The Bee Hive of the Romish Church, Part 2 · Preface · Chapter 4
The .iiii. Chapter. Teaching that the transubstantiation of chaunging of the bread into the verie bodie of Christ, and the wine into his bloud, is grounded vponupon the Scripture, after the interpretation of the Church of Rome.
The transubstantiation anno 1168. confirmed for an article of our beliefe.NOw, as touching transubstantiation, that is to say, the plaine chaunging of the bread into the verie bodie of Christ, notwithstanding the same was by the holie father Pope Innocentius 3. first set forth for an article of our beliefe, about the yere of our Lord 1198. as by the Decretals is apparant: yet hauehave we plaine proofes therof in the Scripture. For first, Christ in the sixt Chap. of Iohn saieth thus:… 6.55. My flesh is verie meat, and my bloud is verie drinke: that is to say (after the interpretation of our deare mother the holie Church) My flesh is truely, sensibly, and bodily taken and eaten, vnderunder the accident of the bread: and my bloud is certeinly receiued and dronken vnderunder the accident of the wine. The explanation of the Sacrament.For although Christ indeede doe otherwise interpret it, teaching that this eating and drinking, is to be vnderstoode, of comming to him, and of beleuing in him:Iohn. 6.35. I am (saieth he) the liuely bread: Whosoeuer cōmeth to me, shall not hunger, and whosoeuer doth beleeue in me, shall neuer be athirst. Againe, It is the spirite that quickeneth, the fleshe profiteth nothing: The wordes which I speake vntounto you are spirite and life. Yet all this notwithstanding, so long as the holie Church of Rome will hauehave it to be vnderstoode of her transubstantiation, as Syluester Prierias high Steward of the palace of Rome, hath specially noted in his golden Rosarie, wherein hee hath gathered all the pleasant Roses and floures of the Catholike interpreters together vponupon one heape: and considering that the holy Church cannot erre: Christ must hauehave patience, & transubstantiation must take place. But we hauehave yet a much clearer text, to witte, where Christ himselfe saieth: This is my bodie: for by those wordes doeth the holie Church of Rome plainely vnderstand, that the same which before was breade, is nowe no more breade, although Paule woulde call it breade a thousande times: but is chaunged into the verie bodie of Iesus Christ, as long, and as broade, as it was hanging vponupon the Crosse. And for that cause it is, that shee doeth disallowe all the expositions and interpretations, which Basilius, Tertullianus, Theodoretus, Augustinus, and other holie Fathers hauehave sette foorth vponupon the same: saying, That those woordes must bee figuratiuely and sacramentally vnderstoode, as Christ himselfe hath plainely saide: I am the vine: or, as Paule saieth: The stone was Christ: and as GOD spake to Abraham, saying: This is my promise, Cut off the fore skinne, &c. Which is as muche to say, that the breade shoulde not chaunge his nature, nor the verie bodie of Christ bee there present, but onelie that it shoulde bee a true and holie token, a Sacrament, a warrant and pledge, a Seale and assuraunce, whereby wee are assured and fullie certified, that hee hath giuen vppe his bodie and bloud for our saluation. And for this cause doe they call it, a figure, or token, and in the Greeke Typus, and Antitypa, that is to say, Speciall tokens. But I doe tell you, that the holie Church of Rome will not allowe anie such interpretations: vnlesse it were so, that men woulde vnderstand them as Damascenus doeth interprete them, and as was in the seconde Councell of Nice concluded by the Fathers: to witte, That the breade shoulde bee such a seale, pledge, figure, and holie token, onelyonly before it be consecrated: which is to say, It should be a Sacrament, before it is become a Sacrament.
