know that in this fountaine welspring that is one thing which the bodily senses may touch and perceiue and therefore it is changeable and corruptible and againe that there is another thing in it which onely faith can beholde and that therefore it cannot be corrupted nor come into danger of decay Wherfore if a man would demand What that is which outwardly washeth the body I answere that it is nothing but the element but if a man would consider that which inwardly purgeth I say that it is a liuely vertue yea a vertue that is able to sanctifie yea a vertue and power that giueth immortalitie Therefore the water in Baptisme is in it owne propertie a corruptible humor or liquor but in mystery and spirituall meaning a wholesome and healthfull power And even so verily the body and blood of Christ being outwardly considered is a creature subiect to change and corruption and yet if a man consider the vertue and power of the mysterie it is life in deed giving immortalitie to such as be partakers thereof Therefore the things that are seene and the things that are beleeved are not all one For in respect that they are seene they feede the corruptible bodie they themselues being corruptible but in respect that they are beleeved they feed our immortall soules which shall liue for ever they themselues being also immortall The Apostle writing to the Corinthians sayth Know ye not 1 Cor. 10.1.2 c. that all our Fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all Baptised vnto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eate the same spirituall meat and did all drink the same spirituall drink for they drunke of the spirituall Rocke that followed them and that rocke was Christ Hence we perceiue that the Sea and the Cloud both did shewe forth the kinde and figure of Baptisme and that the Fathers of the former Testament were Baptised in them that is in the Cloud and in the Sea Could the Sea as it was seene and thought to be an element haue in it the power and force of Baptisme or could the Cloud as it shewed forth the grosenes of some very thicke ayre sanctifie the people No verily And yet we dare not sith the Apostle spake in Christs name say that he spake not truely when he said That our Fathers were baptised in the Cloud and in the sea And although that Baptisme did shew forth and set out the forme of Christs Baptisme which at this day is vsed ministred in the Church yet no wise man dare deny vnlesse like a mad man he will presume to gainesay the Apostles words but that it was Baptisme and that our Fathers were therein and thereby Baptised Wherefore neither the Sea nor the Cloud in respect that they were bodily substances did shew forth or giue out the cleannesse of sanctification but in respect that they did invisibly conteine the sanctification of the holy Ghost For there was in them that is in the Sea and in the Cloud both a visible forme which appeared to the bodily senses and that not in an image or shew but in veritie or truth inwardly there shined forth in them a spirituall power which appeared not to the eyes of flesh but to the sight light of the minde or soule In like sort the Manna that was given to the people from heaven and the water also that flowed out of the Rocke were corporall and bodily substances and did corporally both feede the people and giue them drinke also and yet the Apostle calleth that Manna spirituall meat and that Water spirituall drinke And why doth he that Because there was in these bodily substances a spirituall power of the word which did feede and giue drinke rather to the minds then to the bodies of the beleevers And though that meate and that drinke did but shewe forth the mysterie of that bodie and blood of Christ which was to come which mysterie the Church doth at this day celebrate and administer yet the holy Apostle S. Paul affirmeth that our Fathers did eate the same spirituall meate 1 Cor. 10.3.4 and did drinke the same spirituall drinke A man will perhaps aske What he meaneth by this word the same I answere that he meaneth the very selfe same thing which the beleeving people doe at this day eate and drinke in the Church of Christ For wee may not vnderstand divers things thereby because it is one and the selfe same Christ who with his owne flesh fed in the Wildernesse the people that was Baptised in the Cloud and in the sea and then made them to drinke of his blood and that doth now in his Church feede the beleeving people with the Bread of his body and make them to drinke of the water of his blood Which thing the Apostle minding to declare after that he had said That our Fathers did eate the same spirituall meate 1 Cor. 10.4 and did drinke the same spirituall drinke he presently added For they dranke of the spirituall Rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ And this he doth that so wee might vnderstand that Christ was in the spirituall Rocke in the Wildernes and gaue vnto the people there the water of his blood which Christ afterwards offred even to the people of our age that bodie that he tooke of the Virgin and was hanged vpon the Crosse for the salvation of the beleevers from which bodie also he powred forth great abundanc of his blood by which we should not onely be redeemed but also made drinke thereof This verily is a wonderfull matter seeing that Christ being incomprehensible inestimable had not as yet takē vnto him mans nature nor tasted death for the salvation of the world nor had redeemed vs by his blood