The Pope Confuted, Part 2 (2 of 3)

The Pope Confuted · Part 2 (2 of 3)

Of the sacramentes.But passing ouer this and many other enormities, I come now to the sacraments. In the which wheras many things are chopt in place, to colour the credit of their doctri…e without the authority of the pure and sacred scriptures; amōgst al other, I can not tel how this peruersenes of men being so poore blind in matters of them self most manifest, hath in any our thing bewrayed their blockishnes more notably,The abhominable corruptions of the papists in the Lordes sup…er. then in the supper of the Lorde. Heere is such an huge heape of monstruouse mockeries & peeuish shiftes of most absurd errors thrust into this one sacrament, as that the posteritie can neuer wonder sufficiently at the view of them. For what can be more grossely absurd then to …ake from out the sacraments the likenesse & mutual resemblaunce: out of which only groundwoork aryseth chiefly al the whole substaunce & building of sacraments? what can be more repugnant not only to al the very true proportionable relation of the scripture, but also more disagreable too all con…eniency of reason & common sense, thē to tourne that to worshipping & kneeling, which was deliuered for a thankful remembrāce by most agreable application? what can be more blockish, then to embrace signes for things them selues? what cā be more p. 72deuoide of shame, then to enforce to beleeue contrary too that which the eyes doo see, and whereof al the **Aug. ad Infantes is cyted by Bed… 1. Cor. 10. That which you see is bread and wine, which also your eyes do declare mani…e…ly.1 Cor 10senses hauehave absolute feeling and perseueraunce: for proofe wherof is neither any maner of necessitie too be vrged, no, not so much as any neuer so little probabilitie? I doo acknowledge the omnipotent power of Christ in working miracles. But where did he euer woorke miracle, or exacte a miracle, where the **August… de trinitate 3. booke, cap. …. Myracles are properly applyed too declare to our senses some supernatural and heauenly power. In the sacrament nothing is declared supernatural too our senses. Ergo, heere is no myracle wrought by God.senses them selues beare no witnes th… it is a miracle? In Cana of Galilee when he turned water into wine, it was not beleued to bee a miracle, before the senses bare testimony thereof. The Apostles did see with their eyes Christ ryse… out of his graue, they hearde him speake, they felt him wi…h hāds, finally their sen…e perceaued him to be Christ before their faith did apprehende him. Euen so we at this present, though we see him not, yet do beleeue that hee is rysen againe: but not otherwyse, then beeing …ndured by the testimony of the Apos…les which saw him rysen, or els we should neuer hauehave beleued. But nowe wheras nother reason nor any other cause material hath made demonstration, wheras the senses also do vtterly gainsay, wheras… neither scripture nor Christ himself did euer cōmaund to beleue, but to eate only: what extreeme madnes were it to tourne that to matter of faith, and to enforce a miracle there, where neither… any cause at al can enduce, nor **Aug. in his 37. Epistle to Dardanus. I am af…aide lea…t we shal seeme to do iniury to our senses, whē by spe…ches we perswade that wherin plain euidence doth without any difficulty ryse aboue al our power and cunning of speeche.demonstration can discouer a miracle? lastly, for as much as nothing is more figuratiue or sette downe in darker figures,The holy scriptures ful of Tropes and figures. …hen the holy scripture is in explaning the mysteries of faith: what …rosse ignoraunce is this to apply that wholy to the bare letter,2. Cor. 3.2 Cor 3 which ought to be referred to the figuratiue a…d tropical interpr…a…ion?I…n. 6. Flesh profiteth nothing. namely, …henes the Apostle Paul doth geue vsus to vnderstād that the letter killeth, & Christ also pron…ūceth, that Fleshe auayleth nothing. Lykewise Augu. de doctrina Christiana. 4 book. 5. chapt. First you must take heede least yee referre the figuratiue speeche vntoo the letter. For herevnto apperteyneth that which the apostle spake. The letter killeth. For when a figuratiue speech is so taken, as if it were properly spoken, it …auoreth of the flesh. Neither can any thing be called more aptly the death of the soule, then when the vnderstanding is made subiect too the fleshe, by folowing the letter.Augustine affirmeth that the carnal sense of the letter is perillous, especially in the figuratiue speeches which are vttered in the scriptures, in so much that no manner of death can bee more aptly called the death of the soule: which is also named by Bernarde, The death in the po…. Nowe if there bee any place in the scriptures meete to a…mitte a figure: in what one place through all the whole scriptures may it be more properly applied then in the mysteries of sacramentes?Ierome against Ruf…ne. When I cal it a figuratiue speeche (sayeth Ierome) I doo shewe that the woordes ought not too bee taken as they bee vttered, but that it is couered with some allegorical clowde. As when in the sacrament…s we are sayde to bee borne anewe by water, and too b…e fedde with the body of Christ: whoe is so voide of reason that wresting these speeches vntounto the **Origen .7. homily vponupon Leuit. If literally yee followe the woordes that bee spoken: [except yee eate the fleshe of the … of man, yee hauehave … life in you] this letter killeth.carnal sense, the meaning whereof is too bee construe… figuratiuely, wil imagin that wee ought too bee borne in our bodies anewe as Nicodemus did? or to bee fe…de with p. 73Christes fleshe carnally as the Capernaites did? Goe to what better imaginat…on do the vnlettered multitude conceaue in these dayes of the doctrine of theyr transubstantiation, deliuered vntounto them by theyr great Doctours? For on this wise doe th…se famous **Howe absu…dl… the Popishe Christ mak…s doe tu…ne the bread into the fl…sh and humanity of Christ.Christe makers enstruct their auditorie: That the bread which was bread before the consecra…ion, altering the very substance of bread, is no more bread nowe, but turned into fleshe: and that this also must be beleeued without all question, that it is made the euerlasting sonne of God. What can bee more absurde? And howe comes this chaunge too passe, I pray you? forsooth because Christe sayde: This is my body. For this whole huge Chaos of confused Transubstantiation is accōplished with these iiii. wordes by these Christ makers. What? and did the Lorde pronounce no more wordes, but these foure only? what if he spake in the Hebrwe tongue, and expressed the whole action in two wordes only, after the maner of that nation [Zoth Guphi?] because the phrase of that language doth not for the most part expresse the Uerbe [Est.]

But to admit he spake foure or fiue wordes, what?The Papistes do… omit the circumstances of the words of the Supper. did hee adde thereunto no more besides? or did hee speake nothing else b…fore or after, too make the very meaning and purpose of his speaches more euident and manifest? And why do these fellowes omitte the circumstances, and not deliuer the whole Scripture withall? why doe they chop of the one h…lfe of Christs proposition, & suppresse in silence the chiefe par…, whereby the meaning of Christ might appeare more forcibly… For when Christe made mention of his body, hee dyd not therefore make the b…ea…e his bodye,Luke .22. t…t it might bee deuoured:1. Cor. 11.1 Cor 11 but … a com…ndement to take bread first, a…d to ea…,The…e wordes of … This … must … acc…r… …o the cir…ms…anc…s. Take yee (sayth Chri…t) and eate ye. And foor…hwith making mention of his body, dyd say: This is my body, yet not …mply neuert…elesse, but …, That is geuen and broken for you: To wit, to signifie vntounto them not the very substaunce of his naturall body simply, but that the crucifiyng of his body and the shedding of his blood shoulde become our foode. From hence bubbleth out al that welspring of error, That where our Lorde and Sauiour had relation to the efficacie and power of his passion, the same the Papistes doe apply too the only substance of the fleshe, as though we were to bee fed with the very naturall fleshe of Christe:The fleshe of Christ doth not feede vsus properly, but the passion of Christ. and not rather with the passion of his fleshe. But you wyll aske howe the passion of Christe feedeth, which is not eaten: forsooth, in the same maner as the death of Christ doth nourishe vsus, so doeth his passion feede vsus, not after a fleshly but after a spiritual maner.Pascasius. 43. Cap. Therefore we must thus thinke with our selues, not how muche is chawed with the teeth, but howe much is receyued by faith and louelove. &c. Not as it is chawed with the teeth, but as it is receiued into the heart. For thē doth the death of Christ feede vsus, when it refresheth vsus: then is he eaten, when hee is receiued by faith, and applied too …ur infirmities.

Now he that is desirous to know with howe great force and efficacie the Lordes death worketh in feedyng and refreshing our soules, shal neuer ve able to attaine the perseuerance thereof with more facilitie, then by this sacrament, if hee wyl but enter into due consideration of all the partes thereof.The fruite of Christes passion can by no means be more easily discerned th…n by the sacrament of the Lords supper. Mat. 26.Matt 26 For you come first to the Lords supper, wherein you beholde what the Lorde tooke in his handes. Iesus tooke bread and foorthwith geuing thankes, brake the bread which hee tooke: Why woulde he thus breake it? forsooth, to the ende hee might geue it, and to whom did he geue it? not the whole loafe to only one person perdie, but gaue to eueryevery one seuerally a seuerall morsell. And to what ende did hee so distribute it? that they shoulde holde it vp in theyr hands? or reserue it in boxes? N… verily; but that eueryevery of them should p. 74eate and drink. What? with the mouth of the body or no… There is no question to bee made hereof. For the matter being neuerthel…s of it selfe throughly mani…est, yet this one thing may be for a sufficient proofe, that the outward substaunce was the natural substaunce of bread, and not of his **Cyprian de Coena. Our abiding and incorporation in him is our eating and drinking: whereby we be vnited vntounto Christe, and made his body, not by any corporal but by a spiritual passing into vsus. &c.…ody sithens the very order of nature …oeth vtterly abhorre that Man shoulde feede vppon mans fleshe.

I hauehave shewed you the outwarde Action of the Supper. Open nowe the windowes of your soule, that ye may perceiue what deeper my…terie lye…h hidden **August contra Maximinum. 22. Cap. These bee Sacramentes, in the which must alwayes be considered not what they be… but what they shew outwardly: because they bee Signes of things being one thing in deede, & signifiyng an other thing.wi…hin, vnderunder these externall thinges, and conceiue what the Lordes purpose w…s in this his S…pper. For there is in this Supper one thing obiect too the viewe of the eyes, another thing shut vpp in a mystery. Nowe what kinde of mysterie this is, the Lordes owne words do sufficiently set downe in these wordes spoken to his Disciples. Take yee (sayth Christ) & eate ye, This is my body which is geuen for you. Doe this as often as ye shall do it in remembrāce of mee. What can bee more euident then the interpretation of this supper, if the circumstances of the words be scanned accordingly? For who is so blinde that can not discerne the f…uits of the Lordes death and …assion to bee plainly **Gelasius contra Nestor. The Image and likenesse of the body and blood of Christe is celebrated in the Action of the mysteries.…ignified heere, for as much as in the very eating, …imself saith… this is my body that is geuen to be slaine for you. Otherwise why would hee hauehave added withall, Geuen too be slaine? But that hee woulde set downe a playne testimonie of the The death of the body must be considered in the Lordes Supper, not the substance of his body.death of his body, rather then of any substāce thereof to the viewe of the Disciples. As if hee shoulde s…y: the time …s now at hande,The Lordes meaning is too be con…i…r…d in the supper. wherein my body muste bee geuen to be s…ine for you, not for any mine …ffence at all, but for your sakes, which death of mine shall procure euerlas…i…g life for you: after like sort and ma…er as this bread which I geue thus broken vntounto you to eate, doth passe into your bodies and geue nourishment there…o.Chr…sost. Homil. 83. vppon Mat. & Homi. …0. To the people of Antioche. This he spake to shewe that this mysterie was his crosse and passion, and to comfort his disciples hereby. Take ye therefore this bread which I geue to eueryevery of you, and eate, and withall consider heerein not the naturall bread which feedeth your bodies outwardly, but my body which being geuen to be slaine & crucified for, you shal inwardly and much more effectually refreshe you too eternall life:…o…n .…. For my Fleshe, which I will geue to bee slaine for the life of the worlde is meate in deede, and my blood is drinke in deede. For your bodies do no so much …iue by the nourishment of meate and dri…k, as your soules be fed within with the crucifiyng of my fleshe, and the shedding of my blood: without which you can hauehave no remission of sinnes, no ioyfull resurrection of your fleshe, no parte nor portion of eternall life. Therefore let this which is geuen you in this Supper remaine for a perpetual Sacrament and remembrance vntounto you of the body which I wil hereafter geue for you:The body of Christ giuen 2. ma…er of wai…s both to vsus, & for vsus: y^• one in the Supper, th…s other …pon the …rosse: the one to be cruci…i…d, the other to be …aten. For I shal geue my body for you into the hands of enimies, the Sacrament whereof I do heere geue into your hands.

