that People for their Unbelief had deserved Moses and Aaron and several others of the People that pleased God ate that heavenly Bread and did not die that everlasting Death tho' they died the common Death They saw that the heavenly Food was visible and Corruptible but they understood that visible thing spiritually and they tasted it spiritually Jesus said Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath Eternal Life He did not command them to eat that Body which he had assumed nor to drink that Blood which he shed for us but by that Speech he meant the Holy Eucharist which is Spiritually his Body and his Blood and whosoever tasteth this with a believing Heart shall have that Eternal Life Under the old Law the Faithful offered divers Sacrifices to God which had a future signification of the Body of Christ which he hath offered in Sacrifice to his heavenly Father for our Sins This Eucharist which is now consecrated at God's Altar is a Commemoration of the Body of Christ which he offered for us and of his Blood which he shed for us As he himself commanded Do this in remembrance of me Christ once suffered by himself but yet his Passion by the Sacrament of this Holy Eucharist is daily renewed at the Holy Mass Wherefore the Holy Mass is profitable very much both for the Living and also for the Dead as it hath been often declared c. The rest of the Sermon being of a moral and allegorical Nature I omit Besides this Sermon in Publick we have also two other Remains of Elfrike the Abbot in the Saxon Tongue * Published at the end of the foresaid Sermon printed by John Day Also in the Notes on Bede's Eccl. Hist p. 332 333 334. which speak the very same Sense and deserve to be inserted as far as they concern this Argument of the Eucharist and the change made in it The first is an Epistle to Wulffine Bishop of Shyrburn in which is this Passage The Eucharist is not the Body of Christ corporally but spiritually not the Body in which he suffered but that Body when he consecrated Bread and Wine for the Eucharist the night before his Passion and said of the Bread he Blessed This is my Body and again of the Wine he blessed This is my Blood which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins Now then understand that the Lord who was able to change that Bread before his Passion into his Body and that Wine into his Blood Spiritually that the same Lord by the Hands of the Priests daily consecrates Bread and Wine for his Spiritual Body and for his Spiritual Blood. The second an Epistle of Elfricke to Wulfstane Arch-Bishop of York in which among other things against too long reserving the Eucharist he says thus Vid. p. 334. Hist Eccles Sax. Lat. Bedae Christ himself consecrated the Eucharist before his Passion he blessed Bread and brake it saying thus to his Apostles Eat this Bread it is my Body and again he blessed the Cup filled with Wine and spake thus to them Drink ye all of this it is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins Our Lord who consecrated the Eucharist before his Passion and said that Bread was his Body and Wine truly his Blood he also daily consecrates by the Priests hands Bread for his Body and Wine for his Blood in a Spiritual Mystery as we read in Books Yet notwithstanding that Lively Bread is not the same Body in which Christ suffered nor that Holy Wine the Blood of our Saviour which was shed for us in bodily thing or sence in re corporali but in a Spiritual sence in ratione Spirituali That Bread indeed was his Body and also that Wine his Blood just as that heavenly Bread which we call Manna which fed God's People forty Years viz. was his Body and that clear Water was his Blood that then flowed from the Rock in the Wilderness As Paul writes in his Epistle They all ate the same spiritual Meat and drank the same spiritual Drink c. The Apostle that says what you have heard They all ate c. he do's not say corporally but spiritually Christ was not as yet born nor his Blood shed then it was the People of Israel did eat that Spiritual Meat and drank of that Rock neither was that Rock Christ Corporeally tho' he spake so The Sacraments of the Old Law were the same and did spiritually signify that Sacrament or Eucharist of our Saviour's Body which we now consecrate This Last Epistle Elfricke wrote first in the Latin Tongue to Wulfstane containing tho' not word for word yet the whole Sence of the English Epistle and that Paragraph of it which I have inclosed between two Brackets was look'd upon as so disagreeable to the present Faith of the Roman Church that some had rased them out of the Worcester Book but the same Latin Epistle being found in Exceter Church it was restored I was once about to have added some Citations here out of Bertram's Book de corpore sanguine Domini out of which many passages in the Saxon Sermon foregoing were taken But they are so many that I must have transcribed and the Book it self is small and so well worth the reading especially with the late Translation of it into English and a Learned Historical Dissertation before it giving a large account of the Difference betwixt his Opinion and that of Transubstantiation printed An 1686 that