Chrisostome saieth in whiche vessels is not the very body but the mistery of it For if those wordes were litterally to bee vnderstanded as you say then should the holy vessels that conteyne the sacramentes haue in them not only the mistery of Christes body and bloud but his very body really in dede Which Chrisostome denieth In the. 83. Homil. vpon Mathew the same doctour saith Si mortuus Iesus non est cuius simbolum aut signum hoc sacrificium est If Christ be not deade of whom is this sacrifice a figure and signe And vpon the. 22. psalm Vt quotidie in similitudinem corporis sanguinis Christi panem vinum secundum ordinem Melchisedech nobis ostenderet in sacramento That hee might dayly shew vs in the sacrament bread and wine accordynge to the order of Melchisedech as the similitude of his body and bloud As before hee vsed Symbolum signum misterium so he hath here Similitudinem Likewise Dionisius de ecclesiastica Hierarchia cap. 3. Per venerabilia signa Christus signatur sumitur By those reuerent signes Christe is signified and receiued Ambrose also De hijs qui imciantur misterijs cap. 9. Ipse clamat dominus Iesus Hoc est corpus meum Ante benedictionem verboruÌ„ caelestium alia species nominatur Post consecrationem corpus Christi significatur Our Lorde Iesus crieth this is my body Before the blessing of the heauenly wordes one kinde is named after consecratione Christes body is signified In the. 4. boke also De sacramentis cap â–ª 8 The same Ambrose saith Fac nobis hanc oblationem ascriptam rationabileÌ„ acceptabilem quod est figura corporis sanguinis domini nostri Iesu Christi Make to vs this offering alowable reasonable acceptable whiche is the figure of the body and bloud of our lord Iesus Christ Here he acknowlegeth the sacrament to bee a figure In the. 6. boke De sacrameÌ„tis cap. 1. He hath these wordes also Ideo in similitudinem quidem accipis sacramentum sed verae naturae gratiam virtutemque assequeris Therefore thou receiuest the sacrament as a similitude but thou atteinest the grace and vertue of the true nature in dede This sentence of Ambrose conteineth our whole doctrine of the sacramente of Christes body and bloud whiche is that it is a figure or signe of his body and yet not a bare or naked figure but suche a one as there by we atteine in déede the full grace and benefite of his body that suffred for vs and was crucified vpon the crosse and haue our soules fed and norished with the same to euerlastinge lyfe Origine vppon Mathew saieth Panis sanctificatus iuxta id quod habet materiale in ventrem abit in sesessum encitur c. The sanctified bread saith he according to that it hath material passeth into the bealy and is auoyded oute of the body But accordinge to the prayer that commeth to it it is profitable makinge that the minde vnderstandeth and hathe regarde to that is profitable Neither is it the matter of the breade but the word spoken ouer it that profiteth him which receiueth it not vnworthely And thus much haue I spoken of the typicall and figuratiue body Much also may be sayd of the liuely worde it selfe whiche was made fleash and very meat in deede whiche meate he that eateth shal surely liue for euer whiche no yll man canne eate c. Here note you firste that Origine saieth that the mattier of the consecrated breade of the sacrament passeth into the bealy and is auoyded out expresly againstâ— your interpretacion of Christes wordes wherby ye say the breade is transsubstantiate and no mattier of it leftâ— but onely accidencies Secondly that he calleth the sacrament Typicum symbolicum corpus the typicall and figuratiue body Thirdely that he affirmeth constantly that no ill man can eate the very flesh of the seconde person in Trinitie And yet that is one of the necessarie labels that your sorte doeth teache to depende vpon your wrongefull interpretacion of Christes wordê Wherfore Origine with this one sentence teareth of diuers of your counterfaited Labels that you stitche to Christes testamentes by drifte of reason without the warrant of his holy worde More ouer Austine de doctrina Christ lib. 3. cap. 9. After he hath declared that in the new Testamente God hath lefte vnto his people but few sacramentes and ceremontes and the same to be vnderstande not carnally seruilely accordyng to the letter and there for example hath mencioned baptisme and the celebracion of the Lordes body and bloud in the ende he addeth these wordes In whiche saith he as is folow the letter and to take the sygure for those thynges that are signified by them in a poincie of seruile infirmitie so to interprete the signes euill is the poincie of wandrynge erronâ— As he counteth it a fonde and wicked errour not to interprete the sigkes well and accordynge to Gods worde so by a streight litteral sence to take the signes for the thynges signified he esteemeth a seruile infirmitie What can be more plainly spoken against that interpretacion that you make vpon these woordes of Christe wherby you doo binde vs to a