Ratbertus an Abbot wrote fully and freely of that subiect against him So then we see him here confessed for the Author but opposed for his Doctrine if Bellarmine haue spoken the truth beare witnes w th him of the truth Onely let me tell you I haue read that whole Tract of Paschasius Printed by them and there I finde he writes of the Reall presence he mentioneth two Sacraments and maintaines the cōmunion in both kinds but of Bertram in his whole Treatie ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidem he makes not so much as mention of him and this mine eyes haue witnessed the Truth against the Foreman In his Treatise of 3. Convers part 2. cap. 10. The second is F Parsons Bertram saith he was wholy of the Romane Religion and so liued and so died aboue eight hundred yeeres agoe though after his death some of Berengarius followers did forge a little Pamplet in his name against the Reall presence of Christs bodie as favouring the Berengarian Heresie Here then we haue the man confessed but not this Doctrine I wonder these two Elders liuing so neere together in Rome were so farre asunder in opinion Surely they agree like the two Elders against Susanna both ioyned together to accuse the Innocent both out of their owne mouths must receiue the like judgement The third About the yeare 806. Lib consens omniū atat de verit Chi in Euchar centen 9. Delirarecoepit Bertramus saith Garetius This man acknowledgeth Bertram for the Author but condemnes him for an old Dotard The fourth Langdailius Langd lib. 3 Cath confut He affirmeth That though in some things he transgressed the forme of wordes yet he holdes correspondencie with the Catholique Roman Doctrine By this mans saying I see no cause why Bertram deserved a Writ to priviledge his dotage De visib Monarch Eccles lib. 7. An. 816. c. The fifth Sanders he saith That vnder the name of Bertram there is a Booke extant of the Eucharist which is sayd to haue bin lately written or devised by some of Berengarius followers for that there was no such Doctrine then read or knowne in that time of his liuing In his Treatise of the Sacram cap. 1 fol. 23 The sixth Reynolds the Priest saith toward 800 yeeres after Christ one Bertram and a little before him one Scotus wrote darkly of the truth of this Sacrament but whatsoever the private opinion of Bertram was his publique speeches and writings sounded so ill in the eares of the Catholiques of that age that Paschasius an Abbot made a very learned Booke in refutation of him These two hold together like a rope of Sand the one saith Bertram did write but obscurely the other saith It was not Bertram but some obscure Authors the one saith there was no such doctrine published in that age the other saith that Scotus at that time wrote darkly as Bertram did on the Sacrament The seventh and eight Posseu prefi ad Lect tom 1. apparat Sixt Sen. prafat in Bibl. Oecolampadius vnder the name of Bertram wrote this booke to Charles the Great sayth Possevinus and Sixtus Senensis The ninth Greg lib. 1. de praf Chi in Euch. c. 2. The Worke is spurious and tainted with the Leven of Berengarius heresie saith Gregory de Valentia These also might well agree if they could reconcile the times and their different opinions for Berengarius liued about six hundred yeares agoe and Oecolampadius about a hundred But if either Berengarius followers or Oecolampadius himselfe wrote this Tract of Bertrams it must needs be that Paschafius Ratbertus who wrote against this Treatise 800. yeares agoe as Bellarmine Reynolds doe affirme did write by the Spirit of Prophecie against Berengarius followers Oecolampadius long before they were borne In his Parliament of Christ Sacr. in the Prologue The tenth Dr Heskius saith that Bertram in the time of Charles wrote of the Sacrament suspitiously and yet in such sort as no man could be certaine what hee assuredly meant De Ador Euchar cap. 19. The eleventh Espencaeus saith That Bertram wrote a Booke to Charles the Emperour of the Sacrament yet in the iudgement of those that favour his error he doth intangle both his cause and the minde of the Reader and although he citeth many of the ancient Fathers yet one while he seemeth a Catholique another while of another opinion These two are nere to reconciliation for they both agree vpon the certaintie of the Author but condemne the vncertaintie of his doctrine The twelfth Trithenius Tritenius de Bertr a man without exception he sayth That Bertram the Priest was exceedingly skilfull in the holy Scriptures he was sharpe in wit famous in speech neither was he lesse notable in life then in learning he wrote many famous and excellent workes vnto Charles the Great the brother of Lotharius the Emperour he wrote a praise-worthy Booke to wit one Booke concerning the Body and Blood of the Lord he flourished in the dayes of Lotharius the Emperour about the yeere of Christ 840. You haue heard the great Enquest what they can say against this Author Yet all this while the Trumpet hath given an vncertaine sound Some you see denyes the man as a singular Novelist others acknowledge the Author but affirme this Worke to be suppositious others say he held the catholique opinion in the maine but squared in the forme of speaking so that hitherto you see the Iurors are not agreed among themselues and therefore they cannot giue vp their Verdict against him Onely this last witnes doth best resolue all the former doubts he sheweth that Bertram was no dotard he shewes it could not be written by Berengarius or his followers for he liued wrote this Worke to Charles 200. yeares before his time he shewes he was not spurious but the true Author and by this his testimonie doth cleerely exclude Oecolampadius for the Author whose writings were not extant when Tritemius made his Catalogue of this and other Authors Certainely if these men had beene sworne to the Truth as well as to the Church the Foreman of the Inquest and the last would haue reconciled all the rest You haue heard Gentle Reader the Popes tenants his sworne servants our sworne enemies their best witnesses Bertrams worst accusers bound by oath to maintaine the Papacy divided amongst themselues Now listen and heare their soveraigne Iudges giue sentence and according to their agreement let him stand or fall in your judgment And first let their Lord chiefe Iustice Pope Clement the eyght be heard for as he cannot erre so he may not be contradicted Ant. Posseu Appar Pag. 230. Tom. 1. Let not Bertram be read saith he but with leaue of the Apostolique Sea and with this condition that the Reader my confute the heretiques by the errors of that booke The next are the Roman Inquisitors Ind libr. prohibited Anno 1559 Trident and the Trent Fathers these also
