ROBERT BRUCE'S SERMONS
ON THE SACRAMENT £

DONE INTO ENGLISH -WITH A
BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION-
BY JOKN LA1DLAW, D.D.&<

The Leonard Library

Mptltffe College

Toronto

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SERMONS ON THE SACRAMENT

ROBERT BRUCE OF KINNAIRD.
From a Brooch belonging to Lady Thurlow.

ROBERT BRUCE'S
SERMONS ON THE SACRAMENT

DONE INTO ENGLISH
WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

BY

THE REV. JOHN LAIDLAW, M.A., D.D.

I-KOFKSSOR OF THBOI.OOY, NEW COLLKOK, EDINBflGH
AUTUOB OK " BIBLK DOCTK1NK OF MAM," ITC.

£Mnbur0b anfc lotion
OLIPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER

MDOCCCI

PRINTED BY
RULL AND SPEARS
EDINBURGH

PREFACE

THE " Sermons on the Sacrament," which have
so long been classic in our Theology, were first
published in 1591) in the Scottish tongue of their
original delivery. Together with eleven other
sermons of the Author, on various passages of
Scripture, published in 1591, they were re
printed in our ordinary language (London 1017)
under the- rather meaningless title (not given by
their author) " The Way to True Peace and Rest."
These sixteen sermons were again reprinted in
their original form, together with one other, in
the Wodrow Society's Edition (1843) edited
by Dr William Cunningham. The elder I)r
Thomas M'Crie says, " they are curious as speci
mens of composition in the Scottish language
within a few years of the time when it was
generally laid aside by our writers," and the
younger Thomas M'Crie adds that " even in this
form, now become so obsolete as almost to act as
a disguise, they have commanded much admira
tion." The time seems to have arrived when the
" disguise " should be entirely removed. The

VI

PREFACE

rendering of 1617, as English, contemporary with
the original, has been used as a ba,sis for the
present edition, but it has been freely altered,
chiefly in the direction of following with much
more closeness the Author's own forcible and
vigorous style. It has to be remembered that
these sermons were originally printed " as they
were received from the Author's mouth." But
he superintended their publication. These,
together with the sermons added in 1591,
appeared in the early years of his ministry, and
during his long life (so far as we know) he
published nothing more.

The doctrine of the Sacraments expounded in
these discourses is that of the Reformed Church.
That doctrine has never been better stated. The
Author's formal standard was the Scottish Con
fession of 1560. But the possible exaggerations
in Calvin's Sacramental ideas, just hinted at in
that Confession, are avoided by Bruce. He had
evidently taken his stand on the more generally
accepted Reformed view which had already ap
peared in the Second Helvetic Confession (1566),
in the XXXIX articles (1563), and which was
yet to be more clearly stated, immediately after
his time, in the Westminster Standards. He
devotes more attention, than is usual now, to a
refutation of the Romish ideas. But that was

PREFACE vii

necessary at the time. Otherwise the view he
takes of the Sacrament is monumental and com
plete ; and is in clear and firm distinction from
the looser and less guarded views which have
crept into our Presbyterian Churches, presumably
as a supposed protest against High Church ism.

It is worthy of notice that the English Bible
from which the texts and some other citations
in these sermons are taken is " The Geneva
Bible " which for about eighty years was used
in Scotland before the adoption of the Authorised
Version of 1G11 ; but several citations in the
course of the Sermons are made freely, as if from
memory. The portrait in the frontispiece is from
a collection of Moderators' portraits in the Hall
of Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. The other is
from an engraving in St Giles' Vestry, kindly
granted by Dr Cameron Lees. The view of the
old House of Kiunaird is from a photograph sent
by the kindness of the present proprietor.

J. LAIDLAW.
NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH,
November 1900.

CONTENTS

PAGE

. vi-viii
ix-lxxvi
Ixxix-lxxxi

PREFACE .....

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .

DEDICATION ....

THE FIRST SERMON

UPON THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL ... 1

THE SECOND SERMON

UPON THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR . . 42

THE THIRD SERMON
UPON THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR . . 81

THE FOURTH SERMON

UPON THE PREPARATION TO THE LORD'S SUPPER . 138

THE FIFTH AND LAST SERMON

UPON THE PREPARATION TO THE LORD'S SUPPER . 180

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

SOME outline of a life so distinguished as that of
our author cannot be unacceptable. He was one
of that group of eminent Scotsmen who, in
immediate succession to Knox, defended the
liberties and religion of the nation, strenuously
resisted the encroachments of James and of the
subsequent Stuart kings, and whose principles
were ultimately triumphant in the Revolution of
1688. No one among them held so notable a
phice as Bruce in the affairs of the Court, the
Nation, and the Church during the first twelve
years of his public life. Throughout the remain
ing thirty years, he became the victim of ceaseless
petty persecution which drove him from his
official place — as minister of Edinburgh — but
his personal worth and influence in Scotland
continued and increased to the last day of his
life.

Robert Bruce was the second son of Sir
Alexander Bruce of Airth, Stirlingshire. "The
family claimed the nearest descent of any of that
name to the blood-royal." l He was born about

1 Hill Burton, "History of Scotland," vol. v., \\ 340. Robert
Bruce of Kinnaird was descended, in the seventh generation, from
Edward do Bruys, the second son of Robert de Bruys of Clack
mannan. The Bruces of Clackmannan are usually held — though

b ix

x BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1554, brought up in letters, passed his course of
philosophy in the University of St Andrews, and
thereafter, furnished by his father, was sent to
study civil law in France, as was at that time the
custom ; where, as also in the Low Countries —
at Louvain — he applied himself closely to these
studies and to humanity, in which he was inferior
to few in his day. When he returned from his
travels and foreign studies he was directed to
attend the Court and Lords of Session, and there
had the management of his father's affairs together
with the business of a good many other friends
and acquaintances. His reputation for knowledge
in law and practice, was so considerable that a
design was formed by his father to make him one
of the senators of the College of Justice. Accord
ing to the practice of the times, such a position had
been secured for him by patent, and his father had
provided him in the lands and barony of Kinnaird,
near Larbert, which house he continued to possess
all his days.1 The Court of Session was, then,
like other parts of government in Scotland, in
complete and partially disordered. The Judges were
too often court-partizans, and were individually

this is not quite certain — to have been descended from John de
Brays, fourth son of the competitor with Baliol for the crown,
and therefore uncle of King Robert Bruce. Sir Alexander Bruce
of Airth was granted, by James VI., a crown-charter to the lands
which he inherited from an ancestor several generations back.

1 The old house of Kinnaird, of which a view is given on
page xlix. was pulled down in 1897 and is now replaced by a
modern mansion. The house deserves to be remembered as the
residence not only of Robert Bruce, but also of James Bruce, the
Abyssinian traveller, his lineal descendant.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xi

under the pressure of men in power. Young
Bruce was disinclined to a course of life which in
volved such inconveniences, and in no very long
time determined to devote himself to the Church.
His parents combated this resolution, and even
threatened his inheritance. Bruce resigned his
claim to the estate without a sigh, threw oft' the
scarlet dress of a courtier, and returned to St
Andrews, where he now commenced the study of
theology. For a considerable period indeed pre
vious to this, a struggle had been going on within
his own breast as to his choice of a profession. He
found strong inclination to apply himself wholly
to the study of divinity and of the Scriptures,
and a great attraction to the society of those who
were promoting the reformation of religion in the
country. In the period just following the death
of Knox, we can understand how keenly this
desire would be fostered. His own account of
the matter (only penned by him so late as the
year 1C 24) comes in appropriately here :

" As touching my vocation to the ministry, I
was first called to grace before I obeyed my calling
to the ministry. He made me first a Christian
before he made me a minister. I repugned long
to this calling. Ten years, at the least, I never
leaped on horseback, nor alighted, but with a re
pugning and justly accusing conscience. At last
it pleased God, in the year 1581, in the month of
August, in the last night thereof, being in the
place of Airth lying in a room, called the new
loft chamber, in the very night while I lay, to

xii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

smite me inwardly and judicially in my conscience
and to present all my sins before me, in such sort
that He omitted not a circumstance, but made
my conscience to see time, place, and persons as
vividly as in the hour I did them. He made the
devil to accuse me so audibly that I heard his
voice, as vividly as ever I heard anything, not
being asleep but waking. So far as he spake
true, my conscience bare him record, and testified
against me very clearly. But when he came to
be a false accuser and laid things to my charge
which I had never done, then my conscience failed
him and would not testify with him. But in those
things which were true, my conscience condemned
me and the condemner tormented me, and made
me feel the wrath of God pressing me clown, as it
were, to the lowest bell. Yea, I was so fearfully
and extremely tormented that I would have been
content to have been cast into a cauldron of hot
melted lead, to have had my soul relieved of that
insupportable weight. Always so far as he spoke
true, I confessed, restored God to His glory, and
craved God's mercy for the merits of Christ ; yea
appealed sore to His mercy purchased to me by
the blood, death and passion of Christ. This
Court of Justice holden upon my soul turned (of
the bottomless mercy of God) to a Court of mercy
to me, for that same night, 'ere the day dawned,
or the sun rose, He restrained these furies and
these outcries of my justly accusing conscience
and enabled me to rise in the morning."1 He
1 Calderwood, iv. 636.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xiii

goes on, in the same connection, to describe
the opposition he hail to encounter at home, on
this change, " It was long before I got leave to
go, my mother made me such impediment. My
father at last condescended but my mother would
not, until I had denuded my hands of some lands
and casualties I was infefted in ; and that I did
willingly, cast my clothes from me — my vain and
glorious apparel — sent my horse to the fair,
emptied my hands of all impediments and went
to the New College."

Of his entrance there in divinity, James Melville
tells us " He came to us at the beginning of that
same winter at the end whereof Mr Andrew was
put at, whom most lovingly and faithfully he
assisted till his departure out of the country."
After this he returned to the College and pro
secuted his studies with the greatest attention.
He told James Melville, one day, walking in the
fields with him, that he had been drawn perforce
as it were to the study of divinity, and that by a
mighty inward working which suffered him to get
no rest, but when about this purpose ; adding, that
" 'ere he cast himself again into that torment of
conscience which was laid on him for resisting the
call of God to the study of theology and to the
ministry, he had rather go through a fire of brim
stone half-a-mile long." Though most assiduous
in his studies, he seems to have been oppressed
for a time with a shyness or reserve which pre
vented his making any public appearance. It was
customary for the students of divinity of that

xiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

College to read a chapter of the Scriptures, at their
meals, and shortly to open it up. Before Bruce
would take his turn with the rest of the scholars
there, he desired that he might have some private re
hearsals, with two special companions. These were
accordingly held, at first once a week, and after
wards thrice a week, in a large room in the College.
There they handled a chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans, and then of that to the Hebrews. But
before they came any length in the latter, these
two friends prevailed with Bruce to take the whole
upon him. From this they drew him to the school,
where the students had their private " exercises "
before the masters. Then they induced him to take
his course at table, and further, in the " morning
exercise" upon the Sabbath, to which a multitude
of the best people of the town resorted. About
two years or more elapsed before Andrew Melville
was restored to his place and work in the College.
From this time Melville and Bruce preached along
side each other, to the delight and edification of
their auditors. It soon became evident that a
great aid to the pulpit of the times was being
prepared in the ministry of the younger man.

At the Assembly of 1587 Andrew Melville was
chosen moderator. He had of set purpose brought
Bruce with him to Edinburgh. With difficulty
he prevailed upon him to preach there. The
charge was then vacant by the death of James
Lawson, Knox's successor. The Commissioners
proposed Bruce for pastor, and the Commissioners
being removed, the whole Assembly voted with

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xv

almost universal consent for this appointment.
To account for this early prominence, as well as
for other signs of confidence in him which im
mediately followed, we have to remember that
Bruce had now reached the age of thirty-three,
which was older than usual for an entrant to the
ministry. But his marked ability and standing
were no doubt the real causes. On the call being
submitted to him, he declared that he could not
accept the charge aimpliciter, although he would
labour in that rlock till the next Assembly, and
if he found himself meet for the charge would
continue ; if not, he should be free. His inclina
tion led him to prefer St Andrews to which he
also had a call. His strong aversion to preach in
presence of the King and the Court acted in the
same direction ; and for a short while he trans
ferred himself to his university seat. However
the people of Edinburgh were insistent, and soon
sent commissioners to entreat for his return.
" Loath was I to go," he writes. " They threatened
me with authority, so I advised with my God and
thought it meet to obey ; but not to take on
fully the burden ; only to assay how the Lord
would bless my travails for a while." An Ex
traordinary General Assembly was convened at
Edinburgh, February 6, 1588, upon the alarm
the King and all ranks had conceived, as to the
invasion from Spain by the well-known Armada ;
and such was Brace's reputation for wisdom and
management that he was chosen moderator of this
assembly, where he contributed not a little to the

xvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

firmness and vigour of its measures against Popery
and Papists. Upon the calling of another assembly
in little more than six months, Bruce, as preced
ing moderator, gave the exhortation or sermon.
This again raised the question of his appointment
to the ministry of the city. The people of Edin
burgh repeated their desire that he would accept
the ordinary charge. His answer was that he
" could not presently accept of the said ordinary
charge though he offered his labours, as before,
till the next Assembly." These acceptances of
the charge at Edinburgh, for a restricted period,
renewed as they were again and again, no doubt
led to the curious circumstance of which so much
was made ten years later, that he never received
formal ordination at the hands of the Presbytery
till that time now named. He had the repeated
call of the people. He had the repeated concur
rence of the General Assembly of the Church to
take the pastoral charge, and their concurrence
was cordially renewed in 1598, when all this was
brought up again and punctiliously debated by
the King himself. There was no intention on
Bruce's part or that of anyone else to deviate
from the reasonable and ordinary method of ordi
nation to the ministry by imposition of hands.
The case was altogether exceptional and peculiar.
An account of the manner in which he was led
to discharge the duties proper to an ordained
minister is thus given by John Livingstone, and
as it became by-and-by a topic of dispute, may be
here narrated. He had been "most earnestly

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xvii

and unanimously called to be minister of Edin
burgh ; but for a while he only preached and
could not be moved to take on the charge, till
one of the ministers by advice of the rest en
trapped him. For that minister, one day giving
the Communion, had desired Mr Robert Bruce,
who was to preach in the afternoon, to sit by
him ; and when he himself had served two or
three tables, he removed out of the church, as
being shortly to return, but sent in word to Mr
Bruce with some of the elders that he would not
return at that time ; and therefore Mr Robert
behoved to serve the rest of the tables, or else the
work must be given over ; and therefore when
the eyes of the elders and of the whole people
were upon him, and many also cried to him to serve
the table now filled, he went on and administered
the Communion to the rest, with such singular
assistance and elevated affections among the
people, as had not been seen in that place before.
And for that cause he would not thereafter receive
in the ordinary way the imposition of hands, see
ing before he had the material of it, to wit, the
approbation of all the ministers, and had already
celebrated the Communion, which was not by a
new ordination to be made void."

Of his position and acceptance as minister of
Edinburgh there is the amplest evidence. James
Melville in his diary writes, " The ministry of Mr
Robert Bruce was very profitable and mighty
that year (1588), and divers years following most
comfortable to the good and godly, and most

xviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

fearful to the enemies." This kind of reputation
he continued to hold not only during his whole
ministry in Edinburgh, but long after in his years
of exile. His labours were blessed to many.
" Multitudes of all ranks," we read, during his
preaching at Inverness, " would have crossed
several ferries every day to hear him. They
came both from Ross and Sutherland." Many
signal instances of the effect of his ministry are
given down to the closing years of his life. Re
ferring especially to the earlier years of his min
istry in the capital, M'Crie says, " The nobility
respected him for his birth and connections ; his
eminent gifts as a preacher gained him the affec
tions of the common people ; and those who could
not love him stood in awe of his commanding
talents, of his severe and incorruptible virtue."

It was at this point also that he had most
remarkable favour with the young King. James
had been contracted in marriage to Anne of
Denmark, the second daughter of the king of that
country. His marriage by proxy had already
taken place, 20th August 1589. But the young
Queen's little escort was driven by storm into one
of the ports of Norway. The King suspecting
some plot for delay, instantly started for Norway,
to rescue his bride in person, and was married to
her in November of this year in her own country.
At his setting out from Scotland the King nomin
ated Bruce an extraordinary member of his Privy
Council. The charge indeed appears to have
been much wider and more general. " At the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xix

King's departure, he willed Mr Kobert Bruce to
be made acquaint with the affairs of the country
and proceedings of the Council, reposing, as he
professed, upon him and the rest of the ministry
above all his nobles." Though Bruce abstained
from any formal exercise of Privy Councillorship,
there was the fullest response, on his part, to the
trust committed to him. The King certainly was
not disappointed. The country was never in
greater peace than during his absence ; whereas
before, few months or weeks passed over without
slaughter and bloodshed, there was little or none
at all during his absence. Among other pictur
esque incidents at this time, the Earl of Bothwcll,
" an eccentric and half insane relation of the
King's," l made a voluntary appearance in the
kirk of Edinburgh, before the minister, and
publicly repented of his licentious dissolute life
and all his bye-past sins, and promised to turn out
another man in time coming. The event is pre
served in memory by a sermon of Bruce's published
on the occasion. " But," adds the historian, " it
was a taking of God's name in vain, and a public
mocking of himself and of the Lord's people." • He
soon after broke out into greater extravagancies.

Owing to the severity of the season, the royal
party spent the winter in Denmark, and did not
return to Scotland till the beginning of the follow
ing summer. Three or four letters were written
to Bruce during this period from the King himself,

1 Hill Burton, " History of Scotland," vol. v. 280.

2 Melville, "Diary," p. 277.

xx BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

breathing the utmost cordiality and confidence.
One gives him the title of " trusty and well-beloved
councillor." Another thanks him for the care he had
of the peace of the country in the King's absence,
acknowledging that he " was worthy of the quarter
of his petite kingdom" ; another still says, " I think
myself beholden while I live, and never to forget the
same." Two or more letters came to Bruce from
the same place, in the hand of Sir John Maitland,
the Chancellor, afterwards Lord Thirl estane, thank
ing him with great sincerity for his many services
to the country and to himself. This friendship
was only broken by the Chancellor's death some
five years later.

On the 1st of May 1590, the King, with his
newly wedded bride, arrived in Leith Roads,
and landed about 2 o'clock of the afternoon.
The King repaired to the church to praise God.
Bruce met him as he was about to enter,
was kindly embraced by him and communed
with him for a long time. On the 6th of May,
the King and Queen came from Leith to the
palace of Holy rood ; and on Sabbath the 1 7th, the
Queen was crowned in the Abbey Church. Not
withstanding some little demur, this was thought
not improper to the day and place ; because like
marriage it was a "mixed action," and a solemn
oath was passed mutually between the Prince and
his subjects and from both to God. Bruce, Pont,
Lindsay, Balcanquall, and the King's own ministers
were appointed to be present at the coronation.
After the court and the ladies were placed in their

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxi

seats in the church, there were three sermons
made, one in Latin, another in French, the third
in English. After sermon Bruce and Craig made
short orations to the Queen. She was then con
veyed to a cabinet within the church, where she
was clothed in her royal robes and so returned to
her own chair. Then the crown was set upon
her head. The Lady Alar loosed her right arm
which Bruce plentifully anointed, as also her
forehead and her neck. Upon the Tuesday im
mediately following, the Queen made her public
entry into Edinburgh with various and ample
ceremony. She went into the church and sat in
the east end, in the gallery, under a fair canopy
of velvet. Bruce made the sermon, which being
ended within half-an-hour the Queen was brought
forth. Andrew Melville recited a Latin ode to
the great admiration of the ambassadors, and
which the King acknowledged as an honour to
himself and to the country. When published, this
poem (" Stephaniskion ") drew from Scaliger the
well-known compliment to Melville, " Profccto nos
talia non jiossumus " ; and Lipsius having read it
said, " Revera Andreas Mclvinus est serio doctus."
Shortly after these events came Bruce's own
marriage to Margaret Douglas, daughter of Douglas
of Parkhead, a considerable baron, who, some years
afterwards, rendered himself conspicuous by slay
ing with his own hand, James Stewart — Earl of
Arrau, once a favourite of King James, and an
arch-enemy to the Presbyterian polity. At this
time Bruce's own family became thoroughly re-

xxii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

conciled to him, and his original patrimony of
Kinnaird was restored to him for good.

Up till now we have seen him in the fullest
favour with the King, and for several years follow
ing his influence at Court was very considerable,
and his hold on the people of Edinburgh really
never relaxed. But we must next trace the process
by which the King's favour was lost to him, and
in consequence of which even his place and office
were at length forfeited. During all this process
Bruce never stands alone. He was eminently at
the head of the ecclesiastical party whose views and
desires he represented. But the royal displeasure
at last so concentrated upon him that he may
be said to have been its supreme victim. The
earliest cause of alienation was a personal one. The
King's opposition to the cause of the Church was
not yet developed ; indeed, can hardly be said to
have existed at all. In the General Assembly of
August 1590, he had made his famous speech,
extolling the Church of Scotland as " the sincerest
Kirk in the world," and placing it for purity of
doctrine and discipline even beyond the " Kirk of
Geneva," and far beyond " our neighbour Kirk in
England." But in a very short while, a personal
alienation developed, on the ground of the plain
and bold terms in which the Presbyterian ministers
took it upon them to address their monarch especi
ally in their speeches to him from the pulpit.
The manner of our own time easily condemns
their language and inclines us to take the side
of the King. But the truth is, these ministers

ROBERT BRUCE OK KINNAIKH,

Minister at Edinburgh, 1587.
From an Engraving on steel by J. Swan.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxiii

were honestly trying to form the character of
their young King and had not yet discovered
that the task was hopeless. The feature which
at Hrst offended them in James, was a certain
frivolity and inconsistency which would not take
up any firm course, such as they could honestly
approve. In the year 1591, after a visitation of
ministers at Holyrood and at a time when some
trafficking Papists were commanded to appear
before the Council, the King was present at a
sermon in the Little Kirk in which Bruce moved
the question, " what could the great disobedi
ence of this land mean now, seeing some reverence
had been borne to the King's shadow when he
was absent ? " The preacher answered his own
question :

"It meant a universal contempt of him
by his subjects ; therefore, ought the King to
call upon God before he ate or drank that the
Lord should give him a resolution to execute
justice upon malefactors, although it should be
to the hazard of his life." This is a pungent
example of the kind of reproof often directed,
at this time, by the ministers to their sover
eign. James soon gave them serious causes of
displeasure. It was not only his underhand
dealings with Jesuits. There followed his un
accountable leniency to his mad cousin, Bothwell.
who made repeated attempts upon his person and
his palace. After one of these, at Falkland, in
June 1592, Bruce said from the pulpit, " Your
Majesty hath had many admonitions . . . but

xxiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

this last is sharper than any of the former.
They pretend to come to seek justice for the
last terrible murder, and how can you punish
others when you are pursued yourself ? He
desired His Majesty to humble himself before
God and confess his negligence." The " terrible
murder," here alluded to, was the putting to
death, at Donibristle, in February of the same
year, of the Earl of Moray, a son-in-law of the
Good Regent, by the Earl of Huntly. James's
unaccountable indifference about this vile trans
action, and his failure to bring anyone to justice
because of it, greatly alienated the minds of the
people of Scotland from their King. In the
same year occurred the incident of " the Spanish
blanks," a curious cause of alarm to the Reformers,
chiefly from its mysterious nature. The docu
ments so designated were blank sheets, with a
form of address to the King and subscribed by
the Popish nobles — Huntly, Errol, and Angus,
besides some minor emissaries. Orders were
issued to the Popish lords to ward themselves.
The King himself marched with a party to
Aberdeen and they fled northwards, leaving
their strongholds at his mercy. A long series of
wars and negotiations followed, with petty bicker
ings between the King and the ministers, about
what was called " the Act of Abolition," con
ceived by him for the protection of these Popish
rebels from the sentence of excommunication.
James had an idea that to conciliate the Romish
members of his own aristocracy was one of the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKHTCH xxv

methods for opening to him the way to the
English throne. It was one of his small attempts
at kingcraft founded upon the notion, which he
actually expounded to Bruce, that there existed
in England a powerful Romish faction who would
otherwise oppose his succession. The notion was
mistaken, and the King was rebuked l>y Elizabeth
herself for his want of Protestant firmness and
straightforwardness. Now it was upon matters
such as these that the plain speeches of the
Presbyterian ministers were founded. However
different from our modern manner, it is easy to
see the justification of the line they took. There
was no other organ of public expression, or of
criticism, in things political except the pulpit of
the Kirk. There was no public press. The
nobles were constantly engaged in factions of
their own and had no united mind on public
affairs. The ministers of the Kirk were really
the leaders of the Scottish nation and, however rude
and unskilful, their remonstrances were honest.

In a similar way we must deal with the alleged
disloyalty of the ministers. In a semi-jocular
fashion James was wont to hint at such a thing,
on the part of even Bruce himself. On the
occasion of his return from a professional visi
tation of the East Country James is reported to
have noted him from the windows of Holyrood,
and to have exclaimed, with indignation and an
oath, "Here comes Robert Bruce — I am sure he
intends to be King, and declare himself heir to
his namesake."

xxvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Though recorded by an adversary,1 the story
bears marks of truth, or at least pretty accurate
reflection of that senseless buffoonery in which the
royal wit often displayed itself. A more definite
case was made out in the following fashion. Upon
Friday, 8th December 1592, some of the ministers
went down to the King to urge a proof of treason
laid to the charge of Robert Bruce, James Gibson,
Andrew Hunter, and others. The King would
have had the matter passed over ; that is, when
it came to the point, the King was well aware
there was nothing in it. But upon the following
Sabbath Bruce spoke out from his place. He
said " the King was environed with liars, and
he himself would suspend preaching till he was
purged of that heinous accusation, that he and
others had conspired to take the crown off the
King's head and put it upon Both well." He
insisted to know the individuals who had so
slandered him to His Majesty. After some shift
ing James named the Master of Gray and one
Tyrie a Papist as his informers. But on the day
fixed for investigating the affair no one appeared
to make good the charge. Gray having left the
Court, sent word that he had given no such
information against Bruce. He offered to fight
any one (His Majesty excepted) who should affirm
that he had defamed the minister. " Indeed," as
M'Crie remarks, " there is not the slightest ground
for calling in question the loyalty of the ministers
of the Church, or their decided and steady attach-
1 Bp. Maxwell, " Issachar's Burden," 1646.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxvii

mcnt to the person and government of James.
Had the King ceased from favouring a faction,
hostile equally to his crown and to the established
religion, had he exerted a reasonable superinten
dence over the* administration of the State, and
abstained from encroachments on the jurisdiction
of the Church ; and, above all, had he maintained
his word and promise inviolate he would have
found the ministers disposed to give him all due
satisfaction, and might have derived from them
the most essential and efficient support. The
submission which the nobility yielded to him was
always partial and precarious. . . . The preachers
were inclined to favour no faction in the State.
. . . Had their jealousies not been awakened and
kept alive by the misconduct of the King the lead
ing men among them possessed too much sense
and were too well aware that the safety of the
Church — including their own — depended upon
the stability of his government, to indulge in or
countenance any freedoms from the pulpit which
tended to embarrass his administration, or to
bring his person into contempt." l

Bruce, at the time he was using the greatest
freedom in rebuking the Court, said, " It is our
part to crave wisdom for the King ; because for as
loose as he is, he is the greatest blessing that ever
we shall see." And again, "Surely the only band
temporal that holds up the commonwealth here,
which is ruinous on all sides, and is like to fall down,
stands upon that Prince. Though he be many ways
1 M'Crie, "Life of Melville " (edition 1856), p. 172.

xxviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

abused, out of question were he removed, I look
to see confusion multiplied upon confusion."

There can be no doubt that the joint influence
of the " doctrine and discipline of the Kirk pre
sented to James a powerful instrument, not pos
sessed by any of his predecessors, for suppressing
the feuds of the nobility, purifying the administra
tion of justice, civilizing and reforming the morals
of the people. Had he known how to avail him
self of this, his reign in Scotland might have been
tranquil and happy." The strange delusion pos
sessing the minds of our historians is that the
ministers of the Kirk were bent upon some pro
fessional or sectarian purpose instead of the welfare
of the nation at large. If the eyes of these
writers had been open to the facts of history
they would have seen, what the event has demon
strated, that just as at an earlier stage, Holland
and the more powerful of the Swiss Cantons had
chosen that form of the Reformed faith, the
Scottish nation adhered to the Presbyterian re
ligion — that the ministers were the real leaders
of the Scottish people — that their purpose was
patriotic, and their aim coincident with the
triumph of civil and religious liberty.

Up to the point we have reached there had
been no attack on the King's part upon the con
stitution of the Scottish Church. The tendency
of progress was rather in the other direction.
The General Assembly having met on 21st May
1592, for the second time chose Robert Bruce as
their Moderator. The main things enacted in this

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxix

Assembly were the annulling of the Acts of 1584
against the discipline of the Kirk ; the abolition
of the Act of annexation ; and the restitution
of the patrimony of the Kirk. In the Parliament
which met immediately thereafter, the Presbyterian
polity and discipline were established, and to these
enactments the Church of Scotland has ever looked
back as to the charter of her liberties. During the
years succeeding, — 1593-5 — there was a general
concurrence between the King and the Kirk, a
time of prosperity for the Church and of partial
peace for the kingdom. The only domestic events
of note were the birth of Prince Henry, August
151)4, and the death of Chancellor Maitland, 3rd
October 159"). We read that " Robert Bruce,
one of the leading ministers, rode at four o'clock of
the morning to Tliirlestanc (near Lander), to find
the Chancellor full of penitence for neglected oppor
tunities, and imploring the prayers of the Kirk.
He was sorely troubled in conscience with fears that
his dealings between the King and Queen should
come out."1 There had been some dispute the pre
vious year about the care of the young Prince.

In the beginning of the year 159G Calder-
wood writes : " This year is remarkable to the
Kirk of Scotland both for the beginning and
for the end of it. The Kirk of Scotland was
now come to her perfection and the greatest
purity that ever she attained, so that her beauty
was admirable to foreign Kirks. The assemblies
of the saints were never so glorious, nor profitable
1 Tytler, " History of Scotland," vol. iv. 238.

xxx BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

to every one of the true members thereof, as in
the beginning of this year. There was good
appearance of further reformation of abuses and
corruptions, and the appearance of a constant
provision for all the parish kirks within the
country." What he notes about the end of that
same year is of a totally different character, and
marks an unhappy departure which set in and
continued for many years. The point of quarrel
is very much the old one, viz., the resentment felt
by the King at the liberties taken by the Scottish
preachers in the pulpit. His vanity and self-
conceit were deeply wounded by these attacks.
They contrasted very keenly with the suavity
which marked the representatives of a Court and
Church where a maiden queen had sway, and he
was rapidly approaching that episcopal leaning
which afterwards condensed itself in his favourite
maxim, "No Bishop, no King." The point from
which the whole quarrel developed was the
process raised by the King against Mr David
Black. This minister of St Andrews had
preached a sermon towards the close of the year
1596, in which he not only adverted on the
threatened triumph of idolatry (i.e. Popery) at
home, but raised his voice against the Prelacy
which had established itself in the neighbour
ing kingdom. " As for His Highness, none knew
better than he did of the meditated return of
these Papist lords, and herein he was guilty
of manifest treachery. Were not the Lords
of Session miscreants and bribers, the nobility

BIOGRAPHICAL SKKTCH xxxi

cormorants, and the Queen of Scotland one whom
for fashion's sake they might pray for, but in
whose time it was vain to hope for good?"

For these injudicious remarks Black was at
once summoned before the Privy Council. Now
such a summons raised far deeper questions
as to the liberty of the pulpit and the juris
diction of the Church. After careful consulta
tion with his brethren, Black declined the
judicature of the Council, at least in the first
instance, declaring that the Ecclesiastical Court
must first judge whether or not he had trans
gressed his bounds ; that upon their so deciding,
he would not decline to submit himself to the
civil authority, and to undergo the judgment they
should inflict upon him. Upon this point the
whole Church sided with Black, and tho firm,
strong hand of Bruce can be traced in several of
the public documents of the time. On one occa
sion it was Bruce himself who gave striking
answer to a suggestion of compromise made by
the King. " If it was Mr Black's particular," he
said, " that was in question, His Majesty's offer
was thankfully to be accepted ; but seeing it was
the liberty of Christ's Gospel that was grievously
wounded by the proclamation, and the preaching
of the word by usurpation of the judicatory, it
was a matter of such importance in the estimation
of all the brethren that if the King had taken Mr
Black's life, and a dozen of others with him, he
could not have wounded the hearts of the brethren
more, £nor done such injury to the Lord Jesus."

xxxii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

On this answer being given, a gentleman of the
Chamber came the next morning to shew how
much the King was moved ; that he had thought
upon the matter all night, and requested that the
preacher be calm that day. To this it was
returned that " the brother who was to teach had
God to answer, and his brethren's expectation,
whom he could not offend for pleasuring all the
kings of the earth." A very tender point had
evidently been touched. It was only roughly
debated at the time. But it was unquestionably
one which perplexed that whole period, and led
at last to the inevitable result. King James said
no one could doubt that Black had exceeded his
bounds. Probably no one but Black himself —
if even he — did ever doubt it. But who was to
call him to account ? Was it for the civil authority
at once to step in ? If so, where was the liberty
of the Word of God ? Were there not regular
Church Courts whose province it was to deal in
the first instance with such offenders ? That
was the whole contention of the ministers. But
the occasion was made one for carrying civil or
royal jurisdiction into spiritual matters. Not
withstanding repeated declinature on the part of
the ministers, the Privy Council at length decided
against Black, found all the charges against him
proved, and sentenced him to be confined beyond
the North Water, until His Majesty resolved
what further punishment should be inflicted on
him. This is the first cut of the civil sword
into the liberties of the Christian Church. The

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxiii

quarrel may be said to have raged, at intervals,
for nearly a hundred years to come in Scotland.
Stealthily and subtly, at first almost uncon
sciously, or, from lack of discernment, was the
encroachment made by James, more openly by
his successors, until this claim to rule the con
science and religion of the nation by civil and
military force provoked the expulsion of the
Stuart dynasty from the throne.

But this particular dispute we are now con
sidering was further embroiled by Court factions.
The Octet vians, as they were called, that is, the
eight gentlemen appointed for the control of the
royal finances, restricted the King from lavishing
money upon his private favourites. Irritated at
this, the latter, known at the time by the name of
Cubiculars, or gentlemen of the bed-chamber, were
desirous of driving these statesmen from their
places; and to accomplish this object, they in
dustriously fomented the dissension between the
King and the Church. They insinuated to the
Octavians that the friends of the ministers were
engaged in a plot against their lives. They, at
the same time, privately assured the ministers
that the Octaviaus were the advisers of the return
of the Popish lords . . . and of the prosecution
of Black ; that it was through their influence that
the mind of the King was alienated from the
Church, and that they intended nothing less than
the overthrow of the Protestant religion.

The result of these plottings was the so-called
tumult of seventeenth December (159(5), which

xxxiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

has been magnified into a daring and horrid re
bellion. On the morning of that day, information
was conveyed to Bruce that the Earl of Huntly
had been all night in the palace and that his
friends and retainers were at hand waiting for
orders to enter the Capital. This communication,
which was partly true, excited the more alarm
that a charge had just been given to twenty-four
of the most zealous burghers to leave the city
within six hours. This being the day of the
weekly sermon the ministers agreed to call to
gether the barons and burgesses after public
worship to advise what ought to be done, a
practice for which the ministers had the authority
of an express act of privy council. They met
accordingly and deputed two persons from each
of the estates to wait on the King, who happened
then to be in the immediate neighbourhood, in
conference with the Lords of Session in the Upper
Tolbooth. Having obtained an audience Bruce
told His Majesty that they were sent to lay before
him the dangers which threatened religion. "What
dangers see you?" said the King. Bruce men
tioned what they had been told as to Huntly.
" What have you to do with that ? " said His
Majesty, " and how durst you convene against my
proclamation." " Dare," said the fierce Lord
Lindsay, " we dare more than that, and will not
suffer the truth to be overthrown and stand
tamely by." Upon this the King retired to an
inner apartment or retreated downstairs and com
manded the door to be shut upon them The

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxv

Protestant barons and ministers returned to the
Little Kirk, where meanwhile Craustoun — a 1'or-
ward minister — had been reading to the people
in the church certain Scripture passages — among
others the story of Hainan and Mordecai. Per
ceiving that their minds were somewhat moved,
Bruce proposed that they should defer the con
sideration of their grievances and merely pledge
themselves at present, for the defence of their
religion. This proposal having been received with
acclamation, he besought them as they regarded
the credit of their cause, to be silent and quiet.
At this moment an unknown person (supposed to
have been tin emissary of the Cubiculars) hastily
entered the church and cried out, " Fy ! Fy ! save
yourselves, the Papists are coining to massacre
you. Bills and axes ! " and someone exclaimed,
" The sword of the Lord and of (Jideon." " These
are not our weapons," cried Bruce, but panic had
seized them. They rushed into the street, where
they found a crowd already collected, and for
a time all was confusion. The ministers imme
diately called in the aid of the magistrates, and
by their joint persuasion the tumult was speedily
quelled. Within less than an hour, not an offen
sive weapon, not the least symptom of riot were
to be seen on the streets. The barons and
ministers resumed their deliberations and sent to
lay their requests before the King. His Majesty
directed them to come to him in the afternoon,
after which he walked down the public street
to Holyrood attended by his courtiers, with as

xxxvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

much quietness and security as he had ever
experienced.

Such are the facts connected with this famous
incident. " No tumult in the world," says Baillie,
" was ever more harmless in its effects or more
innocent in its causes, if you consider all those
who did openly act therein." It was never
seriously alleged that there was the most distant
idea of touching the person of the King. No
assault was made upon the meanest creature
belonging to the Court ; no violence was offered
to the person or the property of a single in
dividual. So far from partaking of the nature
of a rebellion, the affair scarcely deserves the
name of a riot. Unpremeditated in its origin
and harmless in its effects, as the uproar in
Edinburgh was, it offered a pretext which was
eagerly laid hold of by the Court for com
mencing an attack on the government of the
Church. It was comparatively easy to involve
the ministers who were present on the occasion,
in the odium attached to that crime. Nothing
could be more congenial to the character of
James than this piece of policy, which had a
show of deep wisdom in the device and required
a very slender portion of courage in the exe
cution. The King hastily quitted Edinburgh
and the palace. As soon as he was gone, a
proclamation was issued requiring all in public
office to repair to him at Linlithgow. The
ministers of Edinburgh with a certain number
of the citizens were commanded to enter ward

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxvii

in the castle, and were summoned before the
privy-council at Linlithgow. The tumult was
declared to be " a cruel and barbarous attempt
against His Majesty's royal person, his nobility
and council, at the instigation of certain seditious
ministers and barons." Events concurred ap
parently with the King in this policy. On
the day that he left Edinburgh the barons
who remained met and agreed to take upon
them the mediation of the Church and its
cause. At their desire Bruce wrote a letter
to Lord Hamilton asking him to come and
countenance them in the matter. The letter
was altered, in such a manner, as to make it
express approbation of the tumult and was so
conveyed by Hamilton to the Court at Lin
lithgow. The Court did not dare to make any
public use of this vitiated document, but it
was privately circulated to blast the reputation
of Bruce and his friends. In the beginning
of January 1597 His Majesty with great pomp
and in a warlike attitude returned to Edinburgh.
It was ordained that the Courts of Justice should
be removed and that no meeting of General
Assembly, Synod, or Presbytery should hence
forth be held within the Capital. A deputation
from the Town Council waited on the King to
implore forgiveness for a tumult which they had
done everything in their power to suppress.
Their supplication was rejected, and they heard
nothing but denunciations of vengeance. They
were told that the Borderers would be brought

xxxviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

in upon them — that their city would be razed
to the ground and sowed with salt, that a
monument would be erected on the place where
it stood to perpetuate the memory of such an
execrable treason. The ministers advised by
their friends withdrew and concealed themselves
for a time. Bruce and Balcanquhal went into
England. Balfour and Watson concealed them
selves in Fife. As soon as it was known
that they had taken this step they were publicly
denounced as rebels. The spirits of the Edinburgh
magistrates and citizens were cowed by the pro
ceedings of the King ; and the magistrates offered
to deliver up those who had fostered the so-called
tumult. The King deemed that he had gone far
enough for the present, and proceeded to reassure
the trembling citizens.

Why so much was made by James and by
those writers who take his side, of this trifling
disturbance comes out very clearly in the events
which follow, and is by no one made clearer
than by Tytler, " The tumult committed by the
citizens and the part acted in it by the clergy
wras a prodigious advantage to the monarch who
quickly perceived it. He was well aware of
the difficulty of dealing with the ministers as
long as they confined themselves to their political
attacks in the pulpit, and pleaded an indepen
dent jurisdiction; but the Bailies and citizens
were unquestionably amenable to the authority
of the Crown and the laws. They were, with
scarcely a single exception, Protestants warmly

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxix

attached to the Kirk and a principal clement
in its power. All this the King knew, and
when he saw that he had them within his
grasp, he determined they should feel the full
weight of his resentment. . . . The sword was
thus kept suspended over the heads of the un
happy magistrates and their capital ; and it
was quite apparent that the King, having be
come convinced of his own strength, was deter
mined to defer the moment of mercy till he
had accomplished some great purpose which
now tilled his mind. Thin was nothing Less
than the establishment of Episcopacy. The
recent excesses of the more violent ministers
had made the deepest impression upon the
monarch ; and it was evident to him that it'
the principles of independent jurisdiction which
they had not hesitated to adopt were preached
and acted upon, there must ensue a per
petual collision between the ecclesiastical and
civil authorities. He longed therefore to see
(in the words of Spottiswood) ' a decent authority
established in the Kirk, which should be con
sistent with the word of God, the custom of
primitive times, and the laws of the realm/ and
he believed that no fitter moment could occur
to carry this great object than the present." l
His first step was to summon a General Assembly
of the Church to meet at Perth on the last of
February 1597. A series of questions — pre
pared, it is said, before the Edinburgh tumults
'Tytlcr, "History of Scotland," vol. iv. p. 256.

xl BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

— were suggested for the consideration of synods
and presbyteries implying a compromise on the
debated topic of the jurisdictions. For the
first time in the history of the Presbyterian
Church, the composition of this assembly was
cooked by the King's instructions. He did his
part to keep Melville, Bruce and others of the
leading lowland ministers from being members
of it. He instructed his emissaries to scour
the Highlands and other northern districts and
secure as many as possible of the north-
country ministers — more lukewarm Presbyterians
and more devoted courtiers than their lowland
brethren.

This assembly, which on the whole inclined to
the royal view, was called an " extraordinary "
one, and its validity was doubted. The King
gained several points. It was agreed that no
unusual conventions should be held amongst
pastors without the royal consent, and that the
acts of the privy council or the laws passed by
the three estates should not be attacked or dis
cussed in the pulpit ; that in the principal towns
of the realm no minister should be chosen with
out consent of the King and of the flock ; and
that no man should by name be rebuked in the
pulpit, unless he had fled from justice or were
under sentence of excommunication.1

James's next step was to reconcile the Catholic
lords to the Kirk, and here he was equally
successful. The ceremony of their reconciliation
1 Spottiswoode, p. 441.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xli

to the Kirk and restoration to their estates, took
place in the Old Kirk in Aberdeen, the 2Gth of
June 1597. The repentant earls then received
the Sacrament after the Presbyterian form, and
solemnly swore to keep order in their wide and
wild territories. This success encouraged James
to go forward with his great ecclesiastical project.
The question was raised of representing the Kirk
in Parliament. To prepare for this, a commission
was proposed of the wisest among the brethren.
Fourteen were chosen, most of whom were known
to be favourable to the views of the Court. The
" King's led horse," as Calderwood styles this
body, gave a specimen of their quality during
the summer and soon hud their petition before
Parliament for a share in its councils. Its re
quisition was in these words, "That the ministers,
as representing the Church and third estate of
the Kingdom, might be admitted to have a voice
in Parliament." This application, made so artfully
as to seem to come from the Kirk itself, was the
first step towards restoring the order of bishops.
A General Assembly was soon after convened in
which the subject was solemnly argued in the
King's presence. The object had been already
wittily exposed and ridiculed by Davidson.
" Busk him, busk him," said he, " as bonnily as
ye can, and fetch him in as fairly as ye will, we
ken him weel eneuch ; we see the horns of his
mitre." In the assembly, just mentioned, it was
keenly debated by James Melville, Davidson,
Bruce, Carmichael and Ami and denounced in
d

xlii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

the strongest language. James had tried every
method of conciliation. He had extended his
forgiveness to the ministers of Edinburgh for
their part in the late tumult ; he restored their
privileges and the comfort of his royal presence
to the magistrates and citizens of the Capital,
but in the end, this scheme of his was carried
in the assembly only by a narrow majority of
ten. And the final establishment of this modi
fied form of Episcopacy did not take place for
more than twelve months after, in a General
Assembly convened at Montrose, 28th March
1600.

