proclamacion whether the bodie of Chryst ys or maie be in a thousand places or mo at one time Whiche albeit in sense yt be coincident to the other before mencioned yet in vtterance yt sheweth a more doubtfull countenance For asking whether Chrystes bodie can be in a thousand places at once he doth both by the woorde thousand moche declare his incredulitie to the misteries of God and by the same persuadeth to his hearers an impossibilitie And for that this maner of questioninge ys a questioÌ„ on incredulitie as the Iewes was and spring bothe oute of vnbeleif I haue thought good to ioin them to gether and after the handling of the one to handle the other And to them bothe to saie As the Iewe remaining with in the coÌ„passe of his carnall vnderstaÌ„ding coulde not atteign to the vnderstaÌ„ding of this matter which was by faith and yet possible So these meÌ„ measuring Chryste and his power by naturall knowledge whiche ys but grosse dregges and suddes to the pure knowledge of faithe they come in doubte and aske a questioÌ„ as of a thinge vnpossible when yet yt ys very possible But perchaunce ye will saie to me yf it be a thinge so verie possible howe Obiection with answer Faith iudgeth yt possible that reason iudgeth impossible dothe yt appeare to this maÌ„ and his likes vnpossible I answere that yt appeareth to them vnpossible bicause they leauing the knowledge of faith are returned to the onelie knowledge naturall and therby will they measure Chrystes doinges in this matter And for so moche as this appeareth vnpossible to that knowledge therfor they also saie that yt ys vnpossible For allthough bycause they wolde seme to builde vpon faith they do sometime alleage the article of our faith that Chryst ascended into heauen an sitteth at the right hand of God to Father yet the grounde of their disputacion the force of their praclamacion yea the shottanker of their refuge in this matter ys naturall reason euen plain naturall philosophie That thowe maist see this gentle Reader I will for example make one of their arguments that Chrystes bodie can not be in the Sacrament Thus they reason He ascended into heaueÌ„ and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Ergo he ys not in the Sacrament Yf the true chrystian saie yt ys no good consequence For though yt be true that Chryst beat the right haÌ„d of the Father yet yt improueth not the presence of Chryst in the SacrameÌ„t For the catholique faith coÌ„fesseth both that Chryst ys preseÌ„t with his Father in heaueÌ„ according to the article of the faithe and also preseÌ„t in the SacrameÌ„t according to his worde wheÌ„ he saied This ys my bodie This ys my bloode This do ye in remeÌ„brance of me So that his presence in heauen denieth not his presence in the Sacrament but he ys present in bothe in maner conuenient to bothe Against this they replie and saie Euery naturall bodie can be but in one place Chryst hath a naturall bodie Ergo yt can be but in one place But yt ys in heaueÌ„ as in a place Ergo yt ys ther and in no other place Marke ye nowe howe they flie to naturall phisolophie as to their great strenght to maintein Sacramentaries cheif growndes be naturall reasons their faithe ys yt not a sure peice of faith that ys builded vpon naturall philosophie and naturall reason and not vpon the scriptures the auncient fathers or the vniuersall receaued faith PerchauÌ„ce yt maie be saied that I reason thus of my self to deface the validitie of their matter Well to auoide this ymaginacioÌ„ I will bring in the verie argument of Oecolampadius the great fownder and prince of this schoole Oecolamp De verbis coenae Domini in our time and the master of this Proclamer in this matter Thus he reasoneth Si dicas panis continet corpus vide quid sequitur ergo panis locus erit vnum corpus erit in multis locis multa corpora in vno loco corpus in corpore etc. Yf thow saiest the bread coÌ„teineth the bodie looke what foloweth theÌ„ the bread shall be a place aÌ„d one bodie shall be in many places aÌ„d manie bodies in one place and one bodie in an other Thus Oecolampadius Doo I nowe feign this maner of reasoning Dothe not Oecolampadius resorte to naturall phisolophie to prooue his heresie and impugne the faith catholique Although in dede the argumeÌ„t proceadeth directlie against Luther who taught the bread in the Sacrament to remain with the bodie of Chryste soche ys the agrement of the Father aÌ„d the SoÌ„ne of the master aÌ„d the scholer of Luther aÌ„d OecolaÌ„padius aÌ„d so of one of theÌ„ with an other yet yt ys also against the catholique faith for yt impugneth the preseÌ„ce of Chryste in the SacrameÌ„t But howe as ys saied by naturall reason And shall I saie why they proue this their doctrin by natural reason In dede bicause yt ys so farre vnknowen to the scriptures that I dare saie they neuer were nor shall be able to bring fruthe anie one scripture to proue yt and so moche to diminish the omnipotencie or allmightie power of God But to aunswere Oâ—colampadius for his naturall reason I thinke the saing of saincte Ambrose to be a good answere Quid hic quaeris naturae ordineÌ„ in Christi corpore De initiaÌ„d myst cap. 9 cum praeter naturam sit ipse Dominus Iesus partus ex virgine What sekest thowe saieth saincte Ambrose the ordre of nature in Chrystes bodie here seing the self same our Lord Iesus besides nature was born of a virgen And to adde to saincte Ambrose saieÌ„g not onelie his birthe was besides nature but manie other his actes as his great learning aÌ„d wisdome declared in his disputacioÌ„ with the doctours in the teÌ„ple wheÌ„ he was but twelue yeares of age his Naturall order had no place in many of Chrystes doinges walking vpon the sea his voluÌ„tarie death in geuing vppe his blessed sowle at his owne pleasure withoute force or violeÌ„ce as yt were to thrust yt oute and to cause vt to departe His resurrection and his ascension withall be as moche against the ordre of nature as his blessed bodie to be in diuerse places and as good argumentes maie the Aduersarie finde in natural philosophie against them as against this Whiche if he do or maie doo shall we therfore denie Chrystes walking on the sea his death his resurrection Mahomets patched religion and the Sacramentaries â—och like and his ascension as theie do his presence in the Sacrament Then shall we make a mingled faith as the Turkes do For as they kepe parte of Moyses lawe parte of Mohometes inuention So we must haue a faith partelie grownded vpon the scriptures partelie on naturall reason But so that wheÌ„ we will scripture shall rule naturall reason and when we list naturall reason shall commaunde and withstand both faith and scripture This ys a madsetled faith Wherfore
qui vnius sancti corporis vnionem in vno Christo vni tisunt ab hac naturali vnione alienos putabit Nam si omnes vnum panem manducamus vnum omnes corpus efficimur Diuidi enim atque seiungi Christus non patitur idcirco etiā Ecclesia corpus Christi facta est nos singuli membra Christi secundùm Paulū vni enim Christo per corpus suum coniuncti quoniam in nobis illum qui est indiuisibilis accepimus ipsi potius quam nobis membra nostra accommodantur Forasmoche as the Trinitie in nature ys one let vs consider howe we ourselues among our selues corporallie and with God spirituallie are one The onelie begotten coming oute of the substance of God the Father and possessing in his nature the wholl Father according to the scripturs was made flesh and vnspeakeablie conioined and vnited himself to our nature He that in nature ys God ys verilie made man not hauing God in him by grace as they that knowe not the power or vertue of the misterie do contende but he ys very God and also very man So he hath conioined thinges to gether in him self being one which in nature betwixt them selues are very moche different and hath made vs partakers of the diuine nature The communicacion and as I might saie the dwelling of the spirit was first in Chryst and from him hath comed into vs when he being made man throwly anointed and sanctified his temple with his owne spiritt The originall therfore By the B. Sacrament Chryste maketh vs one bodie in his bodie and among our selues and the waie by the whiche we participate the holie Gost and be vnited to God ys the misterie of Chryst For in him we are all sanctified Therfor that he might vnite euery one betwixt our felfes and God all though both in bodie and soule we differ moch yet he fownd awaie agreing to the counsell of the Father and his wisdom for blessing the beleuers by the misticall communion he hath made vs in his bodie one bodie both with him selfe and also emong our selues For who shall thinke them straunge from this natuturall vniō whiche by the vnion of one holie bodie are vnited in one Chryst For if we do all eate one bread we are all made one bodie For Chryst suffreth vs not to be disioined and diuided Therfore the churche of ys made the bodie of Chryst and euery one of vs the membres of Chryste after S. Paule being conioined to one Chryst by his bodie for that we haue receaued him in vs who ys indiuisible our membres be raither appropriated to him then to vs. Thus farre S. Cyrill Ye haue hearde the long saing of this woorthie Father and yet in my iudgement as pleasant and profitable as yt ys long For he hath made a full discourse of the vnion of vs to God For plain declaraciō wherof this if yowe haue marked maie be perceaued that first he hath taught the vnitie of God the Sonne in nature with God the Father Secondarelie the vnion of the nature of God and the nature of man in the person of Chryst whiche although they were so different and distant yet he ioined them together in him self in vnitie of person when he became man Thirdlie the vnion of men senerall and distincte in persons which although they be distante and different both in bodie and soule yet he fownde awaie agreing bothe to the counsell of the Father and his owne wisdome also to vnite them by the By receipt of the bodie of Chryste all woorthie receauers are made one vnion of his holie bodie in a naturall vnion and so they become one bodie And to proue this he taketh this text of S. Paule which ys now in hād saing Nam si omnes vnū panē manducamus vnū omnes corpus efficimur For yf we all eate of one breade we are all made one So that as he gaue the cause of the vnitie of the Father and the Sonne in Godhead which was for that they be one in nature And as he shewed the meā of the vniō of the naturs of God and mā whiche was brought to passe by the misterie of the incarnaciō So he taught the communion of vs among our selues and with Chryst to be by that that we all receaue that his one bodie And that ther shoulde be no inuention added to peruert the trueth of his intent and pourpose he saieth that we are all with his bodie by the misticall communion made one bodie By which his saing yt ys most euidentlie to be perceiued that he teacheth not onelie a communion by a bare sacrament but a communion by the verie bodie of Chryst in the sacrament Which cōmunion also ys not a spirituall cōmunion onelie but a naturall communion by the receipt of the naturall bodie of Chryst whiche he signifieth by plain woordes when he saieth Quis enim cos qui vnius sancticorporis vnione in vno Christo vniti sunt ab hac naturali vnione alienos putabit Who shall thinke them straunge from this naturall communion which by the vnion of one holie bodie are vnited in one Chryst I trust I shall not nede any more to note vpon this allegacion but that by this yt maie well be perceaued howe he vnderstandeth the text of S. Paule to be spoken of communion of Chrystes bodie and bloode by the which besides the communion spirituall whiche ys by faith and charitie we communicate naturallie with Chryst by the receipt of his naturall bodie in Communiō and vnion both spirituall and naturall by the B. Sa. the Sacrament And that S. Paule ment that we do so communicate yt appeareth most euidentlie by this holie father who reasoning against one that saied the contrarie whose heresie the wittnesses of iniquitie the newe masters of our time haue neuely skoured and sett abroade as sale ware to the worlde as they haue a nombre mo did thus write Verùm quoniam nulla nos ratione humanitati Christi posse tribuere ista arbitratur quoniā fide ac dilectione non carne illi coniuagimur Cyrill in 15 Ioan. ca. 6. Age pauca de hoc dicamus ac peruersè ab eo sacrarum litterarum sensum exponi ostendamus Non tamen negamus nos recta fide charitateue sincera Christo spiritualiter coniungi sed nullam nobis coniunctionis rationem secundùm carnem cum illo esse id profectò pernegamus idue à diuinis scripturis omnino alienum esse dicimus Quis enim dubitauit Christum etiam sic vitem esse nos verò palmites qui vitam inde nobis acquirimus Audi Paulum dicentem quia omnes vnum corpus sumus in Christo Quia si multi sumus vnum tamen sumus in eo Omnes enim vno pane participamus But sorasmoche as he supposeth that we by no means can applie this to the humanitie of Chryst for that we are conioined to him by faith and charitie and not
in of Chryste to his Apostles as some haue wickedlie taught raither seking to shadow the miraculouse worke of Chryste and to falsifie the scriptures then they wolde forsake their erroure or haue yt conuinced then coulde yt not proue that the clausures of the virginitie of the mother of Chryste notwithstanding his birth remained allwais closed whiche as ye maie perceaue they intended to proue Yt maie be that the Aduersarie being pressed with the authoritie of these graue and learned fathers will graunt that Chryste went in to this Apostles the doores being shett But yet he went not he will saie through the doore nor no other body so as there shoulde be two bodies in one place at one time That he went in the doores being shett he will graunte But howe he went in he can not tell To make this matter plain to the Aduersarie and thee Reader we will heare Chrysostom in an other place geuing some cause how he might so go in DignuÌ„ autem dubitatione est quomodò corpus incorruptibile formam clauorum acceperit Chrysost homil 86. in Joan. mortali manu tangi potuerit Sed hoc te non perturbet hoc enim permissionis fuit Corpus enim tam tenue leue vt clausis ianuis ingrederetur omni crassitudine earebat sed vt resurrectio crederetur talem se exhibuit Et vt ipsum crucifixum fuisse neminem alium pro eo resurrexisse intelligas proptered cum signis crucis resurrexit Yt yt woorthie of doubte howe the incorruptible bodie did take the forme of the nailes and Chrystes bodie was so void of grossnesse that yt might enter the doorees being shett coulde be touched with mortall hand But let not this trooble thee For this was doen of permission For that bodie being so subtile and light that yt might entre in the doores being shett was void of all grossnesse But that the resurrectioÌ„ might beleleued he shewed him self soche a one and that thowe mightest vnderstaÌ„d that yt waseueÌ„ he that was crucified and no maÌ„ ells did rise for him therfore he rose with the figures and tokens of the crosse Thus moche Chrysostome The cause whiche ys geuen here to helpe vppe the weaknesse of oure faith the sooner to beleue that Chryste passed through the doore ys that he had after his resurrection a pure clear and subtile bodie void of all corruption and grossnesse euen a spirituall bodie that might to oure own iudgement and reason the easelier so do and yet was yt a perfecte bodie of a man in substance and lineamentes But that he came in to his Apostles through the doore and howe and by what means he so did Chrysostom by expresse woordes in an other place declareth speaking in the person of Chryste after this maner Non est meum meos ludificare phantasinate vanam imaginem visus si timet veritatem corporis manus Chrys de resarrect sermon 9. digitus exploret Potest fortassis aliqua oculos caligo decipere palpatio corporalis verum corpus agnoscat Spiritus inquit carnem ossa non habet sicut me videtis habere Quòd ostia clausa penetraui sola est virtus diuini Spiritus non sola carnis substantia Yt ys not my propertie myne to delude with a phantasie Yf the seight feare a vain image Chryst entred trough the doores that were shett let the hand and fingar trie oute the veritie of the bodie Perchaunce some mist maie deceaue the eyes let the corporall feeling acknowledge a true bodie A spirit saied he hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to haue That I entred through the doores that were shett yt ys onelie the powre of the diuine spirit not the onelie substance of the flesh Thus Chrysostom As this place geueth goodlie instruction to the reader so doth yt fullie and mighteilie stoppe the mouthes of theÌ„ that speake wicked thinges against God in denienge the miraculouse workes of our Sauiour and master Chryste That Chryst with his perfecte bodie entred in to his Apostles Chrysostom proueth by Chrystes owen saieng being in the middest of them when he saied A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me haue Howe this bodie being a perfecte bodie of a man entred he declareth when he saieth in Howe Christes bodie entred through the doores shett Amb. in Luc. li. 10. cap. 14. the person of Chryste that yt entred through the doores Yf ye will learn by what mean he saieth yt was not by the substance of the flesh but by the vertue or power of the Godhead Of this matter also sâ—inct Ambrose ys a goodlie wittnesse who vpon the Gospell of sainct Luke saieth thus Habuit admirandi causam Thomas cum videret clausis omnibus per inuia septa corporibus inoffensa compage Christi corpus insertum ideo mirum quomodò se natura corporea per impenetrabile corpus infuderit inuisibili aditu visibili conspectu tangi facilis difficilis aestimari Thomas had a cause to merueill when he sawe all thinges being shetvppe and closed the bodie of Chryste by clausures without all waies for bodie to entre the walls being vnbroken to be entred in emong them And therfore yt was wonder howe the corporall nature passed through the impenetrable bodie with an inuisible coming but with uisible beholding easie to be touched hard to be iudged Thus sainct Ambrose Yf ye note this testimonie yt varieth not from Chrysostom For yt testifieth that oure Sauiour Chryste came in to his Apostles the doores being shett And that notwithstanding he went through the clausures of the house they not being broken And herevpon saieth saincte Ambrose ys the great wonder how his naturall bodie coulde entre through an impenetrable bodie Wherby bothe these Fathers declare the trueth of the doctrine of the Churche that Chryste thus entring ther were two bodies in one place There be manie that beare verie plain testimonie in this matter But we will heare but two mo onely Whiche I suppose with these before alleaged being all men of soche grauitie holinesse authoritie and learning maie suffice not onelie to counteruaill these fond bablers void of like grauitie holinesse or learning but also with them that haue any sparke of grace and wisdom take soch effecte as to cause them flee these leude teachers and to hisse them oute of all chrystian companie forasmoch as they teache soche learninge as none of the holy Fathers doo teache but soch raither as ys contrarie to them But let vs heare saincte Augustine in this matter thus he saieth Nec eos audiamus qui negant tale corpus Domini resurrexisse quale positum August de agone Christi cap. 24. est in monumeÌ„to Nec nos moueat quòd clausis ostijs subitò eum apparuisse Discipulis scriptuÌ„ est vt proptereà negemus illud fuisse corpus humanum quin contra naturam huius corporis videmus illud per clausa ostia intrare omnia enim
of senseis whiche conflicte if we proceade to continue our faith by soche exercise shall be perfected and in the ende by Gods mercie for this trauaill crowned Therfor that this crown maie be obteined God graunt all catholique people stronglie to cōtinue the fight of this battaill ād all Sacramētaries to leaue their carnall heresies and to come to this spiritual faith and battaill therof that they also with vs maie be crowned THE FOVRTETH CHAP. ENDETH THE EXPOsition of this text and so of the processe of the sixt of S. Iohn by Euthymius and Lira NOwe one coople mo and then we end this scripture and this processe of the sixt of sainct Iohn The coople shall be Euthymius and Lyra. Euthymius saieth thus Verba quae ego loquor In. 6. Joan. vobis spiritus vita sunt Spiritualia viuifica sunt Oportet namque non simpliciter ea intueri id est carnaliter intelligere sed aliud quippiā imaginari interrioribus oculis ea aspicere tanqā misteria Nā hoc est spiritualiter intelligere The woordes that I haue spokē to yowe are spirit and life that ys they are Spirituall vnderstanding what yt ys spirituall and quickning For we must not simplie heholde thē that ys carnallie to vnderstande but ymagen some other thinge and with the inwarde eies beholde these thinges as misteries For this ys spirituallie to vnderstand Thus he Ye maie perceaue thys authour still to proceade and continue in one maner of vnderstanding and allwaies declaring one spirituall maner of Chrystes flesh in misterie wher thinges maie not be taken as they appeare simplie but considering that they be misteries ther must be considered some other thing ther to be present which ys to be beholden not with the outwarde eye but with the inwarde eie whiche thing ys the verie bodie of our Sauiour Iesus Chryst by faith ther in verie dede as verilie to be beleued as the outwarde forme be by the senseis verilie to be seen All violent mocions saieth he Philosopher be slacke or slowe in the beginning and quicke in the ending so man violētly moued to vertuouse and godlie dedes goeth slacklie and slowlie in the beginning but whē he approcheth to the end he maketh moche spede to come to yt And euē so I miself drawing to the ende of the exposition of the matter of the Sacramēt by the sixt chapter of S. Iohn make hast to the ende as though bothe I in the writing ād the reader in the reading were violēly caried in this verteuouse worke ād businesse ād nowe as yt were with a natural desire runne hastilie to the ende Wherfor as I haue breiflie ouerpassed this last authour so will I his yockelowe which in this place ys Lira who saieth thus Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis Jn 6. Joan. de carne mea māducāda spiritus vita sunt quia spiritualē habēt intellectū nec mirū quia sunt à Spiritu sancto Ista tamē spiritualitas non est sic accipiēda quia caro Christi sit in sacramēto Eucharistiae tantū modò sicut in signo vt dixerūt aliqui haeretici quia est ibi realiter vt dictū est sed quia māducatur caro Christi in hoc Sacramēto quodd spiritualli modo in quantū species visibiles atterūtur comeduntur spiritus ex virtute Dei carni vnita reficitur The woordes whiche I haue spokē vnto yow of my flesh to be eaten they are spirit and life for they haue a spirituall vnderstanding And no merueill For they be of the holie Gost This spiritualitie for all that ys not so to be taken that the flesh of Chryst ys onely in the Sacrament as in a signe as certain heretiques did saie for yt ys ther reallie as yt ys saied but bycause the flesh of Chryst ys eaten after a certain spirituall maner forsomoche as the visible formes are bruised and eaten and the spirit by the power of God vnited to the flesh ys refreshed In this sentence of this authour ye see the spiritual maner of the flesh of Chryst in the Sacrament whiche the Sacramentaries had diuised plainlie reiected Reall presence called spirituall for diuerse causes as hereticall and the right spirituall maner taught which ys that the flesh of Chryst ys reallie vnder the formes of bread and wine ād so receaued Whiche maner of presence and receipt ys called spirituall for diuerse causes of the whiche this authour reciteth diuerse One ys that this presence of Chryst ys wrought by the holy Spirit of God And therfore as workes doen .1 by Gods Spiritt are called spirituall of the woorker so ys this being wrought by the holie Spirit called spirituall An other cause ys that the bodie of .2 Chryst although yt be verilie present yet yt ys not perceaued by anie corporall knowelege but onelie by the spirituall knowledg of faith Wherfore as all thinges not atteigned vnto by corporall knowledge but by spirituall are spirituall So ys this whiche as before ys saied ys by faith beleued but not of naturall knowledge comprehended An other cause this authour rehearseth .3 Whiche ys that our spirit by the vertue and power of God vnited to the slesh ys refreshed As the refection wher with the bodie ys refreshed ys a corporall refection so the refection of the spirit ys a spirituall refectiō Forasmoche then as our spirit ys by this meat refreshed yt ys a spirituall refection And in his last cause this authour toucheth an other cause whie yt ys spiritual though he do not so expresse yt And that ys by cause the powre and spirit of God whiche ys the Godhead ys vnited to this flesh which diuine Spirit so being vnited and made one with the flesh in the vnitie of person not in the vnitie of nature maketh this flesh a spirituall flesh though neuer the lesse yt be also the verie naturall flesh of man Nowe gentle Reader wher the Aduersaries wolde haue wrested and peruerted this chapter of S. Iohn to haue not ben vnderstāded of the Sacramēt whether they were obcecated and blinded through malice nowe iudge Heretiques maliciouse arrogant and impudent Whether also they were not arrogant whiche contemning the authoritie of so manie noble famouse and auncient Fathers as ye haue hearde nowe faith fullie alleaged wolde seke and procead most arrogantly to preferre their owne vain and false Commentes and gloses before the others expositions Whether also they were not impudent shamelesse yea and clean past shame that so boldie wolde commēd their lies to the people not onelie by their sermons but also to their continuall shame with their pennes in their bookes as a most substanciall and godlie trueth when so manie godlie and auncient wittnesses reclamed by their testimonies and conuinced them to be lies Wherfor nowe Reader being aduertised beware of them and learn as ye Doctrine flieng the comon receaued vnderstāding of the script ys to be suspectd haue
doeth well aduertise vs of the office of faith that aught to be in vs which grownded vpon the woorde of God beleueth what yt teacheth though no one of our senses geue vs anie aide ther vnto And here ys Cranmers grosse sensuall heresie improued rebuked the grosse maner of Cranmer who saieth that faith teacheth nothing against the senseis and therfor for somoche as we see no flesh nor bloode nor tast none in the Sacrament ther ys none in the Sacrament But I will not nowe tarie to refell that grosse and sensuall erroure of the senseis forasmoche as I doe more at large speake of yt in an other place Therfor I will no more doe here but by conferring of the doctrine of this authour with the doctrine of the Fathers so by that waie improoue the doctrine of Cranmer Yt ys not saieth this authour seē with our eies nor tasted by our mouthes that the bread ys made flesh nor that the wine ys turned into bloode for yf yt shoulde so be yt shoulde nothing encreace our saluacion Cyrill ad Calosyr Chrystes owne verie flesh in the Sacrament but yt shoulde bring moch loathsomnesse And therfor yt ys so the flesh and blood of Chryst as yt maie be meit for our vse and sufficient also for our saluacion Agreablie to this ye haue heard declared oute of S. Cyrill Leest we should loath flesh and blood sett vpon the holie altars God condescending vnto our weaknesse powred into the offred thinges the power of life turning the same into the treuth of his owne flesh Here ye see Chrystes owne flesh taught to be in the sacrament but so as no sense perceaue the same least we shoulde loath yt if she shoulde see yt or tast ys as verie flesh Damascen also hath the like sainge and Theophilact in diuerse places but one of thē Theophil shall suffice for all Bycause we are weake and loath to eate rawe flesh speciallie the flesh of man therfor yt appeareth bread but yt ys flesh Note this last part of Theophilactes saing yt appeareth bread but yt ys flesh Are we not taught by this that faith teacheth vs one thing and the senseis teache vs an other thing Yt Faith teacheth one thing and senses an other appeareth bread What ys that Owre seight iudgeth yt to be breade owre tast iudgeth yt to be breade owre tast iudgeth yt to be breade and so furth of other senseis But yt ys flesh For owre faith grownded vpon the certen and infallible truthe of Chrystes woorde beleueth and knoweth yt bicause he saieth This ys my bodie to be his flesh Nowe our senseis teache yt to be that that yt ys not For they teach that yt ys bread wher faith teacheth that yt ys flesh in dede Vain therfor ys Cranmers sainge vain also be they that saie bicause they see not nor tast no flesh nor bloode they will beleue none to be ther. As they be sensuall men so they frame to themselues a sensuall faith But God make them once rightlie spirituall And nowe to our pourpose yowe haue seen a conference and a plain agreement betwixt this authour and other in these two poinctes Finallie he expowndeth the woordes of Chryst of the verie presence for saieth he the bread ys chaunged into that thing that Chryst maie trulie saie This ys my bodie And so the wine ys turned into that thing that he maie trulie saie by yt This ys my bloode These woordes with that that ys aboue saied prooue most sufficientlie that the woordes of Chryst are to be vnderstanded withoute figure metaphor or trope This being thus plain we will see what his felowe will doe who ys Nicolaus Methanensis Thus he writeth Quis ille qui conculcat filium Dei Nonne qui sanguinem Nicolaus Methan eius ingratus abrogat nec admittit veracis ab omniue mendacio alieni oris trrditionem mandatum nihili facit Hoc est corpus meum dicentis hic est sanguis meus nisi manducetis carnem filii hominis bibatis eius sanguinem non habetis vitam in vobis Quid haesitas Quid omnipotenti impotentiam attribuis Nonne ipse est qui ex nihilo omnia vt essent fecit Vnus trium personarum diuinitatis qui postremis incarnatus est panem in suum corpus transmutari iussit Quid requiris causam ordinem naturae panis transmutationis in Christi corpus aquae viniue in sanguinem cùm supra naturā rationem mentem cogitationem ex virgine sit natus Non credes itaque nec mortuorum resurrectionem nec in caelos eius assumptionem alia Christi miracula supra naturam mētem cogitationem eminentia Who ys he that treadeth vnder foote the Sonne he treadeth vnder foot the Sonne of God that beleueth not his bodie and blood to be in the Sacr. of God ys yt not he that as an ingrate and vnkinde man dothe abrogate his bloode and will not alowe yt and setteth nothing by the commaundement and tradicion of that true mouthe which ys all wide from all vntrueth saing This ys my bodie And this ys my bloode And except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloode ye haue no life in yowe What doest thowe doubte What doest thowe attribute impotencie to the omnipotent Ys yt not he that made all thinges of nothing one of the three persons in god head who in these last times was incarnated and commaunded the bread to be transmuted into his bodie What doest thow require the cause ād order of the transmutacion of the natuae of bread into Chrystes bodie and of the water and the wine into the bloode sithen that he aboue nature reasō vnderstanding and thought was born of a virgen Thowe wilt not then beleue neither the resurrection of the dead nor the assumption of him into heauen nor other miracles of Chryst being aboue the reach of nature vnderstanding and thought Thus farre he Ye haue nowe hearde an other wittnesse but not telling yowe an other tale diuerse from him that he ys coopled with or frō anie here before alleaged In the maner of the vtterance of his testimonie he doeth somwhat like vnto Chrisostome speake with wonder and admiraciō that men shoulde doubte of the presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament seing that Chrystes owne mouth hath spoken yt Wherin he wel declareth that this faith in this matter was so firme so sure and so stable that yt was a matter of wonder to him that anie man coulde not beleue yt that had ben brought vppe in Chryst in somoche that he reputeth the misbeleuers of this Sacrament of the nombre of those that treade Chryst vnder foote vpon whome as S. Paule saieth shal come heauie and greuouse punishmentes He teacheth vs as Gregorie Nissen Chrysostom and manie mo haue taught that the bread ys transmuted or chaunged into the bodie of Chryst In the setting furth wherof he vseth
