Sermons on Deuteronomy, Sermons · Sermon 97
On Tewsday the fifth of Nouember. 1555. The XCvij. Sermon which is the first vponupon the sixteenth Chapter.
THou shalt keepe the monethmonth of new fruites, that thou maiest keepe Passeouer to the Lorde thy God. For in the monethmonth of new fruites the Lorde thy God brought thee out of the Lande of Egypt.
2 And thou shalt sacrifice the Passeouer to the Lorde thy GOD, euen Sheepe and Oxen, in the place which the Lorde thy GOD will choose to put his name therein.
3 Thou shalt eate no leauen breade in that feast: Seuen dayes shalt thou eate vnleauened bread, euen the bread, of sorowe. For thou camest in haste out of the Lande of Egypt: to the ende thou be mindefull of the day of thy departing out of the Lande of Egypt all the dayes of thy life.
4 And there shal no leauen be seene in thy house, during the seuen daies in all thy coastes. Also ye shall not leaue of the fleshe that is sacrificed from the euening of the former day till the next morning.
THis present chapter treateth of the three feasts which God ordeined among the Iewes: that is to wit, the feast of Easter or passouer, ye feast of Pentecost or Whitsontide, & the feast of Tabernacles or Tentes. First hee treateth of the Passeouer, & God ordeineth that it should be diligently obserued: for it was a memorial of great importance, whereby the people were put in mind, how they had beene redeemed, & put in possession of the inheritance that had bin promised vntounto them. It was behoouefull that ye same should be knowen: for it was the fundation of all the benefits which the Iewes had receiued at Gods hande, & which they looked for afterwarde. Without that, they had bin no people separated & dedicated to god, neither had they had any hope of saluation: for the couenāt made with their fathers had bin disfeated. Therefore is it not without cause, that God would hauehave that day kept holy, & with such ceremonie. In like case was it with the feast of Tabernacles, as wee shall see heereafter. For it serued to put the Iewes in minde of their going out of Egypt, and that whereas they had dwelt long time in the wildernesse, without house or home, and yet God had euer preserued them: it behooued them likewise to acknowledge ye same benefite. But we will treate of eueryevery feast in his dewe order.
Presently we hauehave to speake of the passeouer. But before I go any further, we must marke also that God respected not only what he had done already; but also ment therewithall there should be a figure of thinges to come, whereof we hauehave now the trueth & substance, since the time yt our lord Iesus Christ hath bin discouered to ye world. That is the cause why S. Paul telleth ye Colossians, yt these thinges were but shadowes,Col. 2 17. ye body wherof is in Christ Iesus. True it is yt he speaketh not there expresly of Easter day by name: but yet vnderunder the name of Sabbat, he comprehendeth all the feastes, & likewise al the Ceremonies that depended vponupon thē. To be short, God had a double respect in ordeining the day of the Passeouer. The one was to do the people of Israel to vnderstand, yt they came not into possession of ye Land of Chanaan by their own power: but yt they had bin led in thither by the hande of God. And because they had bin deliuered by miracle out of ye land of Egypt; Gods wil was yt the same should be declared. Againe, forasmuch as the same deliuerance was a figure of the deliueraunce yt was to be hoped for by our Lorde Iesus Christ: this feast of Passeouer extēded yet further, yt is to wit, yt whē the people ate of the pascal Lamb (as they called it) they should thinke thus with thēselues: This is a shadow & figure of the Sacrifice which shalbe once offered vp, wherby the world shalbe reconciled & set free. And although the thing were not yet apparant to the eye. Yet behoueth it the faithfull to inure thēselues to the hope of the redeemer whō God had promised them. And in that respect sayth S. Paul in the first to ye Corinthians,1. Cor. 5.7. yt Iesus Christ is our Passeouer or Pascall Lambe, and yt he is sacrificed for vsus, and that we must now eate of that sacrifice: howbeit not with the leauen of malice and deceitefulnes, but with righteousnesse and soundnesse. That is the one point which we hauehave to remember.
