater quantitie thereof. If it were otherwise, howe easely might the Apostle be answered, and howe soone put to silence, when he asketh what part & communion, 2. Cor▪ 6.19. mea­ning a good societie, is there be­tweene the faithfull and the in­fidels? [Page]Forsooth they haue a fel­lowship in the participation of Christ in the Sacrament. No, the spirit of God suffreth no re­plye.

The Communion in this sup­per is two folde. In respect of the giuer, and the duetie of the re­ceiuers, toward him alone and amongst themselues onely. The gift of communicating him, is offered by grace: for who euer gaue him first, that it may be gi­uen him againe? Cyril. lib. 4. cap. 17. in Iohn. And he is recei­ued by faith: send forth thy faith, & thou hast taken holde on him. The communitie which is be­twixt y ^e receiuers themselues, is by charitie & loue. Loue seeketh not his owne, Loue. and that is loue in deede, which is betwixt bre­thren then when a man loueth another, August. de temp. ser. 256. either because Christ is in him, or to the ende Christ may be in him. And this is a ne­cessary [Page]poynt, which must also be brought to the worthy recei­uing of Christ. Some are pale with fasting, and blewe with enuie, tame their body as it were a wilde horse, and ride out of the way whē they haue done. When you come together, there are dissentions among you, sayth S. Paul to the Corinthians, euery man maketh his supper, be­fore he come to the Lords Supper, no man tarieth one for another. Ye haue made a priuate matter of the publike liturgie & church duetie. What shall I say? shall I praise you? in this I praise you not. And his not praysing thē, was a marueilous disprayse. The rich disdained the poore, the poore enuied the rich, the head would not direct the foote, one member was at variance with an other, and yet euery member hath an interest in [Page]the next, & so the last and euery one eche in another, and altoge­ther among them selues. The candle must not hide it selfe vn­der a bushel, nor flash in another mans eies, being proud that one hath lighted it, and litle conside­ring that it self might be burnt or put out, and another lighted in his roome. Vessels conteine water not for them selues, but for others, & if they refuse their duetie, though they are ful, they may be emptied. There is a more excellent way, if men did walke therein, and if euery mā woulde cary his brothers burden. The elme vnderproppeth the vine, & the vine is without prickes, and hurteth not, but is an ornament to the elme. The foot beareth the head and body, & the head gui­deth them both. Shall an He­brewe wound an Hebrewe, Exod. 1.13. the fathers sonne his brother and [Page]the sonne of his mother, the ser­uant his fellowe? The worlde that is w ^tout, hateth vs ynough, though we y ^t are within, hate not our selues. The God of loue enflame our coldenesse in chari­tie, mollifie our hard and cruell hearts, qualifie and soften all rough and vneuen wayes and dealing. Why? are we not bre­thren of the same parent, of God in his Church? subiectes of one King the Lorde? and vnder one Queene a gracious Lady? are we not coūtrymen and fellowes in one familie? haue we not the same hope and spirite? haue wee not the same enemies, friendes, faith and the foode of faith, the word and Sacraments? Cor. Tacit. in vita Iul. Agric. Corne­lius Tacitus reporteth that the olde Britons were easely con­quered, because they vsed no cō ­sultation nor common consent in matters. The Madianites [Page]killeth one an other. Iosias fought an vnnecessary battell, & dyed in the field. It is good to be wise and patient, wise and con­stant, patient & silent in trifles, when a man shall but digge in the fire, & the sparkles flie in his face and no good done. Other­wise if a venimous spider come in the way, who will not set foot vpon it? Yf the cause be the Lordes, and the quarell good, & thy calling according, it is good fighting these battels. Striue for the trueth for life, defende iu­stice vnto death. Eccle. 4.2. In this case the white liuered souldier that fea­reth a frost shall be couered with snow. If euery heare were a life, and euery life a thousand liues, vēter them all for him that gaue them all. But againe in y ^e dayes of peace, where peace may be re­deemed with lesse a doe, what wise man woulde be hanged in [Page]heare of his own fancie, or fal as Saul did vpon his owne sword. He that loueth daunger, shal pe­rish in trouble and no man pitie him, and the meeke shall possesse the earth.

