A WAY OF RECONCILIATION OF A GOOD AND learned man TOVCHING THE Trueth Nature and Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament Translated out of Latin into English by the Right Honorable Lady Elizabeth Russell Dowager to the Right Honourable the Lord Iohn Russell Baron and sonne and heire to Francis Earle of Bedford AT LONDON PRINTED BY R. B. ANNO 1605. The Author to the Reader TO seeke the attonement of men is to be commended and it hath a sure promise of God Blessed bee the peace-makers But I feare me lest in greedily following the same it happen to me which chanceth to them that part fraies while they seeke others safetie they beare the blowes themselues And I while I study to make enemies friends perhaps shall haue small thankes of them Which if it happen the example of him shal comfort me which said If I should please men I should not be the seruant of Christ Farewell and indeauour thy selfe to please Christ TO THE RIGHT HOnourable my most entierly beloued and onely daughter the Lady ANNE HERBERT wife to the Lord HENRY HERBERT sonne and heire apparant to EDVVARD the most noble Earle of Worcester MOst vertuous and woorthilie beloued daughter Euen as from your first birth and cradle J euer was most careful aboue any worldly thing to haue you sucke the perfect milke of sincere Religion So willing to ende as I beganne I haue left to you as my last Legacie this Booke A most precious Iewell to the comfort of your Soule being the woorke of a most good learned and worthy man Made aboue fiftie yeeres since in Germanie After by traueile a French creature Now naturalized by mee into English like to his learned Author to whom from my part most Honour and seruice is due Surely at the first I meant not to haue set it abroad in Print but my selfe onely to haue some certaintie to leane vnto in a matter so full of controuersie and to yeeld a reason of my opinion But since by my lending the Copie of mine owne hand to a friend I am bereft thereof by some And fearing lest after my death it should be Printed according to the humors of other and wrong of the dead who in his life approued my Translation with his owne allowance Therefore dreading I say wrong to him aboue any other respect I haue by Anticipation preuented the worst J meant this to you good daughter for a New-yeeres gift but altered by griefe for your Brothers broken arme Farewell my good sweet Nanne God blesse thee with the continuance of the comfort of his holy Spirit that it may euer worke in you and perseuere with you to the ende and in the ende IN ANNAM FILIAM Vt veniens Annus tibi plurima commodet ANNA Voce pia Mater supplice mente precor Vt valeas paritérque tuo cum Coniuge Proles Officijs iunctis vita serena fluat ELIZABETHA RVSSELLA Dowager ¶ A CERTAINE MAN wisheth to all Christians the health and peace of our Lord IESVS CHRIST THE question of the Supper of IESVS CHRIST and Sacrament of Thankesgiuing hath brought foorth to vs aboue other things a cruel and pernitious contention For the other Authors of sects Anabaptists and Suencfeldians be neither learned nor of our family But this is a ciuill and domesticall euill a bloody and deadly wound hidden in our bowels Surely it is a lamentable and horrible matter that the thing which was first instituted for the confirmation of mens minds in loue and concord and fellowship of the body of Christ which is the Church is now wrested to variance and confusion And if there haue bene any good in this broile it hath bene in the silence and sorrow of good and learned men of whom aswell the misliking sheweth that there is somewhat in both parts that might be amended and prayer and earnest desire may percase somewhat obtaine at Gods hand that contention taken away the agreement of minds may againe ioyne in one But this booke which is made touching this question whose soeuer it bee sure it seemeth to be the worke of a good learned and modest man and one that hath bene long much and well exercised in the Monuments of our Fathers and Elders Neither doeth it moue mee that he would not be named for because there is no bitter word in this disputation and he doth reason of the matter learnedly well and truely neither doth seeme willing to craue thankes at mens hands nor to haue taken this Treatie in hand either for desire of praise or greedines of Honour but to be mooued thereunto by the common sorrow and hurt to make an entry to that thing the which many men greatly desiring the peace of Christs Church haue wished with earnest and continuall prayers namely the remembrance of the Christian peace and the forgetting of deuilish debate Bucer whom I with honour speake of and for remembrance sake had found and made a way to this concord and there was great agreement of minds betweene him and Luther and hee pacified the Churches of the Heluetians and while hee liued there was peace and quietnesse but when they were both dead beholde againe bitter bookes on both sides And surely they be to be pardoned which write vnwillingly but those which without cause haue renued this wound if there be any such these surely seeme to me little to feare what men iudge of them or to esteeme the peace which Christ gaue and left vnto vs. But I returne to this Booke which pleaseth me best aboue other in this kinde of argument not that I will altogether allow it to the Congregation but because it seemeth to come neerest to the taking away of this contention For which cause he that cannot inuent a better if he be not content with this and cannot defend his owne let him take heed that hee doe not that for mans sake which he ought to leaue vndone for Christes cause namely that he nourish not contention which is the greatest enemie the Church can haue I see nothing concluded in this disputation that either is repugnant from the nature of our Religion or not honourably ynough spoken of this so great singuler mysterie both which things if both the parts had retained or followed we should haue had quietnesse long ere this I blame neither part I beare good will to both I loue both And if that were done in writing that is done and that of many with good conscience in the leading of our life and retaining and esteeming the friends on both sides men should both haue written and disputed of this question on both sides with lesse offence and bitternesse But now wee write in such sort as though wee did defend the persons and not the cause and apply the trueth of the cause not to the ordinance of Christ but to the interpretation of men Iesus Christ restore to vs his peace which he gaue and left vnto vs when hee departed hence which we
