do against the Moone hearing and seing so manifest so plain and so cleare a sentence spoken and vttered withoute anie confuse or obscure tearmes breiflie knitte and compacte withoute anie long am bages hearing will not heare and seing will not see but wilfullie will be blinde and not vnderstande and yet malicioustie barke against the clear light whiche they can not extinguish As the dogges doo against the Moone whiche they can not vanquish But lett thē brak as long as they list Veritas Domini manet in aeternum The trueth of our Lorde abideth for euer To the whiche God geue them grace to turne But let the true Christian heare and marke what enacted and receaued Psalm 116 truth was in the parliament house of Christes Churche nowe opened and testified by the Auncient elder of the same whiche ys that Christe made the bread which he did take and distribute to his disciples his bodie Heretiques build tehir faith vpon reason and senses whiche was and ys the true Pascall Lambe figured by the olde Paschall lambe And by this let him cōforte him self in the true faith that the hath receaued ād cōfirme him self to be mightie against all the assauts of heresie how moche so euer their sainges shall delight or please reason or the knowe ledge of our senses wherpon they do so builde their faith that they wolde haue no poincte ne parte therof directlie repugnant to reason or Iudgment of sense as Cranmer or the Authour of that booke which ys sett furth in his name with moche boldenesse affirmeth Whose verie woordes for the triall I will asscribe Thus shall ye ther Cranmers sensuall sentence Li. 2. read But to conclude in fewe woordes the Papistes shal neuer be able to shewe one article of our faith so directlie contrarie to our senses that all our senses by daile experience shall affirme a thinge to be And yet our faith shall teache vs the contrarie therunto Thus he In whiche saing gentle Reader yowe maie perceaue that these sensuall men were so moche captiue to sensuall knowledge that not cōtent to haue faith a knowledge aboue or at leste equall with reason whiche in dede surmounteth Faith surmounteth reason or senses and passeth all reason wolde abase her to be an hand maiden to the knowledge of our senses as one that shoulde teach no article contrarie to them which yet teacheth all aboue the knowledge of senses and moche directlie contrarie As for example Owre senses by dailie experiēce teach vs that men do die And that some of their bodies being burned ther ys nothing lefte but Asshes blowē abroad Faith teacheth many thinges contrarie to the senses with the winde And some consumed of the foules of the aire Some of the fishes of the sea Some vtterly doo putrifie in the earth as thinges that shoulde neuer be the same flesh the same substance the same man again And yet faith teacheth vs directlie contrarie that ys that the thing which the senses Iudge to be dead whiche ys so diuided and separated from life that yt shall neuer liue the same thing in nombre again that in dede yt ys not dead but sleapeth and shall be the same in person again that yt was before The senses taught none other but that the woundes whiche Christe had in his bodie after the resurrection and specially the wounde of his side into the which he willed Thomas to pute his hande were verie fore and painfull and yet faith saieth directlie contrarie For a glorified bodie yt not passible Thus these men building ther faith vpon their senses when their senses perished their sensuall faith preished with all Wherfor cleaue not to soche a faith whiche neadeth to be mainteined with vntruthe and false sensuall knowledge But embrace that faith whiche ys grownded vpon Christ and lined oute and tried by the sure and streight piller of truthe the Catholique Churche But perchaunce the Aduersarie will saie that although the sentence of Obiection out of Tertull Tertullian for so moche as I haue brought in sowndeth plainlie to my pourpose yet yf I had brought in the wholle sentēce yt wolde haue ouerthrowē the same Wherfore I deale not sincerelie but vse crafte To this I saie that this that ys alleadged oute of Tertulliā ys his verie saing ād neadeth no dependence to make yt perfecte but ys of yt self a perfecte proposition and therfore hath yn yt self a trueth or falshood and maie then well be alleaged to confirme my pourpose And yet I haue not so omitted yt as though I wolde not see yt but I haue reserued yt to be handled wher we shall seke the exposition of his texte Hoc est corpus meum But that we maie perceaue in the meā while that Tertullian in his place minded no other wise then these his woordes alleaged pourporte I meen that Christs bodie ys made present in the Sacrament and in the same geuen and dipensed I shall bring himself to wittnesse in an other place wher he testifieth that the slesh that ys to saie the natural man eateth the bodie of Christ Caro inquit abluitur vt anima emaculetur Caro vngitur vt anima consecretur Caro signatur Note that the flesh eateth the bodie and blood of Chryst. vt anima muniatur Caro corpore sanguine vescitur vt anima de Deo saginetur The flesh saith Tertullian ys washed that the Soule maie be pourged The flesh ys enoynted that the soule maie be consecrated The flesh ys signed that the soule maie be defended The flesh eateth the bodie and bloode of Christe that the soule maie be made fatte or lustie in God Thus Tertullian In the whiche woordes he teacheth that as verilic as we be washed with verie water and enointed with verie oile and signed with the verie signe of the crosse and not with the figures of these So be we fedde with the verie bodie and blood of our Sauiour Christe and not with the figures of them Teflesh saieth he eateth the bodie and blood of Christ and not the spirit onlie Nowe then that yowe haue heard one of the one side of the parliamēt house yowe shall heare one of the other side Iyschius an aunciente author Disciple to the great learned father Gregorie Naziancen saieth thus Non oportet eos qui Pascha euangelicum celebrant quod nobis tradidit Ecclesia legale Pascha peragere quod bouem ouem legislator dicens significauit Jsychius in Le. lib. 6. cap. 22. quia haec praecepit Moises in die Paschae quod traditum est Iudaeis immolare They that doe celebrate the euangelicall Passouer whiche the Churche hath deliuered vs maie not celebrate the legall Passour whiche the lawegeuer commaunding hath declared to be an oxe and a shepe For Moises hath commaunded to offer these thinges in the daie of the passeouer that ys appointed to the Iewes And a litle after foloweth Non ergo oportere nos habentes in manibus
ys but a figure as this Authour dothe The contrarie wher of this Proclamer and other Sacramentaries are not ashamed to teache although they be if ther were anie shame in them ouercharged with nōbre of wittnesses so that they maie be ashamed of theyr heresie Thys Authour God be praysed when he had saied that Chryst gaue hys Apostles bread and wyne in mysterie of hys bodie and bloode leest thys mysterie shoulde be made a mysterie of nothing as the Sacramentaries make yt he declareth yt to be a mysterie of somwhat And saieth that the bread and wyne be chaunged into the bodie and blode of our lorde And yet that none of the common hereticall gloses shoulde take place he saieth Bread and wine chaunged not in figure but in trueth further by plain exclusion that they be chaunged in to Christes flesh and bloode neither by figure ner by shaddowe but by verie trueth Wolde to God that they that be yet deteined in this naughtie heresie wolde well note weigh and remembre this sainge and looke whether they haue anie soche plain manifest and expresse sentence of anie Authour Autenticall to maintein their heresie as this ys for the trueth And yet to knitte vppe the matter that this ys no singular opinion or whispered inuention but a sure and vndoubted faith commonlie and generallie receaued he concludeth not in his owne person but in the person of the beleuing Churche and saieth Credimus c. We beleue that yt ys in trueth and in verie dede the flesh of Chryst and likewise his bloode As this Authour hath testified not onelie his owne faithe but the faith of the Churche So wolde I that the Aduersarie shoulde regarde not hys Heretiques haue no faith but opinions priuate opinion whiche he calleth a faith and ys none in dede But the faith of the Churche whiche ys a sure faith in dede builded vpon a sure rocke Nowe to make vppe the coople we pourposed here to induce we will heare this Authours iocke felow in faith Cabasila one of the same lower house of Parliament but of the other side therof that ys of the greke churche a man of singular learninge Who expowndinge the Masse of the Grekes vsed in their churches declareth why Chryste willed his memorie to be had and the Masse to be doen in remembrance of him Thus he saieth Huius autem conseruundae memoriae homines multas rationes excogitarunt sepulchra Nicolaus Cabasila ca. 9. statuas columnas diesfestos celebres certamina quorum omnium vnum est institutum non sinere vt viri praeclari praestanti virtute obliuioni mandentur Tale est etiam quod dicit Seruator Alij quidem alia obliuionis quaerunt remedia vt recordentur eorum qui ipsos beneficio affecerunt vos autem in meam recordationem hoc facite Et quemadmodum ciuitates fortium virorum per quos victoriam assecuti sunt vel qui eis salutem attulerunt aut res eorum rectè gesserunt columnis inscribunt ita etiam in ijs donis nos mortem Domini asscribimus in qua vniuersa sita fuit aduersus malignum victoria Et per statuas quidem ciuitates solùm habent figuram corporis benefactorum Nos autem ab hac oblatione non habenius figuram corporis sed ipsum corpus eius qui se gessit fortissimè Hoc ipsum etiam antiquis constituit vt in figura facerent id quod nunc est in rerum veritate Id enim erat Bascha agni occisio quae memoriam reuocat caedis illius ouis sanguinis qui seruauit Hebraeis in Aegypto primogenita To conserue this memorie men haue deuised manie waies or means as Tumbes ymages pillers feastfull and Solemne daies exercises of all whiche ther ys one pourpose not to suffer that noble men of excellent vertue shoulde be forgotten Soche maner of thing yt ys that our Sauioure saieth Some seke other remedies against obliuion that they maie remembre them that haue doen them good But in the remembrance of me this doo ye And as cities do write in pillers the noble actes of mightie men by whom they haue gotten victorie or that haue saued them or haue doen their affaires or businesse wel Euē so also do we in these giftes imprinte the death of our Lord in the which was all the victorie against the wicked one had or gotten Now the cities haue by their images but the onelie figure of the bodie of their benefactours but we in this oblacion haue not the figure of the bodie but the bodie yt self of We haue the verie bodie in the Sacramēt not the figure him euen that same that ys nowe in veritie of thing For that was the Passeouer and the killing of the lambe which dothe call again the memorie of that shepe and bloode whiche saued the first born of the Hebrues Hither to Cabasila Of whom as we haue learned the faith of the greke churche as yt was in the time of the auncient Fathers Chrysostom Cyrill Isychius Damascen Euthymius and soche other as touching the presence of Chrystes blessed bodie in the Sacrament Euen so do we learn of him the same faith and none other newlie inuented but euen the same continued euer approued vnto his time in all the greke churche This authour allthough minding to sett furth a cause why the memoriall Monumentes and memories of holie ād woorthie men defaced of Chrystes death shoulde be reteined and kept emong vs by the bringing in examples of our elders whiche by diuerse means cōtinued the memorie of noble vertueouse or other wourthie men he doth therin geue good occasion to rebuke the insolencie of manie of this our time which defacing howses spoiling churches ouerthrowing monumentes disparsing the bones ād reliques of holie sainctes and soche other a great sorte like do most earnestlie labour to extinguish and clean put oute of all memorie the noble actes the holie dedes the godly liues of many vertueouse and wourthie men which to Gods honoure to their praise and to owre exāple of vertue shoulde and ought to haue remained Yet minding not to take euery soche occasiō I will leaue yt and folowe my matter here principallie entended As heretofore I haue doen So also wil I nowe both declare that the Paschall Lambe was a figure of Chryst and also that the veritie or verie thing by that lambe figured ys the bodie of Chryst reallie and substanciallie in the Sacrament As for the first this Authour saieth that God appoincted with the olde Olde lawe had the figure the newe lawe hath the thing in trueth fathers that they shoulde haue a figure of Chryst And that saieth he was the Passeouer and the killing of the lambe In which his sainge he nothing dissenteth but moche and whollie agreeth as well with the grekes as the latines before alleaged and declared As for the seconde parte that yt ys a figure of Chryste reallie in the Sacrament this Authour also
then August de peccatormerit remiss holie bread vsed in the primitiue Churche other meates although yt be not saieth he the bodie of Chryst And yet this bread accompteth he not though yt be a Sacrament to them and an holie signe amonge the miraculouse workes of God no more then the Church did the holie bread whiche the people receaued on certain daies Wherfor if the Sacrament were but a sign or token onelie as Oecolampadius saieth yt ys then yt should be but as the bread of the Catechumeni the newe conuerted to Chryst and as the holie bread of Christian people whiche S. Augustine accompteth but as an holie thing and yet referred yt not into the nombre of the miraculouse workes of God No more wolde these holie and auncient Fathers which I haue alleaged so haue esteemed the Sacrament and set yt furth by the great workes of God as a miraculouse worke requiring faith to be beleued to contein more than reason can conceaue or Figures cōtein what reason can conceaue the Sacr. what faith must beleue senseis iudge And therfor the holie fathers haue traueiled to staie and confirme the faith of the Chrystians by examples of workes doen miraculouslie by Gods power accompting this as one of the same kinde or sorte This being well weighed and considered by the Fathers in the Lateran Councell wher were assembled no small nombre of learned men as well of the greke church as of the latin as the Patriarkes of Hierusalem and Constantynople Archebishoppes 70. Bishoppes 400. of other Fathers 92. with the Ambassadours of the Grecian and Romain Empire and the Oratours of Hierusalem Fraunce Spain Englonde and Cypres for the declaracion and confirmacion of the faith in this matteir accordinge to the doctrine of the holie Fathers and to the confutacion of the wicked doctrine of Berengarius at that time yet lurking in corners this Canon was ther agreed vpon and set Concil Lateran cap. 1. de fide cathol furth Verum Christi corpus sanguis in sacramento Altaris sub speciebus panis vini veraciter continentur transubstantiatis pane in corpus vino in sanguinem potestate diuina The verie bodie and blood of Chryste are verilie and trulie conteined vnder the formes of bread and wine in the Sacrament of the aultar the bread and wine being transubstanciated into the bodie and bloode by the power of God Thus the Councell whiche was celebrated aboue thre hondreth yeares agone Nowe Reader thowe seest the learning and faith of Chrystes Church in this matter of transubstantiacion not onelie nowe in these daies professed taught and beleued through oute all Chrystendome but also aboue three hondreth yeares agon in the great and generall Councell Lateran and so by Fathers testified before and vppewarde vntill ye come to the primitiue church Wherfor minding here after to touche yt more as occasion shall be ministred I think this for this time sufficient to moue anie man to haue a regarde to his faith that hath not solde him self ouer to liue vnder heresie disobedience and sinne Nowe therfor I returne to my pourpose THE TWO AND FIFTETH CHAP. OPENETH the mindes of Sainct Basill and Sainct Ambrose vpon the woordes of Chryst THinke not gentle reader but that ther be manie lefte not here alleaged as Optatus Dionisius Alexandrius Hilarius Origen and other which geue goodlie testimonie for the veritie of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament But here we alleadge none but soche as treacting of these woordes of Chryst This ys my bodie This ys my bloode doe geue vs their doctrine for the true vnderstanding of them wherfor the other omitted this ordre hath brought vs to S. Basill in the greke churche and to S. Ambrose in the latin church S. Basill to whom this question was moued with what feare what maner Basil quaest compend explic qu. 172. of faith or assured certentie and with what affection the bodie and blod of Chryst shoulde be receaued made this aunswer Timorem docet nos Apostolus dicens Qui edit bibit indigné iudicium sibiipsi edit ac bibit At verò certitudinis perfectionē inducit fides verborū Domini qui dixit Hoc est corpus meum quod pro vohis datur Hoc facite in meà m cōmemorationē The Apostle teachethvs the feare saing He tht eateth and drinketh vnwoorthilie he eateth ād drinketh vnto himself iudgement But the perfection of certitude induceth the faith of the woords of our Lorde who saied This ys my bodie whiche ys geuen for yowe Doe this in the remembrance of me Thus moch S. Basill for aunswer to the question For the better vnderstanding of which aunswer consider that this question ys propownded as of them that were vnlearned and wolde be simplie S. Basill how he taught the simple to beleue of the Sacrament instructed in the faithe of Chryst to the instruction of whiche kinde of people S. Basill appointed him self in the solucion of this question and other Wherfor yt ys to be thought that in this solucion he taught the simple and plain trueth Nowe then teaching them that these woordes This ys my bodie doe instruct them what faith they shoulde haue in the receipt of the Sacrament what dothe he but teach that these woordes must be taken as they sownde and so by them to haue this faith that Chrystes verie bodie ys in the Sacrament according as the woordes doe sownde For consider wolde this holie man trowe ye teache the people to grownde their faith vpō these woordes if their faith shoulde not be grownded ypon them as they lie but vpon this sense this ys a figure of my bodie Yf the faith of the people of the Sacrament aught to be none other but that yt ys but a figure of the bodie and not the bodie yt self wolde he haue moued them to beleue the woordes as they be spoken and not haue taught the true sense that they aught to grownde their faith vpon in dede No chrystian will so thinke of so woorthie a man as this was And therfor ye maie perceaue that this holieman Ca. 25. 37. 44. vnderstoode Chrystes woordes simplie in propre sense and taught therbie the very presence of Chrystes blessed bodie and bloode in the Sacrament as before ys saied and shall be plentifullie declared in the thirde booke S. Ambr. booke of Sacr. reiected of Oecolāp as S. lames epistle by Luther for their plaintrueth Nowe foloweth S. Ambrose in whome I finde soche copie and soche plentie of plain and euident places to open and declare the right and true vnderstanding of this scripture This ys my bodie that as a man comming into a goodlie garden garnished adorned and pleasantlie furnished with all delectable and swete flowres can not tell which flower to take first Euen so I beholding S. Ambrose and the plentie of goodlie liuely places in him I knowe not whiche to take first But bicause he ys so plain in gods treuth and
