Discussion of the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation, Part 2 · Division 11

Discussion of the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation · Part 2 · Division 11

p. 167Diuision 11.

ANother Argument is by my Aduersarie tediously prosecuted N. P.pag. 12. wherein from Christs locall being still in heaven, hee argueth and endeauoureth to prooue an vtter impossibility of his bodily being in the Sacrament. Of which kinde of disputing I may fitly say with Saint Augustine, aaAug. lib 2…. de Ciuit. Dei, cap. 51.Behold with what manner of Arguments humane infi…mity possessed with vanity, contradicteth Gods omnipotency. As if naturall vnderunder standing were able to comprehend the vtmost limit and extention of Gods power, which is in it selfe infinite and inforutably manifested in many of his wonderfull miracles: of which (as I hauehave said) no other reason can be giuen, but that hee is omnipotent that did them, and cannot deceiue vsus when hee is pleased to testifie them. Can wee conceiue (for example) the creation of the world of nothing at p. 168all preexisting; the resurrection and repaire which God will make of all bodies so vtterly by frequent and successiue conuersions into other things altered and consumed; the personall vnion of man with God; the torment of soules and diuels wholly spirituall by corporall fire; the consubstantiall subsisting of the divine nature simply one of it selfe in three distinct persons; and other like mysteries of faith not conceiuable more then the bodily being of our Saviour in the Sacrament; yet vponupon the warrant of Scripture and doctrine of Christs Church faithfully by vsus beleeued? Can this Minister tell me (to come more neerely to our purpose) how our Sauiour appeared visibly to S. Paul on earth (as diuerse plaine texts import, particularly by Bellarmine bbLib. de Euchar.produced and discussed) and yet (as himselfe will not deny) still remaining in heauen? Or can he tell me, how our Sauiours body went out of his Sepulcher, without remoouing that huge stone, rolled afterward by the Angell from it? Or how hee entred the house, the doores being and remayning still shut vponupon his disciples; as for a great miracle the Euangelist recounted? Or how he pierced the solide and huge Orbes of heauen in his ascension without making any hole in them? Sithence it is equally aboue nature for many bodies to possesse one place, as for one bodie to be in many places. And if according to Christian true Philosophy, the soule of man being a spirituall and indiuisible substance can at one be entirely in distant parts of mans body exercising all distinct operations in them, why is it impossible for God to giuegive his humane body distant presences and a spirituall manner of being in the Sacrament? when as by personall vnion with himselfe, he giueth to the same body a far higher and more inconceiuable manner of beeing.

MY fift Argum…nt is from the nature of a true body which cannot possibly be the same whole and entire T. G.in many places at once, much lesse in places as farre distant, as East and West, Heauen and Earth.

Now heere againe is hee faine to fly (as before) to Gods omnipotency. That is their ddforeign. Quem aduocabant Comici, vbires haerere videbatur.Deus è machina; as they p. 169had wont to speake; that is the knife still at hand to helpe to cut all those knots that by their wanton wits and absurd fantasies they hauehave snarled themselues in. And the better to enforce this eeCatholicon Medicorum, siue Panacaeú Papisticum.Catholike Answer, that se…ueth them for the saluing of all sores, hee reckoneth vp a long bead roll of wonderfull works; as the Creation, the Resurrection, the Hypostaticall vnion, the Trinity in Unity, the torment of Spirits by corporall fire, Christ comming out of the Sepulcher without remooving the huge stone, his entring into the house while the doores were still shut, his appearing to Paul on earth while hee was still in heauen, (which he telleth vsus Bellarmine hath plainely prooued) his piercing of the solide Orbes of heauen in his Ascention, the soule being at once entirely in distant parts of mans body, &c. And then demandeth why God cannot cause Christs body to be as well one and the same, whole and entire in so many seuerall distant places at once; the rather since that it is equall aboue nature for many bodies to possesse one place, as for one body to be in many places.

1. Here are diuers things that are questionable both in Diuinity and Philosophy: which albeit he take pro concessis, will not so easily be granted him, till they be better prooued then as yet they are, howsoeuer we exclude not diuerse of them out of the reach of Gods omnipotency, euen as he vnderstandeth them; as

1. The manner of the ffVise Iul. Scalig. de subtil. exercit. 307. Sect. 29. Aegidium in l. 2. de anima. c. 2. q. 6. & Hospinian. de sede anim.soules being in distant parts of the body is disputable: nor is there the same reason of bodies and of spirits.

