Discussion of the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation, Part 2 · Division 12
Diuision 12.
PAge 16. and 17. My Adversarie wisely after his accustomed N. P.manner vndertaketh by comparisons to declare the true manner of Christs body and blood being conveighed vntounto vsus in the Sacrament: and that so easily as if there were no difficulty at all in the explication thereof; whereas oLib. 4. instit. c. 17. sect. 7. 10. & 32.Caluin himselfe accounteth it an inconceiuable and vnexplicable mysterie, worthy with wonder and astonishment to bee by vsus beleeved, how (to wit) Christs body so remotely distant as heauen is from the earth, can be eaten and receiued by vsus. pBeza de re Sacram. q. 9.Wee confesse it (saith Beza) to be an incomprehensible mystery, wherein it commeth to passe that the same body which is and still remaineth in heauen, and is no where but there, should be truely cōmunicated to vsus who are now on earth and no where else. This indeed is a mystery and true Iewell of Protestanticall doctrine harder to be conceived, as Caluin, Beza, and other chiefe Calvinists seeme sometime to meane it, then to conceiue all those true miracles, which we teach to be wrought by God in the consecration and vse of this wonderfull Sacrament. Yea surely it implyeth an evident contradiction that Christs body should be truely given together with the sacramentall signes, as Caluin expressely affirmeth, and so by vt eaten, that is no neerer then the top of heauen is to the mouth of such as receiue him. If by faith onelyonly and a gratefull memory of his passion we eate Christ in the Sacrament, as this Minister solueth the former riddle; no more present therein, nor in any other manner conioyned with the sacramentall signes, then the land conveighed by an Indenture sealed is present or conveighed with the seale thereof, or then he is present in the water of Baptisme: (they are his owne comparisons) then is their Sacrament a bare signe and figure of Christs body, having no mystery at all worthy of admiration in it. For what wonder is it for a man to eate one thing thinking vponupon another; bread (for example) remembring our Saviours passion? And then are Caluin, Beza and many more of their learnedest companions meer Iuglers and Impostors, who seeke to plaister rotten wals, and maske with great wordes the naked breadinesse of their Protestanticall Sacrament.
AT the end of this Argument I answer an Obiection, T. G.how Christs body and blood can be conveighed vntounto vsus, or eaten and drunke of vsus in the Eucharist, if hee be not there present. Which Question from the Fathers (as you heard before) may in a word be soone answered. Because our Sauiour shewed it by those wordes of his concerning his ascension, & his speech therunto annexed, to be a spirituall not a corporall kind of communication. And if they will heare one of their owne Bishops, Iansenius; hee will tell them, that qIansen. in concold. Euang. c. 59.to eate Christs flesh and drinke his blood is to beleeue in his Incarnation and in his passion and blood, sheading; and that so by faith either of them are both present with vsus, and conueighed to vsus as well in the Sacrament, as out of it. But hereupon this mine Aduersary befooling me for my labour, for taking such a task vponupon me, to answer such a Question; saith, I vndertake to declare that by comparisons, as if there were no difficulty at all in it, cAll this of Calvin and Beza he borroweth from Bellarmine de Euch. l. 1. c. 1.which Calvin and Beza confesse to be a mysterie, vnconceiuable, incomprehensible, inexplicable, yea which (as wee hold it) implyeth an evident contradiction: affirming that Christ is no more present therein, nor in any manner conioyned with the sacramentall signes, then the land conveighed by an Indenture sealed is present with the same, or then hee is present with the water in Baptisme. Whereupon hee worthily inferreth; that this our Sacrament then is but a bare signe or figure of Christs body having no mystery at all worthy of admiration; and Calvin and Beza, &c. are but Iuglers and Impostors.
It might well hauehave been one of Hercules his labours to purge this mans writings. Augaeus his stable was not fuller of durt and dung, then they are of foule and filthy corrupt matter, and of lowd and lewd lies.
1. Where doe I affirme it to bee a matter without all difficulty fully to explicate the admirable efficacy and operation of divine mysteries, or the manner how the same is effected? I shew onelyonly by some comparisons (and those such as the Apostle warranteth the vse of) how Christ may being absent, bee truely and effectually conueighed and assured vntounto vsus. But followeth it thence that I hold the thing it selfe for the manner of effecting it to hauehave no difficulty at all in it? Doe not the ancient Fathers hold the Trinitie an vnsearchable mysterie? And yet what is more common among them then sSee Greg. Naz. ad Nectar. and Aug. de Trinit l. 10, 11, 12, 13. & de verb. Ap hom 1. &c.by Comparisons and similitudes to shew how in one nature there may be a plurality of persons? This Disputant himselfe among other wondrous workes reckoneth the resurrection of mens bodies for one: will hee say that the Fathers therefore deeme that there is no difficulty in it, because tSee Tertull. de resurr. carn. Athenag. de resurr. &c yea the Apostle himself 1Cor. 15. 35, 36. 37.by sundry similitudes they endeauour to proue a possibilitie of it; notwithstanding the frequent and successiue conuersions of them into other things altered and consumed, as hee speaketh?
