are Partakers of it He pour'd out this very Bloud that we might not remain in Error and he not only pour'd it out but he has likewise given the very same to us Wheresore says he to us If you desire Blood do not colour the Altars of Idols with the Bloud of Beasts but upon my Altar offer up my Blood. And Lib. 3. de Sâ—câ—â—d O Miracle He that sits above with his Father at the very same instant of Time is here in the Hands of all he gives himself to those that are wâ—lling to receive him And Hom. 46. in Joan. The Devils when they behold the Bloud of Christ within us are put to Flight and the Angels come in This Bloud purified the Holy of Holies and if the Figure of it had so great Vertue in the Temple of the Jews and when sprinkled on the Doors of the Egyptians it has much greater now being the Truth Macar 27. Hom. 27 In the Church Bread and Wine are offer'd the Type of his Flesh and Blood and they who are Partakers of the visible Bread do Spiritually eat the Flesh of the Lord. S. Cyril Alexan Ep. ad Colos Cited by S. Thomas That we should not feel horror to see Flesh and Bloud on the Sacred Altars God condescending to our Frailty flows into the things offer'd the Power of Life converting them into the verity of his own Flesh to the end the Body of life be found in us as a certain quickning seed S. Greg Nyss c. 37. I do now rightly believe that the Bread sanctified by the Word of God is chang'd into the Body of God by the Word Pope Gelasius l. de 2. Nat. The Sacraments which we receive of the Body and Blood of Christ are a divine Thing by means whereof we are made Partakers of the divine Nature and yet the Substance of Bread and Wine doth not cease to be Here the Author has made a new Pope for this was another Gelasius as is prov'd at large by Bellarmin and if the words immediately following the text cited in the same Author be added the difficulty is remov'd which are these They the substance of Bread and Wine do pass into a Divine Substance the Holy Ghost effecting it yet remaining in the propriety of their Nature Here 's a short account of what the Primitive Fathers say as to the Point under debate which may be seen more at large in such volumes as designedly treat of this Subject And what think you now Misrepresenter Take both sides into your hands and weigh them and see to which part the Fathers incline Consider the matter a little and tell me whether the Fathers are such strict Protestants in this affair as is pretended Do you think They could have taken the Test Do their express belief of the real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament their plain assertion of the supernatural change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ agree with that Parliamentary Divinity Come Misrepresenter it argues a great Stock of Confidence in you thus to pretend positively that the Fathers believ'd direct contrary to our Doctrine whereas 't is evident to any Eye that is not blinded like yours They deliver themselves most largely and fully in its behalf and that amongst all the Ends of Text you have pick'd out of them there is not so much as one directly contrary to what we hold Misrepresent You press too many Questions at once You bid me Consider and would have me Answer too But the best on 't is I need no consideration here for without it I know what I am to return and 't is that tho you heap up fifty times more express Testimonies than these yet the Fathers still believ'd direct contrary to your Doctrine They speak of the Sacrament and call it a Figure a Symbol a Sign an Image a Remembrance and this is a contradiction to your Belief and as long as these Words are to be found in them the People I have to deal with will take it so Represent This is thine own true self Misrepresenter to prove a thing by halves and call that consuting of Popery is your Master-piece Why these expressions of the Fathers terming the Sacrament a Figure a Symbol a Sign an Image a Remembrance are so far from being contrary to our Belief that they are as agreeable to it as to the Articles of the very Protestant Church it self For the Catholic Church teaches that the Body and Blood of Christ are in the Blessed Sacrament really and substantially and so indeed not only as in a Sign Symbol or Figure But it do's not deny the Sacrament to be a Figure for the Eucharist is a Figure or Representation of the Death of Christ It do's not deny it to be a Sign for the outward and visible species of Bread are a Sign of the Heavenly Bread that is within It do's not deny it to be a Remembrance or Commemoration for whosoever receives it shews forth according to St. Paul the Passion and Death of our Redeemer It do's not deny it to operate by a Vertue for it has Vertue and Power there to work in the Soul. What our Church denys and condemns is that the Body and Blood of Christ is there only as in a Sign or in a Figure