2. The torment of spirits whether it be by corporall fire or no, is not agreed on as a matter of faith; ggDe purgat. l. 2. c. 11.Bellarmine himselfe so confesseth.

3. The manner of hhAct. 9. 17.Acts 9:17Christs apparition to S. Paul is not certaine. Neither doth Bellarmine prooue that Christ was below on earth, or neere the earth in his humanity; nor is it to the purpose whether he were or no. iiAct. 7. 56.Acts 7:56Steuen saw him in heauen, the heauens opened: kk2 Cor. 12, 2, 3, 4.2 Cor 12:22 Cor 12:32 Cor 12:4Paul was rapt vp p. 170himselfe into heauen. Yea llApparuit illi primum in coelo. Ambr. hom. in 1. Cor. 15.1 Cor 15in heauen, and mmSuperna ei pietas coelos aperuit, sese que illi Iesus de sublim…bus ostendit. Greg. mor. l. 19. c. 5.from heauen it was that Christ appeared to him; if we may beleeue Pope Gregory and one that goeth ordinarily for Ambrose. Nor can nnBellar. de Euch. l. 3. c. 3.Bellarmine produce any one of the Ancients that saith otherwise. Howbeit neither do we so pen vp Christ in heauen, but that he may at his pleasure (though ordinarily he doth not) descend.

4. For ooIoh. 20. 19.John 20:19Christs comming in to his Disciples when the doores were shut. Why might not (as Ierome speaketh) ppCreaturam cedere creatori. Hieron. ad Pāmach. contr. error. Ioan. Hieros.the creature giuegive way to the Creator; as qqAct. 12. 10.Acts 12:10the iron gate did to Peter? rrDurand. in senten. l. 4. d. 44. q. 6. ad. 3.It is said, saith Durand, one of their Schoolemen, that Christ came when the doores were shut: but it is not said, that he came in through the doores so shut: he might enter in by some other place; or cause the doores to open suddenly, and shut instantly againe.

5. For Christs resurrection; Let him heare the same Durand. ssIdem ibid. ad 2.It cannot (saith hee) be prooued by any Text of Scripture, that Christ rose againe while the Tombe was so shut: and so consequently that his body passed through the stone. Or if Durands authority will not serue; let them heare Pope Leo in one of his decretall Epistles: ttReuoluto monumenti lapide caro surrexit. Leo Pp. epist. 83.Christs body (saith he) rose againe the stone being rolled away.

6. For his Ascension; to omit, that this uuVid: Zanc de operibus creat part. 2. l. 2. c. 3. Th. 3 Et Keckerm. system. physic. l. 2 c. 2.solidity of the Orbes is in Philosophy a thing questionable; and such a point, as if it bee denyed, this great Doctor will hardly be euer able to make good: I answer with Durand; that xxDurand. vbi sup. ad 1.Whether the heauens bee divisible in their owne nature, or by divine vertue, (as the one they well may bee, and the other certainly they are) there is no necessity that Christs body in his Ascension should be together in the same place with the bodies of the Orbes.

So that in none of these Examples there is any necessitie of two bodies being in one place at once. Which yet if it were prooued (if they will beleeue their owne Schoolemen) were not suffiicient. For howsoeuer this great Doctor tell vsus, that it is equally aboue nature for many bodies to p. 171be in one place, and for one body to bee in many places: yet they say, that it is not so. yyTho. Aqui. quodlib. 1. art. 22.Though two bodies (saith Aquinas) may be in one places at once; yet it followeth not that one bodie may bee in two places at once. The former is not possible but by miracle; the latter not at all. zzDurand. in 4. d. 4. q. 6. ad 1.It is not alike (saith Durand) for two bodies to be at once in one place; and for one body to be at once in more places then one. For the one implieth a contradiction; the other doth not, (the former he meaneth) though it may seeme so to doe.

2. And so he hath a direct answer, why wee deny that a body can be in diuerse places at once; notwithstanding we beleeue and acknowledge Gods wonderfull workes of Creation, Resurrection, Christs Incarnation, and those vnsearchable mysteries of the Trinitie, and Hypostaticall vnion, &c. because the one implyeth a contradiction, those other doe not.