Wherby thou mayest perceiue (gentle Reader) that here be two things giuen by Christ, one vntounto vsus, the other for vsus: the first too bee eaten, the last too bee crucified: that one in the Supper, this other vppon the Crosse. p. 75Nowe if yo… desire to knowe the substaunce of that which was geuen in the supper, it was bread and the Sacramente of his body. That which was geuen vppon the crosse, was his body and not a Sacrament. What then wyll you say? was not his body geuen at Supper? Yes in deede Christes body was geuen there too the Disciples: but not for the Disciples bodies,The body of Christe geuen in the Supper but not to mēs bodies, neither yet corporally. neyther after a bodyly & corporal maner for that corporal body was geuen too the Iewes not in the Supper, but on the crosse: whereuppon hee gaue his body corporally not too the Disciples, but for the Disciples. Therefore that which hee gaue for his Disciples was his body: that which hee gaue too his Disciples was the Mystery of his body. Yet was it one and the selfe same body, both that of the Supper geuen to the Disciples:One selfe same body of Christ was geuen in the supper, and vponupon the crosse, yet not after the same maner, nor at one time nor to the same persons. and that of the Crosse geuen for his Disciples, but yet not after the same sorte, nor yet at the same tyme. For vppon the Crosse it was geuen too bee slaine corporally: In the Supper it was geuen not to bee sla…ne, but to be eaten, not corporally, to bee gnawne with theyr teeth, but too feede vppon it in the bowels of theyr soules, namely, after a Sacramentall kinde of receiuing, not corporall. Therefore it is not denied that the Lordes body was both geuen and eaten in the Supper: but not the body only, but togeather with the body, the Sacrament annexed also withall: whereof the one apperteyneth too the feeding of the bodies, the other to the fe…ding of the soules. That which is receiued into the bodies is both bread and the Sacrament of his body.In the holy cō muniō neither is the bread only without Christes body: neither the body only without the Sacramental bread… That which is receiued within in the soule is the very body, not the Sacrament of his body.

For as m…che therefore as these two doe necessarily concurre togeather in the holy Supper, that the one can not bee seuered from the other: Let vsus so ioyne the one with the other, that wee ne…ther separate the …ody of Christe from the Sacrament, as the Papistes do, which be so throughly wedded to the only substance of the body, as that they leaue therein no substaunce at al of a Sacrament but superficiall and immateriall shadowes, I knowe not what, hanging in the ayre, which serue to no purpose. Neither let vsus so segregate the Sacrament againe from the body, as that we leaue nothing in the holy supper but bare signes.

But in this coupling togeather of the body with the bread in the Sacrament, behooueth to bee well and considerately aduised that wee may throughly perceiue howe these thinges ought to bee ioyned togeather, and howe they ought to be seuered. For neyther that, which affecteth the outwarde senses, and passeth downe into the bodye of man, is the fleshe of Christe: so neither that which is receiued in spirite and in the inwarde man, is bread, but the very body of Christe. Out of the which ariseth a threefolde error of mens corrupt opinions touching 1the Sacrament.A threfolde error of men touching the sacrament of the supper. The first errour is, where men do chop and thruste togeather the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament, as that they suppose both the bread and the body to bee deuoured of them with our selfsame mouth corporally, and those wee cal Consubstantiators. The second errour is of suche as bee called Transubstantiators, 2which do so altogeather thrust out all substaunce of material bread, or transfourme it into the substaunce of the body, that nothing shall remaine else to bee eaten besides the only fleshe of Christe. The opinion of which sort of people cōmeth to this issue at the last, as that they will admit no corporall presence of any thing in the Sacrament sauing Christe: So that now the Supper must needes bee the very holy thing it self, but no Sacrament of an holy thing: For as muche as to make a Sacramēt to become a Sacrament, two thinges must of fine for…e needes concurre: the one whereof must be disposed ou… wardly, p. 76the other must bee conceaued inwardly: the one must bee an earthly thing, the other heauenly: the one must expresse some what, the other must be expressed by somewhat. The third errour is, 3where men so place the Sacramentall bread in the Sacrament as that they leaue nothing there but naked and bare signes, whom the Papists do tearme Figuratiue men and Significatists.

But wee so ioyne togeather both the sacred bread and Christe himselfe in the holy Supper, that the presence and eating of Christe be spirituall: but the presence and eating of the bread bee corporall: and that this one may bee disgested outwardly by the mouth, and that other conceaued inwardly and, spiritually, in the soule. But heere againe as many times else I doo heare some of our iangling aduersaries whispering against vsus. What? say they, did not Christ say, That this was his body? so he said in deede: and what then? Therefore it can not bee, but as Christe spake that it shoulde bee. In deed he sayde that it was his body: yet did he not make it his body: neither did he speak heere, Let this be made my body, as hee spake in Genesis, Let there bee light, and light was made: Which kinde of speache he would hauehave vsed questionles, yf hee had euer imagined anye such transubstantiation as these men doe dreame vppon. But nowe vsing onelyonly the woorde not of Creating nor changing, but of denomination only, he did report vntoo them that it was his body, but dyd not commaunde it too bee made his body, nor inioyned them too beleeue any myracle heere, but onelyonly to eare in remembrance of hym.August in Iohn. Tracta. 26. Christe did affirme him selfe to bee the bread which came downe from heauen, exhorting vsus to beleeue on him: for too beleeue on him, is to eate the liuing bread. We! then, wyll you say, if hee dyd affirme it too bee his body, wil… thou denye it? or wylt thou condemne Christe for a Lyar? Good woordes, I pray you good syr: nay rather in deede I doe with Christ him selfe boldely affirme it to be th… selfe same thing:Cyril. Anathe 11. Doest thou pronoūce this our Sacramēt to be mās foode… and vrgest the mindes of the faithful irreligiously to grosse and carnal thoughts, & doest thou practise to discusse by mans sensual reasō, the things which are conceaued by only and most exquisite faith. euen the body of Christe, after the same maner …orsooth as himself dyd affirm it and vnderstoode it. But af…ter what maner he tooke it, can you be so senslesse as not to cōceiue when you heare Christe him selfe Interpretor of his owne speache? Flesh… (sayth he) doth not profite at all, my woordes be spirite, and life. And doest thou cruell Caniball conceiue and eate nought else but the August in Ioh. tract 2…. Why doest thou prepare thy …ooth and thy belly? Beleeue only, & thou hast eaten. for to beleeue on him, is to eate the …read of life.fleshe of of Christe? nor wilt thou permit one cromme so much of bread to remaine, because it is called the body of Christe? But howe many thinges doe wee heare dayly called by this or that name, when as in very deede they be not made the thinges whereof they beare the names? When the Disci…le whom Iesus loued was by Christs owne mouth, call…d the sonne of Mary: yet wyll no man bee so witlesse, as to confesse him to be the naturall sonne of the Uirgine Mary. So also the Prophet doth call fleshe a flower of the …elde: In the Gospell Iohn Bapti…t is called Elias, Peter is named a Rocke, so is he also called Satan. To conclude throughout all the discourse of the Scripture, what is more frequent then this vsuall phrase of speache, and that thinges hee called by this or that name? wherin notwithstanding is no alteration of nature, but the properties of thinges only noted. Neither did Christe otherwise at his last supper,Theodorete. Christe did dignifie the signes which be seen by calling them his body and blood, not chaunging the nature, but adding therevnto grace. when geuing the bread hee called it his body, not changing the nature, but instituting a Sacrament, so that heere should be no maner transmutation of substaunces from out one into another. But that p. 77the proprieties should be answerable …che with other by a mutual proportion of resemblance.The resēblance betwi…t t…e sacrament and the bodie of the Sacrament. For in the bread consideration is had of the nouriture: in the death of the body, the power and efficacie is manifested. Nowe the maner of effectual operation thereof, is figured by the nourishment of bread.Beda in Lucā cap. 22. Bycause bread doth comfort mans hart, & wine doeth make good blood in the body, therefore the bread is cōpared to the body, and the wine to Christs blood mystically. The …ustifying of faith is established chiefly in the Sacrament. For as bread made of corne doeth nourish and comfort the bodie, in like maner Christes bodie crucified doth end…w vsus with true and euerlasting life. Now therefore to make bread and wine to become nutritiue, it i… requisite that it be eaten and disgested. Semblably to hauehave the Lordes passion to be effectual in vsus, fayth must needes come and apprehend it. And for that cause he commaunded to take and to eate: looke therefore howe effectuall the eating of bread is to the feeders bodies, euen so, forceable and auaylable is Christes passion to the hartes of the beleeuers. You feed vponupon bread, and are refreshed: you beleeue on Christ slaine and risen againe for your sake, and you be iustified. Who see…h not here a most …xcellent application of concurrents to be knit fast …che in other? First howe that the breaking of bread doth discouer vntounto vsus the death of his bodie: how the receyuing and eating doth signifie our fayth: and the food and sustenance doth emport our iustifying through fayth.

And to proue this to be the verie meaning of Christ in this Sacrament, the verie woordes themselues being taken wholy vnmangled together do declare sufficiently: When as he speaketh of the breade which he commaunded to eate, This is my bodie. But what bodie? or howe his bodie? forsooth the same which I shall giuegive to be s…ain for you. Take ye, eate ye. And likewise speaking of the Cuppe: This cup is the newe Testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you. Take ye and drinke yee. Otherwise to what purpose shoulde hee annexe those woordes of crucifying and she…ding for you? Or to what ende should hee commaunde bread and wine to be… eaten and drunken,Origē in Leu. cap. 7. The Lord did not put ouer nor commaunded to be reserued til the morow, the bred which he gaue to his disciples, saying, Take ye, and eate ye.Lev 7 and not rather to be reserued and kept in boxe, vnlesse he purposed to make a plaine dem… ̄ stration of the mystical and vnspeakable force of his death, in that eating of bread and wine, not in shewing it to the gaze? Euen as though he should in plaine wordes hauehave taught vsus on this wise:The fruit and efficacie of the Lordes passion. The crucifying of this my bodie which must be s…ain for you, and my blood which I must shed for your sakes, is vntounto you meate in deede, and drinke in deede, for it shal turne to your saluation and iustification as many as beleeue in me. And bycause ye shall neuer forget this my great louelove vntounto you, Take yee this breade and eate it: Take ye this Cuppe and drinke it, as an assured testimonie of my great and euerlasting kindnesse towardes you, that as often as yee doe this, yee may thankfully remember my death and passion vntill I come.August. de doctrina. lib. 3 cap. 16. This is a figuratiue speeche, commaunding vsus to participate with the Lordes passion, and thankefully and profitably to lay vppe in our most gratefull remembraunce that Christ suffered his passion for vsus.

