The Presence Of Christ. 99
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
They say, that in the sacrament, the corporal OBAP.
• II. members of Christ be not distant m place one The firth from another, but that wheresoever the head is,::,parithere be the feet, and wheresoever the arms be, there be the legs ; so that in every part of the bread and wine is altogether whole head, whole feet, whole flesh, whole blood, whole heart, whole lungs, whole breast, whole back, and altogether whole, confused and mixed without distinction or diversity.
0, what a. foolish and an abominable invention is this, to make of the most pure and perfect body of Christ such a confused and monstrous body I And yet can the papists imagine nothing so foolish, but all Christian people must receive the same as an oracle of God, and as a most certain article of their faith, without whispering to the contrary.
Furthermore the papists say, that a dog or anesizth cat eateth the body of Christ, if they by chance ::,parido eat the sacramental bread: we say, that no earthly creature can eat the body of Christ nor drink his blood, but only man.
They say, that every man, good and evil, eateth The . seventh the body of Christ: we say, that both do eat thecomparisaoramental bread and drink the wine, but none do son. eat the very body of Christ and drink his blood, but only they that be lively members of his body.
They say, that good men eat the body of Christneeighth and drink his blood, only at that time when they:!:,parireceive the sacrament: we say, that they eat,
DEFENCE,&c.
BOOK drink, and feed of Christ continually, so long as JII. they be members of his body.
The ninth They say, that the body of Christ that is in the comparison. sacrament, hath his own proper form and quantity: we say, that Christ is there sacramentally and spiritually, without form or quantity.
The tenth They say, that the fathers and prophets of the comparison.
Old Testament did not eat the body nor drink the blood of Christ : we say, that they did eat his body and drink his blood, although he was not yet born nor incarnated.
The eleventh They say, that the body of Christ is every day comparimany times made, as often as there be masses said,
SOD. and that then and there he is made of bread and wine: we say,. that Christ's body was never but once made, and then not of the nature arid substance of bread and wine, but of the substance of his blessed mother.
They say, that the mass is a sacrifice satisfactory for sin, by the devotion of the priest that o:ffereth, and not by the thing that is offered : but we say, that their saying is a most heinous lie and detestable error against the glory of Christ.
For the satisfaction for our sins is not the devotion nor offering of the priest ; but the only host and satisfaction for all the sins of the world is the death of Christ, and the oblation of his body upon the cross, that is to say, the oblation that Christ hi~self offered once upon the cross, and never but once, nor never none but he.
And therefore that oblation, which the priests make Ths twelfth oompari eon.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
daily in their papistical masses, cannot be a satisCHAP.
II faction for other men's sins by the priest's devo- · tion, but it is a mere elusion and subtle craft
-0f the Devil, whereby Antichrist hath many years blinded and deceived the world.
They say, that Christ is corporally in many places at one time, affirming that his body is The thirteenth -0orporally and really present in as many places asoomparison. there be hosts consecrated: we say, that as the sun corporally is ever in heaven, and no where else ; and yet by his operation and virtue the sun is here in earth, by whose influence and virtue all things in the world be corporally regenerated, increased, and grow to their perfect state ; so likewise our Saviour Christ bodily and corporally is in heaven, sitting at the right hand of his Father,
.although spiritually he hath promised to be present with us upon earth unto the world's end.
And whensoever two or three be gathered together in his name, he is there in the midst
.among them, by whose supernal grace all godly men be first by him spiritually regenerated, and after increase and grow to their spiritual perfection in God, spiritually by faith eating his flesh and drinking his blood, although the same corporally be in heaven, far distant from our sight.
DEFENCE, &c.
B?.3_,x.
Now to return to the principal matter, lest it OHAP. might be thought a new device of us, that Christ
III. as concerning his body and his hum.an nature is in Ohriat oor-h d . h h ~ b G d' pc>rally is eaven, an not m ea.rt : t ere1ore y o s :dh:!': grace, it shall be evidently proved, that this is no m~~-l new devised matter, but that it was ever the old faith of the catholic Church, until the papists invented a new faith, that Christ really, corporally> naturally, and sensibly is here still with us in earth, shut up in a box or within the compass of bread and wine.
'Ih'he pror obr This needeth no better nor stronger proof, than t ereo y o~r J!rofes-that which the old authors bring for the same~
110n 1n our common that is to say, the general profession of all ChrisOreed.
• l'
Cd h · tian peop e m the common ree , w erem, as concerning Christ's humanity, they be taught to believe after this sort : that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ; that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried ; that he descended into hell, and rose again the third day ; that he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of his almighty Father, and from thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
This hath been ever the catholic faith of Christian people, that Christ, as concerning his body and his manhood, is in heaven, and shall there continue until he come down at the last judgment.
And forasmuch as the Creed maketh so express mention of the article of his ascension and depart-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
ing hence from us; if it had been another article CHAP. of our faith, that his body tarrieth also here with III. us in earth, surely in this place of the Creed was so urgent an occasion given to make some mention thereof, that doubtless it would not have been passed over in our Creed with silence. For if Christ, as concerning his humanity, be both here and gone hence, and both those two be articles of our faith, when mention was made of the one in the Creed, it was necessary to make mention of the other, lest, by professing the one, we should be dissuaded from believing the other, being so contrary the one to the other.
To this article of our Creed accordeth holy c HAP.
Scripture, and all the old ancient doctors of IV.
• • The proof Christ's Church.
For Christ himself said, hereofby the Scrip• leave the world, and go to my Father.
And also ture. he said, You shall ever have poor folks with you, but you shall not ever have me with you.
And he gave warning of this error beforehand, saying, That the time would come when many deceivers JMohtnt xvi._ a .XXVl. should be in the world, and say, Here is Christ, Matt.xxiv. and there is Christ ; but believe them not, said
Christ.
And St. Mark writeth in the last chapter of his Gospel, That the Lord Jesus was taken up Mark xvi. into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of his
Father.
.And St. Paul exhorteth all men to seek Coloss. iii.
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo K for things that be above in heaven, where Christ, He:.:ii. saith he, sitteth at the right hand of God his
Father.
Also he saith, That we have such a bishop, that sitteth in heaven at the right hand
.Heb. x of the t'hrone of God's majesty.
And that he having offered one sacrifice for sins, sitteth continually at the right hand of God, until his enemies be put under his feet as a footstoolJ'.
And hereunto consent all the old doctors of the Church.
CHlP First, Origen° upon Matthew reasoneth this Th f matter, how Christ may be called a stranger that eproo the~eoft byis departed into another country, seeing that he ancten authors. is with us ~lway unto the world's end, and is among all them that be gathered together in his name, and also in the midst of them that know him not. And thus he reasoneth : If he be here among us still, how can he be gone hence as a stranger departed into another country 1 Whereunto he answereth, that Christ is both God and man, having in him two natures.
And as a man, he is .not with us unto the world's end, nor is '¥)resent with all his faithful that be gathered tob Quem o,Portet ctBlum susci,pere usque ad temPus restitutionis omnium.
Acts iii EMBD.
• Origen. in Mat. cap. 25. tract. 33.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
gether in his name; but his divine power and CH/ P. spirit is ever with us.
Paul, saith he, was absent from the Corinthians in his body, when he was present with them in his spirit. So is Christ, saith he, gone hence and absent in his humanity, which in his divine nature is every where.
And in this saying, saith Origen, we divide not his humanity ; for St. John writeth, that no spirit that divideth[1Johniv]
Jesus can be of God ; but we reserve to both his natures their own properties.
In these words Origen hath plainly declared his mind, that Christ's body is not both present here with us, and also gone hence and estranged from us.
For that were to make two natures of one body, and to divide the body of Jesus; forasmuch as one nature cannot at one time be both with us and absent from us. And therefore, saith
Origen, that the presence must be understood of his divinity, and the absence of his humanity.
And according hereunto, St. Augustine writeth thus, in an epistle Ad Dardanumd.
"Doubt not "but Jesus Christ, as concerning the nature of '' his manhood, is now there from whence he shall
"come; and remember well and believe the pro- " fession of a Christian man, that he rose from " death, ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right
"hand of his Father, and from that place and " none other, shall he come to judge the quick and " the dead.
And he shall come, as the angels "said, as he was seen go into heaven, that is to d August. Ad Dardanum, E,Pist. 57.
DEFENCE, &c.
Bf 1f K "·say, in the same form and substance, unto the --· - "which he gave immortality,but changed not nature.
"After this form," saith he, meaning his man's nature, " we may not think that he is every where.
" For we must beware, that we do not so stablish "his divinity, that we take away the verity of his
"bod'!f."
These be St. Augustine's plain words.
And by and by after, he addeth these words :
"The Lord Jesus as God is every where, and as "man is in heaven." And, finally, he concludeth this matter in these few words: "Doubt not but " our Lord Jesus Christ is every where as God ;
" and as a dweller he is in man that js the temple " of God, and he is in a certain place in heaven,
" because of the measure of a very body."
And again St. Augustine writeth upon the Gospel of St. J ohnt: " Our Saviour Jesus Christ,» saith St. Augustine, " is above, but yet his truth is
"here.
His body wherein he arose is in one "place, but the truth of his word is spread every
"where."
And in another place of the same bookg, St Augustine, expounding these words of Christ,.
John :Iii. You shall ever have poor men with you, but me you shall not ever have, saith, " That Christ spake
"these words of the presence of his body. For,'"
• Hunc locum citat Leo, Epistola ultima, ad probandum in, Christo veram formam bumanam.
Et in tota Epistola, forma accipitur pro substantia, EMBD, rzn Joan. Tract. 30. s In Joan, Tract. 50.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
saith he, "as concerning his Divine Majesty, as CHAP. v.
" concerning his providence, as concerning his "infallible and invisible grace, these words be
" fulfilled which he spake, I am with you unto ~;ti.
" the world's end. But as concerning the flesh " which he took in his incarnation, as concerning
" that which was born of the Virgin, as concern- " ing that which was apprehended by the Jews,
" and crucified upon a tree, and taken down from " the cross, lapped in linen clothes, and buried,
" and rose again, and appeared after his resurrec- " tion; as concerning that flesh he said, You shall
'' not ever have me with you.
Wherefore seeing "that as concerning his flesh, he was conversant " with his disciples forty days, and they ac- " companying, seeing, and following him, he went
" up into heaven, both he is not here, (for he sit- " teth at the right hand of his Father,) and yet he
" is here, for he departed not hence, as concerning " the presence of his Divine Majesty.
As con- " cerning the presence of his Majesty, we have "Christ ever with us; but as concerning the " presence of his flesh, he said truly to his dis- " ciples, Ye shall not ever have me with you. For " as concerning the presence of his flesh, the " Church had Christ but a few days ; yet now it
" holdeth him fast by faith, though it see him "not with eyesh."
All these be St. Augustine's words. h "Ergo, si ita dictum est; Me autem non sem,Per habebitis,
'' qurestio, sicut arbitrior, jam nulla est, quee duobus modis "soluta est." EMBD.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK Also in another booki, entitled to St. Augustine, III.
---is written thus : " We must believe and confess "that the Son of God, as concerning his divinity,
"is invisible, without a body, immortal, and in- " circumscriptible ; but, as concerning his human- ,, ity, we ought to believe and confess that he is
"visible, hath a body, and is contained in acer- " tain place, and hath truly all the members of a "mant."
Of these words of St. Augustine it is most clear, that the profession of the catholic faith is, that Christ, as concerning his bodily substance and nature of man, is in heaven, and not present here with us in earth.
For the nature and property of a very body is to be in one place, and to occupy one place, and not to be every where or in many places at one time.
And though the body of Christ, after his resurrection and ascension, was made immortal, yet the nature thereof
1 De Ea,entia Divinif.ati,.
[This work is considered spurious by the Benedictine editors.] 1t Augustinus, De ver'/Jis Domini Sermone 53. "In cmlis
" Christus erat et persecutori dicebat : ' Quid me persequeris 1 '
"Ubi Dominus expressit sic et hie se esse in nobis.
Sic totus " creacit. quia quemadmodum ille in nobis hie, sic et nos ibi in "illo sumus."
Idem, In Joan. tract. 50. "Quomodo tenebo '' absentem 1 Quomodo in Cllllum manum mittam, ut ibi seden•
" tem teneam 1 Fidem mitte, et tenuisti : Parentes tui ten- " uerunt came, tu tene corde, quoniam Chriatus absens, et1am
" pl'IIBsens eat. Nisi pl'alsena easet, a nobis teneri non posset :
"sed quoniam verum est quod ait: Ecceego vo'/Jiscum sum, &-c., "et abiit et hie est, et rediit et nos deseruit.
Corpus suum "intulit cmlo, majestatem non abstulit mundo."
Et mox:
"Me autem non sem,J,er ha'/Je'/Jitis. Quid est enim 'non sem- " per1' Si bonus ea, si ad corpus Christi pertines '(quod signifi-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
was not changed; for then, as St. Augustine CHAP V. saith, it were no very body. And further, St.
Augustine showeth both the manner and form, how Christ is here present with us in earth, and how he is absent, saying, that h:e 1s present by his divine nature and majesty, by his providence, and by his grace; but by his human nature and very body, he is absent from this world, and present in heaven.
Cyrillus 1 likewise, upon the Gospel of St. John, agreeth fully with St. Augustine, saying, " Al- ,, though Christ took away from hence the pr·esence
"of his body, yet in the majesty of his Godhead " he is ever here, as he promised to his disciples
" at his departing, saying, I am with you eve1· unto ': the world's end."
And in another placem of the same book, St.
"cat Petrus) habes Christum et m prresenti et in futuro.
In " prre:1enti pt:r fidem. in prresenti per signum, in prresenti per '· baptismi sacramentum, in prresenti per altaris cibum et potum."
Idem, In 1 oan. tract. 102. super illis verbis: Relznquo inundum &c. "Reliquit mundum corporali discessione, perrexit ad Pat- " rem hominis ascensione, nee mundum deseruit prresentire "gubernatione."
Idem, De Symoolo ad Catechumenos, lib. ii.
"Quis est iste "sponsus, absens et prresens 1 Quis est iste sponsus prres,ms et " latens 1 quern sponsa Ecclesia fide tantum concipit, et sine ullo
"amplexu membra ejus quotidie parit 1" Et mox:
"Ipsa est "virtus omnipotentire ture, ut plus possis in ips1s fidehbus, "quando absens ab eis in homine illo suscepto sentiris.
" Creterum prresentia tuoo majestatis de cordibus fidelium "tuorum nunquam discedis."
Et mox:
"Accepit Petrus, ut "moreretur pro absente, quern desperando negaverat prresen- " tern.''
EMBD.
1 Cyrillus, In Joan. lib. ix. cap. 14. m Lib. ix. cap. 21.
DE:B'ENCE, &c.
BOOK Cyril saith thus: "Christian people must believe, 111• "that although Christ be absent from us as con- " cerning his body, yet by his power he governeth
" us and all things, and is present with all them " that love him. Therefore he said, Truly, truly,
" I say unto you, wheresoever there be two or " three gathered together in my name, there
" am I in the midst of them. For like as when " he was conversant here in earth as a man,
"yet then he filled heaven, and did not leave " the company of angels : even so being now in " heaven with his flesh, yet he :filleth the earth,
" and is in them that love him. And it is to "be marked, that although Christ should go
"away only as concerning his flesh, (for he is "ever present in the power of his divinity,) yet "for a little time he said he would be with his
" disciples." These be the words of St. Cyril.
St Am brose also saithn, " That we must not seek "Christ upon earth, nor in earth, but in heaven,
" where he sitteth at the right hand of his Father."
And likewise St. Gregory 0 writeth thus :
" Christ," saith he, " is not here by the presence " of his flesh, and yet he is absent no where by "the presence of his majesty."
11 Ambrosius, In Lucam, lib. x. cap. 24.
0 Gregorius in Hom. Paschatis.
P Beda in Homil. Paschali 11uadam super illis verbis: Ecce ego vobis. cum sum. "Ipse Deus et homo assumptus est "humanitate quam de terra susceperat, manet cum sanctis in "terra divinitate qua terram pariter implet et cmlum."
Idem super illis verbis: Modicum jam, et non videbitis me. "Ac si ·• aperte diceret : Propterea me suscitatum a mortuis modico
"tempore videbitis, quia non semper in terra corporaliter mansu- " rus, sed per humilitatem quam assumpsi, jam sum ascensurus
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
Ill What subtlety thinkest thou, good reader, can CHAP.
V. the papists now imagine, to defend their pernicious error, that Christ in his human nature is bodily here in earth, in the consecrated bread and wine ; seeing that all the old Church of Christ believed the contrary, and all the old authors wrote the contrary.
For they all affirmed and believed that Christ being one person, hath nevertheless in him two natures or substances, that is to say, the nature of his Godhead, and the nature of his manhood.
They say furthermore, that Christ is both gone h!;)nce from us unto heaven, and is also here with us in earth, but not in his human nature, as the papists would have us to believe ; but the old authors say, that he is in heaven, as concerning his manhood, and nevertheless both here, and there, and everywhere, as concerning his Godhead.
For although his Divinity be such that it is infinite, without measure, compass, or place ; so that, as concerning that nature, he is circumscribed with no place, but is everywhere, and filleth all the world ; yet, as concerning his human nature, he hath measure, compass, and place; so that when he was here upon earth, he was not at the same time in heaven; and now that he is ascended into heaven, as concerning that nature he hath now forsaken the earth, and is only in heaven.
"in ccelum."
