Rejoinder to Bristows Reply, Part 2 · Book 3 · Chapter 20
CAP. XX.
The words of Christ being spirite and life, shewe, that his … flesh is made present in his last supper, aboue all course of … Sander.& reason.
Sander, as his manner is, can rest in no certeine … sition, Fulk.but wil hauehave eueryevery interpretation to … sense of the place, if it affirme any thing that … first, because the flesh of Christ is vnprofitable, … the spirite which giueth it power of quickening … hauehave this saying all one in effecte with the wo… ing before, it is the spirite that quickeneth. … vponupon occasion of a phra…e vsed by Cyrillus, …, … wordes are of the spirite, he wil hauehave the meaning to …e, yt the wordes of Christ hauehave in them some of his spirite & diuine power therfore the naming of flesh & bloud before, was not figuratiue, but proper. I graunt the conclusion, but I denie the argument: for he vttered other words before, which we… figuratiue & vnproper as, I am the bread that came, &c. yet were these wordes spirite & life, and so are all the words of the Gospel, that is, giuegive h…, if they be spiritually vnderstood, I say not alwayes figuratiuely, but always beleued to be true in that sense they are vttered & ment by him, whether they be figuratiue or proper, as concerning the prhase. Thirdly, the wordes of Christ are spirite and life, because they make the spiritual bodie of Christ, which is a spirituall food, as Ambrose sayth, de ijs qui myster, init. Cap. 9. Ambrose saith truely, that for asmuch as the bodie of Christ is a spiritual bodie, it is not a corporal food, but a spiritual food. Why is it not a corporall food, seeing it feedeth our bodies as well as our soules? Verily, because it is not receiued corporally, but spiritually, which is ye difference in which we stande. Wee agreefully with Augustine, in Ioan. Tra. 27. The words of Christ are to be vnderstanded spiritually, & so are spirite & life to vsus, as they be of their owne nature, howsoeuer vnfaithful persons esteem of them, they worke whatsoeuer it pleaseth him to signifie to be wrought by them, as Basil teacheth de Bap. lib. 1. Cap. 2. We beleeue, as Chrysostom teacheth, Hom. 47. in Ioan. That they conteine no naturall course, but are free from all earthly necessitie. And therefore, when Christ promiseth to giuegive vsus his flesh to be eaten, & deliuereth the breade, calling it his bodie, we beleeue his words to be spirite and life, that is not to conteine any naturall course, but to be free from all earthly necessitie, that is, we beleeue vnfainedly to be fed with Christes bodie and bloud, although we do not eate & drinke it corporally with our mouth, which is a naturall course of eating, we beleeue, that by the flesh & bloud of Christ, both our bodies & soules are nourished wonderfully vntounto eternall life, not thinking it necessarie, that the flesh and bloud of Christ should carnally enter into our bodies, as the Papistes teache, for that is an earthlie necessitie, from which the words of Christ, are free, & yet the onlie thing that Sander vrgeth so vehemently, & without the which he thinketh it impossible to communicate with the fleshe and bloud of Christ.
