THE CORRUPTION OF THE HOLY SUPPER.

The Scriptures teach that we have no oth­er offerings for sin than the body of the Lord, as before said. But since the enemies of Christ have possessed the cathedral for so many years, they have, as the Scriptures teach, altered the laws of the Most High, and instead thereof, instituted their abomi­nation of desolation, and corrupted the Holy Supper with their councils, violence and false doctrine, till, alas! it retains but the shadow, and the mere name, and this they did to destroy and corrupt the true, eternal offering of Christ, which alone avails with God, and changed it into a daily offering for sin, as we may plainly read in the can­ons of the mass; which undoubtedly is an abomination of abominations; for thereby, Jesus Christ, the all‑sufficient and eternal offering, is entirely renounced and made of no effect, as the Propitiator and Mediator of the New Testament. He is thrust from the throne of his Majesty; his merits, cross, blood, and death are rejected; yea, all the types and shadows of Moses, all the predic­tions of the prophets; the promise of angels, and the whole New Testament, are thereby 47denied; though all harmoniously point to the one and eternal offering of Christ; and instead of it, they have ordained an unholy, blind, seductive and carnal idolatry, with a piece of bread! Beloved reader, here put no other construction upon these words; for what I write is the truth.

They have brought it so far with this un­godly seduction, that they have arrogated to themselves all power in heaven, upon earth, and in hell; they therefore break the bread into three pieces. With the first, they reconcile God; with the second, they inter­cede for the world; and with the third, as they pretend, they pray for the souls in purgatory.

Through this accursed infamy they rose so high in honor, that they are above all the potentates of earth, whom they made their own servants. By their hypocritical service and enchanting idolatry, they have hoarded money, goods, gold, silver, land, rents, clois­ters, cities, principalities and the dominions of this world; because every one loved this splendid service as a holy and divine work; honored and feared their exalted and pom­pous names as the messengers of God.

By this ingenious and subtle magic, the Roman anti‑christ has gained such respect and authority, that even the imperial majesty, the highest sovereignty on earth, whom we are commanded of God to respect and fear, had to humble himself and kiss his feet; yea, what is still worse, Frederick Barbarossa, a great and renowned emperor, could not be reconciled with Pope Alexander III., until he humbled himself at Venice, before the church, and suffered the Pope to tread upon him with his feet!

Behold, thus anti‑christ has enchanted the whole world with his offering. The gracious Father be eternally praised, that he has, through his paternal grace delivered us, his poor children, from this enchanting offering, and given us to know the only and eternal offering of his Son, Jesus Christ, who, ac­cording to the order of Melchizedek, is or­dained an eternal High Priest over the house of God; who, in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save from death, and was heard, be­cause he honored God. This one, I say, of­fered an acceptable offering, a sweet smell­ing sacrifice, of eternal worth, whereby he appeases the Father's wrath, reconciles the human race, opened heaven, closed hell; made peace between heaven and earth; and sits now, and henceforth, at the right hand of his Father, till his enemies be made his foot‑stool; yea, with this one offering, he has perfected forever all those who are sanc­tified. This cannot be gainsayed, whether by emperor or king, doctor or teacher, angel or devil. His word stands firm and immov­able. He has with one offering, I say with one offering, perfected for ever those who are sanctified.

O my beloved reader! I mean all those who are yet without the Spirit of Christ and his word, Take heed what the word of the Lord teaches you, and observe the true doc­trine of Christ, the true teachers, the true sacraments, the true church, and the true christian life, which is of God, so that you may once learn to know what kind of pas­tors feed you; what kind of baptism and supper you practice; by what kind of offer­ing you are reconciled; what kind of lives you lead, and of whose body you are mem­bers.

O how long, says Solomon, will you sim­ple ones love simplicity? And you scorners delight in scorning? How long will you re­main under the heavy bondage of sin? How long will you remain in the communion of the devil, and suffer yourselves to be dragged down to the abyss of hell by the cords of unbelief? Awake, and ransom your poor souls! Come out from among them. Flee from all false doctrine; avoid every appear­ance of evil; believe in Christ Jesus; repent and lead an unblamable life; follow Christ with a sincere heart; enter into the house and covenant of his everlasting peace, into the communion of his flesh and blood. Take upon you his easy yoke, and light burden, and you will find rest for your souls; you may then of a truth say, that you are chris­tians; that you have obtained the remission of your sins, by the grace of God, through the merits of Christ; and that you are joint heirs of the eternal kingdom. May God grant unto you all his grace and mercy, Amen.