yet that our Fathers did in the Wildernesse by spirituall meate and invisible drinke eate his body and drinke his blood as the Apostle is a witnesse saying That our Fathers did eate the same spirituall meate and did drinke the same spirituall drinke Wee must not here seeke out our own reason or way by which this might bee performed but faith must be vsed if wee will know what was done For he that now in the Church doth by his Allmightie power spiritually turne the Bread into the flesh of his bodie and the wine into the Water as it were of his owne blood he then also invisibly made the Manna that was given from heaven to become his owne bodie and caused the water springing or flowing out of the Rocke to become his owne blood Psal 78.25 Which thing when David did well perceiue he by the holy Ghost protested and plainely affirmed saying Man did eate the bread of Angels For it were a fond thing to thinke that that bodily Manna which was given to the Fathers should feede the heavenly armies and multitudes of Angels or that they doe eate any such meate who are fed and fatted as it
flesh which was crucified and for that blood which was shed with the souldiers speare This Doctor hath made a distinction concerning the body and blood of Christ and this he hath done with a very great difference For whilest that hee saith that the flesh and blood which the faithfull doe daily receiue are spirituall things and saith on the other side that the flesh which was crucified and the blood which was shed with the souldiers speare cannot bee affirmed to be spirituall or divine hee plainely declareth that they differ so much as spirituall and corporall things or visible and invisible things or as divine and humane doe differ one of them from another and that therefore for as much as they differ one of them from another both of them bee not neither indeed can bee one and the selfe same thing Now that spirituall flesh which is received by the mouth of the faithfull and that spirituall blood which is daily offered to bee drunke of the beleevers doe without doubt differ from that flesh which was crucified frō that blood which was shed by the souldiers speare as the authority of this present person alledged doth witnesse Wherefore they bee not all one For that flesh that was crucified was made of the flesh of the Virgin and was compacted or did consist of bones and sinewes and was besides distincted by the lineaments and proportions of the parts and members of mens bodies and was through the spirit of a reasonable soule quickned into his owne life and fit motions agreeing thereto But the spirituall flesh which doth spiritually feed the beleeving people in respect of the kind or forme which it sheweth forth outwardly doth being made by the Artificers hand consist of certaine graines of Corne or wheat and is not compacted of any sinewes or bones nor distincted by any diversity of members nor made liuely by any reasonable substance nor able to exercise any proper motitions for whatsoever in it doth minister or yeeld the substance of life pertaineth to a spirituall power and belongeth to an invisible efficacy and to a heavenly vertue or force but is indeed in respect of that which is outwardly seene farre differing from that which is beleeved in the mystery Besides that flesh of Christ which was crucified did not shew any other thing outwardly then that it was inwardly because it was the very flesh of a very man being also a very body in the kinde and forme of a very body Furthermore wee must consider that there is figured by that bread not onely Christs owne body but also the body of the people that beleeue in him whereupon it is made of many graines of wheate 1 Cor. 16.17 because the bodie of the beleeving people is through the Word of Christ increased with many faithfull ones Wherefore as the bread which is Christs body is received in a mystery so also the members of the people that beleeue in Christ are declared in a mystery And as that bread is said to bee the bodie of the beleevers not bodily but spiritually so must wee needs vnderstand it to bee Christs bodie not bodily but spiritually So likewise in the wine which is called Christs blood water is appointed to be mixed and the one is not suffred to be offred without the other to declare that the people cannot bee without Christ nor Christ without his people even as the head cannot bee without the body nor the body without the head Wherefore the water in that Sacrament beareth the image of people and representeth them Therefore if that wine being sanctified by the office and service of the Ministers be turned bodily into Christs blood the water which is mixed together with it must of necessity bee bodily turned into the blood of the beleeving people For where there is but one sanctification and by consequent one operation or working yea where there is but a like consideration it must needs then there follow that that mystery is like But we see that in the water in respect of the body thereof there is nothing turned wherefore it followeth very well that in the wine there is nothing turned bodily Whatsoever is set out in the water concerning the body of the people the same is taken spiritually Wherefore whatsoever is shewed foorth in the wine concerning Christs blood the same must of necessity be taken spiritually Againe the things which doe differ one of them from another be not all one That body of Christ which died and rose againe and