A02178:1860
The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…
The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the Word of God collected into one volume: revised, corrected, and published, for the further building of all such as love the truth, and desire to know the power of godliness. By H.H.The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the Word of God collected into one volume: reuised, corrected, and published, for the further building of all such as loue the truth, and desire to know the power of godlinesse. By H.H.
London: printed by Thomas Snodham and Thomas Creede for William Welby, 1612London: printed by Thomas Snodham and Thomas Creede for VVilliam VVelby, 1612
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Now to set the presence of God aside, and to look to our own profit, as before we put apart our own profit to consider of so great a presence: the fruit is great, and so great, that the writers of the Primitive Church, have compared the mystery of the Supper to the tree of life which was in Paradise, and the abuse of this mystery unto the unlawful eating of that tree, because I say they do make Christ that tree of life; so that who so eateth of1 Christ, shall eat of life. And to the profit, if to the faith of the toucher, the very hem of the garment of Christ did afford such a benefit, as the healing of so grievous a sickness; then we may rise to consider the profit which the touching, nay which more is, the receiving of the body and blood of Christ doth bring us: setting the faith equal in both, it is like that this exceedeth the other by many degrees, and yet few, I doubt, receive the fruit of this woman. We come then now to say that all these profits are lost without preparation; and as one of the Fathers saith, they that come unprepared find not Christ, that is, the ⟨p. 189⟩body of Christ, but with John they light upon the napkin or the clothes of Christ, wherein he2 was wrapped so little fruit they have that come unprepared. The reason is (as Haggai saith) that if a man be polluted and touch an holy thing, it is certain the thing that is holy becometh3 polluted too, and unless he be holy that cometh to the holy thing, the thing hallowed doth him no good. So that he that cometh to these holy things unprepared, shall turn the nature of them to himself, & it shall be unto him as it fareth with them that take Physic; if a purgation taken to purge choler, do not work & purge the choler, beside the loss of the benefit, it turneth into a worse choler, and the humour is not only not4 lessened, but much increased: So if your mind remain polluted and unprepared, those things in the Sacrament besides your not profiting by them (which is to be wished) make us far worse then we were before, & for our unworthy receiving of them bring either temporal or eternal judgements upon us. Therefore for this cause in the Liturgies of the Primitive