it was necessarie that other signes should be ordeined Neither ought this to séeme absurd For when we signifie anie thing that is doone or that is to be doone we vse diuers and sundrie maner of spéech The verie same he writeth vnto Ianuarius to Optatus and else-where Neither is that anie lett which the same father vpon the 73. psalme speaketh on this wise Their sacraments promised saluation our declare a Sauiour Of these words the Papists doo woonderfullie boast and crie out that our sacraments doo giue grace which the sacraments of the Hebrues could not giue Howbeit How our sacraments are said to giue saluation what Augustines mind was in that place they cannot tell He ment nothing else but that which he taught against Faustus namelie that our sacraments doo giue and exhibite Christ that is they testifie and beare record that he is giuen and exhibited For he addeth I saie not that it hath now saluation but bicause Christ is now come And if Augustine at anie time saie that the thing which is now vnto vs and that was in time past promised vnto the Iewes is not all one vndoubtedlie he dealeth concerning other things and not touching that which was principall in the promises of God For in them besides Christ there was promised an earthlie kingdome Also the countrie of Chanaan being a land flowing with milke and honie and such other like things were promised which be strange and differing from the promises of the Gospell But Christ is common both to vs and to them and is to vs no otherwise than he was vnto them 13 Now come I vnto the former demand wherein was asked How our sacraments be of greater vertue How our sacraments can be of more vertue if the thing be one on both parts Hervnto I answer when the selfe-same thing is set before vs of the which one man taketh more than another there is no difference in the thing it selfe but in the instrument wherwith it is taken A similitude As if so be that a heape of monie be set before anie man from whence it may be lawfull for euerie one to take so much as he is able to hold in his hand the larger and more strong hand euerie one hath so much the more may he take of the monie set before him euen so séeing our faith wherewith we comprehend Christ is greater and more strong than was that of the Iewes we take more of Christ than they in the old time did Whether our faith be greater than the faith of the Iewes But thou wilt saie How can our faith be greater than was the faith of the Iewes Here it behooued to answer warilie For there were some among the Hebrues indued with excellent faith namelie the prophets and patriarchs of the which diuers spent euen their life for religion sake Neither is there anie more beléeued of vs than was of them séeing their Church and ours is all one Christ is ours alike but the difference is in the perspicuitie of the things beléeued For to vs in these daies all things are more cléere and manifest than they were to them Vnto vs Christ is borne is dead is risen out of the graue and is taken vp into heauen all which things they also had but more obscurelie and as it were in a shadowe Séeing therefore these things are more bright and manifest vnto vs our faith also may be called greater and more sure bicause it is more stirred vp by things that be manifest than it is by obscure things For which cause in times past the faith in Christ was verie smallie aduanced beyond the borders of Iewrie whereas at this daie it is spred ouer all the world And when I saie that our faith is greater than the faith of the Iewes I meane of the vniuersall state of them and as it happened for the most part and in most places generallie and not of particular persons For I dare not affirme that the faith of anie man was more stedfast than the faith of Abraham of Dauid of Esaie and such like For Christ testified of Abraham that He sawe his daie and was glad Esaie also Iohn 8 56. in the 53. chapter All the chapter so expressed the whole kingdome of Christ and his death as Ierom pronounceth him rather to be an Euangelist than a prophet And Dauid Psalme 2 verse 22 c in his psalmes most plainlie prophesieth manie things of Christ 14 But there séemeth to be no small controuersie In .1 Cor. 10 verse 3. betwéene those words in the tenth chapter of the first to the Corinthians and that which Christ taught in the sixt of Iohn where he said Iohn 6 32 and 49. that the meate which he ordeined was a great deale better than that which the fathers had by Moses in the wildernesse who he saith were dead although they vsed that meate And he declared that they which did eate him being the true bread should not die Moreouer he addeth that Moses did not giue them bread from heauen and that he is the bread the which God the father sent from heauen These things doo shew that Christ put no small difference betwéene our sacraments and the sacraments of the old fathers whereas Paule indeuoureth to make them all one Howbeit in the holie scriptures things be sometimes intreated of according to their owne nature but otherwhiles according to that that men with whom they haue to doo estéeme of them Paule so writeth of the sacrament of the old-fathers as the nature thereof was and as it was granted by God But Christ hath a respect vnto the iudgement and disposition of those men which came vnto him who repaired to him for no other cause but to be satisfied with the bread For they sawe that a few daies before he had satisfied a verie great number with a few loaues for which cause they said vnto him What signe doost thou that we may beleeue thee For Moses gaue Manna vnto the fathers in the wildernesse As if they had said It behoueth thée also if thou wilt haue the multitude to obeie thée to susteine them no lesse than Moses did Séeing therefore Christ perceiued before hand that these men estéemed or imbrased nothing in this meate which the fathers receiued in the wildernesse saue onelie the outward substance which filled the bellie he tempered his doctrine to reprooue this base and vile vnderstanding of theirs and speaketh of the outward substance of that meate and not of the spirituall thing which was represented thereby and as he might called their minds from that earthlie meate In what respect Christ denied that Manna came from heauen vnto the spirituall foode and denied that Manna as concerning corporall substance was from heauen For as it was vnderstood by them the diuine and heauenlie nature of Christ was secluded there-from And so he concluded that they which were like vnto these might not be quickened with that meate
They be dead saith he which should not haue happened if they had togither with the signe eaten me by faith which am the true bread sent downe from heauen Rom. 4 11. 15 Paule after the same maner when he hath occasion to intreate of circumcision speaketh honourablie thereof according to the nature of it Vnto the Romans he calleth it The seale of the righteousnesse of faith And we our selues that be the faithfull of Christ saith he are circumcised in baptisme with a circumcision not made with hands And on the other side when he writeth thereof as it was obtruded by the false apostles saith he to the Galathians If ye be circumcised Gal. 5 3 4. and 5. Christ profiteth you nothing Ye are fallen awaie from grace and yee are become debtors of keeping the whole lawe Phil. 3 2. And vnto the Philippians he speaketh so contemptuouslie therof 2. Cor. 3. as he calleth it Concision The same dooth he when he writeth of the old testament of the which he speaketh diuerslie according to the distinction that is brought No otherwise said Christ vnto the Iewes Yee onelie haue respect vnto carnall meate ye haue onelie a care for the bellie ye speciallie followe idlenesse and therefore aboue me ye prefer Moses of whom the fathers like vnto your selues had no other but earthlie food but I am to giue you heauenlie food if so be ye applie your faith thereto 16 And that the thing may the more appeare we learne of Augustine in the 26. treatise vpon Iohn Augustine that the sacraments of the old fathers as touching the signes were differing frō ours but as concerning the things signified they were all one By these things it is perceiued that as manie of the fathers as were godlie notwithstanding that they receiued other signes than we doo yet they had all one thing with vs and were partakers of Christ in like maner as we be but they which were wicked and destitute of faith indéed tooke the outward thing but they were vtterlie destitute of the spirituall gift and grace Of them Christ speaketh Ioh. 6 49. bicause they might be compared to the vnbeléeuing multitude with whom he had then dealing Thou wilt saie that the verie same happeneth in the Eucharist For the vngodlie comming therevnto doo indéed receiue the bread and wine howbeit they haue no fruit thereof but do eate and drinke vnto their damnation whereas the godlie and faithfull persons vse not the simple and bare signes but through beléefe are therewithall partakers of the bodie and bloud of Christ Wherefore that which he saith that Christ did with these men the same also commeth to passe with vs and our sacrament For which cause there ought no such difference to be put by him séeing the self-same thing commeth to passe as well in the one as in the other But this is méet to be considered that Christ when he spake these things in the sixt of Iohn ment onelie of spirituall eating which is perfourmed by faith For thereof Augustine saith Augustine Why doost thou prepare thy téeth and bellie Beléeue and thou hast eaten The institution of the signes was long time afterward deliuered in the last supper which he had with his apostles where he added no new thing vnto those things which were spoken in the sixt of Iohn except it were the outward signes of bread and wine And euen as Christ spake onelie of the spirituall eating which was then at that time so the Iewes against whom he disputed had onelie an vnderstanding of the outward eating Therefore Christ called them from that grosse and earthlie féeding vnto that which is méere spirituall of the which he then framed his talke and saith that the fathers which were like vnto them died in the desert and were not holpen by the meate offered vnto them by Moses that they should not die which receiued that spirituall féeding which he then intreated of And the death which he there mentioneth is not this temporall death but euerlasting death Our death if we be faithfull cannot be called death Howbeit our death of bodie so we be faithfull cannot trulie be called death séeing thereby the waie is open to life yea that to the blessed life So then Manna in the old testament as touching the institution therof was heauenlie spirituall meate but all that did eate receiued not the same spirituallie onelie those receiued it so which did eate it by faith Neither dooth Christ in the mean time denie but that there were manie of the father as Moses Aaron Iosua Caleb and others who faithfullie to life receiued that meate But this he denieth namelie that the outward meate or signe being taken alone and by it selfe as they with whome he spake regarded the same had anie vertue or vtilitie as concerning the spirit And so we must take héed that we attribute not seuerallie vnto the signe that which belongeth vnto the thing 17 Dauid in the 78. psalme maketh euident mention of the food giuen to the fathers in the wildernesse saieng And God commanded the clouds Psal 78 24. and 25. and opened the doores of heauen c. Where thou hearest the prophet saie that the bread was then giuen from heauen Manna from heauen is two waies to be referred Which saieng thou must as well refer vnto the outward signe as vnto the spirituall thing vnto Christ I meane who is thereby represented For the substance it selfe being Manna was giuen out of the aire or clouds and that region is verie oftentimes in the scripture called heauen In the Gospell we read Matth. 6 26. Behold the birds of heauen and it oftentimes speaketh of raining from heauen and such other like spéeches Doubtlesse it is trulie said of Christ that he came downe séeing he had his diuine nature out of the heauens whose bodie also is by Paule called heauenlie 1. Co. 15 47 Furthermore Dauid in the same place added that Man did eate the bread of Giborim which word may be interpreted Of princes or noble personages The 70. interpretours haue translated it Of angels which thing the Chaldaean interpretour séemeth to expound as though Manna were sent downe from the place of angels habitation Others thinke it was therefore called angels food in respect of being brought foorth in the clouds by their ministerie And here I might easilie acknowledge a figure to be as if it should be said The Hebrues did eate a most noble bread which the angels might haue vsed if they did eate bread As we commonlie speake of excellent fare This is the meate of lords and princes And whereas by Paule this meate is called spirituall it is signified that sacraments are no common signes as though none of those things which be signified were there receiued for else they should onelie be externe earthlie meats and not spirituall Furthermore God mocketh not neither dooth he deceiue that he would promise anie thing in the