seruile litterall sence of this worde Js and in suche forte take the signes of this sacramente for the thinges signified as you affirme breade and wine whiche S. Augustine and the other Doctours call the externall signes cleane to be tourned into the body bloud of Christ The same Augustine contra AdimaÌ„rum Manich. The Lorde faieth this is my bobie when he gaue the signe of his body Also vpon the. 98. psal he speaketh in this maner Ye shall not eate that body that you se not ye shal not drinke that bloud that they shall shedde It is a misterie that I tell you whiche shal reliue you if you vnderstande it spiritually Wyll you not yet vnderstand from whence our men receiued this interpretacion will you not yet perceiue that wée sucked not it out of our owne singers but were led vnto it by the testimonies of holy scriptures and teachyng of these aucient fathers Will you not cease vniustly to bourden vs that wée cauill and dally vpon titles and sillables whereas your self in this sentence woulde driue vs to suche an vnderstandyng of this one sillable Js as the like is not in the whole Bible But ye will aledge for your selfe as you signifie in you writyng that Ambrose Cyprian Chrisostome and other auncient fathers haue in this case vsed the termes of transmutacion alteration conuersion transelementation c. Wherby they haue plainly declared theyr meaninge to bee as yours is and that no bread there remayneth but only the substance of Christes body True it is in déede that those holy fathers vsed such wordes not for that they were of your opinion but only to th end they might more reuerently as méete was and more liuely expresse the dignitie and effect of that heauenly mistery wherin Iesu
Christ by his vnfallible promisse vnfeinedly geueth to the faith of his people the very fruition of his body and bloud with the hole benefite of his precious death and passion and by the workinge of the holy ghost merueilously ioyneth vs in one body together with him Is not this thinke you a merueilous change and to mans estimation a miraculous worke when by the power of the holy ghost worde of god of commen breade and wine such as we daily féede our bodies with is made the dredful and reuerent sacramentes and mysteries of Iesus Christ wherby as I saide he doth not by a bare signe only but verely and in déede endow is faithfull people and make them partakers of his body and bloud Yea and that in such sorte that euen as truly as the bread doth norishe our body and euen as truly as the wine doeth comforte our spiritê so truly and vnfeinedly doeth the heauenly foode of his body and bloud toren and shed for vs by fait h in time of that holy supper no ryshe strengthen and comforte our soule and by the wonderfull workinge of his spirite make our bodies also apte to resurrection Truly when I earnestly consider the effecte of this sacrament as it must néedes be by the trueth of Christes promises I confesse I am not able with wordes to vtter so muche as in my minde I doo conceiue and together withal eschew the absurditie of your reall presence and transsubstantion Wherfore I merueile not if those holy fathers fearinge no suche inconueniences but lokinge rather pithely to expresse the thinge dyd vse those earnest wordes and manners of speakinge and yet mente not as you now of their wordes doo gather All though no similitude can sufficiently declare the thinge I wyll for the simplar forte so muche as I can indeuour by a comparison to set for the that I do conceiue If a temporal prince for certaine causes mouinge him would geue you a thousand pound land by the yere and for that purpose had caused the wrytinges to be made The same wrytinge vntill it bee confirmed by the prince is nothinge but common parchment and inke framed into letters by some inferiour mans hand neither doth it bring any effect but when the prince hath once added to his seale confirmed the graunt it is no more called parchement or common writing but the kinges letters patents And now hath that reuerence that all to whom they be shewed doo veile there bonetes as bringinge with it some parte of the princes maiesty Such a change is now made in those trifelinge thinges that before no man estemed You also to whom this lande should bee geuen would not thinke this writinge common parchement blotted with inke but the perfite déede of your prince wherby you were assuredly possessed of the foresaid lands Moreouer when the prince at the deliuery of the same should say sir here is a thousand pound land that I geue fréely to you and to your heires I thinke you would not be so fonde to thinke either that the Prince doeth mocke you because you sée not the laÌ„ds presently or els to conceiue with your selfe that you haue the landes really inclosed within the compasse of your writing For the kinges aucthoritie in the writyng geueth you as ful possession of the landes as though you helde theÌ„ if it were possible in your hande And you in this case might iustly saye to your friende