That this ys the cause Chrysostome by plain woordes declareth saing Chryst did drinke first of yt lest when they had heard the woordes of Chryste which were these Eate This ys my bodie Drinke This ys my bloode they shoulde saie what doe we eate flesh and drinke bloode and therfor they shoulde be troobled Note that he saieth that the Apostles wolde haue saied whi doe we eat flesh Trooble of the Apost shoulde haue ben bicause they knewe they should eate verie flesh and drinke bloode In the whiche woordes he doth plainlie expresse their faith that they beleued yt to be flesh and bloode And bicause they did certenlie beleue yt to be flesh and bloode and that they shoulde so haue receaued yt yt might haue ben a cause to trooble them Therfor Chrysostom addeth Ac ideo perturbarentur And therfor they shoulde be troobled Therfor that ys bicause they shoulde eate the flesh and drinke the blood of a man Fot that ys the cause that Chrysostom doeth assign of their trooble That whiche foloweth also moche helpeth the declaracion of this matter that when Chryst saieth Chysostom did speake of these thinges before manie for the woordes alonelie were offēded In that he saieth that they were offēded for the wordes alone he geueth vs to vnderstād that the Apostles shoulde not nowe haue bē offended so but for the doing that where Chryst before did speake of the geuing of his flesh nowe he did both speake of yt and geue yt in dede And so in the receipt of yt in dede they shoulde haue ben offended But saieth Chrysostom that that might not happen he dranke first that they animated and comforted by his example might with a quiett minde neither thinking yt straunge neither lothsome receaue the misteries in the whiche as a mistery requireth was hidden a thinge not open to senseis whiche was the bodie of Iesus Chryste Nowe ye haue heard the minde of Chrysostom vpon the woordes of Chryst and howe he vnderstandeth them yowe maie perceaue and by the same also yowe maie knowe both howe he did beleue and howe also the Apostles who first tooke this misterie at Chrystes hand did beleue And nowe forasmoche as I haue taried long vpon Chrysostom but not without profitt to the reader as I trust I will with the more expedition breislie ouerpasse the breif saing of Sedulius who at this time ys ioined to Chrysostom Sedul in 11 prim Cor. as his yockefelowe to testifie the true vnderstāding of Chrystes wordes in the latin churche as Chrysostome hath doen in the greke churche Thus he saieth Accipite hoc est corpus meū quasi dixisset Paulus Cauete ne illud corpus A plain place for M. Iuell indignè comedatis dū corpus Chisti est Take this ys my bodie as though Paule had saied Beware that ye eate not that bodie vnworthilie forasmohe as yt ys the bodie of Chryste Thus mochehe Who expownding the woordes of Chryst vttered by S. Paule to the Corinthians dothe by expresse woordes geue vs to vnderstande thē in their propre sense as speaking of the verie bodie and of no figure or trope For if they were so to be vnderstāded this learned man taking vpon him the office of an expositoure and so to expownde the woordes of Chryst and the mening of S. Paule in the alleaging of them wolde haue taught nowe that theie are to be vnderstāded by a figure as an expositour aught to doe But forasmohe as he teacheth that they are vndestanded of Chrystes bodie as in opening S. Paules minde yt doeth wel appeare yt can not otherwise be but the woordes Sedulius cōmended of Chryste are to be taken simplie as teaching vs that Cryste and S. Paule spake of the very bodie and not of the bare figure of yt This mā was both learned and auncient not moche aboue foure hondreth years after Chryste who as by learning he was not voide of good knowledg so by auncientie he was not voide of true faith Wherfor we must nedes confesse that this doctrine ys according to the true faith and so consequentlie acknowledge that yt ys the true faith to beleue Chrystes verie bodie in the Sacrament Thus Reader thowe hauest heard these twoo noble men of Chrystes Parliament The Proclāer must subscribe to the catholique doctrin of the Church if he will kepe promesse howse openinge to vs the enacted trueth of the vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes bothe of them testifieng the presence of Chrystes bodie by the same woordes and no one title of the Aduersaries figures and signes and that so plainlie and euidentlie that methinke the Proclamer shall doe me wronge if he subscribe not to this trueth for somoche as he hath promised so to doe vpon the seight of anie one plain place in scripture Councell or doctoure Chrysostom I am sure ys so plain and with all so euident and strong against the wicked assertion of the Proclamer that he shall neuer be able with all his engins and false shiftes that he had to withstand his force But yf hys mouthe will not for pride confesse the trueth his conscience I doubte not accuseth him as confownded THE SIX AND FIFTETH CHAP. ABIDETH in the exposition of the same woordes by Theophilus and Leo. NOw gentle Reader coming towardes the ende of these famouse and noble men of Chrystes higher house of Parliament I meen of soche as were within sixe hondreth years after Chryst I trust thowe wilt not fainte to proceade and see the ende And to thy more ease I also as a man trauailing in iourneie and coming towarde the ende being desierouse of the same taketh courage to him and maketh the more hast to atteign his desire Euen so I nowe drawing to the ende will be shorter then I haue ben and so make hast that I maie obtein that that I desire And nowe of those fathers that remain Theoplnlus Archibishoppe of Alexandria Origen his heresic shall be the first that in our matter shall geue his testimonie This man writing against Origen for that he saied that the deuells shall be saued at Theop. Alexand li. 2. pasch the last saieth thus Consequens est vt qui priora susceperit suscipiat quae sequuntur Et qui pro Doemonibus Christum dixerit crucifigi ad ipsos quoque dicendum suscipiat Hoc est corpus meum accipite Hic est sanguis meus Si enim pro Daemonibus crucifigitur vt nouorum dogmatum assertor affirmat quod erit priuilegium aut quae ratio vt soli homines corpori eius sanguiniue communicent non Daemones quoque proquibus in passione sanguinem fuderit Yt ys consequent that he that receaueth the first thinges shoulde also receaue those thinges that folowe And he that doeth saie Chryst to be cruicified for Deuels alow also to be saied vnto thē This ys my bodie and Take this ys my bloode For yf Chryst shall be crucified also for Deuells as the auoucher of newe
assured though reason though senses though hell gates wolde arise against yt this ys and shall be a trueth and euer endure a trueth 3 Reg. 18. In the time of Elias the Prophett when God and his holie faith and religion as nowe yt ys with vs was so farre forsaken that none were fownde that openlie for the feare of the king and wicked Iesabell wolde professe the same although some laie in caues and dennes as nowe I trust ther doe some faith fullie seruing God Elias moued by the spiritt of God to haue the religiō and faith of God discerned frō the religion of Baall wolde the triall of the same shoulde be made by somme miracle from heauen Wher vnto the Kinge and the people agreed that if anie miracle were doen on Baalls side he shoulde be taken for God and his religion receaued yf on Elyas side his God and his religion shoulde be embraced The preistes of Baall laied on their sacrifice they called on their God in their maner no fire came from heauen no miracle was doen. After that they had doen Elyas prepaired the saicrifice he called on his God fire came from heauen and burnt the sacrifice Wherupō the people seing the miracle cried Dominus ipse est Deus Dominus ipse est Deus Owre Lorde ys God owre Lorde ys God Euen so nowe the ministers of Baall haue peruerted Chrystes faith and religion The people in outwarde countenance for seare of lawes haue forsaken the same They are nowe taught that Chryst ys not reallie in the Sacrament duelie ministred They are taught that his bodie ther ys not to be honoured They are taught that the blessed Sacrifice of Chrystes bodie and bloode ys nothing auailable either to the quicke or to the deade with soche other Chryst ys not in the sacramentall bread of the newe ministers but he ys in the B. Sacr. duelie ministred by a preist Nowe let them search all histories of antiquitie and shewe anie one miracle that God hath wrought either in the time of Berengarius of Wicleff and Husse of Zwinglius Oecolampadius or of this Proclamer for the confirmacion and declaraciō of that their faith and if they doe we shall saie that their faith ys good Yf theie doe not and we doe let them yelde and saie that owre waie ys good For like yt ys the trueth ther to be wher yt pleaseth God to confirme the same by miracle And like yt ys no trueth to be on the contrarie side wher God doth not vouchsaffe at anie time to commende yt by some miracle Nowe the catholique Church teacheth the presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament The Aduersarie teacheth no bodie but the figure of the bodie The catholique Church teacheth Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament to be honoured Luther and the Sacramentaries teache that yt ys not to be honoured The catholique Church teacheth that Masse ys to be vsed Luther and the Sacramentaries teache that yt ys to be abhorred Nowe as Elyas willed the preistes of Baall first to confirme their waie with miracles So lett the Lutherans and the Sacramentaries bring furth first some Miracle As for miracles for the confirmacion of their doctrine as touching this matter of the Sacrament I neuer did nor coulde heare or reade of anie but onelie of one which ys a miracle meet for the doctrine Of whiche miracle Luther himself ys the reporter Ionas his disciple being interpretour in his booke of priuate Masse wher he saieth thus Ego coram vobis reuerendis patribus Luther sanctis confessionem faciam date mibi absolutionem bonam quae vobis opto quamminimum noceat Contigit me semel sub mediam noctem subito expergefieri Ibi Sathan mecū caepit eiusmodi disputationem Audi inquit Luthere doctor perdocte Nosti te quindecim annis celebrasse Missas priuatas penè quotidiè Quid si tales Missae horrenda essent Idololatria Quid si ibi non adfuisset corpus sanguis Christi Sed tantùm panem vinum adorasses aliis adorandum proposuisses I will before yowe reuerend and holie Fathers make a confession geue me a good absolucion which I wish maie nothing hurte yowe Yt happened me once at midnight sodenlie to be wakened Sathan appeared to Luther ād disputed with him of priuate Masse Ther Sathan beganne this maner of disputacion with me Hearken saieth he thowe well learned doctour Luther Thowe knowest that by the space of these fiftene years thowe hauest saied priuate Masse all most euerie daie What if soche priuate Masses were abhominable Idolatrie What if ther hath not ben present the bodie and blood of Chryst but that thowe haddest honoured onely bread and wine and haddest sett yt furth to other to be honoured Thus moch Sathan to Luther In which talke Sathan goeth aboute to confirme three pointes of their doctrine that ys that Chrystes bodie and bloode be not in the Sacrament but onelie bread and wine That Chryst in the Sacrament ys not to be adored And that priuate Masses are not to be vsed See ye not nowe what a miracle here ys that Sathan wolde vouchesaf to speake with Lurher at middenight ys not this doctrine moche confirmed nowe that Sathan hath perswaded yt who knoweth not that Sathan perswadeth to heresie not to the right faith to euell not to good to falshoode not to trueth Wherfor chrystian reader if thowe wise be flee that he perswadeth thee vnto and embrace that he diswadeth thee from And thus to a good chrystian this doing of Sathan maie be occasion of confirmacion in faith For wher Sathan disswadeth Luther from the Masse from the beleif of the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament from the honouring Ioan. 8. of Chryst ther we maie be certen and sure that the Masse ys good that the presence of Chryste in the Sacrament and the honouring of him ther be holsom and good doctrines For he being as Chryst saieth a liar and 1. Pe. 5. a manisleer from the beginning seketh not to teache vs the trueth nor to helpe to saue ys but raither as S. Paule saieth he being our aduersarie goeth aboute like a roaring lion seking whome he maie deuoure whom God graūt vs stronglie to withstande in faith Thus I saie occasion ys geuen vs to be cōfirmed in that faith from the whiche Sathan wolde disswade vs. But as touching the matters which Sathan wolde perswade by his deuelish apparition to Luther if ther were no more saied a wise reader wolde by these fewe woordes easelie perceaue howe good and true the doctrine of the Proclamer ys which ys soche as Sathan perswaded and euen the verie same This being all the miracles that I can finde of the confirmacion of the Proclamers doctrine I maie thus conclude that forasmoch as this doctrine ys setfurth by the apparition and perswasion of Sathan and not by God that yt ys Sathans doctrine and not gods Nowe for the catholique doctrine let vs see if God hath besides his figures
Excellencie of Sacramēts standeth in three points cap. 12 Excellencie of the blessed Sacrament aboue Manna cap. 14. item 25. excellent titles therof cap. 30 Exhortacion to preparacion by Chrysost ca. 54 F. Fabianus made a lawe that the people shoulde communicate thrice in the year lib. 3 cap. 40. Faith howe yt ys requisit to the receauing of the blessed Sacrament lib. 2. cap. 20. lib. 3 cap. 53 Faith that beleueth the flesh of Chryste to be in the blessed Sacrament a spirituall faith li. 2. cap. 37. Faith aboue senses and reason and teacheth manie things contrary to them lib. 1. cap. 16. lib. 2. cap. 39. 62. 10. Faith 〈…〉 in the mysterie of the 〈…〉 lib. 2. cap. 37. Faith iudgeth possible that reason iudgeth impossible cap. 10. 30 Faith and Baptisme inseparable means of saluacion ca. 48 Faith without woorks sufficieth not in persons of discrecion li. 3. ca. 1 Faith nourished by the bodie and bloode of Chryste lib. 2. ca. 49 Faith catholique described li. 3. ca. 53 False Chrystians more woorthie reproche then Iewes lib. 1. cap. 19. item lib. 2 cap. 9. False doctrine hath some trueth admixed cap. 12 Fame of the chrystian rites among infidells proueth the presence ca. 42 Fasting for merit punishable by statute lib. 3. ca. 60 Fathers learned of their elders lib. 1. cap. 7 Fathers in the primitiue Churche spake of the mysteries often couertlie lib. 2. cap. 3 Figurs of Chrystes incarnacion li. 1. ca. 10 Figurs be not in all points comparable ibi Figures of the blessed Sacrament foure cap. 15. Figurs in good things not so good as the things figured in euell things not so euell ibid. Figuratiue passouer and the true passouer both on one table ca. 18 Figurs of the olde lawe and veritie of the newe lawe be as shadowes and the thing shadowed li. 2. ca. 22 Figurs of things be not merueillouse but the Sacrament ys merueillouse ca. 47 Figure taken two waies cap. 49. Figurs contein what reason conceaue the Sacrament what faith beleueth cap. 51. Figure of the Sacramentaries excluded from Chrysts woordes lib. 2. cap. 51. 52. wiped awaie by Chrysost cap. 55. denied cap. 58. 59. 60. 62. Figure what yt must be li. 3. ca. 2 Figure geueth not life but the blessed Sacrament geueth life ergo c. cap. 8 Figurs and things figured compared cap. 10. Figure maie forshewe life but yt can not be life ca. 14 Flesh of Chryste in the Sacrament hath an vnspeakeable power lib. 2. ca. 1 Flesh of Chryste called life as being the flesh of God who ys life ca. 14 Flesh and blood of Chryste both vnder one kinde in the catholique maner of ministracion neither of both vnder two kindes in the hereticall Communion cap. 16. Foode of Chrystes flesh cause of our immortalitie lib. 2 cap. 17. 26. item lib. 3 cap. 24. 58. 59. Flesh of Chryste meate in plain maner lib. 2. cap. 18. lib. 3. cap. 5 Flesh of Chryste geueth life and yet remaineth still naturall flesh cap. 27. Flesh profiteth nothing Iohn vi ys not spoken of the flesh of Chryste for that profiteth moche cap. 36. Flesh of Chryste both naturall and spirituall cap. 36. lib. 3. cap. 10. Flesh of the Sonne of God and the consecrated bread one bodie cap. 52. Flesh of Chryste appeareth not in the B. Sacrament for our infirmities sake lib. 2. ca. 7. 8. 19. 57. lib. 3. ca. 20. Flesh vnited to the Sonne of God by assumtion the same vnited to vs by participacion li. 3. cap. 27. Flesh of Chryste called spirit li. 3. ca. 10. Flesh of Chryste receaued in the B. Sacramēt seed of euerlasting life li. 2. ca. 57. Forme essence nature substance all one lib. 2. cap. 7. Formes of breade and wine a speache knowē to S. August ca. 22. and forme of bread remain cap. 60. Foure thinges called the bodie of Chryste ca. 58. Foure benefitts of the Iews nōbred li. 3. ca. 1. G. Gelasius his meaning opened li. 2. ca. 68. Gelasius truncatelie alleaged by the Proclamer auoncheth two thinges whiche he concealed ibid. Genesis not red of the Iewes before thirtie yeares of age li. 1. ca. 2. Germanes acknowlege the reall presence prolog Good religion professed withoute good life not auailable li. 3. ca. 1. God appointed no vain figure li. 1. cap. 24. God and his spirit in his creaturs two waies li. 3. ca. 49. God good by nature man by participacion li. 1. cap 33. li. 2. cap. 12. God plagueth vs in these daies for the abuse of the bl Sacrament lib. 2. ca. 5. God punisheth some tēporallie some eternallie some both waies li. 3. ca. 58. Gods woorde contrarie to senses must be beleued li. 2. ca. 55. Gods order in his Church for doctrine lib. 1. cap. 6. Gods order inuerted ibid. Godhead of Chryste hath not possibilitie but to be euery where his manhead hath possibilitie to be somwhere li. 2. ca. 12. Godhead of the Sonne filleth his boddie sanctified by the preist lib. 2. cap. 28. lib. 3. cap. 25. Gospell hath two commodities li. 2. cap. 1. Gospell hath not the figurs but the verie things ca. 18. Gospell commaunded the eating of blood the lawe did forbidde yt ca. 50. Gospell and lawe compared li. 3. cap. 15. Grekes affirme the real presence prol H. Heresie maketh man enemie to God prol Hetesie by arrogancie moche preuaileth lib. 1. cap. 5. Heresie the farder yt goeth the worse yt fretteth cap. 31. Heretiques haue moued warre against the church prolog Heretiques agree in conspiring against the Church li. 1. cap. 8. Heretiques why they are not to be folowed ibid. Heretiques barke against the trueth as dooges against the Moon cap. 16. Heretiques build there faith vpon reason and senses ibid. Heretiques howe they alleage the fathers lib. 1. ca. 21. li. 2. ca. 3. Heretiques haue no faith but opinions li. 1. cap. 21. Heretiques refuges in reasoning of the Sacrament ibid. Hereticall Councells allwaies repressed ca. 25. Hereticall expositions of the prophecie of Malch cap. 33. Heretiques call their phansies Gods woorde li. 2. ca. 33. Heretiques must be shunned li. 3. ca. 25. Heretikes of oure time wel described ca. 60 Heretiques like men in feuers ibid. Heretiques saings cōpared to the saings of Ethnikes ibid. Hierom of praga condemned prolog S. Hierom howe he learned the scripturs li. 1. ca. 7. et 8. he expowndeth the scripturs contrarie to the Sacramentaries ca. 39. S. Hieroms saing opened li. 2. ca. 57. he expowndeth S. Paule of the bodie of Chryste li. 3. ca. 44. S. Hilarie vnderstandeth the vi of S. Iohn of the Sacram. li. 2. ca. 24. Holie Gost consecrateth the B. Sacr. by the hande and tung of the preist li. 2. ca. 63. Holie Gost woorketh the consecracion aboue our vnderstāding li. 1. ca. 20. li. 2. ca. 63. Holie bread vsed in the primitiue church li. 2. ca. 51. li. 3. ca. 23. Honour due to God wherin yt consisteth li. 1. ca. 18. Honour or dishonour doen by the receauer ys referred to the Sacr. li.