I beseech you, holy father, for the louelove of your Catholike fayth (if at least there remaine within you any droppe of fayth towardes Christ Iesus) what can bee spoken more manifestly than these wordes? what can be set downe more significant than the thinges themselues? what one thing could more aptly or effectually represent the heauenly and supercelestiall power of the Lordes passion, then the eating of breade,Gelas. cōtra Eutichetem. The substance of bread and wine doth not cease: and without doubt the ymage and similitude of the bodie and blood is celebrated into the action of the mysteries. and drinking of wine, which is our dayly and vsuall foode? And will yee so vngently nowe dispoyle vsus of bread from out the Sacrament, and leaue vsus nothing but bare and emptie formes, pescoddes and chaffe of elementes wher…with p. 78Swine are vsually fed, not men? In which doing what doe yee else then pul vp by the rootes the whole Sacrament out of the Church? for what vse may there be of a Sacrament here without the taste and vse of bread? And if Augustine did truely denie those to bee woorthie the names of Sacramentes,Augus…n in …is 22. Epistle to …oniface. which beare no resemblance of the things whereof they be Sacramen…es: what likenesse at the length will appeare here, after the substance of breade (which may be resembled to Christes death) is once taken away? And what is this else then not to place the bodie of Christ in the Sacrament,There can be no sacrament of the body at all without bread. but to thrust out of the Church altogither the Sacrament of Chris…es bodie? Unlesse perhappes ye will say, that the bodie of Christ is a Sacrament of it selfe: or else that bare formes of elements only, voyde of all substance should suffice to make a Sacrament: Then the which what can be spoken more absurd, or ymagined more monstruous? In good f…llowship, gentle Reader, canst thou thinke such men, as do coyne these monstrous and drowsie deuises in the Sacramēts to be sound witted, or rather not to be quite frantike and mad with these intricate myzmazes of errour.

Let this suffice nowe touching the substance of the Sacrament which our aduersaries do very s…iffely mainteine to be the body of Christ:The outwa…de substance of the bread. neither doe wee gainsay it much. For we confesse togither with Augustine & other aunciēt fathers, that the same which Christ did vouchsafe to deliuer by the name of his body, is after a **August. de ciuit. de…. li. 18 cap… 48. After a certaine maner doe all things significant represēt the properties of things which they do signifie.certain ma…ner the body of Christ. Euen so we do also con…esse that the bread is the very thing which he gaue to his disciples to be …aten. But here riseth the difference. For we agree n…t in one about the maner, how his body is eaten. They be so wholy …ixed to y^e body only in these holy mysteries, as that they leane therein no substance of bread at al, which is a point not of errour, but of amazed blockish…es. we do cōclude that in the bread and wine is simply and properly the verie materiall part of the Sacrament,The bread is the Sacram…nt of the bodie, that is to say: The bread is after a sacramental maner the bodie. yet so as we do not expell the Sacrament of the bodie. And therefore we do affirme that after a sacramental maner it is the body of our Lord, not bread. But if we respect the grosse and elemental mat…er which is deliuered to be eaten and drunken, wee say it is bread, but not called bread: so also that it is called the bodie, but is not the bodie in deede. And in verie deed, if it had not bene bread, Christ would not in any wise hauehave giuen forth that it should be eatē corporally, bicause to ma…e mans flesh & mans blood vnderunder whatsoeuer shew it be shadowed, to seeme agreeable for table meate, is not only forbidden by the prescript law of God, as is said before, but also most lothsome, and abhorred of nature it selfe.

Of the thing it selfe which is signified by the Sacrament.It remayneth now, sithence wee hauehave treated of the matter of the sacrament, that we speake now of the thing it selfe, which is signified by this Sacrament. And for as much as all Sacraments (which according to their proper natures, are defined to be visible Bernard. de sanct… Mart. A Sacrament is called an holy signe, or …n holy secretsignes of inuisible grace) are sayde to be of the nature of those things which the Grecians call foreign, and with vsus bee named Relatiues… can any man doubt hereof, That the body of Christ can not possibly be the Sacrament of it owne selfe? As the father is not a father of himselfe, but of the Sonne: as it proceedeth not of the Sonne to bee called sonne in respect of himselfe, but of the father: so can it not possibly be, but that in the Sacramentes two distinct and seuerall thinges must concurre (as Irene witnesseth) to witte an earthly thing,Irenaeus aduersus Valentinia…os. lib. 4. cap. 34. The earthly bread receiuing denomination of the word of god, is no more common bread, but is made a Sacrament, which consisteth of two things, earthly, and heauenly. and an heauenly: the one wherof must represent a likenesse and a signe, the other must bee signified. For wheresoeuer a signe is, there of necessitie must somewhat bee signified. Here therefore that which supplieth the place of the signe p. 79is the bread without all question.The Sacramēt The thing of the sacrament. That which is signified by this sacramentall signe, no man will denie to bee the bodie of Christ. In the one whereof is conteyned the Sacrament, in the other the matter of the Sacramēt. Whervpon ensueth an vnauoydable conclusion, That either the bodie of Christ crucified for vsus (being the verie thing of the Sacrament) is not the verie Sacramental signe that is eaten in the Supper: or else can not by any possible meanes bee the selfe thing which is represented by the signe. Therfore that which we do eate with our mouthes, is bread, but that which is **Basil in Psal. 33 Bicause our Lorde is the true bread, and his flesh meate in deed, it is necessarie that the delight which is receyued by the eating of that bread, should through our tast become spirituall vntounto vsus.Ps 33vnderstoode, is the flesh. The first whereof wee receyue with our mouth, the other with our Spirite. And for the same cause Ierome doeth call it spi…ituall fleshe: wh…se authoritie Peter Lombarde cyt…th in the same cause:Lib. 4. dist. 8. saying. The fleshe and blood of Christ mu… bee vnderstoode two maner of wayes, eyther that which was crucified, or that spiri…uall and heauenly f…eshe whereof Christ spake himselfe: My fleshe is meate in deede, and my blood is drinke in deede. Why it is called by Ierome the spiritual flesh of Chris….Neither can there bee any cause rendered, why Ierome shoulde call it the fleshe of Christ, other then bycause wee doe receyue it with our spiritual mouthes, and not with our fleshly mouthes, for if it were not so: wh… doth not knowe that the fleshe of Christ giuen for the life of the worlde, wheresoeuer it be, is not spiritual, but in the verie nature thereof naturally carnall.

But Peter Lombarde doeth denie that any crumme of the breade at all doeth remaine besides bare formes,Lombard… assertion. which onelyonly do reteyne the names of the naturall things which they were before. What? And did Christe therefore feede his Disciples with Mathematicall formes and names of things without the verie naturall things themselues. No, say you, but vnderunder those shadowes and accidents of breade and wine the verie substance of flesh and blood is receyued. And why doeth Ierome then call this by the name of Ambros. de mysteriis. Christ is in that Sacrament, bycause it is the bodie of Christ. Therefore it is not corporal food, but spiritual. Whervpon the Apostle speaking of the figure therof: Bicause our fathers did eate the same spiritual foode. For the bodie of Christ is spiritual. The bodie of Christ is the bodie of a diuine spirite. De consecr. dist.spiritual fleshe of Christ? ought it therefore be called the spiritual flesh of Christ, bicause being shrowded vnderunder outwarde cloakes of formes and shadowes it deliuereth it self into our bodies? And what if this visible Sunne being ouershadowed with clowdes and rackes, doe not appeare plainly to our sight, wheras notwithstanding it doth enlighten the whole worlde on all partes thereof, shall we therefore call the Sunne a spirituall Sunne, bycause it is bidden with thicke and darke clowdes? Go to then, where is nowe that similitude or likenesse that is required in all Sacramentes,Lombard confuted. to witte, of the signe, with the thing signified, if you will leaue vntounto vsus no substance at all except of the bodie and blood onelyonly? What then? Shal the bodie of Christ be both a signe and a Sacrament of himselfe? No, say you: but that visible forme of bread, which is made a Sacrament of two thinges, bycause it signifieth bath: to witte, the true bodie, and the mysticall: and doth represent the expresse **Ambros. de Sacrament. lib. 4. cap. 4. Euen as thou hast receyued the likenesse of death, so doest thou drinke the similitude of blood.likenesse of both the things. Go to. Let vsus heare our maister of sentences opinion in this matter, what maner of similitude this is, and howe it is expressed. Bicause as the bread, sayth he, doth nourish the body more than any other graine: and bicause wine doeth comfort more than any other grape: Euen so the flesh of Christ doeth comfort, cherish, and make glad the inward p. 80man. This is well sayd, Lombard, in d…de. But how wil you now agree with your selfe th…n?Lombard against himselfe. As the bread say you, doth nourish the bodie. But howe shall the bread refresh or nourish the bodie, if yee leaue vsus not so much as one crumme of breade in the Supper? Howe shall the visible fourme of breade nowe,Take away the similitude, and it can be no sacramēt but take away the bread and then all the si…ilitude ceaseth. …rgo, Take away the bread & there can be no Sacrament. without breade, be a Sacrament of two thinges, and carrie the liken…sse of both? For if the likenesse of a Sacrament consist in this, that it is sayde to refreshe and nourish: questionlesse the breade must needes remaine, or else the visible forme without bread can be no Sacrament, nor shall carie any likenesse at all. For what nourishment can bare superficiall formes voyde of al substance yeeld? or what likenesse can there be in these in respect of the flesh of Christ nourishing the inward man?

What aunswere will Lombarde make here? hee will crowde vnderunder his trope an… Grammer figure Metonymia. Metonymia, a …igure whereby one thing beareth the name of another. Lib. 4. dist. 8.Wherewith it lyketh him well to sport himselfe in his owne …orged fourmes, but will not suffer vsus to deale with a…y trope at all in substaunces by any meanes. The fourmes, sayeth hee, doe retaine the names of the things, wh…reof they were substaunces before: namely bread and wine. What do I heare? Were these mere accidents at any time euer called by the names of the things then, when as they conteyned the substances of bread and wine: and why should the very same seuered nowe from the other reteine the names of those thinges, which are sayde they neu…r helde before? But it was breade, that is to say as you cons…er it… Breade was present before the Consecration. Be it so. And what hereof then? After the Cons…cration remayneth no substaunce of breade an…e more. Why so, I p…ay you Lombarde? Howe knowe you this? By what argument doe you prooue it? By what authorit…e do you beleeue this? Who commaunded this to …e beleeued? who did su…der the substance of breade from the formes? With what woordes? in what instant of time? what shoulde moue him to doe so? who euer discerned any rending asunder of substances or any passage …ansub…an…iarie? But you denie that we ought to b…leeue our handes and eyes beeing blinded altogither here, enforced therevnto by the authoritie of the woorde: wherevnto the senses must yeelde and bee subiect of necessitie:If the senses must be credited in establishing the accidents of br…ad and wine: why should not the same senses be beleued also in affirming the substance of bread and wine which we do see. Bee it as you say. But what shall wee say then meane whiles of these formes and she…es of bread? Do yee thinke that these also bee fledde away togither with th…ir substaunce, or that they rem…ine …ill? What else but that they abide still: A good fellowshippe then tell vsus howe knowe you this? Forsooth, bycause you doe see it. Go to then, and what nicenesse of arguing is this, O fine man? you doe see the formes seuered from their substaunce, and doe beleeue. Wee doe as plainly beholde the substaunce it selfe with our eyes, and shall wee not beleeue the thing that our eyes doe present vntounto vsus? If your p…rspectiues doe not fayle you in your accidentes, why shall our eyesight in so manifest and euident a demonstration rather beguile vsus? Or if you be of opinion that the woordes of Christe must b… so throughly beleeued wherein he sayde, This is my bodie, t…t the senses may not bee credited: I see no cause, Lombarde, why it shoulde bee more lawfull for you to trust the testimonie of your eyes in comprehending the formes, then for vsus to res… vponupon the iudgement of our eyes in conceyuing the substaunce, which we doe see and plainly discer…e.