Meanwhile, at least two severe passages at
arms of a more personal nature took place be
tween Bruce and the King. The first of these
has been already slightly alluded to. It had
been determined, several years before, that the
pastoral care, at Edinburgh, should be divided
into eight several charges. Bruce as the principal
minister of Edinburgh could of course not be
passed over. The question was now (14th April
1598) put to him, in presence of the King,
whether he was willing to accept a particular
flock according to the Act of Assembly. He at
once assented. Then it was suggested that he
must have ordination in addition to the others,
for this had in his case been omitted before. A
prolonged and acrimonious contest here broke out
on the King's part. It was characteristic of
James's petty acuteness to go back now upon
that old matter and make so much of it. It

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xliii

is difficult to conceive on what ground one so
prominent and distinguished in the Church of
Scotland as Bruce could have been assailed on
the score of a technical informality, which had
occurred at the very beginning of his ministry,
in those somewhat unsettled times. The length
and intricacy of the discussion, degenerating even
to a personal wrangle on the King's part, seems
now so grossly pedantic, as to recall Carlyle's
suggestion that the ferule of a schoolmaster
would have became James better than the sceptre
of a monarch.1 Bruce explained that he was
perfectly willing to accept " imposition of hands,"
in common with his brethren, in token of their
admission to these particular cures, but that he
could not submit to a special ordination which
would have seemed to invalidate all his previous
ministry. The Presbytery came frankly forward
at this point (2nd May 1.398) and declared
Bruce " to be a lawful pastor of the Kirk of
Edinburgh, having his calling of the General
Assembly thereto." The " imposition of hands "
was at length conferred (19th May). But it is
only when we attend to the gradual and stealthy
process the King's mind was now following, that
we begin to perceive the significance of the inci
dent. " Imposition of hands " had been regarded
in the Scottish Church as a ceremony, somewhat
indifferent, and not absolutely necessary. Now
when the foundations of Episcopacy were being
attempted to be laid, all this was changed. If
1 Carlyle's "Historical Sketches," p. 147 (1898).

xliv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

ordination to the ministry cannot be received
without imposition of hands, and if possible by
the hands of a bishop, it becomes plainer why
the King and the Commissioners were so very
stringent in the matter.

The other incident was, if possible, more grossly
and peculiarly personal. It pertained to what the
King chose to call Bruce's " pension." Bruce had
a grant out of the Abbey of Arbroath of twenty-
four chalders of victual, by a gift for his lifetime.
On the 10th February of this year the King took it
from him, without notice, and openly assisted Lord
Hamilton's tenants in resisting Bruce's " charge."
Bruce offered to pass from his gift if the King
would keep it in his own hands, or bestow it in
settling the stipends of the Church. But the
King transferred it to Lord Hamilton, upon which
Bruce went on with his process before the Lords
of Session. Tytler's account of what followed is
worthy of quotation as showing how that Court
had already improved its position. " The subject
of quarrel was a judgment pronounced by the
Court in favour of the celebrated minister. . . .
Bruce sued the Crown and obtained a decision in
his favour. The monarch appealed, came to the
court in person, pleaded his own cause with the
utmost violence, and commanded the judges to
give their vote against Mr Robert. The president,
Seton, then rose : ' My liege,' said he, ' it is my
part to speak first in this Court of which your
Highness has made me head. You are our King ;
we, your subjects bound and ready to obey you

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xlv

from the heart, and with all devotion to serve you
with our lives and substance, but this is a matter
of law, in which we are sworn to do justice accord
ing to our conscience and the statutes of the realm.
Your Majesty may, indeed, command us to the con
trary, in which case I, and every honest man on
this bench, will either vote according to conscience,
or resign and not vote at all.' Another of the
judges, Lord Ncwbattle, spoke in the same strain
and alluded to the imputation that they dared not
do justice in that court to all classes. He said
' they would now deliver a unanimous opinion
against the Crown.' For this brave and dignified
conduct James was unprepared ; he proceeded to
reason long and earnestly with the recusants, but
persuasions, arguments, taunts, and threats were
unavailing. The judges, with only two dissentient
votes, pronounced their decision in favour of Bruce,
and the mortified monarch flung out of Court
' muttering revenge and raging marvellously.'
When the subservient temper of those times is
considered, and we remember that Seton the
President was a Roman Catholic, while Bruce
was a chief leader of the Presbyterian ministers,
it would be unjust to withhold our admiration from
a judge and a court which had the courage thus
fearlessly to assert the supremacy of the law." l
How the matter ended can be easily foreseen. On
the 18th January 1C 00 Bruce resigned into the
King's own hand a gift which was so reluctantly con
tinued and had been so frequently interfered with.
1 Tytler, "History of Scotland," iv. 270.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

But this brings us to the last and severest
public trial which Bruce encountered with the
King. At Perth, on 5th August 1600, occurred
the fatal termination of the well-known Gowrie
conspiracy. On August 6th, by ten o'clock in
the forenoon, the Town Council of Edinburgh
received a letter from the King giving them an
account of his deliverance and commanding the
ministers to return public thanks on his behalf.
The ministers agreed, in general, but not to enter
into particulars. On coming out they found the
magistrates summoned to a Privy Council and a
charge to themselves to attend. The Chancellor
desired them to go to the church and praise God
for the King's marvellous deliverance from so vile
a treason. Bruce answered they were not certain
of the treason, but they would go, and in general
terms bless God for His Majesty's deliverance from
great danger. While they were talking Mr David
Lindsay arrived from Falkland, where he had heard
the King tell the matter. It was thought best
that Lindsay should speak, so the Council and
the rest went with him to the Cross where Lind
say harangued ; where the people with uncovered
heads praised God ; bells were rung, fires were
kindled, and the like.

On Tuesday, August 12th, the King himself
having arrived in Edinburgh summoned the minis
ters and asked why they had disobeyed him.
Bruce answered that they did not disobey, but
gave thanks to God, as they all did on the Sabbath
after. The King questioned each of the ministers.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKKTCH xlvii

In a little while they were called in again and
sentence intimated that they were suspended
from preaching under pain of death, ami were
charged to remove out of Edinburgh within forty-
eight hours and not come within ten miles of it.
This quarrel was speedily patched up, so far as the
other ministers were concerned, but the difference
between Bruce and the King continued unrecon
ciled.

Grounds for their hesitation are obvious enough.
The young Earl of Gowrie had returned to his own
country only a few months before, with the favour
of England, and with special commendation to the
Reformers from Beza with whom for a time he
had sojourned when on the Continent. At first a
strong suspicion was entertained in the country
that the atfair at Perth was rather a design of the
King against the Gowries, than a conspiracy of
the Gowries against the King. And the extreme
haste, violence, and partizunship of James in the
matter rather tended to confirm these suspicions.
It was several years after, before all reasonable
grounds of doubt were removed by the discovery
of the letters of Logan of Restalrig1 detailing this
curious plot. Indeed, the facts by themselves
carry their own evidence. The young Gowries had
the deepest grounds for desiring personal revenge
on the King, and would probably have liked to see a
change of government, but their ideas were crude
and fantastic and they fell in their own snare.
" The theory that the whole was a plot of the
1 Still preserved iu the Register House.

xlviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Court to ruin the powerful house of Gowrie must
be dismissed as beyond the range of sane con
clusions." 1 As the historian remarks, James was
the last man in the world to render himself — an
unarmed man — into the hands of his armed ad
versaries and out of this to bring himself by his
own courage and dexterity to an end, the very
opposite of what was expected. But how an
affair so perplexed and mysterious in itself should
also have afforded occasion for a final misunder
standing between Bruce and the King, for Bruce's
extrusion from his Edinburgh charge, and for the
commencement of an entirely new chapter in his
history, viz., his course for the long remainder of his
days, as a banished and outed minister, is at first
sight far from obvious. Again and again Bruce
declared that he believed and accepted the King's
account of what took place at Perth, the more
firmly and fully as years went on. But what he
could not submit to was the King's demand that
he should " preach " this, in its entire detail, from
the pulpit. To bring into that place these public
and political affairs was a flat contradiction of the
policy of non-interference in such things, which
the King himself had been so keen to enforce.
In a letter to the King (October 1600), on the
eve of his departure from the country, Bruce says,
" I offer to God my most hearty thanks for all
your Majesty's deliverances, from the cradle to this
present hour ; but mainly for that deliverance
which He granted to your Majesty in St Johnston
1 Hill Burton, "History of Scotland," v. 336.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xlix

the fifth of August, far above all our deserts and
Your Majesty's expectations."

It becomes plain, at length, that this Gow: ie
affair was used by the acuteness of the King as an
occasion to accomplish a long cherished purpose.
Perceiving the hold he had on Bruce, through a
certain punctilious sense of honour, lie urged it
with tireless pertinacity, as a mode of reducing to
silence this bold preacher ; and arresting perman
ently the opposition which he continued to otter
to the King's ecclesiastical designs. He first passed
sentence upon him of banishment to France, which
was carried out by his departure for Dieppe, Nov.
2nd, ItiOO. He was recalled to his own country,
through the intercession of Lord Mar, the next
year. But instead of being set at liberty, or re
stored to Edinburgh, he was commanded to keep
ward in his own house at Kinnaird, and was after
wards tossed up and down the country for a long
succession of years. We begin to perceive that
this was part of a general policy, relentlessly pur
sued by James, towards all the main opponents of
his Church Schemes. Welch of Ayr was banished
to France in 160G. Andrew Melville, the next
year, was thrown into the Tower, and four years
later was exiled to the same country. The quieter
and more subtle mode of deprivation was antici
pated upon Bruce, as one who had higher con
nections and interests in his own country.

But the truth is, as M'Crie says,1 " from the
moment that Bruce was removed from Edinburgh,
1 " Life of Andrew Melville," p. 229 (Ediu., 1856).

1 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

it was determined that he should never be allowed
to return. He was tantalised for years with hopes
of being restored to his place. The terms pro
posed to him were either such as it was known
he would reject, or they were evaded and with
drawn when he was ready to accede to them.
And he was afterwards persecuted till his death
by the mean jealousy of the bishops, who set spies
on his conduct, sent information to court against
him, and procured orders to change the place
of his confinement from time to time and to
drag him from one corner of the kingdom to an
other. The whole treatment which this inde
pendent minister received was disgraceful to the
government. Granting that he gave way to
scrupulosity, that he required a degree of evi
dence as to the guilt of Gowrie. which was not
necessary to justify the part he was required to
take in announcing it, that there was a mixture
of pride in his motives, and that he stood too
much on the point of honour (conclusions that
some will not be disposed to make), still the nice
and high sense of integrity which he uniformly
displayed, his great talents, and the eminent ser
vices which he had rendered to Church and State,
not to speak of his birth and connections, ought
to have secured him very different treatment. But
the Court hated him for his fidelity and dreaded
his influence in counteracting its favourite plans."

The second part of Bruce's career is worthy of
some remembrance and record. During the earlier

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH H

years of this dreary period the King allowed him
a great many personal interviews and conferences.
Indeed lie rather seemed to court his concessions,
and professed to allow his return to his pulpit
upon conditions. One of these conferences took
place at Craigmillar (Jan. 1602). There, answer
ing a written question of the King's, he said : " As
to preaching, 1 never as yet had a calling of God to
any place of that kind save to Edinburgh. Place
me there, where God placed me, and I shall teach
as faithful and wholesome doctrine to the honour
of the magistrates as God shall give me grace.
But to go through the country, and make pro
clamations here and there, it will be counted
either a beastly fear or a beastly flattery, and
in so doing I should not remove doubts neither,
but raise greater, do no good to the cause but
great harm ; for people look not to words but
grounds." What influence this answer had upon
the King, or whether it was ever presented by the
commissioners, is not signified to us. But the
King and the commissioners would willingly have
had Bruce come greater lengths than he had free
dom to come ; therefore the King took unusual
pains with him. Not that ever he designed to
permit him to return to his charge.

At a second conference at Brechin (April 1602)
Bruce s:iid " he had offered to subscribe his resolu
tion which was a more lasting and constant testi
mony than any had yet given." At a third meeting
in Perth (June 1602) they got nearer than at
any other time to the original matter of con-

Hi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

troversy. " I give you leave to pose me/' said
the King, " upon the particulars." " Then first,"
said Bruce, " if it please Your Majesty, had you a
purpose to slay my Lord ? " " As I shall answer
to God," said the King, " I knew not that my
Lord was slain, till I saw him in his last agony,
and I was very sorry, yea, prayed from my heart
for him." " What say you then of Mr Alexander,
sir ? " said Bruce. " I grant," said the King, " I
am art and part in Mr Alexander's slaughter, for
it was in my own defence." " Why brought you
him not to justice," said the other, " seeing you
should have had God before your eyes ? " " I
had neither God nor the devil, man ! before
my eyes," answered the King, in some froth,
" but my own defence. ..." Further Bruce
asked His Majesty, " If he had a purpose that
day in the morning to slay Mr Alexander." The
King answered, on his salvation, " That day,
in the morning, he loved him as his brother."
" Mr Robert signified that he was persuaded by
the King's oaths that he was innocent of any pur
pose to slay them in the morning ; but since he
confessed he had not God, nor justice before his
eyes, was in a heat, and a mind of revenge, he
could not be altogether innocent before God, and
had great cause to repent and crave mercy for
Christ's sake." Bruce signed this resolution at
Perth 20th June 1602: " I am resolved of His
Majesty's innocency and of the guiltiness of the
Earl of Gowrie and his brother, according as it is
declared by Act of Parliament ; and therefore

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH liii

acknowledge the great mercy of God towards His
Majesty, and to the whole kirk and country in His
Majesty's deliverance." All the commissioners
subscribed as witnesses, and the King granted
him a warrant to travel where he pleased — save
to Edinburgh and four miles about it.

The religious people of Edinburgh without
exception were longing to have Bruce back to
the town. In November 1G02 two commis
sioners were sent to the Assembly at Holyrood
House to desire the return of their minister. The
Assembly received the proposal with applause ;
but the King and the moderator alleged they had
sundry things to propound before that could be
granted. After this Assembly the King sends for
Bruce to the Sciennes. Upon the last of Novem
ber, his own cousin, Beltrees, writes to him that he
might preach next Sabbath, if he came up to the
King's terms, removed all scruples from the people,
and cleared His Majesty's innocence. Bruce, find
ing that only preaching in their terms would please
the King and his commissioners, resolved to retire,
and returned to his own house. It was given out
that he had deserted his kirk, which he had full
liberty to enter. Upon 30th December, the same
year, Mr Hall and some people of Edinburgh came
to his house to inquire of him, " why he entered not
his calling." Bruce declared liberty was not granted
him. Early the next year (1G03) the King at a
meeting of commissioners desired them to depose
Bruce for disobedience. They answered that they
" had no power to depose him." " Could they not

Hv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

remove him and declare his place vacant ? " This
they said they could do, but the matter was put
off, and other important events intervened. Calder-
\vood tells us that Brace's meditation during this
time was " That if it were the Lord's good pleasure
to exercise him with a new temptation, and pull
the people and ministry from him, that it would
please God, instead of prince, priest, or people's
favours, to triple His Spirit upon him, and let him
see in his heart His face brighter and brighter —
a threefold measure of His favour, to supply his
outward wants."

One glimpse of mutual personal amenities is
permitted us upon the occasion of the King's
leaving Scotland to take possession of the English
throne. Queen Elizabeth died on the 24th of
March 1603. On Sabbath, April 3rd, James
took farewell of his people at the public service in
St Giles, and on the 5th April set out on his
month's triumphant journey to the English Court.
On the morning of his departure Bruce was taken
into the King's bed-chamber. With reverence he
approached him, and said, " Sir, I have marked
four things in this great work of your Majesty's
advancement ; first, that God has placed you on
three earthly thrones, without loss of credit to
your holy religion, or of peace to your conscience ;
next, without shedding a drop of your blood ;
without any loss to the person of Your Majesty's
subjects, and last of all, with the approval of
that noble Queen and the affections of the whole
council of England. This craves a twofold duty

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH lv

of Your Majesty, viz., that the glory and glare of
these earthly things deceive you not ; and that
you extend Your Majesty's credit, and employ
your whole care for the preservation of His own
Kingdom." The King answered, " Mr Robert, by
God's grace I shall not place my comfort or
consolation in them, or in any earthly thing. As
for the preservation of His Kingdom, if I would
preserve my own life, I must study to preserve
that." So Bruce took his leave and had as good
a countenance of the King as ever he hail in his
life. And after the King had mounted his horse
Bruce went to him again and was as well received
as any subject of his rank in Scotland. The
King's last words were (though Bruce says he did
not hear them) : " Now all particulars are passed
between me and you."

After the King's departure, Bruce had quiet
ness and rest for about a year. But thereafter
troubles of a new kind began to gather round
him, fostered no doubt by the favourers of the
new schemes of Church-government in Scotland.
Since it was now perceived to be hopeless to
win him over to these schemes, he was marked
as one of their most influential opponents, and
measures were taken to allow him no more
liberty of preaching, at least in the central parts
of the country. In February 1G05 the com
missioners of the General Assembly summoned
him to appear to " see and hear " himself removed
from his function in Edinburgh. He compeared
in the company of a friend. Only himself got

Ivi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

access. After long reasoning they removed him.
He appealed from their sentence. They further
inhibited him from preaching, but he took no
notice of that part of the sentence. In the
month of July the same year, Chancellor Seton
sent for him to intimate that he had got a
command from the King to discharge him from
teaching. " He would not," he said, " go further
at the time than request him to desist preaching
for nine or ten days that he might get further
instructions from the Court." Bruce considered
this a requisition so trivial that he agreed to
comply with it. But that night in his sleep
his conscience awoke, " How durst you make
such a promise ? " He confessed his fault and
craved for mercy. But his trouble so increased
as to cast his body into a fever and sickness.
Yet in the morning it pleased God to relieve him
and he resolved not to obey that injunction.
As soon as he went home, he preached in the
Woodside, and in the presence of Lord Elphin-
stone and his lady in the garden where they were
secluded with the pestilence. The next month he
was charged to " ward " in Inverness within ten
days ; and so began that course of banishment
and wandering which he had to pursue for a great
portion of his remaining years.

The allegations made in support of this
sentence were, " his apprehending a most
sinister distrust of the King's sincerity in the
treason of Gowrie, his uttering his distrust in
public and private meetings ; his entertaining a

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ivii

frequent resort of the ministry and people, and
meddling with the affairs of the King and of the
State; censuring the doings of ministers and there
by fostering factions and divisions in the Kirk,
grudges and mi scon tents against the present
government." The real cause of quarrel was
of course behind all these.

His banishment to Inverness began on 27th
August 1605, when he took instruments of his
entry. He is said to have remained there four
years.1 But, in point of fact, he continued for
the most part there for eight years, till 1613.
There he preached every Lord's Day forenoon and
every Wednesday ; read and exhorted at prayers
every evening. He had great success in that
ministerial work. Many were converted and
multitudes edified. All this work was carried on
amid manifold annoyance and opposition. He
was very hardly used by the magistrates, who
made him as uneasy as they possibly could. The
minister of the town also contended much with
him, and every year was bringing him into new
troubles ; indeed he was in hazard of his life
by the malice some people bore against him.
One day he was going through Fisher Street
with two friends ; some villains shot a gun at
him, and the ball missed him by a few inches.
The offender was afterwards found to be the old
Lady Sutherland's officer's son. Being most un-

1 Calderwood says that Bruce entered Inverness and took in
struments of his entry, 27th August 1605, "where he remained
four years," yet he is still writing from Inverness, February 1613.

e

Iviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

easy there, at the desire of the magistrates of
Aberdeen Bruce came to that town, venturing
upon an old licence. But complaints being made
against his preaching there, after he had stayed
about a quarter of a year at Aberdeen he was
charged to return to Inverness, where he continued
till the beginning of the year 1613.1

In reference to this migration we have a letter
of Bruce to the King, declaring that if there had
been a " prescription or limitation of time," he
had failed in passing the bounds of it ; that " he
went not without sanction of the bishops " ; and
asking that " his repairing to Aberdeen for his
better health, and for the comfort of his wife
and children, might stand with his majesty's
favour." In that year he supplied the pulpit
at Forres for some months upon the death of
Mr John Strachan the minister. Any occasion
to remove from Inverness was welcome to him.
After his son's intercession at Court, he obtained
licence to come and live at his own house at
Kinnaird ; and preached there and in that
neighbourhood for three years following (1613-
1616). The explanation of the discrepancy of
dates is due to the manner in which the outed
ministers were treated by the authorities. The
case of Bruce was only one of many. Delay and
procrastination were constantly practised upon
them. We read in this same year (1613) a letter
of Bruce to Sir James Semple, remonstrating
with him that no notice of the King's pleasure

1 Wodrow, " Collections as to the Life of Bruce," p. 125.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH lix

had been sent him. A proclamation of relief
to banished ministers was made at the Cross of
Edinburgh ; but George Johnstone, minister of
Ancrum, and David Caldcrwood, minister of
Crailing, got no notice of it for a long lime
afterwards. Mr Andrew Duncan, minister of
Crail, suffered eight years' exile for attending
the Assembly of Aberdeen, and only obtained
liberty, upon a special petition, to return to his
native country. This kind of petty persecution
lasted through the years of Brucc's banishment,
In a General Assembly called to meet at Edin
burgh, July 1GOG, "supplication was made for the
banished brethren confined in the Highlands, for
Mr Robert Bruce, and for those detained in
London." The nobility, at request of the Assem
bly, wrote to his majesty in favour of Bruce. At
a subsequent Assembly, 1GOS, a motion was
made to grant Melville, Bruce, Murray, and Row
— banished and confined ministers — their wonted
liberty. No notice appears to have been taken
of these requests or motions.

At length there came a respite which in Brucc's
case lasted for about eight or nine years, 1G1.°>-
1G22. He was nominally confined to his house
at Kinnaird ; but in reality his activity was very
considerable. Indeed his enemies complained of
this very thing. He supplied the pulpit at
Stirling during a vacancy. He preached often
at communions and with brethren of his acquaint
ance. He was therefore traduced for behaving
himself like a " general bishop," and going from

Ix BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

place to place. For this his adversaries had
themselves to thank.

In this period occurred the incident which
connects him — a leader in the First Reformation
— with Alexander Henderson, the leader of the
Second Reformation and (years afterwards) the
Moderator of the famous Assembly of 1638.
At the beginning of his ministry — which was
probably about 1615 — Henderson belonged to
the prevailing party in the Church. He was
brought into his first charge at Leuchars by
Glad stan es, the bishop of St Andrews, against
the consent of the parish ; so that upon the
day appointed for his admission, the people
shut the church doors and his friends were
obliged to break up a window and procure
him entrance that way. A little after his
settlement, having heard that Bruce was to
be at a communion some distance from Leuchars
and being very desirous to hear him preach,
Henderson went to the place, where few knew
him, and concealed himself in a dark corner of
the church. Bruce came into the pulpit, and
after a pause, according to his usual manner,
which fixed Henderson's attention, he read with
his wonted dignity and deliberation these words
as his text : " Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-
fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same
is a thief and a robber." These words so literally
applicable to the manner in which he had entered
on his ministry went (< like drawn swords " to

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH l*i

his inmost soul. He who wished to conceal
himself from the eyes of men, felt that he
was naked and opened before the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do. In short, this
powerful preacher was by the divine blessing
the means of Henderson's conversion. Ever
after he retained a great affection for Bruce,
whom he called his spiritual father.1 Why wr
date this incident so early, is that Henderson is
known to have been a member of the Perth
Assembly of 1C 18, and to have then voted
against the so-called Perth Articles. All which
is a presumption that, by that date, his views
on the great question in the Church had under
gone a change.

The later years of Bruce's ministry, which we
have now reached, undoubtedly place him in an
intenser light. In the regard of the religious
people of Scotland he was held in a manner
"sainted." it may indeed be said that his
chequered mode of life, his moving about from
place to place, without any settled charge, pre
vented him from leaving on his country so deep
a mark as his character and faculties were fitted
to make. But the same facts have another side.
The bitter trials which marked the last half of
his life commended him all the more to the
esteem of the like-minded. He was much con
sulted by those with whom he agreed on the
policy of the Church. He was greatly trusted
in regard to things still more deeply spiritual.
1 M'Crie, "Story of the Scottish Church," p. 152.

Ixii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

He was much visited for purposes of consultation
at his own house and elsewhere, and this went
on until it attracted the notice and provoked the
sneers of the King. So late as March 1622 the
Council took it upon them to ask permission that
he be allowed to remain at his own house till
the winter season should be over — considering
his age and infirmity — before he should be ban
ished, a second time, to Inverness. The King
replied, blaming them for the delay, alleging that
it was not for love of Bruce, " but to keep up
a schism in the Kirk, and that lie (the King) would
not allow any more Popish pilgrimages to
Kinnaird."

Some further persecutions were practised upon
him just before his second exile. In March 1619
he had been charged by the ministers of Edin
burgh with preaching against them at Cramond
when preaching upon false apostles. The Council
commanded him to remove out of Stirling, and
confined him to his own house at Kinnaird and
a mile round it. In a little time he procured
a warrant from the Council to remove to another
house of his, at Monkland, not far from Glasgow.
There he taught in the parish kirk for some time,
till Bishop Law, grieved at the great resort of
people to hear him, sent Mr Patrick Walkingshaw
to signify to him that he must keep his own
house, otherwise he would pass sentence of de
privation on him. It was one of the articles of
the bishop's complaint against him that he kept
private fasts in his house at Monkland. There

BIOGRAPHICAL SKHTCH Ixiii

were only two such, where Mr Robert Boyd of
Trochrig, Principal of Glasgow University, and
Robert Scott, minister of the parish, were present ;
and the whole number of persons did not exceed
twenty. In a little while he was obliged to leave
his house. The bishop had tabled complaints
against him in London, that he kept private
fasts in his own house ; that when at communions
he did not observe the Articles of Perth, but dis
pensed the sacrament in conformity with the prac
tice of the Reformed Kirk. A letter from the
King was read in Council, Oct. 2f>th, 1G20, requir
ing him to be cited before them and tried, and
commanding them to ward him in Aberdeen if he
did not obey the Acts of the Perth Assembly.
When the letter was read Chancellor Scton said,
" It was not their province now to judge of Kirk
arVairs ! The bishops have a High Commission of
their own to try these' things." Secretary Hamil
ton asked him if he would reason whether his
majesty must be obeyed or not ? The Chancellor
answered, he thought " they might reason whether
they would be the bishops' hangmen or not." So
the Council referred the business to the bishops.

The death of Bruce's wife, following soon after
this, he was spared for a little time.

The next year (1621) Parliament confirmed
the Articles of Perth, and no little suffering
followed to several ministers — Bruce could not
miss his share. On the 29th of August a letter
came from the King to the Council requiring them
to cite Bruce before them for breaking the bounds

Ixiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

of his confinement and coming to Edinburgh the
time of the last parliament to move sedition. On
17th Sept. 1621 he compeared, and denied the
seditious charge libelled against him. He com
plained, " though he had his majesty's own letters
wherein he declared himself so much obliged to
him for his services, that he thought the quarter
of Scotland too little to give him for a recom
pense ; now, at the instigation of the bishops, he
was exhausted in his living, estate, and person ;
and nothing almost was left to him but his vital
spirit and breath, which were apparently now
sought. The King was not readier to seek these
than he was to reader them, and, providing his
innocence were tried, he was ready to suffer."
The Chancellor passed from the contempt and
sedition in the libel, but insisted on his breach
of confinement. Bruce desired his accuser and
witnesses to be brought, and complained that
no forms of law were kept with him. The
Chancellor again requested him to answer whether
he had broken his confinement. Bruce said, " My
Lord, if you will pose me as a friend, not as a
judge, I will answer truly. I went out of my
confine, but driven to it by necessity. Since my
wife's death I have had none to act for me. I
wrote to the Secretary for a licence to come to
Edinburgh, but had no answer. I had a matter
of 20,000 merks in dependence, which needed my
personal attendance. I came in very secretly. At
the last parliament where his majesty was I was
at Edinburgh much more openly, yet it was never

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ixv

imputed to me." The Chancellor confessed that
if he had written to him for a licence to come, he
could not have refused. Bruce was called in again,
and a warrant delivered to him to ward his person
in the Castle of Edinburgh. The bishops, though
they were his accusers, absented themselves from
the Council that day. He was detained in the
Castle till January of the succeeding year.

He was then dismissed to his own house to
remain till the 12th April 1C 22, after which he
was to transport himself to Inverness and there
remain during His Majesty's pleasure. Inter
cession was made for him by the Council, as
we have seen, but without effect. He himself
wrote a humble petition to the Lords of Privy
Council, desiring that at his age he should be
spared such a journey, and offering to spend the
remainder of his days at his own house. This
petition was equally in vain.

On April 18, 1622, he set out a second time to
Inverness. It is probable that to this occasion
belongs the incident related by one of his suc
cessors at Larbert, well vouched for and believed
in the place. A considerable number of gentle
men, relations and acquaintances, some of them
ministers, came to take leave of him, and some to
accompany him part of the way. When the
horses were all drawn up and he had taken his
leave of them, and the whole company were
mounting, his horse was brought out last. Just
as he was setting his foot in the stirrup he stopped
and stood, with his eyes fixed towards heaven, for

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

nearly a quarter of an hour. The rest, mounting
or mounted, rode softly on. None of the
company apparently observed the incident ; but
an intimate friend of his seeing him in that
posture, stopped his horse and waited till Bruce
joined him, which he did very cheerfully and
they soon overtook the company. His friend
took the freedom to ask him what he was
doing when he seemed to be in a muse before
taking horse. Bruce said he was receiving his
commission and charge from his Master to go
to Inverness. "And He gave it me Himself
before I set foot in the stirrup. I go to sow a
seed in Inverness that shall not be rooted out
for many ages."

The outward circumstances of this second exile
appear to have been almost as uncomfortable as
the former one had been. He was so hardly used
that he was forced to remove out of the place.
He could not get convenient lodging, or at least
keep it long. "The Lord Enzie vexed him with
reproachful speeches against the ministers, and
pretended to find treason in his doctrine. Mr
John Gordon, minister at Strachan, stirred up this
enemy against him, applying to himself something
which Bruce had said in his preaching. Such was
the opposition at Inverness that he was forced to
remove to Chanonry, now called Fortrose, but the
religious people at Inverness prevailed with him to
return. When Lord Enzie went to Edinburgh he
had peace and rest, but when he came home again,
the battle was renewed. At last, a fashion of

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ixvii

reconciliation was made by Lord Lovat's means." ]
Very different was the estimate formed of the
results of this Inverness ministry, by those who
could look back upon the past. Some of Bruce's
converts were alive in lb'.S4, when Mr Angus
M'Bain, Episcopal minister at Inverness, had his
mind enlightened and publicly owned himself
sorry for his conformity, and testified to the
singular effects of the martyr's ministry. In the
diary of John Brand, minister of Bo'ness (June
1700) we read : " The memory of that man of
God, Mr Robert Bruce, is sweet to this day in
this place. In the days of King James he was
confined in this town, where the Lord blessed his
labours to the conversion of many brethren in the
town and country round about, for multitudes
of all ranks would have crossed ferries every day
to hear him. They came both from Ross and
Sutherland." A contemporary testimony is that
of Robert Blair, afterwards minister of St Andrew's.
In lu'2'J he writes : " I intended a journey to the
North to visit the faithful servants of Christ who
were confined there by the Prelatic High Com
mission. I found very sweet passages of Divine
Providence all the time from day to day ; my
spirit was much refreshed observing the Lord's
guidance ; and when I arrived at the sufferers
their company and conference was to me admirably
refreshful, especially at Turriff, where Mr David
Dicksou was confined, and at Inverness where Mr
Robert Bruce was now a second time confined.
1 Culilenvood, vii. 566.

Ixviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

That ancient heroic servant of Christ, considering
how long a journey I had made from Glasgow to
visit him — being estimated at one hundred and
forty miles — did impart to me the memorable
passages of his life from a large book, wherein
was set down what hard and sore exercises his
soul had met with, both before his entry to the
ministry at Edinburgh and after, ... as also the
strong consolations whereby the Lord had comforted
him, among which two were most eminent, whereby
he said, the Lord had strengthened him before he
fell under the King's displeasure. Also therein
were contained choice letters either written to him
or written by him." l

Bruce continued at Inverness till September
1624, when he obtained licence to come south
about his necessary domestic affairs. The con
ditions of his warrant from the Council were so
strait that he was resolved to return North again,
but he got his time prorogued till the winter was
over. In March 1625 the King died, the severity
against him was mitigated, and he was not urged
to return to confinement. During the remainder
of his life, he was permitted to live at his own
house of Kinnaird. The parish of Larbert having
neither stipend nor church fit to preach in, he
repaired the church at his own charges and ful
filled all ministerial duties to the people. Multi
tudes came from all quarters to hear him. This
pastorate he had supplied occasionally for many
years previous. But it is worthy of remark, that

1 Blair's Autobiography, p. 39 (Wodrow).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

with all his many preachings throughout Scotland,
and with his many shorter temporary supplyings
of Forres, Stirling, Larbert and the like, he never
renounced his claim upon his first charge. So
late as the beginning of the year 1629 King
Charles wrote a letter to the Council ordaining
Bruce to be confined to his own house of Kinnaird
and two miles about it. It was thought the
ministers of Edinburgh were the procurers of this
letter, because he had preached in sundry kirks
near to the city and desired to have taught in
Edinburgh itself. " For," said he, " I may avow
that there is not now a lawful minister of Edin
burgh living except I ; for they have all entered in
a corrupt way contrary to the good order of our
kirk ; and I verily think that these ministers are
greater enemies to the gospel of Christ than the
bishops are."

The last public occasion on which we have any
notice of him was at the well-known communion
at Kirk of Shotts (1G30), where there was a
great gathering of Christians from all parts of
Scotland. He bore a share in the preaching
" with his wonted majesty and authority," and
joined in the meetings for intercession and prayer,
which were kept in that place, almost day and
night, for four or five days.

Bruce had now reached an advanced age. He
longed much for dissolution before it came. In
1627, according to Livingstone, he said, " I wonder
how I am keeped so long here ; I have now lived
two years in violence," meaning he was two years

Ixx BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

beyond the ordinary time of man's days — three
score and ten. He had no pain or sickness
almost to his death — nothing but age and in
firmity. Some of his last sayings have become
" household words " among the religious people
of our country. He was much visited in these
last days by Christian friends and brethren. One
of them asked him how matters stood betwixt
God and his soul, under his frailty and bodily
decays. " When 1 was a young man/' said he,
" I was diligent, and lived by faith in the Son
of God ; but now I am old, and not able to do
so much ; yet He condescends to feed me with
lumps of sense." The last scene is well-known
and truly characteristic. " In the morning he
came to breakfast at his table. After he had
eaten, as his use was, a single egg, he said to
his daughter, ' I think I am yet hungry ; you
may bring me another egg/ and instantly fell
silent ; and after having mused a little he said,
1 Hold, daughter, hold ; my Master calls me/
With these words his sight failed him ; he called
for the Bible, but finding he was not able to
read, ' Cast me up the eighth chapter of Romans,
thirty-eighth verse/ much of which he repeated.
' For I am persuaded that neither life nor death
shall be able to separate me from the Love of
God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.' ' Now/
said he, ' is my finger upon these words ? ' They
told him it was. Then he said, ' God be with
you, my children, I have breakfasted with }rou;
and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ 'his

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ixxi

night ' ; and straight gave up the ghost, without
one groan or shiver. Thus this great champion
for the truth, and the crown and interest of his
Master, who knew not what it was to be afraid
of the face of man, was taken off the field as
more than a conqueror, and had an abundant
entrance administered to him into the everlasting
kingdom of his Lord and Saviour." 1 He died
27th July 1G31, and was buried in an aisle of
the kirk of Larbert, built by himself. He was
followed to the grave by an immense multitude
of people of all ranks and classes, amounting in
number to four or five thousand. His tombstone
bears the inscription :

R. H., 1G.J1. C/trixtu* in i'i(<i ct inortc I it <' nun?

The person of Bruce was tall and dignified ;
his countenance majestic, and his appearance in
the pulpit grave and expressive of much authority.
"Though he was no Boanerges as to his voice,
being of a slow and grave delivery, yet he spoke

1 Wodiow, l,r)G; " Scot's Worthies," ]>. 150, <•<!. 1S70.

- Bruce'a posterity. He resigned the estate of Kinnaird to
his son, Robert Bruce, and his wife, Margaret Menteith, IG'JS.
He, again, resigned it to his eldest son Robert, December 30th,
1643. This son died of wounds received at the battle of Wor
cester, 1651. His brother Alexander succeeded to the estate
in 1655. He married Margaret Elphinstono by \vhom he had
no sons, hut two daughters. The eldest of these married
David Hay of Woodcockdale, Linlithgowshire, 1687- Their son,
David Bruce, was the father of James Bruce — the Abyssinian
traveller, who repaired, enlarged, and lived in Kinnaird. There
being now no direct male descendant the property has changed
hands.

Ixxii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

with so much weight that some of the most stout
hearted of his hearers were ordinarily made to
tremble. . . . Whilst he was in his ministry at
Edinburgh he shone as a great light throughout
the whole land ; the power and efficacy of the
Spirit accompanying most sensibly the word he
preached. He was a terror to evil-doers. His
carriage was with such majesty of countenance
as forced fear and respect from the highest in
the land." l Those who have given us any account
of his preaching record how with much impres-
siveness he carried his hearers back to first prin
ciples. When he came up to the pulpit, after
being for some time silent, which was his usual
way, he would say, " I think it is a great matter
to believe that there is a God," telling the people
that it was another thing to believe than they
judged. But it was also known by those with
whom he was familiar, what extraordinary con
firmations he had and what nearness he attained
in his secret converse with God. Blair says the
first time he heard him preach, the fame of so
great a man caused him to expect something
very extraordinary ; " but his whole sermon did
press the truth of the soul's being immortal, and
that it was a great thing to believe it. Some
what surprised why he dwelt so much upon so
common and known a subject, he afterwards found
that it was some other thing than appears at the
first look, for which men may dispute, and toss as
a notion of the schools, who never knew what

1 Fleming " Fulfilling of the Scriptures."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ixxiii

it was to believe the truth thereof and that a seri
ous impression of it in the heart is something else
than a swimming in the head of some ordinary
speculations." * John Livingston, who was his
hearer in the church of Larbert for a great part
of the summer of 1627, says, "No man in his
time spake with such evidence and power of the
Spirit ; no man had so many seals of conversion ;
yea, many of his hearers thought that no man
since the apostles spake with such power. He
had a notable faculty in searching deep in the
Scriptures, and of making the most dark mysteries
plain, but especially in dealing with every one's
conscience. . . . He was both in public and private
very short in prayer with others, but then every
sentence was like a strong bolt shot up to heaven.
I have heard him say he hath wearied when others
were longsome in prayer, but being alone, he
spent much time in prayer and wrestling. . . .
When he preached at Larbert, he used after the
first sermon on the Sabbath, when he had taken
some little refreshment, to retire to a chamber
in a house near the kirk. I heard one day that
some noblemen being there, he staying long in the
chamber, and they having far to ride after the
afternoon's services, desired the bellman to go
hearken at the door if there were any appearance
of his coming. The bellman returned and said,
' I think he shall not come out the day at all,
for I hear him always saying to another, that he
will not nor cannot go except the other go with

1 Fleming, " Fulfilling of the Scriptures. "

Ixxiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

him, and I hear not the other answer him a word
at all." The foolish bellman understood not that
he was dealing with God. He had a very majestic
countenance, and whatever he spake in public or
private, yea, when he read the Word, I thought
it had such a force as I never discerned in any
other man." 1

Andrew Melville described him as " a hero
adorned with every virtue, a constant confessor
and almost martyr to the Lord Jesus." Calder-
wood in his Preface to the " Altare Damas-
cenum " says, " Robertus Brucius vir genere et
virtute nobilis, rnaj estate vultus venerabilis, qui
plura animarum millia Christo lucri fecit, cujus
anima, si ullius mortalium, (absit verbo invidia),
sedet in celestibus, ex ecclesia Edinburgena 23
ab hinc annis extrusus, et in hunc usque diem
terris jactatus et undis. Anima mea cum anima
tua Bruci, si ex aliena fide esset pendendum."

No life of Robert Bruce has ever been written.
Wodrow has left us " Collections " or " prepara
tions " for such a work extracted mainly from
Calderwood's " History of the Kirk of Scotland."
Wodrow further professes to give in his Appendix
Bruce's own account of the later parts of his life
in several papers, but these papers are not to be
found. Near the close of the " Collections " he
says that what has been given is but a small part
of what might have been preserved " had this
account of his life been written fifty or sixty

1 Livingston, Characteristics, Wodrow Soc., " Select Bio
graphies," i. 306, 307.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

years sooner." There are scattered notices of him
in the remains of Row, Blair, Livingston and
others. In the ordinary Histories of Scotland we
find distinct and even conspicuous mention made
of Bruce during the few years of his prominent
public life as a courtier and minister in the
pulpit of the Capital, but the later part of his
life falls into oblivion. It is unlikely, though
still not impossible, that further materials may
be discovered. Meanwhile little more than such
a sketch as is here given can be made out. It
is not to be denied that the fragmentary and
obscure nature of the record may have, in a sense,
deepened the impression which Bruce left on
the memory of his time. It is partly the gloom
and disappointment of the times and his conduct
under these which have helped to shed lustre on his
name. A man of bold and comprehensive mind,
of stern independence and stainless integrity he
would, in any case, have secured the respect of
his countrymen. Had he chosen to accommo
date himself, even in the slightest degree, to the
contemporary spirit, he might have continued to
stand high in royal favour and might have become
in point of influence the first man of his age. But
the greatness of his character as a Christian minis
ter and patriot shone brightest in adversity, and
thus contributed most largely to secure those bless
ings of religious freedom and liberty of conscience
which have come down to us. It is not only
by his writings that he made his mark. These
give ample proofs of an incisive and masterly

Ixxvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

mind. But his earnest contendings, his patient
personal sufferings, his unflinching protest main
tained to the last, against the course of declension
that was forced upon the Church and country,
have impressed both his own and subsequent ages.
Let us remember that he passed away before
the first fringe of the cloud was raised, though
not before some rays of light had begun to struggle
through. His time was that which one of his
contemporaries has called "the declining age of
the Kirk of Scotland." 1 But this brave man
never lost heart nor hope, never doubted that
a better day would come, and that the cause
of truth and right would triumph. His name
will ever be dear to his country as that of
one of the Heroes of the Scottish Reformation.

1 James Melville's " Diary," p. 505.

SERMONS VPON THE SACRA-

ment of the LorcCs Supper :

PREACHED

IN THE KIRK OF EDIN-

B VR Gil BE M. ROBER T BR VCEy
MINISTER OF CHRISTES

Euangcl there ; at the time of the cele-

bration of the Supper, as they

were receaued from his

niouth.

IOHN. vi. 54. 63.

QohafMuer eaUth mj flefh, and drinketh mj blood, hath eUrnali

life, and I will raife him rp at the laft da jr.
It is the Spirit that quikneth ; the flefh profiteth oithicg : the word*

that I fpejike unto tou, are Spirit and life.

AT EDINBVROH

PRINTED BY ROBERT WALDE-

graue, Printer to the Kings Majejlie.

Cum Priuilegio Regali.

To the

MOST HIGH, PUISSANT, AND CHRISTIAN
PRINCE,

JAMES THK SIXTH, KING OF SCOTS,

GRACE AND PEACE FROM GOD THE FATHER,
AND OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, — I was not of mind, at
the- first, that this work should have come out in
my time ; for the conscience of my own weakness
testifies unto me that nothing worthy of light can
proceed from such a one. Vet, notwithstanding,
being overcome at the last by the instant suit of
our Kirk and Session, I was content that their
authority should command me in this. And if it
shall please the Lord to bless it in such sort, that
poor and simple ones may find either comfort or
instruction in it, suppose learned ears find no con
tentment, I will think myself abundantly satisfied.
For, seeing God has sanctified me in some measure
to His work, it must be an argument of His ever
lasting blessing that if, while life lasteth, it may
be employed always to the profit of His Kirk ; for
who am I that should not employ His own graces
to His own glory ? And I pray God that it may
be found in that great day, that how mean that

Ixxix

DEDICATION

ever they be, yet they were accompanied with this
special grace, that they were well used. And
suppose ye be a King, Sir, of this kingdom
presently, and apparent of another, yet think with
yourself that all your magnificence, honour, wealth,
liberty, and all the rare gifts which God, of His
mercy, has planted in you, cannot be otherwise
well employed except they be employed to the
defence of the truth, and of that pure and sincere
discipline grounded thereupon, which, to your
Majesty's great praise, and to our singular com
fort, has this long time, by your Majesty's autho
rity, been established in this country ; for this sort
of doing shows that God has not only made you an
heir to earthly kingdoms, but also has appointed
you to be a fellow-heir with Jesus Christ, of that
immortal kingdom and glorious Crown that cannot
fade or fall away. And as your Majesty's life and
liberty has hitherto been conjoined with the stand
ing and liberty of Jesus Christ's kingdom within
your country, continue and stick by this liberty,
and, no doubt, Jesus Christ shall stick by you. I
will not fash your Majesty with many words ; only
this I do your Majesty to wit, that I clothe not
this work with your Majesty's name and authority
for any worthiness that I thought to be in it — for
it is rudely set out in sensible and homely terms,
as it was received of my mouth, and as it pleased
God for the time to give me it ; but I had this
respect, that as it is the first thing that proceeds
from me, so I thought meet to make it the first
testimony of my thankfulness and sincere affection,

DEDICATION Ixxxi

as well to the truth of God as to your Majesty's
service, whom, under God, I tender as mine own
life, and would be glad that God would bless me
with the influence that might advance your High
ness' name or estimation, both here in this present
world and in the world to come. And, in the
meantime, because I may not as I would, I shall
do as 1 may, in my prayers continually remember
your Royal person, together with the Queen your
bed-fellow ; and crave continuance of your race, at
the hands of the Almighty God, through the
righteous merits of Jesus Christ ; under whose
protection, for now and ever, I leave your Majesty.
From Edinburgh, the 9th of December 1590.

Your Majesty's most humble and obedient
subject,

MR ROBERT BRUCE,

Minister oj Christ's Evangel.

9

SERMONS UPON THE SACRAMENT

: FIRST SERMON

UPON THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL
(/Vwc/j'W the first of Ftbrwtry 1589)

For I have received of the Lord, tliat which I also have
delivered unto you, to wit, that the Lord Jesus in the night
when he was betrayed took Bread, &c. — 1 COK. xi. 23.