shewing your letters patents Lo here is a thousande pounde lande that my prince hath geuen me If then there bee so greate a change made in framyng the couenant déede of an earthly prince If his seale doo bryng such force effecte to his gifte and letters patentes How much more merueilous change alteracioÌ„ or transmutacion muste wée thinke it to bee when the base creatures of breade and wine be consecrated into the sacrament of the euerlastyng couenante and testament of Iesu Christ wherin he geueth vs not earthly vanities but the precious foode of his body and bloude remission of sinnes and the heritage of his heauenly kingdome how muche more of effecte must this sacrament be that is sealed with the promisse and wordes of our sauiour Christ who is truth it selfe and cannot deceiue any that trusteth in him Wherefore to expresse this change of the externall elementes into so heauenly misteries to shewe the effecte of this sacrament to withdrawe the ignorant mindes of the people from the prophane cogitacion of a bare signe in this mattier the auncient fathers had good cause to vse suche wordes And yet therein doo they nothyng at all defende your miraculous workes that you deuise to be made in the Lordes supper As for the similitude wherewith you woulde declare the necessitie of your Labels depending vpon the first founded absurditie it is both of as smal force as other that you before vsed and you handle it with more sluttish eloquence then is méete for suche a mattier as this is For the drawyng of the Capons the scumming of the potte the stinkyng water the hewyng of wodde the puttyng on the broche with guttes garbage and al. c. Be phrases and termes more méete for the kitchinne then for the Diuinitee schoole and such as your self I thinke woulde not haue vsed if your mockyng spirite had not so rauisshed you as you wist not what you did If wée had resembled your Labels whiche you cutte out by drift of reason vnto so base mattiers you woulde haue sayd that wée had rayled and done otherwise then it became vs. But sens your selfe doth so take them wée must thinke that God oftentimes moueth his aduersaries to vtter trueth against them selues But if the same maister that you imagine to commaunde his seruaunte to make readie that hee may dine did meane onely that he should set vpon the table suche colde meate as was in the house because he saw no cause or necessitie of greater prouision And the seruaunte vpon his owne foolish head would mistake his maisters commaundement conceyuing that he woulde haue great straungers did kill his Capons Chickens and other prouision aboute his house and busied himselfe with more labour then thanke to make them readie Doo you not thinke I pray you that he might iustly be compted an vnprofitable seruaunt and worthy by correction to bee taught more witte for that he putteth his maister to greater chargies and himselfe to more paines then the mattier required if he had rightly vnderstanded his maisters will and commaundemente Euen so sir those thynges that you say foloweth by force of reason and argument vpon the first sentence do folow indéede only vpon that sence that your selfe doth imagine mistakyng your maisters wil and pleasure and not vpon that meanyng that Christe himselfe would haue his wordes to be taken in For all that he woulde haue done may be sufficiently done without the working of so manie miracles as you in this case would driue his omnipotencie vnto Wherefore wée are not
nor of many other trifling doubtes you make because all such doubtes are answered to the ful in the oryginall veritie of Christes words being in the nature of the veritée necessarily imploied As these are agaynste the whiche you may kicke till you be very but it lieth not in you to alter the nature of Christes owne wordes If you had found in the scripture spoken by Christe concerninge the blessed sacrament This is not my body but the figure of my body beyng absent in substance and onely present to your imaginacions by the sight of the bread You might haue triumphed and blowed vp your horne lustely in euery pulpit and made your auaunte that you had bin able to controlle all christendome But now the letter is very playne against you and the sence of the letter also as the fathers do recorde in all ages and generall counsels to As may appere by your owne mistrust for the space of the last .ix. hundred yeres and odde I take God to iudge I wrote not this for any malice to suche as are otherwise â—ente I pittie them rather and dayly pray for them that they may embrace the catholike faieth But when I perceiued Goltas in his brauerie hauynge truste in his bigge bones and stronge weapons braggyng many times as though there were none of the Israelites hable to matche him Notwithstandynge there are very many that coulde haue handled him better then I beyng a man of small learnyng troubled with much businesse yet I thought it my dutie for the honour of my mother the catholike churche to hurle out foure