the bodie be it good or be it euill Ibidem 4. But he saith also in the same epistle that We doo sigh so long as we be in this earthlie mansion not for that we would be cleane spoiled of it but rather to haue it ouerclothed And Ambrose citeth out of the Psalmes Psal 144 4. Psal 39 6. that Man is made like vnto vanitie and that Man is altogither vanitie Wherevnto I thinke this is to be added to let vs vnderstand that this heauinesse of the bodie and these gréefes which Dauid complaineth of doo come vnto the soule by reason of the bodie We may perceiue that they came not by the institution of God but rather crept in by the meanes of sinne for otherwise the bodie was not giuen to the soule as a graue or prison At the beginning the bodie was not giuen to the soule as a prison as some doo fable but as a most fit instrument to accomplish most singular actes and most excellent enterprises Ambrose goeth on and in his induction saith that The sun the moone and the rest of the stars are weried with continuall course and that the inferiour creatures also doo take paines for our sakes But he saith that this is not doone by them with an vnwilling mind for that they vnderstand that the verie sonne of God tooke vpon him for our sakes the forme of a seruant by his death procured their life and safegard Further he saith that they in this respect comfort themselues bicause one daie they shal be deliuered and that their labours shall once haue an end Whereof if I should declare my iudgement first of all I might doubt whether the sunne and moone and other the starres doo labour in their courses Moreouer I thinke it to be spoken figuratiuelie by Ambrose Ambrose speaketh figuratiuely that all creatures with a quiet mind beare those their molestations bicause they knowe that Christ the sonne of God hath suffered for our saluation the ignominie and death of the crosse Neither doo I thinke this to be without a figure when he saith that they be comforted in this respect bicause they vnderstand that their labors shall once be at an end and that they shall be repaired Last of all he maketh mention of angels and saith that they are not glad to be occupied in punishing of wicked men for that they be touched with mercie and had rather adorne them with benefits than afflict them with punishments especiallie séeing Christ saith in Luke that The angels doo greatlie reioise of one sinner that repenteth The same Ambrose expounding this place Luk. 15 10. saith that The sorrowfulnesse of the creatures shall so long indure How long the anguish of the creatures shall indure vntill the number of them be full which shall be saued And To be subiect vnto vanitie he interpreteth To be mortall and transitorie Vanitie therefore in this place after his opinion is mortalitie where vnder all creatures vniuersallie doo labour as we sée and therefore are compelled to wrestle continuallie with the same so as Salomon vpon iust cause said Eccle. 1 12. Vanitie of vanities althings are vanitie Commentaries ascribed vnto Ierom. 57 The commentaries which are ascribed vnto Ierom séeme not much to disagrée with the saieng of Augustine so that they by euerie creature vnderstand the whole number euen from the verie time of Adam which number of saints together with the same Adam doo as they saie sorrowfullie wait for the reuelation of the sonnes of God that they also as we be taught in the epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 11 40. may be perfect with vs. Origin Origin maketh mention of certeine things concerning the soule which is the chéefest part of our mind which he saith laments and sorrows heauilie bicause it is continuallie compelled to humble it selfe to serue the manifold and sundrie necessities of the bodie But Chrysostome is plainlie on our side Chrysost and confesseth that Paule vseth here the figure Prosopopoeia which figure is greatlie frequented in the holie scriptures Psalm 47 1. for the Prophets and Psalmes doo manie times command the flouds and the woods to clap their hands The prophets and psalmes do manie times feine sense vnto things without life Sometimes they shew that the mountaines doo danse and that the hils doo leape for ioie not that they in verie déed doo ascribe motion and sense vnto things without life but to signifie that the same good thing which they so commend is so great that it ought to apperteine vnto creatures vtterlie without sense and féeling Esaie 24. 4. The Prophets also are woont sometimes to bring in the woods vines earth it selfe and other elements lamenting and howling and also the roofes of houses and temples crieng that they maie with more vehemencie of words amplifie that euill which they haue in hand Neither should it séeme strange if Paule doo imitate these phrases of the Prophets séeing one and the same spirit of God was in both of them 58 Neither is it a hard matter to declare How all creatures are subiect vnto the curse how our calamities doo redound also vnto creatures for when man was adiudged vnto the curse the earth was also condemned to be accursed and constrained to bring foorth thornes and briers Gen. 3 17. And after what sort it is become desert and vnpleasant by reason of sinne both the holie scriptures in euerie place teach vs and experience if we consider it would shew vs. Esaie saith in the 24. chapter verse 23. The sunne shal be confounded and the moone shal be ashamed And in the destruction of Babylon the same prophet writeth Esaie 13 10 That the moone and the stars shall giue no light and that the sunne shal be clothed with darkenesse Psa 102 26. Concerning heauen Dauid pronounceth The heauens from the beginning are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou doest indure as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shal be changed Deut. 28 23. Moses saith in the lawe I will giue a heauen of brasse and an earth of yron which we vnderstand came to passe in the time of Elias 4. Kin. 17 1. Iam. 5 17 wherein the heauen was so shut vp as for the space of thrée yeares and a halfe it yéelded no raine Wherefore that is an excellent saieng Ose 2 21. which the prophet Ose said on the contrarie part I will heare heauen and heauen shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the wheat wine and oile How all creatures doo seruice to the godlie Exod. 14 21 and 16 13. and 17 6. Iosu 10 13. and they shall heare Israel Finallie in what maner euerie creature doth seruice vnto godlie men the scripture in euerie place declareth The sea made waie for the Isralites the stonie rocke gushed out water the heauen gaue a cloud and Manna the sunne stood still for Iosua
sacraments which he will not performe by anie meanes Neither for all this is there anie néed whie there should be a metamorphosis which they call transubstantiation to the intent that the sacrament should become spirituall food No need of transubstantiation in the sacrament We ought not to confound the nature of the signes togither with the things signified Let vs follow the meane and sound waie and let vs iudge honourablie of the sacraments not thinking them to be things altogither void of spirituall goodnesse Neither let vs so ioine the signes with the things as they did altogither passe into them It sufficeth there to appoint a profitable and most excellent signification whereby the faithfull mind through beléeuing may be made partaker of the things signified 18 This word Manna is an Hebrue word What Manna signifieth in the Hebrue and it may signifie a gift or else a portion and a part forsomuch as that thing was all wholie giuen by God vnto the Israelites Or else it signifieth some thing prepared not atteined vnto by labour but such a thing as we may vse without anie endeuor of our owne But letting the word passe we say that as touching the nature it was not the same Of Galen and Dioscorides which of Galen and Dioscorides is called Manna bicause they so call certeine small péeces and fragments of franckincense Of the Arabian philosophers honie of the aire is called by this name the which the Graecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I doubt not but that the Arabians vsed the word Man by imitating of the holie scriptures For their language is somewhat néere vnto the Hebrue Aben-ezra Aben-ezra vpon the 16. chapter of Exodus rehearseth manie miracles or properties of this holie food Man or Manna far differing from the nature of Manna among the Arabian philosophers The difference betweene Manna called honie of the aire from Manna in the scriptures For naturall Manna is not to be found vpon mount Sina and about the wildernesse Further it raineth not alwaies but in the spring antumne onelie But that which was holie was giuen fortie yéeres continuallie The daie before the sabboth it fell more plentifullie to the intent a double quantitie might be gathered for that daie and for the sabboth for vpon the sabboth daie it was not to be found The same melted with the sunne in the afternoone time the which happeneth not in our naturall Manna That was grownd with a mill so as it might be baked in the forme of cakes wheras ours is soft inough That was a nourishing food but this of ours is taken for a medicine and purgeth awaie choler and fleame That being reserued vntill the morrowe bred woormes whereas ours is kept and that aboue a yéere Also this of ours hath certeine places in the which it falleth but that of the Hebrues followed the Hebrues wheresoeuer they went Ours hath one certeine taste therewith which is not declared to be in the other but rather as it is written in the booke of Wisedome It had in it selfe all manner of delight These things haue I Wisd 16 26 for this cause recited to the end it may be vnderstood that this signe had manie properties wherby it might most aptlie expresse that which it signified For as those words which be made to shew the signification of things partlie are naturall and partlie are giuen after the mind of them which first named them for they prouided that when as they might not expresse the whole nature of the thing and all the properties thereof yet that they should be able at the least wise to shew some one propertie more notable and knowne wherevpon they did not much varie from naming of things after their owne nature Bicause also it was free for them among manie properties to choose that which they were most desirous to signifie therefore names are said to procéed according to the will and pleasure of them Plato in Cratylus Héerevnto adde that which Plato in Cratylus dooth testifie to wit that the first inuentors of names were so prudent as they chose the qualities of syllables and letters to be agréeable to the qualities of things which they would name as vnto mild things they made apt those that were mild and to vnpleasant things they applied harsh and vnpleasant syllables and such like 19 On this wise God hath doone in the sacraments the which be names and visible words whereby he effectuallie expresseth his promises For he prouided that the properties of the signs might excellentlie well agrée with the things which were to be assigned which we perceiue now did happen in Manna Then in so much as the same was giuen without anie trauell of the Israelits it signified that Christ was to be giuen vnto men not through their owne works or merits but fréelie and of the méere goodnesse of God An analogie between Manna and Christ Manna rained downe from heauen which was not without miracle in like maner Christ had the diuine nature and the bodie which he applied to himselfe he tooke of the virgine his mother without the helpe of mans séed Manna was equallie distributed to all neither had one anie more of the same than an other so Christ imparteth himselfe to the faithfull he is common to all without acception of person in him is neither man nor woman neither bond nor frée Manna at the beginning was vnknowne for when the Hebrues sawe it they said one to an other Manbu which signifieth What is this For so some doo interpret it as if it had béene said Mahhu and the letter Nun is set betwéene to shunne the ill pronuntiation of the word if two aspirations should méet togither Christ likewise was vnknowne in the earth for If they had knowne him 1. Cor. 2 8. they would neuer as Paule saith haue crucified the Lord of glorie Iohn 6 Manna did nourish and it was giuen abundantlie Christ also is our meate and is sufficient to nourish manie yea euen all Manna had a plesant yea a maruellous tast Christ also said that His yoke is pleasant Matt. 11 30 and his burden easie And of him it is aptlie written Tast and see for the Lord is sweet Psa 34 9. Manna was pure and white Christ neither cōmitted sin neither yet was there anie guile found in his mouth 1. Pet. 2 22. Manna was beaten in a mill and a morter Christ to become our meat was knocked vpon the crosse died Manna was giuen by the waie in the wildernesse and to vs the meat of Christ is giuen in the Eucharist while we passe our peregrination in this world which agréeth with the example of the desert Manna ceased when they came to the land of promise and we in heauen shall haue no néed of sacraments For Christ shall be before vs and we shall behold God in such sort as he is All these things declare vnto vs how aptlie this signe
so soone iudged or more rashlie condemned Whence procéedeth it that there is at this daie so manie iudgments concerning meats In the same epistle it is written Whatsoeuer is sold in the market eate ye making no question for conscience sake 1. Co. 10 25. But more plainelie in the second chapter to the Colossians Col. 2 16. Let no man condemne you in meat and drinke or in a peece of a holie daie or of the new moone or of the sabboth daies which were shadowes of things to come but the bodie is of Christ In the lawe many kinds of meats are forbidken Those things which he spake hitherto doo belong vnto the ceremonies of the lawe and to the feast daies of Moses Immediatelie he passeth to other obseruations not procéeding from the lawe but from men when he addeth Take ye heed verse 18. that no man beguile you of the victorie by humblenes of mind and worshipping of angels aduancing himselfe in those things which he neuer sawe puft vp rashlie with his fleshlie mind and holdeth not the head whereof all the bodie being furnished knit togither by ioints and bands increaseth with the increasing of God verse 20. And if ye be dead with Christ from the ordinances of the world why as though ye liued in the world are ye still held with traditions as Touch not Taste not Handle not all which perish with the vsing and are after the doctrine and commandements of men which things indeed haue a shew of wisedome in voluntarie religion and humblenes of mind and in not sparing of the bodie which are things of no value seing they perteine to the satisfieng of the flesh These words doo most manifestlie testifie that the place must be vnderstood touching the superstitious obseruation of mans inuentions And in the first epistle to Timothie it is written In the last daies manie shall fall awaie from the faith 1. Tim. 4 5. and shall giue heed vnto spirits of errour and doctrines of diuels which speake lies thorough hypocrisie haue their consciences burned with an hot iron forbidding to marrie and commanding to absteine from meates which God hath created to be receiued with giuing of thanks by them which beleeue and knowe the truth bicause euerie creature of God is good and nothing ought to be refused if it be receiued with thanks-giuing for it is sanctified by the word of God and by praier Titus 1 15. And to Titus Vnto the pure all things are pure but vnto them that are defiled and vnbeleeuing nothing is pure for their minds and consciences are defiled Also vnto the Romans Rom. 14 14 I knowe and am perfectlie persuaded that by Christ nothing is common but vnto him which shall saie it is common Vnto the Hebrues Heb. 13 9. It is an excellent thing to establish the hart by grace not by meats which haue profited nothing And in the Acts of the apostles it is said vnto Peter when he refused to eate of those creatures which were let downe from heauen Acts. 10 15. That which God hath sanctified doo not thou call common All these testimonies declare that euerie kind of meate is now through Christ made lawfull and pure 13 But against these things much is obiected First concerning that which Christ saith What things are alledged against this libertie of meate Matt. 15 11 That which entereth into the mouth defileth not a man they answer that the question was then whether meate receiued with vnwashen hands