I shall rather refer the Reader to it where he may abundantly satisfy himself Instead of it I will only add one Testimony more out of Rabanus Arch-bishop of Mentz in an Epistle to Heribaldus * Epist ad Herib c. 33. de Eucharist Which we are beholden to the Learned Baluzius for giving it us entire in Appendice ad Reginonem p. 516. a Passage having been rased out of the Manuscript out of which it was first published Thus he says As for the Question you put Quod autem interrogastis utrum Eucharistia postquam consumitur in secessum emittitur more aliorum ciborum iterum redeat in naturam pristinam quam habuerat antequam in Altari consecraretur superflua est hujusmodi Quaestio cùm ipse Salvator dixerit in Evangelio Omne quod intrat iâ—â—s in ventrem vadit in secâ—ssum emittitur Sacramentum Corporis Sanguinis ex rebus visibilibus corporalibus conficitur sed invisibilem tà m corporis quà m arimae efficit sanctificationem Quae est enim ratio ut hoc quod stomacho digeritur in secessum emittitur iterum in statum pristinum redeat cum nullus hoc unquam fieri asseruerit Nam quidam nuper de ipso Sacramento corporis sanguinis Domini non ritè sentientes dixerunt hoc ipsum corpus sanguinem Domini quod de Maria Virgine natum est in quo ipse Dominus passus est in Cruce resurrexit
vain Image the Hands and Fingers may find out the Truth of my Body Perhaps some Mist may deceive the Eyes but a corporal Touch owns a Body Also elsewhere (d) Hom. 29 in Joan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of Seeing and Hearing he says By these Senses we learn all things exactly and seem Teachers worthy of credit concerning such things which we receive by our Sight or Hearing seeing we neither feign nor speak falsly But lest any one should pretend that the Eucharist is a Mystery and that in such things our Senses may impose on us and deceive us it is very remarkable how this Father distinguishes betwixt them He tells us (e) Hom. 13. in Ep. ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein Deception do's consist viz. when a thing do's not appear to be what it is but appears to be what it is not But he makes a Mystery to be another thing (f) Hom. 7. in 1 ad Cor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. when we see not what we believe but see one thing and believe another thing For this says he is the Nature of our Mysteries S. Austin (g) Serm. de Temp. 161. Cujus praesentiam agnoscat oculus attrectet manus digitus perscrutetur Si fortè diceremus Thomae oculos fuisse deceptos at non possemus dicere manus frustratas in resurrectionis enim manifestatione de aspectu ambigi potest de tactu non potest dubitari makes the concurrent Testimony of Sense especially that of Feeling to give sufficient assurance to us Thus he says There is no cause to doubt of Christ's Resurrection whose presence the Eye do's own the Hand handles and the Fingers examine If we perhaps should say That Thomas his Eyes were deceived yet we cannot say so of his Hands for in clearing the Resurrection doubt may be made of the Sight but no doubt can be made of Feeling Again elsewhere (h) Contra Faustum l. 14. c. 10. Qui nisi Daemones quibus amica fallacia est istis persuaderent Quod Christus fallaciter passus fallaciter mortuus sit fallaciter cicatrices ostenderit Who but Devils that are Friends to Cozenage could persuade them that Christ deceived Men when he suffered when he died and when he showed his Scars Again (i) Ibid. l. 29. c. 2. Illud est quod Magiae simile dicimini asserere quod passionem mortemque ejus specie tenus factam fallaciter dicitis adumbratam ut mori videretur qui non moriebatur Ex quo fit ut ejus quoque resurrectionem umbraticam imaginariam fallacemque dicatis Neque enim ejus qui non verè mortuus est vera esse resurrectio potest ita fit ut cicatrices discipulis dubitantibus falsas ostenderit nec Thomas veritate confirmatus sed fallacia deceptus clamaret Dominus meus Deus meus c. This which is like Magick ye are said to assert That Christ's Passion and Death was only in appearance and in a deceitful Shadow so that he seemed to die when he did not die Whence it fellows that you must assert also his Resurrection to be in shew imaginary and fallacious For he cannot be truly raised who did not truly die And if so then he shewed false Scars to his doubting Disciples neither did Thomas cry out My Lord and my God because he was confirmed in the Truth but because he was deceived by a Cheat. Suitably to which he asserts in another place (k) Lib. 83. Quaestion Quaest 14. Si phantasma fuit corpus Christi fefellit Christus si fallit veritas non est Est autem veritas Christus non igitur phantasma fuit corpus ejus If the Body of Christ was a Phantôme Christ deceived us and if he deceive us he is not the Truth But Christ is the Truth therefore the Body of Christ was not a Phantastical Body Now against all these plain Testimonies I know only one Objection can be made which we are to consider viz Objection That some of the Fathers call upon us not to believe our Senses nor to regard their Information and that particularly they do so in the Case of the Eucharist To this Objection I shall give these satisfactory Answers