Idem in Homil. in Vigilia Pentecostes: "Ille " post resurrectionem ascendens in ccelum, eos corporaliter de- " seruit, quibus tamen divime prresentia majestatis nunquam " defuit, ideo recte de hoc paracleto subjunxit:
Ut maneat vo- " b1scum in i:eternum.''
EMBD.
[This quotation from Bede is not in the Parker's Society edition.-C.H.H.W.l
DEFENCE, &c.
B8f K For one nature that is circumscribed, come HAP. passed, and measured, cannot be in divers places.
VJ. at one time.
This is the faith of the old catholio ?a~:~:t!
Church, as appeareth as well by the authors ~Ia~~:e!: before rehearsed, as by these that hereafter one time. follow.
St. Augustine speaking that a body must needs be in some place, saith, " That if it be not ,within " the compass of a place, it is no where.
And if " it be no where, then it is notq."
And St. Cyril, considering the proper natureof a very body, said, "That if the nature of the " Godhead were a body, it must needs be in a "place, and have quantity, greatness, and cir- " cumscriptionr."
If then the nature of the Godhead must needs be circumscribed if it were a body, much more must the nature of Christ's manhood be circumscribed and contained within the compass of a. certain place.
Didymus also•, in his book De Spiritu Sancto, (which St. Hierome did translate,) proveth, that the Holy Ghost is very God, because he is in many places at one time, which no ~reature can be.
For, saith he, all creatures, visible and invisible, be circumscribed and environed either: within one place, (as corporal and visible things be,) or within the property of their own substance,
4 Ad Dardanum Epist. 57. r Cyrillus, De Tri'n. lib. ii.
• Didyrnus, De Spiritu Sancto, lib. i. cap. 1.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
(as angels and invisible creatures be,) so that no CHAP.
VI. angel, saith he, can be· at one time in two places.
And forasmuch as the Holy Ghost is in many men at one time, therefore, saith he, the Holy Ghost must needs be God.
The same affirmeth also St. Basilt, " That the " angel which was with Cornelius was not at the "same time with Philip; nor the angel which " spake to Zachary in the altar was not the same
" time in his proper place in heaven.
But the "Holy Ghost was at one time in Habakkuk, and in " Daniel in Babylon, and with Jeeremy in prison,
'' and with Ezekiel in Chebar; whereby he proveth " that the Holy Ghost is God."
Wherefore the papists, which say that the body of Christ is in an infinite number of places at one time, do make his body to be God, and so confound the two natures of Christ, attributing to his human nature that thing which belongeth only to his divinity, which is a most heinous and detestable heresy.
Against whom writeth Fulgentiusu in this wise, speaking of the distinction and diversity of the two natures in Christ: "One and the selfsame
" Christ," saith he, " of mankind was made a man "compassed in a place, who of his Father is God
" without measure or place.
One and the self- " same person, as concerning his man's substance, '' was not in heaven when he was in earth, and t Basilius, De Spiritu Sancto, cap. 22. u Fulgentius,Ad Trasimundum Regem, lib. ii.
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo :s: "forsook the earth when he ascended into heaven :
III.
• --- " hut as concerning his godly substance, which 1s " above all measure, he neither left heaven when
" he came from heaven, nor he left not the earth " when he ascended into heaven, which may be
"known by the most certain word of Christ him- " self, who to show the placing of his humanity,
John xvi.·" said to his disciples, I ascend up to my Father " and your Father, to my God and your God.
'' Also when he had said of Lazarus, that he was John xi. " dead, he added, saying, I am glad for your
" sakes, that you may believe; for I was not there.
" But to show the unmeasurable compass of his Matt.
" divinity, he said to his disciples, Behold, I am xxviii.
" with you always unto the world's end. Now " how did he go up into heaven, but because he is
" a very man, contained within a place ? Or how " is he present with faithful people, but because he
" is very God, being without measure.._?"
Of these words of Fulgentius it is declared most certainly, that Christ is not here with us in earth, but by his Godhead, and that his humanity is in heaven only, and absent from us.
Yet the same is more plainly showed, (if more plainly can be spoken,) by Vigilius1, a bishop and an ho]y martyr.
He writeth thus against the "Et lib. iii. "Idem atque inseparabilis Christus secundum
" solam camem de ~epulchro surrexit, secundum totum hominem "queru accepit. t.erram Jocaliter deserens, ad cmlum ascendit et
"in dextris Dei sedet: secundum eundem totum hominem ven- " turus est ad judicandum vivos et mortuos."
EMBD, 1 Vigilius. Contra Eutychen, lib. i.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
heretic Eutyches, which denied the humanity of c HAP.
Christ, holding opinion that he was only God and VI. not man. Whose error Vigilius confuting, proveth that Christ had in him two natures joined together in one person, the nature of his Godhead and the nature of his manhood. Thus he writeth :
"Christ said to his disciples, If you loved me, you John xi~ John XVl.
"would be glad, for I _go unto my Father.
And "again he said, It is expedient for you that I go, "for if I go not, {he Comforter shall not come to " you.
And yet surely the eternal word of God, " the virtue of God, the wisdom of God, was ever
"with his Father and in his Father, yea even at "the same time when he was with us and in us.
"For when he did mercifully dwell in this world, "he left not his habitation in heaven, for he is
"every where whole with his Father equal in " Divinity, whom no place can contain, for the "Son filleth all things, and there is no place that " lacketh the presence of his Divinity.
From '' whence then and whither did he say that he " would go 1 Or how did he say that he went to "his Father, from whom doubtless he never de- " parted 1 But that to go to his Father, and from "us, wa,s to take from this world that nature
" which he receii•ed of 11,s. Thou seest, therefore, "that it was the property of that nature to be
" taken away and go from us, which in the end of " the world shall be rendered again to us, as the "angels witnessed, saying, This .fesu.<J, which i.'I Acts i.
" taken from you, shall come again, like a,<J you
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK "saw him going up into heaven.
For look upon Ill.
----" the miracle, look upon the mystery of both the " natures.
The Son of God,' as concerning his " humanity, went from us; as concerning his .Matt. ult." Divinity, he said unto us, Behold I am with you
" all the days unto the world's end."
Thus far have I rehearsed the words of Vigilius, and by and by he concludeth thus : " He is with "us, and not with us. For those whom he left
" and went from them, as concerning his humanity, "those he left not nor forsook them not, as " touching his Divinity. · For as touching the "form of a· servant, which he took away from us
'' into heavvn, he is absent from us ; but by the '' form of God, which goeth not from us, he is
" present with us in earth : and neverthe]ess both "present and absent, he is all one Christ."
Hitherto you have heard Vigilius speak, that Christ as concerning his bodily presence, and the nature of his manhood, is gone from us, taken from us, is gone up into heaven, is not with us, hath left us, hath forsakei;i us. But as concerning the other nature of his Deity, he is still with us ; so that he is both with us, and not with us : with us in the nature of his Deity, and not with us in the nature of his humanity.
And yet more clearly doth the same Vigilius declare the same thing in another place", saying,
"If the Word and the fleah were both . of one "nature, seeing that the Word is every where,
• Contra Eutycken, lib. iv.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
'" why is not the flesh then everywhere?
For CHAP, VI.
"' when it was in earth, then verily it was not in ~, heaven; and now when it is in heaven, it is not ·" surely in earth.
And it is so sure that it is not "' in earth, that as concerning it we look for him
"' to come from heaven, whom, as concerning his ·" eternal Word, we believe to be with us in earth.
"' Therefore by your doctrine," saith Vigilius unto Eutyches, who defended that the Divinity and humanity in Christ was but one nature, "either
" the Word is contained in a place with his flesh, "' or else the flesh is everywhere with the Word.
"For one nature cannot receive in itself two divers "and contrary things.
But these two things be "di~ers and far unlike, that is to say, to be con- " tained in a place, and to be everywhere.
There- " fore inasmuch as the Word is everywhere, '' and the flesh is not everywhere, it appeareth
"plainly, that one Christ himself hath in him two "natures ; and that by his divine nature he is
"everywhere, and by his human nature he is con- "' tained in a place; that he is created, and hath
"' no beginning ; that he is subject to death, and " cannot die. Whereof one he hath by the nature
" of his Word, whereby he is God, and the other "he hath by the nature of his flesh, whe_reby the " same God is man also. Therefore one Son of " God, the self-same was made the Son of man, and "he hath a beginning by the nature of his flesh,
" and no beginning by the nature of his Godhead.
"He is created by the nature of his flesh, and not
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK "created by the nature of his Godhead. He isIIL "comprehended in a place "by the nature of his
"flesh, and not comprehended in a place by the " nature of his Godhead. He is inferior to angels
"in the nature of his flesh, and is equal to his " Father in the nature of his Godhead.
He died " by the nature of his flesh, and died not by the '' nature of his Godhead.
This is the faith and "catholic confession which the Apostles taught, " the martyrs did corroborate, and faithful people
" keep unto this day."
All these be the sayings of Vigilius, who according to all the other authors before rehearsed,. and to the faith and catholic confession of the Apostles, martyrs, and all faithful people unto his time, saith, that as concerning Christ's humanity, when he was here on earth, he was not in heaven; and now when he is in heaven, he is not in earth.
For one nature cannot be both contained in a place in heaven, and be also here in earth at one time.
And forasmuch as Christ is here with us in earth. and also is contained in a place in heaven, he proveth thereby, that Christ hath two natures in him, the nature of a man, whereby he is gone from us and ascended into heaven ; and the nature of his Godhead, whereby he is here with us in earth.
So that it is not one natur.e that is here with us~ and that is gone from us, that is ascended into heaven and there contained, and that is permanent here with us on earth.
Wherefore the papists, which now of late years
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
have made a new faith, that Christ's natural body CHAP.
VI. is really and naturally present both with us here --in earth, and sitteth at the right hand of his
Father in heaven, do err in two very horrible heresies.
The one, that they confound his two natures, his Godhead and his manhood, attributing unto his humanity that thing which appertaineth only to his Divinity, that is to say, to be in heaven and earth and in many places at one time.
The other is, that they divide and separate his human nature or his body, making of one body of Christ two bodies and two natures ; one, which is in heaven, visible and palpable, having all members and proportions of a most perfect natural man : and another, which they say is in earth here with us, in every bread and wine that is consecrated, having no distinction, form, nor proportion of members : which ·contrarieties and diversities, as this holy martyr VigiHus saith, cannot be together in one nature.
But now seeing that it is so evident a matter, CHAP. both by the express words of Scripture, and also
VII. by a11 the old authors of the same, that our!nt:!swer S • Ch · t · h" b d'l papists, alaviour ris , as concernmg IS o I y presence, leging for · d d • t h d · t h · them these IS ascen e In o eaven, an 1s no ere m earth ;wordR, d · h t th· h th b th fi · "This is an seemg t a 1s a een e true con ess10nmy body.,
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK of the catholic faith ever since Christ's ascenm. sion ; it is now ~o be considered, what moved the papists to make a new and contrary faith, and what Scriptures they have for their purpose.
Borne is What moved them I know not, but their own .Antichrist. • • m1qu1ty, or the nature and condition of the see of Rome, which is of all other most contrary to Christ, and therefore most worthy to be called the see of Antichrist.
And as for Scripture, they alledge none but only one, and that not truly understanded ; but, to serve their purpose, wrested out of tune, whereby they make it to jar, and sound contrary to all other Scriptures pertaining to that matter.
~~:::iuChrist took bread, say they, blessed and brake thepapistsit, and gave it to his disciples, saying, This is my body.
These words they ever still repeat and beat upon, that Christ said, This is my body.
And this saying they make their sheet-anchor, to prove thereby as well the real and natural presence of Christ's body in the sacrament, as their imagined transubstantiation.
For these words of Christ, say they, be most plain and most true.
Then forasmuch as he said, This is my body, it must needs be true, that that thing which the priest holdeth in his hands is Christ's body.
And if it be Christ's body, then can it not be bread ; whereof they gather by their reasoning, that there is Christ's body really present, and no bread.
Now forasmuch as all their proof hangeth only The answer.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
upon these words, This is my body, the true sense CHAP.
VII. and meaning of these words must be examined.-~---But, say they, what need they any examination 1
What words can be more plain than to say, This is my body?
Truth it is indeed, that the words be as plain Thet 1t·~terpre a 10n as may be spoken ; but that the sense is not so of thdese wor s, plain, it is manifest to every man that weigheth' Thbisdis .. my o y. substantially the circumstances of the place.
For when Christ gave bread to his disciples, and said, This is my body, there is no man of any discretion, that understandeth the English tongue, but he may well know by the order of the speech, that Christ spake those wurds of the bread, calling it his body, as all the old authors also do affirm, although some of the papists deny the same.
Wherefore this sentence cannot mean as the words s~em and purport, but there must needs be some figure or mystery in this speech, more than appeareth in the plain words.
For by this manner of speech plainly understand without any figure as the words lie, can be gathered none other sense, but that bread is Christ's body, and that Christ's body is bread, which all Christian ears do abhor to hear.
Wherefore in these words must needs be sought out another sense and meaning than the words of themselves do bear\ bBiJarius, De Trin. lib. iv.
"Intelligentia dictorum ex " causis est a,i;sumenda d1ce11di : quia non sermoni res, sed
"rei est sermo subjectus."
Et hb. ix.
"Dictorum intelligen- " tia, aut ex pr81positis aut ex sequentibus est expectanda."
EMllD.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK And although the true sense and understanding III.
0 8 AP. of these words be sufficiently declared before, VIII. when I spake of transubstantiation ; yet to make
~fi!;!~ci 11"the matter so plain that no scruple or doubt shall !!d b:t:~ remain, here is occasion given more fully to inhis blood. treat thereof.
In which process shall be showed that these sentences of Christ, This is my body,
This is my blood, be figurative speeches.
And although it be manifest enough by the plain words of the Gospel, and proved before in the process of transubstantiation, that Christ spake of bread when he said, This is my body ; likewise that it was very wine which he called his blood; yet lest the papists should say that we suck this out of our own fingers, the same shall be proved, by testimony of the old authors, to be the true and old faith of the catholic Church.
Whereas the school authors and papists shall not be able to show so much as one word of any ancient author to the contrary 0•
0 Ac primum Clemens in PO!dagogo, lib. i. cap. 6. "Domi- '! nus dixit:
" Comedite carnes meas, et bibite sanguinem " meum, evidenter fidei et promissionis quod est esculentum et
"poculentum dicens allegorice, per qure Ecclesia tanquam homo "ex multis constans membris irrigatur et augetur.''
Justin. in A,Pol. ii.. "Hoc alimentum apud nos Euoharistia "dicitur, cujus participem esse nemini licet, nisi qui crediderit
"vera esse, qure a nobis docentur, et lavacro regenerationis in "remissione peccatomm lotus fuerit, et ad eum.. modum, quern
"Christus tradidit, vitam instituerit.
Non enfm µt C<lmmunen "panem a.ut communem potum, heec accipimus, s¢ quemadmo- " dum Jesus Christu'S Serva.tor noster, per verbum Dei factus
"caro, et carnem et sanguinem nostrre salutis causa habuit, sic "etiam, cibum illum. postquam per precationem verbi illiuR
"fuerit benedictus, ex quo sanguis et carncs nostrre per muta-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
First, lrenreus writing against the Valentinians, CHAP.
VlII. in his fourth book saith, that " Christ confessed--- " bread which is a creatur~, to be his body, and "the cup to be his blood." And in the same book he writeth thus also : " The bread, wherein the "thanks be given, is the body of the Lord."
And yet again in the same bookd he saith, that "Christ " taking bread of the same sort that our bread is
"of, confessed that it was his body." And that " that thing which was tempered in the chalice
" was his blood."
And in the fifth book0 he writeth further, that " of the chalice, which is his blood, a man is
"nourished, and doth grow by the bread, which is "his body1."
"tionem nutriuntur, edocti sumus esse carnem et sanguinem "illius Jesu qui pro nobis fuerit incarnatus.
Apostoli enim in "commentariis ab eis factis (quse dicuntur Evangelia) sic tradi- " derunt, prrecepisse illis Jesum, cum accepisset panem, gratias
"agentemd1xisse:
Hoc facite in mei commemorationtm, Hoc est "corpus meum, Hie est sanguis meus, et solis ipsis impartisse."
Deinde Irenieus, Contra Valent. hb. iv. cap. 32. "Christus "suis discipulis dans consilium, primitias
Deo offerre de suis "creaturis, (non quasi indigenti, sed ut ipsi nee infructuosi nee
" ingrati sint) eum qui ex creatura panis est accepit, et gratias "egit, dicens : Hoc est corpus meum.
Et calicem similiter, qui "est ex ea creatura qure est secundum noo, suum sanguinem con- " fessus est, et novi testamenti novam docuit oblationem."
Et •cap. 34: "Panis in quo gratire actre sunt, qui est a terra, perci- ., piens vocationem Dei, jam non communis panis est, sed "Eucharistia, ex duabus rebus constans, terrena et crelesti."
EMBD. d Irenreus, Contra Valent. lib. iv. cap. 57.
" Lib. v. cap. 2. r Et ibidem: "Quando mixtus calix, et fractus panis, percipit "verbum Dei, fit Eucharistia corporis et sanguinis Christi ex "quibus augetur et consistit carnis nostroo substantia.''
E:r,rno,
124,
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK These words of lremeus be most plain, that III.
Christ taking very material bread, a creature of God, and of such sort as other bread is which we do use. called that his body, when he said, This is my body.
And the wine also which doth feed and nourish us, he called his blood.