A gentlewoman of Lacede­monia, Plutar. con­tra Colo. and Diotorus his wife did alwayes fall out at the table and varie, because the one loued oyle, and the other butter, and yet the qualities of butter and oyle were not much diuerse.

Charitie doeth couer malice, enuie and hatred doeth vncouer as the boysterous Northwinde all imperfections, and natural­ly men are giuen to prie in at o­ther mens windowes, to beate dust of their coates, & find motes in their eyes. But Saint Paul saith, Let euery man proue him selfe and not other men, and so let him come to this Sacramēt. When Christ foretolde that one [Page]of his disciples shoulde betray him, euery one of them began to aske him, Mar. 14.19. Is it I? not is it he or he, but euery one was desirous to proue him selfe and know, whi­ther it were he, Is it I? they were not like him that saide, Mat. 7.4. Brother suffer me to take foorth the mote out of thine eye. And doe we call them brethrē, whose good name we seeke to take from them in obiecting motes and faultes? A mote is a litle fault, and a beame is a great faulte, and neither great nor litle should be suffered, especially in the eye. Yet euery man is not a fit Physition, the eye is a tender parte, and maye as soone take hurt as good, if there be not great discretion ta­ken. Let the publike minister proue all, and the priuate man proue him selfe, and so in fayth and loue let vs all in one repair to the Sacrament of vnitie [Page]which as goates milke shoulde breake and mollifie the stonie hearts of men, Plin lib. 20. prooe. & lib. 3.7. cap. 4. as rayne alaieth great windes, & as Dauids mu­sicke asswaged Sauls melācho­lie and euill spirite. And yet when all this is done, the best men are men still, and the best earth is earth euer, and will beare nettles and brambles and prickes. Flesh is fraile in faith, blood imperfect in loue, seetheth and boyleth with a litle fire and vpon a small occasion, Repētance. & there­fore repentance alwayes in ey­ther is most requisite, which ac­companying with faith her mo­ther, and loue her sister, war­meth and cherisheth them both, who otherwise waxe wanne and colde and loose their force.

Yf any man deeme Christes death vnsufficiēt, suppose his sa­crifice needeth renuing, imagi­neth any other intercessours re­quisite, [Page]doubteth of his kingdō, beleueth not his word, these are great wants of faith, and he ne­uer proued himselfe, that cōmeth with this minde to the Lordes boorde, where these thinges are or should be felt & fed vpon. Here Repentance is requisite to helpe fayth. Againe, if any man haue any thing against his brother, or his brother against him, let him go first and be reconciled be­fore he eate and drincke the Sa­cramente, which is of vnitie in Christ Iesus. Thus examining his conscience as before, and ac­knowledging his sinnes in his sight, aske pardon with sighes & teares, because he eyther distru­sted, or disobeyed, and so displea­sed so gratious a God, so merci­full a father, so perfecte a Saui­our, that had commanded him­selfe to be beleeued vpon, & our selues of our selues to be beloued [Page]in him one of another.

There is neuer a threede in Papistrie but is stayned. They haue neither perfect faith which they deuide betwene God & his creatures, nor true loue (which wanteth the bonde of loue, true faith) nor due repentance haue they. For al their repentāce stan­deth in whispering in a Priestes eare, or absteyning from the mo­derate vse of certaine meates, in which they put a satisfaction: as if God were pleased & sinne done away with the eating of fish and not of fleshe, or the not vsage of o­ther his creatures reuerently w ^t thankes giuing. 1. Tim, 4.3.