THERE is nothing in this world, nor out of the
world, more to be craved and sought of every
one of you, than to be conjoined, and once for all
made one with the God of glory, Christ Jesus.
This heavenly and celestial conjunction is procured
and brought about by two special means ; It is
brought about by means of the word and preach
ing of the Gospel ; and it is brought about by
means of the sacraments, and ministration thereof.
The word leads us to Christ by the ear ; the
sacraments lead us to Christ by the eye : two
senses, of all the rest, which God has chosen as
most meet for this purpose, to instruct us and
bring us to Christ. For that doctrine must be
most effectual and moving which addresses and
stirs up most of the outward senses : that doctrine
which awakens not only the ear, but the eye, the
taste, the feeling, and all the rest of the outward

2 THE FIRST SERMON

senses, must move the heart most, must be most
effectual and piercing in the soul. But so it is,
that this doctrine of the sacraments moves, stirs up
and awakens most of the outward senses ; therefore
it must be (if we come well prepared to it) most
effectual to stir up the inward senses of the dull
heart. But there is a thing that must ever be
remembered ; there is no doctrine, neither of the
simple word, nor yet of the sacraments, (if Christ
abstract his Holy Spirit), that is able to move.
Therefore, whenever you come to hear the doctrine,
whether it be of the sacraments or of the simple
word, crave of God that He would be present by
his Holy Spirit, or otherwise all the doctrine in
the earth will not avail you. Nevertheless this
doctrine of the sacraments stirs up and awakens
most of the outward senses, and there is no
question therefore, but it is an effectual and
potent instrument, to awaken, prepare, and stir
up our hearts.

Then, to let you see what the word " sacra
ment " means, and to remove the ambiguity of it,
it is certain and out of all question, that the most
ancient Latin divines, did interpret the Greek
word fwgrjjgiov, by the word " sacrament " ; and
that they used the Greek word, not only to signify
the whole action, — as the whole action of Baptism,
and the whole action of the Lord's Supper ;
but they used the word " Mystery," to signify
whatsoever is dark and hid in itself, and not
made familiar by the common use of men : as,
after this manner, the Apostle calls the voca-

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 3

tion of the Gentiles a mystery.1 This con
junction which is begun here between us and
Christ, is called a Mystery ; 2 and the Latin in
terpreters call it a Sacrament : and to be short,
you will not find in the Book of God a word
more frequent than the word Mystery. But as
to the word Sacrament, whereby they translate
the Greek word, we find not this word taken so
largely by the same divines : neither is it taken
so largely in any part of the Book of God. Never
theless the word " sacrament " is very ambiguous
in itself, and there arise about the ambiguity of
this word many controversies which are not yet
ceased, nor will cease while the world lasts :
whereas if they had kept the Apostle's words,
and called them as the Apostle calls them, Signs
and Seals ; all this controversy, strife and con
tention, had probably not fallen out. But where
men will be wiser than God, and give names to
things without warrant from God, upon the wit
of man, which is mere folly, all this trouble falls
out.

Well then, to come to the purpose ; the ancient
divines took the word Sacrament, as we may
perceive, in a fourfold manner. Sometimes they
took it for the whole action, that is, for the whole
ministry of the elements : sometimes they took
it, not for the whole action, but for the outward
things that are used in the action of Baptism and
of the Supper; as they took it for the water
and sprinkling of it ; for the bread and wine,
1 Ephcs. iii. 9. 2 Ephes. v. 32.

4 THE FIRST SERMON

— breaking, distributing, and eating of these.
Thirdly, again, they took it, not for the whole
outward things that are used in the action, but
only for the material and earthly things, the
elements : as for bread and wine in the Supper,
and water in Baptism. And after this sort, says
Augustine, " the wicked eat the body of our
Lord, concerning the sacrament only ; that is
concerning the elements only." Last of all, they
took it, not only for the elements, but for the
things signified by the elements. And after this
manner Irenaeus says, that a sacrament stands
on two things : the one earthly, the other heavenly.
The ancient divines then, taking the word after
these sorts, no question, all these ways, took it
rightly.

But leaving the ambiguity of the word, I take
the word Sacrament, as it is taken and used this
day in the Church of God, for a holy Sign and
Seal that is annexed to the preached word of
God, to seal up and confirm the truth contained
in the same word : in such sort that I call not
the seal separated from the word, a sacrament.
For as there cannot be a Seal but that which is
the seal of an evidence ; and if the seal be
separated from the evidence it is not a seal, but
simply what it is by nature, and no more. So
there cannot be a sacrament except it be hung
to the evidence of the word. Was it a common
piece of bread ? It remains common bread, ex
cept it be joined to the evidence of the word.
Therefore the word only cannot be a sacrament,

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 5

nor the element only; but wonl and element
conjointly, must make a sacrament. And so
Augustine said well, " Let the word come to the
element, and so you shall have a sacrament." Ju
such sort then, the word must come to the
element : that is, the word preached distinctly,
and all the parts of it opened up, must go before
the hanging to of the sacrament ; and the sacra
ment as a seal must follow and be appended
thereafter.

Thus I call a sacrament, the word and seal
conjointly, the one appended to the other. It is
without all controversy, and there is no debate
about it, that all sacraments are signs : Now if
a sacrament be a sign, as the sign is in a relation,
in that category, (for so we must speak it :) so
must the Sacrament be placed in that same
category of relation. Now every relation again
must stand, of necessity, between two things ; for
one thing cannot be the correlative of itself:
therefore in every sacrament that has a relation,
there must be two things which two have ever
a mutual respect the one to the other. Take
away one of these two things from the sacrament,
you lose the relation, and losing the relation, you
lose the sacrament, Confound one of these two
with the other ; make either a confusion or mix
ture of them, you lose the relation : and losing the
relation, you lose the sacrament. Turn over the
one into the other, so that the substance of
the one escapes, and vanishes in the other ; you
lose the relation, and so you lose the sacrament.

6 THE FIRST SERMON

Therefore as in every sacrament there is a
relation, so to keep the relation, you must ever
keep the two things severally in the sacrament.

Now for the better understanding and con
sideration of these two diverse things which are
relative to one another, we shall keep this order,
by God's grace. (1) First I shall let you see what
is meant by a sign in the sacrament. (2) Next
I shall let you understand what is meant by the
thing signified. (3) Thirdly, how these two are
coupled, by what power and virtue they are con
joined ; and from whence this power and virtue
flows. (4) Fourthly, and last of all, I shall let you
understand whether one and the selfsame instru
ment gives the sign and the thing signified, or
not ; whether they be given in one action or
two ; whether they be offered to one instrument or
two ; or whether they be given, after one manner
or two, to both the instruments. Mark these
diversities ; the diverse manner of receiving, the
diversity of the instruments, and the diversity of
the givers : and ye shall find little difficulty in
understanding the sacrament.

1. Now to begin at the signs, seeing all sacra
ments are signs, what call we the signs in the
sacrament ? I call the signs in the sacrament
whatsoever I perceive and take up by my outward
senses, by mine eye especially. Now you see in
this Sacrament, there are two sorts of things
subject to the outward senses, and to the eye
especially : you see the elements of Bread and
Wine are subject to mine eye ; therefore they

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 7

must be signs. You see again, that the rites
and ceremonies, whereby these elements are dis
tributed, broken, and given, are subject to mine
eye also. Therefore 1 must make two sorts of
signs ; one sort of the Bread and Wine, and we
call them elemental : another sort of the rites and
ceremonies whereby these are distributed, broken,
and given ; and we call them ceremonial. Be
not deceived with the word " ceremony " ; think
not that I call the breaking of the Bread, and
drinking of the Wine, "ceremonies"; think not
that they are vain, as we use that word " cere
mony " for a vain thing, which has no grace nor
profit following after it. No, although I call
them "ceremonies," there is never a ceremony
which Christ instituted in this Supper, but it is
as essential as the Bread and Wine are, and you
cannot leave out one jot of them, but you pervert
the whole institution : for whatever Christ com
manded to be done, whatever he spake or did, in
that whole action, it is essential and must be
done.

The reason why I call them Signs is this : I
call them not signs for the reason that men
commonly call them signs, because they signify
only ; as the bread signifies the body of Christ,
and the wine signifies the blood of Christ : I call
them not signs because they represent only ; but
I call them signs, because they have the body and
blood of Christ conjoined with them. Yea so
truly is the body of Christ conjoined with that
Bread, and the blood of Christ conjoined with

8 THE FIRST SERMON

that Wine, that as soon as thou receivest that
Bread in thy mouth (if thou be a believing man
or woman) so soon receivest thou the body of
Christ in thy soul, and that by faith : and as
soon as thou receivest that Wine in thy mouth,
so soon receivest thou the blood of Christ in thy
soul, and that by faith : In respect of this ex
hibition chiefly, that they are instruments to
deliver and exhibit the things that they signify,
and not in respect only of their representation,
are they called signs. For if they did nothing
but represent or signify a thing absent, then any
picture or dead image should be a sacrament ; for
there is no picture, — as, for example, the picture
of the King, — but at the sight of the picture, the
King will come in your mind, and it will signify
unto you that that is the King's picture. So
if the sign of the sacrament did no more, all
pictures should be sacraments : but in respect
that the sacrament exhibits and delivers the
thing that it signifies, to the soul and heart, so
soon as the sign is delivered to the mouth, for
this cause, especially, it is called a sign. There
is no picture of the King that will deliver the
King unto you ; there is no other image that
will exhibit the thing whereof it is the image ;
therefore there is no image can be a sacrament.
Thus, in respect the Lord hath appointed the
sacraments, as hands to deliver and exhibit the
thing signified, for this delivery and exhibition
chiefly they are called signs. As the word of
the Gospel is a mighty and potent instrument to

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 9

our everlasting salvation : so the Sacrament is a
potent instrument appointed by God to deliver
to us Christ Jesus, for our everlasting salvation.
For this spiritual meat is dressed and served
up to us in spiritual dishes : that is, in the
ministry of the word, and in the ministry of
the sacraments. And though this ministry be
external, yet the Lord is said to deliver spiritual
and heavenly things by these external things.
Why ? Because He has appointed them as instru
ments whereby He will deliver his own Son to us.
For this is certain, that none has power to deliver
Christ Jesus to us, except God and his Holy
Spirit : and therefore, to speak properly, there
is none can deliver Christ but God by his own
Spirit. He is delivered by the ministry of the
Holy Spirit ; it is the Holy Spirit that seals Him
up in our hearts, and confirms us more and more
in Him : as the Apostle gives Him this style,
2 Cor. i. L>1>.

To speak properly, there is none has power to
deliver Christ but God the Father or Himself.
There is none has power to deliver the Mediator
but His own Spirit : yet it has pleased God to
use some instruments and means, whereby He will
deliver Christ Jesus to us. The means are these ;
the ministry of the word, and the ministry of the
sacraments ; and in respect He uses these as
means to deliver Christ, they are said to deliver
Him. But here you have to distinguish between
the principal efficient deliverer, and the instru
mental efficient, which is the word and sacra-

10 THE FIRST SERMON

ments : keeping this distinction, both these are
true ; God by his word, and God by his Spirit,
delivers Christ Jesus to you. Therefore I say,
I call them signs, because God has made them
potent instruments to deliver that same thing
which they signify.

2. Now I come to the thing signified, and I
call the thing signified by the signs in the
sacrament, that which Irenaeus, that old writer,
calls the heavenly and spiritual thing : to wit,
whole Christ with his whole gifts, benefits and
graces, applied and given to my soul. Thus I
call not the thing signified by the signs of Bread
and Wine, — the benefits of Christ, — the graces of
Christ, — or, the virtue that flows out of Christ
only : but I call the thing signified, — together
with the benefits and virtues flowing from Him, —
the very substance of Christ Himself, from which
this virtue doth flow. The substance with the
virtues, gifts and graces that flow from the sub
stance, is the thing signified here. As for the
virtue and graces that flow from Christ, it is not
possible that thou canst be partaker of the virtue
that flows from His substance, except thou be
first partaker of the substance itself. For how is
it possible that I can be partaker of the juice
that flows out of any substance, except I be
partaker of the substance itself first ? Is it
possible that my stomach can be refreshed with
that meat, the substance whereof never came
into my mouth ? Is it possible my thirst can
be slaked with that drink, which never passed

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 11

down my throat ? Is it possible that I can suck
any virtue out of anything except I get the sub
stance first ? So it is impossible that I can get
the juice and virtue that flow out of Christ
except I get the substance, that is — Himself first.
So I call not the thing signified, the grace and
virtue that flow from Christ only ; nor Christ
himself and his substance, without his virtue and
graces ; but jointly the substance with the graces,
— whole Christ, God and man, without separation
of His natures, without distinction of His sub
stance from His graces.

This I call the thing signified by the signs in
the Sacrament : for why ? if no more be signified
by the Bread but the flesh and body of Christ
only, and no more be signified by the Wine but
the blood of Christ only, thou canst not say, that
the body of Christ is Christ ; it is but a part of
Christ : thou canst not say, that the blood of
Christ is whole Christ ; it is but a part of Him :
and a piece of thy Saviour saved thee not ; a part
of thy Saviour wrought not the work of thy salva
tion : and so suppose thou get a piece of Him in
the sacrament, that part will do thee no good.
To the end therefore that this .sacrament may
nourish thee to life everlasting, thou must get in
it thy whole Saviour, whole Christ, God and man,
with his whole graces and benefits, without separa
tion of His substance from His graces, or of the
one nature from the other. And how get I Him ?
Not by my mouth. It is a vain thing to think
that we will get God by our mouth : but we get

12 THE FIRST SERMON

Him by faith. As He is a Spirit, so I eat Him
by faith and belief in my soul ; not by the teeth
of my mouth ; that is a vain thing. Be it, that
thou mightest eat the flesh of Christ with thy
teeth, this were a cruel manner of doing ; yet
thou mayest not eat the God-head with thy
teeth : this is a gross fashion of speaking. So
if ever you get good of the Sacrament, you must
get whole Christ ; and there is not an instrument
whereby to lay hold of Him but by faith only :
therefore come with a believing heart.

O ! but you will ask me, — and by appearance,
the definition laid down of the thing signified
gives a ground to it, — if the flesh of Christ and
the blood of Christ be a part of the thing signi
fied, how can I call His flesh a spiritual thing, and
Christ in respect of His flesh, a heavenly thing ?
You will not say that the substance of Christ's
flesh is spiritual, or that the substance of His
blood is spiritual ; wherefore then call you it an
heavenly and spiritual thing ? I will tell you ; —
The flesh of Christ is called a spiritual thing, and
Christ is called spiritual in respect of His flesh :
not that His flesh is become a spirit ; or that
the substance of His flesh is become spiritual.
No ! it remains true flesh, and the substance of
it is one, as it was in the womb of the Virgin.
Nor is His flesh called spiritual, in respect it is
glorified in the heavens at the right hand of the
Father ; be not deceived with that : for though
it be glorified, yet it remains true flesh, that same
flesh which He took out of the womb of the

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 13

Virgin. Neither is it spiritual, because thou
seest it not in the Supper ; if thou wert where
it is, thou mightest see it : but it is called
spiritual in respect of the spiritual ends where-
unto it serves to my body and soul ; because
the flesh and blood of Christ serves to nourish
rne, not to a temporal, but to a spiritual and
heavenly life.

Now in respect this flesh is a spiritual food,
serving me to a spiritual life, for this cause it is
called a spiritual thing : if it nourish me as the
flesh of beasts doth, but to a temporal life, it
should be called but a temporal thing : but in
respect it nourishes my soul, not to an earthly
and temporal life, but to an heavenly, celestial,
and spiritual end, in respect of this cud, the
flesh of Christ, and Christ in respect of His flesh,
is called the spiritual thing in the Sacrament. It
is also called the spiritual thing in the Sacrament,
in respect of the spiritual instrument whereby it
is received. The instrument whereby the flesh of
Christ is received, is not a corporal instrument ;
is not the teeth and mouth of the body, but it is
spiritual, it is the mouth of the soul which is
faith : and in respect the instrument is spiritual,
therefore Christ who is received, is also called
spiritual. In respect also that the manner of
receiving is a heavenly, spiritual, and celestial
manner ; not a natural nor external manner : in
respect that the flesh of Christ which is given
in the Sacrament, is received in a spiritual and
secret manner, which is not seen by the eyes of

i

14 THE FIRST SERMON

men ; in all these respects I call Christ Jesus the
heavenly and spiritual thing, which is signified by
the signs in the Sacrament.

Now I say, in the end, the thing signified must
be applied to us. What avails it me to see my
medicine in a box, standing in an apothecary's
shop ? What can it work toward me if it be
not applied ? What avails it me to see my salva
tion afar off, if it be not applied to me ? There
fore it is not enough for us to see Christ, but He
must be given us, or else He cannot work health
and salvation in us. And as this salvation is
given us, we must have a mouth to take it.
What avails it me to see meat before me, except
I have a mouth to take it ? So the thing signi
fied in the Sacrament, must be given us by God,
by the three persons of the Trinity one God, by
Christ Jesus, who must give Himself: and as
He gives Himself, so must we have a mouth to
take Him. Though He presents and offers Him
self, yet He can profit and avail none but those
who have a mouth to receive Him. Thus you see
what I call the thing signified : whole Christ, God
and Man, without separation of His natures, with
out distinction of His substance from His graces,
all applied to us and received by us.

Therefore I say, seeing we come to the Sacra
ment to be fed by His flesh, and refreshed by His
blood, to be fed to an heavenly and spiritual life :
and seeing there is no profit to be had at this
table without some kind of preparation : there
fore let no man presume to come to this table,

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 15

except in some measure he be prepared. Some
will be prepared in a greater measure than others;
but let no man presume to go to it, except his
heart be in some measure sanctified. Therefore
my exhortation concerning the way, whereby every
one of you ought to prepare yourselves that you
may tit you the better to the table, is this ;
There is not one of you that comes to the table
of the Lord, who may bring before the Lord his
integrity, justice, and uprightness : but whosoever
goes to the table of the Lord, he ought to go
with the acknowledging and confession of his
misery : he ought to go with a sorrowful heart,
for the sins wherein he has offended (lod ; he
ought to go with a hatred of those sins : Not to
protest that he is holy, just and upright ; but to
protest, and confess, that lie is miserable, and of
all creatures the most miserable : and therefore he
goes to that table to get support for his misery,
to obtain mercy at the throne of Grace : to get
remission and forgiveness of his sins, to get the
gift of repentance, that more and more he may
study to live uprightly, holily, and soberly in all
time to come. Therefore except you have entered
on this course, and have a purpose to continue in
this course, to amend your past life, to repent you
of your sins, and by the grace of God to live more
uprightly and soberly than you have done ; for
God's cause, go not to the table. For where
there is not a purpose to do well and to repent,
of necessity there must be a purpose to do ill :
and whosoever comes to that table with a pur-

16 THE FIRST SERMON

pose to do ill, and without a purpose to repent,
he comes to mock Christ, to scorn Him to His
face, and to eat his own present condemnation.
So let no man come to that table that has not
in his heart a purpose to do better, that has not
a heart to sorrow for his past sins, and thinks not
his former folly and madness over-great. Let no
man come to the table without this, under the
pain of condemnation. But if you have in your
heart a purpose to do better, though your former
life has been dissolute and loose ; yet if you be
touched in your hearts with any feeling or remorse
for your past life, go not from the table, but come
with a protestation of your misery and wretched
ness, and come with a heart to get grace. If
with a dissolute life, (I mean not of open slanders)
thou hast also a purpose not to amend, but to do
worse, for God's sake abstain.

Thus far of the thing signified. Unto this
general consideration there remain these things
yet, to be made plain to you : First, how the
signs and the thing signified are coupled together,
— how they are conjoined. Next, it remains to
be told you, how the sign is delivered and how
the thing signified is delivered, and how both are
received as they are delivered. This being done,
I shall speak briefly of the other part of the
Sacrament, which is the word. And last of all, we
shall let you see what sort of faults they are that
pervert the sacrament, and make it of no effect.
And if time shall serve, I shall enter, in particular,
upon this sacrament which we have in hand.

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 17

3. Then, to come back again. In the third
place, it is to be considered, how the sign and
the thing signified, are coupled : For about this
conjunction all the debate stands ; all the strifes
that we have with those who vary from the
straight truth, turn upon the manner of this con
junction. Some will have them conjoined one
way, and some after another way ; and men strive
very bitterly about this matter, and continue so
to strive, that through the bitterness of contention,
they lose the truth. For when the heat of con
tention arises, and especially in disputation, they
take no heed to the truth, but to the victory. If
they may be victorious, though it were but by a
multitude of words, they regard not even if they
lose the truth. Head their works and books about
this conjunction, and you will crave rather con
science than knowledge : yea if they had the
quarter of conscience, that they have of knowledge,
no question this controversy might be easily taken
up : but men lacking conscience, and having know
ledge, an evil conscience perverts their knowledge,
and draws them to an evil end.

To tell you now how these two are conjoined,
it will be far easier for me, and easier for you to
understand, to tell you first how they are not
conjoined : for I shall make it very clear to you,
by letting you see how they are not conjoined :
but it is not possible to make it so clear by
telling you the manner how they are conjoined.
You may perceive clearly by your own eyes, that
the sign and the thing signified are not locally

18 THE FIRST SERMON

conjoined : that is, they are not both in one
place. You may perceive also by your outward
senses, that the body of Christ, which is the thing
signified, and the signs, are not conjoined corpor
ally ; their bodies touch not one another. You
may perceive also that they are not visibly con
joined, they are not both subject to the outward
eye. So it is easy to let you see how they are
not conjoined. For if the sign and the thing
signified were visibly and corporally conjoined,
what need were there for us to have a sign ? To
what end should the sign in the Sacrament serve
us ? Is not the sign in the Sacrament appointed
to lead me to Christ ? Is not the sign appointed
to point out Christ to me ? If I saw Him present
with mine own eye, as I do the Bread, what need
had I of the Bread ? Therefore you may see
clearly, that there is no such thing as a corporal,
natural, or any such like physical conjunction
between the sign and the thing signified. So I
say, it is easy to let you see how they are not
conjoined.

Now let us see how they are conjoined. We
cannot crave here any other sort of conjunction
than may stand and agree with the nature of the
sacrament : for nothing can be conjoined with
another, after any other sort, than the nature of it
will suffer ; therefore there cannot be here any
other sort of conjunction than the nature of the
sacrament will suffer. Now the nature of the
sacrament will allow a sacramental conjunction.
0, but that is as hard yet ; you are never the

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 19

better for this ; but I shall make it clear, by
God's grace. Every sacrament is a mystery ;
there is not a sacrament but it contains a high
and divine mystery. In respect then that a
sacrament is a mystery, it follows, that a
mystical, secret, and spiritual conjunction agrees
well with the nature of the sacrament. Since
the conjunction between us and Christ is full of
mystery, as the Apostle lets us see, (Eph. v. 32)
as it is a mystical and spiritual conjunction : so
no doubt the conjunction between the sacrament
and the thing signified in the sacrament, must be
of the same nature ; mystical and spiritual. It is
not possible to tell you by any ocular demonstra
tion, how Christ and we are conjoined. But
whoever would understand that conjunction, his
mind must be enlightened with an heavenly eye ;
that as he has an eye in his head to see corporal
things : so he must have in his mind and heart
a heavenly eye to see this mystical conjunction ;
a heavenly eye to take up this secret conjunction
that is between the Son of God and us in the
sacrament. So I need not to insist any longer :
except you have this heavenly illumination, you
can never understand your own conjunction with
Christ, nor yet the conjunction between the sign
and the thing signified in the sacrament.

But I keep to my ground. As the sacrament
is a mystery ; so the conjunction that is in the
sacrament, no doubt must be a mystical, secret
and spiritual conjunction. Besides this, I will let
you see by a general deduction, that in every

20 THE FIRST SERMON

sacrament are two things ; which two have a
relation and mutual respect the one to the other :
so that a relative conjunction agrees well with the
nature of the sacrament. Then wilt thou ask
what kind of conjunction it is ? I answer, the
conjunction that agrees with their nature ; namely,
a relative and a respective conjunction ; such a con
junction wherein the sign has a continual respect
to the thing signified, and the thing signified to
the sign.

Would you know, then, in a word the kind of
conjunction that is between the sign and the
thing signified ? I call it a secret and mystical
conjunction, that stands in a mutual relation
between the sign and the thing signified. There
is another conjunction, besides the conjunction
that is between Christ and us, that may make
this conjunction betwixt the sign and the thing
signified in the Sacrament more clear : and this
is the conjunction which is between the word
which you hear, and the thing signified by the
same word. Mark what sort of conjunction there
is between the word which you hear, and the
thing signified which cometh into your mind ; the
like conjunction is there between the sign that
you see, and the thing signified in the sacrament.
You may easily perceive that there is a conjunc
tion by the effect, although you cannot so well
know the manner of conjunction. And why ?
You hear not the word so soon spoken by me, but
immediately the thing which my words signify,
comes into your mind. If I speak of things past,

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 21

of things to come, or of things that are never so
far absent, I can no sooner speak to you of them
in this language, but presently the thing signified
comes into your mind ; no doubt because there is
a conjunction between the word and the tiling
signified by the word. As for example : though
Paris, be far distant from us ; yet if I speak of
Paris the word is no sooner spoken, but the City
will come into your mind. If I speak of the
King, although he be far distant from us, the
word is no sooner spoken but the thing signified
will come into your mind. So this coming of the
thing signified into heart and mind, makes it plain
to you, that there is a conjunction between the
word and the thing signified by the word.

To tell you of this sort of conjunction is not so
easy, because the thing signified is not present to
the eye, as the word is to the ear. If everything
signified were as present to your eye as the word
is to the ear, it were easy to see the conjunction :
but now seeing the conjunction is mystical, secret,
and spiritual, therefore it is hard to make you
understand it. Only observe what conjunction there
is between the simple word and the thing signified
by the word ; the same kind of conjunction is there
between the sacrament and the thing signified by
the sacrament : for the Sacrament is no other
thing but a visible word. I call it a visible word.
Why ? Because it conveys the signification of it,
by the eye to the mind ; as this is an audible
word, because it conveys the signification of it by
the ear to the mind. In the sacrament so often

22 THE FIRST SERMON

as you look on it, you shall no sooner see the Bread
with your eye, but the body of Christ shall come
into your mind ; you shall no sooner see the Wine,
but after the preaching and opening up of the
parts of the sacrament, the blood of Christ shall
come into your mind.

Now this conjunction between the sign and the
thing signified in the sacrament, stands chiefly
as you may perceive, in two things. First, in a
relation between the sign and the thing signified ;
which arises from a likeness and proportion betwixt
these two : for if there were no proportion arid
analogy between the sign and the thing signified
by the sign, there could not be a sacrament or a
relation. So the first part of this conjunction
stands in a relation, which arises from a certain
similitude and likeness which the one has to the
other. And this likeness may be easily perceived :
for look how able the Bread is to nourish thy body
to this life, earthly and temporal ; the flesh of
Christ signified by the Bread, is as able to nourish
both body and soul to life everlasting. So you may
perceive some kind of proportion between the sign
and the thing signified. The Second point of the
conjunction stands in a continual and mutual con
curring of the one with the other ; in such sort
that the sign and the thing signified are offered
both together, received together at one time, and
in one action ; the one outwardly, the other in
wardly, if so be that thou hast a mouth in thy
soul, which is faith, to receive it. Thus the
second point of conjunction stands in a joint

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 23

offering, and in a joint receiving : and this I call
a concurrence. Thus would you know what
manner of conjunction is between the sign and
the thing signified ? I say, it is a relative con
junction, a secret and a mystical conjunction,
which stands in a mutual relation. There is no
more to be observed here but this only, that while
you conjoin these two, you be careful not to con
found them : beware that you turn not the one
into the other, but keep each of them in his own
integrity, without confusion or mixture of the one
with the other; and so you shall have the lawful
conjunction that should be in the sacrament.

There is not a lesson that can be learned out
of this, at the least that I can mark or gather, —
except only the lesson of the kindness and good
ness of the overliving God, who has invented so
many wonderful sorts of conjunction, and all to
this purpose, that we might be conjoined ; to
advance this great and mystical conjunction
between the God of Glory and us : In the which
conjunction, our weal, felicity, and happiness in
this life, and in the life to come, do only stand :
that He is so careful to conjoin Himself with His
word and sacraments, that we, in His word and
sacraments, might be conjoined with Him. If
we were moved with the care and love of God
expressed in these conjunctions, though it were
never so little on our parts, assuredly we should
never defraud ourselves of the fruit of that happy
conjunction, nor bring it into such loathing and
disdain as we do this day : for we by following

24 THE FIRST SERMON

and preferring our pleasures to Christ and His
counsel, have made the stomachs of our souls so
foul and ill-disposed, that either they receive Him
not at all, or if He be received, He is not able to
tarry. And why ? Because a foul stomach is not
able to keep Him : for immediately we choke Him
so, either with the lusts of the flesh, or with the
cares of this world, that He is compelled to depart.
And if Christ be not both eaten and digested, He
can do us no good : and this digestion cannot be,
where there is not a greedy appetite to the receiv
ing of Him ; for if thou be not hungry for Him,
He is not ready for thee. And I am assured, if all
the men in this country were examined by this
rule, — that there were none that received Christ
but he that has a stomach and is hungry for Him,
I doubt that few should be found to receive Him.
I fear that we have taken such a loathing and
disdain of that heavenly food, that there is not
such a thing as any kind of hunger or appetite
for it in our souls.

And what is the cause of this ? I will tell
you : Though we have renounced the corporal and
gross idolatry wherein our fathers were plunged
and drowned, and which men, in some parts, go
about to erect still : yet, as the manners of this
country, and the behaviour of every one of us
testifies, there is not a man that has renounced
that damnable idol that he has in his own soul,
nor the invisible idolatry that he has in his own
heart and mind. There is not a man but to
that same idol wherewith he was conceived and

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 25

born, and whereunto lie addicted himself and was
a slave before, but to that idol he gives his service
yet. And therefore marvel not, when thou hast
addicted thy service, set thy affection, and poured
out thy heart upon that pleasure, idol, lust and
mischief of thine own, marvel not if thou have
no appetite to Christ nor to that heavenly food.
When thou hast thy soul poured forth on some
villainy and wickedness, and hast sent it far
afield, how is it possible for thee to retire it or
draw it home again, to employ it where thou
shouldest, on Christ Jesus ? Then let every one
in his own rank, take heed to his own domestic
idol that lodges within his own heart, and strive to
clear himself of it ; or otherwise you cannot see the
face of Christ, nor be partakers of His kingdom.

There is not another lesson in Christianity but
this : this is the first and the last lesson, —
to shake oil' your lusts and affections piece by
piece, and so piece by piece renounce thyself,
that thou mayest embrace Christ. I grant there
is greater progress in this point, in some than in
others ; some less, some more profit in this : but
except, in some measure, you cast oil' yourselves,
and whatsoever in your own eyes you count
most precious, to come by Christ, you are not
worthy of Him. And this is very hard to be
done : It is very easy for a man to speak it, to
bid a man renounce his own idol, which I call
his affections ; but it is not so soon done.
Assuredly the stronger must come in to cast out
these affections ; yea, a stronger than the devil

26 THE FIRST SERMON

must come in to drive out the devil who makes
residence in the affection, or else he will remain
there for ever. Therefore, there are not many
that have renounced themselves ; and examine
thine heart when thou wilt, if there be anything
in the world thou lovest better than Christ : if
thou be not content to leave father and mother,
to leave wife and children, or whatsoever is
dearest to thee in this world, for Christ, thou art
not worthy of Him. If thou be not content to
cast off whatever makes thee a stranger to Christ,
thou art not worthy of Him.

Is this any small matter, — seeing there is no
part nor power of our souls but is opposed to it,
and repines against this heavenly conjunction ?
Is this an easy thing, to cast off and renounce
ourselves, that we may come to Christ ? There
is no greater thing than this : It has not entered
into every heart, to consider this ; for this work
of a new creation is ten thousand times greater
than the work of our first creation. And there
fore, it is most necessary that every man take
heed to himself; for the devil is so crafty on
this point, that he erects ever, one idol or other
in our souls ; and sometimes under the show of
virtue ; which of all is most dangerous. And
in every work that we take in hand, be it never
so holy, he is at our right hand, and makes
himself to have interest in it : and he contents
himself not with this, under the show of virtue to
deceive us ; but he is so watchful, that even
in the best case, when you are best occupied

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 27

in your most virtuous actions, he mixes them
with sins, and so does all that lies in him to
make you lose your profit, and lose your reward.
For when you are best occupied he goes about
to engender in you an opinion of yourselves, and
so defraud (Jod of His glory. Or, otherwise, in
doing of good deeds he makes you so slack and
negligent, that if you do them, you do them coldly,
or so indiscreetly, that he makes yon begin at
the last first, and makes that which should be
first, last ; and so, as Martha was, to be occupied
and over-busy in those things which are not so
necessary, as the things wherein Mary was occupied :
for she should have preferred first the hearing
of the word, to the preparing of Christ's supper.
This is but to give you an insight, and to let
you see that the devil is so crafty, that either he
casts in a false conceit of ourselves, in doing any
good turn, or else makes us do that last which
should be first ; or then, makes us altogether so
sluggish and so negligent, that we do the work
of the Lord coldly : and so one way or other, he
holds us ever in a continual business, so that
we cannot be half watchful enough. For we
have to do with principalities and powers, with
spiritual wickednesses, which are above us, and
within us also : for there is not that man that
has corruption within him, but Satan is in him :
we cannot therefore be half watchful or studious
enough to cast out the devil, to renounce our
selves, and to submit us unto the obedience of
Christ. Thus far concerning the conjunction.

28 THE FIRST SERMON

Now seeing that the sign and the thing signified
are diverse, it remains to be considered how the
sign is delivered, and how the thing signified is
delivered ; and after what manner they are re
ceived. And therefore concerning this, you have
these things to weigh. (1) First, to consider
whether the sign and the thing signified, be
delivered unto you by one man or not. (2)
Secondly, to consider whether the sign and the
thing signified, be delivered unto you in one
action or not. (3) Thirdly, whether both these
things be given by one instrument or not. (4)
Fourthly, you are to consider whether the sign
and the thing signified be offered and received
after one manner or not. After you have con
sidered all these, you shall find in the end that
the sign and the thing signified are not given
by one person. You shall find next, that they
are not given in one sort of action. Thirdly, you
shall find that they are not both offered and
given by one instrument. And fourthly, you shall
find that they are not both given and received
after one manner. So finding this diversity, you
have this to do : mark the diversity of the
offerers and givers : mark the diversity of the
actions : mark, thirdly, the diversity of the in
struments : and fourthly, the diverse manner of
receiving. Mark all these diligently, and you
shall find little difficulty in understanding the
Sacrament.

(1) And first to make it clear unto you, I say,
that the sign and the thing signified by the sign,

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 29

are not both given by one man ; and this you see
plainly. As for the sign, — that Bread and that
Wine, — you see yourselves, that the Minister offers
unto you the sign, he gives you that Sacrament ;
as that sign is an earthly and corporal thing, so
it is an earthly and corporal man that gives it.
Now the thing signified is of another nature : for
it is a heavenly and spiritual thing. Therefore
this heavenly thing is not given by an earthly
man ; this incorruptible thing is not given by a
natural and corruptible man. But Christ Jesus
has locked up and reserved the ministry of this
heavenly thing to Himself alone. Therefore there
are two givers in this sacrament ; the Minister
gives the earthly thing; Christ Jesus the Mediator,
gives the heavenly thing in this sacrament. For
Christ, in giving the earthly thing, will not use
His own ministry immediately, nor the ministry
of an angel, but only the ministry of an earthly
man. And as for the dispensation of His own
body and blood, He will not give it either to any
heavenly creature, far less to an earthly man ; but
He keeps this ministry to Himself; and He dis
penses His own body and blood, to whom and when
He pleases. For why ? If any man in the world had
power to give Christ's body and blood, no question,
this man should have power to cleanse the heart
and conscience, (for the blood of Christ has this
power with it), and consequently should have power
to forgive sins. Now, it is only God that may
forgive sins ; and therefore it is not possible that
the ministry of the heavenly tiling can be in the

30 THE FIRST SERMON

power of any man. Example, we have in John
the Baptist, (Matt. iii. 11), says he not, "The
ministry that I have, is of the element. I am
commanded to minister the element of water
only : but as for the ministry of fire and of
the Spirit, Christ hath reserved it unto Himself."
Therefore look not to get the Spirit at man's
hands, but at the hands of Christ Himself only.
And without this inward ministry the outward
ministry is not worth a straw. For my outward
ministry, yea, though it were the ministry of
an angel, and though Christ were present in
the flesh to minister unto you these outward
things ; except He conjoin the inward ministry of
His Spirit therewith, it avails nothing. It may
well make up an accusation and process against
you, in the day of that general assembly ; but to
your salvation it will never profit you. Therefore
this ought you always to pray for, that the Lord
would water your hearts by his Holy Spirit, as
He waters your ears by the hearing of the word.
Thus there are two offerers ; the Minister offers
the sign, Christ Jesus offers Himself, — the thing
signified. The three persons, one God, offers
the Mediator, or the Mediator offers Himself, and
that by the power and virtue of his own Spirit.

(2) As there are two offerers, two persons that
offer and give the sacrament, and the thing
signified by the sacrament : so these two are
offered and given in two actions. Christ who
is the heavenly thing is offered and given to you
by an inward, secret, and spiritual action, which

THE SACRAMKNTS IN GENERAL 31

is not subject to the outward eye. The sign
again, is offered and given in an outward action,
after a corporal and visible manner.

(3) As there are two sorts of actions, so there are
two sorts of instruments whereunto the sign and the
thing signified are o tiered : for the thing signified,
that is, Christ, is never offered to the mouth of my
body : the blood of Christ, the flesh of Christ,
whole Christ, or the Spirit of Christ, is not offered
either in the word or in the sacrament to the
mouth of my body. Let them find me that in
any part of the Bible, that there is any other
manner of receiving Christ than by faith, and let
them have the victory. So there is not an
instrument as I told you, neither hand nor mouth
to take Christ, but faith only. As Christ who
is the thing signified, is held by the hand and
mouth of faith : so the sign which signifies Christ,
is received by our own natural mouth and hand.
You have a mouth in your heads, and in your
bodies, as proper to lay hold of the sign, as faith
is to lay hold of Christ. So the sign and the
thing signified are offered and given, not to one
instrument but to two ; the one to the mouth
of the body, the other to the mouth of the soul.

(4) Now mark ; by what way these things are
offered and given, by the same way they are
received : as the sign is corporal and naturally
offered to a corporal instrument, so is it received
after a corporal and natural manner : for thou
must take the Bread and Wine, either by thy
hand or by thy mouth. The thing signified is

32 THE FIRST SERMON

not taken after a corporal manner, but after a
secret and spiritual manner : and as it is offered
so it is taken. There can be nothing clearer
than this ; the one is taken after a natural
manner, the other after a secret and spiritual
manner. So in this last part, you have these
things to mark, to distinguish between the out
ward action and the inward, between the sign
and the thing signified, and to keep a proportion
and analogy between the inward and the outward
actions : you may surely persuade yourselves, that
if you be faithful, Christ is as busy working
inwardly in your soul, as the Minister is working
outwardly toward your body : Look how busy
the Minister is in breaking that Bread, in pour
ing out that Wine, in giving that Bread and
Wine to thee ; as busy is Christ in breaking
His own body unto thee, and in giving thee the
juice of His own body after a spiritual and in
visible manner. So keep this distinction, and you
may assure yourselves that by faith Christ is
as well occupied towards your soul, to nourish it,
as the Minister is outwardly towards your body.
Keep this, and you have the whole Sacrament.

Then from this discourse and deduction you
may learn a double matter, whereof the sacrament
consists. It consists of two sorts of material ; that
is, of an earthly matter, and of a heavenly matter :
the sign and the thing signified. And as there is
a double matter in the sacrament, so the sacra
ment must be handled after a double manner ;
by an outward action, and an inward action.

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 33

Keep the distinction in these things, between
the sign and the thing signified, and you shall
not easily slip in the understanding of the
Sacrament.

This being said, concerning the general con
sideration of the elements, (for all this yet
appertains to the elements) it remains that we
speak somewhat concerning the Word, which I
call the other part of the Sacrament. I mean
and understand by the word, whereunto the
elements are annexed, that thing which quickens,
which supplies as it were a soul, and gives life
to the whole action. For by the word and the
appointment of Christ in the word, the Minister
knows what is his part, the hearer knows what is
his part, and every one is prepared — the Minister
how he should deliver, and the hearer how he
should receive. 80 the Institution of Christ is
the quickening of the whole action : for all the
action is warranted from the Institution set down
in his word. In the Institution of Christ, there
are two things chiefly to be considered : — a Com
mand, and a Promise. The Command is this,
Where he says " Take, cat." The Command
obliges and craves obedience. There is a Promise
also in the Institution, and it is contained in
these words, "This is my body." As the command
craves obedience, so the promise craves belief.
Therefore come not to the sacrament, except you
bring both faith and obedience with you. If
thou come not with a heart minded to obey
Christ, at least more than thou wast wont to do,

34 THE FIRST SERMON

thou comest to thine own damnation. And if
thou bringest a heart void of faith, thou comest
to thine own damnation. So let every one that
comes to the sacrament, bring with him a heart
minded to do better ; that is, to obey and believe
Christ better than he did in time past. Except
you bring these two in some measure, come not
to the sacrament : for whatever thou do, except
it flow from faith, it can profit nothing. Thus
far briefly concerning the Word.

Now it will be demanded, what need is there
that these sacraments and seals should be annexed
to the word ? Wherefore are they annexed, see
ing we get no more in the sacrament than we
get in the word, and we get as much in the
very simple word as we get in the sacrament ?
Seeing then we get no new thing in the sacra
ment but the same thing which we get in the
simple word, wherefore is the sacrament appointed
to be hung to the word ? It is true certainly
that we get no new thing in the sacrament ; we
get no other thing in the sacrament than we get
in the word : for what more wouldest thou crave
than to get the Son of God, if thou get Him well ?
Thy heart cannot wish nor imagine a greater
gift than to have the Son of God, who is king of
heaven and earth : therefore I say, what new
thing wouldest thou have ? For if thou get Him,
thou gettest all things with Him ; thy heart
cannot imagine a new thing besides Him. Where
fore then is the sacrament appointed ? Not to
get thee any new thing: I say, it is appointed

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 35

(1) To get thec that same thing better, than thou
hadst it in the word The Sacrament is appointed
that we may get better hold of Christ than we
got in the word ; that we may possess Christ in
our hearts and minds, more fully and largely
than we did before by the simple word. That
Christ might have a larger space to make resi
dence in our narrow hearts, than He could have
by the hearing of the word ; and to possess
Christ more fully is a better thing. For suppose
Christ be one thing in Himself, yet the better
hold thou hast of Him, thou art the surer of His
promise. The sacraments are appointed that I
might have Him more fully in my soul ; that I
might have the bounds of it enlarged, that He
may make the better residence in me. This
no doubt is the cause wherefore these Seals
are annexed to the evidence l of the simple
word.

(2) They serve to this end also, to seal up and
confirm the truth that is in the word, for as
the office of the Seal hung to the evidence, is
not to confirm any other truth than that which
is in the evidence ; and though you believed the
evidence before, yet by the seals you believe it
better : even so the Sacrament assures me of no
other truth, than is contained within the word :
yet because it is a seal annexed to the word, it
persuades me the better of the same : for the
more the outward senses are awakened, the more

1 An "Evidence," in a sense familiar to Scotch lawyers, is
strictly a "document" which not only asserts a claim, but
proves it. — ED.

36 THE FIRST SERMON

is the inward heart and mind persuaded to
believe.

Now the Sacrament awakens all the outward
senses, as the eye, the hand, and all the rest ;
and the outward senses being moved, no question,
the Spirit of God concurring therewith, moves
the heart the more. The sacraments are there
fore annexed to the word, to seal up the truth
contained in the word, and to confirm it more and
more in thy heart. The word is appointed to
work belief; and the sacrament is appointed to
confirm you in this belief. But except you feel
the truth of this inwardly in your hearts, except
you have your heart as ready as your mouth, think
not that anything will avail you. All the seals
in the world will not work, except the Spirit of
God concur and seal the same truth in your
hearts, which the Sacrament seals outwardly :
Except He make clear the sight of thy mind
inwardly, and work a feeling in thy heart, both
word and sacrament shall lose their fruit and
effect which they should have. All the Scriptures
are full of this : the whole scriptures of God are
but a slaying letter to you, except the -Spirit of
God concur to quicken inwardly. So your whole
endeavour should be, to strive to feel Christ alive
in your own hearts, that finding Him in your
hearts and seeing Him in your minds, both word
and sacraments may be effectual : If not, your
souls remain dead, you are not translated from
that death wherein you were conceived. There
fore all the study of Christians should be, when

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 37

they see the sacraments and hear the word, to
labour to find and feel in their hearts and minds,
that which they hear and see ; and this I call to
find Christ alive in your own souls. This cannot
be except you sanctify His lodging : for if all the
corners of thy soul remain a dunghill, Christ
cannot dwell there : and so except you study a
continual sanctification, and sever yourselves from
every thing, that severs you from Christ, it is not
possible that He can live or dwell in you.

This is a great lesson, and it is not possible to
do this, except, as I have said, a stronger come
in, and possess us, and make us to renounce
ourselves. Thus, the seals had not been annexed
to the word, except for our cause : for there is no
necessity on God's part, that God should either
swear, or confirm by seals, the thing that He has
spoken : for His word is as good as any oath or
seal. But the necessity comes of us : there is
such a great weakness in us, that when He has
sworn, and set His seal to His word, we are as
near to belief as if He had never spoken a word.
So to help our belief, our weakness and inability
that is in us ; (for we are so unable by nature
that we can believe nothing but that which is of
ourselves ; and the more we lean unto ourselves ;
the further we are from God ;) I say to help this
wonderful weakness, whereby we are ready to
mistrust God in every word ; He has annexed His
sacraments; and besides His sacraments, He swears
the things that concern most our salvation ; as
you heard in the Priesthood of Christ, (Psalm

38 THE FIRST SERMON

ex. 4) He will not speak only, but He swears,
and that for our weakness and infirmity : but yet
if He abstract the ministry of His Spirit, all these
means will do us no good.