Tertullian likewise, in his book written against the Jews\ saith, that "Christ called bread his body " And in his book against Marcion, he oftentimes repeateth the selfsame words.
And St. Cyprian in the first book of his Epistles1, saith the same thing, that " Christ called
"·such bread as is made of many c<Yrn,8 joined to- " gether, his body : and such wine he named his
" blood, as is pressed out of many grapes, and "made into wine."
And in his second bookm, he saith these words, " Water is not the blood of Ghrist, but wine."
And again, in the same Epistle, he saith, that " it was wine which Christ called his blood;" and that " if wine be not in the chalice, then we drink
"not of the fruit of the vine." And in the same Epistle he saith, that " meal alone, or water alone,
" is not the body of Ghrist, except they be both "Joined together to make thereof bread."
Epiphanius also saithn, that "Christ, speaking " of a loaf which is round in fashion, and cannot
"see, hear, nor feel, said of it, This is my body." k Tertullianus, Adversus Judaos.
1 Cyprian us, Ad Magnum, lib. i. Epist. 6. m Cyprianus, Ad Cacilium, lib. ii. Epist. 3. n Epiphan. in Ancorato.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
And St. Hierome writing Ad Hedibiam, saith CHA!'
VITI. these words 0 , "Let us mark, that the bread-- " which the Lord brake and gave to his dis- " ciples, was the body of our Saviour Christ, as "he said unto them, Take and eat, this is my
"bodyP."
And St. Augustine also saith\ that "although " we may set forth Christ by mouth, by writing,
'· and by the sacrament of his body and blood, yet "we call neither our tongue, nor words, nor ink,
" letters, nor paper, the body and blood of Christ ; " but that we call the body and blood of Christ,
" which is taken of the fruit of the earth, and con- " secrated by mystical prayer."
And also he saith', "Jesus called meat his body, and drink his " blood•."
Moreover Cyril upon St. John saith\ that "Christ gave to his disciples pieces of bread, "saying, Take, eat, this is my body."
Likewise Theodoretus saithu, "When Christ "gave the holy mysteries, he called bread his 0 Hieron, Ad Hedibiam.
P "Et calicem ilium esse de quo item locutus est, Bibite ex "hoc omnes; Hie est sanguis meus novi testamenti. qui Pro "multis etfunditur, e.'T"c, Iste est calix de quo in Propheta legi- " mus, C alicem salutaris accipiam; et alibi : Calix tuus "inebrians quam prtl!clarus est."
EMBD. q August. De Trinit.
Jib. iii. cap. 4. r De Verbis A,Portoli, Serm. 2.
• Idem, De Trin. lib. xii. cap. 58. "Fractum panem dis- " tribuebat dicens: Hoc est corpus meum."
EMBD. t Cyrillus, Zn J oannem. lib. iv. cap. 14. u Theodoretus in Dialogo. 1.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK "body, and the cup mixt with wine and water he III.
,, --- " called his bloodx.
By all these foresaid authors and places, with many mo, it is plainly proved, that when our
Saviour Christ gave bread unto his disciples, saying, Take and eat, this is my body; and likewise when he gave 1hem the cup, saying, IJ,i,vide this among you, and drink you all of this,for this is my blood ; he c1tlled then the very material bread his body, and the very wine his blood.
That bread, I say, that is one of the creatures here in earth among us, and that groweth out of the earth, and is made of many grains of corn beaten into flour, and mixt with water, and so baken and made into bread, of such sort as other our bread is, that hath neither sense nor reason, and finally, that feedeth and nourisheth our bodies; such bread Christ called his body, when he said,
This is my body; and such wine as is made of grapes pressed together and thereof is made drink which nourisheth the body, such wine be called
• his blood.
This is the true doctrine, confirmed as well by holy Scripture, as by all ancient authors of Christ's
Church, both Greeks and Latins, that is to say, that when our Saviour Christ gave bread and wine to his disciples, and spake these words, This
" Rabanus, lib. i. cap. 31. "Quia panis corporalis cor con- " firmat, ideo ille corpus Christi conivuenter nuncupatur.
" Vinum autem, quia sanguinem operatur in came, ideo ad " sanguinem Christi refertur.''
EMBD.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
is my body, This is my blood, it was very bread c ~lt and wine which he called his body and blood.
Now let the papists show some authority for their opinion, either of Scripture, or of some ancient author.
And let them not constrain all men to follow their fond devices, only because they say it is so, without any other ground or authority but their own bare words.
For in such wise credit is to be given to God's word only, and not to the word of any man.
As many of them as I have read (the Bishop of Winchester only excepted) do say, that Christ called not the bread his body, nor wine his blood, when he said, This is my body, This is my blood.
And yet in expounding these words they vary among themselves; which is a token that they be uncertain of their own doctrine .
. For some of them say, that by this pronoun demonstrative, " this," Christ understood not the bread nor wine, but his body and blood.
And other some say, that by the pronoun, " this," he meant neither the bread nor wine, nor his body nor blood, but that he meant a particular thing uncertain, which they call individuum vagum, or individuum in genere, I trow some mathematical quiddity, they cannot tell what.
But let all these papists together show any one authority, either of Scripture, or of ancient author, eith~r Greek or Latin, that 8aith as they say, that Christ called not bread and wine his body and blood, but individuum vagum; and for my part I
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK shall give them place, and confess that they say III.
---true.
And if they can show nothing for them of antiquity, but only their own bare words, then it is reason that they give place to the truth confirmed by so many authorities, both of Scripture and of ancient writers, which is, that Christ called very material bread his body, and very wine made of grapes his blood.
CHAP.
Now this being fully proved, it must needs rx. . follow consequently, that this manner of speaking
•• Bread 1s ~Y ~odf·" is a figurative speech : for in plain and proper • Wine 18 • • h b d . Ch • , myblood,"speech 1t 1s not true to say, t at rea 1s r1st s ~i~!guu• body, or wine his blood.
For Christ's body hath speeches. a sou], ]ife, sense, and reason: but bread hath neither soul, life, sense, nor reason.
Likewise in plain speech it is not true, that we eat Christ's body, and drink his blood.
For eating and drinking, in their proper and usual signification, is with the tongue, teeth, and lips to swallow, divide, and chaw in pieces: which thing to do to the flesh and blood of Christ, is horrible to be heard of any Christian.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
So that these speeches, "To eat Christ's body CHAP.
"and drink his blood," "To call bread his body: T x.
'' o eat " or ·wine his blood " be speeches not taken in the Christ's • • .
' flesh, and proper s1gmficat10n of every word. but by transla-drmk .~is . f d .
,, d d . k .
,, blood, betI on o these wor s, " eating an " rin ing, figurative f h .
"fi . f l 11. speeches. rom t e s1gm cat10n o a corpora t mg to signify a spiritual thing; and by calling a thing that signifieth, by the name of the thing which is signified thereby : which is no rare nor strange thing, but an usual manner and phrase in common speech.
And yet lest this fault should be imputed unto us, that we do feign things of our own heads without authority, (as the papists be accustomed to do,) here shall be cited sufficient authority, as well of Scripture as of old ancient authors, to approve the same.
First, when our Saviour Christ, in the sixth of John, said, That he was the bread of life, the John vi. which whosoever did eat, should not die, but live for ever ; and that the bread which he would _give us was his flesh ; and, therefore, whosoever should eat his flesh, and drink his blood, .~hould hm:e everla8ting life ; and they that should not eat hi.~ flesh and drink his blood, should not have f'Verlw:ting life : when Christ had spoken these words with many mo of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, both the Jews, and many also of his disciples, were offended with his words, and said, This is an hard sayiny : for how can he give us his flesh to be eaten .fi> Christ perceiving their murmuring heartf,, (because they knew none
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo x other eating of his flesh, but by cha wing [ chewing] III. and swallowing,) to declare that they should not eat his body after that sort, nor that he meant of any such carnal eating, he said thus unto them,
What if you see the Son of man ascend up where he was before ? It is the spirit that giveth life, the fie.sh availeth nothinq. The wor:ls which I spake unto you, be spirit and life.
These words our Saviour Christ spake, to lift up their minds from earth to heaven, and from carnal to spiritual eating, that they should not phantasy that they shouid with their teeth eat him present here in ea1·th, for his flesh so eaten, saith he, should nothing profit them.
And yet so they should not eat him, for he would take his body away from them, and ascend with it into heaven ; arid there by faith and not with teeth, they should spiritually eat him, sitting at the right hand of his Father.
And therefore saith he, The words which I do speak be spirit and life : that is to say, are not to be understand, that we shall eat Christ with our teeth grossly and carnally, but that we shall spiritually and ghostly with our faith eat him, being carnally absent from us in heaven; and in such wise as Abraham and other holy fathers did eat him, many years before 1 Oor. x. he was incarnated and born.
As St. Paul saith, that they all did eat the same spiritual meat that we do, and drank the same spiritual drink, that is to say, Ghrist. For they spiritually by their faith were fed and nourished with Christ's body
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
and blood, and had eternal life by him, before he OHl P. was born, as we have now, that come after his ascension.
Thus have you heard, by the declaration of Christ himself and of St Paul, that the eating and drinking of Christ's flesh and blood is not taken in the common signification, with mouth and teeth to eat and chaw [ chew J a thing being present, but by a lively faith in heart and mind to chaw and digest a thing being absent, either ascended hence into heaven, or else not yet born upon earth.
And Origenx, declaring the said eating of Christ's flesh and drinking of his blood, not to be understand as the words do sound, but figuratively, writeth thus upon these words of Christ,
Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you: "Consider," saith Origen, "that these things, <Written in God's " books, are figures ; and therefore examine and "understand them, as spiritual -and not as carnal
"men.
For if you understand them as carnal " men, they hurt you, and feed you not. For even
" in the Gospels is there found letter that killeth ; " and not only in the Old Testament, but also in "the New, is there found letter that slayeth him
" that doth not spiritually under-stijnd that which " is spoken.
For if thou follow the letter or words " of this that Ghrist said, Exeept you eat my John vi.
" flesh and drink my blood, this letter killeth."
"' Origen. In Levit. Hom. 7.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK Who can more plainly express in any words, that III. the eating and drinking of Christ's flesh and blood are not to be taken in common signification, as the words pretend and sound, than Origen doth in this place?
And St. John Chryostome affirmeth the same, saying, 7that "if any man understand the words
" of Christ carnally, he shall surely profit nothing " thereby. For what mean these words, The flesh
"availeth nothing? He meant not of his flesh, God "forbid, but he meant of them that fleshly and " carnally understood those things that Christ
"spake. But what is carnal understanding?
To " understand the words simply as they be spoken, " and nothing else. For we ought not so to "understand the things which we see, but all
"mysteries must be considered with inward eyes, "and that is spiritually to understand them."
In these words St. John Chrysostome showeth plainly, that the words of Christ concerning the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, are not to be understand simply as they be spoken, but spiritually and figuratively.
And yet most plainly of all other, St. Augustine doth declare thiR lllatter in his book De Doctrina
Christianaz, in which book he instructeth Christian people how they should understand those places of Scripture, which seem hard and obscure.
" Seldom," saith he, " is any difficulty in proper "words, but either the circumstance of the place,
1 Chrysost. In Joan. Hom. 46.
• Augustinus, De Doctrina Christ. lib. iii. cap. 4 et 5.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
"or the conferring of divers translations, or else CH AP.
"the original tongue wherein it was written, will·~~ " make the sense plain.
But in words that be " altered from their proper signification, there is "great diligence and heed to be taken.
And '' specially we must beware, that we take not literally "any thing that is spoken figurativel'!f.
Nor con- " trari wise, we must not take for a figure, any "thing that is spoken properly.
Therefore must "be declared," saith St. Augustine, "the manner " how to discern a proper speech .from a figura- " tive; wherein," saith he," must be observed this
" rule, that if the thing which is spoken be to " the furtherance of charity, then it is a proper
"speech, and no figure.
So that if it be a corn- " mandment that forbiddeth any evil or wicked 'act, or commandeth any good or beneficial "thing, then it is no figure.
But if it command "cmy ill or wicked thing, or forbid any thing that "is good and beneficial, then it is a figurative
" speech.
Now this saying of Christ, Except "you eat the flesh of the Son of man and "drink his blood, you shall have no life in you,
" " Et ad hoc etiam pertinet quod ait Apostolus : Litera " occidit, spiritus autein vivificat.
Cum enim figurate dictum " sic accipitur, tanquam proprie dictum sit, carnaliter sapitur.
"Neque ulla mars animre congruentius appellatur, quam cum ., id etiam, quod in ea bestiis antecellit (hoc est intelligentia)
"carni subjicitur sequendo literam.
Qui enim sequitur literam, "translata verba s1cut propria tenet,"
&c. Et mox:
"Ea "demum est miserabilis animre serv1tus, signa pro rebus acci- " pere, et supra creaturam corpoream oculum mentis act haurien- " dum reternum lumen levare non posse."
August. De Doctr.
Christ. lib. iii. cap. 5. EMBD.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK "seemeth to command an heinous and a wicked II.
" thing ; therefore it is a figure, commanding " us to be partakers of Christ's passion, keeping
" in our minds to our great comfort and profit, " that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us."
This is briefly the sentence of St. Augustine, in his book De Doctrina Christiana.
And the like he writeth in his book De Catechizandis Rudibus\ and in his book Contra Adversarium Legis et Prophetarum 0, and in divers other places, which for tediousness I pass over.
For if I should rehearse all the authorities of St.
Augustine and other which make mention of this matter, it would weary the reader too muchd. b De Catech. Rudio. cap. 26.
° Contra Advers. Legis et Prophet. lib. ii. cap. 9, 4 Aug. de Catecliizandis Rudibus, cap. 26.
"De Sacra- " mento quod accepit, cum ei bene commendatum fuerit, signa- " cula quidem rerum divmarum esse visibilia, sed res ipsas in- " visibiles in eis honorari ; nee •sic habendam esse speciem illam
" benedictio:he sanctificatal:n, quemadmodum hal>etur in usu " quolibet: dicendum etia.m quid significet et sermo ille quem
" audivit, quid in illo condatur, cujus illa res similitudinem " gerit.
Deinde monendus est [Catechizandus] ut si quid in "Scripturis audiat, quod carnaliter sonat, etiamsi non intelli- " git, credat tamen spirituale aliquid significari, quod ad "sanctos mores futq.ramque vitam pertmeat.
Hoc autem "breviter discet, ut qu1cquid audierit ex libris canonici'S, quod " ad dilectionem ieternitatis et veritatis et sanotitatis, et " ad dileotionem pronn.1 referre non possit, figurate dictum
"vel gestum esse c1'edat, atque ita conetnr intelligere ut ad lllam "geminam referat ~ilectionem."
Idem, Contra Adiullrsarium Legis et Proplietaruin, lib. ii. cap. 9. " Mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominem Chr1stum
"Jesum camem suam nobis manducandam, bibendumque san- " guinem dantem, fideli corde atque ore suscipimus, quamvis
"horribilius videatur humanam oarnem manducare quam peri.-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
Wherefore to all them that by any reasonable CHAP. means will be satisfied, these things before rex. hearsed are sufficient to prove, that the eating of Christ's flesh and drinking of his blood, is not to be understand simply and plainly, as the words do properly signify, that we do eat and drink him with our mouths ; but it is a figurative speech spiritually to be understand, that we mu~t deeply print and fruitfully believe in our hearts, that his fiesh was crucified and his blood shed, for our redemption.
And this our belief in him, is i.o eat his flesh and to drink his blood, although they be not present here with us, but be ascended into heaven.
As our forefathers, before Christ's time, "mere, et humanum sanguinem potare quam fundere.
Atqui in "omnibus sanctis Scripturis secundum same fidei regulam, "figurate dictum vel factum si quid exponitur, de qu1buslibet "rebus vel verb1s, quse sacris paginis continentur, expositio ilia
"ducatur, non aspernanter sed sapienter audiamus.''
Justinus in 2. Apol. ad Gentes . . " Deinde profertur illi qui "fratribus prreest, panis et poculum aqua et vino mixtum, quse
"cum is acceperit, laudem et gloriam ei qui Pater est omnium " per nomen Filii et Spiritus Sancti destinat, et gratiarum "actionem, quod ab illo dignus his sit habitus, prolixe facit.
"Quibus rite peractis precibus cum gratiarum actione, populus "omnis qui adest benedicit, dicens, Amen.
Illud autem, "Amen, _Hebraica linguA significat, Fiat.
Cum autem is qui "prreest gratia;,o; egerit, et totus populus benedixerit, hi qui
"apud nos v.ocantur Diaconi, distribuunt unicuique prresentium "ut participent de pane, in quo gratise actre sunt, et de vino et
" aquA, et his qui non sunt prsesentes deferunt.
~tque hoc "alimentum vocatur apud nos Eucharistia,"
&c. ut supra cap. 8 .
.Honaventura, hb. iv. dist. 9. "Manducatio primo et proprie "in corporalibus invenitur, et ab illis ad spiritualia est trans- " lata.
Et ideo si volumus accipere rectam illam manduca- " tionem spiritualem, necesse habemus a propria acceptione "vocabuli nos transferre."
EMBD.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK did likewise eat his flesh and drink his blood, IIL --which was so far from them, that he was not yet then born.
0~JP· The same authors did say also, that when Christ "This~ called the bread his. body and the wine his blood, myh~~Y ·· it was no proper speech that he then used ; but as •·T 1s1s myblood,''all sacraments be figures of other things, and yet be figura- • tive have the very names of the thmgs which they do speeches, .