Ans 1. It is certain that the Fathers appeal to our Senses even in the matter of the Eucharist We have seen Instances before particularly in Tertullian to which let me add one remarkable Testimony out of S. Austin (l) Serm. ad recen Baptizat apud Fulgentium Bedam c. Hoc quod videtis in altari Dei etiam transacta nocte vidistis sed quid esset quid sibi vellet quam magnae rei Sacramentum contineret nondum audistis Quod ergo videtis panis est calix quod vobis etiam oculi vestri renunciant c. This which you see upon God's Altar you were shewn last night but you have not yet heard what it is what it meaneth and of how great a Thing it is a Sacrament That which you see is Bread and the Cup thus much your own Eyes inform you c. He appeals to their Eyes you see as to the Elements before them and suppose that when they tell them there is Bread and a Cup they were not deceived But then he informs them of that which their Senses could not be judge of because not an Object of them which was understood by the Bread and the Cup as we shall hear afterwards Ans 2. The Fathers call upon Men not to regard the Information of their Senses in matters wherein yet none questions the truth and certainty of their Information Therefore this is no Argument to question the Truth of what our Senses inform us of in the Eucharist because they would not have us to regard them Thus Cyril of Jerusalem (m) Catech. Mystag 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of holy Chrism Take heed you do not think says he this to be meer simple Ointment Sense indeed reaches no further than that but then comparing Chrism with the Eucharist which is not to be look'd upon as common Bread after Consecration he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We are to look upon this Holy Ointment not as bare and common Ointment after Consecration but as the Grace of Christ c. So also he says of Baptism (n) Idem Catech. Illum 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Come not to the Font as to simple and meer Water but to the Spiritual Grace that is given together with the Water And a litle after Being says he about to descend into the Water do not attend to the simpleness of the Water And yet for all this he never intended to deny it to be true Water Gelasius Cyzic (o) Diatypos c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are not to consider our Baptism with sensitive but with Intellectual Eyes Or as S. Austin says (p) Serm. 2. in Append. Sermon 40. à Sirmondo Editor
not Things The Flesh is Meat and the Blood Drink yet Christ remains whole under each Kind Uncut unbroken undivided he is received whole by him that takes him When a thousand take him one takes as much as they nor is he consumed in taking The Good and Bad both take him but their Lot is unequal in Life and Death He is Death to the Bad and Life to the Good behold an unlike end of a like taking When the Sacrament is broken Be not stagger'd but remember There is as much in a Particle As the whole covers Here is no division of the thing Only a breaking of the Sign Whereby neither the State nor Stature of the thing signified is diminished c. Another Hymn of the same Author which begins Pange lingua gloriosi In Breviar Rom. in sesto Corp. Christi In supremae nocte coenae Recumbens cum fratribus Observata lege plenè Cibis in legalibus Cibum turbae duodenae Se dat suis manibus Verbum caro panem verum Verbo carnem efficit Fitque sanguis Christi merum Et si sensus deficit Ad firmandum cor sincerum Sola fides sufficit Tantum ergo Sacramentum Veneremur cernui Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui c. Thus translated in the Manual of Godly Prayers At his last Supper made by Night He with his Brethren takes his Seat And having kept the Ancient rite Using the Laws prescribed Meat His twelve Disciples doth invite From his own Hands himself to eat The Word made Flesh to words imparts Such strength that Bread his Flesh is made He Wine into his Blood converts And if our Sense here fail and fade To satisfy Religious Hearts Faith only can the Truth perswade Then to this Sacrament so high Low rev'rence let us now direct Old Rites must yield in dignity To this with such great Graces deckt And Faith will all those Wants supply Wherein the Senses feel defect c. In another Hymn of Th. Aquinas which begins Verbum supernum prodiens they pray thus to the Sacrament In Breviar Rom. in Festo Corp. Christi O salutaris Hostia Quae Coeli pandis ostium Bella premunt hostilia Da robur fer auxilium O saving Host that openest Heaven's Door Th' Arms of our Foes do us enclose Thy strength we need O help with speed We humbly thee implore There was published at Paris with the approbration of three Doctors of the Faculty there An. 1669. a little Book in French called Practique pour Adorer le tres Saint Sacrament de l' Autel Or A Form for the Adoration of the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar Which begins thus Praised and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar And then adds Whosoever shall say these Holy Words Praised be the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar shall gain an hundred days of Indulgences