could defile a man And séeing the question was priuate they saie that which was answered ought not to be wrested in such sort as it should be vnderstood of all meates in generall For if saie they Christ had answered that generallie no kind of meats doo defile then should we also make things offered vnto idols lawfull neither should it be a fault to drinke poison and they had not sinned which in the primitiue church had eaten blood and flesh strangled Hervnto we answer that an occasion indéed was giuen vnto that sentence of Christ through a priuate question Whether we be contaminated by receiuing meate with hands vnwashen but the Lord when he denied that made a generall answer And that Christ in that place speaketh generallie the cause which he added vnto his sentence dooth make it plaine for That which entereth into the mouth is let downe into the bellie and is cast into the draught Which being incident to all kind of meats it cannot be doubted but that his sentence was generall Wherefore Christ prooued that meats doo not pollute Why meats doo not pollute forsomuch as they doo not touch the mind nor abide in vs but are digested and so auoided Neither is hereby ment that meate offered to idols or poison are lawfull for we are bound by the lawe of God to auoid such things I meane by the precept of charitie The circumstances cause that some meats must sometimes be forbidden not by the commandements of men For the circumstances doo cause that somtimes we must absteine from sundrie things either bicause there followeth offense in them that be weake or else bicause the health is impaired 14 But they saie againe that they also doo not affirme that meates in their owne nature Looke In 1. Sam. 9 verse 13. are vncleane but bicause the church hath commanded that the faithfull sort should vpon certeine daies refraine themselues from eating of flesh to the intent the flesh may be bridled Therefore if we obeie not they affirme that men are defiled not as though meats were euill or vnpure but bicause men deale intemperatelie An answer to the Papists that excuse their superstition in meats by the commandement of the church by violating the ordinance of the church Vnto this we saie that it is not sufficient to grant that meats in their owne nature be not euill and defiled for both the Scribes the Pharisies had knowledge thereof though they were neither Marcionites nor yet Manicheis for they allowed of the lawe of God Wherefore they were constreined to confesse out of Genesis that All things which God hath made are verie good But Christ vrgeth this that they did not well in ordeining of such decrées and declared that it was not well doone to take such carefull héed about washing of hands and in the meane time to suffer the commandements of God to be contemned and neglected bicause they made a religion and worship of God there where God had made none And yet neuertheles that lawe of the Pharisies although it now séeme friuolous might haue a goodlie pretensed shew as who should saie they would by the washing of hands as by a signe haue men to be admonished of the purenesse of the mind which they ought to procure through praiers and repentance And if so be they themselues had kept themselues cleane from sinnes then should the meats haue béene cleane vnto them and they might haue said in their
resurrection there shal be no néed either of meat drinke or of women séeing men as Christ taught shal be like vnto angels Matt. 22 30 Wherefore the Mahometists and the Saracens are herein shamefullie deceiued who beléeue that after the resurrection the blessed sort shall haue ministred vnto them abundance of meat store of drinke and a plentifull vse of women for so hath their Alcoran taught Alcoran Auicenna Yet hath Auicenna in his Metaphysicks not vnwiselie interpreted this and saith that Those spéeches are metaphoricall bicause as he thinketh the honest pleasures of the life to come might not be expressed especiallie vnto ignorant men otherwise than in termes of the vulgar delights which be receiued in this world These things I said were not vnwiselie brought bicause euen in the holie scriptures are found such allegories or translations For we read in the twelfe of Luke verse 37. Blessed be those seruants which the Lord shall find waking for he will gird himselfe about and passing by will minister vnto them And in the 22. chapter of the same euangelist Luk. 22 29. it is written I appoint vnto you a kingdome euen as my father hath appointed vnto me that ye should eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome Yea and among our most ancient fathers there were verie manie which thought that Christ at his latter comming shuld reigne togither with his saints for the space of a thousand yéeres in singular delights and great pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These men be called by the Graecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Latines Millenarij Augustine of whom Augustine spake at large in his second booke De ciuitate Dei and 20. chapter Hereby they first tooke an occasion of error bicause Christ did eat and drinke togither with his apostles after his resurrection secondlie bicause the prophets doo ofttimes make mention of these things when they prophesie of the last times Moreouer vnto this purpose they wrested a place out of the 20. chapter of the Apocalypse Apoc. 20 6. where there is mention made of those thousand yéeres To confute this error of theirs first we saie that Christ Why Christ did eat and drinke after his resurrection with his apostles did eat and drinke to the intent he might leaue a most testified truth of his humane nature and not to serue necessitie For he had an vncorruptible bodie which was neither troubled with hunger nor thirst Wherefore the meat and drinke which he vsed turned not into the substance and quantitie of his bodie but they departed and were resolued into their first matter Whereby it may be vnderstood that there were certeine things which Christ did after his resurrection to testifie the truth of his humane bodie and some other for the setting foorth of his glorie Tokens of Christs glorie Luk. 24 31. Tokens of his glorie were these that he vanished awaie vpon the sudden when he was séene and was suddenlie present with his apostles that he came in vnto them when the doores were shut Iohn 20 29 and at the last in that he ascended vp into heauen But on the other side he shewed himselfe still to be verie man when he offered himselfe to be séene and handled Ioh. 20 27. when he did eat and drinke togither with his apostles when he ascending vp into heauen Acts. 1 9. was visiblie separated from them And whereas the holie scriptures as well in the prophets as in the euangelists make mention of meat and drinke that as we haue declared is doone by an allegorie and by metaphors and similitudes well inough applied vnto teaching This we may shew by a testimonie of the booke of Prouerbs Prou. 9 2. where wisedome is described which mingled hir wine and prepared hir table Which things can not be agreable vnto wisedome whose nature is spirituall and sticketh in the minds of men but vnder the name of meat and drinke we vnderstand the knowledge of God the feruent loue of heauenlie things and the ioie that floweth out of the presence of God These things I saie shall vnto the elect be like most delicate meat and drinke And therefore when as Marie sat at the Lords féet and was maruellouslie refreshed with his doctrine she was defended by Christ himselfe Luk. 10. 40. when she was accused by Martha in respect that she intermitted hir busines of preparing things necessarie to liuelood for he said Marie hath chosen the better part which shall not be taken from hir Touching the place of the Apocalypse Apoc. 20 ◠we must vnderstand that the resurrection whereby the saints shall reigne with Christ a thousand yéeres is not that whereof we now intreat but it is the regeneration whereby we are iustified And therefore it is there in expresse words added And this is the first resurrection Neither dooth the thousand yéeres note anie other time than that wherein we now remaine vnder the protection of Christ in his kingdome which is the church Neither is it anie doubt but that the certeine and prescribed number is there put for an infinit number So as those things belong not to the latter cōming of Christ but vnto the former Which if those ancient fathers had considered they had not so fallen into error Wherefore in that mortall life there shall néed neither bodilie food neither yet procreation of children for these things serue vnto mortall life but the other shall be immortall And bicause there is nothing diminished of the substance of bodies there shall be no néed of that renewing which is made by meat and drinke And bicause also none shall die others shall not be substitute in their place by new procreation 58 An other condition or qualitie they haue called light and splendent brightnes Phil. 3 21. whereof Paule to the Philippians saith God will make our base bodie like to his glorious bodie And a shew of this condition did Christ make Matt. 17 ◠when he was transformed where his face did shine like vnto the sunne And in Matthew it is written Matt. 13 43. The iust shall shine in the sight of God like vnto the sunne Dan. 12 3 Neither did Daniel passe ouer this brightnesse or clearenesse as we haue alreadie heard 1. Cor. 15 43 And Paule in the first to the Corinthians the 15. chap. saith Now it is sowen in ignominie then it shall rise againe in glorie Moreouer they thinke that this brightnesse must be deriued vnto the bodies of the blessed from the soules which shall sée God not as in a darke spéech or in a glasse but shall sée him indéed as he is by which sight they shall receiue so great ioie and gladnesse as it shall flowe from thence to their bodie Neither is it vnknowen to anie that the mind and the spirit dooth exhilerat the countenance and make the bodie chearefull Besides this An agilitie of bodie there is put an agilitie in
about with inferiour things So as the light being hindered darkenesse did result within the world And of this coniecture of theirs A similitude they bring an example of a man who being placed in the middle-earth region which is cléere with light on euerie side maketh and pitcheth himselfe a tent either of course cloth or of verie thicke lether This when he hath well closed vp the light is excluded and darknesse therewithin ariseth of it selfe By these things it plainlie appéereth that these fathers doo affirme the outwardmost part of the firmament to be most bright which is the most happie habitation of the saints The habitation of the saints doo meane that the innermost darknes was afterward chased awaie by God when as vnto the firmament he ioined vnto the celestiall spheres the sunne the planets and the fixed starres Also Augustine in his booke De ciuitate Dei against the philosophers which thought christians to dote bicause they confessed that humane bodies haue a place in heauen after the resurrection For they thought it not possible that vnto earth and other portions of the elements seats should be granted in so high parts of the world Against these I saie dooth Augustine earnestlie contend which he ought not to haue doone if he had affirmed the heauen of the blessed to be altogither without a bodie and to be found in euerie place For he might easilie haue answered We saie not that the bodies of the saints after the resurrection shall haue place in the high regions of the world but in the spirituall heauen that is euerie where But of this matter there hath béene inough spoken alreadie for it is in an other place treated of more at large Bright regions beyond the starrie circles and I now call it to remembrance to confirme the third signification of heauen which noteth that there be most bright regions beyond the starrie circles which are séene of our eies Whither Elias was caught vp 3 But of some perhaps it may be thought a rash inquisition that we haue propounded for the holie scriptures doo not define anie certeintie of the thrée significations This onelie they testifie that Elias was taken vp and that Elizaeus sawe him a little while and that he afterward beheld him no more Yea and Chrysostome in an oration which he made of Elias wrote that It is a point of wisedome to staie our selues within those termes that the scriptures teach otherwise it is not safe to wander out of them in our owne discourses And Cyprian saith Vnto what place he was taken vp God knoweth as if he should saie that it extended not to the knowledge of man But bicause manie of the ancient and latter writers haue taught somewhat of this matter and no small number are desirous to heare somwhat of these things therefore haue I entred into this treatise in disputing whereof I will not incline my selfe to coniectures and inuentions of men but will onelie make relation of those things which are brought by writers of most authoritie and as touching those things I will declare what may séeme to be iudged probable First of all we are not to doubt but that Elias 1. kin 2. 1. 3. while he was taken vp passed through the middest of this aire for euen from thence fell his cloke Furthermore thither had Elizaeus looked when he cried My father my father c. Ibidem 12. The holie historie also agréeth therevnto which sheweth that the children of the prophets foretold Elizaeus Ibidem 3. that his master should be taken awaie from his head that is Aboue his head and through the regions of the aire Which out of manie places of the scripture may be prooued to be called by the name of heauen for there in diuerse places we read Psal 8 9. The fowles of heauen while it is manifest inough that they flie not but through this lowermost part of the aire And they Gen. 11 4. which after the floud builded the most high tower would haue had the top thereof to haue reached vnto heauen that is vnto the high aire Besides this the spies which at the commandement of Moses Deut. 1 28. went into the land of Chanaan to the intent they might aduance the hight of the fortresses that were there declared that they did reach vnto heauen that is to saie they were built so high into the aire as they were inuincible It is said in like maner that Moses gaue bread from heauen Psal 78 24. bicause Manna rained vpon the Israelites certeinlie not from the celestiall spheres but from the region of this our aire Also it is said Eccl. 48 3. that Elias did shut heauen and open it when as vnder the name of heauen was signified the clouds whereby at the praiers of Elias the raine was before prohibited and afterward distilled 4 But if thou shalt demand Whether Elias remained in the aire whether the bodie of Elias remained in this airie heauen that dooth Chrysostome in the place now alledged denie speciallie by this argument For bicause that in this aire is the seat not of saints but of satan For Paule vnto the Ephesians saith Ephe. 2 2. that the diuell is the prince of the aire yea and he rather thinketh that satan did maruell excéedinglie when he perceiued Elias to be so carried vp through his regions in a chariot and with fierie horses Further what should Henoch and Elias there doo in that wildernesse seuered from the societie of the holie spirits which liued quietlie and happilie in the bosome of Abraham Moreouer it is verie likelie that God would haue the men that are so déere and acceptable vnto him to be interteined in a farre better mansion than they receiued vpon the earth which could not haue béene if they should be retained still in the aire which is turmoiled with raines with tempests with winds with haile Whether Henoch and Elias were taken vp into the starrie spheres and with sundrie discommodities But what shall we affirme as concerning the starrie spheres Shall we thinke that Henoch and Elias were receiued thither No verelie What should they doo there with their bodies Vndoutedlie they should be caught with the dailie motion frō the east to the west perpetuallie also be carried with other motions of those spheres vnlesse a man perhaps will imagine that they abide in the poles themselues which would be altogither ridiculous Neither are the seats of the blessed appointed to be in those visible heauens Ephes 4 10 for Christ is said to haue ascended aboue all heauens And he himselfe testified that where he is there he would that his ministers also should be Wherefore euen they also are carried vp aboue all heauens I knowe indéed that the Stoike philosophers iudged that the soules of all men remaine aliue after the bodies for a great space of time forsooth but not for euer and that they did thinke as Seneca