Now the last thing is, how the Sacrament is
perverted ; and how we are defrauded of the fruit
and effect thereof. Two sorts of faults pervert
the sacrament, and defraud us of the profit and
use thereof; and these faults are either in the form,
or in the person. In form, if the essential form
be spoiled, we get nothing : for when the sacra
ment is spoiled of the essential form, it is not
a sacrament. There is an essential form in
Baptism, and an essential form in the Supper,
which if they be taken away, you lose the use of
the sacrament. The essential form of Baptism
is : " I baptize thee in the Name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Leave out one of
these three, or do it in the name of anyone of the
Three Persons only, you lose the essential form of
Baptism. In the Lord's Supper, if you leave out
the least ceremony, you lose the essential form, and
so it is not a sacrament. I speak of the essential
form, in respect of the Papists, who keep the
essential form in Baptism, though they have
brought in trifles of their own, and mixed with
it ; yet in respect they keep the substantial form,
it is not necessary that they who were baptized
under them, be rebaptized. If indeed the virtue
of regeneration flowed from the person, it were
something ; but in respect Christ has this to give
to whom and when He pleases, the essential form

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 39

being kept, it is not necessary that this sacrament
be reiterated.

Now what are the faults in the person that
pervert the sacrament ? The fault may be either
in the person of the giver, or in the person of
the receiver. (I speak not of those faults
which are common to all, but of such faults as
disable the person of the giver, to be a distributer
of the Sacrament, and take the office from him.)
So when the person of the giver is in this way
disabled, no question, it is not a sacrament.
Then again, in the person of the receiver, the
fault may be ; if their children be not in the
covenant, but out of it, they get not the sacra
ment. Indeed if the parents afterwards come to
the covenant, the children (though they be gotten
out of the covenant) may be received. Even so
in the Lord's Supper, if a man be laden with any
burden of sin, without any purpose to repent, he
ought not to receive it. So then, if you come
without a purpose to repent, you lose the use of
the sacrament : it is only this purpose to repent,
that makes me who receive the sacrament, to get
the fruit and effect thereof; therefore everyone
who goes to the sacrament, must look what
purpose he has in his heart. Hast thou a pur
pose to shed blood, to continue in harlotry, or to
commit any other vile sin that is in thy heart,
and art not resolved to repent ? In shewing thee
to be without repentance, thou shewest thyself to
be without faith, and consequently thou comest
to thy condemnation, and not to thy salvation :

40 THE FIRST SERMON

take heed, then, what your purpose is ; for if
with a dissolute life, you have a dissolute purpose,
you come to your condemnation.

I had thought to have entered particularly into
the handling of this Sacrament ; but because the
time is past, and some of you, I doubt not, are
to communicate, only this : Kemember that you
address not yourselves to that Table, except you
find your hearts in some sort prepared. The
first degree of preparation stands in contrition, in
sorrowing for sin, in a feeling of your own sins,
wherein you have offended so gracious a God. If
you be able, as that woman was, by the tears of a
contrite heart to wash the feet of Christ, humbly
to kiss His feet, and to get hold of the feet of
Christ ; though you dare not presume so high as
to get Him whole, you are in good case : but if
thou want all these, and hast them not in some
measure, thou lackest all the degrees of prepara
tion. Therefore let none come to this Table,
except he have these in some measure. But
where there is a displeasure for sin, a purpose to
do better, and an earnest sobbing and sighing to
get the thing that thou wantest ; in that soul
where God hath placed this desire of Christ, it is
the work of God's Spirit, and Christ will enter
there. And therefore though that soul be far
from the thing that he should be at, let him not
refuse to go to the Lord's Table but let him go
with a profession of his own infirmity and weak
ness, and with a desire of the thing that he wants.
Everyone of you that finds himself this way

THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL 4i

disposed, let him go in God's name to the
Lord's Table : and the Lord work this in every
one of your hearts, that this ministry may be
effectual in you at this time, and that in the
righteous merits of Jesus Christ. To whom
with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all
honour, praise and glory, both now and for ever.
Amen.

THE SECOND SERMON

UPON THE LORD'S SUPPER TN PARTICULAR

(Preached the 8th of February 1589)

For I have received of the Lord, that which I also have
delivered unto you : to wit, that the Lord Jesus in the night
when he was betrayed, took Bread, etc. — 1 COR. xi. 23.

WE ended the consideration of the sacraments
in general in our last exercise, well-beloved in
Christ Jesus : now it remains that we proceed to
the consideration of this Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper in particular. And that you may the
better attain to the knowledge and consideration
of the great variety of matter that is contained in
this Sacrament of the Supper, I shall endeavour
as God shall give me grace, to set down certain
things for the easier understanding of it. (1) First
of all, 1 shall let you see what names are given to
this sacrament in the Bible ; and I shall shew
you some names that are given to this sacrament
by the ancients. (2) Next I shall let you
understand for what chief ends and respects this
sacrament was instituted and appointed by Christ
Jesus. (3) Thirdly, I shall come to the things
that are contained in the sacrament ; how these
things are coupled, how they are delivered, and
how they are received. (4) And last of all, I shall

42

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 43

answer certain objections, which may be laid
against this doctrine : and as God shall give me
grace I shall refute them, and so end this present
exercise.

1. Now we find sundry names given to the
Sacrament of the Supper in the book of God ;
and every name carries a special reason with
it. We find this sacrament called " the body
and blood" of Christ.1 This name is given it,
no doubt, because it is a heavenly and spiritual
nutriment ; it contains a nourishment of the soul,
that is able to nourish and train up the soul to
a life spiritual, to that life everlasting : for this
cause it is called " the body and blood of Christ."
It is also called " the Supper of the Lord " to put
a difference betwixt it and a common supper : for
this is the Lord's Supper,'- a holy supper; not a
profane or common supper : a supper appointed
for the increase of holiness, for the food of
the soul in holiness, to feed the soul to
life everlasting. Not a supper appointed for
the belly ; for He had ended that supper that
was appointed for the belly, ere ever He began
this supper which was appointed for the soul. A
" supper " no doubt having respect to the circum
stance of time, by reason it was instituted in that
article of time when they used to sup. It is
called also in the Bible, " the Table of the Lord." 3
It is not called the " Altar " of the Lord : but the
apostle calls it a table to sit at ; not an altar to
stand at : a table to take and receive at, not
1 1 Cor. xi. 27. 2 1 Cor. xi. 20. 8 1 Cor. x. 21.

44 THE SECOND SERMON

an altar to offer and present at. It is called
also " the Communion " and participation " of
the body and Wood of Christ." 1 We have these
names given to it, besides some others, in the
Scriptures of God.

The ancients of the Latin and of the Greek
Churches, gave it sundry names for sundry respects.
They called it a " public action," and this was a
very general name. Sometimes they called it
a " thanksgiving." Sometimes they called it a
"Banquet of Love"; sometimes they gave it one
name and sometimes another. And at last in
the declining estate of the Latin Church and in
the falling estate of the Roman Church, this
sacrament began to be perverted ; and with this
decay there came in a perverse name, and they
called it " the Mass." They trouble themselves
much concerning the derivation of this name :
sometimes they seek it from a Hebrew origin ;
sometimes from a Greek ; and sometimes from a
Latin origin : but it is plain, as the word sounds,
that it is derived from the Latin ; 2 and it is a
word which might have been tolerable when it
was first instituted : for no doubt, the sacrament,
at the first institution of this word, was not wholly

1 1 Cor. x. 16.

2 Evidently the Author holds the usual derivation of " Mass "
to be the correct one. The words ' ' lie missa est " were pronounced
at the end of a service in the Church ; more particularly at the
end of the service in which Catechumens and other non-com
municants took part (missa catechumenorum). After these had
left, the service of the faithful began (missa fidelhmi). So the
term "mass" was applied to that sacred rite from which all
others than the faithful were excluded. In earlier ages the word

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 45

perverted ; but now, in process of time, corrup
tion has prevailed so far, that it has turned the
sacrament into a sacrifice ; and where we should
take from the hand of God and Christ, they make
us to give.

This is plain idolatry : and therefore whereas
the word was tolerable before, now it ought not
to be tolerated any way, it ought not to be
suffered. And certainly, if we had eaten and
drunk, as oft, the body and blood of Christ in
our souls, as we have eaten that bread and drunk
that wine, which are the signs of His body and
blood, we should not have suffered this word of
" the Mass," much less the action of it, to be so
common in this Country. But in respect we
have only played the counterfeit, and defrauded
our souls of the body and blood of Christ, and
taken only the outward sacrament ; therefore it
is that our zeal decays, therefore it is that our
knowledge and light decay : and for want of
zeal, love and knowledge, the word of " the Mass "
is become customary to you, and not only the
word, but the very action. I shall not run out
herein : I only tell you, what comes of the abuse
of the hearing of the word, what judgments follow
upon the abuse of the reception of the sacraments.

was applied to all services of prayer or praise, even to those where
there was no Communion. The word, being afterwards applied
to the service of the Sacrament, came to denote the very thing
which at first it did not mean. The other favourite derivation
of the word, by Tymlall and others, from the Hebrew inisach, —
a pension-giving, — because at the Sacrament men gave a portion
for the austentation of the poor, is plainly an after-thought. — ED.

46 THE SECOND SERMON

2. Now I come to the ends for which the
Sacrament was appointed. This Sacrament was
instituted in the signs of Bread and Wine ; and
was appointed chiefly for this end, to represent
our spiritual nutriment, the full and perfect
nutriment of our souls : that as he who has
Bread and Wine lacks nothing for the full
nourishment of his body : so he, or that soul,
which has the participation of the body and blood
of Christ, lacks nothing of the full and perfect
nourishment of the soul. To represent this full
and perfect nourishment, the signs of Bread and
Wine in the Sacrament were set down and
instituted. The second end for which this Sacra
ment was instituted is this ; that we might
testify to the world and to the princes of the
world, who are enemies to our profession ; that
we might openly avow and testify to them our
Eeligion and our manner of worshipping, in the
which we avow and worship Christ : and that we
might also testify our love towards His members
our brethren : this is the second end for which
it was instituted. The third end wherefore it
was instituted is this ; to serve for our special
comfort and consolation, to serve as a sovereign
medicine for all our spiritual diseases, as we find
ourselves either ready to fall, or provoked to fall,
by the devil, the flesh, or the world ; or, after
that we have fallen and are put to flight by the
devil, and would vain flee away from God ; God
of His mercy, and of His infinite pity and bottom
less compassion has set up this sacrament, as a

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 47

sign on an high hill, whereby it may be seen on
every side, far and near, to call all them again
that have run shamefully away : and He clucks
to them as a hen doth to her chickens, to gather
them under the wings of His infinite mercy.
The fourth end for which this sacrament was
instituted is this, that in this action we might
render to Him hearty thanks for His benefits, and
that He has come down so familiarly to us,
bowed the heavens as it were, and given us the
body and blood of His own Son ; that we might
render unto Him hearty thanks, and so sanctify
His benefits to us : for this thanksgiving was also
this Sacrament instituted. Thus far concerning
the ends briefly.

3. Now I come to the things contained in this
Sacrament. You see with your eyes there are
corporal things, visible things, as the Bread and
Wine. There are again, hid from the eye of your
body, but present to the eye of your mind,
spiritual things, heavenly and inward things :
both these are in the sacrament.

The corporal, visible and outward things, are
the things which are appointed to signify the
spiritual, heavenly, and inward things. And why?
Nothing without a reason. These corporal signs
are appointed to signify the spiritual things,
because we are corporal ; we are earthly bodies,
we have our soul lodging within a carnal body,
in a tabernacle of clay, a gross tabernacle, which
cannot be awakened nor moved except by the
things that are like itself. It cannot be induced

48 THE SECOND SERMON

to the consideration of heavenly things, except by
gross, temporal, and corporal things. If we had
been of the nature of the thing signified, that,
as the thing signified is spiritual and heavenly,
so we had been always spiritual and heavenly, we
had not needed a corporal thing. Again, if the
thing signified had been as we are, corporal,
earthly, and visible, we had not needed a sign
to lead us to consider it : But because the thing
signified is spiritual, and we are corporal, therefore
to bring us to the sight of these spiritual things,
He uses corporeal means, and an outward sign.
This is the reason why these corporal signs are
appointed to signify the spiritual thing.

The spiritual thing in both the sacraments,
is one and the self-same, — Christ Jesus, signified
in both the sacraments : yet in diverse respects.
He is the thing signified in Baptism, and He is
the thing signified in the Supper. This Christ
Jesus, in His blood chiefly, is the thing signified
in the sacrament of Baptism : and why ? Be
cause that by His blood He washes away the filth
of our souls ; because that by the virtue of His
blood, He quickens us in our souls with a heavenly
life : because that by the power of His blood He
engrafts and incorporates us in His own body.
For that sacrament is a testimony of the re
mission of our sins : that is, of the cleanness
of our conscience, that our consciences by that
blood are washed inwardly. It testifies also our
new birth, that we are begotten spiritually to a
heavenly life. It testifies further the joining of

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 49

us to the body of Christ. As it is a testimony,
so it is a seal : it not only testifies, but seals
it up in our hearts, and makes us in our hearts
to feel the taste of that heavenly life begun in us,
that we are translated from death, in which we
were conceived and engrafted, into the body of
Christ. Mark then : Christ in his blood, as He
is the lavcr of our regeneration, is the thing
signified in Baptism.

In this Sacrament of the Supper, again, this
same Christ is the thing signified, in another
respect; to wit in this respect, that His body and
blood serve to nourish my soul to life everlasting :
for this Sacrament is no other thing than the
image of our spiritual nutriment ; God testifying
how our souls are fed and nourished to that
heavenly life, by the figure of a corporal nourish
ment. So in diverse respects the same thing,
that is, Christ Jesus, is signified in Baptism, and
is signified in the Supper: In this Sacrament,
the fruits of Christ's death whereof I spake, the
virtue of his sacrifice, the virtue of his passion ;
I call not these fruits and virtues only, the thing
signified in the Sacrament of the Supper : but
rather I call the thing signified, that substance
and that person, out of which substance this
virtue and these fruits do flow and proceed. I
grant, and it is most certain, that by the lawful
use and participation of the sacrament, thou art
partaker of all these fruits : yet these fruits are
not the first and chief thing, whereof thou art
partaker in this sacrament ; but of necessity thou
D

50 THE SECOND SERMON

must get another thing first. It is true that no
man can be partaker of the substance of Christ,
but the same soul must be also partaker of the
fruits that flow from His substance : yet notwith
standing, thou must discern betwixt the substance
and the fruits that flow from it, and thou must be
partaker of the substance in the first place ; then
in the next place, thou must be partaker of the
fruits that flow from His substance. To make
this clear ; in Baptism, the fruits are remission
of our sins, mortification, the killing of sin, and
the sealing of our adoption to life everlasting.
The substance out of which these fruits do flow,
is the blood of Christ. You must here, of
necessity, discern between the blood, which is the
substance ; and between remission of sins, washing
and regeneration, which are the fruits which flow
from this blood. Likewise in the Sacrament of
the Supper, the fruits are, growth of faith, and
increase in holiness. The thing signified is the
substance ; that is, the body and blood of Christ
is the substance, out of which this growth in faith
and holiness proceeds.

Now see you not this ; That you must discern
between the substance and the fruits, and must
place the substance in the first place ? So that
the substance of Christ ; that is, Christ Himself,
is the thing signified in this sacrament. For
your own experience will make this plain to you.
Before your stomach be filled with any food, you
must eat the substance of the food first : before
you be filled with bread, you must eat the substance

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 51

of the bread first ; before your thirst be quenched
with any drink, you must of necessity drink the
substance of the drink first. Even so, after this
manner ; before the hunger of your soul be satis
fied, and the thirst thereof quenched, you must eat
the flesh of Christ and drink His blood first, and
that by faith. So consider the one by the other ;
look to what use bread and wine serve to thy
body, to the same use the body and blood of
Christ serve to thy soul ; and He that appointed
the one to serve for thy body, the same God
appointed the other to serve for thy soul. As
impossible as it is for thee, to be fed with that
food that never cometh into thy mouth, or to
recover health by those drugs which never were
applied, so impossible is it for thee, to be fed by
the body of Christ and to get thy health by the
blood of Christ, except thou first eat His body
and drink His blood. Thus you see, that the
thing signified in the Lord's Supper, is not the
fruits so much, as the body and blood, and Christ
Jesus, the fountain and substance, from whom all
these fruits do flow and proceed.

Therefore I say, suppose Christ who is the
thing signified, remain always one and the same
in both the sacraments : yet the signs whereby
this one Christ is signified in the sacraments,
are not one, nor of an equal number. For in
Baptism the thing that representeth Christ is
Water. In the Lord's Supper, the things that
represent Christ, are Bread and Wine. Water
is appointed to represent Christ in Baptism,

52 THE SECOND SERMON

because it is meetest to represent our washing
with the blood of Christ : for what is fitter to
wash with than water ? So there is nothing
meeter to wash the soul, than the blood of Christ.
In this Sacrament he has appointed Bread and
Wine : why ? Because there is nothing more
meet to nourish the body than bread and wine ;
so the Lord has not chosen these signs without a
reason. As the signs in the sacraments are not
always one, so the signs, in both, are not of one
number: For in Baptism, we have but one ele
ment; in this Sacrament, we have two. Now
what is the reason of this diversity, that the Lord
in the one sacrament hath appointed two signs,
and in the other but one sign ? I will shew you
the reason. He hath appointed only one sign in
Baptism, to wit, Water; because Water is sufficient,
enough for the whole. If Water had not been
sufficient to represent the thing signified, He
would have appointed another sign : but in re
spect that Water does the turn, and represents
fully the washing of our souls by the blood of
Christ, what need then have we of any other
sign ? Now in this Sacrament one sign will not
suffice, but there must be two. And why ?
Wine cannot be sufficient alone, neither can
Bread be sufficient alone : for he that has Bread
only, or Wine only, has not a perfect corporal
nutriment ; therefore that they might represent
and let us see a perfect nutriment, He has given
us both Bread and Wine (for the perfect corporal
nourishment consists in meat and drink) to repre-

THK LORDS SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 53

sent the full and perfect nourishment of the soul.
Mark how full and perfect a nourishment, he has
to his body, that has store of Bread and Wine :
so he that has Christ lacks nothing of a full and
perfect nourishment for his soul. Thus you see
the reason wherefore there are two signs appointed
in this Sacrament, and only one sign in Baptism.

There remain yet concerning these signs, two
things to be enquired. First, what power has
that Bread in this Sacrament, to be a sign more
than the bread which is used in common houses.
Whence comes that power ? Next, if it have a
power, how long endures and remains that power
with the bread ? For the first, concerning the
power which that bread has more than any other
bread, I will tell you.

1. That Bread has a power given to it by
Christ and by His institution ; by the which
institution it is appointed to signify His body,
to represent His body, and to deliver His body.
That Bread has a power flowing from Christ and
His institution, which other common bread has
not : so that if any of you would ask, when the
Minister in this action is breaking or distributing
that Bread, pouring out and distributing that
Wine ; if you would, I say, ask what sort of
creatures those are ? This is the answer : They
are holy things. You must give this name to
the signs and seals of the body and blood of
Christ. That Bread of the Sacrament is a holy
Bread ; and that Wine is an holy Wine : Why ?
Because the blessed institution of Christ, has

54 THE SECOND SERMON

severed them from that use whereunto they
served before, and has applied them to an holy
use ; not to feed the body, but to feed the soul.
Thus far concerning the power of that Bread :
it has a power flowing from Christ and His
institution.

2. Now the second thing is, how long this
power continues with that Bread ; how long that
Bread has this office. In a word, I say, this
power continues with that Bread during the
time of the action ; during the service of the
Table. Look how long that action continues,
and the service of the Table lasts, so long it
continues holy Bread ; so long continues the
power with that Bread : but look how soon the
action is ended, so soon ends the holiness of it :
look how soon the service of the Table is ended ;
so soon that Bread becomes common bread again,
and the holiness of it ceases. Therefore this
power continues not for ever, but it continues
only during the time of the action and service
of the Table. Thus far concerning the elements.
There is, besides the elements, another sort of
sign in the sacrament : there is not a rite nor
ceremony in the Sacrament of the Supper, but is
a sign, and has its own spiritual signification with
it : as namely, looking to the breaking of that
Bread, it represents to thee the breaking of the
body and blood of Christ. Not that His body was
broken in bone or lith, but that it was broken
with dolour, with anguish and distress of heart ;
with the weight of the indignation and fury of

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 55

God, that He sustained for our sins which He took
upon him. Therefore the breaking is an essential
ceremony : the pouring out of the wine also is an
essential ceremony. For as you see clearly, that
by the Wine is signified the blood of Christ, so by
the pouring out of the Wine, is signified that His
blood was severed from His flesh; and the severing
of those two makes death: for in blood is the life;
and consequently it testifies His death. The pour
ing out of the Wine, therefore, tells thee that He
died for thee, that His blood was shed for thee ; so
this is an essential ceremony which must not be left
out. Likewise the distribution, giving and eating
of that bread are essential ceremonies. And what
does the eating testify to thee? The applying of
the body and blood of Christ to thy soul. So
that there is none of these rites but have their
own signification ; and there cannot one of them
be left out, but you shall pervert the whole action.
Thus far concerning the signs.

Now what profit can you make of all this dis
course ? Learn this lesson, and you shall make
your profit of these things. In respect that every
sign and ceremony has its own spiritual signifi
cation, so there is not a ceremony in this whole
action that wants spiritual significance. Take
this into consideration, and think with yourselves
at that time, especially, when you are at the Lord's
Table, and in the sight of that action. Look
what thou seest the minister doing outwardly,
whatever it be ; is he breaking that Bread ? Is he
dealing that Bread ? Is he pouring out that Wine

56 THE SECOND SERMON

and distributing that Wine ? Think assuredly
with thyself, that Christ is as busy doing all these
things spiritually to thy soul. He is as busy
giving to thee His own body with His own hand:
He is as busy giving to thee His own blood with
the virtue and efficacy of it. Likewise, in this
action, (if thou be a faithful communicant) look
what the mouth is doing and how the mouth of
the body is occupied outwardly : so is the hand
and mouth of the soul (which is faith) occupied
inwardly. As the mouth takes that Bread and
that Wine ; so the mouth of thy soul takes the
body and blood of Christ, and that by faith. For
by faith and a constant persuasion, is the only
way to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ
inwardly : and doing this, there cannot but follow
a fruitful manducation. Thus far for the con
sideration of the signs.

Now comes in the matter wherein greatest
difficulty stands, whereof I spake the last day, as
God gave me the grace ; yet in the particular 1
must speak, as well as in the general ; but some
what more shortly. Then, for the better infor
mation of your consciences ; and for the better
preparation of your souls you have to understand,
how that Bread and that Wine which are signs,
are coupled with the body and blood of Christ
which are signified thereby : what sort of con
junction this is, and whence it flows. I shall
be brief ; because I have already, last day, spoken
of it at large.

Take heed, for if you give not good attention,

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 57

it is not possible that you can take it up rightly.
Concerning this conjunction, would you know how
these two are coupled ? Then, must you first
mark the nature of the signs, next, the nature of
the thing signified ; you must observe both their
natures ; and why ? Because nothing can be
coupled nor conjoined with another, but so far
as the nature of it will sutler. If the nature of it
will not suffer a conjunction, they cannot be
conjoined. Again will the nature of it suffer a
conjunction? look how for it will go, so far are
they conjoined. Seeing then you must observe
the nature of the things, first mark the tiling
signified, what the nature thereof is ; marking
that, you shall see that the thiog signified is of
a spiritual nature, of a heavenly and mystical
nature: then may you conclude, that this spiritual
thing will suffer a spiritual conjunction, a mystical
and secret conjunction.

Again, observe the sign : The sign of its own
nature, (as I told you at the beginning) has a
relation to the thing signified : and the thing
signified, of its own nature has a relation to the
sign. So then the sign and the thing signified
will suffer to be conjoined by a mutual relation :
both will suffer themselves to be conjoined by a
relative conjunction. Now if you ask me what
sort of conjunction there is between that Bread
and Wine and the body and blood of Christ :
to tell you in a word, I say, it is a secret and
spiritual conjunction. You would not be so
inquisitive of this conjunction if it were corporeal,

58 THE SECOND SERMON

visible, or local : if you saw them both before
your eyes, you would not ask how they are
conjoined ; or if you saw them both in one
place. But because you see only the one with
your eyes, and the other is hid ; this makes the
conjunction the more difficult to be uttered and
understood. And how is it possible that you
can conceive this secret and hidden conjunction,
except you have the eyes of your mind illumi
nated by the Spirit, whereby you may come to
the right understanding of it ? But if you have
any insight into these spiritual matters, which
comes by faith, this conjunction will appear as
clearly to the eye of your faith, as the physical
conjunction does to the eye of your body.

Now, to have this matter made more plain.
There is another conjunction which serves to
make this one very clear : namely, the conjunction
betwixt the word which I speak, and the thing
signified by that same word. Speak I to you
of things in a language which you understand,
as by God's grace you understand this language
now ; speak I of things past, though never so
long since ; of things to come, though never
so far off; of things absent, though never so
far distant ; yet so soon as I speak the word,
whether it be of things past or to come, the
thing itself will come into your mind. The
word is heard no sooner by your ear, but the
thing signified by the same word comes into
your mind. What makes the thing signified,
though absent, to come into my mind ? This

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 59

could not be, except there were a conjunction
between the word and the thing signified by
the word. As for example ; if I speak of the
King who is now a great way (" a good piece ")
distant from us, (I pray God save him !) you
will no sooner hear the word, but the King
who is the thing signified by the word, will
come into your mind.1 If I speak of things past,
though they be already expired, yet the thing
signified will presently come into your mind :
so there is a conjunction you see, between the
word and the thing signified by the word.
Mark it, and you shall get the nature of the
coupling of the sign with the thing signified
in the sacrament.

For observe what sort of conjunction is between
the word and the thing signified by the word,
the same is there between the sacrament which
is seen by the eye of your body, and the thing
signified by the sacrament, which is seen by
the eye of your soul only. As for example ;
so soon as you see that Bread taken in the hand
of the minister, immediately must the body of
Christ come into your mind ; these two are so
conjoined, that they come both together : the
one to the outward sense ; the other to the
inward sense. And even this is not enough ;
for in the institution you are commanded to

1 This reads as if the King were already abroad ; but he did
not leave for Norway till the 22nd Oct. 1589. The date of the
discourse may be mistaken ; or the reference may only be to his
absence in the North of Scotland. — ED.

60 THE SECOND SERMON

go further ; not only to look to that Bread
and Wine, but to take that Bread and Wine :
immediately as your hands take the one, your
heart takes the other ; as your teeth eat the
one, the teeth of your soul, which is faith, eats
the other ; that is, applies Christ to your soul.
So you see there is a conjunction here, secret
and mystical : and therefore Christ cannot be
received but in a secret and mystical way. The
conjunction between Christ and us is one which
the Apostle (Ephes. v.) calls that spiritual con
junction, full of an high mystery. This con
junction cannot be taken up at the first ; So
seeing the conjunction is secret and spiritual
and not perceived but by the Spirit of God ;
all is as nothing, except you have some portion
and measure of His Spirit. All that is taught
in the word and sacraments will never do you
good, will never carry your soul to heaven, except
the Spirit of God illuminate your minds, and
make you to find in your souls the thing that
you hear in the word. Therefore, let us learn
this ; seeing the word cannot be understood but
by the Spirit of God, let us crave that the Lord
would illuminate the eyes of your minds by His
Spirit ; and be you as careful to get the Spirit
as you are careful now, in the hearing of the
word. Thus far concerning the conjunction.

Now you have heard how the sign is conjoined
to the thing signified. It remains yet for you
to know how the sign is received, and how the
thing signified is received ; whether they be both

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 61

received with one mouth or not ; whether the
sign and the thing signified be received after
one fashion and manner or not. And marking
the diverse manner of receiving, and the diversity
of the instruments, you shall not easily err in
the sacrament. The sign, and the thing signified,
are received by two mouths : for you see the
signs, that is, bread and wine, to what they
are given ; they are given to the mouth of the
body. So the mouth of the body is the instrument
to receive the bread and wine, which are the
signs. As the Bread and Wine are visible and
corporeal : so the mouth or instrument whereby
they are received, is visible and corporeal. The
thing signified by the bread and wine is not
received by the mouth of the body : no, the
Scripture denies that plainly ; but it is received
by the mouth of the soul : There are two
mouths : the broad anil wine which are the
signs, are received by the mouth of the body :
Christ, who is the thing signified, is received
by the mouth of the soul ; that is, by a true
faith. So bring not to the Lord's Table one
mouth only, (for if ye bring the mouth of your
body only, all is wrong !) but bring with you also
the mouth of the soul, — a constant persuasion
in the death of Christ, — and all goes well.

Now as to the manner how the signs are
received, and the fashion how the thing signified
is received, you may easily know that these
corporeal and natural signs must be received
after a corporeal and natural manner : They

62 THE SECOND SERMON

must be taken with the hand or mouth of the
body. Again, a supernatural thing must be re
ceived after a supernatural manner : a spiritual
thing must be received after a spiritual manner.
So as the signs are corporeal, and received after
a corporeal manner, with the hand or the mouth
of the body ; in like manner, the thing signified
is spiritual, and received after a spiritual manner
with the hand and mouth of the soul, which
is true faith. Thus you have, briefly delivered
to you, the whole preparation that is necessary
for the understanding of the sacrament.

Now what doctrine gather I from this ? Of
the last point, where I say that Christ is the
thing signified, and cannot be perceived but by
faith, cannot be received nor digested but by a
faithful soul : what kind of perception establish I
in this sacrament 1 I establish no kind of per
ception of Christ but a spiritual perception. He
cannot be perceived nor received but by faith, and
faith is spiritual : therefore in the sacrament I
establish only a spiritual perception of Christ ;
and not an oral, carnal or fleshly perception.
This is the ground ; now let us see what in
convenience can follow upon this ground. The
Papists say, that upon this ground this incon
venience shall follow : If there be no perception
of Christ but a spiritual perception, then (say
they) your sacrament is in vain ; this sacrament
of the Supper was instituted to no end. And
what is their reason ? If there be no way to
receive Christ (say the Papists) but by faith,

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 63

what need have you of a sacrament ? You
receive Christ by faith in the word : by the
naked and simple preaching of the word, you
get faith. So the simple word may serve the
turn. What need have you of a sacrament, if
you get not some new thing in the sacrament,
which you could not get in the word ?

This is their argument ; whereof ye see their
conclusion to be this : We get no other new
thing in the sacrament than we do in the word,
if there be no perception but spiritual. Ergo, the
sacrament, is superfluous.

We admit the antecedent to be true ; we get
no other thing, nor no new thing in the sacra
ment, but the same thing which we got in the
word. I would have thee devise and imagine
with thyself, what new thing thou wonkiest have :
let the heart of man devise, imagine, and wish ;
he durst never have thought to have such a thing
as the Son of God ; he durst never have presumed,
to have pierced the clouds, to have ascended so
high, as to have craved the Son of God in His
flesh, to be the food of his soul. Having the Son
of God, thou hast Him who is the heir of all
things ; who is King of heaven and earth ; and
in Him thou hast all things. What more then
canst thou wish ? What better thing canst thou
wish ? He is equal with the Father, one in
substance with the Father, true God, and true
man, what more canst thou wish ? Therefore, I
say, we get no other thing in the sacrament than
we had in the word : content thee with this.

64 THE SECOND SERMON

But suppose it be so ; yet the sacrament is not
superfluous. For wouldest thou understand what
new thing thou obtainest, what other thing tbou
gettest ? I will tell thee. Suppose thou get that
same thing which thou hadst in the word, yet
thou gettest that same thing better. What is
that better ? Thou obtainest a greater and surer
hold of that same thing in the sacrament, than
thou hadst by the hearing of the word. That
same thing which thou possessedst by the hearing
of the word, thou dost possess now more largely ;
He has larger bounds in thy soul by the receiving
of the sacrament, than otherwise He could have
by the hearing of the word only. Then, wilt thou
ask what new thing we get? I say, we get this
new thing : we get Christ better than we did
oefore ; we get the thing which we had, more
fully, that is, with a surer apprehension than we
had of it before ; we get a greater hold of Christ
now. For by the sacrament my faith is nourished,
the bounds of my soul are enlarged : and so,
whereas I had but a little hold of Christ before,
as it were between my finger and my thumb, now
I get Him in my whole hand ; and still the more
that my faith grows, the better hold I get of Christ
Jesus. So the sacrament is very necessary, if it
were no more but to get Christ better, and to get
a closer apprehension of Him, by the Sacrament
than we could have before.

Now if it were true that the sacrament is
superfluous ; by the same reason it should follow
also, that the repetition of the sacrament is

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 65

superfluous. For when you come to the sacra
ment the second time, you can get no other thing
than you did the first time : when you come to
the sacrament the third time, you get no other
thing than you did the first time : and yet no
man will say, that the third and second coming
is a superfluous tiling. And why ? Because by
the second coming my faith is augmented. I
understand better, I grow in knowledge, in appre
hension, in feeling : and getting the growth of all
these as oft as I come, there is no man will say
that the oft coming to the sacrament is superfluous,
even if it were once every day. "So their first in
convenience avails not : " We get no new thing
in the sacrament," say they ; Ergo the Sacrament
is superfluous. Thus far for the first.

Then there depends another thing on the same
ground. If Christ be not received but by faith,
then, say we, no wicked person can receive Him ;
he that lacks faith cannot receive Him. He that
lacks faith may perceive the sacrament of that
Bread and Wine, and may eat of that Bread and
drink of that Wine ; but he that lacks faith, may
not eat of the body and blood of Christ signified
by that Bread and Wine. So this is the ground :
No unbelieving person can receive Christ, nor eat
the body of Christ in the sacrament.

Against this ground they discharge their
artillery also, and they bring their argument
out of the same words of the Apostle which I
have read ; the words are these : " Whosoever shall
eat this Bread (says the Apostle) and drink the

66 THE SECOND SERMON

cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the
"body and Hood of the Lord" There is their
ground : So that their argument will take this
form: "No man can be guilty of that thing
which he has not received : they have not re
ceived the body and blood of Christ : therefore
they cannot be guilty of the body and blood of
Christ : but so it is that the Apostle says, they are
guilty, therefore they have received the body and
blood of Christ." I answer to the proposition and
say, it is very false that they could not be guilty
of that body and blood, except they had received
it ; for they may be guilty of the body and blood,
though they never received it. For note the
text : it says not, that they eat the body of
Christ unworthily ; but it says that they eat that
Bread and drink that Wine unworthily ; and yet
because of this, they are counted before God
guilty of the body and blood of Christ. Now
wherefore is this ? Nob because they receive
Him ; for if they received Him, they could not
but receive Him worthily, for Christ cannot be
received of any man but worthily. Yet they
are accounted guilty of the body and blood of
the Son of God, because they refused Him.
For when they did eat that Bread and drink that
Wine, if they had had faith, they might have
eaten and drunk the flesh arid blood of Christ
Jesus. Now because thou refusest the body of
Christ, thou contemnest His body ; if thou have
not an eye to discern and judge of His body that
is offered thee. For if they had had faith, they

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR G7

might have seen His body offered with the Bread ;
by faith they might have taken and eaten that
body. Therefore lacking their wedding garment,
— lacking faith whereby they should eat the body
and drink the blood of Christ ; lacking faith,
which is the eye of the soul to perceive, and the
mouth of the soul to receive that body which is
spiritually offered ; they are counted guilty of
the body and blood of Christ.

Now let us make this more clear by a simili
tude. You see among worldly Princes, their
custom is not to suffer their majesty to be im
peached in the smallest thing that they have.
What smaller thing is there that concerneth the
majesty of a Prince than a seal ? For the sub
stance of it is but wax : yet if them disdainfully
use that seal and contemn it, and tread it under
thy feet, thou shalt be esteemed as guilty of his
body and blood, as he that laid violent hands
on him, and thou shalt be punished accordingly.
Much more, if thou come as a swine or a dog to
handle the seals of the body and blood of Christ ;
much more, I say, rnayest thou be reckoned guilty
of His body and blood.

Thus far of the eating of the body of Christ :
The wicked cannot eat the body of Christ ; but
they may be guilty of it. The Apostle makes
this more plain yet by another speech which I
have aforetime handled from this place. In Heb.
vi. 6, it is said that the apostates, — they that
make grievous defection, — "crucify aydin to
Uieinselves the Son of God;" and their falling

68 THE SECOND SERMON

away makes them as guilty as they were who
crucified Him. He is now in heaven, they can
not fetch Him from thence to crucify Him : yet
the Apostle says they crucify Him. Why ? Be
cause their malice is as great as theirs that cruci
fied Him ; so that if they had Him on the earth,
they would do the like : therefore they are said
to crucify the Son of God. Likewise in Heb. x.
29, there is another speech : the wicked are said
to tread the blood of Christ under their feet.
Why ? Because their malice is as great as theirs
that trode upon His blood. They are accounted
for this reason to be guilty of the body and blood
of Christ, not because they eat His body, but be
cause they refuse it, when they might have had it.
Now the time remains yet, wherein we may
have the body and blood of Christ. This
time is very precious, and the dispensation of
times is very secret and has its own bounds ; if
you take not this time now, it will away. This
time of grace and of that heavenly food has been
dispensed to you very long : but how ye have
profited, your life and behaviour testify. Re
member, therefore, yourselves in time, and in
time make use of it, for you know not how long
it will last : crave a mouth to receive, as well
the food of your soul that is offered, as the
food of your bodies : and take this time while you
may have it, or assuredly the time shall come,
when you shall cry for it but shall not get it ; but
in place of grace and mercy, shall come judgment,
vengeance, and the dispensation of wrath.

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 69

They will not leave this matter so, but they
insist yet, and they bring more arguments to
prove that the wicked are partakers of the body
and blood of Christ ; " That bread (say they) ye
will grant which the wicked man eats is not
naked bread, but is that bread which is the
sacrament." Thus then they make their argu
ment ; "The sacrament has ever conjoined with
it, the thing signified : But the sacrament is
given to all, therefore the thing signified is given
to all."

What if I grant to them all this argument ?
There should no inconvenience follow. For the
thing signified may be given to all ; that is,
offered to all, as it is offered to all men, and yet
not received of all. Given to all, therefore re
ceived of all, it follows not. I may offer you
two things ; yet it is in your own will, whether
you will take them or no ; but you may take the
one and refuse the other : and yet He that offers,
offered you the thing that you refused, as truly as
the thing which you took. So God deceives no
man : but with the word and sacraments assuredly
He gives two things, if they would take them.
By His word He offers the word to the ear, He
offers Christ to the soul. By His sacraments He
offers the sacraments to the eye ; to the soul He
offers Christ Jesus.

Now it may be, that where two things are
truly and conjointly offered, a man may receive
the one and refuse the other. He receives the
one, because he has an instrument to take it : he

70 THE SECOND SERMON

refuses the other because he lacks an instrument.
I hear the word, because I have an ear to hear it
with : 1 receive the sacrament, because I have a
mouth to receive it with : but as for the thing
which the word and sacraments represent, I may
refuse it ; because I have not a mouth to take it,
nor an eye to perceive it : and therefore the fault
is not upon God's part, but upon our part. The
wicked get the body and blood of Christ offered to
them conjointly with the word and sacraments ;
but the fault is on their part, that they have not
a mouth to take Him, and God is not bound to
give them a mouth. Mark this : That if it were
not of God's special grace and mercy, that He gives
me an eye to perceive Him, and a mouth to re
ceive Him, I would refuse Him as well as they.
So this argument holds not : " Christ is offered to
all ; Ergo, he is received of all." Happy were
they, if they could receive Him. Thus far for
the third argument.

What remains now for the full understanding
of the sacrament ? These things remain ; That
we understand the sacramental speeches in the
sacrament : for we used to speak of them : God
uses to speak of them : and the ancients used to
speak of them. We used to say, that the soul
eats the body of Christ, and drinks the blood of
Christ. These speeches should be opened to you,
how the soul is said to eat the body and drink
the blood of Christ. And I shall make this plain
by God's grace. These words are sacramental ;
what is that ? Eating and drinking as you know

THE LORDS SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 71

are the proper actions of the body only. But
they are ascribed to the soul by a translation, by
a figurative manner of speaking. That which is
proper to the body, is ascribed to the soul, and it
is said that the soul eats and drinks. The eating
of the soul must resemble the eating of the body :
for it is no other thing than the applying of Christ
to the soul ; to believe that He has shed His blood
for me, that He lias purchased remission of sins
for me ; Wherefore, then, call you this an eating ?
Thy body eats when thou appliest the meat to thy
mouth. If then the eating of the body be no
other thing, than the applying of the meat to the
mouth ; the eating of the soul must be no other
thing, than the applying of the nourishment to the
soul. So you see what is meant by the eating
and drinking of the soul : no other thing than the
applying of Christ, — the applying of His death and
passion to my soul ; and this is only done by faith :
therefore He that lacks faith cannot eat Christ.
Thus far, for the eating and drinking of the soul,
which are sacramental expressions.

There remains now, of all these great things,
and of all this doctrine which has been taught,
but this one lesson. Learn to apply Christ rightly
to thy soul and thou hast won all ; thou art a
great theologian, if thou hast learned this well :
for in the right application of Christ to the sick
soul, to the wounded conscience, and diseased
heart, here begins the fountain of all our felicity,
and the well-spring of all our joy. And I shall
tell you what this application works : Observe

72 THE SECOND SERMON

what the presence of thy soul within thee (sup
pose thou want Christ in thy soul) does to this
earthly body, to this lump of clay ; as by the
presence of the soul, it lives, it moves, it feels :
as the soul gives to the body, life, moving, and
senses : that very same thing does Christ to thy
soul. Hast thou once laid hold of, and applied
Him to thee ? As the soul quickens the body,
so He quickens the soul ; not with an earthly or
temporal life, but with the life which He lives
in heaven : He makes thee to live that same
life, which the angels live above : He makes thee
to move, not with worldly motions, but with
heavenly, spiritual and celestial motions. Again,
He inspires in thee, not outward senses, but
heavenly senses ; He works in thee a spiritual
feeling, that in thine own heart and conscience,
thou mayest find the effect of this word. So by
the conjunction of Christ with my soul, I get a
thousand times a greater benefit than the body
does by the soul : for the body, by the presence
of the soul, gets only an earthly and temporal
life, subject to continual misery ; but by the
presence of Christ in my soul I see a blessed
life, I feel a blessed life : and that same life makes
daily more and more increase in me. Therefore
the ground of all our perfection and blessedness,
stands in this conjunction : and suppose thou
mightest live Methuselah's years, and wert ever
seeking; yet if in the last hour thou get this
conjunction, thou mayest think thy labour well be
stowed ; thou hast gotten enough : for if we have

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 73

obtained Christ, we have gotten all with Him. So
the applying of Christ to my soul, is the fountain
of all my joy and felicity.

Now let us see how we get this conjunction.
This is a spiritual conjunction, hard and difficult
to be procured, obtained, and gotten of us. How
then is this conjunction brought about ? which are
the means of it employed on God's part ? and
which are the means employed on our part, to
get Christ, to put Christ Jesus in our souls, and
to make Christ one with us ? There is one means
employed on God's part, that helps to get us
Christ, and there is another on our part. Upon
the part of God, there is the Holy Spirit Who
offers the body and blood of Christ to me : Upon
our part, there must also be a means employed, or
else though He offer, we will not receive. There
fore, of necessity, there must be faith in our souls,
to receive that heavenly food of the body and
blood of Christ which the Holy Spirit ofTers. Thus
faith and the Holy Spirit are the two means
employed in this spiritual, and heavenly con
junction. By these two agencies, by faith and
by the Holy Spirit, I get, the body of Christ, —
the body of Christ is mine, and He is given to
my soul.

Now here comes in the question ; How canst
thou say that the body of Christ is given or
delivered to thee, seeing the body of Christ is
sitting at the right hand of God the Father ? and
as great as is the distance between heaven and
earth, so great distance is there, betwixt the body

74 THE SECOND SERMON

of Christ, and thy body : how then say you, that
the body of Christ is given to you ? The Papists
cannot get this understood ; and therefore they
imagine a gross and carnal conjunction. Except
the Spirit of God reveal these things, they cannot
be understood. The Spirit of God must illumi
nate our minds, and be busy in all our hearts,
before we can come to the understanding of this.
Then, wouldest thou understand how Christ is
given thee ? This ground is true, that the body
of Christ is at the right hand of the Father ; the
blood of Christ is at the right hand of the Father:
yet notwithstanding, though there be as great
distance betwixt my body and the body of Christ,
as there is between heaven and earth, yet Christ's
body is given to me, because I have a title of His
body given to me : the right and title which is
given me, makes me to possess His body and blood.
The distance of the place, hurts not my title nor
my right ; for if any of you have a piece of land
lying in the farthest part of Orkney ; if you have
a good title to it, the distance of the place cannot
hurt your title. So I say, the distance of place
hurts not my right and title that I have to Christ.
For though He be sitting at the right hand of the
Father, yet the right and title that I have to Him
makes Him mine ; so that I may say truly, this
Christ is my property. Therefore Christ is not
made mine, because I fetch Him out of the
heavens : but He is mine because I have a sure
right and title to Him, and having this, the
distance of place, — how far soever it be, — can

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 75

no ways hurt my title nor my right ; but where-
ever He be, He is mine. Yea not only so, but
this title is confirmed to me : For as I get a
title to Him in the word (and if I got not that
title to Him in the word, I durst not come to the
sacrament), so in the sacrament I get the con
firmation of my title, I got the seal which con
firms it.