became immortall Rom. 6.9 dieth not now neither shall death any more now beare rule ouer it for it is eternall and cannot now suffer any thing But that which is celebrated and administred in the Church is temporall and not eternall is corruptible not incoruptible is in the way homeward and not in it owne countrey Wherefore they must needs differ one of them from another and so by consequent are not all one and if they be not all one how is it said to bee Christs true body and his very blood For if it be Christs body and be truly so said to be as if it be Christs body it must bee his body in truth and if it be Christs body in truth or truly then it must needs bee that bodie of Christs which is incorruptible and impasible and so by consequent eternall Whereupon also it must of necessity follow that that bodie of Christs which is celebrated and administred in the Church must be incorruptible and eternall but we cannot deny but that that thing is corruptible which being changed is diuided into peeces to bee received and being broken or ground with the teeth passeth into the body and belly And yet that is one thing which is done outwardly and that is another thing which is inwardly beleeved through faith That which belongeth to the senses of the body is corruptible but that which faith beleeveth is incorruptible Wherefore that which appeares outwardly is not the thing it selfe but the image or representation of the thing but that is the truth of the thing and the thing it selfe which is perceived vnderstood by the minde Hereupon blessed Augustine in his Exposition vpon Iohns Gospell speaking of the body and blood of Christ saith thus Moses also did eate Manna Aug. in Ioh. tract 26. so did Aaron and so did Phiwees yea many others did eate Manna in the Wildernesse who also pleased God and yet are not dead And why so because they did spiritually vnderstand the visible food they did spiritually hunger after it they did spiritually taste it that so they might bee spiritually satisfied and filled For even wee also our selues doe at this day receiue visible food but the Sacrament is one thing and the vertue or power of the Sacrament is another thing Likewise in the words following Aug. tract eodem This is the bread which came downe from heaven Manna signified this bread the altar of God also signified this bread They
were with the dainties of Gods word here on earth I mean men Verily the Psalmist or rather the holy Ghost in the Psalmist sheweth either what our fathers received in that heavenly Manna or els what the faithfull people should beleeue to be in the mysterie of Christs bodie In both of them certainely Christ is signified and set forth which Christ both feedeth the soules of the beleevers and is the food and meate of Angels and yet neither of them are done in corporall taste or bodily feeding but by the power of the spirituall word And wee know because the Evangelist hath declared the same that the Lord Iesus Christ before he suffered Tooke Bread and gaue thankes Mat. 26.26 c. 1 Cor. 11.23 c. and gaue it to his Disciples saying This is my bodie which is given for you doe this in remembrance of me Likewise he tooke the Cup after he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you We see that Christ had not as yet suffered and yet for all that he wrought or made the mysterie of his body and blood for wee thinke truely that any faithfull man doubteth whether that Bread became Christs bodie which he gaue vnto his Disciples and said This is my bodie which is given for you or whether the cup conteineth Christes blood of which cup our Saviour Christ himselfe saide This cup is the New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you Therefore as he could even a little before he suffered turne the substance of the Bread and the creature of the Wine into his owne body which should suffer and into his own blood which afterwardes should be shed so likewise was he able in the Wildernesse to turne the Manna and the water that issued out of the Rocke into his owne flesh and blood although that a long time after both his flesh was to be hāged on the crosse for our sakes and his blood to be shed for the washing away of our sinnes Here also wee ought to consider how we must vnderstand that which he himselfe saith Ioh 6.53 Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood yee shall not haue life in you For hee doth not say or meane that his flesh which afterwards hanged on the Crosse should bee cut in peeces and parts and so be eaten by his Disciples neither yet that his blood which hee should shed for the redemption of the world should bee given vnto his Disciples for drinke because it should be a most wicked and horrible thing for his Disciples either to drinke his blood or to eate his flesh as the vnbeleevers did at that time vnderstand him Therefore in the words following he said to his Disciples who did not vnbeleevingly but in some measure of faith receiue Christs wordes although they could not as then pierce and perceiue how those wordes were to bee vnderstood to them I say he said Doth this offend you Ioh. 6.61.62 What then if yee should see the Sonne of man ascend vp where he was before As though he should say Thinke not I pray you that you must either bodily eate my flesh or bodily drinke my blood or that my body must bee divided into parts to be eaten or my blood distributed to be drunke seeing that after my resurrection yee shall see mee to goe vp into