'f Ch .
. h s1gn1 y : so r1st, mstitutmg t e sacrament of his most precious body and blood, did use figurative
The bread speeches, cal1ing the bread by the name of his represent• b d b .
.fi d h. b d d h . eth_ • o y, ecause it s1gm e 1s o y; an t e wme ~!J~:t :nd he called his blood, because it represented his the wine bl d his blood. 00
Tertullian 8 , herein writing against Marcion,saith these words : " Christ did not reprove bread,,
" whereby he did represent his very body." And in the same book he saith, that "Jesus taking
" bread, and distributing it amongst his disciples, "made it his body, saying, This is my body;
" that is to say," saith Tertullian, " a figure oj my " body. And therefore," saith Tertullian, " Christ
" called bread his body and wine his blood, because " that in the Old Testament bread and wine were
" :figures of his body and blood."
• Tertullianus Contra Marcionem lib. i.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
And St. Cyprian, the holy martyr, saith of CHAP.
XI. this matter, that " Christ's blood is showed in the--- " wine, and the people in the water that is mixt
" with the wine : so that the mixture of the water '' to the wine signifieth the spiritual commixtion and "joining of us unto Christ."
By which similitude Cyprian meant not that the blood of Christ is wine, or the people water ; but as the water doth signify and represent the people, so doth the wine signify and represent Christ's blood: and the uniting of the water and wine together signifieth the uniting of Christian people unto Christ himself.
And the same St. Cyprian in another placeg, writing hereof, saith, that "Christ, in his last
"supper, gave to his apostles with his own hands " bread and wine, which he called his flesh and "blood; but in the cross he gave his very body to "be wounded with the hands of the soldiers, that '' the Apostles might declare to the world how
"and in what manner bread and wine may be the "flesh and blood of Christ."
And the manner he straightways declareth thus : that " those things "which do signify, and those things which be
"signified by them, may be both called by one "name."
Here it is certain by St. Cyprian's mind, wherefore and in what wise bread is called Christ's flesh, and wine his blood ; that is to say, because that r Cyprianus, lib. ii. Epist. 3.
" De Unctione Chrismatis.
[A spurious work.]
DE~.,ENCE, &c.
BOOK every thing that representeth and signifieth anm.
---other thing, may be called by the name of the thing which it signifieth.
And therefore St. John Chrysostome saith\ that " Christ ordained the table of his holy supper
" for this purpose, that in that sacrament he "should daily show unto us bread and wine for a " similitude of his body and blood."
St. Hierome likewise saith\ upon the Gospel of Matthew, that "Christ took bread which "comforteth man's heart. that he might represent
"thereby his very body and bloodk."
Also St. Arnbrose1 (if the book be his that is entitled De iis qui Mysteriis initiantw,.m) saith, that " before the consecration another kind is
"named; but after the consecration the body of " Christ is signified. Christ said his blood; before " the consecration it is called another thing ; but,
"after the consecration, is signified the blood of "Christ."
And in his book De Sacramentis11, (if that be also his,) he writeth thus: "Thou dost receive
" the sacrament for a similitude of the flesh and cc blood of Christ ; but thou dost obtain the grace hChrysost. In Psal. xxii.
1Hieronym. In Matt. xxvi.
11:" Postquam typicum Pascha fuerat impletum, et agni carnes " cum Apostolis comederat, assumit panem qui comfortat cor
"hominis, et ad verum Paschre transgreditur sacramentum, ut "quo modo in prreftguratione ejus Melchisedek summi Dei
" sacerdos offerens fecerat, ipse quoque veritatem sui corporis et "sanguinis reprresentaret."
EllrlBD, I Ambros. De iis qui Msyteriis initiantur, cap. ult.
•[See note, p. 326.] " De Sacramentis, lib. vi. cap. 1.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
"and virtue of his true nature; and, receiving the o HAP.
XI.
"bread, in that food thou art partaker of his godly -- " substance."
And in the same book0 he saith, "As thou hast in baptism received the similitude
"of death, so likewise dost thou in this sacrament "drink the similitude of Christ's precious bloodP."
And again he saith in the said book4, " The priest "saith, Make unto us this oblation to be accept- " ab]e, which is the figure of the body and blood of "our Lord Jesu Christ."
And upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Co1 Cor. xi rinthians, he saith, that " in eating and drinking
"the bread and wine, we do signify the flesh and "blood which were offered for us. And the Old
"Testament," he saith, "was instituted in blood, "because that blood was a witness of God's benefit;
" in signification and figure whereof, we take the "mystical cup of his blood, to the tuition of our
" body and soul."
Of these places of St. Chrysostome, St. Hierome, and St. Ambrose, it is clear, that in the sacramental bread and wine, is not really and corporally the very natural substance of the flesh and blood of Christ, but that the bread and wine be simili-Signsand tudes, mysteries,and representations, signification!'., :rv~e:he fi d . f h' b d dnamea of sacraments, gures an signs o :s o y an the things blood; and therefore be called and have the name:~~~~/hey of his very flesh and blood.
0 De Sacramentis, lib. iv. cap. 4.
P "Ut nullus horror cruoris sit ; et pretium tamen operetur redemptionis."
E1,rnv. qDe Sacramentts, lib. iv. cap. 5.
DEFENC,E, &c.
BOOK And yet St. Augustine showeth this matter III.
--more clearly and fully than any of the rest, especially in an epistle which he wrote Ad Bonifaciumr, where he saith, that " a day or two
"before Good Friday, we use in common speech "to say thus : To-morrow, or this day two days,
"Christ suffered his passion : where in very deed " he never suffered his passion but once, and that " was many years passed.
Likewise upon Easter- " day we say, This day Christ rose from death, " where in very deed -it is many hundred years
" sithence he rose from death.
Why then do not " men reprove us as liars, when we speak in this " sort, but because we call these days so, by a " similitude of those days wherein these things
" were done in deed ? And so it is called that " day, which is not that day in deed, but by the "course of the year it is a like day, and such
. "things be said to be done that day, for the " solemn celebration of the sacrament, which "things in deed were not done that day, but " long before. Was Christ offered any more but " once ? And he offered himself: and yet in a "sacrament or representation, not only every "solemn feast of Easter, but every day, he is
'' offered to the people; so that he doth not lie "that saith, He ~s every day offered. For if " sacraments had not some similitude or likeness
"of those things whereof they be sacraments.
" they could in no wise be sacraments.
And for • August. Ad Bonifaciu111, Epist. 23.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
"their similitude and likeness, commonly they c HAP.
XI.
" have the name of the things whereof they be --- " sacraments.
Therefore, as after a certain man- " ner of speech, the sacrament of Christ's body is
"Christ's body, the sacrament of Christ's blood is " Christ's blood : so likewise the sacrament of faith
" is faith.
And to believe is nothing else but to "have faith: and therefore, when we answer for '' young children in their baptism, that they " believe which have not yet the mind to believe,
" we answer that they have faith, because they "have the sacrament of faith.
And we say also, "that they turn unto God, because of the sacra- " ment of conversion unto God ; for that answer
" pertaineth to the celebration of the sacrament. i, And likewise speaketh the Apostle of baptism,
"saying, that by baptism we be buried with him Rom. vi.
" into death : he saith not, that ' we signify "burial;' but he saith plainly, that 'we be bur'ied.'
"So that the sacrament of so great a thing is not "called but by the name of the thing itself."
Hitherto I have rehearsed the answer of St.
Augustine unto Boniface, a learned bishop, who asked of hirn, how the parents and friends could answer for a young babe in baptism, and say in his person, that he believeth and converteth unto
God, when the child can neither do nor think any such thing.
Whereunto the answer of St. Augustine is this : that forasmuch as baptism is the sacrament of the profession of our faith, and of our conver•
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK sion unto God, it becometh us so to answer for Ill. h'ld .
---young c 1 ren commg thereunto, as to that sacrament appertaineth, although the children indeed have no knowledge of such things.
And yet in our said answers we ought not to be reprehended as vain men or liars ; forasmuch as in common speech we use daily to call sacraments ancl figures by the names of the things that be signified by them, although they be not the same thing indeed. As every Good Friday, as often as it returneth from year to year, we call it the day of Christ's passion; and every Easter-day we call the day of his resurrection ; and every day in the ye,ar we say that Christ is offered, and the sacrament of his body, we call it his body, and the sacrament of his blood, we· call it his blood ; and our baptism St. Paul calleth our burial with Christ.
And yet in very deed Christ never suffered but once, never arose but once, never was offerP-d but once ; nor in very deed in baptism we be not buried, nor the sacrament of Christ's body is not his body, nor the sacrament of his blood is not his blood. But so they be called, because they be :figures, sacraments, and representations of the things themselves which they signify, and wher~of they bear the names.
Thus doth St. 1 Augustine most plainly open this matter in his Epistle to Bonifacius.
Of this manner of speech, (wherein a sign is caJled by the name of the thing which it signifieth,) speaketh St. Augustine also right largely
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
in his questions Super Leviticum, and Contra CHAP.
Adamantium, declaring how blood in Scripture XI. is called the soul.
"A thing which signi:fieth," saith he", "is wont to be called by the name of the "thing which it signi:fieth, as it is written in the Gen. xii.
"Scripture : The seven ears be seven years, the "Scripture saith not signifieth seven years; and " seven kine be seven years, and many other like.
" Aud so said Paul, that the stone was Christi Cor. x.
"and not that it signified Christ ; but even as it "had been he in deed, which nevertheless was not " Christ by siibstance, but by signification.
Even "so," saith St. Augustine, " because the blood " :,,ignifieth and representeth the soul, therefore in "a sacrament or signification it is called the " soul."
And Contra Adamantiumt, he writeth much like, saying, " In such wise is blood the soul, as "the stone was Ghrist; and yet the Apostle saith
" not, that the stone signified Christ, bv,t saith it " was Chri·st.
And this sentence, blood is the " soul, may be understood to be spoken in a sign
"or figure.
For Christ did not stick to say, This "is my body, when he gave the sign of his body."
Here St. Augustine rehearsing divers sentences, which were spoken figuratively, that is to say, when one thing was called by the name of another, and yet was not the other in substance, but in signification ; as, The blood is the soul,
• Su,Per Lev. quest. 57. t Contra Adamantium, cap. 12.
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo K Seven kine be seven years, Seven ears be seven Ill ---years, The stone was Christ ; among such manner of speeches, he rehearseth those words which Matt.xxvi,Christ spake at his last supper, This is my body: which declareth plainly St. Augustine's mind that Christ spake those words figuratively, not meaning that the bread was his body by substance, but by signification.
And therefore St. Augustine saith, Contra Maximinumu, that " in sacraments we must not '' consider what they be, but what they flignify.
" For they be signs of things, being one thing, " and signifying another."
Which he doth show specially of this sacrament, saying, "The hea,venly " bread, which is Christ's flesh, by some manner of " speech is called Christ's body, when in very deed
" it is the ,'iacrament of his body. And that offer- " ing of the flesh, which is done by the priest's
" hands, is called Christ's passion, death, and " crucifying, not in very deed, but in a mystical
"significationx." u Contra Maximinum, hb. iii. cap. 22.
" In Lib. Sententiarum Prosperi.
De Consecr. dist. 2.
" Hoc est."
[See p. 328. note. J Gloss. ibidem.
"Ce2lestis panis, id est, ce2leste sacramentum, " quod vert1 repraisentat Chr1stl caroem, diciiur corpus Christi,
"1ed improprie: uode dioitur suo modo, sed non rei veritate, "sed aigoificante myaterio. Ut sit aenaua, vocatur Christi corpt1s,
"id est, signifi.catnr.'"
Aug. in Psalm. 3. "Dominus Judam adhibuit in convivium, •• in quo corporis et sanguinis sui figuram discipulis com- " mendavit et tradidit."
Idem, Contra Faustum, lib. n. cap. 21. "Noatri sacrificii
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
And to this purpose it is both pleasant, comCHAP.
XI. fortable, and profitable, to read Theodoretus in--his Dialogues\ where he disputeth and showeth
.at length, how the names of things be changed in Scripture, and yet the things remain still.
And for example he proveth, that the flesh of Christ jg in the Scripture sometime called a veil of ,covering, sometime a cloth, sometimes a vestment, and sometime a stole : and the blood of the grape is called Christ's blood, and the names of bread and wine, and of his flesh and blood, Christ
-doth so change, that sometime he calleth his body ,corn or bread; and sometime contrary, he calleth bread his body.
And likewise his blood sometime he calleth wine, and sometime contrary, .he calleth wine his blood.
For the more plain understanding whereof, it .shall not be amiss to recite his own sayings in his foresaid Dialogues, touching this matter of the holy sacrament of Christ's flesh and_ blood. The .speakers in these Dialogues be Orthoduxus the right believer, and Eranistes his companion, but .not understanding the right faith.
Orthodoxus saith to his companion•, "Dost ·" thou not know that God calleth bread his flesh?
"Eranistes.
I know that.
·" caro et sanguis ante adventum Christi per victimas similitudi- " num promittebatur, in passione Christi per ipsam veritatem ·" reddebatur, post ascensum Christi per sacramentum memorue
·" celebratur."
EMBD.
1 Theodoret. in Dialogis.
• In the first Dialogue.
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo K " Orthodoxus. And in another place he calleth m.
--- " his body corn ?
" Eran.
I know that also ; for I have heard John xii. " him say, The hour is come that the Son of man
" shall be glorified ; and, Except the grain of corn " that f alleth in the ground die, it remaineth sole ;
"but if it die, then it bringeth forth much.
"fruit.
Matt.uvi.
"Orth. When he gave the mysteries or sacraf:! !~t. "ments, he called bread his body; and that which " was mixt in the cup, he called blood.
" Eran. So he called them.
" Orth. But that also which was his natural "body, may well be called his body; and his very
"blood also, may be called his blood.
" E,·an. It is plain.
" Orth. But our Saviour with.out doubt changed " the names, and gave to the body the name of the " sign or token, and to the token he gave the name
John xv. "of the body. And so when he called himself a..
"vine, he called blood that which was the token "of blood.
" Eran. Surely thou hast spoken the truth; but "I would know the cause wherefore the names
" were changed.
" Orth. The cause is manifest to them that be "expert in true religion. For he would that they
" which be partakers of the godly sacraments, " should not set their minds upon the nature of the " things which they see, but by the changing of the "names, should believe the th,"ngs wh1'ch be wrought
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
"' t'n them by grace. For he that called that which c ~t.P· ·" is his natural body corn and bread, and also called John :r.H.
"' himself a vine, he did honour the visible tokens ~ii~•~· "' and signs with the names of his body and blood,
"' not changing the nature, but adding grace to "nature.
" Eran. Sacraments be spoken of sacramentally, "and also by them be manifestly declared things
"' which all men know not.
" Orth. Seeing then that it is certain that the "Patriarch called the Lord's body a vestment and Gen. :r.lvi.
"apparel, and that now we be entered to speak of "godly sacraments, tell me truly of what thing
"thinkest thou this holy meat to be a token and "figure?
Of Christ's Divinity, or of his body " and blood 1 " Eran. It is clear that it is the figure of those
"things whereof it beareth the name.
" Orth. Meanest thou of his body and blood 1 "Eran. Even so I mean.
" Orth. Thou hast spoken as one that loveth "the truth ; for the Lord, when he took the token
" or sign, he said not, This is my Divinity, but, " This is my body, and, This is my blood. And " in another place, The bread which I will give is John vt.
"my flesh, which I will give for the life of the "world .
...
" Eran. These things be true, for they be God's "words•."
• " Ortho. Porro si sunt vera, corpus utique habebat Dominus.
"Eran. Et ego incorporeum illum esse dico.
"Ortho. Sed fateris illum habuisse corpus." E:a.m».
J48
DEFENCE,&c.
BOOK All this writeth Theodoretus m his first.
III.
• Dialogue.
And in the second he writeth the same in effect> and yet in some things more plainly, against such heretics as affirmed, that after Christ's resurrection and ascension his humanity was changed from the very nature of a man, and turned into his divinity.
Against whom thus he writeth.
"Orth. Corruption, health, sickness, and death> "be accidents ; for they go and come.
" Eran. It is meet they be so called.
"Orth. Men's bodies after their resurrection be "delivered from corruption, death, and mortality,
"and yet they lose not their proper nature.
"Eran. Truth it is.
Christ's " Orth. The body of Ckrist therefore did rise t:1h~lhri•" quite clean from all corruption and death, and is t~::1· "impassible, immortal, glorified with the glory of t~.quan- "God, and is honoured c,f the powers of heaven;
"and yet it is a body, and hath the same bigness " that it had bejore.
"Eran. Thy sayings seem true and according "to reason ; but aher he was ascended up into "heaven, I think thou wilt not say, that his body
" was not turned into the nature of the Godhead.
" Orth. I would not so say for the persuasion of "man's reason ; nor I am not so arrogant and "presumptuous to affirm any thing whicJ,, Scripture
"passeth over in silence; but I have heard St. · "Paul cry, that God hath ordained a day, when
" he will judge all the world in justice by that man
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
" which he appointed before, performing his CH AP.
XI.
'' promise to all men, and ra·ising him from death. Acts xvii.
"I have learned also of the holy angels, that he "will come after that fashion, as his disciples saw Acta i.
"him go to heaven.
But they saw a nature of a "certain bigness, not a nature which had no big- ,, ness.
I heard furthermore the Lord say, You Matt. xxiv '' shall see the Son of man come in the clouds of "heaven. And I know that every thing that men
"see hath a certain bigness.
