An Oration, Text – Title page 3
❧ To the Quene.
MADAME, whereas your right humble ſeruaunt Theodore de Beze, hath ſome occaſion to feare that your Maieſtie ſhould not remaine ſatiſfied with a ſpeache that paſſed from him yeſterday, in the declaration of a matter whiche to his great griefe, was by my Lordes the Prelates foūde verye ſtrange. He moſte humble deſireth your Maiſtie, that it maye pleaſe you to vnderſtand at better lenght, ſuche purpoſe as he could not then ſufficiently expreſſe, by reaſon of a noyſe reaſed in ſuche ſort, as the knitting vp of his matter was not harde, nor conceiued of the hearers, accordynge as his deſire was it ſhoulde hauehave bene, and as he ment to hauehave had it.
Madame, the cauſe that ledde me to enter to that matter, was, for that there are manye that for lack of good vnderſtanding of the confeſſion of oure faith, do thinke oure teaching to be to ſhutte out Ieſus Chriſt from his holy Supper, whiche were a manifeſt impietie. For we do knowe (thankes be geuen to God) that that bleſſed Sacrament was ordeined by the Sonne of God, to the ende that being made more and more partakers of the ſubſtaunce of his very bodye and of his very blood, we mought be ſo muche the nere vnited and incorporated with him, to drawe to vsus thereby the eternall lyfe. And doutleſſe, if it were otherwiſe it ſhould not be the Supper of the Lord.
And, Madame, ſo farre be we from willing or meaning to ſay that Chriſte is abſente from his Supper, as contrarily there are no kinde of menne that can leſſe beare ſuch a ſacriledge then we.
Trueth it is, that there is a great difference, to ſay that Ieſus Chriſt is preſent at his holy Supper, geuing vntounto vsus there at his very body and very blood: and to ſay that his body and blood are ioyned with the breade and the wine. I hauehave confeſſed the firſte, which is the principall. The laſt I hauehave denied, for that I take it to be directely againſt the veritie of the humaine nature of the bodye of Chriſt, and to the article of the Aſcention, as it is conteined in the holie Scripture and declared by all the auncient Doctours of the Church.
I will not here alleage manye places and reaſons. OnelyOnly Madame I beſeche your Maieſtie moſte humbly to waye and conſider with your ſelfe, whether of the two opinions carieth with it the more honour to the word and ordinaunce of God, eyther that, which woulde make vsus to beleue that we can not be made partakers of the body of Chriſte, vnleſſe it be put and ioyned really with the Sacrament: or els the other that teacheth vsus that albeit his body doth preſently remaine in heauen and not elſwhere▪ yet by the ſpirituall vertue of it, and by the meane of a right & true faith, we that be on the earth and do beleue in him, be made partakers of his very body and his very blood, as truely and as certainlye as we ſee with our eyes, and touche with our handes the holye viſible Sacramentes of the bread and wine, whiche he hath ordeyned to that effect.
If this declaration. Madame, which long tyme ſithen hath bene ſet forth amonges my wrytynges (albeit I could not yeſterdaye do you to vnderſtande the ſame) may ſatiſfie youre Maieſtie: I ſhall hauehave greate cauſe to prayſe and thanke God hyghly therefore. If not, I will be ſo bolde as to deſire yet ſo much fauour at your hand, as that I may ſatiſfie your Maieſtie more fully by mouth, in the preſence (yf it ſhall ſo be thought nedefull) of ſuch as by whom you ſhall thinke I may receiue knowledge and learnynge, as one that hath great nede thereof, and that doth deſire nothynge ſo muche as to learne more and more, whereby I may be the more hable to do your Maieſtie ſeruice in the eſtabliſhing of ſo holſome and ſo holye a concorde and agreement.
Theſe be the very wordes by me ſpoken, where with my Lordes the Prelats ſeme to be much offended.
If thereupon they will aſke ifRehearſal of the wordes, ſpoken the daye before. my meaninge be to make Chriſte abſent from his Supper, I ſaye nay: Beleuing neuertheleſſe, that waying the diſtaunce of the plates (for ſo muſte we do when the queſtion toucheth corporall preſence) and conſidering diſtinctly his humanitie, his bodye is as farre from the breade and wine, as the higheſt parte of heauen is from the earth. If any man will conclude hereof, that we make Chriſte abſent from his Supper, we thinke him to conclude yll.
For this honoure do we geue to God, that according to his holye Worde, albeit the body of Chriſte be in heauen, and we on the earth: yet be we made partakers of his body and blood, as verely in a ſpirituall maner, and by faith, as we do ſee the Sacramentes with our eyes, and put them into our mouthes, & do lyue with the ſubſtaunce of them, in this corporall lyfe▪ Theſe were my wordes.
For the confirmation whereof▪ here what S. Auguſtine ſayth in his fifte treatie vponupon S. Iohn.
When Ieſus Chriſt ſayde, you ſhall not alwaye hauehave me with you, he ſpeake of the preſence of his bodye. For concerninge his Maieſtie, his prouidence, and his inuiſible grace, he hath fully accompliſhed his promyſe made in an other place: I wil be with you til the ende of the world. But concerning the nature of man taken of him, concerning that he was borne of the virgin Mary, concernynge that he was crucified, buried, and rayſed from death to lyfe this ſentence is accompliſhed: you ſhall not alwaye hauehave me with you. And whye? for that touching his body, he was conuerſaunt 40. dayes with his diſciples, and from the ſame diſciples, folowing him with their eyes, and not going after him, he aſcended into heauen at the ende of 40. dayes, and is no more here.
The ſame S Auguſtine in his Epiſtle to Dardanus.
In aſmuch as he is God, he is eueryevery where, in that he is man, he is in heauen.
Vigilins Byſhoppe of Trent, which wrot againſt the hereſie of the Eutychians about the yere of Chriſt 500. ſaieth.
The Sonne of God is deparred from vsus touching his humanitie, but touching his diuinitie he ſayeth vntounto vsus: I am with you till the ende of the worlde. He is with vsus, and he is not with vsus, for he hath not lefte nor forſaken, touching his diuinitie, them that he hath left, and is departed from vsus touchinge his humanitie. Touchinge the fourme of a ſeruaunte whiche he hath lift vp into heauen out of our company, he is abſent: but touchinge the fourme of God which departeth not from vsus, he is preſent with vsus.
Againe, when his fleſhe was on the earth, certainly it was not in heauen, now that it is in heauen, as certainely it is not on the earth, and ſo is he abſent as we do ſtyll loke for him, which we do beleue to be with vsus on the earth, in that he is the word, to come again from h…auen corporally. and fleſhly.
And in an other place, The onelyonly Sonne of God, wt was alſo made man, is conceaued in one place by the nature of the fleſh, and is contained in no place touchynge the nature of his diuinitie.
❧ The confeſſion aſweall of the Proteſtants as of there aduerſary partie of lait dayes aſſembled at Poiſſy in Fraunce concerning the preſence of Ieſus Chriſt in the holie Supper whereof let our Papiſtes choſe which beſt liketh them and ſo remoue the errour of tranſubſtantiation.