with staÌ„ding in two sundry external thinges geaue the communion of them to his Disciples This letteth nothing our beleif which do know as well as you that Christ gaue his body and bloud vnder two formes of bread and wyne and yet notwithstanding one Christ was receiued vnder both formes of bread and wyne But therefor he deliuered hymselfe vnder those two kyndes and not one that we might the better consider his passion in which the bloud was separated from the bodye Therfore the fayth of the communicantes in the one parte receiueth the body trusting to Christ his promises the same fayth in the other parte receyueth the bloud beleiuing also our Sauior his wordes therein You haue not to proue that in the one part the body was receiued but that the bodye onlye without bloud is receiued And then further where you say that the faith of the communicantes receiueth the bodie doeth it receiue it as a dead carkas shame to thinke it or else as the bodye of the soune of God Christ our Sauior saieth The flesh profiteth nothing it is the spirite which quyckeneth How then doth the communicantes faith receiue such a sole body which hath neither bloud neither lyfe neither diuinitie in it The forgeauenes of synnes commeth only from the Deitie but the cheif instrument by which God worketh is Christes our Sauior most dearlye beloued Humanitie Which if a man conceiue as separate from his Diuinitie then trulye as it is emong all creatures most excellent so yet is it but a creature and very lytle auayleable vnto vs mary as it is the bodye and bloud of hym which was not only man but also God most glorious his body and bloud doth releiue vs through the presence of his maiestie You therfore which do diuide Christ and by your faith which no wyse man doth euer trust make a receiuing of a body without all bloud lyfe or diuinitie doe most playnelie take the fructe of their redemption from the people and make them to hang vpon grosse imaginations of a bodye without bloud and bloud without a bodye to their exceading losse and iniurie But now if all other argumentes fayled vs and if your deuise were not so obscure and vyle as it is yet the authoritie of the church is no small thing emong Christians againste which you speake so lyke a madd master as though you knew the voyce of Christ better then the church of Rome which yet doe not know whether there be any Christ or no except it were for the authoritie of the church of Rome And whereas you buyld all your institutions and articles vpon the textes of the scripture and your priuate interpretations and coÌ„tempne your mother Church yet except you folow the voyce of the church of Rome you can with no reason defende that this which you holde is scripture And here againe you call vpon vs to remembre S. Cyprian which in all that epistle of his vnto which you do referr vs doth so make against them which ministred only in water that he coÌ„futeth also them which minister onlye in wyne prouing both by the old and new law that wyne and water both should be mengled togeather in the misteries But as concerning tâ—e receiuing vnder one kynde of which we haue to speake what aunswer you vnto the place of Tertullian or vnto S. Cyprian his authoritie You saye that our argumentes taken out of them are but coniectures and the same very vncertayne for often tymes in the Doctors where one kynde is mencyoned both are vnderstanded as after shall more appeare Let the wordes of the authors them selâ—es trye it whether you or we do vse the vncertayne coniectures Tertullian in his second booke vnto his wyfe where he telleth her of the sondrye faultes and inconueniencies into which those women do bring themselfes which after their husbandes death do become wyffes vnto infidell and heathen rulers or gentlemen theÌ„selues being Christians emong which this is a verye principall one that in the houses of paynyms they shall not well be able to keep the orders of Christian people he sayeth after other persuasions Shalt thou not be espied cùm lectulum cùm corpusculum tuum signas c when thow doest blesse thy bedd and thy bodye with the signe of the crossâ— when thou doest spet out with exuâ—flation some vncleane thing when also thou doest aryse in the night tyme to praye and shalt thou not be thought to worke some witchcrafte Shall not thy husband know what thou doest taste secretely of before all meate And if he know it he beleiâ—eth it to be bread and not that which it is said to be Of these wordes you gather that in the name of bread is vnderstanded also wyne and why so Mary because that some tymes emong the Doctors of which hereafter we shall speake more both kyndes are vnderstanded when but one is expressed ergo Tertullian in this place is in lyke maner to be construed But our collection is otherwise that because we reade but one kynde specifyed therefore without any necessitie we doe not make coniectures that he meaneth both And we see that Tertullian in this booke was not in such hast that he needed to speake by figures vnto his wyfe or to number syx for the dozen Then by common reason we see that wyne in so lyttle a quantitie as ones parte commeth vnto in the distributing of the mysteries was not to be reserued of any person because of the quyck alteration of it Allso we beleiue that vnder one kynde Christ wholye is geauen and therefor that the gouernors of the church were not so folysh or scrupulous as to make a necessitie of both And whereas you perceyue by this testimonye that sole receyuing was then vsed which by your sayeing Christ his institution doth not permit we had no iust occasion to mystrust the receyuing vnder one kynde which we know to be of no greater force then the receyuing with company And you also if you had good wyttes might for good cause feare least you were deceyued in the question of receiuing vnder both kindes whereas in the controuersie of sole receyuing you be so openly confounded which yet you doe as earnestile endeuor to proue as you doe shifte to vnderstand both kyndes in Tertullian whereas he mencioneth but one Note further that when Christ said This is my bodye you will haue no bloud to appertaine vnto it and when any Doctor doth speake onlie of bread you will at your pleasure make wyne to be vnderstanded Iniurious in the one and superfluous in the other Therefore let it be tryed which of our two sydes doth vse more vncertaine coniectures Now as concerning S. Cyprian When a certayne woman saieth he assayed with her vnworthye handes to open her cheste in the which SanctuÌ„ Domini fuit the holy dody of our Lorde was she was made afrayd by fyer arysing from thens that she durst