For that nature that " hath no bigness cannot be seen. Moreover to sit "in the throne of glory, and to set the lambs upon "his right hand, and the goats upon his left hand,
"signifieth a thing that hath quantity and bigness.''
Hitherto have I rehearsed Theodoretus' words, and shortly after Eranistes saith:
"Eran.
We must turn every stone, ( as the "proverb saith,) to seek out the truth, but specially
"when godly matters be propounded.
"Orth.
Tell me then, the sacramental signs, "which be offered to God by his priests, whereof
"be they signs, sayest thou.?
"Eran.
Of the Lord's body and blood.
" Orth. Of a very body, or not of a very body 1 " Eran. Of a very body.
" Orth. Very well, for an image must be made "after a true pattern ; for painters follow nature,
"and paint the images of such things as we see "with our eyes.
"Eran. Truth it is.
" Orth. If therefore the godly sacraments repre-
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK "sent a true body, then is the Lord's body yet still III.
"a body, not converted into the nature of his "Godhead, but replenished with God's glory.
" Eran. It cometh in good time that thou "makest mention of God's sacraments ; for by the "same I shall prove, that Christ's body is turned
"into another nature.
Answer, therefore, unto " my questions.
" Orth. I shall answer.
"Eran. ·what callest thou that which is offered, " before the invocation of the priest?
"Orth. We must not speak plainly, for it is "like that some be present which have not pro- " fessed Christ.
"Eran. Answer covertly.
" Orth. It is a nourishment made of seeds that "be like.
" Eran. Then how call we the other sign ?
" Orth. It is also a common name, that signi- " fieth a kind of drink.
"Eran. But how dost thou call them after the " sanctification?
" Orth. The body of Christ, and the blood of '' Christ.
"Eran. And dost thou believe that thou art "made partaker of Christ's body and bloo<l ? .
" Orth. I believe so.
" Eran. Therefore as the tokens of God's body ~, and blood be other things before the priest's
"invocation, but after the invocation they be ~, changed, and be other things : so also the body
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
" of Christ, after his assumption, is changed into o HAP' .. h . d. . b xr.
" is ivine su stance.
" Orth. Thou art taken with thine own net. ThoodoF h l .
I', h . retus(388) " or t e sacramenta signs go not J rom t eir own " nature after the sanctification, but continue in " their former substance, form, and .fig1tre, and "may be seen and touched as well as before; yet " in our minds we do consider what they be made,
·' and do repute and esteem them, and have them "in reverence, according to the same things that "they be taken for.
Therefore compare the images " to the pattern, and thou shalt see them like.
'' For a figure must be like to the thing itself " For Christ's body hath his former fashion, "figure, and bigness; and, to speak at one word,
"the same substance of his body.
But after his " resurrection, it was made immortal, and of such "power, that no corruption nor death could come
"unto it ; and it was exalted to that dignity, that "it was set at the right hand of the Father, and " honoured of all creatures, as the body of him
"that is the Lord of nature.
"Eran. But the sacramental token changeth his "former name ; for it is no more called as it was
"before, but is called Christ's body. Therefore " must his body, after his ascension, be called God,
"and not a body.
" Orth. Thou seemest to me ignorant ; for it is " not called his body only, but also the bread of life,
" as the Lord called it. So the body of Christ we "call a godly body, a body that giveth life, God's
DEFENCE, &c.
B~1ix "body, the Lord's body, our Master's body, mean- " ing that it is not a common body, as other men's
"bodies be, but that it is the body of our Lord "J esu Christ, both God and man a."
This have I rehearsed of the great clerk and holy bishop Theodoretus, whom some of the papists perceiving to make so plainly against them have defamed, saying that he was infected with the error of Nestorius.
NotflatterHere the papists show their old accustomed ing ~ th8 t d d" · h" h • · · .I!: pap18ts na ure an con 1t10n, w 1c 1s, even m a maru1est manner, rather to lie without shame, than to give place unto the truth, and confess their own error.
And although his adversaries falsely bruited such a fame against him when he was yet alive, nevertheless he was purged thereof by the holy council of Calcedon, about eleven hundred years agob.
And furthermore, in his book which he wrote against heresies he specially condemneth Nestorius by name.
And also all his three books of his Dialogues, before rehearsed, he wrote chiefly against Nestorius, and was never herein noted of error this thousand year, but hath ever been reputed and taken for a holy bishop, a great learned man, and a grave author, until now at this present time, when the papists have nothing to answer unto him, they begin in excusing of themselves to defame him.
"l esus enim Christus heri et hodie, ille i,Pse et in aternum.
EMBD. b Quem Leo primus {Epist. 61.) "charissimum fratrem" appellat.
Elrom.
THE PRESEKCE OF CHRIST.
Thus much have I spoken for Theodoretus, CHAP.
XI. which I pray thee be not weary to read, good --reader, but often and with delectation, deliberation, and good advertisement to read. For it containeth plainly and briefly the true instruction of a Christian man, concerning the matter which in this book ·we treat upon.
First, that our Saviour Christ in his last supper, ~ive prinb d d . h" l 01pal , when he gave rea an wme to 1s A post es, things to · Th · • · b d Th · · bl d · be not.ed saymg, is is my o y, is is my oo , 1t waSin Theodobread which he called his body, and wine mixed retus. in the cup which he called his blood: so that he changed the names of the bread and wine, which were the mysteries, sacraments, signs, figures, and tokens of Christ's flesh and blood, and called them by the names of the things which they did represent and signify, that is to say, the bread he called by the name of his very flesh, and the wine by the name of his blood.
Second, that although the names of bread and After. con- . h d f "fi . seoratton. wme were c ange a ter sancti cat10n, yet nevertheless the things themselves remained the selfsame that they were before the sanctification, that is to say, the same bread and wine in nature, substance, form, and fashion.
The third, seeing that the substance of the bread and wine be not changed, why be then their names changed, and the bread called Christ's flesh, and the wine his blood ?
Theodoretus showeth, that the cause thereof was this, that we should not have so much respect to the bread and wme,
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK which we see with our eyes and taste with our III.
---mouths, as we should have to Christ himself, in whom we believe with our hearts, and feel and taste him by our faith, and with whose flesh and blood, by his grace, we believe that we be spiritually fed and nourished.
These things we ought to remember and revolve in our minds, and to lift up our hearts from the bread and wine unto Christ that sitteth above.
And because we should so do, therefore after the consecration they be no more called bread and wine, but the body and blood of Christ.
The fourth. It is in these sacraments of bread and wine, as it is in the very body of Christ. For as the body of Christ before his resurrection and after, is all one in nature, substance, bigness, form, and fashion, and yet it is not called as another common body, but with addition, for the dignity of bis exaltation, it is called a heavenly, a godly, an immortal, and the Lord's body: so likewise the bread and wine, before the consecration and after, is all one in nature, substance, bigness, form, and fashion, and yet it is not called as other common bread, but for the dignity whereunto it is taken, it is called with addition, heavenly bread, the bread of life, and the bread of thanksgiving.
Papists.
The fifth, that no man ought to be so arrogant and presumptuous to affirm for a certain truth in religion, any thing which is not spoken of in holy
Scripture.
~nd this is spoken to the great and utter condemnation of the papist;!!, which make
'l'HE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
and unmake new articles of our faith from time to O~f P. time, at their pleasure, without any Scripture at · alJ, yea quite and clean contrary to Scripture.
And yet will they have all men bound to believe whatsoever they invent, upon peril of damnation and everlasting fire.
, And they would constrain with fire and fagot all men to consent, contrary to the manifest words of God, to these their errors in this matter of the holy sacrament of Christ's body and blood.
First, that there remaineth no bread nor winePapista after the consecration, but that Christ's flesh andctris~~n b . the aaorr lood 1s made of them. ment.
Second, that Christ's body is really, corporally, substant,ially, sensibly, and naturally in the bread and wine.
Thirdly, that wicked persons do eat and drink Christ's very body and blood.
Fourthly, that priests offer Christ every day, and make of him a new sacrifice propitiatory for sin.
Thus, for shortness of time, I do make an end of Theodoretus, with other old ancient writers, which do most clearly affirm, that " to eat Christ's body," and "to drink his blood," be figurative speeches.
And so be these sentences likewise, which Christ spake at his supper, This is my body, This is my blood.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK And marvel not, good reader, that Christ at III.
• k . fi h 1 d'd .
OBA that time spa e m gures, w en 1e 1 institute XII.P. that sacrament, seeing that it is the nature of all
Figurative sacraments to be figures. And although the speeoheabe .
• notatrangeScr1pture be fu!] of schemes, tropes, and figures, yet specially it useth them when it speaketh of sacraments.
When the ark, which represented God's majesty, was come into the army of the Israelites, the 1 Sam, iv. Philistines said, that God was come into the army.
2 Sam. vii. And God himself said by his prophet Na than, that from the time that he had 'brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, he dwelled not in houses, but that he was carried about in tents and tabernacles. And yet was not God himself so carried about, or went in tents or tabernacles, but because the ark, which was a figure of God, was so removed from place to place, he spake of himself that thing, which was to be understand of the ark.
Obrist And Christ himself oftent,imes spake in similihimaelf u~ ligu• tudes, parables and figure~, as when he said, The !~::ies. field is the world, the enemy is the Devil, the seed
Hatt. xiii is the word of God.-John is Elias.-I am a vine, !!~l~.Jl and you be the branches.-I am bread of life.John xv. My father is an husbandman, and he hath his fan
John vi. in his hand, and will make clean his floor, and Hatt iii. gather the wheat into his barn ; but the chaff he
John iv.
John vi. will cast into everlasting fire. - I have a meat to John x. eat which you know not. - Work not meat that Mat•. xxv.perisheth, but that endu,reth unto ei,erlasting life.John x. I am a good shepherd. - The Son of man will set
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
the sheep at his right hand, and the goats at his c HAP.
D "l XII. left hand.-I am a door.-One of you is the evi .
Wh '
·z . b h John Vl. osoever doeth my Fathers wi l, he is my rot er, Matt. ~ii.
· d h A d h h ·d h" John XlL sister, an mot er. n w en e sa1 to 1s mother and John, This is thy son, this is thy mother.
These, with an infinite number of ]ike sentences, Christ spake in parables, metaphors, tropes, and figures.
But chiefly when he spake of the sacraments, he used figurative speeches.
As when of baptism he said, that we must beAots i. baptized with the Holy Ghost; meaning of spiritual baptism.
And like speech used St .• John the Baptist, saying of Christ, that he should baptizeMatt. iil. with the Holy Ghost and fire.
And Christ said, John iii. that we must be born again, or else we cannot see John iv. the kingdom of God. And said also, Whosoever shall drink of that water which I shall give him, he shall never be dry again.
But the water which I shall give him, shall be made within him a well, which shall sprin_g into everlasting life.
And St. Paul saith, that in baptism we clotheRom. vi. us with Christ, and be buried with him.
This Gal. iii. baptism and washing by the fire and the Holy Ghost, this new birth, this water that springeth in a man and floweth into everlasting life, cannot be understand of any material baptism, material washing, material birth, clothing, and buria], but by translation of things, visible into things invisible, they must be understand spiritually and figurative1y.
After the same sort the mystery of our re-
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK demption, and the passion of our Saviour Christ III.
• ---upon the cross, as well m the New as the Old Testament, is expressed and declared by many figures and figurative speeches.
ThePasAs the pure Paschal lamb without spot, signichal lamb • • fied Christ.
The effus10n of the lamb's blood signified the effusion of Christ's blood. And the salvation of the children of Israel from temporal death by the lamb's blood, signified our salvation from eternal death by Christ's blood. And as Almighty God, passing through Egypt, killerl all the Egyptians' heirs in every house, and left not one alive ; and nevertheless he passed by the children of Israel's houses, where he saw the lamb's blood upon the doors, and hurted none of them, but saved them all by the means of the lamb's blood : so likewise at the last judgment of the whole world, none shall be passed over and saved, but that shall be found marked with the blood of the most pure and immaculate Lamb
Jesus Christ.
The Lord's And forasmuch as the sheddfog of that lamb's Supper. blood, was a token and figure of the shedding of Christ's blood then to come; and forasmuch also as all the sacraments and figures of the Old
Testament ceased and had an end in Christ : lest by our great unkindness we should peradventure be forgetful of the great benefit of Christ, therefore at his last supper, when he took his leave of his Apostles to depart out of the world, he did make a new will and testament, wherein he
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
bequeathed unto us clean remission of all our sins, c HAP.
XII .
.and the everlasting inheritance of heaven.
And--the same he confirmed the next day with his own blood and death.
And lest we should forget the same, he ordained not a yearly memory, (as the Paschal lamb was eaten but once every year,) but a daily remembrance he ordained thereof in bread and wine, sanctified and dedicated to that purpose, saying, This ~attk.x~vi.
.w.ar XIV. is my body; this cup is my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins.
Do this in remembrance of me : Admonishing us by these words, spoken at the making of his last will and testament, and at his
<leparting out of the world, (because they should be the better remembered,) that whensoever we
<lo eat the bread in his holy Supper, and drink of that cup, we should remember how much Christ hath done for us, and how he died for our sakes.
Therefore, saith St. Paul, As often as ye shall eat 1 cor. xi. this bread and drink the cup, ye shall show forth the Lord's death until he come.
And forasmuch as this holy bread broken, and the wine divided, do represent unto us the death
-0f Christ now passed, as the killing of the Paschal lamb did represent the same yet to come : therefore our Saviour Christ used the same manner of speech of the bread and wirie, as God before used of the Paschal lamb.
For as in the Old Testament God said, This is Exod. xii. the Lord's pass-by, or passover, even so saith
Christ in the New Testament, This is my body, Matt xxvi.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK This is my blood. But in the old mystery and III.
---sacrament, the lamb was not the Lord's very passover or passing-by, but it was a figure which represented his passing by.
So likewise in the New Testament, the bread and wine be not Christ's very body and blood, but they be figures, which by Christ's institution be unto the godly receivers thereof sacraments, tokens, significations, and representations of his very flesh and blood : instructing their faith, that as the bread and wine feed them corporally, and continue this temporal life ; so the very flesh and blood of Christ feedeth them spiritually, and giveth them everlasting life.
W~at figu.
And why should any man think it strange to ~;e:hes admit a figure in these speeches, This is my body, were used T'l.. . bl d,,, . h h . t' at Christ'• nis is my oo F seemg t at t e commumca ion laatsupper the same night, by the papists' own confessions,. was so full of figurative speeches 1 For the Apostles spake figuratively when they asked
Christ where he would eat his passover or pass-by.
And Christ himself used the same figure when he Matt. xxvi. said, I have much desired to eat this passover with Mark xiv.
Luke xxii. you.
Also to eat Christ's body and to drink his blood,.
I am sure they will not say that it is taken properly, to eat and drink as we do eat other meats and drinks.
And when Christ said, This cup is a new testament in my blood; here, in one sentence, be two figures, one in this word cup, which is not taken for the cup itself, but for the thing contained in
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
the cup : another is in this word testament; for c HA. P.
. h h h .
. d . h XII. ne1t er t e cup, nor t e wme contame m t e cup, is Christ's testament, but is a token, sign, and figure, whereby is represented unto us his testament, confirmed by his blood.
And if the papists will say, as they say indeed, that by this cup is neither meant the cup nor the wine contained in the cup; but that thereby is meant Christ's blood contained in the cup ; yet must they needs grant that there is a figure. For Christ's blood is not in proper speech the new testament, but it is the thing that confirmed the new testament.
And yet by this strange interpretation the papists make a very strange speech, more strange than any figurative speech is. For this they make the sentence : This blood is a new testament in my blood.
Which saying is so fond, and so far from all reason, that the foolishness thereof is evident to every man.
~ow forasmuch as it is p1a.iniy deciared and CHA.P. manifestly proved, that Christ called bread his
XIII. body, and wine his blood, and that these sentencesth~•:::h!~ be fiQ"Urative speeches · and · that Christ as con-rities • nd o '
, arguments cerning his humanity and bodily presence is of t~e ' pap1Sts, ascended into heaven with his whole flesh and blood, and is ~ot here upon earth ; and that the
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK substance of bread and wine do remain still, and III. be received in the sacrament; and that although they remain, yet they have changed their names, so that the bread is called Christ's body, and the wine his blood ; and that the cause why their names be changed is this, that we should lift up our hearts and minds from the things which we see unto the things which we believe, and be above in heaven, whereof the bread and wine have the names, although they be not the very same things in deed: these things well considered and weighed, all the authorities and arguments, which the papists feign to serve for their purpose, be clean wiped away.
OHA.P.
For whether the authors which they allege say, xrv. that we do eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood;
One brief h h b d d .
. d . th answer to or t at t e rea an wme IS converte mto e all. substance of his flesh and blood ; or that we be turned into his flesh ; or that in the Lord's Supper we do receive his very flesh and blood ; or that in the bread and wine is received that which did hang upon the cross ; or that Christ hath left his flesh with us ; or that Christ is in us, and we in him ; or that he is whole here and whole in heaven; or that the same thing is in the chalice which flowed out of his side; or that the same thing is received with our mouth which is believed with our faith;
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
or that the bread and wine, after the consecration, c HAP. b .