wee will examine the other opinion which is that bread and wine as touching their perfect and true natures are retained in the sacrament and so retained as they may haue the true bodie and bloud of Christ ioyned vnto them as they speake naturally corporally and really Thirdly shal be considred that which others say that these thinges are not any other way ioyned one with an other than sacramentally that is by a significancie and representation Lastly shal bee declared out of the opinions pertaining to the second and third poynt so much as may most séeme to belong vnto godlinesse in this treatise of the sacrament The opinion which hath affirmed transubstantiation 2 Wherefore we wil begin with the opinion of transubstantiation partly because it is the grosser further because it is the newer and because the other two opinions doe ioyntlie and without drift confute the same Of that the Master of the Sentences writeth in the 4. Booke in the 8. 9. 10. 11. distinction And to shewe it brieflie it is on this wise The Minister ordayned hereunto when hee vttereth the words instituted by the Lord ouer due and méete matter that is bread and wine so he haue an intent as they speake to doe it the substance of the bread and wine is turned into the substance of the bodie bloud of Christ and is so conuerted as the accidents of that substance which is changed or destroied remaineth without a subiect which neuerthelesse some would to cleaue to the bodie of Christ which succéeded But this is false because in verie déed the bodie of Christ hath no such accidentes Others haue indeuored to make the ayre a subiect for them as a naturall foundation Which also séeing it cannot possibly be prooued welnéere all the patrons of this opinion agrée that they hang in the ayre and remaine without a subiect Further they wil that these accidents which be séene and felt doe signifie vnto vs the true bodie of Christ which they haue couered and hidden in them Afterward they procéede further say that this body of Christ lying hidden vnder these accidēts is a signe aswel of the verie body of Christ which did hang vpon the crosse as also of the mysticall bodie that is of the fellowship of the elect of men predestinate Wherfore the Maister of the sentences saith that here is some thing which is but onelie a signe and that he appointeth to be the visible formes and that there is another thing that is both the substaunce and the signe namely the bodie of Christ which is hidden vnder the accidents for that is a substance if it be referred vnto the visible formes and a signe if thou haue respect to the the mysticall bodie Another thing saieth he there is which thou maiest in no wise call a signe but a substance onely to wit the mysticall bodie because it is so signified as it is no more a signe of any thing Those things which are afterward mingled in the action of these mysteries are not saith he matters of necessitie but onely thankesgiuing and prayers interlaced And if thou demand of them how so great a bodie maie be contained in that litle cake they saie that this is not by the maner of quantitie or locally or as they speake definitely but by the manner of substance and as they say sacramentally Neither count they for absurde things that in this sacrament are contained two bodies in one and the selfe same place because they are constrained thus to say for betwéene the accidents of bread there is a quantitie and that doubtlesse a corporal quantitie Also they doe not mislike that one and the selfe same body is truelie in manie places and that a man of a iust largenesse and stature as Christ was vpon the crosse and as he shal come to iudgement is truely but inuisiblie contained not only in a small cake but also in the least part thereof Manie things else might be rehearsed as touching this opinion but I minde that these shall be sufficient vnto our Treatise He that desireth more may reade the Maister of the sentences in the place which we cited Arguments for transubstantiation together with a great manie of interpretours of him And of the change or transubstantiation these Arguments they bring 3 First the holy scripture perswadeth it For in the 6. of Iohn Iohn 6. 51. the Lord promised that he would giue his flesh not onely for the life of the world but also to be eaten And he added Ib. ver 53. Vnlesse a man shall eate my flesh and drinke my bloud he shall not haue life He saide moreouer Ib. ver 51. that He is the bread from heauen and that the liuely bread whom the father had giuen Where he manifestly promised that he woulde giue himselfe to be eaten after the maner of bread and that which he promised he in good earnest perfourmed as the Euangelists testified was doone in the last supper And that the same which is giuen is the Lords bodie Paul declareth when he saieth 1. Co. 11. 27 He that eateth and drinketh vnworthilie shall bee guiltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. Againe Ibid. 29. He eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because he discerneth not the Lordes bodie But they say that the whole strength of the argument consisteth in those wordes wherein it is saide This is my bodie Ib. ver 24. Which they affirme to be manifest and néedeth no expositions And it behooueth say they that we shoulde beléeue them for the reuerence that we owe vnto the word of God For the Euangelists as touching those wordes haue conspired together in one namely Matthew Marke and Luke also Paul the Apostle in the first Epistle to the Corinthians and vnlesse the thing were of great importance and so to be taken absolutely as it soundeth the Apostles woulde not with so great vnitie haue consented one with another But and if it bee lawfull to shift off by tropes or figures nothing say they will be now safe from hereticks Furthermore the Propositions of such a kind as is this This is my bodie must be vnderstood as that the subiect and the predicate do represent signifie all one thing be as it is said in the schooles a proposition of one the selfe same signification vnlesse there be found any thing before or after in the ioyning together of the spéeche which may driue vs to a trope or allegorie which in this place is not found Nay rather if thou rightly looke vpon the wordes which follow they reuoke vs to the plainnesse of the proposition For it is said Which is giuen for you But it is manifest that the verie bodie it selfe of Christ was giuen for vs. Moreouer those things which differ in nature and forme and by the Logitians are commonly called Disparata as a mā a horse and a stone be in that case as they can neuer be mutually verified
to ad articles when they will make the spéeche verie proper and significant To these things they adde Christ promised to his Apostles Mat. 24. 2◠I wil be with you vntil the end of the world which must not onelie be vnderstood as touching the diuinitie because this also they knewe well ynough but insomuch as they were sadde for his corporal departure he putteth them in comfort that hee would also be with them in bodie Furthermore if transubstantiation should be taken away and bread remaine seeing that cannot be the bodie of Christ there wil be left onelie a signification and then the newe sacraments should not haue any thing which would not be found in the olde sacraments For those also did signifie Christ yea rather if thou haue respect to the outwarde shewe they did more expresse him than bread and wine For there brute beastes were slaine and their bloudshed which in bread and wine happeneth not And it séemeth a maruell vnto them that séeing Christ promised in Peter Luk. 22. 3◠that the faith of the Church should not faile and that the same is the most deare spowse of Christ howe it happeneth that he hath so long forsaken it in this idolatrie and hath not shewed the trueth of the thing against so great an abuse They argue also that if the substance of bread and wine being preserued the trueth of things cannot be present as it is concluded nothing shall bee had more in the sacrament than in common meates and bankets For there also the faithfull will vnderstand a signification of bread and wine and so the dignitie of sacraments shall perish Lastly they say that the word of God must still retaine his power and force which remaineth not if transubstantiation be taken away Ambrose Ambrose in his Treatise De Sacramentis saieth that by the operation of the word of God the breade and wine remain as they be and yet be changed into an other thing Which words Algerius a late writer in the first book which he made of this sacrament the 7. Chapter expoundeth that breade and wine remaine as touching the accidents but are changed into an other or into a better thing as touching the substance 6 But now let vs sée by what arguments on the other part this opinion is ouerthrowen Arguments against transubstantiation First the holy scripture teacheth that there is bread therefore it is not true that the substance thereof is conuerted into an other thing 1. Co. 11. 23 The Euangelists say that Christ tooke bread Paul named bread 5. times 1. Co. 10. 16 brake it and gaue it to his disciples And Paul fiue times made mention of bread Is not the bread which we breake the participation of the bodie of Christ Ib. ver 17. And We bee all one bread and one bodie which doe participate of one bread 1. Co. 11. 25 Also Howe often soeuer ye eate of this bread yee shall shew the Lordes death vntill his comming Ib. ver 27. Againe Whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke this cup vnworthilie shall be guiltie of the body and bloud of the Lord. Verse 28. Lastly Let a man try himselfe and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. These thinges séeing they be plaine and manifest therefore if an Angell from heauen shall preach otherwise let him be accursed Acts. 2. 46. To breake bread an Hebrewe phrase of spéeche Verily I might alledge that which is oftentimes saide as touching the breaking of bread but because I sée that it may be otherwise vnderstood as though it should be spoken of the vncleane and common meate Esa 58. 7. as in Esai the 58. Chapter Breake thy bread vnto him that is hungry And Ieremy in his Lamentations the 4. Verse 4. Chapter The little children desired their bread and there was no man that would breake vnto them therefore I omit it and will bring nothing but that which is firme And nowe séeing the places before cited be very plaine they ought simply to be taken An obiectiō But some cauill that it is called bread by reason of the natures which be conuerted and to speake after their manner this name is giuen of the end from which they haue their nature and they bring the lyke places Exod. 7. 12. When a serpent was made of the rod of Aaron it deuoured the serpentes of the Sorcerers which they also made of their rods It is said that the rod of Aaron deuoured the serpents of the Sorcerers Gen. 3. 19. Iob. 4. 19. Further in the holy Scriptures man is sundry times called earth because his body was made thereof Woman also was by Adam called bone of his bones Gen. 2. 23. and flesh of his flesh because she was framed thereof by God An answer But these thinges are vainely obiected because in the holy scriptures there is plaine mention made of these changes So then the necessitie of the historie words driue vs vnto these figures and therefore we admit thē Let these men in lyke manner shew vnto vs in the holy scriptures that this change was made namely of bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ and we will also graunt them these figures to wit that the bread should not be called the same which it is now but which it was before And thereunto belōgeth that which they say If a man would giue me wine which straight way would turne to vineger and I hauing that vineger in a potte I might fitly say This is thy wine not that it is then wine but because it was wine before But here the sense iudgeth of changing the wine into vineger which happeneth not in the Eucharist whereas neither the sense nor reason nor yet the holy Scripture driueth vs to confesse such a changing as the other is 7 They obiect a place out of Iohn in the second Chapt. Iohn 2. 9. An obiectiō When the gouernour of the feast had tasted the water which was made wine wherby they will shew that the wine newly brought foorth by the miracle of Christ dooth still retaine the name of water But Christ said not simply Water but An answer◠Water which was made wine But this declaration shall they not finde in the holy Scriptures that bread is said to be turned into the body of Christ They flye also sometimes to the 6. An other obiection Chapter of Iohn so as they say that the Apostle calleth bread in this place not bread that is of wheat or common bread but the body of the Lord which in the 6. Verse 51. Chapter of Iohn is called bread where Christ said I am the bread of lyfe An answer But against them maketh that which Paul saith 1. Cor. 10. 6 The bread which we breake is it not the Communion of the body of Christ because it cannot agrée with the body of Christ that it should