almost S. Ambrose sentence and woordes S. Ambr. li. de myst c. 9. Ambrose saieth Quid hic queris naturae ordinem in Christi corpore cùm preter naturam sit ipse Dominus Iesus partus virgine What doest thowe here seke the order of nature in the bodie of Chryst sith the same Lorde Iesus Chryste was beside nature conceaued of a virgen This authour saieth what doest thowe seke the cause or ordre of the transmutacion of the nature of breade into the bodie of Chryst and of the wine and water into his bloode sith he aboue nature and reason was born of a virgen So farre wide was yt from the mening of this authour to varie from the mindes of the auncient fathers that he vseth their woordes To end yt ys easie to perceaue that this man teaching transmutacion or transubstancion and soche creditte to be geuen to the plain woorde of Chryst for the verie presence of his bodie in the Sacrament vnderstandeth Chrystes woordes withoute figure as also Rupertus did THE THREE AND SIXTITH CHAP. TARIETH IN the exposition of the same wordes by Innocentius and Germanus IN this proceasse we are descended to Innocētius the thirde who liued the yeare of our Lorde 1300. and therfor about 362 years agon In this matter he writeth thus Agnus Paschalis siue dubio figurabat Jnnocen de offic Miss Dominicum corpus sed panis azimus sincerum opus Sicut autem Ioannes Baptista qui dixerat Eccè agnus Dei per adiunctum determinauit Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Sic Christus qui dixerat Hoc est corpus meum per adiunctum determinauit quod pro vobis tradetur Sicut ergo corpus Christi veraciter tradebatur sic verè demonstrabatur non in figura quaeiam cessauerat sed in veritate quae iam aduenerat The paschall lambe without doubte was a figure of our Lordes bodie but the vnleauened breade signified a sincere worke As Iohn the Baptist The bodie of Chryst both deliuered and demonstrated not in figur but in trueth who saied Behold the lambe of God by a clause adioined did determine yt saing Behold him that taketh awaie the sinnes of the worlde So Chryste who had saied This ys my bodie by a clause adioned determined the same saing which shall be deliuered for yowe Therfor as the bodie of Chryst was verilie deliuered so was yt verilie demonstrated not in a figure whiche nowe had ceassed but in trueth which nowe was comed This authour minding to expownde Chrystes woodes doeth first declare that the Paschall lambe wherof we haue at large spoaken in the first booke was vndoubtedlie a figure of Chrystes bodie wherbie the geueth vs to vnderstand that nowe the figure being taken awaie which can not other wise be ceassed but by the cominge of the veritie that nowe the bodie of Chryst ys not onelie as in a figure as yt was in the paschall lambe but yt ys nowe in veritie He prooueth yt by Chrystes owne woorde who saied and spake nothing but trueth This ys my bodie That he spake yt by his owne naturall and substanciall bodie he prooueth by the determinacion that he put to yt which was this Which shall be deliuered for yowe This particle added determineth his sainge to be of his naturall bodie For he deliuered not his siguratiue bodie neither his spirituall bodie nor his misticall bodie Wherfor yt was spoaken of that bodie whiche might be deliuered for the sinnes of the worlde whiche was onelie his owne naturall bodie Then he concludeth vpon these two partes that as Chrystes bodie was verilie deliuered to deathe so was yt verilie spokē of Chryst in the supper not in a figure which ys nowe past and hoen but in veritie which ys comed To be shorte as he breislie concludeth the trueth so with asmoche breuitie Figure of the Sacramentaries flatlie denied he excludeth the vntrueth He sendeth the emptie figure to the olde Lawe he appointeth the fullnesse of the veritie in the newe Lawe Thus the Aduersaries figure being also denied by this authour as yt hath ben by manie other the conclusion maie be made that Chrystes woordes are to be vnderstanded not figuratiuely but in their propre sense simplie and literallie Nowe on the other side shall geue testimonie the holie man Germanus Germanus epis Constantin Bishoppe of Constantinople who did write an exposition vpon the Masse of the greke church wher in he writeth thus Ipse dixit Hoc est corpus meum hic est sanguis meus Ipse Apostolis iussit illos vniuersae Ecclesiae hoc facere Hoc enim ait facite in meam commemorationem Non sanè id facere iussisset nisi vim inditurus fuisset vt id facere liceret He saieth This ys my bodie this ys my blood He also commaunded the Apostles and by them the wholl Church this to doe For saieth he This doe ye in the remembrance of me Trulie he wolde not haue commaunded them so to doe except he had geuen them powr that thei might doe yt What ys their power afterwarde he declareth saing Spiritus sanctus qui semel egressus est in posterum non dereliquit nos sed est nobiscum erit in perpetuum aeuum haec per manum sacerdotum linguam mysteria conficit Ac non sanctum Spiritum dumtaxat misit Dominus noster vt maneat nobiscum sed ipse policitus est se mansurum nobiscum vsque ad consummationem seculi At Paracletus inconspicuus adest quia ipse corpus non gestauit Dominus verò conspicitur tangi se patitur per tremenda sacra mysteria vt quinostrā naturā acceperit eamue gestet in secula The holie Gost The holie Gost consccrateth the Sacr. by the hand and toung of the preistes who once came furth to vs and neuer hereafter doeth forsake vs but shal be with vs for euer to the worldes ende dothe consecrate these misteries by the hand and tounge of the preistes And our Lorde hath not sent his holie Spiritte that he onelie shoulde abide with vs But he himself also hath promised to dwell with vs vnto the ende of the worlde The holie Gost ys with vs but not seen bicause he had no bodie But our Lord ys both seen and suffreth himself by the fearfull and holie misteries to be touched as one that hath taken our nature vpon him and will beare yt for euer The power thē of the ministres of Chryst ys that they be the instrumētes of holie Gost by whose hād ād toung these mysteries be cōsecrated In that he saieth the holie Gost doeth woork this great work by the toūg of the preist he meneth at the pronunciacion of Chrystes woordes by the mouthe of the preistes at the whiche the holie God inuisiblie woorketh the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode agreablie to the woordes of Chryst Li. 4. de Sacr. spoken by the preist in the person of Chryst saing
diuinis scripturis erudjtiss et non minus Lanfrancus Tritemius sanctitate quam scientia clarus a man in the dyuyne scryptures most excellentlie learned and no lesse in holynesse then in knoweledge notable Against the same also wrote Algerus and Guitmundns men not by my commēdacion onelie to be accepted but by the Iudgement of Erasmus also a man Algerus Guitmundus not onely knowen to the worlde but also specyallie famouse in thys Realme of Englonde who openyng to vs what these two men were sheweth therwtih the benefitt of God that cometh to hys churche by hys sufferāce of errours and heresyes to growe And enombryng dyuerse heresies cōceaued against the blessed Sacrament he saieth thus Et tamen horum omnium error in hoc profecit vt in tanti mysterij cognitionem magis ac magis tum erudita tum confirmata Sras in epistola ad Balthasarum Episc Hildesùm sit ecclesia Nulli tamē plus debet quà m Berēgario imo nō Berēgario sed Chrstisapiē tiae qui malitiā hominū vertit in bonūsponsaesuae Quos qualiū virorū calamos excitauit impudens error Berengarij Nuper exijt opus Guitmundi ex monacho Benedictino episcopi Auersensis Nunc prodit Algerus ex scholastico monachus eiusdem instituti Guitmundus acrior est ardētior plus habet spiritus Rethorici hic sedatior est ac religiosior vterque tum Dialectices tum reliquae philosophiae bellè peritus licet citra ostētationem vterque in canonicis scripturis ac priscis illis doctoribus Cypriano Hilario Ambrosio Hieronimo Augustino Basilio Chrisostomo quorum scripta plurimùm adhuc reserunt spiritus Apostolici studiosè versatus vterque tantum habet eloquentiae quantum requirere à theologo par est Certè dictionis argutiam collectionis acumen nusquam in eis desideres Agunt solidis rationibus nec vt nunc quidam faciunt bonam voluminis partem rixis Christ turneth the malice of Heretiques to the profett of his Church contentionibus occupant aut sophisticis ratiunculis rem tractant And yet the erroure of all these saieth Erasmus dyd prosytt in this that in the hnowledge of so great a mysterye the Churche shoulde be both more and more instructed and also confyrmed Yet ys she to none more bownde then to Berengarius yet not to Berēgarius but to the wysdō of Chryste who turneth the malice of men to the profett of his spouse ▪ what writing iea and of what men hath this impudent erroure of Berengarius stirred vppe Of late went oute Erasmus calleth the errour of Berēgarius impudent the woorke of Quitmundus somtyme a benedyctyne Monke and Bishoppe of Auergne nowe commeth furth the worke of Algerus of a scholer made a monke of the same ordre Guitmundus ys sharpe and vehement and hath more of the rethoricall spiritte the other milde and religiouse bothe of them well learned both in logike and philosophie although withoute ostētation both of them well studied both in the canonicall scriptures and in the olde doctors Cyprian Hillarie Ambrose Hierom Augustin Basill and Chrisostome whose writinges do yet declare moche of the Apostolicall spiritte Bothe of thē haue as moch eloquence as ys meet to be required of a diuine As for wittie speache and sharpenesse of collection ther ys no lacke in them in anie place They go to yt with substanciall reasons neither do they as some whiche occupie a good parte of ther bookes with braulinges and contenciōs and handle the matter with sophisticall disputacions reasons Thus moche Erasmus I haue the more willinglie transcribed thus moche of Erasmus bicause the Aduersaries haue had him in good price and regarded his sainges Yf this champion do the like let him diligentlie obserue that Erasmus calleth the erroure of Berengarius an impudenterroure Whiche so being forsomoch as this man ys drowned in the same and mainteineth the same maie we not Errour of the Proclamer impudent iustlie saie that he impudentlie mainteineth an impudent erroure Let him also note howe he commendeth these men and what Iudgement he hath of their learning bothe in liberall sciences in Scriptures and doctours whō he doth also no lesse extoll but that by their writinges God hath doen a great benefet to his Churche whiche so standing yt can not be but that the Scriptures and doctours be plain and euident for the proof of the veritie Yf their writing be a benefett then this chalengers doimgeys a detriment Petrus Waldo skoureth the estie heresie of Berēgarius of the reall presence of Christes bodie in the Sacrament whiche scriptures and doctours adduced by these learned men be mo then one or one score and yet this Proclamer crieth bring one doc c. After Berengarius rose one Petrus Waldo a citizen of Lions a man vnlearned yet as vulearned as he was when he had newlie skoured the rustie condemned heresie of Berēgarius in soch rude maner as yt was manie were so folish and so readie to fall from faith to heresie from life to death and damnacion from teaching of the learned to the teaching of the ignorarūt that thei chose raither to folowe the phantasie of this one rude man void of knowledge than to remain in the Substancial tried doctrine of a nombre of holie and most excellent learned men of Christes Churche Thus more pietie yt was a mombre folowed hym and became his disciples and were called Waldenses Waldenses Heretiques condēned Vnto whom becomminge an Aucthor and blinde guide according to Christes saing he led them so as both fell into the ditche This secte and heresie of this Waldo was not suffred to stand but as Guido saieth was condemned in a Councell holden at Rome And yet this Proclamer saieth ther was neuer man indged for an heretike that saied the Sacrament was a figure a token c. In the tyme of saincte Bernarde Satan wolde moue yet some more trooble to the Churche and therfor raised one Peter de Bruis whom he taught to Petrus Brusian his heresie sell theise lies to the people for trueths that though Christ in his last supper did in the Sacramēt geue hys bodie to his Apostles yet no preist doth so nowe by the power of his woorde as yt ys saied that they doe For neuer anione quoth he but Christ alone did geue his bodie in the Sacrament Although thys heresie geuing soche preeminence to Christ that by cause he saied thys ys my bodye teacheth that he in dede gaue to hys Apostles hys verye bodie ys woorthy of more fauour thē the heresie whiche thys Proclamer teacheth for not withstanding that our Sauiour Chryst saied Thys ys my bodie yet thys Aduersarie teacheth yt ys not yet passed not this heresie awaie in scylence but was wrytten against by dyuerse Among whyche Petrus Gluniacensis whose commendation ys so moche settfurth in dyuerse Epistles of saynct Bernarde that he nedeth not myne to commend hym wrote Petrus
ys but a figure as this Authour dothe The contrarie wher of this Proclamer and other Sacramentaries are not ashamed to teache although they be if ther were anie shame in them ouercharged with nōbre of wittnesses so that they maie be ashamed of theyr heresie Thys Authour God be praysed when he had saied that Chryst gaue hys Apostles bread and wyne in mysterie of hys bodie and bloode leest thys mysterie shoulde be made a mysterie of nothing as the Sacramentaries make yt he declareth yt to be a mysterie of somwhat And saieth that the bread and wyne be chaunged into the bodie and blode of our lorde And yet that none of the common hereticall gloses shoulde take place he saieth Bread and wine chaunged not in figure but in trueth further by plain exclusion that they be chaunged in to Christes flesh and bloode neither by figure ner by shaddowe but by verie trueth Wolde to God that they that be yet deteined in this naughtie heresie wolde well note weigh and remembre this sainge and looke whether they haue anie soche plain manifest and expresse sentence of anie Authour Autenticall to maintein their heresie as this ys for the trueth And yet to knitte vppe the matter that this ys no singular opinion or whispered inuention but a sure and vndoubted faith commonlie and generallie receaued he concludeth not in his owne person but in the person of the beleuing Churche and saieth Credimus c. We beleue that yt ys in trueth and in verie dede the flesh of Chryst and likewise his bloode As this Authour hath testified not onelie his owne faithe but the faith of the Churche So wolde I that the Aduersarie shoulde regarde not hys Heretiques haue no faith but opinions priuate opinion whiche he calleth a faith and ys none in dede But the faith of the Churche whiche ys a sure faith in dede builded vpon a sure rocke Nowe to make vppe the coople we pourposed here to induce we will heare this Authours iocke felow in faith Cabasila one of the same lower house of Parliament but of the other side therof that ys of the greke churche a man of singular learninge Who expowndinge the Masse of the Grekes vsed in their churches declareth why Chryste willed his memorie to be had and the Masse to be doen in remembrance of him Thus he saieth Huius autem conseruundae memoriae homines multas rationes excogitarunt sepulchra Nicolaus Cabasila ca. 9. statuas columnas diesfestos celebres certamina quorum omnium vnum est institutum non sinere vt viri praeclari praestanti virtute obliuioni mandentur Tale est etiam quod dicit Seruator Alij quidem alia obliuionis quaerunt remedia vt recordentur eorum qui ipsos beneficio affecerunt vos autem in meam recordationem hoc facite Et quemadmodum ciuitates fortium virorum per quos victoriam assecuti sunt vel qui eis salutem attulerunt aut res eorum rectè gesserunt columnis inscribunt ita etiam in ijs donis nos mortem Domini asscribimus in qua vniuersa sita fuit aduersus malignum victoria Et per statuas quidem ciuitates solùm habent figuram corporis benefactorum Nos autem ab hac oblatione non habenius figuram corporis sed ipsum corpus eius qui se gessit fortissimè Hoc ipsum etiam antiquis constituit vt in figura facerent id quod nunc est in rerum veritate Id enim erat Bascha agni occisio quae memoriam reuocat caedis illius ouis sanguinis qui seruauit Hebraeis in Aegypto primogenita To conserue this memorie men haue deuised manie waies or means as Tumbes ymages pillers feastfull and Solemne daies exercises of all whiche ther ys one pourpose not to suffer that noble men of excellent vertue shoulde be forgotten Soche maner of thing yt ys that our Sauioure saieth Some seke other remedies against obliuion that they maie remembre them that haue doen them good But in the remembrance of me this doo ye And as cities do write in pillers the noble actes of mightie men by whom they haue gotten victorie or that haue saued them or haue doen their affaires or businesse wel Euē so also do we in these giftes imprinte the death of our Lord in the which was all the victorie against the wicked one had or gotten Now the cities haue by their images but the onelie figure of the bodie of their benefactours but we in this oblacion haue not the figure of the bodie but the bodie yt self of We haue the verie bodie in the Sacramēt not the figure him euen that same that ys nowe in veritie of thing For that was the Passeouer and the killing of the lambe which dothe call again the memorie of that shepe and bloode whiche saued the first born of the Hebrues Hither to Cabasila Of whom as we haue learned the faith of the greke churche as yt was in the time of the auncient Fathers Chrysostom Cyrill Isychius Damascen Euthymius and soche other as touching the presence of Chrystes blessed bodie in the Sacrament Euen so do we learn of him the same faith and none other newlie inuented but euen the same continued euer approued vnto his time in all the greke churche This authour allthough minding to sett furth a cause why the memoriall Monumentes and memories of holie ād woorthie men defaced of Chrystes death shoulde be reteined and kept emong vs by the bringing in examples of our elders whiche by diuerse means cōtinued the memorie of noble vertueouse or other wourthie men he doth therin geue good occasion to rebuke the insolencie of manie of this our time which defacing howses spoiling churches ouerthrowing monumentes disparsing the bones ād reliques of holie sainctes and soche other a great sorte like do most earnestlie labour to extinguish and clean put oute of all memorie the noble actes the holie dedes the godly liues of many vertueouse and wourthie men which to Gods honoure to their praise and to owre exāple of vertue shoulde and ought to haue remained Yet minding not to take euery soche occasiō I will leaue yt and folowe my matter here principallie entended As heretofore I haue doen So also wil I nowe both declare that the Paschall Lambe was a figure of Chryst and also that the veritie or verie thing by that lambe figured ys the bodie of Chryst reallie and substanciallie in the Sacrament As for the first this Authour saieth that God appoincted with the olde Olde lawe had the figure the newe lawe hath the thing in trueth fathers that they shoulde haue a figure of Chryst And that saieth he was the Passeouer and the killing of the lambe In which his sainge he nothing dissenteth but moche and whollie agreeth as well with the grekes as the latines before alleaged and declared As for the seconde parte that yt ys a figure of Chryste reallie in the Sacrament this Authour also
a swete sauoure to God were not the sacrifices of the olde lawe soche Doth not Moises from Gods mouth so terme them Yt can not be denied but the scripture doth so call them But as Chryste saieth Nemo bonus nisi solus Deus Ther ys no man good but God alone And yet again he saieth Bonus homo de bono thesauro prosert bona The good Man oute of good treasure bringeth Luc. 18. Matth. 12 God good by nature man by participacion furth good thinges So though God alone of him self and of his diuine nature be onlie good yet men be good also not of them selues nor of their owne natures but by participacion of the goonesse of God So ther ys one sacrifice whiche onely ys pure for that yt ys pure of yt self whiche sacrifice ys the bodie and bloode of our Sauiour Iesus Chryst Other sacrifices that be called pure and clensing sacrifices they be so called by participacion that they doo please God and purifie men by the vertue and merite of that pure Sacrifice Iesus Chryst who ys the lambe that was slain from the beginning of the worlde geuing vertue to all sacrifices that were yet offred from the beginninge of the worlde And therfore when the Prophett putteth Apoc 13. this difference to this sacrifice that shall succead the sacrifices of the Iewes that yt shall be a pure sacrifice Yf yt were pure but by vertue of other as the sacrifices of the Iewes were then were this woorde pure no woorde of difference but raither a superfluouse woorde making no distinction betwen the two sortes of sacrifices But for so moche as the Prophet hath put yt as a difference seing the other were pure by vertue of other this must nedes be the sacrifice that ys pure of yt self whiche as ys before said ys the bodie and bloode of Chryst Neither maie this nowe be drawen to that most blessed Sacrifice of the bodie and blood of Chryst vpon the Crosse For that Sacrifice in that maner was offred in one place onelie that was vpon the mounte Caluarie But this Sacrifice saieth God by the Prophet ys offred in euery place Wherfore of necessitie this must be vnderstanded of the pure Sacrifice of Chrystes bodie and blood offred on the Altar which ys offred not in Hierusalem not on Sacrifice of the crosse and of the altar al one in substāce but diuerse in maner Caluery but in euery place where Chryst ys knowē and receaued Whiche sacrifice although in maner of offring yt differeth from that offred vpon the Crosse yet in substance yt ys all one Nowe ye maie perceaue that the expositions of the stāderd bearers of the wicked armie of the enemies of gods trueth ys but a violēt or a wrested exposition and will not be born of the text THE FOVRE AND THIRTITH CHAP. EXPOwndeth the Prophecie of Malachie by Martialis and Irenaeus THat the Aduersaries shall not saie that I am iudge in mine owne cause although I am certen that I builde vpon the rocke Yet to the better contentacion of the Reader and more manifest confutacion of these Aduersaries I will reporte the Iugement of the right auncient Elders of Chrystes Parliamēt house as touching the enacted trueth of this matter by their owne woordes Sanctus Martialis a great auncient in Chrystes house as being one of Chrystes disciples and after the death of his and our master almost continuallie in the Companie of the Apostle Peter ys a notable wittnesse of this trueth and wourthie to be credited This holie man maketh menciō of this prophecie of Malachie after this maner S. Martialis Martyr epist. ad Burdegalē cap. 3. Sacrificium Deo creatori offertur in ara non homini neque Angelo Nec solùm in ara sanctificata sed vbique offertur Deo oblatio munda sicut restatus est cuius corpus sanguinem in vitam aternam offerimus dicentes Spiritus est Deus eos qui adorant eū in spiritu veritate oportet adorare Ipse enim corpus habens immaculatum sine peccato quia conceptus est de Spiritu sancto natus ex Maria virgine ipsum in ara crucis permisit immolari Quod autem Iudaei per inuidiam immolauerunt putantes se nomen eius à terra abolere nos causa salutis nostrae in ara sanctificata proponimus scientes hoc solo remedio nobis vitam praestandam mortem effugandam The sacrifice ys Chrystes bodie and blood ys offred euerie wher a pure oblacion to euerlasting life offred vnto God our creatour on the altar not vnto men nor vnto Angell nor onelie on halowed altar but euery wher ys offred to God a pure oblacion as he hath wittnessed whose bodie and blood we offer to euerlasting life sainge God ys a spirit and they that adore him must adore him in spiritte and trueth For he hauing an immaculate bodie and withoute Sinne for he was conceaued by the holie Gost born of the virgen Mary he suffred that same bodie to be sacrificed on the altar of the Crosse And that that the Iewes did sacrifice by enuie thinking to abolishe hys name from the earthe we for cause of our health doo sett furth in the sanctified altar knowing that by this onelie remedie life ys to be geuen and death to be driuen awaie Thus moche this holie Martyr Martialis What a notable sentence ys this Do ye not see that he maketh mencion of the saing of the Prophet Malachie saing Euery wher ys offred the pure oblacion or sacrifice And perceaue ye not that immediately he saieth that we offer the bodie and blood of Chryst vnto euerlasting life And that this his mening should not be wrested nor mystaken he declareth what bodie of Chryst we offer and what bodie we offre in what place and to what effect wher The bodie of Chryste whiche we doo offer ys that bodie that the Iewes offred by enuie The place that we offer yt on ys the halowed altar The effecte that the Iewes sought by the offring of Chrystes bodie was to take life from him and therby to abolish his name from the earth The effect that we chrystians seke by the sacrificing of his bodie on the altar ys to magnifie hys name and by that sacrifice as by the only remedye to gett vs life and to driue awaie death Note well that this holie Martyr and auncient Father teacheth that pure doctrine that the primitiue church of the Apostles did professe and teache And iudge yf the church that nowe ys which the Aduersaries haue so vilely reuiled and so maliciously railed on hath taught anie other doctrine then this holie disciple of Chryste hath taught The Churche hath taught and doth nowe teache that the bodie of Chryst ys in the Sacrament of the altar reallie This holie man teacheth that the same whiche the Iewes crucified we sett furth vpon the holowed altar The Iewes crucified the reall bodie of Chryste Wherfore we sett
the bodie of the Sonne of God Whiche for that yt ys so yt passeth by infinitie degrees the state and condicion of one of our bodies Wherfore methinke the Aduersaries be to streict yea and cruell to the bodie of Chryste that wher for causes aboue saied yt ys so excellent a bodie and yet for our sakes he made himself obedient to death euen to the death of the crosse they will for all this excellencie geue vnto yt no more prerogatiue nor preuilege then they will do to an other bodie whiche ys an iniurie to that blessed bodie I wish that the Aduersaries should not onelie after the counsell of Cyrille thinke that yt ys the bodie of the Sonne of God and leaue yt as a naturall bodie ioined to the Godhead but also consider the singular prerogatiues that yt hathe by the same coniunction to the Godhead And then shall they see howe that bodie maie aboue the comon condicion of other bodies through the power of the Godhead be in sundrie places Although yt be not apperteining to the bodie of a man to geue life yet Cyrill saieth that the bodie of Chryste for that yt ys ioined to that whiche Cyrill in 6. foā ca. 14. ys life yt geueth life Thus he speaketh yt Quoniā Saluatoris caro Verbo Dei quod naturaliter vita est coniūcta viuifica effecta est quādo eā comedimus tunc vitā habemus in nobis illi coniūcti quae vita effecta est Bicause the flesh of our sauiour ioined to the Sonne of God whiche ys naturallie life ys made able to geue life when we eate that flesh then haue we life in vs being ioined to that flesh whiche ys made life See this great prerogatiue that Cyrill geueth to the fleshe of Chryste for that yt ys ioined to the Godliead Yf yt haue prerogatiue to geue life to them that receaue yt can not God geue a lesse prerogatiue to yt to be in diuerse places Obiection Perchaunce yt maie be saied to me that God can thus do but we finde not that he doth yt Answer To the former parte of this obiection I saie that yf the Aduersaries thought that God coulde do yt then the Proclamer was to blame to speake of Chrystes being in a thousand places or mo as therbie to signifie an impossibilitie Again Oecolampadius wolde not laboure to bringe in so manie inconueniences vpon yt yf yt appeared possible to him To the second parte I saie that yt ys sufficientlie shewed allreadie that Chryst caused his bodie to be in diuerse places at one time and that the holie Fathers of Chrystes Churche yea and that a good nombre teach some of them that he ys both in heauen with his Father and also in earth in the Sacrament some that he ys in manie places as yt ys declared in the tenth chapiter And thus although the scriptures alleaged by Oecolampadius seem yf a man will onelie lean to naturall philosophie to be against the faith that the catholique Churche teacheth yet when those scriptures be compared to other scriptures and the Fathers well weighed and vnderstanded and the omnipotencie of God considered and the excellencie of the bodie of Chryste remembred yt shall be perceaued that the Scriptures be not against vs neither we against them For they saie that Chryste ys in heauen and so saie we and yet neuerthelesse we saie that he ys in the Sacrament and so saie they Yf the Scriptures that be alleaged had saied that Chryst ys in heauen onelie and can be in no other place then the Aduersarie might haue triumphed But saing that he ys in heauen withoute anie exclusiues or exceptiues ther ys no deniall implied in that his being to a chrystian man but that he maie be beleued to be also in the Sacrament And this I trust maie suffice to aunswer all the Scriptures that be or can be produced of the being of Chryste in heauen as therby to exclude and denie his presence in the Sacrament Ther ys made an other obiection oute of saincte Augustine who writeth thus Cauendum est ne ita Diuinitatem astruamus hominis vt veritatem auferamus August ad Dardanum corporis Non est autem consequens vt quod in Deo est ita sit vbique vt Deus We must beware that we do not so affirme the deitie of man that we take awaie the veritie of the bodie For yt ys no consequent that that which ys in God shoulde so be euery wher as God ys Again in the same place Iesus vbique per id quod Deus est in coelo autem per id quod homo Iesus by that that he ys God ys euery where by that that he ys man he ys in heauen For aunswere to these places of Sainct Augustin first vnderstand that S. Augustin his place to Dardan declared one Dardanus wrote to Sainct Augustine to dissolue this question whether Chrystes manhead for that yt was vnited to the Godheade in vnitie of person was euerie whear as his Godhead ys For aunswere to whiche question emong other thinges S. Augustin wrote the propositions which Oecolampadius alleageth against Chrystes being in the Sacrament and in heauen for that by his iudgement his bodie can not be in two places at one time Wherfore firste I wish yow to note that S. Augustin in that epistle not speaking of the Sacrament the sentences alleaged make not against the matter And although thys might suffice yet for the better vnderstanding of the matter more shall be saied Wherfore that a thing maie be at one time in manie places vnderstand that yt maie be twoo waies One thing in manie places at one time two waies Hiere 23. Esai 66. The one ys by nature the other by gifte By nature to be in manie or all places at one time yt apperteineth onelie to God who by hys immensitie ys euery where so that ther ys no place in heauen in hel in earth or in the waters in the which God ys not And therfore he saieth Ego coelum terram impleo I fill bothe heauen and earth And again Coelum mibi sedes est terra autem scabellum pedum meorum Heauen ys my seat and the earth ys my foote stoole After this sorte that ys by nature no creature can be in all places but onelie God Wherfore Didymus by this did well make his argument to proue the holie Goste to be God bicause of hys owne nature he ys euery wher and so Didym de Spiritu S. can no creature be The other waie that a thing maie be in manie places not by nature but by the gifte of God maie be in man For nothing being vnpossible to God yt ys then possible to him to geue hys gifte to hys creature that yt maie be in manie and diuerse places at once which maner of being ys in the Manhead of Chryst which man head hath yt not of the own nature to be in manie places at one time but by the