heaven with the fulnesse of my whole body and blood and then shall ye vnderstand that my very flesh shall not be eaten of the beleevers as the infidels suppose but that the bread and the wine being turned into the substance of my body and of my blood the substance thereof shall bee in a mystery received by the beleevers And presently he addeth Ioh. 6.63 The spirit is it saith hee which quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing He saith that the flesh profiteth nothing at all after such a forme and manner as the vnbeleevers vnderstood it otherwise it giveth life as the faithfull do in a mystery receiue it And why this is done he himselfe doth manifestly declare when hee saith It is the spirit that quickeneth Wherefore there is in this mysterie of the body and blood of Christ a spirituall opperation and working that giveth life without the working whereof these mysteries profit nothing at all because they may indeed feed the bodie but they cannot feed the soule Now then heere ariseth a question which while many propound they say and affirme that these things are done not in a figure or mystery but in verity and truth Which while they affirme they are found to goe against and to gaine-say the writings of the holy Fathers Saint Augustine Aug. de doct Christ lib. 3. one of the chiefe Doctors of the Church in his third booke of Christian doctrine writeth thus Ioh. 6.53 Except ye eate saith our Saviour the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood yee shall not haue life in you Hee seemeth to command a wicked thing and an vngodly act Wherefore it is a figuratiue speech commanding vs to communicate in the Lords passion and sweetly and profitably to lay vp this in our memories that his flesh was crucified and wounded for our sakes Here we perceiue that this Doctor saith and affirmeth that the mysteries of the bodie blood of Christ are vnder a figure celebrated and received of the faithfull for hee saith plainely that it belongeth not to religion but is rather a wicked thing carnally to eate Christs body or to drink his blood into which fault they fell who not spiritually but fleshly vnderstanding the Lords words in the Gospell Ioh. 6.66 Departed or went backe from him and went or walked no more with him The same Doctor writing in a certaine Epistle to Boniface the Bishop Aug. ad Bonifa epist amongst other things saith thus Truly we vse oftentimes to speak thus that when Easter draweth nigh that to morrow or the next day after shall be the Lords passion whereas hee suffered so many yeares before and verily that passion or suffering was done but once for all Also on the Lords day that wee call Easter day wee vsually say this day the Lord rose againe whereas indeed and truth so many yeares are since he rose againe already past And why is no man so fond and foolish as to reproue vs speaking thus as though we had lyed but onely because wee name those dayes according to the similitude and likenesse of these dayes in which these things were done Insomuch that it is called the very same day which yet is not in deed the very same but in the revolution and turning about of the time is like it and so also that is said to be done vpon that day by reason of the celebration and administration of the Sacrament which is not done vpon that day but was performed long agoe Was not Christ once offered about that time And yet notwithstanding hee
which it is in respect of qualitie though changed perhaps into another qualitie But in this Sacrament if onely the truth be considered in simplicitie and plainenesse and not another thing beleeved than that which is beheld no change can be knowne to be made For neyther hath it passed from that which it was not The first kinde of change into somewhat that is as such a passage and change is many times made in growing things for whereas they were not before they to the end they might be passed from not being to that which is to be or to being But this passage or change falleth not out here because that the Bread and Wine were before they passed into the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ The second kinde of change Neither yet can there be here that passage or change which is made from that which it is to that which it is not which change falleth out in things that through defect suffer a decay or fall For whatsoever doth decay was first and had it being because that thing can not suffer a decay or destruction which never was And yet neither can this passage or change be knowne to be made in this matter because that according to truth that very kinde or shape of creature which is before is knowne still to remaine Moreover The third kinde of change that change which is made from that which is to that which is which change appeareth specially in things that suffer diversitie and varietie of qualities as for example when that which was blacke is turned into white neither can that change I say be knowne to be made here for nothing can be here found to be changed either in touching or in tast or in colour or in favour Therefore if nothing be changed herein it is not then any other thing than what it was before But it is another thing for the Bread is become Christs body and the wine his blood for so he himselfe saith Take ye Math. 26.26 c. and eate ye This is my body and speaking of the Cup he sayth likewise This is the blood of the new Testament which shall be shed for you Therefore they that in this question