But in deed the sowre herbes wherwith we must eate his pas­seouer, are a penitent hearte, a broken and contrite spirite, be­cause foolish flesh laboureth and werieth it selfe in sinfull wayes, and doeth eftsoones offende in [Page]thought, worde, & deede, against his diuine maiestie. And this if we do, crauing pardon for al our sinnes and misdoings, no doubt hee will consider our sighes, re­ceiue our prayers, forgiue our sinnes, accept vs for iust, accoūt vs for his own, & make vs meete partakers of his heauenly table.

Being thus prepared, instruc­ted in fayth, Meditatiō enflamed in loue, & after a sort repaired by repētāce, y ^u maist present thy self before the Lord. Wherin (as y ^e wisemā wil­leth in an other case) meditate a­gaine and againe what is set be­fore thee, Pro. 23.1. least thy table bee thy snare, thy meate thy bane, thine own knife cut thine own throte. Bread which is y ^e staffe of strēgth to man, wil choke y ^e Hawke. The faithfull, charitable and repen­tant soule partaketh saluation, the vnworthie receiuer eateth & drinketh his owne damnation: [Page]euen as the Babylonian dragon brake asūder as soone as he receiued y ^e balles y ^t Daniel put into his mouth, as y ^t story reporteth.

Wherfore y ^u godly man & child of God, ponder with thy selfe, enter into thy conscience, let cō ­uenient thoughtes & meditati­ons occupy & possesse thy inward partes. And that thou mayest so do, remēber what y ^u art a doing, what worke thou hast in hande. Doe this in remembrance of Christ, Plutar. in vl­ta Numae, Hoe Age. feede on him in thy soule with thanks, & set forth (liuely) his death w ^t praise. Pharaohs butler forgate Ioseph, Gen. 40.23 y ^e vnclean hog neuer loketh vp to him that beateth downe the maste from y ^e tree. Lift vp your heartes, wee lift them vp vnto the Lord. They are the wordes of the church ser­uice, godly wordes. It is meete & right so to doe, and our bounden duetie that we should at al times [Page]recorde his goodnesse, but espe­cially at the time of this action, to shewe foorth his death till his comming againe, & agnize our sinnes, which being the cause of his dying plucked y ^e sonne of God out from y ^e bosome of the father to be crucified on earth, of, amōg, and for sinfull men.

The maymes wee receiued in Adam & remaine yet in vs, are three. Sinne, Ignorance, Weak­nesse. The remedies whereof we finde in Christ, the Physition of our soules. Medicus est minister naturae: that which is wanting by nature, is supplied by grace.

Christ is a Priest to cleanse our sinnes, a Prophet to instruct our rudenesse, & a Kinge to con­quere our enemies. But his Priesthoode and his sacrifice we chiefly celebrate in this Sacra­ment, which also may be and is termed therfore a Sacrifice, not [Page]of Christ, but to Christ in remē ­brance of his, y ^e sacrifice of praise, the calues of our lippes, the in­cense of thankes giuing: and this Leuites fire should neuer go out, and in the present, flame all abroad. Wherein we beleeue in heart, & confesse with mouth, that Iesus Christ came into the world to saue sinners, being per­fite God, was made perfite man. Man, y ^t he might die: God, y ^e in dying, he might satisfie for man­kind: for because y ^t the flesh alone profiteth nothing, his manhood was not sufficient, except also he had bene very God. Wherfore God, euen our God so exceeding­ly loued the world, that he gaue his onely begotten sonne (and therefore he also naturaly God, the sonne like the father) to bee the ransome for the sinnes of the world. Isai. 53.5 [...] The chastisement of our peace was vpon him, the peace [Page]ours, the chastisement his, all sufficient for all the sinnes both of body and soule of all sinners.

The grieuousnes and bitter­nes of which cup may be conside­red, in that our Sauiour after a sort tasted thereof, and it tasted bitter: put forth his hand to take it, pulled it in againe, & began to tremble: his very soule was sorowful, praied earnestly, went out and prayed againe, that if it were possible, it might passe o­uer, needed an Angell for com­fort, swet water & drops of blood.