eating the olde Paschall Lambe and the beginning of the newe testament with the newe Paschall Lambe Which Paschall Lambe how yt was and what yt was and how yt ys wrought ād made he leaueth yt not vndeclared He tooke bread saieth he mening Chryst and brake yt and gaue yt to his disciples saing Take eate This ys my bodie And that he might leaue no place to the enemies to misconstrue him and to wrest him to their pourpose he addeth the probacion of yt by the powre of God in other of hys workes which ys also a most plain declaracion of hys faith That as God by his woorde made heauen and earth and all thinges in Chryst turned the bread into his bodie and the wyne and water into his blood them conteined So by his woorde saing Thys ys my bodie yt ys euen so made in dede as yt ys saied For can not he saieth Damascen make the bread his bodie and the wine and water his bloode Which woordes being so plain nede no in terpretaciō For he affirmeth that God by hys woord and allmightie powre dothe make the bread his bodie and the wine and water his bloode And wher the Aduersarie hath against this saied that he doubteth not of the power of God but that he ys able to do yt yf he will or yf yt be his pleasure but we finde not saieth he in the scripture that his pleasure ys that the preist pronouncing the woordes shoulde by gods power consecrate the bodie of Chryste This ys their ignoraunt scruple But if they had leuing all arrogancie mekelie consulted with thys Damascē they shoulde haue fownd yt in the scripture that Gods pleasure ys that the bodie of Chryste shoulde be consecrated by the poower of God and by the preist as his mynister For God saieth Damascen Chryst commaunded his bodie to be cōsecrated saied at the beginning Let the earth bring furth grene herbe and vntill this time the earth being holpen with Godes commaundement doth bringe furth fruict God saied This ys my bodie this ys my bloode this doe ye in remembrance of me And by his allmightie commaundement yt ys so made Note then that when Chryst by his powre had of bread made his bodie for he saied yt was his bodie and his saing ys making Then he gaue commaundement to his mynistres saing Hoc facite This doo ye by the whiche allmightie commaundement saieth Damascen yt ys doen. But nowe when the scripture ys produced and laied before their face hauing no good will to accept the trueth they procead to questioning and aske howe How the question of the faithlesse aūswered proue ye that Chryst by these woordes commaunded the consecracion THE ONE AND TWENTETH CHAPITER CONcludeth this matter of the figure of the paschall lambe by Haymo and Cabasila THe nombre ys great that might be called oute of this lower house whiche for that yt wolde make thys rude worke to growe into to great a volume I will content my self and staie after I haue brought furth one coople mo and so leaue this figure The first of theise shall be Haymo for that he ys the elder being aboute the yeare of Chryst 734. and so aboue eight hundreth yeares agon before the time of Berengarius who was the first open and notable Aduersaire of this Sacrament that laboured to take awaie the reall presence of Chryste Therfor this learned Father maie wel be cōsulted with all who being before this controuersie was moued ys to be thought to speake vpprightlie ād not parciallie In his exposition therfore vpon S. Matthew he saieth thus Coenantibus Haymo in 26. Matt. autem eis accepit Iesus panem c. Expletis solemnijs veteris Paschae transit Dominus ad sacramenta noui Paschae demonstranda Postquam coenauit dedit eis panem et vinum in mysterio videlicet corporis et sanguinis sui Quia enim panis cor hominis confirmat vinum auget sanguinem in homine meritò idem panis in carnem Domini mutatur et idem vinum in sanguinem Domini transfertur non per figuram neque per vmbram sed per veritatem Credimus enim quia in veritate caro est Christi similiter et sanguis As they were eating at Supper Iesus tooke bread c. When the Solemnities of the olde Passouer Bread and wine chaūged into the bodie and blood of Chryst not in figure but in trueth were fullfilled our Lorde goeth to shewe furthe the Sacrament of the newe Passouer After he hadde Supped he gaue them bread and wine in mysterie of his bodie and bloode For bicause bread doth strenghten the hearte of man and wine encreaseth the bloode in man the same bread ys woorthilie chaunged into the flesh of our Lorde and that same wine transferred into the bloode of our Lorde not by figure nor by shaddowe but by the verie trueth For we beleue that in trueth yt ys the flesh of Cbryst and likewise his bloode Thus farre Haymo The two principall pointes here enquired this holie Father hath agreablie bothe to the elders of the higher house and also to them of the lower house declared First hys comparing of the olde Passeouer to the newe ys easie to be perceaued And then what the newe Passeouer ys he doth most plainlie manifest Yf he had left the matter of the newe Passeouer when he had said He deliuered bread and wine in mysterie of hys bodye and bloode then the Aduersaries wolde haue vsed their accustomed violence to haue drawen him by force to be a wittnesse of their syde I saie by force bicause this Authour not mening as they do as after yt shall appeare yet they wolde with great boast haue saied that he had mened as they doo Heretiques how they alleage the Fathers Which maner of doinge Reader ys their cōmō practise For wher they in their workes alleage the holie Fathers they alleadge thē in doubtful places wher they vse the common termes of Sacrament mysterie and soch other whiche when controuersie and contencion ys raised by wicked men maie Sacramētaries can not bring one Father teaching the Sacrament to be only a figure be drawen to either parte Albeit the Authours intended and ment but the onelie one true waie of Chrystes trueth and faith as this Authour nowe alleaged did But gentle reader yf thow perusest their bokes and findest that they bring anie allowed Authour saing by expresse woordes and plain sentence that the Sacrament ys but a figure or a sign or by plain deniall shall saie that Chrystes bodie ys not in the Sacrament reallie or in verie dede we shall yelde and geue them the victorie for certen I am that they can not But on our syde that ys on the parte of the catholique faithe of Chrystes Churche ye shall heare a nombre that by expresse woordes shall affirme the verie presence of Chrystes bodie of whiche nōbre ye haue allreadie heardsome And by like expresse woordes shall denie that yt
Lorde representing yt by this Sacrament Hauing no regarde of the contempt of the Aduersarie contemning the learned men of the later age I will among manie that maie be brought for the auoiding of tediousnesse and yet to shewe the conformitie of doctrine in this age with the auncient age bring the exposition of one named Hugo whose saing ys this Dixerat quòd sumerent corpus Domini sanguinem in commemorationem eius hic determinat in quam quia in Dominicae passionis Hugo Car. in 11. 1. Co. He had saied that they shoulde receaue the bodie and blood of oure Lorde in the remembrance of him Here he determineth in what remembrance In the remembrance saieth he of our Lordes passion Nowe ye haue heard diuerse expownding these woordes Hoc sacite do this all agreing that they are to be refered and vnderstanded to and of the substance and vse of the Sacrament that ys that yt shoulde be receaued in the remembrance of Chrystes passion and deathe But that we are by those woordes commaunded to obserue that maner and forme that our Sauiour obserued in his ministracion otherwise then ys saied both in the The Proclamer vseth his owne authoritie in expounding the scriptures for he hath none other last chapiter and in this also ther ys no one title in these Authours By this then yt maie well be thought and supposed that this man vsing his absolute authoritie for lacke of other helpe had iuuented and framed soche an exposition vpon this scripture as was not knowen to the auncient expositours nor yet to them of the later time and so verie like neuer seen written or heard spoken hefore this time And yet with a pretense of simplicitie and synceritie yt ys commended to the people as the trew syncere woorde of God when yt hath neither Gods woorde nor aide of holie Fathers to bear yt but ys a plain inuencion of his owne void of all trueth Thus moche being doen by authoritie I shall also by good reason proue The Proclamer his exposition im pugned by reason his exposition false For he him self graunteth that for fiue or sixe hundreth yeares after Chryste the Churche vsed the institucion of Chryst purelie and well withoute the breach of Chrystes woorde or commaundement But for the most parte of that time they did not obserue the practise of Chrystes institucion in soche forme and sorte as he did him self Wherfor to practise that that Chryste did in his last supper in some other maner or sorte then he did ys not the breach of his woorde Yf yt be not the breach of his woorde then ys this mans exposition false That the primitiue and auncient Church vsed an other forme and maner in the ministracion of the SacrameÌ„t then Chryst did in the institucion of the Masses in the primitiue church varied freÌ„ the forme and maner of Chrystes institucion same the Masse of saincte Iames of the whiche this man maketh mencion the Masse of saincte Basill the Masse of Chrysostome the Masse vsed in Millan by sainct Ambrose with the wholl practise as well of the Apostles as of other doth moste manifestlie testisie And these Masses vsed in the primitiue and auncient Churche did all agree in the Substance of the Sacrament But in the forme maner and sorte of ministracion ther was great diuersitie one moche varieng from an other and euerie one of them varieng from the maner that Chryste vsed and yet euery one godlie and good We maie then conclude that either the primitiue and auncient Churche varieng from the forme and sorte of Chrystes ministracion did offende which ys not to be thought or ells that this Proclamer so wresting the scripture to maintien his false Docttine hath offended which I dare auouche maie well be saied We maie also impugne this exposition by this mans owne practise who Proclamer his reason impugned by his owne practise being soche a precise reformer of the abuses of the Church as he termeth yt will not in his doinges committe anie notoriouse abuse howe so euer he doth in his woordes Yt ys notoriouse that he ministreth in other sorte and forme then Chryst did Wherfor yf ther be no abuse in his doing ther ys abuse in his sainge For his saing and doing in this matter be plainly contrarie He saieth we must practise in soche sort and forme as Chryste did but his doinges be not in soche sort and forme as Chryst did That his forme ys not soche as Chryst vsed yt ys more manifest then I neade to make rehersall For Chryst ministred when the Apostles had eaten this man when the people be fasting Chryste in the euening this man in the morning Chryste I am not certen but Jâ—udge the best with vsuall vuleauened bread this man withe wafer cakes Chryste withoute any other straung garment then his owne vsuallie worn this man in other garmentes appoincted to that pourpose Chryst did sitte with the twelue this man standeth with an vncertain nombre with manie other like And here yf this expositour will haue his exposition streictly laied to all the forme sorte of Chrystes doing in his supper I wolde learn of him whether I knowing a man to be farre vnworthie to receaue the blessed Sacrament shall admitte him to the table and ministre vnto him notwithstanding his vnwoorthinesse bycause that Chryst did knowe Iudas to be vnwoorthie and yet ministred to him But to return ye maie perceaue that the forme and sorte which this man vseth in his communion ys moche in many thinges discrepant from the doinges of Chryst in his supper And yet I suppose that he thinketh Chrystes maner in ministracioÌ„ of the SacrameÌ„t neuer since vsed well of him self in his so doing Yf then his doing be good then ys his exposition naught And to coÌ„clude seing the Apostles the Fathers of the primitiue Churche the auncieÌ„t doctours that were within three foure and fiue hundreth yeares of Chryst obserued not the forme and sort that Chryste vsed in the ministracion of his Supper nor any other age since that time neither this man himself hath or dothe practise the same we maie boldelie saie that yt ys no charge geuen of Chryste to do all thinges in the ministracion in soche sorte and forme as he did but the substance doen the other thinges be of no necessitie but be at the libertie of the Churche to dispose and ordre as yt hath doen. Then as manie thinges haue ben doen aboute the ministracion whiche Chryst did not So maie reseruacion be doen though Chryste did yt not This argument then being as I trust fullie solued I finde nothing in his sermon that he obiecteth against this matter of reseruacion directlie But I finde a prettie sleight that he vseth as therby to make his audience beleue that to reserue the SacrameÌ„t ys an abuse whiche sleight when I haue opened to the reader he shall I trust perceaue that vnder the pretence and cowntenance of synceritie and
to the Heb. of the sacrifice and choose to speake of that that moost manifestlie and also inuinciblie proued the excellencie of Chryst and his preistheade aboue the preist and preisthead of the lawe And therfor emong other pointes declaring the excellencie of Chryst as that he was made a preist with an othe other withoute an othe last as the cheifest he reherseth his eternitie saing Among them meening the preistes of Aaron manie were made preistes bycause they were not suffred to endure by reason of deathe But this man bycause he endureth euer he hath an euerlasting preistheade Wherfore he ys able also euer Heb. 7. to saue them to the vttermost that come vnto God by him Seing he euer liueth to make intercession for vs. Thus nowe ye maie perceaue that the obiection of the Aduersarie ys aunswered when saincte Paules principall entente ys once knowen Yf by the sacrifice of Melchisedech the excellencie of Chryst might as well haue appeared to the Hebrues who as yet were soche as Quibus lacte opus erat non solido cibo whiche had neade of milke not strong meate and coulde not beare the mysteries of our faith as by his eternitie be you well assured Saincte Paule wolde not haue omitted yt But bycause in the conceit of the Hebrues their sacrifices appeared to them more gloriouse and more excellent then the sacrifice of Melchisedech therfore saincte Paule did not speake of yt But yet the Aduersarie who can not ceasse to impugne the trueth when he seeth that he can not preuaill with his first obiection he hathe inuented an other whiche ys soche one as men ouercommed with furie and malice do make Whose reason and knowledge being obscured do speake they cannot tell what and in that rage vtter as soen a falsehood as a trueth and hauing no sownde Iudgemēt saie good ys euell and euell ys good darkenesse light and light darkenesse Their obiection ys this Melchisedech saie they did not offer bread and wine in sacrifice but he Obiection of the Aduersaries mett with Abrahā retourning from the slaugter of the Kinges and brought furth bread and wine as yt were to welcome Abraham homewarde from the battaill For the scripture saie they hath not in that place of Genesis the woorde offerre to offer but proferre to bring furth For the text ys At verò Melchisedech Rex Salem proferens panem vinum And Melchisedech king of Salem brought furth bread and wine and blessed him This obiection ys so vain that yt ys raither woorthy to be exploded then Thanswere with penne to be remembred raither to be laught and hissed at of the children in the schooles then to be answered and solued Notwithstanding that the vanitie of the same maie the better appeare to the reader and that he also maie be satisfied yt shall be answered both by Scriptures and also by the eldest and noblest learned men of Chrystes Parliament house Yt ys manifest by that that ys aboue saied that one of the partes of the function of a preist ys to offer sacrifice Nowe for asmoche as the Scripture when yt saied that Melchisedech brought furth bread and wine and immediatelie added For he was the preist of the most high God what dependance ys ther of this one parte of this scripture to the other or why shoulde this that he was the preist of the most high God be added as the cause why he brought furth bread and wine but that he as the preist of God had sacrificed that that he brought furth What direct cause ys yt that Melchisedech bycause he was the preist of the most high God shoulde bring furth bread and wine Yt ys nothing perteigning to the preistheade to bring furth bread and wine in the absolute or bare respecte of bread Yt perteined not to Melchisedech his preisthead to bringfurth but to offre bread and ctine and wine but in the respecte that bread and wine were the thinges that he did vse in sacrifice whiche he had at that time offred to God for a thankes geuing for the victorie of Abraham so yt apperteineth to the preisthead And this parte of the text for he was the preist of the most hig God maie very well be added as the cause as in verie dede yt ys Otherwise the bringing furth of bread and wine ys not apperteining to the Preisthead neither to be the preist of the most high God ys or can be the directe and propre cause of the bringing furth of bread and wine This vnderstanding the verie connexion of the scripture and dependēce of the same enfortceth vs to take and none other can be admitted And thus the scripture taken in his owne natiue sense and then to saie he brought furth bread and wine doth nothing improue the sacrificing of Melchisedech in bread and wine as more at large yt shall appeare to yowe when we come to heare the Fathers Nowe for somoche as Melchisedech did sacrifice in bread and wine and to sacrifice ys one of the essentiall and necessarie partes of preisthead and Chryst ys a preist after the order of Melchisedech of necessirie he must then doo sacrifice withe bread and wine This necessitie sainct Paule affirmeth to the Hebrues Omnis namque Pontifex ad offerenda munera hostias constituitur vnde necesse est hunc habere quod offerat Euery high preist saieth he ys ordeined to offer giftes and sacrifices wherfor yt ys of necessitie that this man also haue somwhat to offer Chryste then beinge a preist after the ordre of Melchisedech must nedes haue somwhat to offer after the maner of that order But we neuer redde that he made anie mo oblacions then two The one was vpon the crosse Chryst executed his preisthead after the ordre of Aaron upon the Crosse but after the ordre of Melchisedech in his Last supper when he offred his owne bodie to be slain and that oblation was after the maner of Aaron The other in his last supper wher we must nedes confesse except we will saie that Chryst altogether neclected the preisthead appointed him of God whiche ys not to be saied that he did execute the office of his preisthead after the order of Melchisedech when taking bread and wine he said to his Apostles Take eate this ys my bodie Take and drinke this ys my bloode Yf not then let the Aduersarie shewe when and wher Chryst did sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech Yf he did neuer sacrifice after that ordre then ys yt not true that he was a preist after that order for somoche as one cheif parte and office of preisthead standith in sacrificing But vndoubtedlie he a was preist after that order and in his last supper he shewed him self so to be When vnder the formes of bread and wine he offred his owne bodie and blood an vnbloodie sacrifice after the order of Melchisedech And thus moche for the proof of this matter by the Scripture THE NINE AND
in that he offred bread and wine and in that he blessed Abrahā Do ye not also see that this Authour applieth these to Chryst in that there was none more the high preist of God then our Lorde Iesus Chryst who offred sacrifice vnto God the Father And perceaue ye not that Chryst offred the verie same that Melchisedech whiche was bread and wine Wher gentle reader let me note by the waie for the satisfieng of my promesse that wher the obiection of the Aduersarie ys that S. Ciprian by expresse woordes saith Melchisedech offred Melchisedech did not offer in sacrifice bread and wine and for his proof he saied that the text in Genesis had not obtulit he offred but Protulit he brought furth Nowe note yf this Father vseth not this woorde obtulit he offred saing that Chryst offred the very same that Melchisedech did offer And what he did offer he also declareth saing that yt was bread and wine What impudencie then ys ther in the Aduersaries to improue that that so auncient and so famouse a learned holie Martir so plainlie teacheth and not he alone but all the holie companie of the writers of the which the testimonie of some mo shall be heard herafter As yow see that Melchisedech did offer bread and wine whiche was the Christ offred bread and wine in veritie that ys his bodie and bloode figure So did our Sauiour Chryst saieth Cyprian offer bread and wine in veritie that ys hys bodie and bloode And that the Aduersaries shall not cauille and saie Wher Cyprian saieth Chryst offred his bodie and blood yt ys not to be vnderstanded of any sacrifice offred in the last Supper but of the sacrifice of his bodie and bloode offred vpon the crosse The same sainct Cyprian stoppeth the mouth of the wicked in the other sentence before alleaged wher he saieth The ymage of the Sacrifice went before appointed in bread and wine whiche thinges our Lorde perfecting and fulfilling offred bread and the cuppe mixed with wine And that we shoulde not take occasion to stomble with the Aduersaries taking yt but for bread and wine he addeth And he that ys the fulnesse hath fulfilled the veritie of the prefigurated image Do ye not heare that Chryst offred the sacrifice in his last supper of the whiche the ymage went before in bread and wine And doo ye not heare that he offring bread and wine did offer in that sorte that he fulfilled the veritie of the prefigurated ymage Whiche veritie was as sainct Cyprian saied be fore that he offred bread and wine that ys hys bodie and bloode Learn then thow Reader of this substanciall piller the substāciall faith of Chrysts catholique Churche And suffer not thy self to be caried awaie with the Aduersaries painted reasons and gloses hauinge a shewe of trueth and godlinesse aboue but vnder ther lurketh falshead and Hypocrisie But abhorre them as saincte Paule dothe aduertise For as the fishe ys deceaued by the faire bait whiche outwardlie sheweth to be a thing of commoditie but inwardlie ys destruction and death when she taketh yt Euen so the reasons of the Pseudochristians maie appeare to thee most godlie and true and to haue the commoditie of eternall life But inwardlie they contein destruction and death of the sowle to the whiche they will drawe thee except thowe shifte thy self of from that bait whilest thowe arte yet in the wauing water of this worlde Therfore be warned and while thowe hauest time looke to thy self Nowe that we haue heard this noble learned Father of the one side of Chrystes Parliament house we will heare an other of the other side whiche shall be Isychius who vpon Leuiticus toucheth this matter and saieth Et quod hoc est sacrificium Duae decimae similae conspersae oleo Oportet enim scire persectam humanitatem perfectam diuinitatem contemperare id est in vnum conuenire in oleo id est In Leuitie li. 6. ca. 23. per eam quam circa nos habet compassionem Sic enim sacrificium odor suauitatis Domino inuenitur sapientibus nobis de eo quae digna sunt In quibus autem sacrificium per quos agitur quomodò celebratur intelligiblis agni oblatio quod sequitur ostendit Neque enim in sanguine neque per irrationabilia animalia sacrificium à nobis Deus suscipit secundùm quod sequentia demonstrant Ait enim Liba quoque vini quarta pars hyn panem polentam Quia dubium futurum erat forsan à quibus mysterium sacrificij quod per Christum est quod superiùs diximus celebratur habes ecce intelligibilis Melchisedech oblationem quae in pane vino perficitur in qua quarta pars hyn in libis vini offertur vt per quartam Euangelij traditionem quae in libris quatuor est per libationem verò Dominicum sermonem significaret quum ait Hic est meus sanguis qui pro vobis fundetur sine imminutione enim significare legislatori visum est Christi mysterium And what ys this sacrifice Two tenth deales of fine flower sprinkled with oile For we must knowe to contemper the perfect manhead and perfect godhead that ys to come together into one in oile that ys by that compassion whiche he hath toward vs. For so the sacrifice ys fownde a swete sauoure to our Lorde when we vnderstand of him thinges that be woorthie In what thinges thys sacrifice whiche ys the oblacion of the intelligible lambe ys and by whome yt ys doen howe yt ys celebrated that that foloweth declareth For neither by vnreasonable beastes doth God receaue sacrifice of vs acording as the woordes that folowe de plainlie shewe For he saieth And the drinke offringe therof shal be of wine euen the fourte parte of an hyn bread and perched corne Bicause perchaunce yt might haue comed in doubte hereafter Christ sacrificing in bread and wine was ◠the intelligible sacrifice of whome the mysterie of the sacrifice whiche ys by Chryste which we haue spoken of aboue ys celebrated beholde thowe hauest the sacrifice of the intelligible Melchisedech whiche ys full doen in bread and wine in whiche sacrifice ys offred the fourth deale of the drinke offring of wine that by the fourth deale the tradicion of the Gospell whiche ys in foure bookes and by the drinke offring he wolde signifie the woorde of our Lord when he saieth This ys my bloode whiche shall be shedde yowe for And so yt pleased the Lawe geuer that yt shoulde fully signifie the mysterie of Chryst Thus farre Isycbius In the whiche sainge ye haue the wholl matter testisied that we seke for For wher in Leuiticus God commaunded an he lambe to be offred and that the meat offring therof shoulde be two tenth deales of fine flower mengled with oyle to make bread and the drinke offring shoulde be the fourth deale of an hyn of wyne whiche thing thys Authour seking to Applie to the newe Testament Thowe hauest