or fiue stones in Dauids sling against this champion not to hurte him in the forhead as Dauid did Golias but to crushe in péeces certeine vntruethes that he taught Wyshyng him as wel to doo as I woulde my self And all my countrey men of Englande to be ware least they fal into the snares and trappes that our ghostly enemie laieth abrode euery where not onely to hurte their bodies but to hurle downe bothe body and soule into the déepe dongeon of hell The whiche I beséeche God moste hartely géeue all men grace to auoyde Amen An Answere in defence of the truth Againste the Apologie of priuate Masse LONDINI Mens NoueÌ„b 1562. The cheefe poinctes touched in this defence of the trueth Against priuate Masse or soole receiuing by the minister in the common place of praier Why the doctours call the sacrament of the Lordes supper by the name of oblacion or sacrifice Against communion vnder one kinde Of reseruacion of the sacrament Against the argumentes of multitude and longe continuance of time Against the alledging of the aucthoritee name of the church What is to be attributed to the auncient fathers Of reall presence and interpretacion of christes wordes Hoc est corpus c. ⧠The preface to the Reader IT is wel knowen to a greate number partly by presence in hearinge partely by wrytinge set forth of the same that a worthy learned man and Bishop of this Realme stoutly in dede as the matter required and clerkly also as learning and knowlage taught him did openly protest in certaine Sarmons not to the furtheraunce of vntrueth as malice carpeth but to the confusion of falshodde as the ende proueth that if any of those things which he then rehearsed could be proued of the contrary side by any sufficient authoritie of the scriptures olde doctours and auntient councels or by any alowed example of the primatiue church then he would be contented to subscribe and yelde to their doctrine This his doynge as no lesse was to be loked for sum men depraued many dispraised all they misliked that mainteined suche superstitious errours as false teachinge hath trained people in the space of certaine hundred yeares And in dede seinge they harde their doctrine so plainely defaced and their wilfull misleadynge of Christian men so openly to be noted a man maye thinke they had good cause to startle at the matter and somewhat to loke aboute them leste they seemed altogether carelesse Wherfore as dyuers haue dyuersly shewed theyr mislikinge so one of that partie hath in writing priuely spred abrode an answere to the forsaide offer or protestatioÌ„ for priuate masses wherin he both perswadeth him selfe and would haue other also to beleue that he hathe so fully satisfied the parties request as it maye seeme greate folly and as he termeth it impudencie any longer to staye vpon it One of the copies of this answere by occasion as it fortuned not many monethes sence lighted into my hands which I vnderstande is so spred abrode in dyuers places of this Realme as there be fewe mislikers of the trueth but they haue it and make such accompte of it as a greate number of the vnlearned sorte staie their consciences there vpon Who the aucthour is or what maner of man I neither knowe nor can gesse more then he witnesseth of him selfe in the entraunce of this treatise Where he signifieth that once he imbraced that religion which he now detesteth and writeth against In that parte me thinketh he doth deale as fonde men sometime are wonte to doe which to displease their enemies sticke not to hurte them selues also So he to discredite the doctrine that he is reuolted from geueth such testimonie of his owne naughtie life and conscience as he would be lothe to heare at any mans mouth but his owne All that time saieth he neither regarded god nor good relygion nor any good conscience beside What malice it is to charge the doctrine that by hipocrisie he professed with the cause of his euill doinge I will not declare with suche wordes as the matter requireth This muche I will saye that he learned this of olde Adams greate councellour Who at the beginninge beinge blamed for his disobedyence seemed to bourden God him selfe with the cause of it and excused his owne folly by that thinge whiche his maker had geuen him to his comforte and commoditie In like manner when this mans conscience as it seemeth by hys owne wordes accused him of lewde liuinge and lacke of the feare of god to excuse his owne ill disposed minde he casteth the faute vpon the doctrine of the gospell whiche God did open vnto him vndoubtedly to his great commoditie if he would haue taken it And vnder this pretence bothe forsaketh it him selfe and by his example exhorteth other to eschew it But as the wicked life of a man to his owne greate harme may be a blotte to the religion that he professeth so God forbidde it should be compted a full reprofe of the same or a iuste cause to be of all other reiected If it were so men should refuse Christianitie because dyuers not of the basest sorte but of the heades of the Churche as their owne histories witnes haue ben of horrible and wycked life But we muste thinke that the hipocrisie and traiterous couetousnes of Iudas and his felowes is a confusion to them selfe but no iust reproche to
