for that his death passion is then called to memorie and thanks are yelded for so great a benefite Thus VVestphalus and much more to this purpose may the learned reader see in the same place Yet one other interpretation Zuinglius geueth of this vvord body vvhich VVestphalus mentioneth not vz. that the body of Christ in the Eucharist signifieth the church His vvords are VVhen as Paule 1. Cor. 10. saith that the bread which we receiue is the coÌ„munication of Christs body here it standeth for the coÌ„munication of the church for that by this meanes euery man approueth him self to the church and ingraffeth him self therein as it were by geuing an othe The same exposition he auoucheth in his Commentarie de vera falsa religione cap. de Eucharistia Thus Zuinglius VVestphalus in the place before noted alleageth one more exposition taken not from Zuinglius but Ioan. a Lasco whom our late king Edward the sixt created Superintendent of the congregation of straungers in London VVhich exposition is so much the more to be regarded because Caluin him self highly esteemeth it vvhereof thus vvriteth VVestphalus Albeit Caluin in his coÌ„mentarie vpon the first epistle to the Corinthians putteth it out of doubt that THIS HOC in Christs supper pointeth the bread yet that notwithstanding here he defen leth the contrarie opiof Ioanne a Lasco who in his booke of the sacraments of the church assureth that it pointeth not the bread but the whole forme and ceremonie the verie external action of the supper This glose of his reuerend brother that HOC doth not demonstrate bread but the external action of the supper Caluin honoreth as an Oracle from heauen VVhere by the vvay VVestphalus geueth vs a good example hovv much vve may esteeme the conference of places of scripture and interpretation there after made by the Zuinglians and Sacramentaries For saith he let this stand for good that the first particle HOC this according to Caluiâ— Ioannes a Lasco signifieth the external action Next vve must by like reason confesse that Est doth stand for Significat vvhich Zuingliê° proueth by a number of textes of scripture as before hath bene shevved and is after likevvise proued by M. B. Thirdly vve may not deny to Occolampadius like grace vvho saith that scripture al Antiquitie expounded the vvord Body corpus by a figure or signe of the body Let vs now in fine conioyne al together and thence wil arise this prodigious proposition Haec formâ— seu actio câ—nae significat figuram corporis Christi This forme ceremonie or action of the supper signifieth a figure of Christs body And if Christs body stand for the Church as the same Zuinglius sometimes affirmeth or his Passion or his Deitie then the sense is This action signifieth a figure signe of the church of Christs passion or Deitie so forth Al vvhich dravveth to this point first that from the sacrament Christs body is quit remoued and no maner of Christs presence least there at al more then in any other common action place or assembly of Christians Next that concerning any vvorke effect vertue or operation vvrought in the elements of bread and vvine by force of Christs vvords there is nothing done at al. Only in the mynd and vnderstanding of the còmunicants if they be vvel instructed somvvhat there may be perhaps For they coÌ„ming to receiue some perchance remember Christ other geue thanks for his death other thinke vpon his Deitie other vpon the church his mystical body and so â—orth ech hath some imagination one or other according as the preacher ether then at that instant warneth them or as euery man by some fore-conceiued opinion directeth him self and so the bread becoÌ„meth to them a symbole a memorie a signe a thankes-geuing c. according as euerie man is affected ¶ For this the discrete reader vvho coveteth to knovv truly the opinion of our aduersaries whereof in a maner al dependeth must diligently note remember that as the auncient Primitiue church bishops thereof which in most plaine and sincere maner confesse the real presence of Christs body and blud in the Sacament attribute that grace operation to the force of Christs vvord so the Zuinglians or Sacramentaries vvho denie that presence ake the contrarie course flatly resolue the vvords of Christ to vvorke nothing but to be as idle and vnprofitable as if they vvere neuer vttered that for any thing added to the supper by them as good it vvere to reade no chapter at al or any chapter of the bible that if ye please of Christs genealogie in the first of S. Matthevv as the 26. vvords of Christs InstitutioÌ„ Concerning the fathers and auncient church their faith is sufficiently knovven by their manifold most plaine confessions For instruction of the simple I vvil recite the sayings of a fevv Iustinus the martyr in his second Apologie for the Christians made to the Romain Emperour Antoninus vvriteth thus As by the word of god our Sauiour Christ Iesus was incarnate and for our saluation toke