esse demonstrat Paulo quoque Apostolo concordante qui ait Quotiescunque panem hunc manducabitis calicem Domini bibetis mortem Domini annunciabitis donec veniat Saincte Augustine saieth that owre Lorde seemeth to bidde an eueldede or a great offence not that he bidding his flesh to be eaten did bidde Obiectiō of the Sacramentaries anie euell dede to be doen or great offence but that he semed to bidde that ys to saie to them whiche thought that he bidding this did necessarelie bidde his flesh to be slain and to be cutte one membre from an other and so at the last his fllesh either rawe or sodden to be eaten Therfore saieth he ther ys a figure in this saing Here nowe peraduenture the shadowe Aunswer man meening the heretike doth reioice here nowe he maketh his noise Reioice thow not shadow teacher oute of ordre reioice not to hastilie Of what thing yt ys saied to be a figure patientlie and diligentlie take hede Yt ys a figure saieth saincte Augustine commaundinge what commaunding or what figuring For yt doth figure that that yt doth commaund that we saieth he shoulde partake the passion of oure Lorde and swetelie and profitablie kepe in memorie that his flesh was crucified and wounded for vs. God bethanked What soeuer yt be then that saincte Augustine here calleth the Sacrament a figure not of Chrystes bodie but of his death figure for what he doth call the figure in these his woordes yt ys not so harde to be knowen yt ys not the figure of the bodie of our Lorde but of his crucifieng and wounding that ys of his death and of owre communicating with the same that ys to saie that we shoulde folowe Chryst and communicate his passion suffring withe him that doth he most manifestlie shewe to be a figure Paule also the Apostle agreinge with him who saieth As often as ye shall eate this breade and drinke ths cuppe ye shall shewe furthe the death of our Lorde vntil he come Thus farre Guitmundus In this aunswer which although yt be long yet I thought yt necessarie to bring yt not truncatelie but whollie to satisfie the Reader ye maie perceane that this Authour manifestlie proueth that saincte Augustine saieth not that the flesh and blood of Chryste be figuratiuely in the Sacrament whiche the Aduersarie cheiflie pretendeth and seketh But sainct Augustine saieth that this sainge of Ghryste Except ye eate the flesh of the sonne of man c. ys a figuratiue speache For the eating and drinking of Chrystes flesh and blood in the Sacrament ys a figure of Chrystes passion and blood sheding for vs and a signe for the continuance of the thinge in our memorie and also for the mouing of vs to take our crosses and to suffer with Chryste Whiche thinge yet this Authour both more plainlie and breiflie dothe sett furth in that that foloweth sainge Quòd si quaeramus quid hic figuram Augustinus dixerit nihil hic vtique tam congruè videtur occurrere quà m id quod paulò superius Guitmūd Jbidem Doctor idem iam dixerat id est celebratio corporis sanguinis Domini Quas obres stultè insipientissimè Berengariani librum de Doctrina Christiana nobis obijciūt cùm cibus altaris Domini nusquam ibi figura nusquam ibi signum dicatur Et quicquid illud sit quod signum ibi vel figura dicitur non vtique figura corporis sanguinis Domini sed passionis Domini nostrae communicationis cum ea certissimè demonstratur Yf we aske what saincte Augustine here calleth the figure ther ys nothinge here that ys perceaued so agreable to occurre as that whiche a litle before the Berengariās foolishlie obiected S. Aug. So do the Sacramentaries now same doctour had nowe saied that ys the celebracion of the bodie and bloode of our Lorde For which cause the Berengarians foolislie and most vnwiselie do obiecte the booke of the chrystian doctrine to vs seing that the meate of the Altar of our Lorde in no place ther ys called a figure in no place ther ys called a signe And what soeuer ther ys called a figure or a signe yt ys most certenlie shewed not to be a figure of the bodie and blood of our Lorde but of the passion of our Lorde and of our communicating with the same Thus moche Guitmundus I nede not to note here to yowe anie thinge wher euerie thinge ys so plain neither after my rude maner to trauaill to saie any more for aunswering this argument where the aunswere of this learned man ys so full that yt hath fullie and perfectelie aunswered the Aduersaries and that by the same saincte Augustine whom they obiected and oute of the same booke oute of the whiche the obiection was taken Yet raither to confirme the sainge of this learned man then to open and declare that the hath saied and that the Aduersarie maie perceaue that yt was not the minde of saincte Augustine to make the Sacrament a bare figure voide of the reall presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode I will asscribe a sainge of the same saincte Augustine whiche semeth to allude to this his sainge here This yt ys Quamuis horribilius videatur humanam carnem manducare quà m perimere humae Aug. cont aduers legis Prop. ca. 9 num sanguinem potare quà m sundere nos tamen mediatorem Dei hominū hominem Iesum Christum carnem suam nobis manducandam bibendumue sanguinem dantem fideli corde ore suscipimus Although yt maie seeme to be more horrible to eate the flesh of man then to kill a man and to drinke the bloode of man then to shedde yt yet we for all that do receaue the mediator of God and men Iesus Chryste geuing vs his flesh to be eaten with a faithfull heart and mouth and his bloode to be dronken Thus saincte Augustine Remembre nowe gentle Reader the rule of saincte Augustine before geuen for the vnderstanding of the scriptures and conferre this his sainge with that other and ye shall perceaue that the figuratiue speache that he speaketh of ther ys not soche as shoulde take awaie the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode in the Sacrament and leaue but a bare figure a signe or a token of that bodie and blood as the Aduersarie wolde haue yt For wher he saieth ther that Chryst willing vs to eate his flesh and drinke his bloode semeth to commaunde an euell dede to be doen and therfore to be a figuratiue speache here he saieth that though yt seme to be an horrible facte to eate the flesh of man and drinke his bloode yet do we with faithfull heart and mouth eate the flesh and drinke the bloode of the mediatour of God and man whiche ys the man Iesus Chryste Ye see that though yt seme to be an horrible facte so to do yet saincte Augustine here maketh not the figuratiue speache soche as to take awaie the
comedit carnem bibit sanguinem meum in me manet ego in eo Owre Lorde being born ys laied in the maunger that yt shoulde be signified that the holie beastes whiche long vnder the lawe were fownde fasting shoulde be filled withe the heie of his incarnacion Being borne he filled the maunger who gaue him self meat to the mindes of the mortall sainge He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloode dwelleth in me and I in him Thus S. Gregorie In this sentence ye heare that Chryst gaue himself meat to mortall men and that according to our text he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloode c. Whiche text as ye haue hearde of other fathers before alleaged ys to be vnderstanded of the eating of Chrystes flesh in the Sacrament But yf the Aduersarie reclame and saie that S. Gregory saieth Chryst gaue Obiection oute of S. Gregorie aunswered himself meat to the mindes of the faitfull and that therfor he meneth not of anie corporall receipt for the minde taketh none soche Therto I saie that trueth yt ys that sainct Gregorie saieth that Chryst geueth himself meate to the mindes of the mortall but I praie you howe take ye the minde here do ye not take yt for the soule and do not all the holie writers saie that the flesh of Chryst in the Sacraēmt ys the meate of the soule dothe not Chrysostom saie that yt ys verus cibus qui saluat animam Yt ys the very meat in dede that saueth the soule Why then what do ye winne by this that ye saie yt ys the meat of the soule seing that the holie Fathers haue so plainly testified that the very substanciall bodie of Chryst being in very dede receaued in the blessed Sacrament ys the meat of the soule What then doth S. Gregorie helpe your cause seing he saieth none otherwise then they which haue ouerthrowen your cause And that yow shall perceaue that he agreeth with the rest acknowledging two maner of receiptes of Chrystes bodie and blood as they doo ye shall heare him open himself Quid namque sit sanguis agni non iam audiendo sed bibendo Greg. in Homil Pasch dedicistis qui super vtrumque postem ponitur quando non solùm ore corporis sed etiam ore cordis hauritur For what the bloode of the lambe ys ye haue not onely learned by hearing but also in drinking Which blood ys putt on bothe the postes when yt ys not onely dronken with the mouth of the bodie but also with the mouth of the heart Se ye not here S. Gregorie when he saieth the bloode of the lambe ys Chrystes blood drok with mouth of bodie and mouth of heart dronke both with the mouth of the bodie and with the mouth of the heart Doth he not plainlie distincte and disseuer these two receiptes as the receipt of the bloode of the lambe with the mouth of the bodie to be the corparall receipt and with the mouthe of the heart to be the spirituall receipt which although they be distincted receiptes yet he wished them in this homelie to be ioined together for then we shall be sure to haue the blood vpon both our postes to our more sauegarde against the destroier Yt maie be but vpon one poste for as he saieth not moche after Qui sic Redemptoris sui sanguinem sumit vt imitari passionem eius necdum velit in vno poste sanguinem posuit He that doth so receaue the blood of his Redemer that as yet he will not folowe his passion he hath put the blood vpon one poste Thus we vnderstande by S. Gregorie not onely two maner of receiptes of Chrystes flesh and bloode but also we be taught by him that they maie concurre and be both doen at once And also that the corporall receipt maie be withoute the spirituall as also the spiritual maie be without the corporal THE SIX AND TWENTETH CHAPITER CONTInueth this expositon by S. Cyrill and Lyra. TO adde yet mo wittnesses howe this text ys to be taken S. Cyrill expowndeth yt in this wise Qui manducat meam carnem bibit meum Jn Ioan. cap. 15. sangumem in me manet ego in eo Vnde considerandum est quòd non habitudme solùm quae per charitat em intelligitur Christum nobis inesse verùm etiam participatione naturali Nam quemadmodum si quis igne liquefactam ceram alij cerae similiter liquefactae ita miscuerit vt vnum quid ex vtrisque factum videatur Sic communicatione corporis sanguinis Christi ipse in nobis est nos in ipso Non poterat enim aliter corruptibilis haec natura corporis ad incorruptibilitatem vitam traduci nisi naturalis vitae corpus ei coniungeretur Owre Sauiour Chryst saieth He that eateth my flesh and drinketh Two waies of Chrystes being in vs that ys spirituallie and naturallie my bloode dwelleth in me and I in him Whervpon saieth Cyrill yt ys to be considered that not onelie by inwarde disposition whiche ys vnderstanded by charitie Chryst to be in vs but also by naturall participation For as yf anie man wolde mengle waxe that ys melted by the fire with other waxe that ys likewise melted so that of both ther maie be perceaued to be made one So by the parta king of the bodie and bloode of Chryst he ys in vs and we in him For this corruptible nature of the bodie coulde not otherwise be brought to incorruptiblitie and life except the bodie of naturall life shoulde be conioined to yt Thus Cyrill What can the Aduersaries saie to this Authour ys ther no other receipt of Chrysts bodie but a spirituall receipt yes this auncient father as the other auncient fathers haue doen before saieth that Chryst ys not in vs onely by charitie wherbie he vnderstandeth the spirituall maner but also by naturall participacion that ys by the eating and drinking of naturall flesh and bloode And that this shoulde not be taken for a phantasie he saieth that Chrystes flesh ys so in vs and we in him as two waxes melted and put together be made one So also as S. Hilarie saieth before as God the Sone and God the Father be one in substance So we by this receipt of Chryst be one with him and by him also ioined to the godheade I nede not to note then to yow that Cyrill vnderstandeth this text of the blessed Sacramēt wher the woordes whollie fownde A plain place of S. Cyrill for the procl to that pourpose The reall presence also ys sufficiētly taught when he saieth that we do partake the naturall flesh and bloode of Chryst whose naturall flesh ys not nor can be receaued but wher yt ys reallie present The effect of of this also proueth the receipt bicause we be not onely in minde affection and soule ioined to Chryst but also by our natural flesh receauing his natural flesh This sentence alone trulie yf a mā hath not
doen yt ys a thing vnpossible and who can abide to heare yt But yf they wolde as Theophilact saieth vnderstand aboue the senses that ther ys the very reall body of Chryst which ys yet a spirituall meat and not take yt so grosslie and carnallie but yet verilie and spiritually they should not be grosse deuourers of flesh but yet eate the verie flesh of Chryst not with teeth percing and hurting that which ys liuing impassiblie and yet with the mouth receauing that flesh faithfullie THE FOVR AND THIRTETH CHAP. BEGINneth the exposition of this text Si ergo videritis c. by sainct Augusten and sainct Cyrill OWre Sauiour perceauing some of hys owne Disciples and other who heard him so plainlie speaking of the eating and drinking of his flesh and bloode to be offended bicause thei phansied that he wolde haue them groslie to deuoure his flesh ād drinke his blood to lead and bring them from this ther grosse vnderstanding he saied doth this offended yowe Si ergo videritis filium hominis ascendentē vbi erat prius What Joan. 6. and if ye shall see the Sōne of man ascēde vppe thither wher he was before Or we entre to shewe the exposition of this text as to know to what pourpose or wherfore Chryst spake these woords to the Iewes and how he doth aunswer their in credulitie to his woordes or dissolue their errour this ys to be examined how Chryst doth saie that the Sonne of man shall ascend wher he was before Yt ys knowen to all that professe Chryst being of discrecion that Chryst as man was born of the Virgen in earth and was neuer in heauen before he spake these woordes Howe then doth he saie that the Sonne of man shall ascende wher he was before As I haue learned of S. Augustine howe to dissolue this doubte So do I Aug. tract 27. in Ioan thinke yt mete that ye do for that his authoritie ys great and his saings be weightie In this matter thus he reasoneth Illud non negligenter praetereundum est quod ait Si ergo videritis filium hominis ascendentem vbi erat prius filius hominis Christus ex virgine Maria. Ergo filius hominis hic coepit esse in terra vbi carnem assumpsit ex terra vnde propheticè dictum erat Veritas de terra orta est Quid ergo sibi vult quod ait Cùm videritis filium hominis ascendentem vbi erat prius Nulla est quaestio si ita dixisset Si videritis filium Dei ascendentem vbi erat prius Cum verò filium hominis dixit ascendentem vbi erat prius nunquid filius hominis in coelo erat priusquà m in terra esse coepit Hic quidem dixit vbi erat prius quasi tūc non ibi esset quando haec loquebatur Alio autem loco ait Nemo ascendit in coelum nisi qui descendit de coelo filius hominis qui est in coelo Non dixit erat sed filius inquit hominis qui est in coelo In terra loquebatur in coelo se esse dicebat Quò pertinet nisi vt intelligamus quod etiā pristino sermone commendaui charitati vestrae vnam personā esse Christu Deum hominē non duas ne fides nostra non sit Trinitas sed Quaternitas Christus ergo vnus est Verbum anima caro vnus Christus filius Dei filius hominis vnus Christus filius Deisemper filius hominis ex tempore tamen vnus Christus secundùm vnitatem personae in coelo erat quando in terra loquebatur Sic erat filius hominis in coelo quemadmodum filius Dei erat in terra filius Dei in terra in suscepta carne filius hominis in coelo in vnitate personae That ys not necligently to be ouerpassed that he saieth What and yf ye see the Sonne of man ascending wher he was before The Sonne of man Chryst of the Virgen Marie Therfore the Sonne of man began How christ the Sone of man was in heauē whē he spake in earth here in earth wher he tooke flesh of the earth Wherfor yt was spoken by the Prophet Trueth shall spring oute of the earth What meneth then that he saieth when yow shal see the Sonne of man ascende wher he was before Ther were no question yf he had saied What yf yow shal see the Sōne of God ascēd vppe wher he was before but when he saied the Sonne of man to ascende wher he was before was the Sonne of man in heauen before he begā to be in earth Here he saied where he was before as though he were not then ther when he spake these woordes In an other place he saieth No man ascendeth vppe to heauen but he that came down from heauen euen the Sonne of man which ys in heauen He did not saie which was but the Sonne saieth he of man which ys in heauen He spake in the earth and he saied he was in heauen To what powrpose yt ys but that we maie vnderstand which I haue alreadie declared to yowr charitie that Chryst God and man ys one person not two least our faith be not a trinitie but a quaternitie Chryst therfor ys one The Sonne of God the soule and the flesh one Chryst The Sonne of God and the Sonne of man one Chryst Chryst the Sōne of God euer the Sōne of mā in time Yet for al that one Chryst after the vnitie of persō was in heauen when he spake in earth The Sonne of man was so in heauē as the Sonne of God was in earth The Sonne of God was in the earth in the receaued flesh the Sonne of man was in heauen in the vnitie of person Thus farre sainct Augustine Although this sentēce be somwhat lōg yet if ye weigh yt wel yt shall not repētyow of the reading of yt For in yt ye maie see the doubt fullie dissolued for the being of Chryst the Sōne of mā in heauē who thē presentlie spake in earth and howe he was before in heauē who was born in time in the earth Nowe this doubt being dissolued let vs seke the vnderstanding of the scripture why Christ made mencion of hys ascension in the vi of S. John we haue to expownde which in a great parte we shall do yf we knowe wherfor Chryst here made mencion of his ascension into heauen seing he was now in setting furth howe his bodie should be eaten in earth The cause why he maketh here mencion of hys ascension ys declared by the same S. Augustine who vpon this text saieth thus Quid est hoc Hinc soluis illos quos nouerat Hinc aperuit vnde fuerant scandalizati hinc planè si intelligerent Illi enim putabant eum erogaturum corpus suum Ille autem dixit ascensurum se in coelum vtique integrū Cùm Tract 27. in Ioan. videritis filiū hominis ascendentē vbi erat prius certè vel
tūe videbitis quia nō eo modo quo putatis erogat corpus suū Certè vel tunc intelligetis quia gratia eius non consumitur morsibus What if yow see the Sōne of man ascend vppe wher he was before what ys this saieth S. Augustine By this he solued them whom he had knowen By this he hath opened wherby they were offended by this plainly if theywold vnderstand For they thought that he wolde deale furth hys bodie but he saieth that he wolde ascende into heauen and that wholl When ye shall see the Sōne of man ascende vppe wher he was before certenlie euen then shall ye see that not after that maner that ye thinke he geueth oute his bodie certenlie euen thē shall ye vnderstande that his grace ys not consumed by morsels Do ye not here see the cause why Chryst spake of his ascension S. Augustin hath opened yt vnto yow They thought that Chryst wolde haue geuen his bodie in lumpes or peices among them Therfor to plucke thē frō that grosse and carnal vnderstanding he telleth them before that he wil leaue no part nor peice of his bodie behinde but he will whollie ascende into heauen with an wholl bodie But let not now the Aduersarie neither the weake man take anie occasiō of errour wher none ys iustly geuen that bicause S. Augustin saieth that the Disciples thought that he wolde geue his bodie emōg thē and Chryst saied he wolde ascend vppe wholl that therfor by no means Chryst geueth hys bodie vnto vs in the Sacramēt For if by no means then he geueth yt not spirituallie neither and so were the doctrine of the Aduersaries ouerthrowen But that he geueth not his verie real bodie in the Sacramēt although the Aduersaries wolde haue yt so onely to be vnderstanded yet yt doth not so meē but as S. Augustin saieth non eo modo quo putatis erogat corpus suum not after soch maner as yowe thinke he geueth oute his bodie So that he denieth not the geuing oute of Chrystes bodie but the maner of the geuing oute of hys bodie And what maner doth he denie that maner that the grosse Disciples thought which maner S. Augustin more plainly declareth in an other place saing Tunc autem quando Dominus hoc commendans de carne sua locutus erat dixerat Nisi quis manducauerit carnem meam non habebit in se vitam aeternam scandalizati Jn Psalm 98. sunt quidam ex septuaginta dixerunt Durus est hic sermo Quis potest eum intelligere recesserunt ab eo ampliùs cum eo non ambulauerunt Durum illis visum est quod ait Nisi quis manducauerit carnem meam non habebit vitam aeternam Acceperunt illud stultè carnaliter illud cogitauerunt putauerunt quia praecisurus esset Dominus particulas quasdam de corpore suo daturus illis dixerunt Durus est hic sermo Then saieth S. Augustin when our Lord setting furth thys had spoken of his flesh and had saied Except a man eate my flesh he shall not haue Capharnaites how thei vnderstood Chryst carnallie in himself life euerlasting Certain of the seuentie Disciples were offended and saied This ys an hard saing Who can vnderstand yt And they went from him and walked no more with him Yt semed harde to them that he saied Except a man eate my slesh he shall not haue in himself life euerlasting They tooke yt foolishlie carnallie they thought yt And they thought that our Lord wolde cut certain peices from hys bodie and geue to them and they saied This an harde saing Thus S Augustin Here ye perceaue after what maner the Disciples thought that Chryst wolde geue them his bodie to eate and this maner doth sainct Augustin denie not the maner that the Chrystian faith teacheth but onely that maner that the grosse Disciples thought and therfor S. Augustin saith Non co modo quo putatis not after that maner that yowe thinke so that S. Augustine 2. Arg. detu◠th not the geuing furth of Chryst 〈…〉 reallie but thegrosse maner conceaued of the Disciples Obiection out of S. Aug. aunswered in this place dothe neither denie the geuing oute of Chrystes bodie verilie ād reallie to be receaued nor yet the maner cōuenient to the geuing oute of the same which now the catholique Church throughout the world vseth Wherfor let neither the weake man wauer for thys neither the Aduersarie triumphe thinking his heresie to be confirmed and himself to haue gotten the victorie Ne ante victoriam canat triumphum Least he make a triumphe before the victorie But yet the Aduersaries will saie that S. Augustin doth not teache here the presence of Chrystes bodie reallie but spiritually that ys by grace for he saieth plainlie that then when the Sonne of man ys ascended vppe wher he was before we shall perceaue that his grace ys not consumed with morsells Wher he teacheth the presence of Chryst by grace not by reall presence This reason or argument ys as good here as yt ys in some other places of S. Augustins workes wher bicause he speaketh of the spirituall receauing of Chryst therfore ye will clean expell the reall receauing of hys bodie And thus might some other Heretique contrarie take some other place of S. Augustin where he speaketh of the reall presence and therby contend against yow that ther ys no spirituall presence But an vppright reader shall as ys before saied finde in S. Augusten both maners of the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament that ys a reall presence and a spirituall presence and agreablie therunto a reall receauing of the same bodie and a spirituall But that the reader maie perceaue that this ys true that I haue saied that S. Augustin teacheth the reall presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament harken howe sainct Augustin taught as yt were the yonge Aug. serm ad Neoph. Aplain place of S. Aug for M. Juel scholers in the faith of Chryst in this matter Thus he taught them Hoc accipite in pane quod pependit in cruce Hoc accipite in calice quod effusum est de latere Christi Erit enim illi mors non vita qui mendacem putauerit Christum Take ye this in the bread that did hang on the crosse Take this in the chalice that was shedde oute of the side of Chryst He shall haue death not life that thinketh Chryst a Lyar. What ys ther to be thought here but that S. Augustine teaching yonge scholers wolde speake in plain woordes and plain sentence that the yong learners might perceaue the thing to be as yt ys spoken and not vse to them obscure figures and tropes For in these do not they vnderstand what ys to be beleued Yf therfor Chryst were in the Sacrament but as in a figure then wolde sainct Augustin haue taught these yong ones thus Take ye this bread as a sign token or figure of Chrystes bodie and
Wherbie we be aduertised that yt ys a matter offaith and not a matter of opiniō Yt ys not lauful for euery mā to think what he list in yt but yf he will be amōg the faithfull he must without disceptacion humblie accept and embrace what faith commaūdeth to be beleued But let vs also heare S. Ambrose who writeth thus Fortè dicas Aliud video quo modò tu mihi asseris quòd Christi corpus accipiam hoc superest vt probemus Quantis Ambr. de his qui initian ca. 9. igitur vtimur exemplis vt probemus hoc non esse quod natura formauit sed quod benedictio consecrauit maioremue vim esse benedictionis quà m naturae quiae benedictione natura ipsa mutatur Virgam tenebat Moyses proiecit eam facta est serpens Rursus apprehendit caudam serpentis in virgae naturā reuertitur Vides igitur prophetica gratia bis mutatā esse naturam serpentis virgae Peraduenture thow maist saie I see an other thing how doest thow assure me that I take the bodie of Christ And this remaineth for vs to Benedictiō what powr yt hath prooue How manie examples therfore doe we vse that we maie prooue that this ys not yt that nature hath formed but that the benediction hath consecrated and that greater ys the power of benediction then of nature For by benediction nature yt self ys chaunged Moyses did hold a Rodde he cast yt down ād it was mad a serpēt Again he taketh the tail of the serpēt ād yt returneth into the nature of the rod. Thow seest thē by the grace of the prophet the nature of the Serpētād the rod twice to be chaūged Hetherto S. Ambr. After which woordes and diuerse other examples brought in to prooue nature in the Sacrament by the benediction to be clean chaunged he maketh this argument Quodsi tantum valuit humana benedictio vt naturam conuerteret quid dicimus de ipsa consecratione diuina vbi verbae ipsa Domini saluatoris operantur Nam sacramentū istud quod accipis Christi sermone conficitur Yf then the benedictiō of mā Amb. ibid. was of so great power that yt chaunged nature what saie we of the verie consecracion of God wher the verie woordes of owre Lord and Sauiour doe woorke For this Sacrament which thow receauest ys consecrated by the woorde of Chryst Yt were to long to reherse all the exāples and argumentes that S. Ambrose maketh to prooue this mutacion or chaunge that we speak of Wherfore but one more of him and then we will heare some other one Thus he maketh an other argument De totius mundi operibus legisti Quiae ipse dixit facta Amb. ibi sunt ipse mandauit creata sunt Sermo ergo Christi qui potuit ex nihilo facere quod non erat non potest ea quae sunt in id mutare quod non erant Thow hauest readde of he workes of all the world that he saied and they were made he comaūded ād they were created The woorde of Chryst then that could of nothing make that that was not can yt not chaunge these things that be into that that they were not Non enim minus est nouas rebus dare quà m mutare naturas Yt ys no lesse thing to geue newe natures to thinges then to chaunge natures Thus farre S. Ambrose Whome for that yt ys manifest to what pourpose he tendeth namelie to proue the nature of bread and wine after the consecracion to be chaūged into the nature of the bodie and bloode of Chryst I will not trauaill to open him but leaue him to the consideracion of the reader and heare some other Chrysostome saieth thus Non sunt humanae virtutis haec opera Qui tunc ista in illa caena confecit ipse nunc quoque operatur ipse perficit Ministrorum nos ordinem tenemus Homil 83. in Matth. Qui verò haec sanctificat transmutat ipse est These workes be not the workes of mans power He that then in that supper made or consecrated these thinges he now also woorketh he perfecteth yt we are in the place of mynisters but yt ys he that doth sanctifie and transmute these thinges Thus of Chrysostom we learn also that in the Supper of Chryst the bread and wine are sanctified and transmuted and that by the power of Chryst who sanctified and transmuted them in that supper which he did celebrate and kepe for the institucion of this forsomoch as he ys the dooer of this as he was of that he ys the woorker of both After Chrysostome foloweth Cyril and teacheth vs the same lesson saing thus Viuificatiuum Dei Verbum vniens seipsum propriae carni fecit eam viuificatiuā Nunquid Cyrill ad Calosirium igitur cùm in nobis vita Dei est Dei Verbo in nobis existente viuificatiuum erit nostrum corpus Sed aliud est secundùm participationis habitudinem nos habere in nobis Dei filium aliud ipsum fuisse factum carnem id est corpus sumptum ex alma Virgine proprium corpus effecisse Decebat ergo eum nostris quodammodò vniri corporibus per sacram eius carnem preciosum sanguinem quae accipimus in benedictione viuificatiua in pane vino Ne enim horreremus carnem sanguinem apposita sacris altaribus condescendens Deus nostris fragilitatibus insluit oblatis vim vitae connertens ea in veritatem propriae carnis vt corpus vitae quasi quoddam semen viuificatiuum inueniatur in nobis The liuing Sonne of God vniting himself to his owne flesh made yt also liuing Nowe then forasmoche as the life of God ys in vs the Sonne of God being in vs shall our bodie also be able to geue life But yt ys an other thing for vs to haue the Sonne of God in vs according to the ordre of participacion And another thing the same Sonne of God to haue ben made flesh that ys to saie to haue made the bodie taken of the pure Virgen his own bodie Yt was nede full that he should be vnited to our bodies by his holie flesh and preciouse blood whiche we take in the liuely benediction in bread ad wine For leste we should abhorre flesh and blood put vpon the holy altars God condescending to our fragilities he putteth into the thinges offred the power or strēgt of life turning them into hys very flesh that the bodie of life maie be fownd in vs as a quickning seed able to make vs to liue Thus moche S. Cyrill As of other we haue learned that God by his power doth chaunge the substance of the bread and wine into the substance of hys bodie and blood so do we learn of this holie father the cause whie yt pleaseth God so todooe Yt ys saieth he that God condescending to our weaknesse forasmoche as we abhorre to eate flesh and drinke blood yet that he wolde
maie be by this perceaued that the Aduersaries figuratiue speache hath no place as they vnderstande yt in this saing of Chryste But this ys raither to be saied that his interprise in so wresting and abusing of Chrystes woordes ys wicked and detestabele For yf that sense might haue ben here vpon these woordes placed who can doubte that S. Ambrose so often rehersing them wolde not in one place or other haue reported the true sense and saied yt had ben but a signe But forasmoche as in no place he so doeth but continuallie and constantlie saieth yt ys the bodie of Chryst let no man doubte of the trueth of that that he teacheth Consecracion the terme of the Papistes vsed of S. Ambr. seriousâ—ie but embracing that let him flie the feigned figures In these sainges also of S. Ambrose this ys breiflie to be touched with a note that wher the Aduersarie in skorne when he happeneth to speake of this woorde consecracion for the most parte addeth as the Papistes teare yt yet ye perceaue that yt ys vsed of S. Ambrose and not sknorned And howe so euer yt liketh him to dallie and trifle withe that woorde yet S. Ambrose in so weightie a matter dothe vse the woorde seriouslie And if for that he vseth this woorde the Aduersarie will also accompte him for a papist I had leuer be a Papist wiht the one then an heretique with the other But yt ys time to call in an other coople THE THREE AND FIFTETH CHAP. CONTINVeth in the exposition of Chrystes woordes by Gregorie Nissen and S. Hierom. AS a man permitted to come into a councell chambre and admitted through speciall fauoure to talke withe eche of the counselours and haue their senerall aduertisementes howe he shall safelie beare him self in the state that he ys called vnto or as a man desierouse to be resolued in a matter of learning entreth an assembley of learned men and gentlie receaued heareth their seuerall iudgementes vttered with great and full agreement to his full resolucion and contentacion can not be but therwith moche delighted so I trust the reader being as yt were in Godes counsell chambre or in Gods Schoole and hearing the aduertisementes and iudgementes of Gods counselours and learned men so seuerallie and yet so agreablie vttered to his full and perfect resolucion I trust I saie he ys delighted and the more for that all these with whiche he hath conference and yet for a good nombre shall haue be all verie auncient and with in the compasse of sixe hondreth yeares after Chryst Wherfor let vs in Gods name proceade with delight and pleasure to heare the other that remain to be conferred with all for they be as ys saied a good nombre of theÌ„ bothe auncient and learned and though all be not auncient yet all learned and approued Of these auncientes that remain the first ys Gregorie Nissen the brother of S. Basill and therfor in the greke church meet next to folowe him This ys his iudgement in this matter Thus he writeth Qua ex cause panis in co corpore mutatus in diuinam virtutem transiit eadem de causa idem nunc fit Vt enim illic verbi Greg. Nissen anserm catathetico de diuinis sacram Dei gratia sanctum efficit illud corpus cuius firmamentum ex pane constabat ipsum etiam quodammodò panis erat sic panis vt ait Apostolus per verbum Dei orationem sanctificatur non quia comeditur eo progrediens vt Verbi corpus euadat sed statim per verbum in corpus mutatur vt dictum est à Verbo Hoc est corpus meum By what cause bread in that bodie chaunged passed into the diuine vertue by the same cause that same thinge ys nowe doen. For as ther the grace of the Sonne of God made that bodie whose substanciall nutriment was of bread and yt also in a maner was bread so also this bread as the Apostle saieth ys sanctisied by the woorde of God and praier not tending to this poinct that bicause yt ys eaten yt ys the bodie of the Sonne of God but that furthwith by the woorde yt ys chaunged into the bodie as yt was saied of the Sonne This ys my bodie By this authour who vndoubtedlie geueth a notable testimonie for the veritie of the Sacrament be ouerthrowen three heresies in the same matter Three heresies ouerthrowen by one saing of Gregor Nissen Of the whiche Luther or at the least the Lutherans did settfurth one which was that the Sacrament was the bodie of Chryst if yt were receaued and to him that receaued yt yt was the bodie of Chryst otherwise yt was not Another ys sett furth bothe by Luther and all the Lutherans and by Oecolampadius and all the Oecolampadians and by this Proclamer whiche ys that the bread and wine be not chaunged into the substance of the bodie and bloode of Chryst of the whiche we haue somwhat at large spoken before The thirde ys settfurth by Carolstadius Oecolampadius and their disciples and also by this Proclamer whiche ys that Chrystes substanciall bodie ys not verilie present in the Sacrament Against these three this authour teacheth vs very good documentes according to that that the catholique Churche now teacheth And nowe for the first that the Lutherans doo teache wher they saie that in the Sacrament ys the bodie of Chryst to him that receaueth the Sacrament otherwise yt ys not the bodie of Chryst this authour hath direct What warrant haue the LutheraÌ„s for this woordes to the contrarie wher he saieth Hic panis sanctificatur per verbum Dei orationem non quia comeditur eo progrediens vt verbi corpus euadat This bread ys sanctified by the woorde of God and praier not tending to this poinct that bicause yt ys eaten therfore yt ys the bodie of the Sonne of God So that yt ys not receauing or not receauing eating or not eating that causeth the presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament Receauing or notreceauing causeth nor presence nor absence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacr. but the power of God with the woorde of Chryst as before ys saied The cause of so great a worke as to make present the bodie of Chryst dependeth not of so simple and weake cause as the will of man whiche yt should dooe if yt should depende vpon the receipte For yf the man wolde receaue yt then were yt the bodie of Chryste yf he wolde not receaue yt were not the bodie of Chryst so willing and not willing shoulde make bodie or no bodie after that fonde opinion But to adde somwhat beside the authoritie of this auncient Father which ys more then sufficient to conuince so vain and foolish an heresie what apparance haue they of anie scripture or holie writer For substanciall grownde in ame of them both they haue none to make some shewe or counteinance for the maintenance of their heresie yt ys certen that they haue