And that the Pascall Lamb was not a bare ceremonie without doctrine, it appeareth by that which is written in ye twelfth of Exodus;Exod. 12.26 where it is said, yt when the Lamb is sacrificed as it is a eating, if their childrē aske what it meaneth: their fathers shall answere, The Lorde brought vsus out of the land of Egypt where we were in bondage, & therfore he wil hauehave this thing done yerely in remēbrance thereof: not yt the doing thereof one only day may discharge vsus: but yt the same should continue printed in our hearts, so as in inioying the land of Chanaan, we may vnderstand yt wee cōquered it not by our own strēgth, but through his good pleasure, because it was his will to harbour vsus here, according to ye promise which hee had made to our forefathers. We see then howe the feast of Passeouer, was not a ceremony without instruction: but yt it conteined doctrine in it. And it is an article of great importance. For the world would alwaies hauehave a great number of ceremonies to no purpose: & in the meane while it seemes ynough to hauehave store of gay showes. But on ye the cōtrary part, God telleth vsus, yt ceremonies are but toyes & trifles, vnlesse they leade vsus further, & behight vsus things cōcerning our saluatiō, so as we be taught & cōfirmed in the faith by meanes of them. If yt be not in thē, they be starke baggage, & nothing worth. Nay, they be nothing els than a corrupting of ye seruice of God, and the high way to lead vsus to superstition and ydolatry. As for example, wee see howe they make a great number of disguisinges in the Popedome: but in the meane while they wote not what any of those things meane. If ye come to their Masse, there they play an enterlude, where there are as many fonde toyes as can be. In deede the wretched worlde is rauished at them: but that is because they knowe nothing, but are vtterly sotted, and yet they beare themselues in hande that they hauehave done a dowtie deede, and yt God ought to like very well of it, when they hauehave so bestirred themselues. But (as I tolde you afore) they be but vaine & fonde Apish toyes. And why so? For God neuer ment to ordeine any ceremonie among his people, which conteined not some good instruction, and serued not to some good ende. And therefore lette vsus marke well, that whereas the Iewes had ye feast of Passeouer, they had Gods worde also, whereby they were warranted yt it was not inuented at the pleasure of men. For God not onelyonly gaue a prefixed commandement as saying: You shall obserue such a day: but also a doctrine with it, & willed yt the fathers should teach it their children, & put thē in remēbrance of the deliuerance yt had bin made, as in deede it was as excellent a deede as might be. That then was of his appointment.
And so let vsus beare in minde, that if we nowadayes hauehave ceremonies without instruction, they shalbe all condemned of God, who vtterly misliketh them, and we can not alleadge them to be his seruice. For he declareth and auoweth it to be but foolish superstition, when men turne away from that marke, and that it is the next way to put vsus quite besides our saluation. And heerein we may defie all the houge heape of pompes wherewith the Papistes will needes serue GOD: for there is nothing in them that God auoweth. Also wee be warned to mingle nothing with the pure simplicitie of the Sacramentes and Ceremonies which GOD woulde hauehave to bee obserued noweadayes. Let vsus holde vsus contented with that which is shewed vsus: for if wee adde neuer so little to it, surely wee shall make such a minglemangle as will bee nothing worth, after the manner of the Papistes, who (as wee see) hauehave inuented many thinges of their own head. Wee must hauehave this and that, say they, Why so? To what purpose? O (say they) it will serue for such a thing: but in the meane whyle there is no instruction to Godwarde. Is it their part to cause a doctrine to bee brought in? It were meete that God should speake. And when men heare him, then eueryevery one shall be edified. But when men thrust themselues in, and fall to forging of fonde deuotions without authoritie from GOD: all must needes be cast downe. The worlde sees how the Papists hauehave corrupted the true Sacramentes. In Baptisme, the water hath beene esteemed as nothing in the Popedome: for it is no matter if the infantes pisse in it. But as for the holy creame that is in it, O, it is not for any man to touch that: for that is too heauenly a thing. And yet notwithstanding the water is the substance of that Sacramēt, and the whole perfection thereof. But as for the ceame, who deuised it? It is a stinking greace that men hauehave charmed, and blowed vponupon, like sorcerers. And should that be had in such reuerence, that the Sacrament which proceedeth from the sonne of God, shoulde be had in no estimation for it? Moreouer, the water (by their reckening) is not good, vnlesse it hauehave beene coniured, and that a number of charmes hauehave beene made ouer it, to amaze the ignorant. And therefore so much the better ought we to beare this lesson in minde, that wee may be fenced against all Satans inuentions; which is, that sith wee see our mindes so tickelish, that wee woulde faine still inuent some newe thing, and we beare ourselues in hande that wee hauehave spunne a faire threede, when some newe Ceremonie is come foorth by our meanes: it standeth vsus in hande to thinke thus, yea but GOD dispiseth all this geere, yea and he sheweth vsus that we do but peruert his seruice, when wee adde any thing after that fashion, of our owne. Then is it an infallible doctrine that no Ceremonies are behoofeful or to be made account of among the faithful, vnlesse they carry instruction with them. And that instruction must come of GOD: for it is his office to teach vsus, hee reserueth that authoritie to himselfe. And therfore it is to be concluded, that the ceremonies which are set forth by men, are but trifles & geugawes, howe great a show of wisedome soeuer there seeme to be in them.