principal sacrifice of his pure hart and mynd and by this we vnderstand that God excedinglie loued man which of mere good will and compassion was content so to suffer for man What shall we geaue then againe vnto God for all this which he hath done for vs we owe to hym remeÌ„brance of these benefites we owe vnto hym thankes we owe vnto him loue Remembrance is moued by representation and signe Thankes require a present and gift to be vttered by Loue desireth to be made one with that which is loued To keepe his benefites in remembrance we might vse either reading or hearing of his actes out of bokes or painting of his passion and expressing of his liffe in colours But images we knowe are similitudes only and are farr from the thinges themselues To the signifieing of our thankes we might either sing them by mouth or sound them by instrumentes of shew them in the buylding of churches and decking of them with ornamentes And as concernyng Loue we might fetch deepe sigthes and haue ernest desires but as the seruantes of holie Iob saied by theire master in token of their exceding loue who might geaue vs to haue our full of his flesshe We ought to render singular deuotions because we haue receaued singular benefites but our memorie ys so vnstable our power so litle and our charitie so faint that allthough verie reason persuadeth that we after a most best manner shoulde remember thanke and loue so mercifull and bountiefull a Sauior as Iesus ys yet the miserie of nature declareth that we are not able to doe either as we should either perchaunse as we would In this doubt therefor who shall helpe vs but he which hath dyed for vs which because he is made our heade hath therfor this office to direct and rule the bodie And so trulie he hath done For in his last supper he toke bread and saied This ys my bodie he toke the cupp and saied This ys my bloud of the new testament and with this bodie and bloud which he hath and doth geaue vnto vs we are able to discharge all our duties and make a full and perfect offering Of which bodie and the misteries and treasures thereof if I would particularlie speake all tyme and studie were to litle for the greatnes of the matter But for those three pointes the which I make mention of thei may be perfectlie brought to passe in the hauing and enioying of his true bodie For as concernyng our charitie and loue it is the most that we can desire in the state of his liffe to be corporallie spirituallie reallie faithfullie bodilie and ghostlie ioyned vnto hym which onlie is to be loued Of which our coniunction with Christ our God the body and bloud which he gaue vnder the formes of bread and wine are a signe and sacrament and are called in respect of this signification and effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke Communio in Laten and Communion in our Englisshe Then for geauing of thankes what greater present is there in earth or heauen theÌ„ the firstfruct of the virgins wombe and the cheifest portion of all creatures which is the bodie and bloud of Iesus Christ So that if holie Abel Noâ— Abraham and other haue testified their inward sacrifice of thankes by lambes corne grapes oyle and so furth and if Moises with all his people hath pleased God in offering the firstfructes of their vineyardes and glebeland with firstfructes of men and beastes in testimonie of the honor and thankes which thei gaue vnto God how much more acceptablie are we now able to offer vnto God a most worthie and pretiouse gift which haue receaued for that purpose the bodie and bloud of Christ in whose only bodie the particular values and prices of all other presentes that euer were vnder any law are shortlie coÌ„prised and reckened summarelie And so in this respect the body of our Sauior is vnto vs Eucharistia or a sacrifice of thankes geauing But now for the third point who thanketh hym whom he remembreth not or who remembreth hym whom he is not warned of or what warning can be greater then the reall presence of the partie and the partie being present what is first coÌ„sidered but his cheefest and worthiest benefite That we should therefor allwayes remember our Sauyor hys deathe which he so openly suffered that all creatures should behold it he left vnto vs the same bodie that suffered for vs. In presence of which yf we wyll not be brought to remeÌ„ber him we wil neuer be brought And in this respect our Sacrament is called a Sacrifice because it is vnto all such as haue the true and sincere faith a most holy signe and token of that sacrifice of the crosse which so long tyme sence is ended as concerning the painefullnes and bloudnies of his crucified bodie and yet continueth styll in fresshe memorie by reason of the reall presence of the same bodie which then suffered And lyke as when Easter draweth nygh we saye to morowe or the next daye after is the passion of our Lord because it is a lyke daye vnto that in which he suffered hys passion so because that in the misteries of Christians the representatioÌ„ of