haue lost by these our contentions Iesus Christ I say whose Victory Triumph Honour Praise and Glory be for euer and euer Amen ¶ A way of Reconciliation touching the trueth nature and substance of the Body or of the Flesh and Blood of CHRIST in the Sacrament WHat good man doeth not sorrow or what man zealous in Religion doeth not often bewaile the pitifull and vnluckie contention about the LORDS SVPPER which hath now many yeres troubled the Churches of CHRIST which haue imbraced the pure doctrine whereby not onely brotherly Loue is broken but also cities and whole countreys be thereby brought in danger For whereas after the expelling the darkenesse of Ignorance and the happy restoring to the Church the gift of tongues a certaine new Light was restored to the world and the Gospel had begun to take so great roote that thereby hope of very great fruit was offered to ensue By and by this sharpe and vehement contention bursting in among the chiefe champions of the Word hath miserably troubled these very good beginnings For looke what weapons they had valiantly vsed in setting foorth the trueth in ouerthrowing the enemies of the Gospel the very same after this strife was risen did they bend one against another So that the happie course of the Gospel that began to flourish is not only hindered but also by factions discords the matter is come to that passe that vnlesse the mighty Right-hand of the Lord do resist the trueth doeth seeme to appaule and decay againe yea and to returne to the former confusion For if we will iudge the matter truely no force hath so much withstand the inlarging of the Gospel no not the deceits and inchantments of the idole of Rome not the crueltie of Princes against the flocke of CHRIST not the troublesome motions of breeders of Sects as this onely rash contention hath done hurt which bringeth to the minds of godly men sorrow to the enemies cause to reioyce and to the weake and vnlearned offence and falling And surely there is no doubt but that our owne wickednesse hath bene the originall of this so great an euil as it hath bene of many other For wee not regarding or rather contemning the light offered vs are iustly thought vnworthy of so great a benefit Which thing also is the cause that albeit many learned good men vnderstand what profit it should be for the Christian common wealth speedily to pacifie this quarrell and to ende the contentions few notwithstanding doe earnestly traueile about this matter And if any haue attempted it it seemeth to fall out as vnluckily taken in hand to the contrary part For my part when I saw no end could be made of strife nor any hope in any one of better sequele I thought best to commit the matter to GOD by prayer and with silence to looke for helpe in season at his hands Yet in this meane space I thought it my part not to neglect a matter of so great waight but after examination had of the chiefe points of this controuersie to bolt out what was trueth and what not and then to determine vpon a sure grounded opinion both by authoritie of holy Scripture and by the vndoubted testimonies of the Fathers aswell to satisfie my selfe as to yeeld a reason thereof to any that should perhaps demand it of mee that the minde should not wauer continually to fro tossed as it were with the contrary violence of winds While I take this worke in hand diligently tread the steps of the old Interpreters me thinketh I perceiue vnlesse my opinion deceiue me that this controuersie is not so intangled nor darke as most men suppose and that these sharp cōtentions haue come rather by mens fault then by the nature of the matter and that the way of Reconciliation shall not bee so hard with men desirous rather of the trueth then of quarrelling Wherefore albeit I took in hand this worke whatsoeuer it be priuately to my selfe yet because among my friends certaine good men and well giuen were so desirous I did not greatly passe to haue it come to the eares eyes of other that if there be herein any profit it may also do them good The cause I haue thought good so to diuide that briefly it may bee brought to three especial points First wil I shew the trueth of the body of CHRIST in the Sacrament to be giuen to the faithful and that these termes Nature and Substance are not to be shunned but that they of old time disputing of the Sacrament vsed them Then will I declare the difference betweene the Lords proper body and that which is in the Sacrament and that the olde Fathers were of that opinion And lastly I will set foorth at large what maner of Body that is which is receiued in the mysterie why it is called by that name after the opinion of the selfe same Fathers Which things once expounded a man may easily iudge of the whole controuersie First it is manifest ynough by the declaration of the Euangelists Matthew Matth. 26. c. Matth. 14. c. Luke 22. c. Marke and Luke that our Lord IESVS CHRIST when he should depart out of this world and leauing the earth should goe vp to the Father did ordeine the Sacrament of his Body and Blood in the presence of his disciples at Supper and so when he had taken the bread he blessed brake it and gaue it to them saying This is my body After the like maner the Cup also saying This Cup is the new Testament in my Blood 1. Corinth 11. Doe this in remembrance of me Paul also writeth to the same effect to the Corinthians in his first Epistle the 11. chapter rehearsing in a maner the very same words Et cap. 10. in the tenth chapter The Cup saith he of blessing which we blesse is it not the partaking of the Blood of Christ The bread which we breake is it not the partaking of the Body of Christ By these words of the Euangelists and the Apostle they of old time were of that opinion that CHRIST our Lord which is Trueth it selfe spake these things truly and did in deed performe those things that he spake so that no place of doubt might any more be left concerning the trueth of the matter Moreouer those words which in the sixt chapter of Iohn Iohn 6. c. the Lord spake My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drinke indeed c. The bread which I will giue you is my flesh And vnlesse you eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his Blood c. The Fathers with great accord as well Grecians as Latines doe apply to the Sacrament of Thankesgiuing And that they haue interpreted those places so both in Iohn and the rest of the Euangelists and Paul to the Corinthians the testimonies that follow taken out of the authors themselues Iustin Martir Apol. 2. shal happily proue First Iustin Martyr