A BOOKE OF BERTRAM THE Priest Concerning the Body and Blood of Christ Written in Latin to Charles the Great being Emperour aboue eight hundred yeeres agoe Translated and imprinted in the English Tongue A nno Dnj 1549. And now the third time published for the profit of the Reader 1623. LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson 1623. TO MY MVCH HONORED FRIEND S R WALTER PYE Knight the KINGS Maties Atturney of the Court of Wards and Liveries SIR I Haue nothing of my owne worthy of your loue but behold a great Worke of another Man 's in this little Volume I Dedicate vnto you It was presented to a great Emperour Charles the Great and by him it was approved as heire generall to the ancient Fathers The Author is now after 800. yeeres questioned for his birth-right and the Polemicall Writers of this Age are not as yet agreed whether he spurious or legitimate I hope the Preface following his very enemies being Iudges will free him from that imputation His revennue is the doctrine of the blessed Sacrament ancient and hereditarie His tenure is in Capite of the Lord Paramount My suite is an Information may be exhibited against his accusers and if you see no iust cause whereof they doe accuse him let your wonted Iustice decree him for the right heire if otherwise let him stand or fall according to your Wisedome and his owne worth and in doing him this right you shall oblige me with the rest of your favours faithfully to loue you and yours HVMFREY LYNDE The Preface to the READER THE great contention that was betwixt the two Women 1 Kings Chap. 3. who should be the Mother of the liuing childe was by Salomon easily decided and the living childe by his wisedome was restored to the right Mother If Truth Peace had ioyned hands with Rome and vs Wisedome her selfe would haue iustified her children and our Adversaries would haue resolued this questiō which without all question is to be resolved that Bertram was the true Author of this fruitfull issue and his Doctrine was the Tenet of the ancient Fathers and the Church his Mother But such is the condition of the Church of Rome that although the true sonne may as easily bee knowne by his voice as Iacob was from Esau yet the Mother that bred this childe would make him an Esau and supplant him of his birth-right the wombe that brought him forth disclaymes his Doctrine the Church that gaue him sucke out of her two Breasts the two Testaments denies him entertainment and yet behold the Mother of the child and this Authors Mother do sympathize The Mother of the child although she were a strumpet yet would she by no meanes suffer her son to be divided nor accept of a dead child although it was presented to her as her owne This Authors Mother although at that time of his birth she had lost much of her wonted modestie yet would she not agree to haue her blessed body of the Sacrament to be divided and given by the halues yea although what was offered her Christ told her it was her body yet by no meanes would she allow of the dead Letter which killeth but of the quickning Spirit which giueth life Here we see the Church of Rome is auncient not her errors We acknowledge shee was a Mother Church and had sometimes Kings for Nursing Fathers and Queenes for Nursing Mothers yea behold this man Bertram had a King a great King Charlemaine the Great to his Nursing Father and the Romish Church sometimes the fairest amongst women gaue him milke out of her sacred Breasts as a Nursing Mother If there be any remembrance left to Parents for their childrens merit Mother behold thy Sonne If there be any meanes left for children to relieue their blind and decayed Parents Sonne behold thy Mother Such is our charitie to the bond-woman her children that we pittie them we pray for them yea in this Subiect of the reall presence We heartily wish that men had not studied so much to be open where the Scripture is silent and that curious wits had not beene wise aboue sobrietie to haue searched into the wayes of the Lord which are past finding out B Andrewes against Bellar cap. 1. That which Durandus is reported to haue said doth not dislike vs We heare the Word we perceiue the sound we know not the manner we beleeue the Presence we beleeue I say the Presence as well as they concerning the manner of the Presence we doe not vnadvisedly define nay more we doe not scrupulously enquire no more then we doe in Baptisme how the blood of Christ cleanseth vs no more then we doe in the Incarnation of Christ how the divine nature is vnited to the humane we reckon it amongst the mysteries and indeed the Eucharist is a mysterie the remaynders whereof should be consumed with fire that is as the Fathers doe elegantly vnderstand it which should be adored by faith not debated by reason But to come to the Author and his Authoritie Behold after 800. yeares silence in the graue there is risen this Champion to confute this new borne Bratt Transubstantiation All the credit that I haue or am like to haue in the Church of God I will ingage it vpon the worth of this little Tract A worke not powred forth vpon Adventures but composed with mature