Sermon on the Lords Supper, Title page – Dedication
¶A MOST excellent Sermon of the Lordes Supper, wherein briefely (and yet plainly yenough) is liuely ſet foorth the matter of the Supper of the Lorde Ieſus. By Henry Bullinger. Tranſlated out of Frenche, into Engliſh, by I. T.
Matthew. 17.5.
This is my beloued ſonne, in whom I am well pleaſed, heare yee hym.
Imprinted at London, nigh vntounto vntounto the three Cranes in the Ʋintree, for William Ponſonby.
¶To the reuerend Father in God, Thomas Biſhop of Couentrie and Lichfielde.
FInding mee ſelf vnable in all reſpects (reuerend Father) to requite the leaſt benefit receiued at your Lordſhips hands, I hauehave long intended to preſent your Lordſhip with ſome thing, whereby you might at the leaſte perceyue my grateful mynd, in accepting your vndeſerued goodneſſe often vntounto me ſhewed. And finding nothing which might pleaſure your Lordſhip, being no leſſe skilful in learnyng, than godly in life, (for as Salomon ſaith:Prou. 27.7. He that is ful, abhorreth an hony combe.) I thought I coulde not better pleaſe you, which are no leſſe carefull for the Chriſtian Congregation, than is the Father for his children, than by taking in hande ſome ſuch matter, wherby I mee ſelfe might be well occupied, the Chriſtian common Wealth edified, and God glorified. For this cauſe, that the vnlearned, not onelyonly of your Dioceſſe, but alſo of all places els in England, which are deſtitute of painfull Preachers of Gods woord, (for who knoweth not, that the labourers in Gods Vineyarde be verye fewe?) might be inſtructed, at the leaſte by reading, in the true profeſsion of Ieſus Chriſt, I hauehave preſumed to tranſlate foorth of Frenche, a Sermon of the Lordes Supper, made by the learned and graue Father, mayſter Henry Bullinger. Neither dyd I perceyue, whereby I might more profit all mē, than by handelyng the Lordes Supper, which yerely and often ought to be receyued of al men, nor wherein I might better ſerue my carnall and tranſitory countrey, than in ſetting foorth that foode, whereby we are fed to out ſpirituall and euerlaſting countrey. For if we ought to trauaile painefully for the foode of the body, (according to the admonition of the Apoſtle Saint Paul: 2. Theſſ. 3.10.That if any would not worke, the ſame ſhould not eate:) whiche although we hauehave in abundance, mainteyneth vsus not alwayes, being by ſyn made ſubiect to death, howe much more painefull ought we to be for the atchieuing of the foode of the ſoule, Chriſte Ieſus, which is the bread of life, wherof if we eate by faith, we ſhall not die, being by grace made partakers of euerlaſting life? Wheras there be many, which hauehave learnedly, & godly handeled this argument, I am moued to thinke my labour beſt beſtowed vppon this authour, becauſe there is none which I hauehave read, that dooth in ſo briefe a ſumme, in my ſimple iudgement, more plainly ſet foorth the doctrine of the Lordes Supper, to the comfort of the profeſſours of the Goſpel, or more ſenſibly diſcloſe the errours thruſt into the Church of God, concernyng; the ſame, to the griefe of the aduerſaries of the truth: both the which poyntes he hath ſo aptly handled, that I knowe not in whether he hath vſed more facilitie. It may be, that ſome, which hauehave not only trauailed of purpoſe into Frāce (the hithermoſt coaſtes whereof I neuer ſaw) there to learne the french tongue, but alſo at home hauehave diligently ſtudied to attayne the finenes of the Engliſhe tongue, (wherein I confeſſe I was neuer curious,) might hauehave tranſlated this Sermon, much more finely, than by me it is. I enuie not their skill, neither diſdaine I their trauaile. I hauehave done myne indeuour, ſo neare as I could, to vſe my ſelfe like a faithful Interpretour, in yeelding the ſenſe of the Authour truely and yet in ſuch ſort, as beſt might be vnderſtood by the vnlearned Reader. Touchyng the teſtimonies of holy Scripture, alleged by this authour in this Sermon, I hauehave thought good rather to ſet them down after the laſt tranſlation of the Bible, ſet foorth by aucthoritie, than to tranſlate them foorth of the French, that I might the rather hereby cut of the cauilles of the aduerſaries of the truth, whith they are woont to make vponupon the diuerſitie of Tranſlations. And that the diligent Readers, if it ſhal pleaſe them to conferre the Teſtimonies with the Text, may the more eaſily find forth the ſame, I hauehave quoted in the Margent both chapter and verſe, whence they are taken.
Thus, hauehave I yeelded vntounto your Lordſhip, the cauſes of my bold enterpriſe, with the order of the handeling of the ſame, which if it may pleaſe God to bleſſe with the increaſe of the Readers knowledge, I hauehave my deſire. God long preſerue your Lordſhip, to the comforte of his Church.
Your Lordſhyppes to commaund, I. T.