the new byrth Iohn 3. 4. c. Iohn 4. 11. No lesse did that woman of Samaria erre as concerning that water which Christ promised her And the Hebrewes erred when Christ said vnto them Iohn 8. 5 6. That Abraham sawe his day and reioyced Wherefore let them not alwayes say vnto vs that this scripture This is my bodie is plaine for we will aunswere them it is playne as touching the signification of the wordes But the sense of them is not plaine as in the lyke sentences it dooth appeare Christ is the Rock 1. Cor. 10. 4 Iohn 1. 29. 1. Co. 10. 27 1. Co. 10. 7 Christ is the Lambe Ye be the bodie of Christ We that be many are one bread All these be the words of God and we may pronounce of them that they be plaine that they be manifest yet for all that none of them inferre Transubstantiation 33 Wherefore there is no cause why perspicuitie should be so much pretended A first declaration of the proposition This is my body It behooueth by other places and circumstances of the scripture to regard well what is héere meant Wherefore wee will expound this proposition in scanning of it more déepely God meant to drawe man vnto him by ample promises because he woulde blesse him and make him happie and because we haue vnbeléeuing hearts he woulde haue manie benefites to appeare towardes mankinde whereby he might allure the same vnto him Wherefore he not onely gaue vs fréely all creatures but also in the time of the floud deliuered mankind which otherwise had yll deserued from the destruction of the waters He declared himselfe verie mercifull vnto Abraham also he gaue good successe vnto the stocke of Isaac and to his séede Iacob that it should be increased in Egypt And when they were there oppressed he deliuered them he gaue them a verie happie land and he exalted them to the dignitie of a kingdome and Priesthood but yet they were alwaies vnbeléeuing men and smally perswaded themselues of the good will of God towards them Wherefore because of their infidelitie hée cast them into diuerse captiuities and afterward he deliuered them Finally that there should be no place left to doubt of his goodnesse he bestowed the chiefest of all benefites vppon vs namely his owne sonne indued with mans flesh that he should die vpon the Crosse for our saluation Which benefite was such Rom. 8. 31. that as Paule saide vnto the Romans howe could it be but that he gaue all things together with him And least it should be forgotten he would haue it renued in the memorie by the sacrament of the Eucharist that we should reuolue in our minde by faith that Christ by him was deliuered vnto death for vs and that in beléeuing we should eate his flesh and drinke his bloud Which that it might the more effectually be doone the tokens both of bread wine were added which might mooue vs more earnestly than bare wordes could doe Mat. 26. 26 Iohn 6. 35. He compareth the proposition This is my bodie with that in the 6. of Iohn I am the bread of life 34 Therefore when he saieth This is my bodie he meant no otherwise than he promised in the 6. of Iohn I am the bread of life He spake of himselfe as touching the bodie and flesh deliuered vnto death or rather to be deliuered as by his words it is manifest Neither would he any other thing but that these things shoulde be vnto vs breade and meate whereby our mindes shoulde be confirmed and cherished and by the minde the bodie and finally the whole man Wherfore in the Supper Christ did nothing else but that he transposed the proposition and as before he had said that his bodie and flesh is bread so nowe on the otherside he saieth in shewing bread that the verie same is his bodie and while he pronounced This is my bodie it was euen as if he had said My bodie being receiued by faith shall be vnto you in the stead of bread or as it were bread wherby you shall bee spiritually fed Wherefore let the sense be I giue vnto you bread to eate and in the meane time I set forth vnto you my bodie which shall be fastened vnto the Crosse that with a faithful memorie and attentiue minde ye may eate it spiritually with your selues and as ye with the bodie eate bread so with the minde ye may féede vpon my flesh What is more easie plaine than this interpretation And that doeth more better agrée with the promise which the Lord maketh vnto vs in the 6. Chapter of Iohn But and if any man will contende that that first saying of Christ I am the liuely bread is taken for the diuine nature as Chrysostome séemeth to take it first we say that this doeth not well agrée because Christ had ordered his spéech concerning the eating of his bodie in the stead of earthly bread he offered to the Capernaites his flesh to bée eaten which thing by the course of his spéech doeth plainely appeare although he say that the bread came downe from heauen because oftentimes that which is of the Godhead is also communicated with the humanitie But if this exposition of Chrysostome be of so great force with them let that also preuaile with them when he saieth afterwarde that the saying of Christ Verse 5◠The bread which I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the lyfe of the world doeth belong vnto the Eucharist Neither hath he alone affirmed this but the rest of the Interpretors doe also consent vnto him Therefore when as the Lord saith there that The bread is his flesh he nowe testifieth the same in the supper for the bread being shewed he said This is my bodie He pronounceth both in the one place and the other that his bodie or his flesh is breade namely of the soule and of our regenerated substance which bread is spiritually eaten And so there shal be no conuersion of the proposition but it shall be vnderstoode after the selfe same manner both in the one place and in the other What figure is admitted in this proposition This is my bodie But if thou vnderstand the whole together to wit the bread and the thing offered by the bread that is the bodie of Christ we admit the figure Synecdoche for it is spoken of the whole or of the one part which is vnderstoode of the other But if thou referre the saying vnto bread which both signifieth and offereth vnto vs the bodie of Christ to be eaten it shall be the figure of Denomination to wit when the name of the thing signified is attributed vnto the signe In this interpretation also all thinges are easie absurdities are shamed and one place of the scripture is not contrarie to the other scriptures 35 They said if place be thus giuen vnto figures the Heretickes will peruert all things Vnlesse we vse figures we cannot
of Iayes Againe the same father vppon Matthew the 26. Chapter Homilie 83. They were about to iourney frō Egypt into Palestina and therefore they did weare the habit of a traueler thou from the earth must ascend into heauen And in the 3. booke De Sacerdotio Doost thou thinke to dwell among mortal men and to stay and be in the earth And doost thou not rather thinke that thou shalt foorthwith be translated into heauen And in casting away all cogitation of the flesh doest thou not with a single heart and pure minde consider those things that be in heauē 73 Augustine vnto Boniface hath all these things after the same order and sense The time of Easter being at hand hee saith As this or the next day saue one Christ dyed and on the Sonday This day Christ rose againe Baptisme is faith and the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ And wee sée that in all the sayings which we haue reckoned The thing absent is really spoken of the thing present Acts. 9. 4. that which is absent is really pronounced of that which is present The same Father vpon the 54. Psalme The head was in heauen and he saide Why doest thou persecute mée Wee are with him in heauen by hope he is with vs in the earth by loue And in the 119. Epistle to Ianuarius Wherefore to that persecutor whom with his voyce he slue and translating him into his bodie after a sort hath eaten he sounded frō heauen Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee Vpon Iohn the 30. Treatise and we haue it in the Title de Consecratione distinction the 2. yet the first in déede The Lord is aboue but here also is the truth of the Lord For the Lords body wherin he rose againe ought to be in one place his trueth is euerywhere spread Also vpon Iohn the 50. Treatise For according to his Maiestie according to his prouidence according to this vnspeakeable inuisible grace is fulfilled that which was spokē by him Behold I wil bee with you vntill the ende of the world Mat. 28. 20 But according to the flesh which the word tooke vpon it according to that which was borne of the Virgin according to that which was taken holde of by the Iewes which was fastened to the trée which was taken downe from the crosse which was wrapped in cloathes which was buried in the sepulchre which was made manifest in the resurrection Ye shall not alwaies haue mee with you Mat. 26. 11. Wherefore after he had béene conuersant as touching his bodilie presence fourtie daies with his Disciples they leading him foorth while they saw him but not followed him he ascended into heauen and is not here for there he sitteth at the right hand of his Father and is héere for he departed not with the presence of his Maiestie we haue Christ alwaies As touching the presence of the flesh it was rightlie saide vnto the Disciples Mat. 26. 11 Me ye shal not haue alwaies For the Church had him but a fewe daies as touching the presence of the flesh Nowe it houldeth him by faith it séeth him not with the eyes And the same Father vpon the Epistle of Iohn at the end Wherefore our Lord Iesus Christ did for this cause ascend into heauen on the fortie daie hee in this respect commended his bodie because it was to be left on the earth in his members for that he sawe that many would honor him for that he ascended into heauen and perceaued that their honoring is vnprofitable if they tread downe his members vppon the earth And that none might be deceaued nor when he should woorship the head in heauen should oppresse the séete vppon the earth he tould them where his members should be For when he was about to ascend he spake the last wordes after these wordes he spake no more vppon the earth The head being about to ascend into heauen commended his members vppon the earth and so departed Thou shalt not now finde Christ to speake vppon the earth Thou findest him to speake howbeit in heauen and out of heauen it selfe Wherefore because the members were ouertrodden vppon the earth For vnto Paul the persecuter he said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts. 9. 4. I ascended into heauen but I lie still vpon the earth Here I sit at the right hand of the father there I still hunger thyrst and am a straunger After what sort then commended he his bodie vpō the earth being about to ascend Acts. 1. 6. When his disciples had demaunded of him Lord if thou wilt at this time be presented when wilt thou restore the kingdome of Israel He aunswered vpon his departure It is not for you to know the time which the father hath layd vp in his owne power but ye shal receaue the power of the holy spirit comming vppon you ye shall be witnesses vnto me in Ierusalem Behold in what respect he spreadeth out his bodie behold when he wil not be trodden vppon ye shal be my witnesses in Ierusalem and ouer all Iury and Samaria and vnto the endes of the earth Behold I lie which doe ascend For I ascend because I am the head my bodie yet still lyeth In what sort dooth it lie Ouer the whole earth 74 Vnto Augustine Cyrillus dooth consent who saith vppon Iohn the 6. booke and 14. Chapter Here must we note that although he tooke from hence the presence of his bodie euen as he promised that he would be away from his disciples yet in the maiestie of his Godhead he is alwayes present Behold I am with you alwayes euen vntill the end of the world And the same father in the 9. booke vppon Iohn the 21. Chapter And Christ said that he would be with his disciples a little while not because he would vtterly depart from them for he is with vs alwayes euen vntill the end of the world but because he would not liue together with thē as he did before For the time was now at hand that he should goe euen into heauen vnto the father And the faithfull ought to beléeue that although he be absent from vs in bodie yet that we and all thinges are gouerned by his power and that he is alwaies present with all men which loue him Therfore he said Mat. 18. 20 Verilie verilie I say vnto you that wheresoeuer two or three be gathered in my name there am I in the middest of them For euen as when he was conuersant vppon the earth as man he then also filled the heauens and left not the fellowship of the Angels after the same manner now he being in the heauens filleth not the earth with his flesh and yet is with them that loue him And it must be obserued that although hee should be absent onely according to the flesh for he is alwayes present by the power of the Godhead as we haue said yet he said he would be a little while with