In the second place, they made the bread, 48in the Holy Supper, into the real flesh, and the wine into the real blood of Christ, and understood the words of Christ literally: Take, eat, this is my body, &c., and did not observe that Christ, John 6, does fully instruct us, how we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood; and says, that it would profit nothing really to eat his flesh, and to drink his blood, for this could not be done, because he was about ascending to heaven where he was before; we are therefore not literally to understand this eating his flesh, and drinking his blood; but spiritually, as he himself says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." All those who thus understand this from the Scriptures, are by many, reproached as accursed heretics and profaners of the sacrament, and must suffer for it by water, fire and the sword.

O dear Lord! is this not an ungodly error, and great blindness, to teach and to believe, that a piece of bread, and a drink of wine should be changed into the real and essential flesh and blood of the Son of God, whereby we may be delivered from hell, the devil, sin and death, and are made children of grace? O, horrible heresy!

O miserable, blind people, believe the words of Christ, when he says, that it profiteth nothing to eat his visible and real flesh; and that his words are spirit and life, John 6:63; believe that he ascended up to heaven and sitteth at the right hand of his Father; therefore he cannot be eaten nor confined in the body by any one, nor can he be consumed by age, fire, or worms, as may be plainly seen, is the case with the visible bread and wine.

But where the Lord's church, the beloved disciples of Christ, have met in Christ's name to partake of the Holy Supper in true faith, love and obedience, there the outward perishable man eats and drinks perishable bread and wine; and the inner, the imperishable spiritual man eats (in a spiritual sense) the imperishable body and blood of Christ, which can not be eaten nor consumed, as above said. Like is profited by like; this is incontrovertible. The visible man is nourished upon visible food, and the invisible man is fed upon invisible bread, as we may plainly learn from the word of the Lord.

Therefore, all who are in Christ and with believing, penitent hearts, rely upon the pure offering of the body and blood of Christ, and know that it is the only ablution and reconciliation for their sins, the only and eternal medium of grace; eat the true flesh and drink the true blood of Christ, not with their mouths, but spiritually, by faith, as said before.

The reader may readily observe from these words, that the bread is no flesh, and that the wine is no blood; for were they flesh and blood, as the idolators pretend and teach the poor people, one of two consequences must follow; either the perishable bread and wine are changed into the imperishable and heavenly Son of God; or the Son of God must be changed into bread and wine. This is incontrovertible.

O dear Lord! they are more ignorant than the heathens ever were; true, the heathens worshipped and honored the sun, moon and stars, which have their influence upon things below. They worshipped the ox, the dragon, serpents, fire, and other creatures; some of which had living breath within them. They also worshipped images of wood, stone, gold and silver, made by skilful workmen, who cast, carved and decorated them in the likeness of man. But those who are called by the name of Christ, pray to, worship, and adore a piece of bread, and a mouthful of wine, as the real flesh and blood of Christ, who came from heaven for our salvation; became man, and was made an offering upon the cross for our sins. O intolerable abomination and infamy! That the praise of God, the glory of Jesus Christ is converted and changed into such a feeble idol, which can neither avenge, speak, hear, see, stand nor walk; which worms eat and time consumes; and must be locked up, preserved, assisted, and carried about by the hands of men, like the idols at Babylon, of which Baruch writes.

O my faithful reader, learn rightly to know Christ Jesus. He is not like the fabulous Proteus,¹³¹³Proteus could according to poetic fables, change himself into different shapes. now like the everlasting Almighty Son of the eternal, Omnipotent God, and then a perishable creature, bread and 49wine. Oh no! he is unchangeable through all eternity. Neither can he be confined in any house, church nor chamber, in silver or golden vessels; for, according to his eternal, divine Being, heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool, and after his holy humanity, he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of his Father. He is the eternal and Almighty Power, Brightness, Word, Truth, Wisdom, and image of God. He has all power in heaven above and on earth below, all things are under him; at his name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess to him, that he is the Lord, to the honor and glory of his Father, and he will not appear again in the flesh, but he will come in the clouds of heaven, to judge the goats and sheep.