that they offered for the Patriarkes Prophetes Apostles ye and for the blessed virgin Mary the mother of God For whose sinnes it can not be that they offered whiche by the testimony and faith of the whole church be with God in heauen This thynge is well descriued by Chrisostom vpon the. 8. cap. of Math. Therfore saith he the priest standing at the auster when the sacrifice is proposed commaundeth vs to offer thankes to God for the whole world for them that be abset for those that were before vs and for those that shall come after vs. The same Chrisostome also calleth this their offerynge Rationalem cultum whiche yee can not interprete a propitiatorie sacrifice but a reasonable worshippyng of God by praier and thankes geuyng for his holy sainctes by the whiche he hath builded his churche and whiche nowe remaine as membres and partes of his misticall body whervnto we also by the celebration of the sacrament be ioygned and so as it were kniffe in vnitée with them This was their offeryng for the dead and not a practise to pull soules out of Purgatorie for marchandise and money as ye haue vsed in your priuate Masses a great numbre of yeres to the great defasing of the death and passion of Christe Wherfore your Masse can not iustly be called the Lordê supper but a peruertyng of the institution and ordinaÌ„ce cleane to an other purpose and ende then he willed to be kepte amonge his people For the Lordes supper as I sayde before is a gifte of God to vs whiche wée muste receiue with thankes geuyng Your sacrifice is a price to be paied to God and of him to be taken as a satisfactioÌ„ The Lordes supper is a remembrance of one perfit sacrifice wherby we were once sufficiently purged from sinne and continually are reuiued by the same Your sacrifice is a dayly offeryng vp of Christe for our sinnes as thoughe it had not ben perfitely doone at the first The Lordes supper is to be distributed in the common assembly of his people to teache vs the communion whereby wes all be knitte together in Christe Iesu The vse of your sacrifice in priuate Masse séemeth by the priestes seâ—le receiuyng to be a testimony of seperacion and a meane to bryng the communitée out of christian mens mindes For after they once beléeued that priestes must sacrifice for them they began to leaue the communion and frequentation of the sacrameÌ„t as a thing either not apperteinyng or very little apperteining to them but especially to priestes And by that meanes the way was made to your common vse of priuate Masse So muche difference therefore as is betwéene to géeue and to receiue to remember one perfit sacrifice and dayly to reiterate a sacrifice to celebrate in common as a testimony of vnitie to créepe in corners or by chappels as a signe of seperation so muche difference is there betwéene the sacrament by Christe apoincted and the sacrifice of the Masse by you deuised This haue I spoken more largely of this mattier then either I purposed or you gaue me occasion by any proofe brought for the confirmation of your sacrifice First because this is an other great abuse in your priuate Masse that yes take vpon you to defende Secondly that I might declare the grounde of your reason to be very weake where ye affirme the priest to bee bounde of duitie to sacrifice for him selfe and for the people Thirdly that I might answere more aptly to Chrisostomes aucthoritie which nexte is to be examined The place of Chrisostome 5. Cap. that you alledge is otherwise in him then you recite it A. For he saieth Frustra habetur quotidiana oblatio Frustra stamus ad altare nemo est qui simul participet In vayne we haue our dayly offeryng in vayne we stande at thanlter there is no man to communicate with vs. As touching those wordes that ye moste beate vpon An aunswere to ChrisostoÌ„ There is no man to communicate by them to proue that they receiued only at Easter and at other times there were none at all to communicate with the ministers I wyll shew you out of Chrisostome him selfe that they must of necessitie haue an other sence and that in those wordes he vseth that figure of aggrauatinge that he commonly vseth in all places For euen in the same place D. not many lines before the wordes that ye recite he declareth that a number vsed to receiue at certaine other times C. I se many saith hee rashly not passyng how and more of a custome then lawfully and of good consideration to be partakers of christes body Yf the holy time of lent were at hand say they if the day of Epiphanie were come hauinge no regarde what he is that is partaker of the misteries But the time of cumming to it the Epiphanie the holy season of Lente doth not make them worthy that come but the sinceritie and putitie of minde Doo ye not here perceiue that many vsed