The principles of Scripture perfectly learned, all

the rest is more easy.

These things I say to know, is to have all the Scripture unlocked and opened before thee, so that if thou wilt go in and read, thou canst not but understand. And in these things to be ignorant, is to have all the Scripture locked up, so that the more thou readest it, the blinder thou art, and the more contraiety thou findest in it, and the more tangled art thou therein, and canst nowhere through. For if thou had a gloss in one place, in another it will not serve. And therefore because we be never taught the profession of our baptism, we remain always unlearned, as well the spiritualty for all their great clergy and high schools, as we say, as the lay people. And now because the lay and unlearned people are taught these first principles of our profession, therefore they read the Scripture and understand and delight therein. And our great pillars of holy church, which have nailed a veil of false glosses on Moses's face, to corrupt the true understanding of his law, cannot come in. And therefore bark, and say the Scripture maketh heretics, and it is not possible for them to understand it in the English, because they themselves do not in Latin. And of pure malice that they cannot have their will, they slay their brethren for their faith they have in our Saviour, and therein utter their bloody wolfish tyranny, and what they be within, and whose disciples. Herewith, reader, be committed unto the grace of our Saviour Jesus, unto whom and God our Father through him be praise for ever and for ever. Amen.

A

FRUITFUL AND GODLY TREATISE

EXPRESSING

THE RIGHT INSTITUTION AND USAGE

OF

THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM,

AND THE

SACRAMENT OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

A FRUITFUL AND GODLY TREATISE,

EXPRESSING THE

RIGHT INSTITUTION AND USAGE OF THE

SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM,

AND THE

SACRAMENT OF THE BODY AND blood of our
SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

TO understand the pith of the sacraments, how they came up, and the very meaning of them, we must consider diligently the manners and fashions of the Hebrews, which were a people of great gravity and sadness and earnest in all their doings; if any notable thing chanced among them, so that they not only wrote, but also set up pillars, and marks, and divers signs to testify the same unto their posterity, and named the places where the things were done, with such names as could not but keep the deeds in memory. As Jacob called the place where he saw God face to face, Pheniel, that is, God's face. And the place where the Egyptians mourned for Jacob seven days, the people of the country called Abel Miram, (that is) the lamentation of the Egyptians, to the intent that such names should keep the gests and stories in mind.

Writings and monu

ments preserve the

memory of

notable doings.

Gen. xxxii.

Gen. I.

band of all covenants

And likewise in all their covenants they not only promised one to another and sware thereon, but also set up signs and tokens thereof, and gave the places names to A sure keep the thing in mind. And they used thereto such circumstances, protestations, solemn fashions, and ceremonies, amongst to confirm the covenants, and to testify that they were made with great earnest advise and deliberation, to the intent

the Jews.

Gen. xxi.

The well of
swearing
or the well

of seven.

Gen. xxxi.

A heap of

stones was

a sufficient

that it should be to much shame and to much abomination, both before God and man, to break them ever after.

As Abraham (Gen. xxi.) when he made a covenant of peace with Abimelech king of the Philistines, after they had eaten and drunk together, and sworn, he put seven lambs by themselves, and Abimelech received them of his hand, to testify that he there had digged a certain well, and that the right thereof pertained to him. And he called the well Beersheba; the well of swearing, or the well of seven; because of the oath, and of the seven lambs, and by that title did Abraham his children challenge it many hundred years after. after. And when Jacob and Laban made a covenant together, (Gen. xxxi.) they cast up an heap of stones in witness, and called it Gilead, the heap of witness, band for all and they bound each other for them and their posterity, that neither part should pass the heap to the other's countryward, to hurt or conquer their land: and Laban bound Jacob also, that he should take no other wives besides his daughters, to vex him. And of all that covenant, they made that heap a witness, calling it the witness-heap, that their children should enquire the cause of the name, and their father should declare unto them the history. And such fashions as they used among themselves, did God also use to themward in all his notable deeds, whether of mercy in delivering them, or of wrath in punishing their disobedience and transgression, in all his promises to them, and covenants made between them and him.

covenants.

Gen. ix.

The rainbow a pledge of

God's promise.

Gen. xvii.

As when after the general flood God made a covenant with Noah and all mankind and also with all living creatures, that he would no more drown the world, he gave them the rainbow to be a sign of the promise; and for to make it the better believed, and to keep it in mind for ever, he said: When I bring clouds upon the earth, I will put my bow in the clouds, and will look on it, and remember the everlasting covenant made between God and all living creatures.

And Abram, (which signifieth an excellent father) he