If there were nothing herein but an vsuall death, woulde Christ thus haue bene afflicted? The heathē haue suffred more, & with more pacience apparant: therfore there must be, and was more in it, and yet he is not come to the bitternes in the bottom of the cup. Those former agonies were but hony in comparison of [Page]the conflict with Sathan which followed, and the wrath of his father which ensued, when all sinnes, as heauy as hell, & more then the starres of heauen, or the sand of the sea were layed in one vpon him, and he for them made a curse and execration, Isa. 53.8. the iust executed for the vniust, one for all.

A childe is borne to vs, and giuen vnto vs, and liued for vs. This might comfort Ierusalem at the heart: but the end & perfec­tion of our ioy, and his sorowe, was his death on crosse, where­in consisteth the thankfull me­ditation I speake of, holpen by breaking of the bread, and the powring foorth of the wine before our sight: wherein the default of our aduersaries ap­peareth greatly, that debarreth the people of so great an helpe. For be it that perfect Christ be [Page]communicated in the bread, yet in the wine significātly is resem­bled his bloodsheding most. And howe dare they alter the Lordes institution? As he tooke bread, euen so he tooke the cup: [...] then if bread be requisite, so is y ^e cup al­so. For as he tooke the one, so he tooke the other. Eckius in ench. Eckius woulde proue his halfe cōmunion out of his Paternoster: giue vs this day our daily bread. A begger is neuer out of his way. What scripture wil not serue for any purpose, if y ^t do for his? Saint Paul teacheth what the Lorde did, and what y ^e Corinthians should do till Christ his comming in the cloudes, hee meaneth what al posteritie was to do. For those Corinthians are gone the way of all fleshe, & their church rased. He telleth them, & in them vs: Other thinges at his comming he would dispose of (as of indifferent circūstances.) But [Page]for the lawfull and inuiolable v­sage of the Sacrament in both kindes, he deliuered as he had re­ceiued.

Dauid slewe the Gyant with one stone, but he toke more then one out of the brook. Christ is re­ceiued in his word, by his spirit, in baptisme, sacramentaly in ei­ther, or rather in both the signes of the Supper ioyntly taken as he ordeyned. So sufficiently and aboundantly hath y ^e Lord proui­ded for his houshold, bread made of many graynes, and also wine of many grapes, y ^e answerably we being many, may bee one in him and hee in vs, expecting the accomplishment of our ioy to the full, no more in signes & figures in earth, but apparantly to eate and drincke at Christes table w ^t him in the kingdome of heauen, where we shal sit on seates & iudge the twelue tribes of Israel. Luke. 22.30 Amen.

[Page] There are certaine kindes both of byrdes and beastes, Conuersa­tion. whose meate wil not tarie w ^t them, but passeth quickly away recto inte­stino Such beastes neuer chew the cud. And some men not vn­like or worse then beastes, medi­tate litle of whom they were be­gotten and fed, what they feede on or in what sorte, much lesse doth the meat digest with them to make thē strōg men in Christ, as if Sara were their mother, & Agar their nurse, or as if they were nursed with milke & wea­ned with poyson, and the meate naught and woulde not proue with them, so doe they liue. In comming to the Seruice & Sa­cramentes, eyther for company or custome sake, they looke one way with the godly, but in their conuersation, they row another way, and shewe in their deedes, of what felowship they are. They [Page]passe through the redde sea, but murmure in the wildernes, nay euen at the redde sea offend they God. In pretence somwhat they are, but inwardly nothing, and in fact naught. Their windows be not scued as Salomōs were, to giue a full light into y ^e house to their owne heartes, in hy­pocrisie somewhat is shewed, the window wide enough outward­ly. Fayth, Loue, Repentance, to sight are set forth, in performāce euery one is for him selfe, ney­ther thankefull to God, neyther charitable to his neighbor, and both without remorse. These thinges ought not to be so, this Passeouer would not be so eaten, our loynes so soone vngirded, & our staues throwen away, the water of Baptisme trampled on, the bread and wine, or the body and blood of Christ thus receiued all in vaine. Were it that the [Page]naughtye liuer could bee a good beleeuer for the time, or were it, y ^t as water he might be whote im­mediately before and at y ^e action of receiuing, yet if when the fire is remoued, the cold qualities re­turne againe, what auayleth y ^e former heate? A cole is red while it is in the fire: when the fire is out, his blacke and naturall co­lour returneth by & by againe, and then light it againe, and it seemeth red againe, but yet in y ^e ende it consumeth to ashes. The bone that is often set in ioynte, August de tem. Ser. 58. will hardly be wel ioyned often. Let no man presume of sinning, nor yet despaire of mercie. The Sacraments, as they are seales of mercy, so are they also bondes of obedience: & as God will per­fourme on his part al, so must we endeuour to shew our selus due­tiful in al good works. Wherun­to to perswade, if there were no­thing [Page]els but this, this may suf­fice: that because Christ our Pas­seouer is offered vp, 1. Cor. 5. we keepe an holy feast vnto the Lorde, not in the leauen of wickednes, but in the sweete bread of a syncere con­science, and vpright conuersatiō in Christ Iesu.

