ment is the eating of spiritual

the same.

eat this Easter Luke xxii. Christ's inward

not by the hunger of the body, but by the hunger of
the faithful heart, which is greedy to publish the praise
of the Lord, and give him hearty thanks, and move
others to the same, that of many, praise might be given
unto our most merciful Father, for the love which he
showed us, in the blood of his own most dear Son
Christ Jesus, wherewith we are washed from our sins,
and surely sealed unto everlasting life. With such
hunger did Christ eat the Paschal lamb, saying to his
disciples, I have inwardly desired to
lamb with you before that I suffer.
desire was not to fill his belly with his disciples, but he
had a spiritual hunger, both to praise his Father with
them for their bodily deliverance out of the land of
Egypt, and specially to alter the Paschal lamb and me-
mory of the carnal deliverance, into the Maundy of
mirth and thanksgiving for our spiritual deliverance out
of the bondage of sin; insomuch that when Christ
knew that it was his Father's will and pleasure that he
should suffer for our sins, (wherein his honour, glory,
and praise should be published,) then was it a pleasure
unto him to declare unto his disciples that great benefit,.
unto his Father's praise and glory, and so did institute
that we should come together and break the bread in
the remembrance of his body-breaking and blood-shed-
ding, and that we should eat it together, rejoicing with
each other, and declaring his benefits.

ner of the

thians to

Now were the Corinthians fallen from this hunger, The manand came not together to the intent that God's praise coming of should be published by them in the midst of the con- the Coringregation, but came to feed their flesh, and to make gether. carnal cheer, insomuch that the rich would have meat and drink enough, and take such abundance that they would be drunk, and so make it their own supper, and not the Lord's, as Paul saith, and did eat only the bread and meat, and not the body-breaking, as I have before said; and the poor, which had not, (that is to say, that

had no meat to eat,) were ashamed and hungry, and so could not rejoice and praise the Lord, by the reason that the delicate fare of the rich was an occasion for the poor to lament their poverty; and thus the rich did neither praise God themselves, nor suffered the poor to do it, but were an occasion to hinder them.

They should have brought their meat and drink and have divided it with their poor brethren, that they might have been merry together, and so to have given them occasion to be merry and rejoice in the Lord with thanksgiving. But they had neither lust to praise God nor to comfort their neighbour. Their faith was feeble and their charity cold, and had no regard but to fill their body and feed their flesh, and so despised the poor congregation of God, whom they should have honoured for the spirit that was in them, and favour that God had showed indifferently unto them in the blood of his Son Christ. When Paul perceived that they were thus fleshly-minded, and had no mind unto that spiritual Maundy which chiefly should there be advertised, he reproveth them sore, rehearsing the words of Christ, That which I gave unto you I received of the Lord: For the Lord Jesus, the same night in the which he was betrayed, took bread and thanked, and brake it, and said: Take ye and eat ye; this is my body which is broken for you, this do ye in remembrance of me. After the same manner he took the cup when supper was done, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood; this do ye as oft as ye drink it in the remembrance of me. For as oft as ye shall eat this bread and drink of this cup, ye shall show the Lord's death, till he come. As though he should say, Ye Corinthians are much to blame, which at this supper seek the food of your flesh; for it was institute of Christ, not for the intent to nourish the belly, but to strengthen the the Sacra- heart and soul in God. And by this you may know that Christ so meant, for he calleth it his body which

Why

Christ did institute

ment.

is given for you, so that the name itself might testify unto you, that in this supper you should more eat his body which is given for you, (by digesting that into the bowels of your soul,) than the bread which by the breaking and the distributing of it, doth represent his bodybreaking and the distributing thereof unto all that are faithful. And that he so meaneth is evident by the words following, which say, This do in the remembrance of me: and likewise of the cup. And finally, concluding of both, Paul saith, As often as ye shall eat this bread and The Sacradrink of this cup, (in this place and fellowship) ye shall show the Lord's death until he come, praising the Lord for the death of his Son, and exhorting others to do the same, rejoicing in him with infinite thanks. And therefore ye are to blame which seek only to feed the belly with that thing which was only instituted to feed the soul. And thereupon it followeth :