XIV. e the body and blood of Christ ; or that we be --nourished with the body and blood of Christ ; or that Christ is both gone hence and is still here; or that Christ at his last supper bare himself in his own hands :
These and all other like sentences may not be understanded of Christ's humanity literally and carnally, as the words in common speech do properly signify : for so doth no man eat Christ's flesh, nor drink his blood ; nor so is not the bread and wine turned into his flesh and blood, nor we into him ; nor so is the bread and wine after the consecration his flesh and blood ; nor so is not his flesh and blood whole here in earth, eaten with our mouths ; nor so did not Christ take himself in his own hands.
But these and all other like sentences, which declare Christ to be here in earth, and to be eaten and drunken of Christian people, are to be un<lerstanded either of his divine nature, whereby he is every where, or else they must be understanded figuratively or spiritually.
For figuratively he is in the bread and wine, and spiritually he is in them that worthily eat and drink the bread and wine ; but really, carnally, and corporally he is only in heaven, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and dead.
This brief answer vill suffice for all that the papists can bring for their purpose, if it be aptly applied.
And for the more evidence hereof, I
16.J.
DEJfENCE, &c.
Boo K shall apply the same to some such places as the III. papists think do make most for them: that by the answer to those places, the rest may be the more easily answered unto.
CHAP.
They allege St. Clement, whose words be these, Th xv. as they report: "The sacraments of God's secrets eanswer . to Clem~ "are committed to three degrees, to a priest, a ens, Epud . .
,~Za 2.
"deacon, an a mm1ster; which with fear and " trembling ought to keep the leavings of the " broken pieces of the Lord's body, that no cor- " ruption be found in the holy place, lest by neg- " ligence great injury be done to the portion of the " Lord's body." And by and by followeth : " So " many hosts must be offered in the altar as will
"suffice for the people ; and if any remain, they "must not be kept until the morning, but be spent
"and consumed of the clerks with fear and trem- " bling. And they that consume the residue oj
"the Lord's body, may not by and by take other "common meats, lest they should mix that holy
"portion with the meat which is digested by the " belly, and avoided by the fundament. Therefore
"if the Lord's portion be eaten in the morning, "the ministers that consume it must fast unto six
"of the clock ; and if they do take it at three or "four of the clock, the minister must fast until
"the evening."
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
16-5 Thus much writeth Clement of this matter, if CHAP. the Epistle which they allege were Clement's, as xv. indeed ,it is not... But they have feigned many things in other men's names, thereby to stablish their feigned purposes. Nevertheless whose soever the Epistle was, if it be thoroughly considered, it maketh much more against the papists than for their purpose. For by the same Epistle appeareth evidently three special things against the errors of the papists.
The first is, that the bread in the sacrament is called the Lord's body, and the pieces of the broken bread be called the pieces and fragments of the Lord's body, which cannot be understand but figuratively.
The second is, that the bread ought not to be reserved and hanged up, as the papists every where do use.
The third is, that the priests ought not to receive the sacrament alone, (as the papists commonly do, making a sale thereof unto the people,) but they ought to communicate with the people.
And here is diligently to be noted, that we ought not unreverently and unadvisedly to approach unto the meat of the Lord's table, as we do to other common meats and drinks, but with great fear and dread, lest we should come to that holy table unworthily, wherein is not only represented, but also spiritually given unto us, very Christ himself. a [See Answer to Gardyner, book iii. chap. 15.]
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK And therefore we ought to come to that board III.
--of the Lord with all reverenc~, faith, love and charity, fear and dread, according to the same.
Here I pass over Ignatiusb and Irenreus 0 , which make nothing for the papists' opinions, but stand in the commendation of the holy communion, and in exhortation of all men to the often and godly receiving thereo£ And yet neither they, nor no man else, can extol and commend the same sufficiently, according to the dignity thereof, if it be godly used as it ought to be.
~~n'i!!;~r Dionysius also 4, whom they allege to praise ~us1Ds and extol this sacrament, (as indeed it is most
.111CC rS, Hier. cap. worthy, being a sacrament of most high dignity 8. and perfection, representing unto us our most perfect spiritual conjunction unto Christ, and our continual nourishing, feeding, comfort, and spiritual life in him,) yet he never said that the flesh and blood of Christ was in the bread and wine really, corporally, sensibly, and naturally,
(as the papists would bear us in hand,) but he calleth ever the bread and wine signs, pledges, and tokens, declaring unto the faithful receivers b Ignatius in EPist. ad Ephesianos.
[See Smythe, Assertion of the Sacrament.] c Irenaius, lib. v. Contra Valentin.
[See p. 321 and 373 ; and Answer to Gard;yner, book ii. chap. 5,] d [That Dionysius the Areopagite was not the author of the works attributed to him, is now generally admitted; but the question, who did write them, is still undecided.
The most prevailing opinion seems to be, that they were composed by an Apollinarian in the fourth century.
See Cave, Hist. Lit.
Fabr1cius, Bi'blioth, Grae. ed. Harles.]
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of the same, that they receive Christ spiritually, CHAP. and that they spi:r;itually eat his flesh and drink xv. his blood.
And although the bread and wine be figures, signs, and tokens of Christ's flesh and blood, (as St. Dionyse calleth them both before the consecration and after,) yet the Greek annotations upon the same Dionyse do say, that the very things themselves be above in heaven.
And as the same Dionyse maketh nothing for the papists' opinions in this point of Christ's real and corporal presence, so in divers other things he maketh quite and clean against them, and that specially in three points ; in transubstantiation, in reservation of the sacrament, and in the receiving of the same by the priest alone.
Furthermore, they do allege Tertullian, that heTheanawer . to Tertulconstantly affirmeth, that m tl;te sacrament of the1ianus
Ds altar ~e do eat the body and drink the blood o~~o:';.. our Saviour Christ.
To whom we grant that our 1'is. flesh eateth ·and drinketh the bread and wine, which be called the body and blood of Christ, because, as Tertullian saith, they do represent his body and blood, although they be not really the .same in very deed.
And we grant also, that our souls by faith do eat his very body and drink his blood ; but that is, spiritually, sucking out of the same everlasting life. But we deny that unto this spiritual feeding is required any real and corporal presence.
And therefore this Tertullian speaketh nothing .against the truth of our catholic doctrine, but he
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK speaketh many things most plainly for us, and III. against the papists, and specially in three points.
First, in that he saith that Christ called bread his body.
The second, that Christ called it so, because it representeth his body.
The third, in that he saith, that by these words of Christ, This is my body, is meant, This is a figure of my body.
Theanswer Moreover they allege for them Origen, because }~0IJ!:~~~they would seem to have many ancient authors
Hum. 7• favourers of their erroneous doctrine; which Origen is most dearly against them.
For although he do sg,y, as they allege, that those things which before were signified by obscure figures, be now truly, in deed, and in their very nature and kind accomplished and fulfilled ; and for the declaration thereof, he bringeth forth three examples ; one of the stone -Chat floweth water, another of the sea and cloud, and the third of manna, which in the Old Testament did signify
Christ to come, who is now come indeed, and is manifested and exhibited unto us, as it were, face to face and sensibly, in his word, in the sacrament of regeneration, and in the sacraments of bread and wine; yet Origen meant not, that Christ is corporally either in his word, or in the water of baptism, or in the bread and wine, nor that we carnally and corporally be regenerated and liorn again, or eat Christ's flesh and blood. For our regeneration · i:a Christ is spiritual, and our eating and drinking is a spiritual feeding, which kind ofregeneration and feeding requireth no-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
real and corporal presence of Christ, but only c HAP. his presence in spirit, grace, and effectual operaxv. tion.
And that Origen thus meant, that Christ's flesh is a spiritual meat, and his blood a spiritual drink ; and that the eating and drinking of his flesh and blood may not be understand literally, but spiritually; it is manifested by Origen's own words, in his seventh Homily upon the book called Leviticus, where he showeth, that those words must be understand figuratively, and whosoever understandeth them otherwise, they be deceived, and take harm by their own gross understanding 0 • And likewise meant Cyprian, in those placesTheans'.ver
1...! h h d . f h h 11 f h" to CypnaWJ!UC t e a versar1es o t e trut a ege o 1m, nus, lib. 2.
• h t · f Ch · ' fl hEpiSl. 3 concernmg t e rue eatmg o nst s very es and drinking of his blood.
For Cyprian spake of no gross and carnal eating with the mouth, but of an inward, spiritual, and Spiritual pure eating with heart and mind ; which is to feeding. believe in our hearts, that his flesh was rent and torn for us upon the cross, and his blood shed for our redemption, and that the same flesh and blood now sitteth at the right hand of the Father, making continual intercession for us; and to imprint and digest this in our minds, putting our whole affiance and trust in him, as touching our salvation, and offering ourselves clearly unto him, to love and serve him all the days of our life. This
• In Le_v#. Hom. 7.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK is truly, sincerely, and spiritually to eat his flesh 111.
• • --and to dnnk his blood.
And this sacrifice of Christ upon the cross· was that oblation, which, Cyprian saith, was figured
Gen. ix. and signified, before it was done, by the wine Gen. xiv. which ~oe drank, and by the bread and wine which Melchisedech gave to Abraham, and by many other figures which St. Cyprian there rehearseth.
And now when Christ is come, and hath accomplished that sacrifice, the same is figured, signified, and represented unto us by that bread and wine, which faithful people receive daily in the holy communion : wherein like as with their mouths carnally they eat the bread and drink the wine, so by their faith spiritually they eat Christ's very flesh, and drink his very blood.
And hereby it appeareth that St. Cyprian clearly affirmeth the most true doctrine, and is wholly upon our side.
And against the papists he teacheth most plainly, that the communion ought to be received of all men under both kinds, and that Christ called bread his body and wine his blood, and that there is not transubstantiation, but that bread remaineth there as a figure to represent Christ's body, and wine to represent his blood; and that those which be not the lively members of Christ, do· eat the bread and drink the wine, and be 'nourished by them, but the very flesh and blood of Christ they neither eat nor drink.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
Thus have you heard declared the mind of St. ORA P. xv.
Cyprian.
But Hilarius, think they, is plainest for them in The answer to tl;iis matter, whose words they translate thus:
"lfHilari~s.
• • De Trun- " the Word was made verily flesh, and we ver1lytate.
"receive the Word being flesh in our Lord's meat, "how shall not Christ be thought to dwell naturally
"in us ? who, being born man, hath taken unto "him the nature of our flesh, that cannot be
"severed, and hath put together the nature of his "flesh to the nature of his eternity, under the "sacrament of the communion of his flesh unto "us.
For so we be all one, because the Father is "in Christ, and Christ in us.
Wherefore whoso- " ever will deny the Father to be naturally in "Christ, he must deny first either himself to be
"naturally in Christ, or Christ to be naturally in "him.
For the being of the Father in Christ, and " the being of Christ in us, maketh us to be one in "them.
And therefore if Christ have taken verily "the flesh of our body, and the man that was
"verily born of the Virgin Mary is Christ, and ·• also we receive under the ttrue mystery the flesh
·• of his body, by means whereof we shall. be one, '' (for the Father is in Ch_rist, and Christ in us,)
'l'l'he translation of this clause is not correct, and furnished grounds to Cranmer's adversa'ries at Oxford for charging him with falsifying Hilary designedly.
But the error seems to have originated in his copying the citation from Gardyner's
Detection of the Devil's SophistrJ•, where "vero sub mysterio" is read instead of "vere ~ub mysterio."
See Answer to Gardyner, book iii. chap. 15. and DisPutati':m at Oxford witlt Chedsey.]
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK "how shall that be called the unity of will, when m. br b z._ -- "the natural property, ought to pass y t,/Aj '' sacrament, is the sacrament of unity 1 "
Thus doth the papists, the adversaries of God's word and of his truth, allege the authority of Hilarius, either perversely and purposely, as it seemeth, untruly citing him, and wresting his words to their purpose, or else not truly understanding him.
For although he saith that Christ is naturally in us, yet he saith also that we be naturally in him. And nevertheless in so saying, he meant not of the natural and corporal presence of the substance of Christ's body and of ours ; for as our bodies be not after that sort within his body, so is not his body after that sort within our bodies; but he meant that Christ in his incarnation received of us a mortal nature, and united the same unto his Divinity, and so be we naturally in him.
And the sacraments of baptism and of his holy Supper, if we rightly use the same, do most assuredly certify us, that we be partakers of his godly nature, having given unto us by him immortality and life everlasting, and so is Christ naturally in us.
And so be we one with Christ, and Christ with us, not only in will and mind, but also in very natural properties.
And so concludeth Hilarius against Arius, that Christ is one with his Father, not in purpose and will only, but also in very nature.
,· And as the union between Christ and us in
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
baptism is spiritual, and requireth no real and CHAP. xv. corporal presence ; so likewise our union with--Christ in his holy Supper is spiritual, and therefore requireth no real and corporal presence.
And therefore Hilarius, speaking there of both the sacraments, maketh no difference between our union with Christ in baptism, and our union with him in his holy Supper ; and saith further, that as Christ is in us, so be we in him ; which the papists cannot understand corporally and really, except they will say, that all our bodies be corporally within Christ's body.
Thus is Hilarius answered unto both plainly and shortly g. g Idem Hilarius De Trin. lib. viii. [ed. Bened. p. 218.] "Quorum anima una et cor unum omnium erat, qurero 11trum
"per fidem Dei unum erat 1 utique per fidem.
Et interrogo, "utrum fides una, anne alter a sit 1 una certe.
Si ergo per "fidem, id est, per uni us fidei naturam, utique unum omnes "erant: quomodo non naturalem in his intelligis unitatem, " qui per naturam uni us fidei unum sunt 1 Omnes enim renati
"erant ad innocentiam, ad immortalitatem, &o. Sin vero "regenerati in uni us vitre atque retermtatis naturam sunt, per "quod anima eorum et cor unum est ; cessat in his assensus
"unitas, qui unum sunt in ejusdem regeneratione naturre, &c.
"Docet Apostolus ex natura sacramentorum esse hanc fidelium "unitatem, ad Galatas scribens:
Quotquot enim in' Christo "baPtizati estis, Christum induistis, C'l'"C.
Quod unum sunt "in tanta gentium, conditionum, sexuum d1vers1tate, nunqmd ex "assensu voluntatis est, aut ex 'sacrament! unitate, quia his et
"baptisma sit unum, et unum Chnstum mduti omnes sunt 1 " Quid ergo hie ammorum concordia fac1et, cum per id unum
"sint, quod uno Christo per naturam umus baptismi induantud " &c. Itaque, qui per rem eandem unum sunt, natura etiam
" unum sunt, non tantum voluntate, &c. Dominus Patrem orat, "ut qui in se cred1turi sint, unum sint, et sicut ipse in Patre
"est, et Pater in eo est, ita omnrn m his unum smt, &c. Pri- " mum precatio est, Ut omnes unum sint, tum deinde unitatis Joan xvii.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK And this answer to Hilarius will serve also Ill.
T--h-e-an-_-unto Cyril, whom they allege to speak after the awer to OyriUns.
"profectus exemplo unitatis ostenditur, cum ait: Sicut tu Pate, "in me, et ego in te, ut et iPsi unum sint in nobis: ut sicnt
"Pater in F1ho, et F11ius in Patre est, ita per hujus uni ta tis for- " mam m Patre et F1ho unum omnes EYSsent, &c. Per id ergo
"mundus crediturus est Filium a Patre missum esse, quod " omnes qui credituri in eum sunt, unum in Patre et Filio
" erunt: et quomodo erunt, mox docemur.
Et ego honorem "quem dedisti mihi, dedi eis.
Et aunc interrogo, utrum id "ipsum sit honor quod voluntaEL; (cum volunta,s motus mentis
"sit,) an vero honor naturre, aut species, aut dignitas 1 Honorem "ergo acceptum a Patre, F1lius omnibus qui in se creditun
"sunt, ded1t, non utique voluntatem, &c. Et cum per honorem " datum F1lio, et a F1ho preestitum credentibus, omnes unum
"sunt: queero, quomodo Filius diversi honoris a Patre sit 1'
"Cum credentes omnes honor F1lii ad unitatem paterni honoris "ossumat, &c. Fidem teneo, atque causam unitatis accipio, " sed nondum apprehendo rationem, quomodo datus honor unum
" omnes esse perficiat.
Sed Dominus nihil conscientue fidelium "incertum relmquens, ipsum 1llum naturalis efficientiee docuit
"effectum, dicens : U t sint unum, sicut et nos unum sumus. Ego "in his, et tu in me, ut sint perfecti in unum.
Eos nunc qui "int.er Patrem et Filium voluntatis ingerunt unitat.em, in- " terrogo, utrumne per naturm veritat.em hodie Christus in "nobis sit, an per concordiam voluntatis? '' [Here follows the passage translated by Cranmer.] "De naturali in nobis Christi veri- " tate ipse ait: Caro mea vere est esca, et sanguis meus vere
"est Potus.
Qui edit carnem mea,n, et btbit sanguinem "meu,n in me manet, et ego in eo. De veritat.e camis et san- " guinis non relictus est ambigendi locus: nunc enim et ipsius
" Domini profossione et fide nostra, vere caro est, et vere sanguis "est.
Et hrec accept a atque hausta <:fficiunt, ut et" nos in Christo "et Christus in nob1s sit."
Et mox. "Est ergo in nobis ipse " per carnem, et sumus in eo, dum secum hoc quod nos sumus,
"in Deo est. Quod autem in eo per sacramentum commumcatee "carms et sangum1s simus, ipse testatur dicens : Et liic mun- " dus jam me non videt, vos autem me videbitis, quo- " niam ego vivo et vos vivetis, quoniam ego in Patre meo, et vos
" in me, et ego in vcbis. Si voluntat1s tantum unitatem in-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
is CHAP. xv.