or a Vertue and not according to the Verity and Substance of it You prove therefore nothing against us in producing Testimonies of the Fathers owning the Sacrament to be a Figure a Sign c. For this is not to shew Them contrary to us but positively agreeing with our Belief especially if taken together with what you see cited out of them in our favour If you will make good your Pretences and not abuse your Followers with half-demonstrations you should see first to understand the Doctrine of your Adversaries before you undertake to confute it Shew that the Fathers maintain the Sacrament to be only a Sign only a Figure c. and you may do something but till then don't pretend They believ'd contrary to us Misrepresent This is a put off with a piece of New Popery But let that go Some of the Fathers positively say that the Nature or Substance of Bread remains after Consecration I hope this too do's not agree with your Doctrine Represent What I have declar'd to you has nothing new in it 'T is asserted positively by Bellarmine and that every Sacrament is a Sign has been the constant Doctrine of our Divines who make that an essential part of the Definition of a Sacrament As for what some of the Fathers mention of the Nature or Substance of Bread remaining any one that is vers'd in their Writings is not ignorant that by those terms they often mean no more than the Natural qualities or visible appearances of things as you your selves can tell us upon occasion when it serves your turn to have it so and in this sence it do's not at all disagree with our Belief But suppose the worst
in the Body of Christ when as above all Nature Christ was born of a Virgin Theod. Dial. Christ honour'd the Symbols and the Signs with the Title of his Body and Blood not changing the Nature but to Nature adding grace for neither do the Mystical Signs recede from their nature for they abide in their proper substance figure and form and may be seen and toucht Theodoret immediately after the words cited in the adverse Column goes on in these words The Mystical Signs are understood to be that which they are made and they are believ'd and ador'd as being those very things which they are believ'd And in his Comment in ep ad Cor. he says That Christ gave his pretious Body and Blood not only to the eleven Apostles but also to the Traytor Judas And That they contemn and affront Christ who take his most sacred Body into their unclean hands and receive it within their polluted mouth Of this Theodoret the Protestant Centuriators Cent. 5. c. 10. say That he spoke dangerously of the Sacrament because he affirms that the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ after the invocation of the Priest are chang'd and made other things than they were before Eusebius Christ gave his disciples the Symbols of divine Oeconomy commanding the Image and Type of his Body to be made Eusebius l. 1. Dem. Evang. c. 10. Being now prefer'd to a more excellent Sacrifice and Office than that was of the Old Law we think it unreasonable any more to fall back to those first and weak Elements which contain certain Signs and Figures but not the truth it self Id. As cited by St. Jo. Damas. Many sinners being Priests do offer Sacrifice neither do's God deny his assistance but by the holy Ghost consecrates the propos'd Gifts And the Bread indeed is made the Pretious Body of our Lord and the Cup his pretious Blood. Greg. Naz Orat. 2 in Pas Now we shall be partakers of the Paschal Supper but still in a Figure tho more clear then in the old Law for the legal Passover I will not be afraid to speak it was a more obscure Figure of a Figure St. Greg. Naz. Lest any one should think he speaks in the place cited of a mere Figure without the substance in the same Oration thus exhorts his Auditors Eat says he without confusion and without doubting the Body and drink the Blood of thy Saviour If thou desirest to have life and refuse not to give credit to the words which are spoken concerning his Flesh neither be scandalized at his Passion Be constant firm and stable not wavering in any thing for the sayings of thy Adversaries And in Orat. 11. he says thus of his sister Corgonia She prostrates her self with Faith before the Altar and with a great cry calls upon him who is worship'd on it S. Austin Indeed this is a miserable Bondage of the Soul to take the Signs instead of the things Signified And in the Person of Christ speaking to his disciples says thus You are not to eat this Body which you see or to drink that Bloud which my Crucifiers shall pour forth I have commended to you the Sacrament which being Spiritually understood shall quicken you St. Austin in his explication of the 98 Psalm where expounding these words Adore his foot-stool he says thus I enquire what this his footstool is and the Scripture makes me answer The earth is my foot-stool Here now wavering