as oft as they of old time treat of the Sacrament they all apply to the Sacrament the vvords of our Lord vvhich are spoken in the sixt chapter of Iohn My flesh is verily meat my blood is verily drinke The bread which I will giue is my flesh and vnlesse you eate the flesh of the Sonne of man c. Which things shal be proued by their ovvne sayings before alledged and also by those that shall follovv Neither are they to bee allovved that deny this chapter of Iohn to be referred to this Sacrament seeing so great a troupe of vvitnesses be against them But the opinion of them seemed more probable vvho as they iudge this Euangelist to set forth the humanitie of Christ lesse then the rest and his diuinitie more amply so doe declare that these things vvhich are rehearsed by the other Euangelists concerning the institution and outvvard ceremonie of this Sacrament are not at all mentioned of Iohn but that he openeth expoundeth more plainly vnto vs the true and right vnderstanding of them And it is plaine that the mindes of the Capernaites vvhen the Lord said My flesh is verily meat And vnlesse ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man c. vvere much offended and troubled and therefore leauing him departed for they vnderstood him too grosly and after the common sort But his Tvvelue Apostles that taried by him being admonished and lift vp to a more higher meaning and of more Maiestie heard of him The words which I haue spoken be spirit and life Vpon this it commeth to passe that all the old vvriters do flie the common iudgement and vsuall vnderstanding in those vvordes This is my body and vvhich the Lord spake of eating his flesh and follovv a more diuine vvay of vnderstanding them and more agreeable to the Sacraments as they themselues affirme Chrysost in Matth. cap. 26. Hom. 83. Chrysostom vpon Matthew 26. hom 83. expounding the vvords of the Supper Take ye eate ye this is my body c. doth aske this question Why were they not troubled vvhen they heard this And he ansvvereth Because he had taught them alreadie many and great things concerning this point before Wherefore also hee did not confirme that vvhich they had often before perceiued And not long after hee addeth Hee himselfe did also drinke of it least at the hearing of those vvordes they should say What do vve then drinke blood and eate flesh and vpon that might be troubled For at the first also when he spake of these matters many vvere offended onely for the wordes Lest therefore this should then also haue happened he did this first himselfe that hee might bring them to the partaking of these mysteries vvith a quiet minde We be taught here by Chrysostom that the Apostles were not troubled when they heard the Lord say Take ye eat ye this is my body Because they had bene alreadie taught before hovv that which vvas spoken ought to be vnderstood namely where others were offended as it is in Iohn said This is a hard saying they abode and had learned It is the Spirit that giueth life the flesh profiteth nothing The wordes that I haue spoken vnto you are spirit life that is to say as the same Chrysostom in the same place expounded it they are spiritually to bee vnderstood which selfe thing the Lord himselfe confirmeth by his owne deed vvhen hee did eat the same bread drinke the vvine vvith them lest they should thinke vpon any base or common matter but should be brought to the partaking of the mysteries with quiet minds It is no hard matter to perceiue by this that Chrysostom vvriteth in this place that it is one way a body that Christ himselfe called his body when he said Take ye eat ye this is my body the which he also receiueth himselfe together with his disciples and another vvay to bee his proper body which was fed vvith the other The one did eat the other was eaten after a diuers sort either of them is called his body To this purpose maketh also that vvhich Clemens Alexandrinus schoolemaster to Origen Clemens Alexand lib. inscrip Paedagogus teacheth in his booke intituled Paedagogus when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The blood of Christ is two maner of wayes the one fleshie whereby vve are vvashed the other spirituall vvherevvith we haue bene anointed Hierom. in Epi. ad Ephes ca. 1. Whom Hierom follovving vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians the first chapter saith The blood and flesh of Christ saith he is vnderstood tvvo maner of vvayes that is either that spirituall and heauenly whereof he himselfe spake My flesh is verily meat and my blood is verily drinke And vnlesse you eate my flesh and drinke my blood you shall not haue euerlasting life Or else the flesh and blood that vvas crucified that was shed vvith the speare of the souldier There bee tvvo things that Hierom teacheth in this place That those vvords in the 6. chap. of Iohn do appertaine to the Sacrament euen as Chrysostom doth and that the flesh that vvas crucified doeth differ from that vvhich is in the Sacrament vvhich he calleth Spirituall Diuine The same man vpon Leuiticus and is to be seen De consecrat Idem in Leuit. de consecrat dist 2. dist 2. Of this sacrifice vvhich is by miracle vvrought for the remembrance of Christ it is lavvfull to eate but of that which Christ offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse it is of it self lavvful for no man to eat A plaine and manifest distinction Augustin in lib. senten Prosperi August in lib. Sent. Prosperi It is his flesh vvhich couered with the forme of bread we receiue in the Sacrament and his blood which vnder the forme and tast of wine we drinke that is to say the flesh is the sacrament of flesh and blood is the sacrament of blood By flesh and blood being both inuisible spirituall intelligible is betokened the visible sensible body of our Lord Iesus Christ full of the grace of all vertues diuine Maiestie Who seeth not hovv plainly Augustine putteth a difference between the proper body of Christ which he termeth visible and sensible and that flesh which we receiue in the sacrament vvhich he affirmeth to be inuisible spirituall intelligible and a signe of the other body Idem in Epist. ad Iren. The same man in his Epistle to Irenaeus You shall not eat this body which you see and drinke that blood which they that shall crucifie me shall shed The same truely and not the same The same inuisiblie and not the same visibly He putteth a difference when hee saith Not this body and againe The same not the same The maner of the difference is the same inuisibly which hee termeth before the inuisible body namely the Sacrament of the body and not the same visibly or the visible body which is referred to the proper body for this body