Neither doe we for this cause credite the wordes of Christ lesse: bycause in the outwarde Sacr…m…nt wee mistrust not o… ou…ward… senses altogither.A double …rror of the Pap…sts in the matter of the sa…ram…nt. We kno…e that it is true, and without all question that Chris… spake of his bodie: yet mu… not therefore the other bee …o …ecessarily p. 81fi…e, which our eyes doo present vntoo vsus of the remayning substaunce of bread. But Lombarde supposeth that Christes body can not be in the sacrament, vnlesse the natural body bee present: and that the body can not otherwyse bee present, except the bread be absent: and that there can be none other maner of change, but whereby the substaunce of bread shoulde bee turned intoo the person of the sonne of GOD. But wee confesse both too bee true: namely, that it is the body of Christ: and that withal the bread ceaseth not to be bread: so that neither the wordes of Christ ought to bee discredited, nor the senses deceaued in their plaine beholding of visible things.

But yee wil saye:An obiectiō out of Ambrose being wrongfully taken. For as much as the power of the heauenly worde is of such efficacy, as that it made Heauen, Earth, the Seas and al that is conteyned in them of nought, howe much more easily shall this woorking worde bee able too chaunge that substaunce of bread which our eyes doo see intoo the body of Christe:The woorking woorde. namely, when as wee doo heare the Lorde himselfe by expresse woordes testifying the same too bee his owne body?

Firste, touching the omnipotency of Gods woorde:The refutation of the obiectiō. I were very wicked, if I woulde not agree with Ambrose, that this is most true, that the same most heauenly creator of Heauen & Earth did make al thinges which wee doo see of nought by the most mighty force of his woorde:All whatsoeuer was created, God did create by the power of his word. Ergo god doth chāge the bread into… the p…rson of the sonne of God. But amongest al that meruelouse frame of visible thinges, what did that heauenly woorde at any tyme bring foorth, but that hee willed shoulde be subiect to the viewe of man? as when hee commaunded that light shoulde bee made: immediately light was made, and apparant too the eye. The earth was commaunded to bring foorth her grasse and leafe, that al men might see it. Lastly:The Argument is denyed. Let vsus make man, saied hee, after our owne likene…se. Of all these thinges the heauenly Maiestie made not any one, but hee left too bee euidently disceruable and the woonderful woorkemanship thereof to bee plainely beholden. In like manner whereas in the Gospell are many miracles extant wherein appeareth most singular excellency of Christes Godhead, yet in all these did hee woorke no miracle so couertly at any tyme, but hee made it apparauntly manifest too all men. In this sacrament nowe what one thing did the Apostles w…onder at as a miracle? or what transubstantiation of bread did they euer beleeue? or deliuered ouer too others too bee beleeued? And will you fyr Lombarde retyring backe too Iewishe fables hale vsus backe from the spirite wherei… wee beganne, vntoo the fleshe? and will you perswade vsus to this newly forged substaunce of the Sonne of God filed from out the substaunce of bread, whereof neyther your selfe see any token, nor are able to expresse any demonstration?

But you passe and repasse too Christes woordes agayne. That is to say,The wordes of Christ must be considered, not according too the letter, but according too the true sense & meaning of the sentence. to the bare letter of the woorde, and like a Cowarde flee altogether from the meaning of Christ. As concerning the woordes themselues, we do easily agree with you that the woordes are not vneffectuall, nor set downe by Christe in vayne. But sithence Chri…t did speake and put in accion many sundry things in this Supper, what one sillable somuche of all his woordes and accions doe you alleadge, Lombarde, out of the which you may bee able too cayne vntounto vsus this vgly counterfaite transubstantiation?No transubstā tiation can bee gathered by the woordes of the supper. First, Iesus tooke bread, and brake it: Here as yet yee see nothing altered. The same bread being so taken hee commaundeth his Disciples to eate. Wha… do these wordes …mporte els as yet then bread? but that which hee inferreth vponupon the premises saying That to bee his body. I beseeche you what els did hee meane by these wordes then p. 82to giuegive the elementes the denomination of his b…dy. For proofe whereo… I appeale to the Grammer rules by that which he added afterwardes [giuen & broken for you] Who dooth not perceaue here that thereby not the substaūce of the body, but his **Hesychiu…in… Leuit. lib. 1. cap. 2. We do eate this meate receauing the memory of his passion.death and passion is to bee vnderstood: which suffering should bee bread, and foode for all people in the worlde and as it were an euerlasting banquet according too that prophetical promise in Esay the Prophet the 25. chapter.Esay the 25. …hap. And in this mountaine shall the Lorde of hoastes make vntounto al people a feast of fattlings euē a feast of neare and fined wynes, and of fat thinges full of marrowe, of wynes fined and purified, &c. And for that cause least the remembrance of his passion should waxe out of minde, he commaundeth it to bee done in the remembrance of him: and by the same memorial to shew the Lords death vntil he come again. Wherby may appeare without any difficulty that the naturall body is no… eaten here, but the death of his body signified and the remembrance thereof celebrated: not the bread & wyne turned into flesh & blood, but a sacrament of our redemption to be instituted in bread & wyne. Lastly haui…g now finished al thinges on this wise, and hauing acc…mplished the woorke of our redemption, when as he prepared himselfe to ascende vp againe intoo heauen, it remayneth to know of you, Lombard, why he would **Why woulde Christe conuey away his body into heauen in the open sight of his disciples, but that they should …ease to looke for him any more heere on earth.take away hence the pres…nce of his natural body in the open eyes and sight of his disciples,Aug in. Ioan. tracta. 27. When yee shal see the sonne of man ascende vppe where he was before: truly euen then shal you see, bicause hee doth bestowe his body not after the maner that yee thinke. Certes then shal ye vnderstand it that his grace is not thereby consumed with teeth, &c. but bicause they shoulde cease to seeke any more for his corporall presence on earth. And doo you notwithstanding proceede in your course, Lombard, to hold fast the body of our lord vnderunder the formes of bread & wine w^t is farre away caried from hence intoo Heauen? nor wil yee vouchsafe bread to be bread, nor Christ to bee Christ, vnlesse yee shape vsus heere an earthly Christ on earth, and set it foorth to the gaze of the people to bee ydolatrously worshipped?

The obiection of the aduersaries.But heere wil some one obiect againe: what? and doo you leaue vsus nothing in the sacrament but bread and wyne, and will you spare the people naught els but bare signes onelyonly? And what shall become then of the omnipotency of the woorde? Where is then that woorking woorde wher…of Ambrose maketh mention? The effectuall force whereof if were so mighty, too make thinges too beginne to bee that, which they were not before, howe much rather shall they bee forcible too make thinges to be which are already made, and to bee conuerted into other substaunces?

An answere.Let brabbling slaunder bee set aside. GOD forbidde there shoulde bee any so prophane an absurditie in so sacred a mystery, that any man shoulde speake or thinke that there is nought els deliuered vntoo the people but bread and wyne and bare signes: and that any man shoulde bee so fonde too thinke that Christes woordes were vttered in vaine, as the which doo mynister nothing profitable in the sacrament, nor woorke nothing auayleable. Yes truely very much: for what can be more woonderful, what can bee more heauenly then too make of an earthly thing a sacred **Beda in octauis Epiphaniae. The creature of bread and wyne is by the vnspeakeable sanctification of the holy Ghoste transposed intoo the sacrament of the fleshe and blood of Christ.sacrament? then to chaunge the creatures of bread and wyne in such wise, not that they should become bare & fruitlesse signes, but that they should be trāsposed into the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ by vnspeakeable sanctification of Gods spirite: so that they are not too bee taken nowe for common bread and wyne, but too bee p. 83dignif…ed with the name and place of him, whose ymage they represent by Gods institution. What say you now, Lombarde? Do yee not see what and howe mightely the heauenly maiestie of Christ hath brought to passe here in this holy supper.

Doo yee not conceaue a wonderful force of a miracle wherein Christ hath giuen you a memorial of his passion and his owne fleshe, not vnderunder a bare signe, but vnderunder an honorable sacrament: not vnderunder the name of bread and wyne, but vnderunder the **August. de Consecrat. dist. 2. Thi… is it, that the heauenly breade, which is the fleshe of Christ, is called after his maner the body of Christ, whenas in deede it is the sacrament of Christes body.name of his owne body and blood: that hath giuen I say a sacrament for thee to feed vpō, not to fil thy **Rabanus Maurus lib. 1. Cap. 31. The sacrament is one thing, the efficacy of the sacrament is an other thing. The sacrament is turned intoo the nourishement of the Body. By the efficacie of the sacrament the honour of euerlasting life is obteyned.…elly, but to feed thy soule. What? doth this seme matter of smal emportance with you, that Christ himsel…e is deliuered vntounto you vnderunder a sacrament? for what expec… you heere els? what do yee looke for els in this sacrament, then a most perfect exāple & most absolute demonstration of your sauiour, expressed vntoo you by a certain peculiar institution: wherin you do plainly perceaue no more bare & **Cyril. cathechis. mistagog. 4. Doo not esteeme it as bare bread. The bread of the Euchariste is no more bare and naked bread.common bread now in that respect nor to that vse & purpose as common bread is vsually takē, but as it were an heauēly bread,**Chrysost. sermo. ad Infantes. The bread is remoued by the substaunce of Christes body. That is to say: That it become nothing in respect of the body. sanctified by the heauenly grace of wordes, chaunged out of his old nature & vse into the body of Christ by a certain mystical representation?

But you yeelde in the sacrament no bread nor wyne at al: but whatsoeuer mater…al or substantial parte the bread dooth p…ssesse, the same you doo wholy chaunge into the naturall and bodyly substaunce of Christe. What answere therefore thinke yee wee ought too make too Ambrose, Ambros de sacr. lib. 4. cap. 4.whose woordes as bee of greatest emportance, so bee they moste manifest? That they be, saieth hee, the same that they were, and bee conuerted into an other thing. Ambrose dooth confesse them too bee the things that they were: and will you make vsus beleeue that they cease too bee the same which they were? Origen wryting too the same effect:Origen vppon Mat. cap. 15.Matt 15 The bread, sayth hee, which is sanctified by the word of God, touching the matter and substaunce thereof, goeth downe into the belly, and is throwen out into the draught, &c. If that be bread which after sanctification goeth downe intoo the belly, according too the testimony of Origen, with what face wil Lombarde deny it to bee bread? Againe on the other side if according too Lombardes opinion, there remaine no crumme of substaunce at al, whereof then shall that bee a substaunce which Origen dooth ascribe to the bread. Nowe let the Pope himselfe be vmpier here and iudge whether we ought rather credit Origen or Lombarde.

A…gu. de consec. distinct. 2. Hoc est quod. &c.Too the sam… effect may Augustine bee produced a wit…esse of antiquitie not too bee reiected. The heauenly bread, sayeth he, which is the flesh of Christ, is after this maner called the body of Christ, being in very deede the sacrament of Christs body, &c. If it be a sacrament of the body, howe is it the very body? Againe if, bicause it is called the body of Christe, it bee therefore Christes fleshe, what shoulde let, but that by the same argument Peter shoulde bee Satan bicause hee is called Satan? Moreouer if the nature of sacramentes bee such as too bee called by the name of the thinges which they signifie: I beseeche you Lombarde take away p. 84the substaunce of bread, what shalbee left in the accidentary fourmes, that may either supply the name of a body, or represent the lykenesse of a body in any respect?

Rabanus Maurus somewhat a later wryter then the other, agreeth with them in this point:Rabanus Ma…s lib. 1. cap. 31. The sacrament, sayth he, is turned into the nourishment of the body. Bethinke your selfe now, Lombarde, what **Iren. lib. 5. The substance of our flesh is nourished and increased by the bread, which bread is the body.nourishment may bee in fourmes and coloures, where abideth no substaunce of the things which be receaued.