And hereby we see also that it was superstitiously done of such as beare the name of Christians, to bring in a feast of Passeouer vnderunder pretence that the Iewes had it: for the respectes are farre diuers. I meane not that we may not hauehave one day in the yeere, whereon to celebrate the remembraunce of the resurrection of our Lorde Iesus Christ: for we must not runne so rigorously into extremities, as that our infirmitie might not hauehave some helpe, to quicken it vppe withall, that we might the better bethink vsus all the time of our life, what benefit the rysing againe of our Lord Iesus Christ hath brought vntounto vsus. Well then may we hauehave a day appointed to that purpose for orders sake: but to make a seruice of God thereof, or to thinke that we ought to fashion ourselues after the example of the Iewes; that as they had their passeouers, so ought we too: it were an abuse that tendeth to the turning of all thinges vpside downe, and a putting of a veyle before the face of Iesus Christ, yt men might not know the light of the Gospell. These things (as I saide) were but shadowes, whereof we hauehave as now the body and substance: and therefore it is a hiding of Iesus Christ, whē men bring in feasts after the maner of the Iewes.
But nowe let vsus come to that which is cōmanded here concerning the Easterday of the Iewes Ye shall eate vnleauened breade or cakes (sayth he) by the space of six dayes, and there shall no leauened bread be founde in your houses. This was done because the Iewes departed in hast out of the Land of Egypt. And it ought to hauehave made them to think that they went not out with banners displayed, as though their enemies had stoode so in feare of thē yt they durst not quetch against thē: for they went a way like a sort of poore fugitiues. The women caried their children vponupon their shoulders, the men tooke vp their stuffe in their neckes, and fled away priuily, and their enemies would faine hauehave pursewed them, & they were of strength & power ynough to hauehave done it. The Iewes on the other side were a people yt could no skill to handle a sworde: for they had bin helde in such slauerie, yt they durst not once looke vponupon a sworde or any weapon of warre. They had bin vsed like Asses and Oxen. Their state had bin as slauishe as could bee. Well then, when the time came that they should depart, it was sayde vntounto them, Get ye hence.Exod. 12.39 And what bread shal we hauehave to eat? What prouision shal there be by the way? Grinde your corne, and trusse it vp quickely in meale vponupon your shoulders, and as the time will serue ye shal bake it by the way and eate it. Now when the people had this solemnitie yeerely, wherein they ate cakes whithout leauen: it serued to put thē in minde, that when their fathers departed out of Egypt, they were a poore fugitiue people, that ranne away like a Lambe that is pursued by wolues. Ye see in what plight they were. Needes therefore must it bee concluded, that God had preserued them after a wonderfull fashion. For what were the Egyptians? A nation full of pride and crueltie. A mightie nation, a nation yt trusted to their owne force & power; & moreouer a nation yt bare deadly hatred to the poore Iewes, an vtter enemy to thē, & such a one as desired nothing so much as to roote out ye remembrance of them, as the tyranny of Pharao had well shewed. Now then the Iewes were put in minde yt God had made them to scape out of their enemies handes, so as they coulde not but knowe yt they had bin helped by him, & that the prayse of their life was to bee yeelded vntounto him. As if they should say, Thou Lord hast deliuered vsus, not only from ye state of bondage but also as it were by fetching vsus out of our graues. For wee were as it were starke dead, and had bin past all hope of recouery, if thou haddest not reached vsus thy mightie arme. That was the thing wherof the Iewes were put in minde, when God commanded them to eate vnleauened bread. And it was his wil yt this should be done, not only ye same night yt they ate the pascall Lambe: but also that the same Ceremony should be continued by the space of six dayes together. And why? God shewed therein, yt men be not throughly framed at ye first brunt to the doctrine yt he setteth downe vntounto them, though ye same be cleere ynough. Doth God speake? There is no darknesse in his speech. But yet howsoeuer the case stande, wee can not fasten vponupon it. For we be so slowe minded, yt wee can neuer attaine to his meaning, vntill he hauehave repeated our lesson to vsus diuerse times. That is the cause why hee commaunded expresly that they should eate vnleauened bread by the space of sixe dayes together. As if hee shoulde say, truely the very one nightes