But Sander cōmandeth al heretikes to cease to mocke them, for making so many myracles in the Sacrament of the altar, because the wordes of Christ, This is my body, are spirite and life. Nay verily, this argument will stirre vp all men to mocke the Papistes more then they did before: seeing they thinke it lawfull to faine what miracles they will in the Sacrament, because Christes words be spirite & trueth, & yet more to laugh at Sa… ders reason, which will prooue these wordes to be most proper, & least figuratiue, because they partake most of the godhead, in which there is no change, wheras figures or tropes come of the Greeke worde, which signifieth changing. Notwithstanding this great clerk, oftentimes before hath taught vsus, that whatsoeuer is spoken of bread and meat, and eating in Iohn 6. Chapter, vntill he come to this saying: (And the bread which I wil giuegive is my flesh) doth pertaine to the godhead of Christ, and the participation therof by faith: in which wordes he cannot denie, but bread, meat, eate, hunger, thirst, &c. must bee taken figuratiuely. But what drunkennesse is it to reason of these words only? This is my body, when all the wordes of Christ, as well figuratiue speeches, as proper, be spirite and life, as well as these. Yet now now we shall see a whole world of difference betweene the wordes of the Gospel & the interpretation of false gospellers, betwen the old fathers & ye new brethren. For Christ (saith he) was by his incarnation made the bread of life to the end we might eate his godhead otherwise then the fathers had done before. The newe brethren bid vsus feede vponupon him by faith alone, as Noe & Abraham did. I trust it shalbe sufficient to proue those new brethren, to be ye right children & heires of those olde fathers, when they hauehave all one matter of saluation, the flesh and bloud of Christ, & all one instrument of eating, faith alone. And why should the new brethren eate the godhead, or manhood of Christ, otherwise in substance, then the olde fathers did? But Sander asketh, where is the word of God so giuen me after his incarnation, as it could not be giuen before? And I aske Sander, wherfore it should bee giuen nowe otherwise then it was before? and why it could not be giuen before so as it is giuen now? but that he will binde the worde of God to a naturall course, & not suffer his working to be free from earthly necessitie? He demandeth further, where is any euerlasting meat for his bodie? I demaund likewise, wher was any euerlasting meat for the bodie of Noe & Abraham our fathers? But Sander saith his flesh is rebellious to his spirite, and hath neede to be fedde, his bodie was the meane to poyson his soule, therefore his soule must hauehave a medicine, which shall be receiued into his bodie. I answere, the flesh of our olde fathers Noah and Abraham was rebellious to the spirite, had neede to be fed, were a meane to poyson the soule &c, yet needed they not, that the flesh of Christ should be receiued into their bodies, that it might bee a medicine vntounto their soules: no more is it needful for the newe brethren that are their children. But let vsus see the other differences. Irenaeus reprooued them that denyed the resurrection of mens bodyes, because Godly men in scripture are called spirituall: the newe brethren wrest the name of spirite or spirituall bodie, to denie the real substance of flesh in the sacrament: Nay, they inferre yt the maner of ye eating must be spiritual, in which respect it is called a spirituall bodie, and not onelyonly for the power of quickning which it hath of yt spirit of Christ. But it is a great mysterie, that where S. Paul 1. Tim. 3. woulde hauehave Deacons to be chosen of such men, as hauehave the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience, Sander thinketh, hee meaneth the Sacrament, which in their masse at the consecration of ye bloud, is called mysterium sidei, & in Iustinus time was deliuered by ye Deacons. O blockish imagination! such be the arguments of poperie. But if it be so, why is not the breade so called in your Masse, as well as the cuppe? And if there bee a speciall reason why the cuppe shoulde rather bee so called, what conscience hauehave your Priests and Deacons to spoile ye people therof, and not to deliuer it as the Deacons did in ye time of Iustinus? The other differences that without order he heapeth and repeteth, come al to this end, yt we deny the flesh of Christ any way to be profitable; yt we affirme yt spirit to quicken vsus, wtout eating of Christ in his supper; we wrest to the spirit of man, that which Christ saith of ye spirit of god: al which is false & slāderous, for as I hauehave oftē shewed. We beleue it to be of necessity yt we shold eat & drink ye flesh & blod of Christ, which by vertue of his spirit hath power to giuegive eternal life to al them that receiue it, we acknowledge all the words of Christ to be spirit and l…e, so as no mortall mans words can be, neither did we eu… say that flesh and bloude signifieth bread and wine, and the same breade and wine must againe signifie the flesh and bloud of Christ: although wee say that bread and wine in the sacrament are a seale and confirmation of that doctrine which Christe teacheth in this Chapter, concerning the eating and drinking of his very true and naturall flesh and bloud, which hath power to seede vntounto eternall life, them that eat and drinke it spiritually, as there is none other way of eating and drinking thereof, but by faith through the almightie working of Gods holy spirite.
The fourth Booke.
The preface of the fourth Book declareth, that he purposeth in the same to shew, that the words of the institution of the supper are proper, and not figuratiue, and so hauehave beene taken aboue 1500. And that they are proper: he wili prooue by circumstances of the supper, by conference of scriptures, out of the olde and newe Testament, & by the commandement giuen to the Apostles to continue the sacrament vntil the second comming of Christ. Last of all, he▪ craueth pardon, if he chaunce to say somewhat, that was touched before, affirming that his purporse is not so to doe, although by affinitie of the argument, desire to hauehave the thing remembred, or by his owne forgetfulnesse, he may be caused to fall into that default.