2. Let him shew how it implieth an evident contradiction, to say that Christs bodie is truely given with the sacramentall signes, though it bee no neerer then heauen-top is to the mouthes of the receivers. How this may be, without colour of contradiction, not in the Sacrament onelyonly, but out of it also, when as the thing is done spiritually, beside the comparisons that I expresse it by, his owne uIansen. vbi sup.Iansenius will shew; yea or his owne Albert will enforme him, where hee saith, that xManducantes non mandu…ā …, & non manducantes manducant. A…bert▪ de Sacram. Euchar. serm. 27.Some eate and yet eate not; and some eate not, and yet eate. The former hee meaneth of those that eate vnprofitably in the Sacrament; the latter of those that eate spiritually out of it. If out of the Sacrament men may truely receiue Christs body, though it be no neerer then heauen top to their mouthes; then is it no such strange paradox as should imply contradiction, to say that the selfe same is done in the Sacrament also. I will tell him of a stranger matter. Many thousands thus did eate Christs flesh a thousand yeeres before hee was in the flesh. For howsoeuer hee required before to hauehave it prooued; and Bellarmine yPaulus nus que dicit escam vel potu… illum fuisse Christum: non aquam, sed Petram. Bellar. de Euch. l. 1. c. 4.in diuerse places would faine deny it, and in zNon sumebant reipsa carnem Christi, sed effectū eius. Ibid. l. 1. c. 13. Esca & potus ille non propter effectum spirituales dicuntur. Idem de sacr. effect. lib. 2. c. 17. Nec fuerunt Sacramenta. Ibid.effect sometime doth, though directly and absolutely he dare not: yet it was shewed before out of Augustine: to whom I now adde Gregorie Nyssene: who in his tenth Sermon on the Canticles, speaking of those wordes, aCant. 5. 1.Eate and drinke my friends, bEi qui mysticas illas Euangelii voces intelligit, nullum apparebit discrimen inter hoc loco posita verba, & institutam ibid mysterii celebrationē &c. Greg. Nyss. in Cant. Ser. 10.There is no difference (saith hee) betweene the wordes here vsed, and the words vsed in the Institution of the Eucharist. For that which hee exhorteth vsus to doe in the one, cIdem Hic & id temporis sac…um est.was then also done in that divine meate and drinke. And very many, yea the most of their owne writers vniformly confesse it. Thomas Aquinas on 1 Cor. 10. d1 Cor. 10. 3, 4.They did eate all the same spirituall meate: that is, eId est, corpus Christi in signo spiritualiter intellecto.Christs body in a signe spiritually vnderstood: and dranke all the same spirituall drinke: to wit, Christs blood in a signe. gManducabant Christum spiritualiter.They did eate Christ spiritually; according to that, hCrede & manducasti Aug in Ioan. tr. 25.Beleeue and thou hast eaten. iAnselmi nomine prostant, sed Har…aei sunt commentarii illi. Vise Fontanum in praefat. & Posseuin. in Appar.Anselm, or Hervae…s rather that goeth vnderunder his name, kEandem escam corporis Christi, quam nos in pane manducamus, ipsi manducauerunt in Manna: & eundem potum sanguinis Christi, quem nos ex calice bibimus, ipsi biberunt ex petra.They did eate in the Manna the same food of Christs body that wee eate in Bread; and the same drinke of Christs blood that wee drinke out of the Chalice, did they drinke from the Rocke. Hugh of S. Uictors; The same (saith hee) lIdem significantem, & idem efficientem.that is, signifying the same, and having the same effect. And Hugh the Cardinall; mEundem cibum spiritualem, in Manna significatum, i. corpus Christi: eundem potum spiritualem, sanguinem Christi biberunt.They did eate signified in the Manna the same spirituall meate, that is, the body of Christ; and dranke the same spirituall drinke, the blood of Christ: and this did they by faith according to that of Augustine; Beleeue and thou hast eaten. If Christs flesh then might be spiritually eaten by faith so long before it was; and it implyeth no contradiction f Scilicet, Christi sanguinem in signo.n Aug in Ioan. tract. 25.to say that Christs flesh was so eaten even before his Incarnation; much lesse doth it to say, that it is now spiritually eaten, though locally and corporally it be no neerer then heauen-top is to the mouth or lips of him that so eateth it. Faith like oAbsentes prosentes facit. Turpilius. Quid enim tam presens est inter absentes quam per epistolas & alloqui & audire quos diligas? Hier. ad Nitiam.an Epistle, maketh things and persons pNam rerū absentium presens est fides. Aug. de Trinit. l. 13. c. 1. Quem & vide sup. ex tr. 50. in Ioan. & epist. 89.absent present. Nor doth a spiritual feeding necessarily require a corporall presence of that that is fed on.