deliberation being required thervnto by Charles the Emperour neither was it likely that so great an Eagle as Charlemayne would consult with flyes in whom it was hard to say whether Learning or Magnificence had the vpperhand and for these later times let the iudgement of that famous Bishop and Martyr Dr Ridley informe vs of whom I may truly say what Ierom did of Nepotian Pectus suum Bibliothecam fecerat Christi Ierom ad Paulinum nec doleat Ecclesia quod talem amiserit sed gaudeat quod talem habuerit who publiquely honored this Treatise in his Disputations at Oxford and privatly bequeathed it as a Legacy to Dr Brookes affirming it to be the first meanes of his conversion and reducement from the common error of the Roman Church But behold the Authoritie of this Man and the dexteritie of his subiect is so great an eye-sore to our Adversaries that they cannot with any patience reflect vpon him Here shall you see Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim but both against Iuda here you shall see Iurors and Iudges reconciled as Pilot and Herod but both against Bertram Will you haue him brought as Paul was before the Councell set before them Behold the Man The Iudge doth harken the Councellers be silent the Cryer biddeth peace all the people are attentiue to know the cause whereof they would accuse him Bellarmine the Foreman of the Inquest he saith Bellarm de script Ecclesiast Tom. 7. fol. 121. That Bertram the Priest liued aboue 800. yeares since and was the first that brought in question the Reall presence but sayth he Paschasius
haue decreed him to be included in the number of Authors prohibited So then you haue two principall Iudges a Pope a late Councell condemning him and yet this may be thought a strange thing that without a legall proceeding without triall of the partie without hearing him or his Advocate speake for him to adiudge him Is it worse with the Church of Rome at this day then it was with Heathen Rome in the time of Caesar Behold what Festus the Governour answereth Pauls accusers in the like case Acts 25. vers 16. It is not the manner of the Romans to deliuer any man to dye before that he which is accused haue the accusers face to face and to haue licence to answere for himselfe concerning the crime layd against him If Bertram had beene arraigned and condemned when he was liuing if his accusers had beene brought face to face before the Emperour there might haue bin some pretence some Plea some Record against him but after seven hundred yeares continuance to giue sentence and to sit in condemnation against him as Plaintife Witnesse and Iudge that is neither allowable in Church nor State Well what will Bertram doe in this case Surely he will appeale as Paul did to Caesar but to whom Not to one man alone but to a multitude not to an ignorant multitude but to a learned to a Vniversitie not on our side for they would be partiall but on theirs the famous Vniversitie of Doway in France there he was a free denison bred and borne and his request is to be tryed by his Countrie Since therefore he hath appealed to the learned men of Doway to Doway let him goe Now I pray what will these Iudges doe They heare the Popes sentence the Councels decree the Inquisitors severe Iudgement they weigh soberly his accusers reasons they examine diligently the Author himselfe and finding the former doome too heavie for so slight errors committed by him they repeale the sentence and vpon more mature deliberation had of the Author and his Doctrine with the consent of Philip the second and the Duke of Alba to all the Romish Catholiques in his behalfe sendeth this Greeting Ind. Expurg Belgic p. 5. edit Antw. An. 1571. Although we care not greatly for this Booke of Bertrams whether it be extant or no yet because it is often printed and read of many and the Heretiques know by a Catalogue of forbidden bookes that he was a Catholique Priest and deare vnto Charles the Great and because we Comment vpon other Writers of the same age and extenuate their errors oftentimes by a favourable construction of them by the same reason wee may allow Bertram and acknowledg him for there is nothing worthy of reprehension in him setting aside a little obscuritie in his stile and his ignorance in vsing some darke words and sentences which with marginall notes affixed may manifest the true sence and meaning of the Author Here then is his last definitiue sentence pronounced they allow the Author and they allow the worke so that a right construction be ioyned to his right meaning and that no misprision may happen to the parties on both sides the Iudges in the particulars haue delivered their Observations Viz. di where he sayes Lege in Iudia Expurgat Belgic edit An. 1571. Visibiliter 1. Invisibiliter Substantia 1 Accidens folio 1137. visiblie that is to be read and vnderstood say they Inuisiblie and where he sayes infrà versu 36 the Substance of the creature which was before consecration remayneth after consecration by the substance is meant say they the Accidents do remaine Thus our Adversaries haue a free dispensation to reade him with these and the like conditions expressed It is freely granted let it be freely accepted Now if I should question how it were possible that the substance of bread should be annihilated and the accidents remaine without a Substance it were no disparagement for me not to vnderstand it for I doubt not Ind. Expurg Belg Antw. An. 1571. saith the Index Expurgatorius but Bertram in those times was ignorant how the accidents could exactly subsist without any substance which this later age hath most subtilly and truely found out De Transub lib. 2. cap. 7. Breve et simplex siue vllo incommodo responsum Neither is it to be maruailed saith Gregory de Valentia that some ancients haue both thought and writ lesse consideratly concerning Transubstantiation and this is an answere saith he briefe and simple and no way inconuenient The