Christs perfect sacrifice which he offered once for all ys perfectlie worked therfor it beareth the name of that bloudie sacrifice which it representeth For in deed we doe not at this daye sacrifice Christ bloudelie but rather celebrate the memorie of his paineful sacrifice which memorie is by no meane more effectuallie preserued then by this that the same bodie is now made reallie present before vs which at that tyme was sensiblie offered for vs. But how then is it propitiatorie forsoth because of the offering of one selfesame bodye for allthough we make a coÌ„memoration only of his death not put Christ to death in deed yet we haue thorough hys gyft the selfesame body which theÌ„ being put to death rose againe to lyffe that it might neuer more die which then was offered vpp bloudelie and now is offered misticallie and is in both maners the same Christ verelie and to the same effect dispensatiuelie Therefor as Christ is the true fontaine of lyffe and the euerlasting and shyning light of cumfort and as his pretiouse syde after it hath ben once opened is neuer shut vpp and stopped againe but alwaies geaueth out the streames of mercy and peace so it can not but make for the clensing of their synnes which stand before it and hope after remission forgeauenes and mercie by it And as the word propitiation doth signifie nothing els but graciousnes fauor cause of fauor or some such like so the misticall offering of his reall person which is the deseruer and geauer of all perdon can not be but propitiatorie vnto them which come lowlie before his grâ—ce and do hym faithful honor not withstanding his externall basenes and the curteins whiche he keepeth hym selfe vnder Thus I
a capon But if you vnderstand by sacrament al the act and ceremonie of preparing and eating the lambe the calling of company vnto it was in some case materyal For if the numbre be lesse then shall be able to eate vpp the lambe then saieth God he whosoeuer he be shal take his next neighbor But you may say although the calling of company were conditionall yet the hauing of companye was of the substance of the sacrament It was so of the substaunce as other things were which God in that place commaunded I meane gyrding of their loynes and hauing of shooes on their feete and holding of staffes in their hanâ—es But if by reason of some wounde or dysease anye one of them had not ben able to suffer hys shooe on hys foote although his feete would not beare hym yet if his stomache serued hym could he not haue eaten with his fellowes and eate as fast as the best without breaking of the matter Lykewise if one had ben borne without haÌ„des or had lost his handes in fighting for his countrey so that he could not hold any staff in the hand which he had not was he to be excluded from his parte in the lambe Yf these pointes then which God so distinctlie commaunded haue their interpretations and are not so absolutely to be obserued but that for considerations thei maye be omitted I see no cawse whye the hauing of numbre in eating of the lambe should be so necessarye that it could not be omitted But the matter would be playner if we were once agreed how the terme of substance is to be takeÌ„ when you speake of it For if you meane that to be of the substance of a precept whichâ— without case of necessitie and without dispensatioÌ„ of the cheife gouernors can not be rashlye omitted as euery priuate man shall thinke good in hym selfe then I graunt that all those poyntes which are comprehended within the ceremonye of eating the paschall lambe were of the substance of it But if substance shall signifye such partes of any sacrament as which no man for any respect maye omitt or chainge in which sence we doe take it in speaking of the necessarye forme and matter of euerye sacrament then doe I denye vnto you that euerie point comprehended within the ceremonye of eating the lambe was of the substance of that matter Therefor if your comparing of all Christendome vnto all the Iewes and our particuler churches vnto their sundrye houses and the eating of our Sacrament vnto their lambe did neuer so well agree togeather yet because it is not proued of you that euerie point commaunded of God about the eating of the lambe is so essentiallie of the sustance therof that in no case it maye be omitted or altered therfore you come nothing nigh to the aunswer of our question which is whether that of necessitie there must be coÌ„panye allwaies to receiue at the masse Then againe it is to be noted that in the old law God did not commaunde them to haue companye at the eating of the lambe but rather then anye parte shold be lefte vneaten he willeth them to call more conpanye presupposing that there would be in euerie household companye inough to eate a lambe but yet geauing no commaundement of companye to be at it For if one by hym selfe alone had eaten a whole lambe his wife and children rounde about hym not louing that kinde of meate and yet delighting in the histories which he would tell them of Egipt and the redd sea I see not that you were able to burden hym with the breache of Goddes institution Besides this whereas the lambe of God which is eaten of the Christians is not more meate vnto a thousande then vnto one alone and one alone receyueth the whole that he needeth not to send for his neighbor your proportion betwyxt the lambe of the lewes and our Sacrament was not rightly deuised of you Also if I could finde no faulte with your application yet except you brought greater aucthoritie for the defence of it then your owne I would lykewise of myne owne head inuent an other sence besides yours and saie that my vnderstanding of that place serueth better to the purpose then yours In which case as both of vs might vse perchaunce probable interpretations so yet none of vs both should conclude