must pray vnto God that we may be deliuered from the necessitie of warre but not frō warre it selfe if it be necessarie Of this saying Hostiensis gathereth that he dooth ill which taketh warre in hand of will and not of necessitie And necessitie oftentimes commeth by reason that a Magistrate must manie times for duetie sake make warres least he should séeme to forsake the people Men are two wayes retained in their duetie namelie by reward and by punishment that the obseruers of lawes may be rewarded and the contemners punished Wherefore this the Magistrate may rightlie prouide and that without blame The same Augustine All things saith he are at quiet when warres be made For warres he saith are not made for pleasure sake or vppon a gréedie minde of getting or vppon crueltie but for a desire of peace that good men may be aduaunced and euill men restrained Which saying is recited by Gratian Cause 23. quest 1. the Chapter Apud pios And in the same question in the Chapter Militare To goe on warfare is no sinne but to goe to the warre for bootie sake is sinne And against Faustus the Maniche in the 22. booke of the 73. Chapter What doe we reprehend saith he in warre That men doe die who otherwise should die if that were not But this is the part of an effeminate and weake man wherefore we condemne a couetous desire a crueltie of fighting and a lusting after dominion But in that the godlie are defended and the wicked suppressed that may not be condemned 6 But I heare of a doubt obiected by some An obiection that those testimonies are out of the old Testament that the greater part of these Testimonies are auouched out of the olde Testament To what end speake they this Doe they not receaue the olde Testament Vndoubtedlie the holy Ghost in the new Testament cited very manie testimonies out of the olde Howbeit the olde Testament they reiect not neuerthelesse they say that there be thinges extant therein which are not set foorth vnto vs to be followed I graunt that But those things which be written of warre belong vnto the lawe of nature which ought to be eternall For it is an euerlasting lawe that good men should be holpen and euill men repressed Albeit in the new Testament there is no lesson giuen as touching warrefare First because the Christians in those beginninges had not either a Commonwealth or their Magistrates Secondlie because there had bin sufficient commaundement giuen of that matter in the olde Testament For immediatelie after the floud God made a lawe That bloud vniustlie shed Gen. 9. 6. should be required of the manquellers and that was to be doone by the Magistrate Wherefore it was sufficient that those thinges were confirmed in the new Testament And that did Paul in the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 13. 3. when he writeth that a Magistrate hath the right of the sword Yet did not God in those first times forsake his Church although the same had no Magistrate For in stead of the outward sword it had the woonderfull power of the holie Ghost Acts. 5. 5. Acts. 13. 11. For by it Peter fiue Ananias and Saphira and Paul made Elimas blinde So those thinges which the Church had not by an ordinarie meanes it had them then by miracles They had no languages they had no Phisitiōs they had no Schooles but they had from God the gift of tongues the gift of healinges and the wordes of wisdome But now must those thinges be gotten of vs by studie and industrie After the same sort God gaue vnto the Israelites Manna from heauen when they were in the desert and could neither till the fieldes nor yet haue graine But whē they were come to the land of promise they lacked Manna therefore they began to till and eare the land and to liue vppon their labors So was it with the Christians at the beginning yet in the meane time they vsed a ciuill Magistrate For if they had offended in anie thing or if they had bin commaunded anie thing they might not escape because they were Christians yea and they also went a warrefare with the Emperours which were Ethnickes For there is a speciall mention made of that famous Legion of Thebes And Eusebius in his first booke and fift Chapter saith that the Christians went a warrefare vnder M. Aurelius the Emperour in Germanie And that they in a great drought prayed to the Lord and obtained rayne from heauen Moreouer the Gospell as it forbiddeth not the vse of the Sunne and Moone so it forbiddeth not the iust vse of warre Whether vnto a iust warre the authoritie of a Magistrate be alwayes required 7 And whereas I say that the Authoritie of a Magistrate is required there be some which thinke that this is not generallie true Wherefore they vse this distinction that it is one warre whereby we inuade our enemies and an other whereby we defend our owne They confesse that it is not lawfull for warre to be made without commaundemēt of the Magistrate But in the defending of our goods if it be a sudden violent assault they say that oftentimes it is no safetie to expect the rule of the Magistrate For so it is lawfull to a good man and one that is a priuate person being assailed on the way by a théefe to defend himselfe with his weapon which neuerthelesse they so temper as it may be lawfull with moderation of such defence as is faultlesse It may also be say they that some Citie is suddenlie besieged by the enemie where if the assent of the Prince be expected all thinges will come into danger But he that is so oppressed by a théefe as he cannot craue the tuition of the Magistrate he is now no more a priuate man for the Magistrate himselfe armeth him and giueth him the sword in his hand to defend himselfe For he will not that a Citizen should perish without a cause The same aunswere may be made for the defending of a Citie For the lawes themselues will in such a case that Citizens should defend themselues And that they should doe that they are bound thereunto both by the lawes and by the royall authoritie of the Magistrate Therefore Hostiensis saith well That warres are vniust which are taken in hand neither by the commaundement nor by the secret consent of the Magistrate But Abraham say they although he were a priuate man yet he armed his owne familie Gen. 14. 14 Iudg. 15. 8. and deliuered Lot And Sampson a man priuate yet made he great slaughters of the Philistians Howbeit Abraham Sampson The examples of Abraham Sampson although they séemed to be priuate men yet in verie déede they were not For God had alreadie chosen them and would haue them to be princes For of Sampson it is read Iudg. 14. 6. that the spirit of the Lord came vppon him These examples none ought to followe vnlesse he be such a
breaking of the signes and distribution of the sacrament which we sée to be doone in the Lords supper And whereas you saie that there may be a memorie of a thing which remaineth therein you are deceiued bicause the nature of memorie is that it must be of a thing alreadie past or which at the leastwise is not present naie rather the presence of a thing and the remembrance of the same haue betwéene them a flat contrarietie I demand of you moreouer why he named his ascension Was it not to let vs vnderstand that he must not be eaten carnallie D. Chadse Therefore did he speake of his ascension bicause he trulie ascended into heauen and is there trulie not as though his verie presence were not here also not indéed to be deuoured but to be receiued and eaten according to his commandement D. Martyr Trulie it should haue béene nothing to the purpose to haue mentioned his ascension vnlesse he ment to note that he spake of that kind of eating which the absence of a corporall thing might not hinder But now what saie you at the length to that place alledged The bread 1. Co. 10 16 which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodie This if you refer it to Christs bodie is not broken for this is agréeable to bread and they doo transfer it to the bodie of Christ by a figure D. Chadse So must wée vnderstand in that place Bread broken euen as it is there said We being manie are one bread that is to wit figuratiuelie For if bread in the former place should be taken for naturall bread it should so likewise be taken in the place following so all wée should be naturall bread and our substance should be the substance of bread if you will argue from the nature of bread in the first part D. Martyr My purpose was onelie to shew that you are not able to defend that you in the communion doo breake bread when you take it awaie from thence and especiallie if you take bread for the bodie of Christ figuratiuelie as you your selfe doo now confesse For you will haue it to be vnderstood after the selfe-same maner as when afterward it is said 1. Co. 10 17 Wee being manie are one bread and yet you sée that it can not properlie be fit for allegoricall bread to be broken And thus for your transubstantiation sake you be constreined to deuise there two figures first to vnderstand allegoricall bread in both the places secondlie to vnderstand Breaking figuratiuelie And so you The place of Paule expounded 1. Co. 10 1◠which are against figures doo run continuallie into them But for my part I vnderstand bread in that place properlie And when it is said We being manie are one bread I interpret in signification not in substance For euen as the bread is one and consisteth of manie graines or euen as it is one and is doone into manie parts so we in like maner are one and also manie members and thus I vnderstand the bread in both places after one maner The figure is in the word Sumus We be Herwithall if you will vnderstand The bread which is broken in like maner as afterward when it is said We being manie are one bread you shall be compelled by a figure to vnderstand the mysticall bodie But how shall that be broken A figure in the words This is my bodie prooued from the nature of a sacrament And sith you be so readie with your figures I sée no cause why it should so much gréeue you to admit a figure in the proposition which we haue in hand to wit This is my bodie But as to the second how will ye auoid a figure sith a sacrament is here instituted and vnto sacraments figures be most familiar D. Chadse We doo not here vtterlie denie a figure for it is not bread that is handled but it is called bread and that by a figure but yet in the sacramentall words or words of consecration we denie that there is a figure bicause none of the circumstances doo shew the same D. Martyr How can you denie a figure to be in the sacramentall words since it is plainelie said at the cup 1. Co. 11 21 This cup is the new testament where if you grant a figure why is it absurd that the other part which is spoken at the bread should be figuratiue And I woonder that you will acknowledge no circumstance in this place since I shewed before of manie which you dissembled and passed ouer D. Chadse That which you speake dooth not conclude For here at the cup the circumstance constreineth vs to confesse a figure but nothing constreineth on the other part Againe whereas Luke and Paule spake figuratiuelie the other two euangelists said flatlie This is my bloud D. Martyr Whereas you saie that Matthew Marke saie absolutelie This is my bloud bicause those words also which are in Luke and Paul howsoeuer they be put must néeds be true which cannot be if a figure be not admitted And that there is a figure in the former sentence not onlie the holie scriptures and the nature of a sament as I haue said but also the fathers haue confessed the selfe-same Whie doo you so earnestlie séeke to shun the figure Doubtlesse Tertullian said This is my bodie that is a figure of my bodie Also Augustine vpon the third psalme said that Christ gaue a figure of his bodie And against Adamantus the Manichei The figure is prooued out of the fathers He doubted not to saie This is my bodie when he gaue a figure of his bodie and Ierom saith with Tertullian that Christ represented his bodie And such testimonies innumerable there be all which doo shew that they admitted a figure in the words which are spoken at the bread D. Chadse True it is that Tertullian and Augustine saie that it is a figure but yet they exclude not the thing it selfe so as both the figure and the thing figured should be all one Euen as in the epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 1 3. The son is the image of the fathers substance yet is the same that the fathers substance is But if you will saie there He is a figure of the fathers substance Therefore he is not the fathers substance you plainelie sée that the argument dooth not hold So in the present matter to saie It is a figure of the bodie of Christ Therefore it is not the bodie of Christ is no good conclusion D. Martyr How much that concludeth or not concludeth I dispute not at this present onlie this I affirme that the fathers in that kind of speach This is my bodie acknowledged a figure and that doo their owne words shew when they often inculcate a figure and representation And Augustine in his treatise De doctrina christiana and else-where most plainlie testifieth that the speach of eating the bodie of Christ is figuratiue And therefore what you denie he
the Lords bread and drinke of his cup. The second reason As Christ said This is my bodie so likewise he said by the mouth of Paule 1. Co. 12 27 Ye are the bodie of Christ and yet for the making of vs to be the bodie of Christ there is no néed of transubstantiation Whie then shall it not be true as concerning bread that it is the bodie of Christ vnlesse transubstantiation happen therein Yea We be more the bodie of Christ than is the bread and if a man will well consider of the matter the bodie of Christ is more ioined vnto vs than it is to the bread séeing what the bread hath it therefore hath it to the intent that by it Christ may be ioined vnto vs. And the words whereby the bread is brought to become a sacrament rather belong vnto vs than vnto the bread which is altogither without sense and faith Againe it is a perillous matter to delude the senses by transubstantiation bicause that then dooth perish the proofe of the true resurrection of Christ which he shewed to his apostles saieng Feele ye and see Luk. 24 39. for a spirit hath no flesh and bones And the Marcionit heretiks would soone haue said that Christ had no true humane bodie but onelie the accidents and figure thereof as ye saie of bread that it is no bread albeit it séeme so if ye respect the properties and outward forme thereof Also the fathers thought that they did effectuallie prooue Christ to be true man by the humane affections and properties which the scriptures shew of him namelie that he did hunger that he thirsted that he was wearie that he sorrowed that he woondered and such other like Which arguments by the example of your transubstantiation might be denied and the heretiks might saie Euen as this dooth not followe to wit in the sacrament of the Eucharist there be properties of bread and wine therefore the substance of bread and wine is truelie there so it followeth not In Christ there were properties and affections of a man therefore he had a verie true humane substance and thus there shall be a windowe opened vnto most gréeuous errors By transubstantiation is peruerted the nature of things Moreouer by this their vnnecessarie transubstantiation they peruert the nature of things sith they plucke awaie the accidents from their substance and proper subiect which is far more than to separate substance from a quantitie which before they haue striuen to doo such is their audacitie forsomuch as the accident is a latter thing than is the substance Neither haue we heard the ancient fathers make anie mention of this so dreadfull a miracle And séeing they were learned and verie well vnderstood how a substance is defined and how an accident they would not haue passed ouer in silence so great a matter Nazianzen soong in verse the miracles wrought by Christ And vnto Augustine is attributed the booke of the miracles of the holie scripture and yet is no mention there of accidents separated from their subiect By transubstantiation Christ must needs eate himselfe Besides it must come to passe that the eater and the meate eaten must be all one for Christ communicated with his apostles in the supper And therfore as these men will haue it he ate his owne selfe reallie and by transubstantiation Admit also that in the same supper which Christ first celebrated with his apostles some of the reliks remained after the bread was transubstantiated the which was reserued vnto the morowe wherein Christ was crucified and died should not the bodie in that bread haue béene depriued of soule and life If you denie it it must néeds followe that the selfe-same bodie was both aliue and dead at one and the selfe-same time By transubstantiation manie absurdities will followe But and if you will saie that