Therefore I say again, He cannot be eaten, nor can he be digested in the body of man. Augustine plainly acknowledges this; when he says, "Why do you make ready to eat? only believe, and you have eaten him."

Beloved reader, we well know, that Augustine did not write this of the natural eating of the Holy Supper; but of the spiritual eating, which is by faith; and with that view, we adduced it, so that the god‑fearing reader might see the difference between outward and inward eating, and not mistake the one for the other; for the external use of the sign is nothing but a false appearance and hypocrisy, if the thing which is invisibly represented, is not connected with it. That this is the case with infant baptism and the world's supper, may be readily proved from the Scriptures; but where the mystery is connected with the sign, for which purpose it is ordained, there is the baptism of Christ, and his Supper, as the Scriptures teach. But this is hidden from the world. They acknowledge that the Scriptures teach a Supper, but what it actually is, what it prefigures, and who are to partake of it, they know not, so completely has the Babylonian whore deceived and bewitched them in this matter.

The Holy Supper, as taught by Christ and his apostles, reproves all idolatry; foreign mediums of reconciliation; hatred, discord, and unrighteousness; for it directs alone to the one offering of Christ which was made by his flesh and blood, once for all, as re­lated; it represents christian peace, harmony, brotherly love, and a pious, unblamable life, as already said; therefore they desire not this Supper, and have forsaken the Lord's word and ordinances, and have turned away from the Creator to the creature, and from the true Reality, to the perishable signs; yea, they call the disgraceful and sinful mass, the sacrifice of the Lord; and the bread and wine his real flesh and blood; for this is the custom and manner of the ungodly, because they know not the true God, the God of heaven and earth, and believe not his holy and inestimable word; but hate the true service and are opposed thereto. In God's stead they have a visible and tangible creature; and maintain a service of their own choice. So did Israel with the golden calf; with Baal and Moloch; and Antioch with his Maosim (god of forces); the Babylonians with their Bel; the Egyptians with their Isis, &c. From this source, originates all disgraceful idolatry, which is practiced with this abomination, such as carrying about the bread, exalting it, praying thereto, offering of incense, and on every occasion seeking to pay it Divine honor and Divine service; to maintain which there is not a tittle nor a letter, nor an inference, in all the Scriptures. Yea, alas! many esteem it so highly, that they say this is the one who reconciled us upon the cross. Even as Israel said to the calf, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," Exod. 32:4.

Beside this, the use of the cup is withheld from the people in the Roman church. If it were the Lord's Supper, as they pretend, they would, in every respect, use it according to the ordinance of the Lord. But this custom shows that it is not the Supper of Christ, but a deluding seduction of antichrist.

Therefore, be wise and sober, you who name yourselves after the name of Christ. Spew out the wine of Babylonian whoredom which you have drank. You have danced and burned incense long enough to the golden calf. Give the Almighty the praise and honor due him; lest it happen to you as it did to faithless, disobedient, and idolatrous Israel. Although the Lord God graciously redeemed them from the power and 50tyranny of Pharaoh, yet they had to suffer punishment on account of their unfaithfulness and obstinacy, and were destroyed in the wilderness. And so it is also in vain that we are redeemed by the blood of the Lord from the dominion and power of the devil, if we do not repent, but remain idolatrous, and believe not in Jesus, and in our weakness are not obedient nor live according to his word.

In the third place they teach, that this bread is dispensed for the remission of sins. My faithful reader, take notice of what I write. Where Jesus Christ, his word and Spirit are not known and acknowledged, there is nothing but unbelief, idolatry, error, and an uncertain, wavering conscience, as may be seen.

They all seek some remedy for their sins, but the true remedy, Christ, they do not acknowledge; hence they have contrived so many remedies, that we can neither describe nor relate all of them; such as absolution, holy water, fastings, confessions, masses, pilgrimages, infant baptism, bread and wine, &c.

I know not to whom to compare this generation, other than to a sick and wounded person, who has entrusted himself under the care of an unskilful physician, who can give him no suitable medicines, and apply no healing plasters; he spends his money in vain; he suffers pain and affliction, and is getting worse instead of better. A skilful, experienced physician is recommended to him, who, prompted by pure love and mercy would visit him without money and without price, bind up his wounds, and gladly cure him; but the sick man will not receive such a good and well­disposed physician. Who then could feel for such a man, because he would rather perish than get well?