ordinarely to come to the Communion at the Epiphanie and in lent as well as he mencioned before at Easter howe can ye then gather by Chrisostome that there was no company to receiue but only at Easter but what if I declare oute of Chrisostome that some vsed to receiue oftener times wyll not your collection vppon this place that ye séeme to triumphe vpon appere to be of very smal force Hom. 17. ad Hebreos Many saieth he take of this sacrifice once in the whole yere some twise some oftener times Hereby it is moste euident that Chrisostom had other to communicate with him at diuers other times beside Easter The maner was I graunte that some of custome addicted theim selues to certayne dayes And in some places the bishops or sinodes apointed men to receiue once twise thrise or fower times in the yere as Augustine witnesseth Concilium Eliberinum apoynteth to communicate thrise in the yere But these prescripte times were ordeined onely for them that vsed seldome to come to the sacrament that at the leaste they should receiue at those times if they would knowlage them selues to bée of the church Notwithstandinge they did not only leane frée to other to frequent the sacrament but earnestly calleth them to it at euery assembly of the people As Ambrose greuously blameth the custome of many in the Easte partes that vsed to come but once in the yere and saith that hée whiche is not méete to receiue euery day wyll not be méete to receiue once a yeare Therfore as in the primatiue church very many in dyuers places vsed to be partakers of the sacrament but ones twise or thrise in the yere so it is euident that dyuers other better disposed dyd receiue with the byshop and ministers at sundry other times That forte because they were not so many as they should haue hene and as Chrisostome wished for to haue in his church to exaggerate their slacknes hee saieth There is none to bée partaker with be
the sacrament But that you were neuer able to doo and so was it said in the protestation that you call the challenge For herein the whole number of the fathers be against you And that you may not iustly say that wee bragge of our empty boxes that haue the name only and no stuffe in them I wyll rechearse and shewe you some of the mattier which shal be directly applied to that maladie and disease that you haue brought to the right vse of the lordes holy sacrament You hard before rehearsed oute of Iustine declaringe the maner of the church of Rome in his time that both bread and wyne were geuen to companies of the towne and contrey and the same also sente vnto those that were absent Here is manifestly declared that such as were absent and receiued at home in theyr houses had both kindes sent vnto them contrary to your coniecture vpon Tertullian where you say one kinde only is mencioned and therefore receiued Tertullian and Iustine were both of the church of Rome B. and were not in time farre a sunder Therfore it is like one maner was vsed in bothe theyr ages The fleash saith Tertullian him selfe is fed with the body and bloud that the soule may be filled of god He saith not only the body wherein the bloud also may be vnderstanded but hee addeth seperately the Bloud Declaringe the maner of Christes sacrament ministred in two sundry partes Cyprian also speakinge not only of priestes but of other laye men that were like to abide persecution and martirdome for Christ saith in this wise How doe wee teach and prouoke them to shedde their bloud in confession of Christ if wee deny them his bloud or bowe make we them meete for the cuppe of martirdome if wee do not first by communion admitte them to drinke the cuppe of the lorde Is not this a playne testimony C. what maner of mynistracion was vsed in Cyprians time And wyll you then vpon a surmise gather the contrary If ye rede this father in all places where he speaketh of the sacrament you shall finde nothinge more common then Bibi sanguinem Christi How wisie thou saith Ambrose to Theodosius the Emperour with those hands receiue the holy body of our lord how wilte thou be so bolde with thy mouth to be partaker of the lords bloud This Emperour was a laye man E. neyther is it likely that he receiued any otherwayes then the other people did at that time And shall wee thinke by a vayne coniecture of the history of Satirus that the custome of that time was otherwise because your mocking head could not deuise how to cary wyne in a stole and yet they of that time as ye may perceiue by dipping a linnen cloth in the sacrament of the bloud had deuysed which way it might be done But to our purpose Withoute confusion and doubt saith Gregory Nazienzene eate his body and drinke his bloud if thou haue any desire of life in thee And yet hee speaketh to the people Oratione 4. in sanctum pascha Hilariê° also li. 8. de trinitate These thinges saith hee beinge eaten and dronke make that wee be in Christ and Christe in vs. Basile de baptismo vpon these wordes As often as ye shall eate c. What profit