to them an horrible and hainous thing to feed vpon mans flesh thinking hee had spoken this after that sort as though they should haue bene taught to haue eaten his flesh sod or rosted and cut in pieces whereas the flesh of his person if it should bee deuided into morsels could not haue bene sufficient for all mankinde which being once spent Religion should seeme to perish vvhich should not haue aftervvard a sacrifice remaining any longer But in such like thoughts flesh and blood profiteth nothing because as the Master himselfe hath expounded These words be Spirit and life neither doth the carnall sense pearse the vnderstanding of so great a depth vnlesse Faith be added too The Bread is food the Blood is life the Flesh substance the Body the Church A body because of the agreeing of members in one Bread for the conformitie of nourishment Blood for the effect of life giuen Flesh for the propertie of the humanitie taken Also hee sayth This common bread beeing changed into flesh and blood doeth procure life and encrease to the bodies and therefore by the accustomed effect of things the weakenesse of our faith is aided and taught by a sensible argument that the effect of eternall life is in the visible Sacraments and that we be knit to Christ not so much by corporall as by spirituall passage Also this bread which hee reached to his disciples beeing changed not in forme but in nature by the omnipotencie of the Word is made flesh and euen as in the person of Christ the humanitie was seene and the diuinitie hid so into the visible Sacrament vnspeakeably doeth the diuine substance powre it selfe Also the Master truely of this Institution sayd that Vnlesse wee should eate and drinke his blood we should not haue life in vs instructing vs by a spirituall lesson and opening our vnderstanding to so hidden a matter that wee should knowe that our eating is an abiding in him and our drinke as it were a certaine incorporation by submitting our seruice and ioyning our willes and vniting our affections Also hee sayth Among the guests of the Lords table the natural man is not admitted whatsoeuer flesh and blood doeth appoint is shut out from this company it sauoureth nothing it profiteth nothing whatsoeuer the finenes of the sence of man doth goe about Cyprian hath these and many other places to the same purpose The very words of Cyprian doe sufficiently declare that which belongeth to our purpose How the Letter is not to bee followed in these things which be spoken of this mysterie how the vnderstanding of the Flesh is vtterly to be shunned and all things to be referred to a spiritual sense That there is the presence of the diuine power in this Bread the effect of euerlasting life and that the diuine substance is powred thereinto that the words are spirit and life that a spirituall lesson is giuen that this Body this Blood and Flesh this substance of body ought not to be taken after a common sort nor as mans reason doth appoint but to be named thought of beleeued for certaine excellent effects powers and properties ioyned thereto which be euen within the body and blood of Christ by nature namely that it doeth both feede and reuiue our soules and prepareth our bodies to resurrection and immortalitie Cyrill in Ioan. lib. 4. cap. 14. The same opinion hath also Cyrillus who though he affirme in many places the trueth and nature of the body of Christ to be in the Sacrament yet hee is in opinion that it is a spiritual and diuine matter and not to be vnderstood after the manner of men For first he declareth that the same maner of eating is set foorth in the words of the Lords Supper which the Lord himselfe signified when he said Vnlesse you eat the flesh of the Sonne of man c. For so he writeth in his 4. booke vpon the 14. Chap. of Iohn Where after he had spoken somewhat of them that did say How can this man giue his flesh to be eaten hee addeth these words Therefore they ought first to haue set the rootes of faith in their minde and then to seeke for those things that are to be sought for of man but they before they would beleeue did seeke importunately For this cause therefore the Lord did not open how it might be but exhorteth to seeke it by faith So to his disciples that beleeued he gaue the pieces of bread saying Take ye and eate ye this is my body The cup also in like maner he caried about saying Drinke yee all of this This is the cup of my blood which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins Thou seest manifestly that by no meanes he would declare the maner of the mysterie to them that sought it without faith but to them that did beleeue and did not seeke it he plainely declared it Likewise in cap. 21. Idem in cap. 21 vpon these words This is a hardsaying thus he saith And such as want sharpenesse of wit are wont to abhorre knowledge which should be sought with great study and much labour but yet the spirituall man accustomed to the Lords doctrine as to great dainties doth continually sing How sweet be thy words vnto my throat yea aboue hony to my mouth But the naturall Iew doeth thinke this spirituall mysterie full of foolishnesse and where by the Lords words he is stirred to an higher vnderstanding of things yet he falleth still to his accustomed madnesse Likewise in his cap. 22. expounding these words Doeth this offend you Idem in cap. 22 c. hee writeth on this sort For ignorance many which followed Christ not vnderstanding his words were troubled for when they heard him say Verely verely I say vnto you vnlesse ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood you shall not haue life in you they thought Christ had called them to the cruel maners of beasts and stirred them to eate the rawe flesh of a man and to drinke blood which be euen horrible to heare For they had not yet knowen the maner of this mysterie and the godly ministration thereof Also in the 24. chapter Idem cap. 24. The words therefore that I haue spoken to you bee spirit that is spirituall and of the spirit and life that is to say they be of the liuely and naturall life Idem ad Calosyrium The same mans words are rehearsed to Calosyrius which follow For least we should abhorre flesh and blood set vpon the holy Altars God fauouring our frailty powred into the things offered the power of life turning them into the trueth of his owne flesh that a body of life as it were a certaine seed that giueth life might be found in vs. By these and many other places in Cyrillus we be lift vp from the letter to the spirite from the sence of the naturall man to a more hie vnderstanding of a spirituall mysterie It must not