Furthermore what can bee more manifest then the woordes of Chrysostome?Chrysost. in oper… imperf… …om. 11. who dooth in moste playne tearmes deny that the natural body of Christ is in the holy vessels… but affirmeth that the mystery of his body is conteyned therein.

What can bee more autentique then the authoritie, or more plaine and euident then the iudgements of Theodoret, Macarius, Gelasius, Tertullian, Basil? which discoursing vponupon the Eucharist do with most approued consent and testimony affirme, some that the very substaūce, some that the matter of the bread doth remayne, some doo say that it is a body but **Origen. in Mat. cap. 15. And thus much of the typical & symbolical body, &c.Matt 15typicall and symbolicall. But of formes, of bare apparaunces of transubstantiation, not a woorde as yet, no not so much as one syllable was hearde of in all that purer age of these wryters.

I shoulde presse to much vponupon you, Lombarde, if I shoulde turne al vponupon you that I coulde, out of the auncient recordes of the fathers, which arme in arme as it were bending against you, doo affirme the body of Christ to be in the holy mysteries in such wyse, as that they seclude not meanewhiles bread from it owne substaunce, but from the common and vsual vse thereof only translate it into an other ende, and supernatural condition by a certain mystical & sacramental meanes: not that it should be no more bread for vsus to be eaten: but that it should no bee common, bare and simple bread. That is to say, that it be bread stil, and the same bread also the body of Christ withal: Bread indeed in substaunce, but in the respect of the sacrament, vse, likenesse, aud **Chrysost. ad Caesarium. Before the bread bee sanctified, wee doo cal it bread… But by the sanctification of the diuyne grace, and the prayers of the Priest, it is delyuered from the name of bread: But is reputed woorthy too bee called by the name of the body of Christe, though the nature of bread remayne stil, &c.denomination the holy body of Christ.

Therefore that which wee receaue in our mouth, is natural bread: but in respect of the eating, this nature is not regarded of vsus, but raysing our hartes much more high euen intoo heauen, yea vntoo the heauens of heauens as **Chrysost. 1. Cor. hom. 24. Ascende therefore vppe euen too heauen gates, and there enter intoo dewe consideration, nay rather not the gates of Heauen, but of the Heauens of Heauens, and there shalte thou see that whereof wee doo speake. Chrysost. in Genes. Hom. 24. When the eyes of fayth doo beholde these vnspeakeable treasures, they doo not perceaue these visible thinges indeed, but only the difference betwixt these thinges.Chrysostome reporteth, it doth meditate vponupon farre more excellent matter.

And heereof came it that the auncient wryters did so vsually extol the magnyficence of this sacramente with such excellency in olde tyme. Wherein they w…re many tymes rapted intoo such a wonderful vehemency of hyperbolicall speeches, as though the p. 85bread and wine were in very deede matter of nought, and that nothing els should seeme to be made accompt of in the celebration of the supper but the body and blood of the Lord onelyonly: As in very deede these dead elementes be no better worth in respect of the body which they do represent. But what hereof then? Shall the elementes of bread and wyne bee therefore no parte of the sacrament, bicause the consideration of the Lordes body doth possesse the principall partes, and holdeth the whole soule attentiue and faste fixed vponupon it? Or shall Christe bee therefore sayde too hauehave transposed the substance of bread and wine intoo his naturall body really, bicause hee hath chaunged the same intoo the sacrament of his body?

Or by what argument will our aduersaries make this their assertion iustifiable?There was n… cause why Christ should change the substance of bread into his flesh. For if God and nature do bring to passe, no one thing in the whole frame of creation without great cause. It remaineth that we may bee made acquainted too what ende, for what cause, to what vse or to what purpose, Christe should make this Metamorphosis, That thrusting away bread from out it owne substance, he should deliuer ouer his true & naturall fleshe in deede, but inuisible, to be deuoured carnally, with the carnall mouth of the body, vnderunder inuisible formes. But here againe startes vp our Lombard a gods name,A threfolde re… son wher…by Lombard establ… sheth his transubstantiation. li. 4. dist. 11. …. 5… and will render vsus a tryple cause of this great mysterie: to wit, why the Lord would so liberally bestowe his natural flesh and blood to be deuoured, not after a fleshly maner, but vnderunder an other kinde naturally and in deede but inuisibly. First bicause faith should obteine a more excellent 1rewarde, where mans reason is not able by proofe to attaine, according to the testimonie of Gregory whom hee vou…heth. Secondly, bicause the minde should not abhorre that which the eye might beholde: for that otherwise 2the stomake of them that should eate would loathe …he straunge deuouring of rawe fleshe. Thirdly, bicause nothing should be seene here tha… might bee offensiue to the vnbeleeuers, or that might mynister occasion to the infidell to scorne and deride it.

Lōbards reasons discouered and refuted.You hauehave heard now the prety poppet reasons patch… vp in the chief shoppe of Lombards diuinitie. It remaineth hencefoorth that wee searche the very depth of them. And first where as hee reasoneth of the merite of faith,The first reason of Lombard. I will not deny but that in matters of fayth mans reason is not of any such capacitie too attayne thereto. For the excellencie of fayth is conuersant in those things properly which the fleshly eyes can not see, or which hauehave beene knowen by the scriptures to hauehave beene already past, either which are promised shall come in after time. Moreouer I am not offended with that no lesse auncient then true proposition of Gregorie, where treating of the Lordes entering vntounto the disciples, (the gates beeing shut) hee doth deny that faith ought to hauehave any merite, where mans reason cā make proofe by experience. For we doe confesse and beleeue this to be most true, that which the scriptures hauehave deliuered touching the gates being shut, and of the Lordes entrie in. But wher did the scriptures at any tyme make neuer so litle a motion of the casting away of bread, of the essentiall presence of Christe vnderunder empty formes or of transubstantiated elementes? Blessed be they (sayeth Christe) which hauehave not seene, yet hauehave beleeued. This is true I confesse: but it followeth not therefore that all thinges which are not seene with the eyes, ought to be beleeued. Neither doe we not therefore relinquishe the reach of mans reason, bicause wee doe not yelde to all maner trifling imaginarie cōceiptes. Whatsoeuer is commaunded by the prescript word of God, the same we do firmely and faithfully beleeue, and thereunto with most forewarde and ready faith do submitte all maner p. 86force of mans reason. But who euer gaue any such commaundement to beleeue that which you hauehave forged touching that most senselesse absurditie of transubstantiation?In matters of faith mans reasō hath no place Ergo. Transubstantiatiō must be beleeued though it bee quite against reason. the Argument is denied. or by what authorised woorde of scripture at the length will you make iustifiable by writing or by meaning that we ought to adore, though our eyes see not, that your conterfaict person of the sonne of God shapen out of bread and set out to be adored and eaten of vsus? Fayth therefore wanteth not her merite, in thinges that ought truly to be beleeued, which by expresse and vndouted au…thoritie of the word be to be iustified. But to beleeue …he things which are no… grounded vponupon the w…d, which are no where, nor were euer instituted by God, but drowsily deuised by fonde & foolish vanitie of mans idle imagination, is no matter of faith at all, but amazed …rensy rather, nor hath any merite at al, but is extr…eme wickednesse.

So also is that other absurditie no lesse ridi…ulous,The second reason of Lombard … which he doth inferre touching the infidels, least oc…asion be giuē, saith he, to the infidels to laugh it … scorne: Why should the infidels deride it I beseeche you Lombard… you do aunswere, bicause it would breede great offence to the vnbeleeuers, who without all question would loath & scorne the Christian religion, if … should …e… the blood of a slaine man in the sacrament. Go to then:**Ex August. de conse. dist. 2. sub figura. There is nothing more reasonable for vsus thē to receiue the likenesse of blood, that so both the trueth may not cease, & that no occasiō be giuen to the Pagās to scorne vsus, bicause we drink the blood of a slain ma… doth this seme to be the cause why y^e Lord should deliuer his body & blood not after a fleshly maner, but vnderunder an other forme, lest if the Pagans should se… it, they should cōceiue matter to laugh it too scorne? for this seemeth your allegati…n w^t y… seeme also to hauehave …on…ed …onningly out of August. very well… And what shal we say then to the Apostles them selues? were they Pagans & vnbeleeuing also? why did he not giuegive the cup of his blood to his Apostles in his proper nature & kinde, where was no dāger at all to procure any mockage? or if hee were willing to hyde his blood vnderunder a sacramentall forme: aunswere I praye you, what cause was there why the Lorde should vouchsafe the deliuerie thereof by formes, rather then by materiall bread? Besides this as concerning the Paganes, if Christe did feare the scornings of Paganes so much, I desyre Lombard to tell mee thus much againe: If some one Pagane shoulde happen too come nowe into your temples, and beholde your massinges & maskings: what greater occasion can be ministred too mooue them to laughter and skorning, then when hee should see the whole swarme of Papistes in most humble wyse to fall groueling on the grounde, too lifte vp their handes too heauen, and to knocke their breastes at the heauing vp of one poore peece of bread ouer a shauelings head? I beseech you syr: woulde hee not saye that they were all the pack of them starke madde? Nay rather doe not the Iewes, Turkes, and Infidels, dayly saye euen so at this present? And I knowe not whether by any one action more then by this kynde of massing, it is come too passe that the same Iewes, Turkes and Infidelles, taking occasion of offence, do as yet hitherto so obstinately absteyne from the participation of our fayth.

But wee are choaked here with a very harde boane by the which as through the woordes of Augustine picked out I knowe not from whence,August. de cons. dict. 2. cap Sub figura. who too auoyde the scornes of vnbeleeuers, doth teache that wee doe receyue the likenesse of blood in such wyse, as that the true bodie neuerthelesse doth meane whyles abyde vnremoueable:Ex citatione. Lomb. lib. 4. dist. II. which wordes as they preiudice our cause nothing at all, so doe they in no respect auayle our aduersaries. For to admitte that the likenesse of a sacrament is giuen vntounto vsus in the sacrament, yet is it no goo… consequent foorth with, that the very reall and naturall blood is giuen in deede. Or if it might bee admitted p. 87that the same might be giuen so after a certen maner: yet the truthe of the thing it selfe doeth represent it selfe vntounto vsus after the same maner as the likenesse is presented vntounto the eyes: but by an other meane. Nowe if you will knowe what meane that is, Ambrose will set it downe vntounto you.Ambros. De s…cramento. li… 8. cap. 1. You doe receiue the likenesse of the sacrament, sayeth Ambrose, but you doe obteyne the grace and power of the nature it selfe. In which woordes you doe see both the likenesse, and the trueth also of the Lordes bodie withall expresly set downe: the one whereof must be present, yet so that the other be not wanting. But if you demaunde further howe it is not wanting, and if you bee not satisfied with Ambrose: then shall Hilarie explane it vntounto you much more effectually, who writing of the true presence of the body in most excellent woordes on this wyse:Hilarius De cō sec. dist. 1. 2. Corpus Christi. The body of Christe (sayeth hee) that is receiued of the altar, is a figure, whyles the bread and wyne bee outwardly seene: but it is the true body, when the inwarde faith doth apprehende the body and blood of Christ &c.