flesh and blud euen so by the worde of God with prayer we are taught that of vsu il bread wine is made the flesh blud of the same incarnate Christ Iesus S. Ambrose in a long chapiter by many examples proueth this force and povver of Christs vvord to conuerte the elements of bread and vvine in to his body and blud His vvords are Thou wilt say perhaps how is this the body of Christ whereas my eyes teach me the contrarie He ansvvereth How many examples do we bring to proue that not to be in the Sacrament which nature hath framed but that which benediction hath consecrated And after a number of examples taken out of the old Testament wherein the nature of things hath bene altered of Aarons rod turned in to a serpent of the riuers of Aegipt turned in to blud of the red sea diuided and standing stedfast like a wal of the riuer Iordan turned backe to his fountayne of these he inâ—erreth If then the blessing or prayer made by man were able to chaunge nature what shal we say of the Diuine consecration where the very words not of man but of Christ our lord and Sauiour do worke For the Sacrament which thou receiuest is made by the word of Christ And if Elias speach were of such force that it caused fier to come from heauen shal not Christs speach be of suficient force to alter the nature of these elements bread and wine Thou hast read in the works of al the world He spake the word and they were made he commaunded and they were created Then the word of Christ which was able to make somwhat of nothing can it not change that which already is and hath an essence in to that which it is not c. And this self same reason taken from the creation he vseth
in an other place In consecrating the Sacrament the priest saith he vseth not his owne words but he vseth the words of Christ Therefore the word of Christ maketh this Sacrament VVhat word Euen the selfe same word by which al things were made Our lord commaunded and the heauen was made He coÌ„maunded the earth was made He commaunded the seas were made Thou seest then how puissant is the word of Christ And in this sort he continueth a verie long pithiâ— disputation grounded vpon manifold scriptures to proue the infinite povver of Christs vvord in consecration of the blessed Sacrament vvhereof this is his conclusion Now therefore to answere thee it was not the body but bread before consecratioÌ„ But after when Christs words are ioyned therevnto then is it the body of Christ Likewise before the chalice had in it wine and water but when Christs words haue wrought thereon there is made present the blud which redeemed the people Thou seest then how many waies the speach of Christ is able to chaunge al things An ignorant puâ—as nobis esse virtuâ—em mysticae benedictionis saith S. Cyâ—illus Archbishop of Alexandria Thinkest thow we know not the vertue or force of the mystical benediction to worke the real presence of Christ with vs VVhere he vseth many of the examples brought by S. Ambrose namely that of Moses rod of the riuers of Aegipt made blud of passing the red sea to proue that we should make no doubt touching the veritie of this misterie nor Iewishly aske how Christ can make his body present in so many places at once To like effect and purpose notable are the words of Eusebius Emissenus or as some suppose of Faustus bishop of Rhegium touching my purpose it is not material whether for that ech of them liued about 1200. yeres since and so are good witnesses of the faith of that auncient church which are these VVhen the creatures bread and wine are set on the holy altars to be blessed before they are consecrated with inuocation of the high god there is the substance of bread and wine but after the words of Christ it is the body and blud of Christ. And what meruaile is it if be that with a word could create can now alter the things which he hath created Nay it seemeth a lesser miracle if that which he is confessed to haue made of nothing the same now being made he chaunge in to a better substance And what may be hard for him to do to whom it was easie by the commaundement of his wil to make al things both visible and invisible These few in steed of a number may serue to declare what saith the auncient church and fathers had of the strength and efficacie of Christs words in the blessed Sacrament Now let vs vew on the other side the opinion of Zuinglius the Sacramentaries This Zuinglius him self maketh to be the very state of the question betwene him Luther Controuersia quâ—e nobis cum Luthero est in hoc versatur c. The controuersie betwene vs Luther resteth in this point that we on our side can neuer graunt that Christs words in the supper should be pronounced to this end as though any thing were wrought by vertue of them And albeit he can be content to permit them to be read as other parts of the scripture historically for knowledge of the stone as perhaps in the old Testament when the Paschal lamb was eaten in the time thereof