will take nothing figuratiuely but will haue the whole to consist in the simplicitie and plainenesse of truth must be demanded how and in what respect this change is made so that now they be no more that which they were before to wit Bread and Wine but are the body blood of Christ For according to the kind and shew of the creature and the outward forme of visible things both of these that is the Bread the Wine haue nothing at all changed in them and if they suffer no change at all then are they no other thing but that which they were before Your Highnesse most noble Prince perceiveth whether the vnderstāding and mind of those men that thinke otherwise proceedeth for they denie that which men suppose them to affirme and they are proved to destroy that which they beleeue For they doe faithfully confesse it to be the body and blood of Christ and in so doing doubtlesse they doe now protest that the Bread and the Wine be nor the same that they were before and that if they be some other thing than they were before that then they haue admitted some alteration and change Seeing then that this cannot be denied let them tell vs how in what respect they are changed for a man shall perceiue nothing to be bodily substantially changed in them Therefore they must of necessitie confesse either that they are changed otherwise than bodily and substantially He draweth his reason from a double absurditie and so by that means that they are not that which in truth they seeme to be but some other thing which according to his owne being is not seene or perceived to be or els if they will not confesse this they must needs denie it to be the bodie and blood of Christ which thing is very wicked not onely for a man to speake but also to thinke But for as much as they doe confesse both the body and blood of Christ to be there and that this cannot be but by making a change into a better thing and that this change is made not corporally or bodily but spiritually it must needs be that they doe affirme and say that this change is made figuratiuely because that vnder the vayle or coverture of bodily Bread and bodily Wine there is the spirituall body of Christ and his spirituall blood not that they are the existences and beings of two severall and divers things that differ betweene themselues that is to say of the bodie and of the spirit but because that the kinde or shew of Bread and Wine is in one respect one and the selfe same thing that is Bread and Wine and in another respect it is the body and blood of Christ For in respect that both of them are bodily and substantially touched they are the kindes and shewes of a bodily creature but in respect of power because they are spiritually done they are the mysteries of the body and blood of Christ An argument taken from comparing Baptisme the Lords Supper together Let vs consider the fountaine of holy Baptisme which is not without cause called the fountaine or welspring of life because it reformeth them that be partakers of it to newnesse of a better life and maketh them Rom. 6.4 to liue to righteousnesse Ephes 2.1 which before were dead in trespasses and sinne Hath it this power and force because or in respect that the element of water appeareth or is seene to be and yet notwithstanding vnlesse it had in it a vertue and power to sanctifie it were not able to wash away the spots and filthinesse of sinne and vnlesse it contained the vigor and strength of life it could at no hand giue life to them that are dead dead I meane not in the flesh or body but in the soule or spirit And yet notwithstanding all this if in that fountaine we haue respect to that thing onely which our bodily sense looketh vpon and comprehendeth we can see nothing but a moyst and thinne element to wit Water subiect to corruption and that such a one as that of and in it selfe hath no other power in it but to wash our bodies But after that the power of the holy Ghost by the consecratiō of the Priest is come therto it is then become effectuall and powerfull to wash not our bodies onely but our soules and made able also by through a spirituall power to remoue spirituall filthinesses Behold we see that there are in one and the selfe same element two things resisting and as it were striving one of them against the other that is to say we see a corruptible thing to giue incorruption and a thing that hath not life to yeeld and giue life also Wherefore wee
Christs bodie but it is not his body bodily and it is Christs blood but yet it is not his blood bodily Also afterwardes the same Father saith Amb. eodem loco 1 Cor. 10.3.4 Wherevpon the Apostle speaking of the figure of Christ saith that our Fathers did eate the same spirituall meate and did drinke the same spirituall drinke For the Lords bodie is a spirituall bodie and the body of Christ is the body of the divine spirit For Christ is a spirit as we reade in the Lamentations of Ieremie Christ the Lord is a spirit before our face He hath most plainely taught vs how we should vnderstand the mystery of the body and blood of Christ For when he had said that our Fathers did eate spirituall meate and did drinke spirituall drinke whereas notwithstanding there is none that doubteth but that the Manna which they did eate and the water which they did drinke were bodily things he addeth cōcerning the mysterie which is now administred in the Church shewing and determining in what respect it is Christes bodie For the Lords bodie sayth he is a spirituall