And here let me entreat the Reader (since that these men so much presse vsus with Gods omnipotency) to cast his eye backe with me to those manifold aaDiuis. 2. sect. 4. num. 3.impossibilities before mentioned, and by themselues acknowledged, euen in this very businesse concerning the Sacrament. Whereby it may appeare, that they make vse of it onelyonly to serue their owne turnes, vrging it then when it may stead them, and denying it then when it doth not. To recite againe some one or two of them onelyonly, adding one or two more to them bbBellarm, de Euchar. …. 3. c. 19.Luthers opinion (saith Bellarmine) cannot be true: because ccNullo modo fierr potest vt vna res non mutetur, & ta…en … alia.it is no way possible that one thing should not be changed, and yet should become another. And ddImpossibile rem vnā converti in aliam, nec tamen in ea parte desinere esse quod erat. Lanfranc. contr. Bereng.It is impossible (saith Lanfranck) that one thing should be turned into another, and not cease to be, so farre forth as it is converted. eeSupra Diui…. 2.It is impossible (saith this Defendant, that cannot endure here to heare of any impossibility) That a man should be a Rocke, or a Uine. And ffFieri non potest vt pauis sit corpus Christi. Bellar. de Euch. l. 1. …. 1….It is impossible (saith Bellarmine) that bread should bee Christs body. ggNon potest esse aliquis simul in diuersis temporibus. Fr. Mairon, in sent, l. 4. d. 11. q. 1.It is not p. 172possible (saith Maironis) that one should be in two times at once. (And is it not as impossible then, for one to bee in two places at once?) And hhIdem effectus non potest habere plures causas totales. Ibid.it is impossible that one single effect should hauehave diuerse totall causes: and iiIdeò idem a…idens non potest esse in diuersis subiectis. Ibid.impossible therefore that one and the same accident should bee in diuerse subiects. (And why not as impossible for one subiect to hauehave diverse accidents, as diuerse seates, sites, qualities, and quantities at once? which Christsbody must needs hauehave, i… it bee with vsus in the Eucharist.) kkVnde & idē non potest simul moueri motibus oppositis. Durand. in sent. l. 4. d. 10. q. 3.It is impossible (saith Durand) that one and the same thing should mooue two contrary wayes at once. And llImpossibile est quod vnus motus eiusdē corporis localiter moti terminetur simul ad diuersa …oca. Thom sum. p. 3. q 75. a. 2.It is impossible (saith Aquinas) that the same body should by locall motion arriue in diuerse seuerall places at once. And mmImpossibile est idem esse motum & quietum. Ibid. q 76. a. 6.It is impossible that one and the selfe same thing should both rest and stirre at once. And yet should Christs body, if it were in the Host, or if it were the very Host rather, doe all this, when at the same time it both resteth in the Pyx in one place, and goeth in Procession in another place, and is in diuerse processions, or on sundry seuerall occasions carried contrary wayes to seuerall persons and places at the same instant. No more therefore doe we curb or restraine Gods …mnip…tency, when we deny that a body can bee by any meanes in two distant places at once, then they doe, when they deny a possibility of the things before spoken. And for the reason of our denyall, let them heare be side Durands, Aquinas his confession. **V…um corpus non potest esse in lu…bus locis. V… enim corpus esse localiter in duobus locis implicat contradictionem. Thom. Aq. quodlib. 1. art. 22.For one body (saith hee) to bee locally in two places at once, it implieth a contradiction: and therefore cannot a body be in two places at once; no not by miracle neither: For those things that imply contradiction God cannot do. nnDeus non potest sacere, vt vnum corpus localiter sit simul in duobus locis. Idem quodli I. 3. art. 2.God therefore cannot make a body to bee locally in two places at once. The very selfe same saith ooAegid. Rom. quodlib 1. q. 1.Aegidius too: and Amolynus on him; that ppSi essent mille miracula, non adaequarent potentiam ad id quod implicat contradictione. Laurent. Amolyn. in eund. ibid.although a thousand miracles were wrought, nothing could bee effected that implyeth a contradiction; as this doth.