the Iewes might reade the 12. chapiter of Exodus and yet that also he greatly liketh not and holdeth it not so conuenient but admitteth it no wares necessarie yet hovv so euer that be very couragiously he assureth his reader that Luther can neuer yeld any sound reasoÌ„ or authori tie that commaundeth the words of the institution to be read in ministring the supper The like he vvriteth of the sacrament of baptisme Non damno vsitatam baptizandi formulam in nomine patris c. I condemne not the vsual forme of baptising in the name of the father of the sonne and of the holy gost yet in the meane season I nether may nor wil omit to speake the truth which is this that Christ appointed not in these words a forme of baptisme which we should vse at the Diuines hitherto haue falsely taught And the meaning of these words is not as if Christ wold haue said VVhen yow baptise any pronounce these 3 names ouer them but rather he warneth that such as were strangers from god and true religion them should the Apostles bring to the true god dedicating binding them to his seruice by some external signe And Caluin caâ—leth it magical inchauntment to thinke that the words of Christ worke any thing in the sacrament for that sola explication ad populum facit vt mortuum elementuÌ„ incipiat esse sacramentum Only the declaratioÌ„ of the mâ—sterie to the people causeth the dead element to become a sacrament The like vvriteth Bullinger Zuinglius his successor in the chaire of Zurick The Papists superstitiously attribute force of sanctification to the words vttered in administration of the sacrament For not the words but the faith of the baptized causeth that baptisme is of force and vertue And in the gospel when Christ instituted the supper he commaunded nâ—t to rehearse or pronounce any thing by vertue whereof the elements might be chaunged or the things signified broughâ— downe from heauen and ioyned to the symboles And therefore there is no vertue at al in rehearsing the words of the Lord in the supper As the figure or forme of letters is of no valew so there is no force in pronouncing the words or in the sound of them For Plinie saith words as also charmes or inchauntements are of no power or efficacie In vvhich vvords the Christian reader may first of al note vvhat Doctors these men folovv in matters of faith vvhen Plinie an heathen and faithles man is brought in as a great author to determine of the vertue of our Sauiours vvords in the sacrament VVith like grace as Theodore Beza expoundeth the same vvords symbolically by the graue authoritie forsooth of Homer the poete as he is commonly called father of lyes Next it may be obserued vvhether Brentius the Lutheran had not lust occasion to vvrite of Bullinger his companions as by vvitnesse of Bullinger him self he doth to vvit These Zuinglians saith he are wont to measure and limite as they please the omnipotencie of god To which end they vse the verie self same arguments quibus Plinius ille Atheus Epicureus omnipotentiam Dei oppugnauit by which Plinie that godles Epicure fought against the omnipotencie of God Then by conference of the sayings of Zuinglius Caluin and Bullinger vvith those former of Iustinus the martyr S. Ambrose S. Cyril and Eusebius Emissenus as vve may farther perceiue an
first obey the commaund of taking and eating so if a man first obey and execute the commaund that is to take and eate if after any vvould deny him the promise surely he must by Calvins ovvne iudgement and conclusion litle differ from a mad foole yea an Apostata and plaine enemie of God vvho could so foolishly and madly and Apostatically make God false in performing his promise And therefore it must needs be inferred that in every breakefast every dinner every beuer every supper every banquet feast and collation Christian men receiue the body of Christ as truly and really as in the Scottish or any such like Geneuian communion VVhich as for myne owne part I nothing doubt to be true so yet that these mens Theologie and preaching should tend to the same end should inferre the same conclusion that M. B. after such high magnifying vaunting their sacramental bread and drinke should â—al to such base and contemptible esteeme of it as in these two last chapters appeareth this might seeme incredible were it not that herein also as in the rest he resembleth his maister Caluin who vsed the same maner and veyne And both the one and the other in mind invvardly making no more accompt of this their supper then of their ordinarie dinner from the abundance of their hart their mouth and pen vttereth that vvhich is conformable to their invvard cogitations and vvhich is the principal God vvho suffereth not his people to be tempted aboue their abilitie causeth these false teachers among many foolish absurd counterfeite and affected figures of their lying Theologie vvhereby they circumvent vnskilful persons thus sometimes to expresse in plaine blunt sort their direct