body Christ also is indeed God and the body which he tooke of the Virgin Mary the bodie that suffered that was buried that rose againe was certainely a very and true bodie and the same also remained visible and palpable that is to say might be seene and felt but that body which is called the mysterie of God is not bodily but spirituall and if it be spirituall then is it not visible or palpable that is it cannot be seene or felt Herevpon blessed Ambrose addeth saying The body of Christ is the body of the divine spirit Now the divine spirit is not any thing that is bodily is not any thing that is corruptible or any thing that is palpable and may be felt But this body which is celebrated and administred in the Church is in respect of the visible kinde and forme both corruptible and palpable Tell me then how it can be said to be the body of the divine spirit Verily no other way than in this respect that it is spirituall that is to say in this respect that it cannot be seene or felt therefore incorruptible To this very end Amb. eodem loco in the words following he addeth saying Because Christ is a spirit as we reade Christ the Lord is a spirit before our face By which words he plainly sheweth in what respect it may be counted Christs body to wit in respect that there is in it the spirit of Christ that is to say the power of the divine or heavenly word which doth not onely feede the soule but also purge it and make it cleane Wherefore the same Author saith afterward To conclude this meate strengtheneth our hearts and this drinke maketh mans heart merry and ioyfull Psal 104.5 as the Prophet saith It cannot be denied but that bodily meate doth after a sort strengthen mans heart and bodily drinke make his heart merry But that the Doctor might shew what meate it is and what drinke it is of which he speaketh he hath plainely and particularly added this meate and this drinke What meate doth he meane or what drinke Forsooth Christs body the body of the divine spirit and that it might be the more plainely vttered he saith Christ is a spirit of whom it is read Christ the Lord is a spirit before our face By all these places and speeches it plainely appeareth that we ought not or cannot take or perceiue any thing bodily in this meate in this drinke but that the whole matter must be cōsidered and weighed spiritually For the soule which in the place presently alledged is meant by the heart of man is not fed with bodily meate or bodily drinke but it is nourished quickned and made strong with the Word of God Ambr. sacra lib. 5. Which thing the selfe same Doctor affirmeth more plainely in his fifth Booke of Sacraments Not this Bread saith he which goeth into our bodies but it is that bread of eternall life which ministreth and yeeldeth substance vnto our soules And the things following in that booke or place doe most manifestly declare that S. Ambrose spake not this of the common bread but of the bread of Christs bodie for he speaketh of that daily bread which the faithfull desire might be given them and therefore he addeth If it be daily bread why doest thou receiue it but once in a yeare as the Grecians which dwell in the East are wont to doe Wherefore receiue that daily which may daily profit thee and liue so that thou maiest be found meete and worthy daily to receiue it Wherefore it is manifest of what bread he speaketh to wit of the bread of the body of Christ which sustaineth and vpholdeth the substance of the soule not in respect as it goeth and entreth into the bodie but in respect as it is Bread of everlasting life Thus you see that by the authoritie of this most learned man wee are taught that that bodie in which Christ suffered and that blood which hanging vpon the Crosse he shed out of his side doth very much differ from that body which the faithfull doe daily celebrate and receiue in the mysterie of Christs passion and from that blood which is received by the mouth of the beleevers seeing it is but a mysterie of that blood in and by which the whole world was Redeemed For this Bread and this Wine are not Christs bodie and blood in respect that they are to be seene bodily but in respect that they doe spiritually minister and yeeld vnto vs the substance of life And as for that bodie wherein Christ suffered once for all it shewed forth no other kinde or forme than that in which it consisted and was For it was truely and indeed the very selfe same which it was when it was seene which it was when it was touched which it was when it was crucified which it was when it was buried In like sort the blood that did gush and flow out of his side did not appeare one thing outwardly and cover or shaddow another thing inwardly Wherefore the very blood of Christ did flow from his very and true body but now the blood of Christ which the faithfull drinke vp and his body which they eate are one thing in kind and forme and another thing in sigfication They are one thing in that they feed the body with bodily meat and another thing in that they fat and feed the soules and mindes of men with the substance of eternall life Of this thing Saint Hierom Hieronim in epist ad Eph. in his Commentary vpon Pauls Epistle to the Ephesians writeth thus The blood and flesh of Christ is vnderstood two manner of wayes Ioh. 6.55 For either it is that spirirituall and divine flesh and blood of which he himselfe saith my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drinke indeed or else it is put for that