it died also in the bread then it followeth that there was made a change and that a naturall and reall change therein all which things might haue no place in that bread to wit that it shuld there both be crucified and wounded sith vnto those matters not onelie a quantitie but also a measure of quantitie is required the which from the bodie of Christ in the Eucharist they remooue with great contention And if so be that much bread good plentie of wine should be transubstantiated by the Masse priests verelie they which should eate and drinke these things shuld be filled and nourished and their bellie should be stretched out and all these things doo these men attribute vnto the accidents If the Eucharist be burned there doo appeare ashes if it putrifie worms breake foorth so a substance commeth of accidents But yet as they dare saie anie thing they imagine that God oftentimes createth new substances which doo succéed the accidents or doo reuoke by miracle the former substances and they heape miracles vpon miracles For if the mice shall gnawe awaie this sacrament that is kept what will they eate They saie the accidents But why not the bodie of Christ sith they bind the same to the accidents so long as they remaine sound Which being corrupted they also take awaie from thence the bodie of Christ But whither goeth it when it departeth awaie Into heauen But there it is alreadie and before was How can it then go thither It it cease to be then it is destroied and corrupted which is far from the nature of a glorified bodie Sometimes also there happeneth a vomiting after the receiuing of the communion as Cyprian testifieth of a certeine maid and he saith that the drinke being consecrated into bloud brake foorth of hir bowels What then shall become of the bloud of Christ By affirming transubstantiation they leaue emptie a space or place And when they say that the bread is transubstantiated into the bodie of Christ and so transubstantiated as it is not there locallie we demand of them what dooth fill the space or place left by the substance of the bread For if this be not granted vnto the bodie of Christ it will remaine void and be filled vp with no sound matter And besides this that accidents be without a proper subiect to the end there may nothing want to strange woonders they attribute vnto them sundrie actions and passions which they cannot denie whereas notwithstanding betwéene the dooing and the suffering is required a communion of one and the selfe-same matter That there cannot be a breaking the bread being taken awaie And whereas there is plainlie séene a breaking in this sacrament they saie they breake accidents Which the Mathematicians durst not pronounce of their quantitie abstract by imagination to wit that they can reallie diuide the same And Platos Idaeae haue lesse absurditie according to Aristotles disputing against them than this feigned deuise of transubstantiation bringeth with it But what They assoile all by miracles But so it might be an easie matter for euerie man to be a diuine if all
arguments might be dissolued by miracles And especiallie when it is a doctrine in religion that miracles must not be multiplied without necessitie which they could neuer shew to haue béene in this matter The confirmation of the second question THe end of eating Christ and receiuing this sacrament is that wée shuld liue that we shuld haue euerlasting life that we should die and that Christ should dwell in vs and we in him euen as Christ testified in the sixt of Iohn The benefits of this sacrament are as well had without reall presence as with the same Howbeit these benefits and commodities may as well be had by admitting a coniunction of the bodie of Christ with bread and wine by a sacramentall signification as if we should affirme him to lie hidden reallie or substantiallie in the signes for that will bring vnto vs no grace or spirit or renewing but that we may abundantlie obteine the same of Christ being in heauen and through a receiuing thereof by faith For no mightier is he lieng hidden in the signes than he is reigning in heauen And yet neuerthelesse must not the communion be thought superfluous bicause we can eate Christ without the same for albeit it be lawfull to doo this wheresoeuer yet considering our infirmitie we are furthered by the helpe and comfort of signes and for the receiuing of them we haue the expresse commandement of Christ Christ confuted the carnall eating of his bodie Secondlie we must flie from that eating which Christ confuted but he confuted the carnall eating of his bodie when he dealt with the Capernaites therefore it must be taken awaie Neither will it helpe if you shall saie that they were therefore reprooued bicause they thought that the bodie of Christ was to be torne and rent in sunder as though after the maner of wild beasts they should be inuited too the eating of mans flesh which should be hewen in sunder and so distributed as happeneth of meate in the shambles And for this are you woont to pretend For it maketh no matter to the bringing in of a carnall eating whether the bodie of Christ be eaten by little péeces or all whole togither Neither is it true that it is a spirituall eating if the whole bodie be eaten and a carnall eating if it be cut into parts for according to this distinction the great huge beast of the sea which deuoured Ionas should haue eaten him spirituallie bicause he swallowed him whole at one gulpe Christ plainlie teacheth that he vnderstandeth spirituall eating otherwise when he set foorth to them his ascension into heauen For he shewed therby that he ment of an eating wherby we may eate by faith a thing that is absent as concerning place and substance And euen as he called backe Nicodemus from externall and bodilie generation to a spirituall regeneration which we obteine in the mind and inward man and lifted vp the woman of Samaria from the corporall and externall water to the drinke whereby our minds be refreshed the holie Ghost I meane so Christ taught the Capernaits which now thought that his flesh should be eaten outwardlie and carnallie he taught them I saie that eating which we receiue with the mind and imbrace with the faith We no lesse receiue Christ in his word than in the Eucharist Furthermore we no lesse receiue the bodie and bloud of Christ in the word of God than in this sacrament For what else by the testimonie of Augustine be sacraments than visible words Yea and the same Augustine in the title De consecratione distinction the second in the chapter Interrogo vos saith Of no lesse account is the word of God than is the Eucharist Also Ierom vpon Ecclesiastes testifieth that we in the holie scriptures doo eate the flesh of the Lord and drinke his bloud In like maner wrote Origin vpon Matthew treatise 25. and among the number of the homilies 26. And Chrysostome vpon Iohn homilie 45. And Basil in his 141. epistle Yea and reason it selfe persuadeth it for whatsoeuer fruit or grace the bread hath in the sacrament it hath it by the word And besides this the words doo more plainelie both expresse and signifie the nature of a sacrament than the signes doo Séeing therefore it is not affirmed that the bodie of Christ dooth corporallie and reallie sticke in the words why shall we rather place the same in bread and wine And herwithall agréeth that which we haue in the first chapter of Iohn that we be clensed and washed with the bloud of Christ the which in verie déed is doone so often as we conuert vnto him and by faith and repentance doo returne vnto him And yet neuerthelesse must it not be that so often as we be washed he is corporallie and reallie present with vs but it is sufficient that he be caught hold of with a faithfull mind whereby also the bodie of Christ may be eaten and his bloud droonken he being absent séeing that a reall presence séemeth as well to be required vnto washing as vnto eating and drinking if we shall vnderstand these things to be doone naturallie and grosselie Howbeit it must be considered when we saie that the bodie and bloud of the Lord is receiued by faith we doo not affirme these things to be altogither absent for by the power of faith and spirituallie they be made present vnto vs. For Paule saith vnto the Ephesians Ephes 1 20. that We are alreadie set with Christ at the right hand of God in the heauenlie places And the same apostle vnto the Romans saith Rom. 8 24. that We by hope are saued And he faith to the Galathians Gal. 3 1. To whom Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified The scripture onelie sheweth of two commings of Christ Ouer this the holie scripture dooth record to vs no more but two commings of Christ The first an humble forme to redéeme vs the other glorious when he shall come to iudgement But ye inuent euerie daie infinit commings For wheresoeuer there is anie saieng of Masse or where the faithfull communicate ye decrée that the bodie of Christ is reallie and substantiallie present wherevnto notwithstanding ye neither grant an humble forme nor yet a glorious but after a certeine middle maner ye tie the same vnto sacramentall signes whereof neither the scriptures speake nor yet is there brought anie effectuall reason The nature of a sacrament is more kept in signification than in bodilie presence Againe whereas all men agrée that the supper of the Lord is a sacrament and the definition of a sacrament is to be a visible signe of an inuisible grace it is plaine that we rather kéepe the nature thereof than ye doo for we beléeue that the bodie of Christ is ioined to the elements or signes by a signification and yée which affirme a transubstantiation or reall presence cannot auoid it but that both the wicked and vnbeléeuers doo eate Christ which
teach that the substance is changed into an other nature and therefore Ambrose saith that the nature is changed but you denie it D. Martyr I denie not but I affirme with Ambrose that sacramentallie it is changed and I saie also with him that a sacrament is not that which it séemeth to be if we speake of that which is the chéefe part thereof for that which is signified as it is not séene so is it most speciallie sought for of the faithfull neither is it by nature either framed or fastned in this sacrament but by blessing it is annexed to the same Neither will he haue the change here to be such as shall cast awaie the former nature and this hath béene alreadie declared sufficientlie by the examples of him alledged D. Chadse Ambrose saith that This is not that which nature framed but with blessing consecrated D. Martyr This did I expound before For a sacrament is a heauenlie thing which nature hath not framed but by consecration it commeth to the bread yet not so as it should cast awaie his owne substance And this should not séeme to be otherwise than Ambrose ment who as I haue cited him in his fourth booke and fourth chapter De sacramentis saith Of how much more operation is the words of Christ that these things shuld be that they were This spéech sufficientlie sheweth that he iudgeth not that the nature of the signes must be cast awaie D. Chadse If they be as they were then be they no sacraments bicause first they were no sacraments Beside the said Ambrose in his booke which I alledged De ijs qui initiantur mysterijs affirmeth that the kinds of the elements are changed for he writeth If Elias words were of so great force as they could fetch downe fire from heauen shall not the saieng of Christ be of as great force to change the kinds of the elements D. Martyr To that which you first obiect If they be as they were then be they no sacraments I denie the consequence sith both the one and the other may verie well be For Ambrose addeth And are changed into another thing to the intent you may sée that the nature of bread remaineth and is changed into a sacrament And whereas you vrge the matter that he writeth that the kinds of the elements are changed A distinction of Species or kinds I distinguish that if by the kinds you vnderstand the accidents that is to wit the forme figure taste and colour of the bread and wine it is not changed as the sense dooth testifie But if by the kinds you meane the natures and substances of the signes to them I grant there happeneth as I haue often said a spirituall and heauenlie change For while this holie rite is in executing there is brought into the signes thorough the institution and words of the Lord a sacramentall respect And that same respect of signifieng as well the mysticall bodie as the bodie it selfe of Christ is grounded not in the accidents of bread and wine but euen in the natures of them through the comming of the holie Ghost which vseth them as instruments D. Chadse Is the bread changed as concerning the substance or as concerning the accidents D. Martyr Change according to nature two maner of waies Bicause here falleth out an ambiguitie and equiuocation I will vse a distinction If you vnderstand change according to the substance so as the substance it selfe shuld either perish or be conuerted into another substance I agrée not vnto such a change but if you meane the substance to be so changed as it should receiue another qualitie and condition than it had before I grant that the same is changed D. Chadse You speake of an accidentall change which is made according to a new decrée and condition which is to be changed into a sacrament and accidentallie but Ambrose speaketh of a change of the element and nature And therefore I demand of you what is that that is changed after consecration D. Martyr I doo not dissent from Ambrose but with him I affirme What that is which is changed in the sacrament that there is here made a change of the element and nature after such a maner as hath béene now declared And when you demand what it is that is changed after consecration I answer that the change wherof we now speake is all one in those things which now by consecration susteine another qualitie and haue obteined a greater dignitie to wit a sacramentall state the which before they had not And albeit you indeuour to extenuate such a change yet is it not small or to be contemned séeing both the power and worke of the holie Ghost commeth therevnto D. Chadse You as yet answer me of an accidentall change but what change is here in the element D. Martyr A great change vndoubtedlie whereby the element is made a sacrament in such sort as that element by this change is now called another thing than it was before And least you should doubt what I meane by elements I saie that by them nothing else is signified than the signes or tokens euen as the ceremonies and sacrifices of the old fathers are by Paule called elements And the substance of these elements that is to saie of the signes is that which abideth and susteineth this change that is brought in by consecration and the verie same haue I oftentimes confessed both in answering and in expounding When I of blacke am made white there is no néed that my substance or nature should cease and so iudge you of the bread when it is made a sacrament D. Chadse The condition which commeth therevnto dooth not change the nature and yet Ambrose saith that it is changed And the same father in his fourth booke De sacramentis the fourth chapter Therefore who is the authour of the sacraments but the Lord Iesus from heauen did these sacraments come for all counsell is from heauen And in verie déed it is a great diuine miracle that God rained downe Manna from heauen for the people and the people laboured not and yet did eate Thou perhaps wilt saie that my bread is vsuall bread Howbeit this bread is bread before the words of the sacrament but when consecration commeth it is made of bread the flesh of Christ Wherefore let vs laie this foundation Note that bread is the bodie of Christ which these men denie How can it be that that which is bread should by consecration be the bodie of Christ And againe Wherefore that I may answer you it was not the bodie of Christ before consecration but I saie vnto you that it is now the bodie of Christ Psal 33 9. Hee spake the word and it was made hee commanded and it was created D. Martyr Adde withall that which is said betwéene How much greater worke is it that they be as they were and yet be changed into an other thing D. Chadse These words make nothing against me