any thing of necessitie And yet I neede not to runne vnto myne owne wytt for this matter because that long sence Sainct Denyse the Carthusyan doth saie in his CoÌ„mentaries vpon Exodus that the calling of a neighbor to eate of the lambe if howsehold cumpanie were not sufficient doth signifie that euerie Christian which is neuer able by hymselfe to consider sufficientlie the mercyes of God shewed vnto vs in the death and sacrameÌ„t of his Sonn should call his neighbor to hym and prouoke him to helpe forward that all thankes and praises might be geauen vnto the author of so excellent benefites Now to speake somewhat more of this lambe whilest you are of so good a mynd and remembrance to confesse that ther is a proportion and lykenes betwyxt our sacrament and it consider that the lambe was offered vpp to God before it was eaten which proueth that Christ offred his bodie and bloode in his last supper before the Apostles did receiue hym The blood also of the lambe was put vpon both postes of the doores which signifieth that good Christians do receiue Christ in the mouth and in the hart And they which receyue vnworthely or els in receyuing doe not beleiue it to be the blood of Christ these put the blood vpon one poste onlye You are commaunded also to deuoure the head with the feete and the appourtenaÌ„ces that you shold not be curious and nyce in your feeding but faithfullie and humblie receiue his diuinitie his humanitie and all other profond and secrete mysteries In which if any thing shall seeme absurde vnto your grosse vnderstanding you must referr all vnto the working of the Holyeghost and so you shall fulfyll the law which commaundeth the residue of the lambe to be burned with fier It is sufficieÌ„t to beleeue if it be not graunted to vnderstand for moe doe eate this flesh through beleeuing then vnderstanding Wherefore as the figure of the paschall lambe doth nothing make against the order which the church vseth so it doth most playnelie confound your suppositions and imaginations by which you take Christes reall presence from vs and the offering of his body And now what foloweth in your defence You laye vnto our charge that VVe take vpon vs to alter chainge and take away by our spiritual gouernors all the partes of the Lorde his supper as you will declare to vs in order by the doctrine of our defence of priuate Masse Certainelie this is a greate accusation and we are neuer to be trusted in anye thing if this be proued Do we saie you take vpon vs to alter chainge and take
But what of this for euerie thing of which a good meanyng may be gathered is not of necessitie to be obserued of vs. To communicate with Christ our head and his mysticall bodye is a thing most necessarie if we thinke to receiue hym worthelie but to haue a particular communion as you terme it although it be very laudable yet is it not necessarie and the institution of Christ doth not requyre it of vs. For if his blessed will had ben as you do seme to interprete it that there should be a visible company to receiue togeather at his table that the beholding of one the other might lyuelie represent the vnitie which Christ with them and thei haue with Christ and that without this particular coÌ„munion there might be no receiuing of the sacrameÌ„t woe then vnto poore blynde folkes which can not see how many receiue with them Whom if the mercy of our Sauior hath not excluded from commyng to his table it must folow then necessarilye that it was not Christ his institution and commaundement that without a visible cumpany of communicantes his sacramentes could not be ministred And as such a coÌ„maundement dyd not become his wysedome and his bountefullnes so would it haue ben a greate foyle and discoÌ„fort vnto his church if the neighbors slacknes should haue letted the deuotion of the well willing persons or if no receiuyng at all might be suffred without a particular coÌ„munion whereas any one Christian receiuing all alone doth yet therein communicate with Christ his whole mysticall body Now because this generall coÌ„munion of which we speake doth greaue you very sore which loue to make partes and separations you complayne that excommunication seemeth to be taken awaie by this our deuise as you call it of a coÌ„munion betweene such as are absent and distant But as you are allwaies very discrete and wittye so you geaue a reason hereof to excuse you from folye And what reason is that Marye After your deuise a priest that is excommunicated of the Byshopp maye saye masse in his chamber and affirme that he wyll coÌ„municate with hym whether he will or no. Yf you thinke as you say you be very dull of vnderstanding or short of memorie because our opinion proueth the cleane contrarie For whereas we tell you that he which receiueth alone doth communicate yet with the rest of the bodye of which he is a parte how farr and wyde so euer the whole be dilated so he which is separated by excommunication from the body coÌ„municateth with no parte of it whether he receiue alone or receiue with many But if your sentence were true as concerning particular communion then would it straitwaies be very hard to haue any excommunication For if England would not receiue one he might seeke after the congregation of Scotland If thei would reiect hym he might seeke many corners of Germany and Hungary If Lutherans would defye hym he might be intertayned of the Zuinglians If thei both were to honest for hym he might receiue after the institution of Christ as thei would saie with Anabaptistes Arrians and such other But with vs how can it come to passe by any deuise of yours that he which is excommunicated by the Byshop and therefor quyte separated from the communion of all Sainctes and Catholikes should communicate with the Byshop or any other whether thei would or no Naye truly