For, that this is their conceite and meaning, it is apparaunt out of this, That long before the breade and the wine bee consecrated, or made a holie Sacrament: they doe offer vppe the same vntounto God, for remission of sinnes, as well of the liuing, as of the dead.The Canon of the Masse. For in the Canon of the Masse: yea, before the bread bee turned into fleshe, or the fiue holy wordes of consecration be heard, the Priest doeth pray, That God will accept that offering of breade, Looke in the Masse booke in the Canon of the Masse.and through that deliuer him from eternall death: And then, That hee will blesse the saide offering of breade in all pointes, and make the same, holie, profitable meate, and acceptable: That is, may become the bodie and bloud of Iesus Christ. Yea, and before hee hath yet put the wine into the Chalice, immediately after the Offertorie, he saith thus:
The prayer of the priest at the eleuation and consecration of the Offertorie.O holie Father, almightie and euerlasting God, take and receiue this vnspotted sacrifice, which thine vnworthie seruaunt doeth offer vppe vntounto thee for my sinnes, and innumerable misdeedes, for my forgetfulnesse and vnthankefulnesse: yea, and for all these which are here present, and for all faithfull Christians, as well those that be liuing, as those that be dead, that it may bee acceptable, auailable, and effectuall vntounto the saluation both of me, and of them, vntounto eternall life, Amen.
And in one of the secretes which is commonly read vponupon the 24. Sunday after Trinitie Sunday, he saith thus:
O Lord, take and receiue mercifully this offering, Another praier to the same effect.through which thou art pleased, contented, and pacified, and hast receiued vsus againe vntounto saluation, through the almightinesse and vnspeakablenesse of thy merciemercy, &c.
Consider now, here doeth our deare mother the holie Church, ascribe vntounto this bread, all things which may be attributed vntounto our Lorde Iesus Christ, the onelyonly begotten sonne of God: as to say, That God is become mercifull to vsus, for the bread sake, and hath pardoned vsus our sinnes: and that before the bread bee consecrated, or in anie point transubstantiated or changed. What maruell is it then, that they doe make a God of it, after the fiue wordes be spoken ouer it, and yet make a Sacrament of it, before it can be a Sacrament? For as they can of a peece of breade make God himselfe, and of nothing create something: wherfore should not they likewise be able to make of no Sacrament a Sacrament: and of a Sacrament, no Sacrament? That is to say, that a simple peece of bread shoulde bee a holie token and seale of the bloud of Iesus Christ, euen before it bee made holie and consecrated. And then Econtra, that the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ, shall bee no more either a Sacrament, or token, but euen the verie bodie of Christ it selfe? So that the holie Fathers must needes hauehave vnderstoode it so, especially, when they say that this Sacrament is but a token, a seale, and a pledge, specialy before it is become a Sacrament. For after that it is once a Sacrament, then (no remedie) our deare mothers will is, that it shall bee fleshe and bloud, and not anie longer neither bread nor wine, to signifie the fleshe and the bloud. And therefore doeth she not make anie account of the exposition of Christ Iesus himselfe, who (after he had saide of the bread) This is my bodie: and afterward of the Chalice of Cuppe: This is the new Testament in my bloud: thereby declaring, that those words, This is my bodie, must be so vnderstoode, as if hee had saide:Luke, 22.20. 1. Cor. 11.25. This breade is the new promise in my bodie, which shall bee broken for you. For of that shoulde followe, that the breade, after the consecration, and likewise after the speaking of the fiue wordes, should still remaine breade, and so bee but simplie a Sacrament, and true token of the bodie of Iesus Christ: as shewing vntounto vsus the promise of God, made in the breaking of the bodie, and shedding of the bloud of Christ Iesus our Sauiour, as was saide of the Circumcision: This is my couenant which I doe make with you, to witte, for that the Circumcision is a sure and holie promise, a pledge, and seale, through which the promise of God is verie stronglie and substantiallie made vntounto the faithfull. No, no, I assure you: that liketh the holie Church of Rome nothing at all. She will lay fast holde vponupon the first wordes of Christ, and not seek after anie exposition or glosse, how necessarie soeuer they bee. And for that cause shall Paule go without anie Audiuit, when he commeth in with his interpretation, and saith, That the bread which we do breake, is the communion of the bodie of Christ. For thereby it should also seeme, that it remaineth bread still after the consecration: and that it is not the bodie it self, but a remembrance of the bodie▪ which thing the holie Church in no wise admitteth nor alloweth, for life nor death. But especiallie, she will not accept nor like of the interpretation following, wherein Paule proceeding doeth declare, how and wherefore the bread is the communion of the bodie of Christ, saying, For al we which eate of one bread, become one bodie.
