Master Bezaes sermons upon the three chapters of the canticle of canticlesMaster Bezaes sermons vpon the three chapters of the canticle of canticles

10 Now to come to the christian Church, this point is especially to be noted, to wit, that whereas the ancient church for the obscurity of the promises, which were as it were the contract of this marriage, waiting for the visible coming of the Bridegroom, had need of these earthly & material Jewels, as being pledges & witnesses of his coming: so the Bridegroom being come, as this marriage also is spiritual and tendeth unto a spiritual life, hath made an end of all this: establishing the charges and callings of the officers of his house, and of all his outward service, after a most simple manner and fashion, far different from the former. Retaining therefore the sovereign and eternal Priesthood unto himself, and likewise the regality in lieu of all the Levitical Priesthood and other charges & offices serving thereunto: he hath first of all set up his spiritual Temple throughout the world, which is the Christian church, by his master builders, I mean, by his Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists: which being done, he hath withal established for governors of this building, unto the end and consummation of the world, Pastors and Doctors for the administration of the word and of the Sacraments: likewise Elders for the inspection ⟨p. 80⟩and over-sight of manners and other Ecclesiastical censures: and finally Deacons for the administering & dispensing of the Church-alms, and other reliefs of the poor: and hath also ordained but two Sacraments, common unto the whole Church and perpetual, the most simplest, that possibly might be, whether we consider the matter, or whether we respect the form & administering of them: & all this, fearing least we should stay our selves on earthly things, to seek after our salvation in them, or any holiness besides. And therefore was the Christian Church then in her gloss and beautiful hew, when this simplicity was diligently observed therein and maintained, as it was in the time of the Apostles, under whom verily she flourished in this native and ingenuous beauty, both inward and outward, which Isaiah describeth unto us, 54 and 60. But alas, we may well say that this glittering gloss of hers, was but as a lightening which passeth from East to West, and is soon vanished away and gone, as the Lord himself foretold it would be, Mat. 24.27. and Luk. 17.24.