Twenty sermons preached at Oxford before His Majesty, and elsewhere

I Have heretofore declared unto you the ground of our salvation, and have represented unto you, first, Christ offered for us, and secondly, Christ offered to us. Now it hath pleased Almighty God, not only to teach us this by his Word; but because we are slow of heart to believe, and conceive the things we hear, it pleases his glorious Wisdom, to add to his Word his Sacraments, that so what we have heard with our ears, we may see with our eyes, being represented by signs.

There is a visible voice whereby God speaks to the eyes: and therefore we find in Exod. 4.8. God bids Moses that he should use signs, saying, It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. Signs you know are the Object of the eye, and yet see, they have, as it were, a visible voice, which speaks to the eye. Now God is pleased to give us these signs for the helping,

1. Of our Understanding: The eye and the ear are the two learned senses as we call them, through which, all knowledge is conveyed into the soul: and therefore, that we may have a more particular knowledge of Christ, God hath not only by his Ministry given us audible voices, but visible also in his Sacraments, by which, as by certain glasses he represents to us the Mystery of Christ Jesus offered for us, and offered to us. And hence is it that Paul calls the eyes to witness, as well as the ears, Gal. 3.1. O ye foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified amongst you! That is, before whose eyes Christ hath been crucified, not by hear-say, only, but evidently before your eyes, not in any foolish Crucifix, with the Papists, but in the blessed Sacrament, wherein he is so represented, as if his soul were before our eyes poured out to death: so that by these Sacraments, heavenly things are (as it were) clothed in earthly Garments, and this is the first reason, viz. to help our Understanding: But besides he doth it,