The copie of a Sermon pronounced by the Byshop of Salisburie at Paules Crosse the second Sondaye before E- encounter, shortly setforthe as nere as the authour could call it to alteration or addition. TERTVLLIANUS. Præiudicatum est aduersus omnes hæreses: id This is a preiudice against all here= sies: that that thinge is true, what soe= uer was first: that is corrupt, whatsoe= uer came after. Concilium Nicinum. Εθη ἀρχαῖα κρατείτω. Mores antiqui obtineant. [Title-page of Edition of 1560.] THE SECOND SUNDAY BEFORE EASTER, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD GOD 1560. WHEREUPON DOCTOR COLE FIRST SOUGHT OCCASION TO ENCOUNTER: SHORTLY SET FORTH, AS NEAR AS THE AUTHOR COULD CALL IT TO REMEMBRANCE, WITHOUT ANY ALTERATION, OR ADDITION. 1 COR. xi. 23. Ego accepi a Domino, quod et tradidi vobis: quoniam Dominus Jesus in qua nocte tradebatur, accepit panem, etc. I have received of the Lord that thing which I also have delivered unto you; that is, that the Lord Jesus, in the night that he was betrayed, took bread, &c. ST PAUL, after he was once appointed out by God to be his chosen vessel, to carry his name among all people, having occasion to make his abode for a long time in the city of Corinth, began there to instruct the people, to draw them from the follies and errors that they and their fathers had long lived in aforetime, and to lead them to the gospel of Christ, which then God of his mercy had newly shewed unto the world. And therewithal he delivered unto them the sacrament or holy mystery of Christ's last supper, to be practised and continued amongst them, as a most certain pledge and testimony of the same. But after that, through the wickedness of the Jews, he was driven to depart thence, and to sail into Syria, the false prophets, men full of pride and vain-glory, taking occasion at his absence, sought means to discredit whatsoever he had taught or done, and caused the people not only to mislike the gospel of Christ that they had received at St Paul's hand, but also to missense3 the sacraments. For as touching the gospel, they were fallen from it into sundry great and horrible heresies, concerning the resurrection and other special points of Christ's religion. And as touching the sacraments, whereas St Paul had appointed them the holy mysteries of the breaking of Christ's body and shedding of his blood, that they should all eat and drink together with fear and reverence in remembrance of his death and passion, and so cleave together in brotherly charity, as being all the members of one body, they, forgetting the very use and institution thereof, made small account of Christ's death, took each man to himself severally his own supper, despised their poor brethren, rent and divided the church of God, and so made the holy sacrament of love and charity to serve them as an instrument of discord and dissension. Therefore saith St Paul unto them: "Shall I praise you for thus doing? in this thing surely I may not praise you. For I see your congregations and common meetings are not to the better, but to the worse." For a redress hereof he calleth them back to the first original, and to the institution of Christ, from whence they were fallen. For I, saith he, being amongst you delivered you none other thing than that I had received of the Lord. [The challenge contained in this sermon was first given at Paul's Cross, Nov. 26, 1559, before Jewel's consecration as bishop of Salisbury. The sermon, with the challenge amplified, was preached at the court, March 17, 1560, and repeated at Paul's Cross, March 31, being the second Sunday before [2 Pronounced, 1560.] [3 Mis-sense: misunderstand, mistake or pervert the sense of.] That thing he thought meetest for you: and therefore with the same ought you also to be contented. Thus, whensoever any order given by God is broken or abused, the best redress thereof is to restore it again into the state that it first was in at the beginning. Thus, when the temple of God at Hierusalem was so shamefully disordered by the priests and Levites, that it was become a cave of thieves, Christ, for reformation thereof, called them back again to the first erection of the temple. Scriptum est, Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur: "It is written," saith Christ, "in the scriptures, My house shall be called the house of prayer." Thus was the temple of God used at the beginning, and thus ought it to be used now. 3 Thus, when Christ was opposed' by the scribes and Pharisees in the case of divorce, whether he thought it lawful for a man to put his wife from him for every light cause, and to marry another, he made them answer by the first institution and ordinance of marriage: A principio non fuit ita: scriptum est, Erunt duo in carne una: "It was not so," saith Christ, "at the beginning. It is written, They shall be two in one flesh; now therefore they are not two, but one flesh.” As if he should have said: This is the ordinance of God my Father, this may not be broken for our' pleasure's sake, but must remain in strength and last for ever. This St Paul, that the Corinthians might the better understand that they had unreverently missensed the Lord's supper, and be the more willing to redress the same, laid Christ's first institution before their eyes as a true pattern, whereby the sooner they might redress it. Look, saith he, "what thing I received of the Lord, the same thing I delivered over faithfully unto you." I gave you not any phantasy or device of mine own, but that thing only that Christ had before delivered me. This rule is infallible: hereby your doings may best be tried. This I judge to be the very true meaning of these words of St Paul. Now, forasmuch as in this last age of the world the same holy sacrament or mystery of Christ's last supper hath been likewise stained with divers foul abuses, and specially for that, notwithstanding it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy in these our days to remove away all such deformities, and to restore again the