I come nowe to the thirde fine reason of Lombard which is alleadged touching the loathing and horrour.The third reason of Lomb. li. 4 dist. 11. cap. 5. For thus he speaketh. And for this cause also, that the stomacke should not abhorre that which the eye did see, bycause wee doe not accustome our selues to deuoure rawe fleshe and blood. Goe to, and what followeth then? therefore bicause it is not lawefull too deuoure Christe with teeth, for this cause his pleasure was too deliuer vntounto vsus fleshe and blood in a mysterie, &c. I doe perceiue what you speake, Lombard, and allowe thereof: but howe will you nowe agree with your selfe? for you deny it too bee lawefull too deuoure Christe with the teethe: And howe then is hee not deuoured with teethe, if ye establishe an essentiall nature of his body really in the sacrament? you saye that hee deliuered vsus his fl…sh and blood in a mysterie. This is truely spoken in deede, but howe shall these Iermaines lippes hange together: that the body of Christe is giuen in a mysterie,Lombard doth not agree with him selfe. and with all in very deede, to be deuoured and not to be deuoured, with teeth and not with teeth? For if in the Greeke tongue a Mystery is all one in effect as in our language, a sacrament: And if the sacrament bee a signe of an holy thing: nowe he that giueth his body in a mystery, what doth he giuegive els, then a signe of his body? notwithstanding, I am not ignorant of al these your iuggling and caffling which you frequent about sacramentall signes, vnderunder the which you mainteine sturdely that the true and vndouted body of Christe, though not apparant to the eyes, yet is conteined and eaten really and substantially by an inuisible meane. I beseeche you Lombard, what reason hath this your diuinitie, or rather drowsy slumber, to call vsus to a supper, to prepa… feast, to set downe in a dishe the very reall substantiall and whole fleshly body of Christe, whereof the gueste that is inuited can not perceiue nor see either forme or substāce? But you will saye, that the mysterie of the whole sacrament consisteth in the same, to wit, that we should not dout that the substance of the body is mo…t truely present and eaten also bodily and really, though wee see not the thing it selfe that we doe eate: but you fall here into the elenche logicall called Petitio principii … For howe shall this appeare that the Lordes pleasure was that wee should eate the same which we do see?

It was …one to this ende, saye you, that the stomake should not loath that which the eye did see. Admit this to be true, that this spectacle of the rawe flesh of a slaine mā be as you saye, very greuous and loathsome to a queysie stomake: Yet doth it not follo…e forthwith hereupon, that the body of Christe is conteined vnderunder an other forme really, bicause it is set forth in his owne …orme, should become p. 88loathsome therefore. Neither is this kinde of arguing suff…cient enough as I suppose: the eye can not beh…l…e the rawe fleshe of Christe in it owne kynde and forme without horror. Ergo Chris…es rawe fleshe is swallowed vp really and sub…antially vnderunder the forme of bread.The loathsomnes of eating i… not takē away by the accidēts. When as both assertions be a like false and to be abhorred whether you affirme that we eate vp the liuely rawe substance of Christes fleshe in it owne kinde, or vnderunder any other forme whatsoeuer, least the stomake, saye you, shoulde conceiue horror at the thing which the eye doth see: especially if it see rawe fleshe of a slayne man. Go to, and what if it see not rawe fleshe: and what if the eye sawe sodden or ros…ed fleshe, yea no flesh at a…l: and the minde neuerthelesse were certified that mans f…eshe were hidden c…uertly within? woulde not the minde loath it and reiect it? I appeale here euen too your selfe, Lombard, what if any man woulde inuite you being blynde… or other wyse buddewynked of both eyes to raw… fleshe as in that horrible banquet prepared by Thyestes, would ye eate it? What if he should do the like vnderunder a gobbet of suger, or vnderunder the couer of any other thing whatsoeuer shoulde thrust into your mouth the fleshe of your father, or of some other your dearest frende, either sodden or rawe, would ye wittingly and willingly eate the same? I thinke you would not. And why so I praye you? whether bicause you knew it to be rawe, or bicause you did knowe i… to bee the fleshe of man? For to deuoure ra…e fleshe, is beastly: certes too eate mans fleshe is not manly, but brutyshe, and sauadgely vnderunder what fourme so euer it bee couered and hydden. Wherefore this loathesomnes doth not consiste in the rawenes, but in the very humayne fleshe: not in the beholding, but in the nature of the thinge it selfe: not in that which the eye doth beholde, but in that which the heart doth conceyue. For if according too the olde prouerbe, the wolfe will not deuoure wolues fleshe, nor the dogge dogges fleshe, is there any man beeing of any manly nature that woulde not abhorre to bee fedde with mans fleshe vnderunder whatsoeuer fourme it were shrowded? or doe ye thinke that Christe did euer conceiue any such matter, as when hee helde the bread in his handes, wherewith he determined to feede his disciples, would therefore exclude bread quyte out of doores, to the ende hee might gorge the mawes of men carnally with his naturall fleshe, beeing both rawe and aliue, contrary to nature, without any necessitie, without all cause, altogether vnprofitable and Iohn .6. The flesh profiteth nothing.frutelesse?

Wherfore you doe not by this meanes exclude lothsomenes from out the sacred mysteries, Lombard, when you turne the fourmes of bread and wyne into the fleshe of Christe: but you choppe a loathsomnes in rather: so that nowe this supper may seeme not honourable but horrible, if so be that excluding bread and wyne this bee true that you speake, that there remayneth nowe nothing to eate but the substaunce of flesh and blood,Lombard is iniurious to the sacrament two maner of waies which substance neuerthelesse ye will not vouchsafe to be seene in it owne kynde, but vnderunder an other kynde. Wherein ye become two maner of wayes iniurious to the sacrament coupling together therewith a twofolde absurditie. First bicause you defraude the fourmes and accidentes of bread of their true and proper subiect. Secondly, bicause you doe in like maner robbe the very naturall substance of the body of his proper accidentes, so that nowe there remayneth neither any substaunce of bread at all, nor any fourme of a body: on this wyse the Poetes (as it seemeth) were wonte to describe their Chymeres.

Neuerthelesse this is not spokē to that end, as though we would banishe Christe cleane out of the sacrament, or that we might seclude our selues from partaking with p. 89the holy bodie of Christ in this heauenly Supper: But for this reason chiefly, y^t this holy Cōmunion may be cleared from all grosse absurditie. If you will demaunde by what meanes. Ambrose will answere you verie learnedly, who will tel you that ye drinke out of the holie cuppe, not blood it selfe, but the **Ambros. de sacra. lib. 4. cap. …. As thou hast receyued the likenesse of his death, euen so thou dost drinke the likenesse of his precious blood, that there may bee no loathsomnesse of blood.likenesse of blood, & rendering the reason why: bycause it shall breede, sayeth he, no loathsomnesse to the stomack. And againe in another place hee doeth beare vsus witnesse, that wee receyue the Sacrament in a likenesse. That which **Ambros. lib 6. cap. 1. You doe receyue the sacrament in a similitude, but you doe attaine the grace and power of the true nature.Ambrose doth verifie of the likenesse, others doe affirme in a figure, in a mysterie, in a Type, in a memoriall. Moreouer the same Ambrose writing of the Eucharist sayeth: It is the memoriall of our redemption. And bycause we be enfranchised by the death of the Lorde, wee doe signifie our mindfulnesse of the same death, in eating & drinking the Lords blood which were offered for vsus. And again in the same place. The blood, saith he, is a testimonie of **Ambros. 1. Cor. ca. 11. The testament is perfourmed with blood, bicause the blood is a testimonie of Gods liberalitie. In the Type wherof we do take and r eceyue the mysticall cuppe the blood.Gods great liberalitie, in the Type whereof we doe receiue the mystical cuppe of the blood to the preseruation of bodie and soule. Where he calleth the Myst…cal cuppe, a Type. Nowe who is so vnskilful that knoweth not that a Type doeth signifie nothing else than a forme, a likenesse, and an example? Agai…e who knoweth not what great diuersitie there is betwixt likenesse, and trueth it selfe, and that they bee so contarie eche to other, that they cannot agree togither by any meanes. Whereby you may learne two things,The Papists can neuer take away the horror from the holy supper, except they first graūt the bread whole and sound. Lombarde, both that the horror is taken away, and that the substaunce of breade and wine abydeth neuerthelesse still vnempaired.

All which beeing thus concluded vponupon, as appeareth by plaine demonstration before: all that your lying and false assertion infringible, as you tearme it, is become windshaken altogither, wherewith you mainteyne so stoute a combate for the kingdome of accidentes, and your transubstantiation, as that yee leaue no place nor space for breade and wine in the Sacrament, but calling all backe to visible fourmes, plant all your whole batterie of the materiall part of the Sacrament vponupon these buttresses of shadowes onelyonly.Transubstantiation of the doctrine of sacramentall formes in the Lordes supper is described. Which fourmes though retaine still the names of the things, which they were before, yet doe ye denie them to be the very thinges themselues. Wherevpon if at any time the names of breade and wine doe occurre in the holy Fathers of the Church, the same ye teache to be vnderstoode on this wise. To witte, that they bee called breade and wine, not in respect that they be so, but bycause they were once so: and that the very substance thereof is gone farre away, and that therein is nought resiant nowe that is elemental, besides the onelyonly names of elementes, and emptie fourmes onelyonly of breade and wine, the names whereof they doe reteyne still, but hauehave vtterly lost the verie substaunces themselues: and do conteyne nought else now besides the naturall and substanciall bodie of Christ, by the which bodie neither bee the fourmes affected, nor doth the bodie affect the fourmes.

Loe, this nowe is your gay diuinitie in describing the Sacrament: the which howe agreeth with the Scriptures, with the iudgementes of the auncient Fa…hers, with the antiquitie of the purer primitiue Church …nd with fayth it selfe, nay rather howe farre and wide p. 90it is dissonant and di…crepant from all truth and reason, it shall not bee amisse to discouer in fewe woordes, for I thinke it not co…uenient to vse many wordes herein. And first whē we heare that saying of Paul,1. Cor. 11.1 Cor 11 Let a man proue himselfe, and so let him eate of that breade, and drinke of that cuppe. &c. May any man bee so boyde of reason to affirme this to be spoken touching the fourmes and not the materiall part of breade and wine? for what shall we say? may any man ymagine that to eate, to breake, to eate of the breade, to drinke of the cuppe, is to bee referred to emptie and bare shadowes of bread and wine onelyonly, and not to the naturall breade? In the Decrees is a certaine …entence extant, vouched out of Hylarie, whereof we made mention before.De consecra. dist. 2. corpus Christi. The bodie of Christ, sayth he, that is receiued of the altar, is a figure whiles the bread & wine are apparantly seene with eyes: but it is the very body, when the inward fayth apprehendeth it for the bodie and blood of Christ. &c. To the same effect, and in like plaine phrase of speech writeth Cyprianus:Cyprian. lib. epist. 6. The Lorde sayth Cyprian, did vouchsa…e to call wine by the name of his blood, the liquor which was enforced by the presse out of the grapes and clusters, and made into wine, &c. For what shal we say? do we easily wring accidents of wine out of grapes & clusters, & not rather the very substancial liquor of wine? What? when you heate out of Origen:Origen in Mat. cap. 15.Matt 15 Not the matter of bread, but vpō the bread the word was spoken, which is profitable to him that eateth in the Lord not vnworthily. And aboue al other chiefly, what wil you answere to these wordes of Gelas. who w…ting of the Sacraments of bread & wine. Howe that wee are by the same made partakers of the heauēly nature, yet doth boldly pronoūce that the substāce of bread & wine do neuertheles remaine stil. Besides these when ye read also the wordes of August. August. in Iohn… Tract. 26.And we receiue this day visible foode. &c. What, I say, when on all sides your eares doe fully conceiue the voyces of the most choyse learned fathers touching the visible meat, the bread which is broken, the wine which is crusht out of the grapes, the matter, and the substance of bread and wine: when as these so many authours whom I hauehave cited, do as it were thrust into your mouth bread & wine: doe you notwithstanding not receyue bread nor wine? and are yee yet so poreblinde as not to see ought else here but phanatical superficiall shadowes onelyonly, and accidents of bread? Surely that queysie stomacke of yours deserueth in my conceyte to bee continually fed with those delicate cates of accidents.