eating of the pascall Lambe with vnleauened breade, ought to bee a sufficient instruction to you what is ment by the same. But what? I see well yee be shortwitted, insomuch that if yee hauehave hearde any thing at Gods mouth, yee forget it out of hande. And therefore when I intende to teach you, I must deale wt you as it were by measure and compasse. And therefore if ye hauehave a good long time afore hande to bethinke ye of the eating of the pascall Lambe, yee will be the better prepared vntounto it. Therefore shall yee hauehave a whole weeke, wherein ye shall eate no leauened breade; by meanes whereof yee shalbe quickened vp to thinke vponupon the great and inestimable benefit which God bestowed vponupon your fathers in deliuering them out of the Lande of Egypt, so as you may beare well in minde that his deliuering of them was after a straunge manner, and that hee was faine to worke after a heauenly fashion, because ye were in so wretched plight, that yee might seeme to hauehave beene already swallowed vp of death, and to hauehave beene already buried in your graues. Nowe we see why the Iewes were expresly commanded to absteine from the eating of leauened bread.
There were other Ceremonies also; that is to wit,Exod. 12.11 the girding vp of their garmentes, the putting on of their shooes, and the taking of their walking staues in their handes. For in those East countryes they ware long garmentes after the same manner that the Turkes doe at this day. And when they traueiled by the way, they trussed vp their garments aboue their loynes, as the gray Fryers & Iacobines or white Fryers do, and such other that are so greatly combered with clothes. Nowe God did the Iewes to vnderstande that they shoulde bee as wayfarers when they ate the pascall Lambe, and that they should eate it in haste, to put them in remembraunce of the sayde departure out of Egypt. And our Lord did set downe this figure as a lookingglasse for the Iewes to beholde howe their forefathers ate the pascall Lambe, euen when they were hasted to go their wayes, that they might acknowledge so great a benefit. And herein we see how God had a respect to the rudenesse of his people as in deede all the Ceremonies which wee hauehave serue but for our infirmitie. What doth Baptism or the Lordes Supper bring vsus? Doe they make the death & passion of our Lord Iesus Christ of more value than it is of it selfe? What helpe find we in the bread, or in the wine, or in the water, to that purpose? Gods meaning then was not to ad any thing to yt which we hauehave receiued in our Lord Iesus Christ: but to beare with our rudenes because he sees vsus to be vnable to comprehende the thinges that are gotten for vsus by our Lorde Iesus Christ. For inasmuch as they bee too high for vsus, God helpeth vsus vp to thē by the outwarde & visible signes which we hauehave in ye Sacraments. But it behoued the Iewes to hauehave mo such helps than we. For they had not so plaine a doctrine as is now conteined in ye Gospel. Again, Iesus Christ was not yet come, in whom we see all yt euer can be wished for our saluation. The heauens were then opened vntounto vsus,Col. 1.22. when his side was opened to washe vsus cleane, and his body offered vp for a sufficient sacrifice to reconcile vsus vntounto God his father, and to doe away all our offences and transgressions. When these thinges were done, then had we a full warrant of our saluatiō. Therfore wee in these dayes neede not to be helped with so houge a heape of Ceremonies as the ancient fathers vnderunder the Lawe were. It is ynough that we be ledde to our Lord Iesus Christ, wherunto fewe signes suffi…e, that is to wit Baptisme and the Lorde his Supper. For seeing that the sonne of God is contented with those two: we also ought to rest there. Neuerthelesse, wee see heere howe God vouchsafed to stoope to the infirmitie of his people, by giuing them a liuely representation of their departing out of the Land of Egypt, and by setting them downe as it were in a lookingglasse or painted table, for them to beholde howe he had deliuered them: that is to wit, like a sort of poore people, that were taking their iourney to flee away priuily, and were so distressed as it was not for them to turne heade against so mightie enemies, who were able to hauehave swallowed thē vp at the first chop without any resistance. Seeing then that the Iewes had such instruction; they shoulde hauehave considered thus with themselues: How commeth it to passe that we be aliue at this day, but because our God hath preserued vsus? And how shold our state stand but onelyonly by his meere mercy? For we had perished if he had not reached out his arme to bring vsus out of the Land of Egypt. Thus much concerning this point.