p. 173CErtainely the holy Fathers doubted not to affirme that N. P.Christ left his body here on earth, and yet assumed with him the same bodie into heauen; hee held his body in his owne hands at his last Supper, and distributed it severally to his Apostles; as hath beene already out of S. Chrysostome, S. Augustine, and other holy Fathers formerly by me alle…dged. Insomuch as Melancthon one of the maine pillars of Protestant Religion, vnderstood the opinion of the holy Fathers so well in this point, and attributed so much withall to Gods omnipotency, as hee writeth thus of this very Argument. ccEpist. ad Martinum Ge…ob.I had rather offer my selfe to death then to affirme as Zwinglians doe, that Christs body cannot bee but in one place at once. And S. Augustine (as Bellarmine prooueth) was so farre from denying this to the bodie of Christ, as he doubted whether the holy Martyrs may not be at the selfe same time in severall Churches and Memories erected of them; albeit naturally no spirit nor body can bee more then in one place, or remaine without some certaine place of beeing: which latter is in the places ciced by this Minister out of him onelyonly affirmed. And if a perfect substance or nature (as was the humanity of Christ) could want the naturall personality and subsistence thereof, supplyed by the divine person and hypostasis of the Sonne of God (as our Christian faith teacheth vsus) why cannot in like manner by Gods omnipotency the accidents of bread and wine remaine without actuall inhering and being in their naturall subiect?

His other Arguments page 15. are drops of an afterstorme, and obiections gathered out of S. Augustine, which doe onelyonly prooue that Christ is not visibly but in heauen; not denying his sacramentall beeing in many places; as this Minister would hauehave him. And surely our Saviour himselfe in the 6. Chapter of S. Iohn, verse 61. solueth this very obiection (as S. Chrysostome vnderstandeth him) when perceiving that his Disciples murmared at his promise of giuing his flesh for meate, &c. he said to them, Doth this scandalize you? If then you shall see the Sonne of Man ascending where he was before, &c. As if hee had said; Are p. 174you scandalised that I said being now present with you, I will giuegive my flesh for food? what then will you doe, or how farre will▪ you be from beleeuing that I canso giuegive you my flesh, when I …ll ascend to heauen and be absent so sarre from you?

§ 2. THe places of the Fathers here pointed at, were before answered, where by him they were a… T. G.large alledged. And howsoeuer Augustine qqAug. de cura pro mort. ger. c. 16.spake modestly (after his manner) of a difficult Question, not daring peremptorily to determine by what meanes that was effected, that by diuers other meanes might be: yet in his bookes against Fa…stus the Manichie hee saith expressely and peremptorily, that rrSecundum presentiā corporalem simul & in Sole, & in Luna, & in Cruce esse nō potest. Aug. contr. Faust. l. 20. c. 11.Christ in regard of his bodily presence could not bee at once in the Sunne and in the Moone, and vponupon the Crosse also: as they absurdly imagined and maintained that he was. And againe in his Comment aries on the Gospell of S. Iohn; not (as Bellarmine corruptly citeth him, as hee doth also many others) that ssCorp. Christi, in quo resurr. vno in loco esse potest. Bellar. de Euthar. l. 2. c. 24.Christs body in which he rose againe, M AY be; but (as ttVno in loco esse oportet. Aug. in Ioan. tr. 30.Peter Lombard, uuPetr. Lomb. sen. l. 4. d. 10. Aand other of their owne Authors acknowledge him to say) that xxGrar. de consecr. d. z. c. 1. Thom. in 4. d. 10. a. 1. Scot. in 4. q. 3. & alii. ibid.it MVST be in one place; howsoeuer his verity (that is, his Deitie) be every where. Yea discusing the question at large in one of his Epistles, and hauing concluded the Negatiue, hee saith that yyCauendum ne veritatem corporis auferamus, August. Epist. 17.they take away the truth of his body, that maintaine it to be in many places at once: Whereas though zzImmortalitatem dedit, naturam non abstulit. Ibid.immortality bee conferred on it, yet nature is not taken from it. To which purpose hee disputeth much of the nature of a true body, and deliuereth those things, which I presse out of him: all which together with the testimonies of other of the Ancients this superficiall Answerer passeth ouer with sad silence; onelyonly boldly and b…asen facedly auouching that all that is alleadged out of Augustine prooueth nothing but this, that Christ is not visibly but in Heauen. Did hee thinke that his Reader would not cast an eye on them, p. 175whem they were verbatim set downe before him?

§ 3. Yea but our Saviour himselfe (he saith) solveth this Obiection, Iohn 6. 61. as Chrysostome vnderstandeth him, when hee saith, Doth this scandalize you? What if you shall see the Sonne of Man ascending where hee was before, &c? as if hee had said; Are you scandalized because I said being now, present with you, I will giuegive my flesh for food? What then will you doe, or how farre will you be from beleeuing that I can so giuegive you my flesh when I shall ascend to heauen, and be so farre aboue from you?