seruus minor patre crucifigendus sed voluntariè inquit Ego dabo carnem meam pro mundi vita Manifestlie doth Chryst speake vnto vs of the mysticall communion of hys bodie For the bread saieth he whiche I will geue yowe ys my flesh which I will geue for the life of the worlde And shewing his power that he should be crucified not as a seruaunt and lesse then the Father but willinglie he saieth I will geue my flesh for the life of the worlde Note here that Theophilacte doth not onelie folowe and agree with Chrysostome but also he semeth to signifie that yt was a clere matter a plain matter a matter receaued of all men of Chrystes Churche in his time withoute controuersie when he saeth that Chryst in that text spake manifestly of the communion of his bodie A merueilouse matter that that Chryst did speake so manifestlie and of these Fathers was coÌ„ceaued so clerly shoulde nowe a daies be taken of these peruerters of Gods scripturs so obscurelie By this ye maie see that in the cler light they are blinde and can not see For blinde maliciouse ignorance hath vtterlie blinded them Therfore an other daie except in time they repente Sap. 5. they shall saie and lamentablie confesse as in the booke of wisdom ys saied in the persons of soch Errauimus à via veritatis et iustitiae lumeÌ„ noÌ„ illuxit nobis c. We haue erred from the waie of trueth and the light of righteousnes hath not shined to vs and the Sunne of vnderstanding rose not vppe vpon vs. We haue wearied our selues in the waie of wickednesse and destruction Tediouse waies haue we goen but as for the waie of the Lorde we haue not knowen Whiche maner of lamentacion God auerte from them and geue them grace in time to repent that the Sunne of vnderstanding maie rise vpon theme To procead and therby to trie whether soch as haue writen of late years I mene whiche were within these three hundreth years or ther aboute whiche haue ben so vilie estemed of these singular phantasied men of our time did dissent from these elders in the exposition of this scripture And whether the Church these two or three hundreth years last past did otherwise vnderstand the scriptures then the fathers did by the hearing of someone we shall perceaue And to speake here what I thinke verilie I thinke the subtle and craftie conueighance of the Aduersaries and this Proclamer also was and ys to contemne and despise these late authours first bicause they wer as they saie not cloquent and therfore Erasmus moche inueigheth against Lyra. Then these are not auncient and therfor not to be alleaged Last they open theÌ„selues a litle more and saie these authours are not to be alleaged but reiected bicause their doctrine ys not sownd but corrupted And they haue corrupted saie they and peruerted and destroied Gods woord with the inuentioÌ„s of meÌ„ And by this were al the learned writers which were within these sixe or seuen huÌ„dreth years defaced and reiected as S. Tho. Aquinas S. Bonauentura Petrus Lombardus Dionysius Carthusianus Hugo Cardinalis Holcot and N. Lyra Fathers in olde time spake of the mysteries couertlie with a great noÌ„bre mo of that age which are not esteemed nor accepted as of authoritie nor none that haue writen within the compasse of these thousand years can be allowed by some of the Aduersaries And why was this Bicause they wrote so plainlie that they coulde not be wrested As for other Fathers that were before a thousand years though manye of them did writte verie plain as occasion did serue when they did write to christen men Yet oftentimes when they did preache to the people or write to soche as were weake in faith as in those daies the Churche was mingled with those that had not receaued the faithe then bicause PerfectoruÌ„ est solidus cibus strong meat ys for them that be perfecte and Paruulis in Christo lac dandum To â—onglinges in Christe milke ys to be geuen therfore they oftentimes as yt was necessarie that the mysteries of our faithe shoulde not be vttered to them that coulde not beare them did speake of the same couertlie and closelie and therfore they were fain oftentimes to knitte vppe ther talke of the Sacrament with this or like saieng Norunt fideles the faithful do knowe And by like occasion did in manie places write obscurelie in this matter and did not so manifestlie and plainly vtter yt bicause ther was no occasion geuen them by heresie in that matter but all were of one minde in yt hauing most godlie peace and quietnes in the same And therfore the Aduersarie more delighted with obscure places which he thinketh better to drawe to his sence then the plain places whiche will Heretikes â–ª how they alleage the fathers not suffer them selues to be drawen hath laboured to reiecte soche as did write since the Churche was well settled and staied and might therfore write plainly what their faith taught them in this mysterie But cheiffie all them that did write since the time of Berengarius whiche vpon occasion of heresie were enforced to write plainly in this matter But God be praysed the eldest and auncientest Fathers haue yet in diuerse places written so moche in plain maner that yt ys able to conuince and ouerthrowe the heresies of the Aduersaries as partelie ye haue heard allreadie And yet for all the pretensed auncientie they sought refusing these learned men that were within a thousand years yet one of them wolde alleage Like to lik Zuinglius slain in a rebellioÌ„ begoÌ„ by himself an other as Bullinger alleaged Zuinglius in his exposition vpon sainct Paules epistles whiche Zuinglius was so holie and so auncient a father that he was slain in a sedicion raised by him and his disciples against the magistrates of hys contrie And this ys as good a chaung as the heretiks made in the beginning of this wicked time of heresie when they putte the holy saincte and Polycarp put out of the KaleÌ„der Martyr Policarpus that was saincte Iohn the Euangelistes disciple oute of the kalender and putt in the heretike Thomas Hutten that was bournt for heresie Nowe notwithstanding their craftie iniquitie in reiecting these good catholique authours I will vse plain simplicitie in the accepting of them that the trueth which they professe being auncient though the authours be of late daies and the consonancie of these with the most auncient authours in teaching and vttering the same trueth maie be perceaued For yf these of late yeares agree with them of the olde time in the truerh Thautoritie of late writers approued by good reasons and teache the same trueth that thother do what shoulde lette vs to heare them and accepte them Yf none shoulde be receaued but soche as were a thousand years since and soche also as be of this our time shal be refused theÌ„ preachers must ceasse For of what more
authoritie or credite ys he of that teacheth in the pulpet by speaking then he that teacheth by open writing Yf ye will not beleue me writing ye will not beleue me preaching Yf ye wil beleue me preaching for that I speake the trueth by the scriptures and auncient fathers Beleue me also writing the trueth by the scriptures aÌ„d auncieÌ„t fathers And yf these alowed writers of these later daies teach the trueth by the scripturs aÌ„d auncieÌ„t fathers theÌ„ must they neds be receaued And ther for trulie yt ys necessarie that they be alleaged to th eÌ„tent the trueth maie be perceaued to be one throughout all and that they being ioined with the auncieÌ„tes yt maie be seeÌ„ that the same trueth is taught now that was taught a thousand yeares agoÌ„ before And therfor haue I determined not to geue place to this refusall of Heretiques but to alleage the Authours of these later yeares that the coÌ„sonancie and vnitie of the trueth maie be perceaued in all ages and that ther ys no other trueth taught now theÌ„ was taught in the Primitiue Church and the time of the Apostles yea no other trueth then was taught by oure Sauiour Chryst himself and by his holie Spirit the Authour of all trueth Wherby the foule railinges and slaunders which bemost comoÌ„ lie in the mouthes of the enemies maie be taken awaie and they of their vntrueth and malice woorthilie confownded Thus moche I thought good to saie for that in this book I minde to vse the testimonies of these late writers for th entent aboue specified And nowe therfore to Theophilacte the Grecian I shall ioin the learned doctour Nicolaus de Lyra a latin Authour who writing vpon the sixt of S. Iohn cometh to this text Et panis quem ego dabo caro mea est And the bread whiche I will geue ys my flesh and expowndeth yt thus Postquam egit de pane spirituali qui est Verbum hic consequenter agit de pane spirituali qui est Sacramentum After he hath don saieth this Authour of Chryst with the spirituall bread which ys Nico. Lira in 6. Ioan. the woorde here consequentlie he treacted of the spirituall breade whiche ys the Sacrament What dothe this authour dissent from the Fathers dothe he not signifie that Chryste before the sentence so often alleaged did speake of the spirituall bread hys Godhead which he calleth the woord And doth he not now saie that in yt that foloweth Chryst speaketh of the Sacrament These be sufficient to declare the true vnderstaÌ„ding of our Sauiour Chrystes processe and ordre in the sixte of S. Iohn And for that ye perceaue the same aswell after the minde of Chryste the verie texte so leading vs to vnderstand yt as also after the minde of diuerse learned authours I will nowe procead to see the vnderstaÌ„ding of diuerse textes of the rest of this chapiter that treacte of the blessed Sacrament THE FOVRTH CHAPITER BEGINNETH A further proof of the former matter by S. Cyprian and Euthymius THis distinction of these two breades last before mencioned perceaued and being withall remeÌ„bred that at this text The bread which I shall geue ys my â—…esh whiche I will geue for the life of the world Chryst began to speake of the Sacrament and continueth the disputation therof to the ende of the chapiter to proue the same more manifestlie to the Reader and withall to make yt clere that that processe ys not of a figuratiue flesh but of Chrystes verie propre flesh and bodie I will beginne at the same text and so descending to the last by a nombre of the most auncient Fathers of Chrystes Parliament house open both the one and the other I trust to the full contentacion of the godlie Reader The firste that shall shewe hys minde of this matter shall be the holie Martyr Cyprian who saieth thus Panis vitae Christus est panis hic omnium non est sed noster est Et quomodò dicimus Pater noster quia intelligentium credentium pater est sic paneÌ„ nostruÌ„ vocamus quia Christus noster qui eius corpus coÌ„tingimus panis est Hunc autem paneÌ„ dari nobis quotidiè postulamus ne qui in Christo sumus Eucharistiam quotidie ad cibuÌ„ salutis accipimus intercedente grauiore aliquo delicto dum abstenti noÌ„ coÌ„municantes à caelesti pane prohibemur à Christi corpore separemur ipso praedicante monente Ego sum panis vitae qui de caelo descendi Si quis ederit de hoc pane viuet in aeternum Panis quteÌ„ quem ego dedero caro mea est pro seculi vita The bread of life ys Chryst and this breade ys not the breade of all men but yt ys ours And as we do saie Oure Father because he ys the father of all that do beleue and vnderstande Euen so also oure bread call we whiche touche his bodie bicause owre Chryste ys bread This breade we dailie desire to be geuen vs least we which be in Chryst and take the Sacrament dailie to oure meate of health some greuouse offence coming betwene while we being excoÌ„municated and not receauing be forbidden from the heauenlie bread maie be separated from the bodie of Chryste he himself openly saing and teaching I am the bread of life whiche descended from heauen Whosoeuer shal eate of this bread shall liue for euer The bread which I will geue ys my flesh for the life of the worlde Thus moch S. CypriaÌ„ In this sentence I doubte not but ye perceaue that this holy Martyr applieth the sentences of the sixt of S. Iohn to the SacrameÌ„t of Chrystes bodie and blood According to whiche vnderstanding he calleth Chryst our bread S. Cyprian aplieth the sixt of S. Iohn to the Sacrament whom he so calleth not onelie bicause of his Godhead but also bicause he feadeth vs in the Sacrament with his bodie For saieth he we being in Chryste do receaue the Sacrament dailie to the meate of health But yf by sinne we forbeare to receaue the heauenlie bread we be separated from the bodie of Chryste Wherby we maie perceaue that not onelie the sixt of S. Iohn ys to be vnderstanded of the Sacrament But also when S. Cyprian calleth the Sacrament the meat of health the heauenly bread and the bodie we are taught that in the SacrameÌ„t ys the verie presence of that bodie to the which proprelie these goodlie titles maie be wourthilie applied Whiche bodie can be none other but the bodie of Chryst God an man But forasmoch as the faith of this famouse Father and holie Martyr Cyprian in this poinct hath ben notablie and manifestlie declared in sentences before alleaged in the first booke and more herafter shall be spoken I will not nowe trooble the reader with any longer declaracion of the same but will ioin with Cyprian one of the other side of Chrystes Parliament house euen Euthymius a grecian whose sentence Reader yt shall
not repent thee to hear yf thowe desire to knowe the trueth Vpon the text of S. Iohn before treacted of he maketh this exposition Duobus modis dicitur Christus esse panis secundùm diuinitatem scilicet humanitatatem Euthymins in 6. Ioan. Postquam ergo docuit de modo qui secundùm diuinitatem est nunc etiam docet de modo qui est secundùm humanitatem Non autem dixit quem do sed quem dabo Daturus namue erat in vltima coena quando sumptum panem actis gratijs fregit deditue Discipulis ait Accipitt comedite Hoc est corpus meum Chryste ys saied to be bread two waies that ys after his Godhead and after his manhead Therfore when he had taught the maner whiche ys after his Godhead Nowe dothe he also teache the maner whiche ys after hys manhead For he did not saie which I do geue but which I will geue For he wolde geue yt in the last Supper when thankes being geuen he brake the bread which he had taken and gaue yt to the disciples and saied Take eate this ys my bodie What can the Aduersaries saie against so manifest and so plain a sentence Do not their chekes waâ—e red for shame Ys not blind ignorance or deuelish malice to be laied vnto these men that either do not know the learning of so manie great clerlees or ells yf they knowe do so maliciouslie so deuelish lie preferre their owne arrogant phantasies and opinons and presume to saie the contrarie to that so manie in soch sundrie ages declaring also therby the wholcoÌ„seÌ„t of the church through al âges in the same do affirme aÌ„d teach whiche ys that Chryst did treact of and promisse in sixt of Iohn the Sacrament of his bodie and bloode Now gentle Reader wilt thow beleue them in their matters when they be deprehended in soche notable falshead as all the Church doth reprehende them for And yet their falshead shall more appeare by other mo herafter Wherby yt shall most clerely be perceaued that they haue attempted against all trueth to wrest the sixt chapiter of saincte Iohn from the Sacrament And so shalt thowe se howe farre they haue swarued and doo swarue from the treuth THE FIFTH CHAPITER PROCEADETH VPON the same text by saincte Augustin and Chrysostome THat ye maie see more of the vnderstaÌ„ding of this text an other coople shall be produced to shewe yow howe this place of IhoÌ„ ys vnderstanded The first of them shall be famouse Augustine who saieth thus Mensa sponsi tui panem habet integrum poculum sanctuÌ„ quem paneÌ„ etsi fractuÌ„ comminutumue vidimus integrè tamen cum August de cultura agri Dominici ipso suo Patre manet in caelis De quo pane dicit Panis quem ego daho caro mea est pro mun di vita The table of thy spouse hath perfect or pure bread and an holie cuppe Whiche bread although we haue seen broken and bruysed on the crosse yet yt abydeth with that his Father wholl in heauen Of the whiche bread he saieth The bread that I will geue ys my flesh whiche I will geue for the life of the worlde S. Augustine speaking here to the spouse of Chryste saieth that the table of her Spouse or husbande hath a perfect bread The bread on the table of Chryste what ys yt but the Sacrament Of this bread whiche ys the Sacrament in the table of Chryste the same Chryste saieth S. Augustine saieth The bread whiche I will geue ys my flesh By which woordes yt ys ineuitablie manifest that that sentence of S. Iohn ys spoken of the Sacrament But nowe whether yt be spoken of the SacrameÌ„t as of a bare signe which signe as the Aduersaries alleage as other signes likewise dothe but take the name of the thing that yt ys the signe of or no let vs searche by sainct Augustine here Yt ys euident that saincte Augustine here teacheth that yt ys spoken of the verie thing whiche ys signified and not of the bare signe For S. Augustine speaking of the bread and that of one bread dothe declare yt to All one bodie that was broken on the Crosse ys with the Father in heauen and on the altar be and to haue ben in three sundrie places that ys on the table on the crosse and in heauen with his Father The Sacrament that ys the externe signe was neither on the crosse neither ys in heauen Wherfore yt ys the verie bodie of Chryste which was vpon the crosse and ys with the Father in heauen that ys nowe on the table of Chryste For note the saing well and ye shall finde that he speaketh but of one bread For when he had spoken of yt as being on the table he speaketh again of the same by the relatiue saing which bread although we haue seen broken on the crosse A relatiue as the grammarian knoweth maketh rehersall of a thing spokeÌ„ of before Then when he saied whiche he speaketh of the bread on the table So that by S. Augustine that same bread that ys on the table ys yt whiche was broken on the crosse And that that was broken on the crosse ys yt that ys wholle sitting in heauen with the Father Wherbie yt ys consequent that yt ys the same and verie bodie of Chryste that ys on the table that was vpon the crosse and ys at the right hande of God the Father As saincte Augustine in fewe woordes hath pithilie touched that that we here seke namelie that this place of the sixt chapiter of saincte Iohn speaketh of the Sacrament and yet not of the Sacrament as of a bare signe but of the verie bodie of Chryste and of the same dodie by the name of bread spake the sentence The Bread whiche I will geue ys my flesh So I breiflie haue touched and noted the same to yowe hasting to heare the sainges and expositions of Chrysostome vpon the same text Chrysostome after he had in his learned maner declared in his 44 home lie that Chryste spake this texte of S. Iohn which we treact of nowe of his bodie when he cometh to the same in his owne place after he had repreheÌ„ded the Iewes for their incredulitie and slacknes in the beleif of Chrystes woordes saieth that they therfore tooke no profitte of them Illi tunc temporis Chrysost hom 45. in Ioan. nihil ex ijs dictis nos illius beneficij vtilitatem cepimus Quare necessariò dicendum quà m admiranda misteria cur data sint quae eorum vtilitas They at that time tooke nothing by those woordes we haue taken the profitt of the benefitte wherfore necessarilie yt ys to be saied howe wonderfull the misteries be and wherfore they be geuen and what ys the profitt of them These woordes Chrysostome speaketh vpon the woordes of Chryste The bread which I will geue ys my flesh In the whiche woordes forsomuche as Chryste saied he wolde geue his flesh Chrysostom
to maintien his heresie the reader he here vttereth a manifest and shamefull vntruthe and abuseth the Scripture for the maintenaunce of his heresie to wickedlie For he to make the readers beleue that the coming in of Chryste into the house and the goinge of the Apostles out of prison was of one maner saieth that the goinge oute of the Apostles and the coming in of Chryste were bothe the doores being shett Which ys verie false and directlie against the truth of the scripture For as concerning the going oute of the Apostles out of prison Looke the actes of the Apostles and ye shall finde that they went not oute the doors being shett as this man vntrulie reporteth but the doores being open Whiche thing the holie Goste lefte not vndeclared For thus shall ye reade ther The cheif preist rose vppe and all they that were with him which ys the secte of the Saduces and were full of indignacion and laied handes on the Apostles and putt them in the common prison But the Angell of our Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them furth and saied Go and stande and speake in the temple to the people all the woordes of life When they heard that they entred earlie in the morning and taught But the cheif preist came and they that were with him and called a councell together and all the elders of the children of Israell and sent men to the prison to fetch them when the ministers came and fownde them not in prison they returned and tolde saing The prison trulie we founde shette with all diligence and the kepers standing withoute before the doores but when we had opened we fownd no man within In this scripture first note that when the Apostles were committed to prison the Angell of God came by night and opened the doores of the prison and not onelie opened the doores but also brought the Apostles oute Then ys yt false that this man saieth that the Apostles went oute of the prison the doores being shett Trueth yt ys that the doores were made fast again after their departure For the messengers that came in the morning to fetche the Apostles reported that they fownd the doores shet with all diligence and the kepers standing before the doore And herin wolde the holie Goste the miracle to be noted that the Angell opened the prison doores and shett them again and brought furth the Apostles and the kepers standing at the doore perceaued not But yet he wolde not this miracle of their going oute to be like the miracle of Chrystes Cominge in For as touching the Apostles the holie Goste plainly reporteth howe they went oute by the helpe of the Angell opening the doores But in Chrystes coming in ther ys no meanes declared howe he came in but yt ys absolutely spoken Venit Iesus ianuis clausis Iesus came the doores being shette signifieng that he came in Chryst entred in to his Apost the doores being shett more miraculouslie by the power of his Godhead not requiring the aide of the opening of any dore But that ye maie perceaue that I do expownd and vnderstand this facte and miracle of Chryste as the holie fathers doo and that ye maie the better credite the matter ye shall heare howe they vnderstand this place of saincte Iohan. Chrysostom to proue the Mother of Chryste a virgen both before and after his birth alleageth this place and saieth thus Sancta Maria beata Maria mater et Chrysost homil de Ioan. Bapt. virgo Virgo fuit ante partum virgo post partum Ego hoc miror quomodò de virgine virgo natus sit post nationem virginis mater virgo sit Vultis scire quomodò de virgine natus sit post natiuitatem mater ipsa sit virgo Clausa erant ostia ingressus est Iesus Nulli dubiū quin clausa sint ostia qui intrauit per ostia clausa non erat phantasma non erat spiritus verè corpus erat Quid enim dicit Respicite videte quia spiritus carnem ossa non habet sicut me videtis habere Habebat carnes habebat ossa clausa erant ostia Quomodò clausis ostijs intrauerunt ossa caro Clausa sunt ostia intrat quem intrantem non vidimus Vnde intrauit omnia clausa sunt locus non est per quem intret tamen intus est qui intrauit Nescis quomodò factum sit das omnipotentiae Dei Da potentiae Dei quia de virgine natus sit The holie Marie the blessed Marie mother and virgen she was a virgen before birth a virgen after birth I merueil at this howe of a virgen a virgen shoulde be born and after the birth of a virgen the mother shoulde be a virgen Will ye knowe how he was born of a virgen and after the birth howe she was both mother and virgen The doores were shett and Iesus entred in No man doubteth but that the doores were shette He that entred by the shett doors was no phantasie he was no spirit he was verilie a bodie For what saied he Looke and see that a spirit hath no flesh and bones as ye see me haue He had flesh he had bones and the doores were shette Howe did slesh and bones enter the doore being shette The doores be shette and he goeth in whome we sawe not going in How did he go in all thinges are closse ther ys no place by the which he might go in and yet he ys within that went in and yt doth not appeare howe he went in Thowe knowest not and doest referre yt to the omnipotencie of God Geue this also to the omnipotencie of God that he was born of a virgen Saincte Hierom vseth the same argumēt to the same pourpose and saieth Hieron in Apologia cont Jouin. Respondeant mihi quomodò Iesus ingressus est clausis ostijs cùm palpandas manus latus considerandum ossacarnemue monstrauerit ne veritas corporis phantasma putaretur Et ego respondebo quomodò sancta Maria sit mater virgo virgo post partum mater antequà m nupta Let them aunswer me saith saincte Hierom howe Iesus entred in the doores being shette when leste his bodie shoulde be thought a phantasie he shewed both flesh and bones and his handes to be felt and his side to be considered And I will aunswer them howe the holie Marie maie be bothe a mother and a yirgen A virgen before birth a mother before she was knowen of man In bothe these Autours we maie perceaue not onelie by their woordes but also by the argument whiche they make that the doores remained still shette both at the entring in of Chryste in to the house and after that he was entred in wherbie they proue that the clausures of the virginitie in the virgen Marie remained closse both before the birth in the birth and after the birth of Chryste Nowe yf the doores did open at the going