reason as I conceiue is given by another of their side The Doctors of these latter times haue attained more vnderstanding in some things then the ancient Fathers Dominic Bannes 22. pag. 58. c. for they are like children say they standing on the shoulders of Gyants who being lifted vp by the talnesse of the Gyants no marvaile if they see further then they themselues It is true indeede that this doctrine in Bertrams time had not that full streame and generall currant as it had in the ancient Fathers time before it as it appeares in his Preface to Charles the Great Neither was this Doctrine broached by a Novelist for then the Emperour would haue condemned it or at least-wise haue confuted him neither did he alone in this time hold this doctrine for Scotus about that time wrote a Booke of the same subiect Alcui lib. de divinis offic Beda lib. 2. de Tabernac cap. 2. Carol. Magnas in Epist ad Alcuinū lib. 2. de offic pa. 100 Edit Coloniensi Alcuinus Tutor vnto the Emperour Venerable Bede Charles the Emperor himselfe did all savour one thing and speake one thing at the same time with the same Author Neither did he in this opinion leane to his owne witt but did pursue and tread in the foot-steps of the holy and ancient Fathers Such was his answer to the Emperour and such will his Doctrine manifest it selfe vnto the Reader Neither could this Doctrine be hereticall Petigian in 4. Sentent d. 10. 9. 1. art 1. pag. 353. for sayth Petigian for a thousand yeares after Christ and more there was no Heresie in the Church concerning the Reall presence as it appeares saith he both by sacred Councels and doctrine of the Fathers Besides if this Author had bin single in his opinion as he was singular how comes it to passe that in these times he is so much opposed and in former ages hee was not confuted To question the Writers to obscure the Authors to mutilate their Bookes argues a distrust of the truth and goodnesse of the cause and as Arnobius sometimes answered the Gentiles To intercept our Writings Arnib adversus Gentil lib. 3. and to drowne our Authors it makes no defence for your Gods but rather it argues your feare least the Truth should appeare Besides how comes it to passe that there is such difference of opinions concerning this man how is it that their kingdome is
this matter not leaning in the treatie thereof to mine owne wit but pursuing and treading in the footsteps of the holy and auncient Fathers HERE BEGINneth the Booke of Bertram the Priest touching the body and blood of the Lord which he wrote to Charles the Great being Emperour YOur Highnesse Excellency demandeth 1 Two questions whether that the body and blood of Christ which in the Church is receiued by the mouth of the faithfull bee done in a mystery or in truth and verity that is to say whether it containe some secret thing which is euident to the eyes of faith onely or whether without the vaile or couerture of any mystery the bodily sight doe outwardly behold that which the sight of the minde doth inwardly looke vpon so that whatsoeuer is done appeareth manifestly or no And this is the first question The other is whether it be that very body that was borne of the Virgin Mary that suffered that died that was buried and that rising againe ascēding vp into heauen sitteth now on the right hand of the Father or no Now let vs looke into the first of these two questions and lest wee be letted with ambiguity and doubtfulnesse let vs define what a figure is and what the truth is that so beholding and perceiuing some certainty wee may know whither wee ought to deferre the course of our reasoning A figure is a certaine shadow by certaine vailes couertures as it were that is to say darkely declaring the thing which it intendeth to manifest as for example when wee minde to speake of Gods Word we call it bread so in the Lords Prayer wee desire to haue daily bread giuen vs. Also when Christ in the Gospell speaketh Mat. 6.11 saying I am the living bread which came downe from heaven Likewise Ioh. 6.51 when hee calleth himselfe a Vine and his Disciples branches saying I am the true Vine Ioh. 15.1.5 and yee are the branches For all these sayings seeme to speake one thing and yet meane another thing As for that which wee call verity or truth it is the declaration of a manifest and plaine matter which is not couered with any shew of shadowes but insinuated and delivered with pure and open or to speak more plainly with naturall significations as when it is said That Christ being borne of a Virgin suffered death was crucified Mat. 1.25 1 Pet. 3.18 1 Cor. 2.2 Ioh. 19.40 c. dead and buried Heere verily is nothing shadowed with figures ouer-couering the same but the truth of the things declared by the significations of naturall wordes or speeches neither may we heere vnderstand any other thing than that which is spoken and expressed But it is not so in the former sentences for neither is Christ the bread substantiallly neither is Christ a Vine substantially neither are the Apostles branches substantially wherefore in these latter speeches there is a figure and in those former the truth that is to say a naked and open signification is declared by narration or plaine speech Now let vs returne to those things that is to the body and blood of Christ for whose these points haue been propounded and vttered Truly if that great mystery be celebrated and done vnder no mystery at all then it is not rightly called a mystery because that cannot be called a mystery or secret wherein there is no hidden thing and wherein there is no matter remooued from our bodily senses and wherein there is nothing covered with some vaile or couerture But that bread which by the Ministery of the Priest is now become the body of Christ doth shew one thing outwardly to mans senses and soundeth another thing inwardly to the mindes of the faithfull Outwardly indeed the form of bread which it had before is set out the colour