Syr if Christ his institution had specially commaunded a particular communion as you saye it doth so in deede if the Bishope should excommunicate you yet you might call halfe a dozen of good fellowes vnto you and in chamber orcharde groue denne stable or vnder hedges celebrate a memory of Christ his passion and challendge vnto your selfes the folowing of his institutioÌ„ which institution whilest you vnderstand so grossely as you doe you must further expounde vnto vs in what quantitie of numbre tyme and place a communion may be celebrated And if for al your fancying of particular communion you haue no ioye to speake of such particular cases albeit you may tell vs that you haue weightie matters in hand and can not therfore dallie yet we see playnelie that you haue not what to answer vs lest you should be dryuen vnto many absurde folyes And therefor to shifte your handes of those questions in which your spirites might be tryed you tell vs that you see in the Euangelist and S. Paule that Christ tooke bread brake it gaue it c. and that he did his thinges in conuenient tyme and place and that he had coÌ„pany which if we either did not know either would denie vnto you then had you said somewhat But our principall question is whether such a company and numbre as he vsed be necessarie or no as yourselfe haue before confessed that the obseruation of place and tyme which Christ vsed is not necessarie And because you styffelie holde that cuÌ„pany is necessarie we would vnderstande your mynde further within how greate and how small numbre that necessarie company consisteth For it is written in the Englysh seruice that without three no communion maye be celebrated except vpon the speciall request of the syck person and in tyme of plagues when one maye receiue with the priest alone But yet I trow the institution of Christ doth permit well inough two alone to receiue togeather at all tymes Now if you be to seeking for your answeres in such questions which would declare vnto us the full meaning of your opinioÌ„s how dare you sett vpp a religion which know not the partes of your owne religion and can not tell how faâ—r you maie graunt or how much you maie denie As coÌ„cerning accidences without their subiectes and other such true consequeÌ„cies which doe folow necessarylie vpon other principles of the Catholike fayth we are able to proue them if you were able to vnderstand them Of which thinges we are not ashamed because thei haue ben openlie declared and beleiued in all the Vniuersities and diuinitie scholes of Christendome many faier yeares before your diuinity was published and if theâ— might be any offence taken of them or else not sufficient defence made for them if your syde should be iudge yet the questions are so subtile and curyous that a good Bysshop might with honesty saie that he needeth not to proue them But you which are the fynders out and founders of the ghospell â–ª the controllers of Christendome the speciall vessells of God and reformers of the perfect and Apostolike religion in so plaine and sensible a matter as place number and tyme is for theÌ„ which will communicate to runne into corners and fayne that you haue weightie matters in hande and coÌ„maund your aduersaries to silence and not to trouble your grauities with any particular questions it is much against your worship and honestie which would be accepted of priuie counsell with God and Christ as coÌ„cerning the ordering of sacramentes Also that accidences may be coÌ„prised without
waye of thankes geauing shall be catâ—h the same daye and that nothing thereof shall remayne â—â—â—yll the morow sayeth The flesh which ys appointed for the priestes 〈◊〉 of the sacrificeâ— ys the wordâ— of God which they teache in the church For this therfore they are warned by mysticall figures that when they begin to preach vnto the people they bring furth not the yesterdayes leauinges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old thinges which are after the letter but that they speak allwayes â—reâ—â—e and nâ—w thinges through the grace of God and fynde out allwaies spirituall thinges Now to sett furth as it were this his interpretation â—he gathereth many argumentes very 〈◊〉 out of many thinges in such sore yet that you maye rather prayse his inuention then requyer it to be taken of vs for an assured conclusion For sayeth he our Lorde also did not diâ—â—â—â— the â—read which he gaue to his disciples saying Take and 〈◊〉 neyther did be commaund it to be kept vâ—tyl the morâ—w Percâ—aâ—â—â—â— also this mystâ—rye is 〈◊〉 in that that he doth not commaund bread to be caryed in our wâ—yâ— or iourneyâ— to 〈◊〉 that we should bring â—â—rth the bread of the worde of God which we carye with vs allwayâ— new and fresh Those Gabaonytes also of whom it is written in the 〈◊〉 of Iosue are therfor coÌ„demned and made hewers 〈◊〉 wood and caryars of water because they brought old 〈◊〉 bread vnto the 〈◊〉 which the spirituall lawe 〈◊〉 commaund to occupy fresh and new Hereby therefore it doth appeare manifestlie that Origine did not entend to make a necessarie conclusion that the sacrament must not be reserued no more then he doth affirme that the cause why the Gabaonites were made bondemeÌ„ vnto the Iewes was that they brought old crustes of whoâ—e bread in their pouches and budgetes But as he was an exceading subtyle diuine and latbored to drawe all thinges vnto a good spirituall sense so he sayeth that Christ gaue breade vnto his Disciples and bad them â—ate it straitwaies and not keepe it vntyll the morow to signifie that our preching vnto the people and our praysing of God should be allwaies new that is to saye spirituall and harty Vnto which his argument and reason if I would answer and say that neyther Christ did bydd his Apostles to eate his body straitwaies and that