same holy mysteries to the first original, yet there be divers that wilfully remain in ignorance, and not only be unthankful unto Almighty God for his great benefits, but also take pleasure in the errors wherein they have of long time been trained; and that not only the poor and ignorant, but also the rich and such as should be learned and know God; I have thought it good therefore at this time to stand the longer upon the same words of St Paul, that we may the more clearly see the first institution of the holy sacrament, and how far in these latter days we have strayed from it. It was to be hoped, forasmuch as the glorious light of the gospel of Christ is now so mightily and so far spread abroad, that no man would lightly miss his way (as afore in the time of darkness), and perish wilfully. But we may remember, when the Jews were delivered out of Egypt, and had been wonderfully conducted through the Red sea, and set at liberty, and were passing quietly into the land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey; yet were there divers weary of their being there, and fain would return again into Egypt to be in bondage, in thraldom, and in misery, as they had been before. We may remember, when the Jews were delivered from idolatry, wherein they and their fathers had long continued, and were brought to the true knowledge and worship of the everliving God of Israel, notwithstanding they were indeed' the people of God, yet were there many amongst them that misliked the time, and, as it is reported by the prophet Hieremy, [Jer. xliv.] cried out against him: Sermonem, quem locutus es nobis in nomine Domini, non [Apposed, 1560, 1609.] [2 Your, 1560, 1609.] [ In deed, 1560. In the earlier edition many the other hand, the edition of 1611 presents some, elsewhere distinguished, in a composite form; e. g. "asmuch," "somedeal," "willbe." It is not thought necessary to mark all these as they occur: the modern practice has been adopted here, as with the spelling.] audiemus ex te: sed facientes faciemus omne verbum quod egreditur ex ore nostro, ut sacrificemus reginæ cæli, et libemus ei libamina: sicut fecimus nos et patres nostri, reges nostri, et principes nostri in urbibus Judæ et in plateis Hierusalem ; et saturati sumus panibus, et bene nobis erat, et malum non vidimus. That is, "We will not hear the word that thou speakest unto us in the name of the Lord, but we will do every thing that shall proceed out from our own mouth, as to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to offer up drink-offerings unto her; as both we have done, and our fathers and our kings and our princes, in the city of Juda and in the streets of Hierusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and felt no evil." We remember, when the gospel of Christ was preached by St Paul at Ephesus, and the devil's mouth was thereby stopped, and all his force and power taken from him, yet there was a great number that rose up against Paul, and violently withstood his doctrine, and cried out with main voice against him, Magna est Diana Ephesiorum; "Great is Diana the goddess of the Ephesians." Even so in these days, notwithstanding the comparison may happily seem somewhat odious, whereas the holy communion is restored to the use and form of the primitive church, to the same order that was delivered and appointed by Christ, and after practised by the apostles, and continued by the holy doctors and fathers for the space of five or six hundred years throughout all the whole catholic church of Christ, without exception, or any one sufficient example to be shewed to the contrary; yet are there some this day that refuse it and shun it, and unadvisedly and wilfully run headlong to the mass, of a good zeal, I hope, but not according unto knowledge. For, alas! they understand not what they do they know not neither the communion, neither the mass: neither will they hearken or inquire to come to knowledge. And so in the midst of the light they remain still in darkness. : Wherefore, as I said afore, I have thought it needful to entreat somewhat hereof at this time, and have good hope through God's grace so to lay forth the whole matter, not with eloquence of words, but with simplicity of the truth, that it may be plain both unto them that have forsaken the mass, for what cause and how justly they have forsaken it, and also unto them that as yet delight in it, what manner of thing it is that they delight in. I know some man will say, Forasmuch as the sacrament is a holy thing, the ordinance of Christ, the high mystery of his death and of our salvation, to remain in the church for ever; therefore it cannot possibly be abused; and all that we speak this day in this behalf, we speak of malice, and not of truth. True it is, the sacrament is an holy thing, the ordinance of Christ, the mystery of our salvation; yet is there nothing so good, no ordinance so holy, no mystery so heavenly, but through the folly and frowardness of man it may be abused. The serpent that was set up by Moses in the wilderness was an holy thing, for it was a sacrament, and a figure of Christ hanging on the cross; yet was it abused. The gospel of Christ is an holy thing; yet St Paul saith to the Philippians, there were some then that preached it for malice and contention, doing thereby service, not unto Jesus Christ, whom they professed in their mouth, but unto their own belly: and thus, being holy in itself, yet was it shamefully abused. And what thing is there so holy as the name of God? and yet what thing is there so often taken in vain, or so much abused? But, to come near to our purpose: the sacrament of baptism is an holy thing, yet hath it been abused, and that in the church of God, yea, even at the beginning of the church, even when the apostles of Christ were yet alive, and the blood of Christ as yet fresh and green before their eyes. In St Paul's time there were some that baptized for the dead; after that, there were some that baptized such as were already dead, and sprinkled them |