thereof is shewed and the savour thereof received and tasted But inwardly a thing farre differing yea and much more precious and excellently is shewed and set forth and I say it is much more precious and excellent because it is heauenly and because it is diuine I meaning hereby that Christs body is manifested which is either seen or receiued or eaten not with the senses faculties or power of the flesh but with the eye and sight of a faithfull or beleeving minde The wine also which by the Priest through consecration is become the Sacrament of Christs blood setteth forth one thing outwardly and containeth an other thing inwardly For what other thing is superficially and outwardly locked vp then the substance of wine Taste it and it savoureth and smacketh wine smell it and it smelleth wine looke vpon it and thou mayst behold the colour of wine But if a man do consider it inwardly then it being not the liquor of wine but the liquor of Christ blood so savoreth to the beleevers minds while it is tasted and is so acknowledged while it is beheld and is so proved to be whilest it is smelled It is manifest that these things are so seeing no man can deny them to be true because the Bread and the Wine is figuratiuely Christs body blood For outwardly and according to that which is seene neither is any kind or shew of flesh knowne to be in that Bread nor any drop of blood shewed forth in the Wine and yet for all that after the mysticall consecration the Bread is no more called Bread nor the Wine Wine but both of them together are called the body and blood of Christ For if according to some mens mindes nothing were in this matter taken figuratiuely but the whole were considered and looked vpon in veritie or truth then should faith worke nothing at all therein because that no spirituall thing should be performed but looke whatsoever the thing it selfe were even that wholly should be taken according to the body and a mans fleshly vnderstanding Heb. 11.1 And seeing that faith as the Apostle saith is the argument and evidence of such things as appeare not that is to say not of such substances as are seene but of such as are not seene we shall then in this action receiue nothing according to faith because that we discerne and iudge of all that is in it according to our bodily senses And what I pray you can be more absurd then to take Bread to be flesh and to affirme that Wine is blood And a mystery that cannot be in which there is no secret or hidden thing conteined And how can it be said to be Christs body and blood in which it is not known that there is any change made Now every alteration and change He proueth by three sorts of change that there is no change made in the elements of the Supper is either made from that thing which actually it is not into that which actually it is or els when it is changed from that which it is into that which it is not or from that which it is to wit in respect of quality to that
were with the dainties of Gods word here on earth I mean men Verily the Psalmist or rather the holy Ghost in the Psalmist sheweth either what our fathers received in that heavenly Manna or els what the faithfull people should beleeue to be in the mysterie of Christs bodie In both of them certainely Christ is signified and set forth which Christ both feedeth the soules of the beleevers and is the food and meate of Angels and yet neither of them are done in corporall taste or bodily feeding but by the power of the spirituall word And wee know because the Evangelist hath declared the same that the Lord Iesus Christ before he suffered Tooke Bread and gaue thankes Mat. 26.26 c. 1 Cor. 11.23 c. and gaue it to his Disciples saying This is my bodie which is given for you doe this in remembrance of me Likewise he tooke the Cup after he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you We see that Christ had not as yet suffered and yet for all that he wrought or made the mysterie of his body and blood for wee thinke truely that any faithfull man doubteth whether that Bread became Christs bodie which he gaue vnto his Disciples and said This is my bodie which is given for you or whether the cup conteineth Christes blood of which cup our Saviour Christ himselfe saide This cup is the New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you Therefore as he could even a little before he suffered turne the substance of the Bread and the creature of the Wine into his owne body which should suffer and into his own blood which afterwardes should be shed so likewise was he able in the Wildernesse to turne the Manna and the water that issued out of the Rocke into his owne flesh and blood although that a long time after both his flesh was to be hāged on the crosse for our sakes and his blood to be shed for the washing away of our sinnes Here also wee ought to consider how we must vnderstand that which he himselfe saith Ioh 6.53 Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood yee shall not haue life in you For hee doth not say or meane that his flesh which afterwards hanged on the Crosse should bee cut in peeces and parts and so be eaten by his Disciples neither yet that his blood which hee should shed for the redemption of the world should bee given vnto his Disciples for drinke because it should be a most wicked and horrible thing for his Disciples either to drinke his blood or to eate his flesh as the vnbeleevers did at that time vnderstand him Therefore in the words following he said to his Disciples who did not vnbeleevingly but in some measure of faith receiue Christs wordes although they could not as then pierce and perceiue how those wordes were to bee vnderstood to them I say he said Doth this offend you Ioh. 6.61.62 What then if yee should see the Sonne of man ascend vp where he was before As though he should say Thinke not I pray you that you must either bodily eate my flesh or bodily drinke my blood or that my