haue those wordes saith he That we easing and drinking may be perpetually mindeful of him that died for vs and so may bee instructed in the sight of god and his Christ of necessitie to kepe the doctrine deliuered by his Apostles Here beside the mencion both of eating and drinkinge he addeth of necessitie to kepe this doctrine of the lordes supper whiche you in many poyntes without pricke of conscience take vppon you to aulter Prystes saith S. Hieronime vpon Sophon whiche make the sacrament and dystribute the bloud of the lord vnto the people This man was priest in Rome in Ambroses time and yet he signifieth that the maner then was to mynister the bloud to the people E. And shall the history of Satyrus nothing perteining to the mattier perswade vs the contrary What can be more plaine and expresly against you then that Chrisostom hath Hom. 18. in poster ad corinth There he saieth that in this sacramente the priestes parte is not better then the peoples For it is not saith he as it was in the olde law where the priestes had parte and the people parte neither coulde the people be partaker of that was the priestes But now it is not so for one body and one cuppe is indifferently offered to all And it is notable that he saieth All be like worthy to be partakers neither doth the inferiour differ any thing at all froÌ„ the priest in that matter Why doo you then so plainly againste Chrisostome make difference of dignitie betwéene the priest and the people Is not this which Chrisostom speaketh agaynst one of the chiefest reasons that you haue for the geuynge of one kynde to the people But S. Paule to Timothie and Titus declareth other causes that shoulde make the order of ministerie honorable not to defraude the people of one parte of the sacrament Cyprian againe in the same sermon De lapsis that you afterward aledge and the same Hystorie sheweth that all the companie of lay men and women tooke the sacrament of the Lordes cuppe and dronke of it in order one after an other But I feare I shal séeme to moste men to commit muche foly in that I stande so longe with aucthorities to proue that thinge whiche of it selfe is most manyfest that is that in the primatiue churche the only maner in the common celebracion of the sacrament was that all receiued vnder bothe kindes of breade and wyne Seynge therefore Iustine saieth that on sundaies breade and wine consecrated were distributed to companies of the towne and countrey seynge Gelasius calleth it sacrilege to deuide the sacrament seynge Cyprian counselleth that lay men should be admitted to the communion of the Lordes cuppe and by an Hystorie sheweth that in his time they vsed it seynge Chrisostome affirmeth no difference to be betweene the priest and the people in vse of this sacramente seyng all the residue of the fathers of al countreyes and all ages of the primatiue churche agrée to the same were it not more then willfull blindenesse not to se that holy men at that time in celebracion of the sacramente ministred both partes to the people accordyng to Christes institucion and the doctrine of S. Paule to the Corinth Were it not almoste desperate stubburnesse to perswade the contrarie to ignorant people and by libelles priuily spred to deteine the vnlearned in errour But it stoode you vpon to say somewhat least you shoulde séeme to haue nothynge to say And yet in very déede it had been better for the confirmacion of your doctrine to haue sayd nothyng For then perhaps such as of simplicitie depende vpon your aucthorities woulde haue thought that you had had farre better prouision
doo terme vs Figuratores because wée interprete that sentence by a figure wheras it is not our deuise but the exposicion of all the aunciente fathers of the primatiue churche First I will beginne with Augustine contra Adimantum cap. 12. There it appereth that Adimantus vsed Moyses wordes Sanguis est anima trumake this sonde argument â—loud is the â—â—oule saith Moyses 〈◊〉 flesh and bloud saith Paule shall not possesse the kyndome of God Therefore the soule shal not possesse the kyngdome of God Auguâ—tnes answer to that argument is that this sentence Sanguis est anima must be vnder standed figuratiuely and not litterally as he in that argument tooke it To proue that he vseth these wordes of Christe Hoc est corrusmeum Saiyng in this wise Possum interpreâ—â— illud praeceptum in signo positum esse NoÌ„ enim dubitauit dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cum daret signum corporis sui I may saieth Austine interzete that precept to consiste in a signe or figure For the lorde bonbted not to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body As if he had saied in a farre greater mattier then this that is in institutinge the sacrameÌ„t of his death and our redemption the lorde doubted not to vse a figure and to say this is my body when be gaue the signe of his body Therfore this sentence â—loud is the soule man soner be interpreted figuratiuely So that the meaninge of it is