building I beséech you take héede that you pluck vp by the rootes naughty and false opinions which I therefore admonish you of That superstitions must not be pared away but rooted out because I haue otherwhile séene some which haue onely pared away the leaues flowers and fruites of superstitions but haue spared the rootes which haue afterward sproong vp againe to the great detriment of the Lordes vineyeard Let the euill seedes and rotten rootes be cut off euen at the verie beginning for if they be neglected at the first I know what I say they are with much more difficultie taken away afterward and it must be prouided that this be most sincerelie doone in the Sacramentes and especiallie in the Eucharist For there beléeue me there are most pestilent séedes of Idolatrie which vndoubtedlie except they be taken away the Church of Christ shall neuer be indued with pure and sincere woorshipping Neither more nor lesse must be attributed vnto sacraments than is due Let not Sacramentes be contemned as vnprofitable and vaine signes And againe let not men attribute more vnto them than the institution of them wil suffer He that distinguished not the Sacramentes from the thinges signified he shamefullie not without his owne destruction cleaueth to the Elements of this world and dooth carnallie prophane the ordinances of God The whole dignitie of the sacramentall Elementes is hereby to be measured that the holie ghost hath chosen them vnto himselfe as instruments whereby he may further our saluation and by this reason therefore they differ from the signes inuented by the cogitation of man But they differ also from the thinges signified séeing as the nature and definition of them requireth they be the signes of them For bread properlie is not the bodie of Christ but in his certaine manner namelie because it is a Sacrament of the bodie of Christ But shall we denie especiallie that the faithfull doe receaue the bodie and the bloud of Christ No verilie But with what mouth doe they receaue these thinges With the mouth of the bodie No. For euen as a Sacrament consisteth of the signe and of the thing signified so he which receaueth the Sacrament with the mouth of the bodie is also indued with the mouth of the minde And euen as the beléeuers doe with the mouth of the bodie eate drink the bread wine so their minde being stirred vp by the wordes of God and by the outward signes is by the benefit of the holy ghost caryed vp into heauen attaineth by the mouth of faith euen vnto Christ We receiue whole Christ in the supper yet by faith apprehendeth and receaueth his flesh and bloud euen as it was deliuered vppon the crosse féedeth thereuppon as vppon wholsome and liuelie meate and verilie hath and possesseth Christ all wholie with all his fruites merites and giftes Neither is the profite of this meate onelie shut vp in the minde but by the same spirit also it redowndeth to the bodie and maketh it capable of the blessed immortalitie and a fit instrument of the holy ghost to worke well and godlie This is the propertie of the sacraments of God that by thē he may giue the thinges which he promiseth but yet after such a way and manner as may be agréeable to the thinges promised For it is not agréeable to the bodie of Christ that it should be at one time in heauen and in earth yea rather in infinite places and much lesse that it should be included in that sacramentall bread that it should be torne and eaten with the téeth that it should be receaued of the wicked which be altogether without faith Neither am I minded at this time to rehearse all thinges which serue to this purpose Ye be wise I beséech you that ye be not deceaued by that corporall fleshlie or as they terme it naturall presence Neither must we for the right confirming of anie opinion or doctrine be contented with foure bare wordes brought out of the holie scriptures but we ought also to weigh diligentlie manie other places which haue relation vnto this no lesse than we doe those foure wordes drawne out of the holie scriptures But as I haue said the place now serueth not Many places that haue relation to one thing must be compared together to handle and expound this matter at large This one thing I desire that you will most diligentlie trie all thinges For so I hope it will come to passe that you will retaine that which is good This neuerthelesse I wil not omit in the meane time to repeate that hereof I am most assured that the Church of Christ shall neuer haue a quiet and peaceable consent of doctrine The peace of the Church dependeth much vpon a pure communicating of the Eucharist or a sure peace betwéene the brethren and a sincere purenesse from superstitions vnlesse the Sacrament of the Eucharist be deliuered after this or the like manner And what sure reasons I haue for this foresight I will not now stand to declare The plainer that rites be in Sacraments the better they be But in the rite of administring the sacramentes that maner is most to be imbraced which shall be most plaine and most remooued from the Papisticall trifles and ceremonies and which shall come néerest to the purenesse which Christ vsed with his Apostles Christian mindes ought not to be occupied much in outward rites ceremonies but to be fed by the word to be instructed by the Sacramentes to be inflamed vnto prayers to be confirmed in good woorke and excellent examples of life How necessary a thing discipline is Moreouer I counsel you that in anie wise ye bring in discipline into your Churches so soone as possiblie ye can for if it be not receaued at the beginning when men are verie desirous of the Gospell it will not soone be admitted afterward when as it happeneth some coldnesse shall créepe in And how vainelie you shall labour without it verie manie Churches may be an example vnto you who since they would not at their verie first reformations take vppon them this healthfull yoke coulde neuer afterwarde as touching manners and life be brought into order by any iust rule whereof it happeneth which I speake with great griefe that all things in a manner haue small assuraunce and do threaten ruine on euerie side Therefore it is a grieuous losse and a certaine destruction of Churches to want strength of discipline Neither can it be truely soundly said that they haue and doe professe the Gospell which either be without discipline or doe contemne it or be not delighted therewith Certainlie since in the Euangelistes and in the Apostolicall Epistles it is taught with so great diligence it must bee confessed not to be the least part of Christian Religion Whereby it comes to passe that the Gospell séemes to be despised of them which haue banished from themselues so notable a portion thereof Vnder what pretence
the spirite and with faith For while in the holie supper we reuolue in our minde the death of our Lorde and with a syncere faith do faithfullie beléeue that these thinges were wrought vpon the crosse for the redéeming of vs wee eate and drinke those thinges for our great benefite for they be vnto our mindes as it were the most excellent meate and the most holsome drinke And that faith doeth God stir vp in them that bee his through the holy Ghost applying thereunto two outward instrumentes the worde I meane and the elements of bread and wine Wherefore they which beléeue and comprehende by faith that the fleshe and bloud of the Lorde were giuen vnto death for our saluation doe spirituallie eate and spirituallie drinke those thinges Therefore wee confesse that vnto the natural and proper eating and drinking is required a presence of the thing to be eaten and of the thing to be drunken otherwise thinges that be absent can neither be eaten nor drunken But withall we denie that of spirituall eating and drinking can be gathered or concluded that those thinges which are saide to bee eaten and drunken allegorically are there bodilie and properly present But that the eating of the flesh of Christ consisteth of faith he himselfe most plainely testified in the 6. chapter of Iohn Ver. 35. 47. Wherefore that Euangelist since he iudged the whole matter to be there aboundantly expounded of him he did not rehearse in the historie of the last supper in what sort the outwarde signes of breade and wine were added Moreouer by this is the selfe same thing gathered that vnto the true and proper bodie of Christ cannot be applied a true and proper eating since that nowe it cannot be rent in sunder broken in small peeces and grinded verilie both the breade in déede and the wine are properlie eaten and drunken with the mouth of the bodie which thinges in their manner are called the flesh and bloud of Christ because they be outwarde signes of those thinges Wherefore after a sort we may bee saide to eate and drinke with the mouth the bodie and bloude of the Lorde Wherefore Cyprian and Augustine when they treated of the eating of these thinges which be signified namely the spirituall eating did prudently say Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy bellie Beleeue and thou hast eaten Wherefore there is no néede that the bodie and bloud of the Lorde should be sent downe out of heauen into the earth or that it shoulde yet bee conuersant in the worlde that they might mixe themselues with our supper but it behooueth that our mindes beeing admonished by the worde of God and the outwarde signes should be caried by faith vnto heauen that they may eat this holie meate and be nourished And here it followes that they which be vtterly destitute of faith doe not receiue the bodie and bloud of Christ because those thinges as I haue saide are eaten and drunken by faith and spirite onelie In déede these do eate and drinke the outwarde signes but they do not attaine to the thinges that be signified euen as they that be blinded cannot receiue the light and the colour which are things apprehended by the eyes Whereas afterwarde I am demaunded whether I thinke that in the Church the supper is had without the bodie and bloud of Christ I answere If we speake of that presence which they call corporall reall and substantiall I confesse that the bodie and bloud of Christ is absent neither shoulde they if they were present bring anie more profite commoditie and aduantage than we drawe from thence while they remaine in heauen farre disseuered from vs. Moreouer the flesh and bloud of Christ are present vnto vs by spirite grace merits and other wonderfull fruites which are from God deriued by them vnto vs euen as the sonne is sayde to be present with vs by the light by the beames and by good influences which we receiue from thence Neither are the bodie and bloud of the Lorde so present vnto our minds spiritually and by faith as that there onelie they should containe their most helthfull efficacies and powers and suffer the bodies of the faithfull to be méere voide of the same The matter is not so But because in beléeuing that the bodie and bloud of the Lorde are the pryces of our saluation wee are iustified and regenerated or else both in the same iustification and regeneration wée are increased and confirmed but iustification and regeneration are the beginnings of our blessed immortalitie Thereof it commeth that by faithful receiuing of the supper of the Lorde not onelie the soules are fedde and refreshed but also the bodies are made more and more capable of the blessed resurrection This is the iudgement of my faith as touching the holie supper of the Lord the which right worshipfull syr I haue parhappes for the barrainnesse of the stile not so exquisitely as faithfully expounded But I trust that you setting aside the rude and vneloquent words will with a friendely minde cleaue to the sentences and thinges themselues Fare you well and loue mee as you doe euen as I doe verie much loue you and pray for the fruite of my vocation Maister Bullinger and the rest of your friendes willed me to write their heartie salutations vnto you Frō Zuricke the 24. of Maie 1562. To the Right honourable the Earle of Bedforde THe courtesie of your excellent Lordship hath béene so great towards mee as neither am I able nor yet knowe I howe to expresse it Wherefore since I cannot write vnto you as I ought perhappes it were better for me to holde my peace which neuerthelesse the gratitude of a Christian man will not permit wherfore not knowing else what to do I wil let the matter rest And setting a side the praise of your godlinesse nobilitie and goodnesse I will onelie giue you thankes for the fauour helpe and courtesie which you haue shewed towards Iulius my faithful seruaunt in his businesse For the which I account myselfe so greatly and effectually bound vnto you as more I cannot be if I would And truely for his part he is neuer well appaied nor content but when he is declaring setting foorth your honors courtesie goodwil affirming that without your helpe fauour and trauell he coulde neuer haue dispatched his businesse And this vndoubtedly is a singular pleasure vnto me because I am sure that both in him in me you chiefely respect Iesus Christ his syncere Religion wherein howe zealous you are and howe feruently you loue the same it is euery where knowē and of all men confessed And that causeth al good Christians to loue honor you in their heart Which notwithstanding it be a great glorie in it selfe yet is it nothing in comparison of the great pleasure that our almightie God taketh therin And I likewise know that this is it which hath caused you to make me such an offer as you haue For the which I giue you