body must bee divided into parts to be eaten or my blood distributed to be drunke seeing that after my resurrection yee shall see mee to goe vp into heaven with the fulnesse of my whole body and blood and then shall ye vnderstand that my very flesh shall not be eaten of the beleevers as the infidels suppose but that the bread and the wine being turned into the substance of my body and of my blood the substance thereof shall bee in a mystery received by the beleevers And presently he addeth Ioh. 6.63 The spirit is it saith hee which quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing He saith that the flesh profiteth nothing at all after such a forme and manner as the vnbeleevers vnderstood it otherwise it giveth life as the faithfull do in a mystery receiue it And why this is done he himselfe doth manifestly declare when hee saith It is the spirit that quickeneth Wherefore there is in this mysterie of the body and blood of Christ a spirituall opperation and working that giveth life without the working whereof these mysteries profit nothing at all because they may indeed feed the bodie but they cannot feed the soule Now then heere ariseth a question which while many propound they say and affirme that these things are done not in a figure or mystery but in verity and truth Which while they affirme they are found to goe against and to gaine-say the writings of the holy Fathers Saint Augustine Aug. de doct Christ lib. 3. one of the chiefe Doctors of the Church in his third booke of Christian doctrine writeth thus Ioh. 6.53 Except ye eate saith our Saviour the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood yee shall not haue life in you Hee seemeth to command a wicked thing and an vngodly act Wherefore it is a figuratiue speech commanding vs to communicate in the Lords passion and sweetly and profitably to lay vp this in our memories that his flesh was crucified and wounded for our sakes Here we perceiue that this Doctor saith and affirmeth that the mysteries of the bodie blood of Christ are vnder a figure celebrated and received of the faithfull for hee saith plainely that it belongeth not to religion but is rather a wicked thing carnally to eate Christs body or to drink his blood into which fault they fell who not spiritually but fleshly vnderstanding the Lords words in the Gospell Ioh. 6.66 Departed or went backe from him and went or walked no more with him The same Doctor writing in a certaine Epistle to Boniface the Bishop Aug. ad Bonifa epist amongst other things saith thus Truly we vse oftentimes to speak thus that when Easter draweth nigh that to morrow or the next day after shall be the Lords passion whereas hee suffered so many yeares before and verily that passion or suffering was done but once for all Also on the Lords day that wee call Easter day wee vsually say this day the Lord rose againe whereas indeed and truth so many yeares are since he rose againe already past And why is no man so fond and foolish as to reproue vs speaking thus as though we had lyed but onely because wee name those dayes according to the similitude and likenesse of these dayes in which these things were done Insomuch that it is called the very same day which yet is not in deed the very same but in the revolution and turning about of the time is like it and so also that is said to be done vpon that day by reason of the celebration and administration of the Sacrament which is not done vpon that day but was performed long agoe Was not Christ once offered about that time And yet notwithstanding hee
is not onely every feast of Easter but even every day offered vnto the faithfull people neither is hee to be deemed a lyar who being asked of another man answereth that hee is offered For if the Sacraments had not a certaine similitude and likenesse of those things of which they are Sacraments they could not at all be Sacraments and in respect of this very likenesse that they haue they take the very names of the things themselues Wherefore even as the Sacrament of Christs body is after a certaine manner Christs body it selfe and the Sacrament of Christs blood is after a certaine manner Christs blood so the Sacrament of faith is faith Hence we perceiue that Saint Augustine saith that the Sacrament is one thing and the things whereof they are Sacraments is another thing Now the body in which Christ suffered and the blood that came out of his side are the things of the Sacrament but the mysteries by which these things are represented hee saith they are the Sacraments of the body and blood of Christ which are celebrated and administred in remembrance of the Lords passion and suffering and that not onely every yeare once at or about the feast of Easter but every day in the yeare And although the Lord had but one bodie in which hee suffered once for all and but one blood which was shed for the salvation of the world yet the Sacraments or elements signifying these things haue taken the names of the very things themselues insomuch that they are called the body and blood of Christ being so called indeed for the similitude and likenesse of the things which they represent and shew forth even as the feast of Easter which is observed every yeare is called the Passeover and the resurrection of the Lord whereas we know that the Lord did but once suffer and but once rise againe about that time And albeit that these very dayes cannot now be revoked or called backe because they are already past yet by their name and title are such dayes called as in which the memorie of the Lords suffering and resurrection is rehearsed and celebrated and this is therefore done because they haue a certaine resemblance and likenesse of these very dayes in which our Saviour once suffered and once rose againe Whereupon we say this day or to morrow or the next day is the Lords passion or resurrection when as these dayes in which these things were done were passed