Then, to come to the point ; Christ's body is
sitting at the right hand of the Father, and yet
He is mine, and is delivered to me, because I
have right to His body, be it where it will. He
was born for me, given to me, and delivered to
me. So distance of place hurts not the sureness
of my title, as propinquity of place helps not the
sureness of the same. Though Christ should bow
the heavens, and touch thee with His body, as He
did Judas, yet this could not help thee a whit ;
for if thou hast not a title to Him, thou darest
not call Him thine. So it is not the nearness
nor proximity of place that makes Christ mine :
It is only the right that I have to Him : I
have right to Him by faith alone : So by faith
only is Christ made mine. Now they think they
have gotten a great advantage of us, if we be
so far from Christ as the heaven is from the
earth ; but this shall be answered also, by God's
grace. I have a title to His body, which is
distant from my body : yet His body is not
distant from me, that is, from my soul ; His
body and ray soul are conjoined. It is a strange
ladder that will climb from the earth to the

76 THE SECOND SERMON

heavens ; yet let me tell you, there is a cord that
extends so far, and couples me and Christ to
gether, and this is only true faith : By true faith,
Christ, though He be in the heavens, is coupled
and conjoined with me who am here on earth.

Let me show you this by a similitude. Is not
the body of the Sun in the firmament ? It is
impossible for you to touch the body of the Sun ;
yet the body of the Sun and you are conjoined.
How ? By those beams, by that light which
shines on you : Why may not the body of Christ
then, though it be in the heavens, be conjoined
with me that am on earth, namely, by the beams,
by the light and gladness that flow from His body ?
My body and Christ's body are conjoined by the
virtue and power flowing from His body : which
virtue and power quickens my dead soul, makes
me to live the life of Christ, to begin to die to
myself : and ever the more I die to myself, the
more I live to Him. This conjunction now is
the ground, as I told you, of all our felicity and
happiness, and I have made it clear to you, at
this time, so far as God has yet given me insight.
Nevertheless you see this conjunction is brought
about by two special means; by means of the Holy
Spirit and by means of faith : If there be no
other means than these two, why era vest thou a
carnal or visible conjunction ? Faith is invisible,
and the Spirit is invisible, therefore thou canst
not see it, nor take it up with the eye of thy
body. The power of the Holy Spirit is so subtle,
secret, and invisible, that thou canst not perceive

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 77

it; yet He will work great effects in thy soul,
ere ever thou perceivest His working. In respect
therefore that the agencies of this conjunction are
so subtle, secret, and spiritual, why thinkest thou
to get a sight of it with the eye of thy body ?
why iinaginest thou such a carnal conjunction as
this, which would do thee no good if thou hadst
it ? Knowest thou not that the Spirit who
coupleth us and Christ is infinite ? So that it is
as easy for the Spirit to couple Christ and us,
how far distant soever we be, as it is easy for our
souls to couple the head and feet of our bodies,
though they be distant.

Therefore, seeing this conjunction is the ground
and fountain of all our happiness : and seeing this
ground of happiness is so subtle and so spiritual ;
what is your part ? Remove all your outward
senses, your natural notions, your natural dis
courses and your natural reason, and follow the
sight and information of the Spirit of God : Crave
that it would please Him to illuminate your
understanding, that by the light of His Spirit you
may see clearly the spiritual conjunction. Except
the eye of the Spirit be given you, it is not
possible that you can get any insight in it. But
if the Lord of His mercy will bestow some measure
of His Holy Spirit upon you ; out of question, you
shall soon come to the understanding of it, and
shall think the time happy that ever you beard
this word. Except you have some part of this
Spirit, it is not possible that you can be spiritual.
That which is born of flesh and blood will

78 THE SECOND SERMON

remain flesh and blood, except that Spirit come
in and make it spiritual. Therefore you must
be born again of the Spirit, you must be born
in the body of Christ, his Spirit must quicken
you. This is called, by John, the quickening
and living Spirit of Christ. And so soon as
this Spirit comes unto us, what doth He ? He
chases away the darkness out of our understand
ing. Whereas before I knew not God, now I see
Him ; not only generally that He is God, but
that He is my God in Christ. What more doth
the Holy Spirit ? He opens the heart as well as
the mind : and what does He there ? Those
things, whereon I bestowed the affections of my
heart and employed the love of my soul, are by
the working of the Holy Spirit made gall to me,
He makes them venom to me, and to be as
deadly hated of me as poison. He works such an
inward disposition in my soul, that He makes me
to turn and flee from those very things whereon
I employed my love before, and to employ it
on God. This is a great perfection ! In some
measure, He makes me continually to love God
better than any other thing : He changes the
affections of my soul, He changes the faculties and
qualities of my soul : And though our hearts and
minds be made new, yet the substance of them is
not changed, but only the faculties and qualities
are changed, in respect of which change we are
called new creatures, and except you be found
new creatures, you are not in Christ.

Now to come to the point. This secret con-

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 79

junction is brought about by faith and by the
Holy Spirit : by faith we lay hold on the body
and blood of Christ : And though we be as far
distant as heaven and earth are, the Spirit serves
us as a ladder to conjoin us with Christ : As the
ladder of Jacob which reached from the ground to
the heaven, to the self-same use serves the Spirit
of God to conjoin the body of Christ with my
soul. Then observe the whole in a word :
What makes you to have any right or title to
Christ ? Nothing but the Spirit : nothing but
faith. What should be your study then ? Seek
by all possible means to get faith : that as Peter
(Acts xv. 9) says : " Your hearts and consciences
may be sanctified by faith." And if you
endeavour not as well to get faith in your
hearts as in your minds, your faith avails not.
What avails the faith that fleets in the fantasy,
and brings a bare knowledge, without the open
ing of the heart and consent of the will ? So
there must be an opening of thy heart and con
sent of thy will to do that thing which God com
mands, or else thy faith avails not. Therefore
strive to get faith in your hearts and minds ; and
doing so, you do the duty of Christians. This is
not done, without the diligent hearing of the word
and diligent receiving of the sacraments. There
fore be diligent in these exercises, and be dili
gent in prayer ; praying in the Holy Ghost,
that He would nourish your souls inwardly with
the body and blood of Christ : That He would
increase faith in your hearts and minds, and

80 THE SECOND SERMON

make it to grow up more and more daily, until
you come to the full fruition of that blessed
immortality. Unto the which, the Lord of His
mercy bring us, and that for the righteous merits
of Christ Jesus : To whom with the Father and
the Holy Ghost, be all honour, praise and glory,
both now and for ever. Amen.

THE THIRD SERMON

UPON THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR

(Preached the fifteenth of February 1589)

For I have received of the Lord, that which I also have delivered
unto you : to wit, That the Lord Jesus in the night when he was
betrayed, took Bread, &c.— 1 Con. xi. 23.

WE heard (well-beloved in Christ Jesus) in our
last lesson, what names were given to the sacra
ment of the Supper, as well in the Book of God
as by the ancients of the Latin and Eastern
Churches : we heard the chief ends wherefore,
and whereunto this holy Sacrament was instituted.
We heard the tilings that were contained in this
sacrament, what they were, how they are coupled,
how they are delivered, and how they are received.
We heard also some objections that might be
brought against this doctrine : we heard them
propounded, and as God gave the grace, refuted :
and last of all, we heard how the faithful soul is
said to eat Christ's body, and drink His blood.
We heard the manner how Christ is, or can
be received of us ; And we concluded on this
point : That Christ Jesus, the Saviour of Man
kind, our Saviour, cannot be perceived nor yet
received, but by a spiritual way and apprehension ;
Neither the flesh of Christ, nor the blood of

r- 81

82 THE THIRD SERMON

Christ, nor Christ Himself, can be perceived but
by the eye of faith ; can be received but by the
mouth of faith ; nor can be laid hold of but by
the hand of faith. Now faith is a spiritual thing :
for faith is the gift of God, infused into the hearts
and minds of men, wrought in the soul of every
one, and that by the mighty working and opera
tion of the Holy Spirit. So, the only way to lay
hold on Christ being by faith, and faith of its own
nature being spiritual, it follows that there is no
way to lay hold on Christ but a spiritual way.
There is not a hand to fasten on Christ but a
spiritual hand, there is not a mouth to digest
Christ but a spiritual mouth. The Scriptures
familiarly, by all these terms, describe the nature
and efficacy of faith.

We are said to eat the flesh of Christ and to
drink His blood by faith, in this sacrament :
chiefly in doing of two things : First, in calling
to our remembrance the bitter death and passion
of Christ, the blood that He shed upon the cross,
the supper which He instituted in remembrance
of Him, before He went to the cross ; the Com
mandment which He gave: "Do this in re
membrance of me " : We eat his flesh, and drink
his blood spiritually, first in this point, in record
ing and remembering faithfully, how He died for
us, how His blood was shed upon the cross.
This is the first point, a point that cannot be
remembered truly, except it be wrought by the
mighty power of the Holy Spirit. The Second
point of the spiritual eating consists in this, That

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 83

I and every one of you believe firmly, that He
died for me in particular : That His blood was
shed on the cross, for a full remission and redemp
tion of me and my sins. The chief and principal
point of the eating of Christ's flesh and drinking
of His blood, stands in believing firmly that that
flesh was delivered to death for my sins ; that
that blood of His was shed for the remission
of my sins : and except every soul come near
to Himself, and firmly consent, agree, and be
persuaded, that Christ died for him, that soul
cannot be saved, that soul cannot eat the flesh
nor drink the blood of Christ. Thus the eating
of the flesh, and drinking of the blood of Christ,
stands in a faithful memory, in a firm belief, and
in a true applying of the merits of the death
and passion of Christ, to my own conscience in
particular.

There were sundry things objected against this
kind of receiving : I shall not insist to repeat
them : But beside all the objections you have
heard against this kind of spiritual receiving by
faith, they say, " If Christ's flesh and blood be not
perceived, nor received, but by the Spirit, by
faith : then," say they, " you receive Him only by
an imagination. If He be not received carnally
nor corporally, but only by the Spirit and by faith ;
then is He not received but by way of imagina
tion, conceit, and fantasy." So they account faith
an imagination of the mind, a fantasy and opinion,
fleeting in the brains of men. I cannot blame
them to think so of faith : For as none can

84 THE THIRD SERMON

judge of the sweetness of honey, but they that
have tasted it, so there is none can discern nor
judge of the nature of faith, but they that have
felt and tasted in their hearts, what it is. And
if they had tasted and felt in their souls, what
faith brings with it ; alas, they would not call
that spiritual jewel, — that only jewel of the soul,
— an imagination. They call it an imagination :
and the Apostle describing it (Heb. xi. 1), calls it
a substance and a substantial ground : Mark how
well these two agree ! " An imagination, and a
substantial ground ! " They call it an uncertain
opinion, fleeting in the brain and fantasy of man.
He calls it an evidence and demonstration, in the
same definition. See how directly contrary the
Apostle and they are, as to the nature of faith.
Upon this they infer, that as it is true in general,
Christ cannot be delivered nor given but that
same way that He is received ; and, consider, what
way anything is received, the same way is it given
and delivered : So (according to them) Christ
being received by way of imagination, He is also
in their fantasy, given and delivered by way of
imagination. For if He be not given, say they,
to thy hand, to thy mouth, nor to the corporeal
stomach : He cannot be given but by an imagina
tion and fantastical opinion. The reason that
moves them to think that Christ cannot be theirs,
nor given to them truly, — in effect and really, —
except He be given carnally, is this : That thing
which is so far absent and distant from us, as the
heaven is from the earth, cannot be said to be

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 85

given us, nor to be ours. But by your own con
fession, say they to us, Christ's body is as far
absent from us as the heaven is from the earth :
Therefore Christ's Mesh cannot be given to us,
except by way 'of imagination, and so not truly
nor in effect. This argument framed in this sort,
would, at first sight, seem to be of some force.
But let us examine it. The proposition is this:
That thing which is so far absent from us as the
heaven is from the earth, cannot be said to be
delivered to us, to be given to us, or in any way
to be ours.

Now whether is this proposition true or false ?
I say, this proposition is untrue, and the contrary
most true. A thing may be given to us, and
may become ours, though the thing in person
itself be as distant from us, as the heaven is from
the earth. And how prove I this ? What makes
anything to be yours ? What makes any of you
esteem a thing to be given to you ? Is it not a
title ? Is it not a just right to that thing ? If
you have a just right given to you, by him who
has power to give it, and a sure title confirmed to
you by him who has the power ; though the
thing that he gives you be not delivered into
your hands, yet by the right and title which he
grants to you, is not the thing yours ? There is
no doubt of it, for it is not the nearness of the
thing to my body and to my hand, that makes
the thing mine ; it may be in my hand, and yet
not belong to me. Neither is it the distance nor
absence of the thing that makes it not to be mine,

86 THE THIRD SERMON

for it may be far absent from me and yet be mine,
because the title is mine, and because I have got
my right to it from him who has the power to
give it. So then, this ground is true ; it is a
sure title and a just right that makes a thing,
though it be far distant from us, to be ours. But
so it is, that a lively and true faith in the blood
and death of Christ, makes us to have a sure title
and a good right to the flesh and blood of Christ,
and to His merits : consider what He merited by
his death, and the shedding of His blood upon
the cross ; all that together with Himself also
appertains to me, and that by a title and a right
which I have gotten to Him, of God ; which is
faith : And the surer my title is, the more sure
am I of the thing that is given me by the title.
Now this sacrament of the Lord's Supper was
instituted to confirm our title, to seal up our right
which we have to the body and blood, to the
death and passion of Christ : and so, the body of
Christ is said to be given to us, the blood of
Christ is said to be delivered to us, when our title
which we have of Him, of His death, of His body
and blood, is confirmed in our hearts. For this
sacrament is instituted for the growth and increase
of our faith, for the increase of our holiness and
sanctification : which faith the greater that it is
in our hearts, the more sure are we, that Christ's
death appertains to us. I grant, as I have said,
that the flesh of Christ is not delivered into my
hands, His flesh is not put into my mouth, nor
enters into my stomach : yet God forbid that thou

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 87

shoulclest say, He is not truly given, although not
carnally. And wherefore should it ? Has He not
appointed Bread and Wine for the nourishment of
the body, and may not these content you ? Are
they not sufficient to nourish you to this earthly
and temporal life ? Has He not appointed Christ
to be delivered to the inward mouth of thy soul,
to be given into the hand of thy soul, that thy
soul may feed on Him and be quickened with that
life wherewith the angels live, wherewith the Son
of God and God Himself live ?

So the flesh of Christ is not appointed to nourish
thy body, but to nourish thy soul in the hope, yea
in the growth of that immortal life : and therefore
I say, though the flesh of Christ be not delivered
into the hand of thy body, yet it is delivered to
the soul which is that part that it should nourish.
Yea, that Bread and Wine are no more really
delivered to the hand of the body, than the flesh
of Christ is delivered to the hand and mouth of
the soul, which is faith : Therefore crave no
more a carnal delivery, nor think upon a carnal
receiving. Thou must not think that either God
gives the flesh of Christ to the mouth of the body ;
or that thou by the mouth of thy body receivest
the flesh of Christ : For you must understand
this principle in the Scriptures of God ; our souls
cannot be joined with the flesh of Christ, nor the
flesh of Christ with our souls but by a spiritual
bond. Not by a carnal bond of blood or alliance ;
not by the touching of His flesh with our flesh :
but He is conjoined with us by a spiritual bond ;

88 THE THIRD SERMON

that is, by the power and virtue of His Holy Spirit.
And therefore the Apostle says, (1 Cor. xii. 13)
that hy the means of His Holy Spirit, all we, who
are faithful men and women, are baptized into the
one body of Christ. That is, we are conjoined
and fastened up with one Christ by the means,
says he, of one Spirit : not by a carnal bond or
by any gross conjunction, but only by the bond of
the Holy Spirit.

That same Holy Spirit that is in Him, is in
every one of us in some measure : and in respect
one Spirit is in Him and in us, therefore we are
accounted all to be members of one spiritual and
mystical body. And in the same verse the Apostle
says, " We are all made to drink into one and the
self-same Spirit " : that is we are made to drink
of the blood of Christ. And this blood is no other
thing than the quickening virtue and power that
flow from Christ, and from the merits of His death :
we are made all to drink of that blood, when we
partake of the lively power and virtue that flow
out of that blood. So there is not a bond that
can couple my soul with the flesh of Christ, but
only a spiritual bond and a spiritual union. And
therefore it is that the Apostle (1 Cor. vi. 17) says,
" He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit."
And John says (ch. iii. 6), " That which is born
of the Spirit, is spirit." So it is only by the
participation of the Holy Spirit that we are con
joined with the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus.
That carnal bond, whether it be the bond of blood
running through one race, or the carnal touching

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 89

of flesh with flesh, that carnal bond was never
esteemed by Christ In the time that He was
conversant here upon earth, He respected it
nothing : for as He witnessed himself by His own
words, He never had it in any kind of reverence
or estimation in comparison with the spiritual
bond. But as for the spiritual tie whereby we
are coupled with Him, He ever esteemed it in
the time that He was conversant on earth, and in
his Book, He has left the praise and commendation
of the same.

To let you see how lightly He esteemed the
carnal bond of blood and alliance, which we regard
so much, take this place — (Luke viii. 20, 21) for
there they come to him, and say, " Master, thy
mother and thy brethren stand without, and ivoidd
sec thee." You hear His answer to their demand,
how little He esteems that carnal bond ; He answers
(v. 21) in a manner denying that bond, He says,
" My mother and my brethren, arc these which
hear the word of God and do it." As if He
would say, It is not that I esteem, it is not that
carnal conjunction I reverence, it is the spiritual
couj unction, by the participation of the Holy Spirit ;
whereby we are moved to hear the word of God,
to give reverence to it and obey it. This carnal
bond was never profitable, as that passage plainly
testifies, for if the touching of Christ's flesh had
been profitable, the multitude, whereof mention is
made in that chapter, that thrust and pressed
Him, had been the better of it. But so it is,
that there was never one of them the better ;

90 THE THIRD SERMON

therefore the carnal touching profits nothing.
Says not Christ himself (John vi. 63), to draw
them from that sinister confidence, they had in
the flesh only, " The flesh profits nothing ; It is
the spirit that quickens ? "

As to the other kind of touch, by the Holy
Spirit and by faith in thy soul, this has always
been profitable, and we have a plain example
of it in the same chapter. The poor woman
that had long been diseased with a bloody issue,
— the space of twelve years, — and had wasted
and consumed the greater part of her substance
in seeking remedy, — found no help in the natural
and bodily physicians. At last, by virtue of the
Holy Spirit working faith in her heart, she
understands and conceives that she is able to
recover the health of her body and the health
of her soul by Christ Jesus, who came to be
the Saviour of both. And upon this persuasion
which she had in her heart, that Christ could
cure both body and soul, she presses through
the multitude till she comes to Him : and when
she comes it is not said that she touched His
flesh (in case the Papists would ascribe the
virtue which came out of Him, to her carnal
touching) but it is said, that she touched only
the hem of His garment with her hand ; and
with faith, which is the hand of the soul, she
touched her Saviour, God and man. And to let
you understand that she touched him by faith,
He says to her in the end, " Go thy way, thy
faith hath saved thee."

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 91

She no sooner touched Him by faith, but
immediately there came a power out of Him :
which power and virtue she felt by the effect
of it in her soul ; and our Saviour felt it when
it went out from Him. So soon as he felt it,
He says, " Who is this that hath touched me ? "
Peter (who was ever most sudden) says, " Thou
art thronged and thrust by the multitude, and
yet thou askest who has touched thee." Our
Saviour answers again, " It is not that touching
that I speak of; it is another kind of touching.
There is one has touched me, who has drawn
a virtue a». I power out of me : the multitude
take no virtue from me." The poor woman
thinking she had done amiss, and perceiving
she could not be hid, came trembling and said ;
" I have done it." He answers her, in the end,
and says, " Depart in peace, thy faith has saved
thee " : Thy faith has drawn out a virtue and
power from me, that has made both soul and
body whole.

This touching of Christ has ever been profitable;
is and shall be profitable : like as the touching
of Christ with the corporal hand has never been,
nor ever shall be. And why ? Christ is not
appointed to be a carnal head, to be set upon
the necks of our bodies, to furnish natural senses
and motions to our bodies. No, the Scriptures
call not Christ a natural head, but the Scriptures
call Him a spiritual head, to be set upon the
neck of our souls : that is, to be conjoined with
our souls ; that out of Him there may distil into

92 THE THIRD SERMON

our souls holy motions, heavenly senses ; and
that there may flow out of Him to us, a spiritual
and heavenly life. Therefore the Scriptures call
Him a spiritual head, as they call us a spiritual
body : and as the life which we get from Him
is spiritual, so all our conjunction with Him is
spiritual. And in respect He works that same
operation in my soul, which the carnal head does
in the body, therefore He is counted a spiritual
head : therefore is He counted the head of his
Church, because He furnishes her with spiritual
motion and senses, which is the life of the Church.
So to be short, there is nothing i.i this con
junction carnal ; there is nothing gross in it ;
there is nothing that may be compassed by our
natural judgment and understanding. And there
fore whosoever would attain to any small insight
of this spiritual conjunction between Christ and
us, of necessity he must humble himself and
earnestly pray for the Spirit ; otherwise it is not
possible to get any understanding, were it ever
so slight, how the flesh of Christ and we are
conjoined, except we have some light given us
by the Spirit ; that is, except our hearts be
wakened by the mighty working of the Spirit
of Christ, this shall remain as a dead and closed
letter to us.

So you have to crave that the Lord in His
mercy would awaken you, illuminate your under
standings, and make you to have a spiritual
light to discern these spiritual things. Next, you
must study and be careful to remove all vain

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 93

cogitations and earthly fantasies : when you come
to hear of so high a matter, you must cast off
all filthy thoughts, ill motions and cares of the
world ; and you must shake off all things that
clog your hearts. And thirdly, you must come
with a purpose to hear the word, to give diligent
ear to the word, and with a sanctified heart to
receive it ; with a purpose to grow and increase
in holiness, as well in body as in soul, all the
days of your life. And coining with this purpose,
no question, the Holy Spirit shall reveal those
things to you which you need. And though
this word pass and bring no great commodity
for the present, yet the Holy Spirit hereafter
shall reveal to thee the truth of that which thou
hast now heard. This then is the point of all ;
Be present in your hearts and minds, and let
your souls be emptied of all the cares of the
world, that they may receive that comfort which
is offered in the hearing of the word.

Now I come to the defining of the sacrament
of the Lord's Supper. I call this sacrament, An
holy Seal, annexed to the covenant of grace and
mercy in Christ. A seal to be ministered
publicly, always according to the holy institution
of Christ Jesus : that by the lawful administering
thereof, the sacramental union between the signs
and the thing signified, may stand : and this
union standing, Christ Jesus who is the thing
signified, is as truly delivered to the increase of
our spiritual nourishment, as the signs are given and
delivered to the body, for our temporal nourishment.

94 THE THIRD SERMON

Now let us examine the words and parts of
this definition. First of all, I call this sacrament
a Seal ; because this sacrament serves the same
use to our souls, that a common seal serves to a
common evidence. As the seal which is annexed
to the evidence, confirms and seals up the truth
contained in the evidence : so this sacrament of
the body and blood of Christ, confirms and seals
up the truth of mercy and grace, contained in the
covenant of mercy and grace : in this respect it is
called a seal.

It is called An holy Seal. Why ? Because it
is taken from the common use, whereunto that
Bread served before ; and is applied to an holy
use. There is a power given to that bread, to
signify the precious body of Christ Jesus, to
represent the nourishing and feeding of our souls.
And in respect it serves now in the sacrament to
so holy an use, therefore I call it an holy seal.
This is not my word ; it is the Apostle's (Rom.
iv. 11), where he gives the sacrament the same
name and calls it a seal. And further, if the
wisdom of Christ, in his Apostle, had been followed,
and if men had not invented new names of their
own for this sacrament, but had contented and
satisfied themselves with the names which God
has given by His Apostle, and which Christ him
self had given to this sacrament ; I am assured,
none of these controversies, storms and debates
(which never will cease) had fallen out : but
where men will go about to be wiser than God,
and go beyond God in devising names which He

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 95

never gave, — upon men's own invention, — such
debates have fallen out. A lesson, by the way,
that no flesh presume to be wiser than God, but
let them stoop, and keep the names which God
has given to this sacrament.

Thirdly, I say, annexed to the Covenant ;
annexed and hung to the Charter : because it
cannot be called a seal properly except it be
hung to an evidence. What it is by nature the
same it remains, and no more, if it be not annexed
to some evidence : it is only the hanging of it to
the evidence that makes men account it a seal ;
not being so esteemed, except it be hung to the
evidence. Even so it is here ; if this sacrament
be not ministered and joined to the preached
word, to the preaching of the covenant of mercy
and grace, it cannot be a seal ; it is no more
than what it is by nature. It is but a common
piece of bread, — it is no more, if it be not
annexed to the preaching of the word, and
ministered therewith as Christ has commanded.
Therefore, I say, the seal must be annexed,
appended, and hung to the evidence, to the
preaching of the word, for establishing the
evidence ; otherwise it is not a seal. But it
is not so, with the evidence which is the word
of God : for you know any evidence will produce
faith, though it want a seal ; and it will serve
to establish a right, if it be subscribed, even
without a seal : but the seal without the evi
dence avails nothing. Even so it is with the
word of God : though the sacrament be not

96 THE THIRD SERMON

annexed to the word, yet the word will serve
our turn : it serves us to get Christ, it serves
to engender and beget faith in us, and makes
us to grow up in faith. But the seal without
the word can serve us to no holy use : therefore
I say, the seal must be annexed to the word
preached, to the covenant of mercy and grace.

Now it follows in the definition, that this seal
must be ministered publicly. Wherefore say I
publicly ? To exclude all private administration
of this sacrament. For if this sacrament be
administered to any privately, it is not a sacra
ment. Why ? Because the Apostle calls this
sacrament a Communion : therefore if you ad
minister it to one alone, you lose the sacrament.
For this sacrament is a Communion of the body
and blood of Christ : therefore, of necessity, it must
be by way of communication ; and so the action
must be publicly ministered. Secondly, this
sacrament must be publicly ministered, because
Christ Jesus who is the thing signified in this
sacrament, is no such thing as pertains to one
man only : If this were so, He might be privately
given and ministered. But seeing Christ, who
is the thing signified in the sacrament, belongs
to every believing man and woman, therefore He
ought to be given in common to all, in a common
action, in a society, and congregation of the faith
ful. Thirdly, this sacrament is a thanksgiving
to God the Father for His benefits. Now it
appertains not to one or two, to thank God only ;
but as we are all partakers of His temporal and

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 97

spiritual benefits, so we ought all of us publicly
to give Him thanks for the same. Therefore I
say, in the definition, this seal ought to be
publicly and not privately ministered ; as the
Papists do in their private Masses.

This seal must be publicly ministered accord
ing to Christ's institution. Wherefore say I
Christ's institution rather than man's or angel's
institution ? Why keep I to Christ's institution ?
Because man has not power to institute or make
a sacrament : because an angel has not power to
make or institute a sacrament. For none has
power to make or institute a sacrament, but He
that has power to give Christ, who is the thing
signified in the sacrament. But none has power
to give Christ, except either the Father or Him
self : therefore none has power to make or in
stitute a sacrament, but either the Father or
the Son : only God must make a sacrament.
Further, this sacrament is a part of God's service
and worship : but none has power to appoint any
part of His service, or prescribe any part of His
worship, but only God himself : therefore none
can make a sacrament but God himself. There
is no Prince on earth will be content to be served
after another man's fantasy : but he will prescribe
his services according to his own pleasure: how
much more is it meet that God should appoint
His own service and worship ? Therefore there
is neither man nor angel has power to institute
any part of the service of God. The greatest
style that any man on earth gets, in the ministry
G

98 THE THIRD SERMON

of the word and sacraments, is that style which
the Apostle gives them (1 Cor. iv. 1). There we
are called stewards and dispensers of the grace of
God, ministers of those mysteries and holy things.
It follows then, that we are not authors, creators,
or makers of them, but only ministers and dis
pensers of the sacraments. So it is evident, that
no man nor creature has power to make a sacra
ment. Therefore it must be according to the
institution of Christ. His institution must be
kept : look what He said, what He did, what
He commanded thee to do ; all that must be
said, done and obeyed. If thou leave one jot
of that undone which He commanded thee to
do, thou pervertest the institution : for there is
nothing left in register of that institution, but
it is essential.

So in the celebration of Christ's institution we
must take heed to whatsoever He said, did or
commanded to be done : Thou must first say
whatsoever He said, and then do whatsoever He
did. For the ministration of the sacrament must
follow after the word. First, thou must say that
which Christ commanded thee to say, and thou
must teach that which He commanded thee to
teach : and then minister the sacrament. Thus
to keep this institution, we must begin at the
saying, and say whatsoever Christ commanded
us : thereafter, faithfully do all that which He
commanded to be done. So I call the word, —
the whole institution of Christ Jesus, — preached
and proclaimed, announced distinctly, clearly and

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 99

sensibly to the people ; in such sort, that if we
leave any kind of circumstance or ceremony of
this institution undone, we pervert the whole
action.

It is agreed and condescended upon between us
who celebrate this institution, and all the sects in
the world who have separated themselves from
this institution, That two things are necessary,
and must concur in the nature and constitution
of a sacrament. To wit, there must be a word,
and there must be an element concurring. There
is not a sect but grants this, That the word must
concur with the element, before there can be a
sacrament. Though they easily admit this in
general, wherein we agree well with them ; yet
when it comes to the special, and we enter into
particulars in the handling and treating of the
word ; how well soever we agree in the general,
yet, in the particular, we part as far asunder.
For when we come to dispute and reason on these
particulars ; First, what we mean by the word :
Secondly, how this word ought to be treated :
Thirdly, what virtue this word has : Fourthly,
how far the virtue of this word extends itself :
and last of all, to whom the words ought to be
directed and pronounced : In all these particulars
we are as far asunder, as ever we seemed to agree
in the general.

I forbear to meddle with any other sect, but
shall deal with the Papists only, because we have
most to do with them : And first of all we are
to understand what we mean by the word, and

100 THE THIRD SERMON

what they mean by it. We, by the word (as I
have said), understand the whole institution of
Christ Jesus, whatsoever He said, or did, or com
manded to be done, without adding or diminishing,
or alteration of the meaning or sense of that word :
This we mean by the word in the sacrament.

Now what understand the Papists by the word ?
They preach not the institution of Christ, nor
take the whole institution as He left it. But in
place thereof, they select and choose out of His
institution four or five words, and they make
the whole virtue of the institution to consist in
these four or five words. And it were nothing, if
they would content themselves with these words,
because they are the words of the institution.
But they add to the words, they take from the
words, and alter the meaning of the same words
at their pleasure. That you may know this ; In
their Mass which they call the Supper, I shall let
you see the substance of it : I shall divide their
Mass into things substantial and things accidental.
To the substance of the Mass there are three
things required. There must of necessity be a
Priest, that is to say, one who takes upon himself
the office of our Mediator Christ Jesus, to inter
cede between God and man. Secondly, to the
substance of the Mass it is required, that the
Priest offer the body and blood of Christ. We
come here to receive the same things : There, the
Priest offers them to God the Father. Thirdly,
by this work (say they) they obtain all good
things : by this work wrought, they obtain re-

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 101

mission of sins, as well to the dead as to the
quick ; but in special, they obtain remission of
sins to the Priest who is the distributer, and to
him to whom the Priest applies that sacrifice :
And as for the rest of the Church who are absent,
they obtain remission of their sins, by this work
generally. These three things are necessary to
the substance of the mass.

As for the "accidents " that must concur to the
making of a Mass, they are of two sorts : Some
of them are always necessary, without which that
action cannot be : again, some are not necessary,
and the action may be without them, but not
without a deadly sin. Those things that are
necessary concern partly the Priest, and partly
the action itself. The accidents that are necessary
to the Priest are of two sorts: One sort are those
without which he cannot be a Priest ; The other
sort, those without which he cannot be free from
deadly sin. The things without which he cannot
be a Priest, are these : Except he have power
given of his Bishop to consecrate, which power
is instituted by the unction and shaving of his
crown. Except, again, he have power to speak,
and that the roof of his mouth be whole that he
may speak, he cannot be a Priest. These two are
always necessary, and concur to the person. Other
things again are not so necessary ; as, that the
Priest must be free from suspension, from cursing,
from deadly sin, and from all ecclesiastical pains
and censures. These things are necessary to the
person. Again, there are two things necessary to

102 THE THIRD SERMON

the action : One sort without which the action
cannot be ; it cannot be without the Lord's
Prayer, nor without the five words of the insti
tution. Other things, again, are not so necessary;
as the consecration of the place where the Mass is
said, the Altar stone, the blessing of the Chalice,
the water, the mutterings, the singing, he that
should help to say Mass, and the rest. So they
and we in no sort agree concerning the word, what
is meant by it.

The second point is, how this word ought to be
treated, wherein we are as far asunder ; we say,
the word, taken as has been said for the whole
institution, ought to be treated after this manner:
First, there ought to be a lawful Pastor who has
his calling of God to deliver it. And this Pastor
ought to deliver the word lawfully ; what is that?
he ought to preach it, to proclaim it publicly,
with a clear voice to announce it. He ought
to open up and declare all the parts of it, what is
the people's part, and what is his own part ; how
he ought to deliver and distribute that Bread and
Wine ; how the people ought to receive at his
hands that Bread and Wine ; to inform their
faith, how they ought to receive Christ's body
and blood, signified by that Bread and Wine ;
As also, he ought to teach them how they should
come with great reverence to that Table, and
communicate with the precious body and blood
of Christ. This he ought to do in a familiar
language, that the people may understand him,
that they may hear him, that they may perceive

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 103

and take up in their hearts the things he speaks.
For what avails it you, to hear a thing whispered
and not spoken out ? or if it be spoken out, what
avails it you to hear it if you understand it not ?
For except you hear Christ in a familiar and plain
language, you cannot understand : and except you
understand, it is not possible for you to believe ;
and without belief there is no application of
Christ : and except ye believe and apply Christ
to yourselves, your coming to the sacrament is
in vain. So, of necessity, if this sacrament be
lawfully handled, the Pastor must preach the
institution of Christ that it may be heard, and
in a familiar language, that it may be understood,
in such sort that the faithful people may be
informed how to receive, and the Minister may
know his part, how to deliver and distribute.
This, we say, should be the right handling of the
holy institution of this sacrament.

Now what do they ? In place of a Minister,
Pastor, or Bishop (call him what you please) who
is lawfully called of God, they substitute a priest,
surrogate an hireling, who has no calling or
office now in the Church of God. For the office
of a priest as they use their priesthood, is no
other thing but the office of Christ Jesus, the
office of Mediator between God and us. For they
make their priests daily to offer up Christ Jesus,
to the Father. Now this is the Mediator's office,
and Christ did it once for all, and once for ever,
says the Apostle : so that they can have no
entrance to do this over again : and in respect

104 THE THIRD SERMON

that their priests intrude to do this again which
Christ has done already, they do it without
command, they have no warrant in the word
of God. And, even if they had warrant for their
calling in the word of God, yet they handle the
sacrament amiss : for where they should speak
forth clearly, they whisper and conjure the ele
ments by a certain kind of whispering. Where
they should speak it in a known language, that
the people may understand, they speak it in
an unknown language : and though they were to
speak it in a known and familiar tongue, yet in
that they whisper it, the people cannot be the
better of it. Now what shall I say ? Seeing
they thus handle the word, though it were the
very institution itself, yet they so spoil it in the
handling, that it is not an holy sacrament. Thus
we differ as much in the second point, how the
word ought to be handled and treated.

The third point is, what virtue this word has,
how far the virtue of this word extends itself:
In this head we grant and acknowledge that the
word has a virtue : and the word taken, as has
been said, works somewhat even toward the same
elements of bread and wine ; for we acknowledge
that those elements by virtue of this word are
changed, not in their substance, not in their
nature, nor yet in their substantial and natural
properties, but we grant that the elements are
changed, in a quality which they had not before ;
in such sort, that these elements are taken from
the common use whereunto they served before,

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 105

and by the institution of Christ they are applied
now to a holy use. Mark how far the holy use
differs from the common use ; there is as great
difference between the elements this day in the
action, and the thing that they were yesterday.
For I grant that the elements are changed ; and
yet this change proceeds not from the nature of
the elements, from an enclosed virtue supposed to
be in the words, nor from the whispering of the
words, but it proceeds from the will of Christ,
from His ordinance and appointment, set down
in His own institution : for that thing is holy,
which God calls holy ; and that thing is common,
which God calls common.

To let you understand how these signs arc
made holy, it is necessary that these two things
be considered. First, who is he that makes them
holy, whether God, angel, or man ? Second,
whosoever he be that makes them holy, by what
means and ways makes he them holy ? And by
the consideration of these two, we shall come to
the consideration and right estimate of the snncti-
fication of the elements.

For the first, we say that God only is He who
can make a thing which was common to be holy.
So we say, that God by His will and ordinance
declared and set down in His word, has made the
things that were common, by His appointment to
be holy. As for the way and means whereby
they are made holy, it is the word of God, the
institution of Christ, the will of Christ, declared
in His institution, that makes them holy. For

106 THE THIRD SERMON

the preaching and opening up of the word and
institution of Christ, lets us see that God has
made these things holy ; and not only that He
has made them holy, but lets us see a holy
manner how they should be used, in what place, at
what time, with what heart, and to what end. So
it is the will of Christ, declared in His institution,
whereby the things that were common before are
now made holy. There are two other things also
which make the same elements holy : and these
two are used in this institution. There is prayer
and thanksgiving, which make the creatures of
God holy to our use : whereas, otherwise, if we
receive the good creatures of God like dogs, and
thank Him not for them, it is a sure token that
they were never sanctified to our use.

By prayer we obtain grace and strength from
God to use the creatures, and this whole action,
holily and lawfully as it should be. And there
fore not only in this holy action should we begin
with God and with invocation of His name, but in
all actions in the world we should begin in that
name of God. So it is the will of God that
prayer, and thanksgiving, conjoined with the
elements, do make them holy. All these three
contained in the action of the Lord's Supper,
make the seals holy : For beside the will of God
declared in the institution, in the Lord's Supper
we use an invocation, and in this invocation we
use a thanksgiving. So the elements are made
holy not by the word of God only, but by the
use of prayer and thanksgiving, which three

THE LORD'S SUPPKR IN PARTICULAR 107

are the only means whereby these things are
sanctified.

Now to express and declare the sanctificatiou
of the elements : The Evangelists and the Apostle
Paul use indifferently the word, TO BLESS and TO
GIVE THANKS, and commonly they put the one
for the other : For you may see that Mark and
Paul use the word bless : Matthew and Luke use
the word to gire thanks, and all in one significa
tion : And Mark himself in the xivth of his
Gospel, 2 2nd verse, speaking of the same action
of the Lord's Supper, uses the word "TO BLESS,"
and in the 23rd verse he uses the word "TO GIVE
THANKS," and both in one signification. To let
you see, that Christ Himself, the Apostle, and the
Evangelists, use the word " TO BLESS," and " TO
GIVE THANKS," indifferently, to signify the saucti-
fication and consecration of the elements ; except
you take the one for the other, it will be hard to
gather a good meaning out of the Apostle's words :
for I remember the Apostle (1 Cor. x. 16)
says : The cup of blessing which we bless ; what
is that ? I take the word to signify, as I have
said, " which we sanctify and prepare by blessing."
So " to bless " and " to give thanks " in the Lord's
Supper, signify no other thing but to sanctify :
otherwise if you take the word in another significa
tion you shall fall into an error ; and why ? God
is said to bless, and man is said to bless : God is
said to bless when He gives good things to His
creatures, for God's blessing is ever effectual ; and
therefore He is said to bless when He gives good

108 THE THIRD SERMON

things. Man again is said to bless, either privately
or publicly, when he craves blessing at the hands
of God for any man ; when he blesses in the name
and at the command of God, any person or people.
Now if you ascribe blessing in any of these two
significations to the cup, it is amiss : for we use
neither to crave a blessing to insensible elements ;
nor yet to bless them in the name of God : and
God uses to give good things to the sons of men,
and not to insensible creatures. Therefore we
must needs use the word " Bless " in the third
signification, " The cup of blessing which we bless,"
that is, which we sanctify and prepare by bless
ing. Thus far we understand, for the sanctifica-
tion of the elements.

Now let us see how they sanctify these elements,
and what is the form of their consecration ; so far
as I understand, it consists in these five words :
Hoc est enim corpus meum. It stands in these
five words, and in the whispering of them ; for if
you whisper them not, you lose the fashion of
incantation : for the thing which we call sanctify
ing, they call whispering : and the whispering of
these five words, they call the " consecration "
of the elements. And when the words are after
this manner whispered, they pre-suppose such a
secret and portentous virtue to be enclosed in the
syllables, that the virtue and power which flows
from the words, is able to chase away wholly the
substance of the bread ; so that the very bread and
substance of it is altogether destroyed by this
power. Secondly, that this power which flows

THE LORD S SUPPKR IN PARTICULAR 109

from these words, is able to fetch and pull down
another substance, to wit, the flesh and blood of
Christ Jesus Who sits at the right hand of His
Father, and is able to put it within that bread.
This is a strange and a great virtue, that not only
will draw down that substance, but put it within
the compass of that bread. These same five words,
whispered in this manner, have such a wondrous
operation, say they, that they are able both to
chase away the one substance, to pull down another,
and to put it in the bread. We altogether deny
that there is such a virtue in these words : for,
as I have said before, though we deny not that the
word has a virtue, we deny that there is sueh a
virtue enclosed in the words : we deny the quality
and quantity of the virtue, or that it flows from
such a fountain. For we grant that the word
has a virtue ; there is never a word that God
speaks here, but it has a virtue joined with it :
but we deny that this virtue is enclosed in the
syllables, in the whispering or pronouncing of the
words : for if there were such a virtue and power
enclosed in the syllables, by the same reason it
should follow, that there were a virtue in the
figure and shape of the letters that make up the
words. Now there is no man will think that
there is any virtue in the figure or shape of the
letters: and there is as little virtue in the syllables
or pronouncing of the words themselves. So we
deny that there is any virtue enclosed in the
syllables or resident in the words. But we say
that there is a power conjoined with the word, —

110 THE THIRD SERMON

not resident in the word, — but in the Eternal
and essential Word, whereof John the Evangelist
makes mention (chap, i.) "The ivord which ivasfrom
the beginning," that is, the Son of God, Christ
Jesus. We say, there is not a dram-weight of
this virtue and power resident in any creature
that ever God created, but it is resident only in
Christ Jesus : And therefore there flows no virtue
from the syllables, nor from the words that are
spoken, but from Christ and His Spirit, who gives
the virtue to these words. So we differ in this ;
we say, that there is not any virtue resident in
the syllables, we say that the pronouncing of the
syllables works nothing : but we say that the
virtue is resident in the person of the Son of God,
and He works by His own word.

Now we say that there cannot be such a por
tentous change, as that the whispering of so many
words should change the very substance of the
bread, draw down the substance of the body of
Christ, and put His body in so narrow a compass.
We say that cannot be ; and this I shall prove
by these three rules ; namely, By the verity of
the flesh of Christ Jesus ; by the articles of our
belief; and by the true end of the institution of
this sacrament. So we shall see, by God's grace,
the infinite absurdities that follow upon their
opinion.

(1) The first principle that I lay down is this :
Seeing that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, in the
time appointed, took true flesh of the womb of
the Virgin, and united Himself with our nature

THE LORDS SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 111

in a personal union, to the end that our nature,
which fell altogether from integrity in the first
Adam, might recover the same in the second
Adam : yea, not only the same, but so much the
greater as our second Adam excels the first in all
degrees. And in respect he took on Him a body
like unto ours iii all thiugs (sin excepted), of
necessity it must follow, that the definition of a
true body, and the inseparable properties thereof
must be competent to Him. But these are the
inseparable properties ; namely, to be in one
certain place, to be finite, circumscribed, visible,
and palpable : for all these concur (qiutrto modo
as the Logicians say) to a body ; so that they
cannot be separate from the subject, without its
destruction. Therefore I reason in this manner ;
all true human body is in a certain place ; Christ
Jesus' body is a true human body : therefore,
it is in a certain place. I call place, a certain
condition of an organic body, whereby it comes to
pass that wherever the body be, of necessity it is
limited within that place ; and while it is there,
it cannot be elsewhere. If you would have the
probation of my proposition, from the Doctors,
read Augustine to Dardanus, speaking of this
same body of Christ. " Take away a certain room
from bodies, and they shall be in no place ; and if
they be in no place, they are not." The same
Augustine, writing upon John, in his 30th Treatise
says, " The body in which the Lord rose again
must of necessity be in one place ; but His divine
efficacy and nature is diffused everywhere," And

112 THE THIRD SERMON

in his third Epistle he says, " How much soever
the body be, or how little soever the body be, it
behoves to occupy the bounds of a place." And
besides these, the history of " the Acts " proves
most evidently Christ's body to be in a certain
place: as in Acts iii. 21, the words are these:
" Whom the heaven must contain, until the time
that all things be restored, which God had spoken
by the mouth of all His holy Prophets" Though
I need not insist on the probation of these things,
yet I proceed. Secondly then, I reason after this
manner ; all human body is finite and circum
scribed ; but the body of Christ is a human body.
What warrant from the Doctors have I for this ?
I leave out many purposely, and allege only
Augustine, who writing to Dardanus says " Believe
Christ to be everywhere in that he is God ; but
only to be in heaven, according to the nature
of a true body." And in his 146th Epistle, " I
believe," says he, " the body of Christ to be so in
heaven as it was on earth, when He went up to
heaven." But it was circumscribed in a certain
place on earth, ergo, it is so in heaven, and, con
sequently, it cannot be in the Mass-bread and in
heaven both at one time. The last reason is this :
a human body is visible and palpable : but Christ
has a human body, and He is corporally present,
as you say : therefore Christ's body is visible and
palpable. I prove my proposition by Christ's
own words taken out of Luke xxiv. 39. In the
which place, to persuade the Apostles of the
verity of His body, and to prove evidently that it

THE LORDS SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 113

was not visionary, He uses the argument taken
from these two qualities, and He commands His
Apostles to feel and see ; giving them thereby to
understand, that as these two senses are the most
certain of all the rest, so are they most able to
discern, whether He was a body or a spirit. As if
He would say, " If I be visible and palpable, you
may be out of doubt that I have a true body."
For as the poet says, whom 2Jcrtnlliaii cites also
to this same purpose :

Tamjcre cnim d tamji^ ni*i corpus, inilht potcst res.