But bycause I will not oppresse you with testimonies I surcease here. This one thing I demaund: sithence these visible kindes whereof ye speake, doe holde yet the names of the things which they were before: I woulde faine know, whether togither with the names they do retaine the effect and operation of the same things wherein they be sayd to feed, and to nourish, yea or nay?Whether the operation of bread remaine in the Sacrament togither with the kindes and names of bread, yea or nay. If ye say, yea: certes ye feed your guestes very finely, that so feede them with colours and shewes of accidents not much vnlike, as if bycause Pepper is black, therfore a man should say it is hote in the mouth: or bycause salt is white, therefore it doth sauour and season victuals.

But if ye say, nay, what consonancie of likenesse shal there bee betwixt the Lordes flesh and this Sacrament, which you fasten wholy to shadowes: seing that shadowes hauehave no force at al to refresh, & withal seeing ye leaue vsus no substaunce of breade wherevpon wee may feede? For what shall we say?No likenesse betwixt the accidents and the body of Christ. doeth not the fleshe of Christ nourish the inwarde man no more substancially, then the outward formes of bread and wine doe nourish the bodie? Surely yee hauehave discouered vsus verie daintie delicates, whereby the bodie is neither fedde, nor soule refreshed. For whether the inwarde soule doe receyue no more p. 91comfort of the fleshe of Christ, then our outwarde bodies nourishmēt of visible formes, I leaue to other mens iudgement, how wel we are like to be fed.

Besides this also remayneth yet another try…ing toy of most vaine distinction, to witte:Lib. 4. dist. 8. Of the Sacrament, and not the thing:11The Sacrament onelyonly. Of the Sacrament and the thing:22The Sacrament and the thing. Of the thing and not the Sacrament.33The thing, and not the Sacrament. Of which diuision there is not one member so much that is not altogither rotten. First wheras he placeth the Sacrament in certaine emptie and Metaphis…cal formes remooued from the thing it selfe, therein he doeth no more digresse from all conueniencie of reason, and the iudgement of the auncient fathers, than most blockishly vary from himself. For discoursing a litle earst of the nature of a Sacramēt, he affirmed that it ought to be of such efficacie, as migh… be able to refresh the bodies of them that did receyue it. But these fantastical formes remoued from the thinges, doe not refreshe the bodie. Ergo they bee not the Sacrament in anie respect. Againe, whereas hee sayeth that these visible kindes bee the Sacrament onelyonly, yea and a Sacrament also of a double thing: bycause they signifie both, and doe carie an expresse likenesse of both: this is also of both partes false. For first the thing that is neither breade nor the bodie, nor a thing, but a Sacrament of a thing onelyonly: not a creature, but the accident of a creature, nor is any substaunce at all, howe can it possibly bee, that the same thing which is not any thing at all, may seeme to bee a Sacrament of some one thing, and of some substaunce,The visible formes cannot be the Sacramēt of a double thing: to w…t of the bodie, and of the mysticall bodie. yea and that also of a double thing? Or what kinde of likenesse at the length may there seeme to bee betwixt these monstrous formes, and the bodie of Christe, eyther naturall or mysticall, in the one whereof wee doe receyue nourishment? in the other vnitie: sithence in formes there is neyther any power to refreshe bodie or soule, nor any vnion or kni… ting together of partes and members? Moreouer wher… as the same Lombarde doeth affirme that the naturall fleshe of Christ is the Sacrament of Ecclesiasticall vnion: howe will hee agree with himselfe.An argument agaynst Lombarde who doth affirme that the natural bodie of Christ is a Sacrament of his mystical bodie. that is to say, The church Whereas nowe he doeth abide by it, that these visible formes bee the Sacrament of that coniunction? What monster will this bugge whelpe foorth at the length? That cannot be contented to hauehave littered his visible formes for a Sacrament of a double thing: vnlesse hee must also whelp… foorth vntounto vsus a double Sacrament out of the same emptie paunch of formes? But perhappes this great maister of Sentences was so busied about coyning of new Sentences, that he had quite forgotten the olde Prouerbe: to witte, That it behoueth a lyar to be alwayes fresh of remembrance.

So hitherto nowe what is the Sacrament onelyonly, and not the thing, you vnderstande well ynough I suppose. In the seconde place nowe steppeth forth an other as farre fetched a riddle conned out of the braine panne of Sphynx her selfe verie deepe and daungerous to bee assoyled.What thing is that thing of the Sacramēt, and the Sacramēt of a thing, and howe it is both according to Lombard. Namely, what thing that may bee, that is both the thing, and withal the Sacrament also. If thou canst not vndo this tarring yron, gentle reader (for I know thou art not able of thy selfe to attaine to it) this deepe riddlemaster wil discouer it vntounto thee. For he wil tel thee that it is the fleshe of Christe, which being both a substance in respect of the visible forme of bread, vnderunder the which it is conteined and signified, is also the Sacrament of the mystical body, in as much as it signifieth the mystical vnitie of the Church forsoath, and representeth the expresse ymage thereof. O marueylous nimble witte, fined in the verie bottome of all Lombardie. But from whence is this expresse ymage of this Sacrament deriued, whereof Lombarde maketh mention? Forsooth out of S. Paul: First,2. Cor. 10.2 Cor 10 where he sayth, We be many one bread and one p. 92bodie: Then next out of Augustines woordes:August. de Sacramentis f…deli…m. Looke into August. co…ra Donatist l…b. 7. cap. 50. The Church, sayeth he, is called one bread and one bodie. For this cause, That as one loafe of breade is made of many graynes, and as one bodie is made of many members: so the Church is vnited and knit togither of manie faythfull through the coupling or mutual knot of louelove. As concerning S. Paul, the whole and natural deriuation of this similitude is deriued not from the bodie of Christ… but from the bread onelyonly. Nowe to admitte this to bee true, that there is no small resemblance betwixt the true bodie and mystical bodie of Christ: yet doth not euerie similitude make a Sacrament, though euerie Sacrament doe conteine some certaine similitude. But from whence hath Lombarde pyked out this that he teacheth, that the true natural bodie of Christ shoulde bee the Sacrament of his mysticall bodie? Is it bycause it doeth set foorth the likenesse thereof? But there be many things in the frame of creation, that resemble eche other, yet bee they not Sacraments. If no Sacraments ought be receyued into the Church, but such as the Lorde himselfe hath instituted, let Lombarde tel vsus, where the Lord did euer institute or deliuer his natural bodie to bee a Sacrament of his mysticall bodie. Moreouer, when hee hath shewed it, howe shall hee honestly auoyde as great an absurditie, to witte, to clogge the Church with eight Sacraments of verie necessitie?Eight Sacraments hatcht out of Lombards diuinitie. For if the Church bee possessed of sixe Sacramentes, besides the Sacrament of Eucharist, and that out of the same Sacrament of Eucharist also two other Sacraments doe spring vp: the one whereof must bee a visible forme conteyning and signifying both the true and mysticall bodie of Christ: the other muste bee the verie naturall bodie, which must beare the expresse ymage of his mysticall bodie: then muste it needes followe, that by this meanes the Churche shall bee enlarged with eight Sacraments.

The thing, and not a Sacrament.In the thirde place commeth in nowe to entreate of an other speciall note of that which is the thing and no Sacrament. Wherin to admit likewise that which Lombard disputeth of the mystical vnitie of the Church, and of the many members of one bodie: yet doth not this vnitie belong any thing at al to the thing of the Sacrament. Neither was this supper ordeyned to any such end, that it should note vntounto vsus the vnitie of the mysticall bodie, but that it should be a memorial of the natural body that was deliuered to death on the crosse for our sakes. Which the Lord himselfe doth verifie to be true in most plaine and euident speeches:The substance of the Sacrament is not the vnitie of the mysticall body, but the death of his naturall bodie. Take ye, sayth he, Eate ye: this is my body that shalbe deliuered for you. Therefore the very material substance of this Sacrament is not the church, but the natural bodie crucifi…d and slaine for vsus. Neither will any man confesse that the Church of Chri…t was crucified for vsus. Besides this albeit this vnitie hauehave some place in the holy Supper, yet is this blockish and false which he teacheth, that the Sacrament of this mysticall bodie is resiant in the natural bodie of Christ: for as much as S. Paul doth apply this mystical vnion not to Christs bodie which was crucified for vsus, but vntounto the elements of bread and wine. We bee many one bread, sayth he, and one bodie. As much to say, One loafe many graines: one Church many members. Which similitude of the Apostles, if must be so necessarily combined to the sacramentall bread, as Lombard himself doth affirme, what conueniencie wil here be of a similitude betwixt graines of bread, and the members of the Church, if this Papists brood wil vouchsafe vsus in the Sacrament neither bread, no not so much as one graine of bread?

But here… I trowe, Lombardes diuinitie will helpe at a pinche, calling vsus backe againe from the substaunce of breade vntounto the bodie of Christ vnderunder formes:Lib. 4. dist. 8. for thus he speaketh. This bodie, sayeth he, hath a likenesse p. 93with y^e mystical thing which is the vnitie of …he faithful. &c. But Saint Pa…l contrariwise doeth d…duce all the proportion of this similitude from the bread: saying, We bee many one bread, and one body of the Churche. Whereupon take heere and Argument, Lombarde, framed by vsus agaynst you taken out of Paul and Augustine.

As one Loafe of bread is made of many Graines, and as Wine is brought forth of many grapes:An argument againste the assertion of L…mbarde. so the body of a perfect Churche is combined togeather in perfect coniunction out of many persons of them that doe beleeue.The sacram…nt was not instituted to signifie the vnion of the Church.

But there bee no grayn…s nor grapes in the visible formes, nor in the natural body of Christe.

Ergo All this similitude of the mysticall vnion of the Churche is deduced not from bare formes, nor from the body of Christ, but from the bread and Wyne onelyonly.

EueryEvery Sacrament is instituted by Christe expresly to make a plaine demonstration of some certen thing.An other Arg… ment.

The body of Christe in respect that it consisteth of many members, is not any where instituted by Christe for a Sacrament to signifie the vnion of the Churche.

Ergo The vnion of the Churche is not the thyng of this Sacrament wherof Lombard maketh mention.

EueryEvery Relatiue hath his Correlatiue answerable vntounto him,The thirde A… gument. which can bee but one answerable to one.

All Sacramentes, as they be signes of thinges significant, be Relatiues.

Ergo The visible forme as it is a Sacramente by Lombardes doctrine, can not bee a Sacramen… of a double thing.

Lombardes threefolde error.Wherfore heerein appeareth a threefolde error of Lombarde, Frist where he maketh the visible forme to be the Sacramēt of the true & mystical body of Christ. Secondly,Lombardes viii. Sacrament. whereas hee setteth downe Christes body as an eight Sacrament to signifie the vnion of the Church, considering that Christe did neuer institute his body for a Sacrament, nor gaue it at the Supper too any suche ende that it shoulde signifie any vnion. Thirdly, where as hee maketh the selfe same vnion of the Churche suche a thing, as shoulde bee answerable to both Sacramentall signes as the proper correlatiue of both signes. Whiche of all other cannot possibly be: for as much as to hauehave a double correlatiue answerable to one only Relatiue is a most grosse absurditie.

Beholde now, …riendly Reader whatsoeuer thou be, howe wickedly these Diuines doe rake out of the Sacrament all substaunce of bread, thereby too choppe in theyr horrible sacriledges: for if this mysticall vnion of the faithful be the thing of the Sacrament: and if bread be not the Sacrament of this thing, but the naturall body of Christ borne of the Uirgin, as they stifly contend: Then it followeth heereof of very necessitie, that the Churche ought to be by so much the more honorable then the body of Christ, by how much the signes are lesse valuable then the things to the which they be applied.

An Argument.Signes be of lesse value then the things whereof they made significant.