I turn my self to Christ because 't is he I seek here and I am forthwith satisfied how the Earth may be ador'd without sacrilege and his foot-stool without the guilt of Idolatry For he took Earth of Earth Flesh being of Earth and he took Flesh of the Flesh of Mary And because he convers'd here with us in that Flesh and gave us that very Flesh to eat for the Salvation of our Souls and there is nobody eats that Flesh without adoring it first 't is evident how that foostool of our Lord may be ador'd and that we are so far from sinning in adoring it that we sin if we do not adore it Id. Christ brought them to a banquet in which he commended to his Discipâ—es the Figure of his Body and Blood for he did not doubt to say This is my Body when he gave the Sign of his Body And L. 12. con Faust c. 10. he says For the Blood of Christ upon Earth has a loud Voice when all people receiving it answer Amen This is the plain Voice of the Blood which the very Blood it self speaks out of the mouths of the Faithful who are redeâ—m'd by the same Blood. And c. 2c He calls the Eucharist The Sacrament of Hope by which the Church is at this time united as long as That is drunk which flow'd from the side of Christ Id. How shall l lay hold on him who is absent How shall I reach my hands unto the Heavens and touch him who sits there Send thy Faith thither and thou hast him sure Id. in Com. Psal 33. where he speaks thus of Christ And hè was carried in his own hands And can this my Brethren be possible in man Was ever any man carried in his own hands He may be carried by the hands of others but in his own no man was ever yet carried How this can be literally understood of David we cannot discover But in Christ we find it verified For Christ was carried in his own hands when giving his own very Body He said This is my Body For that Body he carried in his own hands Such is the Humility of our Lord Jesus Christ S. Chrysost in 1 Cor. c. 10. What is that which the Bread signifies The body of Christ S. Chrysost Hom. de Euchar. where speaking of the Blessed Sacrament he says thus Do you see Bread Do you see wine Does this go into the Draught like other Food God forbid don't think so For as Wax when joyn'd with the Fire is likned unto it so that nothing of the Substance of it is left nothing remains So here conceive the Mysteries to be consumed with the Substance of the Body And Hom. 83 in Matt. Christ did not think it enough to become Man be scourged and murdered but he incorporates himself with us and not by Faith only but in reality makes us his Body Many Mothers there are who seed their Insants at a Strangers Breast but Christ not so he nourishes us with his own Bloud The things we propose are not â—one by humane Power He that wrought those things at the â—ast Supper is the Author of what is done here We hold but the place of Ministers but he that sanctifies and changes them is Christ himself Id. ad Caes Monach. After Consecration the Bread is worthy of the Name of the Body of Christ altho the Nature of the Bread remains still in it  And Hom. 24. in Ep. 1. ad Cor. That which is in the Chalice is the same that flow'd from his Side and we
defiance and embraces nothing but what is securely founded on the Scripture and the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers Upon these solid and lasting Supports stand every Article of his Faith And that of Transubstantiation has nothing less than these to rely on This has an undoubted claim to Antiquity and is so far from being contrary to the sentiments of the Primitive Fathers that nothing contrary to it can be discover'd in them by the most critical Observers Many and express are the Testimonies found in their Works upon this Subject because a confident Undertaker has in a late Phamplet endeavour'd to stamp this Doctrine with Novelty and to shew that the Primitive Fathers believ'd the direct contrary we 'll set down the Testimonies he produces for the advancing this Position and for clearing the matter place on the other side of the Ballance other Sayings out of the same Fathers and then leave it to the impartial Judge to determine whether side out-weighs that is whether the Doctrine of Transubstantiation be direct contrary to the Belief of the Fathers as is pretended or else agreeable to it Testimonies of the Fathers cited in the Pamphlet against Transubstantiation Testimonies of the Fathers in behalf of Transubstantiation Dionys c. 3. Eccl. Hier. By those reverend Signs and Symbols Christ is signified and the Faithful made partakers of him DIonisius in the same chapter prays thus to Christ in the Sacrament O most Divine and Holy Sacrifice open those mystical and signifying Vails wherewith thou art cover'd shew thy self clearly unto us and replenish our spiritual eyes with thy singular and reveal'd brightness Justin Mart. Apol. 2. Our blood and flesh are nourished