Nowe it was commaunded further, that the pascall Lamb should be eaten with bitter herbes.Exod. 12.8. And our Lorde himselfe speaketh here expresly of the bread of sorrow: as if he had said, although ye eateth: pascall Lambe in rest, and when yee be come to the inioying of the inheritance which I hauehave promised you: yet must you hauehave a memoriall of the anguish wherein your forefathers were, and you must thinke yt without my fauour you should hauehave had n…ither pascall Lambe nor bit of bread to eat at this day: for ye should hauehave beene vtterly rooted out of the worlde. Consider it therefore, and that yee may be the better moued thereunto, take bitter herbes, that is to say, absteine from all deintinesse in your eating of the pascall Lambe. For the Iewes were not restreined from taking their repast after their eating of the pascall Lambe, as wee see that our Lorde Iesus Christ in eating of the Pascall Lamb with his disciples, insomuch as they did not only sit downe at a table, but also lye downe after the manner of olde time, which was to eate their meales lying halfe a tone side. Certaine it is that he kept the Lawe to the vttermost:Gal. 4.4.5. for hee submitted himselfe to it to set vsus free from it. Then must we note that our Lord ate the pascall Lamb after the same maner that was ordeined by Moses, that is to wit, standing vponupon his feete, with his staffe in his hande, and his shoes on his feete, and hauing his loynes girded vp like a wayfarer. And after this was done hee tooke his accustomed repast, for this was a solemne sacrifice, and therefore wee must not wonder that it was separated from the common meates: for it behoued all the folke of one house to eate thereof, so as if there were thirtie or fortie persons in a house, eueryevery man hadde his portion of it. And if the housholde were not great ynough, two or three housholdes were called together and they mette in one place, that the sacrifice might be eaten vp hastily. A Lambe was roasted in hast and eaten vp with a morsell of a sweete cake: yea and they were forbidden to seeth it, to shewe that they could hauehave no leasure to tarrie till it were halfe boyled, but they were faine to deuour it hastily, life folke that were to go their waies out of hand. But howsoeuer the case stoode, it behoued them to eat it with bitter herbs. Whereby we be done to vnderstande, that deinties doe keepe vsus from the dewe consideration of Gods benefites, to be rauished by them. For although it bee sayde, Thou shalt be merrie before thy God:De…. yet are we continually helde backe in this worlde, when we hauehave some allurement to withdrawe vsus frō God. For if our fleshe hauehave her likinges, then are wee ouertaken in such sorte, that we stye not vp aloft to beholde well the spiritual grace of God. Thus yee see that the cause why the bitter herbes were put to the sacrifice, was to make men to consider the better after what manner the people hadde beene deliuered, beeing erst in so extreeme anguish as they were not able to endure any more.
Besides this,Exod. 44.… they were also forebidden to admit any heathen man to it, vnlesse hee were circumcised. True it is that God commanded that the bondmen being straungers borne should eate thereof. Yea, but that was not before they were first incorporated into his Church by receiuing the signe of circumcision. Hereby it is done vsus to vnderstande, that it was a peculiar token giuen of God to his owne people. For Sacraments are peculiar to the Church. They be no things for men to put to vnholy vses, nor to leaue at aladuenture. For our Lorde will hauehave vsus to bee gathered together vnderunder his name. When we vse the Sacramentes, let vsus thinke thus with our selues, Beholde here is a treasure that God hath kept and layde vp for vsus as for his children. And in d…eede, if a man should noweadayes admitte as many to the Lordes Supper as woulde offer to come to it: were it not a defiling of the Sacrament? And yet there are a number to be seene, which would hauehave al men indifferently both tag and ragge to be admitted to it: but such folkes neuer wist yet howe to vse the Sacramentes aright. For (as shall be declared hereafter) the Supper of our Lorde Iesus Christ is to vsus at this day the same that the Pascall Lambe was, to the people of the Iewes. Wherefore let vsus marke in fewe wordes, howe our Lorde hath shewed that this Sacrament was a warrant giuen of him to his people, that he took thē to be his Church, and therefore that it ought not to bee set foorth at aduenture to all commers. True it is that Circumcision likewise was a Sacrament: but there was diuersitie of respectes betweene the one and the other. For by circumcision, folke were receiued into the number of Gods people, so as it was an enterāce into the Church as Baptisme is at this day: by meanes whereof such as by nature are not nōbered in ye cōpany of Gods children, are receiued and incorporated into thē by Baptisme. And so stoode the case with ye Iewes for circumcision: But as for the Pascall Lambe, that was to be kept to the Iewes themselues.