So it is with this perverse generation. They feel and are sensible, at times, that they are failing and sick, but they seek medicine and counsel of those who sicken them still more with their poison; and are not healed of their wounds and cured of their diseases. They refuse the skilful, the heavenly Chirurgeon and Physician, Jesus Christ, recommended by all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and by angels; yea, appointed by the Father himself, him they will not have who would willingly visit all so deadly wounded; he offers his services without money and without price; he has a well scented, healing salve, good to heal our wounds, it is his powerful word to instruct; and his crimson blood, to reconcile, as was said. But they desire him not; they turn him away with violence, false doctrine, reproach, lying, treason, rebellion, persecution, and murder; as has been fully shown. O dear Lord! What counsel shall be given to this disobedient, perverse, and blind people?

My worthy reader, we testify the truth in Christ; beware, believe, obey, hope and seek, where and what you will; we are assured that you will find in the word of God, no other remedy for your sins, than the one we have pointed out to you, which is Jesus Christ; else the Scriptures must be false.

Thus says Isaiah, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins," Isa. 43:25.

"The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," Isa. 53:6.

The angel said to Joseph, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins," Matt. 1:21.

"This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins," Matt. 26:27.

"Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," John 1:29

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. 5:21.

"Who, his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. 2:24.

"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John 1:7.

"He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," Rev. 1:5.

My good readers, look well to yourselves, and be not deceived; if there were any other remedy for sin than the one pointed out, as related, we might then with propriety say, that these and other passages, have not rightly directed us, and holy Paul also erred not a little, when he says, "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave 51himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time," 2 Tim. 2:5,6.

All those, then, who seek other remedies for their sins, however glorious and holy they may appear, than the only remedy provided by God, deny the Lord's death, which he died for us, and his innocent blood which he shed for us; and they are those of whom the Lord complains and says, through his prophet Jeremiah, My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the Fountain of living waters, and have hewn them out cisterns, that can hold no water, Jer. 2:13.

All false doctrine goes to deny the true throne of grace, Jesus Christ, who alone is our righteousness, acceptable to God; and all false doctrine goes to the erection of strange Baals to be worshipped instead of Christ, as said before.

Behold, beloved sirs, friends and brethren, here you have the salutary truth and the only ground of the Lord's Supper plainly and briefly set before you, what it is, for whom it is ordained, and what it teaches, and represents to us with its mysteries and significations.

You have also a view of the anti‑christian supper, with its dreadful abominations, whereby the Lord's Supper is destroyed, and the kingdom of anti‑christ is fortified, and is placed in the stead of God's throne, whereby, alas! so many hundreds of thousands of poor souls were and are yet daily deceived; on account of which so many pious hearts are so slanderously spoken of and reproached by the learned, and so dreadfully murdered and slain in some cities, because they renounced this abominable idolatry.

Place these two beside each other; weigh them well by the spirit, word and ordinances of the Lord, and you will find, if you do at all believe that the word of God is true, to what abomination and frightful idolatry the world has come, and that we have, according to our feeble abilities, plainly explained to you the immovable foundation of truth out of the word of God.

Praise the Most High, all of you who fear the Lord, that he has manifested his unbounded love and grace toward us poor sinners, in this dreadful time of unbelief; that he let shine out of darkness, the clear light of the holy gospel, and the true knowledge of his son Jesus Christ, which was concealed for several centuries in this dark Egypt, under the thick clouds of the antichristian abominations, 2 Cor. 4:6. Therefore, let us be vigilant thereto, and diligently walk therein, so that thick darkness may not again cover us, as the prophet says, Jer. 13:16.

O my dear reader, rightly learn to know Jesus Christ, who has ordained this Holy Supper and the breaking of bread for his disciples and all christians. Believe the glorious and unspeakable gifts of his grace. Fear, love, honor, and serve him; walk in godly union, love and peace with your neighbor, even as this Supper, with its representation, testifies and admonishes; die to your wicked flesh, crucify its unclean lusts; in all things lead a life according to the spirit, word, and example of the Lord, so shall your Supper redound to his praise, and your souls shall have life everlasting.