1. Where Chrysostome thus expoundeth the place, I know not. VponUpon the place (I am sure) he hath nothing but this, that aaChrysost. in Ioan. hom. 47.Christ by these wordes did intimate to them his Deitie. Yea so bbIansen. concord. Euang. cap. 59.Iansenius also saith, that Chrysostome vnderstandeth these words as spoken to assure them that hee came downe from heauen. The truth is; this exposition it not Chrysostomes, but Bellarmines, (from whom this Collector hath filched it) who yet to adde some grace and procure some weight to an inuention of his owne, saith that ^c Chrysostome to him seemeth to point at some such thing. Indicare mihi videtur Chrysost. Bellar. de Euch. l, 1. c. 6.And what Bellarmine saith cautelously, and timorously, Chrysostome to him seemeth to point at; that this blinde bayard saith boldly and confidently, that Chrysostome saith; and vponupon the Exposition as backed now sufficiently with Chrysostome, he buildeth a peremptory answer to all mine Obiections, that will easily remooue them all. Did this man thinke that these things would euer be examined? Or is his credit so meane already that he need not feare to bee discredited, that hee dare vse such sorry shifts as these are?

2. Grant all to be Chrysostomes, and all to bee as true, as if not Chrysostome, but Christ himselfe had said it: what will thence bee concluded to prooue that Christs body may be in many places at once? But since hee hath cited this place, though to small purpose; let him heare Augustines words on it, going directly agaiust them, and these absurd fantasies of theirs. ddAugust. in Ioan. tr. 27.Christ (saith he) doth in▪ p. 176these wordes eeHie so …uit, quod eos mouerat, &c.solue that that mooued them: and openeth that whereas they were jcandalized. For they thought that hee would giuegive them out his body: but he told them that be should g…e vp whole into heauen. As if hee had said, ffAug ibid.When you shall see the Sonne of Man ascend where hee was before▪ certainely then you shall see, that he doth not giuegive out his body in such a manner as you imagine: Certainely euen then you shall vnderstand, that his grace is not consumed by bits. And to Augustine addewe Athanasius one as ancient as the Nicene Councell and a principall person in it ggAthanas. in illud Euang. Quicunque dixerit, &c.Christ disputing (saith hee) of the eating of his body, and seeing many therevpon scandalized, thus spake; Doth this scandalize you? What then if you shall see the Sonne of Man ascend where before he was? It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speake are spinit and life. For heere he spake of both, both his flesh and his spirit, and distinguished the spirit from the flesh, that beleeuing not onelyonly that that appeared to the eyes, but that also that was invisible, they might learne that those things also that he spake were hhforeign.not carnall, but spirituall. iiforeign.For to how many men could his body hauehave sufficed to eate of? that it might be the foodalso of the whole world. But therefore made he▪ mention of his ascension into heauen, that hee might withdraw them form the corporall vnderstanding; and that then they might vnderstand that his flesh which hee spake of was heauenly meate from aboue, and spirituall food to be giuen by him. For, saith he, Those things which I hauehave spoken to you are spirit and life. Which is euen all one as if hee had said; My body that is shewed and giuen, shall be giuen to bee meate for the whole world, kkforeign.that it may spiritually be distributed to each one, and become to each one a safegard and preseruatiue for resurrection to life eternall. So little doth this place auaile for this purpose, as the Ancients both Latine and Greeke expound it: making much rather against them & this popish doctrine of a carnall feeding on Christs flesh; which those Fathers gather and prooue thence to be wholly spirituall. But thus iudicious is he in the choice of p. 177his allegations; and so sincere in his citations of the Ancients, putting downe their names only, but pointing to no place, that his fraud and forgeries may not be discouered; and fastening vponupon them his owne, or his owne associates expositions, wholly differing and dissenting from that that themselues say.