meaning that his people seyng vvhereto their preaching is bent that is to a manifest contempt of Christ his gospel sacraments al that holy is may be vvarned to yeld no more credit to them then they deserue that is no more then is due to heretikes to false teachers to scorneâ—s vvho pretend pietie and religion but deny the vertue thereof to enemies of Christs crosse the figure signe memorie vvhereof as they can not abide so can they not this principal divine sacrameÌ„t whereby the redemption vvrought on the crosse is more vniversally and plentifully then by other sacraments deriued to the benefite and salvation of Christians Comparison of the Sacramental Signe vvith the vvord The Argument M. B. his variable and inconstant maner of preaching writing His absurd Paradox that we possesse Christ better by their sacramental â—igne then by the word of god is refuted VVithal it is shewed probably what was the first original cause of this fond doctrine of the Protestants which maketh the sacraments seales to confirme Gods word and promises CHAP. 9. THE variable maner of M. B. his preaching writing in these his Sermons declareth him to be in the number of such persons whom for their inconstancie and mobilitie the wise man in holy scripture compareth to the Moone the prophete to the Sea which is neuer in one stay For as the moone from wane encreaseth to the ful from fulnes decreaseth to the wane and then backe again and so doth the Sea from ful Sea to low from low to ful neuer keepeth at one even so after the fashion of other Protestant writers especially Iohn Caluin plaieth M. B. in these his Sermons At one time we haue Christ his true substance his very body and blud conioyned with the signe in the supper so firmely effectually that no Lutheran could speake more for the real presence Here is as it were the ful Sea ful Moone replenished with al light so much as a man needeth By and by he falleth to the wane to the low water marke that Christs body is no more ioyned with the signe then it is with any word vttered by any man nay lesse then it is ioyned with a word which is in effect nothing at al. In the last chapiter the sacrament or signe was a mere humaine ceremonie an earthly signe and corruptible a peece of bread not worth a straa Here in this chapiter from that low sea wane of the moone he beginneth to fil againe And because those his manifold contemptuous speeches and comparisons vsed against their Signe to any wise auditor gaue sufficient cause to deeme it nought worth and altogether superfluous especially if to his discourse a man ioyne the common vulgar practise of the Protestants who presuming of their daylie howerly eating Christ by faith sometimes in ten yeares together care not to receiue him in the Supper and the true issue of their doctrine is such that the spiritual commoditie which the communicant hath by eating that bread considered in it self is in deed not vvorth the labour for a man to go to the church to receiue it although the church vvere the next dore to his hovvse M. B. somvvhat to salue this soare taketh a little paines to shevv that his bread and vvine hath some vse in it To vvhich purpose he frameth to him self this obiection VVhat neede is there that these sacraments and seales should be annexed to the word VVherefore are they annexed Seing we get no more in the sacrament thâ—â— in the word and we get as much in the very simple word as in the sacrament wherefore then is the sacrament appointed to be hung to the word He answereth It is true certainly we get no other thing in the sacrament then in the word But the sacrament is appointed to get the same thing better then in the â—â—â—d The sacrament is appointed that we may haue a better grip of Christ then in the simple word that we may possesse Christ in our harts and minds more fully and largely then we did in the simple word This is his ansvvere vvhich attributeth great prerogatiue coÌ„moditie to their supper For no only to compare and match it vvith the vvord of god but also to preferre and aduaunce it so much aboue the vvord of god that it putteth the bretherne in fuller better more ample and sure possession of Christ then doth the word of god it can not be denyed but this is a verie singular high diuine benefite and much maketh for the honour and excellencie of their supper But vvhen vvd come to trial hereof al this is but vvords al is counterfeit and being a litle examined falleth out to be like to the apples growing by the lake of Sodome vvhich make to the eye of the passinger an apparance of fayer greene fruit but vvhen he cometh to handle and tast them they â—esolve in to dust asnes Euen so this ansvvere carieth â—vith it some craft iugling and false shevv vvhich being a litle considered prooueth nothing but emptie â—vords vvithout substance mere forgerie and hipocrisie â—vithout al plaine meaning and honestie For hovv can yovv explicate your self that vve receiue Christ better by