their argumeÌ„tes whiche apparantlie confirmed their sainges Yt ys a verie treuth that Chryst ys both God and man and yet ther were that saied he was not God as Ebion and Cerynthus and ther were that saied he was no man as Eutyches and Dioscorus Yt ys a certen trueth that God the Sonne ys God coequall and consubstanciall to the Father yet Arius saied that he was a creature not equall to the Father in deitie power or maiestie Yt ys an infallible trueth that the holie Goste ys God yet Macedonius taught that he was a creature Yt ys a certen trueth that Chryste suffred death for vs yet ther were that saied that yt was Symon Cyrinensis of whome ther ys mencion made in the Gospell that he bare Chrystes crosse These and an innumerable sorte mo haue all apparant argumentes to make a cowntenance that their doctrines be true and do intermingle in August ho. All false doctrine hath some treuth admixed dede some trueth with their falshead as sainct Augustine saieth Nulla porrò doctriâ—a falsa quae non aliqua vera intermisceat Ther ys no false doctrine that dothe not intermingle some treuth therbie the better to vtter their heresie So of this matter of the presence of Chryste in heauen and in the Sacrament apparant argumentes be made by other Aduersaries to deceaue the people which well weighed and examined haue no force nor weight to proue that they intended As for this Aduersarie the Proclamer as yt ys saied made no argumente in his matter for that he wolde haue the people receaue but his onelie bare proclamacion wherfore to him the aunswere ys soen made But his great master Oecolampadius heapeth vppe in dede a great nombre of Scriptures by quotacion onely which he saieth he shall not nede to alleage Scriptures alleaged against the presence by Oecolamp at large bycause yt ys an article of our faithe that Chryste sitteth at the right hande of the Father Of the which scriptures I will alleadge some that the reader maie both knowe them and also perceaue that they be not against the doctrine of Chrystes Churche as touching the reall presence of Chrystes bodie and blood in the blessed Sacrament In saincte Iohn his gospell we finde written thus Iesus knowinge that this howre was comed that he shoulde go oute of this worlde to the Father c. And in an Joan. 13. other place thus A litle while saieth Chryste and ye shall not see me and a litle Ibid. 16. while and ye shall see me For I go to the Father And in the same place I went furth from the Father and came into the worlde again I leaue the worlde and go to the Father Jbid. Again in an other place And nowe I am not in the worlde and these be in the worlde and I come to thee And in the Actes of the Apostles This Iesus that ys taken from Act. 1. yow into heauen shall so come as ye haue seen him going into heauen These and all other like scriptures that teache vs of Chrystes going to his Father of his exaltacion aboue all poures and soche other we reuerence theÌ„ Phil. 2. we accept them we beleue them we embrace them For they teache vs that which we doo confesse that Chryste ys God that he ys ascended Arsicle of the Ascension impugneth not Chrystes presence in the Sacr. that he ys in glorie But when we confesse this and beleue this doth this take awaie this treuth that Chryste ys verilie present in the Sacrament No in deed For that standeth still as an vntouched truthe neither impugning the other neither impugned of the other And therfore we consesse both to be true For he that saied Vado ad Patrem I go to the Father saied also Hoc est corpus meum Hoc facite This ys my bodie This do ye Wherbie he bothe consecrated his bodie for as Chrysostome saieth Qui enim dixit Chrystome 51. in Mat. I loc est corpus meum rem simul cum verbo confecit He that saied This ys my bodie made the thing together with the woord and also gaue authoritie to his preistes to do the like Whiche thing Luther denieth not Then forasmoche as Chryste willed that this mysterie shall be continued frequented and vsed vntill his comminge in the whiche mysterie by his power ys his bodie we maie not thinke anie contrarietie or repugnaunce in his woordes but beleue that as he ys the verie truthe So ys yt all treu that he hath spoken And as he ys allmightie So ys he able to performe and make good that he hath saied And therfore aught we to beleue both that he ys in heaueÌ„ and also in the Sacrament forasmoch as by his woorde we learn his presence in bothe Yf this our Sauiour Chryste wher naturall knowledge saieth Omne graue ExaÌ„ples of manie thin ges doen by our Sauiour Chryst aboue and contrarie to nature appetit deorsum euerie heauie thinge ys inclined downward coulde yet by his power make the earthlie bodie of Peter whiche was a mere naturall bodie and therfore heauie contrarie to his nature to walke vpon the sea and when yt pleased him to leaue him to his nature to suffer him to sinke and beginne to drowne can not he at his owne pleasure make that blessed bodie of his which ys so excellentlie conceaued and born and therwith vnited to the Godhead in vnitie of person that although yt be a naturall bodie yet yt doth surmounte and ys aboue all nature and naturall bodies can not he I saie at his pleasure demise lett downe or abase that his bodie to the state and condicion of a verie naturall bodie and again at his pleasure exalte and magnifie the same aboue the state of a naturall bodie He did fast fortie daies and fortie nightes and eate no meat whiche Matt. 4. was aboue naturall ordre In the ende of that fast he was hungrie and Jbid. 17. therin he subiected him self to naturall ordre He was transfigured in the Mounte where as yt pleased him he shewed Ioan. 4. his power and made his face to shine as bright as the Sunne and his garmentes white as snowe whiche was aboue the state of a bare naturall man An other time he was wearie of his iourneie whiche was agreable to the nature of man The Iewes came to apprehend him and with the voice of his mouthe Jbid. 18. Jbid. 19. Mat. 27. he threw them all to the grownde Again he abased him self and suffred him self not onelie to be taken of them whom he had so easilie ouer throweÌ„ but also to be buffited and to be scourged and finallie to be crucified What shall I stand in the rehersall of these thinges whiche be so plentifull in the Gospell Therfore to conclude I will saie with Cyrille we maie not thinke of the bodie of Chryste as of the bodie of a bare naturall man but we must thinke of that bodie as of
veritatem in se continet ex quibus conficitur Conficitur autem sacrificium Ecclesiae duobus sacramento re sacramenti id est corpore Christi Est ergo sacramentum res sacramenti This ys yt whiche we saie whiche by all means we labour to Sacrifice of the Church consisteth of the visible formes of breadaÌ„d wine and the inuisible flesh aÌ„d blood of Chryst approue that the Sacrifice of the Churche ys made by two means and consistes of two thinges of the visible forme of the Elementes and the inuisible flesh and bloode of our Lorde Iesus Chryst the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament that ys to saie the bodie of Chryste As the person of Chryst ys of God and man for as moche as he ys very God and very man For euery thing doth contein in yt the nature and trueth of those thinges of the whiche yt ys made The Sacrifice of the Chruche ys made of two thinges of the SacrameÌ„t and the thing of the Sacrament that ys the bodie of Chryst Thus farre S. Augustin Doth he not here in this sentence teache the presence of Chrystes bodie in the SacrameÌ„t yes yf ye note wel he teacheth three thinges by expresse wordes S. August teacheth three thiuges in one sentence against the Sacramentaries whiche the Aduersaries deinie that ys that the Churche hath a Sacrifice that therin ys a sacrament whiche he expowndeth to be the formes of the Elementes that ys of bread and vine that ther ys also present the verie bodie and blood of Chryst which he calleth the thing of the Sacrament bicause yt ys the thing that the Sacrament doth signifie And bycause men shoulde not cauille saing that the bodie and bloode of Chryst be not verilie present but signified He declareth by the similitude of Chrysts person that as verilie as Chryst being God and man hath both the nature of God and the nature of mam So verilie hath the sacrifice of the Sacrament that ys the outwarde formes of bread and wine and the bodie and blood of Chryst Nowe if the Aduersaries will saie that in the Sacrifice of the Churche ther ys not really either the formes of bread and wine or the verie bodie and blood of Chryst then must they likewise saie that in the person of Chryst ther ys not reallie either the nature of man or the nature of God whiche both are to detestable to be spokeÌ„ of the mouthe of a Chrysten man And so trulie ys the other also And yet not coÌ„tented with this similitude which ys abundantlie sufficient he proceadeth to proue the same by this saing Euery thing saieth he conteineth in yt the nature and trueth of the thinges that yt ys made of The Sacrifice of the Churche ys made of the Sacrament and the bodie and blood of Chryst Wherfore S. Augustine thus concludeth vpon this reason Est igitur sacramentuÌ„ res sacramenti corpus Christi Ther ys therfor the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament the bodie of Chryste In these wordes I suppose S. Augustin hath so plainly expressed and declared his faith in this matter that yt can not suffer any other opinion iustlie to be conceaued of him For yf we that haue liued and liue in this time of pestilent heresie wolde against this heresie of the Sacrament studie to deuise to speake or write the plainest woordes that might impugne this heresie and declare fullie our faith we can no more faie nor by better and plainer woordes do the same then saincte Augustin hath here doen. Wherfore what so euer he did speake or write to any partie or parties according to the disposition and condicion of them somtime speaking of the misticall bodie of Chryst signified by this sacrament somtime onely of the spirituall receauing of Chryst somtime darkely for the maner of the audience yet be well assured his faith can not be otherwise for the presence then here ys declared for somoch as these woordes can bear no other sense nor mening then they in the outwarde face do showe Therfore Reader be not caried awaie by the false coÌ„mentes that naughtie men make of S. Augustins woordes For though he speake somtime obscurelie as yt maie appeare to haue a doubtfull vnderstanding as before we ende this chapiter of S. Iohn thowe shalt heare yet for somoche as saincte Augustin had but one faithe whiche ys so plainly here professed and settfurth be well assured that he neuer varieth or goeth from and against this But I tarie to long vpon this seing ther be diuerse cooples mo to be hearde vpon this text THE TWENTETH CHAP. PROCEADETH vpon the same text by sainct Hilarie and Euthymius SAincte Hilarie ys a great auncient of Chrystes house liuinge aboute S. Hilarye coÌ„mended the 360 yeare after Chryste and not onelie auncient but also right excellent in learning and famouslie constant in faithe His excellencie in learning ys not onely testified by saincte Hierom who saieth he wrote manie learned woorkes but also by Rufinus who saieth he was accompted the great light in his time to all Fraunce and Italie His constancie in faith ys well declared that notwithstanding the Emperours and Princes ad manie Bishopps were the fauourers of the heresie of the Arians yet he neither moued with the fauour of mightie and great men neither feared with their punishment or banishment did constantlie resist the saied heresie and also wrote learned bookes against yt This authour writteh thus Li. 8. de Trinitaâ—s Quae scripta sunt legamus quae legerimus intelligamus tunc perfectae fidei fungemur officio De naturali in nobis Christi veritate quae discimus nisi ab eo discimus stultè atque impiè discimus ipse enim ait Caro mea verè est esca sanguis meus verè est potus Qui edit carnem meam bibit sanguinem meum in me manet ego in eo De veritate carnis sanguinis non est relictus ambigendi locus Nunc enim ipsius Domini professione fide nostra verè caro est et verè sanguis est Et haec accepta atque bausta id efficiunt vt et nos in Christo et Christus in nobis sit Let vs read those thinges that be written and soche thinges as we read let vs vnderstand and then shall we perfectelie do the office of our faith Soche thinges as we learn of the naturall Of the veritie of Chrystes flesh and blood in the Sacr. ther ys no doubt veritie of Chryst in vs except we learn of him we learn foolishlie and vngodlie For he doth saie My flesh ys verilie meat and my blood ys verilie drinke He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Of the veritie of the flesh and bood ther ys no place left to doubte For nowe both by the plain speaking of our Lorde him self and by our faith yt ys verilie flesh and verilie bloode And these
in Chrysostome and Theophilact Wherfor comminge to them remembre this and conferr thē to gether and thowe shalt finde good matter and agreable to the trueth of this assercion THE ONE AND TVENTETH CHAPITER CONTInueth the same exposition by Chrysostome and Lira WHeras ye haue hitherto hearde the sentēces of the Fathers and auncientes of the higher house vpon this text nowe in hande Herafter for the better declaracion of the consonāt doctrine of this trueth in all times and for the more confusion of the Aduersaries who so maliciously haue depraued the writers of the later time I will as before ys promised ioin to some of the elder sort some of the yōger Of the whiche the first coople shall be Chrysostome and Lira the one a grecian Homil. 40. in Joan. Chryst in the sixt of S. John spake not para bolicallie or obscurelie and of the higher house the other a latin and of the lower howse as ye haue heard Chrysostome vpon this text saieth thus Quid autem signat Caro mea verè est cibus sanguis meus verè est potus Aut quòd is est verus cibus qui saluat animam aut vt eos in praedictis confirmet ne obscurè locutum in parabolis arbitrarentur What meneth this sainge My flesh ys verilie meat and my bloode ys verilie drinke Either that this ys the true meat that saueth the soule or ells that he might confirme them least they shoulde thinke that he had spoken obscurelie in parables Wher note that Chrysostome saieth that Chryst did speake these woordes in plain speache and not darkelie in paraboles Whiche saing wonderfully confuteth the Aduersaries For yf Chryst did not speake parabolicallie then he ment that the woordes shoulde signifie no other thing then in their propre significacion they do signifie and then must yt nedes be that Chryst spake here of his very flesh and of his very blood with oute all obscuritie or darke maner of speache by figures tropes similitudes or paraboles whiche the Aduersaries wolde here ensparse My flesh is meate in dede and my blood is drinke in dede ys no obscure speache nor no figuratiue speache saieth Chrisostome let the Aduersaries then wrest and wring and peruert the scriptures as they list I will creditt holy Chrysostom and the churche that he liued in before anie of the Aduersaries and their malignāt church whiche they liue A a plain saing of Chrysost for M. Iuel in Yf the Proclamer will not saie that this ys a plain saing when ther ys no parbole in yt I knowe not what he will saie ys plain these woordes being of them selues so plain Nowe whether the exposition of Lira who was of the latin Churche and of the later daies be consonant and agreable to Chrysostome or not let vs heare vpon the same text he saieth Hic ostenditur buius Sacramenti veritas Christus enim frequēter parabolicè Discipulis loquebatur Et ideo ne crederent quòd caro eius cotinere Lira in 6. Ioann tur in hoc sacramento Eucharistiae tantummodò sicut in signo ideo hoc remouet dicens Caromea uerè est cibus quia hic sumitur realiter non figuratiuè Et eodem modo est de sanguine sub specie vini ideo subdit Et sanguis meus verè est potus Dicitur ctiam caro Christi verè cibus sanguis eius verè potus quia reficiunt animam quae est immortalis Cibus autem corporalis tantùm reficit corpus quod est corruptibile Here ys shewed saieth Lira the veritie of this Sacrament For Chryst oftentimes did speake to his disciples parabolicallie And therfor leest they shoulde beleue that this flesh were conteined in this Sacrament onely as in a figure he remoueth that saing my flesh ys verily meat For yt ys here receaued really and not The flesh of Chryst in the Saeaten reallie not figurat figuratiuely And after the same maner ys yt of the bloode vnder the forme of wine The flesh of Chryst ys also called meat in dede and his bloode drink in dede bicause they refresh the soule whiche ys immortall But corporall meat refresheth onelie the bodie whiche ys corruptible Thus he Remembre Reader the exposition of Chrysostome wherin he saied two thinges The one that Chryst saieth that his flesh ys verily meat bicause yt faueth the soule The other that Chryste so saied bicause he wolde confirme them in the forsaied thinges that he did not speake in paraboles And nowe conferr this authour to him and see yf he speake anie other thing but euen the same two thinges that Chrysostom did For wher Chrysostome saieth that yt ys the true meat that saueth the soule This authour saieth that the bodie of Chryst ys called verily meate and his bloode verily drink bicause they refresh the soule whiche ys immortall Chrysostome saieth that Chryst wolde shewe him self not to speake nowe in paraboles This authour more at large saieth that bicause Chryst did oftē speake parabolicallie leaste they shoulde thinke or beleue that his flesh were conteined in the Sacrament as in a signe onlie therfor he remoueth that saing that this flesh ys verily meat bicause yt ys receaued really and not figuratiuely Thus ye see agreement betwen these authours and one trueth spoken here amost by one maner of woordes of him that did write aboue a thousande yeares agone and of him that did write not fullie three hōdreth years agon Wherby ye maie perceaue that the same doctrine hathe ben continued and taught in these latter years by writers of late time whiche was receaued and taught in the churche in auncient time as touching thexposition of this scripture we haue in hande THE TVO AND TVENTETH CHAP. CONTInueth yet thexposition of the same text by S. Cyrill and Dionise AS in the chapter last before ye hearde one coople farre distant in time of ther lifes but consonant in sownde of their faithe So shall ye in this chapter heare an other coople the one very auncient the other of later time likewise agreablie declaring their faith and opening the right sense of our text nowe yet in hande This coople shall be Cyrill and Dionise the Carthusian the one of the greke churche the other of the latin churche as they before alleadged were S. Cyrill saieth thus Vmbram figuram nosti Disce ipsam rei veritatem Caro enim mea inquit verè est cibus sanguis meus verè est potus Rursus distinguit inter Li. 4. ca. 16. in Joā mysticam benedictionem Manna aquarum fluenta ex lapide calicis sancti communicationem ne magis Mannae miraculū admirentur sed ipsum potius suscipiant qui caelestis panis est aeternae vitae largitor Mannae namque alimentum non aeternam vitam sed breue famis remedium attulit Non erat ergo ille verus cibus Sanctū verò Christi corpus ad immortalitatem vitam aeternam nutriens