that bloud is the signe of the soule or life and not the very soule in déede The same Augustine in his exposition vpon the thirds psalme Iudam inquit adhibuit ad conuiuium in quo corporis sanguinis sui figuram discipulis suis commendauit Hee admitted Iudas to that feast wherin he commended to his disciples the figure of his Body and bloud The same exposition Tertullian maketh moste euidently in hys forth booke againste Martion Panem inquit acceptum distributum discipulis corpus suum illum fecit Hoc est corpus meum dicendo Hoc est figura corporis mei Christe saith Tertullian made that bread that he toke in his handes and gaue to his disciples his body sayinge this is my bodie that is to say the signe of my body What can bee playner then this exposition of this auncient father if men did not study rather to mainteine partes then to confirme trueth His purpose was there to proue against Martion that Christ had a true body in deds because in the sacrament hee ordeyned the signe or figure of his body and therfore afterward he addeth Figura autem non esset nisi veritatis esset corpus That should not be a figure of his Body onles hee had a very true body in deede Augustine againe in 23. Epistle to Bonifacius Si inquit sacramenta similitudinem quandam earum rerum quarum sunt sacramenta non haberent omnino sacramenta non essent Ex hac autem similitudine plerumque rerum ipsarum nomina sortiuntur Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est ita sacramentum fidei sides est And a littell after Sicut de ipso Baptismo Apostolus Consepulti inquit sumus Christo per baptismum in mortem Non ait sepulturam significamus sed pror sus inquit consepulti sumus Sacramentum ergo tantae rei non nisi eiusdem rei vocabulo nuncupauit If sacramentes had not a certaine similitude of those thinges where of they be sacraments they should not be sacraments at all And for this similitude or likenes they commonly haue the names of the thinges them selfe Therefore as the sacrament of Christes body after a certaine fashion is Christes body and the sacramente of hys bloud is his bloud so the sacrament of faith is faith c. As the Apostle speaketh of Baptisme We bee buried saith he in death to Christ by baptisme He faith not we signifie burial but plainely we be buried Therefore he doth nothinge els but terme the sacrament of so great a thing by the name of the thinge it selfe Sainct Augustines meaninge is to declare to Bonifacius that Baptisme might bee called by the name of faith and that therefore the Infante baptised might be truly affirmed to beleue or to haue faith because it had Baptisme the sacrament of faith This he proueth by comparison with the sacrament of Christes body and bloud Which for a similitude or likenes hée saieth is called the body and bloud of Christ that after a certaine fashion adding that Baptisme in like manner is faith And yet no man wyl be so vnwise to say that Baptisme is faith in déede really Wherfore the like is to be iudged of the sacramente of the Lordes body wherby S. Augustine proueth it This also is diligently to be noted that Augustine saith all sacraments generally be vttered by name of the thinges them selfe because of a certaine similitude or likenes therfore Paule saith not we signifie our buryall but wée be buried callinge the sacrament by the name of that thing as Austine saith Againe in Libro sententiarum prosperi as it is recited in the decrées De consecratione distine 2. cap. Hoc est The same father hath these words Coelestis panis qui est caro Christi suo modo nom inatur corpus Christi cum reuera sit sacramentum corporis Christi Vocaturque ipsa immolatio carnis quae sacerdotis manibus fit Christi passio mors crucifixio non rei veritate sed significante misterio The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ after a fashion is named the body of Christ where as in dede it is but the sacrament of his body And the offeringe of the fleash which is done with the priestes hands is called the passion the death the crucifiynge of Christ not in veritie of the thinge but in a signifiynge mistery The glose in expounding these words of Augustine saith this Caeleste sacramentum quod vere repraesentat Christi carnem dicitur corpus Christi sed improprie vnde dicitur suo modo non rei veritate sed significante misterio Vt sit sensus vocatur corpus Christi id est significat It is called the body of Christ saith he that is to say it signifieth the body of Christ To this I wil adde Chrisostome Operis imperfecti Homil 11. Si inquit vasa sanctificata transferre ad priuatos vsus peceatum est in quibus non est verum corpus Christi sed misterium corporis Christi continetur quanto magis vasa corporis nostri c. If saieth hee it be sinne to transferre holy vessels vnto priuate vses in whiche is not the true body of Christ but that mistery of his body is conteined how muche lesse should wee c. What can more plainly declare the figuratiue sence of those wordê of christ hoc est corpus meuÌ„ then that