be thought here that we eate the rawe flesh of a man or drinke his blood but that the words bee spirituall and spiritually to bee vnderstood that they be termed flesh and blood but ought to be vnderstood of spirit and life that is to say of the vertue of the Lords flesh that giueth life And therfore saide hee that the povver of life was put into the outward signes Idem in Ioan. lib. 11. cap. 26. and called it by an apt signification the body of life The same man vpon Iohn lib. 11. cap. 26. doth expound somewhat more plainely how wee be coupled corporally both with Christ and with our selues and that by the partaking of the sacrament although we be seuered both in body and soule It must be considered saith he whether to the vnitie of consent and will wee may also finde a naturall vnity by which we shall be lincked among our selues and we all vnto God For peraduenture we are ioyned also with corporall vnion although we be seuered one from another that ech one apart hath his being and distance of place For although Peter and Paul be one by vnity in Christ yet Peter is not Paul Afterward within few words hee thus concludeth The originall therefore and the way whereby wee bee partakers of the holy Ghost and vnited to God is the mysterie of Christ for we bee all sanctified in him Therefore that hee might vnite vs one to another and euery one to God although we bee seuered both in body and soule yet hath hee found a vvay agreeable to the counsell of his Father and to his ovvne wisedome For hee blessing those as beleeue with his body through the mysticall communion doeth make vs both with himselfe and also among our selues one body It is plaine that Cyrillus spake not of the same kind of body when he saith Although they bee seuered in body and soule yet they which beleeue through the body of Christ and by the mysticall communion be made one body with Christ and betvveene themselues For euen as the faithfull being ioyned in that spirituall body are one body although their proper bodies remaine seuered Euen so also wee being ioyned with Christ in that spirituall body are made one body with him although his ovvne proper body bee farre distant from our bodies Let vs adde one place more taken out of this Father Idem in lib. ad Euop Anat. 11 which is in his booke Ad Euoptium Anath 11. where he speaketh thus of Nestorius Doeth not he pronounce this mysterie to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a deuouring of mans flesh and violently driue the mindes of the faithfull without conscience into false interpretations and with mans inuentions take those things in hand which are receiued by an onely pure and vnsearchable faith Cyrillus doth in this place obiect against Nestorius That to maintaine this error he did speake too grosly of the Sacrament as though the faithfull doe properly therein eate mans flesh which by the Greeke word hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But such kind of thoughts hee termeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say as Budaeus doeth interpret it counterfeite not right not sincere For so much as here is no place for such kinde of worldly and common imaginations We ought to thinke the like of Theophylactus who although in some place he may seeme to haue follovved a more grosse opinion as vpon Matthew the 26. Chapter whose words wee haue aboue rehearsed wherein he seemeth to denie that the bread of the Sacrament of thankesgiuing is a figure of the Lords body but the very body indeede yet when he saith It is no figure he meaneth that it is not onely a figure as in another place where vpon Marke and Iohn it is read for else hee should haue repugned against all the olde Writers and that is not likely who throughout terme this Sacrament a figure an image a signe and patterne Besides in that he said it was the body in very deede his meaning was not to haue it taken after a worldly and common sort as it shall manifestly appeare by those things that follow for he writing vpon these words in the sixt Chapter of Iohn Theophylac in Ioan. cap. 6. The Iewes therefore did striue among themselues saying How can this man giue vs his flesh to eate saith thus It behoueth vs therefore after that wee heare vnlesse yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man yee shall haue no life in taking the heauenly mysteries to keepe stedfast and vnwauering faith and not to be inquisitiue how For the naturall man that is hee that follovveth mans carnall and naturall thoughts is not apt to conceiue such matters as bee aboue nature and spirituall and euen so he doth not vnderstand the spirituall eating of the Lords flesh whereof who so bee not partakers shall not bee partakers of euerlasting life And by and by hee expoundeth thus these words Hee that eateth my flesh c. In this place vve learne the Sacrament of the communion For he that eateth and drinketh the Lords flesh and blood abideth in the Lord himselfe and the Lord in him for there is a new mixture made and aboue reason so that God is in vs and wee in God Here the Author teacheth that faith must be had in the mysteries and not to be inquisitiue how and therewithall he remoueth apart mans carnall or naturall thoughts and requireth onely a spirituall meaning and commendeth a more hie maner of eating For he addeth not long after vpon these words This is a hard saying who can heare him c. But see their folly For their duetie had been to haue asked and learned those things whereof they were ignorant But they drew backe and did expound nothing spiritually but all things as they outwardly appeared For in as much as they heard of flesh they thought he would compell them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is deuourers of flesh and blood But because we vnderstand it spiritually neither wee bee deuourers of flesh and yet be we sanctified by such meate By and by also expounding this It is spirit that quickeneth thus he writeth Because as we haue often sayd they that carnally expounded such things as Christ spake were offended he sayth When those things that I speake are spiritually vnderstood that onely bringeth profit but the flesh that is to say to expound them carnally profiteth nothing but is occasion of offence So therefore such as heard carnally those things that Christ spake were offended He addeth therefore The words which I speake are spirit that is to say they be spirituall and life hauing nothing that is carnall and bringing euerlasting life Let vs adde hereunto those things which he writeth vpon Marke 14. cap. 1. For the bread is not onely a figure and a certaine patterne of the Lords body but it is turned into the very body of Christ For the Lord sayth The bread which I will giue is