MOreouer it is a wilde kinde of arguing from the naturall N. P.and locall extension of bodies to inferre (as my Adversary doth page 16.) that by no possible power of God any body can want this locall extension; this being a secondary effect of quantity, and an accidentall propriety, which God may therefore easily hinder, and conserue without it bodily substance; as our Sauiour himselfe insinuateth in the Gospell; affirming for a thing possible with God, to make a great Camell to passe through the eye of a needle; by taking (to wit) from it exterior bignesse and locall extension. Of which Camell so extenuated and straitned in place all the very same may be proportionably affirmed, which this Minister accounteth so absurd, by vsus held of Christs body in the Sacrament. And supposing truely that the body of Christ hath no extension in place, it is ridiculous for this ignorant Minister to make such inferences; as that any part of Christs body must be as great and greater then his whole body; and his whole body lesse then any part of it. For if neither the whole nor any part thereof, as it is in the Sacrament hath any exterior bignesse at all, how can one part be said to bee bigger then the whole? as of two blacke things a man should say, one was whiter then the other, when neither had any whitenesse at all in them.

§ 4. TO the recit…ll of their absurd assertions, that T. G.there is llOmnes partes integrales Corporis Christi, caput, pectus, manus, pedes, &c. Gabr. Biel. in Can. Miss. lect. 42. Qui & asserit lect. 80. Non esse inconueniens, si ponantur infinitae partes substantiae pu…ctualis paris ante co…ecratio ēquod infinities corpus Christi est sub speciebus panis post consecrationē. That Christs body may be ten thousand thousand times (and why not ten thousand thousand bodies of Christ then?) with head, feet, hands, legs, backe, breast, and belly, in one wafer if there be but so many crums as big a needles point in it. Vide & Fr. Maironis in 4. …ist▪ 10. quest. a.a whole Christ, flesh, blood, and bone, head, p. 178hands and feet, belly, breast and backe, in eueryevery little wafercake, and eueryevery least crumme of each; and consequently, the whole body of Christ on earth lesse then the least limme or fingers end of it in heaven: as also to the allegations out of Augustine that this cannot be; for that in eueryevery true body, the parts cannot bee altogether, but must hauehave their due distance, and each of them his space or place according to his bignesse; and none of them can be bigger then the whole: He maketh answer, that this is but a wilde kinde of reasoning: (and yet it is Augustine that so reasoneth, whom hee might hauehave beene pleased to vse with better tearmes:) telleth vsus what our Sauiour saith of a Camell passing thorow a needles ey: as if what were spoken there by our Sauiour of the one did relieue the absurditie of the other: (which no whit it doth, being onelyonly mmHyperbole, qua nihil aliud quam hoc difficillimum esse intelligi voluit. Erasm. de rat. ver. Theolog.an hyperbolicall speech, vsed to set forth the impossibility nnMat. 19. 26. Mar. 10. 27.Matt 19:26Mark 10:27with man, of ooMar. 10. 24.Mark 10:24such a rich mans salvation as hee there speaketh of:) and informeth this ignorant Minister, that neither the whole body of Christ nor any part of it, as it is in the Sacrament, hath any exterior bignesse at all.

1. Did any man euer before heare of a body without bignesse? or a co…pus non quantum, without those dimensions that are so vnseparable from a body, that the very same ppforeign. Corpus A…st. categor. quantit.name is giuen vntounto either, and wee hauehave no particular name either in Greeke or Latine to expresse the one by, but that which is the vsuall appellation of the other? But a number of such absurd dreames and dotages doth this prodigious doctrine produce. qqMonstra quis tanta explicet? Sen. Theb. 1▪Accidents without subiects: Bodies without bignesse: Parts bigger then the whole: The whole lesse then the least part: A growne mans entire body with all limmes and toynts of it, couched and cooped vp in a thinne wafer-cake and in every crum of it. The same body that is entire in heauen still, in a thousand places entire too at the same time here on earth; and yet never stirre an inch from the place that in heauen it still holdeth. These are rrforeign. Theod. Rhaetens. de haeres.magicall mysteries indeed, which it is no maruell if this ignorant Minister cannot conceiue.