By these arguments it may be evidently seen
how this Trausubstantiation may no ways consist
with the verity of the body of Christ Jesus.

(2) And as it fights with the flesh of Christ
Jesus, so it repugns directly the articles of our faith.
For in our Belief we profess, that Christ ascended
out of this earth to heaven, where He sits at the
right hand of the Father, where He governs and
directs all things in heaven ami earth ; from
which place, He is to come at the last day to
judge the world. This article teaches us, that
He has left His dwelling which He had amongst
us on earth, and has ascended into the heavens,
where He sits at the right hand of His Father,
and shall there remain (according to the testimony
of Peter, which I have cited, Acts iii. 21) until
the last day. If He sit at His Father's right
hand, and be to remain in heaven until the last
day, then He is not corporally in the bread. But
the Article says, that He sits at the right hand
H

114 THE THIRD SERMON

of His Father : and Peter says in that place,
that the heavens must contain Him until the last
day. Therefore, this Transubstantiation is directly
against the articles of our Belief, and the mani
fest place of the Scripture.

(3) It is opposed to the end for which
this sacrament was instituted ; and this is most
evident : for the end of the sacrament is spiritual,
as the effect that flows from it is spiritual, and
the instrument whereby this spiritual food is
applied to us, is also spiritual. But from a
natural and corporeal presence, a spiritual effect
can never flow : Therefore the corporeal and
natural presence of the body and blood of Christ
Jesus repugns directly the end of this sacrament :
for the corporeal presence must have a corporeal
eating : of this eating follows a digestion in the
stomach and the thing that is digested in the
stomach is never able to feed thy soul to life
eternal. So this corporeal presence must ever
tend to a corporeal purpose ; which is directly
contrary to the end for which the sacrament was
instituted.

Further, if the bread were transubstantiated,
it would become the thing signified : if it become
the thing signified, this sacrament should want a
sign, and so it should not be a sacrament ; for
every sacrament, as you have heard, is a sign.
Now to say that the accidents of true bread, as
the colour and the roundness of it, may serve as
signs, that is more than folly : for between the
sign and the thing signified, there must be a

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 115

conformity : but there is no conformity between
the accidents, and the body and blood of Christ
Jesus ; for if that were so, the accidents be
hove to nourish us corporally ; as the body and
blood of Christ Jesus is appointed to nourish us
spiritually. Again, if the bread become the body
of Christ Jesus, it would follow that He had a
body without blood ; for He has instituted another
sign besides, to represent His blood. Also, if
there had been such a wonderful thing as they
speak of in this sacrament, there would have
been plain mention made thereof in the Scripture ;
for God himself never works a notable work but
He declares it either openly or more privately in
the Scripture, that thereby He may be glorified
in His wonderful works. As ye may read in
the Evangelist John ii. 8 : Where the water is
changed into wine. Gen. ii. 22 : Where the rib
of Adam was changed into Eve. Exodus viii. 10 :
Where Aaron's rod was turned into a serpent :
in all these, you see, that changing is manifestly
expressed. Therefore I say, if there had been
such a notable change in these elements of the
Supper as they aftirm, the Scripture would not
have concealed but expressed it : but in respect
there is no mention made of this change in the
Scriptures, therefore there is no such change in
this action. Further, if there were such a change,
as they say, either it is before the words of con
secration are spoken, or it follows after. If the
change be before the words of consecration are
spoken, the consecration is superfluous, and their

116 THE THIRD SERMON

proposition is false : if the change be after the
words are spoken, " This bread is my body," their
proposition is also false, because the word " bread "
is spoken before the last syllable of these five
words is pronounced. These, and many more
absurdities follow from this doctrine.

Yet they obstinately persevere, and urge us
with the letter, affirming that the words of Christ
are so plain that they admit no figure. They
would have spoken more advisedly if they had
sought counsel of Augustine, to have discerned
between a figurative speech, and a proper speech :
for he in his third book and sixteenth chapter of
Christian Doctrine, speaks after this sort ; "If
the speech," says he, "seems to command a
wickedness or mischief, or to forbid any happiness
or welfare, it is not proper, it is figurative/' And
he adds for an example, a place out of John vi.
53, "Except," says our Master, "ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have
no life in you." Whereimto Augustine adds,
" this speech," says he, " seems to command
a mischief, therefore it is a figurative speech,
whereby we are commanded to communicate with
the sufferings of Christ Jesus, and with gladness
to keep in perpetual memory, that the flesh of
the Lord was crucified and wounded for us."
" For otherwise, it were more horrible " (as the
same author makes mention in his second book
against the adversaries of the law *) " to eat the

1 i.e. " Contra adversarium Icgis ct prophetarum ; Libri duo."
— Works of Augustine, Benedictine Edn. Tom. viii.

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 117

flesh of Christ Jesus really than to murder him ;
and more horrible to drink his blood, than to
shed his blood." Yet notwithstanding, they hold
on still to the same tune, and maintain that
those words ought to be taken literally. So, that
it appears, that of very malice, for contradiction's
sake, to the end only that they may withstand
the truth, they will not acknowledge this to be
a sacramental speech. For they are compelled,
whether they will or not, in other speeches of the
like sort, to acknowledge a figure ; as Gen. xvii.
10, Circumcision is called "the covenant," and
Exod. xii. 11, The Lamb is called "the Pass
over," and Matt. xxvi. 28, The Cup is called
"His Blood," and Luke xxii. 20, The Cup is
called " the new Testament," and 1 Cor. x. 4,
The Rock is called " Christ." All these speeches
are sacramental, and receive a kind of interpreta
tion : yet they maliciously presume to deny us in
these words (Hoc cst corpus incuin], what they are
compelled to grant in the rest, as especially where
Paul calls the rock "Christ."

Now when they are driven out of this fortress
they tlee as unhappily to a second : namely, That
God by his omnipotence can make the body of
Christ to be in heaven, and in the bread both, at
one time ; £7770, say they, it is so. If I denied
their consequent, they would be much troubled
to prove it. But the question stands not here,
whether God can do it or not : but the question
stands, whether God will do it or not ; or may
will it or not. And we say reverently, that His

118 THE THIRD SERMON

Majesty may not will it : for, though it be true,
that He may do many things which He will not,
yet it is as true that there are many things which
He may not will ; of the which sort this is : and
these are reduced to two sorts. First, He may
not will those things which are contrary to His
nature : as to be changeable, to decay, and such
others : for if He might will these things : they
should not be arguments of any puissance or
power, but rather certain arguments of His
impotency and infirmity. And therefore though
He may not will these things, He ceases not
to be omnipotent; but so much the rather His
constant and invincible power is known. Secondly,
God may not will some things by reason of a
presupposed condition, as things, whereof He has
concluded the contrary before ; of the which sort
is this which is now controverted. For seeing
that God has concluded, that all human body
should consist of organic parts, and therefore
should be comprehended and circumscribed within
one, and their own proper place : and also seeing
He has appointed Christ Jesus to have the like
body, and that not for a time but eternally : in
respect of this determined will (I say) God may
not will the contrary now, either to abolish this
body which He has appointed to be eternal, or
yet to make it at one time, in respect of one
thing, a body and not a body, quantified and not
quantified, finite and infinite, local and illocal ;
for to will these things which are plain contradic
tions in themselves, He may not, no more than it

THE LORDS SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 119

is possible for Him to will a lie. So it may bo
seen of all men, that we preserve the omnipotence
of God ; and with reverence from our hearts
acknowledge Him alone to be alone omnipotent :
and we desire all men to esteem them as calum
niators, who abuse the ears of the simple, to
persuade them the contrary of us.

They are not content with this : but they say,
That the Lord may will a contradiction, and make
both the parts to be true at one time. And to
prove this, they would bring in the miracles which
God works : as if they would say, Every miracle
includes a contradiction. As for example ; God
made a Virgin to bear a Son ; they think this
work brings with it a contradiction. To bear a
Son, say they, is the one part of the contradic
tion ; and to be a Virgin, is the other part of the
contradiction. Now this work is a miracle, but
it implies no contradiction : for concerning the
holy Virgin's conception, there is no contradiction.
There was a miracle indeed, that a virgin should
bear a Son, contrary to the course of nature : for
to be a Virgin, and yet to have a child, are not
contradictory, if she have conceived and brought
forth by miracle, as did the blessed Virgin : But
to be a virgin, and not a virgin at one time, this
is a contradiction. So Christ's body to be visible
and invisible, local and illocal, at one time, is in
every respect the like contradiction ; and, there
fore, impossible to be true. The other example,
of Christ's entering in, the doors being closed and
shut, what appearance of contradiction has it ?

120 THE THIRD SERMON

Can they prove that He entered through the
doors ? And if He did, then was there an altera
tion of qualities and that by miracle ; either in
Christ's body, or in the doors ; but no contradic
tion, in nature, unless you know not what a
contradiction is. Their third and last example
of the fire in Nebuchadnezzar's oven, which
consumed the ministers, but hurt not them
that were in the midst of it, appears to be of
no weight, by that which has already been
answered. They imagine, as appears, that in
every miracle a contradiction is implied : which
is absurd. If they can prove that this fire was
both hot and cold, then they say something to the
purpose : but that it burns up some and hurts not
others, is no contradiction ; because by miracle
the force thereof was repressed. So this second
ground holds fast ; God may not will that thing
which implies a contradiction. But so it is that
the real presence of the body of Christ in the
sacrament implies a contradiction ; for it makes
the body of Christ visible and invisible, compassed
and not compassed at one time : therefore God
may not will such a thing.

When they are driven out of this, they make
their last refuge a peremptory defence of their
own opinion : for they say, Christ's body is
exempt from physical rules : for theology is not
subject to physical rules. It is a very ill-gathered
consequence, to say, that we subject theology
to physic, because that we — first, according to
Theology, which is the law of God ; and next,

THK LORDS SUPPKR IN PARTICULAR 121

according to Physic, which is the law of nature
—defend the natural properties of the true body
of Christ Jesus. Suppose I grant this, that
theology is not subject to physic ; what of that ?
ergo, Christ's body is exempt from physical rules.
How follows that I pray you ? By what law may
you exempt or can you exempt the body of Christ ?
By the law of nature you cannot ; for He was made
of the seed of David and took on Him true Hesh
of the womb of the Virgin : And far less by the
law of God, which is Theology : for you know that
Christ was appointed from all eternity, to take on
Him our nature and to become true man. Indeed
it is true, that the law of God cannot be subject
to the law of nature; fur the law of nature flows
from the law of God as out of its own spring : but
it is as true that if you exempt Christ's body from
the law of nature, you shall exempt it also from
the law of God. For I affirm that the Scripture
so consents with the law of nature, that if you
deny the one, you shall deny the other ; And if
you admit the one, you shall admit also the other.
Therefore if they look well about them, they shall
find the beam to be in their own eye : for they
pervert both the law of God and the law of
nature, by a new invented natural knowledge of
their own. For whosoever he be that attributes
to one and the self-same body, natural and un
natural properties, which directly fight against
one another ; I say, that man perverts both true
theology, and nature. But, to one and the self
same body of Christ Jesus, they attribute natural

122 THE THIRD SERMON

and unnatural properties : therefore it is they
who pervert both the use of true theology, and
the order set down and established in nature.
Would you know the reason of my proposition ?
I say, it behoves as well in theology as in nature,
that one of two contradictory enunciations must
be false.

But to make an end once for all with them,
I will answer their last refuge. Thus they reason ;
A glorified being is not subject to natural rules :
but Christ's body is glorified ; therefore it is not
subject to natural rules. First of all, before we
answer directly, we must consider wherein standeth
the glorification of a body, and then, the answer
will be easy. The Apostle Paul (1 Cor. xv. 42)
speaks after this manner ; " so also," says he, " is
the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown
in corruption, and is raised in incorruption : It is
sown in dishonour, and is raised in glory : It is
sown in weakness, and is raised in power." And
a little after : " This corruptible must put on in
corruption, and this mortal must put on immor
tality." By this clear antithesis, Paul plainly
describes the glorification of a body ; for he opposes
these two, the unglorified and the glorified body :
And to the unglorified body he ascribes corruption,
ignominy, infirmity, carnality, and mortality : To
the glorified body he attributes incorruption, glory,
power, spirituality, and immortality. From this
opposition we may gather easily, what resurrec
tion and glorification bring to the body. In a
word, by them we see that the body is only

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 123

spoiled of corruption, shame, infirmity, naturality,
and mortality : i.e. it becomes only spoiled of all
the infirmities of our nature, that it may be clothed
with a more glorious apparel : as with iucorrup-
tion, power, glory, spirituality, and immortality.
We see then, that this glorification imports a
change indeed ; but I believe no man will be so
mad, as to think this change to be made in the
substance : for if that were so, the old substance
behoved to decay, and a new one should arise :
but we hear of no such thing in this description.
And as little is the change made in the quantity
for we hear no word either of augmentation or
diminution of any substance ; which behoved to be,
if it were in the quantity. So far as we can
perceive, this mutation consists in the qualities,
by which the body casts off the old coat of
infirmity, and is clothed anew with the coat of
glory : For Christ after He rose, both went and
came, was seen and touched.

From the things before deduced, it clearly
follows that, in respect the glory of the body of
Christ has wrought no change in His nature and
substance, nor consequently in His natural dimen
sions, nor yet in any other essential property ;
therefore, the glorification of His body exempts it
not from the rules of nature. For so long as the
nature of a true body remains, there are no super
natural gifts whereby it may be glorified, — were
they never so high (so far as may be gathered
from Scripture), — that may hurt either the nature,
or the natural property of it : For there is no

124 THE THIRD SERMON

gift nor quality that may hurt nature, but that
gift that is against nature. But the supernatural
gift is neither unnatural, nor yet against nature :
therefore it cannot hurt nor impair nature. And
my reason is this ; Those gifts that decorate and
beautify nature, cannot hurt nor impair nature :
But all supernatural gifts beautify and decorate
nature ; Therefore they cannot take away either
nature, or natural quality.

They leave us not so : but out of this same
doctrine of Paul, concerning the glorification of
the body, they draw another objection with which
to press us. Paul grants that a glorified body is
a spiritual body : but a spiritual body is an
invisible body : Therefore a glorified body is in
visible ; and consequently, the body of Christ is
invisible.

Though the argument be not formal, yet to be
short I deny their assumption : for if there were
no more than that word, " body," that word
might be an argument that the spiritual body is
not invisible. Yet to open the matter more
clearly, according to the meaning of Paul in that
place : in a word as it were, in the 44th verse of
that chapter, he shews the change that shall be
in the qualities of the body by the resurrection ;
for he says, that of a natural body it shall become
a spiritual body : and then in the next verse
immediately following, he expounds these two
qualities: for in the 45th verse, " That is called
a natural body," says he, " which is maintained
and quickened by a living soul only, such as

THE LORDS SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 125

Adam's was. And again, that is said to be a
spiritual body, which together with the soul is
quickened by a far more excellent virtue, namely,
by the Spirit of God, which is derived from Christ
the second Adam" Then, according to this ground,
I answer witli Augustine ad Constantium : " As
the natural body is not a soul, but a body : even
so the spiritual body is not said to be a soul, but
a body." And consequently, it is not invisible.

For the further explaining of this head, I shall
give them only one knot to loose, and so end this
point. 'I'h us I reason : If Christ's body is natur
ally and really in the Lord's Supper, because it
is glorified ; it follows consequently, that when it
was not glorified, it could not be really present.
But it was not glorified when this supper was
first instituted; therefore it was not really present
in the bread at Christ's first Supper. If His
body was not naturally present in the bread at
the first Supper, it cannot be naturally present
now. For whatsoever they use now in the admin
istration of the Supper, or of their Mass, (call it
what they will) according to their own confession,
they use it according to the ordinance, form, and
manner that Christ Jesus Himself used in His
first Supper : For they say plainly in their dis
putation at Poissy 1 and in all the rest of their

1 In the year 1561 a Conference between Catholics and Pro
testants was hold at Poissy— a religious house in the environs of
Paris— in presence of Catherine dc Medici, Charles IX., the
Queen of Navarre, and several other distinguished persons. The
aim was a wise one. A considerable minority of the French
people inclined to the Reformed views ; and the professed object

126 THE THIRD SERMON

works, that Christ Jesus first of all observed that
form which they use in their Mass, and left it to
His Apostles and to their successors, that they
should do the like. So by their own words, they
have entangled themselves in a hose-net and
crucified their Mass. What can they answer to
this ? They will not stand dumb, I am sure ;
for maintenance of their religion they must say
something. For if this reason bear it away, they
are done with it. Therefore they say, that
though, the body of Christ which was locally
present with the rest of his disciples, was not
glorified, yet the body which he exhibited in the
bread was glorified. They might as well have
held their peace, and said nothing. For mark
the words of the text as they are written, Luke
xxii. 19, where it is said, "And he took
Bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake
it, and gave to them saying, This is my body
which is given for you": and Paul (1 Cor. xi. 24)
has these words, " Take, eat, this is my body,
which is broken for you." This relative, " which,"
is relative to the body which was exhibited in the

of this meeting was to prepare some modus vivendi between the
two parties. The colloquy was continued from the first part of
September till towards the close of November. The Protestant
doctrines were clearly and boldly set forth by Beza, who was
supported by Peter Martyr and other men of eminence. So ably
and convincingly were the views of the Reformed Church, on the
sacramental question for instance, drawn up, that the delegates
on the Romish side declared themselves willing to subscribe, and
most of the Prelates seemed to approve ; but the authority of
the Sorbonne led to the rejection of the formula, and the Romish
collocutors fell under no small reproach in consequence.

THE LORD S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 127

bread: for according to their own confession, those
words are pronounced upon the bread and directed
unto it. But that same body was given and broken
for us, that is to say, crucified and humbled with
anguish and sorrow. Therefore I reason after
this sort : " To be crucified and broken with
anguish and sorrow, can no ways agree and accord
with a glorified body : But the body that Christ
exhibited in the bread, is said of the Evangelists
to be crucified and broken for us : cr<jo, that body
was not glorified."

Now, last of all, they are not yet content, but
say, Christ can make the bread His body ; and
therefore his body is really present. That Christ
can make the bread His body, we grant : for
Christ being God, can do whatsoever He will :
only let them shew, that Christ will make of
real bread, His real Mesh, and then this controversy
is brought to an end. Christ indeed makes the
bread His body, not really but sacramentally : For
Christ lias not a body made of bread ; His body
was made once for all of the pure substance of
His blessed Mother : Another body than this, or
oftener made than once, has He none : wherefore
all doctrine that teaches Christ's body to be made
of bread is impious and heretical. The Papist's
doctrine of real presence teaches that Christ's
body in the sacrament is made of bread, by
changing the bread into His body through force
of consecration : wherefore we may boldly and
truly conclude that their doctrine of real presence
is both wicked and heretical. Now to conclude

128 THE THIRD SERMON

this head : I beseech them, seeing that reason
fails them, that they fight not against God for
maintenance of a lie how old soever it be (for the
devil is old enough, and yet he could never change
his nature), but let them rather glorify God in
confessing these words to be sacramental.

Then, what is the reason and ground for which
the Papists draw down the substance of the body
and blood of Christ, and make the very substance
to be corporally, really, and substantially in the
sacrament ? The reason is this ; because they
cannot see by their natural judgment, nor under
stand by their natural wit, the truth of this,
namely, how Christ's flesh and blood can be present
in the sacrament, except it be present to their
corporal mouth and stomach. If they had light
to inform them that Christ may be present in
the sacrament, yet not to the hand, to the mouth
or stomach, they would never have thought of
such a portentous presence as they imagine to
be there. But being destitute of the spiritual
light, they follow their natural reason, and make
a natural and carnal presence. So that ye have
this lesson to note from hence : There is no man
that has not the Spirit of God to understand this
word, This is my body, but, out of question, he
will do as the Papists do, that is, he will under
stand it carnally : And so they mis-knowing the
right meaning, it is no marvel though they and
we differ in this matter.

For will you ask of a Papist, first if the true
body of Christ be there, or if the true flesh and

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 129

blood of Christ be there ; he will say, it is there :
Will you ask him wherein ? he will say in and
under the accidents of the bread and wine, under
the hue and roundness of the bread : Will you
ask him again, by what instrument it is received ?
He will tell you by the mouth and stomach of the
body : So this is their gross understanding of the
body and blood of Christ : Will you ask of the
Ubiquiter,1 if the true body of Christ be present ?
He will say it is : Will you ask, if it be in, with,
or under the bread ? he will answer, it is in the
bread, contentirt, that is, the bread contains it :
Will you ask him to what instrument it is offered?
he will answer, that the body of Christ is offered
to the mouth of our body, and that the blood of
Christ is ottered to the mouth of our body, as the
Papists do.

Will you know of us how the true body and
blood of Christ Jesus is present ? We will say,
that they are spiritually present, really present,
that is, present in the Supper, and not in the
bread : we will not say, that His true Hesh is
present to the hand or to the mouth of our bodies;
but we say it is spiritually present, that is, present
to thy spirit and believing soul : yea, even as
present inwardly to thy soul, as the bread and
wine are present to thy body outwardly. Will
you ask then if the body and blood of Christ
Jesus be present in the Supper ? We answer in a

1 I.e. Perhaps the higher Lutlreran who holds the absolute
Ubiquity of the Lord's glorified body ; as contrasted with the
more moderate Lutheran view which requires only a Multi-
prttmlia.

I

130 THE THIRD SERMON

word ; They are present in the Supper ; but not
in the bread and wine, nor in the accidents, nor
substance of bread and wine. And we make
Christ to be present in the Supper, because He is
present to my soul, to my spirit and faith. Also
we make him present in the Supper, because I
have Him in His promise, This is my body ; which
promise is present to my faith : and the nature
of faith is to make things that are absent in
themselves, yet present. And therefore seeing
He is both present by faith in His promise, and
present by the virtue of his Holy Spirit, who can
say, but that He is present in the Supper ?

But yet it should be explained, what we mean
by the word " present " ; how a thing is said to be
present and absent. And knowing this, ye shall
find all the matter easy. I say, things are said
to be present, as they are perceived by any out
ward or inward sense, and as they are perceived
by any of the senses, so are they present, and the
further they be perceived, the further present :
and by what sense anything is perceived, to that
sense it is present. Now if it be outwardly per
ceived by an outward sense, that thing is outwardly
present. As for example, if it be perceived by
the outward sight of the eye, by the outward
hearing of the ear, by the outward feeling of the
hands, or taste of the mouth, it is outwardly
present. Or, if anything be perceived by the
inward eye, by the inward taste and feeling of
the soul, this thing cannot be outwardly present,
but it must be spiritually and inwardly present to

THE LORD'S SUPPKR IN PARTICULAR 131

the soul. Everything is present as it is perceived.
So that if you perceive not a tiling outwardly, it
is outwardly absent ; and if you perceive not a
thing inwardly, it is inwardly absent. It is not
distance of place that makes a thing absent, nor
propinquity of place that makes a thing present ;
but it is only the perception of anything, by any
of thy senses, that makes a thing present, and it
is the non-perception that makes a thing absent.
Though the thing itself were never so far distant,
if thou perceive it by thine outward sense, it is
present to thee. As for example, my body and
the Sun are as far distant in place, as the heaven
is from the earth ; and yet this distance keeps
not the Sun:s presence from me : why ? Because I
perceive the Sun by mine eye and other senses ;
I fei'l him and perceive him by his heat, by his
light, and by his brightness. If a thing were
never so far distant, if we have senses to perceive
the same, it is present to us. Thus the distance
of place makes not a thing absent from thee, if
thou have senses to perceive it : likewise, the
nearness of place makes not a thing present, be it
never so near, if thou have not senses to perceive
it. As for example, if the Sun shine upon thine
eyes, if thou be blind, he is not present to thee,
because thou canst not perceive him. A sweet
tune will never be present to a deaf ear, though
it be sung in the ear of that man, because he
has not a sense to perceive it : and a well-told
tale will never be present to a fool, because he
cannot understand it, nor has judgment to perceive

132 THE THIRD SERMON

it : So it is not the nearness nor distance of place
that makes anything present or absent, but only
the perceiving or not perceiving it.

Now, the word being made clear, ask you how
the body of Christ is present ? To give our judg
ment in a word, as you have heard from time to
time, He is present, not to the outward senses,
but to the inward senses, which is faith wrought
in the soul. For this action of the sacrament
and of the Supper, is partly corporeal, and partly
spiritual: I call this action partly corporeal, not
in respect only that the objects, that is, the bread
and wine are corporeal, but also in respect my
mouth, whereunto these things are offered, the
instrument whereby, and the manner how these
things are received, are all corporeal and natural.
I call the same action again, partly spiritual, not
only in respect of Christ Jesus who is the heavenly
and spiritual thing of the sacrament, but also in
respect of my soul whereunto Christ is offered and
given ; in respect the instrument whereby, and
the manner in which He is received, are all
spiritual : for I get not Christ corporeally but
spiritually. So in these respects 1 call this action
partly corporeal and partly spiritual.

Now, confound not these two sorts of actions,
the corporeal and natural signs, with the spiritual
thing signified thereby : again, confound not the
mouth of the body with the mouth of the soul ;
thirdly, confound not the outward manner of
receiving by the hand of the body, with the
spiritual manner of receiving by the hand of the

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 133

soul. And so it shall be exceeding plain to see,
that each thing is present to its own instrument ;
that is, the body of Christ which is the spiritual
thing signified, shall be present to the spiritual
mouth and hand : and the bread and wine which
are the corporeal signs, are present to the corporeal
mouth and hand. Then how is any object present?
A corporeal object is corporeally present : and
an inward object is inwardly present. Of what
nature is the thing signified ? It is of a heavenly
nature. Then ask you how He is present ; He
is spiritually and heavenly present to the soul,
and the mouth of the soul, which is faith. For
it were a preposterous thing to make the thing
signified present to thy belly, or to the mouth or
eye of thy body ; for if that were so. it would
not be spiritually present : because everything is
present as it accords with its own nature. Is it
a bodily thing? it is bodily present: and if it be
a heavenly thing, it is spiritually present. So I
think no man can doubt how the body of Christ
is present : He is not carnally present, but spiritu
ally present to my soul, and to faith in my soul.
Thus far concerning the manner of His presence.

Now the last part of our difference is this : we
have to consider to whom the words ought to be
directed and pronounced : For we and the Papists
differ in this last head ; we say that the words
ought to be directed and pronounced unto the
people, to the faithful communicants. They on
the contrary say, that the words ought not to be
directed or pronounced to the people, but to the

134 THE THIRD SERMON

elements, and not to be clearly pronounced, but
whispered over the elements ; So that if they be
spoken to the people, or spoken plainly, their
charm avails not. Now I say, that as this holy
Action is perverted by them in all the rest, so
they pervert it in this point also, in speaking that
to the dumb elements which they should speak to
the people of God : For I shall prove it clearly by
three arguments taken out of the Scriptures, that
the words ought not to be spoken to the bread,
but to the people of God.

And First I say, the promises of mercy and
grace ought to be directed and pronounced to
them in whom the Lord performs them and makes
them effectual : But so it is that the promises of
mercy and grace are performed, and made effec
tual not in bread and wine, but in faithful men
and women : Therefore these promises should be
directed to faithful men and women. Now here
is the promise of mercy and grace : This is my
body ivliicli is broken for you : and this promise
is made to no other thing but to faithful men and
women, and so to them only it ought to be
directed. Secondly, we have to consider that
this sacrament seals up a covenant of grace and
mercy. Now with whom will God make His
covenant of mercy and grace ? will He make a
covenant with a piece of bread or any dumb
element : There is no man will enter into covenant
with his servant, far less will he enter into
covenant with a dumb element. So in respect
this sacrament seals up a covenant, this covenant,

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 135

of necessity, must be made with a faithful soul,
and in no wise with the dumb element : and
therefore these words cannot be directed to the
elements. Thirdly, look to the end for which
this sacrament was appointed. Is it not to lead
us to Christ ? Is it not to nourish my faith in
Christ ? Is it not to nourish me in a constant
persuasion of the Lord's mercy in Christ ? Was
this sacrament appointed to make the elements
gods ? No ! for if you mark God's purpose in this
institution, you shall find that Christ lias not
ordained this institution to nobilitate the elements,
to favour and respect the elements which were
bread and wine yesterday and make them gods
to-day. We, on the contrary, say plainly that the
institution of Christ respects not the elements, to
alter their nature. Indeed it is appointed to
alter us, to change us, and to make us more and
more spiritual, and to sanctify the elements to
our use. But the special end is this, to make us
holy, and more and more to grow up in a sure
faith in Christ, and not to alter the elements, nor
to make them gods. And therefore by all these
three arguments, it is evident that the words
ought not to be directed to the elements, but to
the people and faithful communicants.

Now to come to an end : There is one thing
without which we cannot profit, let us discourse
never so long upon the right understanding of the
sacrament. You see now, how all that is spoken
concerning the sacrament, is grounded and de
pended on faith. Let a man have faith, be

136 THE THIRD SERMON

it never so little, he gets some hold of Christ,
and some insight in the understanding of this
sacrament : but lacking faith, though a man
strive to make the sacraments never so sensible,
it is not possible that he can get any hold of
Christ, or any insight of Him. For without faith
we cannot be Christians : we can neither get a
sight of God, nor feel God in Christ without faith.
Faith is the only thing that translates our souls
out of that death and damnation in which we
were conceived and born, and plants us into life.
So the whole study and endeavour of a Christian
should tend to this : To crave that the Lord in
His mercy would illuminate his mind with the
eye of faith, and would kindle in his heart a love
of faith, and work in his heart a thirst and desire
for the object of faith, and more and more thirst
and hunger for the food of faith that nourishes us
to life eternal.

Without this faith (howsoever the natural man
and natural understanding would flatter itself)
surely there is no blessedness ; but all his life is
more than terrible misery. For whatsoever it be
that natters and pleases thee now, be it a thought
or motion of the mind, or an action of the body
without faith, — the very same motion, cogitation,
or action, shall torment thee hereafter. So,
without faith it is not possible to please God ;
and whatsoever pleases not God, is done to
torment thee. Therefore crave mercy for any
motion, cogitation, or action, in which thou hast
offended God ; else, by the same, God shall offend

THE LORD'S SUPPER IN PARTICULAR 137

and torment thee. And to avoid the offending
God, there is no means but by true faith ;
therefore, the study of a Christian should be to
grow in faith.

Now by hearing of the word thou gettest faith ;
and by receiving this sacrament thou obtainest
the increase of faith ; and having faith, the re
ceiving of the sacrament shall be fruitful : but
without faith thou eatest thine own condemnation.
So the whole study of a Christian is to get faith ;
and this faith cannot be obtained in idleness, but
by earnest prayer : therefore let every one of us
fall down, and crave earnestly this faith and
the increase of it, whereby we may be worthy
receivers of this sacrament ; and that for the
righteous merits of Christ Jesus : To whom with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour,
praise and glory, both now and for ever. Amen.

THE FOURTH SERMON

UPON THE PREPARATION TO THE LORD'S SUPPER

(Preached the Twenty-second day of February 1589)

Let every man therefore examine himself, and so let him eat
of this Bread, and drink of this Cup. — 1 COR. xi. 28.

THOUGH the doctrine of our own trial and self-
examination (well-beloved in Christ Jesus) ought
to come before the doctrine and receiving of the
sacrament, yet seeing that preparation is, at all
times, necessary for the hearing of the simple
word, as well as for the receiving of the visible
sacrament (for no man can hear the word of God
fruitfully, except in some measure he prepare his
soul and prepare the ear of his heart how to hear)
therefore the doctrine of preparation and due
examination must come in its own place, and be
very necessary for every one of you.

The Apostle, in the words which we have read,
delivers his counsel, and gives his advice ; and
not only gives his advice, but his admonition and
command : That we should not come to the Table
of the Lord, that we should not come to the hear
ing of the word rashly : but that every one of us
should come to this holy work with reverence ;
that we should prepare and sanctify ourselves in

138

PREPARATION TO LORIES SUPPER 139

some measure. And seeing we go to the King of
Heaven's Table, it becomes us to put on our best
array. In a word he delivers the whole doctrine
and matter of this preparation, when he says ;
" Let every man, and let every woman, try and
examine themselves." As if he would say, " Let
every one of you try and examine your souls."
That is, try the estate of your own heart, and
the condition of your own conscience. Mark and
behold in what estate your heart is with God,
and in what estate your conscience is with your
neighbour. He bids not your neighbour try you,
he bids not your companion try your heart ; but
lie bids yourself in person try your own conscience ;
he bids yourself try your own heart ; because
none can be certain of the estate of your heart, or
of the condition of your conscience, but yourself.
Now he excludes not others from the trial of you,
(for it is lawful that the Pastor try you) ; but
others cannot try you so narrowly as you yourselves
can ; for no man can know so much of me as I
know of myself. No man can be certain of the
estate of your heart and the condition of your con
science ; and yet you yourselves may be certain of
it. As for others, men may judge of your heart
and conscience according to your works and effects ;
and except your works and effects be very wicked
and altogether vicious, we are bound in conscience
to judge charitably of your heart and conscience.
Therefore, there is none so meet to try the spirit
of maD, to try the heart or conscience of man, as
is the man himself.

140 THE FOURTH SERMON

Now that this trial may be the better made,
you have first to understand what it is that you
should try : what you call a conscience, which
the Apostle commands you to try. Next, you
have to weigh and consider for what reasons and
causes you should try your conscience. Thirdly,
and last of all, you are to know in what chief
points you should try and examine your conscience.

I. First, then, that we speak not to you of
things unknown, it is necessary for every one of you
(seeing there is none of you that lacks a conscience)
to understand ivliat a conscience is : and as nearly
as God shall give me grace, I shall bring you to
the understanding and knowledge of a conscience.
I call a conscience, a certain feeling in the heart
resembling the judgment of the living God, follow
ing upon a deed done by us, flowing from a know
ledge in the mind, accompanied with a certain
motion in the heart, to wit, fear or joy, trembling
or rejoicing. Now, we shall examine the parts of
this definition. I call it, first of all, a certain
feeling in the heart ; for the Lord has left such a
stamp in the heart of every man, that he does not
that thing so secretly, nor so quietly, but He
makes his own heart to strike him, and to smite
him ; He makes him to feel in his own heart
whether he has done well or ill. The Lord has
placed this feeling in the heart ; why ? Because
the eyes of God look not so much upon the out
ward countenance and exterior behaviour, as upon
the inward heart. For He says to Samuel in his
First Book, xvi. 7, " The Lord beholds the heart."

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 141

So, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, He says to Solomon, " The
Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all
the imaginations of thoughts." Also, Jeremiah
says (xi. 20), "The Lord tries the reins and the
heart." And the Apostle (1 Cor. iv. 5) says,
"The Lord shall lighten things that are hid in
darkness, and make the counsels of the hearts
manifest." So, in respect that the Lord will chietly
have to do with the heart, therefore in the heart
He places this feeling, which is the chief part of
conscience.

I say next, that this feeling resembles the
judgment of God : for this feeling was left and
placed in our soul for this end and purpose, that
we might have a domestic and familiar judgment
within ourselves, to resemble and subscribe the
secret and invisible judgment of the high God ; a
particular judgment, to go before that general
judgment, in that great day, when every man
shall be justified, or condemned, according to the
particular judgment that is within Ids own con
science. In the meantime, this conscience is left in
us, to make out our whole process in this life, there
by, as it were, to ease the living God at that last
judgment. For the books of our own conscience,
in that last day shall be opened ; and every man
shall receive, according to the report of the decree
that is within his own conscience : therefore I say,
that our conscience resembles the judgment of
God.

The third thing that I say, is this ; It follows
upon a deed done by us : our conscience and our

142 THE FOURTH SERMON

heart strike us not before the deed be done ; our
heart strikes us not before the evil deed be com
mitted ; no, it goes not before the deed ; but the
stroke of the conscience and feeling of the heart
follow immediately upon the deed, in such sort,
that the deed is no sooner done by thee, but thy
conscience applies it to thyself, and gives out the
sentence against thyself : therefore, I say, it is a
feeling, following upon a deed done by us.

And next I say, flowing from a knowledge in
the mind] for except the conscience have informa
tion, and except the heart know that the thing
which is done is evil, the heart nor the conscience
can never count it to be evil : therefore know
ledge must go before the stroke of the conscience;
thy heart can never feel that to be evil, which
thy mind knows not to be evil. So knowledge
must ever go before feeling, and according to
the measure of thy knowledge, according to the
nature and quality of thy knowledge, accordingly
shall the testimony and stroke of thy conscience
be. For a light knowledge, a doubting and
uncertain knowledge, makes a light and small
stroke : as, on the other hand, a holy and solid
knowledge, drawn out of the word of God, makes
a heavy stroke of the conscience. So the con
science must answer to the knowledge. If we
have no other knowledge but the knowledge
which we have by nature, and by the light and
sparks which are left in nature, our conscience
will answer no farther than to that knowledge :
but if, beside the light of nature, we have a

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 143

knowledge of God in His word, and a knowledge
of God by his Holy Spirit working in our hearts,
our conscience will then go farther, and excuse or
accuse us, according to the light that is in the
word. So that the conscience is not acquired or
obtained at what time we are enlightened by the
working of the Holy Spirit, and hearing of the
word of God : hut our conscience is born with us,
is natural to us, and is left in the soul of every
man and woman : and as there are some sparks
of light left in nature, so there is a conscience
left in it. And if there were no more, that same
light that is left in thy nature shall be enough to
condemn thec. So the conscience is not acquired,
gotten or begun at the hearing of the word, or at
that time when we begin to reform ourselves by
the assistance and renewing of the Holy Spirit :
But every man by nature has a conscience, and
the Lord has left it in our nature ; and except
that this conscience be reformed according to the
word of God, that same natural conscience shall
be enough to condemn thee eternally. Therefore,
I say, "flowing from a knowledge of the mind."

Last of all, I say, it is accompanied with a
certain motion of the heart ; and we express this
motion, in fear or joy, trembling or rejoicing. In
very great fear, if the deed be exceeding heinous,
and the stroke of the conscience be very heavy ;
then the conscience never takes rest, for guilt must
ever dread. But if the deed be honest, godly
and commendable, it makes a glad heart, and
makes the heart even to burst out in joy. So,

144 THE FOURTH SERMON

to be short in this matter (for I purpose not to
make a commonplace of it) you see, that in every
conscience there must be two things : First, there
must be a knowledge ; and next, there must be
a feeling, whereby according to thy knowledge,
thou appliest to thine own heart, the deed done
by thee. So that, as the word itself testifies, it
arises of two parts : of knowledge, according to
which it is called " science " ; and of feeling,
according to which the " Con " is added, and it
is called " conscience." Thus the word " con
science," signifies knowledge with application.

This conscience, the Lord has appointed to
serve in the soul of man for many uses ; to wit,
he has appointed the conscience of every one of
you to be a keeper, a waiter on, a careful attender
upon every action done by you. So that, that
action cannot be so secretly, so quietly, nor so
theftuously accomplished, but whether thou wilt
or not (1) thy conscience shall bear testimony of
it ; thy conscience shall be a faithful observer of
it ; and one day, shall be a faithful recorder of
that same action. So, the Lord has appointed
thy conscience to this office, that it attends and
waits upon thee in all thy actions ; nothing can
escape it. Likewise, the Lord has appointed thy
conscience, and placed it in thy soul (2) to be an
accuser of thee ; so that when thou dost any evil
deed, thou hast a domestic accuser within thine
own soul, to find fault with it. He has also
placed it in thy soul (3) to be a true and stead
fast witness against thee ; yea, the testimony of

PREPARATION TO LORD\S SUPPER 145

the conscience, resembles not only a testimony or
witness, but the conscience is tos good as ten
thousand witnesses. The conscience also is left
in thy soul (4) to do the part of a judge against
thee, to give out sentence against thee, to con
demn thee ; and so it does ; for our particular
judgment, must go before the general and uni
versal judgment of the Lord at that great Day.
And what more ? He has left thy conscience
within thee (5) to put thine own sentence in
execution against thyself. This is terrible, He
has left it within thee, to be a very torture and
tormentor to thyself; and so to put thine own
sentence in execution against thyself.

Is not this a matter more than wonderful, that
one and the self-same conscience, shall serve to so
many uses in a soul ; as to be a continual observer
and marker of thy actions, an accuser, ten thousand
witnesses, a judge, an executioner, and tormentor;
to execute thine own sentence against thyself?
So that the Lord needs never to seek a member
of court, outside of thine own soul, to make out a
lawful process against thee, for thou shalt have all
these within thyself, to make out a full process
against thyself. Take heed to this : for there is
never a word of this shall fall to the ground ; but
either you shall find it to your weal, or to your
everlasting woe. And this secret and particular
judgment, that every one of you carries about with
you, abides so sure and so fast writhiu you, that
do what you can, if you would employ your whole
labour to blot it out, thou shalt never get it

K

146 THE FOURTH SERMON

scraped out of thy soul. If you were as malicious,
and were become as wicked as ever any incarnate
devil was upon the earth, yet shall you never get
this conscience altogether scraped out of your
soul : but whether you will or not, there shall as
much remain of it, as shall make you inexcusable
in the great day of the general judgment.

I grant, thou mayest blot all knowledge
out of thy mind, and make thyself become as
blind as a mole. I grant also, that thou mayest
harden thy heart, so that thou wilt blot all
feeling out of it, so that thy conscience will not
accuse thee, nor find fault with thee, but thou
shalt have a delight in ill-doing, without remorse :
but I deny, that any degree of wickedness in the
earth shall bring thee to that point, that thou
mayest do evil without fear ; but always the
more thou doest evil, and the longer thou
continuest in evil-doing, thy fear shall become
the greater : yea, in despite of the devil, and in
despite of all the malice of the heart of man, that
fear shall remain. And though they should both
conspire together, it shall not be in their power
to banish that fear, but that gnawing of the
conscience shall ever remain, to testify to thee
that there is a day of judgment. I grant also,
that there shall be a vicissitude, and that fear
shall not always remain, but shall be sometimes
turned into security ; neither shall that security
always abide, but shall be turned again into fear :
so that it is not possible, to get this fear wholly
extinguished ; but the greater the security is, the

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 147

greater shall thy fear be, when thou art awakened.
Thirdly, I grant, that this fear shall be blind ; for
from the time a man by evil doing has banished
knowledge out of his mind, and feeling out of his
heart, what can remain there but a blind fear?
When men have put out all light, and left
nothing in their nature but darkness, there can
remain nothing but a blind fear. So 1 grant,
that the fear is blind : for neither know they
whence that fear comes, what progress it has
made, whereunto it tends, where, nor when, it shall
end : therefore, they that are in this way misled
in their souls, are of all men on earth the most
miserable. For so long as thou mayest keep in
thy mind, a spark of this knowledge and spiritual
light, in the which thou mayest see the face of
God in Christ, wherein thou mayest sec an outgate
in the deatli and passion of Christ, and wherein
thou mayest see the bowels of mercy offered in
the blood of Christ ; if thou hast any spark of
this light, (albeit it were never so little), to direct
thee, and albeit this knowledge were never so
much wounded, yet there is mercy enough for
thee in Christ : but if thou close up all the
windows of thy soul and of thy heart, and make
them to become palpable darkness, that thou
neither knowest whence the terror comes, nor
yet seest any outgate ; that is the misery of all
miseries.

We have many things to lament in the state
of this Country ; though they are not present, to
whom this specially appertains. Nevertheless

148 THE FOURTH SERMON

there are none of you but have cause to take heed
to your consciences now, while you have leisure,
that you banish not altogether this light which
is yet offered you, and whereof some sparks yet
remain. For I see the most part of our great
men in this country run headlong to banish the
spark of light that is in them ; and they will not
rest so long as there is any spark of it left, till it
be utterly banished. And when they have so done,
alas ! what can follow, but a blind and terrible
fear in their conscience, which they can never get
extinguished ? A fear without remedy, — a fear
to grow, and not to decay, — a fear to devour them
wholly at the last. Therefore, everyone of you
take heed to this light that is within you ; take
heed, that the foul affections of your hearts draw
not your bodies after them ; see, at least, that
those affections banish not this light. And so
long as the Lord offers you this light in time,
crave that of His mercy He would give you the
grace to embrace it, to take a new course, and
yet to amend your lives while time is given you.

The body shall leave the soul, and the soul
shall leave the body ; but the conscience shall
never leave the soul : but wherever the soul goes,
to the same place shall the conscience repair;
and in whatever state thy conscience is when
thou diest, in the self-same state shall it meet
thee in the great Day. So that if thy conscience
was a tormentor to thee at the time of thy
death, if thou got it not pacified, it shall be
an executioner to thee in that general Judgment.

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 149

Therefore, should this matter be well weighed,
and every one of you should study to have a good
conscience, that when the soul is severed from the
body, leaving your conscience at rest and peace
with God, it may be restored to you, and meet
you again with as great peace and quietness.

Thus far concerning conscience, what it is. I
beseech the living Lord, so to sanctify your
memories, that you may keep these things ; and
that every one of these things may be so imprinted
on your hearts, that to the end of your life you
may be mindful of them.

II. The second thing that we have to speak of,
is this ; We are to consider wherefore we should
try our consciences : for what anises we should
examine our own souls and consciences. I shall
declare the reasons briefly. It behoves every one
of you to try your conscience. Why? (1) Because
the Lord will make His residence in no other part
of the soul but in the conscience : He has ap
pointed His dwelling to be in the heart of man,
in the will and conscience of man ; and therefore
it becomes you to make His dwelling-place clean,
and to take heed to your heart.

(2) Xext, though the Lord of heaven made not
His residence there, yet in respect the eye of God
is an all-seeing eye, and able to pierce through
the very thickness of man's flesh, how dark and
gross so ever it be, and to enter into the very
secret corners of thy conscience ; (for unto the
all-seeing eye of God, the most secret corner of
thy conscience is as clear and manifest, as any

150 THE FOURTH SERMON

outward or bodily thing on the earth can be to
the outward eye of the body) : In respect there
fore that this eye is so piercing, and that He
casts His eye only upon our heart, it becomes us
to try our hearts.