Wherefore whosoever doth eat of this bread and drink of this cup unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. He eateth this bread unworthily, which regardeth not the purpose for the which Christ did institute it, which cometh not to it with spiritual hunger, to eat through faith his very body, which the bread representeth by the breaking and distributing of it: which cometh not with a merry heart, giving God hearty thanks for their deliverance from sin: which do not much more eat in their heart the death of his body, than they do the bread with their mouth. Now since the Corinthians did only seek their belly and flesh, and forgat God's honour and praise, (for which it was instituted, that thanks should be given by the remembrance of his body-breaking for us,) they eat it to God's dishonour and to their neighbour's hindrance, and to their own condemnation, and so for lack of faith were guilty of Christ's body, which (by faith) they should there chiefly have eaten to their souls' health. And therefore it followeth:

ment was ordained to

feed our not our bosouls, and

dies.

The worthy thy eating

and unwor

of Christ's body.

What it is

to prove and examine a man's own

self.

Let a man therefore examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

This proving or examining of a man's self is first to think with himself with what lust and desire he cometh unto the Maundy, and will eat that bread: whether he be sure that he is the child of God and in the faith of Christ, and whether his conscience do bear him witness that Christ's body was broken for him: and whether the lust that he hath to praise God and thank him with a faithful heart in the midst of the brethren, do drive him thitherward; or else whether he do it for the meats' sake or to keep the custom: for then were it better that he were away. For he that eateth or drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own damnation, because he maketh no difference of the Lord's body: that is, as it is said before, he that regardeth not the purpose for which it was instituted, and putteth no difference between his eating and other eating. For other eating doth only serve the belly, but this eating was instituted and ordained to serve the soul and inward man. And therefore he that abuseth it to the flesh, eateth and drinketh his own damnation, and he cometh unworthily to the Maundy where the Sacrament of Christ's body is eaten yea, where the body of the Lord is eaten, not carnally with the teeth and belly, but spiritually with the heart and faith. Upon this followeth the text that M. More allegeth and wresteth for his purpose:

For this cause many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. If we had truly judged ourselves, we should not have been judged when we are judged of the Lord: we are chastened, because we should not be damned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. If a man hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto condemnation.

For this cause, that is, for lack of good examining

ing of St.

Paul's for

mer words.

of ourselves, (as is before touched) many are weak and The meansick in the faith, and many asleep, and have lost their faith in Christ's blood, for lack of remembrance of his body-breaking and blood-shedding: yea, and not that only, but many were weak and sick, even stricken with bodily diseases for abusing the Sacrament of his body, eating the bread with their teeth, and not his body with their heart and mind, and, peradventure, some slain for it by the stroke of God, which if they had truly judged and examined themselves for what intent they came thither, and why it was instituted, should not have been so judged and chastened of the Lord. For the Lord doth chasten to bring us unto repentance, and to mortify our rebellious members, that we may remember him. Here ye may shortly perceive the mind of Paul.

AN EPITOME AND SHORT REHEARSAL OF ALL
THIS BOOK, SHOWING IN WHAT POINTS
FRITH DISSENTETH FROM OUR PRELATES.

An Epito

NOW, to be short, in these three points Frith dissenteth from our prelates, and from M. More, which me of this

taketh upon him to be their proctor.

whole
book.

The opi-
nion of the
Prelates.

The opi

1. Our prelates believe that in the Sacrament remaineth no bread, but that it is turned into the natural body of Christ, both flesh, blood, and bones. Frith saith, that it is no article of our creed; and, therefore, nion of let them believe it that will. And he thinketh that there Frith. remaineth bread still; and that he proveth three manner of ways. First by the Scripture of Paul, which calleth it bread, saying, The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we, though 1 Cor. x. we be many, are yet one body and one bread, as many

as are partakers of one bread. And again he saith, As 1 Cor. xi. often as ye eat of this bread or drink of this cup, you