none Nowe then shall we not condemne them by their owne iudgement Lutherans doctrine hauing no apparāt scripture ys ouer throwen by ther owne argument wherwith they haue trauailed in manie thinges to condemne the catholique Church What ys defined decreed or determined by the Churche if ther be not manifest scripture for the same yt ys condemned of them as a tradicion of man and a doctrine of Sathan But this their doctrine hath no manifest scriptures Wherfore yt ys a tradicion of man and a doctrine of Sathan Thus as Aman was hanged vpon the same Galowes that he had made for innocent Mardochaeus So ys their wicked doctrine ouerthrowen with their owne iudgement and vanquissed with their owne swoorde But what shall I occupie the time and trooble the reader in refelling this fonde heresie seing as a litle before ys declared by Eusebius that the inuisible preist Chryst by his power with his woorde doeth turne the visible creatures into the substance of his bodie and bloode Chrysostome also saieth that the preistes be in the place of the mynisters of God but yt ys Chryst that doeth sanctifie and chaunge the substances of bread and wine And breiflie to saie sainct Ambrose in the last chapiter Euthymius Damascen and Theophilact in the chapter before doe testisie that the worke of consecracion ys doen by the power of God by the accession of the holie Gost and by the woorde of Chryst spoken by the preist in the person of Chryste As yt ys also testified in the Florentine Concilium Florent Councell wher yt ys thus declared Forma huius sacramenti sunt verba Saluatoris quibus hoc conficit Sacramentum Sacerdos enim in persona Christi loquens hoc conficit Sacramentum Nam ipsorum verborum virtute substantia panis in corpus Christi substantia vini in sanguinem conuertuntur The forme of this Sacrament be the woordes of our Sauiour by the whiche he consecrateth this Sacrament For the preist speaking in the person of Chryst doeth consecrate this Sacrament For by the vertue of those woordes the substance of bread ys turned into the bodie of Christ and the substance of wine Trāsubstātiacion into hys bloode Thus the Councell By whiche woordes as by the woordes of them also before alleaged yt ys manifestly declared that the power of the consecracion of the bodie of Chryst ys not depending of the will of the receauer but of the power of God of the worke of the holie Gost and of the vertue of the woordes of Chryst spoken by the preist in the person of Chryste And as this fonde heresie semeth to be mother of that heresie that impugneth reseruacion so that that ys before saied for the defence of reseruacion will also impugne this heresie here nowe spoken of Wherfore I referre the reader to that place wher he findinge plentie of proofe that the Sacrament maie be reserued and being reserued that yt still remaineth the bodie of Chryst this wicked doctrine that teacheth that yt ys but the bodie of Chryst when yt ys in vse shal be ouerthrowen and prooued as it is a false and a deuellish doctrine The other heresie which ys settfurth both by the Lutherans and the Oecolampadians ys that the substance of bread and wine be still remaining in the Sacrament and not chaunged into the bodie and bloode of Chryst And yet here by the waie vnderstand this that though they agree in this poinct yet here Sathan ys deuided against Sathan and his kingdom also Diuision among the Protestantes as kingdom against kingdom For Luther graunteth the presence of Chrystes bodie Oecolampadius denieth the presence of Chrystes bodie and in this they are more then enemies But in the other as ys saied they doe agree And as in this they agree amonge themselues So in the same they disagree from the true faith from the catholike Church and from Gregorie Nissen whom we haue nowe in hand For by expresse woordes he affirmeth that the substance of the bread ys chaunged into the bodie of Chryst These be his woordes speaking of the bread before the consecracion Hic panis statim per verbum in corpus mutatur This bread ys by the woorde furthwith Greg. Niss in vita Moiseos chaūged into the bodie Who so listeth maie read the like saing of the same authour in his booke of the life of Moyses Neither doeth he here meen of soche a chaunge as the Aduersarie dreameth of that yt ys chaunged to be called the bodie of Chryste whiche proprely ys no chaunge but raither an addicion But this authour meeneth of a substanciall chaunge as hys woords doe most plainlie declare which he vseth to proue this chaunge For thus he saieth Qua ex causa panis in eo corpore mutatus in diuinam virtutem transiit eadem de causa idem nunc fit By what cause bread in that bodie chaunged passed into the diuine vertue euen so by the same cause the verie same thing ys now doen. For the better weighing of this saing of the authour consider first that Chryste was and ys bothe God and man consider that the bodie of man was so ioined to the Godhead in vnitie of person that Chryst God and man was one person one Chryste Consider then that this bodie by this merueilouse coniunction ys the bodie of God Nowe this bodie liuing here vpon the earth although as yt liued fortie daies and fortie nightes wihout foode so yt might haue liued fortie wekes and fortie moneths yet as yt was a naturall bodie So yt liued in natural order and did eate foode This foode which by a generall terme ys called bread allthough yt were but comon meate euen soche as the Apostles and other did eate yet this comon bread eatē of Chryst was chaunged in the bodie of Chryst into the substance of the bodie of Chryst and became now the substance of his bodie and being so yt came to be the substance of the bodie of God Nowe saieth Gregbrie Nissen by what cause the bread was chaunged into the bodie of Chryste and became the substance of the bodie of God As bread while Chryst liued was turned into his diuine flesh so nowe in the Sacr. which as I take yt he meneth by these woordes diuine vertue euen by the same cause the same thing ys nowe doen. Yf the same thing be doen nowe then the bread ys chaunged into the substance of the bodie of God for that ys the thing that was doen then Wherfor good reader note this wel that he saieth the same thing ys doen nowe wherbie the dreame of the Aduersarie ys dissolued that the bread ys chaunged but in name For that was but a cauill and in dede but a bare shifte to auoide the force of the trueth And what the thing ys that nowe ys doen thys authour tolde when he saied Panis mutatur in corpus per verbum The bread by the worde ys chaunged into the bodie Seing then this auncient
will therfor leaue him and heare the minde of his yocke felowe whom we Hieron ad He did q. 2. haue in this place appointed to be S. Hierō who writeth thus Nos autem audiamus panē quem Dominus fregit deditue Discipulis suis esse corpus Domini saluatoris ipso dicente ad eos Accipite comedite Hoc est corpus meū calicē illū esse de quo iterum locutus est Bibite ex hoc omnes Hic est sanguis meus noui testamenti qui pro multis effundetur Iste est calix de quo in Propheta legimus Calicē salutaris accipia alibi Calixtuus The bread which our Lord gaue was his bodie ād the cuppe hys blood inebrians quà m praeclarus est Si ergo panis qui de coelo descendit corpus est Domini vinum quod Discipulis dedit sanguis illius est noui testamēti iudaicas fabulas repellamus c. But let vs heare that bread which our Lord brake and gaue to hys Disciples to be the bodie of our Lord our Sauiour forasmoch as he saied vnto thē Take and eate This ys my bodie And the cuppe to be that of the which again he saied Drinke ye all of this This ys my blood of the newe Testament which shall be shedd for manie This ys the cuppe of the which we read in the Prophete I wil receaue the cuppe of saluacion And in an other place Thy cuppe inebriating ys verie noble Yf therfore the bread that descended frō heauen ys the bodie of our Lord and the wine which he gaue to his Disciples ys his blood of the newe Testament let vs repell the Iewish fables Thus moch S. Hierom. For the better vnderstanding of this saing yt ys to be considered that a certain vertuouse woman named Hedibia sent to sainct Hierom to be resolued in certain questions Among the which she desiered to be instructed how the saing of Chryst in S. Matthew was to be vnderstanded wher he saied I will not from hencefurth drinke of this generacion of the vine vntill that daie in whiche I shall drinke yt newe with yow in the kingdome of my Father To the answeringe wherof he declareth vnto her first the fond opinion of some that vpon that place inuented a fable that Chryst shoulde reign a thousand yeares corporally in which time of his reign he shoulde drinke wine and so shoulde be fullfilled hys saing that he wolde drinke no more wine Heresie of the Millenaries vntill he dranke yt in the kingdom of his Father in the whiche he shoulde then reign But sainct Hierom well vnderstanding howe great and howe weightie a matter was spoken of in the place wher from these woordes were taken namely of the bodie and blood of Chryst and being greued that yt being so great a worke of God so great a benefitt to man shoulde be intermengled and obscured with soche vain inuentions of soche fables he openeth the true sense of the place and moueth the good woman Hedibia that all soche phantasies reiected and forsaken she shoulde regarde the woordes of Chryst and credit them and that the bread and wine that Chryst spake of in that place were no soch thinges as vpon which soch vain fables should be grownded but they were the bodie and bloode of Chryst forasmoch as he that can speake but trueth saied Thys ys my bodie Thys ys my bloode Now cōsider with me yf Chryst had geuē to hys Apostles but Bread ād wine S. Hierom his woordes weighed ād conferred with the doctrine of the Protestātes as figures of hys bodie and blood wolde S. Hierō being required to geue the true vnderstāding of the scriprure ād he taking vpō him so to doe wold he trowe ye haue saied Let vs vnderstād that the bread which our Lord gaue to his Disciples was his bodie ād that the wine which he gaue was hys blood except we should beleue ād vnderstād thē so to be in dede Were this an opening of the true vnderstanding of the scriptures Were yt not raither an hiding or a darkning of the scriptures to bid vs to beleue one thing ād the scripture biddeth an other He biddeth vs beleue that yt ys the bodie ād blood of Chryst that Chryst gaue to his Apostles ād the scriptur as the Aduers saieth biddeth vs beleue that they be but figurs Wold S. Hierō being alwaies an enemie to heresie teache soche an heresie Wolde not he raither if the trueth had ben so haue taught this vertuouse woman the trueth of the matter that she sought at his hand and saied vnto her This vnderstand that the bread and wine which Chryst gaue to his Apostles were but figurs of the bodie and bloode of Chryst and not the thinges themselues And alleaging Chrystes woordes This ys my bodie This ys my bloode wolde he not if they had ben so to be vnderstanded haue saied these woordes are spoken by a figure they be figuratiue speaches and are thus to be vnderstanded this ys a figure of my bodie this ys a figure of my bloode To instructe thē that Nomenciō of figuratiue speache in S. Hierōs woordes wolde learn the true vnderstāding of this scripture if yt were so to be vnderstanded this were the right waie of teaching But here ys no soche woorde here ys no soche maner of teaching And yt ys to be thought that S. Hierō was not ignorant howe to teache neither was he ignorāt of the trueth that in this place shoulde be taught Wherfor seing he knewe the trueth and knewe howe to teache yt and nowe he was in place to teache and had good occasion being as ys saied therunto required for somoche as he willeth vs to vnderstande that the bread and wine whiche Chryst gaue to this Apostles were his bodie and bloode and the cause why we shoulde so vnderstāde thē ys the woorde of Chryst saing This ys my bodie This ys my bloode Let vs thinke and beleue that the trueth of this matter ys that his bodie and bloode be present verilie in the Sacramēt and that the woordes of Chryste are to be vnderstanded withoute figure simplie and plainlie as they lie And that yt ys the bodie of Chryst the woordes which S. Hierom vseth as the conclusiō of the matter dothe also prooue For thus he concludeth Si ergo panis qui de caelo descendit c. Yf then the bread that descended from heauen be the bodie of our Lorde and the wine that he gaue to his Disciples be his bloode of the newe testamēt let vs cast awaie Iewish fables As who might saie forasmoche as these woordes of Chryst speake of no cheering nor banquetting that the Iewes doe dreame shall be in Chrystes worldlie kingdom but they speake of the bread which Chryst gaue to his Apostles which they saie to be his bodie and of the wine which they saie to be his bloode therfor let vs cast awaie soche vain fables and cleaue to the true
healthe in the remembrance of our Lordes passion suffred for vs. Whiche thing when yt ys brought by the handes of men to that visible forme yt ys not sanctified that yt maie be so great a Sacrament but by the Spirite of God woorking inuisiblie Hitherto sainct Augustin Of whome ye see that we are taught that thoug Chryst be by diuerse meanes settfurth and preached as by scriptures preachinges and by the Sacrament yet these thinges be not all of like degree For ther ys none of these called the bodie of Chryst but onelie the bread that ys consecrated by the mysticall praier that ys by the woordes of Chryst Thys ys my bodie that onelie ys called the bodie of Chryste Oecolamp craftilie abuseth S. Augustin Nowe Oecolampadius wolde that bicause sainct Augustin saieth that Chryst ys preached by scripture woorde and Sacrament that these three be of one sorte no more being in the Sacrament then in the other two But note I praie thee gentle reader howe he abuseth sainct Augustin to proue that hys wicked sainge Of this place of sainct Augustin nowe alleadged he taketh onely thus moche Paule might by signifieng preache our Lorde Iesus Chryst otherwise by hys toung otherwise by epistle otherwise by the Sacrament of his bodie and blood And vpon thys he growndeth hys argument and wolde be seen well to haue confirmed Not toung nor writing nor soche other shewing furth Chryst be called his bodie but bread and wine consetrated hys doctrine But all the rest of sainct Augustines woordes whiche folowe whiche ouerthrowe all his building he craftelie lefte oute For yt foloweth Yet doe we call neither his toung neither his epistle nor his writinges the bodie of Chryste but onely we call that the bodie of Chryste that ys taken of the fruictes of the earth and ys by the mysticall prayer consecrated that doe we call the bodie of Chryst All thys doth he leaue oute Soche was the synceritie of the man in alleaging the holie Fathers So good ys the cause that he defended that the doctours muste be mutilated and brought oute in peice meall or ells yt coulde not stand Ys yt not merueilouse that he coulde bring this place of sainct Augustin whiche although the first peice taken alone seemeth somwhat to sownde to his pourpose yet the wholl taken together ys alltogether against him Alas that euer anie man wolde so deceaue the people of God and by soche frawde and abuse of the holie writers make them to embrace erroure in stead of trueth weigh the place throughlie and yowe shall perceaue howe yt mainteineth the catholique trueth of the presence of Chrystes boin the Sacrament verie moch Ye haue nowe heard that neither the worde written nor the woorde spoken though Chryst be preached by them be called the bodie of Chryst but onely the Sacrament ys called the bodie of Chryst And why yt ys called the bodie of Chryste he declareth Not bicause saieth he by the handes of man yt ys brought to be a visible forme but bicause yt ys sanctified and made so great a Sacrament by the inuisible woorking of the holie Goste Note these two poinctes that S. Augustine saieth that the bread ys sanctified and made so great a Sacrament And again that he saieth yt ys so sanctified and made by the inuisible worke of the holie Goste Ther ys great difference betwixt the sanctificacion of the Sacrament yt self and the soule of man that receaueth the Sacrament Now Oecolampadius and Cranmer saie that the Sacramentes being dumbe Oecolamp and Cranmer their heresies creatures receaue no sanctificacion but onely the sowles of men They saie also that the holie Gost woorketh not in the thinges that be the Sacramentes but in the men that receaue the SacrameÌ„tes Thys they saie bicause they wolde auoid the presence of Chryste in the Sacrament which ys made ther present by sanctificacion of the bread But against these their saings S. Augustin saieth that the same bread that ys made by the handes of men ys sanctified S. Augustin plain against Oecolamp aÌ„d Cranmer and receauing sanctitie ys made so great a Sacrament Against them also he saieth that the holie Goste woorketh inuisiblie in the bread I wolde now learn of the Aduersaries what S. Augustine meneth by calling the SacrameÌ„t so great a Sacrament and what worke yt ys that the holie Goste woorketh inuisiblie in the bread The woorkes of the holy Gost be no trifles Yt ys great and miraculouse that he woorketh And what he woorketh S. Iames in his Masse S. Basill also and Chrysostom in their Masses by their humble praiers doe declare S. Iames thus Spiritum tuum sanctissimum demitte nunc Domine in nos in haec sancta dona proposita vt superueniens sancta bona gloriosa sua praesentia sanctificet Diuus Iac. in Missa efficiat hunc panem corpus sanctum Christi tui calicem hunc preciosum sanguinem Christi tui Sende downe now o Lord thy most holie Spirit vpon vs and vpon these holie giftes settfurth that he coming ouer them maie with his holy good and gloriouse presence sanctifie and make this bread the holie bodie of thy Chryst aÌ„d this cuppe the preciouse blood of thy Chryst Thus S. Iames. S. Basill and Chrysostome haue the like woordes See ye not nowe then howe the bread ys sanctiâ—ied See ye not what ys the worke of the holie Goste Perceaue ye not howe that S. Augustine vpoÌ„ good cause called the Sacrament so great a Sacrament ys yt not a great Sacrament Bread sanctified contrarie to Cranmers assertion aÌ„d Oecolamp in which by worke of the holie Gost ys made present the bodie of Chryst To haue hidden this trueth Oecolampadius by peice meall brought in S. Augustine But now ye haue seen the catholique faith well testified the falshead of the Aduersaries detected and to return to oure matter and to conclude ye perceaue this Sacrament by mystical praier which ys by Chrystes woordes to be consecrated the effecte of which consecracion being the bodie of Chryste as ys saied the woordes must nedes be taken without figuratiue sense Thus if my iudgement faill me not ye haue hearde two other noble men of Chrystes schoole and Parliament house very plainlie testifieng the enacted trueth of the vnderstanding of Chrystes wordes yea so plainly that yt caÌ„not but moch confirme the good Chrystian and confute the Pheudochristian But to go forwarde I will ende with these two and call other two THE FIVE AND FIFTETH CHAPITER tarieth in the exposition of the same woordes by Chrysostom and Sedulius NOw among the learned Fathers of the greke church we are descended to Chrysostome of whome I maie saie as besore ys saied of S. Ambrose that he ys so full of godlie testimonies testisieng to vs the true vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes that as I knowe not whiche of them first to take so doe I merueill that they being so manie the Proclamer coulde for shame saie
certentie also of this matter ys added when he saieth that we eate the lambe wherby he meneth the Lambe that taketh awaie the sinnes of the worlde Iesus Chryst that innocent Lambe figured by the olde Paschall lambe Likewise saing that we eat the flesh of the shepe he meneth the flesh of Chryst who ys he Qui tanquam ouis ad occisionem ducebatur tanquam agnus coram se tondente obmutescebat non aperiebat os suum who as a shepe was ledde to Esay 53. be slain and as a lambe before the sherer did holde his peace and did not open his mouthe Finallie that in this discourse he speaketh of the verie reall presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament and that we verilie and substanciallie receaue yt and be nourished with yt his last woordes doe inuinciblie prooue Sinners receaue the bodie of Chryst in the Sacr. not spirituallie but yet reallie In whiche mouing a question vpon the woordes before saied he saieth Quam satisfact c. what maner of amendes or satisfaction shall we make to him that being in sinne doe receaue soche foode that being wolues doe eate the lambe that being lions doe rauine the flesh of the shepe Nowe certen yt ys both by the doctrine of the Catholique and the Protestant that the sinner eateth not the bodie of Chryst spirituallie wherfore yt must needes be that soche as being wolues and lions in wickednesse of life and doe yet by the doctrine of Chrysostom eate the flesh of the lambe and deuoure the flesh of the shepe forasmoch as ys saied that they doe not eate the flesh of Chryst spirituallie that they eate yt in the Sacrament reallie and substanciallie For this ys well knowen to the Aduersarie that the euell man can not receaue Chrystes bodie but in the Sacrament But Chrysostom saieth that the euell man receaueth the bodie of Chryst Wherfor in the Sacrament Thus if my iudgement fail me not Chrysostom hath by expresse woordes taught vs the reall presence of Chryst in the Sacrament Nowe we shall Reall presence auonched of Chrysost bi circunstāce heare him teach the same by circunstance but so plainlie and euidently that yt can not be against saied The circunstance consisteth in the comparison of the Paschall Lambe and in the woordes of Chryste the sixt of S. Iohn by whiche both he prooueth these woordes of Chryst This ys my bodie to be spoken in their propre sense and to teach vs the reall presence of Chryst in the Sacrament The woordes be these Praecipuam eorum solemnitatem dissoluit ad aliam mensam horroris plenam eos conuocat dicens Accipite comedite Chrys homil 83. in 16. Math. Hoc est corpus meum Quomodò igitur turbati non sunt hoc audientes quia multa magna de hoc antea audierant He dissolueth their cheif Solemnitie and to an other table full of terriblenesse he calleth them saing This ys my bodie Howe then were they not troobled hearing this bicause he had spoken manie and great thinges of this before Thus he In this saing two thinges breiflie noted I passe to the next place The first ys that the other table wherunto Chryst did call his Apostles was full of terriblenesse or trembling whiche sheweth that ther was in that table aboue the table of the Paschall lambe from the whiche they were called some thing that was of soche maiestie that yt was to be feared whiche thing was Table of the old Paschal lambe not terrible as onelie but a figure the table of Chryst ys terrible ād therfor more then a figure not in the other table In the other table was the Paschall lambe a liuelie figure of Chryst our Paschall lambe and in yt Chryst was figuratiuely eaten And although yt were their cheifest solemnitic yet Chrysostom doth not call yt a fearfull table Yf then in that solemne table ther was the figure of Chryst and Chryst was ther figuratiuely eaten and yet that table was not terrible or ful of horroure then in the table of Chryst ys not onelie a figure of Chryst and Chryst figuratiuelie eaten but ther ys a great matter ther that maketh this table to be fearfull What ys that Hoc est corpus meum This ys my bodie For Chrysostom saieth that when Chryst called them to this table he saied This ys my bodie Yf these woordes This ys my bodie did no more but cause the figure of Chrystes bodie to be in the table of Chryst and so Chryste to be eaten in a figure as he was in the table of the Paschall Lambe thē this table had ben no more full of horroure then the other But for so moche as by that sainge of Chryst the table was full of horroure yt argueth as before yt ys alleaged oute of Chrysostome that he so saing with the woorde made also the thing so that as he spake the woorde presentlie so the thing that ys his bodie was ther presentlie For the saing of the woorde and the making of the thing went iointlie togeather Wherby then as yt doth plainly appeare that the bodie of Chryst was present in that table so also dothe yt appeare that the bodie being made present at the saing of these woordes This ys my bodie that these woordes are to be taken and vnderstanded in their propose sense The second note ys that wher Chrysostome moueth a question saing how were not the Apostles troobled when they heard Chryst saie Take eate This ys my bodie He aunswereth that they were not troobled bycause they had heard him speake manie and great thinges of this thing before Wher this vs to be noted that Chryst did not speake moche of this matter but onely in the sixt of sainct Iohns Gospell Nowe yt ys allready prooued that ther Chryst spake of his flesh and his bloode Then if he speaketh here of that he spake of ther then he saing This ys my bodie this ys bloode speaketh here of his verie flesh and verie bloode And so these woordes must be vnderstanded in their propre sense And here ys to be remēbred that the author of Cranmers booke growndeth Crāmers argument agunst the Sacrament an argument as he supposeth vpon a good grownde but in verie dede yt ys vpō the sande against the Sacrament saing that if Chryst had made his bodie in the Sacrament yt being so great a woorke so great a misterie yt shoulde haue ben declared either by Chryst himself shewing the verie thing so to be or by the Euangelistes in processe of the storie or of the cirumstance But for somoche as the Gospell saieth no more but Sacramentaries denie the vi of S. Iohn tospeake of the Sacr. that yt should appeare a matter of no weight breiflie without all preuiall disposition to the doing of the thinge and without all circumstance that he tooke bread and gaue thankes and brake yt and gaue yt to his Disciples saing Take eate This ys my bodie c. Therfor saieth
thought good first to note that being ioinctlie spoken of after the other the first might be corfirmed by this in that that this openeth the place of the speaking of yt And this by that manie somwhat be explained in that yt declareth that Chryst spake ther manie and great thinges which in this place be not so farre reported Ther seemeth betwixpt these two places of Chrysostom to be a contradiction the dissolucion of whiche shall bringfurth some good matter meit for Two sainges of Chrysost conferred and conciled this place The contradiction ys this in the first sentence saing Quomodò igitur turbati non sunt discipuli hoc audientes howe were the disciples not troobled hearing this he geueth vs to vnderstand that the Apostles were so staied and confirmed that when Chryst spake to them comaunding them to eate his bodie they were not neither coulde be troobled In this sentence he saieth thatChryst did first drinke of his bloode lest they shoulde saie Wherfor then doe we drinke blood and eate slesh and therfor shoulde be troobled Wherby contrariwise he semeth to insinuate that they were not perfect but wolde haue ben troobled But these two sainges well weighed ther shall be fownde no contradiction but raither strong euident matter for the opening of the trueth nowe declared Wherfor this ys to be noted that in the sirst sentence Chrysostom spake of the faith of the Apostles as concerning this misterie And as touching their saith they were not troobled at the straunge sownde of Chrystes woordes who bid them take and eate his bodie and drinke his blode who otherwise if they had not ben staied in faith being fullie instructed and fullie perswaded they wolde haue ben troobled at the hearing of soche woordes but they were resolued and therfor wolde not depart and go backe from Chryste as other disciples did but when Chryst asked them will yowe also go awaie They answered Domine ad quem ibimus verba vitae aeternae habes Lorde to whom shall we go Thowe hauest the woordes of euerlasting life They had taken a good tast in the woordes of Chryst though they were repugnaunt to their naturall knowledge Wherfor they subdewed their naturall The Apostles hearing Chystes woordes Take eate this ys my bodie were not troobled in faith knowledge to the heauenly and spirituall knowledge and so perceaued euerlasting life in his woordes Therfore hearing this newe and straunge voice Take eate This ys my bodie Drinke this ys my blood that yt was so in dede as Chrvst spake they beleued most certenlie And therfor in faith they were not troobled For if they had they wolde haue vttered their doubte with a Quomodò howe as they did that were troobled and saied Quomodò potest hic nobis dare carnem suam ad manducandum Howe can this felowe geue vs his flesh to eate And as our men in these daies trobled likewise in faith doe shewe their doubte with a Quomodò with an howe asking howe can Chryst be in the Sacrament with manie soche like questions But the Apostles were deliuered from this trooble and therfor saieth Chrysostom they were not trobled that ys they were not troobled in faith That he meneth they were not troobled in faith his woordes doe declare when he asketh howe were not the Apostles troobled hearing these woordes So that their troble shoulde be vpon the hearing of Chrystes woordes But forasmoche as faith ys of hearing and by hearing Chryst before they had conceaued faith therfor faith by the hearing of these woordes which before by hearing were beleued was not nowe troobled Whiche also this Chrysostome saieth in his answer geuing a cause why they were not trobled Quia multa magna de hoc antè disseruerat Bicause he had spoken manie and great thinges of this before so that by the hearing of these manie and great thinges they were nowe quieted in faith In the seconde sentence wher he sheweth a thing to be doen by Chryst lest they shoulde be troobled he doth not speake of their trooble in faith but of their trooble that mighthaue happened in the execuciō of their faith that ys in the receauing of that bodie and bloode whiche they beleued ther to be reallie present and as verie flesh and verie bloode to be receaued The Apostles beleued the real presence of Chrystes bodie and blood in the Sacr. Wherfor yt ys to be noted that the Apostles beleued in the Sacrament to be not a bare figure as of thing absent but they beleued the verie bodie and bloode of Chryst really present The proofe of this by Chrysostom ys this Yf they had beleued yt to be but a figure and in very dede bread and wine then in the receipt of yt they wolde not haue ben troobled For vnto bread and wine they were accustomed as their vsuall foode But forasmoch as they beleued yt to be the verie flesh and verie blood of Chryst the receipt wher of being both straunge and to oure nature lothsome and speciallie the flesh and blood of a man as Theophilact saieth therfor as they were not troobled in the beleuing so that they shoulde not be trobled in Chryst to induce his Apost without lothsomnesse to eat his flesh and drinke his blood did first eat ād drinke thē himself the receauing of yt Chryst to induce them by his example and to remoue the lothsomnesse of nature abhorring to eate the flesh of man and to drinke his bloode did drinke first vt tranquillo animo saieth Chrysostom ad communicationem mysteriorū induceret That he might induce them with a quiet minde to receaue the misteries Cōsider with yowr self if they had beleued yt to be but bread whie should thei not receaue yt with quiet mind yf yt were wine why shoulde they not drinke yt quietlie And if they were soche thinges what needed Chryst to drinke before them to induce them and to quiet them Did they neuer eate bread before Did they neuer drinke wine before Perchaunce the Aduersaries will saie that they neuer eate bread and drāke wine in that sort before For nowe they did eate bread and drinke wine as the figures of Chrystes bodie and bloode Ys this a sufficient cause to trooble them Had they neuer before eaten any thing as the figure of Chryst Had they not euen a litle before eaten the Paschall lambe a verie liuely figure of Chryst Had they not hearde that Melchisedech did eate and drinke bread and wine in the figure of Chryste Had they not heard that Manna was eaten and the water of the rocke dronken in the figure of Chryst Was this matter so straunge to them that they shoulde be trobled No yt was not this but yt was for the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of Chryst whiche for that that yt was neuer in vse before yt was very straunge to them and for that yt was against nature yt was lothsome and therfor they might verie well haue ben troobled