iust cause to mistrust them and flie from them And cleaue to that cōpanie wher ye see the auncient trueth taught by auncient fathers as here ye haue doen And not by prowde arrogant will as the other haue doen flie from the trueth Their doctrine ys to be suspected that flie from the common vnderstanding of the scripture receaued in the Churche as yt ys nowe to be perceaued that these singular men haue doen by their single sigularitie As our Sauiour Chryst saied to the Iewes Si non venissē locutus eis non fuissē peccatū non haberent Nunc autem excusationem non habent de peccato suo Yf I had not Ioan. ca 15. comed and not spoken vnto them they shoulde haue had no sinne but nowe they haue no excuse of their sinne Yf then soche as haue heard the woorde of Chryste teaching thē his promesse of the geuing furth of his verie bodie and bloode and do not beleue yt haue no excuse to saue them frō eternall dānacion moche more when they haue the same woorde expownded and declared by the holie Churche of the whiche the holie Gost ys the master the guide and leader in to all trueth and yet wil persist in peruerting the scriptures and through arrogancie will credit none but them selues they be not onely voide of all excuse but their damnacion ys greatlie encreased Wherfore ye that haue erred staie and looke vppe in time beholde all the chrystiā worlde professing Gods true faith and religiō and come to the same Lurke not in the corners of darkenesse whiche will bring yowe to extreā darknesse but com to the light which Chryst hath lefte in his Churche which shall lighten yowe the waie to that light that euer hath shewed and shined and neuer was darkned nor shadowed THE ONE AND FOVRTETH CHAP. BEGINneth the exposition of these woordes of Chryst This ys my bodie after the minde of the Aduersaries GReate and manifolde are the maliciouse inuencions and deuiseis of the graund enemie of mankind against the same Whiche enemie perceauing man to be in that state to come and enioie the glory and felicitie that he was fallē frō enuied him and subtellie vnder the countenāce or pretēte of a cōmodtie brought him to a most miserable incōmoditie vnder the colour of their aduaūcemēt dignitie and great exaltaciō he wrought vnto thē their deiectiō ouerthrowe and dānacion Ye shall not die saieth the enemie to the womā but God doth knowe that the same daie that ye eate therof yower eies shall be opened and ye shal◠be as Gods knowing good and euel To whiche his perswasiō and false assertiō the womā geuing place by to light Gen. 3. creditte seing also the fruit of the tree to be delectable and pleasaunt to the eies not regarding the certē and most true woorde of her Lorde God who before had saied that in what daie they did eate of the tree of the knowledge of good and Jbid. 2. euell that they shoulde die the death she tooke of the forbidden fruit and did eate therof and gaue to her husbande who did eate of yt also and so not beleuing the woorde of their Lorde God but transgressing his commaundemēt they were not onely expelled oute of that pleasaunt garden of Paradise but also being fallen vnder the heauie burden of gods wrathe and iustice were nowe banished from the eternall felicitie and glorie of heauen and made bonde to hell and euerlasting damnacion Euen so the same enemie seing the chrystiā people redemed with Chrystes most preciouse bloode and restored to that felicitie and ioie whiche by his Temptaciō of our first parentes and of Christians in these daies compared meās he had once caused thē to lose ād that they were nowe quiet ād in godlie order in the eartlie Paradise of Chrysts Church he not bearing their happinesse in the vnitie of faith and godlie cōuersaciō hath vsed his like subtletie and craft to make vs trāsgresse the cōmaundemēt of our lorde God as he did our first Parētes to the entēt he wolde cause vs to be banished frō the inheritāce of the glorie of God wherunto by Chrystes bloode we are made free And will ye see howe like his subtilties be Owre first Parentes had an order appointed to thē what meat they shoolde eate in the Paradise wher they liued The builder of our Paradise hath appoincted vs what the meat shall be that we shall eate saing Take eate this ys my bodie The enemie tempted them to breake their order about their meat and foode he tempteth vs to breake our order about our meat and foode Their meat was the fruit of euerie tree in Paradise sauing the tree of knowledge of good and euell God saing Of euerie tree that ys in the gardē thowe shalt eate but as touching the Gen. 2. tree of knowledg of good and euell thowe shalt not eate of yt Owre meat in the Paradise of Chrystes Churche ys his verie bodie and bloode he him self saing Take eate this ys my bodie Take drinke this my blood The enemie not withstāding gods owne saing to our Paretes In what daie soeuer ye eate of that tree ye shall die the death he directlie cōtrary saied Ye shall not die The same enemie notwithstāding Chrystes owne saing This ys my bodie This ys my blode directlie cōtrarie saieth yt ys not his bodie yt ys not his bloode yt ys but a peice of bread but a cuppe of wine figures signes or tokēs of his bodie and his bloode and to cōpasse that this his perswasion and assertiō maie be receaued as to our first parētes he saied that yf there did eate of that fruict they shoulde be as Gods knowing both good and euell pretēding a great cōmoditie so nowe he saied Esteem this no better thē a peice of bread ād a cuppe of wine and not as the bodie and bloode of Chryst For so foramoch as Chrystes bodie ys in heauen and therfor can not be here ye shall not cōmitte idolatrie whych ys yower great commoditie And as to the furtherance of the temtacion of owre Parētes the pleasing of their senseis in seing the fruict fair and pleasaunt and not regarding the woorde of their Lorde God did moche prouoke thē so in this our tēptaciō he willeth vs not regarding the woorde of Chryst our Lorde God to folowe the pleasant iudgemēt of our sensies And for somoche as we see nothing but bread and wine we tast nothing but bread and wine we feell nothing but bread and wine Therfore we must beleue nothing to be ther but bread and wine By whiche maner of iudgement we are moche prouoked the sooner to assent to his temptacion Nowe if we so assent and eate of the meate which the enemie perswadeth vs to eate of and not of the meat whiche our Lorde and God hath appoincted we shall not onely be expelled oute of this Paradise of Chrystes Church by the Angell of God but also being disherited frō the inheritāce of
of the scripture refuseth tropes and figures and enforceth to accept the propre sense onelie Wherfore chrystian Reader beware of that flattering contenaunce and deceiptfull lieng of the olde serpent Sathan flie the hissing of the vipers be not caried awaie with light creditte as our first parentes were therby to creditte the deuel and discreditte God But knowe the one to be thie enemie and feare him knowe the other to be thy Lorde God thy Sauiour and Redemer and embrace him Of the which matter harke farder to the godlie saing of Rupertus Accipe inquit comedite Hoc est corpus meum Et alibi Qui manducat carnem meam bibit sanguinem meum in me manet ego in eo Cùm haec dicit agnus Dei oportunè nobis ad memoriam recurrit illud quod dixit serpens imo per serpentem Diabolus hostis bumani generis Accipite comedite eritis sicut dij Optimae spectabiles valdè propositiones Ille serpens erat iste agnus est Ille vetus peccator iste antiquut creator Ille spiritu Diaboli falsum sibilans iste spiritu Dei verum euangelizaus Ille de ligno non suo raptor optulit Iste de corpore sanguine suo largitor dedit Ille quod non habebat mendaciter promisit eritis inquiens sicut dij Iste quod habebat quod semper naturaliter habet fideliter dedit vt simus dij dum manet ipse in nobis Illi tandem nephandissimè creditum est plusquam Deo Credatur è contrario buic Deo si non plus at saltem quantum creditum est illi Diabolo Creditum est enim quod illi pomo inesset quod non videbatur scilicet vis deos efficiendi Credatur buic Sacramento inesse quod non videtur videlicet veritas carnis sanguinis valens efficere nos corporales Vnigenito filio Dei. Hoc enim ratio vel ordo iustitiae exposcit Accipite ergo inquit comedite Accipere est fideliter credere cum gratiarum actione diligere compatienti affectu corporis huius traditionem sanguinis huius effusionem respicere Hoc fieri non potest nisi priùs reijciaturid quod ab illo malè acceptum est Illud igitur mendacium execrantes hanc veritatem accipite approbate amplectimini contra cibum mortis panē comedite vitae eternae calicem bibite salutis perpetuae He saieth mening Chryst take Conference of Chrystes woordes and the serpents and eate this ys my bodie and in an other place He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloode dwelleth in me and I in him When the lambe of God saieth these thinges yt cometh in due time to our memorie that the serpent saied or raither by the serpent the Deuell the enemie of man kinde Take and eate and ye shall be as Gods Goodlie and verie notable propositions He was a serpent this ys a lambe He an olde offender this an auncient creatour He by the spirit of the Deuel hissing oute an vntrueth this by the spirit of God preaching a trueth He a theeif gaue of the fruit that was not his This a right geuer gaue of his owne bodie and bloode He falsely promised that that he had not ye shall saieth he be as Gods This trulie gaue that he had whiche allwaies naturallie he hathe that ys that we maie be Gods forsomoche as he dwelleth in vs. Vnto him neuer the lesse most wickedly was geuen more credit then to God Vnto this cōtrarie wise let credit be geuen being God yf not more yet at the least as moche creditte as was geuē to the Deuell For yt was beleued that to be in that apple whiche was not sein that ys to saie power to make Gods Let yt be beleued to be in the Sacrament that ys not seen that ys to saie the veritie of the flesh and bloode of Chryst able to incorporate vs to the onely begottē Sonne of God Thus moche reason or ordre of iustice dothe require Take therfore saieth he and eate To take ys faithfully to beleue with thankes geuing To take Chrystes bodie what yt ys to loue with a compatient affection to beholde the deliuerance of this bloode This cā not be doen except that be reiected that of the enemie was euel receaued Detesting therfor that lie receaue approue and ēbrace this trueth and against the meat of death eate ye the bread of euerlasting life and drinke the cuppe of euerlasting saluacion Thus being by this good Father admonished of the true vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes I will nowe make the same plain before thine eyes by the testimonie of a nombre of holie Fathers to the whiche good Reader I praie thee geue good heede THE THREE AND FOVRTETH CHAP. BEGINNETH to prooue the vnderstanding of Chrystes forsaied woordes not to be figuratiue by the anthoritie of the Fathers And first by Alexander and Instinus FOrsomoche as the misunderstanding of the woordes of the supper of Chryst hath and doth maintein great and lamētable contencion among soche as professe Chrystes name and the right vnderstāding of the same ought to be the occasion of the restitucion of peace and concorde Let yt not greiue thee gentle Reader though I tarie somwhat long vpon this text in producing manie holie Fathers of Chrysts schoole who shal teache vs howe these woordes This ys my bodie were ther taught to be vnderstanded and therby shall do vs to witte what ys the enacted trueth of Chrystes Parliament house as touching this matter nowe among chrystian men in controuerfie For the plain declaracion wherof I shall produce manie of the eldest Fathers and fewe I trust that do treact of these woordes being of any fame or authoritie shall be omitted And for a speciall note to discerne the trueth from falsheade the scholers of Chryst from the scholers of Sathan and the graue and constant staied Senatours of Chrystes Parliament house from the light and vauering whisperers of the Conciliables of Sathan Marke and note well that as in the one and fourteth chap. ye haue pceaued the sectes of Sathan are merueillouslie dissected and by great and fowle contencion amōg them selues diuided So shall ye perceaue that Chrystes disciples are vnited all of one minde all of one vnderstanding all speaking one thing in full peace and perfect concorde Remembre that the high scholers and cheif noble men of Chrystes Parliament honse I meen the foure Euāgelistes and S. Paule so agree that among them there ys no one title spoken of the Aduersaries tropes and figures but euery one of them testifie the matrer plainlie leauing the woordes in their propre sense So shall ye see all this noble companie of Fathers doo Let vs then in Chrystes name heare them vtter what ys the enacted trueth of the vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes Although ther are right auncient Fathers that doo verie no tablie declare and testifie the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode in the Sacrament as Martialis
astruant si haec vniuersalis Ecclesiae fides vera ad salutem non extitit aut nunquam catholica fuit aut perijt Sed aut non fuisse aut perijsse Ecclesiam nemo catholicus consenserit Nam cùm Ecclesia Prophetia Euangelijs instituta sit vbi est quod Abrahe veritas promisit In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes Itemue vbi est quòd eadem veritas Apostolis ait Docete omnes gentes qui crediderit saluus erit Cùm enim onmes gentes ita se credere glorientur si salutis benedictione carent vtrobique veritas Dei in prophena in Euangelio perichtatur Euen the same that Chryst did testifie of the veritie of his bodie did Peter testifie also and hicause he spake for the other Apostles the other Apostles testifie with him What then can more assuredlie be saied of the veritie of the bodie and bloode of Chryst in the Sacrament except we wolde see the verie same flesh with our eies In whiche thing yet our Lorde hath not left vs but hath in all poinctes holpen our litle faith For although by the testimonies of Chryst him self and so manie holie men and also by the catholique faith of the vninersall Churche which from the beginning of her conuersion hath so beleued and ys so saued yt be sufficiently taught or auouched that the verie flesh of Chryst and his verie bloode be sacrificed in our Lordes table The vniuersal Church from the beginning of her conuersion hathe euer beleued the presence and sacrisice leest yet anie ouerwhart man shoulde otherwise vnderstande or expownde yt ther haue ben doen of God certain miracles agreable to this our faith when or wher or to whom he hath vouchesaif to reuele the mysterie Which truly to be doen no man shall be ignorant that shall read the workes of the holie Fathers whiche do testifie that the Sacrament of the bodie and bloode of Chryst the formes of bread and wine taken awaie to haue shewed yt self flesh and blood in his naturall forme as yt ys wont to be Seing then the faithfull that be past and goen and they also that be nowe liuing in euery place of the worlde do this beleue and this teache Yf this faith of the vniuersall Churche be not a true faithe to saluacion then either the Church was neuer catholique or ells yt hath or ys perished But that the Church hath not ben or that yt hath decaied or perished no man that ys The church neuer yet perished catholique will consent For forsomoche as the Churche was sette vppe bothe with Prophecies and Gospells wher ys that that the trueth promised to Abraham In thy seed shall all nacrons be blessed Likewise also wher ys that that the same trueth saieth to the Apostles Teach all nacions he that shall beleue shall be saued Forasmoch then as all nacions glorie that they so beleue yf they arteign not the blessing of saluacion the trueth of God in both partes both in prophecie and in the Gospell ys in daunger Thus farre Algerus By whose testimonie ye see that the vniuersall Church professed this faithe of the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode in the Sacrament which faith was good to saluacion or ells we must saie that ther was neuer anie catholique Church or ells yf ther were anie that yt ys decaied perished and goen Which maie not be saied For Chrystes Churche abideth for euer And as all the Churche beleued Chryst in the Sacrament to be present so no doubte they adored him ther whom they knewe ther to be present Before this Authour was Paschasius more then twoo hundreth yeares Who reporteth the same faith vniuersallie to be professed in the Churche of Chryst vntill his time of all that trulie beleued in Chryst Thus he writeth Discant diuinis verbis in omnibus acquiescere in nullo de ijs dubitare quia vsque in praesens nemo in â—ijs errasse legitur nisi qui de Christo errauerit Quin potiùs admiremur profundissimum Dei consilium quòd magni consilij Argelus instituit qui vult omnes saluos fieri homines Admiremur saudemus atque mâ—elligamus in his quòd beatus Hilarius intellexit quo artificio vt ita loquar nos Christus in se collegit vel quo mysterio vnum in se nos esse naturaliter voluit non per concordiam solummodò voluntatis sed per naturam carnis suae sanguinis Ideo verum est quod Ambrosius ait sanctissimus Quia ipsa eademue caro est sanguis quam accipimus communicamus quae nata est de Maria quae pro nobis pependit in cruce Vnde si quis negat hoc ita esse quia Sacramentum vocatur erit ei sicut sanclus Augustmus testatur mors non vita qui mendacem putauerit vitam Et quia Christus suum dicit esse corpus suumue sangumem non oportet etsi carneis non videmus oculis quod credimus mente dubitare in aliquo Audiuimus quid sanctus Cyrillus cum vniuersis coepiscopis in Epheso congregatis sentiat Quid Graecia cum ijsdem quid Aegyptus sanctus Hieronymus presbiter Et ideo quamuis ex hoc quidam ex ignorantia errent nemo tamen adhuc est in aperto qui hoc ita esse contradicat quòd totus orbis credit confitetur Quapropter charissime nihil in hoc dubites mysterio quod veritas-Christus de se largitus est nohis quia etsi sedet in dextra Patris in caelis non dedignatur suo sacramento quotidiè per manus sacerdotis vt vera hostia non infidèliter sed fideliter immolari Let them learn to agree to the woorde of God in all thinges and in no one poinct to doubte For vnto this present no man ys redde to haue erred but he that hath erred aboute the person of Chryste But raither let vs reuerence the depe secrettes of God whiche the Angell of great secret hath instituted who will all men to be saued Let vs honoure and praise and also vnderstand in these thinges that Sainct Hilarie hath vnderstanded by what workmanshippe or cunning yf I maie so spcake Chryst hath gathered vs into him or by whatmysterie he wolde vs naturally to be one in him not onely by concorde of will but also by the nature of his flesh and bloode Therfor yt ys true that the most holie Ambrose saied that yt ys the same Notable proues of the reall presence verie flesh and bloode whiche we receaue and communicate whiche was born of Marie and which hanged for vs vpon the Crosse Wherfore who soeuer denieth this so to be bicause yt ys called a Sacrament yt shall be to him as Sainct Augustine dothe testifie death and not life that will thinke life to be a liar And bicause Chryst doth saie yt to be his bodie and bloode although we doe not see yt with our fleshlie eies that we beleue with
owre minde we maie not doubte of yt in anie point We haue hearde what S. Cyrill with all his felowbishoppes gathered together in Ephesus dothe beleue what Grece doth with them What Aegipt and also Sainct Hierom the preist And therfore although some maie erre of ignorance ther ys no man yet hitherto that openlie against saieth this so to be whiche the worlde dothe beleue and confesse Wherfore derely beloued doubte nothing in this mystery which Chryst the trueth hath of him self graunted vnto vs. For although Chryst sitteth in heauē and yet ys dailie sacrificed by the preist he sitteth at the right hande of his Father in heauen he disd meth not dathe by the handes of the preist in the Sacrament as a true sacrifice not vntrulie to be sacrificed Thus farre Paschasius See ye not the faith of the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode in the Sacrament stande vntouched and not shaken with anie heresie against saing yt openlie vntill the time of this writer Perceaue ye not Sainct Hilarie Sainct Ambrose Sainct Augustine Sainct Cyrill with all the Bishopps in the Councell at Ephesus whiche were foure hundreth and eightene Sainct Hierom also all Grece and Aegipt and finallie that the wholl worlde in this writers time did so beleue and so confesse The cause why the Proclamer denieth the Sacrament to be adored ys that he The Proclamer impugneth adoraciō of the Sacr. bicause he beleueth not reall presence denieth also Chrystes bodie and bloode to be ther. But yf that blindenesse of heresie taken from his heart he coulde by pure and clere faith see that blessed bodie ther ther ys no doubte but he wolde adore yt Euen so forasmoche as all the worlde with godlie confession acknowledged Chrystes presence in the Sacrament euen the same that was born of Marie as Sainct Ambrose saieth whiche Chryst ys of all Chrystians humblie to be adored and honoured who can doubte but that they wher they beleued him to be ther they honoured him Before this Authour was Leo more then foure hundreth yeares For he liued aboute the yeare of owre Lorde 452. and so more then eleuen hundreth yeares agone in whose time what the faith of Chrystes Churche was in the matter of the blessed Sacrament ye shall heare him reporte Separentur buiu smodi a sanctis membris corporis Christi neque sibi catholica libertas infidelium Leo Epi. 22 ad Costant iugum patiatur imponi Extra enim domum diumae gratiae extra Sacramentum habendi sunt salutis humanae qui negantes naturam nostrae carnis in Christo Euangelio contradicunt Symbolo reluctantur Nec sentiunt se in hoc praeruptum sua obcaecatione deduci vt nec in passionis Dominicae nec in resurrectionis veritate consistant quiae vtrumque in saluatore vacuatur si in eo nostri generiscaro non creditur In quibus isti ignorantiae tenehris in quo hactenus desidiae torpore iacuere vt nec auditu descerene nec lectione agnoscerent quod in Ecclesia Dei in omnium ore tam consonum est vt nec ab insantium linguis veritas corporis sanguinis Christi inter communis Sacramenta fidei taceatur quia in illa mystica distributione spiritualis alimontae hoc impertitur hoc sumitur vt accipientes virtutem caelestis cibi in caruem ipsius qui caro nostra factus est transeamus Let soche maner of men be diuided from the holie membres of Chrystes bodie neither let the catholique libertie suffre the yocke of infidelitie to be Eutyches and Diose their heres putte vpon yt Theie are to be accompted oute of the house of Gods grace and oute of the Sacrament of mans health whiche denieng the nature of our flesh in Chryst do bothe speake against the Gospell and striue against the Symboll Neither do they perceaue them selues through their blindenesse to be brought into soche daunger that they can not abide in the veritie neither of our Lordes passion neither of his resurrection For both these be voide in our Sauiour yf the flesh of our kinde be not beleued in him In what darkenesse of ignorance in what sluggishnes of sloothe hath these men hitherto lien in that neither by hearing they coulde learn neither by reading they coulde knowe that in the Churche of God in the mouthe of all men ys so agreablie spoken that not asmoche as of the tounges of infantes the veritie of the bodie and bloode of Chryst among the Sacramentes of the common faithe ys vnspoken of For in that mysticall distribution of the spirituall foode this bodie ys geuen furth this bodie ys receaued that receauing the vertue of that heauenly meate we maie be made his flesh who was made our flesh Thus Leo. Of this Authour also being both auncient and holy ye perceaue yt testified Veritie of the bodie and bloode of Chryst st◅en of by the tounges of babes that the veritie of the bodie and bloode of Chryst in the Sacrament was so certenly beleued and so commonlie receaued that yt was not onelie confested by the mouthes of all men but also yt was spoken by the mouthes of babes And here with all note that this Authour doth merueill at Eutyches and Dioscorus and their adherentes howe they coulde denie Chryst to be a verie man seing that all Chrystian people confessed the naturall bodie of Chryst God and man to be in the Sacrament For confessing the veritie of his bodie and bloode which thinges be not of the nature of the godhead yt must nedes folowe that they confesse the nature and bodie of his manheade and so Chryst to be very man Thus ye maie perceaue that the prefence of Chrystes verie bodie and The reall presence so certenlie beleued that auncient Fathers made argumēt therof to cōfute heresies bloode in those daies was reputed esteemed and beleued so certen so sure and so vndoubted a matter of faith that learned men did vse yt as a stronge argument to confute and conuince diuerse heresies For as this Authour did vse yt against the heretikes of his time So did Irenaeus and Hylarius whiche were long before him against the heretiques of their times Whiche they wolde neuer haue doen yf in their times also the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament had not ben a clere matter oute of all controuersie and receaued of all aswell heretiques as catholiques as a substanciall poinct of their faithe whervpon an argument might be well grownded Nowe ye haue hearde the presence of Chrystes bodie testified to haue ben receaued of all the chrystian Churche from this our time to the time of Leo and before his time as by Paschasius yt ys aboue reported to the time of Sainct Hilary And so to the time of Irenaeus who was the Jn catolog script disciple of Polycarpus as Sainct Hierom witnesseth which Polycarpus was disciple of Sainct Iohn the Euangelist so neare was this man to the Apostles time This discourse haue