grauÌ„ting also so much vnto hym yet reseruation of the sacrament in the church might stande with Christ his fact in his supper well inough I see not what might be replyed against me or how he should mayntayne his proposition Yet because his coÌ„clusion is true that in preching of the Ghospell and praysing of God we should bring furth a new and spirituall sense I will not stryue with him vpon the premisses but rather be glad of his wytâ—â—e interpretation As in an other example to make this matter more easie when some holy father saieth that God at the begynnyng made two lightâ—s one greater an other smaller to signifie that the Christians are gouerned by spirituall and temporall officers c. I haue not to contende with hym vpon his subtyle collection but to graunt hym that I see so much in the Sonne and Mone because I am not hindred by his conclusion To be short this mysticall Theologie is not â—ounde and certaine to make argumentes by Therefore if you thinke Origine in this place to serue for your purpose and so to serue that it is a more sounde place for you then is S. Cyrilles against you then truly as you maye haue perchaunse a good tast to trye which baker of the towne hath the best bread so haue you a very corrupt iudgement vndoubtedlie in the vnderstanding of auncient Doctors But let vs heare now an other sound testimony of yours He that wrote the sermon de coena Domini in Cyprian saâ—eth playnlie of the sacrament Recipitur non inâ—luditur it is râ—ceyued not inclosed and shut vp First you might doe well to name hym which wrote these sermons and to shew some probable authoritie why thei are not S. Cyprianes Then whereas you promysed to bring such testimonyes which should be â—ound and not suspected why alleage you that sermon for your defence which beareth the name of blessed S. Cyprian and yet drawe the authoritie of his name awaye from it whereby it hath lesse coÌ„mendation Yet it is noâ— I which doubt of the authoritie of that sermon but glad I am that though it be not S. Cyprians yet it is of such a truth and antiquitie that a sounde testimonie may be borowed allwaies out of it Onlie this I would haue you warned of that after fayer and greate promyses of sound and â—â—tentikâ— testimontes you disgrace not your owne cause and geaue aduantage vnto your aduersarie to refuse that worke as altogeather of no authoritie which your selfe do thinke vnworthie to be fathered vpon a right learned Doctor But now whereas S. Cyprian or that other which as you reporte wrote that sermon saieth The sacramâ—nt is receyued and not included or inclosed and shut vp as you English it what vnderstand you by shutting vp of the sacrament doth that place make against reseruation of the sacrameÌ„t and is this an other of your sound testimonies which you make so to sound as though the sacrament were not to be inclosed within a pyxe or shut vp within some conuenient place one or other S. Cyprian in that sermon after many other excellencies which he founde to be in our sacrament of the aultar aboue the sacrifices of the Iewes saieth in further coÌ„mendation of it in this sorte The prerogatiue of the Lâ—uitical dignitie doth admit to these loeues and bread not priestes onlie but the whole church is inuited vnto these bankettes An equal portion is geauen vnto all he is bestowed continuing whole he is distributed and not dismembred he is incorporated and not wronged or iniuried he is receiued and not included dwelling with the weakâ— and sicklie he is not weake c. he is not offended with the seruice of the poore A pure fâ—â—yth a 〈◊〉 mynde doth delight this dweller and the narrownes of our sely poore house doth not offende or bynde in the greatnes of God which is large and allmightye How saie you then is not the sense of those wordes he is receyued and not included referred onlie vnto the coÌ„mendation and setting furth of Christ in the sacrament which coÌ„tinueth allwaies whole and one although he should be diuided emong neuer so manye persons and is not included within them which yet doe receiue hym Yet what a sense haue you put vpon this place as though this were the meaning of it that Christ is receiued and not included that is to saie we must receiue the sacrameÌ„t and keepe no parte of it vntyll the next daie nor shut vp any portion of it within pyx boxe or coffer but straitwaies make a perfect communion that there may be in any case no
lothsomenes might trouble vs if it were geauen in visible forme of flesh and bloud vnto vs. And to conclude The sonne of God is vnited vnto vs through the mysticall blessing corporally as man spirituallye as God Wherefore we doe not destroye one truth by an other neyther so beleiue the presence of Christ his bodye that in no case we wyll admit any significatiō or figure neither againe so magnifie signes and figures that we take awaye all reall presence S. Augustine teaching vs That the body of Christ is both a veritie and a figure a veritie whiles the substance of bread and wyne is made his bodye and bloud by the power of the holyghost and a figure because of that which is outwardly seene and perceyued And so against the next tyme if you can haue any answer prouide to proue not that Christ gaue a figure but that he gaue nothing else but a figure For if you will so graunt a figure that yet you will not denye the reall presence then will all our other cōclusions which you despyse now be deduced out of the principle of Christ his reall presence that you neede to make no further question about them As for the kynges brode seale vnto which you resemble the sacrament it may be well and trulye sayd that in deede the sacrament is a most sure confirmation of all the actes which Christ dyd worke for vs in the tyme of his visible conuersation emong vs. For how might we haue his verye true bodye emong