sit eo manifestè dicente Hoc est corpus meum sed potius suscipe verbum Cirill ad Calosyriū Chrystes woordes manifest and without doubt saluatoris in side Cùm enim sit veritas non mentitur Doubt not whether this be true or no seing that he manifestlie saieth This ys my bodie But raither receaue the woord of our Sauiour in faith For lie forasmoch as he ys tureth he lieth not Weigh these fewe woordes of S. Cyrill well gentle Reader and first that he willeth Calosirius not to doubte whether this that Christ manifestlie saied This ys my bodie be true or no. For in that he willed him and by him all chrystians not to doubte what clls willeth he but that al errour heresie opinion wandering wauering and colde faith shoulde be remoued and firme suro and fast faith should be geuen to the woordes of Chryst This ys my bodie S. Cyrill she weth the Proclamer plain woordes whiche woordes he saieth be manifest Yf they be manifest then they haue no obscure sense then they must be taken in the sense that manifestlie lieth open before vs. That sense ys the grāmaticall sense Then the figuratiue sense ys taken awaie For that sense as the woordes be nowe spoken ys not manifest but obscure Then also must the Proclamer subscribe For by the iudgemente of S. Cyrill the woordes of Chryst be manifest Yf they be manifest as vndoubtedlie they be then ther ys one scripture that manifestly teacheth the presence of Chrystes bodie Again sainct Cyrill saieth that forasmoche as Chryst ys the trueth he lieth not but he taking the bread and wine saied This ys my bodie Therfore he being the trueth and lieng not the thinges were as he saied then were they his bodie and bloode For so saied he that they were Yf the bread and wine he saing Thys ys my bodie This ys my bloode were not made by his allmightie power and woorde the bodie and blood of Chryst these woords being spoken by demōstraciō of certain singular things in nature without anie circūstance to declare anie other sense vpō these woordes then in the first hearing they sownde to haue Yf I saie these creatures remain still in their nature and substances and be but figures of Chrystes bodie and blood then I saie that Chrystes woordes were not true For he saied that they were his bodie and bloode And by the opinion of the Aduersarie they be not so but bread and wine figures of Chrystes bodie and blood Forasmoche as my cheef pourpose ys to helpe and staie them in their faith that be vnlearned to whome quiddities in learning be raither trooblesom then pleasaunt or profitable I haue determined not to dispute with the Proclamer in anie quidditie or ells I wolde somwhat haue saied to him for The Proclamer to disgrace our faith plaieth with indiuidū vagum that yt liketh him to dallie and to aske where we finde that this woord hoc in english this poincteth not the bread but indiuiduum vagum For if yt shall be his phantasie to disgrace the trueth before the comon people by plaing with some quidditie that they can not vnderstand he maie so soen disgrace our faith in the holie and blessed Trinitie For if he lyst so to plaie he might moue matter of the distinction and relacion of the persons and by soche toieng bring the people to stagger in their faith in the blessed Trinitie as by this mockerie of the demonstracion he wolde make them fall from their faith of the blessed Sacrament Yt were conuenient that as the people should be taught simplie to beleue in God the Father God the Sonne and God the holie Gost and not to be troobled with the learned quiddities of the generacion of the Sonne of the spiracion as touching the holie Goste of the procession of the same from the Father and the Sonne and with the distinction and relacion of the persons so shoulde they be taught simplie to beleue as the scripturs doe teache and the holie fathers doe declare and expownde the same that the bodie and bloode of our Sauiour Chryst euen People are simplie to be taught not with Quiddities full Chryst God and man after the consecracion which as before ys declared ys doen by the secrett power of God by the worke of the holy Goste at the pronunciacion of Chrystes woordes by his sufficient mynister ys verilie reallie substanciallie and naturally present in the Sacrament and not to be troobled with demonstracions with accidentes with substances with placing of that bodie circumscriptiuelie definitiuelie by the maner of substance or by the maner of quantitie For these matters are for learned men to dispute not for good Chrystian vnlearned people to call in question of beleue In the schooles yt had ben a meit matter to dispute in the pulpitie yt was no matter to teache to edifie But yt liked him to talke of soche quiddities bicause by their obscuritie and darkenesse they being vnpleasaunt vnto the people shoulde the more myslike them and by that means haue the redier waie to deface the catholique faith and to sett vppe his heresie But I minding for that litle that in me ys to maintein that holie faith of Chryst my Sauiour that ys taught in his catholique Churche I will leaue these quiddities and simplie treact of the thing that we haue in hande And therfore nowe returning to Cyrill from whom I haue a litle digressed I saie with him that Chryst being trueth and saing This ys my bodie yt must nedes be as he saied and so simplie we must beleue the bodie and blood of Chryst according Cyrillus ibidem to his woorde to be present in the Sacrament Whiche thing as he saied here that Chryst manifestlie saied Thys ys my bodie So he manifestlie in the same epistle after a fewe lines doth open and Chryst turneth the bread into his owne verie flesh declare to be true wher he thus writeth Ne horreremus carnē et sanguinē apposita sacris altaribus cōdescendēs Deus nostris fragilitatibus instuit oblatis vim vitae cōuertēs ea in veritatē propriae carnis vt corpus vitae quasi quoddā semē viuificatiuū inueniatur in nobis That we shoulde not loath flesh and bloode sett vpon the holie aultars God condescending to our fragilities hath powred into the thinges offred the power of life conuerting or turning them into his verie owne flesh that the bodie of life maie be fownde in vs as a certain quickning seede For that I haue vpon this place of Cyrill saied somthing allreadie I will nowe no more but note vnto yowe howe manifestlie howe apertlie and howe plainlie he teacheth vs not onely that the bodie of Chryst ys in the Sacrament but also the meanes howe yt ys ther which ys that God turneth the bread sett vpon the holie aulanrs into his verie flesh After this he rendreth to vs two Two causes whie the substāce in the Sacr. being
exposition of the Aduersaries so ys yt consonaunte and agreable to the doctrine and exposition of the elders In the next chapter before this yowe sawe the exposition of Euthymius vpō these woordes of Chryst not vnlike vnto this but altogether like Euth in 26. Matt. Doctrine of the Sacramentarie contrarie to the sathers bothe in woordes and sentence yt ys not saieth he a figure of Chrystes bodie but his bodie not a figure of hys bloode but his bloode Wherfore Reader when thowe seeist the authours agree and agreyng saie the contrarie of that that the Aduersarie teacheth thowe maist be well adsured that the doctrine of the Aduersarie ys false Wherfore seing yt plain before thine eyes flee the falhead and cleaue to the trueth The third note also maketh for the declaracion of this matter that he alleaging the sixt of sainct Iohn referreth yt to the Sacrament in the same sense that he vnderstoode Chrystes other woordes which ys as Theophilact also vpon the same sixt of sainct Iohn saieth Non figura carnis sed caro med est Not a figure of my flesh but yt ys my flesh So that by these authours the sixt of S. Iohn perteineth to the Sacrament notwithstanding the contrarie saing of Luther and Oecolampadius and other of that rable In which chapter ys promised the geuing not of a figure of his flesh but his verie flesh And as yt was ther promised verilie to be geuen so was the same to the accomplishment of the same promesse in verie dede deliuered and receaued euen the verie flesh and verie blood of Iesus Chryst and not the onelie figure of them The fourte note also whiche ys for the due receauing of the Sacrament geueth also light to the vnderstanding of the presence of Chrystes verie bodie in the Sacrament But for that the conuenient place to speake of this matter ys in the thirde booke we shall not here trooble the reader with all We haue nowe seen a goodlie and an euident testimonie testifieng howe Chrystes woordes were vnderstanded in the greke Church we will likewise heare one that shall declare the vnderstanding of them in the latin Church Who shall be Haymo who vpon these woordes of Chryst writeth thus Expletis solemnijs veteris Paschae transit Dominus ad sacramenta noui Paschae demonstranda Haymo in 26. Matth Postquam coenauit dedit eis panem vinum in mysterio videlicet corporis sanguinis sui Quia enim panis cor hominis confirmat vinum anget sanguinem in homine meritò idem panis in carnem Domini mutatur idem vinum in sanguinem Domini transfertur non per figuram neque per vmbram sed per veritatem Credimus enim quia in veritate caro est Christi similiter sanguis The Solemnities of the olde passeouer being fullfilled our Lord goeth to shewe the sacramentes of the newe Passouer After he had supped he gaue them breade and wine in mysterie Breadchaūged into the bodie and wine into the blood of Chryst not in figur but in trueth that ys of his bodie and bloode Bicause bread doeth make strong the heart of man and wine encreaseth blood in man therfor the same bread ys verie well chaunged into the flesh of Chryst and the same wine ys transferred into the blood of our Lorde not by figure nor by shadowe but by trueth For we beleue that in verie dede yt ys the flesh of Christe and likewise that yt ys hys bloode Thus moch Haymo Yowe see nowe here in the latin Church also a goodlie testimonie and a clere exposition of Chrystes woordes so clere and plain that I shall not nede to trauaill to open the same but onely I haue thought good to note to thee Reader the goodlie order that this authour obserueth in his exposition First he ioneth our newe Passouer to the olde as the verie trueth to the figure whiche being in place the figure vanisheth awaie Wherbie yt ys consequent that yf the Passouer whiche Chryst did institute were the trueth whiche the olde passouer did prefigurate that the newe Passeouer was a true thing in dede and not a bare figure For otherwise shoulde the figure be the figure of a figure and not of a trueth which ys against the nature of a figure And when he had thus ioined the trueth to the figure he declareth whē yt was doen saing that after he had supped he gaue them bread and wine in the mysterie of his bodie and bloode Then proceading he geueth a cause whie Chryst vsed bread and wine in this mysterie of his bodie and blood bicause saieth he the materiall bread comforteth the heart and the materiall wine encreaseth the blood therfor to signifie that as these twoo things doe A chaunge in the Sacr. in trueth not in figure woorke ther effectes in our material bodies so thy being transmuted and chaunged into heauenlie bread and wine of Chrystes bodie and blood the bread of the life they woorke the like effect spirituallie in our soules And forasmoche as he had saied that the bread and wine be turned and chaunged into the bodie and bloode of Chryst he immediatelie teacheth howe yt ys chaunged They are chaunged saieth he not by figure nor by shadowe sed per veritatem but in verie dede whiche ys asmoche to saie as yt ys chaunged or turned into the verie flesh and blood of Chryst in verie dede and not into a bare Sacramentall bread as the Aduersarie tearmeth ys Now as I haue doen with Damascē so will I with this authour first cōferr this dictrine with the doctrine of the elders to see howe they agree and after the doctrine of the aduersarie both that yt maie appeare which of thē best agree with the auncient Churhe and whether ther be anie iust cause why the Aduersarie shoulde reiect this authour or his likes This authour Greg. Nissen serm cathec de diuinis Sacramen saieth that the bread ys chaunged into the bodie of our Lorde and the wine into his bloode doeth not among the elders the great elder Gregorie Nissen vse the like woordes Quamobrem saieth he rectè nunc etiam Dei verbo sanctificatum panem in Dei Verbi corpus credimus immutari Wherfor we doe nowe also verie well beleue the bread that ys sanctified by the woorde of God to be chaunged into the bodie of the sonne of God See ye not then that the doctrine which Haymo here teacheth of the transmutacion chaunging or turning of the bread into the bodie of Chryst Trāsubstāciacōn that ys chaunge of bread ād wine into the bodie and bloode of Chryst a matter of faith which nowe the Church tearmeth Transubstantiacion ys an auncient doctrine and if yowe will conferre them diligentlie ye shall haue occasion to thinke that this authour Haymo did in this matter folowe Gregorie Nissen their sainges be so like For as Gregorie maketh this matter of the chaunging of the bread into the bodie of Chryst no matter
infunditur irrorat mentes piorum obdulcat fauces corum Thowe askest me why the Lord God did rain Manna to the people of the Fathers and nowe he doth not rain Yf thow knowest he raineth now and dailie he raineth Manna froÌ„ heauen vnto them that serue him And in diuerse places the same corporall Manna ys nowe fownde but yt ys not nowe a thing of so great miracle for that ys comed that ys perfecte But that perfecte ys the bread from heaueÌ„ Howe moche more excellent are these then the other aboue rehersed whiche ys the bodie born of the virgen of the whiche the gospell sufficient lie teacheth Howe moche more excellent are these then the other aboue rehersed Who soeuer did eate that Manna that ys that bread they are dead But this bread whosoeuer eateth shal liue for euer But this ys a spiritual Manna that ys the spirituall rain of wisdom whiche ys powred into them from heauen that be wittie and do seke yt and yt dothe dewe the mindes of the Godlie and maketh swete their Iawes hitherto S. Ambrose Of whom we maie learn as ys before saied that not onelie the woord and Oecolap his shaÌ„ful abusing of the auncieÌ„t Fathers namelie of S. Ambr. wisdom of God ys called Manna but also the bodie of Chryste whiche was born of the virgen whiche he calleth perfecte Manna And here yt ys not to be ouerpassed that Oecolampadius the enemie of this Sacrament who of indurate malice wrote a booke against the same in the whiche to the entent he might more easilie deceaue the vnlearned and simple as to make them beleue that the holie fathers were of his side he vseth to alleage diuerse of theÌ„ but so that somtime he doth wrest them shamefullie some time he falfifieth them somtime he corrupteth them somtime he truncateth them somtime alleaging them and taking vpon him trulie to reporte them he doth mutylate them in the middest of their sainge as impudenilie and wickedlie he doth vse S. Ambrose here in this place last alleaged of the whiche for that he perceaued yt made against him he left oute a sentence whiche I haue noted in the margen both the latin and the english to the entent ye shoulde perceaue the sentence alone and with all see howe that wicked man ioined the rest of the sentence to gether mutilating and cutting this awaie This ys the sinceritie of heretikes in handling of matters of faith and religion And thus maie ye see what credite they be wourthie of By this ye maie perceaue also whether they offende of ignorance of simplicitie or ells of deuelish malice Ys not this deuelish malice that seing a sentence in the middest that impugneth his heresie he cutteth yt of and peiceth yt together again as though ther were nothing lacking Did not his conscience trowe ye reprehend him wheÌ„ he did yt Ys not he the childe of his father Sathan that seeth and perceiueth that this waie ys naught and wicked and yet by gile and crafte will trauaill to induce men into yt and bringing manie to damnacioÌ„ aggrauate his owne euen as his father doth I haue thought good reader here to aduertise thee of their impostures that though they sett oute their doctrine with neuer so good a countenance of holinesse learning and consent or testimonie of holie Fathers yet be well assured that vnder the faire countenaunce of the enemie of mankinde tempting our mother Eue ther was a mortiferouse serpent vnder his swete woordes which to well liked the hearer was most bitter falshood and vntrueth Vnder the sweet woordes of Heretiques lieth bitter poisoÌ„ of falshead In that goodlie pleasaunt and delctable aple was cruell and horrible death and damnacion so in their faire countennance ye shall finde serpentine infection in their woordes falshead errour and heresie and in the taking of their doctrine or consenting to yt plain damnacion But nowe that ye maie perceaue howe moche this sentence whiche denelishlie he cutt of dothe impugne his doctrine and make for the trueth I will somwhat open the same and so shall ye perceaue that of sett pourpose and of very malice he left yt oute S. Ambrose answering Irenaeus saieth that Manna nowe a daies though yt be fownde in many places at this present time yt ys not a thing of so great miracle He addeth the cause bicause saieth be that ys nowe comed that ys perfect as who might saie The figures of the lawe though manie of theÌ„ when they were in vse were great thinges and semed to be merueilouse yet when the thinges came of the whiche they were figures they were not so merueilouse like as the light of a torche in the night time semeth to be a great light a very perfect light yet in the daie the brigth beames of the Sunne shining and glistering yt ys but an vnperfecte and almost no light so the figures of the olde lawe compared to the thinges figured in the newe lawe Wherfor Manna being but a figure of that perfect thing the bodie of Chryst when that once came in place Manna appeared to be but an vnperfect thinge When S. Ambrose had made this comparison of the figure to the thing figured and sawe the perfectioÌ„ of the one and the impefection of the other the excellencie of the one and the weaknesse or basenesse of the other he brought in this senteÌ„ce which OecolaÌ„padius left oute Quanto sunt praestaÌ„tiora haec superioribus Howe moche more excellent are these then the other aboue rehersed howe moche more excellent ys the bodie born of the virgen our verie true Manna and the right bread of heauen whiche we feade vpon in the Sacrament then Manna whiche the Iewes did eate And here note SacrameÌ„taries to maintein their heresie denie the excellencie of the Sacramentes of the newe lawe again gentle reader that this wicked man and other his complices who denie as ye perceaue the presence of Chryst in the blessed Sacrament do also as wickedly teache that the Sacramentes of the newe lawe geue no grace And to maintain these two euell and wicked opinions they take the third against the trueth that all Chrystes Churche receaued whiche ys that the Sacramentes of the newe lawe are of no more excellencie then the Sacramentes of the olde lawe For yf they shoulde graunt that they were more excellent then must they nedes also admitte the Sacrament of Chrystes bodie and bloode to be more theÌ„ a bare sign figure or token of his bodie And so must be enforced to graunt the presence Nowe by cause Oecolampadius impugneth that presence and fowde in S. Ambrose that he taught that the Oecolamp his best soliâ—cion to S. Amb. argumet thinges of the newe testament are more excellent then thinges of the olde and sawe that he was pressed with the weight of S. Ambrose his argument he had no better solucion then clean to leaue yt oute and so to shippe yt ouer I trust ye perceaue that this litle
the tables and the cōmunion of the sacramentes there to be in a darke maner set furth yf thowe do not again aske all of me but so requirest those thinges that be doen as yt ys mete in the shadowing and figures to see Therfor bicause he had saied of the Sea and of the clowde and of moyses he added fardermore And all haue eaten one spirituall meate as thowe saieth he ascending from the bathe or washing of waters doest runne to the table So they also going vppe from the sea came to a newe and a merueilouse table I speake of Māna and again as thow hauest a wonderfull drinke the wholsome bloode so they also had a wonderfull nature of drinke Hitherto Chrysostome Who hath declared euery part of these matters that here are to be sett furth In the beginning of his saing he confowndeth the Aduersarie in that he so plainlie saieth that the veritie must haue a certain excellencie aboue the figure Thē forasmoche as Baptisme ys the veritie and the sea the figure Baptisme ys more excellent then the sea Likewise Manna and the water being the figure of the Sacrament of the bodie of Chryst and of his bloode then the Sacrament of the bodie and blood of Chryste ys more excellent then Manna for the veritie ys more excellent then the figure That Manna and the water be figures of the Sacrament he dothe most manifestlie declare when he Oure drinke the wholsome blood of Chryste saieth I will shewe thee the tables and the cōmunion of the Sacramentes ther to be in figurs sett furth And proceading to shewe what Sacramentes be settfurth there he dothe applie the one to the other saing As thowe coming vppe saieth he from the fonte of baptisme runnest to the table So they from the sea to Manna As thowe hauest a wonderfull drinke whiche ys the wholsom bloode of Chryst so they the water of the stone In this ys plainly taught whiche be the figures whiche be the verities The Sea Manna and the waters be the figures Baptisme Chrystes bodie and Chrystes bloode be the verities For although Chrysostom in the applicacion of Manna doth but put the table as the veritie what he ment by the table he well declareth in the applicacion of the water to the veritie where he saieth As thowe drinkest wonderfull drinke the wholsome bloode So they the water Wherby as in this by expresse woordes he declareth the bloode to be the veritie of the water being the figure so by the table wherin that holie Sacrament ys ministred he ment the bodie of Chryst whiche after a fewe lines he opēly speaketh saing Sicut autem dixit quòd omnes per mare transierunt Sic nobilitatem Ecclesiae praefigurauit cùm dixit Eundem cibum spiritualem comederunt Hoc idem rursus insinuauit Sic enim in Ecclesia nou aliud corpus diues aliud verò pauper neque alium quidem sanguinem ille alium autem iste Sic Itunc non aliud quidem accipiebat Riche and poore eate all one bodie and drinke all one blood diues Manna alium verò pauper neque alterius fontis iste particeps erat alterius verò in digentioris ille As he hath saied that all haue goen through the sea so he hath perfigurated the nobilitie of the churche when he saied They haue eaten all one spirituall meat he hath insinuated the same again for so yt ys in the Church For the riche man receaueth not one bodie and the poore man an other neither he one maner of blood and this an other So also then the riche mā did not take of one Manna and the poore man of an other neither was this man partaker of one fountain and he of a woorse In this saing Chrysostome making an other comparison betwixt the figure and the veritie he sheweth what he ment by the table in the place first alleaged For here he calleth yt the bodie saing that the riche man doth not receaue one bodie and the poore man an other no more then the riche man did receaue one Manna and the poore man an other but as all eate one Manna in the figure So all indifferentlie eate one bodie in veritie For the poore lazar receaueth that same bodie of Chryst that the kinge dothe Whiche by the waie to note I wish all men of power and honour to remēbre and consider that God contemneth not the miserable and wretched but receaueth all and dispiseth none but the wicked And as he ys no acceptour of persons in the receipt of his Sacramentes no more ys he in the receauing to his glorie For poour Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham when the great riche man was in tormentes But to return to our matter Chrysostome yet in the same homelie declaring why S. Paule maketh mencion of these thinges saieth Sed cuius gratia horum memoriam adsert beatus Paulus Ob causam quam principio Chry. Jbid. vobis dixi vt discas quòd neque Baptisma neque peccatorum remissio neque scientia neque sacramentorum Communio neque sacra mensa neque fruitio corporis neque participatio fanguinis neque aliud horum prodesse nobis poterit nisi vitam rectam admirabilem omni peccato liberam habeamus Neither the fruitiō of Chrystes bodie nor the partaking of hys blood auaileth without good lif But wherfor doeth S. Paule make mencion of these thinges for the cause whiche I tolde yowe in the beginninge that thowe shouldest learn that neither Baptisme neither remission of sinnes neither knowledge neither the cōmunion of the sacramentes neither the holie table neither the fruicion of the bodie neither the partaking of the blood neither anie thing of these can auaill vs except we haue a life right and comēdable and free from all sinne Thus Chrysostom In whiche his saing ye perceaue how plainlie he teacheth the receipt of the bodie and bloode of Chryst in the Sacrament reallie and in very dede and not figuratiuelie or spirituallie And this ys the proofe of yt Chrystes bodie maie be 〈…〉 For he saieth that the receipt of the bodie and blood of Chryst profiteth nothing except we haue a godlie life withal Nowe the spirituall receauing of Chryst includeth a godlie life with all For to receaue Chryst spirituallie ys hauing the remembrance of Chrystes passion and death to receaue him by faith and charitie whiche can not be withoute a godlie life For where perfect faith and perfecte charitie ys ther ys a man of perfecte and holie life and he that ys of that sorte receaueth Chryst spirituallie But here Chrysostom speaketh of the receipt of the bodie of Chryst withoute holie life whiche must nedes be spoken and ment of the bodie of Chryst in the Sacrament Whiche as yt was receaued by Iudas he being then a wicked man so maie yt be receaued of other that be wicked and not of holie life but then as Chrysostome saieth yt profiteth nothing but yt raither hurteth
yt was receaued then and comparing it to the auncient Church the faith of whiche we haue hearde by soche as hetherto haue ben alleaged ye shall be sure that ye shall not be deceaued of the very true auncient faith Nowe therfore let vs heare these two and first Haimo He expowndeth the text of Sainct Paule nowe in hande on this wise Haimo 1. Cor. 10. Et omnes eandem spiritualem escam manducauerunt Et omne eundem potum c. Manna quod de caelo id est de isto aere eis datum est Et aquam quae de Petra sluxit dicit spiritualia esse vel quia spiritualiter intelligenda sunt significabant enim corpus sanguinem Domini quod modò consecratur percipitur in Ecclesia vel quia non mundana lege consuetudine parata sunt Manna whiche was geuen The bodie and bloode of our Lorde are cōsetrated in the church them from heauen that ys from this aier and the water whiche flowed from the stone he saieth to be spirituall either bicause they are spirituallie to be vnderstanded For they signifie the bodie and blood of our Lorde whiche ys nowe consecrated and receaued in the Churche Or ells bicause they were prepared not after the lawe and custome of worldlie thinges Hitherto Haimo In whose exposition ye haue to perceaue two causes whiche he assigneth wherfor the Apostles called Manna and the water spirituall meat and spirituall drinke The one was that they be spiritually to be vnderstanded What the spirituall vnderstanding of them ys he declareth They did signifie saieth he the bodie and blood of Chryst In the whiche he agreeth with the rest before alleaged that Manna and the water were figures of the bodie and blooode of Chryst But nowe to come to the poinct of the controuersie of what bodie of Chryst were they figures of his bodie corporall or spirituall Attend and marke well what he saieth They signified saieth he the bodie and bloode of our Lorde whiche ys nowe consecrated and receaued in the churche In this saing the doubte ys dissolued and the matter ys opened For yt ys the very bodie of of Chryst reallie and substanciallie in the Sacrament that was figured by Manna And this ys proued by the woorde Consecrated whiche he vseth saing the bodie and blood of Chryste be consecrated in the blessed Sacrament Although this woorde Consecracion be a woorde that the Aduersaries can not abide yet yt ys more manifest then that they can denie that yt ys a woorde from whose vse the graue and auncient Authours did not alhorre but did vse yt as yt ys beforesaied and declared oute Consecraciō what yt ys of Chrysostome Sainct Ambrose and other wher also yt ys taught by Chrysostome what consecracion ys whiche to vse his tearmes ys to make the bodie and blood of Chryst of the thinges sett furth vpon the table Wherby he meneth the bread and wine where also he declareth who doth consecrate and by what woordes the consecracion ys doen. As touching him that doth consecrate he saieth yt ys not man but Chryste himself who was crucified for vs. By what woordes consecracion ys doen he sheweth thus Hoc est ait corpus meum Hoc verbo proposita consecrantur De pro. Iu. Hom. 30. This ys saieth he mening Chryst my bodie With this woorde saieth Chrysostom the thinges settfurth that ys the bread and wine are consecrated But where vnto are they consecrated into the bodie and bloode of Chryst as Chrysostom hath saied And herevnto also Sainct Ambrose ys a witnesse who saieth Non erat Lib. 4. de Sac. cap. 4. corpus Christi ante consecrationem sed post consecrationem dico tibi quod iam corpus est Christi Ipse dixit factum est ipse mandauit creatum est Yt was not the bodie of Chryst before the consecracion But after the consecracion I saie to thee that nowe yt ys the bodie of Chryste He hath saied and yt was made he hath commaunded and yt was created And leest the Aduersarie shoulde cauille and saie that the bread after The cauill of sacramētall bread impugned the woordes come to yt ys Sacramentall bread and therfore yt maie take vpon yt the name of the thing of whiche yt ys a Sacrament and so meneth Sainct Ambrose To this maie be saied that that glose ys to violent for so plain woordes For yt ys to be thought that Sainct Ambrose wolde not haue saied with soche a vehement maner of speache that yt ys the bodie yf yt shoulde be but called the hodie and not be the bodie in dede For this maner of speache I saie vnto thee that nowe yt ys the bodie of Chryst importeth an other maner of force of the thing that ys spoken of to be so in dede then to be so called And that he ment no lesse then he saied his owne woordes in the same chapiter proue where obiecting against him self in the person of a weake man at the seight of the Sacrament he saieth thus Tu fortè dicis meus panis Amb. ibid. est vsitatus Sed panis iste panis est ante verba Sacramentorum vbi accesserit consecratio de pane fit caro Christi Thowe perchaunce saiest Yt ys my vsuall bread But this bread before the woordes of the Sacramentes ys bread but when the consecracion cometh to yt of the breade ys made the flesh of Chryst In these woordes of Sainct Ambrose yt maie well be perceaued that he meneth that the bodie of Chryst ys in the Sacrament substanciallie and not that the Sacramentall bread as they tearme yt ys onely so called For the flesh of Chryst ys made of the bread the substance of the bread being turned into the substance of the flesh of Chryst by the Almightie power of God thorough the worke of the holie Gost as Sainct Cyprian testifieth Panis quem Dominus Discipulis edendum porrigebat non effigie sed natura De coena Domini The bread chaunged in nature ys made flesh mutatus omnipotentia Verbi factus est caro The bread whiche our Lorde gaue to his disciples to eate being chaunged notin outwarde forme but in nature by almightinesse of the woorde ys made flesh Sainct Ambrose saieth the flesh of Chryste ys made of the bread Sainct Cyprian saieth that the bread by the allmightinesse of the woorde ys made flesh And that this shoulde not seme vnpossible though yt be wonderfull Theophilacte maketh a very apte similitude sainge Et ne quem conturbet quod credendus sit panis caro Etenim in carne ambulante Domino ex pane alimoniam admittente panis ille qui manducabatur in corpus eius mutabatur c. And let yt not trooble anie man that the bread ys to be beleued flesh For when our Lorde walked in the flesh and receaued the foode of bread the same bread whiche was eaten was chaunged into his bodie and was made Whie ther