p. 1792 Yea but our Sauiours wordes of ssMat. 19. 24.Matt 19:24a Camell passing through a needles eye, sheweth that a body may be freed from it exterior bignesse and locall extension: that is as much as if hee had said, they shew that a bodie may become no bodie, and yet be a body still. The speech is hyperbolicall: and no more prooueth a possibility of the thing therein spoken, (as ttPiscat. in Math. 19.Matt 19Piscator well obserueth answering uuDe Euchar. l 1. c 14.Bellarmine, from whom he here hath it) then of many xxSic foreign. Et ex En…io Vairo, Prius pariet Locusta Lucā Bouem, i. Elephantem.other things, spoken commonly in speeches of the like kinde. **Quantitas est de veritate corporis. Bonauent. in sen. l. 4. d. 10. q. 2.Quantitie (saith Bonaventure) is of the verity of a body: and a true bodie consequently cannot bee without it. And yyQuamuis substantia possit abstrahi à quā …itate: tamen quod corpus viuat & sit organicum, & non sit quantum, hoc nec esse nec intelligi potest. Ibid.though it were granted that some substance might bee without quantitie, yet it cannot be that any quicke or organicall body (such as a Camels is, and such as hee granteth Christs to be) should be without it. Yea and therefore also zzIn altari nō tantum est corporis Chri sti veritas, into etiam quantitas. Bonauen. ibid.not the veritie onelyonly (as this fellow would hauehave it) but the quantity also (as Bonauenture auoweth, and this fellow denieth) that is, the exterior bignesse of Christs body must needs bee with it in the Sacrament, if it bee at all there.

3. To conclude this wilde discourse indeed, because we are in it compelled to follow one that turneth round till hee be giddy againe: when wee reason thus from the nature and property of a true body to be but in one place; wee reason no otherwise (howsoeuer hee esteeme it a wilde kinde of reasoning) then wise and learned men, yea Angels too, hauehave taught vsus to reason. For as the Angell reasoneth with the nomen that came to seeke Christ in the Sepulcher; aaMat. 28. 6.Matt 28:6He is not here; for he is risen againe: which were no good Argument, if his bodie might hauehave beene in two places at once: So the ancient Fathers also reason in their disputes against Heretikes, where it stood them vponupon to speake warily, and not to argue wildly, as this giddy braines tearmeth it. bbTheodo…et. dialog. 2.Christs body (saith Theodoret) albeit it be now glorified, yet is a bodie still, and hath the same circumscriptiō that before it had Which (as the ccAct. 1. 11.Acts 1:11Angels teach) shall come in the same manner as it was seene goe to heauen. p. 180But they saw it then circumscribed. Yea our Lord himselfe saith, ddMat. 24. 30.Matt 24:30You shall see the Son of Man come in the clouds. But that nature cannot be seene, that is not circumscribed. He sheweth then that his body is circumscribed. It is not therefore changed into another nature, but it remaineth still a true body, though filled with divine glory. So Fulgentius, eeFulgent. ad Thrasimund. sib. 2.One and the same Christ (saith hee) is both locall man of man, and God infinite of his Father. One and the same according to his humane nature ffAbsens coelo cum esset in terra; & derelinquens terram, cum ascendisset in coelum.absent from heauen, when he was here vponupon earth, and leaving the earth when he went vp into heauen: but according to his divine and infinite nature, neither leaving heauen, when he came downe from heauen; nor forsaking the earth, when hee went vp into heauen. Which may most certainely bee gathered from his owne wordes, who to shew that his humanity was locall, said, ggIoh. 20. 27. and 16. 28.John 20:27John 16:28I goe vp to my Father, &c. Now how went he vp into heauen, but because hee was locall and true man? Or how is hee hhMat. 28. 20.Matt 28:20yet present with his faithfull ones, but that hee is infinite and true God? And Uigilius most euidently against Eutyches (to passe by all other places, which are more then one in him) iiVigil. contr. Eutych. lib. 4.If the Word (saith hee) and the Flesh were both of one nature, how should not the flesh bee eueryevery where as well as the word? For kkQuando in terra fuit, non erat in coelo.when it (to wit, Christs flesh, or his body, his humanity) was on earth, it was not in heauen; llEt nunc quia in coelo est, non est vtique in terra.and now because it is in heauen, it is not on earth: for that according to it mmPhil. 3. 20.Phil 3:20we expect Christ to come from heauen, whom according to the Word (that is, his Deitie) we beleeue to be with vsus on earth. It is apparent therefore that the same Christ is of a twofold nature, and is every where indeed according to the nature of his diviniti…; but is cōtained in a place according to the nature of his humanity. And hee concludeth his discourse thus; nnHaec est fides & confessio Catholica, quam A. postoli tradiderūt, Martyres roborauerunt, & fideles nunc vsus que custodiunt.This is the Catholike Faith and Confession, which the Apostles hauehave deliuered, Martyrs hauehave confirmed, and the faithfull keepe to this day. And if this be so, then sure the Popish doctrine that affirmeth the cleane contrary to it, is not.