Answer to the Devilish Detection of the Bishop of Winchester, Treatise · Part 9
Of the worde inſtituciō, and how that the papiſtes do make Chriſte to hauehave a bodie Imaginatyue or phantaſtical.
THat you do vſe here thys worde, the inſtitutiō of Chriſt, agaynſt the whych word you do diſpute ſo ſpit fully in your boke folowing, I am glade you may be found your own cōfon̄der And now I truſt you wyll gyue vsus leaue to name the inſtitution of Chriſte, becauſe you beynge a biſhope, do vſe thys terme inſtitution. But let paſſe ſuche triflynges.
Agayn, that by the alteracion of place the Wincheſters Wordes.bodie is not multiplied, but is all wayes one & the ſame bodie in. x. thouſāde places at once
Thys you do affyrme in effect though The anſwereyour termes be darkened wyth variacion, the application and Alteracion, becauſe you are aſhamed to ſpeake playnly. All mē that hauehave any wyt, reaſone or knowlege: may per ceaue your folly. And eſpecially by that you hauehave …o… other thyng to proue your impoſſible propoſition, but that the Imagination of man may be in ſo many places. Oh wicked biſhoppe wylt thou make Chriſte to hauehave …n Imaginatiue bodie, lyke vntounto mans Imaginacion or phantaſie: how ſtandeth thys wyth the argument of Paul, wherin reſteth i. Corhi. x.the chiefe hope of our reſurrection? If Chriſt be ryſen (ſayeth he) ſo ſhall we ryſe agayne. If his fleaſh therfore, be otherwiſe thē ours ſhalbe (as no doubt it is if it be lyke the Imaginacion of man, beynge in eueryevery place whē it luſteth) then is thys argumēt of Paul but vayne. Agayn if our bodies ſhalbe thus able to be in all places when we ſhall ryſe agayn then ſhall we not ryſe lyke men, but lyke ſpirites, Yea lyke gods. Surely Paul in that he ſayeth that we ſhalbe lyke the heauenly Adā and beare the Image of him, like as we hauehave OnelyOnly God is in many places at once.borne the Image the earthely: maketh Chriſt verie man, which muſt be the fyrſt fruites of them that riſe agayne. And therfore our only hope of reſurrection, is that as he dyd aryſe, ſo ſhall we in our fleaſh ſee our God. Thy… aſſerſion of yours calleth agayn the errour of Marcion, if it be not reſiſted. And your doctour Damaſcen, can ſcantly excuſe hym ſelfe of the ſame hereſie.
The philoſophers that▪ ſaied, anima eſt tota Wincheſters wordes.in toto, et tota in qualibet parte, the whole in the whole, & ye whole in eueri part: thei could not ſe howe it was, & yet neuertheles toke it ſo to be, & yet what a cōtradictiō is it to ſaye the parte is the whole? And further, do not the wordes of men ſpoken to a multitude paſſe wholely to eueryevery one of the hearers eares indyfferently, that ſta de wythin the cō paſſe of hearynge? And if the matter be intelligible to them al, do not eche one heare and vnderſtande, one as moche as an other, beynge the ſpeach but of one and not diminiſhed by the participation of the multitude?
You brynge in for ſimilitudes, theſe thynges that are ſo fare contrarie as can be. For The anſwerewhat can be more v…lyke and diſagreyng in theyr proprities: then the ſoule and the bodye than the voyce of a man: and the man hym ſelfe? what a blynde reaſone is thys? The ſoule is ſpred thorow out the body: ergo the bodie may be ſcatered into places infinitely diſtant. What reaſone is in thys? The voice and wordes of man may be harde of an infinite numbre: Ergo Chriſt as he is verie mā may be in al places innumerable: vnleſe you wyll make Chriſt to hauehave a phantaſticall bodie, as the ſophiſters diſpute whether a voice hauehave a bodie or no.
As for your excuſe (becauſe your own cō ſcience doth pricke you) wherin you ſay that theſe ſimilitudes do nothynge attayne to expreſſe thys your myſterie: you deſer… lyke thankes wyth Albinus that was ouer buſie in writting the hyſtories, of the which he profeſſed him ſelfe ignorant. You ſaie they be in many thinges vnlike, but you can ſhewe nothing wherein they be like, but in your Imaginacion. If you woulde hauehave proued by ſimilitudes Marke the examinacion of theſe ſimilytudes.that Chriſtes bodye is in many places at once: you ſhould hauehave ſhewed and declared vntounto vsus that ſome one bodye hath bene in two places at once, and than we woulde hauehave beleued you. Or thus myght your ſimilitude hauehave ſerued. The ſoule of man is ſpred thorowout hys membres: and ſo like wyſe is the ſpirite of Chriſt ſpred, tho row out his church which cōſiſteth of his ſpiritual members: compareinge thus ſpiritual thinges vntounto ſpiritual, and not ſpiritual vntounto bodilily for they differ moſte clearely in the thynges wherin you woulde hauehave them lyke. For the bodie, by the creation of God, hath alwayes his determinate quantitie, and therfore his certaine place. But as the ſpirite for lacke of quantitie occupieth no place: ſo can it not be in anie place circūſcribed or ſenſibly conteined, except you wyl folowe theyr ſcholes that can when they lyft hauehave a be in a boxe, or coniure a ſpirite into a bote. But theſe are vanities, and your argument is frō one contrarie to an other not from one like to an other, for the bodie and ſpirite are …ontraries, and hauehave cotrarye propreties.