vs except he receyued a true nature of man vpon hym or how might we Christians doubt of it whether he be rysen from death to immortalitie whose flessh and bloud is daily geauen to such as will to saue them frō corruption But if you make no more of it then that as the king his brode seale doth geaue a force to his letters patentes so lykewyse the sacramentall bread should confirme the testament and promyses of Christ and that in such a sense that as truly as our body is fedd with that bread so truly our sowle is norysshed with his spirite verely you haue taken a great wonder at a common and easye matter For euery man when he will not only in the church but at home and else where and not only by bread or wyne but also by euery thing that is true maye vse the lyke phrase and saye as truly as I stand as I sytt as this fyer burneth as the sonne shineth as I lyue as I eate c. so trulie God dyed once for vs to saue vs from death euerlasting And if you wil cōtend that although one maye so say of al thinges which are true yet that there is a speciall regarde to be had vnto bread wine which Christ him selfe appointed for that purpose yet you haue no great cause of wonder no more then you shold maruell in some weighty accompt which the kyng himselfe would sett for some profitable effect that one such peece of golde which right now stood but for a shilling should be sodainly remoued and made to signifie 1000000. Li. For if al the dignity and price of the Sacrament consisteth herein that it representeth a most wonderfull gyfte and benefyte which the soune of God bestowed vpon vs then are you very much to blame for defacing spoyling breaking and burning of crucifixes which did more lyuely represent the death of Christ then any externall forme of bread and wyne can doe Whereunto if you will answer that Christ appointed the one and not the other you maye yet gather thereby that according vnto your imagination there is no such great excellencye in the institution of bread and wyne to represent and declare vnto vs the veritie of Christ his promyses but that a paynter or caruer maye as euidently expresse them by his arte and colours and more effectually also perchaunse for the playne symple deuout and good men of the world Wherefor that the holye doctors and fathers of Christ his church ▪ should meane nothing els by their termes of transmutatiō transelementation mutation conuersion alteration c. But the chainge of the externall elementes into this meanyng that they doe showe the effecte of the Sacrament and seale vpp vnto vs the promyses of Christ it is a very abiect and vyle mysconstruyng of them For they declare most expreslye that in the externall elementes there is no chainge at all but the chainge is onely in the substance of the bread into Christ his bodye which at an other tyme is to be proued more largelie but now S. Cyprian alone maye suffise saying This bread which our Lord◠dyd vnto his disciples delyuer being chainged not in outward shew but in nature is made flesh by the allmightynes of the worde c. But as much as you can for shame you extenuate and debase the greatnes of Christ his benefytes towardes vs. For Christ saying this is my body you vnderstand hym to meane a figure onely of his body and the holy doctors prouing vnto vs that it should not be vncredible that of simple bread he maketh vnto vs his precious body because he made all thinges of no thing and can doe more then is ordynary by the cōmon course of nature yet saye you they speake of no other chainge but that which is about the external elementes And one of them hauing this similitude Lyke as wax being sett vnto fyer is lykened vnto it no substance remaineth no ouerplus resteth so doe thow thinke the misteries to be consumed by the substance of Christ his bodie No say you it is not so or els it is to be vnderstanded after this maner that lyke as when the king his broad seale is sett vnto his lettres patētes then haue those letters their effect so I trow that the Sacrament should be lyke a pece of wax to confirme I can not tell what letters For if you meane the promysses of euerlasting lyfe before we come to receiue the Sacramēt we beleiue God and his church doubt nothing of them and therefor I confesse my ignorance that I can not tell what maner of leases or grauntes you conceyue to be vnconfirmed before the seale of bread and wine be added vnto them But as I began to tell you you take all thinges at the lowest and basest maner and this perchaunse is that which you obiect vnto vs when your delicate and deyntie eloquence could not abyde to heare the Catholike to speake of the pulling skaulding drawing and rosting of a capon before you dyd eate hym resembling vs vnto the seruant which being commaunded to make the dyner readye would thinke vpon great prouysion the master hym selfe meaning to haue nothing els but such colde meate set vpon the table as was in the house As who should saye we shal be saued and fare well inough if we do but imagine that Christ dyed for us As for the hauing of his naturall bodye because it is a matter