many yeares agoe So we may say that the Lord is offered when the Sacraments of his suffering are celebrated and administred whereas indeed hee was but once for all offered vp in himselfe for the salvation of the world as the Apostle saith Christ hath suffered for vs 1 Pet. 2.21 leaving vs an example that we should follow his footsteps For hee saith not that hee every day offered himselfe because he did it but once but this hee saith that hee hath left vs an example which is daily presented and shewed forth to the beleevers in the mystery of the Lords bodie and blood to the end that every one that shall come or repaire thereto may know that hee ought to be made a companion with him in his sufferings the image and liuely picture whereof hee doth as it were tarry and wait for to be exhibited vnto him in the holy mysteries according to the saying of the Wiseman in the Proverbes Pro. 23.1 Commest thou to a mighty mans table marke diligently what things are set before thee knowing that thou thy selfe must another time prepare such like things To come to a mightie mans table is to bee partaker of the Lords offering or as wee say of the Lords Supper and the marking or cōsidering of such things as are set before vs is the sound vnderstanding or knowledge of the bodie and blood of Christ whereof whosoever partaketh hee must know and remember thus much that hee ought to prepare such precious things that so hee may become a follower of Christ in dying with him the remembrance of whose death he professeth and acknowledgeth not only in beleeving but also in tasting Againe Saint Paul writing to the Hebrewes saith thus Heb. 7.26.27 Verily such an high Priest it became vs to haue as is holy harmlesse vndefiled separated from sinners and become higher then the heavens who needed not daily as those high Priests to offer vp sacrifice first for his one sinnes and then for the peoples for the Lord Iesus Christ did this once for all when hee offered vp himselfe That which he did once he doth now dayly exercise and vse For he once offered vp himselfe for the sinnes of the people and this very selfe same oblation or offering is every day celebrated among the faithfull but yet in a mystery that so that very thing which the Lord Iesus Christ offring vp himselfe once for all hath fulfilled may by the celebration administration of the mysteries bee daily performed and done for the remembrance of his death and passion Neither yet is it falsly said that the Lord in those mysteries is either offered or suffereth because they haue a certaine similitude or likenesse of his death and passion whereof indeed they are true and liuely representations Whereupon the very mysteries themselues are called the Lords bodie and the Lords blood because they haue the name of that or those things whereof they be the Sacrament Isodorus Originum siue Etymologiarū lib. 6. cap. de officijs colū 143. linea 28. Isodorus in his bookes which hee wrote of the true signification of words saith thus It is called a sacrifice as though a man would say a holy fact or deed because through mysticall prayer it is consecrated and appointed to or for the remembrance of the Lords suffering Whereupon by his authority and commādement we cal it the body and blood of Christ because that though it bee made of the fruits of the earth it is yet notwithstanding sanctified and so become a Sacrament Gods spirit working invisibly therein the Sacraament of the bred and cup the Grecians doe call Eucharistia that is if it bee interpreted good grace or thankesgiving And what is better then the body and blood of Christ Now the bread and wine are therefore compared and resembled to the Lords body and boold because that as the substance of this visible bread and wine doth nourish and make cheerfull the outward man So the Word of God which is the living or liuely bread being once rightly partaked of doth recreate and refresh the mindes of the faithfull And this Catholike Doctor teacheth vs that that same holy mystery of the Lords passion and suffering must on our behalfes or in respect of vs bee done for the remembrance of the Lords passion And in so saying he declareth that the Lords passion or suffering was onely once done but that the remembrance thereof is continually represented vnto vs in those same holy rites and solemnities Whereupon both the bread that
How then is the bread his body and the cup or that which is contained in the cup how is it his blood These things good brethren are therefore called Sacraments because one thing is seene in them and another thing vnderstood that which is seene hath a bodily kinde forme and shew but that which is vnderstood hath spirituall fruit The reverend Authour in speaking these things instructeth vs what wee ought to thinke and hold both concerning the Lords owne bodie which was borne of the Virgin Mary and sitteth now at the right hand of GOD and in which he shall come to judge the quicke and the dead and also concerning that body which is set on the Altar and whereof the people are partakers That body is sound and whole and is not divided by any cutting neither covered with any figures but this bodie which is set vpon the Lords Table is both a figure because it is a Sacrament and also as it is outwardly seene hath a bodily kinde and forme that feedeth the body but as it is inwardly vnderstood it hath a spirituall fruit which quickeneth the soule Aug. de sacra altar Serm. 1 Cor. 12.27 And the same Doctor minding to speake somewhat more plainely and manifestly of this mysticall body in the words following saith thus If yee will therefore vnderstand what Christes body meanes heare the Apostles saying Yee are the body of Christ and members for your part If then yee be the bodie of Christ and members for your part your mysterie is set on the Lords Table and yee receiue the mystery of the Lord. You answere Amen to that thing which you your selues be and by