Nowe truelie, that soundeth not well: for we do not al becom one bodie in substance, as the holie Church will hauehave the bread become the verie body of Christ in substance. But then the similitude, which after that he introduceth or bringeth in, is to farre out of the way. For hee saieth, That those which feede of the altar, are partakers of the altar: and that those that offer vp to idols, are partakers with the diuell. And so making a comparison of the table of the Lord, and the table of the diuell: as though the Priestes could not eate vp that bodie of Christ otherwise, than as idolaters eate vp the diuels: and as though these wordes, Eate that bodie of Christ, did signifie nothing else, but this, through the power of the holie Ghost to be made one bodie ioyntlie with the bodie of Christ, as the vngodly idolaters, by power of the wicked spirite are vnited with the diuell: That is to heynous an heresie: and therefore wee may not stande vponupon this similitude: for it soundeth di…ectlie against our Transubstantiation.
But when you will hauehave a substantiall similitude, you must search and seeke it out of Scotus, and Thomas de Aquino, or Panormitanus, and such like. For they bring in for this purpose, a goodlie similitude of a Tauerne, or common Inne, where they sell wine: For as there is commonlie a potte, a garlande, The Sacrament compared to a wine Tauerne.or Iuie bush hanged out, betokening that to be a Tauerne: and the Tauerne doeth signifie, that there is wine plentie: So likewise you see here the outward accidentes of bread, to witte, the roundnesse and the whitenesse, which doe signifie, that vnderunder the same is conteined the verie bodie of Christ, which is to bee resembled to the Tauerne. And this bodie of Christ doeth further signifie the holie Church of Rome, which is made one with the bodie of Christ, which they call Mysticum corpus Christi, that is to say, The spiritual or mystical bodie of Christ: and this is that sweete wine which the Priestes drinke in that Inne or Tauerne. And after this they doe likewise bring for a similitude, the water which in Cana of Galilie was plainlie turned into wine: which similitude doeth so wonderfull well serue for this purpose, as to set a fift wheele in a wagon. But it is pitie that the Priestes hauehave not other fiue wordes, whereby they might do that too. For then should the similitude serue their turne much better, if that they might (when they woulde) conuerte and turne the water into good wine: for that they might therewith the better scoure and refresh their drie throtes, when they are become verie hoarse with singing of their seruice. And it is verie true, that they doe what they can for that purpose: for on Saturday, being Easter eeuen, they praye vntounto God, that hee will also do so much as to turne their Beere, saying,This is the verie praier of the priest ouer the Beere, from worde to word, as it standeth in the Masse, & as Munst. saith O Lord, holie Father, almightie and eternal God, which hast made both heauen and earth, wherein the water is conteined: I pray thee, and instantly beseech thee, in the name of Iesus Christ thy onlie begotten Sonne, that thou (of thy goodnesse) wilt blesse and make holie this Beere, as thou diddest blesse the dinner of Abraham and Isaak: and as thou diddest blesse the sixe pottes in Cana of Galilie, which were chaunged from water into good wine: euen so change (for thy seruantes sake, which do beleeue in the Catholike faith) this substance of Beere into pleasantnesse and mirth,The changing of the Beere. thorough the same, &c.
But alas, what can all this helpe, when it will not so come to passe? For they hauehave not this cunning: and therefore they must needes hauehave bene deceiued, and so drinke vp the bloud vppon rawe fleshe. For men may say all what they will, and Paule: yea, Christ him selfe, may bring forth what interpretation they list, but the holy church will stande to the first wordes, This is my. bodie: and vponupon that will she liue and die The texte is plaine ynough for her, shee hath no neede, either of glosse, or interpretation. And therefore vntounto all the interpretations which these Heretikes bring in, whether it be out of the Scriptures, or out of the auncient Fathers, wee will answere, This is my bodie: and sticke as sure to that, as the Cuckoe to her song.