my flesh And againe Vnlesse ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man c. And how saith he is not the flesh seene O man this is done for our infirmitie For since the bread and wine bee of those things which we be acquainted withall we abhorre them not but if wee should see blood and flesh set before vs we could not abide it but should vtterly abhorre it Therefore God of his mercie fauouring our frailtie retaineth still the forme of bread and wine but he altereth the element into the power of flesh and blood By all these places it is most certaine that Theophylactus followed the steps of the ancient fathers set aside all carnall imaginations in this Sacrament called vs to such as be hie and spirituall that it is not only a figure of the Lords bodie but rather is verely his body yet they that be partakers are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say flesh eaters And he addeth the cause for that we vnderstand it not carnally but spiritually that is to say that they remaine the formes of bread and wine but yet do passe into the power of the Lords flesh and blood and as he tearmed it be transelemented in which tearme there is no cause why we should faine to our selfe any Popish Transubstantiation as they cal it Idem in Ioan. cap. 6. For writing vpon the 6. Chapter of Iohn he vseth the same terme saying thus Therfore euen as I saith he liue for the Father that is as I am borne of the Father which is life euen so also he that eateth me liueth by the meanes of me while he is after a sort mixed with me and is transelemented into me that can quicken By this terme of transelementatiō he meant to signifie nothing els but the same change that is fit for the Sacraments wherof Ambrose Emissenus and others make mention as before we haue repeated for otherwayes wee cannot be transelemented into Christ And no maruell that Theophylactus so tearmed it since Chrysostom himselfe vpon the sixt chap. of Iohn homilia 45. vseth these wordes Chrysost in Ioan. cap. 6. homil 45. But that we should not onely by loue but also in very deed bee turned into that flesh hee hath wrought it by the meate which hee hath giuen vs. Behold Chrysostome saith we are turned into the flesh of Christ really as I may so terme it But yet who seeth not that turning to be spirituall not carnal Euen so is bread turned in very deede and transelemented into Christes flesh but by a spiritual and no carnall turning because the bread doeth get to it the power of the flesh And these things which haue bene thus cited out of Theophylactus albeit he be not so ancient an authour yet because hee is chiefly alleaged of such as followe the carnall sence in the sacrament of thankesgiuing though hee doth very manifestly expound himselfe and teacheth nothing repugnant to holy Scriptures and writings of old Authors I meant to shew the true opinion of so learned a man and not to discredit his authoritie as a late writer Damascenus is yet vnspoken of whom the aduersaries vse as it were a chief champion but in case they would not snatchingly picke out such sentences as serue the humor of their affections but marke well the through drift of his writing he helpeth not so much their cause as he doth ouerthrow it Albeit that I may frankely admonish the reader and vtter mine opinion he is but a very slippery and an vncertain author in expounding of this mysterie and none I dare say among the olde writers shall be found that hath reasoned of this matter so obscurely and doubtfully Truely I gather by him that vvhen hee had determined to write a breuiat of the true faith hee vvould neither leaue this sacrament vnspoken of nor yet vvist how to intreate of it plainely enough The vvhich of his ovvne vvords the indifferent reader shall easily iudge Damas De fide Orthod lib. 4. cap. 14. He vvriteth De fide orthod lib. 4. cap. 14. of Christ in this vvise It behooued not onely that the first fruits of our nature should come into the partaking of a better but that all persons as many as would should both be borne by a second natiuitie and nourished with a nevv meat meet for that natiuity and so preuent the measure of perfection And a litle after And because he is a spirituall Adam it behoued the natiuitie also to be spirituall and likewise the meate For since vvee haue a double and compound nature it is fitte that the natiuitie bee also double and the food likevvise compound The natiuitie therefore is giuen vs by vvater and spirit I meane by holy Baptisme but the meate is our Lord himselfe Iesus Christ vvhich came dovvne from heauen Then after alleaging the vvordes of the Lords Supper and proofes of vvhat force the vvord is he addeth Euen as all things vvhatsoeuer God had made he hath made them by the vvorking of the holy Ghost so novv also the same force of the holy Ghost bringeth to passe those things that be aboue nature the vvhich no thing can comprehend but onely faith And a little after But bread and vvine bee taken For God knovveth mans vveakenes For commonly those things vvhich it is not acquainted vvith it shunneth vvith loathsomnesse Therfore he humbled himselfe after his wonted maner and bringeth to passe by the accustomed things of nature such things as bee aboue nature And euen as in Baptisme because it is the maner of men to bee washed vvith vvater and anointed vvith oyle he coupled vvith oile and vvater the grace of the holy Ghost and made it to be the vvashing of regeneration After the same sort because men are vvont to eate bread and drinke vvine and vvater he coupled therevvithall his Diuinitie and made them his body and blood that by matters vsuall and agreeable to nature we may be caried to those things which passe nature Hitherto hee seemed to agree with the rest for such as the second natiuitie is such saith he is the meate He termeth the natiuitie spirituall likewise also the meat The natiuitie to be double through water and the holy Ghost the meat also double but how it is double hee alleageth not forthwith as hee did in the natiuity but the meate saith he is the very bread of life which came downe from heauen yet after a few wordes he declareth howe it is done saying As the water is coupled with the grace of the holy Ghost and is made the washing of regeneration so is the diuinitie coupled with the bread and is made the body blood of the Lord. And this hee affirmeth to be the working of the holy Ghost and that the bread and wine be taken for mans infirmitie and by matters vsual to nature those things bee wrought that passe nature which onely faith can comprehend None of these things be contrary to the opinion of the