so answering you subscribe and consent to the same Thou hearest then Christes body and thou answerest Amen be a member of the body of Christ that so thy Amen may be true and right But wherefore is this done in bread In this matter we will bring forth nothing of our owne devise let vs rather heare the Apostle himselfe vtter his minde when speaking of this Sacrament he sayth we that are many are one bread 1 Cor. 10.17 and one body c. This holy man Augustine doth sufficiently instruct vs that as Christes bodie is signified by the Bread which is set vpon the Altar so also there is thereby signified by the bodie of the people that receiveth it manifestly thereby declaring that that is Christes proper or owne body in which he was borne of the Virgin in which he sucked in which he suffered in which be died in which he was buried in which he rose againe in which he ascended into Heaven in which he sitteth at the right hand of the Father and in which he shall come to judge the quicke and the dead Whereas that which is set vpon the Lords Table conteineth the mysterie of the other even as it doth likewise containe the mysterie of the beleeving people the Apostle himselfe witnessing the same and saying Wee that are many are one bread 1 Cor. 10.17 and one body in Christ. Your wisdome most noble Prince may perceiue and vnderstand that I haue both by the testimonies of the sacred Scriptures and by the sayings of the holy Fathers faithfully alledged and layd downe most evidently declared and plainely prooved that that bread which is called Christs bodie and that cup which is called Christs blood is a figure because it is a mystery and also that there is no small difference betweene that his body which is so in a mystery and that his body which sufferâ—â— and was buried and rose againe because in that was the very proper bodie of our Saviour neither was there in it any figure or or signification but the manifestation and plainenesse of the thing it selfe was knowne as also the beleevers at this day doe desire the sight thereof for that is our head and when wee see it Ioh. 10.30 our desire shall be satisfied for he and the Father are one not in respect that our Saviour hath a body but in respect of the fulnesse of the godhead Col. 2.9 which dwelt in Christ as hee was man Whereas in this which is celebrated and administred by a mystery there is a figure not onely of Christs owne body but also of the body of the people that beleeue in Christ for it beareth the figure of both the bodies that is to say both of Christ bodie which suffered and rose again and of the people that are in Christ through Baptisme borne againe and quickened from the dead Hereunto let vs adde also that this bread and this cup which is called the body and blood of Christ doth lieuely represent or set out the remembrance of the Lords passion or death even as hee himselfe hath sayd in the Gospell Luk. 22.19 Doe ye this in remembrance of mee which the Apostle Paul expounding saith 1 Cor. 11.26 So often as yee shall eate of this bread and drinke of this cup yee shall shew forth the Lords death till hee come Here we are taught by our Saviour by the holy Apostle Saint Paul that that bread and that wine which is set on the Altar is there set for a figure or remembrance of the Lords death to the end it might call back to our remembrance that which hath beene done in time past that so wee being made mindefull of that his passion might by it be made partakers of Gods gifts and graces by which also wee are delivered from death knowing this that when wee shall come to the sight and beholding of Christ we shall haue no need of such instruments and meanes thereby to be put in remembrance what his vnmeasurable and infinite goodnesse hath endured for vs the reason is because that When wee shall behold him face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 wee shall be put in minde not by any outward admonition of temporall things but we shall behold him in the very contemplation and sight of the truth it selfe and to be instructed how we ought to giue thanks to the author of our saluation And yet I would haue no man thinke that because wee speake thus that therefore the faithfull doe not in the mystery of the Sacrament receiue the Lords body and blood because faith receiveth that thing not which the eye seeth but that which the hart beleeveth for it is a spirituall meate and a spirituall drinke spiritually feeding the soule and giving the life of everlasting fulnesse even as our Saviour himselfe commending and setting out this mystery saith Ioh. 6.63 It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing Thus I being a man of very small gifts and desiring to yeeld obedience vnto your Excellencies commandement haue presumed and vndertaken to dispute or reason of no small matters wherein I haue not followed the presumption of mine owne thinking or iudgement but regarded rather the authority of the ancient Fathers which if your Highnes shall allow as spoken Catholikely Christianly impute it I pray you to the deserts and worthinesse of your owne zeale and religion which was not ashamed having for a while layd aside the glory of your Kingly magnificence to demand an answer concerning the truth of such a poore and base person as I am But if happily these things shall not please and delight you ascribe it vnto my folly and vnskilfulnesse which could not effectually declare that which your Highnesse wished and I my selfe greatly desired Here endeth Bertrams Booke concerning the Body and Blood of the Lord. Errata IN the Epistle Whether he spurious reade whether he be spurious In the Preface next following PAge 2. Charlemayne the Great reade Charles the Great Page 7. Trithenius reade Trithemius Page 9. Sendeth greeting reade send greeting In the Booke of Bertram FOl. 5. Outwardly locked vp reade outwardly looked vpon Fol. 9. In colour or in favour reade in colour or in savour