Chryst deliuered to his Apostles his own bodie Of these verseis this maie be the sense in english When Chryste had thus saied he tooke bread in his handes and when he had geuen thankes he diuided yt to his Disciples and taught them that he deliuered vnto thē his owne bodie And after that our Lorde tooke the cuppe filled with wine he sanctifieth yt with thankes geuing and geueth yt to them to drinke and teacheth them that he hath geuen them his blood and saieth This bloode shall remitte the Sinnes of the people Drinke ye this my bloode c. This Authour setting furth the historie of the Gospell in verse and therwith oftentimes geuing vs with the historie the sense and vnderstanding of yt dothe euen so here For he dothe not onely saie that Chryst saied Thys ys my bodie but geueth the vnderstanding of yt saing that Chryst taught his Apostles that he deliuered vnto them his owne bodie In whiche maner of speache note this also that he saieth not onelie that Chryst deliuered them his bodie But addeth this woorde owne and saieth that he taught them that he deliuered to them his owne bodie Whiche maner of speach hath soche force and strenght with yt that as yt declareth the catholique saith and geueth great testimonie of the same so yt beateth and driueth awaie the wicked glose of onely figures and signes inuented by the Aduersaries to peruert the trueth For what more plain testimonie wolde we desire for the vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes then to saie that when Chryst saieth Take eate this ys my bodie that he taught his Apostles that he gaue them his owne bodie A plain saing for the Procla Thus maie yow see that for the catholique faith yow haue plain testimonie for the heresie of the Aduersarie yow haue not one woorde For I assure yowe of this as partlie before ys saied ther ys not one catholique writer neither olde nor yong from Chryst to Berengarius that euer taught or wrote that the Sacrament ys onely a figure or signe of the bodie of Chryst And therfor Reader looke to thie self be not caried awaie from Chrystes faith with onely bragges and glosing woordes voide of all good proofe But raither settle thy self wher thowe findest the trueth sett furth to thee with simplicitie and plainnesse commended with moche proofe and authoritie But hauing yet manie mo wittnesses let me hast me to bring him that ys appoincted to be this authours yockfelowe to declare the continuance of the vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes in the greke churche as the other hath doen in the latin churche This ys Eusebius Emisenus who by the supptacion of learned men liued in the same time that Iuuencus did He writeth thus Recedat omne infidelitatis ambiguum quoniam quidem qui author est muneris ipse est etiam testis veritatis Nam inuisibilis sacerdos visibiles creaturas in substantiam corporis sanguinis sui verbo suo secreta potestate conuertit ita dicens Hoc est corpus meū Et sanctificatione repetita Accipite bibite ait Hic est sangnis meus Let all doubte Euseb Emis Homil 5. Pa. Visible bread and wine turned into the substance of the bodie and blood of Chryst of insidelitie or vnbeleif departe For truly he that ys the authour of the gifte he also ys the wittnesse of the trueth For the inuisible preist by his secret power dothe with his woorde conuert or turne the visible creatures into the substance of his bodie and bloode saing thus Take and eate This ys my bodie and the sanctificacion repeted Take and drinke saieth he this ys my bloode In this saing of Eusebius ther ys no soche darke maner of speache that the reader nede to doubte of the true presence of Chryste in the Sacrament or howe to vnderstand the woordes of Chrystes supper seing that he so plainlie saieth that Chryste whom he calleth the inuinsible preist with his power and woorde saing This ys my bodie This ys my bloode turneth the visible Reall presence and transubstātiaciō plainlie auouched by Euseb Emis creatures of bread and wine into the substance of his bodie and bloode Yf they be turned into the substance of his bodie and bloode as by the testimonie of this authour they trulie be then these woordes Corpus sangnis bodie and blode in the sainges of Chryst doe not signifie the figures of the bodie and bloode of Chryst but the substance of the bodie and bloode of Chryste into which substance to make the bodie and blood verilie present the creatures of bread and wine be turned and so Chryst saing This ys my bodie this ys my blood yt ys asmoch as he had saied This ys the substāce of my bodie this ys the substance of my blood This doctrine ys so certen so sure and so true that this authour gaue exhortacion and admoniciō in the beginning of his saing that in this matter ther should be no doubte all vnbeleife should departe and so faithfullie to beleue Chrystes woordes that forasmoch as he ys the authour of all trueth and saieth This ys my bodie This ys my blood vndoubtedly so to take yt Beside this doctrine of faith of the presence of Chrystes verie substanciall bodie and blood in the Sacrament this authour also teacheth the meā how Transubstantiacion treacted of God woorketh yt and saieth that yt ys doen by turning the creatures of bread and wine into the substance of the bodie and blood of Chryst which turning or chaunging of one substance into an other as the holy Fathers do diuersly terme some of thē calling yt a conuersion or turning some of thē mutaciō or chaūging some communicacion or translacion some transelementaciō some trāsmutacion so the Church fullie and liuelie to expresse the thing that ys doen and therby the better to repell the heresies that haue risen and encōbred the Church since the time of Berengarius hath tearmed yt Transubstanciatōn which terme importeth no more in this matter then transmutacion or transelementacion but yt sowndeth and openeth the thing that yt signifieth more liuelie and suffreth notthe heretiques to wrest yt as they doe the other Which ys the cause that manie be so greuouslie offēded with the terme But bicause the Proclamer doth lightlie ouerpasse yt I will not tarie lōg vpō yt But in the allegaciō of the Fathers as thei shal make mēciō ofit so shal I breleiflie not it And yet that the reader shall not thinke that that matter ys so barren that nothing can be saied of yt or being desielrouse to learn should be frustrate of his desire ād expectaciō I shall somewhat here saie of yt desiering withal that as they do read the doctours that shall be hereafter alleaged they will note in them what they shall finde as therunto I shall geue thē occasion in euerie one that doth speake of this matter And for that we haue taken occasiō of this authours woordes to speake of yt we wil first
Veritas odium parit trueth causeth hatred he gotte himself so moche hatred for this his plain treuth that had not the catholique Churche stande his good Mother he had ben cast oute of the doores by Oecolampadius as S. Iames epistle had ben by Luther for his plain speaking for god workes But God be praised as by her bothe these were approued so God aiding by her they are conserued A mong soche plentie therfor as I haue saied and as yt ys well knowen to them that be learned we will gather a flower or twoo for the mainteināce of the cōfortable sinell of the trueth of the which this shall be the first Ambr. li. 4 de Sacr. cap. 5. Antequam consecretur panis est vbi autem verba Christi accesserint corpus est Christi Denique audi dicentem Accipite edite ex eo omnes Hoc est corpus meum Et ante verba Christi calix est vini aquae plenus vbi verba Christi operata fuerint ibi sanguis efficicitur qui plebem redemit Before yt ys consecrate yt ys bread but when the woordes of Chryste haue comed to yt yt ys the bodie of Chryst Heare him sainge Plain saīgs of S. Amb. for the Procla Take and eate this ys my bodie And before the woordes of Chryst yt ys a cuppe full of wine and water but when the woordes of Chryste haue wrought ther ys made the bloode that redemed the people What can the Aduersaries saie to this place of S. Ambrose What can the Proclamer saie yf he folowe not his Father Oecolampadius and reiect S. Ambrose Can they for shame saie that the woordes of Chryst are spoken by a figure wher they be so plainlie expownded by this notable Father of the verie thing Doe ye not heare that after the woordes of Chryste be spoken vpon the bread yt ys the bodie of Chryst and again that after the woorking of the woordes of Chryste ther ys made in the cuppe the bloode that redemed the people Here ys no figure spoken of He saieth not that yt ys a figure of the bodie and a figure of the bloode but he saied they be the bodie and the bloode yea and that so verilie that he saieth yt ys the bloode that redemed the people As yt ys woonderfull so ys yt pittifull that men will still remain in blinde heresie when the trueth ys so simplie and plainlie vttered and that of so excellent a Father that they can not denie yt but maliciouslie to contein them selues in that miserable state will refuse the worke and saie yt ys not S. Ambrose worke and yet they knowe that S. Augustin himself wittnesseth that S. Ambrose wrote soche bookes of the Sacramentes and ther be none but these But yt ys but a bare shifte when they be ouercomed of the trueth to denie the authour and be not hable to prooue that they doe But lett vs returne to S. Ambrose and gather an other of his flowers Thus he saieth in an other place Tu fortè dicis meus panis est visitatus Sed panis Ambros ibid. li. 4. cap. 4. iste panis est ante verba sacramentorum vbi accesserit consecratio de pane fit caro Christi Thowe peraduenture saiest my bread ys vsuall or common bread But this bread before the woordes of consecracion ys bread but when the consecracion hath comed vnto yt of the bread ys made the flesh of Chryst And Amb. ibid again he saieth in the same chapiter Sed audi dicentem Ipse dixit facta sunt ipse mandauit creata sunt Ergo tibi vt respondeam Non erat corpus Christi ante consecrationem Sed post consecrationem dico tibï quòd iam est corpus Christi Ipse dixit factum est ipse mandauit creatum est But heare one saing He hath saied and they were made he hath cōmaunded and they were created Therfor that What plainer woords cā the Proclamer require I maie aunswer thee Yt was not the bodie of Chryst before the consecracion but after the consecracion I saie vnto thee that nowe yt ys the bodie of Chryst He hath saied and yt ys made he hath commaunded and yt ys created I nede not explane S. Ambrose in this place neither For as the parentes of the blinde born sonne saied of him Aetatem habet ipse pro se loquatur He hath age let him speake for himself so S. Ambrose hath soche grace soche learning and withall soche plain speache that he speaketh sufficently for him self and for Gods cause whiche he openeth and that ther ys nothing here to be desired but an humble reader And if ye will not beleue him yet beleue him to whom he referreth yowe that ys Chryst For he saieth Ipse Ambr. ibid. ca. 5. Dominus Iesus testificatur nobis quòd corpus suum accipiamus sanguinem Nunquid debemus de eius fide testificatione dubitare Owre Lorde Iesus him self testifieth vnto vs that we receaue his bodie and bloode shall we doubte of his trueth and testificacion Nowe let vs compare the doctrine of S. Ambrose with the doctrine of the Aduersaries S. Ambrose saieth that Chryst himself doeth testifie that we S. Ambr. doctrine and the Sacramentaries cōpared together receaue his bodie and bloode The Aduersaries saieth that we doe not receaue the bodie and bloode of Chryst But breade and wine the figures of the bodie and blood of Chryst whom shall we here beleue Chryst and S. Ambrose or the Aduersaries The choise aught soen to be made And therfor yt ys lamentable to see howe Sathan hath preuailed and caused the Aduersaries to call that in question and doubt which Chryst himself testifieth to be the verie trueth Yf yt were not the trueth S. Ambrose be ye well assured wolde not so haue reported yt But yf Chryst had testified to vs that we in the Sacrament receaue but a figure S. Ambrose wolde not haue reported that we receaue Chrystes bodie For as ther ys great difference betwen these two thinges so be the doctrines greatlie different And S. Ambrose who in these his bookes laboured to teache the thrueth and to deliuer men from doubte was not of soche grosse iudgement nor so rude in vtterance but he coulde well iudge betwene the thing and the figure and so vtter his iudgement that his speache shoulde not sownde one thing and hismening shoulde be an other for that were not the waie to deliuer from doubte but raither to bring into doubte not a waie of instruction but raither a waie of destruction But here to conclude this parte for as moch as S. Ambrose saieth that Figure of the Sacrmētaries excluded frō Chrystes woordes Chryst hath testified by these woordes This ys my bodie that we in the Sacramēt after the woords spokē receaue his verie bodie thei are not to be vnderstāded withe anie figure or trope but simplie ād plainlie in that sense that theie are spoken Wherfore yt
will therfor leaue him and heare the minde of his yocke felowe whom we Hieron ad He did q. 2. haue in this place appointed to be S. Hierō who writeth thus Nos autem audiamus panē quem Dominus fregit deditue Discipulis suis esse corpus Domini saluatoris ipso dicente ad eos Accipite comedite Hoc est corpus meū calicē illū esse de quo iterum locutus est Bibite ex hoc omnes Hic est sanguis meus noui testamenti qui pro multis effundetur Iste est calix de quo in Propheta legimus Calicē salutaris accipia alibi Calixtuus The bread which our Lord gaue was his bodie ād the cuppe hys blood inebrians quà m praeclarus est Si ergo panis qui de coelo descendit corpus est Domini vinum quod Discipulis dedit sanguis illius est noui testamēti iudaicas fabulas repellamus c. But let vs heare that bread which our Lord brake and gaue to hys Disciples to be the bodie of our Lord our Sauiour forasmoch as he saied vnto thē Take and eate This ys my bodie And the cuppe to be that of the which again he saied Drinke ye all of this This ys my blood of the newe Testament which shall be shedd for manie This ys the cuppe of the which we read in the Prophete I wil receaue the cuppe of saluacion And in an other place Thy cuppe inebriating ys verie noble Yf therfore the bread that descended frō heauen ys the bodie of our Lord and the wine which he gaue to his Disciples ys his blood of the newe Testament let vs repell the Iewish fables Thus moch S. Hierom. For the better vnderstanding of this saing yt ys to be considered that a certain vertuouse woman named Hedibia sent to sainct Hierom to be resolued in certain questions Among the which she desiered to be instructed how the saing of Chryst in S. Matthew was to be vnderstanded wher he saied I will not from hencefurth drinke of this generacion of the vine vntill that daie in whiche I shall drinke yt newe with yow in the kingdome of my Father To the answeringe wherof he declareth vnto her first the fond opinion of some that vpon that place inuented a fable that Chryst shoulde reign a thousand yeares corporally in which time of his reign he shoulde drinke wine and so shoulde be fullfilled hys saing that he wolde drinke no more wine Heresie of the Millenaries vntill he dranke yt in the kingdom of his Father in the whiche he shoulde then reign But sainct Hierom well vnderstanding howe great and howe weightie a matter was spoken of in the place wher from these woordes were taken namely of the bodie and blood of Chryst and being greued that yt being so great a worke of God so great a benefitt to man shoulde be intermengled and obscured with soche vain inuentions of soche fables he openeth the true sense of the place and moueth the good woman Hedibia that all soche phantasies reiected and forsaken she shoulde regarde the woordes of Chryst and credit them and that the bread and wine that Chryst spake of in that place were no soch thinges as vpon which soch vain fables should be grownded but they were the bodie and bloode of Chryst forasmoch as he that can speake but trueth saied Thys ys my bodie Thys ys my bloode Now cōsider with me yf Chryst had geuē to hys Apostles but Bread ād wine S. Hierom his woordes weighed ād conferred with the doctrine of the Protestātes as figures of hys bodie and blood wolde S. Hierō being required to geue the true vnderstāding of the scriprure ād he taking vpō him so to doe wold he trowe ye haue saied Let vs vnderstād that the bread which our Lord gaue to his Disciples was his bodie ād that the wine which he gaue was hys blood except we should beleue ād vnderstād thē so to be in dede Were this an opening of the true vnderstanding of the scriptures Were yt not raither an hiding or a darkning of the scriptures to bid vs to beleue one thing ād the scripture biddeth an other He biddeth vs beleue that yt ys the bodie ād blood of Chryst that Chryst gaue to his Apostles ād the scriptur as the Aduers saieth biddeth vs beleue that they be but figurs Wold S. Hierō being alwaies an enemie to heresie teache soche an heresie Wolde not he raither if the trueth had ben so haue taught this vertuouse woman the trueth of the matter that she sought at his hand and saied vnto her This vnderstand that the bread and wine which Chryst gaue to his Apostles were but figurs of the bodie and bloode of Chryst and not the thinges themselues And alleaging Chrystes woordes This ys my bodie This ys my bloode wolde he not if they had ben so to be vnderstanded haue saied these woordes are spoken by a figure they be figuratiue speaches and are thus to be vnderstanded this ys a figure of my bodie this ys a figure of my bloode To instructe thē that Nomenciō of figuratiue speache in S. Hierōs woordes wolde learn the true vnderstāding of this scripture if yt were so to be vnderstanded this were the right waie of teaching But here ys no soche woorde here ys no soche maner of teaching And yt ys to be thought that S. Hierō was not ignorant howe to teache neither was he ignorāt of the trueth that in this place shoulde be taught Wherfor seing he knewe the trueth and knewe howe to teache yt and nowe he was in place to teache and had good occasion being as ys saied therunto required for somoche as he willeth vs to vnderstande that the bread and wine whiche Chryst gaue to this Apostles were his bodie and bloode and the cause why we shoulde so vnderstāde thē ys the woorde of Chryst saing This ys my bodie This ys my bloode Let vs thinke and beleue that the trueth of this matter ys that his bodie and bloode be present verilie in the Sacramēt and that the woordes of Chryste are to be vnderstanded withoute figure simplie and plainlie as they lie And that yt ys the bodie of Chryst the woordes which S. Hierom vseth as the conclusiō of the matter dothe also prooue For thus he concludeth Si ergo panis qui de caelo descendit c. Yf then the bread that descended from heauen be the bodie of our Lorde and the wine that he gaue to his Disciples be his bloode of the newe testamēt let vs cast awaie Iewish fables As who might saie forasmoche as these woordes of Chryst speake of no cheering nor banquetting that the Iewes doe dreame shall be in Chrystes worldlie kingdom but they speake of the bread which Chryst gaue to his Apostles which they saie to be his bodie and of the wine which they saie to be his bloode therfor let vs cast awaie soche vain fables and cleaue to the true
that ther ys not one auncient doctour that maketh for the catholique faith of the Sacrament Thus Chrysostō expownding these woordes of owre Sauiour Chryst in the xxvi of Matthew saieth Credamus vbique Deo nec repugnemus ei etiamsi sensui cogitationi nostrae absurdum esse videatur quod dicitur superet sensum rationem Chrys in 26 Math. hom 83. nostram sermo quaeso ipsius quod in omnibus praecipuè in mysterus faciamus non illa quae ante nos iacent solummodò aspicientes sed verba quoque eius tenentes Nam verbis eius defraudari non possumus sensus verò noster deceptu facillimus est Illa falsa esse non possunt hic soepius ac soepius fallitur Quoniam ergo ille dixit Hoc est corpus meum nulla teneamur ambiguitate sed credamus oculis intellectus id perspiciamus Let vs in Gods word euen cōtrarie to senses must be beleued euerie place beleue God and let vs not striue against him although that that he saieth seem to our sense and thought vnlikely Let hys woorde I beseche yowe ouercome bothe our wittes and reason which thing let vs doe in all thinges but cheiflie in the mysteries not onely loking on those things whiche lie before vs but also regarding hys woords For by hys woords we cannot be deceaued our sense ys easie to be deceaued they can not be false this our sense ys often and often deceaued Forasmoche them as he hath saied This ys my bodie Let vs be holden with no ambiguitie or doubte but let vs beleue and with the eies of our vnderstanding let vs verilie see yt Thus farre Chrysostom In this saing yt ys to be perceaued howe he laboureth that in this matter of the Sacramēt we should discredit our senseis ād creditte Chrysts woords And sorasmoche as he saied This ys my bodie thouh yt passe our reason to comprehend the worke of God in making present the bodie of Chryst and our senseis can not of themselues atteign to perceaue the same bodie for neither But yt passeth not reason tomake present a figure of his bodie our eies doe see yt neither our tast discern yt neither our feeling or other senses perceaue yt yet saieth Chrysostome we maie not doubte of yt but beleue yt to be the bodie of Chryst bicause he saied yt was so Nowe consider with me if the woordes of Chryst had an other sense thē they doe outwardlie purporte as that they shoulde teache vs that yt ys but a figure of Chrystes bodie and not the bodie yt self wolde Chrysostom trow ye in this his open sermon wil the people to beleue and not to doubt of the trueth of the woords as they be spokē and wold not raither first vtter the true sense and vnderstanding of them yf anie other were and then perswade the people of that sense not to doubt Yt ys an euel maner of teaching to will the people to beleue the woordes of scripture as they lie and are not so to be vnderstanded but in a sense moche different from that Yt ys not the Chryso willeth Chrystes woordes to be vnderstāded as they be spoken maner of Chrysostom so to teache wherfore for so moche as he willeth them not to doubte but to beleue the woordes as they be spoken whiche he dothe in that that he teacheth no other sense yt ys manifest that these woordes are to be vnderstanded in their propre sense withoute the Aduersaries figure And that Chrysostome himself did so vnderstand them thys proueth that he in sondrie and manie places of his workes treating of these woords Reall presence auouched by Chryso of Chryst Thys ys my bodie he neuer addeth this sense Thys ys a figure of my bodie But euer leaueth them in the sense that they be spoken and in some place by expresse woordes in some place by plain circumstance he dcclareth the verie presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament By expresse woordes as wher he saieth Qui dixit Hoc est corpus meum rem simul cum verbo consecit Jn 14. Marc. hō 51. He that saied Thys ys my bodie He with hys woorde made the the thing also I wishe these fewe woordes of Chrysostom to be well marked that they Chryst saing This ys my bodie with the woorde made the thing neuer fall from memorie but maie allwaies be reteined as a rule to vnderstand him in all places wher he speaketh of the Sacrament of Chrystes bodie and blood For yf Chryst with hys woorde made the thing also that he spake of and the thing that he spake of was hys bodie then with the speaking of hys woorde he made hys bodie This then being trueth as Chrysostome here teacheth yt can not be denied but that by expresse woordes he teacheth the presence of Chrystes verie bodie in the Sacrament And thus by Chrysostome ys clerely wiped awaie the hereticall figuratiue Figure of the Sacramentaries wiped awaie by Chrysost vnderstanding of these woordes of Chryst Thys ys my bodie For the Aduersaries wolde haue yt so a figure as of a thing absent But Chryst as Chrysostome saieth made the thing together with the woorde Wherfore as the woorde was present so was the thing present Yf the thing be present then the figure of the Aduersaries can not here be admitted Vpon the certentie of which presence the same Chrysostome in the same homelie thus taught hys people Quando igitur sacerdotem corpus tibi prebere Plain places of Chrysost for the Pooclamer Chrys ibi videris noli sacerdotis sed Christi manum ad te porrigiarbitrari Therfore when thow seest the preist geue thee the bodie thinke not the hand of the preist but the hand of Chryst to be put furth to thee And that the people shoulde geue full creditte to this trueth he vseth this perswasion in the same homelie Qui enim maius idest animam suam prote posuit quare dedignabitur suum tibi tradere corpus Audiamus igitur tam sacerdotes quà m alij quà m magna quà m admirabilis res nobis concessa est Audiamus oro perhorrescamus carnes suas nobis tradidit seipsum immolatum nobis proposuit Quam igitur satisfactionem offeremus cum tali pabulo nutriti peccemus cum Agnum comedentes in lupos conuertamur cum ouinis carnibus refecti vt leones rapiamus He that hath geuen a greater thing for thee that ys to saie his life why will he disdein to deliuer hys bodie to thee Let vs therfore heare bothe preistes and other howe great and wonderfull a thing ys graunted vnto vs. Let vs heare I praye yowe and let vs feare He hath deliuered vnto vs hys flesh himself offred hath he putte before vs. What satisfaction then shall we offre that being nourished with soch foode doe sinne When eating the lambe we are turned into wolues when satisfied with shepes flesh we rauine as lions Thus farre Chrysostom Note well