3. Where say I, that Christ is no otherwise conioynrd with the Sacrament, then the land with the Indenture and seale of it? I say onelyonly qQuo modo etiam Caluinum hoc explicasse docet Bellar. de Euchar. l. 1. c. 10. Sed & longe ante Caluinum Bern. de temp. 54. Datur annulus ad investiendum de haereditate aliqua. &c.that Christs body maybe and is as effectually conveighed vntounto vsus by the one, as land is cōveighed to vsus by the other, though neither of them be locally or materially present. And if no more then so were done in the Sacrament, yet were there much more done thereby, then by their owne confession is done by their orall and corporall manducation; in which manner they grant themselues that many so eate Christ, as yet hee is neuer effectually conueighed or assured vntounto, to be theirs.
4. I say indeed that Christ is as truely present in the Word (which he slyly passeth by, and maketh not a word of) and in Baptisme as in the Eucharist; and wee receiue him as really and as effectually in the one as in the other. Nor doth hee answer one word to the allegations of the Fathers to that purpose produced: To which may be added that of Tertullian, which shall hereafter be recited: And this of Augustine, which he saith of Mary, that sAudeo dicere; ipsum manducabat, quem audiebat. Aug. de diueri. serm. 27.shee did eate him whom shee heard: and prooueth what he saith by that place of Iohn, tIoh. 6. 51.I am the living bread, which whosoeuer eateth shall liue for euer. As that also of Ambrose; uPanem illum manducat, qui ea quae scripta …t seruat. Ambros. in Luc. 7.He eateth that bread, that observeth Gods word. And further also that xDe Euchar. l. 1. c. 7.Bellarmine acknowledgeth that yClem Alex. paedag. l. …. …. 6.Clemens of Alexandria, zBasil. Caes. epist. 141.Basil of Caesarea, (he might hauehave added r Tertul. de resur. carn. See Diuis. 14. Sect. 7. num. 2.aOrigen. in Gen hom. 10. & in Numb. hom. 17. & 32.Origen also, and bChrys. in Ioan hom. 46.Chrysostom) cHieron in Psal. 147.and Hierome apply those words of our Sauiour, dIoh. 6. 54, 56.He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, &c. to the word: which howsoeuer indeed they bee not directly spoken of there, yet certaine it is that both in the iudgement of those Ancients, (who else would not so hauehave applied it) and in truth it selfe also (for neither dare Bellarmine himselfe therein controule them) the thing there spoken of is in and by it also effectually performed. But to passe by the Word, and the vnutterable effects of it, together with the vnconceiuable manner, whereby it either worketh vponupon our soules, or conueigheth Christ into our soules: for in receiuing of it we eIoh. 1. 11, 12. & 12. 48.receiue Christ in it: Doe not the ancient Fathers call the Sacrament of Baptisme an ineffable mysterie, as was cited out of Gregorie Nyssene a little before? Yea doe they not speake as much of the dignitie and excellency, and of the vnconceiuable and vnutterable efficacy of it, as either Calvin or Beza doe of the Eucharist? And yet this shamelesse and blasphemous beast sticketh not to say, if Christ be no otherwise present in the Eucharist then hee is in Baptisme, it is but a bare signe or figure, hauing no mystery at all worthie of admiration. And so by necessary consequence he taxeth those Worthies (to speake in his fribald In part borrowed also from Bellarmine …e Euch. l. c. 1.language) as meere Iuglers and Impostors, that (in speaking so honourably of it, and ascribing such admirable power and efficacy vntounto it) seeke to plaister rotten walles, and maske with great wordes the naked watrinesse of their Baptisme, by them so much admired. Let him shew how with any colour at all, he can here cleere himselfe of impietie and blasphemy. And let him (if hee dare) deny that Christ is effectually receiued both in the Word and in gNulli est aliquatenus ambigendum tunc vnūquē que fidelium corporis & sanguinis Christi participem fieri quando in baptismate membrum Christi corporis efficitur etiamsi antequam illum panem comedat, &c. de hoc seculo abscedat. Gratian. ex August, de consecr, dist. 4. & Biel in Can. Miss. lect. 36.Baptisme: in neither whereof yet there is any such reall transmutation, or corporall presence, as they necessarily require vntounto the receiuing of Christ in the Eucharist.