therefore the manner and nature of the flesh of Christ is common with the flesh of other men as Lombardus saith and such flesh as Aquinas affirmeth commeth not into the Sacrament it followeth by their testimonie that these two kindes of flesh differ much And that this may the better appeare and bee laide vp in memorie I thought it not without profit to adde of such things as we haue spoken of before a certaine distinction which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by comparison 1 The proper bodie of Christ hath the naturall forme of a mans body The mysticall bodie hath not 2 The proper body hath a head breast members seuered The mysticall hath not 3 The proper body hath bones vaines sinewes The mystical hath not 4 That may bee seene and touched This can neither be seene nor touched 5 That is indued with the true sences of a body This is without sence as Epiphanius saith 6 That is organicall This is not 7 That is no figure This is a figure of his proper body 8 That is not in mysterie This is in mysterie 9 That of his owne nature is humane and bodily This is heauenly diuine and spirituall 10 The matter of that is not subiect to corruption The materiall part of this is bread and is corrupted 11 No man may eate that by it selfe This both a man may and ought to eate 12 That is contained in one place This wheresoeuer the Sacrament is ministred is present but not as in a place 13 That is not a Sacrament of another body This is a Sacrament of another body 14 That being taken of the virgin Maries bodie was once create This is not taken of the Virgin but daylie by the mysticall benediction is create potentiallie by the testimonie of Augustin and Cyprian 15 That is a naturall body This is aboue nature 16 Finally that is simply This is after a sort 17 That properly perfectly This is a bodie vnproperly Hitherto wee haue spoken of the difference which the auncient Fathers haue godly and diligently obserued betweene Christs proper bodie and the Sacrament of the same bodie In the which although many things haue beene spoken which doe not only declare that there is a difference which in this place we meant to doe but also doe admonish vs vvithall what manner of bodie that is in the sacrament Yet because wee haue not hitherto so fully expressed this point as the weightines of the matter requireth We haue thought good from hence-forvvard to intreate of this part more fullie Namely in vvhat sort this Sacrament is the Lords bodie and wherefore our Lord himselfe at the first as the Euangelists make mention aftervvard Paul the Apostle lastly all they of old time following the authoritie of them haue left in writing that it is so called and is so indeed not that this manner which is a spirituall and hid thing can be found out by mans reason or that wee goe about to search out curiously such things as bee forbidden and denyed but that all mans inuentions set apart we may follow those things that haue bene left vs by the authoritie of Scriptures and auncient Fathers that agree with them and that manner which the Lord himselfe would wee should know and the Church instructed by him and his Apostles hath receiued not to depart from that This is to bee holden fast which wee proued before that not onely the Lordes wordes which be spoken in the 6. Chapter of Iohn Vnlesse yee eate the flesh c. And My flesh is verily meate and the rest that followeth in the same place but also these wordes of the Lords supper Take ye eate ye this is my body and This is my blood are to bee vnderstood spiritually not carnally and that one maner of eating is meant in both places When I say Not carnally I meane Not according to the letter nor as the words doe properly sound for this is to vnderstand carnally as Chrysostome witnesseth vpon Iohn of these words The flesh profiteth nothing What is it Chrysostom in Ioan. Hom. 46. saith he to vnderstand carnally To vnderstand the things simply as they be spoken and nothing else For those things that be seene are not so to be iudged but all mysteries are to be considered with inward eyes that is to say spiritually Let not this rule of Chrysostome go out of our minds But these two Carnally and Spiritually are contrary when the one is forbidden the other is commanded and contrarywise And that carnall sense hath no place in this mysterie not onely Chrysostome is the Author as we recited euen now and Cyprian where he saith Neither doth carnall sense pearse the vnderstanding of so great a depth and Theophylactus writing thus But because we vnderstand it spiritually we be neither deuourers of flesh and yet be sanctified by that meat But to be short I may in maner say that all the ancient Fathers with one voice do forbid vs to vnderstand the wordes of the Lords Supper carnally and command a spirituall meaning The which by many testimonies repeated in this peece of worke euery man may readily perceiue Neither is this sufficient if we auoyd one maner of vnderstanding carnally and fall into another For he that doth vnderstand the eating of Christs flesh after the letter and as it were a proper kinde of speech he is a carnall Capernaite whether he suppose it to be done properly one way or another That is plaine by these wordes of Augustin vpon the 98. Psalme Augustine in Psal 98. It seemed a hard matter to them that he said Vnlesse a man eate c. They tooke it fondly and imagined of it carnally and thought that the Lord would haue cut out peeces of his body and haue giuen to them And a little after That which I haue spoken vnderstand ye spiritually You shall not eate this body which you see I haue commended to you a certaine sacrament if it be spiritually vnderstood it will giue you life Here Augustine calleth carnall vnderstanding foolishnesse and appointeth spirituall vnderstanding as necessary And his meaning is not that this is onely a carnall sense if a man should imagine of the cut pieces of the Lords body albeit he rehearseth but this one carnall way of vnderstanding but also of all other the like For it is a likely matter that euen all the Capernaites did vnderstand it carnally and yet not all after one way Cyprian For one maner is rehearsed of Cyprian writing thus It seemed to them a horrible and wicked matter to feed of the flesh of man imagining that this had bene so spoken as though they should haue bene taught to eate his flesh either sodden or rosted or cut in gobbets Cyrillus And Cyrillus doth impute to them another kinde of carnall vnderstanding for he saith For after they had heard Verily verily I say to you vnlesse ye eate the flesh c. they thought Christ had called them