by the conversion of that food which we receive in the Eucharist Justin Martyr This place of this Father is thus at length For we do not receive this as common Bread or common Drink But as by the Word of God Jesus Christ our Redeemer being made Man had both Flesh and Blood for our Salvation So also we are taught that this food by which our blood and flesh are by a change nourish'd being consecrated by the prayer of the Word is the Flesh and Blood of Christ Jesus himself incarnate Tertul. adv Mar. l. 4. c. 4. Christ taking the Bread and distributing it to his Disciples made it his Body saying This is my Body that is to say a Figure of my Body Tertullian Christ taking the Bread and distributing it to his Disciples made it his Body saying This is my Body that is to say a figure of my Body Which means that he made that to be his Body which had been a Figure of his Body in the Old Law to wit the Bread as is evident from the context and is prov'd at large by Perron who shews the design of Tertullian in that discourse against Marcion to be that Christ came to fulfil all the Types and Figures of the Old Law and so that he made the Bread to be his Body which in the Old Law had been only a Figure of it The same Tertullian l. de Resurr Car. c. 8. says thus Our flesh feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ that the Soul may be fill'd with God. Id. l. de Anima That if we question our sences we may doubt whether our Blessed Saviour was not deceiv'd in what he heard and saw and touch'd He might says he be deceiv'd in the voice from Heaven in the smell of the Ointment with which he was annointed against his Burial and in the taste of the Wine which he consecrated in remembrance of his Blood. Chrysostom Homil. 83. in Mattheum Let us give Credit to God every where and not contradict him altho what he says seems contrary to our Apprehension and our Eyes Let his saying master our Understanding and our Eyes And thus let us behave our selves in the Mysteries not only looking upon what is before us but holding fast his Words For his Words cannot deceive but our sence may be easily mistaken his Words cannot be untrue but our sence is very often deceiv'd Since therefore he has said This is my Body let us be convinc'd and believe and behold it with the Eyes of our understanding Cyril Hier. Cat. c. 4. Do not therefore look on it as meer Bread only or bare Wine for as God himself has said 't is the Body and Blood of Christ Notwithstanding therefore the information of sence let Faith confirm thee and do not judge of the thing by the Tast but rather take it for most certain by Faith without the least doubting that his Body and Blood are given thee Origen contra Mar. Calls the Bread and the Chalice the Images of the Body and Blood of Christ Origen Hom. 5. in div lo. Evang. When you receive the holy Food and that incorruptible Banquet when you enjoy the Bread of Life and Cup you eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Lord then our Lord enters under your Roof do you therefore humble your self and imitating the Centurion say Lord I am not worthy thou shouldst enter under my Roof For where he enters unworthily there he enters to the judgment of the Receiver Id. in Mat. That which is consecrated by Gods Word and Prayer as to the matter of it goeth into the belly and is voided into the draught Ambros de sacr l. 4. c. 4 The Bread and Wine are what they were and yet are changed into another thing St. Ambrose de Myst init c. 9. How many examples do we produce to prove that this is not what Nature fram'd but what the Benediction has consecrated and that the power of Benediction is greater than the power of Nature because by Benediction Nature it self is chang'd Moses held a Rod in his hand he cast it from him and it became a Serpent The Rivers afforded no drink at the prayers of the Prophet they ran no longer Blood but the Nature of waters return'd Now if Blessings given by Men were of so great efficacy as to change the Nature of things what shall we say of the divine Consecration where the very Words of Christ our Saviour are operative For this Sacrament which thou receivest is made by the Words of Christ And if the words of Elias were so powerful as to draw fire from Heaven shall not the words of Christ be powerful enough to change the nature of things Thou hast read of the Creation of the World that God spake and the things were made he commanded and they receiv'd a Being If therefore Christ by his Word was able to make something of nothing shall he not be thought able to change one thing into another For it is no less a work to give a Nature or Being to things than to change them from one Nature to another 'T was above the order of Nature for a Virgin to conceive and this Body which we make in the Sacrament is that which was born of the Virgin. Why do you require here the order of Nature