O Almightie God & most merciful Fa­ther, who of thy tē ­der kindnesse, hast chosen thine elect to euerlasting saluation before al times, and in due time hast called them to the knowledge of thy good will, reueiled in thy word, & sealed with the Sacra­ments [Page]of thine own ordaining, we thy humble seruants, and by mercie in Christ thine adopted sonnes, pray thy fatherly good­nes to make vs meete partakers of these & al other thy benefits so largely euer more bestowed and powred vpon vs.

Let vs not (O Lorde) neither detaine y ^e trueth of thy word in y ^e vnrighteousnes of a sinfull life: neither suffer vs (deare Father) to receiue y ^e pledges of thy endles loue in vaine, but to the endes that thou hast appointed them.

Wherefore graunt vs thy hea­uenly grace, that we thy chosen people may vse thy holy ordinā ­ces to most holy purposes: name­ly, to the further increase of our weake faith, to the comfort of our wan hope, to the enflaming of our colde and frozen charitie in these hard and euill dayes, to the dutifull and thankefull set­ting [Page]foorth of the glory of thy ho­ly name, Amen.

MErciful Father, we miserable and sin­full men feele with in our selues, and therefore are forced to breake forth & cōfesse, y ^t in our flesh dwelleth no good thing.

O Lorde, thou lookest downe from heauen, and beholdest the sonnes of men and their sinnes, they are infinitely great, and in nomber mo then the heares of our head or the starres of heauē: they can not be hidden.

Our children gather stickes, our fathers kindle the fire, our mothers kneade dough to make cakes to serue other gods. There [Page]is not one that doth good, no not one. We are all borne in sinne, conceiued in iniquity, and the whole race of our life is natu­rally naught. We are not able to dreame of a good thought, and when we haue done all y ^t we can doe, or if we could do al y ^t we are commaunded, yet were we vn­profitable seruants, and there­fore we appeale from thy iustice, (O most iust God) to thy mercie seate, and throne of grace: for we feare nothing more then the ex­amination of our drossy workes.

O Lord, wash thou vs that we may be white, for in our selues we are altogether blacke, purge vs that we may be cleane, sanc­tifie vs that we may be holy, cir­cumcise our eares and heartes and other partes, seare our pol­luted lippes with the cole of thy spirit, & create a new heart win vs, this olde heart of ours will [Page]not serue, wash vs more & more, and we shalbe cleane.

This thou hast promised in thy word (O gracious God) and in the Sacrament of our newe birth is this nowe fully set forth and sealed: wherefore with con­fidence wee appeare before thee in prayer, not trusting in our owne merites, which are not, but in thy manifolde and end­lesse mercies, which as a great and pure streame of water shall make vs whiter then the snow, and clearer then the Christall glasse.