beleued Chryst to be in the Sacrament he doth well open in this his applicacion where he saieth that the receipt of the vertue of the spirituall meat and drinke whiche ys the bodie and bloode of Chryst ys not to be proporcioned according to the quantitie of the visible formes of bread and wine In the whiche woordes he plainlie declareth that the meate of the Sacrament figured by Manna ys the bodie and bloode of Chryst But here the Aduersaries will saie that this Authour ys on ther parte For he calleth yt spirituall meate and drinke wherby he meeneth the spirituall Obiection of spirituall meat and drinke answered receipt of Chrystes bodie spirituallie and not corporallie Call to remembrance what ys saied of this in the eighte chapiter of this booke wher ther be causes assigned vpon the saing of S. Augustin why the bodie of Chryste ys called spirituall meat and yt shall answer the Aduersarie fullie And yet I shall adde the saing of Sainct Ambrose to the vtter discomfiting of the Aduersarie whiche teacheth the bodie of Chryst to be in the Sacrament For he declaring Manna to be the figure of yt proueth by that and by an other excellent reason that the bodie of Chryst in the Sacrament ys a spirituall bodie In Sacramento Christus est quia corpus est Christi Auibr de myst ca. 9. Non ergo corporalis esca sed spiritualis est Vnde Apostolus de typo eius ait quia patres nostri escam spiritualem manducauerunt potum spiritualem biberunt Corpus enim Dei corpus est spirituale Corpus Christi corpus est diuini spiritus In the Sacrament ys Chryst for yt ys the bodie of Chryst yt ys not therfor corporall meat Wherfor the Apostle also saieth of the figure of yt that our Fathers haue eaten spirituall meat and dronken spirituall drinke The bodie of God ys a spirituall bodie The bodie of Chryste ys the bodie of the diuine spirit Thus moche Sainct Ambrose First teaching the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament he contenteth not himself so to saie but to preuent the obiection of the Aduersarie who Chryste ys the substance of the blessed Sac. will elude this and saie that Chryst ys in the Sacrament as in a sign he saieth not onely that Chryst ys in the Sacrament but he saieth also that the bodie of Chryst ys the Sacrament the substance of bread and wine being chaunged into the substance of the bodie and bloode of Chryste the onely formes of bread and wine remaining And after he hath thus taught he inferreth that therfor yt ys no corporall meat but spirituall meate And to proue this he maketh as yt were two argumentes The first ys that forasmoche as the figures of yt were by Sainct Paule called spirituall meate and spirituall drinke moche more maie yt be called spirituall meat and spirituall drinke The seconde argument ys that the bodie of God ys spirituall and the bodie of Chryst ys the bodie of God wherfor the bodie of Chryst ys spirituall Thus ye see that as Sainct Augustin as yt ys before in the eight Chapiter alleadged calleth the very reall and substanciall bodie of Chryst in the Sacrament spirituall So also doth Sainct Ambrose not that yt ys not a very bodie but bicause in diuerse respectes yt ys spirituall as Sainct Cyrill also saieth Totum corpus viuifica spiritus virtute plenum esse ostendit In 6. Joan. Spiritum enim ipsam carnem nuncùpauit non quia naturam carnis amiserit in spiritum mutata sit sed quia summè cum eo coniuncta totam viuificandi vim hausit Nec turbari propter hoc decet Nam qui Domino conglutinatur vnus cum eo spiritus est quomodò igitur caro sua vna cum eo non appellabitur He sheweth that all his bodie ys full of the quickning power For he calleth his flesh the The flesh of Chryste called a spirit and so a spirituall flesh spirit not that yt had lost the nature of flesh and ys chaunged into the spirit but bicause yt ys so nerelie ioined with him yt hath taken into yt all power to make to liue Neither ys yt decent any man to be troubled for this For he that ys fast ioined with God ys one spirit whithe him Howe then shall not his flesh be called one with him Thus moche Sainct Cyrill Of whome we maie learn that Chryst him self called his flesh a spirit and therfore yt maie well be called spirituall and yet saieth Sainct Cyrill though yt be so called yt hath not lost the nature of flesh but ys both flesh and spirit And therfor well called of these Authours a spirituall flesh a spirituall bodie a spirituall meate and yet allwaies being a very substanciall bodie and a naturall flesh By these Authours yt ys made manifest to you that when they or other do call the bodie of Chryst in the Sacrament a spirituall bodie or a spirituall flesh or as Rupertus doth a spiritual meate yt ys not furthwith after the Aduersaries minde to be made so spirituall that ther shall remain neither bodie nor meat but that by a spirituall vnderstanding by faith we must vnderstand yt a verie bodie verie flesh and yet spirituall for manie causes here and before declared And that this Authour ment euen so yt appeareth well For when he had called yt spirituall meat he furthwith expownded yt and saied that ys to saie the bodie and bloode of Chryst. whiche bodie and bloode he wolde so to be spirituall not that yt shoulde be absent from the Sacrament but raither to be the substance of the Sacrament whiche he doth well insinuate when he saieth that we receaue not the spirituall meat of the bodie and bloode of Chryst according to the quantitie of the visible forme of bread and wine He saieth not according to the quantitie of bread and wine whiche woordes might include their substances but saieth after the maner of the speache of the catholique faith according to the quantitie of the visible formes of bread and wine signifieng the substāces of thē to be absent bicause they be chaunged and maketh mencion onely of the formes And that this was his faith he by most plain woordes declareth in his exposition vpon the same booke of Exodus saing thus Quomodò verbum à summo demissum caro factum est non mutatum in carnem sed assumendo carnem Sic Rupert in Exo. ca. 10 panis vinum vtrumque ab imo subleuatum fit corpus Christi sanguis non mutatum in carnis saporem sed assumendo inuisibiliter vtriusque diuinae scilicet humanae quae in Christo est immortalis substantiae veritatem Proinde sicut hominem qui de virgine sumptus in cruce pependit rectè catholicè Deum confitemur Sic veraciter hoc quod sumimus de sancto altari Christum dicimus agnum Dei praedicamus As the Sonne of God coming down from the high was made
were made partakers of the aultar the answer ys bicause they did eate of the sacrifice Again to applie to the other what ys the cause that the christians be partakers of the bodie and bloode of Chryst shall the answer be bicause they eate a peice of bread and drinke a cuppe of wine no the causes be not like and that cause can not make vs partakers of the bodie and bloode of our Lorde As the Israelites and infidels had their sacrifices so the chrystians haue their sacrifice euē the bread and cuppe of blessing What ys the cause then That that ys like the other whiche ys this Bicause the chrystians do eate of the sacrifice therfore they be partakers of the sacrifice whiche ys the verie bodie and bloode of Chryst For so sainge ther ys a good argument to be made from the liklihood of the causes in eche of thē to the like effectes of eche of them As thus to saie The Israelites bicause they did eate of the sacrifice they were partakers of the Aultar So the Corinthians bicause they did eate of Idolathites whiche were sacrifices of Idolls they were partakers of Idolls Of like maner the christians bicause they eat of the sacrifice of Chryst they be partakers of the bodie and blood of Chryst And thus the disputacion of S. Paule ys of force and prouerh well his entēt And that S. Paule did aswell take the bread of our Lorde and his cuppe to be a sacrisice of the chrystians as the Idolathites of the Corinthians to be the sacrifice of the Infidells euen this doth strongly proue yt that he setteth the table and the cuppe of our Lorde against the table and cuppe of deuells Ye can not saieth he drinke of the cuppe of our Lorde and the cuppe of Deuells Ye can not be partakers of the table of our Lorde and of the table of Deuells In the whiche maner of speache as by the cuppe and table of Deuells he vnderstandeth the sacrifice doen to Deuells so must yt nedes be that by the table and cuppe of our Lorde he vnderstandeth the sacrifice doen to our lorde As yt might in plain maner thus haue ben saied Ye can not eate and drinke of the sacrifice that ys offred vnto God and of the sacrifice that ys offred to Deuells For except they were both sacrifices the setting of the one against the other were of no great force And again yf S. Paule did not aswell take the cuppe and table of our The cuppe and table of oure Lorde takē for the sacrifice of oure Lorde Lorde to be a sacrifice as the cuppe and table of Deuells to be a sacrifice he wolde not haue vsed like termes to them bothe but as he had vnderstāded a difference or diuersitie in the thinges so wolde he haue vsed a diuersitie in woordes and tearmes to expresse and declare the same But for somoche as he vnderstanding therby the sacrifice of deuells called the same the cuppe and table of Deuells yt ys manifest that he calling the meat of our Lorde by the like terms vnderstood the thing also to be like that ys to be a sacrifice In this opening of the text gentle Reader thowe perceauest two thinges Reall presence and sacrifice proued by S. Paule to be here learned of S. Paule The one ys the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode in the Sacrament the other ys that the same bodie and blood be a sacrifice But that yt maie appeare to yowe that this ys not my owne dreame or phantasie in thus vnderstanding S. Paule but the comō sentence of the Fathers of Chrystes Parliament house we shall for triall therof and for better setting furth of Gods trueth and the faith catholique heare the sainges of a In 10. 1. Cor. good nombre of them And first of the auncient Father Chrysostom who expownding this text saieth thus Maximè his sibi verbis fidem facit horrorem Eorum autem huiusmodi est sententia Quod est in calice id est quod à latere fluxit illius sumu◠participes Calicem autem benedictionis appellauit quoniam cùm prae manibus cum habemus cum admiratione horrore quodam inenarrabilis doni laudamus benedicentes quia sanguinem effudit ne in errore permaneremus Neque tantùm effudit sed nos omnes eius participes effecit Itaque si sanguinem cupis inquit noli Idolorum aram brutorum animalium coede sed meum altare meo sanguine aspergere Quid hoc admirabilius Dic quaeso quid amabilius Hoc amantes faciunt cum amatos intuentur alienorū cupiditate allectos propriis elargitis suadent vt ab illis abstineant Sed amantes quidem in pecuniis vestibus possessionibus hanc ostendunt cupiditatem in proprio sanguine nemo vnquam Christus autem in hoc curam vehementem in nos dilectionem ostendit With these woordes he doth gette greatly vnto him self both creditte and feare Of those woordes this ys the mening That that ys in the chalice ys yt that flowed from the side and we are partakers of yt But he hath called yt the cuppe of blessing For when we haue yt before our handes with admiracion and certein A plain saing of Chrysostō for the Proclamer horrour of the vnspeakeable gift we laude blessing that he hath shedde his bloode that we shoulde not abide in errour Neither hath he onely shedde yt but he hath made vs all partakers of yt Therfore if saieth he thowe doest desire blood do not sprenkle the aultar of Idolls with the slaughter of brute beastes but sprenkle mine aultar with my bloode Saie I praie thee What ys more merueilouse then this What ys more louing This do louers also whē they see these whom they loue allured with desire of straunge thinges when they haue geuen frely to them of ther owne they moue thē that they abstein from the other But louers shewe this desire in money in apparell in possessions but in his owne blood no man at anie time hath doen yt But Chryst in this also hath shewed his care and vehement loue towardes vs. Thus moche Chrysostom God for euer and allwaies be praised who although yt be his pleasure Note here that this ys the meaning of St Paules woordes that that ys in the chalice which flowed out of Chryctes side that his church shall be vexed and tried with the fire of tribulacion as at this present yt ys miserablie afflicted shaken and torne yet he leaueth yt not destitute of sufficient staie and comforte of trueth wherby yt maie bothe defende yt self and impugne the enemie as in this authour expownding this scripture we maie well perceaue Doste thowe reader marke the expositiō of the text S. Paule saieth Ys not the cuppe of blessing whiche we blesse a partaking of the bloode of Chryst Chrysostome saieth of these woordes this ys the meaning That that ys in the cuppe ys yt that flowed oute of the side
of figures But neither Oecolampadius doth thinke that we by his bread and wine do cōmunicate with the bodie and bloode of Chryste but he doeth earnestlie affirme that faith alone ys the cause of this cōmunicacion And suerely howe can yt be doen that the very bread and wine An argumēt grownded on S. Paule to auouche the reall presence maie haue that efficacie that yt maie make vs partakers of the bodie and bloode of Chryste Wherfore yt foloweth agreablie that seinge by the eating of this bread and drinking of that liquor whiche ys in the cupp we doe verilie comunicate the bodie and bloode of Chryst that we haue yt for most assured knowledge that here ys present the veritie of the same bodie and blood Thus farre Roffensis I praie thee reader weigh well the saing of this reuerend Father and thowe shalt perceaue that here ys made an argument so pithie and so strong that all the Aduersaries power can not stande against yt For seing the Aduersarie him sellf affirmeth that by the receipt of his Sacramentall bread we be not partakers of the bodie and blood of Chryst which ys true and S. Paule saieth that by this bread and this drink we be made partakers of thē yt must nedes be that this bread and drinke whiche the Apostle speaketh of ys the verie bodie and bloode whiche duely receaued make vs verilie partakers of Chryst Yf the Apostle had not ment this bread and this drinke to be the verie bodie and verie bloode of Chryst he wolde not so plainlie haue tearmed them but in some place he wolde haue called them figures But so he calleth them not in anie place but allwaies by the propre names of bodie and bloode Wherfor to ende and conclude with all these Fathers thus expownding S. Paule ther ys as he ment the verie bodie and bloode THE THREE AND TWENTETH CHAP. BEGINnith the exposition of this text Quoniam vnus panis c. IIn the text of S. Paule yt foloweth Quoniam vnus panis vnum corpus multi sumus omnes qui ex eodem pane et eodē calice participamus 1. Cor. 10. By cause that though we be manie yet we are one bread and and one bodie in asmoche as we all are partakers of one bread and of one cuppe Forasmoche as this text dependeth vpon the other nowe last expownded and ys inferred as a exposition of that that the Apostle spake of ther namely of owre participacion and communion with Chryst and with our selues and speaketh of the same bread and the same cuppe that ys spoken of ther Therfor yt ys manifest that yt must haue the same vnderstanding as yt had I meen that the bread and the cuppe be not Communiō with Christ ys two waies taken for bare figures of the bodie and bloode of Chryst but for the things them selues the very bodie and bloode And wher the Apostle speaketh of our communion with Chryst yt ys to be noted that we haue a double communion with him One ys spirituall whiche we come vnto in baptisme through the worke of the holie Gost of the whiche S. Paule speaketh to the Corinthians saing In vno spiritu omnes nos in vnum corpus baptizati sumus siue 1. Cor. 12. Iudaei siue gentiles siue serui siue liberi By one spiritt are we baptised to make one bodie whether we be Iewes or gentiles whether we be bonde or free And again to the Romans Multi vnum corpus sumus in Christo singuli autem alter alterius membra We being manie are one bodie in Chryst and euery man emonge vs Rom. 12. one and others membres And other corporall whiche we come vnto by the receipt of his bodie and bloode in the Sacrament of whiche S. Paule speaketh here By the first we are admitted and as yt were gaffed into the misticall bodie of Chryst to be membres of the same by the other we are nourished as with an necessarie foode to growe and to waxe strong and to be made lustie membres of the same bodie which thing cometh better to passe for that by this receipt we are incorporated to Chrystes bodie and receaue with all manie goodlie benefittes of spirituall nutriment and spirituall health For as manie meates are both nutritiue and also holsome according to the naturall qualities of the same yf the partie that receaueth them be well disposed in bodie and not troubled with deseases by reason of yll humours So the foode of Chrystes bodie and bloode ys bothe nutritiue and holsome according to the good qualities of mercie grace and goodnesse yf the receauour be not euell disposed by the reason of viciouse humours But in this these two foodes do differ For the earthlie foode being receaued ys incorporated to the receauer and made one with him But this heauenly foode being duely receaued doth incorporate vs to yt Nec tu me mutabis in te sicut cibum carnis tuae sed tu mutaberis in me Neither shalt thow chaunge me into thee as a meat of thy bodie but thowe shalt be chaunged into me As ther ys then a spirituall communion wher by we are ioined to Christ and spiritually made one with him so ys ther a corporall communion by We haue a spirituall cōmunion with Chryste by baptisme and a corporall by the Sacr. of his bodie and blood the whiche we are ioined to Chryst and corporallie made one with him Yf yt were not so why then hath the Apostle taught vs the communion that we haue with Chryst by the holie gost and Baptisme and nowe teacheth vs of an other communion whiche we haue with Chryst by the receipt of his bodie and bloode Yf they will saie that yt ys no other neither of anie other effect then the other by Baptisme and the holy goste then we maie saie to them that then yt ys vainly instituted for thar yt ys supersluouse seing that this cōmunion ys doen before and ys sufficient for the wholl life of man But that maie not be saied for God woorketh nothing in vain Wherfor seing that S. Paule doth saie that all we that do eate of that one bread and drinke of that one cuppe be made one bread and one bodie ther ys an other vnion in the whiche we are ioined all together than yt that we were ioined in before by faith and Baptisme Holie bread receaued instead of the B. Sacrament For yt ys to be thought that none cometh to receaue this Sacrament but soche as be perfect in faith ād be baptised Wherfore in the primitiue church and so to the time of S. Augusting the Cathecumeni that ys the younge scholers or learners of faith were not suffred to receaue this Sacrament but instead therof they receaued other bread blessed as our people now doe whē they doe not cōmunicate they receaue holie bread And thē being baptised and hauing faith the Aduersarie will not denie but that they be membres of Chrystes misticall bodie and haue
be made one bodie and one bread And nowe reader that thowe hauest hearde Chrysostome so plainlie expownding sainct Paule we will leaue him and heare sainct Augustine for he also geueth an vnderstanding of this text on this wise Quia Christus passus est pro nobis cōmendauit nobis in isto sacramento corpus sanguinem suum Quod etiam fecit nos ipsos Nam nos ipsius corpus facti sumus per misericordiam ipsius quod accipimus nos sumus Bicause Chryst hath suffred for vs he commended vnto vs in this Sacrament his bodie and bloode whiche also he hath made our selues For we also are made his bodie and August feria 2. Pasch Chryst hath cōmēded to vs his bodie and blood in the Sacr. by his mercie that we receaue we be In this short saing he hath declared both the mean by the which we are made the bodie of Chryst and that we be the bodie of Chryst First he openeth the mean saing that bicause Chryst hath suffred for vs he hath commended vnto vs in this Sacrament his bodie and bloode Note the speache of sainct Augustin he saieth not that Chryst hath commended vnto vs bicause he hath suffred for vs a figure for a memoriall of that his passion but he saieth by plain woordes that Chryst commended to vs his bodie and bloode And applieng the cause to the effecte afterwarde he saieth By his mercie we be that we receaue Which in plain speache ys that bicause we receaue the bodie of Chryste therfore by his mercie we be the bodie of Chryst And to moue vs to abide in this bodie of Chryst he proceadeth Dic mihi quid est ex quo viuit Spiritus tuus viuit de corpore tuo an corpus ex spiritu tuo Respondet omnis qui viuit Ex spiritu viuo Qui autem hoc non potest respondere nescio an viuat Quid respondet omnis qui viuit Corpus vtique meum viuit de spiritu meo Vis ergo viuere et de spiritu Christi In corpore esto Christi Nunquid enim corpus meum viuit de spiritu tuo Meum viuit de spiritu meo et tuum de spiritu tuo Non potest viuere corpus Christinisi de spiritu Christi Inde est quod exponens Apostolus Paulus hunc panem vnus panis inquit vnum corpus sumus Tell me what ys that of the which thow liuest dothe thie spiritt liue by thie bodie or thie bodie by the spiritt Euerie one that liueth answereth I liue by my spiritte He that can not this answere I can not tell whether he liueth what doth euerie one answere that liueth My bodie liueth by my spirit Wilt thow also liue by the Spiritt of Chryst Be in the bodie of Chryst For doth my bodie liue by thie spiritte My bodie liueth of my spiritt ād thy bodie of thie spiritt The bodie of Chryst can not liue but by the Spiritte of Chryst Therfore yt ys that the Apostle Paule expownding vnto vs this bread saieth we being manie are one bread and one bodie Thus sainct Augustine In whom as we haue goodlie instruction for our faith so we haue the like for our conuersacion But not to be tediouse to the reader S. Augustin shall be left withoute note here vnto him to his farder cōsideracion of this his saing for that by yt that ys saied yt ys easie to perceaue the wholl minde of him in this matter THE FIVE AND TWENTETH CHAPITER proceadeth vpon the same text by Damascen and Haymo AS the Aduersarie vseth all the craft subtletie and falshead that he can to deceaue the simple and to abduce him to lead him awaie and to carie him a farre from the flocke and folde of Chryste to the entent he shall not desire to come home again and yf he do yet for the distance he shall not finde the waie to come as a shepe if he be caried but a litle waie from the flocke that he went in he will make great shift to return to yt again if he be caried farre of he neither desiereth neither for his simplicitie can find the waie to return therfore the Aduersarie I saie cōtenteth not himself to bring the simple a litle oute of the waie from the faith into one onelie erroure or heresie but he will carie and The Aduersarie leadeth the simple into manie errours that holden by them he shall not find the waie home again lead him a great waie out of the right waie by manie steppes and manie passes that ys into manie errours and heresies For seldome hath yt ben seen that the Deuell bringeth a man into one onelie heresie but into Diuerse wherwith that common enemie oftentimes will so delight him that he shall haue no desire to return home again or ells through plain simplicitie not perceauing the falshead of heresie or by malice blinded he shall be as yt were plainlie ignorant not able to finde the waie to return but so shall remain in a straung place and then which ys the woorst of all he shall thinke himself at home when he ys fardest of Therfore I saie seing the Aduersarie hath so moch falshead to bring men to soch great blindnesse in to so great calamitie and miserie of their soules yt ys our parte to seke all the helpe of trueth to reduce them that be straied and to staie them that be at home that they perish not in that lamentable daunger neither suffre them to come to yt Wherfore although this trueth of our naturall and corporall communion with Chryst be allreadie sufficiently proued and testified yet that the reader shall perceaue that yt ys not a doubtfull matter and testified of a few but a certen matter of assured trueth and generallie receaued and testified of manie we shal go forwarde in producing of mo and of these Damascen shall be the first who saieth thus Quia ex vno pane participamus omnes vnum corpus Christi vnus sanguis inuicem Damascē li. 4. ca. 14. membra efficimur concorporati Christo existentes Omni igitur virtute obseruemus ne participemus participatione haereticorum neque tribuamus Nolite enim sancta dare canibus inquit Dominus noster neque seminare margaritas vestras ante porcos vt non participes erroris malae fidei eorum efficiamur atque condemnationis Si enim omnino vnio est ad Christum ad inuicem omnino omnibus comparticipantibus nobis secundùm electionem vnimur Nam ex electione vnio ipsa fit non sine nostra sententia ac deliberatione Omnes enim vnum corpus sumus quoniam ex vno pane participamus c. Bcause we do all partake of one bread we are made one bodie of Chryst and one blood and membres one of an other being cōcorporated vnto Chryst Let vs therfore obserue with all our powre that we partake not with the partaking of heretikes neither that we geue vnto thē For our
sanctified of the preistes through oute all the worlde So that he doth not take yt for a bare peice of breade neither for the bodie of Chryst in consideracion of his humanitie onely but as the bodie of Chryst vnited to the Godhead in vnitie of person ād so of Chryst perfectly God and mā And this ys the excellencie of the Sacrament in dede howe barelie soeuer they sett yt furth And if they will reiect this authour so sainge by cause he was as some accompt Haymo his doctrine cōferred with the elder fathers within the compasse of these thousand yeares In dede if he were not a full thousand years agone he ys verie neer But who geueth this wicked generacion authoritie to reiecte him nowe at their pleasure whom the churche hath so long approued and receaued And what saieth he that the holie elders before a thousande years saie not As touching that he saieth that God ys in the Sacrament what ys he of the elders that treacteth of this misterie and saieth yt not In deci 1. Cor. homil 24. Among other Chrysostome most plainly doth saie yt euen vpon this chapiter in this maner Absterge ab omni sorde animam tuam Praepara mentem tuam ad horum mysteriorum perceptionem Etenim si puer regius purpura diademate ornatus tibi ferendus traderetur nonne omnibus humi abiectis eum susciperes Verùm nunc cùm non hominis regium puerum sed vnigenitum Dei filium accipias Dic queso no horrescis The onelie be gotten Sonne of God ys receaued in the B. Sacr. omnium secularium rerum amorem abiicis Make clean thy soule from all filthinesse prepare thy minde to the receipt of these misteries For if the kinges childe decked with purple and diademe were deliuered to thee to be born woldest not thowe all other thinges cast down on the grownde receaue him But nowe when thowe takest not the childe of a king a man but the onelie begotten Sonne of God tell me I praie thee arte thowe not afearde and castes awaie the loue of all worldlie thinges In this sentence Chrisostome being in exhortacion that men shoulde prepare them selues woorthilie to receaue the blessed Sacrament doth he not by plain woordes tell them that they receaue the onelie begotten Sonne of God S. Cyrill also saieth Qui Christi carnem manducat vitam habet aeternam Habet enim haec caro Dei Verbum quod naturaliter vita est He that eateth the flesh of cap. 15. in 6. Joan. The flesh of Chryst in the Sacr. hath the Sōne of God ioined to yt Chryst hath euerlasting life For this flesh hath the Sonne of God whiche ys life naturallie As the sentences of these two Fathers be that the Sacrament conteineth and hath the bodie of Chryst and the Godhead also and so verie Chryst God and man so ys the concorde sentence of all the rest of the holie auncient fathers But to shewe that Haymo ys agreable to the catholique and auncient faith these two maie suffice Nowe yt were a meruailouse kinde or maner of teaching if these fathers ment that in the Sacrament were no presence but that yt ys a bare sign or figure that they wolde teache that yt ys the verie onelie begotten Sonne of God as Chrysostom doeth And that yt ys the flesh of God that hath the Godhead ioined to yt as S. Cyrill saieh and neuer as moche as once to teache that yt ys not Chryst in dede or onely a figure of him Can anie man whose head and iudgement the madde spiritt hath not infected and corrupted thinke that these being reputed holie vertueouse and larned men wolde allwaies by these tearmes so haue taught and the trueth to be clear the cōtrary by the negatiue wolde they allwaies haue saied yt ys the bodie of God yt ys the bodie of Chryst yt ys his flesh yt ys his bloode if the trueth were by the negatiue as the Aduersarie saieth that yt ys not so Wolde they haue saied yt ys so if the trueth were to saie yt ys not so Yt ys not to be thought in them For all their trauaill was to plant Gods trueth in the heartes of people and to roote oute errour ād heresie wherfore as ys saied obserue howe this authour setteth furth the excellencie of the Sacrament which ys doen agreablie to the sentence of the Fathers and therfore repute thowe yt soche a thing as of soche men yt ys commended vnto thee and not as by these inuentours of mischeif yt ys discommended to thee This thing being thus manifested to thee Reader the other note whiche ys that all that do woourthily receaue the Sacrament be one bodie of Chryst can not be obscure For as Chryst taking vpon him our flesh and our bloode ys one with vs so we again receauing his flesh and his blood woorthily are one with him And nowe of the expositions of these two vpon this text this maie suffice THE SIX AND TWENTETH CHAP. PROCEAdeth vpon the same text by S. Cyrill and S. Thomas THough the plentie of testimonies maie and as I am sure doth offende the Aduersarie for the more testimonie against him the more confusion yett I doubt yt not but on the other side yt dothe aswell delight and also comforth the catholique chrystian Therfor we shall not refuse to heare S. Cyrill howe he vnderstandeth S. Paule in this text In diuerse places he maketh mencion of this text very plainly declaring howe he vnderstandeth yt but most plainly vpon the xvii chapter of S. Iohn wher he saieth thus Cùm trinitas vnum natura sit consideremus quomodò etiam nos ipsi inter nos corporaliter cum Deo spiritualiter Cyril in 17 Ioan. vnum sumus Ex Dei patris substantia vnigenitus prodiens totum in sua natura genitorem possidens carofactus secundùm scripturam est seue ipsum naturae nostrae ineffabiliter coniunxit atque vniuit Qui enim natura Deus est verè homo factus est non Theophorus id est Deum in se per gratiam habens vt mysterii vim ignorantes contendunt sed verus deus simul homo est Sic quae inter se plurimum distant secundùm naturam in vno seipso coniunxit naturae diuinae nos participes effecit Communicatio enim Spiritus vt ita dicam mansio primum in Christo fuit ab eo in nos penetrauit cùm homo factus ipse templum suum proprio spiritu perunxit atque sanctificauit Origo ergo via qua Spiritu sancto participamus Deo vniti sumus Christi misterium est Omnes enim in illo sanctificamur Vt igitur inter nos Deum singulos vniret quamuis corpore simul anima distemus modum tamen adinuenit consilio Patris sapientiae suae congruentem Suo enim corpore credentes per Communionem mysticam benedicens secum inter nos vnum corpus effecit Quis eos
soche abuse moche to offend him Lib. 6. cap. 23. The impudens fact of Iulianus in possing against the holie aultar In the tripartite historie we reade that in the tlme of Iulianus Apostata one called Iulianus beinge the ruler of the east parts vnder the same wicked Iulian then Emperour entred in to a church and pissed against the aultar The woordes of Theodorete be these Iulianus praefectus impudenter contra sacrum altare minxit quem cùm Euzoius prohibere tentaret eum ille percussit in capite Iulian the president impudently pissed against the holie aultar whom when Euzoius wolde haue forbidden he strooke him vpon the heade Here by the reporte of this authour ye see the impudente facte of this wiked Iulianus wher by the waie note that the authour calleth yt an impudent facte and also calleth the aultar an holie aultar And nowe heare the punishint of this facte The authour reporting the wiked doinges of the saied Iulianus and of one Felix together shewinge both their punishiments saieth thus Sed pro ijs impietatibus vesanisque praesumptionibus non post multum paenas exacti sunt Nam repente Iulianus saeuo morbo correptus viseribus putrefactis interijt excrementa non per meatus egestinos emittebat sed scelestum os quod blasphemijs ministrauerat organum huius excretionis est factum But Abuse of aultars and spoilt of churches punished for all these wickednesses and furiose presumptions they within a litle while after suffred paines For Iulianus being sodenly taken with a sore disease his bowells being putrifieddied and he did not voide the excrements by the lower parts of his bodie But the wiked mouthe that had ben an instrument to blasphemies was nowe made an organ of excretion Thus moche the ecclesiesticall historie In whiche as before we sawe the offence of the man So nowe perceaue Arrius his filthie deathe we the punishmēt Arrius was a blasphemouse heretique whose heinouse offence was by his death inflicted of God declared to all the worlde to be to God very greuouse and displeasaunt and yet yt was not more greuously punished then this For that man though he in easing of nature by gods plague powred oute with thexcrements the bowells of his bodie and so died a fylthie deathe Yet this man whose bowells by the like plague of God were putrified and rotten in his bodie and therby God so disposing the filthie and stinking excrements that shoulde haue ben voided by the lower parts of his bodie wer voided and powred oute at his mouth and so dieng died yet a filthier deathe then thother Yf then the contemptuouse abuse of aultars were so greuously punished of God and the reuerent vse of aultars was neuer reproued easie yt ys to iudge that the well vsers of aultars are of God praised and the abusers of them of God dispraised the vse of aultars of God and auncient Fathers well liked the abuse of thē moch misliked But once to finish this matter and to returne to our text and to Anselmus whose exposition we alleaged ye maie by this that ys saied well peceiue that both the name of the aultar and also the vse of yt ys comed to vs from the primitiue churche So that this authour Anselmus ys not the first authour of yt But he speaketh of yt as he hath learned of the Fathers And therfore dothe verie well expownde the table of our lorde in S. Paule calling yt the aultar For the aultar in deed ys the table of our lorde wherin ys the meat of the bodie of Chryst whiche ys the sacrifice of our lorde of the which the faithfull people be partakers and wher vpon we feede to repayre this corruptible flesh that yt maie once come to incorruption ad from mortalitie to immortalitie Neither onelie are we moued by the exposition of this authour to vnderstande Aultar wherfor yt serueth S. Paule to speake of the aultars but also to vnderstand him to haue spoken of the sacrifice of the same aultar of Chryst for that therin he implieth the sacrifice of Chrysts bodie and blood by cause an aultar generaly serueth to beare a sacrifice wherfor particularlie the aultar of Chryst serueth to beare the sacrifice of Chryst To this vnderstanding of S. Paule the verie letter leadeth S. Paules own argument made to the Corinthians enforeth For when he saieth vnto them Ye can not drinke the cuppe of our lorde and the cuppe of deuells ye can not be partakers of the table of our lorde and of the table deuells In bothe parts he calleth yt indifferentlie the cuppe So that to the vessell of our Lordes table he geueth no other terme then he doth to the vessell of the table of Deuells Yf then yt be the cuppe of the Deuells bicause yt was offred to Deuells in sacrifice then ys the other the cuppe of our Lorde bicause yt ys offred to him in sacrifice Likwise for the second sentence Yf the table of Deuells be so called bicause yt serueth to the sacrifice of Deuells Euen so must the table of our Lorde be so called bicause yt serueth to the sacrifice of our Lord. Thus then ye see that of the verie letter and of Sainct Paules argument yf yt shall haue anie force by the comparison whiche he here maketh that as he spake of the sacrifice of Deuells on the one side so he spake of the sacrifice of our Lorde on the other side For as Hilarie saieth Omnis comparatio ad intelligentiae formam praesumitur vt id de quo agitur secundùm exemplum propositum assequamur Euery comparison ys taken to the forme Hilar de Trinit li. 8 of vnderstanding that we maie atteign yt that ys spoken of according to the example that ys proposed Nowe yf Sainct Paule making his comparison shoulde in one parte speake of one thing and in the other parte of an other thing howe shoulde the comparison healpe our vnderstandinge Wherfore according to Sainct Paules example we vnderstand him speaking of the cuppe of our Lorde to haue spoken of yt as of the bloode of Chryst offred in sacrifice of the whiche as before ys saied we be partakers as in the same example speaking of the cuppe of Deuells he speaketh of yt as of a sacrifice offred to Deuells of the whiche Idolaters are partakers Otherwise what shoulde the cōparison auaill when betwixt a thing offred in sacrifice and a thing not offred in sacrifice ther ys no proporciō Wherfor as the exāple ys vnderstāded of a thing sacrificed So must the thing compared to the exāple be vnderstanded of a thing sacrificed that ther maie be proporcion and similitude betwixt the thinges ioined in cōparison Then must yt be concluded that as Sainct Paule spake of sacrifice in the example So spake he of sacrifice in the thing compared to the example And so yt ys euident that the bodie and bloode of Chryst in the Sacrament of which we are partakers after the minde of Sainct Paule ys a