" telligi vellet, cur gradum quendam atque ordinem consum- " mandre unitatis exposuit: nisi ut cum ille m Patre per "naturam Divinitatis esset, nos contra in eo per corporalem "ejus nativitatem, et ille rursum in nobis per sacramentorurn
"inesse mysterium crederetur, ac sic perfecta per med1atorem "unitas doceretur1 cum nobis in se manentibus, ipse maneret "in Patre, et inPatre manens ipse maneret in nobis, "et ita ad unitatem Patria pro:ficeremus, cum qui m eo "naturaliter secundum nativitatem inest, nos quoque m eo "naturaliter inessemus, ipso in nobis naturaliter permanente.
"Quod au tern in nobis naturalis hrec unitas sit, ipse ita testatu:, "est.
Qui edit carnem meam, et bibit sanguinem meum, in me "manet, et ego in eo. Non enim quis in eo erit, ms1 m quo
"ipse fuerit: ejus tantum in se assumptam habens carnem, "qui suam sumpserit.
Perfectre autem hujus unitatis sacra- " mentum superius jam docuerat, dicens : Sicut me misit vivens same sort that Hilariusdoth, that Christ "Pater, et ego vivo Per Patrein, et qui manducat meam car- " nem, et ipse vivet Per me.
Vivet ergo per Patrem, et quo "modo per Patrem vivit, eodem modo nos per carnem ejus vi- " vemus.
Omnis enim oomparatio ad intelligentire formam "prresumitur: ut id de quo agitur, secuadum propositum exem- " plum as<sequamur.
Hrec ergo vitl!!l nostrre causa est, quod "in nobis carnalibus manentem 9er carnem Chnstum habemus ;
"victuris nobis per eum e;, conditione qua vivit ille per Patrem.
!' Si ergo nos naturaliter secundum carnem per eum vi vim us, id "est, naturam carnis sure adepti ; quomodo non naturahter
"secundum Spiritum in se Patrem habeat, cum vi vat ipse per " Patrem 1 ''
Et mox.
"Hrec autem idcirco a nob!s com- " memorata sunt, quia voluntatis tantum inter Patrem "et Fili um unitatem hreretici mentientes unitatis nostrre ad "Deum utebantur exemplo, tanquam nobis ad Fili um, et per "Filium ad Patrem obsequio tantum ac voluntate religionis "uni tis, nulla per sacramentum carnis et sanguinis naturahs " communionis proprietas indulgeretur ; cum et per honorem "no bis datum Filii, et per manentem in nobis carnaliter "Filium, et m eo nobis corporaliter et inseparabiliter uni tis, "mysterrnm verre ac naturalis umtatis sit prred1candum."
Idem, lib. eodem, [ed. Bened. p. 244,) "Hee est opus Dei, ut "credatis ei quem mzsit iPse.
Sacramentum et corporat10nis "et Divinitatis sure Dommus exponens, :fidei quoque nostrre et
DEFE:r;,lCij, &c.
BOOK naturally in us. The words which they recite be Ill.
" spei doctrinam locutus est ; ut escam · non pereuntem sed per- " manentem in vitam aitema.m operaremur, ut hanc retemitatis
"escam dari nobis a. filio hominis meminissemus, ut filium "hominis signatum a. Deo Pa.tre sciremus, ut hoc esse opus
" Dei nosceremus, credere in eum quern misisset.
Et quis "est, quern Pater mi'sit1 Nempe quern signavit Deus.
Et quis "est, quern signavit Deus 1 Fili us utique hommis, escam "scilicet prreben:s vitai retemre.
Qui tandem sunt qu1bus prre- " bet eam 1 Ilh namque qui operabuntur escam non intereun- " tem.
Atque ita, quai opera escre est, eadem operatio De1 est, "in eum, sc1hcet, cred1disse quern mi'Sit."
Idem, lib. ix. [ed. Bened. p. 263.]" Videte ne quis vos decipiat "Per PkilosoPhiam, &-c. (Coloss. ii.) Et non secundum fesum
"Christunz, quia in ipso inhabitat omnis PlenitudoDivinztatis "corporaliter, et estis in illo repleti, &-c.
Expos1ta itaque "habitantis corporaliter Divinitatis in eo plenitudme, i;acra- " mentum assumptionis nostrre continuo subjec1t, dicens:
Et "estis in eo repleti.
Ut enim in eo Divmitahs est plenitudo, "ita in eo et nos sumus repleti.
Neque sane ait, estis repleti, "sed, in eo estis repZeti, quia per fidei spem in vitam eternam
" regenerati et regenerandi omnes, nunc in Christi corpore ma- " nent, replendis postea ipsis, non jam in eo, sed in ipsis, secun- " dum tempus illud de quo Apostolus ait:
Qui transfigurabit "corpus humilitatis nostrt:e, conforme corpori claritatis sut:e, "&<c. Demonstrato autem et naturre suse et assumptionis nostrre
Philipp. iii.
"sacramento, cum in eo plenitudine Divinitatis manente, nos in "eo per id quod homo natus est, repleamur, reliquam dispen- " sationem humanre sa.lutis exequitur, dicens: In quo et circum- " cisi estis circi mcisione non manu fa eta in desPoliatione CfJr- " Poris carnis, sed in circumcisione Christi, consePulti ei in " baptismate, in quo et consurre.xisti's ,Per fidem o,Perationis
"Dei, qui excitavit eum a mortuis, &-c. Regenera.tio, bap- " tismi resurrectionis est virtus, &c. In· eo enim resurgimus "per ejus Dei fidem, qu~ eum suscitavit a mortuis."
Idem, lib. ii. "Virgo, pa.rtu's, et corpus, postque crux, more, "inferi, salus nostrai est.
Huma.m enim generis causa. Dei " Filius natus ex virgine est Spiritu Sancto, ipso sibi in ha.c "operatione famulante, et sq.a w.delicet Dei inumbrante virtute, "corporis sib1 initia cm;1se'1it, et exord1a camis instituit: ut "homo factus ex virgine, naturam in se carnis acciperet, per-
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
these:
"hWe deny not," saith Cyril against the CHAP. xv. heretic, "but we be spiritually joined to Christ--- " by faith and sincere charity; but that we should
" have no manner of conjunction in our flesh with "Christ, that we utterly deny, and think it "utterly discrepant from God's holy Scriptures.
"For who doubteth, that Christ is so the vine " tree and we so the branches, as we get thence
" our life.
Hear what St. Paul saith, We be all "one body with Christ; for though we be many,
" we be one in him.
All we participat~ in one " food.
Thinketh this heretic that we know not " the strength and virtue of the mystical bene- " diction? which, when it is made in us, doth it
" not make Christ by communication of his flesh "to dwell corporally in us? Why be the members
"of faithful men's bodies called the members of1 Cor. vi.
"Christ?
Know you not, saith St. Paul, that "your members be the members of Christ?
And "shall I make the mernbe1·s of Christ part of the "whore's body f God forbid.
And our SaviourJohn vi..
"also saith, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh ~, my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."
" que hujus admixtionis societatem sanctificatum in eo universi "generis humani corpus existeret: ut quemadmodum omnes "in se, per id quod corporeum se esse voluit, conderentur, ita
"rursum in omnes ipse per id quod ejus est invisible, referretur."
Et mox.
"Non ille eguit homo effic1, per quern homo factus est, " sed nos eguimus, ut Deus caro fieret, et hab1taret in nobis, id
"est, assumptione carnis unius, membra universre carnis in- " coleret.
Humilitas ejus nostra nobilitas est, contumelia ejus "honor noster est : quod ille est Deus in carne consistens, hoc
"nos vicissim in Deum ex carne renovat."
EMBD, h Cyril, Inf oan. lib. x. cap. 13.
1'18
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK Although in these words Cyril doth say, that Ill.
---Christ doth dwell corporally in us, when wereceive the mystical benediction ; yet he neiu.her saith that Christ dwelleth corporally in the bread, nor that he dwelleth in us corporally only at such times as we receive the sacrament, nor that he dwelleth in us, and not we in him; but he saith as well, that we dwell in him, as that he dwelleth in us. Which dwelling is neither corporal nor local, but an heavenly, spiritual and supernatural dwelling, whereby, so long as we dwel1 in him and he in us, we have by him everlasting life.
And therefore Cyril saith in the same place, that lohn xv. Christ is the vine and we the branches, because that by him we have life. For as the branches receive life and nourishment of the body of the vine, so receive we by him the natural property of his body, which is life and immortality: and by that means we, being his members, do live, and are spiritually nourished.
And this meant Cyril by this word corporally, when he saith, that Christ dwelleth corporally in us. And the same meant also St. Hilarius by this word naturally, when he said that Christ dwelleth naturally in us. And ·as St. Paul, when cotoss. ii. he said that in Christ dwelleth the full Divinity corporally, by this word corporally he meant not that the Divinity is a body, and so by that body dwelleth bodily in Christ : but by this word corporally, he meant that the Divinity is not in.
Christ accidentally, lightly, and slenderly, but
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
substantially and perfectly, with all his might and c HAP. power ; so that Christ was not only a mortal man, xv. to suffer for us, but also he was immortal God, able to redeem us.
So St. Cyril, when he said that Christ is in us corporally, he meant that we have him in us, not lightly and to small effect and purpose, but that we have him in us substantially, pithily, and effectually, in such wise that we have by him redemption and everlasting life.
And this I suck not out of mine own fingers, but have it of Cyril's own express words, where he saith, "A little benediction draweth the " whole man to God, and filleth him with his
" grace ; and after this manner Christ clu.:elleth in " us and we in Christ. i"
But as for corporal eating and drinking with our mouths, and digesting with our bodies, Cyril never meant that Christ doth so dwell in us, as he plainly declareth.
"Our sacrament," said hek, doth not affirm " the eating of a man, drawing wickedly "Christian people to have gross imaginations and " carnal phantasies of such things as be fine and '' pure and received only with a sincere faith."
"But as two waxes that be molten and put " together, they close so in one, that every part
" of the one is joined to every part of the other ; " even so," saith Cyril1, "he that recei1Jeth the flesh
1 In Joan. lib. iv. cap. 17. k Anatlzematismo. 11
1 InJoan lib. iv. cap.17.
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo K "and blood of the Lord must needs be so ;'oined III.
" with Christ, that Christ must be in him and he " in Christ."
By these words of Cyril appeareth his mind plainly, that we may not grossly and rudely think of the eating of Christ with our mouths, but with our faith, by which eating, although he be absent hence bodily, and be in the eternai life and glory with his Father, yet we be made partakers of his nature, to be immortal, and have eternal life and glory with him.
And thus is declared the mind as well of Cyril as of Hilarius.
Basilius, And here may be weJl enough passed over Nyssenos, B "}'
G • N d G . andNazias1 ms, regorms yssenus, an regorms anzenus. N azianzenus, partly because they speak little of this matter, and because they may be easily answered unto by that which is before declared and often repeated, which is, that a figure hath the name of the thing whereof it is the figure, and therefore of the figure may be spoken the same thing that may be spoken of the thing itsel£
And as concerning the eating of Christ's flesh and drinking of his blood, they spake of the spiritual eating and drinking thereof by faith, and not of corporal eating and drinking with the mouth and teeth .
. Likewise Eusebius Emissenus is shortly answered unto ; for he speaketh not of any real and corporal conversion of bread and wine into Christ's body and blood, nor of any corporal and The an• ewer to EmiaseDUB.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
real eating and drinking of the same, but he CHAP. speaketh of a sacramental conversion of bread xv. and wine, and of a spiritual eating 11.nd drinking of the body and blood.
After which sort, Christ is as well present in baptism ( as the same Eusebius plainly there declareth) as he is in the Lord's table : which is, not carnally and corporally, but by faith and spiritually.
But of this author is spoken before more at large in the matter of transubstantiation 1• And now I will come to the saying of St. The anA b h. h . l . th . h swer to m rose, W IC IS a ways Ill e1r IDOUt Sm. Ambrosius '' Before the consecration," saith he, as they allege~:n~~~lit:
"it is bread ; but after the words of consecration iv. cap. 4· " it is the body of Christ."
For answer hereunto, it must be first known what consecration is.
Consecration is the separation of any thing fromconseora.a profane and worldly use unto a spiritual and tion. godly use.
And therefore when usual and common ,vater is taken from other uses, and put to the use of baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, then it may rightly
-be called consecrated water, that is to say, water put to an holy use.
Even so when common bread and wine be taken and severed from othM bread and wine, to the use of the holy communion, that portion of bread and wine, although it be of the same substance that 1 See p. 86 and fol. m [See note q. p. 881
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK the other is from the which it is severed, yet it is III. now called consecrated or holy bread and holy wme.
Not that the bread and wine have or can have any holiness in them, but that they be used to an ho]y work, and represent holy and godly things.
And therefore St. Dionysen calleth the bread holy bread, and the cup an holy cup, as soon as they be set upon the altar to the use of the holy commumon.
But specially they may be called holy and con- .secrated, when they be separated to that holy use by Christ's own words, which he spake for that Matt.xxvi. purpose, saying of the bread, This is my body; and Matt. xi".'. of the wine This is my blood
Luke xxu.
• So that commonly the authors, . before those words be spoken, do take the bread and wine but as other common_bread and wine; but after those words be pronounced over them, then they take them for consecrated and holy bread and wine.
Not that the bread and wine can be partakers of any holiness or godliness, or can be the body and blood of Christ ; but that they represent the very body and blood of Christ, and the holy food and nourishment which we have by him. And so they be called by the names of the body and blood of Christ, as the sign, token, and figure is calJed by the name of the very thing which it showeth
.and signifieth And therefore as St. Ambrose, in the words • De Eccl. Hierar. cap. 3.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
before cited by the adversaries, saith, that before o HAP. the consecration it is bread, and after the consexv. oration it is Christ's body; so in other places he doth more plainly set forth his meaning, saying these words : " Before the benediction of the "heavenly words, it is called another hind of thing;
" but after the consecration is signified the body "of Uhrist."
Likewise : "Before the consecra- " tion, it is called another thing ; but after the " consecration, it is named the blood of Christ 0 ."
And again he saith : " \Vhen I treated of the "sacraments, I told you, that that thing which "is offered, before the words of Christ is called
"bread; but when the words of Christ be pro- " nounced, then it is not called bread, but it is
" called by the name of Christ's bodyP."
By which words of St. Ambrose, it appeareth plainly, that the bread is called. by the name of Christ's body after the consecration; and although it be still bread, yet after consecration it is dignified by the name of the thing which it representeth, as at length is declared before in the process of transubstantiation, and specially in the words of Theodoretus.
And as the bread is a corporal meat, and corporally eaten, so, saith St. Ambrose 4, is the body of Christ a spiritual meat, and spiritually eaten, and that requireth no corporal presence.
Now let us examine St. John Chrysostome, who, The an• • • swer to m sound of words, maketh most for the adversanes Chrysos0 De iis qui Mysteriis initiantur, cap. ult. tomns.
P De Sacramentis, lib. v. cap. 4.
4lbid. lib. vi. cap. 1.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK of the truth: but they that be familiar and III. acquainted with Chrysostome's manner of speaking, how in all his writings he is full of allusions, schemes, tropes, and figures, shall soon perceive, that he helpeth nothing their purposes, as it shall well appear by the discussing of those places, which the papists do allege of him; which be specially two : one is, In Sermone de Eucharistia in Encarniis; and the other is, De Proditionf} Jud(IJ.
And as touching the first, no man can speak more plainly against them than St. John Chrysostome speaketh in that Sermon.
Wherefore it is to be wondered, why they should allege him for their party, unless they be so blind in their opinion that they can see nothing, nor discern what maketh for them, nor what against them.
For there he hath these words : " When " you come to these mysteries," speaking of the Lord's board and holy communion, "do you think
"that you receive by a man the body of God," meanmg of Christr.
These be St.
John Chrysostome's own words in that place.
Then if we receive not the body of Christ at the hands of a man, ergo, the body of Christ is not really, corporally, and naturally in the sacrament, and so given to us by the priest.
And then it followeth that all the papists be liars, because they feign and teach the contrary.
But this place of Chrysostome is touched before • In Sermone de Eucharistia in Encaniis. [Ed. Bened. De
Ptznitent. Hom. 9. See above, p. 341, and the Authorities in Jenkyna' Appendix.]
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
more at length in answering to the papists' c HAY. xv. transubstantiation.
Wherefore now shall be answered the other place8, which they allege of Chrysostome in these words: "Here he is present in the sacrament and " doth consecrate, which garnished the table at "the Maundy or last supper.
For it is not man, " which maketh of the bread and wine, being set " forth to be consecrated, the body and blood of " Christ; but it is Christ himself, which for us is
" crucified, that maketh himself to be there present.
" The words are uttered and pronounced by the " mouth of the priest, but the consecration is by the " virtue, might, and grace of God himself: and as "this saying of God, Increase, be multiplied, andGen.i.
"fill the earth, once spoken by God, took always " effect toward generation : even so the saying of '' Christ This is my body being but once srnoken Matt . .u_vi.
' r ' Matt, xiv.
" doth throughout all Churches to this present, and Luke nii.
" shall to his last coming, give force and strength " to this sacrifice."
Thus far they rehearse of Chrysostome's words.