Now it is also sayde, that it was not to bee eaten throughout the whole Countrey; but that it was to bee doone in the place which the Lorde had chosen to put his name in. And truely this was not shewed them at the first day, insomuch that they had beene a long time in the land of Chanaan, eare the Arke had any certaine resting place, there was no such place assigned to it. But yet it behoued them alwaies to be obedient to the ceremonie of resorting to ye place where the Arke was,De…. 12.11. vntil mount Sion was marked out. And then were al men bound to repaire thither, euen from the vttermost borders of the Countrey: all men were to come to Ierusalem, except they were letted by sicknesse or old age. And why? It was not to giuegive a president for the Pilgrimages which ye Papists inuented afterward: For in so doing they shewed themselues to differ nothing at all from the Iewes. Againe, it is not for them to excuse themselues by the example of the Iewes: for ye Iewes had a commaundement of God, but the Papistes made their vagaries for their own pleasure: wherin they vtterly renounced Iesus Christ & ouerthrew that which is sayd in the fourth of S. Iohn,… 4.21. namely that ye time was come yt god wold no more be worshipped in any place certain, but would hauehave his name called vponupon eueryevery where throughout ye whole world. Besides this, we must marke that there was a speciall reason why God would hauehave the Iewes to resorte to Ierusalem to sacrifice the pascall Lambe there: namely to the end yt no man should attempt to alter any thing in yt order which he had set by the Law. And (as I hauehave said) this ancient ceremonie was a thing of great importance, as wherby the people were informed of their Redeemer, euen that he had brought them out of the land of Egypt, & that he would send thē yet another redeemer, by whom the whole world should be redeemed. Loe heere a ceremonie that imported a wonderfull secret, & therfore it was meete yt it should be kept purely. For the doing wherof, god called al the Iewes into one body, yt hauing ye Sāctuary & the temple there before their eyes, they might be the better put in mind yt it was not lawfull for them to adde any thing at their owne pleasure, but that it behoued them to follow ye commō doctrine, to vnderstand yt God represented himselfe there,…d. 25.8. and dwelt among thē by meanes of the Arke. Seeing then that the people were so gathered together, they could not but be restrained frō starting out into foolish inuentions: and needes must the doctrine be retained therwithal, as I hauehave said afore: for ye ceremonie was nothing of it selfe, it had bin but as a Maygame or a mockerie. That was ye cause why ye people were drawē to Ierusalē, as to ye place which God had appointed. And so we see now why it was said yt they shoulde not do sacrifice in any of their cities or townes, but assemble al together in the Citie of Ierusalem.