to the cruel maner of wilde beasts and that they were prouoked to an appetite to eate the raw flesh of man and drinke blood which things bee horrible euen to bee heard Wherefore if we beleeue that the flesh of Christ properly so called is there present whether we thinke it raw rost or sodden either whole or cut in gobbets open or couert the sense is vtterly carnal the words be carnally vnderstood For it is not therefore to be thought a spirituall sense because they say the flesh of Christ is present inuisibly For if their meaning be of the proper flesh we cannot say that we eate him not therefore carnally because we see him not The blinde see not those things which they eate and men many times in pottage and brothes eate egges and flesh which neither they see nor otherwhile feele in taste But none of all these is a spirituall sense or doth containe a more hie meaning but as the wordes simply do signifie eate egges and flesh which Chrysostome termeth carnall vnderstanding Since therefore all carnall meaning of the words set apart a spirituall must be had and retained therein we ought godly to seeke and reuerently to search out what maner of vnderstanding that is that hath bene set foorth and commended vnto vs the which we also wil indeauour our selues to doe not departing from the footsteps of the very same Fathers Euen as there be two parts whereof the sacrament doth consist that is the outward signe and inward vertue so is that spirituall sense which is here required taken of both these parts The carnall vnderstanding doth follow the letter as Nicodemus when he had heard Vnlesse a man bee borne againe of water and the spirit c. hee asketh this question How can a man be borne againe Can he returne againe into his mothers wombe The spirituall man departeth from the letter and so are we borne againe in Baptisme And the washing is of two sorts Outward and inward carnall and spiritual the one according to the letter and is made by water the other doth shunne the letter and is performed in spirit Either of them is said to be truely done but after a diuers maner The first maner of speaking is proper the other figuratiue and the figure hath otherwhile relation to the outward similitude otherwhile to the vertue inwardly hid It is figuratiuely spoken All flesh is grasse For the withering grasse hath a certaine similitude of a man that soone perisheth Beware of the leauen of the Pharises This is taken of the proper strength of leauen which spreadeth the taste therof thorowout the whole lumpe very like whereunto is the infection of ill doctrine Now in this sacrament the Fathers of old time haue noted tvvo things for either of the which it may well be called and accompted the body of Christ but especially when it comprehendeth them both For both because the Bread is a figure of the true body it is iustly called his body and much more because it hath the liuely force of the same ioyned thereto but in especiall because it comprehendeth both And that the figure of any thing hath by good reason the name of the same and is called the thing it selfe indeed Esay sheweth where he saith The people bee verily hay and He verily hath borne our iniquities By a similitude is the people called hay and the Lord vpon the Crosse had in him a similitude of a sinnefull man although he himselfe was without sinne after which maner also Christ is said to be the true Vine I am the true Vine saith he and other places which a man shall often finde in the Scriptures Iohn Baptist spake the trueth when he said Behold the Lambe of God The Lord himselfe said the trueth when he said of Nathaniel Behold an Israelite in deed in whom is no deceit That word Verily or Indeed is not to be referred to the outward but to the inward circumcision for the people of God also vvhich is gathered of the Gentiles is now more truely called Israel then the Ievves themselues according to the saying of Paul We be the Circumcision which worship God in spirit And this He is not a Iew which in outward appearance is a Iew but he is a Iew which is a Iew in secret Yet be we not for all that properly Iewes but we are called so by a figure all these figuratiue speaches for the outward similitude of the things Wherefore it ought to seeme neither a new thing nor yet a marueile if the Lords bread be said to be verily the body where it is a figure of the body August ad Bonif. epist. 23. Hereupon Augustin to Boniface in his 23. Epistle saith For thus wee speake oftentimes As when Easter is at hand we say The Lords passion shal be to morrow or the next day where hee suffered so many yeeres agoe and that passion hath neuer been done but once Likewise vpon the very Easter day wee say To day the Lord rose againe when since hee rose againe so many yeeres are past Why is none so foolish to reproue vs and say we lie in so saying But because wee vse to call these dayes according to the similitude of them in which these thinges were done So that it is called the same day which is not the same but by course of time is like vnto it and it is said to be done that day for the ministring of the Sacrament which was not done that day but long agoe Was not Christ once offered in himselfe yet in the Sacrament not onely in all the solemnities of Easter but euery day hee is offered to the people Againe he lieth not that being asked the question doth answere that he is offered for if the Sacraments should not haue a certaine likenesse of those things whereof they be Sacraments they should be no Sacraments at all and of this likenes also many times they take the names of the things themselues Euen as therfore after a certaine manner the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ and the Sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood of Christ so also the Sacrament of faith is faith By this place of Augustin and many other both of his other fathers we see that the figures and similitudes of things bee often called by the name of the thinges themselues and that this is one cause though not the onely why this sacrament is called verily Christs bodie To this agree those things that we commonly finde amongst olde writers who tearme this Sacrament otherwhile a figure as Tertull. cont Mart. lib. 4. Tertull. This is my body saith he that is to say a figure of my bodie And Nazianzene Nazianzene which said the old Passouer was a figure of a figure Augustin And Augustin The bodie saith hee of Christ is the trueth and a figure Sometime a signe as Augustin contra Adimant cap. 12. The Lord put no doubt to