Which words, although they sound much for their purpose, yet if they be thoroughly considered, and conferred with other places of the same author, it shall well appear, that he meant nothing less than that Christ's body should be corporally and naturally present in the bread and wine ; but that in such sort he is in heaven only, and in our minds by faith we ascend up into • De Proditione fudt1.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK heaven, to eat him there, although sacramentally, III. as in a sign and figure, he be in the bread and wine ; and so is he also in the water of baptism ; and in them that rightly receive the bread and wine, he is in a much more perfection than
,corporally, which should avail them nothing; but in them he is spiritually with his divine power, giving them eternal life.
And as in the first creation of the world all living creatures had their first life by God's only word ; for God only spake his word, and all things were created by and by accordingly; and after their creation he spake these
<kn. i. words, Increase and multiply ; and, by the virtue of those words, all things have gendered and increased ever since that time : even so Matt.x~vi.after that Christ said, Eat, this is my body,
Markx1v.
. h'
. bl d d h' h Luke :uii. and drink, t is is my oo , o t is ereafter in remembrance of me ; by virtue of these words, and not by virtue of any man, the bread and wine be so consecrated, that whosoever with a lively faith doth eat that bread and drink that wine, doth spiritually eat, drink, and feed upon Christ, sitting in heaven with his Father.
And this is the whole meaning of St. Chrysostome.
And therefore doth he often say, that we receive Christ in baptism ; and when he hath spoken of the receiving of him in the holy communion, by and by he speaketh of the receiving of him in baptism, without declaring any diversity
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
of his presence in the one from his presence in c HAP. xv. the other.
He saith also in many places\ "That we ascend \, into heaven, and do eat Christ sitting there
"above."
And where St. Chrysostome and other authors do speak of the wonderful operation of God in his sacraments, passing all man's wit, senses, and reason, they mean not of the working of God in the water, bread, and wine, but of the marvellous working of God in the hearts of them that receive the sacraments, secretly, inwardly, and spiritually transforming them, renewing, feeding, comforting, and nourishing them with his flesh and blood, through his most Holy Spirit, the same flesh and blood still remaining in heaven.
Thus is this place of Chrysostome sufficiently answered unto ; and if any man require any moreT then let him look what is recited of the same author before, in the matter of transubstantiation.
Yet furthermore they bring for them Theophilus The anAlexandrinus, who, as they allege, saith thus :Tii:~_to
" Christ giving thanks did break (which also we philus, ~11 '
Mark xiv.
"do), adding thereto prayer: and he gave unto "them, saying, Take, this is my body; this that I "do now give, and that which ye now do take. t Ad Populum Antiochenum, Hom. 61. et In foan. Hom. 45.
[This reference, though apparently to two Homilies, is in fact to one only : the Sermons, which in the earlier editions of Chrysostom are entitled, Ad PoPulum Antiochenuin, bemg, with the exception ot the first twenty-five, mere compilations from his other works.
Ca,e, Hist. Liter.]
DEFENCE, &c.
BO OK "For the bread is not a figure only of Christ's III. d bu .. h d.
" bo y, t it is c ange into the very body of John vi.
" Christ ; for Christ saith, The bread which I will " give you is my flesh.
Nevertheless the flesh of " Christ is not seen for our weakness, but bread " and wine are familiar unto us. And surely if " we should visibly see flesh and blood, we could
" not abide in it. And therefore our Lord, bearing "with our weakness, doth retain and keep the " form and appearance of bread and wine ; but he
" doth turn the 'l.'ery bread and wine into the very "flesh and blood of Christ."
These be the words which the papists do cite out of Theophilus upon the Gospel of St.
Mark.
But by this one place it appeareth evidently, either how negligent the papists be in searching out and examining the sayings of the authors, which they allege for their purpose ; or else how false and deceitful they be, which willingly and wittingly have made in this one place, and as it were with one breath, two loud and shameful lies.
The first is, that because they would give the more authority to the words by them alleged, they (like false poticaries that sell quid pro quo) falsify the author's name, fathering such sayings upon Theophilus Alexandrinus, an old and ancient author, which were indeed none of his words, but were the words of Theophylactus, who was for many years after Theophilus Alexandrinusu. But " fTheophilus was Bishop of Alexandria A.D. 385. Theophylact was Archbishop of Bulgaria A.D. 1077. His Oommen-
'l'HE PRESENCE OF CHRIS1'.
such hath ever been the papistical subtleties, to set c HAP • .I!. h h .
. d d 1· xv. i.ort t e1r own mvent10ns, reams, an ies, --under the name of antiquity and ancient authors.
The second lie or fa)sehood is, that they falsify the author's words and meaning, subverting the truth of his doctrine.
For where Theophylactus according to the catholic doctrine of ancient. authors saith, that Almighty God, condescending to our infirmity, reserveth the kind of bread and wine, and yet turneth them into the virtue of Christ's flesh and blood; they say that he reserveth the forms and appearances of bread and wine, and turneth them into the verity of his flesh and blood, so turning and altering kinds into forms and appearances, and virtue into verity, that of the virtue of the flesh and blood they make the verity of his flesh and blood. And thus they have falsified as well the name as the words of Theophylactus, turning verity into plain and flat falsity.
But to set forth plainly the meaning of Theophylactus in this matter : as hot an<l burning iron is iron still, and yet hath the force of fire; and as the flesh of Christ, still remaining flesh, giveth life, as the flesh of him that is God ; so the sacramental bread and wine remain stilJ in their proper kinds; and yet to them that worthily eat and drink them, they be turned not into the tary on the Gospels is a compilation from Chrysostom and others.
See Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. Harles, vol. v. p. 287. Cave, Hist. Liter.]
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo K corporal presence, but into the virtue of Christ's III.
---flesh and blood.
And although Theophylactus spake of the eating of the very body of Christ, and the drinking of his very blood, ( and not only of the figures of them,) and of the conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, yet he meaneth not of a gross, carnal, corporal, and sensible conversion of the bread and wine, nor of a like eating and drinking of his flesh and blood ; for so not only our stomachs would yearn and our hearts abhor to eat his flesh and to drink his blood, but also such eating and drinking could nothing profit or avail us : but he spake of the celestial and spiritual eating of Christ, and of a sacramental conversion of the bread, calling the bread not only a figure, but also the body of Christ, giving us by those words to understand, that in the sacrament we do not only eat corporally the bread, which is a sacrament and figure of Christ's body ; but spiritually we eat also his very body, and drink his very blood.
And this doctrine of Theophylactus is both true, godly, and comfortable.
The an, Besides this, our adversaries do aUege St.
~ie~i:,.
Hierome upon the Epistle Ad Titum, that rnus,SitpRr h . d'Lr b h l Efat. ad "t ere 1s as great 1uerence etween t e oaves Titum. lld ... d h bd f " ca e panes propositionis, an t e o y o "Christ, as there is between the shadow of a.
"body, and the body itself, and as there is "between an image, and the thing itself, and
'l'HE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
"between an example of things to come, and the CHAP.
' xv.
" things that be prefigured by them.'
These words of St. Hierome, truly understand, serve nothing for the intent of the papists.
For he meant that the show-bread of the law was but a dark shadow of Christ to come; but the sacrament of Christ's body is a clear testimony that Christ is already come, and that he hath performed that which was promised, and doth presently comfort and feed us spiritually with his precious body and blood, notwithstanding that corporally he is ascended into heaven.
And the same is to. be answered unto all thatAugustih d . b . f S A t· S d 1· nus, Sedut e a versar1es rmg o t. _.,µ.ugus me, e u ms, liua, Leo, L F l • C • d G • d Fulgeneo, u gentius, ass10 orus, regorms, an tius, Cash • h · f Ch • • h siodorus ot er, concermng t e eatmg o nst m t earegorids. sacrament.
Which thing cannot be understanded plainly as the words sound, but figuratively and spiritually, as before is sufficiently proved, and hereafter shall be more fully declared in the fourth part of this book.
But here John Damascenex may in no wise be'l'he anpassed over, whom for his authority the adver- ~~!'., saries of Christ's true natural body do reckon as~:F,dt a stout champion sufficient to defend all the 0r, h• whole matter alone. But neither is the authority of Damascene so great, th,..,t they may oppress us thereby, nor his words so plain for them, as they boast and untruly pretend.
For he is but a x Damascenus, De Fide Orth. hb. iv. cap. 14.
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK young new author in the respect of those which III. h · fi And . d'
---we have broug t m or our party. m 1vers points he varieth from the most ancient authors, if he mean as they expound him; as when he saith, that the bread and wine be not figures, which all the old authors call figures, and that the bread and wine consume not, nor be avoided downward, which Origen and St. Augustine affirm, or that they be not called the examples of Christ's body after the consecration, which shall manifestly appear false by the Liturgy ascribed unto St. Basil.
And moreover the same Damascene was one of the Bishop of Rome's chief proctors against the emperors, and as it were his right hand, to set abroad all idolatry by his own handwriting.
And therefore if he lost his hand, as they say he did, he lost it by God's most righteous judgment, whatsoever they feign and fable of the miraculous restitution of the same7• And yet whatsoever the said Damascene writeth in other matters, surely in this place which the adversaries do allege, he writeth spiritually and godly, although the papists either of ignorance mistake him, or else willingly wrest and writhe him to their purpose, clean contrary to his meaning.
The sum of Damascene his doctrine in this matter is this.
That as Christ, being both God and man, hath in him two natures ; so hath he Y [The story of its miraculous restoration is told by Gardyner,
Detection of the Devil's So,PkistrJ', f. 35.]
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
two nativities, one eternal and the other temporal. CHAP. d ~ _An so likewise we, being as it were double men, --- •Or having every one of us two men in us, the new man and the old man, the spiritual man and the ,carnal man, have a double nativity : one of our first carnal father, Adam, by whom, as by ancient inheritance, cometh unto us malediction and everJasting damnation ; and the other of our heavenly
_Adam, that is to say, of Christ, by whom we be made heirs of celestial benediction and everlasting
_glory and immortality.
And because this Adam is spiritual, therefore ,our generation by him must be spiritual, and our feeding must be likewise spiritual.
And our .spiritual generation by him is plainly set forth in baptism, and our spiritual meat and food is set forth in the holy Communion and Supper of the Lord.
And because our sights be so feeble that ·we cannot see the spiritual water wherewith we
1be washed in baptism, nor the spiritual meat wherewith we be fed at the Lord's table; therefore to help our infirmities, and to make us the better to see the same with a pure faith, our
:Saviour Christ hath set forth the same, as it were before our eyes, by sensible signs irnd tokens, which we be daily used and accustomed unto.
And because the common custom of men is to ·wash in water, therefore our spiritual regeneration in Christ, or spiritual washing in his blood, is declared unto us in baptism by water.
Likewise ,our spiritual nourishment and feeding in Christ,
19~
DEFENCE, &c.
Boo K is set before our eyes by bread and wine, because· III, d d"
--they be meats an rmks which chiefly and usually we be fed withal ; that as they feed the body, so doth Christ with his flesh and blood spiritually feed the soul.
And therefore the bread an~ wine be called examples of Christ's flesh and blood, and also they be called his very flesh and blood, to signify unto, us, that as they feed us carnally so do they admonish us that Christ with his flesh and blood doth feed us spiritually and most truly unto everJasting life.
And as Almighty God by his most mighty word and his Holy Spirit and infinite power brought forth all creatures in the beginning, and ever sithence hath preserved them ; even so by the same word and power he worketh in us from time to time this marvellous· spiritual generation, and wonderful spiritual nourishment and feeding, which is wrought only by God, and is comprehended and received of us by faith.
And as brea!l aud drink by natural nourishment be changed into. a man's body, and yet the body is not changed, but the same that it was before ; so although the bread and wine be sacramentally changed into Christ's body, yet his body is the same and in the same place that it was before, that is to say, in heaven, without any alteration. of the same.
And the bread and wine be not so changed into the flesh and blood of Christ, that they be made
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
-one nature, but they remain still distinct in nature, CHAP. xv. so that the bread in itself is not his flesh, and the--wine his blood, but unto them that worthily eat
.and drink the bread and wine, to them the bread .and wine be his flesh and blood ; that is to say, by things natural and which they be accustomed unto, they be exalted unto things above nature.
For the sacramental bread and wine be not bare .and naked figures, but so pithy and effectuous, that whosoever worthily eateth them, eateth spiritually Christ's flesh and blood, and hath by them everlasting life.
Wherefore whosoever cometh to the Lord's table must come with all humility, fear, reverence, and purity of life, as to receive not only bread and wine, but also our. Saviour Christ both God and man, with all his benefits, to the relief and sustentation both of their bodies and souls.
This is briefly the sum and true meaning of Damascene concerning this matter.
Wherefore they that gather of him either the natural presence of Christ's body in the sacraments of bread and wine, or the adoration of the outward and visible sacrament, or that after the consecration there remaineth no bread nor wine nor other substance, but only the substance of the body and blood of Christ; either they understand not Damascene, or else of wilful frowardness they will not understand him ; which rather seemeth to be true, by such collections as they have unjustly gathered and noted out of him.
DEFgNCE, &c.
BOOX For although he say, that Christ is the spiritual III.
---meat, yet as in baptism the Holy Ghost is not in the water, but in him that is unfeignedly baptized ;. so Damascene meant not, that Christ is in thebread, but in him that worthily eateth the bread.
And though he say, that the bread is Christ's body and the wine his blood, yet he meant not that the bread considered in itself, or the wine in itself' being not received, is his flesh and blood; but to such as by unfeigned faith worthily receive the bread and wine, to such the bread and wine are called by Damascene the body and blood of Christ, because that such persons through the working of the Holy Ghost be so knit and united spiritually to Christ's flesh and blood, and to his
Divinity also, that they be fed with them unto ever lasting life.
Sacrament Furthermore Damascene sayeth not, that the !~!-to be sacrament should be worshipped and adored, as shipped, the papists term it, which is plainly idolatry, but that we must worship Christ, God and man.
And yet we may not worship him in bread and wine, but sitting in heaven with his Father, and being spiritually within ourselves.
Nor he sayeth not, that there remaineth no bread nor wine. nor none other substance, but only the substance of the body and blood of Christ; but he saith plainly, that as a burning coal is not wood only, but fire and wood joined together ; so the bread of the communion is not bread only, but bread joined to the Divinity.
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
But those that say, that there is none other CHAP. substance but the substance of the body and blood xv. of Christ, do not only deny that there is bread and wine, but by force they must deny also that there is either Christ's Divinity or his soul. For if the flesh and blood, the soul and Divinity of Christ be four substances, and in the sacrament be but two of them, that is to say, his flesh and blood, then where is his soul and Divinity 1 And thus these men divide Jesus, separating his Divinity from his humanity : of whom St. John saith, Whosoever divideth Jesus is not of God, buti John iv. he is Antichrist.
And moreover these men do so separate Christ's body from his members in the sacrament, that they leave him no man's body at all.
For as Damascene saith, that the distinction of members pertain so much to the nature of a man's body, that where there is no such distinction, there is no perfect man's bodyz.
But by these papists' doctrine, there is -qo such distinction of members in the sacrament ; for either there is no head, feet, hands, arms, legs, mouth, eyes, and nose at all ; or else all is head, all feet, all hands, all arms, all legs, all mouth, all eyes, and all nose. And so they make of Chrie.t's body no man's body at all.
Thus being confuted the papists' errors as well concerning transubstantiation, as the real, corporal, and natural presence of Christ in the sacrament.
• In libro De dualms in Christo Voluntatibus.
DEFENCE,&c.
B?1?.K which were two principal points purposed in the beginning of this work : now it is time something to speak of the third error of the papists, which is concerning the eating of Christ's very body and drinking of his blood.
THUS ENDETH THE THIRD BOOK.
( 199 ) The Fourth Book is of the Eating and Drinking of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ.
THE gross error of the papists, is of the carnal CHAP I. eating and drinking of Christ's flesh and bloodWhether with our mouths. evil men do eat For they say, that whosoever eat and drink the and drink
Christ. sacraments of bread and wine, do eat and drmk also with their mouths Christ's very flesh and blood, be they never so ungodly and wicked persons.
But Christ himself taught clean contrary in the sixth of John, that we ·eat not him carnally with our mouths; but spiritually with our faith, saying, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The godly he that lJelieveth in me, hath everlasting life. Icii
1iis~~t am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna John vi. in the wilderness, and died.
This is the bread that came from heaven, that whosoever shall eat thereof, shall not die.
I am the lively bread that came from heave") ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.
And the bread which I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
This is the most true doctrine of our Saviour Christ, that whosoever eateth him, shall have everlasting life.
And by and by it followeth in the same place of John more clearly : Verily, John vi. verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not
DEFENCE, &c.
BOOK have life in you.
He that eateth my flesh and IV. drinketh my blood, hath life everlasting, and I will raise him again at the last day : for my flesh is very meat, and my blood is very drink.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; even so he that eateth me, shall Jive by me.
This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead ; he that eateth of this bread, shall live for ever.
This taught our Saviour Christ as well his disciples as the Jews at Capernaum, that the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood was not like to the eating of manna.
For both good and bad did eat manna, but none do eat his flesh and drink his blood, but they have everlasting life. For as his Father dwelleth in him, and he in his Father, and so hath life by his Father: so he that eateth Christ's flesh and drinketh his blood, dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him, and by Christ he hath eternal life.
What need we any other witness 1 when Christ himself doth testify the matter so plai_nly, that whosoever eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood, hath everlasting life ; and that to eat his :flesh and to drink his blood, is to believe in him ; and whosoever believeth in him, hath everlasting life.
Whereof it followeth necessarily, that ungodly persons, being limbs of the Devil, do not eat
Christ's flesh nor drink his blood : except the