two significacions of the Sonne and of the holie Gost and to the washing of the Soule from sinne by grace geuen in the ministracion of the same Sacrament yet the wholl ministracion and praiers aswell before batisme as after vsed in the same by a generall significacion ys called Baptisme So ys the consecracion and oblacion of the bodie of Chryst with all praiers and Ceremonies either going before or folowing the same by generall significacion called Masse This breif description of the Masse being made let vs examin the partes of yt whiche of them or howe manie of thē be against the woorde of God and the example or practise of the primatiue Church as yt ys pretended that yt maie be perceaued what iust cause the Proclamer hath so moche to exclame against the Masse The first parte ys consecracion This parte for that by yt ys taught the Parts of the Masse presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode whiche the Proclamer can not abide ys one cause why he reiecteth the Masse But howe iustly he doth it yt maie be perceaued through oute all this booke in which ys prooued the presence whiche the catholique Church teacheth and the figure ys improued whiche the Aduersary mainteineth An other parte ys oblacion or sacrifice wherin the Churche offreth Chryst to God the Father according to the commaundement of the same owne maister Chryst in the memoriall of his passion and deathe That this parte ys not against the scriptures and the holy Fathers yt ys allready proued in the declaracion of the prophecies of Melchisedech Daniel and Malachie in the first booke wherunto ys made an addicion whiche thowe shalt finde in the xxxvij chapiter of that same booke sufficient I trust to aunswere and satisfie anie reasonable man An other parte ys receauing of the Sacrament In the whiche twoo thinges do offend the Proclamer The one ys that the people do receaue vnder one kinde The other that the preist receaueth alone Whether the receauing vnder one kinde be against the Scriptures or the practise of the Primitiue Churche yt ys disputed and the trueth declared in the seconde booke from the lxiiij chap. to the. end of lxvijchap As for the receauing whiche the Proclamer termeth priuate yt shall be hereafter treacted of In doctrine which ys an other parte I knowe not what fault he can finde In praier the first and last parte of the Masse he findeth two faultes The one that praier ys made to sainctes The other that praier ys made for the dead for these two we shal haue recourse to the primitiue Churche and there make triall whether the Church doth well in so doing or the Aduersarie euell in denieng the same to be laufull and good Nowe for the first parte of the Masse whiche ys consecracion I will not moche otherwise here treact of yt but onelie laing furth the practise of the Apostolique and primitiue Churche therin compare the doinges of the catholique Churche nowe therwith that yt maie be perceaued howe iustlie yt foloweth the example therof As for the effect of consecracion whiche ys the presence of Chrystes bodie ther neadeth here no speciall treactice for that the woll booke treateth therof so fullie that yf the Proclamer will finde fault in the Masse forthat the presence ys taught ther to be he maie in other places of this worke finde sufficiēt matter for the proofe of the presence whiche yf yt will not satisfie him neither maie a fewe woordes here spoken moche helpe him As for the seconde parte whiche ys the oblacion or sacrifice of Chrystes bodie as before yt ys declared that yt ys offred according to the will and commaundement or Chryst himself and that by the testimonie of the Scripturs as they be vnderstāded of a nombre of the most auncient Fathers and by diuerse other graue authorities So shall yt be nowe set furth and cōmended to yowe by the practise of the Primitiue Churche Whiche we haue differred to this place And forasmoche as the Proclamer to extenuate and abase the honorable estimacion of the Masse whiche yt ought to haue in the heartes of the people doth for shame and with shame conceale the names of soche auncient Authours as do testifie that both Sainct Peter and Sainct Iames saied Masse the one at Rome the other at Hierusalem and doth also to Whē truth and learning serueth not mocking and skorning be their best argumētes bring the matter in contempt aske by waie of skorn whie raither we saie not that Chryste him self saied Masse for that were the neerer waie to bring the Masse in creditte I shall by good and sufficient authoritie shewe that not onelie Sainct Peter and Sainct Iames but also Chryste him self did saie Masse And so beginning at Chryst descende to three or foure hundreth yeares after Chryst and shewe the practise of the Churche And for this time I will ouerpasse the farder mocke and skorn that he maketh against the blessed Masse asking whie we doe not raither saie that Aaron and his chapleins saied Masse For in dede saieth he as yt hath ben vsed the Churche hath had moch more of the Robes of the Ceremonies and of the sacrifices of Aaron then of the institucion or ordeinance of Chryste For ys I shoulde touche him for that I shoulde cause Arons garment worne for a Bishopporke and the Cōmunion ministred in a cope him to be perceaued to impugne and in that behalf to skorne the ministracion of the Communion For that ys ministred in coapes and other soche garmentes as before were vsed in the Churche and he himself refuseth not to weare Aarons garment for a Bishoppericke So well agreeth his doing and his preaching together And thus scoffing at the garmentes that be nowe yet vsed he seemeth to me not to like this order of Religion that he liueth in but raither to reprooue this as he doth the other For in this poinct by his iudgement they holde both of Aaron But letting this passe I will returne to my matter and wish the Reader to remembre what this woorde Masse doth signifie as yt ys declared in the last chapiter and therwith to haue in minde as yt ys saied in this chapiter Chryste saied Masse that Masse ys the action of the consecracion oblacion and receauing of the bodie and bloode of Chryst and so vnderstanding Masse I saie that Chryst did saie Masse For he in his last Supper did institute Masse and did ther consecrate his bodie and bloode and offred them in sacrifice and gaue them to his Apostes to be receaued and commaunded that so yt shoulde be doen in the remembrance of his passion and death In this matter who listeth to be satisfied forsomoche as one auncient Authour maie satisfie a man let him reade the Epistle of Sainct Ciprian to Cecilius Epist li. 2. Epist. 3. and he shall ther sinde euery parte of the Masse here reckned to be doen by Chryst First for the consecracion he saieth thus Vt in Genesi
iudicium edat ac bibat sed euidenter ostendere exprimere memoriam eius qui pro nobis mortuus est acresurrexit Yt behoueth A plain place for the Proclamer him that cometh to the bodie and blood of our Lorde to the remēbrance of him that hath died for vs and risen again not onely to be pure from all vnclennesse of bodie and soule least he eate and drinke to his owne condemnacion but he must also euidentlie shewe and declare the memorie of him that hath died for vs and risen again Thus moch S. Basil Nowe wher S. Paule saieth that as often as we eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe we must declare the death of Chryst S. Basill saieth that he that commeth to the bodie and blood of Chryst must remembre him that What S. Paule calleth bread and cuppe S. Basil calleth the bodie ād blod of our lord died for vs. So that what S. Paule in termes called this bread and this cuppe S. Basill geuing vs to vnderstand what S. Paule meneth by these termes speaketh by plain woordes calling those thinges as they be in dede the bodie and blood of our Lord. Likewise yt maie be perceaued that S. Basill folowing S. Paule teacheth that the Sacrament ys a memoriall of Chryst as suffring for vs ād not of Chryst in himself or absolutelie without respect of passion and death suffred for vs which ys asmoch to saie as a memoriall doen in the remembrance of Chrystes passion and death agreablie to the sainges of other before alleadged Rupert also whom we ioin at this present with S. Basill doeth euen likewise vnderstand S. Paule Thus he writeth Sacramentum hoc quo mors eius annunciatur quemadmodum Apostolus dicit quotitscunque manducabitis panem hunc calicem bibetis Rupert in cap. 26. Matth mortem Domini annunciabitis donec veniat quando debuerat condi dari nisi sub ipsius articulo passionis This Sacrament by the which the death of our Lord ys declared as the Apostle saieth As often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke of thys cuppe ye shall shewe furth the death of our Lorde vntill he come when should yt be made and geuen furth but euen at the verie poinct of the same passiō In thys saing of Rupert the one parte of our saing namely that the Sacrament ys a memorial of Chrystes death ys clerely by expressed woords testified The other part that in the Sacrament the verie bodie and blood ys eaten and dronken Rupert in a Joon We cate the flesh and drinke the blood of Chryst in the remembrance of his death to and for the memoriall of the same death ys not here manifestlie spoken Wherfor we shall heare him in an other place vttering his knowledg in thys matter Thus he saieth Quod fecit ipse hoc idem in commemorationem ipsius scimus et bene scimus nos facere id est carnem ipsius manducare sanguinē bibere That which Chryst himself did we know and we wel know that we doe euen the verie same thing in the remembrance of him that he did that ys to eate his flesh and drinke his bloode Marke now the learning of Chrystes catholique Church note nowe well what we eate and drinke in the remembrance of Chrystes passion and death Iudge nowe whether S. Paule ment materiall bread as the Sacramentaries wolde haue yt to be vnderstanded and not raither the heauenlie bread of Chrystes bodie to be eatē in the remēbrance of his passiō ād death I haue now produced but fower two of the greke Church and two of the latin Church to geue vs vnderstanding what we ought to remēbre in the receipt All the rable of the Sacramentaries cannot bring one coople of catholike authours that saie S. Paule spake here of materiall bread of the Sacrament and what in that Sacrament we doe receaue wherupon they all conclude that we receaue the bodie and blood of Chryst in the remembrance of his death and so S. Paule ys to be vnderstāded in this place Now let all the whol rable of the Aduersaries side bring furth but two wheras we might as the Aduersarie himself knoweth haue brought manie mo which for the auoiding of more prolixitie wherin we haue allreadie offended we doe ouerpasse and omitte that shal by expresse woordes expownde S. Paule in this place that he ment not the bodie of Chryst but plain materiall bread Let them I saie bring but two catholique approued authours ād they shall haue the victorie So weake ys their cause besides their owne asseueracion that yt ys verie certen they can not bringe one Although then this ys a trueth receaued of all the holie Fathers of Chrystes Church and ys the doctrine of S. Paule that the bodie and blood of Chryst be receaued according to commaundement in the remembrance of his passion and death and so yt also cometh to passe that the bodie of Christ euen the self same bodie in substance vnder the formes of bread and wine ys Jnexpositiō verborum caenae Obiectiō of Oecolamp a figure of the self same bodie hanging vpon the crosse and suffring passiō ād death yet Oecolampadius after his Sicophants maner he himself either of malice not willing to knowe or ells plainlie ignorant doeth accuse the learned men of Chrystes Church of ignorance that they make the bodie of Chryst both the exemplar and the thing exemplified the figure and the thing figurated the sign and the thing signified for that saieth he relacion must be betwixt two thinges distincted and not of one thing to ytself For euery relatiue must haue a correlatiue To answere him for that I write to the vnlearned to instructe them in the faith I will not vse the quiddities of schooles neither with schoole tearmes The nnswer so darken the matter that the reader shall not vnderstand me but I will vse plain examples And first wher Oecolampadius saieth that relacion must be betwixt two thinges distincted did he not knowe that in the diuine persons Matth. 17 were sundrie relacions grownded vpon the one nature of God But to come to examples in Chryst of whome we nowe dispute was not Chryst transfigured in the mount and shewing himself in a glorionse maner was he not an Theoph. in 17. Math. Chryst one and the same in substāce hath ben ys and shal be a sigure of bim self in diuer se maners exemplar or figure of himself now in glorie and of his gloriouse cominge to iudgement Theophilact saieth that Dignitas secundi aduentus in splendore faciei Christi ineffabili claruit The dignitie or excellencie of the second cominge of Chryst did appeare in the vnspeakable brightnesse of the face of Chryst So that Peter Iohn and Iames sawe now in his first coming an image of the glorie of Chryst that he shall come in his second coming Then maie we see that the self same bodie in substance after one maner
maie be an exemplar or figure of the same bodie after or in an other maner Chryst shewed his bodie to Thomas and other the Apostles with the signes and tokens of his woundes was not that bodie now immortall and impassible an exemplar of the same both mortall and passible Chrysosthom decru Latrone The scripture saieth that the wicked shal in iudgement see Chryst whom they pricked and perced For as Chrysostom saieth he shall appeare with his crosse and woundes in the face of the worlde This ys his saing Sed cur cùm cruce veniat videamus scilicet vt hi qui eum crucifixerunt suae sentiant dementiae caecitatem ideo dementiae eorum signum portatur Ideo Propheta ait Tunc lamentabuntur tribus terrae videntes accusatorem agnoscentes peccatum Et quid mirum est si crucem portans adueniet quando vulnera corporis ipse demonstrat Tunc enim inquit videbunt quem compunxerunt Et sicut post resurrectionem Thomae voluit diffidentiam commutare illi clauorum loca monstrauit laterum vulnera declarauit dixit Mitte manum tuam vide quoniam spiritus carnem ossa non habet sic tunc ostendet vulnera crucemque demostrabit vt istum ostendat illum esse qui fuerat crucifixus But whie he cometh with a crosse let vs see forsooth that they that crucified him maie perceaue the blindenesse of their madnesse And therfor ys the signe of their Chryst shal come to iudgemēt with the signe of the crosse ād the printes of the woondes he suffred madnesse caried Therfore the Prophet saieth Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourne seing the accuser and they acknowleging the sinne And what wonder ys yt yf he come bringing a crosse seing that he himself doeth shewe furth his woundes For then saieth he shall they see whom they haue pricked And as after the resurrection he wolde amende the lacke of beleif in Thomas and did shew him the places of the nailes and opened the woundes of his sides and saied Put furth thy bande and see that a spiritt hath not flesh and bones So then also shall he shewe his woundes and shall openlie setfurth his crosse in seight that he maie shew this man to be him that was crucified Thus Chrysostome Seing then Chryst shall cōme to the generall iudgement with woundes ād crosse representing the state and condicion of himself somtime a passible ād a mortall man he yet now being impassible and immortall and being soche an examplar of himself as he shall cause the faithfull vpon the remembrance of that seight to reioice that they embraced his faith and receaued the benefett of their redemption wrought and doen vpon the crosse and by the suffring of the woundes nowe ther shewed and the wicked contrariwise vpon the same seight to waile and mourne that through their madnesse they contemned him by whom they now perceaue they might haueben saued Why maie not the same bodie in the Sacrament cause the faithfull nowe to their comforte as well to remembre the passion and death and their redemption wrought by yt and so to be a memoriall to them as yt shall be both to the faithfull and wicked at the daie of iudgement At the daie of iudgemēt that same bodie shall be a memoriall and an examplar of yt self yt being the same verie bodie in substance that yt was but chaunged in maner as ys saied why maie not the same bodie be now likewise to vs that be faithful who by faith see yt as certenlie though in a darke maner as then we shall see yt with open face Of these kindes of examples ther be manie in the scriptures but to him that will be satisfied these be sufficient For by these yt ys made euident that that Chryst in one maner of being maie be a figure of himself in an other maner of being Wherfore Chryst in the Sacrament vnder the formes of bread and wine maie right well be and ys a figure of himself hanging vpon the crosse and suffring for our redemption Thus ye see the true vnderstanding of this scripture laied before yowe oute of the holie doctours and the cauills of the Aduersarie solued which be against the same Now to the next scripture THE SIX AND FOVRTETH CHAP. BEGINNETH the exposition of this text Who soeuer therfor shall eate of this bread and drinke of the cuppe c. AS ye haue seen the scripture last handeled recouered from the wresting and wicked abusing of the Aduersarie so by Gods grace shall yowe see this that foloweth Thus ymmediatelie saieth S. Paule Itaque quicunque manducauerit panem hunc biberit calicem Domini indigne reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini Whosoeuer therfor shall eate this bread and shall drink of the cuppe of our Lorde vnwoorthilie shall be giltie of the bodie and bloode of our Lorde After the Apostle had declared the institucion of the honorable Sacrament and ther vnto had added the cause of the same namelie that yt shoulde be doen in the remembrance of Chrystes passion and death that neither the Corinthians to whome he wrote who abused the same Sacrament neither other chrystians shoulde thinke them selues to haue doen to God their high and due seruice if they onelie had receaued the same Sacrament as the memoriall of Chrystes passion and death other circumstances not regarded he goeth aboute to open vnto them two maner of receiptes and the rewardes apperteining vnto them that ys to saie an vnwoorthie receipt and condempnacion for the rewarde of yt and a woorthie receipt and grace ād glorie for the reward of yt Forasmoch thē as their ys soch difference in receauing meet yt ys that the difference be knowē that we maie discerne who ys a woorthie receauer and who ys an vnwoorthie receauer As woorthinesse and vnwoorthinesse be contraries and therfor the one ys knowen by the other So the woorthie receauer being knowen yt shall be easie to knowe the other TWoo thinges are required to a woorthie receauer true faith and perfight charitie For as Ignatius saieth Fides est principium vitae Charitas est consummatio Jgnatius epla ad Ephesios Faith and charitie together make woorthie receauers of the bless Sacr. Hae duae simul iunctae in vnitate factae Hominem Dei persiciunt Faith ys the beginning of life Charitie ys the consummacion These two ioined together and made in one doe perfect a man of God As the one of these withoute the other doth not make a perfect mā in God so the one without the other dothe not make a woorthie receauer But if both be ioined together in the receipt of the Sacrament then ys that man a woorthie receauer Faith here spoken of ys not a peiced or patched faith that beleueth one part of the catholique faith and refuseth and other but yt ys a true and an wholl faith Wherfor heretiques be no woorthie receauers Charitie here
be accompted amonge euell receauers that otherwise thinke of the bodie of Chryst then ys to be thought of yt What ys to be thought of them that wher Chryst promised that the bread which he wolde geue shoulde be his fleshe whiche he wolde geue for the life of the worlde and by expresse woordes for the perfourmāce of the same promesse takinge bread saied plainlie This ys my bodie And S Paule as the wholl companie of the Fathers hitherto haue testified and mo yet shall testifie saieth that in the Sacrament ys the bodie of Chryst what I saie ys to be thought of them that will not thinke Chrystes bodie to be his bodie but withe the Ebionites and Cerinthians will make Chryst no God with the Manicheis will make him but a phantasticall figure and with the Nestorians will as they made a distinction betwixt the two naturs leauing the nature of man deuided and distincted from the Godheade so make the holie Sacrament distincted from Chryst wher in verie dede as God and man ys one Chryst So the blessed Sacrament as touchinge the Substance and Chryst ys all one the Substance of the Sacrament being none other but the verie substance of Chryst These euell receauers and abusers of Chrystes holie Sacrament as they abuse the thinge yt self So by slaunderouse tearmes doe they abuse them that well vse the same For the true Christians that honour God call they Idolaters Soche as acknowledge Chrystes verie bodie in the Sacrament call they grosse Capharnaites And soche as beleue the substance of bread by the omnipotencie of God to be chaunged and made the substance of Chryste they call Papistes But God geue them a better minde and the catholiques plentie of pacience patiently to suffre their railinges so long as God for our correction will permitte the same to continue And nowe to return to our matter this finallie ys to be noted in our Cassiod howe he vttereth Sainct Paules woordes Authour that alleging our text of Sainct Paule he vseth not the woordes of Sainct Paule but the meaning and vnderstandinge Thus he alleageth Sainct Paule Qui enim corpus Domini indignè manducat iudicium sibi manducat For he that eateth the bodie of our Lorde vnwoorthilie eateth his owne iudgement Note well that he saieth not he that eateth the bread but he that eateth the bodie of our Lorde expownding what bread Sainct Paule spake of in that scripture the bread I saie of Chrystes bodie as oftentimes yt ys allreadie saied What can be saied more plainer wolde the Proclamer haue anie plainer speache then this Let him note the woordes and the circunstance also and weigh yt well and he shall finde yt so plain that all his engines and wrestinges and all his subtilties◠with the aide of all his complices shall not be able to withstand the plain trueth of yt But Let vs heare Damascen speaking as plainlie as he and by like woordes openinge to vs the true mening of Sainct Paule This Damascen setting Damascen li. 4. ca. 14. furth the vertue goodnesse and power of the Sacrament saieth thus Si aurum offendat adulteratum per iudicialem correptoriamue ignitionem purgat vt non in futuro cum mundo damnemur Curat enim morbos omnimoda damna quemadmodum dicit Apostolus Si nos vtique iudicaremus non vtique iudicaremur Cùm iudicamur autem à Deo corripimur vt non cum mundo condemnemur Et hoc est quod dicit Quare qui participat corpus sanguinem Christi indignè iudicium sibi tosi manducat bibit Per illud purgati vnimur corpori Domini spiritui eius efficimur corpus Christi Nam spiritus viuificans est caro Domini quia ex viuificante spiritu concepta est Quod enim natum est ex spiritu spiritus est Hoc autem dico non auferens corporis naturam sed viuificationem diuinitatem eius ostendens Yf yt finde golde that ys corrupted by iudiciall and correptorie fieringe yt pourgeth yt that we be not in time to come condemned with the worlde For yt cureth diseases and all maner of hurtes as the Apostle saieth Yf we wolde iudge our selues we shoulde not be iudged but when we are iudged of God we are chasticed that we shoulde not be damned with the worlde And this ys yt that the Apostle saieth Wherfor he that receaueth the Damascen vttereth the woordes of S. Paule as other elders before bodie and blood of Christe vnwoorthilie he eateth drinketh his owne damnacion We being purged by that are vnited to the bodie of our Lorde and to his Spiritt and are made the bodie of Chryste For the flesh of our Lorde ys a quickning Spiritt bicause yt was conceaued by the quickninge Spirite For that that ys borne of the Spiritte ys a Spiritte This doe I saie not taking awaie the nature of the bodie but declaring his Godhead and power to geue life Thus he Leauing diuerse good and godlie notes in this sainge of Damascen to be considered by the Reader I hast me to note those thinges that be to the pourpose of this present cause Of the whiche the first and cheifest ys that he alleaging the sainge of Sainct Paule shewinge vs the exposition of the scripture and geuing vs the vnderstanding of the same and the right meninge of Sainct Paule speaketh yt by these woordes He that receaueth the bodie and blood of Chryst vnwoorthilie eateth and drinketh his owne damnacion In whiche maner of speache as an expositour aught to doe by vnwrestable woordes he declareth what Sathan wolde wrest and soo by plain woordes calleth that that Sainct Paule calleth the bread and cuppe of our Lorde the bodie and blood of Chryst he right well knowing that they be so in verie dede I trust the Proclamer will not here vpon this Authour cast the stinking mist of his figure considering that yt ys an exposition And the nature of an exposition ys to be plainer then the thing expownded And although both the text and the exposition speake the trueth yet he knoweth that what the text oftentimes speaketh obscurely or doubtfullie that must the exposition speake plainlie clerely and manifestlie Whefor he must nedes confesse that this Authour shewing the minde of S. Paule and expownding the bread and the cuppe to be the bodie and bloode of Chryst that yt ys plainlie so And wher diuerse of the adherēts of this Proclamer beare great Stomacke against this Authour for his plain trueth in manie matters Lett both him and them knowe that as in all pointes of this matter the wholl catholique Churche hath alowed him So ys he agreable to all that hitherto haue ben alleaged in the exposition of S. Paule which all be right auncient or hereafter shall be alleaged though they be not so auncient A Breif note also can I not but make of Damascen wher he saieth that we being pourged are by the receipt of the bodie of Chryste vnited to the same
bless Sacr. t. ys proued byour Lorde Iesus to be his bodie bodie to be receaued of sinners As touching the Frst the presupposall or cause why a man shoulde be giltie of the bodie and bloode of Chryste when he doeth vnwoorthilie receaue the Sacrament ys saieth Anselmus bicause by the authoritie of our Lorde Iesus yt ys proued that this bread that we speake of here ys his bodie and that the wine here also spoken of in the vse of the Sacrament ys his bloode Note I praie yowe that this Authur saieth that yt ys prooued of Sainct Paule by the authoritie of our Lorde Iesus that the bodie of the same our Lorde Iesus ys in the Sacrament formoche as the bread and wine ther ys no other but the bodie and bloode of Chryst And doe not onelie as by transcourse lightlie reade these woordes but earnestlie note that he saieth yt ys prooued by the authoritie of our Lorde Iesus Yf yt be proued by him who can improoue yt Yf he saie yt who can denie yt Yf he so teache yt why shall we otherwise beleue yt Let the Proclamer nowe let all the Sacramentaries whiche be his companions bringfurth one Authour that saieth that yt ys proued by the woordes of our Lorde Iesus that the bread and wine of the bless Sacrament be not the bodie and blood of our Lorde Iesus but onelie figures of the same bodie and bloode and not the thinges themselues and shewe the place as we doe and they shall haue the victorie But let them painte their matters as well as they can to bleer the eyes of the simple yet Vincit Veritas the trueth ouercometh And so shall yt in the ende faull oute that they shall be perceaued to be destitute of trueth For their vntrueth shall be confownded by the trueth Though vntrueth for a time gett the vpperhand and be mainteined by the princes and mightie of the earthe for that their sensuall libertie ys not by her restreined but by her in that respectt they are moche pleasured yet as all vanitie faileth vadith and vanisheth So yt being of the same kinde shall fall awaie and consume as the smooke and the fauourers of the same shall be as the dust which the winde bloweth awaie from the face of the crathe But so while I am a litle passed the compasse of the ringe my second matter knocketh and calleth me again wherin breiflie to touche moche matter Three sortes of euell receauers this Authour maketh three sortes of euell and vnwoorthie receauers The first ys of them that doe otherwise celebrate or receaue this holie misterie then yt was deliuered of Chryst In the whiche sorte as he touched the Berengarians whiche were in his time So doeth he the Oecolampadians and the Caluinists of this our time whiche both otherwise celebrating and otherwise receauing this holie misterie then yt was of Chryst instituted they make theÌ„selues vnwoorthie receauers Chryst instituted his bodie to be distributed aÌ„d geuen in this holie refection They geue and receaue a peice of bread and a cuppe of wine Chryst instituted a sacrifice to be celebrated They celebrate a beare tokeÌ„ of remeÌ„brance Wherfor by the iudgement of this Authour they altering Chrystes institucion are accompted among the euell receauers An other sorte ys of them that receaue the holie Sacrament without due reuerence Of this sorte be all the Lutherans who although they coÌ„fesse the verie presence of Chrystes bodie in the SacrameÌ„t yet they denie anie honour or woorshippe to be doen vnto yt Which fond and infatuate doctrine I caÌ„ but woonder at wel knowing that whersoeuer Chryst ys either in heaueÌ„ or Philip. 2. in earth he ys as Chrysostome saieth woorthie of most high honoure aÌ„d if God hath so exalted him and geuen him a name which ys aboue all names that in the name of Iesu euery knee shal bowe both of thinges in heaueÌ„ and things in earth and thinges vnder the earthe by what authoritie caÌ„ or will man will or coÌ„maunde no honour to be doen to him but of this we haue alreadie 3 spooken wherfore staing anie more to saie of yt here I come to the third sorte of receauers which ys saieth this authour of them that presume to come to the receipt of the blessed Sacrament before they haue pourged theÌ„selues and clensed their consciences by penance Of this sorte be all they who well beleuing yet not well liuing come with the filthinesse of sinne allreadie coÌ„mitted yet remaing vpon them or ells with pourpose of sinne to be committed by which both they make themselues vnwoorthie receauers Here nowe ye see a varietie of euel receauers and yet saieth this authour that they all receaue the Sacrament And the Sacrament saieth he by the authoritie of our Lord Iesus ys proued to be the bodie aÌ„d the blood of Chryst Which thing this authour yet by more expresse woordes teacheth in the exposition Anselm ibid. of the other text wher S. Paule as by repeticion saieth He that eateth and drinketh vnwoorthilie eateth and drinketh his owne damnacion saing thus Ideo prius se discutiat purget Quia qui manducat bibit indignè id est sine sui examinatione iudicium sibi manducat bibit Sicut enim Iudas cui buccellam tradidit Dominus non malum accipiendo sed malè accipiendo locum in se Diabolo praebuit sic indignè quisque sumens Dominicum Sacramentum vt quia ipse malus est malum sit quod accepit aut quia non ad salutem accipit nihil acceperit corpus enim Domini sanguis Domini nihilominus est sed ille accipit hoc non ad vitam sed ad indicium quia non diâ—uidicat corpus Domini id est non discernit quà m sit dignius omnibus creaturis hoc corpus quod videtur esse panis Si enim cogitaret hoc corpus esse Verbo Dei personaliter vnitum vitam ac salutem eorum esse qui hoc dignè accipiunt non praesumeret indignus accipere sed dignum se praepararet Let him therfor first examine himself and pourge himself For he that eateth aÌ„d drinketh vnwoorthilie that ys without examinacion of himself eateth and drinketh his owne damnacion making no difference of the bodie of our Lord. For as The bless Sacr. ys the bodie and blood of Chryst though euell men receaue yt Iudas to whome our Lorde gaue a morsell not taking an euell thinge but taking yt in euell maner gaue to the Deuell a place in himself so whosoeuer receaueth the Sacrament of our Lorde vnwoorthilie causeth not bicause heys an euell man that thing which he hath receaued ys euell or bicause he receaued yt not to saluacion that he receaued nothing For yt ys neuerthelesse the bodie of our Lorde and the blood of our Lord but he taketh this not to life but to condemnaciou bicause he maketh no difference of the bodie of our Lord that ys he discerneth not howe moch more