of greate prouision and it keepeth a great sturr within a mans hart to conceyue how it should be a naturall bodye and placed now in heauen and yet present and perfect on euery aultar in the whole worlde and because it were lytle inough to thynke all nyght long and mornyng before how to come to such a feast with contrition confession and satisfaction therefore it is but superfluous cost and a torment vnto the conscience Colde meate shall serve vs well inough and we shal be as merye with bread and drink in the remembraÌ„ce that Christ dyed for vs as with all the prouision which the papistes saie Christ to haue made In which similitude you haue as rightly expressed your inward thoughtes as maye be And we truly if we make greate prouisioÌ„ we doe no other then we are commaunded because we be his seruantes which euery daye geaueth the fatt calfe for ioye of his sounes which were lost and are returned agayne which was neuer a niggard of his meate and drinke in so much that when he had none other but seruantes in his howse yett he prouyded so royally for them that as euerye one of them wysshed so dyd his meate taste in his mouth For consider onlye the excellencye of Manna of the olde law First of all it came from heauen without any labor of the Israelites it came dayly except one daye in the weeke that they should haue it fressh and fressh it came so plentyfullye that yt couered all the grounde about theyr tentes and yet so equallye that he which gathered more dyd not abounde and he which gathered lesse did not want it came so simply as if it had ben the seedes of coryander and it tasted so wonderfully that it conteyned all delycates and hartes desyre it continued to them .xl. yeares togeather and as surely as their bodyes were noryshed with that bread so sure thei might be that their sowles mindes were fed with the grace of Christ. And all this yet was bestowed vpoÌ„ the Iewes before the incarnation of the souâ—e of God before the comming of the holyghost in the law of bondage in the tyme of figures and when God as I may saye did not yet keepe open householde in all coÌ„treyes of the world neither make so great cheare as he mynded to doe afterwarde Therefor if such thinges were geaueÌ„ vnto the Iewes what was to be reserued for Christians and if we haue not in deede the reall body of Christ emong vs what lyke thing haue we vnto their Manna Yf there were no other argument but this one which is gathered upon the conferring of tyme with tyme state with state figures with truthes Moyses with Christ Iewes with Christians yet of very congruence and conscience we should looke to fare better then the Israelites dyd in the barren wyldernes But except our Sauior his wordes this is my bodye this is my bloud be vnderstanded literally and really we fare a thousand partes worse For as in our bread vnitie is represented so might it haue ben in 〈◊〉 Manna and as you be as verely assured that your sowle doth participate Christ in spirite as your bodye doth receyue the externall bread so likewise they which were spirituall emoÌ„g the Israelites did in their Manna conceyue and receyue the bread of lyfe and the Sauior of the world and againe as your sacramentall bread is a token and seale vnto you of the goodnes and promyses of God so was Manna vnto them and that with much more myracle and coÌ„fort So that you haue nothing in this your Sacrament of the new law which should be most excellent which one maye not fynde in the Manna of the olde law which yet was but a shadow and figure of the bodye of Christ in the Sacrament but Manna of that tyme had many wonderful prerogatyâ—es by which it farr passeth in estimation the Sacrament of Christ his bodye and bloud if there be no more in it then you doe conceyue and vtter Which because it is vnreasonable therefore we can not but vnderstand Christ his wordes This is my bodye c. in that sense which we doe and we doe not feare least we shall offende in making to great a price and value of the SacrameÌ„t but rather we coÌ„fesse that we shall neuer be able to expresse the maiestie the miracles and the dignitie of it As for you if you be delighted with cold rost and would not if you might haue Christ really and naturally God and man bodye and sowle to be geauen vnto you but can satisfye your appetyte with only figures sygnes and similitudes you shal sytt by your selfe for the Catholikes vntyll God shall sende you more charitie Which if it were as it should be in you you could not fynde fault with the reall presence of Christ in his Sacrament and call it a torment vnto your conscience but rather you would be werye of all scrappes and leauinges of an yesterdayes feast and contemne all counterfait dyshes which haue more apparance then substance When you were a childe if one had brought vnto you a byrde or a fysh made in fyne and sweete paste with a figg or such lyke thing within you would haue ben more delighted in it theÌ„ with the true meate of the byrde or fysh but after that you be come to the state of a man you should couet the sounde and strong meates and lett all such creekes and knackes alone to serue for children God graunt that you fynde not hereafter fault also with the Catholikes that they teache you to beleiue a true and natural flesh and sowle in Christ and that you reproue not the charges and cost which God hath bestowed vpon the redemption of mankynde because the only worde of his blessed will was able to saue vs so that his incarnation needed not but only a similitude of a body But for this tyme let this be an end of this Replye and I would to God here might be an end of all coÌ„trouersie which because it is not verye credible in such confusion and vnrulynes of sectes and diuisions therfor some answer is to be looked for or rather some similitude of it For as concerning any true answer in the defence of your part you can neuer make it in those pointes which you are burdened withall in this Replye as your mysconstruyng of holye Fathers and reasoning out of the purpose with many absurde and vnlearned conclusion Yet no doubt but you will coÌ„tinew styll in your stoutnes and by one meane or other mayntayne your Capitaynes against vs. For if Goliath be stroken downe yet you sett vpp an Achilles and by chainging of the name you thinke to chainge the cause But if your bastard brauery had not ben sufficiently exemplified by the fact of the vncircumcided Goliath yet now by the crake which you sett vpon your prophane Achilles you proue your selfes more lyke that fell Gyant theÌ„ euer you were before For allthough