(3) Thirdly, he is the Lord of the conscience.
There is no monarch on earth that has any
sovereignty or lordship over the conscience : only
the God of heaven, only Christ Jesus, King of
Heaven and Earth, is Lord of the conscience, He
only has power to save and lose. Therefore when
thou comest to this sacrament of the Lord's Table,
becomes it thee not to look upon thy conscience,
to try and examine the state of it ?

(4) Last of all, which is the chief reason ; It
becomes thee to prove thy conscience, because
the welfare, and health of thy soul depends upon
thy conscience. If thy conscience that is within
thy soul be well, if it be at peace and rest, th}^
soul is well ; if thy conscience be in. good estate
thy soul must needs be in good estate ; if thy
conscience be in good health, of necessity thy
soul must be in good health ; for the good health
and happiness of the soul depends upon a good
conscience : therefore, it concerns every one of
you to try well your consciences. There was
never any law made or devised, that forbade us
to have a care of our health ; it is lawful for us
to seek such things as may procure and preserve
it : but the health of thy soul stands in the
health of thy conscience, and in preserving there
of : therefore, by all laws, thou oughtest to attend

PREPARATION TO LORIES SUPPKR 151

to tliy conscience. If thou keep thy conscience
well, thy soul is in health ; and if thy soul be
in health, let troubles come, what will, upon thy
body, thou wilt endure them all. But if thy
soul be diseased, and if that pining sickness
occupy it which an evil conscience brings on,
thou shalt not be able to endure the least trouble
that can come upon thy body : whereas, if the
conscience were at rest and in good health, no
trouble could light upon thy body, but the
strength of a good conscience should bear it out.
Thus have you not reason, and more than
reason, to take heed to your conscience, to try
and examine your conscience, in what state and
disposition it is ?

Now, because it is a savourless jest to tell you
that health is necessary, and not to show how
this health may be acquired, preserved and enter
tained ; therefore, to keep your conscience in
quietness and good health, I shall give you these
few lessons. First of all, be sure that thou
retain a steadfast persuasion of the mercy of God
in Christ Jesus ; examine when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up, in what estate thou art
with God ; whether thou mayest look for mercy
at His hand, or not. Art thou persuaded of
mercy ? Assure thyself thy conscience is in a
good state, thou hast health in thy soul ; for by
the keeping of faith, the conscience is preserved,
as saith the Apostle (1 Tim. i. 19). Keep this
persuasion, preserve it whole and sound, hurt it
not, bring not thy soul into doubting, stay not,

152 THE FOURTH SERMON

nor hinder thy persuasion, if thou desire to keep
health in thy soul : for, if thou doubt, or any
way diminish thy persuasion and assurance, as
suredly at that very instant shall follow the
diminishing of the health of thy soul ; yea it
cannot be, but in that very article of time shall
follow the hurt of thy conscience ; for faith will
not dwell but in a sound conscience. Therefore,
at what time thou doest anything against thy
conscience, at that very time thou losest a de
gree of thy persuasion of the mercy of God : and
until such time as thou fall down at the feet
of Christ, and obtain mercy for that wicked deed,
procure peace at His hands, and repair thy per
suasion, thou shalt ever doubt of mercy, and want
health in thy conscience. This, then, is the first
lesson, to keep health in your souls, see that you
be careful to be persuaded of mercy.

The Second lesson to keep a good conscience, or
to keep health in thy soul, is this ; you must flee,
eschew, and forbear, whatever may trouble the
health of your soul, whatever may trouble the
quietness and peaceable state of your conscience ;
cast it out, forbear it, and eschew it. This in
general is good ; but let us see what it is that
troubles the quiet state of the conscience. Nothing
in the world but sin ; nothing but an evil nature.
Therefore, we must of necessity, to keep health in
our souls, forbear and eschew sin ; we must flee
and avoid sin. It is not possible that you can
both keep a good conscience and serve the affec
tions of your heart : and, therefore, to keep peace

PREPARATION TO LORDS SUPPER 153

and health in thy soul, them must bid thy lusts
good-night, thou must renounce the lusts and
affections of thy heart, and thou must not do as
thou wast wont to do : thou must not be given to
the service of thine affections, and of thine appetite,
to put them in execution as thou wast wont. But
in case thine affection or lust command thee to
do anything, what is thy part ? Thou must
examine how far this may stand with the good
will of God, and how far that affection which
commands thee may agree with the law of God.
Is there such a harmony, that that which thine
affection commands thee may stand witli God's
law and holy will ? Then no question, it is a
sanctified affection, thou inaycst put it in execu
tion. But after this trial, if thou find thine affec
tion to be exorbitant and out of rule, carrying the
field from God and against His law, beware of it,
resist it, put it not in execution ; for if thou fulfil
the will of that affection one hour, what pleasure
can it bring with it ? It may well bring a flatter
ing pleasure at the first, but it closes ever with a
bitter remorse in the end. Therefore to eschew
this bitter remorse, should you not all try your
affections ? You must examine and try them by
the square of God's law, you must see how far
they agree with His law, and how far they dissent
from it, and so far as they are dissonent from that
law, let every man deny himself, renounce his
affections : and so, this trial being taken in this
manner by thyself, it sanctifies thine affections,
makes Christ to lodge in thy soul, makes thy

154 THE FOURTH SERMON

conscience to be at rest. And the Holy Spirit
this way makes both body and soul to be in good
health, and to rejoice. Therefore flee from sin.
This is the second lesson.

The Third lesson is this : study to do well.
Wouldest thou keep health in thy soul ? Study
to do better and better continually : At the least,
have a purpose in thy heart, to do better daily ;
which is the last lesson. Seeing that when we
study to do best, and that the just man, that is,
the most holy man, falls so often as seven times a
day, yea rather, seventy times seven, what is thy
part in these slips and snares ? Though thou fall,
as thou canst not eschew to fall, lie not still there,
sleep not there where thou hast fallen : It is a
shame to sleep there, therefore rise again. And
how shouldest thou rise ? By lifting up thy soul,
and running to the Fountain of grace and mercy ;
by repairing to Christ Jesus, to obtain mercy for
thy soul, and to crave that He would send out of
Himself that measure of peace, that may put thy
conscience to rest, and restore thy soul to health.
So, lie not where thou fallest, but rise immedi
ately and crave mercy, and in obtaining mercy thou
shalt repair thy fall, thou shalt amend thy life by
repentance, and by repentance thou shalt get peace,
thou shalt have thy conscience at rest, and get
health to thy soul. Now keep this rule, if thou
would'st keep thy soul in health : look that thou
sleep not in sin as David did : lie not still when
thou art fallen, and so fall from one sin to another ;
as from adultery to murder, and from murder to

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 155

the next. As commonly if a man sleep in sin,
and rise not in time, one sin will draw on another ;
for there is never a sin alone, but always the
greater and more heinous the sin be, it has greater
and worse sins waiting on it. Therefore when you
fall, delay not to rise, but repair to the fountain of
mercy and seek grace in time : run to prayer, run
to the Church of Clod wherever it be, whether in
the field or in the town : run to Christ Jesus and
crave mercy of Him, that you may have peace in
your consciences ; and so by these means every
one of you shall preserve health in your souls.
By these means you shall learn what difference
there is between this living word of mercy and
grace, which sounds in our religion ; and that
slaying letter which slays the soul of every one
that hears it, — I mean that idolatrous doctrine
of the dumb Mass.

I advert to this, because I see that our youth,
for the most part, are given to it ; and the Lord is
beginning to take away his grace and mercy from
this country, for the contempt of this quickening
word, which has so clearly sounded here, and
which our noblemen (for the most part, running
headlong to the devil, in a dumb guise) strive
utterly to banish. Is not this a miserable thing,
that so few of you have eyes to consider and
discern the time of peace, mercy and grace, which
is so abundantly offered ? The Lord of His mercy
give you eyes in time.

Thus far concerning the reasons wherefore
every one of you should try and examine your

156 THE FOURTH SERMON

own consciences : and this trial ought not to be
for a day or for a year, but it ought to be every
day and every year of thy whole life. For that
conscience that should rest for ever with the
living God, that conscience which must ever
behold the face of the Son of God, cannot be
over-well cleansed, we cannot look over-narrowly
to it. The more anxious we are in searching the
conscience, we are the better occupied : I speak
of our own conscience. I speak not of our
neighbour's.

III. Thirdly, I come to the points wherein
every one of you should try and examine your
selves. Every one of you ought to try and
examine your consciences in two things : First,
whether thou be at peace with God who is the
Lord of heaven, or not. Next, examine thy
conscience whether thou art in love and amity
with thy neighbour, or not.

Wouldest thou know whether thy conscience
be at unity and peace with God, or not ? Thou
shalt know it this way ; the God of heaven can
have no society nor company with that soul which
is always unclean, which is every way defiled ; no,
He cannot ! Now I speak not so precisely that I
make a soul to be fully sanctified and perfectly
holy in this life : no ! in this life there are
wonderful iniquities, gross sins, and great faults
wherewith even the righteous are defiled. But
this is my meaning ; there is no soul can be at
peace with God, or with which the Lord can have
any society, but in some measure it must be

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 157

sanctified and made holy. For God cannot make
residence in a soul that is always a stinking
dunghill ; and therefore, of necessity, it must be
sanctified : there must be so much made clean, in
one corner or other of that soul, in which the
Lord of heaven by his Holy Spirit may make His
residence. Now let us see whereby the heart is
sanctified ; Peter (Acts xv. 9) says, that the soul
of man is purified by faith, that the heart of man
is purged by faith. So faith opens and purges
the heart by faith in Christ Jesus, and in the
merit of His blood we have peace with God :
" Being justified by faith, we have peace toward
God through our Lord Jesus Christ," says the
Apostle, Romans v. 1.

Now then this point comes in, that you have to
prove yourselves whether you be in the faith or
not ; as the Apostle says (2 Cor. xiii. 5), " Prove
yourselves whether ye are in the faith." Examine
if your soul be seasoned with this faith, for if you
have not faith in Christ, Christ is not in you ;
and if Christ be not in you, you are in an evil
state, you are in the estate of the reprobate and
the condemned. So every one ought to look
carefully and see if he has a belief in the blood of
Christ or not : whether or not, he believes to get
mercy by His merits, and sanctification by His
blood. For if thou have no measure of this faith,
thou hast no measure of peace with God, for our
peace with God is engendered and grows daily
more and more by true faith in Christ. Now
this faith where it is true, where it is lively and

158 THE FOURTH SERMON

couples the heart with God, as I have already
said, it must break forth in word and deed, it can
by no means be held in, but it will break forth.
It must break out in word, in glorifying the God
of heaven, who has forgiven us our sins ; it must
break forth in word, by giving a notable confession
of those sins wherein we have offended Him. It
must break out in deed, in doing good works, to
testify to the world that thing which is within
thy heart ; to testify to the world that thou who
hast this faith art a new man ; that by thy good
example of life and conversation thou mayest
edify thy brethren, the simple ones of the church
of God ; and that by thy holy life thou mayest
draw sinners to repentance, that they, seeing thy
light, may be compelled to glorify God in thee.

Therefore in the first point of trial let us look
to these three, to the heart, to the mouth, and to
the hand. Take heed that there be a harmony
among these three, — that they all sing one song ;
for if the heart be inwardly coupled with God,
there is no doubt but the mouth will outwardly
glorify Him ; and if thy heart and mouth be
renewed and be one, of necessity thou must
express this in thy conversation. Further there
must be an agreement betwixt the heart and the
hand ; thy conversation must be changed with the
heart, and be holy, honest, and godly as the heart
is. So that, if thy conversation be good, it is a
sure token that thou art at one with God : but
if thy conversation be not good, speak what thou
wilt, thy heart is only denied, this true and lively

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 159

faith has no place in it. Then, wouldest tliou
know when thou art at one with God ? When
thy conversation, thy heart, and thy mouth say all
one thing, then, without question, thou hast the
work of faith wrought by the Holy Spirit in thy
heart, which makes thee to be at peace with God.
This is the first point wherein ye should try
yourselves.

The next point is love. You must try
whether you be in love and charity with your
neighbour or not. For as thou art not coupled
with God but by the bond of faith, so thou art
not coupled with thy neighbour nor joined with
any member of Christ in this earth, but by the
bond of love, amity and charity. Take away love,
thou art not a member of this body : for love is
the master sinew, which couples all these members
of Christ's body together and makes them to grow
up in a spiritual and mystical unity. Love is the
only mark whereby the children of Christ, and
members of Christ's body, are known from the
rest of the world : love is that holy oil which
refreshes our souls, and makes us like unto God :
and the more we grow in love, the more God by
His Spirit dwells in us ; for God is love. So
that, except in some measure love towards thy
neighbour dwell in thy heart, thou canst have no
society with thy neighbour, and far less with God.
If the manners of men were examined by this
rule, we should find a multitude of godless people
in this country, who have their hearts raging
with malice one against another : and where the

160 THE FOURTH SERMON

devil and a malicious spirit dwells, there is no
place for the Holy Spirit. And now although
the Lord has gone about by all means possible,
early and late, to instruct them, and to infuse
into them this precious love and amity towards
God and their neighbour, and so to alter their
conditions; yet they will not suffer themselves to
be awakened, until the great vengeance and male
diction of God fall upon them. Nevertheless this
love, this honest and godly conversation, flows all
from the root of faith ; so that if thy heart have
faith, in any measure, be it ever so little, in that
same measure thou must have love towards thy
neighbour : and this love is never idle, but is
ever uttering itself to one effect or other. And
in respect, that faith is the ground whereupon all
the rest depends ; and in respect that this faith
is such a jewel, as without which it is not possible
for any of you to please God, without which all
your deeds are abomination before Him, without
which you are left in a terrible misery (which
misery is so much the more terrible that you are
ignorant of it), is there not good reason that we
should know and understand how this faith is
wrought, and how nourished in our souls by
the Holy Spirit ? That seeing how it is created,
and hearing the manner in which it is brought
about, you may examine your consciences, and
see whether you be in the faith or not. My
purpose was to have insisted longer on this
matter than the time will suffer. Now there
fore, as time will permit and God shall give grace,

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 161

I shall let you understand how the Holy Spirit
employs His labour in the heart and mind of men,
and what pains He takes in creating and forming
this jewel of faith in their souls. Yet, before I
enter on this work, to let you see the labours of
the Spirit of God, in working this faith in your
hearts : it is necessary and more than necessary,
that you understand, first your own misery and
infirmity ; and that you know how the Lord was
induced to recover you out of your former state,
and to recreate you, who were lost by the deed of
your forefather Adam.

To consider therefore of this matter more deeply,
I call to your memories this ground : That man
universally and every man particularly, being
corrupted and lost, and that by his first father's
fault (for if there were no more, but that same
first fall and sin of his, we are all of us justly
condemned to a double death, both of body and
soul for ever). Man thus, universally and par
ticularly, being utterly lost, without any hope of
regress left in his soul, without any sense of the
recovery of that former state, or repairing of that
Image which he had lost through sin long before;1
he being, I say, lost by this sin, and left in this
desperate state in himself, what doth God ? The
everliving God, only wise, whose ways are un-

1 This is the express language of the Scotch Confession of
15GO. "By which transgression, commonly called original sin
was the Image of God utterly defaced in man." Calvin and most
of the Reformed divines are more careful. He says of the Image
oft(iod in Man that "by Adam's sin it was sullied, and all but
effaced." (Instil. III. iii. 9.)

162 THE FOURTH SERMON

searchable has found out a way, how man, this
way lost, may yet be saved. Herein He sought
counsel, from whom ? Not from any creature,
but He counselled with Himself. The one God
was moved to seek counsel from Himself, only
moved in Himself: for He had not an external
principle outside Himself to induce Him. So He
seeking this counsel at Himself, and being moved
in Himself thereto (as Ephes. i. 9), what doth
He ? When all men should have died for ever,
it pleased Him of his infinite mercy to select
out of all, and to elect a certain number out of
the lost race of Adam, that should have perished
for ever. In this His counsel and decree, moved
I say of Himself, and seeking counsel from Him
self only, He selects a certain number out of this
rotten race, which certain He will have sanctified,
He will have justified, He will have glorified. And
therefore to bring to pass the work of their salva
tion : what doth He ? He appoints his own Son
(for he had but one Son) He appoints the second
person of the Trinity, His own proper Son, God,
in power, glory, and majesty, as high as Him
self, equal with God the Father in all things ;
He appoints Him to work this work, to bring
about our redemption, and eternal salvation.
(This is but the mystery of it in some measure
disclosed.) And therefore, in the fulness of time
(for He dispenses all things according to His
wisdom), at such time as He appointed, He makes
His Son to come down, to possess himself of the
womb of the Virgin, to take on our flesh, the

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPKR 1G3

likeness of sin ; sin itself He took not on, but He
took on the likeness of sin. What shall I call
that likeness ? Our flesh is the likeness of sin :
He took on our flesh and nature, which was
perfectly sanctified, in the very moment of His
conception, in the very womb of the Virgin : He
took on this flesh, that in this flesh and nature,
sin might be banished and cast out of us for
ever. And whereas we should all have gone one
way (for there was no exception of persons by
nature), Christ Jesus our Saviour has elected us :
and according as his Father in His secret election
before the beginning of the world had elected us,
the same Christ Jesus in His own time calls us
and makes us partakers of that salvation, which
He has purchased : and He repairs not only that
image which was lost in our forefather Adam :
He places us, not in a terrestrial paradise, where
Adam was placed at the beginning (and what
more could have been sought by us ?). But He
gives us a far more excellent image than we
lost, He places us in a higher and more celestial
paradise than we lost : For so much the more
heavenly is the paradise which He gives us, —
as the second Adam is more excellent than the
first, — and as the Son of God, and God himself,
is far above any creature that ever was, man or
angel. Therefore it comes to pass that by the
benefit of the second Adam, Christ Jesus our
Saviour, the Son of God (whereas had we re
mained in that Image wherein our forefather
was created, we should have settled ourselves

164 THE FOURTH SERMON

in the earth for ever, we could not have craved
a better paradise than an earthly one, for earthly
tabernacles) : By the benefit of the Son of God,
I say, it comes to pass, that we are raised up
out of the earth to heaven, and to a heavenly
paradise. But what have we to do with heaven?
Are we not made of the earth, to return to the
earth? Is not an earthly body fitted for an
earthly paradise ? Yet the Lord in His mercy
sends down His Son, to draw us up out of the
earth to heaven. This is so high a thing that
it cannot be easily considered. For this drawing
of us to a heavenly paradise, is a thing more
than could have been thought of, that we should
live the life of angels in heaven, how could the
heart of man think on this ? Yet it pleased the
living Lord, in the great riches and bowels of His
mercy, and in the exceeding greatness of His
love toward us. (The Apostle in that Epistle to
the JSphesians cannot get words enough to express
this ; he knows not how to begin, nor how to
end, when he speaks of " the riches " of that
mercy ; and if you look well into that Epistle to
the Eplicsians, you shall find more high and ex
cellent styles given to the riches of that mercy
there than in any other part of Scripture.) It
pleased him I say, of His own mercy, not to give
us simply the Image which we lost, nor to leave
us in this earth : but it pleased Him to give us
a better Image, and besides that, to place us in
heaven, there to remain with Him for ever.

Now stay his mercy and grace here ? No ;

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPKR 165

but that this salvation, which He has already
procured and brought about by his Son our
Saviour Christ Jesus, might be wholly accom
plished, having nothing lacking in it : as He
redeemed us, in His own person perfectly, so He
makes this same redemption to come to our
knowledge, and makes us sure of it in our con
sciences : and to this end what doth He ? As by
His death He purchased our full redemption, so
He makes it known to us, He intimates it to us ;
by our inward calling, letting us both find and
feel in our hearts, what He did in His body for us.
For our Lord when He makes His servants to
proclaim this redemption and to intimate it to
our consciences, He works this jewel of faith in our
souls, which assures us that the Son of God has
died for us. For what could it avail us to see
our redemption, to see our salvation, and our life,
afar off, if a way were not found out, and a hand
and means given us, whereby we may apprehend
that salvation, and apply it to ourselves ? What
can it avail a sick man, to see a drug in an
apothecary's booth, except a way be found out,
how it shall be applied to his sick body ? So to
the end that this work of our redemption and
salvation may be fully and freely accomplished :
look how freely He has given His only Son to the
death of the cross for us, so freely has He found
out this way and means, and gifted us with this
hand, whereby we may take hold of Christ and
apply Him to our souls.

This means, to conclude, is faith : There is not

166 THE FOURTH SERMON

a way, nor an instrument in the Scriptures of God
whereby we can apply Christ to our souls, but
only the instrument of faith : therefore faith
cannot be enough commended. Turn to faith,
and it will make thee turn to God ; and so con
join thee with God, and make all thine actions
well pleasing to Him. There is never a good
action that we do, though it glance never so well
before the world, but it is abomination before God,
and will further our condemnation if it be not
done in faith. Having faith, all the creatures
of God must smile on us, must all conspire to the
furtherance of the work of our salvation ! As on
the contrary, lacking faith, there is none of the
creatures of God but shall be enemies to us
and conspire to our damnation. For faith con
joins us with the God of heaven, and makes us
heavenly. This jewel of faith seasons all the gifts
and graces which God gives us : all the riches of
the earth are of no value to my soul without
faith. And what avails it any man to have all
the sciences, knowledge, and wisdom in the world
without faith ? For the devil has all this know
ledge, and is not the better. What avails it me
to conquer all the monarchies, kingdoms, and
whole riches in the earth : what can all these
avail my soul ? Nothing but to make out a
process against me if I want faith. Therefore,
all the benefits and gifts of God, without faith
avail nothing but to augment our misery : All
the gifts and graces of God are abused without
faith ; faith alone makes thee to use the benefits

PREPARATION TO LORD*S SUPPER 167

and graces of God rightly : Faith alone should be
sought, kept, and entertained here in this life.
Having faith, all the rest of God's graces are
profitable to thee, for this jewel keeps them all
in order, and makes them all fruitful ; whereas
lacking this jewel, there is nothing here on earth
but will testify against thee.

Let us, then, speak of this faith how it is
wrought in you. I take my ground out of the
Evangelist (John vi. 44), where our Master says,
" No man can come to me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him " : Jn which words
we see clearly that except we be drawn, except
we be compelled, except we be thrust, except
from unwilling we be made willing by God the
Father, it is not possible for us to come to His
Sou. What is the reason of this that the Spirit
of God must draw us, and make us willing before
ever we come to God ? Because by nature we
are not only wounded and lanced by sin and
iniquity, but as the Apostle shows (Ephes. ii. 1),
we are "wholly dead in trespasses and sins":
Yea further, observe how void any dead body is of
natural life, so void are our souls (though they be
living the natural life) of the life of God, of that
heavenly and spiritual life whereunto we, in this
life, do aspire : until the time that the Spirit of
God draws, i.e. quickens our hearts and minds.
Nay ! it is not a " drawing " as we commonly
speak, it is the very " quickening " of a dead thing,
—-of a thing which was void of the life of the
Spirit. Therefore, except the Spirit of God draw

168 THE FOURTH SERMON

us, that is, quicken us with that spiritual and
heavenly life, it is not possible for us to come to
heaven. And except He nourish this life which
He has begun, it is not possible that we can
stand in this life : So the Spirit of God is said
to draw us, that is, to begin this life in us, and by
the same Holy Spirit to continue and nourish this
life in us. Now by the drawing of the Spirit
our souls are quickened : and by the drawing of
the Spirit, I understand no other thing but the
forging and creating of faith in our souls, which
makes us new creatures.

Now let us see what order the Spirit of God
keeps, in drawing us and in forging and creating
this faith in our souls : First of all I divide the
soul into no more parts than commonly it is wont
to be divided, that is, into the heart and the
mind. Our mind then being a cloud of darkness,
altogether blind naturally, there being nothing in
that mind of ours but vanity and error, whereby
we vanish away, and can never long continue in
any good purpose ; what doth the Spirit of God ?
The first work that ever the Spirit of God does,
He takes order with the mind : He banishes dark
ness, He chases out vanity and blindness that
naturally lurk in the mind ; and instead of this
darkness He places in it, a light, a celestial and
heavenly light, a light which is resident in Christ
Jesus only. Thus the Spirit chases out that cloud
of mist and darkness, and places light in the mind.
And what works He by this light ? We getting
this inward light and a sanctified understanding,

PREPARATION TO LORD\S SUITKR 169

immediately He makes us see God : not only as
God the Creator of the world, but also as He is
God Redeemer, and has redeemed us in His Son
Christ Jesus.

Now, before I obtain this light, what are my
heart and mind doing ? There is not one of you
but has experienced, as I myself have, in what
state the heart and mind are before this light
enters : The mind lies drowned in blindness,
and the heart is hardened, and they both con
spire together in one vice, to set up an Idol
instead of God, — a domestic and invisible Idol :
what sort of Idol is that ? No doubt some
worldly or ileshly affection or other : this is
set up on the throne of thy heart ; and on this
Idol tliou bestowest the service of thy whole
heart, of thy whole mind, of thy whole soul
and body : So that the service of thy soul and
body which should be bestowed on God only, is
employed upon that Idol which is set up in thy
heart, that is, in the place of God, in the stead
of the Most High. And thou art more addicted
to the service of that Idol than ever thou
wast to the service of the living God : yea until
such time as this Idol of ours be banished, and
this blindness through which it is served, be
taken away, there is not one of you but arc
servants to one lust or other ; and thy soul
that should be consecrated to the service of the
living God, is employed upon some affection,
upon some worldly or fleshly lust of thine
own.

170 THE FOURTH SERMON

But now, from the time that the Lord begins
to scatter the clouds of our natural minds and
understandings, and begins to chase away this
thick mist of the soul, and places therein some
spark of heavenly light which flows out of Christ ;
and where we were children of the night and
darkness before, He makes us to be light in the
Lord, and to be children of the light and of the
day. Thus, we see that all things in the world,
besides the living God, are vanities, deceivable
allurements, inconstant shadows, fleeting and
flowing without any abiding : and thus we see
that our hearts and minds were set on evil
continually. Then we begin to abhor that Idol
and to seek to serve God only. Now except
the Lord, of His mercy and goodness, place in
us this light ; until such time as we get some
glimmering of this light, we can never see our
own vanity, far less see God. This then is the
first work of the Spirit. He banishes darkness
and error, and places light in our minds. Now
this first work of the Spirit, is expressed often
in the Scripture under the name of faith : For
the mind has its own assent and persuasion in
its own kind as well as the heart has : and there
fore, the mind being illuminated and seasoned
with this light, the assenting and knowledge in
the same mind is called faith. The Apostles
and Evangelists give to this knowledge the name
of faith : for from the time that thou once hast
an eye to know God, and Christ Jesus, whom He
has sent, when once thou gettest sight of Him and

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPHR 171

access to Him, it' it were 110 more than in the
iniiul, it is called faith.

But we must not stand still here ; if faith go
no farther than the mind, it is not the faith that
we are seeking. For the faith that justifies and
does us good must open the heart, as well as the
mind ; it must banish that idol and affection out
of the heart, and instead thereof place a throne
for Christ Jesus. So that except the good Spirit
of God go further than the mind, and banish this
idol as well out of our hearts as out of our minds,
we have not that justifying faith whereby we look
for mercy. Yea the Spirit of God must not only
stand in enlightening the mind, but it must
mollify this heart of thine and change thy affec
tions. And whereas thy affections were wicked
and evil, God's Spirit must change the will : and
He can never change the will, except He make
the ground of thy heart good, that it may be set
on God, and bring forth good fruit abundantly to
the owner. And what does this teach ? This
teaches you to seek for an honest heart, and to
seek earnestly till you obtain it. Foi what avails
it any man to know what is good or what is evil,
except he has a way shown him, how he shall
eschew the evil, and a means given him to make
himself partaker of the good ? Is not this an
idle and unprofitable knowledge to me to see afar
off and to know that this is good for me, when I
find not a means how to be partaker of that good,
that it may be a special good to me ? Is it not

172 THE FOURTH SERMON

an idle knowledge also to perceive that this is ill
for me, that it will do me hurt if I do it ; and
yet that very same thing will I do, and no other ?
So the Spirit of God links these two together in
this work ; and as He reforms the mind, He re
forms also the heart and makes you to be par
takers of that good which you see ; and to eschew
that evil which you perceive.

And this is the second work of the Spirit, not
only to present a thing to thee, but to make it
thine in effect. For, though the mind should do
its part never so well and let thee see that Christ
is thine, and present Him to thee never so often :
yet if thy heart be not reformed, that evil and
crooked affection that is in thy heart will prefer
itself to Christ and will make thee to account all
but folly in respect of that idol. And therefore
it were an idle and a foolish thing for me to see
my salvation, except I get grace to be partaker of
it : and what avails it thee to see the devil, to
see thine own sins that slay thee, except thou get
grace to eschew them ? And so the second work
of the Spirit is this. He enters into the heart, He
overpowers the heart, and wonderfully changes it,
and makes the will obedient : He mollifies the
affection which was hard before, in such sort that
it is made to pour out thy affection, in some
measure, on the living God, whereas it was poured
out on some idol of thine own before. Thus ex
cept the heart will do its part as the mind does,
the whole soul is not consecrated to God : for God
has not made the soul so, that the heart should

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 173

serve thyself, and the mind only should serve
Him ; but thy service is then only acceptable to
God, when thou consecratest thy heart as well as
thy mind to Him.

Now this matter is so clear that it needs
not to be illustrated by similitude : yet to make
it more plain to you, I shall show you by a
similitude, that the apprehension of the mind is
not enough except ye get the apprehension of
the heart also. In corporal things, in meat and
drink which serve for the use of your bodies,
there must be two sorts of apprehension : so there
are also two sorts of apprehension of the body
and blood of Christ Jesus, which is our meat
and drink spiritual. Of meat and drink corporal,
there is one apprehension by the eye and by the
taste, that while the meat is present to you on
the table, your eye takes a view of that meat,
discerns and makes choice of it : and not only
the eye, but also the taste discerns the meat,
and approves it ; that is called the first appre
hension. Now upon this which is the first, the
second apprehension follows : that is, after you
have chewed that meat, swallowed it, and sent it
to your stomach, where it digests and converts
into your nourishment ; then, in your stomach
you get the second apprehension. But if your
eye like not that meat, neither your taste like
it, the second apprehension follows not ; for thou
wilt spit it out again or reject it, preferring some
other meat that thou likest better. That meat
which thou likest not, never enters thy stomach,

174 THE FOURTH SERMON

and so it can never be converted into thy nourish
ment : for it is only the second apprehension of
the meat that is the cause of the nourishment of
the body, in our corporal food ; so if you chew not
this meat and swallow it, it feeds you not ; thus,
it is only the second apprehension that nourishes
our bodies.

It is even so in spiritual things (so far as they
may be compared). In the food of Christ Jesus,
who is the life and nurture of our souls and con
sciences, there must be two sorts of apprehension.
The first is by the eye of the mind ; that is, by
our knowledge and understanding : for as the eye
of the body discerns by an outward light, so the
eye of the mind discerns by an inward and renewed
understanding, whereby we get the first appre
hension of Christ. Now if this first apprehension
of Christ please us well, then the next follows :
we begin to cast the affection of our hearts on
Him ; we have good will to Him : for all our
affections proceed from our will, and our affections
being renewed and made holy, we set them wholly
upon Christ. We love Him, and if we love Him
we take hold of Him and digest Him ; that is, we
apply Him to our souls : and so of this love and
liking, the second apprehension follows. But if
we have no will to Him, if we have no love nor
liking for Him, what do we ? We reject Him and
prefer our own idol and the service of our own affec
tions to Him; and so the second apprehension follows
not. We cannot digest Him ; and if we digest Him
not, that spiritual life cannot grow in us. For in

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 175

what relation the eye serves to thy body, in the
same relation serve knowledge and understanding
to thy soul : and in what relation thy hand, thy
mouth, thy taste and thy stomach serve to thy
body ; in that very relation serve the heart and
affection to thy soul. So that as our bodies
cannot be nourished except our hands take, and
our mouths eat the meat, whereby the second
apprehension may follow : likewise our souls
cannot feed on Christ, except we hold Him and
embrace Him heartily by our will and affection.
For we come not to Christ by any outward motion
of our bodies, but by an inward motion and appre
hension of the heart. For God finding us all
in a reprobate sense, He brings us to Christ, by
reforming the affection of our soul, by making us
to love Him. Ami therefore the second appre
hension whereby we digest our Savour, will never
take place in our souls, except as He pleases the
eye, so He please the will and the affection also.
Now if this come to pass that our wills and affec
tions are wholly bent upon Christ, then no doubt,
we have gotten this jewel of faith. Have you
such a liking in your minds, and such a love in
your hearts of Christ, that ye will prefer Him
before all things in the world ? Then no question
faith is begun in you.

Now after a thing is begun, there is yet more
required. For though this faith be formed in
your minds, in your hearts and souls, yet that is
not enough ; but that which is formed must be
nourished ; and he who is conceived must be

176 THE FOURTH SERMON

entertained and brought up : or else, the love
that is begun in me by the Holy Spirit, except
by ordinary means it be daily entertained and
nourished, will decay : except the Lord continue
the drawing and working of his Holy Spirit, it is
not possible that I can continue in the faith.
And how must we nourish and continue faith in
our souls ? Two manner of ways. First, we
nourish faith begun in our souls by hearing of
the word ; not of every word, but by hearing of
the Word of God preached : and not by hearing
of every man, but by hearing the word preached
by him that is sent. For this is the ordinary
means whereby the Lord has bound Himself;
He will work faith by the hearing of the word
and receiving of the sacraments. And the more
thou hearest the word and the oftener thou re-
ceivest the sacraments, the more thy faith is
nourished. Now, it is not only by hearing of the
word and receiving of the sacraments, that we
nourish faith. The word and sacraments are not
able of themselves to nourish this faith in us,
except the working of the Holy Spirit be con
joined with their ministry. But the Word and
Sacraments are said to nourish faith in our souls,
because they offer and exhibit Christ to us, who
is the meat, drink and life of our souls : and in
respect that in the word and sacraments we
get Christ who is the food of our souls, there
fore the word and sacraments are said to
nourish our souls. As it is said (Acts ii. 42),
the disciples of Christ were earnestly occupied,

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPRR 177

"and continued in the Apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayers " ;
by these means, entertaining, augmenting, and
nourishing the faith that was begun in them.
Thus the Holy Spirit begets this faith, works this
faith, creates this faith, nourishes and entertains
this faitli in our soul by hearing the word
preached, and by participation of the sacraments :
which are the ordinary means, whereby the Lord
nourishes us, and continues this spiritual food
with us. For, observe, by what means the
spiritual life is begun, by the same means is it
nourished, and entertained ; as this temporal life
is entertained and nourished by the same means
whereby it is begun.

Seeing therefore that by these means the Holy
Spirit begets this work of faith in our souls, it is
our duty to crave that He would continue the
work which He has begun. And for this cause
we should resort to the hearing of the word
when it is preached, and to the receiving of
the sacraments when they are ministered, that
we may be fed in our souls to life everlasting.

But alas ! we are come to such a loathing,
disdain, and rejection of this heavenly food in
this country, that where men, in the beginning,
would have gone, some, twenty miles, some, forty
miles to the hearing of the word : they will
scarcely now come from their houses to the
Church, and remain one hour to hear the word,
but rather abide at home. Well, I say, too much
wealth makes " wit waver," and the abundance

M

178 THE FOURTH SERMON

of this word engenders such a loathsomeness,
that it is a rare thing to find any that thirst
and desire to hear the word, as they were wont
to do in the beginning.

And as for our great men, they will not hear
it at all : for they cannot endure to hear the
thing that accuses them, and convicts them ;
therefore they run from it. But they should
not do so ; they should not shun Christ, nor
His word that accuses them. They should hear
the word, and as the word accuses them, they
should accuse themselves also, that thereby they
may come to a confession of their sin, and obtain
mercy for the same.

So when Christ accuses thee, thou shouldest
not run from Him, thou shouldst draw near to
Him ; thou shouldest affirm kinship to Him,
and as it were make a breach and forcibly enter
into His kingdom. It is not the way when thy
sins touch thee, and when Christ accuseth thee,
to run from Him : No ! thou shouldest then turn
to Him, thou shouldest confess thy sin, cry
peccavi, and seek mercy ; and after thou hast
gotten mercy, this word shall become as pleasant
to thee and thou shalt take as great delight to
come to the hearing of it, as ever thou de-
lightedst to flee from it before. But alas ! our
loathsomeness and disdain is grown to such a
height, that truly I am moved to believe firmly,
that the Lord has concluded, that we shall not
enter unto His rest ; and that solely for the great
contempt of His mercy and grace, which are now

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPKR 179

so richly offered. For why ? God can not deal
otherwise with us, than he dealt with our fore
fathers the Israelites, for the neglect of the
Evangel, which was then but obscurely preached :
for then, it was far from the Incarnation of
Christ; and the farther that it was from His
Incarnation, the word was ever the more obscurely
preached, under dark types and shadows. Yet
notwithstanding, the fathers that heard that
evangel preached, and believed it not, perished
all in the wilderness, except two ; as you have
sometime heard from this place.

And if they perished for the contempt of so
dark a light, much more must you that are their
children perish, for the contempt of the Sun of
righteousness, who is risen so plainly and shines
so clearly now, in the preaching of the Gospel ;
except the Lord in His mercy prevent you, and
except you prevent His judgments by earnest
seeking, and except you seek feeling and inward
senses that you may see and feel the grace that is
offered. Crave again that He will sanctify your
hearts by repentance, that you may repent you
of your sins, and lead an honest and godly con
versation in all time to come ; that both body
and soul may be saved in the day of the Lord.
The Lord work this in your souls, that you may
seek mercy ; and seeking mercy may obtain
mercy ; and in mercy, may lay hold on Christ,
and that for His righteous merits. To whom witli
the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour,
praise and glory, both now, and ever. Amen.

THE FIFTH AND LAST SERMON

UPON THE PREPARATION TO THE LORD'S SUPPER

(Preached the second day of March 1589)

Let every man therefore examine himself, and so let him eat
of this bread, and drink of this cup, &c. — 1 Cor. xi. 28.

IN the doctrine of our trial and due examination,
the Apostle as you heard, (well beloved in Christ
Jesus) gave us a special command that every one
of us should try and narrowly examine ourselves :
that is, that every man should condescend and
enter into his own conscience, try and examine
the state of his own conscience, in what state he
finds it with God ; and in what state he finds it
with his neighbour. He enjoins this trial upon
ourselves, and commands that every one of us
should take pains about the true examination of
our consciences. He enjoins this work upon us,
why ? Because no man knows so much of me, as
I do myself; because no man can be sure of the
state of my conscience, but I myself; because no
man can so diligently, nor so profitably try my
conscience, as I myself. Therefore, chiefly, it
becomes every man and woman, before they enter
in to the hearing of the word, before they give
their ear to the word, or their mouth to the
sacrament, it becomes them to try and examine

180

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPKR 181

their own consciences. Not that the Apostle
would seclude the trial from other men : for as it
is lawful for me to try myself, so no doubt it is
lawful for my Pastor to try me. It is lawful for
other men that have a care over me to try, and
examine me ; but no man can do this so profitably
to me as I myself. And though we had never so
many triers and examiners, all is lost if we try
not ourselves. So whether there be a second or
a third trier, let ourself be one, and the first.
And no doubt the Apostle's mind was this, to let
us see clearly, that he that comes to this Table,
and has not that knowledge, nor is of that ability
to try himself, is a profane comer, comes uncleanly ;
and therefore must come only to his destruction.
Let every man therefore grow in knowledge, in
understanding, in the Spirit, that he may be the
more able to try and examine his own conscience.
To the end that you may go forward and
proceed in the work of this trial, with better
speed, and with the better fruits ; in this examina
tion we laid down this order : First of all, I
showed, what this is which we call a conscience,
and what is meant thereby. Next, I declared for
what causes ye should put your consciences to
this trial and narrow examination. And thirdly,
so far as time suffered, I entered into the points,
wherein every one of you should try and examine
your own consciences. As for conscience, that ye
may recall that definition to your memory, I shall
resume it shortly. We call conscience, a certain
feeling in the heart, resembling the righteous

182 THE FIFTH SERMON

judgment of God, following upon a deed done by
us, flowing from a knowledge in the mind. A
feeling, accompanied with a motion in the heart ;
a motion either of fear or joy, of trembling or
rejoicing. I leave the opening up of these points
to your memories, and I pray God, that they may
be well sanctified. I come next to the causes,
wherefore every one of you should be careful in
trying and examining your own consciences. The
first cause is, because the Lord of heaven has His
eye continually upon the conscience : the eye of
God is never off the conscience and heart of man,
as I proved to you by diverse places. Next,
because this God has chosen His lodging, and has
set down His throne, to make His residence in
the conscience : Therefore, that He may dwell in
cleanness, you ought to have a regard to His dwell
ing-place. Thirdly, He is the Lord, yea the only
Lord of thy conscience, who alone has power to
control, to save or to cast away. Therefore that
it may do good service to thy own Lord, thou
oughtest to take heed to thy conscience. And
last of all, in respect that the health of thy soul
stands in the state of thy conscience, and if thy
soul be in good health, thy body cannot be ill :
therefore, in respect that soul and body depend
upon the state of the conscience, every one of you
should carefully look to your consciences. I will
not amplify this, but leave it to your memories,
how the health and welfare of the soul should be
kept. Next I came, in the third and last place,
to the points in which everyone of you should try

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 183

and examine your consciences. And, as you may
remember, I set down two points wherein you
ought to put your consciences in trial : First, to
know whether your conscience was at peace with
God or not : Secondly, whether your conscience
was in love, in charity, and in amity with your
neighbour or not : In these two points chiefly
you must try and examine yourselves. To know
whether you be at peace with God or not, ye
must first try (as the Apostle speaks) whether
you be in the faith of Christ or not : For being
in the faith and justified thereby, of necessity you
must have peace with God. Therefore, the next
care must be to try your faith, and to see whether
you have faith or not. Faith can no ways be
tried but by its fruits : Faith cannot be judged
by me that look upon it, in any other way than
by its effects. Therefore, to try whether you be in
the faith or not, mark the fruits ; take heed to
thy mouth, to thy hand, to thy words and to
thy deeds : for except thou glorify God with thy
mouth, and confess to thy salvation, and except
thou glorify Him also in thy deeds, and make thy
holy life a witness to thy holy faith, all is but
vain, all is but mere hypocrisy.

Therefore, to know the sincerity of thy faith,
thou must take heed that there be a harmony
between thy hand, thy mouth, and thy heart,
that there be a mutual consent, that neither thy
doings nor thy mouth prejudge thy heart, but that
mouth and hand may testify thy sincerity. If
the heart, the hand, and the mouth, consent and

184 THE FIFTH SERMON

agree in one harmony together ; no question, that
heart that breaks forth into so good fruits is
coupled with God ; there is no question, the
light of thy actions, the beams and shining of thy
life, shall make the name of thy good God to be
glorified.

Therefore, the whole weight of our trial, stands
chiefly on this point, to see whether we be in the
faith or not ; to examine whether Christ dwells
in us by faith or not : for without faith there can
be no coupling or conjoining between us and
Christ ; without faith our hearts cannot be sancti
fied and cleansed ; and without faith we cannot
work by charity : so all depends on this alone.
And therefore that you might the better understand
whether you have faith or no, I was somewhat
more exact in this matter, and I began to let you
see how the Holy Spirit creates faith and works
faith in your souls, hearts and minds : I began
to show you what order the Holy Spirit keeps in
forming and creating this notable instrument
in your hearts and minds. Not only how He
engenders and begins faith, but also how He
entertains and nourishes it. And we showed you
the external means and instruments, which He
uses to this effect. To beget faith in our souls,
the Holy Spirit uses the hearing of the word
preached by him that is sent, and the ministry
of the sacraments, as ordinary means and instru
ments : which ordinary means are only then
effectual, when the Holy Spirit concurs inwardly
in our hearts, with the word striking outwardly

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 185

on our ear, and with the sacrament outwardly
received. And except the Holy Spirit grant His
concurrence to the word and to the sacrament,
word and sacrament will not work faith. So all
depends upon the working of the Holy Spirit :
the whole regeneration of mankind, the renewing
of the heart and of the conscience, depends on
the power of the Holy Spirit ; and therefore
it behoves us carefully to employ our labours in
calling upon God for his Holy Spirit. By the
same means and no other, that the Holy Spirit
begets faith in us, by the same means He nourishes
and augments that which He has begotten. And
therefore, as we get faith by the hearing of the
word, so by continual and diligent hearing, we
have this faith augmented and nourished in us.
And hence I drew out my exhortation, that if you
would have spiritual life nourished in you, and if
you would have further assurance of huaven, of
necessity, you must both continually and diligently
hear the blessed word of God.

Now it remains that every one of you carefully
apply this doctrine to your own souls, and enter
into the trial of your own consciences, to see if
this faith be begun in your hearts and minds, or
not : how far, or how little the Holy Spirit has
proceeded in that work, examine along with me,
and I with you. The first effect of the Holy
Spirit, whereby you may try your minds, whether
you be in the faith or not, is this : Revolve in
your memories, if, at any time, it pleased the
Lord in his mercy to turn the darkness of your

186 THE FIFTH SERMON

mind into light, to cause that darkness which was
in you to depart : through the which darkness,
neither had you an eye to see yourselves what you
were by nature, nor had you yet an eye to see
God in Christ, nor any part of His mercy. Examine,
I say, whether this darkness of the natural under
standing be turned into light by the working of
the Spirit or not. If thou art become a child of
the light and of the day ; if thou art become (as
the Apostle speaks) " light in the Lord " : if there
be this alteration made in thy mind, that whereas
naturally before it was closed up in darkness,
whereas it was filled with vanities and errors,
whereas it was closed up in blindness : If the
Lord has at any time enlightened the eye of thy
mind, and made thee to see thine own misery, to
see the ugliness of thine own nature, to see
the heinous sins in which by nature thou liest ;
If He has granted thee an insight of thyself in
any measure ; and on the other hand if He has
granted thee the remedy, and has given thee a
sight of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, if thou
hast obtained a sight of the riches of His grace in
Christ ; no doubt the Holy Spirit has begun a good
work in thee, a work which will bring forth repent
ance and which in His own time He will perfect.
So this is the first care you ought to have, and the
first point wherein you ought to examine your
your mind, to see if there be any light in it,
whereby you may know your misery, and have an
insight of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.

