Oh that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine, as Satan is to sow cockle and darnel! And this is the devilish ploughing, the which worketh to have things in Latin, and letteth the fruitful edification.But here some man will say to me, What, sir, are ye so privy of the devil's counsel, that ye know all this to be true? Truly I know him too well, and have obeyed him a little too much in condescending to some follies; and I know him as other men do, yea, that he is ever occupied, and ever busy in following his plough.I know by St.Peter, which saith of him, Sicut leo rugiens circuit quaerens quem devoret: "He goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I would have this text well viewed and examined, every word of it: "Circuit," he goeth about in every corner of his diocess; he goeth on visitation daily, he leaveth no place of his cure unvisited: he walketh round about from place to place, and ceaseth not."Sicut leo," as a lion, that is, strongly, boldly, and proudly; stately and fiercely with haughty looks, with his proud countenances, with his stately braggings."Rugiens," roaring; for he letteth not slip any occasion to speak or to roar out when he seeth his time."Quaerens," he goeth about seeking, and not sleeping, as our bishops do; but he seeketh diligently, he searcheth diligently all corners, where as he may have his prey.He roveth abroad in every place of his diocess; he standeth not still, he is never at rest, but ever in hand with his plough, that it may go forward.But there was never such a preacher in England as he is.Who is able to tell his diligent preaching, which every day, and every hour, laboureth to sow cockle and darnel, that he may bring out of form, and out of estimation and room, theinstitution of the Lord's supper, and Christ's cross? For there he lost his right; for Christ said, Nunc judicium est mundi, princeps seculi hujus ejicietur foras.Et sicut exaltarit Moses serpentem in deserto, ita exaltari oportet Filium hominis.Et cum exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum."Now is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world shall be cast out.And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lift up.And when I shall be lift up from the earth, I will draw all things unto myself." For the devil was disappointed of his purpose: for he thought all to be his own; and when he had once brought Christ to the cross, he thought all cocksure.But there lost he all reigning: for Christ said, Omnia traham ad meipsum: "I will draw all things to myself." He meaneth, drawing of man's soul to salvation.And that he said he would do per semetipsum, by his own self; not by any other body's sacrifice.He meant by his own sacrifice on the cross, where he offered himself for the redemption of mankind; and not the sacrifice of the mass to be offered by another.For who can offer him but himself? He was both the offerer and the offering.And this is the prick, this is the mark at the which the devil shooteth, to evacuate the cross of Christ, and to mingle the institution of the Lord's supper; the which although he cannot bring to pass, yet he goeth about by his sleights and subtil means to frustrate the same; and these fifteen hundred years he hath been a doer, only purposing to evacuate Christ's death, and to make it of small efficacy and virtue.For whereas Christ, according as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so would he himself be exalted, that thereby as many as trusted in him should have salvation; but the devil would none of that: they would have us saved by a daily oblation propitiatory, by a sacrifice expiatory, or remissory.
Now if I should preach in the country, among the unlearned, I would tell what propitiatory, expiatory, and remissory is; but here is a learned auditory: yet for them that be unlearned I will expound it.Propitiatory, expiatory, remissory, or satisfactory, for they signify all one thing in effect, and is nothing else but a thing whereby to obtain remission of sins, and to have salvation.And this way the devil used to evacuate the death of Christ, that we might have affiance in other things, as in the sacrifice ofthe priest; whereas Christ would have us to trust in his only sacrifice.So he was, Agnus occisus ab origine mundi; "The Lamb that hath been slain from the beginning of the world;" and therefore he is called juge sacrificium, "a continual sacrifice;" and not for the continuance of the mass, as the blanchers have blanched it, and wrested it; and as I myself did once betake it.But Paul saith, per semetipsum purgatio facta: "By himself," and by none other, Christ "made purgation" and satisfaction for the whole world.
Would Christ this word, "by himself," had been better weighed and looked upon, and in sanctificationem, to make them holy; for he is juge sacrificium, "a continual sacrifice," in effect, fruit, and operation; that like as they, which seeing the serpent hang up in the desert, were put in remembrance of Christ's death, in whom as many as believed were saved; so all men that trusted in the death of Christ shall be saved, as well they that were before, as they that came after.For he was a continual sacrifice, as I said, in effect, fruit, operation, and virtue; as though he had from the beginning of the world, and continually should to the world's end, hang still on the cross; and he is as fresh hanging on the cross now, to them that believe and trust in him, as he was fifteen hundred years ago, when he was crucified.