so excellent mysteries They suffre that that men whiche be sick of agues are wont to suffre when they eate the meates of wholl men and so kill themselues Origen rebuking here the euell doings of some men Who not fearing the iudgement of God nor the admonicion of the Church presumed as though they had ben in clean state of life to come to receaue the bodie of Chryst putteth them in feare with this saing of sainct Paule that for this cause ther be amonge you manie weake and sick and manie doe die Wherin note that Origen saieth that the cause of these plagues ys the vnwoorthie receauinge of the bodie of Chryst by expresse woordes He neither calleth yt Sacramentall bread nor figure nor signe but euē as yt ys the bodie of Chryst And for that yt ys ther vnspeakeablie and yet most assuredlie he afterwarde calleth yt so great and so excellent mysteries A mysterie ys wher somthing lieth hidden that ys not by open meanes A mysterie what yt ys and howe the blessed Sacr. ys a mysterie or common knowledge perceaued Forasmoch then as Chryst verilie being in the Sacrament ys not perceaued by the common knowledg of the senseis nor of naturall reason but by the speciall knowledge of faith yt ys verie well of Origen called mysteries And forasmoch as Chryst therin being ys so great and so excellent therfor verie well doeth he call them mysteries great and excellent And ther this ys to be noted that he calleth yt not a mysterie as being but one but he calleth yt mysteries as being two For although yt ys somtime called singularlie a Sacrament or a mysterie as one thing of the vnitie of the thing fignified and conteined which ys the bodie of Christ yet as touching the thinges that doe signifie and conteine which be the formes of bread and wine vnder which both Chryst ys verilie and whollie they are right well called mysteries plurallie bicause they be two kindes and vnder eche kinde Chryst fullie and therfore eche of them well called a Sacrament and a mysterie In all this sainge this also maie be noted that euell men receaue the bodie of Chryste but speciallie when he saieth that euell men doe as men Euell mē receaue the bodie of Chryst in the B. Sac. sicke of agues who will presume to eate holl mens meat wherby he plainlle teacheth that euell men eate the same meate in the Sacrament that good men doe But good men receaue the bodie of Chryst wherfor so doe euell men also but to contrarie effectes For as the holl man eating his meate continueth his life and the sicke man eating the same procureth or causeth his owne death Euē so the worthie receauer receauinge the bodie of Chryst getteth life wher the vnwoorthie receauing the same getteth him euerlasting death Thus maie we of this auncient father of Chrystes Parliament house learn the trueth that Chrystes bodie ys in the Sacrament Thus maie we learn that forbicause euell men do abuse yt vnreuerent lie receauing yt that the plagues of God as sicknesse weaknesse and deathe come vpon them Thys being true God plant in the heart of euery man that hath professed the name of Chryst to professe also hys holie faith and reuerentlie and thankfullie to accept this great and confortable benefitte of Chrystes presence with vs in the Sacrament and yt honourablie to vse O Lorde what mishappe haue we that after so long continuance of the faith of Chryst we shoulde nowe in the later daies fall from that reuerent and honourable vsage of this blessed Sacrament that was vsed in the primitiue Churche when the faith was not so dilated so spred so established as nowe for the long continaunce of yt yt aught to be And yet then was yt had in great reuerence and honourablie vsed But amonge manie testimonies that maie be produced bicause we are nowe hearing the doctrine of Origen we will also but heare hys testimonie in this matter He exhorting the people that hearinge the woorde of God they should vse great diligence that that they had once learned shoulde not by necligence fall from their memorie vseth the example of their regarde of the holie Sacrament and saieth Volo vos admonere religionis vestrae exemplis Orig. homil 13. in Exod Nostis qui diuinis mysteriis interesse consuestis quomodò cùm suscipitis corpus Domini cum omni cautela veneratione seruatis ne ex eo parum quid decidat ne consecrati muneris aliquid dilabatur Reos enim vos creditis rectè creditis si quid inde per neccligentiam decidat Quodsi circa corpus eius conseruandum tanta vtimini cautela meritò vtimini See what warenesse was vsed in the primitiue Church in receauing the bodie of our Lorde quomodò putatis minoris esse piaculi verbum Dei neclexisse quà m corpus eius I will admonishe yowe withe the examples of your owne religion ye that haue ben wount to be at the mynistracion of the diuine mysteries knowe howe when ye receaue the bodie of our Lorde ye geue heed with all warenesse and honoure that no litle porcion of yt should fall down that no parte of the consecrate thing should slippe awaie ye beleue yowr selues to be giltie and ye beleue well yf anie of yt should fall from yow through necligēce Yf than ye vse so great warenesse and diligence aboute the conseruing of his bodie and yowr vse therin ys good howe thinke yowe yt a matter of lesse offence to haue neglected the woorde of God then his bodie Thus moche Origen In this testimonie ys no mention made of the Aduersaries figure sign or Sacramentall bread but here ys plain declaracion of the catholique faithe A plain saing for the Procla Origen saing and declaring to the Chrystian people of his time by expresse woordes that they receaued the bodie of Chryst But note withal which ys most cheiflie to our pourpose here that not onelie the people did vse the same bodie of Chryst reuerentlie and honorablie but also Origen doeth both well alowe ther so doing and commendeth and praiseth thē for the same also And here note farder that the people had the blessed Sacr. in so great reuerēce that they beleued thē selues to haue cōmitted a great offence ād Origē saieth they beleued yt wel yf by their necligēce anie part of the Sacr. had fallen from them to the grownde by which their reuerend vsage as we maie clerelie perceaue and see that they beleued ther to be the verie bodie of Chryste to the whiche they gaue this reuerence and honour So by the same ys the vnreuerend vsage of our Sacramentaries moch reprehended Remembre See the vse of the Communion bread in the newe Church their doings ād consider their vsages and cōpare them with the doings and vsageis of the auncient Chrystian people in the time of Origen Owre Sacramentaries caused that the bread which was left at their comuniō should not be
naturall bodie and bloode of Chryst wherby also yt ys manifest that the naturall bodie and bloode of Chryste be in the Sacrament For if they were not howe coulde they so be receaued Again yt ys manifest that not onelie the inwarde man the inuinsible or The outward naturall man receaueth the bodie and blood of Chryste spirituall man receaueth the bodie and bloode of Chryst but also the outwarde the visible and naturall man And for the full and perfect vnderstanding of this note well the cheife grownde of this auncient holie Father Irenaeus His pourpose ys to prooue that our flesh although yt be a mortall thinge shall receaue immortallitie although yt be earthilie yt shall receaue an heauenly and euerlastinge life howe proueth he that By that that our mortall flesh receaueth the immortall flesh and bloode of Chryst and therby nourished shall in his time atteign to immortalitie ād life euerlastinge The Sacramentaries denieng the receipt of Chrystsnaturall bodie into our denie withall the argument of Jren. ād of consequent the immortallitie of our bodie after resurrect Consider then that the argument of this holie father against this heresie to prooue that our bodies shall rise and that they at the same resurrection shall atteign to immortallie ys that we receaue the bodie ād blood of Christ by the whiche yt beinge immortall and also able to geue immortalitie we shall be made immortall and receauers of euerlastinge life The Sacramentarie then denienge that we receaue the bodie of Chryst into our bodies denieth the argument of this holie Father and tectlie also denieth owre resurrection and immortalitie which to manie of them haue allreadie apertlie doen and robbeth vs of one great article of our faith and of our cheif and high comforte that we hope to haue in our resurrection For as S. Paule saieth Si in hac vita tātùm in Christo sperātes sumus omnibus hominibus c. Yf in this life onelie we beleue on Chryst then are we of all men most miserablie Yf then they will robbe vs of the mean to atteign to this resurrection and immortallitie whiche mean ys the very receipt of the bodie and blood of Chryst they shall also robbe vs of the effect For the cause being taken awaie the effect also must be taken awaie as the cause beinge admitted the effect must necessarilie folowe For the cause of the immortalitie of our flesh ys the coniunction of the immortall flesh of Chryst with owre whiche ys doen 1. Cor. 15. by the receipt of the same in the Sacrament Of these two Chryst ys a full wittnesse for the first he saieth Nisi manducaueritis carnem filii hominis biberitis eius sanguinem non habebitis vitam in vobis Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood ye shall haue no life in yowe wherby ys testified that the receipt of the bodie and blood taken awaie from vs immortalitie and euerlastinge life ys also taken awaie For the other Chryst also testifieth Qui manducat meā carnem bibit meum ibid. sangumem habet vitam aeternam He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath euerlastinge life Wherby ys taught that the receipt of the bodie and bloode of Chryst ys the cause and mean of and to euerlasting life But that the Aduersarie shall not cauill and saie that I speake moche in this matter at mine owne libertie and ther vnto expownde the scripturs by mine owne authoritie he shall heare the holie Father Cyrill affirme as moche as I haue saied and expownde the scripturs to the same sense Thus he Cirill in 15 ca Joan. writeth Non poterat aliter corruptibilis haec natura ad incorruptibilitatem vitam traduci nisi naturalis vitae corpus ei coniungeretur Non credis mihi haec dicenti Christo te obsecro fidem praebe dicenti Amen amen inquit dico vobis Nisi manducaueritis carnem filu hominis biberitis eius sanguinem non habebitis vitam in vobis Qui manducat meam carnem bibit meum sanguinem habet vitam aeternam Audis apertè clamātem non habituros nos vitam nisi sanguinem cius biberimus carnem manducauerimus In vobis autem ipsis dicit id est in corpore vestro Vita autem iure ipsa vitae caro intelligi potest Haec enim nos in nouissimo die suscitat quomodò dicere non grauabor Caro vitae facta Vnigeniti caro ad virtutem vitae traducta est Non potest igitur morte superari Propterea in nobis facta interitum à nobis expellit Non enim abest ab ea vnigenitus Deisilius Vnde quia vnus est cum carne sua Ego inquit suscitabo cum This corruptible nature of owre bodie could not other wise be brought to incorruptibilitie Oure corruptible nature could not atteign to incorruptibilitie but by the receipt of the incorruptible flesh of Chryste and life except the bodie of naturall life shoulde be ioined to yt Beleuest thowe not me sainge these woordes I praie thee then beleue Chryst sainge Verilie verilie saieth he I saie vnto yowe except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloode ye shall haue no life in yowe He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloode hath euerlastinge life Thowe hearest him openlie saing that we shall haue no life except we drinke his bloode and eate his flesh He saieth in yower selues that ys in yower bodie By life maie of right be vnderstanded that flesh of life For this flesh shall raise vs vppe in the last daie And howe yt shall not greiue me to tell The flesh of life being made the flesh of the onelie begotten Sonne of God ys brought to haue the power of life Yt can not therfor be ouercomed of deathe Wherfor that flesh beinge in vs expelleth deathe from vs. For the onelie begotten Sonne of God ys not absent from that flesh Wherfore bicause he ys one withe his flesh he saied I will rayse him vppe Se ye not here plainlie affirmed by sainct Cyrill and that by those places of the vi of sainct Iohn that this corruptible nature of owre bodie can not atteign to immortalitie and life except the bodie of Chryst whiche he calleth the bodie of life be conioined to yt To returne then the argument of Irenaeus ys of great force For in dede that The flesh can not be subiect to mortalitie that duelie receaueth the flesh of immortalitie flesh can not be subiecte to mortalitie that receaueth the flesh of Chryst whiche geueth immortalitie But once to ende with Irenaeus I wishe the Reader to be aduertised of two thinges The one that wher Irenaeus and S. Cyrill saie that by the receipt of the bodie of Chryst we receaue immortalitie he maie not thinke them to speake against the scripture whiche saieth Quis est homo qui viuit non videbit mortem What man ys
their argumeÌ„tes whiche apparantlie confirmed their sainges Yt ys a verie treuth that Chryst ys both God and man and yet ther were that saied he was not God as Ebion and Cerynthus and ther were that saied he was no man as Eutyches and Dioscorus Yt ys a certen trueth that God the Sonne ys God coequall and consubstanciall to the Father yet Arius saied that he was a creature not equall to the Father in deitie power or maiestie Yt ys an infallible trueth that the holie Goste ys God yet Macedonius taught that he was a creature Yt ys a certen trueth that Chryste suffred death for vs yet ther were that saied that yt was Symon Cyrinensis of whome ther ys mencion made in the Gospell that he bare Chrystes crosse These and an innumerable sorte mo haue all apparant argumentes to make a cowntenance that their doctrines be true and do intermingle in August ho. All false doctrine hath some treuth admixed dede some trueth with their falshead as sainct Augustine saieth Nulla porrò doctriâ—a falsa quae non aliqua vera intermisceat Ther ys no false doctrine that dothe not intermingle some treuth therbie the better to vtter their heresie So of this matter of the presence of Chryste in heauen and in the Sacrament apparant argumentes be made by other Aduersaries to deceaue the people which well weighed and examined haue no force nor weight to proue that they intended As for this Aduersarie the Proclamer as yt ys saied made no argumente in his matter for that he wolde haue the people receaue but his onelie bare proclamacion wherfore to him the aunswere ys soen made But his great master Oecolampadius heapeth vppe in dede a great nombre of Scriptures by quotacion onely which he saieth he shall not nede to alleage Scriptures alleaged against the presence by Oecolamp at large bycause yt ys an article of our faithe that Chryste sitteth at the right hande of the Father Of the which scriptures I will alleadge some that the reader maie both knowe them and also perceaue that they be not against the doctrine of Chrystes Churche as touching the reall presence of Chrystes bodie and blood in the blessed Sacrament In saincte Iohn his gospell we finde written thus Iesus knowinge that this howre was comed that he shoulde go oute of this worlde to the Father c. And in an Joan. 13. other place thus A litle while saieth Chryste and ye shall not see me and a litle Ibid. 16. while and ye shall see me For I go to the Father And in the same place I went furth from the Father and came into the worlde again I leaue the worlde and go to the Father Jbid. Again in an other place And nowe I am not in the worlde and these be in the worlde and I come to thee And in the Actes of the Apostles This Iesus that ys taken from Act. 1. yow into heauen shall so come as ye haue seen him going into heauen These and all other like scriptures that teache vs of Chrystes going to his Father of his exaltacion aboue all poures and soche other we reuerence theÌ„ Phil. 2. we accept them we beleue them we embrace them For they teache vs that which we doo confesse that Chryste ys God that he ys ascended Arsicle of the Ascension impugneth not Chrystes presence in the Sacr. that he ys in glorie But when we confesse this and beleue this doth this take awaie this treuth that Chryste ys verilie present in the Sacrament No in deed For that standeth still as an vntouched truthe neither impugning the other neither impugned of the other And therfore we consesse both to be true For he that saied Vado ad Patrem I go to the Father saied also Hoc est corpus meum Hoc facite This ys my bodie This do ye Wherbie he bothe consecrated his bodie for as Chrysostome saieth Qui enim dixit Chrystome 51. in Mat. I loc est corpus meum rem simul cum verbo confecit He that saied This ys my bodie made the thing together with the woord and also gaue authoritie to his preistes to do the like Whiche thing Luther denieth not Then forasmoche as Chryste willed that this mysterie shall be continued frequented and vsed vntill his comminge in the whiche mysterie by his power ys his bodie we maie not thinke anie contrarietie or repugnaunce in his woordes but beleue that as he ys the verie truthe So ys yt all treu that he hath spoken And as he ys allmightie So ys he able to performe and make good that he hath saied And therfore aught we to beleue both that he ys in heaueÌ„ and also in the Sacrament forasmoch as by his woorde we learn his presence in bothe Yf this our Sauiour Chryste wher naturall knowledge saieth Omne graue ExaÌ„ples of manie thin ges doen by our Sauiour Chryst aboue and contrarie to nature appetit deorsum euerie heauie thinge ys inclined downward coulde yet by his power make the earthlie bodie of Peter whiche was a mere naturall bodie and therfore heauie contrarie to his nature to walke vpon the sea and when yt pleased him to leaue him to his nature to suffer him to sinke and beginne to drowne can not he at his owne pleasure make that blessed bodie of his which ys so excellentlie conceaued and born and therwith vnited to the Godhead in vnitie of person that although yt be a naturall bodie yet yt doth surmounte and ys aboue all nature and naturall bodies can not he I saie at his pleasure demise lett downe or abase that his bodie to the state and condicion of a verie naturall bodie and again at his pleasure exalte and magnifie the same aboue the state of a naturall bodie He did fast fortie daies and fortie nightes and eate no meat whiche Matt. 4. was aboue naturall ordre In the ende of that fast he was hungrie and Jbid. 17. therin he subiected him self to naturall ordre He was transfigured in the Mounte where as yt pleased him he shewed Ioan. 4. his power and made his face to shine as bright as the Sunne and his garmentes white as snowe whiche was aboue the state of a bare naturall man An other time he was wearie of his iourneie whiche was agreable to the nature of man The Iewes came to apprehend him and with the voice of his mouthe Jbid. 18. Jbid. 19. Mat. 27. he threw them all to the grownde Again he abased him self and suffred him self not onelie to be taken of them whom he had so easilie ouer throweÌ„ but also to be buffited and to be scourged and finallie to be crucified What shall I stand in the rehersall of these thinges whiche be so plentifull in the Gospell Therfore to conclude I will saie with Cyrille we maie not thinke of the bodie of Chryste as of the bodie of a bare naturall man but we must thinke of that bodie as of
sub speciebus panis sumimus nonne participatio corporis Domini est id est nonne declarat nos partem bahere cùm corpore Domini in illud consentire The cuppe of blessing which we blesse that ys whiche we receaue with thankes geuing ys yt not a Commucacion of the blood of Chryst that ys do not we taking the cuppe of Chryst and drinking his bloode communicate with him and declare vs to haue an entredoing with him And the bread whiche we break that ys the bodie of Chryst which we vnder the formes of bread do receaue yt ys not a participacion Communicacion and participation of Chrystes bodie and blood what they be of the bodie of our Lorde that ys dothe yt not declare vs to haue part with the bodie of our Lorde and into yt to consent Hitherto Gagneius Who although he wrote but last daie yet he agreeth in the expownding of S. Paule with them that wrote aboue thousand yeares agon And teacheth as they did that S. Paule in this place spake of the very reall presence of the bodie and bloode of Chryst in the Sacrament which we receaue and by the which we are made partakers of the same bodie and bloode For wher S. Paule saieth The bread whiche we breake that ys to saie saieth this authour the bodie of Chryst which we receaue vnder the forme of bread maketh vs to haue part with the bodie of our Lorde Nowe reader if thowe wilt gather together the expositions of all these famouse Fathers and learned men which to shewe thee the vnderstanding A breif rehersall of the doctours alleaged for this text of S. Paule vpon this text ▪ I haue here alleaged and laie them in a breif before thy face thowe shalt I suppose see soche a plain declaraciō of the trueth so euident so manifest so clere so consonant so agreing and so consenting one with an other although spoken in diuerse ages in sondrie churches and in moche difference of times that I thinke thowe wilt wonder with me that euer men coulde be so stubbornlie blind that they will not see an opē treuth whiche can not be so couered and hidden with their deuelish glooses but yt will allwaie lie aboue of all men readie to be seen Chrysoste Chrysostome saieth that this ys the meening of S. Paule that that which ys in the cuppe vs yt that flowed oute of the side S. Hierom saieth that we partake of the bloode of Chryst as he him self saieth He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloode c. Hieron Whiche saing of Chryst as ther ys declared ys spoken of the eating of the verie bodie of Chryst and drinking of his verie blood wherfor S. Hierom so vnderstādeth S. Paule Damascen who can not abide these woordes of Chryst Damascen This ys my bodie to haue a figuratiue sense saieth that in the participacion and the communion of the bread we partake the flesh of Chryst and his Godhead also S. Augustin saieth that S. Paule speaking this text did shewe them to August what sacrifice they shoulde pertein which was to the sacrifice wherby they shoulde be partakers of the bodie and bloode of Chryst Oecumenius saieth that S. Paule calleth the cuppe of the bloode of Chryst the cuppe of blessing So that he Oecomen taketh yt for a cuppe of Chrystes bloode Isidore saieth that the bread whiche we breake ys the bodie of Chryst He saieth not yt ys called but yt ys the bodie Theophilact saieth that the blood whiche ys cōteined in the cuppe ys the same that Isidorus Theophil flowed oute of the side of Chryst Haymo saieth that the bread whiche we breake in the aultar although yt seem bread in very dede yet yt ys the bodie of Chryst Anselmus saieth that the bread whiche we brake and diuide to manie ys the verie bodie of our Lorde Bruno saieth are we not by the bloode receaued vnited to Chryst Haymo Anselm Bruno and ys not the bread that ys the very bodie of Chryst whiche semeth to be broken and ys not in deed do not we by this bodie receaue God into vs and incorporate him to vs Dionise saieth that that ys conteined in the cuppe ys the bloode of Chryst by the which bloode we are blessed So that yt ys verilie the bloode of Chryst Dionys geuen vnto vs making vs to haue communion with Chryst and to be partakers of the merittes of the effusion of the same his bloodd And last Gagneius saieth that the bread whiche we breake that ys to saie the bodie of Chryst Gagneius whiche we receaue vnder the forme of bread doth yt not declare vs to haue parte with the bodie of our lorde Doth anie of these twelue finde anie trope or figures in the saing of S. Paule No they do all teach yt to be a plain speache and a plain assercion of the verie bodie of Chryst and not a bare sign of yt And here to conclude this matter and to make an ende of this expositiō of this text I haue thought good to heare the minde of the right godlie and learned Father Roffensis who as all thinges that he did so doth he handle this text learnedly and pithilie Roffen in proem li. 5 Thus he saieth Poculum benedictionis cui benedicimus nonne communicatio sanguinis Christi est Panis quem frangimus nonne communicatio corporis Christi est Quid hic audimus figuras ne corporis sanguinis Christi Nequaquam sed veritatem corporis sanguinis quibus nos verè communicare Paulus asserit Profectò si figuram solam hic indicasset Paulus non adeo frequenter haec nulla vspiam figurarum habita mentione vocasset corpus sanguinem Domini Sed nec arbitratur Oecolampadius nos per panem et vinum suum communicare corpori sanguini Christi sed fidem solam buius communicationis causam esse contendit Et certè qui fieri potest vt merus panis aut vinum eam efficatiam habeat vt nos veri corporis sanguinis Christi reddat participes Quare consentaneum est vt quum huius panis esu liquoris eius qui in poculo est potatione verè corpori sanguini Christi communicamus eiusdem corporis sanguinis veritatem hic adesse ceu compertissimum habeamus The cuppe of blessing whiche we blesse yt ys not a communicacion of the bloode of Chryst the bread whiche we breake ys S. Paule in all his processe of the Sacra maketh not one title of mencion of anie figure yt not a communicacion of the bloode of Chryste What heare we here Figures of the bodie and bloode of Chryst Not so but the veritie of the bodie and bloode of Chryst which Paule affirmeth vs verily to cōmunicate Truly yf Paule had iudged hero to be an onely figure he wolde not so often haue called these thinges the bodie and bloode of Chryste no mention in anie place beinge made
bodie and to his Spiritt and are also made his bodie For as by these fewe wordes the trueth ys opened Woorthie receauers os the bless Sacr. What benefitts they haue and the great commodities that come to vs by the woorthie receipt of the Sacrament declared So ys the vain argument of the Aduersarie before moued fullie solued and answered The trueth ys that both good and bad receauing the Sacrament doe receaue the bodie of Chryst Commodities thercome none but to the woorthie receruer whiche cōmodities be three The first ys that we be vnited to the bodie of Chryste of the whiche moche ys saied in this booke vpon the tēth to the Corinthians The second benefitt ys that we be also vnited to his holie Spiritte The thirde ys that we be made the misticall bodie of Chryste These three commodities and benefites doe we enioie by the receipt of the Sacrament saieth this authour But when when saieth he we being pourged doe receaue yt For otherwise we receaue not soche commodities but we receaue great and notable incommodities For we receaue saieth S. Paule our owne damnation Then wher the Aduersarie Vnwoorthie receauers what they receue boyleth vppe his violent argument that wher Chryst ys ther his Spirite ys also And so yf euell men receaue in the Sacrament the bodie of Chryst they receaue his Spirite also Yt ys true that they receaue Chryst and his Spirite as touching their presence but not as touching grace For although they receaue his presence yet forsomoch as they be not as this Authour saieth pourged they receaue him not to grace For neither be they vnited to the bodie of Chryst neither to his holie Spirite neither be they therby made membres of Chrystes mistical bodie for as Primasius hath saied they eate not that flesh as yt ys to be eaten nor drinke that blood as yt aught to be dronke For in dede yt ys not to be eatē and dronkē but of soche as be clensed and pourged from sinne by penaunce and be clerelie voide of pourpose to sinne again And to soche yt bringeth these three commodities and manie moe to the other nothing but they them selues woorke their owne damnacion Thus gentle Reader thowe maist perceaue that yf with the minde of the holie Fathers of Chrystes Parliament house thowe wilt reade the Scriptures and by them learn to vnderstande the same thowe shallt not onelie not be deceaued but also in all matters of controuersie be settled and staied and clerelie see the toies and phantasies of the Aduersaries to be maliciouslie and deuellislie forged and inuented THE TVVO AND FIFTETH CHAP. ENDETH THE exposition of this text by Theodoret and Anselmus HItherto none be produced to shewe vs the minde of S. Paule but soch as by the testimonie of diuerse writers were a thousād years agon and more saue this last alleadged Damascen whome some so place as he had not liued full nine hundreth yeares agon But be yt that he were so yet he ys of so che antiquitie as he maie verie well be called as wittnesse in this matter for that he was before this controuersie was raised in the Churche I meen before the time of Berengarius Before whose time I am sure the Aduersaries can make no prescription nor yet since but by startes as Sathan might gett occasion and ministers nowe and Whie God suffreth Sathan noweto wexe his Church with heresies then to disturbe gods Churche Whiche I take ys suffred of God bothe to correct our euell liues and also to stirre vs to seke the knowledge of gods trueth Whiche although we had as yt were an vpper face of the knowledge of yt yet through necligence we did not wade to the deapth of yt But be yt that Damascen were not nine hundreth years agon yet the promisse of Chryst being considered that he wolde be with his Churche to the ende of the the worlde ād that he wolde also sende his holie spirite into the same his Churche that shoule lead yt into all trueth As yt ys to moche shame for the Aduersarie to saie that all this time since Damascen taught Chrystes promesse hathe failed So yt ys as moche shame to saie that all this time his owne doctrine hath ben suppressed In dede I wolde thinke that this Proclamer shoulde doe that that all his The Proclamers doctrine hath no presidēt that yt hath ben quietly receaued progenitours coulde neuer yet doe yf he coulde shewe that doctrine of the Sacrament that he professeth to haue ben receauedvuiuersallie and quietly but one hūdreth yeares yea one half hundreth years yea one twentie years or yf he can not doe that as I am sure he can not Let him shewe yt receaued and cōtinued as ys saied but one yeare Yf he can make no soche prescriptiō of his doctrine he ys to blame to reiect the catholique doctrine which by manie of their confessions hath stand these thousande yeares and to obtrude vnto vs his doctrine that neuer was yet staied quietlie one yeare Yf euer his droctrine was vniuersallie receaued yt coulde neuer withoute great and notable trooble to the wholl Churche be taken awaie Let him then shewe when by whome and by what meanes yt was taken awaie by the authoritie of anie autentique historie or catholique authour and thē he shall doe somwhat but that somwhat will neuer be doen. Seing then the doctrine of the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament hath vniuersallie ben recaued since the time of Damascen vntill the time of this heresie as we should be madde men to receaue sochenouelties of so small staie or holde So ys the Proclamer more madde so to moue vs. Damascen then teaching that that all the Christian worlde receaued and that also long before the controuersie was moued cannot he iustlie reiected but ys to be regarded These being twelue in nombre are sufficient to be a quest and to geue their verdicte vpon this matter Whiche all finde that S. Paule here spake of rhe bodie and blood of Chryst in the Sacrament no mencion being made of material bread Whiche so being yt ys easie by the same verdicte to pronownce that to saie that Chrystes bodie and bloode be not in the blessed Sacrament ys wicked heresie matter and not delighted with some varietie whiche of manie ys desiered I will but note our principall matters that are of his text of Sainct Paule to be learned whiche as before ys declared are but two and so ouerpasse the rest The one that Sainct Paule here speaking of the Sacrament and calling What bread S. Paul spake of yt the bread of our Lorde and somtime with and article this bread mente not common bread but a speciall bread that ys as often before ys saied the heauenly bread of Chrystes bodie whiche ys the bread of our Lorde in veriedede For in him onely consisteth the power to make this bread and to geue yt to the people The other that God suffreth this heauenlie bread of Chrystes The