The natural body of Christ is a signe of the ecclesiastical vnitie according to Lombarde.

Ergo The naturall body of Christe is of lesse value then the Ecclesiasticall vnitie.

Which being a matter horrible to be vttered, yet this doeth so muche the more aggrauate the horror, that these p. 94choppers and chaungers doe so chaunge the substaunce and naturall vigour of the Sacrament, which ought be ascribed properly to the Lordes death and passion, from the power of Christes passion, to Christes vnion: from the body of Gods owne sonne, to the Church: as thoug… the holy memoriall of this sacred Supper were institut…d to none other ende, then to certifie the vnion and louely societie of the Churche. When as the Lordes meaning dyd reatch to a farre higher mystery in this institution of the Supper, which may be made most euidently apparant by the very wordes and circumstances of the words of the Supper. For when the Lorde did commaunde to take and eate, he doeth not say, this is my mysticall body, that shal fructifie and encrease out of many members of the Church: But this is my body, that shalbe geuen for you. Whereupon if I might now argue in the schooles of Diuines, I would on this wise proceede against mine aduersaries.

The thing that is properly signified in this Sacrament,An argument… is the only fleshe of Christe geuen for vsus.

The power of the vnitie and societie of the Churche was not deliuered for vsus.

Ergo The vnion of the Church o…ght in no respect be called the substance of the Sacrament.

Therfore this doctrine of Lombarde is false & vtterly to be abandoned,The visible forme is not a Sa…rament of a double thing, no not so much as a sacram…n… of any thing. wherein hee affirmeth that this visible forme is a sacrament of a double thing. And albeit I wil not deny that this mystery of Ecclesiastical vnion & christian con…unction is a matter of vnspeakable excellency, & to hauehave singul…r likenes & relation to bread, as S. Paul testifieth: Ye… Paul …eacheth no such doctrine, to wit: that the sacrament was instituted to that ende, or that the …lements of bread and wine were deliuered to bee eaten and drūken for this purpose, namely, to expresse this mysticall …ion: but that it shoulde allure vsus to an othe… mat…e… rather: to wit, to the very body of Christe which shoulde suffer for vsus, that is to say shoulde represent the passion of Christe, which doth truely quicken vsus, make vsus too fructifie and to growe vp.

Therefore the estate of this Sacrament doth require that the Sacrament it selfe, and the thing of the Sacrament als… be both of this na…re to comfort & to nourish:There bee two things that bee eaten in the Lordes supper, the one corporally, the other spiritually. for otherwise howe can the thin… significant agree with the thing signified, vnlesse …he nourishment of the one bee answerable too the nourishment of the other? Now this is without al question, that nothing can nourishe vnlesse it b… first eaten. Wherefore as there bee twoo thinges that …oe nourishe, so must there be two thinges that muste b…e eaten. In the one whereof is the Sacrament of the body: in the other the verye thing it selfe is deliuered: namely, the passion of his naturall body: And as they both nourishe, so they muste both bee eaten. The bread feedeth: the flesh of Christ crucif…ed feedeth: but after an other maner. The bread feedeth corporally, the fleshe feedeth spiritually. That one, the naturall body: this other, the spiritual part of the soule: the bread feedeth this present lyfe, the fleshe feedeth vntounto the euerlasting life to come. For as the life of the bodie doth growe & encrease by dayly bread and foode, euen so the spirituall life is preserued by the passion of Christ. Which the Lord himselfe foreseeing before, did vtter these woordes of himselfe not without great consideration: My fleshe is meate indeede, my blood is drinke in deed, geuing vsus to vnderstande, that by blood hee did meane the blooddy Sacrifice of his owne flesh. Therfore as there is two kinds of mans life: To wit, earthly and heauenly: so hauehave they both theyr proper foode. The earthly life is preserued with foode and bread: the heauenly life is obteined with the death of Christ. And for this cause nothing c…ulde p. 85hauehave beene more **Rabanus Maurus.commodiously handled, then that the Lorde shoulde deliuer the bread and wine for a memorial of his passion,The naturall bread maye conueniently bee called the body of Christ, because it doeth comfort the hearte. because of the agreable application of the mutuall resemblaunce.

And heereof aryseth al the substaunce of this Sacramentall Action, whereby bread and wyne doe obteine too bee called by the name of the body and blood: not because the thinges themselues doe alter theyr substances, but after the v…uall phrase of speach, which is commonly frequented in all languages almost, & chiefly aboue others in the mysticall Scriptures: Namely, that thinges **August de Ciuitate Dei. Lib. 8. Cap 48. All significant thinges doe seeme after a certaine maner to beare the substaunce of the thinges signified.significāt shoulde obteine too bee called by the thinges which they doe signifie. Which being most manifestly to be approued by innumerable testimonies of the Scripture, is aboue all other moste iustifiable, in this one Sacrament chiefly: where the name of the body is attributed too the bread, but not the substaunce: none otherwise in very deede, then as by like phrase of wordes is set downe in the booke of Genesis:…enesis .41. where seuen eares of corne are called Seuen Yeeres:Esay 40.Isa 40 Fleshe, Heye: Seede, the Worde: a Fielde, the World:Matth. 13.Matt 13 the heauenly Father, an Husbandman:Iohn .15. Iohn .10. Christe named a Uine or a Lambe:Math. 15.Matt 15 the Apostles called Salt of the earth: Peter, a Stone: and Iohn the Euangelist not only called of Christes own mouth,Iohn .19. the sonne of the Uirgin, but accepted of the mother of Christe as her sonne by the Lordes commaundement: Yet wil no man be so mad for this cause to affirme that vnderunder the figure and forme of this Disciple he either became truely and naturally her sonne, or the Uirgin his naturall mother: for it is one thing to bee called a mother by name, an other thing too bee a na…urall mother in deede. After the same maner fareth it with the Sacramentes:August. contra Maximinum. Cap. 22. For these be the sacramentes in the which is not alwaies noted what they be, but what they signifie, bicause they be signes of things being in substaunce one thing, but in significatiō another. in the which must be considered, not what they bee, but what they be called, and wherfore they be so called. For euen amongest vsus in our dayly and vsual spea…hes, as also in the Scriptures chiefly many thinges are many times beautified or described by strange **Beda citans August. 1. Cor. 10. In the sacraments, one thing is seene or named, another thing is vnderstanded.1 Cor 10names, where notwithstanding no alteration is made of substance, but the reason and cause that mooued the holy ghost to name it so is noted. After the same maner Christ doth call bread his body: not meaning thereby to transubstantiate the substance of the one into the other (neither was it to any purpose at all to hauehave done so) but to expresse the power of his passion: for this cause therefore hee tooke the **Gelasi. contra Eutichetem. The substance of bread and wine doth not depart away Chrysost. ad Caesar. The nature of bread doth remaine in the sacramente. Theodoret. Christ doth not change the nature of bread.bread and cup of wine, and called them his body and blood, which he would giuegive for the sins of the world. Neither did he only cal them so, but also did deliuer them in his last supper to bee eaten and drunken in steede of his body and blood. In like maner before Supper he vouchsafed by a like Figuratiue phrase of speache too call his owne **August. Epist. 23 ad Bonifacium. The heauenly bread whicb is Christs fleshe, is after his maner called the body of Christe, being in very deede the sacrament of Christes body.fleshe meate, and feeding bread from heaue…. But least any man may fayle in the propertie of woordes I thinke it good too hearken vntounto Augustines cou… salie p. 96who discoursing vpō the 33. Psalm of Dauid, w…erin it is said, that Dauid did change his coūtenance before Abimelech (alias before Achis) he doeth transpose this figuratiue speach of chaunged coūtenance, to y^• words of Christe vttered touching the supper of his body & blood For as Dauid is saide to hauehave dissembled in countenance before Achis the king, seeming outwardly otherwise then hee was inwardly: After the selfe same maner of speache the Lorde himselfe treating of his fleshe and blood, doeth seeme in Augustines iudgement, as it were changing countenance before Achis (to wit, an ignorant king) to expresse one thing in vtter shewe of woordes, and to conceale an other thing in a secrete mysterie before the Capernaites (to wit a grosse ignorant people.) Wherevpon Augustine commaundeth vsus to **Augustine in Psal. 33. Ther is somewhat shut vp here: Knocke, and sticke not in the letter, because the letter killeth, but seeke for the spirit, for the spirit doeth geue life. August. vponupon the foresaide Psalme. When our Lord Iesus Christ spake of his body… Except a man eate my fles…e &c. his disciples, that followed him, did loath that speache, & not vnderstāding his meaning, thought the Lord spake some hard thing, as they speaking with Achis. How is this? bicause he changed his coūtenāce, therfore he seemed to thē as though hee had been mad, but he seemed only to the king Achis that is to saye, to the folishe & ignorāt, therfore he sent thē away, & departed frō thē. For they did not cōceaue the true meaning of his wordes in their harts, because they could not cōprehend him.Ps 33knock here bicause there is some hidden thing shut vp in this place: and not to sticke too much to the letter which killeth, but exhorteth vsus to rayse our selues too the spirituall sense, which doeth geue lyfe. Because the spirituall vnderstanding, sayth he, doeth make him that doth beleeue to be safe.

And proceeding forward in the same comparison: wherein he compareth Achis the king, That is to saye, the kingdome of error, with the Capernaites: & Dauid with Christe, hee inferreth on this wise: when our Lorde Iesus spake of his body… except yee eate my flesh, and drink my blood: the disciples did abhorre this speache because they vnderstoode it not.

For the Lorde in the chaunge of his countenance seemed vntounto them to bee halfe frantike, when he spake of eating his fleshe: therefore they supposed that the Lorde seemed besides himselfe, knowing not what he spake and as it were halfe mad. But he seemed so to be vntounto Achis the king, that is to say, to fooles, and to ignorant men: and therefore hee forsooke them and went his way: or rather they forsooke him, because this speache seemed very hard vntounto them: when as notwithstanding the speach was not hard, but they rather hard & dul of vnderstanding, not the speache. Who if had not departed from him but abidden still with the Apostles, hee had instructed them plainly howe they shoulde hauehave conceaued the sense of the woordes: as hee Augustine in Psalm. 98.Ps 98taught the other Apostles, when hee tolde them, It is the Spirite that quickneth, for the fleshe profiteth nothing: My woordes which I hauehave spoken vntoo you bee spirite and life. As though hee had saide according to the interpretation of Augustine, Understande yee my wordes which I hauehave spoken spiritually. This body which you see, shall yee not eate, nor drinke that blood, which the Iewes shall shed out of my side I hauehave deliuered you a certaine Sacrament, the same being spiritually vnderstood wil quickē you. Wherby no man can be so blockish except he be altogether void of sense,**August contra Aduersar. Leg. & Prophet. Lib. 2. Cap. 9. We men do receiue the Mediator of God and men Christ Iesus, giuing vsus his flesh to bee eaten, & his blood to be drūken with the heart and mouth of our faith. what the purpose of the Lorde was in the Action of this Supper: …nd howe hee woulde hauehave our hearts & minds affected towards these misteries, with what **Basil de Baptis. What profite hauehave these wordes? forsoth… that eating and drinking we become alwaies mindful of him who was put too death for vsus and rose againe.mouth and by what instrumentes hee woulde hauehave vsus too receiue this bread of his body. Wherby his purpose was to make plain demonstration vntounto vsus of the spiritual efficacie of p. 97his **Ambrose … 1. Cor. 11. Bicause wee be made free by the death of Christe, being mindefull thereof, we doe by eating and drinking signifie his fleshe and blood which were deliuered for vsus.1 Cor 11passion, and our faith on him: which hee coulde not hauehave done by any so fitte similitudes, as by setting downe these chiefe and p…incipall stayes and supportes as it were of this presēt life, which do serue for the daily foode and necessary nourishement of the bodie.