It is inioyned further, that they shoulde not breake a bone of the Pascal Lamb.… ….46 And why so? As if it were said yt it was a meate to bee eaten in hast, (as I hauehave shewed afore,) so as they were forbiddē to boile any part of it. And hereby God ment to shew yet better ye hast which the people made in departing out of ye land of Egypt, forsomuch as it was not for them to set the pot vponupon ye fire to boile it: for they could neuer hauehave had time to do it. Therfore were they faine to make hast, & to eate this Lamb halfe rosted as people preassed vponupon by their enemies, & as folke yt looked to hauehave bin ouertaken eueryevery minute of an houre: by reason whereof they had no leasure to stand gnawing of ye bones, or to breake them to get out ye marow, as folk do when they hauehave time at wil. None of this could they do: but were faine to eate ye sacrifice in hast, & to cast away ye rest. We see then as nowe, yt as concerning ye deliuerance yt had bin wrought alreadie, things were as it were pointed out with ye finger in the Pascall Lamb: & for this cause ye very terme it self is expressed here, for ye Hebrew worde Passah is the same yt we call Passing in Inglish. And by ye word our Lord confirmed ye thing which we hauehave spoken of before, namely yt this Ceremonie was not a fond deuise to busie mens heades withall as though they were little babes: but yt it importeth instruction to edifie folk withall, to the end they should think thus: This day must we do homage to our God for our life, bicause he preserued vsus of his owne mere infinite goodnes, by bringing vsus out of ye land of Egypt. So then God spake not simply of ye thing… yt were to be obserued: but his meaning was to shew the end in such wise which he intended, as ye people might cōsider, we hauehave made a Passage: & what maner of Passage? Euen such a one as we had no legs to go it withall, but God did list vsus vp by his power, and made vsus to passe ouer it as a gulf of death, not onelyonly in passing ye red sea, but also whē we were yet in Egypt. For before we came at the red sea, there was another straite to passe, which wee shoulde neuer hauehave scaped out at, if God had not opened vsus ye way with his owne hand. Yea & his will was that that day should be obserued, to the intent that the remembrance therof should be ye certainer.
And for the same cause he poynted out the monethmonth yt answereth to March or April. Howbeit not to eyther of them, but bicause wee cannot make a certaine report of ye monethes of the Iewes to cōpare them wt ours. The reason wherof is, for yt they had their moneths intermingled one with another, bicause they tooke them according to ye Moone, so as they were interlaced together. This monethmonth therefore was sometime sooner and sometime later, & was named in hebrew Abib, which signifieth an eare of corne, when it beginneth to shoote foorth at the first. Not when the eares of Corne are full ripe: but when the corne beginneth newly to spindle. In deede the time of it selfe importeth nothing: but yet did it serue greatly to the instructing of the people, bicause the setting of it down made them to behold the matter the more presently. Gods putting of thē in remembrance of it was such as they could not but know ye meane wherby their fathers were brought out of the land of Egypt. And the very night it selfe was marked, to ye end they shold cōsider how god had deliuered them from the thraldom of Pharao. On the other side, had the monethmonth been marked at the pleasure of men: they wold hauehave thought it might wel hauehave beene chaunged for the commoditie of the people. But God commaunded it to be kept, to the end they should know he would hauehave no part of his ordinance chaunged, nor any man attempt to alter it in any wise.
And nowe we hauehave to marke in effect, that by the ordeining of ye Passeouer day, God ment to set downe a memorial of his doinges among his people, that they might acknowledge his grace, in deliuering them out of the Land of Egypt after that fashion, and that their children myght know that that was the meanes whereby they were come into the inheritance that had beene promised them. Neuerthelesse, it was not Gods intent to be honoured and serued with a trifling Ceremonie: but his mind was that there should be teaching, that men might be edified by it, and that the Iewes might know that Gods calling of them to him, was to bee serued by them as their redeemer and father. And therefore he would not hauehave the Pascall Lamb eaten by vnholy and vnbeleeuing folke: but that it should bee giuen alonly to such as were circumcised, and were already of the body of the Church. And seeing it is so, Let vsus remember that in all signes which God giueth vsus, we must hauehave instructiō annexed to lead vsus vntounto him. And for as much as we hauehave the true passeouer in our Lord Iesus Christ, as shall bee declared to morrow: wee must nowadayes step further. And although we hauehave not the old Ceremonie; yet let vsus hold fast the truth therof, which is brought vsus by the sonne of God, as it is declared vntounto vsus in these dayes by his Gospell.
Now let vsus fall downe before the maiestie of our good God with acknowledgmēt of our sins, praying him to make vsus to perceiue in what state we were, when he vouchsafed to call vsus to him, so as he hath plucked vsus out of the gulfe of death, in such sort as we hauehave now cause to glorifie him, and to giuegive our selues ouer to his seruice all the time of our life. And for as much as he not only sheweth himselfe to be our father and sauiour in this transitory life, but also calleth vsus to the euerlasting inheritance of heauen; according as hee had chosen vsus thereto before the creation of the world: let vsus tend alwayes thitherward, and bee the more prouoked to labour to that end, seeing we hauehave the helpes and Remedies which he giueth vsus, and that the badge is kept among vsus as he hath commaunded vsus by his word. That it may please him to graunt this grace not only to vsus, but also to all people & nations of ye earth, &c.