and he that do's reverence hearing them repeated as much He that being confessed and communicated shall say the above-said words shall gain a Plenary Indulgence and the first five times that he shall say them after his having been Confessed and Communicated he shall deliver five of his Friends-souls whom he pleases out of Purgatory Then follows the Form for honouring the Holy Sacrament consisting of two Prayers as follows which I shall set down in Latin and English because I find them in the Hours of Sarum Fol. 66. and in the S. Litaniae variae p. 44. printed at Colen 1643. The first of them has this Rubrick before it in the Hours of Salisbury Our Holy Father the Pope John xxii hath granted to all them that devoutly say this Prayer after the Elevation of our Lord Jesu Christ three thousand days of Pardon for deadly Sins Anima Christi sanctifica me Corpus Christi salva me Sanguis Christi inebria me Aqua lateris Christi lava me Hor. Sar. Splendor vultus Christi illumina me Passio Christi conforta me H. Sar. Sudor vultus Christi virtuofissime sana me O bone Jesu exaudi me Intra vulnera tua absconde me Ne permittas me separari à te Ab hoste maligno defende me In hora mortis meae voca me Et jube me venire ad te Ut cum sanctis tuis laudem te In faecula soeculorum Amen Soul of Christ sanctify me Body of Christ save me Blood of Christ inebriate me Water of Christ's Side wash me Passion of Christ comfort me O good Jesus hear me Within thy Wounds hide me Suffer me not to be separated from thee From the malicious Enemy defend me In the Hour of my Death call me And command me to come to thee That with thy Saints I may praise thee For evermore Amen At the Elevation of the Mass Hor. sec us Sar. Ibid. Ave verum corpus natum De Maria Virgine Vere passum immolatum In cruce pro homme Cujus latus perforatum Unda fluxit sanguine Esto nobis praegustatum Mortis in examine O Clemens O pie O dulcis Fili Mariae Thus translated in the Manual of Godly Prayers All hail true Body born of the Blessed Virgin Mary Truly suffered and offered upon the Cross for Mankind Whose Side pierced with a Spear yielded Water and Blood. Vouchsafe to be received of us in the Hour of Death O good O Jesu Son of the Blessed Virgin have mercy on me After this the French Form adds what follows These two good Prayers were found in the Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem and whosoever carries them about him with Devotion and in Honour of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be delivered from the Devil and from suddain Death and shall not die of an ill Death He shall be preserved from Pestilence and all infectious Diseases No Sorcerer nor Sorcery shall be able to hurt him or her that has these two good Prayers about them The Fire from Heaven shall not fall upon the House where these Prayers are rehearsed with devotion A Woman with Child saying them devoutly shall be brought to Bed without any danger of her own or her Child's Death Lightnings and Thunders shall not fall upon the Houses where these Prayers are rehearsed with Devotion Such a one shall not die without Confession and God will give him Grace to repent of his Sins Now I will add a Specimen of Litanies of the Sacrament Litaniae de Sacramento S. Litaniae variae p. 30. Panis vivus qui de Coelo descendisti Misere nobis Deus absconditus Salvator Misere nobis Frumentum Electorum Misere nobis Vinum germinans Virgines Misere nobis Panis pinguis deliciae Regum Misere nobis Juge Sacrificium Misere nobis Oblatio munda Misere nobis Agnus absque macula Misere nobis Mensa purissima Misere nobis Angelorum Esca Misere nobis Manna absconditum Misere nobis Memoria mirabilium Dei Misere nobis Panis Supersubstantialis Misere nobis Verbum caro factum habitans in nobis
Wine in a Cup and said Drink ye all of this This is my Blood which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins The Apostles did as Christ commanded they consecrated Bread and Wine for the Eucharist And to his memory also afterward every one of their Successors and all Christ's Priests According to Christ's Command by the Apostolical Benediction did consecrate Bread and Wine in his Name Now Men have often disputed P. 470. and do it still How that Bread which is prepared of Corn and is baked by the heat of Fire can be changed into Christ's Body and how that Wine which is pressed out of many Grapes by any blessing of it can be changed into our Lord's Blood Now to such Men I answer that some things are spoken of Christ by signification some others by a known thing It is a true thing and known that Christ was born of a Virgin and voluntarily suffered Death and was buried and this Day rose from the Dead He is called Bread and a Lamb and a Lion and otherwise by signification He is called Bread because he is our Life and the Life of Angels He is called a Lamb for his Innocency A Lion for his Strength whereby he overcame the strong Devil Yet notwithstanding according to true Nature Christ is neither Bread nor a Lamb nor a Lion. Wherefore then is that Holy Eucharist called Christ's Body or his Blood if it be not truly what it is called Truly the Bread and Wine which are consecrated by the