which cōtrouersie yt ys nowe easie to be saied first for the first parte of yt that neither the holie Euangelistes neither sainct Paule nor anie of all the holie Fathers of the higher house hathe taught or saied as the Aduersarie dothe teache and saie that Chrystes An Epiloge of authours denieng the Sacramentaries figure woordes are to be vnderstanded figuratiuelie I meen that the Sacramēt ys onelie a figure I saie not one But contrarie wise a nombre of them by expresse woordes denie that Chrystes woordes are so to be vnderstanded and that the Sacrament ys a figure onelie And for the better memorie to be had of them I shall make a breif epiloge of their sainges Chrysostom vpon the the sixt of sainct Iohn saieth that Chryst did not speake these woordes My Chrysost in 6. Joan. flesh ys verilie meat obscurelie or in parables Yf not so thē plainlie and withoute figure Euthymius vpon Chrystes woordes saied He did not saie these be signes of my bodie and bloode but these thinges be my bodie and bloode Damascen saied The bread and wine ys not a figure of the bodie and blood of Chryst God Euthy in 26. Math. forbidde that anie man shoulde so beleue Haymo saied That same bread ys chaunged into the flesh of our Lorde and the wine ys transferred into the bloode of our Lorde not by a figure nor by a shadowe but by trueth or in Damascen li 4. cap. 14 verie dede Theophilact saied that the bread that ys sanctified on the aultar ys the verie bodie of our Lord and not an aunswering figure For Chryst did Haim in 26. Math. not saie this ys a figure but thys ys my bodie The like saieth he vpon sainct Iohn that yt ys not a figure but the bodie Paschasius saied that he meruciled what they ment that saied that in the Sacrament was not in verie dede the Theophilact in 26. Math. flesh of Chryst and his blood but the vertue the figure and not the veritie the shadowe and not the bodie Anselmus saied Chryst tooke bread and by his blessing of yt the bread was made the bodie of Chryst not onelie significatiuelie or by significacion but substantiuelie or in substance Neither doe Paschasius lib. de corp sang Domini we saieth he from this Sacrament alltogether exclude the figure neither doe we admitte the onelie figure Innocentius saied As the bodie of Chryst was verilie deliuered so was yt verilie demonstrated nor in a figure whiche nowe had ceassed but in trueth which was nowe comed Bessarion saied that we be not so bolde that bicause the Sacrament ys called a figure that we either Ansel li. de offic diui saie or thinke that yt ys not the verie bodie of Chryst God kepe saieth he so great a blasphemie from the mindes of men by which woordes he denieth Innocēt 3. li de offi Miss the onelie figure to be in the Sacrament without the presence All these stād directlie against the Aduersarie For wher he saieth that the Sacrament ys a figure onely they saie yt ys not onely a figure by plain woordes And forasmoche as S. Augustin and Hillarie doe teach that the Sacrament ys both the Bessariō li de sacra Eucha figure and the veritie maie they not be adnombred to this companie as denienge the onelie figure for asmoch as with the other they affirme as well the presence as the figure And in that they doe so they denie the onely figure August Hilar. Thus ye see the first proposition of the Aduersarie by so manie wittnesses denied and the proposition of the catholique Church affirmed Yf the Aduersarie for all these can bring anie one catholique writer that ys auncient and approued that doeth saie as he saieth that the Sacrament ys onely a figure I for my part shall confesse the trueth to be on hys side Yf he can not bring one as I am sure he can not and the catholique Church for the trueth An Epiloge of authours assirming the reall presence that she teacheth bringeth so manie what madnesse ys ther in him that will still persist in his phantasie for the maintenance wherof he hath no authoritie But let vs gather as breif an epiloge for the proposition of the catholiques which ys that Chryst in these woords This ys my bodie spake of his verie bodie Although yt be allreadie sufficientlie prooued and declared by that yt ys not a figure onelie and so importeth that Chryst spake of his bodie yet that Just. apolog 2. the matter maie be plentifullie plain before yowr face I shall take the like pain in this as I haue doen in the other Iustinus who ys the first saied that as Iesus Chryst our Sauiour had flesh and bloode for our saluacion euen so we are taught the foode wher with our flesh and blood be nourished by alteracion when yt ys consecrated by the praier of his woode to be the flesh Iren. cōtrahaeres li. 4. ca. 32. and blood of the same Iesus incarnated Irenaeus saied that Chryst tooke bread whiche ys a creature and gaue thankes sainge This ys my bodie and the cuppe likewise whiche ys a creature as we be he confessed to be his bloode and of the newe Testament taught a newe oblacion Tertullian saied that the bread which Chryst did take and geue to his disciples he made yt his bodie Tertulli 4 cont Marcion Cypr. de caena Dom. Cyprian saied after our Lorde had saied This doe in the remembance of me This ys my flesh and this ys my bloode that substanciall bread and cuppe as often as yt ys doē with these woords and this faith that substancial bread and cuppe consecrated by the solemne benediction doth profitt to the health and life of the wholl man being also a medicin and a sacrifice to heale infirmities and to pourge iniquities Iuuencus saied when Chryst tooke bread in his handes and had geuen thankes he diuided yt to his Disciples and taught them that Juuenc li. 4 bisto euāg he deliuered vnto them his owne bodie And that he tooke the cuppe and sanctified yt and gaue yt to them to drinke and taught them that he gaue them his bloode and saieth drinke this bloode Eusebius Emisenus saied The inuisible preist turneth the visible creatures into the substance of his bodie Eusebius Emis hom 5. Pasch and blood by his secret power with his woorde saing This ys my bodie And the sanctificacion repeted take and drinke saieth he This ys my bloode Again he saieth when the creatures are sett vpon the holie aultars to be blessed with the heauenlie woordes before they be consecrated with the inuocaciō of the most high name ther ys the substance of bread and wine but after the Amb li. 4 de sacr ca 5 woordes of Chryst the bodie and bloode of Chryste S. Ambrose saied before yt ys consecrated yt ys bread but when the woordes of Chryst haue cōmed to yt yt ys
shewe of woordes and no proofe in dede of that that he alleadged yt for As for the ninthe Canon of the Apostles yt also after the right vnderstanding proceadeth not of necessitie but of condicion For if they or anie of them that attend vpon the Bishoppe in the time of ministracion haue reasonable cause to saie whie they abstein they maie abstein And possible yt might be that when the Bishoppe had but three attendante vpon him or soche like small nōbre they might all haue cause to abstein And so yt ys plain that this Canon geueth vs to vnderstand that wher a nombre ys assembled at the ministracion if all the nombre haue iust cause to astein from the receaving of the Sacrament that the Bishoppe or preist shall neuer the lesse proceade to receaue alone For the sacrifice must be receaued And so by this Canon the preist alone maie receaue though in that place ther be none to communicate with him But whether all or no certen yt ys that some of the attendantes might abstein and so yt foloweth ineuitablie that some might be present and not receaue Priuate Masse vsed in the time of Chrysost And thus ye maie perceaue that wher the Proclamer saieth that he wolde make yt plain to yowe by the most auncient writers that were in and after the Apostles time and by the order of the first and primitiue church that then ther coulde be no priuate Masse yt was a saing more full of ostentacion and bragge then of trueth For though he hath heaped a sorte of places yet ther ys no one sentence in anie of them that prooueth that ther coulde be Jssue ioined with the Proclamer for priuate Masse no priuate Masse And so farre from trueth ys this his saing that in the auncient Churche was no priuate Masse I mene a Masse with sole receauing that in the Masse of Chrysostom ys a plain rule geuen what was to be doen whē the preist receaued alone and what whē the people receaued with the preist But yt ys like the Proclamer had not learned so farre as to knowe this And here to knitte vppe all that he hath saied or can saie in this matter whiche he tearmeth priuate Masses This I saie that if he can bring furthe anie one scripture auncient councell or catholique doctour that saieth that that Masse that ys saied withoute a nombre of Communicantes in the same place ys naught or that yt ought not to be saied except ther be mo then the preist to receaue or that ther ys prohibition for the preist to receaue alone or anie penaltie in anie catholique lawe assigned for the preist that doeth receaue alone or anie like decree forbidding a sicke man to receaue the Sacrament except some receaue with him Let him I saie prooue these or some one of them by expresse woordes in maner aboue saied and I will not onelie subscribe but I will agnise myself his scholer during our two naturall liues TAE ONE AND FOVRTETHT CHAP. PROOueth that the Masse maie be saied and the Sacrament receaued withoute a nombre of communicantes at one time in one place AS yt ys not sufficient for a man to decline from euell but also to doe good the scripture so ioining them together and saing Declina à malo fac bonum decline from euell and doe good So Psal 33. yt ys not sufficient for a man onelie to flie heresie but he must also professe the trueth Wher then I haue in this last chapiter opened the craftie falshed of the Proclamer and solued his argumētes which in dede be not woorthie to be called argumētes for that they haue no force to impugn that that they are forged for and therby geuen occasion as I myself doe flie that wicked doctrine that other men maie doe the like so will Rom. 10. Soche ther be maie nowe in Englond I nowe professe the tueth of that matter that other men maie doe the same Manie in this time of temptacion embrace parte of the saing of S. Paule Corde creditur ad iusticiam but the greater nōbre the more ys the pitie stādeth not to the other part Ore confessio fit ad salutem Thei beleue well in heart but they feare with mouth to confesse the same to saluacion They turne the admonicion of Chryst vppe side downe Chryst saieth Nolite timere eos qui occidant corpus animam autem non possunt occidere sed illum potius timete qui potest Math. 10. animam corpus mittere in gehenuam Feare not them that sleie the bodie but can not sleie the soule But raither feare him who can cast both bodie and soule into hell fire But they saie in their dedes feare him that killeth the bodie and regarde not him that hath power to kill both bodie and soule For lamentable yt ys to saie soche ys the loue of manie to the life of the bodie and to worldlie honour and wourshippe and to the transitorie baggage of this worlde that for the conseruacion of these man ys feared and God the lorde of all power and maiestie neclected God graunt vs to heare the voice of the caller that calleth and saieth Venite filti audite me timorem Domini docebo vos Come ye children and heare me I will teach yowe the feare of our Psal 33. Lorde Yf we feare him and loue him as to our duetie apperteineth we shall neither feare nor be ashamed to confesse him and his holie faith before men S. Paule thought all thinges in the worlde as filth or dunge so that he Worldlie cares kepemen from God might winne Chryst but we are contented to lese Chryst so that we maie wine the worldlie mucke and filth for sauegarde of the which wher Chryst in his last supper instituting the sacrifice of his bodie and bloode to be offred and frequented of his faithfull in the remembrance and for the high and solempn memoriall of his passion and death and we haue heretofore so receaued yt and in heart still receaue yt yet nowe we ioin with them that hate yt we go with them that raill at yt and abandoning yt with them we doe as they doe But mans folie shall come to an ende and the trueth of our Lorde abideth for euer To take awaie this trueh of Chrystes sacrifice Sathan hath taught his Disciples that the Sacrament was instituted to none other ende and pourpose but onelie to be receaued and not to be offred And to make that apparante all their and his endeuoure ys to prooue that yt must be receaued of manie And that that receipt maie be compassed and the sacrifice defaced they exclame against the Masse But when they haue all saied and doen the Masse shall be holie and good and this shall be a trueth that a preist saing Masse or anie other Man godlie disposed sicke or holle maie receaue the holie Sacrament alone For proofe of this first I vse this reason All thinges
yt he forgatt the counsell of Chryste and by like made his left hand of coūsell what the right hand did But whoso will with the right eie looke vpon this place of this holie Martir Iustine shall finde that trueth that before I testified that in the primitiue and auncient churche the people did receaue both in nombre and alone Perhapps the Proclamer being by this place of Iustine driuen to his shiftes will saie that yt was notwithstanding that some of the people did receaue at home a right communion for that both they and the people being at the ministracion did all receaue of one consecrate bread Will yowe see what a bare shift this ys And to ioin with him in his owne termes I will aske him whether by this one consecrate bread he mean one loaf of bread or one Sacramentall breade He can not speake of one loaf of bread For in the primitiue Church when the nombro of people did receaue one loaf coulde not suffice Yf he speake of one sacramentall bread or one consecrated bread as Iustine doth tearin yt ys not the bread consecrated to daie and the bread consecrated to morowe all one consecrated bread all one sacramentall breade ys yt not allwais one Sacrament Ys not the sacrament of Baptisme ministred to daie and ministred to morowe all one Baptisme forasmoch as S. Paule saieth Vnus Dominus vnae fides vnum Baptisma Ther ys one lorde one faith and one Baptisme Likewise ys not the bread consecrate in the morning and at noone all one consecrate bread And to saie more at large ys not the bread consecrated in the Supper of Chryst by Chryst him self and the bread consecrated nowe by his minister and that shall be consecrated in the last daie of the worlde all one bread yf yt be not so why saieth S. Paule that we are all partakers of one breade The reason why yt ys one breade Chrysostome sheweth speaking of the table of Chryst consecrated by the minister Homi 83 in 26. Math. saing Haec enim illa non alia mensa est Haec nulla re minor quà m illa est Non enim illam Christus hanc homo quispiam facit sed vtramque ipse This ys euen the same not an other table This in no poinct ys lesser then that For Chryst did not sanctifie that and this an other man but Chryst did sanctisie both So that the reason whie yt ys one bread ys by Chrysostom bicause yt ys sanctified and consecrated by one Chryst Yf then yt be a communion bicause they receaue all of one consecrated bread and S. Paule saieth that we all doe eate of one bread in somoch that by yt we are made one bread and one bodie ys yt not one Communion that the Apostles and the faithfull that nowe be and shall be in the last daie of the worlde haue made doe Priuate Cōmunion howe and wher yt ys and shall make Yf yt be so then among true Chrystians receauing as becometh them the holie Sacrament ther ys no priuate communion Priuate communion ys among priuate men soche as cutte them selues of frome the vniuersall churche and eate of one peice of bread to daie and of and other to morowe as heretiques doe and doe not all eate of one breade as the faithfull doe This Proclamer alleageth Leo Bishoppe of Rome that vpon consideracion that the churche being litle and not able to receaue the people ther might be three communions in one daie in one churche I wolde nowe knowe whether they that receaued at the first Second and thirde communion whether they did all communicate together or no. Yf they did not then were they not all of one communiō whiche ys not to be saied Yf they did and did not receaue of one cōsecrated bread nor at one time yt shoulde folowe that cōmunion dependeth vpon some other thing then one bread time or ministracion And in dede so yt doeth For yt depēdeth of one thing made common to vs all and which all we being faithfull doe receaue in the whiche we are made one and knitte together as membres of one bodie which thing ys the bodie and blood of Chryst which ys that one bread that S. Paule speaketh of and saieth that all we partake of whiche ys in dede the bread of life nowrishing vs to euerlasting life I haue taried to long vpon this place in opening the vanitie of this mans doctrine and the longer that yt might be perceaued that he alleaging this holie man was so blinded that he wolde not aswell see the one trueth as the other but brought yt as an argumēt to reproue the church wher yt reprooueth him self and to confute the trueth wher yt confuteth his heresie But let vs heare other testimonies and first of Tertullian who liued in the time of Seuerus the Emperour in whose time the chrystian religion not yet being receaued of the Princes of the worlde the chrystians liued vnder great and fearfull presecucion by reason wherof though the people were right godlie affected and well disposed to the seruice of God and the receipt of the blessed Sacrament yet they coulde not freely make their assemblies when they wolde Wherfor at soch time as they came together the Bishopps and pastours wold to soch as were right godlie and holie chystians deliuer the blessed Sacrament to carie home with them to receaue yt at home at soche time as they might bicause they coulde not otherwise when they wolde For the which pourpose as by S. Cyprian S. Basill and S. Hicrom yt maie be gathered the godlie brought with them either a faire cleā linnen cloath or a prettie boxe to carie yt home in The like yt appeareth that Tertullians wief did For he diswading her from the Marriage of anie gentile or heathen man after his decesse and knowing that she did secretlie receaue the Sacramēt at home ād wolde also doe the like though she maried an insidel vsed this for one part of his diswasion Non sciet maritus quid secretò ante omnem cibum gustes et si sciuerit panem non illum credet esse qui dicitur Shall not thy husbande knowe what thowe doest secretlie eate before all meat And Tertulliās wief receaued the B. Sacr alone or solie or priuatelie if he knowe yt he will not beleue yt to be that bread that yt ys called As who might saie As I being yowr housband doe know that yowe doe receaue the Sacrament secretlie So yt can not be but an heathē man being yowr husband shall perceaue also that yowe doe receaue yt secretlie Wherby yt shall come to passe that either he will restreign yowe from that libertie that nowe ye vse in yowr secrete receipt or ells taking and beleuing yt not to be that bread that yt ys he will with irreuerencie abuse yt In this saing of Tertullian yt ys easie to be perceaued that his wief did secretlie receaue the Sacrament at home yf secretlie then with no nombre
preist And if they doe let them be openlie rebuked of the Bishoppe Here we finde soch order commaunded as the catholique church for all the west part of yt obserued namelie that the people shoulde heare Masse euerie sondaie but of communion here ys no title A like decree we finde in an other Concil Aurelian councell in these woordes Cùm ad celebrandas missas in Dei nomine conuenitur populus non ante discedat quà m Missae solemnitas cōpleatur vbi Episcopus non suerit benedictionem à sacerdote percipiat When they be come together in the name of God to celebrate Masse the people maie not departe before the solemnitie of the Masse be fulfilled And wher ther ys no Bishoppe present let them receaue the benediction of the preist This decree commaundeth no more but that the people shall not departe vntill Masse be doen of the communion therys no woorde S. Augustin also made this ordeinaunce as yt ys to be seen in the first distinction of consecracion in these woordes Et hoc attendendum vt missae peculiares quae per dies solemnes à sacerdotibus fiunt non ita in publico fiant vt propter eas populus Aug. de conse Dist 1. cap. ct hoc à publicis missarum solemnibus quae hora tercia canonicè fiunt abstrahatur sed sacerdotes qui in circuitu vrbis aut in eadem vrbe sunt populus in vnum ad missarum publicam celebrationem conueniant And this ys to be obserued that the peculiar Masses that be saied of the preistes vpon the solempn daies be not so openly doen that for them the people be not drawen awaie from the publique solemnitie of Masses whiche be canonicallie doen the thirde howre But the preistes that dwell aboute the cytie or within the same citie and the people also shall come together to the publique celebracion of Masses Thus he In this ordeinanceye first perceaue that peculias Masses were saied in one citie beside the high or cōmon Masse to the which the people might so resorte as that they might not be letted or withdrawen frō the high Masse Ye see again that both the preistes that had saied Masse and the people that had heard thē were appoincted neuer the lesse to come to the high Masse Now if none maie be present as the Aduersarie teacheth but soch as will communicate and these preistes hauing saied their peculiar Masses and ther communicated must yet be present at the high Masse by S. Augustines ordeinance yt foloweth that the doctrine of the Aduersarie ys contrarie to the ordeinaunce of S. Augustin And although the name of Masse be so odiouse to the Proclamer yet ye maie perceaue yt was not so to sainct Augustine bus he aloweth both peculiar Masses and high or publique Masses at bothe the whiche although the people might and aught to be yet ther ys no commaundement for them al to communicate as in his ordeinaunce yt ys to be perceaued What shall I nede anie more to saie in this matter sith yt ys manifest by manie practises of the primitiue and auncient churche that both pristes at the ministracion and other persons as well wholl as sicke did and therfor maie nowe receaue the blessed Sacrament alone withoute a nombre of cōmunicantes And therfor to returne part of the Proclamers woordes home to him and his complices again I saie O mercifull God who wolde thinke ther coulde be so moche wilfullinesse in the heart of man so maliciouslie so slaunderouslie to caluminate the Churche for that she like a good mother doeth suffer her children to take their blessed and holie foode of Chrystes bodie and blood either by nombre or by one alone as deuocion and occasion shall serue sith that both maners haue ben allwaies practised as before ys prooued Wherfor we maie trulie saie O Iustine o Tertullian o Basill o Hierom o Chrysostom o Austen o Leo o auncient councells if we be deceaued ye are they that haue deceaued vs. But sure we are that we are not deceaued but we rest in the trueth that ye haue taught vs. But alas whose heart wolde yt not greiue to see the blasphemie of the Proclamer against Chryst and S. Paule and his detestable slaunder of the holie doctours whom he chargeth to haue taught him his Scismes diuisions and heresies Ys Chryst who ys the trueth the ministre of heresie Ys Paule the doctour and Apostle of the gentiles the teacher of Scismes Be the holie doctours and Fathers of Chrystes Church who haue ben pastours and feaders of Chrystes flocke and kepers of the same with in his folde in vnitie and peace the authours of diuisions and dispersions of the shepe of Chryst Naie yt ys Sathan the first lie maker the father of lies and vntrueth the authour of diuision betwixt God and man that hath taught him heresie Scisme and diuision whose wicked inspiracion the more ys the pitie he foloweth For neither Chryst nor Paule not Iustine nor Basill c. hath taught that the celebracion or ministracion of Chrystes Sacrament ys not godlie or good if ther be not manie communicantes at yt But they haue taught that manie maie receaue yt and that manie did receaue yt and that one alone maie receaue yt and that diuerse alone did receaue yt and both to be true And nowe to ende this matter as the Proclamer hath doen all that he can and yet by no autoritie as ys saied hath prooued that a preist or anie other maie not receaue alone so I saie that neither he nor all his complices though they be ioined all together shall euer bring furth anie expresse place of scripture Councells or doctours that doeth by commaundement forbidde a well disposed chrystian to receaue the Sacrament alone And thus the three principall partes of the Masse being auouched by scriptures Councells and doctours I shall confirme the same by miracle wrought by God in the blessed Sacrament in the Masse time THE TWO AND FOVRTETH CHAP. DROOueth the trueth of these matters of the Sacrament by that yt hath pleased God to confirme the same with miracles ALlthough the cominge of Chryst into the flesh was most certenly taught by promisses figures and prophecies as before in the first booke ys saied yet the same his coming his conception his birth and abode with vs was commended vnto vs by manie protentes miracles and woonders which the Gospell doeth declare Euen so yt hath pleased the goodnesse of God well knowing owre infirmitie and weaknesse to deale with vs in the matter of the Sacrament of the bodie and bloode of the same his Sonne Iesus Chryst The certen trueth wherof although by figures prophecies and by the liuelie woorde of Chryst himself yt be certenlie commended vnto vs yet to the consirmacion of the same trueth to vs warde which otherwise in yt self ys most certen yt hath I saie pleased him to confirme the same trueth to vs by diuerse miracles that we maie be