This being done, that thou findest a sight of

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 187

these two in thy mind, from thy mind go to thy
heart : and as thou hast tried thy mind, so try
thy heart. And first examine thine heart, it' it
be altered or not, that the will of it be framed
and bowed to God's obedience, that thy affection
be turned into the love of God, and be poured
out on Him, as it was poured out on vanities, on
filth iness, and on the world before. Try whether
the ground of thy heart and the fountain from
whence thy motions and affections proceed be
sanctified or not. For from a holy fountain, holy
waters must distil : from a holy fountain, holy
motions, holy cogitations, and sanctified con
siderations must ilow.

Try then and examine your heart, if the spirit
of God has wrought any such reformation (as I
speak of) in your heart or not. And that you
may the better perceive the working of the Holy
Spirit in your heart and conscience (for He makes
His residence chiefly in the heart) ; I shall de
clare to you the first effect that the Holy Spirit
brings forth in the heart, in framing, mollifying
and bowing it to the obedience of God. You
shall know the working of the Holy Spirit by this
effect : namely, if your mind sees and beholds
what is good, perceives and discerns your own
misery, and your sins which have cast you into
this misery ; and withal perceives and beholds
the riches of the mercy of God in Christ. If as
your mind sees these two, your heart be reformed
and prepared to love the sight of them; and 'as
you see in your mind the mercy of God in Christ,

188 THE FIFTH SERMON

if you have an heart to desire mercy, if you have
a thirst and earnest desire to be partaker of
mercy ; where this desire and thirst are, there
the Holy Spirit is ; He has no doubt opened the
heart. Upon the other side, if as thou seest
mercy, thou seest thy misery ; if as thy mind
sees thy misery, it sees also the fountain from
whence thy misery flows, to wit, from thine own
sins ; If, then, thy heart also hate this, the Holy
Spirit is there : if as thou seest sin, which is the
cause of thy misery, with the eye, which is given
thee in thy mind, thou hatest this sin with thy
heart, no question the Holy Spirit is there. And
as thou hatest it, if also thou sorrow for it (for it
is not enough to hate it, if thou lament not the
committing of it, and with a godly sorrow deplore
it) the Holy Spirit is there. And thirdly, if with
thy lamenting thou hast a care and a study to
eschew that sin (for what avails it to lament, if,
like a dog returning to his vomit, thou fall into
that same gulf again ?). Therefore, where there
is a hatred of sin, a sorrow for sin, a care and a
study to eschew sin ; no question the Holy Spirit
has opened the heart, and is working out that
precious instrument.

Observe all this in a word, all the operation
of the Holy Spirit and His working in the heart ;
and by this examine thine heart : See and per
ceive if the Holy Spirit has entered so far with
thee, to work in that hard heart of thine an
earnest and diligent study, a careful solicitude,
continually to be reconciled with the great God

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 189

whom thou hast offended : Is there such a thing
as a thirst, a desire, to be at amity with Him,
whom thou hast grieved, to be reconciled with
the God of heaven, whom thou hast offended by
thy manifold transgressions ? where this care and
study of reconciliation are, there is no doubt but
the heart that thirsts for this reconciliation is
heartily content not only to renounce sin, to
renounce all the impieties that separated thee
from (Jod ; but the heart that is indued with this
thirst, will be heartily content to renounce itself
(for as stubborn as it was before), to cast itself
down at the feet of the mighty God, and be
wholly content, in all time coming, to be ruled
by His holy will : not to follow its own lust, its
own will and appetite, as it did before ; but to
resign itself wholly into the hands of the mighty
God, to be ruled by His will, and to obey His
commands. And except ye find this disposition
in your own heart, to quit yourself, to renounce
yourself, it is a vain thing for you to say, that
you have a thirst to be reconciled. So the greater
thirst of reconciliation that we have, and the
more that this study grows, the greater that the
apprehension of my misery, of the deep gulfs,
and very hells (whereunto my soul is subject)
increases in my soul, the more earnest would I
be to be reconciled. And to be reconciled, I
would not hesitate to renounce the lusts of my
heart, but I would renounce my heart itself,
and the obedience of its will and desire : why ?
Because I see I must die for ever, I see the

190 THE FIFTH SERMON

huge deeps and oceans of all misery, in the
which I shall fall in the end, except in mercy
the Lord reconcile Himself with me. To eschew
these deeps, is there any question but the heart
that has any sense and is touched with them,
will most willingly renounce itself? Again, see
ing the Lord has taken pains to deliver ine
out of that deep misery in the which I had
drowned myself, and has purchased my redemp
tion with so costly a price ; not with gold, nor
with silver, nor with any dross of the earth, but
in a way so wonderful by such a precious price,
and rich ransom ; looking to the greatness of
our misery, and to the greatness of the price
whereby He hath redeemed us, what heart is
there but would willingly renounce itself, to get
a part in that redemption, and to be delivered
out of that hell wherein we are presently, and
wherein we shall be, in greater measure hereafter,
except we be reconciled ? So then with this
choice there is joined a disposition in the heart,
whereby the heart is willing in some measure to
renounce itself. This lesson is often taught us
by Christ in His Gospel ; we must both take up
the cross and renounce ourselves also, before we
can follow Him. The more that this thirst
grows in the heart, the more this renouncing of
ourselves grows. On the other hand the more
this thirst decays and is diminished in the heart,
the more we cleave to the world, and to the flesh,
the more are we ruled and guided by them.
So either we must nourish a hunger of life ever-

PREPARATION TO LORI)'s SUPPRR 191

lasting, a thirst for mercy, a hunger after that
righteousness that is in Christ, or otherwise it is
not possible that, in any measure, we can be His
disciples.

Now to proceed : The heart that after this
manner is prepared, that with a thirst to be
reconciled, is resolved also to renounce itself;
this heart in which there lies so earnest a thirst,
is never frustrated of its expectation, is never
disappointed. But as the Lord has imprinted in
it an earnest study to be reconciled, and to lay
hold on Christ : so He puts that heart, in some
measure, in possession of the mercy which it
seeks, in possession of Christ Jesus Himself :
the which apprehension of Christ, the heart
sensibly feels, and takes hold of in that peace
which He gives to the conscience. So that the
conscience which was terrified, exceedingly gnawed
and distracted before, is immediately quieted and
pacified by the entrance of this peace and of
Christ with His graces. There comes a calmness
and soundness into the heart, and all troubles and
storms are removed.

With this peace is conjoined a taste of the
powers of the world to come ; the heart gets a
taste of the sweetness that is in Christ, of
the joy which is in the life everlasting, which
taste is only the earnest-penny of that full and
perfect joy on which soul and body in that life
shall enter. And therefore that earnest-penny of
joy assures us, that when we shall get possession
of the whole sum, it shall be a strange gladness :

192 THE FIFTH SERMON

and these proofs lift up the heart, and make it not
to linger, nor weary in the expectation of that life ;
but being refreshed now and then, as by so many
earnest-pennies, they assure us of the full fruition
of that joy, for the which, in patience, we shall
sustain all troubles. So as the Holy Spirit works
a thirst in us for Christ, a thirst for mercy and
reconciliation with Him ; the same Holy Spirit
disappoints not that expectation but puts the soul
and heart in possession of Christ, by the which
conscience is pacified, the heart is rejoiced, and
we get a taste of the sweetness and of the powers
of that life to come. The sensible feeling of which
taste, that passes all natural understanding, what
does it in my heart and conscience ? It works
a wonderful assurance and persuasion that God
loves me : The feeling of His mercy in the bowels
of my heart, in the bottom of my conscience, works
a certain assurance and persuasion that He is my
God, that He will save me for Christ's sake, that
the promise of mercy, which I durst not for my
life apply to my conscience before, now by the
feeling of mercy I dare boldly apply, and say,
" mercy appertains to me ; life and salvation
belong to me ! "

For the conscience being exceedingly terrified,
and seeing nothing in God but fire and wrath, it is
not possible but it must flee from Him ; it cannot
approach to a consuming fire. But from the time
that the conscience gets a taste of this peace,
mercy and sweetness ; how fast soever it fled
from God before, so fast will it now run to Him,

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 193

after this reconciliation, and will possess Him
more and more fully. So the assurance and
persuasion of mercy arises from the feeling of
mercy in the heart and conscience. And except
the heart feel it and taste it, in some measure, no
conscience dare apply God and His mercy to itself.
I may be sure, in general, that all my sins are
remissible, and that I may obtain mercy, before I
feel it. But to apply this mercy particularly to
myself, I dare not until I feel a taste of it. So
this particular application whereby we claim God
and Christ as belonging to us, as if no man had
title to Him but we, and to call Him my God, my
Christ ; and to claim His promises, as if no man
had interest in them but we ; this comes of the
sense and feeling of mercy in the heart. And the
more that this feeling grows, and the farther
experience we have in our own hearts of this
peace and mercy, the greater grows our faith and
assurance. Our persuasion becomes so strong,
that we dare at the last to say with the Apostle,
" What can separate me from the love of God ?
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi
palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, shall be able to separate me
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord."

This particular application which arises (no
doubt) upon the feeling and sense of mercy is the
specific difference, the chief mark and proper note,
whereby our faith, who are justified in the blood
of Christ, is discerned from that general faith of the

194 THE FIFTH SERMON

Papists. Our faith by this particular application,
is not only discerned from the general faith of the
Papists, but is discerned from all the pretended
faiths of all the sects in the world. For the
Papist dares not apply the promise of mercy to
his own soul : he accounts it presumption to say,
" I am elect, I am saved and justified." And
whence flows this ? Only from hence ; that in their
conscience they have never felt mercy, they have
never tasted of the love, favour and sweetness of
God. For as fast, observe, as the conscience
flees from God before it gets the taste of His
sweetness; so diligently it runs to Him after it
has gotten that taste. So they, miserable
men, content themselves with this general faith,
which is no other thing than a historical faith —
grounded only on the truth of God, whereby we
know that the promises of God are true. But
the Papist dares not come and say, 'They are true
in me.' Why ? Because he has not felt it, and
the heart of him is not opened. But our justifying
faith, as I told yon, consecrates the whole soul
into the obedience of God in Christ. So that it
rests not only upon the truth of God, nor upon
the power of God, (though these be two chief
pillars of our faith also) but especially and chiefly,
it rests upon the promise of grace and mercy in
Christ. The soul of the Papist, being destitute
of the feeling and taste of mercy, dare not enter
into this particular application, and so he cannot
be justified. Though no doubt, so many of them
as are justified, in the mercy of God, get a taste of

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 195

this kindness before they die. Thus far concerning
the effects.

Then you have only this to remember : The
opening of the heart, the pacifying and quieting
of the conscience, work an assurance and strong
persuasion of the mercy of God in Christ. The
more that the heart is opened, the more that the
conscience is pacified, the more that the taste of
that sweetness continues and remains, the more
art thou assured of God's mercy. So then
wouldest thou know whether thy faith be strong
or not, whether thy persuasion of God's mercy be
sure or not ? Look to thy conscience. If thy
conscience be wounded, assuredly thou wilt doubt :
and if thou doubtest, thou canst not have such a
strong persuasion as otherwise thou wouldest have,
were thy doubting removed. Not that I will
have faith to be so perfect in this life, that there
never will be any doubting joined with it ; 1
claim not that perfection : but I say, that a
v/ou tided conscience must ever doubt ; and the
more we doubt, the less is our persuasion. So
the more thou wound thy conscience, the less
faith thou hast. Therefore thou must come to
this point : Keep a sound conscience, entertain
peace in thy conscience, and thou shalt keep
faith, and shalt have thy persuasion in the same
measure thou hast of rest and peace in thy
conscience. And the more that thy conscience is
at rest, the greater shall thy faith and persuasion be.

So this ground is certain : A doubting con
science causes weak faith ; and the more the

196 THE FIFTH SERMON

doubting in thy conscience, the weaker is thy
faith. Thus true it is that the Apostle says,
that faith dwells in a good conscience, that faith
is locked and closed up in a good conscience. So
that if you keep a good conscience, you shall keep
a strong faith : and if you wound your conscience,
you shall wound your faith. Now to make this
more sensible. How can I be persuaded of His
mercy whose anger I feel kindled against me and
against whom my conscience shows me that I am
guilty of many offences ? No question so long as
the sense of His anger, and feeling of my offences
remains, I cannot have a sure persuasion that He
will be merciful to me : but when I get access to
His countenance, and a sight that He has forgiven
me, then I begin to be surely persuaded. So
then, keep a good conscience, and thou shalt keep
faith ; and the better that thy conscience is, the
surer will thy faith be.

Thus the whole exhortation that we gather
from this point, depends on this : That every
one of you, in what rank soever you be, take heed
to your conscience : for losing it, you lose faith ;
and losing faith, you lose salvation. Are you in
the rank of great men ? You ought to take heed
to your consciences : especially in respect that the
Lord has placed you in a great calling. You
have many things wherein you ought to control
your consciences ; you ought to crave the advice
of your conscience before you attempt any great
work, in respect that you are bound in manifold
duties to God, and to your inferiors.

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 197

And no doubt if some of our great men had
advised well with their consciences, such dissolute
ness had not fallen out in their own houses. These
oppressions of the poor, these deadly feuds with
men of their own rank, would not have burst forth
in so high a measure. But the Lord seeing them
take so little heed to their consciences, deprives
them of faith, and of the hope of mercy ; and
their end will be miserable. You shall see that
the God of heaven will make those men who live
so dissolutely, spectacles of His judgments to the
world ; for the Lord leaves not such men un
punished ! From their example it were very
necessary, that men of inferior rank should take
heed to their consciences ; and therefore, let every
man, according to his calling, examine himself
by the rule of his conscience. Specially it
becomes those who are Judges before they pro
nounce and give forth judgment, to advise with
their own conscience, and the law thereof; and
in judgment not to follow their "affection," but
to follow the rule of their conscience. Likewise,
they that are of inferior degree to Judges, such
for example, as are advocates, let them control
their doings by their conscience ; And give not
the lieges nor subjects of this country just cause
to complain of them. Terrify them not from the
pleading of justice, by exorbitant prices and
extraordinary kinds of dealing : but let them
moderate all their actions so that they agree
with the rule of conscience ; that, so far as in
them lies, justice cease not. What I say to them,

198 THE FIFTH SERMON

I speak also to you of the merchant estate. See
that you look not so much to this, or that, as to
the conscience that is in you, what in conscience you
may do, according to the measure of knowledge
that God has placed in you ; and whatever you
do, beware you do it not against your knowledge.
I grant your knowledge will not be so learned as
it should be ; and this makes many deformed
actions : yet let no man act against his knowledge ;
but let every man act, according to the measure
of knowledge, wherewith God has endued him.
And though it be not well informed, yet do not
anything by guess, but advise well with thy
conscience, and follow thy knowledge : for that
which is done doubtingly is sin. So whatever
thou doest let not thine eye, thy hand, nor any
member of thy body, do against thy knowledge :
for this is a step to that high sin against the
Holy Ghost. This is the ready way to put all
knowledge out of your minds : for if men act
against knowledge, and so continue, at last they
will become a mass of darkness ; the Lord will
scrape out all knowledge out of their mind, and
all feeling of mercy out of their heart. Therefore
let every man follow his knowledge : and accord
ing to the measure of his knowledge let his
actions proceed.

It hath pleased the Lord to pour this liquor,
this precious ointment into us ; though we be
earthly and frail vessels, miserable creatures, yet
it hath pleased our gracious God to pour such a
precious liquor into our hearts and minds, and to

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 199

credit such a jewel in our keeping, that by virtue
thereof we may take hold of Christ ; who is our
justice, our wisdom, sanctification, and redemption.
Though we be miserable creatures, yet the Lord
of His mercy has a respect to us in Christ, in
giving us this precious liquor, whereby our souls
may be seasoned to life everlasting. In this that
He pours it into our hearts, we see clearly that
it grows not in our hearts, nor breeds in our
nature. No ! this gift of faith is not at man's
command nor under his arbitreraent, as if it lay
in his power to believe, or not to believe, as he
pleases. It is the gift of God poured down freely
of His undeserved grace, in the riches of His mercy
in Christ.

That it is a gift you see clearly (1 Cor. xii. 9).
Where the Apostle says : " And to another is
given faith by the same Spirit." As also, (Phil,
i. 29.) " For, unto you it is given for Christ's
cause, that not only you should believe in Him
but also suffer for His sake." So faith is the gift
of the Holy Spirit: and this gift is not given to
all, as the Apostle plainly declares ; "All have not
faith." This gift, though it be given, is not given
to all, but only to the elect : that is, to so many
as the Lord has appointed to life everlasting.
This gift wherever it is, and in what heart so ever
it be, is never idle, but perpetually working ; and
working well by love and charity as the Apostle
affirms, (Gal. v. (j.) This gift wherever it be, is
not dead, but quick and lively, as the Apostle
James testifies in his second chapter. And to let

200 THE FIFTH SERMON

you know whether it be lively and working or
not, there is no better means than to look into
the fruits and effects that flow from it. And
therefore, that by your own effects, you may be
the more assured, I shall give you three special
effects to observe, by which you may judge of the
goodness of your faith.

First look to thy heart, and cast thine eye on
it, If thou hast a desire to pray, a desire to crave
mercy for thy sins, to call upon God's holy Name
for mercy and grace : if there be such a thing in
thy heart, as a desire to pray, if thy heart or any
part of it be inclined, and has a thirst to seek
after mercy and grace ; though the greater part
of thy heart repine, and would draw thee from
prayer, yet assuredly that desire that thou hast in
any measure, to pray, is the true effect of right
faith. If thou have a heart to pray to God,
though this desire be but slender, assure thyself
thy soul has life : for prayer is the life of the
soul, and makes thy faith lively. And why ?
Prayer is God's own gift, it is no gift of ours ;
for if it were ours, it would be evil : but it is the
best gift that ever God gave man ; and so it must
be the gift of His own Holy Spirit ; and being His
own gift, it must make our faith lively. Without
this thou art not able, nor darest thou call upon
Him in whom thou believest not, as the Apostle
says, (Rom. x. 14.) For if I entreat Him by
prayer, I must trust in Him. Therefore prayer is
a certain argument of justifying faith and belief
in God, for I cannot speak to Him, much less

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 201

pray to Him, in whom I trust not. For though
the heart be not fully resolved nor well disposed,
yet if there be any part of the heart that inclines
to prayer, keep to it; it is a sure pledge that
that part believes.

The second effect whereby thou shalt know
whether faith be in thee, or no, is this : Observe
and advise with thyself, if thy heart can be
content to renounce thy rancour, to forgive thy
grudges, and that freely, for God's cause. Canst
thou do this ? And wilt thou forgive thy neigh
bour as freely as God has forgiven thee ? Assuredly,
this is an effect of the right Spirit ; for nature
could never give it. There is nothing to which
nature bends itself more than to rancour and
envy ; and there is nothing wherein nature places
her honour more greedily, than in privy revenge.
Now if thy heart be so tamed and brought down,
that it will willingly forgive the injury, for God's
cause, that is the effect of the right Spirit. This
is not my saying, it is the saying of Christ him
self in the Evangelist, (Math. vi. 14) where He
thus speaketh : " If ye forgive men their tres
passes, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you." And in ver. 15, "But if ye do not forgive
men their trespasses, no more will your heavenly
Father forgive you your trespasses." So that
Christ in effect says, He that forgives wrongs,
shall have wrongs forgiven him ; but he that will
revenge his wrongs, wrong shall be revenged upon
him. Therefore, as thou wouldest be spared in
thy wrongs done to the mighty God, spare thou

202 THE FIFTH SERMON

thy neighbour. T will not insist ; examine whether
you have faith or not ; examine it by prayer,
examine it by the discharge of your own privy
grudges : for if you want these effects ; a heart
full of rancour, a heart void of prayer, is a heart
faithless and meet for hell.

The third effect of faith is compassion. Thou
must bow thy heart, and extend thy pity unto
the poor members of Christ's body, and suffer
them not to lack if thou have : for except you
have this compassion, you have no faith. Examine
yourselves by these three effects ; and if you find
these in any measure, though never so small, you
have the right faith in your hearts ; the faith
that you have is true and lively : and assuredly,
God will be merciful unto you.

This faith of ours, though it be lively, yet it is
not perfect in this world ; but every day and
every hour it needs a continual augmentation, it
craves ever to be nourished : for the which increase
the Apostles themselves (Luke xvii. 5) entreated
and said, " Lord increase our faith." And our
Master himself commands us to pray, and say,
" Lord increase our faith : I believe, Lord help
my unbelief." Thus Christ's own command lets
us plainly see, that this faith needs continually to
be nourished and helped ; and it cannot be helped
but by prayer : therefore should we always continue
in prayer. That this faith should be helped, that
we should be perpetually upon our guard, in fear
and trembling, to get it augmented, the terrible
doubtings, the wonderful pits of desperation, into

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 203

which the dearest servants of God are cast, do
clearly teach. For the best servants of God are
exercised with terrible doublings in their souls,
with wonderful stammerings ; and they will be
brought at times, as appears in their own judg
ment, to the very brink of desperation. These
doublings and stammerings let us see that this
faith of ours requires to be perpetually nourished,
and that we have need continually to pray for the
increase of it. It pleases the Lord, at times, to
let His servants have a sight of themselves, to
cast them down, and to let them see how ugly sin
is : It pleases Him to let them fall into the bitter
ness of sin ; and to what end ? Not that He
would devour them, or sutler them to be swallowed
up of desperation. Though Hezekiah cries out :
That " like an hungry lion, the Lord is like to
devour him, and bruise him in pieces " l : yet the
Lord suffers him not to despair. And though
David cry, " I cannot away with this consuming
fire ; I cannot endure the lire of the Lord's
jealousy," ~ yet he despairs not. But the Lord
casts His servants very low. To what end ? To
the end that they may feel in their hearts and
consciences, what Christ suffered for them in the
Garden and on the Cross, in soul and body. Yea,
we would think that there had been plain collu
sion between the Father and the Son, and that
His suffering had been no suffering, except we
felt in our souls some of the hell, which He
sustained in full measure. So to the end that
1 Isaiah xxxviii. 13. a Ps. Ixxix. 5 (?)

204 THE FIFTH SERMON

we might clearly understand the bitterness of sin,
that we might know how far we are indebted to
Christ, who suffered such torments for our sin,
and that we may be the more able to thank Him,
and to praise his holy Name, He suffers his own
servants to doubt, but not to despair ; He forgives
their doubtings, He forgives their stammerings, and
in His own time He supports them, and brings us
to the waters of life.

These doubtings, as I have often said, may
lodge in a soul with faith ; for doubting and faith
are not directly opposite. Only faith and despair
are opposites ; and therefore faith and despair
cannot both lodge in one soul. For despair cuts
the pillars of hope ; and where there is no hope,
there can be no faith. But as to doubting, it
may lodge, it will lodge, and has lodged in the
souls of the best servants that ever God had.
Mark the speech of the Apostle, " We are always
in doubt/' says he, " but we despair not " (2 Cor.
iv. 8). So doubting and faith may lodge both in
one soul. And whence flows this doubting ? We
know that in the regenerate man, there is a
remnant of corruption : for we get not our heaven
on this earth ; though we begin our heaven here,
yet we get it not fully here. And if all corruption
were taken away, what should remain but a full
heaven here ? So it is only begun in this life,
and not perfected : therefore there is left in the
soul a great corruption, which is never idle but
continually occupied. This corruption is ever
bringing forth the birth of sin, more or less ;

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 205

every sin hurts the conscience : a hurt conscience
impairs the persuasion, and so comes in the doubt
ing. For there is not a sin that we commit, but
it banishes light and casts a slough over the eye
of our faith, whereby we doubt and stagger in our
sight : and were it not that the Lord in His mercy
takes us up, gives us the gift of repentance, and
makes us every day, as oft as we sin, to cry as oft
for mercy, and so to repair the loss of our faith,
to repair the loss that we have of the feeling of
mercy, we would wholly put out that same light.
But it pleases the Lord, though we be every day
sinning, to give us the gift of repentance ; and
by repentance to repair our faith ; to repair the
sense and feeling of mercy in us, and to put us in
that same state of persuasion wherein we were
before. Therefore if God begin not, continue not,
and end not with mercy, in that very moment
that He abstracts His mercy from us, we will
decay. So we must be diligent in calling for
mercy ; we must be instant continually, in seek
ing to have a feeling of mercy. Thus far of
doubting.

Now, however it be sure and certain, that the
faith of the best children of God is subject to
doubting ; yet it is as sure and certain, that it
is never wholly extinct : albeit it were never so
weak, yet it shall never utterly decay and perish
out of the heart, wherein it once makes residence.
This comfort and consolation the Spirit of God
has set down in his word, to support the troubled
heart ; That however faith be weak, yet a weak

206 THE FIFTH SERMON

faith is faith : and wherever faith is, there must
be mercy. You have it in Romans xi. 29.
" That the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance." But among all His gifts that are
of this sort, faith is one of the chiefest : there
fore it cannot be revoked again. You have it in
Jude ver. 3. " That faith l was once given unto
the saints." Once given, that is, constantly given
never to be changed, nor utterly taken from
them. The Lord will not repent Him of this
gift ; but the soul which He hath loved once He
will love perpetually. It is true and certain,
that the sparks of faith which are kindled in
the heart by the Spirit of God, may be smothered
for a long time ; they may be covered with the
ashes of our own corruption, and with our own
ill deeds and wickedness, into which we fall.
It is true that the effects of a lively faith will be
interrupted, and that thy lusts and affections
will prevail for a long time : So that when thou
lookest on thyself, on the judgments of God that
hang upon soul and body, and when thou lookest
upon thy dissolute life, and on the anger of God
against this dissolute life : in the mind, in the
heart and conscience of him that has so smothered
and oppressed his faith, it will ofttimes come to
pass in his own judgment, having his eyes fixed
on himself only, that he will think himself to be
a reprobate, to be an outcast, and never able to
recover mercy. Where this corruption bursts
forth in this gross manner, after that the Lord
1 No doubt, however, this is faith objective, fides quaecreditur.

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 207

has called thee ; take care that so soon as the
Lord begins to awaken thee, immediately thou
fixest thine eyes upon thine own life, and enterest
into a deep consideration, as well of the gravity
of thy sin, as of the weight of the wrath of God,
which thou seest following thereupon ; and art
loath to permit thy cogitations, to pause upon the
deepness of the mercy of God. Resting on these
considerations, it cannot but come to pass that
in thine own judgment thou art an outcast. And
yet God forbid it were so, for though these
sparks of the Spirit be covered by the corruption
that is within thy soul, yet these sparks are not
wholly put out.

And to let you see that they are not extin
guished ; though they break not forth in outward
effects, that the world may know thee to be a
faithful man as heretofore ; yet these sparks are
not idle, and thou shalt rind them not to be
idle in thee. As for confirmation of my argu
ment, that however our bodies are let loose to
all dissolution, after our effectual calling within
us in our souls, yet the sparks are not idle ; —
you see that though a fire be covered with
ashes, yet it is a fire : there is no man will say,
that the fire is put out, though it be covered.
No more is faith put out of the soul, though it
be so covered that it gives neither colour nor
light outwardly. An example of this we have
clearly in David. After his lamentation in that
Psalm of Repentance, (Psal. li. 11), he prays to
God in these words, " Cast me not away from

208 THE FIFTH SERMON

thy presence." And what adds he ? " And
take not thine Holy Spirit from me." Had he
not lost the Spirit by his adultery and murder ?
No : for he would not have said then, " Take it
not from me : " but " Restore it to me." It is
true that he uses like language in the verse
following, " Restore to me the joy of thy salva
tion." Not that he lacked the Spirit wholly, but
that the Spirit lacked force in him, and needed
strengthening and fortification : it would be stirred
up, that the flame of it might appear. Therefore
I say, in that David speaks so plainly after his
adultery and murder, " Take not thy Spirit from
me," it is a certain argument, that the faithful
have never the Spirit of God taken from them,
in their greatest dissolutions.

The second point is this, How prove I that
these sparks are not idle, although the outward
effects be interrupted ? As David felt this in his
conscience, so every one of you may feel it in your
own consciences. The Spirit of God in man's
heart cannot be idle ; but during the time that
the body is let loose to all dissolutenesses, these
sparks are accusing thy dissoluteness, are finding
fault with thy manners ; these sparks suffer thee
not to take the pleasure of thy body without
great bitterness and continual remorse. And
these sparks where they are, will make the soul
wherein they dwell to utter these speeches, at
one time or other, once in the twenty-four hours ;
" Alas, I am doing the evil which I would not,
if I had power and strength to resist my affec-

PREPARATION TO LORDS SUPPER 209

tion : if I might be master of my affection, I
would not for all the world do the evil which I
do. Again if I had power to do the good which
I would do, I would not leave it undone for all
the world." So these sparks, though they have
not such force and strength, presently, as to
resist the affection and abstain from doing evil,
yet perpetually, in the heart, they are finding
fault with thy corruption, and suffer thee not to
take thy pleasure without pain, but, last of all.
force thee to utter these speeches ; " If I had
strength to resist, I would not do the evil which
I do." Where these voices are, no question they
are the voices of a soul which the Lord has
begun to sanctify : and being once sanctified, in
despite of the devil and of the corruption that is
in us, this faith shall never perish ! But if the
whole soul, without contradiction, with a greedy
appetite and pleasure be carried to evil, and has
no sorrow for it, that soul is in an ill estate ; I
can look for nothing to such a soul but death,
except the Lord prevent it. But where this
remorse and sorrow, and such speeches are in
the soul, that soul, in the time that God hath
appointed, shall recover strength. The Lord will
never suffer these sparks to be wholly taken
away ; but in His own time He shall fortify them
and make them to break out before the world in
good works. The Lord in His own time shall
sanctify them, He will scatter the ashes of corrup
tion, stir up the sparks, and make them to break
out into a better life than ever they did before ;
o

210 THE FIFTH SERMON

as you may clearly see that David's repentance
has done more good to the Church of God, than
if he had never fallen. Thus far concerning the
effects.

Though the effects of repentance be inter
rupted, yet those sparks are not extinguished.
For there is no man will think that the fire
which is covered with ashes is extinguished, but
being stirred up in the morning, it will burn as
clearly as it did the night before. There is no
man will think the trees, that now in the time
of winter want leaves, fruit, and external beauty,
to be dead. There is no man will think the
sun to be out of the firmament, though it be
overshadowed with a cloud of darkness and mist.
There is great difference between a sleepy disease,
and death : for men are not dead though they be
sleeping ; and yet there is nothing liker to death
than sleep. As there is great difference between
a drunken man, and a dead man ; so there is
great odds, between the faith that lies hid for a
while, and utters not itself, and the light that is
utterly put out. When we break not forth into
outward deeds, God forbid that we should think
that these sparks are wholly extinguished. In
point of fact, the soul which is visited after foul
and heinous backslidings from his calling, and
against his knowledge, before it recover the
former beauty, is in a strange danger. For if the
Lord suffer thy corruption to get loose, in such
sort that it carries thee as it will, and by all
means possible makes thee to labour to put out

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 211

the sparks of regeneration ; when the Lord begins
to challenge thee, or make thee render an account
of thy past life, the soul of that man, when it
is challenged, is in great danger. So that no
question, when the Lord begins to lay to your
charge your dissolute life, the contempt and
abuse of your calling, assuredly your souls are so
near the brink of desperation that there can be
nothing nearer. For wilt thou look to God ?
Thou wilt see nothing but His anger kindled as
a fire against thee. Wilt thou look to thyself?
Thou wilt see nothing but sin provoking His
anger : thou wilt see the contempt and abuse
of thy calling increasing His anger: thou wilt see
nothing but matter of despair.

And what is the best pillar and surest retreat,
on which such a soul, that is so near to the brink
of desperation, may repose ? I will show you a
help whereupon, when thou art assaulted by all
high temptations, thou mayest repose. When
there is nothing before thee but death, when
thou seest the devil accusing thee, thine own
conscience bearing him witness against thee, thy
life accusing thee, and the abuse of thy calling
accusing thee : whither shalt thou go ? Look
back again to thy by-gone experience, cast over
thy memory, and remember if God at any time,
in any measure has loved thee ; if ever thou hast
felt the love and favour of God in thy heart and
conscience. Remember if ever the Lord has so
disposed thy heart, that as He loved thee thou
lovedst Him, and hadst a desire to obtain Him

212 THE FIFTH SERMON

Remember this, and repose thine assurance on
this, that as He loved thee once, He will love
thee always, and will assuredly restore thee to
that love before thou die. The heart that has
felt once this love of God, shall feel it again :
and consider that what gift or grace, or what
taste of the powers of the world to come, the Lord
ever gave to his creatures in this life, to that
same degree of mercy, He shall restore His creature
before ever it depart this life. So the soul that
is tossed with high assaults and great dangers,
where present things will not help ; it is necessary
that it have recourse to things past, and keep in
memory the by-past experience of mercy which
the Lord has freely shown toward that soul.
This same memory shall be so pleasant to the
soul, that it shall stay it presently, from despera
tion, and uphold it until the time the Lord
pacify that heart, and give comfort to that soul :
which being done, that soul shall see, that how
ever God was angry, He was angry only for a
little while.

I speak these things, not that I think that
every one of you has tasted them ; and yet, in
some measure, the servants of God must taste of
them ; and you that have not, may taste of them
yet before you die. And therefore whether you
have tasted them or not it cannot but be pro
fitable for you to lock up this lesson in your
hearts, and remember it faithfully, that if the
Lord at any time strike at your hearts you may
remember and say with yourselves, " I learned a

PREPARATION TO LORD'S SUPPER 213

lesson : To look back to my by-past experience,
and thereon to repose." And though you be not
touched presently yourselves, yet when you visit
them that are troubled in conscience, let these
things be proposed to thorn as comforts, and use
them as medicines, most meet to apply to the
grief of the inward conscience, and so you shall
reap fruit of this doctrine, and possess your souls
in a good estate. Thus far fur the first point,
wherein every one of you ought to try and ex
amine your own consciences.

The second point is this : Try whether you
have love towards your neighbour or not. For
as we are coupled with God by faith, so by the
bond of love we are coupled with our neighbour :
For love is the chief and principal branch that
springs from the root of faith. Love is that
celestial cement, that conjoins all the faithful
members in the unity of a mystical body. And
seeing that religion was instituted of God, to
serve as a pathway to convey us to our chief
felicity : and happy we cannot be except we be
like unto our God ; like unto Him we cannot be,
except we have love. For as it is 1 John iv. 8.
" God is love " ; so seeing God is love itself,
whoever will resemble Him, must be endued with
the oil of love. This one only argument testifies
to us that love is a principal head, whereunto
all things that are commanded in religion ought
to be referred. To spend long time in the praise
of love, I bold it no ways necessary, seeing the
holy Scripture resounds in blazing the commenda-

214 THE FIFTH SERMON

tion of it : but that we speak not of anything
ambiguous, I will let you see how this word is
considered, and taken in the Scriptures.

Love is considered either as a spring or fountain,
from whence the rest proceeds, that is the love
whereby we love God. And as love comes first
from God, and is poured by His Holy Spirit into
our hearts : so it first rebounds upwards, and
strikes back upon Himself: for the love of God
must ever go before the love of the creature.
Next, we take this word for that love whereby we
love God's creatures, our neighbours, and especially
them that are of the family of faith. And thirdly,
it is taken for the deeds of the second Table which
flow from this love. Now when I speak of love,
I speak of it as in the second signification ; to wit,
as it is taken for the love of our neighbour. And
taking it so, I call love ( The gift of God,' poured
into the hearts of men and women : by which gift
we first love God in Christ our Saviour ; and next
in God, and for God's cause, we love all His
creatures, but chiefly our brethren that are of the
family of faith, the children of one common Father
with us.

We will examine this definition : I say, first
the love of God as it comes from God, returns to
God ; as it comes down from Him, so it strikes
upward to Him again. And is there not good
reason ? For why ? Let thy heart fix thy love as
thou wilt upon the creatures, thou shalt never be
satiated, nor shall thy affection ever be content,
except thou lay hold on God ; but if once thou

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 215

love God in thy heart, and cast thy affections upon
Him, and once takest hold upon Him, the longer
thou lovest Him, the greater satiety and content
ment shalt thou have ; thou shalt not thirst for
any other. For as to the creature, there is never
a creature that God has created but is stamped
with His own stamp, and every creature bears His
image : in looking to the image of God in the
creature, should it not draw thee to Him, that
thou fix not thy heart upon the creature ? For
His own image in His creature, should lead thee
to Himself. And therefore, the more that thou
knowest the creatures, the greater variety of
knowledge that thou hast of them, the more
should every particular knowledge of them draw
thee to God : and the more shouldst thou adore
thy God, and know thy duty towards Him. And
seeing that delight flows from knowledge, and
every knowledge has its own delight ; as the
variety of knowledge that arises from the creatures
should make the mind to mount up to the know
ledge of God : so the variety of delights that arises
upon the diversity of this knowledge, should move
the heart upward to the love of God : and the
heart getting hold of God, and being seized with
the love of God, and the mind being occupied with
the true knowledge of God ; so soon as heart and
mind are full of God, the heart is quiet and the
mind is satisfied. So that the more this know
ledge grows in the mind, the greater contentment
thou hast ; and the more the love of God grows
in thy heart, the greater joy and rejoicing hast

216 THE FIFTH SERMON

thou in thy soul. For why ? In God you have
not only all the creatures, but you have Him
self beside the creatures : and therefore in God you
have all the knowledge and delight that can
arise of the creatures; and besides the creatures,
you have God Himself who is the Creator. And
so I say, the mind of man can never quiet itself
in the knowledge, nor the heart can never settle
itself in the love of naked creatures ; in respect
they are fleeting and vanity, as Solomon calls
them : but in the Infinite God rightly known and
earnestly loved, the mind shall find a full rest and
the heart shall have a perfect joy. For our affec
tion is so insatiable, that no finite thing will satisfy
it ; nor can there be any solid settling upon the
thing that is transitory. So love ought to mount
upward first to God, in Whose face the heart shall
find full and perfect joy.

The second argument that I use is this ; seeing
there is only one precept left by our Master, in
recommendation, to be observed by us, namely,
That every one of us should love one another :
therefore our wise Master, understanding well that
where love was, there needed no more laws, that
the life of man by love only, behoved to be most
happy, left only the same in chief recommenda
tion, and takes up the whole Law and Gospel in
one word, " Love!' And if the heart of man were
indued with love, his life might be most happy
and blessed : for there is nothing makes this life
happy, but the resemblance and likeness that we
have with God. The nearer we draw to God, the

PREPARATION TO LORD S SUPPER 217

more blessed is our life ; for there cannot be so
happy a life, as the life of God. Now says John
in his first Epist. (iv. 8), " God is love : " there
fore the more we are in love, the more near we
are to that happy life, for we are in God, and
partakers of the life of God. When I speak thus,
you must not think that love in God and love in
us is one thing : for love is but a quality in us,
and it is not a quality in God. There is nothing
in God but that which is God, so love in God is
His own essence : therefore the more that you
grow in love, the nearer you draw to God and to
that happy and blessed life. For there is nothing
more profitable, more agreeable and congruous to
nature than to love, and above all things to love
God ; and therefore it is, that God and His angels
are most happy and blessed, because they love all
things, and desire ever to do good. On the other
side, there is nothing more unhappy, nothing more
noisome, more hurtful, and that eats up nature
more, than to burn with envy and hatred : and
therefore it is, that the devils are most miserable,
who torment themselves with continual malice
and hatred, burning with a vehement appetite to
be hurtful to all creatures. As the life of the
devil is most unhappy, because he is full of envy
and malice ; so our life must be most happy, if
we be full of love. I will no further speak of it :
Only if you have love, mark the effects of it ;
set down (1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5, 6, 7), which effects
if you have not in some measure, you have not
true love.

218 THE FIFTH SERMON

I end here. You see in what points every one
of you ought to be prepared : You must be
endued with this love, and you must be endued
with faith ; and if you have these in any small
measure, go boldly to the hearing of the word,
and to the receiving of the sacrament. This is
the preparation that we allow of. I grant the
Papists have a preparation, far differing from this,
and therefore, they can have no warrant from the
word of God. Last of all, seeing that we are
commanded to try ourselves, he that lacks know
ledge cannot try himself; an insane man cannot
try himself, a child cannot try himself; therefore
they ought not to come to the Lord's Table. All
these things being considered rightly, he that has
faith and love, in any kind of measure, let him
come to the Table of the Lord. And all these
things serve as well for the hearing of the word
fruitfully, as for the receiving of the sacrament.
Therefore the Lord of His mercy illuminate your
minds, and work some measure of faith and love
in your hearts, that you may be partakers of that
heavenly life, offered in the word and sacraments ;
that you may begin your heaven here, and obtain
the full fruition of the life to come ; and that in
the righteous merits of Christ Jesus. To whom
with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all
honour, praise and glory, both now and for ever.
Amen.

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" In its own department of devotional literature,
Rutherford's Letters stand supreme. For warmth of
feeling they are unmatched. . . . The present edition
is, as they say on school prizes, at once ' premium ac
incitamcntum,' a tribute paid by the publishers to its past
popularity, ami a powerful incentive to its future fame.
For in every respect this is a perfect edition. Not only
is it very beautiful in its typography, but it is equipped
vith all an editor can do for it — a life of the author,
biographical and topographical notes, elucidating the
circumstances of his correspondents, and explanations of
difficult words and expressions All lovers of good men
and good books should have it."

Mr. SPURGEON in Sword and Trowel says :—
"\Ylnt a wealth of spiritual nourishment we have here
for half a guinea ! Rutherford is beyond all praise of
men. Like a strong-winged eagle he soarcth into the
highest heaven, and with unblcnched eye he looketh into
the mystery of love divine. There is, to us, a something
mystic, awe-creating, and superhuman about Rutherford's
Letters. This is a noble volume, and we shall measure
the soundness of Scotch religion very much by the sale of
this work. . . . When we are dead and gone, let the
world know that Spurgeon held Rutherford's Letters to
be the nearest thing to inspiration uhich can be found in
all the writings of mere men."

EDINBURGH AND LONDON
OUPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER,

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

RESULTS OF MISSIONS.

Large Crown 8vo, Cloth extra, Price 33. 6d.

Christianity and the Progress of Man,

As Illustrated by Foreign Missions.
By W. DOUGLAS MACKENZIE, M.A.

" We heartily congratulate Mr Mackenzie upon the clear thinking, careful work and
lucid style which make the book not only pleasant to read, but a valuable contribution to
our apologetic literature." — London Missionary Chronicle.

" It gives an account of the intellectual aspects of the work done during the present
century in evangelising the non-Christian people of the world, discusses the relation of
missionary enterprise to the other civilising forces of modern times, and sums up all by
endeavouring to estimate the effect that Christianity has had upon progress. Books about
missionary work are usually either read for their adventures, for their piety or for practical
information concerning the history of a particular mission. A work like the present,
which gives what may be called the philosophy of the subject, has a place of its own in
the literature to which it belongs, and deserves the attention of thoughtful readers in its
subject." — Scotsman.

"We admire the book for its simplicity. It is clear and direct in its statements,
written to be read by the ordinary reader. But even the scholar and the critic will be
constrained to admit that it presents the case with fairness and skill. Such a work is a
distinct addition to the literature of modern missions. It will furnish many a campaigner
with incident and testimony for his speeches." — The Baptist.

" The whole tone of the book is enthusiastic, and it should do good work for the cause
which the author has so much at heart. It betrays a firm faith in the reality and ultimate
success of all missionary effort, as well as a broad conception of Christian truth, and a
clear insight into the causes and conditions of all human progress." — Daily Free Press.

" If a copy could find its way into every Christian family in the land we have no doubt
the benefit to Christian missions would be enormous." — Derry Standard.

" If you happen to have an intellectual friend who does not believe in missions, this is
the book to give him." — Expository Times.

"We know of no recent book so vigorous and compact on this subject." — Baptist
Magazine.

' The author is thoroughly well-informed on his theme, and deals with it in clear,
compact, forcible style, with admirable good sense and reasonableness." — Kilmarnock
Standard.

" It is hoped that serious students of the history of man will ascertain for themselves
and acknowledge that evangelical religion occupies in this way an organic place in the
evolutionary progress of mankind." — Dundee Advertiser.

' ' The book is sensible and edifying. It touches a number of topics with a rapid but
instructed hand. It gives a broad, popular view of some matters of great moment, and
keeps a hopeful eye to the future." — The Critical Review.

" Professor Mackenzie has done his best to present a fair view of the facts, and to
draw from the facts only legitimate inferences. His work displays great ability as well as
earnestness, and we trust that it will he widely read and attentively considered." — Tht
New Age.

" An eloquent and inspiring Apologetic for the Gospel, and should be widely circulated
throughout the churches." — United Presbyterian Magazine.

" Who should read this book? Friends of missions, devout Christians, doubters and
sceptical philanthropists, scholars and teachers, and ministers should read it and circulate
it, that all may combine more rapidly to make known the mystery of the Gospel accord
ing to the commandment of the eternal God for the obedience of faith unto all the
nations." — Sunday School Chronicle.

"There is a literary brilliance, an analytical tendency, a scientific bent, a hearty
thoroughness, a bright hopefulness and sparkling faith in this book that charms the
reader." — Kilmarnock Herald.

OLIPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER,

ST MARY STREET, EDINBURGH;
21 PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.G.

DATE DUE