O Lorde haue mercie vpon vs according to thy great mercy, put away our iniquities, par­don our offences, cancell the bill of debt, quench y ^e flames of lust, plucke out the sting of sinne, mortifie our flesh more & more, kill and burie the olde man, bruise the serpents head, drown [Page]the spirituall Pharao, and all Egypt, that we in a good time may bee presented perfectly blamelesse in thy sight, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

O Almightie GOD, who in thy eternal wisedom hast built thee an house, and he wen out the pil­lars thereof: chosen a Church which shall not faile, killed thy vittayles, mixed thy wine, pre­pared a Table, & hast sent foorth thy ministers to cry in the open streetes, and to inuite vnto this feast in thy worde and Gospell: and yet hast denounced that the scornefull, the wicked and the wilfull sinner shall haue no part [Page]nor portion with thee, graūt vs grace (O Lord) that we may ef­fectually heare, and willingly followe the voyce of thy calling, and that the seede of thy worde, being shed in to our eares, may take deepe roote in our heartes, and bring forth fruit according­ly in a godly conuersation.

And whereas not only by thy worde, but by thy Sacraments also we are fed at thy hande, and specially in the Supper of thy Sonne our Lorde his instituti­on, we craue the assistance of thy holy spirite, worthily to prepare vs for the receiuing of so heauē ­ly a banquet.

Otherwise, who or what are we to entertaine, or to be enter­tained in this manner? we are vnworthy the least of thy mer­cies, much lesse are we worthie that the heire of all should enter vnder the roofe of our soule, or [Page]that our vncleane feete shoulde once step within thy courts, and yet thou hast commaunded we shoulde repaire to thy Temple, and receiue at thy table.

Wherefore (good Lorde) pre­pare thou vs aright that wee may bee prepared, dwell in vs y ^t we may dwell in thee, knocke at the gates of our heartes that we may opē vnto thee, sup with vs, that we may sup with thee, encrease our faith and loue to­ward thee, and in thee towarde our neighbours. And albeit we offend often, & fall many times, yet stay thou vs by thy mercifull hand that we neuer fall away. Finally, strengthen our weake­nes with thy euerlasting foode, neyther looke vpon our imper­fections, but on the perfectnesse of thy sonnes oblation, in whose name we pray, that thou endue vs euer with an humble and a [Page]contrite spirite for all our sinnes past, & with a constant purpose alwaies hereafter vnfainedly to serue and please thee in newnes of life to our liues ende, through Iesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

MY soule praise thou the Lorde, and all the powers with­in me praise his ho­ly name.

My heauie soule awake, praise the Lorde, forget not his benefites, shewe not thy selfe an vnthankefull thistle being wa­tered with so many graces.

He fashioned the roūd world, & all y ^e is therein, yea with a more speciall care he guideth the feete [Page]of his Saintes.

He clotheth the lilies of the fielde, and feedeth the birdes of the ayre, but he apparelleth his chosen with the cloth of righte­ousnesse in the familie of his Sonne, and feedeth them with the bread of life.

In him we are, and are rege­nerate, by him wee liue and are fed at his owne table, in him, & by his spirit we moue w ^t al godly motions, and this comforte no man can take from vs.

Al good giftes descend from a­boue, and the prayse of all is due to thee (O Lord) euen as the wa­ters ishue from the sea, and to y ^e sea returne againe.

O then what shall we render vnto our louing God, for all his kindnes? he hath not spared his onely begotten sonne to y ^e death the death of the Crosse, for our sakes.

[Page] Thou O Lord art not pleased with mans inuentions: onely thou hast willed that wee bee a thankfull people, and that wee continue a freshe and gratefull remembrance of thy goodnes for euer.

The calues of our lippes, the incense of prayer and y ^e sacrifice of prayse thou wilt accept.

Wherefore (O my soule) praise the Lord, set forth thy Sauiours death, remēber his passion, shew not thy selfe vnkinde, feede on him in thy heart, and be thank­ful, in a full assurance of all his mercies in Iesus Christ. Amen.