Mass of the Priests show one thing outwardly to Mens Senses and another thing they declare inwardly to believing Minds Outwardly Bread and Wine are seen both in appearance and in tast yet they are truly after Consecration Christ's Body and Blood by a Spiritual Sacrament An Heathen Child is Baptized yet he altereth not his outward shape though he be changed within He is brought to the Font full of Sin through Adam's Disobedience but he is washed from all his Sins inwardly tho' he has not changed his outward Shape So also that Holy Font-Water which is called the Well-spring of Life is like in Nature in specie to other Waters and is subject to corruption but the Power of the Holy Ghost by the Priest's Blessing comes upon that corruptible Water and after that it can wash both Body and Soul from all Sins P. 471. by spiritual Power We see now in this one Creature two things that whereby according to true Nature it is corruptible Water and that whereby according to the Spiritual Mystery it has a saving Power So also if we look upon that Holy Eucharist according to a corporeal Sense then we see that it is a Creature corruptible and changeable but if we own a spiritual Power there then we understand that Life is in it and that it confers Immortality on those that tast it by Faith. There is a great difference betwixt the insible Vertue and Power of this Holy Eucharist and the visible appearance of its proper Nature By its Nature it is corruptible Bread and corruptible Wine and by the Virtue of the Divine Word it is truly the Body and Blood of Christ yet not corporally so but spiritually There is much differencce betwixt that Body which Christ suffer'd in and that Body which is consecrated for the Eucharist The Body that Christ suffer'd in was Born of the Flesh of Mary with Blood and Bones with Skin and Nerves animated by a rational Spirit in humane Members but his Spiritual Body which we call the Eucharist is collected from many grains of Corn without Blood and Bone without Member or Soul wherefore there is nothing in it to be understood Corporeally but all is to be understood Spiritually Whatsoever is in that Eucharist which restores Life to us this is from Spiritual Virtue and from invisible Operation Therefore that Holy Eucharist is called a Sacrament because one thing is there seen and another thing understood that which is there seen has a bodily Nature that which we understand in it has a spiritual Virtue The Body of Christ that suffered Death P. 472. and rose from the Dead henceforth dies no more but is eternal and impassible That Eucharist is Temporary not Eternal it is corruptible and capable of division into minute Parts it is chewed with the Teeth and sent into the draught yet it will be true that according to spiritual Virtue it is whole in every part Many receive that Holy Body yet according to the spiritual Mystery it will be whole in every part Tho' some receive a lesser part of it yet there will not be more virtue in the greater part than in the lesser because it will be whole in all Men according to the invisible virtue This Sacrament is a Pledg and a Type the Body of Christ is the Truth We keep this Pledg Sacramentally till we come to the Truth it self and then is the Pledg at an end It is indeed as we said before Christ's Body and his Blood but not Corporally but Spiritually Do not dispute how this can be effected but believe it firmly that so it is Here follow some idle Visions which that credulous Age were fond of but are nothing to the purpose and therefore I omit them Paul the Apostle speaketh of the old Israelites writing thus in his Epistle to the Faithful P. 473. All our Fore-fathers were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and all ate the same spiritual Meat and all drank the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock and that Rock was Christ That Rock from whence the Water then flowed was not Christ in a Corporal Sense but it signified Christ who declared thus to the Faithful Whosoever thirsteth let him come to me and drink and from his belly shall flow living Water This he said of the Holy Ghost which they that Believed on him should receive The Apostle Paul said that the People of Israel ate the same spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink because the heavenly Food that fed them for forty Years and that Water that flowed from the Rock signified Christ's Body and Blood which are now dayly offered in the Church of God. It was the same which we offer to day not corporally but spiritually We told you before that Christ consecrated Bread and Wine for the Eucharist before his Passion and said This is my Body and my Blood he had not yet suffered and yet he changed by his invisible Power that Bread into his Body and that Wine into his Blood as he did before in the Wilderness before he was born Man when he turned the heavenly Food into his Flesh and that Water flowing from the Rock into his Blood. P. 474. Many Persons ate of the Heavenly Food in the Desart and drank of the Spiritual Drink and yet as Christ said are dead Christ meant not that Death which no Man can avoid but he understood eternal Death which several of